"I think we've got some mail coming in!" Twilight announced from the control room, which was displayed on a screen in the gym where all the other super ponies were. Conveniently the control room had a feature where it would detect a mail pony cutie mark trail from at least a mile away so the super ponies wouldn't miss out on any mail in this case the mail pony had bubbles as it cutie mark.

"Oh what do you think mail pony gonna give us this time?!" Pinkie asked the others, dropping the red ball she was bouncing "Eh pretty sure it'll just be more magazine with bad offers." Rainbow said half-joking since they do get random magazines "Perhaps it might be something like stamps or stickers" the other pegasus suggested

"The coast is clear opening door!" Twilight announced "0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13!" the all counted up as the mail pony entered

"Oh sorry about that." a grey, yellow maned peagsus apologize having tripped and dropped some of the mail in the launcher room "It's okay Derpy" Cozy Glow Superpony #14 said help the pegasus up, grabbing the mail from her bag with a number 13 on it then leading he to the elevator to the control room.

"Hey Twilight Derpy just got done with her shift and saved the last pieces of mail for you." said reaching into her bag with a number 11 which indicated she was Super Pony #13 and handed the unicorn a small stack of papers.

"Thanks Cozy!" sge unwrapped the bow keeping the papers together Derpy and Cozy walked over, the grey superpony struggled a little to press the elevator button before eventually succeeding and going down. "Already paid water bill, already paid internet bill, already paid rent." She then finally found something that wasn't a already paid bill.

"Uh Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rainbow you might wanna come see this" she announced on the screen in a somewhat concerned tone, the other 3 main Superponies dropped everything they were doing in the gym and started heading to the control room. Once they were all gathered up Twilight opened an envelope which was addressed to all 4 of them and found a letter inside from another Superpony.

Dear Main 4

Hey, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Superponies 3,4,5 & 6 I was out in the real world walking along a local forest trail when something caught my eye on a tree I saw small black rocks it wasn't like any rock i've seen before, it was darker than any rock and created a trail I followed it and saw something very strange perched on a tree, I didn't have my camera on my which now makes we feel dumb, I went back to get it to take pictures but when I came back the rocks were there but the thing I saw was gone, so i sent you drawings of the thing from memory.

From Sandbar, Superpony 12

Twilight moved the letter to the back of the pile an exmained the first of Sandbar's drawings the first one just seem to show a black smudge "That's either 1 a mistake, 2 a printing error or 3 he just saw some smoke which might lead to a forest fire." Pinkie theorized

"Or maybe 1 this is a joke, 2 he's messing with or 3 he's pulling our legs" Rainbow suggested "You do realize those all mean the same thing." Twilight pointed out which made the rainbow maned pegasus facehoof "There's no way Sandbar could be lying he's one of the most honest and kind superponies we know" Fluttershy countered "Now that I say that I have a bad feeling about the other drawings."

Twilight flipped to the next drawing that illustrated the same black smudge except it time it had more clearly taken the form or a changeling or kirin, but most closely a pony muzzle.

"I can tell this thing is starting to take form." Twilight commented "Might end up looking worse than I thought." Fluttershy quietly added. 5 then flipped to the last page which fully revealed this thing, although there was still some black mist, enough was removed to reveal that this thing looked like a unicorn stallion with a red horn, black crown and a short red cape over his back.

"You don't think this shadow will come after Sandbar or the Superponies?" Fluttershy asked "Shadow? Hey nice nickname Flutters and since he has a crown, how about we name him The Shadow King!"

"Now isn't the time to be naming potential new threats Pinkie." Rainbow rudely informed her "I think it's best not to overthink it Twi."

"Yeah I guess, you're right overthinking leads to stress and I can't let that get in the way of keeping a pony order in Equestria."

---

The Mane 4 did seem to forget about the potential threat that was The Shadow King within a week, and allowed a whole month to go by. There were a few small problems here and there but overall nothing to major that was until one seemingly uneventful day.

In the Cozy Room Twilight was using one of the room's table with a lamp attached to read a book, the other 3 ponies were their pretty bored with no missions in 2 days "It's pretty quiet...too quiet." Pinkie remarked

Rainbow snickered "Egghead!" she blurted out "Yeppers!" Pinkie added "Flitter!" Fluttershy concluded "Just so you 3 know, you're not gonna make me laugh with your random phrases." Twilight informed

"Egghead! Yeppers! Flitter!" the trio repeated a little louder "You're not gonna make me lau-" the unicorn said the first part of her sentence trying to keep in her laughter before bursting into a fit of it.

"You can join in if you want Twi! Oh I got it, lets each do a action and keep the pattern going!" Pinkie suggested "Egghead!" the blue pegasus said extending out her wings "Yeppers!" the pink pony said bouncing up in the air "Fitter!" the yellow peagsus said fluttering her wings "Bookworm!" Twilight blurted out before doing a spin and stomping her hooves.

They continue this pattern of phrases and actions a few more times, even forming a circle at one point to create a cycle. This cycle ended with all 4 main superponies bursting into laughter and then is followed by the alarm going off. "This was fun everypony but we've got a problem on our hooves come on!"

Twilight led the other to the control room and Fluttershy rushed over the platform where the problem could be seen and the alarm could be snoozed "Alright everypony i'm putting it on screen" The screen came down and displayed a female yak with colorful bows at a park she places a recliner and sits down.

"Yona have long day time for Yona to relax" she mutters, despite this she is suddenly teleported to a bench not far from her orignal chair and then a random rock, it then repeats recliner, bench, rock, recliner bench, rock.

"That's very strange. One of us has to investigate that." Pinkie commented and Rainbow declared "Cool! a yak has never been part of the first problem." Twilight commented "Then it looks like you're going out!" Fluttershy concluded "Get ready for launching!"

We've got a problem, what should we do?" Twilight goes down the slide into the launching room

"Who's going out there? Who do we choose?" She is scanned closing her eyes so the scanner doesn't blind her

"A problem we gotta recognize!" All cutie marks light up

Who's going out there?... Superpony 5!" The sparkles of her cutie mark light up, she jumps into her pod once its grabbed, which is then carried over to the bigger launching claw "Checking if the room's clear" Fluttershy ends up finding a grown dragoness in the room cleaning up toys.

"Doorbell!" Pinkie calls out pressing the doorbell button making the dragoness drop the toys and go donwstairs "All clear!" Pinkie assure.

After a while of Twilight staring down blinking blue circles the opening to the counter and to the real world finally opens up "2,1,0!" Rainbow presses the button turning Superpony #5 into a trail of sparkles out of the house and through the blue sky. Superpony #4 on the other hand uses her wing to switch between potential landing locations eventually finding the outside of a residence near a small cafe and park.

"Alright made it!"

"Go find the yak and try to figure out her sitting problem" the yellow pegasus reminded her "And make sure to look out for mre problems" the earth pony recommended

"Alright gotta keep an eye out for any other problems." Twilight repeated looking around shortly followed by an alarm going off "There's one on my way!"

The unicorn makes her way into a nearby house through an opening in a window and hides behind a pencil jar and finds a pink hippogriff trying on a small bowler hat

"Hey Terry does this hat make my head look big?" she asked a white hippogriff with a teal mane "Not now sis i'm trying to beat this very hard boss." he responds sweating a bit while button mashing, the pink griff goes back to the mirror to double check only for the bowler hat to be turned into a top hat and then a cowcreature hat, it repeats bowler, top, cowcreature hat.

"That's hilarious!" Rainbow blurted out before bursting into a fit of laughter "So far 3 things had happened to the yak and the hippogriff" Pinkie noted down

"Doesn't look like she's the only one in the area with that problem" the unicorn says worryingly jumping out the opening and back into the streets, spotting The Cleaner wearing headphones and holding a leaf blower to get leaves off the sidewalk which is then changed to a vacuum and then a blower dryer which once again repeats leaf blower, vacuum,blow dryer.

"What in Frostbite's (Dragon Lord) name is going on with my leaf blower?" he takes off his headphones and turns it off to examine it even looking into the pipe, only for it to turn back into the vacuum which was already on, getting the drake's muzzle briefly stuck inside, he manages to pull it out only to discover his muzze had been stretched a little making Twilight laugh a little

"It seems that the yak, hippogriff and drake are having 3 things happen to them over and over again!" Fluttershy noted "They're stuck in a repeating pattern!" Rainbow finally managed to put together. Twilight headed to the park and found the female yak still stuck in her pattern of sitting locations and looks around "It's no good can't find any signs of who or what is causing this."

"I think I need some rest to calm myself down!" the unicorn declares running into some nearby woods and laid down next to a log "Twilight you may not be able to find what is causing the problem but you gotta at least fix it!" the rainbow maned pony reminded her "Alright find just send some magic and i'll sort it out" she responded

"Alright time to send the-?" the 3 remaining Super ponies all got confused looks on their faces from what they had just saw "What?" the super pony asked before looking over to find a male blue griffon seemingly standing still, he first jumps and then hops with one leg, and then flaps his wings and continued jump,hop,flap,jump,hop,flap

"This may be annoying but it's a good workout." The griffon told himself as he continued to do this pattern of moves "Uh Oh!" Rainbow worried "He's stuck in a repeating pattern as well!" Fluttershy added "BUT WHY!" Pinkie asked "I think I know now look!"

She spots small black thorns on a few leaves and a tree branch which then reveals the thing from Sandbar's third drawing "Oh no it can't be." Pinkie said "THE SHADOW KING!" all 4 superponies said in union "He must've affected the 4 creatures in some way." Twilight reasoned

"Round and Round they go where they're going nobody knows!" The Shadow King taunted in a distorted voice before laughing.

"Showing closeups of each creature on screen." 4 said pressing the lever which displayed closeups of said creatures on screen. The yak had a black thorn on one of her horns, the pink hippogriff on the tip of one of her ears, the cleaner on one of his back spikes and the blue griffon on his wing.

"I have a feeling there might be a reason why they were thorned" Rainbow reasoned back "I got it since things are happening to them in a pattern maybe they have a pattern on their bodies?" Fluttershy suggested "Good observation Flutters lets see." 3 responded

The super ponies start with the blue griffon, they don't find any patterns on his body, or on his hoodie but rather on a postcard hung from his bag "On his post card, blue moon, red moon, white moon" 5 pointed out

The hippogriff was next and they found that her pattern came from the pattern of her mowhawk/ponytail like mane. "it's her mane it goes white, light blue, dark blue."

For the cleaner there was no pattern on his body since he was only made of 2 colors with slight differences the pattern of 3 was found on his hoodie "His hoodie has the pattern of blue diamond, green emerald, red ruby" Finally for the yak it was on her accessory "The dots on her bow brown,teal, blue!"

"Watch out Twi!" Pinkie warned just barely saving her from being hit with the Shadow's magic, it ended up thorning 3 out of the 4 creatures "Uh oh his postcard changed it's pattern blue moon, red moon, white moon, yellow moon, so that means jump, hop, flap." the griffon let out a loud squawk which not only knocked Twilight down but also scared away nearby birds, luckily as the pattern repeated the squawk became a normal volume sound.

The hippogriff ended up getting a 4th shade of blue added to her mane the pattern now went, white, light blue, dark blue, navy blue. Rather than getting 4 hats on her head she ended up getting stuck on the cowcreature hat and start teleporting around the room, her head on something different, the table, the floor, the chair and finally her brother's shoulder.

Finally the pattern on The Cleaner's now went, blue diamond, green emerald, red ruby and gold bar and now the pattern was leaf blower facing forward, vacuum facing backwards which caught the drake off guard, blow dryer facing down and airpump sideways which in a way combined the 2 problems the hippogriff and griffon were having.

"This has gone on long enough! We have to break these patterns you heard what The Shadow Kinh said who know what might happen to these creatures if they don't stop, quickly send some magic." Twilight demanded

Rainbow activated the magic trampoline which then Pinkie jumped into "Break the pattern, break the pattern, break the pattern, break the pattern!" the pink pony repeated to ensure the unicorn would have 4 rounds of this magic, which then released in the sky.

"Break the pattern!" Twilight said zapping the blue griffon which removed, the thorn and yellow moon and spread out the 3 moons on his postcards.

"Break the pattern!" the hippogriff's mane was struck, removing the thorn when she laid on her brother's shoulder which revealed she only had 2 colors on her mane white and light blue. She then proceeded to grab the controller from him and start button mashing finishing the boss off, her brother took the cowcreature hat off her and put it on.

The cleaner was zapped removing the thorn and gold bar, scattering the 3 gemstones on his hoodie and returning his front facing leaf blower. Finally it was the yak, the thorn was removed and dots on both of her bows scattered, spread out she was on the rock when she realized she could go back to her recliner.

Finally Twilight used the last remaining amount of her magic on the Shadow King, he yells something unintelligible and since he was basically doing a pattern of thorning people he ended up exploding into black rock and shadow remnant, the remnant disappearing and black rocks turning into normal pebbles.

"Wow you not only broke the patterns you broke The Shadow King who made the patterns" Fluttershy remarked "He'll be back maybe." Rainbow capped off "Come on back Twilight" Fluttershy said as Twilight turned into a trail of sparkles and eventually back to the counter "0,1,2!" they all said in union as Twilight re entered the counter with the castle playset on top.

"Mane that mission sure was weird especially with the edition of The Shadow King!" Twilight remarked "Egghead!" Rainbow half nervously, half jokingly blurted out "Yeppers! Flitter! Bookworm!" they all said one by one before doing their respective action, starting up the pattern, cycle again.

Next Chapter: Potato Plot (Suddenly Potatoes) Estimated time remaining: 8 Minutes