Show me the way to go Home

by Cherry Rie

Rating: teen
Tags: Other, Adventure, Random, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Original Character, Comedy
Length: 5746

Four friends are trapped in their version of equestria.

When trapped within a world written by themselves, four friends from an online community must ask; Who has the pen now?

Slightly silly, slightly random, slightly serious story spawned of boredom and an old role play idea.

I have no idea where this is going.

Published 2012-02-10 01:44:07 UTC
Last updated 2012-05-07 15:40:15 UTC

One heck of a night

Show me the way to go Home

A result of boredom and a random forum RP. Seemed like an idea at the time.
Ponies are Hazbo and I apologies in advance for stealing them for use as a plot device and setting.

One Heck of a Night

The universe is a factory. Stars are built from the simplest of matter, Hydrogen. At their tumultuous core many complex elements are forged, ejected to form Planets on which things start to get really interesting.
Take this small blue planet, known to its inhabitance as ‘Earth’. Floating around the relatively unremarkable star ‘Sol’, Earth is one of the infinitesimally small number of planets ever to achieve its ultimate goal; The emergence of moderately intelligent life. For intelligence leads to sentience. Sentience, while initially leading to a lot of daft questions, ultimately leads to creativity. For it is imagination that powers creation.

Beyond the impassable walls of the known cosmos, billions of new realities are spawned every moment by the various intelligent beings that scurry along the surface of this universal baby factory. Normally these realities are oblivious to one another’s existence, but once in a while something unexpected begins, usually with but a few strokes of the pen several universes away.

Down through the atmosphere of this insignificant world, across the river Tems and down a more reputable street of London town, we find the place where the extraordinary is about to occur;
Kaylee Dian Cobble is about to have her first Vodka Blueray.

Kaylee stared down into the crystalline sapphire depths. The liquid contained within was virtually luminescent and could have passed for an expensive brand of paint thinner. Contrary to popular opinion around the table, she was not a heavy drinker, mainly due to her eightieth birthday having passed by barely two months ago. Yet somehow the rest of her recently unmasked friends had gotten the impression that this short, slightly plump Yorkshire lass was the next great philosopher when it came to the raising of the wrist.

Okay, admittedly this may have been due to her habit of only logging onto Voice chat when she had been raiding the liquor cupboard, but this was getting worryingly out of hand. Before her stood the remains of the last four concoctions that the forumites had persuaded her to try, along with two more recent additions awaiting her attention. The only positive note in all this madness was that she was yet to pay for a single drink, a relief made all the greater by her lack of ID card.

Still, that’s what this whole trip was about, right? A night on the town, surrounded by her fellows from MPEAS (the Mon Petite Equestrian Appreciation Society) and getting to know the real people behind the avatars. So far it had been a ruckus evening of dancing and general silliness with barely a mention of the animated show that had brought them together in the first place. Of this, Kaylee was thankful; there was only so much pony one could ingest in a single sitting. It had been one of her greatest hesitations about coming to the meet in the first place, the fear that it may turn out to be an entire night of listening to sweaty man-children complaining about ‘inconsistencies in continuity’. It had been quite a difficult gremlin to dispel.

But just as she had been privately hoping, the digital congress had proven to be just as cool in real life, albeit personal descriptions may have undergone some exaggeration.
For instance; ‘Limmericus’, a polish physics-student named Borviki, was apparently not the ‘athletic type’ at all, but built like a bean pole upon which had been skewered a mop of disobedient black hair.

Perhaps most surprisingly, ‘Aspirin’ had turned out to be a skittish sixteen year old boy called Darrel, rather than the female aeronautical engineer that he had claimed. This had proven quite the disappointment for ‘Vicky17’, who was a female aeronautical engineer and had been looking forward to swapping tech talk.

Lastly, there was Jake. ‘Jzero’ on the forums, Jake was one of the few present that Kaylee felt she already knew inside out. Long had been the evening spent in private chat, not to mention the many hours of writing put into their joint fanfics. Here was where things got awkward. Despite the heavily set man being entirely honest with his unseen creative partner about every aspect of his life, she hadn’t been nearly as open. As it was they had spent the first few hours at an uneasy stalemate, Jake glancing only occasionally in her direction and Kaylee remaining silently ashamed.

Thankfully, free flowing booze had done much to sooth the initial awkwardness and all of the renewed friends were having a roaring time.

“OH! Has our own ‘Cherry’ finally met her match!?” Came the voice of daring, Vicky enjoying every moment of the inexperienced youngster’s comeuppance.

Without braking eye contact with the caustic blue substance, Kaylee lifted the glass and upended the contents down her throat to a round of elated cheers. Finding herself drunk from the legs down, the chubby girl flopped back onto her seat and descended into a giggling fit.

“Well answered my dear!” Borviki practically yelled above the thumping bass, finishing his own drink with a cry of “Skol!”

**** Sometime Later****

In her short life, Kaylee had woken up in a lot of very strange places. Other people's gardens were a norm, trees were an occasional deviation and once she'd woken up on a train to Edinburgh with no memory of boarding. When you’re a light weight with interesting friends, such things quickly become par for the course.

None had been quite as orange as this one though.

Last she could remember was asking Vicky to name a drink that didn’t come in pints. The flaming multicoloured beverage that had been delivered had been quite pleasing. That had been around... elevenish? Yeah that sounded right, one club an hour and they'd been in the Slaughtered Yam Tavern. Maybe.

And now her everything ached. Her legs and arms felt like lead weights had been attached at the joints and gut-rot was currently playing havoc with her innards. And the world she'd opened her burning eyes too was, well… Orange. It was the only way to describe it; this place was very orange.

Letting out a quiet moan, the girl winced as the echo of her melancholy rebounded back to her sensitive ears. With vision gradually clearing, Kaylee rolled over onto her hands and knees and lifted her head to try and look around. The orange world remained and her head felt abnormally heavy. With a self despairing sigh, she tried to shake off the traffic cone, resorting to pushing its edge with a cumbersome hand.

Shielding her eyes to the initial burst of light, Kaylee groggily assessed her surroundings. The grassy banks of a babbling stream presented itself to her blurry vision. For a moment the spinning scene appeared to be some kind of peaceful park, not a good sign as inner London was not widely known for its lush forests. Trees grew thickly on either side of the meandering river and she herself appeared to be slumped in a ferny bushel. Her thick mousy brown mane dropped across half of her face as it reclaimed the territory lost to the cone. Blowing at it irritably she pushed herself up onto her haunches and looked around for any sign of civilization. The scenery was about as wild as you could get.

Nauseous gurgles bubbled in her stomach as she gave her fuzzy white belly a comforting rub. A pat on her flanks confirmed that she no longer had her mobile, though at least there was no one around to notice her nakeditty. Standing proved a little more of a challenge then sitting down for the moment, her spine hurt along with the wicked dizziness the sudden vertical demands brought. Best to just sit here for a few minutes to collect her thoughts. Where was everyone else?

The floppy mane was tickling her eyes again and she absentmindedly pushed it away with a slightly muddy hoof. There'd been at least eight or nine of them in ‘The Hive’, and that was only the beginning of the evening, surly they wouldn't have let here wander off-

...Wait a minute.

Mane.

Tail.

Fuzzy belly....

…Hoof.

Several flocks of birds rocketed skyward from the canopy as the Filly's scream filled the normally tranquil forest.

Quite suddenly the shrieks were cut short as the mare felt the previous night's revelry make a second visitation. Retracting her head from the bush with the lopsided pallid grimace of all hangover lightweights, Kaylee looked down again and resumed her panic in earnest. Clawing at her own hooves and rolling around on the forest floor, she tried to free herself from the costume or whatever abhorrent hallucination this was. When it seemed that no humorous joke was in play, she collapsed from dizziness and lay on the forest floor panting. This was defiantly going to be a very bad day. She felt sick all over again, but more from the revelation then the alcohol.

Last night she'd been on the town with friends, having a whale of a time and reveling in her recently cashed pay check. Now she was apparently a diminutive horse, alone, lost in a dark forest and worst still, naked except for a thin coat of fuzz.

Oh well. Sitting here wasn't curing anything. Gingerly she leaned some weight on her hands and pushed herself upright onto untested hooves. It was difficult to move all four limbs appropriately, partly due to some knee joints now being backwards, but mostly because she was still a little drunk. Maybe that's why she was taking this so well?

Walking as though her forelegs were more of a crutch then an extra pair of limbs, Kaylee picked her way about the small clearing looking for anything useful. There was a distinct lack of any human tool or clothing, though she did make the discovery of two wings dragging limply alongside her. That changed matters somewhat at least. She was now diminutive 'Pegasus', lost in a dark forest and naked except for a thin coat of fuzz AND feathers.

Well, if girl guides had taught her anything, it was how to hike back to camp if you got separated from the grou. This hadn’t been part of any official guides trainining of course, just something she had picked up during a string of bad ideas. If there was any civilization to be found it should be...dooowwwnn-up stream, yes upstream. Everyone needs water and water is freshest upstream.

A tiny part of her that was still sober held up a card displaying the flaw in her logic, but was promptly ignored for being too needy. In any case, now wasn't a time for deliberation, now was a time for action and possibly screaming. But she needed something first. Looking around the clearing the short mare spotted the small traffic cone that had been stuck around her head upon waking. It shouldn't have been important, but darn it that orange diverter of traffic was possibly the last vestige of her humanity. Thing was, grabbing it without fingers proved to be quite the challenge. Eventually she gave up, kicked it around until the hole faced her and the end was against a tree, lowered her head and shoved.

Not the most practical of affairs, but it was easier then carrying it in her mouth. With the cone standing proudly atop her head, Kaylee turned to the awaiting stream and began to follow its current.

Nearly half an hour later and she was still just as horribly lost.

“Show me the way to go home,” Sang the paint Pegasus pony, mournfully. “I'm tired an' I wana go to bed.”

In the dense undergrowth her parched voice didn't seem to travel very far at all and she had given up yelling after only a few minutes. Walking with four legs had proven an interesting experience, though found things allot easier once she had rhythm going. In fact the was now almost trotting, finding the one-two pace easier to keep then coordinating all four limbs at once.

This did however come with the slight disadvantage that she would fall over whenever she tried to slow down, her front caked in mud from several earlier mishaps. Unfortunately her plan was not going very well either. The stream had disappeared into thick brushwood and now she was just aimlessly going west and hoping to find a warn trail. Oddly though, she could swear that the rustling of the trees sounded like voices of other people nearby. As she turned her head the sounds of the forest shifted in an unfamiliar doppler effect. The voices weren’t coming from the trees. What was more, they were getting louder.

''Ah had a little drink 'bout an hour ago an' it's gone straight too my head.” She carried on, picking her way uncertainly through the underbrush.

“Where ever I may roam...” The voices stopped as she pushed through a thick Rosemary bush,
“...By land or sea or foam. You will always hear me singing this song.”

Brambles clung to her dusty white fur and unwieldy wings as the filly pressed on, using the cone as a kind of ram to push the foliage ahead of her.

"Show me, the way, to, go...Oh?"

Emerging into the light of a forest path, two ponies stood staring at her baffling appearance. One was a bright yellow Earth pony, the other a speckled work horse, both wearing a look of the chronically hungover.

There are some instincts so ingrained that they can overcome even a species barrier. Kaylee's modesty was one of these.

'Dear, you're still naked'

Wings that had hung limply up till now suddenly sprang forwards and wrapped around her front like a shield against the world. With the added presence of the traffic cone and mud, the effect was reminiscent of a slightly feathery upside down cake.

“Ummmm...” She muttered, befuddled and slightly irritated at her own over reaction “Nice day for a walk in the woods?”

“Kaylee?” Squinted the earth pony, bafflement pushing through its raging headache, “Is that you hun?”

*****

Author; Celestia knows where this one is going. Back to AHK tomorrow everyone.

Shenanigans

Remember; no matter how out of place or random events might be, everything that takes place in this story happens for a reason. Mostly because the author is an evil bitch.

Chapter two; Shenanigans

Utterly dumbstruck, Kaylee stared at the bright yellow Equine from which Vicky’s voice had croaked. Squinting from behind her feathery wall of privacy, something finally clicked about the appearance of the pair.

It is the best kept secret of any headstrong tomboy that they do have girly moments. Vicky, for example, was a self professed metal-head who spent her days tinkering with jet engines and had an appetite for cheap spirits. Naturally, her role-play character for ‘MEAPS’ was an earth pony called Lemon Cake, with a talent for flower arranging, one of her few guilty pleasures in life. As though drawn into being by the pen of Lauren Faust herself, Lemon Cake now stood in the clearing before the startled Pegasus. Sinuous Persian-green mane fluttering in the slight breeze along with her long luscious tail, the mare could have likely given even fair Rarity a run for her money. A shame the overall effect was somewhat disrupted by the dark rings around her emerald eyes and sour expression. Labelled on her flank was a tied bouquet of three beautiful flowers.

Her companion was a unicorn and stood in dramatic contrast to the elegant Lemon Cake. Built like a draft horse, the tall brown speckled appaloosa could have been a shoe in at the ‘Studliest Stallion’ contest, had she not been a mare. Tall and heavy set, the only clues to her femininity, (other than the more fundamental ‘absence’ below the belt line), were a long mane and tail of richest chestnut brown and flirtatious eyelashes. Paper bound, the character concept of ‘Muffin’ must have seemed like such a good idea to poor Darrel, yet in reality the overall impression was that of a spotty Big Macintosh dressed in drag.

“Vicky! And Muffin? Is that you Darrel!?” Kaylee exclaimed, shaking her head with a nickering snort, “Oh my goodness, you have no idea how glad I am to see you. I thought I was alone out here!”

Wincing with the euphoric nature of her friend’s relief, Lemon Cake lifted a hoof and rubbed her aching forehead, “Yeah, great to see you too hun. Volume.”

Darrel muttered something to ‘herself’, staring at the newcomer with a look of panic.

“Look, what the hay happened to us?” Kaylee stressed, hooves rustling uneasily beneath the still rigid feathers, “Why are we all ponies, and why do you look like your avatar characters?”

Vicky glanced over at her mumbling companion and shrugged her withers, “Search me. Last I remember was that round of Union-Jack’s we had at the Slaughtered Yam. Next thing I know, I wake up in a bush with hooves and spots’ here is out cold on top of me.”

“I’m a girl.” Muffin muttered distantly.

“Ignore him,” assured the yellowy earth pony, seeing the look of confusion on Kaylee’s partly hidden face “He only just woke up, think he’s still in shock.”

“Hold on, how did you know it was me?” Kaylee asked, struggling to move her reluctant appendages into a more manageable position, “You two look... well, familiar at least.”

“I’m A FREEKING MARE!”

Shoving the traumatized Appaloosa into whimpering silence, Vicky glowered irately at the apparently stupid question “Because you sound like Kaylee, look like Kaylee’s character ‘Peanut Butter’ and are self conscious to the point of paranoia-”

“Cześć, Konikie!”

Kaylee whipped around towards the sudden hearty greeting. Borvik, or rather the grey Pegasus stallion that spoke with his rich voice, stepped through the underbrush and approached the gathered ponies with a warm grin. Granite gray, a marbled mane of charcoal black and sleek white framed a face that was both powerful and soft in the same instant. ‘Bolder’ stood as a model to Pegasus anatomy, every muscle visible through his glossy coat, the glittering silver-anvil cutie mark resting on flanks that could have been carved from solid rock.

“Borvik?” Queried Vicky sceptically, eliciting a nod of confirmation from the buff newcomer.

“Dah!” the stallion replied, shaking entrenched leaves from his shock white mane, “ ‘tis good to be seeing you here! We were thinking we may be alone.”

Despite the hangover attempting to squeeze her brain out through her eye sockets, the lemony earthpony found some relief venting her rage through targeted sarcasm. “You have got to be freaking kidding me. What? Did we all just happen to fall out of the sky within ten square feet of one another?!”

Borvik shook his head insistently, “No, James and I have been walking for some time. There is stream not so far, but I hear voices this way, so I come to look and find you!”

“This is crazy!” Stammered Kaylee, wings slacken as disbelief overwhelmed her overactive modesty, “James is here too? What the buck happened to us last night! Buck? Buck-buckitty-buck-buck.”

“WHAT?” Darrel yelled, stressed buggy eyes flaring at the Pegasus mare.

Renewed confusion creeping across her splotchy face, Kaylee’s eyes crossed in an attempt to look at her own lips. Prudish in most aspects of life, the young woman rarely swore. But everyone had their moments when they dearly wished to cuss the sky blue. Yet the words had become displaced somewhere on the short journey between brain and vocal cords.

“Fffff… fuuu-fluff Ack! Help, help! I’m being censored!”

Having shoved the panicky unicorn again, Vicky shook her head at Kaylee’s vain attempt to overcome the expurgation that seemed to be plaguing all of the recently pony-fied friends. “Yeah. Oddly enough, it’s the first thing I noticed, even before the hooves. Kinda leaves you in no doubt, where ever we are, it’s rated ‘PG’.”

“Friends!” Borvik announced, razing a stony hoof for attention. “We are all very much tired and suffering from our shenanigans. There is stream not far, plenty water for all and healthy greens on its banks.”

“Greens?” Echoed Vicky, sceptical of what possible value salad could serve against a blistering headache. Then again, fresh water was an attractive prospect none the less, one that enticed the lemony pony to follow her Polish acquaintance.

As roughly one herd, the four friends hobbled, hopped and stumbled through the underbrush. Between her wings snagging on brambles and a reluctance to discard the traffic cone, Kaylee was making the slowest progress. Several times the small group had to stop and help disentangle the pinto mare from some thorny thicket. Compounding the frustration, Borvik seemed to be the only one not having any trouble with his new body. Striding out ahead of the pack the Pegasus brushed aside branches and stomped down nettles like a graceful bulldozer.

Distant at first, the sounds of rapidly flowing water began to guide the herd through the dense undergrowth. Even while the source was still out of sight, it was clear that some element of Borvik description had been lost in translation, the echoes more that of a white rapid then a babbling brook. Emerging at last, the four ponies found themselves on the overgrown banks of a curving river. Though a slight bend in the water’s course had left a thin shallow shelf of mud along their side, the opposite bank was virtually sheer into the churning flow. Rising out of the slowest of the deeper section was a hunch of brilliant white fur, its owner apparently submerging themselves in the refreshing current.

Trotting into hoof deep mud, Borvik splashed into the gently swirling beck and called out for their final missing party member.

And that was when little Kaylee felt her heart stop.

In a rush of crystal water, the Stallion that must have been James erupted from the mirrored surface. Tossing back his majestic head, rivulets sprayed from a flowing mane of purest gold, splashing down upon his sleek white coat in a sheet of glistening droplets. Proudly his fluted horn strove towards the skies, beneath which soft demure features savoured the cooling water that cascaded down his toned withers.

Barely even aware of her steadily rising wings, Kaylee’s gaze traced upwards along pristine fetlocks and strong legs, lingering on a firm rump that bore the stylised horn of plenty, along with other note worthy endowments. Half lidded sapphire eyes met briefly with her own, sending a shiver of delight racing down the filly’s spine to converge on her-

‘Hang on a minute! What the hay is wrong with you woman? He’s a horse you freak!’

stomach. Addled brain finally catching up to the imagery that was passing through it, Kaylee’s eyes bugged as she thrust her head into a convenient fern. Heaving into the unfortunate shrub, the confused girl turned considerable effort into repelling the abhorrent thoughts. Yet even against the barrage of Hugh Lorry and cologne models, they remained like hot ball bearings on the surface of her mind.

Glancing around wearily, the sick little pony watched Vicky and Darrel rushing straight to the water’s edge, eager to relieve their parched throats. While at least proffering a half-hearted greeting, neither of the other two mares seemed to have reacted to James’ appearance. Mind you, for Vicky this was mostly because she’d fallen short of the river and sucked up a mouth full of sloppy mud. On the other hand (or hoof) Borvik was studying their wayward fifth member with a look of mild confusion, as though the Euro-Pegasus didn’t quite believe his own eyes.

“Cool, you found them,” James observed, remarkably composed considering the extraordinary circumstances, “Sup’ everyone.”

Thankfully Brovik’s remarkable sense of timing saved the bush a second visitation from the pinto. Like a wall of privacy the grey stallion stepped up to the new unicorn, inadvertently severing Kaylee’s line of sight.

“Where did you get horn?” Asked the Pegasus, poking the tall addition to James’ head, “You did not have horn when I left.”

“Pretty sure I woke up with it, big guy.”

Attributing her delusions to alcohol poisoning, the pinto filly took the opportunity to escape and picked her way into the flow, flopping down when the water could engulf her entirely. Even under the influence of a hangover, the experience was something the young woman would never forget. Cool refreshing aqua flowed across her hot dusty coat, gently massaging every fibre of her being. Subconsciously spreading her wings ever so slightly, the current began to swirl around the stem of each feather, soothing in a way she had never felt before. Aching muscles in her withers and limbs began to gently vibrate in pleasure before surrendering entirely to the firstclass treatment they were receiving from this natural spar.

Sadly, the vain hope that the resulting emersion would drown out Vicky’s choking was foiled by her significantly enlarged head, upon which sensitive swivelling ears picked up every gosh-awful detail. But at the very least with her eyes shut there was no chance of inadvertent eye contact with the dripping wet stallion.

However, there was the other developing issue. Ponies aren’t really designed to sit with legs splayed out every which way. Even with her nose above the soothing water, she was finding cramps developing along irregularly stretched knees. Eventually the nagging aches penetrated her desire to relax, but getting her legs to fold beneath her was down to trial and error, involving much experimentation with joints that didn’t seem to face the right way anymore. Struggling for a moment to coordinate her four disobedient limbs, the new filly eventually managed to pull each leg into a more natural fold.

Finding herself sitting in relative comfort on the pebbly riverbed, Kaylee studied the peculiar Doppler affect her mobile ears created, experimenting with ‘listening’ at each of her ill-fated companions.

“- not be so bad.” Choked James’ voice, straining to muster a reassuring tone against the urge to burst out laughing, “I mean, most guys don’t get to experience what you’re getting without major surgery.”

“Dah, think of it as ‘trial account’.” Added the deep tones of Borvik, the sloshing of water indicating that he too was entering the deeper parts of the river.

“This is serious guys!”

A whimper of discontent followed the rhythmic crunching of gravel under hoof, an image of Rarity’s hoof stomping hissy fit bringing a smirk to the listening mere’s lips.

“What if we’re stuck here! What If I’m stuck like this!! I never even got to have-”

“Everyone shut up and come take a look at this!” Hollered Vicky, obliterating the end of Darrel’s culture shocked rant as she stomped past towards the opposing bank.

Cautiously opening her eyes by the narrowest fraction, Kaylee turned her attention to the other natural female of the party. The earth pony was about ten feet away, up to her belly in the water and staring fixedly up at a tinge of blue on the sheer embankment. From this distance it was impossible to tell, but it looked like the leaves of some slender plant poking out from the ferns at the edge of the water line.

With only minor stumbles, the boys carefully hobbled past the recumbent Kaylee and joined Vicky in her staring contest with the splodge of colour.

James was the first to break the substantial disbelief, blowing a warbling ‘ooh’ as he searched for a low whistle with his now abnormally shaped mouth.

“Is what I think it is?” Nickered Borvik, wings fluttering uneasily.

Vicky nodded distantly, “A lot more vivid close up, aren’t they?”

“This is… good. Right?” Darrel asked slowly, turning the question for taste and finding it too cheesy for his presently sane pallet. “At least we know where we are now, and that means we can’t be far from civilisation.”

Well that clinched it; she had to know what was going on. Casting her mind back to working in her aunt’s stables, Kaylee visualised how a horse stood up naturally, replicating the motion slowly with some effort. Most surprisingly, getting up was easier then it appeared. The trick lay in treating each leg as its own pivot, lifting the front first and keeping her substantial weight centred as the back legs lifted her rump from the swill of water.

Hobbling across the submerged rocks, Kaylee finally drew level with her gathered friends. Presently the company was in deep philosophical discussion about the cannon origins of the small, bright blue blossoms that were poking out of the undergrowth.

“-it’s the only place we’ve seen them in the show itself.” Finished Borvik, hoping to put an end to such ridiculous world altering statements.

Vicky rallied magnificently despite her throbbing head, never one to turn away a darn good row. “But Zecora recognised them immediately, suggesting they could be from her home land!”

“She’s right Bor’.” James agreed. “Just because there’s one poison joke plant here doesn’t mean we’re definitely in the Everfree forest.”

“Umm, there’s more than one plant though.” Interjected Darrel, pointing to the blossoms and nearly over balancing. “Five here, maybe more.”

Noticing the presence of further evidence, Borvik gestured a hoof towards another patch that had apparently been overlooked, “See. There’s some more over there too. Where else would you find so many?”

An unnerving quietus had fallen upon the Pegasus’s opponents, both now glancing back at the small bouquets of flowers that seemed to fill the majority of the bush in front of them. What had started out as a small smudge of a plant seemed have spread unseen to every gap in the underbrush.

“James.” Vicky asked, cautiously following her advocator as he began to back away from the embankment. “How many plants were here when you walked over.”

Kaylee was utterly bemused. So there were a few more plants then they’d first noticed, was this really something to panic over? And despite their reputation, she had to admit the plants were quite beautiful. Intricate flutes of sinuous gossamer petals and curling stems, each bell like flower would easily fill cupped hands, yet lacked that leathery texture that befell many larger blooms. And oh the colours! A veritable painter’s pallet of soft hues ranged from navy blue to moonlight white, none too over powering in their quantity or dominant in quality.

“What’s wrong?” She said, finally turning back to her gradually retreating friends, “It’s just flou..ers..”

It took several moments for the filly’s addled brain to process exactly what new impossibility had just taken place, by which time her mouth had already taken the initiative.

“DON’T MOVE!”

As though hit by a freeze ray the four backpedalling ponies instantly halted mid step. Like some terrible revelation had stolen away her voice, Kaylee gestured mutely for her friends to turn around, each craning their long necks to observe what had left the paint mare so flabbergasted.

Not three steps behind them, where the clear pebbly bank should have been, a carpet of blue flowers now coated every conceivable surface. Between them poked grasses and short thickets, every other detail suggesting that the blooms had been there all along.

“Der’megah..” Borvik whispered as a slight rising panic beginning to over taking his confusion. “Where did they come from?”

Taking a long breath, Vicky stepped backwards until she was level with Kaylee again. “Okay, there must be some way around the other bank. Let’s just-” And at this point she turned to look at the other embankment, virtually nose to stem with a wall of blue, “Bwahahaa!”

As one pony, the herd of friends rocket to the midmost point of the river, practically clinging to each other while trying to keep their eyes on all the blooms at once.

“Celestia’s beard! It’s like Quantum Poison Joke! No one Blink!”

James glanced up and immediately regretted it. “Oh Buck-a-doodle-do, they’re right across the canopy.”

“What do we do! Wha’da’we’doWha’da’we’do!” Yelled Darrel, practically beside herself with fright.

Vicky at last retrieved her level head and panted her hooves into the waters, turning to the rest as the voice of leadership. “Look, everyone stop panicking. They can’t reach us in the water, so we’ll walk slowly and carefully downstream until-“

A gust of wind ruffled the green follicles of her mane, carrying with it a gentle rain of blue petals that landed in the water a little way up stream.

“New plan. RUN!”

Some chapters away, a cyan Pegasus giggled hysterically to herself in the privacy of her cloud forged home. Though this wasn’t exactly the latest endeavours of ‘Daring Do’, the ‘write your own adventure’ story she’d found at Twilight’s was proving to be just as much entertainment. Most of the pages were filled with some mumbo-jumbo scribbles that no pony could make sense of. Twilight had taken a bash at deciphering the front page, but by the look of things she’d given up after only a few hastily scrawled notes. Of course, that didn’t matter.

What really mattered was the most totally awesome enchantment that had been placed upon the simple bound volume. One word from the reader written anywhere on a blank page, and events would flow around it in real time, like an instruction. Pictures of the four ponies running and falling down the rocky stream drew themselves in intricate detail, the scribbled nonsense now occasionally containing the word ‘Poison Joke’ in her own hoof writing. This, along with a few other words Twilight had tested, now gave her enough to gather what was actually going on within the story itself.

As the next picture began to spill across the blank page, the young mare tossed her multi-coloured mane and lamented that the story was becoming boring again, the four adventurers now floating down a wide river whilst clinging to a broken log. They seemed to be arguing.

“Let’s see.” She muttered, tapping a hoof to her chin. “If this was Daring Do, what would happen next?”

A light bulb seemed to popup somewhere behind the Pegasus’s eye’s, brightening them with the shear ‘awsomausity’ of her Idea.

Carefully, Rainbow Dash picked up her pencil and wrote the word; ‘Waterfall’.