Mr. Original’s Dictionary
Original Edition

Miff Sniff
/mif snif/
vb.

-when one exhales out of their mouth, before briskly inhaling through their nose in exasperation

"What if she's making App--"

"Twilight, we heard you the first time," Delarious deadpanned.

"She's eating children! Fricking children!" Blue Star shuddered. He turned back to the window, his gaze turning furious. 'What have you done with my brother?' he thought darkly. His thoughts were abruptly interrupted as the girls started screaming.

It was around the same time when Rainbow Dash came flying around with Applejack. "Ah'm comin' for ya, Apple Bloom!" the miniature orange mare called out. The duo crashed through Zecora's door, the sound of rattling vials resounding in the air.

Upon the unexpected arrival, Zecora turned to them exclaiming in her foreign language, wincing as they crashed into the wall at the back of the hut. She did so again as they uncontrollably cashed into another area.

"Easy, Rainbow Crash," Applejack said as the pegasus knocked into and broke a vial hanging from the ceiling, much to the dismay of the zebra who continued to shout after them in a different tongue.

The door (that somehow closed during the ordeal) burst open as Twilight entered, followed by Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. All of them glared at the zebra. "What have you done with Apple Bloom?" Twilight took on a fighting stance, scraping her hoof along the ground.

Zecora, however, did not answer, too focused on the pegasus that was destroying more and more of the bottles that adorned the hut. "No! No!" she cried with a cringe as Rainbow crashed again. She turned back to the destructive ponies in time to see a lasso being tossed in her direction. The zebra frowned in bemusement as the miniature orange earth pony jumped onto her head and started wrestling with her ear.

Delarious saw the distressed zebra shout frantically to the airborne Rainbow Dash. "What in the world, does she not know how to walk?" he gestured to the pegasus in annoyance.

Blue Star sneered as Rainbow continued to fly around and break the zebra's personal belongings. "Serves her right."

Frag Cat's eyes were closed, clinging to what little consciousness he had left. Though he had enough energy to add a tone of annoyance to the yawn that he stifled with a paw. His fatigue made it slightly difficult to hang onto Delarious with his other foreleg, his grip lessening.

Delarious noticed the struggle, and readjusted the him on his back to keep him from falling. The puppycat shot him a tired but grateful smile, his eyes barely opening before closing again.

"She's distracted, now's my chance."

Delarious turned back to Blue Star to see him walking towards the door while pulling out a sword, the scarce sunlight that filtered through the trees reflecting off of its smooth and sharp surface. Although it was debatable whether the fact that it looked cartoon-ish made it seem more or less daunting.

The sound of brandishing metal caused Frag Cat to wake up with a start. "What was that?" he asked quickly.

"Blue Star's going in there with his sword," Delarious answered, sounding uneasy.

Frag Cat's eyes widened. "Oh, no... no no no no no." He quickly detached himself from Delarious and walked as quickly as he could after James's younger brother. He forced himself to run, despite his drowsiness causing him to stumble on the way to the door.

Delarious frowned as he turned back to the window and saw that Zecora's cauldron was toppled over, the bubbling liquid it had once contained, spilled along the wooden floor. Its owner looked none too pleased. "Oooh..."

"How dare you! You destroy my home, destroy my work! Then rudely accuse me of being a jerk?"

Rainbow Dash was going to retort, but was interrupted as someone hastily brushed past her. "What the--!?"

Zecora's expression turned from anger to fear as she noticed the new arrival was wielding a deadly weapon and was headed right for her. Reflexively she cringed with her eyes shut at what was surely to be her doom. Applejack also noticed, eyes wide as she jumped off of her head to avoid getting injured.

"THIS IS FOR MY BROTHER!"

XZING!

The the six mares all gasped in horror as Blue Star, who's eyes were shut as he charged, came in contact at was surely flesh. He grit his teeth in contempt as he opened his eyes and looked up... and jolted in disbelief at the light orange underbelly that his sword was penetrating.

"Frag Cat!?"

Realizing she was still alive and not in any pain, Zecora hesitantly opened her eyes, her expression also turning to surprise. Said puppycat was pushing against the blade with all the strength he could muster in his state. Even while being stabbed, he was trying not to fall asleep. "Blue Star... what are you doing!?" he looked up in alarm at the toon.

"Frag Cat... please step aside," he cast shot a glare at the zebra who was looking at Frag Cat in concern, but met his gaze as he flicked his at hers for a brief moment. "I'll handle this."

Frag Cat shook his head. "No... I can't let you do that," he stated firmly.

Blue Star frowned before yanking his sword out, throwing Frag Cat off balance before pushing him with his free hand, sending him against the wall. "Stay down.... Please don't make this more difficult for me than it already is..."

"Blue, what the heck! How are we supposed to get uncursed if you kill her!?" Rainbow exlaimed.

The toon turned towards the blue mare. "As if this witch would do such a thing. And if we let her go, she's just gonna keep us from finding a way to undo this mess."

He turned back to the zebra and didn't waste any time before rearing his sword back to strike... until something furry quickly wrapped around his neck and pulled him backwards, cutting off his oxygen. "Ack!"

Frag Cat's hing legs were suspended in the air as he used what little footing his forelegs had along the ground to pull Blue Star back with his tail. Blue Star couldn't try to grab it and force it off, or he'd risk Frag Cat exploding. As tempting as the idea was, he didn't want the girls to get hurt. "Don't do this. You haven't even let her explain herself yet! How do think James would feel if he knew that?"

The puppycat's verbal protest brought forth a boiling rage at the mention of his brother, and he growled as he struggled even harder against the restraint.

Holding Blue Star back was starting to become a losing battle. Frag Cat looked up to the girls and noticed Delarious standing behind them, watching the scene in shock. The two locked eyes, the puppycat's making a silent plea for help.

Delarious hesitated, the pressure of the situation making him uncertain of how to intervene.

Frag Cat winced as Blue Star got a hold of his hind leg and unraveled him from his neck before throwing him over the girls and at Delarious, who reflexively caught him. The puppycat was going to immediately run back over to stop him, but another yawn escaped his mouth, blurring his vision slightly as his eyes watered slightly. His efforts to hold it back were futile, and it lasted way longer than he'd have liked. The constant yawning didn't really bother him too much before, but now, it was starting to annoy him.

"You'll thank me later..." Blue Star said before quickly raising his sword as he turned back to the zebra.

POW!

Blue Star's eyes widened as his blade was launched from his hand with so much force that it stuck deeply into the wall in front of him. Everyone slowly turned to the door in alarm to see...

"James!?" Delarious and the girls exclaimed.

Frag Cat's expression lit up, the sight of his lifelong companion alone making the task of staying awake easier. But his smile faded slightly as he fully took in what he looked like. The girls who were also happy upon finding their friend, faltered when they took in his unchanged demeanor.

James hadn't moved from his position since his arrival was known; his arm was raised and holding a large silver gun, which had a faint cloud of smoke trailing from its mouth in spite of just being used. His breathing was quiet but still noticeably heavy, his slowly rising and falling chest being a clear indicator. His flaming eyes complemented his grinding teeth, adding on to his very, very pissed off expression.

James looked around the room. Many bottles and vials were destroyed, broken glass littering certain parts of the floor. The cauldron that Zecora had been working with was tipped to its side, with its spilled contents lying in a puddle next to it on the floor. The couple of masks that were hanging from the wall, were now lying on the ground, having fallen during the ordeal.

The room was in utter chaos.

"...James...?" Delarious asked meekly. Much to everyone's relief, James's red vision began to dissipate, figuratively and literally. He closed his eyes as he put his gun away. Some of the tension that left the room returned as he turned his back to the indoors and dropped his face into his hands. No one dared to speak at that moment... until another voice spoke up from outside.

"James... are ya alright?"

Everyone's eyes widened as a familiar yellow filly with a pink bow walked through, a small pair of white saddlebags on her back.

"Apple Bloom! You're okay!" Applejack cried.

The bemused earth filly was going to respond, but James sharply pointed at her before pointing at the six mares, without removing his other hand from his face or turning around. Understanding the gesture, but nervous at the silent tension, Apple Bloom trotted over to where Applejack was on Rainbow's back. Her older sister sister smiled at her, but their attention was soon brought back to James, who finally turned around. Though his expression looked less angry and was more emotionless.

After a few seconds, his conscience separated from him, looking very displeased at the uninvited guests inside the hut. "...Okay... I'm going to ask this... as calmly... as I possibly can." Conscience inhaled deeply before letting it out slowly through his nose. Then he Exploded, "WHAT IS GOING ON HERE!!?"

The others jumped at the exclamation, but a few were able to recover enough to answer his question.

"Zecora's an evil enchantress who cursed us and tried to cook Apple Bloom into soup!" Said filly and zebra nearly broke out in laughter at how absurd the purple unicorn's statement was, but wisely kept quiet.

"Rainbow Dash destroyed everything."

"Hey!" the brash pegasus glared at Delarious.

"I tried to *yawn* I tried to stop him but I couldn't hold him off for long."

"I almost had her but then you showed up!" Blue Star finished with a soft expression as he looked at James. "You had me worried sick."

Conscience Miff Sniffed before Facewhipping, slowly dragging his hand down his face in exasperation before hissing in humorless laughter. "Wow. Just... wow. We can't ever solve a problem without making the situation so infuriating, can we? This isn't a curse!"

Twilight smiled nervously, "Conscience, look, you can't just stand there and tell us--"

"This isn't, a curse," Conscience stated more firmly with a glare, his gaze shifting over to Blue Star. "Blue Star, I have no idea what you were doing with a sword. But with this having happened," he gestured to the mess surrounding them, "I think an explanation is in order."

[Yesterday evening...]

Frag Cat was lying on his side, his back rested against James's side. James was lying on his stomach on the living room floor, head rested on his arms as he read a moderately thick mystery novel. It had been nearly four hours since he had started on the tome and he hadn't moved from his position since. Since then, he'd only spoken when he was spoken to, and even then he didn't say much more than the minimum. This concerned the librarians, but Frag Cat assured them that he'd be fine. Reluctantly, the two had retired to their beds for the night.

That was roughly a half hour ago.

As another page was turned, the puppycat looked away from the book and spoke. "James?"

"Hmm," was the grunted response.

"Do you want me to get you a glass of water or milk or something...?"

James didn't immediately reply. "...No. I'll get it." He slowly began to shift his arms from underneath his head to turn the book over to hold its place before he got up and made his way into the kitchen. In a smooth transition, he opened the cupboard and took out a large glass, before closing the cupboard and turning on the tap. Waiting a moment for the water to get cold, he placed the glass under the running faucet, filling it nearly to the top before turning the water off.

Not immediately returning to the living room, he leaned to the side, propping himself with his hand on the counter as he drank. His drinking accelerated slightly as he realized how thirsty he was. After he'd almost reached he bottom of the glass, his quiet gulps turned into long sips. Eventually he stopped altogether, staring into nothing. At this point, Frag Cat had walked into the kitchen, noticing the distant look.

"Something wrong?" he asked.

For a brief moment, a ghost of a smile crept onto James's face as he looked at the puppycat's concerned face; Frag Cat was always looking out for him. "Nothing really. I was just thinking..." He put his almost-empty glass in the sink, before going back into the living room, Frag Cat following suit.

"After the ordeal with Zecora... it made me wonder..." Frag Cat frowned in curiosity as James continued. "How would ponies in Equestria have reacted if I hadn't met Princess Celestia...? If I hadn't met Twilight...? Would they react to me or the guys like they did to Zecora?"

His musing gave Frag Cat pause. "Um... I don't know.... No one thought you were creepy or evil, right?"

"Well, yeah. But Zecora doesn't seem that way either. Mysterious perhaps, but I wouldn't say 'creepy'... I kinda get the feeling she keeps to herself because everyone shuns her. I can't help but feel sorry for her."

Frag Cat walked over and brushed against his leg. "Hey, let's try to be positive about this. Sure, Apple Bloom couldn't talk to her, but who can stop you from talking to Zecora?"

James nodded slowly in agreement. "Yeah... yeah, you're right. I could talk to her, show the girls that she isn't as bad as they perceive, and dispel the false image that everyone's seeing."

"That's the spirit!" Frag Cat cheered before walking over to the closet and pulling out a box with his paws. "Now, who wants to play Scrabble?"

Upon this proposal, Conscience came out with a mischievous glint in his eye. "Did someone say 'Scrabble'?"

[Three games later...]

Conscience added four tiles to the board. "'Awake'. That's twelve points, times the double word score is twenty four. I seem to be getting all the bonus word tiles," he boasted.

Frag Cat put down five tiles in front of another word. "'Rings' for six points, plus the double letter score on the 'g'... I got eight! Which brings me up to sixty eight," he chirped as he wrote on the parchment being used to keep score. "Okay James, your turn."

Conscience smirked triumphantly. "Might as well give up now. I'm not letting you catch up with me."

Frag Cat rolled his eyes. "You're at one-hundred six. He's only thirty one points behind."

"Exactly. And since my score is going to continue to increase, he's not taking the lead any time soon."

James looked nervous as he looked over the board. His eyes darted around, before looking tensely at his tiles.

Seeing his uncertainty, Conscience quipped, "Wow, luck must not be on your side today..."

Abruptly, James seized all of his tiles and placed it adjacently to the word 'awake', not a trace of his nervous demeanor remaining as he spoke quickly in monotone. "'Seventy'. That's..." he trailed off as he counted the letter values, "Thirteen points, times the triple word score is thirty nine points, plus the new word 'awaken' adding twelve more points to make fifty two. Plus the fifty point bonus for using all seven tiles is one hundred two points, which brings me to a total of one-hundred seventy seven points." He leaned back with an evil grin, basking in the slack-jawed expression on his conscience's face.

Frag Cat held a paw to his mouth to stifle his laughter. He was losing by a landslide, but he was glad to see James enjoying himself.

[The next day, slightly early in the morning...]

James put down one more tile onto the board. "There, that's 'ads' for two-squared points."

Frag Cat yawned for the umpteenth time as he looked at his tiles. "Well, I don't think I can make any more words."

Conscience grumbled as he leaned away from the table. "Same here."

James added the word to his final score. "So Conscience has one-hundred ninety six, Frag Cat has one-hundred fifteen, and I have two-hundred twelve. That's eleven straight games to your six, Conscience. So, you were saying something about luck not being on my side?"

"Yeah yeah, run it back, I want another rematch," Conscience grumbled as he crossed his arms.

"Heh, you're on. Can't turn down a like mind." James stretched, releasing the tension his limbs gathered from sitting still for so long. But he stopped as he started to feel light-headed. "Ugh, right after I get some water."

Frag Cat, who had his head propped up by his paw, nodded halfheartedly as he tried not to nod off.

James wasn't feeling very thirsty, but willed himself to drink a whole glass. He almost finished when he heard a dull thud from the living room. Quickly downing the last of the water, he walked back into the room to see Frag Cat with his head lying face-down on the Scrabble board.

Conscience saw James looking questioningly at the sight and shrugged in equal bemusement. "Don't look at me, he just... collapsed."

"Huh," James mused before Epic Shrugging. "...Well, how about that g***?" his brow furrowed in confusion. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "How about that g***?" He shut his mouth, eyes wide.

Conscience looked at him uneasily. "Um... are you okay? Why are you talking like that...?"

"I d*** kn**!" James exclaimed before quickly covering his mouth.

"Um... have you drank or eaten something you don't usually have lately?"

James silently shook his head.

"Did you do anything unusual...?"

"The only unusual th*** th** h******* recently was when w* m** Z*****," was the reply. James looked very irritated at how badly his speech was impeded.

Conscience paused at how many apparently unintentionally 'censored' words he used in one sentence. "...And you're absolutely sure that Zecora was the only unusual thing you encountered?" Conscience asked, but it was said like a statement. James nodded. "Well then it looks like we're going to have visit Zecora sooner than we thought."

After failing to wake Frag Cat up (without shouting in his ear, since they didn't want to wake up Twilight and Spike), they decided to let him sleep, and left the library, heading into the Everfree Forest.

As Conscience finished telling his story (while leaving out pointless details), Twilight spoke up. "But why wouldn't you tell me you were leaving? I was worried!"

"We left you a note!" Conscience snapped. "I left it on the table right next to your bed! How in the world did you miss it? I specifically told you not to follow us!"

"But why did you have to go alone? Why couldn't we go with you?"

"Because I was afraid something like this would happen!!" he gestured at the disarrayed room. "Sadly enough, we were right to be paranoid! In fact, I don't think we were paranoid enough!!"

"Okay, you don't have to yell!" Rainbow crossed her hooves exasperatedly.

"I'm raging for the both of us," Conscience replied coolly as he gestured to James, who was looking slightly irritated. "Seriously, is Apple Bloom the only rational pony here!?"

This last exclamation caused Applejack to speak up. "Now hold on just a pony-pickin' minute! If Zecora didn't put this curse on us, then what happened?"

"...A flower happened," Conscience answered briefly, his voice level again.

"...What?" Blue Star quirked an eyebrow.

"That's right ladies and gents, all of this," Conscience gestured to the Blue Star and the mares, "is due to a blue plant."

"Oh... you mean this thing?" Delarious reached behind his back as he held a dozing Frag Cat in his other arm, and pulled out a floral beauty that matched the vague description.

"Correct. That plant is apparently called poison joke. And I especially had a feeling something was wrong when I noticed Twilight's horn this morning when I left the note upstairs. Unable to recall any possible reason she, James and Frag Cat had coincidentally underwent some inexplicable change, I thought back on Zecora's parting words to us before she left yesterday. 'Those leaves of blue are not a joke.'"

Zecora nodded. "That plant is much like poison oak. But its results are like a joke."

"What in the hay does that mean?" Applejack asked in confusion.

"It means, that you're under the effects of the poison joke, because you came in contact with it yesterday." Upon Conscience's explanation, Delarious looked at said flower in his hand before quickly tossing it out the window like it was a contagious disease. "Fortunately, it doesn't affect you if it touches your clothes and not your skin." He glared at Applejack as he continued, "Unfortunately, someone was being rude and knocked James over."

"Okay, fine. But what about the cauldron?" Rainbow asked.

"And the chanting?" Fluttershy piped up.

"And the creepy décor?" Rarity added.

As the ponies continued to questions and Zecora willingly answered them, Conscience turned around and inconspicuously went outside to 'cool down.' James Miff Sniffed as he followed suit.

One long explanation and apology (and the assurance to Zecora that Frag Cat did not need any medical attention) later, James, Conscience, Delarious (who carried Frag Cat), and Blue Star sought out for Ponyville along with seven ponies and a zebra.

"Blue Star?" Conscience spoke quietly to the toon who was silently looking at the ground as they walked. "I'm really flattered that you aggressively assaulted someone over us, but please, don't do something that drastic again... at least not unless you're absolutely sure it's a dire situation."

Blue Star sighed, but then shrugged with a smirk. "Hey. No one messes with my big bro... except me and Red X." With another sigh, this one wistful, he looked up at the sky. "Although, me and Delarious are probably gonna have to wait until tomorrow to check out that museum. By the time we have this bath, it'll be to close to closing time."

"Um...," Delarious said uncertainly, "Actually, it's Saturday today. And the museum's not open on Sundays... which would mean we'd have to wait until Monday."

Blue Star groaned loudly. "Darn it! I've been waiting so long for this!"

The trees of the Everfree began to lessen as they walked further, nearing the outskirts of the forest. A colorful variety of many ponies could be seen out and about, doing their usual business or walking along the streets.

Although one particular pony, however, caught James's attention. He tapped Conscience's shoulder, speaking quietly as he pointed at said pony. "Isn't th** Tr****?"

"Who?" Conscience asked in confusion as he followed James's finger. His brows shot up as he noticed who he was pointing at and got an idea of who he was talking about. "That can't be her... can it? Or is that her over there...?" he pointed a similar-looking unicorn walking along the road.

"Who, is it exactly that you're talking about...?" Delarious asked as they were nearing the edge of the town.

"There was this blue unicorn with grey-ish white mane and tail who came to town some time ago. We thought we saw her, but..." Conscience silently gestured respectively to the two ponies they spotted.

Delarious looked around the area, his face scrunching up in bemusement. "Um, could you be more specific? I'm seeing, like five different ponies that fit that description right now."

As James and Conscience followed his gaze, their eyes narrowed in disbelief. "This is just wrong...," Conscience muttered as they entered the town.

"I mean hey," Delarious smirked. "Maybe they're just new to town, and happen to look a lot like her."

Conscience hissed in laughter. "I'm sorry, but even in Equestria, that doesn't sound too likely. Maybe one or two, but this many? I don't see that happening any time soon."

"Same," Blue Star agreed. James Epic Shrugged in agreement.

A series of screams brought their attention back in front of them; the ponies had seen them, more so Zecora and frantically ran into their homes once again.

"...I think a drink is long overdue," Conscience quipped with a deadpan. James Miff Sniffed and nodded.

As the group of twelve approached the first house within reach, Twilight stepped forward and knocked on the door. A familiar pale pink mare with a light lime mane fearfully peeked outside.

"Daisy... we need to talk."

[Later, at the Ponyville Spa...]

Dear Princess Celestia,

My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your 'cover' is; it's the 'contents' of a person that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle

The spa was a very spacious, homey environment. The particular room the girls were in contained a wooden hot tub, large enough for at least ten ponies to fit with a decent amount of room for themselves. The walls were a pale lavender color, with the exception of the dark brown wall paper that adorned the bottom of the walls that touched the floor. A few white foldable relaxing chairs were set up in a straight line a distance away from the tub, in case someone needed to take a break from the water. A couple of tall, potted plants were in opposite corners against the walls.

Rarity and Fluttershy smiled as they relaxed in the large jacuzzi that was set up for them. Pinkie dived from... above... making a big splash as she landed in the enormous tub. As her head rose from under water, she stuck out her tongue to inspect it; it was 'spotless' again. Twilight joined the pink earth pony in her laughter as she checked her horn, and was very glad to see it was back to normal.

Zecora and Apple Bloom poured more herbs into the bath, sharing a smile through the vases they were holding in their mouths. Rainbow floated into the tub herself with a relaxed sigh after helping make the bath.

One of the spa ponies, a blue earth pony with a pink mane and tail, walked up the zebra and spoke with an accent. "Miss Zecora, I would love to get the recipe for this bath. It's simply luxurious!"

Zecora smiled at the compliment, but then Apple Bloom suddenly exclaimed, "Applejack! Hey, where's Applejack!?"

The question sent the six mares into a panic as they frantically searched the tub.

"Ah'm right here, little sis." They stopped as a voice answered from below, where they looked and saw Applejack, who was laying on top of a separate bath, the tub provided now much too small for her due to her having grown back to her normal size. "Ah ain't tiny no more!"

"Oh!" Rarity exclaimed. "I have never felt so lovely in all my life!"

Pinkie popped out of the water. "Oh, my gosh! I never realized how horrible it is not to be able to talk--" Rainbow exasperatedly covered her ears, "--I mean, I love talking so much, and when I couldn't talk anymore, my tongue was all 'ehhh'. It was the worst! Don't you agree, Fluttershy?"

"......Yes," the yellow pegasus replied, her voice back to it's normal quiet pitch.

The mares shared a laugh, Apple Bloom and Zecora joining in their mirth.

Meanwhile, in a different room, Delarious, Blue Star, and Frag Cat (who was resting his head against the side of the tub) waited impatiently. At least, impatient for Blue Star. Frag Cat had insisted that they wait until James came back. He'd left without explaining what he was doing, but Conscience assured them they wouldn't be long. Blue Star was planning to sneak into the tub when Frag Cat wasn't looking. But Frag Cat threatened to jump in the bath and blast the tub apart if they tried any funny business. They knew he would actually do it, so they begrudgingly sat on the relaxing chairs that were placed near the bath.

"OMG, it's been like three years!" Blue Star threw his arms up in frustration. "Seriously, any day now...!"

"What are y** y****** about?"

The guys turned to the entrance, Frag Cat's tail swishing tiredly as James walked into the room with a gravely serious expression.

"Where were you!?" his younger brother exclaimed. Frag Cat, who was no longer keeping a close eye on him and Delarious, finally surrendered to his fatigue and closed his eyes.

"I h** some b******* to t*** c*** of," James answered vaguely.

"...You know what? I don't even care about whatever it was you just said, you're here now." Without warning, Blue Star stood up and front-flipped into the tub. James Miff Sniffed as he jumped in the tub as well. Delarious simply walked up the small case of stairs, and stepped into the jacuzzi as well.

Naturally, Blue Star was the first to rise from below the surface... flailing wildly and coughing up water. "Ack! Can't swim!" He desperately propelled himself towards the edge and grabbed on with an arm to hold himself up. After sighing in relief, he pumped his fist. "Yes! I'm not a Disney-themed, Pac-Man-eyed, three-dimensional Game and Watch anymore!"

James sighed at the overly descriptive comment as he popped up from under water and leaned against the side of the tub with his arm hanging over the edge. "Yeah, this would be a good alternative over a shot to the head...," he trailed off when suddenly a tape recorder suddenly shot out from the middle of the tub, and onto the floor while playing an ominous tune.

Slowly but gradually, an orange hat emerged from the water followed by Delarious's face and his upper body. He made several random but somewhat fitting sound effects to accommodate the tape recorder. He reached his arms below the water, and went stiff with a grimace and a cry of effort(?). He grit his teeth as he slowly brought his arms back from under the surface. James and Blue Star's eyes widened as he pulled out a running boat motor.

"The letter 'g'!" he exclaimed Cheerfully. James recoiled as he carelessly threw the motor behind him onto the tape recorder with a loud *clank!*, breaking it and cutting it off in mid-song. Frag Cat jolted at the noise, but soon was lulled back into his deep slumber. "It's great to be back," Delarious continued in a dry tone while holding out his arms, as if he was offering a hug. The other two stared at him awkwardly, as no one was within hugging distance. Fortunately, it wasn't long before he dropped his arms and abruptly shot out of the tub, landing at the top of the stairs that led to it.

"And in that case...," he trailed off as he suddenly picked Frag Cat up by his sides. The poor puppycat was unfazed and remained out cold as Delarious swung him back and forth a couple times. "Happy birthday, to YOU!" he tossed Frag Cat high in the air. At his exclamation, Frag Cat drowsily opened his eyes, which widened in confusion as he realized he was in the air and falling. James winced slightly as he fell back-first into the water with a loud smack. It reminded him of when he belly-flopped into a swimming pool as a kid.

After a good ten suspenseful seconds, he quickly emerged and barked twice in his usual chipper manner, no longer showing any signs of drowsiness. "Thank goodness... I hate oversleeping, you miss opportunities that way," the puppycat sighed in relief.

"There, now my day has been more or less made complete," James said as he smiled Cheerfully at the Frag Cat. His smile faded as he continued. "But do you know what would make my day even better...?"

"If we continue our Scrabble war?" Frag Cat suggested eagerly.

"Spot on," James replied.

"How long has it been since we played Scrabble, anyway?" Blue Star spoke up.

"Uh...," James tried to recall the last time he and his brother had a battle of words on the board. "It has been a while hasn't it... you wanna join us?"

Blue Star shrugged. "Well, it's not like we have anything else planned... why not." He smirked as a thought came to him. "We should let Delarious be the commentator."

"Oh my goodness, yes!" James hissed in laughter as he pictured that thought. He smiled towards his cousin. "What do you say, Delarious?" His smile turned crooked as he saw Delarious holding a full chess board game in his hand. He shouted in victory as he moved a random piece before tossing the set behind him.

"Geico: fifteen minutes can save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance," he answered.

James blinked slowly. "...I'll take that as a 'yes'..."

[Later that day...]

The sun was nearing the horizon, the evening sunlight shining well through a lot of the leaves in the trees of the Everfree Forest. Zecora smiled as she made her way home for the day. It was nice to be able to go into the town without it being deserted for once. Her smile turned bittersweet as she approached her hut, seeing the disarray of her belongings made her recall the events that happened earlier that morning. As she got to the door, she noticed a piece of parchment attached to it.

"Hmm, is this a note I see?" she grabbed the parchment and looked at it briefly. "Indeed. But from whom could it be...?" she mused. As she read the note, her smile turned happy once again.

Hey Zecora,

I'm very sorry about what happened with my friends, and especially my brother. In fact, I'm downright upset about it. Although I'm very glad we've finally seen past our differences and cleared this misunderstanding. I'm planning to return tomorrow with a friend to help replace that bed of yours that seemed to have been damaged. I'm also willing to help replace those bottles of potions (or whatever they may be) that were broken during the ordeal. I just think it's only fair that we replace it since we're the ones who broke it.

Sincerely,

James III.

[Ending Song]

Author's Note

[Later at Sugarcube Corner...]

With the nonsense revolving around Zecora over, ponies were going about their business as usual, once again. Sugarcube Corner was no exception, and ponies were lined up for delicious sweets and drinks alike. As Cup Cake took orders at the cash register, Carrot cake was in the kitchen cooking to renew some of their supply in sweets that dwindled as more customers came and gone from their cafe. As he looked at a particular glass case, he noticed something, or lack there of. As he came closer, he saw a bunch of crumbs inside.

The baker sighed in exasperation. He and his wife had just baked those yesterday. Walking to the bottom of the stair case that was outside the kitchen, he called, "Pinkie! Did you eat all of the peanut butter cookies!?"