Chapter 12: Dash & Lexy
Rainbow Dash was descending towards the Golden Oaks Library. After having received a harsh scolding by Twilight over the whole 'Alex' fiasco some while ago, she had been rather hesitant to visit her.
Thinking that Twilight was probably in a forgiving mood now, she decided to at last pay her a visit to apologize and make up.
*****
Inside the library, the bottle containing Alex was still wobbling and hopping around the desk. Loud but muffled noises emitted from the inside as if something violent was happening.
Poor Alex was really in trouble now. After all his efforts that had resulted in lying, kidnapping, petrification and nearly being scared to death, he was once again trapped by Twilight. Worse still, he failed to acquire the antidote.
Ever since his journey back from the forest, Alex had tried and tried in vain to escape his new confinement. But no matter how much he tried, he still couldn't quite...
POP!
“ACHOO!!!”
The cork suddenly flew into the air and a large puff of green smoke erupted as Alex let out the biggest sneeze he ever had. The smoke took the form of various creatures before quickly dispersing into nothing. Exhausted for having been sneezing his head off, Alex slowly pulled himself out of the bottle. Once out, Alex shook off the remains of the illusion powder that covered his clothes.
“Achoo!” He cleaned the powder off his nose and groaned. “Pant! Out of all the bottles, she had to trap me in THAT ONE... Pant!”
Still, Alex couldn't complain too much. He was free again. The only hiccup now was that he was back in Twilight's library. Looking around, Alex quickly found that he was alone and could only assume that Twilight and Spike had gone to fetch the antidote at Zecora’s .
Alex sighed. Still small and pretty much out of luck, his only chance to ever get back to normal size would be to wait for Twilight to return and somehow get the antidote away from her without being captured again. Alex wondered how he was ever going to pull that one off.
He did contemplate on just leaving the library and take his chances outside. But as soon as he saw through the windows the ponies walking about, that idea quickly plummeted. One wrong step and he'd quickly find himself beneath the hoof of some ignorant pony. Or worse, one of them could accidently sit on him. His biggest concern was that he would be spotted by the other ponies that were outside somewhere looking for him.
Seeing no other choice in it, he sat down and decided there was nothing else to do but wait until...
DING! DING!
Alex jumped and his ears perked at the sound of a bell ringing as the front door was opened. He quickly hid behind the bottle and watched silently with suppressed horror as a familiar cyan pegasus flew in.
'RAINBOW DASH!?!'
"Twilight? Twilight, are you in here?" Rainbow Dash looked around, waiting for any response from Twilight. "Spike? You in here little guy?" Hearing nothing but silence, Rainbow shrugged. "Guess she must be out still looking for that 'Lexy' guy. Oh well, maybe I'll come by later..."
Alex watched as she turned to leave the library. He wiped his forehead and drew a sigh of relief. That was too close…
“Or...” Rainbow suddenly stopped and turned around with a wry smile. “...While I'm here, I might just check out the latest addition of Daring Do.” Alex quietly facepalmed as he cursed his lousy luck. Rainbow closed the door and flew over to the nearest bookcase. "Now let's see. Where was it now..?"
Still hiding behind the bottle, Alex knew he had to get out before Rainbow Dash saw him. Whatever happened outside, it was nothing compared to what she would do to him once she found him. Fortunately for him, she seemed to be preoccupied with searching for that 'Dare-something' book to even realize that he was in the library with her. With any luck he could climb down the desk and make it out the window that was close to the front door. As he was about to make his move, the desk suddenly shook with tremendous force as Rainbow slammed the book down on it.
SLAM!
“Here it is!” Rainbow beamed. “Daring Do and the Impossible Gremlin!” Pulling a chair over, Rainbow made herself comfortable as she dove into reading the book. “Twilight won't mind if I read while I wait for her. This is going to be so awesome!”
Watching Rainbow reading from behind the bottle, Alex knew he had to make his move now. He had to get off the desk somehow without her noticing. He cast a quick glance and saw that Rainbow was deeply focused on the book, probably too deep to notice what was happening around her. Taking a chance, Alex grabbed on to the bottle and slowly moved sideways across towards the edge while keeping himself out of sight, making short stops to be certain Rainbow hadn't noticed him.
While she was reading, Rainbow's ears suddenly twitched and she found herself looking at the bottle for some reason. Seeing nothing special about it, she continued her reading. She then heard the noise again and looked at the bottle. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but for some reason the bottle seemed to have moved away from her. After eyeing it suspiciously for a few seconds, she drew her attention back to the book. As soon as she heard the noise again, she shot a glance and finally saw the bottle move.
“What the..?” Rainbow lifted the bottle and went wide-eyed. “HUH?!? LEXY?! How..? Wha..?”
Alex panicked and tried to make a dash towards the edge. With quick reflexes, Rainbow dropped the bottle and intercepted him by placing her left hoof in his path. With that way blocked, Alex quickly turned to jump off the other side of the desk. He was only halfway across until Rainbow blocked that path with her other hoof. With both escape routes blocked, Alex found himself trapped as Rainbow closed her forelegs around him.
“HA! What will you do now, shrimp?” Rainbow smirked.
As Rainbow leaned in closer, Alex suddenly glanced at the book in front of him. Without any other options, Alex suddenly grabbed the edges of the book and closed it right over Rainbow Dash's muzzle.
BANG!
This painful action caused her to rear back in pain. Rubbing her muzzle, she glared at him. “Oh you'll pay for th-!” She spotted Alex as he quickly crawled into the bottle. Rainbow tried to reach his legs with her teeth, but he had already slipped inside. “HEY! Get outta there!”
She picked up the bottle, hovered above the floor and looked inside it. She then began shaking it, hoping to force Alex out. Thinking he had enough, she peered into the bottle with a wryly grin.
“ACHOO!”
POFF!
Green illusion powder erupted into her eyes. “Gah! My eyes! You little..!” Rubbing her eyes, she inadvertently dropped the bottle, causing it to shatter on the floor.
SMASH!
Alex, miraculously unharmed by that, rose from the powder and was met with another surprise. The green smoke on the floor had suddenly manifested itself into several dozen green copies of himself. Before he could question what was going on, Rainbow had recovered her sight back and snarled as she glared at them.
“RUN AWAY!” yelled Alex.
“RUN AWAY!” yelled the clones and they all scattered in every direction.
“Huh?!” Rainbow was confused. How did so many Alex's suddenly appear on the floor? While curious, she was more intent on catching them. She quickly zoomed in on one of them, dove forward and nabbed him as he tried to take cover behind a stool. “Gotcha!”
POFF!
The Alex clone exploded in her face. Startled, she quickly shook off the green dust on her face and made grab for another Alex as he suddenly ran past her legs. “Aha! Got-”
POFF!
“-you…”
Rainbow frowned and tapped her hoof on floor with annoyance as the Alex she caught was another clone that also exploded in her face. She quickly discovered that all but the true Alex was all green. Realizing that, she decided to minimize that problem in the best way she knew how.
STOMP! POFF!
“TAKE THAT!” She stomped across the floor, nailing one Alex clone after another with suppressed joy.
STOMP! POFF! STOMP! POFF!
“AND THAT! AND THAT!”
STOMP! POFF! STOMP! POFF! STOMP! POFF! STOMP! POFF!
After many ‘stomps’ and ‘poff’s’ later, all the Alex clones were gone. Rainbow panted and looked around. She quickly spotted the real Alex as he made an attempt to open a window.
*****
Outside beneath the window, Pinkie Pie whistled nonchalant as she wryly eyed the window Alex was trying to open.
Once Rainbow entered the library, Pinkie had remained outside hoping she would probably leave. Peering through one of the windows, she was watching the comedic scenes and had been trying hard not to laugh her head off. While Rainbow was busy with the remaining clones, Pinkie had eyed the real Alex as he made his way to the nearest window to escape. She quickly and unnoticed positioned herself beneath it, licked her lips and made herself ready to grab him.
She kept feeling a twitch, but ignored it as she was too close to her prize. As soon as the window began to open, she made her move and reached for him.
“AHA! GOTC-!”
SLAM!
*****
Before Alex had the chance to slip out the window, Rainbow, as a rocket, quickly closed it. The violent force of the window slamming shut caused Alex to fall off the windowsill and down to the floor.
“You're not getting away that easily you little pipsqueak!” Rainbow grinned, ignoring the squeaking noise of Pinkie's hilariously flat face as she painfully slid down the window and out of view.
Alex scuttled away on his back, barely unable to take his eyes away from the towering cyan menace in front of him. He now suddenly had a strange sense of Déjà vu as he realized he had seen himself in this situation before.
Panicking, he suddenly sprung back on his feet and tried to run away.
“Think you can run away from me like that?” She reared herself and brought her hooves down hard on the floor, causing Alex to lose his footing. He felt the threatening shadow of Rainbow Dash as she loomed over him a sinister smirk on her face.
“I don't know what happened to you, but I like it...” she grinned. “Don't you think I've forgotten what you did to me earlier today?” Alex gulped as Rainbow took one more step towards him. “You know what? I'm in the mood for a game. How about it Lexy? Let's see how fast really you are!”
Rainbow Dash raised her hoof and aimed it at Alex. With lightning quick reflexes, Alex got away just as her hoof slammed down.
STOMP!
He ran across the floor, dodging left and right as her hooves came down around him.
STOMP! STOMP!
Rainbow chuckled to herself as she tried to step on him while missing on purpose. She wasn't going to actually hurt him, but rather teach him an important lesson in not to make a fool of somepony like her ever again.
Alex knew there was only one way to get out of this, and that was to do something completely unexpected and stupid. Without warning, Alex suddenly ran between Rainbow's legs as she brought down her hoof again. Rainbow curiously lowered head down and watched between her legs as he grabbed onto her tail. She then lifted her tail, taking Alex with it.
“HUH?!? What are you-?” Rainbow whipped her tail around, trying to force him off. Timing it just right, Alex let go and was flung into the air, landing on Rainbow Dash's back. “HEY! GET OFF!”
Rainbow kicked and reared, trying to force Alex off. “I SAID, GET OFF!” But Alex held on tight to her coat, refusing to be tossed off. “Oh? So you want to ride the pony, huh? Then how about a PEGASUS pony? HANG ON TIGHT!” Rainbow grinned as she spread her wings and flew around the library, sending books, scrolls, letters, papers and quills flying all over the place. If Alex couldn't be tossed off, he'd be BLOWN off.
Alex tearfully struggled against the G-force as he slowly worked his way up to Rainbow's head. Reaching the top off her head, he made a quick jump and grabbed her right ear.
“HEY!? WHAT THE-?”
The sudden pull on her ear caused her to inadvertently change trajectory and flew straight into the nearest bookcase.
“GAH!”
CRASH!
*****
Meanwhile, in the Everfree Forest...
“Thank you so much Zecora.” said Twilight happily as Zecora presented her with the antidote. “Alex is going to be so happy to back to his old self. I can't imagine how awful this whole ordeal must've been for him.” She then looked saddened. “I must admit I haven't been fair to him. I don't mean him any harm, it's just...”
Zecora smiled. “If noble your intentions be, then true friends Alex will see.”
Twilight smiled curiously a bit at that remark as she waited until Spike had hoped on her back, carrying a bowl of herbal tea while plucking off some feathers. “Goodbye Zecora! And thanks again for both the antidote and the tea.”
“Good luck young Twilight, and give my regards to your friends. It shall truly be interesting to see how this ends.” She waved before going back inside. Twilight was a bit curious as to what she meant by that, but she was too eager to hurry back to Alex with the antidote and quickly galloped through the Everfree back to Ponyville, barely avoiding a mint green unicorn and her friend.
“Excuse me!”
*****
Lying on the floor and recovering from a splitting headache, Rainbow blurrily looked up and saw that Alex had flown off her ear and was hanging from the top book shelf before quickly disappearing behind the books. Gritting her teeth in anger, she pushed away the pain, flew up and started pulling books off the shelves.
“Think you can hide from me, huh?” Rainbow pulled out the books where Alex had ducked behind, only to find him gone. Realizing that he was using all the books as cover, Rainbow emptied the entire bookshelf. With no sign of Alex, she became frustrated and started looking behind every row of books.
Within seconds, books were littering the floor of the library. In her frantic search, she suddenly realized that she had emptied the entire shelf without finding Alex. “GONE? But how..?” She then eyed the books on the floor and wondered. She flew down and started to go through each book front to back and pilling those she went through into a slowly ascending tower of books.
Picking up a book titled Found! she looked behind it and found Alex still clinging on to it.
“AHA!”
Realizing he'd been found, Alex quickly dived towards the tower of books in a desperate attempt to get away from her. With spiderlike reflexes, he effortlessly scaled the tower.
Rainbow just sat there and watched with silent amusement as he climbed the books in his pathetic attempt to escape her. Taking her sweet time, she slowly got up and spread her wings to intercept him “Got you now twerp!”
Just as Alex reached the top, he felt the tower wobble unsteadily due to his weight and tried to keep his balance to avoid tipping over. Just then, Rainbow appeared before him, grinning victoriously. “Nowhere to run now runt...” She made a grab for him but missed when he jumped up, causing the tower to lean away from her. “Huh?” Still trying to keep his balance, Alex managed to avoid crashing down as the stack slowly began to erect itself, heading back towards the now eagerly awaiting Rainbow Dash. Once he was close, Rainbow made another grab for him.
Suddenly, Alex made a leap towards her and jumped on her muzzle. He then ran up her forehead and hid in her mane. “Ew! Get out of there!” She dropped down on the floor beside the tower of books, frantically searching through her mane.
She finally felt something familiar and pulled Alex out. “Aha! I got you now you little twerp!” She held Alex right in front of her. Alex quickly eyed the tower of books beside him and reached out. “You're mine! All mi-!”
BONK!
“Ow!” She painfully rubbed her cheek as Alex had struck her with a book he had pulled from the tower. “Why you little-” She was about do something when another book suddenly hit her on the head from above.
BONK!
“Ouch! Huh? What the..?” Rubbing her head, she glanced up and her pupils shrank as the tower of books began to topple over. Alex braced himself while Rainbow's ears flattened. “Mommy...”
CRASH!
The library shook with tremendous force. As the dust settled, Alex slowly opened his eyes and realized that he was okay. Rainbow Dash however had taken the full brunt of the falling books. She was now buried under a pile of heavy literature, with only her hoof still holding on to Alex sticking out. Prying himself free, he jumped off and ran away as she began to stir.
“Groan..!” Rainbow’s head emerged from out the pile. Dazed and probably suffering a mild concussion, she shook off the winged books that were flying around her head.
She rubbed her aching head as she pulled herself out of the pile. “Uh... What happened..?” She shook her head more violently this time once she started to remember. With boiling anger, she looked around for Alex and soon spotted him as he climbed up a ladder towards another bookcase. He had just about reached the top as Rainbow’s face began to turn red with anger. “WHY... WHY YOU LITTLE...”
She coiled up and made a dive up towards him. Before Alex could find a safe place to hide, Rainbow landed at the top of the ladder and caught him firmly in her hooves. “Gotcha- Woah!”
Rainbow suddenly slipped. Her hind leg got caught on the top step of the ladder and was starting to tip over due to the sudden weight increase. She attempted to fly off but her leg was now stuck. To keep herself from being pulled down by the ladder and crashing to the floor, Rainbow used her wings to stabilize herself while she wobbled clumsily around the library with the ladder acting like stilts. All the while still holding on to Alex and refusing to let go.
Too caught up in trying to prevent herself from falling, Alex eventually managed to pull himself free from Rainbow's hooves again and leapt over to the nearest bookcase. “HEY!” In a sudden attempt to stop him, she unwittingly found herself reaching too far out and plummeted down to the floor.
“WOAH-WAH!!”
CRASH!
The resulting crash sent more books flying off their shelves. As the dust and leaves of paper settled, Alex peered off form the other bookcase and saw that the mangled form of Rainbow as she had somehow managed to get herself stuck between the steps of the ladder.
"Groan... "
Alex giggled and then laughed at the sight.
Bruised but ever the persistent pony, Rainbow eventually managed to pull her herself free, shaking off the hurt and embarrassment of the whole thing. She turned her eyes towards Alex again, this time with a look that frightened him even more.
Stomping angrily towards him, Alex, without really thinking, reached for one of the books and tossed it at Rainbow. She dodged it and eyed the book as it landed behind her before glaring back at him. “Hah! Missed! Pttt~!”
WHAM!
Alex threw another book that, unfortunately, found its target. Rainbow silently removed the book from her face, revealing a slightly red imprint on her face and glowered at him.
“Alright, you want to do this the hard way? THEN LET'S DO THIS THE HARD WAY!” She used the book Alex had hit her with and threw back it at him. She missed. She picked up another one from the floor and tossed that at him. And then another one and then another. Soon enough she was bombarding him with books, missing every time.
"Twilight won't like what you're doing to her books Rainbow Dash!" Alex yelled, ducking down just in time to avoid a book that sailed over him. Rainbow just glared at him and snorted, clearly showing that she didn't care.
She continued to bombard him with book after book before finally becoming fatigued. Alex peered down at Rainbow with a smug look on his face and stuck out his tongue. "Nya nya! Missed me! Pttt~!"
Rainbow, now blinded with furious rage, flared up her wings and shot up towards him with an angry shout.
"YAAAARG!"
CRASH!
Alex fortunately however avoided the cyan missile just in time as she crashed into the top shelf, sending more books flying all over the library. He seized this moment to hop down the shelf, using a piece of paper to glide down onto the floor and quickly head for the window again.
Unfortunately for him, Rainbow never knew the meaning of the words 'give up' and began to pull herself free from the shelf. With the window still painfully out of reach, Alex's only hope of escaping her now was through a small mouse hole he conveniently found leading into a nearby wall.
After pulling her head free of the shelf and shaking off the dizziness, Rainbow Dash quickly eyed Alex on the floor and made another dive towards him, only to lose him just as he ducked into the hole.
CRASH!
Rainbow Dash crashed again, this time with her muzzle getting stuck in the mouse hole. Using her hind legs she pulled herself free. Her muzzle was oddly shaped like the mouse hole before she shook it back to its normal form.
“HEY! GET BACK HERE YOU!” she yelled, glaring angrily into the hole. She quickly forced her hoof inside hoping to grab him, but Alex managed to scuttle away just in time.
Alex panted heavily, relieved that he had finally escaped the flying 'Crazy Quilt'. Suddenly he turned his head and saw to his surprise a family of mice sitting by a makeshift table, frozen in surprise right in the middle of a meal at the appearance of this unexpected guest. Not wanting to question it, Alex dusted himself off and got up.
“Excuse me... I don't mean to interrupt, but can any one of you please show me where the nearest exit is?” All four mice pointed in one direction, their expressions still frozen. “Thank you.” Alex said and followed their direction.
Alex finally reached the hole that lead outside. He walked out and drew a happy sigh of relief that he was finally safe. That is until a shadow suddenly loomed over him. Alex curiously looked up and saw familiar pink pony with a band aid on her muzzle, holding a bucket.
“AHA! GOTCHA!”
*SHRIEK!*
In a flash, Alex ducked back inside the hole just as the bucket nearly trapped him. He ran back in panic-mode, passing the family of mice who still hadn't moved. “EXCUSE ME!!!”
Alex ran back into the library, completely forgetting about Rainbow Dash. Exiting the mouse hole, he stopped to have a breather and pull himself together. That's when he realized it suddenly got dark. It was moist and the floor felt funny too. Wanting to turn back, Alex discovered that he was trapped. Suddenly there was an earthquake and it felt like he was being lifted off the ground.
*****
Rainbow Dash lifted her puckered-faced head from the floor with suppressed cheer as she felt Alex prodding around in her mouth. While she was eyeing the mouse hole, she had spotted Alex as he made is unexpected return back. Rainbow then had an idea and placed herself in front of the hole, opening her mouth wide enough for Alex to unwittingly storm in. With Alex now trapped inside her mouth, Rainbow declared herself the winner of this little chase and headed for the front door. It was time to take her prize home...
SLAM!
“AHA! Now I have...” Barging in quite unexpected, and still armed with a bucket, Pinkie Pie stopped as she couldn't find Alex anywhere. “Shoot! He's not here! Dashie did you see-?” Pinkie's eyes widened as she found Rainbow with her face firmly planted in the door. She quickly realized her error and chuckled nervously. “Oh! Hi Rainbow Dash... I did sense somepony was going to hit the door, but I didn't think it would be...”
With a painful moan, Rainbow planted her legs on the door and forced her face free. Shaking her flat face back to normal, she angrily glared at Pinkie. “PINKIE PIE? What in blazes do you think you're-!” Rainbow suddenly froze. Something was wrong. She felt around in her mouth with her tongue. Her pupils shrank as she froze up again. "Oh no..!"
“What is it?”
“I...” she gulped. “I ATE him!”
*****
Alex woke up after that unexplained force had knocked him out. He rubbed his head and tried to figure out where he was. Wherever he was, it was completely dark and still moist. He heard a strange rhythmic noise and it sounded as if he was inside a cave. He also noticed a strange scent in the air...
“Sniff! Sniff!”
‘Skittles..?’
*****
“OhmygosohmygoshOHMYGOSH! I ATE him! Oh sweet Celestia, this isn't good!” Rainbow trotted frantically in place while flapping her wings at the same time.
“Ate who?”
“Lexy! I ate Lexy!” she yelled.
“Lexy?”
“You know! That... that human guy!”
“Oh! You mean Alex!” Pinkie smiled. Suddenly her eyes shot wide open. “WAIT! YOU ATE ALEX?” Rainbow bit her lip and nodded nervously. “How was he?”
“PINKIE! This is no time for jokes! I have to get him out!”
“Ooh! Ooh! You better come with me to Sugarcube Corner! I got just the tools!” Rainbow threw her an odd look. “Or did I dream it? It was a funny dream. You were in it. We were making cupcakes and...”
“Pinkie, I don't have time for your dream stories! I have to get him out right NOW!!!”
“Sheesh! No need to rocket out of control...”
Rainbow dropped down on her haunches and wrapped her forelegs around her growling stomach, still panicking. “Oh no! He's fading, I just know it!”
*****
Meanwhile, inside Rainbow Dash…
“Echo!”
Echo... Echo... Echo...
*****
“Don't worry my little Dashie. 'Papa Pinkie' knows just what to do!”
Pinkie cheerfully skipped over to the panicking Rainbow. Without resisting, Rainbow found herself being pulled and shifted around by Pinkie until she found herself bent over with her rear in the air. Pinkie then appeared behind her and, with a mischievous grin, raised a large paddle.
“Alright! Let's get spanking!” Pinkie yelled, pulling Rainbow's tail up to get a clear shot.
“WAIT! WHAT ARE YOU-?”
SPANK!
“AH! HNG! BLORP! PTUI!”
“WAAAAAAH!!!” Alex yelled as he flew out of Rainbow's mouth, through the library and in the air out the open door.
“OH NO! HE FLEW OUT THE DOOR!” yelled Rainbow Dash while Pinkie gasped. Rainbow bolted out of the library and into the air with Pinkie close behind.
*****
Returning from her trip to Zecora, Twilight hummed cheerfully to herself as she magically held the antidote to Alex's condition. Resting on her back was Spike, having finally shed off the last of the feathers. Suddenly, a tiny wailing creature zoomed past above them.
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH~!!!”
Twilight and Spike noticed and Twilight went wide-eyed. “ALEX!?!”
Suddenly, a familiar cyan pegasus flew passed her. “I've got you Lexyyyyy~!”
Quickly followed by an even familiar pink party pony. “I'm right behind ya Dashieeeee~!”
“RAINBOW DASH?! PINKIE PIE!?!” Her surprised reaction caused her to suddenly seize her magic and drop the antidote. It hit the ground and smashed. "NO!" she reared in lament, accidently tossing Spike off and causing him to drop the bowl of herbal tea, which too shattered. “NO! NONONO-NO!!!” She quickly galloped after them with Spike close behind. “RAINBOW DASH!!! PINKIE!!!”
Soaring through the air, Alex finally opened his eyes and discovered he was flying over Ponyville. Not sure why or how that happened, he didn't have much time to wonder and he quickly realized that he was heading for the town well.
“Hang on, I gotcha!”
Alex glanced back and saw Rainbow Dash closing in with her hooves reaching out to him. Before she could even reach him, she collided with the support beam to the well.
BANG!
“OFF!”
Alex flew down the well and disappeared into the darkness. Shaking off the pain and dizziness, Rainbow Dash quickly peered over the well after him.
SPLASH!
“NOOOOOO!!!”
“RAINBOW DASH!!!”
Rainbow Dash froze as she recognized Twilight's voice. She saw her as she and Pinkie galloped towards her. “Oh... Eh hehe... Hey Twilight... OFF!” She didn't have much else to say as Twilight tackled her to the ground, looking her right in the eyes.
“Rainbow Dash! Where is Alex?” Twilight demanded, glaring at the nervous pegasus with her nostrils snorting with rage.
Rainbow Dash gulped and pointed to the well. “I... He... I- I tried to...”
Her eyes wide with shock, Twilight instantly rushed over to the well and peered down. “Alex? ALEX!!” She desperately tried to use her magic, but was unable to locate him.
“Quick! Let's fish him out!” Pinkie Pie yelled and threw the bucket into the well.
“Alex! Quick, grab the bucket!” Twilight yelled into the well. Waiting a moment, Pinkie pulled the bucket back up but it contained nothing but water.
“Twilight!” Spike shouted. Twilight understood as he hopped into the bucket and was lowered down. Once reaching the water, Spike used his flames to light the bottom of the well. Searching the surface of the water, he could find no trace of Alex. Signaling to be pulled up, he met Twilight's hopeful look with his disappointed one. “I'm sorry Twilight...”
“No! No, he can't be gone! NO!” She looked down in the well. “ALEX!!!” her cry echoed down the well, but there was no reply. “He... He must've been carried off by the underground current. He could be anywhere! That's if he's still...” Twilight slumped down on her haunches and silently sobbed. After everything she had gone and put him through, it had suddenly come to this.
Pinkie Pie slowly placed her hoof on her shoulder, trying to offer some comfort. “I'm so sorry, Twilight. Is there a way we can still find him?”
“No... I mean, there is but we need something from him to do it.”
Pinkie pondered a moment, before she noticed Rainbow Dash trying to remove something stuck in her teeth.
“Ptui! Ew, what is this?” She looked at the foreign object she spat out. It looked like a shoe. No sooner had that thought occurred, when Pinkie Pie swiped the shoe and showed it to Twilight.
“Lookie lookie Twilight!” she bounced cheerfully while showing her Alex's shoe.
“That's it! I can use my magic to find him with this! Oh, thank you Pinkie!” Twilight hugged her.
“Thank Rainbow Dash! She found it!”
Twilight looked over to Rainbow Dash who sat there looking shamefully away. She smiled, trotted over and hugged her. “Thank you Rainbow Dash...”
Rainbow flustered a bit and smiled, rubbing her hoof behind her head. “Well, you can always count on dependable Rainbow Dash to pull through in the end.”
“Come on! Let's get back to the library. If we hurry, we can still save him!” Twilight waited for Spike to jump onto her back before she galloped to the library, with Pinkie Pie bouncing after. Rainbow Dash however was suddenly terrified beyond reason as she remembered something important.
“Uh... Twilight? Ehehe... Funny thing you should mention the library...”
*****
Alex gasped and tried to stay afloat as the underground current forced him along. He had no idea where it was taking him and he was starting to wish he was back in the library. After several agonizing long minutes of trying to grab on to something and fighting the cold current, Alex was suddenly forced underwater as he was sucked inside a pipeline. With no more air available, he peered helplessly through the dark water as he slowly began to drown.
But then, just as he was about to lose his consciousness, Alex suddenly began to see a light ahead of him. Closer and closer it came, and Alex believed at that moment that this was it… his final destination. Closing his eyes, he braced himself to meet his Maker...
SPLASH!
...instead he was emptied out of what appeared to be a faucet and found himself in a large pool.
BLUBB! BLUBB!
Struggling through the warm and soapy water, Alex suddenly began to feel strange. Then, as if by a miracle, he felt his feet touching the bottom. Clearing the water from his eyes, he discovered to his surprise that he was big again.
“I... I'm back to my old self!” Looking around, he realized the current had brought him to some sort of a spa. “Oh thank you merciful Lord, I'm big again! What a relief-!” He froze as he suddenly found himself staring into the surprised eyes of a unicorn. “Oh fudge...”
“ALEXANDER!?”