//------------------------------//
// Zomponies Gotta Go! 
// Story: An Earthbound Journey 
// by ShadeJak 
//------------------------------//

	“What in Tartarus?!” Twilight asked, eyes wide with horror as the tent suddenly began to approach.

“I’ll handle this!” Rainbow shouted, flying at the tent with her hooves out and slammed into it as hard as she can, only to bounce harmlessly off the purple fabric that made up its apparent body. Growling, the pegasus took to the air and flew circles around it, but the thing just started laughing.

“BOOGEY-BOOGEY-BOOGEY-BOOGEY!” it shouted, and a flash of light shimmered from its eyes, disorienting the pegasus and causing her to crash and tumble across the ground and into her friends.

“Did it seriously just say ‘Boogey-boogey-boogey-boogey’ or am I just imagining things…?” Rainbow asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Yes… I believe it did, Rainbow,” Twilight said, charging up her horn and firing several bursts of magic at the tent and burning a few holes in it, but it barely seemed to notice and began laughing again.

“BOOGEY-BOOGEY-BOOGEY-BOOGEY!” it yelled with a wide grin.

“CLOSE YOUR EYES!” Rainbow yelled, and they did, barely avoiding getting blasted with another flash of light, however, when they opened their eyes they found the tent now directly in front of them, grinning down at them hungrily.

“Oh dear… what now?” Rarity asked as the tent’s eyes glowed green with purple smoke trailing from the corners, making its toothy smile all the more unnerving.

“Sorry, Rarity…I’m terrified beyond the capacity for rational thought,” Twilight said, shaking. “Rainbow?”

“Dude, an evil tent this is a whole new level of freaky!” the pegasus protested.

"BOOGEY-BOOGEY-BOOGEY-BOOGEY!" the tent chanted again.

“Look out below!” a voice shouted above, and a familiar yellow pegasus with an orange mane circled above the tent.

“Spitfire!” Rainbow shouted excitedly as the other pegasus dropped a bucket of something on the tent, that snarled and glared at her as she landed next to the three mares.

“Do forgive my criticism but I think soaking the tent just made it even more cross!” Rarity said as the tent growled, shuffling closer to them.

“Just give it a sec,” Spitfire said. “NOW!”

Immediately there was rustling in the bushes, and what appeared to be a several bottle rockets shot out at the tent, blasting it and exploding on impact. Immediately, the tent was engulfed in flames.

“Lighter fluid,” Spitfire said with a grin.

"When a tent starts a fight, BURN IT ON SIGHT!" Iron Will shouted as he rose up from the bushes with the empty launching rods and flexed.

“YEEEAAAAHHHH!!!!” the muscular white pegasus cheered as he rose up behind him, striking a pose.

The purple tent let out a ferocious, agonized roar as the flames covered it completely, and soon there was only ash. Twilight sighed in relief, Rainbow grinned in satisfaction, and Rarity passed out.

“Ohhh-kay. Guess we should head back to our tent, huh?” Spitfire asked, looking down at the unconscious unicorn.

“Probably a good idea,” Twilight said. “Rainbow what are you doing?!” she noticed her friend messing with a trash can that had been where the tent was.

“Pee-yew!” Rainbow said, pulling out a jar with some kind of liquid in it. “Want this, Twi?”

“Rainbow, what makes you think I’d want to carry something that’s been in the garbage?” Twilight asked in disgust.

“Muck-Ooze-Fungus Special Sauce?” Rainbow asked as she read the label. “Somepony’s got problems.”

“I guess it won’t hurt to hold on to, maybe it’s a clue I can analyze later,” Twilight said, wrinkling her muzzle as she got a sniff of its odor.

~

“So what were you three doing down there?” Spitfire asked.

“We got kinda sidetracked with all the zomponies, actually,” Twilight explained. “But what was that thing back there?”

“Not really sure. One of my guys saw zomponies just got ahold of one of the town’s tents and covered it with some kind of purple gunk, and next thing you know, boom! It’s alive,” Spitfire explained. “Guess it was lucky me and the others got there when we did!”

“I wonder if this stuff has anything to do with it?” Twilight asked, examining the jar again. “Do you have any samples of the stuff those zomponies used?”

“No, afraid not… we tend to want to get away from those things after we blow ‘em up, they do kinda smell,” Spitfire said with a sheepish laugh.

“If there was a way to capture one, that wouldn’t be an issue,” Rainbow said.

As if on cue, there was a puff of smoke in her saddlebag and Rainbow found a scroll inside that hadn’t been there before and opened it.



Hey, Rainbow Dash!
How’re you doing? I bet you’re being totally awesome beating up those zomponies!

Guess what? Me and the others are gonna help! We invented this totally cool way to deal with zomponies that’s sure to give us a cutie mark for it! Derpy’s gonna bring it to you soon.

Signed,
The Cutie Mark Crusader Zompony Fighters!



“Well, whaddya know,” Rainbow said.

“Um, Rainbow, you realize this is Scootaloo and her friends we’re talking about, right?” Twilight asked.

“Hey, they invented a thing that gets rid of magical pencil statues. I’ll give them a free pass,” the pegasus said, just in time to get tackled by a familiar gray pegasus with a blonde mane and tail that had come crashing through the roof of the tent.

“My bad!” Derpy said with a sheepish smile as she got up. “I was ‘sposed to give ya this!” she explained, holding out a box with her hooves. “It’s a bit heavy so please take it?”

Twilight floated the box out of the pegasus’ hooves with her magic and opened it. Inside was a folded up paper of some sort that glowed with some kind of glittering magic. Along with it was a note.



Just lay this down and the zomponies’ll be beaten!

~CMC, Zompony Fighters



“Uhh…” Twilight unfolded the paper and before she could react it magically expanded to blanket the whole floor of the tent. “What the hay?!”

“Some kinda giant flypaper?” Spitfire wondered, noticing that a logo on the corner said ‘CMC Zompony Paper’ “Well, I guess this is all we got. We’ll get some bait set and lure them in, then we’ll see if those fillies really came up with something.”

“You’re gonna go through with it?” Twilight asked.

“At this point I’m desparate enough to try anything,” Spitfire said. “You go take your napping friend there and get some rest. I’ll send you a message if this works.”

“If you say so,” Twilight replied, looking back at Rainbow Dash as she picked up Rarity and they headed for the hotel. “If this does, I can get a sample of that purple goop and see if it’s connected to that stuff Rainbow found in the jar.”

~

“Thank Celestia this place isn’t full of zomponies anymore!” Rainbow said as they passed through the halls being greeted by staff. Apparently with the creepy tent gone it had done a small blow to the zomponies enough for the ponies in town to get some business open.

“Ugggh…” Rarity slowly regained consciousness on the bed Rainbow had placed her on. “What happened? Crazy dream about a killer tent that was set on fire… where are we?”

“The Hollow Shades hotel,” Twilight replied.

“What?! This place was full of zomponies and the like earlier!” Rarity protested. “And Fleur! Oh goodness where could she be?”

“Beats me,” Rainbow said with a shrug. “I looked around and the place didn’t have zomponies anymore. Apparently Spitfire and her bunch cleared them out earlier.

“Oh my, I do hope the poor dear’s alright,” Rarity said.

“We’ll be able to look for her later, once the zomponies are dealt with,” Twilight replied. “In the meantime hopefully we’ll get a good idea of where these undead are coming from, and how to stop them.”

“They were guarding a passage earlier,” Rarity said. “A lot more of them then the three of us can handle.”

“Well, if this trap works, they won’t be a problem anymore. Any of ‘em left I’m sure we can trash ‘em!” Rainbow said, swinging her hoof to emphasize her point.

~

“Celestia’s mane, it actually worked?!” Twilight asked, staring agape at all the zomponies that were now magically stuck to the tent floor an hour later, all but covering it completely.

“Looks like!” Rainbow said as she flew in and looked down at the undead equines.

“If you’ll need me I think I’ll stay outside. That smell is positively ghastly!” Rarity said as she turned and sat down outside the tent.

“Well, at least now I can analyze that goop they have!” Twilight said with a smile, walking over to the nearest zompony and lowering a spoon into its mouth. After a few seconds, she brought it out and looked it over; it was now covered in purple ooze. With a nod, she floated a cup out from her saddlebag and shook the spoon off in it, giving the goo a quick stir. Floating out the jar they’d found earlier Twilight focused her magic on both of them.

“Well? Anything?” Rainbow asked impatiently as she hovered in the air.

“Hmmm…” Twilight focused more, and both glowed for a second. “They do have similar ingredients, though the one I took from the zompony has magical residue in it! I’d say this ooze is being used to abuse life and death!” she said with a giggle, earning a glare from Rainbow Dash and Rarity. “Sorry.”

“Well that’s all fine and dandy, but does that mean we have any way of stopping it?” Rarity asked.

“Nothing… can… stop… the master!” one zompony moaned.

“Oh shut up,” Rainbow said, smacking the zompony with her hoof for good measure.

“You girls done in here?” Spitfire asked from outside. “We’re about to set the tent ablaze and get rid of ‘em for good.”

“Oh, thank Celestia! A lady like myself can not abide those foul things any longer!” Rarity said with a smirk as Twilight and Rainbow came back outside.

“And with that pathway cleared, we can continue on and find answers to how this stuff is being made!” Twilight said. “I should be able to come up with some kind of ‘counter-ooze’ for want of better words with the untainted sample in the jar too if I use my own magic.”

Focusing on the jar from the living tent, Twilight closed her eyes and concentrated, a few moments passed as the other ponies watched, and suddenly the purple substance glowed pink. “Alright, let’s try this out,” she said, floating it over a trapped zompony, who stared at it blankly as she poured a few drops on it.

The reaction was instantaneous. The zompony immediately swelled up like a balloon, then burst in a puff of pink smoke like the Pinkie clones Twilight remembered dealing with when the mirror pool had been found. “Well, I think we have a success. We expose the source of this slime to it, and that should fix our zompony problem for good!”

“Let’s do this then!” Rainbow said, raising her hoof in the air proudly. “We’ll show whoever’s making all these zomponies what-for!”

“Well, if you’re gonna do that, then at least take this with you,” Spitfire said, opening a saddlebag and pulling out three bottle rockets. “May give an edge against whatever’s behind this.”

“Thanks, ma’am!” Rainbow said with a salute, and the three friends headed back towards the cemetery.

~

“Nice, the coast is clear!” Rainbow said with a grin as she flew into the open and now unguarded mausoleum.

“Ugh, into the dark, dank underground again? Give me a moment to take in the fresh… undead filth-ridden air… nevermind, let’s make haste shall we?” Rarity said, briskly trotting in after the pegasus, followed by Twilight, who lit up her horn once they got inside.

“We seem to be heading north,” Twilight explained as she looked over her map. After a few minutes of descending several stairs that took them deeper and deeper into the tomb, the three ponies finally came face to face with a closed door. Cocking her head, Rarity charged up her horn to open it, but found it to be locked.

“Not enough space for me to get enough momentum either,” Rainbow said, crossing her forelegs and huffing angrily as she hovered in the air.

“Hang on! I have just the thing!” Twilight said, using her magic to open her saddlebag and floating out the device Minuette had given her.

“What’s that, a sonic probe?” Rainbow asked, staring at the pen-shaped object.

“That’s screwdriver, Rainbow!” Twilight said with an eyeroll. Floating it over to the lock, Twilight focused on the small button on the side of the device and the tip suddenly glowed blue. A second later, a click was heard and the door slid open.

“Well, that certainly came in handy,” Rarity said with a smile. “Now, why don’t we—”

Five zomponies on the other side of the door grinned at them and began to charge at them.

“…Hopefully restore that lock right away!” Rarity promptly used her magic to slam the door shut, and a thump was heard as the zomponies crashed into it. “Oh…” The white unicorn re-opened the door and found the zomponies sprawled on the floor. “Well, aren’t you five just an eyesore!” she said, turning and bucking each one in the face before they could stand, knocking their heads off. “Much better. Let’s move on, shall we? I’d very much like to see where this tunnel leaves and be out of it as soon as possible,” she said with a smirk while Twilight and Rainbow Dash exchanged a surprised glance.

Ten minutes and three more encounters with the undead later, the three friends discovered another set of stairs, these leading up.

“Please tell me this leads to outside!” Rainbow said anxiously as she flew upward seeking out the top.

“Indeed, it’d be nice to find some air that doesn’t smell like rotted flesh,” Rarity said.

“I admit, I agree with you both,” Twilight said. “And the sooner we find the source of this zompony plague, the better!” she added.

"Another locked door,” Rainbow answered, looking back as she tapped her hoof impatiently. “Hey, I think I hear water on the other side,” she said, pressing her ear against the metal door.

Twilight floated out the sonic screwdriver again and positioned it in front of the lock. “Well then, let’s see where this leads to, alright?” With a flash of blue light from the device, the door creaked open, and the three were greeted by fresh, open wilderness as they emerged from what appeared to have been a cave entrance that had been sealed off by the door. Looking ahead, they noticed a large waterfall before them.

“Judging by the map, I’d say we’re at Neighagara Falls now,” Twilight explained as she floated out her map again and looked it over.

“Then whatever’s causing the problems in the Hollow Shades is coming from here,” Rainbow answered, staring at the waterfall but finding nothing out of the ordinary. “Well, what’re we waiting for? Let’s kick some—” Her words were promptly cut off by an all-too-familiar fanfare. “Ohhh no, no, no not again!” Rainbow groaned, face-hoofing and shaking her head.

“Is that…?” Twilight muttered as she stared up at the sky, noticing a long, thin figure come spinning down. As it got closer, she quickly recognized who it was.

“Honesty, don’t you have anything better to do?” Rarity asked when Discord, donning a pocketed, floral-print shirt landed before them.

“Oh mind your manners, Rarity!” Discord said with a wave of his paw as the camera materialized around his neck. “Honestly, I can’t believe I’m telling you of all ponies.”

“Uhh, what’s going on?” Twilight asked, looking at her two friends who seemed to have a much better idea then she did of what was happening.

“Ugh, he’s been pulling this since I got started on this crazy adventure!” Rainbow protested. “Just showing up at random to get pictures of us.”

“Seriously?” Twilight asked, glaring at the draconequus, who had just mounted the camera on a tripod that had just appeared from out of nowhere. “Don’t you think you could be a little more productive with your powers at a time like this, Discord?” she asked.

“Of course, Twilight! But where’s the fun in that?” the chaos god asked with a laugh. “Now, group together in front of the falls and say ‘fuzzy pickles’!”

“Fuzzy pickles?!” Twilight asked, the camera snapping the photo in mid-sentence and immortalizing her expression as well as the exasperated looks of the two ponies on either side of her.

Discord pulled out the photo the instant it slid out of the camera and grinned. “Oh! Caught you right as you were talking! Your mouth looks so ridiculous right there! I’ll have to show this one to the Princess before I put it in the scrapbook!” he said with a laugh and sliding it into his shirt pocket. “Well, I should probably be going now! Best of luck my little ponies!” Discord said with a salute as the camera vanished and he spun back up into the sky before he, too, disappeared in a flash of light.

After a moment of awkward silence between the three friends, Twilight finally spoke up. “Well, let’s take a look around, maybe there’s a clue here.”

“Like that?” Rarity asked, pointing her hoof at the waterfall as a zompony emerged from it and began to approach.

“I got it!” Rainbow shouted, flying straight at it and swinging her hoof at it, knocking its head off and sending it rolling into the bushes. Purple ooze spurted from the neck stump before the headless body fell to the ground.

“Ughh… so they’re coming out from behind the waterfall?” Rarity asked, looking back at where the creature had emerged from.

“Would seem so,” Twilight said, closing her eyes and her horn began to glow. Slowly, the waterfall parted, revealing a small cave with a door behind it.

“Better knock I guess,” Rainbow said, flying in and attempting to open the door, but to no avail. “It’s locked.”

“Password,” A voice said on the other side as a slot on top of the door slid open, and Rainbow saw a pair of opaque blue eyes peering through at her.

“Password?!” Rainbow asked. As soon as the words left her mouth the slid slammed shut and she faintly heard hoofsteps leaving. “HEY! Open up!” she yelled, pounding on the door but to no avail. “Twi! Get that thingy out and open it!”

“Right, right, sure!” Twilight replied, floating the sonic screwdriver out and focusing it on the door. “Did it work?” She asked. Rainbow tested the handle.

“Nope.”

“Hm, let me try again,” Twilight focused harder, but this time the door and the screwdriver glowed a sickly green and Twilight felt herself get knocked over by a magical feedback. “Okay… new plan!”

“What pray tell would that be?” Rarity asked.

“I have no idea!” Twilight said as cheerfully as she could manage under the otherwise dire circumstances. “Guess we just have to find another way.”

“Eek-eek! Ponies! Hey!” a voice called from behind a bush.

“What?! Who said that?!” Rainbow asked, looking around. “Come on out and show yourself!”

At that moment, a small monkey emerged. It was rather disheveled in appearance, with no less then five harnesses with various tools on them strapped to his body, and a pair of goggles on his head.

“A gizmonk? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, staring down at the creature. She’d heard about these things; they were obsessed with inventing, tinkering, shiny things, and little else. She’d heard some lived in Equestria but mostly in cities where they were employed for maintenance and freelance inventing. What one would be doing way out here in the middle of nowhere was anypony’s guess as far as Twilight knew.

“They kidnapped the other gizmonks and make them work in their factory behind the waterfall! The gizmonk village is deserted now!” the gizmonk insisted between a few ooks and eeks.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Wait, a factory back there?” she asked, looking over at the now closed waterfall.

“A gizmonk village is around here?” Rainbow asked, having never heard of such a thing outside the more industrialized griffon territory.

“Yes! Yes! In the mines that way!” the gizmonk pointed to a small passage behind the bush he’d hidden in. “I escaped the factory and saw you.”

“Well don’t worry, we’ll save your friends,” Twilight said with a smile. “So how can we get in?” she asked.

“Oh? Easy! Stand there do nothing for three minutes when you’re asked the password,” the gizmonk said as though it were an obvious answer. “Zomponies do it all the time!”

“Seriously?!” Rainbow asked in disbelief. “That’d drive me nuts!”

“Meant to! The password is test of patience!” the gizmonk said with a sheepish laugh.

“So who may I ask is behind this?” Rarity asked.

“Some really pretty white unicorn… wow bet she’s like a model or something…” the gizmonk muttered, droning off, then remembering what he was talking about. “Well anyway, she was with these creepy bug-ponies! My guess is she’s controlling this big nasty purple slime inside that makes more zomponies!”

“Hmmm, interesting,” Twilight said, rubbing her chin with her hoof. “Well, you head back to your village. I promise we’ll break the others out!”

“Please do! Come by when you’re done!” the gizmonk said excitedly and scurried into the cave behind the bushes. When he was gone, Twilight nodded to her friends and approached the waterfall again.

~

“About bucking time!” Rainbow muttered as the door finally opened and she brushed away the various tic-tac-toe games she and Rarity had played on the dirt ground for the last three minutes.

“Alright, girls! Let’s put an end to this!” Twilight said with a smile and the three ponies headed inside…