How I Met Them

by The Infinity Doctor

What the hay? Part 3

Twilight, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie, Rainbow, and Bass Flight walked down the street, seeing the state the buildings and street itself was in. They stopped, however, as it abruptly ended

"That's it? The street ends right here?" Twilight said
"Not exactly" Bass said, walking around the statue of a human holding the hand of the rabbit they'd seen in the makeshift home in Canterlot Castle
The end of the street was centered around the statue, acting as a hub or a cul-de-sac
"Where're we supposed to go? There's nothing here but a bunch of projector screens" Dash pointed out
"Anywhere you like, Ventureland - OsTown - Tomorrow City - Bog Easy"
"How the hay does that work?"
"Why don't you find out for yourselves?"
"What?"
"Pick one"
"Uh, that one-" Twilight said, pointing to a screen
"Alright, hop through then"
"Wha-"

Bass Flight grabbed Twilight and threw her towards the screen, she expected it to rip under the force with which she was thrown

It didn't; as she felt herself actually pass through the screen and land...somewhere

"What- the- hay- was- that?"
"Projectors- the only way to travel" he grinned

The other elements came through the projector and looked around

"Where are we?" Rarity asked
"OsTown, we're going to check Mickeyjunk Mountain first- and we need to pass through here first"

OsTown

Just like Mean Street, OsTown was in disrepair- a fountain with a broken statue of the rabbit was spraying green liquid onto some of the houses, a sunken tugboat sat in a large pool of the green liquid.

"Hiya Bass, what brings you here?" a tall figure asked
In appearance, the figure looked like a broken foal's toy, one metallic arm ending in a white glove, a torn orange shirt and blue pants, the head was dog like, a green hat with a black band resting on the top of its head, two large white eyes cracked in the centers, leaving a black void and a single, glowing green eye.

"Hi Goofy, we're trying to get to Mickeyjunk Mountain- preferably as soon as possible"
"Gawrsh, I don't know if you could get up there- Oswald disappeared after the Disaster"
"I'll handle that part, can you just tell us how to get there?"
"Hmmm, the projector's been broken for a while, maybe you could go talk to Prescott"
"Fine, where is he?" Bass groaned
"In the Gag Factory" Goofy said, pointing to the large building
"Thanks, come on girls"
The rest of them thanked Goofy and followed Bass into the Factory

Inside, the group found an orange-skinned creature in a dark blue jumpsuit and helmet, working with a device in his hands, the suit itself was fitted with additions made by the creature wearing it. A pair of teeth and two other small machines were squeaking and hopping near the gremlin

"Oh chatter off, you worthless little-"
He stopped, noticing the group. He threw the device he was working on into a trunk, closed it and sat on it.

"Well, well, look who's decided to grace us with his presence" he said sarcastically
"Pleasure to see you too, Prescott" Bass said, rolling his eyes "We need to get to Mickeyjunk Mountain, are the transport tubes still working?"
"Not exactly, it's down in that thinner sink-hole" He said, suddenly taking interest in the hopping machines

He jumped off the trunk and crushed the trinkets with his boot, dragging his foot along the ground

"Jamface gave Goofy some thinner pumps, naturally I told Goofy how to upgrade them" he said pompously

*Ka-booooom*

The group ran outside to see what caused the explosion, just in time to see Goofy fly through the air, save for Prescott who just rolled his eyes and teleported outside

"Goofy! What happened?" Bass asked
"*Groan* I was tryin' to fix these pumps, just like Prescott told me, don't know what I did though, because they all went kablooey"

"I told him to overcharge one pump, not three" he said defensively, holding up his hand to display the numbers "Yes it makes the pumps slightly unstable, but it also gets the job done faster"
"Gawrsh, they looked more that slightly dangerous to me, I think I'll just go ahead and use the pumps how Jamface told me" Goofy said, getting up

Prescott teleported to the front of the Gag Factory
"Fine, but when you'd like to do things quickly- come talk to me"

Twilight and her friends were faced with two options, either do it Goofy's way and take a little longer pumping out the thinner, or go with Prescott's way and possibly get closer to finding Jonas.

"What should we do?"
"I think that depends on what your priorities are" Bass said
"Slow and steady always wins the race, let's go talk to him" Applejack said, pointing to Goofy.
"Jonas's letter did sound urgent, I suggest we go to this Prescott fellow" Rarity said
"Decisions, decisions, decisions"
"I say we do things Goofy's way" Pinkie suggested
"I agree with Applejack...if that's okay with you" Fluttershy said
"Please! If we do it that way, it'll take way too long!" Rainbow declared "I'm going with Prescott"
"Looks like it's decided, we need to gather all three pumps and see what Goofy needs us to do with them" Twilight said, walking up to Goofy

"Where are the pumps?"
"I think I saw one land on Ortensia's roof, the other is in that lake over there, and the last one is on top of the Gag Factory"
"Thank you"
Twilight pulled the first two pumps towards her and Goofy, and took the last one from its perch on top of the Factory
"Now all ya need to do is to hook up those pumps by Oswald's statue, then we can start draining the thinner"

Twilight picked up one pump and placed it on the loading platform, the lightbulb on top of the station port activated and the screen lit up, showing a black lightning bolt against a blue background

"Don't listen to that goof! My supercharger will get the job done with just one pump machine!" Prescott shouted

"I don't know about you guys, but I'm doing this his way" Rainbow said, grabbing a pump and flying to Prescott

He said something to her and she took the pump to the side of the building, presumably to Prescott's supercharger

She came back with the pump, an active current bouncing around in its glass dome

Rainbow took off the pump Twilight placed and slammed her own onto the pump station, then turned to Goofy.
"You just watch, all of this will be cleaned up in ten seconds flat"

A deep rumbling sound was heard beneath them shortly after Rainbow placed the pump
"Wh-what's going on?"

The charged pump flew off the station and streams of thinner shot straight up in the air, and now instead of spraying just one house, the fountain was now spraying three.

The seven looked to Prescott

"Well...I told you it would work! Yes, maybe the Thinner stream's worse, but the sinkhole's lower!"
Twilight rolled her eyes
"Didn't believe me, eh? Well I showed you, didn't I? Now if I give you a reward will you leave me alone?"

"Come on girls, the tube should take us straight to the base of the mountain" Bass said

Five of the mares followed him, Rainbow looked to the damage she was responsible for

"Don't worry, things will be up and running before you know it, it'll just take a little longer" Goofy said

"...thanks..."
Rainbow flew after the others

The group had followed Bass through the tubes, which was basically a giant underground tunnel

"Welp, here we are, Mickeyjunk Mountain" Bass said, climbing out

"Jonas is all the way up there?" Applejack asked, looking up at the mountain
"Possibly"
"Well we'd better get going then..."
They all started up the steep incline of the base, and stopped when a playing card walked up to them
"Just what do you think you're doing?"
"Trying to get to the top of this here mountain"
"Well you're never going to get there that way, follow me"
They followed the playing card and saw him climb into a crane

They saw the crane activate and the mouth of the crane pulled down the lid of a lunch box melded into the side of the mountain, revealing another projector screen.

"There you go, now you can get up the mountain easier"
"Er, thank you, we never caught your name"
"It's Decker, good luck on your trip"
"Thank you" Bass said, following the six mares into the projector

X

"Just how tall is this mountain?" Applejack asked as they came through the third projector
"Not much further, Oswald's old sanctuary is just up ahead" Bass said

"Why would anypony ever live on this atrocious junk-heap?" Rarity asked, avoiding a questionable gumball machine's perch above them

Bass shot her a glare

"...but it's a very stylish atrocious junk-heap"
"Nice save" he said sarcastically "The projector that goes up to the peak is right here"
"Well, what're we waiting for?"
They jumped through the projector and landed in a large room, part of the floor being made up of a sign with a mouse's face painted on it
"Who is that?" Rainbow asked, pointing to the floor
"Mickey- Oswald's brother"
"Why's it look like somepony tried to erase his ears?"
"They, uh, didn't have the best history before...they managed to patch things up though"
"Oh, how did they do that?"

"They blew up a giant maniacal blot-monster"

"...that sounds awesome" was all he got in reply. From Rainbow.

"Well shoot, he ain't here, what're we supposed to do now?" Applejack asked
"We search one of the castles" Bass said
"This'll take forever..." Rainbow grumbled
"Not necessarily, this projector goes straight to the throne room of one of them"
"At least we don't have too far to go..."
They went through and came in and spread out into a throne room

"Twilight? Applejack? Is that you?"
"Toxic?"

They saw Toxic and two other ponies, one was a grey pegasus mare with a blonde mane (not Ditzy), and the other was a dark-coated pegasus stallion with a dark-blue mane and completely blue-green eyes, no pupils or irises- two fangs poked out of his mouth, his cutie mark was eighth notes making up a white star on his flank.

"I'm so happy you're here! That means you got dad's letter!"
"Yes, we did, where is he?"
"He's- uh, in the next room, but he's changed a little..."
"Can we see him?"
"Sure, just don't act suprised"

Toxic led everypony to the next room, Pinkie and the grey pegasus chatting while the stallion exchanged idle conversation with Bass Flight.

"Toxic, who exactly are these ponies?" Twilight asked
"This is Suprise" he said, indicating the grey pegasus
"She and Pinkie look like they could be sisters"
"I know right? I have no idea where dad came up with half these ideas"
"I think I might have a few guesses" Pinkie piped up
"-and who is this?" she asked, looking to the stallion
"This is Rain Chaser, one of my closest friends"
"Hello" he said
"Hi...I can't help but notice you look just like Rainbow does now, except without a horn- or holes for that matter"
"Huh"
"You aren't much for talking, are you?"
"No"

"Did your eyes just change color?"

He looked into a nearby mirror, then hit himself in the head, his eyes reverting back to normal

"Sorry, sometimes they do that..."
"What else can you do?"
"I can't change gender, I can change species for some reason, and I sometimes can't control my eye color, sometimes they switch on their own"
"Oh..."

The ten ponies entered the room at last
"Jonas isn't here, that...thing...looks like him though"
"Correction; he's right there"
The biped turned, revealing itself to be a Alicorn, his cutie mark was a blot of blue liquid on one flank and a blot of green liquid on the other
"Is just anypony turning into an Alicorn?" Rarity asked
"I'm not a real Alicorn, somethin' made me this way" Applejack sighed

"Oh, hello there" the biped said
"Hello Jonas"
"That's funny, everypony keeps calling me that- strange, isn't it?"

"What happened to him, Toxic?" Twilight whispered
"After the Refinery blew up, I think dad put everything he had into keeping it contained; there...there were alot of ponies here that got dipped...we've been trying different spells to bring them back"
"Wait a minute, Jonas sent us this letter, and now he doesn't know who he is? What the hay is going on here?" Rainbow said
"Our best guess is that he sent it right before everything went to Tartarus" Rain Chaser interjected
"I'll kindly ask you to not use that sort of language in the prescence of a foal" Rarity said
"Right...sorry"
"Now that we found you- Why did you turn us into freaks?!" Rainbow cried
"I'm sorry, I don't know who you are" Alicorn Jonas said

"Dash, he's got amnesia, he probably doesn't even remember what he had for breakfast this morning"
"Oatmeal with a little cinnamon"
"Sure...that he remembers..." Rain Chaser grumbled

"Don't worry RC, he'll be back to himself in no time!" Pinkie and Suprise said simultaneously
"Twi? Are you seein' what I'm seein'?"
"It can't be..."

There were two Pinkies in existence

"SO...what'll we do with him, now that we found him?"
"Simple, I take us all back to Canterlot, and we can cure his amnesia- somehow..." Bass Flight said, flaring his wings
"Oh, as if that will solve anything" Rain Chaser said "what we need is to find out how he did this, so we can bring back all the ones we lost"
"If he gets his memory back, we won't need to find a way, he can do it like he did before"

The two continued bickering and Twilight turned to Suprise

"Do they always fight like this?"
"No...it's usually much worse"
"Doesn't that get dangerous?"
"No, I think they compliment each other pretty well"
"I think the author had something to do with that" Pinkie said
"I know, right? I mean, these things always have us breaking the fourth wall at some point, and then the rest of the characters never get the joke"
"What?" Twilight asked
"See! That's exactly what I'm talking about! They should come up with something original maybe-"
"-bring the author themselves into it!" Pinkie finished
"Perfect!"
"And then they complain that there are too many plot twists! I mean, the whole 'X-turned-alicorn' thing has been beaten to death already- but come on! It's a good story device! They should be open to other ideas!"
"Ooooh, I know, have you read that one where-"

Twilight turned away from the two mares, her head ready to explode from the nonsense rambling

"-then they wrote 'Cupcakes', which was just really, really mean- I never hurt anypony! Just because of that one scene, and some of that other stuff-"

"Alright, we're going back to Canterlot" Bass Flight announced
"We're coming, we're coming"

The group gathered around Bass Flight, and his wings opened, glowing like before- the blinded them once more and they found themselves in the throne room of Canterlot Castle

"My student, what brings you back so soon?" Celestia asked
"What do you mean, princess? Feels like we've been gone for weeks" Applejack said
"Only a few hours have passed since your departure"
"Did time slow down here? Or speed up there? Or both? Or maybe we actually got sent back in time, and Celestia is still downstairs,ohmygoshifsheisthenwe'realldoomedwecouldcauseaparadoxandbreaktheuniverseorsomethingthenitwouldbejustterribleiwouldn'tevengettosaygoodbyetothecakesandtheniwouldntbeabletothrowanendoftheworldpartyandicouldntfindanypartyfavorsandthen-"

Pinkie was cut off as Applejack put a hoof to her mouth

"Princess, we found Jonas, but he's been turned into...this"
"I see, and what of the others you've brought with you?"
"Survivors, you might say, your majesty" Rain Chaser said
"Princess, this is Rain Chaser, Suprise, and-"

Twilight noticed Bass Flight had disappeared from the room

"Where did Bass go?"
"I don't know, he was here a second ago..."
"Guess we'll find out next chapter" Suprise said
"Well, it's wonderful to have you back Jonas" Celestia said
"Who?"
"You are Jonas, aren't you?"
"I don't know, everypony keeps calling me that, so I suppose so"
"We think he has amnesia, your highness"

"I was planning to keep him here to make sure he was alright- but given this new information, I think it'd be best to have him go back to Ponyville with you all"
"Thank you, Princess"
"As for Suprise and yourself, Rain Chaser, you may stay here in the castle until your home is repaired"
"Thank you, highness" he said, bowing

Rain Chaser and Suprise had gone below the castle and Twilight and her friends boarded the train back to Ponyville

"Do you think they'll react badly to how we look?" Rarity asked
"If they do, we'll just have to bear through it, I'm sure it can't be that bad" Applejack said
"...even if we did have a way to reverse it ourselves, I'm sure they'll accept us- remember that big deal they made about Zecora coming into town? Everypony knows her now, and she enjoys coming into town"
"Will it all work out?" Fluttershy asked

'I sincerely hope so'Twilight thought to herself

"I'm sure it will, Fluttershy..." she said, not sure to believe her own words

Author's Note:

Usual stuff, (for those of you who pay attention to these things) If you are one of these people, this is pointless anyway- but I digress; Rain Chaser belongs to Rainchaserbrony, and Bass Flight belongs to Goof's Types on FanFiction.net, Suprise is public domain.

'Til next time!

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[The Infinity Doctor]

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