Working Ponies

by applebynx

Rating: everyone
Tags: Romance, Adventure
Length: 6701

As Bynx wakes up, he finds today is the big day! Only to have it all go up in flames...

Apple Bynx
A colt with his head in the clouds, Bynx often dreamed about flying with his heroes in the sky. No, not the wonderbolts, they were fancy ponies, he dreamt of gallivanting along with the other masters of the sky, the Wing Shifters. They soared and they sang, always upbeat, not a care in the world, save each otherÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½s wellbeing. They were usually employed as Equestrias odd job ponies, whether that be flying around with a banner highlighting the newest craze, or giving a non-pegasus pony a fly around town, it was never anything too strenuous. They wore no identifying banners or medallions, in fact, other than the small green band they all wore; youÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½d never be able to separate them from an everyday pony. The songs they sang daily were that of the working class pony, Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½Oh Equestria, Oh Equestria, we work for thee, not as a courtesy, but for our beloved country!Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½ were just some of the silly lyrics the Wing Shifters had come up with over the past few years. Bynx loved the ponies for their spirit and morals, as he noticed the world around him had been slowly decaying, whether it be morally, financially or emotionally.
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½Hey Apple, get up sillypony!Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½
That stung, Bynx hated being called apple, it reminded him of the earth pony he knew in years past, another of his greatest heroes. As Bynx stumbled with his words, he forced his eyes open, revealing in front of him a grayish white face, with deep blue eyes only inches away from him. Like an ocean of pent of excitement the eyes continued to gaze at him, Bynx knew he was seconds from another earful from~
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½Come on, were gonna be late! IÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½m not carrying you to the annual gathering of the Wing Shifters! Now letÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½s go, I already made you breakfast, so we can slapdash outta here!Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½
Bynx begrudgingly rolled over, rolling his roommate off of his bed. He hadnÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½t heard what she said, he could only think of last nightÃ¢ï¿½Â¦ what was it that was coming upÃ¢ï¿½Â¦ something tremendously importantÃ¢ï¿½Â¦
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½Holy hooves! TodayÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½s the day! Why didnÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½t you wake me Flitzer!?Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½
Bynx exclaimed as he threw himself up, hurtling the sheets off of himself, he galloped towards the showers, hearing behind him,
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½HEY YOU BIG JERK! WHEN I CATCH YOU IÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½M GONNAÃ¢ï¿½Â¦Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½
The voice trailed off as Bynx threw the shower on, accidently pushing the dial past a comfortable warmth. As he haphazardly started his morning ritual, he heard a rapping on the door as Flitzer angrily shouted at him,
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½I was waking you up you dafthoofer! I even made you breakfast, see if that happens again!Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½Schrorrey, yew row I steep hurd,Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½ Bynx mumbled between his toothbrush, checking to see the time. 8:43, just short of fifteen minutes before the meeting of the Equestria flyers. Bynx threw himself into the shower, suddenly feeling like he was being made into stew, he hit the shower head off course, saving him from scorching lava. He threw the temperature handle towards the middle and the water quickly became cozy. For a while Bynx pondered everything, from his birth, to where he was right now, his big day trying out for the Wing Shifters. He thought of how he and Flitzy had met in flight school, Flitzy was afraid to fly, and everyone knew it, so Bynx prodded her along and before she knew it, she was out flying any of the mares in her class. Later though, Bynx would come to rely on her, she kept him happy in the dark times of advanced flight school, where he often struggled against getting up and leaving for Celestia knows where. He never was a social pony, often despising the things colts his aged talked about, always droning on about their awful thoughts on the mares in class, or the horrid genre of sound they called music. Bynx often sat on these thoughts throughout the day, never telling anyone, not even Flitzer. He hated the thought of dragging somepony down with his inner thoughts. Albeit Flitzer had no problem with this, and told Bynx everything, from what she thought was in fashion or how she felt about peanut butter, Bynx loved to listen and laugh with her rambunctious personality.
Bynx quickly shrugged off his thoughts, wondering how much time had passed on his reminiscing. He flipped off the water and toweled himself off, throwing his hair about as he dried it, it ended up looking quite silly. He pondered leaving it like it looked, quickly realizing FlitzerÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½s influence was pushing him towards acting like a sillyfilly. He shrugged it off and fixed his hair, leaving it the usual coffee with cream cafÃ�Â© color. He burst out the door to find Flitzer had left him a note
~Bynx, IÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½m just outside, meet you out here soonÃ¢ï¿½Â¦ or at the festival if you fall asleep in the shower againÃ¢ï¿½Â¦
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½It only happened once!Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½
Bynx had shouted at nothing in particular, quickly looking to see if anypony had heard. As the coast seemed clear, he trotted over to their table; toast with an egg and bacon smiley face was left on a paper plate. Bynx quickly gobbled it down, noticing a note at the bottom of the plate, reading out,
~AHH! You ate my face!
The note made Bynx chuckle with a little frowning face near the bottom of the note. Bynx chuckled and threw away the plate, noticing the trash was nearing the top, he decided to take it out. Might as well start being a work colt now, itÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½ll get me in the mood for the Wing ShiftersÃ¢ï¿½Â¦ thought Bynx, steeling himself for the day.
As he rounded the corner of their house, he noticed Flitzer squealing and prancing about in front of the house, looking at him with great anticipation, her deep blue mane flapping about. Chortling, he dumped the trash and trotted over to her. As Bynx opened his mouth to talk about nothing in particular, Flitzer was already buzzing about today.
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½Oh my sweet Luna! Today is the day Bynx! Can you feel it!? Can you taste it!? Can you smell it?! Can youÃ¢ï¿½Â¦ hear it?
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½Sweet Luna is right, sweet Luna what am I going to do with you Flitzer, if you go all giddy eyed up to the taskmasters, theyÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½ll throw you something horrid, and IÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½ll never see you again.Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½ Joked Bynx, as he attempted to ruffle Flitzer a bit.
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½Pfft if anyone is going to get something horrid, itÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½d be you Bynx, youÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½ll probably get some amazing, brand spanking new job, and be grumpy on the first day, and get shipped to be a janitor.Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½ Flitzer retorted, with a flick of her tail towards Bynx, and a triumphant look on her face.
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½Hahaha, I love how easy you are to tease FlitzyÃ¢ï¿½Â¦ So what do you think weÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½ll do for tryouts?Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½IÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½m not sure reallyÃ¢ï¿½Â¦ I always thought theyÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½d have us do simple tasks, and those that could do, and efficiently, got moved to harder jobs, and those who wereÃ¢ï¿½Â¦ a bitÃ¢ï¿½Â¦ silly weÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½ll call it, got put with grimier jobs.Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½HuhÃ¢ï¿½Â¦ I guess weÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½ll see.Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½ Bynx ended with a smile.
As they both took off, they headed towards the Wing Shifters building, nothing as breathtaking as CelestiaÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½s Castle, but large and boisterous with its tall white pillars, and a large statues of pegasi in work clothes. One with a pitchfork in the mouth, and bags of seeds draped over her back, the statue represented farm hand pegasi. The second was a strong pegasus, moving multiple miscellaneous objects around whether they be rock or wooden planks. The third was a pegasus pulling a flag tied to the satchel it wore, and pushing a cloud with the front hooves. The steps were a tad menacing, but Bynx and Flitzer flew up them, getting giant smiles from recently accepted and sorrow filled frowns from ponies that had been sent to menial tasks.
Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½Buck up little buddy, your job, no matter what it is, has to be an essential part of making Equestria the nation it is, whether sweeping someponyÃ¢ï¿½ï¿½s porch, or changing a light bulb, without us, there is no Equestria.Ã¢ï¿½ï¿½
Bynx surprised even himself as he spoke, trying to encourage a sad looking mare walking past. She looked

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2012-09-24 08:10:43 UTC

Working ponies chapter 1

Apple Bynx

A colt with his head in the clouds, Bynx often dreamed about flying with his heroes in the sky. No, not the wonderbolts, they were fancy ponies, he dreamt of gallivanting along with the other masters of the sky, the Wing Shifters. They soared and they sang, always upbeat, not a care in the world, save each other’s wellbeing. They were usually employed as Equestrias odd job ponies, whether that be flying around with a banner highlighting the newest craze, or giving a non-pegasus pony a fly around town, it was never anything too strenuous. They wore no identifying banners or medallions, in fact, other than the small green band they all wore; you’d never be able to separate them from an everyday pony. The songs they sang daily were that of the working class pony, “Oh Equestria, Oh Equestria, we work for thee, not as a courtesy, but for our beloved country!” were just some of the silly lyrics the Wing Shifters had come up with over the past few years. Bynx loved the ponies for their spirit and morals, as he noticed the world around him had been slowly decaying, whether it be morally, financially or emotionally.

“Hey Apple, get up sillypony!”

That stung, Bynx hated being called apple, it reminded him of the earth pony he knew in years past, another of his greatest heroes. As Bynx stumbled with his words, he forced his eyes open, revealing in front of him a grayish white face, with deep blue eyes only inches away from him. Like an ocean of pent of excitement the eyes continued to gaze at him, Bynx knew he was seconds from another earful from~

“Come on, were gonna be late! I’m not carrying you to the annual gathering of the Wing Shifters! Now let’s go, I already made you breakfast, so we can slapdash outta here!”

Bynx begrudgingly rolled over, rolling his roommate off of his bed. He hadn’t heard what she said, he could only think of last night… what was it that was coming up… something tremendously important…

“Holy hooves! Today’s the day! Why didn’t you wake me Flitzer!?”

Bynx exclaimed as he threw himself up, hurtling the sheets off of himself, he galloped towards the showers, hearing behind him,

“HEY YOU BIG JERK! WHEN I CATCH YOU I’M GONNA…”

The voice trailed off as Bynx threw the shower on, accidently pushing the dial past a comfortable warmth. As he haphazardly started his morning ritual, he heard a rapping on the door as Flitzer angrily shouted at him,

“I was waking you up you dafthoofer! I even made you breakfast, see if that happens again!”

“Schrorrey, yew row I steep hurd,” Bynx mumbled between his toothbrush, checking to see the time. 8:43, just short of fifteen minutes before the meeting of the Wing Shifters. Bynx threw himself into the shower, suddenly feeling like he was being made into stew, he hit the shower head off course, saving him from scorching lava. He threw the temperature handle towards the middle and the water quickly became cozy. For a while Bynx pondered everything, from his birth, to where he was right now, his big day trying out for the Wing Shifters. He thought of how he and Flitzy had met in flight school, Flitzy was afraid to fly, and everyone knew it, so Bynx prodded her along and before she knew it, she was out flying any of the mares in her class. Later though, Bynx would come to rely on her, she kept him happy in the dark times of advanced flight school, where he often struggled against getting up and leaving for Celestia knows where. He never was a social pony, often despising the things colts his aged talked about, always droning on about their awful thoughts on the mares in class, or the horrid genre of sound they called music. Bynx often sat on these thoughts throughout the day, never telling anyone, not even Flitzer. He hated the thought of dragging somepony down with his inner thoughts. Albeit Flitzer had no problem with this, and told Bynx everything, from what she thought was in fashion or how she felt about peanut butter, Bynx loved to listen and laugh with her rambunctious personality.

Bynx quickly shrugged off his thoughts, wondering how much time had passed on his reminiscing. He flipped off the water and toweled himself off, throwing his hair about as he dried it, it ended up looking quite silly. He pondered leaving it like it looked, quickly realizing Flitzer’s influence was pushing him towards acting like a sillyfilly. He shrugged it off and fixed his hair, leaving it the usual coffee with cream café color. He burst out the door to find Flitzer had left him a note

~Bynx, I’m just outside, meet you out here soon… or at the tryouts if you fall asleep in the shower again…

“It only happened once!”

Bynx had shouted at nothing in particular, quickly looking to see if anypony had heard. As the coast seemed clear, he trotted over to their table; toast with an egg and bacon smiley face was left on a paper plate. Bynx quickly gobbled it down, noticing a note at the bottom of the plate, reading out,

~AHH! You ate my face!

The note made Bynx chuckle with a little frowning face near the bottom of the note. Bynx threw away the plate, noticing the trash was nearing the top, decided to take it out. Might as well start being a work colt now, it’ll get me in the mood for the Wing Shifters… thought Bynx, steeling himself for the day.

As he rounded the corner of their house, he noticed Flitzer squealing and prancing about in front of the house, looking at him with great anticipation, her deep blue mane flapping about. Chortling, he dumped the trash and trotted over to her. As Bynx opened his mouth to talk about nothing in particular, Flitzer was already buzzing about today.

“Oh my sweet Luna! Today is the day Bynx! Can you feel it!? Can you taste it!? Can you smell it?! Can you… hear it?

“Sweet Luna is right, sweet Luna what am I going to do with you Flitzer, if you go all giddy eyed up to the taskmasters, they’ll throw you something horrid, and I’ll never see you again.” Joked Bynx, as he attempted to ruffle Flitzer a bit.

“Pfft if anyone is going to get something horrid, it’d be you Bynx, you’ll probably get some amazing, brand spanking new job, and be grumpy on the first day, and get shipped to be a janitor.” Flitzer retorted, with a flick of her tail towards Bynx, and a triumphant look on her face.

“Hahaha, I love how easy you are to tease Flitzy… So what do you think we’ll do for tryouts?”

“I’m not sure really… I always thought they’d have us do simple tasks, and those that could do, and efficiently, got moved to harder jobs, and those who were… a bit… silly we’ll call it, got put with grimier jobs.”

“Huh… I guess we’ll see.” Bynx ended with a smile.

As they both took off, they headed towards the Wing Shifters building, nothing as breathtaking as Celestia’s Castle, but large and boisterous with its tall white pillars, and a large statues of pegasi in work clothes. One with a pitchfork in the mouth, and bags of seeds draped over her back, the statue represented farm hand pegasi. The second was a strong pegasus, moving multiple miscellaneous objects around whether they be rock or wooden planks. The third was a pegasus pulling a flag tied to the satchel it wore, and pushing a cloud with the front hooves. The steps were a tad menacing, but Bynx and Flitzer flew up them, getting giant smiles from recently accepted and sorrow filled frowns from ponies that had been sent to menial tasks.

“Buck up little buddy, your job, no matter what it is, has to be an essential part of making Equestria the nation it is, whether sweeping somepony’s porch, or changing a light bulb, without us, there is no Equestria.”

Bynx surprised even himself as he spoke, trying to encourage a sad looking mare walking past. She looked up at him and smiled, and with a new sense of well being. Flitzer bumped Bynx,

“And what exactly was that, Mr. keeps to himself? Did you think that mare was something else or are you just finally coming out of that shell of yours?” asked Flitzer, teasingly.

Bynx truly hadn’t noticed the mare’s appearance, only that she looked like she needed a pick-me-up. A feeling Bynx felt far too often, although never expressed. As they landed in line to be assigned to Celestia knows where, they began bumping each other, both far too excited to remain still. After a little fussing of Flitzer’s hair, and a stern hoof to Bynx’s gut, they waited just two ponies until the moment of truth. Bynx, being a bigger pony, could see over the ponies in front of them, and saw judges to be normal ponies, nothing overly glamorous or defining, just normal folk. A smile emerged as he thought to himself,

~Why can’t everypony be like that, just nice and have a decent head on their shoulders. It seemed like centuries passed while the colt being appraised was chatting with the panel. Five in all, they made gestures and stern looks at one another, finally looking towards the colt with flat faces, one spoke a few words. The colt must have jumped ten feet, prancing around with a giant smile, someone had hit the jackpot. The next two went faster, and both left mild faces, as if nothing too exciting was coming their way. Finally, Bynx and Flitzer were up, Bynx let Flitzy go first, on account of her being a girl, but still bumped her one last time as she went.

Bynx couldn’t make out what the ponies said as Flitzer was being evaluated, but now he was close enough to hear they would ask things about the ponies’ personality, their work habits, and age. Flitzer trotted back, a straight face held as she approached Bynx, then suddenly, she exploded, and just like the colt, jumped higher than anypony should without wings.

“WOO I got weather patrol!” Flitzer grabbed Bynx with her forehooves and hugged him until he thought his eyes would pop out of his face. Noticing Bynx was turning from his normal color and quickly matching hers, she let him go, and his brown coloring flushed back.

“Hehe… sorry… don’t know my own strength y’know…”

Bynx took in a big, fake, raspy breath and pretended to stumble with his words,

“wish me luck bud.”

“Good luck and Celestia bless… Janitor! hahaha!” Flitzer yelled as Bynx approached his spot on the floor. Ignoring her, he looked into the eyes of each of the judges. They asked him the same things they had asked Flitzer, and he filled in the holes, the only question that caught him off guard was when they asked about his wing power, with which he demonstrated by pushing as hard as he could, creating a wave of wind, knocking back Flitzer, whom he had aimed his stress releasing show at. The judges murmed amongst themselves for a short time, Bynx could overhear them mumbling something about janitorial services, he silently asked Celestia to sway them away from that decision. As they continued to fumble amongst themselves, Bynx’s heart began pounding, as if it were just now realizing that today, right now, at this very moment was one of the most pivotal in his life. Finally, after Bynx having almost made a dent in the floor where he had been shifting, the judges warmed up their lungs and one looked Bynx in the eye.

“On behalf of the committee, we find you Apple Bynx, to be a

~CRASH! Suddenly something outside had shaken the entire building, throwing Bynx to the floor. A thundercloud had suddenly formed over the building and was shooting down lightning towards the structure. Bynx looked at the committee, struggling to find themselves, then to Flitzer, who had fallen over and wasn’t moving. Bynx sprinted to her, checking to see if she was hurt. A quick scan showed that she was fine, no cuts or awkward looking limbs… but Bynx wasn’t a doctor, and wasn’t sure what to look for.

“PONIES OF THE WING SHIFTERS, I COME IN A POSITION OF VENGEANCE, I HAVE COME TO DESTROY, THE VERY THING THAT DID ME, ALL THOSE YEARS AGO, PRAY TO CELESTIA, BUT KNOW SHE CANNOT HELP YOU NOW! NOPONY CAN! I HAVE BLOCKED OUT THIS ENTIRE BUILDING FROM THE WORLD, KEEPING YOU ALL IN UNTIL MY REVENGE IS SATED.”

A thunderous voice echoed in Bynx’s head, he had to grind his teeth to withstand the booming, as if an entire forest was being pulled out of the ground at once, or a barn was falling on top of Bynx. He managed to open an eye and drunkenly waltz outside, looking up to see what looked like a windigo, only made of fire. Bynx quickly dashed back inside, to collect his thoughts, only to have his mind changed for him as half of the roof was smashed off by the creature’s muzzle. Bynx was flooded with adrenaline, and a million ideas filled his head, one of those was to fly as fast as he could out of the smoke covering the steps out. He quickly snapped that away and began to think of how to fight this creature.

As everything moved in slow motion, Bynx pondered what the creature had said, hoping to scrape together a strategy. It mentioned something about how the Shifters had destroyed it earlier? Did that mean it was a pony? In which case, it could be defeated with force. No that was silly, it was made of fire, and perhaps there was a source of water he could manipulate? Oh it was no use… As Bynx pondered the beast thrashed about, smashing the statues one at a time. It seemed it was just Bynx left with the beast, every other pony had gone to work or had scurried away.

Bynx took in a breath, steeled himself, and took off towards the beast, doing a fly around to see if the creature was weak in any areas. Seeing as the creature was simply more fire, even along the back, Bynx was running out of options. He considered trying to carry out everypony, but realized the beast was here for them, and wouldn’t just let him trot out with them. Suddenly, Bynx had an epiphany! He remembered that the Shifters used to accept earth ponies and unicorns, which was a tradition that stopped only a few years ago, due to the decrease in the need of these races. Bynx quickly dashed for the creature’s mouth, not even considering his decision. As he flew in, he noticed the monster was indeed hollow, although still fire and he felt himself roasting more than he had in his shower the morning earlier. Although, thank Celestia, he did see a cyan colored pony, horn ablaze with magic, glaring at him from inside the beast. Bynx swooped down hooves first, tackling this unknown pony into a spinning circle of fire and chaos. Bynx could feel his mane and tail shortening with the fire, as he felt what must have been straight lines of fire burning slashes into his sides and underbelly. Bynx was a strong pony, so he could only imagine how this mare felt in his hooves, amidst the fire and hooves in her face. Finally they came to a stop, and the blaze was banished by the unicorn, whom turned to blast Bynx another face hole. Bynx head butted the mare before she had the chance, causing her to look as if she had drank a few too many appletinis, and he allowed her to pass out in his hooves.

As he lied her down on the marble floor, he gently let her down rather than throwing her for all he was worth. Something drove him not to hurt her anymore than he had. Looking around, he assessed the damage, seeing that the roof was nearly gone, as were two of the three statues, along with the complete left-front half of the building. Bynx suddenly felt himself carrying the unicorn away from the battle, he couldn’t tell why, but he needed the back-story on this, or he’d forever be wondering what caused this mayhem, Celestia knows they’d cover this up as another pony gone mad. Setting her down atop a hill he felt a cool wind blow between them and felt his burns for the first time. He woke her with a teeny bit of prodding and mimicking of what Flitzer often did to him, shouting the poor ears off this mare.

“Urgh… I… wha…” The mystery mare grumbled at Bynx.

He began to look her over just in case she burst away and he needed to remember how she looked. She was… odd to say the least, she was a light cyan blue, with a blue and white lined mane, that had bits missing from it, perhaps they had been burned off… and finally her cutie mark was that of a hammer and anvil. Bynx took a look at himself as the mare rustled on the floor, shifting to get up, he had minimal damage, a few burns, only one seemed bad enough to have ol’ doc look at it. Other than that, his mane was a tad shorter, and he had been putting off his haircut anyway.

“Hi, My name’s Bynx, can I ask yours miss…?”

The mare suddenly bolted up and gazed with mouth agape at Bynx, sputtering something about fire, inescapable and all consuming. Bynx cocked his head, and she began to slow, coming to terms with where she was and what had happened.

“Let’s try that again, my name is Bynx, and you are…?”

The mare continued to fumble with her words, and started to shake, but with almost vibrating and looking like she’d collapse she managed to murmur,

“Look out… monster… inside… help” and with that, she collapsed.

Chp. 2

Apple Bynx

Bynx began looking around, to see if anypony was watching them. Surprisingly enough, nopony had come running to see what the explosion was, causing a mix of feelings in Bynx. He brushed them aside and focused on the now sleeping mare he had battled not five minutes ago.

She didn’t seem like an evil pony, nor did she sound like it when she had mumbled something about monkeys… no wait it was mandarins… oh what had she said...? Bynx could feel his mind’s gears shifting from what had just occurred. In only a few short moments he was at the test of his life, with everything on the line, to suddenly having his life threatened, and now he was trying to remember some words barely whispered on what seemed like borrowed breath? Bynx shook his head and began pacing; suddenly realizing he had completely forgotten Flitzer.

He had to assume she was okay, he couldn’t leave the mare, lest she explode into that fire beast again… But he couldn’t just leave Flitzy alone… Bynx’s heart felt like it was being rattled apart, with pieces of rationalizations for each argument slowly growing in it until the point of bursting. Bynx let out a large heavy sigh, pushing apart a few clouds that had settled near his face. He chuckled as he thought of just flying straight up and out of this situation, and taking a nap on the clouds until this all passed over. But he was quickly interrupted by the mare making a strange noise, and began rapidly sneezing out little puffs of what looked like dragon smoke.

“Oh don’t even think about it” Bynx said to the mare, even though she was still unconscious on grassy hill. Bynx decided he would fly as fast as he could, straight for the Wing Shifter’s building, grab Flitzy, and rush back out. He stood up and pushed with all his might to gain speed and altitude, then began rapidly throwing his wings, hoping no one would be around to catch him flying into a destroyed building, only to scoop up a mare and fly out.

Bynx looked back to see if the mystery mare had shifted. Seeing that she actually looked peaceful on the hilltop, Bynx turned back around towards Flitzy, pushing away the air in front of him with a hoof extended just like Superpony. As he pulled up to the building he noticed royal guardponies assessing the damage. Quickly dashing behind one of the pillars, he began scanning the room, looking for where Flitzer had been when she had collapsed. She, of course, wasn’t there.

“Ugh that’s just like you isn’t it Flitzy, always making things a little bit harder…” Bynx whispered angrily into the pillar guarding him from the guards. He began scanning around, noticing there was also a lack of judges. Bynx then decided to move in a little further, perhaps the guards had moved the bodies underneath a section of building that didn’t look like it would crumble. Bynx used the height of the structure to his advantage, stealthily gliding over the guards, he easily snuck by them and began to check high and low for his friend.

After ransacking a few rooms, a kitchen, and what looked like a tool shed, Bynx found nothing he needed, no hint or scrap of evidence that Flitzer had been moved. He had hoped he wouldn’t have to talk to the guards, in fear that they would take him in for questioning, but they could have Flitzer, and that’s all that mattered right now. Bynx calmly trotted out heading straight for the guards with a plain face, hiding his fear of what was about to happen.

“You there! Halt!” Bynx had seen this coming from miles away, rolling his eyes ever so slightly. Bynx tried to reason with the guard, feeding him lies about how he had been sleeping and wondered what had happened, and where the judges were. The guard bought in, telling him there were no ponies at the site of the battle when the guard had arrived. Bynx eventually convinced the guard he would need some air, and trotted towards the door, ignoring the guard warning him about some new gang or cult, sounding silly as he said it. Bynx began the trip back to the mare he had left on the hill, praying to Luna that she would still be there. She may be last thing that could help him find where Flitzy could be.

When Bynx finally arrived, he saw that things had changed, the mare was up and about, but seemed okay now, with her mane fixed and skin bruise free, she was skipping around, singing to the flowers on the hill around her. Bynx approached her cautiously, fearing she could snap back with any provoking from anything.

“Hello Miss… Oh I never did get your name,” Bynx tried to put on an innocent façade, as if they hadn’t fought, but simply had exchanged pleasantries.

“Oh hello Bynx or should I say Apple?” Her voice questioning, with a touch of ice in her tone. Bynx was thrown off by her knowing his name, and shot back,

“Bynx is fine, now about that name?”

“Oh I’m nopony important dearie, in fact, I stopped being a true pony years ago…” The cyan pony’s mouth jerked up, it was now obvious whoever this poor mare was, this was not being done by her design, something had taken her and was driving her to do evil.

“Okay… mind explaining that one to me then?” Bynx needed to get all the info he could, if this… thing… had Flitzer, he needed to know how to get her back.

“Oh sweetie, forget about Flitzer, she is simply mine now, a new soldier for the army.” Bynx was one again thrown off by this creature’s words, had she… it… read his thoughts? And if so, how far could she reach? What would he do now? What if he couldn’t save Flitzer? What if… What if…

“Oh would you stop it? All your babbling is making my head hurt, waaah my life is confusing, waaaah why didn’t I do this, why didn’t she do that waaaah, so boring, the lot of you.” The creature pushed the pony towards Bynx, the pony trembling as she walked. The creature pushed the pony within whispering distance and nudged Bynx with a coy smile, then pushed the pony ever closer to Bynx. Shutting his eyes and back away slowly, Bynx began to get frustrated with this game the creature was playing, obviously leading him towards a trap or some other twisted design.

“Now look… are you going to tell me what you’ve done with Flitzer, or am I going to have to beat you out of that poor po-…”

Bynx suddenly couldn’t hear the words coming from his mouth, and instead heard the same sounds he had often heard when he would try to talk with a mouth full of food, or trying to talk over a crowd of overexcited fans. Looking down, he saw that the pony had been pushed into him, and they were sharing kiss, the pony’s lips were like the sweetest fruit he had ever tasted, and the taste was beyond anything he had sampled before. Bynx couldn’t help but enjoy himself, nor could he move away.

As quickly as it started, it was over, but now the situation was worse. The mare in front of him seemed to wake up, eyes exploding open to see what was happening. She pulled herself away as fast as she could, seeming both astonished and suddenly shy. What had happened to the creature controlling the beast? Had the kiss pushed it away? Perhaps it was just playing games again, tricking Bynx into thinking he had a weapon against it.

“Wh… Who are you and what am I doing out here, why were we kissing… oh I’m so confused…” The cyan’s mare voice had changed, and now she was rapidly belting out questions, rather than Bynx.

“I… uhh… What I mean to say is…” Bynx couldn’t find his words, both lost in his mind and his lips he simply couldn’t put two and two together. Finally the mare had had enough and walked up, pressing her lips against his again, but with more gusto than the creature had had her do before. Now Bynx was truly in el cuidad de las locas personas. He contemplated pushing her away, but she had stolen his first kiss, and he couldn’t fight her, He thought about sharing more with her, but couldn’t bring himself to do it, rather he simply let the mare do as she wished, enjoying the bliss of ignorance for the time being.

With some time, the mare finally pulled back, panting and looking deep into Bynx’s eyes. Bynx finally was able to mutter through his quivering lip,

“Wow Miss… You wouldn’t believe the story of how you actually ended up in this mess… I’m not sure I even have all the pieces myself.

“Call me Vanilla Sunburst, or just Nilla for short, a bit silly I know… but my parents loved it, just please, not Miss.”

“Okay mi~ sorry, Nilla, that was just… something else my head is still spinning is all…”

“Hehehe… thanks, you weren’t too bad yourself, oh silly me, I didn’t get your name…”

“Bynx, so Nilla, if you didn’t know where you were, why did you go back to kissing me when you woke up?” Nilla stopped and seemed to seriously consider what Bynx had plopped in front of her, why had she continued kissing this coffee colored colt? Where was she? So many questions left unanswered…

“Right I uhh… I don’t know really, when I woke up I was suddenly outside and kissing you… and it felt so right, like I was supposed to be there, pressed up against you.”

Both of their faces turned red, glancing away from one another, Bynx worked up the words from beneath his flattered gut to ask the last place Nilla remembered being.

“Oh I uhh... some of it is leaking back in." Nilla looked up at the sky, some pegasi were busy darting about, most likely playing a game. Then she looked deep into her memories, still keeping one eye half open on Bynx, unable to look away, not knowing what drove her to stay with him. She remembered it had started like any other day, she got up, did her routine and set off for the day. She remembered seeing a shadow, then woke up. Nilla filled in Bynx quickly and bumped his nose with hers once more when she finished. Bynx smiled and let out a content sigh, telling Nilla of what had transpired during her time of unconsciousness.

Nilla listened to Bynx with mouth agape and completely focused, it seemed to her as if Bynx was telling her a filly’s bedtime story, but she believed it to be true, she had in fact woken up kissing Bynx, as he explained blushing all the while.

“Right, so that’s my side of it, are you sure you don’t remember anything? At all? I really want to find my friend Flitzer, I’d be lost without her… well that and I need her to help pay the rent” Bynx was happy to finally share a joke, it eased the tension of the day, more than welcome after the fights and romance.

“Uhh nope, sorry” Nilla let her head droop a little, feeling a pang of sadness unable to help her new coltfriend.

“Oh it’s totally fine! Really! I’m sure something’ll come back to you” Bynx was saying through a smile, trying to convince himself more than the pretty pony in front of him. The sun was beginning to give way to the moon, and the first bits of the sky began to change with it.

“Oh shoot, Bynx, this might be a little forward, but may I spend the night with you? I don’t want whatever shadow had gotten me before to get me again at my house, and I truly don’t even know which way my house is from here…” again, Nilla’s head drooped a little, which she suddenly felt a pair of hooves lifting.

“Yeah sure, you just have to promise me one thing, okay?” Bynx said looking at cheerful as he could, already having decided he’d more than love to have Nilla over, she could steal Flitzer’s bed for the night. Bynx’s smile quickly faded and a serious pang came over him. “You have to promise we WILL get Flitzer back, first thing in the morning, we set out, alright? Everything else can wait, there is a mare on the line, and maybe missing judges as well, can you imagine the job I’d get if I saved them from whatever has them? They’d never give me the janitor position!” again Bynx shared a laugh with whom he hoped to be Flitzer, but instead was met with the sweet giggling of Nilla… Vanilla Sunburst… just who are you…

“Sure Bynx” Nilla yawned, “Anything bud, in the morning, first thing”

Bynx smiled and they walked back to their house, looking just as normal as the day Bynx had set out with Flitzer and returned with Nilla… an oddity to say the least. Bynx began to think about it, and wanted to sleep in the same room as Nilla, for safeties sake. If the shade took Nilla from Bynx, what would he have to go on? He’d be left stranded on an island in an ocean of knowledge, impossible to find what he needed amidst the waves.

“Say Nilla, I have to ask something… and don’t worry! I mean we have two beds! We don’t have to push them together! Oh that sounded terrible… I mean…” Bynx quickly met his face with his hoof, and tried to start again. He looked at Nilla, who seemed to have already understood.

“Sure Bynx, you wanna move your bed into here so that way you can keep watch so I don’t get stolen right? I’m cool with that, if you are that is…” Nilla feared whatever that thing was. She was scared to pieces that the next time, it wouldn’t just use her, but perhaps do things much worse… albeit she was okay with where she had ended up for the time being.

“Right! Haha thanks… sorry it’s just from what happened today… I didn’t want to seem suggestive.”

“Not at all bud, I totally understand” Bynx was ecstatic that Nilla seemed to speak Bynx, whether it be his jokes or his silly ramblings, she hung with it, rather than give the usual puff of frustration that most ponies did. Bynx pulled his bed into Flitzer’s room and set up for the night, keeping his old skyball bat near his mattress.

“Good night Nilla, see you in the morning… first thing in the morning we set off right?” Bynx said through a half yawn and half an attempt to be encouraging.

“Right first thing in the morning, let’s make us a deal, we set out for Flitzer and don’t stop until she’s back”

“Deal” Bynx had felt himself slip out the last word as his eyelids collapsed.

Chp. 3

Light shone in through the window, burning through Bynx's eyelids until he woke. Sputtering, Bynx looked around the room to take stock of where he was, letting his mind come back from dreamland. He hadn't dreamed of anything, seeing only a blackness for a few seconds while a strange red mist enveloped his fetlocks. A voice overhung through the mist whispering

"She is OURS now, you will never find me! Never find her! Never find us!". Bynx slammed his hooves onto his face, forcing himself awake through anger and ambition. Quickly rising he suddenly felt he was somewhere he shouldn't be. He was in Flitzy's room, a place he never imagined staying the night in. Looking around his mind collected itself, scanning for something light cyan colored... Somepony important.

"Nilla!" Bynx exclaimed having suddenly realized she was the single most important tool he had to find Flitzy.

"Yeees?" Nilla sing-songingly called back from the living room. Bynx opened the door, suddenly calmed as if a fire that was burning his house down had gone out in an instant. Nilla had helped herself to some breakfast, which was more than okay with Bynx. He would need her in top form to remember and track down where Flitzy was. As he smiled at Nilla, he only reassured her that she was more than welcome to anything in the house, and that while she stayed with him, she wasfamily... or something like that, he wasn't really sure where they stood on their relationship yet. Nilla seemed grateful, past her syrup covered face, filled to the brim with pancakes and hash-browns.

"Okay, what're we going to do today Nilla, I mean I don't even know where or how to start this search." Bynx was indifferent to the matter at hand and wasn't sure how to feel quite yet.

"Uhh.. I don't really know bud, I suppose we could just walk around and see if it jogs my memory... To be honest I'm still not sure what town we're in, you didn't tell me before you snoozed off... some guard pony you are, curled up with your pillow and whispering something about something being yours... quite creepy if you ask me!" Nilla tried to rekindle the search jokingly, hoping to bring Bynx's spirit up. He seemed alright, but she could only assume he was thrashed on the inside to a point of helplessness she could only speculate. Nilla threw away the paper plate she had used and washed her face in the sink, syrup sticking to her fur. Bynx could only sit and stare at the roof and continue to speculate on what to do, he could try to figure out Nilla, just simply ask her questions to find out where she had come from and hope there would be help there. He could go back to the now demolished Wing Shifter's... Heap we'll call it. He could also still simply go back to bed and pretend this was all a bad dream.

Bynx decided to discover where Nilla was from, hoping that there would lie in a solution to his conundrum.

"Sooo Nilla, where are you from?"

"From a small town over by Fillydelphia. It's only got about 200 ponies, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!" Nilla loved to reminisce about home. She knew everyone and everyone knew each other. It was like having a giant family, everyone to watch everyone's backs and to have communal good times and bad, sharing everything. Bynx could only turn his head in wonder as they weren't even near Fillydelphia, in fact, quite far from it near Stalliongrad. As he informed her of this, he could easily see the disbelief in her eyes. "You're telling me I got possessed, and walked from one end of Equestria to the other?" Bynx could only shake his head, anticipating a breakdown or more questions that Nilla knew the answer to.

Instead she only seemed to take everything in and process it. She picked up on Bynx's gaze, he had been watching her with a questioning look, as he if had one but was too scared to simply ask. "Look man, if you're going to say something, say it! I want to get home and I'm sure you want to find your friend, so if you have a theory on how to do either, I'm all ears." Nilla surprised herself, she was never this brisk. She pondered if she was simply homesick and getting snappy.

"I was supposing to ask a few things, I'll start with what was the last thing you remember seeing before you ended up here?" Bynx inquired using the most gentle tone he could muster, after Nilla's bite at him. She took a sharp breath, huffing itout as he looked at the corner of the room, searching the indefinite space of her mind. She used her magic to throw the window open. As the wind whispered through her, she felt a chill in her soul, suddenly remembering a nightmare. Dropping like the anvil on her backside, she began frantically grabbing at Bynx for consolation. Her vision became that of what had happened that night, flames burning everything. Houses crackling like a cacophony of fire suddenly filled her, and she was home, although it was not how she had hoped to return. She saw a figure walking through town, the embodiment of fire, bathed in blue as the grass bent to the Earth for aid, hoping to escape the creature. It quickly turned its head at Nilla, slowly opening its mouth.

She couldn't move, only sit and watch as the nightmare can trotting at her, as it came upon her. It's jaws only opened wider as it stood above her showing it's red spiked mouth. As it threw down its head, Nilla awoke in living room of Bynx, quickly throwing herself into his arms, making sure she could still feel that she was part of the tangible world and not cooked dinner for a manticore.

"Bynx we have to go to Pony Point right now! I just saw it ablaze and there's a monster! I can't remember if it had my family or not but I need to stop him! Come on lets go go go!" Bynx could only put his arm around her and try to figure out what she was spouting about, poor thing had an aneurism of some sort.

"Okay, okay! we'll go to Pony Point, I'm sure everyone is fine Nilla, we'll get there in no time, and I promise it'll be alright" Bynx could only hope he was right.