Chapter 4: London Bridge
Time and Space Await…
-No one ever sees the mists of time spin or the chords of space grant them existence. Wind in the rain…we wish only to be strong. So tell me…why, when I dream, am I always the weaker one?
It tickled, Colgate thought. She wasn’t sure what, but something was making her nose tingle. She assumed she was only dreaming the sensation at first, but as it continued to sneak around her nerves, it began to wake her up. She shifted around a few times. It was like someone was poking her nose with a feather duster. It made it itch and Colgate resisted whatever was doing it only groggily at first. She swatted at, rolling over and drowsily mumbling something no one could have ever understood. This solved the problem for only a few seconds and then it persisted like an annoyingly determined bug. Colgate was awake at this point, but sleep still clung lingeringly to her eyelids, making her unwilling to open them. She just wanted to go back to sleep. She waved a hoof at whatever was brushing around her nose again. This time it pulled away, but it was too late. Colgate could already sense that feeling running into her nose. She wriggled her nostrils, trying to stop it, failing to hold her breath.
Suddenly, with a swift sneeze, Colgate was wide awake. Her head shot up and her eyes drifted heavily open. She could hear somepony giggling.
“My, what a reaction,” A voice said. Colgate sneezed a second time, itching her nose and forcing her eyes the rest of the way open. They were met with the sight of Celestia, snickering through a slight smile. Colgate sneezed again.
“Goodness,” Celestia said. “I didn’t think you would have such a fit.”
“What did you do to me?” Colgate asked through heavy sinuses.
“Sorry Minuette. I just wanted to see if I could wake you up without moving from where I was.” Colgate wiped her nose in the fur above her hoof, raising an eyebrow at Celestia.
“What did you use?”
“This.” Celestia curled part of her mane around a hoof, fluffing it up proudly. “It’s poofy enough.” Colgate was confused.
“Um…why?” Celestia tucked her head into her front two hooves like a playful cat ready to pounce, grinning.
“I thought it would be fun,” She said. Colgate shifted uncomfortably, not used to seeing the princess act this way. But of course, Colgate reminded herself, she wasn’t a princess yet. There were some ways in which the two sisters were still very kiddish. The way Celestia was grinning up at Colgate like a satisfied toddler with her glittery pink eyes was one of them. There was a bit of silence in which Colgate didn’t have a response.
“Well anyway, now you’re awake,” Celestia said raising her head back up. “We should get moving soon.” It was strange, Colgate thought, being woken up and finding it just as dark as it had been when she had gone to sleep. It certainly didn’t feel like morning. Of course, there was no guarantee that they had gone to sleep at nightfall. Being in this cave was very disorienting in terms of time, especially considering Colgate was already in the wrong time. Was it day? Night? Colgate had no way to tell. The only light she had above her were Luna’s glowing orbs, which, Colgate saw upon looking up, were arranged in some kind of pattern that she didn’t recognize.
“Luna,” Celestia called as she rose from her spot, only to find her sister sitting in the exact same place that she had been when they had gone to sleep. Celestia stopped where she was, surprised to see her sister still sitting there. “Luna?” Celestia said again. Luna was facing away from them, staring blankly into the blackness of the cavern, oblivious to her sister’s voice. There was a pause. Luna didn’t answer. Celestia inched forward and raising a hoof, nudged her sister on the shoulder.
“Luna?” She said again. “Are you okay?” Luna whirled around when touched as if she had been frightened. Celestia gasped. Luna’s eyes had horrible bags beneath them. They were puffy, veins exaggerated in the white space from resisting the urge to sleep. She stumbled as she turned; taking a second to realize it was only her sister who had touched her.
“Oh,” Luna’s eyelids drooped and she shook her head vigorously. “It’s just you. Did you sleep well Tia?”
“Well,” Celestia hesitated. “Of-of course, but Luna…”
“Oh good,” Luna was only pretending to be fine. “We should…we should go.” As Luna tried to dismount the rock she was on, she slipped and would have taken a bad fall had Celestia not extended a leg to break it. Luna crumpled against her sister. Realizing what happened, she immediately tried to push away from Celestia and get back on her feet. Celestia wouldn’t let her though and held her in place as she squirmed wearily.
“Sis, shouldn’t we…” For a second Luna nearly drifted off mid sentence, but shook her head again, stopping once she knocked her head against Celestia’s side. One of Luna’s light sources fell from above and fizzled out; the rest remained tentatively suspended for the moment.
“Oh sis you’re awake,” Luna seemed to start over. “We should get going.” Colgate watched as Celestia narrowed her eyes at Luna.
“Luna, did you get any sleep?” she asked.
“I had…had to make sure nothing came to…to hurt you Tia.” Celestia’s expression softened at this, but still remained stern, like a mother who knew her daughter only had good intentions, but still needed to scold her.
“How long did you let us sleep Luna?” Colgate was curious about this too. After all, there was no way to tell in this cave. The splashing of water near them was constant as ever.
“I don’t know sis. I just let you sleep. I wanted you to feel better.”
“I told you to rest too Luna. You look awful.”
“I’m sorry sis.”
“Here, it’s your turn.” Celestia lifted her sister up with her magic and placed her on her back. Luna put up a mild struggle, which was impressive as tired as she was.
“But…but Tia,” Luna protested as she was plopped over Celestia’s back. “You’ll need help getting out of the cave. I can’t sleep now.”
“Yes you can Luna.” Celestia patted Luna on the head. “Besides, I’m sure Minuette is a smart pony.” she smiled at Colgate. “We’ll be fine.” Luna didn’t think so however and seemed she had a few things she might have wanted to say at the mentioning of Colgate’s name.
“No,” Luna tried to wriggle off of Celestia. “She’s a weirdo. She’ll just keep complaining about her teeth.”
“Shhh,” Celestia brushed Luna’s mane. “You’re just a little cranky Luna.”
“Sis, stop…I,” Celestia began humming a slow lullaby and within the first few notes, Luna’s eyes forced themselves shut. “I…” She visibly tried to keep them open, her lids fluttering a bit before finally staying closed. Her complaints were reduced to mumbles and she was out like a light. And so were her orbs that had been floating about. As soon as she drifted off, all of them fizzled out like fires that had lost their fuel. The lack of light was quickly replaced by a renewed glow from Celestia’s horn. She looked at Colgate, now with the confidence that she wouldn’t have any problems with her magic.
“She’s out,” She said. “Can you walk?” Colgate hadn’t considered this yet, but figured after however much rest she had gotten, her leg might have recovered by now. She felt mentally refreshed and so she stood up slowly, ready to lay back down at the first sign of pain. But there wasn’t any. She stood on all four hooves for a moment and then tried walking about. Her hind leg was as good as new and the mare who had broken it, now slept harmlessly atop the pony who had healed it. Colgate certainly hoped she wouldn’t have to experience the pain of any crushed limbs from here on out. Colgate nodded at Celestia.
“Feels normal,” She said confidently.
“Good,” Celestia affirmed. “I figured all it needed was a little rest.”
“Thank you again by the way. How did you do that?”
“Oh,” Celestia flustered “It was nothing.”
“No really. You and Luna have such good control over your magic. And well… I was wondering if maybe…” Colgate swiveled a hoof around on the rock pausing awkwardly, wondering how to phrase her question even though it was painfully obvious.
“If what?”
“You know,” Colgate stretched her neck, emphasizing the horn on her head.
“I can’t read minds Minuette,” Celestia giggled slightly at her antics.
“I was wondering if you could teach me…” Colgate looked away.
“You want to learn magic?”
“Well, it’s just… I can’t control my magic…and…it’s the reason I’m here.” Celestia narrowed her eyes at Colgate.
“What do you mean? Your own magic got you here?”
“It’s complicated…” Colgate could see even Celestia starting to get suspicious of her and she was squinting down at her as if she really could read minds, despite having said she couldn’t only moments earlier. Then, just when Colgate was sure the alicorn had changed her image of Colgate to that of a dishonest mare, she let out a laugh.
“It’s really no wonder Luna calls you a weirdo,” Celesta smiled.
“Eh?” How could she agree with that, Colgate thought?
“Anyway, you want to me to teach you?”
“If, that’s okay…” Colgate said at the risk of sounding like Fluttershy.
“Of course!” Celestia seemed almost excited. “How should I start…hmmmm…well…” Celestia began pacing.
“Celestia?” Colgate hadn’t meant right away and she attempted to get Celestia’s attention as she seemed to be getting carried away. “Celestia?” She said again.
“Oh? What?” Celestia stopped. “I’m sorry I was distracted.”
“We should probably get out of this cave first.”
“Right right,” Celestia looked around. “You think we should just follow the flow of water?” Colgate couldn’t find any reason not to. At this point, it seemed like the best option.
“Sounds good to me.”
“Right. Off we go then. Hopefully outside.” With that, they trekked off into the dark, with the light from Celestia’s horn guiding their way. The path was rock, filled with slippery ups and downs across smooth stones. Colgate slid around a few times, looking clumsy compared to Celestia who never seemed to lose her posture even with her sleeping sister on her back. Even across all the turbulence, Luna stirred from her sleep only once, shifting a little and wrapping her front hooves about her sister’s neck and using her mane as a pillow. It made Celestia look like she was wearing a scarf, but she didn’t seem to mind. The cave, other than the clicking of their hooves and the trickle of the stream they followed, was now very silent. Perhaps, the episode with the two Ursas had frightened anything else from coming near the area.
In the silence, Colgate was once again reminded of how she hadn’t brushed her teeth. She was tempted to ask Celestia if she knew what a toothbrush was, or perhaps if she had one, but decided not to, afraid she would be met with the same response Luna had given her. She wasn’t suited for this time period. They stopped for water once, bending down by the stream and Colgate swished the water around in her mouth to try to compensate, spitting it out. Colgate clicked her teeth together unsatisfactorily. It didn’t compare. She wanted that fresh and clean feeling that her toothpaste and mouthwash gave her. If there was one thing that was really going to motivate her to finding a way back, it was this. Colgate felt a tinge of remorse at this thought though. She hadn’t even considered Berry Punch. Her poor friend had a run-in with a changeling and in all the confusion that had surrounded her, Colgate had forgotten to worry about her. But Colgate was in an entirely different time. Berry Punch hadn’t even been born yet where she was and the best thing Colgate could do for her friend was to get back as soon as she could. For all Colgate knew, she would come back only seconds after she had left. That’s the way time travel worked right?
No way to tell, Colgate resolved to herself and focused on her next biggest worry. Her teeth. They wouldn’t do so well here and even after only going to sleep and waking up once, both without brushing, they already felt weird. The worries she thought were so big though evaporated like a cloud as Celestia stopped and Colgate nearly ran into her. Colgate slipped a little and regaining her footing, asked,
“What is it?” Celestia raised a hoof.
“Do you feel that?” Colgate was clueless at first, but then knew exactly what Celestia was referring to as it washed through her mane.
“Wind,” Colgate stated. This revelation was almost baffling and both of them knew what it meant.
“Let’s go.” Colgate was more than eager to follow this suggestion, knowing it meant, finally getting out the cave. The two quickened their pace, the breeze’s presence becoming more apparent and around a bend, Colgate could see light. It had been a good idea to follow the water. It looked as though it led right out of the cave. Rounding the bend, the pony’s eyes were met with a burst of light. It was day, Colgate confirmed, definitely day. She squinted against the light putting her hoof to her forehead to block it, barely able to see Celestia’s horn stop shining. Colgate’s eyes gradually adjusted to the light of the sun that she hadn’t seen since she had broken the laws of physics and ripped a whole in space.
“Watch your step,” She heard Celestia say. Colgate stopped and now able to see fairly well saw that the path had become a ledge that the river beside them plummeted down. Colgate lowered her hoof and approached the edge slowly. Her eyes widened. It was no small drop. It was a sheer drop off interrupted only by juts of jagged rock all the way down into a dense forest. It was so far down that the trees only looked like tiny bushes. Colgate couldn’t tell where the falling water was ending up. It fell out of her sight after a certain point. Then she looked out over everything else.
It was horrible. There were pink colored clouds like cotton candy scattered around the expanse of land that met her eyes. Random storms spun around, a spiraling cyclone in one area and a snowstorm in the next. Looking at the sky revealed the sun and the moon were both visible although neither where it should have been. The sun was rising from the west and the moon was moving across the dome of the sky rather than over it. The sky was also an eerie pink instead of blue, which gave the light a twisted tint to it yet didn’t distort the color of anything it shone on. But in the midst of all this, there was one area that seemed calm. Surrounded by all the rampant chaos, was a forest. All the storms, winds and anomalies seemed strangely unwilling to touch it, leaving a sort of border about its expanse. The trees around the edges were frozen, visibly white even from a distance like all the chaos was slowly squeezing the life out of it. Colgate was at a loss for words. Celestia walked up beside her, Luna still sound asleep.
“It’s horrible isn’t it?”
“What is all this?” Colgate asked.
“This is all Discord’s doing. He just does whatever he wants and has driven nearly everypony from their homes. This is why we went to fight him…We can’t live like this.”
“And…” Colgate paused. “It didn’t work…” Celestia looked down at her hooves sullenly. “I’m sorry.” Celestia forced a smile.
“Don’t apologize. We’re not done yet. See that forest in the center of all this mess?” Colgate nodded. “That’s the Everfree forest. There are other ponies there waiting for us. When we left, they said they were onto something, something that we might be able to use against Discord.”
“When did you leave?” Colgate asked out of curiosity.
“We don’t know. Just like you, we woke up in that cave, no idea how much time had passed. Even with all our magic we couldn’t touch Discord…He flicked us away just like that. Like bugs…” Celestia seemed to be scolding herself. “The Everfree already seems smaller. We might not have much more time…”
“Hey, don’t sulk,” Colgate tried to cheer her up. “You helped me, you can still help Equestria.” They had to, Colgate thought. Celestia held her smile.
“Thank you Minuette. We should hurry, though. We need to meet up with the ponies in the Everfree as soon as possible.” Colgate nodded. This was strange though. In Colgate’s time the Everfree was a place ponies were afraid of, especially ponies like Berry Punch. But now, it was a safe haven. Why? What made the Everfree so special? And what was it that the ponies had supposedly been onto that was going to help in their fight against Discord? These were questions she really should have asking Celestia, but then something else dawned on her. They were on a tall mountain, one that stood alone and overlooked the Everfree forest; a lone mountain with waterfalls cascading down the side. Colgate knew this mountain and it wasn’t part of the arctic north as some of the snow might have suggested. Of course, this could have just been a quirk from Discord. No, Colgate realized, where she stood was where the palace of the two she knew as princesses was supposed to be. The capitol city, Canterlot. But it wasn’t there. This really was an entirely different world. Compared to this, the sisters had forged a near paradise out of Equestria. Her latent fears crept back up on her. Was she going to be the pony to mess it all up? Had she already? She wouldn’t have time to ponder this. Problems just wouldn’t leave them alone.
Celestia walked past Colgate and began to lead the way along the small ledge that curved its way out of the cave and along the mountain side. Colgate would have followed, were it not for a pain in her head. Not again, was her first thought. Even after throwing a tantrum big enough to land her here, was her magic still not done? But, as Colgate soon found, this was different. She didn’t find herself in the same sense numbing bind that used to occur. It was more like her magic was reacting to something on the outside rather than the inside. Her head twitched as her horn gave a spark. It was like someone had grabbed a hold of her mane and yanked her head to the side. Colgate didn’t fancy the idea of being pulled toward the edge of a cliff and became immediately wary. It could have been another one of Discord’s tricks. She didn’t move, glancing about.
“Minuette?” Celestia turned around when she realized Colgate wasn’t following her. Colgate’s head gave another twitch at the neck, her horn snapping with light like flint struck against rock. It hurt. Colgate already wasn’t very fond of having her head jerked around as she massaged her neck with her hoof.
“Ow,” Colgate winced, a bone cracking.
“What’s wrong?” Celestia asked.
“That’s the thing,” her horn gave a few more bluish sparks. “I never really know.”
“Is your magic doing that?”
“Yeah…It’s not the same as usual though.” Celestia approached Colgate and stretching out a hoof went to touch her horn. Colgate sunk away, lowering her head.
“Careful,” Colgate flustered. “You’ll…well…you shouldn’t touch it.”
“Is this what you meant when you said you couldn’t control it?” Colgate glanced around.
“Yes…”
“Well I should at least look at it.” Celestia tried to touch Colgate’s horn again. Colgate flinched away further.
“No…”
“Minuette,” Celestia tone became slightly motherly, which should have been comforting, but it bothered Colgate. “Didn’t you want to learn magic?”
“Well yes, but…”
“I might be able to tell why your magic is out of control. Can’t I at least take a look at it?”
“No…” Colgate repeated like a tempestuous child.
“Minu-”
“Don’t touch it!” Colgate smacked Celestia hoof away. There was silence. Celestia’s almost heartbroken expression made Colgate’s aggression quickly dissolve into guilt. Celestia lowered her hoof and shuffled to a reasonable distance awkwardly. Colgate tried to reapproach her, but this time it was Celestia who took a step back.
“Prin-I mean…er…Celestia I…”Sorry didn’t seem like the right word. She had certainly meant to do what she had done, but not in the way she had done it perhaps. She was confused. Abruptly Celestia looked up, her eyes widening in panic.
“Minuette move!” She shouted. There had still only been a few feet between them and in the blink of an eye, a pulse of energy from Celestia’s horn propelled both of them away from each other. Colgate managed to stay on all four hooves, skidding across the rock face, stopping uncomfortably close to the edge. Where the two mares had been, something resembling or at least Colgate thought resembling a cottage, plummeted in a straight vertical and burst into splinters as it cracked across the mountainside with a crash. Colgate shielded her eyes against the scattering of debris most of which fell cluttering down into the forest below. A cloud of dust lingered along with small amounts of hay and wood that had managed to stay on the ledge and the echoes of clinking wood. Colgate coughed inhaling the dust. Lowering her hoof from shielding her face Colgate saw Celestia on the other side of a pile of wood and hay with Luna no longer on her back, but under one of her wings. Even in all the commotion, the little alicorn struggled to wake up. Colgate ran over to the scatter of debris separating them.
“Are you okay?” she elevated her voice.
“We’re alright,” Celestia responded, lifting her wing and looking down to Luna.
“Wh…what’s going on sis?” Luna asked in a mumble, her eyelids tightening themselves shut.
“Don’t worry Luna. We’re just outside now.”
“Do you need…” Luna trailed off her head falling against Celestia’s leg. Then came another voice. Celestia tensed up, her wing folding back over her sister and her head jerking up looking to the sky. Was somepony singing?
“Ahahahahehehe!” a sort of wild laughter echoed around them. “Snow around the lava, the pony’s homes are falling! Trash it, laugh it, in madness drown!” The tune was to ring around the rosy, only lopsided without its rhymes and its lyrics twisted yet sung proudly and with glee. From above something soared down and plopped itself with joy into all the remaining debris that was left, scattering it all around. There wasn’t much left to throw around though and the thing that had landed hopped up and hovered over the spot with a frown.
“Oh, it all fell down…” Colgate did a double take. What was before her was merely a pony, seemingly an earth pony at that. Her fur was a strange pastel pinkish purple and her mane and tail a curly double colored violet and white making it look like fluffy cotton candy. There was a hat atop her head with a little plastic propeller poking up. It was strange. It looked like nothing more than a toy, yet seemed like it was attached to her head and was holding her aloft. She hovered in the air hooves bent frowning at the lack of a mess, her eyes moving without synchronization. They lacked distinct pupils and were filled with swirls of purple that looked at everything around them. The mare’s head turned to Celestia and Luna, the former of which still held her wing over the latter and glared at this new guest with a malice Colgate had never seen out of her before.
“Oooo! Hey!” The mare greeted them. “It’s Sunbutt and Moonface!” Colgate scolded herself for even considering laughing at this. After all, whoever this was had just tried to crush them with a house or at least it seemed that way.
“Don’t pretend you didn’t know who you were dropping a house on.” Celestia said abrasively.
“Maybe did, maybe not,” The mare turned herself upside down. “Dropping houses is always fun.”
“What do you want, Screwball?” Screwball? That made sense of the pony’s cutie mark, Colgate thought. It was literally just a screw and a baseball side by side. Colgate wasn’t sure what that meant in terms of a cutie mark or a special talent, but then she didn’t really know that much about her own. This mare in front of her though was ridiculous in everything down to her name. Something like Screwball was more than fitting. The pony ignored Celestia’s question and turned to Colgate by flipping over from her upside down position by doing half a flip, the propeller apparently uninterested in any laws concerning physics.
“Who’s the new pony?” There were multiple flashes like a camera in which the mare ported around, grinning and appearing in a different orientation every time until she popped up nose to nose with Colgate her swirly eyes drilling into her latest interest. Colgate backed up, only to have Screwball port straight to her again, this time staring at her like a bat only hanging from nothing.
“Huh new pony?” She said buoyantly. “Who are ya!? You got a horn. A horn, a horn. By the way, surprise!” Screwball vanished again and Colgate gasped as she was suddenly doused with something from above her. It wasn’t water. She tumbled backwards shaking her mane to get whatever it was out. Colgate looked up to see Screwball on top of a small puffy pink cloud. The strange substance that dripped from it was clingy like sugar water.
“Why don’t more ponies appreciate chocolate?” Screwball asked this as if it were some sort of crime, wondering why Colgate hadn’t enjoyed being drenched in the stuff. Why chocolate Colgate thought? It had rained the same thing when Discord was around in her own time, so seeing it do the same thing now wasn’t a surprise. What was a surprise was the fact that this pony could make clouds that did the same thing. She clearly wasn’t a unicorn, as the hat she wore was too small to have covered up a horn and yet she also flew despite not being a Pegasus. She almost looked like one of the clouds herself. Colgate stood back up, trying to make sense of a nonsensical mare.
“You got a name, nameless?” Screwball asked.
“Wh-” Colgate never had a hope of finishing
“I should give you a funny name too!” She giggled. “You’ll never be as golden as Sunbutt though.” Celestia frowned on hearing the name again and Screwball looked to Colgate’s cutie mark. Or at least it appeared to be what she was looking at. Her eyes were impossible to read. Screwball donned a sarcastic grin.
“What’s that supposed to be?” She popped up behind Colgate from where she had been with a blink eyeballing the hourglass on Colgate’s flank. Colgate turned,
“If you really want to know, my name is-” Screwball stuffed a hoof into Colgate’s mouth.
“No. You don’t have a name until I give you one. What’s an hourglass supposed to mean anyway?” Screwball floated in a circle around Colgate, rotating on a horizontal axis counterclockwise, her eyes spinning in the opposite direction. As soon as her hoof came out of Colgate’s mouth though, Colgate spat at the ground, brushing her tongue with her hoof. It was just another taste she didn’t want in there. The feeling brought on by not brushing was bad enough, but now her tongue tasted like it had been dowsed in sugar. This was quickly turning into a dental nightmare for her.
“So what? Are you good at telling time?” Colgate didn’t answer, continuing to wipe her tongue off. “What are you doing?” Screwball asked.
“What was on your hoof?” Colgate asked and then almost addressing herself, “ohh, I swear my teeth are going to be moosh after this.” Screwball stopped spinning upside down and cocked an eyebrow.
“Your teeth?”
“Yes,” Colgate stopped, spitting a few more times. “I’ll have to gum my food…oohhh I need a brush!” Colgate squirmed in place, knowing there was no such thing around. This statement did however at least humor Screwball.
“Ahahahaha!” She twirled around in the air. “You’re worried about your mouth? Ahahaha! Are you drunk? Ahahaha.” It was like someone had told her the best joke she had ever heard. Screwball wouldn’t stop laughing. Of course, she had obviously never met Berry Punch or she wouldn’t have asked if Colgate was the drunk one.
“I’m fine,” Colgate said, annoyed.
“No!” Screwball retorted. “A sober pony doesn’t worry about her teeth with me around. AHA! A drunk pony! Hahaha! I’ve got you a nickname! Wanna hear, wanna hear!?” Colgate frowned. She would inevitably have to, but still chose to say,
“No,” as disinterestedly as she could.
“Too bad!” This was expected. “I’m gonna call you…” She paused. “Clocktail!” Colgate could almost hear the crickets. “Get it? Get it?”
“Totally over my head,” Colgate resigned sarcastically. Screwball whirled right up into Colgate’s face.
“Alcohol!” She yelled. “Ahahahaha!” After nearly poking Colgate in the eye, Screwball spun wildly around in satisfactory victory chortles. Colgate did her best to ignore them as they faded in and out, their source twirling like a merry-go-round and teleporting all over the place. Then she heard a snicker from someone else. She looked over. Luna had woken up and was grinning at her.
“Hey,” Colgate felt betrayed.
“What?” Luna looked down her nose at Colgate. “Don’t mind me Clocktail.”
“Luna!” Celestia gave her sister a nudge, scolding her, but to no effect. Screwball popped up between them again giving one last “HA!” as she did so.
“What’s your deal?” Colgate narrowed her eyes at her.
“Silly pony,” She replied. “What’s your deal?” Screwball proceeded to imitate Colgate again by spitting at the ground only what came out of her mouth was more chocolate milk rather than spit. Colgate shifted around to avoid some of the wads that might have hit her hooves.
“What’s with you and this Chocolate?” Colgate asked.
“Why Clocktail,” Screwball said, eliciting another snicker from Luna. Colgate glared at her momentarily, to which the only response was an overly fluffy smile. “Silly silly. If all the world were paper and all the sea were ink and all the trees were bread and cheese, what should we have to drink!?” There was a pause. Her rhymey words seemed out of place and Colgate figured she was just chanting another poem. Of course for all she knew, the sea really could be ink and the trees made of bread. In a place where clouds were pink and rained chocolate milk, and random houses were falling out of a pink sky, it wouldn’t seem out of place.
“Get on with it Screwball,” Celestia finally got serious. “You didn’t come here just to toy with us.” Screwball looked confused for a second and then smiled.
“Nope, that’s pretty much it.”
“Wh-” Now Celestia was confused.
“Now you’re being silly too,” Screwball flipped over and began walking in a circle upside down in the air as if she were on solid ground. “Sunbutt knows I just wanna have fun. And here are my two favorite toys.”
“You’re demented.”
“Isn’t it great!” The mare beamed and then flipped back over, still standing in the air. “And now you get to play one of my favorite games!” Colgate, Luna, and Celestia all stood on edge. No one answered Screwball; she just kept smiling at Celestia.
“Don’t you want to know what it is?” Screwball’s grin was getting more maniacal as it got wider.
“Why don’t you just tell us,” Celestia told her.
“Ohhh okay,” Screwball did her best sad face and held it for a few moments. Then her huge grin came back in a flash.
“LONDON BRIDGE!” She screamed. Screwball plummeted from her place in the air and slammed into the surface of the ledge with the force of a two ton wrecking ball. Colgate felt the shock wave rumble through the cliff side. A spider web of cracks originated from Screwball’s hooves and the stone crumbled apart like brittle cookies beneath their feet. Screwball stood in place, letting the ground dissolve away as if it weren’t needed for standing. Colgate and the two sisters however tumbled inward toward each other and accelerated toward the forest at the foot of the mountain with everything else. Colgate panicked. She had flipped over and was falling back first, unable to see where she was going. She flailed around and closing her eyes heard a pop from her horn. With a hiss it lit up again and before Colgate even knew what she was doing a translucent bubble formed around her, Celestia and Luna. It shrunk drawing them together until there was no more room for even another pony. Lightening began jumping from her horn again.
“Idiot!” Luna yelled at her. “What are you doing!?” They couldn’t get out of the bubble and it was obvious Luna wanted to fly, but she couldn’t spread her wings and neither could Celestia. But to be honest, Colgate had no idea what she was doing or if it was even her. She wasn’t trying to do this. So why was it happening?
“Minuette,” Celestia pleaded. The ground was only getting closer. “Calm down! You have to let us fly!” She never got the chance. Like a brilliant camera flash, Colgate’s vision went pure white and all noise stopped. The only sound was an intense ringing in her ears and all she saw was white. She was blinded and for what seemed like the longest time, she couldn’t orient herself. She couldn’t tell if she was upside down, on her side, on her hooves, still falling, or even if she was spinning through the air. This was certainly a change from blacking out, but it wasn’t really preferable to it. It was like being conscious in mind for the entire time your body was unconscious. But as she discovered, she had never really been unconscious. It was more like her entire being had temporarily frozen and through the whiteness, the lines began to blur back into focus…