/mlpol/ - My Little Politics

>>379807
Le ebin fren. Ebin.<3 ^^

Saw that this story was quite popular on fimfiction. Just don't forget about us once you make it big, ya hear? ;P

>the pics
First I found cute and beautiful Sweetie Belles that I was gonna post, then I found these. You're kinda like a vulture, like me. I think we both know you will appreciate these, more uniqueones, more. ^^

>>379807
As I said, or tried to, I love your story m8. Have some more Belles.

>>379821
>>379820
Those are some very nice belles the diaper one is a little strange but hey, whatever floats your boat I suppose.

>You're kinda like a vulture, like me
........thanks?

>Just don't forget about us once you make it big, ya hear? ;P
Don't worry, like the rest of you I doubt I will ever truly escape this place.

Also, just to let you know I'm going to take a look at your Sunset Shimmer thing you asked me to read at some point, I just haven't gotten to it yet

Anyway, here is the next installment:

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>>379807

14: Just Because You're Paranoid...

I crawled through the basement window and emerged into the cool evening air. The last glow of daylight was fading away from the sky, and on the far horizon the moon was rising. Behind me, lights were still glowing in the treehouse, but I could see no sign of Twilight Sparkle or her dragon minion watching me. I took off running down the road, shoving my way past a couple of surprised-looking ponies who were out for an evening stroll.

I could only keep up this pace for about half a block before I fell to my knees wheezing, but when I looked over my shoulder I could see no signs of pursuit. Just the two ponies I'd shoved aside, who were still watching me with annoyed and slightly puzzled expressions. Then, they both shrugged and continued on their way.

I followed the road south until I came to an open square. This was where the market was set up during the daytime, but the stalls were all closed now. I went to the asparagus stall and fumbled at the latch until I got the shutter open, but it had been emptied out for the night. I felt a twinge of anxiety, but managed to force it down.

The layout of this town was a little haphazard, but I'd been there long enough that I could more or less find my way around. I remembered being told that Sweetie Belle lived with her older sister at a place called Carousel Boutique, which I was pretty certain was nearby.

I made my way up and down several streets and had to backtrack a couple of times, but eventually I found a cul-de-sac with a large, ostentatious boutique at the end, shaped like a carousel. My gut instinct told me that this was the place.

I went around the building to the back. I had no idea which room was Sweetie Belle's, but there was a light on in one of the windows on the second floor rotunda. I crouched in the bushes, and began throwing pebbles so that they tapped softly off the glass. Eventually, the window opened, and a little white unicorn filly poked her head out.

"Who's down there?" she called softly. "Apple Bloom? Scootaloo?"

"Pssst! Sweetie Belle!" I hissed, standing up slightly from behind the bush and waving my hands.

When she saw me, Sweetie Belle sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Mr. Rusty?!?" she hissed back down at me. "What are you doing here? You know what, never mind, I don't care. Go away! I'm in enough trouble because of you!"

"Sweetie Belle!" I hissed again. "You have to come down here! It's important!"

Suddenly, a light in one of the first floor windows went on, and a moment later the back door swung open. I ducked down behind the bush, just as a tall white unicorn came stomping out. Her purple mane was in curlers and her face was covered with some kind of feminine beauty goop.

"Who's there?!?" she called out, sounding angry. "Because I swear to Celestia, if it's that ruffian Rusty Shackleford, I have more than a few choice words for you—"

"It's okay, Rarity!" Sweetie Belle called down from her window. "It was just some squirrels! Go back to bed!"

Rarity stood on the back stoop, glaring suspiciously into the darkness for a few moments longer. Then she harrumphed loudly and went back inside, slamming the door shut behind her.

Sweetie Belle peered over the windowsill to make sure her sister had gone, and then turned back to me.

"Just stay there and don't move," she hissed. "I'm coming down!"

With impressive dexterity, the little foal scrambled out through the window, slid down the roof, bounced off a first-floor window awning and landed gracefully in the grass below. She padded softly around the bush and stood glowering at me.

"I'm not supposed to be talking to you," she said, still keeping her voice low. "My sister says you're a bad influence and we shouldn't be friends. So what do you want, anyway?"

I glanced around in case her sister was still lurking around somewhere. Then I leaned forward and whispered:

"Do you have any smokes?"

Her eyes widened with rage, and she bit her lip like she was stifling a scream. Then, she took a deep, calming breath and exhaled slowly.

"No, Mr. Rusty, I'm sorry. I don't have any smokes."

Rats. Well, it had been worth a try.

"Okay, forget that then," I said. "Question number two: can you tell me how to get back to Silver Spoon's place? I don't remember the way."

"What do you want to go back there for?"

"I, uh..." I scratched the back of my neck. It had been almost forty-five minutes since I'd last had a smoke, and it was getting harder to think straight. "I wanted to apologize to her. You know, for jumping her earlier."

Sweetie Belle raised a single eyebrow.

"You want to apologize."

"Uh-huh."

"In the middle of the night."

"It's not the middle of the night."

"That's not the—" she sighed. "Never mind. Look, if we go back there tonight her dad will just yell at us again and we'll get in even more trouble. Just talk to her at school tomorrow."

She turned around to go back inside.

"Wait!"

My voice cracked a little from panic. I was breaking out in a cold sweat, and it was getting harder and harder to keep my convulsions under control. Sweetie Belle paused and looked back over her shoulder.

"Are you really going over there to apologize?" she asked.

"I, uh..." I trailed off.

Sweetie Belle sighed and shook her head.

>>380057

"I knew it," she said. "This is just more crazy stuff about her being a sideboard or whatever, isn't it? I'm going to bed."

She turned back towards the house.

"Wait!" I cried again, grabbing her by the tail. She made an irritated noise in the back of her throat and glared over her shoulder at me.

"Silver Spoon isn't a cyborg," I said quickly. "I don't even need to talk to her at all. It's her father! It was him all along!"

She sighed.

"So now you think her father's a sideboard?"

"No, I think he's a government agent!"

Sweetie Belle just stared at me like I had bugs in my teeth.

"Well yeah, of course he is. He works for the government in Canterlot."

"No, I mean—"

I cut myself off and took a deep puff, trying to think. How could I explain this to her without blowing her mind?

"Look," I said, exhaling. "You're just going to have to trust me for now. But I think we can blow this whole thing wide open, tonight!"

"What thing? Blow what wide open?" Sweetie looked me over for a moment, and then sighed heavily. "Oh, never mind. I never know what in Equestria you're talking about most of the time, anyway."

"If your planet was about to be terraformed I'd help you."

She sighed again.

"Alright, fine," she huffed. "I'll go with you. But only because you'll just cause more trouble if I'm not there."

She started back towards me, then paused.

"Wait here a second," she said.

She trotted off towards a little garden in the back of the carousel-house. A few moments later she returned with something floating in her tractor beam.

"Here," she said, passing me a small bundle of asparagus stalks. I immediately snatched them out of the air.

"You were holding out on me!"

"Just take them. You get weird when you don't have these things."

My fingers still twitching, I broke the stalks into several cigarette-sized chunks and stuffed them into my pocket. I put the last one in my mouth and began flicking at it with my lighter. My hands were shaking and there was a breeze, so I was having trouble getting it to ignite. Sweetie Belle watched me with a bemused expression.

"...weird-er," she added.

Finally, I had a flame. I blackened the tip of the asparagus, then I took a long, grateful puff. The shakes went away almost immediately. I breathed out a huge sigh of relief, then rose to my feet and brushed off the front of my jeans.

"Alright. S'go."
[hr]
About thirty minutes later, we were once again crouched in the bushes in front of the path, looking at the dim outline of the Spoon mansion silhouetted in the moonlight. The place was eerily quiet, and all the windows were dark.

"There, you see?" whispered Sweetie Belle next to me. "They're probably all asleep. Now let's hurry up and go back before my sister notices I'm gone."

I scratched my chin, staring pensively at the house. The place did indeed look quiet. Perhaps a little too quiet. I blew out a puff of imaginary smoke and ground out my asparagus stalk against a nearby rock.

"I need to get closer," I whispered, and started crawling forward.

"What?!? Hold on, you can't go in there!"

I felt a small tingle of electricity on the back of my neck as Sweetie Belle's tractor beam tugged against my shirt collar. I looked back over my shoulder.

"Don't you remember what she said earlier in the woods today?" I asked. "About her father having some important ponies over for dinner tonight? Government ponies?"

Sweetie Belle huffed.

"Is that what this is all about?!? I told you already, her dad works for the government in Canterlot. That's why her family is so rich. They probably have 'important ponies' over for dinner all the time."

"Then how come the house is all dark?"

"Uh, maybe because it's nighttime?"

I scratched my chin again, trying to recall exactly what that well-dressed earth pony had said back at Twilight's place:

"Now if you will please return my daughter's glasses, I'd like to be on my way. I have a very important dinner tonight, with some very important ponies."

It was just about sundown when he was over there, and there was still light in the sky when I snuck out of the basement. Figure in maybe twenty minutes to get to Sweetie Belle's, and another thirty to get to the Spoon house... there's no way it's any later than nine o'clock right now.

>>380058
"Both Silver Spoon and her dad said they were having a dinner party tonight," I explained. "And when her dad came over to Twilight's earlier to yell at me, he also said he still had to get ready for it."

"So?" she whispered back.

"So, that was only a couple hours ago. Have you ever heard of a fancy rich-people dinner party that was over in two hours?"

Sweetie Belle opened her mouth to say something, then she paused, considering.

"Well, Rarity has dinner parties sometimes," she admitted finally. "And they usually do last a pretty long time. Those fancy ponies she invites over always want to stay for cop-tales and whatever after dinner. They're always talking and laughing and making noise when I'm trying to sleep..."

She trailed off. We both looked back at the house, a gloomy mass of towers and and spires rising up from behind the wall. It was completely dark and silent.

"Do you really think something's wrong over there?" she whispered. It seemed like her curiosity was starting to get the better of her.

"Only one way to find out," I whispered back.

A light breeze stirred up, rustling the foliage around us. Sweetie Belle's tail twitched back and forth.

"I guess it couldn't hurt to get a little closer and take a look," she whispered finally.

We crept slowly forward until we reached the gate. Sweetie Belle nudged it with a hoof and found that it wouldn't move.

"It's locked. How do we get in?"

I lifted her up and set her on top of the wall, then hauled myself over. Then I picked her up and set her down on the other side.

"Right, that works," she muttered.

Now that we were on the other side of the wall, I could see that there actually was a single window on the first floor that had a light on. That was it though, and somehow it made the place look even more foreboding. Another soft breeze stirred the grass, and nearby a rusty old swingset began to creak.

"I don't like this," hissed Sweetie Belle. "Maybe we should go back..."

"We're already here," I replied. "Might as well take a look."

I got down on my hands and knees and began crawling up the slight incline of the yard towards the mansion. After a moment's hesitation, Sweetie Belle trotted quickly after me, staying close.

We crouched down low, just underneath the lit-up window. I put a finger to my lips, and then ever so slowly I peered up over the ledge.

The room inside looked like some kind of library, lined with shelves of leatherbound books and lit by an ornate chandelier hanging from the ceiling. Silver Spoon's father was seated on an enormous couch, next to an earth pony mare who I assumed was her mother. Both of them were drinking wine out of expensive-looking crystal goblets, which they somehow managed to grip with their front hooves. Across from them on another couch sat a refined-looking unicorn wearing a tuxedo and monocle. The three of them were all laughing about something.

Suddenly, a door at the back opened, and another pony entered the room.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, old sport," said the newcomer in a casual tone.

"Oh, that's no trouble," said Spoon's father. "Hopefully you didnt—"

He cut himself off mid-sentence. His jaw fell open and the crystal goblet dropped away from his hoof, spilling wine all over the rug.

"Oh now, darling, look at what you've done," his wife chastised. "You've gone and spilled—"

When she noticed what he was staring at, however, she went immediately silent and dropped her own goblet. Standing in the doorway was... Silver Spoon's father.

The replica entered the room and stood directly in front of his counterpart.

"What in the—" they both said at the same time. "How is this—"

Silver Spoon's father lowered his head, then raised it again. Across from him, the other one did the same. He lifted his front hoof and wiggled it, and his doppelganger mirrored the gesture.

The unicorn with the monocle tilted his head back and laughed.

"Oh, how droll this has all been," he said, in a refined voice that matched his appearance. "However..."

There was a bright flash of blue-green light, and the unicorn transformed into an exact copy of Silver Spoon's mother.

"...I'm afraid we must cut our visit short," she finished, her voice now matching that of the earth pony mare she was imitating.

Before the pair on the couch could even react, there was another flash of blue-green light, and the two copycats had once again transformed. They were now a pair of black, horrifying creatures, part bug and part pony, with bulbous green eyes and flittering insect wings.

The jagged horns on their heads lit up, and Silver Spoon's parents were each enveloped in a blue-green aura that solidified into a coccoon-like sac. The ponies inside struggled, flailing their hooves and screaming in silence. Finally, their eyes rolled back and they went still, each one suspended in the center of a translucent orb like mosquitoes in amber.

I lost my grip on the ledge and fell. I backed slowly away from the window, dew from the lawn seeping into the seat of my pants, my mouth gaping silently open and shut.

"What?" hissed Sweetie Belle in alarm. "What did you see in there?!?"

"Ah... ah..." my mouth continued to open and close as I struggled to get the words out.

"What?!?" Sweetie Belle now looked genuinely frightened.

"Aliens," I finally croaked out.

"What?"

"ALIENS!!" I practically screamed, my voice high and hysterical. "Real ones!! The invasion is upon us! It's every man, woman and horse-child for themselves!"

>>380057
>>380058
>>380059
^^
Aliens. Sweetie could eat 'em, Rusty could beat 'em.
Love the chapter and really eager for the next one. I'm enjoying myself, fren.

Also, the thread is called Gale Dribble. Just wanted to be the one to point that out. ^^

>>380059
My outburst had attracted the attention of the creatures inside. One of them flew immediately to the window, pressing its face against the glass and hissing.

"Witnesses!" the creature at the window snarled to its accomplice. "We can't let them escape, it will spoil everything!"

"YAAAH!"

I continued to back away from the window.

"What are those things?!?" cried Sweetie Belle.

The monster's horn crackled with blue-green light, and suddenly the window exploded outward. Sweetie Belle flinched and covered her face with her foreleg as shards of broken glass rained down on us.

"Save yourself!" I shrieked, scrambling to my feet. I took off running as fast as I could.

"Hey!" Sweetie Belle shouted after me.

I was out of breath after two steps, but adrenaline got me as far as the wall. I vaulted over it a single leap, but lost my balance on the other side and fell face-first into the grass. Behind me I could hear the buzzing of insect wings as one of the creatures followed me over the top. I thought I was a goner, but somehow it missed me and kept flying off into the woods in the direction I would have run, hissing and cursing as it went. Whatever these things were, they didn't seem to have very good night vision.

"Mr. Rusty! Help! I can't make it over!"

I heard Sweetie Belle squeaking in terror on the other side of the wall. I hesitated, torn between my natural instinct for self-preservation and this nagging, insistent voice in my head, telling me that I might have some small responsibility here. Against all reason, the voice won out.

I stood up and peered back over the wall. The second monster had caught up. Sweetie Belle was flailing her limbs helplessly, being slowly cocooned inside one of those big blue orbs.

I reached into my pocket, but all I had were a few asparagus stalks. It was better than nothing, though, so I flung a handful of them at the creature. It hissed, its concentration broken by a sudden hail of vegetable matter. The half-formed orb popped, and Sweetie fell to the ground, coughing and sputtering.

While the monster was distracted, I leaned over the wall and pulled her up. The alien meanwhile had recovered its composure. It hissed again, and took to the air.

"WAAAH!"

I cried out, cowering against the wall as it lunged after us. It flew over the top, but instead of pouncing it just hovered a few feet ahead with its back to us, hissing angrily. Its head darted from side to side, sniffing the air and looking into the darkness.

I let go of Sweetie Belle and grabbed the last few pieces of asparagus I had in my pocket, then flung them in the general direction of the woods. They didn't go very far, but the distraction worked. The creature hissed, and darted off into the trees.

Sweetie Belle and I sat there, panting quietly and not daring to move, but the night was once again still. There was no sign of any more of the creatures.

"Mr. Rusty, what were those things—"

Sweetie Belle was whispering, but I was already crawling around in the grass, trying to recover as many of my asparagus stalks as I could find.

[hr]

Neither of us had much to say to each other as we made our way through the darkness, back to Ponyville. Those two aliens were still buzzing around out there somewhere, and every snapping twig or moving branch was enough to set us on edge. Being a professional soldier of fortune I was naturally in my element, but I had to figure that Sweetie Belle was pretty scared. I knew I would need to keep all my wits about me if we were to have any hope of surviving the night.

"YAAAAAAAGH!" I shrieked, as I felt something brush against the back of my leg.

"Shhh!" hissed Sweetie Belle. "Sorry, that was just me. I can't see anything out here."

I recovered my composure and checked my six. Finding it secure, I checked all the other numbers. Also secure. My heart was thumping in my chest, so I lit an asparagus stalk to quiet it down.

"That's okay," I whispered back. "But try to keep quiet, or else you'll give away our position."

We carried on in relative silence, until finally we were out of the woods and back in the town proper. By then it was well past the bedtime of most respectable ponies, and the streets were dark and quiet.

>>380869
Sweetie Belle didn't want to approach her house from the front, on the off-chance that her sister might still be awake. She took us through a small opening in a nearby fence, and we threaded our way through a bit of underbrush until we came out through the hedge behind Rarity's garden. We sat there awhile, watching, but the carousel was dark and there was no sign of the monsters.

"Do you think we lost them?" whispered Sweetie Belle.

I took a long, thoughtful puff of asparagus.

"For now," I said. "But they'll be back."

"What should we do?!?" she whispered. Now that the immediate danger had passed the reality of what we'd seen was sinking in, and there was a note of panic in her voice. "We have to warn everypony! Maybe we should go to the library and wake up Twilight—"

"SWEETIE BELLE!!"

Sweetie Belle cut herself off mid-sentence at her sister's sharp tone. Her entire body went instantly rigid, her back arching like a cat's. We both turned slowly in the direction of the voice.

Rarity, still in her curlers and bathrobe, was standing in the middle of a yellow square of light spilling out from the back door. Sweetie Belle opened her mouth to speak, but the words seemed to freeze in her mouth. For all the rancor in her voice, Rarity didn't seem to have even noticed us. Instead, she was talking to... us.

Sweetie Belle's doppelganger flashed her sister an insolent grin.

"Sorry," she said. Her voice had an unfamiliar nasal quality to it. "Guess we just lost track of the time."

Rarity huffed indignantly.

"I should say so, it's past ten o'clock! Honestly, Sweetie Belle, I just don't know what to do with you lately! You're turning into quite the delinquent, young filly, and I do not much care for it!"

Sweetieganger smiled pleasantly at her.

"Sor-ry!" she repeated, in a mocking, sing-song voice.

Rarity huffed and sputtered, evidently too incensed to notice the ominous green glow in her baby sister's eyes.

"Just—get in the house," she snapped finally. "We'll discuss this later. And YOU!!"

She rounded suddenly on my doppelganger, who was rocking back and forth on his heels, whistling nonchalantly and staring up at the night sky.

"How dare you corrupt my poor, sweet sister this way! Just what do you have to say for yourself, Rusty Shackleford?"

"I am terribly sorry," said me, in a voice that didn't sound even a little bit like me. "We went into the forest to gather throwing-vegetables. We were then sidetracked by a conversation about how old and boring you are, and we lost track of the time. Please forgive us."

Sweetieganger had her fetlock pressed against her mouth to stifle laughter. Rarity's entire body trembled with rage.

"Why, you boorish, ill-mannered, malodorous... miscreant!!"

"You are correct," said me. "For I am slow-witted and smell terrible."

Sweetieganger finally burst out laughing, which earned her a withering glare from her sister.

"Sweetie Belle! In the house, now!!" Rarity commanded, pointing her hoof towards the door with a theatrical flourish. "And you, Rusty Shackleford, will return to Twilight's this instant! You may rest assured that I will be having words with her regarding your conduct. In the meantime, you will stay away from my sister. And I do not ever want to see you around my shop again! Hrrmph!"

She spun around dramatically and strode back inside. Sweetieganger trotted gaily after her, nose in the air. As she went, she turned and looked directly at us, flashing us an absolutely evil smirk before disappearing into the carousel-house. The Gribbleganger, meanwhile, was already crawling up the side of the building like some kind of lizard, slithering through Sweetie Belle's open window on the second floor.

The real Sweetie Belle turned to me in dismay.

"What do we do?!?" she hissed. "We can't let those things get my sister!"

I wavered. Sweetie Belle gave me a disgusted look and then took off at a gallop. Before she could go, however, I grabbed her by the tail, holding her in place as her legs thrummed uselessly against the grass. She turned and glared at me. I took a deep drag of asparagus.

"Hold your horses," I said, grinding the stalk out on a nearby decorative stone. "That's just what they want us to do. Come on. I've got a plan."

>>380869
>>380870
I love it. ^^

Forgot to post the last couple chapters to this thread. Large text dump inbound.

>>380870

"This is your plan?!?"

Sweetie Belle stared at the crude lean-to I'd constructed, a ramshackle structure made out of sticks and leaves.

"I know it doesn't look like much," I admitted, lighting an asparagus stalk. "But we may have to survive out here for days, weeks, months even. We are going to need shelter. Food. Water. A steady supply of asparagus. Ammunition. Barracks and provisions for the army we need to raise. This humble shelter is just the beginning."

Sweetie Belle raised a single eyebrow, saying nothing. Then she walked over to the lean-to and nudged it gently with a hoof. It collapsed. She turned and looked at me with the same dry expression. I shrugged.

"Okay, I'll admit my design could use some tweaking. If you have any suggestions, I'm willing to listen."

She rolled her eyes.

"Come on, follow me."

She led us back through the orchard a little ways, until eventually we came to a small clearing. At the center was a squat, wide-branched apple tree with a wooden hut built into it. I recognized it as the treehouse I'd been brought to shortly after my arrival on the horse planet.

I stood at the base of the tree, scratching my chin. I had to admit that this place would make a good base of operations. There was even a reconnaissance tower complete with a spyglass at the very top.

"This will probably work for now," I mused. "But if we're going to withstand a prolonged siege, we're going to need provisions..."

Sweetie Belle said nothing. She walked over to the trunk of the tree, then gave it a swift kick with her hind leg. An apple dropped from one of the overhanging branches. She caught it in her horn aura and munched it slowly, giving me that same deadpan stare.

"Alright then, that takes care of food," I said. "Now we just need water. I'll see if I can rig up a filtration system so we can drink our urine—"

"Yeah, I already told you I'm not doing that," said Sweetie Belle. "Besides, there's a stream right over there."

She gestured with a hoof, and sure enough a small brook was softly gurgling a short distance away.

"You can't drink from that!" I exclaimed. "You don't know what's in it!"

Sweetie Belle just shook her head, and began tromping up the ramp.

"Come on, Mr. Rusty," she said wearily. "Let's just get some sleep. We can figure the rest out in the morning."
[hr]
I felt like I had barely drifted off, when I was suddenly jerked awake by the sound of birds chirping on the branches outside. I groaned and opened my eyes. The light coming in through the treehouse window was the dull grey of early dawn. My body was stiff and cold, and there was a thin layer of dew on my clothes.

I sat up slowly, rubbing my aching joints. Sweetie Belle was sitting behind a wooden crate that functioned as a table, munching despondently on an apple. The dark circles under her eyes suggested that she hadn't gotten much sleep either. Wordlessly, she levitated another apple and passed it to me.

We had a silent, gloomy breakfast, and then clambered slowly down out of the treehouse. The clearing was in the middle of an immense grove of apple trees, stretching as far as the eye could see in every direction. Sweetie Belle had explained the night before that the treehouse was situated on Apple Family land, about halfway between the farm and the Ponyville school.

We hiked a short distance through the orchard until we reached the road. The sun had risen by then, transforming the early morning mist into a golden haze that made it difficult to see very far. In the distance, I could hear the faint sound of hooves approaching.

"Get down," I whispered, ushering Sweetie Belle into some nearby underbrush, and then crouching down next to her. I lowered my clip-on sunglasses and peered over the top of the bush, squinting into the morning sunlight.

The hoofsteps gradually became louder, and a moment later Apple Bloom trotted around a bend in the path. She had her schoolbag slung across her back, and still looked a little bleary-eyed from sleep.

"Psst!" I hissed from my hiding place as she passed by. The filly paused, looking around. "Pssst!" I hissed again.

"Is somepony there?" she called out hesitantly.

"PSSST!" I hissed, louder this time.

Next to me, Sweetie Belle sighed and stood up. She stepped out of the bushes.

"Over here, Apple Bloom," she called out.

Apple Bloom turned.

"Oh, hey Sweetie Belle."

I stood up and brushed myself off. Sweetie Belle had cost us the element of surprise, but that was probably okay this time. The little pony looked like she was alone.

"Hey, Mr. Rusty," Apple Bloom added when she saw me. She frowned, taking note of my muddy, rumpled clothes and Sweetie Belle's dissheveled mane and tail. "Uh, are you two alright? You look like you slept outside or somethin'."

>>382156
Sweetie Belle blinked and yawned. She had dark bags under her eyes and looked like she was beyond exhausted.

"We slept in the treehouse," was all she said.

"The treehouse?"

Apple Bloom looked back and forth from one of us to the other.

"Uh, maybe you should tell me what's goin' on."

We did our best to recount our adventures from the night before. Apple Bloom's frown deepened.

"So... you're sayin' these weird shape-shiftin' bugs kidnapped Silver Spoon's parents and replaced 'em with copies?"

Sweetie Belle nodded.

"Yeah. Probably Silver Spoon too. And my sister." She looked drained. "They can make themselves look like anypony they want."

"How many of 'em are there?"

"I don't know. We’ve only seen two, but there are probably lots more.”

She gave a huge yawn, swaying unsteadily on her hooves. Apple Bloom watched her with concern.

"Uh, I'm not sayin' I don't believe you, but... maybe you should just go home and get some sleep, Sweetie Belle. You too, Mr. Rusty. I can tell Miss Cheerilee you're not comin' to school today—"

"NO!"

Apple Bloom jerked back, alarmed by the sudden force in her friend's voice.

"No," Sweetie Belle said again, in a more normal tone. "Please, I know how all of this sounds, but I swear we're not making it up."

Apple Bloom looked from her face to mine and then back again, frowning.

"I swear we're not making it up," Sweetie Belle repeated.

"So... what should we do, then?" asked Apple Bloom.

"We're going to need to raise an army," I said. "We've secured a base of operations, but we're going to need weapons, ammunition, provisions that can last through a protratcted siege—"

Sweetie Belle stomped on my foot.

"We need to find Scootaloo," she interjected, cutting me off with a sour look.

"Don't you two usually walk to school together?" Apple Bloom asked, glancing at me briefly with a mild look of pity in her eyes.

Sweetie nodded.

"Yeah. She sleeps late, though. Sometimes I have to go in there and get her out of bed. She probably isn't even up yet."

"Well, let's get goin' then!"
[hr]
Scootaloo's house turned out to be a dilapidated two-story cottage in a run-down section of Ponyville. The windows were dirty, and the roof badly needed to be re-thatched. The overgrown yard had trash and rusted scooter parts strewn across it.

"You know, I think this is the first time I've ever been to Scoot's house," said Apple Bloom as we approached the shabby hut. "Does anypony else even live here?"

Sweetie Belle shook her head wearily.

"It's kind of a long story," she said. "Anyway—"

"Get down!" I hissed suddenly, grabbing the two ponies and ducking behind the unkempt shrubbery that bordered the yard. We peered cautiously through a hole in the bushes just as the front door of the house began to creak open.

"So, what was the thing you guys wanted to show me before school?"

Scootaloo stepped out onto the porch, blinking sleepily in the morning sunlight.

"It's over at Twilight's library," said a voice that sounded vaguely like Sweetie Belle's. Sweetie's clone emerged onto the porch a moment later, followed by mine.

"Yeah," said the Dale clone. "I really think you're going to like it."

Scootaloo yawned and cracked her neck.

"I've been to Twilight's library before, no offense but it was nothing special. Can you at least tell me what it is before we walk all the way over there?"

'Sweetie Belle' scowled and tapped her hoof impatiently. The whites of her eyes had a faint green glow behind them.

"It's a surprise," she said. "But we have to hurry up and get there now, before everypony starts waking up."

Scootaloo stretched and yawned again, extending her tiny wings as far as they would go.

"Your voice sounds kind of weird, Sweetie Belle," she said. "Do you have a cold or something—"

"BOO!"

They all jumped as I sprang out of the bushes suddenly, landing directly in front of them and making jazz-hands.

'Sweetie Belle' and 'Dale' hissed in surprise, and with a blue-green flash they both transformed into bugs. Scootaloo just stared blankly, looking back and forth between me and the two insect-creatures who were standing where I and Sweetie Belle had just been. The bugs hissed again and took to the air, buzzing quickly over my head. With another flash of light they transformed into pegasi and disappeared into the town. A nearby stallion pulling a cart laden with vegetables watched them go, a confused expression on his face. Then, he shrugged and continued on his way.

Scootaloo blinked as Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom emerged from behind the shrubs. She glanced at us, then at the direction the bugs had gone, then back at us again, and then behind her into the house. She shook her head and scowled.

"Dammit. I'm still asleep, aren't I?"

>>382157
The four of us sat around the small table in Scootaloo's kitchen. Her cottage was even dirtier inside than outside. The floor looked clumsily swept, like it had been done by a child, and there was trash everywhere. A small vase of wildflowers on the table did little to conceal the dank odor wafting up from the sink. Scootaloo seemed uncomfortable, and wouldn't look any of us in the eye.

Finally, Apple Bloom cleared her throat.

"Uh, I like your house, Scoot."

Scootaloo reddened slightly and sank down into her seat.

"This place reminds me of my friend Bill's house," I said, looking around. I sniffed. "Kinda smells the same, too."

Scootaloo slunk down even further. Apple Bloom shot me a disapproving glance and cleared her throat again.

"The flowers are a nice touch," she offered.

Scootaloo's flush deepened.

"Look, it's usually not this messy, okay?" she muttered. "My mom and dad are away on a trip."

Apple Bloom furrowed her brow.

"Now when you say 'away on a trip...'"

"It's for their work, they have to travel a lot. My aunts check up on me sometimes."

"Now when you say 'sometimes...'"

Scootaloo cleared her throat loudly.

"So... what are we going to do about school, anyway?" she interjected, changing the subject. "Class has probably started by now."

"Maybe we should just stay here today," said Sweetie Belle. She looked like she wanted nothing more than to curl up somewhere and go to sleep.

"Hey, yeah," said Scootaloo. "Mr. Rusty's a grownup, kind of. He could write a note to Miss Cheerilee for us."

"What about tomorrow, though?" countered Apple Bloom. "And the day after? We can't just hide here forever, while Ponyville is gettin' taken over by giant bugs. Besides, Miss Cheerilee is going to wonder where we are."

"What if Miss Cheerilee's been replaced by a bug?" asked Scootaloo.

"You three should go to school," I said, exhaling. The three fillies looked slightly disappointed. "The aliens already know this place. It's not safe here."

"Aren't you coming with us?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"I have something I need to look into. It'll be better if I go alone. Meanwhile, you three just go to school and act like everything's fine and natural."

"What about the bugs?" asked Scootaloo.

"We don't know who's been replaced and who hasn't. Stay together. Trust no one. Don't go off anywhere alone."

"Not even to go to the bathroom?"

"Especially not to go to the bathroom."

Scootaloo stood up.

"Uh, in that case, I'll be right back."

She trotted quickly down the hall. We all waited politely, and when she returned we all stepped out onto the front porch.

"Maybe we should come up with a signal," suggested Apple Bloom. "Somethin' we can all say to each other in case we get separated, that only we would know."

"Oswald was framed," I said. All three of them looked at me. "Well, he was. Also, that can be the password. From now on, don't trust anybody—anypony—who doesn't say 'Oswald was framed.'"

They all nodded.

"Oswald was framed," said Apple Bloom.

"Oswald was framed," said Scootaloo.

Sweetie Belle sighed. She looked like she might collapse from exhaustion at any moment.

"Oswald was framed," she muttered.

"Good. Now you three run along to school. We'll meet up at the treehouse later."

"Where are you goin', Mr. Rusty?" asked Apple Bloom.

"I want to see what's so special about Twilight's library."
[hr]
I felt leery at the prospect of walking back through Ponyville, completely exposed, where any pony I met could be an alien in disguise. Instead, I decided to double back through the apple orchard, skirting the edge of the town and following the train tracks.

Eventually, the trees thinned out and I came to an open meadow. In the distance I could see the distinctive outline of Twilight's tree library. I licked my thumb and checked the direction of the wind. It was coming from the northeast. I wasn't sure what to do with that information, but it was probably good to know.

The field was nothing but high grass, with no cover anywhere in sight. If there were any snipers nearby I'd be a dead man. My only option was to belly-crawl through the grass and approach with stealth from the rear.

Moving slowly and in serpentine fashion, I crept through the tall grass towards the tree. When I'd gone about halfway, the grass parted abruptly and I found myself touching a woolen blanket. I looked up to see two confused-looking ponies staring at me. There was a basket nearby, and plates and cups were scattered about. One of the ponies, a sea-green unicorn, was levitating a teacup.

"Uh... what are you doing?" she asked.

I ground out my asparagus stalk on a nearby saucer, which earned me an annoyed look from the unicorn's friend.

"I was never here," I said in a low voice, and receded backward into the grass.

Giving their picnic a wide berth, I continued to serpentine until the tall grass of the field evened out into the manicured lawn surrounding the library. I paused, scanning the perimeter. So far, it looked like I hadn't been spotted. The little cellar window I'd escaped through the previous night, carved into one of the roots in the side, was still open. If I could make it across the lawn without being seen, I could probably get in that way...

Suddenly, a shadow fell across my path.

"Oh, hey there Mr. Rusty," a familiar voice said.

"BWAAAAAAH!" I shrieked, scrambling backward. It was then that I noticed Spike, Twilight's weird little dragon assistant, standing off to one side.

I stood up and brushed off my clothes, doing my best to look nonchalant.

"Spike."

We stared at each other until it became uncomfortable. Spike cleared his throat and began to fidget.

"So, uh, why were you crawling around on the ground? Did you lose something?"

>>382158
I slipped my hand into my pocket, and felt it wrap around something cold and hard-edged. I realized that I still had the gem he'd given me the other day.

"Oh, uh, I was just looking for this."

I showed him the gem. Spike glanced at it with disinterest.

"Oh, okay," was all he said. "Anyway, it's good you're here. Twilight's been looking for you."

"She has?"

"Yeah, she's pretty mad that you went running off on your own last night. She says you're still grounded, and if I see you I'm supposed to tell you to get back in the cellar."

I narrowed my eyes and lit an asparagus stalk, trying to think. Spike was smiling pleasantly at me, and he looked like his usual self. Still, my Gribble-sense was tingling. Something was off here. I glanced past Spike to the tree, but could see nothing out of the ordinary except the open cellar window.

Wait a minute, did I really leave that window open last night?

The hair on the back of my neck began to stand. I had the unmistakable sense that I was walking into a trap.

"Come on, Mr. Rusty," said Spike. There was an impatient note in his voice now. "You need to get back inside."

I tossed my asparagus to the ground and ground it out.

"Nah, I've got to get to school," I said.

"Twilight said you should skip school today."

"That doesn't sound like it'd be good for my education."

Spike shrugged.

"Twilight doesn't care. She says you're grounded. She wants you to write a ten page friendship letter to Princess Celestia, and then re-alphabetize the library."

"That doesn't sound like her."

"Well, that's what she told me. She says you're failing school anyway, and that this will be a better use of your time."

There was something about his too-friendly smile that I didn't like. Instead of answering, I handed him the gem.

"Sorry, I think my eyes were bigger than my stomach," I said. "I don't think I can eat this. You want it?"

He took it from me hesitantly.

"Eat... the gem?"

"Yeah," I said. "You're a dragon, aren't you? And dragons like gems. Go on, no need to be embarrassed. Just chow down!"

He turned it over in his claw, staring at it like I'd just dared him to eat a cockroach. Then, without warning, he threw the gem away and raised his claws, hissing angrily at me. I took a surprised step backward.

"I'm not hungry either," he said. All the friendliness had gone out of his voice. "Now let's just get down to the cellar, what do you say, Mr. Rusty? Don't want Twilight to be mad..."

He hissed again, and took a menacing step forward. His eyes now had a slight green glow. He advanced on me, hissing and clawing at the air. It suddenly dawned on me that Spike was only about two feet tall, and his claws didn't look all that sharp.

When he took another step forward I lunged for him, grabbing him by the tail and yanking him roughly into the air. As I'd suspected, he didn't weigh very much; I could lift him easily with one hand.

"WAAAAAAAAUGH!" he cried out in surprise.

I swung him around in a circle over my head and threw him as hard as I could. He yowled indignantly as he went sailing through the air, and then landed with a crash somewhere in the meadow. I heard what sounded like dishes breaking, and the two ponies from before poked their heads up out of the grass, glaring at me.

"Hey!" one of them called out.

"Sorry!" I called back.

Then there came a loud hiss, followed by a green flash of light. The two ponies cried out in alarm as something darted off, rusting through the grass as it fled into the nearby woods.

"That wasn't very nice."

I turned to face the source of this new voice. Twilight Sparkle was standing near the library, and next to her was... Spike. More figures were emerging from behind the trunk of the library as well. There was... Twilight again. And Spike. And a third Spike. They all had that weird green glow in their eyes.

They spread out into a semicircle, advancing on me slowly.

"Oh my god, it's a flying saucer!" I shouted, pointing.

When they all turned to look, I took off running.

>>382159
Gribble's Log
Location: Treehouse
Day 8

I have been careless.

In my efforts to infiltrate Horseworld and prevent the terraformation of Earth, I failed to consider that Horseworld might itself be infiltrated and terraformed. As 'Princess Celestia' sits in her high castle, scheming her audacious schemes for full-scale interplanetary invasion, it appears that all the while a third player has been working on a scheme of their own.

While I would normally call this poetic justice, this latest development poses serious problems Gribble-wise. One: I am currently marooned on Horseworld with no means of escape. What affects these ponies for the time being affects me as well. Two: if Horseworld succumbs to the wiles of these mysterious bug-like invaders, the other planets of the galaxy will soon fall like dominoes. There won't be an Earth for me to return to.

I have decided therefore to form a temporary alliance with the warriors of the horse planet. The so-called 'cutie mark crusaders' are the least-untrustworthy of the ponies I have met thus far, and seem to have no worrisome connections to their government or mine. But, they also have no practical experience in detecting and exterminating hostile creatures from outer space.

I must now explain to these naive horse-children the full gravitas of the battle ahead, and the true nature of the enemy I believe we face. Full disclosure. Nothing held back.

I can only pray that the truth doesn't break them.
[hr]
It was now late afternoon and school had long since ended. The day had grown overcast and humid, the air in the treehouse heavy with the smell of impending rain.

"Do any of you have any questions so far?" I asked.

The three fillies just stared at me in silence. Finally, Scootaloo raised a hoof.

"Um, could you explain the part about the Warren Commission again?"

"Yeah," chimed in Apple Bloom. "And what does it have to do with that floor-ride stuff you said the government was puttin' in your drinkin' water?"

"All fine questions," I said, lighting a stalk. "To answer, we'll have to go back to a time I like to call 1947. The place: Roswell, New Mexico. In many ways it was a halcyon time for this small town of fifteen thousand, but thanks to the crash of a purported 'weather balloon—'"

"What does any of this have to do with giant bugs taking over Ponyville?" interrupted Sweetie Belle crossly.

"Uh... yeah," added Apple Bloom. "I mean, this is all real interestin', Mr. Rusty, but I'm kinda with Sweetie Belle. We all saw the bugs this mornin', and I don't think they're those zebra... regular... uh, what did you call 'em, again?"

"Zeta Reticulans."

"Yeah... uh... those."

I took a puff of asparagus.

"While I've never heard of Zeta Reticulans having shapeshifting capabilities either, we can't afford to rule anything out. For the record, though, I also agree with Sweetie Belle. Reptilian Archons are far more likely culprits in this case."

"That's not what I—arrgh, we don't have time for this!" said Sweetie Belle. "What are we going to do?!?"

"I still think we should tell a grownup what's goin' on," said Apple Bloom. She gave me kind of a sheepish look. "I mean, no offense Mr. Rusty, but—"

"We could tell Miss Cheerilee," Scootaloo offered.

"I don't know, she was acting really weird today," said Sweetie Belle.

"Weird how?" I asked.

"I don't know, just weird. Her voice sounded funny, and she kept asking us about you."

"Yeah, and she didn't even care that Sweetie Belle slept for like half the day," added Scootaloo.

"Oh come on, I only shut my eyes for two minutes."

"It was more like two hours. And you were snoring, too!"

"Was not!"

"Were too! The whole class heard. And you were blowing bubbles with your nose!"

Scootaloo squeezed her eyes shut and made exaggerated snoring noises. Sweetie Belle ground her teeth, and her horn began to light up.

"Miss Cheerilee didn't really teach us anythin' today, either," said Apple Bloom, quickly stepping between the two of them. "She just kept talkin' about how we're all gonna go on this field trip to the Golden Oak Library next week, and how it's real important that the whole class is there, but also we're not supposed to tell our families about it. I don't know, that all sounded kinda fishy to me."

"Yeah, that actually was pretty weird," mused Scootaloo. "And the bugs from this morning, the ones that looked like you guys? They were talking about the Golden Oak library too."

"The invaders probably have bases all over town," I said. "The library is definitely one. I went back there today."

I gave them a brief account of what I'd seen that morning.

"I don't really wanna go there anyway," said Scootaloo with a shrug. "It's pretty boring. There's nothing to do in there but read."

"It's a library," said Sweetie Belle. "You're supposed to read in there."

>>382160
"Yeah, but they don't even have any comic books or anything. Plus, you know Twilight Sparkle that works there? Rainbow Dash says she's a total egghead, and if I spend too much time in the library I might turn into an egghead like her—"

"Not trusting Twilight Sparkle is a good instinct," I cut in. "She's clearly an undercover operative in league with your nation's government. And she grounded me."

"I like Twilight," countered Sweetie Belle primly. "I think she's nice."

"You won't think she's so nice after she copies your brain-waves and sends them off to Canterlot. Besides, she's been replaced by multiple clones of herself, so it's not even her."

"I hate how that doesn't even sound crazy anymore," muttered Sweetie Belle.

"What do you think the bugs're tryin' to do, Mr. Rusty?" asked Apple Bloom, changing the subject. "Are they just swappin' out random ponies, or... what do they want?"

"It's a classic covert infiltration scenario," I said. "I've seen it before. Take a look at their targets so far. They start by quietly replacing the most important people—ponies—they can get to. Silver Spoon's parents do government work in Canterlot. Cheerilee is your town's Minister of Propaganda. And Twilight Sparkle is Celestia's personal stooge, as well as her eyes and ears in Ponyville. She was probably the one they got to first."

"What about my sister?" asked Sweetie Belle, with an anxious flick of her tail.

"She probably wasn't part of the original plan. Last night, you and me witnessed something we weren't supposed to. When they couldn't catch us, they went for Rarity. And just this morning they were trying to get to Scootaloo. Get it? These things know who you are and where you live and who your friends are. They've probably been watching Ponyville for months. All of us are targets now. Probably your families, too. Well, except for you, Scootaloo."

Scootaloo looked a little dejected. Apple Bloom shot me a sour look.

"If they're goin' after our families, then that means my brother and my sister and Granny Smith are all in trouble!" she said. "We gotta go warn 'em!"

"Can't, it's too risky. Besides, they've probably already been replicated."

"I don't care, I need to help if I can! Besides, if she ain't been replicated yet, my big sis might be able to help us!"

"And if she has been replicated, she'll put you in one of those coccoons and ship you off to the Draco system to be dissected. Is that what you want, Apple Bloom? Huh?"

"I think she's right," cut in Sweetie Belle, with an irritated glance at me. "And anyway, we really should tell somepony about what's going on. I think this problem might be too big for us to handle on our own."

"We're the Cutie Mark Crusaders, though!" Scootaloo objected. "And if we can save the town by ourselves, we could be heroes, just like Rainbow Dash! We might even get our cutie marks!"

The other two paused, considering.

"I still think we should at least tell my sister what's goin' on..." said Apple Bloom, but the prospect of a town hero cutie mark was clearly tempting her.

"I'll tell you what we need to do," I said, taking another puff. "We need to round up every firearm and every scrap of spare ammunition in a twelve mile radius of this town, and prepare ourselves to fight off the invaders."

"Uh... firearms?"

"Ammunition?"

The fillies looked at each other in confusion.

"You know, guns? Rifles? Weapons?"

The three ponies just stared blankly at me.

"Wait a minute, do you ponies not have any guns?"

They looked at each other, and then back at me. Apple Bloom shrugged.

"Sorry, Mr. Rusty, I don't think we have anything like that. Also, what are guns?"

I was so astonished the asparagus stalk fell right out of my mouth.

"You mean to say your society isn't armed?!?"

They shook their heads.

"Then how do you defend yourselves against the encroachment of a hostile government?!?"

Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo looked at each other and shrugged.

"We're awful sorry, Mr. Rusty," said Apple Bloom. "We've never been in an alien invasion before, we don't know what kinda stuff we're supposed to have. I guess we could ask Granny Smith, she might know somethin' about what guns are..."

I wasn't listening anymore; I was too busy trying to slow down my own heart rate. The three fillies watched in silence as I paced back and forth, muttering to myself while attempting to light another stalk.

"Hey, I have an idea!" exclaimed Scootaloo all of a sudden. "What if we have a campout here in the treehouse? We don't have to be back at school for a couple of days. We can go up to the farm and ask Applejack if it's okay, and while we're there we can check on them and make sure they haven't been replaced by bug-ponies. And Mr. Rusty can get... whatever he needs."

"That's a pretty good idea," mused Apple Bloom. "And we ain't had a treehouse campout in awhile... what do you think, Mr. Rusty?"

I managed to get my hand to stop shaking long enough to light an asparagus stalk. The roof of the treehouse was uncomfortably low, and I had to hold my neck at a weird angle in order to stand up in there. I took a deep, long puff, and felt the soothing magical nicotine flow through my body.

"I had no idea the situation in Ponyville was this dire," I said finally. "Not having access to combat rifles with high-capacity magazines throws off my plans, but as a professional soldier of fortune I've had to work with less."

Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle exchanged another confused look.

"So, uh, does that mean we're having a campout then?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"What this town needs is a well-regulated citizens militia," I said. "And the four of us are going to form that militia. So yes, it does mean we'll be camping out in the treehouse this weekend."

The three fillies looked at each other and grinned. They each raised a hoof and bumped them together.

"Cutie mark crusader citizens' militia campout!" they cried in unison.

It gets better and better, I love what you're doing, keep it up, friend!

>>382161
By the time we reached the Apple farm, drops of rain were beginning to fall from the sky. Applejack was outside, hurriedly pulling a tarp over the back of a wagon loaded with barrels. Hitched to the front was a large red earth pony I hadn't seen before.

"Oh, Apple Bloom, you're back," said Applejack when she saw us approaching. "That's good. You can help us get the rest of these apples inside before the rain starts comin' down."

"Well, actually sis," said Apple Bloom hesitantly. "We were just comin' to ask if we could have a campout in the treehouse this weekend."

Applejack frowned, looking up at the darkening, overcast sky.

"Y'all want to sleep in the treehouse tonight? Rainbow Dash says there's supposed to be a pretty big storm comin'..."

"We promise we'll come back and sleep in the house if there's any lightnin' or anythin'."

Applejack looked back and forth between the four of us, still frowning.

"Mr. Rusty's gonna camp out too?"

I didn't answer. My asparagus stalk had gone out, and I was in the process of trying to relight it. The wind was picking up, and I was having trouble getting a flame.

"We promise we'll keep an eye on him," said Sweetie Belle.

Applejack's frown deepened, and then she just shrugged.

"I guess it's okay," she said. "Big Mac and I can take care of your chores for this weekend, so long as you promise to do a little extra 'round here next week to make up for it."

"I promise!" said Apple Bloom.

Applejack turned and called over her shoulder.

"That okay with you, Big Mac?"

"Eeyup," said the big red pony.

She turned back to the fillies.

"And Sweetie Belle? Rarity said it's okay for you to stay over? Scootaloo, you talked to... uh... your folks?"

"Yes," they both said in unison, smiling sweetly.

"Alright then, I guess that's settled," said Applejack. The wind was making it difficult to control the tarp, and she tugged at it roughly, trying to get it into place so she could tie it down. As she was struggling, Apple Bloom approached her hesitantly.

"By the way, sis," she began. "You haven't seen anythin'... strange 'round here lately, have you?"

Applejack caught the tarp string in her teeth and yanked it as tight as she could.

"Strange?" she considered the question for a moment. "No, I don't reckon I have."

Meanwhile, I had moved under the nearby eave of the barn, and was still trying to light my asparagus in the drizzle. Applejack watched me for a moment and chuckled.

"I guess Mr. Rusty chewin' on that burnt asparagus all the time is the strangest thing I've seen in awhile," she added. "Why do you ask?"

"Uh... no reason," said Apple Bloom, looking away uncomfortably. "It's just..."

"It's just that we're... investigating stuff!" Scootaloo put in. "We're investigating... what did Mr. Rusty call it?"

She looked at Sweetie Belle, who shrugged.

"Paramoral disturbances, I think?"

"Yeah, that."

"So we need to know if you've seen anythin' suspicious 'round here recently," finished Apple Bloom.

Applejack looked amused.

"So y'all are investigators now, huh? That's cute. And Mr. Rusty's helpin' you?"

I was still too preoccupied with my lighter to answer. Applejack chuckled again, shook her head, and lightly kicked the side of the wagon with her front hoof.

"S'all ready to go, Big Mac!" she called out.

The wagon began to creak slowly forward. Applejack watched it go, then turned back to her sister.

"You know what," she said. "I actually did hear somethin' kinda strange at the market today. Golden Harvest was sayin' that a bunch of her carrots got dug up from her garden the other day. Maybe y'all could investigate that."

"That just sounds like rabbits," Scootaloo muttered indignantly.

"She said her neighbor had some stuff go missin' too," Applejack went on. "And she had her garbage cans knocked over."

"Raccoons then," said Sweetie Belle.

"I don't know about that, but it sure sounded pretty darn mysterious to me..."

Her voice had a distinctly patronizing note to it.

"Come on, sis, we're bein' serious!" Apple Bloom protested. "You're sure you haven't seen anythin'... you know... really strange? Like... giant bugs takin' over Ponyville? Or anythin' like that?"

Applejack snickered.

"Giant bugs takin' over Ponyville? Uh, no sugarcube, I'm pretty sure I'd remember seein' somethin' like that." She ruffled her sister's mane with a hoof, and Apple Bloom grunted. "I think y'all been listenin' to a few too many of Mr. Rusty's stories—"

"Yeah, that Mr. Rusty sure tells some crazy stories, all right."

The foals all froze at the sound of a familiar voice. I dropped my lighter in surprise, my asparagus stalk still unlit. Applejack, however, just glanced past her sister and smiled broadly.

"Oh, hey there, Twilight!"

Sure enough, Twilight Sparkle was walking up the drive from the orchard, her dragon servant a few steps behind.

"Applejack! Be careful!" hissed Apple Bloom, but her older sister ignored her.

"What brings you all the way out here?" she asked.

Twilight smiled. Her horn lit up, flipping open the saddle bag she wore slung across her back.

"I just came to return this plow harness you loaned me," she said.

Applejack frowned.

"Did I loan you a plow harness?"

"Yeah, don't you remember? I came by the other week, said I had to do some gardening, you said you had a plow harness that would fit me...?"

"No, I can't say as I recall that," said Applejack, stroking her chin. Then she shrugged. "But, things have been pretty busy around here, probably just slipped my mind."

>>382349
The plow harness was floating in a green aura a foot or two in front of Twilight. Applejack stepped forward and extended a foreleg to take it.

"Hey Twilight," I cut in. "How come your magic's a different color?"

Twilight turned and glared at me. Spike did too. It was too late though, Applejack had stopped, and was now looking at the object suspended in the air in front of her, a curious frown on her face.

"Huh, that is mighty peculiar," she said. "Your magic's usually purple, right? How'd you make it turn green like that?"

"Oh, it's just this new spell I'm trying..." Twilight stammered.

"How's it work?" I pressed, stepping forward. I walked around the floating plow harness in a circle, pretending to be fascinated by it. "The other day in school, Miss Cheerilee told us a unicorn's magic color can't be changed."

"Hey, yeah," put in Sweetie Belle, taking my cue. She and the others approached and started gawking and poking at the harness. "We just learned that the other day. A unicorn can't change the color of her magic any more than she can change her cutie mark!"

"W-well, I know that of course, it's just, an illusion spell I've been perfecting—"

Twilight was now hemming and hawing, and her voice sounded off. Her eyes had a slight green glow behind them. Applejack looked confused.

"Uh, that doesn't sound right," she said, scratching her chin with a fetlock. "I'm not a unicorn, and I don't mean to contradict your teacher or nothin', but I'm pretty sure that's just an old mare's tale..."

"Oh, wait, you're right!" I said, slamming my fist into my hand like I'd just had some sort of revelation. "Still, though, don't you think it's strange that a real unicorn like Twilight Sparkle wouldn't know that...?"

Twilight Sparkle gave me a hateful look and made a low hissing noise in the back of her throat. Her eyes were glowing bright green now. Applejack took a step forward.

"Twilight, are you sure you're feelin' okay—"

All of a sudden there was a bright flash of lighting, accompanied by a deafening thunderclap. We all winced, shielding our eyes. The thunderclouds that had been slowly gathering over our heads exploded into a downpour.

"Are y'all okay?" I heard Applejack cry out. "I think that lightnin' mighta struck somethin' nearby..."

I wasn't paying attention. I looked all around, but could find no trace of either Twilight or Spike. Applejack had noticed too.

"Twilight!" she called out. "Spike—oof!"

She grunted, as her legs were suddenly yanked out from under her and she collapsed face-first in the mud. She rolled onto her back, and discovered that the plow harness that had been floating in the air a moment ago had been tied around her hind legs.

"Sis!" shouted Apple Bloom from somewhere nearby.

There was a burst of sickly green light, and a hideous creature materialized over Applejack, looking like some kind of half-transformed mutation. Its coat and mane were still Twilight Sparkle's, but its body shape had contorted. Its front legs were bored through with strange holes, and the eyes were bulbous and faceted like an insect's. It buzzed in the air on a set of translucent dragonfly wings.

The long, curved purple horn jutting out of its forehead sparked up, and a green aura began to take shape around Applejack's body. However, Applejack reacted more quickly than the bug anticipated. She flipped deftly over onto her two front legs, cocked back her hips, and aimed a powerful buck. Her hind legs were still bound at the fetlocks by the harness, but both hooves hit the creature square on the horn. It broke with a sickening crack, and the monster shrieked in pain.

It fell to the ground, flailing back and forth in the mud, still shrieking. Meanwhile, Applejack scrambled to her hooves, shaking off the plow harness. It dislodged quickly, and fell with a plop next to the convulsing insect creature.

"Whatever that thing is, it sure don't know nothin' about tyin' knots," she muttered, as she scrambled towards where the fillies and I had taken shelter under the barn eaves.

"Are y'all okay?" she demanded. She approached her younger sister, lifting her chin with a hoof and examining her face.

"Sis, this is what we were tryin' to warn you about—" began Apple Bloom.

"Where's the other one?" cut in Sweetie Belle anxiously.

The sky had grown considerably darker with the onset of the sudden thunderstorm, and it was difficult to see anything. I could make out the bug with the injured horn, now fully transformed into its insect state, limping slowly away towards the orchard, nursing its injured horn. It didn't look like it was in a mood to cause any more trouble. However, there was no trace of the one that had been disguised as Spike.

Applejack took a hesitant step forward, squinting into the rain that was now coming down in thick sheets. Suddenly, a red blur came from out of nowhere and barreled into her, once again knocking the wind out of her and sending her flying to the ground.

"Big Mac?!?" she mumbled, staring up in confusion at the massive stallion that had pinned her down.

"Nope," the pony replied with a malicious grin. A glowing, curved horn sprouted out of his forehead, and his eyes lit up with toxic green light.

>>382350
"Get away from my sister!" shouted Apple Bloom, galloping towards the creature. It swatted her aside effortlessly, and she went flying. She was caught in midair in by the aura of a third bug, who was joined by two more who had appeared out of nowhere. The filly could only flail her limbs helplessly as she floated, suspended between their horn-beams. Within seconds, she was encased in one of those translucent cocoons.

"Apple Bloom!" shouted Sweetie Belle.

"There's more of them!" cried Scootaloo, pointing. Another flash of lighting illuminated the barnyard briefly, and sure enough we could see an entire horde of flying insects, twenty or thirty of them at least, descending upon the farm.

"Run!" I shrieked.

We took off at a sprint. The ground was basically mud at that point, and we kept slipping and sliding. Between the rain and the growing darkness I could barely see a foot ahead of me. I was dimly aware of a green beam brushing against me, trying to take hold of my arm, but I was able to swat it away.

Finally I stepped on a particularly slick bit of mud, and landed flat on my back. I thought I heard Sweetie Belle calling my name from somewhere nearby. I rolled over and scrambled to my feet as quickly as I could. Before I could take another step, however, I felt an electric tingling on my skin.

I turned around. One of the aliens now had me in its tractor beam. My feet began sliding through the mud as it pulled me slowly towards it.

Lightning flashed again, and for a fraction of a second I saw the whole hopeless scene. Somewhere along the way one of them had caught Scootaloo, and was in the process of sealing her into one of those green cocoons. Two more sacs containing Apple Bloom and her big sister were being carried away towards the town.

I was now being dragged steadily forward. The electric tingling engulfed my entire body, and it was hard to move my arms and legs. I felt like I was trying to swim through molasses.

A beam of aquamarine light shot out from nearby, striking the creature in the face; Sweetie Belle must have fired some kind of unicorn laser beam at it. From the bug's reaction it'd had about as much effect as shooting it in the face with a squirt gun, but it was enough to break its concentration and allow me to move.

Thankfully I'd had the foresight to reload on the walk up to the farm. I was now thoroughly soaked, as was everything in my pockets, but I grabbed a generous glob of what I had and threw it in directly into the creature's eyes.

"Pocket mud!"

It snarled, temporarily blinded, and the tractor beam broke off completely. I looked around, and saw Sweetie Belle a few feet to my right, trying to gallop away as yet another of the bugs was encasing her small body in its aura.

I kicked the monster in the horn as hard as I could. My boots were nowhere near as strong as Applejack's hooves, but it was still enough to break the beam and deal it some damage. The insect-thing howled with rage and pain, and some kind of reflex made it transform into a bug-like approximation of me.

In a stroke of pure luck, the one that had grabbed me managed to wipe the mud out of its eyes at just that second. It mistook its friend for me, and lashed out with its aura. The Dale-bug, still howling in pain, reacted by firing its own tractor beam at the thing that had attacked it. They struggled for another couple of seconds, and then both bugs were entombed in translucent cocoons. Their limbs jerked feebly for a bit longer, then came to a stop.

The dim light and the rain still made it difficult to see, but from what I could tell these were the only ones that had come after Sweetie and me. Most of the swarm seemed to be concentrating on the barn itself, darting in and out and hissing to each other. A new cocoon, containing what looked like the big red pony I'd seen earlier, was being rolled out with visible effort by two exhausted-looking bugs. There was no sign of Scootaloo.

"We have to go back!" shouted Sweetie Belle.

I looked down at her. She was standing knee-deep in mud, her normally poofy mane soaked through and plastered to her head. She looked like a Persian cat that someone had sprayed with a fire hose. Next to her, the two alien bugs were still floating in whatever sort of goop was in those cocoons. I took one more look at the barn, where the rest of the insects still seemed more or less preoccupied.

Without another word, I grabbed Sweetie Belle by the scruff of her neck and took off running, away from the farm. She squeaked in protest, struggling and yelling for me to put her down, but I ignored her.

I made it to a white picket fence and vaulted over, and then we were out of the barnyard. I spared a quick glance over my shoulder, but it seemed the rest of the bugs still hadn't noticed us yet. Sweetie Belle continued to struggle and protest. I transferred her into the crook of my arm, and then sprinted away, across the main road towards the dark treeline beyond.

>>382351
Gribble's Log
Day 8, Nighttime
Location: The Woods

Our resistance force has been decimated. The alien hunters have become the alien hunted.

In a cruel twist of irony, I write these words from the bowels of the very forest where I spent my first night on Planet Equestria. Once more hungry and smokeless, it seems I shall again be forced to rely on my expert wilderness skills should I hope to survive.

Morale among the remaining troops is low. We are once again isolated in an unfamiliar and hostile terrain. Our first priority will, of course, be the acquisition of additional smokes, along with a way to light said smokes, as my Lee Harvey Oswald Zippo was lost in the melee earlier—

"Will you forget about that stupid notebook?!?"

My writing was cut off mid sentence as my notebook was suddenly seized in a blue-green aura and yanked away.

"My log!"

I sprang to my feet, but before I could grab the notebook back, Sweetie threw it into the woods as hard as she could. I could only watch helplessly as it flew through the air and then disappeared into the surrounding darkness.

I hadn't had a smoke since we'd left the treehouse, and I was jonzing hard. But even between the adrenaline and the fog of nicotine withdrawal, I could see everything crystal clear. The pieces were all snapping into place. It had been her all along. The very first horse I met when I came to this accursed planet.

I rounded on her, pointing my finger accusingly.

"So, you've shown your true colors at last, eh Sweetie Belle? How much did they pay you to set me up?"

She was on her hooves now, still glaring at me. A brief flash of lightning illuminated the small clearing for a fraction of a second. The filly was soaked through to the skin, shivering from wet and cold, but her angry gaze held steady.

"How much did who pay me?"

"Don't try to play dumb! Was this your plan all along? I'll bet you and your handlers have been having a nice, long chuckle at my expense!"

"What are you talking about?!?"

"So who is it you're working for, Sweetie Belle, if that even is your real name? Huh? The FBI? The CIA? The DEA? NIT? SAG? KHJ? The NEA? The NRA? The FDA? The NBA?"

One of those agencies must have hit a nerve, because the little horse suddenly came charging at me full steam. She rammed her blunt horn into my shin as hard as she could, and while I was hopping around on one foot, she spun around and bucked my other shin. I collapsed on my backside into the soft mud.

"Shut up!!" shouted Sweetie Belle. "Just shut up for once!"

"Yaaagh..."

She stomped towards me, her horn glowing with malevolent alien power. I crawled backward, until my back was pressed up against the tree.

"It's been nothing but trouble ever since you got here! Now my sister is gone, my friends are gone, all I've got left is you! And all you can do is keep talking about stupid nonsense, and writing in your stupid book!"

She was now standing on my thighs, her front hooves pressed into my chest, looking me straight in the eye. The glow of her horn gave her face an eerie aquamarine cast. I reached into my pocket and took out my last asparagus stalk, then realized I had no way to light it. I put it in my mouth anyway.

"If you're gonna finish me off, do it quick."

She glared at me for a moment longer, her bottom lip trembling. Then she backed away and sniffed. She wiped angrily at her eyes with her front leg, leaving a streak of mud across her face.

"Just leave me alone."

She turned and galloped off into the woods.
[hr]

>>382425
Gribble's Log
Day 9, Morning
Location Unknown

I am once again on my own, with an array of hostile alien forces lined up against me. The one called "Sweetie Belle" has turned out to be a wolf in sheep's clothing. Horse in wolf's clothing? Wolf in horse's... sheep's... whatever. Point is, I put my trust in an alien horse, and I've been betrayed—

I sneezed. The rain had stopped hours ago, but I was still soaked through to the bone, and the early dawn air was frigid. I had been in the throes of smokeless agony for hours now, and my mind was beginning to play tricks on me. Writing in the soft mud with a stick was laborious and time consuming, but since Sweetie Belle had thrown my notebook away I didn't have much choice.

Suddenly, my Gribble-sense warned me of a hostile presence nearby.

"Shi-shi-shaw!" I hissed, throwing my body protectively over my writing.

I turned to face the interloper. A small bunny-rabbit was perched on a rock not far away, watching me curiously.

"Who do you work for?" I demanded.

The bunny cocked its head inquisitively to the side, and stared at me a moment longer. Then, it made a gesture like a shrug, turned, and hopped off into the thicket.

I stood up, brushing the mud off of my wet shirt. I realized that in my haste to cover up my writing, I'd accidentally smeared it beyond recognition. All that time had been wasted.

I sneezed again. My hands were shaking, and it wasn't just from cold. I still had two more stalks of asparagus in my pocket, but without a flame they were just vegetables.

I squinted. The sun was coming up, its golden light making the dew drops twinkle like diamonds. It was a beautiful morning in Equestria, and yet there were menacing vibrations all around me. Unseen eyes were watching me from every shadow; behind every tree was an enemy waiting to pounce. Slithering tendrils of paranoia were clawing at the back of my neck, teasing at the knots that held my sanity together.

I sneezed a third time, collapsing on my backside into the mud. I noticed the rabbit had returned, and was once again watching me from its perch on the rock.

"What am I even doing here?" I asked it. The rabbit had no response.

I had no response either. This was the morning of my ninth day on the Planet of the Ponies, and still I was no closer to understanding who had brought me there, or for what purpose. My entire world had been turned upside down, and then turned upside down again. Logically, that should mean it was right side up, but somehow it was even more upside down than ever.

Seemingly, I'd gotten myself mixed up in an intergalactic war between the regular ponies and the bug-ponies, but was that what was really going on? What if the whole thing was just some elaborate kabuki theater, designed to keep me distracted while the pincers closed around me, tighter and tighter? The ponies' mantra was that "friendship is magic," but what if that was just what they wanted me to think? And how did Sweetie Belle's betrayal fit into all of this? Confused, paranoid thoughts gnawed away at my brain. My hands shook for want of nicotine. Ominous pony-shaped specters floated at the corners of my vision.

And then suddenly, without warning, I was taken away from that place. For one brief, tranquil moment I was back on the sweet terra firma of Arlen, Texas. It was just me and the guys, out in the alley. Boomhauer was regaling us with the story of his latest romantic conquest. Bill was tittering like a woman, lost in the vicarious thrill of another man's exploits. Hank was excited about grillstravaganza the following week. I could hear a Jeep turning up the drive, blasting a Def Leppard tape. It must have been John Redcorn, on his way to pick up Nancy for another of her new-age healing sessions. It was all so peaceful, so beautiful, so familiar.

The vision passed. I was back in the Everfree Forest, hundreds of thousands of light-years from everything I'd ever known. The loneliest non-equine in the galaxy. But I wanted to go back. I wanted to smell my wife's hair again. I wanted to enjoy the refreshing taste of an ice cold Alamo. I wanted to feel the caress of sweet lady nicotine on my lungs, without that annoying asparagus aftertaste.

I rose to my feet. I was through wallowing. The alien bugs had to have parked a spaceship around here somewhere. If I could find it and hotwire it, it was just a simple matter of plotting a course back to Earth. All I had to do was figure out the navigation system, and my recovered memories from previous abductions would probably help with that.

I turned to the bunny-rabbit, who was still watching me curiously.

"Tell your masters in Washington that the horse-people can fight their own interplanetary war," I said. "Dale Gribble is going home."

>>382427
I dig it. No, I love it.<3 ^^

>>382427
I kept low to the ground, crawling serpentine through the underbrush to where the woods gave way to open grassland. My clothes were soaked completely through with perspiration and last night's rain. I'd covered my face and hands with mud and pine needles for extra camouflage.

I was taking no further chances. By now, the bugs had probably taken over most of the centers of power, and effectively controlled the town. I doubted any of the common ponies would be aware of it, but even so, anypony I met could turn out to be a replicant, and even those that weren't couldn't be trusted.

From now on I trust no one but myself...

I poked my head through the bushes, still keeping low to the ground. I had emerged from the forest near an unfamiliar part of town. It looked sparsely populated; all I could see were a few scattered cottages and a lone clocktower.

By that time, my hands were shaking so bad I probably couldn't have opened the hatch to an alien saucer, let alone hotwired one. On top of that, it was a long way back to Earth. If I was going to pull this off, I needed more asparagus. Lots more. And a way to light it, too.

I crawled through the grass until I came to a rail fence, and then wormed my way through into a small garden on the other side. There was a cottage a short distance away, with a lean-to shed built up against it. There would probably be some usable tools in there.

Among the rows of planted vegetables, I spied some asparagus shoots, and yanked up as many as I could find. I hadn't eaten since the previous afternoon, so I also helped myself to whatever other vegetables I could find. Someone else had already beaten me to it, though, so the pickings were slim. There were clods of dirt and half-eaten vegetables strewn around all over the place. Whatever had done this had been a lot bigger than a rabbit.

I gathered up a few bunches of carrots and celery stalks and made my way to the shed. However, it seemed that here, too, someone... or something... had beaten me to the punch. The entrance was secured with a padlock, but one of the doors had been tugged off its lower hinge so something could crawl through.

I nudged my way in the same way, and found an even bigger disaster area than the garden. Bags of vegetables had been torn open, stuff had been knocked off of shelves, there was a pile of straw that looked like it had been slept in. On top of that, there was a pervasive stench lingering in the air. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but the scent was somehow familiar.

If I didn't know better...

I shook my head and gave my face several quick slaps. The damn nicotine fit was getting so intense that I was beginning to get crazy ideas. All signs here were pointing to sasquatch activity, but that didn't make any sense. Did it?

"Man," I said out loud to myself. "Shapeshifting aliens, UFOs, talking horses... and bigfoot? Too bad I'm not here under better circumstances. This place is a paranormal investigator's dream!"

I knew I didn't have much time, and yet I couldn't resist taking a closer look at the straw pile in the corner. Sure enough, I found a clump of clearly mammalian hair, along with another small pile of half-eaten vegetables.

"Hey! Are you the one who's been digging up my garden?!"

A harsh voice rang out behind me. I spun around and saw a yellow mare with a carrot-colored mane standing at the door of the shed. I reached for the nearest thing I could use as a weapon, which happened to be a broom.

"Don't test me, horse, I had a rough night," I warned her, wielding the broom like a bo-staff. "I am a trained professional bounty hunter proficient in nine forms of kung-fu. Shishishaw!"

The mare squinted into the half-darkness of the shed.

"Hey, are you that weird monkey-thing that's been living at the Golden Oak Library? And oh sweet Celestia, what did you do to my garden shed?! Look at this mess—hey!!"

I sprang forward, swatting at her with the broom, and she took several alarmed steps backward. As soon as I was out of the shed, I threw the broom at her like a boomerang.

"Watch out!" she cried, stepping back even further. "Be careful with that, you could hurt somepony!"

"Consider that a warning..." I hissed.

The small pile of vegetables I'd gathered was still sitting on the ground near the shed door. I scooped up as many of them as I could carry, and sprinted away towards the fence.

"That's right, shoo!" the mare shouted after me. "Get out of here! And you'd better believe I'm going to have a talk with Twilight Sparkle about this, buster!"

She was still barking reprimands at me as I vaulted over the fence. I had meant to make my escape back into the forest the way I'd come, but in my haste I'd gotten turned around. I landed in a side yard between the mare's cottage and her neighbor's.

There was nowhere to go but forward. I stumbled through the tall weeds until I came to another fence, and jumped over that. My heart was pumping fast, and between the exertion and the nicotine withdrawal I was starting to get tunnel vision. I landed with a splash in a muddy patch of ground, where a bunch of chickens were milling about pecking at the ground.

The chickens all scattered, flapping their wings and clucking furiously. A little pink and blue unicorn filly came trotting around the side of the chicken coop to see what all the commotion was, and as soon as she saw me she squeaked in panic.

"Daddy!" she cried, turning around and galloping back the way she'd come.

>>382732
I realized that the mud and debris I'd deliberately covered myself with, while ideal camouflage for the forest, probably made me look like some kind of creature from the black lagoon. Or a sasquatch, even. I stumbled forward, chasing after the filly and trying to explain myself, but all that came out of my mouth was garbled gibberish. The filly looked over her shoulder, squeaked in terror again, and bolted for the nearby cottage.

The back door suddenly swung open, and a furious-looking unicorn stallion stomped out onto the porch.

"Hey!" he shouted at me as his daughter ran under his legs and into the house. "Are you the critter what dug up our garden?! Get over here!"

"Yaaagh!"

I skidded to a halt and changed direction as the unicorn came barreling after me, his horn glowing with malevolent intent. I turned and flung a bunch of carrots at him, and hit him right on the nose. That bought me a few precious seconds, but a moment later I could hear thundering hooves on the ground behind me, getting closer and closer, and could feel that electric tingling sensation I'd come to associate with unicorn auras.

Fortunately, I happened to be stumbling across the remains of a dug-up melon patch. I stooped down and grabbed the biggest melon within reach. I turned and, just as the unicorn was about to overtake me, brought it down right on his horn.

The melon exploded into a blast of juice and pulp. The unicorn shouted a string of what I could only imagine passed for expletives among pastel-colored horses. His horn extinguished, and the electric force field that had been forming around my body dissipated. I left him there cursing, trying to wipe bits of melon pulp out his eyes with a foreleg.

I scurried the last few feet towards the fence and vaulted over. I was now standing in front of a dusty road that wound off in two directions, threading past the scattered cottages. I landed directly in the path of an alarmed mare who was pulling a wagon loaded with produce, who reared up in alarm as she saw me.

"Hey!" the voice of the unicorn shouted from behind me. "That's that critter what's been diggin' up all of our gardens!"

The commotion was beginning to draw the attention of several ponies. The unicorn meanwhile had reached the fence, his angry face still smeared with bits of smashed melon.

"Somepony grab it!" he shouted. "Don't let it escape!"

A couple of the burlier-looking stallions were beginning to move in my direction. I turned and began running up the road as fast as I could.

My lungs felt like they were on fire. White specks of light were flashing at the corners of my vision. Behind me I could hear hooves thundering on the road, accompanied by the shouts of angry ponies.

I spurred myself forward as fast as my legs could carry me. I was running on pure adrenaline now, and I had a feeling that if I didn't get some nicotine into my system in the next few minutes I might actually die.

There was a clocktower ahead of me, sitting on top of the hill like a lone sentinel. I ran towards it, desperate for any shelter I could find. When I reached it, though, I found the door locked and bolted from the inside. Behind me, the mob of angry ponies was still in hot pursuit. I stumbled around the side of the building, and it was there that my overworked body finally gave out.

I collapsed to my knees, every last ounce of energy expended. I was shaking so bad from nicotine withdrawal at that point that it felt like the very atoms of my body were about to scatter to the winds. I'd dropped almost all of the vegetables I'd gathered in the pursuit; all I had left were a couple of asparagus stalks.

Crawling feebly forward on my hands and knees, I found a couple of loose rocks lying in the grass.

"Wingo!" I wheezed.

Taking a rock in each hand, I jammed a stalk of asparagus into my mouth, and knelt in the grass, frantically beating the rocks together.

"Come on," I muttered, frantically grinding the smaller rock against the larger. "Come on, baby, I just need one little spark..."

And then, the mob was upon me. They formed up in a semicircle of angry, accusing equine faces, pushing me back against the cold stone wall of the clocktower. The stalk of asparagus fell from my lips. All I could do now was curl up in the fetal position and wait for the finishing blow. And then, suddenly—

"What are you ponies doing?!?"

A soft, lilting, feminine voice cut through the din of the angry mob. It wasn't loud or commanding, but the scolding tone somehow conveyed authority. The crowd parted, and a yellow pegasus mare stepped through.

I was still lying on the grass in a fetal position, quaking and shivering. The pony looked at me with sympathy in her eyes, stroking my head gently with her foreleg.

"Shhh, it's okay, nopony is going to hurt you," she said in a soothing whisper. Then, she turned around and faced the crowd. "What are you all doing, ganging up on this poor, defenseless creature? You should all be ashamed of yourselves!"

"But he's the one who done ate up all our vegetables!" one of the ponies protested.

"Do you know that for certain?" the yellow pegasus admonished.

"Well, no, but..."

"Then you shouldn't jump to conclusions. And anyway, even if he did eat your vegetables, I'm sure he didn't mean to do any harm, isn't that right, you poor, defenseless little thing?"

She was once again stroking my head, cooing gently to me like I was a little lost kitten. The mid-morning sun backlit her face, making her light pink mane glow like an angel's halo.

"Smoooooookes....."

I gave out one last feeble croak. Then, the world dissolved into blackness, and I remembered nothing more.

>>382733
When I came to, I was lying on a straw-stuffed mattress in what I assumed was an interrogation cell in Siberia. My first thought was that I'd been hog tied, but it turned out I'd just gotten tangled up in the covers.

"Shishishaw!!"

My cat-like reflexes sprang into action. After a brief struggle with the blankets, I leapt out of bed and landed in a tiger stance. My bare feet touched smooth wooden planks. I immediately realized that whoever had abducted me had relieved me of all my weapons and stripped me down to my underwear. Then I remembered that I never had any weapons to begin with. The underwear part was still true, though. A light breeze blew in through a nearby window, reinforcing this fact.

I looked around for my captors, but saw no sign of any living presence. A familiar itching in my blood reminded me that I still needed to obtain smokes. But first, I had to get my bearings.

The room I had mistaken for a Siberian prison turned out to be a cheerfully-furnished loft with a hearth in the corner. The angle of the sun shining through the open window told me it was late afternoon.

I found my clothes, washed and folded, in a neat pile on a nearby table. Next to them was a note, but it was written in some weird alien script I couldn't decipher. I dressed quickly and headed downstairs.

The main floor of the cottage looked like the inside of a giant Habitrail. Little rodent-sized ramps and staircases crisscrossed all over the place, running between birdhouses, bird-feeders, cages, dog beds, cat beds, and everything in between. There was still no sign of the house's owner, though.

The events of the last few hours were slowly coming back to me. I remembered being chased through the village by an angry mob, and being rescued by that mysterious yellow mare. This was probably her house. By the look of things, she was a real animal nut; maybe she'd taken me in as a stray.

Other than a few pairs of beady eyes watching me from inside the many rodent-holes that dotted the walls, it seemed that I was alone. I didn't get the impression that I was a prisoner here, and the front door was right in front of me. I could probably leave if I wanted. At the same time, though, I was still hungry and smokeless. Couldn't hurt to see if the pony had any extra food lying around.

A doorway at the bottom of the stairs led to an old-fashioned kitchen with a giant stone hearth. I rummaged around the counters and shelves until I found what I was looking for: a big bunch of asparagus, fresh from the market.

"Wingo!" I said, and began breaking the stalks into cigarette-sized chunks.

There was a cauldron of what smelled like vegetable stew simmering over a low fire on the hearth. I knelt down and singed an asparagus stalk, and then took a long, grateful puff. Instantly, I could feel the artificial nicotine working its magic, and all my stress and anxiety just melted away. For the first time in hours, I could finally relax.

I sat down at the table and had a long, contemplative smoke. After awhile, though, I began to get the feeling that I wasn't alone. I turned, and saw a little white rabbit squatting on its hind legs a little ways off, watching me intently.

"Want one?" I asked, holding out a stalk of asparagus. The rabbit shook its head and pointed at one of the upper shelves.

"You want what's on the shelf?"

It nodded.

Hmm, this rabbit seems to understand what I'm saying...

I figured nothing about that should surprise me at this point. After all, the ponies on this planet could speak English, so why not the rabbits? Still, something about it made me ill at ease. How much did I really know about that yellow pegasus who'd rescued me from the lynch mob? She seemed nice enough at first glance, but I had no way of knowing her real agenda. Twilight Sparkle was a bug-replicant now, and Sweetie Belle had turned out to be a government agent. I was through trusting ponies.

Still, if I could win this bunny's trust, maybe I could get him on my side. I stood up and examined the shelf he was pointing at. At the very top, pushed all the way to the back, was a bushel of nice, fat, juicy carrots. I pulled it down.

"Is this what you want?" I asked, holding out a carrot. The bunny rabbit nodded eagerly and snatched it away. It was gone in two seconds. "Here, have another one."

I stood and watched him nibble through two more carrots, slowly puffing my asparagus stalk.

"You like those, don'tcha?" The rabbit nodded its head vigorously. "Good. Understand this, then. I'm the man with the carrots. I don't know how you're mixed up in all this, but so long as you don't cross me, you can have all the carrots you can eat. And that's not all. I can get you lettuce, squash, cucumber, watercress, whatever you want. See? I'm tall enough to reach all of it. All I demand in return is your absolute loyalty."

Just to show him I was serious, I pulled a squash down from the very top shelf and casually tossed it to him. He caught it and tore into it with rapture, staring up at me like I was a god.

"Good. I think we understand each other then."

I went back into the main room. The rabbit followed, still munching on his squash. I performed a thorough search of the room, but didn't see anything I could use. Near the sofa, though, I caught a whiff of something familiar. I paused, frowning.

I leaned down and inspected the sofa. It reeked of some kind of weird, but somehow familiar, body odor. I also found a clump of the same hair I'd found in that mare's toolshed.

>>382734
I took a long, thoughtful puff of asparagus. It all made perfect sense now. That yellow pegasus was harboring a sasquatch somewhere in this cottage. She clearly possessed some kind of weird, hypnotic power over animals. She'd probably lured it in here and trained it like a circus animal, then started sending it out at night to steal vegetables from ponies' gardens and mess up their toolsheds. Meanwhile, I'd conveniently happened along just as the other ponies were starting to get wise, so she used me as a patsy. Now I was her prisoner too, lured into her web of deceit for some unknown purpose. Well, she had no idea who she was up against. I'd turn the tables on her yet.

I decided to have another look around. There were only so many places you could hide a full-grown sasquatch in a cottage this size. There had to be another room somewhere. Sure enough, in a little alcove under the stairs I found a door that looked like it led to a basement. I tried the handle, but no luck; it was locked.

"Do you know where the key to this door is?" I asked the rabbit.

The rabbit hesitated, looking back and forth between me and the locked door. He nodded reluctantly.

"Good. Go get it."

To my surprise, though, he decisively shook his head.

"No? What do you mean no?"

The rabbit hopped off somewhere, and returned a moment later holding a sheet of paper. I recognized it as the note that had been left upstairs with my clothes. He jabbed at it with his paw for emphasis.

"I can't read that alien gobbledygook. Besides, who are you loyal to? The guy who gave you all those vegetables, or the pony who put 'em up on the top shelf where you can't reach 'em?"

However, the rabbit just shook his head firmly and jabbed at the note again. I shrugged.

"That's too bad, then," I said, holding up the bushel of carrots I was still carrying. "And here I was going to let you have all these carrots. Guess I'll just have to find some other woodland critter to give these to. Better yet, maybe I'll just eat 'em all myself. You can watch me, if you want."

I broke a carrot away from the bunch and moved it slowly towards my mouth. The bunny rabbit stared, trembling. He looked back and forth between me and the basement door. Tiny beads of sweat were breaking out on his forehead. Finally, he let out a sigh, and held out a paw as if to say 'stop.' I paused, the carrot just inches from my open maw.

With a decisive gesture, the rabbit held up the note and tore it in half. He tossed the two pieces aside, and went hopping up the stairs. He returned a moment later, holding a brass key in his mouth.

"That's a good bunny," I said, handing over the bushel of carrots and taking the key.

The door creaked slowly open. I descended into the inky depths of the cellar, going slow to give my eyes a chance to adjust. The rancid stench of sasquatch B.O. was all over the place down here; there was no doubt that I'd tracked my quarry to its lair.

The dim glow coming from the staircase was the only light down here. Dim outlines of barrels and grain sacks were just barely visible in the gloom. At the far end of the cellar, though, it looked like something was moving.

I crept slowly forward. The thing ahead of me was trying to keep still, but there was no doubt that it was a living presence. The reek coming off of it was almost intolerable, but I continued, keeping my entire body tense in case it lunged for me—

"Angel! Where did you get all those carrots? You're going to spoil your appetite!"

A soft, muffled feminine voice drifted down from upstairs. Sounded like the pegasus was home.

Before I could so anything, the dark shape in the corner sprang forward. Something large went barreling past me, shoving me roughly aside. I lost my balance and fell. Meanwhile, I caught a glimpse of something lumpy and hairy running clumsily up the stairs, wailing atonally in fear. Its cry was unlike that of any sasquatch I'd ever heard, and yet there was something oddly familiar about its voice.

I scrambled to my feet and chased after it as fast as I could. But no sooner had I made it up the stairs and back into the sunlight than the yellow pegasus flew into my path.

"You've got a lot to answer for, buster!" she admonished, jabbing at me with a hoof while floating in place. I tried to shove my way past her, but she suddenly fixed me with such an intense stare that I found myself unable to move.

Now that I was subdued, she turned her attention to a shivering lump that was hiding under the sofa.

"Shh, it's okay, I'm sure he didn't mean to hurt you," she said in a soothing voice, gently stroking its back. The creature continued to whine and whimper.

With the pony's stare no longer upon me, I was once again able to move. I glanced at where the rabbit was crouched in the corner, munching contentedly on a carrot and watching the scene unfold. Meanwhile, the pony still had her back to me.

I took a few tentative steps forward. The mare had managed to coax the animal a little ways out from underneath the sofa. Now that we were back in the daylight I could finally get a good look at it, and I realized my mistake.

Without warning, the pegasus pony took to the air and spun around to face me, fixing me with that stare of hers and freezing me in place again.

>>382735
"You'd better have a good explanation for this!" she scolded me. "All I asked you to do was to please stay out of my basement. Didn't you see that note I left you?"

"I couldn't read it," I said, my body completely rigid. Her stare relaxed slightly, and I was able to move my arms. I pulled out an asparagus stalk and put it in my mouth, but realized that I had no way to light it.

"Anyway," I continued, "I'm sorry about all that; it was just a misunderstanding. I thought you were hiding a sasquatch in your basement, but it turns out it was just Bill."

I slid the unlit asparagus back into my shirt pocket, then it suddenly dawned on me what I'd just said.

"Wait a minute. Bill?" I peered around the pegasus mare. "What are you doing here?"

Sergeant William Fontaine De La Toure D'auterive crawled the rest of the way out from under the pony's sofa, and clambered to his feet with as much dignity as he could muster. He adjusted his filthy white tank top so that his protruding gut was no longer visible for the world to see. He stared directly into my eyes, with as serious an expression as I'd ever seen on his face before.

"Please don't make me go back home, Dale. I love it here so much."

Topkek.
I didn't expect that, well done.

>>382737
Chatgpt:
>GG is a walking comedy WMD
Great stuff.^^

>>382733
He meets my wife!!!
>The mid-morning sun backlit her face, making her light pink mane glow like an angel's halo.
Very very beautiful description!
>>382736
KEK fantastic. I could have never thought of something like that

>>382743
>Chatgpt
Then again. Maybe, I'm a bit of hypocrite to bring it up as its opinion matter, tho I kinda just thought it was a funny description without taking much weight into it. But still, mb. Anyway, I put some of your VN into it and gave a whole bunch of paragraphs explaining why the word "Nigger" isn't okay and extremely low-brow. Have more finesse like South Park. The weird thing is that it doesn't really seem to disagree with my counter arguments but imo, goes deeper and deeper into mental-gymnastics.

Anyway, I love this story and your VN. And you probably, tho that is a bit gay to say.

Rescue bump, new chapter will be up shortly, it was delayed due to BabsCon + the 4chan drama.

>>382736
We all sat around the kitchen table, eating vegetable stew. The pegasus mare, whose name turned out to be Fluttershy, kept spooning out bowl after bowl for Bill, while he inhaled it like a bottomless vortex. In the rare moments when he wasn't gorging himself, he would utter burbling, contented porcine squeals that probably passed in his mind for compliments, while Fluttershy doted on him like a nursemaid. The whole scene was thoroughly nauseating, and yet somehow I couldn't look away. In other words, it was exactly the same as every other time I'd ever watched Bill D'auterive eat. The only thing that made it strange was that this time there was a woman present. Well, sort of, anyway.

Finally, the ravenous beast appeared satisfied. He leaned back in his seat and belched happily, scratching his bulbous gut.

"Well, Fluttershy, I'm impressed," I said. "You've accomplished a feat that no living soul would have ever thought possible: getting Bill to eat vegetables."

"Oh, he's a hungry little dear alright," cooed Fluttershy, dabbing at Bill's dripping chin with a cloth while he giggled. "We just have to teach him to use his napkin a little better, that's all."

"And now you've flown a little too close to the sun."

Bill shot me a quick, reproving frown, and then went back to tittering like a schoolgirl while Fluttershy cleaned the vegetable goop from around his mouth. I was getting kind of a Florence Nightingale vibe from her.

"So, Bill," I said, clearing my throat loudly. "I'm sure there's an interesting story for how you wound up on the Horse Planet. Did you come by saucer, or did they use the teleportation beam?"

Bill looked slightly confused, and then shrugged.

"I guess I got here the same way you did, Dale. It was that mirror in the basement of the old Rackley place, wasn't it?"

I frowned. My recollections of my last moments in Arlen were still hazy, consistent with the missing time phenomenon common in alien abductions. I remembered fumigating the basement of the Rackley house, all right, and I did recall something about a mirror...

"Tell me everything you remember."

Bill scooped up a glob of stew remnants from the bottom of his bowl with his fingers and cleaned them with a revolting slurp.

"It all happened last week," he said. "Me and Hank and Boomhauer were out in the alley, drinkin' a few beers. You'd already been gone for a couple of days by then. Then all of a sudden, Nancy came runnin' out of your house—”

"How's Nancy been?"

"She's... uh... fine." Bill paused, looking slightly uncomfortable. "Uh... John Redcorn's been over there an awful lot."

I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good ol' John Redcorn. I can always depend on him. Anyway, go on."

Bill cleared his throat.

"Well, anyway, it's like I said, we were all standin' around talkin, and then Nancy came runnin' out of the house. She had some lady on the phone, who was mad because she'd hired you to spray for roaches, only you hadn't finished the job. She called the customer satisfaction number on the back of your business card, and got Nancy."

"Oh yeah, that's right, it's my home number now. Hank made me change it because he was tired of getting calls for me at Strickland."

"Yep. So anyway, Nancy gives the phone to Hank, and Hank talks to her for awhile. I guess that Rackley lady was pretty mad, because you'd left your truck parked out front and all your poison tanks and stuff in her basement, and she was threatenin' to call the police. So Hank calms her down, and says he'll come by and pick up your equipment as soon as he can."

"Was Hank mad?"

"Uh... little bit. He kept talkin' about how it's Grillstravaganza this week, and how he doesn't have time to be cleanin' up after you and so forth."

I finished the last few bites of my own bowl of stew and put an asparagus stalk in my mouth. My lighter was still missing, but there was a lantern on the table that worked well enough in a pinch.

"So anyway," continued Bill, "Hank asks Boomhauer to give him a lift over to East Arlen, and I decided to tag along. When we get there that Rackley lady is outside, and she looks pretty steamed. She's throwin' your exterminator stuff out on the lawn, yellin' and cussin' at us to load it up and get it outta here, and sayin' how she's not gonna pay you, and she's gonna get your license pulled and blah blah blah..."

I snorted and blew out a puff of asparagus smoke.

"Joke's on her, I don't even have a license. And if anything, I should be charging her extra. Her house is a magnet for extraterrestrial activity, and on top of that she probably broke my spray wand. I'll take it up with my attorney Octavio when I get home. But do go on."

"Right," said Bill. "So, like I said, Hank's awful sore by then, and for a minute it looks like he and Mrs. Rackley are gonna get into it. But then Boomhauer gets out and suddenly Mrs. Rackley gets real nice and don't seem as mad no more. On account of how Boomhauer's such a smooth talker and all."

"Yep."

"Yep. So while Boomhauer's over there dealin' with Mrs. Rackley, me and Hank get your equipment loaded up into your van—"

"The Bugabago."

"Right, the Bugabago. So then Hank fishes around under the seat until he finds your spare key, and then he drives off, mutterin' to himself about how he's gonna kick your ass and all that when you get back. Then Mrs. Rackley goes back inside her house, and me and Boomhauer get in his car and decide to go get some Whataburger.

"So anyway, we're eatin', and we get to talkin' about how weird it is that you just up and disappeared without tellin' anyone. We'd been talkin' about it in the alley earlier, and Hank just figured you were off on one of your UFO hunts or somethin', but me and Boomhauer were gettin' kinda worried on account of how it's not like you to leave a job without at least killin' all the bugs first."

I nodded thoughtfully.

"Well, I do love killing bugs.”

>>388620
"Uh huh. Well, anyway, me and Boomhauer decide it might be a good idea to go back to that house and maybe have a look around, see if we can find any clues. So we work out a plan, and we decide the thing to do is to have Boomhauer distract that lady, and meanwhile I can sneak inside the house and see what I can find.

"By the time we pull up again it's almost sundown, and we see that lady standin' in the doorway talkin' to her son. Her son's a real gangly-lookin' fella, got long hair and glasses, and he's wavin' his arms and carrying’ on, somethin’ about his manager at the video store and how he’s gonna put a hex on him and blah blah blah. Anyway, he goes walkin' off eventually, and then as soon as he's gone Boomhauer goes up to the door and starts in on Mrs. Rackley.

"And well, you know how Boomhauer is with the ladies. He's all 'dang ol' this' and 'dang ol' that', and pretty soon she and him get into his car, and they go drivin' off. Meanwhile I been hidin' in the bushes, so as soon as they're gone I sneak around to the back and slip into the house.

"I poke around in there a little bit and don't really find anythin', but then I go down to the basement and... that's when it starts gettin' weird. At first it just looks like a normal room down there, with some couches and chairs and a bunch of heavy metal posters on the walls, so I figure that's where the son sleeps. But then I go a little farther in and I notice he's got all these skulls and candles and weird-lookin' witchcraft books."

"I remember all that. I had to use one of that guy’s grimoires to kill a particularly large and feisty cockroach, as I recall."

"Well, that's not even the strangest part. So anyway, I start gettin' the creeps while I'm pokin' around in there, wonderin' if maybe I oughta go back and call the police, but then I see this weird mirror over in the corner. I go over there to take a look at it, but as soon as I do my reflection starts' getting all wavy and blurry. So I figure maybe it's a little dirty so I reach out to wipe it off, but as soon as I touch it I see this blindin' white light, and before you know it I'm standin' on a hill in the middle of the woods. And so I go wanderin’ off until I find this little town, and there’s all these cute little talkin’ ponies, and… well, I guess you can probably figure the rest out from there."

I was puffing on my asparagus, staring thoughtfully out the window as Bill told his story. Something about this didn't add up. Where was the spaceship? How had we gotten from Earth to the horse planet? What if I was wrong, and there wasn't a ship at all? If that mirror was some kind of wormhole then it threw my whole plan of escape out of whack—

A knock at the door derailed my train of thought. Fluttershy had been floating around the cottage, tidying up while Bill and I talked. She was now gliding towards the front door, as once again someone rapped on it from the other side.

"Wait!" I called out, scrambling to my feet.

I sprinted across the room, blocking her path. Fluttershy ground to a halt in midair.

"What's the matter?" she asked, alarmed.

A hoof rapped on the front door, more insistent this time.

"Who's that out there?" I hissed.

"Um, I don't know," stammered Fluttershy. "I haven't answered it yet."

The knock came again.

Outside, the sun had dipped well below the horizon and the daylight was almost gone. Bill was now coming towards us.

"What's the matter, Dale?"

I waved my hand at him to keep his voice down, then turned to Fluttershy.

"Ask them who it is," I hissed. "But don't open the door."

Fluttershy now looked worried. However, before she could do anything, the knock came again.

"Hello?" said a muffled female voice from the other side. "Fluttershy? Are you home?"

Fluttershy breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"Oh, it's just Twilight. She's probably here because—EEP!!"

She was floating towards the door again, but cried out as I grabbed her by the tail and yanked her backward.

"Did you tell anyone I was here?!?" I demanded.

"Oh, um, well, I, uh…"

Bill tired to wedge himself in between us.

"Dale, that's no way to talk to a lady-horse, 'specially not such a purdy one—"

"Oh, cram it, Bill, we don't have time!" I said, shoving him out of the way.

"Mr. Rusty?" Twilight's voice came again from the other side of the door. "Is that you in there?"

“Crap!” I muttered.

The three of us fell silent, Bill and I frozen in mid-grapple. The voice had a friendly tone, but there was a faint menacing note underneath it.

>>388621
*THUNK*

*THUNK*

*THUNK*

Three slow knocks.

"I know you're in there, Mr. Rusty," said Twilight, still in that same fake-sweet voice. "And don't forget, you're still grounded, buster."

"Did you tell Twilight I was here?" I hissed at Fluttershy.

"Um... I might have said something to her while I was out earlier..."

Bill was looking back and forth between Fluttershy and me and the front door, his expression growing more and more confused.

"It's no use hiding in there," continued Twilight sweetly. "You're only making things harder on yourself, you know."

"Go to hell, you demon horse!" I shouted.

The voice on the other side of the door went silent. For several agonizing seconds all was still. And then:

"Fluttershy, darling, won't you please open this door?" said Rarity's voice.

"Equestria's in trouble, sugar cube!" Applejack now. "There's... there's some kinda monster invadin' the town!"

"You simply must open the door this instant!" cried Rarity.

"We could all really use your help right now," finished Twilight. "Don't you trust your friends?"

Fluttershy was now shivering on the floor, covering her head with her hooves. There was a loud thump as something large and heavy collided with the door. It hit again, harder this time, and the bolt rattled. A small pebble collided with a nearby window, and in the fading light I could see dark shapes floating outside.

"Bill, brace the door!" I ordered.

Bill threw his full weight against it as the thing on the other side made another attempt to force its way in. The hinges creaked and the bolt rattled, but Bill had been an offensive lineman and he had more than enough strength to counter a few measly alien bugs. Meanwhile, I sprang to the window and threw the shutters closed.

The thing outside rattled the door a few more times, and then stopped. For several agonizing seconds everything was silent. Then, there came a small, pitiful voice:

"Mr. Rusty?" It was Sweetie Belle. "Mr. Rusty? Aren't you going to come help me? You left me all alone out here..."

Her voice erupted into a cacophony of cruel laughter. I cracked open a shutter and peered out the window. There was a horde of the black insect creatures, at least forty or fifty of them, hovering in a semicircle around the cottage. The door rattled as one of them gave it one last kick, and then the horde receded into the darkness, still laughing, their blue-green eyes fading into the twilight like radioactive fireflies.

10/10 would read again. You've got the feel and Fluttershy Fluttershying perfect.

>>388622
I might give more feedback later but I like it!^^

>>388622
We were once again seated at Fluttershy's table. Bright morning sunlight was streaming through the window, and the birds both outside and inside the house were chirping merrily. It was shaping up to be a beautiful day, but we didn't feel especially cheerful. I don't think any of us had gotten more than a couple hours of sleep.

"Um, did you get enough to eat?"

Fluttershy was hovering above the table, cradling a half-empty pot of oatmeal in her front hooves. I nodded and waved her away, while Bill sat back, smiling and mumbling with his mouth still full. I thought I detected a slight hint of disgust in Fluttershy's expression when a glob of spittle-coated oatmeal hit her on the muzzle. Nevertheless, she smiled and dumped the remainder of the pot into his bowl without chiding him. I cleared my throat.

"So, uh, you were saying something about a book, Fluttershy?" I said.

"Hmm? Oh, yes," she replied, turning away from Bill. "It's my copy of the Creatures of Equestria Compendium. I loaned it to Twilight a few weeks ago because she wanted to read the new edition. It's probably still in her library somewhere. If anypony in Equestria knows anything about what those... those things last night were, it would be in that book."

"Hmmm..."

I scratched my chin. I doubted that a compendium on the creatures of Equestria would have much to say about creatures from not-Equestria. At the same time, though, I needed to keep everyone's spirits up. There was also the possibility that these extraterrestrials could turn out to be plain old regular-terrestrials. Equestrian terrestrials. Equestrials.

I stood up. My chair grated harshly against the wooden floor, making the other two wince.

"Listen up," I said. "Tomorrow, the three of us are going to lead an assault on the Golden Oak Library."

Fluttershy squeaked and dropped to the ground.

"Um... an assault? Are you sure that's, um... well... I'm not sure that's such a..."

"Don't worry," I said, cutting her off. "It won't be a frontal assault, and if it goes well there probably won't be any casualties."

Sadly, that didn't seem to reassure her.

"How come tomorrow?" cut in Bill, who was still spooning oatmeal into his mouth. "Why can't we just go over there right now?"

"Excellent question, Sergeant D'auterive. According to my intel, tomorrow is a school day, and Miss Cheerilee is planning to take her class on an 'educational field trip' to the Golden Oak Library. This is most likely a ploy to get the foals into Twilight's basement. As we all saw last night, the aliens know who I am and will no doubt be on their guard. However, I am technically still a member of Cheerilee's class, and if I decide to go on the field trip she'll have to let me in order to keep up appearances."

"Oh, um, so you'll be the one doing the... um... assaulting, then?" Fluttershy sounded relieved. "So, uh, what do you need us to do?"

"You and Bill will be watching from nearby. As soon as you see me enter the library with Cheerilee's class, the Billdozer here is going to block the door so that nobody can escape, and the aliens can't call for reinforcements. Meanwhile, I will personally use my fists to subdue the alien horde. Once we've reclaimed the library, you can come inside and look for that book. Then we can find out just what sort of enemy we're dealing with here."

"Oh, um, that's, um, well..."

Fluttershy was now crouched on the floor, the coward, shaking and covering her face with her wings. I glared at her in contempt.

"Dammit Fluttershy, do you want your friends back or not?"

>>390783
She lowered her wings, swallowed, and gave a reluctant nod. Nearby, Bill was licking the last bits of oatmeal from the bottom of his breakfast bowl. These two didn't exactly inspire confidence, but they were the only allies I had left. I'd have to trust them for now. I jammed an asparagus stalk into my mouth and reached for my lighter, only to remember once again that I'd lost it. I lit my stalk in the hearth embers instead, and then stomped out of the kitchen.

"Where you goin', Dale?"

Bill set his bowl down on the table and scrambled after me, Fluttershy a couple of steps behind. I paused at the front door, my hand on the doorknob.

"I need to go make some preparations," I said. "And at any rate, we can't stay here. The aliens will probably be back sooner or later."

"Should we come with you?" asked Fluttershy. I shook my head.

"It's better if I'm alone. In fact, it's probably better if they see me go off on my own, since they're probably watching the cottage. I'm their main target. You guys can slip out after I'm gone, just stick to crowded areas and don't talk to strangers. Or anyone you know. Especially not anyone you know."

Fluttershy was once again trembling visibly. I watched her for a moment, and then turned to Bill.

"Bill, your job for now is to protect Fluttershy."

His face lit up.

"I won't let you down!"

He knelt on the floor next to her and began mumbling creepy reassurances, while pawing at her mane with his sticky oatmeal fingers. I watched them for a moment, frowning.

"Angel Bunny!" I called. Fluttershy's pet rabbit scampered to the front of the room and looked up at me attentively. "Your job is to protect Fluttershy from being protected by Bill."

The rabbit gave me a grave salute. Bill looked a little indignant.

"And now," I said, "I must be off. If all goes well, I shall see you both at the Golden Oak Library at oh-eight-hundred tomorrow. May God have mercy on our souls."
[hr]
Avoiding the main road, I made my way around the edge of the forest, and then cut through the trees until I could see Applejack's farm. The place looked deserted, but that didn't necessarily mean it was empty. Nothing had been cleaned up from the fight the other day. The barn door and several of the windows were still hanging open.

From my hiding place in the bushes, I scanned the ground near the barn, trying to spot where I'd dropped my lighter. No luck. I thought about getting closer so I could search more thoroughly, but in the end I decided against it. I probably had bug-eyes all over me, and I couldn't chance an ambush. However, the fillies' treehouse wasn't that far away, and I remembered they had a lantern in there that would do in a pinch.

Using every stealth trick I knew, I doubled back through the woods, taking the long way in case I was being watched. I didn't think the bugs actually knew about the treehouse, and I didn't want to lead them there if I could avoid it. When I got there I crouched behind a tree and watched the place for a solid three minutes, but saw no sign of activity, either in the treehouse or the surrounding woods. Finally confident that I was alone, I ascended the entry ramp and went in.

Everything inside was just as the foals and I had left it. Seeing it again just reminded me of everything that had happened. I felt my entire body tense up.

"Mr. Rusty...?"

In the back of my mind, I could hear Sweetie Belle's voice from last night.

"Mr. Rusty? Aren't you going to come help me?"

The tension was getting worse, and it wasn't just because I needed a smoke. Had the aliens really gotten Sweetie Belle, or were they just screwing with my head?

"You left me all alone out here..."

I shook the thoughts away, and grabbed the lantern I'd come for. This was no time to get sentimental over some traitorous horse who was probably in bed with the Federal Government. Whether they had her or not, it didn't change my objective. First, I was going to kick those aliens in whatever region of the body their species was traditionally kicked. Then, I was going to find a way off of this godforsaken rock.

The wick of the lantern had been turned way down, but there was still a very small flame. I increased it enough to light my stalk, then lowered it again to conserve fuel. I noticed what looked like a newspaper sitting on the crate that was sometimes used as a table, so I grabbed that as well.

You never know; I might need something to read.

I took one last look around the treehouse, and then headed back down the ramp and into the woods. There was plenty of daylight left, and I still had work to do.

>>390786
I spent the night in a ditch, and when I woke up I was covered with dew and freezing. I sneezed and peeled the now-damp newspaper off of my back.

They had a blanket up there too. Why didn't I grab that instead of the newspaper?

It didn't matter. I had work to do. I crawled up to the lip of the ditch and peered over. I was maybe a couple of yards from the only road connecting the school to the town. Except for a few like Apple Bloom and Silver Spoon that lived farther out, most of the foals on their way to school would happen by this way.

Sure enough, little groups of foals soon began trickling by. I recognized most of them. They were all chatting normally, like they didn't have a care in the world.

Eventually, the group I was waiting for rounded the bend. Apple Bloom was at the front, followed by Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle. Bringing up the rear was... me. I watched them as they went past. The bugs seemed to be getting better at imitating the ponies they replaced; the three fillies were bantering with each other in a way that sounded almost normal, and the foals they greeted on the road as they went past didn't seem to detect anything was amiss. The one that was playing me even had a stalk of asparagus clenched in his teeth, and was doing a fairly convincing imitation of my voice.

"...and that's why the FCC shrunk hamsters down to a tenth of their original size," my doppelganger was saying, as Scootaloo's doppelganger continued to nod and feign interest. "It was all part of their plot to assassinate Richard Nixon, because he was going to expose the truth about... uh... UFO's!"

I had to bite my lip so hard it drew blood; otherwise I would have burst out laughing and blown my cover. Everything he was saying was absolute nonsense.

"Alright, guess I have to take it back," I muttered to myself. "This guy's nothing but a pathetic amateur. Everybody knows that hamster-shrinking project had nothing to do with Nixon."

I spat out the butt of my asparagus stalk. This was going to be too easy.

Keeping low and out of sight, I moved through the underbrush parallel to the road, keeping pace with the three "fillies" and the "human." When they reached the school, I crept forward as close as I dared, and peered out from behind a tree.

There was a confused crowd of foals milling around outside the schoolhouse, as I'd suspected there would be. "Cheerilee" was standing in front of the locked door, rattling it in frustration.

"Miss Cheerilee, what's going on? Why is the door locked?"

A little yellow foal was pawing at the teacher's front leg, to her visible frustration. For just a moment Cheerilee's eyes flashed green, but she took a deep breath and composed herself.

"I don't know, dear," she said, putting maybe just a pinch too much saccharine into her tone. "I must have locked it yesterday and forgotten about it."

"Don't you have the key?" the filly pressed.

Miss Cheerilee clenched her teeth and forced a grin.

"I... must have left it at home..."

Heh. Left it in your desk drawer is more like it...

I reached into my pocket and made sure the key was still there. It was.

During my brief time in Ponyville, I'd learned that this was an extremely high-trust society; probably why the bugs were able to infiltrate it so easily. Ponies almost never locked their doors. When I'd come by the schoolhouse the previous afternoon, I'd found that bug-Cheerilee had found no reason to break with this practice. I'd stolen the key from the teacher's desk, shuttered all the windows from inside and then locked the door on my way out.

As the filly continued to paw at her and ask silly questions, Cheerilee's glance focused on something lying on the ground near the door. Her eyes narrowed as she realized it was the butt of an asparagus stalk. She looked up sharply and made eye contact with the three "Crusaders" in the back row. They gave an imperceptible nod and began to fan out, doing their best to look like they were just casually wandering off.

I smiled to myself. They were falling right into my trap.

I'd been careful to leave deliberate traces of my presence all over the schoolyard. I knew that would make the bugs immediately suspicious, and they'd have no choice but to search for me. But, if they were still going through with this 'field trip' farce, it meant that most of the foals hadn't been replicated yet, and they'd have limited manpower to work with. Horsepower. Whatever. Either way, the further out they were spread, the easier it would be to get at least one of them alone.

I noticed Silver Spoon had also casually detached herself from the milieu, and was now prowling the yard along with the three crusaders. The rest of the foals were just chatting with each other or milling around looking bored.

"Scootaloo" gave a low whistle, and signaled to the other three that she'd found something. I smiled again. In addition to a few scattered asparagus butts and intentional footprints, I'd also set up some extremely obvious booby-traps around the playground, and it looked like Scoot had found one. The four fillies were now clustered around, working to dismantle it.

That only left "Dale" to be dealt with. He was still standing near the back of the crowd, scanning the treeline at the edge of the grounds. Probably keeping watch.

Perfect.

As soon as he was looking in my direction, I poked my head out and made sure he saw me. His eyes narrowed, and he spat out his asparagus.

"Excuse me, teacher," he said, in that half-right sounding voice. "I'm going to go away and smoke some more vegetables."

Cheerilee gave him a sly nod, and resumed fussing with the door.

I walked quickly around the edge of the yard, circling the schoolhouse building. I could hear doppel-Dale's soft footsteps in the grass behind me. As soon as I was in sight of the outhouses around back, I broke into a sudden sprint.

>>390787
Dale gave a muffled curse, and took off in pursuit. I ducked behind one of the outhouses, and as soon as I heard him rounding the corner I sprang out and took a swing at him. However, his reflexes were quicker than I'd anticipated, and he ducked, hissing at me.

We faced off. I went into a dragon stance. He immediately fell into an identical stance. I waved my right arm. He mimicked the gesture. I waved my left arm. He mimicked that too. I stuck out my tongue and blew a raspberry. He did the same.

"You're pretty good at this," I said.

My doppelganger sneered.

"Thanks."

"Ever heard of a guy named Harpo Marx?"

"No."

"Too bad. Well, how about that famous field marshall from the Thirty Years War? I think his name was... Johann Testiclaes!"[sup]1[/sup]

Before he could respond, I unleashed the dreaded Gribble Dragon Attack, a deadly finishing move that I hadn't used since grade school.

Kicking a man in the crotch as hard as you can is never a pleasant task, and it's even worse when you have to do it to yourself. I couldn't help but wince as I watched myself double over with intense pain, my eyes bugging out of their sockets, in this case taking the shape of actual bug eyes. But, as I'd suspected, these creatures had a limited understanding of human anatomy, so this was pain he hadn't prepared for. As my doppelganger clutched at his abdomen, struggling to regain his breath, half-transforming back into a bug, I seized a nearby hunk of wood and gave his head one hell of a wallop. He went down immediately, either unconscious or dead. As soon as he hit the ground, there was a flickering of green light, and my former impersonator had once more assumed his natural shape.

Before I could decide what to do with him, though, I heard hoofsteps approaching.

"Hello? Is anypony back here?"

I tensed. That was Sweetie Belle's voice. I looked at the thick piece of wood that was still in my hand.

"Hello?" she called again.

There was a weird twinge in the pit of my stomach. Even though I knew she was probably an alien replicant, somehow the idea of clubbing Sweetie Belle with a two-by-four didn't sit well with me. Did I really have the stomach for this?

"Helloooo...."

The hoofsteps were close now; she'd be there any second. In a panic, I threw my club aside, and snatched a burlap sack that was lying nearby and tossed it over the unconscious bug. For some reason I still had that newspaper rolled up in my back pocket, so I pulled it out and unfolded it. When Sweetie Belle turned the corner, I was leaning up against the door to the outhouse, whistling casually and pretending to read the paper, doing my best to block her view of the bulky burlap-covered shape underneath me.

I could feel her eyes on me. I continued to whistle, and turned the page.

"Uh... Mr. Rusty?"

I lowered the paper briefly.

"Oh, hey there Sweetie Belle. If you need to get into the latrine, somepony's already in there."

I resumed reading and whistling. I could still feel her watching me. I was beginning to sweat.

"Uh... Mr. Rusty?" she repeated. "What are you doing?"

I glanced at where I'd tossed the club, and realized to my dismay that it was now too far away to grab easily. I glanced back at Sweetie Belle, who was still watching me with a slightly confused, slightly suspicious expression.

She is pretty tiny. I can probably take her with my bare hands if she doesn't transform into something bigger...

She took a step closer, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you reading the Foal Free Press?"

"Why yes I am," I replied, hoping I sounded more relaxed than I felt.

"Uh... why?"

I turned a page, pretending to be completely absorbed and ignoring the question.

"Hmmm... This press claims to be foal-free, and yet if I didn't know better I'd say it was written entirely by foals. Interesting..."

Sweetie Belle watched me for a few seconds longer, and then sighed.

"What was Oswald?" she asked suddenly.

I looked up.

"Huh?"

"I said: what was Oswald?"

The question caught me off guard.

"Well, framed, obviously, but how did you know—oh, wait a minute, that was the password, wasn't it? But wait, if you're one of them, I shouldn't have told you about the password... but then again, if you knew about the password, that probably means you aren't one of them—"

She sighed heavily, and an aquamarine aura suddenly yanked my newspaper away. She trotted around me and peered under the burlap sack.

"Is this the one that was pretending to be you?" she asked.

"...uh, yeah. There's still another one around here somewhere, pretending to be you—"

"I already got that one."

Sweetie Belle's horn aura lifted the latch on the outhouse, and the door swung open. Inside was another one of the horse-bugs, lying unconscious on the floor. Its legs were trussed together with some kind of expensive-looking silk ribbon, tied in a bow.

She reddened slightly.

"I borrowed the ribbon from Rarity's shop," she explained. "Hopefully she won't be mad that I took it."

I looked more closely at the bug. There was a huge lump near its horn, that had swollen almost to the size of its entire head. I looked back at Sweetie Belle, who reddened further.

"I... hit it with a rock."

I nudged the creature with my foot. It made sort of a low burbling sound in the back of its throat, and that was all.

"Yeesh. How hard did you hit it?"

She scowled.

"Listen, Mr. Rusty. Those bug-things took my sister, they took my friends... I'm through horsing around!"

I kind of wanted to make a joke there, but the look of unbridled fury in that tiny unicorn's eyes changed my mind. She glared at me.

"So, are you gonna help me, or do I have to do this by myself?" she demanded.

I swallowed.

"Uh... okey dokey."

>>390789
>I'm through horsing around!
Woah! Pony supremacy there.
>Infiltrating the infiltrators
>Doppelganging the doppelganger
This is so smart. I love it<3

>>390783
>>390786
>>390787
>>390789
What a treat! Sweetie must be badass to escape bup-prison like that

>>390789
Sweetie Belle and I quickly hog-tied the replicant I'd brained with the last of the ribbon, and tossed him into the outhouse next to hers.

"Come on, we'd better get going," I said. "If we're gone for too long the other bugs will get suspicious."

"Right. Oh, before we go, I need to give you something."

She flipped open her school saddlebag and levitated a small object in my direction. As soon as I realized what it was, I excitedly snatched it out of her aura.

"My lighter!" I cradled it lovingly against my cheek. "Oh, you sweet beautiful baby, I'll never let you out of my sight again!"

I held the lighter in front of my eyes for a moment, gazing at it in silent contemplation. A genuine Zippo, owned and used by Lee Harvey Oswald, only $63.99 on eBay. Order now, only a few left. Fuel and certificate of authenticity not included. The beautiful Promethean flame from which all smokes flow.

"I found it on the ground at Apple Bloom's farm. I figured you'd want it back."

I turned my reverent gaze to Sweetie Belle, and felt an overwhelming gratitude. Maybe this little white unicorn filly wasn't a government agent after all.

We closed up the outhouse and went back into the schoolyard. Doppel Bloom, Doppeloo and Doppel Spoon had just finished dismantling the last of the traps I'd set up, and were trotting back to rejoin their classmates. They glanced at us briefly, and I gave them what I hoped was a cool, subtle nod. Sweetie Belle did the same. They nodded back and continued walking.

"Remember: we're pretending to be bugs pretending to be us," I whispered to her as we walked. "Don't act too much like yourself, but then again, don't act too much not like yourself."

"I've been doing this all morning," Sweetie whispered back. "It's weird, but you get used to it. Kinda."

Ahead of us, it looked like Cheeriloppel had given up on trying to get the door open, and was now focused on herding the foals together.

"Did you learn anything from hanging out with those other three?" I asked. "Anything we can use?"

Sweetie Belle frowned.

"They mostly tried to act like Apple Bloom and Scootaloo in case anypony was watching, but sometimes when we were alone they'd talk about 'the queen' or 'the hive.'"

"Just like fireants. Why am I not surprised?"

"I couldn't really understand most of what they were saying," she continued. "It was weird. Something about... eating love? It didn't make any sense, but I couldn't ask questions because I had to pretend I knew everything already. But they want to get all the foals over to Twilight's library for some reason. None of the adults, just the foals."

"That's probably where the hive is. If I had to guess, I'd say it's in the basement somewhere. Damn, if only I had my poison tanks this would be easy..."

We were getting close to where Cheerilee and the others were, so we had to stop whispering to each other. Cheerilee gave me an inquisitive look. I nodded slightly, and drew my finger across my throat in a cutting motion, hoping that signal had the same meaning for bugs and ponies that it does for humans. Luckily, she seemed to take my meaning. She gave a light nod, and then turned to the class, all smiles again.

"All right, everypony!" she cried, in that too-sweet voice. "Let's all get in line, and we can go on our field trip!"
[hr]
The inside of the Golden Oak Library looked about the same as the last time I'd been there. The horse children were just sort of milling around. A couple of them were scanning rows of books on the shelves, but most of them just looked bored or confused.

Sweetie Belle and I entered last. After the door clicked shut, I hung back for minute or two, until I heard the soft muffled thump of something large and bulky pressing up against it. It sounded like the Billdozer was in place.

"Alright, everypony. Now that we're all here, let's have a look at Ponyville's historic Golden Oak Library!"

The bug pretending to be Twilight Sparkle was standing in the center of the room, right in front of that table with the carved wooden horse's head on it. She had a big, awkward, creepy grin plastered across her face, like she had no idea how a normal pony was supposed to act in front of other ponies. It was like I said: these things were getting really good at imitating their counterparts.

She cleared her throat and began moving awkwardly about, pointing to shelves of books and giving long explanations of things that didn't really require them. Most of the foals had already lost interest and were looking around in a bored way. A few of them began talking amongst themselves in low voices.

"What's so special about the Golden Oak Library?" I heard one filly whisper to her friend. The other foal shrugged.

"I don't know. This is a really weird field trip."

I scanned the room, taking a quick mental inventory of our known enemies. There was Twilight of course, as well as Cheerilee, Silver Spoon, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo. No sign of Spike, but that didn't mean he wasn't lurking around somewhere. As for any of the other ponies who I knew had been replicated, I didn't see them, and I didn't suspect they'd be around. I was beginning to understand what the plan here probably was, and if I was right the bugs wouldn't have thought they'd need much more than a skeleton crew for this. We had an advantage, but it wouldn't last long. I'd need to move quickly.

The main room of the library was a giant circle, carved into the trunk of the tree. Directly across from where I stood was a staircase that led up to the loft that served as Twilight and Spike's living space, and next to that was an alcove that led to the basement.

I edged as close as I could to Sweetie Belle without looking suspicious.

"I need to get into the basement," I whispered. "Think you could cause a distraction so I can slip down there?"

>>392558

Sweetie gave a light nod, and began walking towards the center of the room. Meanwhile, Twilight had moved on to another bookcase, continuing her lecture for the two or three foals who were still bothering to feign interest.

"...and over here, we have... uh... Star Swirl the Bearded's famous treatise on... uh... teleportation!"

She gestured toward a thin volume that didn't look like a treatise on anything of the sort. A little pink unicorn's hoof shot into the air.

"Um, Miss Twilight?"

"Yes?"

"I thought Star Swirl the Bearded's teleportation book was at the Royal Canterlot Library. That's what Miss Cheerilee said."

Two other foals nodded at that. Twilight's face flickered with irritation.

"Well, yes, it is, but this is my personal copy, which I brought with me from Canterlot..."

The unicorn raised her hoof again.

"But isn't teleportation in the restricted section? Won't you get in trouble for bringing it here?"

"Yeah," chimed in another one. "And how come the title says A Dinner of Oats by Nora Hinney Wallace? Did you switch the book covers so Princess Celestia wouldn't find out you took it?"

The whites of Twilight's eyes flickered green, and for just a moment it looked like she might actually lose her temper and drop the facade. Then, suddenly, there came a loud crash. Everypony's eyes turned to the center of the room, where the big wooden horse's head had just fallen off its pedestal.

"Ahhh!" cried Diamond Tiara, leaping out of the way just as it fell. "You did that on purpose!"

Sweetie Belle took several steps backward.

"No, I didn't, honest!" she stammered. "I just bumped into it!"

"Liar! Like I'd really believe a stupid blank flank!"

Silver Spoon quickly wedged herself between the two fillies.

"I really don't think she did it on purpose..."

"What are you taking her side for?" demanded Tiara. "You're supposed to be my friend!"

She gave Spoon a shove, causing her to bump into Sweetie Belle. She didn't actually bump her that hard, but Sweetie pretended to lose her balance, crashing into a nearby colt.

"Hey!" cried the colt indignantly. He shoved her back, and she wobbled the other way.

Several of the foals were now shouting at each other, arguing passionately over whether or not Sweetie Belle had intentionally knocked over the wooden horse head. Fake-Twilight shot fake-Cheerilee an angry glance.

"Get them under control!" she hissed. "You're their teacher, aren't you?"

Cheerilee took a step forward and cleared her throat.

"Now now, class, let's all settle down..."

Nopony paid any attention to me as I made my way slowly around the edge of the room. I ducked through the alcove, treading on the stairs as softly as I could.

The steep, narrow staircase wound through one of the tree's roots into a little hollowed out room underground. A dim shaft of sunlight poking through a tiny window was the only light. I gave my eyes a couple seconds to adjust, then had a look around.

The cellar looked about the same as I remembered it, just a few boxes of random junk and barrels full of stored vegetables. In the corner was the little cot Twilight had given me to sleep on. The whole room looked... disappointingly ordinary. There were no signs of an alien hive anywhere that I could see.

Then I noticed a faint green glow coming from the wall, behind a stack of rather large boxes. With some effort I managed to push them aside, revealing a crudely-dug tunnel about the diameter of a manhole. I got down on my hands and knees and crawled through.

The tunnel sloped steeply downward, twisting and turning its way through the earth, until finally I emerged into a wide cavern. When I rose to my feet, I saw something that every alien hunter spends his life dreaming about, but few are ever lucky enough to see.

The cavern was full of translucent green glowing pods, each one containing an unconscious pony floating in stasis. Twilight, Spike, Rarity, and Cheerilee were all grouped into one corner. Nearby I found Silver Spoon and her parents, along with two of the three Crusaders and Applejack's family. There were also a couple I didn't recognize: an old mare with glasses who looked like she might be the town's mayor, and a little grey and blonde pegasus with cross-eyes.

Suddenly, I heard the scuffling of earth on the floor behind me. I wheeled around to see a pink, poofy-maned earth pony standing between me and the tunnel. As soon as she saw me, she flashed a big, silly grin and began hopping up and down excitedly.

"Tee hee hee!" she giggled, in a singsong voice that was creepily out of sync with the atmosphere down there. "That's right, Mr. Rusty! It was meeeeeeeee the whole time! Bet you weren't expecting that, were you?"

I lifted my clip-on sunglasses and squinted at her. Then I lowered them again and shrugged.

"I have no idea who you are."

The pony stopped bouncing.

"Really?"

I lit an asparagus stalk.

"Nope."

She cocked her head inquisitively to the side.

"Reeeeeeeeeally? We've seriously never met?"

"Sorry."

"You mean you've been in this town for this long and you didn't run into me? I didn't throw you one of my super-annoying high-energy welcome parties that I throw for literally everypony who moves here, or sometimes for ponies who have lived here for years, or sometimes just for no reason at all?"

I thought for a moment, then shook my head.

"Nope, that doesn't ring a bell. Don't take it personally, though." I gestured towards the pods. "To be perfectly honest, these ponies all kind of look the same except for the colors. It's hard to tell them apart sometimes."

The pink pony sighed, and her voice deepened noticeably.

"Well, I can't argue about that." There was a bright green flash, and she transformed. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. For it was actually me the whole time!"

>>392559
The creature now standing before me looked similar to the other bugs I'd seen, only much taller. Not counting her long, twisted horn, she stood almost at my height, her bulbous green eyes animated by an intelligence that I hadn't noticed in any of the others. A mane of translucent, webby hair drooped down over her face.

"So, you're the alien queen..."

She flashed me an evil smile, a long reptilian tongue darting out of her mouth and back in again.

"You may address me as Queen Chrysalis. I must say, it's a pleasure to finally meet you face to face. You've been a thorn in my carapace for some time... Rusty Shackleford."

Good, she doesn't know my real name, I thought. I can use that. Wait, how is that useful?

Queen Chrysalis went on, still smiling in an unpleasant way.

"Unfortunately for you, Mr. Rusty, your pathetic plan to infiltrate my hive never stood a chance. I'll admit, you caught me by surprise when you and your little friend stumbled across our... activities. However, since then I've kept a close eye on your every move. I could have ended the game much sooner, but you've been... fun. You and your friends. But I'm afraid that all your efforts were quite in vain."

I could hear hoofsteps and frightened voices in the tunnel behind her, growing closer. Queen Chrysalis moved aside, and one by one the foals of Cheerilee's class stepped into the cavern. A couple of the drone bugs, who apparently no longer felt the need to remain in disguise, brought up the rear, and herded them into a corner. The foals cowered, mewling and terrified, some of them staring wide-eyed at the glowing, translucent coccoons with ponies inside.

Finally, Sweetie Belle stumbled out of the tunnel, shoved roughly forward by the clones of her two friends.

"Put that one over there, with Rusty Shackleford," commanded Queen Chrysalis. Not-Scootaloo gave Sweetie Belle a rough shove, and she stumbled over to where I was standing. "Where are the others?"

Not-Apple-Bloom transformed back into bug-form with a bright green flash.

"They're coming, your Majesty," it rasped. "The big one is... slow."

We stood for an uncomfortably long time, listening to a lot of grunting and panting coming from the tunnel. Finally, Bill crawled into the cavern on his hands and knees, sweaty and covered with earth and grime. Behind him came a dissheveled Fluttershy, looking almost as terrified as the foals in the corner. The bug that was driving them hissed angrily, and they scrambled into place next to Sweetie Belle and myself. Bill, still on his hands and knees, looked up at me remorsefully.

"I'm sorry, Dale," he panted. "They... they got me pretty easy."

"Oh, that's okay Bill," I said. "I never had much faith in you anyway."

He smiled gratefully, apparently taking that as some kind of reassurance.

In the meantime, several more bugs had entered the cavern and were buzzing menacingly about, hissing and snarling, herding the four of us closer together. Chrysalis stood watching us with an aristocratic leer. The insect formerly known as Scootaloo alighted next to her.

"That's the last of them, your Majesty."

Queen Chrysalis turned to her underling.

"Were you seen by anypony on the outside?"

The creature shook its head. Chrysalis smiled.

"Good. From this point forward, we proceed with the original plan. Prepare the foals. As for these four... take them deeper into the lair, put them in a cell."

She turned to us with an evil, triumphant grin that made Fluttershy begin to whimper.

"I still haven't decided what I'm going to do with them."

>>392560
I hadn't been wrong when I compared these creatures to fireants. The pod-filled cavern turned out to be little more than the vestibule of a complex warren of tunnels that must have taken them months to dig. We were escorted through this neverending maze by two beefy-looking bug-ponies. They eventually led us to a cramped holding cell at the end of a long tunnel, shoved us inside, and slammed the grate shut.

"Maxilla!"

One of our escorts shouted down the tunnel. A smaller bug-pony emerged from the darkness, his flying slightly lopsided. He looked stunted and malnourished.

"Thir!"

"Queen Chrysalis wants all of us on deck for the infiltration. We need you to stay here and keep an eye on these prisoners."

"Thir yeth thir!"

The creature gave an enthusiastic salute, perhaps a bit too enthusiastic. It accidentally clonked its own head with its front hoof, almost knocking itself out of the air. The bug who had summoned it sighed heavily.

"Just try not to screw this up, okay Maxilla? It's a simple job. I had to pull a lot of strings to get you back into the horde after that last incident."

"THIR YETH THIR!!"

Maxilla saluted and nearly fell again, then alighted gracelessly on the floor. He began to march back and forth in front of our cell with a determined grimace on his face. The larger bug watched him for a moment or two, and then sighed again.

"Come on," he said resignedly to his companion. "We need to get back to the main invasion force."

"Are you sure your little brother can handle this?" the other one said in a low voice as they buzzed off down the corridor. "He's not exactly the brightest orb in the hive."

"I know," replied the first bug. "But who else is going to do it? Not me, I can tell you that much. Be stuck down here guarding the idiot brigade while everyone else is up there gorging themselves? Not a chance. Now come on, we need to hurry and join the invasion, or we'll both be on guard duty."

Their echoing voices faded away into the darkness. Maxilla continued to stomp back and forth in front of our cell. I grabbed the bars of the wooden grate that was blocking our exit and rattled them lightly. They moved a little easier than they probably should have.

Maxilla immediately turned and glared at me.

"HEY!" he shouted. "Youthe guythe better not be thinging about ethcaping!"

"Don't worry, we're not," I assured him. "I just wanted to make sure the bars were secure, that's all."

He narrowed his eyes at me suspiciously, and then resumed his pacing. I went to the back of the cell where the others were seated glumly on the floor.

"How's it look?" whispered Sweetie Belle.

"We're trapped in a poorly-built cell, under the supervision of one inept guard," I whispered back. "I won't lie, we're in a tough spot. But I've been in tougher."

I sat down next to her.

"I wonder when they're gonna feed us?" wondered Bill aloud, to nobody in particular. "Oh, wait a minute! I think I actually might still have some oats left."

He dug into his pocket, producing a glob of half-dried oatmeal that looked like it was at least forty percent pocket lint.

"Would you like some, Fluttershy? I don't mind sharing."

He pushed it under Fluttershy's nose, and she drew her head away.

"Oh, um, no thanks. You can have it."

"Suit yourself!"

He stuffed it into his mouth and began to chew noisily, picking bits of lint out of his teeth and tossing them to the floor of the cell. We all sat and watched him with a sort of morbid fascination. No matter how many times you've seen Bill D'aueterive eat, you never quite get used to it.

"Oh!" Fluttershy exclaimed sudddenly, nosing into the saddlebag she wore. "I did manage to pick this up before they captured us."

She came back up with a book in her mouth, and set it down on the floor.

"What is it?" asked Sweetie Belle.

"Oh, um, it's the Creatures of Equestria Compendium I loaned to Twilight. Luckily it was just lying on a table next to the door, so I found it right away."

"Wingo! I love compendia!"

I snatched it up and immediately began flipping through the pages.

"Um, I know they imprisoned us, and they're trying to take over Ponyville and all, but they're actually quite nice if you give them a chance," Fluttershy went on. "When I asked if I could take this book along so I'd have something to read, they were very understanding. I really hope we can get this whole silly mess cleared up soon, though. It's almost Angel Bunny's lunchtime, and he gets very upset if he doesn't get his salad."

"Where is Angel Bunny, anyway?" I asked.

"Oh, um, he ran away."

"Typical." I continued to flip through the pages of the book. "Hmmm..."

"What does it say?" Sweetie Belle stood with her front hooves on my leg, trying to peer over my forearm.

"...I can't read a word of it. It's in some ancient foreign language."

She strained her neck a little further, then glared up at me.

"You mean ordinary Ponish?"

"Yeah, that."

She rolled her eyes, and snatched the book out of my hands with her magic. She flipped through a few pages, then paused and looked back at me again.

"Hey, wait a minute. How were you reading the school newspaper earlier?"

"I... might have been faking it."

"What about Miss Cheerilee's lessons, then?"

"Also faking."

"So, when you were letting Scootaloo copy your notes in class..."

"Yeah, she was just copying gibberish."

Sweetie Belle sighed.

"Rarity's right, you really are a bad influence on us," she muttered. "Oh wait, here we go!"

>>392561
She set the open book down on the floor. We all gathered behind her and peered over her shoulder as she gestured at the illustration on the page. The creature definitely resembled the things we'd been fighting.

"It looks like they're called 'changelings,'" she said. "Here, listen:

"'Changelings are indig... indigenous to all regions of Equestria, though they prefer to nest underground and keep out of sight. Their magic and hive-mind power allows them to imitate the appearance of any creature that's been seen by any member of the hive, but while in that form they are sus... sus...'"

"Yeah, they're sus, go on..."

Sweetie Belle shot me an irritated look.

"'They are sussep... susceptible to that creature's weaknesses. They survive by feeding on love. While changeling hives can be very dangerous if left alone, they rarely harm ponies directly. Instead, they will capture unsuspecting ponies, placing them in high... burr... hibernation... and taking their place. They sye... they sye-phone love from friends and relatives for a period of several months to several years, consuming a portion and storing the rest.

"'When the hive has stored up enough food, the captives are released and the changeling drones return to the deepest part of the nest, filling in tunnels and destroying all trace of their presence on the surface. The hive then enters a dormant phase which lasts for two or more pony generations. Because of their stealth and the in... free... quen-see of their appearances above ground, changeling infiltrations will often go completely undetected. Victims of changeling attacks experience lost time and dis... orientation, the... seh-ver-ity... of which will vary depending on time spent in... stasis.'"

Sweetie Belle released her aura and the book closed. Fluttershy breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"There, you see?" she said. "They're not so bad. All we have to do is wait, and eventually they'll leave on their own."

"Wait for years?!?" Sweetie Belle was incredulous. "While all of our friends are trapped in those gross cocoons?"

"Oh, well, um, maybe it won't be quite that long..."

I lit a stalk. Now that I finally had all the pieces, it was easy to see how it all fit together.

"Don't you guys understand?" I demanded. "The foals! That was their plan the whole time!"

Sweetie Belle got it first.

"So... they kidnap all the foals in town, and take their places..."

"Right! Then they can just feed off the love from their families for years, without anyone being any the wiser. These 'changelings' aren't the first race of aliens to try something like this. I've always suspected something similar about my son Joseph. I'd have given him back to the Zeta Reticulans years ago if I hadn't grown so danged attached to the little guy..."

"So, wait a minute," interjected Bill. "What about... uh... Twilight Sprinkles, an' Charity, an' Scrappy Doo, an' all them other cute little ponies whose names I don't remember?"

"Decoys. And to isolate the town. They needed Cheerilee because she was the schoolteacher, obviously. And the mayor, so the local government wouldn't be a problem."

"And Silver Spoon's parents work in Canterlot," added Sweetie Belle. "And Twilight writes letters to Princess Celestia... and Rarity and Applejack just got in the way I guess..."

She trailed off abruptly, looking at the entrance to the cell. We'd all been so engrossed in our conversation that we'd completely forgotten about Maxilla. He'd stopped his pacing, and was now pressing his face against the grate, glaring at us intently.

"HEY!" he shouted. "Are youthe guythe trying to ethcape?!?"

"No," said Sweetie Belle, doing her best to sound innocent.

"No," said Fluttershy.

"I'm actually pretty comfy in here," said Bill.

Maxilla's eyes narrowed.

"Youthe guythe can't fool me! Youthe guythe are plotting to ETHCAPE!!"

"Honest, we're not," Fluttershy assured him.

"Yeah," I added. "We're just distracting you so that they can escape!"

I pointed over his head, at the empty cell across the tunnel from us.

Maxilla's bug-eyes went even more bug-eyed. He wheeled around and galloped into the empty cell, grunting and hissing in frustration.

"NOOO!!" he shouted. "THEY ETHCAPED!! YOUTHE GUYTHE TRICKED ME!!!!"

"Yeah, we sure put one over on you, all right," I crowed. "By now, they're probably up on the surface, screwing up your whole invasion! You'll never catch them now!"

"THATH WHAT YOU THINK!!" he shouted. His wings buzzed as he took to the air. "YOUTHE GUYTHE WON'T GET AWAY FROM ME!!!"

The echoes of his voice faded into the distance as he shot off down the corridor, weaving drunkenly from side to side and cursing. Behind me, Fluttershy made a tut-tut noise in the back of her throat.

"That was mean," she chided.

I shrugged.

"Honestly, I didn't think it was going to work. Anyway, we should probably get out of here. Bill, you want to do the honors?"

The Billdozer threw his not-inconsiderable bulk against the grate, and after a brief strain it dislodged, clattering against the floor of the tunnel. We all stepped out into relative freedom.

"Come on!" I said. "I think I remember the way we came in. Sweetie Belle, Fluttershy, once we get back to that cavern, you two work on getting all the ponies out of those cocoons."

"Right," they said, nodding.

"And Bill, since you've got a lot of extra love that nobody else seems to want, your job will be to distract any changelings we run into. Now come on, we haven't got much time! S'go, s'go!"