The team slowly and cautiously treaded through the labyrinth of sunbathing humans. Twilight was the most accustomed to the sight of the humans, but even then, considering that these weren't the same humans as Sunset's world, this was still uncharted territory for her. The rest of the Main 6 were a little taken aback from the strange discovery. Spike, however, was mostly on the same level with Twilight in terms of knowing such creatures.
"What is this place?" SpongeBob said with caution.
"I have a bad feeling about this place." Mr. Krabs said nervously.
"Ain't these those...hoo-mans you were tellin' us about from that crystal mirror 'bout a year ago, Twi?" Applejack looked around.
"Yeah, but these humans are much bigger compared to you and me. And they’re all tan or brown." Twilight studied the humans' characteristics. "I don't think they're the same kind of humans back in Sunset's home."
"Maybe this guy knows where we are." Patrick came up to a middle-aged man's foot. “He looks smart. He's got five heads."
"Those aren't heads. I think those are called...toes if I remember correctly." The alicorn pointed out.
"Heads, toes. I don't see a difference." Patrick responded.
Twilight gave him a questionable look. SpongeBob came up to his starfish friend.
"Sir? Could you tell us where to find a Krabby Patty?" He asked the foot.
The foot didn't answer.
"Hey, my friend's talking to you!" Patrick poked the foot angrily.
"That's not it's head, guys." Twilight said, sounding more frustrated.
"What?" SpongeBob peered aside the foot and walked along it's length.
As he did so, he found of what it was connected to. The creature was lying on it's back, fast asleep. SpongeBob gasped.
"A giant, hairy porpoise!" The sea sponge cried. "It's beached! It's suffering. Poor thing."
"Do you even know what a human is?" Twilight was in awe of the fact the SpongeBob and his sea friends had no knowledge of the creatures around them.
"Clearly not." Spike came up beside the alicorn. "Because if they did, he certainly wouldn't think it’s a porpoise."
"Is it just me or do they all seem kinda ugly-looking?" Rainbow poked the sleeping human's side.
"What Twilight said earlier, ya’ll. Those aren't porpoises." Sandy explained.
"All hands on deck!" Mr. Krabs shouted and raced over to the slumbering giant.
The others followed after. Sandy groaned.
"Oh, brother." She said.
"We need to get these guys back in the water." Mr. Krabs said sternly.
"What? No! Guys, it's okay. It's just sleeping." Twilight tried to convince her sea friends.
"But, it'll dry out. We have to save them." SpongeBob argued.
"Did ya'll not hear what Twilight said? Those are humans not porpoises." Applejack said.
"Uhm. Are they supposed to be laying around like that?" Fluttershy asked.
"It's the beach, Fluttershy. It's no different than us relaxing on the sand." Rainbow replied.
"Come on. Push!" SpongeBob urged.
SpongeBob and his friends began to roll the human toward the shore.
"Heave!" Mr. Krabs yelled.
"Ho!" The others said.
"Guys, this isn't necessary. They don't even live in the water." Twilight argued.
It became apparent, however, that the others were too busy pushing the human forward to listen.
"Put you back into it!" Mr. Krabs heaved.
"Come on, Push!" SpongeBob wheezed.
"This is going to take forever." Rainbow complained.
The team were all struggling under the human's weight. Finally, the weight became too overbearing and the human rolled back on top of them.
"Gah! Get it off of me!" Rarity let out a muffled wail.
"Well, I guess this is where that horrible smell was coming from." Squidward said.
"Now what? We're stuck." Spike said.
"Come on, everyone. Help me dig." SpongeBob began digging into the sand.
Without much choice, the others began to dig as well. The large lump in the sand traveled across the beach. It raced underneath another pair legs, but before it could get much larger, the gang dig right into a half-buried shovel. The team groaned in pain, but continued with the digging. Eventually, the team split into five, taking individual routes. They unknowingly began digging into a large sand castle that was currently being built by a young girl. Once the reach the top, the gang all popped out into the open. The girl was surprised, but also in awe of what was in front of her.
The gang all turned to see the girl, mouth agape.
"Whoa." She said in awe.
"Excuse me, do you know where we can get a Krabby Patty around here?" SpongeBob asked.
"You look familiar." The girl said to the ponies and dragon.
"We do?" Rainbow said in confusion.
"Of course we do, Dashie. After all we are from..." Before Pinkie could finish her sentence a young boy stomped over to the castle.
"Invaders!" He said aggressively.
"Uh, oh." SpongeBob grimaced.
"Wait, this is just a misunderstanding!" Twilight tried to quell the escalating situation.
"You get out of my sister's sand castle! The boy kicked the castle violently, sending the entire team flying through the air.
Patrick and Pinkie Pie landed on a unsuspecting boy's ice cream cone and Mr. Krabs, Fluttershy, and Applejack smacked into a cotton candy stand. Squidward found he had landed on a lady's back. Rainbow managed stop her momentum and flew over to Squidward.
"You alright?" She hovered over him.
"Too bad that didn't kill me." He grumbled.
SpongeBob, Sandy, Spike, and Twilight all landed on a beach umbrella. Rarity flew to farthest, bouncing off a beach ball and into a trash bin. The rancid stench assaulted her nose and she gagged.
"Get me out of here!" The pristine unicorn cried.
Patrick and Pinkie slowly got to there senses.
"Somepony...get the number...on that...human." Pinkie said as stars danced around her head.
Patrick shook the dizziness away. His eyes widened when he realized he was face-to-face with a large scoop of the pink, strawberry flavored, ice creamy goodness.
"Where have you been all my life?" Patrick said with twinkling eyes.
Pinkie soon discovered the pile of ice cream they were on and gasped with shock and delight.
"OMC! I'm in heaven! Come to momma!" The pink mare squealed.
The two pink friends began devouring the frozen treat.
Not far from them, Squidward tried to stand up, but the woman's slippery back almost made that impossible. The grumpy squid slipped and slid, trying to get his footing. Rainbow stood by, trying to hold in her laugh.
"Oh, Frank. That feels so good." The women cooed, unaware of what was going on.
"Oh, this is too good." Rainbow giggled.
"Just help me off this thing." Squidward vainly tried to hold himself upright.
Rainbow gave a smug smile and rolled her eyes. She grabbed onto Squidward's arms and began to pull him away. At the same time, Patrick and Pinkie were still going to town on the strawberry ice cream. The boy looked down and finally noticed the two creatures. He grimaced with disgust.
"Gross!" He threw to cone away.
The cone, along with Patrick and Pinkie, sailed across the air and crashed in Rainbow and Squidward. The ponies, sea star, and squid all smack into the sand. Patrick broke through the cone.
"Oh, hey, Squidward." He said happily.
Squidward groaned into the sand.
"Hi, Dashie." Pinkie hopped around her pegasus friend.
"Hi, Pinkie." Rainbow spat some sand out of her mouth.
Meanwhile, SpongeBob, Sandy, Twilight, and Spike all got to there bearings.
"Sandy!" SpongeBob began to run forward. "The Krabby Patty! I think I see where it's coming from!"
SpongeBob ran faster and faster, but all that accomplished was spinning the beach umbrella faster and faster.
"SpongeBob, what are you doing?" Twilight said as she was spun around the umbrella.
"I'm getting dizzy." Spike struggled to stay steady.
The dragon began teetering over the edge. Twilight saw Spike was about to fall over and she took to the air.
"Whoa!" Spike gasped as he lost his footing and fell from the umbrella. Thankfully, Twilight reached him in time to scoop him up.
"Are you okay, Spike?" She asked in concern.
"Yeah. Thank you." Spike said.
The alicorn smiled, but the warm moment was cut short when the umbrella suddenly closed. SpongeBob and Sandy slid down, shrieking in surprise. They both came to a sudden halt when the umbrella panels snapped together. The man underneath the the umbrella pushed it open, catapulting the sea sponge and squirrel across the beach. Twilight, with Spike on her back, flew after them. The two smacked into the cotton candy stand where Mr. Krabs, Fluttershy, and Applejack were still stuck to. They all slid off and tumbled to the ground. Twilight was there in an instant to check on her friends.
"Applejack, Fluttershy, are you two alright?" She asked worriedly.
"All good here, Twilight. Fluttershy?" Applejack turned to the pegasus.
"I...I think so." Fluttershy said.
"Wait. Where's Rarity?" Spike asked.
"Over here." A voice called out.
The others turned to see the white unicorn bitterly walking over to them. The others caught a whiff of the disgusting smell.
"Augh! Land's sakes, Rarity. Is that you?" Applejack covered her nose.
"Unfortunately, yes, Applejack." Rarity huffed. "Because during whatever fiasco you were doing, I was desperately trying to get myself out of a garbage can."
Rarity's face went as red as a tomato.
"Never in my life have been so disgraced." She gritted her teeth.
"Don't worry, Rarity. There must be some place to wash up...somewhere." Spike tried to calm down the enraged unicorn.
Rarity gave a frustrated sigh. Just then, Patrick, Squidward, Pinkie, and Rainbow came up to the team.
"SpongeBob, you will not believe the size of the ice cream here." Patrick said. "I wonder what other giant snacks they have."
"We’re not here to try out their food, Patrick." Twilight pointed out.
Patrick was too distracted as his eyes casted over the cotton candy stand behind them.
"Cotton candy!" He said in disbelief.
Pinkie gasped once again.
"Where? Where!?" She looked around ecstatically.
"Oh, no. No, no, no. The last thing we need is Pinkie getting jacked up on sugar." Rainbow said.
The three weren't listening. SpongeBob, Patrick, and Pinkie quickly leapt up the the stand. They stared into the machine, licking their lips at the sugary, silking, candy floss. Sandy joined them up on the cart.
"If you ate all that, you'd have enough energy to run around the whole world." Sandy said.
SpongeBob, Patrick, and Pinkie all dove into the machine. They swirled around, cumulating cotton candy around their bodies. Sandy watched as the three spun around inside the machine. Once their bodies were covered in the sugary silk, they all slurped it into their mouths. The sugar rush was instantaneous. SpongeBob, Patrick, and Pinkie laughed with glee as the raced out of the cart and down the boardwalk. The seemingly traveled across the entire globe; Japan, Canada, France, Mexico, USA, Italy, Germany, Egypt, India, China. The traveled far and wide, at least that's what they thought. They were simply standing in place, laughing as Sandy would occasionally change to a different city backdrop using souvenir cards on a rack from a gift shop
"Ergh. When is this sugar gonna wear off?" Squidward pressed his hands against his ears.
"With Pinkie, it never ends." Rainbow grumbled, a annoyed look on her face.
The three friends suddenly dropped to the ground. The sugar crash took over.
"I think it's over." Fluttershy said.
"Took them long enough." Rainbow said in exasperation.
“Their laughter was starting to get annoying.” Spike added.
“You’re telling me.” Squidward said.
SpongeBob lifted his head when he caught a whiff of the all to familiar smell. He climbed up the souvenir rack and took in a deep sniff.
“Hey, guys, I smell Krabby Patties!” He jumped off the rack. “I think it’s this way!”
“Least we’re back on track now.” Applejack said.
As the team began crossing the sidewalk, they suddenly found themselves within the crosshairs of fast-moving roller skaters and bicyclists. Panic ensued as the gang ran about, avoiding getting flatten by the rushing sport traffic.
“Don’t leave me, Squidward.” Mr. Krabs wailed.
“Oh, give me a break.” Rainbow cried out in frustration, narrowly avoiding a skateboarder.
“Get clear! Get clear!” Twilight held onto Spike.
The team was all over the place, running and jumping out of the way of pedestrians on their bikes and roller skates. There was no way for the team could safely travel down the sidewalk without the risk of becoming roadkill. They frantically ran back to the edge, breathing heavily and some even fell to their knees from exhaustion.
“Now what?” SpongeBob asked in despair.
“We’re never going to make it!” Squidward wheezed.
“Not without gettin’ flattened. That’s for sure.” Applejack said.
“But we have to get out of here somehow.” Twilight argued.
“What could possibly help us in this situation?” Rainbow said.
As Patrick began to stand back up, he bonked his head against something overhead. The team looked up to see what it was. An unsupervised bicycle stood parked against a light pole.
As fate would have it, the team mostly came to the same idea. One thing led to another, and now SpongBob, Twilight, and the others were piloting the bicycle down the sidewalk.
SpongeBob and Rainbow pressed down on one of the bike pedals.
“Heave!” SpongeBob shouted.
“Ho!” Patrick and Pinkie pushed down on the other pedal.
“Whee! This is fun!” Pinkie exclaimed happily.
Up above, Mr. Krabs, Twilight, Squidward, Applejack held onto the handlebars to keep the bike steady. Sandy clasped the middle connection, keeping a close eye on what was in front of them. As for Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike, they were content with sitting on the bike’s seat to stay safe.
“We’re doing it guys!” SpongeBob exclaimed.
“Just keep things steady” Twilight acknowledged.
The bicycle rushed past other bicyclists and roller skaters, causing them to look on in confusion. One particular roller skater got so distracted by the seemingly unmanned bike, he wasn’t watching where he was going and smacked right into a street sign. Several other riders crashed into him, causing a pile-up.
“That’s gonna leave a mark.” Spike winced.
“Oh! I hope they’re okay.” Fluttershy gasped at the accident.
Hold on!” Sandy cried out.
The bike was heading right for a lady pushing a baby stroller. To make matters worse, there was a toddler inside. Mr. Krabs shrieked and sounded the bike’s bell in a panic.
“Get out of the way!” Twilight shouted in alarm.
The toddler merely smiled and pointed at the bike. Thinking on his feet, SpongeBob leaned to the left on the pedal.
“Lean!” He yelled.
Rainbow also began leaning.
“Starboard!” Mr. Krabs leapt onto the other handlebar.
The others pitched in on leaning as far to the left as possible. The bike titled and turned just in time, barely missing the woman and toddler.
“Phew! That was close.” Spike wiped his forehead.
No sooner had he said that, the bike raced up a surfboard lying against a truck. The bike shot into the air. The team held on for dear life as they sailed across the street, screaming and holding onto each other. As the bike began to dip down, the volley of friends fell off the bike. Luckily, they all landed into a supply wagon, while the bike crashed onto the road.
“That. Was. Awesome!” Rainbow yelled triumphantly.
“No, it certainly was not!” Rarity snapped back. “That was the terrifying ordeal I’ve ever gone through.”
“Is everypony okay?” Twilight asked.
“For the most part, yes.” Sandy answered.
SpongeBob peered over the wagon and soon spotted the origin of where the Krabby Patty smell was coming from.
“What the?” Mr. Krabs gasped.
“What?” SpongeBob said in disbelief.
In front of them was a giant food truck in the shape of a pirate ship. People crowded around the ordering window. The team was in shock.
“What they hay is that?” Applejack said in confusion.
“Home of the Krabby Patty”?” SpongeBob read the bold, red lettering on the ship’s sail. “But The Krusty Krab is the home of the Krabby Patty!”
“Didn’t you say The Krusty Krab was the only place to get a Krabby Patty?” Twilight asked.
“Exactly! This doesn’t make any sense.” SpongeBob said.
“Wait. You also said it was the secret formula that made the Krabby Patties so delicious.” Spike said. “Whoever owns this thing might have the secret formula with them.”
“That’s actually a good assumption.” The purple alicorn agreed.
“Mr. Krabs, what are we gonna do?” SpongeBob asked eagerly.
“8.99 for a Krabby Patty?” Mr. Krabs pushed SpongeBob out of the way. “Why didn’t I think of that.”
“Oh, for crying out all. What is it with you and money.” Rainbow asked, exasperated.
“Now’s not the time for that. We need to get to the bottom of this.” Applejack said firmly.
The others were in agreement and made their way over to the food truck.
Inside the food truck, the pirate was busily flipping burger patties on the grill while singing a happy tune. Meanwhile, the team shuffled up onto a ventilation window.
“You!” Mr. Krabs growled.
The pirate turned and noticed the team. He froze in shock and confusion, letting a patty nearly drop off the grill.
“So you’re the one behind this!” Rainbow pointed an accusatory hoof at him.
“Cease and desist that unauthorized patty flipping!” Mr. Krabs ordered.
“Yeah, that’s my job!” SpongeBob added.
“How did you get here?” The pirate asked, still taken aback by the unexpected visitors. “You cannot breathe air. And what’s with the miniature horses and the lizard?”
“Horses!? I’ll have you know we are ponies!” Rarity stomped her hoof.
“And I’m not a lizard! I’m a dragon!” Spike added angrily.
“That doesn’t explain what’s going on here?” The pirate said.
“We were brought here on a mission. And it seems that you’re part of completing the mission.” Twilight spoke firmly.
“Also, there was this magic dolphin from the future who shot us out of his blowhole, and…” SpongeBob explained further until the pirate cut him off.
“Wait! Wait.” The pirate scurried to the back on grabbed a book.
He looked through the last couple of pages as if to look for something.
“That’s not in the book.” He said.
“Book?” Twilight asked.
“There is no magical dolphin in this story.” The pirate said.
“What story?” Mr. Krabs asked skeptically.
The pirate snapped the book shut.
“The story of how Bikini Bottom was brought to its knees when its beloved Krabby Patty formula was stolen by me, Burger Beard.” He said ominously.
The team all had completed shocked looks, except for Patrick who was sitting down with a childish smile.
“How does it end?” The sea star asked.
Applejack gave him an annoyed look.
“Well, let me see.” Burger Beard stroked his beard. “It looks like…Burger Beard becomes the richest food truck proprietor in all the land.”
“But how did you steal the formula?” SpongeBob asked.
“Yeah. We didn’t see you at all until now.” Twilight said. “And in my experience, humans can’t breathe underwater.”
“I don’t need to.” Burger Beard replied bluntly. “It was easy stealing the formula. I simply rewrote the story, and…Poof!”
He revealed a tiny glass bottle with a rolled up paper inside.
The team all gasped.
“Me formuler.” Mr. Krabs said longingly.
“So I was right! You did steal the formula!” Spike said.
Burger Beard merely chuckled.
“What do you mean, rewrote the story?” Squidward asked skeptically.
“Watch this.” Burger Beard took a feather pen out of a bottle and ink and began to write. “The brave and handsome Burger Beard banished our poor heroes to be stranded on Pelican Island!”
As soon as he finished writing the sentence. The team slowly began to disappear within a cloud of magical sparks. They panicked and yelled, but they vanished before anything coherent could be done. Burger Beard gave an arrogant laugh.
“The End”!” He snapped the book shut.
Far out into the sea, our heroes found themselves at the top of a vertical rock formation with dozens of brown pelicans circling the top.
“Oh, this looks bad. And these guys look hungry!” SpongeBob said fearfully.
“We can take them on! Come on girls.” Rainbow said with determination.
“I would rather just leave now than confront those beasts!” Rarity shrieked.
“Look out!”SpongeBob pointed to a pelican swooping down in the them.
“Duck! Rarity called out.
“Duck? That’s a pelican, silly.” Pinkie said.
The white unicorn pulled her friend down against the ground. They all ducked, except for Patrick. The pelican rammed in the pink sea star. He tumbled, barely tipping over the edge. A piece of it broke off, causing Patrick to fall. Thankfully, he grabbed hold of the ledge just time. He looked down at the rocky spikes at the bottom and screamed in terror.
“Well this is just great. We’re trapped in the middle of the ocean, surrounded by hungry pelicans with no way of knowing where we should even go.” Rainbow yelled in frustration.
“But you got wings. Can’t you fly us out?” SpongeBob.
“I can’t carry all of you in one go.” The blue pegasus argued.
“Plus, that pirate can just send us back with the book.” Twilight added.
“Nice. So this is what teamwork gets you.” Squidward grumbled.
“Here! Take Squidward, you vile beasts!” Mr. Krabs grabbed Squidward and held him in the air.
“I want to be on a new team. This one’s broken.” Patrick tried pulling himself back to the ledge.
Fluttershy and SpongeBob both grabbed him and pulled with their strength.
“It’s okay, Patrick. We’ll figure something out.” Fluttershy did her best to comfort the big starfish, but it was clear she didn’t have much faith either.
“Sandy, you’re smart. You have any ideas?” SpongeBob asked.
“I ain’t been too smart since I found this old piece of paper!” Sandy smacked the page to the ground.
Plankton carefully peered out of SpongeBob sock. Spotting the paper, he chuckled evilly before hiding himself back into the sock.
“What?” Scratched his head in confusion.
“Incoming!” Mr. Krabs cried out.
Another pelican was swooping down on them. SpongeBob sunk into his shorts to protect himself. Pelican was about to pounce when Rainbow barreled into it, sending it spiraling away.
“Pick on Somepony your own size!” She shouted.
“Omigosh! SpongeBob! Are you okay?” Fluttershy asked, thinking the pelican had got him.
SpongeBob’s body popped out of his shorts. Fluttershy breathed a sigh of relief. The sea sponge stood there dazed, but then the thoughts came back to him.
“Wait a minute!” SpongeBob caught sight of a low-flying pelican heading for him.
He ran for it, jumped after it, plucked a feather off of it.
“What are you thinkin’, SpongeBob?” Applejack asked.
“I think this page came from the book Burger Beard has. That means if we write on this page, the story will continue the way we want it.” SpongeBob explained.
“As long as it gets us out of here, I’m all for it.” Rarity.
“Rarity, remember we still need to get the secret formula back.” Twilight pointed out.
“Correct! Now all we need is some ink!” SpongeBob said.
SPLURT!
“Oh! Which Squidward has helpfully provided.” SpongeBob added.
The others gave the squid looks of confusion and disgust.
“It happens when I’m nervous.” Squidward admitted sheepishly.
SpongeBob dipped the feather into the ink.
“Whatever you’re going to do, make it quick! They’re closing in on us!” Mr. Krabs said fearfully.
The pelicans began landing and surrounding the team.
“I’m gonna write us an ending.” SpongeBob began writing on the paper.
Pelicans squawked and roared hungrily as they closed in on the out heroes. Spike saw what SpongeBob was writing. Then, an idea came to him. He grinned excitedly.
“Hmm. Now for Twilight and her friends.” SpongeBob said.
“Oh! Oh! I got the perfect idea for that. Can I write on the paper, SpongeBob? Please.” The young dragon pleaded.
“Sure thing, Spike.” SpongeBob handed him the feather.
Spike hastily wrote down his idea onto the paper.
“Spike? What are you writing?” Twilight asked cautiously.
“We’re both writing an ending.” SpongeBob answered.
“Will it be a happy ending?” Patrick asked fearfully.
“It’s going to be super-powered!” SpongeBob and Spike said together.
As soon as Spike finished writing, a bright light began to engulf the island. The pelicans all fled in fright as the light intensified. The team disappeared from the island in a cloud of magic sparks. However, Plankton was still on the island, but the feather and paper were still on the island.
He laughed deviously, grabbing the feather.
“I’ll show you a happy ending.” He began to write on the paper.
To be continued