//------------------------------// // What the hay? Part 2 // Story: How I Met Them // by The Infinity Doctor //------------------------------// Applejack blushed as the ponies bowed to her as she walked down the hall with the nurse 'I wonder if Princess Celestia and Princess Luna feel this way all the time' "Your friends are through this door, your highness" "Uh, could y'all please not call me that? Ah'm not really a Princess" "Of course, your hi- Applejack" The nurse left and Applejack walked into the room, the rest of her friends were gathered there, one of which (she assumed Rainbow) was under a blanket on one of the beds "Twi? What happened to you?" Applejack asked "I- I- don't know! All I know is, I woke up like this" Twilight said, gesturing to herself Twilight's horn was gone, but a dragon horn and an antler poked out of her mane instead, her left eye was yellow with a red pupil and her normal tail was replaced with a red-scaled one with a tuft of white fur on the end, a sharp tooth jutted out from her upper lip, and she now had wings, one of a pegasus, the other of a bat. "Whoa, and I thought what happened to me was bad" "On the contrary dear, I think you may have benefitted most from this little debacle" Rarity said from behind the hospital bed "Did anything even happen to you?" Rarity walked out from behind the bed, or rather, slithered "Good gravy! Y'all got a snake tail!" Rarity's top half was normal, but transitioned into a long snake tail, leaving her with only two forehooves "Thank you ever so much for pointing that out" "Sorry, but other than that- you look okay" "Ooh! Ooh! Me next! Me next!" Pinkie chirped Pinkie wasn't her normal pink-color, her entire form was colored black-and-white, wearing a pair of overalls with two white buttons on the front "What in the world?" "I know right? This is like the time I painted myself blue! Except it's black and white and it won't come off! And then there was this other time that-" Applejack tried to block out Pinkie's rambling and looked around the room for Fluttershy "Hey, where's Fluttershy?" "Oh, um, I'm here..." Applejack looked up (a little) and saw what looked like Fluttershy mixed with a spider, four hooves, plus two extra arms on her front, eight eyes, and two pincers in the corners of her muzzle "Fluttershy? Are you alright sugarcube?" "Oh, I'm fine...I was just standing here..." "Uh, right...that reminds me- where's Rainbow Dash?" The blanket on the bed moved "She's under the blanket" Twilight said, rolling her eyes "Rainbow, y'all come out of there" "No" came the muffled response "I look weird" "We all do darling, now come out of there" "No" Applejack took the blanket in her teeth and tugged, pulling the sheet off of the bed entirely The creature on the bed was black, with holes in its hooves, horn, and mane of rainbow colors. "Dash? Is that you?" "Yeah..." "What in the world are you?" "I don't know-" "Any suggestions Twilight?" "No...this is all very strange..." "Y'all can say that again" "No...this is all very strange..." Pinkie echoed "Well, what should we do now?" "I think we should go and ask Jonas about this, but he doesn't seem the type of pony to do something like this without asking first" "Well we sure can't go to his house" Pinkie said, looking out the window "Why not?" "Because it's gone" she said, pointing out the window X X X X X X X After checking out of the hospital, the six mares arrived at Jonas's house, or what was left of it "This doesn't make sense- where did his house go?" "I don't know...maybe we should ask Princess Celestia about this" "That would be the best course of action- come to think of it, I haven't seen Jonas since we woke up in the hospital- or anywhere for that matter" "Maybe we could try asking Amy first" Pinkie suggested, seeing the diamond dog walking down the street "Hey there Amy, have you seen Jonas around?" "Oh Applejack...it's terrible..." "What is? What happened Amy?" Amy started sobbing and hugged Applejack She awkwardly draped one of her new wings around her "It's alright sugarcube, just let it all out" Amy had calmed down a little and let go of Applejack "Now can y'all tell us just what the hay is going on around here?" "We- we- were in the TARDIS, and- and-" "Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's a TARDIS?" Rainbow asked "*Gasp!* The daleks aren't invading are they? ARE THEY?!" Pinkie cried Amy ignored them and continued "...th- then there was- was- an explosion- and the Doctor- the Doctor let us out, and- and when we did..." Amy broke down sobbing again "It's alright Amy, maybe if I ask Princess Celestia about this, we can clear things up" Twilight went off to the library to find Spike, leaving the five mares and Amy X After Twilight had contacted Princess Celestia, they took the earliest train possible to Canterlot to talk to Luna and her about their current predicament "To be honest my student, I'm not quite sure what to make of this...Jonas's magic was foreign to me enough as it is- truth be told I'm not sure there is a way to reverse it" Celestia said "You mean we're gonna be stuck like this Princess?" Applejack asked "For the time being, yes, though I can't help but wonder what happened to Jonas..." "Uh, your highness- we saw all of that Dip come outta Jonas's house before it went and disappeared, ya got any idea what that could mean?" "Unfortunately I do, please follow me everypony" The six mares plus Spike followed Celestia to the dungeons, where they found all of the doors wide open "Aren't these door supposed to be closed?" "They are- but I made an exception because of recent events..." "Like what?" "Do you remember what Jonas had told you about that substance? How it was harmful if used incorrectly?" "Yes..." They responded "The guards are still investigating, but we have reason to believe that the world and its inhabitants suffered a great deal of damage" "Is that why-" "I'm afraid so, yes" Creatures of all shapes and sizes ran in and out of the cells, or disappearing in one place and reappearing in another "Where did they all come from?" "Th-the D-Dip Refinery imploded- all of them made it out" Amy said, indicating the hall "We don't know if there are others trapped or not" The gravity of the situation sank in as they watched the different figures go about their business "How could they do something so awful..." Fluttershy said, seeing some of the creatures sobbing "They probably didn't know what it'd do, sugarcube" "Hey, isn't that Feedback?" Rainbow asked "Looks like it is, maybe he'll know something about this" The draconequus flew up to them, giving a half-hearted wave "Hey girls..." "Feedback, what happened?" "I'm not sure myself, but I found this in my room a few days ago" he said, handing them a scroll "You can have it" "You're just giving this to us? Not asking anything in return?" 'This really is a serious problem if Feedback's lost his sense of sarcasm' Twilight thought "You weren't there- you didn't see..." "See? See what?" "I can't tell you...I don't think I want to talk about it anyway" "Well- thank you- why don't you go and find Luna?" Celestia suggested "Maybe that would brighten your mood" "I doubt it..." He said The depressed draconequus phased through the ceiling, ending the conversation 'I hope he feels better soon' Celestia thought, suprising herself When she'd first met the chimera, it took Jonas a few hours to convince her to not call the Elements, now she was concerned for his well-being She silently thanked Jonas for his intervention; as the draconequus was able to provide comic relief when she had been paticularly stressed during several points in the week Celestia, the elements, and Spike continued to walk down the hall, until they reached a paticular cell "Why's he cryin' at that statue?" Applejack whispered "It's not a statue" he said He turned and came out of the cell, a black and white rabbit a little taller than a normal pony wearing a pair of blue shorts. "When the Thinner Disaster happened, all the life was sucked out of Ortensia, until we can get things up and running again...she's stuck like this" The rabbit turned back to his cell and walked inside "So sad..." Rarity said, wiping a tear from her eye "His children seem to not notice her abscence, I'm partially thankful for that" Celestia said, looking down at the hopping Bunny Children "Oh my goodnes- they're so adorable!" Fluttershy said, watching the blue fuzzballs dance around her "Might want to keep an eye on them miss, they'll swallow spatters whole if you don't watch them" an orange-skinned creature in a purple jumpsuit and helmet said "Name's Habel, nice to meet you" "Oh- hello-" *Crash!* "Oh for heaven's sake, pardon me" He said, saluting and disappearing "Perhaps we should head up to the deliberation room, maybe then we can discover why Jonas left us this scroll" Celestia said Amy and the six mares nodded and followed Celestia to one of the many deliberation rooms in the castle Twilight laid the scroll flat on the table, so everypony could get a look at it "What's it say?" She cleared her throat and read the letter "To whom it may concern, I knew this had to happen at one point, I just didn't realize it would be this soon- if you absolutely positively insist on coming after me, find and ask Bass Flight or Feedback to get you there, the rest is up to you" "What the hay does that mean?" "Where exactly is 'there'?" "Wait, it says more-" "-Princess Celestia, if you're reading this, that means the Doctor was able to get you and Amy out in time; Toxic is safe with me" "No wonder we haven't seen him around" "I was wondering where he ran off to" "To protect yourselves, repeat this chant- owa" "Owa" Twilight repeated "-tagoo-" "tagoo" "-siam" "siam" "Now put it together and say it faster" "Owatagoosiam, Owatagoosiam, Owatagoosiam" Twilight chanted Pinkie and Rainbow burst into laughter "What are you two laughing at?" Twilight asked "Do you even realize what you're saying?" "Yes, it's a chan-" Twilight stopped and thought "Darn it, he got me again" "-once Rainbow and Pinkie have stopped laughing, please let Amy read the next part of the letter" Twilight levitated the letter to Amy and she took it, after a few moments of reading, tears welled in her eyes and handed it back to Twilight. "What? What does it say?" "Would it be alright if we read it dear?" Rarity asked Amy silently nodded "-Amy, I know we've known each other for a little while, and you've become one of my closest friends; the few weeks I've known you, I feel we've been drawn together by...something- I can't explain it in this letter, but what I think I'm trying to say is-" The six mares gasped at the next part of the letter "-I like you Amy, alot, more than words can describe" "Well, uh, I'm happy for y'all, but don't ya think we should get to findin' Jonas? Let's go find this Bass Flight feller, he's gotta be down there somewhere" "You're right Applejack, maybe he'll know where he is" X "Baaaaasssss Fllliiigggghhhht!" Pinkie called "I hope we find him, we've got to find him to find Jonas- what if it was the other way around and Bass Flight was missing and we had to find Jonas to find him, or what if there was-" "I heard you were looking for me- what's up?" a young colt asked, trotting up "Are you Bass Flight?" "I am, what do you need?" "Jonas told us you might be able to get us somewhere" "Oh, yeah...sorry, can't help you" "What why not?" "I've just got my reasons" "...shoot, maybe we'd go back up and ask Princess Celestia if she can't find us another way to get there" Applejack said "C-C-Celestia? D-don't go to h-her, I'll t-t-take you there- right n-now if you w-want!" "Wow, look at your wings!" Pinkie said "These? They've always been this way" He said, fanning his wings "Looks like they're made outta fire" "Sort-of, let's go, we need to get you there soon" "Where exactly is 'there'?" Rarity asked He didn't answer her as his wings burned brighter and blinded the six mares "What in the world-" The light continued to grow brighter and nopony could see anything X X X X X X X "Well, here we are" Bass Flight said The six uncovered their eyes and saw they were standing in a city street "Whoa...look at all of this..." Rainbow said Twisted and broken buildings lined the street, cracked pavement and the glass of a few shop windows were busted "I know...the Thinner Disaster did all of this..." Bass said sadly "You should have seen it before, this used to be one of the most populated areas" "What exactly is this place?" "Mean Street, or it was..." "Goodness, is that a haberdasher?" Rarity asked "Yeah, but-" Rarity slithered towards the shop, her five friends trailing "Rarity! Wait!" "Just a second" she called, going into the building The inside of the shop was dimly lit, a black and white dog standing behind the desk "Welcome to the Mad Hatter's!" he said "We all go a little mad sometimes, so why not buy a hat when it happens?" "Er, yes-" "Rarity! You just can't run off like that, we're here to find Jonas, remember?" "Hello there, can I interest you in a nice lamp post? They make wonderful doorstops" "Uh, no thank you...we were just leaving" Twilight said, leading the group out of the shop "I'm terribly sorry girls, I just don't know what came over me" "It's alright sugarcube, your curiosity got the better of ya, now Bass- where'd ya say Jonas was?" Applejack asked, turning to Bass Flight "Last I heard he was on Mickeyjunk Mountain, but I think I heard Warner say he was in one of the castles" "How many are there?" Rainbow asked "Eh, I don't know, five or six" "This might take a while..."