Cutie Mark Crusaders' Journal of the unexplained 14
Mtangalion
Kendell2 14.0
Scootaloo tried her sunglasses, which mainly just lit up the entire tunnel. However, then she blinked, seeing a white unicorn with a pink mane and tail, angelic wings behind her and a pink bow with curled edges in hoof. And wearing a diaper despite being an adult.
The mare shushed her. "My name is Lovestruck, or Suadela when I'm on the job. Applebloom's sister came and offered me to accept a choice another version of me made to fuse with Cupid's Shadow and become the Demi-Goddess of Sharing Love because if everything was fixed in her world she'd still be one..."
Scootaloo cocked her head like her being a Demi-God wasn't the surprising thing.
"Oh...right, I've technically been this way before now," said the Demi-Goddess. "Going to need to get used to that. "I chose to accept...because now I can fly with my daughter and husband and I've always WANTED to spread love and make others feel the joy of having their special somepony like I do...And that's why my adopted mother sent me to talk to you."
Scootaloo didn't say anything, as the Demi-Goddess in front of her made it clear it was meant to be a secret she was there, simply looking expectantly.
"If I'd chosen to do this for power, or fame, or godhood...it'd have failed. And me and my half-brother's would've merged into something terrible and wrong...it's BECAUSE I chose to become a Demi-Goddess for the right reasons that good came of it...And that's what mother told me to tell you: that WHY you choose to do something and for what reason...is often much more important than the thing itself," Lovestruck explained, then flew through the wall, being in the spirit world at the present. "Good luck Scootaloo..."
Scootaloo blinked. 'Man, why does everypony I can see with this things speak in riddles?"
She then looked back to her friends and gave it thought. Becoming Cherubs...why DID they want to do it?
"...I think we need to talk about something..."
---
Carnival Cat laughed, looking at her new Cherubs. "Finally! Took you long enough. Now, how about you go fly to Sweet Apple Acres and hit Big Mac with an arrow or two and make that cutie mine?"
"Sorry, we can't do that," all four replied.
"...What?"
"First rule of being a Cherub: you don't mess up true love," said Applebloom.
"Second rule: don't FORCE anypony to fall in love with somepony they couldn't love," said Sweetie Belle.
Carnival Cat blinked. "Wait, why aren't you acting like statues?"
She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned, finding Lovestruck behind her. "Oh, hello cousin."
The Demi-Goddess handed her the contract she had with Venus, pointing to a line.
"Huh? 'If they give into temptation, they will be closer to Carnival Cat's design. If they become Cherubs for good or selfless reasons, they will be closer to Venus...What?"
"We became Cherubs to atone for what we did with the Love Poison," Applebloom explained.
"And I really wanted to spread love!" Sweetie Belle said, smiling.
Button held Sweetie's hoof. "And I wanted to share Sweetie's burden."
Lovestruck gave a smile. "Did you really think mother would give you a new weapon, cousin?" she asked, disappearing back into the spirit world as her Demi-Goddess nature allowed.
---
The CMC+1 looked to each others as they watched the What If Machine. "Wow...didn't know that's how it worked..." Applebloom replied.
"Neither did I," Scootaloo replied. "I just throught becoming Cherubs for a good reason would work out better."
MtangaLion 14.1
Yet again, the Crusaders gathered their supplies and set out for the carnival. The free passes had disappeared with the reset, but Scootaloo found the sunglasses still in her saddlebag, the same as Apple Bloom and her Truth goggles.
Scootaloo leaned back in her seat and yawned, enjoying the cool breeze that blew through the Tunnel of Love. "This place isn't nearly so bad the second time. It's actually kinda fun!" They all waved to their cherub selves as the boat floated past them.
Apple Bloom shook her head. "Better brace yerself. We're safe now, but this is as far as we got, so we haven't seen the exhibits past here."
Scootaloo smirked. "Oh come on, it couldn't be much worse than... oh, Celestia, why?!"
In the next nook ahead, a Twilight Sparkle with wings was kissing Queen Chrysalis, and both of them were wearing wedding gowns. Twilight turned and winked at them. "I'm not sure how it happened myself, but a lot of Shadows agree that this is hilarious!"
"Are you sure I can't conquer Equestria for you, Twilight, my sweet?" purred Chrysalis. "Oh, if only there were more real ponies in love here, instead of all these robots and illusions." Sweetie Belle stared, twitching, until that exhibit was safely around a corner behind them.
They saw the What-If Machine sitting on a cart next to another What-If Machine with a pink casing. Hearts made from letters and symbols scrolled up both of their screens.
They saw a large force-field dome with a familiar statue garden inside. Hercules Beetle and Cicada were sitting off in a corner, playing some kind of board game, and Shining Armor and Cadence were nuzzling warmly, currently in the form of two large wolves. The blue and white wolf noticed them. "Hey there! Something didn't quite go according to plan. When you guys aren't busy, could you maybe come back and get us out of here?" The pink and purple wolf licked his cheek slowly. "No rush!"
"Well, it can't get any weirder than that," said Sweetie Belle.
Around the next bend, yet another Big Mac declared, "Ah'm tired of all those mares chasin' after me and bothering me all the dang time. C'mere... Bluey."
Prince Blueblood waggled his eyebrows at Big Mac, grinning handsomely. "Let's make delicious apple puns together..."
Then it was Applejack with both of the Flim Flam Brothers. And Rainbow Dash actually in love with Zephyr Breeze.
"Okay, *now* it can't get any weirder," said Sweetie.
"Stop saying that!" yelled Scootaloo.
Button Mash looked like he might burst into tears. "I don't think we're old enough for this ride."
"Oh, please," said the Carnival Cat on the tinny speaker. "You godlings aren't that innocent."
"Ah wasn't a goddess!" stammered Apple Bloom, looking like her head might explode, or like she wished it would.
The speaker clicked. "No problem, just tune your goggles to block all that naughty stuff out. Oh, wait... you *can't* do that with Truth-seeing goggles. Unless you corrupt them a little. Hmm, what do you call a Nightmare who forbids other ponies from learning the Truth about anything they don't approve of? Nightmare Blackout? Nightmare Nanny Nag? Nightmare Cosmic Censor? Say, I like that last one..."
"Nope nope NOPE!" shouted Apple Bloom. "Ah remember what it was like becoming Instrumentum. No more of that for me, thanks!"
The next exhibit was another big one, with Twilight and all of her friends, each one of them cuddling with a colt double of herself.
Scootaloo made a face. "I don't get it. Why would they do that?"
The next exhibit lit up. "Howdy, girls," said Apple Buck... now clearly older than Bloom, not younger. He grinned handsomely. The Crusaders all stared, mouths hanging open.
"Your last visit was over way too soon!" said Scooteroll, spreading large, fully flight-capable wings.
"Too bad you can't stay a while and visit some more," purred Bit Mash. "We could have played the new Star Vixen game... in co-op mode."
Sweepy Bell grinned. "Maybe those cute cherubs will play with us instead!"
Alex Warlorn 14.2
The green mare asked. "Can you at least let yourselves become living plastic for the sake of the ride? You're still my employees, and I get to decide the decorum."
The four cherubs look at each other. While Venus overruled Carnival Cat in their relationship, and even if she didn't, their boss couldn't force them to make ponies love each other whom love was IMPOSSIBLE... but still... rules were rules. And the contract still said that Carnival Cat had co-adoption rights for the CMC+1 as family with Venus.
The transformation... in the end wasn't that dramatic. If anything, it somehow felt, right somehow. Their skin became shinny and smooth. A mold line formed between their eyes and went down the lengths of their bodies, including over their diapers. Their diapers they now felt like they were a physical part of their now, same with their tails and manes that were now solid parts of them that didn't wave in the breeze. They gazed unblinking, and turned their heads more when looking like a doll would. And they now had a 'Made In Everfree' logo stamped on their back left hoof.
They flapped a few times to find they could fly just as easily as before. And their quivers refilled with love arrows from their goddess just as easily. Sweetie Belle did a swirl and said, "Well, that gets me over my fear of dolls." She giggled.
"I'm my own action figure!" Button Mash grinned.
"Ditto!" Scootaloo said.
"Gotta admit we look pretty." Apple Bloom admitted.
This didn't really change anything, nor advance any plan of the green mare's, it was more a point of personal pride for her. She thought about asking the cherubs for a hug, but she declined not out of personal pride, but knowing she wouldn't feel anything from it, as she hadn't from the other versions of the CMC+1 who were now effectively her sons and daughters under her contract. And she didn't understand why she didn't feel anything.
"Can we play with the display of the Cutie Mark Brigade?" Scootaloo asked.
"Go ahead, the new versions of you can't be tempted by the same ride twice anyway." The green mare sighed.
Ardashir
"Well," Scootaloo said. "At least we've seen the weirdest now, right? This crazy tunnel can't show us... anything worse..."
Her voice trailed off and four sets of eyes bulged from their sockets as the boat rounded one more corner and showed them -- a wedding chapel.
"Dearly beloved," Bahamut said, wearing a ceremonial platinum collar as he stood at a podium, "we are gathered here today to unite this draconequus..." He waved one massive claw to the right.
"Oh, this is the happiest day of my life!" Discord, wearing a lime green tuxedo with hoot pink highlights. He patted the claw of his bride. "Celestia was a dear, but in the end we were just too different." He smiled so broadly the CMC and Button wondered if they could see the inside of his ears. "I've finally found my one true love. Well, transformed her into my one true love, but still."
Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom remembered what Discord once transformed them into and shuddered.
Behind him, his best dragon Garble fidgeted, looking very uneasy. Baff stood with him, a cushion in his claws.
"Hey, Baff, you remembered the ring, right?" Garble whispered.
"Ring?" Baff shook his head. "I thought it was a snack, man!"
Garble faceclawed.
To their sides stood Ember and Twilight Sparkle as bridesmaids.
"Isn't this romantic?" Twilight sighed.
"Isn't this horrifying?" Ember muttered.
And before them stood a lovely dragonness, with green spines and purple scales. A veil covered her head, and she held a bouquet of flowers in her claws.
"Oh, darling," the female Spike said to Discord, batting her long lashes, "thanks for literally making me the happiest she-dragon in Equestria!"
The boat mercifully went past and the vision was lost behind them.
"O-kay," Button Mash gave a shiver. "Do we even want to know where that came from? And, wait," his eyes went wide with horror, "can normal pony magic even do what Discord did to Spike?"
"I asked Miss Twilight once if unicorn magic could transform ponies and other beings," Sweetie sent off a few sparks from her horn as she thought back. "She said yes but it was a bad idea; but Chrysalis taught me some spells to transform other beings. And I guess it would be okay if I turned them back right afterwards, so if you want to know what it's like -- ulp!"
Button removed his hoof from Sweetie's mouth. "Thanks, but no thanks."
Grogar-the-oneser
"Well that ha to be the weirdest-"
"Will y'all stop that! Ah'd rather not find out what's next, Ah don't wanna see Fluttershy's brother marryin' all four pie sisters, Ah don't wanna see Rarity kissing her dresses and Ah don't wanna see all my family members wanting to seduce the same tree! So please stop saying this is the weirdest one and it can't be top!" Apple Bloom snapped.
"Uh, Apple Bloom, you kinda jinx yourself," Button Mash said disturbed at what lay ahead.
Apple Bloom turn to see Tirek in a hot-tub with both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and were fully making out. "AGGHH MY EYES!"
"WIMP!" Carnival Cat shouted through the speakers.
"Ah don't care if that makes me a wimp, some pairin' are just plain wrong," Apple Bloom said disturbed as there boat move past it and were moving close to the ride's exit.
Grogar-the-oneser
"Congratulation, you are now free of the tunnel of love." Carnival Cat said as they exit the ride.
All four of them look they seen things they rather forget. "Worst part is another us will have to relive that if we get turned." Applebloom said with her eye twitching.
"On the plus side were free from most of the attraction so were now mostly safe." Button Mash stated.
"Most not all." Sweetie belle reminded them. Meanwhile Scootaloo was wearing her sunglasses to see if she can find another hidden storage area.
Alex Warlorn
The green mare appeared in her swirl of bats. She pointed at the exit to the midway, leading down a long dark road where a large mansion loomed.
"Just pass through the exit and the key will appear. Take it and enter the mansion, and the many amusing transformations that await you within. The third book awaits you. And here's a free hint, the Castle of the Two Sisters is actually OLDER than Everfree.
"What? That's it?" Sweetie asked. "No tricks? No games?"
"Just go." The green mare sighed, surprising the foal when she sounded genuinely gloomy.
Mtangalion
The far side of the carnival was eerie after the noise and lights of the attractions. A path littered with discarded popcorn bags led to a simple turnstile. "Thanks for coming!" said a recording of Sweetie Belle's voice. "Be sure to get your hoof stamped if you want to reenter the park tonight!" it continued, though there was nopony to stamp them.
From there, it was only a short canter up a lamplit road to reach the mansion. They found a polished brass key dangling from a tree branch, and more... Flim and Flam's steam wagon was parked by the side of the road. Flim himself got up and yawned, then nudged his twin, who was sleeping with a book covering his face. "Rise and shine, brother. It's showtime." He blinked. "You again?!"
Flam stretched and chuckled. "Shoulda known it'd be them."
The Crusaders stopped in their tracks. "Again?" asked Apple Bloom. "Wait... you remember what happened?"
Flim tipped his hat and spun it on one hoof. "Like it was yesterday! Wait, weren't there three of you before?"
"That's kinda complicated," admitted Sweetie Belle. She put a hoof around her confused coltfriend.
"Truth be told," muttered Flam, "for us it was yesterday!"
"What's the use of Madame Fate warning us not to travel through time if we forget all about it the next day?"
"We would have tried to build the time machine all over again. Boy, would that have been awkward!"
The brothers kept darting around, one moving while the other spoke, so Apple Bloom was surprised to find Flim right next to her. "Well, well, well, what do we have here? Could it be? Little Miss Fix-It has..."
"Her cutie mark!!" chorused both Flim and Flam, grinning from ear to ear.
"An engineering cutie mark, at that!" said Flim. "Seriously, that is amazing, missy!"
"This calls for a celebration!" Flam fired a bolt from his horn, and their wagon launched fireworks and played a cheerful fanfare on a built in pipe organ.
Apple Bloom blushed. "Truth be told... Ah don't know if Ah'd have gotten my mark tonight if it weren't for you two. Thanks!"
Flim tugged on his lapels. "You're too kind!" He took a breath, suddenly quite serious. "It's a shame really."
Flam sighed. "Here's how this is gonna go down. You're going to hoof over Flummox's other two journals, and then you're going to turn around and *go home.*"
Button Mash's face fell. "But... why?!"
Flim shook his head. "This doesn't concern you. Look, you had your little adventure, right? Best day of your lives, I'll bet. Quit while you're ahead."
Apple Bloom looked the most disappointed of any of them. "Ah don't understand. Ah thought we were friends... or at least we could have been."
Scootaloo flapped her wings and hopped in front of Apple Bloom. "Um, hello? They're the Flim Flam Brothers! Face it, there's probably some treasure in there that they want to keep all to themselves."
"But..." Apple Bloom dodged around Scootaloo. "We're so close to solving the mysteries of the Everfree! Why don't we explore the mansion together?"
The brothers exchanged sad looks. "You're a good filly, Apple Bloom," said Flim, "but we made a promise." He lit his horn, levitating a milky-white stone out of a pocket.
Sweetie Belle shivered, her coat fluffing up. "What... what kind of magic is that?"
Flim chuckled. "It's a moonstone, of course. Watch, and be amazed!" The stone flared brilliantly. The unicorn bellowed, seemingly in pain, and his shout became a roar as his hooves split into paws and his muzzle pushed out longer and thicker and full of fangs.
Flim stalked towards the colt and fillies, now a shaggy yellow werewolf pony, still wearing his trademark blue and white vest with bowtie. "Funny thing about magic," he growled, in a much deeper and gruffer voice. "Real, wild Everfree magic. Ponies will turn their bit purses upside-down for a good con, but the real deal? That scares the willies out of them."
Flam levitated a lantern with a strange blue and pink crystal tied to it. "If you liked that trick, you'll love this one!" He opened the lantern's shutter, and the light passing through the crystal illuminated the werewolf, growing him easily twice as large. Flam held out a hoof. "Last chance before this gets rough. Our journals, if you please."
Alex Warlorn
Scootaloo asked facing up the giant wolf pony and unicorn, "How the buck did you even know we HAD THOSE?! We found one by accident and the other was with Zecora and her sister this whole night until a while ago!"
Before they could answer, a storm cloud formed, and lightning struck the ground between the CMC+1 and the brothers.
"Excuse me for a moment." Said the green mare. But Apple Bloom noticed she didn't seem as large, her shadow didn't spread as far, and her presence didn't feel as overwhelmingly. "But I believe these foals have a key to claim." She gestured at the key still hanging from the tree. "That key was the prize for making it all the way through my carnival, which these foals have... and a contract, is a contract. Sludge, come!" The black blob of goo rose from the ground, but like her, it wasn't as terrifying as it was inside the carnival.
Flam wasn't impressed, he turned the crystal around so a blue shard was in its place instead, and shrank down the ball of black sludge to the size of a cup of play-doo.
"Didn't expect that." Carnival Cat said. "But I am the child of Tragedy and Temptation. And my family is vast. Crusade, come out!" She smacked her cane into the ground. What appeared was a giant wolf, it was light brown with orange shading, while the fur around its head and tail were reddish-purple. It's eyes were a muddy brown. On its forehead were four crystal shards arranged like the pedals of a lotus like the spa twins' cutie marks.
Then the four plastic cherubs appeared flying behind her. Followed by the chimera CMC being ridden by the tamer Button Mash.
Flam rolled his eyes. That he was seeing several alternate CMC+1 didn't seem to phase him or his giant beast brother. "Geeze, oh whatever shall I do? What can I possibly do? Oh wait, I know." He fired the blue beam again... except the cherub Sweetie Belle dropped a mirror in Carnival Cat's hooves that reflected the beam and hit the brothers instead, shrinking them down.
"Uh, oops." Said Flam.
"You boys shouldn't have gotten so greedy." Carnival Cat said. Then looked at the mirror which was shaped like a heart. "What's this?"
"A gift from you Auntie-In-Law Venus," the plastic cherub Sweetie said. "We were going to give it to you later at the mansion, but the brothers kinda forced it."
Carnival Cat looked at herself in the mirror confused.
"Great-Auntie-In-Law Venus said that nopony can love you until you love yourself first." Sweetie said. Scootaloo then shot Carnival Cat through the heart as she gazed into the mirror... making her love what she saw.
And Carnival Cat felt Venus' presence for the first time in her life.
The normal CMC+1 were still befuddled on what was going on, though Scootaloo still wondered how the brothers knew about the journals, what they meant by THEIR Uncle's journals.
MtangaLion
Carnival Cat clutched a hoof to her chest. "I don't understand. What is this feeling?" The chimera CMC and the muddy brown wolf crowded close, peering into the mirror with her, and she saw them all reflected in the mirror together. "My contract slaves... no, my family... I..."
Plastic cherub Apple Bloom beamed. "Even Outer Concepts love their children."
"My family? I love my family?" Carnival Cat discovered that tamer Button Mash was hugging her, and the chimera was purring. The big wolf licked her nose and wagged its tail. The little sludge bounced over, and the cherubs aww'd and piled on.
"Rrrrright," growled tiny werewolf Flim. "Where were we?"
"Journals," said Flam. He fired up his horn and cast a real, honest to Celestia spell, not some misdirection or flashy sparkles or turning on one of their gadgets. The spell formed a floating magical compass, bigger than Flam's actual current size, and it had one arrow pointing at the house and two at Apple Bloom. "They're in her saddlebag. Go!"
Flim loped towards Apple Bloom, zigging and zagging, and Flam covered for him by clearing his throat with a voice amplification charm on. "So, you fillies find two of the journals and bring them together, and on that very same evening, the journal that we kept under our hats all these years pops off and flies away towards Uncle Flummox's old mansion, laughing at us. Coincidence? I think not!"
Luckily, Apple Bloom had gotten suspicious enough to slip her googles on. "Hey!" she yelped, seeing the tiny werewolf leaping onto her saddlebag. "Shoo! Git!"
"Yipe!" Flim hopped onto her back, evading her attempt to brush him off. "You know what the really funny thing about all this is?" he growled suddenly. "The journals were written by our Uncle Flummox. We're his next of kin. We're trying to swipe something that legitimately belongs to us for once!"
"Gotcha!" said Flam, grabbing the forgotten lantern and size-changing gem in his magic. "Now I'll just..."
"No you don't!" yelled Sweetie, grabbing on with her magic. They jerked the lantern back and forth in a magical tug-o-war until the shutter slipped, zapping Button Mash instead of Flim.
Button Mash grew as big as Big Mac, grinning from ear to ear. "Coooool..." But Sweetie Belle stared at the giant colt, all dreamy-eyed, and the lantern fell to the ground.
"I'll take that!" said Flam, using the lantern to grow himself back to normal size, and then his werewolf brother too.
Apple Bloom snatched the journals out of her saddlebag and tossed them in the air. "Scootaloo, catch."
Flim snapped at the journals and missed. Flam scowled when Scootaloo caught the books, trying to grab on with his telekinesis.
Scootaloo yelped. "Button, put them in your inventory!" She threw the books... Flim and Flam charged...
"Huh? Oh, right!" Button focused, and both the books and the brothers vanished.
Scootaloo gawked. "Wait, did you just..."
Button Mash summoned a giant-sized game console, and the faces of the Flim Flam Brothers appeared in his inventory, making him gasp. "I swear, I had no idea I could do this."
"Well, this is one rotten development," said Flim's voice, with a slight digital distortion. Flim looked like a normal pony again, and the moonstone appeared as a separate inventory item.
"Sure didn't see this coming," grumbled Flam.
Scootaloo's eyebrows shot up. "They can still talk in there? Great... we have to listen to more of their lies." She flew over and snagged the key out of the tree.
Apple Bloom looked a bit uncomfortable. "But, when they were talking about the journals and Flummox... Flim and Flam were telling the truth then."
Alex Warlorn
"YES! Those journal belong to our family! Are our property! And is our inheritance! You have no right to keep it from us!" Flam said.
"Please don't delete us!" Flim pleaded.
Apple cringed, she felt her bow... her mother's favorite from her collection. "I... I kinda don't feel right keepin' 'em from family heir looms. Con-ponies or not... family is family."
MtangaLion
Scootaloo poked the console with a hoof, and Flim giggled as if she'd tickled him. "Can we trust them, though? They might burst into flames or something if we make them do a Pinkie Swear."
Button Mash smirked. "Or worse, now that she's a goddess."
"Oh, har-de-har," groused Flam. "Say, we could swear by the Con-Ponies Code!"
"Betray your allies of convenience *after* you get away with the heist!" explained Flim.
"Not before."
"Or not at all! Technically, that's allowed too!" The brothers grinned innocently, somehow gaining little halos over their heads on the game console screen.
Apple Bloom took the key from Scootaloo and looked at it in her hoof, uncertain. "Look, we both want answers, right? Can't we just do what ponies are supposed to do best and work together?" Making up her mind, she shoved the key into the lock and turned it. The front door swung open, revealing a dark and incredibly dusty foyer.
The Crusaders filed inside cautiously, looking all around. The mansion had seemed to be an ordinary wood-frame building from outside, but inside it looked eerily like one of those buildings from the Alicorn future, with walls and floors of solid crystal, polished brass furnishings, and lots of mirrors. Sweetie Belle started to cast a light spell, but gems mounted on the walls began to glow when they approached. Apple Bloom shaded her eyes, fascinated by all the crystal reflections, and pulled out the camera again.
"That's not good," said Flam, nervous all of a sudden. "The spells are still active."
"You fillies should really watch your step!" said Flim. "Uncle Flummox loved his tricks and traps."
"Aha!" shouted Button Mash. "Then that's the first thing you can do to help us trust you! Tell us where the traps are." He tilted his head. "You have been here before, haven't you?"
"Of course!" said Flim.
"Lots of times," echoed Flam.
Apple Bloom stopped in her tracks, annoyed. "Ah can tell that's a bald-faced lie without even using the goggles." She blinked. "Wait... he's your uncle, and you've never been inside his home?"
The brothers' faces fell. "Well, not this home," Flim admitted.
Flam sighed. "Look, kid, you have to understand. Uncle Flummox was always a little..."
"Crazy?"
"Not the word I'd use, brother... but yes. Our uncle was smart like you wouldn't believe."
"Almost too smart. He saw plots and schemes and prestidigitation everywhere."
"He claimed that time and fate themselves were being rewritten right under everypony's noses! Can you believe that?"
Button Mash raised a hoof. "Actually, we kind of can."
"He didn't even trust Princess Celestia," said Flim, looking very serious. "Said she was playing everypony like pieces on a chessboard, and she had a secret evil sister! ... Yes, yes, I *know*, but back then, talk like that only got him laughed out of anyplace respectable."
"Later, he started raving about a magic invisible wolf that kept erasing his memory," added Flam.
"Yeah, about that..." Apple Bloom started to say.
Flam nodded. "And don't forget about the three invisible spirits who wouldn't stop asking him questions!" He waved his hooves as he was telling a spooky campfire story. "Ooohhh..."
Sweetie Belle coughed, remembering their guests at the Variety Show. "Um..."
"But no matter how loopy Uncle Flummox got, he always trusted his dear nephews."
The face on Flam's icon looked away, dejected. "Until that day. When we broke our one rule."
Flim hung his head. "We conned *him*."
Alex Warlorn
Apple Bloom looked at them dimly. "Look, would ya stop with the lies already? If family really mattered that little to ya, Granny Smith would'a never helped ya jerks get back together after ya broke up over that one lady."
Alex Warlorn
"So...what do you think is here?" Scootaloo asked.
"Oh, lot's of traps, experiments of all sorts, some ghosts," Flam replied. "Oh, and probably a few evil spirits."
"Wait, what?!" Button asked.
"Uncle had a habit of collecting cursed or haunted objects and said the Everfree was a weirdness magnet...so he naturally built his house on a convergence of laylines in the middle of it," Flim explained. "Don't worry, MOST of them should be sealed away."
"That's not reassuring at all..." Applebloom replied as they headed forwards.
A shadow slithered along a wall, rising up and looking like a tall, slender human woman in a flowing robe. While her expression was difficult to read, given she was a shadow, she looked at Sweetie Belle like one would a nice new dress.
The entity moved along the ground and tried to fly into Sweetie Belle...but just passed right through her harmlessly.
Sweetie Belle shuddered like she got a chill. "Did you just feel a cold chill?"
"No, why?" Scootaloo asked.
"Curses, I'm still too weak..." the shadow muttered. "I'm nothing but a shadow like this."
Sweetie Belle jumped, looking around. "Okay, I SWEAR I heard something that time."
"Well that's only natural, like we said the house is probably full of ghosts," Flam replied.
As the group continued on, the entity followed along. "Having most of my power drained by that accursed pony and my body destroyed twice now has left me too weak to interact with the land of the living, even as a ghost...Still, maybe if I follow them my chance will come..."
The Shadow continued to follow them.
OOC: The Shadow (who it should be obvious to anyone reading the main series who this is) is basically weakened to the point of being more harmless than a ghost at the moment.
MtangaLion
The first hall past the foyer branched out in several different directions. Button Mash didn't have the house mapped yet, and Apple Bloom didn't see anything particularly right or wrong about any path, so she shrugged and led them to the left first.
"What's that humming sound?" asked Scootaloo. It was oddly familiar, and getting louder as they approached the next turn.
Sweetie Belle twitched her ears. "It sounds like... an aquarium? Oooh." She started trotting faster.
"An aquarium?" asked Apple Bloom uncertainly. "You mean, like those fancy places in Canterlot with all the fish?"
They rounded the corner together and found a whole zoo's worth of aquariums. Massive floor to ceiling tanks lined three of the four walls. One tank had colorful freshwater fish that might have come from the Everfree's lakes and rivers, with lily pads and moss floating on the surface. The second tank had murky water and nothing alive... The third was magically darkened and seemed to have deep sea creatures.
"This is incredible!" squealed Sweetie Belle, galloping between the first and third tanks. "This place has been abandoned for years, but the magic is still keeping the water clean and the fish fed? Well, most of them, I mean..."
Button Mash shivered. "Maybe there *is* somepony still living here."
"Uncle didn't have apprentices," said Flim, startling Button a bit.
"Not after us, anyway," said Flam. "Not that we know of. Magical servants, though..."
"So long as they were the kind that just obey orders."
"And don't think for themselves."
"That's the best kind of employee!"
Button Mash smirked and rolled his eyes. "Thanks. I didn't have enough reasons not to trust you two... Whoa, look at this!" He pointed a hoof at the fourth wall. Countless photographs and sketches were attached to it, most of them depicting seaponies and some kind of seapony city.
In the center of that wall, a large, frayed mural featured *three* Sirens floating towards a castle in a forest, just like Sweetie Belle and Nightmare Cantata had been, but different colors. Other creatures were posed dramatically in the left and right foreground opposing them... Princess Celestia, a giant purple dragon, a unicorn with a crown, and a bearded unicorn wizard. "Secret History," was scrawled on a scroll beneath the mural.
"Ah wonder who they were," mused Apple Bloom.
Sweetie Belle was smiling. "I wonder if I could still cast that merpony spell on my family." Bloom, Button, and Scootaloo all froze, looking at her suspiciously. "With their permission! What do you take me for?"
Button grinned, nuzzling her. "Just making sure."
Apple Bloom turned around and realized that there was one more aquarium... a small one in an alcove, warded off by glowing gemstones. She trotted that way slowly, fascinated by the pony-sized creature inside, which managed to seem adorable, despite the huge lantern-like eyes and the long needle-fangs and the dozen or so tentacles. It gurgled cutely at her.
"Ah should let ya out of there," said Apple Bloom in a dreamy voice, completely ignoring the red line on the floor in front of the glowing gems, and the sign labeled "Minimum Safe Distance." She bumped her head into the crystal glass, shook herself, dazed, then trotted forwards again, bumping her head a second time. "Ah should use the other end. Heh." She turned around and braced her forelegs, ready to buck the small aquarium...
Alex Warlorn
Apple Bloom, in her dreamy state... had forgotten she was still a couple years away from being able to apple-buck... As such, "Ow!... Maybe Ah need to buck a little harder." By now, she'd gotten her friends' attention, with her helpfully blocking their view of the 'cute' little fanged fish monster.
Mtangalion
The others all turned their heads, ears pricked up. Scootaloo literally flew across the room and hauled Apple Bloom away from the glass before she could try to buck it again. "What do you think you're doing?!" yelled Scootaloo. She boggled at the tentacle-fish thing. "And what the hay is that?"
Apple Bloom had her googles on, but she was staring off into the distance, and her expression didn't change even when Button waved a hoof in front of her face. The colt frowned and opened his console, tapping it with a hoof.
"Hey, don't switch away from the inventory screen!" complained Flim.
"Yeah, it's dark in here!" said Flam. "C'mon, let us out already!"
Button ignored them for the moment and pulled up Apple Bloom's stats. "This says she has... a sanity debuff?"
Apple Bloom gave them a glassy-eyed grin. "In his house he waits, dreaming of fresh-baked cookies." She tried to trot back to the aquarium, and it took both Button and Scootaloo to hold the farm filly back.
Sweetie Belle put a hoof to her muzzle, thinking. "I'd tell her to put the goggles on, but she's already wearing them and she's the only one acting crazy, so maybe..." She lit her horn and pushed the goggles off Apple Bloom's face.
Apple Bloom blinked at the thing in the aquarium, eyes refocusing, and suddenly she tripped over her own hooves trying to get away. "What was Ah doing? Ah mean, that thing's cute, but not that cute!"
Sweetie trotted right up to the aquarium, past the red line. "What were *you* doing, mister? That wasn't very nice!"
"Mrglmrrrrgl," warbled the fishy creature, sounding frustrated and waving its little tentacles everywhere.
Sweetie Belle blinked. "Huh? Really?"
"Mragagagaglrl!" The creature turned its back on them grumpily.
Sweetie gasped. "How long? That's terrible!"
Scootaloo coughed. "Uh... you can understand that thing?"
Sweetie looked back at her, surprised. "You can't?"
Button tapped his console and shrugged. "It's not translating."
"Maybe if Ah put the goggles back on," suggested Apple Bloom.
"No!" yelped Scootaloo and Button both.
"Mgrggglmmmph." The tentacle-fish-thing seemed to sigh, slumping lower in the water.
Sweetie Belle turned back to the aquarium. "We'll let you out, but first you have to Pinkie Promise to go straight home and not hurt anypony. You know, like this!" She cleared her throat, then recited the rhyme and made the hoof gestures.
The fish creature waved its fins, copying her. "Mrrgglgf, mrglglglmmm, mrrrgl mgglmrr... mrglf-ouch!" The creature muttered and rubbed its eye.
"Great!" Sweetie Belle lit her horn again and nullified the magical ward before anypony could object. The glowing crystals flashed and went dark.
"Mrrrglglglrrrr!" The tentacle fish swam in happy circles, then somehow conjured a portal inside the aquarium and swam right through.
The familiar voice of Ponythulhu burbled from... wherever the tentacle-fish had gone. "Spawn #43225, there you are! I've been looking all over for you!"
Scootaloo nosed Apple Bloom. "Hey. Are you gonna be alright?"
"Ah'm fine!" said Bloom, a little too quickly. "Just peachy! Except..." She scratched her foreleg with a hoof. "Mah hide feels so dry. And itchy... It's probably nothing!"
"He did what!?" shouted Ponythulhu, on the other side of the still open portal. "Well, it'd serve him right if you drove him crazy... He was already crazy? Oh... Well, don't forget to send the nice ponies a thank-you card."
The portal finally closed, leaving the aquarium hall quiet once more.
Alex Warlorn
"Hey, was that door here before?" Sweetie Belle pointed at a doorway in the Aquarium.
-WARNING, NONE BUT HOUSE KEEPING STAFF MAY ENTER BEYOND THIS POINT-
It said in big bold letters.
There also just so happened to be a closet nearby. No prizes for guessing what was inside.
"Be careful," Flam said, with a mark of genuine concern. "Uncle's security precautions are no joke."
Sweetie Belle's horn glowed. "I don't sense anything major on the door, it's just an ordinary lock spell or something, just wearing some maid uniform and it'll let you through no problem."
Sweetie Belle floated out the maid uniforms, which happened to have an 'one size fits all' enchantment on them, so they shrank down to fit the foals as soon as they touched them.
"Just hope nopony finds out about this." Apple Bloom said.
"Now I know how Cloudy Strike felt," Button Mash said reluctantly.
"Ick!" Scootaloo looked like she was more uneasy about wearing the dress than Button Mash!
"Come on girls, it'll be okay." Sweetie said. And the girls (and boy) slipped on the maid uniforms.
"See?" Sweetie said. "That... wasn't... so... bad."
Scootaloo blinked. "Hey... does... anypony... else... feel... weird..."
Apple Bloom's head swam. "Ah... feel... just... fine."
Button said, "We should... hurry along... we have, a lot to do." The foal said with a big smile.
The other three nodded, and they marched through the door that happily let them through, the four found the proper cleaning equipment and other things that needed doing that the automated spells couldn't handle and got to work.
In Apple Bloom's bedroom, the CMC+1 watched on the What-If-Machine the cute maids go about the chores of maintaining the mansion with a big smiles on their faces.
"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" Flim exclaimed.
"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE LET US OUT! That was too creepy!" Shouted Flam.
Sweetie said, "I guess since those 'us's are now maids, their inventory gets transferred to us, now that it's our turn to try. That's how it's worked so far."
"What are you talking about?!"
"It's... a long story." Apple Bloom said. "And one Ah don't really feel comfortable tellin' the likes of you."
- One Long Trek Back To the Mansion Later-
"Couldn't we have found some enchanted teleport stones or something so we didn't have to keep doing this? I'll be seeing trees in my sleep for weeks!" Scootaloo muttered.
"This much back tracking from our one save point does seem kinda gratuitous." Button Mash agreed.
The CMC+1 entered the mansion for a second time, and found four maids politely waiting to greet them.
This included now Joystick the filly instead of Button Mash the colt, all stood happily at attention like good little maids.
"Greetings oh honored guests!" They echoed together.
"Master is not home at the moment." Said Joystick curtsying.
"But we'll be happy to host you in any way we can?" Said the maid Scootaloo, her mane now beautifully combed, presentation was everything after all.
"It's our duty as simply maids." Said the maid Apple Bloom. Her bow had changed color to maid the maid's uniform.
"We live but to serve, to serve is to live." Finished the maid Sweetie Belle.
"Is it my imagination or do we, they, have french accents now?" Sweetie whispered.
MtangaLion (with a tiny edit by me)
Button Mash approached his counterpart, blinking slowly. He waved a hoof, and Joystick copied his motions, giggling. "Girl me is actually kinda cute!"
Joystick surprised the colt by nuzzling him and giving him a shy grin. "We're here to serve you in *any* way you desire. Wanna play parcheesi?"
Sweetie Belle stamped over and butted in between Button and Joystick, nudging them apart. "Okay, that's enough of that! We're going right this time."
Apple Bloom shrugged and waved to the maids as they trotted away, but Scootaloo seemed almost disappointed to be leaving. "I think I've been in that Tunnel of Love too many times. The maid thing actually doesn't seem so bad."
"Speaking of which," said Flam's voice, "could you insert another one of those memory card things?"
"Yeah, your screenshot folder is nearly full!" said Flim.
After Button finished deleting all the pictures of Big Mac in a dress, the Crusaders came to a door with a crystal array mounted on the wall nearby. They didn't give it much thought, because the door was already wide open. The room beyond the door was perfectly flat and square, and the crystal walls surrounded them with ghostly reflected images of themselves, as if one of Carnival Cat's fun-houses had followed them here. "Three hallways," mused Sweetie Belle. "Which one should me take?"
Apple Bloom grew suspicious, and put her goggles back on. "Those are mirrors! Dang it, this is a dead end."
Scootaloo slipped her sunglasses on. "What are you talking about? I see three doors."
"They're both," said Flim tensely.
"Hurry, kids!" yelled Flam. "Turn around and get us outta here!"
"Uncle really must have lost his marbles, if he built another world mirror maze!"
Outside the room, the living shadow from before flowed across the dormant crystals. "Ha ha ha! Oh no, children. It's not that easy!" The control crystals sparked and lit up, and the door slid shut.
Button Mash tried to pry the door open with a pixel sword, but he wasn't even scratching it.
Scootaloo tried her wing blades, but the crystal repelled them, nearly throwing her across the room.
Apple Bloom thumped her hooves against the sealed door. "Ouch! Ya'd think after all this adventuring, Ah'd be tough enough to break *something*." A tempting thought flitted through her mind... an Alicorn wouldn't have any trouble with *any* of this... but somehow, she sensed that it still wasn't time yet...
"And I'm not going to risk black magic bouncing off the walls and hitting us," said Sweetie Belle with a sigh. Her ears pricked up. "Hey, Mr. Flim and Flam? What did you mean when you said those were both mirrors and doors?"
"Just pick one and walk through it," said Flim glumly.
"You'll figure it out," said Flam.
With no other good ideas, the Crusaders approached the left mirror and stepped right through it into a seemingly identical room, but instead of fillies and colts, four colorful humans in unfamiliar clothes stumbled out of the mirror, lost their balance, and fell down in a heap.
Flim and Flam appeared on Button's inventory screen again, still ponies. "I'm starting to think it's much safer in here," said Flim.
Flam chuckled. "Indubitably, brother, indubitably!"
Alex Warlorn
Apple Bloom looked at herself and shrugged. "Easy to fix fer me... hey Ah can't transform?!" Suddenly Apple Bloom felt very strangely EMPTY... or maybe more like she suddenly like she was wearing a straight jacket.
"MY WINGS!!!" Scootaloo shouted, remembering horror stories of pegasi in terrible accidents who had their wings amputated.
"MY HORN! I CAN'T SENSE MAGIC!" Sweetie screamed slapping her forehead.
"Whao, these are cool." Button Mash said wiggling his new fingers.
MtangaLion
Apple Bloom waved her arms. "Just settle down, everypony. Don't panic."
"But we're not ponies!" wailed Sweetie Belle. "That's the problem!"
Apple Bloom looked at each of her friends in turn. "Remember now, Ah've transformed into one of these 'human' things several times before, and it was just fine. Humans stand up on two legs like this, see?" She demonstrated, wobbling a bit before she found a steady balance.
"Human?" asked Scootaloo. "Are you sure that's the right word?"
Apple Bloom blinked. "Uh, pretty sure, I guess..."
While the rest of them reluctantly got accustomed to standing upright, Button Mash experimented with his new fingers by tugging at his shirt. "We're wearing all these clothes... but back at the statue garden, Bloom didn't get any clothes when she changed. Does that mean humans are supposed to wear clothes, and Apple Bloom was..."
There was an awkward silence, until Sweetie Belle shouted, "We shouldn't think too hard about that!" The other three started nodding fervently.
Scootaloo grinned, relieved. "Glad we got that... uh, not sorted out." She poked at the door that had blocked them before, and jumped when it slid right open. "Hey look, we can get out now!"
"Ah don't know if we should," mused Apple Bloom, but the others were already leaving, too curious to leave it alone.
"You should listen to her," said Flim's voice, coming from Button's console.
"Note how we said this is a world mirror maze," said Flam.
"Emphasis on world."
"As in, that's a whole other world out there!"
"Whoa..." breathed Button Mash. Outside the mirror room, the mansion had the same general layout as before, but the wall to wall crystal was all gone, replaced with something like a friendlier version of the Applecron's control deck... lots of brushed metal and mechanical gadgets, but the floor was plush carpet, and strange framed photographs hung on the walls.
Sweetie frowned thoughtfully. "Miss Fate's going to be mad at us again." She did a bit of a double-take, pointing a fist at the console. "If magic's not working, why does *that* work?"
"We're not complaining," said Flam.
"No, sir!" said Flim.
"We should go back," said Scootaloo, suddenly. "I don't want to get stuck in some weird place with no wings." Right when she turned around, the door to the mirror room slid closed and locked automatically. "Oh, come on!!"
And then, the four transformed humans became aware of hoofsteps that weren't coming from any of them. "How did you children get inside my house, hmm?" said the voice of an elderly stallion... no, an elderly *human.* The owner of the voice stepped around a corner and peered at them all, eyes lighting up. "My goodness. Four of you!"
The old human had pale yellow skin, and a red beard with plenty of gray. He wore an old-fasioned dark brown suit with a long coat, thick glasses, and an elegantly knotted silk scarf with a symbol on it... a magnifying glass hovering over a six-pointed star.
"It can't be," whispered Flim.
"That is most certainly not our uncle," replied Flam, voice shaking a bit. "Not *our* uncle."
"Even so..."
"Uncle Flummox?" said both of them together.
The old man's eyebrows shot up. "So... Either you've broken my nephews out of prison, transformed them into small horses, *and* stuffed them inside a flying box, or..." He stroked his beard, noting the door to the mirror maze behind them. "Yes, I believe I'm getting the picture."
Alex Warlorn
"I told them not to build a summer camp around here, that strange things happen, but do they listen to one crazy old man? No. Well, what are you here for? Trying to find a 'better life' over the rainbow? No such thing, trust me. Fleeing an evil overlord who took control of your universe? Looking for the Chosen One? Hoping to open up inter-reality relationship? Or did you just get wrangled into trying the mirrors after a bet with a version of me? Or did I tell everyone NOT to use them, so of course you kids HAD TO use them, and my nephews tried to stop you, and you zapped into your little box to keep them from meddling, and now you don't know which mirror will lead you back home?"
MtangaLion
"Well, ya see," Apple Bloom started to say, but she trailed off, hardly knowing where to begin.
Sweetie Belle grinned and folded her arms over her chest. Clearly, she was winging it when it came to human gestures, but it felt right. "Go on. You're our truth expert. Maybe you can tell it in a way that doesn't sound crazy."
Button chuckled. "Good luck."
Mr. Flummox pulled a slim rectangle out of a jacket pocket, glass on one side and metal on the back, sort of like a silver picture frame. The metal side was engraved with his magnifying glass and star mark. "You won't mind if I get a picture of you for my journal, will you?" He held it out towards them and pressed a button.
"You have journals here too?!" exclaimed Scootaloo. "Where?"
"Why, right here, of course." Flummox wrote on the glass with a stylus, and the hoof... no, the handwritten words disappeared and turned into neat typeset letters.
Sweetie moved to look over his shoulder, staring. "Are we *sure* magic doesn't work here?"
Apple Bloom dug around in the backpack that her saddlebags had become, and held out the red number three journal with the hoofprint. "Actually, we've been looking for another journal like this one, so we could find out all the secrets of the Everfree Forest! Ya see, the Flummox in our world..."
"He's missing," said Flim's pixelated pony face from Button Mash's inventory.
"Gone without a trace," said Flam.
"House abandoned for years."
"We think something awful must have happened to him!"
Flummox gave them a mistrusting look. "Oh, and you two had nothing to do with that, I'm sure." He scratched his beard. "If your missing Flummox did get lost in the world mirror maze, then he's not here. I suppose you kids will be determined to go back. Just remember, there's no rush. Unless there actually is a rush." The old man grinned slyly. "It would be more correct to say that I'm in no hurry to be rid of you. This is quite fascinating."
"What about the doors in the maze?" said Scootaloo. "They all locked behind us!"
Flummox waved a hand dismissively. "Merely a precaution to keep people from wandering in by mistake. Just use the door code, 5-2-4-2-8-7."
Apple Bloom's face lit up. "The seventh Maresenne prime! That'll be easy to remember!"
Sweetie threw her hands up in the air. "How is that easy?!"
Alex Warlorn
Button Mash said, "I have to agree. There was this game where you had to sneak into work after being late, and there were safes around that contained extra times, and one of the safes combinations was hinted with a lead pencil based on lead's ATOMIC WEIGHT!"
"We haven't reset, so we know we're not stuck here at least." Scootaloo said.
"What now?" Mr. Flummox asked.
"Nothing!" The foals said quickly.
"I want to go home." Sweetie sighed.
"I want my wings back like you want your horn back I know."
"No Scootaloo I mean, I want to go home, gone to bed, and wake up to a NEW morning... I'm... tired of this... I don't want to get to where I'm SCARED to live in a world where things don't repeat. Let's... just find our Flim and Flam's uncle, get the last book, find whatever the last trick is to Everfree, and call it a night already!" Sweetie looked on the verge of tears.
Mtangalion
Button Mash wrapped unfamiliar arms around Sweetie Belle, and hugged her close. "It's gonna be okay."
Sweetie sobbed and buried her face in his shoulder, hugging tight. "Don't let me go."
Button smiled, wiping her tears with those so-very-useful fingers. "Never."
Sweetie smiled faintly, her fingertips brushing his. "Never's a really long time."
"Heh, we'd know, wouldn't we?"
Scootaloo and Apple Bloom grinned.
Flummox cleared his throat and polished his glasses. "If there's anything you kids need before you go... Food, supplies? I could offer you a host of my fantastic devices, but I doubt they'd work in your magic world."
Apple Bloom grinned as she tapped the code into the mirror maze door. "Thanks, but Ah think we're good. You probably won't be seeing us again, so goodbye, and thanks for everything!"
Of course, a year later, when a nearly identical bunch of kids snuck out of the Everfree Woods Summer Camp and into his house on a dare... but that was another story.
"So," said Scootaloo, after they'd crossed through the mirrors and become their proper pony selves again. For the first time in a while, the young pegasus was hovering off the floor, flying *just because she could.* "How are we going to do this? If Flummox is in the mirror maze, it might take forever to find the right world."
Sweetie shivered and nodded, levitating her saddlebags into a more comfortable position. "I don't want to have to go tromping through griffon world and zombie world and dragon world and whatever else is in there."
A chill wind blew through the hall, and an inky shadow rose on a wall with nothing casting it, looming over them. "Then you're in luck," whispered a voice that made all their hides crawl.
"Who are you?" demanded Apple Bloom. She put her goggles on, and gasped at the ghostly black-robed *human* woman she saw, here in the pony world. "W-What are you?"
"What a foolish question," said the shadowy woman, sounding regally offended. "Do your eyes not see all? They won't see anything, if you don't bother to look, child... if you're *afraid* to gaze into the darkness. With my witchcraft, I see your goal. I will tell you where to go!"
Button Mash tensed. "No deals! We didn't agree to anything!" He looked to the girls. "Did anypony agree to anything?
The spirit only smiled cruelly. "Consider this... a gift. Take the center passage, go up the stairs on the left, then through the gallery. Use your door code. You'll find Archmage Flummox within." She laughed haughtily and melted right through the floor, disappearing.
There was an uneasy silence, until Flim shouted, "Well, come on! What are we standing around for?"
"But, that was a witch!" Sweetie shuddered. "A really bad one. She wouldn't help us, unless it was so something awful could happen."
"But we can't give up now!" insisted Flam.
Kendell2
"Maybe something around here might help us?" Applebloom asked. "Just in case?"
"Did your Uncle make a vacuum that can suck up ghosts?" Button Mash questioned.
"Maybe...we can't remember EVERYTHING he made..." Flam replied.
"Well there's got to be something around here," said Scootaloo, looking around the room. It was a maze, but there were still some bobbles around it and they now had the passcode so they could look around the area outside the door.
The group split up and looked around, Scootaloo and Applebloom using their special glasses to look around.
Sweetie wandered over the a shelf, looking at several things. She finally stumbled upon a ornate bottle with a cork on top. She picked it up in her telekinesis and removed the cork, looking inside to find nothing. She shrugged and put it back...then blinked, feeling a tug on her tail. "Huh?"
She looked back to find her tail, and then hindquarters, turn into an almost liquid-like form and being sucked into the bottle.
"AHH!"
"Sweetie?" Button asked, the group turning as Sweetie was sucked into the bottle, being lifted off the ground.
"Help!" she screamed, now half way into the bottle. "What's happening?!"
The trio ran over to try and grab her...but she was sucked all the way in, the bottle closing itself and turning white, her Cutie Mark on it.
"What happened?!" Button yelled, frantically looking over the bottle and preparing to open it.
"Don't open it! It might suck you in too!" Scootaloo yelled.
Applebloom produced the journals and frantically looked through them. She then gasped, finding an entry on the bottle. "...It's okay, you can open it!"
Button Mash didn't even take time to nod and opened the bottle...
At which point Sweetie Belle emerged, a golden cap on the tip of her horn and golden bands around her front legs. "Sweetie Belle!" Button yelled, hugging her.
Sweetie quickly hugged him back. "What happened?"
She then gave a gasp as she realized her rear half was a long, white flowing 'tail' going back into the bottle and she was presently floating. "Why don't I have back legs?!" she asked, moving around through the air, the tail lengthening to accommodate it. "...Actually, this isn't too bad, reminds me of being a Siren from before."
"Listen tah this," said Applebloom, clearing her throat. "'While visiting an alternate version of Saddle Arabia, Ah came across a legend of Genies that once populated the land. Due to various reasons, this type of mythological creature is seemingly extinct, a fact the Saddle Arabians regret deeply. These creatures are ponies transformed into magical creatures via the usage of a specially enchanted bottle. Their abilities are limited only by the imagination of the wisher, but generally abide by three general rules: no making ponies fall in love, no bringing the dead back to life, and no killing anypony. These rules are sacred and should never be broken.'"
Circled at the top was the word 'Jiniri' and a rune that she didn't recognize, but the words 'creator?' was written there.
"'Ah managed to acquire one such bottle from a local who held the long lost secrets to creating Genies. However, Ah ran into a problem with finding a proper pony to become one. The only relatives Ah had who Ah could ask for assistance are my no account nephews, who would undoubtedly abuse such power no matter how involved they were. So Ah chose instead to simply speak with an alternate universe genie who became one.'"
"Wait, so I'm a genie?!" Sweetie Belle asked, looking herself over.
"Cool..." said Button, looking over her.
Flim and Flam got a devilish look and and opened their mouths.
"Oh don't get any ideas!" Applebloom cut them off. "It says here that while they can grant wishes for other ponies, the pony who opens the bottle and let's 'em out is their 'master'. Which means Button, and she'll BE Button's genie until they choose for her not to be. And it ALSO says the Genie gets to CHOOSE what wishes they grant and set their own rules. At least this TYPE of Genie does. Says there's other types that are more limited, and technically they can be limited when they're made Genies."
The Flim Flam Brothers got an annoyed look.
"...Sweetie Belle..."
"Button, I don't think wishing for every video game in existence would be healthy for you," Sweetie Belle replied before Button could say a thing. "I kinda get this feeling I need to be a bit responsible with this..."
"Aww..." Button muttered. "...Can I wish for a couple?"
"...I guess that's okay..."
"...Can I wish for my parents' current address?" Scootaloo asked. She knew a relative area, but not the EXACT one...
Sweetie gave it thought. "I...guess..."
Button Mash nodded.
Sweetie Belle then focused, her horn glowing, causing a piece of paper to manifest in her hooves.
"Thanks!"
The white Genie gave a smile. "You're welcome...um...am I stuck without legs?"
Applebloom looked through the journal. "Nah, yah just have tah focus on havin' 'em. But you're bound to that bottle and will return to it to sleep. Don't worry, says it's really comfy and won't just break on yah."
Sweetie Belle did so, her tail transforming into her normal back half, only wearing blue genie attire now. "That's a relief."
"Says here you're also probably a big deal in Saddle Arabia..." Applebloom said, continuing to look it over.
"So why don't we just wish we found what we're looking for already?" Scootaloo questioned, putting the paper in her saddle bags.
Sweetie Belle tried to do just that...but nothing happened. "I...can't do that for some reason..."
"Probably because our uncle is paranoid enough to find counters..." Flam remarked.
"So I guess that means Genies aren't unbeatable?" Sweetie asked.
"Says there's special charms and spells that can effect them and block their magic..." Applebloom said.
"And I bet that witch probably knows some..." Scootaloo said with a sigh.
"Okay, so I'm a Genie now...so does that mean I just respawned?" Sweetie questioned, tapping her chin.
Applebloom flipped some pages. "Not until yah choose."
"Choose?"
"Says here Genies have three days they can be wished free before they're stuck for a thousand years," Applebloom replied. "Ah'm guess you'll respawn when you make up the choice..."
Sweetie Belle gave it serious thought. "...Well...I do like being like this, I feel like a Siren...And..." she focused and blinked. "Nothing happened."
"Genies can't just do anything on their own," Applebloom pointed out. "They gain powers from wishes they grant."
"...I wish Sweetie Belle could turn into a siren or sea pony whenever she wanted..." Button Mash said.
Sweetie Belle focused again, and turned into a Siren, the golden cap on her horn now appearing as golden caps tipping the bones in her fins. She then turned back. "Thanks Button! Okay, so now I can do that...plus, we know from that future everypony we love will probably be Alicorns anyway, and I can be Spike's friend for a long time too, and if I'm a big deal in Saddle Arabia, that'd REALLY help Rarity!...And think of how much I could help Rarity if I'm a genie!...Wait a second! If the night ends, I go into another timeline, right?" she asked. "So won't that mean Button won't be my master anymore and I'll be stuck out here in this place?"
"That's...a good point..." Applebloom remarked.
Button tapped her chin. "Sweetie...What if I wished that after I'm not your master, your Rarity's the next one that finds you?"
"I...I can do that! I can feel it, I can!" Sweetie Belle replied, smiling. She gave it serious thought. "Plus if I change my mind, I can just have Rarity wish me free in three days! So I think I do want to stay like this!"
"Okay! Then I wish that when I'm not your master anymore, Rarity will be the one to find you!" Button replied.
---
Sweetie Belle blinked, watching herself on the What If machine. She then got up and headed back...however, half way through, she ran into a large, green menacing dragon.
He glared down at her as she trembled...then cleared his throat. "Excuse me, small pony...do you know where I can find a 'Pipsqueak?'
"Uh...yes...why?" Sweetie Belle asked, looking awkwardly up at the gigantic dragon.
"My name is Basil...and well...I'm kind of..." the dragon gave an embarrassed look. "His ancestor defeated me and I swore an oath of loyalty to her, but NO ONE in her family line has had me do ANYTHING for thousands of years! So...I'm going to try and see if he has something..."
Sweetie gave the old dragon directions and continued on back towards the mansion and her friends...and her Genie self. "Tonight is really weird." She then realized something. "...Wait a second...Why didn't I tell Button to just wish me back to that place?!"
OOC: Based off of a favorite blog of mine: i-dream-of-twilight-sparkle.tu…
For the record, I imagine Scoots is right and Lilith DOES know spells to prevent a Genie from stomping her.
I just want to see what someone can do with this and have for awhile.
Stats
Page generated in 0.024 seconds
Total duration
1,064 users online
2,145,707 hits today, 2,280,440 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
7830938
You have no idea.
I dunno, they look great to me.
From this fanfic. Give it a read. https://www.fimfiction.net/story/225030/the-two-sides-of-daring-do
Daring Do and the Belt of Atlas.
7831720
The first game at least is worth your time. Give it a try. Decide if you like it or not.
0-0 That's what you see it as?
It was meant to be a tongue-in-cheek lampshade of RPG violence.
Fluttershy ended up having some good points.
HA!
And it was meant to be a reference to the Adventures of Mark Twain, where the kids meet the Mysterious Stranger from the book of the same name.
"Who are you?"
"An Angel."
"What's your name?"
"Satan." (half of mask turns demonic).
"Un-oh."
"What?"
"Nothin', that's just a sorry name for an angel."
7831841
Was written before the writers said that.
HEH!
Remember Rybread from the Variety Show? With a cutie mark of himself?
Oh he was already alive, he was just an aging brain in a jar surrounded by a planet sized life support system and a personal virtual world that only existed in his senses and the machine's circuitry.
Why don't you have trope account?
Ironically I wasn't think of FiO when I wrote this.
And the Foundation Update brought it back to life.
7831911
That was a joke... I had the CMC blow up the top of a mountain, creating CMC Mesa, in the original draft of the rumors arc, which no longer happened cause they were distracted by Button Mash's video games... but Louis cut that part of.
When reality was internalized, Surprise became one of her ancestors. Also, she ended up accidentally taking in Surprise's shadow, and Princess Rarity's original light of existence during the chaos.
It's been so long, I forget what that means.
That is poetic! Thank you.
Where's that come from?
Read hard cover book, Under The Sparkling Sea.
7832007
Fallen Alicorns are devils, fallen Draconequi are demons.
7831933
In the best way possible. The Blue Lanterns have always been my favorite, and this fic has only reinforced that.
Because I'd probably suck at writing descriptions
The back of a Garfield book that shows Odie as a genius, Jon as a ladies' man, and Garfield in an "I love Mondays" shirt. ...no, really. I thought the book got it from somewhere, but the only other instance i can find is a comment on a Gatchaman fanfic, and I don't even know what that is.
7832007
Take that at my least favorite issue of the comics.
Don't know what that last half of that sentence means.
Hmm?
Hmm?
To get away from the trauma of being corrupted by Discord.
Did you read Button Mash's POV?
Thanks. It's been a nightmare. If not for the trope page I'd have never kept it all straight.
Jazz of Cybertron would say something like: What's wrong with bein' a robot, yo.
7832049
???
Cut myself off before suggesting RD gets the rest of the Mane Six as a harem.
Lucifel saw everything as not having consequence, which is how Pixel seemed to be acting right there. And I know Pixel is a flanderization of button, but many Korean MMO's do pretty much everything Button did.
I was being sarcastic.
https://youtu.be/wZF2Shvy-7w?t=23
Hey! Was wondering if she'd show up.
At least they're not forced into rhyming every sentence.(seriously, major props to anyone who manages to write good dialogue for Zecora.)
You asked for it.
Oh Celestia why?!
I'm just confused, and worried Cat has something even worse. Besides, Chrysapuff OTP
Pfft!!!
I wouldn't be surprised if Shining explicitly predicted that this would happen
Oh you did that on purpose!
Ew, how even, and HAY NO! Sweetie, I now blame you.
"Scootaloo could somehow feel a Shadowy avatar resembling a well-dressed ape with cool facial hair yelling with her while gesticulating wildly"
Rule 34 and Rule 63. No exceptions. Especially for your world, sadly
Scootaloo sensed the same Shadowy avatar from earlier slamming his hand into his forehead repeatedly.
KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!! Wait, crap that won't do anything! AAAH!
All praise be to the Architect! All hail her analysis of the Architectural structure of the story....even if she did take her sweet time getting there
.....I'm running out of ways to say these are funny.
And the threshold has been passed. I can't hate this anymore, its to darn funny!
These two..... are actually becoming a good running gag. Let's just hope they don't get mauled by cats
When I said Cutie Mark Everfree Army Crusaders(Hooray!) I meant for it to be used AGAINST you, dangit!
Nice one. And one I need to work on myself. You somehow made me sympathize with the child of the two worst/most evil/definately most annoying villains in the POVerse. Good job
Took the words right out of my mouth.
Poor guy was living in the Pony X-files. Also, CELESTIA LIES! THE EARTH IS ROUND, WE DON'T NEED THE TYRANT TO CONTROL THE SUN! WAKE UP SHEEPONIES!(no offense to sheep, but they need to wake up too)
Now that's cute
Did you learn NOTHING from the Tunnel of Love?!
There's more than one? Why?
I love how that line went from a divine command to an atteampt at brain bleach
Because Apple Math
What game is that?
All of my d'aaw. Seriously, this is the best puppy love pairing I've ever seen
7839173
Great running gag ain't it?
Ironically, there is at least one cycle in Dark World where Queen Barb was a reality. (And Queen Smarty Pants, but strangely, Discord never married AJ or RD in any of the cycles.)
Her Carnival, her rules. :-)
Borrowed from the Wonder Woman comic.
The game is, LEVEL22 GARY’S MISADVENTURES. Get your games on gog.com