The Misadventure Of: A Bunch Of Silly Ponies That Just So Happen To Not Be Applejack

by OCisbestpony

Chapter Two: Part Twelve

Chapter Two: Part Twelve

Lyra smiled, 'cause Bon-Bon totally had her back through that whole thing! Sure, Bon-Bon could be a real stick-in-the-mud, but colt was it great when she totally backed Lyra up! It reminded her of why she stuck around Bon-Bon so much. Well, one of the reasons anyway. She smiled as they made their way. It had been a wonderful convo (technically 'conversation', but Lyra's internal thought processes couldn't be bothered to to think the whole word, quite lazy of them if you think about it) as far as she was concerned. Berry was looking much better, and even Bon-Bon's expression had warmed up a bit. While she respected Bon-Bon when she was serious like this (and even enjoyed it to a degree for it almost always meant something amazing and/or [preferably and] exciting was going to happen), she was kinda rude and a bit of a jerk. So, it did her heart good to see Bon-Bon relax a bit.

So, our dear Lyra was in a jolly good mood after all was said and done. Which is, in part, why what happened next, is what ended up happening rather then what *should* have happened.

They had stopped to take a rest. Bon-Bon had decided that rather then walk for the two days straight, they would take breaks as needed. Seeing as how Berry was still exhausted from the last two days' adventures, she was very grateful for this indeed. As was Lyra. Granted she could walk for that long will little problem, she'd much rather not. It was during one of these rests (which were, admittedly, a smidgen too often) that Bon-Bon's senses perked up and she began looking around as if she heard something. She had stopped mid-sentence (mid-word even!) and had raised her head high and began jerking it left and right.

“What's up?” Lyra said, a bit more causal then perhaps the situation warranted.

“I heard something, and I can sell dust on the wind.” She said, her eyes searching the horizons.

Lyra rolled hers. “Dust? Bon-Bon, we're in the middle of a dry wasteland. There's dust everywhere.”

“No. I can smell it getting thicker. Something's coming. Something that's kicking up a ton of it.” she said, slowly rising to her hooves.

Berry, surprisingly relaxed, simply shrugged.

Lyra glanced at Berry, then back at Bon-Bon, “You sure about that Bon-B-”

“LYRA! SHIELD!” Bon-Bon screamed.

Without a moment's hesitation, Lyra threw up a small protective bubble around the three of them. Granted, it was nothing like what Twilight or her brother could do, but it was enough for what hit them (or so she hoped).

Which thing happened to be a massive wall of brown dust. It hit them like a truck, and turned everything around them dark. Though it lasted for only a moment, it had managed to shatter Lyra's small bubble. Thankfully, however, it had bore the brunt of the sudden storm, and thus had saved them from a world of dusty pain. What it didn't save them from however, was sand in the mouth and dust in the eyes. Not enough to cause any sort of harm mind you, but enough to be an irritation.

“Why hello there, my little Miss Bon-Bon.” came a voice that Lyra recognized.

After some coughing, a bit of spitting, and several rounds of teary and painful blinking, Lyra got a good look at who was speaking.

“Hello Ms. Jubilee.” Bon-Bon responded.

She stood before them, looking much the part of a pony who knew they had won some kind of challenge. Like a victor lording over their prize and savoring the moment before snatching it up and claiming it as their own. And she wasn't alone.

She was surrounded by hundreds of ponies. All of them holding either a pitchfork, a torch, or an angry expression (or any combination of the three for that matter). They were all shapes and sizes, and ages too. There were Pegasi and Earth Ponies and Unicorns and oh my! As she glanced left and right at the very angry mob before them, it dawned on Lyra how such a huge crowd had managed to surprise them like that. She could sense the faintest aura of magic in the air, and could see that most of the horns of the unicorns were still glowing faintly. They must have disguised the mob and muffled their sound as they approached. In the air she saw several pegasi who were making their landings, all of them looking rather winded. That would explain the sudden gust of dust as well. It seemed that Cherry decided that she wasn't playing around.

“My dear Bon-Bon. It's lovely to see you. How's th-”

“Sate your demand Ms. Jubilee. We have no time for this.” Bon-Bon said rather suddenly.

Cherry seemed taken aback by the sudden interruption. It seemed that she wasn't used to being cut off like that. “My dea-”

“Your dema-”

“Two can play that game, Miss Bon.” Cherry trampled on Bon-Bon's interruption with such confidence (and with an overpowering aura of authority as well) that Bon-Bon was silenced on the spot. Lyra looked between the two. Bon-Bon was attempting to regain her composure, and Cherry was once again as confident as she had been. “Now then, I agree. Give me back what you stole, and I'll let you go. You've always been a hard worker, and I respect your results. So, that's why I'm willing to let this little thing go if you just give me back what you took. I don't want to damage our relationship you see. And, to show my good faith, I'll even let you work at my plantation again this season.”

Bon-Bon pressed her lips together.

“Bon-Bon?” Berry suddenly said. “W-Where did you say you got those supplies?” a bit of fear evident in her voice.

Cherry's confident smile turned into a wicked grin. “Yes. Where did you get them Bon-Bon?”

“I didn't take anything.” Bon-Bon said.

Actually, she wanted to say that, but Lyra was a bit too quick.

“Oh, you know, she took it all!” Lyra said with a huge grin on her face.

Lyra suddenly found hundreds of eyes looking at her. Four of which belonged to Bon-Bon and Berry. Two of them had terror, and the other two said, 'What are you doing?!'

“Yep. Took every last bit of everything. Good haul too. I mean, who knew you guys had so much stuff? And really good stuff too!” Lyra was practically overflowing with joy as she spoke. The eyes all reacted with a fearsome mix of confusion, and anger. “Though I can't tell you why we took it,” she let out an awkward chuckle, “The boss would kill us if I did.”

Every set of eyes on her widened in shock, and then got dangerously narrow. Though Cherry's eyes were exempt from that. Hers got narrow as well, but rather then with shock or fury, it was with scrutiny and thought.

“You're lying.” She said. All the eyes turned back to her.

“Huh? Well. Kinda. Ok. Yeah...” Lyra sunk her head down, “Your stuff actually wasn't that great. I mean, it was an okay haul … I guess” Once again the eyes shifted to the pony who just spoke (Lyra found it a bit disconcerting that so many eyes were moving in unison).

“I see.” Cherry said a bit curtly, “We wasted a trip out here. You took nothing, did you?” It was her turn to feel ever so slightly unnerved by the countless peepers peeping at her.

“You know, to be honest, I have no idea.” Lyra shrugged, “I don't even know what Bon-Bon has in those saddle bags of hers. Mostly food I'd guess.”

“Hey,” came a voice from the mob. “Now that I think about it, a bunch of food was missing from my store when I opened it, but there was a pile of bits sitting on my counter with a note saying that it was payment for the food, plus extra!”

“You're kidding. You're kidding, right?” Cherry said, turning to the source of the voice.

“ 'fraid not Ms.” it replied.

Cherry turned back to Lyra, then to Bon-Bon, then to Berry, then to the mob, then to Bon-Bon once more. “I-I'm so very sorry. I found your hairs in my office this morning and … I assumed that you had taken something...” Cherry said, looking a bit ashamed of herself.

Bon-Bon relaxed a bit, and smiled a small smile. “I suppose I can't blame you Ms. Jubilee. I too would have been rather upset if somepony had broken into my secured office.”

“Wait, YOU broke into her office? How?!” came a shout from the mob.

“That's not important deary,” Cherry said as she turned her head behind her. “What is,” she looked back at Bon-Bon once more, “is why.”

Bon-Bon looked apprehensive for a moment, then simply sighed. “I needed to write a letter to the Princess.”

“T-That's it?!” Cherry's eyes went wide and she took a few steps back. Even the mob replied with a collective gasp of shock. “Y-You broke through all of my magical AND physical security measures, without setting off a single one, just to write a single letter? Ms. Bon, that's insane! Why didn't you just wake me up, or just borrow some paper from the clinic, or something like that? Why in Equestria would you break into my office?”

Bon-Bon's face suddenly stopped, as if the very idea had never occurred to her. She tilted her head somewhat into the air as she pondered this, then promptly smacked her forehead with her hoof. “I didn't even think about that...”

“I-I see,” Cherry responded, somewhat flabbergasted. “So, what in Equestria was so important that you had to break into my office to write a letter about?

Bon-Bon squared her shoulders, then said as though she were giving a report, “Well, to get straight to the point, I was telling Princess Twilight about a local band of bandits that look to be led by a griffin who has been stealing cutie marks.”

Again, there came a collective gasp of shock (and this time horror as well!) from the mob. “A-Are you serious?” Cherry stammered.

“Hey! Cherry!” Lyra suddenly pipped up as Bon-Bon nodded. “Look, I'll be straight with ya. We could really use your help. I mean, you guys are already out here, and you're already pretty mad.” she said, letting the sentence hang in the air.

“Help? What in Equestria could an angry mob of ponies help you with?” Cherry looked a bit flabbergasted at Lyra's words.

“Well. Those bandits foalnapped our friend. And we could use a mob of angry ponies to help us save her!” Lyra exclaimed, once again with that inexplicable joy that was her trademark.

“A-Are you serious?” Berry, Bon-Bon, Cherry, and several members of the mob asked at once.

Lyra simply nodded.

“Who's this friend of yours?” Cherry asked hesitantly. Lyra was actually somewhat surprised. She had heard about Cherry's information network, and was surprised that she didn't already know the answer. Granted, Cherry's network was better abroad then it was at home, but Lyra would have thought somepony would have told her at some point who got foalnapped from the train, not to mention a griffin who'd been stealing cutie marks!

“Her name's Colgate.” Lyra started to say, but was cut off by Berry blurting out the same words.

“Wait, Doctor Colgate?” Cherry said with some surprise. “THE Doctor Colgate?”

“Doctor Who?” Shouted a voice from the mob.

“That doctor who visits twice a year you dolt!” shouted another.

“She's a dentist you idiot!” shouted a third voice.

“Same difference!” argued a forth.

“You guys know her?” Berry said, this time she was the surprised one.

“Why yes darling.” Cherry answered, her voice suddenly very friendly, “You see, we're not a big enough town just yet to have a permanent dentist, so I hire the good doctor to come visit us twice a year.” Several heads nodded and a few smiles appeared (most of which were full of good strong, clean teeth … most of them) “She does good work and she's nice to boot. Not to mention she's a true professional.” Her voice carried a hint of fondness, as if one was speaking of an old friend.

“Wait, how come I never knew about this?” Berry objected.

“That's because she usually goes during harvest season and right after Winter-Wrap-Up. You've just never noticed because you've always had too much to drink right before she leaves.” Lyra pointed out.

“Oh...” Berry's face flushed with embarrassment.

“So yeah. Come on, let's go save Colgate!” Lyra shouted, raising a hoof into the air.

There was silence. If there was a cricket to be had, it would have been tempted to break the silence (and it would have too).

“HURRAH!” came the sudden and unanimous cry. It came with such sudden force and bravado that it knocked poor Lyra and Berry right off their hooves. It caused Bon-Bon to stumble a few steps, but she stood fast.

For a moment, all Lyra could hear was a loud ringing in her ears. She could see Bon-Bon talking to Cherry, though what was being said was a mystery. Despite that however, she saw looks of eager excitement from the mob, and she could feel a building crescendo of energy that threatened to pop at any mo-

And then she was caught in a stamped of ponies.

Fortunately, these ponies were more interested in ensuring that she (and her friends) were on top of the herd rather then under their hooves. So, rather then fearing for her dear life, Lyra suddenly found herself riding at high speed through the wasteland at break-neck speed. Suddenly, she wished she had Applejack's hat, for the only thing she could think to say was, 'Yeeehawwww!'

Author's Note:

Cherry is actually a rather nice pony, at least, in the show she is. Sadly however, this Cherry is not, as nice anyway. This Cherry also owns Dodge Junction. Well, ok, she doesn't actually *own* Dodge Junction, she just has pretty much everypony who lives there on her payroll. Thankfully, she's normally rather benevolent, and the fine ponies of Dodge are happy with her more or less kinda calling the shots in the town.

Comments

[OCisbestpony]

Now that the next one is up, let us hope that your wish is granted.

[Iron Comet]

I could see Cherrry owning the town as the biggest employer in town she should easily call the shots. And if she treaats her Ponys right they will do anything for her. Which she does as she brings in a Dentist for her workers when many wouldn't. Bet Filthy Rich wouldn't in her shoes.

[OCisbestpony]

She also hires clowns for the little ones.

The good kind, not the scary kind.

[redmar]

This is truly hilarious and I thought that they would ask the angry mob to help them. I wonder how long it takes for the bottle to show up again because it certainly will. I wonder if it's save to let Discord drink it but I think not.