//------------------------------// // Chapter 14 - Non Sensus // Story: The Scrapper // by J8ck78 //------------------------------// "Alright, that's the last book." David called out. "Finally, I can go to bed." said Spike in relief. He started to walk up to his bed when he tripped over a large purple book. "Forgot one." laughed David as he walked over, "What book is this anyway?" Spike stood up and opened it. A bright light flashed before their eyes, revealing the six Elements of Harmony. "Oh, those things." commented David "Yikes!" said Spike closing the book. David took the 'book' from him and looked it over while Spike returned to returning to his bed. "Hey, uh, Spike, these things are the most powerful, whatever they are, in all of Equestria right?" "Yeah, why?" "Could they reverse a body switching spell?" "Probably." answered Spike. "Where's this Zecora live?" asked David. ---- "Applejack please be careful with my fur." Rarity begged. "I can't help it!" replied Applejack, "I'm not used to feeling like a darn-" As she tried to avoid the mud Rarity was complaining about, she tripped and fell into a larger mud puddle, covering the pair of them in mud. "Sorry there Rarity." "Don't worry." said Rarity, her teeth clenched and gritted, "It just means I can take a relaxing bath when I get home." "That's one way to look at it." Applejack added in a light hearted tone. Up above, Rainbow Dash was desperately trying to keep the inexperienced Pinkie Pie from crashing into just about every tree that came her way. "No, no, no! Tail relaxed! Let it flow behind you and-LOOK OUT!" Pinkie Pie, who had been concentrating on her tail at that moment, slammed into a tree and slid to the ground. Rainbow walked over to her as she stood up, wobbling for a few moments before shaking her head to regain her bearings. "Maybe you should walk for the time being." "Maybe!" said Pinkie, still a little out of it. "How much longer Twilight?" asked Fluttershy. Without her wings to save her, she was feeling twice as nervous as usual. She wasn't used to relying on her legs for a quick escape. "Not much further. A few minutes, we're almost there!" "You said that hours ago!" complained Rainbow Dash. "I said that fifteen minutes ago." argued Twilight. "How do you even know we're close?" rebutted Rainbow. "Because I can see the lights of her house!" Twilight moved a branch, and breaking through the forest were the dim lights of Zecora's house. "Oh. Well come on! She's not far away!" Rainbow Dash ordered. Meanwhile, a lone royal guard pegasus walked through the Everfree forest, and he was not happy about it. It was almost morning and the lazy Guard had gotten no sleep. What was worse, eyes of all the evil color spectrum were staring at him. Red, orange, yellow, white. Any normal pony would be in a panic, and even the hardiest of ponies would be unnerved. He on the other hand, was practically daring them to come out and try to take him on. It was to the point that it was a game of who was eyeing who! When a new set of eyes appeared from a hole in a bush, it caught one glance of the Guard, and quickly fled from sight. The Guard snorted and continued on. He took but a few more steps before a rustling came from behind him. It was a quick rustling, like something was trying to scare him into the thought he was being hunted. From above, leaves shook and fell to the ground. A tree branch snapped from behind before what sounded like a chicken clucking to his left was heard. Of course, it wasn't a chicken. David just sighed. Walking up to him was a hideous combination of a dragon and a chicken, it's red eyes glowing as bright as its red scales. The Cockatrice walked up to him and stared right into David's half shut eyes. "The armor's enchanted. You're not getting anywhere." He told the monster with no expression. The Cockatrice tried again, putting all it's power into one final stare. David grew wide eyed and froze as the cockatrice let out a evil smile. Not a muscle moved on David as the Cockatrice looked on in victory. "Ha! I'm kidding!" laughed David The cockatrice looked on shocked, confused, and horrified. Before it could feel any other emotion, it was struck in the face by a brown hoof and tumbled across the ground before it's head slammed into a tree. The cockatrice opened it's eyes to see three mice sitting around a piece of moldy fruit, now just petrified stone statues of what they once were. Smiling to know it's power still worked, it tried to remove it's head from the tree until it felt itself being grabbed by a large feathery arm and yanked out. "You may be of use. You're coming with me!" The cockatrice clucked in resistance and tried to fly away when it's tail was grabbed in David's mouth and slammed to the ground. David glared into it angrily. "If not, I'm gonna find the closest mirror and make you turn yourself to stone, and then smash you, got it?" The cockatrice smiled smugly at David at his false threat. Or was it? "Don't think I know how? Reading the paper actually teaches you a thing or two!" Using his wings, he grabbed the beast by it's tail and throat and pointed it at the hole where the monster had been stuck. With a quick jerk of his wings, he stretched the cockatrice's neck out, and the cockatrice clucked in pain. A moment later, three mice scurried out of the tree, released from their stony prison. The cockatrice looked on horrified as David brought it up to his face again. "Shall we?" he asked With no choice, the cockatrice nodded nervously and resigned to it's fate as a weapon to help the Guard in his journey. Iit wasn't long before they arrived somewhere else other than the forest. The light of the moon revealed a mass of apple trees and fields of crops stretching over miles. A red barn and farm house could be seen in the distance. "Okay, I'll admit it whatever you are, we're lost." He wandered through the farm hoping it would lead him to his destination until he came to a sign post. "Sweet Apple Acres. Nope, that ain't it!" Turning around, he began his walk back to the Everfree forest when he spied a large wooden object, or objects. Looking at them, they were wooden barrels stacked as tall as he could see. He looked it over the barrels. Labelled on each barrel was "Flim Flam Fields Cider." It had been quite some time since he had cider of any kind, Guards weren't supposed to drink on duty, and since most of his friends were high standing officers, going out for a night on the town for drinks was out of the question. Looking around for anypony, the Guard shrugged. He slammed the nozzle on the first barrel and opened his mouth eagerly for it. Now, unbeknownst to him, those barrels had been sitting there for months on end, baking in Celestia's sun, and the apples that had been left over had fermented, and the other "ingredients" mixed in during that fateful day only served to make the cider all the more potent. Since most of the sticks, leaves, and leaves had sank to the bottom of the cider over the time sitting there, there was no revolting taste in his mouth to send his nerves spitting the brew out in disgust. No, everything went fuzzy as he drank the first gulp. ---- "Zecora? Zecora are you here?" called Twilight as she opened the door "Twilight my dear, what brings you here?" "This." said Twilight showing the zebra herself and the rest of the ponies. "Wow. My question, is how?" "It's a long story. Can you fix it?" came Twilight. "That would depend." said Zecora looking each of them over, "This will take a long time to mend." "Well could ya please hurry?" came Applejack "Rarity, I never knew you for a southern belle, that sounds like Applejack- she started "That is Applejack!" came Rarity, "We've switched bodies!" "That sounds like fun!" smirked Zecora, "For everyone!" "It's not!" they both snorted. Zecora laughed to herself. Grabbing a large book, she slammed it down on a table. Flipping through the pages, she found exactly what she was looking for. "This condition you see, requires a certain remedy!" "I could have told you that!" said Rainbow Dash in an annoyed tone "For this to work, I need 5 leaves of the tree called birch." "Pinkie! Rainbow Dash! Go!" Rainbow saluted while Pinkie twirled around behind her and crashed into several old masks. Dash sighed in disapointment and went to help her friend out of the hut without crashing. "I will also need five river stones and a bag of bones." "Where in tarnation are we to get a bag of bones?" came Applejack Zecora went under the table and produced a bag of bones and placed them on a table. "You need not fear!" she spoke, "I kept these from my dinner last year!" "Come on Applejack!" spoke Rarity in Applejack's voice, "Let's get those stones!" "Worried ya hooves will get muddy?" laughed Applejack The two galloped out to the river that ran not far away, Rarity not responding to Applejack's comment. "The last part of this brew needs the scales of a dragon, and a chicken's feather, I guess you two are going together? "I have chickens at my house!" said Fluttershy "And I'm sure spike wouldn't mind giving up a few scales to help! Come on Fluttershy!" "While you gait, I'll start the rest of the brew and wait." Zecora finished with a smile. Twilight nodded and ran out the door with Fluttershy. ---- Rainbow flew from tree to tree, mumbling to herself as Pinkie giggled and laughed as she flew through the air, enjoying every second of it. "Birch tree's, birch trees. Pinkie, do you know what a birch tree is?" "Nope! I thought you knew!" "Argh! How are we going to find a birch tree if we don't even know what one is!" "Wait! I remember something from my days on the farm!" "Does it help us find a birch tree?" asked Rainbow sarcastically as she kept on searching "hmm, I remember running into a tree one day, a white tree! Mommy Pie gave me some medicine and ice and said I would feel all better in the morning!" "Yeah, that' cool and all! Maybe that's the day you became, well, you. You know aside from the day you got your cutie mark?" "Maybe! What were we talking about?" she asked doing a barrel roll right up to Rainbow Dash. "Birch! Birch tree! 5 Birch tree leaves!" "Oh yeah!" Pinkie giggled before flying on The two went from tree to tree in a futile search for a birch tree, both knowing grabbing any old tree leaves would probably cause them to end up worse then they already were! "This is a job for Applejack! She's a Earth pony and all!" "Uh, hello! I'm a Earth Pony too you know!" "Yeah, but you deal with cakes and sweets and food! Applejack deals with, well, Apples and farms! Come on! Let's go find her!" ---- "Use the magic, yes that's it!" cheered Rarity, "Now the stone!" Applejack struggled to pick the stone up out of the water since Rarity still refused to let either her or Applejack herself get in the mud. So far, she had managed to lift half a stone out of the water. "Concentrate." coached Rarity "Hey Applejack!" Rainbow's words broke Applejack's concentration and the rock splashed back into the water. She snorted and stomped her hoof in anger as Rainbow Dash landed and Pinkie Pie slammed into the ground next to them. "You gotta work on your landing." "What is it Rainbow Dash?" came Rarity, "We're trying to get stones if you don't mind?" "What's a Birch tree?" "Yer kiddin' right?" came Applejack "Nope!" replied Pinkie Pie sticking her head out of the dirt, "We have no clue!" "Even I know what a Birch tree is!" said Rarity, "It's a white tree with thin flakey bark!" "Oh, ok thanks!" replied Rainbow Dash before zooming off Pinkie flapped her wings as hard as she could and took off after her as the other two looked on bewildered. "Alright, let's try this again. Concentrate on the stone." Applejack began to lift the stone again, forcing every ounce of her will into the horn and slowly, the glow of her magic could be seen glistening into the water. The water itself bubbled at the movement of the rock and it's reaction to the magic. "Found it!" yelled Pinkie Pie appearing before the Unicorn "Whoa-whoop!" screamed Applejack falling over, her concentration breaking "Oops, sorry." she said helping her friend up "Can you believe it? We were passing over them the entire time!" said Rainbow Dash flying in before seeing the look on her friends faces, "We broke your concentration again didn't we?" "Yes you did!" replied Rarity in frustration "Allow me!" announced Rainbow She quickly dove toward the river and began picking up stones and holding them. Applejack removed her hat and Rainbow placed all five in there. "Alright, now just to get back to Zecora's and put these in!" declared Rarity happily. "I wonder if Twilight and Fluttershy had to go find anything." pondered Pinkie Pie.