“Thank goodness you’re here” The grey maned governor said, looking like he hadn’t slept in days. “If anyone can solve such a strange magical event it’s you Princess Twilight.”

“It is no trouble Governor Bright Stone.” Twilight said confidently. If it was something magic related, she was sure she could solve it. “What seems to be the problem?”

“My land if overrun with weasels.” Bright Stone said. “We estimated there at least ten thousand running amok, eating everything, causing all sorts of noise. If nothing is done the entire ecosystem will collapse.”

“Uh.” Twilight said, faltering in her surprise. “I don’t understand, you said in your letter that this is a magic problem. This seems like a job for pest control, or the weasel equivalent.”

“You don’t understand.” The Governor said, signaling an assistant with a wave. “These aren’t normal weasels, they emerged from a giant hole in the ground two days ago.”

As he spoke the assistant returned with a cage containing one of the weasels.

“But its it’s more than that.” The governor continued as the cage was placed on his desk. “Look at the weasel right under the tail.”

Twilight levitated the weasels tail up then dropped it back down surprise. Lifting it up again she found her eyes didn’t deceive her. Attached to the weasel was a tag. On one side was a picture of a smiley face, on the other was message that said “For ages 3 and up. Wash the surface with warm soapy water. Copyright 1005 Smile Co.”

Twilight turned to the governor in confusion. “What does this mean.”

“Smile co is a plushy manufacturer that went bankrupt 30 years ago.” The governor said with a weary smile. “We are still trying to find some ponies that worked for them to hopefully get some answers, but I believe it is more important to solve this problem from the source.”

Twilight gave a nod. “What did you find in the hole the weasels came from?”

“Well.” The governor said awkwardly, scratching the back of his neck with a hoof. “We haven’t actually sent anypony down there.”

“What?” Twilight said in surprise. “didn’t you say this happened two days ago?”

“well, yes.” He replied with a little hesitation. “But you see, I’ve had to put all my resources into capturing the weasels. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to catch ten thousand weasels?” Then under his breath, barely audible, he added. “If only weasels weren’t a protected species, then we could just…” He didn’t finish that thought.

Twilight sighed; this meeting was not going at all as she suspected. If she knew she was going to be exploring something potentially dangerous, she would have brought some of her friends to help. But as it was, she was on her own.

***

Twilight flew above the hole, her horn creating a bright spot light, even now there were weasels exiting the hole, but thankfully it had slowed to the point where only one left every minute or so.

Twilight had cast over a dozen spells on the hole, trying to find any traps, but there were none she could see. With slight apprehension she slowly lowered herself down.

The hole curved moving from vertical to horizontal after a few dozen feet. The tunnel itself wasn’t large, in fact Twilight had to duck her head in order to fit through.

“I really wish I wasn’t claustrophobic.” Twilight grumbled, stepping over a weasel scurrying passed, trying her best to focus on the path ahead. Internally she repeated. “If you get stuck you can teleport away.” Over and over, keeping her calm.

She had barely been walking for a minute before she noticed a light at the end of the tunnel. She started to increase her pace but corrected herself. She slowed down, deciding caution was best.

Twilight peaked into the cavern, finding a gigantic machine covered in cracks. Each crack emitted a bright light and the whole thing bulged as if it was about to explode. It seemed that the only thing keeping the machine together was a green aura surrounding it.

Twilight took a hesitant step forward, but nearly stumbled as she stepped on one of the weasels walking under her. The Weasel squeaked as if in pain, causing Twilight to yelp in surprise and worry.

She quickly looked at the weasel, and was glad to see that it was unharmed. How the weasel could withstand her bodyweight was beyond her, but before she could really think about it a weak voice called out. “Is someone there? Help me.”

Leaving the weasel to its journey outside, Twilight ran to the sound of the voice.

On the opposite side of the machine was a dark green unicorn with a silver mane, his cutie mark that of a cloud, or perhaps a cotton ball. His horn was aimed at the machine, glowing brightly.

“Please.” He spoke. “Help me stabilize it. If it blows I have no idea how big the blast will be.”

Eyes wide, Twilight quickly helped the unicorn. She used several spells to repair the cracks spread across the machine, fusing them close leaving behind ugly scars. Then she became releasing the stored energy within the machine slowly.

As the energy was released, the strain required to keep it together lessened, causing the other unicorn to sigh in relief.

The process was actually quite easy for Twilight, which is what allowed her to notice when a weasel crawled out of a small hole in the side of the machine. At least she knew for sure what the source of the problem was.

After all the energy within the machine was dispelled she used a few spells to break the machine in several places. She didn’t want to destroy it completely without the full story.

The green unicorn collapsed. “Thank you.” He said gasping for air. “I don’t know how long I have been keeping that machine together, but it felt like days.”

“Why are you creating weasels.” Twilight said, realizing that that was one of the strangest things she had ever asked. “Do you have any idea the damage you caused to surrounding lands.

The unicorn’s ears went flat, his eyes widening, “you’re saying they escaped? I thought for sure I sealed off every entrance.

Twilight levitated the giant machine aside, giving the unicorn view of the hole.

He winced at the sight. “I… I guess I’m not surprised. They had to have gone somewhere, I just hoped that they would have dug downwards or something.”

“Why were you creating weasels.” Twilight repeated, this time trying to mimic Celestia’s ‘I’m not mad I’m just disappointed’ voice.

Tears began to flow down the unicorn’s face. “I just wanted to make fillies smile.” He wailed.

It took several minutes of crying before his words were intelligible enough for Twilight to understand them.

Smoky Fabric was the Unicorn’s name, and he was apparently the son of the last CEO of Smile Co. He wanted to restart the company with a new way of creating plushies.

“But something went wrong.” Smoky said. “The machine was supposed to cast a spell on the cotton and fabric with the goal of making the weasels as realistic as possible. But the spell was too good, they don’t just look like weasels, they act like them too. And it did it too fast causing the machine to overload.”

“Wait?” Twilight said. “Are you saying all those weasels are magically animated plushies?”

“Of course.” Smoky said in confusion, then his eyes widened again. “Oh no, Weasels are a protected species here, which means you all probably tried to avoid hurting them.”

Twilight winced, wondering how much destruction would have been prevented if the ponies above knew the truth of the matter.

“Why weasels?” Twilight lamented to herself, if it was practically any other animal the truth would have been uncovered.

“Protected things are special, special things are desirable.” Smoky explained weakly. “It’s the perfect market for plushies.”

“What’s done is done.” Twilight said with a sigh. After several seconds of thought she looked at Smoky and, she her most commanding Canterlot voice, she said. “You will turn yourself in at once.”

The pony froze, then nodded his head repeatedly. “Of course ma’am, I mean Princess.”

Twilight nodded and teleported out of the cavern, appearing in the sky. Flapping her wings, she looked at the woods below, she could see the damage the weasels had caused. There were almost no other animals as everything but the weasels had long fled.

Twilight formed a complex spell in her mind, her horn sparking with purple and white light. The spell was released as a wave of energy that passed through everything.

The spell was simple, it dispelled any spell in the area, turning the animated plush weasels into normal plushies. Any weasels made of flesh and blood would be unaffected. Once the spell was cast, she moved on to the next area.

It was not a fast process, but it was something that few other than Twilight could do at such a scale. After several hours the process was done. Whatever magically animated plushies remained would lose their magic within a few more days, according to Smoky Fabric, but there were so little left that the damage would be minimal.

The only thing left was the cleanup, which Twilight understood would be a long process

Twilight was pleased when Smoky Fabric turned himself in to the police, she was afraid the pony would flee after Twilight teleported away. Seeing this Twilight decided to personally speak to the judge in charge of his trial, after all she knew very well what it was like for a spell to go wrong. By some definitions she’d actually done worse than him.

The governor was ecstatic when the incident was over, offering Twilight a banquet as a thank you. But Twilight declined, she was exhausted and just wanted to go home.

As Twilight sat in her train car, she couldn’t help but look at the hyper realistic weasel plushy in her hooves. She had decided to keep one as a memento from this strange experience.

Twilight leaned against the window of the compartment, hugged the weasel tight, and took a well-deserved nap.