Episode 4-Part 3: Zebrica and Back Again
Princess Luna entered the silver light of the moon, the blackness surrounding the circle of light that came from an overhead window. The eyes of five friends lay upon her, beaming out of the blackness. A deep blue aura surrounded her horn and her eyes slowly closed. One by one, candles lining the circular room began to lite. Soon enough, the entire rotunda was lit, revealing the stone brick walls and broken pillars. Small plants grew from cracks in the floor while vines and moss hung from the walls and ceiling. In the center of the room, under the moons soft glow was an intricately carved circle, and within that, another circle. Small jewelled replicas of different constellations sat in between circles. In the very center was a perfectly carved spherical diamond with Luna's cutie mark etched into it.
"Step forward, our little ponies," Luna called out without turning around. In a line, Lyra, Bon Bon, Derpy, Octavia and Vinyl Scratch walked towards her. Continuing to move out of the circle, she slid open a panel in the wall. From it, she produced a small tome, which she levitated towards the group of five. Bon Bon squinted, trying to see what it said on the cover.
"Supernaturals: Natural remedies and cure-alls that are simply super"
Luna nodded. "This book shall assist thou in locating and identifying the ingredients. Each page has been labelled. Now, in terms of travel, We have prepared a way for thou to reach Zebrica and return before days end." She removed her regalia from around her neck and levitated it towards Lyra, clasping it onto her neck. It hung awkwardly, too big for such a little pony. Luna fixed that. She began casting a spell that caused the necklace to quiver and shake. Slowly, it began to shrink down until finally, it fit perfectly.
Lyra raised an eyebrow, unsure of what to say. "Princess, I don't understand. What is this for?"
"We have embedded our necklace with a powerful teleportation spell. It is usable only once, and will bring thou back to this spot. Once thou hath secured all three ingredients, use it."
"But," Lyra began, "if it can only be used once, then how do we get there?"
"We shall send you there. Simply stand in the center of the circle, and when the moon is highest, we shall cast a spell." Luna gestured to the circle etched into the ground. It seemed that the time to leave was soon, for the light of the moon was almost perfectly aligned with the edges of the circle.
The five friends gathered in the middle, bracing themselves for departure. Lyra wore a determined look on her face. She looked down at the necklace she wore and back to Luna. She smiled and nodded. Luna nodded back. Derpy shuffled nervously, but Vinyl Scratch laid a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. Magic began to build up around Princess Luna's horn, and soon was flowing between the cracks in the floor the pattern glowed brightly, getting stronger and stronger until the moonlight was in line with the outside circle. A burst of silver and blue energy shot up around them, and as the ponies' vision blurred, their images started to fade. There was a bright flash of light and all five of them were gone, leaving Luna alone in the empty room.
"We wish thee good luck," she whispered.
The feeling of being teleported leaves nothing to be desired. One would think that something so seemingly instantanious would be somewhat fun, but Bon Bon found out that was not the case. After the moon princess' magic engulfed her and her friends, she began to feel an intense searing heat, as if she had been thrown into the heart of a burning sun. Such was the feeling of having each and every atom in her body torn apart from each other and being shot straight up into the sky at near light speeds.
Derpy, on the other hand, was having a completely different experience. She felt as though she was soaring through the skies of Equestria, free from the physical restraints put on her by her body. She was a wandering spirit that danced through the air.
Needless to say, each of the ponies was having their own special experience with the teleportation. It took both an eternity and no time at all, but when the process was over, the group stood exactly the same as they did when they had left, but on a field of red dirt, a few stringy bushes dotting the landscape.
"That was awesome!" Vinyl Scratch exclaimed.
She leapt about a foot into the air, waving her front hooves wildly. Bon Bon wasn't quite somas excited. She fell to her knees, eyes wide open. She mumbled something, but it was too inaudible to decipher.
The moon hung high in the sky, shining its gentle light over the land. It was certainly much cooler than they had expected, but that was probably due to the cool midnight air.
Lyra pulled out a book from her saddlebag along with a folded paper, which she levitated in front of her. Unfolding the paper, she revealed it to be a map of the country. On it was a large horseshoe-shaped island with a smaller circular island in the middle of the crescent. Lyra then flipped through the book, finding the pages that Luna had so generously marked for them. After a moment of searching, she found what she was looking for, and stared for a moment to read both the book and the map.
"Okay girls, it's time to get to work. According to this, the Minuteblossom grows only on the island of Madagastripe, which lies at the heart of Zebrica. We need two ponies to go there while the rest of us go into a small town not too far from here. From there, we'll split up after getting more information on phoenixes."
Bon Bon raised a hoof and stepped forward. "I'll volunteer to go. I am not entirely sure that I am entirely content with meeting anypony from a country I've only just stepped hoof in."
"Okay." Lyra nodded. "Vinyl Scratch, go with Bon Bon, just in case, since you're the strongest of the group."
Immediately Vinyl's face went sour. "You mean I have to go pick flowers? I was looking forward to fighting a phoenix; that would have been so cool!"
Octavia glared. "There will be no fighting of phoenixes," she said, "we'll be questioning the locals on where we can purchase a feather, not on where the nearest phoenix is so we can fight it."
"Octavia's right," Lyra said, "we need to do this as fast as possible. The Doctor's life depends on it."
Vinyl grumbled and walked over to Bon Bon, who smiled awkwardly at her. The two waved, and departed from the rest of the group, trotting in the direction that Lyra had indicated to them. Turning around, Lyra led the rest of the group towards the village, in the opposite direction that she had sent the other two. The three ponies trekked across the near barren landscape, trudging along at a fairly slow pace. The late hour was already doing a deal on them, and the strange surroundings of the unfamiliar country did nothing to ease their nerves.
Suddenly, an outburst came from the back of the group. "Eeek!" screamed Octavia. Lyra and Derpy Hooves both turned to face the frightened earth pony, rest to help at a moments notice. Octavia was stood on one of her hind legs on top of a rock, shielding her face with her two front hooves. "Get it away, get that horrid creature away!" Sitting on the red soil was a small, docile creature, its head cocked to one side and its wide, shimmering eyes staring in wonderment at the grey pony that seemed so reluctant to meet it.
Lyra looked down at it. "It's a hedgehog," she said. The brown rodent happily sniffed about, quickly scurrying about. It looked up at Derpy with its beady little eyes and rubbed its head against her, being careful not to accidentally poke her with its razor sharp spines.
"Awwwww, it's so cuuuute!" Derpy squealed. She lifted the creature in between her forelegs and hovered a few inches into the air before dropping back down. She nuzzled against it, enticing a soft purr.
"Derpy!" Octavia screeched. "Get away from that terrifyingly filthy, dangerous animal!"
Derpy Hooves drifted over to her and extended both her hooves, lifting the hedgehog in front of Octavia's face. "But look how cute it is! He's so innocent and small and huggable." It stared adorably at Octavia, it's eyes seemingly becoming larger and shinier. Octavia glared back at it.
"Hisssssss!"
The musician leapt back, shaking, and hiding behind a rock. "Did you see that! He tried to attack me! His giant gnashing teeth and those horrible, threatening eyes."
"No, you just scared him," Derpy replied. She pulled the animal away and landed on the ground. The hedgehog crawled up her left left, around her body, and finally rested on her back. "He can be our mascot! Let's see... What's a good hedgehog name? Spike? Sonic? Georgia?" At each name suggestion, the hedgehog shook his head in disapproval. Finally, Derpy came up with the perfect name. "I know, I'll call him Roger! Roger the hedgehog. Do you like that Roger?"
She looked at him eagerly, awaiting a response. Happily, he nodded his head very quickly and gave a very big grin. Derpy squealed and leapt into the air, doing a small flip before landing back on the ground.
Lyra smiled. "I'm glad you found a new little friend, Derpy, but we've got to get going," she said.
"Lyra is right," Octavia stated, "we must move, though I revile the thought of having to travel with that creature."
The trio, along with their new animal friend, continued back on their trek to the Zebrican village. Every few moments, Octavia would begin grumbling and quietly complaining at the less than stellar atmosphere. Lyra would notice and ask what was wrong, to which Octavia would respond in an irritated manner, soliciting a response from Derpy in a poor attempt to cheer her up. The group would fall into an awkward silence and the cycle would repeat. After through the process more or less three times, Octavia's attitude became bothersome.
"Sigh..."
Without breaking her stride or turning around, Lyra asked, "What is it now Octavia?"
"Ohhh, it's nothing you need to concern yourself with, I'm sure I'll be fiiine."
"Good. Then let's keep going!" Lyra exclaimed in an overly cheerful overtone. Octavia pursed her lips, but immediately gave up in her pleas for help. She sighed once more before lowering her head to the ground. She stared hard at the crusty earth, crawling with insects and the like. Patches of dry grass could be seen dotting areas of the ground, the discoloured flora becoming more and more common as the three of them continued forth. Octavia raised her eyes and looked up at the night sky. She really did not want to complain, in fact, she herself didn't believe in half of them (though it would be a great relief if everything was to her liking).
No, she simply needed some attention, any attention. She was not an attention hog or a very needy pony. Octavia was simply lonely. This was a problem she had recently begun to ponder, but not something recent. She had plenty of friends, Lyra and the others filled that spot. But other than that, she had nopony. Sure, a few acquaintances that she knew and met on occasion, and her coworkers, but what she really needed was somepony to care for her and to comfort her. Somepony to love.
The navy blue wooden door slowly shut, a blue glow fading as it did. A small click was heard through the silence that filled the near empty room. Only the soft sound of the hoofsteps of a certain starry-maned princess dared to break the quietness of the peaceful night. Within her etheral grip was a small piece of white cloth monogrammed with a crescent moon and sun. She came up close to her bed, but did not enter it, instead kneeling down staring intently at the bed's current resident. The brown stallion, the Doctor, was wrapped in a bundle of blankets. His shallow breathing was ever-so-slowly speeding up; his head was continually producing diamond-like beads of sweat that was then wiped away by the towel that Princess Luna brought with her.
Her expression was a stern one of diligence, she stood straight and calm beside the dying Doctor. She knew that everything would turn out fine. She knew exactly how all would turn out. The Doctor would get better, and his five friends will have grown closer. Only one thing continued to nag her. It was the one thing that kept her unsure.
"The future is always changing."
One can never be certain of what is to come, even if they know what is to come. But surely everything would play out as it should, right? Everything was happening exactly the way it was meant to, but there was no way to be absolutely certain. Even a princess has limits. She was not a god, or a spirit. A pony that followed the rules of the universe as all did. And that scared her. She knew everything about tomorrow, and yet, nothing at all. All of her faith was put into those five ponies and their task. It was in their capable hooves.
SLICE!
SHING!
SNICKER-SNACK!
Tufts of grass flew through the air to either side of Vinyl as she swung a sharpened rock side to side in front of her, chopping grass as she moved forward.
"I am fairly certain that there is a more efficient way to do this."
Bon Bon trailed behind Vinyl Scratch, occasionally dodging the dry plants that flew by her.
"Don't worry Bon," Vinyl replied, grunting, "I got this."
Bon Bon furrowed her brow. "I would appreciate it if you called me by my full name. Also, I can tell you're becoming fatigued. I would advise that you listen to me, 'Viny'."
Vinyl wiped away the sweat that blanketed her forehead, still slashing away. "Look, I appreciate it, but I like this better than whatever else you think I could do."
"Yes, but don't you think this may be a little bit dangerous?" asked Bon Bon.
"Dangerous how?"
And at that moment, Vinyl, who was paying more attention to her companion than to what she was razing, bumped into something. It was large, tough, and covered in a short layer of hair. A low grumbling started up. Vinyl Scratch slowly turned around and looked up at the wall of fur. Her jaw instantly dropped, and her purple glasses slowly slipped off the end of her nose and fell to the ground with a clatter. Rising above her was the threatening form of an enormous lion whose mane was sliced horizontally in half. The light of the moon reflected off of its now bald head.
"Is that a bald lion?" Vinyl whispered, unmoving.
"Well, it was not bald before, but yes, it is at the moment a bald lion."
"So, we have to run, right?"
"Yes, that would seem like the best option at the moment."
ROOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRR!
Vinyl magically tossed the rock that she was using at the lion, instantly turning to run and grabbing Bon Bon.
"Aaaaahhhhhhhh!" they both screamed. Luckily, the stone struck the lion in the face, causing it to take a moment to try to hit away whatever small creature hit its face with its paws. The two mares dashed wildly away, the wind blowing their manes back and torn bits of grass being flinged up behind them.
ROOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRR!
"Run faster!"
"Aaaahhh!"
The sun rose over the savanna, the warm and forgiving rays brought firth by Princess Celestia were amplified tenfold. The world around Lyra, Derpy and Octavia woke, the sounds of different animals slowly building up to a great buzz. Derpy was slowly flapping her wings, barely hovering a few inches above the ground. "So... Tired..." Derpy mumbled. Octavia, whose eyes were baggy, silently agreed. They had been up all night, and still had not found what they were looking for.
"Cheer up girls, we're almost there!" Lyra said cheerfully. Her eyes were wide and staring at the map in front of her. Then she half-closed one eye while raising the other. "I think. Wait, does that say East, or... Weast?"
Octavia instantly stopped in her tracks. Her eyes open as wide as small dinner plates, smoke seemed to rise above her head. "Do you mean to say... That we've been going the wrong way the whole time?"
Lyra stood still to examine the map, rotating it and leaning her head to one side. "Umm... Maybe? Was I holding it upside down?"
Octavia was grinding her teeth at this point. How could one be so oblivious? "Upside down!?"
"Yeah, maybe..." Lyra squinted. "Ah, I see, the village is right over there." She pointed a hoof towards a tall vision-obscurring patch of grass. Lyra used her magic to grab the grass and split it down the middle. Behind it, in the distance, was a village. "There it is. The Zebrican village of..." she trailed off, trying to read the small tagline on the map. "Takeza- maka- I mean, Tamoko- No, that's not it... I'm sorry, I can't read Zebrican." Roger the hedgehog brought a tiny paw to his face and shook his head.
Derpy cheered up almost right away. "Oh boy! Maybe we can get some breakfast there."
"Yes, I would enjoy a muffin and eggs," Octavia commented.
Derpy's face changed from one of excitement to one of disgust. "Ugh, no thanks. After what happened last time, I don't think I'll ever eat muffins again."
"Well, whatever we eat, we'll have to get to the village first." Lyra chuckled. She wondered what kind of ponies they would find there. Luna had never explicitly told her anything about Zebrican ponies, so she was curious as to who they would meet there.
It only took a few minutes to get down the hill and to the village. No villagers were currently roaming the streets for it was still very early in the morn, but it was well enough into the day that the civillians would soon be waking up. Lyra looked around, absorbing the quiet atmosphere, observing the little plantlife in the area as well as admiring the simple architecture of the villagers' single story wooden pueblos. A few small birds could be seen pecking at the ground here and there, and rodents and small wildcats wandered in the tall grass.
"Who are these three ponies I see, who are, for now, strangers to me?"
Lyra, excited to meet a native to the area, quickly turned around to greet the new pony. But the colt was not as she expected. He was not a solid colour like most ponies, but had a coat that was white with black stripes that formed strange patterns on his body that extended to his mane, which was tied into one long braided ponytail on the right side of his head. In his nose and around his right leg were a series of golden rings with small patterns etched around it.
"W-who are you?" Lyra stuttered, struggling to form words after the surprise of seeing such a strange and different pony.
He shifted his slightly squinted eyes back and forth between the group before speaking. "I will give you the answers for which you thirst, but you must tell me who you are because..." He paused, smirking, and leaned his head in. "I asked you first."
"Well," she began, "I am Lyra Heartstrings, and this is Derpy Hooves and Octavia." She motioned to each of her friends as she mentioned them. "We're from Equestria."
He nodded. "Lyra, Octavia, and Derpy, I welcome you all. As for myself, my name is Zamal. You... Look a little confused, that I can see; is there something wrong, or is it just me?" He raised an eyebrow as he asked this and scratched lightly at the ground.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I've just never met a Zebrican pony before. None of us have."
Derpy flew in close, and did a full orbit around him. "Why are you all stripey? I've never seen anypony with stripes before," she asked.
Zamal chuckled heartily at the ponies' comments. "Your curiosity amuses me. Zebras are the native inhabitants of this great land, spreading over the rocks and the trees and the dirt and the sand. Have a nice stay, I wish you well. If you need anything you need only yell."
Zamal turned to leave the three mares to their business, but was stopped by Derpy Hooves, who quickly zipped in front of him and fluttered her wings for a moment before landing. "Wait!" she said. "We actually have something to ask you."
"To need my help is very rare, but if I am needed, I have plenty of time to spare."
Lyra began explaining their situation. "As you can see by this necklace, we are representatives of Princess Luna." She tilted her head down, indicating the black regalia.
"I apologize, but you see, I am not familiar with Equestria's royalty."
"That's not the important part." She brought out the Supernaturals book. "We have a friend who is very sick, and we need to find these things." She flipped to the pages indicating the ingredients to the cure, allowing Zamal ample time to study each page carefully.
"I know of these ingredients which you seek, but your chances of obtaining them are rather bleak." Lyra frowned. "But there is a shop in town, and if you hurry quick, the phoenix feather you can nick. I also help you find the tree! I can lead you there, just follow me."
The three friends looked at eachother, smiles growing on each of their faces. Roger climbed up onto Derpy's head and squeaked about, startling Octavia.
Zamal opened his mouth in surprise. "Is that a hedgehog that I see? You know, in my culture those are very lucky."
Derpy giggled and smiled, both her eyes trying to focus on the rodent on her head. "Really? I knew you'd be a great pet, Roger!"
"I guess that means we'll be splitting up then," said Lyra. "Octavia, you go with Derpy. I'll follow Zamal to the tree, and you two try to find a shop that's willing to sell a phoenix feather."
"Actually, I'd rather not stay anywhere near that creature, even with Derpy carrying it. I'm sorry Derpy, but that thing... Ugh..." Octavia interjected.
"Okay, then you'll go with me, and Derpy will follow Zamal to the tree for the nectar."
"Got it," both Derpy and Octavia said at the same time while Zamal simply nodded.
"Let's hope that hedgehog really is lucky."
The steady thumping of Vinyl's heart filled her ears, blocking out any other sounds, including Bon Bon's and her own breathing. Their chests rose and lowered separately as they lay on the ground.
Bon Bon turned her head toward Vinyl. "So... Have you... Learned your lesson?" she heaved.
Vinyl returned her gaze. Vinyl's glasses had fallen half-way off her nose. "Yeah... I'm stupid and you were right... Can we just get a move on?"
"Certainly," She replied.
Vinyl hopped back onto her hooves and righted her glasses before helping Bon Bon stand by levitating her the right way up with her magic. Bon Bon wildly waved her hooves in all directions until they finally returned to the ground. "Don't do that again," she said.
"I make no promises."
The two peaked over the rock they hid behind in order to escape the lion. It did not seem to be anywhere near, and after a quick sweep of the area, Bon Bon stepped out into the open. Luckily for her, nothing pounced on her and tried to eat her, and Vinyl ended up following suit.
"Ya know, I was expecting flower picking to be way more boring. So far it's been pretty cool," Vinyl said.
"Mmm, yes, the near wasteland of a country full of exotic and dangerous creatures could not possibly have any form of adrenaline-pumping action."
Vinyl smiled and said, "Wait, was that sarcasm?" in mock-bewilderment and then giggled. The two began walking side by side, continuing toward their destination.
"I can be 'funny' when I want to," she stated, "I just choose not to because it is a waste of time. Now, hurry up. The island is supposedly just over this hill." And as the two reached the top, they could see a large, circular mass of land covered in trees and flowers began to reveal itself, sitting within the centre of the horseshoe-shaped country, surrounded by oceanic waters. The entire island seemed to glow before them, and as they got closer to the shoreline, they began to see that there was a glow, a blue one at that, radiating from the flowers that resided near the edge of the island. Bon Bon pulled a page out of her brown saddlebag. It was a page that Lyra had torn out for her so she could identify the plant. Though she was still far away, the glow of the plants was easily recogniseable. Near the water was a number of small wooden rafts that would allow locals to travel to and from the island, though nopony could be seen in the immediate area. Vinyl Scratch thought it would be a fantastic idea to 'borrow' one without anypony's permission, though she could not exactly be blamed. They were likely abandoned. Bon Bon stood herself on the raft whilst Vinyl pushed it into the water before jumping on herself. With her magic, she levitated the branch off of a nearby tree, the leaves making for a good paddle.
"Lovely weather we've been having," said Bon Bon. Vinyl merely looked at her, straight-faced.
"Sure."
Slowly but surely, the waters began to churn, speeding in multiple directions, sending waves in whatever direction it pleased. It crashed against the raft sending water splashing up against the two ponies. The flotation device bobbed up and down in the storm-like waves.
From under the water rose a green, scaly beast, sharpened hacksaw-teeth and gleaming claws. Vinyl Scratch looked up.
...
"Giant crocodile!"
"Waaaaghhhh!"
Celestia's sun raged high in the sky, sending down beams of heat that singed the backs of Lyra Heartstrings and Octavia. By now, the town was relatively filled with many different zebras, who were, of course immune to the intense rage of the sun, their stripes providing a natural heat sink.
The pair of pastel ponies had been searching the town for a shop that sold what they needed for hours on end with no luck. There was one shop left in the zebra market that would sell them the feather; if they had one. The two entered a building that had draped a magenta carpet over the front of it. Instantly, darkness engulfed them, blocking anything and everything from their vision.
"Hello?" Lyra called out.
And all of a sudden the inside of the building came to life. Lights shouted out at them, revealing a plethora of different colours that swirled about them, valuables and knick-knacks lined the shelves, which took up nearly all the space in the shop, many items even spilling out onto the floor and piling up in large pillars of junk. Left and right, everything one could imagine, simply left wherever.
One by one, coloured lights flashed on, curtains shifting to reveal more curtains, which danced away like the ones before them. Suddenly, a young looming zebra appeared in bewteen Lyra and Octavia, hugging both of them with a large goofy smile on his striped face.
"Welcome strangers, one and all; to Zyrones Wonderful Knick-knack Stall!
If you take a liking to something you see, just tell (please tell) what you need of me!
I have treasures from everywhere, North to South, things that you can't go without."
Octavia was admiring a small golden bejewelled ornament. Lyra raised a hoof, with a slightly confused look on her face.
"But sir, we just need-"
"A manatee!? A globe? Turnip? A bass? A ski? I can supply you with all these things, just grab this bell and give it a ring!"
The wild shopkeep brought Lyra to the counter. Upon it sat a golden bell engraved with the word 'service' surrounded in a bright light.
"Would you like a crown, or just a hat? I could also give you this wildcat!"
Octavia admired the crown that Zyrone had forcibly put on her head, but frowned when it turned into a fez, and then screamed when it became a cougar.
"Sir," Lyra said, "we need-"
"A jacket?"
"A feather!"
"A jacket won't do you good in this weather. What you need, I can see it now..." He rubbed his temples as he closed his eyes. Lyra opened her mouth and smiled, thinking he heard her ask for the feather. "Aha! I know! A diamond cow!"
He hadn't.
"I have many tings that I can sell, I can get it to you, no need to yell! There are necklaces and magazines, everything from your wildest dreams; a bowl, a mole, a sole, a hole, a cat, a rat, a fruit, a boot, a net, a mini jet, but don't fret, there's quilts and stilts, and clocks and blocks, a lemon tree, potpourri, bourgeoisie, and a chickadee! I have these things, and many more, from the roof down to the floor! Just tell me what you need from me, I'll have here just wait! And! Seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!"
"We need a phoenix feather!" Lyra screamed.
Zyrone blinked a few times, though it was unnoticeable by the ponies from under his large beanie cap. "I apologize, then, my friends. I hope that I can make amends, because I do not have any feathers left; of that I am sadly bereft."
Lyra sighed. Of course, after all the trouble, they were unable to obtain what they needed to save a friend. Octavia reached a leg around Lyra. "Don't worry, we'll find another way...." The two turned a full 180 degrees and walked away.
"Here it is, young filly, this is the great Ameliora tree. To obtain the sap, we must get to the top. We must hurry quick, or the sap's flow will stop." Zamal walked closer to the tree and placed his hooves upon the side of the titanic tree. "I can feel the flow's amount of time, the seconds are six, and the minutes are nine."
Derpy smiled. "That doesn't sound like a lot of time for us to climb," she said.
"Right you are my filly friend, by the time we get up, the flow will end." He sighed. "If only there was a faster way to get up; climbing the tree is not enough."
"You do realize that I'm a pegasus, right?"
Zamal did not respond for a moment, and blushed, his cheeks becoming bright red."I- I knew that. That you could fly... I just- zebras cannot... Sigh..."
Derpy, still chuckling to herself over the matter, readied her wings, and lifted off with one great flap. It took only a few moments to get to the top and to gather a large amount of sap in a jar given to her by Jamal. Another second and she was back to the ground. "Got it!" She smiled.
Derpy returned to their origin point, which was surprisingly easy to find, because when they teleported, a large circular imprint was left on the ground that was only visible from the air. It was a circle with the shape of a crescent moon inside of it. Just before she descended, she bumped into something flying in the opposite direction as her. After a quick shake of her head, she looked up to see what it was. A creature that seemed to be half lion and half eagle. It's feathers were white with purple tips, and a scowl was plastered onto its face.
"Move it, dweeb," the apparently female griffin spat. She proceeded to shove Derpy out of the way and flew off.
"Jeez, wonder what that was about." It was better to wave the incident off, so she shook her head once more and dove straight down to the ground, where her friends Lyra, Octavia, Vinyl and Bon Bon were gathered. Her hooves touched down softly, producing a small puff of dust from the ground. Something was strange. Lyra was seemed to be very downtrodden, with Octavia comforting her. Vinyl looked to have a black eye, and seemed to have had most of her hair cut off, leaving it a medium length, and Bon Bon was covered from head to hoof with scratches and lacerations.
"Whoa, what happened to everypony? I didn't think buying ingredients would be that hard," she questioned. The pegasus opened her saddlebag and pulled out the jar of tree sap with her wing. She placed it on the ground and smiled. "Oh yeah, nice manecut Vinyl. It looks really good."
Vinyl scratch scowled. "Did you just? I-grrr... We were chased by a bald lion and had to fight not just one, but TWO giant alligators to get this one stupid flower! And I didn't get my mane cut."
"Oh... Lyra? why do you look so sad?"
She heaved and stood up. "Let's just go. It's been nearly twenty four hours anyways. The moon's going to be up soon."
Lyra began to cast the spell to activate the charmed necklace. The moon shape glowed, growing brighter until it was nearly the same intensity of the real moon, and the finally, the five friends vanished.
A sigh. Roger the hedgehog, Derpy's new companion had been left behind. Unfortunately, Princess Luna did not enchant it to carry more than five ponies, leaving anypony—or, any hedgehog—in Zebrica, without means of following.
A flash. The group had returned, but not to the underground; to Luna's own bedroom. She was lying down on the bed awake. The princess quickly stood up, flaring her wings. "Girls! You're back!"
Derpy hopped up and down a few times and flew in front of Luna, their noses touching. She gave an extra large smile and said, "We got the ingredients! We-"
"No, we didn't..."
Lyra stepped forward. She stepped in front of Derpy and lowered her head to the ground. "We failed, princess. Derpy got the tree sap, and Vinyl and Bon Bon got the flower, but I was unable to get the feather. I'm sorry."
Luna looked down on her and frowned.
"I failed too."
This time, it was Octavia's turn. "I too was meant to get the phoenix feather, so it is my fault also."
Instead of becoming angry, or sorrowful, Luna smiled. "It is alright. Though thou hast failed, thou admitted it, and to a princess nonetheless. Thou should be proud of thyselves. All of thee." They all cheered up, especially Lyra, who had put all of the burden of failure on herself.
"Besides," the monarch continued, "the Doctor is already cured. We apologize for sending thou on a wild —how thou sayeth— goose-chase."
"Hello, everyone!"
The Doctor happily trotted into the crowded room, smiling and humming like his normal jovial self.
"Doctor!" everyone yelled at the same time. All of a sudden, he was covered in mares and was blushing something terrible.
"But how did you get better?" Lyra asked, gripping him tightly.
He coughed, still beet-red. "Well, I'm not exactly sure, but I'd say that the princess here had something to do with it."
Everypony looked to Luna, who was, herself, blushing. "Well, we found out soon after thou had left that our sister has a secret hidden garden containing all of the ingredients, along with a pet phoenix that we had not yet been informed of." The alicorn smiled, looking down at and scratching the floor while doing so.
And everypony fell. The entire group was exhausted, and needed a rest. They'd been awake for nearly two days, and a good night's sleep was definitely in order. Everypony other than Derpy Hooves had fallen unconscious.
"Wow. I wonder what they're all pooped about."
"I guess we'll never know," said the Doctor.
Stats
Page generated in 0.05 seconds
Total duration
1,041 users online
1,412,748 hits today, 1,822,946 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.®
THE PART ABOUT MUFFINS MADE HONEYTIGER ANGRY.
2549764
And what a shame that is. I hope I didn't deviate from canon. Owait...
Made me laugh so hard!
2549878
Good. The entire chapter was only a set-up for that joke. Because I need to do that to be funny. Obviously.
Oh Luna... You forced us to read filler for nothing...
That's a joke by the way. I found this very hilarious!
2550306
I found it hilarious to write. I was originally going to have Lyra and Octavia actually get a feather, but it would have been a lot harder than simply going shopping...
candles lining the circular room began to lite
Bon Bon wasn't quite somas excited
Octavia was stood on one of her hind legs
The hedgehog crawled up her left left, around her body, and finally rested on her back
1. Light.
2. I believe you mean As.
3. Standing.
4. I believe you meant leg.
NOOO!!! ROGER WHY?! ... Thou shalt be missed dearly
2550888
Small tidbit, the name Roger is a small reference to someone.
I was wondering when this would update. This was lovely. And funny. I love theses six ponies, they should have been the REAL Mane 6 Not Sprinkle and the gang. But that's just my opinion.
2550915 Roger rabbit? Nah... I might be very wrong here...
Where in the ALMIGHTY TITS OF DARKNESS have you been man? Why so delayed update?
Well of course she would feel lonely(talkin' 'bout Octi), I mean, the stallion of her dreams ditched her for a mare she in a way despised, and probably hasn't had a good boning for a while now.
Is Luna by some chance, unknowingly, following in her sister's trolling hoofsteps?
"Its a wonder what your brain can produce."
"The administrator naked."
"*hrrk* and also a curse."
"Hahahahahaha!!"
2551619
I always have terribly long update time. This one just happened to be the longest. I wasn't intending for Luna to be such a troll, but I guess neither were the original show writers, so...
2551172
The first name of the current english voice actor for Sonic is Roger.
2553607
I think I know what this is from, but I haven't specifically seen it.
2555045 Acceptable.
I hope we get to see Roger again in the future someday.
No, Roger, nooooooo!
HedgeHogs are insectivores —— ¡not rodents!
2560207
Well. I learned something today.
2560308
You probably confused them with porcupines who are rodents. Echidnas are monotremes laying eggs. They all are prickly mammals with quills.
THATWASSOAWESOME
- Take them all! 
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Oh for the love of
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
Love the part where the Doctor is.. you know... Red..
♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
2549783
Derpy doesn't like muffins anymore ? What heresy have you written Cozmosus ?!
2654370
Oddly enough, I have a similar fanfic idea. Oh, well. At least my idea was going in a different direction. I still intend to make it eventually, and I like the direction you took it.
2730572
Thanks guy, I hope to see what you come up with!
MOAR, if you please......
2774900
Workin' on it!
2835589 It was the only way I could describe how disappointing the last couple chapters were once Aria starts going on her Deux Ex Infodump and I realized that every single plot device in the story had been contrived for no other purpose than to ensure Lyra had NO POSSIBLE WAY OUT.
That just ruins an epic storyline, you know? The 10th Elegy just turned out to be a Murphy's Law on steroids. There was no valid internally plausible reason for it to work the way it was described, given the purpose for Aria's 'tomb' in the first place. It was supposed to preserve the memory of the forgotten. Okay... but then the 10th ERASES all the memories of the forgotten... and that makes sense.
It wasn't the only thing that annoyed me, but it was the final straw that broke the camel's back.
It's kind of a rule in such stories that if your character is going to fail, it has to feel like a legitimate failure and not like the entire universe was built for no other reason than to trap them in eternal damnation. It kills the 'everyman', or in this case 'everypony' type of character by making them far more important to universe than they should be.
2654978 Hee, working off some of the lingering frustrations with that story. See my comment below this one.
Basically, an 'everyman/everypony' type of character ends up in a god-mode Murphy's Law scenario where the entire universe is apparently contructed around making her suffer and end up with a biased, baseless, hopeless no-win scenario after building up everyone's expectations for some great reveal with a bunch of red herrings and threads that ended up dead-ending.
The 10th elegy mystery was the most disappointing thing since the finale of "Lost"... you know, "Lost" is a perfect comparison, given how much that show pissed off fans at the end by promising far more than it delivered.
2838552
I loved that story until we got to the end. I was expecting Lyra to make it. She'd gone through so much, and i wanted to see all that work paid off. But nope, let's make this have the stupidest rules ever regarding becoming normal again! Why can't lyra just return to the present, having everything that happened happen as other ponies perceived it, (mane six defeat discord etc, erassing all memories of anything lyra did post-becoming Forgotten, since they were only remembered by Lyra anyway?! Make it so Lyra was only going to ponyville that day, wipe her memories of the Eulogies and whatnot, put her at the train station and bam, keeps everyone from knowing about Aria and Lyra gets to have people remember her. What she did remains, but no one, not even Lyra, knows that she did it. I'd think that'd still be a crap ending, but better than what we got!