Wysteria yawned tiredly (a poor night's sleep will do that to someone), and attempted to get up (note the word 'attempted'.) Apparently not just did Kimono's potion not fix the issue but, if anything, the pain was worse today than it was yesterday! Nevertheless, she wasn't going to let this stop her! No! Today, she would press ahead! Today she was on a mission! Today, she had her flower friends to take care of! And she wouldn't let them down again!
And that meant that today she would jump hop rise crawl slither from bed and tend to her flowers! So jump hop rise crawl slither she did -- all the way to the mirror! Taking a page from yesterday, she carefully used her front legs to prop herself up so that she could see her face.
Not just did the bump on her head still appear to be there but was, in fact, even bigger than before. And worse still, her bump now had a small white spot at the top. Oh no! It wasn't a bump! It was worse than a bump! It was a zit! "A horrible, disgraceful, distasteful, horrible ugly thing! Ooh... I can't even say it! Oh! No! You don't!" She said, chastising the horrible nameless thing -- and dragging herself over to the medicine cabinet to get any anti zit products that she could find. It was hard, because she could swear the cramps on her side were even worse then yesterday! In fact, a quick feel of them, with her hoof, revealed that they were even bigger and lumpier than before! But she couldn't abandon her flowers! Not again!! And she certainly couldn't leave her house with that ghastly eyesore on her forehead!
so she gathered up as many items as she could, wrapping them in her hoof and wither, and crawled to the mirror. She grabbed the zit-b-gone magic cream, and tried to open it (it's hard to open bottles like those with only one hoof.) Only to find that she didn't have enough hooves to apply it! Well... unless she wanted to get onto her belly and apply it to one hoof -- how would she get back up to the mirror when she finished? And --
Where did her flower go? Spike's beautiful flower! It was gone! Poof! Vanished into thin air! That was it! The final straw! If it turned out that Kimono took it away then she would give her a piece of her mind! And there was only one way to do that! She would have to drag herself out the door, and find Kimono, and ask her point blank if she'd taken her flower! And for her sake the answer better be no! Or she'd be forced to give that woman a piece of her mind -- or, maybe rather, try to, as moving seemed to be a challenge.
After more than a few unsuccessful attempts to drag herself out the door -- being stopped by the terrible pains she experienced all over --, she had only one option left to her. And she perished to do this but. She opened her mouth, anxiously, preparing for the loud sounds that would come out of her mouth. "HELP!" She shouted, as loudly as she could -- hoping someone would hear her. "Is anyone there!?"
Nothing. Absolutely nothing! But she wasn't going to give up! Why wasn't she going to give up? Well, because she wasn't a pony that gave up easily, that was why! Oh! And also laying at her doorstep wasn't a great way to spend a day! So she covered her ears, and tried again. "HEY!!!" She shouted, louder -- practicing the shout she used to get the ponies attentions back before the promenade.
Still nothing... She frowned deeply -- desperation starting to set in. what was she going to do now? She guessed there was only one option. 'If at first you don't succeed...'
After a few attempts her voice was just about shot. Was anypony going to come to her aid? Did anyone care? Was anyone out there to help her -- other than Sunny Daze? ... SUNNY DAZE? ...
"Sorry 'bout that 'Steria! I didn't hear you." She said, with an embarrassed smile. "You feelin' under the weather?... You need some help?"
Wysteria simply nodded, sadly. "I can't seem to get up, and my flowers need me." She sighed. "could you get Kimono for me? And see if there's anyone around with time to help tend my garden?"
"Don't worry 'bout it 'Steria!" Sunny said, with a smile. "I've got time to help you with your flowers, girl friend." She said, smiling honestly -- eliciting a frightened expression from the flower pony. The fun-in-the-sun-holds-the-record-for-most-pony-somersaults pony was the one that was going to help with her garden? Wysteria shuttered in fear. Sunny Daze responded to her friend's anxiety by smiling reassuringly. "Trust me, 'Steria! I'm sure I'll do a good job girl!" She said, with enthusiasm, turning around again halfway out the door. "Heck! I'll even get 'Mono for you!" She said, galloping off, again, with a serious expression -- the expression of someone on a mission (ok it would have had more effect if she wasn't either somersaulting her way there, or walking on her front hooves, upside down.)
Wysteria nodded. "Thank you." She shouted, gratefully, as the white earth mare raced out of range. Wysteria's thoughts turned, leaving her suddenly worried about what evil she had just unleashed on her beautiful gardens (and whether or not the surfer mare would even remember to get Kimono.)
Her fears were partially assuaged when, after a few minutes, her friend Daisyjo came racing in -- as fast as her legs could carry her. "Are you ok Wysteria?" She asked, her face wrinkled in concern. "I heard from Sunny Daze that you were still not feeling well! And I just started to imagine the worst!" She said, starting to hyperventilate.
"Relax." Kimono said serenely, slowly following the earth pony into the little house. "It will do Wysteria no good for you to panic." She said, chastising the blue pony with the blond mane. "Now please go to the kitchen, and I shall get you when I finish." she said, pointing at the kitchen with her hoof -- taking her stern stance.
"So." She said, walking around the purple earth pony. "You're still having trouble, I presume." She said with a frown, resisting the urge to pinch the bump on Wysteria's head with her hoof. "And I presume that my potion did not fix your issues." she said, looking at Wysteria's head a second time, a pleased expression starting to creep up her face. "Though it did seem to free you of young Spike's flower."
Wysteria gave her a sour expression regarding the flower, before giving a defeated sigh. "Sorry," she said, with a frown, feeling worthless. "I don't mean to be a nuisance..."
"No it is I that should be sorry." Kimono said sadly. "I should have guessed that this would happen." She said, before putting on a fake smile. "Shall we see what troubles you?"
"Sure." Wysteria said, sorely. "The bumps on my side are much worse now, and the bump on my head actually appears to be an enormous zit." Wysteria said, slowly pointing at the zit on her forehead.
Kimono's frown turned to a hopeful smile. "Well perhaps there is something I can do about that." She said, feeling the zit good and well with her hoof, muttering silently. "... Interesting... What is your nature friend... It doesn't feel like an infection... This head almost feels like bone..."
********
Yeah... apparently Braeburn didn't quite have the same level of acumen with the rope as his cousin Applejack -- and it showed. Where as she would probably have stopped this varment cold by now (hog-tying them in well under a minute), instead he was the one who was stopped cold -- being dragged along, as he stubbornly held onto the rope for dear life (hoping beyond all hope that all the extra weight he'd been meaning to lose would stop -- or slow -- the thief somehow.)
Braeburn could scarcely guess what force kept this hombre going -- only that he was capable of not only dragging a fully grown stallion along at breakneck speeds, but he was capable of doing so without being slowed down in any discernible fashion.
And was it just him, or did the thief keep looking back at him with an expression of stark terror as they ran along? Braeburn would have scratched his mane, had the circumstances been different. Shouldn't the thief be laughing at Braeburn's dreadful condition? Oh well! In the end it didn't matter, because, there was no way that Braeburn was going to let go or giving up! No! Not in the slightest!
"Ok Braeburn!" He thought to himself. This stallion might move like a steam driven locomotive. But there had to be a way to stop him, because there was no way he could show his face in AAAAPPPPLLLEOOSA again without catching this hombre... So that only left the question of how!
"Ok first plan." Braeburn thought to himself. As he dangled helplessly. "Hold on for dear life an' hope the hombre wears out."
Problem? The hombre didn't really slow down, and after a nasty set of rope burns all over (even in some places that Braeburn would rather me not speak of) which were caused when the jostling of the rope caused by the thief jumping a short rock formation caused Braeburn to roll around helplessly for much longer than he was willing to admit (involving plenty of both log rolls and somersaults) before finally getting wrapped up in his own lasso (curse this five strand hemp hanging rope that he bought, for cheap, from a traveling scam artist with an axe to grind! Now he was coming along whether he wanted to or not! Maybe he should have listened more closely when Jackie told him about the proper rope to use for hogtieing!)
Another problem? Up ahead was cactus gully and he guessed being dragged along by his belly through there would be a mite painful!
"Ok! New plan!" Braeburn thought to himself. "I roll to mah feet and plant them as deep as ah can as suddenly as ah can!" He thought, hoping to maybe use the hombre's own momentum against him to maybe flip him prone, so Braeburn could finally subdue him!
Excellent plan! Right down to the part where the thief literally started carrying Braeburn and a hunk of dirt, about the size of a full grown stallion, that he was, now, standing on. Leaving Braeburn surfing a giant hunk of dirt along the country.
Did anything slow this hombre down? Braeburn asked himself, beginning to be filled with otherworldly terror -- what level of Tartarus did this nightmare spring from? Could even Molly or Faust stop this hombre? Let alone him! What chance did he have?
He sighed a slight sigh of relief, noticing something. Maybe he had a chance, after all! The hombre was finally starting to pant! This was great news! This meant that his dogged persistence was finally paying off! Now hopefully he would remain in one piece long for it to matter! things were finally looking up...
Right up to the point where the thief looked back again, their mutant two color green and yellow eyes looking back at him filled with mortal terror!
The thief put his neck down, and charged forward with all his might
"Well here we go agaaaaaaaiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!!" Braeburn shrieked, as he and his hunk of dirt continued to be dragged along, at breakneck speeds.
********
Wysteria yawned slightly, rising much more easily than the last couple of days. "Oh wow!" She exclaimed to herself. "Kimono's second potion did wonders!" She felt great, like a million bucks! And, better still, she finally felt like she was able to rise out of bed normally -- though she wondered how she ended up with her legs sitting over the base of her bed. Had she slid down the bed over the course of the night? Impossible! Plus how could she have done that if her head was still at the bed's head?
However, despite the eerie feeling in her chest, she decided to press forward -- there was no time for fretting about that now! And why? Because this morning she could finally care for all of her flower friends! (Oh how she missed them so!) Heck with everyone sleeping in, she might be done before anyone gets up! And, after that, maybe she could start planning next year's Spring Promenade -- or maybe open the flower shop again! And maybe after she got back from her garden she could get herself some cereal, or maybe pancakes, or maybe sneak one of Sweetberry's cakes -- or five -- because she felt absolutely famished! It was a very funny thing, because she was normally almost never hungry (one of the reasons that she was one of the thinner ponies in town.)
"Oh well." Wysteria said to herself. Attempting to walk out the door on only her two back legs, as was the custom in Ponyville, only to find that she was now too tall to do so. "What in the?" Wysteria wondered, being forced to duck down to squeeze through the door (and doing the old fallback of pushing the door open with her hoof.) "Naughty door!" She said, chastising the mean door as she squeezed out. "It's not nice to shrink on people!"
But at least the town's flowers were still nice to her (and it looked like they missed her as much as she missed them.) And to top it all off, it looked like Daisyjo had done a wonderful job doing both their jobs (at least as well as she could considering that she was only one pony!) And Wysteria could tell by how well she had maintained the gardens, she would definitely have to thank Daisyjo later.
And it looked like Sunny had done... an... ok job. She thought, comparing the disastrous work that Sunny had left behind to the absolutely beautiful job that Daisyjo had done. Oh well! All she had to do was fix some of Sunny's more obvious mistakes. Wysteria sighed, the mare meant well, but there was apparently a reason her thing was 'fun in the sun' and not gardening.
Wysteria sighed, feeling incredulous. How could one pony have made everything so wrong? Oh well, she shouldn't be so mean. Sunny didn't have to help her, and she was a huge help while Wysteria was sick, after all -- not to mention that she did the best she could; and regardless, Wysteria only had one more bed to look into and...
IT LOOKED HORRIBLE!!!!
Wysteria frowned, angrily, guessing that her sun loving friend had either gotten distracted halfway through and started somersaulting, or she simply just didn't know what she was doing (Wysteria guessed the second.) No! No! Where were these mean thoughts coming from? Sunny was her friend! Sunny would never let her down! And then there was, of course there was always the possibility of... gasp... rodents!
"Oh dear!" She cried, pleading with the flowers. "Please be ok!" She gingerly cupped one in her hoof. Oh dear! It was all squished and wilted, it might already be gone to be big garden in the sky. "Oh dear! It's all my fault!" She thought to herself, with melancholy. "It only I hadn't gotten myself sick!"
"Please be ok!" She cried out to the flower, pleading with it to be ok. She just cradled it with her hooves, her eyes closed, just hoping. "Please oh please be ok!" She cried, closing her eyes and dropping to her knees to mourn for her green friends.
After a couple of minutes she was done weeping, it was time to -- hey! She couldn't believe her eyes! Not only was the flower in better shape than she thought it was, but the whole garden looked wonderful -- like at The Spring Promenade. Heck, maybe Sunny didn't do as bad a job as Wysteria thought? Heck, the whole garden was looking good. Maybe she should ask the girl to help more often!
Speak of the devil... Whom should show up? That was right! Sunny Daze! And she looked really sorry. Wysteria was mystified as to why. Seeing as she did such a good job (leaving Wysteria apologizing inside for being so mean to her!)
"Hey 'Steria, I'm glad I ran into you..." She said, apologetically, sounding and looking unusually sincere (the mare usually prefered to go with the flow, and normally didn't get worked up, so you know this must have been serious.) "I kinda wanted to apologize 'bout your garden. See..." She said rubbing the back of her head with her hoof. "I kind of messed up and... I'm sorry 'bout that." Sunny said with a frown. "I kinda --"
"Don't worry about it." Wysteria said, with a kind smile. "You did a fine job. See?" She said, waving her hoof at her garden. "In fact, I might have to ask you to help more often." She said as she trailed off, going home for eggs and bacon and milk and cereal, and maybe a cake or five.
Sunny looked at the Purple earth pony with a puzzled expression. What was Wysteria talking about? "I swear I wrecked this garden yesterday." she said to herself, taking a close look at the flowers and wondering if she should bring in Puzzlemint -- because she was pretty sure she messed the garden over, real good, the other day. "And is it just me or does 'Steria look different today?" She said, staring blankly into the distance, deep in thought.
Wysteria felt relieved, her life was slowly returning to normal. And it was so great to be back to her flowers -- especially after how much of a bummer the last couple of days were (especially Christmas, which she spent in pain, instead of enjoying Santa's gifts.) But, oh well! She was feeling better now, and she was hungry as a horse!
She walked up to the door of her house, and eyed it cautiously. Was the door still feeling like a bully? Or had it finally grown back to full size? Maybe she should go ahead and walk in the door on all fours? (you know, just in case.)
So she demeaned herself by opening the door with her hoof, and opted to push it open, while remaining on all fours, and ... bumped her nose against the door frame.
"Ouch!" She shouted in pain. What in the? Had the door shrunk again!
"You mean old door!" She cried, cradling her sore nose with her hoof. "Why are you being mean?" She asked, looking at the door incredulously. She swore she got through just fine by dropping to all fours not more than an hour or two ago! Oh well! In any case, she should take a look in the mirror and see how badly the door hurt her nose.
She sighed, lowering her head to walk in the door (how very sad...) Once behind her own door, she closed the door carefully behind her, and walked over to the mirror.
She looked back to chastise the door -- with an agitated face. "See door! I haven't grown at all!" She said, snidely, admiring her face in the mirror -- before realizing that she was still on all fours. Was it possible that she had actually grown? (Of course, maybe her house could have shrunk... That was a scary thought!)
She took a second to admire herself (well as best as she could, seeing as standing on only two hooves would probably make her miss the mirror entirely.) Finally she looked on her head to see if the zit was still there... Not just was the zit was still there, but it wasn't a zit. It looked like the tip of an ice cream cone, and it was about as tall as one of her eyes -- and about the same diameter. She felt it with her hoof, and it was hard like bone -- in fact, it felt like bone! What in the? What was happening to her?
She turned to the side to admire the bumps on her sides. Except they weren't bumps. For one thing, she saw little tufts of feathers sticking out of her skin. And was that a little tip of bone sticking out of her side? What was going on? What had happened to her to cause her to start turning into a freak!
Wysteria gasped in horror. There was only one logical explanation for what was going on -- and it was not exactly what someone would call logical.
"OH NO! I'M MUTATING!!!!" She exclaimed to herself in pure and unadulterated panic. Before fainting dead away -- hitting the floor with a thud that could be heard from outside.
********
Braeburn sighed, hurting all over. What was it going to take to stop this hombre? He spit rocks out of his mouth -- his last attempt to stop the thief by galloping the opposite way around a rock formation only ended in him carrying the rock formation with him (apparently the old con artist wasn't lying about the strength of that rope!)
"Ok!" He asked himself. "Where are we at?" He thought, looking for landmarks that he could use (he had to find his way back home somehow), and he guessed that, by the way the thief moved, they would be seeing mount Canter pass on their right any second now.
Braeburn was beginning to wonder if the thief's mother dipped him in the waters of Tartarus at birth, or something; because it was becoming increasingly obvious that the thief just couldn't be stopped! Not by rocks, or dirt, or Celestia -- heck! He wouldn't be surprised if Molly and Faust themselves couldn't stop this hombre! Yup! That was right! Nothing could stop the thief! No nothing! Don't even think that could stop him! Because it couldn't stop him! Not even --
The thief tripped on a rock while galloping along, causing them both to go flying forward and finally crashing into a wall. Braeburn, fully expected the thief to start running again, or to charge at Braeburn, but instead the thief simply laid there, motionless. Braeburn couldn't believe his eyes -- were tears actually streaming out of the thief's eyes?
Braeburn got up, and wearily wobbled over to the thief -- his everything hurting like the dickens! (And not just from having galloped halfway across Equestria.) At the moment, It looked like the thief was done running, and wouldn't fight -- but he could change his mind at any time, and Braeburn knew it!
He stared directly in the thief's large two color green and yellow eyes -- ready to give the thief a final piece of his mind. "We don't take well to thieves over here in AAAAAPPPPPPLLLLLLEEEEEEOOSA!!!" He stated sternly, looking the thief straight in their eyes (which looked back, sadly.) "An' that sombrero belongs to somepony else, so ah'll be taking back that sombrero!" He said, angrily ripping the Sombrero off the thief's head. He fluttered his eyes off and on for a minute or two -- was he even seeing what he thought he was? Laying before him wasn't the earth pony that he was expecting to see, but instead a unicorn -- seriously some bookworm unicorn spent the better part of a day beating an experienced rodeo earth pony.
Braeburn was surprised, because, among the kinds of ponies the unicorns were almost universally the least athletic, and, to top things off, the thief looked like a bookworm not an athlete, too boot. So it came as a great surprise that a unicorn could commit super-pony acts of athleticism. Nevertheless, Braeburn wasn't going to let this hombre get into his head -- he had to take back poncho's poncho before the thief got ideas.
"Ahhh! A big city unicorn! Well I ain't going to let you take advantage of the good ponies of AAAAAAAAPPPPPLLLLEEOOSA!!!" He said loosening the lasso, knowing full well, that if the thief wanted to run, he could now. "So ah'm going ta take back Poncho's poncho!" he said, starting to pull the poncho back.
Braeburn expected to see a scorpion cutie mark, or maybe a sword -- instead it was the symbol of some kind of a flower. What was the hombre -- some kind of a gardener? (Guess that explains the life of a bandit... Not much use for a gardener out here.) Good question though was, didn't unicorns usually have the symbol of a star or a gem or something for their cutie marks? Oh well, he needed to get Poncho's poncho back so he gave a quick yank, and yanked the poncho off the hombre's back, head and wings.
HOMBRE'S WINGS!?!?!?
********
Wysteria frowned, staring into her mirror for an extended period of time. She almost couldn't stand the sight. And over the last week her mutations had just gotten worse, and worse, and worse, precipitating frequent, almost hourly appearances from Kimono.
Things had been bad seven days ago when she first noticed that she was mutating, but they were much worse now.
At first it was just tufts of feathers, and a small bone, but over the course of the week, two neverending creasantlike rods of bone grew out of her back, behind her shoulders. Bringing with them large, finger like strands of feathers. Each finger like strand was longer than the last until the fourth finger came out, which was blessedly shorter than the others, as each fingerlike wingtip tore out of her back -- more painfully than the last. Finally, the rod ended, along with the fingers tapered into a small shell like object at the end. She had wings now!! Really real for real pegasus pony wings! What was going on? Had someone been experimenting with magic again? (Like Minty and the mystery mask, or Sunny Daze and those glasses, or even Kimono and that Christmas wand?)
Over the course of the days, the wings weren't the only thing that grew. The bump on her head also slowly grew into some kind of white bone-like icecream cone. The long spiralled object slowly drilled its way out of her head, slowly and painfully. It looked, kind of like a ice cream cone except that it was bone white, and was constructed of bone, not cookie. It grew out the top of her forehead, between her ears, like that artist that Pinkie met while on a walk in the woods last summer, (except that the artist's bump was phony.) What did the artist call that thing again? Wysteria asked herself. That was right! She called it a horn! Wysteria had a horn?!?!?! Oh no! she was getting a horrible horn! Like a deer! She panicked, running in circles, ranting in abject panic. She was mutating into a really real for real pegasus deer! Whatever was she going to do? (yeah, she was irrational, but a horn the same height as you head, and the same diameter as your giant mutant eyes drilling itself out of your skull, and tearing through your skin? Well... It does not lead to rational thinking!) Finally the color of the horn slowly changed in color from a white bonelike color to more of the same shade of purple as her coat (once again, unlike the artist whose 'horn' was a much darker blue then her coat.)
So, out of increasing embarrassment and shame, she spent her time hidden in her house, only allowing Kimono -- who grew increasingly more concerned over time -- to visit her.
Wysteria's condition seemed to defy all reason, and laughed at all treatments -- as any medicine given to the purple pony served only to speed up and exasperate the process. Eventually all Kimono could do was give her medicines and creams to ease her pain, and cleanse the holes where the wings and horn had tore themselves out of her body.
"What is happening to you, my friend?" She asked, scouring the library day in and day out for some kind of an answer. But none came! Eventually Kimono was forced to throw up her hands. "i'm so sorry Wysteria! I couldn't figure it out!" She said, lowering her head in defeat. "The only one who might know is Spike! After all, it was his flower that caused this!" She said, mentally shooting daggers at the small blue dragon. "Not to mention that he has access to books, somehow, that neither I, in my library, nor Storybelle, in hers, does." She said, hiding her disgust at the dragon who had made Wysteria's life so miserable last spring, and was now doing so again.
It was if Spikes flower had changed her somehow... And Kimono was none too happy!
********
And at that point, Braeburn's brain simply broke, causing him to shake violently.
What had he just done? He just chased, and hogtied a prince of Equestria! Heck! This could be counted as assaulting a deity of Equestria! "Oh no! The hombre's an alicorn! Ah'm doomed!" He thought to himself, trying to determine what he was going to say!
He meant? What was he going to do? How was the prince going to respond? This could be classified as high treason! There was a punishment for that! And Braeburn desperately wanted to have every part of himself remaining right where they were.
"Ok Braeburn." He thought to himself. "Think positive! Maybe things ain't as bad as they look!" He thought trying to avoid the all consuming panic that was starting to swirl. "Maybe this was a test? Maybe the prince wanted ta test our compassion an -- " His face paled. He just chased a prince 'with a bum hoof and a hunchback for miles, and hogtied said prince over a poncho, a sombrero, and some bread.
Braeburn's knees resumed wobbling violently. What was he going to do? Would apologizing be enough, or would he need to grovel? That should work -- except for the fact that the prince was still there bauling away like a child. Maybe the prince wanted to make sure they were going to go for broke for truth, justice, and the rule of law? Ummmm.... 'chased a prince with a bum hoof and a hunchback for miles'! And he still had not forgotten around the part where he played 'sidewalk surfer' with a chunk of rock under his feet (yeah... Didn't make justice in Appleloosa look too competent, did it? And that was exactly what filled the orange pony with terror!)
Maybe he should try running now! 'Cause if he started running now, then maybe he could get a good foot or two before the prince banished him to the moon or something!
Ok! Positives! Maybe this is an evil prince! That would explain the common thievery! Yeah! Celestia would be here any second and --
WHO WAS HE KIDDING HE'D BE A POTHOLE LONG BEFORE THAT POINT!
Now what Braeburn meant to say was "Your majesty, your subject wishes to subject himself to your merciful judgement, and humbly requests the return of all items taken in tribute from your humble servants, in exchange he will submit willingly to your most generous judgement." What he actually said, looking at the tall alicorn stallion and his square muzzle was. "Puh... puh... puh... puh... puhpuuhpuhpuhpuhpuhpuhpuh... prince...." Yeah not terribly smooth, he thought as he started bowing deeply.
However, mid breath, a very soft female voice came out of the stallion's mare's mouth -- one that kind of reminded Braeburn of his cousin's friend Fluttershy's voice. "Please don't call me that!!" She begged, starting to cry violently. "I don't want to be a princess! I just want to be me!" She cried out, sobbing more loudly than before. "It's depressing and boring to be a princess! And they can't have friends, or sniff, or water their plants, or dig in the dirt, or organize events, or do anything!" He She said, weeping violently.
Oh great! Now Braeburn needs to add defamation of a PRINCESS to his list, because he just called the princess a prince, and so Braeburn did the only thing he could do. "...Cess!" He finished hoping the senorita didn't notice (also not to mention being in complete confusion, because he was absolutely certain that this was a stallion -- though this didn't appear to be the case.)
And, worse yet, it turned out that the princess (yeah, apparently, not prince -- princess) didn't much appreciate being called by her title as she started weeping uncontrollably while babbling something about 'just wanting to be my'...
Oh Horse Apples! Braeburn cussed, to himself. Maybe he should reconsider the turn tail and run option?
********
Wysteria sighed, looking at the long spiraled monster horn on her head, and the really real for real pegasus wings that ripped their way out of her body this week. What was she going to say to the others? What was she going to do? Where was she going to live now that she was a pegasus? Would she have to live with them? Or could she still even live in Ponyville? Her head was just full of questions, and the more she thought about it, the more melancholy she became. A then there was the fact that she hadn't been able to tend her garden since the changes started in earnest, and now she was too self conscious to do so,
While she was thinking to herself, she could hear a knocking at the door. Did she have the heart to answer? Or would she pretend she was asleep? Of course she could just pretend that she wasn't home! She shook her head! That was no way to treat any of her friends! Maybe she should answer it and --
"Are you home?" Daisyjo said, shouting through the door, her voice showing concern. "I've been so worried about you!" Did Wysteria hear her sobbing in concern?
Wysteria frowned. She felt really bad! She really did! But she couldn't face her friend looking this way! She simply couldn't bear to do it! Not like this! What would her friend think? And what would she say? Wysteria looked back at her wings -- they were so hideous! She hated those ugly wings and that horrible horn! And she would give anything to rid herself of them.
Therefore, one course of action remained. She would remain quiet, and hoped that Daisyjo would think she was gone! She held her breath, hoping -- desperately -- that her friend to leave. Was this what she had come to?
But Daisyjo didn't go away! Instead she called out more loudly, her sobbing was so loud that it could be heard even in the house. And her voice was absolutely permeated her voice, and panic -- as she started to beg desperately for Wysteria to be ok. The pony called out, becoming ever more frantic. "Are you ok? You haven't been tending your gardens in days, and I'm beginning to imagine the worst!"
Wysteria sighed, Daisyjo was a good friend, and she'd been very helpful with her gardens while she was mutating sick. Maybe she should swallow her pride and come out and take her medicine. No! She couldn't do it! She couldn't be seen this way -- she thought to herself, breaking down into tears.
She sat down, unable to move, as Daisyjo's voice became ever more frantic.
Outside, she could hear Kimono's footsteps. "Hello Daisyjo." Kimono said, outside, coming to Wysteria's rescue -- she said calmly, bringing peace even to the fearful purple pony. "Wysteria's is still feeling a little under the weather and is, as a result of her condition, feeling a little self conscious -- but I'm sure she'll be out after I have a chance to borrow some of Spike's books. I bet one of them contains the solution to her little problem." She said, looking forward to Spike's return the next afternoon (originally he had promised Christmas day, but pushed his return back till a week and a half after Christmas, for some reason.)
Outside she could hear Daisyjo leaving. "Sorry to hear, that you aren't feeling well. And I just wanted to let you know that no matter what happened to you that all of us are your friends, and that you don't need to feel self conscious." She said, trotting away, sadly.
Wysteria frowned, maybe she would sleep, and hopefully, when she woke up tomorrow everything would be better -- or so she thought, as she slept on her side because of the giant wings that stuck straight out from her shoulders...