//------------------------------// // Into the woods // Story: Love is in the Air, Literally // by Nexas //------------------------------// "You can't escape my love, Spike!" "RUN FASTER!" The group of Ponies and Spike raced through the trees of the Everfree forest, Spike clinging to Pinkie's mane for dear life. They had escaped into the woods just as Twilight had arrived at Fluttershy's cottage, leading the mobs of love-struck ponies. Luckily, they had gotten a head start when Twilight and Lyra started fighting over Spike. "That Lyra has a really strong right hook." Applejack commented as they sped away from the fight. "She works her arms a lot." Bon Bon explained. "She says that it's for when she finally gets hands." The three risked an unbelieving glance back at the Earth pony. She shook her head. "Yeah, I don't know either." Eventually, the group had escaped the hordes, and finally had some time to rest. They came to a stop in a small clearing and everypony nearly collapsed; exhausted from the long chases today. Spike sat cross-legged against a tree, staring down at his hands. "What are we going to do?" "Huh?" "The jar of Heartbreaker." He explained glumly. "I accidently dropped it and it broke." "What?!" Bon Bon stood up and fell down again, weak but shocked. "That was our only hope of turning things back to normal!" "Calm down, all we need to do is find more of that plant." Applejack said. "We find more, we can make the antidote." "But we don't know what it looks like!" Bon Bon panicked. "We wouldn't know it even if we saw it!" She pointed a hoof to the sky that was barely visible through the tree tops. "And it's not like it's going to fall out of the sky!" Just as she finished talking, the tree branches above them began to shake and suddenly a figure dropped down onto Spike. "Wow!" Pinkie jumped to her hooves, still having as much energy as always. "It's not like a million donuts are going to fall out of the sky!" She shouted to the trees and waited for the pay of that which would never come. "Ow..." Spike groaned, crawling out from under the figure that had flattened him. Applejack recognized the Pony almost instantly. "Zecora?!" The Zebra quickly scrambled to her hooves, a light blush on her face. "Forgive me for that nasty fall that was not the entrance I wanted at all." Bon Bon gasped, stepping away from the Zebra that had fallen from the sky. "You're that scary Zebra that lives in the Everfree!" Zecora glared incredulously at the candy pony. After a moment, Applejack broke the silence. "Zecora, we need your help. All of our friends are being turned into love-crazed maniacs because Spike here was dumb enough to make a love potion." "Spike, a love potion?" She grinned. "For a certain pony, you must have much devotion." "Um...yeah." He blushed. Pinkie jumped in; a mess of flailing arms and fast words. "And now, most of Ponyville is in love with Spike and some are even in love with us!" Zecora tried and failed to stem a chuckle. "Forgive me; it seems by your dismay that you have had a long day?" Pinkie slumped over onto the ground, suddenly showing lack of energy. "You have no idea." Zecora turned and waved a hoof at the group to follow. "Come with me, I may have a solution that you must see." Weakly, the group stood up and pressed on after the Zebra. *** Zecora's tree hut loomed in front of the group. Despite the various paints and markings that covered it, the hut was perfectly camouflaged. As they walked in, they noticed the cauldron in the middle of the room was bubbling with a strange liquid inside. The huge masks staring down at them made Bon Bon uneasy. Zecora circled the hut murmuring in the language of her homeland as she searched through the shelves and pots that were arranged around the room in a nonsensical pattern. After a lengthy search, she finally found what she was looking for and showed it to the group. A plant. A single type of plant. It was black and wrinkled and looked as though it had been dead for a few weeks but each of the group could notice that the plant was still potted. "The Heartbreaker plant!" Pinkie exclaimed. Zecora nodded. "This plant will help you with its seed, to prepare it though; more time I need." Spike could feel his hopes fading. "What do you mean; more time?" Zecora walked over to the cauldron and slowly lowered the plant into it. "The plant will take some time to brew, I apologize but that's all I can do. While waiting for the potion for those obsessed, your friends can think things over and rest." With that, she stopped talking and went back to her work. The four looked at each other, looking for a reason to not rest but also feeling the strain at the same time. Eventually everypony decided that Zecora was right and settled down to sleep in various parts of the room. The last to rest was Spike, who sat in one corner, thinking about just what had gotten him into all of this trouble. It had started with sharks and fire, he remembered that much. *** The group was awoken by a multitude of shouting. "Ponies!" Zecora shouted. "The lovers are advancing on this room; you must escape before you face your doom!" "What the hay's going on?!" Applejack shot up and ran to one of the windows and was terrified of what she saw. The hordes of love-struck ponies were advancing on the hut. "Oh no!" Bon Bon cried. "We need to get out of here!" Spike pointed at the cauldron, the plant still sitting inside it. "But the potions not ready yet!" "Don't worry." Pinkie waved them off with a smile. "I'm sure that they can't get in-" Without notice, a Pegasus crashed through the roof of the hut, lodging herself in the hole she created. "Applejack!" The Pegasus said joyfully. "Rainbow Dash?!" Applejack looked up at the familiar Pegasus. Dash smiled blissfully, despite the predicament she was in. "It took a long time but I finally found you darling!" "We have to leave now!" Spike ran to the front door and flung it open, only to find- "Twilight!" Twilight Sparkle stood outside the doorway, grinning ear to ear at the Dragon. "I finally found you, Spike." She exclaimed, reaching towards him. "Now you're all mine!" "Twilight!" Right before she could reach though, she was tackled away from Spike. "Rarity?!" Spike stared at the unicorn that had driven him to make this disaster in the first place. She had pinned Twilight to the ground. "Twilight, I can't contain myself any longer!" She tearfully declared, dramatically. "I love you more than life itself! Please be mine!" "Get off of me, you obsessive compulsive fashion star!" Twilight shouted in rage at the unicorn, attempting to kick her off to no avail. The group watched this scuffle with mild surprise. Applejack grinned cheekily at the Dragon. "Well Spike, looks like you took too long and somepony else caught Rarity's eye." "Shut up, Applejack." He said dully. They noticed that the other ponies were getting closer to the hut every second. "Okay." Applejack watched the horde advance, growing fear crossing her face. "We need to get out of here now!" She turned back to the room. "Zecora, ya'll should probably come with u..." To her surprise, the room behind them was empty of all Zebra-type creatures. "Zebra sense..." She muttered under her breath. "We need to get out of here!" Bon Bon shouted. "But they're coming from the front!" Spike added. "Pinkie!" Applejack yelled to her friend. "Make a back door!" The pink mare saluted. "Sure thing!" Building up momentum, Pinkie sped towards the wall of the hut and crashed right through it, leaving behind a Pinkie shaped hole. Bon Bon was the first to step through the hole but stopped and looked back. "What about the Antidote? We need to wait for it to be ready!" While she was talking, Applejack had ran over to the cauldron and plucked the plant out with her teeth, tossing it over to her. "Or that." Spike noted jumping on to Applejack's back. "We can do that." The group ran out of the hut just as the hordes crashed through it. Once again, they were chased through the trees. "We need to get back to Ponyville!" Spike shouted over the cries of the Ponies behind them. "We'll make the antidote there!" Pinkie and Bon Bon who were running in front of them looked back, Pinkie turning fully around and running backwards. "Mmmph mmm!" Bon Bon, who had the Heartbreaker in her mouth, mumbled. "Bon Bon agrees." Pinkie translated for her. "We really need to hurry, whose lovey-doveys are catching-Spike!" She gasped abruptly. "Look out!" "Huh?" Spike turned around just in time to see a hoof heading towards his face, knocking him and Applejack to the ground. The last thing Spike saw before darkness consumed him was the Ponies surrounding him and Applejack, Pinkie and Bon Bon running off. *** "Wakey, wakey, Spike." "Uh..." Spike moaned, slowly coming to. The first thing he noticed was Lyra in front of him. "Ah!" He screamed, he attempted to back away from the unicorn but found that he had been tied up to a pole sticking out of the ground, looking around he found that he was on a hill near Ponyville, the town in question visible nearby. Lyra stood in front of him with the horde of Ponies behind her. Twilight was nowhere to be seen. "You don't know how hard you're making it for yourself." Lyra chided. "All of this hard-to-get stuff is starting to get on my nerves." She laughed at this while Spike was feeling sick. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you were actively trying to avoid me!" She pointed her horn threateningly at him. "You wouldn't do that, would you?" He gulped, nervously. "Uh..." "Well it doesn't matter." Lyra stood up and reached behind her, pulling out a small ball shaped item. "After I love-bomb you, you're going to be mine and nopony else's." Spike struggled again, fearing for his life as well as his love life. "And don't try struggling." Lyra stomped a hoof and the group of ponies behind her each pulled out a love-bomb of their own. "I won't miss, not at this range." She pulled back. "Ready..." The other ponies pulled back as well. "Aim..." Spike briefly wondered if a forced, mind controlled relationship would really be so bad. "FIRE!" Lyra and her followers let the bombs fly, they flew through the air towards Spike and he braced for the inevitable love gassing. But it didn't come. Spike risked a look up and found the bombs floating in the air above him, each of them covered in a golden aura. "When Twilight told me that a love potion had been used in Ponyville, I had thought that to be the end of it." Spike gasped. "Princess Celestia!" The sun princess floated down to the group, landing between Lyra and Spike. "Princess!" Spike sighed in relief. "I'm so thankful that you got her in time!" "Don't start." She glared down at the Dragon. "I know that the love potion is your fault. You'll get your dues after all this is over." He groaned. "Great." Celestia turned back to Lyra. "Get out of the way, Princess, you're keeping me from my love!" Lyra shouted at the sun goddess. "Lyra, you're not in the right of mind." Celestia calmly stated. She still cared about her subjects but had seen this kind of thing way to many times. "Is anypony when they're in love?!" She shrieked at the Princess. "Lyra please, all of you." Celestia urged. "You need to let me help you." "You can help us by getting out of our way!" Lyra spoke, her horn glowing dangerously with sparks. "Lyra, you can't beat me." Celestia responded, emphasizing her point by making her horn glow almost blindingly. To her surprise though, Lyra smiled evilly. "Wanna bet?" To Celestia's great shock, the bombs she was holding above her exploded, she couldn't even cry out before the pressurized love mist inside washing over the Princess. Lyra laughed maniacally, with a flash of her magic, the mist was washed away from the Princess, leaving the Alicorn, slumped over on the ground, shaking and trembling horribly. Lyra stepped up and poked the princess. "Wake up." She commanded. The princess shook her head. "Then I'll have to do it for you." Lyra strained and focused all of her power on the Alicorns tightly shut eyelids, slowly pulling them open. "No..." Celestia strained. "Yes." Lyra chuckled. "No!" Spike shouted. With a last burst of magic, Celestia's eyelids flew open. Her body froze, it stopped trembling and shaking altogether. "I..." "Yes...?" Lyra asked, a big sneer plastered on to her face. "I..." Celestia struggled once again for a moment but stopped and looked up; a small smile on her face and shades of red, pink and purple in her eyes. "I love you." Spike could almost feel his soul dying. Lyra laughed triumphantly and pointed at Spike. "If you love me, you'll make him love me!" Celestia stood up, turned around and looked at Spike. She smiled darkly. Spike screamed.