The Foalish Zone

by DuskShadowBrony

First published

Welcome to a land of colorful talking ponies. But this is no ordinary land, for chaos is among us. Welcome.... to the Foalish Zone.

We are rewriting this from the beginning. Please watch user: DuskShadowBrony for an update.

DustStorm. Gold Rush. Grey Ghost. Dead Ink. Flutter Glitter. Luster Star. They were humans once, like you and I, but something happened. Something Big. Now their 5 friends get sucked into a world they could only dream about . This is their tale. The archive of thier new lives in Equestria. This is, the Foalish Zone.

This project is a group collaboration between a couple people in the padded ponies/adult foals group, the 'Palringo Padded Ponies'.

Care to join us for some roleplay or chat? http://www.palringo.com/en/us/ If you need the PC version, ask Monopony, he has the files you need. Join the room: ppaf

Monopony, Monopony, Zubric, Hottemaxx, DGGames, and Shagohad, Luster Star.

Not all chapters are sequential or storyline, and this story does take place in an alternate timeline of Super Stallion's Foal-a-verse, which DGGames is a writer for.

RATING INFORMATION: This story is rated teen for mild swearing, and occasional crazies. you have been warned.

IMPORTANT: This story is as stated previously a ppaf collaboration. If you dislike regression, diapers, and/or foalish behavior, TURN BACK NOW!!

Otherwise welcome to a place, where time has no meaning, where space is convoluted, and where foals are everywhere and nowhere.

WELCOME TO THE FOALISH ZONE!!

Grey Ghost

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My name is, or rather was, Damien Hibbert, not that it matters now anyway. I’m a twenty year old college student majoring in natural science. I dream, or rather dreamt, of becoming a paleontologist ever since I saw “Jurassic Park” as a small child. Now that we have that out of the way, let me start my harrowing tale.

It had been a rather boring night of watching videos, I had been catching up on my SW1TCHER and I got to bed rather late. I lurched out of bed, grumbling a few curses at the morning, glaring at my slightly damaged alarm clock. I flip the alarm switch, shutting the stupid thing up, quieting the room.

I laze around for about twenty minutes before going downstairs and getting breakfast. Something just seemed...off. I really have no other way to describe it. I kinda felt like Will Ferrell in “Stranger Than Fiction.”, great movie by the way. Anyway, after my rather crappy breakfast of english muffins, I go back upstairs to get myself ready. Staring back at me was a slightly pudgy twenty year old, with shoulder length brown hair, a scraggly beard and hazel eyes.

After that, I woke up my stepfather and we made our way to the bus station. The drive was silent as always, neither of us awake enough to have an actual conversation, which didn’t bother me. A few minutes later I said my goodbye and hopped out, moving off to wait for the bus.

That was when the shine caught my eye and changed everything. It was barely noticeable, a faint glimmer under one of the nearby benches. I would have passed it off but my curiosity got the better of me. Kneeling down to get a better look, I blink in surprise, seeing a toe claw, not unlike the ones from a dinosaur.

“The hell..?” I mumble softly as I reach under the bench, running my fingers along the claw. I shudder a bit, feeling a tingle go through me. I grab the claw, pulling it out, a smile on my face. I mean, I have no idea how a dinosaur fossil got here but I wasn’t going to complain, this was freaking awesome!

I didn’t really have time to examine it, as the bus pulled up. I stuffed it into my pocket, rushing over to the bus. I deposit my token, taking a seat in the front, putting my laptop case in the other seat, letting out a small sigh.

Remembering my new treasure, I pull out the claw, turning it this way and that in my hands. It was light, i’d say around three pounds, and was a black color. I trace my fingers along it letting out a wince as the tip knicks one of my fingers. Cursing under my breath, I bring my finger to my mouth, seeking to sooth the pain. Thats when everything got weird.

The world got all hazy and my body went limp in the bus seat despite my best efforts. I slide into the land of dreams, leaving the bus and my world behind. I’ve never done drugs before, but I imagine that dream was like being high. It was so weird, like I was clay, being molded and shaped into something new. I groaned a bit, my mind returning to reality, strange sensations reaching my brain.


I opened my eyes, blinking a few times in confusion. The bus was nowhere to be seen and now I was in some kind of garden. That sent up some red flags, I didn’t live anywhere near any major gardens. I shake my head a bit, getting to my feet. Or at least thats what I tried to do, only to in up flat on my face.

“What the hell..?” I ask, though there was something wrong with my voice.

I looked down at myself and my eyes probably got as big as dinner plates. Instead of my normal body, my gaze was filled with grey fur and hooves. Panicking a bit, I whip my head back and forth, noticing a lake off to my left. Getting to my feet..erm hooves, I slowly and painfully make my way over to the pond. I gaze into the calm waters, my brain going into overload.

Looking back at me was a small grey pony, it’s eyes green and it’s mane white. The most obvious thing? The horn jutting out of my forehead. So i’m a unicorn, yup a unicorn. I couldn’t get anything awesome like freaking Sleipnir or Red Hare?
Eh..maybe not Sleipnir, four legs is already pushing it, eight would make me lose my mind.

“Ok..don’t panic...”I said, closing my eyes, taking in a deep breath, slowly letting it out, doing my best to calm my nerves. Didn’t seem to help but at least I tried.

My ears swiveled, which is just weird by the way, and I heard the sound of voices.

“Ok..” I said to myself. “Hopefully voices mean help.” I said gulping before moving off toward the source.

It turns out, being turned into a pony wasn't the weirdest thing I saw that day. No, that was the weird...Frankenstein thing that stood in the center of a group of other ponies. I had counted 5 others, mostly dark colors, except for one sporting bright neon green hair... or mane... or whatever you call it.

I gulped again, trying to decipher what I was looking at. It had horns, mismatched of course, one looked to be that of a deer, and another of a goat. Where its arms should be I saw a lion paw, the other arm sported an eagle talon. It had some kind of lizard tail, wings which were just as mismatched as it's horns. One looked to be a bat wing, and one looked to be an angel wing, but they were too short to support the beast to actually fly. I'm pretty sure it’s torso was that of a horse.

I shuddered as it turned it’s attention to me, giving me a grin that chilled me to the bone. If that wasn't enough, it’s laugh made it feel like I had spiders running down my back. This wasn't going to be good.

“Hello, little Damien, my name is Discord.” he announced laughing, sending the chill back up my spine. "Glad you could join the Party!"

“H-how do you know my name..?”I asked, backing away a bit, barely managing not to trip over my hooves.

“All in good time my friend.”He said, his grin widening, and the strange creature let out a cackle, causing me to tremble slightly in terror.

Dust Storm

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The light from candle flickered as I gathered a few belongings, sliding on my armor and strapping my swords to my back. My pale blue Unicorn magic, the same color as my eyes illuminated the dark corner where I kept my cloak. Before I exited, I checked myself in the mirror. There was no reason to walk outside, looking like a mess. My light grey body, smaller than most ponies my age, contrasted with my dark grey mane and tail. My cutie mark, of two crossed magical swords wasn’t normally visible under the armor and cloak, but I had the designed sewn on the outside of my cloak.

Turning to my table, I skimmed the letter that was there one last time.

Dear Dust Storm,

There’s a matter of very great importance I must speak to you of. Please come as soon as you can after receiving this letter. Please meet me at the center of the Canterlot Castle Gardens. I cannot explain any more than I have already in this letter.

From,
Luna

Wondering what Luna could possibly want at this hour, I exited my room, locking the door behind me. For some reason, I began thinking of what happened that day.

***

“Be cautious.” Luna warned her guards. “There’s been a large increase in the number of Timberwolves. We have to make sure that they don’t pose a direct threat to Ponyville and its surroundings.”

“Of course, Princess.” The two guards answered, staying on either side of her.

They walked in silence for some time, before they heard rustling in the bushes. One by one, a group of Timberwolves walked out of the dark forest.

“Stay behind-“ the first guard was cut off as a Timberwolf struck him with a massive paw, crumpling his armor as if it were nothing more than an old tin can. He slammed against a tree, slumping to the ground, unconscious.

“Eclipse!” his friend shouted, moving into a defensive position. He drew his battleaxe, swinging at the Timberwolf that struck his friend.

With a snarl, it bit into the axe and swung its head around, flinging the Lunar Guard into the brambles. He struggled to get up, but another Timberwolf smashed him into the ground again.
Luna backed up a little, drawing her own sword, biting her lower lip. She counted at least eight of them. She knew that there was far too many for her to deal with, even with her magic. The wolves circled around her, nasty smirks on their faces.

A flash of light attracted everyone’s attention. A tiny Unicorn, no more than six years of age, leapt down on top of the Timberwolves, stabbing his horn into the base of its neck, a Blaze spell erupting through the Timberwolf.

Its allies howled with rage, charging at him. The Unicorn gave the now-firewood a quick buck, shattering it into tiny shards of charcoal, before striking the ground, a whirlwind of magic blasting along the forest floor. Dust swirled up into the air, obscuring the Wolve’s senses. Luna could hear more magic spells being used, and when the dirt cloud cleared, the Timberwolves lay in charred scraps, no chance of reanimation not a single bit of the black magic that formed them remaining. His flank was glimmering, and when the glimmer faded, two crossed, sparkling swords could be seen. His cutie mark. The Unicorn looked up from one of the piles of burnt wood, regarding Luna with an odd eye.

It was strange. The eye was cold on the outside, but behind it, Luna could sense something else. Pain.

“You saved us. Thank you.” Luna managed to say, bowing her head.

He didn’t answer, looking over at her guards, who were starting to regain consciousness. Thankfully, they weren’t badly hurt.

“Do you have a name?” Luna asked, trying to press some words out of him.

“Name?” Despite his size and tone, his speech had an air of maturity around it. He looked away. Luna noticed he kept his distance from the other ponies, as if afraid of them. She slowly walked over to him and reached out with a hoof. He leapt back as if she were about to strike him, eyes wild and hostile.

“Easy.” She said softly. “I won’t hurt you.”

He was silent some more, before getting out of his defensive stance.

“Your name. You don’t have one?” she asked again, being sure to stay back.

“Not one that I wish to remember.” He answered, beginning to walk away.

“Wait!” she called out after him. The small little unicorn paused, turning his head to look back at her. “How would…. You like to join the Royal Guard? What you demonstrated just now, that was amazing. We could use a pony of your skills.” It was true. There had been a low number of Guards with the skills that the Royal Division required.

“Me? A Royal Guard?” he asked, now fully facing her. “Then you are...”

“Yes. My name is Princess Luna.” Luna answered his question before he could finish.

He gave a short bow, looking back up at her. “I don’t work well with others.” He shook his head, backing away.

“Well… what are you doing here, anyway?” Luna asked. “Isn’t your family worried about you?”
His eyes grew cold once more. “Family?” he asked. “They’re probably just upset that their favorite punching bag is gone.”

Luna understood his pain now. She took a step towards him, extending a hoof. “Then come with me. I’ll show you what family is supposed to be. The Royal Guard is the place for you.”
He looked at her hoof uncertainly, taking a step forwards.

“Come on now, Dust Storm. Come with us.” She said, nodding at her guards, who now were getting up. “It’s okay, he’s on our side.” She said to them as they looked over at the gray Unicorn.

“Dust…Storm?” he asked hesitantly.

“Yes. Dust Storm. I thought that would be a good name for you.” She gave him a smile.

Dust Storm hesitated, then put his hoof on top of hers, returning the smile. “Very well. I pledge my service.”

***

Ever since then, I had been in the Guard, as a Combat Technician, and an Arcane Researcher. I did not know what the status of my former family was, but I had a family now with the Guard and the Royal Family.

A little warmed by these thoughts, I now noticed that I was just about to reach the Canterlot Garden Centre. I heard the voices of other ponies as I pushed aside a set of vines.

There were a couple of other ponies there along with a certain creature, made up of many different animals. He turned to me and smiled a sly little grin. “Glad to see you could make it with the others. Well? How was it? I got Luna’s writing style pretty well, didn’t I?”

I groaned. “Discord.”

Luster Star

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Mondays. Why did it have to be Monday?

Oh, there’s readers? Right.

Hello! For all intents and purposes you may refer to yours truly as the one and only ‘Luster Star’, seeing as how my real name is null and void here.

Oh, I must be boring you with this, you just want the story. Suits me. Hmm, I’m pretty sure I could make a joke there but I’ll save it for later. It’s horrible, too.

Back to the actual story…

Monday. Why did it- Okay, skip that part.

The alarm buzzes annoyingly, so I wake up, get out of bed -rather hesitantly-, and drag a comb across my head to neaten my hair. With a yawn, I go downstairs and take the leftover pizza from the fridge, setting the slices on a plate and microwaving the stuff. Between the time it takes to microwave it and take them out, I pour myself a strong coffee with milk. With a light *ding* signaling the pizza to be done, I open the microwave doors, removing the heated food and slamming it closed again as I headed to the living room.

The living room is devoid of any strong source of light, as per my usual routine. I set the plate down on the coffee table along with the appropriately named beverage, switching them out for the remote. From my current actions, one would assume that I am a stereotypical couch potato; obese, sloppy, and lazy beyond all belief. In reality, I’m quite slim, keep a clean house, and a productive procrastinator.

Actually, ignore that last adjective.

With the click of a button and a buzz of energy, my television sputters to life and gives me a glimpse into how sad our society is. That meaning that the channel it was tuned to happened to be Fox News. I hate stupid. Of course, I just watch it to complain about the reporting. Ah, thank the world for heckling.

When I finish the painful drivel that is newscasting, I clean up my plates and coffee mug, setting them in the sink and running some water over them. Note to self: clean dishes tomorrow. I turn the water off and go upstairs for a quick shower. I trudge up the flight and stop by a mirror, grinning into it.

“Hello, sir,” I chuckle, pretending to straighten a suit and brush off some dust.

“How’ve you been?” I reply to myself.

“Quite well, thank you. How was your morning?” I ask. I have to find new ways to please my ego. Really, I do.

“Wonderful. I just defeated hundreds of battle droids and stormtroopers while piloting a crashing battlecruiser!”

“Heh,” I chuckle. “I envy your exploits. Keep inflating that sense of self-worth!” I say as I step away from the mirror, entering my bathroom for a quick shower. Cleanliness is worth it for hot showers. Oh, I love them. Ten minutes later, I step from my vapor infested bathroom, towel hanging around my waist in a makeshift kilt. I grab a comb from the countertop and step in front of the mirror again, brushing my hair out and checking my teeth simultaneously.

“Life’s a piece of crap, ain’t it?” I ask my reflection.

“Thats only because you don’t know how to have fun,” the reflection replied, it’s pupils turning red.

I blink, “Wh… huh?!”

“Oh, that’s a priceless face! Here, let me show you,” it replied, shifting into a rather goofy, confused expression.

I back up, dropping my comb, the plastic brush clattering to the floor. “The hell is this?!” I shout.

“Oh you know, it’s just a bit of shapeshifting,” it responded with a small shrug. “Rather easy for me.”

“Shape… what? I don’t… what?!” I scream, tripping backward over my feet. My head slams into the stair banister, stunning me. My vision blurry, I looked up to see a brown mass of something slither from the mirror. That is not natural. I must’ve really knocked my head.

The same red pupils closed the distance between us, stopping mere inches from my face. I smelled chocolate and some sort of flavored sugar, probably cotton candy or whatever. I must have really hit my head, because I could swear it was friggin’ breathing into my face.

“I must be dreaming,” I say, only half aware I’m actually speaking. Unconsciousness was closing in fast, and I reached back to feel the back of my head. I put my hand in front of my face and made out the red stain in my palm.

“Damn,” I groan, darkness closing in on me. I didn’t feel my head hit the floor.

Time passed -I hope-, albeit slowly. Either that or at super-speed, I wouldn’t know. Never been unconscious before. I blinked the spots out of my eyes, but immediately regretted it. Light shone into my face at such a blinding frequency that I raised an arm to shield my retinas. Was I in some sort of hospital? Wait, but there’s a warm breeze, and… flowers? I smell flowers. Why? I lowered my arm, turning away from the light. Green filled the side of my vision.

Grass? The hell?! I’m in a damn field! No, there’s rose bushes around me. Or is that more grass with red splotches?

Red splotches… my head! I reach back to touch the base of my skull, but I feel like I slam a rock into my neck. OW! I bring my hand to my face, expecting to see a good amount of blood coating my fingers, but all I see is a large, grey stump.

HOLY CRAP I LOST MY HAND?!?!?!

Oh, crap! Don’t panic, don’t spazz out too much! Who cares, I already am!

I breathe deeply and slowly, calming down. I roll to my stomach and push myself up to my hands and knees, or that was what I thought, at least. I looked to my other arm and found the exact same image of a grey stump. I would have very nearly collapsed right then and there if I hadn’t looked up.

There were five… horses, or… things, standing in front of me, some looking at themselves with what I could assume was the same level of alarm and panic. That was it. That was the last straw. I was too overwhelmed, and, so, I passed out again.

Flutter Glitter

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It started like any other day. I woke up and after some toast for breakfast, I went to school. School wasn't fun at all, then again, when is school fun? My name is Jan Glitter and am 19 and a senior, yet my classmates still think they can bully and ignore me.

Today is a Monday, and unluckily we played soccer today, and my classmates pretended I wasn't even there. That just made me depressed. A bit later I did a presentation, which didn't go so well either. By the time I came out of school, I was incredibly depressed.

I walked in my room in the tiny flat I live in, and I just fell into my bed crying. I cried for a long while, long enough to the point where I had no tears. I cried until my stomach rumbled, telling me I needed food.

“Stupid school” I mumble to myself as I go out of my room to get some lunch. I make myself some toast and spread a bit of Nutella on them, you know the special peanut butter stuff? I stick the knife I used to spread the peanut butter in the sink and bring the toast back up to my room.

The rest of the day I spent playing online games and talking to friends of mine. I’m great at talking to people online, because it involves no major emotions, unlike in real life, where everyone seems to judge you. It’s the reason I’m quite shy around real people. Whenever we could present something we liked in school, it almost always ended with people laughing at what I decided to choose. Add to that to the fact that every pupil of my grade either ignores me, or makes fun of me, and then you pretty much know me.

Skip ahead a couple hours to begin the actual story you came here to read. And it’s nighttime. I had just logged off of Palringo, talking to a good friend of mine. I got myself ready for bed, and quickly fell asleep. That's when it happened, the voice and the laughter.

“Want to have a little fun?” it asked me.

“Sure, my day has been complete anti-fun all day.” I thought to the voice in my head. How does my life come to talking to a voice in my head?

It was at that point a flash in my room made me wake up. I opened my eyes, and I wasn't in my bed anymore. A Frankenstein-like creature stood in front of me. It had the paw of a lion, the talon of an eagle, the hoof of a horse, and the other hoof was that of a lizard. he had the tail of a dragon or a snake, and the body and head of a horse as well. Atop his head stood two horns, one of a deer and one of a goat. A goatee extended below his mouth. It began to move its mouth, and the voice I heard in my head came from his mouth.

“Good, because i have something fun planned for you.” He said maniacally

“What do you mean by fun? And who are you?” I spoke as I looked at him. “And where am I?” I asked, quite scared and not sure what to do.

“Oh me? My name is Discord, The Lord of Chaos. And for fun? You will learn that soon enough. now as for where. Welcome to The Foalish Zone.” It simply chuckled.

“Uhh.” was all i could mutter.

“Awwe, you actually look like my old pal Fluttershy. Thats a good name for you Jan Glitter.” I watch as Discord reaches above my head. I look up and my name is spelled in big bold 3D letters above my head. He grabs the word Jan and squishes it in his palms, then puts it back. Above my head then read: Flutter Glitter.

It was at that point, 5 other what looked to be cartoon ponies appeared around me. I felt confused. Thats when a mirror appeared in front of me. I screamed my head. I was a pony too! I had a cyan colored coat and black hair, or whatever you call the hair. My hair also had a bright green highlight in it. I even had a tail!

“This is going to be so much fun! Just wait until you meet your new friends!” He giggled.

Gold Rush

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Gold Rush blinked as orange juice dripped down his yellow mane. He couldn't help but laugh patting the foal on the head in front of him. "Very funny little guy, but juice is for drinking not for squirting."

The foal let out a giggle, babbling something that most likely a thank you. He grinned as he let the foal drink its snack, and went about his other duties. The daycare was always abuzz with activity, while not being one of more popular ones in Canterlot, he still managed to make a decent income. His kind nature never failed to cheer up a sad filly, or help resolve small fights over toys. Sure it was hard at time, and mane pulling, but he loved it all the same. All it took was the smiles on their tiny faces to make his day worthwhile.

Today was like any other, a few tired foals here, a lot of diaper changes there, and a green haired filly named Mint. She was quite the rascal always wanting to tail him when he was working, sometimes even tugging on his tail to get his attention. Innocent enough sure, but hard to work when you're trying not to trip over the foals your foalsitting. "MInt, I've told you already, go play with the other foals."

“But I want to help.” She says between suckles of her pacifier.

“I know, but you’re making it hard for me to work.” he replied carrying a few blankets to the wash in his magic.

“Must be something, I like helping.”
Gold stops for a moment to think and spots a few blocks “I know, you can help me by taking those blocks back to the playroom. Can you do that?”

“Yay! I’m helping.” She claps her hooves and starts taking them back one block at a time.

"So adorable." He says as stuffing the blankets into the washer.
--------

4pm had soon rolled around as the daycare closed for the day. As usual Mint wanted to stay to make sure all her friends got sent home safely. Her mom never seemed to mind the wait, calling Mint her little helper and such. As the last of foals left, Gold waved Mint goodbye and shut the door. He took a deep breath and glanced about the mini chaos the foals had left him to clean up.

It took nearly an hour for Gold to clean up the main room. Taking one last look about, he peeks beneath the cribs. "Hello, what do we have here?" He says to himself as he pulls out a broken toy piano. A key had popped off revealing the inner workings inside. Putting the piano in his bag he heads to the second floor and enters his workshop. He set the piano down on the bench and slopped on a lab coat. His hobby of tinkering with gadgets had come in handy over the years, though with some limited success. He had to admit fixing up toys was a fun side project.

"Let's see what the damage is." He mutters as he pops off the plastic backing and gets to work with a magnifying glass. He soon found the loose crystals, and using some fine magic manipulation got the pieces back into their slots. Screwing the plate back on he turns it back upright and carefully clicks the key back into place. He hums as he makes sure the key played the right tune.

Satisfied with his repair job he sets it aside and heads over to a cupboard. tools hung from hooks attached which clattered together when the door was opened. Inside was a series of gears, wires, and a various assortment of crystals. On the backboard sat a diagram detailing his pet project. Medical spells were hard to pull off unless your special talent was doctor related. After about 2 months of careful research he had come up with a design for a device to cast healing spells on the fly by storing them inside a crystal matrix. The idea however was easier said than done. He lifts a clunky looking device from the bottom shelf and brings it over to the table. The contraption was a combination of camera parts and a vacuum cleaner. Best he could come up with having the budget of well a daycare center.

As he started to tinker with his invention, he could have sworn he heard the laughter of a young foal. Setting down his tools he went out into the hall and looked around "Hello", the only response was the same sound of the foal giggling from down the stairs. "I could have sworn all of them had gone home." Curious of the mysterious laughter he followed it down the stairs and into the main room. "Hello" he called out again, yet again no response. He turns his head as he hears the sound of tiny hooves on the kitchen floor. Rushing over to the door he pokes his head inside "Hey if this is some kind of game i'm not amused." He says as he glanced about. Flipping on the light he spotted a light red foal with grey eyes looking at him.
"Hey where did you come from?" Gold says as he approaches

The foal zips about the room "Hehe, can't catch me."

He turns about trying to catch the speed demon "What, where's your mommy, come back here."

"Can't catch me!" The colt says dodging Gold at every turn.

"Oh yeah well how's a bit of magic for you speedy." He says as he grabs the foal in a levitation.
"Cheater" the foal vibrates as he pops out of the field like it was a bubble. He stick his tongue out and runs for the door.

He blinked for several seconds, no foal had ever broken free of his magic before. "Hey get back here!"

The foal smiled "Got to catch me first hehe." He then bolts out the door laughing.
Gold springs into action "Hey don't run off you could get hurt." His heart beat sped up and he ran out the door to give chase. "How are you moving so fast?" he mutters leaping off the porch and tails the speeding foal through the street. The foal seems to move effortlessly through the ever increasing traffic of ponies going about their day. "Somepony stop that foal." he shouts as he jumps over a cart and keeps up.

The foal keeps his lead constantly taunting Gold with his youthful giggles. Gold stopped for a few moments to catch his breath determined to catch that ball of energy of a foal. As he caught his breath he spots the foal smiling at him from just down the road, Canterlot castle in the distance. He holds out his hoof and the foal runs off once more. "Oh come on!" he yells resuming the chase. He grunts as he pushes himself to run faster now completely bent on catching that road runner. The castle gets ever closer as the foal keeps running. Gold chased him into the royal gardens and as he turned a bend in the hedge maze the foal vanished from his sight "What? Where did he go?"

Gold sprinted through the maze desperate to find the foal, turning yet another corner he stops dead in his tracks as he run headlong into something, or rather someone. He gasped as the figure turned around and looked down at him

"Hey watch where you going. Oh it's you, about time you showed up." It said

Gold looks at him and instantly knew who he was looking at. The mixture of animals tossed into a blender and spat out was a clear giveaway. "D-Discord?!"

"Why yes, and you must be Gold Rush, nice to meet you." He says giving a rather odd smile and offering a paw.

Gold back peddles away scared,"Wh-what do you want from me. Don't hurt me." He start to get back to his hooves as Discord replied

he huffed "My, my how rude. Really, here I am trying to be nice and you're making assumptions."

"No, just you're Discord, chaos king. I'm not going to believe a word you say." He says backing up and getting ready to run.

"Flattery will get you nowhere." Discord smirked "Now come on, I want to show you something."
"No way i'm coming with you pal." He turns and bolt for the exit panicking now for his life.

The sound of a fishing rod and reel being shot out was heard as he kept running. Before he even had time to figure out what was happening he found himself dropping to the ground tangled in a fishing net. "I got a nibble." Discord says as he started reeling Gold back towards him. Gold never gave up struggling, even as his body was lifted off the ground and flailed in the netting.

Discord laughed "Looks like the catch of the day is gold fish." He says as he turned and carries the net with him through the maze.

"Gah, let me go you demon spawn." Gold mutters swaying with every step.

"Haha, not yet." he teased as walked up to a tall section of hedge and held Gold over his head.

Gold squirmed "Wow what are you doing?" Discord didn't reply as he leaned back and tossed him over the hedge. He screamed as he hurled through the air towards the ground. Luckily for him the ground broke his fall, with his face. He grumbled as he got up spitting out a chunk of dirt. Shaking his head to clear his vision he glanced at the group of ponies around him "Would anypony care to explain what's going on?"

Dead Ink

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My name is Eric, but that part of me is too far gone now. Now I call myself Dead Ink.

I was your normal everyday normal guy, 5 foot 11 inches tall. I had a long brown mullet, but unless you looked at it in direct sunlight, it was black. I was always known as a social outcast. I talked too much, and never actually had anything to say.

I guess since then my personality has taken a complete 360 hasn't it?

I'm getting way to far ahead of myself, let me start from the very beginning.

The day I was born was cold and wet..... Oh... you dont care about that? Well i guess it really has nothing to do with this story.... so lets fast forward a bit.

It was a Monday that it happened. Most people hate Mondays, but the way i look at it, without Mondays, there would be no hump day, and Tuesday would have to take all the shit we give Monday. Monday is good and takes that shit like a boss. Ugh... I'm terrible at staying on topic.


So it was a Monday, I had just gotten off of one of the shittiest days at work. I had ink all over my hands from the printing press i worked with malfunctioning and exploding. My job was to design graphics and fix the machines at Zorath GFX. Now I used to complain out loud a lot, now its all more internal, I also loved to talk... now im more secluded. Kind of explains why I am so secluded now. I'm still not sure if the others see me as a freak. I was pissed and throwing shit as I grabbed my keys to my car out of my pocket. I unlocked my door, dropping stuff out of my pockets as I slammed my door. I started my car and began to drive home. They say never drive angry. Well fuck them too.

I swerved in between cars as I went 5 miles over the speed limit, trying to get home to take a shower as fast as I could without getting pulled over. If I had gotten pulled over I would have gone to jail, because I would have found something to throw at the cop. Now that i think about it, that might have been the better option though.

I noticed the railroad tracks, the barriers were going down, just as I was going to pass it. Knowing the tracks, the barriers activated awhile before the train even got there, and I WAS NOT going to wait for a train. I sped up and passed the tracks. Dumbest Idea Ever, because as i went over the railroad tracks I heard the horn of the train. The last thought i had was "Why Me?" Just before the full speed train hit my midair car, crunching it. Thats when I blacked out.


As I prepared to embrace death, I smelled flowers. Did death smell like flowers? That would be weird. Was I in heaven? That would prove my own religious theories wrong. I was going to have to open my eyes eventually, so I slowly opened my eyes to see flowers, bushes, shrubs. It looked to be a garden of sorts, with statues everywhere. As I looked closer I saw what seemed to be a 6 year old girls dream, Cartoon ponies were all freaking out, and everything else was colorful and not dreary in a single bit. I chuckled to myself. I always had thought people freaking out over unneeded reasons was pointless. I tried standing on two feet but to my dismay I noticed I didn't have feet, or hands. I looked around, and noticed a polished statue. When I looked into it, I understood why everyone was freaking out. We were all ponies. Even i was. I noticed grey wings on my back, same color as most of my body. I had black hair, with a streak of red, the exact way i had wanted my hair. with further examination I noticed a slight horn on my head. though when i tried to touch it my hoof passed right through. I shook my head.

"This is just my imagination, I'm in a coma from being hit by a train, I'll wake up eventually. Just go with it." I told myself.

"How is that working for you Eric?" a voice came from the polished statue. It began to move and the polished parts broke off to reveal a weird mismatch monster. It had the hands of a lion and an eagle talon, it had the leg of a horse, and the other was of a lizard. it looked to have the tail of a dragon, and the head of a horse, with two mismatched horns topping its head. One of a deer and the other of a goat. It also had a beard, that shook every time it talked or laughed. made me want to laugh a bit.

"What are you?" I asked.

'You were oddly enough the hardest to control, the hardest to seduce, rage was your only weakness. What a pity that you're dead now. Well, half dead at least." the creature said.

"Who are you and what do you want?" I asked, I noticed the other ponies had stopped freaking out to listen to me yell at this creature.

"I, my little ghost friend, am Discord. And I am the god of chaos. Welcome to the Foalish Zone." He said, just as a streak of lightning came out of nowhere making the mood more eerie. I felt a shiver run down my spine. I shook it off and felt anger inside me. I noticed the anger and tried to channel it. As I did, I jumped at Discord using my wings to glide at him and tackle him. I had no clue how I had so quickly learned how to use my new appendages, but I wasn't going to complain while I had tackled this THING. As it hit the ground, with me on top, it just chuckled. Then it began to laugh like crazy. It snapped its fingers, and it felt like time had rewound itself. I was back next to the other 5 ponies, and it was back standing in the middle.

"What... what the hell was that?" i asked. "That didn't make any sense, I had you down."

"Eric, Eric, Eric. I'm the god of CHAOS. What fun is there in making sense?" it said, calm like nothing happened.

Discord

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Discord smirked as he spun himself around on his dragon foot, looking at the crowd of ponies gathered around him. “Oh this is just lovely, I finally have the whole set!” He said, taking out a piece of paper, marking something with his claw.

“Now I suppose you’ll need new names...”He said, rubbing his chin, moving his talons through his goatee. “Lets start with you, my little half-dead friend.”

“New names?” The shorter male pony spoke up. “I think my name is perfectly fine, thank you very much.” His tone had a bit of a sharp bite to it.

“Shush little Dust Storm, I wasn’t talking to you, now let the grown-ups speak.” Discord said, snapping his fingers. I looked back at who Discord called Dust Storm for a snappy comeback from him, but his mouth had been magically removed. “Anyone else want to interrupt?” No one spoke up. “Good, now where was I?”

“Oh yes, my little ghost friend.”He said with glee, looking back at his current target. “Hmmm..well you’re dead, partly...sorry about that by the way, lost track of time.” He said, patting my head. “Ahh I know, Dead Ink!” He shouted, a light bulb appearing above his head, floating between his horns.

He then focused on one of the other males, the one with grey fur and white mane. “Now, what should I call you my very pale looking friend? My you look so pale, you could be a ghost!”

“Listen here, you Q wanna be!” The stallion responded, thrusting one of his forelegs out at Discord ”I have a life thank you very much, i’d rather not be the plaything of a bored frankenstein freak.”

“My dear pony, you think in such a grey color scale, I’m not a frankenstein monster. Im the God of Chaos. And you’re more than just my plaything. You six are so, so, much more. Now shush, im thinking.”

The light bulb above his head now lit up so bright it exploded. “Ding ding ding! You’re as a pale as a ghost and such a grey thinker. You can be Grey Ghost!” He chuckled to himself. “I’ve already named my dear friend Flutter Glitter here, so who by chance is left?” he asked himself.

“Did you seriously just give me the name of a Batman character?” The grey stallion responded, his eye twitching a bit.

“My dear Grey Ghost, I don't know what you’re talking about, what is this ‘Bat Man’ you speak of?” Discord asked sarcastically. His eyes focused on the one he called John.

“Well, John doesn’t really suit you anymore.”He said, looking the stallion over. ”Why must all but one of you be grey? Really limiting me here. I probably should have given all of you better color schemes. I probably should Lust for more next time.” He complained, crossing his arms. “Ah, speaking of lust, I feel yours. A lust for answers, a lust for more. you have so much lust you could just explode like….. Luster Star! that is your name. What perfection!” Discord exclaimed, pyrotechnics exploding from around him randomly.

“So we have Luster Star, Flutter Glitter, oh and sorry about turning you into a girl. The group needed one. Dead Ink, Dust Storm, Grey Ghost, and Gold Rush. Quite a group!” DIscord exclaimed.

“DISCORD!” Dust shouted, a very angry look covering his muzzle. Discord shifted his gaze back to Dust. His mouth had returned once Discord ignored him.

“Yes?” Discord asked, singsong like.

“Why are we here? What do you want from us?” He asked, shaking in anger, doing a rather poor job at hiding it.

“Entertainment. Im bored. Why else?” Discord asked.

“But why bring us? We don’t even belong wherever this is.” I asked.

“Because there’s simply not enough ponies in Equestria.” Discord.

“Thats a bunch of ponyfeathers!” Gold Rush exclaimed. “Speaking of ponyfeathers, why are we in the royal gardens? Where are all the guards?” He asked.

Discord simply looked around. “Oh yeah, forgot to turn that off.” He clapped twice. A familiar jingle seemed to come from nowhere. “Clap Off.”

The royal gardens disappeared and we looked to be in the foyer of a giant mansion. “Welcome to your new home boys!” Discord exclaimed with a southern styled accent.

I looked around us; the place was huge! I noticed mysterious collective wisps of air. One was holding a tray. If you hadn’t been looking it would have looked as though the tray was floating.

“Yes those are the Will-o-the-wisps, they do whatever you WILL them to do.” Discord said, laughing at his ingenuity. “They don't really have a mind of their own though.. sort of like undead zombie servants. Ooh, there’s an idea!” Discord pulled out a notebook and pen out of nowhere and wrote something down. The wisps simply disappeared. “Save that idea for later shall we?” he muttered. “Now on to the tour!” he said. Snapping his fingers, we found ourselves no longer in the foyer, but now we were in the kitchen. He called out each place as he snapped his fingers, giving us barely a second to look around. “Kitchen. Bedrooms. Living Room. Game Room. Workshop. Gym. Nursery. Gardens…” he continued on.

“Wait- wait a moment? Nursery?” Flutter asked, finally speaking up.

“Oh god...I feel like i’m going to vomit..”Ghost says, putting a hoof to his mouth, looking even paler now.

“I’m used to rapid teleportation, and even I’m not feeling so great.” Dust muttered, shaking his head.

Discord appeared in Flutters face. “Dont worry.. that will come in handy later.” Discord said, chuckling. He finally snapped his fingers once more, and we were in a hallway with 6 doors, a picture on each of the doors matching the tattoos on our flanks. “Enjoy, I will let you settle in before I let anything happen. Now if you’ll excuse me, i have some rainbow cotton candy to eat.” He disappeared, leaving the 6 of us just standing in the hallway.

“I need to go check my sanity.” Ghost said going into his room, gagging a bit. He shut the door behind him, the sound of vomiting being heard not too long afterwards.

“I have a triple patrol to do, and two research papers to publish.” Dust seemed rather annoyed, as if this were nothing more than a waste of his time. “Discord’s been messing with my magic, teleporting out is a no-go.”

I stood in the hall, watching as everyone else went into their own rooms. Finally i went into my own, and laid down on the bed. “Killed after doing my own job. Bucking great.” my eyes opened wide. “Buck, Buck, Buck.” Any time i tried to swear it came out… pony translated. This was going to be a long night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later That Night….

Gold Rush removed his goggles, having been at the work bench for awhile. Discord had brought all of his supplies and tools to the workshop. The same ones he had been using for his work at his place. “Finally complete.” he whispered to himself. “IT IS DONE!” he said, holding up his ray.

The First Morning

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The next morning came with the smell of fresh pancakes which wafted through the kitchen. Gold multi tasked as he flipped each one, at the same time cutting up potatoes with his magic. He let out a yawn as he worked. “Man I need a coffee,” he says. Before he could look around a wisp floats over with a cup for him. “Umm, thanks.” He took the hot coffee and took a swig of the caffeine. He turns towards the doorway as the sound of stampeding hooves was heard coming his way.

“Get away from me!” a voice shouted from down the hall. Seconds later, Luster Star burst into the kitchen, a wisp close behind. “Begone, demon! Go back to the fire from whence you came or something!” he pleads. “Leave me alone!” With that, the wisp halted and vanished from sight with a poof of air.

Gold chuckles “Relax those things are harmless.” he says, sliding a few of the cooked pancakes onto a large serving plate. He takes the cut potatoes and put them in some cooking oil.

“Talking horse!” Luster shouted turning to run and hitting the wall. He fell back, rubbing his snout, “Who put that there?!”

“Please stop shouting. It’s way too early for it,” Ghost said with a grumble, walking clumsily into the kitchen. “Those do smell good,” he said, looking at the pancakes, his stomach growling.

“What’s all the racket?” Dust Storm walked into the room, looking annoyed, as usual. “I can’t do any of my research like this.” A wisp floated by him, carrying a stack of scrolls with writing all over them. It seemed like Dust’s belongings were delivered to his room, too.

“Where are Flutter and Ink?” Gold asked, looking over at Dust.

“Still in their rooms. Sulking or something.” Dust answered in a disinterested voice.

“Three talking horses!” Luster backs away quickly, “Don’t hurt me!” His back hit the wall and he froze, shutting his eyes tightly.

“Will somepony please get, Luster was it, up to speed?” Gold says as he carefully watched his fries cook. “Oh, and the coffee is brewed if you want some.” Using his magic, he set the stack of pancakes, along with cutlery on the large dinner table.

“I thought his name was John?” Ghost asked, looking at the pancakes then at his hooves. “How the hay am I supposed to eat with freaking hooves?” he asked, glaring at them. “Did I just say what the hay?”

“Use your magic,” Dust Storm said, tapping his horn. “Come on, it’s not that hard, even a foal can manage a basic levitation spell.” He turned to face the food. “I appreciate it, but I don’t eat breakfast.” Dust said, taking a seat at the table. He nodded at the wisp and it deposited the pile of scrolls onto the table. He opened up one of the scrolls, continuing to write on it.

“Well excuse me, princess, but before today I wasn’t a damn unicorn, so forgive me if I don’t know how to freaking do that,” Ghost snorted, giving Dust a glare.

“Sorry.” Dust sighed. “I’m not exactly in the best of moods.”

“What the hay is happening to me?” Luster groaned, putting his head in his hooves.

“Some jerk with John de Lanchie’s voice kidnapped us and turned us into ponies. At least some of us, those two,” Ghost points at Dust and Gold, “They were already ponies… I think,” he said, staring at his pancake, trying to figure out how to eat it.

Luster shuddered, “I think I just realized that none of us are wearing clothes.”

“Ponies don’t normally wear clothes.” Dust said dismissively from behind his scroll.

“I just realized we can’t eat meat anymore..”Ghost said putting his hooves on his head “And I have such a craving for bacon, it’s just not fair.”

“Oh…” Luster groaned, “bacon.”

“What’s bacon?” Dust asked, raising an eyebrow. (Or he probably was, nopony could tell as he had himself hidden behind his scroll, raised in the air.)

“Oh, it’s a wondrous thing made from pig meat”Ghost said, licking his lips”I remember I went on vacation once and had a plate of it all to myself and when I say plate I mean mountain.”

“You eat…. meat from where you come from?” Dust lowered the paper slightly to stare at Ghost.

“Yeah, humans are omnivores, we eat meat for protein. Though some of us hunt for sport, freaking flankholes.” Ghost explained.

“It’s called game hunting,” Luster adds, “As they consider animals as the prize. Sorry.”

Gold listened to the conversation as he put the fries, along with the cups of coffee down on the table. “Yeah sound like the early years of the Griffin Kingdom, hunting ponies for food, how barbaric.”

“Well humans are the only intelligent species in our world,” Ghost said with a shrug, still glaring at his pancake.

Gold stared at the two unicorns as they looked at their breakfast. Pondering his early years of magic school he spoke, “I suppose now is as a good time as any to teach you two magic,” he says, recalling lessons.

“I can help out.” Dust suddenly was interested, putting the scroll back down. “After all, I received top marks in the magic section of the Academy.”

Gold looked Dust, “Academy? Nice, all I got under my belt is my school diploma, that and training in crystal manipulation.” Without a second thought he levitated his knife and fork and began to cut his pancakes, perfectly fine with allowing Dust to explain.

“What the buck are you talking about? Magic?” Luster frowned, apparently unaware of his ponified swear.

“Yes, magic.” Dust Storm tapped his glowing horn, indicating the aura around his scroll. “This is a basic levitation spell, very easy to learn. Unfortunately, Discord’s blocking off any sort of magic that could help us escape, teleportation, offensive, etcetera. Otherwise, we’d be out of here in a hoofbeat.” He cleared his throat, then began. “Perhaps I should explain it like this.” Dust said. “Your magic resides inside you. You should feel, if you concentrate, an energy around your heart. Focus on that. Channel your magic up and to your horn, sending it out. To pick something up, just wrap it in the magic, as if you were covering it with a cloth or a bag. After that, simply lift it. Remember, you’re technically not lifting the object. You’re lifting the magic around the object.” He slid across some quills. “Here, these are light. Practice with those.”

“I don’t get it,” Luster blinked, looking at the feathers.

“I guess I can try...” Ghost said looking at the quill. He narrowed his eyes, focusing on this ‘magic’. His horn started to glow, surrounded by a sea foam green light.

“That’s it.” Dust said encouragingly, watching him closely.

He concentrated more, the glow encompassing one of the quills, gingerly lifting it from the table.
“Well done.” Dust nodded in approval. “Heavier objects will need more magic energy, but you seem to have gotten the basics.”

“I’m totally lost,” Luster frowned, watching Gold’s utensils hovering around swiftly. “How the hay does that even work?”

Gold looks up from his plate. “Okay think of it this way, `when you reach for a cup you pick it up with your umm whatever it is you had before hooves. This time do the same with your mind, think of the action but don’t do the action.”

“You mean like a ‘there is no spoon’ kind of thing?” he asked, waving his hoof in a circle.

Gold looked at him confused, “Pardon?”

“Darn, you don’t know The Matrix,” Luster sighed. “Whatever, I’ll try,” he shrugged, trying to transfer the instructions to practical use. He shut his eyes tightly, trying to imagine the fork on the table hovering up in the air. He felt a chilling sensation in his head and opened his eyes cautiously, the horn atop his head glowing a soft yellow as the fork was raised a few inches from the table. “Holy Tartarus!” he shouts in disbelief.

“See? Easy.” Dust went back to his research, losing interest in the conversation.

“This is bucking weird,” Luster gapes, moving the fork around with a bit of resistance. “This is awesome,” he waves it around, not noticing his magic faltering.

Gold watched as he waved the fork around “Pretty impressive for first time magic, don’t strain yourself.”

“Hey watch where you move that thing!” Ghost said watching it.

Lusters magic fizzled out as the momentum of the fork sent it right into his foreleg. “Buck!” he shouted, quickly pulling it out and holding his hoof to the wound. “Son of a manticore!” There were four puncture wounds, each growing red.

“Magic isn’t a toy.” Dust said rather sharply. “If you play with it again like that, you could get a much worse injury.” He cleared his throat. “Sorry. Are you all right?”

Gold’s years as a caretaker took hold as he got up and ran over to check the wound “Wow, you okay?”

“Ungh,” he grumbled, taking his hoof away, four red splotches on it, “Yeah. Nothing serious, except it hurts like Tartarus.”

“Yeah that looks like it hurts.” Ghost said, wincing as he looked at Luster’s hoof.

“Great observation, Sherlock,” Luster frowned.

Gold gets a hold of Luster’s foreleg. “Hold still let me look,” he examines it for a while. “Well nothing too deep luckily,” he comments.

“Know where the bandages are?” he asked.

Dust sighed, putting down his scrolls and trotting over. “I’m not much of a healer, barely managed to pass those tests, but I can cast some basic field healing spells.” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “Let me take a look at it.”

Gold stared at the gash and has an idea. “I know we just met but, would you care to be a test subject?” he asks, really wanting to test his invention.


“Um… for what?” he asked.

“Well, last night I finished work on my pet project: a series of enchantments embedded into a crystal matrix. In short, a beam that can heal wounds, well in theory.” Gold says

“Hold up.” Dust was interested once again. “A magical artifact? I’d love to see that in action.”

Gold chooses to leave out the details about Discord giving him his tools. “Well, not an artifact but close enough,” he says. “Hold on, I’ll be right back.” He headed out the door towards his workshop.

“What did I just volunteer for?” Luster shook his head with a sigh.

“Can’t be anything good,” Ghost said, shaking his head.

“Very interesting. I’ll have to take notes.” Dust unfurled a fresh scroll, dipping his quill into the vial of ink.

Gold returned soon enough, carrying a cube like object in his magic, a magnifying glass acting as a lens. Dust quickly diagrammed the object onto the paper. “I call this The Healer.” Gold says setting it on the table and gesturing Luster to sit in front of it.

Dust titled the diagram ‘The Healer’ adding a note: ‘Unoriginal name’

“The Healer?” Luster frowned, “very original.”

“What were you expecting , The Healinnator 5000?” Gold asks.

“Still more original than ‘The Healer’” Dust muttered under his breath, labeling the diagram.

“Everypony’s a critic.” Gold says as he slide open the top of the device.

“Just get it over with, please,” Luster looked away nervously. First being turned into a pony and now he was testing some device that could kill him, talk about unfortunate.

“Eh… you sure we can trust that thing?” Ghost asked, eyeing the cube wearily.

“If you’re going to be so afraid of testing new things, then I’ll go first.” Dust shrugged. “Progress needs risk.” He turned to Gold. “Can this thing heal old scars?” Flipping aside a lock of his mane, he revealed a long scar along the side of his face. “I got this thing…. a long time ago.”

“Should be able to heal scars, but like I said never actual tested this thing before.” Gold says

“Wait! I don’t want to put my manliness into question!” he stops Dust. “Or… what’s the name for male horse?”

“We call them colts here,” Dust replied. “Your world really does have a strange language.”

“My… coltliness…? Um…” Luster shook his head, “... nope, yours is stranger.”

“It’s coltness.” Dust sighed, as if explaining this to a small child.

Gold chuckled a bit at their conversation as he fiddled with the crystals inside his invention. the crystals were arrange like clock, the 11 crystals all pointed towards a tall one in the center. At the 12 o'clock position sat a spherical gemstone aiming towards the lens of the device.

“Very interesting design.” Dust took out the diagram again, adding a few details to it. “Come on, let’s see this thing in action. I’m more than willing to have it tested on me. For the sake of progress and knowledge.”

He nods as he moves a few of the crystals “Okay now it just needs a jump-start.” Gold says as his horn lit up, focusing his arcane energies into the central crystal. Once primed, the center began glowing. “There now just stand there and say cheese.” he joked.

“Sounds easy enough.” Dust ignored the second part of the statement, not really being one for jokes. He had his quill poised as he stood where Gold indicated. “All right, I’m ready.” he said, brushing aside the part of his mane to reveal the scar once more.

With a quick push of a button, his invention charged up to fire. The lens lit up, giving off a low hum. The beam was similar to a ray of sunlight as it shot out, encasing Dust.

“That feels nice.” Dust commented, closing his eyes. “It’s like standing in the sun on a warm day.” Slowly, the scar faded away. His eyes opened, growing wide. “Unbelievable! It actually worked!” he said excitedly, touching a hoof to where the scar used to be. He starting furiously scribbling on his scroll. “Gold Rush, you are a genius! Do you realize what an invention like this means? You’ve revolutionized modern healing techniques!”

“Wow, worked that well on the first test, cool, too bad I can’t sell it when trapped in this place.” Gold smiled.

“Did it really feel that nice?” Luster asked, looking over at Dust.

“It felt amazing.” Dust replied, giving a rare, small smile. “That cut of yours will be no more. Here,” he angled the device towards Luster. “I know how to operate this thing by now,” Dust’s horn glowed as he charged up the device once more. The same light as before shot out and enveloped Luster. As Luster closed his eyes in the relaxing feel of the beam, the wound faded, as if it never happened.

At this point, everypony was in awe of the new invention. Dust moved off to the side so he could take more notes. The room was so raucous at this point, that everypony had to be shouting to be heard over the others.

It took some time for them to settle down, but when they did, something felt off. Then, they heard a small, yet familiar voice speak up.

“Oh, no, dis not happening wight now.” They turned to see a tiny grey foal on the floor, where Dust was once standing. His scrolls and quills were scattered around him. He did not look happy.

Gold stared down at him for several seconds, slightly in shock. “Oh dear, Dust are you feeling okay?”

“Okay? OKAY?!” Dust flared up. “I’m a fweaking foal!” He paused for a moment. “But awll my aches and pains awe gone…” The researcher in him sparked again. “I need to wook mowe into dis.” Dust’s eyes roved over to Luster. “Um…” he pointed a hoof.

“Oh, buck,” Luster groaned, facehoofing, “please don’t say that’s going to happen to me!” Unbeknownst to him, he was already shrinking.

“Umm… dude, you’re shrinking,” Ghost said looking at Luster, backing away from Gold, lest he be next.

“Shrinking?!” he shouted, watching as the floor started to get closer to him, “No!”

“This is youw fauwlt.” Dust pointed one of his small little hooves at Gold. “Fix it. Now.”

“I don’t know how, first time testing this thing. How was I suppose to know this would be a side effect?” Gold says “I’ll have to tinker with it and figure out the reverse, hopefully.”

“I don’t want to be that small!” Luster covers his face, about the size of a younger schoolpony.

“Neithew do I!” Dust looked down at himself. “I’m, wike, not even one! You’we wucky I can stiwl tawk and awll!”

“Please don’t start crying, I’m no good with kids,” Ghost said, ears pinning to his head.

Gold couldn’t hold back a chuckle “I work at a daycare, so I know how to take care of foals.” Gold states.

“Don’t you dawe tweat me wike a foal!” Dust tried to sound intimidating, but did a poor job at it.

Luster became the same size as Dust, covering his eyes and sobbing quietly, “I dun wan dis!”

Gold calms down “Relax I’m sure nothing else-” he turns as a high pitched whine emitted from the device. The box started to vibrate violently and, before any of them could do anything, a large beam erupted out of the cube.

Dust noticed the central crystal was glowing with his pale blue magic. “Um. Oops.” he mumbled, putting his hooves over his mouth.

“No! No no!” Ghost shouts as the beam hit him. “Oh come on! First I get turned into a pony and now this!?”

Luster looked up at Gold, bleary eyed, “Tuwn me back, now!”

Gold kept staring at the foals, completely shocked at what he had caused. “I’m sure I can reverse this. You can help, Dust, right?”

Dust’s horn sparked then fizzled out. “Not wike dis. I need magic.” He narrowed his eyes again at Gold, “I want my magic back.”

“Well, you seem to have more knowledge of magic then I seem to have. At least you still have that to help me.” he replies.

“Fine. But we’we having a wong tawlk aftew we fix dis.” Dust answered.

“You better get this fixed,” Ghost said snorting, already shrinking past double digits.

“We can fix dis.” Dust picked up a scroll in his hooves. “I just need time to wook evewyting ovew.”

Luster looked at them, crying softly, “I wanna be biggew! I’m notta foal!”

Ghost just frowned, now the same age as the others, folding his hooves. He blinked looking down as a small puddle formed under him. “No!” he shouted in a panic, trying to get to his hooves, only to fall onto his pudgy belly.

Dust gasped. “Oh, hewl no.” he muttered.

Gold leans down “Okay everypony just calm down okay.” he then look over at Ghost “Oh dear, should have seen that coming.” he orders a wisp to clean up the piddle.

“Cawm down?” Luster frowned, “How can I cawm down aftew dis?!”

Ghost couldn’t help but start crying, putting his hooves over his head.

“Wewl, this is just gweat. What the buck ewlse is going to happen?” Dust asked, scowling.

Gold sighed and went up to Ghost “shhh, I can fix this, you just need, well, a diaper.” he says feeling his inner joy from foalsitting start to come out.

“If you think you’we putting one on me, you got something ewlse coming.” Dust waved a scroll around as if it were a sword.

Luster covered his eyes again, sobbing loudly now as he curled up on the floor.

“No!” Ghost shouted, looking at Gold. “Not weawing a diaper!” He said defiantly, stomping his hoof.

“Be glad it was just pee this time and not a dump on the floor.” Gold says “Now just come with me or I’ll do it myself.”

“And if you want to put one on me, you’ww have to catch me fiwst!” Dust tried to run, but tripped and fell. “Ow!” he said, more in surprise than pain.

Gold smirked at this situation “you’re not the first foals to be resistant and I doubt you will be the last.” he says.

“I. Am not. A foal.” Dust seemed to be furious at this point. “And you won’t tweat me wike one, eithew!” he quickly got back to his hooves, crawling off as fast as he could go.

Gold rolls his eyes as he levitated Dust off the ground.

“No! Not faiw!” Dust tried to counter with his own magic. His horn sparked again, but nothing more than that.

Grey took his chance, starting to crawl away, making it out of the kitchen.”Not gonna get me,” he said, moving as fast as he could.

“Hey! Don’t leave us with him!” Dust protested, calling out to Ghost.

“hehe, seems you have lightened up.” Gold jokes and turns to see the other two in retreat “Hey get back here.’ he calls out following, Dust still hovering behind in his magic.

“Hewp me!” Dust called out to a wisp, but it just floated there, ignoring his command.

“Huwwy!” Luster whined, crawling after Ghost as fast as his foal legs could carry him.

Gold follows in pursuit, easily able to keep up with them “Come on, it’s not that bad. you’ll look cute in a diaper,” he says chuckling

“Put me down!” Dust continued to struggle around in the arcane aura.

“I’m going!” Ghost says before tripping over his hooves, tumbling into Luster, landing in a heap.

“No!” Luster yelped, falling to his tummy.

Gold lifts the two up with his magic levitating them off the floor. “Come on little ones, time for protection. I hope that nursery has supplies,” he wondered.

“Put me down!” Ghost shouted, flailing his hooves around. He cried in frustration, on the verge of throwing a tantrum.

Luster cried, flailing his hooves in desperation, “Put me down!”

Gold floats the three in front of him as he eventually found the nursery, a smile now on his face. Once they arrived he took a quick look around. “wow, it is fully stocked. That’s unexpected.” He says as he set the three in the nearby crib to prevent them from running off. “So who’s first?”

“Not me.” Dust had exhausted himself with all his struggling, laying down in the crib.

Luster curled up into a fuzzy ball, crying into the blankets, “No no no no! This is aww a bad dweam! Thewe’s no pwace wike home. Thewe’s no pwace wike home!”

“I am not weawing a diaper! You heaw me!?” Ghost shouted, flailing his hooves around.

Gold shook his head “Luster you seem to need it the most.” he says picking him up and walking over to the change table.

“Wha?” Luster gasped as he was lifted into the air, “What awe you doing?!”

“Getting you diapered of course.” he replied laying him down on the table. Without even thinking about it he bucked the little safety strap over Lusters chest.

Gold’s attention is diverted as he hears a knock at the door. Luster kept struggling to get free as he headed over to answer it.

“I want owt!” Luster whines, trying to unbuckle the strap.

Before Gold is able to reach the door, a head pops through the door as if it was not there. “What is all this racket? Im trying to meditate!” The unicorn snapped, his horn glowing a bright red. The same energy sparkled around him creating a translucent effect, like a ghost. The sudden appearance made Gold jump back “Wow, who are you? What are you?” He asks, quite stunned at the sight.

“Its me Gold…. I’m Eri…Dead Ink” he say, walking through the door and reappearing into the room. Right in front of Gold, as he blinks my horn disappears and my wings appear on my back. “Apparently since Discord got lazy and pulled me to… here while I was between life and death, I can switch my form between life and death. It seems my dead form is a unicorn, and my live form is… what do you call ponies with wings?”

“A pegasus,” Gold says, still catching his breath “you could have just, oh opened the door instead of giving me a heart attack.” He said, putting the diaper on Luster, though he left the small foal strapped in.

While the ponies were distracted, Dust had managed to regain his energy, sitting back up. “Ghowsts don’t exist.” he said. “The entiwe idea of it is impossibwle.”

"Well that Discord thing made me into a ghost. So I'm living... dead... I don't know what kind of proof, but I'm proof enough!" Dead Ink replied to the foal that Dust had become.

“Ugh.” Dust shook his head. “This is awll just some cwazy dweam.”

“Hewwo?” Luster called, waving, “I’m a widdle stuck hewe!”

"Yeah, Dusty... I can call you Dusty right?" Ink questioned. "I sure hope its all a dream."

“Do NOT cawll me Dusty.” Dust seemed annoyed at the foalish treatment. His rising emotions caused his horn start to glow brightly, on the verge of a magic surge.

Ink backed away. "Sorry, didn't mean to offend his royal scribe, or whatever you are." He stated sarcastically

“I am a WOYAL GUAWD!” Dust’s magic burst out of him, teleporting him in front of Ink’s face, his arcane energy keeping him hovering. “It’s a job I take vewy sewiously.” This would have been a rather dramatic moment if his magic didn’t give out the next second, dropping him to the floor. He landed in a clumsy heap. He shook himself off, relatively unharmed.

“Well I'm sorry, I'm still getting used to this... this pony body, and you two are normally ponies. I just got stuck with the plothole of pony forms, because I'm apparently half of one race and half another but I'm also neither!" Ink shouted as he watched Dust fall. "You alright bro?" He asked calming down.

“I’m fine. I’ve taken a lot wowse than dis as a Woyal Guawd.” Dust answered, brushing himself off, wincing a little. “Ow…” he groaned, his head pounding as the magic surge ebbed.

"But you’re much smaller now, which would mean even with however strong you are, you're weaker than you normally are." Ink stated, sounding like a Wikipedia article. Ink carefully lifts Dust up in his wings, not quite sure how, and carefully hands him back to Gold. Dust didn’t protest, focusing on calming down his headache. "Do you have any idea what happened or how to turn them back?" Ink asks Gold.

Gold takes a breath and details what happened earlier that day. He sighs “All my fault, but I know I can fix this, there has to be a way to reverse the process.”

"What if you flip all of the crystals upside down? That worked in Indiana Jones. Wouldn't it reverse the effects or something?" Ink asks, obviously not being a very scientific guy as a human.

“Not that simple, it’s complicated to explain to one not familiar with spells and enchantments. The fact is, I have to find a way to reverse the enchantments can’t just flip the crystals around.” He sighs, “If only it were that easy.”

"Anything I can do to help?" Ink questions.

“With reversing the foalification no, but if you know how to diaper a foal I could use some help.” Gold replied.

“I am not wetting a gwost diaper me!” Ghost shouted, waving his hooves around, having been shocked into silence by Dead Ink’s appearance.

“I’m not all ghost, it seems I have the ability of one though.” Ink says to Ghost as he looked back at Gold. “I’ve diapered a baby before, it shouldn't be too hard.”

“I refuse!” Ghost shouted at the top of his lugs, having gone into a full blown tantrum squirming around on the change table.

Ink looked at Ghost. “Dude, we know you’re not a foal, but the more you fight, the more time you take away from letting Gold here find a way to turn you back. Think about it that way.”

Gold takes Dust from his back and sets him down. Getting out the supplies he starts to diaper him. Dust protested the entire time, but without much energy.

Ghost mumbled a bit, having calmed down from his tantrum, breathing a bit heavy. Unable to stop himself, a small yawn escaped his lips.

Taking advantage of his sleepy state, Dead Ink scoops up Ghost, getting him diapered before he can protest further.

Luster screamed, “You’we just wike my pawents! You dun wisten!”

Something flickered in Dust’s eyes at the word ‘parents’, and he avoided making eye contact. “My head huwts, do you know any medical spewls?” he mumbled.

“Well, I know a few from my time as a caretaker.” Gold answered. “Hold still, okay?” His horn lit up, and an aura surrounded Dust’s horn. Dust seemed to calm down significantly, even yawning a little. Gold carefully set him in the crib. Exhausted from everything, Dust started to fall asleep against his will.

“Why am I so tiwed?” Ghost asked as Ink set him back down in the crib, letting out another loud yawn. He snuggled up with Dust, both of them quickly falling asleep.

“I’m not tiwed!” Luster frowned on the table, crossing his hooves. “I juss wanna be BIG!” he screamed.

Gold picked Luster up, gently rocking him. “Shh. It’s all right.” he said softly, beginning to sing a lullaby.

Luster struggled, but soon found his eyes growing heavy, and momentarily fell asleep with the other foals.

Gold laid Luster in the crib, draping a blanket over the three sleeping foals. He smiled a little. “So sweet.” he said happily. Ink and Gold left the room to let the now-little ponies sleep.