The Other Mane Six: Adventures in Ponyville

by DayDrifter75


Episode 4-Part 2: Flu Season

"How exciting!" remarked the brown hourglass-flanked stallion, "I've yet to actually stay for dinner at someone's actual house in Equestria. Homes are normally so boring, but this! A house inside of a thunder cloud! Are you all excited? Because I'm excited! I've never been so excited before, except that one time with the rope..."

He continued to ramble on about how he'd never been in a cloud home before, though, admittedly, none of the others had either, since Derpy was the only pegasus in their small group of friends. Octavia herself was interested in the visit, being an earth pony and all; her cloud-walking skills were non-existent. Since Derpy's home was (somehow) lined with wood and stone, everypony could enter without falling out underneath.

With Lyra and Bon Bon trailing behind, and Vinyl Scratch already inside, Octavia simply walked in silence, listening to the insane ramblings of a certain brown somepony that was currently bouncing up and down in delight as he went on about a time he went to a city with a name that sounded like he mispronounced Mexicolt. There was something about the colt's ecstatic personallity that intrigued Octavia. There was just something to his craziness that just made him so likable. He was so daring, and trustworthy, and-

A blush came across her face. He is a magnificent friend, indeed, Octavia thought, ducking her head to hide her rose stained face. Her strange actions came unseen to the group. Good.

The four ponies finally arrived under a large shapeless shadow. The rumbling of thunder emanated from above, though no thunderstruck. Above them calmly floated a rather small looking storm cloud, though it was not exactly as active as it should be.

"Derpy Hooves' house," read Bon Bon. A small wooden sign hung below a singed mailbox. The earth pony looked up. The cloud home was supposedly inactive, but she had other thoughts. Below swung a small silver bell, one that Lyra had left during their last visit to the wall-eyed mare's home. Ponies normally did not visit Derpy on a regular basis, but recent events had changed that. Derpy and Lyra agreed to leave the silver bell as a way to alert her of visitors, along with other reasons...

Bon Bon picked the object up between her teeth, and did her best to swing her head back and forth, ringing the bell as hard as she could before setting it back down.

A moment passed, the Doctor continuing his chatter to nopony in particular, and a ladder consisting of wood and rope dropped down from above. It was a good thing it had, because by hitting the Doctor on the head, his rambling was ceased. He looked up. A grey blur zipped out from the door above and came down to apologize.

"Oooo, I'm so sorry. Please don't be mad!"

He smiled. "Ah, don't worry Ms. Hooves. Not a problem at all." The Doctor happily patted her on the back before reaching up and beginning to climb the ladder. He seemed like such a gentleman.

Before falling back to the ground. Funny thing; he had never actually climbed a ladder as a pony yet. It was surprising at how little ladders were needed in an everyday basis. That was probably the advantage of being a unicorn or pegasus. Derpy looked down at him and frowned. Shaking her head, she quickly snatched him up and brought him to the entrance, the rest of the group laughing themselves silly while climbing up the rope ladder. Without falling.


The rest of the night proceeded as planned. The group explored the remarkable interior of Derpy's cloud home while she baked some deliciously fantabulous pies. The Doctor, of course, could not get over the fact that there was, in fact, an actual house inside a cloud. It was very possible that Derpy had become his new favourite pony.

Vinyl Scratch levitated a plate away from her face, finally managing to rid its surface of every last crumb from her meal. She fell onto her back, stomach bulging and slid her signature purple sunglasses onto her face. She sighed.

"That was awesome Derpy, one of the best pies I ever had," she said.

Octavia raised a napkin-covered hoof to her mouth, and said, "Yes, it was a truly delicious meal."

The host, Derpy, returned with a smile of her own. She quickly zipped to each pony and nabbed their plates and utensils for cleaning. "Thank you so much everypony, it's made with my great great great great great-"

"We get the point, dear," Octavia interrupted.

Derpy giggled. "Sorry. Anyways, my great grandmother's special recipe."

The Doctor could tell just how special the recipe was. That was because he had eaten about four or five entire pies, most of which layered his face while he chewed the last of his meal. "Well that recipe must have some fantastic ingredients, because those pies were amazing!" he said. Finally, his hunger had been satisfied. But for some reason, his stomach still ached terribly. It was probably from eating so many pies, but something was... Odd.

A gurgling noise was heard, and his stomach shook.

"Oh?"

Everypony turned their heads, quizzical looks appearing on their faces.

He fell to the ground.

THUD

CRASH

"Doctor!"

His eyes shut, the world fading to black around him.


The five filly friends gasped as the sixth member of their group toppled to the floor.

"Doctor!" screamed Derpy. She leapt into the air and gave her wings a single flap to get her to the other side of the room. A single bead of sweat rolled down her forehead, a worried frown quickly growing on her face. The rest of the group quickly made their way to the Doctor, who was being cradled in the arms of their pegasus friend. As strange as he was, it was not likely that he'd simply fall asleep without waking up of his own free will. Something was most definitely wrong.

Bon Bon shoved Derpy away. "Stand back," she instructed, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Lyra, levitate him onto the table." Lyra did so, also opting to move a few leftover pie tins. Bon Bon herself went around the house and gathered a few items that she had noticed here and there. A cup, a flashlight, a glass bowl, and a clock that she got Lyra to levitate from the wall.

"What are you going to do, Bon?" she asked.

No response.

Hurriedly, she placed the cup over his chest. She put her ear against the closed end and listened closely.

Thump thump thump thump.

Strange, how was his heart beating so irregularly? Wait...

She moved the cup over to the other side. Impossible... Her friends were well aware of her shocked expression, though said nothing as she placed both hooves on either side of his chest.

Impossible!

His heart beat... He had two hearts! Bon Bon thought it to be impossible, regardless of the fact that he was an alien. Alien or not, he'd turned into a pony. Surely his inner physiology should be the same, right?

It didn't matter yet, as long as she knew he was alive. She continued with her diagnosis, checking his breathing and his eye movement.

In the end, everything other than his heart beat, which she did not reveal to her friends. It was something she'd have to figure out herself. "I have good news and bad news." Octavia, Lyra, and Derpy all crowded around the table.

"Give it to us straight, doc. Is he gonna make it?" Vinyl grasped at her hooves, to which Bon Bon recoiled.

"He's fine, he's just in a coma. Now get off me." She shook Vinyl Scratch off of herself and stepped back. "But he's in a coma. There's no telling when he could wake up." The ponies all let out a sigh of relief, Lyra trotting towards her.

"So, we should take him to a doctor, right?" she asked.

"No."

"What?" Lyra asked. She stumbled back a bit and raised an eyebrow. "He needs medical attention, and none of us have a special talent in that area."

Bon Bon shook her head. "Think about it Lyra. What happens when he wakes up, he'll be spouting off nonsense of him being a time travelling alien in a little blue box that's bigger on the inside that turned into a pony when he died.

"Upon hearing a story like that, any self-respecting pony would have him locked up in the loony bin for good. Would you want that to happen? No, we have to go somewhere else. In my opinion... I think we should go to the Princess."

Everypony in the room gasped. "Princess Celestia!?" Vinyl asked loudly, to which Bon Bon shook her head.

"No, Princess Celestia doesn't know who we are. I'm proposing we go to Princess Luna." Luna had to know something about the Doctor. As Nightmare Moon she acted as though the two had fought before, and when she was changed back to Luna she indicated that the two had been allies at some point. Bringing the Doctor straight to her would be in everypony's best interest.

"But how will we do that?" Octavia asked. "One does not simply waltz into the Canterlot Castle, and we have no idea what would happen should we take the time to try getting permission."

"We could try using Doctor's Tardy-thingy," Derpy suggested, hovering above.

Vinyl immediately interjected, and everypony turned to face her. "Can't do that. I tried using it with magic: didn't work out too well." She lifted her glasses and looked towards Octavia, who glanced back before turning her eyes towards the unconscious Doctor.

There was no possible way they'd be able to get into the castle to talk to Luna; the guards certainly wouldn't allow it. There had to be some other way.

"I have an idea."

Derpy Hooves touched down and folded in her wings. Her eyes rolled around as everypony turned to listen to what she had planned. "Well," she began with a hint of hesitation, while lowering her head a bit, "it's not so much of a complicated plan sort of idea, but it's still an idea. You girls all know the special mail pony the Princess sent just for us to deliver the letters?"

The mares all stood still, blinking and shuffling in place.

Derpy half closed her eyes and frowned, staring intently at the four of them. "You know, Forthwith?"

Nothing.

"Who do you think delivers the letters."

They all blinked, saying nothing. Vinyl raised her hoof. "I always thought they delivered themselves. You know, with magic."

Derpy sighed. "I'm just going to continue then. I bring the letters to Forthwith, who brings them to Canterlot. I'm sort of his friend now, so maybe I can get him to help us get into the castle." She smiled.

It was the perfect plan.


"Derpy, dear, as well as this plan is going, I'm not a very big fan of it."

Octavia's speach was severely muffled by an elbow being shoved into her face. Lyra shifted slightly, causing said elbow to make Octavia's situation even worse. Derpy herself had a leg outstretched, perpetually kicking Vinyl Scratch in the flank every five seconds.

"Trust me, it's a good plan. Right, Forthwith!?" Derpy yelled out. Two taps came to the side of the wood crate that contained the six ponies. "Besides, what could possibly go wrong?"


Two pure white pegasus stallions clad in gold plated armour outstretched their wings, keeping a blue mail-pegasus from entering a side door.

"Halt, who goes there?"

Forthwith rolled his eyes and sighed, leaning on a curiously large box that he needed to deliver. "We go through this every time I come here."

"Name and purpose."

"Really?"

"Name and purpose."

He sighed again. "My name is Forthwith and I'm delivering mail. As always," he droned.

"What's in the box?" the deep-voiced guard on the left asked.

"It's a cake."

The large pegasus raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you haven't heard? It's Princess Luna's birthday." He smirked. "It would be a shame if the Princess were to not receive her cake because the guards stopped it from entering the castle." Each of the sentries began to lower their wings, frowning slightly and sweating. "So, are you two going to let me in, or not?"

They folded their appendages and allowed the mail-pony entry. After he pulled his crate in through the door, when he was for certain unable to see or hear them, the two nervous guards left their station to quickly retrieve some sort of gift for Princess Luna's faux-birthday.

Forthwith himself smiled, and tapped the box three times to signify that he had entered the castle. He would not open the box until the package was delivered directly to Luna. With a single step forward he was off. Or at least, the box was, for his first and only step was one that started a flight of stairs. His misstep caused him to fall forward, sending the 'cake crate' flying over his head and down the staircase. It bounced with every dozen steps, also slamming against a stone wall that lined the outside of the winding marble stairs. Voices sounded off inside, expressing their pain and concern.

Finally, the box reached a landing, signifying that this would be the box's final stop. A flat side of the box impacted the delicate rose carpet and slid across. Its momentum eventually slowed, and it skidded to a complete stop, just barely touching a large oaken door. The door itself opened inwards. A pony standing behind it, a relatively small alicorn, stared at the box, her eyes groggy.

"Happy... Birthday?" she read.

Creak...

The edges of the box began to expand slightly outwards. Cracks formed all around the edges, and soon enough there was an explosion of candy coloured ponies and wood splinters. Derpy Hooves, Lyra Heartstrings, Vinyl Scratch, the Doctor, Bon Bon, and Octavia lay scattered all around the wide hall in front of the alleged quarters of the princess of the night, all of them moaning in near extreme pain.

The Princess tilted her head downwards. "You... All of you? What art thou all doing here?" she asked.

"Well obviously, we're here for your birthday. Surprise," Vinyl Scratch answered flatly while levitating her eyewear back onto her face.

Luna stared at her questioningly. "'Tis not our day of birth. We do not understand."

Lyra stood up. Something was different about Luna since last they met. Before she was about the same height as a regular pony, if not a few inches shorter, and her coat and mane were lighter. Now, though not a strange feature for an average mare, she stood about an inch or two taller than everypony else. The shade of her coat had deepened to a darker navy blue, and both her mane and tail, though retaining the same shape, had seemed to have morphed into the night sky itself, full of bright and shifting stars. A few hairs were frayed and out of place, but that seemed to be due to her having just woken up, which was just the slightest bit strange considering it was late in the day.

"Princess, why do you look so different, and why are you talking like that?" Lyra asked. She stood next to Luna, having to tilt her head up a bit.

"We have grown in power since the defeat of- er, 'Nightmare Moon'." She hesitated upon mentioning the subject, but continued, "and thus also have grown in appearance. Our previous appearance was due to the Elements of Harmony draining our energy as a result of reverting us to normal. Soon enough you shall see us in our true form." She smiled.

That made enough sense, but Lyra was still confused. "But why are you talking to strangely? And saying 'we' instead of ‘I’?”

“This is how we normally speak to our subjects, using the ‘royal we’. We were simply discombobulated when we last spoke.”

It was an odd thing of course, but it seemed like something they would simply have to get used to. There did not seem to be a point in pointing such trivial things out to a princes. Besides, she was gone for a thousand years; her linguistics were, for the time being, an unimportant detail. Lyra shook her head from side to side and attempted to stammer out what needed to be said. When she could not find the words, Vinyl Scratch and Derpy Hooves took over for her.

“We need your help, Princess!” yelled Derpy, jumping in front of Lyra’s face.

“There’s something wrong with Doc!” came Vinyl, herself jumping in front of Derpy.

“We were just having dinner-”

“When he just fell over unconscious, WHAM!”

Bon Bon pushed away the two ridiculous mares from behind, tossing them to the side. She cleared her throat. "To put it simply, we are in dire need of your help. The Doctor here is unconscious and you are the only pony that we can think to turn to. We'd rather not go to an ordinary doctor to help." She stopped for a moment before leaning in and giving the princess a suspicious and angry look. "And I have a feeling you know exactly why," she whispered. Luna blushed.

"We shall help. We cannot let anything happen to the Doctor; especially at this time." It took a moment, but Luna realized what she had said when she saw the eyes of a certain cream-coated pony glaring at her. "But first, Bon Bon, may we speak to you for a moment?"

"Gladly."

Luna escorted Bon Bon into her bedroom, though Bon definitely needed no excuse to talk to the princess. A quick burst of magic slammed the door shut, and another spell placed a sound barrier over it. The room was surprisingly small for that of a princess. It was created after Luna had reverted from Nightmare Moon, and the room itself was an improvised addition to Canterlot Castle. Each of her walls along with the ceiling and floor were painted a deep shade of blue, similar to that of her mane, and of the night sky, sans stars. Extravagant decor lined the walls and fancy pieces of furniture lay scattered around the room. Her bed itself was twice the size of that of the average pony’s, wooden columns reaching up towards the high ceiling of the bedroom. Sapphire curtains were draped between them and matching silk sheets covered Luna’s plush bed.

Bon Bon stomped a hoof and furrowed her brow. "Princess Luna, I believe that you know far more than you let on. What do you know about the Doctor?"

Luna calmly sat on her bed and looked towards Bon Bon. She sighed. "We see. Fine. We shall tell you everything. But there is one condition. Everything that is to be said in this room shall not reach the ears of thy friends. You are to keep silent. Dost thou understand these rules?"

"Yes," she said.

"Excellent. Now, where shall we begin?"


Soon enough, the strange conversation between the Princess and Bon Bon, and the other friends had congregated in Luna's room with the body of the Doctor situated in the center on the bed. Luna strode across the room in front of the five ponies. They all stared at her patiently, waiting for her to speak, though Bon Bon had a slightly different look on her face.

"We have diagnosed the ailment, and have concluded that the Doctor is terribly ill," Luna stated.

Vinyl Scratch leaned over to Derpy and said, "Thanks for stating the obvious, princess..."

Pretending to ignore that statement, Luna continued, "He is currently in a coma from which he cannot awake until he is cured. If left unchecked, the illness can cause his- erm, heart to stop beating."

A gasp.

"But, there is a cure. A certain flower, known as the Minuteblossom is the main ingredient used for the cure. Without this, there is no hope. We have other ingredients that can be used in the royal infirmary that we can obtain, but there are two other ingredients needed other than the Minuteblossom. Nectar that comes from the Ameliora tree, and a single feather from a phoenix. Once we have these three ingredients, we will be able to mix a cure."

Smiles appeared on all the ponies' faces that a cure could be manufactured for their fallen friend. But it would not be as easy as the mares thought it would be.

"But these ingredients cannot be found in Equestria." She stepped into the center semi-circle that the girls formed. "Which means that you will need to be sent out of the country in order to collect them. Thou shall be sent to another land, one that has a culture vastly different from our own, one that will be strange and alien to all of you."

She cleared her throat.

"You will all be going to Zebrica."