//------------------------------// // What now? // Story: "YOU DID WHAT!?" // by Dr Atlas //------------------------------// “Okay! Everyling, just stay calm! Don’t panic, and try not to-” “Panic! D-Did someling say panic! A-are we supposed to panic!?” “PANIC!!!” Within seconds the entire hive started to scream and yell. Every changeling ran around, knocking over tables and other changelings. The only one who seemed calm was Twig, who continued holding the unconscious princess. “What’s everyone doing?” Twig asked. “OH! Are we dancing?” Shawn facehoofed, realizing this wasn’t working. “No, Twig, but we were dancing until you showed up.” “Then lets dance again! I even have a dancing partner.” Twig held up the princess and spun her around a few times and held her like she was part of a duet. Shawn could only look on in annoyance. “Oh...thank queen.” One of the panicking changelings came up beside Shawn. “I thought for sure that was the white one.” Shawn rolled his eyes. “Stan, who cares if it’s white, pink, red, black, or even magenta! This a princess we got on our hooves!” Another changeling ran up to them. “Who makes alicorns red and black, that’s kinda unoriginal, and how’d he even ponynap her anyway?” Twig overheard and stopped dancing with the princess by dropping her on the floor. “It was easy, Carson. All I did was walk in, disguise as someone, waited until she was distracted, then BAM! right in the knockout spot.” Carson walked toward him. “Twig...Why would you do that!?” “Well, if I hit her somewhere else, then she wouldn’t-” Carson ran up to him. “No Twig, I mean why? Why did you ponynap her?” Twig scratched his head. “We need her for the plan, right?” The other three changeling looked at one another. “Twig…” Stan started. “We don’t have a plan yet, and even if we did, it probably wouldn’t involve ponynapping princesses.” “Y-you guys don’t have a plan?” As normal, Twig started getting confused. “But I thought the queen said-” “The queen is currently in a coma,” Carson explained. “and even if she wasn’t, she wouldn’t want a princess.” “S-she wouldn’t?” Carson growled.” No, Twig she wouldn’t, and neither do we, what you did was idiotic, stupid, and down right-” Everyone who was paying attention to Twig started to see it, the wiggling mouth, the fidgeting hooves, and the watering eyes. “Oh, for queens sake, Twig…” Carson rolled his eyes. and lowered his ears, knowing what would happen next. “I-I-I did bad?...I...I d-did something...something.” Twig sniffed. “S-S-Stupid…” “Yeah, Twig, you-” *SMACK*  “OW!” Carson turned around to see Stan glaring at him. “What was that for?” “Carson!” Stan yelled. “You can’t just say something like that to him! You know how he-” “Oh boo hoo, I hurt Twig’s feelings.” Carson rubbed the back of his head and looked back at Twig. “The big hatchling needs to learn what's wrong and right, and he did something that even the queen would be ashamed of.” “T-T-The queen?” Twig sniffed again and tried getting the tears out of his eyes, but it was getting too much for him. “Yeah, she’d probably hate what you did. I wouldn’t be surprised if she casted you away after this little stunt you pulled!” That finally did it. That crossed the line. Twig couldn’t take anymore. He took a deep breath and with a broken heart; he cried, he sobbed, he even tried holding the unconscious princess for comfort, but all it did was create another roar of cries, he cried so loud that everyone in the hive stopped panicking and pulled their ear stems down to block out the noise. One of the DJ’s stood up to see what the commotion was about and put on a headset. “Alright, what’s wrong with Twig?” Shawn leaned toward Carson. “Jerkson over here decided to make Twig sad.” “I just reminded the big lug that he’s a complete-” *SMACK* “OW! Will ya stop!” Stan growled at him. “Once you stop acting like a flank-hole, then I will, but until then…” Stan raised his hoof and prepared for another hit, but Twig made another roar of cries toward them. Twig started breathing heavily and held the unconscious princess closer. “I-I-I-I-Ieheeheeee didn’t know...I-I-I thaaaahahaawwt that I was d-d-d-d-d-doing gooooohohohooood. WAAAAAAAAHahahaaaa!” All the changeling in the room started to cringe, it wasn't the first time they saw Twig cry, and even now it was still pretty hard to see. Shawn stepped forward and decided to say something. “Look, Twig, i-it’s not your...well...it is...b-but what you did was...uh…” “H-h-h-huuuorible?” Twig sniffed again and held his head under the princess’s neck. “Nononono! W-what you did was..uh…” Shawn looked around the room, hoping others would help him out, but the majority of them were either looking away or scuffing their hooves. “What you did waaaaaas...awesome!” Shawn blurted out. Twig wiped the snot from his nose. “A-awesome?” He hiccuped. “Y-yeah! Y-you did something that noling has ever done before!” Shawn looked back and forth, seeing others nodding in agreement, or at least looking like it.  Twig pulled his head out. “R-really?” Shawn nodded. “Yeah, you singlehoofingly ponynapped a princess. I never heard any changeling ever pull that off on their own...right guys!” He yelled. The brothers and sisters nodded furiously, hoping Twig wouldn’t scream again. Twig looked around and started to smile. “I-I did something awesome?” The D’s adjusted their headsets. “Yeah Twig, what you did-” “Was something that even the queen herself would be proud of!” Twig frowned. “B-but Carson said-” “I didn’t mean it…” Twig turned around to see Carson with crossed hooves and a look of annoyance. “I was just...ugh...jealous that you did something cool…” Carson looked at Stan and whispered. “Did I say it right?” Stan was about to answer, but was interrupted by Twig letting go of the princess and tackling Carson to the ground. “It’s okay Carson! I forgive you, I’m just glad to know what I did was helpful for the hive!” Carson tried to object, but he couldn’t talk with Twig squeezing the air out of him. Some of the changelings couldn’t help but laugh at the sight, knowing that Twig could forgive pretty easily. Shawn tapped Twig on the shoulder. “I..uh...think that’s good enough, Twig.” “I dunno.” Stan smirked. “I think Twig still wants to forgive Carson a bit more.” He smiled at Carson, who was still glaring at him. Twig let go of Carson and smiled. “I’m just glad that she’s still asleep, you wouldn’t believe how many times I had to knock her out while I got here.” Carson coughed. “W-wait, you had to knock her out more than once?” Twig nodded. Making others look at the princess who was still tied up. “When exactly did you get a hold of her, Twig?” Stan asked. Twig crossed his eyes. “Um...probably a few days ago, it took me a while to get her in the first place. I had to wait a few days.” Shawn tilted his head. “How many times did you-” “‘bout three, I just kept hitting that knock out spot every time she woke up.” The others started questioning some of this. On of the DJ’s glanced at Cadance. “At least you put the green gunk on her horn." “Yup, B.N. told me horns are ponies power source, and where they open cans.” The others started getting worried again. “Um...Twig?” Shawn said. “How long ago did you...knock her out?” Twig went crossed eyed again. “Um...I forget…” “You forget?” Carson ran up to him. “What do ya mean you forget!?” “The changeling you are reaching is out of service.” Twig smiled while others started panicking again. “D-does that mean she’ll...wake up again?” One changeling said. “Are alicorns really as powerful as the queen said?” Said another “Can she do that blast thing again?” “Should we panic!?” “Did someling say pa-” “ENOUGH!” Everyone in the cave looked up at the DJ booth to see Shawn with determined eyes. “Listen! Everyling! Now’s not the time to panic!” “Now’s the perfect time to panic!” Carson yelled. “For all we know, the second that princess wakes up, she’ll undo the rope, get the gunk off her, and blast every single one of us!” “Alicorn or not, she’s still tied up and immobile…Uh…” Shawn looked over at Twig, who was holding the princess. “Y-you made sure to tie her up good...right Twig?” Twig smiled. “Yup, I used the triple knot method B.N. taught us!” “But Twig,” Carson came up behind him. “you don’t think that-” “I never think.” Twig held his head high while one of Cadance’s ears flickered. Carson groaned. “Twig, we need to think, actually...Shawn, how about you think.” “ME!?” Shawn pointed at himself. “Who went unconscious and made me leader.” Hooves were raised, making Shawn facehoof. “It’s a rhetorical question.” Stan stood up. “I would, but I’d rather not be the center of attention again.” Twig adjusted his grip on Cadance, making her start to stir in her sleep. “Maybe we should vote, who all votes for team Shawn?” Twig raised his hoof, as did others. “I don’t want to lead any of this! I just want all of us to come up with something, not just me!” Shawn turned to the DJ’s “What about you two?” The DJ’s looked at one another then back at Shawn. “Ey we’ve already-” “been in the spotlight, I don’t think-” “We wanna do it again…” Shawn pulled his ear stems while Cadance’s eyes started to flutter. “Okay then, how about this. How about the second she wakes up we panic again and just freak out over every little thing that happens!” He started breathing heavily. “Really? That’s your plan?” Carson smiled Shawn glared at him and stepped down. “I’m being sarcastic!” Carson crossed his arms. “Sounds like you just don’t wanna help.” “Sound’s like you just wanna be a ignorant flank-” “Mmmmmmmhhh?” Everyone looked over at Twig and froze once they heard that, Twig himself looked at what he was holding and put on the same expression everyone else had. “She’s waking up guys…” Twig whispered. “S-should I hit her again?” “I dunno,” Carson said. “ask the leader.” At that moment, Shawn started coming up with something. “Wait..W-wait! I got it! Quick! Everyling! Go code purple! NOW!” “Code purple?” The other changelings were starting to question Shawn’s leadership. “Shawn, I doubt that she’ll-” “JUST DO IT! Before she wakes-” “W-whuuaats going on...w-where am I?”