The Featherblade Legacy

by Mysterious Stranger

Chapter 6: It's never that easy

"Quick! Pull out and your head and look straight up!" Spike ordered over the sound of all the screaming ponies as he jumped down from Frazzle Spark's snout.

Frazzle Spark yanked his large head out of the library window and did as Spike told him in the nick of time. With a loud sneeze, an enormous pillar or fire erupted from his nostrils and mouth into the sky.

"Thanks, L.D.B," he grinned at Spike once the danger had passed.

"No problem, B.D.B," Spike grinned back.

"B.D.B?" asked Rarity.

"Big dragon buddy," Spike explained.

"And L.D.B stands for little dragon buddy," added Frazzle Spark. "We came up with it while we were waiting for the rest of you to show up."

All of the ponies in the library only stared at the two dragons.

"What? You guys have all sorts of pony related abbreviations. Is it so wrong that we made up some dragon ones?" Spike said defensively.

"We made up a whole list of them," Frazzle Spark beamed. "Show them the list, Spike."

Spike held out a scroll.

"Look, Spike, I'm glad you and Frazzle Spark are getting along so well, but you shouldn't get used to having him as a B.D.B. We're going to get him changed back," Twilight Sparkle warned.

"Actually, I kind of like being a dragon. I think I'll stay the way I am," Frazzle Spark decided.

"Not a chance. We're changing you back A.S.A.P," Twilight Sparkle insisted.

Sharp Wing understood the reasoning for Twilight Sparkle's insistence. As a unicorn, Frazzle Spark had the ability to use the ignition spell, which allowed him to create very tiny fireballs. Although he couldn't do anything fancy like throw them or make them bigger, it was still an unnerving ability for a pony with a blatant love for fire to have. A dragon, on the other hoof, could make a lot more fire than that. Sharp Wing didn't want to think about the damage Frazzle Spark could cause as a dragon, and she imagined Twilight didn't want to either.

"Spike, find me the Supernatural's book, the same one Zecora had with the cure for Poison Joke in it," Twilight requested.

"Ah yes, the book that I found that would have saved you a whole lot of trouble had you bothered to-"

"Just get it, Spike," Twilight interrupted.

Spike grabbed a nearby ladder and climbed up it to reach a particular shelf.

"Um, Twilight?" he said.

"Yes, Spike?"

"It's not here."

"Of course it's not there. Celestia forbid there's ever an easy way to solve anything." Sharp Wing complained.

"Well, it’s got to be somewhere in here right? Let's just search until we find it." suggested Rarity.

Everyone searched for half an hour but turned up nothing.

"I don't understand how it could go missing. Neither Spike or I have touched it since that day when I was affected by the Poison Joke," said Twilight in puzzlement.

Sharp Wing didn't respond, for she was too busy banging her head against a wall repeatedly.

"Hey! Didn't Zecora give the recipe to that mare at the Spa?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"You mean Lotus?" inquired Pinkie Pie.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go to the Spa!" encouraged Sharp Wing, instantly forgetting her wall banging.

"Wow, Sharp Wing. You've been a mare for less than a day and you're already desperate to go the Spa!" laughed Frazzle Spark.

"Shut up, Fraz," retorted Sharp Wing, reddening slightly.

"Alright everypony, lets head to the spa and get that cure," announced Twilight.

"Am I included in everypony?" inquired Frazzle Spark.

"It might be best if you stayed here with Spike for now," suggested Fluttershy gently.

"They're just going to the spa, we're not missing anything," Spike assured Frazzle Spark.

Sharp Wing and the other ponies departed from the library and headed for the spa.

"Why hello, Rarity! Are all these ponies with you?" chirped a pink earth pony with a blue mane behind the desk as they entered.

"Hello, Aloe. As a matter of fact, they are with me. But we're not here to relax. We need to speak to Lotus," Rarity informed her.

"She's not in some sort of trouble is she?"

"No, we just need to ask her something," Twilight assured Aloe.

"Alright, I'll go get her," agreed Aloe as she left to retrieve Lotus.

After a moment a blue earth pony with a pink mane came into the room with Aloe.

"You needed to speak to me?" she asked.

"Yes, These two ponies plus one other who isn't here got infected with Poison Joke. We were wondering if you had the bath mixture that Zecora gave you so we can cure them." Twilight explained.

"Why yes, we have some. Could you go fetch it while I get these two ready, Aloe?"

Sharp Wing breathed a sigh of relief as Lotus led them down a hall. Soon everything would be over.

"You really don't need to look so uncomfortable, darling," Lotus said to Night Mist, "We have stallions come in here all the time. It's perfectly normal."

"It's not that, I'm just a little overwhelmed. I lost my memory because of the Poison Joke and it's rather nerve wrecking," Night Mist clarified.

"Oh, that's a shame. Did something similar happen to you too, hon?" Lotus asked Sharp Wing.

"No, I got hit with something else," evaded Sharp Wing, not wishing for Lotus to laugh at her. "Our other friend got turned into a dragon, believe it or not."

"Well that's something. I hope he or she didn't turn into a big dragon. We don't have any tubs that large," said Lotus as she directed Night Mist and Sharp Wing to get into a tub. "Just wait right here in the tub, Aloe should come in with the mixture in a moment."

"Huh," said Sharp Wing after she had left. "This is actually kind of relaxing. Maybe I'll be one of those stallions who come to the spa after this is over."

"You have no idea how strange it is to me to keep hearing you refer to yourself as a stallion," remarked Night Mist.

"Once you get your memories back it'll be less weird. All we have to do now is wait."

After the two of them did just that for five minutes Sharp Wing began to get impatient. Then Aloe finally entered the room.

"I'm terribly sorry about this, but we seem to have misplaced the bath mixture Zecora gave us," she apologized.

Both of the two ponies in the tub groaned loudly. Fate, it seemed to Sharp Wing, had decided she deserved to suffer.

"But um, how about a free spa treatment? We'll even through in a massage," Aloe offered.

"No, we’ve still got to go find the cure and we have ponies waiting on us. Thanks though," Sharp Wing said politely as she climbed out of the tub and dried herself off with a towel.

"I'm really sorry we lost it. This sort of thing has never happened here before, I assure you. You two and your friend can come back any time and the offer still stands alright?"

"Thank you very much," Night Mist thanked her as he and Sharp Wing went back out to the waiting room.

"You're all still here?" asked Sharp Wing in surprise when he saw that none of the ponies who had escorted her and Night Mist to the spa had left.

"We were trying to figure out a way to make a bath large enough for Frazzle Spark," explained Twilight. "I heard from Lotus that the mixtures had disappeared?"

"Yeah, we basically just got a free five minute bath without any soap or shampoo," answered Sharp Wing bitterly as she strapped her sword scabbards back on.

"You could always try Zecora's. Do either of you know how to get to her place?" asked Fluttershy.

"I think it's safe to say that I don't," Night Mist said flatly.

"Me neither," added Sharp Wing.

"Well, I guess we'll just show you the way," decided Twilight Sparkle.

The eight ponies went back the library to retrieve Frazzle Spark and Spike before they set off for the Everfree forest.

"Can't we go any faster?" begged Sharp Wing as they walked down the streets of Ponyville, eager for this nightmare to end.

"If you want to go faster I could show you the way," offered Rainbow Dash.

"If you do go on ahead of us, don't fly too fast okay? You might hit a tree," cautioned Fluttershy.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, let's go Sharp Wing. See if you can keep up," said Rainbow Dash as she took off at full speed.

Sharp Wing tried her best to keep up, but after a few minutes Rainbow Dash had left her in the dust. When she finally reached the Everfree forest, she discovered Rainbow Dash had indeed crashed and had somehow embedded herself in a tree trunk, with the front half of her body sticking out one side of the trunk and her back half sticking out of the opposite side. As desperate as she was to be a stallion again, Sharp Wing had no intention of letting such a golden opportunity slip by.

"Would you look at that, I actually managed to catch up and pass you!" Sharp Wing said as she walked a few steps past the tree.

"Very funny," Rainbow Dash seethed as she tried to pull herself free.

Sharp Wing started circling the tree.

"Now I'm running laps around you, and I'm not even galloping or using my wings."

"Shut up."

"Do you need any help getting out?"

"No I don't, stay away from me."

With great amusement Sharp Wing watched her struggle uselessly.

"Are you sure?"

"If you lay a hoof on me I'll break your neck."

"Did you ever hear the story about the pegasus who got stuck halfway through a tree and a monster came by and ate her?"

"Stop talking."

Sharp Wing walked behind Rainbow Dash so that she couldn't see her.

"She never even saw the monster coming. It just came up behind her and sank its fangs into her plot. Ripped her clean in half."

"Your sense of humor is disturbing."

Sharp Wing didn't say anything.

"Sharp Wing? Are you still there?"

Still no answer.

"I know you're back there. You’re just trying to scare me."

Without a sound Sharp Wing picked up a twig and lightly poked Rainbow Dash's plot. Rainbow Dash screamed loudly with fright. Sharp Wing fell to the ground laughing hysterically.

"I'm going to kill you!" Rainbow Dash raged.

"Sure you will."

"I'm going to beat you to a pulp!"

"By the time you get out of there I'll be bigger than you again."

"I could take you as a stallion with a hoof tied behind by back!"

"I don't know, even if you were a stallion I doubt you could beat me up with only three hooves."

"I meant you as a stallion, stupid!"

"You should be grateful I'm here protecting your rear from monsters."

"Shut up!"

"I'm totally saving your life over here, you could afford to be a little nicer."

"Shut your mouth!"

"What's going on here?" asked Apple Jack as she and the rest caught up.

"We're playing charades. I think Rainbow Dash is trying to be a tree branch."

"I'm going to kill you, Sharp Wing!"

"Did you stick Rainbow Dash through a tree?" gasped Rarity.

"Actually, she was just hovering there and it grew up around her."

"Stop joking around, Sharp Wing! What happened?" Twilight demanded.

"What happened was exactly what I warned her about, she tried to fly through a forest at full speed," frowned Fluttershy.

"How come you didn't pull her out?" asked Night Mist.

"I offered to, but she strongly recommended that I didn't touch her."

"Why is she mad at you then?" asked Spike.

"He poked me with something!"

"That sounds really bad out of context." Sharp Wing said hastily, "And I'm a she now, not a he."

"What did you poke her with?" asked Frazzle Spark.

Against her will, Sharp Wing's eyes glanced at the twig on the ground.

Twilight Sparkle sighed as she used magic to pull out Rainbow Dash and hold her in place to prevent her from tackling Sharp Wing.

"We'll talk about this later," she said as she stared down Sharp Wing. "Right now we need to get to Zecora's so that we can get you three back to normal."

With Rainbow Dash still suspended and fuming, the group walked the rest of the way to Zecora's. Sharp Wing was ahead of everypony else, and because of this she was to first one to see the note tacked to the door of Zerora's home.

Went to my homeland to visit my pack, in the middle of August I will back.

"I don't believe this!" Sharp Wing proclaimed.

"Me neither, even her notes rhyme! How does she come up with rhymes all the time?" exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she read over Sharp Wing's shoulder. "Hey, I just rhymed too! Rhyme and time! Oh my gosh, I just did it again!"

Sharp Wing growled as she kicked the door open and stormed inside to start looking around. Sensing Sharp Wing's frustration, everyone who could fit through the door slipped inside and silently began searching for the book.

"Un-freaking-believable. First the book wasn't at the library, then the mixture or the recipe wasn't at the spa, and now the same freaking book isn't anywhere in Zecora's freaking house and Zecora is out of town!" Sharp Wing raged after they had all searched every nook and cranny of Zecora's hut.

"Maybe she took the book with her?" suggested Fluttershy

"It's the middle of July now, it will be about a month before she returns. Maybe she'll have it like Fluttershy suggested or she knows where the book is," figured Rarity.

"I can wait, I'm not in any rush to be a unicorn again," said Frazzle Spark from outside the hut.

"Me too, I have no idea what I'm missing. I noticed a huge collection of movies in the house that I'm assuming is mine. I can enjoy them all as if watching them for the first time while I wait," agreed Night Mist.

"But I can't wait! According to Twilight's book I'll be insane long before Zecora gets back!" despaired Sharp Wing.

Eveypony went silent as Sharp Wing's predicament sank in.

"Well, I've always wanted an excuse to visit Zecora's homeland and experience a different culture," grinned Twilight Sparkle as she turned to face everypony. "Pack your bags everypony, we’re going to Zebrawbway!"

**************************

"That was your work, wasn't it?"

"What was my work?"

"Do you really expect me to believe that both copies of the same book and the mixtures at the spa all just conveniently went missing?"

"Oh, that. Yeah, that was me."

"But Sharp Wing Featherblade was the one we wanted, not a whole group consisting of eight ponies and two dragons."

"Relax, the plan will still work. I anticipated the others would help him, I mean, her, and acted accordingly."

"I don't like it. They could get hurt, or even killed."

"You know what's at stake don't you?"

"Yes, I do. But I still don't like it."

"Well, get over it. Sharp Wing Featherblade must come to us, no matter what the cost."