The Adventures of Young Master Zhi

by laofuzi

Rating: mature
Tags: Sunburst, Violence, Crossover, Anthro, Profanity, Slice of Life, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Yona, Gallus, Narcotics, Drama, Original Character, Comedy, Starlight Glimmer
Length: 176146

Barely a year after Princess Twilight's coronation as ruler of Equestria, a strange trio of ponies had emigrated from the Far Eastern continent to experience the growing diversity of Western Equestria.

Barely a year since Princess Twilight's coronation as ruler of Equestria, a strange trio of Equestrians had traveled from the Far Eastern continent to experience the growing diversity of Western Equestria. However, a strew of unfortunate events had led to the School of Friendship to be without their beloved Headmare Starlight Glimmer, after she and her long-time Vice Head-Stallion Sunburst lost their memories after a terrible accident! Now it's up to our long-time beloved characters and the newcomers to snap their favorite Headmare and Vice Head-Stallion back to reality to help rekindle their lost friendship!
(Note: This epic tale is loosely based off an old Cantonese movie called "Master Q 2001", which is based off a popular vintage Cantonese comic series "Old Master Q")

Published 2019-12-28 02:20:01 UTC
Last updated 2020-01-28 01:22:48 UTC

2 A Student's Heartthrob

Chapter 2 - A Student's Heartthrob

Somewhere within Ponyville, within the outdoor premises School of Friendship, a 100m x 140m school hoof-ball field was brimming within lots of outdoor sports activities during afternoon recess, in which only one of them involved a little miniature practice version of the sport for which the field was intended for. In reality, most of the physical action consisted of rambunctious tween dragons, young prideful adult griffons and enthusiastic buff yaks looking forward to prove themselves to be the dominant buffer alpha species. For the dragons, this was a callback to their tradition of competitiveness within their hostile sulfuric and lava-ridden homelands; for the yaks, it was a brilliant idea for them to pass the time and relieve off some steam after stressing angrily over school friendship tests and quizzes. As for the griffons, it was their chance to prove to the other races that their race are not always the money-grubbing stereotype and that under the right circumstances, they too can push themselves further in both physique and charisma.

For instance, there was a lot of lifting with 100 to even 1000 tons worth of iron-cast weight plates to prove who was the strongest king of their little sports competition. Other contests also include heavy disc throwing with clay frisbees sculpted by the dragons themselves who had signed up for art classes after school. There was also the occasional log hurling and smashing competition known as "Kaberkasteknuse"*, a springtime sport pastime brought on by the yaks from their Yakyakistani homeland. The heavy logs were a courtesy gift from the other yaks who had signed up for wood shop courses as part of their extra credit courses. Finally, for their finishing touches, an olive oil wrestling competition between two creatures of different species was performed within a 5-m diameter ring, and any creature who successfully pushed their opponent off the ring was deemed the winner.

But as super competitive these griffons, yaks and dragons may be, they all took to heart about the most important lessons taught by their sports professor Miss Rainbow Dash: sportsmanship. Before the Worldwide Rebellion Incident that led to the defeat of the Villainous Trio, each of these races had been very focused on either looking out for their own self-image and pride, competing for others in the race towards the top throne of the hierarchy or stubbornly refusing to accept their own weaknesses in order to learn how to surpass their own failings. From Miss Rainbow Dash's wisdom, the buff muscular races learn to be humble about their own weaknesses in specific areas of sport, such as yaks lacking the proper appendages to throw a clay disk** or griffons lacking the proper bicep strength to lift weights of magnificent mass. But when they take lessons from their failures and become encouraged by the winners to work through those obstacles (such as spinning yourself to give the disk more momentum before throwing or lifting weights with your legs instead of your arms), all the griffons, yaks and dragons can rise to the top together and reach beyond their potential.

Of course, there were also some lesser buffed Equestrian sport athletes that exercise alongside their non-Equestrian companions, acting as student coaches to coax them into pushing pass their limits too. If they were interested in impressing the other creatures though, they would join in and compete alongside their school peers in the hopes they too will be part of the muscular macho social circle. Other athletes decided to only focus on their next upcoming buck ball match with the other school teams by practicing their adept moves in catching, blocking and passing the buck ball.

In order to make sure no accidental injuries occur among the creatures, the muscular competitive club was allowed to do their own contests on one half-side of the hoofball field, while the school buckball team was given the other half-side of the hoof ball field to continue their usual practicing sessions. To enforce the border between those two groups, a row of tall flying griffons and another terrain-grounded huge yaks acted not only as volunteer enforcers, but also as the cheering audience for both sides of the hoofball field.

Though nothing keeps the spirits up high like a shooting star much better than the occasional cheer-leading squad, wearing their sparkling violet vests and turquoise skirts as their official sports uniform. Whenever the buck ball team was down on their luck or near their brink of giving up, the cheer squad was always by their side to egg them on to push themselves to the limit. Their morale boosting prowess was all thanks to the two most popular schoolgirls in town, Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof, whose angelic valley-gal voices and slim yet busty figures bedazzled the athletes with inspiration to become the best buck ball school team in Ponyville.

Ever since their first debut in the match-up between Team School of Friendship Vs Team School of Magic, both Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof became mini-celebrities both within and outside the school body in the town of Ponyville. Every creature, mostly the young virgin male Equestrians, wanted a piece of their DD-sized chest and their slim yet voluptuous derriere, and some of the fans even came from Canterlot to gaze at their youthful teen beauty. So it was no surprise to them that they have the occasional delivery of 5-10 love letters every week or so. It was through their popular idol image that they decided to sell off homemade T-shirt, mug, poster and pillow cover merchandise to consumers both inside and outside the school premises (provided they first apply for a merchant license from the Equestrian Commerce Department first). Their source of their profitable goods were credited to their kirin friends from the merchandising and marketing club, which also took control in the manufacture, distribution and sales of Shimmy Shake's and Lighthoof's idolizing merchandise across Ponyville. Most of the profits gained from their school sales were used to hire even more teaching and counselling staff, build new dormitories to handle the growing student population or repair any damages caused by fresh newcomers who were unfamiliar with the etiquette on school grounds (e.g. no smashing in the hallways and no playing catch with expensive school property). It was thanks to their charismatic influence and charitable generosity that these two cheerleading pros became the talk of the town and perhaps even beyond.

However, that is not to say they were the absolute goddesses of beauty and charm. Though they may be popular within their local hometown, they could not compete with one of the bigger world-famous celebrities that so happened to also teach within the School of Friendship. As charming as their slim athletic figures may be, some male students in the School of Friendship had more affinity towards the thicker and curvier proportion of the feminine student population. If anypony were to be crowned the most beautiful mare in the entire school body (if not the entire world), it would be Professor Fluttershy. It was at this moment that all the male athletes, even the hardcore dragons, paused on their usual activities and gazed in wonder towards the Element of Kindness walking straight into the hoof ball field like a well-dressed runway model.

Wearing her skin-tight light leaf-green sweater, her triple K sized breasts jutted out like green delicious watermelons, as they bounce gently with each strut she took. The muscular flat-chested and small-breasted female athletes blush with embarrassment towards the high-profile staff, as well as with jealousy and anger as their boyfriends gaze motionlessly with their mouths wide open like a locked-open bear trap. Unsurprisingly, some female athletes whacked their boyfriends back to their senses with their towels, before berating them for their perverse non-contact infidelity.

Needless to say though, Professor Fluttershy's chest size was huge enough to freeze any immature and mature male with their hypnotizing jiggles, but not too large to cover her entire smooth hourglass mid-section. As much as size matters in any beauty queen competition, it is essential that all of the curves of the Equestrian female are well-represented and that the voluptuous bosoms that sag downwards do not end up covering the belly button. This factor would cause a dip down dive in attractiveness, since the belly button acted as their symmetric central point for curve craving males to evaluate on the proportions of their ideal feminine figure. Without that reference point, unless viewed from the back, the males could not evaluate whether their new female mate was slim, chubby or obese around the mid-section. Most males who looked at a female mate head on are actually most likely to gaze at the face first (even briefly), to see any signs of facial expression that determines if they were interested in the male mate himself. So even when looking from behind to be occupied on their enticing round behinds, the frontal side of the figure speaks out just as importantly as the posterior side in conveying the message of love, disinterest or mutual amicability.

And it was the kind-hearted professor's sweet smile, her glazed teal-green eyes and light pink cheeky blush that caught the eyes of every student on the hoofball field, even for a few seconds for those interested in her lower sections below her cute adorable yellow-coated face. More than that, her light pink mane was lifted graciously by the passing wind, as if the gods of nature anticipated for her arrival and decided to add dramatic effects to her momentous entrance. It was from that heart-warming facial expression alone that the boys and men on the hoofball field understood what message she was conveying: "It is very pleasing for me to see you all working so hard".

Of course, there were other physical factors (aside from the face and chest) for the male student athletes to gaze and gawk at, such as the round meaty legs and thighs that were thick as tree logs, yet they were thick around the right places for the macho boys and men to admire. As Professor Fluttershy continues to strut in the middle of the field, her knee-length skirt fluttered upwards in the wind, barely showing a slight peep at the underside of her round curvaceous derriere. It was no wonder that this former shy animal-lover and caretaker had became the most popular staff member of the School of Friendship and had consecutively won "Teacher of the Month" 40 times in a row.

This was too much for the athletic males to keep their stance together and all of them came rushing towards the beauty goddess of kindness like a rabid horde in mating season. A couple of fangirls who admired Professor Fluttershy for her upmost kindness towards cute furry critters also jumped into the ruckus to meet their idol.

"HEY, what gives?! We were JUST about to do our pyramid display!!", shouted Shimmy Shake as she was just about to leap onto the top of the pyramid of Equestrian cheerleaders.

It was no use hollering out for their attention. From the student fanbase crowd, there came out a cacophony of compliments and endearments blurted out by perverted fanboys and idol-worshiping fangirls alike.

"You SO beautiful today, Yellow Professor! Me love new sweater and dress!"

"Hello Professor Fluttershy, how are you today??! Any updates on my pet-sitting assignment?"

"May I have your autograph??! It's for my folks back home! Write it on my jockstrap, please!"

"We heard so many amazing accomplishments from your friendship journals!!"

"Do you have any space leftover for night school with you?! That is, if it's not too much trouble!"

"How do your boobs get so big??!! What's your secret?!"

"Morning, Yellow Professor! You have time for visit in cute sexy mare's office??! Me want to really tell you something quick!"

"May I take one of your pet hamsters from class home, pretty please??!! He's too adorable to be left alone in your class!"

Professor Fluttershy eventually kicked into panic mode from all the blabbering ruckus of buff stallions, mares, griffons, dragons and yaks, wanting to take a chance to speak with the Element of Kindess. Then suddenly, a certain blue and beige griffon, wearing a dark blue wrestling leotard and carrying a Polaroid camera with his talons, came barging in and started flashing at Professor Fluttershy!

"Smile for the camera, Professor!", cried the cheerful blue and beige griffon.

"Gallus!", shouted Professor Fluttershy with nervous awe, before a blinding flash of camera light temporary disorientated her as Gallus clicked the shutter button on his Polaroid camera.

"Congrats on winning your 41st 'Teacher of the Month' Award, Professor Fluttershy! You've become a top-tier celebrity all across Ponyville AND beyond!"

"This isn't the first time I experienced such fame recognition", said Professor Fluttershy in a bashfully soft-spoken manner, as her eyes continued to spin around in a daze.

"Ooooh, this is going into my auction market sale after school! I can't wait to sell this for a 1000 bits!", snickered the conniving Gallus as he held his photo close to his face.

"EVERY CREATURE! STOOOPP NOOOWW!!!!", bellowed a certain fat short nak (female yak) in a brown chuba*** as she came barging in like a raging bull towards Professor Fluttershy. Riding on top of the nak's shoulders was a yellow and orange tween horned dragon with a dark purple crest, who was wearing a purple zipper hoodie and blue ripped jeans.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH, SLOW DOWN, YONA!!! You're going to make me fall!!", shouted the orange dragon girl as she held onto Yona's thick brown hairy fur for her dear life.

"NO, Smolder! Professor Shy needs to be protected! Me protect her from horny boys and crazy girls!!", shouted Yona as she then leaped up to the sky

"FINE, whatever! Just don't hurt yourself when you fall", cried Smolder as she awaited for the upcoming signal.

"NOW, SMOLDER!", Yona shouted with determination.

Smolder then grabbed Yona by the horns and lifted her up to the sky, flying over Professor Fluttershy's head. All the students in the crowd immediately switched their gaze from the buxom beauty to the flying nak spectacle being held with all the might by a flying tween dragon.

Suddenly, Yona was dropped onto the grassy ground with magnifying fervor, causing the hoof ball field to shake like a Mach 2 earthquake. It was enough for the cheerleading pyramid to collapse and all the athletic acrobatic girls to tumble down like a pack of playing cards. Soon, the pile of Equestrian athletes was filled with a plethora of groaning pains.

As if that didn't get the attention of all the fanboys and fangirls, Smolder rushed in and breathed out a purple flaming curved firewall that separated the bemused crowd away from Professor Fluttershy, Smolder and Yona. The crowd soon awed and gasped with both amazement and anxious fear of the protective bodyguard duo.

Later on, Smolder landed onto the ground as she created a powerful downdraft from her flapping wings to put out the firewall. After posing like a super-heroine to show dominance to the male athletes, she exclaimed with a stern yet calming manner, "Listen up, you damn pervs and fru-fru fangirls! Professor Fluttershy ain't here to perform a strip show or ask you all out on a romantic date to Las Pegasus! We all know she's already engaged with the Lord of Chaos, right?"

True as it may be, that remark still made Professor Fluttershy look down and blush with sheepish anxiety.

"We here for very important manner! It urgent! No time to waste!", shouted Yona as sweats profusely with nervousness.

"Has any creature here seen a runaway rogue squirrel with huge buck teeth? He got loose from his cage when he got frustrated over not being given enough nuts in his ration.", Smolder explained to the calmed crowd. "His name is, uhhh--uhhhmmm--oh damn it, I'm already forgetting the name!".

"It's Rodriguez." Professor Fluttershy interrupted as she reminded Smolder of her pet squirrel's actual name. "I was told by the students that he had scurried off over to the school's hoof ball field. If you can--maybe--take a break from whatever you were doing and help me look for---"

Then, without a moment's notice, every athletic creature in the crowd spread out like sycophant worker ants and started hollering "RODRIGUEZ!!" all around the field, hoping to look for Fluttershy's lost pet squirrel.

"Well, THAT was easy. She didn't have to use that ominous stare!", mumbled Smolder as she stared at the scattered searching crowd with half-closed eyes and claws on her hips.

"Yona so happy students wanting to find Mister Rodriguez! Every creature in school really love furry critters!", Yona shouted excitedly as she jumped for joy, which then caused a mini-earthquake around her.

"OORRR, maybe it's because they wanted to impress the greatest teacher of all time, who happened to become Teacher of the Month for the 41st month at this wonderful century!", interrupted Gallus as he continuously waved his Polaroid photo of Fluttershy's face.

"Face it, girls! She only won that award because she had two---no, FOUR---of the most biggest assets in Ponyville! And I ain't talking about her bank account!", Gallus blurted with a daringly smirked beak.

"What griffon talk about then?", questioned the befuddled Yona.

"Uggghh, he MEANS her gigantic tits and huge-ass hiney, doofus! Have you've not been noticing a trend lately?!", groaned Smolder with a loud harsh tone. Suddenly, Gallus got grabbed by the feathery breast with Smolder's enraged clenching claw.

"And for YOUR big fat birdshit information, Professor Fluttershy got MORE than just her eye candies you so perversely crave!", sneered Smolder as Gallus raised his talons in a surrending stance while being held against his will.

"In case you had forgotten already, she's the professor who would host disco cleaning parties after class, give us baby forest animals from her sanctuary as rewards AND play new board games with the entire class whenever major school events get cancelled!" rebuked Smolder as her clenching fist got tighter and tighter with each remark.

"So until you apologize for your lack of decency, I'm gonna burn your precious Polaroid right in front of you!", snickered Smolder as she swiped Gallus' photograph of Professor Fluttershy and slowly inched the photo towards her fiery mouth.

"WAIT, WAIT, no PLEASE! I need that photo for the Squawker Press!", Gallus shouted nervously as his sweating intensifies.

"LIAR!! You were just going to sell that off to pay for your porno collection, you damn perv!", rebuked Smolder as purples flames started to burst out from her eyes, thus giving off a hot-headed expression.

"Smolder, please! This is not how we taught you about handling catcallers!", shouted Fluttershy with a panicking yet stern tone. "I can't allow you to fight within school grounds! I will fetch the Headmare if you don't let Gallus go immediately!".

Then suddenly, a screeching hawkish and roaring cry of pain was heard from across the field, and every creature stopped on their spots to see what was the ruckus. Sure enough, there was a chipper squirrel holding onto tear life on a bushy end of some griffon's tail.

"AAAAHHH, GET THIS DAMN SQUIRREL OFF ME!!! It's gnawing on my tail!!", shouted the bald buff griffon with brown and white feathers as he desparately flew around like crazy in an attempt to rid himself of the squirrel.

"HAHA, that squirrel thinks your bushy end is an acorn nut, Gobbles! Look at that huge size of that buck tooth!", laughed one of the athletic griffons in a white jersey.

"HAR HAR HAR! So funny!! Squirrel super strong gripper! You are like crybaby", chuckled one muscular yak with a low-bass tone.

"OH MAN, I really wish I had one of Gallus' cameras with me! So I could share this moment with my bros!", laughed one buff sea-blue dragon with the tight black shorts.

"THIS ISN'T FUNNY, MAN!! I need this squirrel off my tail!! Will some creature come over here and pull it off?!", shouted the flying Gobbles as he waved his tail like an angry snake tied to a branch.

"DUDE, just spin that tail around like a stone sling! The spinning force might shake that squirrel off your tail!", advised one of the athletic griffons in the laughing crowd.

And so the flying Gobbles did what had to be done, and began revving his tail for a spinner-upper and gradually raised the centripetal force of his twirling cat tail. Suddenly, the buck-tooth squirrel came diving down towards the surprised crowd.

WHAM!!! The squirrel found himself crashing face flat onto one of the yak's giant black horns, before falling down to the grassy ground with an unconscious gaze.

"OH NO, I think you might had killed it! Nice going, you idiot! Now she'll NEVER want to sleep with you!", shouted one of the upset griffons who witnessed the squirrel's demise.

"HEY, it was YOUR idea, you cocka-doodling gobshite! I was going to aim for the sky and catch it with my talons!", berated Gobbles as he angrily stares at the bewildered crowd.

Then, suddenly out came a bawling scream of worrisome anguish from Professor Fluttershy as she ran for her beloved pet squirrel---"RODGRIGGUUEEZZ!!!!!"

As the Professor took each rapid step forward on the field to save little Rodriguez, her triple K bosoms bounced graciously like a pair of jiggling water balloons. Everything went into slow motion for the sweaty and muscular male athletes, as they stared bashfully in mindless awe at their Professor's humongous hooters. They were too oblivious to care about Professor Fluttershy's tearful face as she cried out for the unconscious squirrel.

"HEY, don't just stand there like drooling imbeciles, you damn idiots!!" barked Smolder as she tried to get the crowd's attention back to the squirrel again. "Does any creature here know how to do mouth-to-mouth??!"

"It's all right--(WHEEZE)--Smolder! I'll---(HUFF)---handle it--(COUGH COUGH)--from here!", gasped Professor Fluttershy as she tried to get her breath back after all that running. With those huge flesh bags on her chest, it was no surprise that the extra weight on her chest was putting a major painful strain on her pectoral muscles (well, not that it concerns the mindless male muscled perverts gawking at her)

Nevertheless, she had an important duty as the Element of Kindness to do and it was to save her animals from all dangerous circumstances, no matter the cost. Professor Fluttershy proceeded to kneel down onto her knees, laid her head close to Rodriguez and connected her lips with her poor little furry friend.

"MAN, I wish I was that squirrel...", said the sea-blue male dragon with the black shorts, which unexpectedly grew a small bulge within the groin area.

"If you're just going to ogle all day, would you at least please keep your dirty mouth shut? She's trying to concentrate on her paramedic training!", barked the angry hot-tempered Smolder as she viciously stared at the aroused griffon.

"1, 2, 3, 4---!", chanted Professor Fluttershy, as she desperately performed light chest compressions on the unconscious Rodriguez. "1, 2, 3, 4---!"

Professor Fluttershy returned back to her mouth-to-mouth session. As the boys were too busy staring in awe, the fan girls gathered around with worrying temptation, crying out their sorrows for the poor squirrel.

Yona suddenly rushed into the scene and was desperately catching her breath. "Is pet class squirrel okay??!! Yona no want squirrel to die!!".

"It's fine! I think he's waking up now!", replied Professor Fluttershy. Then, just as she was about to perform more chest compressions, as sudden gust of sharp wind flew up her long brown skirt, and lo and behold, a 3-second glimpse of her pair of blue-and-teal striped lace panties were revealed for the crowd of creatures who were lucky enough to be behind her jutting derriere. Blue feathers swifted breezily above Fluttershy's big bare yellow bottom with those tightly hugging striped panties.

Professor Fluttershy blushed as she felt that breeze and almost had a heart attack when she heard a *CLICK-CHEE!" sound from behind. She noticed that Smolder and Yona suddenly got a jaw-dropping gobsmacked expression on their faces. When she looked behind to see what was going on, she felt aghast about what she had found...

"GOTCHA! Score 1000 for the highlight reels!", exclaimed Gallus as he aimed his Polaroid camera at Professor Fluttershy's derriere. An instant photo was quickly printed out from the film ejector, before it was swiped off and waved by Gallus' swifty right talon.

"YOU GODAMN CHEAPSKATE BASTARDY BIRDBRAIN!! How DARE you took that sick opportunity to develop one of your sick voyeur pics!!? HAVE YOU NO SHAME??!!", cried the enraged Smolder. Soon, the fangirls started turning on Gallus, in which he responded by flying high above the shocked crowd out of the female Earthen Equestrian's reach. Few other female flyers though, from buff griffons to tough peggies, were able to surround him and were ready to pounce on the trouble maker.

"Yona no believe blue griffon would do something so evil! Yona wants to know why birdbrain do it!", cried Yona as she stared at Gallus with a pouty sad depressed face.

"WHY?!", replied the flying Gallus loudly with a smirk. "Because whoever bids the highest will get this unlaminated fresh edition Polaroid photo of Professor Fluttershy's delicious ass!!"

Suddenly, a huge horde of sex-hungry fanboys started rushing over towards Gallus in an attempt to catch that priceless Polaroid photo of Professor Fluttershy's big round yellow derriere. This caused Yona, Fluttershy, Smolder and a few other protective fangirls to be suddenly caught off guard by the rampaging male yaks, dragons, griffons and stallions yearning for Gallus' money shot photo, no matter what the cost! The female flyers soon found themselves wrestling with the hormone-fueled male griffons and dragons, giving Gallus enough time to make his getaway.

"I'll pay all my life savings for that piece of ass!"

"Screw you! I'm spending my remaining tuition money! It costs more than your dam shit birdhouse!"

"Me will kill all male creatures for picture of fat yellow rump! This be yak oath!! Swear on me life!!"

"You fools! You are dealing with a unicorn buck ball champion! I will levitate the photo away from you creatures faster than you can say 'Buck's your Uncle!'"

"Don't you boys even DARE!! I will tell on the Headmare and have you boys all expelled for even peeking a glimpse of that photo!!"

"WOAH, WHAT THE---Hey, watch it!! You're trampling over me, godamnit!!", swore Smolder as she felt overrun by the male crowd. Smolder suddenly grabbed a hold of the heavy Yona's belly, hoping her weight will make her a much more stable anchor as the crowd rushes over to chase Gallus as he zips up and flies away.

"Grab hold onto Yona, Professor! Before you be ran over like bug!!", cried Yona as she held tight onto the whimpering Smolder.

"Hold on!" Professor Fluttershy cried, as she quickly stuffed Rodriguez between her soft giant bosoms for protection from the rabid horde. Though there was no need to worry for the male flyers who could keep up with the speedy Gallus, there was still a grave risk of Rodriguez being squashed by the trampling ground-stomping crowd of yaks and Earthen stallions rushing over to catch the wannabe voyeuristic shutterbug.

Then, as the rumbling became less intense and much more softer over time, Fluttershy, Yona and Smolder found themselves all alone on the deserted hoof-ball field. All that was leftover were a couple of rubber buck balls, wooden buckets, weight-lifting equipment, clay disks, staffs and all other sports equipment strewn randomly on the playing field. Nevertheless, the mess on the field was the least of their worries, as the three gentle ladies had just survived one of the weirdest disasters in school history.

"When I get my CLAWS on that cat-bird, I'm gonna rip his throat out and cauterize his goose neck!", shouted Smolder as she ragingly breathed a huge pole of purple fire, before giving out and was left breathing out fumes.

"Yona wants to teach Gallus lesson! He no have right to take picture of Professor's rump with no permission!", Yona exclaimed angrily as she snorted a huge puff of hot breath out of her nose.

"Girls, please...calm down! I know that what he has done was completely unacceptable behavior, but that is no reason to maliciously wound your friends", replied Professor Fluttershy as she took a peep at the live squirrel popping out of her hot chest.

"You just immediately rush on over to the Headmare's office and alert her about today's incident on the hoof-ball field. She'll deal with Gallus and the mob once they arrived there. Go, NOW! Before the next period starts!", Professor Fluttershy ordered with haste as she ordered her students.

Smolder sweated profusely with manic temptation to hurt Gallus, but she knew that doing so will cause her to be severely punished alongside Gallus. Swallowing both her pride and the hot air around her, Smolder hesitantly replied, "All right, Professor! If that's what you want..."

"C'mon, Yona! Lemme carry you over to the school! It'll be faster for both of us to catch up, before Gallus and his rushing posse arrives at the school!", said Smolder as she lifted up Yona with her wings and flew rapidly with haste to the school grounds.

"Take care of squirrel for Yona, Professor!!", Yona cried as her voice started to decrease in volume from being flown away from the hoof-ball field by the rapidly flying Smolder.

As Fluttershy gazed on towards the sky, Rodriguez the squirrel suddenly climbed out of her chest, scampered onto her shoulder and whisper a couple of chitter-chattering squeaks at her ear.

"Rodriguez, you had me so worried when you ran off in frustration over your nut rations! You know, I can't play favorites by giving you extra nuts and depriving the other squirrels of their share!", Fluttershy responded. Rodriguez chattered with angry squeaks once again.

"Of course I care about you, but I can't turn my attention away from all the other animals! You know, you do kind of reminded me of a certain bunny who used to be like that in his younger years...", replied Fluttershy with disdain. "And I learn from that experience that I need to stand my ground to make sure naughty critters like you don't pull of a dangerous stunt like that ever again!"

"As punishment for leaving school premises without my permission, you will no longer be allowed to play with the other squirrel play dates for an entire week.", scolded Fluttershy as she speaks with a harsh yet gentle tone. Suddenly, Rodriguez whimpers in sadness and his chattering sounded more depressed.

"Ohhh, I know it may seem unfair, but I have to make an example to the other critters that such mischievous behaviors are not acceptable. Look....if you promise me you will remain good throughout your grounded sentence, I promise I will have Pinkie Pie bake you a multi-variety nut cake with all of your favorites.", Fluttershy softly spoke with a sweet gentle tone.

Suddenly, Rodriguez looked up on Fluttershy's heartwarming jade-green gaze and half-heartedly smiled at Fluttershy, before hugging her face with content. Rodriguez later hopped back into Fluttershy's pair of soft bulging pillows and laid back to enjoy his ride back home.

"C'mon! Let's get you back with the other critters at my class before the school bell rings! I have a lot of school errands to run afterwards, and I don't want to disappoint my students for being absent without leave!"

---END

Author's Note

*Combination of Norwegian words "Kaberkaste" (caber toss, a Scottish sport of log throwing) and "knuse" (to smash)

**In my head-canon, yaks only have three appendages on their hands, while the rest of the races have five appendages

***Chuba: a long Tibetan sheepskin dress-like coat made of thick wool

3 A Newcomer Appears

Chapter 3 - A Newcomer Appears

It was 5:00 pm in Western Equestrian time when the school bell had rung to signal every creature to hurry towards their designated classrooms. Every creature had to stop with their chitter-chatter if they want to avoid getting detention for tardiness or absence. Though with today's hectic events on the hoof-ball field now spreading to the hallways, the atmosphere within the hallways had turned from an organized calming serene aura to a hurricane of calamity! Every fresh meat1 who had not witnessed the maelstrom caused by a blue-and-beige gross griffon were in for a major shock of their lifetime. Those who were used to the school's occasional traumatic history were slightly half-aware of what was about to happen and braced themselves for the climatic impact.

Rushing out from the hallways came that pervy photographer named Gallus, who was being chased relentlessly by a horde of voraciously horny male creatures, as well as a posse of a couple enraged female creatures who refused to let the boys get their grabs on that salaciously saucy photo of Professor Fluttershy's large round yellow derriere! As they race through the hallway, collateral damage was inadvertently being done as multiple busts of famous ponies (including the Elements of Harmony) were being knocked over by yaks, banners were ripped as horny male griffons got caught by its silky fabric like flies on a net trap, and carpets were burned aimlessly as dragons attempt to shoo away their competition for that priceless voluptuous photo of Professor Fluttershy's large round yellow derriere! Every other creature who saw the oncoming train of sweaty muscular yaks, dragons, griffons, stallions and mares ran away as fast as they could to save themselves from being trampled to death. Some students managed to find their designated classrooms on time and took shelter from the oncoming mob, while others were still struggling to catch their breath as they head towards an intersection of the hallways. From behind, every creature, including Gallus, could hear every rambling word from the chaotic horde.

"HEY, me saw it first!! Me call dibs on hot sexy photo!! Gruffs2 should know better to no fight yaks!"

"You blackhorns3 better buzz off before I wrestle you all to the ground!! We may not have your muscles, but we can still carry you and throw you off the windows!"

"Buzz off, you stingy drake4! Before I use my crepuscular magic on your wings!!"

"HA, even if you DO get your hands on that photo, you wouldn't be able to outbid me! I have TONS of piled up gold-stashes back at home to outbid all of you trotters5!!"

Gallus could not believe they were still on his tail for that photo. Though he was very eager to sell them to the highest bidder, he was too afraid to stop now as let the photo fall into those greedy hands, claws and talons. They would end up voraciously fighting each other for the single photo and unintentionally ripped it apart, thereby leaving the ruined photo completely worthless. He had to find a location up high where the grounded ungulates could not reach him, but he also had to deal with his winged griffon kin and the rival dragons who could catch up to him. It was at this short glimpse of a moment that he spotted a nearby observation tower from the hallway window.

"YES!!", Gallus thought. He would go forth and fly out of the window, take shelter within the highest quarters of the tower and lock himself in, before the flyers get their chance to wrestle the photo out of his talon. It sounded like the perfect plan.

Too bad he didn't had the chance to implement it on time!

"EVERY CREATURE, HAAALLLTTT!!!", yelled out a certain pinkish-purple unicorn with a swirled grape violet-and-teal striped mane, wearing a red-violet wool suit and dark brown silk pants. Using her massive freezing stasis spell taught by her former mentor Princess Twilight Sparkle, she was able to stop the entire horde (and Gallus) from proceeding any further.

"GAAAHH, Headmare Starlight Glimmer!!", gawked Gallus in surprise as his photo of Fluttershy's butt was simultaneously levitated away from his talon. "HEY, my priced photo!"

Headmare Starlight perused at the photo and made a very disdained scrunched-up face.

"Ooohh, now I see what the ruckus is all about! Siiigghh, boys these days!" Starlight groaned as she used her levitating magic to ripped up the lewd photo into a million pieces. Every male creature behind Gallus let out a big loud sad "OOOOOAAAAAHHHHH!!", while simultaneously every female creature excitedly shouted out a big "PPPHHEEWW!!"

"Is THIS how you creatures treat your fellow companions??! Racing and beating each other over for a little photo of one of your highly-respected teachers??! This is NOT why you boys signed up for the School of Friendship!! HMPH, and I thought you knew better than to push each other away and focus on your own ego during competitive match-ups!", shouted the livid Headmare Starlight as the male athletic students hung their heads in shame. Few of the girls started shouting appraisals for the Headmare, though they too were not spare a harsh scolding either.

"And YOU ladies! Aren't you supposed to be in class just as the bell had rung??! Kind of a waste of academic time to be playing the vigilantes, huh? I know you girls had moral intentions, but I would appreciate it much more if you just came over to my office to report the incident, instead of trying to handle this maniacal catastrophe yourselves. Just like Yona and Smolder...", explained the stern yet understanding headmare.

"Those two damn snitches!!", angrily thought Gallus as he scrunched up his face.

"SIGH! We're sorry, Headmare Starlight Glimmer", said all the athlete students in sad unison.

"Apology accepted, every creature." replied Headmare Starlight with a glad tone, before she changing to her stern tone and exclaimed, "Now every creature has five minutes to head to their own classes, before I decide to set you ALL back to one year of your academic progress!"

With that threat in mind, every athletic creature got a major fright of spending an extra year in the School of Friendhship and they hastened themselves to their next classes in an effort to appease their strict headmare.

"NOT YOU, GALLUS!!" shouted Headmare Starlight as Gallus was close to flying away.

"Get down from here THIS INSTANCE!", ordered Headmare Starlight with a disappointing tone, causing Gallus to wince in shame and gulp loudly with nervous anticipation of his upcoming. Gallus lands softly onto the ground with his sky-blue feline legs as they shake violently like a pair of massaging wands.

Then, with an angry glare staring onto Gallus' nervous side-swiping eyes, Starlight Glimmer ordered Gallus with these dreadful instructions: "MEET ME in my personal office, right now!"

----------(MEANWHILE AT THE TEACHER'S LOUNGE)----------

It was a very exhausting day for the Element of Kindness at the School of Friendship, and yet the day was yet to be completed. She had a lot of errands to run to educate the young minds on her custom curriculum with a variety of life skill courses required to live among the current multi-diverse society. Such lessons included responsibility with animal care-taking, civic duties from performing volunteer charity work, life-saving knowledge with first-aid basic veterinary training and environmental self-sufficiency at their local school fruit gardens at the recently built greenhouse. But no matter how hard these tasks may be, she still enjoys spreading her life experiences and wisdom to each new generation, because she knows that each seed she nurtures will grow and spread its influence worldwide to maintain harmony across the globe, just like how the Tree of Harmony did when it was first planted by the Pillars of Equestria.

"Good afternoon, Fluttershy. I've seen you had a really tough crabby day today.", greeted the C-cupped apple-farming blonde-maned cowgirl professor mare, who was lounging on one of the fuschia couches at the center of the teacher's lounge. She was wearing her usual red plaid-shirt and brown denim pants held by a vinyl belt.

"Oh, no need to worry about me, Applejack. I just ran into a major bumpy obstacle at the hoof-ball field---but everything's all fine now! Rodruiguez is all safe and sound back at his cage and I already had Headmare Starlight taken care of the rest of my problems!", replied Fluttershy as she gave off an optimistic smile.

"HA, lemme guess! You were harassed by some of my macho athletes again, huh??! Well, if they do anything funny and questionable to you, you know where to find me! Sometimes you had to break a few eggs to make an omelette, am I right?!" boasted the rainbow-maned B-cupped pegasus girl with the dark blue hoodie jacket and yoga pants. As Rainbow was lounging on another fuschia couch and spinning her red rubber ball, Fluttershy swiped the ball from her and replied with stern yet soft toned manner,

"I already told you, Rainbow Dash. I have no interest in implementing violence on any of our students. It may be how you keep your hard-headed students in line, but I feel like this method would only build resentment towards the authority dedicated to protecting our citizens. That's why I have to show them compassion, even when I dole out harsh punishments by taking away their privileges.". Fluttershy later threw back the ball to Rainbow Dash and proceeded to the kitchen table to overlook her own course dossier.

"And that, my dear Rainbow, is why Fluttershy is ONCE again, rewarded the "Teacher of the Month" by the entire student voting population!", hollered the pale-coated swirly violet-maned schoolmarm unicorn mare. "You have won so many awards, we had to build an extra room to store all your self-portraits and trophies! I say, you are becoming quite the superstar like Rainbow Dash over here!"

"HA, when she wins a rewards in 'Best Buck ball Coach' AND 'Best Cheerleader Coach', then I'll be impressed", teased Rainbow Dash out of pure jealousy for Fluttershy's achievements.

"Rarity! Nice to see you feeling so excited and ready for afternoon classes. You finally got back your own teacher's uniform!", complimented Fluttershy as she admired Rarity's blue-buttoned up shirt and knee-high violet dress.

"Well, it took a pretty long period for the delivery mare to fetch my dry-cleaning after that unfortunate mud incident at the school entrance!", replied Rarity as she prepared herself with some green tea at the kitchen counter. "I had to borrow sport uniforms from the gymnasium on such sort notice in the morning! Do you have any idea how hard it was to teach with Rainbow's small tanktop and buruma6 shorts?!", Rarity cried in frustration as she looked back on the terrible memories of her male students ogling, snickering and tongue wagging behind her back. It was really frustrating for her to keep her students' attentions on the lessons at hand, as they were too distracted by her puffy marshmallow bottom and tightly bound milk-white bosoms.

"Kerhehepfftt!", chuckled Rainbow Dash as she tried to keep her mouth closed. "Well, now that you mentioned it, from what I heard in the hallways, every creature was gossiping about how your triple J sized breasts were being squeezed tightly by that tank top! Sorry I couldn't find anything bigger, but we don't exactly have too many uniforms fit for plus-sized students, as they were already taken by the griffons, drakes and blackhorns in my class."

"At least you didn't had to deal with having a picture of your most delicate private parts taken by a sly griffon photographer, Rarity. Thank goodness that Starlight Glimmer enacted 'no cameras' rule during class time", Fluttershy replied with relief. Afraid that Rainbow will go after Gallus out of emotional shock, she chose not to reveal the name of her perpetrator.

"Say WHAT?!", exclaimed Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Rarity in shock.

"Hehehe, it's---kinda the reason why you were hearing so much noise and felt the intense rumbling from the floor level below. Everyone was chasing for that scandalous photo. But as I already mentioned, I already had Starlight Glimmer took care of it", Fluttershy nervously chuckled as she blushed.

"SIGH, reminds of that time the CMCs took clandestine photos of our private moments, doesn't it?", replied Rarity with a disappointing sigh. "I can't imagine why any creature would take advantage to a high-ranking teacher like that!"

"Well, look on the bright side, Rarity! Your change from a conservative to openly exposed fashion skyrocketed your polls in second-place as the 'Teacher of the Month' award nominee by the students, so THAT'S gotta count for something---!", snickered Rainbow Dash as she smiled about the silver lining in Rarity's predicament.

"OW!!!", Rainbow blurted out in pain after she got hit in the head by Rarity's meter stick.

"I'll have you know that my generosity in providing basic clothing for the impoverished proportion of my classroom, the field trips to the clothes donation charities in Manehattan and the gem rewards I had collected from the local caverns for my dragon students are what made one of the most respected teachers in this school! We are senior educators of this EEA-approved establishment, so start acting like it or so Celestia help me!", scolded the upset Rarity in response to Rainbow Dash's teasing.

"HEY, I just joking around, okay?! There's no need to get pissed!", shouted Rainbow as he rubbed her head in pain.

Suddenly, a pink chubby double J-cup Earth Equestrian with a poofy fuschia mane popped out of nowhere and said, "Strange! You get upset when Fluttershy gets harassed, but you don't seem to mind Rarity getting cat-called by her own students! You sure you're still not pining over Fluttershy's engagement????!"

"GEEAAAHH!!", stuttered Rainbow Dash as her skin prickles from both fear and shock. Then she began rambling and blabberin out loud, "I-I-I d-d-don't know what you're talking about, Pinkie Pie!! Of COURSE I care about Rarity! She just gets on my nerve sometimes and I feel like that the circumstances she's experiencing is karma for all the stupid dress modelling sessions she put me through---!"

"OH DASHIE, you know I can read EVERYPONY like an open book!", Pinkie sneered as she put on her conniving grin. As she shoved her face close to Rainbow's, her slightly loose striped blue tank top struggled to hold tight her pair of large pink balloons on her chest and her yellow canvas shorts were tightly wedging onto her butt crack as she bends over.

"But don't fret! As my Nana Pinkie once said, 'At first when you don't succeed in your catch of the day, always remember there are plenty of seagulls around the sea!'", cheered Pinkie Pie with an exceedingly optimistic grin.

"Uh, don't you mean fish?!", questioned Rainbow Dash as she groans.

"You know what!? You are absolutely right, Dashie! Seagulls DO love to gather around the stench of dead fish in the morning!", humored Pinkie Pie as she took something out of the kitchen oven.

"UUGGGHHH, no I mean---!". Before Rainbow Dash can finish her sentence, Pinkie Pie shoved a piece of caffeinated chocolate cake into her mouth.

"No time to chit-chat!! You ladies need to get yourself energized if you wanna get through the rest of the school day!!", Pinkie Pie exclaimed as she munched quickly on her home-baked cake.

"Pinkie, you can't go out like that in that outfit!! It's not school appropriate demeanor!", cried Rarity as she was aghast by Pinkie's lack of dignity.

"Why? You endured such gazing treatment when you were dressed in a scantily clad fashion", replied Rainbow with a quirky tone.

"I HAD NO CHOICE, YOU IMBECILE!! That uniform of mine was made from the finest cashmere and silk, so it will cost me a lot of fortune for me to replace!" retorted Rarity as she shouted in anger.

"See what I mean by biased empathy towards Fluttershy and Rarity?", asked Pinkie Pie.

Applejack got up from the fuschia couch and went over to pick up her own dossier of her honesty class curriculum on the round kitchen table. "Anywaaayy, I better skedaddle to my class, before the youngins' get worried sick about my absence!"

Fluttershy suddenly realized why she was at the teacher's lounge in the first place and proceeded to flip through her dossier to remind herself about what lessons she had planned for today.

"Oh, it's almost 5:15 pm! I need to gather all my fabric material for the quilting class!", exclaimed Rarity as she scrambled to find her dossier in one of the wooden file cabinets.

After Rainbow finished a portion of the caffeinated cake, she cried, "Hey PINKIE, don't forget to relocate your party cannon out from Starlight's office! I don't want you to get scolded for leaving unsecured ordnance while students are around!"

"C'mon, Dashie! Don't be silly! In comical fanfictions, you won't get punished for even setting off a nuclear bomb!7" joked Pinkie Pie with a grimdark yet humorous manner. "Though strangely you still may be disintegrated into oblivion or petrified into a statue for world domination if this were a canon-based fanfiction, sooo there's that..."

"Enough with your silly riddle speak, Pinkie! Just fetch the cannon before Starlight gets back to her office! You're the only insanely strong Equestrian out there who can get it out without blowing off its load", shouted Rainbow Dash as she fetches her dossier.

"Ahhh, there we go! 'How to Set up Your very own Animal Sanctuary, Part II'", Fluttershy read as she browsed through her dossier. Then suddenly, a burst of green enchanted flame popped right out of nowhere!!

"KYAAAAHHH!!", shouted Fluttershy with shocking surprise and a dark rosy blush.

"OH, I'm so sorry for barging in like that, Professor", apologized the blue-shelled rosey-eyed male changedling.

"Cornicle??! What are you doing here?!", asked the bedazzled Professor Fluttershy.

"I just wanna say 'Good afternoon' and 'Congratulations on winning again!", Cornicle nervously chattered before he hastenly transformed into a tiny ladybug and flew out the door of the teacher's lounge.

"Seriously, are you kidding me??!! That's like the 1000th student break-in at our teacher's lounge! It's like our personal break room has turned into a VIP celebrity casting studio!", complained Rainbow Dash.

"If those students all came to the room just to compliment you each and every morning and afternoon, you wouldn't be complainin' like a stuck-up diva...", mumbled Applejack to Rainbow Dash as she was ready to leave the teacher's lounge.

"Oh, Fluttershy!", exclaimed Rarity as she finally found her own dossier. She somehow managed to catch a glimpse of something oddly new on Fluttershy's documents. "There's something sticking out of your dossier pages. I think your student placed some sort of letter in there."

"Wait, don't tell me---!", Rainbow groaned with frustration.

Fluttershy flipped through the rest of her dossier and found what looks like to be a whole bunch of 15 love letters and romantic cards specifically addressed to her. She was amazingly aghasted by how clandestine her students were in sending out their inscribed confessions of amour to avoid humiliation from her other peers. Every creature in the student population already knew she was to be engaged with the Lord of Chaos, but with such an amazing hourglass figure and a reputation of keeping her students continuously high-spirited, it was no surprise that Professor Fluttershy would receive such cringey fan letters from her male students.

"Oh, I KNEW this would happen!! WELL, might as well show you the rest of them..." Rainbow Dash shouted angrily with groaning pains as she opened up one of the metal filing cabinets. She later took out a huge bundle of even MORE love letters addressed to the beloved Professor Fluttershy and piled them high onto the floor. Needless to say, the pile of love letters for Fluttershy was able to reach up to the teacher's waistline.

----------(OUT IN THE SCHOOL HALLWAY)----------

"I'm so sorry for not mentioning to you earlier, Fluttershy.", said Rarity with a concerned frown as she and her friends walked to their designated classrooms. "Apparently, a couple of your own students from your class had been sneaking in a whole bunch of love letters into your dossier. I only noticed it when a couple of them fell out while I was collecting our documents."

"With many letters stuffed in my filing cabinet, I think those letters may had come from every male student in the school that had a crush on me!", deduced Fluttershy as she carried her box of students' love letters.

"Gaaahh, not even I get that much fan mail from my students, and I'm supposed to be the most awesomest gym coach in Ponyville! It's SO frustrating!!", shouted Rainbow in a jealous fiery rage.

"As much as it pains for the students to hear it, you really need to address this growing issue before this situation gets outta hand." advised Applejack as she expressed perturbation on her face. "These lovesick students need to know that teacher-and-student relationships would never work out, considering the age gap between you and your students"

"Gee, I wish I get that much fan mail in my lounge!! Heck, I'll even accept invitations to their own festivities if they wanted to! It'll give me a chance to learn about foreign cultures AND party all around the world!", exclaimed Pinkie Pie with a scrunched-up squishy face. "I better remind myself to set an invitation box by the teacher's lounge!"

"Well, there's my next classroom! Wish me luck!" hollered Fluttershy as she approached to her own home classroom. She was struggling to get a handle on the doorknob, while also holding a big box of these love letters.

"Fluttershy!" interrupted Applejack as she wanted to say one last word to her best friend before class starts.

"Yes, Applejack?", questioned Fluttershy after grabbing the doorknob.

"...Try not to break your students' hearts too irrationally...", said the worried Applejack.

"Applejack, I know how to handle this delicately. This isn't the first time I experienced something like this, even if this was taken to a large scale...", replied Fluttershy before entering her home classroom.

"Right....see ya!", Applejack hollered as she said his farewell before leaving for her own class session.

----------(AT PROFESSOR FLUTTERSHY'S HOME CLASSROOM)----------

As the number of classmates in Fluttershy's home classroom continued to grow, chaos was already building up for the youthful creatures, though it was not as calamitous as the one continuing outside in the hallways. Safe from Gallus' entourage horde, all the tween nymphs, fledglings, drakes, calves, kirins, fillies and colts were too busy goofing off as they were waiting for their favorite homeroom teacher to arrive. Changedling nymphs were acting out as comedians by transforming into and imitating impressions of their professors. Drakes were holding fire breathing contests out from the school balcony window, as they know that performing their stunts indoors would risk the classroom catching fire. Griffon and hippogriff fledglings were playing a little game of tag with the other young hyperactive pegasi, knocking over some bins, baskets, boxes and other classroom items in the process (much to the annoyance of a few older, well-behaved and educated creatures who were trying to study hard for their test). Meanwhile, the big young calves were doing battle in their own mini-wrestling game, much like what their own previous forefathers and current fathers as part of ancient tradition. As for the smaller calves, they acted as both cheerleaders and spectators of the entire horn-shoving sport for the own made-up teams. The rest of the other older creatures of all races typically go for the old traditional miniature free-for-all wars with paper gliders, spitballs, crumbled papers and rubber bands.

As the minute hand on the wall clock struck 15 past 5 pm, a girl's voice was called out as soon as Professor Fluttershy came into the room with a slightly heavy box full of various pink, red and white letters. As she carried her box to her teaching desk, she was taken aback by her students' rambunctious rowdiness.

Realizing their immediate change in circumstance, a dragon girl's voice suddenly called out, "GUYS, every creature to their seats, the Professor is here!!". As soon as they took a glimpse of their beloved teacher, all the students immediately ceased their hooligan shenanigans and quickly proceeded to their designated angled desks.

"Thank you, Smolder", said Professor Fluttershy before she addressed to the whole class.

"Everypony, please stand up and face the blackboard", commanded Professor Fluttershy with a strict yet gentle tone.

"Good afternoon, Professor Fluttershy", greeted the entire class of young creatures with the utmost respect in unison.

"Good afternoon, my students. Please sit down", ordered Professor Fluttershy before the class obediently took their seats on their stools.

Professor Fluttershy then proceeded with her discussion with the students. "Now, before we can all begin with today's course, I want to address a very long-standing issue that I had only recently discovered back in the teacher's lounge"

Professor Fluttershy then grabbed the box and dumped a small pile of love letters onto her teacher's desk. Every young creature was held speechless over the large volume of love letters that may had been collected over the course of several weeks. Little did they know they had only seen a portion of a mountain of these romantic letters.

"WOAH, that's a LOTTA mail!! Are those from your pen pals??!!", yelled a specific bespectacled white pegasus colt with a purple bowl-shaped mane, purple vest, green Qing cap and black wool pants.

"DUDE, what did I tell you??!! No speaking while the Professor is lecturing!", one green colt whispered loudly with anxiety. The white pegasus blushed and sheepishly apologized to the class.

"As I was saying...", Professor Fluttershy interrupted in an effort to finish her sentences. "I know that all of you young creatures are already at their 4th grade year in their junior friendship semester, and I expected that all of you be prepared for my upcoming assignment, as well as for the Friendship Mid-terms within a few months."

Professor Fluttershy then spread and laid out the love letters on the desk before continuing on with her discussion.

"And as much as I am humbly flattered by all of your admiring written compliments and romantic gestures for the most favored teacher of all time, I will highly appreciate it if all of my students spend most of their time studying hard throughout their year-long junior semester for their mid-terms, instead of wasting their time competing with love letters for my affections that were already taken a very long time ago."

Fluttershy then proceeded to open up and skim through one of the love letters, before commenting, "Most of the letters I had read contained many punctual symbols and some new slang words that I am not familiar with. Some do not even have the proper spelling and grammar of the Equestrian written language. I hope you will not be using that kind of language on your friendship essays, because that will not get you a high score on your final mark."

Fluttershy then held up one of the love letters for the whole class to see before asking the students. "For instance, could you explain to me what this is supposed to mean?"

"U (〃￣ω￣〃) like a ---I<<@"

"OOOH OOH, I know this one!" hollered Smolder as she raised her claw to answer the question. "It means that you blush like a red rose! The @ symbol represents the blooming part of the flower". Every creature then chuckled with content with the message.

"And how do you explain THIS kind of message?" Professor Fluttershy asked as she held up another letter for the whole class to see.

"I ❤️ YUR thicc /( 0 Y 0 )\"

"I heart your thick owl eyes??!! I don't get it!", shouted the same loud boisterous pegasus colt who answered the question with confusion.

"Nooo, silly!!" hollered one furry light pink sea-blue maned hippogriff who raised her claw. "It's obviously short-hoofed speak for 'I love your thick boobies!'". Almost every creature then proceeded to boisterously laugh at the hippogriff's correct answer (almost every creature---because it was obvious that one of them in Fluttershy's class had written that lewd message and was too embarrassed to reveal himself as its sender)

As much as that message would cause Fluttershy to turn red like a popped cherry, she refused to give in and bravely maintained her bravado composure, before going on with her speech. "Well, as creative as those coded messages sound, my dear Silverstream, this type of language would not be tolerated by our teachers and staff from young creatures like you. So here is what I am proposing about what my entire class should do."

Fluttershy then lightly cleared her throat before proceeding with her plan. "Starting from today, I will neatly pile your love letters in this special box on that cornered desk, right by the classroom door. At the end of each class, every creature here will rummage through the box for their own love letters to take back home."

Most of the classroom awed with sadness and disappointment over her demands.

"I know this may sound like I don't appreciate your gestures, but you can't go around writing and sending romantic or inappropriate messages to adults that are beyond above your age. In fact, I don't think it would fascinate even love mates at your age when you're all grown up in the future", explained Professor Fluttershy as she piled up those love letters.

"I already feel love and affection from all my students by seeing you working hard, studying for your exams and passing the courses with high marks. You don't need to write me these letters to show me that, understand?", Professor Fluttershy continued as she placed the box of love letters at the cornered desk.

"Ummm, Professor! I was just wondering!" the white bespectacled pegasus hollered as he raised his hand. "What happens when some critch doesn't want to take back the letter?"

"Wait, did he just say---critch??? What's with this, dude?", whispered the green colt.

"I dunno, Sandbar. Maybe it's another slang word we haven't heard about." responded the whispering Silverstream.

"That's an excellent question! You see, it won't be just for today. I have a mountain-high pile of these same love letters stuffing up my filing cabinet at the teacher's lounge. That means there are students from other home classrooms that also had loving affections towards me, not just you students. Therefore, each and every day, I will also set another box of these love letters inside the teacher's lounge for the rest of the creatures to take back in private", answered Professor Fluttershy as she began to blush about the next important plan that would have easily made the old Fluttershy faint like a log.

She continued, "I want every creature here to spread the this important message to every creature in the student population: If you don't come by to the teacher's lounge to take back your letters within two days, I will have Professor Applejack read aloud these letters on the announcements for the whole student population to hear, and whoever wrote these letters will have their names announced before each letter reading!"

The whole classroom immediately erupted with shocking gasps and started to turn red over the thought that their deepest darkest secret love messages for Professor Fluttershy would be read aloud for the entire school to hear!

"You don't want your headmare to listen what you had written to your favorite teacher, would you? If any of these messages ended up being too naughty for the whole class to hear, imagine how that kind of message would affect your academic progress. I hate to see the headmare kick you out for using such foul language towards a professional", smirked the now sassy smart Professor Fluttershy. Every male creature in the classroom then nodded with agreement with their beloved professor and based on that kind of gesture, they would all agree to take back their lovey-dovey notes before the whole school would know about their deepest darkest fantasies with their hot teacher.

"WOAH, she managed to force every boy here to kow-tow to her, JUST LIKE THAT??!! You guys are right! She DOES deserve the best teacher award!!", exclaimed the shock-and-awed white bespectacled pegasus colt. "But wait! How did you even find out about those love letters in the first place?!"

"If it wasn't for Cornicle who did a bad job hiding his envelope, I would've not find out it sooner", answered the smiling and smirking Professor Fluttershy. Everypony groaned with resentment over that idiotic slip-up.

"THAT DAMN HORSE BUGGY8!! He ruined everything!!", is what the whole male student body may be thinking about right now...

"SO, now that we have that out of the way, it's time to introduce our new foreign exchange student in our classroom today! He came all this way from the land of Far Eastern Equestrian to meet you all! Will our new student please come up to the board and introduce yourself?", Professor Fluttershy requested.

"OOOH BOY, my turn to shine!!", shouted the excited white pegasus purple bowl-maned colt who was sitting at the far top-left of the class. He stood up and immediately presented himself on the front side of the classroom. He then proceeded with an upright posture and gave out a salute before presenting himself.

"Ni-hao, every critch-ure!!", greeted the white pegasus colt. "My name is 小蘿蔔頭 (Siu loe baak taoi), which in my native language, means 'Tiny Turnip Head'!"

Smolder then snickered and almost gave out a huge laugh, while attempting to cover her mouth. "PPPFFFTTT, Tiny Turnip Head??! Is this pony boy for real??"

Silverstream then whispered to Smolder, "Geez, he's such a hyperactive little peggy9, isn't he?!"

"Seriously??", Smolder replied with a low monotone voice.

"I hope that all of you will have an excellent time with me today!! Don't underestimate my miniature stature and my name, fellas!! I may be small, but my brain is actually brimming full of big ideas!!", shouted the excited Tiny Turnip Head as he leaped for joy.

Professor Fluttershy replied respectfully, "Thank you! That will be for---"

"Just you wait! You partner up with me and we'll be the best awesomest working duo of all time!", continued the loudmouth Turnip Head.

"Okay, I think that will be all---", Professor Fluttershy attempted to interrupt, but Turnip was still not done yet.

"I learn from the best, because my foster parent happens to be the smartest, most wisest and most amazing stallion of all!! HE'S---!!" Then, suddenly a series of loud clangs and bangs rang through his ears as Tiny Turnip Head was just about to finish his sentence! Tiny Turnip Head's brain had just been rattled to its core and placed the little tot into a complete daze.

Professor Fluttershy was holding her special silencing bell and her stern expression was enough to convey the message to Turnip Head that he was done with his introduction and he had to return back to his seat.

Professor Fluttershy then took a peek at his class and immediately started blushing with a nervous smile. "Uhhhh, thank you, Turnip! That was a really nice introduction", complimented Professor Fluttershy. Every creature in the class groaned with questionable doubt about that outlandish performance, but attempted to give out fake smiles as to not embarrass the new student in town.

"I hope you will have an excellent experience at your new school, Turnip. I certainly love that you already possess that inner school spirit within you and that you are ready to be educated on the magic of friendship." Professor Fluttershy complimented even further to break the awkward intense silence in the classroom. "Now, onto today's lesson---"

*KNOCK-KNOCK-KNOCK!* goes the wooden door.

"HEY! 對唔住 (Doiy oum jyu)10!", an unexpected male voice with a Far Eastern Equestrian accent spoke out from the hallway after the classroom door opened.

Professor Fluttershy was caught off guard by the uninvited visit from another Far Eastern Equestrian. Standing right by the door was a medium tall thin yellow Earthen stallion about her height and he was wearing a pair of brown-plaid patterned pants, a three-buttoned black silk vest, a pair of round glasses and a red-and-black Qing cap. As strange as his getup might be, Fluttershy attempted to maintain her composure and idol-figured image as the Element of Kindness and walked over to the strange stallion man who looked like he was in need of some informational guidance.

The strange yellow stallion man told to Professor Fluttershy, "I just so happened to find myself lost within these hallways and couldn't find my way to the headmare's office. Do you think you could point me into the right direction?". Every creature in the class gazed on wondrous awe, curiosity and bewilderment at the stallion with the eccentric traditional Far Equestrian outfit. Some of the students even laughed at him for even making himself known to the classroom, even if it was for something so trivial.

"Who is this weirdo?! Why are his huge buttons arranged horizontally? Shouldn't they be in a vertical fashion?", whispered Smolder with a query look on her face.

"I think it looks cool on him! I got to try that design some time when Professor Rarity hands out another dress assignment!", whispered the excited Silverstream as she gazed at the eccentrically dressed Far Eastern Equestrian.

"OH, you just take a walk across through this hallway and then take a left turn at the first intersection", answered Fluttershy with a sweet kind demeanor.

"Oh, thank you very much, ma---HEY!! YOU!! 唔好郁! (Hm hoy yoke!)11", shouted the angry yellow stallion man as he pointed at Tiny Turnip Head.

"AAAH, Young Master Zhi!!! It's not what it looks like!!", shouted Turnip Head. The little pegasus colt was actually just about to swipe the love letters out of the cornered box as the Professor was not looking.

Everypony in the room started erupting with gasps, confused screams and befuddlement!

"WHAT THE---did he just called him 'Master'??!!"

"He actually knows this weirdo??!!"

"Don't tell me he's actually friends with him!!"

"OH MAN, we were so close to getting rid of ALL those letters!!"

Tiny Turnip Head sheepishly blushed with embarassment as he stared at the upset gaze of his foster father.

"What do you think you're doing trying to get in front of the classroom without your teacher's knowledge, huh??!", shouted Master Zhi as the classroom continued to giggle at Tiny Turnip Head.

"UHHH, JUST NOTHING!! Just making sure these letters are neatly piled, that's all!!", shouted Turnip Head as he rapidly flew back to the far end of the classroom where his seat is.

"UH-OH, BUSSTTEEDD!!", shouted Smolder as he smiled with glee at his epic failure.

"MAN, he was at first the hyperactive student wannabe, but then his---master??--came into the room and he suddenly became all bashful??!", questioned the confused Sandbar.

"Awww, poor guy! That must be like his foster dad! It must be so embarrassing for him to be caught like that!" pitied Silverstream.

"Hehe, sorry about that, Missy!", apologized Master Zhi. "I'm going to be on my way now and let you get on with your classes now! 再見 (Joy geen)12", said Master Zhi as he bowed to her and bid farewell to the professor out of respect.

As Master Zhi walked himself out of the hallway and hummed a random tune to himself, he looked down on the floor and saw some tiny creepy-crawly coming straight at him.

"AAAAAHH COCKROACH!!!! SHOO!! SHOO!! GO AWAY!!", shouted the scared Master Zhi as he desparately tried to side swipe the cockroack out of his way.

Unfortunately, that caused his black-and-white shoe to immediately let loose, bounced off from a nearby marble bust behind him and hit him at the back of the head!

"HEY, who the hell hit me at the back of the head??!!! DAMN KIDS!!"

Suddenly, the cockroach suddenly transformed into Cornicle the changedling, who felt aghast by the angry Far Eastern Equestrian who had now fell onto his bum onto the carpet floor.

"OOH, I am SOOO sorry, sir!! I REALLY didn't mean to startle you!!", apologized Cornicle.

"What the---??!! 你傻咗咩 (Neiy shaw zhaw meh)13?!! Are you trying to give me a heart attack, you daft jangly14??!!", shouted the angry Young Master Zhi.

"Cornicle, you're 15 minutes late! You know what this means?", Fluttershy suddenly said as she opened the door to see what the commotion was about.

"Aww man! I was THIS close to sneaking into the classroom unnoticed through the door cracks!", groaned Cornicle. He knew he had to stay after school to clean the poop from the animal cages as punishment.

"You know that doesn't work that way, even if you managed to sneak in unnoticed...", Professor Fluttershy said with a disappointing tone.

"I knoooowww", Cornicle agreed with a sad tone as he entered the classroom with his teacher.

"MAN, what a strange kinda fellow he is!", commented Young Master Zhi as he continued on his way to the headmare's office.

---END

Author's Note

Fresh meat: A new inexperienced student on their first year in school; originally used to describe new incoming prisoners

Gruffs: griffons (named after the unpopular griffon caretaker, Grandpa Gruff)

Blackhorns: yaks and/or naks

Drakes: male dragons (though it may occasionally be used for both genders, just like with the word "yak")

Trotters: Earthen Equestrians (though it may occasionally be used for any type of ungulate Equestrian race)

Buruma: Japanese sport shorts (from Japanized English word "bloomers")

This joke was based off this Chinese comic strip from 1968-1972
https://www.oldmasterq.com/_STRIPS/B1238.jpg

Horse Buggy: changeling

Peggy: Short for 'pegasus'

Cantonese for "Excuse me"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Excuse%20me.&from=en&to=yue

Cantonese for "DO NOT MOVE!"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Do%20not%20move!&from=en&to=yue

Cantonese for "Bye bye"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Bye%20Bye&from=en&to=yue

Cantonese for "Are you crazy?"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Are%20you%20crazy%3F&from=en&to=yue

14.Jangly: Corrupt pronunciation of the word "changeling"

4 The Unpredictable Interview

Chapter 4 - The Unpredictable Interview

Approaching towards the elaborately carved door entrance with intricate swirls, crests and curves on its finess decor, the Young Master Zhi gazed upon the momentous beauty of the wooden and gold-plated craftsmareship of the headmare's luxurious office entry. He was slightly a little anxious of how he would convince the headmare in hiring him as substitute teacher of the School of Friendship, as he had not prepared himself with the proper practice in interviewing etiquette. He was heavily reliant on many of the little special talents he had gathered through his years of experience in exploring, studying and traveling worldwide to find his true purpose in life. It was not that he was trying to upstage everypony in the world; it was just that he had a really hard time finding what kind of career he would do for a living, even after he gained his cutie mark of three triangularly arranged black dots enclosed in a black circle. It was this cutie mark that symbolized his ability to take on many talents as possible and utilize them to the best of his abilities, like the jack of all trades, hence why Young Master Zhi proclaimed his talent to be a polymath genius. However, despite his highly eccentric abilities, his foolishness, clumsiness, short-tempered fuse and eccentric personality prevented him from reaching his true potential as a stable and successful career business worker. So in other words, he was more looked down upon as "the genius idiot who messes up everything" or "the crazy stallion who thinks he knows everything" back in his hometown. Nevertheless, he was too determined to give it his all in this interview by throwing everything he had at his disposal to impress the top-tier headmare with his multi-talented working skills.

Snapping out of his trance was a loud muffled berating coming from inside the office. Though Master Zhi could not make out what the argument or scolding was all about, he knew that whatever got the office so riled up must meant the headmare was not having a tranquil relaxing day today. Hoping to get a better listen to what the ruckus was all about, Master Zhi placed his hear close to the headmare's door to get a better clear listening to the intense conversation at hand.

That was when he was immediately met with a loud *THWACK!* from the door slamming right onto his body, before being swung immediately towards the wall adjacent to the door frame!

"UUUGGGGHHHH, a one-week suspension??!! You gotta be kidding me!! I don't wanna go back to my shithole of a homeland again! How the hell am I going to survive outside the school grounds??!!", yelled a livid grumbling male voice as he exited the headmare's office.

After falling from the impact crater made by the unexpected slam, Master Zhi quickly recovered and regain his composure as he got off from the floor, shook debris off his head and dust himself off. He later peeked into the headmare's office with his legs shaking, hoping that his future boss was not too much in a bad mood for an interview.

"Uhhhhhhh, Miss Headm-m-m-mare! I'm here f-f-f-or the interview about my role as s-s-s-ubss--stitute teacher...", called out the Young Master Zhi as he peered from behind the door.

From behind the door, he could see a very upset Headmare looking down on her desk and she appeared to have what looks like a crushed Polaroid camera. Master Zhi speculated that the Headmare must have smashed that camera in front of whoever she was arguing with out of sheer anger. Perhaps he should come back later, but then what if the Headmare wasn't still relieved and her anger issues only continue to bottle up like a water heater at high pressure? What if she decides to never hire any more staff into her school ever again? It was this fear that shook the Young Master Zhi to his rattling core.

"Well, aren't you going to come in for the interview, sir? You're taking our sweet time here!", shouted Headmare Starlight Glimmer as she stares at the nervous Far Eastern Equestrian with confused look on her face.

As quickly as his feet could take him, Young Master Zhi zipped right into the middle of the purple carpet, halted immediately and quickly apologized for keeping her waiting.

"Looks like I had you shook for a moment. You just happened to be here when I was lecturing one of my students here, haven't you?", questioned Headmare Starlight Glimmer with a smirk.

"Don't mind what just happened now. I had trouble with one of my students. It's already taken care of, sir", briefly explained Headmare Starlight Glimmer.

Master Zhi replied with a respectful bow to the headmare. "Of course, ma'am! I am humbly in your gratitude to be working alongside you as the temporary replacement of your many experienced teachers at your facility. I had heard many great accomplishments and reverence from the many school brochures passed out by your missionaries. I would feel honored to be working at this magnificent establishment and I will do my best to maintain my careere as---"

"OKAY, okay---no need for the introductory speeches!" interrupted Headmare Starlight Glimmer as she felt a bit bashful by the Young Master Zhi's extreme politeness. "Let's just cut to the chase and start with the interviewing questions, shall we?"

"OF COURSE!", replied Young Master Zhi with the upmost gleeful enthusiasm.

"Now, let's start with your previous work experiences. What kind of labor skills had you experienced prior to your arrival to Western Equestria?", questioned Headmare Starlight Glimmer as she clasped her hands together.

"Well, for starters---", answered Young Master Zhi as he performed his superhero power pose. "I was known as the jack of all trades with the knowledge of everything back in my home country! Whatever subject you throw at me, I can pass that test with flying colors, more or less!"

Headmare Starlight Glimmer immediately changed her expression from interested to mindlessly stoic. "You know, I'm not the sort of mare who appreciates boasting and bragging of narcissistic creatures. You kind of remind me of a certain magician friend who used to act that way when I first met her, and now she works at this school as our guidance counselor! And she didn't need to brag about having that hidden talent to know she was fit for that job; I had to point that out to her, back when the school needed a new Headmare and Vice Headmare."

"WELL, Miss Headmare! You don't need to worry about getting scammed by such posers, because I will list to you the things I had learned in the past, with the hopes I will be hired for my surprising talents!", boasted the Young Master Zhi as he whipped out a dark blue nylon bib out of nowhere. Headmare Starlight Glimmer rolled her eyes in utter disbelief at that reply.

"Now, where to begin?" questioned Young Master Zhi as he placed a bib around Headmare Starlight Glimmer's neck. "Well for one thing, I spent my past 3 years studying interior decor design from reading construction manuals, watching instruction reels on home repair and browsing through several rich abode magazines, so that would be helpful for me as an architect for new school establishments. I also happened to be multi-lingual in a couple languages, so I could also act as your interpreter and translator for new foreign exchange students", rambled the eccentric Young Master Zhi as he randomly whipped out a comb to straighten out the headmare's mane.

"I learn those languages from reading aloud several comic books from all around the world, as well as browsing through several dictionaries from my hometown and listening to classical Western Equestrian aria musicals. I know a lotta Ponish, old Ponish, ancient forgotten Proto-Ponish, a little bit of Germane, some Prançais and a whole lot of Canternese (my native tongue)", continued the awkward jack-of-all-trades stallion as he tried to list all his talents in short time.

"Oh, and I also happen to know a couple strategy games, such as chess, pinochle, backgammon, solitaire, checkers, chess, dragon pit---OH, and I also happen to be an excellent graphic artist! You should see me draw out some amazing 4koma! I also can do mane therapy for---!"

"What do you think you are doing, sir!?" interrupted Headmare Starlight Glimmer as she stood up from her chair and took off her bib. She was now even more in disbelief about the sheer confidence this strange tall yellow stallion had, barging into her luxury office to brag on about his many accomplishments like a madmare.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm volunteering myself to restyle your mane with my special barbering skills!", answered the gleeful Young Master Zhi as he held out a pair of barber scissors.

"I don't want you messing with my mane! It's perfect the way it is!", shouted Headmare Starlight Glimmer as she was now feeling very irritated by Master Zhi's eccentric behavior.

"OH, okay! That's all right then! I also specialized in repair jobs, botany gardening, hydrology---OOH, and I also had JUST learned how to pilot a civilian airship! Look, I'll show you---!", continued the Young Master Zhi as he threw away the scissors and randomly whipped out a child's bicycle tire to act as a his ship's steering wheel.

Before the Headmare could interrupt him for his behavior, she was caught off guard as Young Master Zhi grabbed both her hands and had her held out the small tire, as if she was driving the ship's steering wheel herself, but from the opposite side of her interviewee. Headmare Starlight Glimmer had her share of boastful teacher candidates before, but this was nothing she had experienced yet in her young career.

As Headmare Starlight Glimmer watched on, Young Master Zhi immediately proceeded to turn, pull, raise, lower and yank the 'steering wheel' randomly like a mad pilot.

"Starboard roll! Port roll! Stall! Nose down! Nose up! Starboard yaw! Port yaw!", shouted the mad Master Zhi before he took his hands off the wheel and started making random gestures, pretending as if he was operating the airship controls.

"Decrease knots! Shut down engines! Check engine light! SOUND THE ALARM BELLS!", he continued to shout.

"ENOUGH BLABBERING!!", interrupted Headmare Starlight Glimmer. She could no longer take her crazy interviewee's random ramblings anymore. She later barked at Master Zhi, "I didn't invite you here to list out all of your favorite hobbies and leisure activities, sir! I'm only here to know what type of academic knowledge you possess that you could teach to our young students at the School of Friendship!"

Master Zhi paused what he was doing and was posing with an awkward ballet-like stance.

"So will you please behave yourself and answer me in a more professional manner, before I decided to escort you out of the premises for disorderly conduct", warned the now serious Headmare Starlight Glimmer.

"RIGHT, of course! My apologies, headmare!", quickly replied the apologetic Master Zhi as he bowed his head in shame.

Young Master Zhi realized that he may had gone a little too far in his demonstration skills as a polymath genius, but he was not willing to give up his goal to attend one of Equestria's top EEA institutions. He was not taking this job for only himself to brag about it to the world, for he had somepony very close he had to look out for. If he could score his job as a substitute teacher with a diverse array of talents, he could finally gain the necessary financial support to take care of his very close peers.

Then, that was when he had spotted his opportunity from something strange behind a couple of tall potted houseplants. As he peered very close at the far right corner of the office room, he realized what that strange object was. It was a large blue cannon on two pink wooden stump wheels and was fitted with a short fuse.

"Oh, this is PERFECT!!", Master Zhi yelled as he went over to fetch the random cannon, as well as a chemistry play set right next to the party cannon.

"What the---?!! What's Pinkie Pie's party cannon doing here at my office??! How come I never noticed that before??!", thought the Headmare as she was too stiff in shock to react at the changed situation. "AARRGGHH, I thought I told that mare NO MORE cannons or any explosive ordnance within school grounds!"

"I can be an excellent chemistry professor and teach these young minds the wonders of the molecular world with party tricks and pyrotechnics! Every epic party with your best friends can't be done without an epic explosive climax!", exclaimed Young Master Zhi as he whipped out three glass vials of chemicals, each labelled with nitric acid, sulfuric acid and glycerol solution respectively with his left hand. "Come with me to someplace wide open and spacious! I'll bring this cannon and this random set of chemicals with me!", shouted the excited Young Master Zhi as he was pushing the cannon head-on at the muzzle with amazing strength of only his right hand, in spite of his lanky body physique.

Headmare Starlight Glimmer couldn't believe her ears when the interviewee said he was going to experiment with explosives within campus property. Even though it would be someplace safe where no creature gets gravely injured or risk destructive property damage, setting off explosives or even fireworks were strictly prohibited within school grounds, for reasons of preventing fire hazards around nearby parks, flora and buildings. Even if they were outside the school grounds, ordnance cannot be set off within the town perimeter and can only be set off outside the town with a special permit.

"OH NO, I gotta stop this lunatic from hurting himself and possibly the students around him!!" thought the nerve-wrecked Headmare Starlight Glimmer as she charged up her magical horn and came rushing in towards the mental nutcase.

*EERRKKHH-EERRKKHH-EERRKKHH!* out came the poled loudspeakers posted around the school buildings.

*EERRKKHH-EERRKKHH-EERRKKHH!* *EERRKKHH-EERRKKHH-EERRKKHH!*

As the interval of triple bell sounds were rung, Young Master Zhi and Headmare Starlight Glimmer froze on the spot as they were caught off guard by the sudden sounds. While he was still holding the three vials of acrid chemicals in his left hand, he checked his self-winding watch on his right hand and was bemused.

"5:37 pm?! Woah, that's gotta be a bit too early to ring the school bell as the finishing end of class", said Young Master Zhi with confusing tone as he stared at his watch.

"That's not the school bell, you fool! That's the fire alarm!!", corrected Headmare Starlight Glimmer with a panicked and stern tone. That correction caused Young Master Z to change his expression from confused to utter surprise. Was there an actual fire going on inside the school or did some prankster decided to set it off without a real emergency just out of humorous kicks?

----------(AT THE SCHOOL COURTYARD, NEAR THE LOOKOUT TOWER)----------

The formerly deserted and tranquil outdoor scene within the school courtyard premises had become very hectic as soon as the fire alarm went off from the loudspeakers. As Equestrian earthen folk, pegasi, unicorns, dragons, yaks, hippogriffs, changedlings, kirins and a few other rare creature races came pouring out of the exits, many of them are wondering about where and/or how the fire had started. Most of them pointed their accusations to the dragons, in which they vehemently deny and feel offended that they would burn down the very same establishment that taught them the value of harmonious peace with the other creatures. Others were quick to deduce that since there was no outpouring smoke or floating ambers, the whole drill was a false alarm and some creature was going to be in trouble for disrupting classes over a childish prank. Nevertheless, to be better safe than sorry, the Equestrian fire brigade had arrived within a couple minutes upon being signaled by the automatic messages sent by the school's police box connected to the fire alarm bell.

As creatures in the crowd mutter in confusion about what the actual emergency was really about, one female green eye shadowed, white-headed, brown-bodied griffon with its sharp eagle eyed vision spotted a single Equestrian male on the highest level of the 150-m observation tower and quickly shouted,

"LOOK! UP THERE!! There's somepony on top of that balcony!!", she cried as she pointed the single standing figure on top of highest 145-m level balcony platform

As soon as every creature heard that statement, they all turned their attention to the tower.

"Wait, how the heck can you see that far??!!" asked Sandbar who was standing nearby the observant griffon.

"Uhhh, helllooo?! Didn't you know that eagle eyes can see small objects sharply at 3.2 km distance?", lectured the smart female griffon.

"Ooooooh, right! I remember being taught that from Fluttershy's class", remembered Sandbar.

"GGAASSPP, she's right! I can see him to with MY bird binocular vision too! And it looks like its some sort of lavender-coated stallion with a golden-brown short mane!", yelled Silverstream as he gazed at the tower alongside the gazing griffon.

"Awww, I wish I had cool eagle vision like you two!", sighed Turnip Head as he flew up above the crowd.

Unlike the griffons and hippogriffs, not all the creatures could be able to make out the Equestrian figure on top of the very tall tower, so they all ended up rushing together towards the tower pointed by the alert griffon and hippogriff. Even with the teachers hollering out to them to stay within their own class groups, they were drowned out by the crowd noises and every creature was too curious about the crazy Equestrian stallion on top of the tower. They all wanted to find out why he was there in the first place.

As soon as every creature surrounded the observation tower, they also noticed that the tower was surrounded by a barely translucent warp patterned clear-green cylindrical barrier. The radius of that magic barrier surrounding the tower was 35 m, and since the tower itself had a diameter of 60 m, the distance between the barrier wall and exterior tower was separated by 5 m. It seemed like whoever was on top of that tower had somehow cast a powerful protective spell and didn't want any creature to interfere whatever shenanigans within that tower

"HEY, isn't he one of our former classmates??!!", shouted Silverstream when she was able to get a better look at the pony. "I recognized that stallion! I think it was that student who sat next to Professor Fluttershy in that first commemorative photo of Princess Headmare Twilight's home classroom!!"

"AAUUGGGHH, I still can't make a clear image even up that close!! It's still a blurry blob to me!", shouted Turnip Head as he flew up, tilted his head back and squinted his eyes. "My tiny wings aren't strong enough for me to fly high enough for a better look!"

"Here you go, newbie!", replied the loud Smolder as she handed him her prized blue telescope to borrow. "Use this to get a better view! Name's Smolder, by the way!"

"WOW, thanks Smolder the Resourceful!", shouted back Turnip Head as he proceeded to look up at the highest precipice of the tower through his telescope. Smolder blushed a bit sheepishly at Turnip's compliment and tried to hide her face out of embarassment.

"Now it's so much clearer now! And I can see somepony is about to jump off the flimsy thin railing of the tower's square balcony------wait, WHHHAAAATT????!!!!", Turnip Head screamed as soon as he realized what was going on.

"Is he actually for real??!! Why would he do that??!! OH NO, if he falls off right now---OOAAHH, I can't watch!!", Silverstream yelled fearfully as she covered her eyes. Thanks to the eagle-eye griffon, Silverstream and Turnip Head, every creature was now aware of the dire situation and were awestruck by the fact that a crazy stunt was going to be done by one of the top senior students of the School of Friendship. It was at this moment that every creature knew the reasoning behind the magical barrier: it was to make sure no other creature would easily interfere with his suicide attempt.

Some of the grounded creatures, including the yaks, earthen Equestrians, unicorns and kirins tried to barge through the barrier through brute force, rock smashing and mana beams, but the barrier was unable to give in. Flying creatures such as griffons, dragons, hippogriffs and a couple of changelings also attempted to save the suicidal earth stallion from taking a swan dive, but they were just as hopeless as the grounded creatures in breaching through the barrier too.

"Darn it, it's too strong!! How in Equestria are we going to break through that magic wall??!", cried Sandbar as he becomes increasingly worried by the minute

"Wait a second, this doesn't make sense! On that tower was an Earthen Equestrian, yet somehow he was able to erect a radial barrier to stop every creature from barging in! How is that possible?!", questioned the observant female griffon.

"That's easy, Greta!", one light-blue shelled and red-winged iridescent changeling girl responded. She appeared from the crowd behind the frontal onlookers, with a thick purple gold-plated textbook, wearing a beige sweater, white shirt, green skirt and red shoes. "According to my 'Book of Spells for Nags1', earth ponies can easily create a simple yet strong ethereal barrier by pouring a sandy ground-up mixture of basalt, tourmaline, sodium borate and limestone. Then, by pouring the sand around the object to be protected and pouring kerosene oil over the markings, one can light up the oil and chant the required incantation spell to erect a magical protective shell around the intended target”.

“I never know you could make a barrier like that without a magical horn! I thought that sort of freaky-deaky stuff was restricted to unicorns only”, commented the bewildered Greta as she scratched her head.

"Ocellus is right though. Remember that one evil peggie named Cozy Glow, who was able to make pen-pals with Tirek in Tartarus?" reminded Sandbar as he looked at the creatures hopelessly trying to break down the barrier. "From what I read in the newspapers, ever since the petrification of the villainous trio, the top wizard investigators had done some digging into Cozy's life and found out that she was sending letters written and signed in ink mixed with her own blood. These letters were thrown into a special enchanted fire pit that could send messages to Tartarus. They're amazing paired pieces of magical artifacts if you asked me”, elaborated the whiz-kid Sandbar as he lectured his peers on recent important events.

"Uhhh, DUDE! Maybe you could save the historical stories for later! We got a jumper on a mid-life crisis who's about to go splat on the hard marble pavement!!", squawked Greta as she pointed at the suicidal stallion on the balcony railing.

"WELL, what is he waiting for??!! Why the hell is he standing around here like a stiff statue?! Is the crowd around him frightening him or something??!", growled Smolder as she looked up with an angry ticked-off expression.

"C'mon, Smolder! Don't be so grimdark! This is a living breathing being we're dealing with!" snarled Ocellus with scorn towards Smolder. "I think he's just waiting for some creature to come forward to the tower in person to make his speech before showing off! Some creature---or perhaps---somepony like---!!"

"ALL RIGHT, every creature quit breaking down the barrier!! You're only making him feel less hesitant to take a swan dive from the tower!!", yelled Professor Rainbow Dash as she flew up in the air to warn every flying to back off.

"Every creature on the ground should back off immediately!! All you're doing is wasting energy on yourselves!! Let the professional teachers handle this situation!" hollered Professor Applejack before the yaks, earthen Equestrians and unicorns stopped their futile attempts to break through the magical barrier.

"Did I heard that right? Somepony---up there---is about to take his own life from--(GULP)--on top of that tower?!", nervously shuddered Professor Rarity who had now joined the rest of the frontal audience, alongside her friend Professor Fluttershy.

"I hate to say this, but I'm just as surprised by this sudden news as you are, Professor Rarity. I think it's actually an old classmate from the very first year of school", replied the shocked Ocellus.

"Oh no! One of our students is up on that tower balcony?? How can you be sure??", replied the worried and panicked Fluttershy as she looked up into the air.

Meanwhile, up in the high part of the tower, all the flyers except Rainbow Dash had left the scene and decided to back off from the precarious situation under their professor's orders.

"HEY, YOU!! Get down from here!! And I meant that by the stairs, you hear me??!!", ordered the flying Professor Rainbow Dash as he faced the suicidal stallion. With the other students out of the way, It was now only the magical barrier standing between her and the jumper.

"NO! Not unless you bring over Professor Fluttershy!!", demanded the suicidal Equestrian.

"What in the hell is the meaning of this??!! Did you actually pull that fire alarm and quickly got yourself stuck in that tower like a demented damsel, JUST so you could get every creature here see you die??!" shouted the berating upset Rainbow Dash.

The jumper replied angrily, "THAT'S NONE OF YOUR CONCERN, Professor Dash!! I demand to see Fluttershy, and if I don't see her within a few minutes, I'll make a swan dive performance right now for every creature to see---!!"

"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT, cool your jets!! I'm fetching her right now! But you BETTER still be here when she returns! I don't want to mop up your messy blood from the damn pavement later on!" scorned Rainbow Dash as she flew down to the crowd.

"Rainbow Dash!!", Fluttershy shouted when she reacted to Rainbow Dash fly towards her. "OH, please tell me that he's still all right, so I could go talk to him!"

"Yeaaahh, funny you should say that! That's exactly what Auburn Vision really wanted you to do when he asked me to go fetch you, Fluttershy". responded Rainbow Dash with contempt.

"Oh, NOW I remember him! No wonder he looked so familiar! He's--uuhhh-that stallion---who was in that first yearbook group photo sitting on the left next to Professor Fluttershy! I always wondered what happened to that guy after he dropped out of Professor Fluttershy's classes.", exclaimed Smolder as she looked back to her years of school memories.

Professor Fluttershy then swiftly flew upwards and started to address the whole gathering crowd. "Listen up, every creature! I'm going up there right now to talk my student out of this! You students just stand clear! If he makes a move off the edge, I want every creature to avert their eyes! No creature should have to witness such a terrible tragedy!" . With that message sent, she quickly flew up to the highest point of the tower, as far as her expanding wings can take her.

"MEH, I don't mind a little blood...", said Smolder nonchalantly as she whipped out her 35 mm film reel mini-camera.

"SMOLDER!! What did I tell you about making snuff films?!", shouted Professor Rainbow Dash.

"Uggghh, it's all funny until some sick creature starts recording your demise without helping", muttered Smolder

Then, a certain bespectacled light beige-coated yellow unicorn mare with a red-and-violet striped tied-up mane, a black buttoned sweater and a light yellow skirt came into the front of the audience, gasping for air after all that running. Accompanying the exhausted unicorn was a teal green-coated unicorn mare with a white laced top, orange-yellow jacket and a brown long dress.

"Academic counselor Moondancer! Music Professor Heartstrings!" exclaimed the worried Ocellus when she caught the wind of the two educators. "It's Auburn! He's gone mad with self-loathing!"

"I know! I saw him through my zoom vision spell! Looks like he's not willing to seek his savior anytime soon!", shouted Headmare Starlight Glimmer when she entered the scene.

"HEADMARE STARLIGHT!!", shouted every creature in the frontal audience when they saw her graciously walked towards the tower with her velvet rose suit.

"Headmare, we can't get into that tower with that barrier blocking our path! Not even the toughest yaks in the weight-lifting school team could ram it through!! This situation looks pretty futile, if you asked me!", shouted the worrisome Sandbar.

"Lucky for us, that shoddy ethereal barrier may be easily taken down with a simple disenchanting spell!", replied Moondancer.

"Wait, you mean there's a way we can break through that barrier?!", shouted the very loud and surprised Ocellus.

"Shhhh, that above classmate of yours can hear you!", snapped Professor Heartstrings.

"It won't be easy though. We need three unicorns to chant out the spell in perfect unison. It's not a long spell, but if not done right, it would cause the barrier to glow brightly and your old friend may be tipped off, before taking the plunge", explained Moondancer as she readjusted her glasses. The thought of the spell going wrong caused Professor Rarity and Dash to become shook with total fear.

"Don't you worry, dear students. If you all follow Counselor Moondancer's instructions carefully, you all might be able to save your friend from his own instability", Headmare Starlight Glimmer assured, putting the rest of the crowd under calm nerves.

Moondancer then urged Professor Rarity, Professor Dash, the griffons, dragons and yaks to huddle around her "Now, here's the plan..."

----------(MEANWHILE, UP IN THE AIR)----------

"Auburn, I was told by Professor Dash that I was the only one that you will talk to! Is there any reason why you brought me and the rest of the whole school here?!", shouted Professor Fluttershy as she flapped her large wings. She pressed her palm on the barrier as she nervously looked onto the nervous suicidal Auburn.

"It's---it's-----(GULPS)----it's because I hate myself for loving you, Professor Fluttershy!!", confessed the loud crying Auburn as he was precariously balanced on top of the metal railing of the square balcony. "You were the only one who I ever thought about in my heart during these first few years in school!"

"Please! Let's be rational for the sake of these students here and for me!! We'll talk about this in private if you just take the stairs down back to the ground for me!", Professor Fluttershy yelled in order to overcome the noise from her wings and the curious crowd.

"You think I'm crazy for saying that I love you, and YEAH! Maybe I am! But ever since news about your engagement with Discord the Lord of Chaos, I had been feeling nothing but conflicting emotions about you! It's something that I could never get rid of!!", shouted the tearful Auburn as he stared directly at his former professor's eyes.

"Auburn, PLEASE! This isn't the student I used to know! What about the friends and family you're leaving behind? Think about this!", Professor Fluttershy pleaded as her pupils started to shrink out of fearful concern for her former student.

"I had already been thinking about how I should be planning this for a long time now! And you're wrong! I had always been liked this the moment this school started! I just had been hiding it for a very long time from you, because I was too scared to confess my feelings for you!", shouted the crying Auburn Vision. He later continued on with his prepared speech as he shook ferociously on top of that railing.

"Ever since you made that proposal, I had both hated you for breaking my heart, but at the same time, I felt like I couldn't stop loving you from the bottom of my heart for what you are----a loving teacher-----a best friend----and my mental sanctuary.....! And now, I felt like my life had hit rock bottom into the abyss..."

Fluttershy responded with this question. "I'm sorry I didn't realize you had actual feelings for me and how much of that romantic tension you had built up over the years. If I had known, I would've convinced you to have a talk with Counsellor Trixie to re-evaluate your feelings for me..."

Auburn looked at Fluttershy with an intense glare and responded "---which is why I will fall from the tallest observation tower to express how far the bottom of my heart is and how far I had driven myself into the abysmal bottom!"

Just as he was about to slip off the railing to take his final dive, he noticed that the ethereal barrier around him was starting to slowly dissipate. He looked down to see if any creature was tampering with his homemade wall, but realized the view was being blocked by the griffons and dragons.

"That's right, yaks! Stomp to the rhythm to keep that spell chanting in unison!" ordered Professor Lyra Heartstrings as she waved the conductor wand to keep up with the regular three-two time.

"Scu-tum // dis-pers-i-o // vit-et-ur /// Scu-tum // dis-pers-i-o // vit-et-ur", repeatedly chanted Headmare Starlight Glimmer, Counsellor Moondancer and Professor Rarity, as they surround the tower in triangular formation and casted their disenchantment spell from their magical horns.

As soon as the ethereal flame surrounding the tower started to die down, Professor Rainbow Dash flew up with lightning speed and shouted, "Now's your chance, Fluttershy! It's already been weakened! Use your chance to break through that barrier!!"

Fluttershy immediately tried to barge through, but the barrier was still holding strong against her rushing attacks!

"It's no use!! I still can't get through!!", shouted the panicking Fluttershy.

"Not if I can help it!!", Rainbow Dash shouted as she mentally charges herself up for a sonic dash through the barrier!

"It's too late now, Professors!! I already made up my mind", shouted the tearful Auburn as he was about to take his final step.

Then, just when things seem to go very grim as Auburn Vision bend his body downwards for a dive, a speeding fiery yellow tall thin stallion came crashing through the weakened barrier like a speeding howitzer shell, leaving behind a smoke trail in his wake.

It was an amazing yet very awkward spectacle for Professor Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy! They didn't expect a flying deux ex machina to come save the day like a crazy superhero.

"HEEEEEELPP MMEEEEEEE!!!", shouted the strange man when he was about to come face to face with Auburn Vision.

It was at this moment---that Professor Fluttershy recognized that very strange man who had came in just in time to save her beloved long-time student.

----------(2 MINUTES EARLIER IN STARLIGHT'S OFFICE)----------

"Wow, would you look at that?! Every creature out there seems to be gathering around that glowing observation tower. Look at the size of that ethereal aura!", shouted Young Master Zhi as he was up close to the window, staring at the faraway scene of the gathering crowd that had built up ever since the fire alarm went off. He was still holding the three test tubes of caustic and acidic chemicals in his left hand and was in the middle of relocating the blue cannon.

"I know, right??!! It's like they're having a huge rave party without me!!", shouted a high-pitched jealous voice.

"GGAAAHHH, what the---??!! WHAT, WHERE, HOW, WHEN??!!!", shouted the flabbergasted Young Master Zhi in surprise when he looked to his left and saw that Headmare Starlight Glimmer was nowhere to be seen.

"OOPS!! SORRY!! I didn't mean to startle you! Guess I should've said something first when I came in! I'M PINKIE PIE, by the way!! I'm one of the teachers who worked at this school!! You must be the stallion Starlight was interviewing today! OH, by the way, thanks for keeping guard on my party cannon, sir!", shouted the apologetic yet loud Pinkie Pie.

"I know who you are and the rest of the Mane Seven from the brochures, lady! Where the hell did that headmare ran off to??! Explain yourself!", loudly questioned Master Zhi as he pointed directly at Pinkie Pie.

"OH RIGHT, I forgot about why I was here for! I was too busy watching the scene alongside you!" nervously chuckled Pinkie Pie and she rubbed the back of her head. She continued to explain the circumstance of her presence.

"You see, I was just about to head on over here to fetch my party cannon from Starlight's office! I kinda forgot I left it there by mistake, when I was having it relocated to the tower! When I heard that the fire alarm went off, I began rushing over here immediately, as I was worried some creature must've found my cannon and somehow set it off! Luckily that wasn't the case, and I was relieved that Starlight hadn't scolded me for my idiotic mistake yet! Do you have any idea how much trouble I could had been in if the fire alarm hadn't went off??!!"

"Get to the point, lady!! Where's your big boss, the Headmare!!?", cried out the impatient Young Master Zhi.

"OH RIGHT, of course! When I got to the office, Headmare Starlight told me to escort you out of the school, while she head out to the scene of the commotion to check what was going on! But then I saw that you were distracted by that very same scene and got myself too hooked on the drama outside too!", explained Pinkie Pie.

"Oh---is that so, eh??", wondered Young Master Zhi who was still standing close by the window. "Well, then I guess we all better get going before this whole situation blows over then, huh?"

Just as Young Master Zhi turned around to step out of the office, he found himself suddenly slipping onto the flat chemistry set box laid on the floor, causing him to fall over and letting go the three sealed glass vials filled with these dangerous chemicals: nitric acid, sulfuric acid and glycerol.

As the vials were inadvertently thrown, they were shattered upon striking the muzzle end of the party cannon, causing all the dangerous liquids (alongside the glass shards) to be spilled into the breech of the cannon!

"OH SHIT, the vials!!!", exclaimed the panicked Young Master Zhi as he rapidly climbed into the cannon muzzle to fetch the broken glass shards! "GAH, I can barely fit into this bore here!! AUUGHH, It's too dark in here!! How am I supposed to find the shards without a light?!", muffled Young Master Zhi as he buried himself further into the cannon.

"Here, lemme shine a light on it", offered Pinkie Pie as she took out the fuse cord and stick a lit blowtorch into the touch hole to provide light inside the cannon.

💥"KABOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!" goes the party cannon!!💥

"WWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, HEEEEEELLLPPPP MMMMEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!", shouted Young Master Zhi as he was immediately blown from the cannon by the extremely sensitive nitroglycerin that was inadvertently synthesized within the breech of the cannon. When it was lit by Pinkie Pie with her blowtorch, it caused a huge massive explosion that not only sent Young Master Zhi crashing from the window, but also destroyed obliterated the cannon and destroyed most of Headmare Starlight's own office!!

"*COUGH--COUGH--COUGH* Sweet Celestia, that was INTENSE!!!!!", hollered Pinkie Pie as she quickly regain her senses after being caught off guard by the sudden explosion. Then, she realized something had gone terribly wrong. "OH NO, my party cannon 2.0!!! It's RUUIINNEEDDD!!!", cried Pinkie Pie as she kneel down next to the blue-and-black steel scraps of her mangled party cannon.

As Young Master Zhi was panicking like a flayed chicken across the sky, he found himself flying upwards and heading straight towards the square steel balcony. Before he could reached that balcony, his sheer speed and force first sent him crashing straight through the weakening ethereal barrier. His luck in penetrating the barrier was all thanks to the three adept unicorns reciting the disenchantment spell near the base of the tower.

As Young Master Zhi was right up to the bars of the steel square balcony, Auburn fell right onto his back out of pure shock of the incoming Equestrian projectile heading straight for his direction.

Professor Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash all watched in shocking awe at the sudden scene. They couldn't believe their eyes when Auburn went from attempted suicide fall from the balcony to being held for dear life by the eccentric yellow stallion.

"HEY LOOK, I think I see Master Zhi again! Looks like he saw the danger with his own eyes and decided to blast himself to save the poor soul!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he peered through Smolder's telescope!

"WHAT??!! Are you SERIOUS??!! He's back again?!", shouted the jaw-dropped Smolder.

"What can I say? He's the master of everything!! That's what makes him SO awesome!!", excitedly shouted Turnip Head. "UH OH, I hope he will be able to fight that guy off the balcony without being dragged down back to earth!"

"This day just keeps getting weirder and weirder!", commented Silverstream as she continue to peer up at the tower peak.

"GGAAAAHH, PULL ME UP, PULL ME UP!!!", panicked Young Master Zhi as he was holding onto Auburn's arms with his dear life. While Master Zhi continued to struggle, Auburn was in a near-sitting position and fought ruthlessly to get the crazy stallion man off of his body. Both Young Master Zhi and Auburn were both separated by the now mangled steel balcony framing.

"LET ME GO, you damn nutcase!! I WANNA DIE!!", shouted the awestrucked Auburn as he used his lower hooves to braced himself onto the mangled steel frame of the balcony.

Still holding onto Auburn's arms, Young Master Q shouted, "Don't be silly, kid!! Whatever your problem is, don't pull me along with you, so dear god, please pull me along up here so I won't die!!"!!

Then, suddenly the balcony frame started to give way and was buckling from the sheer weight added by Auburn when he tried to climb over the railing again. Every creature in the crowd then screamed in awe of the increasing calamity of the ongoing situation.

Just as soon as the balcony railing had tipped over from its ledge and the two stallions were about to fall to their deaths, something was grabbing Auburn by the seat of his brown pants.

It was Professor Fluttershy and Dash who had managed to grab a hold of Auburn as they were flying! It seemed that the barrier had dissipated enough for the two pegasus women to reach the peak top of the tower. Assessing the situation, they saw that Young Master Zhi was still able to hold Auburn by the arms, but still struggling to hold onto dear life.

Every creature, including Headmare Starlight Glimmer, was shocked to see the mangled balcony railing fall straight down onto the marble pavement, but were then relieved and cheerful of the heroic rescue by the Element of kindness and the Element of royalty. Even the fire brigade who had surrounded the tower applauded the two heroines for their brave actions.

"ALL RIGHT!! You saved the day, guys!! Especially you, Master!!", cheered Tiny Turnip Head as he jumped for elated joy.

"C'mon, help me get these two men back on the balcony!" shouted Professor Rainbow Dash. As soon as both Auburn and Master Zhi were safely placed back on the balcony, both Professors were now in personal contact with Auburn.

Suddenly, Professor Rainbow Dash turned her student around to face her, before she immediately slapping Auburn in the face! "What in the Tartaric hell were you thinking, you idiot??!! Is THIS how you wanted every creature of your school to see you?!! A total quitter and a loser in life??!!", barked the upset Rainbow Dash as he grabbed Auburn by the shirt.

"You wasted every creature's time, including the professors, staff AND the students!! You're supposed to act like a role model for the new generation, not go off making macabre scenes in front of the whole world!!", continued the livid Rainbow Dash.

"We worked our hardest best to transform you into the stallion you had become! Don't you DARE make us regret wasting our efforts onto you!! You may not be our student anymore, but you're still part of our social friendship family, godammit!! And that includes your beloved Professor Fluttershy too!!"

Suddenly, Auburn found himself having an epiphany in his conscience and had snapped himself back to reality. With the angry Professor Rainbow Dash still gripping tightly onto his shirt, Professor Fluttershy budged in when she placed her hand on Rainbow Dash's shoulder.

"I know how you feel, Auburn. I know what it's like to have somepony you love so much be taken away from you....but that is no reason to end you life now", muttered Professor Rainbow Dash after she switched to a softer tone.

"When I realized why you wanted to talk to Professor Fluttershy, I immediately knew deep inside about how conflicted you were, because I had been through that path myself.", shuddered Rainbow Dash as she still kept her grin on Auburn. "But then a certain best friend of mine---a pink professor at this school---told me that there are plenty of mates out there in the world who may love you for who you are, and you're only throwing away their one in a million chance to meet somepony special like you". Auburn was feeling the pain from both the grip and those kind words uttered by Professor Dash.

"So please, do me a favor---and carve yourself a tunnel to the light if you hit rock bottom, even if the effort may be hard to follow. If you felt like giving up, remember that this school will always be by your side, even after your departure.", Rainbow Dash found himself crying and shaking with both disappointment and pity for Auburn.

"Rainbow Dash, if you may---I want to have a turn with our old student here" calmly requested Professor Fluttershy. Professor Rainbow Dash hesitantly released his grip from Auburn, before Professor Fluttershy held Auburn's hands with her own gentle soft hands.

"Never pull something that you wouldn't want your loved one to do", said Professor Fluttershy with a calming tone. "Let's get you out of this tower safely and have a talk with Counsellor Trixie."

Then, out of the sudden blue, the rattled Young Master Zhi broke free from his motionless shock and barged in between Professor Fluttershy and Auburn. "PHEW, that was a total explosive climatic change of events, wasn't it??", interrupted Young Master Zhi who had inadvertently and abruptly turned the atmosphere from grimdark to eccentric.

"Allow me to give you my honorable thanks for saving me, Miss Fluttershy!", praised Young Master Zhi as he bowed in respect for Professor Fluttershy, who then suddenly screamed in horrifying terror.

It was at this moment that this eccentric stallion had suddenly realized---that during his bowing gesture, he had accidentally bumped Auburn in the groin with his bum, causing Auburn to lose balance and fall off from the edge of the tower.

"AAAAAAHHHH, SAVE MEEEEE!!!!", Auburn screamed as the whole entire crowd screamed in terror once again.

Then, out of heroic instinct, Smolder, Ocellus and Silverstream flew up like energized superheroines towards the falling and screaming Auburn.

"Don't grab him head on towards his direction! You might accidentally break his spine if you speed towards him head on!" shouted Ocellus who had now transformed himself into a flying fox2.

With those physics in mind, Smolder, Silverstream and Ocellus flew up and dove down from above the falling student, catching up with his body and grabbed him immediately by the limbs. They then gradually slowed down their descent and made a U-loop path towards the sky, with intent to carry him to Counsellor Trixie's office on the second floor of the classroom building. Every creature in the crowd who had witnessed the resuce suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

"YOU GO, GIRLS!!", cheered the now elated Turnip Head as he pump-fisted in victory.

"HELP, HELP!! PLEASE!! I DON'T WANNA DIE!!! I HAVE SEEN THE ERROR OF MY WAYS!!", cried out the panicking frightened Auburn.

"OH, nooowww he wants to live freely!! Equestrians are sooo indecisive when it comes to life choices! Make up you godamn mind already, groundling3!!", scorned Smolder as she rolled her eyes.

"Smolder, he just got OUT of committing suicide by our Professors! Take it easy on him!", scowled Ocellus the flying fox.

"There there, Auburn! Your old classmates are here to help you now! Rest easy, my dearest friend!", comforted Silverstream as the three flying angels carried off with their prized treasure.

Meanwhile back at the tower, Headmare Starlight had self-levitated upwards to the highest peak of the tower, with crossed arms, a disappointing expression and a desire for a lot of answering from her interviewee.

Young Master Zhi looked behind with nervous anticipation, saw the headmare, quickly turned around and gave out a very fake smile as he shouted,

"Uhhhhhh---I can explain!"

---END

Author's Note

Nag(s): a useless horse (occasionally derogatory against Equestrians, depending on the context)

Flying Fox: a very large megabat creature with a huge wingspan

Groundling: Earthen Equestrian (derogatory)

5 Drudges of Society

Chapter 5 -Drudges of Society

----------(MEANWHILE AT THE LOCAL BUCK-BALL FIELD OUTSIDE THE SCHOOL OF FRIENDSHIP)----------

It was a very sunny and green day at the school's official outdoor buck-ball field, which was located only a few kilometers from the school's entrance. The bleachers that were previously built as part of the first school match-up (between Students of Friendship vs Students of Magic) still stood today, turning more beige from the repeated daily exposures to the natural elements, especially the bright UV exposure from the sun. The four concentric white round painted circles on the grassy field (with a straight line dividing three of the first three circles) were slightly faded from the rainy and snowy elements. Two buck-ball basket posts still stand on direct opposite sides divided by the white line, on the fourth outer circle of the field. The scenery surrounding the buck-ball field was filled with a couple of dark bushes, rolling grass hills and a couple of deciduous trees. Some batch of flowers also litter around the buck-ball field, with most of them being dandelions, petunias and daffodils.

As laborious as this may be, the School of Friendship still had to send out a few of its best groundskeepers to maintain the sanctuary of their exercise field, so that their students can continue to play their buck-ball game after school is over. The reasoning behind their decision of maintaining the field after its construction was that they wanted their students to remain physically active and that sports play will help build bigger brains, thereby building even smarter students in the process. And who better than an old dirt-brown coated, grey-maned, bulbous hat-wearing and shaggy blue-uniformed Earthen Equestrian stallion named Mister Greenhooves?

"All right, newcomer! You ready for this task?", asked Mister Greenhooves as he was carrying a pair of wooden buckets filled with white paint on a yoke. Alongside him was a very old beige-coated unicorn with a grey shabby mane and also wearing the same blue caretaker's uniform as Mister Greenhooves. Dragging behind him was a small cart with a pair of each required tool: paintbrushes, paint rollers, push mowers, lawn seed bags, hammers, nail jairs and finally, wood varnish bottles.

"Like I had a choice...", grunted the grouchy unicorn as he struggled to pull the worker cart.

"I'll take that as a yes, Mister----uhhhhhh----", Mr. Greenhooves was already starting to forget his employee's name.

"TANG! And if you don't wanna bother remembering that name, then I'll go by just 'Mister', you got that?!", shouted Mr. Tang as she glared at Mr Greenhooves.

"All right then! You know what to do for today?", asked Mr. Greenhooves.

"Repaint the white lines, polish the wooden bleachers, mow the lawn field and plant the grass seeds!", reiterated Mr. Tang with a coarse groan. "You already asked me that question more than 15 times already! You're even more senile than me, you damn fool!"

"Right you are, Mister!" shouted the elderly Mr. Greenhooves with a raspy voice. "Say, what do we got here? I thought buck ball practice wasn't supposed to start until 7:00 pm after school!", yelled Mr. Greenhooves as he looked onto what appeared to be two gangs coming close to the buck-ball field.

"OH, you have GOT to be shitting me right now!", yelled the angry Mr. Tang as he was surprised about happening on the buck-ball field.

Not all the creatures who had immigrated to Ponyville came to learn about the magic of Friendship. They often gained illicit entry into the country through temporary visa cards, fake student permits or using plain old bribery on corrupt Equestrian immigration officers. Some of those who did enter Ponyville with the intent to attend the School of Friendship, for some reason, decided to drop out before their first-year semester even ended and joined with the underground local gangs that plagued a few regions of Ponyville. The majority of those rogue creatures who decided to go against the Equestrian lawful customs and norms were Abyssinians from south Equestria, as well as the Diamond Dogs from Dimondia and the Appaloosan Mountains.

Unsurprising to say, just like their less sapient counterparts, the Abyssinian underworld empire have rival tensions with the underworld Diamond Dog empire. Needless to say, there had been a couple of skirmishes between the local rival gangs of these canine ruffians and the feline felons. Some gangs merged together to gain better control of the black market. It was the steady growth of these gang territories that prompted the Princess ruler of Equestria to sign a royal executive order to install chrome-steel police call-boxes around each corner of Ponyville's blocks that will send either direct phone calls to the town police stations or automated telegraph messages that will can send specific types of crimes taking place, depending on the dial at which the pointer was set on the call box1.

Not surprisingly, the Abyssinians and Diamond Dogs both don't like the idea of those devices that can call for police back-up within a phone or telegraph message away. Thus, vandalism of both installed and partially installed police boxes wasn't uncommonly practiced by both rival gangs, so construction sites for these police call-boxes had to be under night surveillance by royal guards and most boxes had to be locked by a special key carried by the town patrolling police. If any citizen had to make an emergency call, they had to pull on the lever on its side to activate the alarm bell and turn on the remote gas lantern post on top of the police box. This in turn would activate the automated telegraph message to the police station, telling it to send a police cart wagon to the site of where the police box was activated. Response time of police, ambulance or fire brigade arrival usually takes 2-5 minutes after the call was made.

Some citizens who are government workers, privileged wealthy citizens, community service workers, civil servants and volunteer home guards can apply for a special police box key to gain access to the call dial, though this process may take 2-5 weeks to complete. But with keyed access to the box, they could make the call to the police station about a specific crime or use the pointer dial to send specific automated telegraph messages about each crime listed before pulling the side lever. Those include:

Police wagon (default)

Thieves

Sorcerers

Rioters

Drunkards

Murder

Accidents

Hate crimes

Brawls

Medic

Fire

Upon closing the box, the pointer will automatically be set back to 1, so that no false telegraph alarms would be activated by accident (though most citizens would set the dial back to 1, for fear that the dial would not reset upon closing or as a courtesy)

Some police boxes were connected by wires, though they would often be sabotaged by Diamond Dogs digging under the cables to cut the connections, so most of the wired networks had to be protected by hardened steel pipes, concrete barriers and/or razor wire. Though there are some wireless call-boxes, they can be easily be interfered by magical auras from nearby witchcraft or sorcery, so most wireless call boxes are usually installed in remote areas with fewer mana citizens in the neighborhood.

To prevent any false alarms or prank calls to the police, punishments against unlawful activation of police call-boxes carried a sentence that takes up 40% of the average lifespan of a specific creature. For example, a kirin who made a false call can be sentenced to 800 years in royal prison2, while dragons can be sentenced to 480 years3. Equestrians, however, can be sentenced to 10-12 years for making the false call4. Thus, most citizens would only activate the police call box if they were absolutely sure the crime has taken place, so they wouldn't be harshly questioned for not assessing the situation very well. As harsh as these punishments may sound for those with very long lifespans, this was to prevent the criminal practice of "gas lighting", in which a gang of criminals will overload the call system by activating a whole bunch of call-boxes to lure the police away from the actual crime, thereby delaying emergency responses to the actual current crime scene and giving their gangs a better chance of a getaway.

This was one of the reasons why Mr. Greenhooves was highly hesitant of his employee Mr. Tang about calling on two rival gangs of red-clothed Diamond Dog hoodlums and green-clothed Abyssinian thugs. He didn't want to jump to any conclusions until he was absolutely sure that these rivals were actually here for a brawl. Otherwise, they could be challenging each other to a regular game of buck-ball like all the other Equestrians. The only evidence they had was the witnessing exchange of words between the two gangs, but there was no law against holding shouting matches between bitter enemies and rivals.

One female leader of the Abyssinian gang, who was a black cat with a wearing a green bandana, green tube top and a pair of green denim jeans, snarled out this remark, "I heard your little rabid puppies had been biting and chewing one of my best cat burglars! We, the Jade Tigers, are not pleased by your insolent unprovoked skirmishes!". All of the various female cat minions behind their leader were wearing green-themed regalia consisting of head bands, tank tops, bandeaus, skirts and leather boots.

One male leader of the Diamond Dog dang, who was a greyhound in a red woolen hoodie with a ruby logo on its chest and red polyester pants, barked this comeback, "Unprovoked??!! Your green-hooded stray diseased cats scratched one of my jewel theives and now they became sick with a bad fever!! We, the Ruby Ruff Housebreakers, demand justice for delaying our heist for months!!". All of the male dog minions behind his leader were wearing red-themed regalia consisting of hooded sweatshirts, jackets, jerseys, denim pants and sneakers.

"We mustn't rush on the police call so early, Mister! We could at least wait if they decided to settle their differences!", protested Mr. Greenhooves as he chased the impatient Mr. Tang as he marched briskly for the police call-box near their tool shed.

"Do you want to risk the field being turned into a garbage wasteland by letting these moggies5 and mutts6 fight each other off, scurry off to their own alleys and tunnels, and risk ourselves being questioned for the same crime of false reporting??", bellowed the begrudged Mr. Tang as he speed up his pace.

"But sir---!" cried Mr. Greenhooves. "What if they weren't here to trash the field and they're only here for a friendly chatter or a regular game of buck-ball?!". Just as they pass through the bushy terrain to reach the tool shed, Mr. Tang made a very harsh remark to Mr. Greenhooves as he sternly came up towards his boss.

"If you wanna make sure they don't end up in a bloodbath, then how about you go over there yourself to talk to these drudges7??! I'll be doing my duty as the Equestria's new civil servant by calling the blue helms8 for assistance, in case things end up turning into a total shitstorm, ya hear??! Otherwise, you can go ahead and leave this place with your tail between your legs!". He later forcefully yanked his police call key around his neck and used it to unlock the police call-box.

Too shocked by Mr. Tang's brazened attitude, Mr. Greenhooves just stood still out of fear for the strange Far Eastern Equestrian who was his lower-ranking employee. Mr. Greenhooves was supposed to be the one calling out the shots, but his very senile nature and reluctance to be hostile made him feel less in charge of the groundskeeping task force and more like an apprentice with greenhorn experience.

After Mr. Tang set the dial to #9 and pulled down the side lever on the police call-box, Mr. Tang picked up the carbon transmitter piece and began calling the police station,

"喂 (wéi)9?! Yes, this is Groundskeeper Tang! I'm calling you over here to report a brawl at the local buck-ball field between some feral cats and mangy hounds!! GET THE POLICE OVER HERE NOW!!"

Mr. Tang immediately hung up the transmitter and began rummaging through the tool shed. Afterwards, he came running out with his own 35mm recording film camera and shouted to Mr. Greenhooves, "If we're lucky, we will record the whole incident on camera and hand that evidence over to the police!" As Mr. Greenhooves stood idly by as Mr. Tang ran passed him, he noticed something strange with the police call-box. When he came up close to the call-box for a closer inspection, he realized that the dial spring had just been sprung out right after Mr. Tang had left and that the direct telephone line to the transmitter had actually been cut off! This meant that the rival gangs anticipated for their emergency call, so they previously had the call-box vandalized before they went off to the buck-ball field to settle their scores in the most brutish fashion.

Afraid for Mr. Tang's safety and the fact that no police may came over to help the potential melee at all, Mr. Greenhooves rushed on over to the buck-ball field as fast as he could, despite his rickety legs giving him bad balancing problems. Within 10 minutes of coming into view of the buck-ball field, he was horrified to see what was happening in front of his eyes as he hid behind one of the bushes.

Violence and war cries from each rival gangster had turned the entire buck-ball field into a battlefield between the Jade Tigers and the Ruby Ruff Housebreakers. The Diamond Dogs were scratched, swiped and kicked by the Abyssinians; in return, Abyssinians were bitten, chewed and pounced on by the Diamond Dogs. In addition, gangsters from both sides had their eyes gouged, tails yanked, incisors punched out and their noses cut off. As the brutal fighting continued on, Mr. Tang was spotted hiding beneath the wooden bleacher seats and recording the whole fight in secret. Hoping to warn him about the vandalized box and coax him out of escaping, Mr. Greenhooves rushed on over to Mr. Tang as silently as he could and huddled close to Mr. Tang underneath the bleachers.

"Look at them, boss! The criminal drudges of the underworld! Plaguing the modern society like a festering disease! HMMPH!! If those damn custom guards were more vigilant with screening those dirty critches outside of Equestria, we wouldn't have to be dealing with this sort of violence by our doorsteps, would we??!", Mr. Tang commented as he was still viewing through his recording film camera.

"The so-called sociologist experts on the newspapers claim the rise in crime rate in Ponyville is a result of lacking resources for the impoverished and the lingering unconscious racist bias of workplaces hesitant in recruiting the minorities, but we Equestrian folk only just wanted more border and immigration security in our town to guard against these damn trouble-making foreigners!", continued the mumbling Mr. Tang while viewing the carnage.

"If I were the mayor of this town, I would stop every future critch from entering the town's borders and had them sent back away to their own kind. Especially those damn fire-breathing lizzies10! I mean, what was the princess of Friendship thinking??! I think those dragons must've planted that egg in Canterlot in secret, in the attempt that their Princess' protege (now ruler of Equestria) would be less defensive towards dragons, thereby allowing her to be more willing to accept these scaly flyers into your country, eh??"

Before Mr Tang would continue on with his prejudice rant any longer, Mr Greenhooves urgently told him, "Look, we can't stay here for too long! The police! They're---!", and just before he had a chance to finish his sentence, out came a very bright ray of bedazzling light from above.

"Aaaawww, who the hell turn up the lights?! It's hurting my eyes!!", screeched one of the Jade Tigers.

"Who dares try to interfere in our business??!!", growled one of the Ruby Ruff Housbreakers.

As the glowing brightness in the middle of the buck-ball field began to tone down, a bespectacled yellow-coated orange-maned and -bearded stallion unicorn with a white-striped muzzle became clearly visible for every creature on the buck ball field to see. He was wearing a yellow-striped white tunic shrouded with a blue star-patterned cape with a dark teal background, alongside a pair of brown corduroy pants and black leather shoes.

Unimpressed by the sudden introduction of the new unicorn showboating on the hoofball field, Mr. Tang came out from under the bleachers and yelled at the unicorn mage, "HEY, no casting random spells in the middle of the fucking buck-ball field!! You are violating the sanctity of this buck ball field!!".

Upon seeing the unexpected bystander, the bearded mage casted several spiked violet crystals from his horn and implant them into ground around the buck-ball field with his levitation spells. A fenced-off barrier was thus built to keep any bystanders out and keep the criminals in. Mr. Tang was taken aback by the sudden daring spell cast by the enlightening unicorn mage.

"What are you scaredy cats waiting around here for??!! Let's get this tinkle horn11!!", shouted the Jade Tiger leader as she whipped out her 5-cm long claws.

"Who does this mage think he is, barging in like he owns the field?!! This trotter needs to be taught a ruff lesson in etiquette!!", barked the Ruby Ruff Housebreaker leader as he whipped out his wooden spiked club.

Little do these gangster rivals know that they were already greatly outmatched by the floating unicorn mage ever since he had arrived on the scene.

Shooting out from the mage's horn was a widespread array of curved fluorescent turquoise crepuscular rays that chased after and struck whoever was in vicinity of the mage's wrath of justice.

Once struck, their bodies were suddenly encased in a crystallized body prison that grew rapidly and radially from the point where the ray had struck, rendering the Abyssinians and Diamond Dogs completely immobilized. Luckily, the spell only went as far as only entrapping their lower mid-sections, so their heads were free to cry in anger and pain from the sudden immobilization attack.

"HEY, what gives??!! I can't move!!"

"He's trapping us with some sort of rock crystal!!"

"This is putting REALLY hard pressure on my glutes!!"

"My muscles are cramping from this awkward position!"

Once all of the gang members were fully encased in their own sedentary crystallized body suit, the unicorn mage relieved himself of his magical burden and broke apart the large crystal fence that was surrounding the buck ball field. After he floated down onto the ground, Mr. Greenhooves, who was once cowering underneath the bleachers, came out of his hiding spot and rushed over to the mage to thank him for his protection.

"Vice Head-Stallion Sunburst! Boy, do I feel honored to be in your holy presence?! Thanks for taking care of these pesky runts for us! I really thought I was a goner for good!! I was about this close to having a darn heart attack from seeing them spill their blood on this school park! What a shame!", cried the saddened Mr Greenhoves as he took off his hat and placed it onto his chest.

"Wait, Vice Head-Stallion??!! That overpowered wizard's the second top command of this school??!! Well, color me surprised! Hate to see what the REAL Headmare would be like in the magical battlefield!", shouted Mr. Tang as he gazed at Sunburst with expressive disbelief.

"So, looks like you cats and dogs are willing to take the trip to the pound!", joked Vice Head-Stallion Sunburst as he whipped out his wooden carved staff and charged it with a teleportation spell on its top blue mana crystal. "I can make the trip easier for you by just teleporting you all to your own cells!"

"Enough with your clownish humor, tinkle horn!!", shouted the Diamond Dog gang leader. "You had no business---!"

"Business in what?? Judging by the bruises and cuts on your faces AND the chaotic scene I saw through my telescope from the school's observation tower, I can honestly say that you ruffians and felines are illegally fighting on MY school property, a crime that can come with a two-month jail sentence. So in actuality, any creature trespassing on my school property is considered MY business!", interrupted the sassy Vice-Head Stallion.

"Ohhh, don't be so rash! We were just having a little fun playing a hardcore version of tag, that's all!", replied the sly Abyssinian gang leader.

"Vice Head-Stallion Sunburst!!", shouted Mr. Tang as he rushed on over to the middle of the buck ball field.

"I would like to honestly testify that these moogies and mutts are indeed criminals in violation of harmonious peace in your Equestrian nation! I have the footage in my camera to prove it!", hollered Mr. Tang as he handed his film camera to Vice Head-Stallion Sunburst.

"Hmmmm, is that so?", questioned the Vice-Head Stallion as he took the camera from Mr. Tang's hands.

"Yes, it's true! Seen him rollin' that film like he was recording an action flick! Check the reel and hand it over to the police station!", testified Mr. Greenhooves.

"No no no no no! You got it all wrong! We were just---uhhh--practicing our tackling moves for the hoof-ball games! YEAH, that's right?!", lied one conniving canine, who was entrapped in crystal with an embarrassing ballerina pose.

"Listen here and listen well, every creature!!", bellowed the upset Vice Head-Stallion, who was not going to take any more excuses from these criminals. "The field that you all were 'playing' on is meant for practicing buck-ball, NOT FOR hoof-ball! So unless you all have official school coaches that could attest to your defense of this mischievous blood sport practice, I would advise that you only play what is officially allowed on each specific sports field! As of right now, I will have the Headmare call on the authorities to deal with the rest of you later! UNDERSTOOD??!!"

Intimidated by the sudden change to a very vehemently angry tone, all the Diamond Dogs whimpered and all the Abyssissians mewed in trembling head-shaking fear of the Vice Head-Stallion, before nodding their mobile heads in agreement.

◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾

Peering from the tall treetop overlooking the buckball field, one shadow cloaked kirin was looking down below and was amazed by how easily those Diamond Dogs and Abyssinians were so easily entrapped by a single adept mage.

"Hmmmmm, I was really hoping to see this bloody brawl come to an end before the police arrived. I never knew it could end so quickly by a crystallization spell from that unicorn.", said the black-cloaked male kirin with a quiet low-tone bass voice.

"GRRRRR, it's NOT fair!! We were SO close in finding new recruits to our triad gang! How in the hell are we going to make good soldiers from these cats and dogs now?!" cried the blue-cloaked male kirin with the crackling and raspy voice.

"Yes, indeed. How unfortunate for such youthful talent to be tossed away out of our reach....have our Thracian contact send an assassination message to the Huntress! Put out a hit on the one named...'Vice Head-Stallion Sunburst'", ordered the black-hooded kirin.

"Of course, 山主 (Saan Jyu)12", obeyed the blue-cloaked kirin as he summoned a voice portal spell from his opalescent and golden-lade bracelet.

◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾

With all of that ruckus taken care of, the old grouchy Mr. Tang and the happily content Mr Greenhooves returned to the tool shack for a short break. Mr. Tang went rummaging loudly within the tool shed again to fetch his thermos. After that, Mr. Tang carefully poured a cup of his favorite ginseng tea onto the plastic cup that also acted as the thermo's top cover. As for Mr Greenhooves, he settled for a simple hot beverage of coffee from his own thermos. As the two laid back on the tool shed wall, Mr. Tang became the first one to speak up.

"You know, what we experienced here today was like a microcosmic example of how our society is crumbling today!", shouted the rambling Mr. Tang as he sipped his ginseng tea. "That is why I would love to dedicate my time in not just keeping the fields spic and span, but also patrolling these grounds for any criminal critch gang that disgrace those playing fields with their rambunctious rabble rousing! I really do love a challenge!"

"Listen, Mister---Tang, right? I kinda appreciated you for trying to protect the school from these hooligans, but you really don't have to push yourself into danger like that!", said the senile Mr Greenhooves as he blew his coffee. He didn't want to mention about his racist rambling under the fear of being viciously attacked. Mr Greenhooves didn't have much strength nor much vigor to fight back against the energetic Mr Tang, and he felt like it was his duty to keep a friendly employer-employee relationship.

"Which is why I want you to take the rest of the day-off to cool your piping hot head of yours, you know, to get your mind outta that crazy gore fest we just saw today", Mr Greenhooves continued as he sipped his coffee.

"Bullshit!! I'm still as peppy as a Germane soldier with a meth needle on his arm! Crime waits for NO sleepers who slack off on the job!", exclaimed the hyped-up geriatric Mr Tang.

"Look---Mister Tang!! I had already told you that you were going to work here as a part-timer for half an hour on the buck ball field, ya hear?! Based on the clock in that tool shed, I say your work time has just ran out.", cried Mr Greenhooves in a louder tone. He really wanted his employee to hear him out for a minute. He took a small sip of his coffee before continuing.

"I suggest you head back to the custodian locker room and change back to your old clothes, and take a rest back at your home for the day"

"You're fucking with me, right Mr Greenhooves? You know this job really means a lot to me, even if I had to come into contact with a lotta critches! I'm only doing this to support a very close best friend of mine and his foster son of his!", replied the determined and eccentric Mr. Tang after he gulped down hard on his ginseng tea

"It's not my call here, Mr Tang. It's part of school policy. Any part-time worker must be let go after their working period is done. Those who refused to let them go will be fired on the spot. That means that if you don't leave now, you won't get paid", explained Mr Greenhooves as he slowly sipped the last portion of his coffee.

"......So, the school's going all socialist on ya, eh?? Well, since I really need to keep this job to keep an eye on my friend's child---siiiigghh, I guess it can't be helped then, huh? Very well...", replied the frustrated Mr. Tang as he tried to calm himself more with his ginseng tea. After he realized he was finished with his cup, he plugged his thermos and placed it back in the shack.

"Well, if you need me for any more part-time labour, I'll be on my dorm down in the basement, sleeping on my cot! See if you could find any jobs with any working period longer than 30 minutes though! Rent on the living apartment quarters for my old friend is really pricey these days!", hollered Mr. Tang as he bid farewell to his boss.

As Mr Greenhooves stared at his employer, he pondered about the conflicting emotions he felt over both his employee's outright discriminatory attitude and his positive ambitious attitude in working hard to earn a decent living. As much as it pains for him to say it, he was the only applicant who signed up to be the apprentice groundskeeper of the School of Friendship. No other pony wanted to work at such a back-breaking and cruddy job, even if the pay rate was increased. That involved raking the leaves, mowing the huge lawn on the hoof-ball field, weeding the gardens and, the worse of all, shoveling dung leftover by the critters at Fluttershy's mini-school fauna sanctuary.

Though he could hire more willing non-Equestrians for the job, most of them often quit within a few days or even a few hours, as the job was considered either too boring, too pungent, too tiring or too unsanitary. Other times, they wanted to focus more on studying for major exams and can't afford to spend most of the time working each and every day. But the real truth behind the matter is that each and every creature just wanted to spend more time with the new friends they made at the school.

Mr. Tang was very different though. He was not interested in making new friends; he was more interested in focusing on his new lease in life in Western Equestria. But his attitude towards other creatures may end up putting up a negative atmosphere in the school, and he didn't want to get into trouble for not harshly disciplining the prejudice pony. As he gazed upon the clear blue sky as he laid back on the tool shed, he thought to himself:

"I better find him a job where he wouldn't have to look at the kids at this school very often....perhaps I could convince the Headmare to transfer him to a job that will involve dealing with a particularly nasty pest problem..."

---END

Author's Note

This chapter takes place at the same timeline as Chapters 3-4

This construction of the police callbox with the dial pointer (1880s) looked like this:

Kirin can live an average of 2000 years

Dragons can live an average of 1200 years

Ponies can live an average of 25-30 years

Moggies: Abyssinians (derogatory)

Mutts: Diamond Dogs (derogatory)

Drudges: Low-class criminal worker who takes orders from a gang leader (or 'whistler')

Blue helms: Police officer (so called because they wore blue sallet helmets)

Mandarin greeting on the telephone (means "Hi" or "Hello")

Lizzies: female dragons (derogatory)

Tinkle horn: Unicorn (derogatory)

Cantonese for 'Mountain Master', a term used to describe the big boss (or dragon head) of the criminal Triads gang
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=%E5%B1%B1%E4%B8%BB&from=yue&to=en

6 An Appealing Negotiation

Chapter 6 - An Appealing Negotiation

A few days had passed by ever since two major incidents at the School of Friendship had severely affected the security detail within the campus grounds. It was the weekend where the students can either stay in their dorms to study or lounge around, but most creatures would rather venture outside of the school grounds to go shopping, relax at the park, talk with friends outside the school or take a stroll through the Everfree Forest. Every creature really tried their best to forget what happened a few days ago.

After that attempted suicide incident at that observation tower, all the towers were locked off by Headmare Starlight's much stronger complex ethereal barrier spell that enveloped the entire tower and only she and the Vice Head-Stallion knew how to deactivate it. Even the balcony was off-limits to any flyer who tried to get close to it. Every student was interviewed by the police about the suicide victim, Auburn Vision, and the school paper had reported that Auburn was under constant suicide watch in his dorm room by the police. He was now under the care of Counselor Trixie, who was tasked with looking after his mental well-being. As much as it really puts a strain on her leisure schedule, she knew she had to do this for her best friend Starlight Glimmer, as well as for the entire School of Friendship. As for the school's buck-ball field, the police had it blocked off with their yellow "Do Not Cross" tape to protect the scene of the bloody crime from being tampered with until they were finished with their investigation. They reviewed the recorded film that contained the footage of the rival gang fight, and used that information to arrest half of the entire gang of Jade Tigers and Ruby Ruff Housebreakers. Though their numbers had dwindled down and their power had shrunk back into pockets of gang territory, gang-related crime in Ponyville had not completely been eradicated, but instead only created a small power vacuum for another foreign criminal organization to take over.

----------(PONYVILLE, 9 AM IN THE MORNING, CENTRAL FOUNTAIN SQUARE)----------

"AUUUUGGGGHH, nopony wanted to give me a new job ever since that story got printed out from the school newspaper", groaned the sad Gallus who was wearing his leather brown jacket and blue canvas pants as his morning spring outfit. During this beautiful spring morning Saturday, Gallus was reading a Squawker Newspaper on the town's pink water fountain with the pony statue. From his reading point of view, Gallus could see a candid photo of himself being chased by an angry athletic horde of horny buff male creatures and angry vigilante female creatures chasing after him for the naughty photo of Fluttershy's huge round delicious derriere. The headline of the Squawker Newspaper above that candid photo read "Birdbrain Tried to Publish Priceless Photo of the Element of Kindness' Asset, Gets Kicked out of Respected Friendship Establishment Instead". At the back of the Squawker Newspaper were a series of help wanted ads, in which some of them were circled with black marker, while others were crossed out with red marker. And most of those help wanted that were circled in black were also crossed in red.

Gallus was severely down in the dumps today ever since he was suspended for an entire week by Headmare Starlight from the school, as well as fired from his job as news photographer of the school newspaper, all that for a very shameful perverted incident. He had nowhere to go since he was not allowed back in the dorms and he did not plan to go back to his home country, not because his former Griffonstone home as a total cesspit with dilapidated birdhouses, griffon gangs, mean-spirited citizens and unsanitary streets, but because his adoptive foster parent named Grandpa Gruff refused to take him back in and thought that the "little shitbird needs to learn how to take full care and responsibility for his own actions by himself, now that he had left his home nest" (well, that was what was read in the response letter after Gallus sent his letter to Grandpa Gruff, pleading him to come take him back home). He had to find a way to make money somehow, so he could rent a cheap motel to stay in, until his suspension was complete. But the problem was that everypony in town was not willing to hire a sex offending birdbrain, who had disgracefully tried to publish the beautiful bum of the Element of Kindness. His presence would end up losing customers visiting their business establishment and nopony wanted to be associated with a peeping shitbird like Gallus.

As Gallus laid down his newspaper on his lap, he felt a strange sharp temptation on his head and when he placed his talon on his head to feel it, he saw that a little bluejay was actually hovering over him and was constantly pecking at his head, much to the annoyance of Gallus.

"HEY, quit pecking on my damn head! It's not a freakin' giant blueberry for you to snack on", protested the upset Gallus as he tried to shoo the bluejay away without falling into the fountain water behind him. The bluejay still continued to avoid his swipes and continued to peck him out of curiosity of his big round blue-berry colored head.

"C'MON, you damn stupid bird!! I had a rough day in finding a job after being kicked out and I hadn't eaten any good grub for the past few days!! Give me a damn break already!!", angrily yelled Gallus as he flew up and tried to grab the annoying bluejay himself.

But the bluejay was really fast on its wings and managed to avoid his wild-swinging grip, soaring up to the sky before ultimately pooping straight down onto Gallus' beak!

"SHIT!! Are you serious??!! You freakin' pooped on my beak!! If I wasn't in Ponyville, I would've pierce you through a spit and roast you over my fireplace!!", shouted the livid Gallus as he dropped down on to the fountain seat and wiped the bird poop off his beak with his giant wings.

The sudden mentioning of devouring that bird suddenly got Gallus' tummy rumbling like a freight train. "Ohhhhh, damn it! I let my inner carnivore kitty side get the best of me, and now my bad hunger is coming back to bite me in the ass again!", cried the now depressed Gallus as he rubbed his growling cat tummy.

"Hey, honey! Wait up for me! Don't run so fast, Lyra!", shouted a pink-and-blue swirly maned and light beige-yellow coated Earthen Equestrian mare, who was wearing a white dress and a blue-and-yellow bowtie.

"If you wanna watch that new film, we better hurry before all the good seats get taken, my sweet Bonbon!", shouted Lyra Heartstrings in her brown dress as she hollered her wife to catch up with her.

Bon-bon had just been sitting by that fountain near Gallus for some time now, eating her regular hayburger as her lunch, before grabbing her black purse and leaving in haste to see a film with her lovely wife. However, under pressure from her wife to hurry up, she had inadvertently left behind her half-eaten hayburger on the edge of the fountain.

Gallus noticed that scrap piece of food that Bon-bon left behind and his mouth began to water excessively like a raging waterfall. However, his inner moral conscience told him that Bon-bon may return back for her hayburger when she realized she had forgotten it.

The dilemma was such a intense burn on Gallus' mind. If he tried to take the burger, he would be seen as a hobo thief and would be further ostracized from the public eye. If he didn't go for the burger now, he would end up starving to death and he would had nothing to eat, except for the decomposing leftovers in all the trash cans in Ponyville. He did not want to end up in a terrible situation like all the other expelled or dropped students, who had nowhere else to go in Equestria.

Gallus first glanced at the half-finished hayburger, but then turned away immediately, trying desperately to ignore the tasty food item. However, no matter how hard he tried to keep the thought of food out of his mind, he couldn't resist taking a peek of the discarded partially eaten hayburger.

In an attempt to not look too conspicuous, Gallus started to set a pair of "talon legs" on the marble fountain platform and set his gaze in the opposite direction of where the burger was. He then slowly allowing his talons to "walk" towards the half-eaten hayburger, and just as they were getting closer, he immediately "picked up the pace" and swooped in to catch the discarded food loot within his whole talon. Thinking that he was now in the clear in doing his civic duty in eating up any food waste leftover by littering Equestrians, he was now ready to eat his prized possession. Little did he know that he was not patient enough to wait for its fast-food customer that had bought that lunch.

Just as Gallus was about to munch on that tasty hayburger, Bon-bon was standing right in front of him in total shock, feeling absolutely cheated by the thieving bird who had took her half-eaten burger without asking. This was not a good look for the hungry and shocked Gallus! If he tried to give back the burger away, he would have nothing left to eat anymore and even if he gave it back, he still would be further ostracized by the public for getting caught stealing her leftover burger. If Gallus ate it in front of her, she would become livid at him, ruff up his feathers with her special martial arts skills, and take him to the police station to be imprisoned as a thieving jailbird.

Gallus felt like he had nothing left to lose and he was trapped in a terrible catch-22 situation. Then, salvation later came in the form of a cute brown chocolate Labrador dog (well---sort of). As the cute adorable stray dog walked right up to the fountain between Gallus and Bon Bon, the blue-headed griffon immediately thought of a great idea. By acting charitable to the dog in front of Bon Bon, he would be seen as a good animal-loving Samaritan who just wanted to take care of those who were down on their luck, and thus the public would not detest him as a thieving perverted jailbird with no moral conscience.

Desperate to save what is left over in his reputation, Gallus proceeded to lend his burger for the chocolate Labrador dog to take in his salivating mouth, and the dog happily accepted his offering from his talon. Gallus then proceed to do a shrug and sincere smiling expression towards the motionless Bon-Bon. Still shocked by Gallus' unbelievable actions, Bon-bon felt very upset about having her burger fed to the small brown dog, but in her heart, she felt like she had no reason to fight against the kind blue griffon who took his opportunity to feed the poor stray dog her own burger. It was her fault she left it on the fountain seat in the first place. Not wanting to miss her movie show, she promptly picked up her purse and proceeded to leave the area as fast as she can.

Looking around to see if there are any Equestrians watching the fountain, Gallus immediately got off the fountain seat and swiftly kicked the chocolate Labrador dog's face with his strong lower lion paw out of sheer frustration!

"STUPID DOG!! GIMME BACK MY HAYBURGER, GODAMNIT!!!" shouted the extremely hangry Gallus as he later grabbed the dog by his back legs. Vibrating his arms furiously like a locomotive steam engine, Gallus tried desperately to shake the half-eaten burger out of the chocolate Labrador dog's mouth!

"Spit it out, SPIT IT OUT!!" shouted the upset Gallus as he continued shaking the poor injured dog. Finally, the half-eaten burger, now wet with the dog's saliva, fell out of the dog's mouth. Soon, Gallus dropped the mentally shocked dog from his talons and proceeded to go after the sloppy half-eaten burger. However, livid at the shitty griffon's sudden betrayal, the chocolate Labrador dog got back on his paws and immediately took a large angry bite at Gallus' left talon before he was able to grab the half-eaten burger!

Needless to say, the dog bite on Gallus' greedy left talon was super nasty enough to incapacitate Gallus for a few seconds, before the angry brown stray dog scurried off with the half-eaten burger in its mouth. It was rightfully given to him as his salvation gift by the formerly charitable griffon anyway, whether he was faking it or not.

"YOOOWWW, that damn dog bit my talon AND my burger!!", cried the angry Gallus as he massaged his mangled left talon.

"HEY, YOU!! Over here!", shouted a sudden high-pitched voice from above.

"UHHH, I wasn't doing anything illegal, I swear!!", cried Gallus as he shakes violently in fear of being caught doing a heinously cruel act against a stray animal.

"Yoh, Gallus! It's us, Silverstream and Pinkie Pie", shouted the pink large busty and professor with a white tank top and denim shorts . Gallus looked up at the balcony and saw that his professor was yelling out to him from a balcony of the two-story pancake house. This restaurant establishment just so happened to be where the professor and his student were having their morning breakfast, and it was located very close by to the pink fountain where Gallus was sitting.

"Hey, Gallus! I heard that you were having money troubles and you needed a job real quick!", shouted Silverstream, who was wearing a white shirt and sea-blue miniskirt. "Have you finally found what you were looking for?"

"Sadly, no! I'm flat out broke and I have no food to eat!", cried the sad Gallus as he hung his head in shame.

"Hey, why don't you fly up there and eat pancakes with us and we'll talk about your situation?!!", offered Professor Pinkie Pie as she sat on the balcony metal round table with Silverstream.

"SURE, I'm starving like an emaciated horse already!", joked Gallus and he immediately flew up and joined his friends for a lovely breakfast.

----------(5 MINUTES OF PANCAKE STACK DEVOURING LATER)----------

"Hmmm mmm mmm! Those were some delicious blueberry and strawberry pancakes, Professor Pinkie Pie!", complimented Gallus as he laid back on his metal lounge chair and rubbed his furry cat belly.

"OH, you can drop the Professor title, Gallus! We're not at school anymore! Right now, I like you to think of me as your best friend!", Pinkie Pie smiled as she granted permission for Gallus to treat her informally in public.

"RIGHT, of course! Understood!", obeyed Gallus as he grabbed a toothpick from the table.

"So, I heard from Fluttershy and Starlight Glimmer that you were involved in a seriously saucy situation! More saucy than a large plate of lasagna, if you asked me", said Pinkie Pie as she whispered closely to Gallus' ear.

Gallus immediately snapped back to reality and had realized he had totally forgotten about his dreadful situation after the pancake contest with Pinkie Pie and Silverstream.

"Yes. And just to let you know, I am very sorry about what I had done to Professor Fluttershy. All the creatures at the school newspaper teased me for not giving them super spicy stories. I couldn't take their mean taunting anymore, so I had to go beyond my potential to find them a story for the whole world to publish. When the chief editor found out what happened, he shredded my journalist license after I got suspended from school", explained Gallus as he hung his head in shame.

"Gallus, I know you wanted to be the best at your job, but that's no excuse for invading personal space and privacy", explained the sympathetic Pinkie Pie. "This isn't how we run this school and you already knew that the moment you stepped in. You had the right to complain to the chief about your situation, but instead you chose to go along with their mean tactics to score yourself a very saucy scoop without ever thinking about other creatures' feelings".

"If that were the case, then why not punish the bullies at the school newspaper too?", questioned Gallus.

"From what I heard, Headmare Starlight had told the chief editor to focus more harsh discipline on these meanies who bullied you. So far, I heard five of these disciplined writers were suspended for a week from the newspaper for--uhhh--what's it called again?", paused Silverstream as she tried to find the correct term.

"Workplace harassment?", said Gallus as he placed his elbows on the table and squished both cheeks in a bored and depressed expression.

"YEAH, that's the word!", shouted Silverstream as she snapped her own talons.

"Face it, girls! I'm a failure in life. My future here in Ponyville is as grim as my past life in Griffonstone", sighed Gallus as he looked down on the table. "I'm sorry for being a huge disappointment, Pinkie Pie..."

"No, don't be sorry. I'm a much bigger doofus than you are Gallus." sighed Pinkie Pie as she looked down on her empty plate."I accidentally left my party cannon 2.0 in Starlight's office and was kicked out for a whole month leaving behind a destructive weapon inside the school. It went off when her interviewee climbed into the cannon and I think I might had accidentally set it off with my blowtorch. It really blew the whole office apart and now it had to be closed for the whole weekend for renovations."

"She was told to escort the interviewee out of the office, but got distracted by the tower incident that was visible from Starlight's window.", explained Silverstream. "I think that interviewee Pinkie Pie had mentioned was the same Equestrian who got blasted towards Auburn Vision. Even it was a goofy accident, he really bought enough time for Professor Fluttershy and Professor Dash to save him from falling off the tower"

"So in a strange kind of silver lining, my and his silly goof-up was the reason why our top student is getting the mental help he needed!", smiled Pinkie Pie as she slowly gained her happiness.

"Meanwhile, my goof-up ended with me getting kicked out AND all I did was had a train of horny creatures chase after me! Did you ladies only invited me up here, just to make me feel even more bad about my suspension??", questioned Gallus with scorn as he crossed his arms.

"OH, I'm so sorry! I almost forgot to tell you! The reason why I called you up here is because I pleaded with Counselor Trixie to give you and Pinkie Pie a second chance to appeal your punishment", said Silverstream as she excitedly express the news to Gallus.

"Wait, appeal!?", Gallus snapped after hearing this sudden news.

"You know, a chance for us to redeem ourselves for our mistakes! Just like what Trixie did after she turned evil from wearing the alicorn amulet! BOY, those were dark times!", shouted Pinkie Pie

"I already knew about Counselor Trixie's past from the school newspaper, Pinkie! I just want to know why she wanted to do this, in spite of our crimes against trust and friendship", wondered Gallus.

"You know how Counselor Trixie is! Always giving second chances to even the most troublesome creatures, just like how Princess Twilight Sparkle gave her a second chance in life! And look at where she is now!", Silverstream exclaimed with elation about the good news. "It's not going to be easy though---"

"Then what are we waiting for??! Let's head on out to find Counselor Trixie and discuss our new deal, Pinkie Pie!!", shouted Gallus as he flew off into the sky.

"WAIT, GALLUS! Trixie's wagon is actually the opposite way!!", shouted Pinkie Pie as she hollered out to Gallus and pointed the direction to The Great and Powerful Trixie's stage wagon.

As soon as Gallus flew back to the ladies, he blushed in embarrassment and agreed to follow the ladies to the right direction. As Gallus flew with Silverstream across the sky at a second-storey level, Pinkie Pie proceeded to ride the wooden stair railing down the first level like a surfer, shouting "WEEEEEEEEEEE!!" all the way down. Pinkie Pie then bounced across the open Ponyville street as she followed Gallus to their own paths of redemption.

----------(30 MINUTES LATER, OUTSIDE TRIXIE'S WAGON DOOR)----------

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!"

"Paper Scissors!"

"Rock Rock!"

"Paper Scissors!"

"Paper, Scissors, Paper!"

"That's the way we cool kids roll!"

[2x]

After they done their hip-hop beat version of this psychological pseudo-random game, both Pinkie Pie and Silverstream came out with a paper sign, while Gallus had won with his scissor talons.

"HAHA, SNIP SNIP!" shouted Gallus as he 'cut' Pinkie's and Silverstream's paper in half.

"Congratulations, Gallus!! You won your right to speak with the counselor!", exclaimed Silverstream.

"Wait, WHAT??! But---I'm not a great at negotiations! I know it's a common stereotype for us griffons, but aside from convincing the griffons in joining the battle against the villainous trio, I never did something like appealing my punishment before!!", nervously shouted Gallus, never knowing that his victory would land him in hot water again.

"It's not like you're asking for a raise, Gallus! She already knows you're in dire need of a redemption! You just need to---!", then before Pinkie Pie could finish her sentence, Counsellor Trixie had opened her windowed wagon door and cried, "If you three goofballs are finished screwing around at my doorstep---". For her morning attire, the light-blue coated unicorn mare with the swirly silver-blue mane was wearing her favorite purple top hat with a light blue stripe, a purple cape with blue-and-yellow stars, a tight buttoned shirt that expressed her D-cupped breasts, a tight-skinned black nylon skirt, black net fishnet stockings and a pair of leather purple boots.

As Silverstream was awestruck by the counselor's slightly racy outfit, she immediately snapped back to reality and shouted, "OH RIGHT! Sorry, Counselor Trixie! We'll come in right now!", apologized Silverstream profusely. As Gallus was about to bail out, Pinkie Pie immediately yanked his head feathers and she loudly whispered to his ear,

"Just tell her what we want and she'll give you the deal! It's that easy!"

After Gallus, Pinkie Pie and Silverstream climbed the few steps up to the wagon entrance and entered the cramped wagon, they found themselves slightly less cramped and saw that there were much fewer magical items, boxes, baskets, capes, hats and a whole lot of other miscellaneous items inside Counselor Trixie's wagon. All that was left was Trixie's own purple office desk with a couple drawers, stacks of paperwork in boxes on the ground, a black shelf with various colorful clay statues and some office writing utensils on her desk.

"Heeeyyy, your wagon is not as cramped as Starlight once described! I love the new purple paint job too!", complimented Pinkie Pie as she looked around the wagon.

"Yeah well, ever since I took my job as Counselor, I had to relocate my magic stuff to my personal safe room in the teacher's lounge and had this wagon refitted as my miniature office. BUT as much as I love to elaborate on my personal story, I understand that YOU three are in some dire need of a---negotiation!", Trixie exclaimed in the end in a very suggestive sounding tone. She went back to her desk and laid back on her adjustable swiveling and tilting purple vinyl chair.

"Well, what are you waiting for?? GO ON!", shouted Silverstream as she pushed Gallus to the front

"OH, uhhhh, as you can see, Counselor Trixie, we are here to ask of you of---", nervously explained Gallus before he was interrupted by the loud and impatient Pinkie Pie.

"NOT ask---DEMAND!! Try again!!", she shouted as she kicked Gallus even further towards Trixie.

"OW, okay!! Quit pushing me!!", shouted Gallus in anger. "Me and my friend Pinkie Pie DEMAND that you---uhh--that is-----UHHHH!!" Gallus nervously tried to find the correct words, but only came out humming and scratching the back of his head as he looked up to the ceiling with a stupor.

Counselor Trixie gave out a somewhat frustrated sigh and decide to interrupt Gallus by finishing his sentence, "Lemme guess, you wanted a chance to appeal your current punishment?"

"YES YES YES!!!", shouted Pinkie Pie, Silverstream and Gallus as they gave their thumbs up and smiled with content at Counselor Trixie's correct answer. As they cheered, they leapt a bit forwards towards Trixie's desk.

"AND you wanted to find easy jobs to pay for temporary living accomodations until the suspension is over?", answered Counselor Trixie once more.

"YES YES YES!!!", shouted the three excited creatures once more again as they jumped even further with excitement from another correct answer.

"Of COURSE! The Great and Forgivable Trixie shall grant your very wishes!", boasted Counselor Trixie.

"HOORAAAAYYYY!!", shouted all three creatures, as Gallus jumped high for joy and was caught in Pinkie Pie's arms like a damsel, while Silverstream raised her fists with excitement.

"NOW, for you Pinkie Pie, as part of your first step in your path to redemption, you shall accompany me in my weekend trip to Las Pegasus---!", Trixie demanded before Pinkie Pie immediately reacted with,

"LAS PEGASUS!???!! OH BOY, I always wanted to go there!! I BETTER pack my bags!!". Pinkie Pie then immediately rushed out of the wagon before Trixie could finish her sentence.

"Las Pegasus??! Wait a minute, don't you have to keep an eye on Auburn first??! He seems really down on himself ever since that horrible incident!", cried Silverstream as she worries for her former classmate's well-being.

"If she let me finish first---!" shouted the frustrated Trixie before changing her tone to something more calmer and continued with her explanation, "I would've told her that I would be bringing Auburn to Las Pegasus to a speed dating convention, so that he himself can find a nice hot suitable mare to spend his entire life with! Pinkie Pie would only act as my chauffeur and butler, to whom I will give a lot of responsible tasks for her to perform, while I focus on my counselling duties with poor old Auburn"

"Speed dating??! Are you taking Auburn to ride in soap cars while chatting with hot female mates as they ride as passengers?", asked the confused Silverstream.

"NO, you idiot! If you had been paying attention in erotology1 class the other day, you would've known that speed dating involves meeting up with each individually various creature of the opposite (or same) sex for only 1-2 minutes, before switching on to the next creature. Then after that, all the candidates would find which creature they love the most and start pursuing their relationship with him/er!", explained the frustrated Gallus after he face-palmed in disbelief at Silverstream's naivety.

"Ooooooh, I get it now! It's like greeting every neighbor in your block with speedy conversations at each house!", exclaimed Silverstream as she finally got the picture.

"Hey, wait a minute! What about us??!! What are we supposed to do for a whole week, while you and your client goof off in Las Pegasus??!!", shouted the flustered Gallus.

"YEAH, Counselor Trixie! Grandpa Gruff didn't want to take him back to Griffonstone and nopony wanted to give Gallus a job, because they don't want to be assosciated with a sex offender!", cried the worried Silverstream.

"Uhhh, I'm right over HERE, you know???!", shouted the embarrassingly upset Gallus as he was very offended by the term, even though it was the truth.

"If Gallus doesn't find good employment now, he's going to be out on the streets and get robbed or destroyed by those scary cats and rambunctious dogs", panicked Silverstream as her pupils dilate in fear for Gallus.

"NOW NOW NOW, Silverstream", assured Counselor Trixie as she tried to calm Silverstream down. "The death of one of our students would certainly be a travesty to our school's reputation. It's our job that we keep our students safe and happy, even when they venture beyond the school premises". Counselor Trixie then turned her gaze to Gallus and talked to him with a caring tone.

"It brings me great joy knowing that my new career can impress everypony (and every creature) in more ways than one, and it would make me so happy to see you grow into a wonderful contributor to your community, Gallus. So always remember, if there's something really troubling you a lot, you know where to find me. I won't hesitate to assist you."

It was these kind words from the Great and Forgivable Trixie that Gallus teared up a little, knowing that there's some creature out there who would still take care of him, even when life hits the abysmal bottom for him.

"Thank you, Counselor. I'll do my best to make it up to the entire school for you...", said Gallus as he sobbed yet smiled with content.

"Here, I want to give you a very special box for you to carry", said Counselor Trixie as she fetched a very shiny golden-lade intricate purple-painted box from one of her office drawers.

"A box?! Really? What's inside?", asked Silverstream as she gazed with awe.

"I won't tell you, it's a secret! BUT I will tell you this", said Trixie in a mysterious manner. She later whispered into both Gallus' and Silverstream's ears.

"You can only open this special box if you have experienced absolute grave danger"

"Oooooohhh, judging by your special instructions, it must be some sort of SUPER epic magical spell contained within this box!! Lemme take it for safekeeping!" cried the bewildered Gallus before he tried to grab the special box from Silverstream's talons.

Silverstream then immediately reacted with a back swing upper punch to Gallus' face and cried "NUH-UH-UUUHH!!!"

"OOOHH, TRIXIE!! I packed all my special sweets from Sugarcube Corner for the whole trip!!" hollered Pinkie Pie as she hauled a large blue and pink canvas backpack.

"GOOD! You come with me to fetch Auburn from his dorm room! We're taking him with us as part of his therapy session", ordered Trixie.

"OOOH, ma'am yes ma'am!! I LOVE three's-a-crowd student field trips! Though more creatures involved may be more exciting, it IS also a hassle! So three Equestrians on this trip is also fine too---!", Pinkie exclaimed before Trixie interrupted

"NOTE THIS, Pink One! Starting RIGHT NOW, you are only here to act as my chauffeur and butler, not to goof-off like a mad mare in a candy store! This will be part of your path to redemption as you will learn the skills required to be a more responsible Equestrian!", ordered Trixie as she yelled at Pinkie Pie like a drill seargent.

"As you wish, Miss Great and Powerful! I WON'T let you down, for my name isn't Pinkie Diane Responsibility Pie!!", shouted the elated and obedient Pinkie Pie, before she left the wagon to wait outside for the Great and Powerful Trixie.

"As for you two, you just wait inside my office wagon! I'll go tell a certain professor from your school that you are here and she will pick you up to get you started on your first job. After that, I'm off with my new butler and my client for my weekend trip! TATA!", ordered Trixie before she left the two hybrid bird creatures behind.

"WELL, now that Counselor Trixie has left the wagon for us to look after, I guess it's time that I be her temporary substitute counselor", jokingly proclaimed Gallus as he jumped back and landed on the comfy swiveling vinyl chair, before pulling the adjustable tilt lever below the chair.

"Awww, no fair! I wanted to play the counselor first!!", complained Silverstream as she leapt onto Gallus' lap by her bum.

"YOW, what are you---OW!! Quit bouncing on me!!!", shouted Gallus as Silverstream sat and bounced onto his lap.

"Ugggh, this feels uncomfortable", whined Silverstream as she wiggled her bum on Gallus' lap.

"Of COURSE it's uncomfortable! You're sitting on my legs! Now get off of me!!", demanded Gallus as his lap writhed in pain from Silverstream's heavy horse rump. SIlverstream apologized quickly before getting off Gallus' lap as requested. As Gallus was enjoying a slow spin on his tilted swivel chair, he took a glimpse of the special intricate small rectangular box held by Silverstream's talons. After a brief thought, Gallus quickly asked his friend Silverstream,

"Wanna take a peak at what's inside that special box?"

In quick response, Silverstream shouted in protest, "NO! You remembered what Counselor Trixie said! We're not allowed to open the box unless we got ourselves into a really dangerous situation! We can't turn our word back on her!"

"Fine, suit yourself...", replied back the shrugging Gallus in a mild manner before he placed his talons onto the back of his head.

Then, Silverstream suddenly spotted something blue and glittery with her eye. After taking a swipe at the strip of blue rectangular paper on the office desk, she realized that she may have hit the jackpot.

"Ooooh look! It's one of those cheques that allows you to write the amount of money you want to have before sending it over to the bank to give you the amount of real money from your bank account!", exclaimed the excited Silverstream.

"Oh yeeeaah, I heard about those from Applejack's honest business lessons on wages! I remember now", pondered the excited Gallus as he stared at the blue glittery and sparkling cheque paper.

"And it looks like it's already signed with Counselor Trixie's own cutie mark! No amount was written for it though", shouted the elated Silverstream as her pupils started to dilate with glee.

"Ooooh, let's see if we could cash in one of her cheques!", exclaimed the excited Gallus.

"I dunno, Gallus. It would be wrong to take money from her bank account without her permission...", worried Silverstream as she pondered about Gallus' idea.

"RELAX! She's basically like a mini-hero celebrity who tours around the world, entertaining every creature with her amazing magical talents! I bet she's like one of the richest Equestrians in Ponyville! Besides, she gave us that special box as a gift, so why not let us help ourselves with her generous loot stash too?", Gallus boasted like he was the Great and Powerful Trixie.

"How would you even know how much money she makes in a year during her time as a traveling magician??", questioned the skeptical and scornful Silverstream.

"Only one way to find out! Let's write a cheque for 10,000 bits!", Gallus excitedly suggested to Silverstream.

"NO NO NO!! We can't do that!! If she actually had less than 10,000 bits in her account, the cheque might get bounced if we tried to cash it in! Then she'll end up having to pay a huge NSF fee2!", warned the panicking Silverstream as she shook her head in disagreement.

"All right then! How about 1000 bits instead??", suggested Gallus.

"NOOOO, we can't do that either! What if she actually had less than 1000 bits??! If we tried to cash that cheque in, it might also bounce! Then she'll end up having to pay a large NSF fee too!", warned Silverstream once again.

"LOOK, Silverstream! I don't have time to play games with you! How's about YOU suggest an amount instead??" cried the frustrated Gallus as he was getting antsy over Silverstream's hesitance.

"Well, if we have to be careful to not rouse suspicion---", pondered Silverstream as she tapped her chin and stared upwards. "I say 10 bits is fine!"

"TEN BITS??!! I can't even buy bread at that price!! You're absolutely insane!!", shouted the fuming Gallus as he lunged forward and tried to grab his counsellor's check. "How's about we meet the middle ground and cash in 100 bits instead??!"

"NO, you can't do that either!! She'll get suspicious of us!!", cried Silverstream as she held tightly onto one end of the check with her two talons. Gallus immediately grabbed the other side of the blue check and pulled it to his side. Soon enough, it became an all-out tug of war for the two hybrid birdbrains.

"Give it BACK, Silver!!"

"NO, you give it back!!"

"It's MY check!!"

"No, it's MINE!! I saw it first!!"

"Well, It was my idea to write on it!"

"GALLUS, give it back!!"

"Kiss my tail feather, Silverstream!"

Suddenly, the check split down in half from the shear opposing forces caused by Silverstream and Gallus, rendering the check useless for the cash-in. Silverstream fell hard on her back with her half of the check, while Gallus fell back harder on the swivel chair, nearly knocking over the items off Counselor Trixie's black shelf.

"OH NO, now we won't have ANY of our 10 bits from Counsellor Trixie's bank account now!!", cried Silverstream as she looked at her ripped half of the bad check.

Suddenly, the wagon door was slammed wide open by a very strong tough Equestrian mare.

"GGAAAAHH, we swear! We didn't do anything illegal!! It was an accident!!"

---END

Author's Note

Erotology: Study of love

NSF fee: Non-sufficient-funds penalty fine for sending the bank a bad check

7 Last-Minute Cancellation

Chapter 7 - Last-Minute Cancellation

Not much was known about where and how the origins of this small underworld empire of kirin crooks sprouted, as its development had only just been uncovered by the public police investigators spanning across Ponyville and Canterlot. The only available information about its origins was that it was started by a well-respected spiritualistic enthusiast known only by his pseudo-name Ginseng Dragon. According to police reports, he had immigrated from Far Eastern Equestria within half a month since Twilight's coronation to spread his own religious ideals to the other young kirin students attending the School of Friendship. It was believed that through his charismatic influence, he was able to lure the students into dropping their friendship studies and continue their alternative education of achieving enlightenment through a series of yoga exercises, meditation, ritualistic ceremonies and, most notoriously, drug parties. Though the exact idea behind the religious cult (known as the Ginseng Triad) is mostly unknown due to his refusal of interview requests by both the public and private newspaper media, the police had believed that the cult was just a front for the Ginseng Dragon to illicitly smuggle, distribute and sell dried opium latex in Ponyville. Seeing this as a scourge towards friendship and harmony in Equestria, the police had been highly focused on cracking down the underground Ginseng Triad, but despite the small size of the gang, their organized secret communication messages, constant changes in eluding strategies and their counter-surveillance made the Ginseng Triad a real criminal force to be reckoned with. There had been rumors from the sensational Squawker newspapers that the Ginseng Dragon lived in a secret homemade mansion within a secret spot within the Everfree forest to discourage any local police from venturing into their base of operations, but the police can neither confirm nor deny its exact location of the gang, until the investigation was complete.

----------(SOMEWHERE IN THE EVERFREE FOREST)----------

"Here's the 10 000 bits you had requested, Huntress!" exclaimed the blue-shrouded kirin with a fuchsia gem finger ring as he handed over a chimera leather suitcase filled with 100 bank rolls of 100 bits each. The white-coated blue-shrouded kirin, who was wearing a blue fluffy mane and brown-tinted round sunglasses, was sitting a very comfy sofa chair covered in the leather hide of a cougar, within the humble living room of the Everfree Forest one-story house.

"Much obliged, Delft Blue", said the Huntress female griffon with a white face and mottled green body. The Huntress was wearing a red bandana around her neck, a black vinyl rebel jacket and pants on her person, and a pair of black vinyl laced boots on her back lion paws. Much like Delft Blue, she was also sitting on another cougar sofa chair nearby. In fact, there are total of four cougar leather sofa chairs surrounding a beautiful mahogany table that was also covered in cougar leather. Underneath them was a very fine intricate rug decorated with a garden of weaved flowers in all shapes and sizes.

"The pictures of your target is within this suitcase", mentioned Delft Blue as he pointed out the four photographed portraits of Sunburst walking around in Ponyville.

"Heh, I only need one photo to know what I'm looking for! You won't regret this, Delft!", smirked the Huntress as she took one frontal portrait photo of Sunburst, and threw the rest of the three pictures on the cougar table. "Just gotta ask your dragon head one thing though..."

Outside in the grassy mowed backyard of the house hideout, a certain red-coated kirin with a black fluffy mane, who was wearing a black cloak, was vehemently stomping along on a train of broken glass with oiled up back hooves, excessively breathing in and out as to ignore the searing pain. As he does so, he firmly grasped with his dorsal gold-plated left hand against his other dorsal plated right hand (which happened to be pointing upwards with two fingers, as well as wearing a gold bracelet and a pair of jade rings on his middle finger). Surrounding the crazy kirin were other strong kirin in black tuxedos, green-tinted sunglasses and cotton shirts. All of them acted like his personal guard, as they were responsible for keeping a close eye on the red-coated kirin for personal protection.

"Ginseng Dragon! Our hungry catbird wanted to know if you wanted his head to be sent to your house or have the confirmed hit order signed in the target's blood", interrupted Delft Blue as he entered the backyard via sliding paper-screened doors. Ginseng Dragon stopped with his intense routine and signaled one of his lion-maned henchmen to place a golden-laced bathrobe onto his person.

"Very well then! I shall speak to her at once personally! Have yourself and my guards clean up the mess! OH, and careful not to cut yourself, Delft Blue!", ordered the Ginseng Dragon as he went under the red-tiled balcony to put on his straw sandals, before he head back inside the green-camouflaged house.

"Yes, Saan Jyu! As you wish", said the kirin bodyguards in unison.

"Okay, he's gone! Gather up all the fake glass! If he suspects even a small whiff of these props, he'll have your back hooves chopped off!", whispered Delft Blue in a condescending yet hasten matter.

After Ginseng Dragon entered the living room where the Huntress was, he went on to answer her question. "A head on a pike would be fine, though if you want to avoid unnecessary bloodshed, bring me his unicorn horn alongside a confirmed message".

"Saan Jyu, your personal entrusted 算命 (Suàn Mìng)1 named Lucky Dew has arrived", said one black-maned male kirin bodyguard as he entered the room and bowed his head in respect for the dragon head.

"My apologies, Huntress. I just remembered I have so many visitors coming over for some underworld business. Why don't you stay in our lovely kitchen for herbal tea? We just had the walls spruced up with white paint!", offered Ginseng Dragon.

"Love to chat, but I got an important errand to run! Point me to the back door, and I'll leave you and your business partner alone", replied the cocky yet humbled Huntress as she picked up her suitcase of bank-rolled bits.

"It's down the hallway there, then to the right", answered Ginseng Dragon before Huntress obeyed his directions to the exit and left the scene.

Two new kirin guests (one old male and one young female), who each wore white tunic robes, large amber-colored bead necklaces and carried orange silken strapped bags, were being escorted by Ginseng Dragon to the living room via clandestine backyard entry. The young brown-coated female kirin with the black fluffy mane was the only one in the duo holding what appears to be a wide heavy dark-wood cabinet strapped to her back with tightened hemp rope. One old beige-colored and grey-maned raspy-voiced kirin named Master Lucky Dew finally said to the Dragon Head,

"It is in my utmost confidence in my clairvoyant powers that I had found what you had sought for to improve your fortunes, Dragon Head of the Ginseng Triad." spoke Master Lucky Dew with high formalities.

"In courtesy of your punctual arrival, I too had found what you so eagerly seek as well, Master Lucky Dew!", humbly replied Ginseng Dragon. "Delft, the payment, if you so please!", he shouted out for his deputy officer2.

After he and the bodyguards were quickly done collecting all the fake broken glass, Delft stepped inside of the living room (with his indoor straw sandals) and took out 10 bank rolls of bits, with each roll containing a total of 50 bits (thus making the cost of fortune telling worth 5000 bits). All the bank rolls were bundled up with three loops of hemp string to ensure they do not unravel. As it was handed out, Master Lucky Dew bowed to Delft in respect, before the female

As Delft Blue bowed down to Master Lucky Dew, the fortune teller bowed to him in return, and the female kirin assistant took the bank rolls of money from Delft's hands, before placing the money in her orange silk bag.

"You may now begin with the ritual, Master Lucky Dew!", permitted Ginseng Dragon as he got a little excited about what fortune he will receive.

"These rituals are not to be rushed, Dragon Head. With the correct amount of patience, my divine spells will yield a 99.99% accurate vision of what your future will look like", boasted Master Lucky Dew as he took out something from his own orange silken bag. It was a brown wooden bowl that was intricately carved like a turtle shell and it was placed on the flowery rug (next to one side of the cougar table). The female assistant of Master Lucky Dew then turned around to allow access to her portable cabinet on her back.

"What about the other 0.01% chance, Master Lucky Dew?", asked Delft Blue as the elderly fortune teller opened up the left drawer of the portable cabinet to fetch a porcelain white-and-blue potion vessel.

"If you were trapped within that 0.01%, then you must have done something extremely upsetting to some really important figure to deserve such a cruel twist in the gods' fate", said Master Lucky Dew as he crouched down to pour some sort of yellowish translucent liquid with mixed bits of many herbs.

As he proceeded to stand up, a small quiet plopping sound was heard from the turtle bowl filled with the suspicious yellow liquid. Perhaps it was an unfortunate little Everfree fly that had inadvertently landed into the wet liquid, but that was not going to be a major problem for Master Lucky Dew. As all the kirin in the living room were too focused on what future lies for the Ginseng Triad, Master Lucky Dew fetched a matchbox from the top middle drawer of the assistant's portable cabinet, before striking the match on the hard cabinet surface and throwing the tiny flame into the turtle bowl.

In an instant, the yellow liquid suddenly became ignited and the yellow-orange flame has suddenly grown tall and had turned blue. As Ginseng Dragon gazed in awe at the spectacle, Master Lucky Dew explained his fortune telling process to his onlookers as he used his kirin magic to gather the blue ball of flame around his pair of palm-cloven amber hands.

"As you will see, my several years of experience as a fortune teller will only allow me to see which lucky man will bring prosperity to your future life"

With one hand holding the hovering blue flame, Master Lucky Dew then proceeded to fetch the iron ashtray from the bottom middle drawer of the portable cabinet and placed it on top of a nearby black marble table with four tall curvy mahogany legs (which was standing on the brink edge of the flowery rug)

With his flame in hand, Master Lucky Dew immediately threw the blue flame into the sacred ashtray, creating a large "WOOMPH!" within, before the flames started to take on a very weird shape.

"Let's see who your lucky man is today", said Master Lucky Dew as he and the other kirin gazed upon the morphing flame

Slowly, but surely, the ball of flame hovering over the ashtray became more recognizable as the face of somepony they knew for some time now.

"Wait! Doesn't that flame look like---??!!!" shouted Delft Blue before the flame took on the face of Vice Head-Stallion Sunburst!!

As soon as Master Lucky Dew realized they were seeing the same image as he was, he immediately fetched a fuchsia cover blanket from the right bottom drawer of the portable cabinet and threw it over the ashtray to snuff out the flame.

"Master Lucky Dew! Is this stallion the one who will bring luck to my empire?!", asked the bewildered Ginseng Dragon.

"He is not only your lucky man! Based on your facial expression, it seemed that you were familiar with what you saw in that blue flame! This stallion that you had saw just then is also your future successor of your empire!! He may actually become the new dragon head of the Ginseng Triad both abroad AND in Far Eastern Equestria!", answered the equally bewildered and shocked Master Lucky Dew. "You may doubt me all you want, but there is no point in doubting the fortune gods!"

As soon as they realized the grave error that they had made, Ginseng Dragon huddled together with Delft Blue and dragged him over to the backyard for a private talk.

"Delft Blue, you must head on over to find the Huntress and ordered her to cancel that contract before it's too late! Save that school mage who will become my new successor to my empire!", commanded the now worrisome Ginseng Dragon.

"Of course, Saan Jyu! I'll make swift before the order is carried out!", obeyed Delft Blue before venturing into the Everfree forest to seek the assassin.

As soon as his deputy officer had left, he returned to the living room and noticed something strange on the cougar table. He saw that a couple of the photos had somehow got spilled over the edge and were somewhat scattered on the floor. "Hmmm, must be a dumb peasant mistake by my maids", the dragon head thought to himself. As his trusted fortune teller gathered his stuff before his quick departure, Ginseng Dragon ordered his kirin henchmen to give 30 lashings to the last maid that was cleaning the living room.

----------(MEANWHILE IN PONYVILLE)----------

It was finally time for both the Headmare and the Vice Head-Stallion of the School of Friendship to finally take their weekend off from their busy and mentally laborious career. Considering this week's hectic events that almost led to two male students being gravely hospitalized, both Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst decided that they needed to relax their frazzled minds by taking their stroll around the Ponyville town hall. No longer in their professionally official school garb, Starlight was now wearing her casual shoulder-less fuchsia shirt, which was worn over by her turquoise shoulder-strapped lace top, and was also wearing her own pair of dark violet nylon warmers around her wrists. Instead of her usual business pants, she was also wearing her pair of casual black yoga pants, which were tight enough to hug around her smooth medium-sized derriere. As for Sunburst, he was without his usual starry-patterned cape with the dark teal background, and instead was in a white shirt and silver-grey cotton pants.

As the two best friends walked around the large town hall of Ponyville, some creature was hiding within the shadows---or to be it more accurate, a shadowy light-bending invisibility cloak---as she stood and laid back idly by against the wattle-and-daub timber-framed walls of the Ponyville town hall. As she lifted away from her invisibility cloak, she---the Griffon Huntress---stalked her intended target with her telescopic bird-eye...

----------(LATER AT THE PONYVILLE PARK)----------

"You know, even after all we've been through ever since Princess Twilight Sparkle first met me at my own village and molded me into the proper role model I am today, I still don't understand why your old man Sunspot still doesn't approve of us being very close together whenever he sees us" wondered Starlight Glimmer as she laid her back onto Sunburst as the two best friends took a rest by a large apple orchard tree.

"I mean, he practically had to be convinced by your mom to back off, or else she'd threaten to have him kicked out from her campaign race to be mayor of Sire's Hollow!", chuckled Starlight as she snuggled against Sunburst's chest.

"Well, I could think of a couple things. For example, my dad knows that you were a troubled rebel riot back in your teens and you DID convert some of the Equestrians back in Sire's Hollow to join your cult of equalism by taking away their cutie marks away." mentioned Sunburst as he stroked Starlight's swirly mane.

"HEY, I was foolish knucklehead before Twilight came to save me from my deep depression, all right??! Can't he just see how much I had changed over the past couple of years? I know it was no excuse for me to lash out against your parents for sending you to magic school without considerations for my feelings, but I was a mare who felt like a very scared little filly inside...", Starlight recalled as she thought back to her old memories as a former villain of her own life story.

"Hahaha, I wasn't finished, silly! I was going to also mention that since my mom is running against your dad in the mayoral race in Sires Hollow, he's afraid that our close relationship would end up hurting my mom's chance in winning if everypony in Sire's Hollow knew about her son---ME---is dating her rival's daughter" Sunburst giggled as he caressed Starlight's belly with his hand.

"It's not like I care anything about the politics about my hometown! I'm way too occupied with my students' future in their life and work skills education to be caught up with our parents' competition for their spot in town hall!", commented Starlight as she watched the young fillies, colts, yaks and griffons goofing off on the playground set. "Besides, I think the REAL reason why your old man still has a grudge against me is that he also was aware about that time I almost took away the princess' cutie mark, after one of my former followers left my homemade village and spilled the beans about my defunct operation to a reporter"

Sunburst then interrupted. "That was during last year's panel conference at the Friendship Journal convention, wasn't it? When dad read the paper about you, it made him very angry and he had bit of a meltdown in front of my mom, more so because you never mentioned about how you used to lock up whole families for days for---"

"PLEASE!!" cried Starlight as she clenched her fists and dole out a single tear for her eye "--it's---something I don't want to talk about and relive------I'm---not the same mare I used to be anymore!!", sobbed the trembling Starlight as she was reliving her old memories as a cult leader.

"OH, I'm sorry! Sometimes when I over-analyze stuff, I tend to forget about how much you felt about your past mistakes in life", apologized the pitying Sunburst as he stroked Starlight's red-hot face. He later continued, but was careful to choose how he conveyed his words.

"All that I'm saying is that my dad has a very different opinion about how the princess should've dealt with those who kidnapped, imprisoned and mentally brainwashed innocent Equestrians. How they should be locked in a dungeon hole and throw away the hole.", commented Sunburst.

"Even though I may not had much contact with you over the years back then, I still know a lot more about you than my dad does. I should've been there for you when we both got separated. I was too focused and struggling on my magic studies to even bother contacting you.......I should be the one who needed to be punished for not being a best friend by keeping you out of trouble", comforted Sunburst as he hugged his best friend very tightly.

"Stop trying to make me feel less of a villain of my own story, Sunburst." Starlight scorned at Sunburst as she looked down on the ground. "We all knew that I was a selfish mare for keeping those Equestrians all to myself, just so I wouldn't feel lonely and heartbroken ever again. I was the one who took away all those Equestrians' hopes, ambitions and dreams to pursue their own future! And for what?? Because I was too scared about my new friends leaving me behind when they find their true calling in life?!", Starlight shouted as she cried.

"And that's why----why---!!" Starlight sobbed as she tried to cover her eyes with her arms, so that the other creatures wouldn't see her cry. She immediately turned around and came face-to-face with Sunburst.

"That's why I had to make this up by giving these young Equestrians a better future, a chance to learn about the wonders of friendship so that they can benefit from the harmony of Equestria! I---I don't want them to make the same mistakes I had made in the past...."

Sunburst blushed and stared at Starlight Glimmer for a nervous moment and mumbled, "Starlight..."

Realizing that there were kids staring at the duo with confusion, Starlight immediately regain her composure and quickly sat herself down next to Sunburst's right side.

"I'm sorry! I should've checked and stopped myself sooner! I am a headmare, after all!", Starlight loudly mumbled as she looked down on the grassy floor.

"No no, it's all right. I'm glad you truly showed me how and why you felt really passionate about your students' future. The Princess of Friendship really picked the best candidate to be the new headmare after her coronation to the throne room.", said Sunburst as he smiled and took something out from his own pocket.

"Is there even any hope that your dad will finally see what the real potential inside me in the upcoming future?", asked Starlight as she bent her knees upward and hugged her legs while sitting down.

"I'm not sure if I would be able to answer that, but I do know what our contemporary future will be like in the next 24 hours", said Sunburst as he held out a single key attached to an adorable key-chain with Sunburst's acrylic decal of his own cutie mark.

"Sunburst, is that---??" Starlight asked as she took a peek at Sunburst's key, before Sunburst interrupted with an amazing surprise.

"TADA, it's my key to my new humble abode in Ponyville! Thanks to the money saved up from babysitting Flurry Heart for a year, I was able to find a top-notch middle class living quarters at the top floor of our ten-story luxury apartment! Since Princess Twilight Sparkle is now very busy with running the country and all, if there is a time where the princess is absent and you needed somepony to lay their arms around you, you can find me at 7007 Rainbow Road, Apartment 8! Don't worry about me! I already asked for a spare key for myself from the local locksmith!"

"Sunburst---this is---are you sure about that? I'm very flattered by your offer, but---I'm not sure if your dad would like it if he found out I started living with you all of a sudden.", hesitated Starlight as she stared at the key.

"Starlight, you don't have to worry about my dad. If you don't want to visit me right now, then I won't force you. But at least keep it for the time being, as a courtesy gift from not just your Vice Head-Stallion, but as your long-time best friend in the whole wide world!", insisted Sunburst with more fervor.

"......Okay...I will", replied Starlight as she smiles and takes the house key. "I'll think about it later, but right now, I still need to relax myself a little bit more..."

"Agreed! Hey, I heard Applejack is now opening her own memorial walk-in apple orchard park in honor of her parents, a gift for both the students and her hometown!", gleefully replied Sunburst.

"Wasn't the park under constant attack by vampire fruit bats a few days ago?", asked Starlight.

"Most of the pests had already been captured and relocated to the refugia3 orchards and Applejack's working volunteers had already started to plant more fruit trees in the refugia. In other words, those pests would be directed away from the family orchards, so there's not too many concerns at the park for you to worry about." explained Sunburst as he got up and held Starlight's hand.

"Applejack and her team already had this fruit bat problem all under control", Sunburst assured as he and his happy best friend began walking out of the park to continue on with their leisure.

----------(TWO HOURS LATER AT APPLEJACK'S MEMORIAL PARK)----------

It was a very lovely day for a stroll along the wooden sidewalk path through the apple-pear hybrid orchards within Applejack's own property. Ever since her big brother Big Mac had married her sweetheart baker Sugar Belle, Equestrian tourists outside of Ponyville began visiting the beautiful orchards to see the famous intertwined apple/pear trees planted by Applejack's parents back in their heyday. However, since it was considered private property, Applejack was not pleased about the new trespassers strolling along her former parents' family-owned memorial. Though most of them only wanted to take a peek at the miraculous wonder symbol of forever love, there were some trespassers who decided to pick the fruit from the hybrid intertwining orchards. Seeing this as a major disrespect to her parents' memories, Applejack had to build barbed wire fences with "No Trespassing Signs" around the private family property to keep out the tourists, much to the dismay of couples who wanted to post pictures of them posing with the special dual orchards.

The dispute with the tourists had gotten so violently bad (leading to one Equestrian tourist couple almost crippled for life from Applejack's shotgun), that Mayor Mare of Ponyville had to interfere and come up with a compromise that will satisfy every creature. Hence, the apple family, Mayor Mare and the citizens of Ponyville all agreed on transforming the family apple/pear orchard field into a popular Ponyville tourist spot and all the money generated will be added to the School of Friendship budget. The only conditions for the tourists were that they were only allowed to walk on the designated wooden sidewalks and hang out around the designated open areas. Tourists were also not allowed to enter areas blocked off by the high wooden palisade barrier surrounding the apple/pear orchard fields, though flyers are free to fly above the trees, provided that they refrain from breaching through the vast network of huge Kevlar nets laid above thick treeline of the restricted areas.

In addition to these conditions, the tourists will also have to pay a 5-bit entry fee per family (or 10-bit fee per couple/individual) and be given a specific permission cards to be given 2 hours of free time within the tourist spot. During that time, they were free to pick apples and pears from the designated picking areas only, though they still had to pay 1 bit per pound of fruits once they exited from the orchards. Lastly, and most importantly, picking from the special intertwined apple/pear orchard is off-limits to every creature except for the Apple Family members and the Elements of Harmony.

If these tourists agreed to and had obeyed these rules, they would be allowed to enjoy leisure time at the additions to the new tourist spot, such as taking a stroll through the new open-wide spaces planted with flower gardens. These flower gardens are also surrounded by artificial rivers dug up by volunteers and outside members of Applejack's family. In addition to that, families can take a relaxing picnic break at the hilltop gazebos or have their young offspring play at the small playground park.

As of right now, the tourist park has been experiencing a run-in with the horde of vampire fruit bats sucking the fruits dry from their orchards. The problem all started to worsen when the apples within the refugia experienced bad apple blight, forcing the bats to search for new food resources within the family apple/pear orchards. Unsurprising, the Apple Family started to lose tourists that way and decided to hire either volunteer students and new laborers to deal with the pest problem. Fortunately, most of the pests had already been relocated, though there were some pests that still lingered around a couple of the orchard trees. Nevertheless, tourism at the Apple family memorial park was now slowly rising, though the number of visits were still much lower than before the major bat surge.

It was this factor that made it a much appealing opportunity for the Huntress to make her deadly move against her intended target as she hid behind the gazebo. As she peered from behind the hilltop red-painted wooden gazebo, she saw her target walking alongside his female companion along the wooden sidewalk path. Standing between her was some floral foliage, some bushes and a low-level river bed that slithered around the garden bed. Fortunately, with her higher vantage point and her eagle eye, she was still able to pinpoint her target as she loaded her concealed four-limb metal crossbow with her cyanide bolt and peered at the couple through her iron peephole sight.

Just as the Huntress was just about to acquire her target, her left shoulder suddenly felt a sudden hard tap, causing her to immediately drop her bow, turn around swiftly and quickly pull out her hidden hunting knife from her hidden pocket within the inner lining of her black jacket. Fortunately, she was in no danger of getting caught by either the authorities nor the Apple Family members, as she finds herself being ganged up by Delft Blue, the criminal deputy officer, and his bodyguard posse of Gingseng kirin gangsters.

"HEY, what gives, man??! I was THIS close to scoring my hit!", yelled the irritated Huntress as she stared at the upset Delft Blue, who was still wearing his iconic brown sunglasses and blue robes.

"I sent a passenger pigeon message to you and you sent back a message telling me to write back to you later", explained Delft Blue as he wagged his finger at the Huntress. "I tried to send a wireless telegraph message to your headquarters in Griffonstone, and the office told me their communication line to that location had been disconnected. I sent a tape recorder message to your room, but was told by the staff that you had already checked out from the motel. I wrote a fax message to your biblio-telautograph5, and you didn't reply back. I searched for you at the underground black market forum, and you weren't seen anywhere. Just what in Equestria is with you assassins being SO mysterious?"

"Just get to the point, jackass! What the hell do you want from me?!", yelled the impatient Huntress.

"The Saan Jyu of the Ginseng Triad wants to talk to you!", shouted Delft Blue as he barked at her.

◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾

Standing within another gazebo 50 meters north from Huntress' deadeye shooting position, Ginseng Dragon sits on the back malachite green railing of the hilltop gazebo, flanked on each side by two well-dressed black-suited kirin bodyguards. As soon as the Huntress and Delft Blue made themselves known by climbing up the implanted stone stairs on the sloping hill to the open gazebo entrance, the Dragon Head respectfully but sternly gave out his order.

"Huntress, your contract has been cancelled! You are no longer permitted to hunt down this target!"

The Huntress gave out a jeering short chuckle, clenched her talon on her medium-sized canvas bag and smirked with an insincere smile, before blurting out her remark.

"HEH! You don't seem to understand how this works, do you? When a Greenlighter's contract is signed, there's no going back on that deal, NO EXCEPTIONS! Even if I would cancel that contract (which I won't!), how am I going to explain this matter to the other griffons homeboys back home? In our organization, we don't tolerate cowardly chickens who fail to get the job done!"

Frustrated by her cockiness, but still wanting to end this contract without violence, Ginseng got off the railing and attempted his cloven hands at negotiation.

"Please, let's be reasonable creatures here! If it makes you feel any better, you can keep all of the money I had paid to you! If the next target comes, I'll have that contract replaced with a new one to deal with!". The Huntress then replied back with a scornful squawk.

"This isn't a matter of money here, Ginseng! This is a matter of my PRIDE!"

"Pride, you say?", questioned the skeptical triad boss as he approached into the Huntress' personal space.

Then suddenly, a fast flying stone zipped right into Ginseng Dragon's head, causing him to be knocked back off his feet and his kirin bodyguards around him to instinctively surround him with their buff strong body fronts.

"SAAN JYU HAS BEEN HIT!! WE GOT AN ASSASSIN OUT HERE!!", yelled one of the kirin body guards.

"Saan Jyu, your forehead! It's bleeding!!", cried Delft Blue when he spotted blood pouring out of Ginseng's head. As every kirin immediately duck for cover for any more incoming deadly projectiles, the Huntress immediately went over the south green metal railing of the hilltop gazebo and flew off, taking her opportunity to escape the wrath of the injured triad boss.

"AHHH, is any part of my brain leaking??! Please tell me I'm not dying!", panicked Ginseng as he asked one of his bodyguards to assess his critical condition. As Delft Blue poked his head above the metal railing on the west side of the gazebo, he shouted to his boss with furious vigor.

"I'm going to check out who fired that shot!! He or she is a dead creature once they realize who they are messing with!!"

◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾

---END

Author's Note

Cantonese for "fortune teller"

In triad terms, a deputy officer is like a second-in-command officer for the big crime boss (or dragon head)

Refugia (re-foo-jee-ah): regions of crops that are left untouched with pesticides/herbicides, so that more diverse wild-type pests (and their predators) can still thrive within the population, and therefore not be completely overtaken by the breeding resistant population; this ensures that the wild-type genes without the alleles for the resistance against pesticides/herbicides can still thrive within the gene pool and predators (e.g. hawks, owls, raccoons) can still keep out the pests attacking important crop areas

Hypnotic: medicine that induces tranquility to the mind (aka a sleeping potion)

It's the same magical communication book used by Sunset Shimmer and Princess Twilight Sparkle to write to each other (see https://derpibooru.org/images/1485365)

8 The Fateful Accident

Ch 8 - The Fateful Accident

----------(3 HOURS AGO, INSIDE TRIXIE'S WAGON DOOR)----------

"GGAAAAHH, we swear! We didn't do anything illegal!! It was an accident!!", shouted the panicking Gallus cowered in fear as he laid on the chair, while holding his bad half of Trixie's check.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH, ease up, partner! It's me, your Professor Applejack!", cried out the cowboy mare who was now wearing a white shirt and a pair of khaki pants.

"Professor Applejack?! You're Gallus' new employer??", questioned the bemused Silverstream as she pointed at Applejack.

"In the flesh, sugarcube!", greeted Professor Applejack as she showed off her left bicep muscle and grin widely. "Your counselor Trixie had convinced the Headmare to give you a place to take shelter during your suspension, in exchange for helping out with the labor back at the farm. If you showed that you could be as hardworking as any other top-aced student at this school, Headmare Starlight may shorten your suspension for three days!"

"WOAAH!" yelled the excited Silverstream. "Hear that, Gallus?? You're going to be back in school much sooner than later!". Then she had a moment of realization.

"Wait, since you're here, that means he is going to work at that infested area, right?", Silverstream wondered.

"You serious?? You know how much I hate handling those evil-eye looking bats, Professor", protested Gallus as he got out of the swivel seat and threw away his ripped half part of his check.

"Every volunteer out will be there to help drive out those pesky fruit bats out of our family memorial park! When it comes to working in the real world, you don't always get the luxury of choosing where and how you want to work. All we can do is provide the best working conditions possible without compromising the costs of our business. I thought I already taught you that lesson before...", replied Professor Applejack as she approached and stared at Gallus with disdain and touched his shoulder. She later continued in a softer but strict tone.

"If you really want to catch up with your studies sooner, you'll have to work hard to earn your trust back at the school. You got that, partner?"

Gallus was at first tense, but then later sighed as he calmed down, before answering "Fiiiineee, just take me where I need to go and I'll follow.....you coming, Silverstream?"

"Naaahh, I'm too hyped up about the weekend to go bowling with Professor Rainbow Dash today! You two have fun working at the park today! Ciao!!", hollered Silverstream as she exited the wagon and flew off into the sky.

"Don't worry, sugarcube! If it makes you feel any better, your supervisor for this job will be some creature you know well back in school! C'mon, you can take a ride in my rickshaw cart!" offered the content Applejack.

"Wouldn't it be faster to just fly over there?", questioned Gallus with a stern unamused expression on his face.

"I like the offer, but with 5 tons of bagged apple seeds and 3 tons of crated pellet ammo, it'll be a spine breaker for even a strong griffon like you to carry, but a strong mare like me can pull this cart with a vigor of two angry oxen!", Applejack explained as she boasted about her own muscular strength.

"Pellet ammo? What do you need that for?", asked the confused Gallus.

"I'll explain on the way to the farm! Now hop on my cart before any more of these juice-sucking bats take any more of my old folks' favorite orchard!", called out Applejack as she braced herself on the pull bar of her rickshaw.

----------(NEARLY HALF AN HOUR LATER ON THE ROAD, APPROACHING THE APPLE FAMILY MEMORIAL PARK)----------

When it comes down to taking out pests, their own well-being and their welfare comes into mind. Since the School of Friendship also employed Fluttershy who teaches students on maintaining relationships with a wide variety of animals in the fauna, even the pestilent kind, their education courses also included environmental conservation, green agricultural practices and animal control. Thus, in order to reinforce these ideals, most of the pest and animal control involved in the school (or outside school grounds) usually focuses on taking down mice, rats, bugs and other pests with non-lethal methods, such as knocking them out with a depressant gas (e.g. chloroform), using more friendly encasement traps (e.g. no glue traps nor water buckets) or luring them away with attractive stimuli (e.g. leading away parasites with a one-Equestrian band). After all the pests are rounded up, they were all released back into their respective habits in the wild Everfree Forest or teleported into Discord's dimension to be dealt with accordingly, depending on the gravity of the infesting situation.

When it comes to vampire fruit bats, there are a wide variety of methods used by different creatures being employed at the memorial park. For example, winged 'netters' would catch swarms of vampire bats with their nets, though their rushing and hasty presence can alert the colony and spread out as far as they can to avoid being bunched up within the nets. 'Baiters' (usually changedlings) can lure bats into roosting metal cages with fruit hats, artificial bat pheromones or feigned bat cries. The only downside is that if the bats figured out their ruse, they can warn other bats about the new methods used by the pest controllers, and the workers will have to get more creative with their lures. 'Gassers' are usually grounded creatures who wear Hazmat suits and gas cylinders filled with special sleeping gases that can instantly knock out the bats. The major drawback was that some bats had become resistant to the gas and some of the sleeping agents used caused the fruits to ripen too quickly, causing them to fall off from the trees and make them better ground targets for the remaining awoke bats to suck on.

Finally, there are the popular 'slingers' that are lucky enough to fire large pellets made of cellulose gel from their slingshots. It was thanks to one particularly bright student known as Ocellus that bat snatching had become much more easier and stealthier. Though it was only introduced a few days ago, slinging became the most popular job application at the family memorial park, due to its simplicity and higher effective rate of bat capture. According to Ocellus, these cellulose pellets were hollow to allow injection of a special magically enchanted liquid hypnotic4 made from natural valerian, beer hops and kava-kava extracts. When they are fired from a slingshot, the impact force breaks open the pellets, releasing the volatile liquid. Since little noise is made, it made for an ideal tool for taking out colonies without alerting the colony. Even a small whiff of the hypnotic by the bats will knock them out without the other bats knowing and environmental damage is minimized, since the pellets are made from natural ingredients.

Once all the bats have been incapacitated, they were gathered in brown medium-sized canvas bags and taken to the recently built refrigerated bat towers at Fluttershy's animal sanctuary to store those critters under hibernation mode. Once all the orchards at the refugia are restored, the vampire fruit bats are then released into the new refugia, where they will wake up and continue the usual feasting of their fruitful delicacies.

Lucky for Gallus, there was a job spot for a slinger that is needed at the western region of the memorial park. Before he could enter though, he had to wear his special khaki green shirt, pants and camper hat as his uniform to identify himself as a slinger, while the other student volunteers had to wear yellow-brown for netters, red for baiters and white hazmat suits for gassers. After Gallus was given his standard rubber slingshot by Ocellus the supplier at the memorial entry, he was escorted into the western region by the well-known school groundskeeper Mr Greenhooves.

----------(HALF AN HOUR AT THE WESTERN REGION OF APPLE FAMILY MEMORIAL PARK)----------

"You have GOT to be kidding me, Greenhooves! I thought you said I wouldn't have to deal with the students at school!", cried the frustrated Mr. Tang as he yelled at Mr Greenhooves.

"Emphasis on the school, Mister Tang! You STILL have to deal with other creatures, even those who have no attendance at the school there", explained Mr Greenhooves.

"I DEMAND I speak to the boss!! I ain't working next to that gruff!" cried the foul-mouthed Mister Tang as he shook his fist at Mr Greenhooves.

"I already had a talk with Miss Applejack, and she insisted that you need to learn how to get along with other employed creatures, whether they be students or not! Otherwise, she can have you relocated to shoveling manure from the pigsty---with no mask on!", explained Mr Greenhooves as he shook in fear at his rage, but still tried to kept his cool.

As Mr. Tang growled at Mr Greenhooves, Gallus interrupted with this remark as he pointed at Mr. Tang

"Uhhhh, I was told I would be meeting with a supervisor here! Please tell me that old skeleton is not going to be the one barking orders at me after you leave me on my own."

"I'll show YOU old man, you ungrateful shitbird", shouted Mr.Tang as he charged his curved unicorn horn.

"THAT'S QUITE ENOUGH, Tang! Don't make living at our new home much harder than it is! Unless you want me to take up ALL of the bats as extra commission pay for myself" interrupted a certain yellow Earth Equestrian who was wearing his green uniform and yielding his standard-issued slingshot.

"Grrrrr!" growled the frustrated Mr. Tang as he tone down his horn. "FINE! Whatever, Zhi! Just tell this pigeon here to mind his own business by that empty tree close to the riverbed!"

"That's not my call, Mr. Tang! Your boss demands that you keep close to your employees, so that they could easily check up on you, in case you get another heart attack", explained Mr Greenhooves.

"I can rely on my friend to be by my side for that!" remarked the begrudged Mr. Tang as he fired his pellet at the sleeping bat hung upside down on one of the branches.

"OH, I'm sorry, Tang! I was told by my supervisor that I need to keep an eye out for here while she collects the bats with her bag.", explained the apologetic Master Zhi.

"WAIT, you're not the supervisor??! But you look pretty mature for your age to be running this operation!", exclaimed the shocked Gallus as he looked at Master Zhi.

"He may be old, but he no talented like me in supervising!" cried a certain chubby nak girl with a short-stature and saggy D-cup bust. Like all the other slingers, she was also wearing her green uniform and carrying what seemed to be a medium-sized bag with some knocked-out bats.

"YONA??!! YOU'RE my supervisor for today??!" shouted the even more surprised Gallus.

"GALLUS! Long time no see! Professor Jack told me you shoot sleepy balls at bats! Yona no can shoot with thick things good, so Yona help collect nasty bats instead!", explained the excited Yona.

"WELL, I guess that's my cue to leave! You behave yourself, all right?! I don't want you scaring the young ones from their job again!", said Mr Greenhooves as he bid Mister Tang farewell and walked out into the orchard forest.

"Wow, didn't expect a yak to be running the show here...", said the bewildered Gallus.

"HEY, why you no work?! Yona demands you shoot slingshot at bats with pellets and meet 50 bat quota for pay!", demanded Yona as she pointed her cloven three-fingered hand at Gallus, which caused him to panic and whip out his slingshot to aim at the bats.

"I can't believe we're taking orders from a 牦牛 (máoniú)1!", protested the grouchy Mr Tang as he fired his shot at an escaping crying bat in the air.

Master Zhi then got very upset and cried, "Wait, did you just fire a stone at a bat in mid-air?! You know our boss doesn't want us taking deadly potshots at flying pests! She said they need to be brought back---!"

"WHAT??! I'm out of pellets now! How else am I going to continue with my job?", cried the uncaring Mr Tang.

"Yona demands you stop hurting bats or me will tell boss Applejack!!", shouted Yona with a harsh low-pitched tone.

"Look, I'll have you take some of mine if you want!", offered Master Zhi as he took out his ammo pouch.

"Why the hell are we even wasting time saving these vermin?! They'll just eat up all the reserve apples much faster than before! Then they'll switch back to sucking our crops dry!", protested the angry Mr Tang.

"That's what the owls, hawks and raccoons at the refugia reserves are for, you idiot! They act as the guards that keep the bats in check! Any excess bats that cannot fit at the refugia will be sent to the cold bat towers to be stored under hibernation mode! Didn't she already tell you about that during training?", explained the upset berating Master Zhi.

"Will you old farts keep it down already??! You're gonna wake up these dang bats and you're ruining my concentration here", squawked the stressed-out Gallus as he fired a pellet shot and missed the bat by a centimeter below its feet.

"LOOK, I don't want you to get into more trouble like the last time back in our home country! You brought this on yourself with your bad business practices. DON'T make the same mistake like last time. Just remember why we are here in the first place, 你明唔明呀 (Neiy ming hm ming aah)2?? ", reminded Master Zhi as he forcefully slapped an ammo pouch onto Mister Tang's hand.

Mr. Tang then gave out a grunting sigh, begrudgingly took the pouch and stared at his eyes, before saying to Master Zhi

"你爭我嘅 (Neiy juang ngo geh)3. If he doesn't graduate with flying colors, I'm leaving you two behind", said Mr Tang before resuming his original task as the pest slinger.

"Man, crazy friendship dynamic between you two, eh?", commented the snarky Gallus as he stretched out his slingshot.

"SHUT UP, you damn pigeon!! Nopony asked you!", shouted the upset Mr. Tang before firing a pellet shot above Gallus' head to knock out the bat above him.

----------(MEANWHILE AT THE HILLTOP GAZEBO)----------
◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾
"I'm going to check out who fired that shot!! He or she is a dead creature once they realize who they are messing with!!", shouted Delft Blue as he raged like a madman over his boss being hurt.

"HEY, look down over there! It seems like there's four different assassins by those apple trees over there!", shouted one of the kirin bodyguards who spotted one of Applejack's employees.

Every kirin in the gazebo all stood up and gathered at the railing on the west side of the gazebo, peering over and saw one unicorn, one Earthen stallion and one griffon aiming their slingshots up in the sky, while one fat nak girl waits idly by with a medium-sized canvas bag.

"YOU, Delft Blue!! Go down there and confront these assassins head on!", ordered the bleeding Ginseng Dragon.

"What??! ME??!! But WHY??!", protested Delft Blue who stared at his boss.

"You seriously expect ME---their target---to come down here to face these assassins??!", angrily berated Ginseng Dragon as he held a napkin over his bleeding forehead.

"All right, FINE!! Every kirin, follow me!!" ordered Delft Blue.

"HEY, don't take ALL of my guard posse, you fool!", bellowed Gingseng Dragon.

"RIGHT, of course!! I almost forgot! My apologies, Dragon Head", shouted the apologizing Delft Blue. He later induced a bright blue glow on his horn, before four bright wisping streams sprouted out from his horn to summon four more of the Ginseng Triad bodyguards.

"You four, follow me! The other four, protect the Dragon Head!!" ordered the passionately upset Delft Blue before leaving the gazebo with his own posse of four bodyguards.

◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾

"Ooooh, so you think you can suck on these fruits like you own the place, huh? Well, take THIS to the face, you stupid bat!", quietly shouted Gallus as he fired his pellet at the bat, but hit the branch he was standing on. That caused the ambushed bat to fly away out of shock.

"HA, guess that eagle eye wasn't so sharp as it used it be, gruff!", teased Mr Tang.

"C'mon, old geezer! Cut me some slack! I used to do something like that back when I was an orphan, shooting unsuspecting griffons at their bare asses!", bragged Gallus as he picked his next target.

"Sonny, if you're trying to bond with me with childhood memories, you are sadly mistaken", said Mr. Tang as he successfully scored another bat.

"Lighten up, Tang! Give this catbird the benefit of the doubt for once. He is respectfully trying to shoot at his side of the tree, right?", told Master Zhi to Mr Tang as he brought up another pellet to shoot.

"HEY, Yona say no talking! You scare bats by yelling!", ordered Yona as she collected the incapacitated bats on the ground.

"Then shut up already and let us concentrate, you big brute!", snapped back Mr Tang.

"Yeah, out of the four of us here, you're the only loudest one here" replied back Gallus the sassy blue catbird.

Yona then started to pout with embarrassing anger over that true remark. She continued with her job as the bat packer.

"HEY, don't take my sassy jokes from me, gruff boy!", snapped back Mr. Tang as he pointed his finger at Gallus.

"Why? Afraid I might upstage you in the battle of wits?", replied Gallus as he smirked while aiming his slingshot at another bat on a higher branch level.

"HEY, YOU THERE!! ALL OF YOU!! What the hell are you four doing here?!!", shouted the enraged Delft Blue as he approached the four slingers with his four bodyguards.

"AAHH, you scare Yona!!", shouted the frightened supervising nak girl.

"Hey man! You're not supposed to be here!", exclaimed Gallus when he looked behind to see what was going on. "This is a restricted area only accessible to employees of the park!"

"YEAH, we're just shooting a couple of bats by those trees over here!", replied the upset Master Zhi.

"Bats??! Up in the trees??! With slingshots?! What kind of fool do you take me for??! Does MY boss look like a FLYING BAT TO YOU??!!", berated Delft Blue as he makes a flying wing gesture with his arms.

"Why? Is your boss a flying young chicken that had escaped from his pen?" remarked the unamused Mr Tang.

"Oooooaaaaahhhhhhhh!", hollered Gallus as he reacted to that sassy rhetorical question.

Delft Blue was not laughing and smiling at the insult to the top triad boss. Feeling like he had talked enough, he shouted the command at his kirin henchmen, "Kill all of them! Especially the old unicorn over there!"

"Woah woah woah, cool your horn here, kirin! Let's not get into any unnecessary trouble here!" Gallus cried nervously as he tried to calm the situation down.

"Gallus! Yona scared!! Yona no like angry kirins staring badly!", shouted Yona as she ran into Gallus and cowered behind him. Then, Master Zhi went in between Gallus and the kirins, before he spoke out.

"Look, if it's about that flying stone that got fired from Mr Tang's slingshot, we are completely sorry that---!"

"HWWOOOOOOOWAAAHHH!" shouted the bulldozing Mr Tang as he leapt in front of Master Zhi with a fighting crane stance. "You half-assed red-horns are all trespassing on private family property!! Leave now before I pummel your asses to the ground!!". Shocked by the sudden interference without his knowledge, Master Zhi shouted

"TANG, what the hell??!! It's your fault they were here in the first place!!"

"Which is why I am making up for it by saving your ass! Now GET OUTTA HERE and bring those two critches with you! I don't want to get in trouble from my boss for leaving employees behind!", ordered the furious Mr Tang as he began fighting Delft Blue with a flurry of punching blows, blocks and palm chops.

"HOLY CRAP! That old man's pretty fast for his age!!", shouted the awed Gallus as Mr Tang was blocking every speeding punch doled out by the dashingly deadly Delft Blue.

"HURRY Yona, let's get the freak outta here!!" cried the fleeing Master Zhi as he grabbed Yona by the horns. Yona later protested as she was being dragged by the strong Master Zhi, while holding onto the bag of sleepy vampire bats for dear life.

"WAIT, we can't leave Gallus---!!"

"NO TIME!! We need to go find Miss Applejack and get her to call all her employees off this park!", yelled Master Zhi as the two creatures continued running for their lives.

Soon enough, the four kirin bodyguards had waited long enough and, using their spiritualistic kirin magic, they cast a spell onto their hands and lower hooves, and used those enhanced powers to dole out a simultaneous quadruple kick to Mr Tang's stomach during the melee. The incredible force caused Mr Tang to fly back violently, before out of instinct, Gallus flew up and caught Mr Tang by his arms. Though the force dealt a painful blow to his chest, Gallus was able to maintain his bearings and proceeded to fly away from the danger as he carried Mr Tang throughout the forest.

"So that's how you want to play it, huh??! Well, let's see if you and your posse can handle my ENTIRE army!" shouted Delft Blue as he concentrated the phase summoning spell from his horn and shot out a plethora of blue wisp streams from his glowing horn. As his eyes started to glow a bright sea blue color, he shouted, "Guards, you have permission to use your deadly spiritual combat energy against these conspirators!"

"YES, Deputy Blue!!", obeyed the kirin bodyguards in unison before chasing after the griffon and the old unicorn.

As Gallus flew between the orchards (as the vast network of nets above prevented him from flying any higher above the tree line), he found himself being shaken by the old stallion unicorn in his arms.

"HEY, get off me, you damn catbird!!", Mr Tang shouted as he tried to get out of Gallus' grasp.

"You're injured, old man! I just saved you from these crazy fucked-up kirin! You really should've watched where you were shooting!!", cried Gallus as he tried desperately to avoid the standing trees.

"I was JUST about to have them where I wanted!", protested Mr Tang.

"Well, it seemed like you were in need of some rescue, so forgive me for jumping way too far into conclusions!", sarcastically cried Gallus, before Mr Tang spotted a nearby open playground

"There, drop me off here! I think I saw Zhi and our fat yak supervisor being surrounded by more pissed off kirin!", shouted Mr Tang as he pointed in the direction of the playground.

"C'mon, Yona!! Let's break through here!!", shouted Master Zhi as he and Yona passed through the open playground. It was already being occupied by two pegasi girls who were in their sport tank tops and shorts, exercising on the lifting hoops and the monkey bars of the playground.

"There too many here!! Every creature RUUUNN!!" cried Yona at the two screaming pegasi girls, who later ran out of the playground before it was completely overtaken by tuxedo-wearing kirin bodyguards.

"AAHH, SHIT!! We're surrounded!!", shouted the panicked Master Zhi as he and Yona found themselves trapped by bodyguards with glowing fists and lower hooves.

"Always negative!", shouted out Mr Tang, as he was thrown from the sky by the spinning Gallus towards the ground, before landing a painful bucking kick to one of the kirin.

"Come and get me, you hooligans!", cried out the enraged Mr Tang as he cast an endurance spell across his whole body to make it more resistant to sharp attack blows. Mr Tang then immediately leapt over Yona and used his special circling roundhouse upper kick ('Rising Star'), to take out the remaining bodyguards around Master Zhi and Yona.

"TANG! Good to see ya still in one piece!! WACCHHHAAAA!!!" cried Master Zhi as he performed a somersault dodge over the crazed kirin fighter as he lunged towards him.

As Master Zhi landed on his lower hooves and braced himself against the small circular orange slide with his arms, he sensed an incoming backstabbing ambush from the charging kirin and leapt upwards to perform another somersault flip!

As the kirin found himself slamming on the side of the curved slide in a lunge position, his spine was immediately slammed downward by the acrobatic landing Master Zhi, causing the kirin to keel over.

"RAGING OX HORN!!" cried Mr Tang as he performed a powerful uppercut punch to the stomach of one kirin fighter, causing him to wallow in pain on the floor.

Suddenly, Yona found herself ganged up again by three more kirin gangsters, but was suddenly saved as Gallus flew in between her and the kirin with ferocious vigor.

"STAY BACK!! All of you!", cried the angry Gallus as he swiped his sharp talons across all three of the kirin's faces, before finishing them off with a roundhouse kick with his lower lion paw.

"HEEYAAAAAAHHHH!!!!", cried the adrenaline-fueled Gallus as he posed in a kung-fu Hang stance.

"Where in the hell did you learn to fight like that?!", asked the combative Mr Tang as he fought back the charging kirin with his spinning and bucking butterfly kicks around the small merry-go-round.

"Professor Dash's self-defense lessons!", shouted Gallus as he used his tail to trip over one kirin and performed a downward chop attack on his carotid artery. "It was part of the Friendship Through Fighting Power elective courses!"

"And I thought this school was for hippies and pansies!", cried Mr Tang as he threw another beaten-up kirin onto the spinning merry-go-round.

"YONA, are you all right??!!" cried Gallus after he pummeled another kirin with a thrusting talon strike to the face. "Don't lose yourself in the ruckus!!"

"Follow wherever Zhi goes!! We'll push these qilin back!!", cried out Mr Tang as he performed another low-bar roundabout kick against his surrounding opponents, knocking them all off their hooves.

"Please wait for Yona!! Yona no catch up fast very well!" cried Yona as she jumped onto the chest of a beaten-up kirin laying on the ground, causing him to writhe in even more pain as his ribs became cracked from Yona's immense weight.

"Stop this RIGHT NOW and we might break fewer bones!", ordered one of the kirin martial arts fighters as the rest of the gang continued to rush after the four employees.

Finding himself barely cornered by more kirin reinforcements, Master Zhi performed a quick mid-kick on one kirin to propel himself backwards onto a black vinyl swing seat, and used his remaining momentum to swing backwards against an ambushing kirin charging at him from behind.

"GALLUS, over here!! Pull me up higher!!", cried Master Zhi as he continued using the swing to knock back the kirin back and forth like a pendulum.

"RIGHT!!" shouted Gallus as he catches Zhi as he was swinging back and lifted him up a 120 degree arc from its vertical axial position. "Let's swing you into full gear!", Gallus yelled before he vehemently pushed Master Zhi downwards to bring out the most powerful swing push possible.

"BUCKING BATTERING RAM ATTACK!!", cried Master Zhi as he thrust his lower hooves forward and knocked back a line of five kirin gangsters off their hooves with a single forward-swinging kick, before using the recoiling energy to swing backwards and perform a somersault back flip towards the ground.

"Gallus, Master and Old Tang is super amazing!! Yona so grateful for heroes!!" Yona cheered as she jumped for joy.

"It's not over yet! There's still more thugs coming over to kill our asses!!", panicked Gallus as more kirin surround the playground.

"Yona!! STAY RIGHT HERE and don't move!!" shouted Mr Tang as he grabbed her by the horn, pulled her into position, and started to use her head as a platform to perform his breakdancing head-spinning moves against the kirin gangsters surrounding Yona.

"Rampaging Octopus!!" cried Mr Tang as he performed a series of reciprocating and twirling kicks as he spun around like a frantic octopus on top of Yona's head, being careful as to not be jabbed by Yona's big horns in the process.

"Look, there's an opening!! Let's head for it before more goons show up!" shouted Gallus as he rushed forward towards Master Zhi standing close to the steel yellow trash bin.

After most of the kirin around Yona were knocked out, Yona and Mr Tang ran fast towards Master Zhi and Gallus as fast as their lower hooves can take them. However, Yona became too tired to continue on any further, due to her low stamina.

"Yona--HUFF-no can go further! Yona--WHEEZE-too tired!! Please--HUFF--wait for Yona!!", the nak girl wheezed as her running speed rapidly started to slow down.

"Seriously, lady?? How can you be hired supervisor if you can't catch up well with your employees?!", shouted the impatient Mr Tang.

"We can't leave her behind, Master!!", cried Gallus as he panicked while more kirin came pouring in from the orchard woods.

"You take Tang with you!! I'll deal with Yona here!!", shouted Master Zhi as he emptied the entire cylindrical yellow trash can, before lifting Yona up and shoving her into the empty can.

"What the hell are you doing, man??!!" shouted the hovering Gallus as he grabbed Mr Tang by the arms and lifted him up off the ground.

"Just stay still and hold your breath, Yona!! It's going to be a bumpy ride!" ordered Master Zhi as he tipped over the yellow trash can and started to roll her across the wooden sidewalk. As the trash can began to take speed with Yona inside the trash can, Master Zhi leapt forwards and started running onto the rolling trash can like a Cirque Du Soleil acrobat!

"Yona---feeling----very--very---SIIICCKK!!", cried the nauseous Yona as she continued to roll inside the rumbling trash can

As Gallus and Mr Tang started flying together alongside Master Zhi to catch up with him, Gallus shouted, "You are ONE crazy demented man for putting Yona through this damn nightmare rollercoaster!!"

"You wanna be turned into a spitroast chicken over their fireplace while your fat friend lays buck naked with an apple in her mouth, then be my guest!!", shouted the livid Mr Tang as he held onto dear life within Gallus' arms.

"DUDES, look out!!!" shouted Gallus as the four creatures passed under the wooden sheltered walkway of the park and saw two buff yaks carrying a ladder horizontally along the intersecting point of the sheltered pathway.

Finding himself at the brink of collision with the horizontally orientated ladder, Master Zhi immediately does a frontal somersault flip over the ladder, before landing onto the continuously rolling yellow trash can (with Yona inside)!

"HEY, WATCH LADDER!!" shouted the two angry yaks as they witnessed the acrobatic feat done by Master Zhi.

Miraculously, he was able to land on the rolling trash can with his hands and was now upside down, looking in the opposite direction of the rolling trashcan. As he moved his hands accordingly to keep in motion with the rolling trash can, he saw in his upside-down perspective that the kirin bodyguards were still chasing after him and his friends.

"ZHI, watch out for the bicycle!!!", shouted Mr Tang when he saw the bicycle-riding red-bandana wearing griffon coming straight through from the right side of another intersecting walkway.

With his quick reflexes, Master Zhi pushed his hands forward to perform another frontal flip over the bicyclist, before the yellow trash can crashes into the red bicycle, knocking the griffon onto the wooden sidewalk. Surprisingly, the griffon that Master Zhi had unknowingly knocked out was the Huntress fleeing for her life from the Ginseng Squad.

"HEY, are you fuckin' dweebs both blind AND stupid??!!" insulted the injured Huntress as she got back up on her paws.

"Uggghh, Yona now seeing black all over! Head not so feel well!", the nauseous green-faced nak girl complained as she exited out of the yellow trash can.

"YOU! STOP RIGHT HERE! We're not done with you yet!" yelled one of the pursuing kirin.

As the flustered Master Zhi got back on his hooves after a bad somersault landing, Mr Tang cried out, "Master Zhi, they're still coming this way!! We've got to move faster!! Ditch the trash can and take her bike!"

"RIGHT!! Sorry, Missy! We gotta major emergency on our hands! Here, take my lunch money to buy yourself a new bike!" cried Master Zhi as he propped up and threw his bag of 100 bits on the Huntress' lap.

"YOU SERIOUS, RIGHT NOW??! We can't afford to be generous at a time like this!! They're getting way too close on our asses, godamnit!!" shouted the angry Mr Tang as he was still being held by the scared hovering Gallus.

"YONA, grab the bag of bats and hold onto the back basket! We're getting the freak outta here!", ordered Master Zhi.

"Yona got bats! Now lift Yona onto basket!!", shouted Yona before Master Zhi lifted Yona onto the small wicker basket and began pedalling as fast as he could along the intersecting wooden walkway.

"C'mon, old man!! Let's catch up with Yona and your partner-in-crime!" shouted Gallus as he and Mr Tang flew rapidly along the same walkway taken by Master Zhi.

"What the hell is going on here??!!", hollered the confused Huntress as she saw many kirin running into the intersection, before she noticed a live vampire fruit bat crawling out of her canvas bag.

"C'mon, yellow stallion!! Pedal faster!!" shouted the panicked Yona as Master Zhi worked his legs to the fullest max, while trying to navigate the multiple curves of the wooden sidewalk. As Zhi pedalled as fast as he could across the flowery gardens, Yona was having trouble balancing on the small wicker basket on the back of the bicycle.

Then suddenly, Master Zhi had found himself being blocked by nine kirins charging up their red horns as they stand in acrobatic formation. Five were at the bottom with their arms and legs stretched out, and their hands and feets were in contact with each other. Three other kirins were standing on the bottom five kirin with only their legs spread out, while the final last kirin was standing on top of the shoulder of the middle second-level kirin.

With their magical powers in total sync with each other, they were able to form a blue magical barrier within the gaps of their spread limbs, and they were now going to use their remaining power to form a single focused disintegration beam from all their nine kirin horns.

Extremely panicked by the sudden barrier now suddenly in front of them, Master Zhi immediately braked the borrowed bicycle so hard with his lower hooves, that it caused the bicycle to suddenly jerk forward. This inadvertently turned the bike into a catapult that flung the heavy flying and screaming Yona towards the acrobatic kirins with such destructive force, that it knocked them all down to the ground like a collasping Jenga tower. They didn't have enough time to even charge their ultimate disintegration ray attack to the fullest max.

"Run, Yona!! RUN!!! Don't stop now!!" shouted Master Zhi before he later continued on with his bicycle pedalling and started running over the multiple injured kirin on the ground. One of the kirin had his testicles run over by the bike as he was laying on his back, causing him to writhe in even more excruciating pain.

"YONA---can't!! Has trouble---catching up!" cried Yona as she tried to catch up with Master Zhi on the bicycle.

"It's okay, Yona!! I gotcha!" cried Gallus as he lifted Yona up in the air and plopped her onto the small bicycle basket at the back. At the same time, the old Mr Tang was grabbing onto Gallus' lion tail for dear life as Gallus flew across the air.

"The THINGS I had to do it keep myself from dying in vain!", shouted the upset Mr Tang as he was bobbing up and down over the floor.

"Oh COME ON!! Are you freakin' kidding me??!! Did they send the ENTIRE clown circus to come after us??!", shouted Gallus as six more acrobatic kirin are coming towards Master Zhi as they all rode on a single stolen black bicycle, while keeping themselves balanced as they held onto each other.

"QUICK, turn right to the exit over there!!" shouted Mr Tang when he spotted another intersection that led tourists to the exit from the memorial park.

As Master Zhi turned to the right and he finally exited the park, he suddenly found himself losing control, as the bike had inadvertently crashed through a weak wooden fence that was guarding against a very steep hill towards the wide-open dirt road from below.

"AAHHHH, I can't stop rolling!" shouted the panicking Master Zhi as Yona in the basket was holding onto dear life to not fall off as the bicycle accelerates downhill towards the street road.

"YONA NO LONGER CAN HOLD ON MUCH LONGER!!!" shouted the panicking and screaming Yona.

As Young Master Zhi later found himself speeding perpendicularly across the wide yellow dirt road, Starlight and Sunburst were suddenly caught off guard by the speeding bicycle as they were crossing the road. Simultaneously, an Equestrian riding a delivery cart was rushing like a freight train, as the two rushing oxen in front were pulling a cart load of water barrels stacked five meters high, which were strapped with flimsy nylon rope. When the delivery cart rider saw that he was about to run over Master Zhi and Yona, he immediately pulled his reigns to the right to steer the rushing oxen away from the bicycle, but his actions later came to another terrible cost.

As Gallus and Mr Tang had arrived on the scene to see if their friends were okay, what they were about to witness would change their lives forever.

--------------------

Seeing the raging pair of oxen galloping towards them at near point-blank range, Sunburst instinctively pushed Starlight away further to the right to avoid the oncoming beasts of burden. He had little time to cast a shielding spell with strong fortitude though. For it to be a strong barrier, it needed 5-10 seconds to gather all the energy it needed to resist the heavy impact, but time would not give that luxury to Sunburst. The rider on top wasn't quick enough to pull back on the reins to stop the oxen from running over Sunburst, so he had to make another quick alternative decision.

As the pair of oxen careened further right as the rider jerked his reins as hard as he could to avoid the couple, the cart and its rider ended up flipping over and unleash a pile of half-ton wooden water barrels towards Sunburst. The flimsy nylon rope wasn't secured tight enough around the barrels as the rope had been fraying from the rough bumpy journey from its starting point. The oxen were unable to stop themselves from tripping over as it started to soon slam into Sunburst. Soon enough, he was caught in the ruckus as the swerving and rolling wooden cart was the next obstacle to barrel right towards him like a tumbling boulder. Everything went black for Sunburst as the chaos slowly continued.

His friend Starlight was only slightly more lucky, though it would still be an overestimation. Thanks to Sunburst's selfless actions, Starlight was able to avoid the oxen in time, but her head was still caught in the pathway of the flying water barrels that were catapulted from the cart. She tried to instantly teleport out of the way, but she was too late as she was struck in the head by the flying water barrel. She immediately lost consciousness afterwards, but luckily, she fell to the ground just in time as the barrelling wooden cart rolled right above her, barely sparing her the same fate of being rolled over like her beloved friend Sunburst.

--------------------

"Over there! They exited through here!" cried one of the kirin who was riding alongside his bretheren on a single black bicycle. Soon enough, more kirin on their hooves started to gather around and exit out of the memorial park.

"Uuugghh, geez! That was one heck of a chase scene!" yelled Master Zhi after crashing into a wattle-and-daub wall of a nearby hay-feeding station. "Is every creature in one piece?" he asked.

"GAAAHHH, Headmare Starlight Glimmer!!", bawled Gallus after witnessing the terrible fate that had become onto the unconscious headmare.

After flying down to the wide road and gently dropping Mr Tang on the ground, he quickly rushed on over to check his Headmare's condition.

😭"Oh no no no no no! Headmare! HEADMARE STARLIGHT!!! Please, WAKE UP!!" cried Gallus as tears started to fall from his eyes. As he desparately tried to shake her body to wake her up, a police officer who was on his usual patrols immediately rushed into the crash scene and saw the wreckage that had befallen onto the two victims.

😭"Vice Stallion!! Please be okay!! OH NO!! This no good!! Yona no believe this be happening!", bawled Yona as she knelt down next to the unconscious and badly injured Sunburst, who was trapped underneath the badly damaged wooden cart. Using her super strength, she lifted the cart up with her strong horns, threw it off a few meters from Sunburst and lifted Sunburst with her arms. As she does so, she started to bellow out with emotional anguish as the Vice Stallion lay unresponsive to his surroundings.

As the driver of the cart (who only suffered minor bruises and cuts from the crash) got back on his hooves, and browsed around to assess the damage of the wreckage, he found that his two oxen (still attached to their harness) were laying moaning on their sides, but were otherwise okay. He saw that many barrels of water had been scattered around the road and his cart was splintered from the crashing impact force like frayed matchsticks.

Meanwhile, the kirin gangsters were looking over the damaged wooden fence from the elevated hill road from above and saw a police officer rushing over to investigate the terrible crash scene. Not wanting to be caught in the middle of the ruckus by law enforcement, one of the kirin had signalled all his comrades, "HOLD, we got a blue helm on the scene! Let's forget about these four and head back to the Dragon Head for our next move!"

"GODAMIT, you bloody idiot!! You gotta be more careful with where you're driving!" yelled Mr Tang as he scolded the horrified driver.

"I'm so glad you could be here officer!! I need you to rush over to that police box and call on the nearest available hospital!!", shouted Master Zhi as he quickly got the officer engaged in saving the headmare. Even though she was the very same mare who had rejected him as his new substitute teacher, he still felt like it was his civic duty to protect those who are in dire need, no matter how grave the situation looked.

"You need to tell that ambulance driver to bring in two stretchers, some bracers, a couple casts, a whole ton of bandages and morphine painkillers!! We need to get these two off the street as fast as possible, right now!", continued Master Zhi as he was shouting like he was the lawmen's police chief.

"YES, I understand, sir! Just let me do my job!", shouted the worrisome police officer as he rushed towards the police call-box stationed near the hay-feeding station.

"C'mon!! FASTER!! Quit dickin' around!! These victims aren't getting any younger by the second!" Mr Tang hollered out to the running police officer.

"Everything's going to be all right, okay?! The emergency responders will be on their way soon!", assured Master Zhi as he tried to comfort the tearful Gallus as Starlight Glimmer laid on his lap.

"C'mon, lady! Big girls don't cry, remember?? You gotta make room for the paramedics to do their jobs to save him when they get there, or else they'll be forced to pull you away, ya hear??!", scorned Mr Tang as he gripped hard onto Yona's shoulder and looked sternly onto her crying eyes. As she was staring into space motionlessly, the badly injured Sunburst groaned out a sustained single word from his mouth: "S-s-sss-star---l-l-li--i--"

After the police officer unlocked the call-box, turned the emergency dial to #7 for "Accidents', pulled its side lever to activate the automated telegraph message and proceeded to speak into the carbon transmitter connected to the Ponyville Police Headquarters.

"YES, this is Officer Lookout! Call an ambulance for two accident victims near Apple Memorial Road! One is a mare with possible concussion and the other a stallion with possibly grave injuries! Request that you send backup officers over here too to secure the area!"

Laying in the ditch parallel to the road was a pair of shattered glasses and a wallet with Sunburst's school ID card.

---END

Author's Note

Cantonese for "yak"
https://www.bing.com/translator/?ref=TThis&text=%e7%89%a6%e7%89%9b&from=zh-Hans&to=en

Cantonese for "Do you understand?"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Do%20you%20understand%3F&from=en&to=yue

Cantonese for "You owe me for this"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=You%20owe%20me%20for%20this.&from=en&to=yue

Hypnotic: a medicine designed to help you fall asleep, usually a liquid syrup

9 The Forgotten Friendship

Ch 9 - The Forgotten Friendship

----------(1 PM AT THE PONYVILLE HOSPITAL)----------

It was a very hectic day at the hospital for both Master Zhi and Mr Tang as they rushed alongside the medical orderlies as they rolled their two wheeled stretchers. One of the stretchers had Starlight Glimmer laying unconscious on the soft cot mattress of the stretcher with an attached IV hooked up to her brachial artery, while the other one had Sunburst who was partially wrapped in medical gauze around his head, part of his scalp, arms, legs and lower flanks.

"Get the fuck outta the way, all of y'all!! We got two critically injured patients hanging by a tiny thread here!", shouted Mr Tang as he struggled to run alongside the moving stretchers as they passed through the hallways.

"Every creature, please excuse us!! Make room for the headmare and her vice-stallion!!", cried out Master Zhi as he rushed through the hospital in a panic, while the orderlies escorted the two victims on their wheeled stretchers.

Patients who were sitting in their seats or standing idly by to await their own treatments watched the two rolling stretchers pass by and were also amazed by the panicking frantic nature of the two strangers who seemed to be too worried about their physical well-being.

"If you're just standing around here doing nothing like statues, then go pose somewhere else!!"

"Somebody tell me where the hell are these goddamn medics!!"

"C'mon, you pansies! If you're gonna keep us waiting for immediate medical attention, at least let us lend a helping hand!!"

"I will use up ALL my life savings to buy you the BEST medical tech equipment and pay for their medical bills!! Just PLEASE don't let them die in vain, goddammit!!"

"This is a serious fucking matter of life and death, you morons!!"

"Are there even any REAL doctors in the house right now??! This is a freakin' emergency we are dealing with here!!"

As the panicking duo continued to rush and orbit around the two moving stretchers like madmen, one butter-yellow male unicorn doctor with a brown mane, a pair of glasses, a long white coat and a pair of brown pants came rushing out of the two swinging doors of the emergency room and shouted "What's all the commotion about??!"

"Are you a goddamn doctor?!", shouted the worrisome Mr Tang.

"Yes, I am. I'm Doctor Greymare." he replied as he adjusted his glasses.

"HMPH, you don't look like a doctor! You look like a patient who's trying to play the doctor!", commented Master Zhi as he stared at the doctor's cliche uniform costume.

"Lemme show you how a REAL doctor diagnoses his patients", boasted Master Zhi as he adjusted his pair of glasses. He began with his own quick lecture over what really happened at the crash site.

"Here, we have two injured victims laying on their stretchers, both of which were hit on the forehead by a flying water barrel, though the male victim over here sustained more severe trauma from two oxen and one cart barrelling over his body like a rag-doll. We suspected that the cart was speeding at a high velocity, before its futile attempt to slow down led to the momentum of the barrels to fly them off the cart, hitting our two victims as shown here."

Mr. Tang, now acting professionally, then helped continue with Master Zhi's diagnosis with his own medical report speech.

"Now, onto the specifics on each trauma victim. While the paramedic was occupied with fetching bandages from the ambulance, I took out my personal stethoscope to check their heart rate pulses by counting the number of heart beats as I timed my pocket watch. My calculations found that their average heart rate for both these patients were 60 beats per minute. In another physical diagnosis, I monitored the blood pressure levels with my own personal sphygmomanometer1 as the paramedic was busy setting up an IV on the unconscious lady. His levels amazingly read 120/80 mmHg, which indicates that this stallion man here was only at the brink of suffering high blood pressure, in spite of the severity of the cart crash."

After Mr. Tang was done with his part of the diagnosis, it was Master Zhi's turn.

"The strangest part of his diagnosis? His X-ray photos showed that he suffered no broken bones and aside from the severe scrapes and bruises over his nose, flanks, arms, legs and head, there was not much excessive bleeding and no complete penetration or shearing of the epithelium. This was completely out of the norm of a typical cart crash victim."

Then, it was Mr. Tang's turn to finish with the presentation that somewhat came out of nowhere for the surrounding nurses and patients. However, the doctor seemed to only give off a stoic expression as the explanation went on.

"Nevertheless, my initial diagnosis of this lucky man over here is that he has no critical conditions that needed to be monitored, though I would recommend he sees a physiologist and neuropsychologist to check for any signs of possible concussions. Lastly, for this fine young mare on this stretcher, we suspected that she may had suffered a possible seizure from witnessing the crashing cart alongside this man. How do I know that? As another paramedic was busy wrapping bandages around the young man, I performed the swinging-flashlight test on her eyes and found that one left pupil shrunk in the presence of sudden light, while the other dilated under the same treatment. Thus, my diagnosis for this mare here is that she must be taken to immediate intensive care, while the young man can wait outside with his stretcher until further notice."

After the two strange Far Eastern Equestrians were finished explaining their diagnosis, Dr Greymare pointed at Master Zhi and Mr Tang, before he asked, "Nurse Redheart, could you explain to me who are these two bumbling bystanders over here?"

Nurse Redheart, a white earthen mare with a pink bun and in her pink nurse's outfit, came to Dr Greymare and replied, "Those were the two gentlemen who helped sent these two patients to the hospital after that cart crash"

"Look, I appreciate that you wanted to act like Good Samaritans and help take care of these patients, but in spite of the overwhelming number of patients we had been dealing with, you don't have to worry about these two not getting their immediate treatment. I'll take care of these patients as soon as I can.", assured Dr Greymare as he spoke to the two gentlemen with a respectful manner. However, Master Zhi and Mr Tang did not feel content about the doctor's answer and they put their hands on their hips out of disdain about their rejected help.

"Now, would you tell me who these patients' names are?", asked Dr Greymare. Checking her clipboard for the list of patients, Nurse Redheart answered to Dr Greymare

"I checked her cutie mark on our official database and her name Starlight Glimmer had popped up on her medical records. This man over here though, has no identity card and, as told by these two gentlemen, his flanks were so badly scraped that his cutie marks became unrecognizable, so we don't really know who he is until his face has finally healed."

"I know who he really is! It's uhhh---well----uhhhh---well, all I know is that he's known by one nak girl as Vice-Stallion! Possibly from the School of Friendship, based on his close relations with the headmare.", answered the hollering Master Zhi as he raised his hand and lay his finger on his chin.

"Take the one with the cutie mark to the emergency room! As for the bandaged victim, have him further diagnosed at the intensive care unit over there!", ordered Dr Greymare before the nurses rolled their patients out to their respective rooms.

"HUH?! Now HOLD on a second! I told you this young man here doesn't have any serious internal and external injuries!", shouted Mr. Tang as he witnessed Sunburst being rolled down further through the east hallway.

"LISTEN, old man! I may not look like a doctor in your eyes, but I still see thousands of patients like them every day! Most of them come out very fine once they leave the hospital. So how's about you let me do my job while you sit in the waiting room? Capiche??", scorned Dr Greymare in response to Mr Tang's protests.

-----------------------------
As the six tuxedo-wearing kirin stood up in a shoulder-to-shoulder lined-up formation at the far backside of the waiting room, Ginseng Dragon ordered his men to form a gap in the middle of their kirin wall to assess the situation, as he sat down and hid behind his bodyguards.

Now wearing dark sunglasses and a taped bandage on his forehead where he got attacked by the slingshot stone, Ginseng asked Delft Blue, "I hope nothing terrible comes to my lucky stallion. That cart crash must have been a total calamity for him and his companion".

"It's too early to assume, Dragon Head. Though I may hate to believe it, those two fools still believe the young stallion may still be alive. With that kind of special physique power against that crash AND those thugs, he may as well indeed be your new successor!", complimented Delft Blue as he whispered to his crime boss.

"May the fortune gods have mercy on this lucky stallion's soul", prayed Ginseng Dragon for Sunburst.

"UHOH, here comes security! Every kirin, cover Saan Jyu!", ordered Delft Blue as he pulled the two kirin together to close the gap in the kirin wall.
-----------------------------

As Master Zhi and Mr Tang slowly sneaked behind Dr Greymare as he approached the emergency room entrance, Dr Greymare immediately turned around, causing the two eccentric gentlemen to back off.

"Just WHAT do you two think you are doing??", questioned the suspicious Dr Greymare.

"What does it look like we're doing?? We're helping you prepare for her lobotomy!", replied Mr Tang as he was now randomly carrying a medical saw.

"I TOLD you gentlemen that everything is under control! There is nothing else left for you to do, other than to sit in the room over there!", shouted Dr Greymare as he pointed to the north where the rows of violet couches stand in the waiting room.

"YEAH, Tang! Quit being such a worry wart and sit your ass down by those cushions!" immediately shouted Master Zhi towards Mr Tang, as to make himself look less guilty of being suspicious to the doctor.

"HMPH, fine! Whatever!", shouted Mr Tang before he and Master Zhi walked away, while Dr Greymare entered the emergency room.

Then, just as soon as the doctor had entered, the two mad stallion men turned around and entered the emergency room as quietly yet swiftly as they can.

"All right! Coast seems to be clear here! Let's head on out to our target and show that Headmare how much I really care for her! Then she might give me a second chance at her school!", quietly shouted Master Zhi as Mr Tang crept behind him.

Then suddenly, Nurse Redheart came walking in towards the two trespassers from the second pair of swinging doors and shouted, "Why are you here back again, despite being told to wait by our head surgeon!?"

"We're here to lend a hand in the operation!", exclaimed the determined Mr Tang as he popped out from behind, wearing a head concave mirror.

"The head surgeon had told you two nicely TWICE that your assistance is not required! Now get out of my emergency room before I call in security to escort you both from the hospital!" demanded Nurse Redheart as she opened the right-side emergency door to show the two crazy stallion men out.

"UGGHHHH, FINE! As you wish, ma'am!", cried the frustrated Master Zhi as he and Mr Tang exited the emergency room with disappointment.

"I spent five years in Harvester University to get my PhD in Neuroscience, you know??! What a waste of my education!" shouted Master Zhi as he grumbled under his breath.

"BAAHHH, don't mind them! These damn doctors may be intelligent, but they are very poor judges in character!", grumbled Mr Tang as he took off his head mirror and threw it back over his shoulder.

-----------------------------

As Delft Blue and Ginseng Dragon were hiding behind the bodyguards, they spotted Master Zhi and Mr Tang entering the waiting room. Delft Blue kindly asked to his crime boss "Hey, these two assassins over there! These so-called 'bat exterminators'! Should I follow them outside the hospital and rough up their sorry hides?"

"Not worth it, Deputy! So long as my lucky stallion is still alive, we'll be sitting on thrones of gold and we won't have to deal with these two fumbling fools anymore" replied Ginseng Dragon.

"Of course, Dragon Head. As you wish", obeyed Delft Blue.

-----------------------------

"Wait, Yona??!! Gallus??!! What are YOU two doing here at the hospital?!", shouted Master Zhi when he spotted Yona and Gallus sitting next to each other, at the middle seat section of violet couches on the second row.

"Is Vice-Stallion all right?!", cried Yona as she brought out her big sad eyes as he looked up at Master Zhi.

"I need to know---PLEASE! I-I---I can't take this guilt anymore---! She's not going to die, is she?", whimpered Gallus as he trembled violently as tears ran down his face.

"I thought you two youngins were supposed to be working at the park with Miss Applejack! The police made it very clear about staying off the crash site when they had you all escorted from the premises!", scolded Mr Tang as she waved his finger at Yona and Gallus.

"She's my Headmare!! I deserve to know! I needed to know if she'll be alive for me to apologize to her!", bawled Gallus as he stared hard right into Mr Tang's face.

"That's NOT AN EXCUSE to ditch work!!", shouted Mr Tang.

"You didn't come back to work after that crash either!"

"It was a PART-TIME JOB, you bird brain!! What, you really expected me to guard your feathery ass all day long??!", Mr Tang shouted with fury.

"TANG, if you PLEASE....!", shouted Master Zhi as he slapped his hands on his shoulders.

"Sorry, Mr Tang gets pretty antsy with---creatures he doesn't know very well." apologized Master Zhi as he bowed his head with respect.

"Yona no like arguing...it not make Headmare and Vice-Stallion better..." whimpered Yona as she cower in fear

"I checked with the doctors' diagnosis. Though your Vice-Stallion had beared most of the brunt, he seems to be doing fine.", said Master Zhi. "He's in the intensive care unit right now, where they'll be assessing how much hurt he has in his body. But----I'm sure he'll come back to school once he's all healed up!"

"And Headmare Starlight?", asked Gallus briefly as he bent his feline legs close to his face and hugging his lower paws.

Mr Tang gave out a groaning sigh and replied, "She's not THAT hurt, gruff boy. It's only a bop to the head by a water barrel. Though, I expect she might had suffered major shock from seeing that cart coming towards her......BUT, I'm 99% confident that she'll be back to normal once she exits outta that emergency room."

"SNIFF----thank you----that really means a lot to me......I---I've been meaning to apologize to her for my behavior once she wakes up from her slumber.....", said the tearful Gallus.

"It be okay! Once Headmare is back, she be happy you be here to---"

Just as Yona was about to finish her sentence, her tummy started to growl like an angry bear. Yona then started to blush and moan from that embarassing sound from her stomach.

"UH-OH! Looks like our little blackhorn got the rumblies!" shouted Mr Tang as he sat next to Yona on her right side.

"Yeaahhh---sooo---hungry! No had lunch after leaving farm to see Headmare and Vice-Stallion...", whimpered Yona as she rubbed her fat tummy.

"Yeah...me too....didn't feel like eating after witnessing that horrible crash", said the depressed Gallus.

"WELL, lucky for us, while you were crying over Starlight's unconscious body, I managed to save your bag of tasty fresh bats from being stolen!", cheered Mr Tang as he whipped out his medium canvas bag.

"Yona no like eating bats nor animals! Bats be important for Professor's farm!", protested Yona.

"Seriously, dude?! She's going to kill you if she finds out you took her seed dispensers!", shouted Master Zhi as he sat next to Gallus on his left side.

"It's ONLY a few BATS! Probably just four! She's not gonna know the difference! She's got TONS of those vermin flying around in her refugia orchards!", exclaimed Mr Tang as he waved the medium-sized canvas bag.

"Besides, she doesn't have to know, riiigghtt Gallus? I know you gruffs used to chow down on that stuff back in the old days!", suggested Mr Tang as he waved his bag in front of Gallus' face.

"Siiiggghh, thank you for the offer---but I'll pass...", sighed the groaning depressed and upset Gallus.

"Fine, your loss! I'm going to bake them in my oven when I get back to my apartment kitchen! YUMMY!", cheered Mr Tang as he opened up the medium-sized canvas bag.

"Let's see how many bats I had kil--ERRR--knocked out---!"

It was at this moment that Mr Tang had realized that instead of looking at a colony of potentially delicious bat meat, he was now looking at a compact four-limb steel crossbow loaded with an arrow!

"WAAAAAHHHH!!!!!", cried Mr Tang before he immediately shut the bag tight with his hand.

"What is it, sir??!!", shouted Gallus as he broke free from his depressed state and saw Mr Tang sweating profusely with his hands clenched around the canvas bag.

"I'm so dead meat!! I'M DEAD MEAT!!", mumbled Mr Tang loudly as a few sitting patients around Mr Tang started looking at him with confusion.

"Uhhhhhh YEAH, we know, Mr Tang! You were the one who tried to kill Applejack's favourite fruit bats. Imagine what kinda dead meat you'll be when she finds out you cooked those dead meats!" joked Master Zhi as he laid back on the couch.

"It's NOT THAT, you idiot! LOOK!", whimpered Mr Tang as he handed the canvas bag to Master Zhi.

"Huh? This bag feels rather pretty hard. You sure you didn't accidentally dried them out in the sun?", jokingly questioned Zhi as he felt the surface of the canvas bag before peeking into its opening.

When he also saw the metal crossbow for himself, he immediately shut the bag tight and looked to his right to realize that Gallus had also saw what's inside the bag too. Gallus' expression was that of utter pupil-shrinking horror.

"Are you INSANE?! Every creature knows that bringing weapons into a hospital can land you in the slammer for 20% of your whole expected lifetime!! That's like 5-6 years for you pony people!", cried the quiet but panicking Gallus as stared angrily at Master Zhi.

"How in the hell did that get in there in the first place?!", cried Mr Tang as he shuddered in disbelief.

"Did Yona hear right?!", cried the nak girl who was the next to snap out of her depression.

"You have weapon with you in bag?! GASP! Yona now know! This must happen when Yona took wrong bag after crash in Professor's park! AAHHHHH, Yona feel so duuummmbb!", shouted Yona as she suddenly remembered that fateful late morning at the park.

"We gotta get rid of this bag NOW!! Quick, Yona! Swallow it!!", cried Master Zhi as he took his opportunity to shove the bag into Yona's screaming gape.

"EERRFFHH!! I canft'!!" cried the muffled Yona as she struggled to talk with a bagged crossbow inside her huge mouth.

"C'mon, Yona!! I thought you yaks are supposed to be the best at everything! This includes swallowing huge sacks, right?!", demanded Mr Tang as he covered Yona's mouth.

"Sweet Celestia, have you two gone loco?! She can't swallow it down her throat! It's not gonna fit!", protested the panicking Gallus as he began to sweat profusely like a sauna.

"Swallow it, right now!", demanded Master Zhi as he tried to push her mouth with his palm.

"YOONAAFF NOOVVEE SVALLOOAAF!!", screamed the muffled Yona as she struggled to breathe with the two men trying to forcefully shove the dirty sack down her throat.

"Guys, guys! Stop! You're attracting bad attention from the creatures around us! Look alive!", cried Gallus in anger as all sorts of creatures looked at the strange scene developing in front of them.

"Look, there's a trash can next to the reception room! We can throw it out while you two sit there and DO NOTHING!", suggested Gallus.

"Hate to act like a prick, but you two might end up looking suspicious trying to throw away a sketchy bag in a trash can", warned Mr Tang as he tried to be very subtle with his prejudice.

"Try me, old man!", shouted Gallus as he pulled the wet slobbered bag out of Yona's mouth. "I'll throw away this piece of junk like a normal Equestrian! Just watch!"

"FINE, your funeral", joked Mister Tang as he laid back on his couch seat.

"Just DON'T act weird when you get to the trash can", suggested Master Zhi.

"I SAID I know what I'm doing! And don't lecture me about being normal when you're nutty in the head too!", snapped Gallus as he walked out of the waiting room with Yona.

As Gallus and Yona marched to the reception desk and saw the trash can standing by the entrance into the east-side hallway, they both went with bag in talon, hoping they could get rid of the weapon, once and for all.

"HEY, what do you think you two are doing?!" shouted an Abyssinian police officer who was behind Gallus and Yona.

"EEEPP, we caught! No good!", screeched Yona softly.

"Just throw that shit in the can!!", panicked Gallus.

"Yona cannot! Hole on can too small to fit in!", whispered Yona loudly as she and Gallus turned around to see the feline officer standing very tall above the catbird boy and nak girl. The police officer's face seemed to possess a serious expression on his green-eyed brown-striped and orange-coated face.

'Told ya this would happen! Caught by a moggy copper!', thought Mr Tang as he witnessed the scene from afar by the reception desk.

As Yona quickly hid the bag behind her back, Gallus was nervously smiling at the police officer and said, "NOTHING officer! Just throwing out some trash!"

"YEAH! And visit patient after too!", shouted Yona as she accidentally raised her bag in the air for the officer to see. After realizing her mistake, she quickly tried to hide the bag behind her.

"Riiiigghhht, of course you are. We've been getting some reports of suspicious behavior back in the waiting room recently, so we got called out here to check it out. Is this bag yours?" questioned the Abyssinian officer after spotting the bag sticking out from Yona's back.

"Uh NONONONONO! It's not mine! It's just garbage! BORING old garbage!" shouted Gallus as his legs began to tremble and his eyes started darting side-to-side.

"YEAH, bag no mine! It trash!" yelled Yona as she gave out a huge fake smile at the officer.

"If it's not yours, then lemme take a look-see!", ordered the police officer as she outstretched her left paw, demanding to see the canvas bag.

"NO, you can't take it! It's----uhhh--pretty disgusting! YEAH!", shouted Gallus as he shivered with fear at the officer.

"He's going to lose it and become some griffon's egg layer if we don't budge in!" whispered Master Zhi as he watched from a distance with Mr Tang by the reception desk.

"Do yak and catbird must show bag to you?!" cried Yona as she desperately hid the bag behind her back.

"Look, kids! If you don't give me that suspicious bag right now, then I'll have you both arrested for obstructing a police officer!", threatened the Abyssinian lawman.

"NO NO NO, don't arrest us! PLEASE!! I'm still too young!! I won't survive an hour in prison!!", squawked the poor ruffled Gallus as he raised his talons up in the air in a panic. Yona shivered in fear with Gallus as they saw the police officer was about to snatch the canvas bag with the metal crossbow inside.

"Officer, if I may---?!", suddenly shouted a coffee-brown coated and minty fluffy-maned mare, who was wearing a white-yellow dress on her person. After she tapped his shoulder to get the officer's attention, she asked, "We would like to take this opportunity to pose for a nice photo-op with you for our town newspaper."

Startled by her sudden appearance, the officer felt pretty confused as to what was going on. He also noticed that the two suspicious creatures were gaping in awe, as the unknown minty-maned mare was also accompanied by a purple male unicorn with a teal swirl mane, as well as a couple of Equestrian news reporters taking pictures around the well-dressed stallion unicorn. Not only that, a purple alicorn with a dark blue mane bun and a vertical fuchsia mane stripe was also present. She was wearing her usual golden tiara with a dark purple amethyst in the middle, as well as her sparkling yet casual pink dress, with its hemline going down to her knees. The Princess of Friendship was comforting and standing behind the well-dressed stallion, who just so happened to be carrying a box of tissues as he was wiping away his many tears.

"Princess Twilight Sparkle??!!!", shouted the bewildered Gallus and Yona.

Then, the minty-maned mare told the officer, "Oh, my apologies for not introducing myself properly. My name is Minty Mocha, the assistant manager for Sire's Hollow mayoral candidate, Firelight."

"It's an honor to be here in Ponyville, sir! I wish to become the mayor of the next diverse melting pot in my home town!", sobbed Firelight the mayoral candidate as he shook the feline officer's hand.

"Uhhhh, of course---sir!" nervously muttered the officer.

After Minty Mocha and the officer posed for another newspaper photo-op with them holding paws and hands with each other, the alicorn princess later asked, "Morning, officer! You may know me as Twilight Sparkle, Princess of both Equestria and Friendship! We received an urgent telegram about the mayoral candidate's daughter being involved in a terrible cart accident and was told she and her friend would be at this hospital. I humbly ask of you to please guide us where the mare named Starlight Glimmer and her stallion friend Sunburst is being treated right now, so I could visit them both in person."

"OH, uhhhh---sorry about that, Your Highness! I wasn't paying attention while I was doing my rounds, so I wouldn't know where they might be.", nervously chuckled the Abyssinian officer.

"We know exactly where your friend is, Your Highness", spoke Master Zhi as he and his friend Mr Tang appeared out of nowhere behind the surrendering Gallus, which caused him to squawk in surprise.

"He's being taken care of at the emergency room, over behind that reception desk, to the left." Master Zhi pointed out to the swinging emergency doors.

"YEAH! And for Vice Head-Stallion, he be in intense caring room! He may no be ready for visitors! He being tested for more body injury!!", shouted Yona as she raised the bag again and instantly hid it behind her back.

"Sorry you won't be seeing him soon, Princess. But at least you might see the Headmare!", said the depressed but smiling Gallus as he still raised his talons up.

Firelight hung his head in sadness and sighed. He continued to sob and wipe more tears from his wet face. "SIGH, it's all right, you two! As much as I am in intense competition with my rival Stellar Flare, I really wished she could be here with us to visit her son."

"If it makes you feel better, I was told that he didn't suffer too much, despite the horrible crash. So she might have time to visit the Vice-Stallion soon", said the surrendering Gallus.

Firelight continued, "Well, right now, she's at an important political conference in Manehattan to debate about the controversial bill about flight restrictions of non-Equestrian flyers. I'm sure that after she received that telegram, she'll be stopping her campaign temporarily to see how her son is doing". Soon, the reporters started asking various questions and flashing their cameras at Firelight in response to his comment.

"Why do you have sympathy for your opposing candidate's son?"

"Are you well aware about the relationship between your daughter and the son of your rival?"

"How do you think this love story will affect your polls in the long run?"

"Are the rumors about you having an affair with the rival candidate true?"

Minty Mocha muttered something at Firelight's ear with clenched teeth, "I told you to watch what you're saying! They can record your speech and take that audio out of context..."

As Firelight deals with the many questions by the reporters, Mr Tang started to berate his command at the officer

"Hey, what are you standing around here for?! Get those reporters off that mayoral candidate's back, so he could see her daughter in that emergency room". As he scolded the unprepared officer, he quickly snatched the bag from Yona's cloven hand and had it hidden within his pants at the back without the officer noticing.

"RIGHT, of course! Okay, all of you surrounding Mr. Firelight! Out of the way, so he could see his daughter in the emergency room! Unless you are an associate of Mr. Firelight, no unauthorized entry will be permitted on my watch!", the officer commanded at the reporters before they obediently backed off. Soon, the officer escorted Minty Mocha and Firelight to the emergency room, while the reporters proceeded to exit out of the hospital building.

"Aren't you coming, Princess?", asked Firelight as he stood by the entrance.

"I'll be with you later! I got a pair of students who happen to be playing hooky away from my school!", Twilight sneered as she disappointingly stared at Gallus and Yona.

"Hehe, we just wanted to check up on her like you do, that's all!", nervously chuckled Gallus.

"AND Vice-Head Stallion too!", shouted the concern Yona.

"I know you're just as concerned as I am about your Headmare, but we all know you should've known better than to run off without Professor Applejack's permission. If you wanted to see the Headmare, you should only do that on your own time, preferably with an adult." lectured Twilight Sparkle as she used her giant wings to hug Gallus and Yona.

"C'mon, let's get you back to Applejack's park, before she becomes worried sick about you two", the Princess said as she teleported herself, Yona and Gallus out of the hospital.

"PHEW, that was TOO close! But how in the hell are we gonna get rid of this now?", asked Master Zhi.

"You won't have to look far. LOOK!" pointed Mr Tang as he saw the unconscious and partially bandaged Sunburst being wheeled out on the stretcher.

"Well, the angiograms2 showed no signs of internal hemorrhaging and CAT scans showed no signs of any skeletal fractures, splinters or stress points", said one grey griffon nurse.

"I just can't believe any Equestrian like him would survive a crash like that. It's a miracle he only survived with these nasty gashes. Guess we'll just have to take him to the hospital ward room to rest up", said one white griffon nurse.

"All the wards are filled! We'll have to ask the head doctor for permission to make due with some compromises first. Right now, let's just leave him here by that ward room at 4-A! You remember what his wrist tag looks like?", asked the grey griffon nurse as she set the stretcher by the wall.

"OF COURSE I do!", the white griffon nurse assured with confidence.

"You better! I don't want you getting fired for mixing up patients again!", cawed the grey griffon nurse as she and her partner flew across the hallway to search for the head doctor.

"Look over here, Zhi!", pointed out Mr Tang. "We can hide that bag underneath that Vice-Stallion man!". On the wheeled stretcher set adjacent to the wall, there lies the partially bandaged Sunburst who was sleeping peacefully on his stomach.

"Are you outta your mind?! We can't leave that bagged crossbow under that poor man! What if the nurses find it and accuses him of taking weapons into the hospital?", pondered the upset Master Zhi.

"What if we continued walking around with a suspicious bag in our hands, huh? All the other trash cans here have holes too small to fit the bag in! The best we could do is hide it and hope we don't get caught getting rid of the evidence! Besides, he'll be found not guilty once the nurses who took care of him testify on his behalf!", whispered the grouchy and loud Mr Tang as he side-stepped across the hallway with a concealed weapon in his pants. As soon as they reached their target, Mr Tang clandestinely chucked the bag underneath Sunburst's belly.

"All right, it's outta sight! Now let's get the freak outta dodge!", Mr Tang whispered loudly as he and Master Zhi briskly crept away from the occupied stretcher.

Suddenly, noticing an unusual bump underneath his belly, Sunburst suddenly leapt up from his bed, grabbed the unusual bag and stood up on the floor, before hollering "HEY, wait a minute, you two!! Stop right here!!"

"OH SHIT, we're dead!!", thought the panicked Zhi as he raised his hands in a surrendering position.

"Uhhhh, what seems to be the matter, sir?", nonchalantly asked Mr Tang as he also raised his hands to surrender and turned around to the bandaged up Sunburst.

As soon as Zhi turned around to see the former crash victim, he and Mr Tang saw that Sunburst's face was partially wrapped up around his right top-side of his head and covering one right eye. Only his left eye was visible and it was squinting really hard, since he didn't have his glasses with him. His mane had to be partially cut to make room for the bandages over his scalp. A single wide gauze was also placed over his nose bridge to cover the nasty gash over his nose. In general terms, he was basically barely unrecognizable.

"I think you must've forgotten to take this with you", said the injured Sunburst as he offered to give back the mysterious canvas bag.

"Uhhhh NONONONO, it's not mine! This is yours! You keep it!", panicked Mr Tang as he tried to not be involved with anything about the canvas bag.

"How could that be? I don't even know what to do with it. Just take it." moaned Sunburst as he struggled to reach out his arm that was holding the bag.

"Dude, he already told you! It's yours to keep! You can have it!" cried Master Zhi as he sweated with agitated suspense.

"But I already told you I don't want it! You keep it, all right?!", persistently insisted Sunburst.

Just when things are about to go nowhere except blowing things out of proportion, a shaded turquoise-coated male pegasus stallion custodian with a brown mane and mustache came over to see what was the commotion about. He was wearing his khaki-colored shirt and pants as his uniform, as well as pushing his garbage cart that was half-filled with trash.

"Hey, are you guys fighting over who gets to keep the bag??", questioned the curious custodian.

"No, we're arguing over who DOESN'T have to keep the bag!", replied the anxious Master Zhi.

"So lemme get this straight! YOU don't want it, YOU don't want it and YOU don't want it, correct??", questioned the custodian as he individually pointed at Sunburst, Master Zhi and Mr Tang.

After each three of them nodded in agreement, the custodian later snatched the bag and shouted,

"Then it's GARBAGE then! Problem solved!!"

He later threw down the canvas bag into his large green garbage bucket, giving a total sigh of relief as the crossbow was finally out of sight and out of mind.

"PHEW, that really almost scared me to death", sighed Master Zhi as he and Mr Tang finally put their hands down.

Sunburst was a little shaken and confused at what happened just now. As he was about to question about why he was in bandages in the first place, he looked behind and saw a grey male Diamond Dog orderly wearing a light green uniform about to roll his stretcher cot away.

"HEY WOAH WOAH WOAH! What do you think you're doing??! I need that!", shouted Sunburst as he quickly grabbed hold of the rolling stretcher.

"Sorry, sir! But we need to make use of any unused beds for the overcrowded patients in this hospital. I need to take this bed for some creature who really needs it", said the canine orderly with a gruff voice.

"But---I slept on it for so long. I'm surprised nopony ever woke me up any sooner", said the confused Sunburst.

"Uhhh, it's every creature now, in case you were forgetting!", snapped Master Zhi

"OH MY CELESTIA, who the hell cares??! Nopony cares about your politically correct grammar!", commented the frustrated Mr Tang as he facepalmed in disbelief.

Ignoring the two strangers, the Diamond Dog orderly replied "Well, in spite of those bandages around your body, you seem to be still moving pretty much fine like a normal Equestrian".

"I-I--I may look fine---but----what if I'm suffering some internal injury?", stuttered the disorientated Sunburst as his mind began to wonder.

"Well, you still look perfectly fine to me!", complimented the canine orderly as he skimmed through his body.

"LOOK, I may----it's not that----you see---Oh dear Celestia------what's---what's wrong with me?!", Sunburst stuttered as he began to feel more loss in his thoughts. He couldn't remember why he was in the hospital in the first place, nor why he was covered in bandages. He couldn't know why his vision was somewhat a bit blurry.

"Could I at least ask for your name?", asked the Diamond Dog. "I would check your wrist tag, but it seems like that tag got smudged with black ink, so I wouldn't even know what your ID patient number would be."

"Of course. That's easy! It's-----uhmmm----my name is-----UUHHHH!!!" the orange-yellow bandaged unicorn started to panic as he couldn't remember who he really was. "It's-----my name-----MY----NAAMMEE---!!!"

🍥Suddenly, the bandaged patient started shaking the Diamond Dog violently as he felt himself losing his own identity and his sanity. He could no longer remember who he really is. Did his name start with an 'S'? NO, maybe a 'B'! Who was he?! Why was he here in the hospital in the first place?! Does he even have a family and a home??!🍥

"What's my name?!! Tell me my name!!"

"I don't know your name! That's why I'm asking you!!"

"But I don't know who I really am!! Please, just tell me what my name is!"

"STOP! I don't know who you really are!! You're scaring the patients around you!"

"Who am I??! Who the hell am I??! What am I supposed to be??!"

Frantic about the patient having a sudden mental breakdown, Master Zhi and Mr Tang both went after Sunburst and attempted to grab him from behind to pull him off the scared orderly employee.

"DUDE, chillax!! You're hurting him!", shouted Master Zhi as he grabbed Sunburst's shoulders.

"Come on, young man! You're at a hospital! Quit behaving like a mental ward patient!", yelled Mr Tang as he attempted to grab him by the legs.

"DON'T TOUCH ME!!", bellowed the amnesiac unicorn as he instinctively cast a shockwave spell that pushed the two stallions off their balance and sent them crashing into a parked cot. Both Master Zhi and Mr Tang now lied barely conscious with their backs laying against the tipped over cot.

😭"TELL ME!! Who am I??! Who am I?!! What am I supposed to be called??!! Why can't you tell me??!!", the deranged young stallion continued to cry.

"太陽仔 (Taai Yoeng Jye)3!!", shouted an unexpected voice out from nowhere.

When the injured unicorn looked to his left, he saw a tall red-coated kirin with a black fluffy mane and a gold-yellow suit coming over to greet whoever he was talking to. It was this unexpected hollering that stopped the commotion between the young bandaged stallion and the diamond dog orderly.

"Well, if it isn't my little good ol' Sunny Boy!", cried Ginseng Dragon as he face his prized possession.

"Uhmmm, I think he's referring to you, sir", said Sunburst as he face towards the Diamond Dog.

"Uhhh, my name's not Sunny Boy! I think he might be actually referring to YOU!", replied the canine orderly before Sunny Boy immediately turned his amazed gaze towards Ginseng Dragon.

As Master Zhi and Mr Tang regained most of their consciousness, they were shocked and afraid to see Delft Blue approaching him with a malicious grin on his face. As they shook with the utmost fear, Delft Blue told them

"Now now now! You got nothing to worry about! I'm not here to hurt you!"

"You're not?? But---what about---?" Master Zhi asked before he was interrupted by Delft Blue as he crouched down to meet them eye to eye.

"OH, the slingshot incident?! NOOOO, I'm over that already. It should be me who should apologize for---getting too irrational, all right?? How's about we make a deal to make up for our rash behavior?? We'll agree to take care of your stallion over there, and we won't send any more of our friends to come after you for hitting my boss, all right?? If anypony asks---just tell them----he's still recovering and he is catching up with his long lost colleagues from the gifted unicorn school!"

Wanting to question them even further, but feeling too weak to even move on, Mr Tang struggled to speak, "H-h-how---do--we know----you--redhorns---are---to be----trusted??"

"Tell you what, old man. If you manage to keep this secret quiet for just one week, I'll send you 1000 bits each month from my salary and you can live a more comfortable luxurious life back home...sounds like a deal?---Unless----you want me to summon more of my old friends with my mass teleportation spell to keep you permanently quiet???" threatened the smirking Delft Blue as he lit his horn with a bright blue glow.

Seeing the ominous glowing blue evil eyes and the malicious teeth-baring grin on his face, Mr Tang quickly hesitated and cried, "Uh, YES! Of course! Understood!"

"Is something wrong?" asked one of the two Equestrian police officers who came over to witness the commotion.

"OH, there's nothing wrong now! We just had a struggle with our godson over here, but we're escorting him out of the hospital, right son??", answered the joyful Ginseng as he wrapped his shoulder over Sunny Boy.

"Yeah, you two should've been more careful when handling our Sunny Boy! You could've gotten pretty hurt, just about now! He could get real feisty when he feels threatened!", assured the now cheerful and smiling Delft Blue after he toned down the magic in his horn. The other police officer later replied,

"Well, all right then. But just in case something goes wrong again, we'll be escorting you two out of the hospital with---"

"NO NEED, I already have six of my personal bodyguards to take care of that!", shouted Ginseng Dragon as he was suddenly surrounded by all six of the well-suited tuxedo-wearing kirin.

Shocked by the sudden appearance of the buff kirin, the police officers said their farewells, turned their backs and later resume their usual patrols around the hospital.

"You're----my---godfather??", asked the confused Sunny Boy as they walked together.

"YES, of COURSE!! Finally, you recognize me! I'm here to pick you up from the hospital after that terrible cart crash!", assured Ginseng Dragon as he and Sunny Boy walked together with their bodyguards.

"But I'm still recovering from my injuries---right?" questioned Sunny Boy.

"Ahhh, no need! My home has the BEST kirin remedy medicine that will heal even the most gravest injuries! Come with me and I'll show you my big surprise for you!", hollered the smiling crime boss as he, his bodyguards, Delft Blue and Sunburst finally exited the Ponyville hospital.

As Master Zhi and Mr Tang got up from the floor, Master Zhi cried, "Dude, what were you THINKING?!"

"What the hell are we supposed to do?? If we told the authorities that the Vice-Stallion might be possibly kidnapped, those redhorns would've finished us off right on the spot while we were incapacitated! As much as I hate to admit it, that kirin will beat our ass down relentlessly with his army of chi fighters until our bones turn into dust, even with our special martial arts training! Until we get this situation under control, I say that we keep our mouths shut for now and focus on helping that headmare!", grumbled the begrudged Mr Tang as he dusted himself off.

Suddenly, Princess Twilight Sparkle teleported right in front of Master Zhi and Mr Tang, scaring the jeepers out of the two strange stallions. She later kindly apologized for her intrusion.

"Oops! Sorry about that! I got caught up lecturing Gallus and Yona with my many lectures on work ethics. I didn't miss anything important, did I? OH, did you hear anything back about Sunburst? I've been meaning to see him after Starlight had recovered"

"NO!!", cried Master Zhi as he nervously stood up pretty still. "We--uhhh--saw him leaving with his many friends from magic school!!"

'(SHIT, why did I agreed to this??)', thought the sweating Master Zhi.

"YEAH, some of his colleagues came over to see him---and now he's going over there to catch up on old times. He REALLY needs a long time to recover from that accident...he's not hurt THAT bad---but--doctors told him to take some time off to get over the---mental trauma..." Mr Tang muttered as he struggled to find the right words without raising suspicion.

Though still skeptical of their explanation, Princess Twilight Sparkle believed what Mr Tang had told him and replied, "Hmmmm, I see. Well, if you see the Vice-Stallion again, tell him that he's free to visit me any time back in Canterlot Castle. Now, let's see how my favourite Headmare is doing.".

"Mr Firelight, I'm afraid that your daughter has lost most of her memories about her current life, due to both the physical and mental shock to her mind from that crash." said Dr Greymare as he escorted Firelight, Starlight and Minty Mocha out of the emergency room. "As of right now, my current diagnosis is not sure about whether this is a temporary or permament effect."

"It's all right, Doctor." replied Firelight as he held his daughter's hand. "As much as it pains me to see Starlight had lost a huge part of herself, there is a silver lining to this situation! At least now I wouldn't have to worry about being berated for treating my little daughter as a filly again! Isn't that RIGHT, my pumpkin cheeks??". Firelight started pinching her soft cheeks as if she was a little foal baby.

"DAD, I may had lost most of my memories, but I'm still a grown mare inside!", shouted Starlight as she tried to move away from his pinching hand.

"Did I hear that right?? She lost most of her memories?? Oohhhh, I was kinda afraid this might happen", groaned the sad Princess of Friendship as she palmed her forehead.

"Uhhhh, who are you?? What's an alicorn doing here in the hospital?" questioned the forgetful Starlight as she moaned from the little migraines in her head.

"It's me, your best friend. Princess Twilight Sparkle. Ohhhh, I know this may be a shock to you right now---but we'll get you and Sunburst back to normal again once we figure out a way to restore your memories! Don't you worry!", assured the confident princess.

"Uhhhhh, who's----Sunburst?", Starlight asked before shaking her confused head.

"Oh NO, it's worse than I thought, isn't it Doctor?", reacted Princess Twilight Sparkle as she turned her attention to Dr Greymare.

"I'm afraid so....BUT---maybe if you help jog her memories by re-introducing her past and current life, it could help speed up the process in returning her back to normal. If she ends up relapsing, you can come back to me and we'll figure out the best course of special treatments.", advised Dr Greymare before giving Princess Twilight his home address on his business card.

"WOW, you look better all ready, Headmare!", shouted Master Zhi as he and Mr Tang barged into the conversation.

"Excuse me, but are you two actually friends with the Headmare?" asked Minty Mocha.

"Uhhh, YES...well, actually---NO, not really..." replied the stuttering Master Zhi.

"We're just fellow immigrant citizens from Far Eastern Equestria who wanted to help a poor citizen in need, so we provided the necessary first aid and brought her over here to the hospital, just like any other fellow Equestrian", replied the cheerful and rough-voiced Mr Tang.

"Hmmmm, I see. Well, how's about as appreciation for your generosity of saving my boss' daughter, we will let you attend our future mayor's speech rally in Sire's Hollow? How does that sound, Mr. Firelight?", requested Minty Mocha with a suggestive tone.

After Firelight was out of his saddened state, he suddenly changed his expression into gratified interest and said, "Yeeesss, of COURSE! And to top it all off, how about we also invite that---griffon and yak friend over here too!?". Firelight started to place his pellicula4 underneath his chin, before slowing stroking it.

"Wait, you mean the students from the School of Friendship??! Well---I'm not sure about this....", hesitated Princess Twilight Sparkle as she pondered on Firelight's politcal stragety.

Then, Firelight started to speak out about his convincing argument to the princess.

"Hey, the doctor said the Headmare should spend her time trying to regain her memories! If she hung out and conversed with the students from her own school, I'm sure that will help jog her memory! Besides, it's the best chance for me to show these citizens how much I am willing to move forward in diversifying the town of Sire's Hollow! It will ALSO be the best chance for your students to explore the world of politics. Think of this as an extra curriculum assignment."

After hearing out his word, Twlight pondered for a moment, and then gave her conditional reply.

"Well........all right then...BUT on the condition that they only do that on their free time, NOT during the school hours! AND you can only invite them IF they give you their permission. I don't want to be involved in exploitation of my students as token political and endorsement tools for your campaign."

Firelight then responded as he held out his right palm, "Say no more, Princess. If they refuse my invitation, I will humbly accept their decisions. I will not plead and beg whatsoever!"

"Very well, Mr. Firelight. I trust you.", said Twilight Sparkle as she activated her magical horn. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'll be on my way to finish the rest of my princess duties. Farewell, everypony. Oh, and Starlight..."

"Huh?", mumbled Starlight as she looked up at the princess.

With their glistening eyes meeting directly with each other, Twilight Sparkle said to Starlight

"......please get back to normal soon......your friends will be waiting for you..."

And just like that, the Princess of Friendship teleported out of the hospital, leaving the amnesiac Starlight, Master Zhi and Mr Tang with bewilderment over what will come next in their future.

---END

Author's Note

Sphygmomanometer: Scientific term for "blood pressure meter"

Angiogram: an X-ray test that uses a special dye and fluoroscopic camera to take pictures of the blood flow in arteries or veins

Cantonese for "Son of the Sun"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Son%20of%20sun&from=en&to=yue

Pellicula: stretched out skin region between the finger and thumb

10 First Stroke of Bad Luck

Ch 10 - First Stroke of Bad Luck

----------(SOMEWHERE IN AN UNDERGROUND DIM-SUM1 RESTAURANT IN QILIN TOWN, 11:00 PM)----------

The underground criminal atmosphere within the seedy restaurant was positively celebratory with the clapping kirin and Far Eastern Equestrian audience. The underground area was brightened up with glowing yellow-tinted oil lanterns hanging from the ceilings and mounted on the ebony panel walls. Just like with any other typical dim-sum restaurant, an inlaid golden dragon was embedded into a hard red velvet-covered wall at the south side of the restaurant. At the north side of the restaurant was a stage with a middle podium, in which a plugged-in microphone was placed on top and connected to two surround-sound loudspeakers. Among the crowd, there were around nine to ten well-dressed kirins and/or Far Eastern unicorns seated at one of each 12 large round tables covered with a white silk tablecloth. Each restaurant table had a large round spinning lazy Susan2 with a pot of pink and red roses in the middle.

Within the underground restaurant, each table also had a serving of one large glass green bottle of champagne, in which each guest was given as they held out their respective crystallized wine glasses. Each guest was given a white ceramic plate, a pair of chopsticks, napkins, silver spoon and a silver fork to help chow down on their dinner meals. The food that was being served at the underground restaurant is the type of delicacy that would be illegal to sell open wide, as most of the foods were either meats of exotic/endangered species or foods that were under strict regulations in terms of production and sale. Those taboo foods included chimera game meat, poisonous snake meat deep-fried in gutter oil3, boiled penises from manticore meat, fried bufogren eyeballs, roasted bugbear paws and spitroasted cockatrice. Each dish was garnished decoratively with a variety of fruits, such as oranges, tangerines, papayas, honey melons and winter melons to give the delicacy an added unique bedazzling touch.

As every creature was enjoying their illicit brunch meals, one butler kirin dimmed the lights of the ceiling and wall lanterns and announced that the Dragon Head of the Ginseng Triad, his posse and his new godson Sunny Boy will be arriving at the entrance and ordered every gangster, escort girl, mob wife and mistress to give a round of applause when they entered through the door. As soon as the main entrance doors on the west were widely opened, one kirin standing on a stepladder activated a bright spotlight spell from his red horn to shine a limelight on the criminal celebrity known as Ginseng Dragon, his right-hand deputy Delft Blue and his new godson Sunny Boy.

For this special occasion, Ginseng Dragon wore his special white suit and pants decorated with parallel vertical grey lines. Delft Blue was wearing a silk shirt with patterned blooming petunias and black pants, as well as sporting his blue-tinted round eyeglasses over his eyes. Lastly, Sunny Boy had a very sleek and short orange mane, wore orange mirrored sunglasses, an orange-and-blue jersey jacket over his white shirt and a pair of green camouflage pants. Every creature who witnessed the new member of the Ginseng Triad and the supposed lost godson of the biggest kirin crime boss in Equestria started applauding cheerfully and calling out "Sunny Boy" as the trio entered the restaurant.

As the kirin bodyguards took their stance behind the trio, every creature gazed at the handsome cool new member and were constantly calling out the godson's name, in hopes that they would catch their attention. However, out of respect, most mature guests called out their crime boss' name first to congratulate him on finding his "long-lost godson", before welcoming the "Sunny Boy" back to his home. To help sell off his lucky boy as his new successor of his criminal empire, Ginseng Dragon wrapped his shoulders around him with his right arm as he escorted him to the VIP table, where the highest ranking Triad officers and allied crime bosses, as well as the hottest kirin and Easter Equestrian mares, were honorably seated.

"OH! Please, no 'Sunny Boy'! 'Sunny' alone is just fine", nervously requested the godson as he took a seat at the VIP table.

"See how popular you are with my fellow friends, my godson! All of this could be yours someday!", hollered Ginseng as he sat down and pour a glass of sparkling wine for his godson.

"I SAY that we ALL propose a toast to my long-lost godson, every kirin and every pony!", cried the cheerful Ginseng Dragon as he raised his half-filled wine glass and cried out to the whole restaurant crowd. Every creature started cheering even more loudly and demanded that the boss give a momentous speech at the staged podium.

Honored by the Triad members' kind gesture, Ginseng Dragon and Sunny Boy, with their glasses in hand, went up to the podium, alongside his kirin bodyguards and his right-hand deputy man Delft Blue. As climbed up on the carpeted stage, Ginseng called out to every creature, "Every Triad member, come onto the stage with me! NOW, on your hooves! Quickly now!"

Out of enthusiasm and obedience, every kirin and everypony started to come up to the stage and surround Ginseng Dragon who was occupying the podium. However, since almost every guest in the underground restaurant mostly consisted of Ginseng Triad members, all that was left at their seats were a few foreign black-market business mares, a few butlers still serving the tables and some scantily-dressed buxom kirin escorts in their tight latex dresses. As more gangsters started coming up to the stage, one eccentric white-coated and spiky black-maned gangster stallion with sleek sunglasses decided to stand to the left side of Sunny Boy. He was wearing his tacky radial rainbow shirt and three gold-chained necklaces around his neck as he posed graciously for the nearly non-existent audience.

"WELCOME, every kirin and every pony!", shouted Ginseng Dragon as he addressed the very sparse crowd, while his gangsters crowded around him on the stage.

"For years, I had searched every corner of Equestria in search for my distant godson! This fine stallion unicorn here was to be given my throne to my triad empire once he has become of age!"

Ginseng Dragon continued with his speech, pausing at each highlighting moment to give emphasis for each point

"Now that he has been found, I humbly ask that all of you members assist in his ascension---by taking well care of him like your own son---guiding him through thick and thin---AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, cherish the future memories you will have of him as he ascends to be the New Dragon Head!"

Every creature both behind and in front of Ginseng Dragon started to cheer and clap about his heartfelt speech; even the low-class butlers, waiters and escorts started to congratulate their new future leader of the Ginseng Triad.

"NOW, let us all party while the night is still young!!", bellowed the elated Ginseng Dragon as he raised his glass with the gangsters and every creature yelled "CHEERS!!" before gulping down their vintage champagne.

----------(ONE HOUR OF PARTYING, OPIUM SMOKING, KARAOKE SINGING, EATING AND HEAVY DRINKING LATER)----------

As every imbibed creature exited out into the concrete street parking lot via a single brown steel exit door of a Canternese pawnshop in Qilin town, all the D-cup to F-cup kirin escort girls in their racy dresses, skirts and tube tops were gathering around the Dragon Head, his Deputy Officer and the Godson as they expressed gratitude over tonight's debauchery.

"I feel so deliciously happy as a fat emperor with his concubines! DO YOU FEEL HAPPY TOO, my dearest godson??!!", cheered the drunken Dragon Head.

"YES, I never felt SO alive in my entire life!! I am so glad to be part of this wonderful family!", hollered the deliriously soused Sunburst as he wrapped his arms around two busty kirin girls, who were also being followed by the eccentric spiky-maned stallion.

As the party crowd walked across the nearly empty parking lot surrounded by bricked gardens, one griffon was stalking from within her running grey Stanley 735 Steam car4. As the posse walked drunkenly to the right of her version (perpendicular to her line of sight), she cocked her new compact steel crossbow and loaded it with her poisonous arrow.

"I know this will all come as a shocker to you at first, Sunny Boy! But when we get back home, everything will fall into place as we work together to build your new future and eventually, you will learn where your true destiny lies!", hollered the stumbling and cloudy-headed Dragon Head as he held onto the shoulders of his godson.

"Everything here in Far Eastern Equestria and beyond! Ponyville! Manehattan! Vanhoover! Even Canterlot! All of that is right now under my control, but soon you will inherit my empire once we trained you to be the proper king!", the Ginseng Dragon continued as he slurred his speech.

"HEY, Saan Jyu!! Your Doble5 is ready!", shouted the drunken Delft Blue after he revved up the steam boiler with his ignition spell from his red horn.

As the ladies opened all four side-doors, the drunken Ginseng Dragon offered to let Sunny Boy ride the shotgun seat, but out of respect for the new Triad member, Sunny Boy insisted Ginseng get in first. Soon a friendly squabble between godfather and godson began, before Sunny Boy finally gave in and decided to ride shotgun, in exchange of taking a puff from Blue's opium pipe.

As the Griffon Huntress sees her designated target who was now dressed up as a rebel boy, she slowly pulled over next to the Dragon Head's Doble car, took out her crossbow and took aim as the lucky stallion godson entered the dashboard seat of the car.

As the Huntress pulled the trigger on her crossbow, a freakish gust of wind, a sudden slip of a banana peel by Ginseng Dragon (who was behind Sunny Boy at the time) and a sudden push into the shotgun seat by the forward-slipping godfather caused Sunny Boy to miraculously dodge the arrow shot that was meant for him. As Sunny Boy was accidentally pushed quickly into the shotgun seat, the freakish wind steered the arrow away from Sunny's Head and actually found itself piercing through Ginseng Dragon's two butt cheeks as the godfather was in mid-air during the banana slip.

As soon as everybody realized what was going on, every escort lady started to scream and the kirin bodyguards took notice of the griffon Huntress, who started to make her quick getaway as fast as she could!

"Every kirin!! COVER SAAN JYU!!", cried Delft Blue as every escort girl rushed into the boss' Doble car, while Ginseng Dragon himself painfully side-waddled into the back seat with the ladies, clenching hard as the poisonous arrow remained pierced at the side through his two butt cheeks.

While Delft Blue revved up the Doble to make the getaway, every Far Eastern soldier and kirin bodyguard of the Ginseng Triad stood behind at the parking lot and pulled out their percussion single-shooters, pepperboxes and revolvers. As the Huntress drifted wildly across the concrete ground, the triad soldiers started firing wildly at her Stanley as they chased after her vehicle from behind.

Suddenly, the Huntress hit the brakes and quickly rotated her car around into the other direction and started revving up the pressure of the steam boiler to accelerate towards the Triad members, causing them to retreat in fear of being ran over by the ruthless Huntress.

"EVERY KIRIN! Fall back and split up!!" ordered one of the kirin bodyguards, before the gang separated into opposite directions and ran as fast as they could to avoid the oncoming Stanley. Those who were still loaded with deadly buckshot began firing back at the charging Stanley, causing the Huntress to duck down as her frontal windshield got shattered by the speeding lead bullets.

As a final blow to the Stanley, one adept kirin guard started powering up the chi energy on his fists with his magic, before performing a slam dunk punch on the concrete ground. The brutish magical force caused a train of upward concrete spikes to form and chased after the swerving Stanley. Once the Stanley steam car was struck from underneath by the erecting concrete spikes, the Stanley car became totally wrecked and immobilized by the huge spike piercing through the backseat and the roof. Fortunately, the Huntress inside her vehicle remained unscathed but was shivered to the core by the sudden earthly attack move.

"YOU, OUT OF THE CAR!! NOW!!! 唔好做傻事! (Hm Hoe Joe Zhaw Ji!)6!!", yelled one of the kirin who had his percussion pistol pointed point-blank next to the Huntress' head.

As more Triad members surrounded the totaled car and pulled out their percussion guns, the Huntress admitted that she had nowhere to flee and accepted her unconditional surrender by raising her talons up.

Meanwhile, as Delft Blue swerved the boss' Doble car across the sparsely occupied and curvy street roads of Qilin town, he frantically apologized as escort girls at the backseat, sitting with the agonized Ginseng Dragon, scream to the top of their lungs.

"I'm SORRY you had to suffer such an unsuspecting night like this, Saan Jyu!!!"

As the Dragon Head desperately held onto his buttocks and struggled to find himself at a more comfortable position for his pierced butt cheeks on the constantly rocking backseat, his godson Sunny Boy shouted from the front seat

"It's all right, Godfather!! We are all out of the danger zone!! Let's get you back home and see if there's anything in your medicine cabinet that could fix your buttocks!!"

----------(THE NEXT DAY IN SIRE'S HOLLOW, 10:00 A.M. AT FIRELIGHT'S HOUSE)----------

Today was a rather slow but calming day at the Glimmer Household. Inside Firelight's office living room, there stood a center wooden table, where Starlight was struggling very hard in writing down her own name and drawing her own cutie mark from memory in her own original handwriting, while her father tried to cheer her on as positively as he can. Under the table lied a fluffy blue carpet with a dark blue circle surrounding the legs of the wooden table, and a green sofa couch stood at the southwest corner of the blue rug. North of the wooden table where Starlight was sitting stood two columns of four bookshelves in one bookcase, though there weren't too many books filling up the shelves. Two political banners with Firelight's color scheme, violet and teal, flanked the open east entrance of the living room. On the west side of the living room was an open window with wide-opened curtains letting in the bright sunlight. Finally, at the south side of the living room was Firelight's own office desk with piles of paperwork stacked, stored and shelved in metal cabinets, bookshelves and boxes standing behind the office desk. It was naturally lit by another transparent window on the south wall of the office living room, though at night time, they could be also lit by the two green-shaded ceiling oil lamps and the table oil lamp on the desk.

"It's all right, my little chipmunk! Take all the time you need in practicing your handwriting! You'll get it right in no time!", assured Firelight as he gently tapped on Starlight's quivering shoulder.

"Dad, I can't concentrate with you calling me embarrassing names like that! I already told you that I'm still a grown mare inside! Were you always like this to me even after I grew up?", grunted Starlight as she struggled with her scribbled and wavy handwriting.

"Sorry!", cried the saddened Firelight. "It's just that---after finding out you were involved in that cart crash-----I just can't fathom the fact that I was JUST close to losing you again! And this time, it would be permanent, instead of you running of on your own to your homemade fantasy world! I didn't know if you could survive at that time of the crash......it was like losing a part of you all over again, just like with that Equality Cult Village!". Firelight shook as he tried to maintain composure and held back his dripping tears.

".....I may not know much about anything right now, since that I am still completely lost in my own foggy world....but seeing at how you are treating me.....I bet that you were the most caring dad in Equestria and that you did your utmost best in trying to look out for me......I bet the Starlight that I once was must feel the same way about your well-being, but she was too shy to show it....but--what do I know----I'm just an alternative version of your real daughter right now...soon, my mind would just become a drifting anomaly that will dissipate in my subconsciousness", muttered Starlight as she tried to write her own name and her cutie mark on paper once again. As she looked down on her paper with tears in her eyes, Firelight grabbed her chin and slowly lifted her head up.

As Firelight sniffled, looked up at his daughter's sad eyes and gave out a heart-warming smile, he told her in his trembling voice, "No....thank you, sweetie....I needed that...."

"I can't believe she even forgotten to sign her own name AND her own cutie mark! This IS worse than what the Princess had imagined...", muttered the sniffling Master Zhi as he peered into the west window from outside Glimmer's front yard.

Yona, who was standing right beside Master Zhi, sniffled and sobbed as she stared at her poor amnesiac Headmare. "All because of our fault! Me and Yellow Master rode past heavy cart! Cause cart and barrels to hit Headmare and Vice-Stallion!"

Mr Tang, who came up to the two sorrowful creatures, gave out a heavy grunting sigh and said, "It's not entirely your fault, OKAY?! SIGH-----maaayyybee you were right about me being a BIT too rash with the kirin!", he muttered as he scratched the back of his head as he tried to feign taking partial responsibility of Saturday's events.

"OH REALLY??!!", shouted Gallus as he flew down with his talons planted onto his feline hips. "I never knew your incompetence with a slingshot would trigger a whole cascade of downright up-fuckery!"

Just like that, the condescending remark triggered an intense finger-pointing squabble between the griffon boy and the old stallion unicorn.

"How the hell am I supposed to know they were gazing from the hilltop gazebo??! I could barely see them from the apple tree canopy and large nets blocking the view of the hilltop!"

"MAYBE if you were more considerate about what you were shooting at and where you were aiming---!!!"

"I would've been all over those kirin and ended the chase early if you hadn't held me back in the first place!!"

"We would've not had that fight in the first place, if you didn't try to kill that fast flying bat with a stone instead of focusing on the bats by the trees with your sleeping pellets!"

"DON'T LECTURE ME, you lousy gruff!!"

"Stubborn old banana horn!"

"GUYS GUYS GUYS, PLEASE!!! This isn't helping!! Arguing never solves anything!! Friendship School taught me that!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he flew in and interrupted the argument from above.

"Yona no want any more fighting! Make Yona so scared! Yona begging and pleading for you to stop!", the crying shuddering nak girl muttered as she placed her cloven hands over her head.

"HEY, no critch ever asked you two to butt in, especially you, hairy oaf!!"

"Every creature, SHUT UP, RIGHT NOW!!", bellowed Young Master Zhi as he broke the silence with the loudest scream in the group. He later continued in a scolding manner, "Look, what's done is already done! We're ALL remorseful about what happened to the Headmare! Right now, we need to focus on our current mission! Mr. Firelight, the Headmare's father, brought us over here to help regain her former memories! In spite of what we did to lead to her current predicament, he chose us as our only hope of fixing back what we had broke! If we start fighting each other over who's to blame, we'll NEVER get her memories back! So quit dicking around and let's get your heads in the game, all right??!"

As silence befalls within the front yard of the Glimmer household, the front door of the house opened and out came Minty Mocha, who was now wearing her reading glasses.

"Uhhhh, Master Zhi, Mr Tang, Gallus, Yona and.....uhhh...", Minty Mocha called out each name, before pointing to the tiny white pegasus boy with the purple bowl-shaped mane and green Qing cap. As she was stuttering over what his name really is, the white pegasus posed in a straight flying stance with gave out a salute

"TINY TURNIP HEAD!! At your service!!", the tiny white pegasus boy exclaimed as he introduced himself gleefully.

"Riiiigghhhhttt, Mr. Firelight would want to see all of you very soon. When you're ready, please follow the signs to his office across the hallways." said Minty Mocha before heading back inside.

As more silence began to reign for only a couple seconds after the door was shut, Mr Tang was the first to speak out to break the awkward tension.

"Soooo, remind me again why we brought Tiny Turnip Head to Sire's Hollow in the first place?"

Master Zhi later replied, "Well, after he managed to score over 1000 bats in five minutes back at the park, he was given an early release from his work schedule, and decided to come along with Yona and Gallus for the party rally"

"ALL RIGHT, this is going to be SO much fun here at this new town we never explored!!", cheered Turnip Head as he raised his hands up, while doing a fancy loop in the air.

"Sooooo, you must be the new foreign exchange student, huh?", Gallus spoke as he flew behind Tiny Turnip Head with his arms crossed. "Silverstream and Smolder told me all about you the day you first arrived! You're even more chipper than I thought, more so than Silverstream! Name's Gallus, by the way", he greeted as he extended his claw out for Turnip Head.

"I thank yee for the compliment, Gallus the Hot-headed Catbird!", shouted Turnip Head as he violently shook his talon out of excitement.

"😡HEY, I am NOT that hot-headed!! I just---😤never mind😤---I just proved myself wrong here....my apologies", Gallus screamed before stopping himself to calm his own nerves.

"And you're Yona, right??!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he swerved his head towards the sad yak. "Yona the Rampaging Yak!! We met at the memorial park before, right??!!"

Yona was still feeling a bit depressed over yesterday's crash. Seeing her being unresponsive as her spirits were down in the dumps, Tiny Turnip Head rapidly flew over to her face, lifted her heavy chin and graciously yelled,

"Hey---it's going to be all right, Yona! Yaks are strong, right? Yaks will overcome every obstacle, no matter how big! Yona did say yaks and pony people stronger together, yes?! SO---let's be strong as horses and yaks together and help Miss Headmare in her time of need until she gets better!! This, I swear!!"

As Yona looked with teary eyes at the tiny smiling pegasus boy, Yona started to grin a bit harder and cried, "Yona will be strong for little white pegasus! With friends, we will find Headmare's memories---TOGETHER!!". Yona then proceeded to hug the little pegasus boy tightly, causing him to lose his ability to breathe.

"HEY, don't forget about us griffons too, Turnip Boy!", shouted Gallus as he roughed up Turnip Head's mane with his talon.

"It's TINY TURNIP HEAD, silly!", exclaimed the upset white-coated pegasus boy.

"BAH, whatever!!", Gallus jokingly replied.

"That was faster than I thought. He seems to be getting along fine with his new classmates...", Master Zhi complimented as Gallus, Yona and Tiny Turnip Head hug out their tensions together.

"BLLEEHH!! Can we just go meet the future mayor of Sire's Hollow now before I die from this sappiness??", complained the grouchy old Mr Tang.

Master Zhi clapped his hands loudly to get the young creatures' attention and cried out

"OKAY, fellas! That's enough affection for today! Time for you creatures to learn the magic of politics!"

----------(MEANWHILE, BACK IN FIRELIGHT'S OFFICE)----------

Firelight turned his attention from Glimmer's bad handwriting to his assistant manager and asked, "So---any news from Stellar Flare and her son Sunburst?"

Minty Mocha gave out a huge sad sigh and replied, "Sunspot wouldn't want to give out the details to me, thinking you'll use that information as ammunition against her campaign. Despite his protests not to have contact with his wife, I telegraphed Stellar Flare about the breaking news. She told me she had already reached out to the Ponyville hospital and was told that her son wasn't admitted to the hospital. Before I could ask for more details, her husband decided to butt in and cut the telegraph from her office. Sunspot told me that when he confronted me about my interaction with her."

"No Sunburst? That can't be right....he was with Starlight at the time of the accident, right?", questioned Firelight as he stroked his chin. Minty Mocha later answered,

"Sounded strange to me too, I know...that's why I personally reached out to the Ponyville hospital myself and they confirmed that nopony named Sunburst had ever been written on the hospital list during that day of the cart crash. I showed them the photo of Sunburst and his cutie mark, and the reception took three frustrating hours to confirm that one orange-maned stallion was admitted to the hospital, but his flanks were badly scraped from the cart crash and half his face was also bandaged. Thus, there was no way they could confirm whether this was the stallion Starlight was hanging with at that time."

"Any way we could obtain more information about this stallion?", Firelight asked.

Minty Mocha shook her head and told her boss, "Unfortunately, due to privacy reasons, I couldn't get information on whether he was admitted to the same hospital at the same time as Starlight nor whether he was involved in the same cart crash as your daughter. So we can't confirm whether this stallion was actually Sunburst or not. All we know is that the unknown stallion had left the hospital early with some long-lost friends, before the orderlies had a chance to send him to the resting ward to heal his injuries..."

"Where has he gone off right now?", Firelight asked again, before Minty Mocha responded

"His location is right now unknown. I came into contact with some former colleagues of Sunburst in Canterlot, but none of them actually knew where he might had left after that.....it's like---he kind of disappeared off the world map..."

Firelight started to ponder and speculate as he placed his thumb over his mouth.

"Hmmmmm.......that is strange......if he really was concerned about Sunburst----he would've came over here to see Starlight for himself----it's strange for him to be giving Starlight the awkward silent treatment-----call it a hunch----but I think he may had suffered the same fate as Starlight....if that were true, then that means---"

"OH, no time for speculations now! You got special guests at your office right now! Time to greet them!", hollered Minty Mocha as Master Zhi, Mr Tang, Tiny Turnip Head, Gallus and Yona were about to enter the office living room.

"Just wait right here for a moment, please! I need to speak to Mr. Firelight about something important. It'll be quick, I promise...", requested Minty Mocha before the new guests entered. As Minty Mocha walked straight up to Firelight, she positioned herself close to Firelight's ear and whispered her advice

"Look, as much as you wanted to see Sunburst back with Starlight again, I can't afford to spend my time and resources away from your campaign. I know you and Stellar Flare had a strong friendship bond and your daughter has a strong relationship with her son, even though both your political views conflict with each other. However, if we focused too much on investigating Sunburst, your supporters will think you had switched political sides and the opposition will accuse you of trying to dig dirt against your rival's son. Do you understand what is at stake here?"

Firelight stood in silent for a moment before giving out a sad sigh and said, "...I understand, Miss Mocha.....I'll---try to leave the investigation to the police for now.... I'll focus on finding her son once I become elected as mayor, to show that even rivals need to stand together to brace against the harshest times."

As soon as their talk was over, Firelight signaled the guests over to enter the living room. Still going along with social tradition from back home, Master Zhi, Mr Tang and Turnip Head all bowed in respect to the future mayor.

"Greetings! Please to meet you, Mayoral Candidate of Sire's Hollow!", said Master Zhi as he tipped his head over and jut out his bum.

"CAREFUL, if you bow too much, you might end up accidentally bumping some creature off their balance..."

"WHO TOLD YOU ABOUT THAT??!!" cried Master Zhi before he later regain his composure when he realized who's office he was in.

"RELAX! I'm was just joshing, Master! I know it was all an accident, okay?! Silverstream and Greta from the Friendship School told me about what they saw from the tower during that dreadful day...", Gallus responded in jest as he stood near the entrance.

"HEY, let's not bring that grimdark newspaper topic back in our heads! Let's focus on what we are here for!", called out Tang as he tried to get every creature to focus.

"RIGHT!" responded Firelight as he stepped forward to shake Master Zhi's and Mr Tang's hands. "As you two already know, I invited you two here to congratulate you for being my daughter's saviors. As for you three students of the Friendship school, I like you to help out my daughter, aka your Headmare, to help regain her memories and help her out as much as she can, before she can resume her passionate job as the leading example of her school"

"Wait, I run a school?? As Headmare?? You never told me that!", responded the surprised Starlight Glimmer after she ceased her handwriting practice.

"OH, right...uhhh, sorry. I was too focused on trying to catch up with your past first. I was going to tell you that later once we were nearing the present", chuckled the nervous Firelight as he placed his hand over the back of his head.

"Hello, Starlight Glimmer." greeted Gallus as he walked up to Starlight. "You may not remember me, but I was the student who attended your school....as much as I hate to recall it, you were the one who suspended me, right? You know, for taking that saucy picture of one of our Professors?"

"And no forget about Yona! You gave me volunteer work at Applejack's farm! You remember??", questioned Yona as she sat by her side. "Me glad that you feeling better now! Sad you no remember us anymore..."

Starlight Glimmer started to sweat profusely at the griffon and yak, being a little intimidated at their large presence.

"OH, right! I forgot...you're not used to seeing other creatures yet....I know this is all too sudden for you right now....you may not believe it, but you were the mare who became the heroine that now runs a school to teach friendship for all types of creatures...", sighed Gallus as he hung his head.

"NO, it's okay...I should be the one who's sorry", apologized Starlight Glimmer as she rubbed her head in an attempt to clear her head. ".....I can't seem to remember all of you right now....everything's still a blur to me now...It's hard to believe, but----I never knew I would grow up to work at a school for both Equestrians, yaks AND griffons!"

"Hey hey hey, now! Let's not skip TOO far ahead in the future.", nervously called out Firelight as he waved both his hands. "It might end up giving her a panic attack from taking in all that new information and she might end up blacking out before her memories set back to zero". He later walked up to behind his office desk and sat down on his brown vinyl chair.

"So, what do you suggest we do?", asked Tang in his rough grouchy voice.

"How's about you fellas take a seat and discuss your new friendship tasks for today?", suggested Firelight as he clasped his hands. "You can talk to Starlight Glimmer about her past once she's done with practicing her signature, okay?"

"Welllll, all right then...", agreed Gallus as he and the other guests pulled up their chairs in front of Firelight's office desk.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH!!", cried Yona as she was about to tip over forward from the imbalanced stool she was sitting on

"I GOTCHA, Yona! Next time, don't charge into the seat like that, all right?", said Gallus as he caught Yona's horns on his right side and set her straight onto the correct sitting position.

"Let's make this quick, sir! I have a lot of things to catch up on with our Headmare!", demanded Gallus.

"HEY, since you and Master Zhi AND Mr Tang are like---close friends right now---, is it all right that they just call you Firelight instead?? You know, just so they get to know you better!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head with excitement!

"AHEM! You guests are to only address the mayoral candidate as 'Sir' or 'Mr Firelight'", snapped Minty Mocha as she stood by on the left of Firelight's office desk.

"It's all right, Minty! It's just a name! Gotta be connected with both the locals AND the foreigners somehow, right?", replied Firelight as he smiled and raised his eyebrows.

"YES, of course! Informal names are how we personally show our true inner selves, right?", Zhi agreed as he nodded his head.

"SO, what kind of job does the future mayor have in mind?? Don't tell me we have to tattoo your slogan on our faces and butts!", joked Mr Tang as he leaned to the left to get a better view of Minty's tight double-flanks. The assistant manager had her back turned as she bended over to receive some papers in the lower cabinet.

"Heheheheh, butts. Just like the one you're staring at, Mr Tang", chuckled the childish Tiny Turnip Head as he snitched on his old friend

"AHEM!! If you don't mind!" shouted Minty Mocha as she immediately stood up and turned around to menacingly stare at the guests. After they all froze in fear, Minty Mocha laid out the printed paper, pushed it forward towards Mr Tang and said

"Please go over this speech for us! You two heroes will have to memorize it for the press conference to hear at Firelight's political rally at noon!"

"All right, sounds easy enough. Lemme take a look-see", said Mr Tang as he grabbed the speech paper from the desk to read its contents.

Then all of a sudden, Mr Tang's brain suddenly went into overdrive as his horn and eyes started glowing into a bright violet color. Like a fast laser scanning machine, his eyes started quickly perusing each line of the page, taking in every script of the word and storing its textual information in his hippocampus, the brain region responsible for declarative and episodic memories!

Gallus, Yona and Tiny Turnip Head gaze in wonderment and shock over Tang's fast reading speed, gaping in awe at the glowing head spectacle. As soon as Mr Tang reached the end of the line, a ringing alarm sound went off in his head and a flash of bursting light blew out of his horn, before he immediately ripped the paper in half in front of Firelight and Minty Mocha. Before the two adult Equestrians could respond, Mr Tang quickly recited

"The Equestrian standing on this stage before you today is greater than the wise all-knowing Starswirl the Bearded, more influential than the Princesses of the Sun and Moon, more philanthropic than all the Elements of Harmony and more loving than the Princess of the Crystal Empire!"

"WHAT THE---??!! You memorized ALL that with just a single glimpse of the paper??!!", shouted the wide eye-opening and gaping Gallus. "I can't even remember the Equestrian alphabet, despite reading it over a 100 times!!"

"YAAAAYYY, go Mister TANG!!" cheered the elated Turnip Head.

"Yona no have words right now!", bellowed the gobsmacked nak girl.

"WOW, you managed to memorize ALL of those descriptions about me in less time it takes for me flip a coin on its head!", complimented the amazed Firelight.

"WAIT, this was all about YOU??!! What about us??!!", questioned Master Zhi as he was aghast by that ludicrous speech.

"Don't worry! I'll praise you two first when I get up onto the podium at the rally!", assured Firelight as he gave a big smile.

"And you really expected us to then tell the press about that bullshit lie about you in return?!", swore Mr Tang as he stood up from his seat.

"HEY, watch your language in front of these children!", warned Minty Mocha as she slammed her fist on Firelight's desk. She later continued, "Also, we're not asking for you to lie, we're just telling you to read what's on the paper---which you carelessly ripped out in front of us..."

As Minty Mocha picked up the two ripped pieces from the floor, all of the guests responded in disapproval in unison

"NUH-UH!! NO WAY!! No no no no no no no no no no no no no!!"

Minty Mocha later replied, "If you agreed to say what was on the speech, I'll give all of you 100 food coupons for you to use at Sire Hollow's Mall Food Courts"; in response, all the guests responded with approval in unison

"REALLY??! Well, then YES!! Yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes YES, please!!"

"DO THE SPEECH, DO THE SPEECH!!", chanted Yona and Turnip Head as they smiled and salivated with their mouths open as they thought over all the types of fast food they could eat from all the food courts in the mall.

"OH, maaann", groaned the daydreaming hungry Gallus as he thought about griffon cuisine. "Just think about all the delicious bird seed granola bars, hay burgers and cinnamon scones we could eat!"

"Not to mention steamed rice, ramen noodles and red bean buns we could ravage in", mumbled the swirly-eyed Turnip Head as he thought about all the dim-sum foods.

"Yona want all vanilla cakes, tree-nut stew and yogurt she can get!!", slobbered the bedazzled Yona as he placed her cloven hands on her cheeks.

"LOOK, DAD! I finally did it!" cried Starlight from behind as she raised her paper in the air. All the guests started to turn their heads around to see what Starlight had done.

"I finally managed to remember how to sign my name properly AND draw out my cutie mark from memory!", Starlight cheered as she showed an inscription of her signature, as well as her dark purple/teal swirls and stars of her cutie mark.

"ALL RIGHT!! Ya did it, Miss Headmare!! Way to go!!", cheered Tiny Turnip Head as he leapt and flew from his seat

"Yona so proud that Headmare is closer to remember more of one self!", the teary-eyed nak girl cried.

"All right!! Go Headmare Starlight!! Now we can finally catch up with some lost time!", applauded Gallus as he clapped his talons loudly and pumped his fists.

"Very GOOD, honey bump---ERRR---Miss Starlight!", cheered Firelight as he got off from his seat and handed him another piece of paper to Starlight, before pointing a spot near the bottom edge of the paper. "Now, do me a favor and sign over right there for me..."

Both Starlight and the guests cocked their heads in confusion over what he was implying.

"Awww, it's just a contract that will ensure my home remains a historical monument for all of the ponies in Sire's Hollow to admire---AND we still get to stay here until our deaths! Your old man wouldn't do a nasty trick to my dearest pumpkin, would he?", implied the strangely behaving Firelight as he pointed his finger on the spot to be signed.

Seeing nothing wrong with his implication, Starlight reluctantly agreed to sign the bottom line of the paper with both her name and her cutie mark.

"Now there's a good girl! Thank you so much, Starlight! Really appreciated it!", thanked Firelight as he smiled and placed the paper in his envelope, which was lying on the table.

"Call it a hunch, but Firelight's now acting strange in front of his daughter now, even at his standards...", whispered Master Zhi as he positioned his voice next to Mr Tang

"You and me both", agreed the quiet and suspicious Mr Tang.

"All right, now to catch up with some quality time with Headmare Starlight!", cheered Gallus as he jumped from his seat and wrapped his arms around the nervous Starlight

"HEY, no forget about Yona! Me wanna share memories with Headmare!", Yona cried as she rushed on over to follow Gallus.

"ME TOO, ME TOO! I wanna hear ALL about Miss Headmare's past story!", cheered Turnip Head as he flew over to the travelling group as they exited out of the living room

"Bye bye for now, Miss Headmare!!", Mr Tang shouted farewell to Starlight Glimmer from his seat

"再見 (Joy geen)!" shouted Master Zhi as he waved goodbye.

"NOW HANG ON, kids! I still need to escort you all, in case things get pretty hectic! You don't wanna give my boss' daughter a fainting trip, would you?!" cried the flustered Minty Mocha as she rushed outside the house to chase Starlight Glimmer and the children.

"HEY, remember to be back by 11:00 pm, so Starlight Glimmer can spend time memorizing that speech I prepared for her!", hollered Firelight after he rushed to the front door to remind his assistant manager.

"Hehehehe, kids....so eager to push their luck to the limits...", commented Firelight after he closed the door and head back to his office in the living room.

Then, to his horror, he was horrified to see Master Zhi and Mr Tang reading the paper that he had slipped into the envelope. Knowing about Mr Tang's ultra fast reading style, he immediately rushed on over to the round table.

"HEY, what are you two doing snooping through my stuff?? GIve that back to me!", Firelight shouted as he used his levitation magic from his horn to swipe the paper from Master Zhi's hands.

"YOU SNIVELING DEVIL!!! You tricked her into signing up to a marriage contract!!!", shouted Mr Tang as he berated at Firelight.

"And you took advantage of her lost memories to force her into an unconditional bondage to some stranger she doesn't even know about!", scorned the ticked-off Master Zhi as he wagged his finger at Firelight.

"You said that this contract would ensure this house won't be sold off and be treated as a historical monument for generations to witness! You lied to us!", Mr Tang continued to berate at Firelight.

"It WILL save our house from being sold off! This marriage contract is for a certain rich banker in Canterlot, who will agree to pay off all the debts I collected in my historical preservation projects, in exchange for marriage with my daughter!", snapped the upset Firelight as he shoved the marriage contract into his envelope.

"Siiigghhh, I shouldn't be even telling you this! This is NONE of your business! This is between ME and my daughter, and I'm only trying to secure our future here!", grunted the upset Firelight.

"None of our business??!! Our concern for her well-being is what makes it our business! YOU don't have any business either in her life choices!", snapped Mr Tang with a witty comeback.

Not wanting to spoil his chances of improving his political image, Firelight decided to play his role as a humble father, took a deep breath and calmly said, "Look, I highly appreciate your deepest concerns for my daughter, but as of now, I had run out of valid financial options that will erase my debt entirely. I'm only doing this as a duty as her father by saving this house as my pumpkin's future household when she decides to move in or retire..."

Not convinced of his inexcusable arguments, Firelight decided to offer him a better deal.

"As of right now, I need you two to help me with setting up the stage for the rally. If you forget about what you saw here and you help out at the rally, I'll give you an extra 50 coupons from my newspaper stash. How's that sound?"

".......Better make that 75 and you got yourself a deal!", begrudgingly spouted the grouchy Mr Tang.

"As you wish, sir!", agreed Firelight as he pulled out the coupons from his suit pocket.

---END

Author's Note

Dim-sum (点心): style of Chinese brunch cuisine involving small bite-sized portions of traditional foods served in small steamer baskets or on a small plate; also known as 饮茶 or yum cha (meaning "drink tea") as tea was always served alongside the dishes
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dim_sum

Lazy Susan: a round glass spinning turntable platform on a kitchen or restaurant table for serving foods without having to reposition the food or the consumers around the table; known as 餐桌转盘 (chanchua jinpoon) or 'dinner-table turntables' in Cantonese
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lazy_Susan

Gutter oil: illicit cooking oil derived from recycled waste oil from restaurant fryers, grease traps, slaughterhouse waste and even sewers; also known as 地沟油 (day-gow yow) or 餿水油 (sow-soy yow) in Cantonese (meaning "trench oil" or "sour water oil" respectively)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutter_oil

Stanley 735 Steam Car

Doble E-20 steam car

Cantonese for "Don't do anything stupid!"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Don%27t%20do%20anything%20stupid!&from=en&to=yue

11 The Amnesiac's Nightmare

Ch 11 - The Amnesiac's Nightmare

----------(NOON TIME AT FIRELIGHT'S RALLY NEAR SIRE HOLLOW'S TOWN HALL)----------

Outside of the marbled steps of Sire's Town Hall lied a set-up wooden stage and a center podium, where Firelight stood proud and well-dressed in his velvet red suit and brown-white striped business pants. Standing behind Firelight was Minty Mocha on his left side and his daughter Starlight on the right side, who is now wearing her strapless teal nylon dress and sitting on the metal chair feeling bashful on the stage. Flanking on each side of the wooden stage were two large surround-sound speakers, which were connected to the podium's microphone. In addition, a large banner featuring his large photographed face was set up high above Firelight's head on dual wooden posts on each side, with this slogan written on the right side of his portrait:

"Kindle the town's spiritual fire to light up a bright future by voting for me!"

In front of the stage, there were five rows of 10 fold-up metal chairs for the audience, freelance journalists and camera-flashing newspaper reporters to sit on, with only one third of the seats being occupied by supports of Firelight's political party. Some supporters donned the violet and teal color schemes in their civilian fashion, while others waved support signs and flags that express their approval for their favorite mayoral candidate. The only creatures who were neutral to Firelight were Master Zhi, Mr Tang, Tiny Turnip Head, Yona and Gallus, who were all sitting at the middle front row seats within the crowd.

After introducing himself as Firelight from the Progressive Republican Party, he then turned on the podium's microphone and went on with his long rambling speech on identity politics, past meetings with community leaders of other races, his past life as a conservative preservationist and the historical account on the foundation of Sire's Hollow. Though some of the audience attempted to stay awake as part of respect for their candidate, others ended up dozing off to his filibustering speech.

"Geez, when I heard political party rally, this ISN'T what I had in mind!", cried the bored Tiny Turnip Head to tears as he slouched down on his chair.

"UGGHHH, when do we get introduced as his propped-up examples of diversity onstage??? I'm SO bored now!", groaned Gallus as he positioned his squishy face on his vertical arm support.

"Yona want those coupons right now! This go on too long no see!", moaned the nak girl as she was about to doze off.

"Shhhh, QUIET!! I think he's about to announce the heroes now!", shushed Mr Tang loudly as he waited for this anticipating moment. Firelight continued on with his appraisal as the final part of his speech.

"....as you may know, there are four very unique individuals in the front row seat of the crowd tonight! Two of which are the heroes who saved my daughter from a tragic cart crash accident back in Ponyville!"

As Firelight pointed out to his daughter who was sitting on a metal chair on the far right side of the frontal stage, Starlight began to blush about the re-directed attention as cameras started flashing at her.

"HEY, that's us!! FINALLY, we've been acknowledged!", cheered Master Zhi.

"Took him 45 minutes!!", grumbled the tired Mr Tang.

"In addition to them, I would also like to introduce two students from the School of Friendship, who would like to demonstrate their appreciation of having another diverse town be modeled after their current residence in Ponyville! So PLEASE, let's hear it all from both the heroes AND the students of Starlight's School of Friendship!", cheered the smiling Firelight as he left the podium and signaled Minty Mocha to escort the invited guests onstage.

"YEP, that's me! Young Master Zhi!! The hero!!", hollered the eccentric young yellow Earthen stallion man as he waved and pointed a thumb to himself for the crowd to see

"HEY, don't leave me outta the equation, you fool!!", scorned Mr Tang who wanted part of the short fame.

As Minty Mocha approached the two unlikely heroes, she whispered to them with a stern tone

"Hey, you better keep your end of the deal like you promised! Otherwise, we'll sue all of you for breaching our contract, understand?"

All the guests nodded with reluctant agreement, before Minty Mocha went up to the stage and called out for the guests.

"All right then! Let's get you all up on stage, shall we?"

"What are we going to do, Master Zhi??!! I REALLY hate to lie to these poor people!", whispered Turnip Head with a high-pitched worrisome voice.

"Yona no like lying too, but Yona also no like losing coupons for free food even more!", the hungry nak girl said as she rubbed her grumbling tummy.

"Don't worry, fellas! I have a plan! Just follow my lead!", ordered Master Zhi as he and Mr Tang got up from their seats.

Not knowing what they had in store, but not having any other choice in hand, Yona and Turnip Head got off from their seats too and followed the two heroic gentlemen with no question.

"Plan??! You never told us about a plan!! MASTER!!", shouted Gallus as he quickly got up from his seat and went after his friends.

The crowd soon quietly clapped for the strangers, mostly out of both confusion and respect, as they have no idea what these foreign creatures will be performing onstage. Even Starlight was rooting for her "new" friends to do their best onstage, though she was pretty timid in her support.

"All right!! Yona, take this gong! Go crazy with it!!", shouted Master Zhi abruptly as he randomly took out a pair of bronze gongs and a small mallet, before tossing the instrumental tools at Yona.

"GASP! Yona LOVES playing loud music!!! YONA NOW GO CRAZY!!", shouted the excited nak girl as she continuously started to rapidly and continuously bang the low-bass percussion gongs.

BONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONGBONG!!!!!!!!

As Yona's extreme gonging started to get even faster and louder, the microphone ended up picking up the sound waves from the gong and experienced some feedback, causing the speakers to screech some high-pitched tones occasionally.

The crowd started to wince and cover their ears to muffle both the loud gonging and the microphone feedback. Soon, even Minty Mocha, Firelight and Starlight started to feel the annoyance building up on the stage.

"THIS IS YOUR PLAN??!! ANNOYING THE WHOLE CROWD WITH LOUD PERSISTENT BANGING??!!", shouted Gallus as he started to plug his ears tightly with his talon fingers.

"IF THEY CAN'T HEAR ME SAY THE SPEECH, THEN IT WOULDN'T MATTER IF I WAS LYING OR NOT!!!", shouted Mr Tang as he randomly whipped out a pair of bongo drums and ear plugs. "HERE, PUT THESE ON AND PLAY THE BONGOS FOR ADDED EFFECT!!"

"I CAN'T believe you are dragging me into this!! BUT AS LONG AS WE GET THESE COUPONS!!", Gallus shouted loudly as he shoved corked plugs into his ears and played the bongo drums as rapidly and loudly as he can.

BONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGABONGA!!!!

As Tang went up to the podium to recite the speech, his words were successfully muffled out by the amplified loud percussive cacophony blasting from the speakers, therefore making it much harder to make out what he was really saying. It was great loophole in the contract for both Master Zhi and Mr Tang to exploit.

"HOORAY FOR THE AMAZING YOUNG MASTER ZHI AND THE TERRIFIC MR TANG!!!!" shouted the elated Turnip Head as he bathed in the loud rambunctious low-pitch vibrations.

As soon as Mr Tang was done with the speech, Master Zhi (who was now wearing a headset) pulled out a straight steel sword from behind and announced to the audience

"And NOW for our finishing performance, our little yak here will attempt to swallow this 2-meter sword!"

"Wait, WHAT??!!", shouted Yona as she continued to bang on the gong.

"Just RELAX, this won't hurt a bit!", yelled the reassuring Mr Tang as he pulled back Yona's horns from behind, plugged her nostrils with his two fingers and tilted her head back. Unable to breathe through her nose, Yona started opening her mouth realy wide to take in as much air as quickly as she can.

"ALL RIGHT, a circus performance from the Master!!", cried the excited Turnip Head before shouting at his friend

"And you're part of the performance, Yona!! Don't worry! Master Zhi is a professional! As long as you don't move, you won't bleed!"

Yona suddenly stopped playing the gong and stood paralyzed with fear as Master Zhi shove the sword straight vertically down into Yona's throat as her head was bent back.

"SEE, if you could swallow a sword, you could've swallowed that crossbow!! Yaks be best at EVERYTHING, riiigghhhtt???", shouted the very connivingly toned Mr Tang.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH, what the hell??!! Are you two trying to kill her??!!", cried Gallus when he suddenly stopped playing the bongos after witnessing the madness.

"HEY, I didn't tell you to stop playing!!", shouted Mr Tang as he turned his angry attention towards Gallus. Feeling pressured and intimidated by his menacing stare, Gallus reluctantly agreed to continue playing, fearful that his nak friend would be killed onstage if he didn't do what he was told.

"YOU TOO, YONA!!!", ordered Mr Tang before Yona continued to play the gongs vivacously, while having a sword shoved down deep into her throat and esophagus. Master Zhi then suddenly let go of the sword, scaring Yona to the point of a heart attack.

But lo and behold, Tiny Turnip Head had came over to save the day by grabbing the falling sword by the hilt in time as he vivaciously hovered above the terrified Yona! One wrong move and the sword would've ended up piercing through Yona's stomach!

"THREE CHEERS FOR YONA THE BEST SWORD SWALLOWING YAK!!", cried the elated wing-flapping Tiny Turnip Head as he raised one hand up in the air while holding the sword.

Over the loud vibrating gonging and high-pitched feedbacks, Young Master Zhi yelled at everypony in the audience

"Remember!! This stunt you witness here is a result of many years of training and practice!! So take heed of this advice to heart: PLEASE never try this at home----OR at a friend's house!!"

As amazing as the performance may be, most of them were too disorientated and confuzzled from the echoing bass of the grumbling gong and bumbling bongos to even notice the stage entirely. Even for those who could tolerate the sound winced and cringed at the sight of a fat nak girl with a sword being forcibly shoved into her throat by three mad Far Eastern Equestrians.

As soon as Master Zhi pulled out his sword from Yona's gullet, and Mr Tang unleashed his grip from Yona's horns and nostrils, Master Zhi cheered with a "WOOPEEEEEE!!!", while Yona started to cough loudly, expecting a pool of blood to pour out of her mouth.

Just as the show was about to get crazier, Minty Mocha started grabbing Master Zhi and Mr Tang by the ears, before pulling these two madmen towards her scrunched-up furious face and whispered to their ears loudly

"This is a political rally, not a circus freak show! If you idiots don't behave yourself accordingly, there will be ZERO food coupons for ALL of you!"

"Uhhhhh, that's all for today!! Hope you enjoy the show!! C'mon Yona! Let's pack up!!", shouted Master Zhi as he exited to his right side of the stage.

"Huh?? OH---RIGHT!! YONA COMING!!", the sweaty nak girl cried as she began rushing to her left, and then to her right side of the stage to follow Master Zhi. Unfortunately, Master Zhi was just about to exit the other way when he later collided with Yona, causing him to recoil violently, before landing hard on his back. Consequently, that caused Yona to trip over, tumble and roll over Master Zhi as she exited off the stage.

"Remember to take Master Zhi's lesson to heart, fillies and colts!!", cried Tiny Turnip Head before he flew upwards away from the stage.

"MAN, that was intense, yoh! Maybe next time, warn me about what you are planning next", suggested Gallus as he unplugged his ears, picked up his bongos and exited the stage to his left side.

"NOW, if we told you what we had in store, it would've ruined the surprise for the whole audience!", replied the happy Mr Tang as he followed Gallus off the stage.

"HEY, I'm not a stool pigeon, in case you were wondering!", squawked Gallus as he took his seat at the middle front.

"Hush! Firelight's manager is now making her speech right now!", shushed Mr Tang as he sat on the seat next ot Gallus' right side.

"AHEM, well uhhh--THANK YOU---for giving the whole crowd that very---unique performance! Let's give a round of applause to our dear heroes and students of friendship!", Minty Mocha nervously said with a wide fake smile on her face. She was teething with anger on the inside, but was committed to maintainting her composure for the sake of continuing her boss' campaign. The crowd, unsure of how to react, awkwardly clapped with bewilderment as they looked at each other and asked what in Equestria had just happened on that stage.

"Now, moving on!", Minty Mocha spoke into the podium microphone. "Our next speaker will be the mayoral candidate Firelight's daughter, Miss Starlight Glimmer, Headmare of the School of Friendship from Ponyville! She would like to have a few words to say, before we can move onto the Q&A!"

As Starlight Glimmer timidly got off from her seat, the crowd of Firelight's supporters, reporters and journalists started applauding very loudly for the mare who had once started out as a lost soul who left Sire's Hollow to pursue her dream paradise to a well-respected member of a government-funded institution. Everypony in the town knew her beforehand when she visited her original hometown once more to rekindle her relationship with her mayoral candidate, as well as her best friend's mom who is also, as of now, running against their favorite candidate. Cameras from the journalists and reporters started flashing and clicking as they took pictures of the well-respected mare who had survived that terrible cart crash back in Ponyville. Little do they know that she had recently lost most of her memories about her current life as the Headmare and a well-known associate with the Princess of Friendship.

More than an hour ago, she had already been informed by her students about her former past life as an equalist cultist, how she once planned a time-altering revenge against the Princess of Friendship and that time she saved everypony in Ponyville from the clutches of Queen Chrysalis. This was made quickly possible from the Friendship Journal that was borrowed by the students visiting the local library in town. Slowly, but surely, she was able to regain some of those lost memories bit by bit as she read the Friendship Journal with her students.

There was one snag in her muddled-up memory banks that troubled her though. For some reason, she could not remember the name of Sunburst back in her childhood memories, nor that time when she revisited him again back in the Crystal Empire. Though Sunburst had been mentioned occasionally in the Friendship Journal, she tends to forget who that stallion man is and his students had to constantly remind her who he was. Though she also had some trouble remembering the Elements of Harmony, that was made easier by the students who drew out both the professors and their cutie marks on paper. However, even with their sketch of Sunburst and his cutie mark being shown directly to her, for some reason, Starlight had much more bigger trouble in remembering his role as both the Vice-Stallion and her best friend. It was as if there was something in her brain was being locked by some enclosed memory shield that could only be open by a certain trigger word.

Before they could continue on any further to the part where Starlight became a counselor for the School of Friendship, the students' leisure time with their Headmare had expired. Minty Mocha had to prepare Starlight Glimmer for her upcoming speech for her dad's political rally in front of the town hall. Though saddened by the turn of events, they were at least somewhat satisfied that they were making progress with their Headmare. Gallus was satisfied that he had done his part in compensating for his mischievous mayhem and Yona was glad she got to spend personal time with her Headmare as a friend instead of a school authority figure. As for Tiny Turnip Head, he felt like he had learn a lot more from his Headmare by simply spending time with her, rather than learning her story in a classroom setting.

Now facing the onslaught of camera flashes and curious mumbling from the crowd, Starlight Glimmer slowly approached the podium microphone. Once an active speaker who was fluent in rallying speeches, the amnesiac Starlight Glimmer was now a timid shy stage-fright mare who got easily distracted by the bright camera flashes from the journalists and reporters. However, she was determined to not disappoint her dad onstage, who was sitting on a chair behind her and giving her a thumbs up as an encouragement gesture. Taking a deep breath, she positioned the podium microphone next to her mouth, and nervously spoke

"Uhhh----sorry about this---I---uhhh---I'm not good at speaking in front of the crowds yet----this is my first time speaking in public----I mean----you all knew me since filly hood, of course, but------as you may not already know-----that accident kind of messed with my head, so----uhhhhmm---"

Starlight shook her lower hooves and gulped really hard as she shook her microphone very anxiously. She later continued

"How about we just skip to the Q&A instead?! Ask any question about me and I'll do my best to recall my past!"

One of the journalists in a grayish-brown suit and fedora stood up and asked

"How would you describe your family relationship between you and your dad? How important was he to you back in the past and as of now?"

Starlight Glimmer stroke her mane anxiously and scratched her head, before mumbling into the microphone

"Well--you see---my dad was----"

As the cameras started to click and flash a bit more frequently, Starlight shut her eyes really tight and shook her head, hoping to rattle out any misplaced memories she had stored in her brain.

"Oh NO, Miss Headmare Starlight seems to be losing herself onstage, Master Zhi" cried Tiny Turnip Head as he hovered next to Master Zhi and tugging on his shoulder.

"You think I don't know that?", rhetorically asked Master Zhi as he stood by at the left side of the front stage.

"Yona super worried for Headmare! Afraid she may go crazy!", muttered Yona loudly as she continued to watch the agitated Starlight struggle onstage.

"Uhhhhh---I don't seem to recall what my Dad does for a living, all of a sudden...", muttered Starlight as she held onto the podium microphone.

----------📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸----------

It was an echoing and flashing nightmare hell for Starlight Glimmer as she struggled to find the right words to her answer. As her pupils started to dilate, they were darting side to side as the sight of curious reporters eager to know her forgotten past began mumbling questions about her sanity. Cameras shuttered, voices muttered and her sanity fluttered down into the dark abyss, as each flash and click increased in frequency and loudness in her head. No matter how hard the mare tried to think deep within her subconsciousness, she failed to find even a scrap of good memory about her father, despite being told a familial history of her past in her very own home. Her eyes shut tight, her head shook violently, her ears were muffled by her hands---suddenly, she found herself becoming a paralyzed victim of extreme stage fright.

"I--I---I don't know anything about my dad!! I can't remember who my dad was supposed to be!"

⚡*CLICK!* *FLASH!* *CLICK!* *FLASH!* goes the cameras....⚡

⚡*CLICK!* *FLASH!* *CLICK!* *FLASH!*⚡

"I'm sorry, Dad! I can't remember what you wanted me to say! I really tried to memorize the speech you gave me over and over again!! I really did!!"

----------📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸📸----------

"UH OH, looks like she's not doing well onstage, old man! What the hell are we going to do?", asked the worried Gallus as he turned his head towards Mr Tang.

"All I could remember about my dad used to lie to me as a filly to stop me from seeing the world, so that I would feel safe with him at home all the time!", cried Starlight Glimmer before her dad and his assistant manager rushed over to the podium in an attempt to pull her off the stage. But alas, they were too late in stopping her from accidentally revealing the truth about the mayoral candidate's past.

"BIG NEWS!!!", shouted one enthusiastic reporter as he and the rest of the press began rushing over onto the stage to further personally question the mayoral candidate. As more camera-wielding reporters started surrounding the three Equestrians to get a better shot of their faces, Firelight's supporters rushed on over and attempted to shove the reporters away from their favorite candidate. More journalists with their quill and notepads started asking serious questions about the candidate's honesty and integrity, but their loud cries and hollers were intermingling with each other, causing their voices to become loud background noise for the surrounded trio onstage.

"PLEASE, no more questions and no more pictures!! This rally is over!!", shouted Minty Mocha as she attempted to disperse the crowd, but her angry pleas were ignored as her voice was overrun by the curious and combative crowd around the podium.

"HEY, where do you think YOU'RE going, Mister??!" shouted Mr Tang as he pulled Gallus' lion tail as he was flying away.

"What does it look like I'm doing, you old geezer??!! I'm trying to save my Headmare from being overrun!!", shouted the flying Gallus as he yanked his tail out of Mr Tang's grip.

"WELL, why are you hovering around like a pigeon with a magnet around its neck??!! Get over that crowd and yank her outta there!!", ordered Mr Tang as he pointed at the rambunctious reporters and voters on stage.

"I WAS gonna do that before you yanked my tail, YOU KNOW??!", shouted Gallus as he flew over the crowd.

"I can't believe her dad used to treat her like that! She never mentioned any of that in her friendship journals before!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he continued to stare at the crowd.

"Yona hope Headmare is okay! No like seeing Headmare in head pain!", shouted Yona as she was shook frightened with shrinking pupils and bitten cloven hands.

"HEY, guys!! I got her!! Let's get the hell outta dodge NOW!!" cried Gallus as he was lifting Starlight Glimmer up in the air above the rambling crowd.

"HEY, gimme back my daughter!! We're not done with you creatures yet!!", shouted the frustrated Firelight as he struggled to push his way out of the curious crowd.

"Stop pushing!! Everypony, STOP PUSHING!!", shouted one of Firelight's supporters as they held tightly onto Firelight's and Minty's arms in an attempt to pull them away from the eyes of the press.

But alas, once Firelight and Minty Mocha were finally grabbed out of the crowd of reporters by his political supporters and the rest of Starlight's unicorn voters formed an Equestrian shield to block the reporters from chasing after Firelight, they were too late in stopping Starlight Glimmer from being "kidnapped" by her saviors. Master Zhi, Mr Tang, Tiny Turnip Head, Gallus, Yona and Starlight Glimmer were now nowhere to be seen.

"DAMIT, they got away!! What the hell are we gonna do now??!!", cried the frustrated Minty Mocha.

"Let them go, Minty." ordered Firelight. "They done their part in the rally already. When the next morning comes, I want you to make sure these hooligans leave this town, or else they'll have to face litigation!"

"What about your daughter, Mr Firelight?", asked Minty Mocha.

"...Let her return back to Ponyville with the rest of the creatures for now. I got that contract signed anyway, so even if she did get her memories back, there's no way she could escape the arrangement.", replied Firelight as he dusted himself off from the debris on his red-violet suit.

"C'mon, Headmare! This town hall's not safe for you anymore!", cried Gallus as he grabbed hold onto Starlight while flying through the hidden brick-laden alleyways behind the town hall. All his other friends were rushing alongside Gallus, following him as he turns at random corner to corner.

"Where are we going?", Starlight asked as she held onto Gallus' arms.

"Some place where they won't bother us...", replied the assured Gallus as he stared head onto the alleyway exit.

----------(SOMEWHERE IN A SEEDY MOTEL IN SIRE'S HOLLOW, 1:00 PM)----------

Inside the motel room's large drab brown-painted and dusty bedroom, Starlight Glimmer quickly sat on a scratched mahogany chair with an under-stuffed red cushion. Standing beside Starlight was Master Zhi, who was now holding his silver pocket watch with his right hand. As Starlight Glimmer stared at the peculiar young stallion man, he quickly said to her

"NOW, let's focus on your first hypnotherapy session, shall we Miss Starlight? What I want you to do now is to stay focused on the clock face on my pocket watch and heed my instructions."

Master Zhi later dangled his pocket watch by the chain, making sure the clock face was directly into the sight of Starlight's focused eyes. Master Zhi then proceeded with his therapeutic procedure

"Ready?....Let's begin. And 1,2,3---"

Master Zhi proceeded to swinging his pocket watch side to side.

"Left, right, left, right, left, right, left, right..."

Starlight's eyes immediately began to dart side to side as she focused on the swinging pocket watch.

"Switching now! Down, up, down, up, down, up, down, up..."

Upon the change to a perpendicular axis, Starlight's eyes immediately began to bob up and down as she continued to focus on the pocket watch.

"Switching back! Left, right, left, right, left, right, left right..."

Once again, Starlight's eyes immediately began to dart side to side in conjunction with the pocket watch's movements.

"You sure this is gonna work??", whispered Gallus as he spoke to Mr Tang. Both these creatures looked head on as they stood barely far behind Master Zhi as he does his work.

"Hey, last time he tried that on me, he got me to confessed to the whole village about me farting into Master Zhi's face every morning! Damn prick got me banned from the red bean bun stall for weeks until I was forced to make an apology in public!", whispered Mr Tang into Gallus' ear. That awkward confession made Gallus' feathers stand up on end.

"SHHHH, be quiet! The Master is at work here!", whispered Tiny Turnip Head as he quietly hovered above Mr Tang's head.

"Now, when I snap my fingers, I want you to reveal everything that had been buried deep inside your subconscious mind and tell me all your secrets about your hidden past for all your friends to hear in a first-person autobiography format. Whether it be good memories or bad memories, don't be afraid to talk about it", calmly spoke Master Zhi as he continued to swing his pocket watch side to side.

Suddenly, with his left hand raised, he suddenly snapped his fingers and shouted, "Ready??! GO!!"

Then out of nowhere, a female voice was heard at Starlight's right and Master Zhi's left; as they slowly turned their heads toward the source, they noticed the voice was somewhat ethereal, calmly monotone and was speaking at one short syllable in a pentameter beat, sort of like a "da-da-da-DUH-da da-da-da-DUH-da da-da-da-DUH-da da-da-da-DUH-da..."

🍥🍥"I first met Gallus in Friendship School back when I was two years old1. Though we differed by our own species, we were the best of friends through thick and thin. But sometimes, that blue griffon would torture me by playing pranks both inside and outside school. In return, I would pull pranks on him as well for payback."🍥🍥

🍥🍥"One time, he dropped a millipede on my nose during my picnic time with Sandbar. I got so scared, I thrashed around and wrecked all the yummy dishes. Sandbar couldn't walk without his crutches for two weeks right after that."🍥🍥

"PFFFTT, heeheehee!" chortled Starlight as he listened to Yona talked about her darkest secrets in a monosyllablic tone. If she were her back to her original self, she would glare at Gallus about all the bad behaviours he had showed in the past and gave her more weeks of suspension as a result of Yona's forced confession. But knowing that she had no memory of being headmare, it was all dramatic fun-and-games for the bemused Starlight.

As it turned out, Yona ended up being the poor creature who got hypnotized by Master Zhi's tantalizing silver pocket-watch and her eyes were now fixed as a pair of rotating swirls. On Starlight's right, she was laying back on her own scratched mahogany chair as she ranted about her unfortunate past-times in a tranquil and sleepy tone.

🍥🍥"As payback for his prank, I poured itching powder in his jockstrap during buckball class. It was fun to watch Gallus miss the ball as he flew in crazy loops with his loins on fire."🍥🍥

"PHTFFTTHFF!!!", blurted Tiny Turnip Head as he tried his best to contain his immature laughter.

🍥🍥"At one other time, Gallus took pictures of my new black undies during cheerleader practice and showed them to Sandbar for him to masturbate about. I only found out when those pictures slipped out of Sandbar's backpack. I got so mad that I forced Sandbar to eat them and never spoke to him for months."🍥🍥

"HEY HEY HEY!!! WAKE UP!! SHUT UP, you stupid yak!! I said WAKE UP!!!", shouted the red-faced and abashed Gallus as he rushed over and shook Yona's body as hard as he can. No matter how hard he tried though, he couldn't get Yona to shut up about her rival past with Gallus.

🍥🍥"In return, I filled his backpack with my dung when he was sleeping. When morning came, it smelled so bad, it made poor old Gallus faint! It made me laugh to see him be carried to the nurse's office."🍥🍥

"HAHAHA, and I thought I had dark humorous secrets!! I could listen to this for hours!", cackled Mr Tang as he smiled towards Yona, before turning his attention to Gallus.

"HEY, this isn't funny, man!! Would some creature just shut her up before I die from any further embarassment???!!", bemoaned the panicking Gallus as he started to wave his arms wildly and waving his tail up in the air out of sheer urgency.

"All right, all right, all right!", hollered Mr Tang as he slightly raised his hands to make a 'keep-calm' gesture. "Just don't piss on the floor before you faint!", shouted Mr Tang as he exited the bedroom to fetch some things from the kitchen.

🍥🍥"Why must yak gods forsaken me to be with griffon? Was it for my sin of not sharing my half dozen cupcakes back last spring? How long before I must endure my pain and he in turn endure his own pain?"🍥🍥

"Seriously, you lousy black-horned oaf!! You're pissing me off!!", protested the frustrated weeping Gallus as he was reaching his limit.

🍥🍥"Then one summer break, Gallus hooked my tank top to a taxi cab before it drove off, which led me being topless in public at Panamare beach. I lost my temper and chased after him, before I crashed into an ice cream cart."🍥🍥

🍥🍥"As payback, I shoved a crab down in his shorts, before it pinched him on his erectile cone-shaped di--"🍥🍥

*✴PONK-PANG-PANG!!!!✴*

😱"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!", Yona screamed as she woke up and almost fell back on her chair.

"HEY, sleepy eyes!!! He's helping Starlight to retrieve back HER memories, NOT YOURS, YOU IDIOT!!!", Tang scolded towards Yona after he clanged his iron pot and ladle together really hard to break her out of her trance.

"OH, right!! Yona sorry!", the fat embarrassed nak girl apologized as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Yeah, you should be!!", sneered Gallus as he set his glare against the frightened Yona.

"WELL, did it work?? Are you remembering anything yet??!", quickly hollered the worried Tiny Turnip Head as he zipped up right towards Starlight's face.

As Starlight pressed her fingers against her forehead and thought deeply hard as she could, she cried

"I---I----I STILL can't remember anything yet!!"

"Awwww, Yona was sure that would work! Yak is sad now!", cried Yona as she hung her head with disappointment.

"WELL, it certainly did worked on you---AND you were speaking with perfect Equestrian grammar! Maybe Master Zhi should start hypnotizing you to be a proper Equestrian!", joked Mr Tang as he sincerely smiled at Yona.

"BAH, be there before, did that!", scoffed the prideful Yona.

"HEY, don't give up now! You were able to remember how to sign your name AND draw out your cutie mark before! PLUS, you remembered how terrible your daddy really is! Soon enough, you're going to remember EVERYTHING! We believe in you, Headmare!", cheered Tiny Turnip Head as he hovered around Starlight with a big smile on his face.

"Yeah, Headmare! You just needed to take things down a notch for today, take a nice long bath, put on a change of clothes, get some rest and then you'll be chipper like newborn chick in the morning!", advised the positively motivating Gallus as he raised his arms and wings out in the air.

"Maybe then Headmare will remember more much faster!", happily cried Yona as she quickly lifted her arms.

"I---didn't bring a change of clothes with me---...", said the low-spirited Starlight as she looked down onto the brown plaid carpet ground.

"That's all right! You could borrow MY clothes!", offered Mr Tang as he opened up the bedroom wardrobe that was next to Yona to reveal his twelve identical pair of brown tweed suits and pants. "Perfect for professional school attire!"

"Mmm-hmmm!!", Starlight hummed in disgusted disapproval as she shook her head side-to-side.

"BLEH, what homeless shelter did you raid to get these clothes?", insulted Gallus as he sticked his tongue out in sheer disgust of the plaid, patchy and smelly suits.

"Same ones near where your mother sold her soft goodies to me!", back-sassed Mr Tang as he glared at Gallus.

"JOKES ON YOU! I was born an orphan!!", shouted the upset Gallus.

"That explains a lot!", muttered the grouchy Mr Tang.

"ANYWAY, if Miss Starlight doesn't approve of my clothes, you could always try out MY wardrobe", insisted Master Zhi as he introduced his own set of four black silk three-buttoned vests, long stretched-out sea-blue shirts and plaid-brownish orange pants in his own bedroom wardrobe.

"Ooooh, these look so well-ironed! Such silky smoothness!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he felt the softness of the shirt and vest.

"Yona love grids on soft pants!", the fat nak girl exclaimed as she cuddled her face onto his pair of pants.

"Très bien, I know! Aren't I the best sharp dresser of this group?", boasted Master Zhi as he pulled out a coat hanger with one of his clothes.

Then a short argument broke out between Master Zhi and Mr Tang!

"HEY, no fair!! I call bullshit on this! My clothes are more professional than yours!"

"No, they're not! You just have MORE shitty clothes! Utilitarian style doesn't cut it for the millennials these days!"

"Having fewer fancy clothes with no professional style doesn't give you respect from the kids neither!"

"GUYS GUYS GUYS!!", shouted Starlight to halt their argument. "If you two agreed to stop swearing and bickering in front of these kids, I promise I'll pick either half from both of your clothes together in the break of morning! Are we clear??!!"

"YES MA'AM!!", the two men both shouted in agreement.

----------(MIDNIGHT AT THE SIRE'S HOLLOW MOTEL)----------

As the resting Starlight Glimmer slept the quiet night away on her white mattress, all the other children lay in their own smaller sleeping bags provided by Tiny Turnip Head for the trip. Gallus slept on the floor adjacent to Starlight's mattress on one side and Yona snored on the floor opposite side of Starlight's mattress. As for Tiny Turnip Head, he was sleeping in his own bag in a room shared by both Master Zhi and Mr Tang. As they dreamt their little fantasies during this blue-moon night, a strew of very calm soothing saxophone tunes were being played by Master Zhi and a melody of soft electronic piano tunes were being played by Mr Tang.

🎷🎶🎶 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIXuRwCTs44 🎶🎶🎷

As they played their lullaby tunes with a jazzy and harmonious finesse next to the open entrance into Starlight's shared room, Mr Tang used his levitation magic to slowly close the door shut to keep the warmth in and lower the volume of the lullaby playing by their room.

As Tang continued to play on his electronic piano, Master Zhi ceased his playing to quietly say a few words to Mr Tang

"It's a shame she still couldn't remember her role as Headmare of her own friendship school yet. When school day begins, I'm going to be the one who will dutifully take her place! Maybe then I could quit my job as a bat slinger!"

Then Master Zhi had a realization before shaking his head, before claiming

"Naaahh, if the real Starlight were here today, she would've not approved of my non-traditional teaching methods. I can't dishonor her like that while she's still recovering!"

Master Zhi then resumed on with his saxophone playing, before Mr Tang ceased his piano playing to say a few encouraging words in response

"Don't you worry, Zhi! With me by your side, my strengths will help out-balance your weaknesses!"

He then resumed his cue on the piano, before Zhi abruptly stopped playing to snap back at Mr Tang

"Wha---YOU???!! It should be the other way around!! You're a rusty ol' unicorn who could barely fight off a bunch of kirin before passing out! Plus, you're a racist douchebag that always gets into brawls for even the slightest insults! If it wasn't for me, you would've spend the rest of your life in jail! Honestly though, I don't see what kind of strengths you possess that will help me out on the long-run!"

Master Zhi then proceeded to continue with his saxophone playing before heading out to his bedroom.

"HUH??!!", cried Mr Tang after he stopped playing piano. "You're always running into bad trouble, even when you don't mean to do so! That's all because you're too rash with your thinking, overconfident with your own polymath abilities and get over-hyped over the smallest details in life, especially on the politically correct jargon! If it weren't for ME, you would've been lying six feet under and leaving me alone with your damn little annoying adoptee!"

"Hush now, Tang!", quietly snapped Master Zhi after he stopped playing his sax to open his bedroom door. "We got to wake up early at 7:00 am to catch the train back to Ponyville, right before school starts. I suggest we call this a night for now and get our bodies re-energized in the morning"

Tang heavily sighed and reluctantly agreed with his long-time friend, before packing up his electronic piano and heading off the the same bed as Master Zhi.

"FINE! Just as long as you don't fuck up your second chance again, I'll come along with you for the long haul! Just like ol' times---only with more creatures right now...!"

---END

Author's Note

In yak years, that's equivalent to being a teenager

12 A Fresh Clean Slate

Ch 12 - A Fresh Clean Slate

----------(MONDAY 9:00 A.M. AT THE SCHOOL OF FRIENDSHIP)----------

It was a fresh new school day for all the relaxed students to get back to their usual class schedules after a nice weekend break from their lecture note taking, assignments, study group sessions and mental/physical sports training. Some creatures were running through the halls with toasted bread, crackers, hay-burgers and other breakfast consumables held onto their mouths, as they hasten to arrive to their classes either on time or a couple minutes earlier. Others were still chatting up with their peers to go over last weeks' course material, review lecture notes or just talk about what they had done in the weekend. As usual, this was a typical everyday occurrence for school mornings, albeit a few exceptions that became apparent after the weekend.

After that terrible accident down by Applejack's memorial park, Twilight Sparkle, the Princess of Friendship (and ruler of all Equestria) had rushed on over to the Ponyville Hospital to check the well-being of both Starlight Glimmer and Sunburst. However, only Starlight was available for a visit with the Princess of Friendship, and to the relief and heart-break for Starlight's best friends, family and most of the student body, she was able to survive the accident, but came down with a major memory loss. While she recovered from her severe mental trauma, Princess Twilight Sparkle was quick to search for Trixie Lulamoon the counselor, so she could quickly had her replace Starlight as the temporary headmare, since the Vice-Stallion Sunburst was nowhere to be found. Though two witnesses claimed he was off with some old school colleagues from the School of Magic for Gifted Unicorns, Canterlot governmental royal guards had interviewed with all of Sunburst's close colleagues and his former classmates in both Canterlot and the Crystal Empire, and their investigation had concluded that they never had even made contact with Sunburst, let alone visit him from the hospital. They didn't even know that he was involved in an accident until they were given the news by the investigators.

Further suspicion of Sunburst's unknown whereabouts only grew when Sunburst's mother, Stellar Flare (also the running mayoral candidate for Sire's Hollow) received news of Sunburst's involvement with the accident from Firelight's telegram and only visited the hospital within six hours after Firelight's visit to see his daughter (due to a political press conference in Manehattan). However, when the hospital could not confirm that Sunburst was at the hospital with Starlight, she thought that the hospital list had encountered a clerical error and messed up with the update on the hospital records. Determined to have this matter sorted out immediately, she wrote a letter to the Princess of Friendship, demanding that they send out a team of federal investigators to look further into any evidence of Sunburst's whereabouts (incidentally, another mare named Minty Mocha was also present in personally investigating Sunburst after she was informed by Stellar Flare about the lack of Sunburst's recorded visit to the hospital, but could not get any further information due to privacy concerns).

Upon reading Stellar Flare's letter about her missing son Sunburst, Princess Twilight Sparkle immediately knew that the absence of the Vice-Stallion from a well-known institution would spell disaster in the hierarchical order within the School of Friendship. In response to a mother's plea, Princess Twilight Sparkle immediately sent a request letter to her old friend Moondancer from Canterlot University to fill in the position as temporary Vice Headmare, while Princess Twilight Sparkle had immediately declared a federal missing Equestrian case for Sunburst and signed a royal search warrant that permitted obtainment of Ponyville hospital visiting records. Sure enough, there was evidence of a yellow-orange coated unicorn with a dark-orange mane that was in the same hospital at the same time with Starlight Glimmer, though his injuries were not consistent of those of a cart crash victim. Though there was no evidence of a cutie mark (as they were badly scraped) or any formal ID, the description of the supposed patient admitted alongside Starlight had matched with the description told by witnesses who saw him leave with a group of suspicious kirin in suits and robes.

Fearing that the missing Equestrian may had been a victim of slave trafficking, kidnapping or forced recruitment, several missing citizen posters of Sunburst (and a promise of a 50,000 bit reward) had been posted around Ponyville and Canterlot (including the School of Friendship), in the hopes that any creature with well-known information of his whereabouts would contact the royal police headquarters in Canterlot to inform them about his recent spotting. As of now, the last reported sighting of Sunburst was around Manehattan, though most of them were false alarms or lead to dead ends in the investigation. This was not surprising, considering that the severity of Sunburst's injuries to his flanks, mane and face made him nearly unrecognizable, and the poster portrait of the original Sunburst was not making it easy for citizens to properly identify the missing victim. However, considering how dire the situation is right now, the authorities will have to make due with any lead that would get them closer to the Vice-Stallion.

As for now, it was Moondancer's turn to be the Vice Headmare and Trixie Lulamoon's turn to be the main Headmare of the School of Friendship, as ordered by Princess Twilight Sparkle. Though both Moondancer and Trixie Lulamoon had never met each other before, they both had met with Twilight Sparkle before, but under very different circumstances. The only difference between these two respectable intelligent figures was that they were influenced by Twilight Sparkle's smart and compassionate influence to become better Equestrians in the near future. In Moondancer's story, it was finding her courage to escape her depressed life as a hermit to make new friends and rekindle old friendships after a failed attempt to hold a surprised party of the very same mare who became Equestria's new princess ruler. For Trixie, it was overcoming her failed past as an egocentric and narcissistic magician, before her newfound humility and willingness to accept help from new friends, that turned her into the heroic mare that saved Equestrian twice from apocalyptic doom. Despite their connections with the Princess of Friendship, both mares had very different ideas on how the school should be run, but considering the dire circumstances of the current situation, they were the only qualified Equestrians that the Princess of Friendship could find on such short notice.

"OH, my dear poor Starlight!" Headmare Trixie sighed as she lamented about her amnesiac best friend. "I was just about to complete my weekend counseling trip in Las Pegasus with my student client, when Princess Sparkle had to interrupt my therapy session at the Las Pegasus strip club! It's a shame me and Auburn had to cut our Sunday trip shortly before we head out for our hotel room with his new escort.."

As the sharpy dressed Trixie sat on the large swiveling comfy chair behind the headmare's office desk, while wearing her starry-patterned purple tuxedo and pants, she placed her lower hooves on the desk and held a silver mirror above her head. The headmare office she was taking charge in had once suffered an unfortunate explosion from Pinkie party's cannon, causing most of the walls to be rebuilt and repainted, new carpet patches laid out and new brass windows to be replaced. As she gazed aimlessly at the newly-rebuilt decor and stared back at her silver mirror, she later continued with her self-indulging monologue

"But FEAR NOT! The Humble and Gratifying Trixie shall take your place as the new Headmare and guide these students to the righteous path towards harmony, just like back in her counseling gig! But alas, this is only a temporary position as my dearest friend struggles to recover from her tragic memory loss...."

Then, Headmare Trixie got off her chair and stood proud at a star-like pose behind her desk, before hollering

"Nevertheless, I shall work twice---NO---THRICE as harder than ever to run this school like clockwork! You will not regret this decision to pick me as the new Headmare, Princess Sparkle! For my name isn't---!"

"Uhhhh, if you're done with your epic monologuing, Your Highness---!", sarcastically interrupted the light beige-yellow unicorn with the long red mane with a violet stripe.

"GAAH, MOONDANCER!! Knock before you enter, all right??!!", shouted the flustered and upset Headmare Trixie.

"I did---three times!", replied Vice-Headmare Moondancer. The triple-D cup unicorn mare was wearing her usual pair of square glasses, her black busty buttoned-up sweater, a short black skirt with a hemline above her knees, a pair of white wool stockings and a pair of black vinyl shoes.

"Just tell me the reason of your rude intrusion, Vice Headmare!", shouted Headmare Trixie as she sat back on her office chair with an upset glare on her face.

Ignoring her morning bad moods, Vice-Headmare Moondancer professionally answered her question

"WELL, as you might already know, classes are almost in session, yet due to the fact that Professor Pinkie Pie's suspension from this school is still in effect under Starlight's orders, we are now without a professor for the party planner course."

"Well, then do the obvious thing and have that rainbow-maned professor substitute for that class!!", ordered the annoyed and impatient Headmare Trixie.

"I can't. I just got a doctor's letter note from the Ponyville hospital that Professor Rainbow Dash had caught spring hay fever yesterday and is now on sick leave, meaning that there is also an absence for the physical education course", replied Moondancer.

"Are you kidding me?! Sick leave over a stupid hay fever??!", shouted the surprised and awed Head Trixie. "I thought this Element of Royalty doesn't back down from a challenging obstacle like that! Meh, I guess I was wrong to assume that...", Headmare Trixie continued as she shrugged her shoulders.

"FINE, guess I'll have to replace her---!", said Headmare Trixie as she was about to get off from her seat.

"WAIT, there's more!", interrupted Moondancer. "Professor Rarity had to excuse herself to fix an important clerical shipping error in her charity packages of free jackets and coats to the griffon slums, so she's also absent for today's historical fashion course."

"SERIOUSLY?!! Are there any more slackers in our teaching staff I should be aware about?", shouted the frustrated and red-faced Headmare Trixie.

Just as she was about to rant, Mr Greenhooves the groundskeeper (and the school's custodian) entered the headmare's officer with a bucket of cleaning utensils, such as a mop, a toilet brush, basic detergent and a squeegee.

"Good morning, Miss Lulamoon and Miss Moondancer", greeted the chipper Mr Greenhooves.

"I'm here to wash your windows! Don't mind me, just doing my job---"

"AH!! Here comes my perfect solution!", interrupted Headmare Trixie as she got up from her desk and walked right up to Mr Greenhooves.

"Mr--uhhhhhh----Janitor!", mumbled Trixie when she couldn't figure out his name.

"How would YOU like to be the new replacement P.E. teacher for Professor Rainbow Dash?", offered Headmare Trixie as she laid her arm around Mr Greenhooves.

"WHAT?!! Are you insane??! He's not even a qualified educator!", protested Vice Headmare Moondancer.

"As much as I hate to agree with her, I really don't see how I am fit to professionally teach a whole classroom. I'm just an old groundskeeper and a custodian", agreed the humble Mr Greehooves.

"LOOK, I'm not asking you to teach them special sports moves, compete with top athletes or---whatever jocks are doing these days! I just need you to keep those students active in playing some buckball, a bit of soccer, score some hoops---anything to get these students distracted from the weekend's incident!", suggested Headmare Trixie as she took the bucket of cleaning utensils from Mr Greenhooves.

"Your class will be at the auditorium, second floor, 9:30 a.m. sharp! Be there and keep them active!", ordered Trixie as she pointed Mr Greenhooves out of the door.

"Of COURSE! Whatever you say, new Headmare!", obeyed Mr Greenhooves as he nonchalantly mentioned Trixie's ephemeral role in this school and left the office.

"SEE?! Problem solved! No need to worry! I got this in the bag!", boasted Headmare Trixie as she smirked.

"YEAH, I'm SURE he's not going to get ganged up by those sweaty yaks, griffons and dragons who may not be afraid to intimidate an old man from his new substitute job!", sarcastically mumbled Moondancer as she stared at Trixie with an unamused attitude.

"WHAT are you still standing around here for, Vice Headmare?! Go find Rarity's class in Room 4-B upstairs and fill in for her! You're the one who wants to learn everything! Surely, you must've read up on clothing history!", ordered Headmare Trixie as she turned her attention to Vice Headmare Moondancer.

"Unlike my old generation, students today complain a lot about their teachers not being present in class! If I were them, I take this as my advantage to ditch school and play hooky!", complained the dramatically whining Headmare Trixie. She later continued on with her little rant

"But on these present days, the EEA would hunt our asses down if even ONE class is without their teacher being punctual on time today!"

"As much as I would, there's still that vacancy in Professor Pinkie Pie's classroom! Who's going to fill in for her while I get stuck lecturing in Professor's Rarity class?", asked Moondancer as she placed her hands on her hips.

"UGGGHH!", moaned the frustrated Headmare Trixie. "FINE! I'll take care with the pink professor's class for now! I've been meaning to let loose my magic tricks on the class anyway! Just head out of my office and do your duty!"

"Very well, Miss Headmare! As you wish...", replied the professionally behaved Moondancer as she head for the exit towards the hallway. As soon as she opened the intricately carved door, out came Master Zhi and Mr Tang, who are waving goodbye to their foster child.

"See ya, Turnip Head! Remember to not give your curry rice to any creature that may had allergies!", shouted Master Zhi as he hollered out for his foster son in the hallway

"HEY, if any critch tries to give you candy---!", shouted Mr Tang in the hallways.

"Give it a rest, old timer!!" barked Master Zhi as he pulled his ear to the headmare's door.

"And who are you two strangers are supposed to be?", asked Vice Headmare Moondancer as she gazed in curiosity of the two eccentric stallions.

"I'm here to balance out this genius' weaknesses!", claimed Mr Tang as he pointed to Master Zhi on his right.

"I'm just here to see the new Headmaster today", said Master Zhi as he took off his Qing cap, placed it on his chest and bowed to Vice Headmare Moondancer out of respect.

"She's standing here in this office today! Now if you excuse me, I got some REALLY important substitute teacher work to do", quickly said Vice Headmare Moondancer, before she briskly head out into the hallways. Master Zhi then later put his Qing cap back on his head and spotted the new Headmare standing on a round purple carpet.

As both Master Zhi and Mr Tang both walked up to Miss Trixie Lulamoon, they both greeted the new headmare with a traditional respectful bow.

"Good morning, new Headmare! It's very nice to meet you", said Master Zhi as he bent his hips and head forward.

"You look lovely today, Miss Headmare", complimented Mr Tang as he bent his hips and head forward even further.

"Uhhh, who the hell are you two and what are you doing in my office?", asked the confused Headmare Trixie.

"OH, my name's Young Master Zhi! I once asked for a job from the previous Headmare, Starlight Glimmer. I got rejected after a---very unfortunate incident that made this office room crumbled---but I was hoping that you would give me a second chance to work at this school again to redeem myself!", excitedly pleaded Master Zhi as he placed his palms together.

"And that here is my good friend, Mr Tang!", introduced Master Zhi as he presented his friend on his left side.

"C'mon, dude! Bow some more!!", he shouted as he slapped his palm against the back of Mr Tang's head.

"I did it much more reverently than you before! Hit me again and I'll kill you!!", shouted the frustrated Mr Tang as he rubbed his wrinkly head.

"I'm here to see if there's any unoccupied teaching positions that need filling! I'm here as both a volunteer caretaker AND a friend for Miss Starlight Glimmer, to help keep her school stable as she recovers from her memory loss!", proclaimed Master Zhi as Headmare Trixie stared at the two random men with questioning wariness.

"Ohhh, are you her asylum nurse or something?", jokingly asked Headmare Trixie as she crossed her arms.

"I think it's more safe to say that I'm the polymath jack of all trades who is really the master of everything!", boasted Master Zhi as he pointed the thumb at himself

"Hmmmm! So you're a wannabe show-off who wants to demonstrate to the world that he's got gumption, huh?", questioned Headmare Trixie as her interest began to grow.

"HA, I like your style, weird guy! Reminds me of my old self back in my younger years! I see you still haven't lost that spiritual touch! VERY WELL, you're taking Professor Pinkie's 9:30 A.M. class at Room 3A below you!", ordered the delighted Headmare Trixie as she pointed down onto the ground.

"Thank you, Miss Headmare! Thank you for giving me a second chance!", praised Master Zhi as he bowed down and saluted at her with the utmost respect, before graciously leaping out of the headmare's office.

"HEY, it's what I do! Giving second chances to any troublesome creature is my specialty! That's why they call me the Great and Powerful Trixie!", boasted the self-respecting Headmare.

"HEY, what about me, wise lady?! I still need to find out where my groundskeeper boss is, so I could get started on my next task!", said the grouchy old Mr Tang.

"WELL, since the groundskeeper is too busy teaching gym class, you're going to be the new head custodian boss from now on!", happily praised Headmare Trixie as she laid out her hand towards Mr Tang.

"There will be a student worker waiting for you at the communal washrooms at this hallway! Be there before 9:20 a.m. with your student! You are to guide her in the art of custodian cleaning! You think you can handle that?!", interrogated the stern and demanding Headmare Trixie.

"YES, MA'AM! I am specialized in all times of sanitary work! No job is too shitty for this veteran! You can count on that, lady!", exclaimed the determined old Mr Tang as he gave out a salute to Headmare Trixie.

'Geez, how can such an old man be so rude, yet so adamantly obedient at the same time?', thought Headmare Trixie.

----------(9:25 A.M. IN PROFESSOR PINKIE'S CLASSROOM)----------

Inside the rowdy classroom of many young hippogriffs, dragons, changedlings, fillies and colts, there were some students who were sitting on their own desks or chairs, chatting with each other about what they were about to learn next and what would their next substitute teacher would be like. Though they were saddened that their favourite Professor Pinkie Pie would not be here today, they were still holding onto hope that their favourite teacher will be back very soon. Other young creatures were goofing off with their peers, throwing crumbled paper at each other, shooting spitballs at the ceiling lamps and flying around each other in the air.

Sitting in the front middle of the classroom was Tiny Turnip Head, Smolder and Ocellus, who were discussing about what they had done over the weekend. First up was Smolder's story...

"Me and my bro went out to see the Lava Landsliders compete against the Snow Yetis on the school's hoofball field this Saturday! It was pretty epic seeing the yak players go horn-to-horn against my team! But in spite of our victorious events, I kinda felt bad about hurting the yaks' team pride today...SO, I decided to buy them all 'You Tried' cakes from Sugarcube corner and got myself a calf's honorary yak horn in return!"

Next, was Ocellus' turn to talk about her weekend...

"I went to see the local school theater the other day to see the kindergarten's re-enactment of the battle between the Elements of Harmony and the Villainous Trio. Though the special effects were cheap and low-budget, it was fun seeing those little fillies and colts at the schoolhouse have fun together, in spite of the bad production value!"

After they were finished summarizing their break stories, both females turned their heads to the new tiny white pegasus boy in school. Smolder was the first one to speak to the new creature in town.

"Say, new kid! Tiinnyy---TURNIP Head, right?? Word on the block said you got involved in some hefty shenanigans over the weekend. Was it true that Yona and Gallus got chased by kung-fu karate-chopping kirin??!", asked the excited Smolder.

"C'mon, Smolder! You SERIOUSLY really believe that??! If that were the case, it would already be on the news already!", questioned the skeptical Ocellus after she lifted her eyes from her newspaper.

"Don't believe everything you read on that dumb paper! Nothing but exaggerated lies!", shouted Smolder as she turned her attention to Ocellus.

"I'm not! I'm just stating what is being reported by multiple sources and coming to conclusions from the facts I collected! I don't just read ONE specific newspaper, you know??", back-sassed Ocellus as she continued to read on.

"WHATEVER! I get MY dose of news from the gossips and rambles from the streets and hallways! SO TELL ME, was your weekend just as epic as they say?", asked Smolder as her enlarged gaze was being focused onto Tiny Turnip Head. She held both sides of her cheeks with her claws in anticipation for Turnip's confirmation.

"I wasn't there with Master Zhi and Mr Tang when that happened, as I was hanging out in their rented apartment room! But if I was REALLY there to see it, I bet I could tell you that they fought these bad qilin off valiantly, like those martial arts heroes from those awesome action flicks back home! HIYAH, HOOOYAAAHH, WACHACHAHCHA!!!", shouted the excited Tiny Turnip Head as he flew up and performed his random swing kicks and punches. He was careful to not hit the other rowdy students around him as the whole class waited for their new substitute.

"Woah there, little dude! You're going to give some creature a black eye with those moves!", hollered Smolder as she raised her claws to signal the excited white pegasus boy to relax.

"I'm sorry! I'm just so excited to hear that Master Zhi and Mr Tang actually became heroes as soon as they arrived in Ponyville! He and Mr Tang are the greatest masters to have ever lived!", shouted the elated Tiny Turnip Head.

"So I've heard! My dear friend Yona also told me about how your self-proclaimed 'Master' and his weird old guy friend saved the Headmare and the Vice Stallion after last weekend's accident. It's a shame that the Headmare had lost most of her memories, and even more devastating to hear that the Vice-Head Stallion has gone missing!"

Ocellus later added her part of the conversation as she was reading her newspaper.

"What's even more surprising was that some mayor from outta town decided to invite you to some party for saving the Headmare! And he's the Headmare's daddy!! Small world we are living in, huh?"

"I mean, seriously dude! Your kooky 'Master' and his old geezer just told some officer to bring over a couple peps1 to the crash scene via call-box! It's not THAT big of a deal!", scoffed Smolder as she crossed her arms.

Tiny Turnip Head later added his thoughts into the conversation in relation to last weekend's events

"Master Zhi and Mr Tang are the best family I ever hoped for! If it wasn't for them, they would've not save her from her horrible daddy and the mean crowd that was trying to take her!"

"Horrible??! Him?! What beef do you have against Starlight's father?", questioned the confused but curious Smolder. She was not angry at Turnip Head for calling Firelight horrible, even though he was the one who went to the hospital to check her well-being. She came from a culture of dragons where parents were more all about that 'tough love' approach and disciplining kids with corporal punishment if it was absolutely necessary. Even still, it was strange for Tiny Turnip Head to have a disdain for a random Equestrian with little reason.

"UHOH, check this out!", hollered Ocellus as she was reading the Squawker Press. "According to yesterday's article, Firelight's daughter, aka Headmare Starlight of the School of Friendship, confessed that her father used to cuddle her into his own home safe space by gas-lighting her about the supposed outside dangerous world. It was this supposed isolation from all the good things in the world that led to Starlight to become the cutie-mark snatching equalist cult leader for a couple years, which lead to many Equestrians losing their self-identity and unique personalities. If the mayoral candidate had been more aware of the signs his child was exhibiting, she would not had pursued a career of forcing victims into isolation in the hopes that they followed her twisted conformist ideology". As Ocellus read through the article, her tone transiently from curiously interested to shockingly horrified.

"Dude, I may not understand some of what she said here, but based on her reaction, you, Gallus, Yona and your weird family must've REALLY screwed things up in Sire's Hollow!", said Smolder as she shuddered a little towards Ocellus' reaction on her face.

"What in Equestria did you do that made Headmare Starlight say these horrible things??!", shouted the shocked Ocellus as she shoved her dark teal bug-eyed face towards Tiny Turnip Head.

"NOTHING!! All we did was bang gongs and drums, had Yona swallow a giant sword and saw Miss Headmare feel so scared of the flashy and clicking cameras in the crowd! She just---shouted that her father used to lie to her and the crowd went crazy!!", confessed the surprised Tiny Turnip Head as he stared at Ocellus' shocked expression.

"Wait, did you just say---Yona swallowed a sword??!", questioned the surprised Smolder. "That's so strange of her to do, even for boastful yaks like her! She never told me about that! Then again---she was running a bit late for class this morning, so---"

Before Smolder could finish her line of thought, Tiny Turnip Head suddenly shouted, "MASTER ZHI??!! IS THAT YOU??!"

As Master Zhi barged into the classroom by slamming his whole body onto the partially-opened door, the sudden recoil of the door bouncing back on the wall caused the door to slam back at Master Zhi's side, causing him to growl and shake his fist at the "attacking" door.

"You have GOT to be shitting me!! HE'S the substitute teacher??!!", cried Smolder as she stood up on her desk.

"ALL RIGHT!!! He's going to teach our class today to look after me!", celebrated Tiny Turnip Head as he jumps out of his seat with hyped-up energy.

"Oooh boy.....this is going to be interesting. Can't wait to see what your foster parent really looks like", muttered Ocellus as she looked onto the eccentric yellow stallion walking to the large teacher's desk.

"大家收聲呀! (Daai Gaa Sow Seng AA!)2", shouted Master Zhi in his loudest voice possible. Though he spoke in a Canternese language, it got the whole classroom's attention nevertheless. The students quickly got back to their seats, before they gaze in awesome curiousity at their new substitute teacher for party planning class. Just who was this crazy young man who thinks he could run this classroom like it was his own?

"As you can see here, your new headmare had assigned me as your new substitute teacher for Professor Pinkie Pie today! All of you shall address me as 'Master Zhi', no more and no less!", hollered Master Zhi as he addressed the whole class.

"WOOOHOOOOO, go Master Zhi!!! Give my classmates the power of KNOWLEDGE!!", cheered Tiny Turnip Head as he clapped for joy.

Soon, all the other hippogriff and dragon students started whispering gossip about the substitute teacher

'Master Zhi??! Is he like supposed to be the boss level of all teachers??'

'I never suspected that Headmare Trixie would find such a genius so soon!'

'Dude, I think I might had seen that guy before when he rocketed out in the sky to save that senior from falling!'

'Isn't he like that over-hyped pegasus' daddy or something?'

"Unless you want me to kick you gossip gals outside for the rest of the whole period, I suggest you keep quiet and only answer when I call out your name for attendance! Oh, and the SAME goes for you, TURNIP!!!", shouted Master Zhi as he took the clipboard list of names on the desk.

As every creature in the class stood still in fear of Master Zhi's suddenly disapproving stare, Tiny Turnip Head sheepishly slouched down on his seat and apologized for his erratic behaviour.

"GOOD!", shouted Master Zhi as he read the names on the attendance list. "Now let's see here..."

"Behemoth!"

"Here!", shouted the shy brownish-yellow dragon boy sitting at the far left side of the classroom.

"Man, how could such a tiny drak3 be called a Behemoth by his parents?", commented Master Zhi as he shook his head while holding the list. Some of the creatures giggled at the substitute's remark for the shy dragon.

"Hey, what the---!? Who in this class is named 'Charley Horse Angel'??!", shouted the amazed Master Zhi.

"That's him!/RIGHT HERE!", shouted the whole class as they pointed at the blue hippogriff girl with pink head feathers, sitting on the far right front side of the classroom.

"HOH HOH HOH, is that so??", responded Master Zhi as he stared at the bashful hippogriff girl.

"You! Stand up straight and tall!", ordered Master Zhi as he pointed his finger at the shy hippogriff.

"Uhhh-meee??", questioned the shy blue hippogriff as she lifted her head and pointed at herself. Every creature in the class started muttering about whether she did something wrong in front of the new teacher.

"YES, pog4! I'm talking to you! Stand up!", he shouted with a little more frustration.

Suddenly standing up and nervously looking straight ahead, Master Zhi then approached the shaken hippogriff girl's desk up front and calmly said to her

"Now bend your knees a bit and look straight at me."

Weirded out by his strange request, but not wanting to get into further trouble, she did what he told her to do, albeit a bit more slowly and with agitation to her lower limbs.

"Who the hell gave you that name??! Charley Horse Angel???", harshly asked Master Zhi as he stared at the hippogriff girl with the shaking knees.

"I--uhhh----my parents told me it was from a favourite theatre movie they saw in their vacation in Manehattan...." sheepishly replied the soft-spoken knee-bent Charley. "That's why---they gave me that name----is there something wrong with my name?"

"YES, it's TOO long to remember for me! No way I could call out your name without goofing up", replied Master Zhi with haste, before he started to ponder on a solution.

"Hmmmmm, I KNOW! I'll give you a shorter code name that is easier to remember! From now on, you are known as 'Angels 89'", said Master Zhi before Charley reluctantly nodded in agreement.

"All right, you may sit now!", ordered Master Zhi before Angels 89 quietly sat down with her face staring at the desk.

Then suddenly, there was a double knock at the door and Master Zhi looked to his left to see Headmare Trixie standing by the classroom's exit.

"Miss Headmare?! What are you doing here??", questioned Master Zhi as he approached the door. Headmare Trixie was standing by the door with her arms crossed, staring at Master Zhi with a smirk on her face.

"If you wanted to discuss on my perks and conditions, I would be happy to talk to you outside after---"

Immediately out of sheer panic, Master Zhi saw somepony outside the door that made him scream and run straight to the window on the far opposite side of the classroom, before jumping on the window sill with his back facing against the glass. It was like he had saw a giant spider monster come crawling into the classroom.

In reality though, it was actually the crystal blue-eyed violet-pink-coated unicorn mare, Starlight Glimmer, who was now wearing one of Master Zhi's long blue shirts, his three-buttoned black silk vest (with the buttons laid out horizontally), a pair of Mr Tang's brown business trousers and a pair of black vinyl shoes. In addition, she was also carrying her dark violet vinyl saddle purse over her shoulders.

As soon as every creature suddenly realized their old headmare, every creature started applauding and celebrating loudly and happily for her welcomed return back to the School of Friendship. They all cried out their gratitude and exuberant delight for the legendary Starlight Glimmer

"Miss Headmare is back!!! ALL RIGHT!!"

"Welcome back, Headmare Starlight Glimmer!!"

"We missed you SO much!!"

"No cart crash is gonna put the Headmare out of business forever!!"

"SILENCE IN THE CLASSROOM, s'il vous plaît!!", shouted Headmare Trixie as she banged the door to get the whole classroom to tone down the noise.

"Miss Headmare?! What is she doing here?! I thought you told me she was resting her head in that tall crystal castle nearby!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he looked at Starlight Glimmer, before he turned his attention to Master Zhi.

"I did! I did!", shouted Master Zhi as he remained crouched on the edge of the windowsill for awhile, before Headmare Trixie urged the crazy young stallion to come over to the door.

"Well well well...seems that your friend/ex-employer here has finally decided to come back from her healing nap!", smirked Headmare Trixie as she crossed her arms and stared at the disappointed Master Zhi.

Feeling a bit confused and lost for words for a moment, Master Zhi later asked the quirky-dressed Starlight Glimmer

"Miss Starlight, why did you come back to the Friendship School all of a sudden? Please tell me it's not because you remembered about the last time I met you!", Master Zhi sadly asked as he laid out his hands in a begging gesture.

"Headmare Trixie visited me at the Crystal Castle today and read me the friendship journal entry about how I helped Twilight find her own Friendship School. As soon as she mentioned that, everything about this institution started flooding back to me now.", Starlight Glimmer replied back to Master Zhi.

"WAIT a second, wouldn't that mean you remembered about becoming a headmare??!!", shouted Master Zhi as he questioned Starlight Glimmer.

"She's not THAT far into remembering her current position yet.", answered Headmare Trixie. "Apparently, her memory can only go so far as to set her at a time when she was only a counselor. Since she's technically not mentally prepared to be our headmare yet, I decided that she can continue recovering by acting as the new replacement substitute teacher for this class!". Headmare Trixie later turned her attention to the students.

"Thus, I would like every creature here in this school to address her as Miss Starlight Glimmer until she gets her whole memory back!"

"Awwwww, you mean Master Zhi's not going to be our new substitute any more??!!" BOOOOO!!", jeered the upset Tiny Turnip Head as he hooted at Miss Starlight Glimmer and Headmare Trixie.

"Hey, you should at least be glad that I helped Miss Starlight Glimmer hitch a ride on her road to recovery, you ungrateful brat!", barked Headmare Trixie with a tone so harsh and scary, it made Tiny Turnip Head immediately sit back to his seat out of sheer panic.

"Ohhh, don't mind him, Headmare Trixie", said Miss Starlight Glimmer as she approached the teacher's desk. "I promise that I will be the best substitute teacher I can be for Professor Pinkie Pie! It's a good thing I am able to recall some dessert baking recipes from my head...".

"Besides, memory loss or no, I still need to be there for my students, no matter how bad things may turn", she later continued in her speech. "It may be troubling for me to remember the students' names and their grade performances, but someday, I will be back to my old original self"

"All right, GO Miss Starlight!", shouted Smolder with encouragement.

"I'm so happy that you decided push forward after that crash!", expressed Ocellus with comforting relief.

Tiny Turnip Head gave out a heavy sad sigh, but remember what he had said to Miss Starlight Glimmer back in the motel room in Sire's Hollow:

💭'HEY, don't give up now! You were able to remember how to sign your name AND draw out your cutie mark before! PLUS, you remembered how terrible your daddy really is! Soon enough, you're going to remember EVERYTHING! We believe in you, Headmare!'💭

"Fiinneee, as long as this will bring back your Headmare...", smiled Tiny Turnip Head as he looked at Starlight's content expression of being back in the spotlight.

"Guess your ingenious services are no longer needed, Master!", snickered Headmare Trixie as she exited the classroom and walked across the hallway

"WHAT, but---GGAUUUGGHH!!!", groaned Master Zhi as he exited the hallway.

As the Headmare and the Master walked across the large arched hallway, they passed by a familiar turquoise-shelled amber-eyed changedling who was standing outside motionlessly in the hallway.

"Late again for class, Cornicle?" commented Headmare Trixie as she passed him by.

"I forgot to rewind my clock again. Sorry, no excuse. Won't happen again, Headmare Trixie", nervously spoke Cornicle as he continued to look straight ahead.

"C'mon, Miss Headmare! Gimme another chance to work at this school!! I beg of you!!", cried Master Zhi as he continued to follow Headmare Trixie along the hallway.

"Look, it DOESN'T have to be something academic!! Just give me something laborious to do!", he continued to plead to the uninterested Headmare.

"Sorry, but we don't have any more budget room for new job vacancies at the moment", apologized Headmare Trixie. She tried her best to ignore the persistent Master Zhi while she continued to walk through the hallway.

"LOOK, I'll work here for free until you are satisfied! You don't have to pay me in money! A share from of leftover food from the cafeteria or free drinks from the teacher's lounge break-room would suffice for me! Once you are 100% satisfied with my work, then I'll take my minimum wage in bits!", Master Zhi conveyed as he tried to negotiate a better working deal with the new Headmare.

"Hmmmm, work here for free, you say??", Headmare Trixie suddenly asked when Master Zhi mentioned his willingness to volunteer his work time at the school. "All right then, if you say so"

"OF COURSE I do say so!! Wouldn't you also agreed to say so too??", asked Master Zhi as he ran up to Headmare Trixie's path and winked at her.

"Riiiigghhhht, you can start your day by doing some cleaning work...", said Headmare Trixie after she teleported past Master Zhi and continued on her way.

"RIGHT, of course! Uhhhh, cleaning what exactly??", asked Master Zhi as he went from excitement to confusion.

"What do you think, Master of All??! My office, the hallways, the toilets in the communal washroom---!!?", shouted Headmare Trixie as she was close to being done with the young stallion brown-noser.

"OF COURSE, MA'AM! I WON'T LET YOU DOWN!", hollered Master Zhi as he stood up to give a salute.

'Geez, this guy would probably risk his own reputation and dignity to wash all the male athletes' jockstraps! Nothing puts this young man down! What's with this nutjob and his old geezer??', thought Headmare Trixie as she looked back at the Far Eastern Equestrian stallion.

----------(10:00 A.M. IN THE SCHOOL'S COMMUNAL WASHROOM)----------

As Master Zhi entered the sea-blue tile-laden washroom, he could see Mr Tang and Silverstream rapidly scrubbing on the walls, ceilings and floors like a crazy caffeine addict. Inside the washroom laid an elongated metal communal sink, where water can be spouted from multiple taps from both sides of the sink. On top of that, a reflective silver mirror strip was completely stretched out onto the long communal sink. On each opposite bathroom wall, there was a row of ten toilets embedded into the ceramic surface and were only separated by wooden slabs between each toilet, giving the students only partial privacy of their toilet business. Fortunately, the communal washrooms were gender-segregated and the distance between the sink and the toilets were wide enough to allow the bulky yaks, griffons and dragons to use the facilities. Some toilets had seats that were large and bulky in volume to support their large derrieres.

"I think I'm finally getting the hang of this custodian work, Mister Tang! The tiles are so clean, I can see my reflection!", shouted the excited Silverstream as she admired the shiny floor she had just waxed. Silverstream was wearing her dark blue shirt and long pants as her custodian uniform.

"You keep this up and I might someday show you how to hunt for hidden treasures within the sewer pipes!", shouted the eager Mr Tang as he rapidly wiped the toilet bowl so fast, it sounded like he was scratching a DJ record in a remix dashboard5. Alongside his custodian uniform, Mr Tang was also wearing his strapped bright yellow apron over his front body.

"I'm so GLAD I took this part-time job at this school! I can't WAIT to tell this to Gallus when he's finished with his suspension!", happily cried Silverstream as she held her bucket of cleaning products and tools with her left talon, as well as her wax-soaked towel with her right talon.

"HEY, why are you two guys cleaning the toilets inside the washroom?", asked Master Zhi as he observed both Mr Tang and Silverstream scrubbing the toilet bowls and sinks with their sponges and hog-bristled brushes.

"We have to be IN the washroom to wash the washroom toilets, DUH!", answer Silverstream as she turned around to see Master Zhi. Then she immmediately recognized the stallion that she was talking to.

"HEY, I remember you from that tower incident! You're friends with this old geezer here, right??!"

"Quick as a whip, bogey!", answered Mr Tang as he continued to clean the underside of the toilet.

Silverstream then started to act like a fangirl in the washroom, chatting about the amazing things they had done over the weekend as she squished both cheeks with her wet talons.

"OOOH, it must be SO nice to be recognized as the hero who saved Headmare Starlight and Vice Stallion Sunburst! I read about you two on the paper the other day! Especially that part where you had made a ruckus at some mayor's political rally---!"

"HEY, we're not here to discuss life stories here!! Get back to swabbing and scrubbing, Missy!!", interrupted Mr Tang as he brought the focus back into Silverstream's work.

"OH, sorry!", apologized Silverstream. "Sometimes I get REALLY lost in the excited moment meeting the family of a new student! WELL, I better get back to scrubbing these amazingly smooth curvy toilet bowls! Mr Greenhooves won't pay us until EVERY toilet in this school is sparkling white!"

Silverstream then proceeded to poor the dark-blue detergent liquid around the rims of the toilet, before pulling out a hog-bristled brush, dipped it into the toilet water and scrubbing around the toilet rim like a mechanical eggbeater in a mixing bowl.

"You moron!! Your boss needs to see you working hard on those toilets!", exclaimed Master Zhi as the two scrubbed the toilets so fast, their arms looked like vibrating pumping jackhammers.

"So what? You want the Headmare and Mr Greenhooves come over scrub the shit outta these toilets every 15 minutes or so??! BAH, like they give a rat's ass of what we're doing right now!", scoffed the eye-rolling Mr Tang as he went on to the next toilet.

"EXACTLY, they would be too busy on their own work to notice! But STILL, if they don't see us clean these toilets, they won't know we were there in the washroom to begin with! And if they don't know we were the ones working hard in the washroom to clean these toilets, we won't be paid our earned wages on our payday!". shouted Master Zhi as they continued scrubbing left and right, bouncing between two alternative walls to scrub all the toilets as fast as they can. Sometimes while cleaning, both Mr Tang and Silverstream would even stand on the walls, keeping themselves still with their levitation magic and hovering wings, respectively.

"The Headmare and the head custodian may see that the toilets will be sparkling clean, but they would have no idea who made them sparkling clean! You understand what I'm saying??", said Master Zhi before Silverstream answered in response.

"WELL---I guess that kinda makes sense....there ARE a few other student janitors who are working in this school to pay for their textbooks, writing tools and field trips", pondered Silverstream as she scratched her head with the used toilet brush.

"SO whaddya suggest we do, genius??!! It's not like we can bring our workload to the Headmare's office or anything!", sarcastically boasted Mr Tang as be was working on the toilet seat.

"----Actually-----you may be onto something", said Master Zhi as he whispered his plan onto Mr Tang's ear.

As Master Zhi whispered his plan into Mr Tang's head, this at first made Mr Tang question his sanity, but as Master Zhi went further on with his idea, Mr Tang later soon realize that if he were to follow one of his ludicrous friends' crazy ideas, it would mean that he would get these bonus wages he has been yearning for...

----------(11:45 A.M. IN THE HEADMARE'S OFFICE)----------

🚽🎵"Scrub-a-dub there, scrub-a-down-there!"🎵🚽

🚽🎵"Scrub it 'round the rims, 'til it looks all clear!"🎵🚽

🚽🎵"Don't scrub it in there, go scrub it out there!"🎵🚽

🚽🎵"Keep scrubbin', scrubbin', scrubbin' 'til it flashes n' glares!"🎵🚽

Strewn across the dusty violet carpet floor, in front of the headmare's office desk, there were all twenty chipped and cracked toilets that had been ripped off from their washroom walls, all thanks to Mr Tang who lend Master Zhi and Silverstream a sledgehammer and jackhammer from the outdoor tool shed, respectively!

🚽🎵"BRUSH BRUSH BRUSH, brush the grime away!"🎵🚽

In addition to the relocated toilets (and the pieces of broken porcelain debris and dust contaminating the floor), there were also sliced sections of the steel sink that were also ripped off from their tiled floor and were spread haphazardly around the messed-up office. Mops, dust pans, brooms, buckets of soapy water, sponges, hog-bristled toilet brushes and a cordless vacuum cleaner were also littered around the office for the two new eccentric custodians to use in cleaning the separate sinks and toilets. By literally bringing their hard work to the Headmare's office and cleaning those toilets and sinks in close proximity to the Headmare's working space, Master Zhi figured that the new Headmare would be able to truly see her employees putting their backs into their custodian work without having to leave the comfort of her office!

🚽🎵"Wishy-wishy-wooshy, for the naked tushy!"🎵🚽

As the maniacal Master Zhi and the silly Silverstream continued to scrub their finest hard work to their delightful content, their wet cleaning fluids were being soaked by the carpet floor, contributing more to the disastrous mess within the Headmare's office. But that didn't matter much to the two nutjobs. As soon as they were done with the toilets and sinks in the Headmare's office, they would quickly clean up all mess with their vacuum cleaner, dustpans and brooms, before they put all the toilets and sinks back to their original washroom. Then, they would repeat the whole process again with the remaining dirty toilets and sinks from the other washrooms. Just as they were enjoying their love of labor and dreams of being paid a bigger bonus for their hard work...

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING IN THE HEADMARE'S OFFICE???!! Why the hell are there cracked toilets and chopped up metal sinks scattered across the floor??!!", shouted Vice Headmare Moondancer as she barged into the office and ran up to confront the two dim-witted custodians.

"DUH! What does it LOOK like we're doing, ma'am??! We're cleaning the toilets and sinks in the Headmare's office!", shouted Silverstream as she was on her fifth toilet cleaning scrub already.

"Wha----why---BUT----you---??!!", stuttered Vice Headmare Moondancer as she was at a lost for words over the disarrayed entropy state of the entire messy office room. Then she immediately blew up a hot gasket towards Silverstream

"Why can't you two idiots just clean the toilets and sinks INSIDE their own washrooms instead??!! Look at this horrible mess you all made!! How did you even get this many toilets and sinks up there in such short time??!!", questioned the livid red-faced Moondancer who clenched her teeth with infuriation.

"We want Miss Headmare to see us working hard while she works at her office! That way, she'll know who made the toilets and sinks super sparkling clean, so that we may get paid a good salary!", answered the overjoyed Master Zhi as he was scrubbing the sink with another rag.

"WHA---?!! Are you---??!! DON'T BE RIDICULOUS!!", stuttered the angrily confused Moondancer, who couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You're not going to get paid AT ALL if the Headmare finds out you trashed her office AND the washroom!!"

"Not unless we clean all this up after we're done cleaning our hard-earned work!", replied the ecstatic Silverstream as she picked up a cordless vacuum cleaner to demonstrate how she will suck up all the porcelain dust up from the dirty floor. However, as she was picking the vacuum up, she accidentally activated one of the switches that immediately blew a giant blast of air so powerful, it caused Moondancer's short black skirt to be lifted up in an updraft! Her black satin thong with the pink heart at the front became temporarily visible for both Master Zhi and Silverstream to gawk at!

😱"AAAHHHHH!!!", screamed Vice Headmare Moondancer as she immediately push down onto her skirt to hide her black racy panties from being viewed by the two perverts.

"WHOOPS, sorry sorry sorry!!", apologized the screaming Silverstream as she tried to work around with the controls on the cordless vacuum. Unfortunately, due to her bad interpretation of symbols on the control dial and her brash panicking, she accidentally set the vacuum to suck up all the air in front of the vacuum. Since it was still stuck at a very high setting, the vacuum ended up sucking up and ripping Moondancer's black skirt out of her hemline!

😱"WAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!", shrieked the flustered and rosy-faced Vice Headmare as she saw her own skirt being eaten up by the cordless vacuum.

"AAAHH, sorry sorry sorry!!!", screamed Silverstream as she saw the vacuum malfunction and short-circuit from the black skirt blocking its opening.

As soon as Silverstream and Master Zhi realized that Vice Headmare Moondancer's black racy thong with the pink heart was completely exposed in the wide opening, the rosy-cheeked and sweaty Vice Headmare immediately shoved her hands between her legs to hide her embarassingly lewd panties.

"Silverstream, what the hell??! You sick pervert!!", shouted the upset Master Zhi as he berated Silverstream.

"GAAAHHH, I can fix this, Master Zhi!! Don't you worry!!", yelled Silverstream as she punched the controls on the cordless vac, before the vacuum started to reboot and immediately started spitting Moondancer's tattered black skirt and a charging cloud of dust towrds Moondancer's crotch.

"What the hell is going on in here??? Look at this mess!", shouted Headmare Trixie as soon as she entered her office to see what all the commotion was about.

"That is IT, Trixie!!", shouted the upset Vice Headmare Moondancer as she approached Headmare Trixie. As she was quickly marching towards the Headmare, she was desparately holding her tattered skirt around her waist, trying to cover up her large exposed cutie-mark butt cheeks (with the violent crescent moon and three triple-point pink stars).

"If you don't get these two airheads outta this school RIGHT NOW, I'm not gonna work with you anymore!!", protested Moondancer as she wagged her finger at the Headmare.

Unphased by Moondancer's threats to quit her post and leave the Headmare to run the school on her own, Headmare Trixie nonchalantly showed Moondancer out the door with her thumb and said to her,

"By all means, quit while you're ahead..."

Realizing that the Headmare couldn't care less about her dignity, well-being and working conditions (and that the Headmare was a total witch who wants to run the school in her own style), Moondancer frustratingly shook her pointing finger at Headmare Trixie as the Headmare stoically nodded in agreement, thereby confirming the Headmare's willingness to get rid of Moondancer's high-ranking position.

"You wouldn't-----UUGGGHHH!!!!!", screeched the bemoaned Moondancer before she stormed out of the office with her tattered skirt around her hips, never bothering to say her final farewell to her boss.

As Silverstream was starting to get the hang of her cordless vacuum and Master Zhi resumed his job in cleaning the sinks in front of his new boss, the disappointed and upset Headmare Trixie went up to the two responsible hooligans and said

"What in Celestia's name is this garbage?"

"OH, Miss Headmare! Now that your partner has decided to quit her post, shall I now go fill in for her?", asked Master Zhi as he raised his cleaning brush into the air.

"OH, don't mind her! She's a redundant Vice Headmare anyway!", scoffed the unamused Headmare Trixie who had her hands planted onto her hips.

"She's only here because my former rival, aka Princess Twilight---", Trixie sneered as she shoved her head back and forth, "---wanted me to hire her long-time childhood school friend as a courtesy gift! I really didn't approve of that nerd nagging harsh criticisms over how I was running the school, so I've been meaning to get rid of her without the princess raising any suspicion from me."

As Master Zhi and Silverstream stared in silent awe over Headmare Trixie's disdain for her former Vice Headmare, the upset Headmare suddenly shouted at the two airheads

"WELL, why are you gawking around like pigeons for??!! Clean up this filthy mess in my office and put these damn toilets and sinks back to where they belong!!"

"Awwww, but aren't you going to tell us how much of a great job we did to cleaning these toilets??!", asked the sad pleading Silverstream.

Without saying a word, Headmare Trixie left her office and left the two confused custodians to wonder about whether they will get their extra wage credit for displaying their hard work.

----------(OUTSIDE THE HEADMARE'S OFFICE)----------

"WELL, it looks like she ain't gonna be working here anymore, right Miss Headmare??! Man, if only I've been there to see that skirt get ripped off her waistband!", said Mr Tang as he stood idly by the headmare's door.

"DON'T push it! Thanks for warning me about these two crackpots...", replied the gratified Headmare Trixie, before she then handed Mr Tang her 500-bit check.

"Thank YOU for rewarding me with that bonus!", thanked Mr Tang in return as he grabbed his loot.

"It's the least I could do for helping me force that annoying nitpicking mare off my back! I really couldn't believe your nutcase of a friend would pull off such a ludicrous feat!", wondered Trixie as she laid back against the headmare officer door to take a vape break with her peanut-flavored e-cigar.

"What can I say? He IS the Master of All, even though may come off as an idiot...", complimented Mr Tang as he examined the contents in the money bag.

"Hmmmm....perhaps I SHOULD keep him in this school---just in case things get awry", snickered the vaping Headmare Trixie.

"Don't push it too, Headmare! He may be a fool, but he's no brainless half-wit!", snapped back Mr Tang after he abruptly stopped counting his money.

"I'll try to remember that the next time I need him", joked the relaxed Headmare Trixie, before Mr Tang replied back in response

"GOOD! Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to fetch myself a shit-ton of caulking glue and a wheelbarrow! I got a lotta plumbing and tile work to do!"

---END

Author's Note

Peps (or 'peppers'/'peppies'): Based on the acronym "Ponyville's Equestrian Police Service"

Cantonese for "Everybody, shut up!"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Everyone%2C%20shut%20up!&from=en&to=yue

Drak: Corrupt pronunciation of "drake" (dragon)

Pog: Hippogriff (other slang terms: "pock", "bogey" or "herb")

https://youtu.be/TB4OIa0nnDg?t=100

13 The Alternating Tale of Two Memories

Ch 13 - The Alternating Tale of Two Memories

----------(SOMEWHERE IN THE EVERFREE FOREST, AT THE GINSENG MANOR)----------

It was a lovely fresh noon on the green backyard lawn of the Ginseng Manor. Every kirin and Far Eastern unicorn were sitting on the stools behind their own wooden desks, taking various notes from Sunny Boy's whiteboard about history of arcane spells, reciting the incantations of ethereal magic listed on the whiteboard and reading along important discoveries of various magical phenomena from scientific experimentation. Every once in a while, each and every 'student' of Sunny Boy (who are actually wearing blue school sweater uniforms with ties and pants/skirts) had to repeatedly chant a strew of spells from the whiteboard, before Sunny Boy tests each of them on their memorization for each spell and their specific purpose for each spell.

As Ginseng Dragon (who was still wearing that bandage on his forehead) observed at Sunny Boy's makeshift outdoor classroom from above and hearing repeated mantras from the new teenage Far Eastern unicorns and kirins, he felt pretty weird about his godson's new method of training the new boys and tomboys on how to become gangsters. What he was seeing was out of the norm of how he trains and grooms his new recruits into joining the gang. Once a dropout or failing student from the School of Friendship (or any other institution) is recruited to the gang by offering them a place of sanctuary from the tough school life, they are tempted into staying by giving them free yoga lessons, meditation spaces and a party room where they can experiment with various drugs, such as opium, fentanyl, ketamines and, most recently, laughing mushrooms1.

Once they are hooked onto the religious-themed and drug-fueled party life, the top soldiers of the Ginseng Gang would then pay the new recruits with money or more stimulating drugs (e.g. amphetamine or atropine), in exchange for taking combative martial arts lessons. Their physical training would include various kicks, punches, wrestling takedowns and tackling moves. Other lessons may also involve focusing their chi into casting spells, such as enhancing the speed and force of your attacking limbs, performing an earthquake rattling punch on the ground and casting multiple clones of yourself and have them fight your enemies for you. In addition, they would also participate as helping hands in ritualistic ceremonies that involves celebrating the past leaders of their Triad gang, the upcoming shift to the new zodiac year and honoring the wealthy fortune gods to ensure constant good luck for the whole Ginseng Triad empire. All those meditations and yoga lessons are to give the students a sense of security and belonging. In fact, it was the secret way for the recruits to balance out their inner chi energies within their bodies, before they are sent over to the underground fighting ring to take on the martial arts lessons.

Once they have upgraded themselves into new drudges for the Triad army, they are sent by the whistlers ('shot callers') to perform illegal tasks such as smuggling cartloads of drugs across the Celestial Sea (between Western and Eastern Equestria), battling the top soldiers of rival kirin gangs in martial art combat, trafficking enslaved creatures to Klugetown, extorting businesses that were unfortunate enough to borrow money from their shark loaners (or setting up their shops in their gang territories) and running the illicit harlot rings within seedy downtown areas of their underground empire. Any Ginseng member who disobeys, disrespects or turn their backs against the Triads will have their family members and loved ones be kidnapped and trafficked for the slave/sex trade. Members who had their families/loved ones trafficked as punishment are forced to wear the 'green hat of shame2' to let the others know about their recent disloyalty to the gang. With no one else to turn back to, green-hat recruits are forced to stay within the Triad and had to spend years in the gang to regain their trust before their green hats come off.

Those who wore the 'green hat of shame' should be lucky that they were at least marked. Other members who broke the rules were not so fortunate as those who had their closed ones trafficked. Depending on the severity of their 'crime', they would either had their lower hooves or knees cut off and cauterized (for desertion during battle), be sawed in half lengthwise along their symmetry (for conspiracy of rebelling against the Dragon Head), had their muzzles cut off with a large knife (for stealing funds from the Triad) or forcibly had their reproductive organs surgically removed without anesthesia (for eloping with a top-ranking Triad member's spouse or love companion). For less severe punishments of lesser crimes, they would be subjected to 50 slaps to the buttocks with a huge bamboo stick (for disrespecting Triad officials), permanent tattooing of the face (for repeat rule-breakers) and whipping of the legs, back or arms with a wooden pole (for failure to complete a given task).

For Sunny Boy though, physical fighting, gory punishments and illicit gang activity are not his go-to method of training his own Triad gang. To him, building up new recruits involved training the mind with important life skills and learning how to recite more complex incantations by memory. Under his logic, by exercising the mind in the classroom setting as hard as the body in the fighting ring, you can make much better disciplined and much better recruits. This method of training is rather ironic, considering that most of the new gang members only joined the Triad to avoid being educated by the institutional establishment and becoming one of Equestrian's nerdy civil servants of magic.

'Volans clipei protegentis bulla contra naturae, Volans clipei protegentis bulla contra naturae...'

Those were the mantras of one of Sunny Boy's incantation spells taught at his outdoor classroom and it had been going on for over 30 minutes, before a new spell is taught for the new recruits to learn. After Ginseng Dragon went down from the balcony with his light green silk bathrobe to meet the sunglasses-wearing Delft Blue who was hanging out on his wicker lawn chair, he said to him

"Sunny Boy's comrades had been chanting these very wickedly hypnotizing phrases over the past few hours. Are you sure this is the proper way for him to train the new recruits?"

Delft Blue replied, "Well, by adding more spells to your arsenal, you can become a much more effective martial arts fighter, as well as a better decision-maker and future leader in the battlefield! He calls it 'Educational Fitness Training'. Plus, he's been also teaching the recruits on some mathematical tricks in stocks, investments, banking and merchant trading! That way, we can build up proper legitimate businesses and we can use them to help launder the money from our illicit activities! It's the perfect plan!'"

"Morning, Godfather!", called out Sunny Boy when he spotted Ginseng Dragon at the patio. He was wearing his dark cloaked robes over his teal tuxedo outfit as his teacher uniform. As he walked up towards his godfather to greet him, Ginseng Dragon asked

"My dear Sunny Boy. Are these people here feeling all right in the head?"

"Of course they are, godfather. They're just drilling the knowledge of various shield and crepuscular beaming spells in their heads, so that they would be easily trained into casting these spells by just mentally reciting them in their head", answered Sunny Boy.

"ALL RIGHT, students! Let's move on to the incantation spell on page 548 on 'Wizardry Self-Protection 101'!", ordered Sunny Boy as he turned his attentions to his students.

"YES, Head Stallion!", shouted all the students before switching to a new incantation phrase.

'Mentis calidum dissolvit ut fulgur armis ferro, Mentis calidum dissolvit ut fulgur armis ferro...'

"Sunny Boy, please send one of your best recruits over here to me. I want to test one of them out first.", requested Ginseng Dragon as he massaged one of his ears after wincing from the students' shouting.

"Of course, godfather" Sunny Boy accepted. "Student #12138!"

"YES, Master!", called out one white-coated and spiky black-maned stallion unicorn as he turned around and pushed his designated seat to the desk.

"NOPE, that is not what I wanted you to call me! Try again!", shouted Sunny Boy as he was addressing Student #12138.

"I meant YES, Headmaster Sunny! My apologies!", yelled Student #12138 before leaving his designated desk.

"Why are they calling you Headmaster?! You're not running an actual school here, okay?" questioned Ginseng Dragon as he was still wincing from the constant yelling.

"Don't worry about it, godfather. You'll get used to it.", whispered Sunny Boy as he spoke to Ginseng Dragon.

"My godfather wishes to speak to you right now! Please come forth so he can speak to you!", ordered Sunny Boy in a very strict and professional manner.

"YES, Headmaster Sunny!", shouted Student #12138 as he approached the godfather before he asked, "What service do you request from me, Dragon Head!?"

"Please---no need for the shouting", pleaded the shocked Ginseng Dragon after almost suffering a heart attack from his sharp loud voice. After recovering from that shock, he later asked a very important question to Sunny Boy's student

"Now, pretend I'm from one of the rival gangs, like the Black Tigers or the Rowdy Rough-Housers or even a sworn enemy kirin gang, that wants to take over and raid your operations in your territory. What would you do?"

Student #12138, now with a slightly softer voice, answered his question.

"I would ask which city block and neighborhood street does the citizen live in and who in their gang is taking charge of this uncouth raid!"

Still feeling weirded out by his response, but still wanting to see if Sunny Boy's student is up for the job, Ginseng Dragon later replied with a threatening manner

"Well, let's say I'm the one who's calling the big shots in my block! What now??"

"Then I would have to detain you, sir!", shouted Student #12138 before he blurted out a magical incantation and cast a blue enchanted ethereal stripped banner from his curved horn.

'Et plaga cordis tenebris involuti animam inlectus!', chanted Student #12138 before his ethereal strips quickly started wrapping around Ginseng Dragon's arms around his waist, before ending its binding spell with a bow tie in the middle.

"SAY, isn't that the spell that the blue-jackets used to specifically catch criminal gangsters?!", hollered Delft Blue as he gawked at amazement at the entrapment spell.

"WAIT, WHAT??!! You actually taught him that spell??!!", shouted the surprisingly shocked Dragon Head as he struggled to break free from his bindings with his own inner chi strength, but to no avail

"I taught ALL of my students that spell. You wanna join my class so I could teach you how?", offered Sunny Boy as he looked at his godfather.

Suddenly realizing he had just kidnapped a powerful school wizard who might had been associated with federal law enforcement, Ginseng Dragon suddenly lost his consciousness and immediately fainted onto the grassy ground, much to the shock of Delft Blue and Sunny Boy as they quickly mend to his aid.

How in Equestria did the most influential Triad leader in Western Ponyville ended up being friends with a sympathizer of a governmental police establishment?

----------(LUNCH RECESS TIME 1:15 P.M. IN THE SCHOOL OF FRIENDSHIP, 1:15 P.M.)----------

It was a very busy yet relaxing recess for the creatures who are now out walking around the hallways in large social groups. The school wasn't too overly crowded though, as most were hanging around outside, waiting for the next school bell to ring. Though some were discussing about their upcoming classes, most of the students here were now gossiping about the new foreign student in town, as well as his foster family who took their jobs as volunteer custodians, possibly as a way to be more connected with their child. Though the strange yellow stallion failed to prove himself as a suitable substitute, word about his washroom destruction incident spread quickly after some of the students noticed the new elderly custodian meticulously putting back the toilets and sink together in one of the demolished washrooms, using nothing but superglue, caulk and some welding. Every creature had started to wonder why one of the communal washrooms had to be renovated and it wasn't before long that Silverstream bragged about how she and the Young Master brought their 'hard work' to the Headmare's office to show off their prestige commitment to sanitation. Not surprisingly, when Mr Greenhooves caught word about the vandalism of school property (though he never suspected Tang of deliberately letting it happen under his watch), he immediately fired Silverstream and Young Master Zhi from his custodian job, though they were not suspended nor kicked out by the Headmare. Mr Tang was allowed to keep his job as the assistant groundskeeper (as well as his newfound job as custodian) and was now given a task to clean up the trash that was tossed by sports fans during last weekend's hoofball game, after he was done reconstructing the whole washroom back together again.

Feeling sympathetic about their misfortunes and remembering how she used to done very idiotic stunts to impress her closest peers, she decided to give Young Master Zhi another chance at the School of Friendship by employing him as her part-time butler. That way, whenever the time calls for it, he would expertly perform his duty in view of her personal space and thus he would be accurately evaluated and rewarded for his work performance (eliminating the need to literally destroy government property in the process). As for Silverstream, she was only given a slap on the wrist for participating in Master Zhi's shenanigans by cleaning up her office after school for the whole school week (and that includes putting back every toilet and cut-off sink back to its original washroom)---well, not that she minded, since she was so glad that she got to learn how toilets really work from Mr Tang when he out gathering supplies to fix up all the toilets.

"I can't believe you actually brought the ENTIRE washroom to the Headmare's Office! You do know that All Foals' Day doesn't start until next month, right??", joked the amazed Sandbar as he sat on the raised concrete slope surface of the stair barrier, at the lower level. He was wearing his white shirt, blue-denim jacket, blue jeans and a pair of white running sneakers.

"It was no joke!! We HAD to show the Headmare how we are the best janitors in the school!", said the happy flying Silverstream. She was no longer in her custodian outfit, and was instead wearing her tight white-blue tanktop and shorts. She was wearing no bra over her C-cup size breasts.

"WELL, why couldn't you just bring a Polaroid film camera with you then??! You should've shown pictures of your hard-working efforts in the washroom that way!", suggested the happily laughing Sandbar.

"Wow! You know--I REALLY never even thought of that before...", pondered Silverstream as she tapped her chin with her talon.

"CHAW!! Seriously??! That NEVER came to you in your head??", cried the astounded Smolder who had a hard time understanding Silverstream's insanity. She was laying back on the opposite lower-level concrete barrier adjacent to the stairs.

"Any dumb custodian can walk into a previously clean washroom, take a selfie with the clean toilets and claim s/he had done a great job wiping the place clean! I'm more of a shower, NOT a boaster!", explained Master Zhi as he leaned against the barrier wall, next to the sitting Sandbar.

"ALWAYS show your hard work in progress, that's Master Zhi's motto!", shouted the chipper Tiny Turnip head as he hovered next to Master Zhi.

"MAN, if only Gallus was here to see and listen to this...!", laughed Sandbar happily as he placed him palm over his forehead.

"I'm more surprised that you two were able to pull that off without the other students noticing! All that hammering must've made a lotta noise!", commented the amazed Ocellus as she sat on the opposite concrete stair barrier next to the leaning Smolder.

"You can thank my friend Mr Tang for casting an old silencing bubble spell in the washroom to block out all the noise coming straight from the washroom", credited Master Zhi.

"Wow, he's really THAT talented with that sorta magic?", questioned the flabbergasted Ocellus.

"Are you crazy??!! HE'S the master of ALL the magics!", excitedly cheered Tiny Turnip Head as he flew up in joy.

"Well, to be more specific, ONLY when the situation calls for it. Other times, he's just a plain ol' grouchy rude man who just wants to live a normal life as possible with no other creature in sight, other than us.", explained Master Zhi.

"Well, I don't think he's really all that bad! He did start calling me his 'pogey' and 'herb'! It's such a sweet nickname!", Silverstream squeaked in delight as she fluttered her wings.

"I've seen him cry out that name to EVERY horse-bird he sees!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head.

"Uhhhh, YEAH! That's not why he intended to call you those names...", mumbled Master Zhi as he started to look sideways and rub the back of his head.

"---What yellow master talk about?", asked Yona who was sitting on the lower part of the stairs. She was wearing her turquoise tank-top over her flabby chest and her long beige hemp skirt.

"---Let's just say those words were used in a more---unfriendly manner, like---a bad insult---in my home country---to show disdain for hippogriff's happy-go-lucky and optimistic culture", further explained the uncomfortable Master Zhi.

"REALLY?! An insult??! I never seen it like that way! If he was meaning to demean me, he would've not offer me a chance to explore the underground sewers and learn how to do pipe work!", positively shouted Silverstream as she pointed the talon thumb to herself.

"MAN, you REALLY have been underwater for WAY too long, Silverstream! NOTHING seems to bore, scare or disgust you, except the Storm King and possible world domination! I actually envy your naivety!", complimented Sandbar.

"THANKS, I guess...?", said the confused but gladly content Silverstream.

"Guess your old wrinkly master friend isn't the master of all sassy insults, is he?", smirked Smolder as he flew up to Tiny Turnip Head and nudged his shoulder.

"Like Master Zhi said, ONLY when the situation calls for it!", snapped back Tiny Turnip Head

"Riiiggghhhttt.....", Smolder spoke with a sustained suspicious tone.

Suddenly, Miss Starlight Glimmer came walking down the stairs and saw Master Zhi and Tiny Turnip Head talking to some creatures close to the stairs. She went up to greet the gang in a slightly more confident manner.

"H-h-HEY guys! How's it going today? What are you guys talking about?", she nervously asked.

"Headmare Starlight!!", shouted Yona.

"Uhh, it's MISS Starlight for now, Yona...", corrected the slightly less timid Starlight Glimmer.

"HUH? Yona no get it! She back, yes?", questioned the confused nak girl.

"She technically only remembers being a counselor here, so for now, Headmare Trixie had appointed her as substitute teacher until her memory is fully recovered.", explained Ocellus to Yona.

"SO, how's your head feeling, Miss Starlight??! Anything new yet??", eagerly asked Tiny Turnip Head as he zipped towards Miss Starlight.

Starlight slowly replied, "Well---I DID went through and studied the student portfolios---and I only managed to remember some of the students in this school....let's see"

Starlight immediately started pointing each long-time student she saw and called out their names, though she struggled with the memorization.

"Ocellus----Yona---S-s-s-Sand-b-bar----Smol---deeer---aaaanndddd-------SILVERSTREAM!!"

"ALL RIGHT, you got ALL our names correct!!", cheered Sandbar.

"Yona proud of Headmar--EERRR---sub-teacher!", celebrated the jumping nak girl.

"One step closer to being Headmare, Miss Starlight!", hollered Smolder as she gave a thumbs up.

"YIPPEE, SHE'S getting CLOSER to WINNING!!", shouted the overtly excited Tiny Turnip Head.

"Glad you're feeling a LOT better now, Miss Starlight", sighed Ocellus with happy relief.

"HA, not as much as I'm feeling right now! NOTHING, not even a hay fever, can stop THIS Wonderbolt from seeing her students in the flesh!", shouted a rainbow-maned mare who suddenly swooped into the conversation with a dark blue sports jacket, pants and rainbow sneakers.

"PROFESSOR DASH?! You're BACK??!", squawked the shocked Silverstream as she turned her head to see the power-posing professor right next to her.

"But what about your hay fever?!", questioned the worried Sandbar.

"BAH, I'm feeling more chipper than ever!", said the stuff-nosed drowsy-eyed Professor Rainbow Dash, whose nose was still red and her voice was a little ruddy, but otherwise, her energy was still hyped up to the max.

"Why did you decide to come back from your sick day, Professor Rainbow?", asked the concerned Ocellus as she hid behind the concrete barrier to avoid her sickly germs. Rainbow Dash gladly answered with pompous confidence to her students.

"I may be sick with spring fever, but what makes me even MORE sick is knowing that my athlete students are writhing in sorrow pain without their special coach to pump them up for the Buckball School Championships! I just can't stay in my cloud mansion, while my buckball team is down in their morale!"

Sandbar then replied with confident assurance by telling her professor, "You don't HAVE to come here, you know??! We already have our janitor replacing you as the P.E. coach! This late morning, he's been great at catching and returning the soccer balls that were kicked out of left field and---"

"He's WWHHHAAAATT??!! That octogenarian groundskeeper!!?? Is that Headmare insane??! He can't coach an entire sports team! He's too flabby and old to even throw a baseball!", interrupted Professor Rainbow as soon as she learned about her unexpected replacement.

"WELL, he's not technically coaching them! He's just playing with the students for the time being!", nervously replied Sandbar. Professor Rainbow Dash, however, was not having it at any other way.

"Still, that is an INJUSTICE by the Headmare to recruit somepony SO inexperienced to coach Ponyville's team of pride! Now I am even MORE determined than ever to pump these athletes into shape before disaster strikes!"

"WELL, Missus Sickly! If you wanna still coach the team, at LEAST wear this surgical mask over you, so you won't spread germs to the whole school!", scolded Master Zhi as he threw a blue mouth-and-nose cotton mask at Rainbow Dash from his pocket.

"Saaayyyy, haven't I met you before?? You looked--familiar...", Rainbow Dash muttered as she wagged her finger at Master Zhi.

"Professor, that's the same stallion who flew across the sky to save Auburn from his downfall!", reminded the pepped-up Silverstream.

"Hmmmmm......", pondered the skeptical Professore Rainbow before she suddenly realized who he really was.

"OH YEEEAAHH, you're that guy who must've tinkered with Pinkie Pie's party cannon and blew Starlight's entire office!!"

"GGAAHHH, don't talk about that in front of her!!", panicked Master Zhi as he flail his arms erratically. "I don't want her memory about me to reappear THAT soon!! At least, not until I prove myself to be a great asset to this school first!!"

"WELL, sickly or not, Professor Rainbow Dash, I'm still glad you came back to support your students, just like Miss Starlight Glimmer in spite of her memory loss...", Smolder gladly spoke to her slightly sick professor.

"Ohhh riigghhtt, I kinda forgot about that incident.....how are you holding up, Starlight?", asked Rainbow Dash as she expressed concern for the amnesiac substitue teacher.

"I'm doing fine---uhhhh----Rainbow Dash---right??", slowly spoke Miss Starlight as she hesitated in her speech, so as to not embarrass herself.

"YEP, in the flesh!", gladly replied Professor Rainbow before moaning sadly.

"Siiigghh, it's too bad Sunburst couldn't be here after he was reported missing...."

"Sunburst.....that name.....it sounds------strangely familiar.....yet somehow.....I just can't wrap my head around him...", pondered the struggling Miss Starlight as she massaged her temples.

"Seriously, you managed to remember some of the students in school, yet you can't remember the Vice Stallion??!", questioned the skeptical Smolder.

"Memory's a fickle mistress, Smolder. It can lurk from any shadowy area in the brain and can only emerge when triggered by specific actions, words or significant events.", explained Master Zhi to Smolder with utmost professionalism.

"But no matter how many times we read Friendship Journal to her, Head--I MEAN--Miss Starlight no can remember things about Vice-Stallion!", explained the depressed Yona.

"I'm sorry, Yona. This Sunburst you constantly mention.....it's like--as if he never existed in my lifetime at all....I'm not going crazy, am I?", Starlight questioned to herself as she felt her world coming apart.

"Awwww...don't push yourself too hard, Starlight!", cheered Professor Rainbow Dash as she put on the surgical mask she was given. "You'll remember your best friend soon enough, but right now, you got to focus on your duty in school now. Maybe if you---"

Then suddenly, out from the blue, was a white long-haired male muscular yak barging and stomping through the crowd of students, pushing every creature out of the way with his big horns and yelling,

"STARLIGHT MARE LADY!! STARLIGHT MARE LADY!"

"HEY HEY HEY, no pushing students in the hallway, Grindarf!! You're gonna end up hurting some creature badly!", scolded Professor Rainbow Dash as she saw the moaning carnage of tackled students alying across the hallway.

"Apology later!! Big danger now!! Grub student being bullied by strange kirin!! It look like Cornicle! Me no sure, but teacher need to check now! Trouble at soccer field!", shouted the sweating Grindarf.

Then, every creature (including the ones who got tackled) suddenly got pepped up as soon as they heard the bad news.

"WAIT, BULLY??!! At our school??!!"

"Kirin??!! He doesn't mean those wannabe gangsters, does he??"

"Cornicle's in trouble again??!"

"We gotta go save him now!!"

Soon, every student who were in the vicinity of the screaming and panting Grindarf suddenly started rushing in the hallways to head for the hoof-ball field.

"HEY, no running in the hallways!! Please don't turn this into a mob!!", shouted Miss Starlight Glimmer, but her words were deafened by the loud stomps and screams from all the other students.

"C'mon, gang! We gotta get to that soccer field and rescue Cornicle!", shouted Professor Rainbow before dashing off across the air and leaving the social group behind.

"Well, what are we waiting for??! Let's go!!", ordered Master Zhi before the rest of the remaining Student 5 (plus Tiny Turnip Head and Starlight Glimmer) followed the rapid-pacing Master Zhi, along with the rushing crowd.

---END

Author's Note

Known as 笑蘑菇 (Sew hao gew), this refers to the psilocybin mushrooms (or 'magic mushrooms') that can caused weird hallucinations
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psilocybin_mushroom

In traditional Chinese society, green hats are a symbol of cuckoldry, as they were once worn by pimps that own the brothels. Most of them were actually husbands of the prostitutes, so most people in China eventually started to associate green hats with a cuckolded husband who is forced to rent his wife for paid sex in order to make a decent living. Other times, families of the prostitutes were forced to wear the green hats by the authorities as a way to publicly shame the prostitute for their sins.
https://kotaku.com/the-adulterous-shame-of-green-hats-5936487

14 Balling in Love

Ch 14 - Balling in Love

----------(SOCCER FIELD AREA IN THE SCHOOL OF FRIENDSHIP, 1:20 P.M.)----------

Outside of the school's soccer field, Cornicle the unlucky changedling had his hands placed against the white aluminum fence surrounding the soccer field, as three kirin and one spike-maned white-coated stallion unicorn (who was wearing orange sunglasses, a green sweater and ripped jeans) were patting and searching him down. They placed their hands into every crevice, crook and nanny beneath his wings, in his spiracles, under his carapace shell and between his chitin plating. Feeling violated and frightened at the same time, Cornicle begged for the four thugs to let him go, but they were not done with him yet, until they were satisfied of what they seek.

"C'mon, you little jangly! Up against the wall and spread'em!! Do what we say and there won't be any trouble!", said one tacky-dressed Far Eastern stallion unicorn as he continued to pat him down.

"Just relax, you little horse buggy! It's just a routine inspection!", shouted one of the kirin thugs.

"LOOK, maybe he's down somewhere over there!", shouted Master Zhi as he went down the stairs of the slanted audience seating area (risers) and turned left of his direction. All the other Student Five students started to follow him.

As Starlight continued to head down to the soccer field, she spotted a random sky-blue pegasus mare stretching out on the handrails, before asking "Ma'am, have you seen any one of our friendship students being bullied by some hooligans at the soccer field?!"

"Well, there's a couple of kirin ganging up on a changedling boy over by that fence. Could that be him?", said the excercising pegasus mare as she pointed to the group of random kirin.

"Wait, SERIOUSLY??!!", shouted Master Zhi as he turned back to meet with Starlight and the rest of the students.

Sure enough, Cornicle had his horn entrapped by a magic-suppressor ring on his horn and was bounded by ethereal blue ribbons around his arms. He was being escorted by the three kirin thugs on one Far Eastern unicorn onto the soccer field. Starlight Glimmer, Master Zhi, the Student Five and the rest of the creatures started rushing towards the edge of the soccer field to rescue Cornicle.

"HEY, you bullies let him go THIS instant!!", cried Miss Starlight as she used her levitation magic to pull the restrained Cornicle to her side. However, the thugs started using their leviation magic to pull Cornicle back to their side and soon enough, the rogue gang were joined by a few other unicorn thugs.

Soon, other unicorn students started overpowering the thugs' levitation magic, before they finally managed to rescue Cornicle from the grasp of the bullying gangsters.

In response, a male yellow-coated unicorn male, who was wearing thick brown sunglasses, a vinyl jacket, black wool gloves, ripped jeans and black shoes came rushing to the kirins' aid, along with his few other kirin friends.

"HEY, back off now or else I'll kick your eyes out!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he flew up to the face of one of the kirin.

"BEAT IT, shorty!! You're not worth our time!", threatened the tacky sunglasses-wearing unicorn thug, before turning his attention to Starlight Glimmer and rudely asking, "And who in the hell are you supposed to be??!!"

"I'm---I'm---I'm the official Headmare of this school!!", answered Miss Starlight with a threatening yet hesitant manner, much to the surprise of her students. Every creature who knew Starlight already were aware of her memory loss, but since she is technically an official Headmare on paper, they didn't do anything to interrupt her. They fear that if the thugs were aware of her memory loss, they would take advantage of the situation.

"And I'm the TEACHER!! You rowdy boys are going to be in a lot of trouble for trespassing!!", shouted Professor Rainbow Dash as he performed his kung-fu defense stance. She was not going to let the bullies get the best of Starlight and her students whatsoever.

"OOOHHH, a teacher AND a Headmare!! How threatening!! What are we going to do now??", sarcastically cried one of the kirin to mock Miss Starlight.

"WAIT, I KNOW---!", shouted the tacky unicorn before pulling out his blue whistle from his pocket!

'PFTHEEEEEEWWWWWW!!!!!!' goes his whistle!

Suddenly, two of each creature species who were working out on the soccer field immediately stopped what they were doing and started rushing towards the edge of the field. Within the posse of gang reinforcements were two dragons, two griffons , two earthen Equestrians and two buff pegasi. As soon as they stood behind the whistler and the rest of the posse, every creature knew that something dramatic was about to go down.

"Sweet Egg-headed Sparkles!! They brought the dropouts over here??!!", shouted Rainbow Dash as she stared at the diverse posse of criminals.

"Let me be clear to you, lady!", shouted the cocky and tacky whistler. "My name is Student #12138 and the reason why we targeted this jangly over here is because he is lacking a student ID card on his person!"

"A STUDENT CARD??!! Really??!! That's what you're teasing him for??! Out of ALL the things you can bully him over, THAT'S the reason you chose??!", questioned the confused Smolder.

"Yona no believe it! Yona believe you LYING!!", accused the angry nak girl as she pointed the cloven finger at the thugs.

"I never heard of bullies getting so riled up over students without their ID!", wondered the bespectacled Ocellus.

"YEAH, that's usually the teacher's job to discipline them for that! What kind of authority do you student dropouts have for beating some creature up over a card??!", protested Sandbar.

"What the hell were you planning to do with a student who had forgotten their student ID anyway??", questioned the angrily upset Master Zhi.

"We would be kindly be taking him back to his hive vessel, where he can FETCH his card, before he could return back to the school!! Otherwise, if he refuses, he'll have to pay an entry fee to us before he's allowed back in class!!", answered Student #12138 as he barked at Master Zhi.

"THAT'S BULLCRAP!! You're only making these lame-ass excuses, so you can justify extorting money from this repeat offender!!", argued Master Zhi as he yelled at the criminal posse.

"TELL US THE TRUTH, you low-life scum!", demanded Rainbow Dash as she flared up her wings.

"PLEASE, don't make them take my money OR kidnap me back to my home!! It's true about what they're saying!! They wanted to write down my student number---BUT---BUT--BUT--I FORGOT MY CARD BACK AT THE HIIIVEEE!!!", bawled the tear-jerking Cornicle as he shook in fear at the diverse criminal posse.

"Now now now, don't be scared! It's going to be all right! Don't you worry! You are not getting a SINGLE bit from him nor forcing him back to his homeland without my say so, ID or NO ID!", scorned Miss Starlight Glimmer as she stood her ground. With her magical horn, she powered up all the magical energy from within her mind, threatening to blast them with a random wide-area effect teleportation spell that would land them into separate faraway areas without her knowledge.

"Hmmm, you are a strong mare for standing up to a grub boy like him. I respect that!", complimented the short-cut orange-maned unicorn with the thick sunglasses and orange chin stubble.

"Dude, I know this sounds a bit awkard---but....something about this dude irks me....", whispered Smolder to Ocellus' ear.

"Yeeaahhh, he seems kinda----familiar....", pondered Ocellus as she stared at the cool-looking orange-mane unicorn.

"You don't believe he's actually-----"

"NO, yellow unicorn stallion you think of have white strip on nose! This stallion not have that!", mentioned Yona in her broken Equestrian grammar.

"Come to think of it, his mane was a bit longer than this fool's...", commented Master Zhi as he stared into the rebel unicorn's sunglasses.

"AND he doesn't wear these awful clothes...", whispered Tiny Turnip Head to Master Zhi's ear.

"Very well, 'Miss Headmare'! If we can't take him to his home or have him pay the entry fee, then I, Sunny Boy, will settle this with a traditional physical challenge: a two player team soccer match with your nameless student!", challenged the ruffian leader before he used his levitation magic to grab Cornicle.

"Grab him to the center field!" commanded Sunny Boy.

"YES, Headmaster!", shouted Student #12138 as he grabbed the restrained Cornicle with his levitation magic.

"OH NO NO NO!!", shouted Starlight Glimmer as she pulled back Cornicle with her stronger levitation magic "You low-life insignificant street urchins are NOT taking advantage of this student anymore!!"

"Just WHO do you think you ARE, bitch??!!", shouted one large brown jacket-wearing female griffon as she walked right up to Miss Starlight Glimmer with a threatening pose.

"BACK OFF, Gawker! No need to egg on this hostility any further!", ordered Sunny Boy as he used his ethereal lasso spell to restrain the tough griffon and pull her off from Starlight's personal space. Sunny Boy then later walked up to Starlight Glimmer with a calmer but firm gesture.

"You, take him to the center field!", ordered Sunny Boy to one of the buffer kirin. With his stronger magical levitation powers, the kirin was able to release Cornicle from Miss Starlight's grasp.

"NO WAIT, I don't KNOW how to play soccer!! PLEASE, I beg of you!!", cried Cornicle as he was being helplessly dragged against his own will. Then out of where, Professor Rainbow Dash performed a high-levelled speeding kick to one of the kirin thugs! She later picked up the kirin and held him up by the neck, while Cornicle was held up and shielded by Starlight Glimmer's bubble spell.

"STOP, that's QUITE enough, all of you!!" shouted Professor Rainbow Dash as she held the kirin tightly by his neck via sleeper-hold. The criminal posse gang started to back-up, not wanting to risk endangering one of their own. Professor Rainbow continued on with her demands.

"You wanna play soccer to prove that you are the better posse out there, then go challenge some creature of your own skill level!! Maybe somepony like ME and Headmare Starlight here, huh?!"

"Let's make a BETTER deal! We'll make this soccer challenge a 15-minute eight-vs-eight team-player match! If your team ends up losing, you will leave the school premises and you will NEVER come close to my students EVER again!", challenged Miss Starlight Glimmer as she continued to cast her bubble shield around herself and Cornicle.

"What happens if YOU lose, huh?", said one of the fuchsia-coated rebel pegasus with a scar over her right-eye.

Starlight Glimmer stood silent for a moment, not sure on how she will answer about the condition of this wager.

Suddenly, Sunburst teleported his restrained kirin from Professor Rainbow Dash's grasp to his side, before answering to the scar-eyed pegasus,

"I'll decide on what their punishment will be! In the meantime, let's go play some soccer!"

Every creature in both sides of the battle started to cheer about the new upcoming soccer match, including Professor Rainbow Dash. As she head out into the soccer field, she cried out to her students

"C'MON, School of Friendship!! Let's show these dropouts how we rock this field!! Class is right now in session!!!"

"WOW, that early in recess?! Guess we'll have a little more free time between classes then!", shouted Smolder as she and the rest of the student body followed Rainbow Dash into the center field.

----------(10 MINUTES LATER ON THE SOCCER FIELD)----------

In order to make sure this soccer game is evenly and fairly matched for both teams, Sunny Boy had devised a team planner for both sides and gave each team some special items that would limit their special abilities. For this challenge, each team would be consisted of two yaks, two magic users, two flyers and two Earthen Equestrians. Both teams must have same number and type of species (e.g. if there's one unicorn and one kirin at one team, the other team must also have one unicorn and one kirin). Magic suppressor horns must be worn by unicorns/kirins to ensure neither side use their special magical spells or moves to overpower the other team, yet still use some of their magic to enhance their speed, power and agility. Flyers can use their wings as freely as they can, but they must wear special weights on their wing tips, with a mass that is 8% of the flyer's weight, so as to restrict their ability to perform high-altitude/high-speed moves. Dragons who want to play have to wear iron masks over their maws, so that they cannot use fire breath against their opposing players. To ensure that the huge strong yaks don't accidentally maim or kill their opponents or team members with their overpowered strength during the soccer time, their ankles and arms were also weighed down by wrist and ankle weights like the flyers, with a mass that is also 8% of the wearer's weight. By limiting the abilities of each species without compromising tactical advantage and ensuring fair gameplay for both teams, this soccer match is guaranteed to determine which team will win the wager based on their skills and strageties alone.

On the west side of the soccer field were the school players of the "Friendship Team", which consisted of yaks Yona and Yohanne, unicorns Starlight Glimmer and November Rain, Greta the griffon, Silverstream the hippogriff and two Earthen Equestrians Master Zhi and Strawberry Scoop.

Starlight Glimmer plays as defensive mid-fielder at the center mark of the soccer field, while Greta and Silverstream play as Starlight's wing women. For center back player, November Rain stands at the middle line near the penalty area, while Yona and Yohanne act as flanking full back players. Finally, Master Zhi plays as the team's trusted and most intellegent Equestrian goalkeeper and Strawberry Scoop acts as the sweeper in the penalty area.1

On the east side of the soccer field were the gangsters of the "Sunny Side Schoolboys", which consisted of yak students #35679 and #49782, kirin student #549012, unicorn Sunny Boy (aka Headmaster), griffon student #60129, dragoness student #47023 and two buff Earthen Equestrian students #12042 and #80239.

Like Starlight, Sunny Boy plays as the defensive mid-fielder, while his two flanking mid-fielders will be Students #35679 and #49782. Stallion student #12042 act as the team's center back player, while flyer students #60129 and #47023 act as the flanking full back players. Finally, Student #80239 plays as the team's most strongest and bulkiest Equestrian goalkeeper, while kirin student #549012 acts as the sweeper.

However, despite all of those precautions to ensure equity and equality in both teams, there was one factor that still has not gone into play yet: one of the gangsters, Student #12138, offered to play as the soccer referee.

"All right, time to KICK OFF!", shouted Student #12138 after placing the soccer ball at the center spot between Miss Starlight Glimer and Sunny Boy.

"HEY, wait a minute!!", protested Miss Starlight Glimmer. "You can't have one of your own gang members act as a referee!"

"And why the hell not, Miss Tacky Headmare??", asked Student #12138 as he leaned in on Starlight Glimmer.

"Because we can't have team-based bias affecting how they judge the players on whether the score point was legitimate or not, as well as determine whether one of us would be penalized for fouls! We need a neutral referee that can observe this game at a fair non-biased standpoint!", explained the very stern Starlight Glimmer.

"Hmm, you do have a good point", agreed Sunny Boy as he looked around for a random creature to act as referee.

"Hey, how about this old geezer over here?", asked Sunny Boy as he pointed to Mr Tang who was sweeping up plastic bottles from the grassy fields with his broom and handled pan.

As Mr Tang was almost finish with his rounds as a part-time custodian, Student #12138 approached Mr Tang after he was done dumping all that garbage in his dustpan into the green dumpster container nearby.

"Good afternoon, 先生 (Seng Sung)!2", greeted Student #12138. "I have a very important request to ask of you!"

"你想要乜嘢? (Neiy Suang Ngu Mut-yeh?)3", asked Mr Tang in his Canternese language, thinking he was a fellow Far Eastern Equestrian immigrant.

"Nothing too special. We just need somepony to act as our referee for our little soccer game over here. We only need you for 15 minutes of your time. 妳會幫手嗎? (Neiy Wooi Bong Sow-ma?)4", asked Student #12138 as he bowed and pleaded with him.

Upon seeing the many griffons, dragons, yaks, changedlings and kirins on the soccer field and sitting on the rising audience seats around the field, Mr Tang was not too keen on helping out a bunch of non-Equestrian creatures to oversee a soccer game. He really thought that the fellow Far Eastern unicorn must be playing with his head.

"你講笑咩? (Neiy Gong Sew-meh?)5 You seriously want me to act as a referee for these damn critches who think they can barge into the soccer field and own everypony on the soccer?", questioned the racially biased Mr Tang who was weirded out by the many creatures on the school's soccer field.

"Each team has their own equal number of required species on the soccer field and their abilities are specifically suppressed by various devices, so there's no bias in racially-defined advantage that can end up destroying the soccer field and the players on both teams! Instead, everything will be played on skill level, not by rigged luck!", explained Student #12138. "I would offer to act as referee, but---"

"Then be their referee then! I have no interest in fraternizing with foreigners!", grumbled Mr Tang as he packed up his cleaning supplies before heading for the shack.

Feeling like he had no choice but to act as referee in spite of Starlight's protest, Student #12138 turned around and said, "Well, I guess I'll play as the referee for my homies and help them score a big win for my boss! Then maybe, we can have our kirin crew hang out on this spot wherever we want to---!!"

"NOW, hold on a freakin' liberal hooting minute, 歹徒 (Gai Tou)6!", interrupted Mr Tang as he quickly dropped his cleaning supplies and turned around at the fellow Far Eastern Equestrian. "Who said you could bring your red-horned qilin to MY workplace, HUH??!"

"WELL, it's just a suggestion I would give to my good boss once we win the wager!", explained Student #12138. "But if you want to discuss on what the wager would be if we win, we could..."

"Like HELL you will! Who do you think you are, letting these critches invade THIS country by playing soccer with a rival gang of other critches, if that's what you're REALLY doing??!!", question the berating Mr Tang as he looked daringly stared into the Far Eastern unicorn's eye.

"OH, we're not playing against a rival gang!", corrected Student #12138. "It's just the students from that nearby school over there---!"

"WHAT??!! You're picking on little school kids now??!", shouted the even more upset Mr Tang. "As much as I despise fraternizing with foreign students, I hate living up with these gangster wannabes even more! Especially those from the damn Triads! You ain't from the Triads, aren't you?"

"Uhhh, not exactly...", Student #12138 lied to Mr Tang as he sweats profusely.

"Well, judging by those critches on both sides of the field, I say you're just a bunch of rogue drudges who likes to think they're better than everypony else in this school!", pondered Mr Tang as he stared at the waiting creatures on the soccer field.

"Well---we aren't EXACTLY teasing them for---", nervously spoke the male gangster unicorn before he was interrupted by Mr Tang.

"And one of THOSE Equestrian students happened to be my foster grandson, and I'll be damned if I see him fraternizing with you low-life critch thugs! FINE, you wanna referee to be on your little diverse game of yours?! I give you somepony to force you outsiders to play by the OFFICIAL rules---", grumbled Mr Tang as he pulled out his blue whistle from his custodian shirt pocket and went towards the soccer field. Student #12138 bowed in respect to the old racist stallion unicorn who was about to oversee a soccer match between two groups of random foreigners.

"Thank you, sir! I really appreciate---", then he was suddenly interrupted by Mr Tang once more as he turned around towards Student #12138.

😡"But DON'T you think this means I'm doing this for all the young critches attending this liberal school! I'm only doing this for me, my grandson AND my young friend who also works at this school! If anypony's gonna teach both these otherkin how we play in Equestria, it's gonna be ME!! SO DON'T fuck up my soccer field any further with your foreign filth! Play by MY rules, and I might consider not calling the cops on all of y'all!!"

'該煨囉 (Gung Wu Law)!7 What is wrong with this old grandpa?! So much hatred! What a jerk...', thought Student #12138 as he followed Mr Tang to the soccer field.

As the remaining audience peered at the new referee coming to the soccer field, everypony in the audience were surprised at the frail wrinkly appearance of the old Far Eastern Equestrian.

"HEY LOOK, it's Mr Tang!! And he brought his own whistle with him!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head after spotting his foster grandpa.

"You mean the new school janitor?!! COOL!", squawked the excited Silverstream.

"I guess he's going to play the referee for this match-up...", said Ocellus who was now whering her violet-and-turquoise cheerleader uniform with the short skirts, tank tops and pom-poms.

"Oh MAN, I hope he doesn't get trampled or rammed by the big boys over here!", chuckled Smolder who was also wearing the same outfit as Ocellus.

"HEY!! Tang! Ready to be integrated into some multi-cultural gameplay?!", shouted Master Zhi from the goalkeeper net.

"SHUT UP, you damn liberal nerds!! I only volunteer to be your referee, because you gotten yourself into some deep shit with some criminal critch rogues here!!", shouted Mr Tang as he stood on the center field and yelled at Master Zhi.

"Again with the 'critch' word??! What's with this nutcase?!", cringed Sandbar.

"What? It's short for 'creatures'! It's how me and I would address those who are unique compared to us Equestrians", explained Tiny Turnip Head as he turned his attention to his confused friends.

"Kinda sounds a bit condescending, don't you think? Like if you were talking to an ungodly malicious spirit...", wondered Ocellus as she silently sounded out the slur.

"Yeah, somehow shortening it makes you sound---like a grouchy old crone...", said Smolder as she paused to sound out the slur like Ocellus did.

"That's my Mr Tang for ya!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he winked at the girls.

😡"Listen up, ya damn daft aliens and LISTEN well!!", shouted the grouchy Mr Tang at the center of the field at he addressed both the players and the crowd.

😡"I don't know what kinda wager match you're pulling here, but the last thing I wanna see you do is bring more criminal critches to the same nation you sought to make yourselves home at!! If you wanna play soccer like the Equestrians of this nation, then you better go play by MY rules! If you don't like what I had to say, TOO BAD! The school runs this field here, NOT you! If any outsider, gangster or student, invades this turf without respecting its preserved historical landmark as a soccer training and playing field, I'll call every last police officer out there to kick you off these premises!! HAVE I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR??!!"

Every creature was silent for the moment as they looked at the new referee. Of course every creature was well aware about the intended use of the soccer field. There was no reason to lecture them about playing by the rules, as there had been previous other non-Equestrian athletes from the school that had been taught soccer over the past 11 months.

"We get it, Tang!! You don't like foreigners disrespecting Western sports! JUST start the game already!!", yelled Master Zhi from his goalpost before Mr Tang blew his whistle to start the game.

----------(GAME TIME 0:00 ON THE SOCCER FIELD)----------

"PLAY BALL!!!"

⚽And thus, Sunny Boy quickly became the first center fielder to kick the soccer ball into the goalkeeper's direction. As the ball rolls towards the Friendship team's side, every creature from both sides of the team started heading for the soccer ball. Starlight Glimmer attempts to chase after the ball, but the sly sleek Sunny Boy used his suppressed self-hovering magic to block Starlight's path, swaying like an annoying ghost to everywhere she goes. This was much to Starlight's frustration, since the suppressor on her horn would not allow her to teleport.

⚽As the game went on, the diverse audience on the crowd started cheering fortheir respective teams. The sport fans uprooting for the School of Friendship were wearing their violet-and-teal themed sport colors. All the female cheerleaders, including Smolder, Ocellus, Light Hoof and Shimmy Shake, were jumping, flying and spinning for joy, chanting for their team to win against the thugs.

📣'Magic, honesty and loyalty is in our flesh!'

📣'Kindness, generosity and laughter does the rest!'

📣'Friendship, Friendship, that's the way we roll!'

📣'When we work together, we will score the winning GOAL!!!'

"WOOOOHHOOOOOO!!! GO School of Friendship!!" cheered the Friendship fans on the rising seats as they hollered out for the winning team with their vuvuzelas, foam fingers, maracas, clappers and confetti poppers.

On the other side of the bleachers though, there were creatures in black-and-dark green hoodies and sweaters hollering out for their team, the Sunny Side Schoolboys, as they clanged their green beer bottles, wood planks, wooden buckets and metal baseball bats with either their sticks, the concrete floor or on the metal railings. Unlike the Friendship fans, they don't have their own cheerleader squad, but they do have buff soldiers who are leaning against the railings, barking threats to their team players to not lose against the opposing team, or face punishment from the boss.

'Get over there and kick their asses, or I'm kicking yours!!'

'Don't let those pansies get the best of you!! You'll never live it down if you do!!'

'Push them to the dirt or you're going six feet under!'

'Remember!! FAILURE is NOT an option!!'

"RRAAHHHRAAAHHRAHHH!!! GO GET'EM, HEADMASTER!!", shouted the Sunny Side Schoolboys as they lifted up from their seats to make themselves heard by their leader.

⚽"HEY HEY HEY!! Pass ball to Yona!!", the nak girl shouted as she hollered out for her team. However, yak #35679 managed to head bopped the soccer ball over Yona's head, passing the soccer ball to yak #49782, who then head bopped the ball over Yona, before it was kicked by Earth Equestrian #12042!

⚽As Yona shouted out "HEY, no ignore Yona!!", Yohanne managed to intercept the flying ball with a perpendicular headbutt attack, causing the ball to bounce to the north side of the field. Before it went out of bounds, every creature from both teams started chasing after the soccer ball, while Yona attempted to ran past the gathering crowd and shouted out for her team members to pass the ball to her!

⚽As Mr Tang the referee struggles to avoid being caught in the rushing and bulky crowd and Sunny Boy the leader continued to harass Miss Starlight Glimmer with his annoying hover block, Yona attempted to chase after the rolling soccer ball as quickly as her stamina lets her to!

⚽However, it was intercepted by the mighty kick of dragoness #47023, who quickly past the ball to the fleeting griffon #60129! Though both these buff femme fetale creatures originally started at their full back positions, they were pretty cocky in charging with the team, leaving their posts for the sake of scoring the winning goal themselves!

⚽Greta and SIlverstream attempted to intercept the ball with their swift running hooves and hefty wing beatings, but Yona constantly kept blocking their path and their wing weights disallowed them from flying any higher without straining themselves!

⚽"YONA! Please don't block your players from accessing the ball! You gotta give them a little more space", shouted Professor Rainbow Dash from the seats, who was now acting as the Friendship team's coach. But the coach's words fell on Yona's deaf ears as she was too focused on getting her chance of kicking the ball!

⚽With a swift might side-swiping kick by Dragoness #47023, the soccer ball flew straight at the goal net, but Master Zhi was able to leap to his far left to counterattack the ball in time!!

⚽"Parry to the right!!"

⚽Undeterred, Griffon #60129 leapt and quickly intercepted the deflected ball and used a roundhouse kick to push the ball back at the net!! But alas, Master Zhi was able to get up from his first block in time to deflect the incoming soccer ball a second time!!

⚽"Parry to the left!!"

⚽Suddenly, the rushing yak #49782 headed straight for the deflected ball, leapt and pushed the ball back to the net with a mighty headbutt attack! No good!! Master Zhi had rapidly leapt from his crouching position to block the ball a THIRD time!!

⚽"Parry in the middle!!"

⚽As Yona came rushing to the penalty area at Master Zhi's side, hoping she will act as the sweeper alongside Strawberry Scoop, the ball suddenly hit her in the head and shortly got deflected into the middle of the goal's net, just as Master Zhi was lying face down on the ground! In other words, Yona had accidentally scored the winning point for the OTHER team with her head!!

"PFFTTHHEEEWWWW!!!" goes Mr Tang's whistle!

🥅"One accidental scoring point for the Sunny Boys!! Way to be a traitor to your own team, mate!!", shouted Mr Tang as he rally the scoreboard and scolded at Yona at the same time. Yona noticed that the referee was standing to her right side.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME, LOAFER8!!??", shouted the extremely disappointed Master Zhi as he quickly ran up to the embarassed Yona.

As the rest of the players gathered to Mr Tang's position to see what just happened, Master Zhi immediately started berating at Yona

"YOU STUPID IDIOT!!! You shot the ball into OUR net!! That means the opposite team gets the point, NOT us!!"

Master Zhi then slammed a hard mighty punchdown onto Yona's head, but since yak skull's were thicker than Equestrian's skull, she only felt a slight bump attack to her head. Still, it was emotionally painful for Yona to be humiliated by Master Zhi's punch.

"HEY, what's going on??!", asked Tiny Turnip Head as he flew from his seat to see a better view of the crowd.

"I think there's a dispute over the goal point! I'm gonna go check it out!", speculated Professor Rainbow Dash before she got off from her seat and flew towards the goalpost to assess the situation.

"Yona sorry!! Yona no mean to!!", the guilt-ridden nak girl cried as she looked down on the floor.

"You should've headbutted to THAT other net, you useless black horn!", shouted Master Zhi before he immediately performed an upper kick attack at Yona's soft nose, causing her to fall back onto the ground.

By then, some creatures that had gathered at the far west side of the soccer field suddenly gasped and hooted in horror and surprise, as Yona started to wince in crying pain from Master Zhi's powerful kick.

"OH MY CELESTIA!!! Why would you DO that?!!", shouted Miss Starlight Glimmer after she witnessed Yona being mercilessly bucked by Master Zhi's left lower hoof. Starlight Glimmer immediately started rushing to Yona's aid and saw that her nose was bleeding profusely.

"HEY, that wasn't very nice of you to do!!", shouted Silverstream as she yelled at Master Zhi.

"I can't believe he actually attacked one of his own teammates! That's not very sportsmare-like! Guess the power of friendship isn't strong in this one!", mocked Sunny Boy as he smirked at the unamused Starlight Glimmer.

As soon as Coach Rainbow realized what was going on, she immediately flew up to Master Zhi face-to-face and, with an angry stare on her face, she went loudly asked to him,

"Tell me, MAN! Why did you do it??!! Why??!!"

Master Zhi then immediately barked at Coach Rainbow with a very harsh tone

"That idiot went charging at me and bumped the ball into OUR net!! It's her fault that we lost the point and THEY won theirs, NOT MINE!! This yak HAD to be taught a lesson in fidelity to their team player, you know??! You think generals will let their men slide if they ended up shooting their own soldiers??!"

"Okay, HERE'S THE DEAL, bub!", shouted the furious Coach Rainbow. She firmly pressed her muzzle against Master Zhi's muzzle, though he was not deterred by Rainbow's disapproving glare.

"I'M the coach who is running this team, NOT YOU! You don't have the right to act as the dictator who runs roughshod over my student players like slaves!! If you don't like how your team is playing, then you go answer to ME, all right??!!"

"And how the hell are YOU gonna teach her not to score the wrong goal??! Let her play again and hope she doesn't fuck up!? That's not how I taught MY son how to play soccer back in my home country!", argued Master Zhi as he pushed his head back towards Coach Rainbow, before she counter-argued back with this statement.

"Well, THIS is not YOUR country! We run things very differently here in Ponyville! If you don't like how we treat our players with compassion and kindness to give them the motivation to win, then you can leave this soccer field and let US win the game for ourselves!"

An intense silence was building up between Rainbow Dash and Master Zhi, as they face off in the battle of the glares!

"Do you think you could still play, Yona?", asked Miss Starlight after she wrapped a bandage around Yona's nose. As Yona was helped back on her two lower hooves by Silverstream and Greta, Yona started to shiver and bawl out as tears started flowing out from her eyes.

😭"Yona just want to kick ball, but no creature want to pass ball to me!!"

"Awww, it's all right! You'll get your turn soon!", cheered Silverstream as she rubbed Yona's head.

"HEY, you know what's cooler than passing the ball?! Blocking the enemy from stealing the ball in the first place! Now THAT'S a real team player!", added Greta the Griffon as she tried to lift Yona's spirits up. However, her efforts were not enough to stop Yona from tearing up.

😭"Yona useless! Yona's fault for hitting ball in wrong net!", the depressed nak girl bawled.

"It's all right, Yona! Don't worry about that! We'll get'em next time! Just do better and listen to what Professor Rainbow says! Win or lose, we WON'T let these thugs get the best of us!", assured the determined Miss Starlight Glimmer as she stroked Yona's face to wipe away her tears.

As the staring contest continued between Coach Rainbow Dash and Master Zhi, Starlight immediately shouted,

"November Rain, you're on goal duty! Rainbow, you take the center back position!"

That phrase snapped Coach Rainbow Dash and Master Zhi out of their glances as they immediately turn their attention to Starlight Glimmer. Realizing that he was being replaced, Master Zhi shouted at Starlight Glimmer

"WAIT, HE'S the goalie now??! What about---??!!"

"YOU'RE in the penalty box!", ordered Rainbow Dash as she pointed at the row of enclosed seats located underneath the rising audience seats, before giving Master Zhi a red card.

"You're shitting me!!", cried the upset Master Zhi as he stared at Coach Rainbow.

"Does THIS look like I'm playing with you??! Three rounds is what you get!", informed the mad-staring coach as she focused her eyes onto Master Zhi. Seeing that there was no other way around his punishment, as going against the official Headmare's words would lead to losing his job after she regained her whole memory, Master Zhi began to march towards the penalty box. He still kept his stare at Coach Rainbow, holding his red card and pointing his finger at her before yelling

".......this ISN'T over, coach! That nak's gonna be a burden to us!"

"I wouldn't count on it, 'Master of Child Abuse'!", back-sassed the hollering Coach Rainbow.

"I think I just saw Master Zhi kick Yona in the face!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he flew back to his seat. He had just barely witnessed his master perform an upper kick on the nak player from high above the gasping crowd.

"WHAT, are you serious??!! But WHY??!!", cried the flabbergasted Ocellus.

"What kind of substitute teacher kicks a student in the face?! He does realize we're not doing martial arts, right??", sarcastically questioned Smolder as fumes started emitting from her nostrils.

"Oh no! YONA!! She's not TOO hurt, is she??", shouted the worried Sandbar.

"She's all right, Sandbar! She'll be back on her hooves to play again!", assured Coach Rainbow Dash as she flew up towards her seat to fetch her water bottle. "It's just a dumb accident with the soccer ball! It'll be all right, ladies! He's in the penalty box where he belongs!"

"WAIT WHAT??! But----WHY???!!", questioned the confused Tiny Turnip Head.

"Whaddya mean 'WHY'? He kicked Yona in the face, for crying out loud!", cried Ocellus as she teared up about her best friend being hurt in the scuffle.

"There must be a good reason!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he racked his tiny brain.

"For poor sportsmareship, THAT'S why, kid! You see, hurting our own team players is NOT cool, because that's not how we get our team to win the game here!", explained Rainbow Dash before drinking her cold water from her bottle.

".....well, it's how Master Zhi taught me how to play!", claimed Tiny Turnip Head.

"PPFFTTT!! OH, *COUGH*! *COUGH*! SO---you must be the one that got kicked in the face by your daddy during soccer too, huh?", questioned Rainbow after choking on her water.

"Uhhh....not really! All Master did was kick the ball at me, while I try to defend the goal! Sure it hurt a lot when he tried to aim for my face , but it taught me how to be very vigilant for the ball!", explained Tiny Turnip Head as he twiddle his thumbs.

Coach Rainbow then perked one of her eyebrows up. She later questioned Tiny Turnip Head

"Lemme ask you this, kid! If he catches you scoring the wrong goal, would he kick you in the face?!"

"Uhhh---I don't think I can answer that, because I'm always aware of where I'm supposed to shoot....", timidly replied the hesitant Tiny Turnip Head as he blushed. "LOOK, I know he may come off as mean sometimes, but he REALLY hates it when players score the wrong goal! He will get super angry and scary when he sees his team kick the ball in the wrong net! If it wasn't for him, I would've messed up like all the other loser players in my home soccer team!"

"Well, whatever your pops did to turn you that way, that's not how we do things here, squirt!", replied the unamused Coach Rainbow Dash. "Here, we teach our students how to support one another and learn from our mistakes through experienced education! That's how we become a better team!"

Not wanting to lose his Master forever, Tiny Turnip Head timidly looked up to Coach Rainbow Dash and hesitantly asked,

"---Is Master Zhi going to be in trouble?..."

Coach Rainbow let out a heavy sigh. "Kid, he's not going to jail YET---okay? After this game is over, he'll have to answer to the new Headmare Trixie. Hopefully, she won't be THAT insane to let him stay! If she does, I'm going straight to her office to blurt out my personal complaint to her!"

PPFFFTTHHEEEEEEEWWW!!!!! goes Mr Tang's whistle.

"OH, looks like the game is about to start! I better get back to my goal post now!", shouted Rainbow Dash as she flew towards the soccer field. However, as soon as she remembered about the kid's well-being, she immediately dashed back to the white pegasus boy and told him,

"OH, almost forgot----KID, if your daddy--or MASTER--or whatever you wanna call him----decides to do something completely crazy or idiotic, PLEASE come talk to me, all right?! I'll be in the gymnasium or ANY sports field at all times! Here's my work schedule! Wish me LUCK!!", hollered coach Rainbow Dash after she passed her paper work schedule to Tiny Turnip Head, before dashing off to her designated goalpost.

----------(GAME TIME 5:00 ON THE SOCCER FIELD)----------

'PLAY BALL!!!', shouted Mr Tang the referee once more, before Rainbow Dash became the first one the strike

📣'Teamwork, teamwork, RAH RAH RAH!'

📣'We got // high school spirit // to flippin' // BEAT YA!!'

The Friendship Cheerleader squad continued with their morale-boosting cries to encourage their schoolmates to make an epic comeback after their first goof-up. As both teams struggled to kick the ball into their opponent's net, Rainbow Dash the center-back player became the dominant ball keeper in the sports battlefield!

⚽"AWW YEAH, check THIS out!!", shouted Rainbow Dash as she performed a wing-hovering high-arc flip with all her might to avoid the side-swiping sliding kick attack by the speeding griffon student #60129. It was an amazing feat for Rainbow Dash to perform, in spite of the straining weights on her wing-tips!

⚽As soon as Rainbow Dash touched down on the grassy field, she immediately caught the low-flying soccer ball previously kicked by yak student #35679 the mid-fielder!

⚽As Rainbow Dash continued to kick the ball into the opponent's side, she was immediately ambushed from behind by the mean pink Dragoness student #47023, who came dashing in with a leaping dash from behind in an attempt to chase after and steal Rainbow Dash's soccer ball!

⚽But Dash was WAY too quick on her hooves and hovering wings, as she immediately make a hard right with her ball to throw the dragoness off course, before kicking it high off the ground, straight up into the air!

⚽As soon as the ball fell straight down, Rainbow performed a backwards dash with a large forward flap of her wings, throwing dragoness student #47023 off her guard, before Rainbow bounced the falling ball onto her head and catapulted the punted ball with her right-sided upward knee-strike! Suddenly, the soccer ball immediately went backwards over Rainbow Dash's head!

⚽"C'mon, don't be scared!! I dare ya to take that ball away from me!", mocked Rainbow Dash as she thrusted her left leg backwards to both push the hesistant dragoness player even further away (without contact) AND kick the arcing soccer ball with her left back heel!

⚽As soon as the soccer ball immedately started arcing forward over Rainbow's head, she immediately punted the mid-air ball forward with a mighty B-cup chest bump as she leapt forward off the grassy ground!

⚽Suddenly, as soon as the soccer ball landed onto the field, it rolled towards Yona and Yohanne, who were being pursued by yaks #35679 and #49782!

⚽"C'mon, pass ball to ME already!! It's Yona turn!", shouted the frustrated nak girl (who now has a bandage and gauze pad over her nose)! Just like the last round, she still continued with her pursuit for her chance to shine! Yohanne was the first to react as he kicked the ball, passed on by Rainbow Dash! As the ball flew between the Sunny Boy yaks, Yona immediately started charging forward after the ball! In response, yak #35679 started lunging to his left side as he desparately attempted to block Yona from catching the ball!

⚽"C'mon, PASS TO YONA already!!", she continued to cry as the red-bandana wearing Earthen Equestrian #12042 kicked the ball back and passed it to yak #49782! Under quick reflexive instinct, he turned around and performed a backwards hoof-kick to throw Yona off-guard as she immediately lunged at the flying ball!

⚽Instead of grabbing the ball, Yona ended up landing on the grassy ground as she lunged forward, completely missing the ball all together! As soon as Yona rolled over onto her back, she immedieately got back up and saw Silverstream chasing after the rolling ball along with the rest of the players from both sides!

Just as Silverstream was swiftly flapping her hovering wings during her own pursuit for the soccer ball, she immediately felt her left leg being weighed down by Yona grabbing onto her left hoof, crying like a sad shivering baby!! Suddenly, Silverstream found herself trapped on the center spot of the soccer field with a living yak heavy-weight burden!

"PLEASE, Silverstream!! ME want you to pass ball to Yona!!", the crying nak girl bawled as she held tight onto Silverstream's left hoof.

"YONA!! Get off of me!! I need to stop that ball from being kicked towards our net!!", Silverstream yelled as she desparately tried to shake Yona off her left hoof. Amazingly, despite her immense weight that was tightly hugging her, Silverstream was able to lift her strong left horse leg off the grassy field! Alas, it was NOT enough for Silverstream to shake the crying Yona off her back!

"PLEASE, SILVERSTREAM!! Yona kick very good!! Yona can help!!", the chubby nak girl continued to cry as she desparately held onto Silverstream's shaking left leg.

"No matter how hard Yona try, no creature pass ball to me!!", Yona continued as tears flow down her face. Not wanting to be known as the fat yak who let the other team win and doomed the whole school's reputation, Yona desparately pleaded for Silverstream to offer her some kind of redemption for her past mistakes!

Seeing the commotion riling up on the center spot of the soccer field, Rainbow Dash immediately dashed over there and confront the two squabbling creatures, before she immediately shouted,

"YOU, Silverstream!! When the ball comes to you, pass it to Yona, before she passes to me!! GOT IT??!!"

As soon as Yona heard the special 'p' word that she so desparately needed, she immediately let go of Silverstream's leg, got up from the ground and cried out,

"*SNIFF*, thank you, Professor! Yona will do her best from now on!!"

"OKAY, we're all good now, right??!! LET'S WIN THIS GAME!!", shouted Silverstream as she immediately flew off to catch up with the rest of her team.

⚽As Mr Tang desparately tried to keep track of where the ball was going without being trampled by the students and thugs, Silverstream suddenly leapt up from the ground after a powerful flap-down of her weighted wings, before performing a mighty headbutt attack on the flying soccer ball!

⚽"YONA, your turn!! Pass it on!", Silverstream shouted as the soccer ball speeds down towards Yona as she stands in the penalty area around her team's goal net!

⚽As Griffon student #60129 tried to interfere with Yona, he was immediately blocked by Strawberry Scoop as she rushes in between the opponent griffon and Yona.

⚽"Thunder Snow KICK!!!", shouted Yona as she performed a twirling leap before performing a backspin kick to pass the ball towards Rainbow's direction!

⚽As Dragoness #47023 and Earthen Equestrian #12042 attempted to tackle Rainbow Dash, the athletic sportsmare lept up into the sky as she rapidly flapped her weighted wings, and does a back-flip spinning kick attack against the ball!!

⚽"CYCLONE SHIFT SWEEPER!!", shouted Rainbow Dash who had JUST barely dodged Dragoness #47023's attempted tackle! As soon as Rainbow had done her spinning backflip, she immediately twirled downwards and landed safely onto the ground on her side, before the dragoness was able to make her move!

⚽As soon as the ball had been deflected from Rainbow's twirling aerial kick, it immediately flew towards Mr Tang's face who was standing in the penalty area around the goal net, before bouncing off against his wrinkly face and landing onto Student #80239's goal net!

"GOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLL!!!!!", shouted Rainbow Dash as she leapt up for joy and performed congratulatory double high-fives and low-fives with Yohanne and Greta!

"HEY, what the hell, man??!!", shouted Student #12138 as he ran towards the facially bruised Mr Tang. "How can that count as a goal when that ball hit you in the face??!! That ain't fair, man! You basically head into that penalty area and scored that point for these goody-two-shoes students!!"

"As much as this really hurts your pride as much as my face," explained the injured Mr Tang, "the referee technically is not involved in playing the soccer game for EITHER team, so that means I could've NOT headbutt that ball into your goal, even if it was by sheer accident!! THUS, Team Liberal Friendship School WINS THE GOAAALL!!!"

"OOHHH YEEEAAAHHH, in YOH FACE, NOOBIES!!", shouted Rainbow Dash as she continued with her slamming high-fives and low-fives with the rest of his team!

"LET'S PLAY BALL!!!", shouted Mr Tang as he picked up the soccer ball and carried it to the center spot.

"HEY, Yona finally does something amazing!! Yona pass ball!! Is every creature proud Yona helped??!", shouted the happy nak girl as she ran to her teammates with her cloven hands in the air. However, every creature was too busy chasing after the legendary Element of Loyalty who helped score the winning goal.

Saddened by them ignoring the nak girl who delivered the median pass between Silverstream and Rainbow Dash, Yona became dejected and hung her nose-bleeding head in shame.

📣'Y-O-N-A!!!'

📣'She's the yak who saved the day!'

📣'Y-O-N-A!!!'

📣'Her spinning kick's is worth a replay!'

As Yona turned her attention to the crowd, she noticed a group of cheerleaders by the side of the field, who were performing synchronized dances with their high-kicks, pom-pom twirls and jumping jack leaps. She soon realized that the cheerleader squad, consisting of Smolder, Ocellus, Shimmy Shake and Lighthoof, were actually praising her for being the best passer who helped Coach Rainbow Dash score the winning goal!

"ALL RIGHT, GO YOOONNAAAA!!", shouted the wing-beating Tiny Turnip Head, who was also wearing the same Friendship cheerleading uniform (along with the pom-poms) as the girls, albeit the skirt was instead replaced by bright purple-and-teal striped pants!

📣'She's the yak with a big soft heart'

📣'And a hip persona!'

📣'Spiralling like a thunderous snowstorm'

📣'GIVE IT UP FOR YONNAAAAA!!!'

"WOOHOOOHOOOOOO!!!", cheered the Friendship students in the fan crowd as Yona teared up happily at the students' loving support for their favourite yak player.

"C'mon, Yona!! We gotta get ready for the next round! You're replacing Strawberry Scoop as the new sweeping defense near our goal net!", shouted Rainbow Dash as she escorted the cheerful Yona to her designated postion.

----------(GAME TIME 10:00 ON THE SOCCER FIELD)----------

⚽"Kangaroo JUMP KICK!!!", shouted Rainbow Dash as she ran from the northwest corner of the soccer field to intercept the flying ball heading for Griffon student #60129 and Dragoness student #47023!!

⚽As soon as Rainbow Dash lept from the corner, she immediately thrusted her left hoof forward and deflected the charging ball perpendicularly, before the ball head straight to Yona once again!

⚽"YONA'S BUCKING BALL-ISTA!!", shouted the amazingly agile fat nak girl as she performed purposeful aerial backwards slip onto the ground, catching the soccer ball with her back hooves and implanting herself on the ground with her two big horns!

Before Earthen Equestrian Student #12042 could charge in to perform a show-stopping attack against Yona, the fat nak girl quickly tossed the ball up with her lower hooves in the air, before catapulting the ball forward with her springing upward two-hooved kick, all while having her head still planted onto the ground!

Seeing her team player immobilized, Greta immediately stopped in her tracks and quickly pulled Yona from the ground and set her upright with her big strong arms!

"Nice job, Yona!! Keep up the good work!", hollered the proud griffon girl as she and Yona charged toward the opponent's goal net.

"Typhoon SEA SWIRLER!!!", shouted Silverstream as she flapped her wings rapidly to keep herself stead as she flipped herself backwards in mid-air! As soon as her lower hooves were at their highest tangent point, the spinning backwards kick made contact with the speeding ball (right before Silverstream was being flanked by two charging Sunny Side Schoolboy yaks)!!

"YKSLER'S PALM OF WAR!!!!", shouted Yona as she forcefully slapped her palm against the soccer ball, causing it to speed towards the opponent's goal net once more!

PPPFFTTHHHHEEEEEWWW!!!! goes Mr Tang's whistle, before the referee shouted, "HEY, THAT IS AN ILLEGAL MOVE!!"

Suddenly, every creature in the crowd started rising up from their seats, though their expressions highly differed from each split group. The Friendship sport fans started awing with disapproval, sad groans and upset cries over the foul move, while the Sunny Side Schoolboys started jeering, cackling and sneering at the yak who had once again made ANOTHER mistake in the game!!

"BOOO, YOU SUCK!!", shouted Master Zhi as he yelled from his penalty box.

"YONA won goal by herself!! YAAAYYYY!", shouted Yona before realizing her team members were showing disappointed faces and were covering their faces in disappointment.

"Hey, why every creature no happy??", asked the confused Yona, before she was immediately lifted off the ground and was grabbed by her front top by the surprisingly strong and elderly Mr Tang via levitation magic.

"WHAT THE HELL'S WRONG WITH YOU, LOAFER??!! You're not supposed to use your fucking hands in soccer, you know??!", shouted Mr Tang as he shoved his livid face against Yona's bandaged muzzle.

As soon as Yona felt the pain on her bleeding nose once more, she started to cry once more and bawled out

😭"HEY, why referee mad at me?! I score point, yes??!! Please no hurt Yona again!! I no why you so mad!!"

"HEY, let her go!!", shouted Greta as she flew forward and grabbed Yona off Mr Tang's grip.

"BUZZ OFF, PIGEON!! This blackhorn needs to be taught a lesson---WOAH!!!", shouted Mr Tang before he was immediately grabbed from the back by Miss Starlight Glimmer.

"What do you think YOU'RE doing??! Scaring a little child like that??! Is this how you treat your grandson back home??!", berated Miss Starlight Glimmer as she yelled into Mr Tang's ear while levitating him.

"That's none of your freakin' business, lady!! I'm just teaching those critches some major discipline!", shouted Mr Tang as he struggled to break free from his levitation.

"HEY, didn't you heard what I said??!", shouted Rainbow Dash as she ran up to Mr Tang's face. "No creature EXCEPT ME is the coach of MY team! YOU do your job as a referee calling out penalties, while I do my job teaching kids about proper sports play!! You got that, old man??!"

"UNLESS we can find ANOTHER referee and put YOU in the penalty box with your yellow friend here, HMMM???!", threatened Miss Starlight as she pointed the penalty box where Master Zhi was begrudgingly sitting. Despite the fact that she couldn't remember her role as Headmare, Miss Starlight was still able to hold her ground for her students and had already proven herself to have the necessary leadership skills to out-rank the referee. Feeling pressured into keeping his role as referee, Mr Tang responded to Miss Starlight

"NO fucking way!! You're not gonna find a strict referee like me! You fire me now, those gangsters will assume that you forfeit the game and run your little school to the ground! YOU NEED ME!!", shouted Mr Tang as his dentures were on the brink of falling out of his mouth.

"Then BEHAVE like a grown-up and let ME handle the yak FOR you!!", sternly barked Rainbow Dash before turning her attention to the crying Yona. As soon as everything was calmly resolved, Miss Starlight Glimmer finally released Mr Tang from her grasp. Once again, every creature on the soccer field was aghast, horrified and shocked at what they were witnessing. It was same reaction they had when Master Zhi kicked Yona in the face, but in this case, Yona was fortunate that Miss Starlight and Rainbow Dash were able to interfere sooner before things got out of control.

"ALL RIGHT!! Let's start again!! NO points scored for the Friendship Team!! Score right now is tied at 1-1!", shouted Tang before grabbing the soccer ball and bringing it to the center spot of the field. As the Sunny SIde Schoolboys cheered on about their lucky break, the Friendship Team could only hung their heads in shame as they followed the referee.

"Why referee mad at Yona??!! Yona did everything right!! Right??!!", shuddered the tearful Yona as Greta gently stroked her brown fur to keep her calm. Apparently, the shock of being manhandled by the referee shocked her so much, it cuased all her sense to go numb, preventing her from hearing the loud ramblings of a manical mad referee. With her head being barely out of the clouds, thanks to Greta, the griffon girl softly replied to Yona

"Yona, you CAN'T use your hands in soccer. It's against the rules."

"Heeyyy, you did fine though! That was an AWESOME pass---even though you did it incorrectly..."

Despite Rainbow's cheering encouragement, Yona was still shivering and crying from the shock of being grabbed by her stretchy top.

"Yona mess up again....Yona fail team once more...", the nak girl sobbed.

"HEY, how about this?? I'll be at the center spot and I'll pass the ball to YOU!", offered the positively smiling Rainbow Dash. "C'mon, it's NOT over yet for all of us! At least you didn't score the wrong net this time! We still got time left before the game ends!"

As Rainbow Dash escorted Yona to her old full back position, Rainbow Dash placed herself at the center back position near the goal net and gave a thumbs up to Yona as a sign of confidence. Once again, Starlight and Sunny Boy were at a face off as they focused their target on the soccer ball on the center spot.

----------(GAME TIME 12:30 ON THE SOCCER FIELD)----------

⚽*PUCK!* goes the soccer ball as it went straight for the top metal border of the goal net!

⚽*PUCK!* goes the soccer ball again as it went straight for the left metal border instead!

⚽*PUCK!* goes the ball once again as it went for the right border instead!

⚽Everywhere the soccer ball went, November Rain the goalkeeper tried desparately to leap for the speeding soccer ball, but never seemed to catch the ball in time----well, not that it matter anyway...

⚽As it turns out, yaks #35679 and #49782, who were within the Friendship Team's west side of the soccer field, were having trouble kicking the ball into the net, as their overgrown hair were partially blocking their visions, and their awkward slow (yet powerful) kicks were not pinpoint accurate enough to aim for the net. Things were not made easy as Greta kepy swooping in with her large weighted wings to block the opponent yaks' field of view, making it hard to focus their clumsy kicks toward the net.

As Student #12136 went charging towards November's net and performed a forward swooping kick at the deflected soccer ball, Greta tried to block the incoming ball from hitting the goal net, but had unfortunately missed her target! But that didn't matter as the ball once again got deflected by the metal arched border of the goal net---

---and got bounced off by Yona's BIG head once again and landed straight into the goal net a SECOND time!!

As soon as Yona got up from her second head injury, she realized too well that she had once again goofed up the reputation of her home team!

"OH NO!", cried Yona. "Yona mess up again!! PLEASE no hurt YONA! It accident!! Yona know it her fault!!"

Soon, she began wincing and cowering in terror, laying on the grassy ground in a fetal position, anticipating for some upset strong creature to come over and beat the yak up for scoring their own net with her big round head! Soon, the Sunny Side Schoolboys started jeering and cackling at the clumsy yak, mockingly thanking her for putting them toe-to-toe with their rival team players. It was too much for the yak to handle on her own.

"PPPPFFFFFTTHEEEEEEEEWWWW!!!" goes Mr Tang's whistle before shouting "ANOTHER point for the Sunny Side Schoolboys, courtesy of the traitorous---!!"

"DON'T say ANYTHING!!", interrupted Rainbow Dash as she got close to the referee's face. Unphased by her anger, he replied with an unsympathetic tone

"WHAT?! I'm JUST stating the facts! YOU saw what she did! You can't fault me for reporting what the we saw---!!"

"Awwww, Greta! What the hell??!"

"You idiot bird! You were supposed to stop the ball from bouncing towards the goal!"

"That ball was JUST about to head straight for you---and you MISSED instead??"

As Yona was getting ready to be berated, she noticed that both the Friendship team players and the Friendship fans started jeering at Greta instead of Yona. The nak girl was utterly confused at the crowd's reaction! Why were they blaming the griffon sweeper instead of her?? Even the gangsters had to pause to hear what in Equestria they were saying.

"OH, uhhhh, hehehe, clumsy ME! I accidentally threw myself UNDER the ball, instead of AT the ball!", nervously chuckled Greta as she stroke the back of her head. "And that ball bounced off the metal post and hit you instead!! Guess I'm bad at protecting my teammates, hehehe!"

Yona tipped her head in confusion, before Greta placed her own right talon onto Yona's shoulder and whispered

"It's going to be okay, Yona! Just focus on keeping the ball out of the opponent's grasp! I'll find some creature else to guide ya, all right?"

Aside from Yona, Tiny Turnip Head was also confused and he asked, "Uhhhh, what's going on? Why are they blaming some other critch player and not---??"

"SHHUSH!! Just play along and roll with it, peggy!", growled Smolder as she snapped at Tiny Turnip Head.

"Uhh, YEAH! BOOOOOO!! You doomed us all, you silly bird! Get back to the bleachers!", hooted Smolder as she turned her attention to the game.

"What the hell is going on here??", questioned Mr Tang as he wondered why they didn't turn their attention to the clumsy nak girl.

"Looks like THEY finally found their NEW scapegoat! Or should I say---a booed-bird!", nudged Rainbow Dash before Greta came rushing in towards Mr Tang's front.

"That's right!", grumbled Greta as she puff up her tall and mighty pose in front of the referee. "I'M the one who messed up the game for the team, NOT Yona this time....you got a problem with that---SIR??"

Intimidated by Greta's mighty size towering over Mr Tang, but still nervously trying to maintain his composure, he took a deep breathe, stared at the griffon's eyes and said

"WELL, since you failed to keep the ball from bouncing off that idiot yak's head, I guess I'll just give you a yellow card for now!"

"---MAKE IT RED!", demanded Greta as she shoved her head towards Mr Tang.

"WHAT??!! Are you serious?!", questioned the nervous referee.

Greta then immediately punched Mr Tang in the face with her mighty fisted talon strike, swiped the red card from his shirt pocket and shouted out to him as she flipped Mr Tang the bird while holding the stolen red card.

"YES---I AM! You can give that yellow card to Yona for me, all right?! CHOW!"

"You BITCH!! You think you can control this soccer field game like the back palm of your gritty talon?! I own this field!!", cried the upset nose-bleeding Mr Tang as he berated at Greta as she walked away from the soccer field.

"It's NOT YOUR field, Mister! It's SCHOOL property! I don't give a flying freakin' feather about who you are! If any creature's gonna follow the rules, it's gonna be YOU, your yellow friend, and EVERY creature else who's playing and spectating on the school's field!", berated Rainbow Dash as she stared down at the bleeding Mr Tang.

"YOH, Griselda!" shouted Greta as she flew over the crowd of Friendship fans. "You're up next! Go play as the wingman for us, okay??"

"What the hell happened, Greta??!", shouted Griselda the dark-feathered-face male griffon.

"Got myself in the penalty box by decking that dickhead referee in the nose!", Greta replied as she showed her red card.

"OH man, I hope you're not planning to do what I think you'll be doing!", shuddered Griselda as he was aware of Greta's rough nature.

"Don't worry---I'm not gonna kill him....just gonna lecture this player about respect for other creatures---that's all!", chuckled Greta as she slammed her fisted talon onto her palm.

"---Well, don't be TOO rough on him, Greta! Heard from Silverstream that he has a little peggy to take care of! Wish me luck!", hollered Griselda before he headed off into the soccer field.

"HEY, keep an eye on the yak girl for me, ALL RIGHT?!", hollered out Greta before she flew down below the audience seats.

Just as Master Zhi was about to leave the penalty box once the three rounds were up, he was met with a towering green-and-white feathered-face griffon at the single entrance.

----------(GAME TIME 13:30 ON THE SOCCER FIELD)----------

"ALL RIGHT, BREAK TIME'S OVER! Let's start again! And PLEASE! Keep the ball outta my face this time!"

⚽As soon as the ball was kicked off by Starlight after the whistle, every creature started scrambling for the ball as fast as they could, hoping they would be the next creature to score the next winning goal!

⚽As the ball rolled towards Griselda, he immediately kicked it off the ball with a high trajectory arc, flying above the other opponents, before it landed on Silverstream's hooves!

⚽As quickly as she got the ball in her possession, she immediately kicked it at a high-angled trajectory so high up in the sky, that every creature had no idea where the ball was going to land.

⚽As Miss Starlight and Sunny Boy started to stare at each other and block each other's way, suddenly, the falling soccer ball went straight down towards the space between Miss Starlight's and Sunny Boy's head, before being held into position by the two unicorns' foreheads!

Immediately, every creature had stopped playing and started to gathering around the two rivaled unicorns, watching closely as the Miss Starlight and Sunny Boy walked in circles around the center spot, while holding the soccer ball steady with their foreheads.

"WELL, aren't you gonna blow your whistle??!!", shouted Student #12138 as every creature became hesitant to interfere with the stare-off.

"FOR WHAT, man??!! There's no rule against holding the ball with your heads! They're not even touching it with their hands!", cried out Mr Tang as he watched the intense and weird stand-off in disbelief. Since that punch to the nose, he was now sporting both a bruised face AND a cotton ball strapped to his nose via bandages. His voice was now a little ruddy and nasal from the blocked nose passage.

"Well, what the hell are we gonna do now??", asked Student #12138 to Mr Tang the referee.

"Shh, just wait and see, okay?", shushed the referee as he posed in a cautious crouching stance.

As Miss Starlight and Sunny Boy continued to stare at each other, their intense rivaled feelings for each other started to ease off and slowly as they walked circles with each other, their gazes no longer showed disdain for each other, but rather a sense of relaxing harmony and comfort of each other's company. No longer opposite players on the soccer battlefield, they continued to stare off into space, all while holding that round soccer ball with their leaning foreheads.

"What Headmare and thug stallion doing?! This be taking too long!", shouted Yona as she continued to observed the entranced unicorns.

"How in the heck are we gonna stop them from staring at each other?", asked Silverstream.

⚽"EASY, we just continue playing soccer! DUUHHH!", shouted Master Zhi who came out into the field and swiftly kicked the soccer ball out into the sky without hurting the two unicorns in the process.

⚽"HIYAAAH!!!! MAN, I am SO glad to be outta this damn box! Stupid bird!"

Just as soon as the ball was kicked out of their heads, both Miss Starlight and Sunny Boy fell onto each other's lips, causing them to share what may be an accidental kiss with each other. Needless to say, Student #12138 was aghast at the sight of his leader landing first base with the Headmare of the school. As soon as Miss Starlight Glimmer felt her lips touched Sunny Boy's mouth, she immediately fell back to the ground, catching herself with her hands on the ground. As Miss Starlight Glimmer laid her eyes on the astounded foolish unicorn thug that had previously challenged the whole school to a soccer match, Sunny Boy noticed that something must had fell out from Starlight's pocket.

Laying on the grassy field at the left side of Starlight Glimmer was a mysterious key. Attached to that key was an acrylic decal of an orange bursting sun with orange/beige-yellow radial crepuscular rays, along with blue four-pointed stars surrounding the sun. As much as he wanted to address to her about the fallen object, Sunny Boy was way too entranced by how beautiful the Headmare was. That swirly dark purple and teal mane, that double-D cupped bust jutting out of her black silk vest and blue shirt, those pretty cute violet eyes...

Feeling pity for the fallen Headmare, Sunny Boy quickly offered his black gloved hand to Miss Starlight, before she grabbed his hand and pulled herself from the ground. Before Sunny Boy would had a chance to tell her about the key though, his throat started to tense up and he was unable to speak to the unicorn mare. As soon as Miss Starlight was back on her hooves, she immediately bolted and ran off without saying 'thank you' to the love-struck and confused gangster. In response, Sunny Boy quickly chased after the Headmare, but it was now no longer because he cared about winning the soccer game happening around him.

As the game went on, Yona and Silverstream noticed something different about the yellow stallion who once kicked Yona in the nose. With Silverstream's binocular vision, she was able to deduce that the sporting Master Zhi was now also sporting his large left black eye.

"HA, look! That stallion who kicked you had just got his JUST desserts! He's socked in one eye and his friend is sporting the same nosebleed as YOU, Yona! What goes around comes around, right??!", laughed Silverstream as she ran along with Yona.

"Uhhh, yeah---of course! Hehehe...", nervously chuckled Yona. Though she felt like Master Zhi and Mr Tang were the ones who traumatized her in the first place, she felt like what her friends were doing was rather too harsh for her new friends, even though the punishment was just the same. All Master Zhi and Mr Tang wanted was for every creature to play the game as it was originally intended; they just went about it the wrong way...

⚽Then, just as she was used to being lost in her own thoughts, she immediately saw Yohanne the muscular yak boy (who was now wearing a pair of white sneakers over his hooves) catch a soccer ball with his knee, boosted up in the sky and cried out,

⚽"YOHANNE YETI KICK!!!"

As he did, Yohanna immediately flipped himself upside down and performed a somersault kick onto the falling soccer ball. SInce his horns were not as large as Yona's, he didn't end up planting himself hard onto the grassy ground.

He DID, however, kicked the ball SO hard, that he actually catapulted his right sneaker off his lower hoof, causing the sneaker to fly towards Mr Tang's right cheek! Fortunately, the ball didn't hit Mr Tang in the face, so he was lucky that the ball didn't end up knocking him out unconscious for good!

"OH NO! Yohanne sorry! Me no mean to hit you! Please no yellow card for little boy yak! It not hurt bad, yes?", cried Yohanne as he ran up to the injured referee, who was now rubbing his right cheek in pain.

"LISTEN KID!! Once the game starts, the referee isn't allow to complain about getting injured during game time, since the referee technically doesn't play the game with either team! So legally, I'm not physically hurt! Now emotionally---that's a different story!", explained Mr Tang as his head started to throb intensely from the pulsing pain.

"Now GET OUT THERE and continue playing, or else I'll give you a yellow card for interfering with a game official!", threatened the angry Mr Tang as he pointed the finger at the rushing soccer players. As soon as Yohanne got his right white sneaker back on his hoof, he immediately went back to playing with the others.

"HAHA, he got his face hit TWICE in one game! What a card!", cawed Greta as she laughed from the penalty box.

As every creature resumed with their game, Mr Tang immediately spotted something strange on the soccer field. Avoiding the large creatures as best as he could, he went up and saw a key with the sunny acrylic decal lying on the field. He picked up the custom key and immediately blew his whistle, before stopping his pocket-watch timer.

"ALL RIGHT, who threw this garbage onto the soccer field??!!", shouted Mr Tang.

"What is it NOW, referee??! You've been pausing the game more frequently lately! I'm starting to wonder about you being in cahoots with the Friendship students!", questioned Student #12138 as he went up to the referee.

"TRUST ME, I ain't doing this for the BOTH of you, okay??!", shouted Mr Tang who was now sporting bruises on both cheeks as well as a bandaged now.

As soon as Miss Starlight Glimmer turned her gaze at what Mr Tang was holding, she immediately recognized that key---though for some reason, she can't remember how it got there. More so, she doesn't even know why she has it in the first place. Nevertheless, Miss Starlight immediately ran up to Mr Tang and shouted,

"It's not garbage, you idiot! It's MY keychain! It must've fell out of my pocket during the gameplay"

"OH, is that so?! Well, keep that junk outta my---ERRGGHH---SCHOOL'S field, okay??!!", shouted Mr Tang before he blew the whistle to signal the continuation of the game. "Let's GO, people!! Time is of the essence!!"

After Miss Starlight pocketed the key into her possession, she was immediately being stalked by Sunny Boy once more. Try as she might, she was unable to escape the hovering and blocking movements of the cocky Sunny Boy. However, the short-cut maned thug wasn't there to gloat around to harass the Headmare about how close he was to winning the soccer match. His focus right now is aimed at getting the Headmare's attention, so that he could perhaps court or even serenade her, before asking his out on a---

⚽WHHHAAAAAMMM!!

Before he could react, Sunny Boy was immediately hit in the face by the stray soccer ball, knocking his sunglasses and causing him to instinctively shut his eyes in pain!

"OWWEEEEE!!!!"

Seeing her chance to escape his presence and give herself a chance to play with the other students, she immediately ran off into the west side of the field to join with Strawberry Scoop near her team's goal net.

----------(GAME TIME 14:30 ON THE SOCCER FIELD)----------

⚽As soon as Miss Starlight was in possession of the soccer ball on the far west side of the soccer field, she immediately started kicking the ball to the opposite east side of the soccer field. Though Rainbow Dash would love to take the honor of scoring the winning goal, she felt like the official Headmare had waited long enough after being harassed so many times by the cocky Sunny Boy. Hence, it became her duty to block off any opponent flyer from stealing the soccer ball from Miss Starlight.

⚽As Starlight was focusing her sight on the east goal, she noticed that Earthen Equestrian #12042 was performing a sliding kick attack on her left side!

⚽With her limited yet fairly strong levitation powers, she was able to lift the ball up over the sliding kick and lept over the rebel Earthen Equestrian in time, before she continued off with kicking her soccer ball to the intended goal.

⚽Then, Miss Starlight immediately encountered yak #35679 in her path, who tried to block Starlight from kicking the ball towards the opponent's net!

⚽Using whatever wits she had left inside her frazzled brain, she used the power of deception by faking a forward kick, causing yak #35679 to instinctively crouch down and slam his strong arm to the ground, hoping to block the ball from rolling between his huge legs---only to realize Miss Starlight used her limited levitation to slight nudge the ball to the left, before circling around the yak to the right and meeting up with the soccer ball! With that obstacle out of the way, she continued on with her mission to score the next point for the Friendship team!

⚽Then came ANOTHER even faster sliding kick by kirin #549012, but Starlight was able to dodge THAT in time by simply kicking the ball way up at a higher-angled trajectory and leaping up as high as she can to avoid the kirin's attempted low-point tackle (no magic required!)

⚽As soon as she was able to make through that obstacle, griffon student #60129 (who had recently escaped from Rainbow Dash's side-swiping blocking moves by performing a strong but less powerful thunder wing-clap) went swooping in for a low-levelled high kick strike in front of Miss Starlight!

⚽But alas, she was also too quick on the draw, as she ultimately kicked the ball high up to her face and used as much power from her suppressed horn as she can, to boost the ball way up in the sky, before taking a swerving right-turn run to avoid the griffon's upward-kicking lion paw and catching the landing ball with her running hooves!

⚽As soon as dragoness student #47023 escaped Rainbow's block by spinning her wings fast enough to create a medium-sized windy whirlwind to push her off, she immediately ran towards Starlight's direction and attempted to block Starlight's path by crouching in front of her and using the tail between her legs to knock the ball off its course!

⚽And Starlight had ONCE again outsmarted that reptilian opponent by kicking the ball towards the gap between the dragoness' tail and leg at such rapid speed, the dragoness had no time to react! Before long, she immediately bowed down so low, looked between her legs and saw Starlight Glimmer kicking the rolling ball along the grassy field!

⚽As soon as Miss Starlight Glimmer was near the goal and was about ready her mighty kick towards the opponent's goal net, yak #49782 came rushing in with intent to tackle her into the ground, hoping to stop her from scoring that goal!

"RRRRRAAAAHHHHHH, yak no let school mare score ball in net!!", yelled yak #49782 as his magnificently ground-shaking stomps caused Miss Starlight Glimmer to lose her footing as she tried to steady herself into kicking the ball.

"DON'T WORRY, HEADMARE!! Master Zhi to the rescue!!", shouted the yellow stallion jerk who thought he could intercept the yak by placing his own body into the path of the rampaging yak opponent.

"IRON CHEST FLEX---!!"

✊WWWWWHHHAAAAMMMM!!!!✊

Just as soon as Master Zhi was hardening himself both mentally and physically against the charging yak, the brutish beast mercilessly whacked him off out of his path with a single arm swipe, launching Master Zhi sideways and sending the yellow stallion tumbling across the grassy fields!

"AAAAHHHHHH, MY RIIBSS!!! MY RIIBSS!!! AAAHHH, They're piercing my chest!!", shouted the heavily bruised Master Zhi as he allowed onto the ground in excruciating pain!

"OH NO, MASTER!!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head after he witnessed another horrific tackle by the enraged yak.

Just when Starlight Glimmer was at the brink of being tackled by the merciless yak and ruin her chances of scoring her first goal, along came a side-swerving angry adrenaline-fueled female nak, who positioned her frontal horns to point at an upward angle at the right moment, without thrusting herself onto the would-be rammer!

"YONA HORN BLOCKER!!"

As the body momentum of yak #49782 caused his abs to become pierced against Yona's static horns, the momentous ground shaking had immediately stopped. As soon as Starlight had realized what Yona had done, a bellowing voice rung into her ears

"HEADMARE!! NOW!!! SCORE GOAL FOR SCHOOL!!", shouted Yona as she struggled to bear the weight of the pierced yak on her single thick horn.

As soon as she looked behind and saw ALL her rushing students trying to protect her AND the Sunny Side Schoolboys trying to steal her ball, she immediately kicked the soccer ball as hard as she could, sending the ball flying to the right! The goalkeeper, a bulky short-cut stallion student named #80239, tried to leap towards the ball, but he was too slow on the mark to block the ball in time!

----------(GAME TIME 15:00 ON THE SOCCER FIELD)----------

🥅Alas, Team School of Friendship had finally managed to won their second point for the whole student body!

As soon as the goal point was scored, Mr Tang finally fainted from the exhaustion, still bleeding and bruised from the multiple strikes to his face. He quickly looked at the stopwatch and realized how much time has already passed. He loudly blew his whistle and cried out

"AND THAT'S the END OF THE GAAAMMEEE!!!"

🎉🎉🎊🎊All the students, school sports fans and cheerleaders came rushing from their audience seats to congratulate Starlight with multiple high-fives, slapping furry skins against some scales, talons, appendages, hands and paws from all other creatures!🎊🎊🎉🎉

🎉"You were AWESOME, Miss Starlight!!"🎉

🎉"WAY TO GO, TEACHER!!!"🎉

🎉"OOOH YEEEAAAHHHH, SCHOOL OF FRIENDSHIP, FOR THE WIIINN!!"🎉

🎉"GO STARLIGHT GLIMMER!! GO STARLIGHT GLIMMER!!"🎉

🎉"I'm SO happy that you are our headmare!!"🎉

As the friendship students continued to celebrate for their favourite teacher and official headmare (including Rainbow Dash who came rushing in to give a hard heart-warming hug), few of the Sunny Side Schoolboys (including Sunny Boy, the injured Yak #49782 and Student #12138) went up to the celebrating Starlight Glimmer with slight discontent and inner grudges over their loss.

"Why the hell are you goody-two-shoes celebrating about??! This match is tied 2-to-2!", shouted Student #12138 as he sneered at the celebrating students

"ACTUALLY, it's tied 1-to-1!", corrected Mr Tang as he approached the two teams. "YOUR yak player had performed an illegal move that involves physical contact with other opponent players--and THAT player happened to be MY ol' friend!"

"GGODD, it hurts when I breathe---GODAMNIT!!!!", continued the wailing Master Zhi as he clenched onto his caved-in chest.

"Master Zhi!! Are you all right??!! Can you get up??!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he rushed to his aid.

"Oooohh, boy! That looked like it REALLY hurt!", winced Ocellus as she assessed the body damage on Master Zhi.

"GAAH, it feels like I got ran over by a freakin' freight train!!", Master Zhi shouted from the top of his exhausting lungs.

"HA! Looks like you got DOUBLE the dessert serving like the referee here! AND it was from a yak too!!", mocked Smolder as she pointed her claw finger at Master Zhi.

"HEHE, yeah! Talk about priceless irony! He who throws the mud at his target will always get dirt stuck in his talons, as Grandpa Gruff would say!", snickered Greta as she smirked at the pitiful Master Zhi.

"OH YEAH?! Well, THEIR yak barged in and pierced her horns onto YOUR yak, so therefore the score is 1-0 for Friendship vs the SSS!! So DOUBLE-HA!" argued Student #12138 as he yelled at the referee.

"Technically, she only moved to the side to block him in order to protect me; I never actually saw her pierce his abs on purpose. It was his own adrenaline-fueled momentum that brought him to his own downfall", explained Miss Starlight Glimmer as she came to Yona's defense.

Seeing his yak friend still feeling th agony of his ab wound, Student #12138 counter-argued with a harsh loud tone against the Headmare

"BULLSHIT!! You're obviously biased towards the Friendship Team, because of your injured friend here! We're not gonna let this stand, are we Headmaster??!!"

As Sunny Boy was staring into the glistening eyes of the worried Headmare, he found himself opening his heart to seeing the benefit of the doubt from both sides of the team. Feeling like it was his yak henchman that instigated the struggle by physically attacking first and that the Headmare's student was only protecting her out of friendship instinct, he felt like the action was justifiable on the fat nak's defense. If the roles were reversed at that time, his yak henchman would've reacted the same way if that nak came blindly rush in without considering the safety of his gang members.

"If the referee says it's a tie and the Headmare said the yak girl acted in defense against my student's unprecedented tackle, then Miss Headmare and her team should clearly be awarded further for heroism, as well as enforcing both sportsmareship and friendship among her students...", commented Sunny Boy as he gladly smiled at Miss Starlight Glimmer. Student #12138 suddenly looked at Sunny Boy as he became shocked and speechless by Sunny Boy's support for both the referee and the school headmare.

"Hey, little horse buggy!", called out Sunny Boy as he turned his attention to the staring Cornicle, "Next time, always remember to bring your student card wherever you go, outside OR inside of the school."

"ECK! Like I'm gonna take advice from a bunch of bullies!", snarked Cornicle as he turned his face away from Sunny Boy.

"HEY, don't be rude, Cornicle! They may be thugs, but at least they retain some sense of honor and standards...", snapped Miss Starlight Glimmer as she used her unsuppressed levitation to pull his ear to her face.

"OW OW OW, okay okay, I'm sorry, Miss Starlight!", shouted Cornicle before he was released.

Sunny Boy then reached out his gloved hand for the changedling boy to shake with, as a symbol of a non-aggressive peace between the students and the rogue gang, as well as an addition that the Sunny Side Schoolboys would promise to no longer come raiding within the school premises ever again. Though hesitant at first, Cornicle quickly grabbed Sunny Boy's hand with his two chitin hands, before giving him a healthy welcoming shake, causing the students (and Rainbow Dash) celebrate their first victory towards a better peace with the rogues as well.

"OH, and for the yellow stallion who got pummeled by one of my yak boys...", continued Sunny Boy as he walked up towards the writhing in pain on the floor

"Let this sports experience be a lesson for you. Not every creature will have the same level of intelligence as you. That's why you gotta teach them in the way that they could understand. I may not know about how your culture deals with failure or defeat in wherever you're from, but right here in Ponyville, good people teach their kids to not worry about whether they fail or lose in gameplay, but only worry about whether they're having good fun or not..."

Every creature from both sides of the team watched on with peculiar curiosity of the high-levelled thug lecturing a master on compassion and understanding, an ironic twisted role-reversal that shocked them to their inner core.

"So please---take good care of your friends---as they may as well take great care of you in return...OH, and the same thing goes for that old referee too!", Sunny Boy shouted out his final words to both Master Zhi and Mr Tang, before walking up to the Headmare for an informal fist bump.

"UH OH, we better get ready for our next class! The professors are gonna be worried sick about where we are right now!", shouted one mare pegasus student who was staring at her watch. As soon as every creature realized that they still have academic work to be done, every creature (including Professor Rainbow Dash and Miss Starlight Glimmer) started to walk off the soccer field in groups, going on about their own business and talking cheerfully about today's soccer game...

Well---almost every creature. One fat nak girl with a bandage around her nose was still standing on the soccer field, walking up to Master Zhi and offering her helping hand for the injured soul.

"----HUMPH!! Looking to bash MY nose in too, as part of your short quest of retaliation??!", scoffed the withering yet stubborn Master Zhi as he looked away from Yona.

".......No", replied the soft-spoke Yona as she outstretched her hand. "Yona learn from Headmare that revenge no make you feel better long time. Only grow and fester, like bad weeds! Though Headmare and Professor Dash may no forgive yellow stallion for nose kick, Yona knows that you just want game to be play right...but...stallion already told that he no can hit creature for failure. It no teach creature anything."

"Besides, Yona know already yellow stallion still have care for tiny white pegasus...", continued Yona as she forced herself into grabbing Young Master Zhi's hand, before lifting and carrying Master Zhi like a damsel in distress. "Yona will forgive stallion and learn everything from Master with white pegasus boy, if stallion say sorry to every student, plus Yona, in school".

Feeling the awkward silent tension between him and Yona (as well as the writhing pain in his chest), Master Zhi agreed to her terms, before telling her, "UUggghhh, let's get me to the nurse's office first, all right??! Then you can take me to the Headmare's office, so I can speak through the intercom!"

"DEAL!!", shouted Yona as she gracefully carried the poor Master Zhi with her thick strong arms, all while leaping along the way.

"Oh...uhhh...by the way.....nice job blocking that tackle! We would've not won--the--GAME---without you!", thanked the struggling voice-strained Master Zhi as he tried to maintain his composure during Yona's lift and carry.

"HUSH, yellow stallion needs sleep! No time for talk!", shushed Yona as she ran off out of the soccer field.

As Sunny Boy stood motionless with his fist still sticking out in the air, Student #12138 started to give a sincere smirking smile and suddenly realized the reason why Sunny Boy gave leeway to the Headmare and her students.

"---You got the raging hots for that headmare, don't ya lover boy??", teased Student #12138 as he flicked his finger at Sunny Boy's chin.

After a short interval of silence between the two thugs, Sunny Boy became the first to break the silence within his gang of diverse creatures as they gathered around their love-struck leader.

"C'mon...let's go home, my dear students! I have to get prepared for my first errand task with my dear godfather..."

---END

Author's Note

For those unfamiliar with soccer terms, here's a map of all the soccer positions

Cantonese for "Sir"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Sir&from=&to=yue

Cantonese for "What do you want?"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=What%20do%20you%20want%3F&from=&to=yue

4.Cantonese for "Will you help?"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Will%20you%20help%3F&from=&to=yue

Cantonese for "Are you joking?"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Are%20you%20joking%3F&from=&to=yue

Cantonese for "gangster"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=gangster&from=&to=yue

Cantonese for "OH GOD!"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=Oh%20God!&from=en&to=yue

Loafer: yak/nak (because they look like a giant loaf of bread when unshaven); usually used as a derogatory term

15 My Forgotten Romance

Ch 15 - My Forgotten Romance

----------(CASTLE OF FRIENDSHIP, PONYVILLE, TUESDAY 8:00 P.M.)----------

It was a very late evening at the Castle of Friendship, a monumental self-built wonder that was once given via magical lockbox to the Elements of Harmony. Once a luxurious home headquarters for the Princess of Friendship and her friends for over five years since its "growth", its glistening and sparkling abode was passed down from the Princess of Friendship to her protege Starlight Glimmer after the Princess' departure for Canterlot Castle as the ruler of Equestria. Just like the Princess of Friendship before her, Starlight Glimmer was no stranger to allowing entry into her home to only homeless students (or trusted traveling vagrants) that were considered a good friend to her, so long as they kept the place clean, refrain from stealing important valuables and no hosting messy parties without her permission while she was out working, shopping or hanging out with her friends.

Gallus, who had been suspended for a week for unruly behavior, was no different. Though he was allowed to stay in the castle (since he had not rent out any other home outside the School of friendship), he was allowed, under new Headmare Trixie's orders, to stay at Starlight's castle home, as long as he perform his afternoon duties of running the crystal library, preparing dinner meals in the late evening, vacuuming all the floors and balconies clean, polishing the walls, making the beds and several other chores listed on the new Headmare's paper schedule. Though it was hard work, it helped build new character of responsibility for Gallus and it taught him the necessary life skills he needed to become independent some day when he buys himself a brand new home in the real world. Though he at first only did it in the hopes of appealing his previous punishments out of necessity, he started to appreciate looking after the amnesiac Starlight as his dedicated caretaker. Every late afternoon when school was over, Gallus would take a friendship journal from the castle library and picked off the events where Starlight had left off from her time as a counselor, back when the School of Friendship was in its younger years. However, today was a bit different today, as Starlight Glimmer had invited a few of his own school friends to the castle, both to check up on his well-being and to discuss about the significant events he had missed during his suspension (though he was not allowed to know about upcoming homework assignments nor new summative projects as part of his punishment). Sandbar, on the other hand, could not be here for the sleepover, since he had to stay over to take care of his baby sister while his parents were on their honeymoon.

As many minutes went by, Gallus was having a whale of a time with his friends, sharing a variety of stories the Student Six had with Master Zhi, from how the political rally held by Firelight to winning the whole soccer match against a group of thugs in spite of a tie game!

"Awwww MAN, you're joshing me, right??! A soccer match with street thugs?! And he let you WON?!", Gallus shouted as he gazed in awe at his smiling friends.

"Even though he was a school dropout, he was honestly kind enough to admit that his henchman was the first to strike at our ex-substitute teacher...", said Ocellus.

"The same jerk who kicked Yona in the nose?!!", cawed Gallus in anger.

"YEP! Stallion try to protect Yona, but big yak girl does protect Headmare much better!", happily boasted the big chubby nak girl.

"YAH! You should've seen him get side-swiped by that yak thug like a ragdoll! It was SO AWESOME to watch!", cackled Smolder as she fell on the floor laughing.

"HA HA HA HA HA!" laughed Silverstream, Yona and Gallus too, as they hung around on their circle of colorful cushions in the royal crystal library.

"AH, yes yes yes! We ALL know about that hilarious time I bravely stood in front of a charging yak that was about to attack your dear official Headmare!", interrupted Master Zhi, who was now wearing an eyepatch over his left black eye. He had overheard their conversation as eh was entering the crystal library room. Though Starlight Glimmer was hesitant at first, Master Zhi did tried to save her from the brutish yak thug (and failed miserably in the process after getting his comeuppance) and Mr Tang did offer a very fair judgement on the gameplay over the soccer field (even though he came off as snarky and rude). Plus, they wanted to make sure their Tiny Turnip Head was doing okay during his sleepover hang out with Gallus at Starlight's castle. More significantly, Yona had already forgiven Master Zhi and had high hopes that she could become a best friend and a student of Master Zhi and Mr Tang, alongside her new white pegasus friend. Reluctantly, Starlight did invite Master Zhi and Mr Tang over for the sleepover, though he was told that if he done any major disorderly conduct in her household, he and Mr Tang would have to leave immediately.

"You had it coming a long time ago, sir! You should've known better than to treat your students like that! I've done WAY worse stupider things than what Yona did, and yet my counselor and headmare never would've laid a finger OR a toe on me!", shouted Gallus as he turned his attention to the bruised stallion man.

"You should be so lucky that Yona decided to not press charges against you and your old friend! I hope you won't take advantage of her leniency towards you!", yelled Ocellus with an angered expression.

"HEY, I'm not getting away THAT easily, you know?! Your new Headmare Trixie did suspended me for a whole week after that apology over the intercom, didn't she??!", mentioned Master Zhi as he browsed through the bookshelves fro a decent book to read at night.

"YEAH, welcome to the club, pal! Don't get too comfortable with me, even though Yona told me to take it easy on you! The same goes for your old geezer friend too!", forewarned Gallus as he kept an eye on Master Zhi, in case he does something sinister.

"Relax, blue griffon! Please, treat the Master as our friend.....just like how Headmare was treated kindly by Friendship Princess....", calmed Yona as she stroked Gallus' back feathers.

"I dunnooo, I still don't trust him....I mean, didn't he also roll you in a trash can, shoved a crossbow into your mouth and shoved a sword into your throat during your weekend break?!", questioned Silverstream.

"Well, SORRY we had to improvise in order to get ourselves out a lick of trouble!!", shouted Mr Tang as he barged into the library room. He was just minding his own business in the crystal hallway when he overheard the young kids talking nonsense about his friend. He later continued with his argument.

"We did what we had to do, in order to escape the kirin gang, avoid prison time and stop ourselves from spreading propaganda from a shady politician! Sure, our methods may sound unconventional, but at least some of them got ourselves outta the mess, right?"

"You mean like how your 'Master-of-all' friend's physical abuse 'helped' Yona become a better player??", snarked Smolder as she brought up the whole incident again. Unamused by Smolder's comment, Mr Tang lashed out on the back-talking dragon

"NOW LISTEN HERE, you little shit lizard---!!"

"ENOOUGGGHH!! I will NOT have that language in my household, especially not in front of the kids! If you want to swear, do so at your own apartment complex...", interrupted Starlight as she sat alone by herself on the round table. As she laid her tired head on the table surface with her bum on the cushion seat, she was playing around with the mysterious key with the sunny acrylic decal attached to it. She had it dangling in front of her eyes by hanging it over an arc table lamp on her personal table.

As the shiny key was being rocked back and forth in front of Starlight's eyes, every other creature was starting to get very hungry as their tummies were growling like an Ursa Major. Gallus became the first creature to break the awkward silence.

"Oooooh, boy....it's getting pretty late, Starlight. We should get ready for---"

Suddenly, Gallus had a short moment of realization and shouted

"DARN IT, I got SO caught up on telling stories, that I completely forgot about making dinner for all of us!"

Instead of berating Gallus for his lack of laborious initiative, Starlight Glimmer instead gave out a heavy sigh and told him, "It's all right, Gallus....I'm not feeling very hungry today....I'm not in a good mood for a nice dinner...."

"Well---if it's not too much trouble for you...", Gallus muttered nervously as he approached Starlight at the table, "would it be all right if we order pizza instead?"

"SURE, fine! Whatever! Just DON'T bother me...", blurted the annoyed Starlight Glimmer as she continued to stare at her key.

"C'mon, Gallus! Where's your sense of good mannerisms?! We're not gonna eat until Starlight is willing to eat with us too!", criticized Ocellus as she also approached Gallus by the round desk.

"Well, you BETTER hurry up and convince her to eat soon! Because I feel like eating a 24-karate diamond today!", boasted Smolder as she joined Ocellus and Gallus at the round table.

"YEAH, Miss Starlight! What's bugging you?? Are you still mad about what happened to Yona today??", asked Silverstream as she flew over to join her friends. Both Master Zhi and Mr Tang gave out very disappointing grunts in response to that unnecessary question.

Starlight Glimmer gave out another sigh and said to her faithful students, "SIGH, no...it's not that....I truly appreciate you trying your best to bring back most of my memories, but----for some reason---I can't seem to remember about this key...I really don't know how it got there in my pocket in the first place......all I can deduce that it must've been given to somepony who was really close to me"

Gallus, Silverstream and Ocellus all looked at the key and noticed the decal attached to it. The decal did look somewhat familiar to them, as they had seen it on some of their school brochures, formal letters and pamphlets. Unfortunately, they did not even bother to read most of the lettered media as they were either too busy doing homework or goofing off to even care what the school had to offer.

"Siiiggghhh, it's too bad that I no longer had any memory of that special somepony anymore...", moaned Starlight as she placed her hand against her soft cheek.

"C'mon, guys! Let's just order pizza now and leave the leftovers for her at her desk, okay?", whispered Gallus as he softly spoke to the two girls beside her.

"Yona getting tired of Headmare being sad! If Headmare no eat food, you no happy all the time!", Yona cried as she later joined the rest of her friends.

"GAAAAHH, this is getting nowhere!! OOH, I know what'll cheer you up!", shouted Master Zhi as he and his friend Mr Tang ran into view of Starlight's vision with a tall long steel dao (刀)1. "A LIVE Canternese stunt performance!!"

"WAIT, you don't mean---??!", Gallus gulped in horror at the giant blade.

"Sword swallow?!!!", yelled Yona in shock.

"Wait, WHAT?!", shouted both Ocelles and Silverstream.

"CHAW, this is gonna be good! I can't WAIT to see you bleed on the floor!", mocked Smolder as she took a cushion seat to enjoy seeing Master Zhi and Mr Tang bungle up their performance.

After Mr Tang turned on his phonograph for it to play Canternese cymbals and gongs, Mr Tang opened his mouth as wide as possible and tilted his head back as far as he can. Master Zhi proceeded to shove the tall dao into his mouth at only half its length, before Mr Tang was able to clench the sword tight with his teeth.

"WOAH!! Doesn't that hurt??!", questioned Ocellus as her eyes stood frozen at the amazing feat.

"Yona tried it once! It not hurt! But it be scary!", replied the astounded nak girl.

"But WAIT, there's MORE!", shouted Master Zhi before he shoved in ANOTHER dao sword into Mr Tang's mouth! Just like with the last sword, it was only shoved halfway and Mr Tang was able to hold the second one with his clenched teeth.

"HOLY SEASHELLS!! Two swords??!! Are you kidding me??!", shouted Silverstream as she gazed in horror at the spectacle.

"YAWN! You call that a performance?! I seen much better entertainment from chicken fights at the pen!", heckled the unimpressed Smolder.

"YOU ain't seen nothing yet, lizzy!!", shouted Master Zhi as he suddenly sprouted 10 dao swords from his back like a metal peacock!!

Suddenly, only a pair of his hands to hold five swords each, Master Zhi launched ALL his swords high up towards the tall ceiling, before all the swords landed tip down towards Mr Tang's muzzle! Using his nifty magical knowledge and most of his magic reserves, he cast a small warp gate in his stomach, so that every sword that went into his gullet will be magically relocated to another dimension entirely!

"TADAAAA!!!!", hollered both Master Zhi and Mr Tang as they took their bows.

The sight of seeing the swords being literally swallowed by Mr Tang without being impaled in the process was too much for Silverstream and Ocellus, causing them to faint and fall onto the floor! Gallus, on the other hand, only went so far as becoming too speechless to react at the amazing feat with his wide-open gape!

"SERIOUSLY??! No blood in sight and THAT'S what cause your blood to run cold?", scorned Smolder as she stared at the two fainted feminine creatures.

"YONA love to learn about swallowing like champ!!", shouted the excited nak girl as she raised her fists into the air.

"And NOW for the GRAAANNDD finale!!", shouted Master Zhi brought out a very long broad yanyuedao (偃月刀)2 and attempted to shove the curved blade into Mr Tang's throat!

"WOAH WOAH WOAH!! Now you're taking this WAY too far, man!! I don't think that's gonna fit into his mouth!", squawked Gallus as he continued to panic at the sight of the huge spear blade.

"OOH, now THAT I gotta see!", shouted Smolder as she suddenly became interested in the new twist in the performance.

"WAAH! Giant spear swallow!! That unpossible!!", yelled Yona with her terrible Equestrian grammar.

"C'MOOONN, Mr TANG!! TIME TO EEEAATT!!!", snickered Master Zhi as he creepily called out for Mr Tang with a grimdark tone.

"NO NO NO NO NO NO!!! I You promised we wouldn't pull something like that ever again!!", protested Mr Tang. It had seem like Mr Tang had reached his limit in participating in Master Zhi's eccentric shenanigans.

"STOP moving and open your dang mouth already!!", shouted Master Zhi as he tried to thrust his spear into Mr Tang's gullet, but the old man refused to swallow such a huge thick blade! He did everything in his power to dodge and weave his head, while shutting his mouth as tight as possible, hoping to not get impaled by Master Zhi's powerful thrusts!

"That's ENOUGH from you two!! NO MORE!! Don't MAKE me kick you outta the castle in an instant!", yelled Miss Starlight Glimmer as she was ready to cast her teleportation spell against the two nutjobs. Her loud voice suddenly woke Silverstream and Ocellus from their fainting naps.

"BOOOO!! I wanna see blood!", hooted Smolder before being slapped in the head by Ocellus.

As soon as the two were done with their act and Mr Tang lifted the needle from his cymbal-bashing phonograph, Starlight Glimmer resumed her peaceful stare at the mysterious key...

"Tell me something, my dear students and friends...", Starlight requested as she played with his dangling key.

"....Have you ever fell in love before? Do you even know what it even feels like to be in love with someone you never met before?"

As Starlight was asking that question, all the girls started shaking their heads side to side and waving their hands, signalling Starlight to NOT mention anything about romance.

As soon as Gallus heard that question, his astounded expression from the performance slowly transformed into a weeping sad-eyed frown. Suddenly, Gallus was now holding back any tears he had in his eyes and suppressing thoughts of depression that were apparently buried deep inside his head...

"*SNIFF!*, I'm sorry to bother you at a time like this....I'll leave you to it!", sniffled Gallus before he turned around and head out into the hallways through the green-glassed multi-diamond panel door, before he immediately slammed it hard against the large door frame, much to every other creature's surprise.

"OH BOY, now you've done it, lady! Who's the one hurting some creature NOW?!", taunted Mr Tang.

"Shut up, you old ingrate! That's nothing compared to how you traumatized Yona!", snapped Smolder as she pointed the finger at Mr Tang.

"I'm sorry...", apologized Miss Starlight Glimmer as she lifted her head from the table surface. "Was it...something I said?". After a short pause of silence, Ocellus turned her attention to Miss Starlight Glimmer and told her

"Well, the matter of the fact is----last summer---Gallus fell in love with one of the candidates for Vice Headmare....."

"It was the same candidate who hosted a Classical Music Rave performance in the Ponyville theater...", added Silverstream.

"Octavia Melody? Ponyville's town violinist?", questioned Miss Starlight Glimmer.

"YEAH! That lovebird really thought he could win her heart if he played a classic musical instrument as well as Miss Octavia Melody", explained Smolder.

"Gallus room fill with Octavia pictures and photos before! Blue griffon huge follower of gray cello mare! Big heart of love for famous music performer!", cried out Yona as she expanded her arms.

"Through her promotional posters and fan letters, Gallus had managed to stalk his crush all the way from Ponyville to Manehattan, hoping he would get a chance to show off his newfound skills before Miss Octavia's Bridleway performance", elaborated the pitying sad Ocellus.

"That is, until one sad summer night at her hotel...."

----------(10 MONTHS AGO IN MANEHATTAN, SUMMER MIDNIGHT IN JULY)----------

It was a very starry and bright full-moon night on the empty streets of the Iron Sea Horse Hotel of Manehattan. Standing close to the frontal face of the six-story red-bricked hotel was a single working iron lampost that was shining a single downward-facing yellow spotlight. Reveling in that spotlight was the musical Gallus, who was wearing his light sea-blue tuxedo vest over his white shirt, a red bowtie and a pair of black cashmere pants. In addition to his sharply dressed demeanor, Gallus was also holding a traditional Griffonstone musical instrument known as the kemençe3 onto his right shoulder, while simultaneously tuning the three strings with his right talon and stroking the kemençe with his bow on his left talon. Standing on the sidewalk right beside Gallus on his left was a phonograph playing a simple soft piano harmony. As the melodious emotional tunes were being played out from its megaphone, Gallus graciously stroke his elaborately carved kemençe like a classical violinist, bringing out all the saddest tones he could muster from his mind, after his two months of intense musical training back in his homeland.

Kemençe Duygusal Karadeniz Şarkı Gün Gelir Enstrümantal
🎻🎶🎶🎶https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u85icmAYeWg🎶🎶🎶🎻

As Gallus played his kemençe under the urban spotlight, the lovely grey-coated Miss Octavia was out on her balcony in her beautiful dark-violet velvet shoulder-baring dress. Her outfit was able to snug very tightly around her luscious JJJ-cupped bosoms, barely covering her round supple nipples and exposing most of her cleavage. To top it all off, she was also wearing her trademarked pink bowtie with the white starched cotton choker, as well as a pair of her dark-violet sleeved gloves that covered most of her arms. She was going to wear that outfit for her upcoming performance at that Bridleway theater and everypony was going to enjoy what she had in store in her large thick wooden cello.

As Miss Octavia Melody closed her eyes and grasped her hands to enjoy the serenade of traditional Griffonstone music being played with the recorded soft piano chords, her silver-gray eye-shadow and her darkie-brown mane glistened under the whitened moonlight as she leaned over the balcony just a little to hear those gracious tunes with better high-definition clarity.

It was everything the orphaned small-town blue griffon had hoped for. A chance to impress his love-of-his-life with his newfound skill in a new instrument, with the hopes that her celebrity crush would become entranced in his music as much as he was entranced into hers. Ever since that performance at the Ponyville theater, Gallus became more infatuated with Miss Octavia's musical performances, but it was actually her hourglass figure and seductive stare that entranced Gallus the most. It was this moment here in Manehatten that Gallus was going to ask the biggest question of all time.

As soon as Gallus was done with his kemençe serenade, Octavia opened up her dark-violet eyes and looked down at the balcony to see her biggest fan smiling at him. From her second-floor white-plastered balcony, she called out to Gallus.

"Very excellent, Gallus! You played that kemençe like a classical Western violinist! It must've taken many hours of practice to reach that master level of skill. I am very very proud of you that you took such inspirations from me..."

"Thank you, Miss Octavia", called out Gallus as he looked up towards the balcony to see his musical love.

"You are my most favorite musical teacher AND potential headmare that I could had ever hoped for! I'm glad you were able to read my letter and come out on this very special starry night...."

After Gallus was done packing his kemençe in his elongated satchel bag, he later called out to her

"Hang on, I got a very special gift I wanna show you!"

With bated breath, Gallus flapped his large hawkish wings and flew upwards into the second floor balcony to meet the beautifully-dressed Miss Octavia in close person. Staring at her hourglass busty figure, Gallus was a bit squeamish over what he had in store in his tuxedo pocket. However, this was no time for Gallus to delay and he needed to show her how he truly felt for Octavia. He immediately pulled out a pink velvet-covered open box that presented an amethyst gemstone ring on the soft red padding from within.

As soon as Miss Octavia Melody grabbed the box and saw that special ring, she was astonished by Gallus' exquisite grand gesture and shouted,

"OH?? For me??! How very thoughtful of you, Gallus!"

Gallus nodded in agreement, before grabbing onto the outer ledge of the balcony and leaned his right feathery cheek into the balcony space for Octavia's soft wet kiss---

"Wooowww, I really love it SO much! This is definitely one of the best wedding gifts I had received!", complimented Miss Octavia as she stared at the sparkling amethyst ring.

"WAIT---WEDDING??!!!!", Gallus suddenly squawked as soon as he heard that dreaded word in her right ear!

"Uhh, YEAH! Of course! OH, uhhhhh, hehehe! I guess I kinda forgot about sending invitations about my upcoming marriage ceremony with Bulk Biceps next week! Thank you SO much for reminding me about that, Gallus!", nervously chuckled Miss Octavia Melody before she patted Gallus onto his feathery head.

"BULK BICEPS??!!", cawed the dismayed Gallus!

😭NNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!😭

As Gallus' virtual fantasy reality was suddenly shattered into a million pieces, his talons slipped from the balcony and he suddenly found himself plunging into the deep bottomless dark abyss below...

As soon as he landed very hard on the concrete sidewalk, his motionless body was now under the dimming yellowish-brown streetlight. No longer a single theater spotlight that brightened up the young amateur musical star, the urban lampost has now become a symbol of cursed mockery at his highlighted life failures. As he wallowed under the fading streetlight with his belly on the cold concrete, Gallus, who was in trembling tears, mumbled loudly into the heavens, hoping Princess Twilight Sparkle would heed his weeping pleads for help, before the darkness finally enveloped around his drooping skin of feathers....

😭"Whhyyyy------whhyyyy-----why does she have to marry Bulk Biceps???"😭

----------(PRESENT DAY IN PONYVILLE)----------

"ALL RIGHT, that's enough sappiness for tonight! I'm going out there to apologize to him!", said Miss Starlight as she got up from her seat to head out into the green-paneled door.

"UHH NO no no no no no no! There's no need for that, Miss Starlight! Gallus will be back to his ol' jolly self soon enough! I know it!", assured the gleeful Silverstream as she grabbed Starlight's arm with her right talon.

"WELL, in case he still doesn't wanna come out, I'm gonna go do what's best for him!", said Starlight as she used her levitation magic to free herself from SIlverstream's grasp.

"And what are you gonna do that's best for him, Missy?", asked the curious Mr Tang.

"Cook up some delicious muffins, cupcakes and pies for dinner!", shouted the re-energized Miss Starlight Glimmer. As she went out into the hallway, she was immediately being followed by her fellow students.

"OOOH, while you do the cooking, I'll do the dishes!", hollered Silverstream.

"I'll do the ingredient sorting!", hollered Ocellus.

"I'll start up the cooking fires!", hollered Smolder.

"Me start carry heavy flour bags!", hollered Yona.

"And I'LL do the taste testing later on!!", cried the cheerful Gallus as he popped out of the hallway doors with his left talon pointing up and his right talon placed over his fluffy chest!

"GLAD you're up and at'em, Gally-LEO!", screeched Silverstream as she flew up to Gallus with jazzy talons waving below her face.

"I KNEW you'll come around pretty soon!", shouted Ocellus as she quickly flew up to Gallus to see his peckish smiling face.

"HEHE, yeah! Just lemme know when dinner's already done, all right??", requested Gallus as he returned back to his sleeping bedroom.

Meanwhile, inside the crystal library, Master Zhi asked Mr Tang something to break the silence

"Sooo uhhh, wanna go help out in the kitchen, Tang??"

"NAH, I'm watching out for my diet!", replied the starving Mr Tang. "Let's just head out into Ponyville to see if there's any decent dim-sum restaurants nearby!"

"Will you be paying this time?", questioned Master Zhi.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA, of course I'm not!", yelled Mr Tang after laughing so sarcastically at Master Zhi's silly question, before Master Zhi responded

"FIGURES! All right, I'll see if we can salvage anything from the dumpsters tonight..."

And so, the young celebratory night for all the creatures in the castle (and outside the dim-sum dumpsters) went on until it grew old into the darkest midnight and every creature was soon fast asleep, as they would need their re-vitalized energy later in the next morning to start the day in school anew...

---END

Author's Note

Dao: a traditional Chinese single-edged sabre used primarily for chopping and slashing

Yanyuedao: Literally translates to "reclining moon blade", it is a special Chinese pole weapon with a very broad crescent-curved blade and a single barbed spike

Kemençe (or Kemenche): A traditional three-stringed Turkish instrument (lit. means "small bow" in Persian) that is similar to a violin

16 Obliviously Undercover

Ch 16 - Obliviously Undercover

----------(MANEHATTAN, 64 TIMOR STREET, WEDNESDAY 9:00 A.M.)----------

It was a very busy yet calm morning in the bustling streets of this Manehattan merchant town. Walking on the sidewalks along the streets were usually groups of well-suited Equestrian workers, who were already on there way to head out to work at their menial jobs in their tall skyscraper abodes or in their small brick-walled business stores. While some Earthen Equestrians use the sidewalks, there are still a couple pegasi and griffons that still commute to work in the skies. As the yellow-vested traffic police were escorting the pedestrians both on the ground sidewalks and in the lightly crowded skies, ground vehicles such as wooden merchant oxen/bull carriages, taxi rickshaws, a couple steamers and several bikes had to abide by the traffic lights operated by the lever pulls on their posts, before they could make their way to their destinations across the complex brick-laden roads. Up in the skies, delivery gyro-copters, civilian pedal-powered choppers and commuting gliders had to be guided by groups of pegasi and griffon traffic escorts had to guide these civilian aerial vehicles away from the flying pedestrians as they circle around certain certified airspace, before they were permitted to fly towards their next set of destinations on their defined routes. A couple of blue-uniformed police officers were also making their usual patrol rounds across the street, either on hoof or up in the sky, ensuring that no harm comes to the citizens of Manehattan and that the streets were clean of criminal scum.

Fortunately, the work of both air and ground traffic police became very light once all the workers had entered their workplace, though blue police patrols still lingered on for a couple more minutes even after the streets became more sparser in density. In addition to that, only a few carriages, buggies and merchant carts remain on the side of the road, waiting to be rolled off onto the roads once the work shift was finished. There was one particular expensive automotive vehicle that stood out among the other wheeled transports on the streets. Standing by the concrete sidewalk, on the brick-laden road, was a green-painted four-seated Model 1922 Stanley Steamer1. Within that steam car was the godfather of Triad boss Ginseng Dragon, Sunny Boy, who was now wearing his brand new pair of rectangular glasses, a red jacket, brown shirt and khaki jeans in person. The scraped scar on his face had partially healed, with a bit of bleached coating on his nasal ridge. Perhaps the accident was bad enough that it wiped off most of the pigment cells on his nose, leading to only his nose region to be without its yellow-orange coat. Perhaps he should paint over it with some orange-yellow pigments to make himself look more anew...

As Sunny Boy sat in the driver seat of the 1922 Stanley Steamer, he was reading an important letter from his godfather that was delivered to him by a courier and it had a few simple instructions on the letter.

Stand by as Ash's Equestrian Jewelry Store at 64 Timor Street in Manehattan, New Yoke at 9:00 A.M.

Await for three Diamond Dog friends of mine, who will be at your destination within five minutes after your arrival

Once they are in your car, please deliver them to my Doble E-20 ivory car at 13 Poney Musey Rd (10:30 A.M. sharp) and ride along with me back to Qilin town

MOST IMPORTANT: Please stay calm under pressure and let my Diamond Dogs do the rest. Just make sure the steam car's boiler is fully hot and pressured to the brim. Do NOT cool off nor relieve ANY steam pressure once you arrived at your destination

Sunny Boy was a little confused about the ending note on the list. What kind of pressure there was to delivering a couple friends from off the street? Perhaps they are very punctual business partners of godfather that likes having everything done on time! Of course, just like how he plans out his scheduled activities in book reading, researching and magical experiments on his free time...

Speaking of pressure, Sunny Boy had to perform a pilot check on the steamer to make sure it was up and running. Using only what he could remember from studying the operation manuals on the Stanley Steamer last night, Sunny Boy himself was rather a light novice when it comes to driving his first steam car. However, he knew that operating a steamer was somewhat similar to operating a locomotive train, albeit a little more simpler. In spite of his troubled memory, he had been able to retain his previous engineering knowledge of most innovative machines from reading several science journals, magazines and pamphlets during his spare time. It was not very common for most middle-class or lower-class Equestrians to own an automobile, as they were usually reserved for the rich private citizens or some highly important government figures, usually those from major cities across Western Equestria.

Fortunately for Sunny Boy, he had both the technical know-how AND the magical prowess to get the steamer running within less than half an hour or so (much shorter if he's in a hurry)! As long as he performs these tasks right efficiently before the arrival of his Diamond Dog passengers, he can complete the rest of his task in taking these business canines to his rich grandfather, possibly before the 10:30 A.M. deadline was reached.

In his first objective on his pilot check-list, Sunny Boy cast a spell that summons a spiritual fire snake to wrap around the kerosene fuel pipes connected to the pilot tank. This will ensure that the gas is constantly vaporized before it reaches the boiler.

In his second objective, Sunny Boy had ordered a large 2-gallon water barrel from a nearby grocery store, opened up the front car hood and used his water manipulation spell to fill the bottom water tank (via pipes) to only to half its capacity; any remaining water within the barrel may be used to refill the radiator at the front of the car

In the third step, Sunny Boy opened up the top cap of the steam generator and used his aerial stream spell from his horn to cool-down the boiler and to ensure perfect pressurized steam flow within the engine later on

In the next step, Sunny Boy checks the kerosene flame underneath the steam generator; if the flame seems to be dying down, he re-vitalizes it with a phoenix flame spell in the firebox underneath the steam generator (preferably at a distance, in case a huge flame puffs out from underneath the boiler)

In the next step, Sunny Boy casts a repetitive time bubble spell over the hand-lever pump (located right-handed from the driver seat) and performed a simple fast back-and-forth stroke; as the lever automatically reciprocates back and forth, fuel pressure within the kerosene gas tank rises, ensuring that the water is super-boiled into pure steam within the generator; he deactivates the repetition spell once the fuel pressure gauge on the dashboard reaches 400 psi

In the next step, Sunny Boy then turns on the hexane fuel valve underneath the driving wheel, before turning on the main burner valve on the dashboard; this will further boost the fire output within the firebox (thereby raising the boiling temperature within the steam generator

Finally, on the last objective, a drip valve switch on the dashboard was later activated to remove any excess water remaining within the piston cylinders of the engine (since water cannot compress well like steam within an engine, which can compromise engine output); once the steam, fuel and fire gauge is at nearly 90% its full power, this steam car will be ready to go rolling on the brick road

Once all the required objectives on his checklist were complete, Sunny Boy took his pocket-watch from his shirt pocket and saw that the time was already fifteen minutes passed 9:00 A.M. And yet despite the fact that his godfather had told him that three Diamond Dogs will arrive within five minutes of his arrival, Sunny Boy could not see any approaching business canines coming over to the steamer from the sparsely-populated streets, shops or buildings. Perhaps his friends were not the time-savvy punctual kind of creatures at all...

((((🔔)))) (((( 🔔 )))) ((((🔔)))) (((( 🔔 )))) ((((🔔)))) (((( 🔔 )))) ((((🔔)))) (((( 🔔 )))) ((((🔔)))) (((( 🔔 )))) ((((🔔)))) (((( 🔔 )))) ((((🔔))))

Then, suddenly, out of the blue, Sunny Boy heard a very loud fire alarm ringing from across the street and saw that the chaotic cacophony was coming from the brightly golden-lit Ash's Equestrian Jewellry store at his right side, 20 meters away from his green Stanley Steamer. As he sat idly by in his hot-boiling vehicle, he saw something rush out of the jewelry store, through the passenger window of his car. To his surprise, he realized that there were three Diamond Dogs who were wearing a variety of masks over their heads; one Diamond dog had a burlap sack with two eye holes, the second dog had a dark woolen ski mask and the third one had a masked bonnet. In addition to their facial headwear, the three Diamond Dogs were also sporting three dark-brown tweed jackets and khaki pants on their person. One Diamond Dog with the burlap mask had a large duffel bag over his shoulder and the other two were armed to the bone with 7mm pinfire revolvers2.

"LOOK, over there!! That's our ride!! The green one!!", shouted one of the masked Diamond Dogs before they all ran towards the faraway Model 1922 Stanley Steamer!

As every creature on the street was scared thoughtless to the spectacle happening right in front of the store, the Diamond Dogs all had their pinfire revolvers pointed at the crowd, threatening to shoot any creature who came too close to them and their escape ride. Needless to say, the pedestrians stood as far back from the dangerous canines and tried to carry on with their own business without being shot in the crossfire.

"I want EVERY groundling and flyer to back off!! This is just a routine business transaction!! Nothing to see here!", shouted one of the masked Diamond Dogs who was carrying a duffel bag.

Meanwhile, as chaos continued to reign on at 64 Timor Street, one particular blue fancy steam car stood idly by across the street, 60 meters southwest from the green 1922 Stanley Steamer. It was a blue-painted Model 1913 Stanely Steamer3 and it was being occupied by one orange-maned beige-coated kirin police officer, who was constantly manually working the fuel pressure lever with his levitation magic. Standing by the car was a buff white-coated and cobalt blue-maned stallion unicorn in a steel cuirass, wearing a pair of double pauldrons over his shoulders, a pair of denim pants and steel-plated greaves over his moccasin boots. The armored stallion was talking on the phone in a iron-casted Gamewell police call-box4, speaking to the Manehattan police headquarters as fast as he can, reporting on the immediate apparent store robbery he was witnessing.

"Hello, this is Captain Shining Armor of the Canterlot Royal Guard! We have a confirmed hit on the jewelry store at 64 Timor Street, just as expected from the intelligence reports! Robbery is in progress as we speak! We have three masked Diamond Dogs heading for a green steamer! Send back up now!!"

After he quickly hung up the receiver and locked the call box with his magical royal ID badge on the door, Captain Shining Armour quickly got into the blue 1913 Stanley Steamer and shouted at the officer

"Okay, August Rooster! That's enough pressure!! Turn the throttle to full speed!", ordered the high-ranking Canterlot official after he slammed the passenger seat door. Suddenly, from the magical power emitting from his horn, Officer Rooster revved up the fire in the gas stove, revved up the steam fuel pressure and opened up the fueling valves to jump-start the car within a couple seconds.

Once all the three masked Diamond dogs were inside Sunny Boy's four-seated green car, they all immediately asked

"HEY, are you sent by the Dragon Head??!"

Before the canine could finish his question, Sunny Boy quickly replied

"YES, I AM!! Wait, what in Equestria is going on here??!!"

"What does it look like, genius??! We just sacked that store of all its precious gold and diamond valuables!! Probably worth close to 5 MILLION bits!!", boasted the adrenaline-rushed ski-masked Diamond Dog, who was sitting at the passenger seat next to Sunny Boy.

"NO TIME TO TALK!! Just do what you were told, pointy head!!", shouted the bonnet-wearing Diamond Dog who was sitting at the backseat close to the right side of the back-facing car.

"WAIT, SACKED??!! You mean to tell me that you had committed armed robbery just now??!", questioned the panicking Sunny Boy.

"YES, YOU IDIOT!! We're goddamn thugs-for-hire, okay??! JUST TURN THE THROTTLE before I blow your head off!!", barked the ski-masked Diamond Dog as he shoved his pinfire revolver at Sunny Boy's neck!

"RIGHT RIGHT, LET'S GO!!", shouted Sunny Boy as he disengaged the throttle lock, pushed down on the fire pedal and turned the throttle wheel (within the steering wheel) to the right to rev up the pistons within the front car wheels! As soon as the car started rolling from its parking spot and sped off onto the brick-laden road with a trail of hot piping steam escaping from its exhaust, another blue Stanley Steamer was on its way to pursue the green Stanley Steamer from the intersecting road!

Once the getaway car was on his sights, Officer Rooster activated the loud steam siren to alert the current robbers that they were on their shaking tails, before speeding off to chase the robbers in a hot pursuit.

*WEEEOOOOOPPP---WRREEOOOOOPP---WWREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!!!!!!*
https://youtu.be/G8P81OChG0c?t=102

"There's a steam whistler button at the far right of dashboard, Captain!!", shouted kirin Officer Rooster as he tried his best to navigate the roads while tailing the green steamer. "Push on it to warn these passengers to get off the road!!"

"You mean this one?", asked Captain Shining Armor as he pressed the silver button with a steam whistle symbol on the dashboard.

🚂"CCHOOOOOOO-CHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"🚂

As soon as the pedestrians on the crosswalk heard the whistle and saw the putt-putt trail-puffing steam cars about to roll over them, every citizen started to scramble out of the way to avoid being mangled by the heavy wheeled machinations!

"AAHH SHIT!! LOOK!! We got blue peppies on our tail!!", shouted the burlap-sacked Diamond Dog as he looked behind and saw the chasing blue Stanley behind the trail of white condensed steam!

"Well then, shoot'em, you moron!! We can't let them get a bead on our loot!!, ordered the ski-masked Diamond Dog as he cocked his pinfire revolver.

"WAIT WAIT WAIT, NO NO NO NO, DON'T DO IT!!", shouted the panicked drift-driving Sunny Boy as he used his levitation magic to pull all the guns from the Diamond Dogs' paws. "Those police servants are highly essential in protecting innocent citizens in our modern society!!"

"HEY, BOOKS-FOR-BRAINS!! We ain't innocent civvies over here!! They're not here to protect US!!", howled the ski-masked Diamond as he turned his attention to the driver. "Now GIMME BACK our damn guns!"

"NOOO, if you start firing, they'll fire BACK at us!! Then NONE of us will survive the chase!!", cried Sunny Boy as he tried to navigate the busy road intersections without running over the screaming pedestrians!

"Officer Rooster, slow down for a bit! I'm gonna send a police signal flare over to alert the other officers to our pursuit at Northern Hayseed Road!!", ordered Captain Shining Armor as he stuck his head out into the opening with his glowing magic horn.

"The traffic skies are free of flyers! You're clear to launch, Captain!", shouted Officer Rooster as he turned the throttle lever counter-clockwise to reduce the speed enough to safely allow the captain to cast his signal flare spell, while still maintaining a hot steamy pursuit of the green steam-blazing getaway car.

As soon as Captain Shining Armor shot off a blue lightning-bright 500-m-altitude flare shaped like Captain Shining Armor's cutie mark (a cobalt-blue shield with a six-point fuschia star within and three baby-blue five-pointed stars above), one blue pegasus officer mare saw the trailing flare and immediately flew towards a nearby Gameswell police call-box on top of one of the brick-walled buildings.

As quickly as she unlocked the police call-box with her key, she turned the dial to "Report 4" (for emergency calls to all Manehatten police stations), yanked down the middle crank to sound the alarm, picked up the receiver and shouted at the implanted transmitter

"HQ, this is Officer Recon! We have a situation at Northern Hayseed Road! Requesting immediate assignment!"

From the receiver, HQ responded with utmost urgency

"We have a vehicular pursuit of three suspected armed robbers of a jewel heist! Have all units follow and back up Captain Shining Armor and Officer Rooster along that road! Suspects are being escorted in a green steamer, Model 1922!"

"Understood, sir!!", shouted Officer Recon before hanging up the receiver and locking the call-box. As soon as she saw three different pegasus officers patrolling the skies, she called them all over here to join them on the epic pursuit.

"You know it's not right to steal from others, YOU KNOW??!!", shouted Sunny Boy as he made a hard right turn on the next intersection.

"JUST FUCKIN' DRIVE, YOU DAMN MULE!!", shouted the angry ski-masked Diamond Dog who was now losing patience with his righteous morals.

"RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT, of course!! Just focus on the road! GOT IT!!", muttered Sunny Boy as he tried to keep cool under the pressure, while revving up the pressure with the steam pedal.

"How the hell did the Dragon Head ended up adopting a godson like you??!!", questioned the bonnet-wearing Diamond Dog as he kept an eye on the speeding police steamer.

Sonny Boy tried to make another hard left turn into a trashy narrow alleyway, hoping to lose the police, before turning right onto an empty road flanked by two strip malls; but alas, Captain Shining Armor and Officer Rooster were already on the Diamond Dogs' tail, thanks to Officer Rooster's driving skills that were adept enough to navigate through the alleyway that could barely fit their wide blue steamer!

Afterwards, Sonny Boy then tried to navigate a hard right curve on the road before revving up the throttling speed through an arched overpass train track across the Bonnet Buggy Road, but when he saw he actually drove into an unfinished road construction project, he immediately turned the throttle wheel counter-clockwise as hard as he could and made a hard right turn, before pulling the brake handle! The green steamer immediately came to a halt just in time, right before its right side almost slammed onto some concrete hedgehogs and wooden orange-and-white striped no-entry signs!

As soon as the blue police steamer had caught up with the green getaway car, Officer Rooster immediately turned to the left and halted the car engine, before he and Captain Shining Armour got out the car and took cover behind their side-facing vehicle! Soon enough, two blue Model 1917 Stanley Steamers (each withfour seats instead of two)5 and one pegasus officer on his 1902 Stanley Steam Loco-cycle6 joined up with the two lawmen, before five more police officers (as well as four more Canterlot Royal guards in gold-plated steel armor) came into the scene to provide the necessary back-up. To top it all that, a Collins Buddy electric-powered paddy wagon7 was also brought here to the crime scene to haul in the suspects once they were detained.

As Officer Rooster drew his Remington police revolver8 and pointed at the green steamer, Captain Shining Armor also cast his blue teardrop-shaped ethereal shield from his magic horn. All back-up officers were now anticipating for a possible upcoming gun battle with the jewel robbers.

"Why the hell did you drove us into an unfinished road, you idiot??!!", shouted the ski-masked Diamond Dog as he struggled to get out of the car.

"AAHHH, DOGGONE IT!! There's WAY too many peppies and golden guards blocking our only exit!!", shouted the burlap-sacked canine! He was absolutely right about their predicament. Overlooking the edge of the unfinished road bridge was a 75 m dead drop onto the hard asphalt road street below. Even with levitation magic, there wouldn't be enough time to carry all three Diamond Dogs safely to the ground and Sunny Boy's magical aura was only effective at a maximum 10 m radius at best.

"FUCK THIS!! We're taking them out right now!! You just stay back here and keep your head down, tinker head!", shouted the ski-masked Diamond Dog as he flicked Sunny Boy's glowing horn to deactivate his magic.

As soon as all three revolvers dropped onto the black vinyl seat, all the Diamond Dogs quickly grabbed their guns, took aim at the officers and began firing! The battle between outlaws and law enforcement had begun!

Bullets rapidly flew past the officers, breaking through the fragile temper glass of their police cars and denting the armored steel plating on their chassis body! The other Equestrian officers soon began returning fire with their own Remington service revolvers in retaliation!

As soon as the Diamond Dogs got out of their cars, they continue to shoot wildly at the police force and taking cover behind the green steamer as they were taking fire from the officers as well. As soon as the firefight quickly became too intensely hot, Sunny Boy quickly duck for cover with the gun-slinging Diamond Dogs and began laying on the cold concrete floor in a prone position to avoid the bullets zipping overhead!

After Officer Rooster and the rest of the officers fired their last rounds and started to eject the empty cases before reloading, the two unicorn royal guards provided covering fire for the local police force by shooting their mentally-charged crepuscular beams from their blue-hot horns, slicing up nearly the top half of the bullet-ridden green steam car (and the construction site barriers in the process)! Luckily for the three criminal robbers and Sunny Boy, they managed to duck down in time, before the unicorns had a chance to bifurcate them with their intense steel-cutting magic beam!

As the unicorn royal guards charged their horns to the fullest max, the Diamond Dogs began firing back at the vulnerable officers and royal guards, but the officers were quickly saved in time by the brave gung-ho Captain Shining Armour, who ran out of his cover to position himself and his 2m x 2m ethereal shield into the line of the Diamond Dogs' gunfire!

As the Diamond Dogs continued to helplessly shoot at the officers, and finding most of their bullets landing onto Captain Shining Armor's powerful ethereal shield, they suddenly found themselves clicking their guns with no sight of a muzzle flash. It was at this instant moment that the Diamond Dogs found themselves empty of ammo.

"QUICK, gimme your bullets!!", shouted the ski-masked Diamond Dog as he immediately duck behind the green half-destroyed steamer.

"I don't HAVE any more left!! I used them all!!", loudly responded the bonnet-wearing criminal dog as he ejected all the empty pinfire bullet cases from his cylinder.

"I'm dry too!", whimpered the sad burlap-sacked canine as he showed his empty cylinder to his partners-in-crime.

"Why the hell did you even drove us into a deathtrap, you dinky brain??!!", shouted the ski-masked Diamond Dog as he grabbed Sunny Boy's shirt at the front and barked at the unicorn's scared face.

"I'm SORRY, I'm SORRY!! I kinda panicked when the police started chasing us!! I was trying to lose them and accidentally made a wrong turn!!", cried the frightened Sunny Boy as he stared deep into the angry eye-holes of the Diamond Dog's ski mask.

"What the hell are we gonna do now??!!", panicked the burlap-sacked Diamond Dog whose sweat was now seeping into his dirty mask.

As soon as the officers and royal guards realized that the Diamond Dogs had stopped firing, they slowly peered from behind the bullet-riddled and window-shattered police cars, but still remain vigilante for any more possible surprises. Captain Shining Armor later joined his police comrade, who was still ducking behind cover near his blue shot-up steamer. The brave armored knight was now in no mood to engage, as his magic power had already been drain after his magic shield took on so many speeding bullets.

"Officer Rooster, do you have an extra service revolver I can borrow?!", requested the exhausted Captain Shining Armor.

"Sure, it's at the back trunk case! Fetch it quickly while I cover you!", loudly whispered Officer Rooster as he set his gun sights at the destroyed green getaway car.

"I SAID, what the HELL are we gonna do NOW??!", repeated the panicking burlap-sacked Diamond Dog as he cowered in fear behind the destroyed steamer.

"Hey hey hey hey hey, don't be scared!! I gotta new plan, okay?!", assured the agitated Sunny Boy as the ski-masked Diamond Dog was still angrily grabbing him by the shirt with his clenched paw. Seeing as there was now no other choice, the Diamond Dog reluctantly decided to let him go and put his trust into Sunny Boy's plan.

"Quick, gimme all your guns, NOW!", demanded Sunny Boy before the Diamond Dogs reluctantly agreed to do as they were told.

"Sooo, uhhh---what now?", questioned the bonnet-wearing Diamond Dog.

With his telekinesis, Sunny Boy immediately stood up from the ground and hurled the unloaded guns forward onto the bare pavement!

"HEY!! WHAT ARE YOU, FUCKING CRAZY???!!", questioned the dismayed ski-masked canine as he slapped both sides of his own head in despair.

"Don't worry!! They won't shoot us if we're unarmed!", shouted Sunny Boy as he immediately showed his raised hands in the air at the confused officers.

"HEY, Captain Shining Armor! Look! Doesn't that unicorn stallion look familiar to you??!", whispered Officer Rooster loudly as soon as he spotted the surrendering Sunny Boy. "He was on last weekend's paper about that cart crash incident AND those missing posters, wasn't he??"

"Yeah, I think he does look somewhat familiar! No white stripe on his nose...but the white-coated hands and that nervous nerdy expression seems somewhat a resemblance...", said Captain Shining Armor who was now armed with his own Remington revolver.

"Riightt! Sunburst, isn't it?! He was both your royal crystaller AND your daughter's babysitter, correct?!", questioned Officer Rooster. "AND he used to teach your unicorn buddies on how to cast a blue ribbon detainment spell back at the academy months ago, right?"

"YEP, that's right! MAN, I haven't seen him in person since he left Canterlot to work at that Friendship School in Ponyville.", wondered Captain Shining Armor as he peered over the blue damaged steamer to take a peek at Sunny Boy.

"Everypony from the Canterlot force and every officer in all major cities had been looking for this Vice-Stallion for days ever since your regal sister sent out the all-points missing citizens bulletin report!", replied Officer Rooster as the anxious kirin stared in shock at the bespectacled surrendering unicorn.

"I'm so glad that we had found him, but---how in Equestria did he end up being in league with these Diamond Dog gangsters? And why is he sporting that terrible rebellious fashion look? That is SO unlike the Sunburst I used to know...", questioned Shining Armor as he examined the surrendering unicorn's urban-themed tacky attire.

"Call me a conspiracy loon, but...maybe he's working undercover??", asked Officer Rooster as he duck down for cover.

"Why in my holy sister's name are you pondering on such a dumb theory?! Go over to the other officers and check if they had any bullet wounds on them!", ordered Captain Shining Armor as he nudged his head towards his other comrades.

As soon as Officer Rooster left the Captain's side to meet his other fellow lawmen, Captain Shining Armour ran 75 meters south across the overpass bridge, away from the potentially dangerous scene, before finding a nearby police call-box at a maid cafe near the curved road where they had driven over.

After unlocking the Gamewell police call-box with his royal ID badge and turning the dial to "Telephone", he picked up the receiver and spoke to HQ via transmitter

"Hello, HQ? This is Captain Shining Armor of the Royal Canterlot Guard! Connect me to Superintendent Hoss on the line, NOW!"

"One moment please...", said the HQ switchboard operator.

"..............."

(10 seconds later)

As soon as he heard the click, Captain Shining Armor immediately spoke into the transmitter

"Hello, Superintendent Hoss! I was just wondering. Did you assigned Mister Sunburst to an undercover mission in Manehattan by any chance?"

"What kinda idiotic no-brainer question is that??! Even if I DID know he was undercover, I wouldn't tell a DAMN thing about this top-secret shit, because we all know too damn well that these lines can easily be wire-tapped by those moggies and mutts!", shouted the livid police superintendent.

"Right, OF COURSE! Understood, sir!", answered Captain Shining Armor before he hung up and immediately sprinted back to the police scene.

"Lemme take care of this mess! Maybe we can negotiate some sorta deal here! I'm a smooth talker!", pleaded the surrendering Sunny Boy as he side-stepped out of his cover and slowly approached the gun-toting officers, who were still taking cover behind their cars.

"What in the Tartaric hell is that dinky brain doing??", questioned the bonnet-wearing Diamond Dog as he continued to hide behind the car wreck.

"Captain, you're back! Where were you?! We really could use some help negotiating this unicorn!", shouted one purple-coated unicorn mare officer as soon as she saw the royal guard captain sprinting.

"Something about this unicorn stallion doesn't feel right.....he looks somewhat----familiar...no...it can't be----could it be??", questioned the other black-coated mustached pegasus stallion officer as he stared deeply onto the surrending unicorn's whimpering face.

"It's all right, officers! DON'T look far into it. Just let me talk to him! Looks like our 'fugitive' is willing to talk to us for a better deal!", requested the armed Captain Shining Armor as he slowly approached at the surrendering Sunny Boy with his drawn-out police revolver. He turned his head and quietly called out to his comrades

"Whatever you're thinking about right now, it's probably for the best that you keep quiet about this for now. Otherwise, you might end up blowing the whole operation apart..."

As both Sunny Boy and the readily-armed Captain Shining Armor approached each other with anxious anticipation for the other Equestrian to make their sudden move, Captain Shining Armor quietly asked to his estranged friend

"So, what's the situation like over here?"

He didn't want to use the unicorn prodigy's real name, in case the Diamond Dogs' sensitive ears would catch wind of his true identity and have him terminated permanently later on for being a possible police informant. He continues to have his Remington revolver aimed at the anxious unicorn during the 'parlay'.

"We ran out of bullets...", whispered Sunny Boy to Captain Shining Armor. He also didn't want the Diamond Dogs to hear with their sensitive ears about what he was blurting out to the royal guard captain and react negatively to the situation.

"Ahh ahh, yes...very good..job well done..", quietly congratulated Captain Shining Armor, causing Sunny Boy to raise a single left eyebrow in confusion. He did not expect the Captain of the Royal guard to praise him for his actions, even if he had done nothing but cowardly lay down under the gunfire. He slowly began to relax and lowered his hands down to his hips.

"Sooooo uhhhh, might I ask----how in Equestria did you got yourself involved with these mutts in the first place? Are they treating you well?", asked Captain Shining Armor. As much as he wanted to tell him that his friends and family are worried sick about him, he had to keep his questions short, so as to not rouse any suspicion from the Diamond Dogs.

"OOOhh, just something that I was told to pick up for somepony very important....but---I never knew they would be such bold and brash creatures!", whispered the scared Sunny Boy. He didn't want to implicate his godfather in his statement to the royal guard captain, because he didn't want his godfather to get arrested for being associated with these armed canine robbers.

"Still, they seem pretty shaken about the whole situation right now...so don't get too rough on them...", requested Sunny Boy as he pointed at the cowering Diamond Dogs from behind. "I don't know about how their prior situation led them to commit such a heinous act, but maybe if you just gently coax them into revealing their own troubled past, you could get a better understanding about their upbringing"

"Riiigghhtt, so---you in Special Department?", questioned Captain Shining Armor, hoping he will get a straight answer about whether he works for a special undercover police department as an informant without raising too much suspicion from the possibly eavesdropping Diamond Dogs.

"Uhhh---yeah...it's pretty fancy, all right...don't know why you asked though..." commented the confused Sunny Boy, thinking that the royal guard captain was asking about the lavish new luxury department gift given to by his godfather, to which Shining Armor replied to him

"RIGHT! Of course...I shouldn't pry you any further about that....it's just---after so much time has passed, it's hard to distinguish who your buddies and former rivals are like these days---you know, after losing complete social contact with them...", muttered the worried Captain Shining Armor as he stared into the unicorn's confused eyes.

"Uhhh, YEAH---of course! You know it, officer. I totally get ya", nervous chuckled Sunny Boy as he began to feel a bit uncomfortable about the royal guard captain's oncoming friendly approach.

"Man, you look a lot mature these days...", complimented Captain Shining Armor as he gazed upon Sunny Boy's short-cut orange mane, rectangular gases and short chin stubble.

"Yeah, I---kinda get that a lot from my students!", chuckled the flattered Sunny Boy as he nervously smiled and rubbed the back of his head.

"SO, what do you think we should do now?", asked Captain Shining Armor, hoping that the undercover informant has a special plan to get them out of the sticky situation, just like he did back in the Crystal Empire during the Crystalling ceremony.

"Uhhhh, I really don't know...I thought you guys would have something special up your sleeve.", stuttered the quiet Sunburst. He later leaned in to whisper to the Captain's ear. "As of now, I'm actually being held hostage against my will..."

"Ooohh, right...of course!", winked Captain Shining Armor, thinking what the informant said was code word for him executing the ultimate move.

Weirded out by the captain's strange response, Sunny Boy suddenly found himself being gripped by Captain Shining Armor's telekinetic hold, got turned around and was now being strongly headlocked by the neck by the royal guard captain! With the captain's revolver being pointed towards his face, Sunny Boy unexpectedly found himself being held hostage by the law instead of the criminals, a sudden twist of ironic fate not expected in the world of cops and robbers!

"I know you mangy hounds are outta bullets right now!!", shouted Captain Shining Armor as he held the informant hostage with his revolver muzzle planted onto the bespectacled unicorn's cheek!

"Even if you're actually bluffing, you REALLY think you can take on the WHOLE Manehatten police force of 2800 officers, as well as 1500 Canterlot Royal Guards hunting you down after your escape from justice??!", threatened Captain Shining Armor as he approached the green car wreck. In case the Diamond Dogs were really bluffing about being empty and were willing to take out their snitch, he used up any remaining regenerated mental energy he had left to cast a smaller ethereal shield to protect the informant.

All the Diamond Dogs were now in for a world of shock as the police officers came out of their cover and began slowly marching towards them with their guns drawn. In addition, two pegasus royal guards were ready to fly forward to catch the suspects with their spiky man-catchers9, while the other two unicorn royal guards were ready to cast their ribbon detainment spells as they slowly approach the suspects.

"Just do what this man with a clear conscience did and turn yourselves in to the police! Otherwise, things will get PRETTY messy if you all continue to resist! Best chance for all of you is for us to go home without even a single drop of blood being spilled!", continued the brisk and bold Captain Shining Armor as he continued to hold Sunny Boy hostage. "If you don't surrender, I'm gonna count down to 3 and your predicament will get a WHOLE lot worse after you're arrested---assuming that you survive, that is!"

Looking at each other with confusion and dreaded fear, they were feeling the intense pressure about the godfather losing his only godson in an intense standoff with the maniacal police force! Though they had entirely loathed about their inexperienced getaway driver putting them into deeper trouble in the first place, they were not willing to risk the life of the crime boss' godson nor themselves over a botched robbery. Even if the Diamond Dogs did survived, they still would get into even further fatal trouble in prison once they become green-lighted under the orders of the enraging Dragon Head.

"It's no use, dawg!! We have to surrender! There's no escaping both the law AND the Triad gang!", loudly whimpered the frightened burlap-sacked Diamond Dog as the Diamond Dogs cowardly hid behind their wreckage.

The brazened Captain started to count down as his armed comrades behind him approach closer to the Diamond Dogs...

"THREE---!!"

"TWO---!!"

ONE---!!"

Sunny Boy quickly gestured the Diamond Dogs to do as they were told, fearing for his life as the cold gun muzzle firmly pressed against his cheek.

"OKAY OKAY!! WE SURRENDER!!!", shouted the ski-masked Diamond Dog as he and his two canine partners stood up and raised their paws up in the air!

"DON'T SHOOT, DON'T SHOOT!", pleaded the surrendering bonnet-wearing Diamond Dog as his legs shook in fear.

After the long 10-minute stand-off with the Diamond Dogs and Sunny Boy, all four suspects were arrested and charged with one count of armed burglary, eleven counts of resisting arrest and eleven counts of attempted murder of a police official. All were bound in blue ethereal ribbons and held by their necks with spiked man-catchers. All the suspects were loaded into the electric paddy wagon---all except for ONE unicorn...

"Up you go, doggies! Into the car! Anything you say will be used against you in the court of law!", ordered Captain Shining Armor and the rest of the officers as they guide the criminals onto the wagon.

"WAIT!", shouted Captain Shining Armor as he stopped the bound and man-handled informant from entering the wagon. "Leave this suspect to me! I'll take him to another station for special questioning!"

As Captain Shining Armour escorted the fourth 'fugitive' to behind a nearby huge orange cement mixer, the restrained Diamond Dogs remain seated on their steel benches in the wagon, before a unicorn officer mare cast an ethereal containment barrier around the lightly caged wagon and enchanted the barrier with an encryption spell to prevent them from jumping off the wagon and protect against unauthorized tampering of the ethereal barrier.

"All right, we're good to go!", called out the unicorn officer before heading back to her police steamer.

Afterwards, another unicorn officer mare got into the driver seat of the wagon, activated the car batteries with her electrifying aura from her horn, and immediately began hauling off the suspects to a nearby station.

Meanwhile, after the unicorn informant and Captain Shining Armor were out of view from the other officers, Sunny Boy suddenly asked to the captain

"I'm confused? Are we going to take a ride on the cement mixer carriage?"

"I'm letting you go, you crazy nerd!", chuckled Captain Shining Armor as he immediately unleashed his grasp on the informant from his man-catcher and cast a nullification spell against the ethereal blue ribbons.

"Really??! I'm free to go?! You serious, right??", questioned the baffled Sunburst as he was being released from his magical bindings.

"YES, I am! You do have a job to do, right??", questioned Captain Shining Armor. "Though, I think it would be best for you to reveal yourself to your family about your current well-being. Everypony may be worried sick of you about your unknown whereabouts..."

As much as Captain Shining Armor really wanted his friend Sunburst to contact loved ones, he knew that getting in touch with his best friend Starlight Glimmer, his family and his students would compromise his supposed undercover mission as an police informant for the anti-gang unit. Besides, he has the required curious motivations and meticulous research skills to gather as much intelligence needed for any possible leads about the criminal underworld. What kind of special police department wouldn't hire an intelligent well-known and revered associate that taught the academy on criminal detainment and negotiation tactics?

"Wow, thank you SO much, sir!", blessed Sunny Boy. "For a moment, I thought you were really going to take me to the police station for an intense interrogation at some isolated black site!"

"Nonsense!", shouted Captain Shining Armor. "We're both on the same team, right? You have a really important mission to complete and I don't want to delay you any further while you're working..."

"Yes---WELL, I better head back to my family soon, before they become super mad at me for tardiness!", hollered Sunny Boy as he immediately thought of his godfather being upset at him for arriving later than 10:30 A.M.

"Right, see you later, my good friend...", Captain Shining Armor said as he bid him farewell.

"OH, right! Almost forgot!", shouted the captain as he ran back to the orange-yellow coated unicorn and grabbed his shoulder. Without warning, he suddenly swung a mean hard right hook to Sunny Boy's nose, knocking the bespectacled unicorn to a nearby concrete wall!

"HEY!! What was that for??!!", shouted the nose-bleeding Sunny Boy as he braced himself against the concrete wall.

"So they wouldn't suspect you of being released without questioning! DUH!! Now GO! Meet up with your friends and family! But don't stay with them for too long, though...", advised Captain Shining Armor before he scurried off to check up on his police comrades. With that drama already over, the bewildered Sunny Boy went on his separate way and ran as fast as he could to meet up with his godfather at 13 Poney Musey Rd.

"SO, tell me! Is he from the undercover force??", questioned Officer Rooster as he ran up to Captain Shining Armor.

"HEY, I told you to not talk about that sorta stuff in front of every creature, not even with your closest comrades", whispered Captain Shining Armor with scorn. "All I can tell you is that you keep this incident to yourself. Don't let any other creature know, not even the police chief, about what happened to that missing citizen we saw that day. Call it a crazy hunch, but I think the Princess may actually be hiding something very significant from us..."

"So you're saying that---", speculated the whispering Officer Rooster as he was careful to mice his words, in order to not rouse any suspicion around him

"---your regal sister, the Princess of Friendship, faked a missing citizen report---so she could quietly plant a former royal babysitter into the underground world, all while his friends and family continue to worry about that informant?"

"Hmmm....well, I can't say absolutely for sure, Officer Rooster. But it's best if we don't pry any further. Until my friend has completed with his top-secret assignment, we can't have any news about his discovery be known. Otherwise, these criminals may end up taking him out of their underground circle for good, and he won't be back to teach another class ever again", responded the cautious Captain Shining Armor as he looked around to see if any more police were listening on them.

"Of course....though it may hurt for me to leave his friends and family in constant emotional pain, it would be even more devastating to see him at his funeral if he were to get caught.....all right.....I understand, Captain.....", obeyed Officer Rooster as he and the captain got into their bullet-ridden blue steamer.

"Good! Now---how about we all take a relaxing lunch break at Donut Joe's? It'll be my treat", offered the captain as he levitated his bag of bitty bank rolls.

----------(MANEHATTAN, 13 PONEY MUSEY RD, QILIN TOWN, 10:29 A.M.)----------
◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾
Sitting in the Doble E-20 Steamer was Ginseng Dragon in the driver seat and Delft Blue at the passenger seat.

"---So you see, by exposing Taai Yoeng Jye to the intense reality of criminal thug work, he will learn the inner machinations of the underground Triad empire", explained Ginseng Dragon as he talked to his trusted right-hand man.

"Ah, you are as powerful as you are wise, Dragon Head!" complimented Delft Blue as he gave his boss a thumbs up. "Your godson will someday be the golden ingot to your shrine!"

"Of course! Education doesn't always have to come from reading those boring books, because when it comes to learning new exciting things, experience is the best teacher you could ever hope and wish for!", proudly exclaimed Ginseng Dragon as he clandestinely tapped the side of his forehead.

Suddenly, before the clock struck 10:30 A.M., Sunny Boy came rushing in as he opened the door to the backseat of his godfather's Doble car. Sweating and panting with exhaustion, but still alive after his crazy experience, he told him

"Sweet Twit-lit Sparkles, godfather!! These so-called 'friends' you told me to pick up were actually crazy gun-toting robbers! But BOY, was I REALLY lucky today!! The police were kind enough to let me go after a hot pursuit AND had all these mangy mutts arrested for their own good!"

As he continued to gasp for air in the hot car, he then later continued on with his sentence

"You really have to be careful next time with who you befriend out there! Some creatures may have hidden dark secrets in their lives and may take advantage of your generosity!"

Sunny Boy tapped his godfather's shoulders and looked at him with caring concern for his safety, before turning his attention to his godfather's deputy officer.

"You too, Mister Delft Blue! From now on, let's just spend our safe quality family time at Manehattan's New Yoke Public Library and maybe visit the Malachite Statue of Harmony over Liberation Island too, all right?"

As both Ginseng Dragon and Delft Blue turned around and faced the frontal windshield with shocked speechless expression on their faces, Ginseng Dragon suddenly slammed his head onto the steering and blurt out a sustained groan with utmost disappointment for his godson.

How in Equestria did he ended up adopting an idiotic successor to his criminal empire?

"---W-what?"

◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾

---END

Author's Note

1922 Stanley Steamer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jnab5sG9PQs

Gun model would be similar to the Lefaucheux M1858 with folding triggers and NO trigger guards (so they would be easily operated by canines with large paws)

1913 Stanley Steamer (blue)

Gamewell Police Box

1917 Stanley Steamer

1902 Stanley Loco-Cycle

Fun fact: The first police car was actually an electric vehicle built by the Collins Buddy Company and was first used in Akon, Ohio back in 1899

Remington Police Revolver

Man-catcher: A non-letal polearm with two springy limbs that hooks onto the target's neck (or limbs)

18 The Incomprehensible Interrogation

Ch 18 - The Incomprehensible Interrogation

Emerging out from the School of Friendship main entrance and walking along that stone moat bridge to the other grassy side opposite of the premises were the cheerful happy-go-lucky Gallus, Smolder, Sandbar, Yona, Tiny Turnip Head and Young Master Zhi. They were singing a variety of melodious tunes they had heard from the Amity Ball, but the most popular tune that got them most hyped up about humming and singing was Autumn Blaze's musical rendition of "Lemon".

"Man, that was the best school ball we ever had! First time we get to do it inside a royal castle!", happily exclaimed the tuxedo wearing Sandbar as he held Yona's cloven hand.

"It's too bad Mister Tang couldn't be here! He said he got some REALLY important jobs to do that are way more serious than hanging out with 'critches at some drug-fueled rave club'---whatever that means", loudly muttered Tiny Turnip Head as he pondered about his foster grandpa's words.

"WELL, at least now he'll be at the ball cleaning up the party mess---along with the OTHER volunteer creatures! HA!", shortly cackled Master Zhi as he raised his head up in delight.

"Have you ever consider the thought that your old man is an outdated racist, kid?", questioned Gallus and he flew next to the naive white pegasus boy.

"If he's that mean to all creatures great and small, then why would he get a job at this school in the first place?", asked the curious Tiny Turnip Head as he looked at the unamused Gallus.

"Because he really wants to look after you during your stay in school, even if it means getting uncomfortable with the people he despises so much...", answered Master Zhi as he gently places his hand onto his foster son's head. "Just give him time, Tiny. He'll come around, just not that soon..."

Just as they were enjoying their talk with Tiny Turnip Head, a sudden bellowing happy cry rang the ears of the friendly teacher-student posse.

"Yona so happy about lemon dance, she no feel bad about painting anymore!", cried the yellow-dressed nak as her skirt flew graciously in the spring-time wind.

"Speaking of which, I hope Headmare Trixie's guests hadn't caught wind of the damaged painting...", wondered Master Zhi as he thought about the wrecked painting.

"OH, it's all right....Ocellus told me she actually use her transformation powers to disguise herself as the head of that portrait and placed her face through that hole.", answered Sandbar.

"Aw man, I hope she remembered to do the eyes too! She sometimes tend to forget to do the eyes!", said Smolder as she smiled and giggled about the changedling girl's possible goof up.

"MAN, I am SO glad Headmare Trixie gave me this chance to participate in the Amity Ball! It was fun playing with the spotlights with the other stage technicians!", exclaimed the excited Gallus as he interrupted the conversation about the wrecked painting.

"Speaking of stage plays, every creature did so well in that lemon dance choreography, especially you Smolder", complimented Sandbar as she pointed at the yellow-dressed dragon girl.

"It's a good thing I get to be my pretty self with all the other dainty flowery dragon girls! FINALLY, I don't have to feel so bad being so namby-pamby in front of the other male creatures!", happily shouted the yellow-dressed Smolder as she adjusted her lily headband on her head.

"Well, it's been fun chatting with you guys, but---I gotta go to the marketplace to buy Miss Starlight and Headmare Trixie some groceries for dinner", mentioned Gallus.

"HEY, we could come with you to help you with carrying these heavy bags if you like!", offered Sandbar as he ran up to Gallus, before the big blue griffon boy replied,

"I dunno, guys. Usually this is up to me to---"

"Awww, quit being so modest, birdbrain!", scoffed Smolder as she flew up to Gallus. "There is NO way you are cooking up a scrumptious dinner meal without us!"

"I KNEW IT! You're only tagging me along so you could get free food from me!", called out Gallus as he stared at Smolder with an unamused expression.

"THAT NO TRUE------okay, maybe little true...", muttered Yona as she realized her friends could not fool Gallus' intuition.

"Augghh...look, I'll let you tag along to buy some food from the market, but DON'T expect me to cook it all up for you! Miss Starlight still needs my assistance during her memory recovery! If you want to learn how to cook up some delicious meals like me, then go borrow or buy a cookbook for yourselves, all right??!", exclaimed Gallus as he hovered with his talons on his hips.

"OR I could always take you out to some delicious traditional kirin food", suggested Master Zhi.

"OOOH, like Sky Dragon Boat!", exclaimed Tiny Turnip Head.

"You mean the one that sent some of the kirin students to a massive bowel fit?", questioned Sandbar as he titled his head in confusion.

"HEY, I assure you that not ALL Far Eastern Equestrian Dim-sums have terrible health sanitation records! I can show you a BETTER restaurant I've been to that WON'T send you to the toilet!", exclaimed the insulted Master Zhi as he lad his finger onto Sandbar's nose. "C'MON, fellas! After we're done shopping, I'll take you to my favorite kirin hot-spot hot-pot dim-sum in Ponyville!"

"All right! Looks like we're taking a trip down to Kirin Town tonight!", celebrated Sandbar.

"YEEAAHHHHH, HOT POOTTTT!!!", cheered Tiny Turnip Head.

----------(PONYVILLE MAIN ROAD, 5:00 PM)----------

As the small group of students, alongside Young Master Zhi, continue to hum to their heart's content to the romantic tune of "Lemon", Gallus immediately spotted Miss Starlight Glimmer walking briskly fast along the wooden sidewalk.

"HEY, look! Check it out! It's Miss Starlight Glimmer!", hollered Gallus as he used his talons to make a crude scope for him to peek through.

"Miss Starlight??! I wonder what got her into a hurry...", wondered Master Zhi.

"HEY, let's go up and meet her!! HEY, MISS STARLIGHT!!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he immediately zipped towards the frustrated Headmare, heading into the main road without a thought of consideration for the sedan chairs, large oxen carts and rickshaw taxis crossing the wide pavement.

"HEY, don't cross the street all willy-nilly!", shouted Master Zhi as he and the rest of the students crossed the main road to catch up with the speed-walking Starlight Glimmer, while also hoping Tiny Turnip Head doesn't get hit by the road vehicles.

"HEY, Teacher Starlight! Why walk so fast? Is teacher in hurry?", hollered out Yona as she and her friends followed Miss Starlight on the sidewalk.

"Yeah, Miss Starlight! Wait for us! We're your students!", Smolder hollered.

"Tell that perverted thug in that green steamer to STOP following me!!", harshly yelled Miss Starlight as she looked behind to see her students following her.

As soon as the students and Master Zhi looked behind, they noticed there was a green Stanley Steamer that was quietly rolling along the road. They didn't notice the steam car until now, due to its suspended rubber spoke tires and the muffled steam generator in its car hood.

"HEY, check it out, guys!! It's one of those fancy horseless carriages! I only saw them on Manehattan postcards, but never in real life before!", shouted Gallus as he gaze in awe at the chrome green-painted machine.

"WOAH! Yona no have words on amazing machine! It like train, but at same time---it not! And it very different from blue steam carriages at police place!", exclaimed Yona.

"How in the heck does that thing run on the road without tracks?? I could never figure that out with the recently new self-mobile police wagons!", wondered the bewildered Sandbar.

"Who the Tartaric hell cares?! Whoever is inside that metal casket better not mess with Miss Starlight!", shouted Smolder as she puffed smoke out of her nose in anger. "C'mon, guys! Let's teach this rotten dragon egg a lesson in pain!"

As the rest of the students went up to the green steamer, Master Zhi and Tiny Turnip Head was the first to respond to the short orange-maned, yellow-coated and sunglasses-wearing unicorn driver of that green steam car. As they walked alongside the slow-moving steamer, they noticed that the driver was the same unicorn who played at the Amity Ball at the Crystal Castle of Friendship beforehand.

"HEY, look! It's that dude who danced with Miss Starlight and played soccer with us!", exclaimed Tiny Turnip Head.

"What??! Are you serious??! HE'S creeping after Miss Starlight?!", shouted the enraged Smolder.

"Auugghh! What he doing here? Cause more trouble?!", grumbled the angry Yona as she let out a large snort from her two nostrils.

"Who does he think he is, stalking after her like a hawk?!", squawked the upset Gallus as he flew towards the rolling car.

"I think he must've fell for her during that dance in that 'Lemon' musical performance...", pondered Sandbar as he walked up to the green steam car at its direction.

"HEY, MISTER!! Miss Starlight said you can't follow her anymore!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he yelled at the driver through the his window.

"YEAH, dude! You're way outta your league! Even after that couple dance, you're still a wannabe street gangster at the end of the day! There's no use getting through to her!", added the yelling Master Zhi as he and Tiny Turnip Head continued to walk alongside the steam car and continuously tapped on the top roof of the stalker's steamer car. It was no use though, as the driver named Sunny Boy constantly kept his eyes on the road as he continued to roll down the street.

Suddenly, Gallus flew himself onto the hood of the steamer to cover the frontal windshield with his body, blocking the driver's view of the road, before squawking

"STTTTOOOOOPPPPPP!!!!"

But it was no use either as Sunny Boy simply used his levitation magic to move the annoying blue griffon boy out of his windshield on the steamer. Then, Yona stood in the middle of the road and charged at the car with her horns.

"RRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!"

At the last second before potential impact, Sunny Boy used his strong levitation spell to lift the steamer above Yona, avoiding her relentless charge before setting the car back down.

"ALL RIGHT, THAT'S IT!!", shouted the inflamed Smolder. "You wanna do this the hard way??!! We'll do this the HARD way, DRAGON STYLE!!"

Smolder immediately flew up and face towards the front end of the car, before letting out a huge purple flame from her fiery maw, hoping to burn the green steamer into cinders.

Instead, Sunny Boy reacted to the attempted vandalism by casting a turquoise bubble barrier spell around his steamer, which were able to shield out the powerful high-temperature inferno blast. He then proceeded to drive along the road with his shield on, stoically ignoring the students while keeping an eye on his target.

"GREAT, now we can't approach the car at all!", cried Gallus as he looked onto the shielded steamer as its trail of steam slowly built up within the bubble along its journey.

"What are we gonna do now?", asked the worried Sandbar.

"Let's just follow him for now and sees where this leads to", answered Master Zhi before he gestured the students to follow him in his quest to stalk the stalker.

----------(PONYVILLE POLICE STATION, 5:15 PM)----------

As Miss Starlight ran to the open malachite entrance gate, she looked behind her and saw that in spite of the student's efforts, she was still being stalked by the green steamer car, which was now deactivating its shield to dissipate the built-up steamy cloud within its ethereal prison. Wasting no time, she ran up to the single unicorn yellow-vested police officer, who was standing at the middle of the entrance, and quickly asked

"Sir, I would like to make an official report to the station!"

"Reporting room is through that entrance right there on the first floor", answered the unicorn officer mare who pointed wooden door behind her. The station was only 30 m away from the entrance and it was past the small parking lot that stood between the entrance of the station.

After thanking the officer, she quickly picked up her pace to head out to the entrance, nearly getting hit by the incoming police steamer exiting the station along the way.

As soon as she took off, Sunny Boy's green steamer drove up to the entrance, before it was blocked off by the same yellow-vested police guard.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH, stop right over there! What business do you have over there at the station, sir?", sternly yet politely asked the vested officer as he stood in front of the green steamer with his palm out. He quickly walked over to the driver's side of the window to take a better look at the citizen in question.

"S-s-SORRY, Officer! I JUST need to---!"

Before Sunny Boy could finish his sentence, the officer instantly recognized the stallion man from the newspaper about the cart accident as soon as Sunny Boy took off his sunglasses.

"OI! You're that stallion on the paper! I haven't seen you in a long time since that crash! Came to check up on your former students from the academy, are you??", the officer exclaimed with delight.

"Uhhhh.....???", mumbled Sunny Boy as he stared at the officer in confusion as his friendly gesture.

"WELL, go right on ahead, sir! You're welcome to be at this station at any time!", greeted the unicorn officer as he showed him the way to the designated parking lots.

"Uh--THANKS! Thank you so much, officer! Hehe....", nervously chuckled Sunny Boy as he drove his way into the parking lot and searched for a good spot to park his car.

As a police biker entered into the entrance after Sunny Boy's entry, Master Zhi, Tiny Turnip Head and the other students later followed soon afterwards. The uniform officer asked to them

"Good afternoon! What is the nature of your---??"

Before he could finish his question, Master Zhi bowed and quickly replied, "We are here to see an officer at the station! Thank you for your service, good sir!". Master Zhi and Tiny Turnip Head quickly head for the office station's main entrance.

"We're here to see an officer too!", quickly spoke Sandbar.

"Me too!", added Gallus.

"Me three!", added Smolder.

"Yona FOUR!!", added the fat nak girl.

Then they quickly head out to follow Master Zhi and their new school friend to the station, leaving the guard officer feeling very bewildered.

"Wow, busy day today, huh? Every creature here wants to see an officer at the station. Don't they know there's plenty others out there on the streets, not to mention there's call-boxes at every street corner?", the guard officer questioned as he stared at the strange creatures within the police premises.

Meanwhile inside the police station, Miss Starlight was about to head for the reception desk, which had piles of paperwork on one side of the table and a typewriter on the other side. For protection, the desk was blocked by by iron bars to prevent possible assaults and attacks on the police staff and their property. As soon as she approached the police station, she saw a tan brown-coated red bobcut-maned middle age Earthen Equestrian making a fuss over at the reception desk

"What do you MEAN you can't confirm my son is present here in Ponyville?? I got eyewitnesses they saw somepony matching his description! Can't you see what's on the photo??", cried the upset middle-aged mare, who wore a navy blue bare-back top, a pearl necklace, a pair white pants and a pair of black high heels.

"I'm sorry, ma'am! But we can't confirm if he's the real stallion man in question. Maybe the people you're asking might be talking about a different Equestrian.", questioned the male Earthen Equestrian officer secretary behind the protection bars.

"You're just making that excuse, so you won't feel bad about not doing enough for your community!", accused the red-headed mare.

"MA'AM, I understand your plight. But right now, we are dealing with a backlog of police reports from all across the community. We're doing the best we can to solve all missing citizen reports.", assured the officer.

"UGH, I just KNOW he's around here somewhere! In spite of the princess' efforts, somehow nopony seems to care about my missing son! Do you have any idea who I am??", questioned the angry middle-aged mare as she firmly grasped the iron bars.

"UUhhhhhh, sorry to bother you at a time like this! But---!", muttered the interrupting Miss Starlight, who wanted to report an urgent police report fast. Before she could finish, the red-headed mare turned around and hollered

"Starlight Glimmer?? Is that you??!", shouted the shocked and surprised red-headed mare.

"Uhhhhhhh---do I know you??", questioned Starlight Glimmer as she tilted her head.

"It's me, Miss Flare...Stellar Flare?? Sunburst's mother, remember?", asked the red-headed mare lady as she approached Starlight Glimmer, while place her own white-coated glove-like hand on her chest.

"I'm-----sorry....I don't recognize you...", nervously responded Starlight Glimmer as she cocked her head to the other side.

"OOHHH, right! I forgot!", said Stellar Flare as she bopped her forehead with her palm. "Your dad's campaign manager Minty Mocha told me that you lost your memory in the crash!"

"You're---friends with my dad's manager??", Starlight sustained her response as she spoke with a baffling tone.

"Honey, I'm friends WITH your dad! And my son Sunburst is best friends with YOU!", responded Stellar Flare as she touched Starlight's shoulder and stared at her with a smirked smile.

Starlight Glimmer could only stare at Stellar Flare with more depressing confusion.

"Sorry----I kept hearing that name----and yet----somehow...that name never crosses my mind.....he must be really important to me as he was to you, wasn't he?", questioned Starlight Glimmer as she stared at the ground depressingly.

"Awww, looks like that accident really got you forgetting all the wonderful times you had with my son! It's not your fault that you wouldn't remember me anyway, dear...", responded Stellar Flare as she pitifully stared at the sad mare's eyes.

"Ummm....it's all right---Miss Flare, yes?...", said Starlight as she looked up to Stellar Flare.

"Please, call me Stellar!", happily smiled Stellar Flare. "A good friend of Sunburst is a good friend of mine, even if they don't remember it! At least your absent thoughts about my son had a valid excuse!", continued Stellar Flare as she sneered begrudgingly while looking behind at the officer secretary at work.

"WELL, as much as I want to chat longer with you, I must finish my quest on finding my lost son and your best friend as soon as possible. If you see a stallion with a white stripe on his nose and a long curved crescent orange mane, let me know! My son has been missing in this world for TOO long and I'm going to get to the bottom of this matter by marching RIGHT into the mayor's office!", pompously hollered Stellar Flare as she stepped bravely towards the main exit.

"That's right, it's time for some mayor-to-mayor parlay---well, mayoral candidate to mayor...but you get the idea....", mumbled Stellar Flare after she made a powerful pose by the doorway.

"Uhhhhhh, sure! Whatever you say, miss...", nervously mumbled Starlight Glimmer as she looked behind at the determined mother.

"....See you around, Starlight. Get better soon! I hope you'll remember everything in your life, sweetie...", said Stellar Flare as she was exiting the door.

"WAIT!", shouted Starlight Glimmer as she raised her palm towards Stellar Flare. "There's a very persistent stalker that may be prowling around the police station. He looks like a pretty shady unicorn with a short-cut mane and wears a very ragged vinyl jacket! Be careful with him!"

"Don't worry, Starlight! Mama Stellar Flare never leaves home without her pepper spray!", hollered the red-headed mother as she showed off her pepper spray, before exiting out of the main door.

As soon as Starlight Glimmer quickly head towards to the reception desk to finish on what she was doing, she quickly told to the officer secretary, "I would like to make a police report!"

"What report would you like to make, ma'am?", asked the officer secretary.

"I'm being stalked and harassed by a dangerous thug", answered Starlight Glimmer.

"Hmmmm, you sure you're not seeing things, ma'am?", questioned the skeptical secretary.

Suddenly, Starlight Glimmer grabbed the bars in frustration and spoke in a loud demanding voice

"I would like to speak to the police commissioner!"

"Commissioner??", questioned the baffled secretary as she looked up at the steaming Starlight Glimmer, before she nodded 'yes' in response.

Then, one of the officers, a female beige Diamond Dog, walked up to the secretary and told him

"Psst, she's a well-known former student and current associate of the Princess of Friendship! Unless you want the royal ruler coming down on you like a ton of bricks, you better do as she says..."

Meanwhile, outside of the police station, Sunny Boy had just parked his car in an empty parking spot, which there weren't many, considering that automated vehicles are rare in Ponyville and most of them are reserved for police wagons. As he was about to enter the station, he suddenly felt pulled aside by a magical telekinetic force and was forcibly dragged into a small blue-bricked police kiosk, with his mouth sealed shut by the magic. He felt he was being kidnapped and he tried to struggle his way out, only to see that he was being taken in by somepony very familiar.

"SSHHHH! Don't make a sound! Or else she'll hear you!", loudly whispered Captain Shining Armor as he hid beneath the open window of the kiosk. As Captain Shining Armor slowly peeked through the open window without being spotted, she saw the angry red-maned middle aged Stellar Flare walk right passed him.

"Seriously, am I going nuts here? Everypony I talked to said they've seen somepony matching that description! There's literally posters of my son plastered on every building in Equestria!", shouted Stellar Flare as she exited through the open gate.

"Sorry, about this, Sunny B!", apologized Captain Shining Armor as he unleashed his magical grip on Sunny Boy. "I couldn't have everypony, including your close relatives, compromise your duty if they saw you. I had to convince the police department here to keep your whereabouts a secret, so as to not blow your cover"

"LISTEN, sir! I don't know what you're rambling on about, but I haven't done ANYTHING wrong here! I JUST wanted to see somepony VERY special to me, all right?!", shouted the flustered Sunny Boy as he was expressing outrage towards the royal captain guard who had manhandled him without his consent.

"Special somepony?? Oooooooohh, I see...you wanted to check up on your---prime target, riighhtt?", clandestinely questioned Captain Shining Armor as he sustained his words and raised his eyebrows with a quirky smile.

"UGGHH---YES, okay! Just tell the police department about this mare! Help me clear up a few things for me, all right?!", shouted the upset Sunny Boy as he was getting really impatient with the captain. Unbeknownst to Sunny Boy, the captain had a very different idea on what the frustrated Sunny Boy meant by "special somepony".

"Riighht, of course! Just lemme find my call-box key from these drawers first", said Captain Shining Armor as he pulled open one of the drawers. Sunny Boy looked at Captain Shining Armor with a stoic yet disapproving expression, before mentioning to him

"You know, you could just walk right into the station and tell them---"

"NO, this will compromise me AND your chance to catch this 'special somepony' of yours! If we're going to do this right, we have to do this without raising suspicion.", demanded the oblivious royal guard captain as he frantically searched for the call-box key.

After facepalming really hard, Sunny Boy gave out a loud frustrating whinnying groan and shouted

"OKAY, whatever!! Just make it quick, all right??! This is an URGENT matter!"

"Of course! Time IS of the essence!", heroically spoke Captain Shining Armor, before he managed to find the call-box key.

Meanwhile, at the police parking lot, Master Zhi and the rest of the students were about to go around the line of police steamers and wagons, before the tall yellow stallion grabbed Yona by the hair in front of her and shouted, "WAIT, YONA!!"

"OW!!", cried Yona as she rubbed her head. "Why yellow stallion do that??!!". Every creature that was following Master Zhi stopped at their tracks to see what was going on.

"Take a look at THIS, guys!", hollered Master Zhi as he pointed at the license plate on the front end of the green Stanley steamer to the students.

"MM 5883!" read Master Zhi as he looked at the black characters painted onto the white license plate.

"Yeah, so??", questioned Gallus as he stared awkwardly at Master Zhi.

"That's the Headmaster's car! I managed to catch a glimpse of that stalker's license plate number before he got away!", answered Master Zhi as he gleefully snickered softly.

"Wait, if his self-mobile carriage is here, then that means he's right here at this very police station!", notified the intuitive Smolder as she turned her head to the police station.

"GGASSPP! AND he no here to protect his car!", shouted Yona as she realized how unprotected this vehicle is right now.

"And you know what THAT means??!", sinisterly snickered Master Zhi as he maliciously rubbed his hands.

"YEAH, let's teach this creepy fucker a lesson by ruining his mode of transportation! THEN he wouldn't be able to stalk girls more efficiently!", cried out Smolder as she dastardly waved her sharp claws.

"WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH! Hold on a second, you crazy assholes!", interrupted Gallus as he repeatedly shoved his hands towards the empty air. "You're not really suggesting we trash his steam car, are ya??!"

"YEAH, so??!", snarked the undeterred Smolder as she stared at Gallus with half-opened eyes.

"SOOO, it's ILLEGAL!", responded Gallus with anger. "Besides, there is NO way I'm ruining my chance to redeem myself and throw my ticket back to school! Besides, even though Miss Starlight told us to stop that stalker in his tracks, the police wouldn't be amuse seeing us trash a random vehicle."

"GALLUS, I just attempted to burn his entire ride in the middle of the road! What difference does it make??", questioned the upset Smolder.

"The DIFFERENCE is that you're doing in complete view of the police near a police station!", answered the equally disappointed Sandbar as he shoved his face towards Smolder. "Gallus is right! We can't be sure if that's REALLY his car! And even if it is, do you really think the police would believe our story??"

"So WHAT??! You're gonna snitch on us and throw us in jail???!", mockingly questioned Smolder.

"Siiggghhh, look.....", said Gallus after he took a few seconds to calm down before responding. "I'm not gonna stop you right now here.....I understand how you're feeling right now--I get it.....but if you ever get caught by these blue jackets, I'm not going to bail you out, ya hear??"

Gallus immediately took off to the skies to leave for the market to complete his shopping list.

"YEAH, I don't wanna get in trouble with the law! I can't do well in jail and I got a family to take care of! I don't wanna get involved in this mess with you...", said Sandbar before he walked out of the female students, Tiny Turnip Head and Master Zhi near the station.

"...FINE! Suit yourself!", loudly scoffed Master Zhi. "We're gonna dole out some VIGILANTE JUSTICE! That nerdy stinker ain't gonna go around creeping up on poor Miss Starlight Glimmer like a bonafide rapist!"

"We'll turn this car into cinders if we have to!", cackled Smolder as she fired up her flammable breath.

"YEAH! Teach bad boy lesson with SMASHING!!", cheered Yona as she jumped for joy.

"YAAAYYY!!! VIGILANTE!!!", screamed the flying Tiny Turnip Head as he punched the hood of the car, before he ended up hurting his hand.

"YYOOOOWWWW!!!", cried Tiny Turnip Head after his carpal bones snapped under the forceful impact without making a dent.

"Uhhhh, yeaaahh...maybe leave the pro-vigilante stuff to us, kid", stoically told Master Zhi as he stared at the wincing Tiny Turnip Head.

"Watch and learn, squirt!", shouted Smolder as she breathed a scorching stream of purple fire from her breath.

Meanwhile, inside the police interviewing room on the second floor of the police station, Starlight Glimmer sat down on the cushioned ebony chair, which was set at one side of the table facing the entry doors. The room was very elongated, with one side of the wall (opposite to Starlight) had five sets of glass-paned windows letting in the natural light.

At the middle of the wall that was between the glass windows was a walled-in police telephone1. Using the telephone was a dark-gray coated, turquoise-mustached and short-maned police commissioner named Jade Dobbin. He was wearing his light-blue shirt, which was decorated with a few honorary medals on his left breast, as well as a pair of black pants on his person. Speaking into the cone-shaped and holding the reciever into his ear, he grunted out

"Hello? YES?! This is Commissioner Dobbin speaking!"

Seeing how Starlight Glimmer was staring very menacingly at him, he later leaned forward to the transmitter and spoke in a quieter yet gruff tone, hoping the unicorn mare does not eavesdrop on his conversation. After he was done listening, he later continued

"....Yes, YES!! Okay---SLOW DOWN, you're speaking like a madmare!"

"I TOLD you, Commissioner! The mare you are talking to---she's NOT as clean as she seems!", whispered Captain Shining Armor loudly as he spoke into the transmitter, while taking a glimpse at the second floor of the police station.

"HEY, stop treating her like she's a suspect!! It's NOT like that!!", shouted the upset Sunny Boy as he glared disappointingly into Captain Shining Armor.

"RIGHT RIGHT RIGHT!! Sorry!!", apologized Captain Armor before he 'corrected' himself. "I meant to say---she's a person of interest in a very special ongoing investigation"

"UUUGGGHH, just forget it!! I'll handle this myself!", shouted Sunny Boy before he made a quick dash to the police station.

"LOOK, just DO whatever our informant said! It's REALLY important he doesn't blow this case outta the water!", pleaded Shining Armor on the call-box. "Otherwise, my sister's gonna have a REALLY bad mane day with me and I don't wanna be the brother who's responsible for goofing this up!"

"I got it, I got it!", shouted Commissioner Dobbin on the wall telephone. "I don't need some royal guard captain from Canterlot telling me what to do! After we're done with her, I would like you to submit an official fully detailed report on both yesterday's incident in Manehatten AND today's incident here in Ponyville! I really am not sure why I was never notified on this malarkey!"

*KNOCK!* *KNOCK!* goes the black door on the opposite far left side of Commissioner Dobbin.

"YES, who is it??!!", shouted the commissioner as he turned his head around.

Opening the black door was Sunny Boy, who slowly stepped into the interview room before asking

"Uhhhh, is it all right if I come in??"

"Of COURSE, Sunny B!" happily grunted Commissioner Dobbin. "A good friend of the police is a good friend of me! You can come in here as much as you like!"

Shocked by how well Sunny Boy is seemingly well acquainted to the police, she stood up from her seat and loudly protested as she pointed the finger at Sunny Boy

"Commissioner! This man has attempted to grab me inappropriately and had now started to harass me! I want to file a lawsuit against him for sexual misconduct! He kept following me wherever I go and I don't feel very safe being near him!"

"...Hmmmm, is that true??", questioned Commissioner Dobbin as he turned his head to Sunny Boy.

"---WELL.....yeah...and---I just wanna talk things out to her...", nervously muttered Sunny Boy as he sheepishly smiled at the commissioner.

"Listen here, Missy! The reason why he tried to stop you and follow you was because you have been marked as a suspicious person of interest! He has reasons to inspect you for possible wrongdoing!", accused the stern commissioner as he turned his attention to Starlight Glimmer and pointed the finger at her. "So you better explain to yourself why he had tried to pursue you in the first place!"

"WHAT??!!", shouted Starlight Glimmer. "Am I speaking old Ponish here??! Why the hell should I have to explain why I was a target of an attempted rape?!". Starlight was NOT going to have the commissioner talk to her like she's the perpetrator of the stalker's malicious crime.

Frustrated that he may not get through to her, he turned to Sunny Boy and whispered to him

"Uhhhh, are you sure I'm handling this situation correctly?"

"LOOK, you DON'T have to go overboard with this, all right?", replied the assured soft-spoken Sunny Boy. "Just let her say her piece and hear her out..."

Pondering on the informant's advice, he took a glimpse at the red-faced steaming Starlight and felt a bit slightly intimidated. However, knowing the informant's curious grip for vast knowledge, he let him sit at the chair opposite of Starlight's chair, while he sat on the third chair that was left of the informant's chair.

"Commissioner, listen to me! I don't know why you trust this stallion, but he's not as friendly as he looks! You might have to do a thorough search on his profile!", demanded the upset Starlight as she spoke to the commissioner.

Suddenly, the wall telephone's bells began to rang, causing the commissioner to quickly excuse himself, before picking up the receiver, cranking up the dynamo crank and speaking into the transmitter. Out from the receiver was Captain Shining Armor's worried blabbering voice

"Commissioner! I forgot to tell you another important thing! My wizard friend here has a VERY complicated backstory here! If you wanna work with him, you gotta loosen up and go with the flow, all right?!"

Captain Shining Armor was now speaking through another wall telephone in the hallway within the first floor below of the police station.

As soon as the commissioner got off the phone, he briskly walked up to Sunny Boy to his right side, while exclaiming in a confident manner.

"WELL---my lower-rank officer has told me ALL about your case already!"

Laying his hands on one side of the table close to Sunny Boy, he pointed at the informant and said to him,

"Since you are the plaintiff who reported on this mare, you get to ask the questions!"

"HEY! COMMISSIONER!!", vehemently shouted Starlight Glimmer before she toned herself down a bit. "I'm the one who is reporting to the police here, NOT HIM!! Don't I have rights as an Equestrian citizen to be protected by common law?? "

"WELL, that's why I followed you here! Because I wanted to protect you!", exclaimed the flustered Sunny Boy.

"Wait wait wait wait wait! There's something I'm not getting here!", shouted the commissioner as he returned back to his original seat next to Sunny Boy. "Are you actually tracking her or protecting her? Because I feel like I'm getting mixed messages here."

"WELL, why does it even matter to you, sir?", questioned Sunny Boy as he looked at Commissioner Dobbin.

"Right right right, of course...", mumbled the commissioner as he turned away from Sunny Boy and looked down at the table. Sunny Boy then later turned his attention to Starlight Glimmer and said to her

"LOOK, I really wanted to make sure you got to your friend's home safely, okay??"

Starlight Glimmer suddenly slammed her hands on the table and loudly snapped at both Sunny Boy and the commissioner to their faces.

"Well, WHETHER I need protection or not, I DON'T like anypony creepily stalking me both with AND without my knowledge!!"

"But then how is he going to follow your suspicious activities if he can't stalk you?", asked the confused commissioner.

"UUUGGGHHH, you know what??! Don't sweat it! This has NOTHING to do with you right now!", shouted Starlight Glimmer as she exposed her palm to the commissioner to stop interfering with her beef against her alleged stalker.

"Then why come here in the first place?", the commissioner asked once again to the frustrated Starlight Glimmer.

Feeling like she cannot get through the oblivious commissioner's addled brain, she started to rant about how incompetent his police establishment is handling her situation.

"I came here to report on a stalker and you're treating me like I'm the bad guy over here! Apparently, you peppies handle serious crimes and respond to reports WAY differently than I ever imagined!"

"...What's wrong with the way we do things here, exactly??", questioned the commissioner as he tried to wrap his brain around the current situation.

"Uhhh, you're not doing anything particularly wrong, officer", nervously responded Sunny Boy as he turned to the commissioner with a sincere smiling expression. The commissioner then turned his attention to Starlight Glimmer and responded

"LOOK, missy. We're JUST following our usual steps in our police protocol in handling suspected persons of interest here, all right?"

Commissioner Dobbin's tone toward Starlight Glimmer then became slightly more harsher afterwards

"But from the way YOU'RE acting back during the start of this interrogation, you failed to give me a DIRECT answer to our questions! So right now, I'm not feeling any sense of innocence emanating from you!"

"Wha--WHAT??!! Why am I a suspect over here all of a sudden?!", shouted the livid Starlight Glimmer as she cannot believe what she was hearing from the incompetent commissioner. "I DIDN'T do anything wrong!! And if you're digging into my past, I had already been pardoned of my crimes a long time ago by the princess! What kind of current evidence do YOU possibly have to incriminate me in whatever criminal case you're investigating?"

"WELL, that's why I'm asking YOU! So answer away, Missy!", harshly replied the commissioner.

As Starlight was about to protest, Sunny Boy later interfered with the argument and said to Starlight,

"LOOK, I get that you don't trust me on protecting you. I don't fault you for that, all right...?"

Starlight Glimmer ungratefully scoffed at Sunny Boy's empathy, before the commissioner responded, "Wait...REALLY??!"

"Why, of course!", responded the surprised Sunny Boy. "Still, I think everypony here deserves a fair chance to at least prove themselves." Sunny Boy later stretched his hand over the surface of the table towards Starlight.

"So, please tell me....why don't you want to trust me to be by your side?"

"Because you're a rogue, that's why! And even if you DO have a chance to be with me, I myself had already gotten a boyfriend in my life!", responded Starlight Glimmer before she pulled out a key with the chained orange radial sun acrylic decal out from her pocket.

"See this??! This is the key that was given to me by my long-lost boyfriend! I don't know what he actually looks like, but SOMEDAY, he's gonna come back to see me again! You'll see!"

Commissioner Dobbins was now getting REALLY confused about what this 'interrogation' has descended down to.

"WELL, if your 'boyfriend' REALLY captured your heart by giving you a key---!", questioned Sunny Boy as he pulled out a ring of his many iron keys from his hidden pocket in his jacket, "---then how would you know he doesn't have THAT many keys in her person like I do?! You don't think he could possibly have THAT many girlfriends in his harem by giving away ALL of his keys, right??"

"THAT would make him a philandering womanizer!! You think he would REALLY do that to me??!", shouted Starlight Glimmer as she lunged her face towards Sunny Boy in anger.

"Since when did this interrogation devolved into a conversation about romance and keys??! I'm getting the fuck outta here!", mumbled the bamboozled commissioner as he got out of his seat and head for the black door.

As soon as he opened the black door, he saw that Captain Shining Armor was just at the door, listening into the hectic conversation and was ready to barge in case things went haywire. Quickly as the door swung open, Captain Shining Armor rapidly stood up from his crouching spy position and looked straight into the disappointed commissioner's eyes

"YOU! Come in right now!!", shouted Commissioner Dobbins. "I don't know what the hell is going on in here and I don't know how to handle this damn malarkey!!"

"HEY, royal guards! Get over here! The commissioner having trouble with the interrogation right now!", hollered Captain Shining Armor as he called out for his troops.

"---and YOU never care about how others may actually feel, you get me??!", Starlight continuously argued with Sunny Boy as he played around with his ring of keys. "The WHOLE world would be in chaotic disharmony with Equestrians like you laying around in society!"

"Starlight Glimmer??!! YOU'RE the suspect in question!", shouted Captain Shining Armor as he stood surprised at his informant's supposed 'target of interest'. He later turned his attention to Sunny Boy on his seat. "You told me she was the 'special somepony' of interest that you needed catching up with! You SURE this isn't about some ploy to resolve a friendship quarrel without raising suspicion??"

"All right, THAT'S IT!" shouted Starlight Glimmer as she quickly stood up and briskly walked away from the bumbling male fools. "I REALLY don't need this kind of bullshit right now! If you're not going to help me, then I'll protect myself if I have to! I'll be fine on my OWN, thank you very much!"

As she headed for the brown door located on the other far side away from the black door, Sunny Boy immediately got up and chased after her. Both the commissioner and the royal guard captain also quickly gave chase to the highly flustered and uncooperative mare. However, she quickly cast an expanding bubble spell to push Sunny Boy out of the way and a flashbang spell to disorientate her pursuers, before quickly teleporting herself out of the police station. Sunny Boy was left alone with the officers with a sprained back after landing hard on the tiled floor.

Meanwhile at the outside parking space lot adjacent to the police station, Master Zhi, Tiny Turnip Head, Smolder and Yona were wrecking the green steamer car that was believed to be owned by Miss Starlight Glimmer's alleged stalker. Within five minutes of their vandalizing amusement, the green steamer had turned into a crumbled, burning and mangled metal junkyard wreck. Leading the chaotic shenanigans was Master Zhi himself, who was prying, smashing, bending and dismantling every nook and cranny of the vehicle with his crowbar. Yona, the strongest of the vandalizing group, used her own immense weight of her mighty black horns and belly fat to smash every top surface of the steamer into a collapsing mess and ramming onto every side of the steamer to make the biggest dents possible. Finally, Smolder the sizzling saboteur breathed the hottest purple flame onto the engine, causing the steam generator to blow its hot water load and most of the steel tubes, pipes, valves and other machined parts to melt under the extremely high-temperatures and fused with each other into blobbed piles of molten liquid metal. Even the shattered glass from the windows were beginning to melt from the intense radiant heat and the vinyl car cushions were catching on fire. As for the Tiny Turnip Head, he just hovered far away from the car wreckage, cheering on his Master and his new friends to continue with their vengeance.

"YYEEAAHHH, go Friendship Vigilantes!!! You can do it!!", Tiny Turnip Head continued to egg on.

"YONA SMASH!!! YONA FEEL POWERFUL!!!", the adrenaline-fueled nak bellowed as she repeatedly hopped onto her flattened surface area of the wreckage.

"BURN, BABY!! BUURRNN!!!", growled the enraged Smolder as she breathed out all of the belching methane and propane within her gassy stomach, as well as all the potassium salts she had stored in her gall-bladder to make the purplish color of her flame.

After Master Zhi and the two girls were finally exhausted of their pent-up energy, the green steamer, marked with the license plate "MM 5883", had now become an elongated and flattened flaming pile of junk, with various dismantled car parts surrounding the smoking wreckage. As the vigilant vandals looked proudly at their criminal work of art, Master Zhi was the first to speak to the students

"Job well done, ladies! That'll teach that loser creep to not stalk Miss Starlight on OUR watch!"

"Yona very proud of us! Yona feel GOOD! Bad guy will be one scared of students, no back way around!", exclaimed the prideful nak as she posed in a powerful manner, before she spotted something very familiar in her sight.

"HEY, Master!! LOOK!!!", Yona yelled as she pointed at another green steamer in the middle regional area of the parking lot, which was located 5 meters away from the wreck. This green steamer was also a green Model 1922 Stanley Steamer with the exact same license plate of "MM 5883". The only difference was that the second black-painted 'M' had a slight scrape along its right-side vertical stroke line!

"There be MM 5883 too!!", Yona mentioned as she looked at the master.

"WHAT??!! You gotta be kidding me!!! Another car with the EXACT same number marked on the EXACT same green car?!!", shouted Smolder who was in complete shock at the twist of events.

"WHAT---BUT---BUT HOW??!! No two cars are supposed to have the same license plate number!!", shouted Master Zhi as he took a closer look (with his glasses) at the exact same green steamer model.

"Should we go smash that car too?! You know, just to be on the safe side for Miss Starlight!", asked the rough-and-ready Tiny Turnip Head as he flew towards Master Zhi.

"HEY!!! What the hell are you four doing over here??!!", shouted the female Diamond Dog police officer who spotted the vandals and scurried over to examine the wreckage.

"OH SHIT!!! BUSTED!!!!", exclaimed the scare-stiffed Smolder as she immediately saw the officer pointing directly at their paled faces.

As soon as the police officer started howling for backup, Master Zhi and the students were quickly surrounded by police dogs coming out of the station. It was at this moment that they immediately knew---that they had messed up big time!

----------(30 SECONDS LATER IN THE POLICE STATION)----------

"I can't believe you thugs would mess around NEAR a police station!! Just HOW exactly stupid are you??!", shouted the angry female police canine as she escorted all the vandals (including Tiny Turnip Head) throughout the hallway, in multiple steel manacles and chains.

Master Zhi had his hands cuffed from behind and was held at the neck by a chained brace. Yona was heavily chained at the ankles and the wrists with much thicker chrome-steel manacles and chains, in a similar manner the master. Both Smolder and Tiny Turnip Head had their wings pierced with 20-g weights at their wingtips to prevent them form flying off, as well as bulky manacles (though not as heavy as Yona's) around their necks and wrists. The only difference between Smolder and Tiny Turnip Head was that the dragon was also fitted with a tight iron muzzle to stop her from breathing fire in the police station.

"I mean, contributing delinquency to minors, destruction of governmental property, vandalism, damage to possessed property---do you idiots even realize HOW much prison time you'll be facing soon??!!", berated the female Diamond Dog officer as she escorted the group of four felonious friends.

"I can't believe she got away before I could get a chance to apologize to her...", muttered Sunny Boy as he went down the stairs to the reception room, while rubbing his sprained shoulders.

"It's all right, Sunny B! I know it's hard to get close to the ones you love, you know that's not going to last forever...", replied Captain Shining Armor as he rushed down the stairs with the commissioner.

"SO, it was just a ruse for you to get into contact with your close friend, huh??", grunted the grumbling Commissioner Dobbins who gave off a mean expression. "WELL, next time if you wanna arrange a secret meeting without getting your ass beaten, go to some back alleyway or somewhere deep within the Everfree Forest! I don't want to be the one taking flak for inadvertently interfering in some lover's quarrel!"

"I TOLD you, it's not like---!!", shouted the upset Sunny Boy before he suddenly went silent after spotting Master Zhi and the three friendship students in heavily chained thick shackles.

"Uhhhhh, why is there a tall lanky stallion, a fat yak, a lizzy girl and a tiny peggie being chained ALL at once, INSIDE my own police station??! Is there some sort of all-creatures bonanza party disturbance that I wasn't aware about??!!", questioned the bewildered commissioner as he stood on the stairs, looking deeply at the four arrestees.

"I caught these four dunderheads vandalizing YOUR car, commissioner!!", barked the female Diamond Dog officer.

"THEY DID WHHHHAAAATT???!!!!", shouted the suddenly enraged commissioner who was now steaming from his ears and nostrils. "Why the hell did you think wrecking my prized trophy was such a good idea of fun for you sniveling creatures??!!"

"Well...to be fair---that color of choice for your car---did looked pretty criminal", sadly joked the repentant Master Zhi as he tried to lighten up the mood within the police station.

"We REALLY thought it belonged to a bad guy...", whimpered the sad Tiny Turnip Head as he looked down at the ground in emotional shame.

"SO WHAT?!! Just because I'm not much of a luxurious show-off, DOESN'T mean you can destroy it over bad taste in rich car design!! It's NOT your ride to begin with!!", shouted the livid commissioner.

"Blue-shirt pony right...Yona very sorry for destroying metal ride for bad color....no excuse", sighed the depressed nak as she stared down towards the tiled floor.

Realizing at what they had done, Sunny Boy took pity at the four vandals who may end up spending possibly decades in federal prison, over a well-intended act of vigilante heroism in an attempt to protect the mare he was purposefully stalking. His moral conscience within his depressed mind told him that the lives of these three young students would be forever shattered if they ever get convicted and their future would become bleak. Moreover, the tall yellow stallion would never get to see his boy ever again and he'll probably die of old age in prison before he could see his boy grow up into a mature stallion, assuming that the boy would live a life outside of crime for the time being. Sunny Boy turned to the commissioner and told him

"Let them go, officer. They're my friends. It's my fault that your car ended up being wrecked"

"You gotta be kidding me!!?? How was it YOUR fault?! Don't tell me THEY'RE part of your little clandestine troupe too!", shouted the commissioner as he turned his attention to Sunny Boy.

Sunny Boy explained to the commissioner. "I suspected these four would come after me, because they were pretty close to the lovely mare I was pursuing. To them, I was their alleged stalker and thought it would be a good idea to destroy my vehicle in retaliation. I MAY had used my warped ink spell on my license plate number to match the one on YOUR vehicle, sir."

"WELL, whether they were trying to target my car or yours, they STILL have to answer to destroying possessed property and vehicle vandalism, regardless of what their reasonable intentions were!", complained the hot-headed commissioner.

"WELL, in the meantime, you can take MY car instead, marked 'MN 5772'!", insisted Sunny B as he took out one of his car keys and gave it to the commissioner. "The ink spell must've worn off by now, so you'll be able to find it easily. Besides, it IS the only green steamer in the police parking lot, yes?"

"Just take the offer, Commissioner Dobbins", quickly pleaded Captain Shining Armor as he placed his gauntlet hand over the commissioner's shoulder. "He's a very important governmental asset with special status!"

"But what about these hooligans??! They can't just get away with this!", shouted Commissioner Dobbins as he stared at the chained criminals in question.

"Just file a restraining order against them!", suggested the assured Captain Shining Armor. "Besides, these little creatures here are just misguided minors who decided to revel in a little evening mischief. I was young once too, you know?"

Captain Shining Armor then proceeded to walk towards the chained Yona, Smolder and Tiny Turnip Head, before speaking in a very content but authoritative manner

"I'll make sure their Headmare knows exactly about what happened yesterday, FIRST thing in the morning. Then, she'll decide on the proper punishment for ALL of you little rascals! Sounds fair??!"

All the little students nodded in agreement with their sad eyes locked onto the merciful royal guard captain.

"OH, and as for you...uhhhhhh......", mumbled Shining Armor as he turned his attention to the silently sorrowful Master Zhi.

"He's---kinda the boy's father---AND he used to work at the school too...", informed Sunny Boy to the captain.

"Riiiiigghhhhtt...I'll let the Headmare know about what YOU'VE been up to tomorrow as well. In the mean time, I'll let my friend here keep an eye on ALL of you, understand?? BUT if all of you four cause ANY more trouble, we'll have no chance but to stop you!", sternly scolded the captain as he stared madly into Master Zhi's eyes, hoping his presumptuous fortitude will convince the commissioner to be more lenient on Sunny Boy's colleagues.

At this point right now, Commissioner Dobbins had no idea how to react to the new situation right now. He was more than ready to give up interfering with any more shenanigans and let Captain Shining Armor deal with their informant (though he STILL insisted that he file a full report on yesterday's and today's incidents, regardless of how insanely unbelievable they may sound compared to an average police record)

---END

Author's Note

1900s Wall telephone

19 What Would You Do To Make Your Crush Happy?

19 - What Would You Do To Make Your Crush Happy?

----------(JADE DRAGON STEAMBOAT DIM-SUM RESTAURANT, QILIN TOWN 6:30 PM)----------

The sky had already went dark blue by the time Master Zhi, Sunny Boy, Tiny Turnip Head, Yona and Smolder had arrived at Qilin Town under Master Zhi's guidance. To show appreciation for Sunny Boy's rescue from their demise in prison, Master Zhi thought it would be best for him (and the students) to try out the top-rated Far Eastern Equestrian cuisine, hopefully avoiding the bad food poisoning experience like the kirin students had encountered in the Dragon Skyboat restaurant. For Master Zhi and the students, it was a significantly appreciative gesture to repay Sunny Boy back for the way they attempted to vandalize his vehicle. Though at first they had perceived him as a stalker who had bad intentions to ravage Miss Starlight, during their long walk to the most popular dim-sum restaurant in time, Master Zhi and the students soon came to an understanding that the so-called thug boy was just too overwhelmed with his first sensual feelings of romantic love and had a really hard time controlling his emotions. Every adult and mature creature had experienced love and failed to make a good impression on their first try, so as long as he had no bad intentions and does not target those of prepubescent age, does that make that love-struck fellow the bad guy?

As they made their way through the bustling, street-lit road of Qilin Town, the students were amazed by the many red-lanterns, various grocery markets, restaurants, salons, bookstores and many other small town businesses lined up along both sides of the stone-bricked road. Over the course of a year, a small kirin community had been developing over the far eastern side of Ponyville and had been introducing their traditions and cultures to the Western region. The most popular culture was the delicious exotic cuisine they brought from the far east and their small family-owned noodle shops, white bun stalls, tofu kiosks and tea-houses littered the streets like a rustic version of Canterlot's restaurant row. One of the most popular kirin restaurants was the Jade Dragon Steamboat restaurant chain, in which Master Zhi claims had one of the best hot-pot services in the entire Equestrian world.

Once they had entered the restaurant, Master Zhi ordered a vacant white tablecloth-laden round-table for five creatures and ordered up a special hot-pot service special. Once they were all seated at the round-table, they were each given a napkin, pair of chopsticks and forks. They then waited for a couple minutes before waiters handed them a bowl of lettuce, a couple of brown eggs in a basket, celery sticks, chopped carrots, dried yuba1 sheets, various bowls of beans, broccoli, mushrooms, sliced onions, cubed potatoes and several other savory vegetable dishes. At first, Yona attempted to consume the dishes, but then Master Zhi had to slap her cloven hand hard enough, before scolding her about waiting for the hotpot to arrive. Saddened about the fact she does not know anything about proper kirin dining, Tiny Turnip Head attempted to cheer her up by pulling out a deck of cards for her to play 'Goldfish' with. This gave the students something to do was they wait for that special hot pot. In the meantime, Master Zhi decided to add a special touch to their hotpot dinner special by ordering a special black-painted kirin cider bottle, along with a pair of glass cups for himself and his acquaintance Sunny Boy.

"Here you go, Headmaster! One tall glass of kirin cider, freshly brewed from the finest apples in the far east!", cheered Master Zhi as he poured him a nice full glass of the alcoholic sweet beverage.

"Yeah....uhh---thanks...", mumbled the down-trodden orange-sunglasses wearing Sunny Boy as he laid back on his brass-framed white-cushioned chair, pondering about what he had experienced with Miss Starlight Glimmer back at the police station.

"C'mon, let's propose a toast---TO FRIENDSHIP!", shouted Master Zhi as he raised his own full glass of kirin cider. Feeling like he had owed them a big deal for putting Starlight Glimmer in unnecessary trouble with the police, he reluctantly grabbed his full glass and clinked glasses with Master Zhi.

"CHEERS!!", cried Master Zhi before he gulped down half a glass of the sweet tangy beverage.

Finally, after 10 minutes of waiting, the hot-pot full of broth had arrived as the waiter carefully placed the boiling pot of delicious yellow hay broth. Below the cast iron pot was a magical brass intricately-embossed two-handled bowl, with its inner surface lined with blue-glowing fire crystals. With a cast from the kirin waiter's red horn, a spark of hot jettisoning blue flames enveloped from the magical pyrogenic crystals and started heating up the black iron pot above, before the hot pot was levitated onto the center of the round table.

"WOW, Yona no has seen hot pot dinner before!! Must be amazing!", shouted Yona as she stood from the ground as saw the burst of fiery upwards flame shooting up in the air.

"You really like that awesome fire show they put on, huh??", asked Tiny Turnip Head as he hovered near the edge of the round table.

"YEP!! Yona no had before see that sort of show in Yakyakistan! Me feel very excite!", shouted Yona as she clenched her raised cloven hands with wonderment.

"HEE HEE HEE, probably because you're too short to see the hot pot show on this high table! HEE HEE HEE!", teased the giggling Smolder as she showed her how Yona's eye level was below the top surface of the table.

"HEY, Yona no too short!! Me can become taller than you if Yona want!!", shouted the fat nak girl as she struggled to climb on top of the brass chair, before she was able to stand firm on top of its seat.

Held firmly by the ring of growing blue crystals cast by the kirin waiter, the boiling yellow broth was filled to its brim with a variety of delicious savory consumables. Those include the curly ramen noodles, bok choy2, fat choy3, peas, baby carrots, leeks, white radishes, spinach, tofu blocks, asparagus and many other savory foods. To help gather as many food stuffs as they can, the pot was also equipped with wired brass ladles to help pick up bundles of chopped vegetables, noodles and other delicacies, before plopping them all down on the consumer's plate.

"Uhhh, WAITER! There's a TON OF HAIR in my soup! WHAT THE HELL!??", shouted Smolder as she fumed at the nervous kirin waiter.

"That's not hair, silly! That's fat choy!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he pointed at the boiling pot.

"HEY, YONA no FAT! Yona big-boned!", bellowed the insecure short fat yak as she stood on her seat.

"It means 'hair vegetable' in my language, you numbskull!", briefly explained Master Zhi as he picked up his chopsticks.

"BLEEEHH, why the hell do you even have this in a soup broth?!! It looks disgusting! Did you actually served some creature's mane as some cruel joke here??!", Smolder angrily sneered as she stared at one of the serving kirin waiters.

"It's not REAL hair, you lizard brain!! It's just a colony of photosynthesizing bacteria! You know, the micro-organisms you learn in science class?---wait, does Friendship School even HAVE a lab course??", questioned Master Zhi as he pondered on that question.

"WAIT, you mean like tiny icky buggy germs I saw on Ocellus' glass slides??! That's just makes it 10 times worse!!!", gagged Smolder as her pupils started to dilate.

"FINE, if you don't want it, then I'll eat it ALL by myself!!", shouted Master Zhi towards Smolder.

The yellow stallion master then proceeded to gather up all the black hairy delicacy from the hot-pot with his pair of chopsticks in a single circular swoop around the boiling broth. He picked up a large tuft of the treat like a wet slobbering black cotton candy ball, before he sucked down and swallowed every centimeter of these 'hairs' down his gullet and gave out a satisfactory delicious hum.

"EWWWWW, YUCK!! That almost made me barf out my lunch! Equestrians from YOUR country actually eat this stuff on a daily basis??!!", gurgled the wretched Smolder as she avert her eyes from the bizarre spectacle of that hairy chow-down.

"We don't eat it ALL the time! It's a very rare dish that is hard to harvest, so it's only eaten on special occasion, usually during the new year! Not many Far Eastern Equestrians want to eat it! I don't even want to eat it, and you don't have to if you don't want to!", explained the assuring Tiny Turnip Head as he patted on Smolder's back gently.

"STILL, does he HAVE to eat it right in front of us??!! I mean, it's SOO---hairy!!", Smolder continued to gag and shudder at the mere thought of eating so much hairy vegetables.

"HEY, I don't complain about your dragon kin eating hard gems, even if the thought of it makes my gums bleed in my imagination!", shouted Master Zhi as he pointed out the little dragon girls' hypocrisy

"UUUGGGHHH, touché...", grunted the defeated Smolder as she slouched down from her seat.

"NO TALKING!! MORE EATING!!", shouted Yona before she proceeded to pick up every piece of food from the hot pot as taking it down into her slobbering mouth.

"Hey, don't hog up all the tofu skins!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he raced against Yona for all the delicious vegetables and noodles in the hot pot.

"Look, I did the favor of eating all that fat choy for you! Eat up to regain your fire-breathing fuel, before your friends takes up ALL the good stuff, okay??!", ordered Master Zhi before he picked up a piece of yuba skin and dipped it into the hot pot.

"Yeeaahhh, THANKS....maybe next time when you order a hot pot special, DON'T include the throat gagging 'hair veggie'!", shouted Smolder before she dipped her brown eggs into the pot of boiling broth with her claws. Since her dragon physiology was able to handle molten lava back in her homeland, she is not negatively affected by the intense boiling heat emanating from the broth. However, she was told beforehand to wash her claws in the washroom before dinner, just in case the students end up experiencing another food poisoning disaster.

"Siiigghhh, it's not fair! She's way too obsessed over that nut case!", mumbled the upset Sunny Boy as he stared into space with his arms tightly crossed.

"Uhhh, Headmaster!", cried Master Zhi as he shrugged his shoulders. "We didn't order ANY kind of nuts to the table..."

"But if you WANT---", shouted Tiny Turnip Head. "I could order you some cashew nuts, macadamia nuts, peanuts, chestnuts, hazel nuts, coconuts---!"

Sunny Boy immediately interrupted the fast-talking white pegasus boy and shouted

"NO, I don't mean THAT kinda nutcase! I meant the nutcase that Starlight Glimmer can't recall!"

Master Zhi and the students gave out a confusing "HUH?!" as they immediately stopped eating and stared at the depressed Sunny Boy.

"I---I know that I'm not the perfect romantic sort of guy....but---I just can't abandon my godfather over some random beautiful mare I barely even know...", Sunny Boy explained as he stuttered his words.

During his expressive soul searching, Yona, Smolder and Tiny Turnip Head began fighting each other with chopsticks, while arguing among each other over who gets to take the next food bit from the hot pot, while Master Zhi attempted to break up the fight and threaten to eat ALL the food if they don't stop fighting like fussy diaper-wearing foals.

"Do you realize how much my godfather had to go through to raise me into the adult stallion I am now?", questioned Sunny Boy as he pulled out and held a necklace of blackened pearls in his right gloved fist.

"When I was only a month old, my godfather was a pauper handyman who didn't have enough money to buy milk directly from the farmer's market", Sunny Boy continued on with his quiet ranting. "He was able to get a healthy cow for the free milk, but...only dear Celestia knows how he was able to procure such a pricey domestic animal like that..."

As soon as the students stop fighting and started to agree on taking turns on taking the food from the hot pot (based on the alphabetical order of their names), they soon began to enjoy their hearty meals as they quickly took each food bit from the hot yellow hay broth. After a brief talk with Master Zhi, they soon realized they could also dip the raw vegetables and eggs into the hot pot and wait for them to simmer into a hot food bit, thereby adding more extra savory supply of deliciousness to their broth.

"And there's more to this past story that my godfather told me of...", continued Sunny Boy as he stared at his plate of dried yuba sheets. "He also didn't have money in his stash to buy me proper diapers"

Master Zhi and his students suddenly stopped eating all together once again upon hearing Sunny Boy mention the word 'diaper' at the dinner table.

"Uhhhhh, WHAT?", questioned the confused Smolder before being shushed by Young Master Zhi.

"When I was a foal, my godfather would often sneak into public washrooms to gather up all the used paper towels and dirty toilet paper, before heading home with his stash to clean out the dirt for his own use.", said Sunny Boy as he used his telekinesis to pick up a pair of chopsticks.

"HHUUHHH???!!", hummed all of the other patrons at Master Zhi's table as they gaze at the spaced-out Sunny Boy.

"He would then used the money he saved to buy fresher ones for me to use as diapers", continued Sunny Boy.

"DUDE, c'mon! Not during dinner! It was bad enough for me to see the Master eat a giant hairball!", shouted the disgusted Smolder before she dipped in another brown egg into the pot.

"Is that be true??!! WOW!", shouted Yona as she gazed in wonderment of Sunny Boy's alleged life story.

"Sounds like a load of baloney! You SURE your papa's telling the truth??!", questioned Tiny Turnip Head as he held a piece of boiled yuba with his chopstick.

"He worked SO hard to raise me to who I am, that I felt like I could NEVER pay him back for all the rough hardships he had to go through!", proclaimed the strongly inclined Sunny Boy as he lowered down his chopsticks onto the table with his telekinetic magic.

"Wow, such desperation!", pitied Master Zhi as he shook his head. "AH, well! Let's get back to eating, shall we??!"

"YES SIR!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head before he and Yona began eating from the hotpot as fast as their chopsticks and ladles could gather.

"You know, I'm starting to think this godfather must be an accomplished pathological liar, don't you think?", Smolder whispered to Master Zhi, as the yellow stallion continued to gather as much boiled vegetables with his chopsticks onto his steamy rice bowl.

"UAARRMM!!" garbled Master Zhi as he gulped down a huge piece of bok choy into his mouth. "Can't talk! Eating now!"

Quickly as he responded to her, Smolder then proceeded to join with her other peers in the indulgence of hotpot food, picking and plopping down as many noodles and random vegetables into her maw.

"Hmmm mmm, so yummy!"

"HMMM, so good! So savory!"

"Hmm, must eat more!! Eat more!"

"Yum yum yum yum yum! Delicioso!"

As every creature at the table (except Sunny Boy) continued to express their wonderful delight of their special meal, Smolder was about to take the biggest tofu block from the pot, when she suddenly felt her claw being slapped down by Yona's hard cloven hand!

"OW!! HEY!!", shouted Smolder as she rubbed her slapped claw.

Yona then proceeded to grab the boiling iron pot by the magic brass fire bowl it was sitting on. As the pot was dragged closer to her vicinity, Smolder started to strongly grab the heavy pot and drag it to herself, before Yona pulled back in retaliation. Soon, it became a screeching tug-of-war between the insatiate dragon girl and the gluttonous nak girl.

"In fact, I may have to owe him my WHOLE life to my godfather someday, for saving me from that terrible orphanage...", muttered Sunny Boy before he used his telekinetic magic to pick up a piece of yuba sheet with his chopsticks.

"Stop hogging the pot, fatass!!", shouted Smolder as she grabbed the pot to her side.

"Yona no want you taking all noodles!!", shouted the fat nak girl as she pulled the pot to her side.

"Well then, QUIT taking all the good onions!", shouted Smolder as she once again pulled the pot back to her side.

"GIRLS, shut the hell up!! Just set it in the middle and QUIT being so greedy! There's plenty of food for every creature here, all right??!", shouted the angry Master Zhi, before the girls quickly set the hot pot at the middle between their personal spaces.

"REMEMBER, sharing is caring!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he popped out from below between the two ladies and took another quick bite of the food bit from the pot with his chopsticks.

"Still---I do really hope----that maybe someday------I could be Miss Starlight Glimmer's devoted boyfriend", quietly muttered the depressed Sunny Boy as he levitated his yuba over the center of the table, where the hotpot originally was located. He was too distracted in his own daydreaming reality to notice that his yuba wasn't boiling in the hotpot, which was now pulled to the edge near the hungry students.

Just as he was about to take a bite of his raw soy skin meal, Master Zhi immediately clasped Sunny Boy's chopsticks with his pair and shouted, "WOAH THERE, headmaster! That yuba's still too raw for you to eat!"

"Does it really make a big difference though?", asked Sunny Boy as he pondered about whether it is moral to alter his crush's fidelity for her long-distant boyfriend, just so he could have her all by himself.

"Of COURSE it does, Mister! It doesn't taste good when it's raw! That's why you have to leave it in the pot for a few minutes longer!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he raised his pair of chopsticks to point at the boiling broth mix.

"More importantly, is there really a big difference between that cur and me?", questioned Sunny Boy as he pondered upon his own life morals.

"Weellll, if you really think about it, eating bean curd robes raw or boiled doesn't make THAT much of a difference. I mean, it has already been dried of all the microbes beforehand...", speculated Master Zhi as he pondered upon such possibilities of eating foods in peculiar ways outside of cuisine norms.

"FINE, eat it raw if you like! So long as it doesn't send you running for the toilet...", said Master Zhi as he quickly released his grip on Sunny Boy's levitating chopsticks as they held the raw yuba. Sunny Boy took a short look at his droppy raw soy skin dangling from his pair of chopsticks.

"BAH, I'm not hungry anymore!", scoffed Sunny Boy as he released his magical hold on his chopsticks and place them on the table. "You can have the rest of the meal for tonight...thanks anyway"

"WELL, better eat it all quick, so Headmaster can head home soon!", ordered the happily delighted Master Zhi as he sped up his eating habits and munched on as much brocolli and potatoes from the boiling hot pot.

"HOORAY!! More for us!!", cheered Yona as she ploppled down more boiled baby carrots and peas from the wired ladle.

"HMMMM, so tasty!!", muffled Tiny Turnip Head as he munched on his boiled tofu balls with his pair of chopsticks

"Best meal I had in Kirin Town!", complimented Smolder as she slurped up more noodles from the broth from her wet soggy claw. In an attempt to reach in more food stuffs from the serving dishes on the other side of the table and plop them into the nearby boiling broth, Yona positioned her right wide cloven hand onto the edge of the round table.

Then, without warning, Yona's immense concentrated weight onto the edge caused the whole table to flip over and launched every dish from the table up into the air, before falling straight down to the carpet floor and the flipped table top! Even the glass of kirin cider that was meant for Sunny Boy got tragically spilled and shattered across the floor. As for the surprised patrons, Yona suddenly fell backwards on her chair and found herself landing hard on the red carpet floor, while Smolder instinctively covered her head and duck for cover. Tiny Turnip Head though, with his instant fast wing reflexes allowed him to quickly dodge the flying dishes like a ninja hummingbird, thereby avoiding possible injuries to himself.

Every creature in the restaurant, including Master Zhi, Sunny Boy and her students were caught off guard by the catastrophic table flip that sent all of the raw foods catapulting onto the carpet floor!

After the catastrophe was quickly over, Yona found herself lying on her back with the edge of the fallen tabletop planted onto her face, while Smolder was still sitting at her seat and was completely unharmed (though she was covered in lettuce, spinach, broth liquid and yuba). Master Zhi, who was at his seat, quickly look up to the sky and saw the catapulted hot pot that was about to crash onto the ground! Fortunately, he rapidly reacted just in time to get off from his comfy seat, scooted over to the landing spot and caught the hot-pot by its brass bowl handles in time!

Feeling very devastated about what she had done, she quickly lifted up the tabletop from her face and got back on her two hooves, shoving away the chair she was sitting on, before bellowing

"OH NOOO!! Yona mess up big time----AGAIN!!"

"Don't worry, Yona!! I saved hot pot JUST in time! It's a good thing this broth didn't spill all over the carpet floor!", shouted Master Zhi as he tightly gripped onto the brass handles of the crystallized fire bowl.

"Wait a minute, isn't that still hot??!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he pointed at Master Zhi's cooking hands being viciously heated by the red-hot brass handles. As soon as he realized it, Master Zhi quickly released his grip from the hot-pot, set it over the flipped tabletop and immediately places his blistering hot steamy hands onto Smolder's yellow horns!

"HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT HOT!!!!", screamed Master Zhi as he attempted to transfer the heat onto Smolder's horns.

"HEY, get your damn furry hands off my stinkin' horns!!", shouted Smolder as she yanked Master Zhi's hands out of her horns.

"You're a dragon! You can take on the intensive heat way better than ANY creature!!", shouted Master Zhi as he attempted to grab Smolder's horns again, but was stopped as Smolder grab a hold onto his wrists.

"I can't move well with you taking a deadlock hold onto my head!", shouted Smolder as she vehemently wrestled with Master Zhi, before puffing out a intimidating purple flame to force his release from her wrists.

"JAYSUS, Smolder! You're gonna burn the whole place down!!", shouted Master Zhi as he winced back away from the purple flaming breath.

"AWWW, look at the mess you made, Yona!! There's no WAY we're gonna eat all that food off the floor now!", complained Smolder as she saw allt he scattered food stuff that was thrown off the table.

"Smolder wrong! Yona can take food from ground and dip into hot pot before eating!", exclaimed Yona as she took a piece of fallen yuba on the flipped table and proceeded to dip it into the intact hot pot for a couple minutes.

"YONA! You're going to end up pooping a lot from eating food off the floor! It probably has too many icky germs on it by now!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he tried to warn Yona about the dangers of food poisoning.

"Yona no wanna throw away food!! Hot water kill ALL germs! Blue horse buggy say that! Even if still icky, Yona will risk life of tummy ache to eat delicious food!", shouted Yona as she proceeded to dump in more fallen yuba into the hot pot.

"You SURE that's really worth the sacrifice, Yona??", questioned Smolder as she stared unamusingly at Yona.

Then, suddenly, it dawned on Sunny Boy. As a bright crepuscular holy ray of light was shone onto this body, Sunny Boy said to himself...

"Sacrifice?-----Of COURSE.....how could I not see it?"

He took a long pause before reaching an epiphany...

"I have to do what makes Miss Starlight Glimmer happy, not what makes ME happy. As long as Miss Starlight Glimmer is living her fullest life, I will sacrifice everything in my life for the mare I love so much, even giving up my pursuit for her. If she really wants to be with that sniveling cur so much....then I'll do everything in my power to find her long-lost love and bring him directly to her..."

"For PETE'S sake, Yona!! You don't live on a farm!! Let's just pay our bill and leave!", scolded Master Zhi as he continued to wag his finger at the hungry Yona by the hot pot.

"Hey...Master Zhi, is it?", mumbled Sunny Boy as he spoke to his ear.

"WAAHH, don't scare me!", cried Master Zhi as he got caught off guard by Sunny Boy's close presence.

"I got a request for you to do. It's nothing major or criminal, all right?", said Sunny Boy as he pulled out a piece of modelling clay from his pant pocket. "If you help me, I'll pay for the damages of the table AND the whole bill for you..."

Master Zhi strangely looked onto the sunglasses-wearing Sunny Boy, but as soon as the kirin restaurant manager came rushing in and yelling to every creature about what the hell was going on, Master Zhi swiped the clay from Sunny Boy's hands and said...

"So...what do you need?"

----------(CASTLE OF FRIENDSHIP, STARLIGHT'S BEDROOM, 9:30 PM)----------

As Master Zhi was carefully levitated to the top balcony by Sunny Boy's telekinetic magic, he quietly crept around the castle on the second floor, wearing his carbide lamp cap4 to help navigate the crystalline hallways in the pitch-black dark. After lurking across the red carpeted halls for several minutes, he was able to find Starlight Glimmer's old small bedroom behind the wooden door with Starlight's name hanging on the center nail.

Laying on the green-painted cedar bed was Starlight Glimmer, who was fast asleep with her violet blanket covering her whole body. She was nicely snugged within her pink-background white-polka-dot pajamas and was grasping very tightly on the edges of her blanket, laying peacefully on her left side of the bed.

As Master Zhi crept towards her and examine his burning bright directed lamp light, he saw Starlight's key with the acrylic sun decal, hanging underneath the unlit phoenix-red lampshade by its chain. The electric battery lamp was standing top of the gray drawer, where the sleepy-eyed comforted Starlight Glimmer was facing. Slowly but surely, Master Zhi crept towards the key with as little noise as he could make with his lower hooves. Then suddenly, Starlight Glimmer shifted her sleeping position to her right side, causing Master Zhi to instantly crawled underneath Starlight's bed like a cockroach, thankfully avoiding his fiery gas light from igniting the wooden bed frame, mattress and blanket!

As soon as Starlight Glimmer had stopped moving around on her mattress, Master Zhi crawled out of his hiding place and proceeded to position the clay underneath the lampshade and press the clay against the patterned ridges and notches of the key blade, making sure he made a copied impression of the key for each side of the blade. After he was done with the job, he quickly crept his way out of Starlight's room and back towards the balcony, before signaling the grounded Sunny with a dimming and brightening of his own head lamp via gas valve turn.

Upon throwing the clay mold with the dual-sided imprints of the key blade, the street-smart Sunny Boy caught the clay with his telekinetic magic and head off into the moonlit hills to plan his next chivalrous move within the next morning.

"......SO uhhhhh, I'll-----just get back to my apartment before Starlight figures out I'm here.......yeeaaahhh, maybe I should've told him to bring him down from the balcony with his telekinesis first......"

---END

Author's Note

Yuba: Soybeans processed into a film-like sustenance that is often dipped in boiling broth before being served (also known as tofu skin, bean curd skin, bean curd sheet, or bean curd robes)

Bok Choy: Colloquially known as "Chinese cabbage", those vegetables do not form heads and have green leaf blades with lighter bulbous bottoms instead; popular within southern parts of Asia

Fat Choy: a hair-like colony of photosynthetic terrestrial cyanobacteria (Nostoc flagelliforme) that is eaten as a vegetable in Chinese soups; has a fineness and texture of vermicelli (literally means 'hair vegetable' in Cantonese)

Carbide lamp hat: powered by acetylene gas and often used by miners in the early 20th century

20 Bad Mojo Everywhere

Ch 20 - Bad Mojo Everywhere

----------(GINSENG HOUSEHOLD, EVERFREE FOREST, THURSDAY MIDNIGHT)----------

It was a very dark midnight at the Ginseng secret household. Glowing under the starless night sky was an oil lamp-lit front-yard swimming pool area. The tiled surroundings around the fenced man-made pool was void of party guests and had only a few synthetic plastic palm trees to bring out the natural finesse. Instead, it was only occupied by Delft Blue and his crime boss, who were NOT having a very good night, as they had experienced a couple unfortunate events over the past week, since their kidnapped 'adoption' of their 'godson' from the hospital.

Sitting on the white plastic lawn chair on the tiled front-yard patio was the red-faced (and coated) Ginseng Dragon, who was bent forward from his hips and scratching ferociously on his wet soaking lion-like black mane, while wearing his usual golden-laced bathrobe. His right-hand command, Delft Blue, was in his usual dark-blue silk shirt and dark pants, spraying a pressured shower of cold water from his hose, in which it was levitated above Ginseng Dragon's itchy head by Delft Blue's telekinesis. To bring on the high pressure within the hose, Delft Blue used the rushing waterfall spell he had learnt from Sunny Boy's study on household magic and concentrated that thrusting power within the entire hose, which was connected to a nearby carbonated spring well underneath.

"Stop scratching so hard, Dragon Head! Or else your mane's gonna fall out and your scalp's gonna bleed more often!", advised Delft Blue as he continued spraying the multiple jets of water from the green rubber hose.

"I can't help it, all right??!! My dragon head feels like it got a party of fire ants square dancing1 on top of my scalp!!", vociferously roared the lion-voiced Ginseng Dragon as he continued to rapidly scratch away the burning itches in his scalp. His cloven hooves and red coat was beginning to show of glowing blue and white veins across his body and face.

"Didn't you try the golden-flaked tonic shampoo I bought from the Fragrant and Floral brothers??", asked Delft Blue as he tried to turn his face away from the droplets spread from Ginseng's rapid kneading of his mane.

"YES, I DID! And I think it just made it WORSE!! You sure there's no vitamin A palmitate in that exotic brand?!! My doctor told me to avoid shampoo products with that ingredient if I ever caught the wicked itch on my head!!", informed the head-scratching rough-voiced Ginseng Dragon.

"Uhhhhhh, not that I know of, Saan Jyu", nervously replied Delft Blue as he started to dart his eyes side-to-side. "There was no ingredient list label on that F&F brand!"

Suddenly, Ginseng Dragon rose from his seat, picked up his white towel and scrubbed his wet frazzled mane dry. All that fiery blue and white streaks on his body were now gone and his voice no longer sounded like a growling tiger.

"HEY, where are you going, Saan Jyu?!", asked the surprised Delft Blue as he looked up at the frustrated Ginseng Dragon.

"I'm going to continue practicing my martial arts routine now! Have our men laid out the broken glass for me!", ordered Ginseng Dragon as he ferociously rubbed his wet mane dry with his white towel.

----------(5 MINUTES LATER)----------

As soon as all the broken shards of (sugar) glass was laid out on the blue-silk carpet on the grassy lawn, Ginseng Dragon pumped himself up with all the chi energy he had in his soul. With his eyes shut tight, his right-handed three-finger palm brought close to his chest and his left cloven hand grasping hard on his right wrist, he immediately yelled out his mantra from the bottom of his raging heart and cast a red bright aura from his red horn

"By the POWER OF THE SIX INVINCIBLE ELEMENTS OF KUNG-FU, let thy master possess my fighting spirit and protect me!"

He then let out a lion's mighty roar from his voice, shined his bright red aura around his horn and readily leapt from one of the blue carpet and slammed his callus hooves onto the broken glass---

And then suddenly screamed out an ear-piercing screech from his lungs as he instantly opened his eyes super wide to the sudden pain searing from his right lower hoof!

"YYYEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

As soon as the kirin bodyguards heard his screams of agonizing pain and saw him collapse onto his butt over the grassy lawn, they immediately rushed to his aid to evaluate on their Dragon Head's physical condition.

"What's wrong, Dragon Head??! Is something the matter??!", shouted one of the kirin bodyguards.

"HEY, what happened??!! I heard screaming!!", shouted Delft Blue as he immediately rushed out of the back door of the Ginseng household.

As soon as Delft Blue saw his crime boss wailing in pain on the lawn and holding dearly onto his right hoof, he quickly ran from the patio and onto the lawn, before rushing to his boss in dire need.

"What is it, boss??!! Are you hurt??!!", asked the surprised Delft Blue before he crouched down to his boss, before he soon realized what had happened to his boss' right hoof. Stuck within the frog2 of his hoof was a piece of glass shard that had pierced into his soft underside!

"It's the broken glass!! My HOOF'S been cut open!!", cried the blue-and-magenta flaming white-eyed Ginseng Dragon as he bared his razor sharp teeth from his muzzle.

As Ginseng Dragon was being comforted and held by his two kirin bodyguards behind him, Delft Blue quickly rummaged through the sugar glass and feel something somewhat sharp within his fingers. He quickly picked it up and saw a red-soaked piece of jagged shard within the scattered glass.

"WHAT THE---??!!! WHY the hell is there real glass on this carpet??!!!", shouted the surprised Delft Blue as he examined the piece of shard between his fingertips.

"What the hell are you talking about?? What do you MEAN by 'real glass'??!", growled the hot-glowing Ginseng Dragon as he stared at Delft Blue with his bright white eyes. His dark mane was now beginning to give of blue and magenta embers. Quickly, one kirin bodyguard rushed for the front-yard pool, dipped the white towel into the cold water and returned as fast as possible to wrap the wet cold towel around the blue-and-magenta inferno on his boss' head.

Sweating nervously, Delft Blue quickly changed his thoughts and said to him, "UHHH, I mean---WAIT, that's actually been REAL glass this whole time??!!"

"Help Dragon Head up to his seat!", shouted one of the two kirin bodyguards, before they levitated their injured crime boss from the grassy lawn and took him to a wicker chair beside the glass iron-framed table, which was underneath the oil lamp-lit patio.

"Be careful with him! He's pretty fired up right now!", shouted Delft Blue as the two kirin bodyguards slowly lowered the blue-and-magenta flaming red-coated kirin (or possibly nirik) crime boss onto the wicker chair. During his levitation, Ginseng Dragon was still grasping tightly onto his right pierced hoof in a cradling position and his entire body was now slowly turning into a shadowy black.

With no time to wait, the kirin bodyguard quickly took a syringe out of his tuxedo pocket and injected the black syrup-like liquid into the nirik boss' neck, which in turn caused the kirin to revert back to his original (though still hot-headed) self and he was still clenching hard onto this right hoof.

"UUGGHH, not even this opium is helping me dull out the pain!", cried Ginseng Dragon. "I've been using it for so much to tone down my nirik fits, that my body has become used to its euphoric effects! Just how unlucky have I been so lately??!!", cried the hoof-bleeding Dragon Head as he continued to sit down and grasp on his right hoof.

"How unlucky??!! HOW UNLUCKY??!! Boss, the question you should actually be asking is, how LONG have you've been so unlucky!!??", shouted the frustrated Delft Blue as he crouched down towards his boss' head level.

"Boss, haven't you've been noticing what's been happening all around you over the past week? There's been nothing but bad luck happening to you on a daily basis!", cried the flustered Delft Blue. "I think that prophecy that was told by your fortune teller---about your future successor..."

"Yeah, what about my godson?!", shouted the wincing Ginseng Dragon as he felt a sharp explosion of pain emanating from his right hoof, before Delft Blue quickly explained to his boss

"...Well, ever since you decided to spare that Vice-Stallion from that assassin you hired, you've been shot in the head by a rogue sling shooter! Then, after you adopted him from the hospital as your 'godson', you got shot in the ass by a poisonous arrow and had to endure 20 butt cheek injections from our private doctor! THEN your scalp got red and itchy, THEN you ended up stepping on REAL glass instead of---!"

Delft Blue immediately stopped talking before he ended up incriminating himself, scared that his boss would rage in front of him again for tricking him into stepping on fake glass. He later continued on with his explanation

"LOOK, the point is---you've been experiencing one bad luck event after another whenever Sunny Boy got involved in your parties and your criminal activities..."

"Soooo....", grunted the Ginseng Dragon in a sustained manner, "That fraudulent scam artist, Mister Lucky Dew...he had lied to me about my upcoming fate this WHOLE time, hasn't he??!"

Now more furious than ever, Ginseng's face displayed blue-and-magenta flaming streaks emanating from his fiery eyes, though he was not too close to becoming a rampaging nirik. Turning his flashy hot-maned face to the nervous Delft Blue, he placed his left hand over his right-hand command's left shoulder and growled,

"Send our boys over to the Grove3 to put a green-light on Lucky Dew!"

"Of course!", obeyed Delft Blue before he stepped out of the patio and cast his phase summoning spell from his horn to bring out five more kirin bodyguards to his vicinity.

"ALL OF YOU! Hire some Thracians over to the Grove and have them hunt down the one called 'Lucky Dew'!", ordered Delft Blue the deputy officer, before handing them a photo of the intended target.

"YES, Deputy Blue!", shouted the kirin bodyguards before they head off into the bushy Everfree forest under the cover of darkness.

Then suddenly, a dark grey-furred Diamond Dog with a black vinyl satchel bag came rushing in, scaring the fluffy mane out of Delft Blue as he saw the dog leap onto the yard from the darkness!

"A telegraph message from the Kirin Grove!!", barked the telegram delivery dog as he handed out a piece of paper from his satchel bag.

"You sure you weren't followed??", questioned Delft Blue as he took the telegram from the canine's paw.

"RUFF!!! A Triad runner NEVER leaves behind witnesses to our communications", growled the yellow-eyed messenger dog as he showed off his bloody canine teeth, before heading off into the darkness to deliver more underground telegrams.

As soon as Delft Blue started to peruse through the telegram message, he suddenly started to gasp, weep, howl, moan and wail as he read each and every short-written sentence of the telegram.

"AAAAAAHH, EEEEEEPP, OOOOOOHHH, WWWAAAAAHHH, HUUUUUHHH, AAAAAIIIIIEEEEEE, WWHEEEEHHH!!!!"

After Delft Blue was finished reading the message, he quickly ran to Ginseng Dragon and told about about the upcoming bad news from the Grove. As he spoke, Ginseng Dragon was blowing and fanning hard toward his glass wound.

"Saan Jyu, I got an underground telegram message from the Grove!! Your friend Gingko Dragon is coming back here to Ponyville very soon!!"

"GINGKO!??!!", shouted Ginseng Dragon as he lifted his head up in surprise at the sudden news and grasped very hard on both armrests of his wicker chair. "But that means----I'm not gonna be Dragon Head of the Triads anymore!!!"

----------(FLASHBACK MOMENT TO 11 MONTHS AGO AT THE GROVE)----------

It was a very stormy yet refreshing blue-moon night at the docks that jutted out into the Lost Lagoon. The waves were swaying very roughly on the dark blue lagoon, with only the lightly-maned Ginseng Dragon standing near the edge of the dock with another green-coated male kirin with a fluffy canary-blonde mane. Both kirin men were wearing their white shirt and short swimming trunks and were taking in the fresh salty air blowing across the lagoon.

As Gingko Dragon stood on the dock with his trusted companion, he turned to Ginseng and placed his hand over his shoulder and told him

"My dear friend Ginseng...I'm really sorry that I had to leave Western Equestria at a time like this! There's no other place for me to hide from the Royal Guards anymore! I need to lie low back in the Grove until this investigative manhunt finally dies down!"

Ginseng Dragon could only watch his friend's worried face with sadness...

"That's why...from now on, you have to take over as temporary Dragon Head of my operations for me..."

Ginseng Dragon then grasped his kirin friend's elbows and stared happily with his tearful eyes, before he told him

"Not to worry, Gingko! You pass down your empire to me, I'll turn those indebted deficits into prosperous profits! By the time you come back from your exile, all of us will be ready with bated breath to serve you without question!!"

Gingko Dragon sniffed and teared up after hearing his companions' heart-mending speech and replied

"...You are my one true blood-bound brother in the whole world, Ginseng!"

Both family-bound brothers began to hug it out with each other as the crashing lagoon waves soak up the dock...

----------(PRESENT NIGHT AT THE GINSENG HOUSEHOLD)----------

"SO, what are you suggesting, Delft Blue??!!", shouted Ginseng Dragon as he pulled down his dark-blue silk shirt, until he was down to his eye level.

"I'm suggesting that you should get rid of your 'godson' as soon as possible, because he's not really your successor or your good luck charm at all!", said Delft Blue as he became the depressing bearer of bad news. "In reality, he is the terrible jinx curse that will become your ultimate downfall!"

"HUUHHH??!!!", gasped the shocked Ginseng Dragon as he lifted up and pushed himself backwards from his wicker chair. "Well...it's no WONDER I've been having so many bad misfortunes lately..."

Both of them started sighing loudly with a disappointing grunting tone and shook their heads in disgust.

"WELL, we can't hire back that griffon assassin, since she's already been flayed to the bone and spit-roasted over a firepit in our torture chamber...", grunted Delft Blue.

As both started to ponder about how they can solve their conundrums without raising suspicion from the other kirin gang members, Ginseng suddenly had thought up of a devilish sinister plan in his head.

As he whispered his dastardly plan into Delft Blue's ear, he told him, "...See if you get the boys working on the new Trans-Equestrian Railroad to the Thracian Territories to procure some---butterscotch cakes from the construction zone..."

Delft Blue began to snicker as his boss continued on with his plan, before he replied in a sinister manner

"Oooh, we'll make sure he'll give your brother the BEST welcome-back present ever!!"

----------(PONYVILLE ICE CREAM PARLOR, FRIDAY 4:00 PM)----------

It was a very calm afternoon at the local ice cream parlor for Sunny Boy, who was sitting on one of the red stools laid on in a neat row parallel to the elongated white-boarded serving countertop. The red stool he was sitting on was located at the far right end of the counter top and it was the seat that was closest to the washroom facilities. While the jukebox played soft jazzy music through the intercom, he gulped down the last drop of his dark chocolate ice cream soda float from his wide-based tulip glass vessel. Once his glass was completely empty, he then activated his telekinetic magic to carefully position his glass on top of the other three tulip glasses he had previously emptied and stacked on top of one another! Hence, for this saddened Sunny Boy, this unicorn rogue had downed his fourth high-calorie ice cream soda float as of today!

As Sunny Boy carefully positioned the base of his fourth tulip glass over the open top mouth of the top third tulip glass (in which their circumferences were barely the same size), Master Zhi, Mr Tang, Tiny Turnip Head and the Student Six group were walking along the street, when all of them stared through the multi-square paneled window of the ice cream parlor, before they all decided to head into the entrance to greet their good friend Sunny Boy.

"Hello there, Headmaster!", said Master Zhi as he was the first to enter and walk up to Sunny Boy.

"Hi, Headmaster!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he zipped across the open door in mid-air to meet Sunny Boy. His fast speed almost knocked down the tower of four tulip glasses on the countertop.

"Haven't seen you for a LONG time since that soccer match!", grunted Mister Tang as he took a red stool seat next to Sunny Boy, at the street rogue unicorn's left.

Soon, the rest of the Student Six started taking turns happily greeting the sunglasses-wearing Sunny Boy and then took their seats left of Mr Tang in this particular order (from right to left): Sandbar, Gallus, Ocellus, Silverstream and Smolder. Since Yona was too fat and short to get over the seats, she decided to stay put near the far-right end of the countertop next to Sunny Boy.

"WOW, would you LOOK at that?!", hollered Master Zhi as he took a long look at the tower of four tulip glasses on the counter. "Did you REALLY drank all those ice cream floats in one go??"

"Yep...thought this would help numb out the pain of letting go the only sweetheart mare I fell for....and yet---I still feel so sad about leaving my heart unfulfilled without her", replied Sunny Boy as he looked down at the countertop.

"Yona no see Equestrian drink four ice cream floats at once", yelled the surprised chubby nak girl as she stared up in awe at the four stacked glass cups, before muttering "---uhhh, maybe except Professor Pink Pony Lady!"

"YEAH, don't you get major brain freeze from that??!", asked Smolder before she ordered a spicy hot-peppered strawberry-chocolate ice cream.

"You'll get a wicked bad tummy ache at the hospital and then you be in big trouble with the doctor once he checked your blood levels!", lectured Ocellus before she settled for green-tea ice cream topped with meal worms.

"Speaking of trouble, did the Captain of the Royal Guard told the Headmare about your little shenanigans yesterday?!", mentioned the curious Sunny Boy as he looked at Smolder very intensely.

"Ooooooh, RIIIGHHT!! Hehehe, THAT!", chuckled Smolder as she scratched the back side of her head and blushed nervously.

"GEEZ, while I was free to roam around in the school premises, YOU ladies actually got kicked out for THREE days by Headmare Trixie! HA!! Guess I'm no longer the bad boy of this epic story, huh?!", boasted Gallus before ordering cinnamon-spiced vanilla with sprinkled barley seeds.

"Keep rubbing it in, and I might decide turn you from cold turkey to oven-roasted turkey!", threatened Smodler before she was served her spiced-up hot-and-cold dinner meal.

"Do that, and you might risk getting banned from the school for life!", back-sassed Gallus as he smirked at the smoking ice-cream eating dragon girl.

"Man, if all of us end up getting into REALLY big trouble both inside and outside school, we may end up forming a club or something?! Maybe the kind that hangs out at the fast-food place during the peak breakfast hours?", questioned Silverstream before she ordered sea saltwater flavored ice-cream.

"Yeaaaahh, I wouldn't count on that, Silverstream....don't even bother...", warned the unamused Ocellus, before she was served her single scoop of green tea ice-cream on a glass dish with the unconscious cold mealworms slowly wriggling on top of her dessert.

"How about you, sir? How did the talk go with the Headmare??", asked Sunny Boy as he turned his attention to Master Zhi, who was still standing on the right side of Sunny Boy. Master Zhi explained

"Hehehhe, well, you see, after Starlight was told about what happened yesterday, she was in bit of a total shock, but she was more understanding, considering the circumstances of her situation at the time..."

"After a long negotiation with Headmare Trixie, she became pretty understanding about the reason behind these troublesome girls' afternoon revelry, and only gave them a suspended sentence of fourth months. That means, if these three cause any MORE trouble during their three-day suspension, Yona, Tiny Turnip Head and Smolder would be barred from entering the school until next semester", further explained Ocellus as she picked off the squirming mealworms from her sweet cold dessert.

"UGGGHHHH, what a TOTAL bummer! But HEY! As long as we stay out of trouble, that means three days of NO homework!", shouted the chilled Smolder as she gave out a smug expression to her friends, while eating her spicy strawberry-chocolate ice cream.

"Uhhh, that also means three days of work you'll have to catch up with in one day, lizard brain!", mentioned Sandbar before ordering a fizzy lemon soda vanilla float. Smolder then groaned and facepalmed out of agonized disbelief.

"As for my dear old friend Zhi---", spoke Mr Tang after he was done ordering buttermilk ice cream. "---he not ONLY got suspended for ANOTHER week by the Headmare, he was ALSO given a restraining order from the superintendent to stay 150 meters away from the Ponyville police station AND paid the damages to the commissioner's green car! My GODDESS, and I thought I was going to be the one who would get into trouble after that washroom stunt!"

"HEY, anything for you to get out of being close to the kids, eh Tang?", joked Master Zhi as he stared at his senile friend.

"You should be consider SO lucky that the stallion you were trying to destroy was kind enough to give up him OWN motorized joyride so easily to save you all from a life time in prison!", shouted Silverstream towards Master Zhi before she was given her sea saltwater ice cream to indulge in.

"YEAH, I'm really sorry for putting you and both of you girls into big trouble with me!", Master Zhi apologized as he hung his head in shame.

"Awww, it's all right, Master!", forgave Tiny Turnip Head as he hover around and touched Master Zhi's shoulder. "You were only trying to help Miss Starlight from being harmed! Maybe just tone down your heroism just a scooch..."

Then suddenly, stumbling out of the male washroom facility, out came the familiar black spike-maned and white-coated unicorn stallion known only as Student #12138, who was wearing his tacky black-and-green shirt and blue denim jeans. Shouting out for his Headmaster, he immediately waved and ran for his rogue gang leader, before he found himself tripping over the short fat Yona and knocking down the tower of four glasses on the countertop!

With fast cat-like acrobatic reflexes, Master Zhi immediately swooped in and caught ALL four of the fallen tulip glasses, as well as quickly rearranging them into its original towering structure with his own two hands---and he didn't even have to do that over a table!

"TA-DA!! Here you go!! ALL back to normal!", shouted Master Zhi as he held the glass tower of tulip cups with his two hands and put them back on its original position on the counter. Sunny Boy saw the master's surprisingly quick reaction and gave a short smirked smile of approval.

"ALL RIGHT!! Go Master Zhi!! Be the most amazing that you can be!!", cheered Tiny Turnip Head as he called out his name.

"WOAH, you're pretty quick on your feet like Professor Pinkie Pie!", complimented Sandbar who had witnessed the amazing feat, before being served his vanilla ice cream float with lemon soda.

"WOW, you're like a world-class Las Pegasus acrobat!", cheered Silverstream as she licked her sea-salty ice cream.

"HEY, were you bonked on the head as a baby?! You should watch where you're going!", berated Student #12138 towards the short fat Yona. "Are you trying to knock me down to the ground by squatting down on the dirty floor??!"

"Yona REALLY sorry unicorn got hurt!", apologized the short fat nak girl as she looked up at the upset Student #12138. "But spike-mane unicorn should take note of Yona's short body more often!"

"She's right, you know??", added Tiny Turnip Head as he explained to Sunny Boy's minion. "If you wanna make friends with creatures, you gotta get used to the short young yaks that walk around here! It doesn't make a difference if they're standing OR squatting!"

"Someday, Yona will grow big and tall! And Yona no longer worry about no reaching things!", shouted the determined fat yak girl as she looked up onto the ceiling.

"Yeah, so you better be nice to their short kin, because some of them may not give you a chance to say sorry and will beat you up senselessly in the future once they were fully grown!", advised the wised-up Master Zhi as he showed his smug face at Student #12138.

"Like maybe kick them in the nose or shake them until their muscles give out?", mentioned Smolder with a mouth full of spicy hot ice cream.

"HEY! Professor Fluttershy say eye for eye make world blind! Yona want all creatures to see their own mistakes before teaching them! That be Yona new yak way of life!", exclaimed the wise Yona.

"YEAH, try saying that with car vandalism in your permanent record!", said Smolder with a smirk look on her creamed face.

"GAAAHHHH, Yona no want dragon to say that!! We just want stop car to halt orange creeper, no want to hurt!", panicked Yona.

"ANYWAY---", interrupted Master Zhi as he turned to Sunny Boy. "Did you managed to get a blacksmith to forge out those keys from that mold?"

"Yes, I had. Once that local yak forger was given the mold, he was able to churn out a 100 keys within a couple hours.", replied Sunny Boy as he took out his black zipper pouch and shook his bundle of copied keys. He then mubled as he stared down at the countertop. "Strange, even though my intentions are well-mannered, it still felt like I'm risking that sniveling cur's security by making him the prime target for potential future burglars out there..."

"HEY, this is for your sweetheart crush's future, all right?! Just PROMISE me that you (OR your gang) won't beat the shit outta that cur once you located his abode, all right?!", pleaded Master Zhi as he looked at Sunny Boy's depressed face. "Miss Starlight Glimmer wouldn't be amused if she found her boyfriend lying in a puddle of his own blood."

"Uggghhh, like I needed to be reminded of that...", sarcastically scoffed Sunny Boy as he laid his left hand over his left cheek with an unamused expression. "Everything I had plan up to THIS moment and beyond will be to make Miss Starlight Glimmer the happiest mare in her life, okay?!"

Tiny Turnip Head, who was hovering over Yona, gave out an elated sigh, before he spoke to Master Zhi in a romantic tone

"Love is such a wonderful thing to feel, right fellas?"

"HMPH, unless if you're a womanizer or a kiddie napper....!", grumbled Mr Tang as he ate his buttermilk ice cream.

"You know---", interrupted Gallus as he slowly pecked the barely seeds on his cinnamon-vanilla ice cream. "---if Starlight Glimmer were to introduce Miss Octavia at a much earlier time before the Vice Headmare competition, do you think I would have a chance to have her all to myself before being stolen by that jerk Bulk Biceps?"

Just as the students were about to answer Gallus' ludicrous hypothetical question, a soused violet mare lady with puffy a wine-purple mane had accidentally taken a seat on top of Yona's big head, causing Student #12138 to actively yell at the mare in response to her drunkard stupor!

"HEY, watch it, crazy lady!! You almost sat on my new friend here!!", shouted Student #12138 as he pushed the drunken mare off Yona's big head. The drunken mare was wearing a tight dark-purple nylon shirt that fitted over her F-cup bust and a tight short black shirt, as well as a pair of black high heels.

"I'm SO sorry, sir! I--hic!--had way too much red wine--BURP!--berry-ice cream floats--HIC!--during the happy hour", slurred the drunkard mare as she tried to steady herself on the counter nearby. "I REALLY thought she was a stool over there! Guess my judge--HIC--ment--COUGH---was wr-rrwr-w-wrong!"

"HEY--listen mare lady! And listen to yak very well!", quietly scolded Yona as she pointed her keratin finger at the drunkard.

"One and half year ago, huge white stallion sat on me like that. Almost crush head with heavy butt crush. Yona almost die and got lift to hospital. After bad accident, Yona swore that no creature will sit on Yona! Because yak girl will grow BIG and STRONG like tower and be wise like elder yaks in Yakyakistan!", explained the determined Yona as she raised her voice with vigor and confidence, to which the drunkard replied

"W-ww-BURP!!---OW!! That sounds REALLY---sw--HIC!!--EET of y---!!"

Before she could finish her sentence, the drunkard mare immediately started barfing over the other side of the counter and spilling her vomit over the black-and-white checkered floor.

"Uh-oh! That doesn't look good!", said Sandbar as he looked at the drunken mare to his right.

"EWWWW, GROSS!!!", yelled Smolder as she saw the pool of yellow-beige chunky vomit on the floor.

"OH MY!! Are you okay??!!", shouted Silverstream as she peered over the counter.

"Lady, you look like hammer shit! If I were you, I would call a cab before some rapist decides to take you on for a joyride on your marehood....", advised the grouchy Mr Tang as he finished up his buttermilk ice cream. Ignoring the old unicorn stallion's mean attitude, the drunken mare replied to him

"I--I---I'll try to---remember that----BURP!!!---BLLERGH!!", slurred the red-faced violet mare as she looked like she was about to barf on Yona.

"HEY, don't barf on my friend, you idiot!!", shouted Student #12138 as he placed the drunken mare into a headlock and tried to steer the mare's head away from Yona's direction.

"You dare disrespected that yak with your incompetent hazy judgement, and now you're gonna do it again by soaking her with your own bodily fluids??!", scorned Student #12138 as he tried to wrestle with the mare to teach her a lesson on courtesy. "You better apologize to that yak or else you're kissing the pavement, missy! I'll beat both you women AND men equally if you disrespect those yaks!"

Seeing that Student #12138 may be going too far into protecting her, she pleaded to the enraged patron

"Uhhhh, Yona no need more apology! It was accident! No need for hurting!"

"LEMME GO, ass--HIC---HOLE!!", blurted out the drunk mare as she tried to escape his headlock.

"My NAME is #12138!!", the spike-maned student shouted in reply.

"THAT'S ENOUGH, #12138!", shouted Sunny Boy as he lifted his head to stare down at the wrestling student. As soon as he heard his command, Student #12138 immediately let go of the drunk slobbering mare, causing her to topple forward and fall onto the hard ground.

"Have you already forgotten about the non-violent solutions to a conflict I had taught you back in my lessons??", questioned the scornful Sunny Boy as he stared hard at Student #12138.

"......right.....Sorry, Headmaster....", apologized the repentant student. "I guess I should've just taken her to a cab earlier, like that old man had told her..."

"Siiiiggghh, I'll take her to a cab for her...", offered Ocellus who later turned into a light-blue furry nak strongwoman to carry Berry Punch to the street outside the ice cream parlor.

"Thanks, Ocellus...", said the smiling Yona as she looked at Ocellus the nak.

"Try not to wreck everything while I'm gone, fellas", demanded Ocellus as she exited out the door.

"Here's a notepad...", offered Sunny Boy as he took out his black-padded book from his vinyl jacket. "As punishment for your uncouth behaviour, you would have to write down 'I should have taken better control of my emotions'---one thousand times"

Swallowing his huge pride, Student #12138 reluctantly took his notepad and yelled out "YES, Headmaster!", before sitting down at nearby stool, pull out his pen and did what Sunny Boy had told him to do.

"MAN, 1000 sentences??!! I really pity that fool!", snickered Gallus as he looked on that the scribbling student. The blue griffon had just finished his ice cream delicacy and started to eat away his waffle cone.

"But seriously though! Even if you act like a strict no-bullshit gung-ho kinda guy, you're actually a pretty cool sweet dude with a beating heart of love deep inside your heart!", complimented Smolder as she was half-finished with her ice cream.

"You know, instead of picking on students with no ID, chasing the pretty ladies or playing soccer with the street thugs, have you REALLY ever thought about becoming a REAL school headmaster with your amazing innate intelligence of yours?", questioned Master Zhi as he stared at Sunny Boy's stoic face.

"For some reason, you DO kinda remind us about that Vice-Stallion we used to have back in our school...", mentioned Sandbar as he examined Sunny Boy's face.

"Yeah, even the way you talk sounds somewhat familiar, though in a less groggy and less hoarse kinda way...", described Gallus as he waved his talon side-by-side to express indifference.

"Maybe orange unicorn could apply for sub Vice-Stallion at Friendship School??", wondered Yona as she looked up and smiled at Sunny Boy.

"You know....I just might seriously ponder on that suggestion, my dear friends", replied Sunny Boy as he nodded his head up and down with slight approval.

"WELL, we better get going, now that out students' ice cream meals are finished! Let's head out to play bowling every creature!!", shouted Master Zhi as he head out to the exit door.

"YYAAAAYYY!!!", cheered Tiny Turnip Head and the students before they quickly left without paying their bills.

"Tang, you're paying the bill! 拜拜, 先生 (Bye Bye, Sing Sung)4!!", shouted Master Zhi as he quickly followed the children out of the door.

"GODAMNIT, ZHI!! Freakin' jackass....", mumbled Mr Tang as he pulled out his wallet, before noticing a male donkey man with an orange wig about to sit next to him.

"Uhhhh, no offense...", said Mr Tang to the donkey man, before he replied

"UGGGHH, none taken..."

As Student #12138 continued to scribble his 20th sentence on the notepad, Sunny Boy stood up from his seat, walked up to his student and told him

"You know what? Let's save the rote scribbling for later tonight, #12138..."

"What do you want me to do, Headmaster?", asked Student #12138 after he closed the notebook and placed his pen into his pocket.

"I need you to whistle over all the other Sunny Side Schoolboys to the town's main park fountain for me..."

"OF COURSE, HEADMASTER!", shouted Student #12138 as he stood up from his stool seat and pulled out his whistle.

----------(PONYVILLE PARK FOUNTAIN, FRIDAY 4:45 PM)----------

As Student #12138 whistled for every creature of the Sunny Side Schoolboy gang to gather around at the central pink fountain of Ponyville Park, every creature started to come in droves from all sides around the fountain, where Sunny Boy was sitting at its marbled edge. As soon as every creature had finally gathered around their leader, Student #12138 immediately ceased his whistling and gave out a strongly voiced announcement to all of his comrades.

"LISTEN UP, every creature!!", shouted Student #12138 as he stood straight with his hooves together. "We are gathered here today for all of you to do a VERY important task for our Headmaster! In a change of our usual work schedule, we are not here to sell pirated vinyl records, gamble on fighting matches nor collect debts from our opium buyers!"

Every member of Sunny Boy's gang stood straight and tall with utmost attention, being up in a perfect 10 x 10 grid of different creatures, with the smallest species at the front row to the tallest creatures at the back echelon. This ensured that every creature had equitable opportunity to hear and see what their Headmaster had in store.

"INSTEAD, your Headmaster will give you a competitive assignment that will reward any creature who is the first to complete it!", continued Student #12138 before he handed over the Headmaster's zippered black bag and let the Headmaster complete the rest of the announcement.

"Inside this bag is a hundred keys, one for each and every creature gathered here today! All of the keys in here have the exact same ridged and notched patterns, meaning they ALL open the same door!", explained Sunny Boy as he sat by the marble pink fountain. As he pulled the zipper to open up the black bag, he later continued on with his speech to his students

"After each of you had been given a key, all of you shall search around Ponyville to check every house and apartment room door that has a lock that fits with that certain key! Whoever becomes the first to find that perfect matching lock and sends me its exact address shall replace me as this group's next headmaster..."

As soon as he dumped all the keys from his bag and onto the ground, Sunny Boy levitated all the keys in the air in first squared formation, before passing each creature their own key to keep until the end of the assignment.

"Once the winning creature finds that exact house or apartment door lock with that matching key, I will cast a targeted dismantling spell with a wide-area effect that will cause all but one winning key to disintegrate, so that none of you will invade the owner of that particular household who possesses that same key. In other words, if you find yourself in hold of a rusting and crumbling key, you will know that the contest has been over and you will then have to follow your future successor for the time being..."

As soon as every creature in the gang had gotten their own key and their headmaster had finished their speech, Sunny Boy shot up a huge white bright flare in the sky to signal the start of the contest, before every creature spread out in all directions around Ponyville, hoping to find that perfect dwelling with that exact matching lock. With bated breath, all of the creatures of Sunny Boy's gang started to race against each other to win their prize for becoming the gang's next headmaster.

---END

Author's Note

And NO, I'm not talking about the Western version square dancing!
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/8/80/Guangchangwu_Shenzhen_201307.webm/Guangchangwu_Shenzhen_201307.webm.480p.vp9.webm

Frog: Triangular soft underside of the hoof

The Grove: Kirin's native homeland in Southeastern Equestria

Cantonese for "See you later, sir!"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=See%20you%20later%2C%20sir!&from=en&to=yue

21 The Arrangement

Ch 21 - The Arrangement

----------(FIRELIGHT HOUSEHOLD AT SIRE'S HOLLOW, SATURDAY 11:00 A.M.)----------

It was a very busy day for the mayoral candidate who was sitting at the wooden round-table, sorting out the hundreds of letter mails that were coming in large burlap sacks. Helping out the mayoral candidate Firelight, who was sitting at the side of the table close to the office entrance, were his two secretaries and his assistant manager Minty Mocha, who sat on the opposite side of Firelight's seat. Two of Firelight's secretaries were seated at the north side of the roundtable (near the bookshelves). One of these secretaries, with the name tag "Raspberry Latte", was a white-coated mare who wore violet square glasses, had puffy and swirly pinkish mane, a pink business suit, a fuchsia neck scarf and a pair of dangling amethyst-colored sapphire circles on her ears. The other secretary, with the name tag "Ever Essence", was a light-blue coated mare who had a sleek blue permed mane, an eggplant-purple suit with a pear-green tie, a white buttoned cotton shirt, a white nylon skirt and white high heels.

Sorting out all the mail was not very easy with so few little staff in Firelight's political team. Each of them have to open up one of the letters from the sack, skim through the contents and place them into their categorized stacks. Those included fan mails, party invitations, news interview requests, junk mail, political questionnaires, bank statements and (saving the worst for last) death threats. Unfortunately for Firelight, most of these letters came from Equestrians from all around the world who read about the negative press coverage and expressed outrage over his questionable parenting skills with her daughter Starlight Glimmer. Some of these angry letters threatened to eliminate Firelight as retaliation for not showing his daughter a better life besides becoming a maniacal cult leader. Other letters came from journalists who wanted to interview him about those said allegations, hoping to clear things up to the rest of the world. However, Firelight's managers had warned him that some of the press may twist his words and would only end up worsening his reputation, so most of these letters were either ignored or replied with a printed letter expressing their gratitude for their concerns and that they would gladly partake in the interview once they had finished dealing with their own family matters first. As of now, Firelight's team decided it would be best to focus more on the positives and find any piece of invitation from other major cities, fan mail from Firelight's supporters or citizen request letters for the future mayoral candidate.

"Uggghhh, explain to me why you drag me ALL the way over here to read through thousands of letters", complained Ever Essence as she ripped the edge of the mail envelope with a letter opener.

"Because I needed somepony who used to work as Stellar Flare's inventory stock accountant for her mall projects.", replied Minty Mocha as she stared at the bemoaned Ever Essence with half-lit eyes, before shouting "Now get back to reading those letters! We got a long night ahead of us!"

"HEY, Minty Mocha, come over for a second!", called Firelight as he stared at one of the letters addressed to him. Minty Mocha rushed over to Firelight's aid and looked at the letter marked with two raunchy names.

"Throw this letter into the fire pit! I don't like prankster letters with silly lewd names, like Haboob and Kumbang!", ordered the disgusted Firelight as he tried to hand the letter to his assistant manager.

"OH no no no no no, sir! The word 'haboob' is a legitimate word that originated in Saddle Arabia! It refers to a hot dry wind that forms a huge dust storm over a desert or arid region!", explained Minty Mocha as she took the letter and pointed at the top written name, before moving on to the next one.

"As for this one, the word 'kumbang' is a word found in some Middle Eastern Equestrian languages to refer to a desert beetle. Based on what these names are referring to, I think they may be brothers from Saddle Arabia!", Minty Mocha further explained.

"REALLY?!! I got fans from Saddle Arabia??!", shouted the excited Firelight as he quickly took back the letter and opened up its envelope with his shearing magic blade.

*RING RING!* goes the house doorbell, before Minty Mocha called out

"HEY, Heifer! Öffne die Tür!1"

A blonde braid-maned buxom minotaur cow in a khaki-green long dress went over to answer the main door and saw the smiling Starlight Glimmer standing by the entrance.

"Guten Morgen, gnädige Frau!2", greeted the Germane minotaur maid as she let Starlight Glimmer inside the house to see her dad in his usual office room.

As Starlight went into the hallway and saw her dad working with assistants in rummaging and organizing the mail, she could hear them rambling and bumbling about the various letters and the names of each recipient, as well as discussing on how they should respond to each letter.

"Why hasn't Mr. Slush's response letter about my planned community-funded grocery store arrived yet? Go check that sack of letters again!", ordered Firelight as he had his face turned away from Starlight, while addressing to his two secretaries on his right side of the table.

"We gotta send a more convincing letter to Mr. Slush if we are to have his approval!", suggest Minty Mocha as she went through a small pile of letters on the center of the table.

"Dad...", called out Starlight Glimmer as she looked at her dad sitting on his wooden stool. He was unable to respond as he still had his back turned away from her and was too focused on rummaging through the letter bag.

"This one, sent by Ginger Beard...!", shouted Firelight as he showed one of the letters to Ever Essence.

"Send this letter to his workplace and another to his mail box!", demanded Minty Mocha as she showed Firelight's two newly written letters to Raspberry Latte.

"Dad!", yelled Starlight Glimmer in a slightly louder voice. She still couldn't get her busy father's attention yet.

"Sending him with more letters than he needs is WAY better than getting nothing from us, you hear?!", ordered Firelight as he addressed to his two secretaries.

"DDDAAAAADDDDD!!!!!!", bellowed Starlight Glimmer as she activated her booming vocal chord spell!

That really got everypony's attention in the office room! As Firelight quickly turned his back and saw his daughter standing behind him, he leapt up from his seat and rushed on over to hug her.

"OH, sweetie! You're back!! It's SO nice to see you again!", cheered Firelight as he held his daughter's hands. He began to escort Starlight Glimmer to a nearby couch at the west side of this office, while his assistant manager followed him around. "We've been SO worried about you! Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep in touch with you?? C'mon dearie, come have a seat at the couch and let's talk things over with some tea."

As Starlight Glimmer, Firelight and Minty Mocha took their seats on the comfy green Chesterfield couch, Heifer the maiden minotaur served the three Equestrians their chamomile tea on a ceramic dish and placed it over the glass tabletop in front of the couch.

After Firelight was done sipping his portion of his tea, he told to his daughter, "We've been trying to contact you through telegraph for updates on your memory progression! For some reason, we couldn't been able to get a response from the Ponyville Telegram Office!"

"OH, didn't you know? Our telegram office had to change their name to 'Friendship Pony Express-a-Gram'!", explained Starlight Glimmer after she sipped her tea. "Plus, there was a power line reconstruction project that had to take days to complete to repair the damages caused by a falling fish from one of our professor's pet albatrosses!"

"REALLY??! Why didn't you tell me about it??", questioned the confused Firelight.

"...Uhhh, I sent you postal letters about it a whole week ago...", replied Starlight as she stared at her father with half-lit eyes.

"Uhhh, I---hadn't notice??", nervously replied Firelight as he darted his eyes around. It was obvious that he was unable to reach her letters due to the abundance of mail coming in large bags in his home.

"HEY, look! A marriage confirmation letter had just came in!", shouted Ever Essence after finding a piece of mail with a bright pink rose pasted onto the center flap of the white envelope. Starlight Glimmer then later rushed over and grabbed the flowery letter from Ever Essence's hand with her telekinesis.

"Wow, REALLY?! Congratulations!", cheered Starlight Glimmer as she offered her hand to Minty Mocha who was standing by her side.

"Nuh-uh! That's not for me!", corrected Minty Mocha as she shook her head and stared at Starlight Glimmer.

Shocked at her response, Starlight Glimmer pointed at her dad with her right thumb and looked behind her, seeing her dad smile graciously at her.

"Awwww, DAD!! You sneaky little charmer!", shouted the happy Starlight Glimmer as she wrapped her right arm around her smiling dad. Firelight gave her daughter a courtesy gesture with his right hand and said to her,

"Après vous, ma fille!3"

"Wait---FOR ME??!!! BUT---!!", yelled the shocked Starlight Glimmer and she quickly ripped open the marriage letter that was actually addressed to her. Starlight Glimmer continued to ramble to her dad.

"But-but--BUT I came over here for you to help me find out who my real boyfriend is, didn't I?!!", shouted Starlight Glimmer as she quickly skimmed through the lavender-scented letter. "Why in Equestria am I getting married all of a sudden??!"

With an assuring smile on his face, Firelight calmly said to his daughter, "Because your future groom, Sky Dream, is going to help with my preservation project! Soon, when you decide to retire, this house will be waiting for you with ALL the luxurious commodities provided by my business associate, Mister Sky Dream from Canterlot!"

"Wait---WHAT??!!", shouted Starlight Glimmer who expressed unfathomed horror to her smiling dad.

"Oh no! I just realize something!", muttered Firelight as he snapped back from his daydreaming. "I forgot to renegotiate our dowry deal with Mister Sky Dream!"

Without even saying goodbye, Firelight quickly teleported out of the house and ran out on her seething red-faced daughter, who couldn't believe what her dad had done behind her back.

"Who in Tartarus is Sky Dream?!", shouted Starlight Glimmer as she unleashed her anger towards Minty Mocha, who then later sighed deeply before explaining

"Mister Sky Dream is a rich banker from Canterlot who agreed to share his 10 million bit fortune to help pay for the collateral on your dad's house, in exchange for an arranged marriage with you. It was your father's only way to pay off the debt after his 23 failed historical preservation projects."

This explanation only made Starlight even more upset as her horn emanated a maelstrom of red aura.

"LOOK, I'm going to go check on your dad for awhile. Don't go anywhere, all right??", pleaded the anxious Minty Mocha before she scurried out of the office room to catch up with Firelight.

----------(SIRE'S HOLLOW TELEGRAM OFFICE, SATURDAY 11:30 A.M.)----------

After waiting in line for the pay-station phone4 within the telegram office, he used his telekinesis to pick up the left-side receiver, cranked the dynamo generator and spoke to the operator on the payphone.

☎"Hello, Operator! I would like to make a long-distant call with Mr Sky Dream from the Canterlot Royal Bank!", called Firelight as he spoke through the transmitter.

📞"That'll be 30 bits/hr!", responded the female operator.

☎"Sure...", replied Firelight before he inserted six 5-bit bronze coins into the 5-bit slot.

📞"One moment please..."

☎"... ... ..."

----------(30 SECONDS LATER)----------

📞"YES, hello?!", responded Sky Dream from his office in the Canterlot Central Bank.

☎"Mister Sky Dream, this is Firelight calling from Sire's Hollow! I need to renegotiate our deal in our stock sharing contract!", demanded Firelight.

📞"C'mon, Firelight! You know the deal: I marry your daughter and you only get 0.05% of my stocks!", reminded Sky Dream in response to Firelight's request.

☎"THAT'S the problem! It's not enough to cover the collateral over my house! Why not lend a little more from your account?", pleaded Firelight.

📞"Unless your lovely blooming pansy of a daughter agrees to endorse my student loan promotion plan, you're not getting even one hundredth of my stocks in Canterlot!", scorned Sky Dream.

☎"Don't you think you could rip ME off, Mister Sky Dream!", shouted Firelight through the transmitter. "I let you marry my daughter and you do whatever it takes to save my projects from crumbling! Then I will work with you in becoming the next richest billionaire mogul in Equestria! Otherwise, what's the use to becoming in-laws in the near future??!"

📞"LISTEN, mister! Gimme 1% of your stocks, or else I'm calling off the marriage with my boss' daughter!", threatened Minty Mocha as she called through a wall pay-station phone on the outside wall of the telegram office.

"WAIT WAIT WAIT, Minty?! How did you get hold of this phone line??!", questioned the surprised Firelight. Before Minty Mocha could answer though, she was immediately interrupted by Starlight Glimmer when she pulled down the disconnector lever on the left side of the pay-station phone.

"Please tell dad that I don't wanna get married yet! There's no way he can force me into his arrangements!", pleaded Starlight Glimmer as she clasped both her hands.

"OH, but he just did! You signed that contract from last week, remember?", reminded Minty Mocha as she stared at the teary-eyed Starlight Glimmer.

As soon as Starlight Glimmer looked back to her last week's visit when her father made her write her name on a piece of official paper, her mind started to go blank. There was no going back on that contract. She wouldn't even know where her dad even put it. Since she has no memory of the boyfriend who gave her that key, she wouldn't be able to know the location of where her boyfriend was living.

Suddenly, in a pit of despair, Starlight Glimmer fell to her knees and stared motionlessly into the ground. It was at this moment...that she wouldn't be able to find her long-lost lover in time before her arranged marriage with some rich stranger that she had no experience with. How was she going to live with herself after letting down her unknown boyfriend, who must be waiting for her at his abode?

"C'mon, sweetheart...", said Firelight as he picked her daughter up from the ground. "I'll take you to the boutique to help find you the perfect wedding gown."

----------(GINSENG HOUSEHOLD, SATURDAY 12:30 A.M.)----------
◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾
"All right, Saan Jyu! I got the welcome cake ready, just like you asked!", hollered Delft Blue as he carried a small rectangular gift box wrapped in golden shiny paper and tied together with a golden-laced ribbon. He walked up to the white plastic round-table on the lawn (where his boss Ginseng Dragon was sitting) and laid the golden gift box on that very table.

"You sure you added the 'butterscotch cakes' from the railroad site and not ACTUAL butterscotch from the local bakery, riiigghhtt??", checked Ginseng Dragon, whose top scalp was now covered with wrapped white bandages

"OF COURSE, sir! Once we have our Sunny Boy give this explosively delicious butterscotch-flavored yellow-cake to Gingko Dragon, you just open up this briefcase phone5, place your finger into hole #2, rotate clockwise to the tab, let it spin back to position---and KABLOOIE!!", explained Delft Blue as he opened up his newly bought Tel-com 150A Briefcase Phone5 and demonstrated to his crime boss on how to operate the rotary dial.

"Briefcase telephones?! BAH! I never heard of such rubbish!", scoffed the skeptical Ginseng Dragon after he took a brief look at the briefcase phone.

"No no no, Dragon Head!", quickly hollered Delft Blue as he shook his head, before he further explained the benefits of a portable mobile radio telephone. "It's a REAL work of advanced technology developed by the top engineers in Canterlot University! It's very popular among only the classiest and richest business moguls in Western Equestria! You can practically take it anywhere--- Canterlot, Manehattan, Baltimare, Coltarado, Vanhoover---ANY major city that has the proper huge wireless telephone network service, you can call any creature at any time---so long as you keep the batteries running!"

"Hmmmm, is THAT so??", questioned the interested Dragon Head as he stroke his chin. "But---how is calling any creature on this---briefcase contraption---going to solve our two most troublesome obstacles in our empire?!"

With an sinister and maniacal tone, Delft Blue eagerly explained away the inner workings of their new ingenious plan

"Ahhhh, but we are NOT! You see, one of Sunny Boy's students had actually bought off this revolutionary case contraption from a mansion auction center after one business mogul filed for bankruptcy! This smarty pants genius actually managed to rewire this briefcase phone to send a long-distance pulse once you turn that dial from hole #2. That pulse will energize an antennae connected to a special copper electromagnetic coil around a glass tube filled with gunpowder and magical fire crystals, all which are hidden underneath the recess of our delicious cake! This in turn will ignite the gunpowder AND the dynamite--ERRR--I mean---butterscotch filling---and thus BLOW APART both Sunny Boy AND Gingko Dragon away!! Then all that bad luck you've been experiencing, including your itchy head, will be totally gone out of this world forever! MWHAHAHHAHAHA!!!"

Ginseng Dragon stood pretty silent for a couple of seconds, amazed at the convoluted explanation of the complicated yet foolproof plan. After he had finished gathering up his thoughts, he told Delft Blue

"...I have NO clue about what you had just said to me..."

"NEITHER DO I!", admitted Delft Blue with a smiling face as he lifted up a piece of scribbled paper. "I was just reading what was written to me by Sunny's engineer student who gave me this wicked contraption! But you won't have to understand how this works, because I've seen this gadget work in action!!"

"REALLY??! You've seen it work??! No wonder you sound so jumpy", postulated the surprised Dragon Head.

"YEP, used it to blow up ten indebted business shop owners who skipped town to bail on our shark loans!!", happily boasted Delft Blue as he picked up and waved the rotary phone.

Then Ginseng Dragon thought for a little moment, before he asked

"Well, why not just simply ignite the explosive cake with my magical horn, just as I had originally planned?"

"Noooo, that would make you look TOO conspicuous and guilty in front of all the eye-witnesses, including the gangsters!", explained Delft Blue as he shook head. "If we're going to cover our tracks, we gotta make sure this daring assassination is the plot of other jealous kirin gangs! We can't be caught red-handed in our little conspiracy!"

"Ahhh, of course...", agreed Ginseng Dragon. "Well, as long as I will keep my throne as their Dragon Head, we will follow through with this unnecessarily complicated plan!"
◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾◾
----------(MEANWHILE AT THE SIRE'S HOLLOW BOUTIQUE)----------

From the white lacy silk curtains of the changing room within the boutique, Yona came out of the small enclosure, sporting a bridal headdress between her huge black horns. On top of her head, she had a pink rose planted on top of her big head and she felt gigging like a giddy little Western Equestrian bride, even though she was still wearing her leafy-green tank top and purple shorts. She could practically imagine the phonographic "Here Comes the Bride!" tune playing in her head as she freely fantasizes herself marching down the red carpet with special her yak groom on their imaginary wedding day.

"Does Yona look pretty with white head dressing??", asked Yona as she squinted her eyes to make them look sexy and posed like a model fashion star.

"HAHA, yeah Yona! You look very nice indeed!", complimented the tuxedo-wearing and cheek-blushing Sandbar as he chuckled at Yona's bridal headdress.

In reaction to Yona's all-important question, Miss Starlight Glimmer turned around on her black vinyl swivel chair after she was done putting on blue eye-shadow and violet facial makeup in front of the bulb-lit mirror. In lieu of her casual street clothes, Miss Starlight Glimmer was now sporting a snow-white beaded corset bodice wedding dress and a pair of lacy finger-less doily-patterned gloves. The wedding dress had no shoulder straps and was snugging against her triple D-cup bust, while showing off half of her deep cleavage. As she looked at the beautified Yona with her headdress, she stood up from her swivel seat, before Yona went up to her and felt the softness of her wide corset dress.

"WOW, Starlight mare look MORE prettier in wedding outfit!!", complimented Yona as she looked up to the dashingly gorgeous Miss Starlight Glimmer. In spite of Yona's kind words, Starlight Glimmer was not really in a good mood about her upcoming wedding day with the man she never met.

"YOU look way better in a bridal dress, Yona! So why don't YOU go marry that Canterlot banker instead??", further complimented the saddened Starlight Glimmer as she looked at the big-eyed blushing Yona.

"Yona no ever see lady feel sad about own wedding!", muttered Yona to Sandbar as she threw away her bridal headdress.

"I don't get it! If you're so dedicated to finding that mystery lover boy who gave you his home key, then why not just bail out on the marriage right now??", questioned Sandbar as he looked up to Miss Starlight Glimmer.

"I can't! I signed a marriage contract without my dad explaining it to me! If I leave now, the groom will sue me and force me AND my dad into bankruptcy! How in Equestria can I back out now?!", groaned the stressed-out Miss Starlight Glimmer as she tried to hold back her tears and clenched her fists.

Then, entering into the dressing room from the wedding bouquet florist section of the boutique was Master Zhi, Mr Tang, Tiny Turnip Head and the rest of the Student Six. All of these creatures were invited by Firelight to attend the special wedding between Miss Starlight Glimmer and Sky Dream. In exchange for boosting Firelight's ratings by inviting more diverse range of creatures to his guest list, all the creatures he had invited had agreed to attend the wedding for the sake of free food, music and dancing. Though Sandbar was the only one who gotten himself a suit for such an occasion, all the other creatures had already requested Professor Rarity to knit them up some custom wedding party guest suits and dresses for such a lavish occasion (well, lavish for Firelight and his friends at least).

"Heya, Miss Starlight! You done dressing up yet?!", asked Master Zhi as he entered.

"WOW, you look JUST like Snowblind the Snowflake Princess!", cried the flying Tiny Turnip Head as he squished his cheeks in excitement.

"Uhhh, HEY! Miss Starlight no want any nice things said about wedding dress! Make Starlight sad...", warned Yona as she waved her cloven hands.

"Riiighht...sorry about that....", apologized the pitying Gallus. "I was told you'd been marrying some rich handsome stranger that your dad picked out for you from Canterlot....at least you got to have a chance to BE the one being married in a wedding...."

Miss Starlight Glimmer took pity on the sad Gallus, remembering about that rejection story her female students had told back in Tuesday night at the Castle of Friendship. She later looked up to Gallus and smiled at him, before saying to him

"HEY, you know I think? I think getting rejected is WAY better than marrying some random creature that was picked out for you, Gallus. At least you still have plenty of opportunities to pick out who you want to spend the rest of your life with. So please...don't let rejection be the reason why you can't find love, all right?? Let it be the catalytic fuel that drives your ambition further..."

Gallus then looked up to Miss Starlight Glimmer, before tearing up a little and responded with a content tone

"Thanks, Miss Starlight......I won't give up on my life that easily yet..."

"ALL RIGHT, enough with the sappy lovey-dovey stuff over here!", interrupted the disturbed Mister Tang "We got somepony we like for you to meet!"

As Master Zhi, Mr Tang, Tiny Turnip Head and the students stepped aside to the far-right side of the dressing room entrance, two familiar stallions named Student #12138 and Sunny Boy came in to greet Miss Starlight Glimmer. Their sudden introduction caused Yona, Miss Starlight Glimmer and Sandbar to be caught off guard.

"HEY, what's with the get-up?? Trying to impress your secret boyfriend??", joked Sunny Boy after he saw her pull up the top of her dress to cover up her cleavage.

"I'm---getting married soon in Manehattan tonight...", replied the soft-spoken Miss Starlight as she turned her face to the brightly lit mirror. She later turned her attention to Sunny Boy and asked

"Sooo, you wanna go attend the wedding? You'll have to go apply for invitation with my dad first though..."

Thinking she was just joking around so he wouldn't feel too dejected by her push-back, Sunny Boy scoffed at her and casually chuckled at her.

"Well---I better get going now...", said Sunny Boy before he went off and exited the boutique.

"HEY, wait a moment!!", shouted Sandbar as he and Yona ran out of the dressing room to see where Sunny Boy was heading off to so soon.

"WOAH, leaving so soon??!", shouted Gallus as he turned his attention to the fleeing Sunny Boy.

"Chickening out already??!", questioned the surprised Smolder.

"But you just GOT here! Don't you wanna say a few more words to her?!", hollered the confused Tiny Turnip Head.

"HEADMASTER, WAIT!!", shouted Ocellus as she stretched out her chitinous hand.

"Don't go, street unicorn!", shouted Yona as she ran beside Sandbar.

"Where is HE heading off to in such a hurry??!", asked the befuddled Silverstream as she scratched her head.

"I'm very sorry he had to go so soon", deeply apologized Student #12138. "But Sunny Boy has a VERY important errand to run for his godfather near the School of Friendship in Ponyville."

Student #12138 then looked at his watch and realized, "And---he's not THAT in a big of a hurry. He's still got plenty of time to catch the next train to Ponyville."

As the creatures looked onto the sharply dressed gangster, Student #12138 took out a piece of blue paper from his fuschia-red shirt pocket, went up to Miss Starlight and gave her that paper.

"Miss Starlight Glimmer, this here is the written address of the apartment and its specific door that has the lock that will fit with the mystery key you are holding...", said Student #12138 as he showed her the scribbled paper. "Headmaster really wants you to keep it before he leaves..."

"Hmmmm, 7007 Rainbow Road, Apartment 8...", quietly muttered Miss Starlight Glimmer as she read the paper.

"C'mon! Just take it already, or else you'll end up forgetting the address!", insisted Student #12138.

As quickly as she snatched that blue paper from the student, she quickly rushed out of ther dressing room and ran to the exit door of the Sire's Hollow boutique. She lifted up her corset wedding dress to make running easier, so as to not dirty up the bottom hemline of her snow-white dress

"HEY, what's with the big rush, Miss Glimmer??! Wait for us!!", shouted Master Zhi as he and the rest of the creatures started chasing after her.

----------(5 MINUTES LATER AT SIRE'S HOLLOW TRAIN STATION)----------

As Sunny Boy was about to board his next train to Ponyville from the wooden train station platform, he was suddenly interrupted by the rushing Miss Starlight Glimmer calling out for his name.

"HEY, Sunny Boy!!", Miss Starlight Glimmer called out as the rest of the creatures ran behind her. As Yona was catching up on the wooden train platform, she accidentally slipped on the soaking puddle near a wet floot sign and rolled herself over towards the car, causing her horns to accidentally pierce on of the steel train cars!

"HA-HA! Serves you right for running on the train platform!!", teased Mister Tang as he pointed at the clumsy Yona. Smolder then slapped Mr Tang's hand with her claw in disapproval of his teasing, causing Mister Tang to wince in pain and stare menacingly at the unphased Smolder.

Ignoring the comedic chaos around him, Sunny Boy looked over his shoulders and saw Miss Starlight Glimmer in her wedding dress and her accompanying posse behind her. As the lovely bride stared silently at the stoic Sunny Boy, she tried her best to find the righteous words to say to the man who gave up his futile dream in chasing her, before saying to the chivalrous gangster wannabe

🙂"...Thank you.....thank you so much....for everything..."

Without saying a word back to Miss Starlight Glimmer, Sunny Boy later gave out a weak but sincere smile, before turning back and heading off to his next train ride to Ponyville.

"UHH---I better get going TOO!", hollered Student #12138 before he rushed forward to catch up with Sunny Boy and yelled

"YOH, wait for me, Headmaster!!----"

Then he remembered something that Sunny Boy had announced back at the park

"Ooohhh, right! You're no longer Headmaster anymore....my mistake...", he spoke before he headed off to the next train car adjacent to the one where Sunny Boy had entered, before the train engine took off to their next destination in Ponyville.

As Miss Starlight Glimmer looked deeply onto the piece of paper with the scribbled address, she later ordered all her remaining friends and students to wait at the train station and follow her to their next train ride to Ponyville, where she will discover the true identity of her long-lost forgotten boyfriend. Hopefully, she would get back to her new home in time before her father catches wind of her unexpected departure...

---END

Author's Note

German for "Open the door!"

German for "Good morning, madam!"

French for "After you, my daughter!" (used in formal tone)

Model looks like Kellogg & Gray Magneto Paystation Service Phone

Before cellphones become widely available, briefcase phones were very popular with high-class business workers back in the mid-1960s to 1980s. It consisted of a handset that is basically attached to a large charging unit with a supposed 2-hour battery life and can be charged by plugging in the charging outlet on the car dashboard. The model I'm choosing for this story is a rotary-dial version of the briefcase phone

Tel-com 150A Briefcase Phone

22 Remember Me...

Ch 22 - Remember Me...

----------(7007 RAINBOW ROAD, APARTMENT 8, PONYVILLE, 2:30 A.M.)----------

Up on the tenth top floor of the white-painted concrete-and-steel apartment, two sliding thick nickle-chrome steel doors opened up to reveal Miss Starlight Glimmer the bride, Master Zhi, Mister Tang, Tiny Turnip Head and the Student Six all cramped within the 1 m x 1.2 m x 2.4 m single lift box. Fortunately for the snow-white dressed Miss Starlight Glimmer, she was positioned closest to the elevator doors, while her friends were uncomfortably cramped up in the back. As soon as Miss Starlight Glimmer exited the elevator lift, all the others quickly barged out from the tight box, gasping and taking in as much fresh air as they can.

"BAAAAHHH, Yona NO like taking tight metal lifting box! Make Yona sick!", complained the red-faced nak girl.

"WELL, this is the floor! Now to find the right door!", wheezed Mr Tang as he knelt down to take a long breather.

"Now LET'S see...hmmmm....Room 10F...", mumbled Master Zhi as he read the address on the blue paper while walking across the hallway of apartment rooms.

"MISS STARLIGHT!! LOOK!! Room 10F!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he called out his teacher near the elevator. It didn't took too long to find the right room, as the blue apartment door 10F was closest to the elevator and was located at its right side of the hallway.

"Get over here! This is the room with the matching lock!", hollered Ocellus before Starlight Glimmer, Master Zhi and Mister Tang ran back over to the young students.

"C'mon, Miss Starlight! Hurry before mean dad finds out!!", shouted Yona as she signaled Miss Starlight Glimmer to hurry on over with her cloven hoof.

"ALL RIGHT, ALL RIGHT!! We heard ya!", shouted Mr Tang as he ran towards Room 10F in the hallway. "Keep it down a notch! You're gonna disturb the neighbors!"

Master Zhi then proceeded to ring the doorbell repeatedly, much to Silverstream's surprise as she never heard the melodious ring of an electronic bell before in Seaquestria.

"HUH, he's not answering!", said Master Zhi.

"Maybe try 'ding-a-dinging' it 100 more times!", suggested the excited Silverstream who loved the sound of that doorbell ringing in her head.

"That may be music to your ears, but that'll just make him and the residents in this floor get really angry at us", responded Sandbar as he mentioned the rest of the apartments doors across the hallway.

"I'm not sure this is the room...", said the unsure Miss Starlight Glimmer as she stared at the brass '10F' label on the door.

"Don't you have that key with you??!", reminded Gallus as he pointed the key-chain around her wrist.

"C'MON, Miss Starlight!! Open it already! I wanna see---!!", shouted the gleeful Tiny Turnip Head as he did his little flying loop.

"SSSHHHHHHH!!!!!", loudly shushed Miss Starlight Glimmer as she unwrapped the key-chain with the sunny acrylic decal. She stared at her key and the small circular lock on the left-sided curved door-handle on the door.

"I--I still need time to take this all in.....just let me have a quiet brief moment here", pleaded Miss Starlight as she nervously held her key close to the lock.

This was it. This was the moment that Miss Starlight Glimmer had been waiting for. This is the key that will unlock the hidden lost memories of her past life. Would she like what she would see behind this very closed door? Will things ever be the same if her secret boyfriend find out she was getting married to somepony else soon? Well, it doesn't matter anymore. Maybe if she waited for him at his suite, he would come back for her and together, they may elope hand-in-hand with each other to escape the clutches of her clingy father. So long as she has found and cherish her precious memories, it doesn't matter what the future holds for the damsel bride...

As Miss Starlight stared down at her key, she quickly thrust that key into the small key hole on the door handle, but missed its target entirely. She tried shoving in the key again, but for the second time, she only hit the edge, but failed to insert her precious key. Finally, after a third try, she manages to get the key snug into the hole, but had a bit of trouble getting it through the hole entirely, as her hands were shaking anxiously and her head was feel nauseous about the upcoming flush of memories she was anticipating. With all her little might in her left hand, she finally managed to insert the key all the way into the lock. After taking a few deep breaths, she quickly turned her key clockwise to disengage its lock. It was now time to unveil the surprise her secretive boyfriend had in store for her...

As soon as she opened the door, Miss Starlight Glimmer and the creatures behind her all gasp in shock and surprise at what was behind that mystery apartment door. The marbled walls and floors were very polished and the sky-view window overlooking the streets of Ponyville was very visible. The window was flanked by two bright orchid-orange curtains hanging over a single silver railing.

"WOAH, would you look at that?! WELL, head on in, Miss Starlight! Bridal ladies first!", insisted the gentlemanly Master Zhi as he let Miss Starlight step into the apartment room.

"OOOHH, SO SHINY!!", shouted Yona as she rushed into the room with Tiny Turnip Head.

"Look!! A bouncy square!!", hollered Tiny Turnip Head as he rushed in and body-slammed the creamy-white sofa square seat. "C'mon, Yona! Jump with me!"

"HEY HEY HEY, no damaging her boyfriend's property, guys!!", scolded Mister Tang as he rushed into the room to stop Yona from jumping onto the cushion seat, while the delightfully curious Master Zhi and the sutdents went inside to explore the apartment living room.

"WOOOAAAHHH, that special somepony even knows your favorite houseplant, Miss Starlight!", pointed out Ocellus as she examined the tall philodendron houseplant in the white ceramic pot, which was sitting at the corner nearest to the apartment door.

"MAN, check out all these records! Who knew this lover boy was such a classical nerd?!", teased Gallus as he rummaged through the various vinyl records of classical music stored within the large white rectangular cabinet. Standing on top of that cabinet was a glass-encased gramophone on the center and a pair of speakers flanking the gramophone case1. "HECK, there's even records of what seems to be 'audio encyclopedias'! Now that's REAL brainiac who really likes to know his stuff more!"

"Ooooh, that feels VERY comfy!", gladly sighed Sandbar as he lay his body on the white three-seat vinyl couch that was set adjacent to the right-side wall.

"Yoh, check out that weird tuxedo mannequin over here!", hollered Smolder as she pointed out the sharply dressed mannequin with a teal-blue suit and pants. Holding on its right wooden gloved hand was a bouquet of rose campion and rare turquoise ixia flowers. In replacement of an Equestrian head, the mannequin was instead fitted with a smiling red-and-yellow feathered phoenix head. Hanging on the male mannequin's chest was a ebony-framed photo of Miss Starlight Glimmer posing with bunny-ear fingers alongside an honey-yellow coated and glasses-wearing unicorn with a swirling orange mane.

"Heeeyy, wait a minute....that guy in the photo----he looks---familiar....", slowly said Smolder as she stared questionably at the picture frame hung over the mannequin's chest.

As every student and the Far Eastern Equestrian trio looked over and joined Smolder on examining the mentioned photo, Miss Starlight Glimmer spotted another white-painted bocote wooden door with a golden doorknob. It was found through the short hallway near the strange mannequin. She gently walked over to open the second door and saw that it lead to what looked like a bedroom with two beds. Hanging on the white plastered wall over and between the two purple mattress beds was a large rectangular framed photo of Miss Starlight Glimmer as a young filly hugging it out with a young orange-yellow unicorn colt. These two little foals seemed to be inside a kitchen and were posing together in front of a green wooden round table. In addition to that framed picture, more large Polaroid single portrait photos of Miss Starlight Glimmer were neatly placed onto the single pillow and blanket on the left bed, while photos of the mysterious honey-yellow unicorn were positioned similarly on the other right bed.

It was a big total shocker for the speechless Miss Starlight Glimmer. How long has she been together with this mysterious forgotten boyfriend that justified having so many pictures of her and the male unicorn in their apartment room? And why does this unicorn looked so familiar to her right now? If she had been with this man for so long, then how come he hasn't come over to fetch her sooner, instead of hiding away from her for so long? Only Celestia knows how long he must had been waiting for her with a broken heart...

Then, peering over to the left side of the purple mattress bed with Miss Starlight's own portrait photos, there were two picture frames that were lit up by an enchanted ever-glowing yellow crystal lampshade on top of the two-shelf drawer. The larger picture frame at the back looked like a perfectly lined-up group photo of the students and professors (including her and the Student Six), all sitting on three rows of escalating seats with an alicorn princess sitting at the bottom middle. Only a purple-scaled dragon with green crests was the only one standing in front of the princess and holding the official School of Friendship logo.

In front of that large-framed school group photo, there was a smaller more decorative silver-framed photo of Miss Starlight Glimmer and that mysterious unicorn boyfriend again. As she went up closer and picked up that couple's photo, she stared deeply into that mysterious smiling honey-yellow unicorn stallion that was wrapping around her shoulders at her right side within that photo.

Just why does he looked so familiar? Why does she hear tingling bells in her head and a warm sensation growing inside her body? More strangely, how come her mind kept racing back at that sunglasses-wearing gangster rogue who was responsible for bringing her and that mysterious lover together in a more sentimental fashion?

Then, it dawned on her...that time they met back in the soccer field...

💭'Very well, 'Miss Headmare'! If we can't take him to his home or have him pay the entry fee, then I, Sunny Boy, will settle this with a traditional physical challenge: a two player team soccer match with your nameless student!'

Then there was that time that commissioner invited that same rogue, who turned out to be their special informant

💭"Of COURSE, Sunny B! "A good friend of the police is a good friend of me! You can come in here as much as you like!"

Finally, and most recently, one of his students mentioned his Headmaster's name before he gave Miss Starlight Glimmer the address to that mystery dwelling that had the matching home key.

💭"I'm very sorry he had to go so soon. But Sunny Boy has a VERY important errand to run for his godfather---"

This sounded very far-fetched for the would-be bride, but could it be possible that---? No, it can't be! He and that rogue can't be---!? They're both very different stallion men! But if he is that guy---then---there's a chance he may actually be---!?

"VICE-STALLION SUNBURST??!!", shouted Sandbar at the top of his lungs.

"I KNEW that home decor looked pretty familiar! Who knew that boyfriend was the master of school nerds all along?!", teased Gallus as he express amazing awe to his Vice-Stallion's apartment abode.

"HUH! For an talkative awkward wizard man, he sure has tacky taste in home interior design!", complimented Smolder as she stared at the strange phoenix-headed mannequin.

"WOW, he did ALL of this for her! Such a fully dedicated stallion!", sighed the dreamy Ocellus as she looked at the framed photo hanging from the mannequin's chest.

"Awwww, that's SOOOO sweet of him!", awed the excitedly heartfelt Silverstream.

"WELL! Guess that solve strange boy love mystery!", shouted the excited smiling Yona as she lightly leapt for joy.

"It's too bad he's not here to witness this ever since he was reported missing, right guys??", sighed the saddened Turnip Head as he looked up to Master Zhi and Mr Tang.

Then, the tiny white pegasus boy noticed that his foster father and grandfather were spacing out, looking aimlessly into space as their eyes became glued at the picture of Starlight and that familiar unicorn man they saw get kidnapped at the hospital.

💭"Tell you what, old man. If you managed to keep this secret quiet for just one week, I'll send you 1000 bits each month from my salary and you can live a more comfortable luxury back home...sounds like a deal?---Unless----you want me to summon more of my old friends with my mass teleportation spell to keep you permanently quiet???"

Master Zhi and Mr Tang couldn't help but feel ashamed about forgetting that Vice-Stallion this whole time, while they were too focused on taking care of Miss Starlight Glimmer. Though they had forgotten him upon the blue-maned kirin's request, they really had not cast him off on purpose. True to the kirin's word, he did send them the 1000 bit crate stash as courtesy for not mentioning the kidnapping report to the police, preferably under the shadowy covers of the night to avoid detection. They used their money to pay off the rent of their apartment, reimburse the police commissioner for the damaged car and get the students new ice cream treats. But was it really all worth it to let Miss Starlight's trusted Vice-Stallion to go missing for over a week, while she struggles in silence as she tried to search for her lost memories? Who knows what kind of horrors those kirin did to that poor stallion during his captivity...

Something had to be said to clear the conscience of these guilt-ridden men. They had to know the truth about what truly happened to their Vice Stallion after that cart crash. Master Zhi was the first to speak to the students after gulping down really hard, though he was a bit hesitant about speaking about what really happened to the Vice Stallion at the hospital.

"GUYS---I have something--to--tell you! Your---Vice-Stallion---HE'S---!!"

Just as he was about to finish his sentence, he suddenly got bumped so hard in the rear by Miss Starlight's quick dash for the exit, that he suddenly felt himself spinning crazily like a loose top on a board game! In Starlight's hand, she was holding on very dear to the couple's small framed photo that she had took from the bedroom.

"HEY!! Miss Starlight leave so soon??!", questioned the surprised Yona so loudly as she saw Miss Starlight head for the open apartment door.

Then, quickly as she was about to head out, she came back and rushed over to the strange mannequin with a different framed picture of her and her stallion lover, before quickly shouting out to her friends

"Him!! That---MAN! The one named Sunny Boy! Where is he right now??!"

"OH, him? He's heading off to the greenery outside of the School of Friendship!", answered the recently dazed Master Zhi.

"I think I heard there are going to be volunteer students that will hold a mini spring promenade for the little schoolchildren out there!", mentioned Sandbar before Master Zhi responded

"Though, I don't why you want to see him again, but---"

"THANKS!!", shouted the interrupting Miss Starlight Glimmer as she quickly headed out of the apartment door with her wedding dress lifted off the ground and with the framed couple's picture in her hand. Once she was facing the elevator, she slammed on the 'down' button on the elevator control panel. Feeling too impatient to wait for the thick metal doors to open, she quickly head out into the hallway and spotted the exit door on her right. As soon as she opened that door, she saw a flight of concrete stairs that led to ground refuse room.

"Uhhh, should we stay here and guard this room, or chase after Miss Starlight in case she gets into another accident again?", wondered Sandbar.

"Of COURSE we're gonna go after her, you moron! Who knows what other brain-traumatizing events she may encounter??!", cried Gallus as he quickly flew out of the apartment door and slammed on the 'down' button on the panel.

"LOOK, there's Miss Starlight!", squawked Silverstream as she pointed at her substitute teacher exiting out the middle hallway door.

"What Miss Starlight doing now?? Where teacher going??", asked the confused Yona.

"You talk too much, Yona!! She's obviously taking the stairs!! LET'S GO, GUYS!!", shouted Master Zhi as he and Mr Tang shoved and spun Yona out of the way, before running off to chase Starlight to the exit door. After the dizzy Yona quickly regained her consciousness, the students quickly followed pursuit through that same exit.

"WOAH!!", shouted Sandbar as he barged through the door with Master Zhi and saw the steep spiraling staircase below him. "That's gotta be a LOTTA stairs to go down!"

"Not for this dude!! Who needs stairs if you got the railings?!", shouted Master Zhi as he jumped on the left green-painted steel railing and proceeded to slide his way down the stairs' handrails like a surfer pro. "COW-A-BUNGA, BABY!!"

"GO MASTER ZHI, GO!!!", cheered the flying Tiny Turnip Head as he pumped his fists for joy.

"I can't believe I'm doing this! WAIT FOR ME, GUYS!!", shouted Sandbar as he proceeded to jump up and sat on the railing, before butt-sliding his way down each level like a laid-back board surfer.

"HA, who needs stairs OR railings if we can just FLY our way through??!", boasted Gallus as he lifted up and held Mr Tang in his arms. "C'mon, you old geezer! Let's catch up with the rest!!"

"I TOLD you I don't need---uhhh, forget it! Do what you have to do to catch up with my reckless friend!", groaned the senile grey-maned unicorn as he held tight onto Gallus' arms.

"WITH pleasure, sir!!", shouted the eager Gallus as he, Smolder and Silverstream flew graciously downwards around the spiral staircase.

While Master Zhi, Mr Tang, Sandbar, Gallus, Silverstream and Smolder quickly made their way to the ground floor (even surpassing Miss Starlight who was struggling to climb down with her bulky wedding dress), Yona on the other hand had trouble lifting herself up the railing, due to her immense weight. She didn't want to walk down either as it would be too much physical work for her AND she feared tripping over and tumbling down the stairs like a rolling boulder.

"AWWWW, stair railings TOO high!! Yona no can ride on them!", cried the fat nak girl as her arms and legs tired out from failing to lift her up.

"It's okay, Yona! We'll find another way!!", shouted the assuring Tiny Turnip Head as he hovered above Yona.

"Why tiny Turnip pegasus no go with others??!!", questioned the surprised Yona.

"I'm NOT leaving you behind, Yona! No matter what, I can't have you miss Starlight's reunion with her newfound lover!", answered the determined and dedicated Tiny Turnip Head.

📱*DING!* goes the elevator as it signaled its arrival at the top tenth floor.

"AAH, there goes the elevator! It's here! C'mon, Yona! Let's go!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he barged through the door leading to the middle of the hallway.

Suddenly, Tiny Turnip Head and Yona noticed that the elevator doors were nearly closing in on each other. Both the fast-flying white pegasus and the running Yona rushed to the elevator before it closes. Thanks to his zipping dash ability, Tiny Turnip Head was able to get inside the lift box before the heavy metal doors closed on him

"WAIT WAIT WAAAIITTTT!!!", shouted Yona as she struggled to reach her cloven hand into the closing lift. Unfortunately, she was too slow to get inside the lift in time and she accidentally found herself with her cloven finger being crushed by the two heavy steel sliding doors!

"AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!", screamed Yona as she now struggles to pull her smashed right index finger from the closed doors. After a few hard tugs, she was able to pull her finger out, but not without having it turned completely red and swollen like a pulsating cherry.

"WWAAHHH, metal door traps hurt!! Yona NO like lifting box tricking yak!!", cried Yona as she blew on her swollen right index finger.

As soon as she pulled out her finger, the metal doors opened once again and Yona was greeted by Tiny Turnip Head inside the lift, who had just pressed the 'open' door on the indoor control panel for her.

"C'mon, get in!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he saw Yona tearing up and clenching on her swollen red finger. "I got some bandages and Po Sum healing balm2 for that finger!"

With newfound appreciation for her new tiny pegasus friend, Yona gladly stepped in the lift with Tiny Turnip Head, before the lift finally closed in on them and took them down to the ground level.

Meanwhile, outside the apartment and on the streets of Ponyville, Master Zhi, Mr Tang and the remaining Student Five rushed out onto the wooden sidewalks and urged Miss Starlight Glimmer to hurry on over as fast as she can.

"C'MON, Miss Starlight!! Get your hooves clopping!!", shouted Master Zhi.

"I'm trying, but it's hard to not trip over my own dress, while keeping my boobs from popping out!", hollered the slow-running Miss Starlight pulled up the top of her dress with her telekinetic magic, before lifting up the bottom hemline of her wedding dress. She was still holding desperately on that precious picture of herself and her boyfriend with her right hand.

As Master Zhi, Mr Tang and the rest of the remaining students ran to and across the cobblestone road to the south, Sandbar notices a public L'Obéissante steam bus3 stopping by the bench and picking up a passenger from the back door.

"Miss Starlight, over there! You can take the steam bus!", called out the running Sandbar as he pointed at the L'Obéissante steam bus that was about to take off.

"WAAIITTT!!!", shouted Miss Starlight Glimmer as she fumblingly ran south across the sidewalk, but she was too late as the L'Obéissante steam bus had already started closing its back door and took off chugging along the south road, before taking a hard turn to the west on the intersection.

"DON'T follow the minibus!! Take the public omnibus4 heading east to the school!!", hollered Master Zhi from the Y-shaped concrete sloped barrier at the intersection, before he and the rest of his friends chased after the self-condensing two-storey SAS Omnibus4 from behind.

Master Zhi picked up the pace of his hooves like a jockey horse to chase the 35 km/h (22 mph) omnibus, while Sandbar was running right behind him with a rapidly beating heart on his chest.

"HUFF---HUFF---!! Can't---keep---UP!! Legs---giving---OUT!!", panted the sweating Sandbar as his legs were starting to cramp up from the intense running.

As soon as Master Zhi got close to the rear horizontal railings of the first-level bus platform, he leaped up into action and grabbed its middle railing at the back of the bus, but then found himself slagging his lower hooves along the road. He struggled achingly to pull himself up to the top upper horizontal railing. As soon as his head was above both railings, his sweaty hands inadvertently slipped, but he managed to catch the top railing with his teeth, all while the bus was still moving! He finally grabbed the top railing with his hands and released his dental grip, before planting his lower hooves firmly on the lower bumper ridge of the bus.

"GRAB MY HAND, kid!!", shouted Master Zhi as he reached out for Sandbar's arm, but the strain was just too much for the kid to handle! Sandbar shouted to Master Zhi with breaths puffing like a steam train

"I--CAN'T---HUFF---hold--out--HUFF--much longer!!"

"Wait a minute, what am I doing??! I have magic!!", shouted the running Miss Starlight Glimmer as she glowed her horn.

Suddenly, a flash of violet magic illumination teleported Sandbar onto Master Zhi's back, before another flash of illumination appeared to his left and out from the teleportation aura was the bride-to-be herself!

"PHEW, thanks Miss Starlight!!", Master Zhi sighed with a relief of satisfaction while holding onto the outside rear railing at the front and Sandbar at the back.

"NO, thank you! For supporting me on this important quest to save what I had once lost!", replied Miss Starlight Glimmer as she smiled at the photo of herself and her boyfriend, all while holding the rear railing at the back of the moving bus.

Just as she, Master Zhi and Sandbar were entranced by the framed picture of the lovely couple, the omnibus suddenly his a pothole on its left wheel, causing the bus to slightly tip over and caused Miss Starlight Glimmer to lose her grip on the railing!

Just as she was about to fall on her back, Master Zhi suddenly leapt off the back of the bus and positioned his raised hands onto her bare-naked back, holding her up at an incline plane and sprinting like an emu! Meanwhile, her lower hooves remained in contact with the moving bus' back bumper, thanks to Master Zhi who tried to run as fast as he can to match the omnibus' fast speed---all while trying to prevent the (un)lucky Miss Starlight from falling backwards onto the hard cobblestone pavement!

"Miss Starlight!!!", cried Sandbar as he gripped tightly onto Master Zhi's back to prevent himself from falling off the fast-running yellow stallion man.

Just as Master Zhi was about to lose his speed from draining energy, he felt the weight being lifted of his shoulders as Gallus, Smolder and Ocellus assisted in pushing Miss Starlight Glimmer back on the railing.

"We got your back, Headmare!!", shouted the flying Gallus as he lifted Miss Starlight to the railing. "We won't let your memory reset back from scratch again at the hospital!"

"HEY, now that we saved you, does that mean my suspension gets revoked??", asked the chilled Smolder as she nonchalantly asked her headmare.

"You can renegotiate your appeal later, Smolder!!", yelled Ocellus after she transformed herself into a light-blue hippogriff to increase her pushing strength on Starlight.

"HEY, maybe next time, try going IN the bus! It's much safer that way!", mocked Mr Tang as he was now being held by the flying Silverstream.

"And pay for the ludicrous fare??! No way!", jokingly shouted Master Zhi after he immediately jumped forward and grabbed the railing once more with Sandbar on his back.

"PHEW, that was TOO close! Thanks, guys!", hollered the appreciating Sandbar as he looked at his flying friends.

"HEY!!! MASTER ZHI!!! OVER HERE!!!!", shouted a screeching male colt-like voice on the road! It sounded like it was coming over from Miss Starlight's and Master Zhi's left.

Speeding at 32 km/h (20 mph) near the back left-side of the omnibus was a yellow Model 1913 Argo Electric5 taxicab with horizontal black-and-white checkered patterns along the mid-horizontal section of the cab. Sitting at the right-side backseat was Tiny Turnip Head, who slid down his window and yelled out, "GUYS, OVER HERE!!!"

Mr Tang was shocked to see that the little guy was actually late to the party, despite being the fastest flyer among the students. While hanging onto the flying Gallus, he yelled out to Tiny Turnip Head

"Turnip Head??!! 'Bout time you got here! What the hell took you so long??!!"

Mr Tang finally got his answer when he saw Yona sitting at the front right-side passenger seat of the taxicab. Yona stuck her huge head out of her open window and yelled out

"Tiny peggie says taxi is faster! No stops in traffic! Will go to quickest path!"

"RIGHT! Of course!! C'mon, Miss Starlight! Let's get off this thing and hop into that taxi!", shouted Master Zhi as he leapt off the omnibus railing and ran towards the taxi. As for Miss Starlight Glimmer, she simply just teleported her way off the railing and placed herself onto the road, before she began chasing the electric taxicab.

"Sandbar and Starlight, you sit in the back! The rest of you flyers can follow along with us beside the cab!", ordered Master Zhi as he continued pursuing the taxi.

"HOLD on there, Zhi!! I'm riding with you! I think I'm starting to get too airsick from this pigeon ride!", hollered Mr Tang as his face was becoming a little green from being in mid-air for too long.

"HEY, I take offense to that, geezer!!", cawed the upset Gallus.

"Just let him ride the taxi, Gallus! I don't want him barfing all over the outside windows while we're riding!!", yelled Master Zhi as he ran alongside the taxi.

"Uggghh, FINE! But he better award me with some barley seed ice cream after this!", demanded Gallus before he gently laid Mr Tang on the road, specifically along the taxi's left side.

Meanwhile, at the top deck of the omnibus, a brown-coated beanie hat-wearing colt was drinking his milkshake cup and sitting near the far left edge, when he peered over to check out the commotion on the road below him. As soon as he saw a bundle of creatures (including a unicorn mare in a wedding dress), he immediately cried out for his mom and peered over the top deck railing---only to accidentally spilled his entire milkshake into the path of the speeding taxicab, which in turn splattered the taxicab's front windshield and partially blinded the driver's view! Embarrassed by the idiotic accident, he sheepishly returned to his seat and hid the milkshake cup in his backpack.

Surprised by the sudden assault on his frontal windshield, the taxicab honked its electric horn, drove past the omnibus and swerved to its right to block the omnibus' path. The bus driver then pressed on the speed pedal and released all steam pressure from the generator, thereby halting the whole omnibus into a standstill.

As soon as Master Zhi found himself running past the taxi and omnibus, he immediately braked himself and turned around to rush towards the taxicab. As the brown-coated and yellow cap-wearing stallion taxi driver got out of his vehicle, he coarsely yelled at the onrushing creatures heading for his taxi

"HEY, what are guys corralling around my cab for??!!"

"OH, don't worry about us! We're friends with the yak and that little pegasus boy!!", quickly replied Miss Starlight Glimmer as she entered the taxi from the left-side of the backseat, while Tiny Turnip Head exited the backseat from his right side.

"C'MON, every creature without wings! Hop in!", shouted Master Zhi after he quickly got inside the right-side passenger seat. Quickly thereafter, Sandbar was the first to jump into the backseat from the right side of the taxicab, much to Mister Tang's chagrin as the backseat was now already full of passengers.

"HEY, I was gonna sit there, you damn prick!! This backseat has no more room anymore!", shouted the red-faced enraged Mr Tang, before Sandbar replied

"What are you talking about? We can squeeze more room by---"

Just as he looked to his left, he saw a brown tan-coated and red bobcut-maned unicorn mare in a blue bare-back dress, sitting snugly at the middle between himself and Miss Starlight Glimmer in a wedding dress. Shocked at the sudden abrupt halt in her taxi ride, the unicorn mare cried,

"Just WHAT in Princess Twilight's name is going on in here??!"

"Wait, STELLAR FLARE??!!", shouted Miss Starlight as she looked at the familiar passenger sitting to the right of her.

"Starlight??! Is that you?? I haven't seen you since---wait, why are you wearing a wedding dress??!! You never told me you were getting married today!!", questioned the confused Stellar Flare as she continued to feel squished by the green colt boy and the bride-to-be in her cumbersome wedding outfit.

"Wait, you know this lady, Miss Starlight??!", shouted Master Zhi as he looked back from the passenger seat, before he noticed a chubby nak girl sitting on the driver's seat.

"C'mon taxicab!! GO!!!", yelled the frustrated Yona.

"What the---YONA??!! You're driving this taxi?!", asked the bewildered Master Zhi as he looked at the upset nak girl.

"WAIT, this is where driving happens??! Yona thought this vehicle go by itself!!", panicked the clueless and worried nak girl.

"NO time to explain! I NEED to get to the School of Friendship---ASAP!!", shouted the impatient Miss Starlight as she slammed the backside of the driver's cushion seat.

"YONA, hop on the right speed pedal below you and get this taxi moving already!!", ordered Master Zhi who has to now act as a driving instructor to Yona.

Yona attempted to stretch her right leg over the pedal in front of her, but her short stubby legs prevented her from reaching the pedals!

"Yona can't! LEGS TOO SHORT TO REACH!!", the fak stubby nak girl yelled.

"I'll be your engine, Yona! Just tell me which pedal to press and how hard to press on it, Master Zhi!!", shouted the heroic and determined Tiny Turnip Head as he flew into the open driver's window and kneeled down underneath the steering wheel. After placing his hands on the two pedals, he awaited for his master's driving commands. One of the pedals on the right had a curved roof over the toe-end of the pedal.

"Where the hell am I supposed to sit now??!! The taxi's full!!", shouted Mr Tang as he found himself stranded on the cobblestone road.

"Hmm---", pondered Silverstream as she stroke her furry chin before she thought up of an excellent idea and yelled

"WAIT, I got it! You can ride the taxi in the same way Master Zhi rode that steam machine!"

"GREAT idea, Silvia! Sorry about this, sir!", shouted Gallus as he placed his talons underneath Mr Tang.

"Wait, what are you talk---WAAAAHHHHH!!!!", bawled Mr Tang as he was suddenly being lifted off the ground by Gallus, before finding himself placing his hands on the back top edge of the car roof and floating in the air with the wing-flapping Gallus holding onto his armpits.

"C'mon, Master of all escape plans!! Get this metal hunk of junk moving!!", squawked Gallus as he rapidly fluttered his wings forward.

"TURNIP, RIGHT PEDAL!! SLAM IT AS HARD AS YOU CAN!!!", bellowed Master Zhi to his foster son on the driver's car floor.

"YES, SIR!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he pushed down on the sandal-like speed pedal as hard as he could.

"HEY, which one of you spilled milk over my taxi?!!", shouted the angry cab-driving stallion, before he realized his ride was being carjacked. He ran after the taxi for only a short distance before yelling

"WHAT IN TARTARUS??!! Why the hell are you taking away my taxi for?!!"

It was no use though. By then, the taxicab had already drove off with Starlight Glimmer, Stellar Flare, Sandbar and Master Zhi riding inside the car, with Yona and Tiny Turnip Head as their driver and co-driver, respectively. At the same time, Mr Tang was being pushed onto the back of the moving taxi by the flying Gallus, as the blue griffon was trying his best to keep up with the electric vehicle. As for the flying ladies (Smolder, Ocellus and Silverstream), they were having a breeze at flying alongside the taxi, acting as aerial escorts and lookouts for both the passengers and drivers.

"This is not how I imagine myself taking a taxi ride around town!!", shouted Mr Tang as he grabbed on for dear life on the taxi roof.

"HEY, at least this beats flying, right??! PLUS, you won't have to pay for fare!", joked Gallus as he continued to push him into the backside of the moving electric taxicab.

"Just keep your hands on that steering wheel in front of you, Yona! DON'T let go!!", ordered Master Zhi as he yelled from his passenger seat.

"UGGGHH, can't this dumb horseless carriage go any faster??! I can run way faster than that with my wings tied!", shouted the flying Smolder as she flew alongside the electric taxicab and spoke to Master Zhi by the right-side open window.

"This is an electric cab, lizard brain!!", explained the adrenaline-fueled Master Zhi. "Its max speed is proportional to its limited battery charge that powers the wheels!! Plus with all that weight added from the extra passengers---"

"HEY!!", yelled the insulted Stellar Flare and Miss Starlight Glimmer.

"---AND the driver also, there's no way this cab will get to the school under derby car speeds!", continued Master Zhi as he stared at the backseat passengers with a glare.

"Sorry that we had to interfere with your ride, Miss! We HAVE to get to the school promenade for some reason!", apologized the blood-rushing Sandbar as he held tightly to Stellar Flare's bare right arm.

"Just WHY in the world are you in SUCH a hurry to the school for, Starlight??! Are you REALLY that late for your own wedding??!!", shouted Stellar Flare to Miss Starlight Glimmer as they grabbed hold each others arms.

"IT'S NOT THAT!! My dad's been forcing me to marry somepony else!! I bailed out on him, so I could go see him before my suitor takes me away for good!!", shouted Miss Starlight as she showed Stellar Flare the framed photo she's holding. As soon as Stellar Flare saw the picture, her pupils instantly dilated at the sight of somepony who is very close to her. Even though Stellar Flare was in complete shock at the situation she was caught up in, she soon understands the urgency of Miss Starlight Glimmer's quest for re-connecting with her boyfriend.

"WELL, I WAS going to be on my way to Mayor Mare's office, but THIS is a much more important matter for me as it is to you, Starlight!", shouted Stellar Flare as she happily smiled at Miss Starlight, while also examining her scrunched-up white wedding dress. "He'll certainly be very happy to see you like this!"

"YONA, rotate the wheel to the right to make a turn! TURNIP, lift the speed pedal half way to slow down!", commanded Master Zhi who yelled at the driver and co-driver like a drill sergeant.

"YONA turning now!!", shouted the chubby nak girl as she made a hard right on the intersection.

"Okey-dokey!!", obeyed Tiny Turnip Head as he lifted the springed speed pedal to only halfway.

As soon as the electric cab made a hard right, Gallus immediately reacted by shifting his flying position to focus his push against Mr Tang's left shoulder, thereby keeping the old man propped against the backside of the taxi.

"HEY, look out, you idiots!! ROGUE TAXI COMING THROUGH!!!", shouted Mr Tang as soon as he saw an old violet-coated and blue-and-white swirly-maned grandmare pushing her baby carriage along the crosswalk.

"YONA, watch out for that grandmare!!!", warned Miss Starlight Glimmer as she pointed at the surprised grandmare through the partially splattered windshield. Upon seeing the swerving machination, the grandmare instantly scurried away from rogue taxi surrounded by trailing flyers.

"YONA can't WATCH!! Too short to see glass window above!!", cried the fat nak girl as she tried to lift herself off from her seat.

"Ladies, push that car to the right side, PRONTO!!", commanded Gallus as he shouted for his female flying companions

"We're on it, Gallus!!", assured Ocellus before she, Silverstream and Smolder flew over to the left side of the taxi and pushed the vehicle to the right as hard as they can.

"WOAH---WOOAAAHH!!!", shouted Starlight Glimmer as she immediately cast her telekinetic magic to keep herself, Sandbar and Stellar Flare firmly planted onto the seat cushion. The taxicab had just tipped over and veered to the right, but has not completely toppled over. Unfortunately, it was now heading over to an open arch entrance into a flower shop, where a ladder stood in the middle of the entrance. Standing on that ladder was a honey-yellow coated and dark-green maned unicorn mare painter, who was holding her can of white paint and was just about to get onto the high-level wooden scaffolding platform adjacent to the flower shop sign.

"BRAKE!! BRAKE!! I said BRAKE, GODDAMMIT!!!", commanded the panicking Master Zhi.

"Break what??!!", asked the screeching Tiny Turnip Head.

"NOT that kinda 'break'!! You know?? For stopping!! JUST PUSH THE LEFT PEDAL!!!", shouted Master Zhi from the top of his lungs.

"Ohhhhhh!!", understood Tiny Turnip Head before he immediately pushed onto the left brake pedal. But it was already too late for the taxi to stop itself from crashing into the ladder!

As soon as the taxicab instantly stopped with its frontal hoodie peering into the flower shop, the ladder tipped over after being rammed, causing the mare painter to fall from the highest step of her ladder, before Silverstream quickly swoop into action and managed to save her from falling any further onto top of the car roof at such a great height.

Unfortunately for the taxicab though, the can of paint that the unicorn painter was carrying was dropped and had accidentally splashed its opaque liquid contents all over the taxi's frontal windshield!

"GODDAMMIT, you moron!! You drive worse than my ex-wife!!", berated Mr Tang after he almost had a heart attack from seeing the taxi almost completely crash into the flower shop.

"BACK UP, BACK UP, BACK UP!!", shouted Miss Starlight Glimmer in a panic.

"Turnip, pull back the right pedal as far as you can to reverse! Yona, steer right!!", commanded Master Zhi as he barked his orders.

"YESMASTER!!", both Yona and Tiny Turnip Head shouted before the driver and co-driver managed to back out of the flower shop they had crashed in and made a reverse right-sided turn back onto the cobblestone road.

As soon as Silverstream placed the painter gently down onto the sidewalk and quickly apologized for the mess they had made, she and the rest of the female flyers resumed back to following the taxicab. To their horrified eyes, they saw that the spilled white paint had completely covered the whole frontal windshield!

"BRAKE!!", yelled Master Zhi before Tiny Turnip Head instantly pushed on the brake pedal.

"HEY, why the hay are you all stopping??!!", shouted the anxious Miss Starlight Glimmer.

"C'mon, Master! We gotta get this thing moving!", demanded Sandbar.

"WHAT'S THE HOLD-UP BACK THERE??!!", shouted Mr Tang who was holding onto the outer backside of the taxi roof.

"Yona no see anything no more!! Window all white now!!", pointed out Yona as she and Master Zhi can no longer see through the opaque and whitened front square windshield.

"Hehehe, sorry about this, Miss Starlight!! Looks like are completely snow-blind right now!", apologized Master Zhi as he looked at Miss Starlight Glimmer and shrugged his shoulders.

----------(MEANWHILE IN MANEHATTAN'S MANEFAIR HOTEL)----------

Standing by the entrance into the wedding reception, Minty Mocha was yelling through the receiver of the wall-embedded pay-station telephone as wedding guests were passing by to take their seats at the reception

☎"How in the hell did this happened??! Did you actually found Starlight yet??"

Seeing how the guests were reacting to her enraged fury, Minty Mocha quickly moved her muzzle close to the transmitter, cupped her muzzle with her right hand and softly scolded

☎"I'll be damned to Tartarus if my boss doesn't see her daughter for even another hour!"

Immediately the caller shouted something that caused Minty Mocha to stand straight on her hooves and gave out a shocked "WHAT??!", before immediately replying

☎"Well, to hell with you then! Go jump in a lake for all I care!!"

Then, she fiercely slammed the receiver onto the dis-connector arm on the left of the wall telephone, before angrily marching back into the reception room with Firelight standing by at the white-covered guest listing table, which was stationed by Strawberry Latte and Ever Essence.

"Please, please! Make yourself at home!", greeted the nervously smiling Firelight to his two new party guests as he tried desperately to keep up with the cheerful celebratory facade.

"Why don't you gentlemares and colts play some poker over by that card table over there??", pointed out Minty Mocha as she directed them to the playing area.

"Take care, everypony! Thank you for coming over to our wedding!", hollered the fake smiling Firelight as his guests head on over to the playing table at the far corner of the reception room.

As soon as the guests were out of sight, Firelight immediately relieved himself of his feigned happiness and turned his angry worried expression to his assistant manager and quietly asked

"PLEASE don't tell me our staff had failed to picked up my daughter up from the wedding boutique. I don't think I can keep up this charade in front of ALL these guests!"

"Of course, Mr Firelight...", replied Minty Mocha as she tried to put on her best smile in front of her boss.

"And DON'T even mention about me having to write a speech to explain ALL the guests about why my daughter hasn't arrived to the wedding yet, okay?!", demanded Firelight as his sanity was slowly leaking out of his head.

"OF COURSE, Mr Firelight! Your Starlight Glimmer will be here ANY soon!!", lied the sincerely smiling Minty Mocha as she greeted more party guests at the invitation table.

"HELLO, Mr Firelight! It's so nice to see you here! Love the violet suit! Say hi to the lucky groom and bride for us!", hollered the purple fluffy-maned unicorn mare guest as she entered the reception room.

"Good to see you too!", shouted Firelight as he quickly put back his feigned smile for his new guest.

Dear Twilight Sparkle only knows how long they could keep up with their cheerful front before everypony at the reception figured out what was going on...

----------(MEANWHILE NEAR THE SCHOOL OF FRIENDSHIP)----------

During their walk down along the lonely yellow dirt road to the School of Friendship, Student #12138 anxiously said to his companion Sunny Boy

"The Dragon Head of the Ginseng Triad told us to give this golden yellow gift box to his friend Gingko Dragon, the true top Dragon Head of all the Triad gangs in Equestria. Don't you feel even a BIT nervous about this meeting, sir?"

"No, not at all...", replied Sunny Boy as he walked alongside his comrade with the golden gift-wrapped box in his hand. "Why do you ask?"

"It's that---this meeting JUST doesn't feel right for some reason...", muttered Student #12138 as he looked down onto the ground and watching his hooves walk along the dirt road. "...Something strange is probably going on around here..."

"Ahhh, don't worry about it, my friend!", assured the confident Sunny Boy as he looked at the golden gift-box. "My godfather is the reason I'm still alive today. I don't mind being his errand messenger boy."

"Yeah....it's just a simple package delivery. How hard can it be?", wondered Student #12138 as he looked at the package with his friend Sunny Boy.

Walking along the south dirt road to the School of Friendship was a blonde fluffy-maned and green-coated kirin who was sporting a large white fluffy yeti coat that covered his whole body. He was surrounded by six kirin soldier bodyguards in black suits as his security detail, who followed the lavishly-dressed kirin from behind. They were bulky around the limbs, chest and back as they were wearing padded body armor for extra protection. He turned his attention to one of his soldier bodyguards and asked

"SO, where are we supposed to meet up with my friend Mister Ginseng?"

"In front of that granite bridge to the School of Friendship. You know, where you first recruited him into your cult?", replied the kirin bodyguard. "Your friend is pretty loyal to you, Top Dragon Head"

"LOYAL, you say??", questioned Gingko Dragon. "Tell me, if one of you suddenly became the substitute Dragon Head in Western Equestria during my absence, would you be willing to give all that power back to me peacefully once I return from my exile?"

The kirin bodyguards looked at Dragon Head and then to each other sheepishly with apprehension to their true feelings, and nonchalantly replied, "Uhhh, YES!/Of COURSE we would!/No doubt about it, Top Dragon Head!"

"...GOOD! Now, we have to make sure the ritual exchange goes all right...", ordered Gingko Dragon as he continued to walk to the School of Friendship with his soldier bodyguards. "If he tries to do anything sneaky, kill him on the spot!"

"YES, Top Dragon Head! We won't let you down, sir!", shouted the kirin bodyguards in unison.

"HEY, Sunny Boy...", whispered Student #12138 to his companion as the two young adult unicorns carefully approached Gingko Dragon and his posse upon spotting them. "That furry snow wolf cosplayer looks SO much like the new Dragon Head! You don't you think he's Gingko Dragon, is he??"

"Ooaaahhh, you worry too much, my dear student!", teased Sunny Boy as he messed up his student's spiky black mane with his black-gloved hand.

----------(SOMEWHERE ON THE ROADS OF PONYVILLE, 2:45 A.M.)----------

"WOAH WOAH WOAH WOAH!!! TOO FAST, TOO FAST!!!", shouted Mr Tang as he held on for dear life on the speeding electric taxicab, which was now going more than 50 km/h (31 mph) on the cobblestone road.

The sudden spiked increase of the electric taxicab's top speed was all due to two major upgrades to the taxi, with the first one being the escorting flyers. Aside from the flying Gallus pushing Mr Tang onto the outer back of the taxi cab. Silverstream and Smolder were dragging the taxi cab by the left-side and right-side window edges and were using the strong beat of their wings to further push the taxi cab to higher speeds. They also act as stabilizers to keep the taxicab steady as it made hard turns and epic two-wheeled skiing on the cobblestone pavement. The second upgrade was the rechargeable capability and extra amperage provided by Ocellus in the form of a large Twittermite. Previously, the front car hood was ripped open by Ocellus in her bugbear form, before she turned herself into a large electrifying Twittermite and positioned herself onto the lead-acid batteries that were powering the front wheels of the taxicab. By converting all her vital force into electricity to supercharge the batteries, she was able to further increase the electric motor speed and thus also increase the torque of the powered wheels.

Unfortunately, since the taxicab had become completely blinded on the frontal windshield by the quick-drying white paint, it made it much harder to control the cab properly without crashing. To help guide the blinded taxi in its journey to the School of Friendship, Master Zhi had to stick half of his body out of the left-side of the driver's window and shout out immediate commands to both Yona and Tiny Turnip Head, all while the taxi cab speeds down the road occupied by oxen carts, steam cars, omnibuses, stagecoaches, rickshaws, hovering sedan chairs and many other vehicles.

As the taxicab approached the gas-powered stoplight, Master Zhi shouted out to Yona and Tiny Turnip Head

"TURN RIGHT, TURN RIGHT!! 45 degrees!! Quarter speed!!"

"Watch it, watch it, watch it!!", shouted Gallus as he struggled to keep up with the rapid-rolling super-charged taxicab.

As all four stagecoaches veered away and almost hit the speeding taxicab, Yona turned the steering wheel of the taxi way too hard and made a 120 degree right turn instead! That caused the car to do a two-wheeled skiing on its two right-sided tires and turned 225 degrees clockwise from its z-axis at the middle of the stoplight intersection!

"I said 25 degrees, Yona!! And that was a HALF speed, Turnip!! Quarter means half of half!!!", scolded Master Zhi as he immediately held onto the roof as it dangerously tipped over.

"YONA SORRY!! Yona and Turnip failed math in school!!", cried the panicking nak girl.

"Godamnit, Yona! You drive like a bitch!!", insulted the frustrated Mister Tang as he held onto the taxi roof for dear life while Gallus tried to prevent him from slipping off!

While the car was at the brink of tipping over, Miss Starlight was firmly sitting tightly at the back and used everything in her telekinetic magic to hold herself, Miss Stellar Flare and Sandbar firmly to their unrestrained cushion seats. Meanwhile, Silverstream and Smolder were struggling to stabilize the cab as it dangerously tipped to its right side while skiing. As soon as the taxicab landed safely onto its two left wheels on the intersection, Master Zhi yelled out to Mr Tang

"Tang, I need you at the passenger seat! Help Yona and Turnip with their trigonometry and fractions!!"

"FINALLY, I was getting REAL tired riding on the OUTSIDE of this death contraption!!", shouted Mister Tang as he was immediately airlifted by Gallus to the right-side passenger seat.

"Gallus, you provide the extra air boost at the back! Help these ladies stabilize the car when needed!", commanded Master Zhi as he inserted half his body into the driver's window.

"You got it, sir! Just get this cab moving already before we get surrounded!", squawked Gallus as he positioned his hovering spot behind the cab and placed his talons on top of the roof.

"WILL DO! Right turn!! 45 degrees!! HALF SPEED!!", commanded Master Zhi before Yona jerked the steering wheel to the right, while Tiny Turnip Head pressed the speed pedal at halfway. Before Yona ended up turning over the taxicab though, Mr Tang (who was at the front passenger seat) used his telekinetic magic to stop Yona from turning the wheel too far and yelled,

"STOP! That's 45 degrees! One-eighth of a whole circle!!"

Mr Tang then magically projected two blue holographic protractors on the middle of the steering wheel from his horn, one above and other below. The 45°, 90°, 135° and 180° markings were made bold on both semi-circle protractors for both clockwise and counter-clockwise turns. All other angle markings were labelled in 10° intervals across each arc of both semi-circles. To make it easier for Yona to understand how far she was turning, Mr Tang then highlighted the 45° markings in yellow for better visualization on his makeshift hologram.

"Oooohh, Yona now see!!", understood the quick-thinking nak girl as she made a turn to the south-east road. She could clearly see the holographic angle number markings very well as she stared at her steering wheel.

"GOOD!! Now I don't have to kick you outta the cab and drive this death trap myself!", shouted the relieved Mr Tang as he saw Yona keeping her cloven hands steady at the 0° markings.

"You try kicking her out, I'll toss you in the middle of the road!", threatened the unamused Miss Starlight Glimmer.

"WEAK bluff, you damsel-in-this-dress bride!!", scorned Mr Tang as he looked behind his seat.

"NO TALKING!! Turn left at 35° angle!! HALF speed!!", commanded Master Zhi as he saw the street sign pointing to the direction to the school. As soon as he heard the order, Mr Tang then highlighted the 35° markings in yellow on his two blue holographic protractors, before Yona made a reasonably steady rotation to the left, until her cloven hands were at the 35° marks.

"GOOD! You're learning fast!! For a loafer, of course!", halfheartedly complimented the prejudice Mr Tang as he tried to keep himself steady in case of any wild skiing or wheelie shenanigans.

Breathing in and out deeply and rapidly under Yona's crazy driving, Miss Starlight Glimmer tried to keep herself calm under the intense pressure, while Stellar Flare held tight onto her left hand and massaged her palm.

"Just keep it cool! It's going to be all right!! No pressure!", panted Miss Starlight Glimmer to herself as she tried to stop herself from panicking.

"HEY, I'll be there with you along the way, no matter the risks, my dearie!", assured Stellar Flare.

"C'mon, guys!! Move faster already!!", shouted Sandbar from the backseat.

"YOU SHUT THE HELL UP, backseat driver!!", scolded Mr Tang as he stared intensely at Sandbar from his front passenger seat.

"75° right turn!! Three-quarter speed!!", commanded the observant Master Zhi as soon as he spotted a curved road flanked by two stone-walled barriers.

"YONA HEAR YOU LOUD AND CLEAR!!", loudly replied the smart nak girl.

As Yona made her right turn under the holographic guidance of Mr Tang's protractors, Tiny Turnip Head accidentally pushed on the speed pedal too hard onto the floor, causing the taxicab to tip over to the left and make another skiing skid on its two left wheels across the curved road!

"WWWAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!", screamed Master Zhi as he was now hugging the roof of the car once again.

"DAMIT, kid! You pushed the pedal too hard!!", scolded Mr Tang as he instantly hung onto the passenger door to stop himself from falling into the driver's side.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I don't know know what he meant by three-quarters!!", cried Tiny Turnip Head as he suddenly felt the sheer force of the tipping taxicab.

As Mister Tang and Master Zhi held onto dear life so as to not lose their sitting within the left-tipping car, Gallus rushed to the aid of Silverstream on the left side of the vehicle to prevent the skiing cab from toppling over, while Smolder tried to do her best to bring down the right side of the tipping taxicab. This was all done while the taxicab was making a hard right crescent-curved turn on the busy traffic road, before it continued speeding and skiing along the next straight cobblestone road, nearly ramming against three merchant carts along the way! The citizen drivers who got caught in the ruckus were not to happy at whoever was driving the car, nor were they pleased at the flyers trying to keep the cab from rolling over!

"HEY, what the hell are you doing, man??!"

"Get off the road, jackass!!"

"Are you both blind AND stupid??!!!"

"Who taught you how to drive??!"

"If you can't ride without having to rely on pigeons to keep you steady, you should quit now!!"

"Stop trying to help that nutcase! You're making it worse!"

"Go find a better driving tutor before you kill somepony on the street!"

"Burn in Tartarus!!"

"HQ, we have a situation at 650 Trottingham Road!", shouted a Diamond Dog traffic post guard as he yelled onto the unlocked callbox. He was standing by the street and was witnessing one of the most craziest vehicle joyrides in his lifetime! He continued with his report

"A runaway rogue Argo taxicab is suspiciously and dangerously skidding to the east, and they are accompanied by three multiple flyers outside of the taxi! Send extra backup now! We got four unicorn police officers on pursuit with their Tandem Humbers6!"

"Think of it as three semi-halves of a pizza or cake slice!!", advised the panicking Mister Tang as he held on for dear life.

"Uhhhhhhhh------Oooh!", mumbled Tiny Turnip Head as he tried to figure out what Mister Tang was saying, before he suddenly realized what he meant. Soon, the bright-headed pegasus boy could visualize in his imagination a slice of chocolate cream cake slice flanked by two acutely angled speed pedals!

"There is TOO much cake on this pedal!!", yelled Tiny Turnip Head as he eased his speed pedal pressing to 3/4 speed. This allowed the car to land back on its two right wheels and presumed driving at a normal balanced level, while the rest of the passengers finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"If I knew you could drive that like, I would commute to work more often!", joked Stellar Flare as her chest was pounding from the prolonged skiing stunt.

As soon as they were about to relax and cool their heads, the taxi passengers, drivers and winged escorts immediately heard high-pitched sounds of wailing sirens from behind the taxi!

"WAAHH, what was yak!!??", shouted the panicking Yona as she tried to keep her cloven hands steady on the wheel.

"WUH-OH!! I think I can see a couple police bikes chasing after us!!", shouted Mr Tang as he peered out the right-side window. "And it's one of those damn electric doo-hickeys again!"

"WHAT??!! But why??!! We're just heading out to see Sunny Boy at the outdoor promenade!!", cawed the clueless Silverstream as she grabbed hold on the left-side taxicab and flapping her wings as hard as she can.

"What the hell do they want with us??!!", asked Smolder as she grabbed hold on the right-side of the taxicab and flapped her wings in unison with Silverstream.

"I THINK they don't like the way Yona and Turnip is driving the vehicle right now!", answered the squawking Gallus as he continued to fly forward while pushing the vehicle forward.

"NO SHIT, birdbrain! We DID almost ran over a couple vehicles along the way!!", shouted Master Zhi as he looked behind him and saw the police officers sounding their electric horns at the front of their bikes. "Must've pissed off a lotta drivers back there!!"

"Getting---low---on----energy!!! Too---tired!!----Can't---keep---up!!!", cried Ocellus the exhausting Twittermite beast, as her electrical discharges were getting weaker by the minute from supercharging the taxicab for too long.

"Hang in there, Ocellus! Just a couple more roads up ahead!!", encouraged the hard-flapping Smolder.

----------(MEANWHILE BACK AT THE TRIAD MEET-UP)----------

"So, did Ginseng Dragon ever told you what you should do if any creature like Gingko Dragon appeared in the middle of a Triad meeting?", asked Student #12138 as he walked alongside Sunny Boy.

"Loudly say the secret code phrase 'The golden guest has finally arrived' after giving him the special golden gift", replied Sunny Boy as he held the golden-wrapped gift box.

As soon as Student #12138 heard his answer, he immediately stopped Sunny Boy at his tracks and shouted out

"Stay where you are and DON'T move, please!"

"Hmmm, looks like the Dragon Head of Ponyville himself chose not arrive", commented on of the kirin bodyguards standing next to Gingko Dragon's left side. The top golden dragon head of all the triads, as well as his posse, were all standing around 50 meters away from Sunny Boy and Student #12138.

"Instead, it seems like he decided to send two teenage hipster dorks over here to meet us instead...", muttered the other kirin bodyguard standing next to Gingko Dragon's right side.

"...阿爾法 (Yaw Yeet Fut)7, go over and check on them...", ordered Gingko Dragon as he talked to his right-sided bodyguard, before Yaw Yeet Fut, who was a grey-coated and teal-maned male kirin, stepped forward and walked towards the two young men. In response, Sunny Boy and Student #12138 walked forward to meet Yaw Yeet Fut at the middle (25 meters away from Gingko Dragon and his remaining posse).

"SO, did Mister Ginseng sent you boys over to meet us?", questioned Yaw Yeet Fut with a suspicious distrustful tone.

"His name is Ginseng Dragon, not Mister Ginseng", replied Sunny Boy with a lightly harsh tone. "If you're wondering who we are, I'm his godson and this here is my right-hand man."

Sunny Boy then showed him the golden box he was holding and offered it to Yaw Yeet Fut for him to take to Gingko Dragon as a special welcome gift.

"My godfather wanted Gingko Dragon to have this present...", said Sunny Boy in a polite manner.

"May I see what's actually inside first?", asked the skeptical Yaw Yeet Fut.

"My godfather told me I can't have any creature open the present without his permission until it reaches Gingko Dragon", replied Sunny Boy in a calm manner.

Not wanting to play games anymore, Yaw Yeet Fut immediately pulled out his .34 caliber pocket pepperbox pinfire pistol8 from his waistband and pointed at Sunny Boy, while trying to keep his gun hidden by using his black suit jacket as cover.

"OPEN---the box---or face the consequences...", threatened Yaw Yeet Fut as he had his hidden pocket pepperbox pistol aimed at Sunny Boy's torso. Suddenly, a dead silence rings in the air as Gingko Dragon and his remaining posse stared at Yaw Yeet Fut, who was blocking their view of the two young men.

As the standoff continued to drag on, a wooden sailboat was floating on the large water of body within the moat, a couple of meters north from the school's granite moat bridge. Crouching on the open deck with a pair of tripod-supported binocular tower viewers, Delft Blue could see the backside of Gingko Dragon and his posse, as well as the standoff among Sunny Boy, Student #12138 and Yaw Yeet Fut. In addition to that, he was also holding the briefcase telephone with his right cloven hand, waiting for an opportunity to activate the bomb inside that golden package.

"Saan Jyu, one of Gingko's bodyguards got sent over to check out our golden gift box...", reported the tacky-dressed Delft Blue as he turned his attention away from his viewer and onto his crime boss. "Why don't we just give that briefcase telephone dial a twirl right now?"

Delft Blue was holding up the briefcase telephone to show that he was more than ready to detonate the explosive package. However, Ginseng Dragon was very hesitant to initiate the plan. He held Delft Blue's right wrist and told him

"No, not NOW! They're TOO far apart! I'm afraid if we set it off now, the explosion wouldn't reach far enough to eliminate Gingko Dragon! We got to wait for them to get closer"

"If you want to shoot me now, do it!", taunted Sunny Boy as he stared stoically at Yaw Yeet Fut. "Student #12138 is not the kind of unicorn who specializes in patience"

"Who the hell is Student #12138?", asked Yaw Yeet Fut while still pointing his hidden pepperbox at Sunny Boy's abdomen.

"THAT would be ME...", answered Student #12138 as he menacingly stared at Yaw Yeet Fut "But YOU can call me the new Headmaster of the Sunny Side Schoolboys!"

Suddenly, Yaw Yeet Fut could feel a cold jab poking at his stomach and as he looked down, he immediately realized that Student #12138 had a two-barrel .66 caliber howdah pistol9 pointed at blank-range to his abdomen! Even with his padded armor, getting shot at such a close distance by such a powerful huge caliber would surely penetrate through the layers of silk sheets in his soft armor!

Feeling trapped like a mosquito on arsenic fly paper, the kirin bodyguard was scared stiff as he was imagining how that large-caliber pistol could penetrate and wreak havoc to his intestines. All he could do was stare at Student #12138, the new Headmaster of the Sunny Side Schoolboys, taunting at him with complete smugness on his face.

Screeching to a halt on its thin flimsy tires on the cobblestone roads, the yellow taxi with the white-painted opaque windshield had finally arrived at the near eastern edge of the town, where the School of Friendship was in a clear and plain open view from its border.

"Leave the po-po to us, Miss Starlight!! You just head on out there and meet your dream boy!!", ordered Master Zhi as he stood out with half his body in the driver seat.

As soon as the bride-to-be Miss Starlight Glimmer and Stellar Flare got out of the taxi, she yelled out to Master Zhi

"Thank you SO much! I owe you a lot, Master---!"

"You can thank him later!! GO, GO!!", shouted Sandbar before he quickly slammed the left-side backseat passenger door shut.

"OKAY GUYS!! FLOOR IT!!", shouted Master Zhi before Tiny Turnip Head pressed the speed pedal as hard as he can, sending the taxi into an instant dash from the two pursuing electric tandem police bikes and one extra police steamer. In spite of the vital essence being almost exhausted, Ocellus was still giving all the juice she could muster to supercharge the taxi for as long as she can.

"COME and get us, you prancing peppies!!", taunted Mister Tang as he yelled out from his front passenger window.

"GOOD LUCK, Headmare!!", shouted Gallus as he readied himself to push the taxicab to its turbo speed. Soon, Master Zhi, Mister Tang and the rambunctious friendship students were already off on the road, luring the police away from Miss Starlight and Stellar Flare with their vehicular shenanigans.

"C'mon, dearie!! He's not far away now! It's time for you to reunite with your long-time soulmate!", cheered Stellar Flare as she grabbed hold of Miss Starlight's left hand.

With the framed picture in Miss Starlight's right hand, the headmare bride rushed on over with Stellar Flare to the open greenery scene outside of the School of Friendship. She was now close to meeting the one she had lost very long ago, yet not realizing that the one she seeks was there with her the whole time...

As the silent tension among Sunny Boy, the new Headmaster and the jittery kirin bodyguard grew more tighter than a cocked gun hammer, every kirin within Gingko Dragon's posse were waiting with bated breath for either their comrade or the young men to make their first move. This could end with either one, two or even all three of them dead. If one or two of the boys survived, this would end in an enchanted wizard fight between the young men and Gingko's soldier bodyguards. If Gingko loses, this would spell the end of Gingko's legacy and Ginseng Dragon would soon use his newfound power to take over Ponyville's underground world, leaving a blood-soaked trail of destruction in his wake. Even if the two boys laid defeated and dead however, Gingko Dragon would have to high-tail out back to Eastern Equestria in exile again to build up his new army of kirin soldiers to battle against the Western triad of his soon-to-be rival Ginseng Dragon. Either way, this could only end in a massive bloodshed, no matter how the outcome will turn out for both the Triad gangs.

"Should we send 試用版 (Seeng Yoong Gung)10 over to ease the tension?", whispered the left-sided kirin bodyguard as he spoke to the stoically dead-eye staring Gingko Dragon.

Giving a long pause to decide on the answer, Gingko Dragon quietly replied

"....No...let's wait and see what happens..."

A few minutes had passed by....and yet no creature tried to fire even a single shot...or even cast a single attack spell...both sides knew this would end in a bloody battle, unless the kirin bodyguard decides let the two young men peacefully hand over the golden gift box.

Running tirelessly on her white high heels with her hands lifting up the white lacy hemline, Miss Starlight Glimmer ran towards the School of Friendship, desperately trying to hold tight to the precious memory photo on her right hand. As soon as they got a bit closer, they could finally see the stallion boy they had long been awaiting for...

"SUNBURST!!!", cried Starlight Glimmer as she continued to ran towards Sunny Boy.

"Sunburst!! My BABY!! We've been looking ALL over for you in Equestria!!", shouted Stellar Flare as she also ran towards Sunny Boy alongside Starlight Glimmer

Suddenly caught off guard by the running unicorn bride in her wide corset bodice dress and the red-maned middle-aged unicorn mare following alongside her, the Gingko Triad posse looked behind and wondered what in Equestria's name are they shouting about.

"SUNBURST!! OVER HERE!", shouted Starlight Glimmer as she continued to run towards Sunny Boy and raising a framed picture in her right gloved hand. As she was running, she tried to stop her bosoms from popping out of her dress with her telekinetic magic.

"Don't worry, Sunburst! Mommy's here!", cried the heartfelt Stellar Flare as she continued to run with Starlight while holding and swinging her left hand.

Despite the view being blocked by the kirin bodyguard, Sunny Boy was able to hear Miss Starlight and that strange middle-aged mare running towards him, yelling out a name he has never even heard about. Why was she here? Why is she not back at the apartment with her boyfriend?? Who was that other mare that is escorting Miss Starlight Glimmer? Could it be that Miss Starlight's boyfriend is actually right behind him and that her lover was going to be caught in the middle of a deadly crossfire? He looked behind his shoulder---but there was nopony here besides him, the kirins, the new Headmaster and the two mares who seemed to be happy about seeing somepony---but who could it be? Who was she and that old mare yelling at? Could it be that one of the kirin he was facing be one of Miss Starlight's lovers? If they were, one of them would've reacted and try to interfere. But it seemed that none of them seem to know who this---this--this---

"Sunburst!---Sunburst!!----SUNBURST!!!----SUNBURST!!!!----"

---END

Author's Note

Set-up looks similar to this phonograph sound system

Po Sum Healing Balm: medicated oil composed of all natural ingredients such as peppermint oil, cassia oil, dragon's Blood, scutellaria root and liquorice.

L'Obéissante: a steam-powered bus developed in 1873 by bellfounder Amédée-Ernest Bollée; able to travel an average speed of 30 km/h (19 mph) and with top speed of 40 km/h (25 mph)

SAS (Self-Acting Steam) Omnibus:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_bus

1913 Argo Electric Car

Fun fact: Back in 1899, nearly 90% of the taxicabs in New York City were powered by electricity
https://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2011/04/in-1899-ninety-percent-of-new-york-citys-taxi-cabs-were-electric-vehicles/

1899 Humber Electric Tandem Bicycle

Source: http://www.bicyclehistory.net/motorcycle-history/electric-bicycle/

Cantonese for "Alpha"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=%E9%98%BF%E7%88%BE%E6%B3%95&from=yue&to=en

.34 cal Pocket Percussion Pistol

Howdah Pistol: a large caliber short pistol used by elephant riders (howdahs) to defend against predators and bandits

Cantonese for "Beta"
https://www.bing.com/translator?ref=TThis&&text=beta&from=&to=yue

23 The Final Climatic Finishing Battle of Epicness!

Ch 23 - The Final Climatic Finishing Battle of Epicness!

"Sunburst!!------Sunburst!!------Sunburst!!", Miss Starlight Glimmer continued to cry out as she was closely approaching Sunny Boy with open arms with Stellar Flare.

"Sunburst! Please come back home with me! Mommy misses you!", shouted the running Stellar Flare as happy tears flew out from her eyes and her triple D breasts bounced behind her bare-back V-shaped top.

Gingko Dragon looked behind and saw the rushing bride mare and her middle-aged mare friend coming very close to the standoff. He and his men were just as confused as Sunny Boy and Student #12138 about why she was calling out the one named "Sunburst". After the bride and her friend continued running right past him and his remaining bodyguards, and then ran into the middle point between himself and the intense standoff, he immediately deduced that these two mares were obviously related or very close to one of the two young men.

Without hesitation, Gingko Dragon immediately sprung into action and cast a maelstrom spell that sent a red electric shock-wave that incapacitated Starlight Glimmer and Stellar Flare, before using his remaining magic reserves to quickly hover and thrust both himself and his five close remaining bodyguards towards the two stunned ladies.

In response, Sunny Boy cast his blue-ribbon binding spell against Yaw Yeet Fut, before teleporting himself, Student #12138 and the restrained bodyguard closer to Starlight Glimmer and Stellar Flare. Even after teleporting to their new destination, Yaw Yeet Fut's pepperbox was still pointing at Sunny Boy's abdomen and Student#12138 also still had his large-caliber howdah pistol pointed at Yaw Yeet Fut's abdomen.

Upon their arrival though, both Gingko Dragon and his bodyguards were now at their mid-stage nirik mode, with their black suits now burning from the burst blue-and-magenta inferno engulfing their limbs, mane and white-glowing eyes. Their coat and mane colors, however, still remain and their jaws were sporting sharp triangular fangs and canine teeth. Just as Sunny Boy had quickly teleported close to Starlight Glimmer and Stellar Flare, Gingko Dragon immediately grabbed Starlight Glimmer close to his chest with his telekinesis. Starlight Glimmer, now held hostage against her will, tried to teleport herself and Stellar Flare out of their grasps, but the red maelstrom spell had severely incapacitated her magic horn. If she tried using a bit of her mental power, the maelstrom around her horn will send a nasty painful shock to her head before she even had a chance to think out the first syllable of her incantation. As for the incapacitated Stellar Flare, she herself was also held hostage by the neck by one of Gingko's bodyguards and her neck was now touching the bodyguard's tightly held sharp short dao blade. As a last final measure against the Sunny Side Schoolboys, Yaw Yeet Fut (now also in mid-stage nirik mode) instantly used his strengthened levitation magic to snatch Sunny Boy's golden gift off his hand and threw it behind him as high as he can and, most importantly, far far away from Gingko Dragon, not knowing about where the present was going to land. In response, Sunny Boy cast a nullification spell that not only deactivated Yaw Yeet Fut's red horn, but also slowly revert him back to kirin mode.

Now standing a few meters from each other, the intense standoff has now become much more personal and more complicated, as both rival gangs now have live leverage to bargain for and they were pitting against each other over who will give in first---or worse, make the next daring and possibly fatal move.

"HEY, let her go!!", demanded Sunny Boy as he held the ensnared Yaw Yeet Fut with his levitation magic and blue-ribbon bindings.

"DON'T do anything STUPID!! I'll blow this dude's guts out AND whoever is standing behind him!", threatened Student #12138 who still had the howdah pistol pointed at the restrained kirin's gut, despite the fact that this kirin still had a tight grip of his pocket pepperbox pointed at Sunny Boy.

"Release her!! NOW!!", angrily shouted Sunny Boy as he threateningly stared down at the nirik crime boss Gingko Dragon who was holding the scared Starlight Glimmer hostage. Without hesitation, Gingko Dragon pulled out his .75 caliber dragon flintlock pistol1 from his yeti coat with his right hand and pointed at Sunny Boy who was still behind one of his restrained kirin bodyguards! Jutting out from the brass dragon's mouth of the decorated flintlock were glowing blue and magenta flames that emanated from its polished scales, giving the single-shot weapon an even more intimidating and heart-stopping demeanor!

With Starlight Glimmer whimpering and pleading for her life, Gingko Dragon the nirik crime boss slowly turned his dragon flintlock to the left and pointed it blank-range next to Starlight's shivering head. Though it wasn't the first time she was held hostage at such intense situations, but this had to be one of the most scariest moments in Starlight's life time! As for Stellar Flare, her body remained immobilized by the nirik's enhanced telekinesis, meaning that he no longer had to restrain her physically by the neck and could just simply hold his sharp dao close to her throat. One little slit would be enough to cut open her carotid artery and bleed her to death.

Staring deeply into the intimidating bright white and flaming eyes of the nirik crime boss, Sunny Boy daringly asked him

"Why did you attack and seized them? They have NOTHING to do with us!"

"What do you think, genius?? We're taking them hostage, just like you two are! We're DONE playing games here!!", replied Gingko Dragon the furious fired-up nirik.

Suddenly, the front large green multi-panel entrance of the School of Friendship opened and out came the volunteer students of Friendship. Upon seeing the intense and complex situation outside, they soon became aghast at the spectacle, moving in for a closer look, but still maintaining a somewhat safe distance. Soon, the flyers started hovering and gathering around the live incident happening in front of them to get a better look and they were shocked to see Miss Starlight Glimmer being held hostage against her will. For the grounded teachers, some wisely retreated back into the school premises, while others were more curious about what was going on and stepped a bit closer on the granite moat bridge.

As the confused and horrified spectators looked on, Sunny Boy again demanded once again to the fired-up Gingko Dragon, now shouting with a harsher and enraged tone, "Let these mares go NOW!!"

"HA, as I would obey any creature else!! I DEMAND that you tell me where that Ginseng fool is!", furiously demanded Gingko the golden nirik Dragon Head. His voice was now reverberating like a roaring insatiate lion with a hunger for bloodlust.

"NO, never!", refused Sunny Boy in spite of Gingko Dragon still pointing his flintlock at the restrained Starlight's head and the bodyguard's knife now pressing down on Stellar Flare's neck.

"I will NEVER betray my godfather! He gave up too much for me! I owe him a lot! And now it's my turn to make a sacrifice of my own! Let them go now and let ME be your hostage!!!", shouted Sunny Boy, causing Stellar Flare's pupils to shrink and her thoughts drawn to a blank after hearing such a ridiculous sentiment.

"WHAT??!! Godfather?! What are you babbling on about?? Honey, your dad left the family years ago! I'm the only mother in your family you have left right now!", Stellar Flare quickly replied to Sunny Boy before she was brought closer to the bodyguard's chest and wrapped tightly around her stomach.

"SUNBURST!! You don't HAVE an adopting godfather!! You're not actually a street drudge! You're a Vice-Stallion from the School of Friendship! You used to work with the Royal Crystal Empire as their crystaller, remember??!! You're even friends with the Royal Canterlot guards and the local police department, for crying out loud!", cried out Starlight as she tried to correct Sunny Boy and jog his companion's lost memories.

Every creature (except Starlight Glimmer and Stellar Flare) looked around each other with confusion over the hostage bride's seemingly random statement about her supposed fiancé. Not wanting to scare off the other gangsters into thinking he was a snitching police informant, the nerve-racking and confused Sunny Boy quickly replied

"---PLEASE Miss Starlight! Don't make up any crazy lies! He won't believe you! He's not THAT stupid! H-h--how--How can I be a Vice-Stallion who is friends with the police if I taught my students multiple combat wizard spells to take down disobedient schoolchildren who fail to follow institutional protocol??"

The nullified and restrained Yaw Yeet Fut could only look in confusion at Sunny Boy after hearing one of the most ironic statements of all time.

"PLEASE, baby! She's telling the truth! Don't put yourself into even more danger! It's bad enough that you lost your mind! I don't want to end up losing all together forever!", cried Stellar Flare as panicking tears streamed down across her face. "Just stop this madness already, so we will be on our way to be a happy family together---!!"

"SHUT UP, you old hag!!", threatened the restraining bodyguard as he covered Stellar Flare's mouth with his strong arms and placed his sharp dao between her cleavage.

Upon seeing the poor middle-aged lady being gagged like a trash harlot, Sunny Boy immediately disenchanted the magical bindings around Yaw Yeet Fut, grabbed a hold of the kirin's armed hand and placed the pocket pepperbox onto his own left temple, before immediately shouting out to Gingko Dragon

"Let them go and take me as your hostage NOW!!"

Caught off guard by the surprising turn of events, Yaw Yeet Fut was now too shockingly confused to a motionless standstill, as he found himself pointing a pepperbox at Sunny Boy's head under the unicorn stallion's own will and without the kirin bodyguard's knowledge!

"SUNBURST, NOOOO!! Don't do this! I can't lose you forever this time!", begged the tearful Starlight as she was scared half to death at Sunny Boy literally risking his own life to save her and Stellar Flare from the nirik bodyguards and their nirik boss.

Despite the kirin's pepperbox now purposefully pointed at his head under his own will, Sunny Boy then immediately took away the shocked Student #12138's two-barrel howdah pistol and pointed at Gingko Dragon, threatening to shoot the nirik boss dead if he doesn't give into his demands!

"If YOU don't take me as your hostage, I'LL SHOOT YOU!"

"GO ahead and do it! See if you have the actual balls for it!", taunted the flaming Gingko Dragon as he continued to hold the frightened Starlight Glimmer hostage with his dragon flintlock pistol. All the niriks and the four nerve-wrecked unicorns were now at a more complex and convoluted standoff than ever before. Any wrong move would spell a bloody disaster, regardless of whoever shoots first. More spectators coming over from outside of Ponyville, mostly teachers and schoolchildren from other primary schools, were now looking with horrified expression at the growing intense situation among the flaming niriks and unicorns near the school grounds. Not wanting to get caught in the potentially deadly crossfire, they carefully maintained their distance away from the dramatic scene, hoping the police will arrive soon to resolve this situation.

Speaking of which...

----------(MEANWHILE DURING THE POLICE CHASE)----------

"WEE-WOO-WEE-WOO-WEE-WOO-WEE-WOO!!!!" goes Master Zhi as the blinded supercharged taxicab drove northwards along the yellow-dirt road outside of Ponyville. It was still being chased continuously by the two police bikers and a Stanley police steamer.

Suddenly, the taxicab came to an instant halt at a distance that was about half a kilometer south from the School of Friendship. Mister Tang immediately got out of the taxi and shouted

"HEY, why the hell did you stop, jangly??!"

"That's it! I'm---huff--DONE for!! I---HUFF---can't---go on--HUFF--like this any longer!", wheezed the exhausted and weakened Ocellus as she immediately transformed back to her changedling self, before fell off the smoking lead-acid car batteries and fell down onto the dusty yellow ground.

Sandbar immediately exited out from the left backseat door and cried out for the weakened changedling.

"OCELLUS! Are you all right??! C'mon, you can't give up now!"

"J-j-j-JUST---l-leave--me---be!", begged the tired Ocellus as her wings were becoming limp from the lack of vital essence.

"FUCK IT, Tang! We'll just have to run our way through!!", shouted Master Zhi as he leapt out the driver seat window, before being knocked on the back by Yona's sudden forceful car opening. Without even using the door handle, Yona just rammed the door open with her horns and stepped outside, while Tiny Turnip Head flew out from the car floor and shouted

"C'MON, Master Zhi! Get up before the po-po catches us!!"

"No friend left behind!! Every creature, to Miss Starlight!!", shouted Yona as she picked up Ocellus on her back and began running towards the school. Soon, the rest of the Student Six and Tiny Turnip Head were all heading out to meet up with their headmare, hoping they would be there on time to see her walk hand-in-hand with her newfound boyfriend. After Mister Tang picked up Master Zhi from the dirty ground, they both immediately ran with the students before the police managed to catch up with them.

As soon as they stopped their bikes behind the busted abandoned taxicab, the four unicorn police officers left their electric Humber tandem bicycles and chase the reckless drives on their hooves. Soon, the Stanley police steamer also stopped on its tracks and from the vehicle, out came one kirin police officer and three Canterlot Royal guards---one of which happened to be Captain Shining Armor!

"FREEZE!! POLICE!!", ordered Shining Armor as he, his squad and the police started running towards the school. Soon, they were suddenly met by Princess Twilight Sparkle, who flying with blazing speed alongside eight more royal guards at her side. They all landed onto the ground to meet up with Shining Armor and his squad

"SISTER??! What are YOU doing here??!", questioned the surprised royal captain.

"What do you think, Captain??!", sarcastically asked Princess Twilight Sparkle. "One of your guards spilled the beans about how you were withholding information about your missing unicorn friend, Sunburst!"

"WAIT, I thought YOU were the one withholding information on purpose...", responded the confused Captain Shining Armor, before his regal sister shockingly asked

"WHAT??!!! Why would I---??!!"

"PRINCESS, no time to talk!!", interrupted one of the pegasus guards who spotted a group of nirik holding three unicorns hostage "We have trouble brewing over near the School of Friendship!!"

As soon as they heard the urgent news, all the royal guards and the princess immediately started dashing towards the school, while the police were on pursuit towards the fleeing Master Zhi, Mister Tang and the students for carjacking an electric taxicab.

"C'mon, guys!! MOVE YOUR ASSES ALREADY!!", shouted Master Zhi as he and Mr Tang sped across the road on their hooves like wild jack rabbits on steroids. With all the adrenaline pumped into his racing heart, he and Mister Tang was able to surpass all the friendship students (except the extremely fast Tiny Turnip Head)

"No run too fast, Master!! Please wait for Yona and friends!", pleaded the chubby and sweating nak girl who was literally falling behind from the rest of her friends, due to having to carry the tired Ocellus on her back.

"PICK UP THE PACE, fatty! You're supposed to be sticking with US, not US sticking with you!!", scorned the adrenaline-fueled Mr Tang as he ran and looked behind to stare menacingly at the slow-running Yona.

"HMMPPH!!", grunted the frustrated pouting Tiny Turnip Head who immediately left behind Master Zhi and Mr Tang to be with Yona.

"Where are you going??!!", shouted Mr Tang as he saw Turnip Head flying away from him and Master Zhi.

"Friends stick together, no matter what!! That's the School of Friendship's motto!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he flew back behind the rest of the students to push Yona on her back to keep her going.

Then, Yona immediately stopped as soon as she saw an orange-coated and purple-helmeted pegasus girl resting by a tree with her blue wooden scooter. With Ocellus still on her back, the determined nak girl quickly ran up to the helmeted pegasus and shouted

"Scooter peggie! Yona need help right now!"

"May we PLEASE borrow your scooter for awhile??!! It's an emergency!", pleaded Tiny Turnip Head.

The scooter girl looked in confusion at Yona as she was holding a black-and-red can of "Hydralisk Power Potion2", which had the logo's name written in bloody red and a silhouette of a hydralisk on the can. The scooter pegasus questioned the tired nak and changedling girl

"Yona?? Ocellus?? What are you two doing here? Who is your little pegasus friend here??! What's going on---??"

"NO TIME TO EXPLAIN!!! Gimme that power potion!!", screamed Tiny Turnip Head as he immediately grabbed the opened energy drink can from the scooter girl's hand.

"Wha--HEY!!", shouted the scooter girl as she saw the white pegasus boy steal her drink within two seconds flat.

"DRINK-DRINK-DRINK-DRINK-DRIIIINNNKKKKK!!!!!!", screeched Tiny Turnip Head as he vehemently poured ALL of the remaining energy drink into her drooling mouth.

Suddenly, Ocellus' green shiny bug eyes started to burst into green wispy flames---!

"GODAMMIT! Is that little shite still lazing around with that fatbody and that jangly??!", complained Mr Tang as he ran alongside Master Zhi along the yellow dirt road.

Suddenly, out of the blue, both Master Zhi and Mister Tang were sideswiped by a speeding blur, causing them to spin around uncontrollably like wound-up ballerina toys! As soon as they stopped their twirling and regained their consciousness, they looked forward and were in total shock upon witnessing the crazy trio of creatures.

Riding on the speeding scooter's wooden platform was Yona, who despite her heavy weight body was able to use her short stubby legs to propel herself on the scooter with elegant breeze! In fact, she was SO elegant, that she immediately stopped what she was doing and performed at a second arabesque ballerina pose3 as she balanced herself on one left lower hoof.

Of course, she couldn't do the whole scooter stunt herself with the help of her two friends!

Pushing on Yona's hairy back was the faithful Tiny Turnip Head, who stretched out his forearms and back legs as he flew rapidly in the same direction as the speeding scooter. At the front of the scooter was the caffeine-fueled Ocellus, who had transformed into a rapidly flying monstrous elephant-sized cuckoo wasp4 and was now pulling the scooting forward with her web-like mucus harness sticking between her thorax and the scooter's handle bars! In other words, the roles between carrier and rider had totally became reversed for both Yona and Ocellus!

As the spectacle continues, Master Zhi and Mr Tang immediately began chasing the the trio down the road, all while the growing number of local police and royal guards were beginning to catch up with the crazy scooting trio

"HEY, WAIT FOR US, YOU LITTLE BRATS!!!", shouted the hypocritical Mr Tang who was no longer the fastest runners in the unofficial race to see Miss Starlight meeting her one true love.

"You should be sticking with US, not US sticking with YOU!!", back-sassed Tiny Turnip Head as he yelled out the same phrase Mr Tang had used against Yona as she was carrying Ocellus.

"HEY! FREEZE!! Stop where you are!!", shouted Captain Shining Armor as he and his army of law-enforcing friends continued chasing the rambunctious hooligan students and two eccentric Far Eastern Equestrians.

"What are THEY doing back in school??!", questioned Princess Twilight Sparkle as she flew alongside the pursuing royal Canterlot guards.

Meanwhile, back at the floating white sailboat, Delft Blue was crazily panicking after seeing so many police and royal guards heading for the niriks near the School of Friendship

"OH SHIT!! Saan Jyu, we have a BIG problem here!! There's a fuck load of golden guards and blue hats heading straight for Gingko's men and your cursed godson!!", cried Delft Blue as he spoke to Ginseng Dragon, before the crime boss got up from his deck chair and checked out the commotion through the tower viewer himself.

"EVERY CREATURE, GET OUTTA THE WAY!!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as Ocellus the humongous cuckoo wasp started flying into the complex standoff between the niriks and the unicorns.

"YONA NO HAVE CONTROL OVER GIANT BUG GIRL!!!!", warned the panicking nak girl as she saw all the niriks immediately splitting up to avoid the flying leading monstrosity.

As soon as Sunny Boy noticed the crazy trio of wacky insane creatures, he immediately took this opportunity to teleport himself, Stellar Flare and Starlight Glimmer out of harm's way, before instantly relocating them near the golden steps of the Castle of Friendship, relieving Gingko Dragon and his nirik bodyguard of their live leverage. Now no longer under the influence of the nirik's maelstrom magic, Starlight Glimmer's and Stellar Flare's horns no longer bear the harmful red aura that limited their magical capabilities.

Immediately after the nirik guards stepped out of the way to avoid the seriously strange scooter chariot, Gingko Dragon the nirik crime boss found himself being grabbed by the primeval-minded enraging insectoid monstrosity as it barreled through like a loose freight train. As the giant cuckoo wasp flapped its wings heavily and lifted the roaring flaming nirik off the ground, it continued to pull Yona on its rickety wooden scooter, until---

WHAM!!---goes the scooter as it crashed into a boulder and got smashed into multiple pieces from the combined acceleration and the added immense mass of the fat nak girl! Tiny Turnip Head checked to see if Yona was okay and was relieved to see her standing back on top of her two hooves, after pulling her two horns out of the cracked boulder.

With the giant cuckoo wasp now free from its sticky mucous reins, the flying beast was able to fly much higher and it flew towards the white sailboat, still grasping onto the panicking nirik who demanded to be let free from the chitinous horror! Then suddenly, green misty flames started to emanate from the gigantic cuckoo wasp---

FWOOOF!!---goes Ocellus as she instantly reverted back to her normal changedling form and was no longer able to carry the heavy nirik crime boss with her appendages! However, the built-up momentum from the lift-off and freaky flight still sent the nirik boss flying and diving towards the top deck of the sailboat, where Delft Blue and Ginseng Dragon were previously scouting from!

As for Ocellus, she was feeling too woozy and addled-brain to flying herself properly back onto the ground, as she was making a series of random loops, twirls and curves around the bend, like a drunken fly. Fortunately, she was eventually saved from a harsh landing by Silverstream, who managed to catch the little bugger and carry her back down onto safety.

Meanwhile on the deck of Ginseng's sailboat, Gingko Dragon had just upgraded to full nirik mode with his entire coat turned jet black and spouting white, blue and magenta flames! Feeling extremely upset by the sudden betrayal of his once blood-bound brother, he picked up his dragon flintlock on the ground (now also flaming similarly as the nirik) and tried to aim at Ginseng Dragon. In response, Delft Blue quickly tried to deck Gingko Dragon in the face, but he was quickly kicked back by the powerful Gingko Dragon to the starboard side of the boat. As soon as Ginseng Dragon found himself cornered between the boat cabin walls and Gingko Dragon pointing his dragon flintlock in full nirik mode, Sunny Boy immediately saw what was happening on the boat, grabbed the Starlight's hand and quickly ran towards the edge of the moat.

Before he could though, a group of police officers and royal guards rushed over to meet him, as well as Captain Shining Armor and Princess Twilight Sparkle.

"Princess Twilight!!", shouted Starlight Glimmer upon seeing the princess in person.

"Starlight! You finally got all your memories back!", cheered the delightfully surprised princess, before she took another look at Starlight's snow-white outfit. "Wait---why are you in a wedding dress??"

"Uhhhh, is this a bad time for us to interrupt your honeymoon here??", asked the confused Captain Shining Armor.

"There's no time to explain!! My godfather's in trouble!!", shouted Sunny Boy before he immediately grabbed Starlight's hand and grabbed her to the edge of the moat river to get a closer look at his godfather's sailboat.

"Godfather??!!", questioned Princess Twilight Sparkle before she, her royal guards and the police chased after Sunny Boy to the edge of the moat.

"HEY, you let my godfather go!!", shouted Sunny Boy as soon as he got to the river's edge and pointed his finger at the group of three niriks on the sailboat. As of now, Gingko Dragon was holding Ginseng Dragon hostage with his dragon flintlock pistol pointed blank-range at Ginseng Dragon's head. Delft Blue hesitated to interfere as he did not want to risk his crime boss' life. Of course, nopony could tell them apart as all three of the niriks on the boat looked exactly the same! Things only were made a bit more complicated as a fourth Triad kirin exited out of the cabin, saw what was going on and immediately transformed into another nirik!

"Put down the hostage or WE will open fire!!", shouted Captain Shining Armour as the police officers drew out their Model 1862 Colt police revolvers5 and aimed at the niriks on the boat.

"Ifyoudareshootmedeadrightnow---!", warned the growling Ginseng Dragon as he was held tightly by the neck, "---allthosepoliceofficersandroyalguardsonthegroundwillraindownuponyoulikealocustswarmwithahailofbulletsandbeamrays!Youwon'tsurvivetheonslaught!"

Meanwhile, back on the ground, most of the spectators (friendship students, parents, teachers and school-children included) tried to rush forward to the shore as they were now curious over what was happening on the boat, while others just hover around for a better angle, keeping themselves at a safe distance. They dare not try to interfere with the niriks onboard, as they were too bulky and menacing to battle with. Even to the muscular dragons didn't want to get involved as they can't burn something that's already on fire and many of the buff yaks were too heavy to swim across the moat river and climb onto the big hull of the sailboat. There were not enough local police and guards at the scene to stop the onrush of curious citizen spectators and that was only made worse when the Triad niriks (now also in full rage mode) tried to head for the boat to save Gingko Dragon and eliminate Ginseng Dragon (assuming they could tell them apart)...

"LET GO OF ME!!!", shouted one nirik gangster who had his right leg held tightly by the fat Yona. He tried desperately to shake her off, so he could save his boss, but found himself too pinned down by the nak's immense weight.

"Yona no let go!! Yona no let you hurt Miss Starlight OR her love boy!!", shouted the determined fat nak as she continued to hold down the nirik's right leg.

"I SAID---LET GOOOO!!!!", roared the nirik before he tried attack Yona with a flurry of flaming magenta punches and bucking kicks to ward her off. But no matter how many powerful punches or kicks he doled out onto her head and face, she amazingly still wouldn't let go of him!

"Stop hurting my friend!!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he flew in from behind and bit the nirik in the neck, causing him to unleash a jet of blue-and-magenta flames from his head.

"AAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!", screamed the nirik before he immediately grabbed the little pegasus boy by the neck and shrieked, "You little bastard!!!"

Before he had a chance to squeeze his neck tight, a speeding rainbow-maned blue pegasus mare came crashing in with an angled diving kick that sent the nirk straight to the hard ground!

"Professor Rainbow DASH???!!", questioned the amazed Tiny Turnip Head as he stared at the athletic teacher after she saved him from a cruel death.

"Didn't I TELL you to call me over whenever your 'dad' does something stupidly crazy??!!", reminded Professor Rainbow Dash as he continued to battle the onslaught of summoned niriks emanating from the nirik's rice-white horn!

"HEY, they started it!! I'm just here to finish cleaning up the mess!!" shouted Master Zhi as he later barged in to kick more nirik butts with the power of kung-fu!

"Woo-hoo!! Master Zhi!! Go knock'em down!!", cheered Tiny Turnip Head as he stood back to see the action. Yona, now also bruised and singed on the head and stomach, joined Tiny Turnip Head to avoid the danger and in spite of her injuries, the strong nak girl was still holding out very well.

"HEY, save some for me, dude!!", squawked Gallus as he later joined Master Zhi in a two-fighter co-op battle against the onslaught of several niriks. As the panicking citizens all around them tried to escape the chaos as soon as they took notice of the growing chaos around them, both fighters took their defense stance to fend the School of Friendship from the gangster niriks!

👊As soon as one nirik decided tackle Master Zhi with a charging fire punch, Master Zhi quickly countered by dodging the punch and striking the nirik hard on the chest, sending him flying backwards onto the ground!

✊"HOYAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!!"

👊Another nirik soldier tried to side-swipe Master Zhi's right flank, but the nirik was quickly knocked back by Gallus' uppercut talon swipe to the chin, before finishing the nirik off with an aerial twirling lion's paw kick to the face!!

✊"WACHAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWW!!!!!"

👊Another nirik then tried to deck Gallus at the back of his bird head, but Master Zhi leapt from the ground and kneed the kirin in the chin to temporarily discombobulate him, before performing two dual left-and-right high kicks to the face and knocking the kirin back off his hooves with a single palm-strike to the chest!

✊"AHHWWEEEEEEEEEEYYOOOOO-AAAAAAAHH!!!!"

Both Master Zhi and Gallus goaded more nirik reinforcements to come over and face the two most talented kung-fu duo fighters in all of Equestria!

👊Chided by their gung-ho taunts, one nirik rushed over to do a running kick against Master Zhi, but he was quickly knocked senselessly by Gallus' flying high lion kick to the face, before being finished off by another uppercut lion's kick to the chin!

✊"WOCHA-YADAIII-YAKAAAAAIIIIII!!!!!!"

👊While that was happening. Master Zhi had just finished tripping another nirik backwards with a low-swinging kick before battling the next nirik who dared try to challenge them in mortal combat!

✊"WOOODDOOOOOOOOWWWW!!!"

👊As the battle went on, both Master Zhi and Gallus continued with their onslaught of blinding kicks and punches that were fast as lightning, while also dodging and weaving to avoid their literal fists of ferocious fire and fury! A spinning kick there, a talon chop over here, a headbutt down over there and maybe also a lion paw twirling kick over here! The nirik were no match for the two greatest kung-fu masters in Ponyville----👊

---because as it turned out, they were ALL already beaten up senselessly a short while ago as they were doing their wild martial arts stunts that were fit for a cheap action flick at a drive-by cinema!

As soon as the onslaught was finally over, both Master Zhi and Gallus were posing in unison with their Shaolin Ban Mabu6 stances, closing their eyes as they bask in the glory of their co-op victory against the nirik!

With worried and distressed faces in their expression, Yona and Tiny Turnip Head ran over to tell Gallus and Master Zhi something really important to them. Both of them cried out for their friends to open their eyes and see the carnage around them.

"Master Zhi! Master Zhi!", cried the saddened Tiny Turnip Head as he shook his foster dad's arm as the master maintained his Shaolin fighting pose like a pro.

"Griffon boy!! Griffon boy!! Please wake up!", shouted Yona as he tried to shake Gallus from his fantastical daydreaming.

"I--am--invincible!!!", boasted Master Zhi as he maintained his Ban Mabu pose, before the worried Tiny Turnip Head quickly replied

"Yes, yes! I KNOW you are super amazing and all, BUT----BUT---!"

"Gallus and Master only just punch and kick innocent creatures faces!!", shouted Yona as she pointed to the groaning crowd grovelling on the grassy ground.

As soon as Gallus and Master Zhi immediately opened their eyes in response, they were horrified to find out that the niriks weren't the only creatures who got caught in their utter ring of fistful destruction!

😭"AAHHHHH, my teeth!! Why would you do that??!", bawled one coconut-coated filly with a swirly green-and-violet mane and a violet-tinned pie as her cutie mark. As she was rocking back and forth on the grassy ground, most of her teeth were knocked down during the melee and she was severely bruised on both cheeks.

😭"Uhhhh, I think my pelvis broke in SO many places!", whimpered the wrinkly white-and-gray maned and sand-coated stallion as he laid achingly on his side and was also bruised multiple times on the face.

😭"AAAAHHH, my beautiful eyes!! THEY'RE RUIINNEED!! AND IT HUURRRTTSSS!!!", shouted the blonde-maned and grey-coated mailmare as she laid on her butt and was rubbing her swollen bruised and crying eyes with her hands.

"GGAAAAHHHH!!!", panicked Gallus as he immediately flew to the elderly stallion in his desperate attempt to plead and apologize for his rash behavior

"I'm SO sorry, sir!! I only intended to attack the bad guys that are ruining our society, so I can bring friendship and harmony to the world!! PLEASE DON'T SUE ME!!!"

While Gallus goes off to apologize the other adults and children he might have also hit by accident, Master Zhi went over to apologize the rest of the citizens he had accidentally beaten up. He went over to the crying coconut-coated filly and pleaded in a panic

"C'mon, little filly! Don't cry!! I'm sorry I didn't watch where I was hitting!! HEY, look at the face I'm making here!!"

Master Zhi attempted to make a goofy face at the filly to cheer her up, but she was too busy bawling her eyes out from the intense pain in her mouth.

Standing by the two piles of beaten-up niriks (who are now slowly fading into kirins) were Rainbow Dash, Silverstream, Smolder and Mister Tang. All these heroic creatures had already taken care of the rest of the nirik by beating up one of the skilled phase summoners, before taking out the rest in close-quarters combat. One by one, the kirins were promptly arrested in handcuffs by the arriving police reinforcements as they gathered around the two nirik piles. As Mr Tang was watching Master Zhi failing miserably to cheer up the innocent people that were unlucky enough to be caught in the crossfire, he yelled out to him

"NICE one, you blind-siding idiot! While we were already done piling up these rage demons, you got so blinded by your own heroic fantasies, that you didn't even realize you were beating up teachers, schoolchildren and spectators that were only here to have fun at the promenade!"

"HA! Guess Yona's not the ONLY one who makes mistakes in scoring for the opposite team, eh 'Master'???", teased Professor Rainbow Dash as he pointed out Master Zhi of his hypocrisy when it comes to disciplining Yona at that soccer game with the street thugs.

"SHUT UP, Rainbow! You could've at least shouted at us about the fight being over already!", cried Master Zhi as he went over to apologize to another victim of his violent escapades.

Meanwhile, back on river's edge, Sunny Boy was still shouting out to the sailboat, where Ginseng Dragon was still being held hostage by the flintlock-wielding Gingko Dragon on the top deck.

"You let my godfather go, you ruffian!!"

"I already told you!!", shouted the upset Starlight Glimmer. "He's NOT your godfather!!"

"You listen and you listen well to your mother, young man!", ordered Stellar Flare as she pointed her white gloved finger at Sunny Boy. "You are NOT a criminal gangster! You're a Vice-Stallion that works with children, teens and adults at the School of Friendship! This pretentious charade has gone on LONG enough, mister!"

"Wait, WHAT??!!", questioned the confused Sunny Boy. "NO, you must be mistaken! I'm Sunny Boy of the---"

"Your name's not Sunny Boy! It's Sunburst!!", yelled the frustrated headmare bride as she took out her framed picture with her levitation, before the flustered Sunny Boy replied

"What??! I don't even---"

"JUST LOOK AT THE GODDAMN PICTURE ALREADY!!!", demanded Stellar Flare she grabbed Starlight's picture with her telekinesis and shoved it hard onto the male honey-yellow unicorn's face. That really scared Student #12138 who was standing behind Stellar Flare.

As soon as Sunny Boy grabbed the picture, took off his sunglasses and looked at the photo of him and Starlight smiling together, Student #12138 peered over and was shocked to see his headmaster's portrait being next to his supposed crush.

"HEY, I thought you said your crush hated you! What's up with that photo??!", questioned the confused Student #12138.

As soon as Sunny Boy took a glance at the photo, everything in his own reality started to warp and lose their grip onto his mind. Why was he in that photo smiling and posing with Miss Starlight Glimmer? Didn't she say she doesn't want to be with him? She did tried to report to the police to sue him for sexual harassment. And yet---

---then it dawned on him. As he dug deep further into his head, he suddenly realized what had happened to him and Starlight before that time he arrived at the hospital! There was---that cart crash---with the oxen carrying many water barrels! He-he----he was the one who pushed Starlight Glimmer out of the way, so she wouldn't end up being crushed by the galloping horned beasts! He couldn't prop up a magic barrier, because there was too little time to react! So instead, he cast a body hardening spell to withstand the heavy impact from the water barrels, the clumsy oxen and the rolling wooden cart. That's why his bones and muscles remained intact during that high-speed crash! However, there was no way his furry coat would remain intact, nor would his brain survive the concussive impact, even if his head was fully protected. That's why he couldn't remember who he was back at the hospital! He could still feel the lingering pain from the nasty road rash he got on his nose and double flanks during the crash. Though he doesn't remember how Starlight survived the crash, he was still glad she remained alive during the chaos.

As soon as he remembered what happened at the crash, his mind started to rewind back every piece of memory he had with Starlight like a movie film on reverse!

That memory about how he gave his apartment key to his dear sweet best friend as a gift of friendship...

Joining with all the other creatures in defeating the Villainous Trio...

Being accepted as Vice-Stallion to the School of Friendship...

How he tried to win that Trivia Trot game with Princess Twilight Sparkle and failed...

Helping Princess Twilight Sparkle turn that magical chronometer that controlled the movements of the moon around Equestria and the orbit of Equestria around the sun...

That time he and his friends escaped a flock of cockatrices with Starlight and her friends...

Resolving parental issues with Starlight Glimmer during a cutie map mission...

Battling against the Pony of Shadows with Starlight, the Mane Six and the Pillars of Equestria

Making new friends with Maud Pie and Trixie Lulamoon by playing a life-sized board game of Dragon Pit...

Attending Starlight's graduation ceremony in Princess Twilight's castle...

Protecting Flurry Heart during the changeling invasion in the Crystal Empire and meeting Thorax for the very first time...

Being appointed the title of the Flurry Heart's royal crystaller by Shining Armor and Princess Cadence...

Meeting Starlight Glimmer for the first time after many years of absence during his time in Celestia's magic school...

That time he left for Magic School after getting his first cutie mark and Starlight Glimmer all alone back in Sire's Hollow...oh how he dreaded the day he cut all contact from her...

Playing around with his best friend Starlight Glimmer, studying new magic spells and promising to each other that they will be best friends forever when they were little foals...

He finally remembers who he really is now....he's both Starlight's hero AND best friend in all of Equestria....he's a wizard Vice-Stallion of the School of Friendship....he's---he's----

Still focusing his eyes on that photo with him and Starlight Glimmer, he suddenly got snapped back to reality when his mom called out his name and shook him out of his trance after staring at that photo for two minutes.

"W-w-h--H-How did I get here??", questioned Sunburst as he looked around and found himself standing near the edge of the moat river.

"Oh, Sunburst! Please tell me you remember me and Starlight!", cried Stellar Flare as she touched his shoulders.

"MOM??!! What are YOU doing here??!", questioned the surprised Sunburst as he suddenly found himself being hugged tightly by her mother.

"Sunburst, you finally got all your memories back! I'm SO happy for you!", hollered the smiling Starlight Glimmer as she kindheartedly embraced Sunburst from the back.

"Is everything all right, sir?", asked Student #12138 as he touched Sunburst's shoulder. Staring at the black spiky-maned unicorn that he has no memory of meeting with, the confused Sunburst asked to the stranger

"Uhhhhh---who are you, exactly??"

"Wait, wuuuhhhh????", mumbled the shocked student as he was being shoved away from Sunburst via telekinesis.

"HEY, Shining Armor!", hollered Sunburst before he teleported himself from the two mares' embrace to the royal guard captain's side.

"OH, there you are! Welcome back, Sunburst! Glad to see you and Starlight back on your hooves again...", said Princess Twilight Sparkle with expressive gratitude for her best friend.

"Sunburst, there's a couple of niriks fighting each other on that sailboat!", muttered the worried Captain Shining Armor as he pointed at the hostage situation on the sailboat.

"OH, that's just a trivial dispute matter! You can handle this on your own! If things get too hairy, you can always activate the long-range binding spell on the boat crew.", recommended the wise Sunburst. He later continued on with his explanation

"Besides, if you tried to interfere with the nirik, you might only end up making the situation worse! Just let them fight it all out, until they're exhausted of their energy. THEN you can send your flyers over there to arrest them"

As soon as he was done explaining, he turned around and noticed that Starlight Glimmer was wearing a snow-white corset bodice wedding dress.

"Uhhhh, why are you in a wedding dress??", asked the confused Sunburst.

"HEHEHE, it's a LONG story...", sheepishly replied Starlight Glimmer as she blushed in front of her companion.

"Apparently, her father tried to marry her off to somepony else against her own will!", briefly explained Stellar Flare who was now harboring disappointment for Starlight's father.

"WHAT??! But WHY??!", questioned the confused Sunburst.

"I'm not sure, but if I ever catch sight of him, we're walking STRAIGHT UP to that man and we will DEMAND an explanation from my rival candidate!", asserted the determined Stellar Flare with utmost confidence before she went off on her own to search for Starlight's father.

"HEY, wait for us, Mom!", hollered Sunburst as he grabbed Starlight's wrist, so that he and his companion can easily catch up with her.

"LOOK, there she is! And she's got company", shouted Minty Mocha from the west hilltop dirt road as she pointed at Starlight Glimmer walking alongside Sunburst and Stellar Flare.

"Well, what are we waiting for??! Let's catch up with her!", hollered Firelight as he and his assistant manager ran downhill towards the trio. As they did, Firelight ordered his assistant manager to do another important thing.

"Minty, I want a VERY nice long chat with my daughter once we get there! Don't let ANY pony try to interfere with our father-daughter talk!"

Meanwhile, back on the sailboat, Ginseng Dragon, still being held hostage by his former blood brother, seized his opportunity to swiftly snatch the dragon flintlock pistol that was pointed at his head, before jerking his head backwards to strike Gingko Dragon in the nose to knock him backwards. As soon as he had his special weapon in his right hand, Ginseng Dragon immediately threw the pistol into the water, rendering the weapon wet and useless!

Soon, a two-on-two scuffle among the niriks soon broke out with blazing black fists and kicks striking on hardened jet-black armored coats. Even though this was supposed to be a battle between two rival gang leaders and their right-hand man, for the spectating police, royal guards and the students, it looked like a total free-for-all with no nirik willing to take sides except for himself.

"HEY, check it out, guys!! A nirik fist-fighting deathmatch!", hollered Smolder as she flew towards the edge of the moat river to see the fiery hot action occurring on the sailboat.

"WOAH, really??!", cawed Gallus as soon as he flew up next to Smolder after finishing his apology run. "COOL!! This is WAY better than those staged fights on action flicks!"

Soon, Master Zhi, Mr Tang, Tiny Turnip Head and the rest of the Student Six joined the rest of the spectators to see the built-up drama on the sailboat near the School of Friendship. Every spectator (who wasn't caught in Master Zhi's and Gallus' fists of fury) began smiling, giggling and even rooting for their favorite nirik to win.

"Uhhhh, should we stop them before this gets out of hand?" wondered the concerned Silverstream.

"I don't think that's necessary, Silverstream", commented Princess Twilight Sparkle, before she raised her right wing towards the armed police squad and direct her orders onto them

"Stand down, officers. They're only getting into minor fisticuffs. Wait until they all tire each other out, before you can make your move against them"

Under their absolute allegiance to their monarch, the police officers agreed to lower their guns against the fighting niriks, while the golden-plated royal pegasus guards slowly surround the boat, but still cautiously keeping their away from the rampaging inferno building up on the boat deck.

As the nirik fighting continued on the swaying sailboat, Ginseng Dragon performed a palm strike against Gingko Dragon's scale-plated chest, knocking him back to the port of the deck. Undeterred, Gingko Dragon struck the charging Delft Blue on the stomach with his right-hand fist and performed a push-kick against Ginseng Dragon's nirik bodyguard, knocking out the guard onto a nearby steel boat railing!

Ginseng Dragon quickly retreated back to the boat cabin's door and prepared to gather up his chi to deal a fatal blow against Gingko Dragon. With his right hand brought close to his chest, his vertical right index and middle fingers pointed to his chin and his left hand grasping onto his right wrist, Ginseng Dragon let out a bellowing war cry as his white horn glowed with illuminating radiance---!

"By the POWEROF THE SIXINVINCIBLE ELEMENTSOF KUNG-FU, let thy masterpossess my fighting---!"

Before he could finish his enchantment though, he was immediately interrupted as he was decked in the face harshly by Gingko Dragon's blazing right haymaker, before Delft Blue attempted to grab Gingko behind by the shoulders---only to be knocked in the face by Gingko's right-elbow strike!

"WOW, I never seen such a climatic show-off go down like this!", commented Mr Tang as he chuckled at the nirik fight scene happening on the sailboat.

"YEAH! Bad dudes fighting bad dudes! What a way to end a happily epic tale!", cheerily cried Tiny Turnip Head as he grinned at the niriks on the sailboat.

"Yona agrees!", bellowed the fat nak girl as she watched the fist-fight happening with Tiny Turnip Head.

"SO, who do you think is going to win??", questioned Gallus as he pulled out his notepad to list his bets.

"THAT ONE---no wait----THAT ONE!!---THIS ONE!!---GAAAHHH, I don't know! They ALL look the same to me!", shouted Master Zhi as he lost track of which nirik is fighting against which nirik.

"Ooooh, look who's being the racist rapscallion now!", sarcastically joked Mr Tang as he looked towards Master Zhi with a smirked grin on his face.

With the ferocious fighting still raging on, Gingko Dragon delivered a mighty kick against Ginseng's nirik bodyguard, before Delft Blue attemped to distract Gingko Dragon with a right-handed strike and surprise Gingko Dragon with a whack from his briefcase telephone! However, Gingko Dragon was very swift in his reaction, as he cast a magenta kinetic shield from his white horn, before unleashing a telekinetic blast that sent the briefcase telephone flying up in the sky at an arced trajectory!

As the briefcase telephone was falling back to earth, it went tumbling down towards Yona and bounced off her big solid head, almost knocking her unconscious! Tiny Turnip Head found himself catching the bounced briefcase by its handle, before shouting out "HEAAVVYY!"! Immediately afterwards, the briefcase was snatched by Mister Tang's telekinesis, before it opened by itself to reveal a rotary phone.

"OAAAAHHH!!!", groaned Yona as she rubbed her bruised head.

"HEY, what's that in the briefcase??", asked the curious Gallus as he pointed at the rotary phone within the briefcase)

"Uhhh, beats me!", answered the clueless Smolder.

"WOAH, I recognize this newfangled gadget from the 'Mogul Mares Monthly' magazine!", shouted the eagerly interested Mister Tang as he pulled out the corded rotary phone from the briefcase recess. "Apparently, it's one of those 'wireless telephones' that allows you to call any creature ANYwhere in the world---provided that you know their ID number first. But HEY, at least it beats paying the extra toll by the minute for a long-distance pay-station phone call!"

"Soooo, kinda like the magical scarab projectors we changedlings sometimes used to communicate with our kin back at the hive?", questioned the curious and interested Ocellus.

"...Lady, you're thinking of a téléphonoscope call7!", corrected the unamused Mister Tang as he looked at Ocellus.

"Ooooh, this thing can actually call ANYWHERE??!", hollered Master Zhi as he tried to grab the briefcase telephone for himself.

"UPUPOP!!", shouted Mr Tang as he immediately knocked back Master Zhi with a reverse levering punch to his friend's face "I opened and touched the telephone within first!! So it's MINE to begin with!"

Meanwhile, Starlight Glimmer, Sunburst and his mother Stellar Flare were walking together back to Ponyville, when they immediately encountered the upset Firelight and unamused Minty Mocha.

"DAD!! Uhh--what a--nice surprise!", nervously chuckled Starlight as she knew was going to be in for a rude awakening.

Caught off guard by their sudden arrival, but ready to give Firelight a lectured scolding, Stellar Flare briskly walked up to her mayoral candidate arrival. But before she could even talk, Firelight was the one to make the first brazen move.

"Don't even try to play dumb with me, deary. Your papa wants to have a nice long word with you.", softly castigated the unamused Firelight as he instantly cast a transparent silent bubble spell around himself and his daughter. With a near-perfect vacuum layer between the two ethereal bubble layers, there was no way for Stellar Flare to snap at Firelight. Instantly, Minty Mocha walked up to Stellar Flare and Sunny Boy with her sudden reinforcements of press escorts, before telling them

"Please, Miss Flare and Mister Sunburst. I would like to have a word with you first, before you can have your chance to talk with Firelight..."

Feeling like there is no use in beating this deadbeat horse, both the mother and son agreed and was taken a couple meters away from the silent bubble entrapping Starlight Glimmer and Firelight. Over here, Minty Mocha explained in brief table about why Firelight had to give up his daughter for marriage with his business partner, how he needed the money to pay off the house and the failed conservation projects. However, no matter how much she tried to justify her own boss' actions, it still would not sit well with the unimpressed middle-aged mother.

"He could've try selling off his estate property at an auction to cover his debts or at least filed up for bankruptcy! That's no excuse to take away your daughter's happiness! And that's certainly not I would do my son if I was caught up in a bad situation like that!", retorted Stellar Flare as the press cameras flash around them.

Before the mother and her son could continue with their argument however, Minty Mocha told them that she herself has important business to do for the boss, before heading towards Firelight's silent bubble, where she was invited into the private conversation between father and daughter.

As they were about to go after her, Princess Twilight Sparkle immediately teleported in front of them, scaring the mother and her son half to death. As soon as they gathered their senses, Stellar Flare immediately cried

"Princess Twilight Sparkle! Oh, it's SO wonderful to see you again! Thank you for finding my long-lost son...."

Stellar Flare quickly bow down close to the princess' golden hooves in respect for Her Majesty, before she continued on about paying back her generosity.

"Is there anything I could do as the future mayor of Sire's Hollow to repay you for your heroic deed? Perhaps I could hold a rally at my hometown or---"

"Actually, I'm here to apologize to you and your son...", corrected the contrite princess.

"Really??! The princess?? Apologizing to US?? For what??", questioned the befuddled Stellar Flare.

"Apparently, one of my captains actually had found Sunburst a few days earlier, but chose NOT to report it to either me OR you...", replied the upset princess as she cast telekinesis to drag her brotherly captain over to her side.

"WHAT??! But--but that's outrageous!", shouted the shocked and chagrined Stellar Flare.

"LOOK, I have a VERY good explanation for this! We really thought your son was going undercover to infiltrate some bad guys in some underworld empire! We thought the missing case was a ruse made up by the princess to keep your son from being discovered!", explained the nervous captain as he was being pulled by the ear by his regal sister's telekinesis.

"What really makes you say such a ludricous excuse like THAT??!! My son could've been end up dead if you kept up the charade for too long!", questioned the enraged Stellar Flare.

"WELL, we saw him associate with some Diamond Dogs during a robbery and Sunburst told me he was from a special department! He helped took down those bad guys he was hanging out with!", explained Captain Shining Armor as he stated his alibi.

"WHAT??!! I never remember doing that in my lifetime! If I did, it would've disgraced my reputation as an honorary associate of the police force!! You SURE you didn't encountered somepony else??", questioned the outraged Sunburst. Apparently, he had no recollection of what he had did when he was trapped in his alter ego as a street gangster. That was when Captain Shining Armor began to mumble incoherently, confused that his former babysitter and best friend couldn't remember what he had done back in Manehattan.

"Wait--WHAT--but---you just---I---you were---!"

Before Captain Shining Armor could clear himself up, Princess Twilight Sparkle immediately started levitating him by the collarbone and told him, "....Let's have a chat at the Castle of Friendship....shall we??"

"C'mon, sis! Against your own big brother??!", nervously pleaded the captain as he halfheartedly smiled at his sister.

To show that she is in no mood to play family favorites, Princess Twilight Sparkle immediately teleported some of his surprised royal guards in her presence, quietly indicating that she is willing to have her brother's own guards witness her stern lectures about not keeping secrets from their comrades.

"....Right...not kidding around in the 'no nepotism' code of conduct...", muttered the captain before he, his own royal guard squad and the princess were immediately teleported to the Castle of Friendship.

Soon afterwards, Master Zhi, Mister Tang, Tiny Turnip Head and the rest of the Student Six met up Sunburst and Stellar Flare, who are now being the target of a couple press photographers brought in by Firelight to document the mayor candidate's journey, much to the mother's chagrin.

"C'mon, Mr Tang! Just a little peek and a caressing feel for the briefcase telephone...", pleaded Master Zhi as he followed behind Mister Tang in an attempt to grab his newfound gadget from behind.

"Over my dead body! And that's assuming you could pass through my booby-trapped coffin that is rigged to shoot any grave-robber in the mug!", retorted Mr Tang as he tried to protect his new briefcase telephone with his whole body.

"Vice-Stallion Sunburst!! You're back!! You've been reported missing for over a week!", hollered Gallus as he flew in to give Sunburst a hug.

"I was in a coma at the hospital for over a week??!", shouted the wide-eyed surprised Sunburst.

"Uhhhh, not exactly.....it's----kind of a complicated story....", nervously informed Stellar Flare

"So I've heard...", mumbled Sunburst as he looked aimlessly at the ground.

"Yona and friends ALL miss you!", bellowed the happy nak girl as she snuggled up to Sunburst.

"Well, kind of---you were technically still physically there...but---you were a different unicorn back then...", explained Sandbar.

"We didn't recognize you, because you were lacking a white strip over your nose...", mentioned Smolder as she pointed at Sunburst's muzzle.

"Wait, I lost my nasal birthmark??!!", shouted the panicking Sunburst as he looked down at his nose.

"Ohhhh, honey! Don't you worry, sweetie....it'll grow back to the way it was within a few weeks. That's something your 'godfather' wouldn't know about!", said Stellar Flare with a sensual smirk before giving a nod and a wink at her son.

"Uhhhhh, who??", questioned Stellar Flare before every creature laughed out of sheer joy.

"HEY, what's Mister Firelight doing here??! And why is he talking to Starlight underneath a magic bubble??", questioned Gallus as he noticed the silent bubble and pointed at the father-and-daughter conversation.

"UUGGHH, probably something about prioritizing finances over friendship again! I don't know how long he had been planning this, but no silence barrier isn't going to take us down!", declared Stellar Flare as she turned around and started grievely at the bubble.

"C'mon, Mom! Let's see if we can renegotiate a deal with your political rival over here", rallied Sunburst as he and his mother went over to confront Firelight once more again.

"Wait....That's her MOM??!! She looks too young to be his mother!", complimented the surprised Master Zhi as he noticed the young-looking mare's smooth face. He later wondered to his senile friend

"Hmmmm, wonder if she knows any top-brand anti-wrinkling cream you could use, Tang..."

"I wonder if she's single...", responded Mister Tang as he stared at the smooth bareback brown-orange coat of Sunburst's busty mom.

"Yeaaahhh, maybe she is. I mean, if she is---you just might have a chance with that rack of hers..." mentioned Master Zhi as he sneaked in closer behind Mister Tang. Soon, the seductively hypnotized old unicorn stallion also took notice of her sideboob and spoke in a sensual manner

"Ooooooh, now you're speaking my language. What I would give to grab a hold of these pair of----"

"HEY!! What the hell are you doing??!!", shouted the old Far Eastern geriatric unicorn as he noticed Master Zhi trying to smoothly snatch the briefcase telephone out of his hands.

Meanwhile, inside the silent bubble, Firelight was lecturing his daughter about loyalty and obedience to your parental authority figure, as well as saving face for the Glimmer household name.

"Listen here, Starlight Glimmer! I appreciate if you don't embarrass me in front of all these lovely Equestrian citizens and the public press after pulling off a crazy ditching stunt like that. Je ne plaisante pas!8"

Before the lecture could continue, Firelight cast a temporary opening for Minty Mocha to step into his bubble, before his assistant manager pulled out an Edison VoiceWriter dictaphone9 and held its corded speaker/microphone, while Firelight levitated the disk-playing apparatus with his telekinesis. After sliding the on/off switch, she slid the L/C marker to the start-point of the recorder and pressed down on the circular red-dotted record button. Minty Mocha then held up the speaker/microphone in her right hand and pressed down its white grip trigger to initiate the recording. As Minty Mocha records the private father-and-daughter conversation, she averted her gaze elsewhere and crossed her arms while holding onto the white grip trigger of the speaker/microphone.

"As of right now, anything you say to this dictation machine will be used as evidence against you for breach of contract.", warned Firelight as he stared at his bridal daugher. "Uhhhhh, this IS recording, right??"

"Affirmative, sir", responded Minty Mocha as she continued to hold her speaker/microphone.

"Soooo, what do you got to say for yourself to our dictation machine, Miss Glimmer?", asked Firelight as he crossed his arms and stared cunningly at his daughter. Starlight Glimmer then closely positioned her mouth next to the speaker/microphone to make her statement clear to the dictation machine.

"--PAPA, as you may had already know, I am a grown mare who can make decisions on her own and will learn from her own mistakes like an adult!"

Suddenly, the silent bubble spell got deactivated by Sunburst's nullification spell, before Stellar Flare jumped into the recorded conversation and immediately spoke into the speaker/microphone of the dictaphone.

"She's right, Firelight! You can't just go around manipulating true love, unless that partner is a manipulator as well!"

"Oooooh, non non non non non non noonnnn! TSK TSK!", disagreed Firelight as he leaned in and spoke closer to the speaker/microphone with a cunningly sassy grin on his face. He later continued on with his remark

"In case you had already forgotten, YOU had signed a marriage contract that basically hands ALL your life decisions onto ME, meaning that---your old PAPA here gets to handle every aspect of your life."

While this recorded conversation was happening, both Master Zhi and Mr Tang had now started to fight against each other over the expensive luxurious briefcase telephone. For his weapon of choice, Master Zhi pulled out a large yanyuedao spear from the back of his plaid pants, while Mr Tang whipped out a pair of spiked fisting gauntlets from his jacket!

"I ALSO have proof from your mental evaluation from your psychiatrist that you are considered mentally incompetent. I could technically call your psychiatrist about your recent escape from your home abode and have you committed at any time I wanted to!", threatened Firelight.

"Are you SERIOUSLY pulling up that paper file you submitted to that Manehattan mental ward from my teenage years??!", yelled the upset Starlight Glimmer. "I'm NOT that rebel cult leader I once was anymore, Dad! I've literally had changed myself for the better!"

"Firelight, you can't seriously be THAT cruel!", argued Stellar Flare as she couldn't believe what she was hearing from her own rival. "This is your own daughter we're talking about! If I knew how this poor little girl felt when my son left for Magic School, I would've been there with her all the way before she turned evil, and now I'm standing right beside her to give her and my son the support they need! If you wanted the money to cover your debts, I wouldn't mind giving it to you! You didn't HAVE to sell out your daughter to a rich mogul!"

"And risk my political reputation of being the mayoral candidate that had to rely on a rival's donation to keep my livelihood stable?", retorted Firelight as he stared at his rival. "What would my supporting voters think of me then?"

As they continued talking back and forth, Master Zhi and Mr Tang continued on with their little deadly skirmish against each other, without regards to even the police walking around the scene to conduct interviews with various witnesses over today's nirik incident. As Master Zhi tried to cut off Mister Tang's head, the senile man performed a limbo dodge, before springing back up on his hooves. Mr Tang then immediately jumped back to dodge Master Zhi's rapid slice-down with his yanyuedao, before performing various leaps, backflips and front flips to dodge Master Zhi's wild swings of his polearm.

Suddenly, Sunburst went in and tried to resolve the situation peacefully, hoping to appease Firelight and avoid any conflict

"Uhhh, excuse me, uhhh Candidate Firelight! But---I just wanted to add---"

"Tu te tais!10", interrupted the extremely upset Firelight as he raised his finger towards the Vice-Stallion.

Master Zhi then started to chase Mister Tang with his yanyuedao as his senile friend immediately grabbed the briefcase telephone and ran off with it!

"And YOU---!", continued Firelight. "If you weren't a unicorn with high social standing with the Princess of Friendship, I would've got you sued for kidnapping my daughter! You may not had technically went after her, but you goaded her into meeting you during your squabble with some criminal kirin underworld figures! I know that, because it was flooding the telegraph news office back in Manehattan!"

As Stellar Flare was about to retort back with an even harsher tone, both Master Zhi and Mister Tang came back to the conversation scene to continue their squabble, before they were both held by the ear from behind by both Silverstream and Gallus respectively, thereby halting their petty death-match all together. Yona later rushed in as she followed Tiny Turnip Head as he met up with his foster father and grandfather. Firelight then turned his direct attention to Master Zhi and Mr Tang, before scorning to them

"And YOU four creatures---the ones who were at my rally last Saturday! If ANYTHING bad ever happened to my daughter during your time with her, I'll sue all of you too!"

That got Gallus' feathers very ruffled as soon as he heard that threat! Master Zhi and Mr Tang also were taken aback by the potential lawsuit (and possible prison time) if he ever find out about the taxicab carjacking incident in Ponyville. Without haste, both Far Eastern Equestrians immediately threw away their weapons out and stood straight and tall.

"Heeeeyy, GALLUS!!", screamed Silverstream as she finally had remembered something critical. "Remember about that special box Headmare--err--I MEAN---Counselor Trixie had given you?? You know, the one that she told you NOT to open unless you were in grave danger??"

"Oooh RIIIGGHHT, of COURSE!! How could I forget!?", remembered the relieved Gallus.

"WELL, since you and your new friends got into a fight with a bunch of nasty kirin, got challenged to a game of soccer by a bunch of thugs, had to help escort a blinded self-moving taxi on a busy road AND got to fight in an epic showdown with a bunck of niriks----of COURSE, there was that time you also accidentally kicked and punched every creature---", babbled Silverstream as she tried to remember what kinds of trouble Gallus had gotten into.

"I GET IT, Silverstream! I was in all KINDS of danger!", interrupted the squawking Gallus as he took out Counselor Trixie's special box from his pocket. "And now we're into some deep doo-doo thanks to Mister Firelight over here!"

"WELL, open it, Gallus! Let's see what Counselor Trixie has in store for us!", urged the giddy Silverstream as she peered over to see what was inside the specially carved rectangular box.

As soon as he opened up its lid and pulled out its held content, he was surprised to the brink of screeching to the heavens to see a sea-blue cheque paper signed by Trixie Lulamoon with a written amount of 100,000 bits!!

"One-one-one-WHA--WHA----ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND BIIITTSSS?????!!!!!!!!!", squawked Silverstream as soon as she saw the amount written on the exact same cheque they had once ripped back at Counselor Trixie's wagon.

"You mean to tell me I didn't have to run around for menial jobs to support myself during this suspension this WHOLE time??!!", cawed the astonished Gallus as he slapped his talon onto his forehead.

"WOAH, one hundred thousand didgeridoos???!!", exclaimed the astounded Master Zhi.

"OOooh, think of ALL the sweet cupcakes and ice cream you can buy!", screamed the delighted Tiny Turnip Head.

"YEAH, I guess you're pretty right, Gallus...", sighed the saddened Silverstream before she immediately threw away the cheque into the gusty wind. "Guess this cheque isn't of any good use anymore..."

As soon as Mister Tang noticed the flying cheque in the wind, he immediately yelled out

"What the---YOU IDIOT!! We could use this to help Starlight! Hire some top-notch lawyer to sue her dad's ass!!"

"WAIT STOP!! Is my name on that cheque??!! I wanna spend that money to move Grandpa Gruff outta that shithouse!!", squawked the screeching Gallus as he immediately flew up and went after the wind-riding cheque.

"NO WAY, I was the one who opened it first!! I should get the reward for discovering it!", cawed Silversteam as she raced towards Gallus for the cheque.

"HEY, don't you DARE take that cheque, you birdbrains!!", shouted Mr Tang before he picked up the briefcase telephone and handed it over to Firelight. "HOLD THIS FOR ME and DON'T let go of it until I come back!!"

"HEY, wait for me, Tang!! We could use that money to pay some part of his debts!", suggested Master Zhi as he ran alongside Mister Tang.

"Screw that! This motherfucker is going to get what's coming at him!!", barked the angry Mister Tang as he chased the two flying avian hybrids who are now racing each other to catch the flying cheque.

"HEY, don't go without me, Master Zhi and Mister Tang!!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he rapidly flew towards Master Zhi and Mr Tang.

"Yona follow tiny pegasus boy too!!", bellowed the hopping Yona as she chased after her new best friend.

"HAHA, such dumb idiots! And creatures say dragons are the greediest of all Equestrian kin...", boasted Smolder as she watched her friends chased after the flying cheque.

"There they are!! These are the creatures who stole and wrecked my taxicab!", shouted the taxicab rider who had his vehicle carjacked by the Student Six. As he chased after them, he was being escorted by six police officers who were following behind him.

"And THERE'S the changedling girl who took my energy drink and scooter!!", cried the violet-helmeted and orange-coated pegasus filly who had her scooter destroyed during the nirik incident.

As soon as the police interviewers heard what the two theft victims had blurted out, they immediately stopped what they were doing and began spreading out to chase the suspected carjackers and scooter thieves.

"UH-OH!! Uhhh, WAIT FOR US, GUYS!! I wanted to cash in that cheque too!!", hollered the scared Smolder as she immediately fled from the police and went after her rambunctious friends.

"I'm too SMART to go to prison!!", cried Ocellus as she took off and followed Smolder.

"Oh man, my parents are SOO gonna kill me!! TAKE ME WITH YOOOOUUUU!!", cried Sandbar as he began following the rest of his old and new friends towards the moat's river edge.

As the police were closing in on the suspected criminals, Gallus and Silverstream continued to chase after the cheque, but their frantic wing beatings and flappings were generating forceful wind that actually pushed the flying cheque away from them, no matter how hard they flew or how fast they tried to outpace each other.

"You take 50,000 bits and I'll take the other!", suggested the fast-flying Silverstream.

"No way, girl!! My Grandpa Gruff might need the extra cash, in case he have to pay a housing tax!!", squawked the greed Gallus as he pushed Silverstream out of his way to chase that valuable cheque.

As soon as the cheque began flying over the river, Gallus tried to take off first, but was immediately jumped on by Silverstream as she took off first over the moat river. Gallus was not letting Silverstream run over him like that, so he stretched his blue wings as wide as he can and burst into the sky like a flying rocket to catch up with Silverstream. When everything was starting to go into slow motion, Silverstream immediately saw the cheque suddenly being blown towards her! She took that short opportunity to snatch the cheque in mid-air and felt triumphant for taking her prized cash money once again!

"VICTORY IS MIIINNNEEEE!!!!!", screeched Silverstream in slow motion. However, her victory was short-lived as she peered over and saw the rampaging spectacle near the river's edge. In addition to being chased by the police, Smolder, Yona, Ocellus, Sandar, Tiny Turnip Head, Mister Tang and Master Zhi all leapt or flew over the river's edge, hoping to catch up with the two avian hybrids.

Though Mister Tang and Master Zhi were the only ones interested in the cheque, Silverstream immediately thought her friends were ALL in it for the money. So in a quick enchanted sleight-of-talon move, she activated the transformation shard on her necklace to instantly morph into a mermaid, before diving into the water with the blue cheque in her hand.

"NOOOOO!!!!!!", squawked Gallus as he immediately dove into the water, not caring that it would soak up his feathery coat and render him unable to float to the top from the extra added water weight!

"QUICK, AFTER THHHEEEMM!!!!!", shouted Mister Tang as he, Master Zhi, Tiny Turnip and the rest of the Student Six dove into the water to avoid the cops AND grab the cheque off Silverstream's hand. They didn't care in the entire world whether they could swim or not (though Ocellus was the only one who turned herself into a cute fair-skin mermaid to catch up with Silverstream more easily).

All of the fugitive creatures were too focused on was being close together with their friends, because as the wise Elements of Harmony had once said:

"Friends ALWAYS stick together to the end, no matter what obstacles await for them!"

While the police had abruptly stopped at the moat river's edge and were completely befuddled over whether they should continue pursuing them through the river or not, back on dry land, Sunburst continued to make his argument against Firelight as he spoke into the speaker/microphone of Firelight's dictation machine. As the debate grew more intense, more photographers and journalists (some who originally came over to interview witnesses of the nirik incident) began gathering around the unicorns, eager to jot down and record every word of the dramatic debate.

"I believe you must be very familiar with the common international edict laws proposed by the Princess of Friendship, Candidate Firelight. According to Section 45.B5/38 of the Friendship Constitution, one cannot threaten frivolous legal action against related/adopted family members without having the matters evaluated by their local civil courts first".

Stellar Flare nodded in agreement with her son and later added her statement to the dictation machine

"And another thing! You made her sign that contract while she was still recovering from her memory! You can't hold somepony eligible in a contract if she's mentally ill! She can make that marriage void if she wanted to, since she IS a grown mare, Firelight!"

"You know what, Miss Stellar Flare?", said Firelight as he grabbed the speaker/microphone closer to his mouth. "You are absolutely right!"

As Stellar Flare was about to pat herself on the back for making a valid point, Firelight then hit Stellar Flare back with a sassy declaration

"I should inform the Manehattan mental ward about Starlight's mental state and have her completely committed until she understands her current circumstances..."

Stellar Flare really wanted to give her rival a serious beating for even implying his daughter is insane, but with so many photographic cameras flashing around here, she could not risk ruining her own political reputation in front of multiple witnesses and could only stand with clenched teeth and fists as Firelight smirked at Stellar Flare with daring confidence.

"NOW, I'm off to---uhhh"

As soon as Firelight was about to announce that he was heading to Ponyville's Friendship Pony Express-a-Gram to have the Manehattan mental ward ready for his daughter, the briefcase telephone he was holding suddenly opened to reveal a rotary phone device within.

"Uhhhhhh, what---exactly am I holding here, Minty??", questioned the confused Firelight as he stared at the bulky strange contraption in his left hand.

"OH, I heard of those luxury gadgets from that 'Mogul Mares Monthly' magazines! You can actually call ANYpony from ANYwhere, no need to find call-boxes OR pay telephones---provided that you know their number...", explained the eagerly astounded Minty Mocha as she gazed at the glossy finish of the briefcase telephone.

"Uhhh, anywhere?? But---this thing has no wires!", commented the confused Firelight as he examined the briefcase telephone.

"That's the beauty of it! It just sends a wireless signal to any place with an installed wireless telephone network! AND you don't have to have an operator to direct the line to you! You just put your finger into one of the number holes, rotate the dial clockwise to the stop tab here and let it spin before moving onto the next number...", further explained Minty Mocha.

"REALLY----wooooow.....so it's like---a magic mirror??", asked the clueless Firelight who still had no idea how wireless technology works.

"LOOK, let's not get into the technical details! I think I remember that the Manehattan Mental Ward had recently installed their own wireless telephone network! Their number is 233-523-3335...", informed Minty Mocha as she whispered the number into Firelight's ear.

"...OH...well, that's convenient...so I just put my finger on the 2, then---", mumbled Firelight as he did what he told Minty what he said.

"YEP, and then you rotate it---other waaayy...", instructed Minty Mocha as she guided Firelight on how to operate a rotary phone.

As soon as Firelight understood how it works, he tried again and placed his finger into the #2 hole, rotated to the metal stop and let the dial's coiled spring rotate the multi-hole dial back to its original position.

*RUURRGHH*--TICK-TICK--

🎇🎇🎇💥💥💥BBOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!!!💥💥💥🎇🎇🎇

Suddenly, a huge booming explosion instantly rang from somewhere very close by!! As every creature started looking around to see where the explosion was coming from, they soon found out that the source of the explosion came from the Castle of Friendship's second-floor balcony!!

As it turned out, during the scuffle between the nirik gangsters and the unicorns, Yaw Yeet Fut had threw the golden gift box so far away and so high up into the sky with his telekinesis, that the special box (with the dynamite-rigged explosive inside) had landed onto the second balcony of the Friendship Castle! As soon as Firelight turned the dial from its #2 position, it activated the wireless pulsing signal that heated up the EM coil around the dynamite within the cake box, thereby detonating the explosive that caused significant crater damage to the balcony.

As soon as every creature (including Starlight Glimmer the Headmare Bride, Vice-Stallion Sunburst and Mama Stellar Flare) soon realized what just happened, they all pointed the finger at the bewildered Firelight and happily hollered

"Oooooooooohhhhhh, you in BIG trouble now!!"

Without hesitation, Starlight Glimmer immediately teleported herself, Sunburst and Stellar Flare from their immediate spot and left Firelight and Minty Mocha to be faced with all of the cameras taking pictures at them.

"HEY, no more pictures!! Stop taking pictures!! I said STOP!!", demanded Minty Mocha as she rushed towards a group of journalists and photographers.

"What?----WHAT??", asked the befuddled Firelight as he was continusly being flashed by the multiple flashing cameras as he still held the open briefcase phone in his left hand.

Then, out of nowhere, the Princess of Friendship, the Captain of the Canterlot Royal Guard and ten golden-armored guards teleported from the Castle of Friendship to the outdoor greenery to meet the stallion man responsible for the castle's violent destruction. As the police started to surround the nervous mayoral candidate with their guns drawn, the livid Princess Twilight Sparkle took a deep breathe and unleashed her merciless Canterlot voice

"FIIIRRRREEEELLLLIIIIIIIGGGGHHHHHHHTTTTTT!!!!!!"

---END

Author's Note

Dragon Flintlock Pistol (Japanese origin)

Similar to the Hyde Power Potion (which contains 350 mg of caffeine per serving---1.35x more caffeine than a 12oz cup of brewed coffee)

Second Arabesque: a ballerina pose that has the arm on the same side as the back leg, which is extended out in front of their body, with the arm on the side of the supporting leg to the side or diagonal back.

4.Cuckoo wasp (or emerald wasp): parasitoid wasp of the Chrysididae family that lay eggs inside unsuspecting hosts (usually cockroaches)

1862 Colt Police Revolver

Téléphonoscope: an early concept of videophone and television that was first conceptualized in the late 1870s-1890s; mentioned in various early science fiction works such as 'Le Vingtième siècle. La vie électrique' (The Twentieth Century: The Electrical Life) and other works written by Albert Robida

Source: https://www.thevintagenews.com/2016/06/17/18th-century-concept-device-called-telephonoscope-basicaly-victorian-skype/

French for "I'm not kidding you!"

1950s Edison VoiceWriter Dictaphone

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic_JTliRAHU

French for "You shut up!"

24 Epilogue: The Fate of the Friendship Dinner Club

Author's Note

This final epilogue chapter will first show a newspaper format highlighting the short summary and aftermath of the last chapter, before moving on to narrating the post-ending events at the Kirin Grove.

Hope you guys enjoyed my fanfiction! Please leave an impressionable comment on each chapter below and let me know what you think!

For those who did not like this fanfiction, I'm sorry this isn't to your liking. If it makes you feel better, I'm not planning to do anymore, as this will be the only story I will post on FimFiction. As a result of this abysmal low rating, no comic scenes based on this fanfiction will be drawn out (even if it is the highly requested activity back in Deviantart). I feel like I shouldn't waste my time on something that's not as popular as I had hoped for. Thus, I will be focusing on taking a break from OMQ, before resuming my usual hobby of drawing out short OMQ comic scenes, just like I had over the past 7 years.

24 Epilogue: The Fate of the Friendship Dinner Club

FOAL FREE PRESS HEADLINE - Mayoral Candidate of Sire's Hollow Suspected of Terrorist Activities Against Elements of Harmony

August 1, 20XX

Early this afternoon near the Princess of Friendship, a destructive explosion rang out on the second-balcony floor of the Castle of Friendship, located near the School of Friendship. This attack was classified as an act of terrorism by Canterlot Authorities, as it was erected from a magical seed box artifact leftover by the Legendary Pillars of Equestria, after a momentous battle between Lord Tirek and the Princess Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship.

The suspect in question, who was immediately identified by his own daughter, is Mister Firelight of Sire's Hollow, a unicorn mayoral candidate of Sire's Hollow. Immediately upon triggering the explosion that almost killed the Princess of Friendship (who was on the second floor of the castle with her guards, but thankfully not on top of the balcony), her former protege and current Headmare of the School of Friendship quickly identified the perpetrator as her own father after teleporting herself, the Vice-Stallion and Firelight's rival Stellar Flare to the castle to check up on the shocked princess leader of Equestria. Her Majesty suffered no injuries, but was extremely upset about the destruction that left a huge impact crater on the second-floor balcony and scattering razor-sharp crystal debris at a 20 m radius. This incident had occurred within minutes after the nirik incident at the Outdoor Saturday Mini-Promenade near the School of Friendship. No word on whether this terrorist attack and the mass nirik invasion are related to each other.

As for disgraced mayoral candidate Mister Firelight, he has been arrested and slapped with charges of conspiracy, destruction of government property, possession of illegal ordnance without a license and terrorism. He is currently being held for questioning within the maximum-security dungeon at an undisclosed location for security reasons. His assistant, Minty Mocha, was also questioned by authorities for possible conspiracy and aiding a terrorist, but denies having anything to do with the mayoral candidate. She is not charged nor arrested for Firelight's crimes, but she is considered a very special person of interest. Based on the scandalous and unprecedented circumstances brought upon him, this could severely affect his chances of winning the Sire's Hollow mayoral race against his rival Stellar Flare, who shot up in the polls with an approval rating of 87%, compared to 11% in Mister Firelight's polls.

Current investigation details on this case are somewhat hazy, but detectives noted that the explosion was somewhat triggered by an expensive luxurious briefcase-sized gadget that was originally used for what's known as "wireless telephoning". In general terms, this device is capable of calling any creature within a 10-km radius without the use of wires and an operator, provided that you know the code number of each establishment or any caller that can afford this briefcase-sized telephone. By rotating from a specific number on the rotary dial of the briefcase telephone, the perpetrator can detonate the dynamite explosive from far away, without having to even be at the presence of the explosive or even light up a corded fuse leading to its intended target. Details on how the explosive was rigged to ignite the explosive upon dialing are unknown, as all the pieces of the explosive device are too damaged to assess its exact construction and mechanism.

For more details, turn to page C4

FRIENDSHIP PONY EXPRESS-A-GRAM - HEADMARE AND VICE-STALLION OF FRIENDSHIP SCHOOL PLANNING MAJOR WEDDING AT SIRE'S HOLLOW TOWN HALL

Headmare Starlight Glimmer and Vice-Stallion holds new wedding on October 19, 20XX, the second anniversary of Princess Twilight's Coronation! Ticket sales are limited! Book now for invitation tickets at Sugarcube Corner for 20 bits per creature! Donations will be used to repair the Castle of Friendship! Invitation will be sent by mail by October 10!

NOTE: Creatures will be patted down and screened for illegal contraband, weapons and forbidden magical items at the wedding party due to high-security alert in Western Equestria

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Must order within two weeks in advance - Offer is only good with this coupon

Expires by October 4, 20XX

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----------(ONE DAY LATER)----------

EQUESTRIA DAILY --- The Great and Powerful Trixie Spotted at Kirin Grove by Ponyville's Local Hero Fan

August 2, 20XX

Trixie Lulamoon of Ponyville, well-known traveling magician and bearer of the Pink Heart of Courage, was found at the kirin grove with one of her students during a weekend trip. Known for her role in saving citizens of Ponyville and Canterlot from the changeling hive and reforming its insect empire, Trixie Lulamoon has been busy counseling one of her students after he was rescued from a failed suicide attempt by a strange Equestrian cannonball fired into the air, as well as the Element of Kindness Fluttershy and Element of Loyalty Rainbow Dash. Though details are still rather flimsy (due to client confidentiality), her student has been spotted fishing at the local kirin river known as the Stream of Silence, which had once bathed the kirin with an enchanted essence that rendered them silent for several years. Now deprived of its essence with a foal's-breath potion, The Stream of Silence has become a popular tourist destination for Western Equestrians---even though not many local fish inhabit this sacred river. However, most tourists were eager to catch the rarest legendary aquatic creatures that were said by kirin locals to inhabit the Stream of Silence, from neon pink carps to the great paddlefish (though it may be most likely to have been a series of tall tales conjured up to raise tourist sales).

For more on this story, turn to page G5

----------(SUNDAY MORNING AT THE KIRIN GROVE)----------

It was a very relaxing day near the Stream of Silence where it flowed from the jungle-infested mountainous lake high up on the Kirin Grove to the calm neon-blue waters of the Lost Lagoon. Laying tranquilly on the wide unfolded white-polyvinyl lawn chair was Auburn Vision, who was wearing his pair of dark sunglasses, white cotton shirt, a golden jacket and dark-blue swimming trunks. Flanking his left and right sides were two beautiful kirin women who are both wearing their very saucy swimwear under the bathing warm morning sun and were enjoying their time caressing the laid-back friendship student. On Auburn's left side was a pink-coated and smooth brown-maned kirin woman who was wearing a green sports polyurethane bikini, while laying next to Auburn's right side was an olive-green coated and fluffy maroon-red maned kirin woman who was wearing a oval-shaped carmine bandeau bikini top and a leafy cross-stitched skirt.

In addition to the three laid-back sunbathers, one famous unicorn magician/school counselor was staying be his side to keep him company and it was the Great and Powerful Trixie Lulamoon. No longer wearing her formal suit, pants and top hat, Counselor Trixie was now sporting a traditional bluish-jade silk dress that covered her entire chest, arms and legs. Instead of doing her traditional habit of performing stage magic in front of a random audience, Counselor Trixie was now floating in mid-air, with the lower part of her dress hanging by her hovering crossed legs as she used the power of her own telekinesis to levitate a few meters off the ground. With eyes shut tight and her hands wrapping around her knees, Counselor Trixie had achieved full inner peace within her isolated mind. The same cannot be said for her client though...

Aside from laying down on his personal lawn chair with his two escorts, Auburn Vision had been staying at the Stream of Silence for several hours, since his yesterday's arrival at the Grove with Counselor Trixie Lulamoon. In spite of the fact that rarely any fish inhabits the once enchanted river, Auburn care not much about not being able to catch even a little bite (let alone the whole fish), as he was too busy enjoying the scenery with his school counselor. Auburn Vision chose a very nice spot to do his laid-back fishing, as he was underneath a tall apple tree that provided available sustenance for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Flanking the Stream of Silence were a couple of brightly-painted monolithic artifacts that were decorated with neon-bright colorful hearts, swirls, leaves and other glyph-like patterns. Behind his apple tree were a variety of jungle-like green flora that emitted a fresh essence of springtime dew aroma, which helped further put this vacationing friendship student and his two lady friends in a nice relaxing trance as they enjoy their natural surroundings. A yellow dirt road nearby intersects the river, in which it can be continuously crossed by jumping on a couple of stepping stones that were laid across the bright turquoise river. This intersecting path connects both the village and another tourist hotspot, which was a homemade clubhouse that was once resided by the local kirin heroine Autumn Blaze during the Silent Kirin Era. Auburn Vision had been planning to go back to the local inn once he finally made his catch, but so far, he has not made any due progress.

"Uggghhh...I feel like going back home to the School of Friendship right now.", groaned the impatient Auburn as he held his fishing rod over the Stream of Silence. "I haven't been able to catch even a little nibble from that river since yesterday..."

Both his kirin bikini-clad escorts cutely sighed as they empathized with the bored Auburn Vision, as they slowly undid the buttons of his white shirt and stroke his bare chest with their cloven hands.

"Awwww, don't go back home yet, my dear Auburn", pleaded the levitating and tranquil Counselor Trixie. "I was just getting used to being the local kirin's official life guru. If you want, we could extend your stay for as long as you want until tomorrow morning . I've been practicing hard on my teleportation skills, so we could instantly arrive back in Ponyville before school starts. You'll have plenty of ample time at Stream of Silence. Besides, you don't want to feel embarrassed in front of the whole classroom without a prized catch in your hand when school starts, do you?"

After hearing her words of encouragement, Auburn became more determined in his mighty goal and declared to his school counselor

"---I'm NOT going back home without my prized catch of the day! I'll show these creatures that I got what it takes to be a legendary fisherman!"

"That's the spirit, love!", cheered the pink-coated brunette-maned kirin.

"I know you got what it takes to become a local legend!", encouraged the olive-green coated and red-maned kirin.

Suddenly, without warning, Auburn's fishing rod suddenly jerked downwards, indicating that the laid-back fisher has finally caught his catch of the day!

"AHH! I got it!! I got it!! I finally got it!!", hollered the happy Auburn as he got up from his lawn chair and began reeling in his catch as hard and as fast as he can. The two surprised kirin women later got up with Auburn and were anticipating for their favorite fisherman to reel in his biggest prize, something that was considered near impossible by the locals back home.

"WOW, how exciting!", exclaimed the olive-coated kirin as she saw a 🐠35-cm long 1.5-pounder goldfish🐠 being reeled in by the fishing book by the cheerful Auburn.

"WOAH, I don't believe it!", shouted the astonished Counselor Trixie after she broke out of her meditation. "Look at the SIZE of that goldfish! But----that's impossible!!"

"Who cares?! I'm putting this baby in a large glass water tank and showing this off to my classmates tomorrow!", hollered the excited Auburn as he carefully dangled his prize from his fishing rod. "C'mon, ladies! Let's get back my place, put this sucker someplace wet and---celebrate my victory with some bedside party games---if you catch my drift..."

As soon as Auburn mentioned his somewhat questionable idea of victorious fun, the kirin ladies cheerfully giggled and followed Auburn across the river stepping stones and the yellow dirt road back to the local village, all while embracing Auburn's arms from both sides.

As soon as Auburn was finally out of sight, a flurry of bubbles began emanating from the Stream of Silent, throwing Counselor Trixie off-guard for a moment. Emerging from the calmly flowing turquoise river was none other than Master Zhi, Mr Tang, Tiny Turnip Head and the Student Six. Among these group of foreign creatures floating in the river, only Ocellus and Silverstream were the only ones who appeared in their mermaid forms, with Ocellus sporting long luscious light-pink hair and light-blue skin, while Silverstream appeared with striping blue hair and light-lavender skin. The rest of the Student Six (and Tiny Turnip Head) in the river were all wearing scuba goggles and snorkels, while Master Zhi and Mr Tang were wearing rebreathers and smaller swimming goggles. To help stay afloat, Yona and Gallus both wore a pair of orange inflatable floaties and a life-jacket in their person, as Yona's immense weight and Gallus' weighted wet feathers rendered them too dense to stay neutrally and positively buoyant in the water.

"PSSTTTT, Counselor Trixie! Over here!", loudly whispered Gallus as he talked through his strapped snorkel.

"OH-ho-ho-ho-HOH!", laughed the wide-smiling Counselor Trixie with a cunningly suggestive tone. "I've been wondering about how that random fish got into the Stream of Silence!"

"Hehehehe well, we couldn't let the kirin ladies get bored outta their minds, so we had to buy something from the live fish market and guide it all the way here from the Lost Lagoon!", explained Master Zhi.

"You DO know that fish rarely ever come here due to its past enchanted properties that made it nearly uninhabitable for aquatic life, right?", mentioned the sly and intelligent Counselor Trixie as she smirked at her students. "I mean, I'm surprised you even GOT that fish to swim its way upstream through that river from the lagoon!"

"C'mon, lady! Does it REALLY matter if your client who's living his life to the fullest even CARES if any fish is able to survive the radical aquatic conditions within the Stream of Silence??", asked Master Zhi after he took off his oxygen tank mask to make himself more audible to Counselor Trixie.

"HA HA HA, I guess you're pretty damn right about that, sir!", replied the chuckled the charmed and amused Counselor Trixie.

"Counselor Trixie! We DID it!! We finally got Starlight Glimmer's memories back AND we finally found Sunburst! They can finally get back to being Headmare and Vice-Stallion tomorrow!", informed the excited Silverstream as she splashed her fish-tail around.

"YEAH! I'm finally absolved of my past sins as a perverted shutterbug! AND I learned how to be a responsible contributor to society like the Headmare!", claimed the confident Gallus.

"Ooohh, is that so??", snickered the proud Counselor Trixie. "WELL, I'm glad that you finally had learned your lesson in responsibility, my sweet cat bird! AND I'm also relieved to be finally free from this position! Being substitute Headmare can be SUCH hard work for a great and powerful counselor like me..."

"There's JUST one more thing we REALLY wanna ask of you, Counselor...", requested Silverstream before Counselor Trixie suddenly lowered her eyelids, expecting the worse from her students. She later spoke to her river-floating students

"Siiiggghhh.....lemme guess...Gallus, Yona and Smolder got into some major hijinks, didn't they?"

"Uhhmmmm, actually---it's WAY bigger than that.....", corrected the blushing Ocellus as she sheepishly sunk her fishtail low below the river. Counselor Trixie later gave out a bigger sigh and asked

"Who's in trouble this time??"

After every creature in the water raised their hand/talon/claw in unison, Counselor Trixie became wide-eyed with shock upon learning that ALL of the students (and the adults) got into some major trouble back home. She later shook her head and asked to every creature in the water

"Ooooh boy....what in Equestria did you do this time??"

"We--uhhh--hijacked a taxicab...", mentioned the jittery Master Zhi as he looked up towards Counsellor Trixie's disapproving eyeballs.

"But ONLY because we were in a hurrying to take Headmare to see Sunburst, who ALSO may had lost his memories in the crash and gone missing without our knowledge.", added Gallus as he lifted his right talon finger from the water.

"PLEASE, Counselor! I don't want this incident affecting my record!", begged Ocellus as she clasped her hands.

Counselor Trixie later stroke her chin and thought about their suited punishment for tomorrow.

"Well---I COULD convince the authorities to commute your sentence to community service---that is, if you're all willing to be suspended for the ENTIRE month...", bargained Counselor Trixie as she winked at her anxious students.

"Awww, but that's going to make a major dent to my academic record!", muttered the worried Ocellus as she clasped the both sides of her head.

"---Not unless if you take the Great and Powerful Trixie's Student Reformation Program in Las Pegasus!", hollered Counselor Trixie as she smirked at her students.

"WAIT, you're taking us to Las Pegasus??!!", questioned the astonished Smolder as she suddenly lifted her wet leathery wings.

"Tell me I'm not dreaming!", demanded the bemused Sandbar.

"After you are done with your community service, you will study abroad at your designated suites, where Counselor Trixie will educate you on various party tricks, stage technical work, promotional marketing, famulus training and everything else you need to know about the entertainment industry in Las Pegasus!", proclaimed the boastful magician as she spoke in third person.

"COOL, that sounds like fun!! I can't WAIT for our suspension to become a Las Pegasus celebrity!", cried the elated TIny Turnip Head as he immediately flew out of the water and fluttered his wings dry, spraying the droplets all over his friends in the process.

"HA, who knows??!", shouted the enthusiastic Counselor Trixie as she gazed at the excited colt pegasus. "Maybe someday you'll get to work with my dad Jack Pot and his assistant Big Bucks!"

"---WAIT, Jack Pot from Las Pegasus is your DDAAAADDD?????!!!!!", questioned the shocked and aghast Master Zhi as he took off his swimming goggles to show his bulging eyeballs.

Trixie immediately levitated Master Zhi from the river and gave him a tight shoulder hug, before winking at the amazed yellow tall stallion, gave him a delightful wink and exclaimed,

"HA, you're goddamn right he is!"

🎀---FINAL END---🎀

1 Preface: School of Friendship After the Coronation

It was a clear bright, cloudless and warm day over the public grounds at the School of Friendship, as springtime season was in bloom over the town of Ponyville. Aside from the tweets from morning birds, the flutters from pollinating butterflies and the scurrying of furry critters, the atmosphere was also densely populated with friendly chatters among several Earthen Equestrians, pegasi and unicorns of all ages, ranging from newly fresh-minded immature colts and fillies to mature well-mannered stallions and mares. Some Earthen Equestrians were lounging around near the beautiful spring-water fountain, while others decided to stop and smell the diverse flora of aromatic efflorescence sprouting from the gardens.

As for the free-spirited pegasi students, they were very busy gliding across the sky to keep up with their closely-bonded winged peers like a flock of geese, hoping to catch up on the latest gossip and trends within their local hometown. Other pegasi decided to take a leisurely laid-back nap on the thick branches on top of the fruitful apple orchards planted around the tranquil school garden. As for the unicorns though, unlike the other two pony races, they were more affixed to reading and studying on their important subjects of the day, anticipating for their upcoming quizzes and tests. Though there were some occasional chattering among these horned individuals, most of them were about sharing important academic study notes that may be on their tests, while others were also focused on developing the crafting skills of various items for their workshop courses. Those skills ranged from fabricating elaborate dresses and suits for the upcoming Amity Ball, to constructing birdhouses and mechanical feeders for the school's local pet sanctuary.

Of course, it would be unfair to say that each different pony race was segregated into specific cliques to do their own kind of business. To be frank, it would be safer to say that all ponies, regardless of their physical attributes and specific abilities, come together to socially interact with each other to discuss on their favorite topics, reflect on their academic progresses on their subjects of choice or express on their personal troubles they face back at home.

In fact, it would totally be unfathomable for anypony (or in this case, any creature) to say this School of Friendship is only reserved for ponies. It was this type of discriminatory philosophy that would not sit well with the current ruler of all Equestria,Twilight Sparkle, the princess of friendship (oh, and her friendship advisor Spike the Dragon). Unlike all the other schools in Equestria, this School of Friendship was teemed with all types of creatures from all walks of life around the world. Those included boastful yet encouraging griffons, elated yet caring hippogriffs, communal yet socially awkward changelings (without their disguises, of course), hard-headed yet gentle yaks and ambitious yet laid-back dragons. These wonderful creatures could be seen chatting with the other ponies, as if they belonged to each of the ponies' own social circle. Moreover, various creatures were also invited to participate in social sport activities with their Equestrian friends, such as passing buckballs, flying through hoops, tossing logs and pulling ropes in tug-of-war. Though there had been one of each non-Equestrian race attending the School of Friendship, the large scale of application and acceptance of even more creatures into the School of Friendship had not been seen before until after the coronation of Princess Twilight Sparkle as the ruler of Equestria. Ever since one year has passed after the start of an epoch of the Princess of Friendship's worldwide rule, the percentage population of non-Equestrian creatures attending the School of Friendship had skyrocketed to 40%.

In addition to these fantastical creatures mentioned above, there were also minor groups of musically adept yet very chatty kirins from Eastern Equestria and stubborn yet hopefully open-minded Thracians* from the island of Thrace that had just recently applied for foreign exchange programs, which were established under different academic institutions from other geographical continents. Enacted by the Princess of Friendship, this set of government programs were introduced in the hopes that various Equestrian-like races that had not yet encountered the true magic of friendship will have a chance to be introduced to its wise teachings, courtesy of Her Majesty. There were also a couple of Abyssinian Cats and Diamond Dogs who had heard about the School of Friendship through word of mouth spread by independent friendship missionaries. Though still a somewhat small majority, those who were actually interested in learning the magic of friendship would apply, in which they were given friendship resumes by the missionaries as part of process.

In fact, all types of creatures, regardless of their isolation from the Equestrian world, were given brochures on the School of Friendship to read about and resume forms to fill out for such an application. In addition to asking for personal information, these resume forms were also designed in mind to ensure that the new foreign students will be most amicable and tolerable to other races in the school. In fact, the questionnaires on the forms were meant to question the applicants' reasons and intentions to attend the School of Friendship. Ever since the Worldwide Magic Blackout incident caused by the mastermind filly criminal named Cozy Glow and the attempted nationwide takeover of the infamous Villainous Trio (Former Queen Chrysalis, Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow), the School of Friendship braced up extra precautionary screening measures to filter out any potential psychopaths and sociopaths that may want to use the magic of friendship as an offensive WMD for world domination. As a result, only 20% of non-Equestrian applicants were accepted only as recommendations by the Headmare of the School of Friendship, for their intellect, basic social understanding, racial tolerance, willingness to be educated and, last but not least, their intention to maintain world peace.

Even so, the School of Friendship sends out its top interviewers and alumni students to each recommended applicant's home address to evaluate on their future students' home environment, socioeconomic status, family stability and many other external factors that could affect the student's capability of learning. Based on their research, these data collectors would send their notes about their experience from each applicant, and the Headmare (or if absent, the Vice Headmare) will decide on whether to place the recommended applicant for regular class courses for the average student, specialist programs for the elite and educated (e.g. business workers who want to be better negotiators, diplomats who wanted to learn multiple languages), or special-needs programs that will provide accommodations for the poorly disadvantaged (e.g. mentally scarred creatures from broken homes, impoverish neighborhoods or dilapidated institutions).

Out of these three programs mentioned above, a certain yellow-coated and short black-maned Far Eastern Earthen Equestrian stallion had signed up for the third special-needs program of the School of Friendship. But this innovative school program was not for him, for he thinks himself as a remarkable polymath genius back in his home country, like---a jack of all trades (and he has the encircled triple dot cutie mark to prove it!). To further accentuate that self-image, the yellow stallion wore brown-plaid patterned pants, a three-buttoned black vest, a pair of round glasses and a red-and-black Qing cap worn by business workers back in his home country.

In actual truth, this program was actually meant for his tiny, elated, hyperactive, white-coated and purple bowl-maned pegasus colt with a knack for being too excited about everything new to his innocent reality. You could say that this little zippy flyer, who bears a sweet little turnip cutie mark on his flank, is like the yellow stallion's foster son and it was the middle-aged Earthen Equestrian's job to keep an eye on his little best friend. To prepare for his new adventure in the School of Friendship, the white pegasus wore a tiny green round Qing cap, a purple silk vest, a pair of round glasses and black wool pants as his new official school garb. Ever since the start of their momentous journey to Western Equestria, the little white pegasus colt couldn't wait to visit the most holy diverse land in the Equestrian world.

Though, to be honest, not everypony within this traveling group of Far Eastern Equestrians were happy to see the Western land of the free, home of the diverse. Walking behind with a cripple was a beige-coated elderly unicorn stallion with a shabby sheep-like grey mane and his facial expression was as dreadful as a dragon without its gem stash. For this trip, he decided to wear an orange-plaid jacket, alongside a dark brown tweed coat and trousers. Aside from the tangerine cutie mark on his flank, that old stallion was also carrying behind a huge cartload of luggage that was stacked 5 suitcases high and tied together with elastic hooked ropes. Here, he was trotting grudgingly with his travel companions, along a stretch of dirt road surrounded by freshly grown grass, surrounded by springing flora. Though the luggage was well-secured by both the ropes and levitation magic, the strain of pulling the entire heavyweight load was giving the elderly stallion a major migraine and he was at the brink of exploding his head (if not a heart attack first). Suddenly, out from the silent tranquil sunny atmosphere, the elderly unicorn stallion cried,

"How long before we get to that damn school, you damn fool??!! I feel like the longer we walk, the sooner my kidney stones are gonna pass out!!"

"Relax, old timer!! We're only a few clicks away from the entry point! If there's a restroom facility along the way, I'll stop by over there and I'll let you pass that stone in peace!", happily yelled the middle-aged yellow Earthen stallion.

"Awwwwww, BUT I WANNA BE AT THE PONYVILLE MOTEL NOOOOWW!!!" complained the screeching tiny white pegasus colt as he fluttered with frustration, before taking a seat on the highest luggage bag with a pouty upset face and crossed arms.

"HEY, no sitting on the damn cart, you little runt!! I don't need YOU putting more deadweight on my cart, Tia dammit!! And if you even make ONE more complaint about the journey, I will turn this cart around", shouted the elderly unicorn stallion as he threw his walking cane at the white pegasus colt boy, before the unicorn picked his cane back up and continued pulling the luggage cart.

"Yeeaahh, of course! Because we already get enough bitching from you!", mumbled the yellow Earthen stallion with a sneering sarcastic manner.

"OOPS, sorry! I'm just feeling SOOOO excited about meeting new people today!! I never get to see the outside world beyond Eastern Equestria!", shouted the turnip pegasus colt as jumps up and loops around across the sky excitedly.

"Why the hell would I wanna visit a country full of these damn critches**?! I was much happier staying in my humble pawnshop back in our home country!", grumbled the elderly tangerine unicorn, though his voice was still a bit loudly audible to his close peers.

"PFFTT, like you enjoyed the company of thousands of angry qilin*** protesters wanting their money back for selling them shoddy merchandise!", scoffed the yellow middle-aged Earthen stallion with another sarcastic tone. Then, he continued with this remark, "Look, the only reason I brought you here is because I needed a few extra hands in gathering the necessary income to keep my little colt boy at that Friendship school! I need him to grow up to be a successful business salaryman, so that someday he could help me AND you in a time of crisis!"

"I dunno", said the elderly tangerine unicorn, who had his doubts, "Even with that special program you signed him up to, do you REALLY think he's up for the task? What if he causes even MORE trouble and gets US kicked outta town like LAST time?!"

The middle-aged Earthen stallion then suddenly sighed with groaning frustration and then replied,

"Ugggghhhhhh, okay, lemme re-word this in ANOTHER phrase that a old grouch like you will understand! The more you encourage that runt to push himself from village idiot to smart point-dexter, the FASTER he'll be off your ass and the more income he will conjure up once he gets himself onto the top! Does THAT sound clear to you, ol' boomer??!"

"And how about them critches, huh? How do we make sure he doesn't end up like them?", questioned the elderly tangerine unicorn, which caused the yellow middle-aged Earthen stallion to cringe with frustration.

"Look, once we arrived at the school AND find our designated apartment, I will discuss to you about my foolproof plan to both keep my foster son safe AND raise enough money to cover our expenses!", explained the yellow Earthen stallion

"Why not discuss it now? I'm SURE you have a very elaborate plan to help deal with our new shit-hole abode", snarled the elderly tangerine unicorn.

"HEY, it is NOT a shit-hole! Our new home has nice floor tiles, evenly painted green walls AND a functioning toilet, unlike YOUR old apartment back there! The only reason why I'm keeping this plan a secret is because if you knew what I was planning, you'll turn your back on us like a soapbox race car on a U-turn!", shouted the yellow Earthen stallion

"I swear to Celestia, if it's another job involving me being your test dummy for your cruddy home inventions, I'll buck your teeth harder than a kung-fu dentist with a wooden plank!", barked the elder tangerine unicorn as he struggled to pull the heavy and barely unstable luggage cart.

"LISTEN, you old boomer! You gotta trust me on this, all right?! This will be a new life far away from the cruddy slums AND you wouldn't have to deal with the Triad Mafia anymore, yes??!", shouted the yellow Earthen stallion as he grinned with feigned elating positivity. The smile, however, did not seem to phase the grouchy wrinkly-faced unicorn. He continued to mumble a variety of swear words under his breath in both his native tongue and secondary tongue.

"HEY, I know what'll cheer you both up! A SOOONNGG!", excitedly shouted the white pegasus colt

"DAMIT, you little shitebag! I am NOT letting you turn this journey to Ponyville into another cringey musical---", shouted the grouchy tangerine unicorn, but before he could finish his sentence, the white turnip pegasus had already whipped out his miniature vinyl record player and started to play his series of nursery rhymes:

(Cantonese nursery rhyme songs)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_M24xV65-I

"Uggghhh, I rather pass my kidney stones RIGHT NOW than listen to that childish crap! Why did you even bother giving him a music player??", groaned the elderly tangerine unicorn.

"Just let him be, old friend...you know how prissy he'll get if you dare stop his musical montage", said the yellow Earthen stallion as he comforted his annoyed friend.

And so, the strange trio of Far Eastern Equestrians continued to venture forth towards Ponyville's entry point as the two old stallion men endure the childish nursery rhymes playing loudly, before it ended all together, right as the three newcomers had finally arrived at their destination...

What adventures will these three seek in the holy land of diverse creatures from all around the world?

"SHUT UP, NARRATOR! It's not holy like Celestia's sunny bum! It's not like this place holds a shrine for the second coming of Faust!!"

---END

Author's Note

This is my first time typing out a fanfiction for MLP, so please take this a little easy on me and give me constructive criticisms on my new story only. I was planning to write out something like this one day, but I want to make sure everything in this story is still completely within canon territory. That's why I waited until the official end of MLP:FIM.

This story is somewhat and loosely based on the 2001 Cantonese movie "Old Master Q 2001". I'll try to make this as dissimilar from the original plot as possible, but still retain the original humor plots without making this fanfiction look like a "plagiarized and novelized version of the original movie".

If you happened to be an Old Master Q fan who recognizes all the movie scenes of "Old Master Q 2001", please feel free to edit this story for any scenes that are deemed way too similar to the original and I'll try to change the plot with the best of my abilities.

-For this preface scene, I first want to establish a brief yet informative description of the setting that takes place after the "Ending of the End", but before "The Last Problem"

OTHER NOTES TO MENTION:

*The Thracians were the class of ponies that were ostracized out from the Earth-Pegasus-Unicorn group during the Wendigo era (they were mentioned in the IDW comic "Feats of Friendship Issue #3")

**Critch(es): slang word for "creature(s)"; a.k.a, a non-Equestrian citizen (based off from Orlando Bloom's "Carnival Row")

***"Qilin" is an alternative spelling of "kirin"

17 When Life Gives you Lemons...

Ch 17 - When Life Gives you Lemons...

----------(MANEHATTAN, 64 TIMOR STREET, THURSDAY 3:30 P.M.)----------

It was a very celebratory and festive day at the Castle of Friendship, as colorful and scintillating streamers, tinsels, banners and dangling plastic golden stars hung from four different long nylon ropes, each of which are securely taped to four different white multi-faceted pillars at each outward corner of the main foyer intersection in the castle entrance hall. Each decorated rope was then lifted up to the highest point of the sparkling glass chandelier, which was hovering above the well-lit center of the huge foyer space. The crystal chandelier was exposed to multiple slanted skylights in all directions, where all the natural sunlight was redirected downwards and radiated like holy crepuscular rays onto the crossed carpet lining of the foyer floor space. More decorated colorful ropes were also tied and connected to each multiple chained green and yellow oil lamps, creating a large sparkling halo effect over the foyer.

In addition, there were also a couple of floating colorful helium balloons that littered the huge ceiling space, though most were found outside the skylight so as to not block out the natural light. Some of the balloons were stringed and tied to weighted cardboard boxes in groups, so they remain as decoration on the floor space instead. Between two of the four white outwardly cornered pillars was an open-wide entrance into the main stairs that lead to the second floor of the castle. On that second floor, there were multiple yellow- and green-filtered limelights were installed on the golden railings, overlooking the first floor of the main entrance hall below. Between those two white cornered pillars that lead to those flight of stairs, there lied a makeshift hardwood stage platform supported by multiple struts and legs and was covered by a large red curtain supported by tall steel cubed-like scaffolding beams. Trailing from the stage platform (behind the huge red curtains) were multiple thick insulated cords that lead to a huge multi-battery energy supply on the second floor, possibly to power the surround-sound speakers, microphones and electronic equipment behind the curtains. To prevent possible accidents with the trail of electric cords, they were taped down to the bottom edges along the hallway, thereby leaving enough space for grounded creatures to freely move about. Entry onto the stage was only accessible (for grounded creatures) via flanking short steps. Fortunately, there was enough space between the two flanking gaps to allow some entry to the leading upward stairs (but only to technicians certified to operate the lighting from the second floor).

Moreover, there were some tables that were set up adjacent to the crystal castle walls and huge green-paneled doors along the hallway perpendicular to the carpeted path to the main castle entrance and second-floor stairway entrance. Each table supplied huge pitchers of citrus punches, including lemonade (yellow or pink), orange juice, lime punches and grapefruit drinks. Various other fruity consumables, such as colorful grapes, strawberries, bananas, cherries, blueberries, kiwis and red grapes, also decorated the tables. Some tables also offered lemon-themed desserts such as lemon surprise cupcakes, lemon meringue pie, lemon pudding, lemon cheesecake, lemon mousse and lemon cookies. Multiple clear plastic cup towers and paper plate stacks were on every table to provide every creature a sizeable small portion to consume those sweet and citrus fruitful treats.

All of these festival set-ups were thanks to substitute Headmare Trixie Lulamoon, who decided to hold Thursday's huge school assembly for a few reasons. For starters, today was the School of Friendship's second spring Amity Ball, where every creature will participate in the prom-like dance party. However, instead of holding the special event in the school's gymnasium or foyer, Headmare Trixie decided to hold the Amity Ball within the Castle of Friendship for two reasons. For one, she wanted to exploit a loophole that will allow suspended students to still participate in the festivities, while at the same time provide them with the heavy work experience to build up their responsibility character. Since the suspension only applied to no-entry into school premises, moving the party to outside the school will allow suspended students and teachers (such as Gallus, Pinkie Pie and Master Zhi) to still participate in the ball, while still sticking to their current punishment without having to enter the school premises. The second reason for the party relocation was to allow easy access to important VIPs and special guests into the Amity Ball, since only official students, teachers, job applicants, employee staff and government school officials were only allowed within the premises for security reasons. One of these special guests happened to be an associate of a philanthropic Canterlot Equestrian, who will be visiting the Amity Ball to experience the growing vast diverse multi-culturalism within the friendship student population.

Headmare Trixie Lulamoon could not had made this special Amity Ball event possible without all the hippogriffs, changelings and pegasi who helped with the extravagant decorations, as well as the strong yaks, earthen Equestrians, dragons and griffons who helped set up the portable stage and brought in the heavy electronic stage equipment. And lest not forget the unicorns, kirin, Thracians, Diamond Dogs and Abyssians who helped with the food table. To prevent as unauthorized entry into other parts of the castle by the party guests, hallways leading to the other rooms were cut off by huge stalactite and stalagmite crystal barriers cast by Miss Starlight Glimmer and Professor Rarity, as well as huge ethereal barriers that were draw out by the magical green sand borderlines laid across the floor. Encryption spells were also used to enchant those meta-physical and solid barriers, so they cannot be dismantled, breached or overcome without a proper disenchantment spell. Everything seemed to be going very well for this special Amity Ball---albeit some of the unpacked decorations on the boxes, compact tables and crates were still not fully set up yet, and every creature, including The Student Six, Tiny Turnip Head and Miss Starlight Glimmer, were struggling to unpack the rest of the confectioneries before the major dance competition can begin.

"C'mon, every creature! Pick up the pace! The show is going to begin within less than five minutes!", urged Miss Starlight as she struggled to unravel the string of multi-colored ribbons and tinsels on the table. Helping the recovering school mare was Ocellus, Gallus, Silverstream and Master Zhi, who were inflating the rest of the balloons, unwrapping the boxes of disposable kitchen utensils and gathering up all the confetti that was previously spilled accidentally on the carpet by one of the clumsy yak students.

"It's very nice of the new Headmare to give us a chance to work on the Amity Ball party. I really owe her a lot in giving me a chance to redeem myself.", praised Gallus as he opened his next plastic bag of deflated balloons.

"That's Headmare Trixie for ya: always giving other creatures more than enough second chances to build themselves up from the bottom, even if when they do make up more mistakes along the way...", commented Miss Starlight as she unpacked the taped boxes of lacy ribbons.

"HEY, you're finally getting to remember Headmare Trixie a little more now! I'm impressed with you, Miss Starlight!", complimented Silverstream as she opened up the stack of paper plates.

'Yeah---yet...I still feel like have a long way to go though...", Miss Starlight softly replied as she hung her head.

"HEY, Headmare Starlight!!", shouted Yona as she was carrying a 2m x 1m portrait painting of Fancy Pants in his dashingly exquisite black suit, his single gold-chained monocle purple bow-tie, blue sweater vest and buckled blue cashmere pants. Helping with transporting the golden-framed painting was the buxom tank-top wearing Professor Pinkie Pie.

(Source:https://jayisbutts.com/post/174805602557/full-service-playing-cards-series-1-double-e)

"Yona, I told you to call her by Miss Starlight from now on! Her mind is still stuck in her counselor years!", shouted Master Zhi as he opened up a crate of lemon juice boxes.

"RIGHT, sorry! Yona wrong!", corrected the enthusiastic nak girl herself as she blushed, while holding the picture frame at the bottom.

"SIGH! Don't mention it! I know it's hard to get used to it now, but it'll be over soon", assured Master Zhi as he stoically looked at the bashful Yona.

"So---MISS Starlight!", shouted the excited Professor Pinkie as she was holding the top-part of the portrait frame. "Where do you want this painting of Mister Fancy Pants?!"

"OOH, this portrait is VERY important for our upcoming guest! Hang it between these two crystal hearts, by those two tall pillars over there!", ordered Miss Starlight as she pointed at the solid wall space way above the stage.

"OOOOH, may I help??!! PLEASE, pretty pretty PLEEEAASSEE??!!", pleaded the rapidly-flying Tiny Turnip Head who came out zipping from high above the ceiling. "Every flyer out there is still decorating the ceiling with reflective stickers and tape! Let ME be the volunteer for your painting for you!"

"I dunno, Tiny Turnip Head. You look to frail to carry such a large painting up in the sky", said the skeptical Silverstream as she stroke her chin with her talon.

"Yeah, you'll probably strain your arms and wings trying to lift that painting", added the worried Ocellus.

"Awww, I'm not gonna lift it! I'm just going to hold it steady and make sure it's planted on the nail!", replied the sadly toned Tiny Turnip Head as he pulled out his nail and hammer.

"These girls are right, Turnip. Even with the help of Yona and Professor Pinkie Pie, you could get seriously hurt if you tried to hang that painting. How's about you let these girls help out with the painting instead?", suggested Miss Starlight Glimmer as she pointed to Silverstream and Ocellus.

"OR, better yet! Have ME hang the painting alone! I'm a strong griffon! Can't you see??", boasted Gallus as he flexed his feathery muscles.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND, TEACHER!! I'm tired of doing boring jobs around this castle! I wanna do something important!", shouted the crying Tiny Turnip Head as he bawled out his eyes.

"You ARE doing something important: hanging all those glittery ropes up---", briefly explained Master Zhi before he was quickly interrupted.

"That's the problem!! I don't want to do that boring stuff anymore!! I wanna do something REALLY special, just like you, Master Zhi!!", Tiny Turnip Head bawled before Master Zhi attempted to have his say in the matter before his foster son

"Listen kid! Mastering something doesn't mean doing the hard stuff first, you have to---"

"PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE---!!!", spat out Tiny Turnip Head as he began shoving his blabbering mouth right up to Master Zhi's face, much to his annoyance.

"All right, all right, all right!", cried Master Zhi as he quickly raised both hands. "JUST be careful with that old painting! It's a one-of-a-kind masterpiece commission from one of the best student artists!"

"ALL RIGHT!! Let's go hang that masterpiece, Professor Pinkie!!", excitedly shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he got out of his Master's face and quickly followed his favorite pink teacher.

"Okey-dokey-LOKAY!!", happily agreed Professor Pinkie Pie as she walked off towards the stage to hang the painting.

"REMEMBER, right in the middle!", hollered Master Zhi as he cupped hands over his mouth to amplify his message, before Miss Starlight Glimmer shockingly stuttered

"HEY, w-w-what in Equestria---??! H-he's going to get hurt!! We can't j-just let them---!!"

Just as she was activating her horn, Master Zhi quickly raised his arms to block Starlight's view of Tiny Turnip Head, before lecturing Miss Starlight Glimmer about his foster son.

"TRUST ME, even if you girls tried to interfere, he'll just put up an even MORE bigger and fussier fight than usual! Don't underestimate him! He may look frail, but he's REALLY super quick, due to his lightweight frame! He'll probably make it much harder for you to aim your levitation powers at him by going really really fast! Trust me, I had Tang tried to catch him and he wasn't able to get a bead of that little tyke streaker..."

"Just like with Rainbow Dash when he tried to avoid Princess Sparkle's harmony spell when she tried to remove the discordant chaos within him, right?", said Ocellus as he looked at Master Zhi.

"...Even if you did managed to catch him, he'll never hear the end of him if I keep pulling that tyke away from his passions. He's the type of fool who would never say 'no' to a challenge...", continued Master Zhi.

"Man, and I thought I had egotistic issues...", muttered Gallus.

"Oooooh, I hope he doesn't end up hurting himself!", shuddered Silverstream.

"If he does, I'll be the first to come to his aid...", responded Ocellus with determination.

Just as Miss Starlight was about to protest and rebut against Master Zhi, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a group of ruffian kirin slamming open the main castle entrance! When she turned around and saw the posse, she instantly recognized them as Sunny Boy and his four Sunny Side Schoolboys from the last soccer match.

Worried that they were here to cause more trouble outside of the school, Miss Starlight Glimmer took off from her table and ran towards the posse. She saw that the two kirin and two Far Eastern unicorns behind their leader were still sporting their usual gangster attire of vinyl jackets, orange sunglasses, snazzy silk shirts and denim jeans. Sunny Boy, on the other hand, was wearing his dark-brown shades, his short orange mane cut, his trademark stubble, grey jacket, orange buttoned shirt, brown corduroy pants and black shoes.

"HEY, what do you think you're doing, barging into the castle like you own the place??", questioned the cautious Miss Starlight Glimmer as she stared down at the leader.

"Relax, Missy!", assured Sunny Boy. "We're not here to cause mischievous trouble. We're here to perform a live band for that Amity Ball". He took out a pair of drumsticks from his pocket, while the rest of the kirin behind him teleported their own set of musical instruments. One of the far Eastern unicorn students, #12138, carried an electric guitar, while the other carried a drum set for Sunny Boy. Two kirin showed off their teleported pipa1 and violin.

"WAIT, I thought the school kirin pop band was going to help with the performance! What in Tartaric hell did you do to them??!!", shouted the threatening Miss Starlight as she activated her magic horn.

"MISS STARLIGHT, WAIT! They're actually with me!", hollered one kirin student with an orange fluffy mane, pickle-green nose ridge and white-beige coat, who ran over to her substitute teacher with a raised cloven hand.

"Autumn Blaze?! HUH??!", questioned the confused Miss Starlight as she saw the frantic kirin come to her direction.

"Some of the kirin, including the piano singer, came down with a bad case of dysentery after a bad dinner experience down by a local dim-sum restaurant!", panicked Autumn Blaze as she stood between the rogues and her substitute teacher. "I needed to find a replacement fast and these gangster boys from the other day overheard my panicked cries for help!! I really wanted to make my theatrical performance work, so I had no choice but to allow them into the party! I'm sorry, Miss Starlight...."

"See?? He's not joking here...", replied one of the gangster kirin.

Miss Starlight gave out a very heavy groaning sigh, before taking a deep breath and talking to the rogue gang

"Okay---FINE...go on stage and do what you have to do". Miss Starlight then abruptly shoved his serious expression towards the smirking Sunny Boy and snarled at him

"But PLEASE! DON'T mess this party up for us! Otherwise, you WILL regret it!"

"Thank you, Miss Starlight", said the relieved Autumn Blaze. "I'll make sure these boys will follow everything on the script, won't you boys?!"

"YES, MA'AM!", shouted the kirin boys before they followed Autumn Blaze to the stage platform behind the red curtain.

"Don't you fret, Miss Blaze! I taught these kirin on how to create a great mental photographic memory!", boasted the tough yet nerdy Sunny Boy as he gave out a confident smile.

Meanwhile, as the kirin band was taking their positions on the stage, a perilous balancing tower of chairs based near the middle front of the stage was precariously stacked high up towards the highest point of the arched entrance. Standing on those haphazardly stacked chairs was the balancing heavy Professor Pinkie Pie as she stood on top of the thing wooden edges of the chair, while Yona was standing on Professor Pinkie's shoulders. Professor Pinkie Pie was not having a good time with balancing the heavy nak girl on her shoulders, as the nak's big fluffy crotch was pressing hard onto Pinkie's forehead. Moreover, Tiny Tiny Head was rapidly flapping his wings as he tried to keep the painting steady, making sure it didn't slip from Yona's big awkward cloven hands. Due to his petite size, he can't lift the heavy golden frame of the painting without spraining his noodle arms, so he wasn't going to be helping if the painting does end up falling from Yona's grasp.

"Professor Pinkie, be careful! You almost tipped over there!", shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he struggled to hold the heavy portrait painting.

"Don't worry about me!! I've done this kinda work before!", shouted the nervously trembling Pinkie Pie as she tried to concentrate with Yona's thick butt pressing against her forehead.

"No talk!! Yona got this!! Almost got there!", shouted the shaky nak girl as she struggled to set the Fancy Pants portrait in the middle region between the two crystal hearts on the high wall.

"C'mon, Professor! Hold yak tight! Tip to bit left!", requested the swaying Yona.

"I'm trying, but it's hard to do this while not falling off!!", shouted Professor Pinkie Pie as her foot trembled on the balancing chair tower.

"Hurry up, ladies! My wings are getting too tired!", complained Tiny Turnip Head as his hands were nearly slipping from the painting frame and his wings were starting to slow down a bit.

As the other flyers were too busy decorating the high ceiling and fetching the rest of the party supplies from the school, some of the young male creatures were curious about the dynamic towering spectacle. As they looked up, they soon realized that Professor Pinkie Pie, Yona and Tiny Turnip Head were precariously located near the top of the crazily stacked chair tower. More importantly, the boys were having a nice bottom lewd view of Professor Pinkie Pie's fat lower butt cheeks sticking out of her tight denim shorts.

"THERE, I think we got it!" shouted Tiny Turnip Head as he later positioned the painting by hanging its top frame by the nail that he hammered in beforehand.

Unfortunately, just as the painting was about to be hung, a random stray flyder come buzzing in towards Professor Pinkie Pie and shot a sticky gunk of web towards her face, causing her to lose her entire balance and sending both Yona AND the painting tumbling down 20 m towards the hard crystal ground!

As most of the male creatures watched in horror at the sight of falling chairs and the two unfortunate girls (including Tiny Turnip Head who lost his grip on the painting), one of the Equestrians, a green puffy-maned and banana yellow-coated pegasus stallion man, immediately flew up towards Professor Pinkie Pie and landed headfirst onto her butt-crack as she was falling down as fast as a ton of bricks!

One buff male yak proceeded to run towards where Yona might be falling towards, only to find himself have his face flattened by the falling fat nak girl! He suddenly fell hard onto the carpet floor and ended up with Yona's big fat butt shoving right up his bearded face!

Though the earthquake that almost toppled most of the string decorations was pretty loud and shockingly bone-shaking, both Professor Pinkie Pie and Yona were both okay, thanks to the two heroes who instinctively went over there to put themselves in harm's way to break their fall---well, that's what they WANTED you to think!

"HOLY CRAP!! What the hell was that??!!", shouted Gallus as he, Ocellus, Silverstream, Master Zhi and Miss Starlight ran to the pile of cluttering chairs near the stage. Soon, every creature stopped what they were doing to see the scrambled calamity near the stage.

"Turnip Head! Are you all right??!", shouted Ocellus as she flew up to the shocked white-coated and purple bowl-maned pegasus boy in the air.

"It's TINY Turnip Head to YOU, missy!", corrected the upset pegasus boy before she looked down at the mess and yelled, "And forget about ME!! What about THEM??!!"

"HEY, get off of her ass, you damn sick pervert!!", angrily yelled Master Zhi as he stomped his hoof onto Huckleberry's balls as the pervert laid on his back with Pinkie Pie's bum shoved into the student's face. The force of the kick was strong enough for Huckleberry to wince in agonizing pain.

"HEY, NO HITTING my students, even if they did something stupid!", shouted Miss Starlight Glimmer as he levitated both Pinkie Pie and Yona off the blushing male students. "This is your last warning, Master! Behave or get out!"

"Tell that to HIM, Miss Starlight!", shouted Master Zhi as he pointed at the high-pitched whimpering and tear-jerking Huckleberry who was grasping hard onto his smashed testicles with two hands.

"C'mon, dude! Let it go! It was an accident, all right?", Gallus interfered as he tried to calm Master Zhi down.

"ACCIDENT MY ASS!!! And I don't mean that literally!!", shouted Master Zhi as he barked at Gallus.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!", screamed Ocellus as she looked down at Yona in horror.

"OH my SWEET CELESTIA!!", screeched Miss Starlight Glimmer in horror as she covered her eyes out of horror.

"WHAT HAPPENED??!! Did some critch fell dead??!", shouted the panicked Tiny Turnip Head.

"No, but some creature ELSE is going to be soon once they figure out what happened to the painting!", shouted Master Zhi as he pointed at Yona's dazed and confused head. "See what happens when you DON'T listen to the pros??"

"---Uh-OOOOHHHH!!!!", exclaimed the trembling Tiny Turnip Head

"What happen??! Is Yona bleeding??! OOOHHH, please no hit Yona!! It no fault!", pleaded the traumatized Yona.

"It's all right, Yona! It's MY fault! I wasn't quick enough to blow the flyder off my face", shouted the nervously smiling Professor Pinkie Pie, who still got that sticky web gunk on her muzzle. Soon, every male started blushing as they started at the dirty-faced Pinkie Pie.

"OH, GROW UP and GET YOUR HEADS OUTTA YOUR CROTCHES, you perverts!!!", lividly shouted Master Zhi, causing all the boys to whimper in fear and walked back from Master Zhi's dirty shoe.

"No, you're fine, Yona! It's just that-----that---the painting is ALL RUINED!!", cried the panicking Ocellus as she pointed at the torn canvas hole that was around Yona's left horn.

When Yona looked up on her head, she suddenly panicked, immediately took it off her horn and saw that a large hole had been ripped over Fancy Pant's face! Soon, Yona started to scream and panic with Ocellus too!

"AW CRAP!!! What the hell have you DONE, Yona??!!" panicked the squawking Gallus as he slammed his cheeks with his talons.

"Whoops-EEE, Canellon-III!!", exclaimed the embarrassed Pinkie Pie, before she was suddenly grabbed by the tight tank top by Master Zhi.

"This is all YOUR fault! How in the hell are you gonna fix this now, you pink idiot?!!", shouted Master Zhi as he was about to wallop Pinkie Pie in the face for her incompetency.

"OOoohhh, please don't make this any worse, sir!!", pleaded Miss Starlight Glimmer as she tried to separate the two.

Just as another scuffle was about to break out, the entrance doors suddenly swung open and made a loud whamming sound as it slapped against the crystal walls!

"I hope you had a very nice train ride from Canterlot, Missus Fleur-de-lis. Is there anything you would love to see first during your stay?", asked Headmare Trixie as she escorted the slim and busty DDD-cup white unicorn mare with the swirly bright pink mane.

"I would love to see the painting of my Fancy Pants, s'il vous plait...", requested Missus Fleur-de-lis.

"OH, I think you will find our student's exquisite painting to be MOST delightful! We had one of the most talented painters from the changedling art and drama club commission the painting for you!", happily cried the smiling Rarity.

"GGAAAHH, quick!! Every creature, PLACES!!! You two, go find a large tablecloth to hide the painting!! Make sure these three here don't come close to it!!", ordered the quick-thinking Miss Starlight, before Pinkie Pie and Yona quickly grabbed the ruined painting and took it away from the curious eyes of the three newcomers.

As Miss Starlight Glimmer quickly ran up to Headmare Trixie, Professor Rarity and Missus Fleur-de-lis, the temporary Headmare was the first to respond to the eager-looking Miss Starlight with an introduction to her new guest

"Miss Starlight! What a surprise! I would like you to meet Missus Fleur-de-lis..."

"HI! Uhh---glad for you to be here, Missus Fleur-de-lis", greeted Miss Starlight Glimmer as she shook her soft velvet gloved hand.

"Her associate, Sir Fancy Pants, was the one who graciously donated his 2.5 million bit fortune to this school!", mentioned the substitute Headmare.

"Oh, STOP! You flatter him too much!", scoffed the embarassed yet humbled Fleur-de-lis. "He only did it to help you improve the rustic dorm lifestyle, so that his Canterlot collegues' children can live in better harmony AND luxury at your institution. Plus, it's his way to honor the Princess of Equestria who helped rally many brave souls against the Villainous trio."

"If anypony's going to earn bragging rights for turning this school into the top-most renowned institution in Equestria, it would be Sir Fancy Pants!", complimented the very boastingly humble Headmare Trixie.

"If you would be so kind, Miss Glimmer", kindly spoke Professor Rarity, "Missus Fleur-de-lis would love to have a view of our student's finest painting of Sir Fancy Pants..."

Sweating in a panic, Miss Starlight Glimmer started to think of a quick diversion and saw Autumn Blaze coming her way. With her quick-thinking, Miss Starlight Glimmer grabbed and hugged Autumn Blaze by the shoulder and spoke

"UUUHHH, how about we watch the students perform their first musical act for you??! They have been working really hard in rehearsal for the past week!"

"WHAT??!! Miss Starlight!! Those substitute kirin we hired barely could remember their musical cues and we're still short of two piano-player singers!", mentioned the panicking Autumn Blaze as she twiddled her thumbs.

"I can help you with that!! I'm both a great singer AND a piano performer!!", shouted Master Zhi as he suddenly butt into the conversation

"Are you sure about that?? We don't like boasters who think they can top off a melodious chorus!", warned the attentive Autumn Blaze.

"Lady, gimme a keyboard, microphone and some music sheets; then, I'll go in and blow your mind away before you can say 'Buck is your uncle, Fetlock is your aunt!'", boasted the self-indulgent Master Zhi.

"C'mon, Autumn Blaze! Just take the deal! He can get you out of ANY situation---provided he doesn't get physical with any creature", reminded Miss Starlight as she angrily stared deep into Master Zhi's eyes.

"Well, even with that covered, we're still missing one oral pianist!", shouted Autumn Blaze.

"Uhhh, in case you weren't listening, we're here to see the painting, NOT watch a musical!", interrupted Headmare Trixie.

"Oooohh, NO! It's all right! I would LOVE to see what kind of performance art your students had conjured up at this fine institution of yours...", insisted the flamboyantly speaking Missus Fleur-de-lis as she smiled at the nervous Miss Starlight Glimmer

'Noooo, not now! We're still a few musicians short!', panicked Autumn Blaze in her head.

"PHEW, I'm here right now! Sorry I'm late! Lots of pedestrian traffic out there! WHEW!!", gasped one black-and-teal curly-maned and lightly blue-coated Earthen mare, who was wearing her beautiful dark blue dress. She was being escorted by Professor Applejack by her side.

"HEY there, Miss Blaze! I got your mail! Hope I'm not too late...", calmly spoke the brown bang-maned and banana yellow-coated Earth stallion with his guitar.

"OH, Sweet Sparkles! You're JUST in time, Miss Coloratura and Mr Feather Bangs!! C'mon, let's get you all on stage, RIGHT NOW!! We're starting the performance for our new guests!", blabbered the hastened Autumn Blaze as she grabbed both the musicians' hands and ran to the stage. Master Zhi and Applejack, with no hesitation, delightfully followed them to where they need to go.

Soon enough, two more special guests arrived at the castle entry door, with Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy escorting their them to the dance hall. These special guests included Miss Spitfire from the Wonderbolt Academy and Miss Treehugger of the Everfree Forest Preservation Society. Before they even know it, every flyer started covering the high ceiling skylights with stretchy nylon blankets, held taut by nailed in hooks at each corner of each slanted window. Dragons began lighting up the dangling oil lamps with their fire breath and changedlings transformed into several fireflies as they orbit around the sparkling central decor of the dance halls. Griffons, unicorns, pegasi and changedlings began manning their stations at the gas-powered limelights positioned by the golden-railed balconies overseeing the dance hall.

Afterwards, the amazed Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Spitfire and Treehugger were greeted by the equally stunned Headmare Trixie and the excited Fleur-de-lis, questioning about why their students are starting the musical portion of the Amity Ball so early. Soon enough, they were suddenly greeted by Miss Starlight Glimmer, who offered them lounge chairs to lay their tired bodies on, as well as citrus punches and lemon desserts to relieve their parched throats and hungry stomach. Miss Starlight Glimmer hoped her improvised diversion will distract her guests and best friends from the actual disaster with a delightfully special present from the kirin performers.

----------(MUSICAL CHOREOGRAPHY SCRIPT)----------

SONG: Lemon
ORIGINAL ARTIST: Kenshi Yonezu
LYRICS LANGUAGE: Cantonese and English (originally Japanese)2

(Red curtains open)

(Limelight on Zhi playing piano and singing on mic)

🎹Zhi on stage:
🎵若耳邊惡耗 // 只歸惡夢 // 睜開竭疲眼目🎵
🎶Yai-hee biān è hào // zhī guī nong mèng // zhēng hoi ke pí yǎn moe🎶
If you open your exhausting eyes to the nightmares in your ears

🎵能讓你 擺脫一 切作弄 從頭改寫結局?🎵
🎶néng nu nǐ // bǎi tuō chī // tsaw lun so-tòng // cóng sai gǎi go?🎶
Can you forget all of the things and re-write this story with a new ending?

(Limelight on Feather Bangs with guitar)

Feather Bangs on stage (guitar):
🎵When I leave behind // something of mine // I stop to go and find🎵

🎵Brushing dust // from memories // of you and I // put on rewind🎵

(Silent pause before lighting up Autumn Blaze on stage and six kirin dancers on dance floor in yellow dresses)

(Piano and guitar, kirin dancers twirling)

Autumn Blaze on stage (pipa):
🎵尚記得你問 假使你若 一死去誰掛念🎵
🎶Shàng ge dé nǐ wèn // gah shǐ nǐ ning // yī sǐ hoi shuí guà niàn🎶
I remember what you said to me, who will miss you when you die..?.

🎵遺下了 多少驚險 故事承諾 不敢兌現🎵
🎶Yí hia lee // duō xing din-ting // gù shì seng nuò // bù gǎn duì yian🎶
How many thrills in our story-tales and our promises have remain unfulfilled?

🎹Coloratura on stage (piano):
🎵With a hidden past // too dark to cast // away all on my own🎵

🎵And without you // maybe that too // would have never turned to hope🎵

(Sunny Boy teleports near Starlight and offers a duet dance)

(Sunny Boy's drumsticks playing cymbals and drum under loop spell)

🎙Sunny Boy (vocal mic):
🎵All / the / hurt // and the pain // I found🎵

🎵Sink-ing // into me, // deeply now🎵

🎵Found / that // nothing could // hurt me more, // than what // I feel now🎵

👫(Sunny Boy pulls Starlight into duet dance)

🎼🎻🎸(Spotlight on kirin guitarist and violinist playing on stage)🎸🎻

Autumn Blaze (pipa):
🎵那天所有 甜蜜 苦青 酸澀🎵
🎶Nà tiān shu yǒu / tián mao // fu zhu // shu yee🎶
All the bittersweetness everyday

🎵那天所有 無奈 痛苦 心結🎵
🎶Nà tiān shu yǒu / wú nài // tòng kǔ // xung yee🎶
All the helpless pain I feel each day

🎵你的所有停在 滴血心裏我只可掛念往時🎵
🎶Nǐ dí shu yǒu / tíng zhoi // dī hee // xung loi / ngaw zhī // ho guà // nee wǎng / shí🎶
All the times you wrapped my bleeding heart, it's all I can remember now

(Fireflies orbit around lemon-yellow dancers)

🎹Coloratura on stage (piano):
🎵🍋Even now, remaining / is that / bitter🍋🎵

🎵🍋Scent of lemon / that’ll // never // leave🍋🎵

🌧🎵Waiting out that rain, I can’t go home / until it clears and fades🎵🌧

🌤🎵Even now, you’re still my sun / that bursts / with light / onto my shade🎵🌤

(Stage band instrument playing melodious interval)

🍋(Fifteen lemon-yellow kirin dancers surrounding Sunny Boy and Starlight, performs synchronized waltz-beat side-steps and swirling dance moves)🍋

🐥🍋(Yellow canaries fly and orbit around Sunny Boy and Starlight in synchrony, carrying lemon citrus leaves, before placing them on their heads like laurel crowns)🍋🐥

🎙Starlight Glimmer (on dance floor):
🎵Tracing out the lines // around your flank, // my mind's so deep and blind🎵

🎵Every last // edge of your mark, // I can still see deep into my mind🎵

Autumn Blaze on stage (pipa):
🎵在腦海裏頭 不想接受 風光已全變舊,🎵
🎶Zài nǎo hǎi lǐ tóu // bù xiǎng jiē shòu // fēng wung yǐ choon biàn gow🎶
In my fantasy, I don't want to see the scenery grow too old

🎵流下了 酸澀的微妙痛楚 往昔生了銹🎵
🎶Liú how liǎo // suān kee dí ming miào tòng chǔ // wǎng xī shēng liǎo xow🎶
The delicate souring pain since then has sharpened up with age

Feather Bangs on stage (guitar):
🎵What are you even doing now? What are you seeing all around?🎵

🎵Faces that we will never see, we won't know a thing🎵

💡(Changeling dancers fly upwards and glow like fireflies from their wings)

🎹Zhi on stage:
🎵哪管你在何處 是否天國,🎵
🎶Nǎ guǎn nǐ zài hé-chǔ // shì fǒu // tiān guó,🎶
Whether you're in heaven or still breathing,

🎵會否跟我同樣缺少一角,🎵
🎶Huì fǒu gēn wǒ tóng yàng // quē soo // yī guh,🎶
Will I still be missing at your corner?

🎵浸於傷痛流淚 內疚失控 想不起快樂笑容🎵
🎶tong yú shāng tòng liú lèi // nèi gow // sau hong // xiǎng bù // hei fye // lè shew / róng🎶
Immersing in a guilt of pain with endless tears, I'm no longer smiling

🎙Sunny Boy (vocal mic):

🎵Still I hope you'll pay no // mind a-bout / me,🎵

🎵So please just leave every / thing / behind🎵

🌟(Raining yellow glitter from changelings)

🎙Starlight Glimmer (on dance floor):
🎵 ❤From the bottom // of my empty heart, // I’m hoping // that someday...❤ 🎵

🎵🌤Even now, // I'll find my sun // that will bursts with light /onto my shade!🌤🎵

🖼(Headmare and Fleur-de-lis spots covered painting near food table)

👯(Every creature on dance hall suddenly goes into slow adagio dancing)

🎙Sunny Boy (vocal mic):
🎵Until now, I never knew🎵

🎵I was so in love with you🎵

🎵Since you had to go and leave🎵

🎵It’s been hard for me to breathe🎵

🖼(Headmare and Fleur-de-lis goes see painting while every creature slow dances)

🎙Starlight Glimmer (on dance floor):
🎵Like I thought, those days you stood by me🎵

🎵Now they seem just like a dream🎵

🎵But they’re not, and hope I won’t forget🎵

🎵That one truth, since it’s all I have left🎵

🌟(Starlight and Sunny Boy stare into each other's eyes)🌟

🎼🎻🎸(Guitarist, violinst and pipa playing magnificently)🎸🎻

🖼(Fleur-de-lis uncovers painting)

(Through the hole, Ocellus disguises her face as Fancy Pant's charming expression without the mustache and still retain her green soulless eyes)

Fleur-de-lis: OOooh, he looks a decade younger on that portrait than he is in real life! Though the sheen on his eyes were a bit too overdone...

(Headmare Trixie stares suspiciously into painting, but still suspects nothing)

🍋(Every lemon-yellow dancer suddenly started grabbing every audience member, including Trixie and Fleur-de-lis, to vivaciously dance with them on the foyer like a romantic couple)🍋

(Ocellus quickly leaves, shakes off blue wig and transforms to her original self before joining with the flying dancers in her yellow dress)

✨(Dragons shoot geysers of yellow flame shout out from the edge of the stage)

Autumn Blaze AND Master Zhi:
🎶那天所有 甜蜜 苦青 酸澀🎶
🎶Nà tiān shu yǒu / tián mao // fu zhu // shu yee🎶
All the bittersweetness everyday

🎶那天所有 無奈 痛苦 心結🎶
🎶Nà tiān shu yǒu / wú nài // tòng kǔ // xung yee🎶
All the helpless pain I feel each day

🎶你的所有停在 滴血心裏我只可掛念往時🎶
🎶Nǐ dí shu yǒu / tíng zhoi // dī hee // xung loi / ngaw zhī // ho guà // nee wǎng / shí🎶
All the times you wrapped my bleeding heart, it's all I can remember now

(Fireflies cover decorative strings and halos above the dance floor)

Coloratura AND Feather Bangs:
🎶🍋Even now remaining, // is that bitter🍋🎶

🎶🍋Scent of lemon, // that’ll never leave 🍋🎶

🎶🌧Waiting out the rain, // I can’t go home until it clears and fades🌧🎶

🍋(Blonde yaks pushed large paper-mache half-lemons from opposite sides towards Sunny Boy and Starlight)🍋

🎙Sunny Boy AND Starlight:
🎶🍋Like a single / slice of lemon, / split to pieces / where they laid🍋🎶

🎶🌤Even now, you're still my sun / that bursts / with light onto my shade🌤🎶

🐥(Yellow canaries land on all dancers heads and fireflies form halos above Sunny Boy and Starlight)🐥

💛(Lemon-yellow dancers flank Sunny Boy and Starlight with symmetric ballerina poses)💛

----------(FINI)----------

After the music and dance number was complete, every student performer, professor and special guest congratulated with each other on a musical well done with celebratory applause, high-fives, hugs, head pats and wing slaps. As soon as the natural lights were back on once the skylight covers were removed, Master Zhi, Tiny Turnip Head, Autumn Blaze and the Student Six all rush happily towards the entertained Miss Starlight Glimmer, Sunny Boy, Headmare Trixie and Missus Fleur-de-lis.

"OH BOY, that was SOOO FUN!!!", shouted the elated Tiny Turnip Head, who had watched the performance from an aerial view above the dance wall, even getting yellow glitter and friendly fireflies sticking his white coat.

"Absol-LUTE-ly!! Those firefly rings and yellow birdies really stole the show for best cutest animal performance, Fluttershy!", excitedly shouted Professor Pinkie Pie, cause the buxom animal lover to blush at her compliment.

"Really love the lemon-themed dresses! I should put them in my upcoming summer fashion line! As for the performance, it was indeed MOST deliciously divine!", sweetly added Professor Rarity as she bobbed her wavy purple mane.

"SURE is! You definitely played that performance like a pro! I should've not had doubted you for a second!", cried the excited Autumn Blaze as she rushed over to the group. "Even your rogue boys played some killer tunes out there! It's MUCH better than I imagined! That fast-track memorization spell really worked!"

"YEAH, well---so did their natural musical talent!", happily replied the humble yet dashingly cool Sunny Boy. "I'm really glad I had a chance to participate and enjoy your special ball, Miss Starlight"

"I really love how you improvised that live audience group dance to get our Headmare distrac--EERR--I MEAN---entertained along with the rest of the staff!", fumbly muttered the happy loud-mouthed Starlight Glimmer as she sheepishly darted her eyes toward the suspicious substitute Headmare. "Not only you memorized those lyrics from Autumn's script really well, you put a lot of emotional acting in that performance too! That must've eally got your school fangirls screeching for your name, don't ya think??!"

Sunny Boy nervously blushed and chuckled as he darted his eyes and sweats profusely, muttering to himself

"Uhhh--yeaaahh---glad it was pretty convincing for ya---hehehehe...."

"HA, you were pretty convincing too, Miss Starlight!", shouted SIlverstream as she flew down from the high ceiling. "You looked like you were about to fall in love with this wannabe show-boater, huh?"

"Though it was kinda really sappy when you overdid it with the eye-staring and awkward hugging, the dance choreography was still pretty cool though!", complimented the low-flying Smolder as she was sweeping the golden glitter off the dance floor. "And don't get me started on those yellow birds putting on that lemon leaf crown! Sooo cliche like a teenage romance novel, right?!"

Those comments made by the girls somehow made Sunny Boy blush even a bit more than usual. He later asked Yona for another opinion on the performance.

"Soooo, uhhhh----what are your thoughts on that music number?"

"YONA now love lemons MORE THAN EVER!!!", shouted Yona as she munched down on a huge lemon meringue pie in one single gulp.

"YYEEEAAHHH!!", cried Tiny Turnip Head as he shoved a pair of half-sliced lemons onto his eyeballs, before screaming in agonizing yet deliriously happy pain. "WWWWAAAHHHHHH!!!!!"

"That was tres magnifique!!", hollered the singy-songy Missus Fleur-de-lis as she sang out her compliments. "It made the two-hour trip to your institution very worth-while! I might have to come back next year's AMity Ball!"

"WELL, I hope you enjoyed our school's little musical improv! Riiigghht, Miss Starlight?? WINK WINK!!", Headmare Trixie expressively spoke clandestinely as she literally winked at Miss Starlight twice. That caused the substitute teacher/counselor to sweat and shake, thinking that the new Headmare must've caught wind of her ruse. However, as she looked behind Headmare Trixie, she could see the quietly flapping Ocellus giving her a thumbs up, assuring her that the botched painting was fully taken care of.

"We should get going to continue the tour with the rest of the school", said Headmare Trixie as she addressed to Professor Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Rainbow Dash, alongside the surprisingly amused Spitfire and chilled Treehugger, who just finished shaking hands with the rest of the lemon yellow-dressed dancers.

"Uhhhh---I'll help escort you to the school!", hollered Miss Starlight Glimmer as she immediately coralled the special guests and professors out of the crystal castle as soon as possible, hoping they won't stay too long before they figure out what really happened to the painting..

"Umm---I'll come with you too---!", stuttered Sunny Boy as he rushed to Starlight's aid.

"But you don't even work here!", commented Smolder as she gave a disappointing expression.

"UM, just making sure they safely cross the moat bridge, that's all---hehe!", nervously chuckled Sunny Boy as he sheepishly followed Miss Starlight Glimmer.

"HEY, don't forget about us, Headmaster!", shouted Student #12138 as he and the rest of Sunny Boy's minions followed their leader.

As both Tiny Turnip Head and Master Zhi looked at each other out of confusion, another song was about to start soon for the Amity Ball dance contest...but that's where the fun actually ends here, because this fanfiction is not a musical!

----------(OUTSIDE SCHOOL OF FRIENDSHIP, END OF SCHOOL HOURS, 4:30 P.M.)----------

"Goodbye girls! See you on Friday!", hollered Miss Starlight Glimmer as she waved Silverstream and Ocellus goodbye.

"See you in the next morning, Miss Starlight! Get well soon for us!", shouted the two flying girls as they hurried to their trip to the local Ponyville mall.

Just as Miss Starlight Glimmer was about to cross and step off the stone pathway off the moat, she was suddenly blocked by Sunny Boy's rush in her direction.

"Hey, why are you still here?? The Amity Ball's already over!", questioned the confused Miss Starlight as she stared at the nervous Sunny Boy.

"I--uhh---was waiting for you...", nervously stuttered Sunny Boy as his 'cool' demeanor was finally wearing off upon seeing the busty school teacher/counselor in his sight.

As she was about to walk off, Sunny Boy immediately side-stepped in her direction before blurting out

"I need to tell you something REALLY really important!"

"Siiigghh, I really need to head out to Applejack's barn, since the castle here is still being cleaned up by the custodians...", replied the frustrated Miss Starlight Glimmer as she tried to be nice to the amatuer street thug.

"Uhhh---lemme escort you there!", insisted the persistent Sunny Boy.

"NAH, I'm used to heading out to town on my own...", politely spoke Miss Starlight Glimmer as she tried to implicitly deny his advances.

"LOOK, I'll make this quick! I won't take up much of your time! Just hear me out!", pleaded Sunny Boy as he spoke in a very urgent manner.

"Siiiggghhh, fine! Tell me now. What is it that you want?", impatiently asked Miss Starlight as she crossed her arms with an unamused tone.

"Uhhh, why don't we take a seat by that nearby bench over there?" asked Sunny Boy as he pointed to the wooden bench 20 m away from the end of the moat bridge. Wanting to get this over with it quick, Miss Starlight used her teleportation magic to instantly take her and Sunny Boy to the bench to sit on.

After the two quickly sat on the bench, Sunny Boy anxiously shook his legs and hands, while looking down at the ground. Gulping down really hard and facing directly at Miss Starlight Glimmer's face, he suddenly spoke out without a logical thought in the world

"Listen, what happened at that musical felt REALLY real to me! What I sang out there---it wasn't a performance! I'm really AM in total love with you!"

That brash comment immediately made Miss Starlight's face go red and her expression went from stoic to utter shock.

"So PLEASE, gimme a chance to date you and become my girlfriend someday!!", Sunny Boy continued as he bravely stared down right at her face with a red-toned blush on both of his cheeks.

Feeling like she had heard enough from this wannabe gangster boy, Miss Starlight Glimmer immediately stood up and found herself being hugged by the rash Sunny Boy, causing her to scream in horrified reaction to what looked like an attempted rape!

Under defensive instinct, she immediately cast an expanding push bubble spell to knock Sunny Boy off his hooves, before instantly teleporting far away as possible from the slimy pervert!

As the fallen Sunny Boy lay hard on his butt on the dirty ground, he at first felt pretty dejected over his newfound crush's denial for his affections both at the Amity Ball and in public. However, Sunny Boy was determined to get his girl with any means necessary, even if it means getting booked in jail. After all, he IS the successor of his godfather's underground empire after all. He could bail him out of jail if he wanted to, so as to continue with his teachings into becoming the most powerful gangster lord in all of Equestria!

Pulling out his keys from his jacket, he quickly teleported his way to his parked new green 1922 Stanley Steamer (his godfather owned many luxury steam cars), got into the driver seat, re-ignited the boiler, revved up the steam pressure and drove his way onto the Ponyville road.

---END

Author's Note

Pipa: traditional Chinese four-string instrument often played by plucking

Some lyrics may be re-modified and re-interpreted to fit the theme of this story; not all translations of Cantonese lyrics will be literal by text.

Variant music and lyrics for 'Lemon' are based off these covers (English, Cantonese and instrumental)

Lemon - Kenshi Yonezu (English Cover)【JubyPhonic】

【 MakkuSan 】 Lemon / English Ver. 【 Vocal Cover 】

【Lemon】粵語翻唱『檸願』【DS】

【UNNATURAL】 Lemon 粵語版《檸願》_粵漫社三色堇

【Acoustic】Kenshi Yonezu 米津玄師 - Lemon【Instrumental】

Kenshi Yonezu - Lemon (Violin/Orchestra Cover)

Lemon - Kenshi Yonezu (米津玄師) Fingerstyle Guitar Cover

【ピアノ】Lemon/『アンナチュラル』主題歌/米津玄師/弾いてみた/Piano/CANACANA