Part 9
A heavy stomp hit the ground behind them, heavy enough to launch both Bon-Bon and Berry a few hooves into the air. Before either of them could figure out what had happened, a hard kick hit them from behind and sent them flying over the chasm and out through the main doorway. As their faces planted into the dirt, and poor Colgate rolled off to the side, a giant winged foot landed safely behind them.
“Lyra!” Bon-Bon shouted through a face full of dirt.
Berry stood, turned, and looked at her (it was still a her, right?) with annoyance. That expression, however, suddenly changed to shock. Behind the flying foot Berry saw the entire castle collapse. Dust billowed high into the night sky, blocking out the moon and even the stars. It spread up, out, and over the tops of the trees of the Everfree, coating it all with a layer of dust. It blew over the three ponies (and the feathered foot) like a massive wall of gray, blinding them and muting all sound. Berry tried hard to shake the dust from his eyes and Bon-Bon flew into a coughing fit. Colgate stirred and slowly stood.
“What … what happened?” She asked, looking about with her eyes a bit unfocused. She tried to remove the dust from her eyes with magic, but given that she had just recovered from yet another unforeseen concussion to the head, it was a bit hard to manage. Thankfully however, a self-propelled feather duster had made its way over to her and had begun removing the dust from her face. “Ah, thanks...” she started, opening her eyes to see who had been so kind. Her eyes met a light green duster with white feathers brushing her face off. What really unnerved her, was the fact that too little eyes were close to the top of the handle and from the top of the handle protruded a small horn. The eyes looked at her, and the horn glowed with the familiar gold of Lyra's magic. Blinking once or twice, she took several steps back in shock. “WHAT!?” She shouted as stumbled away in suprise.
“Hey, Relax! It's me, Lyra.” the duster replied. Colgate just stared, her eyes joined with Bon-Bon's and Berry's. It turned left and right to look at all three of them. “Seriously guys! Relax, It's just me. I mean, yeah, sure, I don't look like I thought I would, but it's me.”
“What happened?” Bon-Bon asked.
“Well … I drank Berry's brew.” the duster replied almost nonchalantly. “I saw that Berry was under all of those Pinkies, and I figured that if I took a drink of that stuff-” she hesitated for a moment, as she was unsure whether to call Berry he or she, “Berry made, it might turn me into something that could help.”
“Like what?” Colgate asked.
“Well, to be honest …” she started.
Bon-Bon rolled her eyes. “Oh come on! Seriously Lyra, let it go!”
“Hey! You never know! It might have worked!” she snapped back.
Colgate looked between the two, feeling somewhat confused as to what they were talking about, but decided to drop it. “Alright everypony, let's calm down. A lot just happened and we've got to get our acts together.” she said, holding a foreleg in the air. Bon-Bon relaxed slightly and the duster slowly lowered itself to the ground. The two then turned to Colgate, waiting to hear what she had to say next. Berry however, avoided her eye contact. “Okay, first, what in the name of Equestria just happened?” She asked, looking between the three others.
“Well-” Bon-Bon started.
Then the ground shook.
It heaved once. Then all was still. It heaved again, kicking dust into the air and making the air hazy once more (for the dust had manged to settle somewhat while the four talked). The three ponies stumbled then braced themselves as a third shock wave came.
“What's happening?!” Berry shouted.
“You have got to be kidding me!” Colgate said as she looked over to the ruins.
“Kidding about wh-” Lyra stared, but stopped when she turned around.
A massive pile of rubble and dust had begun to rise. As it grew in height, massive chunks of stone and dust fell away from it. Taller and taller it grew, casting a large shadow over the four, and the forest behind them. It was nearly shapeless at first, but as more and more of the now ex-castle fell away from it, a shape began to appear. It had a long back, four legs, and a truly large head that lifted up and flung debris far into the sky and into the distance. They could not make out any details, but the poofy mane and tail that began to take shape told them exactly what it was. The Pinkies had combined. They had made,
A Pinkie Prime.
It shook its head left and right, kicking the dust of it and causing powerful winds to begin to blow. They bent the trees and sent small bits of this and that flying away, including the Lyra-Duster. It moved the shaking from its head to its body and to its tail. The whole motion shaking the ground and causing the three remaining ponies to loose their balances and fall to the ground. With the dust and debris off, it looked up at the moon, and smiled.
A large foot came hopping out of the trees as the other three got up and stared at the massive Pie.
“Uh, guys...” Berry began.
“RUN!” shouted Colgate as she turned and headed to the bridge. The others fell in line as they made their way across.
The gargantuan Pony of Pink began to giggle. “Run!? It rhymes with FUN!” it shouted as it bent its knees, preparing to jump.
“WATCH OUT!” shouted Colgate as she dove for the floor of the bridge.
And with one mighty heave, the pink one launched itself high into the air, causing a powerful updraft. It pulled up many large chunks of castle with it and several trees. It even yanked the bridge out of the ground, sending it flying through the air, casing the three ponies to shout in alarm as they became airborne. Colgate watched as the Pink giant arched through the air and landed on the other side of the ravine that the bridge had once crossed, and watched as the ground underneath cracked and the cliff crumble from the impact. It also sent out a giant gust of air that knocked the bridge even higher into the air and caused even more dust to spread over the hapless Everfree.
It also knocked the poor ponies free of the bridge, scattering them in the air.
On the bright side, it turns out that winged feet happen to be rather fast in the air. You'd never think it, but it turns out that feet are great for flying through it. Aerodynamic, lightweight, and surprisingly nimble, they make for the perfect rescue device. Pity it was that this foot was a terrible pilot.
Lyra did not have much flying experience you see. Having been a unicorn for her whole life, she left flying to the pegasus ponies. In fact, the only flying she ever did was in the basket of a hot-air balloon, let alone flying as a foot with wings. So, after kicking a few trees, weathering a few shockwaves, and faceplanting (can a foot faceplant?) into the ground a few times, Lyra finally got into the air in time to see the other three go flying off the bridge.
Moving swiftly, she grabbed Colgate first (she being the closest), holding her between her big toe and the next one over. She quickly made her way over to Bon-Bon and grabbed her between the pinkie toe and its neighbor. Finally, she grabbed Berry (who's muzzle had come a bit too close to the ground for comfort by the time Lyra had gotten to him) by simply scooping him up and setting him across the top. She had not expected him to be as heavy as he was. It would would seem that his rather Coltly bulk was very much real and very much heavy. Still, she had manged to save the lot of them, and made to set safely set down.
“A FLYING FOOT! THAT'S SO FUNNY!” belted the behemoth. It began to laugh and it reached out to grab them.
Lyra let out a squeak and dodged sharply to the left to avoid the massive hoof. The sudden maneuver nearly caused Berry to fall off.
“LYRA!” he shouted.
“SORRY! I'M STILL GETTING USED TO THIS!” the foot shouted back, though exactly how nopony was really sure.
The colossus chortled and brought its leg back to its side. “AW! COME ON! LET'S PLAY!” It bellowed. “IT'LL BE,” it paused for a moment, “FUN!” and with that it hopped up and down shouting 'FUN' over and over again. Lyra tried her best to put as much distance between them and the giant fun factory as she could, flying as fast as her wings could carry her. “HOLD UP BUSTER!” the giant shouted, “YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE!” Lyra looked back, and saw it leap once more into the air and directly at her. It flew through the air with amazing speed, enough to leave a huge pink trial in the air behind it. Lyra couldn't help but notice that its already massive face suddenly started to get a whole lot bigger.
“Guys,” Lyra started, “We're in trouble...” she said, awaiting the massive face-to-foot impact.
“GIANT PINK ONE, YOUR REIGN IS OVER! I HAVE COME TO PUSH YOU-ARG I HAVE LOST MY ABILITY TO RHYME!” came a powerful shout, followed by a blast of energy that hit the pink giant in the face, knocking it to the side and sending it plowing into the ground.
Looking up, the poor hapless adventures saw something quite unexpected. Silhouetted against the moon, with a smoking horn and a pair of massive yet majestic wings, Zecora hovered in the air with an aura of power surrounding her.
“ZECORA!” came the collected shouts from the little band. One part of them relieved, another very confused.
“Your strange brew had a taste most foul, but the power it give me is quite …” she paused, her face contorting into a rather painful looking shape, “I can't rhyme! Try as I might, I just can't seem to do it! But now it not the time to be complaining, for I have a giant Pinkie to get to … knocking around!” She said, taking a dive directly for the massive beast.
She swerved to the left as a massive hoof came flying up at her. She dropped to avoid yet another, and she pulled up to avoid a third hoof that came her direction. The four caught her by surprise, but with quicker thinking then she normally possessed, she too dodged that one. The fifth and sixth hooves came rather close, with the wind from the one nearly knocking her face-first into the other one. However, Zecora was quicker then the giant she now faced. Getting close, she unleashed another blast to its torso, knocking it back, and sending a spray of Pinkies all around her.
It's safe to say that anypony else would have thought this to be truly strange, but Zecora was no longer operating on a plane that mere mortal ponies could understand. She knew that the giant was little more then the numberless Pinkies hugging each other, and she knew that each Pinkie was little more then an enchanted piece of hair from the real Pinkie Pie given a body and limited thought. And she knew one more thing;
It was all because of that brew …
Still, this threat to the Everfree (and Equestria for that matter!) had to be dealt with, and with that determination in her mind, she began blasting the Pinkies that fell away with great speed. There were a great many of them, and given that the giant had recovered from the blast and had begun swinging at her once more, the task of reducing the lot of them to a pile of hairs seemed daunting indeed. But she was Zecora! The great survivor of the Everfree, the Pilgrim of Talhet, the Great Graiol-Ralshin, the-her thoughts were cut off as a massive hoof caught her from above and began driving her to the ground. Aiming her oversized horn at the dirt, she blasted it to powder just before she hit. With a loud crash, the leg hit the ground, but Zecroa was far from hurt. Unleashing a mighty blast, she knocked the hoof off her and blew even more Pinkies off. Several quick shots and a burst of speed later, she cleared the skies and avoided yet another swing.
She had not anticipated the mouth however. It bit down on her tail as she flew up, and with a twist of the giant's neck, sent her flying to a thicket of trees. Surrounding herself in a shield, she hit the trees hard. A few snapped in half from the blow, and she had little time to dodge as the giant came crashing down where she landed. Sill, it was enough and she darted out from harm's way as it landed its sudden jump, reducing the trees to itty bitty splinters, save one. Zecora whipped around, horn aglow, and launched a tree directly at the mighty Pinkie. With the swing of one hoof, it easily batted the tree aside.
Perfect.
With a mighty burst, and a small explosion, Zecora rocketed from her position and drove directly for the hulking behemoth. Her horn glowed with an intense black and white light and the energy began to envelop her as she dove faster and faster. With a second hoof, the Pinkie-Monster tried to knock her away, but Zecora was faster then any hoofswipe could have ever dreamed to be.
She slammed right into its chest. And with momentum that would have leveled a mountain, she lifted it off the ground and went flying high into the air, the massive creature still on the tip of her horn. Higher and higher she took it, all the way to the clouds. Whipping her head to the side, she detached her horn from the beast, and flew around it to the air above it. Black and white energy crackling and tearing about her, she raised her horn high into the air and shouted, “FROM ONE TO MANY AND FROM MANY TO ONE IT MATTERS NOT, FOR I SHALL MAKE YOU … OH SCREW IT!!” Gathering all of the energy around her, she encased herself in a sphere, then looking down, she unleashed the unbridled force of her power.
The explosion from around Zecora lit up the entire night sky and, for just a moment, one could have sworn it was mid-day. The sphere flew from Zecora and slammed into the giant and sent it almost instantly to the ground with a mighty smash. Before the giant could even comprehend what had just happened, a second sphere hit it with full force and another blinding explosion.
The Castle of the Two Sisters was no more.
Zecora had thrown the giant onto it, and with the second attack, had turned the whole area into a massive crater. Heaving and breathing heavily, Zecora wavered some in the air. She tilted slightly to the left and slightly to the right. Her eyes went white, and she fell out of the sky …
Thankfully, the friendly feathered foot was still around (though struck with awe like the other ponies) to carefully snag her out of the air.
Walking to the edge of the crater, Colgate and Berry looked in. Bon-Bon had stayed behind to help place Zecora carefully on the ground. It was deep and it was wide. The dirt was charred and in the center of it all, lie a pile of pink hairs. Looking at each other then forward once more, they made their way over to the pile. It was rather odd looking; to see such a bright splash of color in the middle of charred ground.
It moved.
Or more accurately, it shook slightly. The movement caused the two ponies to jump back all the same. They watched it for a moment. The pile rustled a little. The two looked at each other once more.
“Pinkie?” Berry ventured.
And, almost as if in reply, a small, quarter-sized Pinkie popped out of the pile. It looked a them, and then booked it.
“COME BACK HERE!” Colgate shouted, and magically reached out for Berry's bottle. Or rather, she assumed that Berry has his bottle on hoof. He didn't actually, so that left Colgate's magic few options as to what to grab instead. Suffice to say, one rather large Berry projectile turned out to be a bit overkill for taking care of one last pint-sized Pinkie. With a loud thud and a soft pop, the last Pinkie finally poofed into a small piece of hair. “Sorry Berry!” Colgate shouted.
“It's fine!” He shouted back, getting up. Looking at where he had landed, he picked up the last hair, and made his way over to Colgate. Picking it with her magic she placed it into the pile.
It began to glow.
And it also began to move. The pile lifted off the ground and formed a tight ball that began to lift into the air. The ball began to glow, almost too bright to look at, and it suddenly began to expand. The hairs began to swirl about as they moved outward, forming a chaotic sphere of hair. From inside the ball, they could see the source of light: It was a pony-shaped figure. It was upright, with its lower legs hanging down and its upper legs raised in what almost seemed like a meditative stance. It almost looked like it was standing on its hind legs. A bight circle appeared above the sphere. Within the circle were many odd symbols and shapes, the likes of which neither pony had ever seen before. The circle moved from above the figure to behind the figure, and expanded in size. So too had the swirling sphere had increased in size, allowing the figure in the center to become slightly more visible. Within the figure's radiance only became greater as it raised its arms up into the air. Then, it suddenly threw back its head and thrust out its arms to the sides, and a blast of energy washed over the two of them, as well as the whole crater, leaving in its wake colorful flowers and what appeared to be candy. Once their eyes readjusted, what they saw simply stunned them.
Hovering in the air, was Pinkie Pie. She opened her eyes, looked at them, and smiled. “Hiya!” she said, her voice reverberating with power.
It took several moments for either of them to say anything. She looked like … they simply didn't have the words. It was Pinkie alright, but none of the malice that the Pinkies had was in her eyes. She hovered in the air, and what seemed like a circle of power hovered behind her, and yet, there was no horn nor wings. She also glowed with a soft yet powerful pink light. Though they had no idea what she was, they knew it was something mighty indeed.
“Uh...” Berry managed.
Pinkie giggled. “That's not a word silly!”
“Pinkie?” Colgate asked.
“Yep! That's me!” she replied with a happy smile.
“W-what in Equestria … ?” Colgate asked.
“Oh? This? Oh don't you worry your little hooves about it! I've just become a Goddess for a short time!” she said, almost laughing.
“A what?” Berry said.
“Don't worry about it. Anyway, I've got something to tell you!” she said, almost squealing with delight.
“What's that?” Colgate asked.
“Well, since YOU'RE the one who put me back together, I get to grant you one wish!” Pinkie said pointing at Colgate.
Colgate blinked. Seriously? “Wait, a wish?”
“Well, that's easy.” Berry piped up, “she wants to have the Lost Toothbrush of The-”
“I want to know where the Toothbrush of the Royal Sisters is!” Colgate cut him off with.
Berry looked at her confused, but said nothing.
“Okey Dokey!” Pinkie replied. She put her front hooves together, and slowly opened them, revealing a scroll. “Here ya go!” she said happily as she tossed it to Colgate. “Don't lose it! Though it'll just stay with you until you get there! Oh, and one last thing!” she winked at them, “it's a tough scroll don't worry too much about it!”
Colgate caught it with her magic and opened it. It looked like a map of Equestria with a big red 'X' in the south-east part of Hayseed Swamp. As she looked closely at it, the map suddenly changed and zoomed in on that part of the swamp. In doing so however, it startled Colgate who dropped it. Getting herself back together, she picked it up and set it on her back for the moment.
“Well, that's about it for me! Time to go back to being normal again! Weeeee!” Pinkie said as she became enveloped in light. The circle disappeared and she slowly descended to the ground. Once all four hooves touched, the light dispersed and she stood there, looking as normal as Pinkie Pie does. “Well, see ya later!” and with that she bounced off.
Neither Colgate or Berry could quite bring themselves to stop her, or even speak. What had just happened? Once again looking at each other, they exchanged very confused looks.
“Are you guys alright?” Bon-Bon's distant voice broke their reverie. Looking behind them, they saw her standing at the edge of the crater, looking rather confused at all of the flowers.
“Yeah,” Berry shouted back. “We're alright.”
“How's Zecora?” Colgate shouted as the two of them made to head back.
“She's alright. Her wings and horn are shrinking, so I think she'll be fine.” came the answer.
“And Lyra?”
“You mean the pillow Zecroa's using? Yeah, I guess she's 'fine' too!” came the rather annoyed and slightly indignant reply.
As they crested the top, they could see Zecora resting peacefully, using a light-green pillow that was patterned with golden lyres to rest her head. “So, is it over?” Bon-Bon asked.
“I think so.” Said Colgate. “At least, I hope so.” Then she stopped.
“What's up?” Berry asked.
Turning to face him, Colgate's eyes burned once more with fury. Berry swallowed hard. There was no running this time. “W-what did I do Colgate!? Why are you so mad at me?” Berry asked, taking a few steps back from her.
Colgate advanced slightly quicker then Berry's retreat. “Why? Why you ask? I'll TELL YOU WHY!” She roared as she lunged at him, with tears in her eyes.
Berry was caught off guard by those tears, and thus was unable to defend himself from the Colgatian assault. She slammed into him and knocked him over. “YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY I'M SO MAD? WHY I'M SO UPSET?” Colgate shouted in Berry's face.
All Berry could do was weakly nod.
“Because I'm so scared for you! That's why!” her tears began to flow freely, landing on the ground. “I was so scared, and I'm so worried about you Berry! Don't you get it? You're my friend and the fact that you drink so much scares me! The fact that you don't brush scares me! And the idea of you drinking that horrible drink scares me even more! What if you end up stuck like this? And look at what that drink's done! Berry, don't you get it?! I care so much about you! I just don't want you to get hurt!” she was almost unable to say that last part, as her voice had begun to crack and fall to pieces.
Berry was silent. He had no idea that Colgate had felt this strongly about all of this. He had always figured that Colgate came over to her place because she didn't have anything better to do. After all, Colgate never drank anything. She would just come over and chat and occasionally share a meal. Sure they did things together from time to time, but even then he figured that was because she just wanted some compony or something like that. Though, looking back on it, it all finally kinda made sense. He knew how badly his house smelled, and yet Colgate would come. He was often intoxicated on some level, and yet Colgate would still come. Now that he thought about it, it dawned on him. She was indeed a friend to him. With this thought, he too began to choke up.
“Alright Colgate. I'm sorry. I didn't know you felt like that. I'll...I'll turn back. And … and I'll get rid of the drink.” he said, his voice heavy. He really didn't want to get rid of it, but he figured that she was more important. She had made so many sacrifices just to spend time with him, it was about time he start making sacrifices for her. Standing up, he brought the bottle to his lips. “I found out that if I drink it again, I change back. So I have to drink it one more time.” He explained. And with that, he took his final swig.
The transformation didn't take long. His legs shrank first and then his torso. His head was last and finally, his chin rounded and he was once more a her. Pulling it away from her lips, Berry looked at Colgate, tears in her eyes now as well. They reach out to each other and hugged.
“Thank you Berry.” Colgate whispered. “Thank You...”
The fallout from the whole event was actually rather small. Not long after the small party departed from the spot to continue on their journey, Rainbow had shown up to investigate the massive explosions and loud lights that had rocked Ponyville all night. All she had found was Zecora resting and a strange flower-filled crater where the Sister's castle (as well as the ravine) was. Having had arrived before her other friends, she began scouting around to see what had become of the Tree. As she had begun to look around, she saw a small tree sprout in the middle of the area. Watching, she had watched it grow from a small sapling into the very Tree of Harmony itself. Now no longer hidden in a cave, it was surrounded by a field of flowers. AJ, Rarity, and a few others from Ponyville had finally caught up with her, with Pinkie in tow. They had run into her leaving as they were making their way in.
They had asked her what had happened, and she told them everything, word for word. However, they had simply shook their heads and didn't take much stock in her crazy story. Even after Zecora had awoken and she too had been asked, they still found Pinkie's story simply too crazy to be true; for Zecora had no real memory of the event. So, with more questions then answers, they had headed home.
Little had they realized that Zecora had lied to them. And little had the little band realized that she had begun to follow after them...