//------------------------------//
// Transported To Zephyr Heights 
// Story: Misty, Sprout, and the monsters of Knottshurr Island 
// by RiffRaff7942_YT 
//------------------------------//

“Read that back to me.” Misty said. Hitch has just finished collecting all the names of the monsters.
“Okay, from left to right,” HItch began, “We have Knottshurr Tree, Bay, Mount Tuzzpikk, BoOoo, Bel’yawn Zirro, Flocca, Cleomace, Babushka Knittshurr, Souxls Vessel, Mount Mound, and of course Chimbickle. Those are all very peculiar names.”
“Yeah,” Misty replied, “Never heard names that weird before. No offence.”
The Babushka Knittshurr plucked her blanket.
“She says none taken, love,” Hitch said to Misty, “She said love, not me.”

Misty trotted to the portal, which was open. She peered her head through.
“Hello? Sprout?”
Sprout was a few feet away from Mist, surrounded by wagons. Some were horse drawn, others had little bikes at the front of them.
“Oh, hey Misty,” Sprout greeted, “We’re ready to go.”
“Great, I’ll get them,” Misty replied, and backed into the portal. “We’re ready to go fellas!”
“Okay, one at a time everyone.” Hitch said calmly, but to no prevai. Every monster moved towards the portal as quickly as they could. Some were slower than others, be it by not as adapted for movement or needing to carry equipment. There was actually very little collisions, which was a surprise to Hitch. He was used to ponies shoving eachother in lines. In any case, every monster managed to make their way through the portal in one piece. Misty and Hitch shared a look, and then trotted after them, and closed the portal behind them.

When they arrived in Zephyr Heights, having morphed back into their usual physical forms, they saw Sprout trying to organise the monsters into the carts; “You over here, you over there, you two in this one, hey, rope is not food! Spit it out, now!”
“Classic Sprout,” Hitch remarked. He still hadn’t forgotten the days of Sprout’s dictatorship phase, when Hitch and the others were trying to reunite pony kind. Sprout heard Hitch’s remark, and whirled around.
“Hey Hitch,” He greeted, “I’m getting everything sorted out don’t worry about it.”
“Yeah, I can see that,” Hitch said cheekily, “Anyway, apparently these monsters come from a place called ‘Knottshurr island, and they like to be referred to as monsters. Even though they all have individual species, but as a whole they are all monsters.”
“Bit of a weird name. What is Knottshurr Island?” Sprout asked.
“Not sure.” Hitch replied. This was followed by a rimshot curtesy of the Flocca providing the drum noises, and the Cleomace making the symbol sound. “Thank you!” Hitch called. The two waved back at him. “I’ll explain on the way. Let’s get moving.”

*MYM*

“Apparently, Knottshurr trees only ever feel comfortable speaking words when performing. That’s why they never speak unless in song.” Hitch was explaining as they came to the palace gates.
“Huh, that’s a bit selective,” Misty replied.
“Different strokes, different folks,” Hitch replied.
When they eventually got to Queen Haven’s castle (I mean, where else would they take them?), Hitch had been trying his best to explain what these strange monsters were all about. But Sprout was still a little lost, as was Misty. Not even Hitch was entirely sure he’d gotten the whole thing completely right.

Pipp met them at the gates. “Hey ponies! I heard all about it, and I was wondering-“
“If you could take a video of them?” Sprout interrupted, smirking. Even Sprout knew all about Pipp’s popular ClipTrot channel, with her millions of subs.
“…Well, can I?” Pipp asked, taken aback by how well Sprout of all ponies seemed to know her gimmick.
“Fellas,” Hitch said to the monsters as they waited for the gates to open, “Pipp wants to know if she can film you, so more ponies can see you.”
“We’ve seen a few phones in our time,” the Flocca remarked, “Sometimes people from the human world come to film us. Go right ahead.” All the other monsters agreed.
“Yep, they’re absolutely fine with it.” Hitch announced. Pipp gave a big squee, obviously without the sound effect, no pony had made that noise when squeeing for generations.

*MYM*

Pipp: Hi there PippSqueaks, I’m buzzing right now, because you are not gonna believe what we’ve found in Starlight Ridge this morning.
Hitch: Umm, actually, they’ve been there for two days.
Misty: Three days.
Hitch: Ye- What she said.
Pipp: Yeah, okay, the Auroricorns found them before we did, but from what I heard they called in Misty and Sprout to go find out what they were.
Misty: Actually, Comet only wanted me, but I let Sprout come along since he wanted his own adventure.
Sprout: It’s true.
Pipp: Okay then. I’ll show you these monster in detail when we get into the castle. They like to be called monsters by the way, that’s not offensive to them. See y’all in a bit PippSqueaks.
(Mount Tuzzpikk murmurs something. The other monsters snicker.)
Pipp: What did he say?
Hitch: He says ‘she’s a PippSqueaks herself’, referring to you of course. They don’t know you take offence with that.
(The monsters look at Hitch, and then at Pipp.)
Pipp: Yeah… see you inside.

*MYM*

In the castle, Queen Haven was waiting to greet her unexpected visitors. Whilst she looked taken aback upon seeing what they looked like, she was nonetheless welcoming to them, as she was welcoming to every creature that stepped foot in her kingdom.

“Greetings, umm…”
“Monsters,” Hitch said.
“Monste- ..My dear Hitch, that is extremely rude!” The queen proclaimed.
“No no, they refer to themselves as monsters,” Hitch reassured, “My Singing Monsters, the lost landscapes. The lost landscapes being where they’re from. Apparently they came here through a portal, even though he said they were sleeping. It’s a little confusing.”
The queen thought for a minute. This was a lot to take in. “I’m afraid I don’t know anything about any ‘Lost Landscapes’, or at least the ones you may be referring to.”
“They come from an island called ‘Knottshurr Island’,” Hitch continued, “It’s spelt like this.”
Hitch threw a scrunched up note as the queen. The queen caught it unfolded it, and read it. “Hmm… I’m afraid I’m not familiar with this at all. Take them to the library. Perhaps there you can find a spell of sorts to send them home.”
“As you wish, your majesty.” Sprout said, gesturing ‘gracefully’. And with that, they marched off two by two, led by the guards Thunder Flap and Zoom Zephyrwing.
“Ridiculous name,” the middle Mount Mound remarked, “Queen Haven. What is she, queen of the hay bales?”
This prompted a chorus of snickers from the other monsters.
“You know it’s a good job nopony else can understand you,” Hitch commented, “or else you’d be out of here in an instant.”
“Okay, so, I can’t have fun?” The mound remarked.
“Not in front of the Queen.” Hitch claimed, shooting a glare at the middle mound. The mound rolled its eyes, and dropped its wings. And then, they kicked back, and all simply waited to reach the library.