“Ok, you two, you ready to have some fun?!” Rainbow asked, her wings flapping as she stayed hovering in the air as she looked down at her two students with her that day. Though the rest of the people in her group had wings and could fly, they were all sticking to the ground and not joining the rainbow-haired pegasus in the air. Well all of them could fly except the orange-colored pegasus who couldn’t fly.
“What are we doing here exactly?” A little orange dragon asked, her arms crossed as boredom practically poured out of her light blue eyes. The pony culture was still a mystery to the teeny dragon girl who, up to a few months ago, lived in a rough and rocky land. The only source of color that she ever saw was the dark brown from the rocks or the orangish-red glow from the lava that flowed from the volcanos. So the soft and cushy life and things of ponies still didn’t make sense to the tiny dragon. And this festival was just another thing to add to the list. Her teacher said the word ‘fun’ but the girl saw zero fun going on. Where were the wrestling matching, lava surfing, or the King of the Hoard battles? This just looked like another excuse for the ponies to get together to sing and eat more sickening sweets.
“Yeah… I’m with Smolder,” The griffin beside her said, holding up his hand and waving it to all the stands. “What's there to do here, eat cupcakes? We did that in Professor Pie’s class yesterday.”
“Ptth, yeah I didn’t know there was a proper way to eat a tiny ball of sugar.” Smolder scoffed at the lessons she and her friends had sat through the previous day.
“Well…” Their other professor, Fluttershy, said as she brought her hoof to her mouth. “There isn’t a right way to eat it. But I definitely wouldn’t tear it in half and make a sandwich out of it if you want to pass her class.” She said in her soft-spoken tone. “But we’re here to have fun! You guys all deserve it after all the hard work you’ve done this semester.”
“But what is there to do, this all looks pretty lame.” He said to his professors as he watched an Earth pony toss a ball at a tower of bottles, sending them all crashing to the ground. Which seeing the bottles crash to the ground with loud BANGs did make Gauis smirk, if the entire day was going to be cracking and breaking things then the boy might be able to get into this trip. But knowing the ponies the bottle game was going to be the exception to the rule and not the standard.
“To have fun of course,” Fluttershy said, smiling down softly at the boy as she waved her hoof at the stands, “There is a lot to try out here, and I know neither of you has experienced any of it before.” She said and started to list off every game and food stand that she pointed at, giving a quick example of each of them. Making the light blue pony scoff and roll her eyes, having figured the two students could figure out what the stands had to offer. But she did notice something, well more like somepony, that probably wasn’t supposed to be there. An orange pegasus in gold armor walked down the dirt path, his head shooting back and forth as if he were searching for something.
“Uh… I’ll be right back!” Rainbow said, dashing off with a rainbow behind her, not waiting for an answer from the little group, and flew in front of the night. “Uh… Flash, right?” She asked, landing on the ground.
“Ah!” He squeaked as Rainbow's sudden appearance startled him, “I mean yes mam!” Flash said, standing up straight, his wing folding so the longest feather was touching his forehead, saluting the girl.
“Mam?” The girl scoffed and laughed. “At ease big guy, you don’t need to be so formal with me.”
“Sorry mam, you are friends with the Princess of Friendship and a member of the Wonderbolts,” He explained, though he did lower his wings, “Duty is duty. But I’m glad to see you here.” He said to her, looking around some more. “We may have an issue.” The orange pony sighed.
“Problem? What kind of problem?” She asked him, raising an eyebrow, also darting her head from side to side. “It can’t be that bad. Me and my friends just saved magic from being tossed into a void of nothingness. What can top that.”
“Well…” The male pegasus said, kicking the ground with his front hoof, “The little filly who did that may have kind of gotten away.” He muttered, “And I have been tasked with finding her. I went to the school to tell Princess Twilight about it. But your guidance counselor told me she was here on a field trip.”
“Yeah, it was supposed to be a treat for everyone to celebrate.” Rainbow groaned, rolling her eyes at the news the small pink pony managed to escape.
“So I was told,” He said sheepishly, “I was flying around looking for the princess until I saw the suspect. But then I lost track of her as soon as I landed on the ground.” He groaned.
“Hey, don’t beat yourself up.” Rainbow said, suddenly appearing beside the guy and elbowing him with a smirk, “She a small sneaky pegasus, heck she managed to escape an entire group of you guys. But what is she going to do, fly away? We’ll nab her up as soon as she takes off.” She assured the guy.
“Us?” He asked her, “Oh no no no, you enjoy your day off. I’ll find her and get her taken care of.”
“Nah,” Rainbow said with a mischievous smile as she started to fly, “I’ll keep an eye for her while taking my class around. With the two of us searching for her we’ll get her.” She said before zooming back off to her group.
“Just don’t tell anyone about it!” He called out, “It’s kind of a secret!”
"And the pie stand is where you can get pie,” Fluttershy said, pointing at the closest stand.
“Ok, I think they got it Fluttershy,” Rainbow said, “Let this show on the road!” She ordered, waving her front hooves forward.
“Yeah that was like Professor Pie’s lessons but way worse,” Smolder whispered with an eye roll, getting a scoff from her griffin friend.
“Come on guys, this is going to be fun!” Scootaloo said, jumping over to Rainbow Dash, “Dibs on being with Rainbow!” She said with a wide smile on her face, getting a smile from the older pegasus.
“Kay kid, I guess you can team up with me.” She said ruffling the girl's dark pink hair.
“I’m going with Professor Dash too,” Smolder volunteered as she walked over beside Scootaloo. “You guys have fun… doing whatever it is you guys find to do.”
“Thanks,” Gallus muttered as he stayed beside Fluttershy.
“Oh don’t worry Gallus,” The yellow pony said as she put a hoof on the girl’s shoulder, “We’ll have lots and lots of fun.” She assured the boy as the other group started to leave.
“Rainbow Dash, look at me!” Scootaloo said, almost begging, as she got to a that had a bunch of different pieces of exercise equipment and grabbed a dumbbell. The little pegasus let out a chorus of squeaks and grunts as she tried to lift it up.
“Yeah, yeah, good job kid,” Rainbow said, not looking at the girl as she darted her head from side to side, looking for Cozy. If she captured the girl who escaped Princess Celestia’s royal guard then she would be seen in a 20% more awesome spotlight. “Keep it up.” She said.
“What's got her on edge?” Smolder asked, walking over and grabbing the weight Scootaloo was trying to pick up, lifting it was ease and curling it a few times as she watched her teacher float around.
“Think she saw Tank?” Scootaloo suggested, getting a shrug from the dragon. The tortoise was usually the only thing that stole the adult’s attention this bad. If they wanted to get out of a lecture or homework the class would ask about her tortoise. They had dodged several lessons on loyalty and being awesome because of the tortoise.
“What would Tank be doing all the way out here? Does he like pony bake goods?” She asked the other girl.
“I don’t know. I’ve never seen him eat,” Scootaloo admitted, “Maybe he was taking a walk and they just set up the fair around him.”
“Ha!” Smolder laughed, clapping Scootaloo on the back, “Good one!”
“Ah, er thanks…” She said, trying to ignore the loud pop sound that came from her shoulders when Smolder smacked her.
“AH HA!” Rainbow Dash cheered, gaining both of their attention and making them snap their heads to her, just in time for the pegasus to fly into a crown of ponies.
“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Scootaloo said, “We’re supposed to stick together!” She said following the Wonder Bolt into the crowd of people. Dodging around the grown pony's legs she tried to find Rainbow Dash. Not stopping even as she heard Smolder yell ‘Watch it! Dragon walking here!’.
“There you are!” She heard a nasally and cocky voice say, making the girl stop and head in the direction of the voice. Finally, she popped out of the crowd at an empty tent, peeked around the corner, and sighed in relief seeing the blue pegasus and getting ready to jump out and see what she was doing. But then her eyes went wide as she caught a glimpse of a tiny pink pegasus with curly pink hair, making her gasp. What was the worst part was an obsidian black necklace shaped like an alicorn that hung from around her neck.
Scootaloo would remember that magical relic from anywhere. It was the fittingly named ‘Alicorn Amulet’. It was a necklace that gave the wearer untold powers but corrupted whoever wore it. A traveling performing pony named Trixie had used it to enslave her home until Twilight managed to trick the girl into taking it off. But Scootaloo was sure that the little filly wearing the amulet wasn’t interested in taking it off in general, and a serious villain having the amulet couldn’t have meant anything good for her and Rainbow Dash.
“Listen, kid, you have no idea what that thing can do to you.” Rainbow Dash said, cautiously reaching her hoof out to take it.
“Oh, I know what it’s going to do to you though.” The girl said with a giggle, her ruby-red eyes dilated and glowing red with energy. “Make you and much smaller problem!” She laughed as a beam of red light shot out of the amulet and hit Rainbow Dash.
“AH!” Both Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo yelped, making Cozy growl and shoot her head towards Scootaloo. Making the pegasus’ eyes go wide before ducking around the corner, planting herself against the wall as she started to pant.
“Hey, Scoot,” Smolder said, walking up with a red and white container filled with a caramel-covered piece of popcorn, “Have you tried this caramel corn stuff, it's not half bad. Sweet and crunch, kind of like a ruby, just not as tasty.” She said.
“SSSSSSH!” Scootaloo demanded, getting on her back hooves and covering the dragon's mouth. “SSSSSSSSSH!”
“Gah, hey!” Smolder spat turning away, “I get it, you ponies don’t eat gemstones, but you don’t have to be so rude about it. But… I respect a pony finally telling me to shut up.”
“N-n-n-no… n-n-not t-t-t-t-t-t-that!” She said stuttering as she heard Cozy speak up.
"I’ll let Scoot go, not like she can do much. Well nobody can do anything to me while I have this!” She laughed before suddenly going quiet and after a few seconds, the girl peeked her head around the corner.
“What's going on here?” Smolder asked as she walked around the corner and froze at what she saw. A little filly pegasus was fluttering in the air, her flank a light blue color, and her hair doing an imitation of a rainbow. The little filly’s hair was swept back but puffed up like it had been through a windstorm. “Professor Dash?!” She asked, her popcorn slipping out of her hands and crashing to the ground.
“She's so cute!” Scootaloo cheered, dashing by the dragon and immediately wrapping the pegasus in a hug.
"Y-yeah sure she is,” Smolder said, watching the toddler pony giggle and zoom around Scootaloo. “But how did this happen?” She asked, making the orange pegasus come back to her senses.
“Oh, well…” She said sheepishly. “Cozy Glow is back.”
“See isn’t this fun?” Fluttershy asked, landing beside Gallus, holding a slice of peach pie out to the boy. A stuffed raccoon in his hands, a prize from throwing a dart at a target and getting a bullseye, the tips of his wings were dyed a teal blue as well. They had stopped at the face painting station, but the teen had insisted that it was really lame to get his face painted. But he did let the ponies working the stand color his wings.
“Yeah, this wasn’t as lame as I originally thought.” The boy sighed with a smirk, taking the slice of pie and eating it in one bite. “Hopefully the others are enjoying themselves.” He said, wiping his hand on his chest, wondering what else there was to do at this thing. “And I feel like I’m more prepared for Professor Pinkie’s pop quiz.” He said.
“Which I’m guessing doesn’t involve any pop?” Fluttershy joked, holding her hoof to her mouth as she giggled.
“No, not at all.” He sighed, shuttering at the memory of the first pop quiz that was sprung on him as if was a war flashback. But now he would probably never forget the proper amount of sprinkles that was needed to go on a cupcake. Would have been a lot better if they had been testing different fizzy drinks. “But I’m not gonna think about that, I’m here to relax!” He said.
“Oh, that’s so wonderful to hear.” She said as a little red bird landed on Futtershy’s shoulder and started to tweet in her ear. “Oh hello little friend.” She said to the bird listening to her feathery friend tweet and chirp in her ear. Her eyes grew wider as she listened to the bird and her mouth dropped open. But before Gallus could ask what the problem was the sound of the birds tweeting was overshadowed by a “FLUUUUUTTTTERSHY!” and glancing over the griffin saw Yona, Sandbar, and Applebloom rushing their way. A pink filly tied to Yona’s hoof and dragged forward as she tried to run towards different stands with desserts on them and an orange filly with her face painted red was riding on Applebloom's back.
“Sup guys?” Gallus said, raising an eyebrow as they all skidded to a stop in front of him. “Pick up a babysitting gig?”
“Appa-jack appa!” The little orange filly declared in response.
“Not exactly,” Applebloom said, kicking the ground a bit.
“Yona saw crazy evil pink pony zap not evil crazy pink pony!” The yak said panting from all the running.
“Yeah, she even got my sis!” Applebloom said, holding her flank a bit higher as if the painted filly was easy to miss. “We got to stop her before she gets anyone else!”
“I-I-I think it's too late for that,” Fluttershy said as the bird flew off her shoulder, “My friend told me that they saw Rainbow get zapped by some weird red light and it turned her into a filly.” She said, walking closer to her class. “We need to find Twilight before it's too late! She’ll know what to do.” She said, opening her wings and covering the students trying to protect them as if Cozy was going for them.
“Oh, I’m sooooo sorry Professor Fluttershy,” A high-pitched voice said from behind them, making the group gasp as they turned around. Standing there was Cozy Glow with a confident smirk on her face.
“Cozy, y-you stay back you bad girl!” Fluttershy spat, using the worst insult that she could think of to throw at the girl. Making her gasp and cover her chest with her hoof. “I’m sorry to be so mean. B-But you have been a very bad girl Cozy! I’m so disappointed that someone who can get along with everyone would be so so so-!”
“Evil?” Cozy asked, losing the surprised look on her face, and started to giggle, “Please I was only nice to everyone to have them work for me! But with this amulet, I don’t need anyone else!” She laughed, lowering her hoof and revealing the black amulet around her neck. “But if anyone is going might find a way to stop me it will be you and your friends. So I’m going to make it so you won’t be able to stop me.”
“I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to do this…” Fluttershy said, closing her eyes tightly as she dropped her head down.
“Ah, watch out guys!” Sandbar yelped, dropping to the ground, “She’s gonna use it!” He cried. His friends all dropped to the ground and covered their faces. Even Applejack covered her face, imitating her sister, while Pinky was still distracted by some cupcakes at a stand.
Suddenly the yellow pony shot her head up and her eyes were wide open as she glared at the pink pony.
“Oh no, not the stare!”Cozy cried out dramatically, covering her eyes with one hoof and holding one out dramatically towards the adult pegusus. “Oh wait.” She said, planting her hooves on the ground as the beam of energy shot from her amulet, “I don’t care!”
And just like the other adult ponies before her, the yellow pony quickly shrunk down to a little filly. Her legs wobbled for a few seconds before her legs spread out under her, sending her crashing to the ground. “Mm…” The little filly whimpered, tears starting to stream down her face
“Looks like I might’ve made her into an even bigger crybaby.” Cozy cackled, “Oh well, have fun with the babies, I got a couple more ponies to get rid of.” She said, vanishing in a red flash of light.
“This isn’t good,” Sandbar said, watching his professors scramble behind Gallus, hugging the griffin's arm as she shook in fear.
“You can say that again.” Gallus muttered, “But we can’t stand her and talk about it. We need to find Headmare Twilight.”He sighed, swooping up the filly with one hand. “If she’s got everyone else that means Professor Rarity and her are next and final targets.”
“WAAAAAH!” Fluttershy busted out, after holding it back before, now that the scary pony was gone she finally felt safe enough to cry out loud. She buried her face into the griffin's soft feathers, trying to hide away from everyone.
“Uh… you guys go ahead,” Gallus sighed, “I-I’ll try to calm her down.” He sighed.