The Defective Warp Pipe

Chapters

Prologue
Chapter 2: Delays, Delays
Chapter 3: Stranger Number Two
Chapter 4: Answers
Chapter 5: The Rescue
Chapter 6: The Connection
Chapter 7: All Better
Chapter 8: Repayment
Chapter 9: The Ride
Chapter 10: Information and Indulgences
Chapter 11: Down Time
Chapter 12: Into the Mines
Chapter 13: Digging with Doggies
Chapter 14: One More Night?
Chapter 15: The Big Reveal
Chapter 16: More Answers
Chapter 17: One Last Hoorah
Chapter 18: Farewell?
Epilogue
A Letter to My Wonderful Readers (MULTIPLE UPDATES)
Chapter 1: A Gripe with the Pipe
Chapter 19: The Princess, The Plumber, and the Produce

Prologue

It was just like any other level. He needed the extra jump— I knew he would. The gap in level 3-2 was just too far for a clean jump; it happens. So I figured, just like any other level, I would drop below and run until I found a pipe that would bring me back to the Junction so I could be sent out in the next egg.

Problem was, I’d been running for about an hour. This wasn’t like the usual levels I faced with Mario— I usually got to a pipe within two or three minutes. The longest it had ever taken me to get to a pipe was in one of the desert levels, and that only took about 15 minutes. So… what had happened to the pipes? Had Bowser figured out the underground system and destroyed them all? I didn’t know how he could have… THERE it was! I was going to say! Well, this level definitely had the new record of the longest time it’s taken to get to a return pipe. I jumped— Geronimoooooooooo!

Author's Note

For any new readers to this story, I should let you know that it was originally rated Mature— some of the early comments will reflect that. I have re-edited it and re-written it a bit: I altered the few scenes that required the Mature tag, but there is still a fair amount of innuendo, as well as a number of implied scenes and/or actions. While it was just enough to warrant the tag, the difference was minimal, so I honestly wouldn't bother, but if you really want, you can find the original (but not as well-edited) NSFW version [here].

This was also my very first fanfiction, so the writing is nowhere near as polished as most of my later work, as both my and my editor's skills have improved drastically since then. I decided to leave it alone after its final re-edit so we can see exactly how much our skills have improved.

Okay, 'disclaimer' is over; I hope you enjoy the story! :twilightsmile:

Chapter 2: Delays, Delays

We managed to get to the library without making much of a scene, but we did earn a few suspicious eyeballs. I was worried that the pony Spike called Twilight would want to make a thorough examination of me when I had so little time to get back home. However, it turned out Twilight wasn’t the one that would delay me…

When Twilight came to speak with me, Spike was ready to translate. However, he seemed to be a little shocked by the words that came out of her mouth. “Personally, Mr. Yoshi, I would love to do a little research on you, but I recognize the expression on your face. You really want to get back home, don’t you?” I gave her a vigorous nod. “Okay. I know a teleportation spell, but it’s only strong enough to go short distances, and it only works within the kingdom of Equestria. If I’m going to be able to get you back home, I still need to do some research to find this Mushroom Kingdom if I’m going to be able to get you there. Getting enough information is going to take some time— I’m guessing at least one full day. Is that okay?”

The fact that she was helping me at all, I was so grateful that I couldn’t say no. Besides, I didn’t know of another way to get back home on my own, so I nodded.

“Okay. I’ll get right on it.”

“Um, excuse me? But I don’t think he should be going anywhere yet.” I jumped as I heard a soft voice behind me, then whirled around to find the pony named Fluttershy at my back. “Mr. Yoshi, you’re injured. Your left leg has a big bruise, and you have a cut on your back. I… I saw it because your saddle was hanging crooked.”

From all the shock of being in this strange land, I didn’t even think to look at my injuries. Now that Fluttershy mentioned it, my back did feel a little odd, but it was nothing major. However, I now knew what that cringing from before was about— my leg definitely didn’t feel as springy as usual. I must have caused some damage when I landed on it.

Spike spoke to me this time. “Yoshi, Fluttershy is the best caretaker in town other than the doctors, and you have at least a full day before Twilight comes up with any answers for you anyway. I think you should get looked at.”

“That sounds alright with me,” I said. “But I want to know as soon as any information comes up.”

“He says he’s okay with it, Fluttershy, but he wants to know as soon as you find out anything, Twilight.” Spike turned his attention from one pony to the other as he spoke.

“Okay,” the two ponies said in unison.

“Um, come this way with me, please,” Fluttershy said to me. I turned to follow her out the door, Spike trailing behind me. I heard him yell to Twilight that he should stay with me so he could translate, and Twilight told him it was a good idea. I also saw Fluttershy sigh with relief. It was clear she was going to need to be able to talk to me, so she needed Spike with us.

I hobbled out of the library into the main square, following Fluttershy’s lead. I tried not to make too much noise, but my leg started acting up and I winced again. When some of the villagers heard me and looked in my direction, I could tell right away that they were becoming apprehensive.

“What’s that creature with Fluttershy?”

“That’s definitely no pony!”

“Is that Spike’s brother?”

“It looks hurt!”

I was a little surprised, but quite glad that they didn’t make too much of a scene. The inhabitants of Ponyville seemed to be curious, but not chaotic creatures.

I made it to Fluttershy’s home without too much trouble. She had me sit on her couch while she looked at my wounds. First looking at my back, she told me, “Luckily, this is just a minor cut, Mr. Yoshi; it's not very big. I’m just going to clean it out and put a bandage on it— is that alright?” I nodded. Maybe Spike wouldn’t need to do a lot of work after all.

Fluttershy wet a towel and cleaned off the wound, dabbed on some liquid that stung for a second, then applied what I could only assume was a bandage. After which, she straightened my saddle again. “OK, all done. Now could you turn around, please? I want to see your leg.” I did as I was told. I could really feel the pain this time. Uh oh… “Mr. Yoshi, I want to see how much this bruise hurts, okay? Does it hurt when I touch it here?”

“YOSHI!”

“Fluttershy, stop!” Spike yelled. Oh no, I didn’t scream my name in my own tongue unless I was in a lot of pain.

“Oh my… Mr. Yoshi, I barely touched your leg. I think you might have sprained it. How in Equestria have you been walking on it for this long?”

That was a good question. How was I not in more pain? Did the shock of landing in Ponyville really cause me to not feel it for that long? I didn’t like where this was going…

Fluttershy said, “Mr. Yoshi, I want to try it one more time— it could have been a fluke. Is that alright?”

I winced, but I nodded. I hoped I didn’t have a sprain in a strange land where I barely knew anyone. I could feel Fluttershy’s hoof getting closer to my leg, then I felt a slight tap.

“YOSHI!” Oh no. She was right.

“Oh my. Mr. Yoshi, I’m sorry, but you’re going to need to stay here in Ponyville for a while. You definitely have a sprained leg. Let me get some bandages.”

Shoot. Why me? Why now? This timing was horrible.

I saw a little white rabbit hop up to the couch with a roll of bandaging tape. “Why, thank you, Angel! Mr. Yoshi, this is my good friend, Angel Bunny. Angel, this is Mr. Yoshi.”

“Just Yoshi is fine, Miss Fluttershy. Thank you very much.” I gave a small wave to the bunny she had just introduced— a gesture he returned with a smile.

Spike helped me out. “Fluttershy, he said you can call him just Yoshi. And he says thank you very much.”

I saw her blush a little bit. “Okay, and you’re very welcome. I, um, apologize for the circumstances.” It seemed as if she wasn’t used to being complimented on doing something right. I couldn’t tell if that was really the case, but she was clearly the most timid of the group of ponies I had just met. “Angel, didn’t I see a board about this size yesterday? Do you know where it was?” I saw the rabbit jiggle its head up and down very quickly and then hop away. “Um, Yoshi, Angel is going to get me a splint, and then I’m going to wrap up your leg. Luckily, everything else is alright. Unfortunately, that means you really should, um, stay off that leg for at least a week. Probably more.”

Oh NO! I needed to get back to Yoshi Island! I needed to get back to Mario! I couldn’t wait a week! Still… I wouldn’t be much help with a sprained leg, and the ponies seemed to be very friendly. I figured I would be better off. But I needed to find a way to contact the Mushroom Kingdom and tell them I was alright! First things first, however…

“That’s perfect, Angel! Thank you so much!” I looked up and saw Fluttershy with a board in one hoof and the bandages in the other. “Mr. Yoshi, would you please stick your leg out for me? I won’t lie, this will hurt for the first few seconds.” I had anticipated that— I was ready. “OK, Mr. Yoshi, here we go.”

I gave a hard wince as Fluttershy set the splint against my leg. She apologized again as she started wrapping it up. It took about a minute or so, but when she was done, I looked up and saw my leg cleanly wrapped, and Fluttershy standing over me with an apologetic smile. I’ll be honest— it hurt. But the support definitely made it hurt less. I let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you very much, Miss Fluttershy.”

“He said thank you very much, Fluttershy.” It seemed Spike was translating a lot of ‘thank-yous’ for me.

I noticed her blushing again. “Oh, um, you’re very welcome. I hope it didn’t hurt too much. Now the question is, how are you going to get around? I’m guessing you won’t want to be bed-ridden?”

I shook my head. I had been wondering that, too. The ponies clearly didn’t use crutches like the people in the Mushroom Kingdom do. I don’t think my arms would have supported crutches anyway. What was I going to do? All my motorcycles and karts were at the racetracks in the Mushroom Kingdom…

Then Fluttershy put up a hoof and exclaimed, “Wait! I, um, I have an idea. Spike, do you mind staying here with Mr. Yoshi for a little while? I’ll be back soon.”

“Sure thing! And Fluttershy, he did say you could call him Yoshi.” I nodded my approval, but she was out the door already. Spike turned back to me and said, “Geez, I’m really sorry about all this. You’re in a bit of a rough spot, huh?”

I nodded and replied, “Yeah, no kidding. Fluttershy seemed pretty happy about her idea, though. Do you have any idea what she’s thinking about? I’ve never sprained anything before.”

“No idea. Most of the solutions she finds involve her forest friends, but I can’t see how they could help you support a sprained leg for a week.”

“You mean she has more little animal friends other than her rabbit, Angel?”

“Oh, you don’t know the half of it…”

About an hour later, Spike had told me most of the advanced aspects of the pony community. It had started with an explanation of Fluttershy’s special way with animals, which led to the mention of her Cutie Mark. This in turn led to the explanation of what a cutie mark was, and the other five ponies’ cutie marks, and that was just the beginning! Spike was just starting on Pinkie Pie’s cupcakes when Fluttershy came back.

As she slowly came through her door, Fluttershy said, “Um, I’m sorry I took so long. It took me a while to find the pony I was looking for.”

Spike asked for the both of us, “Who were you looking for, Fluttershy? What did you think of?”

“Well, um, I was looking for Scootaloo. I asked her if I could borrow this.” She then wheeled in a wagon that looked like it had been modified for downhill racing: a steering wheel had been attached, and the back wheels had been replaced with much bigger ones so they could be reached from inside the top of the wagon. It was perfect!

Fluttershy could clearly see my excited expression, but Spike still had to translate this one: “It’s perfect! That will definitely work for a week or so. But, are you sure I have permission to use this? It looks like it's being very well cared for.” Spike gave Fluttershy the long and the short of it.

“Oh yes, Mr. Yoshi. I told Scootaloo I needed it for an injured friend who would only be staying here until he got better. She said, ‘If he needs a ride, he might as well ride in style!’ and gave me the all-clear. She also said she had taken a break from the wagon and had been more focused on her scooter, anyway, so you have it for as long as you need it!”

I gave Fluttershy a very grateful smile and climbed into the wagon to test it out. It seemed quite large— big enough for two ponies, or maybe three young ones. I was just able to reach the large wheels to give it some acceleration, and the steering wheel worked quite well. I turned to Fluttershy and said, “I would like to meet this Scootaloo and give her my thanks. Where is she?” Spike informed Fluttershy of my wishes.

Fluttershy seemed to be totally fine with me meeting Scootaloo. She said, “I finally found her in the Sweet Apple Acres orchards with the Crusaders, and she brought me to her storage shack to give me the wagon. Let’s ask Applejack if she went back.”

I turned to Spike and asked, “Crusaders?”

He rolled his eyes a little before he answered, “That’s a story for them to tell you themselves. If you’re up to it, ask them when we find them. It may be a longer story than you’re willing to hear. Basically, they’re three fillies, that’s young ponies, that formed a little club, but it’s a bit more than that…”

I nodded, then followed Fluttershy out the door in my new transport apparatus, with Spike trailing closely behind explaining about the aforementioned fillies.

Chapter 3: Stranger Number Two

With me using my borrowed transport device, we made it to the place Fluttershy called ‘Sweet Apple Acres’ fairly quickly, despite it being on the other edge of town. We met the Earth Pony named Applejack outside the gate, and it seemed she was about to go somewhere. We had good timing. Spike called to her from behind me.

“Hey, Applejack! Are the Crusaders still out in the orchards?”

Applejack turned and noticed us, giving a smile and a bit of a chuckle. “Aw, heya Spike. Heya, Fluttershy. Mr. Yoshi, Ah see yer doin’ well with Scootaloo’s wagon. How’s yer leg feelin’?”

I shot Spike a quick look. He knew what I was thinking, and spoke before I even needed to. “Applejack, you can call him just ‘Yoshi’. He said so back in Fluttershy’s cabin.” I nodded. I really didn’t like the formality.

When I thought about it, how did Applejack know about my leg? I mean, it was clearly wrapped up, but she must have known about it previously, because otherwise she would have looked more surprised to see me in this condition…

“Heh, Ah see that expression Mister—oops, sorry—Yoshi. Scootaloo told me about ‘Fluttershy’s friend’s leg’ when she left to get ya her wagon. Ah knew she was talkin’ ‘bout you. And yes, she went back into th’ orchards with the other crusaders. I’m guessin’ she’s told Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle ‘bout ‘Fluttershy’s friend’ by now. Wait ‘til they meetcha!”

I figured if Scootaloo was kind enough to let me borrow a means of transportation, I could at least meet her friends as well. I gave a nod of thanks to Applejack, then turned to roll off in the direction of the orchards where she said the fillies were.
I realized we were going to go up over hills of grass, and I was in a wagon. It would have been problematic, but it was Fluttershy’s turn to read my mind. “Don’t worry, Yoshi— I’ll push you up the hills. We can clean the wheels for Scootaloo when you’re feeling better.”

These ponies must have been psychic! I breathed a sigh of relief and gave Fluttershy a smile of thanks, to which she blushed a little again. We headed off toward the fillies and found them not horribly far from the entrance to the orchard.

As soon as they spotted us over the horizon, I heard them. “Golly, Scootaloo! I never thought yer wagon would actually come in use one day!”

“Oh shut it, Apple Bloom. I did tell ya, didn’t I? I knew there was a reason I kept working on that wagon, I just didn’t think it’d be moving on grass instead of road! But I tell ya, he looks good in it!”

I was quite glad they didn’t make a fuss over what kind of creature I was compared to them, but I wasn’t totally surprised. Children tend to be much more accepting than adults. Fluttershy wheeled me over to them, with Spike in tow.

The moment we approached, I could tell they were about to burst with questions, and so could Fluttershy. Luckily, she got her words in right as the children opened their mouths to start the barrage. “Now girls, before you start asking questions, I need to clear something up. This is Yoshi— he can understand what you say, but he can’t speak in our language, so Spike needs to translate. That means you need to keep your questions one at a time so they can work together to answer everything, alright?”

“Yes, Fluttershy,” the three fillies all said in unison. They seemed to have great respect for her.

“Yoshi and Spike, I’ll let you take it from here, okay?” I nodded, as did Spike. Satisfied, Fluttershy trotted off to the entrance to Sweet Apple Acres to go after Applejack.

Before the girls began their questioning, however, I spoke up with my voice that seemed to startle them. “Before you start asking questions— Scootaloo, I would like to thank you for allowing me to use your wagon to get around. I’d be stuck in bed if not for you. I will make sure to clean it when I get better and can walk on my own.” Spike gave a word-for-word translation.

“Aw shucks, it’s not a problem. I haven’t used it for a while— I’ve just been keeping it in fair condition. I guess it finally came in handy!”

After about half an hour of questions, including what I was, where I came from, how I got hurt, etc, they finally seemed to be out of ideas. I had asked them a few questions as well, including all of their names, but decided not to get too involved in the origin of their club. Finally, Sweetie Belle asked, “How long are you going to stay here, Mr. Yoshi?” I shrugged, then gave a glance to Spike.

“Girls, you can just call him ‘Yoshi.’ He said ‘Mr. Yoshi’ is too formal for him.”

Apple Bloom piped up, “Ahright. But wait, how are ya sure? He didn’t say nothin’ to ya!” I chuckled a bit.

“Good point, Apple Bloom. He’s told me to tell that to everypony that’s called him ‘Mister’ so far, so at this point, his glance is a good enough sign.” I nodded in agreement.

Scootaloo got excited at that. “Hey, that’s cool, Spike! But you should tell everypony you can read his mind! That would be cooler! HEY! Girls, we should try that! CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS MIND READERS!” They then went speeding out of the orchard. Spike and I both started laughing.

I asked Spike, “Do they do that frequently?"

He responded, “You’d be surprised. When they get an idea for something they could do to earn their Cutie Marks, they go running off together in an instant to go and do it. Looks like we inspired another idea!” Both of us laughed again.

I realized that the girls were gone, but we were still in the middle of the orchards. How was I going to get over the hill? However, it seemed Fluttershy had had another psychic moment and came trotting over the horizon to meet us.

“I saw the girls running out of the orchards, so I thought you would be wanting to get back over the hills. Need some help?” I nodded in response, and Spike breathed a sigh of relief. Without much trouble, we got back to the entrance to the Acres. Applejack had returned, and was shooting the breeze with a pony who was introduced to me as her brother, Big Macintosh. We said our goodbyes, then headed back to the library for some rest after the long chat with the three fillies. Fluttershy dropped us off with Twilight and went back home.

I made the executive decision that I should still lay low from the rest of Ponyville for a little while. I didn’t want to be too forward with the population, especially since I couldn’t speak to them directly. Twilight had put all her current projects on hold while she did research to find a way to get me home. Despite all her efforts, it seemed to be taking a while. Even though I was worried about Mario, whose missions are a lot tougher without me, I didn’t want to nudge her— she was doing all she could to help me, and butting my oversized nose into her work wouldn’t have been a great way to thank her. After about five days of no results, I was starting to feel a bit down. On the sixth day, however, a new factor was presented to us.

While Twilight was doing still more research, and I was casually chatting with Spike, a figure that turned out to be Fluttershy suddenly slammed into the door. She opened it and yelled (or what was considered a yell for Fluttershy apparently) for me.

“Yoshi! We need you! Somepony else that’s not a pony appeared out of nowhere nearby the Everfree Forest! Angel found him pretty beaten by a tree, and he was saying your name!”

What in Peach’s name? Who would have followed me here to this strange land? “Fluttershy, what did he look like?” Spike asked her for me.

“Well, he didn’t say much. He just said your name a few times. But he looked a bit like a big mushroom…”

“Big mushroom?” It couldn’t be… “That’s Toad! They don’t send him out except for emergencies! Something big must be happening in the Mushroom Kingdom!” Spike finished translating as I limped back into Scootaloo’s wagon and wheeled right out the door. Then I realized Fluttershy had to tell me where he was first…

When I glanced back at Fluttershy, she said, “I’ll bring you to him, Yoshi. He’s out in this direction.”

We made it to where Toad had ended up fairly quickly with me in Scootaloo’s wagon. He was pretty battered— it looked like someone had beaten him up something awful. Since Toad was one of the few from the Mushroom Kingdom who understood me, I asked him outright, “Toad, what happened? Are you alright?”

His voice was hoarse, and he spoke slowly. “Well… I was tired of sitting on the sidelines while you guys always went looking for the Princess… So, right after Mario left, I started making my way through a bunch of the shortcuts to Bowser’s castle to try and find Princess Peach… She wasn’t there. I thought maybe she was just in another castle, but Bowser came out himself… He started beating me up, saying I was trespassing…”

This worried me. Bowser wasn’t usually this cruel, even to Mario. But Toad took a deep breath and continued, “Bowser then did something I never thought he would ever do— he apologized. Apparently he was just really mad. He told me he had been beaten to the punch, no pun intended. Turns out he didn’t take Peach. Someone else did. Bowser told me the whole story.” By this time, all of Fluttershy’s friends had made it to where we were, and were listening to Toad’s explanation.

“It turns out that somehow a creature that looks kind of like a dragon-horse made his way into the Mushroom Kingdom during the middle of one of Mario’s missions. The creature caused some kind of time-space loop or something. The timer has been going crazy, all the levels seem to be infinitely blending together, and Mario still hasn’t gotten to the end of level 3-2. It’s pure CHAOS! I don’t know what it all means, but…… what?”

Toad had cut himself off. I turned around, confused. We saw all of the ponies, as well as Spike, staring at him with their eyes out of their heads and their mouths open. They all looked at each other and nodded in agreement. Then, as if it had been rehearsed, they all said it in unison:

“Discord!”

Chapter 4: Answers

I put Toad in Scootaloo’s wagon, then slowly began pushing him back to Fluttershy’s cabin as the rest of the ponies dispersed. Fluttershy offered to push, but I insisted. I felt it was my duty, despite my own wounds. With Toad being as hurt as he was, I knew I had to give the ponies a hand in taking care of him, especially considering how much they were helping me already.

As we traversed the path, I began interrogating Toad myself. “Toad, I’m sorry you went through all this, but I have to ask— you never mentioned how you ended up here…”

Toad sighed. “Oh, sorry. I kind of got cut off by those creatures’ exclamations of that weird name. It was a strange, but fairly easy bit of travel. After Bowser explained what happened, he got really angry again. He picked me up in his claws and just threw me out over his gates as hard as he could. I was flying so fast I had no idea where I was going to land, but when I descended, I found myself landing in this warp pipe in the underground system that seemed to be in the middle of nowhere. I had no idea where I was going to end up, and I guess I… fainted out of sheer terror.

“When I opened my eyes, I was at the edge of that forest. I don’t know how long I was passed out for, but I knew if anyone had, the most likely one to have gone through that pipe before me was you. You’re the only one I know of that uses the underground pipe system regularly, so when those creatures found me, I asked for you by name. Boy, am I glad you were… here…” He then passed out with an odd look that seemed to be a strange combination of pain and euphoria.

When we got to Fluttershy’s cabin, she told me she would take a look at Toad, and that I should go back to the library to speak with Twilight. Apparently, she had found some new information about getting me, and now Toad as well, back to the Mushroom Kingdom. Fluttershy also instructed me to get myself back in the wagon, because as far as she was concerned, I shouldn’t have been out of it at all. She conceded that Toad did need it for that one instance, however.

After I left Toad in Fluttershy’s care, I got back in the wagon and made my way to the library to see Twilight. I wasn’t worried about the citizens of Ponyville seeing me anymore, but I still didn’t approach them. It was still too soon.

Spike was waiting with Twilight to help translate for me. That was a big relief. As soon as I walked in, Twilight relayed the info she had found out.

“Ah! Yoshi, you’re back! I’ve been waiting to give you the good news! Right before we dashed out to the forest, I found a way to enhance my teleportation spell to get you to the Mushroom Kingdom from here. Unfortunately, it requires the use of a specific gemstone. It’s called an Augmentation Stone. They’re somewhat rare, but from what I know about Ponyville’s history, I’m confident that there would be a few in the mines near here. We’ll need Rarity to help us find them. I need at least three.” I remembered Spike telling me about Rarity’s ability to find gems— it was her special talent. “I found a spell to help Rarity in finding the gems, so we can get started right away if you like. I understand if you want to comfort your friend Toad, though.”

I answered, “Toad is in Fluttershy’s care. I trust her completely— Toad will be alright, and he knows what we’ve been trying to do. He’ll be fine with her for a time while he heals. Let’s start the search!” Spike translated for me, word for word.

“Okay, Yoshi, let’s go get Rarity. She may be watching the Crusaders right now, but I heard about your inspiration for them. They really took to the mind-readers idea!” We both chuckled at the thought. I then got in my wagon, and Twilight and I headed over to Rarity’s Boutique.

“You need moi to find some gemstones for you, darling? It shouldn’t be a problem! Especially if what Twilight says is true, and she has found a spell to enhance my ability, we should be able to find these Augmentation Stones in no time flat!”

I was glad to hear Rarity’s excitement in helping me. I knew that I would be home again soon, but I still needed recovery time, as did Toad now.

Twilight seemed to be thinking the same thing. “Wait, Yoshi. Are you sure you want to go searching for the stones now? I believe Fluttershy was right— you should be resting for at least a few more days before you do anything too strenuous again.” I was resistant to the prospect at first, but I realized Twilight was right. I needed more recovery time; I wasn’t much help in a wagon. Toad wouldn’t be much help in his current state, either. I conceded to her suggestion. We could start searching in a few days…

Author's Note

From now on, whenever there is any speech of Yoshi’s in "quotes AND italics" at the same time, it is to be assumed that Spike has translated for him. Hopefully it will make the story flow much more easily.

Chapter 5: The Rescue

After I conceded to more down time, Fluttershy offered, and I accepted, to stay with her at her cottage so I could keep an eye on Toad while he healed. I had not gotten back up to 100% myself yet, so Fluttershy wanted to keep an eye on me. I was fine with that— I had gotten quite fond of her.

It was during this healing time that Fluttershy and I grew rather close. I found that we were having fewer and fewer issues with the language boundary; she seemed to just be able to tell what I was thinking at a glance of my facial expressions, and if I wanted to tell or ask her something a bit more complex, a quick game of charades usually solved the confusion.

I spoke to Twilight Sparkle one day, and she told me that Spike was feeling a bit lonely now that I didn’t need him to translate as much, seeing as I spent a lot of time with Fluttershy. After he had his spotlight, what with being the only one able to understand me, he was upset that it didn’t last a bit longer. I had a talk with Spike, and I told him that at some point, I would want to meet some other folks in Ponyville. When that day came, I would need him right by my side again. That seemed to cheer him up. As it turned out, that day came sooner than I anticipated…

“Are you sure you don’t want me to take a look, darling? I am going to be in the mines anyway. I’m going on a supply run, as t’were.”

I had been in the library speaking with Twilight about Equestria’s history. Since I was going to be there for a little longer, I wanted to know a bit more about the world I was in, and from what I learned from my new friends, Twilight was the one to speak to about anything historical. While Twilight was lecturing me about Starswirl the Bearded, and Spike was cleaning house, Rarity came by.

“Thank you for the offer, Rarity, but I would really like to come along on any search for the Augmentation Stones, and my leg hasn’t completely healed yet.”

“I understand, dear. Just trying to save time, that’s all. Wouldn’t want to waste a perfectly good trip to the mines, especially if it isn’t for my own purposes.”

“And I really appreciate that. It’s kind of a personal thing, though. Besides, I have a feeling Toad would want to come along, too. After he’s better, of course.”

“I completely understand, darling. Heal quickly, though— even if I come back with a big haul today, my gem supplies tend to go rather fast. I’ll be back in the mines again before you know it.”

“I’ll try. It’s up to Fluttershy’s expertise to determine if I’m really better, though.”

“Ahh, yes. Fluttershy does have a leg up on us when it comes to medical prowess, doesn’t she? Is that the only thing she’s had a leg up on lately?” Rarity flashed me a little smirk, winked, and giggled as she shut the door behind her. My jaw dropped.

I made a quick one-eighty, and looked at Twilight and Spike. They were both covering their mouths, but were obviously suppressing giggles themselves. “And just what was that supposed to mean?” Spike was still clearly holding back a laugh as he translated for me.

“Oh, come on, Yoshi.” Twilight seemed to have gathered her composure, but she was still smiling. “You’ve been staying with Fluttershy for the past few days. We haven’t seen you around the rest of Ponyville as often since you agreed to take more time to heal. It’s a little obvious what’s going on between you two. I wasn’t sure what to make of it with you since I don’t know you as well, but to be honest, I’m not totally surprised about Fluttershy. Different has always been her forte.”

WHAAAA… Even my thoughts were dumbfounded. “WHAT? We didn’t… I never… I can’t believe you’d…” I shook my head and hobbled out of the library as fast as I could. I couldn’t hear him, but I could only assume that Spike translated my mutterings to Twilight as I was hobbling back to Fluttershy’s cottage. Then I realized, I couldn’t see Fluttershy right now— not after what I had just heard. I didn’t know what I would say to her. I had to go somewhere else.

The first thought that ran through my mind was that I had stupidly left Scootaloo’s wagon in the library, but I couldn’t go back and face Twilight and Spike after that conversation. I decided I would deal with it— I figured I could try out walking to see how my leg felt putting pressure on it again.

My next thought was that I would forgo what Fluttershy said about my healing time and follow Rarity into the mines, so I started in the direction of the mountain. But as I hobbled that way, my leg throbbed. I realized I was still in no condition to go into the mines— I had no idea what it was like. I stopped in my tracks. I was right at the edge of Ponyville; there were some shady trees right off the path, so I sat down to rest under one of them for a little while. I would talk to Fluttershy later.

When I awoke, there was a small herd of ponies on the path by my tree. I didn’t know any of them, but some of them looked rather familiar. I realized that they must have been a few of the ponies that saw me the first time I traveled from the library to Fluttershy’s cottage. I was afraid to open my mouth— I didn’t want to make the wrong impression by not being understood, so I just smiled and waved. Some of the ponies flinched, but others smiled and waved back. I wasn’t sure what move to make next…

I didn’t have to make that decision. Just then, we all heard a shriek. It was coming from the mines. After a few seconds, I heard a familiar voice: “Back! Get back, you beasts! This is absolutely NOT your territory! I checked before I started gathering!” It was Rarity!

I heard what sounded like a bark, then another shriek. I stood up quickly, and my leg began throbbing again. Then a sharp pain shot through it; I fell back against the tree, clutching it. I couldn’t get up.

About a minute later, there was a crash, and Rarity came galloping out of the mines with all her might, with two ugly creatures that looked like dogs running after her. In much the same fashion my friends yelled the name “Discord” a few days ago, the herd of ponies all shouted, “Diamond Dogs!” They began to chatter amongst each other, and when it was clear that Rarity was running in our direction, all the ponies screamed and darted behind the other trees nearby. Obviously the ponies were too scared of these creatures to help Rarity, so I had to do something. She was a new friend, and she was the only chance I had of finding the Augmentation Stones and getting home.

I flipped my body around and got onto my belly, in hopes of crawling towards the path and tripping one of the dogs. However, my instincts had another idea. As soon as Rarity galloped past me, I shot out my tongue and swallowed one of the dogs whole. The egg that contained him popped out behind me and smashed into the tree, breaking instantly. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten about my tongue! The Diamond Dog got up, a little dazed, clearly not knowing what had just happened. He did, however, know that I had something to do with it, because he snarled at me and began running at me. I quickly flipped around and shot out my tongue again. This time when I swallowed him, the egg landed on the path, with no harm done to it whatsoever. As I heard him mumbling and yelling inside, I turned to the other dog, who was wearing an expression showing a combination of anger and fear. I shot him a nasty grin. He whimpered, then grabbed the other Diamond Dog’s egg and rolled it back into the mines.

There was a moment’s silence as I looked around at all the other ponies, whose heads were peering around the trees to see what had happened. All their mouths were agape. I gave a nervous smile and waved at them, then there was a loud cheer.

I saw Rarity walking back up the path with Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike. When the first thing they saw was me laying on the ground, holding my leg and cringing, all of them galloped over to me with worried expressions on their faces.

“Oh my goodness, what happened?” Fluttershy was the first to speak. The others were looking around, clearly wondering what all the cheering was about.

I answered, “Well… Rarity was running out of the mines… chased by these dogs… I had to do something…”

“Wait, what? Dogs?!” Spike flinched as he finished translating.

Rarity spoke next. “Of course! The Diamond Dogs! Darling! Are you saying you chased off those horrible creatures?”

I was going to say, ‘Well, I didn’t exactly chase them,’ but I simply nodded with a small smirk. I was in too much pain. “Why dear, you saved my life! Those Diamond Dogs are bad news! They claimed I was on their territory while I was collecting gems.”

Twilight turned to her. “Well, were you? It wouldn’t be the first time. You should know better than—”

“Of course not! I know those dogs’ territory like the back of my hoof. I know perfectly well to stay away from them. You can see why!” Twilight seemed unconvinced, but didn’t press the matter further.

“Why Yoshi, you should know better than to do anything strenuous on that leg! What…” Fluttershy’s words were drowned out by the roar of the crowd. When it was apparent there was no clear and present danger, all the ponies began to crowd around us.

“He’s amazing!”

“He’s incredible!”

“He wasn’t even standing up!”

“He swallowed that Diamond Dog WHOLE!”

“STOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP!” The crowd fell silent. Fluttershy was standing over me with her hooves up, panting, signalling them to stay away. I had never heard Fluttershy actually yell with volume. Clearly only a select few in Ponyville had heard it before as well. “He’s injured! Can’t you see he’s in pain? Back away! He needs to be treated first!”

There was a voice from the crowd. “Let’s bring him to the hospital! Nurse Redheart will—“

“NO! He’s coming with me back to my house! I’ve been treating him since he got here, and I will continue to do just that!” The other ponies obviously knew not to mess with Fluttershy when she was like this, so they didn’t argue. They backed up to give us some room.

Luckily for me, Twilight had been pulling my wagon behind her. With some difficulty, I hobbled into it, and the five of us went back to Fluttershy’s cottage. Behind us, another cheer let up, fading away as we went down the path.

As we walked (and rolled), I noticed that Spike seemed to be suppressing a smile. “Um, Yoshi?” I turned to face him. “You’re gonna be famous after that! Everypony is going to want to ask you questions. Do—”

With a cringe, I smiled back at him and cut him off before he could continue. “I think you’re right, Spike. Looks like I’m going to need my official translator again.”

With a quick salute, Spike said, “Can do!” He then ran behind me and started pushing the wagon for me. Before he started pushing, I saw him make a little fist pump and whisper to himself, “Yes!” I chuckled a little. If Spike was right, and I was to be Ponyville’s newest celebrity, then he was going to be as well. The only one in town who could understand that new celebrity was sure to have a place in the spotlight if I wasn’t around.

Chapter 6: The Connection

As Spike predicted, I became quite well-known among the citizens of Ponyville. Every time I rolled into town, I got questions from at least one pony, and many of the same questions— what I was, where I came from, how I got there, etc. Spike was practically attached to me at the hip so he could translate for me, and there was all I could do to get him to go back to Twilight at the library so he didn’t stay at Fluttershy’s house with me at night. It became obvious to the citizens of Ponyville that I was staying with Fluttershy, so every now and then, someone would come to her house looking for me, and as long as I was up for visitors, Fluttershy was able to do some basic translating.

I told Toad about the rescue, and he was pretty impressed. He seemed to be healing rather slowly, and he never wanted to go anywhere. I was worried about him at first, but after a talk with him, he reassured me that he just felt out of place, and didn’t want to interact with anyone else. He said he couldn’t understand how I was able to adjust so quickly, but he didn’t want to make anything awkward, so he told me to just go about as usual, like I had since I had arrived, and not to worry about him. He would just take as much time as he needed. When I told this to Fluttershy, she got a spark of inspiration.

She said she had a shed behind her house that she could renovate into a sleeping quarters for him, so he could be alone if that was really what he wanted. Just continuing to show me how incredible she was, she did the whole job in a single day. She changed the shed into a little condo, including a bed, couch, bathroom, kitchen, everything Toad could possibly need. He thanked her profusely, and said that he would just stay out of the way. With that, Fluttershy stocked him up on some home and food supplies. He thanked her again (as did I), and we really didn’t hear much out of Toad for a while after that. I went and checked on him every day; he was always okay, a little bit better than the day before, but he was still healing very slowly. He always reminded me that he didn’t want to see anyone (nothing against the ponies— he just felt awkward), and I told this to Fluttershy after the second day. After that, anytime any other ponies came by her house, she would tell them, “Oh, and stay out of the shed!”

Even though Toad didn’t want to see anyone, I was very happy to. Some of the ponies I met were quite interesting, and the meetings occasionally occurred under odd circumstances. One such meeting was with the mail-pony, Ditzy Doo Whooves, or Derpy, as everyone in town had come to call her. One day, as I was rolling my wagon into town with Spike at my side, she crash-landed right in front of me, so we were able to have a conversation just between the two of us (with the assistance of my official translator). This led to me being invited to dinner with her and her family— her husband, Doctor Whooves, and their daughter, Dinky Doo. Spike had to accompany me, and I asked if Fluttershy could join us, which was happily accepted.

It turned out to be a very educational meal— the Doctor and I talked a lot about space and dimensional travel, and he told me all about his TARDIS. It sounded amazing. He even offered to try and help me get home to the Mushroom Kingdom. I politely declined, saying that my friends were helping me more than enough, and that I needed to take time to heal anyway. However, I agreed to keep in close contact with them, as it sounded like he would help me better understand the whole time-loop thing Mario was probably still stuck in (and most likely going absolutely crazy).

After dinner with the Whooves family, Spike went back to the library, and for some reason, I was reminded of the awkward conversation I had had with Twilight and Rarity days earlier. During the past few days, I had been thinking about it, and I realized that they were right. Fluttershy had been acting much less shy around me since I had been staying with her, and in hindsight, some of her actions had been a bit flirty; I was clearly oblivious to them at the time. I had been so stupid! Fluttershy is an amazing creature, even if she isn’t a Yoshi. Why hadn’t I made a move?

I determined on that walk with her back to her house that if I was going to see if there was any potential, I would have to find out soon. When Fluttershy was walking upstairs to go to bed that night, and I was settling on the couch as usual, I determined ‘soon’ was right then and there. I figured I would try playing to her sympathies a bit at first.

“Fluttershy?” I squeaked at her.

“Yoshi? Is everything alright?”

I motioned to her: “My leg hurts.”

“Do you want to come upstairs with me? I think I know what will help.”

I nodded at her.

“Alright, then. Come on.”

I followed her up to the second floor, hopping one stair at a time on my good leg. When I got to Fluttershy’s room, Angel was sitting on the bed. When he saw me, he jumped off quickly, then gave me a little wink and hopped down the stairs; it seemed like everyone in their circle had been expecting this… Fluttershy didn’t seem to notice Angel’s actions, but she led me over to one side of her bed and helped me up and under the covers. I felt like I was being tucked in by my own mother, until she got in bed beside me.

I was looking out the window and shifting my body around when I felt a soft lick on my neck. “How badly does your leg hurt?” I turned over with a little difficulty; Fluttershy was looking at me with that flirty look I had seen before, but had previously been oblivious to. She had clearly seen through my charade, but she didn’t seem to object to it whatsoever.

I went along with it. I smiled and held my arms as far apart as I could in order to tell her ‘a whole lot.’

“I can fix that,” she said. She ducked under the covers and started rubbing my feet between her hooves. After a few minutes, she shifted my body across her bed, then pulled herself towards me, hugging my hips as she nestled herself—

Nope, sorry. What happened after this, Fluttershy and I swore to keep to ourselves. What I will say, though, is that it was the best night I’d had since my arrival in Equestria…

When I woke up the next morning, Fluttershy was laying on top of me, her head resting on my shoulder. I didn’t quite remember which one of us had fallen asleep first, but at that point, it didn’t matter. I was reliving the amazing night we had just had.

Unfortunately, this déjà vu was cut short by a small bound next to my head. Angel had come upstairs; he was softly bouncing on the pillow next to me to wake me up. At first, I was a little worried by what he saw, but he saw the look on my face and shook his hands at me, smiling. Then he gave me a little clap. Geez, I thought to myself, this rabbit isn’t as innocent as I thought. However, Angel’s next gesture was raising one eyebrow and pointing at the clock…

It was 11:30! The one thing I knew for certain from living with Fluttershy for the past week or two was that Angel and the other animals ate breakfast at nine. I covered my mouth with my hand in surprise, apologized to Angel, and thanked him for being so patient. He then waved his hands with a “no problem,” gave me a thumbs-up and a wink, and hopped downstairs. I think both of us knew that if Fluttershy had caught Angel seeing what we had done, she probably would have been horrified, which was why he woke ME up instead of her. That was definitely the right move.

I softly squeaked at Fluttershy and caressed her mane. She slowly raised her head, looked at me, smiled, and put her head back down on my shoulder. I knew that feeling; I’d had it before in the morning, but this wasn’t the time for that. I let out my tongue and tickled her neck.

She giggled, lifted herself up on the bed, and said, “Hey! What did you do that for? It’s probably early enough that we don’t need to…” She looked over at the clock, and I saw her eyes dilate. “ANGEL! Oh, he is going to be SO mad!” She bounded off the bed and tripped over my torso. She landed on the floor with a crash. She looked up at me and said, “Sorry! I need to make everypony’s breakfast!” I gave her a fast nod as she galloped down the stairs. If I looked too casual, she probably would have figured out that Angel and I had ‘talked.’

When I hopped to the top of the stairs, all the animals had formed a little group, and were tapping their feet in unison, with Angel right in the front. Fluttershy apologized profusely to all of them, then turned around and started making breakfast. As soon as her back was turned, again in unison, all the animals looked up at me, smiled, and gave me a silent clap. Angel had obviously organized this. I almost rolled my eyes— clearly they all knew that what happened last night was bound to happen eventually. I gave them all a thumbs-up in return, and motioned them a thank-you. As soon as Fluttershy turned back around, they quickly started tapping their feet at her again, and I flashed a worried look as she looked up at me and apologized… again.

Fluttershy had made them all one big breakfast to share. I knew from experience that she only did this in emergencies, because every critter usually got their own specific breakfast, and complained if they didn’t get it, especially Angel. But today, they all seemed to be taking the approach that it was so late, they just needed something in their stomachs. Fluttershy looked a little suspiciously at Angel, because even during emergencies, Angel usually was very picky, but he was going along with it today. However, she was so flustered that she just shook it off and was grateful.

I walked up behind Fluttershy and tapped her back, then I motioned to her, “What about you?”

“Me? …Well, I’ll probably wait until lunch. I, um… I’m alright from last night…” She smirked at me. “But would you like…”

I put a hand over her mouth and motioned, “Don’t worry.” I smirked back, and she giggled. Then she turned around and looked at all the animals. She flashed me an embarrassed smile, then did a double-take at the animals.

“Hey! Where’s Angel? Oh, I hope he didn’t go bounding around for his own breakfast again…”

Unbeknownst to the two of us, Angel had bounced around behind me, and as soon as she turned around, he landed on my shoulder and hopped onto my head. I looked up at him and he gave me a naughty-looking wink. I crossed my arms and smirked at him, wondering what he was planning. Suddenly, he licked his hand, bounded off my head, bounced in front of me, and smacked Fluttershy on her flank! Then, quick as a flash, he skipped back to the big breakfast bowl and nestled himself among the other animals.

Fluttershy whipped back around. “Hey! Watch where you—” She slowly raised a brow, then gave me the same flirty smile she had given me the night before. “Youuuuuuu… you looking for round two?” She turned back around and faced the animals, and in her usual sweet voice, said, “Everyone, I’ll be upstairs for a while. Hopefully that will hold you until lunch.” Then she turned back to me and gave me that look again. “Don’t worry about hopping. I’ll take care of it.” She ducked under my chest and bobbed her head up so I landed on her back, with my head on her flank. I looked over at the animals who, I assumed with Angel’s influence, were all pumping their arms and silently cheering. I raised my eyebrow at them all and smiled. I spotted Angel, pointed at him, and gave him a ‘thank you’ thumbs-up.

Fluttershy trotted up the stairs and said quietly so the animals couldn’t hear her, “Since that tongue of yours doesn’t want to stay put, I expect it to do some work!” It was here that I realized why Angel had licked his hand before giving Fluttershy that hearty smack. He had planned this quite thoroughly. I smiled and shook my head as Fluttershy walked into her room and gently laid me down on the bed. Then she not-so-gently hopped on top of me, but somehow was still careful enough that she didn’t hurt my leg.

She put her face right on top of mine so we were eye-to-eye and said, “Alright, mister, let me—”

Nope. I’m gonna skip ahead a bit.

Anyway, it was this second round with Fluttershy that I thought we must have had some kind of, connection or something, because however long it was later, we both… stopped at exactly the same time. I didn’t let the thought linger, I just let out my tongue and tickled her under her chin. I heard that soft giggle that I had come to love, and as soon as I had tucked my tongue back in, she put her head down so I could see her smirking at me. “Wow, you really are talented with that thing!”

I shrugged with a smile. Then, without thinking, I said out loud, “Yeah, but it takes years of practice to be able to control it like that.”

With this, Fluttershy looked up and giggled again. Then she quickly put her head back down so I could see her face again, and she gave me a confused look. She just looked at me for a few moments, then she asked me, “Hold on— did you just say, ‘it takes years of practice to control it like that’?”

“Well yeah, it’s true. It’s not like I can just…”

Wait… How did she know what I just…

Chapter 7: All Better

Fluttershy and I just looked at each other for a second. For a moment, we weren’t sure if what we thought had happened, had actually happened. After I determined that it had, I stared Fluttershy square in her bright, turquoise eyes. As she gazed back into my beady black ones, still a little unsure, she said in a soft whisper, “I understood what you said…” I slowly nodded at her in disbelief.

My eyes dilated. I watched as the confused look on Fluttershy’s face slowly grew into a wide smile. I was about to say something back to her when she suddenly screamed so loud that Toad probably heard her in the shed.

“I UNDERSTOOD WHAT YOU SAID!!” Fluttershy bounded off the bed and started jumping up and down. I was as surprised as she was, but I attempted to restrain my excitement so I could try to keep her under control; it wasn’t easy. She started pacing back and forth and yammering so fast she could put Pinkie Pie to shame.

“Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh! This is great! Now we can actually talk about stuff! I won’t need to guess what you’re saying anymore! Oooooooh I can’t wait to—” She stopped herself as fast as her mouth had just been moving.

“Wait…… how?” After the long pause, Fluttershy turned and looked at me with what seemed like a combined expression of confusion and fear. I had no idea either…

I replied, “I don’t know… So wait, you understood every word that I said?” She nodded at me, dumbfounded. I decided to test it, and make sure it wasn’t a fluke. “What if I turn around?” I flipped around and said, “Touch your left ear with your right hoof.” I gave her a moment to comply, then turned back around. She was still staring at me with the same, slightly scared expression, but with her right hoof resting lightly on her left ear. I was struck dumb. After the fact sunk in, I asked, “How did this happen?” Since the only other being in the room didn’t know either, it was kind of a pointless question.

However, with this question, I saw the Fluttershy I first met return. She lowered herself to the floor, ran her hoof through her mane, and began to stutter. “Um, w-w-well, uh, m-m-maybe it was the, um, ‘experience’ we had with each other last night and just now?”

I raised a brow at her and asked, “You mean the sex?” She made a small squeak as I said it. Though she seemed a bit embarrassed to use the word, this seemed pretty legitimate to me. I also realized something else. “Maybe. That, and your cutie mark talent could be at work here, too. Maybe it isn’t just small creatures that you’re really ‘good’ with.” I gave her a small smirk, which she returned with a nervous shrug.

"Did we, um, maybe, connect somehow?”

“You know, I was thinking that a second ago, when we both stopped at the exact same time…” I must have unknowingly realized it before she did, and if the sex did indeed have something to do with it, then whatever happened between the two of us had probably happened the night before. We just didn’t realize it.

After Fluttershy let this new knowledge sink in, she seemed to shake off the fear, and began slowly pacing again, but with a lower voice. “Oooh this is great! I can’t wait to tell the girls! They are going to be so—”

I cut her off. “Wait a second. Maybe we shouldn’t tell them. Maybe we should keep this between us.”

“Huh? Why?” She looked kind of worried again. “Are you ashamed that we—”

“Oh no! Absolutely not! In fact, it’s been one of the best times I’ve had since I got here. For obvious reasons, but also because I got to spend some special time with you!

“But here’s why I say that— if the other ponies find out you understand me, then they may try to figure out how to do it, too. The two factors that we think caused it are unique to you alone. One is your cutie mark, and the other is, well, that ‘connection’ we just had.” If she was going to squeak every time I said ‘sex,’ I figured I’d try another word until she got over it.

I continued, “Nobody else here has your cutie mark, and I’m not going to go ‘making connections’ with every other pony in Ponyville just so they can talk to me.”

Fluttershy sighed. “You’re right. And you know, Spike might get jealous. He was really happy being the only one who could understand you, and being in the spotlight. If everypony finds out that I can speak to you also, then they may not ask for his help anymore…”

“That’s true too. See? So I think this should stay just between us for now.” Then I looked over at the door and shook my head. “And Angel, apparently.”

“Huh? Why Angel? EEP!” Fluttershy turned around and put her hooves to her mouth as she saw what I had seen a few moments before her— Angel was standing at the door with his little arms crossed, tapping his foot again. When both of us were looking at him, he made a few gestures that I was able to make out quite clearly due to my recently obtained charades skills: I came up here because I heard pounding. What’s going on here? Fluttershy turned around, put her head down, sighed, and shook her head.

Angel and I were a little confused at her reaction at first, but since Fluttershy had her back to him, Angel took the opportunity to make a few more gestures to me that I was able to make out. Were you going at it that hard? Or was that her jumping up and down because she knows what you’re saying?

I thought to myself, Oy, this bunny is too naughty and smart for his own good… I first wagged a finger at him and gave him a little smirk, at which he smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Then I motioned to him that it was her jumping up and down. I asked if he heard us talking about her being able to understand me, and he nodded like he was saying duh! I rolled my eyes and told him that he needed to hush about this new fact. He nodded, smiled as he gave me another thumbs-up, motioned like he was zipping his lips, then hopped out the door and down the stairs.

I walked over to Fluttershy, who still had her head down. She seemed really upset, so I caressed her mane. She looked up at me, apparently a little worried. I asked her, “What’s the matter?”

She looked up at me and responded, “I never wanted Angel to see us like this! He’s too young! What is he going to think? What if he figures out what we were doing?”

I couldn’t help but laugh inside. From the way Angel ‘helped’ me, I could only assume that he was nowhere near as innocent as Fluttershy made him out to be. But I reassured her, “I don’t think you need to worry about Angel. We had a quick chat just now, and I convinced him you were just so happy that you were jumping up and down, and it wasn’t anything else. I don’t think he’ll get any naughty ideas in his head.” Besides, I’m sure he’s had them for a while anyway. She sighed again, but this time it seemed to be one of relief. I decided to make sure. “So we agree, this is going to stay between us… and Angel?”

“Um, yes, I think that’s for the best.” Fluttershy put a hoof through her mane, then slowly brought it up to her mouth again, this time not seeming as worried, but still looking a bit concerned. She flashed me that little embarrassed smile again, then asked, “Um… do you want lunch?”

After that day, I slept upstairs with Fluttershy every night. We became much closer, even closer than before. Everyone in Ponyville noticed it, but they weren’t totally sure how or why at first. After about a week, and with some pressuring from Rarity in particular, Fluttershy finally admitted to the other five (she asked me first if she could, and I said it was alright) that we had slept together. She relayed the conversation to me: the other five ponies, especially Rarity, all giggled with glee. She didn’t go into any details, but what she did tell them was that my tongue could do more than just turn Diamond Dogs into eggs (Rarity seemed to get a particular amount of joy out of that). Just like we agreed, however, she did not tell them her newfound ability to completely understand me. After another week, Fluttershy had something else to report to them all at the library.

“He’s healed! His leg is all better! He’s even able to jump again!” I had explained all of my abilities in the Mushroom Kingdom to Fluttershy. Because my injury was bad enough, I hadn’t told anyone about them before. I wouldn’t have been able to do them anyway. This changed, however, when Fluttershy told me my leg was strong enough again. “Look! Come see! Spike, we need you. He wanted to tell us some details.”

Spike beamed. He had been tagging along with us in public lately, telling all the ponies in town things I wanted to say to them, but it had been a long time since he had to translate for Fluttershy. He had been a little suspicious when Fluttershy stopped needing his help altogether, but at this moment, his suspicions had faded.

I was standing outside the library door when the seven of them came outside. After they stopped all talking at once, which I had to put up my hand to get them to do, I motioned to Spike, who nodded. I began a quick explanation: “This is one of my easier moves. It’s called the double jump.” I gave a bound off my newly healed leg, then bounced high off the ground over the ponies’ heads and landed on the library balcony. All the ponies started to cheer. I jumped back down, landing pretty obviously on my healed leg.

I then began another explanation: “That’s my easier jump. This is for farther reaches. It’s called the flutter jump.” Rarity turned to Fluttershy and smiled, and I knew why. “No, it was called that before I came here. That’s a coincidence.” I repeated my previous actions, but then did my famous flutter, and landed on the library roof, which was at least another five feet above the balcony. I turned around and smiled. All the ponies except for Fluttershy had their mouths agape, but she quickly mimicked this action (I of course had shown Fluttershy all of this earlier, but we agreed that to make it seem like she didn’t understand me, she would follow all the others’ actions).

I jumped back down again, and they all began stomping on the ground. “Most of my other abilities you’ve already seen. I just couldn’t do these because of my leg, which Fluttershy has very kindly taken care of.” A moment after this, Rarity began smiling, but Twilight nudged her. I knew what they were both thinking; thankfully, Twilight had the common sense not to talk about it in public.

Then, Twilight asked something I wasn’t expecting. “Hey Yoshi, wait— what about your friend, Toad? How is he doing?”

While I was unprepared for this question, Fluttershy seemed to have been expecting it. “He’s alright, but he still needs more time to heal. His injuries were incredibly severe when he arrived here.”

“Well darling, that’s rather unfortunate,” Rarity said

“Yes, I know, but I don’t think I can delay any longer. It’s time for the search. I think Toad will forgive me for starting without him. I’ve really enjoyed being here, but I’ve been gone from the Mushroom Kingdom way too long. Mario is probably going absolutely crazy in that time loop Discord created.

“However, there’s something I need to do first.”

Pinkie Pie decided to speak this time, with her usual bouncy tone. “What’s that?”

“I have something to return to a certain young pegasus. I owe her big time.”

Chapter 8: Repayment

I had only seen the Crusaders a few times since Scootaloo had loaned me her wagon. They always seemed to be off on one of their missions when I rolled into town with Spike or Fluttershy, so I didn’t get to speak with them much. After three weeks of using her wagon, I was determined to thank Scootaloo somehow.

I had my own spark of inspiration when Rainbow Dash told me about Scootaloo’s problem with flying. The first thing I did was bring her back her wagon, clean as a whistle, of course. Fluttershy had helped me fix it up just like it was when Scootaloo gave it to me the first day. I met her, along with the rest of the Crusaders, after school one day. I said hello to Miss Cheerilee and the other students, then walked with the Crusaders for a bit, with Spike taking the opportunity to roll in the wagon behind us.

When we got to a certain point along the path, I asked them, “Hey, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom, would you mind if I had a quick little chat just with Scootaloo? It’ll only be a few minutes.” They looked at me suspiciously for a moment, but agreed.

I started walking with Scootaloo back to where she stored her wagon when she looked up at me with her own suspicious look. “What’s this about? Did you do something to my wagon?”

I chuckled for moment, then replied, “Haha, nice vote of confidence. However, this does kind of involve your wagon— it’s how I’m going to pay you back for letting me use it.”

Scootaloo gave a sigh of relief. “Phew, I was afraid something happened to it. I thought you were hiding something under that nice-looking cleanup. You know, I told you not to worry about paying me back. But out of curiosity, what did you have in mind?”

“Well, I heard about your little flight problem.” She groaned and looked at the ground as she continued walking. “I thought you might feel that way, but what would you think if I told you I could give you a pretty good flight experience before you get that under control?”

Scootaloo stopped short. She turned around and looked at me, first with the dilated eyes I had seen on other ponies’ faces before (for many different reasons), with a great big smile. Then she looked a bit confused. “Wait, you don’t have wings…”

I was ready for this response. “Does that stop Pinkie Pie?” I had seen her flying antics a few times since I had arrived in Ponyville.

First Scootaloo laughed, then the big smile returned. “That’s true. So… how do YOU do it?”

“Well, I came up with an interesting idea. I’ll need to talk to a few ponies first, but I don’t think they’ll mind. I’ll let you know when I get the green light. It’ll only take a day or so to prepare. Come talk to me after school on Friday, alright? I’ll meet you at the library. If all goes well, you’ll be having the experience of a lifetime.”

The end of the conversation had good timing. We had just gotten to Scootaloo’s storage space and she put her wagon away. Her mood had completely changed at this point. “OKAY!” After storing her wagon, she galloped off in the other direction back to the other Crusaders.

The next day, I went into town with Fluttershy and Spike. I thought it would be a good idea to have Fluttershy with me just in case I gave the wrong impression with what I was going to ask. I didn’t tell either of them my plan, I just asked them to come with me. I found just the right street in town that, luckily for me, some ponies I already knew lived on. The first pony I got to talk to at the end of the block was Ditzy Doo Whooves.

“Hi Mrs. Whooves! How are you?”

With her usual perky attitude, she replied, “Oh, very good! Is there something I can help you with? Are you looking for the Doctor? Would you like a muffin?”

“Oh no, you would do just fine! I was wondering if I could ask your permission to do something? And actually, a muffin would be great! Thank you!”

“Not at all! Did you want to take a trip in the TARDIS?”

“Oh no, nothing like that, although that is quite tempting. I was actually wondering if I could go up on your roof on Friday.” At this, Spike flinched, and Fluttershy’s eyes bulged.

Fluttershy yelled at me, “Are you NUTS? After you just healed? Do you want to break your leg this time?”

I turned around and said, “Please, calm down, Fluttershy! I know what I’m doing!” I lowered my voice as I spoke to her. “This is for Scootaloo! I have no intention of hurting myself again, and besides, if I DO hurt myself again, it just means that I have to stay in Ponyville longer.” I raised my eyebrows at her.

“I CAN’T believe you want to try a stunt like this, what are you—” She cut herself off, looked at me, then smiled, realizing what I was implying with what I had just said. “Carry on.”

I sighed and turned back around. “So, Mrs. Whooves, would you mind if I went on your roof for a minute or so on Friday?”

“I don’t see why not, as long as you don’t break through the ceiling. I did that once…”

“I don’t think you’ll need to worry about that.”

“Then sure! Can I ask why?”

“Well, let’s say it’s going to be a big surprise for one little filly, and anyone else who wants to see.”

Ditzy let out a big smile. “Okay! I love surprises!”

“Great! Thanks a lot! Then I’ll see you Friday, if not sooner! I have a few other stops to make, so have a good day! And thank you very much for the muffin!” I took the muffin she offered and downed it in one gulp.

“You’re very welcome! So long!”

As the three of us walked away from the Whooves’ front door, I said, “Great! Okay, I have to do this down the whole block, so this may take a while.”

Fluttershy looked at me suspiciously. “What exactly ARE you planning?”

“That… you will see on Friday.” She looked at me worriedly. “Oh, come on. Remember what I just told you?”

“I understand that, but I still don’t want to see you get hurt again!”

“Don’t worry, I won’t hurt myself, I promise.” Fluttershy sighed. She clearly wasn’t convinced.

We made our way down the whole block, speaking to Octavia and Vinyl Scratch, Roseluck, Lyra, Bon-Bon and her family, and a few others. I got permission from them all, and thanked them profusely. I told everyone I spoke to that they were welcome to see my “performance” on Friday, considering I was going to potentially be on top of their roofs. Despite the possible damage to their homes, they all seemed very eager to see what I was going to do. The farther down the block we went, the more concerned Fluttershy became, and I had to reassure her more than once that I would be fine.

By the time I finished talking to all the ponies on the block, it was past lunchtime, so we had to hurry back to Fluttershy’s house to feed the animals. We didn’t want to make another emergency meal. On the way back to Fluttershy’s, we dropped Spike off at the library. He told us, “I have no idea what you’re planning, but it sounds like it’s going to be awesome! I can’t wait! See ya!” With this, Fluttershy became even more concerned, so I had to comfort her again. I decided to try and make her laugh.

“So, how was it hearing the same thing twice the whole day?”

Fluttershy frowned. “Well, to be honest, it made me even more worried than I would be right now anyway. At every house, I had to hear Spike repeat that you might be going on top of everypony’s roofs. What in Celestia’s name are you planning?”

“Ah ah ah, you aren’t going to get it out of me that easy.”

“I’m worried about you! I don’t want you hurting yourself again! Even if it does mean you’ll stay here longer… with me, I hope…”

I smiled at her. “Hey, if I was staying anywhere in Ponyville, I would much rather it be with you. You are the most incredible being I’ve ever met, and Mario wouldn’t be very happy if he heard me say that.”

“Who?”

“My friend in the Mushroom Kingdom?”

“Oh! Right… sorry.”

“Haha, it’s okay.”

We made it back to her house right on time to start lunch so that the animals weren’t tapping their feet. I helped Fluttershy with lunch for the animals, and it took half the time. I had seen her make all their lunches enough times that I figured it out. As soon as all the animals were eating, she turned to me.

“What about you? Are you going to cook for yourself? You can stand up now, you know, and that better not change.”

“I know. There’s actually something else I haven’t gotten to do since my leg’s been all better.”

“What’s that?”

I raised an eyebrow and smirked at her, and that was all I had to do.

She smiled that smile at me. I let out my tongue and tickled her chin. She stared at me dramatically for a few moments before she said, “You… are SO bad.” Fluttershy galloped at me as I jumped up the stairs in one jump to prove that I was okay. We got up in her room and she said what I was hoping I would hear. “I’m not holding back now, got it?”

“Well, there’s no need to anymore.” I smirked at her.

“Do what you want on Friday, but if you hurt yourself, this isn’t happening again!”

“Well, not for a while at least.”

“No, not at all. That’ll be your punishment if you hurt yourself, so you better be careful! But for now… NO HOLDING BACK!”

Friday came around pretty quickly. Even after our conversation a few days before, Fluttershy got more and more worried. She wasn’t keen about my potentially hurting myself again after my leg had just healed. However, what I had planned would amaze even her, as long as I didn’t screw it up…

That morning I woke up bright and early, and had a good breakfast. I did this so I could have a timely lunch before the Crusaders’ school let out at three. At 2:30, I walked over to the library. I told Fluttershy not to come with me right away, but to come closer to ten minutes of three. She wouldn’t be missing anything unless she got there late (or didn’t show up, which I doubted she would do).

I wanted to talk to Twilight for a few minutes first. Now that I was ready to search for the Augmentation Stones, I wanted to get a few details from her. I had a feeling Fluttershy might get a little upset with the prospect of me leaving (I actually was as well, but I HAD to go back), so I didn’t want her to hear this conversation.

When I got to the library, Twilight was looking through a book as usual, and Spike was upstairs. He seemed to have some kind of mental tracker on me, though, because as soon as I entered, Spike came bounding down the stairs.

“Hi, Yoshi! Are you here early to get ready for Scootaloo’s surprise? Oh, I can’t wait to see what you’re going to do! I—”

I cut him off. “Hold on there, buddy. I’m glad you’re excited, but I’d like to speak to Twilight for a minute first, so I need your help.”

“OH! Right! Sure!”

I turned to face Twilight. “Hey Twilight, do you have all the details on those Augmentation Stones? You said you knew the spell to enhance Rarity’s ability, and that you knew there would be a few in the mines around here, but is there anything else we need to do to prepare? Should we go in with more ponies, or only as many as we need? I’m obviously going to go, I know we need Rarity, and I had assumed you were going to come as well. Am I correct?”

She jumped into the conversation pretty quickly, and seemed to have the answers all prepared. “Yep! You hit that on the head. We should only go with as many ponies, and dinosaurs in this case, as we need. However, along with the three of us, I think it would be smart to have Applejack with us, too. She’s really strong, as I’m sure you’ve seen over the past few weeks, and we could use her help with defenses if the need arises. And we’ll also need Spike to translate for us.” At this, I heard Spike say ‘yes’ as Twilight and I resumed our conversation. “As long as the Augmentation Stones aren’t in the Diamond Dogs’ territory of the mines, then we should be alright, but that’s why I think we should bring AJ. Besides, even if the stones are in the Diamond Dogs’ territory, I think they’re pretty scared of you after what you did to them last time.”

I grinned. “True, very true.”

Twilight showed me a map of the mines that she found, and the routes she suggested that we take. By the time she was finished, I barely had enough time to get in another breath when there was a knock at the door. Twilight trotted over and opened it, and there stood Scootaloo, wearing a nervous smile, with Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle standing behind her.

Trying to make it a bit cooler by Rainbow Dash’s standards, I slowly walked up to the door, crossed my arms, and looked down at Scootaloo. I took a dramatic pause, told Spike to help me with the effect, and said, “Ready, Kiddo?”

I saw a bit of Fluttershy appear in her as she asked, “Um, can Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle watch?”

“I’d be insulted if they didn’t.”

“Um, what about them?” She pointed behind her, and across the street I saw most, if not all, of her school classmates standing dead silent, save for two obnoxious-sounding fillies in the back, one of which looked like she had a silver spoon up her behind. I decided to ignore these two.

Trying to keep up the show, I took a long look at her class, raised my brow at them (a few of them flinched at this), looked back at Scootaloo, and said, “What did I just say?”

Her wide grin returned. Scootaloo turned her head and nodded, and the class erupted. I tapped her on the shoulder and she whipped back around, scared, as if she did something wrong. I simply asked her, “Any more questions?”

Scootaloo gave a sigh of relief, then asked, “Um, yeah. Where are we going?”

I gave a small chuckle, waved to Spike and Twilight, and said, “Follow me.” I then led them to Ditzy Doo and Doctor Whooves’ home.

Chapter 9: The Ride

On the way to the Whooves’ house, the Crusaders’ classmates made so much noise that someone from practically every home we passed looked out their windows or came outside to see what it was about, and every time they did, one of the kids would say to come watch. Ponies of all ages and families of all sizes started coming out of houses. By the time we were at the Whooves’, I looked behind me to find a giant throng waiting to see the big stunt I was about to pull. I really didn’t mind. After carrying Mario on my back for so long, one little filly was going to be easy.

When we got to the end of the street, I knocked on Derpy and the Doctor’s door. The Doctor answered it, and as soon as he saw the throng behind me, he said, “Oh! Right! That was today! Come out, you two— I think this is going to be good!” I watched as Ditzy Doo and Dinky came out of their house to join the crowd.

I beckoned for Spike, who came running up quick as a flash. Luckily for me, there was a tree right next to the Whooves’ roof. I asked him, “Could you stand up there for me? I’ll need you to do some last-minute translating for Scootaloo.”

“Um, sure. But how do I…?”

“Leave that to me. Scootaloo here is gonna need to get on my saddle, but I’ll give you a boost first. Get ready to grab one of those branches up there, okay? And tell Twilight you’ll be fine, please.”

“Uh, o-okay.” He turned to the crowd, spotted Twilight, and yelled, “I’ll be fine! Don’t worry!”

I heard a faint ‘WHAT?’, but I had Spike doing some more translating.

“Scootaloo, in a second he’s going to have you climb on his back, right on the saddle, okay? You’ll be fine. He says me first, though. Just a second.” I had Spike stand in my hands, and I launched him up to the top of the tree, level with the height of the roof. Spike grabbed hold of a branch, steadied himself, and gave me a thumbs-up, which I returned.

I motioned for Scootaloo to hop on my back. She was clearly nervous, but she did it anyway. I gave her a quick glance, and she said, “Yeah, I’m ready.” I gave a bound, and in one leap we were on top of the roof. I heard the whole crowd gasp, then they stomped their hooves. I put my hand up, and there was abrupt silence. I put Scootaloo down, grabbed Spike from the tree, and brought him onto the roof.

“Translating time, my friend. I hope your yelling voice is good and strong.” He nodded, then began interpreting for me as I addressed the crowd. “Okay, everypony. You may want to spread down the street for this. This is going to go down the whole block. I want to tell you all that this is a thank-you present for my friend Scootaloo here, who let me use her wagon for transportation while I was injured. This is the only time I am going to do it, so please don’t ask for repeat rides. I wasn’t expecting to have this many ponies watching, but it’s fine with me either way. However, I do want to ask you to please stay as quiet as possible. This is not going to be easy.”

When I finished speaking, the ponies started spreading down the street, and I kept an eye out for Fluttershy. At first I didn’t see her, but right as the scattering ended, I saw her way down the block, right in front of the house I was planning to finish the stunt on... holding a first-aid kit. I smiled. Even if she wasn’t completely confident I wouldn’t hurt myself, at least she was here, and that was what I wanted. She even came prepared.

Along with Fluttershy, Twilight was standing right across the street from the Whooves’, Rainbow Dash was sitting on a cloud right nearby, Applejack and Pinkie Pie had positioned themselves in a tree across the street right in the middle of the block, and at the last second, I even saw Rarity make her way into the crowd next to Fluttershy. They were all there.

I had Spike make the last translation for Scootaloo. “Okay kiddo, hop on. It’s time for the ride of your life!”

“Um, is this going to be dangerous? I mean, we’re starting this whole thing on a rooftop…”

“Has danger ever stopped you before?”

“…NAH! Let’s go!”

“That’s more like it! Get ready!” I slowly backed up to the edge of the roof, and Spike moved out of the way. “Hold on tight, kiddo. One more thing— if you want the full effect, why don’t you spread those wings of yours? But whatever you do, don’t flap ‘em, alright? It might veer me off course, and Fluttershy will kill me if either of us gets hurt.”

Scootaloo gulped. “Um, okay… I’m ready!”

“Alright kiddo, let’s ride!” I took a running start, then made my first bound off the Whooves’ roof.

I didn’t want to tell Scootaloo, but I was probably just as nervous as she was. I had never done something like this before, even with Mario. However, the gathered throng of ponies was pumping some adrenaline through my veins. While I wasn’t expecting to actually use the roof of every house, I wanted to get permission from all the inhabitants just in case I needed them. I may have been doing a crazy stunt, but I at least wanted to be polite about it. As we had been walking by the houses on the way to the end of the street, I was picturing them all in my head to get a feel for distance, and while I hadn’t actually done any horizontal fluttering just yet, I had a pretty good idea of what I was going to do. Still, this stunt was essentially going to be done cold.

As I hopped off the far edge of the Whooves’ roof, I jumped forward, just enough to keep it short so I could make it a double. I got that double jump on the roof next door, and bounced about 30 feet up. The jump alone got me about 15 feet forward, but I got another 10 feet after my flutter. As the stunt began, the whole crowd gasped.

I placed it perfectly; as we began to descend, I saw that we skipped one house and were on target for the very center of the roof next door to it. Feeling the descent, Scootaloo gasped and closed her eyes for a moment, but I bounded right back up. No short jump this time— right back to 30 feet. As I started my next flutter, she opened her eyes again, and I could feel her heart pounding against mine— this was a pounding of excitement, not fear. I could tell.

This pattern continued until we were about ten houses down the street, and while I didn’t land perfectly in the center every time, I did get a good jump off of them so it didn’t make me lose any height. In fact, by the eighth house, I had made it up to 35 feet. Scootaloo was very good at keeping her promise not to flap, so we had a perfectly straight flight with no veering. With the momentum I gained going down the street, we made it up to about 50 miles an hour. As we passed every house, each time I landed and bounced there was a gasp from the crowd.

At the end of the block, after about 17 houses, I saw a light post that I hadn’t noticed before. Unfortunately, that meant that I didn’t have another house to land on, which meant I had to either stop on the 16th house, and potentially fall between number 16 and 17, or do something about that post. I decided it was too dangerous to stop early, so I was going to have to improvise. As we approached house 16, a thought occurred to me. We were right on target, and Scootaloo was far enough on my back that if it worked, we wouldn’t get hurt, so I went for it.

I bounced off the 16th house, closer to the edge than I would have liked, and made my last flutter. As I descended, I reached for the light post and grabbed it right under the light. Scootaloo saw this, gasped, tucked her wings, and closed her eyes (she clearly thought we were going to crash, an experience she had had multiple times before from what I heard). I also was pretty sure I heard Fluttershy scream. However, as soon as I grabbed, closing my eyes as well, I began to spin around the post. Luckily, my skin was incredibly tough, or my hand would have been burning. We spun around the post like a vortex, all the way to the bottom, until we landed quite roughly on the ground. Scootaloo toppled over my head and tumbled about three times in front of me, stopping about two feet in front of a tree where Fluttershy and Rarity just happened to be standing. Her eyes rolled around a few times, resembling those of Ditzy Doo’s for a few seconds, before she regained her composure.

The crowd gasped, then went dead silent. It was so quiet that even the ponies four houses over could hear Fluttershy rush to Scootaloo and ask her, “Are you okay?”

Scootaloo sat up on her hindquarters and rubbed her head, then she groaned for a second. I slowly opened my eyes to see if everything was okay. I first looked at Scootaloo, who seemed to be fine. Then I glanced at Fluttershy, who looked like she was about to give me one of her famous stares. Scootaloo turned around and looked at the crowd, then looked down the street and saw how far we had gone. She looked me square in the eyes, hers of which were starting to dilate again. I had seen this look before, and I was hoping she was going to say what I wanted her to say. I grimaced, waiting for her response…

“Oh my gosh………… THAT WAS AWESOME!!!” The throng roared. Fluttershy and I gave sighs of relief at exactly the same time, but no one could hear them. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle were galloping toward Scootaloo, who tripped once as she went to meet them, quickly getting back on her hooves.

Fluttershy trotted over to me. I was still gripping the light post with one hand, holding my head with the other. The crowd was so loud that we were able to talk without anyone noticing. “Are you okay? That was a rough landing. But it looked incredible! And Scootaloo is so happy!”

“That’s great. Yeah, I’m okay.” Then I gave her a discrete, flirty little smile and said, “But my leg…”

“OH, STOP IT! I can tell that you’re fine!” She popped me on my shoulder with her hoof. I started to laugh, and she did the same.

It was still a pretty rough landing, so I sat at the light post for about five minutes to regain my breath, rubbing my legs and hand, with the crowd screaming the whole time. I looked up at Rainbow Dash, wondering if I had taken away her number one fan. She was raising a brow at me, apparently thinking the same thing. After those five minutes I turned around, and there stood Scootaloo, with a huge smile, along with Spike (who later told me that Twilight had taken him off the Whooves’ roof with her magic— why didn’t I think of that?). I was still panting a bit, but Spike still managed just the same. “So kiddo, what did you think? Good enough for ya?”

Scootaloo just stood there silently smiling at me with admiration (I’d seen her look at Rainbow Dash that way). Then, still grinning, she started to cry. After a few seconds of this, she jumped on top of me, knocking me over onto my back.

“OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH THAT WAS THE COOLEST! IT WAS LIKE FLYING IN A WAVE! I’VE NEVER DONE ANYTHING LIKE IT IT WAS SO HIGH! AND THAT SPIN AT THE END WAS SO CRAZY! I kind of hit my head on the roll… BUT I DON’T CARE! IT WAS AWESOME! THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANK YOUTHANKYOU!”

I sighed, then I started to laugh. I watched as Rainbow Dash flew down from her cloud and walked up behind Scootaloo. “So, Yoshi, looks like you’ve got yourself quite the fan. That was an amazing flight!”

Scootaloo jumped off my chest and whipped around. I stood up as she looked up at Rainbow Dash, then back to me. She spoke kind of softly. “Um, Yoshi? Don’t get me wrong. That was amazing, and I’ve never done anything like it. But, no offense, Rainbow Dash is number one in my book. I mean, have you ever seen her fly?” Rainbow Dash looked a little shocked.

I glanced at Rainbow Dash and smiled. “Actually kiddo, I have. She was the first pony I met when I came here. It was quite an INTERESTING meeting, too. You say she’s your number one?” Scootaloo looked at me again, kind of embarrassed, and nodded. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. And you’re very welcome.” She smiled that wide smile at me again, then jumped up and gave me a big hug. I tousled her mane and she flopped back onto the ground.

Rainbow Dash trotted over and tousled her mane as well. “Kid, you are such a nut.” Scootaloo smiled.

Fluttershy came over to us. As she approached, I smiled at her and said, “If you’ll excuse me, I think my leg needs some tending to.” Spike didn’t even get a chance to translate before Fluttershy came up and popped me on the shoulder again. I smiled, then she whispered to me, “LATER if you’re lucky, you crazy dino!” Spike looked a little confused. I told him I was okay and not to worry about it.

Fluttershy spoke next. “So Scootaloo, did you have fun?”

“Yeah! Oh, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are gonna be SO jealous!” Hearing that name, I thought to myself, Ha! So I was right about that filly! As Rainbow Dash trotted off, Scootaloo followed her, giving her a detailed description of how our ride felt.

Right at that moment, another thought quickly went through my head, and I sighed. Fluttershy asked me, “Is everything alright? Were you serious about your leg?”

I shook my head. “No, I’m alright. That was just as fun for me as it sounds like it was for Scootaloo. But fun time’s over. It’s time to search for the Augmentation Stones. Mario still needs my help. I can’t believe it’s been so long and I haven’t done anything. I’ve been so busy here. I need to talk with Toad and see how he’s feeling.”

Fluttershy glared at me and started pushing me in the direction of her house. Spike looked confused, but I told him it was okay. Fluttershy began speaking to me as if she were my mother. “You are doing nothing of the sort right now. It is way too late in the day to do that now. After what you just did, you are going to have a good night’s rest first. You need to be at full strength if you’re going to do any searching! In fact, after a stunt like that, I say you should take a full day’s rest and not go after those stones until Sunday at the earliest!”

I looked at her, pouted, and crossed my arms. “Come on, Fluttershy! What did I just say? Mario still needs my help! After all this time, I can’t imagine what’s been happening! He must be going absolutely bonkers in that time loop!”

She sighed. Then she flashed me that smile. “Tell you what, if you wait until Sunday, I’ll tend to your leg tonight…”

Dammit. She was using my own joke against me. I flashed the smile back. “Deal.”

Chapter 10: Information and Indulgences

Saturday afternoon, I had to restrain myself from asking Rarity to go into the mines with me, as I had promised Fluttershy I would wait until the next day. Besides, I was too tired from Fluttershy “tending to my leg” the night before. However, I got quite the surprise at the library. I was heading there to go over some more preliminary details about the search with Twilight when a pony I wasn’t expecting to see greeted me at the door.

“Mr. Yoshi! I’m so glad you’re here! Perfect timing, too!” It was Dr. Whooves. He looked rather tired, but very excited. It didn’t take long for him to begin explaining why. “You see, after our conversation at dinner a few weeks ago, you made me very curious about this land you are from. The Mushroom Kingdom, I believe you said it was called? So I began doing a little research on my own. Even though you said you didn’t want to use it, which I respect very much, I made a few trips in my TARDIS and was able to obtain some interesting information.”

As we entered the library, we completely ignored Twilight while I listened to the Doctor. “While I did not actually make my way directly to your kingdom, I ended up in a few places that were linked to it. After doing some investigating, I learned that there is a rather extreme time difference between our two worlds: it turns out that one day in Equestria is only one minute in the Mushroom Kingdom! I landed in a place called Flipside, and a being named Merlin told me, ‘Just short of half an hour ago, Mario’s faithful sidekick Yoshi went missing.’ That means that even though you have been here almost a month, it has been nary 30 minutes since you left the Mushroom Kingdom! Even the time loop that Discord created still follows the time lapse rule, so while it is unfortunate, your friend Mario has only been stuck in the loop for just under half an hour. That is certainly not enough time in your world for Discord to have done substantial damage.” My eyes went wide for a moment as the Doctor nodded and motioned to his right. “Yes, Twilight Sparkle here told me the basics of your arrival, and I was here for the Discord incident. I remember that he liked to joke around first before actually damaging anything. It was very strange…”

My mind was racing. I gave Twilight and Spike a quick hello before asking Spike to help me out. He was a little lost jumping into one side of a conversation, but at this point, translating had practically become a reflex for him. “Really? That’s great! That means even if it takes a few days to find the stones, it will still be plenty of time! And I’ll even have time to spare!” I went up to the Doctor and gave him a hug so big I almost crushed him. “Thank you so much, Doctor Whooves!”

“Not at all, my flying fellow, not at all!” He chuckled and clapped me on the shoulder with a hoof when I let him go. “Good luck! If you need any more help, please don’t hesitate to call on me!”

“Believe me, I won’t. Thank you so much for passing that info on to me. I feel a lot more at ease, and much less rushed. If you need anything, please let me know.”

“You are very welcome, my friend! Actually, there is one favor I was wondering if I could impose upon you…”

“Anything! Name it!”

“Well, Dinky was watching your amazing ‘flight’ with that filly, Scootaloo, and she was wondering—” I began to scowl a bit. If they were watching, then they knew what I said. But the Doctor caught my expression. “Oh, no no no, my friend! We heard what you said! She would be way too scared to do something that intense, anyway! You see, that’s just the thing. She has a fear of heights, and wants to get over it, but Ditzy and I can’t think of a good way to go about it. I don’t want to bring her on the roof myself, and Ditzy is a bit of a klutz, so we don’t want her to bring Dinky up in the sky. I saw how secure that little filly was with you, so I was wondering if maybe you could do just one quick high jump with her on your back? I think it would be a more fun way for her to get over the fear. Is that asking too much?”

I sighed and gave him a quick wave. That wasn’t a problem. “Oh no, that’s fine. I do owe you for that information. However, we need to do it out of sight, because otherwise all the other young ones around here are going to want ‘quick rides’. And Dinky can’t tell anyone about it until after I’m gone, because otherwise the same thing will happen. Is there anywhere close by where we could do that?”

The Doctor thought for a moment. “Hmm. Well honestly, if you want it to be out of sight, I think the best place for something like this would be at the top of the mountain outside Ponyville, but that’s quite the hike, and I don’t want to put you through that. I have another idea, though. If you don’t mind walking to my house and taking a quick detour, how would you like a ride in the TARDIS?”

The Doctor sparked my curiosity there. While I had been interested in the inter-dimensional travel we had spoken about at our dinner, I had not wanted to get distracted. However, now that I had the time, I figured I could try it out, especially now that I would get to do something interesting in the process of doing a favor. “Where did you have in mind?”

The Doctor smiled before he asked, “Well, how about the moon? There’s less gravity there, so you would be able to go even higher! And the view is simply extravagant!”

…I was stunned. The MOON? It took me a moment before I stuttered the thought aloud. “The MOON?”

“Why yes! Princess Luna’s moon has about 1/6th the amount of gravity as Equestria. I think it would be a great place for Dinky to overcome her fear. I know what you’re thinking; don’t worry, the TARDIS has all the equipment we would need. So, what do you say? Are you up for it?”

I was a bit taken aback by the whole concept, but the idea piqued my interest. I didn’t think I would get another opportunity like this, ever. Mario had been out in space before, but I didn’t think Bowser would try to bring him out of the galaxy again. Besides, I really owed the Doctor for the information he gave me, and at the same time I was getting a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Who can say they’ve been out in space in not one, but two different dimensions?

I narrowed my eyes and whispered, “…Bring it on.”

“Ha Ha, that’s the spirit! Hmm, I know it’s a bit sudden, but it’s only three in the afternoon. What would you say to doing it today?”

Hmm… He was right, it wasn’t that late— I could do it today and have the favor done early. I also thought that Fluttershy would want to kill me… but I wanted to start searching tomorrow. I could go to the moon, come back, rest for the remainder of the day, then be fully energized for the search in the morning. It seemed like a good option, I just couldn’t tell Fluttershy right away. Maybe in a few days…

Twilight jumped in. “Yoshi, are you sure that’s wise? Besides, I thought you were here to go over details about the search. I haven’t even had a chance to talk to you yet.”

I was a little upset that she was putting her two cents in, but Twilight wasn’t wrong, so I didn’t directly answer her. I simply said, “Well, I’d like to do this sooner rather then later. I can go now, then rest while we’re going over details when I come back. It shouldn’t take too long, right?” Twilight sighed, but didn’t say any more. She knew she was defeated. “Let’s go, Doctor, but we’ll need to bring my translator as well (“YES!”).” I glanced at Spike, then Twilight.

Twilight seemed very concerned, as I figured she would be. “Spike, are you sure you’re up for that? Doctor, can you guarantee me that he’ll be safe?”

Spike groaned, “Twiliiiiight! How come you have to be so overprotective? When else am I going to have a chance like this?” Twilight sighed.

The Doctor jumped in right away. “Don’t you worry, Twilight Sparkle! In fact, on this trip, I can absolutely guarantee his safety! If I couldn’t, I wouldn’t have made the suggestion. Besides, do you think I would bring my daughter somewhere dangerous to get over a fear?”

Twilight’s concern quickly faded into relief at that comment. She smiled, then said, “Good point. Okay Spike, you can go. But make sure you’re on your best behavior! Yoshi needs you!”

The Doctor led us back to his home and into the basement where he kept his TARDIS. He led us inside it, which was somehow bigger than the outside. He refused to explain how that worked, but he did have a lot of space gear— enough for all of us.

After we suited up, we traveled to the moon using some strange method of transportation I still don’t understand. As we stepped out onto the surface of the moon, I was in shock. It was stunning. The sheer enormity of our surroundings was too extraordinary to comprehend. As I looked down towards the Equestrian Earth, I had no words. A comet passed by, and before I even had a chance to say “aah,” it was gone. I didn’t want to get distracted, but I was just in awe.

Other than our little sight-seeing detour, it turned out to be a short visit. Dinky took one jump up on my back and said she was finished. I managed to get about 100 feet of air with the jump alone, not including the hover. In the few seconds we were airborne, I could hear her 'oohing' and 'aahing' at the stars and the planets, clearly not showing any signs of fear. The Doctor noticed as well, and declared the trip a success. Spike had helped me with the countdown, then stood back and watched the leap. When I landed, Dinky hopped off, gave me a hug, galloped to her father (rather slowly in the reduced gravity), gave him a hug, then jumped back in the TARDIS and said, “Okay! Let’s go home!” We couldn’t argue with that.

We arrived back in the Whooves’ basement about ten minutes later. When we walked upstairs, Twilight was talking to Ditzy Doo. Upon seeing us return, she gave a look of what surprisingly seemed to be disappointment.

“You’re back already? That wasn’t very long!”

“Nope! Dinky took one nice big jump on Mr. Yoshi’s back and her fears blew away in an instant! I could see it in her eyes!” The Doctor sounded very proud that his idea was successful. As they spoke, Dinky recounted the trip to her mother.

“Really? You didn’t take the time to study your surroundings?”

Spike piped up, “Twilight, we weren’t there for a study session! We were there to help Dinky get over her fear of heights! Just because you would have spent like, three hours just looking at stars doesn’t mean everypony else would have done the same thing! We did take a minute to just look around, though.” Spike muttered the last sentence under his breath.

“I guess that’s true…” Twilight sounded very glum. She sounded like she missed an opportunity she would never have again. But then…

“Miss Sparkle? Would you like to take a trip to the moon?” The Doctor took no time in asking.

Twilight’s eye’s lit up. “…WOULD I!! Oooooooh, but I can’t right now. I have to go back to the library… More research…”

“Not a problem! Let me know when you have some time off. We can make a day of it!”

“Oh, that would be amazing! Thank you so much, Doctor Whooves! I can’t believe I didn’t think to ask you before!”

“Yes, I’ve wondered myself why you haven’t asked me to take you anywhere, the studious type that you are. Please dear, whenever you like, you are welcome to take a trip with me!”

“Thank you so much! I will definitely take you up on that! But right now… Spike! Yoshi! We need to get back to the library!”

The Doctor and Ditzy Doo thanked me for my help, Dinky gave me another hug, and then we were out the door.

“Hey Yoshi, is your leg alright?” Spike sounded overly worried.

“Oh yeah, it’s totally fine. It was lucky I only needed to take the one jump. Even in reduced gravity, too many high jumps like that could’ve been a potential problem.” I remembered the space adventure with Mario. That was a tough couple of weeks…

Right as we were walking into the library, I saw Fluttershy rounding the corner. She was making a beeline for the library as well— she must have been coming to collect me. I was a little worried that she might be suspicious as to my whereabouts, but I decided if it was the case, I would tell her the truth. At least, part of the truth…

Fluttershy opened the door calmly, but she did seem to have a slightly suspicious look on her face. “And exactly where were you mister? I saw you three walking in the door just a few moments ago. You clearly haven’t been here the whole time since you left my house.”

Twilight and Spike knew that I knew Fluttershy well enough by now that they wouldn’t have to say anything, and they were right. I responded, “The three of us were over at the Whooves’ place. We—”

“I thought you said you were going over details about the search with Twilight!”

“I was going to! I got a little surprise though! Something you will be very happy to hear!”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Dr. Whooves was here when I arrived. He said he had some information to give me. After our dinner with Ditzy and the Doctor a while ago, he got into doing his own research on my behalf. He never told me he was doing it, so I wanted to spend some time with him and talk about his research.

“He discovered that there is a big time lapse between here and the Mushroom Kingdom. It turns out that one day here is only a minute there. That means it’s only been about a half-hour back home for me. Sooooo… do you know what that means?” As I spoke, Fluttershy’s expression had been changing from suspicion, to confusion, to contemplation.

“…That means…” She looked down at the floor and thought for a few more seconds, piecing it all together. When she looked back up at me, I was grinning at her with a raised eyebrow. Then her eyes glowed and her mouth went agape as she finally figured it out. “THAT MEANS YOU DON’T HAVE TO GO BACK YET! YOU—”

“I can stay for a while longer.” I nodded and flashed my smile a little wider. Then Fluttershy did something that I wasn’t really expecting at that particular moment in time: she gave me ‘the look’.

“You. Home. Your leg. Now.” I raised both my eyebrows. I glanced at Twilight and Spike— they each had a hoof and a claw, respectively, covering their mouths, clearly suppressing smiles. Over the past few weeks, they had deciphered Fluttershy’s new lingo, so they knew what was about to happen. Twilight barely had time to give me a quick ‘shoo’ with her hoof before Fluttershy grabbed me and pulled me through the door to go back to her cottage. It was obvious that she was way too excited to ask any more questions about my “visit” with the Whooves, so I didn’t need to make up an alibi for the time we were on the Moon. It was fine with me— it meant I wouldn’t need to tell her what we were really doing. I hadn’t lied, after all; I did spend time with him and I did talk about his research.

On the mad dash back to Fluttershy’s cottage, we passed Applejack and Rarity taking a stroll, talking about their sisters’ latest shenanigans. Rarity was about to give us a hello when she saw the look on Fluttershy’s face, and noticed she was dragging me behind her. Rarity also understood the signs Fluttershy had recently started showing, so she kept to her conversation with Applejack. However, after we passed I heard Rarity say to AJ, “My, our little Fluttershy certainly has changed quite a bit since our friend arrived, hasn’t she?”

It was clear Fluttershy could hear them when she gave me a quick glance while she galloped and said, loud enough so I could hear her, “You better believe it, PFF. And believe me…” We came to a screeching halt right in front of her door; the momentum whipped me around right into Fluttershy’s hooves and she looked me straight in the eyes. “I have NEVER… been happier.”

Chapter 11: Down Time

Due to our newest discovery about the time lapse, I decided to spend an extra week or so in Ponyville before going into the mines to search for the Augmentation Stones. This decision not only induced more jumping up and down from Fluttershy, but it gave me some extra down time. We all knew that I would still need to search for the stones eventually, but I figured Mario wouldn’t mind another seven minutes in the time loop.

I decided to spend my week like a casual citizen of Ponyville, with no pressures on my mind (other than everyday pressures like everyone else). I realized the only ponies of the six that I hadn’t really spent any time with were Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash.

I visited Pinkie at the Cakes’ and she made me a special batch of cupcakes that I gladly accepted. They were like nothing I had ever tasted; I couldn’t quite put my finger on it... As I spent the afternoon chatting it up with her, I realized why Pinkie was so hyper all the time: considering how good her own baking was, she probably downed a minimum of 13 cupcakes a day.

Despite my ability to… sort of fly, I still wasn’t able to sit on clouds like Rainbow Dash, and I most certainly wasn’t as fast as she was. Since we couldn’t do any sky shenanigans that would satisfy her, Rainbow Dash brought me to the lake by northern Ponyville to hang out. It turned out to be a nice, relaxing day. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Spike all came to the lake as well, so it was quality hang-out time for us all. We asked Toad to join us, but he decided to stay cooped up in Fluttershy’s shed. I was growing somewhat concerned, but he said I didn’t need to be. He just wanted to keep to himself. He was sporting a new robe that I hadn’t seen before, but I didn’t think anything of it. Before I left to go to the lake with the girls, though, I could have sworn I saw him hiding something behind the TV…

That day at the lake turned out to include a lot of story-telling on my part, since none of them really knew much about the Mushroom Kingdom. I talked about Mario and his brother, Luigi, as well as what Toad and I did in our world. Spike and the ponies couldn’t believe all the different adventures we had been on. Rarity was somewhat appalled that Princess Peach would let herself get kidnapped so much that it forced us to go out and get her so many times. I let them in on an opinion that I don’t dare ever mention to Mario, and you better not either: “Honestly, I think she likes getting kidnapped…”

I allowed the Cutie Mark Crusaders to bring me into class one day along with Spike so they could flaunt the fact that they knew me so well, and Scootaloo spent the day boasting that none of their classmates would get to experience what she got to.

Their teacher, Miss Cheerilee, asked me to explain who I was and where I came from. I told a few of the same stories I told Spike and the girls at the lake; some of the students were amazed, while some were just confused. One student with a mane that looked like he had cut it himself asked me at one point, “But how does a... warp pipe... work, exactly?”

I looked at him and said, “When you figure it out, you let me know.” At that, I think a spring went loose somewhere in his brain.

The filly with the silver spoon up her behind, along with her partner, seemed to be glaring at me all day, but the Crusaders assured me she was just incredibly jealous and she wouldn’t actually do anything, which made it all the better for them, apparently.

During my free time I went and talked to Doctor Whooves a few times as well. He began explaining the concepts of time-space loops and what exactly was going on with Mario in the Mushroom Kingdom. With what the Doctor told me, and considering that Mario was only on level 3-2, I realized he had it easy while I spent time in Ponyville. He just had to knock a few goombas and koopas every few minutes, and as long as he timed it just right, the jump that I fell from when I first landed in Equestria was still reachable, despite its difficulty. We had also found about twenty extra lives along the way, so in our time, he would be fine; I had nothing to worry about. However, I still thought I should limit my down time to just a week before searching for the Augmentation Stones. I didn't want to take too much advantage of the time lapse and risk Mario running out of lives.

Not only did Twilight come with me on my visits to the Doctor, but she got a chance to do some one-on-one research on Time-Space loops with him as well. By the end of the week, she was eventually able to develop her own spell to reverse it, even all the way from Equestria. It just meant we had to get an extra Augmentation Stone on our search. It seemed simple enough. And because of how much she had helped me, I forced Twilight to put down her projects on my behalf and go with the Doctor to the Moon. She was ecstatic, and the Doctor happily obliged. Twilight returned from the trip with hoofloads of notes, absolutely euphoric. She sent numerous letters to Princess Celestia all about her moon studies, and the day after she told me she slept like a foal.

Of course, having this down time also meant that I was able to spend more time with Fluttershy. She was perfectly happy to let me spend some time with her friends, but she was always glad to see me come back early from an excursion so we could spend a little more time together. We wanted to cherish the time we had. We didn’t really know how long it was going to last. Overall, it was definitely a good week.

Chapter 12: Into the Mines

After a week of free time, extra research, and getting-to-know-you’s, the pre-determined date of the search had come. Fluttershy and I went to bed early the night before so I could get some rest, and she made sure that all the other ponies going on the search were well-rested as well. She had her forest friends go around town, seeing to it that they all got in bed at reasonable hours. I thought it would be pretty hard to say no if a bear came through your window and roared at you to go to sleep…

Fluttershy and I had discussed her potentially coming along on the search, even though Twilight and I had agreed only to bring as many ponies as we needed. I had noted that Fluttershy’s new ability to understand me could come in handy. However, aside from possibly revealing that ability, she was hesitant to come with me because she didn’t really want me to start searching so soon in the first place, but we had made a deal— after another full week of rest and relaxation (and fun), she couldn’t really object to the determined day of the search. She also decided that the potential presence of Diamond Dogs would scare her too much, and she would just be in the way if they showed up, so she made her final decision not to come along. I understood her completely, and it was also one less conversation I needed to have with Twilight. I anticipated a very worried Twilight Sparkle if Fluttershy had decided to come.

I walked back to Fluttershy’s shed, which had been Toad’s abode for the past month plus. He had been hard to put a finger on. He had kept to himself the whole time, and he didn’t seem to be very social. The healing process had been slow for Toad, and during that time he seemed rather depressed. On his second day in Ponyville, Toad confided in me that after taking such a beating from Bowser, he realized he wasn’t meant for the kind of work that Mario and I do. He would stay behind in the Mushroom Kingdom from now on and only go out if it was a dire emergency. No more trying to play hero. Based on the droplets that leaked down Toad’s face as he told me this, I determined that the realization must have caused him a lot of internal pain.

Despite this, I was getting worried. Toad was becoming more reclusive than depressed now that he was healed. Every few days or so I had been coming to talk to him, and I was the only one he ever spoke to. He originally wouldn’t even talk to Fluttershy. He knew what had been going on between us, and while he admitted he found it strange, he had taken the same attitude as Angel. One day he even said to me, "I haven't heard the kind of pounding I heard that one night a few weeks ago. What happened? Lost the fire? Need a flower?" I sighed and shook my head at this comment.

I learned from Fluttershy that Toad eventually plucked up enough courage to talk to her— right around the time I decided we’d be spending some extra time in Ponyville. Apparently, the next day (the day that I spent hanging out with Pinkie Pie), Toad took the opportunity to ask Fluttershy for the robe I found him sporting, which she hoof-made in a single day with her ‘freaky knowledge of sewing’, as her friends called it. It looked big for him, which made me even more curious.

Toad and I discussed the upcoming search; he had thought about it quite a lot, and while he would have liked to help out, he finally determined that, like Fluttershy, he would have just been in the way. He said he also had something he wanted to do, which surprised me, but I didn't press the matter. I found it odd that he had been very adamant about keeping his robe on, though. He apologized and wished me luck on the search.

Before I did any searching however, I had a few stops to make. I needed my defender, my detector, my magician, and my translator. It was only 8 o’clock, but I knew who would most certainly be awake already. First stop: Sweet Apple Acres.

After insisting that two disappointed fillies (on two separate occasions) could not join us on the search, I was on the way to the library with Applejack and Rarity when AJ decided to ask, “So Yoshi, I saw y’all bein’ dragged to Fluttershy’s place by the girl herself the other day. What were y’all in such a hurry—” She was cut off by a hoof in the ribs from Rarity, who was shaking her head with a small grin. I sighed with relief and looked at Rarity with a clear ‘thank you’ on my face. Despite the language barrier, the two of us still understood the awkward situation just waiting to happen, and how easily it could be avoided. Even if it meant a sock to the farmer’s gut from the seamstress, we were both okay with that.

Since we really couldn’t converse that much, I listened to Rarity give a quiet lesson on tact to Applejack until we arrived at the big tree that was the Golden Oaks Library. When we got to the entrance, we all smiled at each other and knocked three times simultaneously on the door. Not two seconds went by until Spike swung the door open like a colt awaiting Santa Hooves. That was an analogy Fluttershy said to me referring to Angel once— it hadn’t taken me long to figure out what she had meant by it.

“Twilight! They’re here!” Spike shouted up the stairs.

“Relax, Spike, I heard the door!” I heard Twilight chuckle slightly. We were both clearly thinking the same thing— Spike was waaaay too excited about this.

“Are you guys ready? I am so ready!”

“Well, Ah’m ready if y’all are!”

“I’m all prepared, darlings!”

At that response from Rarity, I was actually a little surprised. “Wait, don’t you need to go over the enhancing spell with Twilight?”

Rarity laughed, “Oh no, darling. We’ve been preparing for some time now. The morning before your big flight with Scootaloo I was here practicing the spell with Twilight. I’m a much faster learner than everypony thinks; I actually mastered the spell so well that I can do it without Twilight’s assistance, so Twilight will be able to focus on the maps and navigate for us without being distracted.”

I was astounded at their dedication, and at the same time honored that they had put so much time and effort into helping me. These emotions became apparent when my eyes started to tear up a bit. “Oh, you are very welcome, darling. We did say we would do all we could to help you, did we not?” I smiled and nodded. Then a thought occurred to me— my magician had become my navigator. It wasn’t overly important, it was just a thought I found slightly amusing.

After all of my pony companions equipped a saddle-bag to carry various items (mainly maps, lights, and sustenance— the other pockets were left empty for the gems we were about to collect) and I was given one of Spike’s spare backpacks for the same purpose, we were ready to head off. Spike was allowed to go empty-handed because he would be our digger as well as my translator. They didn’t know I could do that as well, but Spike wanted a job to do on top of translating.

At 9 o’clock we were on the way to the mines when we passed Fluttershy’s cottage. We weren’t surprised to find Fluttershy standing at the door waiting for us to pass, wearing a look not unlike the one my mother made before my first adventure with Mario.

“Now you be careful up there, do you hear me? If I find out you get hurt again you are going to be in BIG trouble! You four also, PLEASE be careful! I don’t want anypony getting injured during this search, and please try to stay out of the Diamond Dogs’ territory if you can!”

Twilight was the one who decided to speak for the group. “Well, Fluttershy, we can guarantee you that we’ll be careful, but we can’t say the same about anything else. We’ll try our best not to get hurt, but please be ready in case anypony does. We know you’re the best at nursing ponies, and apparently dinosaurs, back to health, even better than Nurse Redheart. Don’t tell her I said that, but we all know that it’s true! Just please don’t get overly worried. If anything happens, we’ve got one of the strongest ponies in Equestria and an extremely powerful dinosaur for defensive purposes!”

I smiled at Fluttershy and she sighed, shaking her head. “Just… please be careful.”

I walked up to her and gave her a hug, which she returned. Then I said, softly enough so that only she could hear and Spike wouldn’t try to translate, “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Remember, this tongue isn’t only talented in the bedroom.” Then I gave her a naughty grin.

She smiled and nudged my shoulder with her hoof, then nuzzled me under my chin. While doing so she whispered, “If NOPONY is hurt when you come back, then I might expect you to give me another example of that talented tongue later tonight. But if I need to tend to something other than your leg, then there is going to be trouble, mister!”

“You’ve got another deal on your hooves.” I smiled and walked back to the search party as we continued our trek to the mines.

Spike looked at me with some confusion on his face. “How is she able to understand you so well with just your facial expressions, Yoshi?”

I hesitated for a second, wondering if I should tell him that he wasn’t the only one that could understand me anymore. I decided it was a bad idea to upset him right before we went on our search, so instead I told him, “Remember, we’ve spent a lot of time together, Spike. And also, her cutie mark?”

That seemed to satisfy him. “…I guess that’s true. Well, let’s get on with the search, huh? Ponyville Mines, here we come!” I breathed a sigh of relief. Spike was a lot more observant than I thought. I felt bad lying to him, so I decided that after the search, I would have a talk with Fluttershy about it. Our secret just might end up being revealed sooner than I anticipated…

As we entered the mines around 9:30 (Spike had also been assigned the job of timekeeper), I looked around and saw the glistening of all different shapes, colors, and sizes of gemstones. At first, I thought the search was going to be easy, but then I realized that with all these different kinds of gems around, how would we be able to tell which ones were the Augmentation Stones? I didn’t worry about it too long— I trusted Twilight’s spells and Rarity’s ability to use them.

Twilight turned to us and began to map out a game plan. “Alright, so here’s the deal: first of all, in case you wanted to know the science behind the spell…” At this Spike groaned. “…the basic idea is that it isolates the frequency of the Augmentation Stones from any other type of gem so that we won’t be distracted by any other jewels in the walls. You can see there are a lot of them, and the Augmentation Stones don’t all look the same. This being said, Rarity will be the only one able to actually locate them, so there’s no point in separating. I think that’s a bad idea, anyway. Since Rarity knows the spell well enough that I don’t need to help her, I can focus on the map.

“I believe the best thing to do would be to form a lineup like this: Rarity, you’ll be in front so you can guide us to the gems; Applejack, you’ll be right beside her in case anything tries to attack her; I’ll be behind you two with the map so we don’t go down any dangerous paths, and I’ve marked the Diamond Dogs’ territory so we can try to avoid it; Yoshi, you should stand just behind me, ready to counter in case anything tries to attack us from behind; Spike, you stay next to me— you’ll be close enough to Yoshi to be able to translate, and you’ll be just behind Rarity so you can dig as soon as she locates a gem. Any questions?”

“Sounds like a plan to me, Sugarcube.”

“Sounds like the perfect layout.”

“I’m alright with that. Good thing I’ve got quick reflexes.”

“It’s fine with me, but I know you just want to keep an eye on me…” Spike sounded a little miffed, but he let out a chuckle, as did the rest of us.

This was the first I was hearing about Twilight’s plan to be in formation like this, and I was happy she had thought this far ahead. This might take even less time than I thought. As I stood there smiling, prepared to forge ahead, Rarity began the spell.

“Sorry darlings, this spell will take me a moment to warm up. I may have mastered it, but I’m still nowhere near as good at magic as Twilight. Just hold on to your hooves for a secoooooooooond… HA!” I saw the glow around Rarity’s horn change from pale blue to a fiery red as she kept rigid concentration on the spell. “I have it! Onward!” Then Rarity marched, unwavering, into the depths of the mines, with the remaining four of us in tow.

Chapter 13: Digging with Doggies

Traversing the Mines was certainly an interesting experience; the gems on the walls seemed to infinitely reflect the light from the entrance, lighting our path as we walked. We didn’t really need our flashlights— the reflective surfaces of the gemstones were enough to keep us out of darkness. I thought that the search would be kind of frightening, but it turned out to be just the opposite: the bright colors of the jewels made it quite beautiful.

“Why… didn’t we… do this sooner?” Every now and then Spike had been grabbing gems from the walls and shoving them in his mouth. The first time he did this, I was appalled. I knew that dragons hoarded gems, but I didn’t know that they ate them. I guess that was the reason for the hoarding. I realized this habit of his would be pretty helpful— it meant we wouldn’t need to be holding onto or leaving any stray, unhelpful gems that might lead the Diamond Dogs to us. As long as Spike’s appetite held out, that is.

We tried to stay in the safest parts of the mines for as long as we could, but after being led down numerous dead ends and into some walls that yielded no results, we realized the gems that Rarity was being led to had to be through the walls into Diamond Dog territory. We weren’t exactly happy about it, but after two hours of safe searching, we decided it was time to venture into the deeper parts of the mines.

Rarity whined, “Oh darling, do we really have to? You girls do remember what happened last time I was in those dreadful dogs’ territory, do you not?”

“Don'tcha worry, Sugarcube,” Applejack responded. “We got yer back. We won’t let anythin’ like that happen again.”

“Ooooooh, alright," Rarity conceded. "You’re lucky your element is Honesty, Applejack!”

“Don’t Ah know it!”

Twilight checked the maps as Rarity continued the spell. She had wisely marked the areas where we had previously searched, so it was fairly easy to find our way back to those places. It took us a matter of minutes to get to the fourth path we were led down (it was the closest to where we were) that was almost a success. However, this time we went down the path adjoining it that led deeper into the mines. After a few minutes, I smelled the stench of those dogs that I had been forced to swallow a few weeks before.

“We’re close to their territory. I can smell them.” Everyone gathered in closer; I could practically feel the tension in their muscles as Applejack and I stood guard on opposite sides of the group. My ears picked up a distant snarling. “And I can hear them!” I wasn’t thrilled, but I wasn’t worried, either.

“Ha! We may be in luck!” Rarity suddenly looked as if she were being dragged by a string by her horn. Spike had described this to me before as how her ability worked when it was at its most powerful. She was dragged quickly, and then her head suddenly dove into a wall. She plucked herself out of the dirt, wiped off her face, and exclaimed, “Oh, gross! Spikey Wikeeeey! We’ve got a live one!” She stood nearby the spot so she didn’t lose its trace.

“Finally, some action!” Spike started clawing at the spot where Rarity’s horn had left a hole in the wall. After only about 20 seconds, Spike came out of the hole holding a green gem. “Is this it?”

“Oooh! That’s a nice emerald!” She focused her magic on it for a moment. “Hmm… but that isn’t it… and I can’t even use it on one of my dresses. Spike, you may if you wish.”

“Sweet!” I watched as Spike tossed the emerald in the air swallowed it in one gulp. “Okay, gimme a sec!” Spike went back into the hole and continued digging. Ten seconds later, he reappeared with a big red jewel. “What about this fire ruby?”

When Spike held the ruby out to Rarity, her horn sparked and she recoiled a few feet. “Oh my! I believe…” She closed her eyes as she pointed her horn at this one. “Yes! We have a winner!”

“Alright!” everyone shouted, as I was given the ruby to hold on to. I stowed it in the backpack I was carrying. We decided to take a short break so Rarity and Spike could recover after that little ordeal. This, however, turned out not to be the smartest of moves. As we all sat down, my nose twitched from that awful smell again.

“Not good.” I whipped around and saw three Diamond Dogs behind me, and two more were closing in on us from the other side. I recognized two of the dogs who were trying to sneak up on me from behind; they had brought friends this time. I thought Applejack and I would need to put up our dukes.

However, at that moment, I heard a sound that I never thought I would hear, and hoped I would never have to ever again. “OOOoooooohh!! WHYYYyyyyyyyYYY did the DIAmond Dogs have to butt in on our SEArrrrrrrch! WE’RE not doing anything to THEEEeemMM!” My eyes began popping out of my head. It was Rarity! I never thought that kind of whining would ever come out of such a refined pony, but it seemed to do the job.

As Rarity continued whining, the Diamond Dogs snarled, covering their ears and mumbling to each other. I suffered through it and took the opportunity to swallow one of the dogs, whip around, and aim the resulting egg at the other two. This caused the three of them to go rolling back down the path they came from. Applejack bucked both of the dogs in front of her so hard it looked as if they would go flying into oblivion. I could hear the sound of whimpering gradually fading away.

When the coast was clear, Twilight shouted at the top of her lungs, “Rarity! They’re gone!”

Rarity stopped whining and quickly regained her composure. “Oh, thank goodness. I had hoped I would never have to do that again.”

I took my hands away from my ears and asked, “How did you know that would work?”

“Well, let’s just say I’ve had to slave through a previous encounter with those dogs, darling.” I… didn’t really want to know. “Let’s press on now. Hopefully we shan’t encounter those rascals again.”

“Agreed.”

As Rarity began the spell again, we expected another trek. This time, however, we were pleasantly surprised. When Rarity charged up the spell, her horn immediately grabbed her by that string again and she darted right for me. I quickly dodged her, but her head then dove into the ground about three feet past me. “Ouch! Oooh, why did it have to be the ground? I’m going to need another spa visit after this!” I decided to give Spike a break and walked over to the spot myself. I barely had to dig a few inches when I picked up a moderately sized blue gem. “Hmm! A sapphire this time!” When I held it up to Rarity, her horn sparked again, but she was able to keep herself on her feet. After another quick focus, she said, “Well, isn’t that nice! One of those horrible Diamond Dogs must have been carrying this one and dropped it before they so graciously made their exit! Wasn’t that nice of them!” We all laughed.

“Oh! Well, that was rather fast!” Rarity grunted, but she sounded excited. “Looks like we’ve got another one close by!” We were pretty close to the third path we walked, which had led into more Diamond Dog territory. I was a little hesitant the first time we walked there, but after the encounter we’d had only minutes before, my worries evaporated in an instant.

We followed Rarity again, with Twilight simultaneously consulting the map. This time, we traversed the Dogs’ path. Rarity’s horn-guiding string appeared again, but this time it did something we were not prepared for, especially not Rarity. Her horn drove upwards into the ceiling of the path, far enough up that she was stuck hanging from the ceiling above, flailing her legs all over the place.

Rarity yelled, “Ah! Get…me…down from here!” We were all concerned at first, but after we realized Rarity was fine, all of us, except for Spike, gave a quiet chuckle. Unfortunately, Rarity still heard us. “This is NOT funny! Get me DOWN from here! NOW!”

Applejack asked, “Uh, how exactly’re we gonna do that?”

“Well, I have an idea, but you may not like it very much, Rarity…”

Rarity screamed, “I don’t care! Just get me down!”

“Well, I can use my tongue to get you down, but—”

“EEEK! Oh, no-no-no-no-no! No offense, darling, but I’m guessing your tongue is rather... slimy, is it not?”

“Well, yes. But does anyone have any other ideas?” Everyone looked at each other, but they all shrugged.

Suddenly, Spike spoke up. “Well, what if you threw me up and I grabbed her legs, then pulled her down?”

“I don’t think you’re heavy enough to get her down, sugarcube. T’was a good idea, though.” Spike then looked at Twilight and Applejack longingly. “Oh no, Ah’m not willing to have myself thrown, sugarcube.”

“Sorry Spike, but I’m not really comfortable without something solid beneath my hooves.” Twilight sighed, “Sorry Rarity, but it looks like you don’t have any other choice.”
Rarity groaned, “Ooooooh, fine. If I must, I must. Please be gentle, Yoshi!”

“Tell you what, Rarity. You’ve helped me a lot. Now that you need to deal with this, too, I’ll escort you to the spa myself after this!” I smiled, even though she couldn’t see it.

“You have a deal, darling. Alright, I’m ready.”

I wanted to make this as painless as possible, so I slowly extended my tongue in front of Rarity so she could see it coming. I heard her go, “Oooooooh… Ah!” as I wrapped my tongue around her horn and above her head so I could loosen it from the dirt. After ten seconds or so, I saw her slightly shift downward as she said, “OH!” from the sudden jerk. Applejack and Twilight galloped underneath her so they could catch her as she fell. They got there just in time to catch Rarity right before she hit the dirt. Her head was covered with my saliva, and she looked like she was about to faint. “Oh my, I hope I never have to do THAT again! But hmm... we seem to have ourselves a predicament here, don’t we?

Rarity was right. We hadn’t anticipated needing to dig into the ceiling. It was at least fifteen feet up, and there was nothing to stand on to give us a boost. But Spike came up with another idea. This time the conversation was just between us.

“Hey Yoshi, I’d be okay with it if you held me up to the ceiling with your tongue so I could dig upwards…” This time we considered it.

I responded, “Hmm… I could do that. You’re alright with the sliminess and everything?”

“Haha. I’m not a girl, remember?” he whispered to me, so as not to offend any of the ponies, especially Rarity.

I chuckled. “True, very true.”

Spike turned to the girls. “We have an idea. Leave it to us.” Twilight gave the other girls a curious look. They just shrugged. Spike and I walked underneath the hole left by Rarity’s horn.

I asked him, “You ready, Spike?”

Spike took a deep breath and said, “Yeah. Go for it. Just don’t turn me into an egg, please?” Everybody laughed as the girls figured out what was about to happen.

“Don’t worry, buddy. That only happens if I swallow ya, and I have NO intention of doing that.” Spike sighed in relief as I let out my tongue again. He cringed for a moment when he felt the sliminess of my tongue wrapping around him, but as soon as I lifted him up to the ceiling and under the hole left by Rarity’s horn, he immediately started working his claws.

Trying to avoid the falling dirt, I continuously lifted my tongue as Spike progressed. About a minute later I heard him yell, “STOP!” I held my tongue in place, then heard him shout, “Incoming!” Moments after, I saw an emerald fall from Spike’s hole. I caught it and held it out in Rarity’s direction. She trotted over, then got sparked again. A quick focus confirmed our hopes.

“And here we have number three! Great job, Spikey Wikey!” I lowered Spike out of the hole and placed him back on the ground. He slipped and fell from having the same saliva on his feet as Rarity had on her head.

Spike rose and shook himself off. “Ugh. I’ll be honest, that wasn’t exactly fun.”

I said, “Sorry, buddy. Not much I could do about that.”

Rarity piped up, “Tell you what, Spikey Wikey. On my next round into the mines, I’ll get a special batch of jewels just for you. Next time I’m coming here, give me a request and I’ll get a nice big haul!”

Spike’s eyes lit up. “Really? Thanks, Rarity! That sounds awesome!”

“Absolutely, darling! I just so happen to know exactly what you just went through, and I agree, it most certainly is not fun!”

I bowed my head slightly. Rarity noticed and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, dear! I didn’t mean to offend!”

“It’s okay. Now that I think about it, I wouldn’t want to be held up by my tongue, either.” We all laughed at that.

Spike spoke up, “So, we’ve got three stones, right? Does that mean we’re done? Can we go back?”

Before I could say anything, Twilight said exactly what was on my mind. “Yes, we have three, but we need to get another one for the Time-Space Reversal spell. It shouldn’t take too long. The Augmentation Stones have been easier to find than I thought. We just had to be in the right part of the mines. Unfortunately, that meant being deeper than we hoped, but it’s been coming along pretty quickly since then!”

Rarity quipped, “Oh, alright darling. But please, can we try to find a stone that won’t lead my head into the dirt?”

Twilight answered, “We’ll try, Rarity, but that’s your horn’s decision, not ours.” Rarity pouted as the rest of us laughed.

As we walked in the opposite direction, following Rarity’s horn, Twilight checked the map again and saw that we were close to another Diamond Dog intersection that we hadn’t checked yet. Right before she started speaking, Rarity exclaimed, “Oh! I think I’ve got one! This way!” She began walking the unchecked path, but she wasn’t being dragged this time. Maybe her horn had a sixth sense, but whatever the reason, it turned out to be a good one.

We walked along the path until we saw a large fire ruby, which we assumed was our fourth Augmentation Stone, in the clutches of one of the biggest Diamond Dogs we had ever laid eyes on. Luckily for us, it was asleep. We all looked at each other, each of us wearing the same expression that was saying, WHY?

Twilight brought the group closer together before she whispered, “You know, we can go look for another one. We aren’t even completely sure that IS the Augmentation Stone we need.” That was probably the best idea, but Rarity had had enough.

“No. Regardless of his size, if that is our last gem, let’s just grab it and go. He’s asleep for now, so I’m going to find out.” Rarity slowly began to walk towards the sleeping dog. It appeared to be out cold. Rarity closed in, her horn glowing; as she pointed herself in the direction of the ruby, she sparked yet again. There was a chorus of fearful inhalation. The dog stirred, but did not awaken. Everyone sighed, releasing the tension. Rarity turned to us and nodded. This was most definitely the gem we needed. Of course, the Diamond Dog had to be clutching it…

Spike decided he wanted a little more action. “Rarity! Let me grab it! I can get in a little closer without him noticing!”

“Are you sure? I don’t want my little Spikey-Wikey getting hurt, now!” They were both speaking in whispers so as to let the sleeping dog lie. Hopefully…

“Leave it to me!” Spike proclaimed. Twilight was about to protest, but none of us really seemed to have any say in the matter. Spike began running toward Rarity and the dog, but was stopped when I shot out my tongue to block him.

After furling my tongue back into my mouth, I held up a hand and whispered, “Hold up there, Spike. I have an idea.”

He quietly whined, “Oh come on! Just let me…”

“Don’t worry, I’m not stopping you, but I want to give you some backup. Let me come with you so I can swallow him in case he wakes up, alright?”

“Okay, I’m cool with that.” Spike relayed the plan to the girls, who agreed it was smart, and Rarity backed away to rejoin the group.

As Spike and I approached, we realized the terrain was perfect for this plan. The path turned into a steep slope right behind where the Diamond Dog was laying. I walked around so I was behind him, ready to shoot my tongue out if he started any kind of attack. Spike slowly walked closer to the dog’s hands, preparing to grab the ruby. In a matter of moments, I became relieved that I convinced Spike to agree to this idea. He quickly grabbed the ruby, but just as quickly, the dog woke up and lunged for him. In the nick of time, I shot my tongue out, swallowed the dog, and launched him down the path’s slope, in egg form. I breathed a sigh of relief; nobody was hurt.

Spike held the gem up to Rarity to make sure it was in fact the gem we needed, but when she charged up the spell again, Rarity wore a discouraging frown. “That’s… that’s not it.” Spike gaped at her. “How could that not be it? My horn sparked and everything!”

Once again, Spike saved the day. “Wait— there’s a big mark over there where the dog was laying. Maybe it was underneath him.” Rarity frowned, but gave it a shot. She walked over to where the dog had positioned his hands in front of him.

Rarity began the spell again, and the moment she did, her horn shot directly into the ground. She lifted her head, her face completely covered in dirt, and complained, “OOOOOOH! Ow! Why does that always have to happen?” Raising her head, she noticed an amber gemstone lying right on top of the dirt. “Well, no wonder it hurt that time! It was barely covered, lying right on the surface underneath his grimy hands! So that’s why my horn sparked! Spikey-Wikey, you have just been on fire today!” Spike blushed and held his claws behind his back, bouncing on his heels with a giant grin.

Twilight gave a deep sigh before she spoke up. “Well, that should be all we need. Let’s get these stones back to the library and keep them safe until we need them. I know just where to put them, too. Yoshi, you have the other three, right?” I had put them all in my backpack. I checked to make sure they were all there (which thank goodness they were), and nodded to Twilight. “Great, I’ve got the map out, so I can guide us back to the entrance. Luckily, there’s a clear path up through the mines from where we are, and we’ll be out of Doggy territory fairly quickly.” We chuckled, but were all relieved to hear that. After I put the last Augmentation Stone into my backpack, we shifted formation so that Twilight was up front, then we traversed the mines back to the entrance.

As we walked towards the light that was the entrance to the mines, I detected the rising stench of Diamond Dog again. I wasn’t sure how many there were, so I quickly yelled, “Get out, NOW!” Spike barely had time to translate before he started hustling the girls out of the exit. I whipped around and found one rather small Diamond Dog snarling at me.

“I thought I smelled moving gemstones! Hand them over, now! I’m not letting you leave with those!”

I started laughing. “Haha. Yes, you are.” Spike wasn’t there to translate for me, so the dog was confused.

“What did you say?” I rolled my eyes and waved him off. As I turned around and started walking to the exit, he attacked. “Nobody waves off a Diamond Dog like that! Not even a weird thing like you!” I casually turned back to him, shot out my tongue, whipped around, and shot him back down the path, rolling around in his egg. As I began walking outside, I still smelled the stench of the dog, but I could feel it gradually fading away. I realized there might have been another one behind him that either saw what happened and retreated, or was in the path of the egg and rolled down along with it. Either way, I laughed as I rejoined the others outside the Mines, then took a deep breath of outside air.

“Everything alright there, sugarcube?” Applejack asked.

“Oh yeah.” I responded. "There was one more dog making a last-ditch attempt to grab the gems we collected, but he’ll be rolling around for a little while.” We all laughed as we walked down the path back to Ponyville. Finally, the search was over. We had the Augmentation Stones, and I could go back home as soon as Twilight figured out how to make the spell work.

Rarity came closer to me and said, “Yoshi? Darling? If you don’t mind, I am going to take you up on your spa escort offer as soon as we get back. If there is any a time that I need it, it’s now!”

I nodded and answered, “I can do that. I did promise you, didn’t I?” Everyone laughed.

As we walked back to Ponyville, Rarity began babbling, “Oh Yoshi, you will just adore Lotus and Aloe! They have the best spa treatments in Equestria! I guarantee you wouldn’t have anything like it back in your Mushroom Kingdom! They have…” Rarity’s bantering began to trail off as we made our way back down from the mines. A new thought was running through my head.

Look at all the friends I’ve made here… Do I really want to go back right now? But if I stay here, what will happen to Mario? What do I do now?

Chapter 14: One More Night?

As we approached Ponyville, the first place we passed was Fluttershy’s cottage. I wasn’t completely surprised to see her sleeping outside her door, most likely waiting for our return. We decided it wasn’t worth it to pass too quietly, because whether she stayed asleep or woke up when we passed, either option would have been fine (or so we thought). The result turned out to be the latter.

“You’re back! Did you find everything you needed? Did you run into any Diamond Dogs? Did anypony get hurt?” Fluttershy’s barrage of questions had an excited tone to it until the last one: at this, her expression changed like lightning to one of dead seriousness.

I chuckled as I sauntered over to Fluttershy, Spike jogging beside me, and said rather casually, “We’re all fine. There were no injuries, but I owe Rarity an escort to the spa. Right now, apparently.”

“Oh, you can say that again, darling. I have never gotten this dirty in my LIFE! Even on my normal trips to the mines! Fluttershy, you are welcome to join us! We can treat it as our weekly spa visit! We were going to go tomorrow anyway, were we not? I wouldn’t want to exclude you from our tradition!”

Fluttershy got a good look at her and agreed that for Rarity’s sanity, a trip to the spa was necessary. She considered the offer for just a moment. “A-alright. I’ll even treat Yoshi to his own treatment. You can take part in our tradition.” She gave me a smile.

“Wonderful! Twilight, Applejack, Spike, do you mind if we part here? I need my time in the hot tub or I do believe I’m going to crust! Blegh!” Everyone laughed except for Fluttershy, who looked absolutely disgusted, and at the same time slightly confused. Rarity turned to her and said, “Believe me, darling, you do NOT want to know…” Fluttershy closed her eyes and put up a hoof in agreement.

Twilight and Applejack were fine with the idea, but Spike looked glum. “Shouldn’t I come along and translate for Yoshi?”

Fluttershy smiled and responded pretty quickly. "Don’t worry, Spike. We’ll be fine. If you don’t mind, this… this’ll be just for us.”

Spike didn’t look as suspicious as I expected he would be, but he seemed to understand something. “Oh, okay… If you’re sure… Yoshi, you should give Twilight and me the stones, though. We’ll keep them safe at the library.”

Twilight added, “That’s a good idea, Spike. I have just the place where I can put them, too.” It was fine with me— less of a load on my back. I handed the backpack to Spike, who still seemed a little depressed that he was being left out, especially out of a visit to the spa. He took the pack and started sullenly walking off to the library, but Twilight stopped him. “Wait just a second, Spike! I need you here for a minute.” Spike perked up and dashed back to her side, but his expression quickly became morose again. He seemed to know something was coming.

“Well, Ah’d love to stay, but Ah gotta head back to the farm. We’ve been gone most of the day, and them apples don’t buck themselves! So long, everypony!” Applejack said her farewell and galloped off to Sweet Apple Acres.

“I’m going to go drop my things off at the boutique, but I’ll be back in a moment so we can go to the spa together, alright dears? See you in a flash!” Rarity booked off in the other direction as well.

Twilight, however, stayed back for a moment. “Hey, Yoshi? Can you hold on a minute? I need to talk to you.” She seemed very serious. “Yoshi, now that we have the Augmentation Stones and are able to get you back home… I think it might be best if you leave soon… preferably tomorrow. Princess Celestia still doesn’t know you’re here, and I don’t know if she would be thrilled with us having kept you a secret…”

“What?” Why on Earth were they keeping me a secret? I voiced my query. “Why were you keeping me a secret from your princess? Is there some kind of problem with me being here?” I didn’t understand…

“Well, to be honest, I don’t really know the reasoning for it myself, but…” Now I was really confused. Twilight ran a hoof through her mane, sighed, then pointed behind me and said, “Ask her.”

I turned around to find Fluttershy blushing behind me. It wasn’t until now that I realized our conversation hadn’t been private; I didn’t think Fluttershy would have been thrilled to hear it, but apparently it was necessary that she did.

I noticed that this wasn’t Fluttershy’s usual blush; she was clearly upset. She was becoming the old Fluttershy through and through. “Well, I… I asked Twilight not to tell her. She wanted to so badly, but I asked her not to.”

“Why? Why would you want to keep me a secret? I would have loved to meet your Princess!” As I heard Spike translating behind me, I knew it wasn’t necessary for Fluttershy, but I figured Twilight wanted answers, so it was necessary for her to hear both sides of the conversation.

Fluttershy continued, “Um, well, you see, as soon as I started taking care of you… from that first day I wrapped up your leg… there was just something about you… I knew… So the first day I dropped you back at the library, I asked Twilight not to tell Princess Celestia about you, because I… I wasn’t sure that she would, well… approve.”

I still didn’t get it. “Approve of what? What did you know exactly?” Twilight seemed just as confused as I was at this point.

“I knew that, well, um, you see… It’s just, well, I’m the Element of Kindness, and… oh, you know about that right? I don’t think we ever talked about it…” I did know about the Elements of Harmony thing; Twilight had told me about it. Though it was a big part of who they all were, it never really seemed crucial to go over everything about it, so Fluttershy and I had never brought it up. I nodded to her, still confused. “Okay, good. Well, anyway, I’m the Element of Kindness, and I never, well, I mean, nopony expects me to act the way that I have while you’ve been here…”

By this point, I was just completely lost. “Act how? What are you talking about? You’ve been the kindest pony—heck, the kindest being—I’ve ever met! What did you do that you think was so bad?”

Twilight interjected, “Yeah, Fluttershy, I’d kind of like to know myself. Is there something I should have heard about?”

“Um… well… I guess I can explain it pretty easily if I just said… well…” She looked at me squarely with her soulful eyes, running her hoof through her mane, and simply said, “You’re my first.”

Twilight and I looked at each other. We weren’t exactly sure how to respond to that at first, but the next thing that came out of our mouths (in unison, despite the language difference) summed up how we felt about it pretty well.

“…………WHAAAAAAAAT??”

Twilight and I began to alternate shouting, and I was going so fast that Spike couldn’t even translate. I knew that Fluttershy still knew what I was saying anyway, but Twilight missed my half of the barrage.

“You prevented me from telling Princess Celestia about everything that’s happened over the past month because of THAT??”

“Your princess sounds amazing! What, did you think she was going to do? Exile you for having SEX??”

“Do you have any idea how hard it’s been for me to send Princess Celestia letters and leave out all of the things that Yoshi has been DOING??”

“Did you think she expected you to be a virgin FOREVER??”

“Did you expect me to never tell Princess Celestia about him? She would have found out EVENTUALLY!!”

“And wouldn’t it have been worse if she found out about everything we did after I was GONE??”

And the last one was in bilingual unison again—

“WHAT WERE YOU THINKING??”

Twilight and I stood there panting, staring at Fluttershy, who was cringing on the ground looking up at us, her hooves covering her head. At the start of the screaming, Spike had fallen backward, but he leaned forward for a better listen at the word “sex.”

Fluttershy had been cowering in front of us on the ground as we were yelling. She looked up at us with tears in her eyes and shouted, “I was SCARED! OKAY??” Then she made a mad dash back into her cottage and slammed the door. The last thing we heard was a click.

It was at this precise moment that Rarity came up the path. The first thing she saw was Fluttershy’s door being slammed shut. The next was Twilight and me turning to look at each other, simultaneously saying, “NOT GOOD,” in two different languages, and rushing to Fluttershy’s door.

“Yoshi? Darling? Does this mean we’re not going to the spa?”

“Sweet Celestia, I can’t believe this is why Fluttershy had prevented me from writing about you to the Princess, Yoshi. This is absurd! I mean, no offense, but as soon as she brought you back here after you saved Rarity from the Diamond Dogs the first time, we all knew she was planning to, well, you know.” Twilight shrugged her shoulders as she glanced at me with a smirk.

“Yes, darling. And to be honest, I knew it even before that. I saw the look in her eyes as soon as she really started to get to know you—”

“RARITY!”

“WHAT? I’m serious! I am the one that suggested it the first time back at the library, am I not? Still, I’d like to know— how long has Fluttershy been able to talk to you, dear? And by Celestia’s mane, why did you two keep it a secret? It certainly isn’t anything for her to be ashamed about!”

“Well, it’s been a couple of weeks. And no, she wasn’t ashamed— we decided it was better not to tell anyone at first. Spike, we were actually afraid that you, and maybe other ponies, would get jealous. You’ve been so happy having a chance to get all that attention. We thought that if ponies knew she could translate as well, they would stop asking for you and just come straight to Fluttershy and me here at the cottage.”

Spike sighed. “Thanks, Yoshi. I’ll admit, I have liked the attention. Despite being the only baby dragon in Ponyville, I don’t get a lot of it from anypony other than Twilight and the girls. And now I see why you wouldn’t have needed me at the spa…” He hung his head, but before I had a chance to console him—

“Yes, and I bet the broken language barrier has also given you two a chance to have more ‘alone time,’ hasn’t it? Hmmm?” Rarity gave me a wink. She seemed to have this idea that since she had been the first to suspect Fluttershy and I had been getting intimate, she could speak openly about it. However, it was time for this conversation to end. There were more pressing matters to attend to.

“Girls, please! This isn’t exactly what we should be talking about right now! Fluttershy’s locked herself in her cottage, won’t let any of us in, and I can distinctly hear her crying upstairs! I know I’ve only been here with her a month, but believe me, I know her by this point! This is BAD!”

“Oh, don’t we know it, darling.” Rarity shook her head and glanced up at Fluttershy's bedroom window.

Twilight, Rarity, Spike and I had been sitting outside Fluttershy’s cottage for a good hour trying to determine what to do. I had also divulged my big secret with Fluttershy along the way. I figured it was time, and it could save Spike some unnecessary translating if the occasion arose.

That was a difficult night. It took us awhile to come up with an answer, but it seemed to be the easiest way to go about fixing the situation…

Chapter 15: The Big Reveal

It took a long time, and me being the only one at the door, for Fluttershy to finally open up. They knew it would be the only way, so Rarity, Spike, and Twilight all left before I knocked. Before she departed, Twilight told me she was planning to write a letter to Princess Celestia about the past month and send it ASAP. She asked me to relay that message to Fluttershy if and when she let me in.

When she finally opened the door after midnight to let me in, Fluttershy and I first exchanged profuse apologies over her keeping me a secret and my yelling. Luckily, it seemed that Fluttershy couldn’t stay upset at me for long. She squeezed me close and held me like she would never let me go. Fluttershy just couldn’t stay angry— she cared for me too much... as I did for her. I squeezed her back just as tightly, and decided not to tell her Twilight’s message right away.

When I did tell Fluttershy about Twilight’s upcoming letter, she didn’t seem to object as much as I thought she would. She told me she knew it would happen eventually, and she realized it had been far longer than she originally thought she was going to ask Twilight to keep me out of her letters. She told me that as time went on, she got more and more scared of revealing my presence to the Princess, so she never talked to Twilight about her letters and decided to try and keep me out of them as long as she could.

We talked about the whole situation for quite a while, since I still wasn’t totally sure why I had to be kept a secret in the first place. I didn’t really understand the reasoning Fluttershy had provided Twilight and me. It seemed, as Twilight put it, simply absurd. Fluttershy tried to explain how she felt about how she had been acting and her being the Element of Kindness like before, but it still just didn’t make any sense. I told her that she had clearly been over-thinking how the Princess would react to my presence. She conceded that I was probably right, and chalked it up to nervousness. She then yawned, nuzzled into my torso, and fell asleep instantly. I looked at the clock— one in the morning. We needed rest, so I drifted off just as fast as Fluttershy.

What happened the next morning was quite a shock.

The two of us woke up at the same moment— ten minutes to eight, just in time to start breakfast. As we both cooked for the animals and ourselves, we chatted briefly about the conversation we had had the night before.

Fluttershy kept beating herself up. “I can’t believe I’ve been so selfish. I don’t know why I never told Twilight to start putting you in her letters. In hindsight, you’re all right. I don’t know what I was thinking!”

“Don’t stress out about it. I can understand being scared over approval, but like I said last night, I have a feeling you were just over-thinking. I don’t think your Princess would have objected to my being here if she knew what had happened.”

“INDEED I WOULD NOT HAVE.”

The two of us dropped our cooking utensils. I was scared stiff, but despite her looking just as frightened, Fluttershy seemed to understand what was going on, so I relaxed slightly. She slowly walked to the door, opened it, and made a small “Eep.” She beckoned me over and walked outside. What I saw was almost as incredible as what I saw on the moon: a large, glowing-white pony with wings and a horn (Twilight later told me the term was ‘alicorn’), along with a gleaming sun as a cutie mark. I made the correct assumption of who was standing in front of us.

“Uh… um… h-hello, Princess,” Fluttershy stammered.

Twilight was by her teacher’s side, with Spike next to her. I wasn’t sure what to make of it at first, but if Twilight had no qualms and Fluttershy could speak to her outright, I determined I had nothing to worry about. I assumed I should still be formal if I addressed the princess in front of me, but I was cut off before I could even begin.

“Yoshi, it is a pleasure to finally meet you face-to-face. Twilight Sparkle sent me a long-awaited letter last night, and I determined it was time to meet you immediately.”
I didn’t understand. She didn’t seem upset, nor did she seem surprised by my presence.

“Oh yes, the letter I received from Twilight last night was not the first time I heard of your appearance in Equestria. I heard from another source— my sister, Princess Luna.”

What? How? I had never seen another princess around here at any point… WAIT— Princess Luna? Luna… moon… She must have known about my visit to the moon with the Doctor. Uh-oh… I was going to get busted big time.

“Um… Princess?” Fluttershy seemed like she thought she was about to be thrown in a dungeon. “How did Princess Luna know?”

“I will get to that in a moment. First of all, dear Fluttershy, Twilight told me essentially everything that has happened since our friend here arrived. Believe me, it was a LONG letter. It took me until morning to read it, if you can believe that. Anyway, I must agree with her. The fact that you asked to keep him a secret is rather appalling, especially since he was in need of help. I could have assisted.”

As the Princess spoke, Fluttershy was lowering herself closer and closer to the ground, holding her hooves over her head. “I’m sorry! I spoke with Yoshi about this last night, and I agree— I don’t know what I was thinking!”

“Well, I understand the being scared, dear. However, I promise that you have nothing to fear from me.” The Princess trotted up to us and spoke in a whisper so only we could hear. “Besides, Yoshi was right. I don’t expect you to repress yourself forever just because you are the Element of Kindness. I agree with him— the connection you tried to make between the two things doesn’t make sense. I’m actually quite proud of you!”

Wait, what?

The Princess tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Thank you for breaking her out of her shell!” That moment was a bit awkward for me… But then I realized something. I knew Fluttershy would also be feeling a bit too awkward at the moment to translate, so I motioned for Spike.

“Princess, how do you know about what I said yesterday?”

“Ah yes. I talked with Twilight about this before we came here. My sister, Princess Luna, found out about you when you went to the moon.” Uh-oh, here it comes. “She told me about the presence of an odd creature, and since then, I’ve been keeping track of you myself. I have my ways, and I’ll leave it at that. I was simply waiting for a letter from Twilight to explain your appearance. When I didn’t get one, I had a feeling something was going on, but I did not interfere. I trusted that there was a reason. However, when Twilight told me what the reasoning was in her letter—”

She had good timing.

“WAIT! MOON?? WHEN WERE YOU ON THE MOON??” Fluttershy managed to time it perfectly so that she saved herself another bout of humiliation. I, on the other hand, was not looking forward to this, even though I knew it was coming. Since Spike now knew she could understand me, and everyone else around knew about my trip, there were no translations necessary.

“Um, well, do you remember when I told you Doctor Whooves told me about the time lapse?”

“YEEEESSS…” She was glaring at me with daggers in her eyes.

“Uh, well, when we went to his house to talk about his research, we took a bit of a detour in his TARDIS…”

“HMM… I WONDER WHERE? WHAT WERE YOU DOING?”

“Fluttershy, please! Let me explain! I felt I had to repay the Doctor somehow for the information he gave me, and he asked me to take a quick trip with him to help his daughter get over her fear of heights. I took ONE jump in low gravity, and the Doctor declared it a success. We came right back after that, I swear!”

“I can attest to that. My sister told me the same.” Spike had been quietly translating for the Princess anyway, and I was thankful that she had my back. I was more scared of Fluttershy at this moment than anyone else. “Besides, had Yoshi not made that trip, I would not have found out about him until last night. And to be honest, Fluttershy, I am glad.”

In that moment, I saw Fluttershy’s expression change from one of rage to one of guilt as her piercing eyes softened, then slowly closed as she bowed her head. I hated to see her like that, but I was just happy her anger had vanished. “I’m sorry, Yoshi. I wish you would have told me, though.”

“Well, I didn’t want to see that Fluttershy— that’s why I didn’t. I knew you would be angry that I wasn’t resting.”

“Um, I guess I can understand that. I don’t particularly like that Fluttershy either.” She gave a very small smile. The other ponies softly chuckled, including the Princess.

“You see, Fluttershy, that is why you are the Element of Kindness. Even your anger is fueled by your care, which clearly knows no bounds. Besides, no element of anger exists; I am happy that I do not see you portray that emotion too often, if ever.” Fluttershy frowned, with more guilt in her eyes than ever. The Princess helped that to pass, however.

“Now that that is dealt with, I have some news to share. In the week that I have known about our friend here, I have been able to do some research on my own with what little spare time I have had. I will help you when Yoshi and his friend in Fluttershy’s shed do finally go back to their home world. The information Twilight read when she discovered the enhancement to the teleportation spell was, unfortunately, out of date. We now know that trying to use this enhancement to a point where it is most helpful completely drains the life force of the pony casting the spell. There is, however, another way to go about this. You will be happy to know your search for the Augmentation Stones was not in vain; I will explain all that later.” The Princess then turned to her pupil. “Twilight, I was able to find the exact location of the Mushroom Kingdom through the inter-dimensional wormholes…”

Princess Celestia trotted away with her student alongside her, discussing the exact process. I was relieved to know that she knew about Discord’s antics, and hopefully how to fix them, as well as the way to get Toad and I back home, now that we knew our original plan would essentially have killed Twilight. However, I was more worried about Fluttershy. She still didn’t seem to get over everything that had just happened; her downcast eyes, flattened ears, and slow movements showed me that. The mention of my leaving probably didn’t help, either. I could tell it was going to be a long day…

Chapter 16: More Answers

Princess Celestia spent the day in Ponyville. She went over all the details of my return with Twilight, praising her on the development of her time-loop reversal spell. As far as the Princess could tell, there was no flaw in it.

Around early afternoon, I asked Fluttershy to come with me to the library to talk with the Princess. There were a few things I wanted to ask, now that I had been properly introduced. She was a little hesitant at first, still having not completely gotten over the events of the morning, but she agreed.

I knocked on the door of the library; Spike opened the door and smiled when he saw me. I asked Fluttershy to let him do the translating. I didn’t know how much more time I would be spending in Equestria, so I wanted to give him another opportunity to help me out, as he clearly liked to do.

“Excuse my interruption, Princess, and you too, Twilight, but I was wondering if I could ask a few questions before you left Ponyville? I believe you are the only one I can ask.” I tried to be as proper as I could.

Princess Celestia nodded and responded, “Absolutely. We have all the time in the world right now. What did you want to know?”

I decided to start with an important one. "Well, I'm not complaining, but do you know how I ended up here in the first place?"

The Princess answered, "I believe I do. It seems to me that it was all a matter of timing. When you fell in your… level, I believe you called it? …I believe that is when Discord wiggled his way through the inter-dimensional tunnels and ended up in your world. That is why you were not caught in the time loop. You managed to barely escape being stuck in it yourself." Thank Peach for that… "The item you call a warp pipe, in particular the one you went into, was the link between our two dimensional tunnels. It was how Discord made his way into your world, and the way you came into ours. He left the portal open, which caused the pipe that would have led you to the junction of your home…" She must mean the Yoshi Island junction. "…to bring you here instead. However, Discord's power over chaos can bring him only so far. I am guessing that he has not been able to open the portal again, and is still playing around in your world. Luckily for us, the time lapse has Discord moving at a pace which gives us an advantage. He has still only been in your world for just over a half-hour in your time. I believe Doctor Whooves told you that Discord likes to create a bit of trouble before he causes any actual damage, is that right?"

"He mentioned that, yes."

"Well, he was correct. If I know Discord, your friends are most likely fine, except for your one friend stuck in the time loop, but that is more of an annoyance than actual trouble." She had a good point. Mario wasn't in any real danger if he was only repeating level 3-2.

"What I do not understand is how your friend managed to get here as well… Inter-dimensional portals do not usually stay open that long. I can only imagine that because Discord used the powers of chaos to open the portal, it must have caused some kind of rift that allowed it to stay open longer... I apologize— I will ponder this later.”

“What else would you like to know?"

“Um, how much longer can I stay in Equestria?”

“Well my friend, you will probably be happy to know that you may stay here as long as you like. Your presence is not a strain on our world in any way." Fluttershy and I looked at each other and smiled. "I assume, however, that you do want to help your friend out of Discord’s time loop as soon as possible, am I correct?”

“Of course! What do I need to—”

“You will not need to do anything. As I mentioned before, your search in the Ponyville mines was not in vain— according to my research, I will need the three Augmentation Stones to re-open the portal that brought you here. With the spell Twilight Sparkle developed, I will use the extra Augmentation Stone you retrieved to dispel the loop from here, thus allowing your friend to continue his level. However, my research also stated that it will be the only time I will be able to open this link between the inter-dimensional tunnels. After it closes, the portal between our world and yours will stay closed.”

It took me only a moment to contemplate what the Princess was telling me before I realized where she was going with this. My smile quickly faded away, but it seemed that Fluttershy hadn't picked up on it yet.

“This means that when you are ready to help your friend, you will need to leave at the same time, because after that portal closes, the link between our worlds will remain closed, and I will not be able to open it again.”

Before I could get in a word, Fluttershy spoke. “Um, Princess? Are you sure? There’s… there’s no way to open the portal again?” Obviously I was wrong.

“Unless we discover something that says differently in the future, I am afraid so.”

"Wh-...what about Doctor Whooves?"

"I had the same thought— I spoke to him myself. It seems that since he returned from the place he referred to as Flipside, he has not been able to connect with those inter-dimensional tunnels again. Neither of us are certain why. It is unfortunate, but it seems apparent that once you leave, Yoshi, you cannot come back."

After we heard this, Fluttershy and I slowly turned to each other, wearing the same pained expression on our faces. I held my hand out to her, and she placed her hoof in it. We bowed our heads.

The Princess continued, “I am so sorry, you two. I can see the bond you have formed is quite strong, despite how little time you have known each other. Sadly, it was not meant to last. Although Yoshi’s presence in our world causes no strain, he really does not belong here.”

Fluttershy and I nodded. We looked at each other and started for the door.

The Princess called to us, “Was there anything else you wanted to ask me?”

Right! I had almost forgotten! “Yes! Um, is it okay if we talk about this in private?”

“Huh? Oh! Gotcha! Twilight— we should go upstairs.” Spike seemed to understand what I was going to ask as he finished the translation, then hustled Twilight to the upper floor.

Luckily, I had Fluttershy to translate for me during this conversation. “I’m sure I speak for Fluttershy and myself when I ask this, but… how is she able—”

“Ah yes, you want to know how Fluttershy gained the ability to understand you after your first time?” Fluttershy and I sheepishly nodded. “Well, did it ever cross your minds how I knew about you two? If it comforts you, I will say that while I did know what was going on, I was never watching.” She put a hoof to her mouth and chuckled as Fluttershy and I both awkwardly smiled and glanced at each other. Neither of us had even thought of that. “However, I do know about the conversation you two had the next morning. While I myself cannot give you a 100-percent definitive answer, I believe that you were correct, Yoshi: Fluttershy’s special talent gives her the ability to communicate with creatures in a way that other ponies cannot. Combined with your intimate experience with each other, I believe that ability was enhanced to a point where she became able to understand your speech. I apologize, but at the moment I cannot give you a more detailed description than that.”

That satisfied me. I wasn’t sure I really wanted a more detailed description anyway. Too science-y for me.

“Did you want to ask anything else before I return to Canterlot?” the Princess asked.

I thought about it for a moment, then looked at Fluttershy. She shrugged and shook her head. I looked at the Princess and shook mine also.

“Very well. I will let you two go about whatever business you wish. Twilight! Spike! You may come back down! I want to go over this spell with you again...”

Chapter 17: One Last Hoorah

As we left the library to go back to her cottage, Fluttershy and I were feeling a bit down. I was having a battle in my head, and she noticed.

“Um, if it makes your decision easier, I think you should help your friend as soon as possible. If that means tomorrow, then… well… it’s okay.” As Fluttershy said this, I noticed that she seemed to be having some of her own thoughts running through her mind.

I replied, “I know. I really need to help Mario, but when I do, I’ll never—”

“Don’t say it.” She didn’t have to tell me twice. I didn’t want to anyway.

When we got back to her cottage, it was right about lunchtime. Fluttershy asked me if I would start making lunch for the animals because she needed to go to her room to do something. I had a feeling she might need some alone time to accept our imminent separation, so I didn’t question it and turned on the stove.

Right as I finished cooking, Fluttershy opened the bedroom door. At the same time, there was a knock at the front. Fluttershy opened the door to find Rarity.

“Hello, dears. I heard about your conversation with the Princess.” She wasn’t giggling, so I guessed that she meant only the first part. “I realized that we still have a trip to make, and if Yoshi is not staying much longer, this may be his only opportunity to take part in our tradition.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she said, “The spa! That’s right!” She looked at the clock. “We’re due in ten minutes, aren’t we? Oh Rarity, I’m sorry! I forgot!”

“That’s quite alright, darling,” Rarity replied. “You have clearly been distracted with more pressing matters.”

“Um, well, you could say that.” She put a hoof to her mouth— she seemed to be covering one of her flirtier smiles. Odd… “Yoshi, would you like to come? I’ll still treat you.” I nodded, laid out the various lunches for the animals, and headed for the door.

We arrived at the spa just in time to make Fluttershy and Rarity’s appointment. When we asked if it was a problem to add a third party member, we were brought in as if it had already been planned that way. After a quick introduction to the Spa Ponies, Lotus and Aloe, and a run-through of the treatment options, the three of us separated to various areas of the spa.

Fluttershy was getting her usual, basic treatment, so she was laying on a table getting a calm, Steedish massage. Rarity explained to Lotus and Aloe what had happened over the course of the previous day. They looked absolutely appalled. It was determined that Rarity needed the most intensive treatment they offered; thus, she was rushed into the back to take a hot, exfoliating shower to start.

I apparently still held some celebrity status, so I was offered any style of treatment I requested. I thanked Lotus and Aloe profusely and asked for a deep-tissue massage with slightly less intensity on my leg (Fluttershy approved of this), and if it was available, a melon aromatherapy. It turned out to be an easy request for them.

Since Rarity and Fluttershy were occupying both Lotus and Aloe, I was asked if one of the Spa Stallions would do (they were better at deep-tissue anyway). I accepted, and boy, was I glad I did. When Fluttershy’s massage was over, she settled in the hot tub, and Lotus came over to work on my leg while I was still in the middle of my deep-tissue massage. I never felt so relaxed in my life.

Because of the intensity and length of Rarity’s treatment, Fluttershy and I were allowed to relax in the hot tub until she was finished. After an hour and a half of spa therapy, Rarity finally stepped into the hot tub along with us. Fifteen minutes later, we all emerged from the tub, practically sparkling.

As we thanked our hosts and hostesses, Rarity and Fluttershy began reaching for their bits. Lotus and Aloe smiled, nodded to each other, and simultaneously said, “On the house today.” My eyes popped; I was stunned, and Fluttershy and Rarity wouldn’t hear of it. But they were rebutted with, “Oh please, you’re regulars! We treat our customers right! And we do have a celebrity in our midst! Please, our treat today.” They smiled, shooed us out the door, and immediately flipped their “open” sign to “closed.” It was then that we noticed the time— it was 6 o’clock. We had kept them an hour past their normal closing hour. Aloe smiled and waved at us through the door, then walked into the back of the spa.

We stood outside the spa doors motionless for a few moments, switching glances at each other. We were amazed we had received such wonderful treatments free of charge, especially after keeping them there after-hours. When we determined it was alright to speak, Rarity said, “Well! Now THAT was quite the end to a day! Wouldn’t you say so, darling?” She directed the question at me. I nodded with a still-slightly-stunned look. Fluttershy giggled. “They didn’t even accept tips! Fluttershy, we will have to give them double next time!” Fluttershy nodded in agreement.

“Alright, I’m going back to the boutique. I hope Sweetie Belle hasn’t burned the place down… Have a wonderful night you two!” Rarity winked. Fluttershy glared at her, but Rarity just trotted off, giggling. I thought of the possibility that Rarity knew something I didn’t, but at this point, Rarity probably understood Fluttershy and I better than anyone else in Ponyville. As I contemplated Fluttershy's reaction to Rarity's remark, I started piecing together theories as to what she must have been doing earlier during lunch…

When Fluttershy and I arrived back at her cottage, it was still fairly early in the evening. Fluttershy told me to go upstairs and take a rest before dinner to prolong the relaxation, to which I gladly conceded. As I walked into the bedroom, I just glanced straight ahead and flopped onto the bed, reveling in my body’s state of calmness. I wasn’t sure if Fluttershy was planning to do something as I slept, but I was too relaxed to really think about it. I tried to run ideas through my head, but I fell asleep after only a few minutes; I was so relaxed from the spa treatments I just couldn’t stay awake.

About three hours later, I awoke to Fluttershy tapping me on my nose and Angel standing on her head with what actually seemed to be an innocent smile. “Dinnertime, sleepyhead.” She had good timing. My body felt great and I was in the mood for a good meal. As I arose from under the blankets, I looked around and noticed that there were sheets all over the room, clearly covering some kind of setup. I hadn’t noticed when I walked in before.

I asked her, “What’s underneath those—”

“Ah ah ah! Not until later, nosey!”

“Um… okay.” I was right— she had planned something, and I was pretty sure I knew why. Now that the search for the Augmentation Stones was over, and we had basically decided that I was going to be leaving either tomorrow or the next day, she wanted to have one last farewell. Seeing all this brought me back to that dilemma— to stay or to go. I realized that this was a decision I shouldn’t even be debating— of course I had to go back and save Mario. We had agreed on that. But… what about Fluttershy and everyone I had met in Ponyville? Well, there was no use mulling over it on an empty stomach, so I gladly let Fluttershy lead me downstairs, where there was another setup waiting for me.

Dinner wasn’t anything overly extravagant, but it was different— a wide assortment of fruits, all of which I enjoyed. I had told Fluttershy I wasn’t a big fan of complicated meals, and as far as a farewell dinner was concerned, this was perfect. Fluttershy had added a bit of the romance factor by putting down a nice tablecloth and some candles, while relaxing dinner music played softly in the background. She wanted to know what had happened during the search, so I began the story. She grimaced at all the points where there had been potential for injury— not surprising.

Halfway through dinner she changed the subject to, well, everything else. It was at this point I confirmed my suspicions that this romantic dinner was only a precursor to what was to come. During the rest of the meal, Fluttershy joyously reminisced in everything that had happened the past few weeks I had been in Ponyville, reveling in every moment of it, even my injuries. It was clear to me that she was going to try to keep me with her as long as she could, even if it was only in her head. Recounting the memories would help her remember better, I guess. I didn’t blame her— I felt the same way.

We spent so much time at the dinner table reminiscing that the candles eventually went out on their own, simultaneously, like even that had been planned. We both had a start from the sudden darkness, but Fluttershy used it to her advantage.

“…Well… that certainly set the mood. Angel! We’re going to bed. Good night.”

As I saw Fluttershy quickly move ahead of me in the darkness, I felt a familiar little thwack on my back. I tilted my head down and said quietly, “Don’t worry, Angel. This one’s going to count. You might be in for a loud night.” I felt a small weight on my head and found Angel looking at me square in the eyes. He had on that devilish grin and was giving me the familiar thumbs-up of approval. I nodded to him and he bounced away, leaving me my path to the stairs, which was somehow now lit by tiny candles and strewn with flower petals. With this much preparation, Fluttershy was clearly planning something serious.

When I got to the bedroom door, I found it locked. “Hold on just a second, sweetie.” A few moments later, the lock clicked and I opened the door. The sheets had been pulled away, revealing candles of all kinds laying around the room, for the sheer purpose of effect, it seemed. When I took in a deep breath, I smelled the faint aroma of melons— my favorite fruit, and my most relaxing aromatherapy. As my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I approached Fluttershy, who was lying on the bed, twirling her hoof in circles. I crawled under the sheets with my candy-maned mare with only one thought on my mind— make it count.

Chapter 18: Farewell?

I don’t want to leave. Toad can go back. I bet he can find another yoshi to help Mario from now on— there are plenty of other yoshis on the island. I’m sorry, Mario— I’m staying here. She is just too good for me to let her go.

“I don’t want you to leave either, *sniff* but you have to go.”

“Huh?” I woke up to Fluttershy looking at me with a tear in her eye. She quickly swiped it away with her hoof.

“You talk in your sleep, silly. I guess you didn’t know.” I looked at her and smiled with a shrug. We clasped together in a warm embrace.

Well, I’m sure she already knew I feel that way. It wasn’t like I tried to hide it.

We just stayed in bed and cuddled for a while. I allowed myself to fall into a kind of trance. Despite how good all of our intimate moments had been, including last night’s, this was the closest I felt to Fluttershy since I arrived in Ponyville. I really didn’t want this to stop.

I snapped back to reality when Fluttershy tapped me on my oversized nose. “…Breakfast?”

“Yeah. Okay. Do you think Angel’s waiting on us?” I looked toward the bedroom door. Angel was indeed in the doorway, but he wasn’t tapping his foot. As soon as I caught his eye, he smiled and waved, then bolted down the stairs before Fluttershy caught a glimpse of him.

“He doesn’t seem to be. I think we’re okay.”

I chuckled to myself, One of these days, Angel. One of these days she’s gonna catch you as the naughty little rabbit you are.

Miraculously, it was early when we went downstairs. I helped Fluttershy make each individual breakfast for the animals that were regulars in the house. I told her I would make Angel’s, because it seemed apparent that I wouldn’t have another opportunity to do it after today. Fluttershy nodded and sniffed.

We all sat down for what we figured was going to be our last breakfast together. It turned out to be a quiet one. We couldn’t really think of much to say.

Afterward, Fluttershy went upstairs for something, and I took the opportunity to say goodbye to the critters that I had seen so much of. Angel put on the ‘I’m too cool for this’ façade, but I gave him a little noogie and thanked him for helping me with Fluttershy the way he had. I also warned him that one of these days his innocence charade was going to get busted. He shrugged at me and smiled, gesturing, Hey, I’ll keep it up for as long as I can!

When Fluttershy came back downstairs, she was holding a circular piece of cloth. I wasn’t sure what it was— it looked like some kind of handkerchief at first. As she came up to me, I realized it was too big to be one of those. I didn’t want to sound rude and ask her outright what it was, but luckily I didn’t need to. She came up to me and began explaining right away, but not before giving me one of her small blushes.

She began, “Um, I started making this the day you went to hang out with Pinkie Pie. I finished it while you were searching for the Augmentation Stones.” She gave it to me and I took a good look at it. It was as smooth as silk, and she had stitched her cutie mark, along with a heart, right into the center. “It’s meant to line the underside of your saddle. When you were first injured, it looked like it was rough underneath. I realized that was probably what caused the cut you got, so I decided to make something that would make the rides more comfortable, and less likely to cause another injury like that, even if it was minor. The design is so you won’t forget me.”

I let the liner run through my fingers. I looked at her with a tear in my eye and simply said, “How could I?” I hugged her for a good minute. When we separated I said, “Thank you, it’s beautiful. I’ll wear it every day from now on. In fact…” I lifted my saddle and pressed the liner in; it covered the entire underside right to the rim, and she hadn’t even taken a measurement. I put the saddle back on and pulled down, attempting to simulate a ride. I stood for a moment, then my arms fell and I sank to the floor, pure bliss on my face. I have never felt more comfortable with a saddle on. I'm actually wearing that liner now.

Fluttershy let out a soft giggle and said, “I’m glad you like it.”

I looked up at her and smiled. “Now all I need is you in my arms.”

“I can arrange that.” She got down on the floor with me and we held each other again. The warmth that spread through me was incredible. Something about her… I’ve never felt the same way since…

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. We jumped up and got off the floor. Fluttershy opened the door to find the Princess. We stepped outside like we had the previous day.

Fluttershy clearly asked her, “Uh, Princess? Forgive me for being forward, but what are you doing here?”

“It is quite alright, Fluttershy. I am here because I wanted to know if our friend had made a decision about his timing regarding his return to his world. He is welcome to stay longer if he wishes, I would just like to know.”

“Oh… um… well…” She looked at me and I nodded. “We thought it would be best if he left today.”

“Oh? So soon?”

“Yes. He needs to help his friend.”

“Very well. Yoshi, you should collect your friend and explain the situation.” I nodded and started walking around to the back of the cottage toward the shed.

“So after everything that’s happened here, you’re telling me that we can stay here as long as we want, while time back home is practically at a stand-still, and you want to go back NOW?? Are you INSANE??” Toad was more than a little miffed that I hadn’t given him more warning about our departure. He seemed to be enjoying himself in Ponyville as much as I had been. I didn’t blame him— despite not being particularly social, he had his own place, all the supplies he needed, nobody bothering him to do stupid stuff— it was a much better setup than back home in the Mushroom Kingdom. I told him that we had to help Mario— it was our duty. He painfully agreed.

I noticed that he was still wearing the robe Fluttershy had made for him. He hadn’t taken it off since she gave it to him. When I made a comment about it, he got flustered for some reason. “It’s… uh… just really comfortable. Your girlfriend’s a good seamstress. I like keeping it on!” He sounded defensive, like he was hiding something, but I decided to leave it well enough alone. I told him to come with me to the front of the cottage so we could start preparing to go back home.

When we emerged in the front, Celestia greeted us both and introduced herself to Toad. We both were wearing our hoof-made masterpieces from Fluttershy, and Celestia gave us official permission to take them back with us. I sighed with relief— after all the effort Fluttershy put into them, I didn’t want to be told they were going to be confiscated like I was dealing with a security guard for Mushroom Airways.

Since the Princess had come on her own, not expecting us to be ready to leave so soon, I asked Fluttershy to translate for me again. “So, what exactly is going to happen?”

Celestia responded, “Well, the short version is that I am going to open the portal to your world and cast the spell to reverse the time loop. After that’s done, we are going to make sure that Discord is back here and determine what he has done with the Princess from your world who has gone missing.”

Toad and I looked at each other; both of us rolled our eyes and raised an eyebrow. In unison we said to each other, “Again…”

The Princess continued, “Uh… yes. Anyway, because the portal lies up in the sky, I am going to have Rainbow Dash fly you two up to it and send you through. Hopefully we will be able to do all of this before the portal closes.”

It sounded simple enough. I had one more thing to ask before we left, though— I asked for Fluttershy’s assistance again. “I can say goodbye to everyone before we have to leave, can’t I?”

“Of course! I wouldn’t dream of making you do otherwise.” The Princess smiled, and I gave her a grateful thank-you. I took Fluttershy by the hoof and asked her to bring me around town, to which she gladly, but sadly, said yes.

It took a good while, but by mid-afternoon I had said my goodbyes to the citizens of Ponyville. I spent some extra time with the Whooves family, and thanked the Doctor again for all of his help. After which, the farewell committee gathered in the field where I first appeared in Equestria.

The Princess, Twilight, Spike, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and even the Cutie Mark Crusaders had gathered at the departure point along with Toad as Fluttershy brought me back from saying my goodbyes to the wonderful community that had been my home for the past month plus. Toad and I were ready to make the trip back, however reluctantly.

Celestia gave everyone a quick briefing of our plan. It was fairly detailed, but not overly difficult. Fluttershy and I were given some time to give each other our last farewells, then the process began.

However, something happened that none of us, not even the Princess, expected…

Epilogue

Geez. I didn’t realize how long it would take recounting my adventure. Leave it to my college-bound nephew to ask for story time the day after I get back from another dimension. What a procrastinator! He’ll never get into Mushroom University that way. But if he does get in, he’ll definitely be prepared for the social side of college. Damn kid even asked about the sex, what a piece of work. Like that’s any of his business! Actually… it kinda reminds me of Angel…

*Ding-dong*

Oh, now what? He didn’t leave anything here, did he?

“Do you want to get into college or what? I told you— oh, I’m sorry. I thought it was my procrastinating nephew again.”

“Quite alright, sir. Nope, just a mail call.”

“Thanks. Let’s see, usual stuff: bill, bill, EOB, junk mail, bill…”

“Actually, sir, there’s something else. I was wondering if you could shed a little light on it: some little creature in a cloak handed this to me and pointed at the writing on the envelope, then it just bounded away. I didn’t know what to make of it, but it didn’t seem dangerous, so here you are.”

Huh? What’s that about? What does this envelope say?

Yoshi
Yoshi Island
Mushroom Kingdom

Well that’s nothing too unusual, but why was this given to the mail-yoshi by hand? Hopefully the letter will explain everything…

My Dearest Yoshi,

I know that it hasn’t been very long for you. If my math is correct, it has probably only been about a day or so since you arrived back home. However, after five years here, I finally had enough.

A lot has happened here since you left. If I tried to tell you everything, it would be insane, so the main things I will tell you are that Twilight’s brother got married to a princess, and on top of that, Twilight herself is now a princess as well. We are all incredibly proud of her.

Twilight told me to tell you that if you hadn't gone behind my back and gone to the moon with Dr. Whooves that day, she would never have been crowned— she would have used the outdated teleportation spell and had her life drained away, so she is, quite literally, eternally grateful to you.

Twilight now has her own castle here in Ponyville as the Princess of Friendship, and has access to not only her own library, but Canterlot’s as well. After finding nothing in her library, I recently took the opportunity to ask her if I could go into the Canterlot library, to which she escorted me personally. I took a few days to do some research, something that isn’t my strong suit, but after five years, I knew I had to find something. I’m happy to report that I did.

When Princess Celestia told us that she would not be able to open the portal between our worlds again, she wasn’t wrong— she can’t. What I found out is that any immortal can open the inter-dimensional tunnels, but only once. That was why when Discord made his way to the Mushroom Kingdom, he needed us to open the portal again in order to get back.

Anyway, now that Twilight is a princess, she is immortal as well. This left us with three immortal beings in Equestria— Twilight, Princess Luna, and Princess Cadance, Twilight’s sister-in-law. This gives us three trips between dimensions until another immortal appears.

I’m guessing that by now you’ve figured out who wrote this letter, and if so, you’re probably wondering how you’re reading it. Well, based on what I just told you, I will say that now we are down to two trips between dimensions. When you look up from this letter, my cloaked messenger should be there, waiting to reveal himself to you. I won’t be far behind.

No signature… but who am I kidding? I knew who it was when I read the words ‘five years.' Wait, the cloaked messenger… it could only be—

“Sir, do you know this rabbit? It turns out he’s the one that gave me that letter.”

Angel… that could only mean—

“I see you got my letter. I knew I could trust my messenger. He hasn’t failed me yet.”

I never thought I would hear that voice again...

END

A Letter to My Wonderful Readers (MULTIPLE UPDATES)

PLEASE DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE WHOLE STORY

I want to thank everyone that has read Yoshi's story for following my first fanfic. As I mentioned in my note in the epilogue, I did not intend to write a sequel to this story. However, since TDWP is still gathering views from day to day, and the total view count doesn't seem to be increasing that much, I can only assume that people that have already read keep coming back. (Then again, I don't really know how the stats formulas work, so I could be wrong)

This being said, I'm now considering an idea for a sequel. I wouldn't begin until we are at least one month into season 4 (four episodes or so). It would revolve around the consequences of Fluttershy going to visit Yoshi for that minimal period of time (as you know, it would be a while in Equestria). I need to get a feel for what is going to happen in the beginning of S4 before I write anything, hence the wait (I do not want to include any references to EqG, in case anyone was curious. Flash Sentry may make an appearance, but I doubt it, and it would only be as a side character given the name). In case you have any ideas of what might come, I am going to try and veer away from the post-apocalyptic setting— there are tons of those already.

Since I've put this on the table, I leave the decision to you, my readers— would you be interested in reading a sequel, or would you rather leave the ambiguous ending that I've given you? Let me know, and I will consider all of your opinions. If there are specific things that you would like to see or not see, tell me. I'll try to appease certain requests as I see fit.

Again, thank you all for your support. Time for a little shameless self-promotion: if you enjoyed TDWP, please read my current fic-in-progress, Through Crimson Eyes. :)

UPDATE 12/7/13

After much thought and consideration, I've decided there will be no sequel. I have a ton of stuff going on as it is with my current writing, editing, medical stuff and various schoolwork (which will resume in late January). Another item on my plate might be a little much.

Another factor is that I tried to be as canon as possible (keyword here is 'tried') in terms of time with this story, and with Fluttershy arriving in the Mushroom Kingdom five years after Yoshi's return, I've kind of thrown the canon option out the window. I know a lot of writers don't care that much about stories being canon, but since this sequel would have revolved around canon events, it basically screws it all up.

To be honest, I kind of like the ending as it is, anyway. So a great big thank-you to those who said they would have been interested in a sequel, but none shall be coming.

However, I am still working on Through Crimson Eyes (for which I am on a temporary hiatus to get my $#!+ together). I also have a one-shot in the works, as well as a collaboration with Crystal Moose, but that may not be out for a while. On top of all this, I am way behind in my editing, and I don't want my authors to be waiting on me for much longer. This said, there may not be any updates for a while.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

ANOTHER UPDATE 12/21/13

So I kinda... sorta... almost changed my mind again...

I realized that there is a potential for side stories to this fic. I had a general idea of the time span for this story's occurrence in the canon timeline (key word— general). I had an idea about writing how the episodes could have been different with Yoshi's presence in Ponyville. The problem is, if I do that, then I need to determine a definitive time slot in the canon.

Does anyone think this is a good idea? Anyone have any suggestions?

YET ANOTHER UPDATE (And hopefully the last) 3/29/14

With the way things are progressing with my writing and editing, I don't think I'm ever going to have enough time to come back to Yoshi. I think his escapades in Equestria are over.

While the one-shot I spoke of before is finished (Avoiding Homework, which seems to have been a dud), I'm still working on Through Crimson Eyes, and I have two other stories in the works, including my collab with Crystal Moose. On top of that, I have six stories on my editing list right now.

So again, thanks for reading. As my writing skills have increased, and I've gone back through a few chapters in the story, I've caught a few minor mistakes that my editor and I missed. When things die down a bit, I'll go back through and re-edit again, but that won't be for a while.

THIS SERIOUSLY SHOULD BE THE LAST UPDATE 11/2/14

Alright, I've gone through the story and re-edited it to the extent that I wanted, particularly in order to change the rating. I also attempted to leave some of my old writing style in since this was my first fanfic, and I'd like to be able to come back to compare my older and newer writing styles in the future as I continue to improve.

I'm not going to blab about any updates with my other stories, and I'm not going to change anything from up above. Since my collab with Crystal Moose still hasn't been published yet (though we're finally starting to get a bit of a jump on it), my only other published story that's still in progress right now is Through Crimson Eyes, and if any of you are following that (or plan to read it), you'll know when it's finished.

I'm hoping that this is the last time I come back to this story, particularly this letter. I've re-edited it the way I wanted (though there may still be a few grammatical or mechanical errors here or there— if I come back and find them, I'll change them), I've given readers updates about it (as well as other stories), I've thought about and declined the notions of continuing with it... I think that's enough. I hope you enjoyed it.

Chapter 1: A Gripe with the Pipe

Ow… It was a rather bumpier landing than usual. It felt like I bruised my leg… Eh, I would look at it later. Boy, I need to be wary of that level in the future. It was a doozy.

Hey… wait a minute… dirt road? What was this huge field doing here? Was that an orchard in the distance? This definitely wasn’t the Yoshi Island Junction… I must have gotten a defective pipe! Where the heck was I? It didn’t even look like the Mushroom Kingdom…

*Woosh*

Hey! What was that? Some rainbow-colored blur tried to divebomb me! I shouted, “HEY! What do you think you’re doing?”

The blur replied, “Oh! Sorry, didn’t see ya… excuse me? What did you say?”

“I said, what do you think you’re doing?”

“What's with the squeaking, huh?”

OH NO. The creature didn’t understand me… This was going to be a problem. I had no way to explain to this local who appeared to be a—horse with wings?—who and what I am, or even how I got there. I wasn't sure of that either, to be honest. Still, the creature intrigued me. I clearly wasn’t in the Mushroom Kingdom anymore. Was this the main makeup of the population? I wondered if they had any other species around…

“HEY BUD!”

Huh? She broke me out of my trance.

“I said, where are you from?”

Oh boy, this was going to be interesting. I attempted to regain my composure and tried to communicate again. “Pardon me. I come from a land called the Mushroom Kingdom. I was assisting a friend of mine on his quest to retrieve our princess from an evil menace. I normally take pipes back to my home island to take breaks, but the last pipe I entered seems to have been defective— it sent me here instead. Where exactly am I?”

The winged horse just stared at me for a moment before it said, “……Uhhh… why do you keep saying that word? I asked you where you were FROM! Are you from Yoshi? Is that what you’re saying?”

…I knew it— all this creature heard was me squeaking and saying the occasional ‘Yoshi.' I wondered, Maybe there are other beings in this world that I can actually talk to…

“I’m gonna go get Spike. You kinda look like him with the spikes on your head and all. Maybe you’re some kind of dragon?” The creature spoke without letting me give a response. Then, leaving a magnificent rainbow trail in its wake, the creature sped off faster than Mario with a power star.

AHA! There WERE other species here! And even my cousins, the dragons! That— wait… DRAGONS? There were large, fire-breathing, treasure-hoarding creatures living in conjunction with these winged horses? How did they do it? I couldn’t imagine living with my cousin Norbert for a week! I guess I’d have to ask her when she got back. I mean, she appeared to be a female…

How in Peach’s name did I get myself into this mess? This had never happened before. How am I— I cut myself off. The dive-bomber was returning. It didn’t take very long. I needed to ask how they could possibly live with— Ooooohhh. It was a baby dragon! That made more sense. And this blue creature brought five more of her kind with her. Hey… wait… two of them didn’t have wings. And the other two had horns… What was going on here? Were they all the same species? If not, I had to say, this seemed like quite a harmonious community! If they lived so peacefully here, I figured I might try spending a vacation in this place for a little while sometime…

The creature called to me, “Hey Bud! I brought a friend of mine to see if he could do a little translating. And I told my other friends that I met you and they wanted to meet you, too! This is—”

“Rainbow Dash! I think we should see if Spike can understand him first before we go overwhelming him like that!”

“Oh, right… Haha, my bad. Spike, you’re up!”

“I’m on it, Rainbow Dash.” Then this small, purple dragon turned to me and spoke in the clearest, plainest English I had ever heard out of a dragon’s mouth. “Hi! My name’s Spike. My friend over there said she’s having trouble understanding you. Do you mind if I give it a shot?”

I was amazed at this dragon’s politeness and clarity. Every other dragon I’d ever spoken to had been raspy and arrogant. I hoped he would understand: “Gladly. My name is Yoshi. I'm a dinosaur from Yoshi Island in the Mushroom Kingdom. I was helping my friend find our princess when I dropped into a defective warp pipe and ended up here instead of back home. Where am I? And what exactly are those creatures?”

“SEE?” I heard the blue, winged horse named Rainbow Dash cry to her friends. “I can only catch that one word, and I don't even know what that means! I don’t get him!”

“That’s because you don’t have any experience with the dinosaur family, Dash!” My heart skipped a beat with anticipation— did this dragon named Spike really understand what I said, or did he just happen to know I was a dinosaur?

“DINOSAUR?” all the other creatures said in unison.

“Yep.” Spike beamed. He seemed to enjoy knowing something the rest of these creatures didn’t, as if he was usually at the bottom of the totem pole. “He said his name is Yoshi, and he comes from Yoshi Island in the Mushroom Kingdom. Long story short with how he got here, he… jumped down a wrong hole and ended up here instead of his home.” He turned to me. “Does that sound about right?”

My eyes dilated with joy. He DID understand me! I gave him a fast nod to answer his question.

Another one of the creatures spoke up, bouncing up and down. “Oooh! Oooh! Wait! You said his name was Yoshi, right? And that’s all we understand him saying, right? Does that mean he’s one of those Pokémon characters?”

NO. Not this question again. Every time I had accidentally ended up in a new land they asked me that, and this pink creature seemed a little too excited with the prospect. I shook my head as hard as I could.

“Well that looks like a mighty strong ‘no’, sugarcube,” one of the other creatures said with a chuckle.

Spike turned to me again. “I apologize. My friends can get a bit excited when it comes to meeting somepony new. Let me try and answer your questions. I’m going to do it the long way so I can hopefully answer a few more you may have along the way.

“All the creatures over there are called ponies, but they're slightly different kinds. The first pony you met, the one who told me she almost hit you, her name is Rainbow Dash, and she’s a Pegasus. The yellow pony over there hiding in the back is Fluttershy. She’s a Pegasus, too. Both of them have wings and can fly. The pony that asked if you were a Pokémon is Pinkie Pie, and the one who answered her is Applejack. They're called Earth Ponies; they don’t have wings, but they're pretty strong. That white pony over there… that really pretty one… that’s Rarity… oops, sorry. Shh! Don’t tell her I said that! And the one who yelled at Rainbow Dash when we first came up here, the purple one, that’s Twilight Sparkle— I’m her assistant. The two of them are unicorns; they have those horns and are able to do magic. We all live here in Ponyville, which is one town of many in the great kingdom of Equestria!”

Kingdom! That meant they probably had a princess, too… Maybe we would have more in common with each other than I originally thought!

“That about covers the basics," Spike concluded. "Do you want to know anything else while we’re at it?”

I contemplated Spike’s explanation of his friends and my whereabouts. One question had occurred to me as he finished talking. I wasn’t sure if it would offend him, but I decided to take the risk. “Thanks, Spike. That does calm my nerves a bit. And don’t worry, I won’t mention anything to, er, Rarity, I think you said her name was. I admire how you all seem to live harmoniously, but I do have one question.”

“Go ahead!”

“Well, if this is Ponyville, how did you, a dragon, end up as that pony Twilight Sparkle’s assistant here? If you don’t mind my asking.”

“Haha, not at all! Others wonder that, too— I’ve told this story a few times.” I let out a sigh of relief. I didn’t want to offend the one creature that could understand me (and would most likely end up being my translator) during our first meeting. I did want to hear his story, though.

Spike explained, “Twilight is a student at Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Ponies in Canterlot, and her entrance exam was to hatch me from my egg. It turned out Twilight has exceptional magical power, so the Princess took Twilight under her wing as her special student. Twilight needed help, so I became her assistant. It’s been that way since I can remember.”

I took in what Spike said before I asked, “Ah… Um, what’s Canterlot?”

Spike replied, “Oh, I’m sorry! Canterlot is a big city quite a ways away from here where Princess Celestia lives and runs her school. Twilight and I used to live there, too, but a while ago, we were sent here on a special mission. We’ve stayed here since then, reporting to Princess Celestia all the lessons about friendship that we encounter. Our friends help out by sending reports to the Princess when they come across lessons as well.”

I nodded my head and said, “Wow. This is quite a place…”

“Yep! I wouldn’t wish it any other way.”

Just then, I heard the purple unicorn named Twilight Sparkle call over in our direction. “Spike! We should bring him back to the library! I’d like to talk to him!”

“Uh oh, there she goes.” Spike winced, then looked at me. “Would you mind if Twilight did a little research on you?”

I was horrorstruck. Research on me? I didn’t have time for that! “I’d really rather not. I need to get home!”

Spike said, “Well, I don’t know if you’re going to have any choice, but we’ll see. Let’s go back to the library— Twilight and I live there. Maybe we can find a way to help you get back home.”

Now THAT was more like it. I stumbled, cringing as Spike and I walked over to the crowd of ponies that had been watching from afar. I wasn’t sure what the cringing was about, or what was going to happen when we got to the library, but my anticipation of the events to come wasn’t making things any better.

The pony named Rarity spoke up. “Dear, I think we should keep close around him when we walk through town. I have a feeling the rest of the residents may find the sudden appearance of a dinosaur rather startling, don’t you?”

Hmmm… good point…

Chapter 19: The Princess, The Plumber, and the Produce

As Princess Celestia used three of the Augmentation Stones to open the portal, everyone else stood back. I watched as the golden glow around her horn enveloped the Augmentation stones, which then in return shot what looked like small sparks of electricity back to her. The glow then momentarily changed to a deep blue, and everyone watched in amazement as her horn fired what looked like a gigantic bolt of lightning into the sky. Rainbow Dash had cleared the clouds away from here so we could see the portal, and it was quite high. It was a wonder I hadn’t broken my leg when I fell from that height.

Celestia stopped and took a breath. She then picked up the remaining stone with her magic, and we all watched as her horn’s glow changed from yellow to green this time, then a spark flew up through the portal and disappeared. We took a moment to let the spell take its effect, but then…

As if on cue, a creature that looked like a mis-matched flying puzzle of animals came through the portal and landed nearby. “Do you always have to ruin my fun, Celestia?” This must have been Discord.

“Fun time is over, Discord. We— what is that around your neck?” I looked where the Princess was pointing. It seemed to be a necklace of some sort. The emblem was a mushroom… with a crown on it… could it be?

Discord smiled and replied, “Oh, this? Just a little souvenir. I must admit though, it was certainly a royal pain to get my paws on! HA HA HA! I kill me!”

I turned to Toad and told him a theory: Princess Peach could have been trapped in the necklace somehow. I then saw a change in Toad I had never seen before. Rage filled his eyes, and I could have sworn I saw steam coming out of his ears like a cartoon.

His voice was deep. “Nobody does that to my princess…” Toad withdrew himself from his robe that he had refused to take off during the past weeks. My eyes nearly popped out of my head: his body was RIPPED. I had no idea how he did it, but his muscles were bulging, and veins were throbbing in his forehead. Without hesitation, he yelled, “Yoshi, spit-shot, NOW!” Everyone watched first in horror, then in awe, as I took Toad into my mouth and shot him directly at Discord. Flying through the air at just-short-of-Rainbow-Dash speed, Toad grabbed Discord by the throat and tore the necklace off. Discord began flailing his limbs in all directions, obviously unable to breath. It wasn’t until he had taken a deep, satisfied breath that Toad released Discord’s throat and said, “You’re lucky I won’t do worse.”

We all watched with eyes as wide as dinner plates as Toad casually walked back to me, staring intently at the necklace in his hand. When he reached me, he said, “You must have a sixth sense, my friend." He held the necklace up to my eye level, and I could see her quite clearly: Princess Peach pounding her fists against the inside of the necklace. Toad then put the emblem to his mouth and said, “Stand back, Princess.” He then proceeded to make a fist. Before I could stop him, Toad smashed the necklace to pieces. There was a loud crack as a cloud of dust appeared from Toad’s hands. From the short distance she was from us, Rainbow Dash gave a slight beat of her wings. In a split-second, the dust was gone, and there stood Princess Peach.

Peach looked at her surroundings, an utterly confused expression on her face, likely due to the fact that she had just been rescued and Mario was nowhere in sight. Toad looked at her and said, “I’ll explain everything later, Princess. It’s a long—”

“Ha ha ha. I’m not finished just yet— I brought another little souvenir with me, and this one isn’t so little!” Discord had gained his breath back. When we all turned to look at him, he smiled and snapped his fingers. It looked like nothing happened. He just sat there with his arms crossed, a nasty smirk on his face.

Everyone was confused. Was he just trying to mess with us? I was about to wave off the gesture, but then I saw Discord look up and laugh, and I heard it. It was gradually getting louder:

“AH-WA-WA-WA-WA-WA-WA-WA-WA!!”

No…… way…

I watched as he fell, waving his arms as usual. I couldn’t believe Discord brought him here.

“Don’t worry! I’ve got it!” Rainbow Dash flew underneath where Mario was going to land and prepared to catch him. I knew this wasn’t a good idea, but we didn’t really have time to think of anything else.

As soon as he landed on Rainbow Dash’s back, I heard a popping sound. Rainbow Dash screamed and collapsed as Mario rolled off her back and onto the ground. Fluttershy galloped over to Rainbow and asked her what hurt.

“MY WING! HOW MUCH DO YOU WEIGH, BUD??” Mario was still too stunned to even hear her, despite how loud Rainbow Dash was yelling. He looked around, absolutely confused.

“Mamma-mia! What’s-a goin’ on here? Where-a the heck am I?” It took him a second to realize that Toad, Princess Peach, and I were all there. When he spotted us, he ran to the Princess and took off his cap.

“Aww, how touching! Such respect!” Discord said in a sarcastic tone. And he was right! You make sure you show the Princess the respect she deserves if she ever comes around, but no sarcasm!

Anyway, before Mario had a chance to say anything, Princess Celestia gave an order: “My little ponies! Now! Before he has a chance to cause any more trouble!”

Rainbow Dash painfully got to her hooves and pulled out a golden collar, seemingly from nowhere. Fluttershy, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity did the same, while Twilight took out what looked like a crown. Each piece of jewelry displayed the shapes of their respective cutie marks, though each was a different color from the rest.

“So soon? That’s harsh, Celestia,” Discord sarcastically remarked, as if he was expecting something.

“This time you’ll stay stone! NOW, GIRLS!” Twilight yelled. Their collars and crown began to glow, then they shot out beams of colored light that struck Discord.

As he slowly turned to stone, Discord got in one last word: “Have a nice trip home! Don’t get stuck in any loops! HA HA!” He continued laughing as the stone enveloped his body from the bottom up. When the transformation was finished, a paw was in the air, a claw was on his gut, and his mouth was wide open.

All of us, including Mario and Princess Peach, went back to Fluttershy’s cottage. The Crusaders ran off, though— Scootaloo was devastated when she saw Rainbow Dash screaming about her wing, so Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle had to comfort her and reassure her that Dash would be fine. After a thorough analysis, Fluttershy determined that Rainbow Dash’s left primary wing joint had been popped out of place. Mario apologized many times over and swore he would start losing weight. I was quite happy to hear that…

Princess Celestia paced about Fluttershy’s living room, pondering the situation. Rainbow Dash not being able to fly was a problem— we needed a way to get up to the portal. Fluttershy didn’t have the strength to carry Mario, Toad, Peach, or I, and Celestia had to be back in Canterlot as soon as possible (with Discord’s statue). She was only staying at the moment to help us figure out a way to get home before the portal closed. We had no time to even explain to Mario and Princess Peach what was going on, so they were just standing stock still watching Celestia pace and yammer to herself about how to get four beings into the air at the same time. She thought about asking some of the other citizens of Ponyville, but she was afraid that Mario’s and Princess Peach’s appearance might frighten them.

“I apologize, Mr. Mario, Your Highness. And you too, Yoshi and Toad. I have not had to deal with this kind of problem before. I have too many things floating through my head…”

About two seconds after Celestia said this, I saw Mario’s eyes light up. “Wait-a just a moment… did-a you say ‘floating’?” He smacked himself in the forehead, then began rummaging through his deep pocket, looking for something. He eventually pulled out a large, round, light-blue fruit. “Why-a didn’t I think of this-a before? It’s-a lucky I had-a some left!”

I couldn’t believe it— it was a Blimp fruit! If he had enough, that would be all the power I needed to get all four of us to the portal at once.

Toad spoke up on my behalf. “Uhh…Mario? Aren’t those from the Tall Trunk galaxy? How long have you had those? How do they still look fresh?”

“I honestly don’t-a know myself. They seem-a to last for years! I should-a have enough of them to get us all back to that-a portal, though!

“What I want to know is, how long-a have you had-a THOSE?” He was pointing at Toad’s muscles. I never had a chance to ask him myself.

Toad smiled and chuckled. “Not long. You can thank Miss Fluttershy here for that. She lent me her workout tapes right before we took that week of rest. Despite not being the same species, the routine seemed to work just as well, if not better and faster. And now you know why I’ve been staying in my new robe.” He happily put his robe back on, concealing his true physique, then he smiled at me and crossed his arms, leaning against the wall like he was posing for a modeling shot.

I was confused— I looked at Fluttershy and asked her, “Workout tapes? Since when have you had workout tapes?”

“Oh, I took an assertiveness class a while ago, and they came with the package as a bonus… I never used them, but I thought I would keep them just in case. I’m glad I did— I guess they actually were useful.”

Toad piped, “Darn right they were. Thanks a ton! And thanks again for the robe. Best I’ve ever had.”

“You’re very welcome.” Fluttershy smiled.

"Maybe I can help you guys out from now on, huh?" Toad asked.

I replied, "What about the conversation we had when you first got here? About not trying to play the hero?"

"Meh. I’ve changed my mind. I'm not a big fan of the sidelines." Toad chuckled.

Suddenly, Princess Celestia spoke. “My friends, I am sorry, but this is no time for chit-chat. Now that we have found a method to get you to the portal, we have to go. Now!”

Everyone else’s eyes bulged as we glanced back and forth looking at each other as if thinking, Oh $#!+, how could we forget? As everyone started for the door, Celestia quickly said, “Fluttershy, I am sorry, but I need you to stay and take care of Rainbow Dash. We cannot leave her alone in this condition, and you are the best caretaker among us. Say your goodbyes now. I must leave for Canterlot.”

Fluttershy and I rushed to each other for one last embrace. We didn’t hide it from anyone— we locked lips and cried as everyone else went outside after getting a good look. She pulled away from me after about ten seconds, and I caressed her mane one last time. I looked up and saw Angel at the top of the stairs with a smile and a tear in his eye, waving at me. I smiled and returned the wave, then turned and ran for the door. As I was the last one out, I slammed the door behind me and ran up the hill to where the portal waited, determined not to look back.

As we gathered at the portal site, a few members short of the full farewell committee, we looked up and saw that the portal was closing rapidly. We had to get up there now. Mario, Peach, Toad, and I quickly gathered the blimp fruits we needed, all four of us holding one in case we needed that many. We looked around at everyone and said our goodbyes and thank-yous. After Mario, Peach, and Toad all climbed on my back, which was more weight than I was used to, I looked at them to make sure they were ready, and they nodded. It was time for the ride up.

I shoved the first fruit into my mouth and felt my insides practically explode as my body expanded into a huge bubble. The ponies down below all gasped— they weren’t expecting anything like that. The first fruit brought us about a third of the way up. I started feeling heavy again, until Mario gave me the next fruit, which I quickly downed. As we continued climbing upward, I saw a familiar blue box with three ponies waving out of it not too far out in the distance. I waved back as best I could, then I saw the box vanish into thin air.

Toad passed off the next fruit to Mario, who gave it to me for the next leg of the ascent. We were cutting it close— the portal was quite small now. Luckily, after I gulped down the next blimp fruit, we had only about 20 feet left, a distance which I easily covered before the portal closed. As we went through it, we found ourselves in darkness and immediately moving swiftly to our left, a feeling I was very familiar with. We were back in the warp pipe.

Only seconds later, we popped out of the pipe here at Yoshi Island Junction. We were back home. Never in my life had I been happier… and more upset… than I felt right at that moment.

And that... is the end of the story, from start to finish. I even included some of the ‘good stuff,' just like you asked. Now go finish your application or your mother is going to have my head!

Author's Note

I apologize if I overdid it with Mario's accent/dialect/whatever you want to call it. I know he only had so many lines, so I'm hoping the proportion of accented words was alright.