The Class Know-It-All

??? POV

---

I woke up the same way I did nearly every time, with my face buried in my arms that were covered in drool. I was not a restless sleeper but I was definitely a messy sleeper.

Through the drool I was able to figure out that I was sleeping at some sort of desk. It was wooden and had dozens of papers all over it. Not my desk, I realized with a yawn. I know from experience not to put papers where they’ll drown.

With the reluctance of a Saturday morning, I peeled off of the desk and let myself fall into the back of this chair I was in. My vision flung towards the roof and I felt my back and legs howl in pain from soreness.

Without even looking at the chair or the desk I could tell they were both incredibly low to the ground. You could replace the chair with a stiff couch cushion and you wouldn’t lose any height. Thanks to that, my legs were bent at these awkward angles under the foot space of the desk.

I took a second to finally start getting my bearings. I was lucky, or unlucky, enough to have fallen asleep with my glasses on my face. When I realized they were crooked I straightened them out with an arm that still had a piece of drool-drenched paper stuck to it.

Ewwwwww, I groaned internally, quickly shedding the page and throwing it off to the side. If ever I needed a morning shower.

The last thing I ended up doing was tending to my cheek. I was rolling my jaw and holding my hand to it but the aching feeling in it was still there.

Hold on. My cheek is sore. I furrowed my brow. It was the same ache that was around my glasses, where they were pushed into my face from sleeping on them. But the only way my cheek would hurt like this is…

I moved my wrist forward so I could look at it. Greeting me was my giant, bulky, swiss army knife of a watch that was proudly ticking away.

I never slept with my watch on. I quite literally made it a habit to take it off whenever I sat down somewhere with a table. Mostly so I didn’t have a stupid watch-print on my cheek if I ever passed out. So why was it there, spit-shined from me sleeping?

I started checking what I had on me. I was in regular street clothes, jeans, shoes, a loose leather jacket, and they didn’t seem dirty or like I’ve worn them several days over.

Moreover, I had the usual things I always tucked away in my pockets. My phone, a wallet, car keys, pocket knife, and a deck of cards. The cards might have seemed out of place but I always had a deck with me. It was something to mess around with if I was bored. It was another habit of mine.

When I was satisfied checking my own person I took a look around me. I was indoors with a room that had windows on every wall except behind me. There were two doors that both led outside. One was to my left and the other was opposite of the room with five rows of five small student desks standing in the way.

Well, I’m only assuming student desks, I noted. Probably because of the school-supplies, the odd satchels lying beside some of them, and the sleeping child in the center desk.

I furrowed my brow. Hmm. I’m not alone.

The kid seemed like an even worse sleeper than I was if I could be honest. The giant doll-red hair draped over them was like a veil with an equally giant pink bow trying its best to hold as much of it together as it could.

Then, peeking out from under the hair was a single arm hanging over the side of her desk. It almost seemed to sway in time with the obnoxious snoring of a young girl.

Well, assuming girl, I reminded myself. With that arm and the sound of her snoring I almost want to put money on it. I have been wrong though, rare as that is.

“How did I not hear her snoring until now?” I spoke quietly.

I finished checking the rest of the room first. Behind me was a chalkboard that only covered a third of the entire wall with an oversized frame around the edges. And the bottom of the frame wasn’t even wide enough to set an eraser down on. The teacher was simply forced to put the erasers on the desk.

Speaking of the teacher’s desk, there was a collection of stuff there too. Aside from my drool, there was plenty of paper and a—

I suddenly wanted as far from that desk as possible. Ignoring the short chair falling away, I was up and a good four feet from the source of the now most revolting thing in the room.

An apple. An apple so rotten— so bad —it had turned into mush and hardened after it started dripping down the side of the desk. It looked like a candle left out in the sun for too long. Only the apple smelled like a dumpster so acidic it would sink into the ground and form its own cesspool.

What made it more disturbing was the thin layer of dust and strands of hair that gathered on it.

I shuddered and made a focused effort to start breathing through my mouth. Suddenly the drool on my chin doesn’t seem so disgusting to me.

I doubled my attention back to the child. No response. I wasn’t even trying to be quiet about the apple either.

As I took one step towards the girl I noticed one final thing about the room I was in; the floor. Rather than be carpeted or have hardwood flooring like I assumed, it was straw. Nothing but straw for the entire room. Even underneath the desks or counters along the walls it was all the same.

I bent down and swept the straw to the sides to see what was underneath. When I got my answer I leaned away.

“Dirt?” I questioned. “There’s no floor. Only dirt.”

I stood back up and collected my thoughts.

So I woke up in a small building, I declared to myself. It seems like some sort of school setting with windows on all sides save for the blackboard wall. Since the doors both lead outside it’s a good chance that I’m in some sort of classroom portable or a schoolhouse. But again, there’s no floor.

I glanced out one of the windows for a moment. There was a playground out there. None of it looked in disarray.

Definitely a school setting. But with the floor...It feels like I‘m in a barn. Even more so with the exposed trusses along the ceiling.

I turned to study the chalkboard. On it were notes that talked about grammar and vocabulary for English. It was typical notes you would find for the late middle school-early high school level student. The examples and phrasing seemed somewhat childish though. Perhaps an advanced class? Or a childish teacher? Maybe one kid needed a simpler example. I didn’t know enough to answer.

Whatever it is, I forced myself back to thinking. It proves it’s a school of some sort. Also, wherever I am, it’s somewhere that speaks English. Scheisse.

I wanted to find one more thing before I came to any conclusion. So, preparing my stomach, I walked back to the teacher’s desk and tried to ignore the rotten, fuzzy candle-apple.

When I got there, I tried looking through the papers. Most of it was homework, graded tests and random paperwork. All of it in English, which again confirmed that theory.

There were drawings mixed in with the papers as well. Mostly of colorful horses. In fact, all of them had colorful horses. Nearly all of them were a drawing of one that was magenta with a light pink tail.

Judging by the artwork I was almost positive that this was an advanced class of children. Or there were several terrible artists fixated on purple horses.

By the time I started searching the drawers and cabinet of the desk I finally found something useful; a planner. It was small and written on the cover in ink was the word ‘Cheerilee’ as well as a stamp of a smiling flower.

Good, I smiled. Planners have schedules. And schedules can tell you a lot about the person as well as the things around them. It might even have a location or address somewhere. Possibly a zip code.

I opened the planner and was immediately greeted by the first month: June.

I frowned. Alright. Interesting planner. Maybe they set it up like that for...some reason? Whatever.

The months still followed the same order but their was something else. Every month had exactly 30 days. The months and days weren’t written in by this person. This was how the planner was designed. The ones who made the planner did this.

I grunted. “Not important,” I muttered. I didn’t want the date. I needed information.

…

...Only. Now that I was thinking about it, what was the date?

My bulky watch had an answer. It had both the time and the day visible on the face. It said it was 3:27 PM and the 17th of the month. The last thing I remember was reading a book on my porch somewhere around five o’clock on. On...

I don’t remember the day.

I don’t even remember what month it is.

A chill went down my spine.

I wanted to say I remember reading that book on the 16th. That would make sense. If I was reading at 5 PM and my watch was now reading 3 PM, logic dictates it has been 22 hours.

Then why does the 16th sound so wrong? I felt almost driven to say that I didn’t read that book on the 16th but that doesn’t narrow anything down.

That book? Hold on. Why don't I remember the name of the book? I bit the inside of my lip. It's the last thing that I remember doing, how's come I can't remember the book?

“Okay. Forget the planner.” I closed it and tossed it back on the desk. “I don’t know where I am. I don’t know what day it— my phone!”

I wedged my fist down my jacket pocket and fished the thing out, tapping the button in the process. Then tapping it again. And a third time.

It was dead.

“Verdammt!” I tightened the grip on my phone before I had the chance to throw it. A broken phone was even more useless than a dead one.

As I stuffed the phone back down its pocket, I did one last sweep of the desk for anything else valuable while I calmed down.

And then I saw it.

Set down on the corner of the desk were a couple of picture frames. Unsurprisingly, the teacher had a couple of pictures with different groups of classes.

But all of them were ponies.

I frowned.

Ponies again? Is this some kind of gimmick?

I looked at all of them. The only constant in each picture was the building in the background that appeared to be a schoolhouse. The same schoolhouse that I was currently in as far as the double door and windows proved.

That magenta-colored pony from the drawings was also there but this time it didn’t seem like it was a drawing. Something about it seemed...Realistic.

I picked one up to look closer. To see if I could spot a watermark or signature, something to help me decide if it was real or not. There weren’t any. There were not any clear signs that it was a professional artist’s work either. No flaws or stray brush strokes of any kind.

Then I actually started looking at the picture. The magenta pony was much taller than the other ponies in the picture. Makes sense if I assume her to be the teacher, I thought. Although, some of the smaller ponies would also have wings on their sides or horns on their heads. Many of them also had odd brand marks on their hindlegs.

The magenta one has markings too. They look like flowers.

I paused to glance at the small planner on the desk. And I’ll bet money that each flower has a smile on it. Ms. Cheerilee, I presumed.

While I continued studying the picture, one of the smaller ponies stood out to me. Its face was rounder, like some of the feminine looking small ponies, and it had this giant doll-red hair with an equally giant. Pink. Bow.

I looked back towards the desks and at the girl. It appeared that she had been in the process of waking up not too long ago. Probably from me screaming at my phone. As her face was underneath her wad of red hair, I saw hands trying to make contact with her face.

On the back of both hands I could see this odd emblem. It was made up of reds and purples and was in the shape of a coat of arms. There was another image within that but I couldn’t make it out with the distance I was at.

“UghHhhhhHh,” she groaned. “Why’s mah muzzle feel all numb?”

Muzzle? I blinked. Then glanced back at the picture.

“An...huh?” She stopped moving for a second. Then I watched her finger curl a little. “Wha. H-Huh?” Her hands started to frantically push the hair from her face until she could see her hands.

“U...Uh.” She just kept staring at her hands. Like they were foreign to her.

...No, I pleaded. Please don’t tell me she...No!

“What. What happened ta my...” She watched as she slowly curled her fingers and slowly uncurled them. Then she leaned back. Enough for me to see her eyes.

Amber! I darted back to the picture in my hands. The girl had amber eyes there too.

No. She cannot be serious, can she? I glanced back at the girl. With the fear and confusion in her eyes, there was no way she was faking it. Is she delusional?

Her amber eyes turned at me.

By instinct alone I leaned back from her. Whatever her response would be, it would be nothing but confusion or anger.

I prayed for confusion.

“Hold on. It is okay,” I spoke calmly and softly. Her shock didn’t disappear but I could see her gasp.

“Before anything else,” I went on. Calmly. Slowly. “You need to know something very important.” I slowly set the picture frame back on the desk. I was acting as if the girl was a rabid animal with my slow movements.

Like I expected, her shocked expression froze. Right now, her mind was shaking with hundreds of different questions and after what I said, half of them were now clinging to this ‘very important’ thing I only now made up.

It was faint, but I could see that part of her expression was now pleading for this piece of information. As though this single one thing I was about to say would answer all of her questions and her mind would be put at ease.

I instead said nothing, turned to my left, and proceeded to quickly walk for the door beside me.

“Ah. Wh...Wuh-Wait. Hey!” She shouted as I opened the door. “Hold on! Ya can’t jus’—”

But I did ‘jus’. I ‘jus’ walked through the door, stood outside and looked upwards ‘jus’ enough to see the enormous, terrifying purple dome that rose up somewhere beyond the trees from every direction to encompass this schoolhouse as well as everything in what was probably a 20+ mile radius from the center of the dome.

“...”

I sullenly shut the door to block the shouted child’s voice and her view from me. Then, when I was sure that she couldn’t see me from the windows, I leaned against the wall of the building and slid to the ground until my knees were parallel with my shoulders.

“...Holy crap...”

Author's Notes:

To those new to this story, welcome! I hope you enjoy!

A little thing to mention though, I used to do something in my older stories called the Question of the Chapter (QotC for short). Some are nonsensical, others may or may not effect the story itself depending on the answers. But in the end, it's more just for fun and debate as you read the story.

Here's one now!

QotC: Plenty of people have been there before. You had to wake up at 6~ in the morning, decide that your head would feel much more comfortable laid flat on the desk and then BAM! Sleeping in class.
What's your sleeping in class story? You get away with it? You get caught? Did you see someone else get caught? What'dya got?

I'll no doubt mention it time and again in later chapters but if you have any criticism or thoughts about the story, they are always appreciated! That said, enjoy the next chapter!

The Big Talker

View Online

??? POV

---

Fhisssh!

“I’M UP!” I screamed. “I’M UP, WHA’S WRONG?!”

I forced my eyes open and started shaking my head in every direction to get the water, and ice, off of my face.

The first thing I saw was something large standing over me. The room didn’t have any lamps but there were plenty of windows to let in the sunlight.

Sunlight?! I panicked even further. Crabapples! How’d I oversleep by that much?!

“Oh good, you're awake,” A deep voice cheered. “Big Mike thought you would sleep through the water too.”

“Nuh-Nope,” I stuttered. And then spat out a piece of ice. “Whazzuh time?”

“Time? Uh…” Through the water I was still trying to wipe out of my eyes, I saw the large thing move a little. “It’s… 3:58.”

“Four o’clock?!” I shouted. “How’d Ah stay down that long?!”

When I could finally see clearly I stared up at the. At. At the…

What in tarnation...?

Standing, well, looming over me was a large pale-colored thing with what looked like some sort of shirt over his torso. Then, in one of its claws that made the paper cup it was holding look like it was made for a mouse.

On the limb its other claw was on was what I guessed to be a watch. Except it was glowing just enough to see it clearly. The barn-sized shadow the thing was casting would have hidden the watch face otherwise.

The thing’s face didn’t have too many features to note about. It had a shaved mane and no horns or muzzle to speak of. Just this regular, pale face.

The face then twisted into one of guilt.

“Right. Personal bubble space. Sorry.” It started to back away, letting its shadow slink away from me.

“...What are you?” I spoke slow and careful.

I watched as the thing’s expression lit up. “Oh yeah! Big Mike shoulda done that part sooner. Sorry,” it apologized again.

It straightened up its back, making it seem that tad bit taller and spoke. “Big Mike’s my name. He woke up in his Good Chair over there in this...I think it’s a chair store?” It put a finger to its chin and glanced around.

I took a second to do the same. It wasn’t a place I ever went inside of but I recognized it. It was the Quill & Sofa store. I passed by it every time I came to the market to set up the stand.

But if I never came in here, what am I doing here now? I’m pretty sure I was...I was…

…

...Can’t remember.

“Hold on a second,” this ‘Big Mike’ creature announced. “If we’re in a chair store, and Big Mike’s Good Chair is in here…” The pieces started falling into place for him.

“They stole Big Mike’s chair!” It crushed the cup in his claw and instantly looked as frightening as I imagined.

Not what I would’ve focused on but okay.

Then Big Mike gasped again. “And, hold on. Did they kinda steal Big Mike too?”

They? I perked up. He know what happened?

“If they stole Big Mike then.” Next, he swung around to look at me. “That means they stole you and the little girl too!” He blinked and all his fury vanished. “Is that your chair?”

Little girl? Steal? My chair?

I looked around me and saw that rather than lying in my bed like I thought, I was set up in this plushy loveseat thing. It seemed pretty small for me though. More so than usual.

I tried craning my head back to get a better look at the thing when I finally noticed. My red muzzle that I had been so used to seeing was...gone? It was replaced with this pale, triangle thing.

Like that Big Mike thing’s face looked.

I brought up a hoof in front of me and—

My hoof was tannish-pale and cut into five pieces.

“BWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH~!”

“WoaOaoaoaAAAAAAAAAAAH~!”

When I started screaming, the Big Mike screamed with me, darting back and forth like a rat fell on his back.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH~!”

“AAAAAAAAA—!”

As we kept screaming, Big Mike stopped moving and found something on a counter. He picked it up and—

Fhisssh!

Doused me with another cup of water.

I said nothing. I did stop screaming though. So did Big Mike.

After a brief few seconds, it took a step towards me.

“Uh. Are…” He started to shrink in on himself, looking very guilty. “Are you good now?”

“...” I took a deep breath.

“P’tugh!” And spit out another ice cube.

“E-Eeyup,” I said shakily.

Big Mike sighed in relief. “Oh good. Big Mike thought you were hurt or something.”

Just my mind, right now, I thought. ...Maybe a tad bit of pride.

Big Mike took a few steps back and fell into the biggest armchair in the store. Probably that ‘good chair’ it was talking about. Then Big Mike looked behind itself.

“Huh. None of that screaming woke the girl either. Big Mike thought that would be loud enough.”

He keeps bringing up a girl. Who’s he talking about?

I tried looking past Big Mike myself but my body felt completely different. I could move my front legs almost normally but the talon things that were at the end of each claw felt weird. Each talon could move separately. It made a chill go down my spine every time one of them bended.

My back legs seemed to be the only thing that felt the same. Even if they were covered in some sort of denim wrapping. At the very least they bent the same way they were supposed to. My front legs were bending the wrong way entirely.

“Do you wanna see her?” Big Mike asked.

After a moment, I nodded. “Eeyup.”

“Okay then.”

The creature quickly got up from his giant chair and shifted it across the floor boards with ease.

When he was clear I saw what he meant by little girl. Compared to him, and, I guess, me, the thing up ahead looked less than half our size. But it was definitely the same creature Big Mike was.

Except it had a small white horn peeking out from under its swirly, light colored hair.

“I tried waking her up too,” Big Mike explained. “Tried shaking and talking but nothing worked. Was gonna try the water but…” He looked at the now empty paper cup. “Aww. Now Big Mike needs more ice.”

The way Big Mike talked was sort of weird. It kind of reminded me of that performer unicorn from a while back the way he talked with his name.

I tried looking at the girl a little harder. The horn on their head was a pure white unlike the rest of her pale skin but that swirly hair. It reminded me of—

My eyes widened.

“Sweetie Belle!” I shouted.

“Hmm?” Big Mike looked at her. “You know her?”

“Eeyup.” I nodded frantically.

“Well that’s good.” He smiled. “Big Mike doesn’t know either of you. Here, let Big Mike bring her to you.”

“N-Nope,” I told him. “Ah got‘er.”

I leaned forward so that I could walk off this chair but when my flank started to leave the seat something felt wrong. Like I was gonna fall or something.

Out of instinct, my forelegs started flailing around and before I knew it, the claws at the end of each leg wrapped themselves around the arm of the chair. I pulled myself back up and sat there with stiff shoulders.

“You okay?” Big Mike took a step to me.

“...” My breathing picked up but I felt okay now.

“If you’re not feeling good, I can help you.” He glanced down at the cup still in his claw. “Do you want me to get water?”

I smacked my lips for a second. My throat was a little dry.

“Eeyup,” I admitted. Some water would probably be good right about now. To drink, not splash.

He beamed a smile at me .“Okay, Big Mike can do that. The food truck that he got it from is just down the road.”

As he said that to me, he started to walk to the entrance of the store.

Tur-uck? I blinked. The hay is that supposed to mean?

I sat back and watched as he went out the door. From where I sat, I could see streamers going from rooftop to rooftop and colorful paper littering the streets outside.

When did a carnival start up in Ponyville? And since when does the carnival set up inside of town?

I looked back to Sweetie Belle. It had to be her. Even if she looked like that Big Mike thing and had odd clothes on her, that mane style and horn gave her away.

But while I looked at her, something sprung up in my mind. If she and I were these weird weird creatures, what about everypony else?

Applebloom. And Granny Smith. I bit my lip. Are they like this too? And if so, where are they?

I looked at my legs. That Big Mike fella seemed like the same thing I was. Creepy as it seemed, I needed to figure out how to get moving. And that creature was moving around like he was already used to it.

I planted both of these claws on the arms of the chair and looked at my back legs. It took a minute but I figured out how to stand up on only my back legs.

What was weird is that once I was standing like this, it felt natural. Like some instinct was kicking in. And even though I was still holding onto the chair for all I was worth, I was able to take a step forward. And another.

After another minute I was walking up to Sweetie Belle. I had to use every chair between me and her for support but I managed. By the time I reached Sweetie, I was certain that it was her.

If it wasn’t for all the water on my face, I’d be calling this a dream right about now.

I put a claw on Sweetie’s shoulder and tried to shake her awake. “Sweetie. Sweetie Belle? Ya hear me? Wake up now.”

No answer. Not even a snore. Wait, did Sweetie Belle snore? I never hung around Applebloom and her friends when they spent the night. I suppose I had no clue.

Sweetie was breathing steadily though. She didn’t look hurt either aside from the…’new creature’ thing.

Well that’s a good sign. I hope.

The bell above the door of the store rang and Big Mike was back with three or four cups of water. When he saw me out of the seat, he smiled.

“Awesome, you’re up. Big Mike thought you’d be too tired to walk or something.” He carefully set down most of the waters and walked over to pass me one of the cups.

I looked down at the claw he was holding the water with and then at my own. The talon parts curled up easily enough so maybe I could…

“Thanks,” I muttered, taking the cup in both claws as if it were some baby bird.

He nodded to me before looking back at Sweetie. “No luck, huh?”

“Eenope,” I sighed. I looked back at him. “So...Big. Mike?” He blinked. “Ah’m Big McIntosh. Call me Big Mac if’n it helps.”

Big Mike just smiled. “Oh, that’s a relief. Big Mike’s usually really bad with names. If it sounds like mine then Big Mike can remember.”

“...Eeyup.” I went along with it. “So. Who’s they?”

“They?” He frowned. “They who?”

I rolled my jaw. “Ya said ‘they’ stole yer chair...And us?”

I witnessed an attic light up. “Ohhh! That. No clue! Big Mike just thought someone brought us here.” He glanced outside. “By the way. Where’s here?”

I took my time sipping on my water. Oh boy. This fella’s as lost as a lamb in a hedge maze.

“Ponyville,” I answered.

“And where’s that?” Not a beat missed with his question.

“...Equestria?” I crinkled my nose.

His head turned to the side like a dog’s. “Never heard of it.”

How’s that possible?

“Is it close to a highway?” He asked me.

I raised an eyebrow. “Eenope.”

“Yeah, thought so. All Big Mike can see is dirt roads and purple skies.” He put down all the cups except for one.

“Purple?”

“Mm-hmm,” He hummed through his water. “Big Mike thought the sun was setting but the sun was still there and everything was still bright out. But the sky’s purple for some reason.”

I looked over at the windows and slowly started shambling over. At some point I spilled my water on this ugly lime green sofa but I made it regardless. After spotting my reflection and getting hives just from seeing it, I put my face up against the glass and saw exactly what Big Mike meant.

High up in the sky, no doubt higher than most pegasi would go, was this large purple dome. If you didn’t pay too much attention then I guess you could think the sky was purple but that wasn’t what was happening.

Whatever it was, I only knew that it would take a lot out of whatever unicorn probably did that.

Now how’s come seeing that dome is more normal than seeing my own reflection right now?

Big Mike walked up next to me and finished off his cup of water. “That’s not supposed to be there, is it?”

“Eenope,” I told him.

He hummed and started eyeballing another cup of water.

“Uh. Big Mike?”

“Yeah?” He looked back at me.

“You see a different little girl, by chance? Red hair. Big bow. Um...Answers ta Applebloom?”

If the same thing happened to her that happened to me and Sweetie Belle, I don’t think I could describe her that well.

“Nope,” he answered proudly. “But while we’re asking, have you seen a guy with glasses, black hair and a leather jacket? Kinda short, plays with cards and talks...Really good? His name’s Joe.”

“Eenope.”

“Oh.”

…

“You think that we should go look for ‘em?” He asked.

“...Eeyup,” I decided.

Standing here wasn’t going to help anypony. And Big Mike, whatever he was, didn’t seem like a bad…thing. I think he had no clue what was going on either.

“Alrighty then. Big Mike’ll get the girl.”

Before he could go, I put a claw on his shoulder.

“Eenope.”

“Huh? But why?”

“Ah got‘er.”

Before I could walk past, Big Mike held out his foreleg to block me.

“Hold on. You sure you wanna do that?” His expression didn’t look threatening anymore. It was more like concern.

“Eeyup.”

He bit his lip. “I mean...Big Mike won’t force you not to, but you don’t really look like you can walk that well. You’re walking all funny.”

I frowned. “Ah got it.”

I moved my own forelegs to push his out of the way but he just swung it right back in my way. In that instant, I realized that he only had an inch or two on me in height. He only seemed bigger earlier because I was sitting down.

“What if you trip?” He insisted. “Then you and the girl might fall and get hurt.”

I didn’t feel that scared of this guy anymore. I kept my frown and narrowed my eyes.

“Nnope.”

Neither of us said anything for what would have felt like a long time to somepony else. But we both knew it was only a few seconds.

I didn’t think that this Big Mike fella would try anything but I didn’t know him well either. Plus, when Sweetie Belle woke up she was probably gonna be scared. The least I could do was make sure she’d wake up with somepony she knew keeping an eye on her.

But I wasn’t about to deny that Big Mike had a point. If I saw somepony who couldn’t walk straight trying to carry a foal, I would help them out, no buts about it. Although I was not about to let the filly fall on my watch. That was a fact.

“...” Big Mike’s concern soured a tad into frustration. He may have been the straight-forward type but his heart was in the right spot. I think he saw where I was coming from at least.

“...Two miles,” he spoke. “If you can walk two miles and not fall down, then you carry her. I won’t let her get hurt.”

I rolled my jaw from side to side, mulling it over.

“...Two miles,” I started. “Or a half hour. Whichever’s first.”

He nodded but didn’t back off. “Kay.”

I didn’t back off either.

“And. Y’all never leave mah sight.”

He took a second. “You fall down or need to lean on something, we add a mile.”

“Or ten minutes,” I reasoned. “If’n we find any a’ mah family needs carryin’, no contest. Ah do it.”

His frown finally broke out into a grin.

“Deal.” He held out his claw.

It took me a second, but when I figured it out I reached at it with my own. With a heavy clap, he clasped my arm and gave it a shake. It was different but I knew the meaning.

“Can you get the door?” He asked as he started to turn for Sweetie Belle.

“Eeyup.”

With a stern look, I opened the door, Big Mike got Sweetie Belle, and we were out on the street to start walking.

The Honorable Thief

View Online

??? POV

---

The last thing I remembered was hazy. I was sitting in the throne room at the Crystal Empire. It was still pretty early in the morning so I had a mug of coffee nearby. Behind my seat, obviously. Can’t go letting every noble know I drink coffee like everypony else. For some reason.

I was holding court that day. The requests from the Crystal Empire weren’t nearly as bad as the ones ponies had in Canterlot. Rather than complain about how they can’t build a swimming pool the size of a moat, we had ponies wanting to build these floating blue gems on their rooftops. Why did they keep calling them pylons anyway?

But as the fifth...Or twelfth? I couldn’t remember how many requests I was on. That’s actually where things started falling apart. Details start getting vague.

Eventually, even the detail that I was in the throne room starts getting hard to remember. How I envisioned the memory starts getting blurrier. As if I was staring into the sun and then...Nothing.

I would blink the blurriness away and then realize that I was still where I was when I started thinking back. I was still in this chair, still tied to it, and somehow still not a pony anymore.

So much for remembering how I got in this mess.

Whatever this form was, it was unsettling. I had met minotaurs before so I at least knew what arms and hands were. Moving and using them instead of hooves was where it got weird.

I was wearing clothes too. On my arms I noticed these sleeves from a black suit and I had black pants to go along with them. On top of that, my Cutie Mark was printed on the back of each hand. A dark blue shield with the purple star front and center.

After taking a minute to get over my form being different, I studied everything around me. It was a decent sized dining room with the kind of décor you would find at a noble pony’s house. But it was more subdued than that. As though it were a mix between noble and citizen pony.

None of it looked like it was from the Crystal Empire. The crystal finish shows up in every pony’s house no matter what they do to blend it in.

Finally, I looked at what was tying me to this dining room chair. My wrists were both secured to the arms of the chair by these maroon-colored napkins. The knot looked much more secure than normal.

I tried twisting these arms of mine back and forth but there was no way to slip out. That didn’t stop me from trying.

“Well, good afternoon Sleeping Beauty~,” a voice sang. “How’d your siesta go?”

I glanced up and standing in the doorframe ahead of me was this bipedal figure. It leaned against the doorframe with a pillowcase full of blocky-looking stuff.

This creature, resembling the same thing I did, had a dusty brown mane with hair gel keeping it swept back. Then it had a tan coat hidden underneath denim pants and a white shirt with buttons along the front.

However, the one thing I instantly disliked the most about this creature was its smile. It felt conniving in some way. Almost as though it were sizing me up to figure something out.

When it wasn’t surprised to see me stuck to this chair it didn’t take long to connect the dots.

“You’re the one who tied me up,” I stated.

“No~! Those napkins did it themselves.” he rolled his eyes but the smile remained. “Of course I tied you up. What, do you think I’m gonna let the only security guard of this place sneak up on me while I’m working?” He gestured to the pillowcase of stuff.

“Working?” After a few moments I glared at him. “You mean stealing?”

“Woah now.” He feigned shock and disgust. “I find that offensive. Stealing? This isn’t stealing. This is...Redistributing.”

“You’re taking it from them.” I gave one last tug at the napkins. “How can you even defend that?”

He snickered. “You? Talking about defense? Isn’t that a little ironic, coming from the security guard that fell asleep on the job?”

“I am not a security guard. Now untie me.”

The thing pinched the bridge of his nose. “Yeah, that makes sense. I untie you and then what? I turn myself in? Nah, I’m good. Besides, who’s gonna make me?”

“The Royal Guard.” He had his chance. Now I’m not going easy on him.

But he gave me a different reaction than I thought. Rather than get worried or even mad like I expected, he just busted out laughing as he approached the table.

“The Royal Guard? Really, rent-a’-cop? What is this, England?” He kept laughing as he sat down in the chair opposite of mine. It was by this point I realized that the chairs were too low to the ground for us. Our legs had to lay out in front of us.

His laughter cut out. “But no, seriously, are we in England?” He half-whispered towards me. “Because almost half the buildings in this town have, like, these thatch rooftops and it’s kind of confusing. I thought the English stopped doing that a while ago. Ya know?”

I said nothing. I only tightened my glare. Chatting with a criminal wasn’t going to do me any good.

“...” With a dramatic sigh he jumped out of his chair, letting it fall to the ground behind him. “Alright, look. I’m not sure if you know this or not, but the town’s empty. Abandoned. You, me, and some little girl I found, are the only ones I’ve seen so far.”

“Abandoned?” I leaned back. “What town are we in?”

“Aha! Now we’re on the same page, amigo!” His jolly attitude peaked. “Trust me, if I knew where we were, I wouldn’t be taking everything not nailed down. Not organized. But if you know what a town’s lacking, you take that specific thing and get it to the right people.

“As for the whole abandoned part, I got nothing on that front.” He shrugged, walking over to an admittedly gaudy painting on the wall. “After I found the girl I tried knocking on a few doors. Sans thievery, I’ll point out. But no one was there. Not to mention they had no locks on their doors. I mean, seriously, what kind of house in the middle of town has no locks?!”

I let myself take in everything he was saying. Thief or not, he had no reason to lie about an entire town being abandoned. So assuming he was right, why was it?

I needed more answers. So, with a glare on my face, I looked at this creature intently.

“What are you?” I asked.

“Me? Well that’s obvious. I’m a thief,” he admitted. “An Honorable Thief, more specifically.”

“Okay, you’re not, but that’s not what I meant.” He turned to me with a frown but I continued. “I mean, what are you? I’ve never seen a creature like you before.”

He looked confused as he crossed his arms.

“The only thing I can think of is a Minotaur, but that’s not right,” I thought aloud. “Minotaurs have horns. A more pronounced muzzle. You’re definitely not a Diamond Dog either.”

“Minotaur? Diamond Dog?” That smile started twitching back onto his face. “Dude, I think that bump on your head has done a lot more damage than I thought.”

My eyes lit up. “My horn!”

“Pffft!” He started giggling like a child. “Lo siento. Yeah. You're ‘horn’,” he said with a weird gesture from his hands. “Perdón, that one caught me.”

I said nothing. Instead, I lowered my horn towards one of the bindings and began to focus. Pony or not, I still felt my magic with me. That’s probably what was helping me stay calm even with the body change.

I closed my eyes and focused on my magic. While I could bring it up to my horn, it refused to go any further than that. It was...Jammed?

Magic would normally leave a unicorn’s horn without a problem. The only time it would jam is if there was something inhibiting somepony’s magic or you tried casting something at a strength you hadn’t done before.

But now it felt like my magic was trying to go through a straw. I couldn’t do or cast anything.

Suddenly, something pat the back of my head.

“Uh, rent-a’-cop? You okay? You’re going ‘little loco’ on me.”

I flung my head at his claw, nearly striking it with my horn. “What did you do to me?”

“Do to you?” He looked at me like I was crazy. “I tied you to a chair. If you’re blaming your level of crazy on me, that’s a losing battle.”

“I want answers,” I pressed. “What are you? And what am I?”

He gave me a side-eyed glance. “You. You’re serious?”

I stared.

“...Okay,” he gave in with a shrug. “You and I? We’re these things called humans, ya see. We. Man. We. Thumbs.” He held up his hands and shook what I assumed were his ‘thumbs.’

When he saw that I wasn’t letting down my guard, his shoulders drooped.

“Fine, fine, I’ll play it straight. Happy?” He cleared his throat. “I am a human. Always have been. So are you. So is that girl. We’re all humans. My name's Morgue, by the way. I’m a person.

“I didn’t wave a human wand or anything at you, alright amigo? I found you like this; sleeping in that chair. So, I tied you up before you could sneak up on me. As for the girl, she’s upstairs in a bed I put her in. Figured it would be better than the wagon of pillows I’ve been pulling her around in for the last hour.”

Humans. We are humans? I blinked. What the hay’s even a human? I’ve never heard of that before.

I let my glare ease up. “That girl? Is she okay?”

“No clue,” he shrugged. “I woke up in some sorta plaza about two hours ago and checked out the businesses around me. I found her unconscious in some restaurant with wings stuck to her back. When I realized she wasn’t waking up, I snatched a wagon and tried finding someone that knew how to help. Or at least had a place for her to stay.”

Out of everything he’s said so far, this is the first time this ‘Morgue’ human has seemed entirely honest. No annoying smirk either.

“So then, the town really is empty?”

“As far as I can tell. And.” He closed his eyes. “I’m not sure leaving is gonna be a thing.”

“Why not?”

“Well...This is gonna sound crazy.” His head perked up a little as he turned to stare at my horn. “Actually, this might be your kinda crazy. You see, no matter where I went I saw this large purple dome in the sky.”

I felt my entire body go stiff. “Purple...Dome?”

“Yeah. You know, all Steven King style? Well, except the purple part at least.”

“Can I see it?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

I went to stand up…

I glared at him.

That same conniving smirk returned to him. “Okay, sorry. That was in bad taste. Here, I’ll drag ya to the window.”

He did exactly that, walking behind me to drag the chair from behind with my legs sliding across the marble.

When we reached the window, he twisted my chair around until I could see for myself. When I saw the sky, I instantly recognized what Morgue meant.

Spanning out the entire town, and even beyond that, was this massive barrier spell made up of a purple aura.

That’s my spell. My eyes grew wider. What is it doing here?

With as much magic as it took to make that thing, it didn’t matter if I was inside or outside. I was going to be able to sense it.

With unicorn spells that have a duration, there is always a connection between the spell and the pony who cast it. Which meant the unicorn could take it down whenever they wanted without as much as a thought.

Although, here’s the thing. I couldn’t sense the connection. I could still feel my own magic so whatever kept me from casting spells wasn’t in the way. I could put the barrier down myself if I wanted to.

However, I was not the one who cast it.

True, it was my spell. I created it to put over Canterlot during my wedding. Well, until Chrysalis weakened that very connection. Here’s the catcher though: I never taught anypony else that spell.

It might seem like a simple spell, putting a barrier up in an area, but to make one this big you need to know exactly what you are doing. If you were to make one mistake it would be amplified for however large the barrier is.

For instance, if there was a hole in a magical shield, that’s not good but at least the shield is still useful. That same hole in a barrier this size would make that hole the size of a house. That barrier would then be useless.

“Let me guess,” Morgue started. “This is a bad thing?”

“Very bad thing,” I confirmed. “If this town’s abandoned like you said it is then something is very wrong.”

An ear-piercing shriek echoed from above us.

I turned to Morgue.

“Was that the girl?!”

The human said nothing. Instead, he reached into a pocket of his clothes and pulled out a small contraption. With a flourish, the thing opened up into this long thin dagger with small hooks on the side to act as a crossguard.

Then he looked at me.

“What are you—” “No time,” he interrupted, reaching for my wrists and cutting the silk napkins tying me down.

“If you really are a guard, hurry up and help!”

Leaving it at that, Morgue turned and ran. Likely to the stairs.

I looked down at my legs and took a deep breath. I didn’t have time to think, I just had to go.

Using these hands as well as I could, I tried standing up and right away my arms slammed into the wall for support.

When I was sure about my balance, I started shuffling alongside the wall. It was slow but I didn’t have long before reaching the archway out of the dining room.

When I spotted the stairs I heard a sharp rapping on a door up there.

“Hey kid,” Morgue shouted. “I’m coming in!”

The screaming never stopped. Each time it sounded like it was getting quiet, it would start up again. I had no idea what the girl was screaming at.

The space between the archway and the staircase had nothing to hold onto. I only made it halfway to the stairs before I lurched forward and couldn’t stop.

All I could do was hold my arms out and crash into the first step of the staircase with my elbows while my knees smashed into the marble floor.

I gave out a shout but bit my tongue to silence myself. My knees were going numb already but my arms and elbows seemed good enough to move.

Bearing through the pain, I noted how far the stairs went. It was fifteen or so steps with nothing on either side to hang onto but the flat walls.

Crawling up the stairs felt similar enough to being a pony again. It was faster than walking too. My knees howled for me to stop but the girl’s screaming was a better motivator.

Upstairs, Morgue finally forced the door and the sound of shrieking got louder. Then, before it hit another octave, it went deaf.

“Kid, you alright?!” Morgue asked from upstairs. “What are you scream—”

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH~!

I was only a third of the way up the steps when I covered my ears. The girl’s scream sounded raspy but that was probably her voice giving out.

“GET BACK!”

The screaming finally stopped and was replaced with shouting. The voice was definitely a girl’s and it sounded like sandpaper now.

I crawled up the stairs faster. Each step was wide and had a plush carpet down the center. I was able to use these hands to pull my weight up faster.

“Get back?” Morgue’s voice echoed faintly. “I came up here ‘cause you’re screaming bloody murder, niña!”

“You...I’m...What’d you do to me?! What am I?! What are you?!”

A deep sigh followed. “¡Leches! Another crazy!”

When I reached the top of the stairs, I noticed a small table to my side. My fingers clutched the corner of it and I forced myself to climb onto my back legs again. Every joint ached but I could see the room Morgue’s voice came from.

“Look,” Morgue said with no enthusiasm. “Are you okay? Because if all you’re screaming about was ‘oh no, human,’ you’re not alone.”

“Where am I?” The girl went on. “I don’t know what’s going on and...W-Woah…”

“Wagh!” Morgue freaked out, backing up just enough for me to see him partway in the doorway. “What are—How are you moving those...those...?”

“They’re...My wings?”

At that moment, I reached the door and looked into the room myself.

The entire room was decorated with toys, pictures, and colors that you would expect to find in a young filly’s room. It had all this expensive or designer furniture filling it up as well. Even the bed seemed large enough to fit an entire family of ponies. It was a huge contrast to the more subtle design choice for the house below.

In the center of this pink, priceless room was a female human-like creature. She had skin that was somewhat paler than Morgue’s and messy black hair that faded into light purple tips.

The blankets that she was under now littered the floor, letting us see the clothes she wore as well. Semi-ripped denim cloth wrapped her legs and she had on an orange shirt above that.

Where the hooves on her hind legs would be were these white and purple horseshoes that probably had their own name to them. Then, set atop her hair was this gaudy-looking tiara with diamonds set in it.

But nothing stood out as much as the orange wings that sprouted from her back. She had one hand reach out to touch it and she was moving it around as though they were foreign to her.

I didn’t know who this girl was. Even if she was a pony previously, I never met any foal with orange wings.

When Morgue noticed me leaning against the wall for support, he cringed at the sight of me.

“Oh, buddy,” he said through a sharp breath. “Are your knees okay?”

“My-My knees?” I blinked.

“Your knees,” he repeated, pointing to my legs. “Your pants are ripped and…” He gasped at the sight of my arms. “You fell down, didn’t you?”

Worried, I glanced at my elbows that hit the bottom stair. I thought they were fine but looking at them now they had blood and carpet fibers smeared around thanks to crawling up the stairs.

“Yeah,” I bent my elbows a bit and the pain went down my arms. I could only imagine how bad my knees were.

That made Morgue flinch more. “Stop. Stop doing that. Okay. Um. Well, the girl seems fine. Just loco, like you. Thinks she’s...Not human—Doesn’t matter.”

Morgue shuffled past me, not wanting to touch me in the slightest. His knife was well and gone too.

“Look, you try and calm the girl down. Sounds like she’s got the same problem you do. I’ll be back.”

I frowned. “And where do you think you’re going?”

“Where do you think?” He spun back to look at me as he walked backwards. “I have a cart of stuff I’ve been snagging from houses on the way here. I made sure I got a few first aid kits. Those elbows need cleaned.”

“You. You took first aid kits?”

“What was I gonna steal, jewelry? We’re stuck in a dome! Besides, I barely had enough to pay for the first aid in the first place.”

Pay? What’s he mean pay? I thought he was a thief.

“Hey, wait,” I called out. But he refused to answer. He turned around and ran down the stairs before I could stop him.

“Huh? Who are you?”

Back inside the room, the girl was done staring at her wings and was now looking at me.

“Um…” I stood there awkwardly. Then, when I realized that I still had blood on my elbows I tried my best to put my arms behind my back. “My name is Shining Armor. And what’s your name?”

“Shining Armor?” The girl leaned back a little. She didn’t seem to believe me.

Can’t say I blame her, I thought. The only part of me that seems the same is my horn.

“I’m Scootaloo,” she said slowly. “What’s going on here?”

I opened my mouth but shut it when I realized how hard her question was to answer.

...Is that why he really left? I turned back to the stairs where Morgue went. He left me here just so he wouldn’t have to deal with this. Of all the dishonest...

I closed my eyes and silently cursed that human. He better be coming back because if he doesn’t he is in for it if I find him again.

“Well,” I stiffened my shoulders. “Where do I start?”

The Woodcutter

View Online

3rd Person

---

A large, magical dome is fitted in and around the town of Ponyville, sealing several locations off in the process. While Ponyville is in the center, the farmsteads to the east and the stone quarry and Ghastly Gorge to the west are all contained as well.

However, the last area locked within the dome is the Everfree Forest, south of Ponyville.

The forest itself is too large to fit inside the dome which means it is the only area not entirely encased. Barely a third of this massive forest is held captive. As a couple dozen individuals are beginning to awaken in or around Ponyville, there are only three figures inside the Everfree Forest.

One of them specifically is a human with black wings on his back. He has short, blonde hair, regular jeans and a gray t-shirt, and a machete sheath on his back with an odd looking blade inside of it. His wings stuck out of his t-shirt through two holes.

He had been walking alone in the Everfree on a dirt path, singing along with a song that had just started to play from a mechanical ear.

As the song began, the human mimicked the beat of the drums by knocking on his chest. He knew how to walk perfectly fine as a human unlike most of the others trapped in the dome.

The human continued following the drum beat as he sang along to the lyrics. As he did, he glanced up at the forest’s canopy that acted as his ceiling. He hadn’t seen the sky the entire time he had been walking. He had no idea there was a dome above him.

To the human’s side, he could see an opening in the forest. The trees went higher off the ground there and the area lacked any brush.

As the human looked closer, he could see animals circling a tree where a purple figure was currently hanging from a branch.

The dirt trail passed by the scene naturally so, as he walked closer, one of the brown animals snapped its head in his direction. The human could notice that it looked like a wolf with glowing green eyes.

At that moment, the song suddenly let out a loud—

YEEEEAAAAAH~!

AAAAAAAAH!

The purple thing hanging from the trees let out a scream at the same time as the song. Simultaneously, one of the brown wolves jumped to try snatching its prey with a wooden maw.

The other three wolves turned fully to the human, hearing the song’s screaming from his ear. The human went to try silencing the music but it was too late.

The first wolf broke into a sprint, rushing for the prey ahead of them. The others bided their time.

With the wolf’s speed, the human didn’t have time to reach for the blade on his back. Instead, he reached out his left arm towards the wolf with a nervous expression.

The wolf lunged forward and rather than turn his arm to block, the human opened out his fingers like a catcher’s mitt.

The wolf accepted the challenge and clamped down on the hand, its jaw shattering as a result.

Then, with the leftover force, its head impacted and crushed against the open palm like a car wreck.

The arm was made of metal.

The victory came with a price. With all the force slamming into the human, he was thrown backwards, tumbling as he went.

He opened his wings at some point to try braking but to no avail. His back would slam into the ground several times with his wings now getting sandwiched at wrong angles.

Ten or so feet of crashing later and the human rolled onto his knees with a painful seize. He tried his best to ignore the pain racking his back and wings.

As the human began standing up, he watched as the wolf’s body fell into a heap. With its head reduced to mulch, the green aura that held its body began wafting away from the remains.

Then, when the human was standing once again, he took the chance to reach for the blade on his back. While he did, the next two wolves shared a glance before rushing him at the same time.

The human gave out a shaking breath and slowly built up into a run himself, painfully unfurling his wings as he did.

Before either side could reach the other, the human jumped and let his wings carry him higher. One of the wolves leapt at him but the human clumsily backhanded it with his metal arm.

The wolf fell onto its shoulder as some of its jaw cracked and chipped away. Still, it and its other turned to watch the human make a stiff landing between them and the tree ahead.

The human finally unsheathed the blade from its back and took a second to study it. There was no handle but instead burnt wrappings at the base of this lightning bolt-shaped, yellow blade.

“Woa—Waaagh!”

The human switched his attention and towards the tree behind him. At the base of the tree, landing back on the ground from its recent attempt, was the fourth wooden wolf.

It paid no mind to the human as it tried reaching up in the tree where its real prey hung. Large claw marks coated the base of the tree and shards of bark were littered upon the ground.

The human’s eyes settled on the wolf’s target dangling from the branches above. It hung by two arms and was the size of a two-year-old with purple scales and green fins.

It called for help as its grip was slipping from the branch. Before the human could answer, he heard the two wolves behind him rushing forwards again.

He turned and held up his blade.

The first wolf lunged, the human swinging wildly out of impulse. With little resistance, the wolf was bisected with wooden body parts everywhere. He wasn’t as lucky with the second wolf, unfortunately.

Before he could bring his blade back, the wolf jumped and pinned him to the ground. It was all the human could do to bring up his metal arm and hold back the splintering jaw.

The wolf kept biting into the metal, not caring that its teeth were cracking and breaking as it chomped. For all its attempts, the only thing it managed to do was scratch the metal shell.

As the wolf barked and snapped, the human’s vision flashed with several memories.

Acting in desperation, he repositioned his arm to jam his fist down the wolf’s throat.

The human twisted his metal wrist and, to both his and the wolf’s shock, the hand rocketed out of the wolf’s back like a bullet.

The green light faded from the wolf’s eyes as it crumbled to pieces. The only response was the music from the human's ear playing a guitar solo in the wolf’s honor.

Meanwhile, the artificial hand sailed thirty feet before a rubber elastic pulled taut between the hand and arm.

Before the human could realize what was going on, the hand was yanked back by the elastic and reconnected at the wrist.

It was as though his artificial arm had turned rubber for a moment.

“H-Help! Please!”

The human’s focus settled on the purple person. No, the purple dragon that the human suddenly recognized.

“Spike!”

“Blitz?!” Spike called back. “Blitz, is that you?!”

“Who? Uh,” the human picked up his blade. “Hold on! I’m coming!”

The wolf never turned to look at Blitz. Its attention was on the prey dangling like meat from a stick. It leapt once more but Spike swung away. The wolf narrowly missed snapping the dragon’s tail.

The wolf’s claws sliced through the tree’s bark once more, ripping it and other low hanging branches free.

Rather than fall to the ground, the magic from the wolf enveloped the tree parts and pulled it into the creature.

The timberwolf tripled in size, wooden spikes jutting from its shoulders.

On top of it all, the bark was now worn by the timberwolf as though it were a set of armor.

A yellow blade, dwarfed by the wolf’s size, sailed past its head. It smacked the tree and fell to the ground. All it did was make the wolf turn around.

What the wolf saw as its new prey was Blitz, standing there awkwardly with his arms outstretched. Blitz looked away from the blade and at the timberwolf that was now growling at the human.

“You threw it?!” Spike chastised.

“I thought it would work,” Blitz argued.

The wolf gave out a deep roar as it flung the blade away in the other direction.

“You got another one, right?!” Spike pleaded.

“...Shit.” Blitz pulled his arms back into an amateurish boxer’s pose.

The wolf lowered itself to the ground, now at eye level with Blitz. Then, almost like it was waiting for it, the wolf charged Blitz right as the song's lyrics began blaring again.

Blitz put every muscle he had into his wings and took to the air but the wolf refused to slow its charge.

When the wolf was in range, it hopped up and tried tearing Blitz in half with his teeth.

Blitz managed to dodge the bite, even slamming his metal fist into the wolf’s nose but not to the desired effect. Rather than stun the wolf, Blitz left himself open as a massive claw battered him back to the earth.

Blitz’s body started screaming from the small crater formed. Still, with adrenaline rushing through him, he got up on one foot just in time to jump away from the next claw sent to crush him.

He stood on both feet, his wings outstretched. Then, Blitz pulled back his metal arm. The giant wolf growled at him.

Seeing a chance, he brought his fist forward and twisted his wrist at the same time. His metal hand launched from his arm like a ballista.

Though the wolf was quicker. Its jaw opened and, with green smoke billowing forth, let the hand fly into its mouth. The wolf clamped its jaw shut and refused to release.

Blitz’s eyes pulled wide but before he could protest he was pulled by force of the elastic and dragged up against the timberwolf’s torso-sized teeth. Blitz swore the wolf was grinning.

With Blitz trapped, the wolf started violently shaking Blitz as though he were a chew toy.

With every pause the wolf gave between shaking, Blitz kicked, clawed, and pulled to free his arm. However, the wolf was stronger and fully aware of it.

When the wolf was finished having fun, it threw Blitz aside and let him flail across the dirt until he finally stopped at the base of a gnarled tree.

Blitz groaned as the wolf strode up, clearly victorious.

Blitz stared at his metal arm. The elastic to his hand was outstretched and taking its time to pull back. There were also dozens of bite marks and scuffs across the metal shell.

The wolf growled as the music finally faded out. But Blitz was too tired to do anything about it.

Instead, Blitz peeled himself off the ground and faced the wolf. He didn’t try running.

Finally, Blitz watched as the massive timberwolf straightened its back and stood still. Not even looking at Blitz anymore.

Confused, Blitz leaned forward and spotted the same purple dragon from the tree now standing underneath the large wolf with a terrified yet determined expression on his face.

“Come on…” Spike strained, twisting the yellow blade deeper into the timberwolf’s stomach. As he did, the bottom of the wolf came alight in green flame.

The wolf howled in pain as Spike drew the blade back out. The top half was glowing hot with green flames dancing along the blade’s edge.

The wolf turned to flee from Spike but now finding a new problem. With the wolf's large size, it couldn’t get past the trees that were packed so close together.

Blitz took the chance to grab his hand and click it back into place. When he could move his metallic fingers again, he forced himself to his feet and went to take the blade back from Spike.

Only, Spike kept the blade away from Blitz. While Blitz fell back on one knee, Spike nervously ran up to the behemoth wolf and plunged it into one of the legs.

The heat and flames of the blade made it cut through the wood like butter, allowing Spike to rip it free and watch as the second round of fire caught even quicker than the stomach did.

Green flames wrapped around the timberwolf as chunks fell apart. By the time it was small enough to fit through the trees, the wolf’s legs were already destroyed.

Spike backed up far enough to stand beside Blitz. As they stood they watched as the last of the timberwolf fell apart into a charred mess of useless wood.

When Blitz and Spike were certain that they were safe, both of them fell to the ground, lying on their backs breathing heavily.

“I hate timberwolves,” Spike announced weakly.

Blitz started laughing. “Yeah. I can see why.” He took a second to roll his shoulder. His normal, non-metal shoulder. “You good?”

“I think so.” Spike sat back, propping himself up with his arms. “What about you?”

“Eh. I’ll shake it off.” Blitz flinched when one of his muscles pinched. “...With one or twelve ice packs.”

The two shared painful laughter as they let themselves enjoy the silence.

When Spike looked over at the timberwolf piles, his laughter faded.

“Blitz?”

“...”

“Blitz!”

“Huh-Oh. Me. Sorry, yeah?” Blitz spoke hesitantly.

“The timberwolves are doing something.” Spike crawled up to his feet.

“Ugh. Playing dead, I hope.” Blitz forced himself to stand up with a groan and turned around.

The first thing Blitz noticed was there were only three timberwolf piles; the giant one and two small ones. The second thing he noticed was that the three piles were glowing with different colored strands of aura.

“That supposed to happen?” Blitz asked.

Spike worriedly shook his head and slowly reached for Blitz’s still glowing hot blade. What Spike did know was that timberwolves always had a sickly green aura. The multi-color strands were new.

When these strands finished rising out of the timberwolves, each pile of lumber turned into purple aura before vanishing. Then, the colorful strands formed into three orbs of magic where each wolf was.

“Maybe we should go,” Blitz offered, backing up himself. But he wouldn’t have the chance to act on that thought.

Without a warning, the colorful orbs each popped, sending tendrils of energy in every direction. Some flew up through the canopy, others went underground, but many of them settled for slithering into Spike and Blitz’s faces.

Both of them flinched. As the tendrils struck each of them, they both felt a warmth in the front of their heads before a burst of sounds and visions danced across their minds.

“I. M-My name,” Blitz stammered. “I forgot my name.”

Spike shook his head with a groan but still heard the human. “Huh? Forgot?”

“Yeah,” Blitz went on. “When you called me Blitz just now; I didn’t know what you meant. But, Blitz. Electric Blitz? That’s my name...Right?”

“Uh-huh,” Spike hummed. Then he rubbed his eyes. “And I’m your friend, Spike. I. I-I’m the...I do—I work at…?” Spike trailed off before suddenly having a sense of clarity.

“I work at the Golden Oaks Library,” Spike realized. “Yeah, I keep all the books organized there.”

Spike scratched the side of his head. “But wait. How did I forget that?”

“No clue. And for that matter.” Blitz took a second to look at his arms and legs. “Why am I human again?”

Spike frowned deeper. “Something’s not right here.”

Blitz started looking around them as he glanced at the blade Spike was holding. Confused, he carefully took it with his metal hand and put it back in the sheath on his back. “We’re somewhere in the Everfree. No clue how to get out though. And the canopy’s too thick to fly out of.”

Spike’s face lit up. “Oh! What about Zecora? If we can find her hut, we can find Ponyville.”

“Ze. Cora?” Blitz repeated slower.

“You. You don’t remember?” Spike cringed.

“...Kind of,” Blitz groaned. “The name sounds familiar. But, I know what Ponyville is. And I know you, so...lead the way?” Blitz did not sound sure of himself, but he didn’t have much of a choice.

“D-Don’t worry. I think I remember how to get there.” Spike smiled, but it shrunk right as it appeared. “Just gotta find the...T-The blue flowers?”

Blitz bit his lip. “Sounds...Reassuring.” He was going to try reconsidering but the pain racking his body helped convince him. “Let’s be careful,” he suggested.

Neither of them seemed to be in the best mind but they both knew they should keep moving. So with no time lost, the two got back onto the trail and started walking.

END PROLOGUE

(ACT 1) Human Lessons

View Online

ACT 1: Roll Call

Joe's POV
Schoolhouse

---

I flipped a page in the planner that the teacher had on her desk. It was incredible how organized this ‘Ms. Cheerilee’ actually was despite the clutter of papers on her desk.

She had school assignments planned throughout an entire semester of classes. Right after the day marked ‘last day of class,’ the very next day had ‘plan syllabus’ written down. It would be impressive if it wasn’t so sad.

As I continued reading I heard a tap and drag of chalk across the blackboard behind me.

“That’s ten,” the girl behind me informed.

This girl’s name was Applebloom. After I had my little panic attack with the...scenario I had discovered outside, I came back into the classroom to see the girl trying to crawl across the floor.

As I had found out, and dreaded, she really thought that she was a pony. She even thought that I had something to do with her now being human.

It took some talking but I was able to explain to her that I really did not have anything to do with that. In fact, I was as lost for answers as she was. I did not know where I was or anything about colorful ponies.

When she finally started to believe me, I tried asking a few questions myself. Through them, we introduced ourselves. Applebloom found out about the dome and somehow seemed less concerned about that then her own fingers, while I learned that the nearby town’s name was…

Ugh. Ponyville.

“Joe? Uh, I’m done,” Applebloom repeated.

“I heard you.” I looked up from the planner and at the girl. As I saw her now, she was standing on her own two feet with an awkward look on her face.

Over the last half hour I have been helping her figure out how to move around like a normal human being. Whether or not she was actually a pony or only sad and delusional, I could not simply leave a young girl to crawl around a schoolhouse floor alone.

So I stayed to help her out. Once she was comfortable to stand I gave her some small tasks to do while I busied myself with going through the teacher’s desk.

First, I had her pick up all the supplies that were on the floor. Around each of the student desks were papers, pencils, and, I assumed, saddlebags. She would pick everything up and put them on the desks. It would get her used to squatting, standing up, and using her hands.

The next thing I had her do was pick three random desks and knock them over. It would help keep her balance and get her used to problem solving as a person if her pony story was actually true. I’m not going to lie though; hearing a child scream like they were pretending karate while kicking a desk was hilarious to watch.

And lastly, the task she just finished was moving ten laps around the room. I said 'move' specifically because I wanted her to decide whether to run or walk. To my surprise and her sore chin, she chose to run at first. Before I could reach her, she was already using her arms to pull herself up.

Then she walked ten laps.

Currently, I was looking between the piece of chalk in her hand and the blackboard. She had made a tally mark on the board every time she passed it. That was her own call, not mine.

I frowned. “Don’t those tally marks look a little...Crooked, to you?”

“They don’t gotta be straight. Jus’ marks,” she reasoned.

I nodded along. “Point made.” I looked back at her. “What did you want to ask me?”

“Wuh-What?” She blinked.

“You’re giving me a look that says you don’t know whether or not to tell me something. Go ahead. Tell me.”

Applebloom’s eye darted back and forth as she tried finding her courage. “Well. Ah mean, it’s just.” Her shoulders slumped. “Shouldn’t we be tryin’ ta figure out what’s goin’ on?”

“And how would we do that?” I returned.

“Well, sittin’ here at school ain’t gonna do much good. An’ Ah don’t know why there’s that magic dome in the sky but sh-shouldn’t we…” Her voice trailed off. She looked completely lost. “Ah don’t know, do more than hunker down here? Like, try ta find somepony else?”

Somepony, I hung onto for a moment. She said that one or two other times too. I really hope that pun doesn’t last for too long. Pony or not.

I looked back at the planner I looked through. It mentioned a few errands that the teacher had thrown in so I was able to find out that the last entries were made around the beginning of September. I could still be off by several weeks though.

Maybe there’s somewhere in that town that has an up-to-date calendar, I imagined. Although if we’re humans and that town really is nothing but ponies then what would their reaction be? And if there are no ponies and this girl’s simply crazy, what is that town like? I can’t imagine the town is going along ‘business as usual’ with a giant purple dome in the sky. Would it be—

“Joe?” Applebloom called out, breaking my train of thought.

“I heard you,” I repeated. “Sorry. Thinking to myself.”

Hold on. I looked at Applebloom. Would she—“Know what day it is?” I asked, verbalizing my thoughts.

Applebloom raised an eyebrow. “Ah...Guess not. Why?”

I clicked my tongue. "‘Course it wouldn’t be that easy." I shook my head. “In that case, let me try a different question: What’s the last thing that you remember?”

Applebloom squinted. “Uh. Well.” She closed one of her eyes, almost like peeking into her own mind palace. “Ah think. Ah rem. Remember…”

She didn’t keep her eye closed for long. She gave up on that expression and started looking lost. “Huh. Ah don’t. Know,” she admitted.

“Don’t know or forgot?” I pressed.

“Ah mean, Ah should know what the last thing Ah remember doin’ was. It’s weird," she admitted. "Like Ah’m. Like there’s this…”

“Wall?”

“Yeah! A wall,” She frowned. “Ah’m tryin’ ta think back but it feels like my head jus’ stops.”

“That’s the same as me,” I admitted. “I got as far as one or two details then my mind gives up on itself. I got as far as reading a book on my porch.”

“It’s somethin’,” Applebloom eased.

“Not if I fail to remember the name of the book. That’s a detail I wouldn’t forget so easily.”

“Well,” Applebloom trailed off so much that she started looking around the room. When it seemed like her eyes caught something, I could see the idea forming in her head. “How’s ‘bout we try findin’ somepony else ta ask?”

Somepony…

“In the town?” I frowned. “Not sure that’s the safest plan. We don’t know what everything else looks like right now.”

“Well, what about the farms then?” She tossed the chalk onto the teacher’s desk and walked up to the window. “Ah can’t say fer certain, but Ah think Sweet Apple Acres is still inside this dome thingy.”

“Sweet Apple Acres,” I let those three words sink in. Does everything have this ‘rainbow and lollipop’ sweetness to it?

“Yep. It’s where me an’ mah family live,” she explained.

I cringed. “I. I and my family,” I corrected.

“Huh?”

“I and my family. Du lieber, there was a grammar lesson on the board not thirty minutes ago.”

Applebloom’s face lost all interest. “Ya sound like mah friend, Sweetie Belle.”

“Well, it sounds like Ms. Belle’s doing great in this class. But back on topic, how far is that apple farm?”

“Only ‘bout ten minutes from here. Fifteen if we should swing by mah clubhouse.”

Before I signed off on that plan, I thought over her words. “Is that ten minutes travelling by ‘pony’ or as a human?”

Applebloom opened her mouth to answer but then looked confused. “Is there a difference?”

For several reasons, I thought but dialed back the harsh reply. “Considering how you’re still learning to walk, we might want to assume longer. We should probably take some things with us too. Just in case.”

“Like what?”

“Well, one or two of those little packs might be a good idea,” I said as I pointed to the saddlebags now piled on the desks. “Maybe some paper and pencils too. Actually…”

I squatted down beside the desk and opened the side cabinet. “Aha! There’s a first aid kit in here too.”

“Wha—now hold on a sec.” As I stood up, Applebloom tried taking the kit out of my hands. Too bad she wasn’t too good at holding things yet. “We can’t jus’ take everything with us!”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Why not?!” She parroted. “Cause it ain’t right! Granny taught me better than ta let ponies get away with stealin’.”

Well I’m not a pony. Your argument is invalid, I wanted to say that but sadly I knew better.

“It’s not stealing,” I started.

“Ya can’t call it borrowin’, neither,” she stopped me cold.

“Okay. First, you interrupted me. Rude,” I scolded. “Second, double negative. ‘Ya can’t call it borrowin’, either,’ would be correct.”

She huffed. “Borrowin’. Ain’t. Right,” she spoke slower but at least her grammar was correct.

“Well, good thing we’re not borrowin’ it, either.” I finished standing up and tucked the first aid kit under my sleeve. “After all, this first aid kit is meant to be for the students. Am I wrong?”

Applebloom rolled her eyes. “No,” she drolled.

“And you are a student, yes?”

Her annoyance didn’t fade. “Yeah. And?”

“And, if this first aid kit could be used to help a student that is in pain, then wouldn’t it be for the best that we take it so that it can be used for its given purpose?”

Applebloom blinked but her frown never faltered. “Now yer soundin’ like mah other friend, Scoots.”

I shrugged. “Maybe so. But still, am I wrong?”

“...No. Ya ain’t wrong,” she admitted. “But how do you explain takin’ the paper an’ such from all the fillies an’ colts?”

“Simple. You do it.” I nodded.

“What?!” Her frown became full-blown anger. “Now hold on a moment! Why would Ah do such a thing?!”

“Easy,” I calmed. “The students all left their bags here when they left, yes? That means that they’re unaccounted for and thus, there won’t be any bad blood with us using them.”

“But they’ll be stolen. And Ah’ll know that they were stolen,” Applebloom pressed.

“Yes. However,” I went on. “As long as you’re the one who takes them, then they’ll be in your protection and care. You’ll know who they belong to and, if we find them, you can return the bags to their rightful owner immediately.”

She didn’t look convinced. I didn’t blame her either. “You’re sayin’ all that hoopla jus’ ta make me believe that takin’ somepony’s stuff is a good thing, ain’t it?”

Blunt and sharp at the same time, I acknowledged. I can get along with this person.

“Yes. Everything I said is nothing but hot air,” I admitted. “But even hot air can make a balloon fly. Am I wrong?”

She turned her head to the side in frustration. It almost hurt her for me to be right but wrong at the same time.

I need to be more honest otherwise we’ll be arguing all day. “Ms. Bloom.”

I looked Applebloom in the eyes and cut as much of my off-putting attitude as I could. “This room is full of abandoned school supplies. Even Ms. Cheerilee left her things behind. And you see that rancid apple sitting on the corner of that desk, yes?”

Applebloom looked over at it and noticeably cringed.

“There’s no way anyone let that sit there to rot during a class. There is dust on top of the rotten apple.” Her attention left the apple as she stared down at the floor. “You and I both know that something is not right. We need to find out what. I agree with you on that. But worrying about some student upset that their bag isn’t where they left it is not the biggest issue right now.

“Whether or not there’s something going on out in this dome, I would rather risk an angry parent bearing down on me then being unprepared. At least understand where I’m coming from,” I finished.

Applebloom didn’t look at me. She instead brushed past me and looked over at the desks ahead of her.

I didn’t add anything further. I wasn’t trying to convince her what I was doing was a morally good thing. It wasn’t. Only greed would convince someone that it was. But I was not about to lie either.

So, for about ten seconds she kept scanning the desks, thinking to herself. Then, when she saw one of the desks towards the front, she groaned and walked over to it.

“We ain’t takin' more than we need,” she told me.

I nodded. “Yes mam.”

“And. An’ Ah’ll pick what ones we take.”

“Sounds fair,” I agreed. “After all, it would be better to take the bags from friends you mutually trust. As twisted as it sounds, that would be—”

“Ah get it,” she cut me off with an awkward tone. “...Twist an’ Rumble’s bags. Ah know ‘em an’ Ah can get the bags back ta their homes if Ah need to.”

I frowned. “What about your bag? You’re a student here too, yeah?”

She nodded with this ‘somewhat’ expression on her face. “Well, sure, but Ah’m not in this class. Ms. Cheerilee has three different classes she rotates around. For some reason, Ah woke up here on a day Ah don’ even have class.

“Besides,” she went on. “Twist is much more prepared than Ah am. Every now an’ then Ah gotta borrow paper from Sweetie Belle. An’ Rumble’s got a whole pencil box somewhere in his bag.”

“Actually, those we can leave on their desks.”

Applebloom turned back to look at me. “Didn’t ya say that we needed pencil an’ paper?”

“Yeah, but…” I walked over to the counter on the side of the room. On top of it was a cup with pencils and a small box with scrap paper. “Wouldn’t recycling leave a better conscience?”

She gave out a weak chuckle. “Ya know? No pony ever used that stuff anyhow. It always sits there without so much as a gander.”

“Oh, good. So I won’t feel bad about breaking its rule then.” With one hand I picked up every pencil in the cup. I even fished out the piece of eraser that was crammed in the bottom.

“Rule?” Applebloom leaned her head to the side.

With my other hand I scooped out as much paper from the box and turned around. “It says take one of each.” I gave a comedic shrug. “Oops.”

Her weak chuckle got a little stronger as we packed all the paper and pencils. When that was done, each of us took a saddle bag and slung it over our shoulders.

“So, we all good ta go?” She looked over to me.

I ran over a small checklist and frowned. “Well, there is something else I’d like to try and get. Although it’s not necessary.”

Applebloom’s mouth twitched. “We’re already takin’ bags. What more could ya want?”

I thought back on the group photos on the teacher’s desk. “Well, I don’t know the area at all. A map would be nice. And, at the same time, it’d help to find a camera. Getting some shots of landmarks and maybe the—” I cleared my throat and adjusted my glasses. “The...magic dome, would be nice.”

Applebloom seemed to mull over the idea. “Makes sense, Ah guess. Ah don’ know of any map ‘round here though. Oh, and, magic don’t show up in film. That’s somethin’ Sweetie Belle told me.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Of course it doesn’t. That would make it too simple.

But before I could dismiss the thought, Applebloom’s face lit up with a bright smile. “However, Ah think a camera’s the one thing Ah don’ mind taken with us. Follow me.”

Read All About It

View Online

Joe's POV
Outside of the Schoolhouse

...

After Applebloom spent a few minutes searching the schoolhouse, she finally fished out what looked like a hand-sized brass key before leading me outside.

When I stepped foot outside I noticed that dome again. It was hard to force myself from staring at the purple color covering every inch of the sky. Applebloom, on the other hand, spent a few seconds staring at it before continuing on her way.

I gawked for a moment before walking in step behind her. "Why is it that you don't seem nearly as shocked about that?"

"Compared ta bein' a weird, hairless, two-leg thing with claws?" She asked over her shoulder.

"Again, we're called humans," I corrected. "And those are hands. Not claws."

She lifted her shoulders, rounding the corner. Huh. She sure picked up shrugging fast enough, I thought.

"Well, Ah guess that's cause this ain't the weirdest thing that's happened ta Ponyville," she explained. "Ah an' my family ain't much fer it, but Ah always figured everything Ponyville goes through is thanks ta magic."

I furrowed my brow. "So 'magic bowl in the sky' is automatically filed under business as usual?"

Applebloom took a second to think about that as she stopped at a trapdoor built into the side of the schoolhouse. It was pretty big and keeping the entire thing closed was this industrial sized padlock.

"Huh," she finally answered. "Ah guess so. Ah mean, usually there's somethin' big that happens every week. Ah think this is the third...No, second time Ponyville got stuck in a bubble."

I stared at her in mild confusion, waiting for a punchline that wasn't coming. Applebloom didn't even seem to notice though as she got to work on the lock.

When the lock came loose with a clang, she signaled me to help her and we got to work opening the doors. Beyond them was a set of stairs leading down towards some sort of basement.

“Down here’s where the Foal Free Press gets made,” she explained. “Me an’ mah friends stopped bein’ a part of it ever since the...Uh, thing, happened,” she mumbled.

“Err, but.” She brushed whatever thought went through her head and continued. “Since we did a lot for the school paper, Ms. Cheerilee gave us permission ta come down whenever we'd like. Just in case we wanted ta give it another shot.”

“Foal Free Press is the name of the paper.” I closed my eyes and quickly tried to forget I heard that name. “Alright. Now I get what you meant by knowing where cameras were.”

She started walking down the stairs with me behind her. It was a little awkward since the steps were deep and the roof was low. Not to mention there was no handrail which meant Applebloom had to hold onto the walls or ceiling as she walked down.

When we finally reached the bottom she opened up an oak door to reveal an entire office space. On one side were odd-looking typewriters with bookshelves of paper stuffed within. Then the other side had a printing press with ink stains all over it and the floor.

Next, the entrance to the room we came through was flanked with two doors. One unlabeled and one with ‘Red Room’ written on a sign. Under that was another sign that showed whether it was in use or not.

Finally, opposite of the entrance was an office desk with a comically large office chair. It seemed large enough for a normal human to sit in it comfortably.

“Huh,” I huh’ed. “Not what I expected.”

“Right?!” Applebloom took that as a good thing. “The Press kinda fell outta everypony’s minds after the. Popular...ity stopped, but this place has everything it needs ta run the paper on its own. The school even saved up enough ta get them polar cameras.”

“Polar?” I looked at her. “Tell me you mean polaroid.”

“Y-Yeah, those! " Her excitement sort of waived. "Like Ah said, it was after Ah stopped comin’ here. Ms. Cheerilee was pretty happy for ‘em too. She always got nervous whenever Featherweight spent so long in that red room.”

We both took some time to look over the room. I did it to find anything useful but I think Applebloom did it half out of plain interest.

The walls around the office desk had a few issues of the school paper in frames with one of the more recent of the bunch having an image of two male ponies stuck together with gum.

...Okay…

Tearing my attention away from that, I noticed that the office desk was left bare save for two things. One was a camera, non-polaroid, kept in incredible condition from within a glass case that had dust on it. A plaque near the bottom of the case read ‘Property of Editor-in-Chief.’

The other thing on the desk was a newspaper, also with a thin layer of dust on it, that had an image of a pony figure in a black costume stepping out of the shadows. The only amount of color on it was its eyes which were white thanks to the mask it wore as well as its ‘mane’ that was the same stark white. It looked like some superhero co—

Wait.

I picked up the paper and looked closer at the front page. Underneath the newspaper was the very comic book the picture referred to but I was more focused on the paper. I couldn’t believe it.

“Found ‘em!” Applebloom called out.

Stepping out from the one door that was unlabeled, she had two polaroid cameras and a small box labeled ‘film.’ “Anypony that’s part of the paper’s allowed ta check out cameras an’ stuff whenever they need 'em. I can jus’ sign these out and we’ll be...What’cha lookin’ at?”

“...” I kept staring a hole through the paper. Then, to be sure, I flipped a couple of pages around. It was all confirming the same thing.

Applebloom walked over and placed the camera and film on the table before trying to look over my shoulder. “Somethin’ wrong?”

I took a deep breath and turned to hold the paper out. “Ms. Bloom? Can you tell me what’s wrong with this picture?”

She took the paper from me and studied it carefully. “The Shadow?” She read the comic’s name aloud. “Um. Never heard of it. But Ah ain’t much of a comic reader anyhow. That’s more Scootaloo’s thi—”

“I didn’t mean the literal picture,” I cut in. “Ignore the Batman rip-off. Do you see what’s wrong with that paper itself? Specifically, the date?”

Bloom moved the paper so she could read out what was printed on the corner. “April 13th, 1004?!”

“Thank you,” I breathed. Then I moved past the desk to look at the other papers framed on the wall. “It has to be a typo or something.”

“Definitely.” Bloom nodded along. “I mean, there’s no way it’s 1004! We’re barely into 1002,” she finished.

I felt my breath get knocked out of my lungs.

“No,” I breathed. “It is not 1002 either.”

“What?” She started looking concerned. “Th-Then what year is it?”

“It’s 2015,” I clarified. But that just made Applebloom all the more confused.

“Now what made ya come up with a random number like that?”

“Maybe because I was born in 1998,” I explained. “And, I think you’ll notice, I’m not negative 994 years old.”

Applebloom’s expression turned sour. Then, without warning, she walked over to a nearby filing cabinet. After a little digging, she pulled out a paper and tossed it onto the desk.

“There.” She pointed at it as she closed the cabinet. “Look at the front page.”

Desperate to see what her proof was, I glanced over and read the headline aloud. “An Open Letter to Ponyville, By Gabby Gums.”

“Gabby Gums was a name my friends and Ah made up,” she told me, using the proper grammar. “That’s me on the left.”

I didn’t bother reading the actual story. I instead looked to the date. “March 30th. 1000...”

“Now Ah'm right sure it’s been more than a year since that happened. And June was right around the corner back then. Which means it should be 1002.”

That planner the teacher had, I recalled. It started on June.

“Your years start on June?”

“‘Course,” Bloom stated as though it were common knowledge. For her maybe. “The year starts with Princess Celestia’s Summer Sun Celebration.”

I backed away from her to gather my thoughts. Princess. Summer Sun. The faulty calendar. What?

According to Cheerilee’s planner, every month had thirty days exactly. Which would mean that the year was 360 days long. If that was the case then that would mean their calendar should be years ahead of the regular calendar.

I turned back to Bloom. “What happened in the year 0?”

“Huh?” She blinked.

“Year 0. One thousand plus years ago,” I explained. “What happened to make the calendar start there?”

Applebloom, rather than answer, just started to look at me worried. “You...Ya really think it’s year two thousand somethin’, don’tcha?”

“What.” I repeated. “Happened?”

Bloom rolled her eyes but was kind enough to play along. “Well...The years started up back when Princess Celestia banished Nightmare Moon ta the. Well, ta the moon.”

“...”

I walked away from her to the other side of the room, taking off my glasses to wipe my face.

"Alright. I need a second," I told her, unable to hide the exhaustion in my tone.

There was no way I heard that right, I thought. I did not hear that. Or maybe I'm taking her too literally. There's no way. That sounded like some sort of creation story. It doesn't make sense.

I kept racking my brain to figure out if any of what she said could be interpreted differently. When that didn't work I tried mumbling my way through it but that only made Applebloom seem concerned.

“Um. Joe—” “What?” I wasn't looking at her but given the sounds I heard I knew she was scratching at her shirt.

“Ah can show ya all these other papers if ya want,” she offered. “Ah’m tellin’ the truth. Promi—” “I now you're..."

I took a second to calm down. I hadn't raised my voice or anything but I knew my thoughts were getting to me a bit. With the unexplainable dome and now the newspapers and what Applebloom said, everything sounded like I was going mad.

From Applebloom's perspective, she probably thought I was having a breakdown. She would be right.

“Sorry,” I apologized. “I know you’re telling the truth. I don't doubt that. But what I know and what I’m hearing are total opposites. It doesn't make sense.”

“It. It’s okay,” she tried to speak calmly but I could still hear the worry. “Ah’m kinda gettin’ scared too. J-Jus’ a little,” she defended. “But now Ah’m startin’ ta get worried ‘bout some of mah friends an’ family. Ah don’t even know what’s goin’ on outside.”

I took a deep breath and held it.

“We were gonna check out Sweet Apple Acres, right? Can we still head there? Ah wanna let mah family know Ah’m alright.”

Then, I exhaled.

She’s right. We need to go, I thought. Staying at this school is only making more questions. There might be answers somewhere else.

“A good idea,” I told her. “Finding your family should be first. Then, I should try finding out if mine woke up anywhere around here.”

“You got family too?” Applebloom started walking over.

“Two brothers. I’m the oldest.” I let out another breath and put my glasses back on. Then I folded my arms behind my back. Like I always did. “It’s ironic, though. I’m the oldest but I'm also the shortest.”

Applebloom let out a faint chuckle. “Well, Ah’m the youngest and the shortest. But Ah only got the one brother. If anythin’ happened ta him, Ah’d be tryin’ ta find him all over.”

When I turned to face her she was trying to give me a brave smile. “So. What do ya say ta findin' our family’s ‘fore they lose their heads? Sound good?”

She held out a fist towards me.

I watched it for a moment and took another breath. “I think you're right." I reached out at met her fist with my own.

"Well. We have a goal now.” I walked over to the desk and picked up the two papers and the comic book. “Go ahead and sign out the cameras like you wanted. Then we’ll head for your farm.”

Her smile turned a little more genuine before she tried running over to a clipboard on the wall. It took her some time, and a lesson from me on how to hold a pencil without your mouth, but when she finished signing out, we loaded film in the cameras, pocketed the rest, and left the basement behind.

When we locked the basement back up, I told her to keep the key in case we needed to come back. She had gotten us each five dozen sets of film, so more than 100 pictures worth, but you never knew when you’d run out.

Finally, as we struck out on the path towards the farmsteads, I took a second to cut down a decent sized branch from one of the trees with my knife.

After cutting the twigs from it, the branch was good for Bloom to use as a walking stick.

Even with the purple dome over our heads, being able to leave and follow Applebloom to this apple farm gave me plenty of time to think. With the homework that school gave me, I was going to use every second I had.

Outside Voice

View Online

Downtown Ponyville

Big Mike’s POV

...

I sat the girl down on a nearby hay bale while I waited. Over the last twenty minutes, this Big Mac guy and I walked around this really cool amusement park.

It had vendors and games on every street. Some were inside tents, others were out in the open, and some were even built into these nice little cottages. It was like walking through an old timey town.

It didn’t have any rides though. Well, okay it had one. Standing above the rest of the amusement park was this giant Ferris wheel.

The wheel was nearly entirely pink with the carts colored a shimmering gold. But the size was what made me keep staring up at it. This Ferris Wheel was so tall, it seemed as though it could scrape into the purple sky above us.

Oh right. The purple sky.

I almost forgot about it. The sky was what kept me from enjoying this amusement park. I think Big Mac called this place ‘Parkville’? I didn’t like the name. Kind of on the nose.

Speaking of Big Mac, he had followed me while I walked aimlessly around the park. Whenever I checked to see if he was okay, he would give me the same ‘eeyup’ every time.

When I led us around long enough, Big Mac thought of somewhere he wanted to check out. That’s when we switched roles and I followed him until we arrived at this marketplace.

Now, across the street from me, Big Mac was searching this one wooden cart stand. It was pretty plain compared to all the other stands. They had tents and tables set up with them.

Actually, all the other stands were even decorated to look like carnival booths with games of all kinds. With how nice they all looked, I had no idea why Big Mac was spending so much time at this boring dust-covered one.

Big Mac got up from underneath the cart stand, giving out a tired grunt as he did.

“Everything okay?” I called out. I was around fifteen feet away from him so we had to speak up.

Big Mac turned towards me with a frown. “Nnope.”

“Oh.” Now I felt awkward. “Okay then.”

Instead of staring at him, I started looking around the rest of the marketplace. Thankfully, all those carnival games were well decorated so I wouldn’t be bored staring at them.

Looking closer, I discovered that every booth had its own unique game inside of it. I noticed the usual ring tosses and knock-over-bottles sorts of games but there were others I had never seen before.

When some of the games started to look confusing, I switched it up and saw the dozens of random stuff they had as prizes. There was a coconut, a wagon wheel, a trumpet, candy necklaces, baseball caps, a foam finger, a tiny sleeping alligator in a cage, a stick, several table lamps, a picture of cake, and probably forty balloon animals. Most of which were snakes.

Wait a second. I looked harder at all the prizes. They have a trumpet? I wanna trumpet!

“Hey, Big Mac, can we— Oh.” Before I could try asking, Big Mac was already on his way over to me and the girl. He seemed upset.

I glanced at the cart that he left behind. Now that I was looking at it, it seemed as if Big Mac was searching through it pretty hard. He came up empty handed though.

I turned back to him. “Is that cart important or something?”

He glanced back at it for a moment.

“Eeyup.” He nodded.

“Oh, um, well, were you trying to find something?”

“Eeyup.” After a pause he gave himself this tired shrug. “Mah family’s cart.”

When it clicked, I started to nod along. “You thought your family was here.”

Big Mac slumped a little.

“Eeyup.”

…

...

Not much of a talker. Maybe he’s shy!

“Well don’t worry,” I told him. “Your family’s probably fine. Maybe they were here but they left trying to find you when you weren’t here.”

I smiled, hoping Big Mac would do the same. But he only became more sad.

I frowned, tapping my chin. “Huh. Maybe that didn’t come out right.”

“Nnope.”

“Oh. Sorry.”

Big Mac didn’t add anything else. Instead, he walked past me to check on the girl. What was her name again? I think Big Mac called her Sweaty Bail?

There was a gasp.

“Sweetie Belle?”

“That’s her name,” I awkwardly cheered. “Man. Big Mike should probably write that down.”

As I was turning around, Big Mac was rushing up to Sweetie Belle and glanced down at her. From where I was I saw her shaking her head as she murmured something.

I broke out into a smile again. “Good! She’s up!”

I walked a little closer but ultimately kept some distance. You never wanted to crowd around someone when they woke up. Or at least, I never wanted people to do that to me.

Big Mac started to shake Weetie Belle gently, talking under his breath in hopes Weetle would hear. After about five more times, her mumbling started to be words.

“p-put the sun ‘ack ‘own,” she half hummed. “Two. minutes...muuuuh.”

“Sweetie, wake up,” Big Mac told her. “No time fer lazyin’.”

“Bu’ I like lazyin, Big...Bu-Big McIntosh?” The girl finally started sounding more awake. “That you?”

“Eeyup,” he told her. Then he suddenly looked nervous “Ah, Ah know Ah don’ look right, but—”

The girl’s high pitched yawn cut him off while she rubbed her eyes. “Look right? What’re you talking…”

The girl froze. Like a video that got stuck. Then, very slowly, Beetle Ball moved her hand away from her face and stared at it. Then, Beetle leaned back.

“What...What’s going—” she went mute again when she glanced up and saw Big Mac’s face staring right back at her. As she stared at him, she started leaning back, only to run out of space.

Shrieking, she tumbled over the back of the hay bale and hit the ground. The wind was knocked out of her lungs and she landed with her legs hanging over her head.

We ran over to help but she quickly rolled over to try crawling away. After tripping a couple of times, her attention snapped back to us.

“Sweetie,” Big Mac stepped forward but stopped when he saw her face. She was trembling and terrified as her mouth slowly opened to take in air.

Big Mac tensed up as he turned to me. “Cover yer ears.”

Beetle’s expression never changed as she kept taking in air like a balloon.

I kept watching her as I scratched my head. “Mike's ears? Why?”

“Too late,” Big Mac called out, ducking away and quickly covering up his own.

I crossed my arms and watched uncomfortably. “Um...Hey Beetle Bale, are you ok—”

“WHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA~!”

Marketplace

Sweetie’s POV

Some Time Later

...

“So...Let me see if I got this right.”

I took a second to think everything over. Even though most what Big Mac gave me a lot of yeps and nopes from my barrage of questions, the few things he did tell me was a lot to take in.

“So, we're in a giant fair that's actually Ponyville, which is then inside a giant force field," recapped. "The three of us all woke up inside of a sofa store and, we’re...whatever these are?” I took a second to feel a shiver go down my weird, different spine.

"Eeyup," Mac confirmed.

“And now you and that 'Big Mike' thing have been trying to find Applebloom or anypony else since?”

Big Mac slumped forward. He let the exhaustion show on his face. “Eeyup.”

The entire time Big Mac spent explaining everything to me, I was trying to figure out how to stand and move my arms like he and Big Mike were doing. From what I could figure out, these arms helped me balance myself on two legs.

Speaking of the arms... I looked down at the ends of these limbs. “And these are claws? And, fin-gers? Fingers,” I corrected.

Big Mac furrowed his brow. He mentioned the claws before but he didn't know about fingers. I already knew about them to something Spike told me.

Since Spike wasn’t a pony, Scoots asked him about what being a dragon was like one day. I never knew how to ask but I was always curious. So I listened. Applebloom never stuck around for it though. She thought it was rude to ask.

Well, I hummed in my head. Thank you to Scootaloo and her...being rude? My mouth formed a thin line. Maybe I should come up with a better thank you than that.

I took a second to look at the ‘fingers’, moving them around as I did. It was pretty creepy to see them on myself, especially when moving them felt...natural. Not to mention the fingers felt rubbery in contrast to hooves.

I started to test them by grabbing a few pieces of straw from the hay bale and pulling. Like I had seen Spike do in the past, they each pulled out without a problem.

“Huh. Guess I gotta give it to Spike. He was right. These claws do kinda feel more useful than hooves.” To try and make the best out of it, I started eating the hay I was holding.

Big Mac watched me doing all of this and, as I kept eating the hay, he finally broke his own silence.

“Ya ain’t scared?”

“W’ll, ah ‘ean ah don’...” I stopped chewing the hay as my face twisted into pure disgust.

What is wrong with this bale?!

Turning away from Big Mac, I tried spitting out every piece of terrible straw. When almost all of it was gone, I brought up an arm and wiped my tongue off on it.

No way that was rotten! It was a different kind of terrible! Ugh...

After I was done feeling miserable, I noticed Big Mac was still watching me. He looked so worried.

“Heh. Sorry,” I apologized, spitting out one final piece of straw. “What I was trying to say was that I don’t want to be whatever this is, but for some reason it doesn’t feel as weird as I think it should. The more I try to think about it, the more I realize that I’m stillme. Y'know?”

“Eeyu...Nnope.”

I sat back down on the hay bale, slowly since I didn’t have the whole ‘two legs thing’ down yet, and thought it over. It felt like something else was helping me calm down but what sense did that make?

As Big Mac kept looking confused, he finally broke himself out of it. “Nevermind. Sweetie? When’d ya last see Applebloom?”

“Huh?” I blinked. “Oh. Well, I think yesterday we...Ye-Yesterday we were...” I stopped talking and thought it over for a second.

When I couldn’t just remember it right away I tried to picture it in my mind. I could start to remember that we were together for something but it was the exact opposite of the feeling I had about being me. The more I thought on it, the blurrier it got.

Frustrated, I settled for trying to think of only a part of what I remember. Except, my mind simply gave up. As though it decided on its own that it was done trying.

“I...I don’t know,” I admitted. “Weird.”

“Ya sure?” He pleaded.

I tried it all over again but the blurriness only showed up quicker.

I frowned. “I. I can’t. I mean, like I literally don’t remember. The only thing I can got was that we tried earning our Cutie Marks again. But, I don’t even remember what for. I can’t even remember what day that was.”

Big Mac kept growing more sad as I explained it to him. It wasn’t until I mentioned not knowing the day that he got confused.

He opened his mouth to tell me something but he stopped himself as he seemed totally lost. Fearing the worst, I took a guess.

“You don’t know what day it is either?”

Big Mac shook his head. “Eenope.”

When he realized we needed a second, well, third opinion, he turned around to that bigger two-legged thing from earlier.

Big Mac had told me his name was 'Big Mike' and that the three of us all woke up in that sofa store. He was the same creatures we were and had no hair on him except for his head which had hair so short you could call it a shadow.

It also had blue pants matching what Big Mac had, only Big Mike's just went down to the knees. Then, it had some sort of deep green, polo shirt.

But rather than be worried about what it wanted or was going to do, or even be confused about what it was, I started feeling bad for him. The entire time Big Mac was talking to me, Big Mike was tapping his ears and testing them to get his hearing back to normal.

Uh-oh, I thought, cringing a little. I did that, didn't I? I guess I did scream a little louder than normal.

"Big Mike?" Big Mac called out.

“Hu-Huuh?!” The Big Mike half shouted. When he realized it came from us, he turned around. “Did you call Big Mike’s name?!”

I started folding in on myself and averted my gaze. Yep. That sounds like my fault.

Wake Up Party Town

View Online

Marketplace

Sweetie’s POV

...

Big Mike, who was a few yards away from us, started walking over. He was still thumping his ear to try getting his hearing back to normal.

"How can Big Mike help?!" He shouted. Big Mac and I both flinched.

When Mike got close enough, I took in a breath. “Sorry for screaming,” I loudly called at him. “You know. For. Almost two minutes straight,” I trailed off.

“It’s okay,” he assured me. “Big Mike will be fine when he can feel his ears again!” He gave me two big thumbs up, something else that I understood from knowing Spike.

I nodded along. "That's...great..."

I looked anywhere but towards him while Big Mac started trying to talk to him. Thanks to how terrible this hay bale tasted, I didn't want to look at that. So, in order to avoid the guilt, I stared at the shiny plastic parts at the ends of my fingers.

They all went a little past where the fingers ended and seemed kind of solid. Like they were the last few pieces of my hooves.

They looked kind of nice the way they branched from the center of my claws where my Cutie Mark was. It was as if the claws looked like little suns.

Wait. Cutie Mark?

I held up my claw to the light and stared at the back of it. Sitting there, being completely different colors from my claw, was a shield made of red, light purple, and dark purple. Inside of that was a star with a music note in the center.

My Cutie Mark.

My Cutie Mark?

“Big McIntosh?” I tried looking at him but my eyes were trapped on my Cutie Mark. “Is there anything on the back of your claws?”

I saw Big Mac’s shadow move around and after a brief pause I had my answer.

“Eeyup.”

Forcing my eyes to look and, yep, on the backs of his claws was his Cutie Mark, a giant green apple.

Then he glanced down and saw mine.

“...I don’t remember this,” I told him.

His shadow showed him turning his head to the side.

“I don’t remember getting them,” I repeated. “Why can’t I remember my Cutie Mark?”

“What’s a Cutie Mark?!” Big Mike walked over. He was still loud but it was getting better.

What’d he just ask me? That question nearly took me by more surprise than my own Marks.

“A Cutie Mark,” I repeated louder. He probably still can’t hear me. Double oops.

Big Mike shook his head. “Never heard of it.”

What? “What?” My brain and my mouth blurted the same thing. “What do you mean you don’t know what a Cutie Mark is?!”

Big Mike frowned. “Is it a new toy or something?”

I could feel my eye twitching. So, to see if it would help, I held up my Cutie Mark for him to see.

When he got close enough I saw a light go off in his head. “Oh, you mean a tattoo! Yeah, Big Mike’s not a fan of those!”

“No, not a tattoo.” I pointed to his claws. “Don’t you have Cutie Marks?”

“Nope.” He blinked. Then his face faded into horror. “Wait, do I?!” Big Mike looked at the back of his hands and gave a sigh of relief. “Oh good. For a second, Big Mike thought whoever stole him and his Good Chair tattooed Big Mike.”

Then Big Mike gave a low gasp. “Wait. Did they tattoo his Good Chair by mistake?”

I kept staring. There’s no way. Everypony knows about Cutie Marks. Right? There’s no way!

Big Mac walked over and put a claw on Big Mike’s shoulder.

“Nnope,” Big Mac answered.

“Whew! That’s good.” Big Mac instantly calmed down. His volume was turning normal too. “Do you think it’ll be safe at that chair shop though?”

“Eeyup.”

“Okay. But, do you think the store person will let Big Mike get it back later?”

“...Eeyup?”

The two went back and forth for a little longer while I sat there; my mouth agape.

What is going on? I held the sides of my head with my new claws.

Am I going crazy? Because I don’t understand any of what’s going on...I feel really sore from sleeping so that means this can’t be a dream. Right?

I turned to face a different direction from atop my hay bale. Big Mike was asking random questions at this point about chairs and, for some reason, a trumpet now, and Big Mac was just giving him ‘eeyup’s and ‘nope’s.

Dream or not, I continued. How’s come Ponyville looks like a giant fair anyways? And, on top of that, when and how did that giant forcefield show up?

I craned my head upward to stare at the purple thing above me. This was the first time I was looking at it and it felt so foreboding on so many levels. For one thing, I could feel it.

My parents told me that was a unicorn thing. That, if there was magic stronger than you were used to, you could sense it even from a distance. Like a gust of wind, or heat, or a strong smell. It was different for everypony but in the end, you still felt it somehow.

For me, I always tasted grapes. My tongue would get all tingly and the taste would always be there. First time it happened was at a magic show my parents took me to in Manehattan. I tasted grapes all day, even when I was drinking orange juice.

But now? It felt as though my tongue was coated in grape jelly. Although, there was another feeling too. One that made another chill go down my vertical spine.

I think we were being watched.

I wanted to prove myself wrong so I started looking around. The dome was above me and that very pink Ferris Wheel was ahead of us by several streets. It was as tall as the buildings in Manehattan.

There, I thought. That’s where something was. I could taste it. No, really, I literally began tasting grapes the more I looked at that Ferris wheel.

There and the forcefield, I listed. I didn’t know much about magic but I knew that the two grape tastes were different. But why?

”...hehehehehehe…”

I turned around, checking around me one more time. Aside from Big Mac and this other...creature thing, it was silent. I didn’t even see any birds or animals around. Come to think of it, no clouds either.

The buildings around us were empty too. All of their doors were left wide open and inside each of them I could see party decorations and trash littering ponies’ living rooms. There was even a pile of pink stuffing in one of the windows upstair—

The stuffing moved.

I felt hair on the back of my neck stand on end. After taking a moment to shake my head, I took another glace back at the window. Now there was no stuffing there. Instead it was...a pink frosted cake?

I know that cake wasn’t there before, I told myself. I would’ve noticed all the candles.

“Um...Big McIntosh?”

“Eeyup?” Big Mac, and Big Mike, both stopped talking and turned to acknowledge me.

“Where were you two going before I woke up?” I asked. I had no reason to panic but something didn’t feel right. That grape taste on my tongue was getting harder to ignore too.

Big Mac opened his mouth to answer but nothing came out. So instead, he looked to Big Mike.

The two had a small staring contest before everything suddenly clicked for Big Mike.

“Oh! You mean Mike!” He pointed out. “Um. Well, Big Mike doesn’t know this town. So, he was just gonna keep walking till he found a map or something.” As he talked, he reached into the pocket of his clothes.

When Big Mike found what he was looking for, he pulled out a small green rectangle and studied it. “He wanted to use the map on his phone,” he told us. “But it’s dead somehow.”

The map is dead? I blinked. And what’s a phone?

I turned to Big Mac for answers but he only gave me a heavy shrug.

I frowned. Neither of them have any idea of what to do next. Same goes for me too I guess. All of this is so weird.

Kssshhhh!

I wasn’t the only one that heard it. All three of us whipped around to see pieces of a glass bottle scattering across the road about five yards away from us.

“...” We all stopped talking, watching as the bottom of a glass bottle was rolling in a small circle. There was a dining table besides the glass shards with a folded umbrella in the middle of it.

With pink stuffing hanging out of the umbrella, I noticed.

“Weird,” Big Mike pointed out. “Think it was the wind?” He asked as he started walking towards the bottle.

“Nope.” Big Mac sounded on guard too.

He’s right, I agreed. It couldn’t be the wind. There’s no clouds or pegasi in sight. There can’t be wind without weather ponies.

“Be careful,” I said softly.

“Don’t worry,” Big Mike walked backwards for a few steps to give me a happy smile. “Big Mike won’t get cut.”

It’s not the glass I’m worried about, I realized.

But I didn’t say that. So instead, Big Mike strode up to the glass and shifted it around with his foot— another thing Spike told Scootaloo and me about. When he found something he thought was interesting, he picked it up.

“Punch Juice,” Big Mike read out loud. Then I saw him frown. “Seventy proof?”

“Punch Juice?” I glanced up at Big Mac. “What’s tha—” “Nope.”

Big Mac shared Mike’s frown and gave me one of those shaking heads that any adult would give a foal.

“There’s a lot of them,” Big Mike told us with a serious tone. He referred to the table which had seven more bottles in one pile and five in another.

Big Mac gave out a frustrated groan. “Berry Punch,” he murmured quietly. “Big mess?” He asked, walking over to the table.

“Uh-huh.” Big Mike took a second to pick up the bigger pieces of glass and set them on the table.

When I realized I was a little far from the guys for my liking, I carefully stepped off the hay bale and slowly shuffled my way over.

“Ya know, Big Mike’s noticed a lot of trash around here,” Mike told Mac. “Is it usually like this?”

“Nope.” When Big Mac arrived on the scene, he picked up a bottle and inspected it.

“That’s not good.” Big Mike wiped his hands on his pants. They were the same material as the pants Big Mac had, but shorter, stopping just above the knee.

“Nope.” That time, Big Mac sounded angry. Then he glanced up at the umbrella. “Huh.”

“What?” Big Mike had the umbrella pointed out to them and they now both saw the pink stuffing hanging out the bottom of it.

I made slow progress but got about halfway to them when I saw Big Mike reach for it. Both of the guys were distracted enough by the stuffing that they didn’t notice the umbrella shifting around.

I stopped walking. “Guys?”

Big Mac started to turn around but Big Mike grabbed the stuffing before it was too late. Thinking it was a drawstring for the umbrella, Big Mike pulled it down and at the same time, the umbrella stopped moving.

“...Weird,” Big Mike announced, pulling the stuffing again. And again with more force.

When that didn’t work, Big Mike tried one last time. He took the stuffing in both hands and heaved it down in one tug.

Big Mike suddenly had the edge of the umbrella brush up against his face as it flapped open, revealing three pink ponies all hanging either from the under part of the umbrella or holding onto the umbrella pole.

The three identical ponies all stared directly into Big Mike’s face as three huge grins spread across each of their faces. Then, all at once they flung from the umbrella and attached themselves to Big Mike like tape.

“You found us!” “Way to go!” “Congratulations~!”

They all started cheering and laughing, not minding that Big Mike was flailing around and trying to pull the ponies off of his body. When that failed to work, he tripped on a nearby broken piece of pinata and collapsed onto his back.

Ponies! My expression lit up for a second only to catch myself. Wait. They all look the same. That’s a little weird.

One of the ponies comically bounced away from Big Mike like a runaway wheel and over towards Big Mac while the others clambered around Big Mike so they could see his face.

“Woah, you’re big.” “And tall!” Both ponies complemented. “What are you?” “What’s your name?” “Is there something fun you wanna do?” “Fun?!” “FUN!”

“Uhhhhhh.” Big Mike took his time blinking. “Name...Big Mike?”

“Big Mike?” “Sounds big.” “And Mike-ish!” “We’ve never met a pony like you before. Well, maybe that’s because you’re not a pony.” “You sure? He can talk like a pony!” “And he played hide and seek like a pony.” “Do you think he likes the same food as ponies?” The second pony let out a high pitched gasp. “Wait a second! If he plays the same games as ponies—” “—Annnnd he’s really really super good at playing games ponies like—” “—Then that means he must be really sup-tastic-pendous at playing fun games!” “Fun?!” “FUN!”

“Fun.” The third pony said with a very deep voice as she stared at Big McIntosh.

Big Mac looked down at the third identical pink pony as she stared directly into his eyes. I couldn’t see her face but I saw Big Mac getting visibly uncomfortable when she didn’t look away.

“Um. Eeyup?” Big Mac nodded stiffly.

What resulted was the third pink pony shaking like a volcano. Then, not like a volcano, she erupted with giggling and confetti everywhere, littering every inch of ground in a two yard radius.

Something feels wrong here, I thought. Whoever these ponies are, they haven’t turned into what we are. They should be more normal than us but...why do they feel so wrong?

“So, Mr. Big Mike, do you know what you’ve won?” One of these two crazy-looking ponies asked as both of them were still standing on Big Mike’s body.

“...” Big Mike, again, just kept blinking. It took him a solid five seconds just to raise a finger and point at one pony. Then the other. Then look at his hand as he held two fingers.

Finally, after all that thinking and time spent, Big Mike had his answer.

“Two?”

Welp. Big Mike has stopped working.

“Close~,” the other pony sang. Then she reached over and pulled the third pony back beside her despite either one of them definitely out of reach before. “You’ve won three of us! And we just know that we can give you the best overly-duper tour of the—wait for it...”

The ponies all took off from Big Mike, leaving a cloud of dust in their tracks as they all jumped up on the unfolded umbrella. When it somehow held all three of their weight, they struck this dynamic pose with one of the ponies standing on the hooves of the other two; like a pyramid.

“Welcome to…” They said in pitch perfect unison.

“PINKIE PAAAAAARK~!”

All of the ponies kept that pose, bearing down on us with face-stretching smiles.

Out of awkwardness, Big Mike started applauding with his claws while he sat up on the ground. But his ever so lost expression made it obvious he had no idea what to think.

Big Mac decided to stare at Big Mike wondering why he was applauding whatever that greeting was. Then he turned around to look at me who was watching from the back of our trio.

Aside from watching, all I did was have a hundred questions running through my head. I had plenty lined up but the only one that I thought mattered was probably the only one these ponies probably couldn’t answer.

What’s happened to Ponyville?

Let the FUN Times Roll

View Online

Downtown Ponyville Pinkie Park!
Big Mike’s POV

“Welcome to...” The three horse-pony-things said at once.

“PINKIE PAAAAAARK~!”

After their cheer, the three of them started looking at the three of us like it was our turn to do something. So, because I had no idea what else we were supposed to do, I just started applauding.

“Woooo,” I called out plainly. Compared to some games I’ve been to, their cheer wasn’t too great. The standing-on-an-umbrella part was cool though.

“Does this mean the park’s open now?” I asked them. “Cause, Big Mike thinks we weren’t supposed to be here until that happened.”

The three of them giggled a bit as the one on top of the pyramid hopped down beside me.

“What are you talking about? Pinkie Park is always open, silly! If we close then there might be somepony who wasn’t able to make it to the park in time. Then they miss out on all the fun.”

“Fun?” “Fun?” “Fun, fun, fun!” The other two still on the umbrella started chanting as they jumped around the umbrella. The fabric started to rip and pull but they didn’t mind.

My eyes lit up. “Oh! Then people come to this park all the time?”

“We would certainly hope so! People would love coming here,” The one in front of me said. “...Well, whatever a people is anyway.”

“Uh, excuse me,” Beetle Swelle said from beside Big Mac. “Pinkie. Is that your name?”

“Yesseroni,” the one in front of me cheered.

“Pinkie’s my name too!” “Hey, same!” The other two announced.

Wait, all their names are Pinkie? That’s gotta be confusing.

“Feel free to wear it out,” the one in front of me said. “If it gets old, we’ll get a new one from the other Pinkies.”

“Other Pinkies?” Beetle asked.

The Pinkie on the ground pulled her face into a smile so tight it was like a taffy puller. “I was hoping you’d say that!”

She ran over towards Big Mac and with one leap landed perfectly on the top of his head. When she had her balance, she took in a deep breath and placed a hoof to her mouth.

“OH PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIINKIEEEEEEEEESSS!”

The voice reached pretty far, her echo going further than that. When the echo was done, there was only silence.

Then there was rumbling. Since I was still sitting on the ground I felt it before the others could. The rumbles grew in intensity.

When Big Mac and Beatle Swelle started to hear it Big Mac put a hand in front of Swelle to try keeping her from whatever was coming. Although, the rumbling wasn’t from one direction.

From all sides, the rumbling closed in on us. When it got to the point that the tiny pieces of glass I left on the ground started shaking, I quickly stood on my feet and saw what it was.

From every open road, clouds of pink moved towards us. When they got close enough to hear what they were saying we only heard one word.

Fun.

“Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.” “Fun.”

As they got closer, the three of us finally realized what we were watching. Dozens, if not more than a hundred, of these pink ponies were rushing at us, all screaming the same thing.

“FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!” “FUN!”

When we thought we saw all of them, more ponies started leaping up and over the rooftops, falling into the marketplace and joining the other ponies.

Some of them started stacking themselves on top of each other as they swarmed towards us. Worried that they’d get separated, Beatie Spelle and Big Mac walked over next to me as we were surrounded by all of these ponies.

“Big McIntosh,” Beatie half-whispered.

“E-Eeyup?” Big Mac never broke eye contact with the army of pink.

“...Why does everypony look the same?” A chill ran down her spine.

“...” Big Mac didn’t answer.

All the ponies started asking questions all at once. At first they were speaking but it quickly raised into screaming questions to try speaking over each other.

Now it sounds like a pep rally, I noticed.

FInally I rose a hand high into the air and all at once these ‘Pinkles’ fell silent as they stared at me.

“Big Mike. Has. A question,” I announced slowly. Then, before I could ask, my stomach growled.

“...” I looked at my gut, then back to the Pinkles. “...Do you have. Any funnel cake?”

“Oh. I know! I know where!” One of the ponies from the umbrella waved her hoof like a noodle. “I can take you there!”

“What, no! I’ll do it! I can get you better funnel cake!” A random Pickle shouted.

“I can get you two funnel cakes!” Another screamed.

“We’ll get you more cake than funnels!” A tower of Pickles said in sync.

“I know a better funnel cake stand!” “Take me with you!” “Are you sure you don’t want cupcakes instead?!” “I know where they make the good funnel cakes!” “I won a keg of powdered sugar at the dunk tank!” “Wait, the dunk tank has prizes again?!” “Did they clean the dunk tank water?” “I heard the dunk tank’s glass shattered!” They filled it with whipped cream! It’s so much more fun now!” “Fun?!” “I want fun!” “FUN-FUN-FUN!”

The Pickles chanted ‘FUN’ over and over at us, some of them trying to get the crowd to shout the word in a rhythm.

It didn’t work but now some of the Pickles began to clap or stomp to their own beat. It wasn’t that good but I liked their energy.

At that moment, I felt a tug on my shirt and turned to see Fishie pulling her hand back.

“What is it Wheatie Spell?” I asked.

She blinked. “Uh...Sweetie Belle,” she corrected. Oh. Whoops. “And, u-uh, I think we should go.”

“Eeyup!” Big Mac nodded, trying to be louder than the crowd of ponies.

“Go?” Suddenly, a Pickle appeared between myself and the others, giving us this sly smile and eyebrow look. “Now come on. You don’t really wanna go, do you? We got games, and funnel cakes, and firewor—”

“Actually, we’re out of fireworks,” Another Pickle from the crowd shouted. “But we’re using a slingshot to shoot bottles of color water so we’re covered for now!”

“Why?” Sweety asked with her brow twisted down.

“Well, the color water probably looks like a firework,” I reasoned. “And it’s water so it’s, like, a waterpark from the sky.”

Sweety looked at me like I was crazy but then all the Pickles started cheering for me.

“Now that’s the kind of attitude that’ll get ya into the VFP Tent,” The Pickle told me.

“Guys, did you hear that?!” I beamed at Big Mac and Sweaty. “The VFP Tent!”

“What’s a VFP?” Sweetly asked.

I shook my head. “No idea. Sounds nice though.”

“But before that.” A second and third Pickle walked up. “We gotta give ya the grand tour! Ya ready to start?”

“Can’t wait, yeah! Let’s start with food.” I gestured for the others to follow. “You guys ready?”

“H-Hold on!” Sweaty shouted over the Pickles. “Weren’t you and Big McIntosh looking for Applebloom?!”

“Don’t worry Sweaty—” “Sweetie!” “Sweetie, right!” I shouted. “We’ll find her in no time! With all of these Prickles helping us, we can track her down even faster! They might even find my brothers!”

“You have brothers?!” One of the three Prickles asked me in a shout.

“Yeah! They’re both older than me,” I shouted back. “Morgue would probably love this place! He throws house parties all the time back home!”

“House parties?!”

Without a moment passing, the Prickle turned around, pulled a giant toy kazoo out of her poofy hair and blew it, making a sound that would rival tubas.

“Listen up, fellow Pinkies!” The, I guess named, Pinkie screamed at the army of other Pinkies.

Makes sense, I told myself. They are all pink...Oh! That’s how I’ll remember!

“There’s a fellow par-tay~ animal named Morgue running around,” The Pinkie went on. “And right now, he’s lost! Now. I know that Pinkie, Pinkie, and Pinkie all hold the record for the best hide and seekers!”

“Hey, don’t forget about Pinkie and Pinkie!” A random Pinkie demanded.

“Pinkie and Pinkie traded that for the best Staircase Log Flume Riders,” said the Pinkie in front of us. “But nevermind that! We all know we’ve been looking for a way to boost our FUN-Having productivity! And I, Pinkie, and you, Pinkies, all know that this Morgue will be the answer to our fun!”

“There’s a girl named Appleboom too,” I reminded them.

“Applebloom,” Sweetie Tell reminded me.

The Pinkys didn’t respond. They were too busy breaking out into crazed happiness, jumping around like tiny dogs and screaming ‘FUN’ as they went.

A few Pinkys even started jumping back onto the rooftops so they could be seen celebrating better than the other Pinkys.

When about ten more had the same idea they all started bouncing and dancing on the roof until it collapsed. Big Mac, Tell and I all cringed at the sound of the wood splintering but it all turned out okay as the Pinklers began pouring out the front door in laughter.

“This is crazy,” Swintie Tell breathed.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac agreed.

I was a little worried too but all the Pinkeys seemed to be having fun. I guess if this was an amusement park then that building was probably a funhouse or something.

“Seems like all Pinkies are on deck!” Our Pinkey told them. “Now then. Let the 212th game of Hide and Seek: Morgue edition begiiiin...” She reached to her side and held up a checkered flag with her hoof.

“...NOW!”

She brought down the flag and before it was even close to the ground, all the Pinkies turned into blurs, running out of the marketplace and into every direction possible. The army of Pinkeys was now back to three Pinkeys.

When the three Pink-Es smiled back at us, I furrowed my brow. “Don’t you wanna find Morgue and Applebroom too?”

“Sure we would,” one of them told me. “But we can’t let you wander around without knowing where all the fun is. If you can’t find the fun then you might not have fun! And we can’t just let you not have fun! Where’s the fun in that?!”

Then, out of nowhere, one of the Pink-Es leaned over my shoulder. How’d she get there?

“So what do you guys wanna check out first?” She asked. “We got the Showstopper Stage, the Rubber House, Game Lane. Oh, oh! How’s about the Neighborhood Ball Pit?”

“Let’s save the ball pit for the end,” the other Pink-E, now leaning out from my other shoulder, suggested. “With all the Pinkies that get lost in there, that’s where they’ll look for that party guy first!”

“So, you’ll really be able to find Mike’s brothers and his sister?” I asked, pointing my thumb out towards Big Mac.

“No problemo!” The third Pink-E suddenly looked down at me from atop my head. “With all the Pinkies on the search, if they’re anywhere in the park then we’ll find ‘em. They can’t hide forever, ya know.”

Wow, they all feel so weightless, I noticed. How did they break that roof when they’re so light?

I smiled but before I could thank them my stomach began to rumble. All this excitement and the pile of Pink-Is were doing a great job at distracting me from being hungry but that wouldn’t last long.

All three of the Pink-Is hopped off, giggling as they went. “With that rumbling tummy, I think I know where we should start. Come Pinkies! And guests,” she added. “To Buffet Street!”

“Buffet Street?!” I could feel my mouth start to water. “What do they got?”

“You mean, what don’t they got!” A Pink Flea beamed at me. “Get a Funnel Cake, wash it down with a milkshake, nom on some super-chunker cookie quartets, and in the center of the street? One of our Cooking Pinkie’s filled the fountain with chocolate pudding mix!”

I spun around to the others with stars in my eyes. “You two hear that? Chocolate pudding fountain...”

Big Mac and Swindly Fell shared a look before they both turned back to me with this apologetic look.

“That’s...great and all,” Swindly started. “But we...I...Is it a good idea to stick around that long?”

“Hay yeah it is!” One of the Pink Fleas walked up to them. “I mean, Pinkie Park is the best place to be around here! Why would anypony want to be anywhere else?”

Big Mac said nothing. Instead, he stared at me with a careful expression.

“Mike. We gotta go.”

“Wait, go?” I frowned. “But, chocolate pudding fountain. Do we really have to go now?”

“Yeah~,” a Pinkee hummed. “Do you really?”

This time, Swindle looked at me. “Big Mike, what if Applebloom and your brothers aren’t here?”

“Where else would they be?” I asked.

“Well, that forcefield thing looks like it goes over all of Ponyville and then some.” Swandly pointed at the purple sky. It did seem like it curved back down to the ground. Like a huge, 3D rainbow.

I scratched my jaw as I thought it over. Before Swandly woke up I was calling out for Morgue and Joe. If they were anywhere nearby, they would have probably heard me.

“But...But the chocolate fountain,” I muttered.

This place seemed so nice. Not to mention I was pretty hungry. “Would taking a small break really be that bad?”

“At least a little one?” “Just an insy-tini one. It’ll be fine!” “We can keep looking for you. Just stay and have fun!” “Fun?” “Fun-fun-funily fun!”

The Pinkees were trying to back me up but the two looked unconvinced.

“Please?” I tried one more time, trying to muster the best puppy-dog eyes I could. I knew that I was too old for them but Morgue told me that they still might work out of pity. And pity food tastes just as good as not pity food.

Big Mac’s expression dropped a little and for a moment I thought I had convinced him. He even started walking over towards us.

Then he planted a hand on my shoulder.

“Big Mike,” he started, giving me a sad frown.

I frowned myself. I knew what ‘no’ looked like. “Yeah?” I asked anyway.

“Ya said yer brothers were older before. That right?”

My head leaned back a little. That’s not a no...Where’s this going?

“Yeah? Joe’s nineteen and Morgue’s eighteen. Big Mike’s turning seventeen...sometime,” I trailed off. Actually, I couldn’t remember how long it was until my birthday. Probably because I couldn’t remember what day it was.

“You’re seventeen?” Swaniy asked in shock.

Big Mac ignored her, keeping his attention on me. “Ya worried ‘bout ‘em?”

“About Morgue and Joe?” I smiled and shook my head. “Nah. They’re pretty smart. If they’re lost they probably have tons of ideas on what to do.”

Big Mac’s frown didn’t let up. In fact, he just gave me a slow nod. “That’s mighty fine a’ ya Big Mike. But Ah can’t relate.”

Now it was my turn to frown. “Why not? Isn’t this Appleboom girl smart?”

“Applebloom,” Swanty corrected and I flinched. Oops.

Only now did Big Mac give me a sad smile. “As a tack,” he told me. “Sometimes too smart fer her own good.”

Then the smile dropped back down. “But, Ah’m still gonna worry. It’s what big brothers do.”

I wanted to say something, but I could tell he had more to say.

“It’s good hearin’ ya trust yer kin. Ah trust mine too,” he explained. “But. Mah Granny an’ AB are all the family Ah got near me. That means it’s mah job ta keep ‘em safe.

“If Applebloom ain’t here, Ah need ta check someplace else. So Ah’m checkin’ all a’ Ponyville. Then Ah’ll check the farm.” He took in a breath. “Now, Ah ain’t ever gonna admit it but Ah know Granny can hold ‘er own. Jus’ like ya say yer brothers can.

“Ya seem nice Big Mike. So Ah’m gonna trust ya. But, Ah don’t wanna drag ya about if’n ya don’t want to. So...Can Ah ask fer yer help?” He held out his hand towards me.

“...”

Swenty Trail kept looking back and forth between us but she wasn’t gonna find anything. Big Mac was waiting for an answer and I wasn’t wasting my time thinking.

I looked Big Mac straight in the eyes. “You said you were worried?”

“Eeyup.” He nodded.

I took in a deep breath. Then clasped his hand. “Why didn’t you just say so?”

When he gave me a good long look, I only smiled in return. “When you said you wanted to find your sister, I didn’t think it was because you were worried. I thought it was because neither of us know what was going on.”

I held out my hand again. “If you’re worried, then that’s that. Forget about the food. I’ll eat later.”

Big Mac blinked. “...Yer name.”

“Huh?” It took me a second before my face lit right back up. “Oh, that. Sorry, Big Mike tal—err, I don’t mean to talk like that on purpose. I just don’t think about it,” I finished, putting attention into every word I said.

It was something I fell into a habit of. If I actually paid attention then I could talk normal whenever I wanted to. But I knew I was bigger than everybody else, maybe a little scarier too. Using my name all the time made people think I was goofy instead of scary. So I kept it.

At least, that was the excuse I was going with.

“Hold on.”

I turned around to see the three Pinkees staring us down. Their faces weren’t smiling anymore and they had that same look of annoyance that they had when they mentioned those dragons.

“None of you are staying,” One of them accused.

“You wanna leave?” “You’re leaving fun?” “Why?” They all started to get more and more upset.

“Don’t worry. It’s all okay,” I told them with a smile. “We know that this place is probably way better than anything else. You guys even have a street named after my favorite kind of restaurant.

“But right now, we gotta go find his sister. Because if she’s not here, then she can’t have fun at the park either.”

The ponies eased their frowning faces for a second. “But we already told you that the other Pinkies are looking for them. Our best seekers are on it.” “Our best hiders too!”

“Maybe,” I admitted. “But if Big Mac doesn’t know where his sister is then he won’t have any fun at the park.”

All of their expressions stretched into shock and terror.

“And, if this Babblebloom—” “App-Le-Bloom,” Sweety interrupted.

“Yeah. Either of them,” I added as Sweeny covered her face with her hands. “If Big Mac can find his sister, then his sister can stop having whatever the opposite of fun is.”

The Pinkees fell silent for a moment before the center one pulled the others in for their own private group huddle; impossible to understand the murmuring and whispers that snuck past their meeting.

Every now and then one of them would turn to watch as Big Mac and Sweetie shuffled over next to me as though we had our own meeting.

“Big Mac, did that make any sense to you?” Sweeney asked.

“Eenope.”

When the Pinkees were finished with their team huddle, they broke apart and stood at a line facing us with smiles all around.

“After our completely exclusive fun meeting, we have come to a decision,” The head Pinkie told us. “For reasons of which we are sworn into only the most secretest of secret secrecies, we have decided that for the sake of fun, we’ll let you leave Pinkie Park to help find your family and bring them back!”

I broke out into a huge grin almost as big as the ponies’. “How nice! Thank you so much Pinklys.”

“D’awww, it’s nothing.” “Glad to help.” “For the sake of fun!” They each looked their own version of bashful.

“Did nopony catch that ‘let you’ party?” Sweeney muttered none of us could hear it.

Without much else said, the Pinkiis started bouncing onward, beckoning for us to follow. I gave the others a thumbs up and started walking as they took place behind me.

As we went on, we ran into a handful of Pinkiis, with most of them asking where we were going. The three Pinkiis didn’t even have to explain everything to them. All it took was a smile and a nod and the rest of the Pinkiis waved us goodbye.

After a short walk, and roads coated with confetti and the messy remnants of fun parties’ past, we finally made it to the edge of the amusement park.

Streamers and lines of colorful party flags ran across the buildings and low to the ground as though it was piles of police tape. There was much less trash and decorations around this point too.

And up ahead, the colorful paper and amusement park simply ended. As if there was a solid line that divided this park from everything else. Meanwhile, past the park was a town with weeds growing wild and some dusty looking windows.

“Here we are. The other side.”

The three of us looked behind us and saw that the Pink Flys were keeping their distance.

I furrowed my brow. “You don’t wanna come with us?”

A Pink Fly chortled. “And leave the park? Are you crazy?” The three of them shared a laugh. “We’re good. But thanks for the invite! Have fun!”

They didn’t stay long after that. Instead, they started walking away, waving with their hooves as they did.

Weird, I thought. Can all horses lift their arms that high?

Streamer Belt studied the road past the park. “It looks so...different.”

Big Mac said nothing. Instead, he started walking under the flags and streamers and into the other side.

I gave Streamer a smile and started to walk forward myself. “Big Mac’s right. If his sister’s somewhere over there than that’s an even bigger reason to go. So let’s go then.”

It only took a moment for her to convince herself to come along too. Within a minute or two, the decorations were long out of sight and the only thing we could see of the park was the big tent and the even bigger Ferris wheel looming over this entire town.

Bug Out!

View Online

Shining Armor’s POV
Filthy’s Mansion

...

“Alright. I think that’ll do it.”

Morgue backed up, inspecting my elbows from several angles before he started snickering to himself.

“What now?”

“Nothing, it's just.” He cleared his throat to try stopping his giggle fit. It wasn’t working. “Apologies, rent-a-cop. I didn’t realize the bandages were for kids when I packed them.”

Confused, I tried turning my arms to look at my elbows where I spotted a cartoon fish pattern printed all over the gauze.

“Grow up,” I groaned, lowering my arms back down onto my lap.

After Morgue came back with the first aid kits, he moved us into this office where there were enough seats for everypony. Good thing too. Neither myself or Scootaloo, the girl I met, wanted to try walking down the stairs yet.

The two of us sat in these two comfortable chairs that faced towards the office desk where Morgue had all the first aid supplies. Meanwhile, on the office chair across from us, there was a suit jacket that looked more designed for a human like Morgue. He had been in here earlier.

“Still. Thank you,” I said begrudgingly.

“Hey. It’s like I always say. Hoy por ti, mañana por mi.” His smile grew all the larger as he dusted off his hands and walked towards the side of the room with bookshelves.

I watched him for a second. “What exactly is that supposed to mean?”

“It means today I did something for you, so tomorrow you do something for me. And good heavens, look at the time.” He feigned surprise as he rolled up his sleeve and looked at a watch.

“Looks like mañana’s here early,” he smirked. “So, if you could turn a blind eye to this.”

“To what?”

Instantly, Morgue turned around and pulled out an entire shelf’s worth of books before placing them down on the ground in a neat pile. As he did, a black safe was visible where the books were.

I glared. “How long did you know that was here?”

“Whole time,” he answered. “Did a quick check to see if it was safe for the kid to rest here. Then I noticed this shelf was a whole inch lower than the other shelves. Dead giveaway.”

From her own chair, Scootaloo was gawking at Morgue’s action.

“You can’t just take their stuff. Filthy Rich is a good pony!”

Morgue’s arms locked up as he started chuckling to himself. “You’ve gotta be joking.”

He turned to Scootaloo with that same sly smirk of his. “The snob who owns this place is called ‘Filthy Rich?’ And he’s nice? That irony feel crisp enough to anyone else?”

“It’s the truth,” she persisted. “I mean, Diamond Tiara’s kinda mean but her dad’s pretty cool.”

For a split second, Morgue’s smirk faltered into one of sadness. “Being mean is not something you’re born with, ya know. It’s learned.”

When that moment faded away from Morgue, he turned to look at me. “In all seriousness, weren’t you trying to figure out what’s going on with this town?”

He was right. A minute ago, while Morgue was tending to my elbows, I took the time to explain to them how the magic behind that dome works and how I was the only one who knew that spell. Neither of them probably understood the details of it but that didn’t stop them from listening.

Then, Morgue elaborated on what he saw in the town proper. Or rather, what he didn’t see. For the entire hour or so he was wandering the streets, he didn’t see a single pony.

He admitted that he heard a high pitched scream at some point in the direction of what he described as ‘a festival, complete with a Ferris wheel’ but since he was moving a sleeping Scootaloo, he didn’t want to put her in danger. So he went in the opposite direction and saw this manor in the distance.

Finally, we tried to ask Scootaloo what the last thing she remembered was before falling asleep but she gave us nothing. Apparently, whatever was keeping me from remembering what I did last was affecting Scootaloo as well.

For that matter, Morgue admitted the same as he tried to recall what he did last. The same blurry memories before a total stop.

Unfortunately, the last thing that Scootaloo remembered had nothing to do with this town having a barrier spell, or what happened to Ponyville’s citizens.

Coming back to the present, ahead of Scootaloo and myself was a large window with the curtains pulled open. The owner of this manor probably did that so he could see the town, but for now it let us see the barrier spell trapping us.

Morgue took my deep thinking as his opportunity to remove the shelf from the wall so he had clear reach of the safe. But Scootaloo had enough.

She leapt out of her chair and, with her small, orange wings buzzing to keep her balance, glared at Morgue. “I’m warning you. You better stop messing with his stuff.”

“That’s rich,” Morgue responded, not looking at her. “Coming from the girl still wearing their tiara.”

“Huh?” Scootaloo reached her arms up above her head and when her hands touched the platinum headpiece, she swatted it away and let it clamber to the floor.

“I didn’t know that was on my head.” she argued.

“Sure ya didn’t.” Morgue reached forward and, with a small heave, lifted the safe out from a cubbyhole. “Just like the owner forgot to install this safe,” he said mischievously.

“Put it back,” She demanded. She tried flaring out her wings to look bigger but Morgue only twisted his face into discomfort.

“Could you put those things away? The whole querubín gimmick ya got is getting to me.”

“G-Good. It should,” Scootaloo countered, having no idea whatever that word meant. Except, when neither made a move, Scootaloo’s face just got angrier until she finally burst.

She stomped firmly which, while as a pony might have seemed like a challenge, now made her seem out of her depth. “Put it back.”

“No.” Morgue turned up his nose like a kid, turning his body as if he were hiding the safe from her gaze. “Can’t make me.”

“Can you two please stop,” I tiredly begged. It sounded like I was dealing with two foals. “Morgue, why are you trying to steal from these ponies so bad?”

He gave me a sad smile. “Come on now rent-a-cop. Do you really care what my reason is?”

I took a moment to study him. “I want to know what your reason is.”

Rather than fight me, he gave a mock shrug and started fiddling with the safe’s combo and handle. “Well, answer’s not that exciting. The man’s a snob. That’s it.”

“But he’s not,” Scootaloo argued. “He’s a good pony.”

Morgue paused on the safe for a second, staring at Scootaloo as if she grew a second pair of wings. “Hold. Back up. Have you been referring to this Filthy Rich guy as some sort of...dwarf-horse, this whole time?”

I felt my face twitch. “What’d you just say?”

He flinched. “Oh. Sorry. That came out way more insensitive than I meant. Is the right term little horse?”

My face eased up a little but I was still frowning. “Well, yes, but that's not what I meant. You can’t go around calling everypony a horse either. That’s wrong too.”

“Wait, horse is where the line’s drawn?” He raised an eyebrow.

I glanced over at Scootaloo. She was still angry but I could see an ounce of understanding in her too. It made sense, it was a common mistake for non-ponies.

“In Equestria at least,” I explained. “Earth ponies, pegasi and unicorns are all unique in their own way. We don’t appreciate being called horses. Just use ponies.”

“Huh. What an unexpected PSA.” Morgue blinked. “Still. You’re really sticking to that whole ho— err, pony story?”

I narrowed my eyes but let it go. “Yes. Because it’s the truth.”

Morgue didn’t hover long over that fact. Instead, he shrugged and turned back to the safe.

“I want a straight answer,” I told him.

Even with his back to me I could see the bored expression on Morgue’s face. “If I told you, will you stop trying to play my conscience?”

Well, it doesn’t look like you’re going to listen anyways.

I put my hand over where I thought my heart was. “On my honor as Prince of the Crystal Empire.”

He chortled. “Really? A prince? You know, if you had slimy green skin and a creepy tongue I’d be more inclined to believe you.”

“He’s telling the truth,” Scootaloo vouched. “He’s Prince Shining Armor. I was a flower filly at his wedding!”

I smiled at the trust. I didn’t recognize Scootaloo earlier because she was this ‘human’ creature but after she asked me questions about my own wedding to prove myself, I remembered her too.

Her accusation made Morgue’s laughter silent “...Huh. Fine then.” He dismissed it with a turn of his head. “I’ll take you on your word then, Princy.”

I narrowed my eyes. Great. He respects me even less now.

“It’s as I told you before. I am an Honorable Thief. The leader, actually.” He regrew that sly smirk once again. “We Honorable Thieves steal from the types of people who either don’t deserve or don’t appreciate what they got. A.K.A.? Snobs.”

A regular day Robin Hoof, huh? I rolled my eyes. “And all the other stuff you stole from the houses in town?”

“Hey!” He sounded like a child. “I told you I left money to pay for those. But this ‘Filthy Rich’ snob? He has a mansion, an olympic sized kiddy pool and servant’s quarters. If he has servant’s quarters, he doesn’t need these shiny quarters.”

To further give emphasis, Morgue turned the lock on the safe as far as it would go and smacked the top of it with a fist. The lock turned with an audible click.

Scootaloo’s jaw dropped. “How’d you do that?”

“Impressed?” When Scootaloo gave no answer, Morgue frowned. “Every building in this town was made without so much as window locks. If safety’s not a big ticket issue, I figured the lock was lazy. One good thump on top’s all ya need to open one of these jokes.

“And now, the reveal.” Morgue rubbed his hands together and opened the safe door. Both he and I could see inside of it.

Taped to the inside of the door was a picture of an Earth pony family. Two parents and a child. The father gave a warm smile while the mother seemed distracted and bored. Meanwhile, the little filly was beaming at the camera.

Morgue plucked the picture and held it up for a good, long look. From what I could tell, he was studying every inch of the image carefully.

“Hey. Kid.” Morgue glanced up from the photo.

“The name’s Scootaloo,” she growled.

He didn’t snap back. “If you really are ponies, who lives here? This Filthy’s not a loner, eh? What do they look like?”

That’s when I noticed that Morgue was holding the photo in a way where Scootaloo couldn’t see it. It was a test.

Scootaloo didn’t understand the reason but when she saw me nodding along for her to answer, she did exactly that.

“Filthy Rich is an Earth Pony with a brown coat and black mane,” she described. “I think he’s always wearing the same tie too. Some of my friends think he has a closet full of identical ties.”

Morgue glanced back at the picture, nodding along. She described him spot on. “Okay. What about his three kids?”

“Three?” Scootaloo blinked. “Why do you think he has three? Diamond Tiara’s his only daughter.”

“Oh, really?” He brought the photo up to his face to hide his temporary smirk before it got too obvious. “Oh, you’re right. Lo siento, don’t know where I got three from.”

“It’s a good thing there’s not three,” Scootaloo went on, staring down at the tiara on the floor. “One Diamond Tiara’s already bad enough.”

Morgue glanced at me for a second but I was at a loss too. “How come?”

“She messes with me and two of my friends all the time and never lets us catch a break. It’s more annoying than anything.” Scootaloo crossed her arms, letting her wings rest as she found her balance.

Morgue looked back at the photo. “Know anything about the mom?”

“Huh?” Scootaloo snapped out of her frown and thought it over. “Not really? I’ve never seen her before. Even if I see Tiara or her dad I’ve never seen them with somepony that would look like her mom.”

“...Right,” Morgue mumbled. Then, out of nowhere, his face twisted into realization, then frustration, until finally—

“Urrgh! Well that’s just great!”

He took care to tape the picture back onto the door before closing the safe. He didn’t try to admire the small stacks of platinum bits inside.

“Now I gotta put this thing back, then write the guy an apology...” In his grumbling, Morgue wandered over towards the large window. “I should probably clean his house or something too.”

I don’t know why but the contrast in how Morgue was acting made me smile a little. “That’s all it takes? What happened to the whole ironic name joke you made?”

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up Princy. But you can’t be an Honorable Thief without sticking to the code.” When Morgue reached the window, he set his hands on his hips and stared off into the distance like some pretend hero.

I let out a breath and thought his words over for a moment. It’d be better if you weren’t a thief at all. Nevertheless, it almost sounds like he means well. In his own backwards way.

When he started to actually look out the window rather than stare at it, his attention was pulled downwards toward ground level.

“Uh...Princy?”

I frowned. “I’d prefer it if you didn’t call me that.”

He shook his hand at me lazily. “Uh-huh, whatever. Before, you said there were different kinds of ponies. Are any of them black and shiny with holes in their legs?”

My jaw tightened. Changelings.

“Definitely not.”

When he heard the tone of my voice, he suddenly dipped to the side of the window, laying flat against the heavy curtain that blocked his visage from the window.

“There’s several of them out down there.”

I forced myself to stand, ignoring the stinging pain of my knees, and motioned for Scootaloo to get down; if one of them flew by the window they’d see her. Thankfully, she understood the problem too.

When she was behind one of the chairs, I shuffled as quickly as I could to the opposite side of the window and mimicked how Morgue stood with my back against the curtain.

“Help me close the curtains,” I whispered to him.

“Are you an idiot?” He whispered back. “With a window this big? We close the curtains and they'll spot it from a mile away.”

I rolled my jaw. He was right. Changelings had an eye for detail after all. If one of them noticed the office was visible already then closing the curtains would only paint a target on us.

“What are they doing?” I asked.

Morgue, very slowly, leaned out just enough where he could spy on them.

“They’re just...Sitting around.” He squinted his eyes. “Wait. Here comes another one.”

“Another Changeling?”

“No. This one looks like the ponies from Family Man’s picture. But gray. And. With glasses?”

“Silver Spoon?” Scootaloo thought aloud. We both shushed her and she was silent again.

I observed how Morgue was leaning and, carefully, I did the same to peek out from my side.

Standing outside were five Changelings and a gray coated mare. They were beside the perimeter wall built around the manor but our window was set directly above the wall which allowed us to see them clearly from above.

I noticed the mare holding out a clipboard in front of her with magic. Immediately after I realized it was a unicorn we were staring at. She was speaking to these Changelings as though she were in a board meeting.

Chrysalis? I wondered. No. She wouldn’t meet up with her Changelings. It’d be the other way around.

When the unicorn started manipulating the clipboard’s paper, Morgue leaned back behind the curtain.

“Was. Was that clipboard floating?” He realized just how loud he was and covered his mouth.

When I was sure none of them reacted, I looked at him. “Now do you believe me? That’s magic.”

“Are you serious?” He did a double take and when he confirmed the clipboard, and a pen, were indeed floating and moving around, he turned back to me. “I just thought you were a lunatic with an ice cream cone.”

I gave him a gruff look and we continued watching as the unicorn pointed at one of the Changelings with her hoof. Neither of us could read lips but we saw every action.

In response, the Changeling changed their shape, suddenly standing an entire head and shoulders higher than the other Changelings as it resembled a semi-bipedal canine.

Diamond Dog, I reminded myself.

Morgue, again, fell back behind the curtain, now with wide-eyed shock. He spent a few seconds lightly slapping the sides of his face, pinching himself, and rubbing his eyes as if trying to wake up from a nightmare.

“You okay?” I asked.

“Some demon horse just changed into a hulk dog,” he joked nervously. “How do you think this is okay?”

I gave him an apologetic look and turned back to watch the group. In the time Morgue was freaking out, two other Changelings changed form. One was an Earth pony with a light pink coat and a frizzy pink mane and tail while the other seemed to be a dragon. Not a giant one, thank Celestia, but one that seemed as tall as us.

Morgue flinched at what he was watching but forced himself to keep staring. Every time the unicorn pointed to a Changeling, that’s when they changed. So, as she pointed to the next two, one became a small cardinal and the last changed into a plain goat.

When every Changeling had their disguises, the unicorn said a few more things to them before they all dispersed. Only when they were all gone did the unicorn double check her clipboard papers and calmly walked off.

The moment all of them were out of sight, I stuck my head out further and scanned every inch of the outside that I could see. When I was certain, three times over, that they were all gone, Morgue and I quickly pulled the curtains closed.

“We need to leave,” I announced.

“No! Ya think?” Morgue spat sarcastically. “We were lucky those demon horses didn’t notice us.”

“They’re called Changelings,” I told him.

“Changelings?!” Scootaloo popped out from behind her chair. “What are they doing in Ponyville?!”

“I don’t know,” I admitted.

“What we do know is that staying here just became the worst choice we could make,” Morgue pointed out. “If those demon horses feel safe enough to meet up here then they’ll be back.”

“Morgue.” I put my full attention towards him. “What do you know about Changelings?”

“Only what I just saw,” he said. “If you got answers, I’m ready for ‘em.”

I nodded. “To try and make it as quick as possible: they can change their form to resemble any creature, pony or otherwise, that they’ve seen. They get in close with ponies and drain the love out of them. It’s how they feed.”

Morgue took a few moments to blink, keeping this wide-eyed expression.

“I know that you might not believe me but—” “Si. Estás loco,” he cut in. “But. I got no way else to answer what I just saw, so...succubus-demon horses it is. I’ll believe you. Few more questions though.”

Morgue held up one finger. “First. Leader?”

I nodded. “Queen Chrysalis.”

He held up a second finger. “They violent?”

“Not unless in extreme cases, which...” I trailed off while looking towards the window where the barrier spell is.

“Fair point.” A third finger. “Can they transform into stuff?”

I shook my head. “It’s always been somepony or a creature.”

He nodded along before his fourth finger went up. “Do they read minds?”

I opened my mouth but paused. Is he seri... I dismissed the thought. If he doesn’t know magic then he wouldn’t know otherwise.

“No. Unicorns can’t either.”

He visibly calmed down. “Okay, good. I was gonna freak if they did that. But, last question.” He brought his thumb up. “You have a horn. You tried to do something back in the dining room. Can you actually do magic?”

I looked over to Scootaloo who was shuffling on her feet. “Well, Scootaloo used her wings to keep her balance. If she has Pegasus magic then, with some time, I can use my magic.”

Morgue put his hand down, nodding to himself and taking some deep breaths. “Good. Good. Then...good.”

“Wait, not yet,” Scootaloo jumped in. “Morgue, are you really sure that you didn’t see anypony else?”

He gave her a sad look. “Sorry querubín. Not even in those empty houses.”

We could both see her eyes darting back and forth. She was getting worried. “B-But...” Then a light went off in her head. “Wait. You said there was a festival in town, right?”

“Maybe,” Morgue ceded. “But I wasn’t about to go there when you were unconscious in a wagon.”

“Because you heard something,” I pointed out. “You said you heard a scream?”

Morgue said nothing. He just closed his eyes and slowly realized what I was figuring out.

“That could be my friends,” Scootaloo almost pleaded. “We should go check.”

“No!” Morgue and I chorused. “No way are you going out there now that there’s Changelings buzzing around,” I added.

“But what if it’s somepony I know?” Scootaloo glared at us. “What if somepony’s in trouble?!”

Scootaloo’s words hit Morgue, draining his face of color. “Oh no.”

“What?” I turned to him.

“...” I could see the gears in his head turning.

“Morgue, what are you thinking?”

“...” Morgue slowly started to regret whatever he was thinking.

“You’re not going out there either,” I commanded.

He let out a weak chuckle. “Please, like you can stop me. Your mojo’s outta power, anyhow.”

“All the more reason that we stick together.”

“No way,” he declined. “We go in a big group and we’ll be found out in an instant. Besides, I’m a thief. It’s a skill of mine not to get caught.”

His bravado was slowly building up and my patience seemed smaller because of it. “If we split up then what’s to stop a Changeling from disguising itself as one of us?”

Morgue’s sly smirk came back ten fold. “You kidding? That’s the easiest fix yet. Watch closely.”

Morgue stepped backwards a couple of feet and held up his left arm. Then, methodically, he covered his left eye, knocked on his left shoulder twice, and pointed at us with only two fingers.

“Cover left eye. Knock left shoulder twice. Two-finger point,” he repeated as he did the motions a few times over. “When next we meet, I’m going to do two of them and you have to do whatever the third one is in return. You must use your left arm. Got that? Left. Arm.”

He repeated the motions a few more times until I had them memorized. Scootaloo was confused on the ‘why’ but I understood.

“I’ll keep it memorized,” I assured him. “But Changelings can be very convincing.”

“Which is exactly why, after we leave this room, none of us are to tell any person, pony, or imaginary friend the combo. Not even if you trust them. Comprendes?”

I gave him a hard look. “You’re really doing this?”

“Si. And no stopping me.” His smirk stretched out fuller as he turned back to Scootaloo. “As for you, querubín, what are your friends' names? And, in case they got human-itis, how can I pick them out of a crowd?”

Scootaloo took a second to consider it. “Well, their names are Applebloom and Sweetie Belle. Applebloom has this giant bow she always wears and this funny accent. Don’t tell her I said that last part.”

Morgue chuckled. “No promises. And Sweetie Belle?”

“Well, Sweetie Belle’s voice is a little higher and she has swirly hair. Uh, oh! A-And she was a unicorn before this. So she’ll have a horn like Shining Armor too. Same color too. I think.”

“It’s probably smaller than mine,” I explained to him.

“Giant bow and funny accent. Swirly hair, high voice and a horn. Got it.” Morgue gave her a brave smile. “Finally, is there something that the three of you all know? Like if I told them Scootaloo sent me, what’s a good way to prove it?”

Scootaloo considered it. “I got it. Tell them that I said no tree sap when we go crusading. That should do it.”

“Crusading?” I blinked.

“Not gonna ask about the tree sap?” He gave me a humorous look.

“The three of us are the Cutie Mark Crusaders,” she told us. “Crusading’s what we do to try and find our Cutie Marks.”

“...Nope,” Morgue stated. “Not asking any of those questions,” he told himself.

“That’s more than enough to work on,” he told her. “I’ll take a small stroll around town. In the meantime, you two try and get used to your human problem. When you’re not scared of the stairs anymore, take the cart I got parked outside and hit the road. It’s got supplies.”

“What about meeting back up?” I asked.

Morgue closed his eyes and racked his brain before turning back to Scootaloo. “Querubín? You said you were from this town, yeah? You know about the belltower on the outskirts?”

She nodded. “Yeah. I know how to get there too.”

“Good.” Morgue smiled. “I saw it in the distance when coming here. Take Princy and stash the cart nearby when you get there. I’ll meet you in...two and a half hours. Sound good?”

“What if any of us come across somepony?” I frowned.

“Unless you can test them, as in, ask questions to prove it’s them, don’t linger. Leave me some kind of sign at the belltower and I’ll figure it out. I’ll ditch anyone I don’t trust.”

Morgue pulled his jacket off of the office chair and put it on with flair before heading to the door. “Adios amigos.”

“Wait,” I called out. “You sure you’ll be alright?”

“Come on, Princy.” He settled his smirk on me one last time. “I’m a thief! Sneaking around’s what I’m best at.”

He gave me a wink and closed the door behind him before I could object.

An Uncasual Stroll

View Online

Applebloom’s POV

Dirt Path

...

The way to Sweet Apple Acres felt longer now that I wasn’t a pony. I had already expected this since I wasn't used to walking like this yet but it had already been ten minutes.

The walking stick that Joe had cut down for me was pecking at the dirt less and less now. It was nice that I didn't have to rely on it and had gotten more used to two legs but I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing yet. I ended up keeping the stick with me though. My, what Joe called them, fingers stayed wrapped around it just in case I teetered one way or the other.

As we walked on, Joe stated that we both had questions we wanted to ask. He was right too. We didn’t ask at the school since we had so many that we didn’t know where to start. So he suggested we play a question game where we took turns asking.

With the game, I found out that he was born in one place called ‘Germany’ but raised in ‘America’. I knew a town called Germaney but Joe insisted it wasn’t the same. Then he asked me what Germaney was like.

I asked about a few other things like what his brothers and family were like. And, unlike how he was back at the school, he seemed more than willing to talk about his family; the Frei family.

Then, at some point, his questions turned into asking what Equestria was like. A lot of it was pretty simple stuff though. Who is Princess Celestia? What’s the capital like? Are ponies the only creatures that live here? Weird, simple stuff.

I kept my questions about family but eventually I kept getting more curious. So I started asking about where he was from.

“This America place,” I started my next question. “Does it only got humans there? Or does it have ponies too?”

Joe mulled it over for a second. “To clarify, I’m going to assume that you mean Earth ponies, unicorns, and pegasus ponies.”

I gave a low huff. Every now and again he was obviously trying to avoid making a question by mistake. It didn’t take much to realize he was taking this ‘question game’ a little too serious.

“Then yes,” he said. “America, and also Germany, only has humans. We prefer the word ‘people’ though.”

“People?” I blinked. “Is that, like, a kind of human?”

“I believe it’s my turn to ask a question,” he pointed out. I stuck my tongue out at him. “Out of the three you mentioned, you say you’re an Earth Pony. What’s an Earth Pony known for?” Joe asked.

When I was done making fun of him I told him straight. “Earth Ponies don’t got wings err magic. We’re more cut out fer doin’ heavy liftin’. Granny tells us we got a better green hoof too but Ah think that’s just ‘cause we’re Apples.”

“...I kind of want to test that, actually,” he told me.

“What d’ya mean test it—shoot!” I cut myself off. “A-Ah didn’t mean—”

“Got ya.” He smirked as he used two fingers to adjust his glasses. “That was a question.”

“You. You tricked me!” I kept my voice as angry as I could

“Di...nice try,” he complimented. “I didn’t finish the question, therefore I did not ask it. But to answer your question, yes. I do want to test it.”

He stopped walking and turned towards me, holding out his arm. “Punch.”

“What?” I stared.

“Again. Still my turn.” He pointed to his hand. “Now, ball your fingers together until your hand looks like a hoof, which is called a fist, and punch.”

I moved the walking stick to one hand and used the other to do as Joe asked. Like he said, it was shaped like a hoof again.

I looked back at him and wore a thin line for a mouth. I didn’t move past that.

“...” He looked like he was about to ask something but chose his words. “You’re hesitating.”

“An’ you didn’t ask yet,” I told him.

“I am asking you. Punch,” he repeated.

“In a question,” I ‘asked’ him. “Ya tricked me out a’ my turn.”

He glared. “Are you serious?”

That was all I needed to hear. I smiled innocently. “Why, indeedy Ah am.”

I pulled back my arm and, in a wild flail, drove my fist in his general direction. When Joe realized that it was going to miss his hand and strike into his gut, he moved to catch it.

A loud pap echoed out from the punch and the only thing I felt was the force of my punch come to a halt. Meanwhile, Joe slid back a few inches and immediately regretted this.

“Guh. Good hit,” he complimented, shaking his hand while he held the wrist. He hissed at the pain somewhat but I could tell it hurt him worse than that. But he didn't seem angry or upset towards me.

“Thanks?” I looked down at my fist. I didn’t know much about humans, or people, but I probably didn’t punch as well as I could have. My stance was probably wrong on top of other things.

That’s weird. The more I’m looking at my hand, the more confusing it gets.

My Cutie Marks were on the back of both hands and aside from knowing they were mine, I couldn’t remember a thing about them. Even when Joe asked back at school. Except, now something else about my hands confused me even more.

“Hey Joe.” I waited until his attention was on me. “Can I see your hand?”

“Interesting question,” he said. I flinched, realizing I just lost what I fought to get. “But I’ll humor you. Sure, here.”

He walked over and held out his hand with the inside of it facing up. Curious, I reached over and turned it around so I could see the back of it.

When he saw me staring, his expression softened. “I already told you. I don’t have a Cutie Mark.”

I shook my head. “Not that.”

To prove my point, I held out my own hand so we could compare them. My Cutie Mark, a multi-colored shield with an apple and then heart inside of that, was in the center but with my other hand I pointing at my fingers.

Joe’s fingers had little plastic tips that went about halfway to the first bend of each finger. But the plastic tips on mine reached went beyond that. Weirder yet, the skin on my hands wasn't as rubbery as his skin.

Joe noticed too and, with his other hand, reached forward and knocked where my Cutie Mark was. It was dull, but we could both hear the sound. As though he were knocking on something hard. Like a hoof.

Next, he knocked on his own hand and it sounded almost like knocking on a wet towel; not all that sturdy or solid.

“That’s not normal,” he told me.

“Do ya think it’s ‘cause Ah’m an Earth Pony?”

Joe didn’t say anything else. He drew his hand back and folded his arms behind his back.

I watched my hands for a couple of seconds before eventually just trying to find somewhere else for them to go. I didn’t want to keep looking at them. The thought of my hands was starting to freak me out all over again.

Joe kept thinking to himself, occasionally shaking his head or moving around a little. He looked like he was about to start pacing around.

“That ain’t a normal thing fer people, is it?” I asked.

He paused. “No. The fact that it’s uniform for all your fingers makes it that much harder to understand.”

Joe took a few more seconds to stare at his hands before turning back to me with them folded back behind him. “If it doesn’t hurt then we best not mess with it for now. How much further do you think it is to your home?”

I glanced around us, making note of any kind of landmarks I could find. Now that my eyes were three times higher off the ground it was easier to get my bearings.

“Ah think we’re about halfway,” I said. “So, ‘nother ten minutes maybe?”

His expression fell. “A map would be so useful right now.”

I agreed and we started walking forward again with neither of us really saying anything. Then, after maybe another two minutes, Joe perked up as if he had heard a whistle.

“Ms. Bloom. What is that over there?” He pointed ahead where the trail made a sharp turn left.

I stepped up and after looking through the trees that grew in the crook of the trail was something I had never seen before.

“It looks like a wall,” I told him. “Made outta all sorts a’ wood an’ stuff.”

Joe reached for the camera around his neck and used the lens to get a better look while I copied him. With the lens helping us, we noticed the wall stretched out to cover the entire trail from one edge to the other. There was even a tall platform on the opposite side with two creatures moving around on it.

“Goats,” Joe answered aloud. “Goats at a roadblock.”

I kept messing with the camera lens until I got a better look at them. The horns and yellow eyes definitely lined up with what Granny described goats to look like.

“Goats at a roadblock, with ties and.” Joe paused to look a little closer. “Earpieces?”

“Ear piece? Are they missin’ their ears?” It was hard to tell from this distance.

“No, it’s the device in their...nevermind.” Joe took a second to remove the flash from his camera before taking a picture. Then, when the Polaroid spat out a picture, Joe snatched it and took another shot.

“I’m going to bet by your reaction that this isn’t supposed to be here.”

I shook my head. “Nuh-uh. First time Ah’ve even spotted a goat.” I frowned. “That roadblock ain’t supposed ta be their either. What’s it for?”

“Well, using logic.” Joe took out the second picture and began to wave the two around in the air to help the image form. “Roadblocks are for, well, blocking the road.” I didn't much care for his sarcasm.

Joe went on. “More specifically, they’re meant to stop traffic without first being permitted through. However, I don’t see a door or trail through it. I doubt we’re allowed past.”

“But. But that’s where Sweet Apple Acres is.” I tensed up. “Why’re them goats blockin’ the road?”

Joe started backing up into the treeline and I followed until we were safely hiding behind a giant tree.

“Ms. Bloom,” Joe said. “Does this trail only lead to your farm? I noticed it branched out a few times behind us.”

“No,” I admitted. “It leads ta two more farms ‘fore endin’ at ours. But neither a’ them are owned by goats.”

“Should we trust the goats?” He looked out from behind the tree, observing them.

I didn’t have an answer. I never met a goat before and Equestria wasn’t exactly teeming with them.

Joe settled back behind the tree. “Gonna take your silence as a no.”

“Well, we can jus’ go around ‘em,” I reasoned. “It ain’t like that wall cuts through the woods an’ orchards.”

“Not physically at least.” Joe spent a few seconds focusing on his breathing as he thought to himself. “Ms. Bloom. Is there a large hill nearby? Or a tall tree? Somewhere you could get a lay of the land?”

I thought over the places around us. I remembered this sharp turn in the trail well. Granny mentioned all the time that they did it since our family didn’t want a dirt road cutting straight through the orchard ahead of us. Even though the orchard was still another minute or so if you walked as a pony.

But for myself and the other Crusaders, we didn’t mind it much. This was where we always turned opposite of the path and cut through the trees towards—

I broke out into a grin. “Joe. Remember when Ah told ya Ah had a clubhouse?”

He frowned. “You also said it was further away then your home.”

I bobbed my head side-to-side in a ‘sort of’ manner. “Yeah, but, rate we’re goin’, it’ls gonna be a walk regardless. Besides, we got a small tower at the top with a telescope. You can see the farm an’ some a’ the town from it too.”

Now it was Joe’s turn to bob his head a little. “That would be good. But are you sure the goats haven’t found it yet?”

“Not a worry! It’s on a secluded part a’ the farm. Nowhere near any path either.”

Joe peered back at the goats again but this time he pulled up his camera to zoom in. “Well, let’s hope you’re right. It looks like they have patrols beyond the path.”

Curious, I peeked from my side of the tree and used my own lens. It was as Joe said. A trio of goats had emerged from the treeline and were now loudly bleating at the goats on the checkpoint.

“Is that how they talk?” Joe took another picture and continued watching. Then he chuckled. “Funny.”

“What?” I pulled away from my camera to look at him.

“Goats or not, their body language is more obvious than a person’s. Looks like the tree goats aren’t exactly the best of friends with the checkpoint goats.”

“Really?” I tried looking harder but I couldn’t make out their expressions aside from cross-eyed. And with what ones I could, they didn’t look like they were glaring. “Ah don’ see it.”

“Note how they’re standing. The amount of time they’re looking at each other. Heh. One of them just broke eye contact out of frustration.” As Joe kept watching, for the first time since I had met this people-thing, he looked like he completely understood what was going on.

He smirked. “One of the tree goats is trying to belittle the checkpoint goats. They might be of some sort of higher status. Or at the very least, it considers itself to be,” Joe deducted.

“Uh, Joe?” I cut in. “The clubhouse?”

“Right. Right.” he came back down from his own little world. “Apologies. I know I saw the pictures of ponies back at the schoolhouse but to actually see those goats moving and acting as they are...it’s almost comical.

“But I’ll worry about it later.” Joe let the camera rest and tucked away the third picture in the saddlebag he was carrying. Rumble's saddlebag. “For now, let’s worry about sneaking past them. With the patrol at the checkpoint we should be safe to move quickly.”

He turned back and glanced at the walking stick I had with me. “You think you’re ready to start jogging?”

I took a second to look it over myself. It was still pretty sturdy and if I tripped I could probably use this walking stick to catch myself. Now I'm glad I kept it. “Ah think so.”

“Good.” He nodded. Then, after motioning for me to stay put, he quickly went from the tree we were behind to another one deeper into the forest. “We won’t have to do this the whole way, but follow my lead when I go from tree to tree.”

He glanced at the goats to make sure we were good and gestured for me to rush over. Not wasting any time, I kept my head low and tried to hurry to the next tree for cover.

We quickly fell into a pattern. After I pointed out the direction we needed to move, Joe would rush to the next tree and then I would follow him. Then it was onto the next.

After about half a dozen trees, Joe and I went into a small gallop, or ‘jog’ as Joe called it. After I felt fine enough to keep going without falling down, I took the lead and Joe followed behind me so I could lead him towards the clubhouse.

Whatever those goats were doing near Sweet Apple Acres, I was gonna get to the bottom of it.

Colored Paper

View Online

Applebloom’s POV
Sweet Apple Acre Orchards

...

I used my walking stick to poke and push some of the debris out of our way. When we reached the orchards I immediately noticed the state of all the apple trees around us.

Many of the trees looked like they hadn’t been tended to in a while. Dried up and rotting apples were laying at the base of many trees and the ones hanging from the branches looked off. The yellowing leaves had even began wilting away.

It only made me go faster towards the clubhouse. There were times where we needed to slow down and move from tree to tree, there were goat patrols Joe noticed as we went, but we had made it.

Like I had hoped, the clubhouse was in its own secluded space. Joe couldn’t see any more tracks and neither of us saw or heard the goats anymore. We were safe.

I slowed down to a stop, leaning on the stick as I took a quick breath. The jog wasn’t exhausting, it only took about twelve minutes to get here, but I realized that a human-creature wasn’t anywhere near as good at running as ponies were.

Case in point: Joe.

With heavy breaths and his dragging feet kicking away dead apples, Joe came stumbling up behind me. When he saw that I had stopped walking, he let himself collapse over the nearby tree stump, panting and heaving for air.

“Ya okay?” I asked with a worried brow.

“you...it wasn’t...you’re jogging,” he panted, trying to keep from coughing lightly. “I think you. Being a pony helps.” He took another breath. “You’re stamina.”

I shrugged. “It wasn’t that fast.”

He glared up at me. “You almost sprinted the last third,” he accused. “Jogging is slower than this. Irre Mädchen...”

My worry became a blank stare before I turned back to the large tree ahead of us. This was the one that held the pride and joy of the Cutie Mark Crusaders; our clubhouse.

Despite all of the poorly managed apple trees, possibly dried up too, the clubhouse looked perfectly fine. Not a single nail was out of place.

I let myself relax a little. Seems all clear, I thought.

I craned my neck back and spotted the little watchtower peeking out the top of the tree with a familiar telescope poking through the thin curtains.

Joe noticed what I was staring at and, after he caught his breath, walked up next to me. “A spyglass? That’s even better than a telescope,” he complimented.

I shrugged. “Eh. Ah jus’ call ‘em both telescopes. They do the same thing anyhow.”

“Actually,” Joe began but I cut him off. Sweetie Belle gave that lecture too many times.

“There’s still one thing we need ta do though,” I told him. “We can’t get up without the ramp.”

I pointed up at the green ramp that was currently pulled up thanks to a set of ropes. The ramp is supposed to always be down whenever we weren’t inside. Although, if Scootaloo was here last, she had a habit of leaping off the side of the balcony like a fool. Something about wanting to ‘nail the landing’ or something.

“Is there a way to pull it down from here?” Joe asked but he was already looking for a different answer.

I frowned. “Well, Ah’d buck the tree to try loosenin’ the ropes. Then we’d throw somethin’ at the riggin’. An’ after we remember that none a’ that ever works, we’d eventually call my brother down.”

Joe hummed. “Here’s a thought. Have you tried not raising the ramp?”

I gave him another flat look and he rolled his eyes.

“Right. Aesthetics,” he sassed. “Very well. Guess that means we need to be creative.”

Joe set down the camera and saddlebag on his tree stump before throwing his heavy jacket on top of them. Without it, Joe looked like a human version of Featherweight.

I raised an eyebrow. “What are we doing?”

“Well, my brother is a much better climber than me but since it’s a tree, I should be fine.” Joe walked past me and up to the clubhouse as he stretched his arms. “Is the balcony stable?”

“Pffft. Is it stable,” I repeated sarcastically. “If that balcony can hold up me, mah friends, an’ eleven bags a’ concrete, it’ll hold up anythin’.”

“...” Joe slowly looked over his shoulder at me. “I know I’ll regret this but I have to.” He took a breath. “Why did you have eleven bags of concrete in a treehouse?”

I cringed. “W-Well. We try tons a’ ways ta get our Cutie Marks...tried,” I corrected, remembering my sudden Cutie Mark. “We needed the concrete for an idea Sweetie Belle had.”

Joe squinted his eyes. “For construction working?”

I rolled my jaw. “Nope.”

Joe watched my awkward expression for a few more seconds before turning back to the tree. “Ja. I regret asking.”

Joe started to circle the tree until he found a part where he could climb without the foundation of the clubhouse getting in his way. When he found his path, he took a few steps back and made note of a few of the branches.

Nodding along to himself, Joe hopped in place a couple of times before finally rushing at the tree.

In a matter of seconds, Joe reached the trunk, leapt upwards and wrapped his arms around the lowest branch like a towel.

By the time his first leg wrapped around the tree, he was already reaching for the next branch.

Arm by arm, Joe started pulling himself up until he was sitting on a larger branch catching his breath. For someone who couldn’t run that far, he certainly made it up that tree pretty quick.

“How’d you just do that?” I called out.

“If you grew up around two brothers that love staying in shape, you’d learn a few things too. Like climbing a tree to dig your phone out of an abandoned bird nest for example,” he explained.

“What a thing ta do.” I couldn’t hide my frustration. “Wait. What’s a phone?”

“Not important.” Joe left it at that. As he did, he bent his knees a couple of times to prepare himself.

Then, with a low huff, Joe lunged forward and got far enough to land on the balcony but not before the end of his leg caught the railing. In an instant, his momentum flipped him forward and he crashed with a heavy bang.

I hissed, practically hearing the pain that was radiating from him. “Y’alright? Ya didn’t land on a nail or nothin’ did ya?”

“Fine. I’m fine.” Though it sounded strained, I could see Joe prying himself up on his feet as he fixed his glasses. His face seemed okay but he had to cradle his poor jaw.

I looked over at the saddlebag I was still carrying with me. Looks like that first aid kit was a good idea after all.

I let him spend the next minute slowly making his way back onto two legs as he leaned against the clubhouse itself for support. When he finally reached the ramp’s rigging, he had managed to shake most of it off.

He studied it for a moment, nodding along. “You said you set this up?” I hummed happily. “Efficient. Crude, but efficient,” he made note, finding the right rope without me having to point it out.

I smiled. “Thank you! No pony ever realizes jus’ how much work Ah put into that.”

Joe started pulling the rope as the ramp lowered itself inch by inch towards the ground. By the time it got close enough to reach, I grabbed the lip of the ramp and helped pull it down so Joe could secure it.

I ended up climbing up the ramp on all fours and when I was clear Joe slowly made his way back down to get the rest of his stuff.

Rather than wait for him, I beelined it to the clubhouse door and threw it open as soon as I figured out how to turn the doorknob.

The usual setup was all still there. The podium on the far wall was standing proud with posters and pictures hanging up on the walls. A small table and a few crates were set up along the walls while paper airplanes littered the entire floor. Meanwhile, curtains and small rugs of different designs pulled the room togeth...

Paper airplanes?

I blinked, lightly kicking one of the airplanes that were in front of me. When I opened the door, a few of them caught the breeze and scattered around.

Curious, I bent down and picked one up. All the airplanes were different in one way or another but I could tell they were Scootaloo’s work. For a moment I thought that Scoots was nearby but that hope dashed when I looked closer.

The airplane I was holding, and probably all the others too, had a thin layer of dust across the top of it. They were all old.

I carefully opened up the airplane to look at the inside of the paper itself. There wasn’t anything important written on the page. Only several lines made from different colored pencils.

Then the lines started moving.

I kept my hands as steady as I could to try making sure it wasn’t my eyes tricking me, but the lines kept moving. They were slow and rhythmic at first but begun to pick up speed until they were flailing as if they were caught in a breeze.

By the time they began peeling off from the page and stretching out towards me I had enough. I flung the paper onto the ground and backed away.

The lines continued to slither off the paper with more stemming off of each and every airplane in the room. There were now dozens of multi-colored lines rising to the sky like snakes.

“J-Joe. Joe?” I called out.

I backed up until I was back onto the balcony and Joe was already climbing back up the ramp with his jacket on. When he saw me staring into the clubhouse he looked through the open window and saw the same moving lines.

“What are those?” Joe’s hand stumbled around in a pocket for a moment.

I just shook my head and watched as the lines all continued floating off the airplanes, threading into small orbs of all sorts of colors. As they did, the pencil texture was replaced with a magical aura.

Joe pulled out what looked like a small knife from his pocket but when he noticed what the lines were becoming he let it fall from his grip. It clattered across the balcony.

“Ms. Bloom. What are—” “A-Ah don’t know! Ah picked up an airplane an’ all of a sudden...”

My voice faded from me as the orbs started jittering as if they were about to pop.

“Ms. Bloom, get down!” Joe tried rushing in front of me but he wasn’t fast enough. Without any sound, the orbs popped and those same lines rushed out in every direction. Most of them directly at us.

I flinched, closing my eyes as tight as I could but as the aura struck me, my vision went into a rainbow of hues and my face went warm.

Then, as if those colors were acting as a massive lightbulb, I remembered.

Applebloom’s POV
Sometime in the Past
Inside the CMC Clubhouse

…

The day was taking its time going by and we didn’t have much to show for it. The three of us didn’t have school today but since Sweetie Belle was with her family for the day that meant there wasn’t much Scootaloo and I could agree on.

So rather than spend the day being bored or arguing what cool thing to do next, I wanted to catch up on some homework. Boring as it was, every student had to finish this long winded paper before the end of the week. And it had to be about something you’ve never tried before.

The one time being a Cutie Mark Crusader is a bad thing. Go figure.

So here I was, spilling over the dozens of papers of all the things the CMC tried when finding our special talent. I needed to know what we haven’t tried before.

Although, now that the three of us had our Cutie Marks, these ideas were more like a list of duds.

“Underwater Basket Weaving?” I read aloud with a perplexed look on my face. “Why would anypony think of that?”

“Dunno,” Scootaloo replied distractedly. “You’re the one who came up with it.”

“Am not,” I said sharply.

“What color is it written in?”

“...Red,” I admitted, burying my face into my hoof. We color coded every idea on these lists in either red for me, green for Sweetie, or purple, for Scootaloo. We never had any blue since Scootaloo used it when drawing -_-_-_-_-_-_.

“Well there ya go,” Scootaloo muttered. She then stuck out her tongue as she expertly folded the last few parts of her new paper airplane with her hooves. “And perfecto.”

I raised my eyebrow. “Those better not be from the list. If it is, Sweetie’s gonna let ya have it. An’ Ah’ll be there helpin’ her.”

“Don’t worry, they’re all blank pages. Remember, we stuffed that box full of paper since we never thought we’d get our Cutie Marks.”

I smiled a little. “Yep. Ah ‘member.”

Scootaloo stood up on three hooves and walked over behind the podium before whipping her hoof forward to let the plane fly.

And instantly banked left into the wall.

I doubled over and laughed like a fool while Scootaloo stood at the podium fuming.

“Yeah, yeah, laugh it up,” Scoots spat. “At least I can make an airplane.”

My laughter settled down a little but the smile on my face remained. “Ya sure? Cause judgin’ by all a’ these attempts.” I waved my hoof across the room at every poor wreck of what were once planes. “Ah think you’re pilotin’ license is put out ta pasture.”

She rolled her eyes but I could see a smile warring against her frown. “Have you even tried making a paper airplane before? It’s harder than it looks, ya know.”

“Well, Ah know if Ah did make one it’d probably go farther than any a’— wait, that’s it,” I cried out.

“What’s it?” Scootaloo gave me a look.

“Ah ain’t never tried makin’ paper airplanes before,” I admitted. “So that’s what Ah’ll do. Then Ah can write that silly paper.”

“Hey, you’re right.” Scootaloo’s smile met mine. “And I’ve never raced paper airplanes with anypony before so I can write about that.”

“Yea...wait.” I gave her a bored glance. “Scootaloo, that ain’t what Ms. Cheerilee meant when she gave us that assignment.”

“Then I’ll say I used math or something,” Scootaloo tried to reason. “Like, I dunno, aerodynamics. Yeah.”

I sullenly shook my head. “Well. ‘Least ya got five days till it’s due.”

“Which means I can work on it in four and a half days,” Scootaloo figured. “But whatever. Let’s make a bunch of airplanes and take ‘em up to theeee.” She hung on that last syllable, racking her brain until an idea popped in her head. “The old bell tower! We can throw them from up there.”

I shrugged, wearing a determined smirk. “Makes sense. Not nearly as many walls fer yer airplane ta crash into.”

Scootaloo donned a smirk of her own. “Oh, those are fighting words. You’re on.”

Author's Notes:

As long as we're going down memory lane, I guess I have a small memory of my own. Mostly around these silly QotCs.

This story is based on something I wrote years ago. It's long and riddled with problems but it always ended with something I did called a QotC (Question of the Chapter).

Usually, it was something funny/random that was loosely related to whatever was going on in the story. I did that on older stories I have on FIM and some people seemed to enjoy them.

That's why they're on this story. So, I figured, even if no one wants to comment to them, it's not too big of a deal. They're harmless and I guess, in a way, it keeps me rooted to what this story was, y'know?

In fact, here's the next QotC:

QotC: Have you ever tried making a really good paper airplane? How far did it fly?

I'll be honest, after the short story I threw in here I doubt too many people will want to read all of it. But, why not, right? It's my story too I guess. So whenever I come back to it one day, I can read these too.

That's all I have to say. See you next chapter!

Cheers,
-Zeke

A Loving Memory

View Online

Joe’s POV
Sometime in the Past

…

For over an hour I was glued to this plush airplane seat, taking note of every word the woman across from me said.

The room itself was small with two tiny windows on either side of the room and a soundproof door sealed us off from the rest of the plane.

It was the perfect meeting room. Although, with the questions I was throwing at her, you would think it was an interrogation.

“Joe. We have an entire flight to discuss everything,” She reminded me with a calm smile.

This woman, to keep introductions short, was the Princess of Equestria, Celestia. Although, as I talked to her she was a human being.

She had blond hair that passed over her shoulder and had the height of an amazon. She wore a custom white pantsuit that would seem gaudy had one's attention not settled on the sharp white horn jutting out of her skull.

When she spoke back, I took a moment to realize how I probably looked to her. A human, in the midst of college, was grilling what some would relate to a god for their accounts.

I dismissed the thought and frowned. “Well, I have plenty of questions.”

“All of which I promise will be answered. However, we have at least 7 more hours until we land. And I am prepared to stay here with all of you until I have answered every question.”

I took a deep breath. Despite the Princess wearing that porcelain mask of an expression, I read between the lines. She was concerned. I had acted nothing but tense the moment she joined us on the plane and had started barraging her with questions in a borderline manic desire. She wanted me to calm down for both our sakes.

“What are you truly worried about?” She didn’t lean forward or raise her tone. It was simply her air of character that forced me to respond.

“That all of this is some sort of test,” I admitted. It came out more pointed than I meant for it to be.

“A test.” Her calm almost became dispirited. “How is it that everypony thinks what I ask for are tests?”

“Are you that surprised?” I set my notes aside. “You came to me and my brothers with an invitation to Equestria but said we needed to do something first. A pretty big something, I’ll point out.”

It was inaudible but I saw Celestia open her mouth in an ‘ah’ motion.

“You can rest assured that this is no test.” Her calm demeanor returned. “You have nothing more to prove.” Her tone, however, said differently.

“Nothing more to prove,” I repeated. “But that means we did prove something. What was it? Why?”

Celestia’s mask cracked in a moment of discomfort. “Do you wish me to answer that?”

I said nothing. Instead I picked up my notes yet again and waited.

“Very well,” she ceded, reclaiming her neutral expression. “There may come a time when something opposes Equestria. We would like to call on your help if that happens.”

I frowned. “But you already have the Ele—” “Beyond that,” she said gently. “I know we have our solutions but it is unwise to depend on the first plan to succeed.”

I sat back in my seat. “We’re a backup?”

She nodded. “Yes. If something were to go wrong, it’s wise to have another strategy.”

I glanced down at my notes. “And that’s why you want to bring us to Equestria. Because we have…

…

Joe’s POV
Present Time
Outside the Clubhouse

…

Whatever I was watching, the vivid scene was replaced with the same warping sensation I had last time. Even when I tried thinking back on what I just saw, I remembered everything perfectly up until that last moment.

Then nothing.

Back in the current time, I struggled to regain my footing. After those orbs popped and struck myself and Applebloom, that entire memory took only a second or two to play out. Then it was back to reality.

When I was safe from tumbling over I turned back to Applebloom. She was clutching her head, no doubt from a similar headache to mine, and blinking rapidly.

“Are you alright?” I asked her, ready to catch her if she were to fall.

“Y-Yeah...Ah think so.” When she had herself together, she and I glanced back into the room. The lights and orbs were gone without any trace. All that was left was the pile of discarded paper airplanes.

“But Ah remember now,” she told me.

“Remember what exactly?”

“Them paper planes,” she clarified. “Ah remember that Scoots an’ Ah were messin’ with ‘em before. It felt like that was. Yesterday?”

I thought about my own memory for a moment. It was entirely clear but that feeling of ‘just yesterday’ wasn’t there. In fact, it felt like it was weeks ago.

At the same time, that memory I had back at the schoolhouse, about reading a book, suddenly felt so long ago. Like years, actually.

When comparing that memory to talking to Princess Celestia, the perspective is there, I noticed. Wait a second. Celestia.

“I remember Princess Celestia,” I told her.

“Ya do?” Applebloom asked me. “But, ya said y’ain’t even from Equestria.”

“And I’m not.” I stuck to that.

Except, now that I went from ‘Princess Celestia is the dumbest thing I’ve heard’ to ‘I can now envision what a demi-god looks like’, I had no clue what to believe right now.

“I do remember something else though,” I told her. “She and. And her...” I bit the inside of my cheek. Nope. Still missing some things. “Princess Celestia is the reason that I, and probably my brothers, are in Equestria. She brought us here.”

“Why would she do that?” Applebloom was curious and thankfully not doubtful.

“Not a clue,” I lied. We were apparently a backup plan. But telling that to Applebloom and having no explanation would not help my case.

Why would she believe we are a backup plan, I asked myself. I’m not even twenty years old. My brothers are even younger than me. There’s nothing special about the three of us. If we’re a backup plan for when things go bad...

I stared up at the dome. That and all those goats apparently aren’t normal. Still, how were we supposed to help with that?

Nevermind, I told myself. All that means is that your brothers might be in danger. This girl’s family too.

“Do you have any idea what those orbs were?” I asked Applebloom.

“Aside from magic? No idea,” she admitted. “But when they hit us, that’s when we remembered stuff, yeah?”

“More than likely. Which means we might want to keep an eye out for them. Speaking of which, let’s use that spyglass.”

Suddenly, Bloom’s eyes lit up. “Oh. Oh! Ah jus’ remembered. Ah think we gotta map a’ Ponyville somewhere ‘round here too.”

“Good. You look for that, I’ll set myself up at the watchtower upstairs.”

The two of us then split up to do exactly that. I ran back down the ramp to grab my supplies off the tree stump and headed for the watchtower while Applebloom started searching the inside of the clubhouse.

When I went up a smaller ramp, shuffling through overgrown branches as I crawled, I noticed that the room was even smaller than it seemed on the outside. I had to crouch to avoid hitting my head and it only fit one person.

I sat down cross legged in the room and prepared the space. I opened the curtains from each window just enough to point the spyglass through every direction and laid out some paper and pencils next to me.

“Ah’m comin’ up,” Bloom called from the clubhouse. After a second or two, her head poked out through the branches with leaves and a twig stuck in her hair and bow.

“Ah thought it was a map but really it’s just a doodle Sweetie Belle made. It’s got all the important places on it though.”

She handed me a large piece of paper that had a kid’s crude drawing covering the entire thing. Complete with smiling sun and multi-colored flowers in random places. Several names and words were written and crossed out along the sides too.

The map had a picture of a treehouse, probably the one we were in, at the center. On one side were several houses which made up the town with what looked like a gingerbread house, a carousel, and tower-like building.

There were a few farm houses opposite of the treehouse and a large, dark green blob with ‘Everfree Forest’ written over it. That was about it.

I nodded and set it up beside me. “It’ll do.” Then I offered Bloom a pencil and paper. “Do you think you can write?”

“Uh...Yeah. Ah suppose Ah’ll give it a shot.” She took the pencil from my hand and took a second to figure out what she was supposed to do with it.

Then she stuck it into her mouth.

It took me another minute to tell her that humans do, shockingly, not eat our pencils. So after I got her to hold the pencil with her fingers she seemed ready to go.

Please at least let it be legible, I prayed. Then I looked out the window.

“Okay. To begin,” I called out. “It looks like the center of the dome is directly above your town, Ponyville. It spread in every direction in a perfect circle.”

I started tracking where the dome spread across, looking for landmarks. “Like we already figured, it emcompasses the entirety of the town and probably most if not all of the farms.”

“prob. ably...most. farms…” Applebloom nodded. “Got it.”

“I see that huge forest your friend, Ms. Belle, called Everfree. It looks like the dome cuts into it at some point. Only part of it’s sealed in with us. Miles of it though.”

“miles...of Everfree...”

“Opposite of the town,” I continued. “It looks like there’s a steep mountain. Oddly enough, the mountain’s so tall that the peak is sticking out of the dome. Possibly a way out?”

“mountain equal tall...sticks out dome...Way out, question mark,” Bloom said aloud. “Are ya talkin’ ‘bout Mt. Cragfall?”

“Cragfall?” I glanced back.

“Yep. It’s called that on account a’ how tall an’ pointy it is. Also ‘cause a’ all the avalanches.”

“Charming,” I noted. “Anything else important about it?”

“Well, since all the rocks tumble down, there’s a quarry nearby. Ah think it used ta be a mine at some point?”

“Go ahead and write that down,” I instructed. “Regardless, that looks like everything that’s inside the dome. Finish up your notes.”

“Uh. Roger.” I gave her a few more seconds to finish writing before I started scanning the town. But I quickly realized that this wasn’t going to work.

I don’t know what’s normal about her town and what isn’t. I’m no use here.

I took the spyglass off its stand and turned to her. “Ms. Bloom, go ahead and hand me the pencil. You need to look at the town.”

“Ah don’ think both of us can fit in there,” she told me with a frown.

“Don’t need to. Hold onto the door frame and stand up. You’ll get a better view from there anyways.”

It didn’t take much more convincing than that. After Bloom handed me the notes, I helped keep her from falling as she held onto the wall for support. When she figured she was safe, she stood up straight and started to look around.

“W-Woah.” She instantly began marveling at the sight of everything around her. “Ah didn’t realize the sight from up here was so great! Ah shoulda tried building the watchtower higher.”

“Focus,” I reminded her.

“Oh. Uh. hehehe...Sorry.” She took the spyglass from me with one hand and used it to peer down on Ponyville. Her wonder and smile strained right away. “That ain’t right.”

“I’m going to need more detail than that Ms. Bloom.” I took the pencil and a blank page. “Detail by detail. Start with what’s normal and work from there.”

“Okay.” She nodded. “Well. Side a’ town furthest from us looks fine. That’s where most neighborhoods are set up.”

That was the side with the houses built along the hills. Most of them had thatch rooftops and older architecture but that didn’t seem to surprise Bloom. Still, no change was still worth taking notes on.

“The side a’ town closer ta us is where it gets weird,” she went on. “It’s like there’s a line dividin’ the town. On one side everything’s normal but on the other it’s all done up like a giant party.”

So what I saw wasn’t normal, I realized. “More detail, Ms. Bloom. What exactly?”

“E-Everythin’,” she repeated. “There’s streamers an’ colors all over the place. Ah see a few small tents. Then there’s the big tent an’ the giant pink Ferris Wheel. When’d that even get there?”

I started noting everything, especially the big top and wheel. Structures as big as those are hard to miss. Not to mention, that Ferris Wheel was too large to be part of a travelling fair.

“That’s very good,” I praised. “Still, look closer. Any other details? I’d rather too many than too little.”

Applebloom started listing off everything she could see, even describing how deep into the fair it was set up. Every word of it I wrote down until I practically had a map of the carnival in essay form.

Then she paused and began leaning forwards. I took a second to correct her before she fell and she turned back to face me. ”It’s hard ta tell, but Ah think Ah see ponies movin’ down there.”

She offered the spyglass back to me which I took and looked as carefully as I could. As Applebloom said, there was certainly movement. All of them looked like a uniform color, however.

Pink.

“Why would ponies be hangin’ out at a giant party with Ponyville in a dome?” Applebloom asked herself.

“Why indeed,” I joined in. “I think that’s enough notes about your town for now. Take the notes back, I’m gonna do a sweep of the other places.”

“Right.” Bloom sat back down on the ramp and took the notes back. “Wow. Ya wrote down everything Ah said?”

I set the spyglass back on its stand and turned it towards Mt. Cragfall. “If there’s no room, just use the next page.”

I angled it up towards the top, the only part of it I could see. “Now then, the mountain. To start, it looks like some clouds managed to get stuck inside the dome but most of them are towards the top. There’s movement in the sky as well.”

Applebloom started writing again, falling into a groove. Meanwhile, I only stared at the mountain for a little longer before giving up. It was too far away to get any details and the quarry was hidden behind hills and stray trees.

“Next up, Everfree Forest,” I told her. “The forest looks pretty thick so no hope in seeing what’s below the canopy. However, I think I see some sort of structure deeper in.”

“It’s an abandoned castle,” Bloom informed me. “No pony ever goes near it since the Everfree gets more dangerous the deeper ya go. Just gettin’ ta Zecora’s hut can be a little tricky.”

“Zecora?”

“She’s a zebra that makes all kinds’a remedies an’ potions. Ah help ‘er out every now an’ then.” There was a brief pause before Applebloom spoke again. “Ah wonder if she’s a human right now too..."

I moved the spyglass towards the edge of the Everfree that faces towards us. Right away I could see there were barricades and ramshackled walls up between where the farms started and the forest ended.

“Looks like those goats put more than only one roadblock up,” I explained. “I’m seeing their work walling off the forest.”

“Wait, what?” Her voice was distressed. “Sweet Apple Acres is built near the forest. What’s it look like?”

“Patience Ms. Bloom, we’ll get—” “Just check it now.”

I sighed. Fine, I thought. Besides, it’s too far away to count the goats anyways. The barricades are all I’m going to see.

Rather than move to the next window, I just handed the spyglass back to Applebloom who was already standing back up. Within seconds, she was balanced and looking in the direction of her farm.

“Ah hope whatever them goats are doin’ they haven’t messed wit’ the—" Applebloom’s face didn’t fall exactly. It was more like all her determination got blindsided and she had no clue how to respond.

“What the hay?” She asked herself.

“Don’t leave me guessing here,” I said half-heartedly.

“The goats are there,” she began. “An’, they’re all wanderin’ around like they own the place. But that’s not all. There’s. Th-This huge, eye-sore of a statue?”

“Statue?” Now I was getting curious. “Of a goat or something abstract?”

She shook her head and handed the spyglass back to me. Though she refused to look away. “Neither. It’s somepony Ah’ve never seen before.”

I set the spyglass on its tripod and started looking around. As Bloom said, the goats were going about their day. Some of them locking horns like typical goats do, I think, while others were stripping apart carts and organizing lumber. Probably for more barricades.

In the center of it all was a large blue figure with bull horns and a black tie around his tree trunk of a neck. He was talking to about seven goats that all surrounded him.

Minotaur, I guessed. If ever something resembled a minotaur it would be that thing.

Behind him was a stone square base that had to be 20x20 or so in feet. Then, standing atop it was the stone statue of a pony that Applebloom saw.

It stood on three legs with its mane and tail tied up in equal fashion. It had its eyes closed and its head bowed down in sadness with what looked like a cowboy stetson pressed up against its chest.

Finally, chiseled along the front of the base were three words:

In Loving Memory

Okay, New Plan

View Online

Applebloom’s POV
CMC Clubhouse

…

“Whad’ya mean we ain’t goin’ ta Sweet Apple Acres?!”

Joe didn’t turn away from the telescope. “I’m sorry. What part of that is unclear?”

“How’s about the part where we agreed ta check with the farm in the first place?!” I shouted.

Joe was silent while I sat here, boiling over in a fit of rage. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was resting on the ramp outside the watchtower I would already be halfway to the farm by now.

Meanwhile, Joe never dared to tear his eye away from the telescope. He continued taking notes on everything he saw with his other hand. He didn’t bother getting angry.

“I agreed to help you get to your farm because we thought that was a safe place to go,” he explained. “Judging by your tone, I’d say we both understand whatever’s going on at that farm isn’t normal. Am I wrong?”

“Th-That’s not.” I could feel my teeth grinding on themselves. “Them goats are exactly why we need ta hurry down there!”

“No. It isn’t.”

He leaned forward and was now carefully studying something. His calm demeanor only made me that much more infuriated. “We know nothing about those goats except that they’ve obviously had control of that farm for a while now. They’re secure.”

“So what if they’re—” “So,” Joe replied mockingly. “We are composed of a girl who I can hardly call a tween and a college student with the density of a stick. What are we to do against a legion of goats led by a Minotaur with militaristic defenses set up in every direction?”

I could feel my face begin to turn as red as my hair. “Mah family might be down there!”

“And if they are, they are well protected. Be sure of that.” He turned the telescope to look towards the edge of the farm where the Everfree met the east orchard.

“Ms. Bloom, the situation has officially changed. We thought we were only dealing with a purple dome in the sky. We aren’t. We’re trapped here with a legion of goats defending that stronghold of a farm they’ve settled in.”

“Defendin’ it?” I stared at him. “It don’t belong ta them!”

“So you’ve expressed.” He rolled his eyes, still stuck to that telescope. “Ownership doesn’t matter. We have no idea what they’re defending it from. It could be Ponyville. It could be your family trying to take it back. It might be something worse than goats.”

“So, what? Ya want us ta jus’ do nothin’ an’ sit here watchin’ ‘em?” I crossed my arms with a scowl.

“I never said that,” Joe told me. He sounded less than calm for a second.

Good, I thought.

“Well, it sure sounds like it. Or am Ah wrong?” I bit back.

“Careful. Those are my words you’re using.” He didn’t sound any less calm but he finally lowered the telescope to look at me. “I use them to prove a point. Not to challenge people.”

“Doesn’t mean Ah’m wro—” “Actually. You are,” Joe chomped back, keeping the attitude. “You think I want to sit here in a cramped tower and spy on a bunch of goats like an obsessed neighbor? No. I would much rather be anywhere else.”

“But ya said that we ain’t goin’ ta the farm.” I tensed my glare.

“And I meant it. We. Are not.” He stressed the one word in a way where a chill ran down my spine. “I am not going anywhere near that farm. You, on the other hand, are a master of your own fate.”

Wherever my train of thought was trying to lead me, it was long down the track now. All my anger had left with it too. Now I just felt singled out.

“Ya ain’t even gonna help me?”

Joe took a moment to take a breath and shake off his frustration. “What do you want me to say Ms. Bloom? That I’ll be happy to help? That I’ll gladly run down and help you take on dozens of goats? For a family that may or may not actually be down there right now?”

“You don’t know that,” I called him out.

“And you do?” He narrowed his eyes. I refused to admit that he was right so I gave out a huff and left it at that.

“You were not there. You woke up at a schoolhouse. Thirty minutes away,” he pointed out. “You also said you remembered making those paper airplanes recently but they’re coated in dust.”

I thought over what he said for a moment. “You think that means my family woke up somewhere else.” I didn’t ask a question. I knew that’s what he thought.

“What makes more sense?” He asked."That we are the only two to wake up in some random area with no memory of why? Or that we are not?”

I had no answer for that. Joe knew that too. So rather than admit it, I stood up and looked out at my family’s farm from above the leaves and branches.

“So that’s a ‘no’ on helpin’ me out?”

Joe didn’t speak right away. He actually had to think it over. “Would your family want you to risk running into trouble without knowing for sure that they’re in trouble to begin with?”

I slumped a little. “They wouldn’t want me gettin’ inta trouble even if Ah knew they were stuck in it.”

“Then I’m going to respect that,” he told me. “That said, I physically cannot stop you. If you actually meant to punch me earlier, I’d still be eating dirt right now. If you think you need to charge into your farm, go ahead. I would do the same thing.”

“Wait. Ya would?” I blinked.

“Of course,” he scoffed. “If I had a good reason to think my brother was down there, I would be the idiot here,” he admitted. “I won’t blame you if you go now. But I won’t help you either. Not yet.

“Think about that.” Those last three words he said pointedly. As if it were supposed to mean something.

And with that, he turned back and returned to the telescope.

“Yer sayin’ it’s my choice?” I waited for him to answer but Joe didn’t talk anymore.

I’m guessing that’s a yes.

I stood on that ramp and started staring towards my farm. As a pony it wouldn’t take five minutes to get to my house. As a human it’d probably be ten minutes if I ran to it.

Except now there were goats crawling all over the place like ants. Hay, from this far out they even looked like ants to me. But that blue Minotaur? He was so big I could see him pointing with his arms even without the telescope.

Then there was that giant statue. It was parked right in front of our house, keeping me from seeing it. When I tried to lean one way or the other to get a better view, all I could see was the corners of our roof poking out from behind.

Finally, I looked back at Joe. He was taking more notes like he didn’t just tell me I could run off on my own. Did he even care if I went down there or not?

‘I would do the same thing.’ That’s what he told me. But then he also said ‘I would be the idiot here’ if he did.

I blinked. Wait a second. Did he call me an idiot? I started burning a hole into the side of his head but what good would it do? He already pointed out every reason why running down there wasn’t a good plan.

‘Think about that.’ He said it as if that was supposed to mean something. Think about what? Why it ain’t a good idea? You made it loud and clear already.

Then I remembered what he said before that. ‘Not yet.’ Why not yet? Does he want to be sure that my family’s down there?

No. That wouldn’t be it, I realized. Again, he said that if his brother was down there then he’d be the idiot. So that means I’d still be an idiot even if Granny and Big Mac was down there.

“...This is some sorta riddle err somethin’. Ain’t it?” I tried to ask.

Joe, again, said nothing. But in the most obvious way, he rolled his head around before looking back to the telescope.

I wore a flat look. Wow. He really goes all in when it comes to making a point, doesn’t he?

I took a slow breath and let it out. “Fine then. Ah’ll figure it out on mah own.”

Without another word from either of us, I climbed down the ramp and let him be.

Joe’s POV
Watchtower

…

I rubbed my eye and adjusted my glasses before checking my watch. 6:15. It had been two hours and 48 minutes since I first checked it at that schoolhouse and eighteen minutes since Bloom had walked away.

Even though it was past six o’clock, the sun hadn’t moved at all. It would have been alarming to me had I not remembered who Princess Celestia was. Although, all I understood was that she had something to do with the sun. So the still sun was a little creepy.

Before I stopped getting distracted, I did a sweep of the orchard between this treehouse and the farm. There was no sign of Bloom passing by. I didn’t see any changes from the goats’ activity either.

Before I wasted my time thinking about it I took a breath. What would you even do if she ran in? Go after her? Waste of time, I scolded. If she left, she’s on her own. That’s what she decided.

As I told myself that, something at the farm made me refocus my efforts. The minotaur I kept tabs on suddenly stopped talking to the goats around him and put his hand up against his ear. Then, his expression became something between surprised and angry.

He began pacing back and forth, talking while his hand stayed up against his ear.

Earpiece, I recognized. I couldn’t tell with the spyglass before but he had to be using one. Which meant that he had constant communication with the goats that had ones as well.

After he was done pacing, I saw him tap the side of his head he had the earpiece in and he spoke again. But this time I could hear it.

“Attention!” A voice echoed after a mechanical screech. It had to be from the speakers I spotted around the farmyard. “It seems we have an intruder southwards! Round up and form your search parties and double the patrols! Let them know when they start intruding, we start pursuing!”

Even with the speakers, it was hard to hear him from this distance unless you were listening. But from what part of that I caught, I knew that staying here wasn’t an option.

I glanced over at my notes. I had pages of information about their stronghold and their habits. Some of it was probably useless but I could skim through it later. I tucked them and the spyglass both into my bag and threw it over my shoulder.

Letting my legs stretch for a second, I carefully climbed down the ramp and sharply turned the corner towards the clubhouse’s door. There was some useful stuff that I was interested in grabbing while I still. Had…

“Huh? Oh hey,” Applebloom greeted me. “Ah was startin’ ta think you’d never climb down from there.”

“You’re...Still here,” I noted, admittedly a little surprised.

“Well, y-yeah,” she mumbled. “Ah took some time ta think over what you were sayin’. And.” I could tell she was chewing down some sort of pride. “You were right.”

Naturally, I thought but buried that for now. “So you’re not going after all then?” So what intruder did the goats find?

She shook her head. “No. If Ah get caught tryin’ ta help out, then Ah’ll just get in the way. Or even worse, nopony might know if mah family’s even trapped ta begin with.”

Good, I thought. It sounds like she thought past what I told her. “Then what do you plan on doing next?”

“Well, I’m trying to write out this note.” She pointed down at the paper she had in front of her. I took the chance to enter the clubhouse and look for myself. “Ah figured that if Scootaloo or Sweetie Belle’s in the same boat as us, maybe Ah should let ‘em know Ah’m alright. Plus let ‘em know about Sweet Apple Acres. Only…”

I tried to read her note from the side but there wasn’t much to read. She had maybe two sentences and judging by the small stack of crumbled paper, she had been at this for a while.

“You don’t know how to hold the pencil right,” I pointed out.

She sighed. “Yeah. With what we were doin’ earlier, it was only a word err two at a time. An’ as long as Ah could remember what Ah meant ta write it didn’t matter. But my writing’s always been sloppy. Even before the hands.”

She really wants to make sure they get the message. I tried to think it over for a second. Actually, a note might be the right idea.

“Let me help you write it then,” I offered. “Besides, I want to leave a message for my brothers. In case they find this place too.”

It was also possible that they might be with her friends and anyone else from this town. It’s a stretch but it won’t hurt to write my note anyways. Not the way I’ll write it anyways.

“Yeah, that’d be a great help actually,” she told me, taking out a new paper and sliding it over to me. “Thanks. Really.”

“It’s no problem.” I told her.

It only took a minute for me to write whatever she said. Towards the end, I wrote my own small message asking that this paper be brought to my brothers if someone else gets this before I wrote my message on the back.

“Woah. What’s any a that s’pposed ta mean?” Bloom asked, unable to read any of it.

Perfect, I cheered. I was hoping she couldn’t. “Remember how I said I was born in Germany? Well, this is German. Both of my brothers know it so I’m hoping only they can read it.”

When I finished my note I wrote ‘Sold 1’ at the top in English. Again, my brothers were the only ones who are meant to know what it meant.

With the letters finished, Applebloom had us pin it to the front of the podium that was inside the clubhouse so that anyone coming inside would see it right away.

“Good call,” I told her. “Now we need to get ready to go right away.”

“How’s come?”

I quickly filled her in on the minotaur’s message about intruders but to my pleasant surprise, Applebloom didn’t immediately jump at the idea that it was her family. In fact, she was quick to realize exactly the kind of danger we were in.

So we got to work snatching a few supplies from her clubhouse. The lantern hanging from the roof, two decent enough blankets, some rope, a hammer and nails, and finally a small pack of sealed food bars.

Whether the food was still edible would have to be figured out later. We had already spent too much time with the letters and supplies.

So we snuck down the ramp and, when we were sure the coast was clear, we started going as far away from the clubhouse and Bloom’s farm as we could. Bloom and I both headed out in the same direction, quickly coming up with an idea of what we should do next.

Don't Let the Door Hit You

View Online

Sweetie Belle’s POV
Ponyville Residential
Hour After Leaving Pinkie Park

…

To my left was Carrot Top’s house; my neighbor. She was an Earth Pony that had a huge vegetable garden that made up most of her backyard and wrapped around the side yard as well.

That garden had so much care put into it. Partly due to Carrot Top making a living off of selling the crops but it was mostly because it was Carrot Top’s favorite thing to do. Except now that garden was ruined.

Weeds and overgrowth covered up what vegetables were still there with a few holes where something dug its way out from underground. It looked as if nopony had tended to that garden for months and the rest of Carrot Top’s yard wasn’t fairing any better.

Then, I turned to my right where our other neighbor Light Breeze lived. He was a pegasus pony that made all these beautiful pinwheels.

Like Carrot Top’s garden, those pinwheels were always taken care of. Although, out of all the pinwheels he had set up around his house, a third of them had now fallen over. Even a few behind the windows were knocked down.

He would never let those things fall over. Sometimes, whenever he was out of town, he’d pay me chore-money to housesit. Not for his pet bird; Squabbles was dropped off at a friend’s house. It’d be to water his plants and, you guessed it, keep those pinwheels standing.

Finally, I looked at the house directly ahead of me. My house. Or, well, my and my parent’s house. I stayed here more than anypony else though. When I was old enough to take care of myself, Mom and Dad started going on their trips.

When the three of us left that amusement park we wandered around, trying to find anypony to tell us what was going on. But the rest of Ponyville looked like the three houses in front of us. Empty.

Eventually, I realized that we were close to my house and I asked Big Mac and Mike if we could stop by. Even if my parents weren’t here I figured I could grab some of my things.

“Do you guys wanna come in?” I asked, turning around to Big Mike and Big Mac. “It’ll only take a few minutes.”

“That’s really nice.” Big Mike beamed. “But. Big Mike’s gonna stay out here to keep an eye out.”

Big Mac nodded along.

“We won’t go anywhere,” Big Mike promised. “If you need anything just call.”

“Eeyup,” Big Mac agreed.

I gave them a small smile and quickly started up towards the entrance. I didn’t bother looking in the windows as I passed. Mom and Dad were probably out of town.

Which means if that dome is sealing off Ponyville, they might be trapped outside, I thought. For how long though?

I wrapped my fingers around the handle on the front door and it opened without an issue. Greeting me on the other was a ransacked house, cleared of almost everything but the large furniture.

The living room, for starters, looked entirely ripped to shreds. The sofas were flipped and torn apart with any small furniture like lamps or end tables missing altogether.

The rug had been cut apart like some wild animal had been here and the walls didn’t fare much better. In fact, everything was missing from the walls too.

Well, almost everything. The only stuff left entirely untouched was all of Dad’s...unique sports collectables.

The stained jerseys I guess I understand, I remembered thinking once. But only Dad would ever think to keep a jar of plastic hoofball tees.

Without giving it much thought, I silently entered the house and acknowledged the carnage as I walked over to the stairs. Even all of our pictures were missing. The nails were bent like they had been pulled and torn off the walls.

As I went up the first few steps I ended up leaning on the railing for support. Not too many houses had these but I was glad Mom liked them so much. She thought it pulled the room together but now it was finally getting some use.

But with my hands moving across the rail I noticed one last thing. Those same claw marks that were all over the carpet were on the stairs and rail. Even though the rail was metal the marks were obvious.

Most of them lead down the stairs... I realized that there was more than one set of marks. That or something just liked clawing our stairs.

When I made it to the top, I peeked my head around the side. All of the doors upstairs were left open. None of us ever left them open.

Even weirder than that was my door. Normally I would have artwork that Mom and Dad let me hang on the door but it was all gone too.

I was confused. My parents were the ones who encouraged me to hang my pictures in the first place. As far as I remember, I only ever took them down to replace one with a newer picture.

As far as I remember. I frowned. Something about my pictures made sense to me. Like my Cutie Mark. As if something was supposed to be obvious.

There was a dull thud. Then, the crashing of glass rang out as though something shattered.

I could feel my muscles tense. That sound came from my room. But rather than be worried or concerned, I was only more confused.

What in my room has glass? I asked myself. I began walking over at as quick a pace as I could on two legs. I have a vanity mirror on my dresser but it would be louder than that. I think.

“Spot!” A heavy voice called out from downstairs making me freeze. “Careful! We break anything, then Madame Rarity will never stop whining!”

Madame who now?

I glanced back at the staircase for a moment. That wasn’t Big Mike’s voice. Who said that?

“Do you think I don’t know that?!” A grating, high-pitched voice cried out from the direction of my room. I flinched back towards my door and, curiosity driving me, approached the door to look inside.

The voice beat me to it. When I reached my door, this short, Spike-sized, animal stuck its wrinkled, hairy face outside my door. It couldn’t have been three feet away as I was left staring at its buggy yellow eyes and exposed lower teeth.

“It was an ugly drawing anyways!” It shouted, realizing a moment too late that it was screaming directly into my face as it held one of my ‘ugly drawings’ in its mangled claws.

We both shared a moment of silence before its ears folded back and its big eyes somehow widened further.

“What are—”

That’s all it managed to shout before he started screaming even louder.

Big Mike’s POV

…

YEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAGHHHH!

Big Mike and I turned to the house in terror as a high-pitched wail echoed through every orifice of the house.

“Sweetie Belle!” Mac cried.

Both of us rushed the door in a full sprint. As we got close, we spotted a large something looming inside.

“Spuh—SPOT?!” It cried out. The werewolf-looking monster reached for the half opened door with claws bigger than my head and slammed it shut.

“There’s something outside!” “Com-GAH! Quick! NOW!” “Big Mac! HELP!”

The last voice was from Sweetener. She sounded deeper inside the house than the entrance.

I reached the door first and leaned into a charge, slamming it shoulder-first. The door and frame buckled but the lock held firm. I could tell there was something up against the door.

“They’re trying to get in!” “They’re already—GAHK!” The voices kept shouting inside.

I stepped back so I could charge the entrance again but Big Mac took his turn.

He leapt forward like a ragdoll, crashing through the door head and hands first. The door was reduced to chunks and wood chips.

But Mac’s momentum worked against him. After he flew past the entrance, he landed hard on the floor with those same wood chips cutting up his hands and face.

I didn’t have time to check on him as I ran inside and stood over him. The werewolf thing leapt up off the ground with a growl. Mac’s tackle must’ve hit it too.

When it saw me still standing it readied itself to pounce as it held out its claws, brandishing the nails like rusty knives.

I looked for something in reach of me. The frame was still loosely hanging from the wall, there was one or two bent nails nearby, the shelf beside the door had a glass jar full of—

Glass jar!

The werewolf skulked forward a few steps while I threw my hands out for the jar. When I had a grip on it, I swung right as the werewolf lunged.

Glass met jaw and both of them seemed to shatter as the werewolf made contact with me. The claws didn’t sink into my shoulders that deep but the strength in his pounce propelled both of us out of the house in a tumble.

Big Mac’s POV

…

Behind me, Mike and the dog-looking creature slammed into the yard behind me.

I shook these hands to get as many splinters out of them as I could before forcing myself back onto two legs.

By the time I turned around I saw Big Mike trying desperately to hold the dog’s arms still while it tried frantically to break free.

I frowned. “Mi—” “THAT’S IT!” Before I could call out to Mike, that screaming voice from before was less scared and more furious.

There was a Bam and I could hear Sweetie Belle let out a sharp scream. Chasing that sound, Big Mike cried out as the dog clawed across his arm.

I could see the stairs near me. I heard Sweetie’s voice come from up there.

“Mike! Ya good?!” I yelled.

Hanging from the entrance was a piece of door frame. Without thinking, I grabbed it with these hands and pulled as hard as I could.

It tore loose like a piece of paper and I suddenly had a club the size of a yard stick.

“F-FINE!” Mike shouted. The meekness he usually had nonexistent as the giant dog tried to yank himself away from Big Mike.

Above me I could hear running before a door slammed shut. That same angry voice let out a hideous growl and I began to hear wood breaking apart.

Meanwhile, the dog tried once more to break free of Big Mike’s grip. When it only got a single claw free, it scratched Big Mike in the gut.

Mike let out a howl of pain as I spotted red both on his arm and underneath his shirt.

I gritted my teeth. “Mike—” “HELP HER!” He roared, catching the dog’s free claw in a deathgrip. Then, after pulling both arms to the side, he drove a headbutt into the dog’s jaw.

Both of them started rolling for control of the fight as I followed Mike’s order and made for the stairs.

Sweetie’s POV

…

I leaned against the door of my parent’s bedroom feeling every attack that freaky animal made to break down the door.

Thank Celestia it’s too angry to see the doorknob!

My eyes darted around the room. Like everywhere else, it was ransacked. The bed’s blankets and pillows were missing while the dresser was ripped apart. Pieces of clothing littered the room.

I ran to the middle of the room and frantically looked for somewhere to hide. The closets never had doors and the bathroom’s was missing. All of Mom’s stuff was gone while Dad’s stuff looked searched but still there.

Dad’s stuff! His closet!

I turned to his closet and like I hoped, all of his clothes littered the floor.

Perfect!

I nearly jumped onto the floor and used my hands to pull every piece of fabric into a huge pile to hide myself as best as I could while still trying to keep a space facing the door to look out of.

The entire time, that animal kept clawing at the door until finally I watched the doorknob break off and roll into the room. A large chunk of door was then ripped off and tossed onto the floor.

The animal jumped through the door’s hole, panting and growling. It didn’t bother hiding it's rage as it stood on all fours.

Then, it’s last growl turned into an all out scream as it’s head whipped around frantically.

“Come out,” it growled. “I know you’re in here! And! You’ve gotta be riiiight—”

It lunged for the bed first, its ugly claws hoisting it underneath the bed as it barked furiously.

I glanced over to the door. It was faster than me and the door was useless anyways. I couldn’t trap him in here or run fast enough to reach a different room.

I was about to consider the window before I spotted something. Peeking through the door’s hole was a figure larger than the animal or even me.

From the center of my parent’s mattress, the animal tore through it like a cake and its head and arms erupted out of the top. The figure stepped back from the door.

“Where are you?!” It demanded. “Don’t waste my time! Madame Rarity will lose it if we—”

The animal cut itself off and stuck its nose up into the air and sniffed in a craze. Only after it crawled out from inside the mattress did it stop.

It looked directly at me.

Oh no.

It snarled, hopping off the bed and readying itself to pounce. “Yes. Found you!”

The remainder of the door exploded as the largest piece narrowly flew over the short creature. Before the debris could come to a rest, Big Mac rushed in with a crude wooden beam in his hands.

The animal instantly changed gears, now entirely horrified as Big Mac brought forward the beam—

Big Mike’s POV

…

The werewolf broke free of my grip and slammed me into the ground, knocking the wind out of me.

It paused for an instant, considering whether or not to claw me or try running again.

The instant faded and it rose up a heavy claw only for a heavy crash to make both of us turn.

Falling out of a second-story window was a brown thing that was the same shape as the werewolf I was fighting but smaller. It hit the ground the same time glass clinked against the dirt.

“Shp’t?!” The werewolf tried to call out but his jaw was too mangled. Probably more so when I took the chance to slam my fist into the side of its head.

When it sprawled out on the ground beside me, I rolled away and got back on my feet. The werewolf had drawn blood from its claws but it looked worse than it was. Besides, he was doing much worse than I was.

The smaller werewolf crawled up to four legs, looking like a dog. Apparently the fall from that window didn’t hurt him as bad as I thought it would.

“Run,” it wheezed.

“Buh.” The bigger werewolf tried talking as it held its jaw tight with a claw. “Mada’ ‘Ah’ity shaid—”

“Forget that! RUN!” The smaller one didn’t wait for an answer.

It took off like a dog towards the next house over before leaping into a larger hole from inside the garden.

When I was sure it wasn’t coming back, I turned and stared down the dazed werewolf still standing.

It started running for the garden like a gorilla while I chased after it full force.

As we both reached the garden he dove for the hole and I did the same. Only, as it vanished I reached down and was met with a geyser of dirt sealing the hole back up in a mound.

I started kicking the mound a few times. Not trying to muscle through it. I only wanted to make sure that those werewolves got my message.

“And stay out!” I ordered. That was the message.

“Big Mike!”

I turned around and, looking out the broken window, was Sweeter Mell and Big Mac. They looked worried.

“Are you okay?!” Sweeter asked.

I put on my best smile and tried to chuckle as well as I could. “Yep.” I held out a thumb’s up and drew a sharp breath.

So I turned my thumb sideways. “Okay, maybe only a little ‘yep’.”

“Get inside, before they come back,” she warned with Big Mac nodding along.

I shrugged, trying to ignore the stinging. “Alright then. But it’s fine. Big Mike’s still okay,” I said very convincingly. Then I started walking around the house towards the front door.

The second that I was out of view from the window I started limping to save my sprained ankle.

Let's Catch a Ride

View Online

Big Mac’s POV
Sweetie Belle’s House

…

Big Mike bit into his lip for the fourth time as Sweetie stood in front of him, pulling a piece of cloth tight against another claw mark on his arm.

“...over...under…” Sweetie muttered as she kept trying to tie a knot with the cloth. “...over again...sideways...There!”

She took a step back to admire her handiwork while I did the same from the opposite side of the kitchen. Big Mike, to his credit, managed to keep Sweetie Belle from seeing him flinch or cringe whenever she pulled at the wounds but I saw every reaction.

After those dog-things were gone, Sweetie Belle tried thanking Big Mike and me as best she could. Since I didn’t get hurt, aside from a few splinters, Sweetie gave me a mug to drink tap water with.

Meanwhile, Big Mike took a second to study the ‘bandages’ that covered his arms. As he tried to roll his shoulder one of the tied cloths came loose while he tried as hard as he could not to look in pain.

With his best smile, he held up a thumb. “Big Mike feels better already. Thanks!”

I hid my smile behind the mug of water. All that fury I saw from him had left the same time those dogs did. The tough guy act I respected too but it was so obvious from my view.

“Sorry that we don’t have any actual bandages.” Sweetie’s eyes lingered over to a cabinet just in time to miss seeing Big Mike adjust one of the rags before it slid off his arm.

“Nah, it’s okay,” Big Mike assured. “The werewolf cuts just look bad. Besides, Big Mike thinks it clawed up his shirt more than him.”

Sweetie looked at his side and cringed. “Oh. Right...” Then she perked up and smiled. “Hold on! I know something that can help!”

She tried running out of the kitchen but had to stop to hold onto the wall. When she got her balance she chuckled awkwardly and tried to quickly walk to the stairs.

When Big Mike was sure Sweetie was out of sight, he let out a heavy huff only for him to hiss in pain. He kept his arms stiff as he stared at the rags wrapped around them.

“So y’ain’t alright,” I muttered into my mug, taking another sip of water.

“Those claws were really sharp, okay?” Big Mike bit his lip as he went to slip off whatever rags were too loose. Then he got to work adjusting and wrapping his ‘bandages’ to fit better.

“Big Mike hopes werewolves don’t make more werewolves from scratches,” he told himself.

I furrowed my brow. Where Wolves?

Big Mike saw my expression and shrugged. Which only made him tense in pain. “Well, what else would they be? Big Mike’s never seen anything li—”

He stopped to hiss and flinch as one of the more tender wounds stung from the bandage. “...Like them before,” he finished weakly. “Still. Big Mike’s just glad Litter Bull’s okay.”

“Sweetie Belle,” I reminded.

His pain shifted to defeat for a moment. “Sorry.” Even with the mopey look on his face, Big Mike kept working on the bandages.

I waited until he was finished and kept sipping on my water. Big Mike was better at wrapping up a wound than Sweetie but it wasn’t too great. If I was more confident in using these ‘fingers’, as Sweetie kept calling them, I could probably dress the wounds better.

When the last bandage was secured, Big Mike sat back on the kitchen counter, which felt like chair-height for the both of us. When I noticed Mike was taking deep breaths, I offered him my mug.

His face lit up like a Zap Apple tree as he took it in his own hands and started downing whatever was left.

As Mike leaned over towards the sink to fill the mug back up, I poked my head out of the kitchen for a moment. Sweetie Belle wasn’t back yet but Mike and I had the front door in our sights.

I suppose we got another minute before we’re hitting the road. Might as well feed my curiosity. I took a breath and looked at Big Mike.

“Pardon me pointin’ it out, but how’s come ya keep messin’ up Sweetie’s name so much? Ya got mah name down pat pretty quick.”

Big Mike watched me for a moment before he took a long swig of water. “Well. Big Mac sounds a lot like Big Mi...my name,” he corrected. “I know it sounds like I exaggerate when Bi—I say I’m bad with names, but I really am. People, places, events...Big—I. Even forget some of my families’ names.”

I blinked. “Family?”

“Yep.” he nodded. “At home, we have pictures of family everywhere. But most of the photos are all in my room. And I have name tags next to each of them. Mom’s picture too.”

He lingered on that thought for a second, mouthing something under his breath a few times. Then he smiled.

“Joe even helped teach Big Mike to scrapbook. Our Oma’s big on keeping the family together. She sends dozens of pictures every month”

My head leaned to the side. “Oma?”

“Oh. That’s German for grandma,” Mike told me. “Oma Elke pretends she can’t hear you if you call her anything else. It’s just pretend though. She’ll be on you faster than anyone if you say something about the family.”

I chuckled. “Eeyup. Sounds a lot like Granny. She’s the scrapbook’n type too.”

“Really?” Big Mike’s eyes grew as wide as his smile. “How many books?”

I let out a low whistle. “Whole closet full.”

Mike started chuckling. “Really? Wow. Big Mike needs to step up the scrapbooks.”

“Eeyup.” Both of us started chuckling for our own reasons. Boy if he and Granny ever started comparing notes. I get a feeling they wouldn’t stop until they went through every photo.

As our laughter started peppering out, Sweetie Belle peeked her head into the kitchen, staring with a half-confused smile. “What’s so funny?” She asked.

“Scrapbooks,” Big Mike told her.

“Wait, what?” Sweetie’s smile failed her. “Scrapbooks are funny?”

“Eeyup.”

“...Uh-huh.” She didn’t seem convinced. “Well, okay I guess. I don’t really get it but I’m glad everypony’s doing alright.”

Sweetie walked into the room as she reached towards her shoulder where several giant shirts were resting.

“Here you go Big Mike,” she said, holding out the shirts. “Go ahead and pick one. Dad always had shirts that were too big for him so I think they’ll work.”

“Really? That’s so nice, thank you!” Big Mike reached over and plucked them from her grip, trying his best to ignore his cuts hissing at him. “How’s come your Dad has all these big shirts?”

“I…” Sweetie blinked a few times. “I dunno. I’ve never seen any shirts like these before so I think they’re pretty unique. They’re bigger than anypony I’ve ever met though.”

She wasn’t wrong. As Big Mike kept admiring them I noticed how they would probably be too big for me to fit as a pony. I think I saw a sleeve that was a little longer than the other too. Wherever they came from, they looked custom-made.

Big Mike didn’t seem to mind in the slightest. As he saw them, they were button-up overshirts each with a cartoonish picture printed across each of them. He went back and forth, comparing each of them until finally taking a blue shirt with cartoon fish printed all over it.

He put the others down and, slowly as not to pull at the bandages or cuts, slipped the overshirt on over his original shirt.

The sleeves seemed stiff and the buttons didn’t reach but Big Mike’s smile was as bright and genuine as ever.

“This is the best jacket,” Big Mike announced simply. “Thanks! Uh. Um…”

Sweetie sighed, a sad smile trying its hardest to stand against his. “Would it be easier if you just called me Belle?”

“Bell? Bell. Bell,” Big Mike repeated, taking a second to pretend like he was ringing a bell in his hands. “Bell. Bell...Uh, yeah. Bell. Bell! Big Mike thinks he can do that.”

Sweetie’s smile got a little stronger as she turned to me. “So, Big Mac? I’m ready to go if you are. What should we do now?”

I leaned back against the wall and tried my best to map everything out.

Sweet Apple Acres is a given, I thought. Even if Applebloom and Granny ain’t there I need to see what’s going on. But to go straight there, we’d have to cut back through that amusement park again. That or go the long way. And if we come across any more dogs...

I furrowed my brow. Dangerous. Those things are probably faster if they have the space to roam. We were lucky we ran into them indoors. Still, there’s no telling when or even if they’d come back.

Big Mike stared hard towards the front door. “Are we going to be walking for a while?” Big Mike asked me.

“Why?” Sweetie asked. “Do you want to rest first?”

“Nah. Big Mike’s can go for as long as he needs,” he boasted. I frowned but let him go on. “But, if we’re going to be walking for a while then Big Mike thinks he has an idea.”

Sweetie and I shared a look for a moment. “What is it?” Sweetie asked.

“Well, Big Mike’s not sure yet,” he admitted, confusing both of us. “But we can probably figure it out if Big Mike brought you to it. So let’s go. Big Mike saw it right outside.”

Without any more explanation about ‘it’, Big Mike got up, took a second to ignore the pain in his arms, then started out the door as we were forced to follow behind.

Sweetie Belle’s POV

Outside Sweetie’s House

…

As the three of us carefully shifted through whatever was left of my front door, Big Mike walked out into the yard and pointed towards a pile of bushes and other greenery that filled up the ditch across the road.

“Big Mike saw it in there,” he told us. “He couldn’t see what it was since the werewolves attacked but he’s pretty sure he saw a wheel.”

He started to hurry over towards the bushes while Big Mac and I kept walking behind him. It wasn’t until Big Mike reached the bushes and pulled some of the leaves away to reveal a wheel as big as me, as a pony at least, that we got excited.

“That’s the wheel you saw?” I asked, staring as Big Mac rushed over to look for himself. As he did, they both worked to rip away a large chunk of green to reveal a yellow wagon submerged in the brush.

“Is that a whole taxi?!” Now I started to run over.

“Eeyup,” Big Mac revealed.

“Looks like it’s in one piece too,” Big Mike went on. “The undercarriage seems a little loose and a spoke or two fell off from one of the wheels but Big Mike thinks it’ll work.”

“That’s a relief,” Big Mike told himself. “He would have felt pretty upset if it was just a wheelbarrow or something. Just give Mike a second then he’ll drive us to wherever we’re going.”

“Eenope.” Big Mac watched where he stepped as he lowered himself into the ditch. “Ah got it.”

“Aw come on,” Big Mike whined. “Big Mike’s the one who found it. Why not?”

Big Mac said nothing and instead pointed at Mike’s bandaged arms.

Huh? That’s weird, I realized. I thought I put more stuff on his arms than that.

“...Okay,” Big Mike relented, folding his arms awkwardly. “But at least let Big Mike help get it out of there.”

Big Mac looked back and forth between Mike and the taxi a few times before finally letting out a puff of air. “Eeyup.”

Big Mike pumped his fist into the air, flinching in pain right after, before he started wading himself down into the brush as well.

“Oh, uh, Del. Brai...Bell, Bell!” Big Mike cheered.

“Uh, y-yes?” I walked over so I was a few feet beside the ditch.

“When we turn this thing to face the road, we’ll need you to make sure it’s not caught or something, okay?”

“Got it.” It took a few seconds but I managed to bend my fingers in a way where I gave Big Mike a thumb’s up.

Once they were sure that I backed up far enough, the two of them cleared away as many branches and plantlife as they could before they worked together to flip the taxi back on four wheels.

Once that was done, Big Mike took a few seconds to catch his breath and rub his arms so they would stop bothering him. When Big Mac was sure he was okay, they went to step two.

With a heave, they leaned the taxi on its back wheels and spun it. Whenever the taxi fell, it fell down sideways. The branches and vine-like plants had tied it down and each one was now snapping away.

“We straight?!” Big Mike shouted out, his voice straining.

“Um.” I walked from one point of view to the next, trying to find the best angle. “Uh, yeah! I think you’re good!”

“Alright. Slow now,” Big Mac commanded and the two began to lower the taxi back down onto all four wheels again.

Big Mac had his attention focused on the task but he made it look easy. Big Mike on the other hand was already red in the face and struggling to keep up.

When he had the chance, Mike let go of the taxi and stood up straight, gasping for air as Big Mac looked in concern.

“Fine,” Big Mike told him between gasps. “Big Mike’s...fine.”

“...” Big Mac didn’t look convinced in the slightest. So rather than argue the point, he moved behind the taxi and started to push on his own.

And the taxi pushed out instantly.

“Woah, woah,” I called, backing out of the way as Big Mac kept pushing the taxi out on his own. It wasn’t slow moving either. Whether in the ditch or on the road, the taxi rolled at a normal pace as if Big Mac was a taxi puller.

When the taxi was on stable ground, I walked around to find Big Mac stepping back and staring down at his arms in surprise.

“Big Mac, how’d you do that?” I asked with my jaw hanging in a permanent grin.

“Uhhh…” But Big Mac didn’t seem as impressed. He only seemed confused.

“Well, Big Mike could’ve done that too. Eventually,” Big Mike argued. “Still. Gotta admit, that was pretty cool.”

“Um. Eeyup?” Big Mac didn’t seem so sure but he didn’t seem to question it.

I turned my attention to the taxi next. It was one of the larger kinds, able to fit three ponies inside with a canopy that stretched around to the sides as well. There was even a small space in the back to store somepony’s luggage.

“I can’t believe this thing was hidden in that ditch. Good find Big Mike!”

Big Mac nodded along, turning to see Big Mike crawl himself out of the ditch as he adjusted one of the wrappings.

“Yeah. Glad Big Mike could help, he guesses.” He took a second to admire it himself before turning to Big Mac with a frown. “You’re not letting Big Mike pull it are you?”

“Eenope.” It sounded like a statement.

Big Mike grumbled to himself but nodded along. “Fine. But as soon as his arms feel better, Big Mike wants a turn.”

Big Mac chuckled as Big Mike climbed his way into the taxi. It leaned towards the side a little but the wagon kept itself on all four wheels.

I took the chance to get on the opposite side of the taxi and like I figured, the taxi didn’t react at all. Although even with Big Mike taking up more than half of the seat, I still had plenty of room.

Finally, Big Mac took position at the front of the wheel. The tether and collar were missing but the two posts sticking out the front were far enough apart where Big Mac could fit between them and use them as handles.

“This is pretty nice actually,” I complemented. “Okay Big Mac! Whenever you’re ready.”

He gave us a strong nod and took hold of the taxi before we started down the road at a fast pace.

Diamonds Are a Thief's Best Friend

View Online

Morgue’s POV
Outer Ponyville
20 Minutes After the Mansion

…

After getting through the mansion’s gate, I rushed down the hill with my eyes peeled for literally anything. At each chance I got I ran underneath any shade I could find for good measure.

By about the ten minute mark of running from tree to tree, I finally hit the town proper. The only thing that changed was instead of hiding under trees, now I was hiding against the buildings.

When I was several streets into town and the manor was far out of sight from me, I stopped to size up the town around me. When I woke up I was near storefronts and restaurants; the business side of town. But this side of town looked like some sort of industry area.

Most of these buildings had small signs that had the name of the business and nothing else. What stood out the most were the large, warehouse-sized, structures as well as exposed kilns and large ovens that were left inactive.

The smaller bland buildings were what made up most of this place. I was interested to check inside but the street signs told me I was probably looking at workshops or offices rather than anyone’s house.

Then again, these are supposed to be hyper-intelligent horse people, I thought. I don’t know their lives. Maybe they live at their jobs. What if they’re complete workaholics?

Deciding that I wanted an answer, I reached over for the window beside me and tried to open the shutters. To my shock, and relief if I’m being honest, the shutters were pulled taut.

I gave my full attention to see why they were stuck. Apparently, the shutters had a thin metal latch that kept them from being opened from outside.

I frowned. No. That’s too much credit, I figured, pulling out my knife to flick the latch open. That latch is probably there to stop the wind.

When I got the shutters open, I reached forward and slid the glass window up without complaint.

Yep. I sighed, bored from the lack of challenge. No locks on the actual window. I could rob this town blind without breaking a sweat if I wanted to. Where’s the excitement?!

With the window open, I climbed inside then closed the shutters and window all over again before looking inside. The room was this stuffy office with a handful of filing cabinets.

I scoped the room for the usual big ticket items for a quick minute. There weren’t any safes or hidden spaces within the desk. Meanwhile, the filing cabinets had nothing but contracts and designs for jewelry.

“Joyas?!” I asked aloud. “...Un momento.”

I tossed the file onto the desk and marched towards the door of the office. As I threw it open, again, no lock, I spotted several workbenches each with tools specifically for jewelry making.

My eyes then settled upon the dozens of gems and jewels of all kinds, cuts, and clarities. On one table alone I counted four— no, five diamonds!

I bit into my fist, nearly eating it whole as I stared at the temptation. There were no flaws in sight and two of them looked as big as the fist I was eating.

I feel like I could cry right now, I shouted in my head. Those diamonds have to be worth over 300 grand at least!

Before I could realize where my head was, I was already standing over the desk with my eyes glued on the giant rocks. It would have been so easy to take them. No one would have known.

That is, until I brought them to Joe to figure out how to sell these things right. Then I’d have to go over how and where I got them and then admit I broke one of our own rules: No stealing from people who are not snobs. No exceptions.

Groaning, I finally closed my jaw and glared in no real direction. Stupid rule. Why’d I make it up anyways?

So, rather than take the diamond, I found a loose pencil on the desk and wrote on an empty piece of paper.

Hey,
I technically broke into your place. Had to hide from possible shapeshifting dragons. You know how it is. I didn’t steal anything. I promise. You should probably get some locks if you're just gonna leave big hunganormous diamonds sitting out though.
P.S. In case this is some kinda gem-fencing ring, are you hiring? I’d leave a resume but, again, shapeshifting dragons.
Wish you all the best,
-Morgue, Honorable Thief

I put the note in the middle of that office desk and put the file back in its cabinet before finding a different window to jump out of before closing it behind me.

There was a perfectly good back door, but nah. Jumping out the window sounded more like what an Honorable Thief would do.

Plus how often does someone get to jump out of a window? I bet you haven’t.

Wait, what? My head felt like it cramped for a second as I started to look around. I had this feeling that I was being watched.

That feeling didn’t last for too long though. The same moment I had that feeling was the same moment where it vanished. In fact, it seemed as if my head was trying to force myself to forget I ever had that feeling at all.

Eventually I accepted that I couldn’t spot any living being around me. Not even a bird or bug or something..

Actually. I began to notice. I haven’t seen a single animal either times I’ve been in this town. If we’re not counting those shapeshifters, the only living things I’ve seen the whole time was Princy and Querubín.

I started walking away from the jeweler’s in a brisk walk, still moving from cover to cover as I did. But this time I felt a lot more awkward as I passed by the abandoned buildings.

...

Some time passed as I continued on through the town. After about a half hour of traveling I eased up on how careful I was being, whether I meant to or not.

I still wasn’t ballsy enough to walk down the middle of the street. I kept moving from shadow to shadow. However, I did feel brave enough surveying whatever crossroads I stopped at for any signs of life.

The buildings I passed by were all still void of life, but it didn’t look like there was any drama behind why. Doors were still closed, windows unsmashed, and no mail or newspapers had been piled up outside anyone’s door. If I ever imagined ‘abandoned town’ I would expect to see...I don’t know, total anarchy?

There were one or two business signs that had fallen off of their posts or a small garden out front that had a rotting vegetable or two sitting out but that was as extreme as it got. I would have felt more let down than worried if it wasn’t for the situation.

As a matter of fact, scratch that. I was starting to feel a little bored. Shapeshifting demon bug-horses could find me at any second and here I was, getting lazy in how I moved and forcing myself not to hum the first song that popped into my head.

When I walked out into a crossroads, I turned towards the other side of ‘Ponyville’. The entire town was built kind of in a valley with hills in all directions. Outside the purple barrier was a giant mountain with what I swore was some sort of castle. And in a different direction, mostly in the barrier, was a smaller mountain.

But then, probably a five minute walk from me was that same carnival. That horrific pink Ferris Wheel, that still looked like it hadn't moved an inch, was at the center of it all. Except, unlike last time, I could hear music coming from there. Music and maybe even the smallest hint of happy shouting.

I stopped walking for a second and let myself listen to whatever I could hear. Those demon horses didn’t exactly look like the poster children of ‘having a good time’. And Princy did say that those things apparently feed off of love.

Whether I was supposed to believe that or not I couldn’t say, but I do know what I saw. Would it really be bizarre to think love bugs disguised themselves as carnies to make people have fun and...consume said fun? Like, could those things eat any kind of love or positive stuff or were we talking relationship kind of love?

Does different love have different flavors?

I forced myself to ignore that question. But if I end up having to face off with a Changeling, I don’t think anyone would blame me for being curious.

I hurried across the crossroads, leaning up against another wall before checking my surroundings. For the umptenth time now, still nothing. Not even a bird.

Then again, that one demon was a bird so that’s probably a good thing.

When I proved the coast was clear I checked my watch: 7:01 PM. I left Princy and Querubín at 6:35-ish. Plenty of time.

I glanced back at that carnival again. It looked like it spread out pretty far and by this point I was starting to skirt the edge of it. And as I looked ahead to where I was going, I could see a small stone bridge that crossed over into a space without buildings. A park, more than likely.

Even with the trees and small hills that made up the space, I could see colorful tents and structures that looked temporary. The carnival probably spilled out into some of the park.

Why only some of it? I began skulking over in that direction. Taking only part of the town doesn’t sound too weird but that bridge is going over a small river. If the park’s already separated, why not take the whole space?

It definitely wasn’t to keep some of the park quiet. The music was loud even from here and that gaudy Wheel and those crazy colored tents told me it was a party meant for the loud.

My kinda party. I smiled for a moment, deciding to break from the shadows and beeline it straight for that bridge.

Nothing, that I could spot, had noticed me and as I cleared the space and made it to the top of this small arching bridge, I got a good view of the empty half of the park.

And the carnage that was left of it.

Peppered across the ground were patches of grass where something had gone wrong. Some grass was burnt away leaving charred earth while other spaces were perfect circles of dirt with no grass to speak of. If that wasn’t eye-catching enough, other areas of the park had the ground done up in random colors that each seemed to have its own problems.

To my left about twenty feet away, all the grass glowed with a bright hot pink color and flashed in brightness as if it were all made out of neon. Then, a distance away, spread out around a tree that might have been struck by lightning, the grass stood like hundreds of needles made out of pearl and silver with the sun reflecting off of each of them.

I slowly stepped off the bridge and in that moment, every root surrounding a different tree five feet away from me came to life. Each of them gave out tiny screams as they flailed around the dirt like crazed worms before striking the ground all in unison.

The tree that those roots were a part of suddenly ripped itself free from the ground and, like a spider, skittered away from me with rhythmic tapping with its twenty plus ‘legs’.

I kept watching like a hawk until the tree was more than a hundred feet away from me before it squirmed back into the ground like someone sinking into their covers.

I took a deep breath and turned to look at the rest of the crazy battlefield.

I dared look at another tree as I passed by and saw a tall lamp post with its glass lantern embedded in the side of its trunk. But to add onto the moment, the lamppost had grown arms out the side of it and at the end of them were bright red boxing gloves that hung lifelessly.

After so much hesitation, I gave one of the gloves a light kick and that sent the lamppost into a frenzy. With the top of it not only stuck but actually fused to the tree, the post itself couldn’t move anywhere but that didn’t stop the arms from swinging blindly.

When it realized that it had no chance of hitting me, especially since I backed well away, the lamppost instead started punching the tree rapidly to try breaking out. Only after another minute of desperation did the lamppost’s punches start losing their fury and it eventually gave up and let its red gloves hang again.

Finally, as I started picking up my pace to walk past dozens of other unexplainable problems, I saw the biggest horror yet. Ahead of me, probably hundreds of yards away, was the largest hill in the park.

Breaching out from the side of that hill was a mound of earth in the shape of a giant leopard’s head. Its mouth had been left opened wide like something out of the movie Aladdin as it was angled up at the sky.

Despite defying every law of geography and gravity, none of it was about to fall apart. It did, however, have a massive crater in the center of its forehead.

Additionally, that wasn’t the only crater. Not far from the giant leopard was another crater in the ground. And another about twenty more feet away.

Craters branched out in a line and away from the carnival’s side of the park. Some of them had grass or weeds growing inside them. I knew none of this was recent.

Without too much else to go on, I followed the craters. Every time I walked past I would glance down only to see an empty hole that was either shallow or deep as a pit.

It didn’t take long until I was finally at the last crater in the line. It was only a couple of feet deep but unlike most of the smaller craters there were two things at the bottom of it.

The first was a silver necklace. It had a small chain for the string that was hard to spot thanks to the dirt. However, the necklace had this angry, Chinese dragon-looking charm on the front of it.

The second object looked much more regal. It was a crown. Well, maybe it was more like a headdress or a tiara but I guess that wasn’t the important part. What was important was that the headgear was certainly regal with it made out of gold with small oval diamonds set into the band of it.

Then, set into the center was the biggest gem of all. It was made into a six-pointed star at perfectly sharp angles. Although, something about it felt...off.

I made my way into the crater and crouched down to look at it a little better. That star gem didn’t look like anything I had ever seen before and it was hard to figure out what kind of gem it was.

Even as the light hit it, it gave off no shine whatsoever. The gem was stuck as this permanent cloudy gray color. Not to mention the more I stared at it, the more I felt this feeling in the pit of my stomach that something wasn’t right.

Silently regretting it, I picked up the two pieces of jewelry. The necklace with the Chinese dragon felt abnormally heavy but only for an instant before it became as weightless as I thought it would. The crown on the other hand kept its weight as it started glowing.

With a scream I flung it away from me out of the crater but even as it clattered away from me it kept glowing; the light changing from one color to the next before the light started slithering off of it like rays.

I shoved the necklace deep into my pocket and started running in the opposite direction but it didn’t matter. The lights grew brighter and the colors became more vibrant. Eventually, those rays of light turned and sailed after me.

I ran faster, ducking past giant kernels of popcorn and jumping over a tiny pond that was full of chocolate milk rather than water. But the lights kept getting faster.

And then it hit me.

Out of nowhere, one of the sticks on the ground turned into a rake, angled at just the right spot to—

WHAM!

I clutched my nose and fell to my knees only to watch as the rake sprouting fins and swam away.

I tried to ignore my probably bleeding nose and stand up only for my vision to be barraged by every color possible and this warm feeling covering my entire head.

Then. Whiteness.

My Good Buddy Discord

View Online

Morgue’s POV

Sometime in the Past

…

I settled into my chair, watching as chaos flanked me in every direction. We were outside in well-cushioned dining chairs set on either side of a large table laden with every hors d'oeuvre I could ever imagine.

In the chair opposite of me sat the only other creature in attendance. Note how I said ‘creature’. The thing I was staring at was definitely not human. In fact, out of every animal this thing was made up of, human was visibly vacant.

But I was perfectly fine with all of it.

I gazed around us at all of the unique forms of chaos. We, and the furniture, were all floating upside down, laughing at gravity. There was no blood rushing to my head though. In fact, I felt like I was in some anti-gravity bubble or something.

A part of me would have probably been terrified of the gravity turning back on if my attention wasn’t so focused at the yellow eyes of this mad god I was staring into. At least, I’d call him a god.

Maybe he wasn’t one back in that Equestria place. But here on Earth? Oh yeah. Definite God of Chaos. Then again, you could put any magic-flinging thing from Equestria on Earth and it could pass as a god. Maybe even the Earth Ponies.

Around us, harmlessly flying around just as we were, was a chair ‘running’ around like a crazed bull as it chased after a china cabinet. It even made accordion sounds every time one of the chair’s legs hit whatever classified as ground.

Then, lapping around the table was an entire tea set. It was all lined up neatly as it rolled around the table on tiny train tracks with the kettle letting out puffs of smoke in the shape of trombones. The kettle even had this cute little conductors hat to match.

After the tea train stopped at the God’s side of the table, with tea snaking out of the kettle and into a cup like it was guided by a crazy straw, I broke eye contact and leaned back into my chair as it leaned backwards to accommodate.

“I’m gonna be honest,” I told him, keeping my face in a neutral smirk as I watched him. “This is probably the nicest tea party I’ve ever been a part of.”

“Well it’s about time somepony recognized my talents as a host.” Discord snapped his fingers lazily, watching as two plates flew out of the china cabinet and folded around each of our necks like napkins. “There aren’t many ponies who appreciate good entertainment nowadays.”

“I could say the same about humans, really.” I picked up my plate and held it upside down, rightside up for anyone keeping track, above the food. Then, as if chaos understood what I wanted, every snack I eyed fell onto my plate.

I could get used to this, I thought behind my smirk.

“Is that so?” Discord watched me for a moment. “From what I’ve seen of them, I would have thought that this type of showmanship would fit right in.”

“Not wrong to think that, amigo,” I admitted. “But there’s the problem; plenty of us would say that eating an antipasto kabob upside-down with a Chupacabra would be the level of insanity they would look forward to any week. But if the chance ever showed up? They’d all duck out first chance.

“But here we are,” I celebrated. “And beachside view, no less,” I added, gesturing out to the beach below us and the shore not far away. The salty spray of the tide coming in made the tea party all the more inviting.

Oh, did I forget to mention we were at the beach? ‘Cause we were. Guess you forgot that whenever you see softball sized fireflies freely fluttering around you. One of them was even trying to chew up the table leg.

Discord’s brow raised comically. “Chupacabra?”

“It’s your nickname,” I told him. “I’d say it fits more than Discord, at least.” I held up my kabob towards the ocean and watched as some of the salt split away from the waves just to season my meal.

Good ocean. Keep it up.

Discord thought about it for a moment before snapping his fingers, watching as this alien- canine abomination appeared out of nowhere and hung in the air as though held by the scruff of its neck.

I reeled back in my seat, nearly dropping my kabob. “Is...Is that an actual Chupacabra?”

Discord ignored me and instead studied the monster for a moment before suddenly turning up his nose. “I don’t see the resemblance.”

“...Did you create that?” I kept asking. “Or just bring one here?” I asked, watching as the monster slowly began to wake up.

He chuckled at my now shattered poker face. “Now why would I answer that? It would give away the surprise.”

He plucked up a slice of cucumber from one of his sandwiches and stretched it until it was the size of a frisbee. Then, with a sharp whisper to catch the Chupacabra’s attention, he tossed the giant cucumber slice. The monster lunged for it and dove into a portal as it went.

“...” I took a moment to gather myself, regaining my neutral smirk while mentally screaming in terror. “...You just threw that thing out into the wild, didn’t you?”

“And it’ll make a lovely nest somewhere,” Discord assured me as he ate his half empty cucumber sandwich. “You were saying?”

I tried figuring that out myself for a moment before giving up entirely. New subject, my brain declared.

“Y’know, I don’t get why ponies hate your fun so much. Minus the whole, oh no, there’s a monster loose in probably Australia, ‘cause of course that’s where a monster would be, this is a fun time!”

“Well of course it’s fun,” Discord flaunted. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. This is my chaos we’re talking about. If only ponies could recognize that.”

If only ponies could recognize...Oh. Wait.

My expression melted into one of disappointment. “That’s probably what’s going on.”

“By all means, do tell.” He reached over to his left, pulling a churro out of thin air and using it to stir his tea.

I shrugged. “It’s the same problem that humans have all the time. Your PR’s bad.”

He froze in place with the pause symbol appearing in reality above him and to the left.

“Uh oh,” I muttered, noticing a TV remote in front of me that definitely wasn’t there before. Already getting the point, I scooped it up and pressed resume.

“My PR?” He asked.

“Isn’t it obvious?” When he shook his head, I carried on. “You were turned to stone by Sun Lady and her sister, they announced your defeat, told their side of the story for literal centuries, and they had you hung up in the garden. The ponies only know Sun Lady’s narrative.”

His brow furrowed as he turned the words over in his head. Literally. I watched my words literally fly into one ear and heard a bunch of factory and machine sounds emit from him. There were even occasional sparks shooting out of his nose.

Finally, a paper printed out of his other ear that a second Discord, this time dressed up like a stock broker, tore away and looked at it.

“He’s right,” Stock Broker Discord admitted in shock. “Your numbers have been going down since the 3rd quarter of the millennium.”

Discord scowled for a moment, making the tea in his eagle claw turn so cold it turned into a block of ice. “I can’t believe it! Why would anypony go around saying my chaos is anything less than the best thing to ever happen in Equestria?”

“Because they’re pushing for their best thing to ever happen for Equestria.” I frowned. “You know, the same thing that dragged all of you here to Earth?”

“...Harmony,” Discord said with all interest faded.

“Exactly.” I bit into my sea salt kabob. “But you know...I, leader of the Honorable Thieves, would be happy to help with that. I can fake playing PR Manager.”

“You’d do that?” He blinked, turning to Stock Broker Discord. “Would that work?”

Stock Broker Discord looked back at the paper. “Hmm...It would take something big.”

“Oi. I’m nothing if not a big picture guy,” I gloated. “I mean, my hermanos and I are heading for Equestria after we’re done, apparently. Having a friend on the other side would be a fair trade. Eh, amigo?”

I held out a hand towards him. Even if he was on the other side of the dining table, I knew the distance was no problem.

For the second time this whole tea party, the god of chaos looked to me, a humble master thief, in confusion. “You...want to be friends?”

“Are you loco?!” I paused for a moment. “Dumb question. Ignore that. Who wouldn’t want to be friends with one of the most interesting creatures alive? It’d be an honor, Chupacabra.”

I watched a welcoming grin spread across his long face. Then I watched it match with my level of mischievousness. “A being of chaos and a master thief, eh? Now that sounds like a good pair.

“You’ve got yourself a deal!” I flinched as a lion’s paw sprouted out from the plate of artichoke poppers and shook my hand. Then, from the other end of the table, Discord snapped his fingers again.

From around my neck, a heavy silver necklace appeared around me. On the front of it was a silver charm of Discord done up in this artsy design. However, as I watched, I felt the necklace suddenly become weightless.

“Nice,” I complimented. “I’m much more of a silver guy than gold anyways.”

“No need to thank me. But go ahead anyways,” he told me. “I already planned on giving that to each of the others while you’re here on Earth. Just think of you getting it early as a token of friendship.

“That necklace has enough of my magic stowed away to grant one wish. After that, it’ll simply be the best quality necklace that no money could buy.” He leaned back in his chair as he took a sip of churro tea.

“Wait, wish? Like, limitless wish?” I asked with a gleam in my eyes.

“Do you think I would give somepony a limited wish?” He asked me. “That would just be—”

“I wish for infinite wishes!” I shouted clutching the necklace in my hands like my life depended on it.

Discord’s smile dropped. “Well, leave it to a human to find the limits.”

When he saw me pouting, Discord took my attention back. “I suppose it is limited in a few ways. One of which being that it’s only as powerful as one of my tricks. So no wishing for more. Other than that, the wish is just as strong as me doing it myself.”

I thought the idea over for a moment. “If we ask for something that chaos magic can’t pull off, it’s not going to get wasted is it?”

“No. It’ll simply do nothing. And it won’t try to twist your wish in its own way either. That’s only my own personal touch. But the biggest thing to remember from that necklace is this: You must know exactly what it is you’re asking for. If you don’t, it won’t work. If you can understand that, you’ll be able to use it.”

Present Time

In the Park

…

When I came back to reality, the pain in my face from that flying rake reintroduced itself as I kept holding my jaw and nose.

As the pain refused to leave anytime soon, I frantically looked around. There were no more rainbow lights and thankfully no immediate danger to attend to. Safe, I hoped.

I took the next minute to make sure that rake didn’t leave a lasting impression on my face. After a minute of whining, which no one was around to see, I fell onto my back and stared up at the giant dome in the sky. Only the occasional yodeling sunflower broke the eerie silence.

That...That was the past, I realized. A few weeks, maybe. Possibly a month. I let my mind piece it all together. Back with Princy and Querubin, the last thing I remembered was driving to a music gig. Now, that memory felt so long ago, I think I remembered even less about it all of a sudden.

I let my mind play back Discord himself. The word ‘Draconiquus’ came to mind as did a few other things. But no other memories, only facts I knew.

Wait. I frowned. He gave me a necklace. Is it the same?

I reached into my pocket and brought out the same necklace from the crater. What I thought was a Chinese dragon was really the same Discord I remembered.

Slowly, my smirk spread across the side of my face as I let out a chuckle. There was a moment when it felt unnaturally heavy and then light as air. It had a wish in it.

Best. Find. Ever.

I held it up above my face and took in a breath.

“I wish I remembered everything!” I called out, staring as the necklace gleamed against the purple barrier and—

Did nothing at all.

“Maldito,” I groaned, nearly dropping the necklace on my face. “Why didn’t that work?”

I stared at the necklace, feeling the weight shift around again. Wish was still there. “What was it he said? Know what you’re asking for, right? I know what I’m asking for, I’m asking for the things I...”

“I forgot.” This time I let my arm drop beside me. “I don’t know what I want to remember. And if I don’t know then it won’t work.

“Stupid rules,” I moaned. Then I realized that I was staring up at not the sky but the purple barrier. “...Fine then.”

I held up the necklace one more time. “I wish that purple dome vanished.”

This time there was a reaction. The necklace started getting so heavy I actually had to put effort into not letting it hit my face. But, right as it began to glow ever so slightly, it stopped altogether.

I sighed. “Love to say I’m surprised.” The only reason I wasn’t was that using a conveniently placed wish on the biggest problem in sight sounded way too simple.

I debated whether or not to try wasting the wish on something I know would work, like summoning a sandwich, but that would be dumb. I wasn’t going to waste a wish.

Deciding to play it safe, I sat up and put the necklace around my neck before tucking it away under my shirt entirely.

Then, I picked myself out of the grass and made my way back to the crater where the golden crown was still laying nearby. If there were anymore of those memory color strips, they were all gone now. The crown was back to normal.

For now, I thought, tapping it with my shoe before scooping it up with one finger.

“I feel like I’m going to catch fire if I keep holding this thing,” I told myself. Still, it was in the same crater as Discord’s Wish Necklace. It’d be pretty stupid to leave it behind.

I glanced around for any sign of movement before trying to find a good place to pocket this thing. It was too bulky to fit in my pockets and it didn’t fold up. And I certainly wasn’t about to wear it around on my head either. On top of gold not being my thing, I didn’t know what would happen if I tried that.

Eventually I tucked it underneath my jacket where it wouldn’t fall out. It was uncomfortable but it would last until I found something to carry it in. Honestly, I should have been smart enough to bring a sack or something from the mansion before running out here. Who knows how many all-powerful necklaces of the gods I’m going to find.

With every valuable well and looted from the park, I decided to leave while I was ahead. If a Changeling spotted me all along in the middle of a park, no telling what their response would be. Not to mention lingering around Chaos Land felt like a death wish.

I weighed my options for a second before another round of laughter and cheering rang out from the direction of the carnival. I had already ran through half of the business part of town when I was with Queribin, and I passed over the other half before finding the necklaces.

It was either the residential or the carnival and either way meant I would need to walk through the carnival. Not much of a choice.

I steeled my nerves and put on my best smirk before starting towards the Ferris Wheel and big top ahead of me. Whatever was going on in that carnival, I just hoped it wasn’t cultists armed with ceremonial balloon daggers and face paint.

That’s a comforting thought, brain. Please stop. I dismissed the clown cult from my memory as soon as it arrived and pressed forward with spirits raised.

Ain't it FUN?

View Online

Morgue’s POV
Pinkie Park

Huh. When Princy said there were ponies, I pictured a lot more variety. Not a bunch of ponies that look exactly the same.

Surrounding me from every possible direction, some even peering down from the rooftops, were dozens of ponies all with the same big blue eyes and bright pink mane and coats cheering and celebrating at the mere sight of me.

Some of them wore party hats or other party gear of varying quality but they each had these toothy, Cheshire cat smiles that made them even more identical.

They were all talking a mile a minute, some asking questions to me while others were just shouting that “they found me!” or simply screaming in general.

“Well, they’re no clown cult,” I murmured underneath their shouting. “Unless pink is the color of clowns in this place.”

As they continued going crazy, I kept a neutral smile on my face as I thought to myself.

I remembered one of those Changelings turning into a pony just like these. I thought it looked a little too crazy to blend in anywhere but now that I was surrounded by them, I saw the genius.

Probably not a perfect copy though, I remembered. When that bug turned bright and pink it had a pretty serious look on its face.

None of these ponies looked remotely serious. So maybe a Changeling couldn’t copy how something acted perfectly.

I wonder if these ponies know there’s a bug in here pretending to be one of them. The bugs can’t read minds but they feed off of love or something. The ponies look like they’re full of that.

Wait. If Changelings feed on emotions, do they drain the emotion out of a person? Does that mean someone can run out of love or fun or whatever?

I put the question aside and put on my best poker face smile I could before holding up my arms in defeat. All the ponies went silent as I did.

Oh, sweet silence.

“Alright. Ya got me,” I cried out mockingly. “Great job, all of you! It takes a lot of work to track down someone as good as me. But be honest.” I scanned the crowd as I took a breath.

“...Who found me first?”

The silence was torn to shreds with shrieks of “ME!” as raised hooves blocked the sky. And like an alarm had gone off, all of them realized they weren’t the only ‘winner.’

“Ahehe. Sorry Pinkie, but I found Morgue first,” one pony said, pulling me beside her as if I weighed nothing. Huh, strong.

“Well. Yes, but actually no, Pinkie.” Then I was dragged towards another pony, which I assumed was also called Pinkie. “You might have seen him first but I still got here first.”

I nodded along, still wearing a smirk. “Yeah, you can’t just point someone out from across the neighborhood. Ya still gotta go up to ‘em. She’s got a point.”

“Thank you Morgue!” The Pinkie beamed at me. “You hear that? Morgue said I got a...point?” She blinked. “A point. I...I got the most points!”

Any chance I had of being the center of attention went straight out of my grasp as all of them started screaming at the top of their—

“I got a point for winning!” “I get four points for checking the ballpit!” “I got twelve for not getting lost in the ballpit!” “I jumped around the rooftops! Fifte—” ”I went up and down Trampoline Trail like sev—” “Nine points!” “—then I beat the other Pinkie’s at pie toss—” “—imbed the pancake tower and go—” “Eight points!” “—pancake parachute!” “I dove for the chocolate fountain! Way more p—” “Dang it, that was more fun!” “What’d you say?!” “—Rolled around in a barrel slide.” “In electrical the whole ti—” “I found the pogo—” “Thirty points!” “—two of them still work!” “You weren’t cheating, were—” “One plus two. Plus one. Then another two...” “Did anypony guess the number of jelly beans in the—” “They refilled the jelly bean guessing jar?!” “I didn’t get to eat any of—” “Revinto points!” “That’s a made up number!” “Which is worth more points!” “Ninety points!”

They kept cutting each other out as some just started screaming numbers while others kept going from subject to subject. Even the one who pulled me beside her completely forgot I existed as she was roped into counting random numbers.

This is the easiest group I have ever suckered...

I watched the crowd and realized that the pile of pink ponies were starting to thin out towards one end of the alley we were all stuffed in.

Welp, time to make like a thief and take my leave. I took a moment to straighten out my suit jacket before walking for the exit to get as far from this mob as I could.

But not before plucking a random Pinkie from the crowd.

“Woah, hey! Put me down!” She demanded. She tried to wave her hooves around as if she could swim out of my grip. “I need to figure out if I got the most points in fun!”

“No ya don’t,” I told her, suddenly realizing that I was carrying a pony nearly half my height under my arm like a small dog. “Besides, I need your help with something...fun.”

Her squirming stopped as she looked up at me with hope. “You do?!”

I smiled. This is too easy. “Of course I do. I need the grand tour of this carnival place! Then, we can play the ultimate game of hide and seek.”

“Even more ultimate than finding you?!”

I scoffed. “Oh. Definitely more ultimate. It doesn’t even use silly points like that last game. It’s just fun for fun.”

Pinkie’s smile instantly traunced mine. “Now that’s the kinda fun we’ve been looking for! Big Mike wasn’t kidding; you really know your stuff about parties!”

I stopped mid step and held up this Pinkie in front of me like holding a stuffed animal. “Lo siento. Did you just say Big Mike?”

“Uh-huh!” She nodded. “He was the one that told us to go look for you in the first place!”

“Big Mike somehow convinced all of you to make a search party?” I took a second to wrap my head around that. How’d he corral all of these nut cases?

“Well, not all of the Pinkie’s, obviously,” she told me. “Only 72 of us. And that’s mostly because we’ve been looking for somepony to take Pinkie Park to the next level!”

Only 72? How many are— I shook my head. “Where’s Big Mike now?”

“He left.”

“What?” I frowned.

“I know, right?!” She gushed. “Seriously, when we heard that he and his other tall friends were leaving Pinkie Park, we were like ‘Huh?!’ and then he told us that there might be others outside of Pinkie Park not having fun and then we were like ‘Woah!’ , so a couple Pinkie’s led him to the bad side of town and then we—”

I set her down and held her muzzle closed, watching as she kept on talking regardless.

Already left huh? Must be trying to track us down too. And those ‘other tall friends’ are probably humans too.

I let go of her muzzle and she kept going. “And then I told Pinkie ‘we should probably take her to the High Pinkie.’ And she agreed with me so we brought her to the big to—”

“Yeah, yeah, that’s great,” I cut in.

“Completely random, goofy question,” I announced, making her excited. “Was one of those tall friends of Big Mike’s really thin with glasses and a heavy leather coat?”

“Nope,” she told me. Mala leche. “One was as big as Big Mike and another was a girl. I‘m not sure about her though. She looked kinda ‘un-fun’ to us.”

Probably more ponies-turned-humans. At least Big Mike’s not wandering alone.

“That’s too bad. I was really hoping Big Mike would be here.” I weighed my options. If Big Mike and Joe weren’t here, I didn’t have a reason to stay either. The only thing left was looking for Scootaloo’s friends.

“You don’t suppose there’s anyone else here that looks like me, do you? Tall, two legs, funny finger-bits?” I asked, moving my fingers around for emphasis.

“There is!” She told me. “One of them’s at the stage. Right this way.” Turning around, she didn’t walk off. She bounced off as if she were a bunny on springs. Complete with a little sound effect emitting from her.

“...” I took a moment to throw my hands up in defeat before walking after her. It was almost a blessing that I remembered Discord now. It kept me from being so confused and terrified of whatever this talking pony was doing as I followed behind her.

Every beat of the music shook the place harder than anywhere else in this carnival. Empty cups and bottles matched the napkins and paper plates that littered the floor worse than a music festival.

There were even smashed mugs and ceramic plates that were probably taken out of the houses whose opened doors or windows revealed destroyed homes.

At some point, there looked to be chairs set up in the area laid out ahead of the stage but so many of them were knocked over or smashed entirely. Everything looked like a worse battlefield than the chaos wreck I left before.

Ironically enough, the only place that didn’t look absolutely filthy was the stage proper. The stairs leading up and the front of the stage had some garbage and confetti remains but the rest of the stage looked in good condition.

The large curtains towards the back lacked any stains or tears in the fabric and resting in the center like a beacon of music was a state of the art DJ station.

And standing behind it, jamming along to the music she played, was a human woman with spiky hair that had bright blue highlights, some violet tinted shades, white and cyan headphones, and an obvious white horn jutting out the center of her forehead.

Surrounding her and the stage was another twelve Pinkies, dancing along and enjoying the music as they enjoyed their Apocalypse Carnival without a care in the world.

I turned to the Pinkie beside me but it was too late. She was already breaking into dance from the music. I lost a good tour guide that day.

I wanted to be angry but the fact that this woman was already making me shuffle in place made me forgive the pink pony. Oh. She’s good.

Curious, I danced my way to the stage and. without any of the Pinkies to stop me, leapt up onto the stage. As I walked over, the woman pulled her headphones down and smiled at me.

“Yo!” She called. “You the next act?!”

“Nah, sorry señora!” I shook my head. “If I had a guitar I might consider it though!”

“Acoustic or electric?!”

“You mean I’m supposed to choose?!” I grinned.

“Good answer!” She took a moment to adjust some of the controls on her soundboard and she peeled the headphones off her head, setting them on a stand in arm’s reach of her.

“Let me take a wild guess,” I said, still shouting over the music. “You were a pony. But you woke up like this and have no clue why.”

“Hey, that’s exactly right,” she told me, also shouting. “That what happened to you?”

“Nope. I was born this good.” I gestured to all of me. “We’re called humans by the way. These are fingers, this is a thumb and we walk on two legs.”

“I gathered,” she told me, pointing to her own legs. “These ponies have had me playing for them for hours. Thank Celestia I woke up with my set in front a’ me. It’s got, like, seven hours of past gigs saved. Plenty of time before I need to start putting a spin on things. Heh.”

“They letting you take a breather?”

“Nope.” Her smile cracked slightly. “I tried to step away when a longer song played but they did not like that. They practically glared me back up here.”

I let out a whistle. “Tough crowd.”

“You’re telling me human-guy,” she said. “I’m gonna need somethin’ to chug down sooner or later.”

They won’t let her leave, I thought. And if she’s been stuck here since waking up that pretty much clears her being a bug demon. Still, I think I can do something here.

“Let me help ya, señora.” I put two fingers to my mouth and let out a high whistle, catching the attention of a random Pinkie. As she ran up, I told the woman to watch closely.

“Yo. Pinks?” I held my hand as if I was holding a glass and pretended to drink something. “When this charming lady here does this number, it means she needs a drink, alright? She’s gonna need it to keep these beats coming.”

She nodded happily. “Gotcha! Be right back!” A cloud of pink dust kicked up and she had vanished.

I turned back to the woman and already she was practicing the motion a couple of times, nodding along in approval. “Sweet! What is that anyways?”

“It’s called sign language,” I told her over the music. “It’s something a French human made up. Pretty useful, huh?”

“Yeah, that was cool.” She nodded. “Ya got one for food?”

As I showed her the sign, the Pinkie rushed back with a plastic cup full of milk. The woman took it and started chugging while I told the Pinkie the food command before sending her back to the ‘dance floor’ to tell the other Pinkies.

That outta make this ‘fun prison’ a little more bearable, I figured.

The woman let out a loud sigh of relief before crushing the cup over her head before tossing it away. I would have said something but with all the other garbage the one cup wasn’t gonna matter.

“Wow, I needed that! Thanks, uh...heh. Never got your name.” She reached for her headphones again.

“Everyone calls me Morgue,” I told her. “And the charming señora I’m talking to?”

“Nice try dude,” she shot me down with a laugh. “Literally just found out what I am two minutes ago. Name’s Vinyl Scratch.”

“Good name.” Before she could get her headphones back on, I stopped her. “Before I go, have you seen any other humans like us? Me and someone else are trying to round up who we can.”

“Yeah actually.” She frowned. “When I first started up, there was something that looked like us shouting at all these lookalikes. They were older, and had a blonde and orange mane with large orange wings on their back. Might’a been a mare; couldn’t tell for sure.”

“They still around?”

She shook her head. “Don’t know. Those ponies gave her the same glares they did me. Then they took her off into that giant tent over there.” She pointed out towards the big top. It was only a road or two away from where we were. “That was, like, two hours ago.”

Orange wings, huh? Sounds like pony-turned-human alright. But if those cheek-to-cheek grinning Pinkies got so angry they pulled her off, there’s no telling what happened there. Doesn’t sound like I could do much anyhow.

“...Hey, uh. You gonna be alright? Hangin’ around this place, I mean. These Pinkies seem a little harmless but...”

She stopped me with a stern grin before making sure to turn the volume up just enough where no one could hear us. “I’m good. I feel the sketch too but I can manage my own. Not the first weird venue I’ve done. Really, this whole human thing’s probably got this gig reaching top three for weirdest though.”

“Only top three?” I asked with an interested grin.

“When we’re outta here, I might just tell ya number two.” She gave me a wink before reaching for her headphones.

“Well then I have something to look forward to. But until then, I think I’ll be on my way.” With one last nod I turned towards the stage’s edge.

“Wait, you’re leaving now?” She made sure the music was loud enough to keep the Pinkies from hearing us. “I don’t think those ponies would be cool with that. That’s what that human-pegasus wanted before they took her to the tent.”

“Eh, I think I’ll be fine. I got my methods.” I told her.

“And those are?” I could see her eyebrow peeking out from behind her violet shades.

I chuckled before giving her a winning smirk. “Hey, when you’re outta here, I might just tell ya how I did it.”

She didn’t fight me any further on that. She just smiled. “Fair enough. See ya Morgue.”

“Same to you Vinyl.”

I gave her a wave before hopping down and walking past the dancing Pinkies and smashed chairs. I even started walking in tune with the music as Vinyl switched it up to something more energetic.

Meanwhile, the Pinkies were way too distracted to notice me scoop one of them up and keep walking without another word.

Enter the Unicorns

View Online

Sweetie’s POV
Ponyville Roads

…

I shrunk into my side of the taxi as I watched Big Mike. I felt a little guilty as he was rolling his shoulders or bending his arms. He wasn’t tugging at the bandages but I knew that I wasn’t the best at using them.

I wanted to find something else to focus on. However, aside from staring at the empty houses we were passing by, there weren’t any distractions. So that meant that I had nothing to stop me from asking my dumb question.

“Are you alright?” I asked him. I already knew the answer. His arms were wrapped up like a mummy.

Still, Big Mike gave me a strained grin. “Yeah, Big Mike’s fine. It’s just.” He paused to open and close his claws. “Big Mike’s arms feel...stiff.”

“Stiff?” I blinked. “Are the scratches getting worse?”

“Don’t think it’s the scratches,” he told me. “It’s his elbows and fingers. It’s like it’s a little hard to move them for some reason.”

He put one claw around the other and pushed, making this small collection of popping noises before switching the claws and doing it to the other one.

I shivered from the sound. I don’t know why but that sound kept making me flinch. Probably because that was the third time all those popping sounds rang out.

“Sorry.” His frown deepened. “Big Mike doesn’t do that often. And. He doesn’t think fingers are all supposed to crack that many times.”

I glanced down at my own claws. I kept them in my lap this whole time but now that I was looking at them... “Does...Does it hurt to do that?”

“Nah, not usually. Big Mike just does it because...Well, because...Huh. Big Mike’s not sure why he does it. Maybe it just feels nice.”

“It feels nice?” More out of curiosity, I folded one of my claw’s fingers around the other claw like Big Mike did and tried to squeeze. I didn’t feel anything aside from pinching the top of my hand.

But after a few seconds.

pop, pap!

I closed my eyes, thinking I broke something but no. I felt which finger made the sound but it didn’t feel bad or good. It didn’t feel different at all, really. It was kind of a let down if I’m honest.

Too bad that didn’t stop me from switching claws and trying again.

Pop, tkk, pap!

“Woah. This is so weird,” I told myself.

“Right?” Big Mike chuckled a little. “It takes a while before your fingers can do it again. And if you force it you might hurt your hands.”

“Hands?” I blinked. “What are hands?”

“These things,” Big Mike told me, flapping around his claws, err, hands, like they were tiny wings. It would have been funny if they hadn’t cracked a little every other time.

He stopped and stared at them for a second. His face twisted into confusion as he stared at them. “Maybe Big Mike shouldn’t do that.”

Suddenly, the taxi came to a full stop, with me nearly falling forwards out of the seat. I probably would have had Big Mike not caught me.

“Thanks.” I nodded at Big Mike before facing forwards. Big Mac was standing in place with one hand against his brow to keep the sun from getting in his eyes.

“Big McIntosh? Is everything alright?”

It took him a few seconds as I saw him take in a deep breath and look towards us with a smile. “Eeyup.” Then he pointed ahead of us.

Both Big Mike and I leaned forward, noticing the large hill that the Ponyville neighborhoods were built around and on top of. The path up that hill had a sharp turn halfway up which meant that there was a steep cliff on the way down.

Although it wasn’t that dangerous. After the hoof-full of runaway strollers and carts that nearly rolled down that hill, it was something everypony grew used to.

Well, everypony got used to it after the safety rail was put in.

And then a few months later reinforced.

Then about a month after that when they replaced the wooden rail with a metal one.

Come to think about it, I thought. We’ve had a lot of accidents with that cliff. Why did Ponyville build the hospital up there again?

“Oh, Big Mike can see it!” He shouted. “There’s someone up there!”

“Huh?” I tried to follow where Big Mike was pointing and it took me some time but I was able to spot it. Leaning on the cliff’s safety rail was something that looked taller than a pony. Maybe somepony that turned into the same thing all of us are.

“Who do you think it is?” I asked aloud.

“Dunno.” Big Mike shrugged. “Maybe someone else who’s lost?”

“Maybe Applebloom,” Big Mac wondered. Then, without a warning he grabbed the cart’s handles and started running us up the hill’s trail.

I fell up against the back wall while Big Mike hung onto the side to keep leaning forward. Before I could even sit up I felt the taxi lean back at a sharp angle but Big Mac not losing speed.

“Uh, Big Mac? You want Big Mike to get out first?” Big Mike asked. “I think the hill’s gonna get steeper.”

“Eenope,” Big Mac told him. He sounded determined.

When I finally sat up I turned around to look out the back window. Big Mac wasn’t going as fast as a pony would but since he didn’t slow down, I could already see that there was going to be a long ride if he lost his grip.

Big Mike and I shared a worried look before he shuffled himself beside the open space next to him. He didn’t try to argue with Big Mac anymore though. Instead, he just kept looking up the hill.

“Uh,” Big Mike hummed. “Okay. Big Mike’s almost sure that it’s a person. They don’t have a heavy jacket like Joe does though. They look taller than Ball— oh. W-Wait, uh...Bell? Bell! They look taller than Bell!”

After another half minute or so of holding onto whatever I could reach for, we were almost at the safety rail. And by this point we were able to get a better look at it.

“Yep, definitely a person,” Big Mike called out. “I think...It’s a lady, maybe? She’s got some bangs and a stripe in her hair and...Big Mike thinks she has a pointy hat thing, like Bell has.”

“Pointy hat?” It took me a second before I stared at him with a doubtful look on my face. “Do you mean my horn?”

“Horn?” He turned to me. “So that isn’t one of those tiny fashion hats?”

“Tiny fashion hats.” I wasn’t asking him to clarify. I just had to repeat those words to know if it sounded as confusing as I thought.

It was.

What?

Big Mike kept staring at my horn and I watched as his head started leaning heavily to one side. “...Did you say horn? Is that a real horn?”

I nodded slowly, to which Big Mike returned the nod. Probably because he was watching the horn with a blank stare. “Yes. This is a real horn.”

“...Woah.” That was all he could muster.

Well, that and a gasp as it seemed everything began to click for him.

“Wait a second!”

“Let me guess? Am I a unicorn? And yes, I am,” I revealed to him.

“Huh? No, not that.” Big Mike shook his head. “Big Mike just realized something important!”

My expression twisted to anger for a second. Me being a unicorn’s not important?

“And that is?” I urged him to go on without a speck of emotion.

“Those ponies and werewolves,” Big Mike said, taking in a shaking breath. “They...They were talking!”

I couldn’t stop my hand from smacking my brow before it slid down to cover my mouth as I screamed, “you just now noticed that?!”

“Big Mike didn’t think about it,” he whined. “They kept talking about funnel cakes, and then Big Mac brought up his sister, then the werewolves scratched Big Mike so he thought he was gonna become a werewolf, which might’a been cool ‘cause Big Mike can’t even grow a mustache, but Big Mike forgot to think about it! Okay?!”

I tried figuring out exactly how to respond with that. But I didn’t. Instead, I just let out this loud, angry cry to which Big Mike shrunk into the opposite corner of the seat, looking entirely pathetic.

“WAAAAAAGH!”

Oh. It also made the lady at the safety rail notice Big Mac running towards her at full speed while pulling a giant taxi behind him.

Needless to say, that was reason enough for her to start running away.

“Hey, hold on!” I shouted. “Please, don’t run!”

Big Mac hit the imaginary brakes the second we were on flat land, nearly sending me flying out the front of the taxi, again, only for Big Mike to catch me. Again.

Neither of us bothered wasting time on that though. Once I was okay, both of us ducked out of the sides of the taxi.

The lady tried to look over her shoulder at us but that only made her trip and sprawl out across the floor. Obviously she wasn’t used to being one of whatever we are yet.

It did let me spot the horn sticking out from her bangs though. It was a shade of purple which was drastically different from the color that her coat, or, well, skin was.

Big Mike tried to approach first. Noticeably much slower than Big Mac’s running. “Are you oka—”

“Stay back!” She shouted. “Stay back...w-whatever you are!”

“Oh. Uh.” He looked to me, to which I only shrugged. I still hadn’t gotten him to tell me what we were called yet. “...Big Mike?”

“What in Equestria is a Big Mike?” The woman asked as she crawled back.

“Uh...me?” Big Mike ‘clarified.’ “This is Bell, by the way. Big Mike knows her name.”

I gave an awkward wave. “Um, hi?”

She stared at me for a second, then recognized my horn and stopped crawling away. “Are you a unicorn?”

I gave her a smile as awkward as my wave. “Uh-huh. Or, well, I was one. I don’t know what I am now.” I took the chance to try stepping forward a little bit. “My full name’s Sweetie Belle. Big Mac’s a friend of mine and Big Mike’s been helping us look for our families.”

I took one last step forward and held out my hand. “What’s your name?”

She looked down at my hand and recognized what I was trying to do. So, after running the idea over in her mind, she reached out and took my own hand.

As I struggled to pull her up to her back legs, I spotted her Cutie Mark; a simple purple and white star pattern with a blue trail above it.

When she was standing like we were, she was somewhere short of Big Mac in terms of height. She had a cyan green T-shirt, some gray pants and the things around her feet looked as sturdy as whatever Big Mac wore.

“Thanks,” she told me, already having some good balance on two legs. I figured that if she had been awake as long as we were, she probably had to figure that out.

“My name,” she began. “Is Starlight Glimmer.”

Shining Armor’s POV
Outside Ponyville

…

Scootaloo kept going down the path, taking in the sights around her while I travelled behind, lugging the cart that Morgue had brought to the manor.

I didn’t have a watch with me and my magic was still out of commission so I had no idea how long it had been since we split up. So I guessed maybe an hour.

In that time, I made sure that both Scootaloo and I adjusted to what we had turned into. My magic helped me adjust to the transformation faster, which was a pleasant surprise, and Scootaloo figured out how to use her wings to help keep her balance.

When we got outside the manor and on the road, Scootaloo tried to actually fly around. She was able to get off the ground and stay in a low hover if she tried but that was it. Still, apparently she seemed to be excited about that. Silver linings, I guess.

I looked at the loose bandage I had wrapped around the cart’s handle. Since I was pulling the cart with both hands, I let the bandage hang there so I could try levitating it. Or manipulating it.

Or, hay, even burning the edge of it would have been a success by this point. No matter how much I focused on my magic or my horn, nothing was happening.

“There’s the bell tower.”

I glanced up in time to see Scootaloo pointing a fist up at what was probably visible five minutes ago. Although, it didn’t look in too good a shape.

“Huh. Where’d the bell go?” Scootaloo asked aloud.

The bell, and by extension most of the belfry in general, was destroyed. We still had a hill to go over so we couldn’t see the base of it but I was pretty sure a giant bell couldn’t have gone far.

I narrowed my eyes at the destruction. “I’m not sure. Whatever happened, it wasn’t small.”

Scootaloo took a second to try flying up in the air but as her wings were practically a blur, she only made it a little bit off the ground before letting out a deep breath and falling back to the ground.

“Ugh...Man,” she muttered. “I can’t see anything.”

I tightened my grip on the cart handles and started forward, motioning for Scootaloo to stay close as I walked past. She got the meaning but rather than walk next to the cart she used her wings to help hop into the cart I was pulling. Then she hid herself amongst the blankets and bandages.

When we got close to the crest of the hill, I moved as slow as I could so the cart wouldn’t give me away. None of the stuff inside was tied down so up until now it had been rattling around.

Thank Celestia we’ve been on an open road, I thought. We might be loud but it’s hard for anything to follow us out here.

As I reached the top, I could hear Scootaloo peak up from her hiding spot to look at what I saw. Exactly as I thought, beside the bell tower was a mountain of bricks, shingles, and a massive brass bell partly embedded into the ground.

Then, standing beside the bell, was the last thing I expected. Another human. They had a heavy jacket with a hood on it and blond hair that from here looked like it ended in mint green tips similar to Scootaloo’s hair ending in purple.

The human wasn’t standing still. Actually, she was trying her hardest not to jump and cheer like a maniac as she kept admiring her reflection in the bell. She kept staring at her hands and holding her mouth open so she could stare at her teeth.

While both of us watched her, she tried spinning around on one foot only to start teetering back and forth, losing her balance. It went on like that until she tripped, falling backwards, headfirst into the—

DNNNnnnnnnnnnnnng~!

...bell.

I flinched, able to imagine the pain that was probably going through her skull as the bell’s hum faded. If this was somehow still a Changeling, I think we’re going to be okay.

Let's Go Meet the Locals

View Online

Shining Armor’s POV
Outside Ponyville
At Bell Tower

…

As the pony-turned-human, fumbled to the ground after hitting their head, I couldn’t stop myself from imagining the pain they were experiencing. But even with my eyes practically closed with my painful expression, I noticed the mint green unicorn horn sticking out of her head.

“...No,” Scootaloo said in disdain. “No way.”

“What?” I turned back to her. “Do you think you know her?”

“Everypony in Ponyville knows her,” she informed me. “She’s the mare that always kept going on about human-this and human-that.”

I raised an eyebrow. “She knows about humans?”

“Yeah. Kinda ironic, now that I think about it.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “But if she’s freaking out that much, it’s gotta be her.”

I studied the mare, or ‘female human’, for a second. It took her some time to drag herself back to two legs, rubbing her head as she stood. She seemed to have a good handle on moving around.

“Scootaloo. Do you think you know her enough to ask some questions? The kind that only she would know?”

Scootaloo deflated for a moment. “Yeah. Unfortunately,” she mumbled. “I guess that means we’re going to talk to her?”

I gave her a gentle look. “If you don’t want to, you don’t. But if that’s really somepony else, we need to warn them about the Changelings.”

Scootaloo groaned to herself before slowly climbing back out of the cart. “Alright, fine. But if that really is her then I’m not answering any questions.”

Scootaloo took a deep breath and progressed forwards, dreading whatever was about to happen next.

“Uh, hey? Hey Lyra?” Scootaloo half-shouted, half-mumbled.

‘Lyra’ froze still before she started looking around a little bit. I tried following her gaze, making sure she wasn’t eyeing any other Changelings that were hiding.

“Lyra Heartstrings,” Scootaloo tried again, this time catching Lyra’s attention. “Hey, uh...Is that you?”

Lyra stared up at Scootaloo in disbelief. Then at me, which, admittedly, I tensed up in response. But rather than hiss or act suspicious, her face lit up into a bright smile.

“More humans,” she breathed. “This isn’t another dream? I was right?”

I take it back, I realized. This is definitely suspicious.

Lyra’s expression quickly shifted into shock. “I was...right. I was right. I was right!” Then shock shifted back to blind joy as she started repeating those same three words over.

She started, I think, dancing in place as she hopped from one leg to the next before cackling altogether.

“In your FACE Minotaurs!” She cheered. “They said I was insane! That they weren’t some kind of failed experiments of cows catching Human-itis! I knew Human-itis was real!”

Scootaloo turned around to blankly stare at my now incredibly confused face. “Now you get why everypony in Ponyville knows her.”

I nodded slowly, watching as she started sprinting towards us. Not walking. Not even running. Sprinting.

“You gotta tell me,” she shouted. “Where did you come from?! How’d ya get here?! Do humans have their own country or are you from outside Equiss?! I, and, y’know, I guess Equestria, need answers!”

“Well, that settles it. Definitely Lyra,” Scootaloo told me. “So. I’m gonna check out that bell tower. You’re kinda doomed already. Sorry.”

She didn’t even wait for a reply. Scootaloo just started walking down the hill as Lyra passed and ran right up to me.

“Wait,” I told her. “What do you mean doom—” “So you weren’t always human?!” Lyra nearly screamed.

“Did you catch Human-itis too?! Did it hurt or did you wake up like I did?”

“I...woke up,” I told her slowly. “Hold on a second. Have you been at this bell tower the entire time?”

She blinked and turned to stare at the structure for a second. “Oh. No, I got here like three minutes ago. I woke up in this weird cottage with a bunch of animal cages inside of it. Pretty creepy, right?”

Before I could think about it, she took my arm and started looking at it from different angles.

“Wah— hey, do you mind?” I took it back and watched her for a moment as she looked dejected. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t start pulling on me.”

“Sorry, I get a little excited sometimes,” she told me. “But how’d you both wake up like this?”

“We’re trying to find out,” I told her. “I woke up in somepony’s house and Scoota—” “Don’t drag me into this please!”

Lyra opened her mouth to ask something else but quickly stopped short. “Hold up. Did you say…”

She and I turned to the bell tower as Scootaloo, who had still been in ear shot, looked at us worriedly.

“Scootaloo?”

“Uhhhhhh,” Scootaloo hummed a raspy note. Then immediately pointed at me with her fist. “U-Uh, that’s Prince Shining Armor!”

“He is?!” Lyra turned her focus back on me. Her eyes seemed even more wild than before.

“Uh-huh,” Scootaloo hummed, watching my smirk vanish. “Actually, he even met a real human! He talked to the guy and everything!”

“Scootaloo,” I tried to scold her but I got cut off.

“What was the human like?!” That question and many, many more were shot at me in rapid fire as Lyra never looked away from me again.

In fact, as she went on, I saw her balled up hands begin crackling with a gold, magical aura.

From her hands? I looked down at my own hands for a moment and tried to focus my magic again. And, by command, that familiar rose-colored aura enveloped both hands.

I smirked inwardly for a moment. Now that’s more like it.

I let the magic fade away and put my concentration back towards Lyra as she kept asking question after question. She wasn’t going to stop talking until I stopped answering. So I settled for taking up the cart in my hands and walking down to the bell tower to get comfortable.

Big Mike’s POV
Ponyville Cliff

…

I rubbed my eye while this new girl, the one with a purple horn, finished trying to explain all this new stuff to me. Every now and then, Bell would say some stuff too and Big Mac would just nod along or throw in a ‘Eeyup’ to go along with it.

To tell the truth, it was hard to follow a lot of what they were talking about. They were using words that sounded like jokes and it all sounded like one big imaginary game.

Then again, after the talking ponies and werewolves, I guess what they were talking about didn’t seem too random. Just confusing.

“All of you were ponies before, then,” I summed it all up. Then I looked between Bell and the new girl. “And Bell said that you were unicorns?”

“Yep.” Sweetie breathed a sigh of relief. “And Big McIntosh is an earth pony.”

“Eeyup,” Mac added.

I thought about it some more. “But then, if you’re supposed to be ponies like all of those pink ones, how’s come you aren’t anymore? Is that supposed to happen?”

The new girl, Bread Bright I think, shook her head. “Not particularly. There are transmogrification spells that can allow a pony to change into a different form, although to extend that kind of magical capability to so many targets at once, even if it’s just the four of us, would call for extremely advanced magic. And that’s not even taking into account the fact that ponies that aren’t willing to allow themselves to be polymorphed in the first place would mean that the caster would need to overpower each pony’s individual magic to forcibly change them.”

She turned back towards the rest of us and was met with three very confused looks.

“Umm,” Bell hummed. “Could you say that a little slower? And with less words?”

Big Mac nodded. “Eeyup.”

“...” I tried to replay some of the bigger words over in my head. And when that didn’t work I tried sounding them out.

“Transistor-giraffe,” I tried. Nope. That didn’t sound right.

Bread Flight’s patience faded for a moment. “Somepony had to be really powerful to turn us into...whatever we are.”

The trio of us all started nodding along, with Bell and I letting out an ‘Ohhhh’ as we understood.

Then I frowned again.

“But, Big Mike’s always been a human. He’s not a pony.” Or...am I?

“Finally,” Bell groaned. “Big Mike, we’ve been trying to get you to tell us what we are all day!”

“Oh. sorry.” I shrugged. “But why didn’t you just ask?”

Bell didn’t tell me. Instead, she just slapped the part of her forehead under her horn. Is that a unicorn thing or is she upset?

“That’s another thing,” Breath Light brought up. “In order for somepony to transform their target, they would need to know what a human is in the first place. More specifically, they’d need to see and understand humans to begin with.”

“But I’ve never even heard of a human until now.” Bell pouted.

“Eenope,” Big Mac threw in.

“Big Mike knows humans,” I admitted. “He doesn’t know any magic though. My brother knows some party tricks though.”

“This is stronger than party tricks,” Breath Fight informed me. “In fact, I’d wager that they’d be strong enough to put up this barrier too.”

“Oh yeah, the purple sky.” I glanced up at it for a moment. “So that’s not some sort of trick or something? That’s actually there?”

She nodded. “More than likely. Not to mention it’s impossible to get through it unless you can dispel it.”

“Huh.” I stared at it for a second. It rounded out at the top so you couldn’t just climb over it. “Well then...What if you went under it?”

“...Say what now?” Brake Light blinked.

“Like, maybe you dig a hole and go that way? That’s how my dog Dan kept getting past our fence. Joe had to train him to stop doing that.”

Oh yeah, Dan, I remembered. I took a second to hope that he was okay while the others thought about what I said.

“Actually, that makes sense,” Bell agreed. “If it’s just a giant dome then that means that it just goes until it hits the ground, right? Maybe those dog things that were at my house already have a tunnel.”

“U-Uh,” the new girl stammered for a moment. “I-I mean, I suppose that might be an idea. There’s no telling how far deep we might have to dig. The barrier may even curve back in on itself underground.”

“Then maybe we can do what Bell said and get the werewolves to do it.” I pounded my fist into the palm of my hand. “They’re still dogs, yeah? Dogs are great at digging!”

Big Mac nodded along with a content smile.

“So we’ll do that,” I announced. “We find some werewolves, have them help get us a really good tunnel, and go under the purple sky! Easy and done.”

“What are you...why do you keep saying werewolves?” Flashlight asked me. “And how would we do that anyways? We’re just four ponies?”

“No,” I told her with a smile. “We’re humans. And we human people do crazy stuff all the time! Like, when some people built a really, really big wall in China, did that stop the humans?”

“...I don’t know,” she admitted with a shrug.

“That’s right. No.” I shook my head with a smile. “In the movie, that guy with the scary eyes and the bird just climbed it. And then, also, when humans built really, really tall triangles to keep out other humans who wanted to steal stuff, did that stop them?”

“I’m going to guess also no?” Flashlight rolled her eyes.

“Actually, Big Mike doesn’t know yet,” I admitted. “Big Mike never saw the Indiana movies. They creeped him out when he saw the skull thing in a video once.”

The three of them shared a look of utter silence.

“The point is,” I concluded. “Even if you’re not actually humans, we can probably do whatever humans could do. So if a human could get around a purple sky, we probably can too.”

“That’s the takeaway?” She lamented with a dull tone.

I gave her my best smile. “Yeah, you get it, String Sight!”

Suddenly, she looked as if I punched her in the gut. “...Starlight. Glimmer.”

Bell gave her a defeated smile. “You get used to it.” To which Glammer only stared at Bell skeptically.

“Alright everyone. We need to start finding more people if we’re gonna dig this tunnel,” I told them.

I looked over at Big Mac. “Hey, is it okay if Grammar—” “Glimmer!” “Yeah, her. She can take Big Mike’s seat in the taxi-rickshaw, right?”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac started to go over to bring the taxi back around.

“Hold it,” Glimmer commanded me. “You do know that this whole tunnel idea isn’t the best plan, right?”

“Well, probably,” I admitted. “But Big Mike’s not really a planning person. He’s more of a ‘someone-give-him-a-shovel-and-he’ll-do-it’ person. Besides, after we find my brothers and Big Mac’s sister and Bell’s family and probably some other people, one of them’s gonna come up with a better plan anyways.”

“Then why go along with the digging plan?” She pressed.

“Because no one’s told Big Mike a better plan yet. And not digging a tunnel isn’t a plan. It’s a not-plan.”

Bell and Grimmer thought it over for a second before Bell eventually just shrugged. “I mean...Technically, he’s not wrong. And we’re still looking for everypony anyway.”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac set the taxi down beside the three of us and Bell slowly started to make her way inside.

Gritter gave me a worried look and opened her mouth to say something only to close it. She gave me this unsure stare.

“Something wrong?” I blinked.

“Um...N-No. Nevermind.” She gave me an embarrassed smile before carefully climbing into the taxi with Bell.

Once she and Bell were in place, I decided to do one last thing before standing over beside Big Mac. I walked over to the railing where we saw the girl for the first time.

“Uh, hey Grover?” I called out.

“It’s…” Grover stopped when Bell just shook her head. So she let out a small groan instead. “Yes Big Mike?”

“Were you trying to look for anyone else when you were up here? This is a pretty good looking spot.” The railing was still too low for me to lean on so I settled for putting my hands on my brow to block out the sun.

“I suppose you could say that,” she explained. “I didn’t know what those other humans were when I saw them so I kept my distance.”

Bell stared at her with wide eyes. “You’ve seen somepony else?!”

“Well, I didn’t know if they were ponies or not. I’ve never been to this town.” Groomer shrugged. “But there were two other humans there. One with a gray mane on their head and another that was on a rooftop.”

“Rooftop?” I looked back over the cliff and started looking for any sign of a person. “Which rooftop?”

“It was a tall tower-like building with a red rooftop. It looked like it was falling apart from where I was.”

Suddenly, Bell gasped. “That’s the town hall! Big Mike,” she shouted to me. “I think it’s close to the edge of that amusement park place.”

“Close to the amusement park...” I looked a little closer but it wasn’t hard to track down. A lot of the buildings in this town were each really unique and colorful but only one building looked more towery than the others.

“Yeah, Big Mike sees it,” I told them. “It doesn’t look too far. Just down the hill and in a that way direction,” I said, pointing in a ‘that way’ direction.

“We already know where it is,” Bell told me. Oh yeah. “Do you see anypony there?”

“Um...” I looked a little harder. “Well. It’s got a lot of pink windows. But, Big Mike sees a lot of spaces without windows for some reason. Is there supposed to be a balcony that goes all the way around?”

“Eeyup?”

“Oh. Well, there’s not anymore,” I told them. “There’s a giant pile of wood on one side where the balconies are supposed to be. And then, there’s a little tower at the top that—Uh...”

“What, what’s wrong?” Bell almost got out of the taxi.

I didn’t have to answer her though. Even though we were kind of far away, all of us could hear the snapping and soon the smashing of the town hall’s rooftop break and tumble into the streets below.

“Was that the tower?!” Now Bell definitely tried jumping out of the taxi but Big Mac caught her and forced her to sit back down.

“Mike,” Big Mac shouted. “We need ta go!”

I looked for another second. Now that the little watch tower’s top was gone I could see inside. Moving around on the little stand I spotted something looking over what railing was left.

“Person!” I shouted at them. “There’s a person on that roof!”

Big Mac grabbed the taxi handles and worked to turn the whole thing around. As he did, I grabbed the taxi by one of the handles and we worked to get the taxi back down the hill without it running over us in the process.

Grime Fright and Bell held onto the taxi’s walls and seats to keep from falling out as Big Mac and I matched speed and started running down the hill.

“Are they gonna be okay?!” Bell shouted.

“Eeyup!”

“How do you know?!” Grim Fright demanded.

“Because,” I screamed, not having a real reason.

But we kept running anyway.

As Town Hall Falls...

View Online

Big Mike’s POV
Ponyville Streets

…

After we got back down the hill without crashing, we were running as fast as the rickshaw would let us go. Eventually, I fell back and started pushing the rickshaw from behind just so we could run faster.

Along the way, Big Mac would be shouting directions he was going. He knew the best route to keep running and the only time we ever slowed down was when we had sharper turns or wide alleys to fit through.

The entire way, Bell and Green Light were screaming and holding on to whatever was inside the rickshaw to hold on to.

With how much this rickshaw keeps getting thrown everywhere you’d think people would give it handles or some kind of seatbelt.

Oh. Not people. Ponies...Do ponies know what seatbelts are?...Why did ponies build a rickshaw?

Big Mac shouted ‘right’ and the two of us worked together to turn the rickshaw without it tipping over. Meanwhile, I could feel the girls sliding against one of the walls as we went.

“You girls good?!” I shouted at the rickshaw’s back window.

“Fine!” Bell screamed but it was pretty shaky behind how loud she was.

“Are we close yet?!” The other lady pleaded.

“Eeyup!” Mac shouted. “Last turn,” he warned me.

I pressed my arms up against the rickshaw, biting through the sharp pain carving down my arms. That and the heavy breathing played in rhythm, begging for us to stop.

“Left!”

I braced myself and pushed as Big Mac guided us again. This time it was a wider turn so it wasn’t as bad for the girls as when we were barreling through the neighborhoods or wide alleys.

Then the girls started screaming, forcing Big Mac to yell louder..

“BRAKE!”

I moved my arms to grab whatever edge I could find and started pulling. I tightened my fingers around whatever edge I could find and began pulling.

At this point, Big Mac and I were still running at pace since we knew better than to just dig our feet into the ground and get run over.

Before I could realize what was going on, I heard wood snap and break before pieces of tables and chairs ricocheted off of the taxi.

The girls kept screaming, which meant they were fine, and I was busy trying not to trip over pieces of debris.

This went on for another ten or so seconds without any more commands from Big Mac. He didn’t appear beneath the taxi though so I had to guess he was powering through everything.

“Wall! WALL!”

“BRACE!”

I didn’t care who talked anymore. Without thinking, I grabbed the side of the rickshaw and the bumper and heaved, letting my shoes drag into the dirt road.

And it worked.

For a second, I didn’t feel the road beneath me. I had my eyes closed and head turned so I didn’t see what happened next. But I felt everything slow down for a second before it just stopped completely.

I felt everything settle into the ground and realized that I wasn’t being dragged anymore. And when I opened my eyes we were standing in place and everything looked blurry.

I rubbed my eyes with my forearm, not realizing the pain from the scratches thanks to the adrenaline, before looking up again. Whatever pain or exhaustion I had, it was making me see things.

The girls slammed into the back of the seat with tired sighs. They stopped screaming and were taking a breath.

In fact, all of us did. Even as I walked around the taxi to get a look at everyone else. The two girls sat limply and Big Mac was trying his best to stay standing.

Awkwardly, I reached out and offered him a hand. “Uh...Good work?” I told him.

He took a second before looking up at me with a tired expression. “...Eenope.” He shook his head and took my hand to stand.

“Wait. Nope?” I watched him for a moment. “But...I didn’t do that.” I was confused, but that didn’t really matter right now. So instead I faced the girls. “You two can stay here right now if you want. Okay?”

“Uh-huh.” “Yep.” They didn’t complain.

Big Mac and I slowly trudged across the plaza, our energy now entirely gone. Around us were a handful of tables and chairs that weren’t smashed by us. Meanwhile, all the nearby buildings were businesses of all kinds.

The plaza looked like it would be a nice place for people, or, I guess ponies, to hang around. The only problem was that much of the area looked broken down.

Two or three buildings had all their windows busted, lamp posts were bent and twisted like they were cardboard and among the rooftops there were several that looked like something heavy crashed through them.

Aside from the path of destruction from our runaway rickshaw, there were small craters scattered about. Whatever smashed into the roofs probably smashed the dirt too.

Finally, we reached the tall tower building I saw from the cliff. It didn’t look like anything else had broken off but now I had a full view of the pile of wood and rubble that crumbled off the side. We were also standing beside that chunk of roof I saw fall earlier.

“Are you up there?” I shouted breathlessly, cupping my hands around my mouth. “We saw the roof fall down. Are you okay?”

There was silence for a few seconds as Big Mac and I waited. And, while staring at the roof, the first thing that broke the silence was a snap.

A woman’s voice shrieked as, tumbling down, we saw a small piece of railing flying straight for us. Well, kind of.

Big Mac, in his delirium, thought it was going to hit him and tried to duck right only to fail. Instead, what happened was I grabbed him out of instinct and threw him to my left.

As he fell on his back, we both watched the debris strike the dirt so hard it stuck out like a knife, pinning the same spot Big Mac was about to duck towards.

I hugged my arms around myself, now feeling all the claw marks start to catch up with me.

“Thanks.” Big Mac took a breath and started to pick himself up while I kept still.

How’d that happen? I frowned.

I saw the wood coming down and I just...knew. Part of me wanted to catch it, like a football, but before I did I thought pulling Mac was better. All before the wood could hit the ground.

Actually, even before that. I already reached for Big Mac when—

“Hello?” An older voice called from above. “Who’s down there?”

Not from the rooftop but from the lower balcony, we saw a face peeking out over the low railing while on their hands and knees. They were shaking.

I took a second to take in a breath, ignoring my arms. “I’m Big Mike. This is Big Mac. We came to see if you needed some help.”

“Big Mac?” She blinked. “Big McIntosh? Is that you?”

Big Mac took a second to stare at the woman before squinting his eyes. “Mayor?”

“Yes. Yes, it’s me!” She took a second to relax. “I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m. I-I’m the same thing you are!”

“Oh, Big Mike knows this one,” I cheered, raising my hand before trying to pretend that didn’t hurt. “You’re called a human!”

“A HUMAN?!” Another voice screamed from the top of the building. “Oh, you have gotta be kidding me!”

I looked back to the woman. “Who was that?”

“That’s Bon Bon. She’s trapped on the town hall’s watchtower.” The mayor took a second to look at the roof. “I don’t know how she had gotten up there but the building’s been falling apart. I tried getting closer but the entrance to the balcony collapsed behind me.”

Big Mac took that as his queue and started towards the main door while I stayed back.

“Where’s the door to get to that roof part?” I asked.

“There isn’t one.” The Mayor shook her head. “The platform up there was built for Pegasi. There’s a trapdoor but no way to get there without flying up.”

Big Mac started driving his shoulder into the door a few times until finally trying to kick it open. Rather than the doors flying open, Big Mac’s foot broke through and made a small hole that his leg got stuck in.

Right away I saw him hopping on one foot to hold his balance but it didn’t last and he fell with a bam.

I flinched. “Don’t worry Ms. Mayor! We’ll be right back.” I gave her a nod before running to the entrance.

“Here.” I took a second to pull Big Mac up. “Need help breaking it?”

“Nope,” Big Mac shook his head. “Blocked. Won’t budge.”

“No front door then?”

“Eenope.”

I looked around the porch we were standing on. On either side of the main door were two large pink windows and the floorboards were either falling apart or cracked.

“There’s a back door,” Mac went on, not noticing as I pulled out a loose floorboard. “Locked prob’ly.”

“Nah. Big Mike has a better idea.”

Big Mac turned to look at me. “Eeyu—What’re—?!”

He watched as I swung the board like a bat, shattering the window and knocking out most of the tiny crossbar things that these fancier windows had.

“Uh…’Kay.”

He watched on as I used the board to clear whatever glass bits were left along the edge before tossing the wood through our new door.

Next, I carefully fit my way through the window before helping Big Mac through. I didn’t want him to fall on top of all the glass on the floor.

After getting through, Big Mac took the lead and we went towards one of the archways that led to a set of stairs. When we reached the floor the mayor was on, I got a good feel for how the building was set up.

Inside, there were three floors. The main floor we broke into, a second floor that had balconies all around the inside, and a third floor with one big balcony and probably some small rooms.

The second floor had two doors that led to the outside balcony. The first one Big Mac brought us to was destroyed, as was the balcony beyond it. This was the part of the building that was now a pile of rubble outside.

The second one Big Mac led us to was the only one leading outside. The doorframe had cracked and parts of the ceiling had broken down, blocking the door from opening.

“Is that you?” From the other side of the rubble I heard the mayor’s voice. The door had a window so we could see her.

“Eeyup.” Big Mac gave her a nod. Then looked at me.

“Already on it,” I told him, setting up on one side of the ceiling piece as Big Mac took the other. We did a quick count before working together to pull the bigger piece of ceiling away from the door.

Once that was done, I stood up to shake off the sting of my arms while Big Mac started clearing the rest of the rubble.

“Y’alright?” He asked before opening the door.

I hummed in approval and watched as the mayor barreled through the doorway, tripping into Big Mac as she did.

“Thank you,” she said, trying to find some sort of balance on two legs. She only tried staying on two legs when she saw that that’s how we were standing.

“I saw the other two...ponies,” she said awkwardly. “Downstairs. Are either of them Pegasi?”

Big Mac shook his head.

“I was afraid of that.” She bit into her knuckle. “I don’t know how long that roof will hold. We need to get Bon Bon down soon.”

I scratched my head for a second. “Well you said there was a trapdoor, right? Where is it?”

“In the center of the ceiling,” she said.

“Well, what if we catch her?”

The mayor took a second to stare at Big Mac, who settled with giving her a shrug and a guilty look.

“That might be a good plan B,” she started with this gentle tone as she turned to me. “But I was hoping for something...safer?”

“Oh. Like a tiny trampoline thingy?”

“...” The mayor gave me a hard look before turning fully to Big Mac. “Have you seen anypony else on the way here?”

“It’s not that bad of a plan,” I argued with a pout.

The mayor took a moment to let out a small breath before staring me down. “Big Mike was it? I appreciate that you’re willing to help us but I won’t risk letting somepony get hurt if there’s a better way. And I don’t want to scare Bon Bon more than she already is with dropping her.”

I rubbed my arms and stood down from the gaze. She wasn’t mean but I knew that she was the smarter person here. It was probably better to leave the idea part to her.

“Wait.”

The mayor and I turned to Big Mac. “What?”

“Ah think Big Mike’s onto somethin’,” he told us. “Is the only way ta get ta Bon Bon the hatch on the roof?”

“Erm, yes?” The mayor squinted her eyes behind her glasses.

“No,” I countered. “There’s always climbing.”

Big Mac thought it over for a moment as the mayor looked back to me. “Climb?” The mayor asked. “You can climb up there?”

“Well, doesn’t look too hard.” I shrugged. “There’s another balcony upstairs, right?”

They both nodded. “But the roof is too steep to walk up.”

“But not climb,” I told her. “Big Mike’s climbed onto his roof before. This roof looks even easier than that.”

“Eeyup.” Big Mac smiled and turned to the mayor. “We find a rope, Big Mike can climb up an’ lower Bon Bon down the hatch.”

“Is that the best way?” The mayor bit her knuckle again. “Wouldn’t it be better to have Bon Bon climb down with Big Mike?”

“Bad idea.” It was my turn to shoot her down. “Big Mike knows climbing. Which means Big Mike knows falling too. If she falls from outside we might not catch her.”

The mayor flinched. “W-Well, what if you carry her down?”

“Eenope,” Big Mac went next. “Roof’s crumblin’. Might break under the weight.”

“Hey,” I protested but a look from Big Mac made me be quiet. Yeah, guess he’s right.

The mayor took some time thinking over our options. But as her eyes darted in every direction behind her thin glasses, her shoulders sagged. “That really does sound like the only option, doesn’t it?”

“Eeyup.” “Uh-huh.”

She nodded to herself before looking to both of us. “Alright then. In that case, go ahead and search the nearby buildings for anything that can help. I’m going to go to the third story balcony and try to explain the plan to Bon Bon.”

Big Mac gave a firm nod and turned to me. “Mike, let the girls know. Ah’ll start searchin’.”

“Got’cha! Don’t worry Ms. Mayor Lady, we’ll be back soon.”

“Thank you. I’m counting on both of you.”

After giving us a thankful smile she started to walk off with the dignity of a mayor.

And when that didn’t work, she fell onto her hands and knees and crawled off with the dignity of a mayor.

When she made it out of earshot, I bent down and picked up whatever piece of broken wood had the least amount of splinters.

“Should Big Mike help her walk first,” I whispered.

Big Mac gave me a final nod and made for the stairs that led down while I chased after the crawling mayor.

Author's Notes:

The roster filling out ever more. We have about two more characters being brought in next chapter but after that, we have the starting cast.

The next chapter will be the last one and expect it to be the last. It'll be telling all bringing all the plot lines into one chapter. So the whole, multiple stories idea will be fading away from there (mostly).

QotC: It's a pretty simple one this time. Any plans for this October? I know some people who are going to enjoy the Month of Terraaarrr-aarr, but it's always nice to hear what other people are going to do. Honestly, I just wanna find a good horror movie.

This final chapter will take me a bit to write, so sorry in advance for the wait. That said, I'm going to publish it on the 30th. Hallow's Eve. Figured I'd get in early before the Halloween stories.

Until then everyone!

...The Moon Shall Rise (1/2)

View Online

Joe’s POV
Random Farmhouse

…

8:03 AM. That’s what my watch read. When I woke up it was 3:27 AM. So four and a half hours of walking around inside a dome with a girl calling herself Applebloom.

And the sun hasn’t moved an inch.

I wasn’t surprised that my watch was wrong when the sun was out. It’s what made me first realize I was moved somewhere else.

Oddly enough, the sun not moving still made me feel nervous at the pit of my stomach. After remembering Princess Celestia, I remembered her whole controlling sun schtick too.

A still sun further proved that idea, but I somehow knew that the sun wasn’t supposed to be stuck like that.

I brought myself back to the present. Bloom and I were now searching the fifth farmhouse and still no answers. There weren’t any signs of a struggle or the residents packing up.

“Nothin’ upstairs...again,” a dejected voice called out from the top of the staircase.

“Shocker,” I replied.

When Bloom reached the bottom I noticed her sour look. “Ya don’t gotta be so rude about it ya know.”

“I told you at the third house that we weren’t going to find anything.” I started, setting down the family picture I was staring at. It was a group of ponies posing underneath a healthy peach tree. “But you didn’t listen.”

“Well, what if somepony was in trouble?” She set her hands on her hips. Something else I noticed was that human mannerisms were slowly becoming more instinct for her. And they weren’t from copying me.

“What if they were?” I didn’t turn to look at her. Instead, I crouched down to open the drawer from the coffee table. “We wouldn’t be able to do much. The better idea would be to just back away safely.”

Bloom glared at me. “Yah’d do that? Jus’ leave ‘em?”

I sighed, closing the drawer when there was nothing but sentimental junk. “You say that as if there’s a choice. We’ve been over this, Ms. Bloom, there would be nothing we could do.”

I crossed the living room to enter the kitchen only for her to block the door. “Then why’re ya searchin’ every place top ta bottom?”

“A distraction.” I told her. “The more I keep seeing these homes, the more nervous I keep getting.”

“Nervous?” Her tone softened. “Is. Is that ‘cause ya can’t find any human stuff anywhere?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. “You’re partly right. It’s more that I’m starting to second guess how I’m supposed to fit into any of this. That I’m a human in a town of ponies.”

“Guess that is weird.” Bloom nodded along. “But whad’ya mean second guess? What were ya thinkin’ before?”

“...Not important.” I stood up fully. “There’s something else I wanted to talk about; how closely do you know whoever lives here?”

“Ya mean Peach Cobbler?” Bloom thought about it for a second while I pinched my nose at the name of the owner. Of course their name is peach related.

“Well, she’s an Earth Pony who moved from Manehatten a few years back. Somethin’ about inheritin’ the farm from her folks. Ah didn’t know them too well though. She always talked about turnin’ the place inta somethin’ bigger.”

Entrepreneurial spirit, I imagined. But with all of the sentimental stuff and hand-me-down furniture, I wonder how much she’s staked into this.

“Well, would she mind if we swiped a few peaches?”

“The peaches?” She glanced out the window at the peach fields. “Why would we need ta take the—” grrrrrrrrrrrggg...

The two of us let the growl play out as Bloom blushed furiously.

“Should I still answer that question?”

“n-no...” Bloom ignored her stomach as it growled again.

“We’ve been running around for five hours. We probably didn’t eat before waking up at the schoolhouse either. We need something and, despite everyone else missing for months, those peaches are ready for harvest. At least, I think they are. I don’t know farming,” I admitted.

Bloom walked up to the window and looked out at the peaches more closely. “No, yer right. They’re good enough ta buck.”

“To...I’m sorry, to what?” I blinked.

“Ta buck ‘em,” she went on without seeing the disturbing problem. “Peach Cobbler can’t buck ‘em all herself. She wears out pretty quickly. So mah family comes over ta buck Cobbler’s peaches together. She won’t let us do it fer free though so we’re allowed ta eat her peaches whenever we’d like.”

“...I see.” I nodded slowly. From her context, I realized ‘buck the peaches’ wasn’t slang. I hoped so anyways.

I played along. “Well, peaches can be eaten raw so, aside from maybe a peeler, we won’t need a kitchen.”

“Maybe some bushels though,” she informed me, stepping past the door frame to grab said bushel that was out of view from me. “Here. We’ll eat what we buck!”

“O-kay.” I nodded awkwardly as Bloom made for the front door.

“Joe, what are you a part of,” I asked myself in German before following her out the door.

Shining Armor’s POV
Bell Tower

…

“Did he have brownish hair?”

“...Darker blonde, I think.”

“Diiiid...Oh! Did he have tannish skin?”

“I-I guess?” I wasn’t really listening, as rude as that sounds.

“What about,” Lyra went on, asking more questions as my focus was instead on my hands. The whole time, I was trying to get my magic working again.

So far, I could channel aura and pull off basic spells. I was also making barriers about the size of a meter. Simple, but it helped.

Past the spells, I found out something else as a human; there’s a trade off to magic. Quality fades in exchange for quantity.

Complex spells, like city-wide barriers, for example, are much harder to cast as a human. Probably because these hands are further away from our horns.

On the other hoof, bringing out raw magic was simple but drained a pony quickly. Except, when I fired a blast of magic, it was easy.

In fact, I expelled so much by accident that it destroyed the top of a distant tree. I was light-headed but, other than that, fine.

If an untrained human had magic they could probably fire a barrage of small blasts and feel winded. Meanwhile, as an untrained unicorn, they would be exhausted after about five blasts.

Then there was me. Barrier spells took both raw magic and careful practice, which meant I was better with raw magic than most unicorns.

Meanwhile, training as a Royal Guard makes you practice that skill more. So being a human had been an advantage for my magic.

“Uh. Guys?”

Lyra and I turned around to watch Scootaloo point out towards the treeline. “The bushes are moving.”

Lyra started hopping as a goofy grin spread across her. “More humans?! Well, I guess, more pony-humans would be cool too but—”

“Girls,” I spoke up. “We need to hide,” I told them. Then I started scolding myself before turning back to Lyra.

“Lyra, do you know what a Changeling is?”

Right away her demeanor faded into concern. “Y-yeah. Why?”

I took a small breath “We saw some earlier. They spread out and became all kinds of creatures,” I told her. “We need to hide.”

Thankfully, behind Lyra’s shock she caught her bearings pretty quick. “Okay, but, where?”

“In here!” Scootaloo shout-whispered, motioning us from the bell tower’s doorway. “It’s open.”

The three of us rushed in as I stacked up against the door, prepping my magic.

“Scootaloo, where’d you see them?”

“Where you shot that tree, there was something moving the branches.”

First good luck we’ve had all day.

It didn’t take long to see what Scootaloo meant. As they pushed the last branches away, two figures stumbled out of the woods. Both of them shambling and exhausted.

The first one was the same as us; human. They used a gnarled stick as a cane and had brass jewelry adorning their limbs and neck. They had a shirt without sleeves and their black mane was very short.

Behind that human was a creature the size of a foal. It walked on two legs and had a bright green mohawk as the rest of its body was either light green or purple...

“Spike?” I spoke aloud.

“Spike?”

There was shuffling behind me before Scootaloo was suddenly right behind me trying to peek outside. “You’re right. And he’s...He’s still a dragon?”

Both of us watched closer. Spike was scratched up and had a small limp as his tail dragged behind him. He looked miserable.

The human was in better condition but they had grass and dirt stains across them, equally tired but generally unharmed.

“Hold on.” Scootaloo leaned further out the door. “That human thing. That jewelry is like...Zecora!”

I yanked Scootaloo back inside, letting Lyra shush her, and peeked out again. The human stopped walking and looked around in confusion before looking directly at us.

I lunged back inside and was about to use my magic to close the door only to remember what Morgue pointed out back at the manor.

If I close the door, it’s more obvious. Just leave it alone.

“What are you doing?” Scootaloo asked. “We need to tell them we’re here!”

“Prince Armor just said there’s Changelings,” Lyra told her. “We need to keep hiding.”

Scootaloo didn’t listen to her. Instead she looked at me. “Do you know Spike too?”

“Of course I do,” I explained. “He’s...H-He’s. Uh…” My mind went blank on me no matter what I tried. Just like before.

Not a good sign.

“We can’t just let ‘em walk away,” Scootaloo pressed on. “What if they’re not Changelings? We need to warn them!”

“And if they are?” Lyra looked guilty. “I get you know them but, I mean, two friends walking out of the forest in trouble? That’s pretty suspicious.”

The girls stopped trying to argue with each other and turned to me. Both of them had their points but I was the one with the Changeling experience.

I glanced down at my hands and watched as my aura formed a small barrier around my arm. More specifically, a shield.

I sighed. “Alright Scootaloo, you’re right. Somepony needs to talk to them.” Her expression tensed for a second but I just shook my head. “You two stay inside. If anything happens, wait for my signal and get ready to run. Do you understand?”

When I explained it to her Scootaloo’s eyes stretched for a moment. She only now realized how dangerous this really was.

“I’ll keep an eye on her,” Lyra promised me, giving me a nervous smile. “I woke up at some abandoned cottage not too far. We can hide out there.”

When Scootaloo signed on to the idea, I felt more inclined to trust Lyra’s idea. Scootaloo knew her more than me anyways.

When we all seemed in agreement, I turned to the door. Here goes nothing.

3rd Person POV
Ponyville Streets

…

With Pinkie Park far behind him, Morgue was walking off down the same street that the Pinkies had led him. Although now, he felt much more relaxed.

Hanging from his side was a makeshift satchel that now held the golden tiara he had found in the park as well as a bunch of other random tools. Then, secured to his back were three blankets all rolled up.

It had taken Morgue about a half hour but in that time he had managed to talk circles around the identical ponies, convincing them that he had plenty of ideas to turn up the fun.

Whether they were as blindly on board as they seemed, Morgue had no clue. But while he was there, Morgue played some of the game booths, winning all the prizes he now possessed.

By this point, the Park’s music was too far to hear Vinyl’s music and Morgue had fallen into a relaxed walk. Since hearing Big Mike got to walk out of Pinkie Park scot free, and with some hopefully-not-bug-people friends, Morgue felt a lot less rushed.

Which is probably why Morgue didn’t expect to see large shadows flying past him from above.

Morgue stopped, placing his hand over his pocket as he looked up. Above him, closing in, were two bipedal lizards with large wings circling him like vultures.

As one of them, the dragon with white and pink scales, locked eyes with Morgue, Morgue took a second to take in a breath.

Then he ran like hell.

The two dragons stopped circling and went into a dive, shouting for Morgue to stop running. When it was obvious he wasn’t, the second dragon, A deep purple with blonde hair covering its face, went with plan B.

Before Morgue could reach the door, he heard one dragon slam onto the ground behind him.

Then he heard as the drake took in a deep breath with the sound of crackling embers behind it.

Desperate, Morgue reached into his satchel and pulled out the first solid thing he touched; a brick.

Abandoning the door, Morgue turned and chucked the brick directly into the window beside him, shattering it just before leaping inside.

A moment after Morgue collided with the floorboards, he heard the dragon’s roar and watched as the curtains and outer wall lit up in a dusty yellow flame.

Morgue crawled away on elbows and heels, standing up only after the flames died out and he was well behind another wall. The smell of ash and charred wood filled his nostrils.

“Fume!” A dragon shouted in a heavy tone. “She said bring anything in fresh, not crispy!”

“Whatever, Puff,” the other one returned in, what Morgue decided to dub, a ‘dude-bro’ voice. “She also said never let ‘em get away. He wasn’t stopping, yeah?”

The first dragon growled in defeat. “Bro was right. These namby-pamby ponies can’t make up their minds.”

Morgue was half listening as he ransacked every kitchen cabinet for something useful. He discovered the water was still working and that there were plenty of big skillets but neither would help fend off flames that large.

It also wouldn’t help put out the house that was now on fire.

Morgue started swearing under his breath, still taking up a skillet before running back into the hall.

At the same window he jumped through, Morgue saw the white dragon trying to fit his massive pink horns through the space. But he only managed one horn so far.

Meaning he’s stuck, Morgue put together, looking at the cast iron skillet in his hands.

“I see it!” The dragon shouted to the other dragon still outside. “It’s coming back to. To—wait. Wait. Get back! I SAID BA—

The purple dragon couldn’t see what happened next but he saw the white dragon flinch in pain with each loud, numerous clang that echoed out the window.

When all was done, Morgue tossed the heavily dented skillet aside and picked up his brick, stowing it back in the satchel as he ran for the door opposite of the house.

“It still there, Puff?!” The dude-bro dragon’s voice demanded.

“...Puff?”

Bon Bon’s POV
Atop Town Hall

…

“Alright Bon Bon, are you ready?!”

From outside on the ground, the mayor shouted out to me.

“Uh, y-yeah! I guess.” I know I didn’t sound convincing but I just wanted down.

I woke up on this tower without knowing how I got up here. And while I’ve been stuck here, I kept finding so many things wrong with Ponyville. From the dragons flying in the distance to the Ferris Wheel and built in carnival away from me.

Funnily enough, I already knew all about humans so it didn’t scare me as much as it should have. Living with Lyra does that to you. Didn’t expect her to get so much of it right though.

“Okay Bun Bun,” a stallion’s voice called out to me. It was the largest human standing from the balcony closest to me. “I’m gonna climb up there now, okay?”

I watched as he started moving his hands in a weird way. He was stretching and pushing the fingers in a way that made them click and pop.

Then I looked at the roof ahead of him. For a human, if Lyra’s unprompted hand lectures were right, climbing wouldn’t be a problem.

That is except for the weak spots all over the place. Ever since I woke up I heard the support beams creek and shift.

I didn’t know how it would last with something Big Mike bearing down on it. So I gave him a meek nod and shuffled back towards the opposite side.

Downstairs, underneath the hatch in the floor, was Big McIntosh. He was going to be ready to catch me in case the worst happened. Meanwhile, the young filly, the mayor and whoever that third pony was were all outside watching Big Mike.

It wasn’t long until I could feel the roof react to Big Mike’s weight. A cacophony of cracks rang out as heavy steps continued up.

After five steps there was a crack louder than the others. Only now, it was met with a pile of clattering and then distant screaming.

“Sorry!” Big Mike screamed. Then as his voice strained, the watchtower shifted back and forth. “Okay Bun Run. I’m halfway there.”

“O-Okay.” I took a second to calm my breath— Krrrrk! “WAH!”

I folded in on myself and dreaded the next sound. Rather than a loud boom from Big Mike falling it was a piece of roof shattering across the floor inside town hall.

I didn’t hear Big Mac screaming. I guess he wasn’t scared.

“A-Are. Are you still there?” I called out.

“Uh-huh,” Big Mike returned, his voice breaking. “B-Big Mike—uh, wait, my arm fell through the roof. Some of the wood’s really old, Big—err, I think.”

“Huh. That’s weird,” I said without thinking. I wanted to ignore the now swaying rooftop. “Ponies crash into town hall all the time. With all the repairs there shouldn’t be anything old about this place. Hehe...”

“Well...Needs fixed again.” My nervous smile stretched out even more at that. Of course it needs fixed. Something in this town always needs fixed.

The tower groaned with a loud shriek before Big Mike’s hand grabbed the edge of the platform. Out of deliriousness, I thought his hand was bigger than my head for a moment.

I kept watching as Big Mike started to pull himself up and into the watchtower. He had a long coil of rope wrapped around his shoulder and tried giving me this huge cheesy grin.

“Hello! Big Mike’s here now.” He tried sounding jovial but his voice was starting to break again.

He stood up slow, taking up a third of the space while I was in a fetal position on the other side. His smile got weaker as he looked more serious.

“So.” He spoke with the same tone you’d give a foal. “Big Mike’s gonna tie this rope around you like a harness. Y’know, like the rock climbers do. Okay?”

I nodded along and slowly climbed up to my feet. Before, the roof didn’t react when I moved around. Now that more of it was broken, it felt like the roof moved to every breath I made.

Big Mike quickly walked me through everything, having me stand still and hold my arms up as he tied around the center of my body. Then he tied it to himself to act as an anchor.

When he finished, I leaned over the trapdoor and spotted Big Mac again. He gave me a big friendly wave as he stayed put.

“Now here’s the worst part,” Big Mike warned me. “But it’s easy. You need to sit on the edge.”

I felt my heart pumping faster but I did as he said. The floorboards bent slightly as I sat beside the hatch, letting my legs dangle below. The floor kept getting further away from me.

“Good job.” He gave me what Lyra described as a thumbs up. I think it meant ‘good job’ or something like that. “Big Mike’s gonna lift you up then lower you down really slow. All you gotta do is hold on to the rope. Got it?”

Big Mike pulled the rope taut and I grabbed it with shaking hands. As I did,, all the color in my hands turned white. Even my Cutie Marks became paler.

Big Mike took a wide stance with his legs and took in a deep breath.

“Now up!” Big Mike’s voice tensed as he lifted me up a few inches. Right away, the rooftop started crackling like it was made of ice.

My grip on the rope somehow got tighter.

“Huh.” He smiled. “You’re pretty light. This’ll be easy. Here we go...“

Before I knew it, by one length at a time, Big Mike lowered me through the hatch. In seconds I was already two meters down.

Although, I was only made more mortified. I had a full view of the roof from underneath and every part I could spot was wrong.

Each piece of wood was rotten with parts either splintering apart or bending from the strain. Most of the wood wasn’t brown anymore, just black and squishy.

The shingles were just as bad too. They were colorful on the top but underneath they were beginning to melt away or simply missing; creating the holes that I saw before.

If there was any metal that went into this roof, there wasn’t anymore. But, in lieu of nails, the mold helped to glue the beams together.

“Wha-Wha...?”

Big Mike stopped lowering me down for a moment and I felt the rope move ever so slightly from side to side. Big Mike was adjusting his grip.

Unfortunately, the roof didn’t like that. It complained with splinters flying out while one of the larger beams started twisted like taffy.

The last straw was when one of the shingles finally broke off, it didn’t shatter or clank like I imagined. It struck the upper balcony with a sick splat.

Big Mac saw this too but he stayed focused on me. I was already halfway down by now.

“How ya doing so far?” Big Mike called out. By now I was a third of the way down.

“Um...fine,” I mumbled. I started looking down. The drop wasn’t as scary as what was above me.

It didn’t last.

The sunlight that poured in from the holes and hatch suddenly vanished and for a moment, everything was black.

Before I could look up to see why, I felt the rope twist and shake as Big Mike was stepping around on the watchtower. And then, when the rope became loose, I realized I was falling.

It was only for a second but in my screaming and flailing for any solid ground, I felt the rope tighten around me at the same moment the roof let out an orchestra of sounds.

Snapping boards and falling debris were far louder than any screaming I could manage and all I could do was hug the rope for comfort, hoping nothing hit me on the way down.

When everything finally fell quiet I realized that my eyes were closed as tightly as my grip.

So, one at a time, I opened them and noticed the softer light of the moon basking down on me like a single spotlight on a stage.

****************************************
**********************
The Sun was gone.
In its place: The Moon.
**********************
****************************************

...The Moon Shall Rise (2/2) [ACT 1 END]

View Online

3rd Person POV
Ponyville Streets

…

Morgue’s mind raced as he stared at where the sun was supposed to be. In its spot was a full moon looking much larger than any moon he saw back home.

Now, that moon and the burning building he had just broken out of were the only sources of light he had as he raced across the street for a new building.

Behind him, Morgue heard the burning building give out a massive breaking sound. He looked back for a moment and quickly dove away as a chunk of wall smashed into the house ahead of him, barricading the door.

“Okay, Scale-less!” From the burning building, standing where the front entrance once stood was the same purple and white dragon he battered. One of its horns were cracked as it let out a puff of pink flame.

“First? We were gonna take you to that sadistic pony. Nice and easy. NOW? Now you’re coming over-easy!”

Morgue didn’t say anything. Instead, he reached in his pocket and pulled out his knife, pressing the button that let it unfold to the length of a thin dagger.

At the same time he clutched the Discord necklace from under his shirt and took in a deep breath.

“You sure you wanna try that Barney?” Morgue stared down the dragon, trying to hide every ounce of fear as he wore a fake smirk. “No windows keeping you safe now.”

The dragon’s fins fell flat against his scales. “That’s it. I won’t regret this.”

Pink flames lit up the inside of the drake’s mouth the same time Morgue gripped the necklace.

“I WISH—” “Puff, stop dude!”

Morgue opened one eye after hearing a loud snap and right away he gripped the necklace tighter when the second dragon was standing beside the first. Thankfully, the purple dragon wasn’t as enraged.

Actually, the purple dragon was holding the white dragon’s toothy maw shut as ash and pink embers erupted from the sides.

“We don’t have time for this man!” The purple dragon looked worried. “The moon’s out! That means we need to go. Now!”

“Like that pamby gray pony will care if we’re late.” Puff shook off his friend’s claws. “Besides, that thing’s gonna pay!”

Morgue’s smirk turned more strained as he kept watching the argument. He felt like a third wheel all of a sudden.

“You know how paranoid that pegasus gets, man!” The purple dragon started looking around. “We were supposed to be back there, like, forever ago!”

Morgue backed up a little, folding his arms as he leaned up against the house behind him. His hand was still resting against the necklace he had, however.

“Aww,” Morgue cooed. “Are da good widdle dwagons bweaking deir curfew?”

“Shut it Scale-less!”

“Oh no, that burned more than your neon-colored breath,” Morgue fired back. “I don’t doubt you could cook me alive. But you won’t, will you? Because you’re scared of your mamá?”

Puff growled. “That pamby pegasus ain’t our—” “Bwaaaaaaagggggh!”

Beside him, the thin purple dragon crashed into the ground writhing in pain as every faded color of the rainbow washed over it in jagged, alien motions.

“S-She...heard you...dude,” The purple one groaned.

That was all the dragon could manage to say before the pain forced him to grit his teeth.

Puff’s face quickly turned up to the sky as he started screaming. “Fine! Fine, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, just turn it off!”

But that didn’t do anything. Instead, everyone watched as the purple dragon suddenly started glowing with a magic aura before vanishing entirely leaving only a small collection of colorful magic wisps.

Morgue watched, mouth wide open as the white dragon took a deep, shaky breath and spread out his wings.

“Consider yourself lucky, Scale-less.” It glared sharply. “Next time, you’re gonna get it.”

Morgue didn’t answer, instead watching as the dragon took off before whatever ‘heard him’ decided he was too slow.

“That. That dragon popped.” Morgue kept staring where the magical wisps started forming a familiar orb. “And that’s another...”

As the orb started to flash different colors, Morgue just rubbed his face. “What did those pink locas put in my food?”

The orb burst like before and the next second, Morgue was pinned by multi-colored magic aura.

Shining Armor’s POV
Bell Tower

…

When I got out of the bell tower, I got Spike and Zecora’s attention. I had walked towards them until I was about two meters away, magic prepped and ready.

But when the fresh night sky replaced the sun in a matter of seconds, I made the first move. Before either of them reacted, I formed a barrier around the both of them, trapping them inside.

“Woah,” Spike took a second to stare at it before walking up to the wall. “Shining, is that you?”

“Hold on,” I warned him. “Before anything else, I have some questions for both of you.”

“Asking them now’s not a wise plan.” the human ‘Zecora’ told me. “After all there’s a reason why we ran.”

“Ran?” I furrowed my brow. “What do you mean ran? Ran from where?”

“No, she’s right,” Spike doubled down. “We don’t have much time. You gotta help us!”

“You need to tell me what you’re talking ab—”

Answering me was this loud canine howl. Then, several others joined in with this harmonic echo.

Too close. I started watching the treeline, noticing faint green lights from the shadows.

“This night sky may not be right but it still brings the wolves great spite.” Zecora turned to me as she went on with the cryptic riddles.

“As they still find their might, tell me, can your magic cast a fire’s light?”

“What are you trying to ask me?” The sound of howling was getting replaced with cracking branches that got closer towards us.

“Zecora’s asking if you can make fire,” Spike translated. By this point, Zecora let him do the talking as she reached for a side pouch on her side.

“Can you make a fire?” Spike begged. “Zecora’s got this blue dust that works on the Timberwolves!”

Zecora finally opened the pouch and started shoveling out small piles of blue sand-like dust before coating her gnarled cane with it.

But I wasn’t convinced. “Spike, you’re a dragon. Can’t you make fire?”

Zecora huffed. “A dragon’s fire is too hot it would seem, so we need less heat to pull off this scheme. If you can help us now then I ask you endow. Now quick. Before the danger’s—”

From the forest’s edge where they trudged out from, six timberwolves began stalking out.

“...Extreme,” Zecora finished, holding out the stick against the barrier.

Turning back to the bell tower, I saw Scootaloo sticking out of the door.

Changelings or not, the Timberwolves are the worse problem. I can’t stop them alone...

With a glare I dropped the barrier on Zecora and Spike and put up a new one on the bell tower’s door, sealing Scootaloo inside.

I turned back to Zecora. “What does it—” She simply pushed the cane into my hands and gave me a stern look on her face. We didn’t have time anymore.

I held the cane with one hand and summoned an orb of light with the other, illuminating the area. Then I focused on another basic spell. Combustion.

It took a few tries before the dust erupted into blue flames, engulfing the entire cane as the flames spread across my hands.

Out of instinct I swung the cane around, afraid of the fire but Zecora caught the end of the stick while it was still alight.

She stared back at me. “You do not need to fear the flame. It isn’t us that the heat will claim.”

I stared at the flames as they continued licking my hands but as I took a second to watch them, I realized I didn’t feel the flames at all. In fact, the cane felt cold to the touch.

During all of this, the wolves were starting to circle everypony. One of them had even gotten close enough to feint at Spike.

“Shining?!” Spike shouted. “Any time soon, please!”

When my head finally wrapped around what was going on, I used magic to levitate the cane out of my hands and spotted a Timberwolf that stalked towards the bell tower.

Starting there, I levitated the cane above the field before letting it dive forth like an arrow.

Before the wolf could notice the blue light, the cane tagged its shoulder and glanced off. Blue embers became a flash fire as the wolf let out a ghastly wail.

And right away, the wolf dropped. Its body fell apart lifelessly and there wasn’t a single scorch mark to show for it.

By the time the other timberwolves turned to see what had happened all they saw was the lifeless husk of a Timberwolf skull rolling away.

Then I tagged another wolf with the cane and it happened all over again.

By the time they realized what was going on, only a single wolf made it to the treeline where the cane bounced off of a tree in the way.

“Woah,” Scootaloo awed from behind the barrier. “How’d you do that?”

“Get back inside,” I commanded her before turning back to Zecora. “What’s going on? What was that blue dust and why were there so many Timberwolves?”

“It’s not just Timberwolves!” Spike ran up to us, trying to fight through his more than likely twisted ankle. “When we got to Zecora’s Hut there was an Earth Pony! He had a weird accent and he was commanding those Timberwolves! Then, there was this massive bear trying to break down Zecora’s door and a creepy chicken-lizard thing slithering through the bushes! Blitz tried to distract them so I could find Zecora and then—”

“Woah, woah woah. Slow down.” I watched as Spike was shaking by how freaked out he was making himself. “You said you saw an Earth Pony? As in, not a human?”

“As I seem to recall, he said he was hunting for us all.” Zecora frowned. “He speaks like he knows what we are but does not think it bizarre. He even stole Blitz after their spar.”

“Okay. That’s my next question,” I started. “Who’s Blitz?”

“Oh come on, not you too.” Spike slumped his shoulders. “First Zecora doesn’t remember him and now...” Spike paused for a second. “Well, actually, that kinda makes sense. I don’t remember you two ever meeting.”

“Guys? You might wanna look back at those Timberwolves!”

Scootaloo’s warning made us all whip back around just in time to see these thin colorful wisps lifting out of the piles of wood the wolves left behind.

“Wait, I’ve seen these before.” Spike started to step forward. “They helped Blitz and me remember some stuff.”

“Remember?” I watched as five orbs, one from each Timberwolf, of magical strands started to ball up. “What do you mean—”

And before I could even think of the next question to ask, they all popped and a flash of colors waved across my vision.

Joe’s POV
Peach Fields

…

“...joe…”

“...joe?”

“Joe, hit the deck!”

When I still didn’t respond, Applebloom stopped waiting and shoved me to the ground. My glasses bounced off somewhere as the sound of branches snapping and impacting rang out like cannon fire.

The carnage didn’t stay for long. After a few seconds, the crashing sailed past us and further into the peach fields.

Only when Applebloom thought we were safe did she climb up to her feet, leaving me to search for my glasses.

“Joe? What’s goin’...O-Oh. Uh, here. Found ‘em.” I heard the sound of something tap on glass before my glasses were pressed into my hand.

When I finally wrestled them over my eyes I looked around us. When the sun and moon tagged out, I dropped the bushel of peaches in surprise.

Then, beyond the spilled peaches, a line of tree branches and toppled trees led further into the fields away from the house.

Applebloom turned to look at me. It was hard to get a look at her thanks to the sun now missing. “What do we do now?” She asked me.

“You think I have any idea?” I reached for my watch and pressed one of the several buttons along the side and a small light on the side lit up. It wasn’t bright unless you stared into it.

“Yer the one who’s been comin’ up wit’ ideas, ain’t ya?” She seemed desperate. “Cause Ah got nothin’!”

I adjusted my glasses. “Alright, fine, just...” I tried turning what I knew over only to realize I didn’t know much. I need answers.

“The sun dropped,” I started. “That’s not normal. You were surprised too. Has that ever happened before?”

“Yer right it ain’t normal.” She shook her head. “It never jus’ drops like that. Not since...”

“Since?”

“It’s Discord.” She turned back at me with some newfound anger. “He’s this creepy, evil...snake-puzzle thing that tries makin’ a mess a’ the place by tearin’ it outta sorts. Chaos,” she tacked on.

“That explains so much, don't it?” She asked for approval I couldn’t give. “Everypony’s missin’, Ah’m a human, yer...Well, ya keep sayin’ that yer human but—”

“Stop.” I cut her off. “Please, I do not want that right now.”

“But it all fits!” She shouted. “For all we know, he could be playin’ some sort a’ game er somethin’! Last time he came ta Ponyville, he turned it upside-wrong and made mah brother think he was a dog! Scootaloo and Ah literally chased Sweetie Belle’s tail when it jumped off and ran away!”

“Okay.” I did my best to ignore all the details for now. “Discord: some sort of evil god. Moving on,” I said exhaustingly. “What came past us?”

“A-Ah ain’t sure,” Applebloom scrambled for words. “Ah thought it was another pon—err, human fer a second. He was screamin’ when he started gettin’ too close. Had really big wings though.”

“Wings?” I frowned.

“Ah’m serious, Ah saw wings!”

“I believe you,” I told her. After thinking back on my meeting with Princess Celestia and her sharp horn, wings didn’t seem too unrealistic. Especially if pegasi were a thing here.

The sun and moon changed and a human with wings crashed into the trees. As I looked at the direction of the carnage, it came towards us and suddenly veered off in another direction.

They would’ve crashed into us but turned away. The destruction got steadily worse as it traveled on. They didn’t go up. They coasted through the trees.

“I believe they wanted to avoid hitting us,” I began. “So they saw us on the way down and either didn't want to be near us or didn’t want to hurt us.”

“So they’re good then?”

“No. They’re not good. They crashed in the middle of nowhere with goat patrols.” I looked directly at her. “Ms. Bloom, listen carefully. Get back to the house and clear off that dining table.”

“The table? Why?”

“Just do it. When that’s done, unpack the first aid kit. Then, search Ms. Cobbler’s house for any other first aid supplies you can find. Can you do that?”

“Ye-Yeah. Consider it done.” Applebloom started to move towards the house.

“Good. After you’re set up, don’t open the door unless you know it’s me. I’ll be back.”

As she saw me start to run off, she called out. “An’ where are you goin’?!” Applebloom called out.

“Just get inside!” Was all I told her before ducking past a tree.

I don’t have much time, I thought, clambering over a fallen trunk. Goats can see in the dark. They have better ears too. If those earpieces actually work, then all of them probably know about the crash.

I moved the polaroid camera that was still around my neck so it hung against my back. That Minotaur talked about an intruder earlier. How they lost them. They got away from the goats. If that human really was flying like Applebloom thought, it would make sense.

After climbing or rushing through another four piles of carnage, I found a large impact in the ground and slowed down. Aside from my heavy breathing, I didn’t hear anything else around me.

I angled the watch towards the ground and crept forward, watching the marks in the ground looked as if something heavy bounced against it. The human must have had a lot of momentum to crash like this.

Finally, as I reached the end of the heavy groove, I saw it. Lying at the base of the same large tree I saw in that family picture was a human male.

He looked as though he hit the tree spine-first and wore a blue and yellow jumpsuit. He had thick black hair with cracked goggles over his eyes. Then, with one of them bent at an odd angle, there were two massive blue wings spread out from his back.

He looked up towards the light from my watch and was waving in and out of unconsciousness.

“Do...Don’t trust her,” he groaned. “Sh...It’s not her. It’s a Change...” He trailed off, wincing in pain as he tried to fold his wings.

Then the bleating of the goats started crying out from the distance.

Harmony's Thieves

by 4428Gamer

The Class Know-It-All

The Big Talker

The Honorable Thief

The Woodcutter

(ACT 1) Human Lessons

Read All About It

Outside Voice

Wake Up Party Town

Let the FUN Times Roll

Bug Out!

An Uncasual Stroll

Colored Paper

A Loving Memory

Okay, New Plan

Don't Let the Door Hit You

Let's Catch a Ride

Diamonds Are a Thief's Best Friend

My Good Buddy Discord

Ain't it FUN?

Enter the Unicorns

Let's Go Meet the Locals

As Town Hall Falls...

...The Moon Shall Rise (1/2)

...The Moon Shall Rise (2/2) [ACT 1 END]