Of Ponies and Frogs

A day or two had passed since Sunny and her friends had gone to Amphibia for the first time, and they were in a mix of curiosity, fear for what might lie in that world in wait for them, and excitement for what may come next. After leaving Zephyr Heights and Queen Haven behind after their meal, the Mane 5 hopped back into the Marestream and set off for Maretime Bay… all while Misty was heading back to Opaline’s castle, after the so-called “alicorn queen” had become angry when she found out what the book was that sent the Mane 5 to Amphibia to begin with.

The castle loomed in darkness, and young Misty was now watching silently as Opaline marched the floors, having not said anything for the past few minutes before she spoke up. “And you’re sure you didn’t see them again after they disappeared? They vanished in light, you said?”

“Honest, Opaline-- I swear!” Misty nodded quickly. “And they didn’t come back for about 10 minutes, but they said it felt like longer!” Opaline hummed in thought at this before taking a breath. “Misty… where they went was called Amphibia. Twilight Sparkle had found a magical book from it thousands of moons ago when she first became ruler of Equestria, and she and the Guardians of Harmony hid it for all those years in Zephyr Heights. Now that it has been uncovered, it may assist me in gaining power over all magic WITH the dragon fire you have yet to recieve.”

“...how?” Misty tilted her head in confusion after trying to get rid of the guilt of not being able to retrieve Sparky, leaving Opaline to roll her eyes. “All you have to do is infiltrate the Brighthouse, and steal me a sliver of the book-- a page, one of the gems on the cover, I don’t care what, just get it! And if you do that… you’ll be one step closer to earning your cutie mark.”

Misty’s ears immediately perked at this, and nodded enthusiastically. But before she headed out the door, she stopped and turned back to her adopted mother. “Opaline? If I can’t get a page of the book… would it be okay if I try to get some more information out of these ponies? A-A-At least it would be something.” Opaline was about to yell at her, but then she got to thinking… Misty is very sneaky when it comes to getting information… just… not when it came to claiming dragons. “Yes, Misty,” Opaline responded. “Get whatever you can muster… whether it being a piece of a book or information OR the dragon… do whatever you can accomplish.”

The light blue unicorn nodded and headed out the door, leaving Opaline to herself. The purple alicorn tossed her head to the side, causing the mirror pool to project an image of the Crystal Brighthouse. “I’m coming for you my little ponies… and thanks to Misty, your new friends will be next on my list…”

~ In the Crystal Brighthouse… ~

“All right, everypony,” Zipp pointed to the detective board on her side of the girls’ bedroom. “Let’s go over what we have one last time. First, Mom found this book that took us to the frog-filled world of Amphibia, where we met Anne Boonchuy and the Planters. Apparently, every time the book’s writing glows and shifts into a language we understand, it apparently casts a spell that takes us to Amphibia to accomplish whatever task we need to get done.”

“I hope we get a chance to get back to Amphibia soon,” Sunny said. “It has a certain connection with our cutie marks that I really wanna check out!” Suddenly, there came a knock at the door, and they trotted downstairs to open it, and on the other side of them was Misty, smiling sheepishly. “Hi, Misty!” Izzy waved cheerfully to the other unicorn. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, well… uh… I-I was hoping we could hang out for a while?” Misty spoke, her ears flickering. “I was feeling kinda lonely, and thought to myself ‘Hey! Why not go see Izzy and her friends?’ And now… heh… h-here-- here I am.” Zipp found her nervous behavior strange, but nopony else seemed to notice. “Sure you can hang out with us, Misty,” Sunny smiled and moved aside. “Come on in!” Misty smiled and trotted into the Brighthouse when Zipp noticed her simplistic butterfly cutie mark… to be quite honest, Zipp had never seen it glow before, and that meant two things; one, Misty was nervous to try her unicorn magic and see what her special talent was… or… “Zipp! Come on!” Pipp called. “We wanna show Misty the book!”

“O-Oh! Yeah, coming!” Zipp flew after her friends as they reached the bedroom. “So… what book were you wanting to show me? One about the Guardians of Harmony from Sunny’s sleepover story?” Misty asked, acting oblivious. “Actually, we’re not sure what all it’s about yet, but it’s definitely something magical,” Sunny said before picking the book up and showing it to Misty. “Wow… it’s so pretty!” Misty exclaimed. “But… what makes it magical, exactly?”

“It took us to this CRAZY world the other day called Amphibia, where we saw talking frogs and something called a human,” Pipp said excitedly. “Her name’s Anne and she’s super nice, and she needs help getting back to her own world. Isn’t it exciting?!”

“Y-Yeah. So… has it called you back to this Amphibia place yet?” Misty asked. “Not yet,” Hitch said. “It’s usually when it glows when its about to send us back. But it hasn’t done that since the day we found it.” And as if it was right on cue, the book flipped open with a golden glow, and its writing began to change into one the ponies could understand. “Whoa…” Misty gasped breathlessly. “I guess that moment’s now,” Pipp laughed. “Get ready to move out into froggy-town, ponies!” Sunny turned to the book and cleared her throat before reading: “Two new friends, though with different endeavors, to escape a dangerous threat must work together.”

And just like that, everypony’s cutie marks began to glow (except Misty’s drawn one, since she was in the middle of the group) and the light swirled around them before teleporting them out of the Brighthouse and out of Equestria.

~ In Amphibia… ~

The Planters had just finished breakfast when a portal opened up in their kitchen, and the Mane 5, Sparky and Misty fell out of it with a scream, landing on the cold hard floor. “Holy halibut!” Hop Pop cried out of shock. “Where did y’all come from?!”

“Sorry about that, Hop Pop,” Zipp apologized, fluttering to her hooves. “We’re still getting used to the whole travel by magic thing.” Sprig leapt onto Sunny’s back and hugged her. “Yay! The pony-things and their lizard are back!” he exclaimed. “And there’s another pony-thing with a pointy thing!”

“Planters, this is Misty Brightdawn! Misty, meet Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly-- the family housing Anne until she can go home,” Izzy introduced, and this caused Misty to gulp nervously. “Uh… hi…” she greeted. “Nice to meet you…?”

“Don’t act naive around me, sister! I’m onto you!” Polly waved a rolling pin in Misty’s face, only for Hop Pop to pull her away. “Apologizes for that, my dear,” Hop Pop said with a nervous chuckle. “Sometimes, Polly doesn’t know her own strength and thinks before she acts.”

“Oh, yeah no. I totally get it. Some ponies are just wary of strangers, I guess,” Misty said with a shrug and a chuckle. “So, uh… where’s this Anne-human thing that Sunny and Izzy told me about?”

“Anne’s still down in the basement. We’re just about to go wake her up, come on!” Sprig hopped down into the basement, with Hop Pop sighing worriedly before following him with Polly hopping after him. The ponies flew/bounced/slowly climbed down after them, and just like Sprig said, Anne was fast asleep on her sleeping bag. Misty’s eyes widened in surprise… she had never seen or heard of humans before, but they were certainly an interesting species. Before anyone could say a word, Anne’s eyes snapped open as she sat up with a deep gasp. "Guys, guys, guys. I just had the craziest dream. I was trapped with these talking ponies in a world of frog pe--"

But when she turned, the Planters and ponies and Sparky were staring curiously at her, and Hop Pop croaked, making Anne sigh and pull her knees up to her chest. “Right.”

"Hey, Anne. Sleep good?" Sprig tried to ask, but Hop Pop quickly stopped him from approaching. "Careful, boy! It could be hungry," he warned. "For your guts!" Polly agreed. "Dude, relax," Anne said reassuringly. "Uh, yeah," Pipp said with a disgusted look. "She's not gonna eat something that clearly doesn't bathe." Flies flew around Hop Pop, which one of them was eaten by said frog, only proving Pipp's point. "Fair point."

"See? Told you it was harmless," Sprig said. "Hmph... for now," Hop Pop huffed before going back upstairs. "Just give me an excuse to use old Doris here..." Polly threatened the group, hitting her flipper with her rolling pin before hopping back upstairs with Hop Pop. Anne shuddered in fright. "I think the little one wants to kill me."

"Yup. So, Anne-- this is Misty! She wasn't with the group last time we saw them. Isn't she pretty...?" Sprig asked, and this reaction made Misty gulp. "Oh... nice to meet you dude," Anne shook her hoof. "Uh, you too... human creature," Misty nodded, before making an effort to get to know Anne a little better. "So, you must be so excited to be trapped in another world. Ponies must get suuuuuper jealous," she said, just before clumsily flopping on the floor, making Anne laugh. "It's not all that. I miss my home and my stuff and especially..." Anne trailed off before plucking a photo off the wall. "My friends."

Sprig was handed the photo, and there was two other girls (one with blonde hair and one with black hair) in the photo with her. And... they all looked very happy. "Without them, I just feel kind of lost. You know?" Anne curled up, and Sunny put a comforting hoof on her shoulder as Sprig got an idea. "Well, then, why don't I be your friend in the meantime?"

"You?" Anne questioned. "Me!" Sprig chirped. "And us too!" Izzy agreed, but Anne wasn't totally convinced. "You?" she questioned again. "Come on, it'll be fun! What things did you guys do together?" Sunny asked. "Everything," Anne responded. "Marathon dumb TV shows, drink boba till we vomited, hung out at the beach..."

"Oh! We got a lake!" Sprig realized. "Would going there with me make you feel less homesick?" Anne looked at the photo and then back at Sprig a few times, contemplating her decisions. "Yeah yeah yeah!" Sprig spoke before flashing a pose. "Is gon' be great." Anne and the ponies giggled at this, slowly finding a friend and an ally in the pink frog before Anne decided on what to do. "I like your moxie, frog child. Let's do it!"

Anne rushed up to the bathroom and got ready for a few minutes before she rejoined the group outside the bathroom. "You ready to go?" Zipp asked, pulling out her sunglasses. "Yeah-ah!" Anne cheered, and the group walked/trotted toward the door, but before they could exit, Hop Pop stood in their path. "And where do you kids think you're going?" he asked them sternly. "We're going to the lake!" Sprig said, stretching out the elastic on his trunks. "Ooh, ow..."

"Why? You want in? You wanna come?" Izzy asked. "Absolutely not!" Hop Pop said before lightening his mood. "Look, Anne, you and your friends are new, unsettling, strange, bizarre, gangly, horrifying--"

"Thanks, we got it, dude," Zipp stopped him by raising a hoof. "Point is, the frogs in this town can be pretty small-minded," Hop Pop looked out the window as a frog greeted him from outside. "And paranoid. We just need to give 'em time to get used to ya. I think it's best you stay put." Taking a key out of his pocket, he locked the door before putting the key back where it was. "But--" Anne tried to protest. "No buts!" Hop Pop interrupted. "Now I'm gonna go into my study to get a little reading done."

"Ugh, Hop Pop..." Sprig groaned. "Don't do anything stupid!" Hop Pop told the group before slamming the doors to his study. "Ugh! Adults are all the same," Anne groaned. "...they are?" Misty tilted her head. "Yeah, don't you recognize a pattern?" Anne asked her. "Curfew, rules... old." Misty thought about it and she did realize that Anne had a point... Opaline did set a lot of rules regarding what she could and couldn't do. "Yeah, looks like we're stuck here," Sprig said before getting an idea. "Ooh! I know what'll be fun. Let's try some of Hop Pop's pain peppers!"

"Pain what now?" Hitch blinked, and Izzy and Sparky followed Sprig where a barrel of peppers in bubbling red-hot liquid lay in wait. "So hot, they'll make you wish you were dead," Sprig said before taking one out of the barrel and touching it with his tongue. But, the heat of the pepper made Sprig run around in circle and drink so much more water than Misty had ever drunk in her whole life. All the while, Pipp was laughing and recording the reaction for her to put on Clip Trot later. "Someone just kill me, please! Bleh," Sprig pretended to faint before he tried handing a pepper to Anne. "Your turn."

"No thanks," Anne said with a determined grin. "I'd rather go to the lake."

"Uh... what?" Sprig was about to eat some more peppers when what Anne said made him stop in confusion. "But Hop Pop said, uh--"

"Sprig, you wanna know the best thing about friendship?" Anne asked, coming over. "When you got your friends by your side, anything is possible. Whatever you want, a real friend will help you get. And you know what I want?"

"The lake!" Misty chirped. "Yep," Anne nodded. "Now, let's go rob and old man!!" But this made the ponies and Sprig grimace in how bad that sounded. "Yeah, that didn't sound as cool as I wanted it to."

"Whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa! This is a bad idea," Hitch put his hoof down. "Going behind Hop Pop's back when he thinks he's doing what's best for you guys? It's got trouble written all over it-- IN PERMANENT MARKER!!"

"Come on, Hitch-- we'll only be gone for a little while. And we'll be back before Hop Pop even realizes we're gone," Zipp tried to encourage. "Plus... didn't you ever wanna be a rebel as a kid?"

"Well... all right. I guess it wouldn't hurt to be rebellious for a little while," Hitch said with a heavy sigh. "Just so long as we get back before anypony notices we're gone."

The group then quietly snuck toward Hop Pop's study, seeing him at his desk quietly reading. "Anypony got any ideas?" Sunny asked, just as Sprig got an idea. "Ooh! What if we use fishing line to lower me from the ceiling? Then I grab the key right out of Hop Pop's pocket. I'll move like a shadow!" But as he moved, he nearly knocked over a vase, which Izzy caught with her horn's magic aura. "Shadows knock things over sometimes..." Sprig said sheepishly, just before Zipp's ears caught onto a familiar-sounding noise. "Do you year that?"

The others seemed to hear it as well... and it sounded like it was coming... from Hop Pop? "No... way!" Anne couldn't believe it as they walked over-- Hop Pop was sleeping with his eyes open. "Ooh..." Sparky waved a hand in front of Hop Pop's face. "This might be the creepiest thing I've ever seen," Pipp shuddered. "Happens all the time," Sprig explained. "He makes a great scarecrow." Izzy then levitated the key from Hop Pop's pocket and into Anne's hand, giving it a sniff. "Know what this smells like?" she asked, handing it to Sprig, who licked it, and Misty sniffed it as well. "A key that's been in an old man's pocket?" Sprig assumed. "FREEDOM!!!"

"That was our next guess!" Misty said cheerfully. Once they got the door unlocked, the group headed over to the lake, the forest nice and peaceful. "This is great," Anne sighed. "Just a group of pals beatin' the odds to have some fun."

"Smile!" Pipp sang, and took a selfie of the entire group. "Whoa. Hey, that turned out great!" Sprig took Pipp's phone from her and studied the selfie for a moment. "I don't know what's crazier, that you just stole my soul in a tiny box, or that we look so incredible. I gotta say, this friend business is amazing!"

"Didn't you have friends before we showed up?" Sunny asked curiously, and Sprig's answer of 'uh' made him flashback to a day of which Sprig having played with a skeleton in front of the other kids horrifying them, with Sprig then replying, "Kids around here don't really get me." Misty's ears flattened... she sometimes felt that ponies often didn't understand her... or maybe she didn't understand them. While Misty contemplated this, Anne smiled and playfully punched Sprig on the shoulder. "Well, hey, they are missin' out. Come on."

"So, is punching part of friendship?" Sprig asked. "Absolutely!"

~ A little while later... ~

Soon, they cleared through some bushes and to the lake on the other side. "We made it!" Hitch smiled. "Whoa..." Anne stared at their surroundings. "It's beautiful!"

"It... really is," Misty smiled. But just as the group was about to swim, they noticed a 'don't swim' sign right beside the lake's edge. "Oh. This was not here last week," Sprig observed. "I know exactly what's going on here," Anne figured. "Some jerk just wants this beautiful lake all to themselves. Well, forget that."

"Ah, I don't know, Anne," Zipp studied the sign with her drone. "Whoever wrote this wrote it in a hurry, like they were scared to be here."

"Or maybe they just had bad handwriting. Come on. Don't be a buzzkill," Anne said before dipping her foot in the lake. "Ooh, that's nice." But before she could go further in, Sprig grabbed her with his tounge. "Hey, what are you doing?"

"Something's not right here. Let's just go back," Sprig told her. "Ugh, I thought you were trying to be my friend," Anne groaned. "I am," Sprig told her. "Well, this is what friends do. Remember? They help each other get the things they want."

"Huh?" Misty and the ponies turned confused, as did Sparky, who babbled in question. "Look," Anne sighed. "If a friend likes a pencil case, you get it for them. If your friend likes your new shoes, you give them to her. And if a friend wants you to steal a crazy music box from a thrift store, even if you don't really want to, you do it, okay? Because if you don't, they might not want to be your friend anymore."

Sunny and the ponies looked at one another once Anne said this... was it them, or did Anne think of friendship a different way than they did? Or did that friend Anne talked about sound... manipulative? "...fine," Sprig said before running off. "Fine..." Anne said, sounding a little dejected... just before Sprig came back and jumped into the pond, much to Anne's delight. "Aw, yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about! Cannonball!"

For the next several hours, the group spent the day playing in the water, relaxing on the shoreline, riding giant water bugs, and splashing and hitting each other with giant cattails. But once Anne took a picture of Sprig flexing in the water, she froze at what was behind him. "I was blinking, wasn't I?" Sprig asked. "Sprig..." Sunny gulped, ears pinned. "Don't make any sudden movements."

But just then, a giant water snake rose out of the water, causing the group to swim for their lives as the snake gave them chase. Though Anne and Misty were slowing down, the pegasus sisters’ wings were soaked, making it impossible for them to fly. Sprig and the others came to their rescue, momentarily taking cover on a lily pad. “Sprig, I’m just slowin’ you down, buddy,” Anne panted. “Take the ponies and get outta here. This was my fault anyway. I should have listened to you."

"Friend punch!" Sprig punched Anne hard, causing her to yelp in pain. "Never!" Sprig then told her. "I'm not about to let my first real friends get eaten. We're in this together." But no sooner than he had said this, the snake found them and wrapped its coils around the lily pad. "Hitch, can you talk to it and calm it down?!" Zipp asked, listening to the snake hiss. "I-I don't think it wants to listen!" Hitch stammered. "Any other ideas?"

Without a moment's notice, Sprig leapt on top of Anne's head and grouped the team together with his tongue. "Ah! What are you doing?" Pipp asked. "I have a plan. Stand up!" Sprig urged them to do such. "When I count to three, duck."

"What?! Are you crazy?!" Anne asked him. "Just trust me. All right. One, two... three!" The second the group ducked, Sprig jumped right into the path of the snake's mouth and got swallowed! “SPRIG!!!” Anne screamed. “VENGENCE!!!” Grabbing a stick, she started bashing the snake in the head as it swallowed Sprig, and Pipp and Zipp flew up and started kicking and bashing the snake to help her. But the snake still moved around with Anne on top of it, eventually tossing her into the water. Sunny swam to her aid, but the snake dwelled above them… just as it started emitting fire and spit a screaming Sprig out. “You’re alive!” Zipp caught him in her hooves. “What did you do?” Sprig pulled out a pain pepper with a smirk. “ So hot, they'll make you wish you were dead.”

“You little genius!” Zipp smirked-- that was a pretty solid plan. “And it looked like he couldn’t take the heat.” The group laughed just before the roar of the snake sent them back toward shore. While the group ran on ahead, Misty noticed that her fake cutie mark had washed off in the water, and quickly repainted it back on before she followed the others. All they had to do now was get back there before Hop Pop woke up.

~ A little while later… ~

Hop Pop woke up with a start as the sun started to go down, but once he felt that the key was missing, he began to panic. “The key. It's gone! Oh, no. Did they get out? Is the town rioting? Are they dead? Has Anne eaten the kids, THE WHOLE TOWN?!” He immediately leapt up to search for them, but what he discovered surprised him. “What's this now? It's still locked.” Just to ease curiosity, he peeked down into the basement to discover Sunny, Sprig, Sunny and Pipp playing a board game while the others watched. “Come on. Mama needs a new pair of shoes!” Anne said, rolling the dice. “Seriously though, I do need new shoes.”

“You guys been here all day, huh?” Hop Pop asked suspiciously. “Yes sir!” Sunny smiled. “Anne and I are on a winning streak!”

“I own Zipp my first-born child,” Sprig said optimistically. “Oh, by the way, Hop Pop. We found this on the floor,” Misty handed him the key. “You must have dropped it.”

“Dang shallow pockets. Well, you get what you pay for…” Hop Pop muttered before going back upstairs, just as Polly burst into the basement. “Aha!”

“Oh, hi Polly,” Izzy waved cheerfully, and Polly’s determined face fell. “You're not gonna eat us, are you? You're not even gonna try. Dis... appointing,” she said before hopping back upstairs, leading the group to sigh in relief. “Hey, sorry I almost got us killed today,” Anne apologized. “Are you kidding?” Sprig asked. “That was the most exciting thing that's ever happened to me! My heart was beating faster than a dragonfly on a sugar rush. In fact, I'm feeling a little... sleepy…”

With that, Sprig fell asleep on the stairs, making Anne smile and set Sprig down on her sleeping bag. And just like that, the ponies’ cutie marks began to glow. “I guess you guys gotta go again?” Anne asked. “Yeah… we all need to get used to that,” Zipp said. “Hey… thanks for helping us today,” Anne smiled. “I’m gonna enjoy having you guys around time to time.”

“Us too!” Sunny called before the ponies faded from sight. Once they were gone, Anne pulled out the photo of her friends. “Sasha, Marcy, I hope you guys are okay, because I am.”

~ In Equestria… ~

The ponies reappeared back in the bedroom, sighing in relief. “Phew… what a day,” Pipp sighed. “And we’ve been gone for… 10 minutes again? Sheesh!”

“Who’s up for watching the sunset on the beach?” Hitch asked. “Just as long as we don’t go in the water for the rest of the day, I’m game,” Zipp smiled. “You coming, Misty?”

“I’ll… be right there,” Misty said. Once the others were gone, Misty went over to the book and pulled a page from the back of it before hiding it in her mane. She then left the Brighthouse and headed back toward Opaline’s castle, and Opaline was sitting on her throne when she arrived. “So? Did you get it?” Opaline asked. “...sure did,” Misty nodded, taking the page out. “And I got dragged to Amphibia with them. It’s strange, but… actually kinda nice.”

“Ugh… I don’t care about that,” Opaline ripped the page from Misty’s grasp. “Now go make yourself scarce, Misty. I’ll call you when it’s time for your next mission.” Misty nodded and retreated to her room, and once she was behind closed doors, she sighed and looked hopefully at the heavens. “I hope I get to go back soon… that was the most fun I’ve ever had.”

~ In Amphibia… ~

Meanwhile, during a stormy night at a tower called Toad Tower, a large intimidating toad was seen in front of a cell, holding one of Anne’s shoes. “Take a look at this please, Sasha. It was found far from here, in the South Forest. Now we know that you've been lying to us,” he said to the same blonde haired girl from Anne’s photo. “Now we know that there are more of you.”