//------------------------------// // Chapter Two: Part Nineteen // Story: The Misadventure Of: A Bunch Of Silly Ponies That Just So Happen To Not Be Applejack // by OCisbestpony //------------------------------// Chapter Two: Part Nineteen Colgate sneezed. It was a rather adorable affair really, though that fact was lost on her companions. You see, it was yet another sneeze in a long chain of them. The first one drew a smile from Zecora, a chuckle from Lyra, and a bemused head shake from Bon-Bon. The second drew snickers from everypony save Berry (who had grown an immunity to Colgate's rather adorable sneezes over the years). The third finally provoked laughter, which did much to lighten the mood. After that however, it became old news. To be more accurate, it became old news after about the eleventh or twelfth sneeze. From the fourth to the tenth, the whole cave had ended up erupting in laughter, with each sneeze only making the joke grander and grander. But around the 9th or so, the laughter died down and the last laugh was had after the tenth (it was, to her surprise, Zecora who had laughed that last laugh). This sneeze, the sneeze she just sneezed, was her twenty-third sneeze. If she had known that blowing the dust all over like she had would have caused this, she would have never done it. As it was however, her poor nostrils got full of it, and despite all of the sneezes that she sneezed, they never seemed to quite get rid of it all. On the bright side, the entrance to the stairs had finally cleared up. On the not as bright side, Zecora was still not ready to stand. With the constant sneezing Colgate had begun to do, the healing spell had lost much of the necessary power it needed to work properly. In fact, it had become little more then the equivalent of a pony-sized Novocaine shot. Not a whole lot of healin', but a whole lot of numbin'. Not that Zecora minded too much. At least, she never complained, so Colgate figured that she was okay with it. Still, the problem remained that the stairs were now free, and yet they had an immobile Zebra to deal with. “Are you certain she is unable to stand?” Bon-Bon asked, her voice on the edge of annoyance. “Well,” Colgate sneezed again, “I'm not an expert when it comes to these kind of things, but I'm pretty sure. I mean, I'm a dentist, not a doctor.” “I see. Well, this is troublesome. If I had to guess, given the time it's taken us to clear this place, I'd say that the battle we'd run from will be here shortly.” “I could take a quick look!” Lyra beamed. Bon-Bon shook her head. “No, it-” “'-'s too dangerous.'” Lyra said, rolling her eyes. “Really Bon-Bon? You're gonna use that line on me?” Bon-Bon let out a sigh. “Alright. Fine. But m-” “'-ake it quick.'” Lyra finished for her, grinning. Bon-Bon was not quite as amused (Well, okay, she was slightly amused, but she didn't want to show it). With that, Lyra trotted over to the teleporter, focused her magic, and in a flash, she was gone. “To enure the safety of your little band, you should leave m-” Zecora began. “Impossible” Both Bon-Bon and Colgate interrupted Zecora mid-syllable. They looked at each other in surprise, then Bon-Bon made an 'after you' gesture-which was immediately followed up with one from Colgate. The two paused for a moment. Then both made the same gesture once more, though with a bit more force behind it. A sort of: 'After you, I insist!' Again, another pause, and this time they glared at each other. Berry, however, found herself feeling rather uncomfortable with the whole exchange. Granted, Colgate didn't know that, but if she had, then she would have been less startled when Berry suddenly spoke up, “Uh, yeah, so like they said, there's no way we can just leave you here. Not happening.” “With your wishes I … will comply. But I must ask this simple question: Why? If behind I were to stay, I could buy you precious time to get away.” Zecora asked, looking a bit confused. “Because friends don't abandon friends.” Bon-Bon said simply. Zecora was suddenly struck dumb. To Colgate's eyes, it looked as though she had just been knocked upside the head. Zecora's eyes grew suddenly large, and her mouth hung slightly open. It was clear that of all the answers Bon-Bon could have given, this was the one she had least expected. “W-what is this you say? N-no, I cannot accept this way. Trouble is all I have caused you, and you would offer me friendship through and through? No, this canno-” “Oh put a cork in it Zecora.” Bon-Bon said, prompting the Zebra to once again look like it had just been struck in the face. “I don't know what you are talking about when you say you've caused nothing but trouble, but we're not leaving you here.” “But … why?” Zecora asked, clearly too dumbfounded to say anything more. “Because you're here.” Bon-Bon said, as though that explained everything. “Yeah. And you're hurt! As a doctor, there's no way I can leave you here!” Colgate added. “But didn't you say that you're a dentist, not a doctor?” Berry pointed out. “Well … yes. I did say that … but, uh...” Colgate suddenly felt a little foalish. “Well, you see, I work with teeth, not with the body. But the fact still stands that I took an oath to help hurt ponies in need! And Zecora here needs our help. After all, it was us who did this to her...” Colgate's head sunk slightly in shame. “Plus, why not? If there's one thing Twi-” Bo-Bon caught herself, closed her eyes, took a breath, then continued, “I mean, Princess Twilight has taught us, it's to be friends with everypony. Or, at least, to give them a chance.” Bon-Bon added. She opened her mouth to say more, but then a bright flash of light filled the room. “WE GOTTA GO!” Lyra cried as she dashed across the room. “SIT-REP?!” Bon-Bon cried. Lyra skidded to a dead stop, and turned to Bon-Bon, “The battle is at the pit stop as we speak. Ms. Jubilee's forces are holding them back, but it won't be long until the mons-” Suddenly the room filled with light once more, and everypony's eyes flew to the spot it came from. Sure enough, there stood a monstrous pony. Wreathed in flames and covered in what looked to be part of a pitchfork-and-torch mob of ponies, it let forth a mighty roar as it struggled to break free and charge right at them. Colgate froze. Never before had she seen such a beast. Granted, she had seen some pretty crazy things. She had been the pawn of an evil queen, had watched as a giant monster laid waste to the Equestrian landscape (well, more like the trees and the grass, and the local library), saw first-hoof the fury of an Ursa Maj-er-Minor, and was witness to the unparalleled power of both a rabid vermin herd, and monstrous (yet undeniably adorable) creatures from the Everfree Forest. There was also that time when timberwolves came into her garden and ate all of her azaleas. She never understood why it had to be the azaleas. Why not the dandelions? Those things taste awful. Not like the azaleas. No, those things were simply heavenly. But alas, they did her no favors and, left her poor garden a desolate wasteland of dandelions. On the plus side, they left the roses alone. But those tend to be a bit spicy without an azalea or two to accompany them. This creature, however, had nothing to do with roses or azaleas or dandelions. What it did have to do with, was fear. Lots and lots of fear. And Colgate was caught fast in its claws (that is, the terrible claws of fear) by the very sight of it, to say nothing of the roars it was giving out. So, with petty things like the power of thought thoroughly purged from her mind, she reacted to what happened next out of reflex, and little else. “LYRA, COLGATE, GRAB ZECORA AND FOLLOW ME!” Bon-Bon shouted, “BERRY, BEHIND ME!” Colgate's magic switched with surprising speed from her healing spell to the ever useful and versatile levitation spell, and suddenly felt the full weight of a Zebra weigh down on her mind. It lasted only a moment as she saw Lyra's magic combine with hers and Zecora lift off the ground. Without missing a beat, Lyra then grabbed Colgate's mane, gave it a hard tug, and began running after Bon-Bon. Normally, Colgate would have questioned this rather painful course of action. After all, that really freaking hurt! However, she saw the wisdom of it, as the pain had knocked her out of her staring stunned state. So, with all the speed her little hooves could carry her (technically, she had perfectly average sized hooves, if not close to ideal for a fine mare such as she! Well, okay, she was flattering herself a little, as her hooves were ever so slightly oversized … but only a little!), she ran for the stairs carrying a very surprised Zebra directly behind her. And not a moment too soon! As they hit the entrance and began scrabbling up the stairs, she heard something huge smash into the wall behind her, and not a moment later, she heard the loud pop of the teleporter activating once more, followed by another roar, but from a different beast. She heard the sounds of chaos behind her as she heard more and more pops and more and more roars and the sounds of what must have been hundreds of ponies trying to scream and shout over the sounds of their foes. Just as they reached the top, and barreled through the doorway, Colgate heard one final sound from below. She heard a voice, as clear as a bell, of a pony she had come to know well. “EVERYPONY,” Cherry Jubilee's voice rang out, “RETREAT!” The real question, however, was where, and what was Mr. Turner doing? As fate had it, he was riding an ill-fated train headed to Dodge Junction, not two days prior to the above event. You see, he had received a letter informing him that his expertise was needed just south of the Equestrian border, and the letter informed him that it would be wise indeed if he was not late for this most very, most important, and most vital, of dates. This would have proven no problem, save that he had gotten the letter several days past when he suspected that he was supposed to receive it (a pony with pink hair and a yellow coat had received it by accident, but apparently it took her several days to build up the courage to give it to him). If it hadn't been for this delay in the letter's arrival, he would have had more then enough time to gather together sufficient provisions, compony, and various other things he would have needed for the journey. He also would have noticed he had hopped onto the wrong train. Rather then take the train that headed south of the border through the rather new town of Appleloosa, he had taken the Dodge Junction Express Line (making stops at Dodge Junction, Ponyville [on EVEN days ONLY], and Canterlot). And so, he was there when the train had suddenly, and quite unexpectedly, jumped high into the air. Sadly for him, he had nodded off before that had happened, and had awoken with a rather nasty headache from having knocked his noggin about after he had been launched from his seat (as well as a sore neck, the poor guy). He also had awoken to discover the various items he had brought with him had gone and disappeared. After spending many fruitless minutes looking about the cabin for them, the only item he had found after all was said and done was his diploma (it was actually a copy, as the actual diploma was kept at Canterlot University for safe keeping. This was standard procedure, and Time was actually quite glad for it). Granted, it didn't help that he was in the over crowded poor pon-um-'Economy' section. Not that anypony would have taken his effects mind you, but given that ponies were all but hanging out of the windows, there was little chance that he was going to be able to find the various things he had brought for his journey amongst them. A pity, for one of the items was his map of Equestria. Still, he knew that he had to head south, and in his mind, that was good enough! Colgate's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. They had plowed into the dragon's lair, and into the poor ponies in front of her and Lyra. Lyra had been on her toe-erm-hooves, and so had noticed that Bon-Bon and Berry had stopped running. Poor, poor Colgate. Being ever the pony to suffer random tumbles, falls, collisions, and sudden shouts of joy with enough force to send her flying, had not noticed. To be fair, prior to all of these recent events, she was subject to such things no more then your average Equestrian. Sure she tripped, fell, and even kissed the dirt from time to time (well, she never actually KISSED the dirt per say, that would be weird, like that one time when she-), but it wasn't anymore then say, Lyra, or even Bon-Bon did. But that simply didn't matter now, for she suddenly found herself in the middle of a pretty pony pile … of pain. Oh, and poor, poor Zecora. Anyway, injured zebras who found themselves suddenly subject to the forces of gravity aside (even her cries of pain rhymed!), Colgate untangled herself from them and got to her hooves (all the while constantly apologizing for being so clumsy). Sheepishly, she reached out to Zecora once more, and helped pick her up off the floor. “Never mind that,” Bon-Bon said as she stood, “Look.” And with that, Colgate turned her eyes where Bon-Bon pointed. There was nothing there, aside from the massive pile of gems, gold, and other assorted treasures. “W-Where's the dragon?” Colgate said, rather shocked. “It would seem the fearsome beast took flight. Unless it found some other way to stay out of sight...” Zecora mused. That did little to help Colgate feel better. “What do you mean, 'stay out of sight'? Are you saying it's hiding?!” Zecora opened her mouth to speak, but was interrupted by the sounds of solid stone being smashed to pieces from the bottom of the staircase. She looked back at it, then back at Colgate, “It would seem the time for questions has past! Come, let us flee, for against those monsters we will not last!” The four of them nodded. Colgate cast a quick glance around the lair. Holy colt, this dragon was loaded! Colgate noted that there must have been enough gold in this chamber to pay for her entire tuition at least a thousand times over, if not a couple of thousand times. And not just gold either, but all sorts of precious and semi-precious gems and other such things just lying about all over the place. Not only that, she could see that this dragon clearly had impeccable taste in both art and furniture. Granted, all of said pieces were scattered about haphazardly and all very much too small for a dragon (well, the furniture anyway. Sure the art may have been a bit small for the typical dragon household to hang on the wall, but art is immune to such petty concerns! Right?). She even noted the odd scepter or cape, or other fashion accessories. Sadly however, it seemed that this dragon did not have the same eye for fashion as it did art. Furniture and art: clearly a connoisseur. Fashion and fashion accessories? No taste what-so-ever. “Though that passage we must go. And from there, to you the way out, I will show.” Zecora said nodding towards what looked to be a pony-sized entrance into this lair (not to be confused with what looked to be a huge dragon-sized entrence into this lair). “Understood.” Bon-Bon said as she broke into a full gallop. “Wait a minute! Weren’t you the one who was all suspicious of Zecora?!” Berry asked through heavy breaths. She was not a fit pony, and the sudden sprinting, plus the clearing of debris, was beginning to take its toll. “Indeed I was, and I will admit that I still am, but at this moment, we have little choice in the matter.” Bon-Bon replied coolly. “A right you shall take, then two lefts you shall make.” Zecora listed off as she hovered swiftly behind the little group. Colgate took a moment to glance over her shoulder to look back at where she knew the stairs were, and saw a massive plume of dust erupt forth, accompanied by a deafening smash, and a roar loud enough to shake the walls and the treasures that covered the floor. Colgate nearly froze as she watched a monster erupt from the cloud and charged directly at their group. She gasped and did just about the only sensible thing a pony in her position could do: she picked up the closet random thing and threw it at the thing's face. Said thing happened to be a particularly lumpy scepter, which the monster grabbed with its mouth, and bent its neck to throw right back at her. Then, it paused. Colgate could see it looking at the scepter, considering its value. Then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lyra look back, smile, and open her mouth. “Some nice booty, an't it?! Shame it would be if you guys came all this way and left empty hoofed! I mean, an't ya tired of being pushed around by those dragons?” She stopped running, and turned to look at the creature, which, in turn, had turned to appraise her. “I mean, look at you guys. There's no way a dragon could take you guys on now! So why not, oh, I don't know, take the booty that's supposed to be yours to begin with?” Colgate's heart stopped. Was she nuts?! She too stopped running, lest Zecora accidentally get dropped to the ground again. “Ly-”ra, are you nuts?! She began to say. “YOU. ARE. RIGHT.” The monster said, its voice causing the ground to rumble. It then turned to the hoard, and began scooping it up in liberal measure. She even watched it as it began swallowing entire mouthfuls of coins. Colgate's surprise knew no bounds, and was so stunned that she didn't even react when a second monster plowed directly into the first one, and the two began fighting over a chest. The third one to join the brawl knocked her out of it, as the fight sent the very same scepter that she had thrown, directly into her face. Fortunately, the impact was somewhere between 'OW, THAT REALLY HURT' and loosing the ability to remained focused on one's magic. With a shake of her now throbbing head, she turned (as did Lyra, who looked very, very pleased with herself), and began running towards the exit once more. “Mr. Turner, I am sorry for you, I really am, but I simply can't just LET you take a ride back to Ponyville for free.” The ticketmare said, sadly shaking her head. “But my money all fell out on the train! I have to go back! I don't have anything on me anymore, and I need to head south!” Time shouted in desperation. “I can't go south without proper provisions or equipment! And I need money to get them!” “Again, I'm sorry, but I simply can't help you. NEXT IN LINE PLEASE!” she responded, then shouted pleasantly. “Please! You gotta be able to help somehow!” he begged. “Again, Mr. Turner, there is nothing I can do. I am sorry for you, I really am, but I simply can't just give you a ticket for nothing. Perhaps Ms. Jubilee has some work or something you can do. She often has odd jobs that need to be done here and there. NEXT PLEASE!” The ticketmare said once more, trying to look over his head to see behind him. Time Turner let out a sigh. It was clear that he wasn't going to win this argument. He hadn't won the last two either, and he figured that he wasn't going to win a fourth, So, dejected and defeated, he turned away from the window, and left the office. He paused outside the door. The train he had come in on was in a sorry state. That bandit raid had done a number on the poor locomotive, and he could see a large number of worker ponies trying their best to put together some hasty repairs. He took a deep breath. The dry air smelt of dust, and made him sneeze slightly. “Well Doctor Turner,” he said to himself, “A fine pickle you've gotten yourself into this time.” He let out a sigh. If his field of study had received the recognition it rightly deserved, he would have had an assistant to handle all of these sort of details. Or, better yet, a companion of some kind to have on hoof to help keep his affairs in order. Sadly, he had none of these things. Indeed, the only thing he had now was the copy of his diploma. Well, that and his nearly unparalleled knowledge of the nature of Temporal matters. But both did him little good at the moment. He let out a sigh. What to do? Should he try as the ticketmare suggested, and seek out this 'Ms. Jubilee'? No, that wouldn't work. It would take too long to earn the money needed and to head back to Ponyville. Well, there was clearly only one option! He looked high into the sky and collected his courage. Then, turning to the edge of town, he started walking south. Colgate's legs were screaming with pain. Ever since they had left the lair, they had been running non-stop. To say nothing of the mild hornache she was getting from focusing on the levitation spell for so long. And it seemed as though they had been running forever, as the pathways and the passages never ended. A turn here, a pivot there; it seemed as though they were simply going in random directions. Still, Zecora seemed to know where they were going, so on they ran. Bon-Bon had taken the lead, with Berry close behind her. Lyra came next, with Zecora hovering behind her, and last in line was Colgate. For awhile, there had been enough room for both her and Lyra to run to the side of each other, with Zecora in the center, but as they traveled further and further, the passageways (which were more like cave tunnels then anything) got more and more narrow, until they were forced to run through them single-file. The ceiling also got lower and lower as well. It made for a very claustrophobic experience, even for a pony like Colgate who didn't have said phobia. “Bon-Bon, can,” Berry gasped for breath, “we please slow down? I-I don't think that those things can follow us anymore!” she managed. Not easy from Colgate could tell, given that she was clearly exhausted and had to shout over the sounds of their stampeding hooves. “NO, WE HAVE TO KEEP GOING!” Bon-Bon screamed back, her voice on the edge of panic. “But why?!” Berry cried. Colgate had to agree with the idea of stopping. She was feeling very winded, and she could only guess how exhausted the others must be. “WALLS.” Bon-Bon shouted out, “T-THE WALLS!” It was hard to see form back where she was, but she was sure she could see Bon-Bon look to the sides of her, then up, then suddenly run even faster. “Aww, freak...” Lyra said, “Not good...” Colgate looked at Lyra, then tilted her head to try and look ahead at Bon-Bon. “What? What's going on? Wait, don't tell me Bon-Bon's-” “Afraid of small places? Yeah, she is.” Lyra said, shaking her head, and picking up her pace. “Normally, she's pretty good at keeping it under control, ya know? But every one in a while she just straight-up loses it.” “We gotta calm her down! She's gonna loose us at this rate!” Colgate panted, as she too tried to gallop even faster to keep up with Berry and Bon-Bon. The strain on her body was beginning to take its toll, and she could feel it even beginning to affect her magic, as maintaining it became harder and harder. She glanced quickly at Zecora, who was looking down at the ground with wide eyes. Colgate glanced down to see that she was only hairs away from being dragged on it. “Tired I know you must be, but, please, higher you must lift me!” Zecora pleaded helplessly. Colgate realized at that point she had two choices. Either slack on the spell and let Zecroa drag, or slow her pace and fall behind. Since neither was an option, she turned to Lyra, “Come on! There's gotta be something we can do! And why now of all times?!” Lyra grit her teeth, closed her eyes, and let out a heavy sigh, as if accepting something she really didn't want to. Then, she turned to Colgate, “Colgate. I'm sorry, but you gotta take Zec-” And then, quite suddenly, they were blinded by the bright glare of sunlight, the sudden hold of gravity, and the sudden realization that they were falling (Zecora smiling all the while). The griffin touched down at the entrance to the covered platform that over looked the entire gully. It shook its head and opened the door, muttering to itself about how much trouble these stupid ponies were turning out to be. As it stepped into the room, several ponies looked up at it and did something of a half salute. It didn't much care for that, and it really only made the ponies do that to irritate them. It made its way over to the glass wall and overlooked its operation. At least things were going to plan, thus far. Granted, having one of those Unicorn Ponies and their magic would have helped its operation a great deal, but after dealing with that blue freak of nature, it decided that Earth Ponies and Pegasus Ponies were good enough. At least they didn't randomly explode. The teal (or was it mint-colored?) unicorn reacted the way it was supposed to when the cloth hit its horn, but the blue one.... It shook its head again. The whole experience had left a bad taste in its beak. Oh well. Unicorn or no unicorn, it still had the hundreds and hundreds of ponies slaving away in the gully. With any luck, they'll soon get another dragon, reaching the goal of 7. After that, if all went well, then it was a simple matter of having them all fall asleep and then using the pegasai it had wiped to spread the smoke all over that pony puke of a nation! Not to mention the Dragon lands to the south. It sat down and watched as the task-ponies it had talon-picked drove their kin to dig faster. Always faster. They could never dig fast enough. And for good reason. Thus far, it had managed to stay just under the radar of the prissy pony princesses, but it knew that it wouldn't be able to keep it up too much longer. Sure, the cloth it had found wiped the memory of that pony from the minds of the other ponies, but even it knew that eventually somegriffin would notice all the missing ponies. Its operation had been foiled once before, but that was before it had found the cloth. Blank slates were much easier to control then ponies who knew who they were. It wondered once more if wiping a pony like that lasted forever. It shrugged. It didn't much matter as far as it was concerned, nor did it much care. If all went well, then it could wash its talons of these pesky pony pests once and for all, and its poor younger sister's honor would finally be restored! Those ponies would finally learn that nogriffin, and it meant NOGRIFFIN, messes with a griffin's hono- And then it saw five ponies (four ponies and a Zebra to be exact), suddenly come flying out of a tunnel, and land right in the middle of the gully. Well then. Looks like it'll get not only a second chance at getting a unicorn (two even!), but it'll get to see if the cloth will work on a zebra... Colgate coughed as the dust around them swirled from the impact, and she suddenly found herself getting to her hooves as quickly as possible. She blinked as the sun and dust stung her eyes, and tried her best to look around. Sadly, that only proved to worsen the situation. The five of them were smack dab right in the middle of a huge gully; surrounded on all sides by ponies, and even a few dragons lazily hovering around. And while one could say gully, it's almost more accurate to say ravine. Huge rock walls shot straight up all around them, and Colgate saw that they were peppered with hundreds of holes. She could see ponies swarming in and out of them, and she could see mining equipment all around. And, high above her, attached at the top of one of the walls, was a large platform that clearly looked like an observation deck. What made it all worse, was the fact that she could see that every pony within eye shot, was a blank-flank. The action in the gully paused for a moment, as all eyes turned and stared at them. Then, all at once, the ponies moved like some kind of hive, and began to surround them. Bon-Bon was not helping either. It seemed that her panic from the tunnels was only escalating and that Berry, as well as poor, poor Zecora, had been knocked clean out (poor Berry had acted [rather unwittingly] as Colgate's landing cushion you see). Lyra, while conscious, was also beginning to look rather worried. All-in-all, things looked rather bad for them. “Lyra?” Colgate said, backing away as best as she could from the approaching ponies, “W-what do we do?!” Colgate cast a glance at her, hoping to see something of a plan on her face. All she saw were frantically darting eyes. “Uh...” she said, “We, uh...” she paused, then looked at Berry, “Colgate! Quick! Wake her up!” “W-” “HURRY!” “RIGHT!” And with that, Colgate sent a huge surge of magic (quite a bit more then she should have. Hello migraine) directly into Berry, who's eyes suddenly popped right open. She gasped for air, then said, “Ow! Wh-” “BERRY, GIVE ME THE BOTTLE!” Lyra cried. “Huh? Wh-” “HURRY!” Lyra shouted once more. Berry blinked, but never-the-less held her hoof up. Colgate looked at her curiously. What was she do-and then she watched as the very same bottle that she had given to Zecora suddenly appear in her hoof. Colgate gasped, as Lyra suddenly grabbed it, and turned to Bon-Bon, who looked ready to break and run for it. “HEY,” Lyra shouted at her, “BB!” Suddenly, Bon-Bon's panic turned into raw fury, as she turned to Lyra and said with a growl so menacing that it caused Colgate to shrink back (as well as Berry, and even Zecora … if she had been awake), “WHAT. DID. YOU. CALL. M-” Before she could finish her dire threat, Lyra suddenly shoved the bottle into her mouth, grabbed the fluid with her magic, and forced it down her throat. “Drink up!” she said, with far too much glee. Then time froze. That is, it froze for everypony, save Bon-Bon. Her eyes bulged and she gagged as Colgate suddenly saw stars fill the air around her. Then, she saw her become wrapped in light, and the world around them disappeared and they all found themselves in what looked like a large tunnel of light surrounding them, and Colgate swore she suddenly heard heroic music swelling as the light around Bon-Bon intensified. She watched as Bon-Bon lifted from the ground and brown, green, and grey hues shot from the walls surrounding them and wrapped themselves around her rear hooves, swirling with increased speed until suddenly, and quite magically, the colors exploded and revealed a par of muddy, old, combat boots (complete with large army knife). Colgate watched as the hues gathered once more and snaked their way up her legs and wrapped around her waist. This time they shimmered, and dissipated revealing a pair of torn and beaten combat pants. Bon-Bon spun once, twice, and Colgate noticed that her eyes (well, the eye that was not patched) were closed in a look of serenity. Then her body and forelegs became wrapped in the hues. She brought both of her forelegs above her head, and began to spin in midair. Slowly at first, but picked up speed at an alarming rate. She became a blur of earth-tones and Colgate watched as lighting shot forth from the tunnel about them and struck the whirling cocoon. It wrapped itself around Bon-Bon's swirling mass, and then it all exploded to reveal Bon-Bon's final form. Colgate was stunned. Bon-Bon was covered head to hoof in combat gear. She wore a camo jacket, beaten and worn. She had a belt, which was covered in all sorts of things. Her hair was messy, and bore battle scars. Her eyepatched eye had a long scar running from above it to long beneath it, and around her head, was a bight red headband. Bon-Bon then slowly descended to the ground, and as she did, the world around them returned once more to normal. Bon-Bon had changed. Bon-Bon had become a commando. If Bon-Bon were aware that she were in a story, she would like to remind the reader that she has never been a commando, nor been in the direct service of the Princess. Though, if you ask me, that claim doesn't hold much water anymore, but we digress. Bon-Bon's good eye opened, and she looked left and right. She then cracked her neck and looked calmly up at the sky, then forward once more. “Lyre,” she said in a deep, gravely voice, causing Lyra's eye to tic, “I really hate that name...” Bon-Bon ran over the mission in her head. Her target was the Griffin. It was clear to her that it was doing the exact same thing it was last time she was here, and this time, it was using powerful magic to do it. And unlike last time, Bon-Bon could actually do something about it. She grit her teeth. She had been powerless before, and had fled when she and Lyra had found this place. Fled straight back to Ponyville, and, in her current mind, cried all the way to the Princess. Not this time. This time, it was personal (after all, she and Bonnie Bonnet were good friends!). Colgate watched as Bon-Bon dashed forward directly at a large group of blank-flank ponies. Before she could ask her if she'd gone insane, she saw as Bon-Bon pulled two small objects out of her belt, and toss them at the ground in front of the ponies. A bight flash filled her eyes, almost blinding her. Luckily, she was far enough away that she recovered quickly. Quickly enough to watch Bon-Bon leap over several stunned ponies, jump off the head of one, onto a rock face, scramble up the rock wall, leap from the wall, and kick a descending dragon clean in the face. And she was only getting started. She reached once more into her belt, and thew a rope around the surprised dragon's mouth, and yanked on it, hard, as she fell. The dragon, not yet recovered from the first blow, dropped out of the air, and crashed directly upon the group of ponies that Bon-Bon had stunned. Still not finished, and still falling, she cried out, “LYRA, SHIELD!” Lyra, not missing a beat, threw up a shield just as Bon-Bon landed directly on the downed dragon's neck, causing it shoot a fireball, and filled the entire gully with fire. When the smoke cleared, Colgate saw ponies all about her who were charred black. They all blinked a couple of times, and Colgate found the stark contrast between the large whites of their eyes, and the charred black of their bodies and clothes to be rather silly. Then, almost at once, they all let out a puff of air (smoke really) from their mouths, and promptly passed out onto the ground. It was right about then she suddenly heard a huge crash from above, and looked just in time to see a second dragon crash into the wall, and come falling down towards them. “RUN!” Lyra cried as she wrapped Zecora in her magic. Colgate, quick as a whip, grabbed Berry (wow she was heavy!) as well, and ran … the opposite direction as Lyra. Luckily, the dragon still missed them, but the impact lifted Colgate off her hooves and almost into the wall. Luckily, her poor cranium was spared from rock-related damages. Berry's body (which proved to be remarkably cushy [which might explain why she was harder then expected to lift] and soft) took Colgate's damage for her once again. Poor Berry. Colgate got to her hooves and, after offering many apologizes to Berry, looked up once more. Her jaw dropped as she saw Bon-Bon wrapped around the neck of one dragon, and using it to block the various gouts of fire and body blows from three other dragons. When she had an opening, Colgate saw Bon-Bon pull out what looked like a long tube, and fire something into another dragon. She quickly put it back, and used her rather hostile mount as a body shield from the counter attack. The dragon she was on reeled, and she lept from it, and onto the one she hit. It roared, then, quite suddenly, it went silent, and fell straight out of the sky (Colgate couldn't help but notice giant 'Z's coming from the dragon's mouth). The other three followed it down as it fell, their eyes burning with terrible rage. Bon-Bon then cried out, “GET IN A CAVE!” Figuring that it was a good idea to listen to a pony who'd just taken out three dragons by herself, Colgate grabbed Berry once more, and dashed into the nearest cave she could find (which, thankfully, wasn't all that hard, for there were caves all over the place). She paused a moment to look back, just in time to see Bon-Bon pull out what looked to be a dozen or so small balls (more like, egg-shaped objects), and toss them at the walls above the dragons. Then, all at once, the whole of the gully exploded. More accurately, the little balls exploded when they hit the walls, and caused the tops of the rock walls to fly off, and come crashing down upon the suddenly very surprised dragons. Colgate dove for cover in the little cave she ran into, and heard a thunderous crash as rocks, dragons, and presumably Bon-Bon all hit the ground, and dust flew into her little cave, blocking out the light. After several moments, Colgate focused her magic. Her horn glowed and filled the dark space around her. She turned around. It seemed that a large boulder had felt the need to fall and block the entrance to her cave. Before she could give it much thought, she heard a terrible roar. It sounded much clearer then it should have, given the blocked entrance. That must mean that another, unblocked, entrance was nearby! But, what to do with Berry? She looked at her sleeping friend and paused a moment. “She'll be fine, right? Besides, it's not like I'm going very far, I can come right back!” Colgate said to herself. She knew this was a bad idea, but she went for it anyway. Offering another apology, she dashed down the tunnel, and after a sharp bank, a sudden turn, a left at the fork, and a right at the round-about, she found herself at the edge of another entrance, and watching Bon-Bon and another dragon duking it out. He jaw hung as she saw Bon-Bon leap from large bolder to large bolder (and the occasional unconscious dragon), dodging the dragon's attacks. How many of these things where there?! Bon-Bon once more pulled out that tube (now that Colgate was much closer, she could see it was a blowgun, with a silencer), and fire a tiny dart into the dragon's skin. Colgate was amazed. How did she even know that little spot of exposed skin was there? She ducked as said blowgun suddenly flew directly at her face. It missed, and shattered on the wall behind her. She looked up, wide-eyed with surprise. The dragon had finally gotten a solid blow in, and had knocked Bon-Bon into the wall beneath Colgate. It turned, staggered slightly, and began stumbling towards them. Unfortunately for it, Colgate was a dentist. Now, normally, one would have assumed that Colgate would have used this moment to heal Bon-Bon a bit, and send her back into the fray to finish the job. However, Colgate was, at times, a bit too proactive for her own good. So, rather then heal Bon-Bon, she sent a serious injection of Novocaine directly into the dragon's talons … as well as its head. A bit unnecessary, she admitted, but she wanted to be darn sure. Luckily for her, it just so happened that this particular dragon was highly susceptible to Novocaine. And thus, it promptly collapsed, pinning poor Bon-Bon under its rather pointed chin. Colgate too thought this would be a fine time for a nap, as she too collapsed onto the floor. It seems that last burst of magic took more power was more then her poor pony body had left in it. And the last thing she saw before the world went dark, was a friendly pegasus land next to her. Wait, that's not a pega... “Well, well, well.” Said a voice Colgate had come to dread. “It seems our little FREAK-a-corn is finally awake!” Her tired and groggy eyes slowly opened to a scene that she had hoped was only ever in stories (or cheesy movies). She was tied up, lying on the floor, cloth on horn. Next to her was a gagged and struggling Berry. She was in a large room that looked as though it once had windows for walls, though now all the glass had clearly blown out. Looking around, she saw Bon-Bon tied up and hanging from the ceiling, and Lyra tied to a table (who was out like a light). She also saw three pegasai who where holding large sticks, poking Bon-Bon and keeping her in place. Colgate noticed they made a point of keeping the poles from her mouth and Colgate could see why (the forth, fifth, sixth, and seventh pegasai, who's heads were covered in bruises and large lumps, gave the reason away). And, standing next to the table (leaning on it to be more exact), was the frustratingly gender-neutral griffin. “Now that the one with the filthy mouth is gagged, Ms. Commando here finally pacified, and the freak awake, I can finally see if this thing works on a NORMAL unicorn!” It chirped, and pulled from its jacket the dark red and dirty gold cloth Colgate had come to fear. “You guys really did a number on my operation here. You took out all six of my dragons, knocked out most of my slave force, and turned my best bandits into infighting monsters.” It shook its head. “I gotta admit, I'm impressed. And I really want to know how you guys did it too. I mean, you an't the same pony you were when we tangled.” it said pointing a claw at Bon-Bon, who spit at it. “How in the world did you get so good?” It asked, getting a bit too close to her face. “Buzz off, birdbrain.” Bon-Bon snapped. “Fine. Let's see if you're so bold after I wipe you clean!” it shouted, and with a deft movement, pulled out a large knife, tossed it, and cut the cloth open covering Bon-Bon's cutie mark. Bon-Bon had tried to dodge it, but the poles had kept her from moving in time. The griffin then wasted no time as it dashed to Bon-Bon's side, laughed, and swiped the cloth across her cutie mark. Bon-Bon let out a cry and her eyes suddenly shot out white light (as well as her mouth) and she began twitching and convulsing uncontrollably. “HOLD HER DOWN!” it roared, and the pegasai dropped their poles, and grabbed her. The griffin pulled out another knife, ran to the other side of Bon-Bon, and cut open the pants, revealing her other cutie mark. “GOTCHA!” it cried as it swiped the cloth across the mark, and Colgate saw, to her horror, it come right off like dirt (or perhaps grape juice, though that tends to stain...). Bon-Bon stopped shaking about, and then sagged. All of the gear on her disappeared almost shamefully, and then her eyes came back to normal once more, save one detail: They were vacant, empty, and staring (though she did have her pupils, at least). “Huh. Well, that was kinda weird. Whatever, disappearing clothing or not, you're mine! Got that? YOU'RE MINE!” It shouted into Bon-(wait, what was her name?)'s face. She said nothing. In fact, it looked like she wasn't even there. “Hello? HELLLLOO? ANYGRIFFIN HOME?” it knocked on her head. Still no response. “Huh … now that's REALLY weird.” it looked at Colgate and Berry, then Lyra. “Geeze, what's with you ponies? Whatever. I still have this one I can wipe.” it pointed at Lyra. At the hanging pony flinched, but there was still nothing behind her eyes. “Oh?” the griffin raised an eyebrow. “That got a response did it? Well then. Tell me how you did it, OR THE TEAL ONE GETS IT!” it shouted, holding the cloth high in the air and shaking it. Nothing. “FINE!” it cried. “I'll do it anyway! I bet that one will at least be more normal then you two freaks!” it cried, shooting a look of daggers at Colgate and the hanging pony. She twitched once more. It then stood, and then Berry screamed through her gag. The griffin looked at her, curiously. It made a wave with its talon, and the pegasai ran over, and ungagged Berry. “P-Please! No! No more! Please!!” she cried. Cracking a huge grin, it walked over to her. “Oh? You gonna tell me what happened?” “Y-” “NO!” squeaked Colgate. The three pegasai did a double take, and the griffin fought a smile. “Now, now, now. Can't have any of that. Either she tells me, or I wipe her and make her tell me. Either way, she's gonna talk. Or, you know, you could.” it shrugged, “I'm flexible.” “You're a monster!” Colgate squealed. “This coming from the pony whose eyes flashed with cutie marks when I touched her with this little cloth.” it said, shaking both head and cloth. “C-Cutie marks?!” Colgate said. “Yeah. I didn't realize it at first, but when I saw all those weird symbols flash in your eyes, turns out those were all cutie marks.” it shrugged again. “I have no idea what it means, but right now, I don't really care. I just wanna know what you guys did to her.” it said, pointing a claw at the one still hanging from the ceiling. “I'll tell you everything! Please, just stop!” Berry cried. “Berry! No!” Colgate said. Berry opened her mouth, “Oh forget it! I should have done this to begin with!” it shouted and promptly walked over to Berry, and wiped both of her cutie marks. Unlike the other Earth Pony, Berry's eyes just went blank for a moment, then came back. “Huh? What?” She said, looking about, very confused. “B-” Colgate started. “YOU'RE MINE!” It screamed into Berry's face. Berry's ear flopped back and her eyes went wide with terror. “A-alright!” she cowered. “Finally!” it threw its arms in the air, “A NORMAL pony for once!” It then looked at Colgate. “See?! THAT'S what's supposed to happen!” it then turned back to Ber-the pony next to her, “So, your friend over there, the one hanging out, she was dressed like a commando a moment ago and took out my operation. How?” “Huh? Oh. She dra-” “-NK wonder potion! Y-yeah! That's the stuff! Really potent, that's for sure!” Colgate let out a nervous laugh, “Too bad she drank the last of it. Yep. All gone. Nothing left.” The griffin gave her a flat stare. “Gag her.” The ponies in the room wasted no time complying. “Right, what she'd drink?” it asked, turning again to the other pony. “She drank this stuff I made for a party. I'm not really sure how it works, but every time somepony drinks it, they become really strong.” she said with complete honesty. “Really? Huh. Where is it?” it asked, looking rather eager. “Lyra had it last. I don't know if there's any left though.” the pony shrugged. “Which one is she?” it asked, looking eagerly between the three remaining ponies. Wait, three? Where was Zecora? “She's the one on the table. The teal unicorn.” she said casually, nodding in Lyra's direction. “Really? Well, that makes this easy.” it said. Getting up, it walked over to Lyra's prone figure. The hanging pony twitched once more as it got close to the table, and the griffin shot her a mean look. “Oh shut up!” it shot. Colgate took a breath. Well, this gamble worked once, perhaps it might work again. She sent as a big a surge of magic as she could to her horn. Nothing happened. Or rather, she could tell that an explosion should have happened, but did not. She still got the migraine though. She let out a painful whimper. As the griffin approached Lyra's marks, it looked over at Colgate, and gave a little smile. “I'm guessing that little whimper meant you tried something, didn't it? Can you guess why you didn't explode?” The smile grew a little, “I hope so, 'cause I an't gonna tell ya.” then it turned back to Lyra. “Now then, time to see if this works!” It raised the cloth once more, high in the air, just as Lyra suddenly woke up. “Huh? Wha-” And then her marks were wiped. Colgate was rather surprised at her reaction. In contrast to Ber-(what was her name again?) and the other pony, Lyra didn't even react. She just kinda blinked a few times, looked around a little confused, and then at the griffin. There was a pause. And then the hanging pony went nuts. She thrashed about violently, causing her swing around like a wrecking ball. The griffin lept back, and Lyra looked over with wide eyes. “HOLD HER STILL!” the griffin screamed at the other three ponies in the room. They ran over, and one was knocked to the side for his efforts. The other two struggled to hold her still, and the third one got up, and ran over to the pony next to Colgate. “Come on! We need more hooves!” he said as he undid her ropes. She stood, saluted, and then ran over and, with the help of the other three ponies, finally got the hanging one to stop thrashing around. The griffin let out a breath. “Okay then...” it then turned once more to Lyra, “Right. Now, about you...” “What's up?” Ly-Ly-(Lyre? Was that her name?) said as casually and as friendly as one might say to a friend on the street. “AH HA HA HA!” the griffin cackled wildly, and continued to do so for several moments. L-erm-the table pony raised an eyebrow a little confused. “Uh, you okay there buddy?” she asked. After taking a few moments to recover, it then brought its face close to her's, “YOU'RE MINE! GOT IT?” She looked at him as if he had just stated the obvious. “Well, yeah. Duh. So what's up?” she asked again. The griffin looked taken aback, and needed a moment to regain its composure. “Huh, yeah, right. So, that pony over there, the one hanging upside down,” it said, pointing. “Bon-Bon? Yeah, what about her?” Bon-Bon? That was her name? Either way, the pony flinched at hearing the name, and for a moment, it seemed like something came back to those eyes. “What the? You arn't suppose to remember that! Whatever! I don't care anymore. So, that other pony right there,” it pointed at the pony that was next to Colgate, who gave a friendly smile, “says that the hanging one drank a potion or something that made her amazing. And she told me that you have it. Is that so?” it towered over Lyra, peering into her eyes. “Yea, I still got it. It's mostly empty though.” she said, and produced the same bottle that had caused so many problems. “Oh … it's full again. I forgot about that.” she said, shrugging. The griffin's eyes bulged and it grabbed the bottle, and yanked the cork right out (Colgate never recalled seeing a cork in it before, but given that the thing could appear out of thin air, refill itself, and seemed indestructible, she wasn't going to ask too many questions about it having and not having a cork). “Hey!” the pony who was tied up said, “be careful! Your bandits drank that stuff!” it was clear to Colgate it was trying to warn the griffin, but Colgate could see in its eyes that it was far gone. “OH FREAK! You're right!” the table-unicorn said, and tried to yank the bottle from the griffin's grasp. “OH NO NO NO, WE CAN'T HAVE THAT, AGAIN!” it cried as it yanked a brown cloth from its jacket, and tossed it on her horn. Her eyes suddenly went white and her head slumped to the side, her mouth opened, her tongue flopped out, and a little drool began to seep out. It then looked at the bottle once more. “This made those pathetic pony pukes into those things? ALL THE BETTER!” it cried as it lifted it high in the air, and, with a mighty gulp, downed the whole thing in one swig. “BY THE PUNY SUN PONY!” It cried as it threw the bottle, out a window, and into the gully. “THAT'S NASTY!” Then, its body suddenly twitched. Colgate heard a sickening gurgling noise come from its body, and suddenly parts of it began to swell and bulge out. It let out a painful cry as it began to grow more and more grotesque, and it got bigger and bigger. It wasn't long until it hit the ceiling, and, promptly broke through it. It began morphing and changing and it began to take a vague shape. Its two arms began to become huge and muscular, and its legs did much the same. Its wings grew fierce and fleshy as the feathers fell out and were replaced by massive, muscular, dragon wings. Its face elongated, and small gouts of fire began to creep out of the corners of its mouth. Huge spines began to sprout from its back and its tail feathers began to merge into one massive, swinging tail (also covered in massive spines). Not yet fully formed, but trembling with terrible power, it let out a cry that shook the very earth, and even the skies themselves. Colgate felt the world around her tremble, and she knew that it was all ove- And then, quite suddenly, the massive beast shrunk down to a tiny baby dragon, and fell. It landed face first, into the floor the room (with a nice splat sound too!). There was a moment of stunned silence as the ponies in the room stared at the adorable little thing in the center (well, not the hanging pony, she was still doing her whole, 'empty stare' thing, though she did rock back and forth a little when the thing made that noise). It then popped up, and looked around. Colgate daww'd. It was the cutest little baby girl dragon she'd ever seen. Granted, she's never SEEN a girl baby dragon before, but she was sure that if she had, this one would have won the prize. “Oh gosh! Are you guys ok?” the little dragon asked, her voice full of sincere concern. “I'm so sorry! Here, let me help!” she ran over to the table and cut the ropes holding the pony on it, as well as yanking the cloth off her horn. It then ran over to Colgate, and removed, not one, but two of the cloths from her horn, and cut her ropes as well. She then reached out a claw to help Colgate get up. “Wh-what happened to you?” Colgate asked, very glad to be free of that nasty gag (it was unwashed, and recently used). “Uh, well, I guess that drink kinda made me into a little helper.” the dragon said, blushing and kicking at the ground. It took all of Colgate's willpower to not grab her and squeeze her while squealing with delight the whole while. “What do you mean?” “Well … I kinda wanted to turn every single one of you ponies into slaves, and eventually kinda just make you all go away, but now I just really want to help you guys!” it said, forming tiny little fists of determination and shaking them to empathize the point. Colgate's jaw dropped once more. This little thing? “But, why?” “Well, I kinda had this plan to use them to take over the griffin lands, and then I figured I chase all of the dragons away, at the same time, and then, I don't know, make you guys disappear somehow (and make you guys pay for making my sister look like an idiot) … But I don't want to do that anymore!” she suddenly stood straight, and gave a salute, “Now I just wanna help! What can I do?” “Uh...” Colgate paused, and looked around. All eyes (save the hanging ones), were on her. “Any ideas?” she asked the ponies in the room, none of whom she recognized. The teal one (who was now off the table) shrugged, “Well, she's still in charge.” she said, waving a hoof at the dragon. “So I guess we'll do whatever she says.” Now, Colgate's been in some strange situations before, but this took the cake. Well, okay, it wasn't quite as strange as the one time when she and Berry had decided that combining various dental chemicals with bourbon was a good idea (that experience still caused her to look under her bed everyday), but it was pretty close. “Uh … can you, start by turning these ponies back to normal?” She asked tentatively. The dragon got a nervous look on its face. “I … uh … don't know if I can.” it said. “I, uh, don't know how...” it looked down at the ground, defeated. “I, used to, but it's been so long that I forgot...” Colgate put a hoof to her chin in thought. “Say, you were the one who made those brown cloths, right?” “Yeah! I totally did!” it said, perhaps a bit more proudly then Colgate was truly comfortable with. “So, I found these blueprints or something...” “Oh! OH! I totally remember those! I spent YEARS trying to make a cloth that worked right!” it said, slamming a fist into its other claw. “Ok, so I remember that there was one that had that red and gold cloth on it. It was really old.” Colgate's mind drifted back to those blueprints, and suddenly remembered the silly little heads that the griffin had drawn on them. She remembered that they had been chasing each other around and as she got to older and older blueprints, the one had begun to catch up to the other. She blushed slightly as she remembered the end of that silly little story (spoilers: the one caught up with the other and they fell in love). “Yeah … I kinda remember...” she replied, scratching her chin in thought. “Wait,” Colgate said, holding up a hoof, “I remember there was a little ghost pony coming out of it for some reason...” “THAT'S IT!” the dragon cried, “I REMEMBER NOW! I REMEMBER HOW TO FIX EVERYPONY!” “How?” Colgate said excitedly. “We tear the original cloth to pieces!” “T-That's it?” she said, a bit surprised that it was that simple. “Yeah! Except...” she trailed off. Uh oh … Colgate didn't like the sound of that. “Except...?” “Well, uh … it's kinda … almost indestructible.” she said. “WHAT?!” Colgate shouted. “Look, I'm sorry, but it's true! I-I have no idea how to destroy it! I'm sorry!” she cried, and fell to her knees, pleading before Colgate. Her eye twitched a number of times. “Y-you said, 'almost', right?” “Yeah. I mean, it could be, I just have no idea how. I mean, I've put that thing through some pretty rough stuff, and it didn't even get dirty! Well,” she shrugged, “anymore dirty then it already was.” “Well, great. Now what do we do?!” Colgate cried, and walked over the edge of the platform. She looked down at the scene of ruin and carnage below. Then a thought came to her. Where was Zecora in all of this? She looked around again. Nope, still not here. “Say, did you see a Zebra?” she asked the dragon. The dragon shook its head. “Not since all of you guys showed up. Nopony ran into her in the caves when we brought you guys here.” “Oh, Zecora? Yeah. I stuck her under a rock. Figured she'd be safer that way.” the unicorn pipped up. “A ROCK?” Colgate shouted “OF ALL THE IRRESPONS-”, then felt rather ashamed as she remembered how she had left … somepony … behind. She cleared her throat. “Well, where?” Colgate asked. The unicorn put a hoof to its chin, then shrugged, causing Colgate to 'UGG' in frustration. She looked once more down at the mess below. She caught a glint, and then an insane idea struck her. “Hey,” she said to one of the Pegasus Ponies, “Could you fly down there and grab that? I have an idea.” she said, pointing to said glint. He looked at her, looked at the dragon (who nodded), then looked down, shrugged, and flew down there. It took him a moment, but he found it, and flew back, with a nice bottle marked 'A.B.' “Here you go.” he said offering it to her. “Thanks.” she took it, then turned to the dragon, “I have this crazy idea. What if I soak the cloth with this stuff? I mean, this stuff is all about opposites, right? So, what maybe if we soak it, and try and wipe a pony's cute mark spot, it might put it right back!” “Hey! That sounds like might work!” the dragon pipped up. She then cast her glance around the room. “Now, where did I put that cloth …. Ah! There it is!” she ran over to a corner (even her little run was adorable!), bent down to grab it, and came back. “Here, you go!” she said, laying it on the ground before Colgate. Colgate took a deep breath. “Ok, let's see what happens...” She held the bottle up (which was full once more), took a breath of courage, and turned it upside down. The fluid hit the cloth, and the cloth absorbed every single drop. In fact, it kept absorbing it. The fluid kept pouring out, never ending, and the cloth kept soaking it all up. Colgate watched in awe as the cloth slowly, very slowly, became more and more soaked. She may not the foremost authority on magic, but she was pretty sure that this was strange even by magic's standards. After a good 20 minutes of solid pouring, the damp finally finally reached the gold border. Colgate was inclined to stop sooner, but the dragon brought up the point that if any part of it was dry, it might just suck the cutie mark right back up. It was then the sky went suddenly dark, and powerful updraft suddenly hit. The what little of the ceiling that was left of the room was ripped right off, and Colgate looked up, and right into the very maw of madness. This was both literal, and figurative. In the sense of the former, the sky had ripped open to reveal a massive maw that had begun to suck in the various loose things that the wind was bringing to it. In the sense of the latter, the maw was rather angry looking, and seemed to be a bit tipsy (if not perhaps flat-out drunk, for it was swaying back and forth dangerously). Despite this, Colgate had the presence of mind to let out a blood-curling scream. She was not alone. And, in panic, she fell to the ground, and began scrabbling desperately away from it. Granted, the thing was as high in the sky as a low flying cloud, and about as large as several Fancy Yachts from Canterlot, so this reaction didn't accomplish much. What was useful was Zecora's sudden, and surprising, appearance in the entrance of the now roof-less platform. “COLGATE, TO ME YOU MUST LISTEN! WE CAN DEFEAT THIS FEARSOME APPARITION! TO SAVE US FROM A FATE MOST DIRE, THE CLOTH, YOU MUST SET IT ON FIRE!” She cried over the sounds of the rushing wind. Colgate wasn't sure how Zecora could know something like that, nor was sure how she got here, but she wasn't about to ask too many questions with a giant mouth trying to eat the lot of them. So, out of both desperation, and fear, she focused, and tried to set fire to it. The cloth simply absorbed her spell. “IT ATE THE SPELL ZECORA!” Colgate shouted. “WAIT, LET ME TRY!” the dragon said, and took a mighty breath in (puffing out its chest). Then, it let loose, and covered the cloth in a mighty billow of fire. The cloth absorbed that too. “OH COME O-” Colgate cried. “TO HEAL THE SKY, TOGETHER YOU MUST TRY!” Both dragon and Colgate looked to each other, nodded, then tried once more. This time, it was too much for the cloth, and it burst into flames. The sky screamed, and promptly collapsed in on itself. The cloth lifted from the ground, and became wrapped in a light blue light. Suddenly, she saw a mote of light fire from it a hit the unicorn square in the face, and suddenly, LYRA (THAT'S HER NAME! COLGATE REMEMBERED!)'s cutie marks appeared once more. Then, another one shot from it and hit the other pon-BERRY! Then Colgate saw, to her astonishment, two lights fly from it and hit the hanging pony. Then a third, and forth, and fifth, sixth, ninth. She suddenly lost count and what seemed like dozens and dozens of them hit the hanging pony, who's name was … B-Bon-Bon! Then, all at once, the thing simply exploded and the whole sky was filled with little motes of light blue light. She saw as they settled on the other ponies, and she saw as they too had cutie marks appear on them. Then it finally dawned on her. It was the cloth itself that was had their marks and their memories. It was the cloth itself that held all of that in it, and when Colgate had been struck by it, she had felt all of those memories, all of those ponies, that had been sucked away into it. But the question was, why? That thought was quickly cast aside as her friends ran to her and gave her a tearful hug, glad to be back to normal, and finally safe. Well, everypony save poor Bon-Bon, who was still just kinda hanging out. “Uh, guys? Mind letting me down? I'm beginning to feel a little dizzy...” “Sorry BB!” Lyra said, running over to her. The Pegasus Ponies beat her to it, and freed Bon-Bon (they even had the good sense to set her on her hooves!). “Lyra,” Bon-Bon said, her good eye twitching, “I thought I told you I hate that name!” Lyra simply gave her a big grin. “So, uh, not to spoil the party, but am I always gonna be like this?” the little dragon asked. “Until you sober up, or take another drink.” Berry said, walking over and rubbing her head lightly. “Oh... What should I do?” she asked. “Well, I guess the best thing is to turn yourself in.” Lyra said. “That would be the best way to go about it. They would have you safely in custody by the time you changed back.” Bon-Bon pointed out. She shook her head a couple of times, and leaned on the table. The dragon looked rather downcast. “B-But I don't want to change back … I'm happy like this.” she said, rubbing the points of two claws on each other. “When I was normal, I was just angry and sad, and that made me unhappy all the time. I don't wanna go back to that!” “There's better ways of dealing with that then getting drunk, trust me.” Berry winked at her. “But you can't stay that way forever. Somedays you're gonna wake up, and you're gonna have to look into the mirror with yourself. And trust me, if you rely on that stuff to make you happy, when that comes, you're gonna feel the worse you've ever felt in your life.” She looked into the dragon's eyes and smiled. “Woah. That got real heavy, real quick. Where'd that come from Berry?” Lyra asked. “Thinking.” She said, looking up at her. “I've realized that I've been pretty much in the same boat. I was pretty unhappy, so I started making drinks to try and stay happy. Looking at this little guy, I realize that I was going about it all wrong.” she chuckled. “Happiness doesn't come from a bottle. It comes from being friends with yourself. And the first place to start, is right here.” she said, poking the little dragon in the chest, right over the heart. “You feel happy, right? Well, when you change back, try and remember what's making you feel happy right now. And if you hold onto that, then one day, you'll become just like this. And your happiness will last a whole lot longer then a bottle.” “R-really? No more anger? No more sadness?” the dragon asked, rather eagerly. “You'll still get those, 'cause sometimes you'll still hurt the ponies you love, and sometimes they'll hurt you, but if you'll learn to let it go, you'll be a lot happier, trust me. We all make mistakes, but if we try and change for the better, and try our best make things better, then things will usually work out. We just gotta learn to forgive ourselves, and others.” Berry explained, her smile becoming gentle and sincere. “I-I don't know if I know how...” the dragon said, hanging its head. Bon-Bon raised an eyebrow, “Berry, what are yo-” “A valuable lesson that is to learn. It is lesson of no small concern. If with me you would like to live, that lesson, I'd be willing to give.” Zecora said taking a step into the room. “Zecora? Are you sure? I mean, this little dragon was the griffin who did all of this!” Colgate said in alarm. “This little dragon being a griffin, this I know. But a better life, to it, I am willing to show. Hard work and quiet life it will require, but a second chance I will give you, if you so desire.” She said, approaching the little dragon. “Why?” asked Lyra, a bit surprised by all of this. “I mean, this guy-erm-girl-whatever,” “I'm actually a guy...” the dragon admitted. WHAT?! Colgate nearly shouted, but kept her peace. “Right... guy,” Lyra continued, “enslaved hundreds of ponies, robbed trains, and who knows what else! Why not just throw him into the slammer!?” “Agreed.” Said Bon-Bon coldly. “He deserves what is coming to him.” Zecora regarded them both coolly, then gave a small smile. “Because few ponies know better then I, that giving other a second chance is worth a try.” Lyra thought about that for a moment, then looked mildly embarrassed. “Yeah, I guess you got a point. We were kinda rough to you before Twili-” Bon-Bon shot her a glare, “-Princess Twilight showed up...” “No.” Bon-Bon said, staring at Zecora. “To this griffin you would deny, a chance at a second try?” Zecora raised an eyebrow. “Yes.” Bon-Bon said firmly. “Why?” Zecora asked, looking a bit skeptical. “I will give you three reasons. One: this griffin has caused major collateral damage to not only landscape, but to infrastructure as well.” Bon-Bon began. “A railway you have damaged, and a gully you have destroyed. Can you honestly tell me that these crimes you have not enjoyed?” Zecora asked, though without accusation. “I-Anyway,” Bon-Bon looked a bit ticked, “Reason two: This griffin has kidnapped hundreds of innocent ponies and forced them into slave labor, not to mention stealing their identities! And he admitted to planning an overthrow of his own kingdom.” Bon-Bon cracked a 'gotcha!' smile. “Did not Nightmare Moon try and cast the world into darkness? And did not Discord cast all of us into chaos and prove himself heartless? And yet, as friends and trusted allies they now stand. Did not friendship into their hearts land? What punishment, I ask you, was laid upon their heads? None, save a short sleep for Discord in a stony bed. So why not show to this griffin the same hoof of friendship? Or, would a possible friend from our hooves would you rip?” “And that brings me to reason number three. You!” Bon-Bon said, pointing an impassioned hoof at Zecora. Said zebra actually took a step back and blinked once or twice. “From the moment you showed up, you've been acting strange! Why should we trust you? What exactly are you trying to do here? And why do you want this Griffin so bad?” Bon-Bon asked, her eyes narrowing. “I-” “Bon-Bon!” Colgate piped up, stomping a hoof on the ground. Both zebra an pony turned and looked at her. “Why are you being so hard on her? I think she's right! And I think Berry's right too! Sure, this griffin hurt a lot of ponies, but I'm sure that if Zecora here showed him another way, then he'd be a wonderful friend! I mean, look at hi-uh-her! She's sorry for everything!” “That's only because she's drunk!” Bon-Bon shot back. “No she's not.” Berry shook her head. “I know drunk, and she's not drunk. I doubt that she's even got a buzz going on right now. Trust me, I know these things.” “Even so, we can't just let everything that's happened go!” Bon-Bon almost shouted. “You know what? Why not?” Lyra said, putting a hoof to her chin. Bon-Bon shot her a look of surprise and anger. “What? Hear me out. Think about it. Zecora's right. Nightmare Moon was Princess Luna, right? And Princess Celestia forgave her, right? Even gave her throne back. And what about that one pony? Trixie I think was her name. Even after she came back, Twilight-” “Princess-” Bon-Bon growled. Lyra rolled her eyes. “Fine. After she came back, Princess Twilight just let her go, right? And of course we've got Discord.” “What about the changeling queen? Or Triek? Neither of them got forgiven for what they did!” Bon-Bon snapped. “Well, neither of them was sorry for what they did. They woulda done it again in a heart-beat.” Lyra shrugged. “And so would have Discord. In fact, he did, remember?” “True...” Lyra seemed at a loss at that point. “It's because the Princesses knew that there was SOME good in him!” Colgate said, prompting the room to look at her (well, the occupants of the room, as the room itself had no eyes with which to look at her with). “And they knew that they just had to draw it out of him. Look at this little guy,” Colgate pointed at the dragon, who was now on the verge of tears, “now that she-uh-he's seen something better, the good in his heart's come out! And if you throw him in jail now, what little good that's come out will get ripped right out.” Colgate herself was not far from crying. She was rather surprised by what she had just said. She was all for throwing this giffin in the slammer and throwing away the key, but something Berry had said had struck a cord with her. Colgate had never fully realized why it was Berry had started her business. All she had known was that Berry drank, a lot. And now that she saw Berry completely sober, sober and happy even, for the first time in what felt like years, she knew that Berry was right. Zecora was right. Lyra was right. This griffin, like Nightmare Moon had become a victim to his hatred. It had taken him over. Now that it was gone, even for a moment, she saw that he truly wanted to change. “Bon-Bon, I know you're upset, but if we don't extend the hoof of friendship to this griffin, then all we've done is made everything worse. Bon-Bon,” Colgate paused, “what do you think Princess Twilight would do?” Bon-Bon looked between everypony in the room. He gaze sat upon each pony (and dragon) for a moment, as if coming to a conclusion about each. Then turning to the pegasus that helped Colgate (and freed Berry for that matter), she asked, “What do you think? You were one of the ponies enslaved by him. What do you think we should do?” He looked around, a bit nervous to suddenly be put on the spot. “Uh... I-I don't know. I mean, she's got a really good point, ya know?” he said, pointing at Berry, “and, so does she,” his pointing hoof moved to Colgate, “and she kinda does too.” he said looking a Zecora. “I mean, he treated us pretty badly. And sure, I'd love to see him get what's coming to him, but...” he seemed rather conflicted, and his face strained with thought. “I mean, what woulda happened if we'd thrown Princess Luna in jail? You know, as much as I don't really want to say this, I think they're right. I-I think...” he struggled as he tried to say what came next, “I think we should … trust her.” he said, pointing to Zecora. Bon-Bon regarded him for a moment, then looked a Zecora once more. “Fine. I'm not convinced, nor happy about it, but I won't get in the way. But you still haven't answered my other questions.” “Bon-” Colgate objected. “It is a request most fair. After all, she has every reason to care. I will not lie. There is another, reason, I wish to try...” Zecora looked at the little dragon once more. “In the Everfree I do make my home. But, until Twilight came, I felt very alone. A second chance she gave to me, and that chance changed me forever you see. What was sadness and loneliness became happiness and joy. And-” “You want to give this griffin the same chance because you sympathize.” Bon-Bon suddenly said. Zecora's smile grew a little. “Understand the situation well, you seem to. So now the question is, what will you do?” “I...” “Go. If anypony can show him the way, it would be either Tw-The Princess, or you, Zecora.” Colgate interjected. “I'd also put my bits on Fluttershy. I mean, she totally befriended Discord.” Lyra added. Berry shook her head. “Not likely. I'd put my bits on Rainbow. Fluttershy can't handle griffins. Way too intense. Trust me, I was there.” The dragon blushed a bit and kicked the ground. “Anyway, that aside, I … I still don't like it. But at least I finally understand what you did, and why. And … I'll trust you.” Bon-Bon said begrudgingly. “I still have to report all of this to Princess Twilight, but at least she'll understand.” “Then it's settled! We'll leave it all in your hooves Zecora. Take care of him.” Colgate beamed. Zecora smiled even more, and with what may have been a tear in her eye said, “Come with me little dragon kin. A new life, you have to begin...” She turned around and walked off of the platform. The dragon looked around at the ponies around her. Tears in her eyes. “Thank you! Thank you all so much!” and with that, she chased after the Zebra who would give he-him, a new life...