“Hey, Dad,” yelled Scootaloo as she rode into her house on her scooter, “I’ve got the best costume ever.” She cruised down the hallway before skidding to a halt at the foot of the stairs.
“What have I told you about riding your scooter inside,” came a call of paternal disapproval from upstairs.
“Sorry Dad,” the orange filly guiltily leapt off of her vehicle.
“I had a few ideas about what you could wear myself,” said Heavy Roller descending the stairs, “But show me what you got.” Don’t be a guards uniform, don’t be a guards uniform, he thought.
“It’s a guards uniform, just like Mom used to wear,” her voice tailed off slightly.
Heavy examined the costume she was holding in her teeth, it wasn’t of the best quality but contained simple barding, a rather ornate helmet and a toy spear. It did look similar to the one Nocturne used to wear. The one she had died in. The one he had buried her in. He couldn’t bring himself to see his daughter wear that, not yet.
“Yeah, it’s kinda cool,” he replied trying to sound excited, “But how about this one?” he retrieved another costume from over his back.
“Is that?” Scootaloo gasped her eyes widening.
“Yep, Rarity made it for me.”
“And do you?”
“I’ve got the one that goes with it, and there’s a surprise in the garage as well.”
“Can I?”
“Yes you can try it on now.”
“You’re the best Dad ever!” she hugged his leg.
“Thanks old chum,” he smiled.
Cheerilee decided that she was going to like this new holiday that Luna had created. Ok, it meant she had to spend the evening with foals but she did that most of the time anyway and she got to wear a costume this time. When Rarity had offered to make costumes for all of the element bearers she had considered letting her class make the decision on what she should wear, but considering all the horrible options they could have come up with she instead decided to just go with what she wanted, and in this case what she wanted was Catmare.
She’d never been that much of a fan of superhero comics but the feline themed antagonist, she couldn’t bring herself to thinking of her as a villain, had always called to her somehow. The idea of such a strong, wild character who was her own mare had always called to her. The costume that Rarity had come up with wasn’t her favourite interpretation of the character, but she had to admit that the purple suit did look great on her, it covered well but could have maybe done with being a fraction tighter, no point being too coy, still it would do for the foal’s party at least. If she had the time she had, unbeknown to Rarity, put together her own version of the costume for the adults party later. It was black and rather more risqué, it even came with a whip, she hoped she could remember how to use one, it had been a while.
“Are you sure I can’t do anything else to help?” she asked her friend Carrot Top. The two of them we carrying several bags laden with fruit and vegetables.
“No this is fine,” replied her companion. She’d offered to host a party for her friends tonight after Trixie’s show but had gotten off track when Trixie had asked her to help set up her stage. Now she had a hundred things to do and only a few hours to do them in, she hadn’t even had a chance to put on her costume yet. Running into Cheerilee had been a big help.
“Ok, just let me call in at Heavy Roller’s place and tell him I might be a bit late.”
“Is he helping to chaperone the foal’s party again? He does do that a lot doesn’t he,” said Carrot Top with a raised eyebrow, “He seems to like to spend time with you.”
Cheerilee blushed, although it was well hidden by her coat, “We’re just friends.”
“Would you like to be more?” she chided her friend.
“Well, maybe,” she admitted, “But his wife died less than two years ago and his daughters in my class that would make things awkward, it’s one of the reasons why I broke up with Rarity. I don’t think it would work out.” She hung her head for a moment, “Anyway now’s not the time to be maudlin.” She knocked on Heavy Roller’s door.
The Door opened to reveal a small pony dressed in costume. Her face had a domino mask on it and her chest a red top with a large R on it, her flanks were covered by green shorts and her back with a flowing yellow cape. “Scootaloo?” asked Cheerilee, “Wow, that’s a good costume, Robin right?”
The foal glowed in pride, “That’s right Miss Cheerilee, she’s the best superhero ever, she can do all sorts of stunts.” She examined her teacher and her costume, “You’re catmare? You better not steal anything while I’m around or I’ll have to stop you,” she struck a pose.
“I’ll remember that,” laughed the teacher, “Is your father around?”
“Dad,” yelled Scootaloo into the house, “Cheerilee’s here.”
Heavy Roller trotted down the hall towards the door, “Just a second, this costumes a bit tight.” He was wearing a grey bodysuit covered by a long black cape through which projected fake bat wings. His head was covered by a cowl.
“Batstallion!” mock gasped Cheerilee. The costume looked good on him she thought, it might be part of the outfit but he looked more muscular than usual.
“Catmare! My old nemesis,” announced Heavy Roller theatrically. “You look great in that costume, Cheerilee,” he looked down a little bashfully.
“You to, what are the odds we’d pick costumes from the same comic?”
“Well they’re quite popular no doubt you’ll see more Batstallions around town tonight and I know Scoots likes the series so I thought I’d get us matching costumes.”
Cheerilee shook herself a bit, it took her a few seconds to remember why she was here in the first place, “Me and Carrot Top have some groceries to deliver before the party tonight so I might be as bit late, are you ok to look after things for a while without me.”
“Shouldn't be a problem but I think I can help you out, I’ve got something to in the yard to get you there quicker, wait here,” he trotted back into the house.
“Do you know what you dad’s talking about Scootaloo?” asked Cheerilee sounding curious.
“No, but he did say that he had another surprise for me.”
Suddenly the gate to Heavy’s workshop opened and he emerged pulling a large black vehicle.
“Oh my gosh!” cried Scootaloo running over towards it, “It’s the Batchariot, this is so cool!” She leapt inside it and started to play around with the various controls.
“Yep,” grinned Heavy with a grin, “I’ve been working on her since I heard about Nightmare Night. I’ve fitted it with all sorts of tricks, even a little steam engine to make it easier to pull.” He turned to Cheerilee and Carrot Top, “So ladies, can I take you both for a ride?”
After the mares had loaded their shopping into the back of the chariot, Heavy had offered to pull both it and the rest of them home by himself. Cheerilee had refused and told him that she’d help take the load as well, giving Carrot Top a glare to prevent her offering the same. After a brief argument the teacher and the mechanic had ended up pulling the vehicle through the streets of Ponyville and gathering many looks of surprise and jealousy from the populace as they went.
Scootaloo was originally disappointed by the fact that unlike the one in the comics the Batchariot her father had made could not fly. However, she soon got into the spirit of things propping herself up on the side of the chariot and enjoying the feel of the wind in her mane. Which left Carrot Top to help steer the vehicle.
Cheerilee was also enjoying herself, it wasn’t often that she pulled vehicles and the exercise felt good. Of course being packed next to Heavy Roller and feeling the movement of his muscles as they went wasn’t hurting either, they definitely weren’t just part of the costume. Thus it seemed far too soon that the border of Carrot Top’s farm came into view. They stopped the chariot near the entrance and started to unload the goods.
Just as they were finished a young stallion in a clown costume came barrelling past on his way into town, “Out of my way pipsqueak,” he yelled shoving Scootaloo aside and into the border fence. She gave a cry of pain.
“Hey,” yelled Cheerilee checking to see if the orange filly was alright, “Watch where you’re going.”
To her, and probably his, surprise Heavy Roller took off after the youth and tackled him to the ground.
“Hey what gives?” yelled the surprised Stallion.
“You just shoved my daughter, you hurt her,” hissed Heavy Roller hauling the sweating youth to his hooves and shoving him against the fence.
“I’ll be more careful in future! Sorry! Sorry! I swear to Luna I won’t do it again!” screamed the now panicked Stallion.
“Don’t swear to Luna, swear to ME!” growled Heavy Roller.
Cheerilee watched on in amazement, he rear legs suddenly seemed too weak to hold her weight and she sat down legs splayed. “Waha gooby?” she asked unintelligibly.
“Wow,” agreed Carrot Top similarly affected by the spectacle.
Heavy Roller seeming to realise what he had just done dropped the other stallion who stagger off desperately wondering where he could get a cleaner costume. Heavy rushed past the stunned mares to his daughter, “Scoots, are you ok, where does it hurt? Should I take you to the hospital?” he panicked.
“Dad!”, said Scootaloo looking embarrassed, “It’s just a scratch. She raised a foreleg to show an angry looking scrape.”
“There’s a first aid kit in the chariot. Do you want me to kiss it better?”
“Daaaaaddddd!!” wailed Scootaloo again looking as if she wanted the ground to swallow her up.
“I’m sorry about that, I don’t know what came over me. It must be the costume,” said Heavy Roller turning to Cheerilee.
“I want to have your foals,” she mumbled eyes wide.
“What?” said Heavy in surprise.
Behind them Carrot Top had retrieved the first aid kit and had begun to bind the foal’s injury she almost choked on a bandage when she heard Cheerilee’s admission.
The schoolteacher shook herself out of her daze, “I said, thanks again for your help with the foals.”
“That’s ok, it’s good to meet Scoots friends.”
“Ok, I’ll pick you up, I mean Scootaloo and you up in about an hour we should get to the school house on time then.”
“It’s a date, errr meeting then.”
Heavy Roller gathered up his daughter who was testing out her bandaged leg. “Come on we better be going.”
“Ok, Dad. Thanks Ms Carrot Top.” she said politely. She hopped back into the chariot while Heavy attached himself to the front again and they rolled away.
The two mares watched they went, “Yep, you two are definitely only friends,” teased Carrot Top.
“Shut up!” said Cheerilee blushing, “Do you want me to help you unpack or not?”
“Thanks. Well if you don’t want him I might snap him up myself.”
“Don’t you dare!” replied Cheerilee with a bit more venom than she’d expected, “So what costume are you wearing anyway.
“Well there seems to be a theme so far, you see I’m going as....”
Just under an hour later Cheerilee had finished helping Carrot Top get ready for the party and was on her way to meet up with Heavy Roller and Scootaloo. She had considered popping home first and maybe changing her costume but she didn’t have the time. She was just passing through the city centre when she felt a wave of force seem to emanate from the direction of Carousel Boutique. The force knocked her off her hooves and threw her back several feet before continuing out into the rest of the city.
Catmare landed dextrously on her hooves like her namesake and looked around. The other ponies in the area seemed to have been affected like her and most were now picking themselves up. One or two were acting strangely, there a giant chicken stalked the streets and elsewhere a large ladybird was crawling up a house to the disgust and panic of several nearby ponies. Still it wasn’t much different from a normal Saturday night in Gotham City. She realised that she wasn’t in that city now, where was she?
Looking around to try and fix her position when something caught her eye, something shiny. The sign outside the building stated it was ‘Amethyst Star’s Fine Jewellers’ and that it was currently closed for the holiday. However, the window full of shiny jewellery said to her that she should have a look around.
Making sure that nopony was paying attention to her she examined the door, it was solid as was the window. The locks were first class as well, good, she liked a challenge. With a flex of her leg a claw extended from the end of her glove and she poked it into the lock, biting her tongue in concentration. It took her less than five minutes to pick the lock, either it wasn’t as advanced as she’d thought it was or she was just that good, probably the latter.
She carefully let herself in, some shop owners, particularly unicorns, placed further magical alarms or traps within their stores. Her trained eye spotted a small gem out of place near the door, an alarm. She knew the type, there would be two of them and if anything living passed between them then the unicorn who had placed them would be warned. She carefully prized the crystal off the wall and moved it across the room to sit next to its twin. The alarm defeated she strolled into the building.
The shop floor was small and apart from the few items in the window most of the displays were empty, the owner was apparently cautious enough to keep most of her goods in the safe when the shop was closed. It took the professional thief little time to locate the strong box and even less time to open it. The shopkeeper had made a common mistake by spending all their money on external security and then scrimping on that inside the building.
Catmare stared into the safe, off to one side was a large bag of bits, ewww dirty, but the rest was full of rings, necklaces, earrings and other items of jewellery. She grabbed a hoof full and held them up to her face almost inhaling them, ah the sweet smell of success. She looked around for something to put them in and found some empty saddlebags, she began to search through her loot, she found an item she liked very much indeed. It was a small pendent but exquisitely designed in the shape of a cat its form picked out in diamonds and its eye’s glittering emeralds. This one she would keep for her personal collection she thought placing it carefully around her neck.
“Put that back Catmare, it doesn’t belong to you,” came a gravelly voice from the other side of the shop, it sent tingles up and down the criminals spine.
She turned, “Batstallion,” she gasped, stretching her lithe form in anticipation, “It that a utility belt or are you pleased to see me?” she raised an eyebrow and was pleased to see the stallions face flush a little.
“We can do this the easy way, or the hard way,” announced Robin as she entered to stand by Batstallion. She cracked her hooves.
“As your boss knows kid,” she replied without taking her eyes of the stallion, “I like making things hard.” She reached down and grabbed the bag of goodies in her mouth before starting to leap towards the door leading further into the shop, however, Batstallion was quicker than her and was already moving to cut her off. Swerving in mid leap she turned to the main door currently guarded by Robin. Pushing off with her hind legs she leapt over the surprised foal and into the street beyond.
Not stopping for even a second she quickly grabbed hold of the drainpipe of a nearby building and used it to scale the wall and reach the roof. She was glancing around deciding where to hide when she saw Batstallion exit the building below and unfurl his wide bat like wings before leaping into the air after her. She always forgot he could do that, still he did look absolutely magnificent like that. Behind the dark stallion Robin also look to the air her wings buzzing as she lifted off after her mentor.
Racing down across the roof Catmare leapt between buildings trying to put some distance between herself and her pursuers. Behind her the caped crusaders rose to roof height and started to swoop towards her. Swerving from side to side the feline thief dodged as Robin swept towards her from one side, she managed to put a chimney between herself and the filly forcing Robin to peel away from the roofs.
Seeing an opening Catmare leapt for a nearby building of near unique design, the building was shaped like a carousel with statues of ponies decorating the second floor. Her hooves almost slipped as she landed but she managed to scramble onto the ledge. She backed behind one of the statues and tried to steady her racing heart. She watched the bright shape of Robin flash by and held her breath for a second. Nothing happened. She’d gotten away!
“Games over Catmare,” came a familiar voice and a shadow detached itself from the statue next to her. “Put down the jewels and come quietly,” said Batstallion.
She gasped in shock and the bag fell from her mouth to edge of the roof. Then she gathered herself, “I think I’d prefer to make some noise!” she hissed extending the claws from her gloves again and took a swing at the dark figure. It dodged back but she felt it snag fabric as it went.
Batstallion lunged forwards towards his attacker knocking her forearms aside. The two of them rolled together across the roof. Catmare ended up face down with the large stallion pinning her to the ground she struggled briefly writhing and arching her back to try and throw her captive off, then led still, “Are you going to tell me that’s just your belt?” she purred.
With a snarl Batstallion lifted her to her hooves and slapped a pair of hoofcuffs on her before retrieving the bag of gems and storing them in his belt. “You’re coming with me”
“Promises, Promises.”
Now she was restrained Batstallion slowly lowered the unresisting mare to the ground and attached her cuffs to the Batchariot parked a short distance from the jeweller’s shop, Robin was standing next to the vehicle.
“Are you alright?” asked robin pointing at the small tear in Batstallion’s costume, a thin line of blood could be seen staining his coat.
“It’s just a scratch,” he grunted.
“Want me to kiss it and make it better?” offered Catmare.
“Don’t play games Catmare,” demanded Robin, “How did you bring us here? Wherever here is.”
“‘fraid I don’t know anything about it, Girl wonder. I was just noticing that myself when I got distracted by the pretties in that shop. How about you let me go and I’ll help you find out where we are?” she gave a sunny smile.
“No deal,” snarled Batstallion.
“Well you can’t blame a girl for trying, can you?”
While her partner continued to interrogate the restrained rogue Robin began to search the area they were in for any clue as to what had brought them here. In an alley between two of the local shops she came across a long vine of a type she didn’t recognise just lying on the ground, “Holy greenery,” she whispered turning it over in her hooves.
Suddenly she was aware of a figure standing next to her, looking up she noticed the figure was wearing a green body stocking covering her natural yellow coat. Her long orange mane and tail were intertwined with vines. “Poison Ivy,” she gasped.
Without saying a word the plant pony took a hoof full of dust from a pouch and blew it into Robins face. She was instantly overcome by hacking coughs and dropped to the ground eyes watering.
Once Robin was incapacitated the green pony dashed over towards the chariot. Noticing her out of the corner of her eye as she was talking to Batstallion, Catmare called out a warning. Spinning around Batstallion tried to throw himself out of the way of the charging mare but it was too late and she grabbed him by the head and drew him into a deep kiss, for a moment he tasted lilacs then his senses overloaded.
Smiling at the dazed stallion Poison Ivy turned to Catmare who had taken the short distraction to free herself from her bondage and was rubbing her sore hooves. “Thanks Ivy. What are you going to do with him now?” she gestured to the stallion who was wobbling on his hooves eyes wide.
“Oh I have a good number of vegetable friends in need of compost back at the farm and a,” she shuddered slightly, “wood chipper with that fools name on it.”
“I can’t let you do that Ivy, I’d like his wood in one piece,” said Catmare striking a fighting pose.
“And after I saved you,” commented Ivy looking relaxed, “I guess there is no honour among thieves. Just as well I prefer plants.” She stepped back and withdrew another handful of dust before throwing it at Catmare. The criminal tried to dodge but some of the cloud hit her in the face causing her to sneeze and cough uncontrollably, she staggered and then collapsed. She attempted to crawl towards her opponent who looked down at her before kicking her away with her hoof.
“Come along slave,” commanded Ivy, “You have a role in the wonderful cycle of life, as plant food.” Entranced Batstallion followed her out of town.
Robin felt herself gently being lifted to her feet, something wet hit her in the face and she found she could see again. Blinking she looked up with bloodshot eyes. Above her stood Catmare holding a water bottle.
“That should get the last of it off,” said the mare.
Robin gave a final cough and spat out the last of the spores Poison Ivy had nailed her with.
“Thanks,” she said politely, the dropped into a defensive posture. “Why are you helping me? You’re one of the bad guys.”
“Woe there red bird, Ivy got me to, I’m certainly not on her side.”
“Where’s Batstallion?” demanded Robin.
“Ivy hit him with her lipstick whammo thing. You know that’s cheating. I don’t need any artificial chemicals to make a stallion my slave. I guess she has to compensate somehow, some mares have it and others don’t” she boasted.
“Where did she take him?”
“She said she was going to chop him up to feed to her plants, I’d guess a farm or something, she went in that direction,” she pointed down the high street.
Robin leapt into the back of the chariot and unhooked something from within, it was a bulky red and yellow scooter with a large R symbol on the front. She mounted it and started to head off in the indicated direction.
“Hey wait up, you can’t take on Ivy by yourself.”
“Why should you care? Batstallion just stopped you getting away with all those jewels, you should be glad that he’s gone.”
Catmare stopped for a moment, why did she care? The truth was that she didn’t want anything to happen to Batstallion, she enjoyed their little games of cat and mouse too much. Oh she might bite and scratch sometimes but that was just being playful, marking her territory almost. But she didn’t want Robin to know that, it would ruin her reputation, “He’s still got those jewels on him, unless I get him back I don’t get them.”
“I knew it! It had to be money!”
“Yep, I only care about cash,” she said with a weak smile, “So for the moment Ivy’s my enemy as much as yours, an alliance of convenience then?” She held out a hoof.
Robin stared at it for a moment then grudgingly shook it, “Agreed but as soon as we’ve dealt with Ivy you’re going straight to jail.”
“Gotta catch me first,” noted the thief hitching herself onto the front of the Batchariot.
The two of them trundled on out of town.
“It’s this one,” said Robin bringing her scooter to a stop.
“How do you know?” asked Catmare, “This whole place seems to be surrounded by farms,” Indeed they had found four so far and only given them the most cursory inspection before moving on.
“I don’t know, a gut feeling. Batstallion and Ivy are here. I’m sure of it.”
Looking at the grounds Catmare could feel it too, if Ivy was going to be anywhere, she would be here. She unhitched herself from the chariot and stretched, she wasn’t used to pulling such a load. “This place isn’t huge but it’s not tiny either, it could take us a while to find them.”
“I’ll take a look from above,” said Robin leaping into the air.
Catmare caught the pegasus by the tail and hauled her back to the ground, “Not so fast girl target. You might spot her, but she’d see you in your yellow and red glory.”
“So how do we find them then?”
“With our eyes, look.”
Robin looked down and made out the impression of two sets of hooves making their way into the grounds of the farm. A short distance away was one of the vines that grew through Ivy’s hair. “Oh.” she said.
“It certainly shows that you were trained by the world’s greatest detective.” snarked Catmare bringing a blush of anger to Robins cheeks.
“Follow me,” snarled Robin stomping on ahead following the trail, Catmare followed more gracefully shuddering slightly as her hooves sunk into the mud.
The duo quickly came to a fenced off area, the gate had a large warning sign on it, ‘Danger Everfree Cuttings. Do not enter’ it read. The fence looked much newer than the rest of the farm.
“Well this has Ivy’s hoof prints all over it. I say we break into there and deal with her now,” said Robin stamping her hooves.
“Slow down, let me have a chance to look round the place and find out where Bats is before we go in half-cocked.”
“Why do you keep getting to tell me what to do?”
“You know what they say, beauty before youth,” said Catmare as she quickly picked the lock and prized the gate open.
“I’ve never heard anyone say that before,” Robin looked puzzled.
“Well they should, it’s a good saying.” With that Catmare slinked into the compound leaving the filly behind.
The area inside the walled off area was quite large and was marked off into various areas. In each area different types of strange plants grew, to one side was a plot of bright blue flowers to another strange vaguely pony shaped tubers sat in pots.
Catmare gave a shudder, this place gave her the creeps. She made her way across the garden avoiding contact with any of the greenery. As she went she could hear a noise that made her heart race, the grinding sound of a wood chipper. She rushed towards the sound and peeked around a low bush. There on the far side of the clearing lay Batstallion strapped securely to a conveyor belt which was slowly pulling him towards a chipper, he was no longer under Ivy’s control and was struggling against his bonds. Over him stood Poison Ivy working the crank for the machine and looking down on her captive.
“You’ll never get away with this Ivy,” roared Batstallion.
“Oh do be quiet caped crusader, you’ll upset my green friends, they’re very sensitive.”
Holding her position Catmare prepared to rush out and tackle the green hooved villainess. So intent was she on her prey that she didn’t notice a vine lash out and wrap itself around one of her hind legs. Suddenly she was tugged into the air and held upside down, “Whaaaaa,” she cried.
Ivy spun round to see the black clad mare being suspended over a large bulb bigger than a pony. “Well done Twoie,” she purred, “You caught a nasty little spy. Momma’s so proud.” She Turned to Catmare, “I let you live once due to professional courtesy but now, well my poor baby’s just so hungry.
The bulb split open into four to reveal a soft pink fleshy sack within and sharp teeth like thorns coating the inside. The tentacle holding Catmare up started to slowly lower the struggling mare into the gaping mouth.
Suddenly there was a flash of red and yellow and Catmare found herself borne through the air by Robin. “You’re too heavy,” gasped the foal as their course started to bend towards the ground.
“Are you calling me fat?” asked her outraged cargo.
In response Robin dropped Catmare to the ground, she landed on her hooves, before turning back towards the pony eating plant. Seemingly enraged by the loss of its meal the creature was waving its tentacles in search of another victim. Slamming into the barrier fence with her hind hooves Robin leapt back at the plant monster and took one of its vines in her mouth biting clean through it, “Sorry, but this meal bites back,” she called.
On the ground Catmare found herself charged by a furious Ivy who leapt on top of her and tried to crush her throat with her hooves. The two mares rolled around on the ground trying to gain the advantage, the crashed into the conveyor belt next to the struggling Batstallion. “I bet you’re just loving this,” muttered Catmare looking up at the Dark Knight, then cried out as Ivy wrapped a hoof in her opponent's mane and pulled.
Suddenly there was a fizz in the air and a stench of ozone as the spell that had been blanketing the town was discharged and the magic effecting the costumes stopped.
“Hey, I can fly. I can fly!” shrieked Scootaloo in delight realising where she was. Unfortunately it was just at that moment that the extra magical boost that was keeping her in the air faded and she began to plummet to the ground. “Why can’t I fly?” she wailed.
“Carrot Top?” asked Cheerilee suddenly finding herself straddled by her friend.
“What’s going on?” asked her likewise confused companion. “What are we doing in my experimental patch?” She looked around, “”Scootaloo!” she yelled in horror as the orange filly fell towards the open mouth of the plant creature.
Pushing the farmer aside Cheerilee scrambled to her hooves and leapt into the air to shove the falling filly aside only to be captured by another tentacle and pulled towards the gaping maw herself. She tried to dig her hooves in but was inexorably pulled towards it.
“Hang on!” yelled Carrot Top grabbing a hose in her mouth and dragging a tank of liquid towards the creature. She put the tank down and began to pump it with one hoof causing a spray of liquid to emerge from the hose towards the plant creature. Instantly its tentacles went limp and its mouth slowly started to close up again.
Cheerilee laid where she had been dropped for a few moments while Scootaloo got shakily to her hooves. “Carrot Top?” she said calmly, “Why do you have a pony eating plant in your garden?”
“I didn’t know that’s what it was,” moaned the yellow mare, “I’m so sorry. After Zecora nailed us with all of those potions I thought about what I could do with all the rare plants in the Everfree so I started to collect some cuttings. I didn’t mean for anypony to get hurt.”
Cheerilee get up and winced slightly, “Well not much harm done. Maybe you should be a bit more careful about what you grow in future.”
“Eh, could somepony untie me,” asked Heavy Roller from where he still lay.
“I don’t know,” said Cheerilee hungrily looking up and down the costumed stallion, “You do look kind of good like that.”