Just one week.
Fanfic by englishwitch
Disclaimer: The following is an entirely fan-created parody. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, its characters and all other affiliated merchandise are the intellectual property of Lauren Faust and Hasbro. Please support the official MLP: FiM show.
I make no profit, or money at all, for the production and distribution of this fanfiction.

Now edited by DerpyDash2131

Chapter 1

“What’s goin on here Twi?” Applejack asked as she approached the purple mare. “I gots lots of work to do on the farm, I can’t be dragged away like this.”

Twilight just shook her head. “I don’t know what’s happening any more than you do Applejack. The Princess sent the letter to the mayor, not me.” She looked left and right at the ponies around her. It looked like the whole of Ponyville was being gathered here.

They were standing outside the town hall. For some reason the mayor mare had spread the word that everypony had to gather around the town statue before noon for an important announcement from Princess Celestia. The statue, a tall grey stone structure resembling a royal unicorn guard in full armour rearing up on his hind legs, had never really been paid much attention by anyone except the bird population of Ponyville before now. Most ponies could go for days without giving it a glance. Twilight hadn't even noticed it before, like it hadn't existed before today.

“Well whatever it is I hope it don’t take too long. We got apple buckin ta do.” Applejack complained. A flash of red hair caught her eye. “Applebloom, what the hay you doin' here? Yur ‘sposed to be in school young filly.”

Applebloom walked up with her constant companions Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle close behind. “Relax sis.” The filly said without a worry of her sisters anger. “We ain’t cuttin' or nothin'. Miss Cheerilee let us all out early cause of this important announcement the mayor is makin'.”

“They’re even asking the schools to empty?” Twilight asked in wonder. “This must be an important announcement.” She looked at Spike, worry rising on her features. “I wonder why the princess didn’t send a letter to me? What if she needs our help? Do you think we should head to Canterlot and offer our assistance?”

A hoof tapped her shoulder and Twilight jumped a foot in the air. Rainbow Dash laughed. “Your face!” She guffawed. She almost fell out of the air from laughing so hard.

“Maybe we should hear the message before we go chargin' in to save the day.” Applejack offered over the noise of Rainbow’s laughing.

Twilight smiled sheepishly. “Yeah, you’re probably right.”

The bell in the clock tower suddenly rang the hour. Noon exactly. At the exact same time the horn of the statue started to glow with a bright white light. Everypony stopped and stared, unsure what was happening. Nopony had ever seen this happening to a statue. The light built brighter and brighter into a shining ball like the sun. Ponies averted their eyes just as the light spilled downwards toward the ground like a spotlight. Within the spotlight the transparent image of a pony appeared and came into focus. He looked like a ghost, pale and white with bright gold armour. As he came into focus Twilight gasped as she recognized him.

“Shining?!” She said gleefully.

The image of her brother Shining Armour, captain of the royal guard, didn’t respond to his name. Twilight suspected he could neither see or hear anypony. He would be in the castle, looking at an imaging gem. Twilight had only seen one once in her school classes. It captured the image of a pony and used magic to project that image through a receiving gem which could be many miles away. She’d heard they were very difficult to make, taking teams of unicorns to wield enough magic to make two gems which could be magically linked across continents. It ended up being far easier to send mail the old fashioned way or by magical fire like Twilight used, thanks to Spike, to communicate with the princess.

“Citizens of Equestria.” Shining’s voice was magically magnified so even the ponies at the back of the huddled group heard him clearly. “This is the Canterlot Emergency Magical Broadcast System. I ask for your silence and attention as her royal highness, Princess Celestia De Sol makes an important announcement.”

Shining bowed low and stepped out of the light. A second later the tall and majestic form of of Princess Celestia stepped into his place. “My loyal subjects.” She respectfully bent her head. “The royal city of Canterlot is suffering from an infestation, from a magical creature known as parasprites.”

“Somepony find me a TUBA!!” Came a squeal from the back of the crowd.

“Pinkie shush!” Came Rarity’s voice.

The princess had been continuing her speech during this brief exchange. “We believe one single parasprite entered the city almost one week ago, hidden in a shipment of food. This one parasprite escaped and began to consume all food it could find. When a parasprite has eaten enough it undergoes a form of division and produces another of its kind. By the time the presence of these creatures was discovered that one parasprite had become an estimated ten thousand. All the food stored in the Canterlot warehouse district has been consumed. We have nothing stored for winter.”

“We gotta help.” Applejack said determinedly. She turned to run back to her farm.

“Wait.” Twilight pointed to the image of Celestia, who was still talking.

“Parasprites are known to be hypnotized and pacified by certain types of music. Two days ago our citizens with musical skills made an amazingly valiant effort to handle the problem. Working together these admirable ponies managed to remove all parasprites from our streets.

“But this was not the end, as we had thought. Canterlot has many miles of sewers, abandoned tunnels and caves beneath its surface. We have today discovered parasprites, who had found their way into these underground spaces. In these areas we believe they did not hear the music and therefore were not hypnotized and pacified. Under the ground they continued to find...leftovers.” She said tactfully. Everypony grimaced all the same. No one wanted to imagine what kind of edible things the parasprites had found in the sewers. “With the raising of the sun this morning-”

Celestia stopped talking as a small, blue creature with large green eyes, fluttered past her face. There was a look of worry for a second. “With the raising of the sun the population could no longer by contained within Canterlot’s underground spaces. The parasprites literally exploded out into the streets. We can no longer estimate how many there are.”

A muffled voice was heard for a second, Celestia’s head turned and she nodded. Somepony outside the crystal’s field had spoken to the princess. “We believe at least one million.” She said gravely, turning back to face everypony. “Musical hypnosis will not guarantee all parasprites have been removed from our city, and a population of more than a million is far too large for even the Everfree forest to contain. Because of this, I have had no choice but to fall upon an ancient technique, used against parasprites before ponies discovered how music affects them. My sister, Princess Luna, and I must seal the entire city of Canterlot in an extermination field.”

Applejack and Spike looked at Twilight, who just shook her head. She’d never heard of an extermination field before.

“Parasprites are magical creatures. Not in the same way as unicorns, who channel magic through themselves. Or even in the same as the ancient and elusive fairies, who are beings who have become living conduits of the worlds natural magical energy. Parasprites are unique, in that they are born from pure magic itself. This is how they are able to consume foods many times their size and weight and reproduce themselves in such great numbers so quickly. Within their bodies the magic converts the matter they consume into new parasprites. They are, in essence, shards of magic given a rudimentary life. The extermination field was created to undo that. It nullifies the force which creates and holds them together, dissolving their physical form and returning them to the natural magic ether from whence they came. I am assured, it is quite painless.”

The princess stopped as two more parasprites flew across her vision. She looked left and right and a worried expression crossed her face. She opened her mouth to speak but suddenly jumped back and out of sight. A royal guard charged across the space where she’d been. Everypony only saw him for a second but they caught a glimpse of the guard running manically, with a large butterfly net clutched in his mouth.

After a few seconds, Celestia stepped back into sight. Despite her best efforts to look calm, there was no denying she’d been quite shaken. She cleared her throat and started to talk a little faster, eager to get through her pre-prepared speech as quickly as possible. “While the field is not deadly to ponies, I have been told it can be harmful due to prolonged exposure. Therefore, I have had no choice but to come to the decision, that the city of Canterlot is to be evacuated.”

Everypony in the crowd gasped in shock. Many turned their heads toward the hills in the horizon, taking notice of he city for the first time. Many dozens of black shapes hovered around and flew away from the city like flies. Pegasus pulled chariots, heading in all directions, each one probably full to capacity of Canterlot citizens.

“To ensure all parasprites are eliminated, my sister and I have agreed that the extermination field must remain upon the city for no less than a week. Princess Luna and I will remain close to Canterlot to monitor the field and assess when the parasprite infestation has passed. To you, my loyal ponies of Equestria, I request your aid during this time. Owners of hotels, inns, guest houses, you must make every room available to the citizens of Canterlot. To ordinary citizens I request, if you have a spare room within your dwelling you can loan to a pony in need for a week, then please, go to your local train station. This is a designated information point where your details will be posted upon notice boards for ponies to see.” The princess flapped her wings, and half a dozen parasprites took flight from out of the feathered folds. They swarmed around her in a small cloud. Forgetting royal decorum for a second Celestia, reared up on her hind legs, flapping her majestic wings in a vain effort to scatter the parasprites.

The second she stopped moving the parasprites just landed on her body again. Celestia growled in frustration. “My loyal ponies,” She said, trying to maintain the last of her dignity. “I ask for your patience and your generosity during this time. Make every effort to help those in need during this crisis. Prove yourselves to be the generous, hard-working, kind and charitable ponies I know you to be.” She bowed lowly. The regal moment was ruined by the parasprites holding onto her crown, who chirped loudly and happily as they were taken for a ride down, then back up again. “The grace of my sister and I shine upon you.”

“Princess!” A voice yelled from out of sight. Celestia’s head darted up, and her eyes widened in horror.

“NO! Don’t let them eat my cakes!” She charged out of sight, and a few seconds later the bright spotlight from the statue’s horn faded away, and the noise of the royal castle of Canterlot was silenced.

Twilight’s eyes widened, she looked at Spike and AJ. “Parasprites in Canterlot. Oh, no.”

“At least it sounds like the princesses are getting a handle on it.” Applejack responded.

“But what if they wreck the city?” Twilight panicked.

“Ah reckon they’ll be fine s’long as somepony don’t go castin' spells on em to stop em eatin food.” Applejack said with a smile to let Twilight know she was just doing some friendly teasing.

Twilight blushed as she remembered the time Parasprites had infested Ponyville. “In my defence," she said sheepishly. “I didn’t know that parasprites were magical eating machines back then. In all fairness, they’d have probably started eating everything else when the food was gone.”

“We don’t blame you, Twilight," Spike said encouragingly. “And don’t worry. If anypony can fix the problem in Canterlot it’ll be-” He stopped and clutched his stomach suddenly. His cheeks puffed out and with a huge burp a jet of green flame burst out. Black ashes swirled and formed into a scroll which he grabbed in his hand. The scroll bore the royal seal of the Princess.

“A letter from the princess?” Twilight started to panic again. “Oh no! What does it say? Does she need our help? Is Canterlot on the verge of destruction? Do they need the Elements of Harmony to stop the parasprites?” She gasped as a terrible thought suddenly occurred. “Have the parasprites EATEN the Elements of Harmony? HAVE THEY?!!”

“It’s from your brother.” Spike said calmly, holding up the scroll.

Twilight grabbed the scroll in her magic and held it in front of her face.

"Twily,
I guess you saw the broadcast, L.S.B.F.F, but there’s no need to worry. The evacuation is going well, and, apart from a lack of snacks, we’re not as overwhelmed as you might think. We’ve managed to keep most of the parasprites in Canterlot’s main square by piling all the food there. We’ve also got teams of unicorns transforming things like rocks and leaves into simple foods like bread. Before you say it, yes we know that transformed food isn’t really food, it’s still rocks and leaves that just look like bread, but it’s enough to fool the parasprites, and it’s stopping them spreading out of Canterlot. They don’t really seem to care what they eat.
The reason I’m writing to you, sis, is because we have a favour to ask. The princesses will be staying in a camp just outside Canterlot, and my place is at their side. Cadence is traveling to all the major cities to help with relief efforts and find places for the citizens to stay while the extermination is taking place. So, it’s mum and dad. They don’t have any place else to go, and they’ll need a place to stay.
Dad says “Something will come up," and mum says “We don’t want to impose.”
You know what they’re like.
I just don’t like the idea of them going somewhere so far away, like Manehatten or Fillydelphia, and losing lots of money paying for hotel rooms. I’d like them to be nearby and with family. So, little sis, do you think you’ll have the room to let mum and dad stay for the week?
I know your library isn’t big, so, if you don’t have the room, we’ll all understand. If the inn at Ponyville has any rooms, let me know.
Send your reply back through Spike. The princess has promised she’ll get it to me immediately.
Love your B.B.B.F.F,
Shining Armour."

Twilight breathed a sigh of relief. It was an important letter, but at least it wasn’t a huge emergency. The last few years had really shifted her perception of what constituted an emergency. If something was happening that didn’t hold the fate of all Equestria in its paws, hooves, claws et cetera, it wasn’t an emergency.

“Everythin' okay sugarcube?” Applejack asked, looking concerned.

Twilight smiled and nodded. “It’s just Shining Armour asking if my parents can stay with me during all this. I’m going to say yes, because I don’t see them as often as I’d like. It’d be good for us to spend this time catching up. Spike, ready to take a letter?”

Spike already had quill and scroll in his hands. “Yep.”

Applejack smiled. “Fantastic sugarcube. Look forward to meetin' em again. I’m gonna mosey over to the station and let em know the Apple family has a guest room available.”

“Yeah, I guess I should too. I got a couple of spare rooms at my place.” Rainbow said. Her grin widened. “Who knows, maybe I’ll get lucky and one of the ponies needing a place to stay will be a Wonderbolt.” She jumped up and shot off, messing up the manes of everypony in the crowd with her slipstream.

Twilight shook her head and smiled. “Okay Spike, take this down.” She cleared her throat.

“B.B.B.F.F.,
Of course mum and dad can stay, you numbskull! You think I’m going to let our parents have to pay for a hotel room? You might want to get your armour checked; I think the helmet is too tight, and it’s cutting off the blood to your brain.
Tell mum she won’t be imposing, and I insist they stay with me.
And tell dad to take things more seriously!
I’ll have everything ready by the time they arrive.
Give them my love.
Love your L.S.B.F.F.,
Twilight Sparkle."

“Got all that, Spike?”

“Spar...kle.” Spike scratched at the paper. “Got it.” He rolled up and sealed the scroll. Holding it up, he let out a puff of green flame, which consumed the scroll, turning it into a light green mist, which drifted on the breeze toward Canterlot.

A mass of pink fur landed between the pony and the dragon. Pinkie’s smile almost reached her ears. “Your parents are coming?” She cried out, bouncing on the spot. “We gotta have a welcome party!”

Twilight just stared in surprise. “Pinkie, how did you even hear? You were over there.” She pointed to the other side of the square, where Rarity was talking to Fluttershy.

Pinkie just giggled. “Pinkie sense. When I get an ear flop, itchy back, achy shoulder and I accidentally bite my tongue, it means some ponies parents are arriving, and I’ve never thrown them a PARTY!” She threw her hooves up in the air, and confetti rained down on the three of them.

Twilight blew out of the corner of her mouth, clearing confetti off her face. “That’s...a very specific combo.” She said in a very tired voice. She wanted to question it, that was her instinct. But, she’d learned the hard way, the VERY hard way, not to question Pinkie Sense. “Does it come up very often?”

Pinkie pouted. “Not as often as it should... Actually, I don’t think it’s ever come up before.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, confused. “If it’s never come up before, how do you know what that combo means?”

Pinkie just laughed. “Silly Twilight, what else could it mean?”

Twilight opened her mouth to argue back, but stopped herself and sighed. “Never mind.” She shook her head, grateful she’d stopped before she got a headache. “I’m sure my parents would love a party, Pinkie.”

“GREAT!” Pinkie jumped up and hopped around excitedly. “I’ll get started! OOH lots of cupcakes to make!” She shot off in a pink blur of hair and confetti.

Twilight just found herself smiling. “Okay Spike. Let’s get back to the library, we’ve got to clean up for company.”

Author's Notes:

Note from DerpyDash2131: Cleared up all of the grammatical mistakes and sentences that were hard to understand now make sense.