//------------------------------// // The Further Adventures of Wondercloud and Sugar Rush // Story: The Elements of Awesomery // by PresentPerfect //------------------------------// The Further Adventures of Wondercloud and Sugar Rush by PartyPartyParty99 It was a bright and sunny day in Pony City, like it usually was. The clouds were singing, the birds were shining, and the flowers were doing whatever the fuck it is flowers do (that is, plotting; always plotting). Sugar Rush was happily puttering about her home, hanging up streamers, playing a bunch of records, and baking an entire buttload and a half of cupcakes. It was a very important day for her. She looked up at the banner she had just stretched over the kitchen door and smiled. "Happy birthday, Wondercloud!" she said, reading the banner, and then she sighed dreamily because the night was almost upon them. The night when Sugar Rush would give her closest friend, her most dearest soulmate, the greatest gift one pony could ever give another. "Ohh, Cloudie," she whispered to herself, closing the eyes and stroking the banner's edge. Her tongue stuck out as she imagined what their night would be like. Slowly, one of her hooves stroked down her side, and she pretended it was Wondercloud, ready to take those first steps down the final path toward the last milestone left in their relationship. "Oh, Sugar~" breathed pretend-Wondercloud, her image surrounded by colored lights and shoujou sparkles. Suddenly, the air was split by the sound of a spaceship crashing into the Everlame Forest, and Sugar Rush popped out of her trance like a cork from a champagne bottle. She knew what a spaceship crash sounded like because spaceship crashes have a certain timbre that differentiates them from your standard wagon, airship, or blue horse bird crash. Also, the Everlame Forest hadn't yet grown back from being massively chopped into during the last story, though it was really tryin', so there wasn't a whole lot to cushion the blow. Opening her front door, Sugar Rush saw ponies screaming and running everywhere, as they tended to when things crashed in the forest, monsters appeared in town, or the grocery store ran out of milk. Already, she saw two of her fellow Elements of Awesomery dashing off toward the Everlame Forest. "C'mon, Sugar!" said Wondercloud, who was suddenly hovering nearby. She was clad in full regalia, looking resplendent in her rainbow-striped cape and awesome wing booties. "Get your Element on, we gotta go investigate!" Sugar Rush serioused the fuck up. "Right, Cloudie! I'll be there in three shakes of a jiffy!" "Wut d'y'all done think it is gone bellywallopin' out in this here forest now?" Johnniepear asked gaspfully as they charged into the dark and stupid forest. "D'ya done think it's that thar Badhorsia agin?" Fashionface, in her gold chains and grill and afro and hair pick, snorted. "They's dumber than they look, comin' back for smackdown round two!" "You said it, Fashionface," Wondercloud grinned, saying. Fashionface was definitely awesomer ever since she had become the Element of Bitchiness (see "The Adventures of Wondercloud and Sugar Rush", true believers!), which meant that Wondercloud ended up agreeing with her a lot more than she used to. "There's no proof that there even are aliens from other planets besides Badhorsia," Midnight Twinkle groused, but no one paid her any attention because they were too busy noticing that Wisperlite was saying nothing at the moment. They quickly stumbled upon the crash site (literally! Sugar Rush knocked Fashionface over after she tripped and crashed into her), which looked like a big brown scar! All the plants and trees had been ripped up and scattered everywhere, but that was okay, because seriously, fuck this place. The good news was, it made it easy for them to find the ship. Wondercloud took the lead and leadeded them leadfully down the yellow-brick road to happiness that was more like a brown-dirt path toward possible extermination of, by or for aliens. The spaceship in question stuck out of the ground at an angle. It was roundy-round and had a triangular fin sticking up in the back, which was how they could tell that part was the back. There were some really cool sci-fi-looking engines underneath the tailfin and a bunch of letters in a strange language etched all over the shiny dark black surface that was covered in mud. Except the surface wasn't completely black; it actually had stripes and they were gunmetal grey, which is the awesomest color ever invented. The six pony friends crept carefully around the ship's perimeter, watching for hostile occupants. They were totally surprised when they came to the cockpit I MEAN THE WINDSHIELD and it was open! And there was nopony inside!! And then behind them somepony spoke!!! "Klatu barrada nikto!" said the strange voice in its strange accent. They whirled around, getting dizzy because they were moving at Elemental speeds now, and saw a tall figure in a black and grey striped spacesuit looking at them. It wore a dark black helmet that looked like a fishbowl filled with ink. They got another surprise as part of the helmet lifted (it was a visor, but you couldn't really see it because it was all futuristic and roboty like Draft Punk) and a smiling face appeared! It was a grey face with black stripes, the exact opposite of how the suit and the spaceship looked. Its mouth opened and did not reveal lots of sharp pointy teeth, just a funny voice that spoke a weird language. "Klatu barrada nikto!" the alien repeated, now sounding clearer because her helmet was off. Oh yeah, she obviously had a girl voice. "And we to you," Midnight Twinkle said, nodding. She was then shoved aside by Wondercloud. "Hey, I'm the leader here, I'll talk to the alien." Wondercloud stepped forward and swung her hoof around in a circle slowly. "We come in peace," she said, loudly. "We mean you no harm! Take us to your leader!" The alien laughed and said, "Needle-nydle-noo; ticky-tacky too." "Oh," said Wondercloud. She dropped her hoof and looked slightly embarrassed. "Yeah, that is what you're supposed to say. Well, welcome to Ponylandia, Zerrific. It's great to meet you!" Wondercloud's friends chorused a round of agreement. Except Sugar Rush. She kept looking back and forth between Wondercloud, the rest of her friends, and this Zerrific character. "Waitasec," she said, scratching her head with a tuna, "you can understand all that gobbledy-jiggery coming out of her mouth?" "Suga', please," said Fashionface with a snap-snap, "don't go gettin' all up in her grill! 'S rude!" "Yes, Sugar," Whisperlite added in her most quietest voice that was actually audible to pony ears, "you have to be careful or you might start an intergalactic war." Sugar Rush fell back onto her flipper-bedecked haunches, mouth open and staring as Wondercloud continued what was, to her, a one-sided conversation. "You say your planet's under attack by Badhorsia?" She lifted into the air, pumping her hoof mightily. "So you came here to get some help from the ponies who gave Badhorsia a good whooping once already, is that it?" "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey!" "No? What do you mean, 'powerful ancient object'?" Zerrific make a sweeping motion with her hoof. "Zimba-zoomba, timon-poomba!" "Whoa, slow down!" Wondercloud held up both of her hooves, zipping backward a little. "Hey Twinkle, you got a notepad or something to get this all down?" "Of course," Midnight said, rolling her eyes and producing a magic scroll with auto-quill. "What do you take me for, seriously?" Wondercloud ignored her as Zerrific began telling her story. "Tingle-tingle, kooloo-limpah!" The alien waved her hooves and made expressions ranging from deadly serious to heartbreakingly pitiful. But through it all, Sugar Rush just crossed her hooves and frowned. She didn't understand any of it. And when her friends acted like they did, it just made her feel bad. Her frown grew worse as they all nodded, following along with the story. "Uh-huh," said Midnight Twinkle, "so your planet was attacked by Badhorsia?" "And I bet you need a group of seasoned Badhorsia flank-kickers to help you, huh?" Wondercloud swooped in close to Zerrific, who shook her head and explained. "Pango-pango, mingo-mango!" "Ohh, ya already done kicked their keesters?" Johnniepear asked, scratching her head. "Whaddaya need with us'ns'all then?" "Herpa derp derp!" Whisperlite mumbled for a full minute, explaining precisely nothing to Sugar Rush. "Bingo boingo, buppo bloppo!" "And that's why you need us to help you find it!" Wondercloud slapped one hoof against the other. "Well, that sounds like a pretty done dealio to me. What do you think, girls? Should we help her out?" Four pony heads nodded in agreement, but one far pinker pony head nodded in disagreement, which means Sugar Rush was shaking her head. "Great!" Wondercloud grinned and turned to the alien. "That settles it, Zerrific. We'll help you find your thingy and save your planet!" She held out her hoof, but Zerrific only looked at it in confusion. "It's called a 'brohoof'," Wondercloud explained as her eyes rolled. They were always doing things on their own like that; she really had no control over them. "You just tap my hoof with yours, it's easy!" Zerrific kept looking at her incredulousousously, but shrugged and did as she'd been told. Off in the distance, there was a loud BANG and a cloud of feathers. "Sweet." "So how do we get to where we need to go?" Midnight Twinkle asked, totally spoiling the awesome moment with her nerdery. "Hullabaloo! Zaboomafoo!" said Zerrific, diving into her spaceship. She emerged a few moments later with a small green cube. It was covered in holograms and coordinates and stuff. Zerrific poked a bit of it and there were a bunch of sci-fi lines and lights and swirls that lit up, and pretty soon, there was one big red dot in the middle of that was blinking. "Okay, that settles it then!" Wondercloud declared in her most declarative voice. "We're going to That-There Island! Now that we're done with all of this boring setup, let's get to the good part! The island is completely unreachable, which means we need... "A DRAGON!" And so while Zerrific worked on repairing her ship, they set off to find a dragon so they could make the journey to That-There Island. (Don't ask how they were doing this, I really haven't figured it out.) A dragon wouldn't be enough to carry all of them, of course, but luckily Wondercloud knew about one who lived on Flying Things Mountain, so that was where they went. The trip from Pony City to Flying Things Mountain was actually pretty boring, although Wondercloud kept noticing that Sugar Rush was being all mopey and stuff (she noticed because she's the best fillyfriend ever and also the most sensitive pony in Ponylandia), but every time she asked what was up, Sugar said "Nothing" so she just kind of had to deal with Little Miss Mopeypants all day. Eventually, they got to the mountain place. "All right!" said Wondercloud, looking at the mountain path. "I think we're about to start this adventure off with... adventure!" "Whoo-ee!" cried Johnniepear. "It's like adventure-ception!" "Ugh!" Midnight Twinkle ughed. "That's not what 'inception' means!" "It looks scary," Whisperlite said quietly. "Yo dawg," Fashionface yodawged, "you ain't gotta be afraid, we's gonna clizzle the hizzle." "Oh great," Sugar Rush moaned to nopony in particular, "now I can't understand Fashionface either!" Suddenly there was a sudden crash of thunder and a big cloud of smoke popped up and out stepped a big mountain troll! "Halt!" it yelled in a voice that shook the mountain. "You trespass upon my mountainside! I'll eat you if you don't run and hide!" Wondercloud flew up to look the troll in his big ugly eyes. "Hey, lumpo, get outta our way! We need to climb this mountain and find the dragon at the top!" "The dragon you seek is here indeed," the troll said, and leaned on his club, which was big enough to smash fifty ponies into pulp at once. "But first you must answer my riddles three'd." Wondercloud looked at Johnniepear. Johnnie looked back at Wondercloud. "Nope!" they said together and punched the troll in his jaw. Despite being huge and made of muscles made out of muscles, it fell with a thud that sounded and then sounded again across the plains and fields and yadda yadda. Johnnie and Wondercloud did a cool hoof-bump and then they continued up the mountain. As the ponies passed by the troll, Fashionface stopped and shouted, "You just got KNOCKED THE FUCK OUT!" and then she farted on it. The pathway twisted up and up and around and around the mountain. It was full of rocks and also more rocks because not much else grows on mountains. They had to fight a harpy, which is a big bird thing that plays a stringed instrument, and then they found the mouth of a cave. "I-is this the d-dragon's c-c-cave?" Whisperlite stuttered, hiding behind Johnniepear. "Hmm," Wondercloud thought, only with more speaking aloud, while stroking her imaginary beard. (It was blue.) "Nahh." The walls of the cave lurked in darkness, but there was light on the other side of the cave, so it was more like a tunnel, but obviously it was the way they all had to go. Also it was full of random crap. "Whoa doggy nelly in the hootenanny," Johnniepear hootenannied, "this cave sure is full o' wacky thingamabobs and doodlyplunketts!" "Wow yeah, this is neat!" Sugar Rush held up a nifty old lamp. It was all banged up and tarnished and junk. The moment she did, out popped an evil genie! You could tell he was evil because he had fangs and horns. "Who dares disturb the Genie of the Cave of Wonders?" it bellowed. "Sheeit," Fashionface said, "you think this mess is wonders? Homey, step off." The genie surged out toward Fashionface, who stood her ground. It said, "You dare insult my cavern and the wonders contained therein?" "Uhh, look around you, genius," Wondercloud said with her hooves on her hips (although her mouth did the talking). "This place is full of banged-up garbage, not wonders! Even your lamp is a piece of junk!" The genie looked to the left. Then he looked to the right. Then he started looking a good bit less evil and ticked off. "Well bugger," he said, and crossed his arms, "that's another fine mess they've gotten me into." He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose between his finger and thumb, whatever those are. "You'd think it wouldn't be hard to tell the Cave of Wonders from the Cave of Beat-Up Trash, but nooooo!" "So you're not gonna like, destroy us mercilessly or anything, then, are you?" Sugar Rush asked, because she was nervous about still holding the lamp. "Nah," the genie said and shook his head. "But I'm not granting you any wishes either. I'm just a little put out right at the moment. It's not a good mental state for wish granting." "Seriously?" Fashin'fash clucked her tongue. "C'mon, you can't hardly call yourself a mofuggin' genie if you ain't even grant one wish." "Don't wanna." Fashionface glared at the genie. "Bitch, I will cut you." The genie threw his hands up. "Ugh, fine, if you'll leave me alone, then whatever. But just one!" "We're looking for ways to get to That-There Island," Wondercloud explained. "Sugar and I are gonna go grab the dragon at the top of this mountain, but my friends need some flight stuff too." The genie burped a gout of flame. "Okay, whatever. HOOJAMABOO!" He clapped his hands together and there was a flash of light. After it cleared, there were suddenly a pair of filmy, transparent wings on Fashionface's back! "There you go," said the genie. "They're made of moth spit and fairy farts, so be careful with them, okay?" "What about the rest of us?" Johnniepear asked. The genie rolled his eyes. "Pssh, whatevs. I'm gettin' outta here. You can find some actual working crap under all this junk that'll get you where you need to go, but good luck digging!" And with an evil cackle, he turned himself inside out and was gone, vanished back to the Cave of Wonders or maybe whatever travel service had stuck him in the wrong cave to begin with. Wondercloud looked at her friends and shrugged. "I guess we'll head up and try to tame the dragon. If you get done first, come meet us, okay?" And then she left with Sugar Rush. "Aww yeah," Fashionface crowed, looking at her wings and floating around and stuff, "dis be tha shizz!" "Shut up and dig," Midnight Twinkle grumbled. Outside the cave, the wind howled and groaned and generally played death metal as they climbed the side of the mountain. Wondercloud had noticed that Sugar Rush seemed more like her bouncy self, and had been thinking about asking her what was up earlier, but decided it would be a better idea not to bring it up and maybe ruin her good mood. So they kept climbing and climbing and it got colder and colder. They had to fend off marauding snowflakes, not to mention a giant ice sloth, but finally they were at the final level. I mean cave. It was a big cave, way higher than the one they'd left their friends in. It was all jaggedy and stuff and looked like a big scary toothy mouth from the outside. The inside was totally dark and stuff. But most of all, it reeked. There was a perceptible (that means you could see it) cloud of horrid stank funk surrounding the cave, and they were both ready to turn back. "What should we do?" Sugar Rush asked, holding her nose shut so it sounded more like "Wub shub ee boo?" Somewhere out in the ocean, a green head cleared the waves and cocked to the side, sticking an ear up. "Wub shubby boo?" it said. "That's not how it goes." And then, with the flick of a fluked tail, it vanished beneath the surface once again, leaving behind only ripples. "Waig hib ubb," Wondercloud replied to Sugar Rush back in the actual scene, holding her nose. She took a deep breath and her eyes watered because she could taste the awful reeking vapors, but then she let it all out and turned about with a huge shout: "HEY DRAGON! WAKE THE FUCK UP AND GET OUT HERE!" For a moment, everything was silent save for the echoing of her shout across the mountain reaches and hills and dales, etc. etc.. Then there was a loud roar from inside the cave. The ground shook and the two ponies clung to each other. "Hey wait," Wondercloud said, brushing Sugar off. "I almost forgot, too awesome to be scared." Sugar Rush got tiny little hearts in her eyes. Then the dragon appeared. It was big and red, and big and mean, and big and scaly, and big and having very sizeable teeth. It glared down at them with eyes like daggers that were on fire. It snorted smoke from its nostrils and would also have shot lasers out of them if it had bought that feat. It clenched one of its mighty clawed fists and growled at them. "Who dares disturb my slumber?" "We do!" Wondercloud shouted. Sugar Rush, trying to be brave, added, "You have bad breath!" The dragon roared and coated them in a new layer of awful dragon-funk. It seriously made their manes wilt and stuff. "I should eat you both up!" "Nuh-uh!" Wondercloud said. "Yeah-huh!" "Nuh-uh! Because we're totally gonna ride you to That-There Island!" The dragon began laughing and roaring all at the same time. "Ride me, really? What are you going to do? Pinch me if I don't cooperate?" The enormous red dragon fell on his back, laughing a whole lot. "You are but two tiny ponies. I could gobble you both up in a single mouthful!" "I'd like to see you try!" Wondercloud shouted, putting up her pony dukes. "Cloudie, don't antagonize him," Sugar Rush panted, squeaking a little out of fear. "Your friend is smarter than she looks," the dragon chuckled. Then, with one swift motion, he plucked Wondercloud out of the air and held her up to his mouth. She struggled and shouted but she couldn't get loose! Sugar Rush began to panic. Her bestest fillyfriend in the whole wide world was two seconds away from getting chomped to death! What could she do? There weren't any rocks around to throw, not that that would do enough damage to a dragon that big anyway. She squeezed her eyes shut. Think, Sugar Rush, think! "Do not taunt dragons," the dragon said, licking his lips, "for you are crunchy and taste good with--" "Fush yu mang." Sugar's words were so quiet that at first, neither of the other two were certain she had spoken. Even she wasn't certain she'd said them. They had just come in a burst of inspiration. "What was that?" growled the dragon, and he trembled slightly. Sugar Rush shrank back, then she scrunched her face up cutely in anger and took a step forward. "I said, fush yu mang!" The dragon gasped. He dropped Wondercloud, who recovered with panache and a little mint jelly. The smoke coming out of his nose ceased its movement and retreated back into his scaly nostrils. "Those are the Ancient Words of the Dragon King!" The dragon's eyes went wide and his ears pinned back along his head as he took a step back from Sugar Rush. "The Sacred Rites of Simon, whom all dragons must obey! But how could a mere pony--" "FUSH YU MANG!" Waves of pink power surged out from Sugar's mouth and the mountaintop became flush with rainbows that were just different shades of pink. There was lots of lightning and explosions, too. The dragon howled in fury, but he was pushed back into his cave, the scales on his face searing from the mystic power emanating from the pony's shout. Wondercloud sat up, rubbing her head, and cheered when she saw Sugar Rush standing here, chest thrust forward proudly as she stared the dragon down. "Now," she said, her voice loud with volume, "are you gonna take us to That-There Island, or do I hafta say it again?" The dragon gulped. "Hey, you actually made it!" The five friends had all met up in the air overhead Flying Things Mountain. Fashionface and Midnight Twinkle were sitting atop a large square of carpeting that was hovering with no apparent mode of support. Whisperlite was flying in a helicopter, and Wondercloud and Sugar Rush rode on the back of the dragon. "His name's Skytaint!" Sugar Rush declared exclamationally. "What happened to Fashionface's wings?" Wondercloud asked, giving her a look like a mom who just knew the vase was going to get broken while she was over at Uncle Steve's, even though she said not to break it, but it was Timmy's fault not mine, I swear and anywhere where was I going with this. Oh yeah. "They broke and died," Midnight Twinkle said with a snicker. Fashionface punched her and she went, "Ow!" "And where's Johnniepear?" Wondercloud shouted, because Whisperlite had turned up the throttle and now it was hard to hear. "She said she'd meet us there!" Midnight Twinkle shouted back. "C'mon, quit stalling, let's get going!" Their recs thusly connoitered, the five ponies all turned towards the setting sun and sped on for That-There Island. Something was nagging at the back of Wondercloud's mind, though, and she turned to her marefriend, who was busy enjoying the view of being high up above the ground. "Hey Sugar?" "Yeah, Cloudie?" "You gotta tell me: how in the crap did you learn the ancient rites of the dragon king or whatever that junk was?" Sugar Rush shrugged. "It was on the back of a box of King Simon-O's I had for breakfast one day! The fucker totally sold out centuries ago." The flight to the island was pretty uneventful, minus a flock of wastrels that got gummed up in the blades of Whisperlite's helicopter. It didn't take them long to clean, thanks to Skytaint's fire breath, and soon they were on their way again. It was nightfall when they made landfall, or should I say islandfall, nearby a waterfall. "Just call should you need me again, Master," Skytaint said, bowing to Sugar Rush. Then he flew off to do whatever it is dragons do when no one's watching. Sugar Rush waved at him and then gasped in excitement. "Oh holy wow! I've never seen the ocean before! I mean, we just flew over it and stuff, but it was more plot-expedient to lump our reactions to it in this scene." "I like it," Whisperlite said cutely. "Wow," said Fashionface, "this ocean be illin', y'all." "Plebs," Midnight Twinkle groused. "Sho' golly nelly in the fritter it is, I reckon," said a familiar voice coming from behind a tree. "Johnnie!" Wondercloud slapped her flank and called herself a horny toad. "How in the butts did you get here?" Johnniepear snorted and spat on the sand. It was really nice white sand. "Ah done diddly dang got tired o' waitin', so's I jumped." Wondercloud clapped her on the shoulder. "You really are badass." Suddenly, there was a loud, loud voice booming from o'er the cliffs! "WHO DARES ENTER MY ISLAND WITHOUT MINE PERMISSION? SPEAK NOW OR BE CURS-ED FOR EVERMORE!" He totally said "curs-ed" like that, with two syllables. The ponies formed up into a rank, and filed the challenger down. "I am Wondercloud Lightningbolt," said Lightningbolt, Wondercloud J. "I'm the Element of 120% Cooler and together we are--" The six ponies slapped their front hooves together, stood and turned on one hoof so they were facing away from the voice. This showed off their cool matching hoodies, each of which had their element embroidered on the back. (Fashionface made them after the last story.) "THE ELEMENTS OF AWESOMERY!" The ponies said that all together, and then Wondercloud said, "We're here to help our friend Zerrific save her homeworld from Badhorsia!" "Hmm, hm, hm," said the same voice, though it was way quieter now. Coming down out of the hills was a pony who looked to be more hair than pony. He was just sort of a wizened face sticking out of an enormous puff of white fuzz. "One thousand years have I lived, and never did I think I would see the Elements of Awesomery again. Yet your sweet choreography has convinced me you are who you claim to be." Wondercloud smirked at Midnight Twinkle, who rolled her eyes in disgust and said nothing. "Heed me, Elements!" All the ponies turned to look at the old-type pony, who regarded them with bedrheumy eyes. "I am Beardy Beard the Beardful!" "Coulda fooled me!" Sugar Rush said. "I am the oldest pony what you have ever met! I am so old, I'm older than dirt's grandfather. So what I have to say, you know that it's true!" "Tell us, o great and beardful beard-type pony!" Wondercloud said. Beardy Beard rolled his eyes. "I would if you'd just shut up!" He cleared his throat. "I know of your friend Zerrific and the plight of her homeworld. I know what she requires to save it!" "Ooh, ooh, pick me!" Sugar Rush cried, holding her hoof in the air and waving it around. Beardy Beard frowned. "Yes, what is it?" "How do you know that?" "The waters of the world bring all information to me," he replied with a sigh. Whisperlite raised her hoof next. "You too? Fine, what do you want to know?" "Um, sir, excuse me for asking this, but, like... If you know how to save her world, why haven't you done it?" Beardy Beard facehoofed. "What part of 'older than dirt's grandfather' didn't you nimrods understand? I swear, they don't make Elements of Awesomery like they used to. I'm too rickety and decrepit to go adventuring, you yellow ninny!" Whisperlite's eyes got really huge and watery, and Wondercloud stepped in front of her. "Hey, lay off, it was just a question." "Fine, fine, I'm sorry and stuff. Can I please finish explaining what you need to do now?" Whisperlite sucked the tears back up into her eyeballs with a slurping noise, and nodded. "Good. Thank you." Beardy Beard cleared his throat. "Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, the Magical MacGuffin. That's what you'll need to find in order to save Zerrific. And to find the MacGuffin, you'll have to brave challenges the likes and dislikes of which you've never faced! You must journey to the Coral Cave, which is on an island that has no name and appears on no map!" Beardy Beard then produced a map from his beard. "Except this one, of course." He held it out and Wondercloud took it, unrolling it and looking at it while her friends looked over her shoulder. Beardy Beard got really close to them and whispered, "The trick is, the map's not real, you see. "Anyway, go there, face the challenges, and you'll have your reward. But be warned! Many have attempted to brave the Coral Cave, and few have ever returned!" "We can do it!" Wondercloud said with determination in her eyes and also voice. "You can bet yer coyotes on it!" Johnniepear agreed. "Good!" Beardy Beard grinned. "You can all crash at my place overnight and rest up after your journey here. Your adventure begins on the morrow!" That night, Wondercloud and Sugar Rush shared a bed (naughty!). Sugar had seemed so cheerful ever since they tamed Skytaint, but after talking with Beardy Beard, Wondercloud noticed that she'd gotten mopey again. "Hey, poopy-pants," she said quietly as she slid into bed next to Sugar, "what's the matter?" "Mmnothing," Sugar Rush said, and turned over so she wasn't facing Wondercloud anymore. "C'mon, it's not nothing. You've been mumping and grumping all dang day." "It's not important." Sugar Rush squeezed her eyes shut. "I'd rather focus on helping Zerrific first." Wondercloud wrapped her legs around Sugar Rush and hugged her gently. "You know you can tell me anything, right?" Sugar Rush responded in a really tiny voice, "I know." "Okay. I won't pry anymore, but don't put off telling me for too long, okay? I don't want my best marefriend in the world being all sad and stuff." "Okay." Sugar Rush went to sleep with a big smile on her face. The Coral Cave stood before them the next day as they stood on the island, standing on mud that was making Fashionface complain about grossness. It was big and pink and triangular and had a little round stone that jutted out of the top, and there were a bunch of trees and bushes all around and on top of it. Unfortunately, it was also blocked by some bigass doors. "Well, poopy-shoot," Wondercloud said. "Anypony know how to get through bigass magical doors?" Sugar Rush snickered. "You said 'poop chute'!" "As a matter of fact," Midnight Twinkle said smartly, "I just read a book about bigass magical doors recently, and I recognize this kind." "Do ya know how to open 'em with that there big brain o' yournens?" Johnniepear asked with grumpy arms. "I sure do!" Midnight's smile got wider. "They'll only open with copious the application of a special magical component!" "Which iiiiis?" Fashionface asked, and they all leaned in. Midnight Twinkle was enjoying this. She drew herself up in markers to a larger height, closed her eyes, and primly declared, "Wonderflonium!" "What in the double-dipped horn-tootin' hay is wonderflonium?" Johnniepear asked scratching-her-headly. "It's a powerful but rare substance," Midnight said, eager to show off her big smart brain. "It's so rare that most ponies consider it a myth. But it's the only thing that will open this door, and we don't have any!" "Where in Ponylandia are we supposed to get copious amounts of it, then?" questioned Fashionface. Sugar Rush at this point noticed that Wondercloud seemed very uncomfortable. "What's wrong, Cloudie?" she asked, drawing everypony's attention to their friend's growing embarrassment, thus making the entire situation even more embarrassing for her. "Oh geez." Wondercloud rubbed the back of her neck. "I dunno how to say this, but... Tell me again why you need my poop." Eyes dropped. Jaws boggled. Everypony was totally floored by what Wondercloud had just said, except Whisperlite, who had sort of fallen asleep standing up. She was chill that way. "You're gonna hafta gainsay that thar sayin' again, I reckon," Johnniepear suggested. Now it was Wondercloud's turn to be confused, and she scratched her mane in that very same confusion. "Wait, are you guys saying you don't shit wonderflonium and fart coolium? Because I've been doing that since I became the Element of 120% Cooler. It's why I keep having to replace my toilet; damn things can't handle being nuked twice a day. And don't even get me started on the half-life of my puke." Wondercloud's toilet, as it turned out, was constructed primarily of porcirruslain, which was floaty and thus perfect for houses made out of clouds. A proper cloud toilet relies on atmospheric principles like the Coriolanus Effect to banish excrement to Who Knows Where (which is totally a place; it stinks), and keeps itself clean with the accumulated rainwater in the house's structure. These principals are balanced just right so that even the most pooptastic of pegasi needn't worry about dehydrating their walls. It's very delicate, sciency business. Unfortunately, porcirruslain, as everypony knows, is extremely brittle. Fat birdponies are known for needing new potties once or twice a year, so it was no wonder that an element as volatile and heavy as wonderflonium would cause Wondercloud to need to replace her port-a-pot regularly. She was, in fact, heavily in debt to the local plumbing supply store in Pony City, and had become quite knowledgeable in all things plumbing-related as a consequence. She'd even been working with Mr. Pipes to develop something a little more sturdy, that would be able to stand up to the puke-lear aftermath of late-night pony partying, but still be light enough to sit comfortably in her house. It took up a lot of Wondercloud's time when she wasn't hanging out with her friends or attending Sugar Rush's parties or kicking marauding Dirt Dingoes in the teeth, which happened more often than you might imagine. She had been really close to a breakthrough, too, when this whole Zerrific business had cropped up. (And now you know way more about pony toilets than you probably ever wanted to. This aside brought to you by Diminutive Cloudie Mine®, the most popularest pony story on the ponynets!) Wondercloud shrugged. "But I just figured it was a side-effect of the whole Elements of Awesomery thing. Don't tell me nothing like that has happened to any of you!" She held her hooves out pleadingly, but the blank stares on her friends' faces told her all she needed to know. She sighed. "So you need a bunch of my crap. Great. And me without my pooper scooper." Sugar Rush's face lit up. "I have one!" she cried, then reached into her mane, felt around a little, and pulled out a scoop that would fulfill just that purpose. "Here you go!" Wondercloud knew better than to question anything Sugar did. Dejectedly, she turned and flapped into the foliage. "We never speak of this again," Wondercloud said as they entered the Coral Cave. After applying her chocolate-frosted wonderflonium bombs to the doorway, it had turned into a kind of curtain, and they had been able to push their way in. It was dark inside the cave, so Midnight Twinkle and Fashionface had to provide hornpony light with their horns. The walls were deep pink and wet and slippery. In fact, it was hard for the ponies to keep their footing sometimes, and they were continually sliding into each other, which only Sugar Rush really enjoyed. The cave got narrower and narrower as they pressed ahead. Eventually, they saw a signpost stuck in the ground that said "Love Tunnel". The tunnel so named was just wide enough for two ponies to squeeze in side by side. "All right," Wondercloud said, "pair off! Sugar's with me, of course." "Yay!" They went in two by two, and as soon as they were in, the lights went out. There was a light way, way down at the other end, but it was still dark like a butt. "H-hey!" Sugar cried. "What gives, you two? Make with the lighty-doodles again already!" There wasn't any response. Sugar Rush and Wondercloud kept bumping into each other inside the tunnel. All they could hear was hoofsteps in the squishy ground and the sound of two ponies making out furiously. "W-we'll be okay," Midnight Twinkle said from the dark, her voice uncharacteristically nervous. "Um," said Whisperlite, "that is, if Johnnie and Fashionface would move their big, uh, severely appealing butts." Johnniepear and Fashionface said nothing, although the makeout noises intensified. They came from in between the other two pairs. "Ugh," Wondercloud grunted, "I can't turn around to see what's happening. I can't even spread my wings in here! Let's get out while we still can! Just push them, okay?" With much pushing, grunting, sloppy kissing, and getting grossed out by the other noises nearby, they finally splooched out the end of the tunnel. Wondercloud spread her wings immediately upon exiting and took to the air, thankful for the extra space. Sugar Rush pulled a comb out of her mane and tried to get all the goop out of it. Midnight Twinkle and Whisperlite were holding hooves and blushing. "W-we did it," Whisperlite said, pulling her hoof away. "Y-yeah," Midnight Twinkle said, feeling tsundere as fuck and looking away from Whisperlite. "Together." Johnniepear and Fashionface had come out in a tangle of hooves and smooching. In fact, if not for their sudden departure from the tunnel at that moment, they probably would have been bucking like funnies, if you get my drift. (And if you do, please mail it back to me; I'm just a single pony and drifting is hard!) The moment daylight hit them though, they blinked, stopped what they were doing, and then tried really, really hard to pretend like nothing had happened. There was a lot of kicking at the dirt and whistling tunelessly. "What's wrong with you guys?" Wondercloud demanded. "Ugh, I swear, no more love tunnels. Ever." The cave they were in was big and round, and lit from somewhere within so they didn't have to worry about seeing. The ceiling was really high and covered with something dark and hard to see. Wondercloud flew up to investigate, but Sugar Rush waved her hooves frantically. "Look out!!!" she exclaimed pointedly. "They're chocoponies!" Suddenly, the ceiling came to life as hundreds of grey and black ponies detached from it and flapped their leathery bat wings. They made a screeching noise that was absolutely unbearable, and since none of our heroes were bears, they all had to cover their ears with their hooves. Wondercloud flew away from the chocoponies, who started spitting steaming brown projectiles at her. "This is too much poop for one day!" she shouted. "It's not poop," Sugar explained, dodging the not-poop coming her way, "it's chocolocation!" "I've never heard anything sillier," huffed Midnight Twinkle huffily. "Well, ain't nothin' a-tall t' worry about," Johnniepear declared with a stare, "we just gotta-- Yeeowch! Mammoth cuspidate amphibians, that smarts!" Johnnie had just discovered that chocolocation only works when the chocolate is at the boiling point. She hopped around, holding one rear hoof in both of the front ones, shouting, "Mah biscuit's a-burnin', fire in the hatch!" This broke the resolve of the remaining ponies. They turned from the confectionary-based ponies and scattered. "Run away!" cried Wondercloud in one of her less proud moments. Unfortunately, as the cave was a hemisphere and lined with large mounds on the sides, it wasn't exactly teeming with exits besides the Love Tunnel, and going in there again was sort of not a good idea. They charged around the perimeter a few times before Wondercloud noticed something. "There's two more exits, girls! Let's take this one!" Hot chocolate splattered against the walls as the ponies scrambled up one of the slippery hills and made their way to the tiny exit. This one was even narrower than the Love Tunnel, but thankfully, despite being cramped, it wasn't covered in goop. Instead, it was twisty-turny as all get-out, and every now and then they'd come across a large, round white rock stuck in the wall. Thankfully, the entrance was too small for too many chocoponies to come into at once, so they just sealed it over with chocolate. "Great," said Fashionface, "we done got our asses locked in here!" "Cool it," Wondercloud suggested, "we'll just get through this tunnel and see what's up ahead! I'm sure it'll be the MacGuffin." Unfortunately, it was not. Instead, the tunnel opened into a smaller, slightly oval-shaped room whose walls glowed dimly. In the center was a large coffin, standing upright. As soon as they all entered the chamber, the candlesticks to either side flared to life (by which I mean the candles on them caught fire somehow), and the coffin door creaked open. Whisperlite got scared and jumped into Midnight Twinkle's arms, but she blushed and dropped the yellow pony. "Blah!" cried a voice from inside the coffin that sounded really evil and dumb. The Count was a tall brown pony, dressed in a black tuxedo and a red velvet-lined cape. He had a top hat on because I think vampires wear top hats? Anyway, he had fangs because he was some kind of vampire. He spread his hooves and stuck his tongue out at them menacingly. "Blah, I say again! I am Count Krastula, the Chocolate Maker! You have escaped my children of breakfast, but you shall not escape me! This chamber of darkness vill be your doom!" Wondercloud lifted an eyebrow. "Seriously?" Count Krastula scowled. "Of course I am serious! Do you think this is a game or something?" Wondercloud shook her head and crossed her hooves over her chest. "Sorry, but you don't exist." Never before had a look given to a pony been founded upon so much dumb. All Krastula could think to say was "Vhat?" Wondercloud sighed and pulled out the map that had led them to the cave. "First of all, your name's on the back of this map, which isn't real. Second of all, I saw it in the script. You. Don't. Exist." A single tear slid down Krastula's face. It tasted like hot cocoa, but without the whipped cream. "What delicious cereal they make..." he said sadly, and then ceased to be. "Well, now that that's over," Wondercloud said with a smirk, tucking the map away, "who's up for some tasty pony-chocolate?" It quickly turned out that the Magical MacGuffin was not, in fact, in the nameless chamber that had never been occupied by anypony. So after bendy-wending their way back through the bendy-wendy tunnel, they did in fact try eating the cooled-off pony-chocolate that covered the entrance, but found out it was not tasty. At all. So they kicked it down and very quietly made their way to the other exit Wondercloud had noticed before. The chocoponies thankfully had gone back to roost on the ceiling and didn't bother them this time. "I knew we shoulda made that right turn at Albuquerque," Sugar Rush whispered. The right tunnel (right as in not left and also as in hopefully the correct one) was a lot like the one they had just come from. And, just like the other one, it ended in an oval room with white walls. This time, however, there was a large cat in the center of the room. It was at least three times any of the ponies' size. It was a bright coppery color and had slitted yellow eyes and long fangs that dripped green ichor. It hissed and stalked around the far corner of the room, glaring at them. "Foolish ponies," it said malevolently, "you have come here only to meet your doom!" "We heard that one before, sucka," Fashionface quipped. The cat sneered. "I am your worst nightmare! I am the dread Catalept! I will rend you--" The Catalept froze in place. The ponies all held their breaths, waiting for it to do something, but it didn't even blink. In fact, they couldn't be sure it was breathing. Wondercloud facehoofed. "What the serious fuck? Okay, I'm sick of this place. This is the dumbest cave, and that is the dumbest monster ever." "It's like the stupid frosting on a cake made out of retarded!" Sugar Rush said, hopping up and down. "You said it, Sugar." Wondercloud snorted. "JP, you wanna do the honors?" "With gumption 'n pleasure, WC!" Johnniepear quickly hooked up some dynamite and a detonator to the Catalept, they all went back into the tunnel, and in five shakes of a jiffy's tail, the giant cat was exploded. "Sweet ass," Wondercloud declared. They went back in the room, which was full of smoke and cat chunks, and discovered... "A treasure chest?" There, in the center of the chamber where the Catalept had stood was a large chest made of precious wood and diamonds and junk. Wondercloud glared at the giant lock hanging off the front until it got the idea and opened. Then the big lid swung open, and... Pinkie Pie nibbled at the edges of her hooves. "This suspense is killing me!" she shouted. "What happens next? I can't take it anymore!" She zipped under her desk to hide from the impending revelation. Slowly, it dawned on her that nopony was answering her because there was nopony else in the room with her. Also, the page was blank after "was..." "Oh, that's right!" She crawled back up onto her desk chair and adjusted it. "Silly me, I have to keep writing to find out what's next! Let's see, where was I..." Wondercloud Lightningbolt lifted the lid of the humongous chest, and inside she found... Dun-dunna-daaaah! "Congratulations!" From within the chest arose not one, but two Beardy Beard the Beardfuls! "What in the everloving buck?" "You've passed the challenges so far," said the first one. "But one test yet remains," said the other. "Answer our riddles!" "Guess which of us is the true Beardy Beard!" "And you shall have the reward you seek!" "Fuck that," said Wondercloud, and she punched Beardy Beard right in his beard. Two things happened simultaneously. All the ponies, the other Beardy Beard included, gasped in shock. The one who got punched glowed yellow and then turned black. His form became much less beardy, looking like a black pony with holes all over its body. "I told momma I wanted to be a poet!" the black thing declared, and then dashed out of the cave, crying all the way. Wondercloud watched it go, then turned back to the Beardy Beard who remained. "All right, old pony, I'm just about done with this. I've passed all your tests, so can I please have the the MacGuffin?" Beardy Beard swallowed, then grinned. "But of course, Dame Lightningbolt! You've certainly earned it!" He reached into his beard and, after some rummaging, he produced a small box. "Here you are!" Wondercloud gaped. There was a chorus of groans and "I can't believe it!"s and "Are you effing kidding me?"s from the other ponies. "Wait," Wondercloud said, a deadly edge to her voice like a knife made of death. "You're telling me... that you had the MacGuffin in your beard... This entire freaking time?!" "Why didn't you just give it to us in the first place?" Midnight Twinkle yelled. "Ah got half o' two minds to wallop you one or three!" Johnniepear warned. "This is crap," Fashionface groused. "I agree with Fashionface," Whisperlite said. "That was total bullshit." You know you done fucked up when Whisperlite starts swearing. "We went through all that crap for absolutely nothing!" Sugar Rush complained. "Not for nothing!" Beardy Beard said as Wondercloud swiped the box out of his grasp. "You all came closer together as friends because of the trials you faced! And, as everypony knows, the most important thing in life is friendsh--" He didn't get to finish his sentence because Wondercloud knocked him the fuck out. "All right, who's for getting out of here?" she grumbled. "That was a real shame," Fashionface said. "I wanted to hit him too." "Yeah, me four," said Johnniepear, and then the other five went over to the chest and dragged Beardy Beard out and started beating him a little. Whisperlite even bit him on the nose. He had fucked up, onii-chan. They tied him up and dumped him back in the treasure chest. But when Sugar Rush went to close the lid on him once and for all, she noticed something. There, inside the lid, was the image of a cupcake. Sugar froze for a moment, looking at it. She willed it not to be, wanted to believe that she was just looking at it from the wrong angle, but there was no denying it. It was the Inverted Cupcake. "Uhh, maybe you should do the honors, Cloudie," she said, noping backward until she was almost out of the room. Wondercloud shrugged and slammed the lid shut. The lock reasserted itself. Johnniepear gave the chest a kick for good measure, and it actually fell over backward, revealing... "A way out!" Sugar Rush shouted. She leapt forward and dove into the hole that had been uncovered, laughing and shouting as she zipped through a twisty, curvy tunnel and out of the room that held the awful chest. Her friends followed behind her, thankful that they wouldn't have to go back through the chocoponies or the Love Tunnel, and soon they were back out on the beach outside the Coral Cave. Sugar Rush gave the signal, and within a minute, Skytaint was swooping overhead, carrying the magic carpet and helicopter. "Great adventure, everypony!" Wondercloud exclaimed. She noticed that Sugar Rush's ears were drooping a little. "Ah'll get along on and meet y'all back at the mountain," Johnniepear said, and then she crouched down and leapt up high and in an instant, she was gone. Wondercloud shaded her eyes with a hoof and watched as she soared back to the mainland. "Nice hangtime!" Then she turned to the other ponies and said, "Let's go home." Something caught Wondercloud's eye as they soared back over the sea. It was hard to tell, being so dark and all, but she was pretty sure it was the front half of a pony, waving at her. "Hey, I think somepony's out there and needs help!" Sugar Rush turned to where Wondercloud was pointing, but there was nothing there. "I don't see anything, Cloudie," she said. "Do you, Skytaint?" "No, Master, I did not." "I swear, it looked like a pony!" Wondercloud held up her hooves. "Like, a green unicorn! And then it waved at me and dove underwater and..." Her eye twitched. "It had a fish tail. That doesn't sound right..." "Were it indeed a fishpony," Skytaint said helpfully, "it would not have needed help." "Aw, crap," Wondercloud said and sank her head into her hooves. "Now you're both gonna think I'm nuts." "I don't, Cloudie," Sugar Rush said supportively. "After all, I've got a bunch of fishponies living in the negative space inside my tummy!" Wondercloud stared at her marefriend with a mix of confusion and horror, but Sugar Rush saved her the trouble of having to think up what to say next. "Okay," she said, "I said I'd tell you what was wrong after we got the MacGuffin." Wondercloud smiled softly and leaned back on Skytaint to listen, forgetting her fish-based troubles, because that is exactly the kind of amazing, caring, considerate marefriend she was. Sugar Rush took a deep breath in and said, "It's your birthday, Cloudie." "Well, I kinda knew that." "No, no, I mean..." Sugar let out a long breath. "I was gonna throw you a party for your birthday, but then Zerrific showed up and I felt really left out because you were all talking to her but everything she says sounds like garbledy-gook to me, and then we went on a quest for a thing and I couldn't throw you a party!" Sugar sniffed sullenly. "It was gonna be great. I had a big adventure planned out, and at the end, I was gonna give you your birthday present." "But..." Wondercloud stared at Sugar Rush. "We really are on an adventure, Sugar!" "I know!" Sugar wailed. "And it was way cooler than my adventure! I was gonna have Midnight and Fashionface dress up as pirates and ponynap me, and then Johnniepear and Whisperlite were gonna lead you through the Everlame Forest until you found me and rescued me! And then present! But now it's all..." She waved her hooves helplessly. "Ruined." Wondercloud pulled Sugar Rush into her hooves and held her close. "Sugar, it's not ruined at all. Sure, you didn't get to do your adventure, but what we did isn't the point." She gazed deep into Sugar's eyes, which were glistening with tears. The sun shone down on them. Birds were singing. Fish were flying or something. It was romantic as fuck. "The point is I love you, and what we did, we did together. That's way more important than any party, or any present." And then Wondercloud dipped Sugar Rush and kissed her hard on the lips. The clouds exploded and the wind whipped their manes into long strands that flapped as they flew on the dragon's back. Said dragon was currently feeling a warm, tingly feeling in his guttywuts. "D'aww," he rumbled loudly. Sugar Rush opened one eye and said out of the corner of the kiss, "Shut it." Skytaint blushed lightly and averted his eyes, knowing well which side his bread was buttered on. It was another good minute before the hot kiss (with lots of tongue), ended with a pop and a mutual gasp from the two mares. And a string of saliva. There was like, a whole quilt made out of saliva threads, that's how sexy the kiss was. "Though I have to wonder," Wondercloud continued, "what it was you were gonna give me for my birthday. Even if you can't give it to me now." Sugar Rush's pink faced turned even pinker than before. "Actually, Cloudie, I can give it to you still. It's... umm..." She swallowed and smiled bashfully. "My virginity." Wondercloud's wings stood straight out from her back and started to pulsate. "Y-y-you're a virgin?" Sugar Rush nodded shyly and flipped her mane over her face a little. Trees caught fire below. "Sugar, I..." "Let's do it, Cloudie. Right here, on the back of this dragon." She stroked the side of Wondercloud's face gently. "And keep your cape on." Wondercloud looked at Skytaint. "He's not gonna... watch, is he?" "Nope!" the dragon replied. Sugar Rush laid back on the hard scales. It wasn't the most comfortable place to have her first time, but it would do. There was certainly no more awesome place to do it with the most awesome pony in Ponylandia, that was for sure. Wondercloud lowered herself over Sugar, who gasped softly. Their lips brushed. "W-Wondercloud," Sugar breathed. "Yeah?" "W-wait, we..." She gasped again. "We have to wait for the ellipsis." "The what?" Sugar Rush's eyes closed and she moaned. "Oh, there it is..." When they caught up with Johnniepear back in Pony City, Wondercloud and Sugar Rush were feeling kind of... spent. Skytaint waved goodbye to them, the magic carpet dumped Midnight Twinkle and Fashionface off and flew away, and the helicopter exploded so Whisperlite could parachute out awesomely. They regrouped back at Zerrific's ship and she thanked them profusely for finding the MacGuffin. With it in hoof, she said (and Sugar Rush could finally understand her, because she wasn't a virgin anymore), surely her home world would be safe from Badhorsia. "You're welcome of course," said Wondercloud to Zerrific after she said stuff. "You're gonna give us something?" Sugar Rush clarified. She was so glad she could do the clarifying now. Zerrific's words sounded like this to her: "Why yes, brave ponies, You've saved my homeworld, and I Shall grant you one wish." The six friends turned to look at each other. Immediately, they started naming off things they could wish for: cooler outfits, new band gear, Dirt Dingo slaves, a year's supply of cupcakes, peace on Ponylandia. But one pony's wish stood out among the others, mostly because she didn't wait for them to decide before jumping up and shouting, "I wish I had enough time to throw Wondercloud a real birthday party!" "As your wish was made," Zerrific said, "So shall it be granted. Now" -- her eyes glowed and the world got all wibbly-wobbly -- "You have time enough!" "Hooray!" Sugar Rush cheered, and blew a party buzzer while her friends grumbled. "I must ask one more Thing from you, oh ponies six: My ship needs more fuel." "What kinda gasoline's yer ship there run off'n?" Johnniepear asked. "A substance common, I thought, though I have found none: Wonderflonium." The ponies groaned. "I shoulda seen that comin'," said Fashionface. "I'll be right back." Wondercloud grabbed some TP and flew off to the woods. Pinkie Pie basked in the evanescent glow of a new story finished at long last. She slumped in her desk chair and wiggled her hooves, letting the tingling from a long night of typing wash out of them, to be replaced by blissful numbness. The only thing that would feel better would be when the praise started pouring in from the ponynet. First, of course, she would have to send this one to Twilight for editing, but in the meantime, she could close her eyes and drink in the warm, rich sensation of "done". Her eyes popped open. There was that pinchy feeling at the base of her tail again. And yup, there came the itchy nose. She'd been having that combo the whole evening as she wrote. At last, she could finally do something about it. She quickly opened her e-mail and sent a copy of the story to Twilight with a topic of "HEY TWILIGHT YOU CAN EDIT THIS RIGHT PLZKTHX<3", then powered her computer down. It was time to find Rainbow Dash. "Oh Daaashiiiiieeee," she cried as she pronked away from her desk and up the stairs to her room, "it's somepony's birthday sooooon!"