Continuing the Dream

Chapters

The Welcome Party
Preparing for the Everfree
First Day on the Job
A Day at Fluttershy's
Today's the Day
The Everfree Forest: Round 2
The Truth Revealed
Meeting the Apple Family
Kids these Days
Rescue Mission
A Promise
Baking and Drinking
Time to Go
Playing Mail Pony
Hearts and Hooves Day Surprise
A New Discovery
Enter Ice
A Dark Past
Thawing a Cold Heart
Day 2 of Training
Griffon back to Business
Traveling Weirdos
Another One
Wind vs. Nature
The Reunion
Catching Up
Another Party
Oh Zephyr
Getting Zeph a Girl
The Marepocalypse
Blue's Pranking
Being Male Models
When Elements Collide
Figuring Things Out
This Isn't a Good Idea
Dark's Twilight
Sparks of Ice
Showing Dark Around
Protecting the Town
Something Unexpected
My Little Sister
The Big Trip
Checking In
Girls' Night Out
6 Couples, 1 Night
Winning Big
Never Go to Fight Club
Jail Ponies
Blue the Middle Stallion
At the Club
Drax's Determination
Showing who's Boss
Finding Friends both Old and New
Holding Out
Found Them
The Beastly Pony
All Against One
Bonus Chapter: Tearing Down the Wall
One Last Night
Heading Home
Post Vacation Partying
Side Chapter: A Canterlot Wedding Part 1
Side Chapter: A Canterlot Wedding Part 2
Never Food Binge before a Race
Race-ists
Going for a Visit
An Uninvited Guest
A Nice Lunch... Yeah, not so much
KA-BOOP
Familiar Faces
The Morning After
The Fall and Rise of a Star
Tour Gone Wrong
Tragic Misunderstanding
Stallion On a Mission
Sticking Together
Loyalty to Love
Bonus Chapter: A Loan to Lose
Hot Under the Collar
Rhinos and Butterflies
Rhino's Rage
Guys' Poker Night
Return to the Forest... Finally
Pet Playdate
The Best Pest-I mean, Pet
Jackflank
100% Chance of Sunny Rays
Flight or Fail
Cutie Mark Tales
Trip Down Below
Up the Creek Without a Paddle
The Forest of Shadows
Unpleasures of the Flesh
Glutton for Punishment
An Unwelcome Re-encounter
Taking a Break
Riddles on the River
The Booming Fight
All the While
A Burning Hatred
Light It Up
The Final Confrontation
The Lord of the Undead
Stallord
An Explosive End
Licking Our Wounds
Shedding some Light on the Situation
Going Up
Plans for the Future
Reaching the End
Reunited and It Feels so Good
Back to Normal
Ending it All
The Day has Finally Come
The Cutie Mark Crusaders... Oh Joy
Let the Training Begin
A Job Searching We will Go
Bonus Chapter: Meet the OC's and More
Meeting Up Unexpectedly
Hasn't Changed a Bit
Visiting Hours are Over
Dudes' Day Out
Pet Poker
A Heated Bout
Bad Dog

The Welcome Party

Author's Note: Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who gave me positive feedback on the last chapter. I appreciate all of you guys reading and enjoying my story. I've actually been having fun writing this fic, and that's from someone who hates writing. It's weird what this fandom does to ya. As always, criticisms are welcome.

As it turns out, finding my new house had been harder than I expected. All the houses in this darn town look the same. But after checking around for about an hour and apologizing to ponies for accidentally trying to open their houses, mistaking them as my own, I had found my house.

It was a quaint two story building. It looked rather cozy and homely. A lot different from the cloud houses back in Cloudsdale, but I like it. I never really liked all those fancy columns and oddly constructed buildings.

I was about to open the door, when all of a sudden I had this strange feeling that something was about to happen. I quickly shake off that feeling as me just being paranoid.

But as I walk in, the lights come on and a large group of ponies cheer out "SURPRISE!" causing me to fall to the floor.

WHAT THE BUCK?! That nearly gave me a heart attack!

As I lay on the ground, breathing heavily, an earth pony mare with a light pink coat, a darker pink mane and tail, and a cutie mark of two blue balloons and one yellow ballon walks up to me.

"Surprise! My name is Pinkie Pie and I threw this entire party to welcome you to Ponyville." she says, wearing a creepily big smile on her face the entire time.

This girl has either eaten WAY too much sugar or she was dropped on her head one too many times. Maybe both..

I get up, still surprised by all of this. "How the hay did you get in my house?" I ask her frantically. "The door was locked!"

"Oh, that was easy. I heard from the mayor that a new pony was moving into town today, so I asked her if I could set up a party in the house for when the new pony arrives. And now you're here, so the party can really get started!" she says as if it's no big deal. "So, what's your name, new blue guy?"

"Well, um, my name is Blue Breeze." I say nervously. This filly is freaking me out six ways from Sunday right about now.

"Well, Breezy, why don't you come over and meet all of my friends?"

"But I-WOAH!" I scream as she pulls me away.

She literally drags me over to go meet all of her friends. We get over there to see five complete different looking mares. "Hey, gals. This here is Blue Breeze. He's the new pony in town and our guest of honor."

"It is very nice to meet you, Blue Breeze." says a purple unicorn mare with a dark purple mane and tail and a sparkling star cutie mark. "My name is Twilight Sparkle. I run the library here in Ponyville."

"Howdy, partner." says an orange earth pony mare with a blonde mane and tail and three red apples for a cutie mark. "Name's Applejack. Ah run Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville's local apple orchard."

"Hello there, darling." says a white unicorn mare with a luxurious purple mane and tail and three gems for a cutie mark. "My name is Rarity. I am the owner of Ponyville's most fashionable clothing store, the Carousel Boutique."

"Oh, um, hello." whispers a yellow pegasu mare with and pink mane and tail and three pink butterflies for a cutie mark. "My name is Fluttershy."

"I'm sorry? I didn't quite catch that." I say, leaning in.

"My name is Fluttershy." she whispers even quieter.

"One more time." I put my ear down and put my hoof to it to help out.

She squeaks and curls up into a ball on the floor. Was it something I said?

"Her name is Fluttershy. She's an animal care-taker. Sorry about her, she's very shy." says Twilight. No, really? I honestly couldn't tell at all.

"No problem. I was shy when I was a kid, so I know how she feels." I say reassuringly.

"You were shy as a kid? Oh, that's a laugh." teases a familiar cyan pegasus.

"Rainbow Dash?" I ask, not noticing her at first. "I didn't even see you there. Sorry. So you're one of Pinkie's friends, huh?"

"Hey, Blue. It's cool. Yeah, I am actually, as hard as it is to believe." she says jokingly.

"That's cool. I just want to say how much I appreciate all of you coming to welcome me to Ponyville. I definitely wasn't expecting such a warm welcome."

"No problem, Blue Breeze. Anything to make a new pony feel welcomed." says Twilight with a sincere tone.

"So, Pinkie, what's your job here in Ponyville?" I ask.

"Oh, I work at Sugarcube Corner, Ponyville's local bakery. We sell the best desserts around!"

My stomach grumbles. "Hehe, speaking of food, is there anything to eat?" I ask sheepishly.

"Oh, we've got plenty to eat. We've got cupcakes, muffins, pie, chimicherrychongas, and we're bringing out a super big chocolate cake later!"

"Sounds good. I think I'll go try one of those cherry whatevers you mentioned."

"Chimicherrychongas." she corrects.

"Right."

I walk over to the food table and see some deep-fried tortillas with mashed up cherries wrapped inside. I pick one up to get a better look at it. They seem kinda weird. Oh well. Bottoms up. A take a bite, and to my surprise it actually tastes great. I gotta get the recipe for these from Pinkie.

"Breezey!" Pinkie calls over from the middle of the room. "Come over here!"

"I'm coming!" I reply.

I walk over to her to see that there is a giant chocolate cake with a large group of ponies circled around it.

"To celebrate your moving to Ponyville. You get to blow out the candles on the cake and make a wish." she says enthusiastically.

"Ok then." I say to her with a smile.

I take a deep breath and blow out the candles as everypony cheers for me in celebration.

I think I'm going to like it here.

Preparing for the Everfree

Several hours later.

The party had ended and mostly everypony had gone home, except for Dash and her friends, who decided to stay back and help me clean up.

"Thanks again for the party, guys." I say. "And thanks for helping me clean up this mess. It would've really sucked if I had had to clean this whole place up by myself."

"No problem, Blue." says Twilight. "After all, what are friends for?"

"And I simply would have felt awful leaving somepony to deal with a mess this large." says Rarity.

"Yeah, Breezy. I set up the party, the least I could do is help clean it up." says Pinkie.

"And... There! That's the last of it." I exclaim. "Phew. It's getting pretty late, so I guess you girls better be getting on home."

I escort them to the door as I open it, smiling warmly as they each depart.

"Bye, Blue!" they shout.

"Bye, girls! I'll be seeing you around!" I shout as I stick my head outside

I close the door as I finish my good bye. 'Well that sure was an exciting first day here in Ponyville.' I think to myself. 'Better go hit the hay myself. I've got a big day tomorrow.'

I walk up the stairs and head into my room. Lying in bed, I think to myself 'Things sure are going great. I've got a new house, a new job, some great new friends, and I'll be able to head back to the Everfree Forest to continue studying its weather soon. Life is good.'

The next day.

My alarm clock starts going off. I slam my hoof down on it to shut it off. Remind me, why do I have that thing when it's so darn loud? By the way, I am NOT a morning pony.

I get out of bed, very groggily. I start getting myself ready for the day. "Use" the bathroom, take a shower, and comb my mane. All that jazz.

While doing all that, I start thinking. 'Today is my last day off before I start my new job as a weather pony. I should probably take that time to get familiar with the lay-out of Ponyville. I could also use this time to prepare myself for my trip to the forest. Let's see, I'll need some food, a coat since it gets chilly out this time of year, and I'll need to get a book on the forest to study up on. But first thing's first, I gotta get that chimicherrychonga recipe from Pinkie!'

I finish getting ready, grab my saddlebags, and head out to Ponyville on my way to Sugarcube Corner.

After doing some asking around, I finally find Sugarcube Corner. Should've figured it would be the giant gingerbread house.

As I walk in, a blue earth pony mare greets me. "Welcome to Sugarcube Corner. I'm Cupcake and this is my husband, Carrot Cake." she says, pointing to a yellow earth pony stallion.

"Hello." says Carrot Cake.

"How may we help you?" Cupcake says.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. and Mrs. Cake." I say in return. "I'm Blue Breeze. Is Pinkie Pie here?"

"Let me call her for you." the earth pony mare turns toward the stairs. "Pinkie! You have company, dear!"

"Coming!" Pinkie shouts. She then starts hopping down the stairs to come see her visitor, me. "Hey, Breezy. What's up?" she asks in a bubbly attitude. I guess she's not just like this at parties.

"Hey, Pinkie. I just came by to ask if you could give me your chimicherrychonga recipe. I loved them so much I just had to figure out how to make my own."

"Sure thing." she pulls out a piece of paper with the recipe on it. Where she got it from, I have no idea, but I decide not to ask. "Here you go." she hoofs me the paper.

"Thanks, Pinkie. Well, I gotta go."

But as I'm about to leave, a pegasus foal and a unicorn foal crawl up to me.

"And who are these little tykes?"

"The pegasus is Pound Cake and the unicorn is Pumpkin Cake. They're the cakes kids."

"Really? Well, hey little guy." I say to Pound Cake. "I can tell you're going to grow up to be a great flyer someday. Just keep at it and you'll be able to fly, just like me."

As I say that, Pound Cake starts flying. I just sit there, slack jawed by what I'm seeing.

"Surprising, huh?" Pinkie asks.

"Yeah... surprising. Well, like I said, I gotta go. See ya, Pinkie."

"Bye, Breezy."

'Okay, now that that's done with, off to the market to pick up the ingredients for the chimicherrychonga ingredients. Celestia I love how that sounds.'

After getting to the market, I pick up all the ingredients. While I'm there, I notice Applejack, standing behind an apple cart. I decide to walk over and say hi.

"Hey, Applejack. What's up?"

"Howdy there, Blue. I'm just selling some freshly bucked apples from Sweet Apple Acres."

"Freshly what apples?" I ask, confused and concerned as to what that meant.

"Freshly bucked apples. Ah kicked them apple trees so hard, these little beauties just fell right off their branches and into these here buckets. Wanna buy some?"

"Oh! That's what you meant. Sure, I'll buy a bushel."

"Well, what'd you think I meant?"

"Oh nothing, nothing." I say nervously

"Uh huh." she says suspiciously. "Alrighty then, that'll be five bits."

I give her the bits. She gives me the apples and my put them in my saddlebag.

"Thanks, Applejack. I'll be seeing ya."

"You're welcome, Blue. See ya later."

"Oh, by the way, Applejack, could you tell me the way to the library and the Carousel Boutique? I need to get a book from Twilight and I need to see about getting Rarity to make me a coat."

"Well, the library is inside the big tree in the middle of town. The Carousel Boutique is just east 'o there."

"Alright. Thanks again, Applejack."

"No problem."

'Next, to get a book on the forest from Twilight.' Truth be told, I had actually already studied the Everfree Forest a few years back. But getting a refresher from the newest book out there about it couldn't hurt.

As I get to the library, I knock on the door. "Coming." says a voice. That doesn't sound like Twilight.

The door opens to reveal a small, purple dragon. "Hello?"

"Woah. Are you a real dragon?" I ask in amazement. This day is just full of surprises.

"Yes, I am. And who might you be?" he asks.

"Oh, sorry, I'm Blue Breeze. I came here to see Twilight, is she around?"

"It's cool. I'm Spike, Twilight's assistant. Yeah, she's here."

Twilight then trots up behind Spike. "Hi, Blue. Can I get you a drink?" she asks

"Hey, Twilight. No thanks. I came here to see if you had any recent books on the Everfree Forest."

"The Everfree Forest? Why do you want a book on that place?"

"Oh, you know, I just like keeping up to date on everything happening in Equestria." I lie. I couldn't tell her the truth. I knew telling her would only make her worry about me.

"Oh, okay then. Spike, go see if we've got something, would you?"

"Sure thing, Twilight." he says, complying to Twilight. "Found something." “The Everfree Forest: A Reference Guide Version Three"."

"That's perfect." I say, flying up and grabbing the book from Spike "Thanks. Well, later, Twilight. It was nice meeting you too, Spike."

"Bye." they both say as I walk out the door.

'Just one last thing to do. Go to the Carousel Boutique and ask Rarity if she can make me a new coat.'

I make my way to the boutique, arriving in just a few minutes. I walk inside to see Rarity working on a new outfit.

"Why, hello there, Blue. What can I do for you?" she asks.

"Hey, Rarity. I was wondering, could you make me a coat? We're entering the chilly season and I don't have one."

"A coat? Of course, darling. It's not often I work with a stallion, so this should be interesting. I'll just need you to stand over here so I may take some measurements."

"Sure thing." I trot over to her.

She brings out some measuring tape and starts measuring me. "Alright. Yes. Okay. Just one more measurement and... There! All finished."

"Sweet. Do you think you could get it done by Friday afternoon?"

"Of course, dear. There is nothing I can't handle." she says proudly.

"Great. Thanks Rarity. Catch you later."

"Good bye, dear."

I step outside the boutique with a smile on my face. 'Sweet! I got all my errands done and there's still a lot of time left in the day. I think I'll get home so I can get to reading up on the forest.'

And with that, I am now off back to my house, ready to get reading. First time I'm actually looking forward to reading in a long time.

First Day on the Job

I had spent several hours reading that book I got on the Everfree Forest from Twilight. A lot of it was stuff I already knew. Strange monsters, naturally occurring weather(I WILL figure out how you work!), but one thing I had not read up on were the many types of strange plants the forest had. One particular one stood out to me: Poison Joke. The book describes it as, "A strange blue plant, similar to Poison Oak, that when touched, will give whoever touched it any random ailment." I better make sure to steer clear of that. Who knows what could happen?

After having read for Celestia knows how long, I finally decide it's time to go bed.

'Well, tomorrow I can finally start my first day on the job as a weather pony.' I think to myself(if you hadn't noticed, I tend to do that a lot). 'Hopefully it'll be better than that boring old mail delivery job I had back in Cloudsdale. Oh, who am I kidding? Of course it'll be better!' I lie down, falling asleep in ten seconds flat(wonder why I said it like that).

The next day

I wake up, same as any morning. Turn off the alarm clock, get myself cleaned up, lather, rinse, repeat. But this morning was different. I was in a good mood and actually excited to get up for once. You can probably guess why. Because I was starting my first day working my dream job as a weather pony.

I quickly get ready and head out the door, on my way to Ponyville Weather Control.

I shortly arrive a few minutes later, Sunny greeting me as I walk in. "Morning, Blue. Ready for your first line of work as a Ponyville weather pony?"

"Morning, Sunny. I sure am!" I exclaim. "So, when do I get my first assignment?"

"Head in to the employee lounge, Rainbow Dash will be in there to give you your assignment."

"Ok, thanks."

"No problem."

I walk into the lounge, and what do I see as I walk in. Rainbow Dash sleeping on the couch... again. I've got a little surprise for her.

I lean in close to her; take a deep breath, and yell, "RAINBOW DASH! WAKE UP!"

"WOAH!" she shouts. "Ugh, are you gonna wake up like that every time?'

"Maybe. Are you going to keep falling asleep at work?" I ask smugly.

"Point taken. So, what'd you need?"

"Sunny told me to come see you about getting my assignment."

"Alright. Your job for today is to bring in some clouds to shade Ponyville. It's a little warm outside, so we need the clouds to-"

"Get it colder, yeah, yeah. I get it." I interrupt. "Is that really it? It sounds too easy." I say, sounding kinda arrogant.

"Oh, really? It's nine o'clock right now, so how about you get it done before noon?"

"That'll be easy."

"You think so?"

"I know so."

"Then how's about we make a bet? If you can shade all of Ponyville by noon, I'll take you out for lunch. But if you can't, you take me out for lunch."

"Oh, you're on!" We spit in our hooves and brohoof on it.

I quickly make my out the door, into the lobby. "Bye, Sunny. Wish me luck."

"Luck? With what?" she asks.

"I made a bet with Dash saying that I could shade all of Ponyville by noon. The loser has to take the winner out to lunch."

"Sounds fun." she says sarcastically. "Well, good luck, Blue."

"Thanks." and with that, I'm off to win that bet.

Later that day

"It's already 11:58. Just two minutes til noon and I win the bet." confidently says Rainbow Dash

"I wouldn't be too sure, Dash." Sunny says smugly.

"Just you wait. In just one more minute, I'll be the winner!"

"In five... four... three... two..."

"I'm back!" I shout. "Sorry to keep you girls waiting. I would've been back sooner, but I had to help a little old lady cross the street." I smugly say. Aren't I just the worst?

"No way!" Dash shouts in disbelief.

"Way. Now, I do think you owe me lunch. "

"Fine. Where do you want to go?"

"Hmm... how about Olive's Garden?"

"Fine."

As we walk out, Sunny says, "Have fun you two."

"Shut up." Dash says irritably.

We shortly arrive at the restaurant and are quickly seated. "Here you are, monsieur." the waiter says in a Prench accent.

"Thanks." I say.

"Now, what will the two of you been having on this fine afternoon?"

"I'll take an order of hay fries, please."

"I guess I'll have a hay and daisy sandwich." Dash says.

"As you wish. Your meal will be ready shortly." the waiter trots away, order in tow.

As we sit there in silence, Dash is glaring daggers at me, apparently still sore from having lost the bet.

"Come on, Dash." I plead. "Just because you lost and are having to pay doesn't mean we still can't enjoy ourselves."

"I guess you're right." she says. "So, what do you wanna talk about?"

"Well... why were you and Sunny the only weather pegasi in town before I showed up?"

"Eh, ponies left for a number of different reasons. Whether they wanted out or just weren't working out, they just kept leaving. Just a few weeks ago, we had this one pony named Derpy working for us, but she kept constantly screwing up, so we had to let her go. I heard she got a job as a mailmare, so she's doing all right."

"Oh, I see."

"Okay, my turn. How did you get your cutie mark?"

"My cutie mark?!" I start panicking. Telling somepony about how I got my cutie mark and about my powers could result in a lot of unwanted attention. I can't tell her!

"Yeah! Come on, spill it!" she persists.

I cave. "Alright, Dash. I'll tell you, but you have to promise you won't tell anypony, at least not right now."

"I promise. Now, spill."

"Well, it all started when I was twelve years old..."

One long explanation later

"And ever since then, I've learned to control my powers and have only become more interested in studying the forest's weather." I finished explaining.

Rainbow Dash was just sitting there, in complete aw at what I had told her. "No way... D-Did all that really happen? Do you really have wind powers?"

"It all happened and I do have powers."

"I guess that explains why you're not afraid of going into the forest."

"Oh, even if I didn't have powers, I wouldn't be afraid. Having the powers just makes everything a lot easier." we both laugh. "Just remember, don't go telling anypony. I don't want to get any attention drawn to me."

"I understand. Don't worry, I won't."

"So, how'd you get your cutie mark?"

"Well, let me tell ya, it was amazing!"

"Don't just brag about it, give me the details."

"Okay. It happened when I was just a filly; I had gotten into a race with two colts who had been bullying Fluttershy."

"Bullying Fluttershy? That just ain't right." I say, concerned.

"I know, right? Anyway, during the race, I started falling down at an incredible speed. Just as I hit the ring near the ground, I had pulled off the Sonic Rainboom, winning the race shortly after."

"Wait, I was there during that race."

"You were?"

"Yeah, you were racing those two idiots, Hoops and Dumb-bell. Man, that Sonic Rainboom was the most amazing thing I've ever seen! Well, other than when I got discovered my powers. I guess I didn't recognize you since you had grown up to such a pretty mare."

She blushes at the compliment. "Thanks. You're not too bad yourself."

We both share a laugh. The two of us are just sitting there, eyes locked on each other. I can't even look away from her beautiful eyes.

'Why can't I look away from her? Why's my heart beating so fast? Why can't I stop smiling? Could I really be falling for Rainbow Dash?' I think a bit nervously

We both start leaning in close and closer, until...

"Your order is ready, monsieur." the waiter says, popping in and putting out food on the table.

"Oh, uh, thanks." I say nervously as Dash and I quickly back away from each other, both a bit red in the cheeks.

For the rest of the time, we both just it in silence, quietly eating our food.

'Why does someone always have to show up at the worst possible time?'

A Day at Fluttershy's

Author's Note: Thanks to everyone who's been sticking with the story and to the new viewers who come on board as these chapters are released. It really makes it worth the writing to know that I can give people something entertaining to read. Sorry if this particular chapter’s not all that interesting, but don't worry, I've got plans. Open to criticisms as always.

Once Dash and I finish our meals, we decide to head back to work so we can punch-out for the day.

Upon getting back, we walk in and Sunny greets us. "So, how did it go, you two?"

"Um, I'd rather not talk about it." I say, not looking at either of them.

"Yeah, me neither." Dash says, feeling just as awkward as me.

"Why not? What happened?" Sunny asks, slightly concerned before putting on a sly face. "Did you two have any fun?"

"Sunny... it's just kinda personal, is all." I say.

"Oh, so you two DID have fun." she smiles smugly.

"Knock it off, Sunny. NOTHING happened, alright?" I stomp a bit, being very annoyed.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry. I was only teasing." she looks back at her paperwork. "Like you can't even take a joke."

I take out my card and punch-out of work before turning back to her with an apologetic look. "*sigh* Sorry, Sunny. I can really have a bit of a temper sometimes. I didn't mean anything by it, I swear."

"It's all right, Blue. I understand."

"Well, bye girls. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Blue."

"See ya, Blue." Dash says, still feeling a bit awkward.

I close the door behind myself and take a breath before walking. After I leave, I start thinking. 'It's only two o'clock right now. Still a lot of time left in the day. Wonder how I should spend it. Only thing I can think of is to go home and do some more reading. Oh! I know! I could go visit Fluttershy. I remember her saying she lived in a small cottage just near the Everfree Forest.' I then decide make my way over there for something fun to do.

As I get to Fluttershy's, I stop, noticing the Everfree Forest just about a 100 hoof away. 'Soon... Soon...' I think with a determined look on my face. I walk up to Fluttershy's and knock on the door.

"Coming." says a small voice from inside the cottage. "Oh, hello, Blue." says Fluttershy.

"Hey, Fluttershy. What's up?" I greet with a smile.

"Oh, um, nothing really. You can come in, you know... if you want to." she says meekly.

"Sure, Fluttershy. I'd love to." I walk in and look around the interior of the room. Man this place sure is cozy. I notice a lot of animals around the place. "Man, Fluttershy, you sure do have a lot of animals here."

"Oh, yes. I just love taking care of animals."

"How do you do it all, Fluttershy? There's gotta be at least a dozen animals here."

"Fifteen animals to be exact. There's even more all around the house outside."

"Really?" I ask, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Oh, yes. I don't really mind though. I love taking care of all these animals and making them feel good(get those thoughts out of your head.). It can be hard at times, but all it takes is some love and a little patience."

Just then, a small, white rabbit hopped up to me. "Hey there, little guy." He was giving me this angry look. A look that said, "Try anything, and I'll break you."
"Hmm. Real charmer, isn't he?"

"Oh, please excuse Angel; he's just over-protective of me, is all. Angel, you really shouldn't worry so much. Blue is just a friend." she told the rabbit reassuringly.

"It's all right, Fluttershy. I can respect Angel wanting to protect what he loves. Don't worry, buddy. I won't try anything." I reassure him. He then smiles at me, giving me a look that said, "It's all right, bro. We cool."

Fluttershy giggles. "Blue, I was just about to go outside and feed my chickens. Do you want to help?"

"Sure, Fluttershy. Sounds like it could be fun." I follow Fluttershy outside to her chicken coop.

Several minutes later

"Remind me never to do this again." I say, deadpanned. I was standing covered in egg yolk, chicken feed, and feathers. "Now I get why I never had a pet, because I suck with animals."

"Oh, Blue." Fluttershy reassures. "Don't worry about it. You just need to get some practice working with animals, is all."

"Maybe, Fluttershy. Would it be too much trouble if I used your shower? I don't think I can wait to get home to mine."

"Not at all, Blue. Just go inside and head up stairs. It'll be the first door on the left."

"Thanks." I immediately make way inside and up the stairs to take a shower.

After finishing my shower, I head downstairs to see Fluttershy tending to her animals. "Thanks again for letting me use your shower, Fluttershy. It would have sucked to fly home with all that stuff stuck to me."

"You're welcome, Blue. Anything for a friend." she smiles warmly.

"Well, I think I'll be going now. Bye, Fluttershy."

"Bye, Blue."

'Well, that was fun.' I think sarcastically. 'I think I'll just go home and read some more. I can only take so much craziness in one day.' Before taking off, I look at the Everfree Forest one last time. 'You better be ready for tomorrow night, because I'm coming for you.' I then take off flying towards my house.

Once I get home, I walk upstairs to my room and get to reading more on the Everfree Forest, this time reading up more information on the various creatures that reside there. There's timberwolves, cockatrices, manticores, ursas, and hydras. In a fight, I could probably beat anything up to some manticores, anything bigger might be a little out of my league, though. But I suppose I'll just have to wait and see, won't I?

I read for many hours, until I finally start feeling drowsy and put the book away before snuggling into bed and start slowly drifting off to sleep.

'Just one more day. After over eight years, there's only one more day.'

Today's the Day

Author's Note: For those saying the relation between Dash and Blue is a bit rushed, it's only in the early stages, so give it a bit. Expect some action coming up soon. Open to criticisms(am I starting to sound like a broken record yet? ...Nah.).

I wake up the next morning to; you guessed it, my noisy alarm clock. But I won’t let that discourage me because today I get back to continuing my dream(get it?). I just hope things don't get too awkward at work with Rainbow Dash. I'm not good in awkward situations and I really just want this to work out. After getting ready, I head off to work.

Upon arriving to work, I greet Sunny, punch-in, and head off to the employee lounge for today's assignment. To my surprise, Rainbow Dash was actually up and awake for once.

"Hey, Dash. What, I don't get to give you a wakeup call today?" I joke.

"Hey, Blue. Nope, sorry, not today."

"Oh well. So, what's my assignment for today?"

"Well, we got some ponies complaining yesterday that there was either not enough sunlight or that it was too cold out."

"Ugh, there's no pleasing these ponies, is there?" I say disgruntledly.

"Hehe, doesn't look like it. So, today you'll be clearing out some of the clouds around Ponyville. Just make sure to get some and not all of them. I don't want ponies coming back complaining that it's too hot again."

"Sounds good. I'll see ya when I get back."

"Wanna make another bet?"

"Sorry, Dash. No can do."

"Aw, you're no fun."

I shrug her off. "Whatever. See ya."

"See ya."

I then make my way out of the office and into Ponyville, taking to the air once I'm fully outside. I begin thinking to myself. 'That actually went pretty well. I guess Dash wants to forget about yesterday just as much as I do. That'll make things so much easier.' as I fly around, clearing the clouds, I see the Carousel Boutique. 'I should stop by there after work and see if Rarity's finished my coat yet.'

After clearing away some of the clouds, I head on back to work. 'These weather jobs sure do go by fast. I wonder how much this actually pays considering how little work this really is. I think I'll ask Dash when I get back to the office.'

Once I get back to the office, I make my way over to the lounge to find Dash reading a magazine. "Hey, Dash." I greet.

"Hey, Blue." she returns. "Back so soon?"

"I actually wanted to talk to you about that, Dash. How much does this job pay when the work is so short and easy?"

"It pays one hundred and ten bits a day."

"Really?"

"Yep. It's usually not as easy as you've made it out to be. All the time ponies here were having troubles doing their assignments. That's why we had to let so many of them go. I guess you've just got a knack for weather."

"Sounds likely." I say, kinda smugly. "After all, I've told you my stories."

"Yeah... Hey, Blue?"

"Yeah, Dash?"

"I was wondering, are you... planning on doing anything later tonight?" she asks nervously.

"Well, I was planning on heading over to the Everfree Forest to get started up on researching its weather again. Like I told ya, it's been years since I was last able to do that, so I want to get started as soon as possible."

"Oh... that's cool." she says, obvously a tad worried. "Just, be careful, alright? I don't want to lose a new worker only after two days." she jokes.

"Alright, Dash. I promise to be careful. But it's not like I can't take care of myself, after all." I reassure her.

"Yeah, I know. Well, bye, Blue."

"Bye, Dash. I'll see ya later." I walk out of the lounge and punch-out. Next stop, the Carousel Boutique.

I shortly arrive at the boutique after leaving the office and walk inside to see Rarity working.

She looks over to see me walk in and smiles. "Ah, Blue. I'm so glad you're here. I just finished your new coat." she says. She levitates the coat over to me for my inspection.

I look over the coat for a minute. "Thanks, Rarity. I love it!” I say, very thankful for it.

It is a simple red coat, the same color as my eyes. It had sleeves that would reach to just above my hooves, a hood that would fit snugly over my head, and some holes on the sides for my wings to go through.

"So, how much do I owe you?"

"Oh, don't worry about it, darling. I insist you take it as my gift to welcome you to Ponyville."

"Are you sure, Rarity? I really don't mind paying."

"Of course I'm sure. I am the Element of Generosity, after all. Being generous is my pleasure, second only to fashion."

"The element of what now?" I asked, perplexed.

"Oh, you didn't know?" she asks quizzically in return.

"Know what?"

"Well, the other girls and I are each an Element of Harmony. I'm generosity, Pinkie is laughter, Fluttershy is kindness, Applejack is honesty, Rainbow Dash is loyalty, and Twilight is magic. We've used the elements to defeat such foes as Nightmare Moon and Discord."

"What the... Why does nopony tell me these things?" I say, raising my hooves in the air.

"Probably because you didn't ask." she said in a matter-of-factly tone.

"Haha, I guess you've got me there." I say, smiling at her. "Well, anyway, thanks again for the coat, Rarity."

"You're welcome, dear. So long!"

'Alright, time to head home and get ready.' I think to myself as I head out the door.

Once I get home, I start getting everything ready. I get my coat on(comfy!), I pack my bag, and head out the door. 'Last time I went to the forest, I dropped my notes and never went back for 'em. I highly doubt they're still there after eight years, and even if they were I wouldn't have the foggiest idea of where they could be. I guess I'll have to start from scratch. Oh well. It's not like I had written down that much anyway.'

I leave my house, shutting the door behind myself, and take off. 'Tonight, it finally happens.'

The Everfree Forest: Round 2

Author's Note: Okay, fillies and gentlecolts. We've finally arrived to the action. Fair warning, this chapter contains cheesy attack names a la anime like Dragonball Z and One piece.

As nightfall sets in, I start making my way towards the Everfree Forest. 'It's a good thing I had Rarity make me this coat.' I think to myself. 'I'm really freezing my flank off out here.'

After a few minutes of flying, I land just outside the Everfree Forest, making sure not to let Fluttershy know I'm out here. Can't let her go and worry about me, now can I?

I quickly make my way inside the forest, taking everything in as I do. The forest looks the same now as it did eight years ago, but It's not like the forest can just go and get an interior decorator(I apologize for that lame joke). The trees are still all mossy, some having creepy faces on them. There are still noises coming from every direction. And most importantly, the weather is still mysteriously controlling itself.

I get my notebook and pencil out and immediately start jotting down notes. Clouds are moving on their own, oddly shaped and in strange patterns I might add. There's also a cold wind that keeps coming and going. I fly up and try to touch the clouds, but my hooves go right through them. That's definitely weird.

I sit down and decide to have a little snack. I take out a chimmycherrychonga(were you really expecting anything else?) and start eating it. Dang, these things are good. After I finish eating, I get back to taking notes.

Suddenly, I hear a noise come from behind me. "I'm getting a serious case of deja vu right now." I say to nopoy in particular. I turn around to the noise to get ready to fight. "Alright, whatever you are, I recommend coming out here right now or else I'll kick your flank!"

Just then, a pack of about nine timberwolves comes out, their glowing, yellow eyes peering right at me. "Timberwolves? Okay, this is new. I hope you boys can make this interesting." I say with a smug grin. I start cracking my joints in preparation.

As they start making their way towards me, I start charging up power in my wings. My wings now glowing white, I flap them, sending out two waves of energy at the timberwolves. I call this little attack the Wing Wave.

The wolves see this and jump out of the way, all except two who were frozen from fear. They take the waves full on and become too wounded to fight. This surprises me, seeing as the wolves have hard, wooden bodies. But I'm not complaining.

The remaining six charge at me, claws and fangs ready. I slowly start ascending and begin flapping my wings furiously. This causes strong gusts of wind to come out and blow the timberwolves away, knocking out two who happened to hit some trees, head first. This one's called the Blue Typhoon(clever, I know).

'Hmm, four down five to go. I think I'll try taking these guys out without using my powers.' I think to myself. What? You didn't think I needed to rely on powers in a fight, did you? No way! I'm definitely not a slouch in a hoof fight. You see, before my dad worked as a weather pony, he worked as a royal guard. So, after my last visit to the forest, he decided to teach me all he knew about hoof to hoof combat so that I could protect myself. I told him I didn't need it, but he insisted on teaching me anyway. I gotta admit, it's been pretty handy(hoofy?) so far. But I digress.

I take off through the forest, the remaining wolves chasing after me. Once I get a far enough lead, I stop at a try and pull back one of its branches. I wait for a few moments, and when the wolves come I release the branch and *WHAM* I hit two wolves directly in the face, sending them flying back and knocking them out.

I begin flying again with two wolves chasing after me. I fly through some trees and they follow me. It turns out that on the other side of those trees was a cliff. I stay hovering in place, smiling at the wolves. They look down and realize what is about to happen. "Bye bye." I say, waving to the wolves as they fall down.

I make my way back into the forest to continue taking notes. 'Well, that was easy.' I smugly think. Then I realize something. 'Wait a minute! There were nine wolves. I only took out eight. I wonder where the last one ran off too.'

Just then, I feel a stinging pain go through my back as a timberwolf scratches it with its claws. As I try to get up, the wolf runs over to me and head-butts me right in the side of my face. I get up and spit out some blood. Now I'm mad.

"Okay, that's it. Play time's over!" I shout at the wolf. This guy looks like he's been in a few fights in his day. He has a scar across his right eye, which is more faded than the other, signalling that he must be blind in it. From what I can tell, he was the pack leader and well worthy of that title.

The wolf lunges at me, swiping at my head with his claws. I duck under his attack and buck him in the jaw, causing him to grasp it with his front paws and stumble back in pain. I get behind him and wrap my forelegs around his waist. I begin flying upwards, still tightly holding the wolf. Man, this guy's heavy.

"What goes up..." I say. I quickly turn upside down and begin flying towards the ground with as much force as I can. "must come down!" we start falling faster and faster, until...

*CRASH*

I piledrive the timberwolf into the ground, head first, knocking him out cold and leaving me shaky from the impact.

Using the strength I have left, I forcefully make my way out of the forest. Upon making my way to the forest's exit, I collapse from exhaustion. Through my blurry vision, I see a yellow and pink pony galloping towards me at full speed. That must be Fluttershy!

"Oh my goodness! Blue Breeze!" Fluttershy shouts(if you could even call it that) with worry.

"F-Fluttershy?" I weakly reply as I try to lift up my head to see her.

She puts a hoof to my head, telling me to not move. "Don't you worry, Blue. I'm going to get you some help." she then picks me up and puts me on her back.

"T-Thank you, Fluttershy." I say weakly as I ride on her back with a slight bounce

"You're welcome, Blue. Now, you just get some rest while I get you some help." she responds in the way a caring nurse or mother would.

"O-Okay..." and with that, I slip into unconsciousness, hoping to be fine when I awake.

The Truth Revealed

Fluttershy started making her way back to her cottage, me lying unconscious on her back. I was too heavy for Fluttershy to carry on her own for long, so she had some her animal friends come and help carry me(these are some strong woodland creatures).

After getting me inside, patching me up, and putting me in bed, Fluttershy went off to tell the others what had happened.

Half an hour later.

"Okay, Fluttershy. Slowly tell us what happened." Twilight says. Fluttershy had returned and brought all the girls back with her, bringing them up to the room I was sleeping in.

She looks down at her hooves nervously as she tries to recount all of the events that happened leading up to now. "Well, um, I was outside feeding my chickens as I always do around this time of night. When suddenly, I saw somepony come out of the Everfree Forest. They looked hurt, so I ran over to see if they needed help. When I got there, I found Blue Breeze lying on the ground. He was hurt, so I brought him in here to get him some help."

"What in tarnation was that boy doin' near the forest?" Applejack questions.

"I'm not sure. All I knew was that he needed help."

"Does anypony know why Blue might have gone to the forest?" Twilight questions, looking at everypony in the room.

All the girls remain silent, until Rainbow Dash steps up. "Yeah, I do." she says a bit nervously.

"Well, what is it? Why did he go in there?" Twilight pushes on forcefully.

"He told me it was his dream to be the first pony to figure out why the forest has naturally occurring weather. He even told me he was planning on going there tonight."

"And you just let him go in?! Why didn't you try to stop him?!"

"I can't tell you." she responds, hanging her head a bit.

"Why not?"

"Because, I made a promise, and I'd never break a promise."

"Rainbow, if you know something that could help Blue, you need to tell us."

"Sorry, Twilight. But I'm not gonna break my promise."

Just as Twilight wis about to say something, I wake up. "Wh-What happened?" I ask dizzily. I grab at my head as it throbs in pain. "Oh, my head."

Fluttershy comes up to my bedside to explain. "I found you outside the Everfree Forest. You were hurt, so I brought you back here. You fell asleep on the way over."

I look myself over to see that I now have bandages wrapped around my torso, under my wings as to not restrain them. I bring a hoof to my left cheek and wince as I feel a bruise there.

"Thanks for that, Fluttershy. I owe you a lot for that." I say.

She blushes. "Oh, it was nothing, Blue. I'm just glad I could help a friend."

"Blue! You told me you were gonna be careful!" Dash yells at me.

"I was careful. Me not being careful would mean me being dead right now."

"Blue, Rainbow Dash told us you went into the forest to study its weather." Twilight says in a bit of a hurry.

"Did she tell you anything else?" I ask worriedly.

"No."

I wipe my forehead in relief. "Phew. That's good."

"But, why? Why did you willingly go into the forest by yourself? What is it you don't want Rainbow Dash to tell us?"

I think about it for a moment before bring my head down but still leaving my eyes on them. "*sigh* If I tell you girls the truth, you gotta promise me you won't tell anypony."

"Why?"

"Because, if other ponies find this out, it could lead to me getting a lot of unwanted attention, and I REALLY don't need that happening."

All they look to each other and nod. "We promise." they all say in unison. Does that happen a lot? Whatever.

"Especially you, Pinkie." I tell the eccentric mare with a stern voice.

"Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye." she says, doing matching gestures.

"What was that?"

"That was my Pinkie Pie promise. It's the most important kind of promise a pony can make."

"Okay... Anyway, it started when I was just a colt..." I start explaining. Here we go again.

Another long explanation later.

"...Since then, I've learned to control my powers. Becoming stronger and more determined to study the forest's weather." I finish explaining yet again.

All the girls except Rainbow Dash were just sitting there, completely in shock by what I had told them.

"Good heavens!"

"Land sakes!"

"Oh... my."

"OHMYGOSHTHATISSOCOOL!"

"Amazing." Twilight says. "I had read about non-unicorns being born with magical powers before, but I thought it was just an old pony tail."

"So did I." I say. "But I'm living proof that it's not."

"This would make you the first of your kind in over one thousand years."

"What happened in the forest for you to get your injuries?" Fluttershy asks, very concerned.

"I fought a pack of nine timberwolves. I didn't get a scratch on me until the last one, though."

Everypony is now just sitting there in silence, until Dash speaks up again. "Blue, with your injuries, I think you should take a few days off from work."

"Don't worry about me, Dash. I'll be fine." as I try to get up, I feel a huge, stinging pain in my back and grab I it in pain.

She narrows her eyes at me. "Blue, as your boss, I DEMAND that you stay home from work and get better!"

I sigh again. "Alright, fine. But what else am I going to do without work?"

"Ah've got an idea." says Applejack. "Why don't ya come on down to Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow and meet the rest of my family? Ah'm sure they'd love to meet ya."

I think about it before shrugging. "Sounds good to me."

"And I think you should stay here for a few days so that I can take care of you." says Fluttershy.

"If you say so, Fluttershy, I guess I'll stay. The rest of you should be getting home now. It's pretty late."

They all nod in agreement and walk off, saying bye and that they hope I get better soon.

"Well, I think I'll be going to bed now, too. Good night, Blue." Fluttershy says warmly.

"Okay, good night, Fluttershy." I then close my eyes and drift off to sleep.

Meeting the Apple Family

The next day.

I wake up and stretch myself out a bit before I get out of bed. That sure was one hard night's rest. I had a lot of trouble sleeping with the bandages on my back. I make my way down the stairs and see that Fluttershy is already up and making breakfast.

"Good morning, Blue." she says. "Did you sleep well?"

"Not really, Fluttershy. The bandages made sleeping a little difficult." I reply with a bit of grogginess in my voice.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don’t worry about it, Shy. It's not your fault." I decide to try and change the subject to get her mind off of it. "So, what's on the menu today?"

She brings over a plate and places it in front of me on the table. "I made some toast. I hope you don't mind."

"You kidding? Toast is my favorite!" I say happily.

"That's good to hear. So, are you going to be going to Applejack's today?"

"Yeah. I think I'll stop by Twilight's and return the book I borrowed from her first, though."

"Oh, what kind of book?" she asks curiously.

"A book on the Everfree Forest. I finished reading it and don't need it anymore, so I'm going to return it."

"I hope you don't plan on going back there anytime soon." the concern is obvious in her expression.

"Don't worry, Shy. I'm not stupid enough to go back in there while I've got an injury." I reassure her.

"Okay, but before you go, I'd like to change your bandages. If you don't mind that is." she looks down sheepishly towards the end of her sentence.

"Nah, I don't mind. You know more about medical stuff than me, so it'd probably be best to listen to you."

I finish my breakfast and go back upstairs to get my things. Once I'm back down stairs, I let Fluttershy change my bandages. When that's done, I head out the door and make my way to the library. I stop for a second and eyeball the forest. 'You're down two to zero so far. You're gonna have to try harder to beat me.' I think smugly.

After about ten minutes of walking(trying to take it easy after last night), I arrive at the library. I knock my hoof on the door for it to be answered by Spike.

"Hey, Blue." he says. He stops and notices my bruise and bandages. "Woah. What happened to you?"

"Oh, uh..." I nervously start rubbing the back of my neck, trying to come up with an excuse. I got it! "I got in a flying accident."

"A flying accident?" he raises an eyebrow at me.

"Yeah, I wasn't looking where I was going, so I faceplanted into a mountain and hit some trees on the way down. I'll be fine in a couple of days." I reassure him.

He stands there for a moment, but buys it. "Okay, well, what did you come here for?"

"I just came to return the book I borrowed." I pull out the book and give it to him.

He takes it and smiles. "Okay. Thanks for returning it."

"No problem. I gotta go now, so I'll see you later. Tell Twilight I said hi." with my return done, I start walking off.

"Alright, bye!" he says, waving me off.

I start making my way towards Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack had told me it was on the opposite of Ponyville from the Everfree Forest, so finding it should be pretty easy. I get over to the farm to see Applejack hard at working harvesting apples.

"Howdy, Blue." she says, bucking a nearby tree. "I see you found yer way over here."

"Hey, AJ. Sure did. You said you wanted me to come down here and meet your family?"

"Sure do. Just follow me and I'll show ya to 'em." she says, motioning me to follow.

"Sounds good." I begin following her.

We walk towards the barn together as I notice an elderly looking mare with a green coat standing in front of it, sorting out apples.

"Hey, Granny. This here's mah new friend. He just moved here from Cloudsdale." Applejack says.

She stops her work as she looks at me. "Well, howdy there, young feller. Ah'm Granny Smith, Applejack's grandmother and the owner of Sweet Apple Acres." says the elderly mare. She notices my bandages around my waist and torso. "What in Equestria happened to ya?"

"Oh, that? Just a flying accident. I'll be fine in a few days." I say as if it's no big deal.

"Alrighty then. If you say so."

"Anyways, nice to meet you, ma'am. I'm Blue Breeze." I extend a hoof to her and she shakes it in return.

"Nice to meet ya. So, do you have any interests in mah granddaughter?" she teases.

"Granny!" Applejack shouts, embarrassed and slightly blushing.

"Haha, no I don't, ma'am." I wave it off like as if it were a common question. "I've actually got my eye on somepony else."

"Who?" questions Applejack.

"Not telling." I say with a grin on my face.

"Fine." she says dejectedly. "Follow me and ah'll take you to meet mah brother."

"Alright. It was nice meeting you, Granny Smith."

"It was nice meeting you too, sonny." she says.

I follow Applejack out into the apple orchard to find a large, red stallion harvesting apples. Dang is this guy big.

"Hey there, Big Macintosh. This here's Blue Breeze. He just recently moved to Ponyville." says Applejack.

"Howdy, Blue Breeze. I'm Big Macintosh, Applejack's older brother." says the large stallion. He sticks his hoof out for me to shake. I just hope this guy doesn't break my foreleg. If I didn't make it clear, this guy is HUGE, even compared to me, and I'm a little big when it comes to pegasi.

"Nice to meet you, Big Mac." I extend my hoof to his and we shake with no problems. Lucky for me, huh?

"So, what's the bandages on your back?" he questions just as the others have done. "You look like you've been in a fight and lost."

Close.

"Just some injuries from a flying accident. Don't worry about it."

Before anyone can say anything else, a loud scream is heard from the distance.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSDADERS! YAY!"

Call me crazy, but I can already tell this is going to be trouble.

Kids these Days

Author's Note: Hey everybody. Sorry for not posting a new chapter for a few days. I just felt like taking a break. But now I'm back, so on with the story!

I decided I'd start by taking the girls over to the weather office. We had reached Ponyville and were on our way over there.

"Where are we going, Mr. Breeze?" Sweetie Belle asks.

"I think it'd be a good idea to head over to the weather office where I work. And you can just call me Blue."

"Oh, okay."

"I hope we get there soon. All this walking is sooo boring." Scootaloo complains.

"Well, how about I tell you girls a few of the basics about Equestrian weather while we walk?"

"Yeah!" they all say.

"As you girls probably know, the weather in Equestria is controlled by weather pegasi like myself. All of the weather is created at the Cloudsdale weather factory, and is then shipped to everywhere else in Equestria when needed. That is, everywhere except the Everfree Forest. The weather there happens naturally and ponies have no control over it."

"Yeah, why is that?" Scootaloo asks.

"Nopony really knows. But I intend to find out." I say with a determined look.

"What's that now?" Apple Bloom asks.

"You see girls, it's my dream to be the first pony to discover how the forest's weather works. Not exactly an east feat with all of the monsters that inhabit the forest." I stop and notice that we've arrived at the office. "Oh, we're here."

The girls and I walk inside. Sunny is inside, sitting at her desk and doing what she normally does: paperwork.

"Remember girls, stay in school. You don't wanna get some boring, old desk job like Sunny here." I joke.

"Oh, ha ha ha. Very funny, Blue." says Sunny sarcastically. "What are you doing here, anyway? Rainbow Dash said you'd be out for a few days due to injuries. And what's with the kids?"

"I'm watching them for a friend. They wanted to learn about weather, so I decided to bring them down here."

Just then, Rainbow Dash steps through the employee lounge.

"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo says entusiastically.

"Um, hey, Scoots." she says. She looks over at me. "Blue, can I talk to you, in private?"

"Sure thing, Dash. You girls wait out here." I tell the crusaders.

"Okay." they all say.

I follow Dash into the employee lounge and she shuts the door behind me. "What are you doing here with those three?" she asks irritably.

"I met them while I was at the farm. They wanted to know about weather, so I brought them here. What's the big deal?" I say defensively.

"The big deal is that those three are always getting into trouble."

"Oh, come on. Do you really think those little sweeties could really do any damage?" I say, opening the door to the lobby.

"Um, what little sweeties?"

My eyes widen. I look back into the lobby to see that all three of them are gone. "Where'd they go?! Sunny?!"

"Huh? What?" she asks.

"Where'd the girls go?!"

A few minutes ago in the lobby.

"Hey, girls." Scootaloo says.

"What?" the other two ask.

"I say we go to the forest and figure out why it's weather is all strange for Blue."

"That's a great idea, Scootaloo." Apple Bloom says.

"I don't know. Remember what happened last time we went in there?" Sweetie Belle asks nervously.

"Oh, dont worry, Sweetie. We won't be goin' in so deep this time. Well be in and out before ya know it."

"Come on. We can get there in no time!" Scootaloo says, running out of the building.

"Right behind ya, Scootaloo!" Apple Bloom says.

"Hey! Wait for me!" Sweetie Belle shouts, chasing after them.

Back to the present tiime.

"I don't know. I guess they left when I wasn't paying attention." Sunny says.

"They must've went to the Everfree Forest." I say.

"Why's that?" Dash asks.

"I told them about my dream of discovering the secret behind the forest's weather. They must've gotten the idea of going there and discovering it for themselves."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

"Right. Who knows what could happen to them. And besides, that's MY dream."

Dash rolls her eyes at me. "Let's just go!"

"Okay. Sunny, you stay here incase they come back."

"Got it." she says

"Okay, let's move."

Dash and I head start making our way towards the forest as quickly as possible. As we reach the forest, we go by Fluttershy's house with Fluttershy standing outside, watering her flowers.

"Where are you two off to in such a hurry?" Fluttershy asks.

"I was watching the crusaders for Applejack and we think they went off inside the forest." I tell her.

"Oh my goodness!"

"Exactly. Do you think you can go get the others and tell them what's going on?"

"Absolutely." Fluttershy then takes off for Ponyville to get the others. She sure can fly fast when she wants to.

We arrive at the forest entrance. Dash is pretty nervous, but I'm rearing to go.

"Are you sure they're in there?" Dash asks me.

"I can feel it. I know they're in there. Come on, Dash!" I tell her, making my way inside.

"Okay." she replies, following me inside.

I just hope the girls are okay. If not, Applejack is gonna be REALLY mad.

Rescue Mission

We make our way into the forest, keeping our eyes and ears open to try and find the crusaders. 'I really hope they're okay, or Applejack's gonna have my flank.' I thought. Don't worry, I'm not just trying to look out for myself. I'm not that much of a flankhole.

"Do you see any sign them?" Dash askes me.

"Not yet." I reply. I look up towards the sky. "Man, I wish I brought my notes."

"Would you stop worrying about your stupid notes?! The crusaders could be in the belly of a monster right now because of you!" Dash yells.

"Alright, alright." I say, flinching slightly. I get an idea. "You know the crusaders pretty well, Dash. Do you have any idea where they might've gone?"

Dash puts a hoof to her chin and starts thinking about where they might've gone. Her face lights up. "I've got an idea!"

"What is it?"

"I have a friend who lives here in the forest. Maybe she's seen the crusaders."

"A friend? Out here in the forest?"

"Yeah. She's a zebra named Zecora."

"A zebra? You sure do have some strange friends, Dash."

"I know. Now come on! Let's get going!" she takes off deeper into the forest.

"Right behind you!" I begin to follow her. Hopefully this "Zecora" will know where the crusaders have gone.

We arrive outside of this creepy looking hut with a mask just above the front door and some bottles hanging off of the branches of the tree the hut is made from. Rainbow Dash wakes up to the door and knocks on it. The door opens to reveal a zebra wearing some huge earings and bands around her front left leg and neck.

"Why, Rainbow Dash, I am glad to see you." the zebra says. She looks over and notices me. "Who is your never friend with a coat of blue?"

"Hey, Zecora. This is Blue Breeze." Dash says, pointing to me.

"Hello." I say, waving at the zebra.

"Zecora, Blue was watching the cutie mark crusaders and they snuck off. We think they ran off inside the forest. Have you seen them around?" Dash asks worriedy.

"I cannot say I have seen Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, or Apple Bloom. But I will keep on the look out so they don't meet their doom." she says. What's with the rhyming.

"Thanks, Zecora. Come on, Blue!" Dash says. She takes for the forest again. Quit rushing me, woman!

"Alright." I say to Dash. "It was nice meeting you, Zecora." I say to her.

"It was also nice metting you, my pegasus friend. I do hope they we may meet again."

I give her a nod and I follow after Dash.

We walk around the forest for a little while longer, getting more and more worried as time goes by.

"This place sure is creepy." Dash says.

"Creepy? Haven't you bee in here before?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, but that doesn't shake the feeling that a monster could just come out and attack us at any moment."

"Don't worry, Dash. I can handle any monsters that come our way." I say reassuringly.

"Are you sure? What about your injuries?"

"Heh, it'll take more than a few scratches and a bruise to slow me down."

She rolls her eyes at me. "Yeah, yeah. Just keep on the look out for the crusaders."

I nod. I look around to find any sign of the girls. I then see something on the ground: hoof prints! "Hey, Dash. Look! Hoof prints!" I yell at her, pointing towards the prints.

"Sweet!" she says.

We begin following the prints. After about a good five minutes, we hear a shout come from some trees.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER MONSTER ESCAPERS!" we hear some fillies shout.

"That must be the girls!" I shout. Did they say "monster escapers"? A loud roar comes from the trees. I facehoof. "What now?"

The girls jump out of the trees and notice us. "RAINBOW DASH! BLUE BREEZE! HELP!"

"With what?!" Dash asks.

"THAT!" they points the trees. A manticore jumps out and lets out a loud roar. Nothing can ever be easy, can it?

I step infront of the four of them. "Everypony, stay behind me!" I ordered.

"But, Blue, your injuries!" Dash shouts.

I turn my head back, giving her a serious look. "Stay behind me." I say again, seriousness in my voice. She nods in compliance.

I take a step forward and glare at the beast. 'No one tries to hurt my friends. You're going down.'

"So, does kitty wanna play?" I question. I spread my wings and start building up energy in them.

"What is that?" all the crusaders whisper in amazement.

"Blue..." Dash says, her mouth agape.

The manticore gets ready to pounce at me, standing on its back legs and holding up its claws. Big mistake.

I flap my wings and shoot two Wing Waves directly at the manticore. They hit their mark, cutting the manticore and causing it to bleed. While it stumbles back in pain, I ram head first into its stomach, sending it backwards.

The manticore tries to get up and looks over at me. "Want some more?" I ask it. I snort angrily at it. Its eyes widen in fear. Wounded and defeated, the manticore runs back into the forest.

I smile to myself, feeling victorious. I turn around and look at the girls, all of them with shocked faces. "Um..." I say nervously. I hope I didn't scare them.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders all start smiling at me. Wasn't expecting that.

"THAT WAS SO COOL!" they all shout.

"What?" I ask, confused.

"The way you took out that manticore was totally awesome!" Scootaloo says.

"Ah've never seen a pony do somethin' like that!" Apple Bloom says.

"Yeah, you're like some kind of super hero!" Sweetie Belle says.

I smile at them. "Nah, I'm just your average weather pony." I say modestly.

"So cool." they all say.

Looks like I've got myself some fans.

A Promise

Author's Note: Hey everybody. Just here to say thanks for helping this story to reach a thousand views. I know it's nothing special, but it sure does make me feel special. Now, on with the story(there I go sounding like a broken record again).

We start to make our way out of the forest when Scootaloo suddenly speaks up.

"So, Blue, how is that you have those strange powers anyway? I've never ever seen unicorns do anything like that." she says.

"To be honest, I really have no idea." I reply. "I've read of old legends about certain ponies being born with magical powers like mine. I guess I'm just one of those ponies. And if what Twilight told me is true, I'm the first known pony with such powers in over one thousand years."

"That's amazin'." Apple Bloom says.

"Yeah, with powers like yours, I bet you could become really popular." Sweetie Belle says. I'm gonna stop her right there.

"That's what I'm worried about."

"Why?" asks all three of them.

"Because I'd prefer not to get hounded by ponies all the time just because I happen to have these powers. Plus, having these ponies know about these powers may end up with getting me unwanted attention from the wrong kind of ponies. So I really hope you girls can promise to keep this a secret."

"But being famous could be really awesome!" Scootaloo says excitedly.

I think I know how to get them to promise. "Maybe, but if you girls can keep this a secret, you may get your cutie marks in keeping secrets." I say with a smirk.

They all look look at each other excitedly. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER SECRET KEEPERS! YAY!" they all shout. I'm never going to get used to that.

I put a hoof to my mouth. "Shhh, it's supposed to be a secret."

They all look at me and blush in embarassment. "Cutie Mark Crusader Secret Keepers. Yay." they all whisper.

I chuckle at this. These three are actually pretty cute when they're not eing a pain in the flank. I look over to Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Dash. You've been awfully quiet since what happened back there." I say to her. "Is something wrong?"

She snaps to attention at my question. "Huh? Oh, no, nothing's wrong. It's just, what you did was really amazing. Even from hearing your stories, I never expected anything like that. It was insanely cool." she tells me.

"Heh, thanks." as we walk, I see some light shining through. "Hey, I think I see the exit."

We reach the exit to be met with Fluttershy and the others. Sure took 'em long enough.

"GUYS!" they all shout.

"Rarity!" Sweetie Belle shouts.

"Applejack!" Apple Bloom shouts.

They both run up to the before mentioned ponies.

"Apple Bloom, what did I tell ya about goin' inside the forest?!" Applejack asks in little sister.

"You too, Sweetie Belle! I've told you a million times to NEVER go in there!" Rarity shouts at Sweetie Belle.

"I'm sorry, sis." the fillies say in unison.

"Sis? Sweetie Belle's your little sister, Rarity?" I ask.

"Yes she i-WHAT IN EQUESTRIA HAPPENED TO YOU?!" she shouts in horror.

"What? What's wrong with me?" I ask worriedly.

"Blue, you're covered in blood." Twilight tells me.

I look down and notice that I am indeed covered in blood. Don't know how I missed that. I think I know where it came from. "It must've happened when I slammed into that manticore." I tell them.

"What manticore?"

"Well, when we found the girls, they were being chased in the forest by a manticore. I used my powers to cut the manticore and then I rammed into it. That must be where the blood came from."

"The blood doesn't bother you at all?"

"Nah, blood doesn't really bug me like it does some ponies. I really don't see why ponies freak out over it so much."

"Well, thank you so much for saving Sweetie Belle. " Rarity says to me.

"And Apple Bloom, too. " Applejack adds.

"No problem. Now, if you dn't mind, I really need to get washed up." I say jokingly.

"Of course. Good bye."

"Take care."

"See you later."

"Bye, Breezy."

"Blue?" Dash says to me.

"Yeah, Dash?"

"You may have been okay fighting that manticore, but I still want you to ttake it easy and not come to work."

"You got it, boss." I tell her jockingly with a salute.

She giggles a little. "Alright, see you around." she says before flying off.

"Come on, Blue. Let's go get you cleaned up." Fluttershy tells me sweetly. She leads me back to her cottage. As we enter her cottage, Angel hops over to me and starts looking at me like, "What the...".

"Hey, Angel." I tell the white rabbit. I think he noticed the blood. I quickly try to come up with something. "Oh, this red stuff on me? It's, um... it's strawberries!"

He looks at me like, "Really?"

Yeah, Applejack need some help squashing strawberries for strawberry jam, so I help her squash 'em. I guess a got some on me." I say and give a nervous laugh.

He gives me an, "Alright." look and hops away. That was close. I then head upstairs and into the bathroom to take a shower. Fluttershy insisted on me helping because of my injuries, but I decline. I'd rather not have a mare help scrub me down.

Half an hour later.

After taking a shower and getting my bandages replaced. I decide to hit the hay and get some sleep.

"Oh, going to bed already, Blue?" Fluttershy asks "Not that there's anything wrong with that." she says shyly. She's so cute when she's shy.

"Yeah, I've had a long day and could really use a rest. Good night, Fluttershy."

"Good night."

I get into bed and start thinking about tomorrow. 'Maybe I'll head over to Pinkie's tomorrow. Something's just bound to happen there.'

Baking and Drinking

I wake up the next morning and stretch myself out. 'I slept way better than I did the night before.' I think. 'Guess I'm just used to the bandages by now. I just hope I'm not stuch wearing them for too long. I'm not getting paid vacation!' I walk and down stairs to be greeted by Fluttershy making breakfast. I could get used to this.

"Good morning, Blue." says Fluttershy. She places some toast infront me. If this is what it's like to be married, then sign me up!

"Morning, Fluttershy."

"Did you sleep well?"

"Better than I did the other night, yeah."

"That's good. So, any plans for the day? If you don't mind me asking that is." she says meekly. D'aw.

"Nah, I don't mind. I was thinking to head over to Pinkie's and seeing if she's got got anything to do."

"Oh, that should be fun." she says with a giggle. "Never a dull moment with Pinkie around."

"Hehe, I could tell." I finish my breakfast and Fluttershy starts replacing my bandages again. "Hey, Fluttershy?"

"Hmm?"

"How much longer do you think I'll need to wear these bandages?"

"Well, you're scratches have been healing quickly, so you shouldn't need bandages anymore after today."

"Sounds good." when she's done, he I go head out the front door. "See ya later!"

"Bye." Fluttershy replies

I fly over to Ponyville and make my way towards Sugarcube Corner. I shortly arrive and the giant gingerbread-looking house and head inside to be greeted by the Cakes. "Morning, Mr. and Mrs. Cake."

"Good morning, dear." Mrs. Cake says. "Pinkie told us about your injuries, so Mr. Cake and I decided to make you a batch of cookies to make you feel better." she pulls out a plate full of cookies.

"Really?" I walk up to the plate and examine the cookies. Chocolate chip. Awesome! I pick one up and eat it. "Wow, these are great. Thanks."

"You're welcome. Now, why'd you come down here?"

"I actually came to see Pinkie."

"Let me call her. Pinkie, Blue Breeze is here to see you!"

Pinkie pops her out from the door near the front counter. "Hey, Breezey. What's up?"

"Not much. I just came by to see if you had anything going on."

"Well, I'm baking some cupcakes to be sold here at the store." Pinkie's eyes and mouth widen in excitement. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake, is it ok if Blue helps make the cupcakes?" Pinkie asks the couple.

They both look at each other. "Well, do you have any experience baking?" Mr. Cake asks me.

"I used to help my mom bake a lot when I was little."

They both look at each other again and nod. "Alright, you can help."

"YAY!" Pinkie shouts. I know I'm going to regret this. Pinkie pulls me into the kitchen and slaps a chef's hat and apron on me. I'm already regretting this.

"So, how go aout baking the cupcakes, Pinkie?"

"Well..." Pinkie starts bobing and down and music starts playing.

"Pinkie, what are you doing?" I look around the room. "And where's that music coming from?"

"All you have to do is take a cup of flour
Add it to the mix
Now just take a little something sweet, not sour
A bit of salt, just a pinch"

"Please stop." I say dejectedly.

"Baking these treats is such a cinch
Add a teaspoon of vanilla
Add a little more, and you count to four
And you never get your filla"

"Celestia, why me?" I say looking upwards.

"Cupcakes, so sweet and tasty
Cupcakes, don't be too hasty
Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, CUPCAKES!"

The music that was coming from Celestia knows where stops playing. I facehoof. "Can we just get to the baking, please?"

"Okie Dokie Lokie!" Pinkie chimes. I'm never going to understand this mare.

Half an hour later

The timer dings and Pinkie takes the cupcakes out of the oven. "These look great." she says.

She brings them over and I sniff them. "They smell great, too. So, anything else?"

"Well, I was thinking since you helped make them, that we could top them in swirly, blue icing."

"Really? For me?"

"Sure, you've earned it." she says with a smile. She may be crazy, but I wouldn't want Pinkie to change for anything. But I could do without the singing.

After all that's done, I head out into Ponyville and try to find something to do. I come across a drinking bar called 'The Sleepy Stallion'. Strange name.

'Hmm, I could go for a drink.' I think to myself. I head inside. Now I get the name. More than half the guys in here are out cold from drinking too much. Dang drunks.

I walk up and take a seat at the front counter. "What'll you have?" the bartender asks me.

"I'll take an apple cider."

"Coming right up." he takes a wooden mug, puts it under a tap, and fills it to the brim with cider.

"Thanks." I tell him. He nods and walks off. I hear a hiccup from my left and look over to see a purple earth pony mare with a strawberry and some grapes for a cutie mark. She also has about a dozen empty glasses infront of her and a blush on her face. Oh great, a boozer.

She notices me and leans over. "Hey, what's up with *hic* those bandages on you?"

"Oh, these? It's nothing. I'll be fine."

"Oooh, a tough guy. I like that in a stallion." she says with a grin. This is getting weird. "I haven't seen you *hic* around Ponyville before. What's your name *hic*, handsome?"

"U-um, m-my name is Blue Breeze." I say nervously. She's creeping me out more than when I first met Pinkie.

"I'm Berry *hic* Punch. What do you say you and I *hic* go back to my place and we have some *hic* fun?"

My eyes widen in fear. No bucking way is that happening. I quickly finish my cider and leave some bits on the counter. "Here, keep the change." I tell the bartender.

"Thanks." he replies.

I trot out the bar, only to look back and see that erry is still following me. I start trotting fast. Berry matches my pace. I star going faster and faster until i break off into a full blown gallop, Berry galloping behind me. She sure is good at running for being drunk. Somepony's obviously had some practive. I jump and hide in a nearby bush. I peak out of the bush. 'I think I lost her.' I turn around and see Berry.

"Kiss me!" she shouts, sticking out her lips.

I shriek and take off again. I head into a dark alleyway and hide behind a dumpster. I don't recommend it. I peek out to see if I lost Berry. She pops out.

"Don't be shy!"

I take off again. I notice the library and take cover in the branches. Right when I think it's safe, I feel something push me up.

"I know a great make out spot!" Berry yells.

I take off once more, Berry still following me with her tongue hanging out. hen it seems like I'll never lose her, I make the most obvious realization ever. 'I have wings! DUH! I can just fly away!' I think. 'Man, I'm stupid sometimes.' I start flying away.

"Hey! No fair!" Berry shouts.

"Sorry! Maybe we can see each other again when you're not drunk off your flank!" I yell back.

I start flying back towards Fluttershy's, thinking to myself. 'Man, this town has got the strangest Ponies ever.'

Time to Go

After running around Ponyville for a bit, being chased and nearly being raped by a drunk mare, I decide to head back to Fluttershy's. I reach the small cottage and walk inside. "Honey, I'm home!" I jokingly shout. Always a classic line.

Fluttershy walks up and giggles to me. "Hey, Blue. Back so soon? Not that there's anything wrong with that." she stops and notices my sweating. "Gosh, was Pinkie Pie's really that tiring? I hope she didn't overwork you. She wasn't trying to set up another Pony X Games, was she?""

"No, this wasn't from Pinkie, all we did was make cupcakes. After that I went to The Sleepy Stallion bar. While I was there, this drunk mare named Berry Punch started coming on to me and then chased me all over Ponyville. Guess it tired me out a little and made me work up a sweat." I chuckle.

"Oh, yes well, Berry can be very, um..." she was trying to find the right word to use. I'd personally use crazy, but that's just me. "Friendly when she drinks a lot." she says with a meek smile.

"If that's what you call friendly, I'd hate to be around her when she's in heat." I joke. I've seen how mares get during that time of the year, and let me tell you, it's not pretty for we stallions. I hear a few them got turned off mares and even sex forever

"So, are you doing anything else today?"

"Not really. I was just going to find something to read. Other than that, I can't really think of anything."

"Well, if you're not busy, would you like to try and help me feed my chickens again? It's completely up to you."

"Really? You do remember what happened the last time, right?" THE HORROR! THE HORROR! THE CHICKENS WERE EVERYWHERE!

"Yes, but I'm sure if you just go a little slower this time, you'll do just fine." she says with a reassuring smile.

"*sigh* If you say so, Fluttershy. I guess I'll give it another try."

"That's the spirit." she tells me.

We head outside and approach the chicken coop. "Okay, I think I'll just leave you with Elizabeak to start off with. She's such a sweetie."

"Alright." I say hesitantly. Celestia, help me. I grab a hooffull of chicken feed and slowly drop some infront of the white hen. She starts to peck and eat at it. Soon, some other chickens walk up and also start digging in.

"Oh, look. You're doing it." Fluttershy cheers. "I think they like you."

"Hey, you're right." the chickens all look up at me and smile. "Buck yeah! The chickens like me!" my eyes widen in realization. "That sounded a lot better in my head." I say, embarrassed. I should think more before talking sometimes.

Fluttershy and I then share a laugh. Hey, a guy's gotta know how to laugh at himself once in a while, right?

After that, I mostly spend the day helping around Fluttershy's. Just feeding some animals and some housework, nothing much. I then head to bed for the night. I start having this strange dream about Pinkie Pie singing more about cupcakes. Easy to say, I don't sleep all too well.

The next day

I wake up, stretch, and head down stairs as usual to find Fluttershy. 'Last day I gotta wear these stupid bandages.' I think. Bandages are a real pain to wear for so long.

"Good morning, Blue." Fluttershy says. It truly feels like being married, only without the nagging and annoying mother-in-law who always says that you do everything wrong.

"Morning, Shy." I groggily reply. "So, today's the last day I need these bandages, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I guess that means there's no more reason for me to stay here anymore."

"Oh... right." Fluttershy hangs her head down.

After finishing breakfast, Fluttershy gets to taking off my bandages. She quickly finishes and I stretch. "Ah! That feels good." I say in pleasure. "I can't thank you enough for taking care of me these past few days, Fluttershy."

"Oh, it was no problem. I'm just happy to help a friend, and it was nice to have somepony around the house." her eyes widen in realization of what she said. "Oh! I didn't mean it like that! I..." I put a hoof up to stop her.

"It's cool. I know what you mean. Don't worry, Fluttershy. You won't be alone just because I'm leaving. You'll still have Angel and all of the other animals." I reassure her.

Angel hops up and rubs against her leg. She looks down and smiles at him. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Aren't I always?" she giggles. "Well, guess I better get going. Bye, Fluttershy. Bye, Angel." I tell them. They wave good bye to me and I head out the door.

I start flying towards Ponyville. 'Hmm, I may not be that hurt aymore, but I think I'll take off one last day before going back to work.' I think to myself. Don't think I'm lazy. 'But what am I gonna do?' A put a hoof to my chin and think. I then just shrug with a smile. 'Guess I'll just walk around Ponyville until something happens. Something's bound to happen eventually knowing how things usually are around here.'

Two hours later

I lay face down at a table near a small restaraunt. "I'm so bored." I mutter to myself. I pick my face up off the table. "Why is nothing happening? Can't Dash zip by for me to talk to? Or Pinkie throw some random party?"

I start walking, praying at this point for something to happen. "Why does nothing ever happen when I want it to?" I ask myself. It's really like I'm cursed or something.

"Look out below!" I hear a voice scream.

I look up to see a pegasus mare heading right for me. 'Oh bu-'

Be careful what you wish for, 'cause you just might get it. And it might hurt, too.

Playing Mail Pony

The mare crashes into me before I can finish my thought. I'm knocked off my hooves and onto my back. After lying on my back and mumbling under my breath, I get up and dust myself off. The mare does the same.

"Oh my gosh! I'm so sorry! Are you all right?" she asks in a worried tone. She's a grey pegasus mare with a blonde mane and tail and has bubbles for a cutie mark.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine." I say in an annoyed voice. I notice that she's cross-eyed. "Better question is: are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I was just delivering the mail like normal and because of my eye condition, I sort of lost control. I'm really sorry about crashing into you." she says, picking up the scattered mail.

"It's cool. I'm Blue Breeze, by the way." I start helping her pick up the mail.

"I'm Derpy."

"Derpy?"

"Yes. Have you heard of me?"

"Rainbow Dash told me you used to be on the weather team before they let you go."

"Oh... yeah." she hangs her head in sadness. "So, you work on the weather team?"

"Sure do." I finish picking up the mail and hoof it to her. "Well, there's all of your mail."

"Thanks a lot for helping me, and for not getting mad at me."

"Hey, it's no problem. You couldn't help it." I reassure her.

"Well, I gotta go. See you around." she says, waving good bye. She then tries to take off again. "Ow!"

"Is something wrong? Are you hurt?" I ask, concerned.

"Yeah, I think I sprained my wing." she looks at her wing in distress. "How am I going to deliver the mail if I can't fly?" she begins to tear up.

Call me a softie, but I hate to see a mare cry. I've gotta do something. "Hey, why don't I deliver the mail for you?" I happily suggest.

"Really? Are you sure?"

"Yeah, I didn't have any plans today anyway."

"Well, have you ever delivered mail before?"

"Sure, I delivered mail for a few years back when I lived in Cloudsdale."

"Hmm, okay, if you think you're up to it." she hoofs me her mailbag and I slip it over my head and under my wings.

"Think I'm up to it? I KNOW I'm up to it." I say with a determined look. How hard could this be? "Now, you go get that wing taken care. I'll worry about the mail."

She nods and strolls off to take care of her wing. I take out a large envelope from the bag and see who it's adressed to. ""To Twilight Sparkle." That'll be easy. I know where Twilight lives." I begin to take off towards the library.

I shortly arrive at the giant tree. Why they decided to build the library inside of a tree, I'll never know. I walk up and knock on they the door.

"Coming." comes a voice. The door is then answered by Twilight. "Hey, Blue."

"Hey, Twilight."

"So, what can I do for you?"

"I came hear to deliver this to you." I pull out the envelope and she immediately takes it in her magic.

"Oh, this must be the new issue of Magical Mysteries. I've been waiting for this!" she says excitedly. "Wait, why are you delivering the mail? Isn't that Derpy's job?" she asks quizically.

"Yeah, but she crashed into me while I was walking and she sprained her wing. I offered to deliver the mail for her."

"Oh, that was nice of you."

"Thanks. Well, I've got more mail to deliver, so I gotta go."

"Alright, bye."

I take off. Time for the next one. Luckily Derpy already delivered a good chunk of the mail, so there wasn't that much. I take out a small package. It reads, ''To The Doctor". The Doctor? That's not a name. Oh well. At least it has an adress. I head toward said adress.

I come to the house where the package was adressed to and knock on the door. The door is answered by a light brown stallion with an hourglass cutie mark. "Yes, can I help you?" he asks. He sounds like he's from Trottingham.

"Yes, I came here to deliver you this package." I take out the package and hoof it over.

"Ah, fantastic. Sure did take its sweet time to arrive." he says happily. "Wait, doesn't Derpy normally deliver the mail?"

"She crashed into me and hurt her wing. I offered to help by delivering the mail."

"Well, that was very kind of you. I do hope Derpy gets better."

"Why? Do you like her?" I ask him. May not be any of my business, but I don't care. I feel like asking

"Well, let's just say our relationship is... complicated." he says with a nervous smile. "By the way, whom do I have the pleasure of thanking for delivering this package."

"I'm Blue Breeze." I extend my hoof.

"And I'm The Doctor."

"The Doctor of what?"

"Just The Doctor."

"Alright, well, it was nice meeting you." I say before taking off.

I reach into my bag and pull out a letter. ""To Lyra". Huh? There doesn't appear to be any adress on this one." I say, confused. How do they expect a pony to deliver this stuff without an adress? "Oh well. Gues I'll just have to look around."

I begin to descend and land in town square. "Hey, is anypony here named Lyra?!" I shout into the open, hoping for a response.

"Yes! I'm Lyra!" I hear a pony shout. I look over to see a mint green unicorn and a cream earth pony sitting on a bench, the unicorn sitting on her rump with her hindlegs hanging out. That's weird.

I walk up to the two mares. "So, which of you two is Lyra?" I ask them.

"I'm Lyra." the unicorn says. "What do you need?"

I pull the letter out. "I have this letter for you. Before you ask, yes, this is Derpy's job. I'm just helping her out."

Lyra takes the letter in her magic. "Well, thanks for the letter." she says with a smile. "Oh, this is my marefriend, Bon Bon." she says, pointing to the earth pony beside her.

"Hello there." says Bon Bon.

"I'm Blue Breeze. Well, it was nice meeting you both, but I've gotta go." I tell them. I pull out one last letter and read it. Oh no. Berry Punch. It doesn't have an adress either. "Hey, do either of you two know where Berry Punch lives?"

"Berry lives just two blocks east of The Sleepy Stallion bar." Bon Bon says.

"Of course she does." I say sarcastically.

"Why? Do you know Berry?"

"Let's just say, we both happened to be at the bar yesterday, and she was drunk."

"Oh." they both say understandingly.

"Well, wish me luck."

"Good luck."

"Oh, and Bon Bon owns a cafe here in town. You should come by sometime." Lyra tells me.

"I'll make sure to do that." I say, taking off to go deliver a letter to the mare that nearly raped me the other day. Celestia, help me.

I shortly arrive at the alcoholic mare's house, accidentally knocking on some other houses prior to this. Like I said before: all the houses in this darn town look the same. I hesitantly knock on the door. 'Please no rape. Please no rape.' I worriedly think.

The door opens to reveal a surprised Berry Punch. "U-Um, h-hey, Berry." I say nervously.

"Oh... hey." she replies, looking at the ground. "Look, I'd like to apologize about the other day. I know I have a bit of a drinking problem."

"A bit?"

"Okay, a big drinking problem. I'm really sorry about chasing you though. Do you think we could still be friends?" she asks, extending a hoof and giving me a hopeful smile.

I think it over to a see a shake her hoof. "Sure"

We break the hoofshake. "So, why'd you come here?"

"Oh, that's right. I came to deliver this letter." I say, hoofing her the letter.

"So, you're a mail pony?"

"No. Lets just say, I'm helping out a friend." I tell her with a smirk. "Well see you, Berry." I say, making my way back to my house.

"Bye!" Berry shouts.

I get back to my house and walk inside. I throw off the mail bad, gotta remember to give that back later, and lay down on the couch.

'Aw, feels good to be home.'

Hearts and Hooves Day Surprise

Author's Note: Hey everybody. Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you all get to spend this day with your special someone. I personally don't have a special someone, so I'm going to go find a corner to cry in. But don't let my loneliness stop you from enjoying the newest chapter of my story.

A few weeks had passed and I had returned to my job on the weather team, hanging with Dash and Sunny and doing my job like nothing had ever happened. Speaking of not much happening, that's how it was like the past few weeks. Well, except that one thing that Pinkie Pie did, but the mayor made everypony promise to not talk about that.

I was waking up to the sound of my annoying alarm clock once again. "You know what? Buck it." I say. I take my foreleg and repeatedly slam it down on the clock, causing it to break and pieces to fly out. "There. Much better."

The day wasn't starting off well, but I wasn't going to let that get me down. Why? Because it was the day before Hearts and Hooves Day. And why am I happy about that, you may ask. Because I had bought two tickets to a Wonderbolts show that was happening tomorrow. I was planning to ask Dash if she'd like to go with me. For those who don't know, Dash and I aren't a couple yet, so I'm using this as an oppurtunity to change that. The tickets cost me a leg and a wing, but it's all gonna be worth it if Dash says yes. I even have a little something special planned during the show.

After getting out of bed and cleaning up the broken clock parts, I make myself a chimicherrychonga breakfast(it's great for any meal), get ready, and head off to work.

Several hours later

I was punching out for work, having had to take care of some passing storm clouds from the Everfree Forest(I've said it once, and I'll say it again. I WILL figure out how you work!), when I saw Dash about to leave.

"Hey, Dash?" I ask her.

"Yeah, Blue?"

"I actually bought some tickets to a Wonderbolts show going on tomorrow, and I heard you were a big fan of them, so I was wondering: would you like to go with me?"

"Are you seious?! I'd love to go!" she stops and looks at me suspiciously. "Wait, Hearts and Hooves Day is tomorrow. Are you asking me out on a date?"

I quickly try to think up an answer. I got it! "It's only a date if you want it to be."

"Hmm, okay, I'll go. Pick me up at my house tomorrow. I live in a cloud house above Ponyville."

So that's who lives up there. That's awesome. "Sounds good. See you then."

"Alright, later." she says heading out.

I still stand there with a big grin on my face. Phase one complete.

Sunny looks over at me suspiciously. "You totally like her, don't you?" she asks me.

"Well, yeah. Wish me luck on the date." I then head out of the building.

"Good luck!" I hear Sunny shout.

The next day

It was late in the morning, about two hours before the Wonderbolts show. I was heading out to town square to buy some flowers to surprise Dash with during the show. No. That's not the big surprise. I see a flower stand with three earth mares standing behind it. One is cream colored, one is light magenta, and one is pink.

"Hey there, ladies." I say to them nonchalantly. Swag!

"Hello, how may we help you?" the pink one asks me.

"Well, I've got a date, and I wanted to by her some flowers."

"Oh, how sweet." they say in unison. What's up with ponies saying things in unison?

"Yeah, so do you girls have any recommendations?"

They all beam at my question. Uh oh. "You should get her some roses!" the cream one shouts.

"No! Daisies!" the magenta one says.

"Lilies!" the pink one says.

"Roses!"

"Daisies!"

"Lilies!"

"Girls!" I shout. They immediately quiet down. "I have an idea. I'll buy a bouquet with four of each. Roses, daisies, and lilies."

"That's a great idea." they all say. Again, what's up with that?

They quickly create a beautiful bouquet of flowers for me and give it to me. I take the flowers and put them in my saddlebag. "Thanks. How much are they?"

"Ten bits."

"Alright." I take out the money and leave it on the stand. "I'm Blue Breeze, by the way."

"Rose."

"Daisy."

"Lily."

I should have known. "Well, thanks a lot for the flowers." I start flying away, heading for Dash's house.

"Good luck on your date!" the flower trio shouts. Flower trio. I gotta remember that one.

I easily spot Dash's cloud house and make my way over to it. I land and knock at the door.

The door opens to an excited Rainbow Dash. "Hey, Blue. You ready for this?"

"Sure am. I've never really been to a Wonderbolts show before."

"Oh, man. You're in for a GREAT show!

"I'm sure I am." I say, thinking about the surprise I have waiting for Dash.

We shortly arrive in Cloudsdale at the Cloudoseum. Yeah. That's what they named it. We quickly run in and take our seats.

"FILLIES AND GENTLECOLTS! A HAPPY HEARTS AND HOOVES DAY TO YOU ALL!" the announcer shouts. "ARE YOU ALL READY FOR A SHOW?!" the crowd starts going wild with cheers. " THEN, MAY I PRESENT TO YOU, THE WONDERBOLTS!" The Wonderbolts then come sky-rocketing overhead, leaving a smoke trail behind them.

The air ponies begin to put on an amazing show filled with flips, spins, dives, and barrel rolls.

"Man, this is amazing!" Dash shouts.

"It sure is!" I reply.

After some time, the Wonderbolts start getting ready to prepare for their grand finale. This is the moment I was waiting for. They begin zipping around, writing something in the air. The message read:

"Rainbow Dash,

Do you want to be my marefriend?

-Blue Breeze."

That's right. After weeks of saving up my bits, I paid to have thw Wonderbolts right that message for me. How much was it? Let's just say, I'm nearly broke after that.

Rainbow Dash turns to look at me, a shocked expression on her face. I brought out the flowers when she hadn't been looking. "Well, what do you say?" I happily ask her.

She smiles at me, tears of joy in her eyes. She silently nods and wraps her forelegs around me. I put the flowers down and return the hug. We break the hug and look into each other's eyes for a few moments before kissing one another. The crowd goes wild with applause.

"EVERYPONY! GIVE IT UP FOR THE HAPPY COUPLE!" the announcer shouts.

BEST BUCKING DAY EVER!

A New Discovery

A few days had passed since Dash and I had started going out. It was amazing. I never had a marefriend before, so this was really special for me. We had told the others about it, too. They were surprised at first, but they got used to it and were happy for us. Pinkie wanted to throw a congralutory party, but after about three hours, we were able to talk her out of it. That mare and parties, I swear.

Tonight I was planning to head back into the Everfree Forest, being my first time there since we had to go save the crusaders. I also heard a storm was happening in there tonight, so I was extra excited to be heading back there.

I start heading out of work, saying good bye to Dash before doing so. "See ya, babe. Wish me luck." I say with a kiss on her cheek. Did I mention how awesome it is having a marefriend?

She kisses me back. "Good luck. Just, please be careful this time."

"I promise." I reassure her. "How safe exactly is it to fight an ursa? I kinda wanted to try that."

"Blue." she says sternly with a glare.

"Just playing with ya, Dash." I joke. Actually, I did wanna try that, but don't tell Dash.

I head out of the building and make my way home. I want to get an early start on the forest before the storm started, so I am in a hurry. I nearly knock over a stand in my rush. The flower trio were a little upset about that.

I get to my house and start getting ready. I put on my coat, load up my saddlebag(mostly with chimicherrychongas), and make my way to the forest.

As I reach the forest, I pass by Fluttershy's, the yellow pegasus watering her garden as I trot by. "Hey, Fluttershy." I greet

She notices me and smiles. "Oh, hello, Blue. What brings you by?"

"I'm just heading off into the forest." I point at said forest nonchalantly. Just another day in my life.

"Oh, well, do be careful." she says cautiously.

"What, and miss out on you taking care of me again?" she giggles at my joke. "Don't you worry your pretty, little head, Fluttershy. I'll be careful."

"Alright. Good luck in there!"

I nod and start heading towards the forest again. I reacvh the inside of the forest and take out my notes. I look up and notice the storm clouds above rumbling a little, unlike normal clouds that dont even move unless touched by a pony. I start jotting down notes on this.

After some time and some gobbled down chimicherrychongas, it starts raining, and thunder can be heard from the sky. I start taking more notes when an idea pops in my head. 'Maybe I should see Zecora some time. She lives in this forest. Maybe she knows something about the weather.' I make a mental note to remember this. Dang it. Ran out of mental ink. Guess I'll just have to remember on my own.(aren't lame jokes fun?)

As I'm about to make my way out of the forest, I hear a strange noise off in the distance. A kind of noise that I've never really heard before. Well, better do what they do in the books and investigate it even though it's probably a bad idea. If you haven't noticed, I can be kinda wreckless.

I make my way towards the noise, being careful not to draw attention to myself. As I reach the source of the noise, I find somthing I never would've expected: a pony fighting a manticore. An earth pony with a blue coat, black mane and tail, and an ice cube cutie mark. His tail also looks like one of those fans you'd see high class mares in Canterlot or Manehatten use(my my, aren't we fancy?). But there is something very strange about him: he has small, white horns on each side of his head.

The manticore leaps at the pony, its claws flared. Before the manticore makes contact, the pony clenches his teeth and pounds his hooves on the ground, causing a wall of ice to appear...

What the buck?! An ice wall?! What is this guy?!

The manticore begins pounding away at the way, putting small cracks in it with every hit. The pony looks like he's struggling to keep the wall up to stop the manticore. I've gotta do something.

"Hey! Ugly!" I shout. Both the pony and the manticore turn to look at me. "How about you try this?!" I spread my wings and fire two Wing Waves at the manticore. It dodges the first one, but is sent back by the second.

The pony looks at me in confusion. I give him a grin to show him I'm on his side. He smiles at me in understanding. I then notice something. "Hey! Look out!" I warn. He turns around to be hit into a tree and get knocked out by the manticore. That does it.

I begin flying around the manticore in a circle, picking up speed with every go-around. A tornado starts forming and sucks the manticore off the ground. I call this move(be prepared for the most creative name EVER.) the Blue Tornado.

After a few seconds, the manticore goes soaring out of the tornado and into the other side of the forest. "Stupid pest." I say in annoyance. I gallop over to the pony and check him out. His body is freezing. He needs help. I pick him up and put him on my back. It feels like icicles on my back. I hurriedly make my way out of the forest and to Fluttershy's house.

I reach it and repeatedly knock at the door. Fluttershy opens the door, a concerned look on her face. "Blue, what's wrong?"

"This." I say, turning myself so she can see the pony.

"Oh my goodness! What happened?!"

"I'll explain later. Can you take care of him while I get the others?"

"Of course." I give Fluttershy the freezing pony and rush to get the others.

I just hope he'll be all right.

Author's Note: Hey everybody. Finally got a new chapter out. The pony used in this chapter comes from my friend, Ice. Go to his page to check him out. Hold onto your hooves, guys. This is where things get interesting.

Enter Ice

I had hurriedly gathered up the other girls and brought them back to Fluttershy's. They weren't too happy about being brought out this late, but they came nonetheless.

"So, why did you bring us all down here, Blue?" Twilight asks.

"And at such a late hour? Some of us do need to get our beauty sleep." complains Rarity, puffing up her mane.

Geez, Rarity can be prissy, even during something serious like this. We were all following Fluttershy up to her second floor. "Is this it, Fluttershy?" I ask, pointing to the door where I assume she put the unconscious colt.

"Yes, but do be quiet."

"Alright. This is what I brought you all here for." I open the door to reveal the colt, sleeping in a bed.

Everypony gasps at the site, noticing some cuts and a bump on his head. "Who is that?!" Dash asks worriedly.

"You know how I was going to the Everfree Forest tonight?" I ask them. They all nod in response. "Well, I found him while I was out there, but he wasn't like this when I first found him."

"Then, what happened for him to get this beat up?"

"The thing is, when I found him, he was fighting a manticore."

"What?!" they all shout in confusion.

"Yeah, and the weirdest part is that I saw him stomp his hooves and create a wall of ice."

"Are you seious?" Twilight asks.

"Yes. Similar to my wind powers, this guy has ice powers."

"Well, what's with the horns on his head? Ah ain't ever seen anypony, especially an earth pony, with horns like that." Applejack says.

"Yeah, they look like itty, bitty party hats." Pinkie says excitedly. Even in the middle of the night, during a serious situation, Pinkie is as hyper as ever.

"Pinkie, not now." I order. "As for the horns, I have no idea. Twilight, have you ever read of anything like this?"

"No, nothing. I haven't even seen anything like this in books, and I've read every book in the library at least three times."

EVERY book? THREE times? Wow.

"So, what are we gonna do with him?" Dash asks.

I put a hoof to my chin and start thinking. I have one idea, but it's risky. "Fluttershy, is he badly hurt?"

"No, just some cuts and a large bump on his head."

I guess I have no choice. "Then, I guess I'll let him stay with me until we can figure something out."

Everypony looks at me in surprise. "What?! You don't even know if this guy is safe or not! He could kill you!" Dash yells.

"Him? Kill me? Somepony doesn't have a lot of faith in me."

"I just don't want to see you get hurt." Dash says in almost a whisper.

"I think I have an idea." Twilight announces.

"What?" everypony asks.

"I'll send a letter to Princess Celestia and see if she has any ideas."

"Wait, how do you know the princess?" I ask. How are there still things this important that I'm just finding out about is the better question.

"Princess Celestia chose me to be her personal student back when I was just a filly."

I look up and shake my head. "I know I should be surprised, but I'm not. But why do you need to send the princess a letter?"

"I just want to do it to make sure he's safe."

"That sounds good." I say happily.

"Ugh, my head. What happened?" groggily says a voice from behind us. Turns out all of our talking had woken up the colt. He looks around the room in confusion. "Where am I?"

"That manticore knocked you out." I begin to explain. "I got rid of it and brought you here to get you some help."

"Oh, well, thanks."

"No problem. I'm Blue Breeze." I begin to introduce myself and the girls. "This is my marefriend, Rainbow Dash."

"Sup?" Dash says

"This is Twilight Sparkle."

"Nice to meet you." Twilight says with a smile.

"This is Rarity."

"A pleasure to meet your aquintance." Rarity says.

"This is Applejack."

"Howdy." Applejack greets.

"This is Fluttershy. She's the one who fixed you up, and this is her house."

"Oh, um, hello." Fluttershy says meekly.

"And I'm Pinkie Pie." Pinkie Pie says, getting in the colt's face and freaking him out.

"Yes, thank you, Pinkie."

"No problem."

"So, what's your name?" I ask the colt. Getting a better look at him, he looked to be a little younger and shorter than me.

"Um, it's Ice." he says nervously. Clever. "So, what are you gonna do with me?"

"Well, we decided that you can stay with me in my house until we can figure out something else."

His eyes widen. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Just believe me when I say you'd be better off leaving me out of your lives."

I put on a determined face. "No way, man. I'm not the kind of pony to just leave someone hanging. I insist on you staying with me."

He sighs. "Fine, but I warned you."

I'm still curious as to what he means. After that, we all make our way outside and say our good byes.

Before leaving, Dash comes close and whispers to me. "Are you sure about this, Blue? I don't trust this guy."

"But you trust me, don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Then you gotta trust me with this."

Dash looks down and then back to me. "Okay, I trust you."

Dash and I share a quick kiss before she takes off back to her house. "Okay, Ice. Ready to go?" I ask him.

"I guess." he responds

We eventually reach my house and head inside. We get upstairs and stop. I point to a door. "You can stay in the guest room. My room will be right down the hall. Bathroom's right inbetween them."

"Alright. Good night, I guess."

"Good night." we each head into our designated rooms.

I hope Dash's suspicions about Ice are wrong.

Author's Note: Here's the next chapter, everyone. Ice, if you ever think I write you out of character, just tell me and I'll try to fix it the best I can.

A Dark Past

I wake up the next morning and walk out into the hall. I open the door to Ice's room and see him still sleeping in bed. He's actually pretty cute when he's sleeping, like a little kid. Don't get any ideas. I don't swing that way.

I go down stairs and into the kitchen to start making breakfast. 'Hmm, what to make?' I ask myself. 'Waffles? Toast? Chimicherrychongas sound good, but Ice probably won't want that. Guess I'll go with pancakes.' I make some batter and start cooking it over the stove.

After about twenty minutes, I finish cooking for Ice to come down stairs, still tired. "Morning." I greet him.

"Morning." he replies. He sits down and I place a plate of pancakes infront of him. "What is this?"

"Breakfast, duh!."

He rolls his eyes at me. "I know it's breakfast. What I meant was: why did you make me some?"

"I was making some for myself and decided to make you some while I was at it. You are my guest after all."

He looks at the plate once again and starts chowing down. "Thanks." he says with a full mouth.

"No problem."

He swallows everything in his mouth. "So, any plans for today? You did say I'm only here until you could figure out something else."

"Yeah, I need to go see Twilight about something."

"What about?"

"Oh, nothing you need to concern yourself with." unless Celestia decides to send the Royal Guard after you. Other than that, nothing at all.

We finish eating and head out towards Twilight's library. We soon arrive and Ice gives it a questioning look.

"She lives in a tree?"

"It's actually the town library. She runs it and lives in it."

He looks at me strangely. "They filled a giant tree with thousands of flameable and easy to burn books?"

"Yeah, don't think about it too much. It'll make your life easier."

"Alright. If you say so."

We approach the front door and knock. Spike answers the door to greet us. "Hey, Blue. Who's your friend?" he says looking at Ice.

"Oh, this is Ice. He's an old friend of mine who's staying with me while he's in town." I'm so good at lying it scares me.

"Oh, alright. Did you two need something?"

"Yeah, I need to see Twilight. Is she here?"

"Sure, let me get her for you." the purple dragon says, walking off to get Twilight.

Ice just sits there in surprise. "Was that a real dragon?" he asks me.

"Yep."

"And he lives here?"

"Yep. Like I said, don't think about it too much."

"Riiight."

Twilight walks up to the door to see us. "Hey, Blue, Ice." she says.

"Hey, Twilight." I say to her. "Hey, Ice?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you mind going inside? I need to talk to Twilight in private."

He looks at me suspiciously. "Alright." he walks inside and takes a seat.

"So, did you send the letter yet?" I ask Twilight.

"Yes."

"What did it say?" I hope it's not banishment. I hear the moon is cold as all hay. Then again, Ice may like that.

"Not much, just that the princess wants to see you and Ice."

"Why me?"

She shrugs. "I'm not sure, but a chariot will be by soon to get you both." she looks behind me to see something. "Oh, would you look at that. It's here."

I look behind myself to see that indeed the chariot along with some pegasus guard are there. "How did she know?" I ask in confusion.

"I have no idea how she does that." Twilight says in response.

"Well, guess we ought to get going." I walk inside to fetch Ice. "Ice, we gotta go."

He gets up and looks at me. "Where to?"

"We've been summoned to see the princess at her castle."

His pupils shrink at my response. "No way! I'm not going there!"

"Why not?"

He puts his head down. "I can't tell you."

I walk over to him and out a hoof on his sholder. "It'll be all right, buddy. I promise. " I say sympathetically.

He looks up at me. "Alright, I'll go."

I smile and lead him over to the chariot. We hop aboard and disembark to the royal palace.

After some time, we arrive just outside the castle's front door. We get off the chariot and walk up to the castle door. Dang, that thing is big.

"Halt! State your name and business!" a guard shouts at us. I think somepony's a little paranoid.

"I'm Blue Breeze, and this is Ice." I tell him "We were called here to see the princess."

"Ah, yes. We've been expecting you. Follow me, please." so he does have manners.

We follow the guard inside the palace. I whistle. "Man, this place sure is a beaut." I look over to Ice, him with an angry expression. "You okay, Ice?"

He snaps out of it. "O-Oh, yeah, I was just thinking."

I give him a suspicious look. "Alright." he's hiding something, and I'm gonna find out what.

We shortly arrive at the palace throne room. "Here they are, your highness." says the guard, giving the princess a bow.

"Thank you, captain. You may go." the princess tells him.

The guard nods and leaves the three of us alone. I bow to the princess. "It's an honor, your majesty."

"You are welcome, Blue Breeze." she turns to look at Ice. "Hello there, Ice."

Ice angrily grits his teeth. "Witch." he mutters.

Say what? I look back and forth between them. "Does somepony wanna explain what's going on?"

"Ice, would you like to tell him, or should I?" asks the princess.

I look to Ice. "I'll tell him." responds Ice angrily.

"Tell me what?"

He sighs. "You wanna know why I was in the forest last night?"

"Why?"

"I was running... running from my memories." I look at him in shock.

"Perhaps you should start from the beginning." Celestia says.

"Fine, but I warn you, Blue. You won't like what you hear."

In the past(WARNING! This backstory is quite dark. Also, this was all written by Ice. I had nothing to do with it.)

It was a day like any other in his home. His mom was cooking dinner and his dad had just gotten home from work.

“Hi, honey. I’m home” his dad said as he opened the door and walked in to kiss her.

“I thought you worked the nightshift.” she said as she continued cooking.

“Are you kicking me out?” he said.

“No, just curious.” she giggled.

“Well, if you must know, I got a promotion.” he said with a grin as she dropped her spatula and turned around. “Yes, I’m finally the manager of the el-“ he instinctively whipped his head to the little boy who was running down the stairs to meet his dad.

“DAD!” the boy exclaimed as he ran to his father’s embrace.

“And how’s my little po-dang boy, you are cold.” his dad said.

“What are you talking about-WOW” his mom exclaimed as she reached over the counter to touch the boy's forehead.

“Well, it's no wonder we call you Ice.” his dad joked.

“This is no laughing matter, we need to get him to the doctor.” she said, cleaning up the kitchen equipment.

“NO! I hate the doctor. He stabbed me with his needles last time I went there.” the boy said.

“No, you’re going, end of story.” she said with a little frustration in her voice.

“NO! NO! NO!” the boy said.

“Odd. Did it get colder in here, or is it jus-” his dad had stopped speaking and wasn’t moving.

“DADDY!” the boy was met by the corpse of his father, frozen solid and slowly cracking into pieces. His mom had met the same fate.

Running out of the door, he wandered the streets alone, the last and only memory of his parents was his dad saying: “Well, it's no wonder we call you Ice.”

The pain didn’t let him remember anything else, and he didn’t want to…

Ice could only whimper and morn over the death that happened years ago. He had felt loneliness and sadness before, but not like this… he had killed the only ponies that ever actually made him happy.

Then one day, his powers went way out of control, freezing an entire city. Princess Celestia had found out about this, and being "forgiving" because he was young, let him live and removed the event form everypony's memory except his, so that he had to live with it.

Back in the present

I just stood there, looking at Ice with a blank expression. I knew he was hiding something big, but this... this was something I never thought anypony capable of.

He had his head down, tears in his eyes. He looks over at me angrily. "So, I'm a monster, right?!" he snaps at me.

I put a stern face on. "No. No, you're not."

"What..?" he quietly asks in shock.

"You may have done some bad things, but they weren't your fault. You can still do good. I know it." he gives me a smile and wipes his tears away. "But still, what does this have to do with me, princess?" I ask her.

"You see, just like Ice's powers, I also know of yours." oh, buck. I'm screwed. "Do not worry, you are not in trouble." she reassures me

"Okay, but that doesn't answer my question."

"Unlike you, young Ice has not yet learned to control his powers."

I look at Ice. "Really?"

"Yes. Usually I either get them to work by luck or they go off by accident."

"So, what do I have anything to do with this?"

"I would like you to train Ice on how to better control his powers."

"What?" Ice and I ask.

"Yes. I want you to train Ice. Do you accept, Blue Breeze?"

I think it over for a minute and nod. "I accept, princess."

"And you, Ice?"

Ice puts a hoof to his chin. "Yes. I'll allow Blue to train me."

"Very good. You both may go." Ice and I both leave the throne room together. "Please, Blue Breeze. Help Ice control his powers... and live a better life."

Thawing a Cold Heart

Author's Note: Yes, the tilte is an ice pun. Expect more of them now that Ice is in. You mad, Ice? Now, on to the story(I'm brining it back!).

As we make our way out of the palace, Ice and I strike up a conversation. "So, that went better than I expected." I say.

"What were you expecting?" Ice asks.

"Like banishment, or imprisonment, or maybe even execution. I'm just glad none of that happened."

"Me too."

"But I was a little worried when we first walked in. You looked like you were ready to rip the princess' head clean off."

"I may be angry with her for leaving my memories, but she allowed me to live freely, and I do owe her for that. Besides, it's not like I could've even done anything to her, even if I could control my powers."

"I guess so." I chuckle to myself. "I guess since I'm going to be training you, you can continue to live with me for a while." I just hope I can afford another pony to feed.

"Thanks. I really appreciate it."

"It's no problem."

We arrive outside to see a chariot with some guards waiting for us. "Blue Breeze and Ice?" a guard asks us.

"That'd be us."

"We've got orders to deliver you two back to Ponyville."

"Sounds good."

We hop aboard the chariot and immediately start flying towards Ponyville.

"Aw, this is nice." I say in relaxation. "I could get used to being flown around like this."

"It is pretty nice." Ice agrees. "I don't get very many chances to fly, being an earth pony." Ice looks at me curiously. "Hey, Blue?"

"Yeah?"

"What were YOU doing in the forest last night? I know the forest isn't nearly as dangerous for a pony like you, but you must've had a reason for being in there."

"Well, I was there to fulfil my dream."

He raises an eyebrow at my answer. "Say what?"

"You know how the forest has natural weather that nopony can control or understands?" he nods. "Well, I want to be the first pony to discover why that is. I was there taking notes on the weather before I found you."

"Oh, now I get it. That's pretty cool."

"So, what's your dream?"

He looks at me for a second before looking down. "My only dream right now is to leave my past behind and live a normal life."

"Good for you, buddy. Don't worry, I know you'll be able to have a normal life from now on." I give him a hopeful smile.

"Thanks." he says happily. "So about this whole training thing. When do you think we can start?"

"Eager are we?"

"I just don't want you to go all crazy military sergeant on me." oh, he has no idea.

"Well, I already have an idea on our first lesson."

"And that is?"

I sigh. "I can tell you're a very lonely and not very social pony, you're past has shown that. It's not very good to live a life like that. It's aways good to know you have friends to help you out and care about you. So, I'm going to help you make some friends."

He looks back. "I have been alone for a long time. It would be nice to make some friends." he looks back at me with a hopeful face. "So, how are you gonna help me make friends?"

This'll be easy. "Easy. You remember Pinkie Pie from last night?"

"You mean the pink mare who seemed like she had too much sugar?"

This one catches on fast. "Yeah. When I first came to Ponyville about a month ago, she threw me a surprise party to welcome me. And if I know Pinkie, and I do. she's probably gone and set up a party while we've been gone. A party will be the perfect place to meet new friends."

"A party?" he looks down. "I'm not very good at parties."

I put a hoof on his sholder. "It'll be fine. I'll be there to help you out. Deal?"

He looks at me for a second before smiling. "Deal."

We finally reach Ponyville and land just outside my house. "Here we are." a guard says.

"Thanks."

"No problem, sirs." the guards then leave back to the palace.

We walk up to the door before we stop. "Make sure to brace yourself." I tell Ice.

"Okay."

We open the door for the lights to come on and show a room filled with ponies. "SURPRISE!"

Ice jumps up in surprise while I just have a smug look on my face. Heh, newby. I told him to brace himself.

The scene looked very familiar. There were decorations. There was a snack table. Oooh, they have chimicherrychongas. What was I talking about? Oh, right. There was pin the tail on the pony. And the entertainment was none other than Equestria's own DJ Pon3, or Vinyl Scratch to her friends. I may have left this out, but Vinyl had DJed at my party, so that's how I knew her.

Pinkie appears infront of Ice and I, and when I say "appears", I mean she literally just pops up out of nowhere. "Hey, Breezy! Hey, Icy!" she shouts.

"Hey, Pinkie." I say. I'm used to this by now.

"Were you both surprised?!"

"We sure were."

"Great! I hope you have fun. There's food and games and music and-" I shove my hoof in her mouth to cut her off.

"We get it, Pinkie."

I take my hoof out her mouth. "Okie Dokie Lokie!" she says before bouncing off. "Hit it, DJ!"

"Let's make some noise!" Vinyl shouts, and then starts playing music.

Ice just stands there with a shocked expression. "Is she always like that?"

"Eeyup" I say, doing my best Big Mac impression. "So, what do you wanna do first?"

He looks around the room. "I'm not sure."

"I know. Let's go over to the snack table."

"Okay."

We walk over to the snack table. Ice eyes the chimicherrychongas with a confused face. "What are these?"

"Chimicherrychongas. Try one. They're good." I pick one up and give it to him.

He takes it hesitantly. "If you say so." he takes a bite and his eyes widen. He swallows it. "That was pretty good."

"What'd I tell ya?" I stop a notice a pony approaching us. "Hey, Vinyl. What's up?"

"Not much. I was just on a break and wanted to meet the new pony in town. This him?"

"Yep, this is Ice."

Ice looks at Vnyl, never taking his eyes off her. I nudge him with a leg. "O-Oh, hey, nice to meet you." he extends his hoof.

Vinyl brohoofs him. "Nice to meet ya. Name's Vinyl Scratch, but you can call me Vinyl." she takes off her goggles to reveal her eyes. Ice's gaze intensifies. I see somepony has a crush. "I gotta say, I love those horns on your head."

"You do?" he asks nervously.

I can see where this is going. "I think I'll leave you two time to talk." I say. I walk off to join the rest of the party. I notice Rainbow Dash and walk up to her. "Hey, babe."

"Hey, it's good to see you're okay. So, how have things gone with Ice?"

"Well, we went to see the princess today."

"What'd she say?"

"I'm gonna level with you." she gives me a quizical look. "Ice can't control his powers as well as I can, so she wants me to train him."

"Are you serious?!"

"Yes, I am." I say sternly. "Just look at him, Dash. He's no threat, just a pony trying to live a normal life." I gesture to Ice and Vinyl laughing with each other.

She gives a meek smile. "I guess you're right."

"Aren't I always?" I say smugly. "Now, I'm going to need to take a few days off from work..."

"Ugh, fine."

"You're just upset because you're gonna miss me."

She giggles. "Kinda."

I look back to see Vinyl walking off from Ice. "I gotta go." I tell Dash. We kiss and I walk back over to Ice. "How'd it go, champ?"

"Great! Vinyl and I hit it off really well."

"That's great to hear."

First training session is a success. Ice better be ready though, because tomorrow the real training begins.

Day 2 of Training

Author's Note: For anyone who may not have read my blog, I'm starting to hit writer's block yet again. I would really appreciate getting some ideas from you guys. I've got a few, but I'm still trying to figure out how to work those in. And to Ice, I kinda had to fill in the blanks of how your powers work on my own, so that's why things may sound strange about them. Now, on with the story(wonder how long before this dies again.).

The next day

It was our second day of training and I was ready to give Ice another wake up call. I walk into his room, ready my megaphone and...

"IT'S TIME FOR MORE TRAINING! GET UP AND GET READY, YOU MAGGOT!"

But despite how loud I screamed, Ice just continues to lay there. He begins to rustle and get up. He stretches and looks at me with a grin. I finally notice he's wearing earmuffs. Sneaky...

"HA! I was ready for you this time!" he shouts. He takes off the earmuffs and gets up. "So, what's on the agenda for today?"

"Just go down stairs and eat some breakfast." I say grumpily, pointing to the door.

We both head down stairs and start eating breakfast. I had prepared toast this time. Sorta ironic how I train Ice as hard as I do and still feed him. Whatever.

As we eat, I come to a realization. "Have you ever thought about getting a job?" I ask Ice.

"And why would I need a job? I live here with you."

Well, somepony wants to be a pain in the flank. "Oh, where should I begin? I can't afford to pay for the both of us, you need something to do on days I can't train you, and you can't take Vinyl out on dates without money."

He sighs. "Alright, I hear ya. But where can I get a job?"

"Don't know, but I can go help you go looking for one tomorrow."

"Sounds good." we both finish our breakfast and head outside. "So, what kind of training are we doing today? I hope not more hoof to hoof combat."

"Nah, we're going to focusing on power control today."

"Sweet!"

We make our out to the baren area from yesterday's training. I had come out here a bit earlier to get things set up ahead of time.

"Okay, first thing's first, do you have any idea on how to control your powers?"

He frowns. "No, nothing."

"Well, that's okay. It took me a while before I could properly control mine. I was on my own when I did it, but I'll be here to help you."

"So, what are we gonna do?"

"First thing we need to work on is energy control. These powers come from magical energy within a pony's body. Everypony has magic in their body, but you and I have a far larger amount than anypony else, other than unicorns that is." I explain to him. "My powers come from energy in my wings. I just build up energy in my wings, and there you have it. For you, I've seen your powers in action, and I can tell your powers mainly revolve around your hooves and your horns."

"Hmm, now that you mention it, I could feel a sensation around my hooves and horns everytime my powers go off." he says in understanding.

"See what I mean? So, the first thing I want you to do is to relax your body and do some deep breathing exercises."

"What for?"

"For this to work, you need to have complete control over every action in your body, including breathing."

"Okay, I'll try."

He exhales and starts breathing. In and out, in and out, in and out... This is starting to sound suggestive. Let's move this along.

"Good. Now, I want you to close your eyes and clear your mind of all thoughts. You must also control your thinking to do this. Control over your mind equals control over your body."

He closes his eyes and, I assume, starts clearing his thoughts.

"Good. Last step: I want you to try and build energy in your front hooves and stomp one of them on the ground."

"Got it." he replies. 'Focus. Focus.'

His hooves start giving off a cold mist as he builds energy in them. He takes his right hoof and stomps it, making a small ice pillar shoot up.

His eyes and mouth widen in excitement. "Hey, I did it!"

"Yeah, it's actually pretty 'cool'." I joke.

He groans. "Ugh, I hate ice puns."

The pillar disperses in an instant. "Anyway, that was pretty good. Now that you've got simple energy control down, it's time to move onto using your powers in combat." I point off to the open. "As you can see, I've set up some scarecrows to use as practice dummies."

"Where'd you get the scarecrows?"

"Oh, nowhere special. Just don't tell Applejack I've got them." don't judge me. I needed dummies and didn't have any other ideas.

He stifles a laugh. "Sure thing."

"Let me demonstrate how I use my powers on one of these dummies."

I unfirl my wings and build up energy in them. They begin to glow white as energy build up increases. I flap my wings and send some waves towards one of the scarecrows, cutting it with an X shape.

"There you go." I say with a smirk.

"Nice."

"I know. Now, I want you to do what you did during the first exercise, only instead of your hooves, I want you to charge energy in your horns. Think you can do that?" I just hope this does what I think it's gonna do.

"Sure thing."

He starts concentarting as his two horns begin to give off a mist of their own. The air itself next to him begins to slowly freeze and turn into a sharp ice crystal.

"Woah. Never did that before." Ice says.

"Now, try throwing it at that scarecrow over there." I direct while pointing.

He scrunches his eyes. He leans his head forward, throwing the ice shard towards the scarecrow and stabbing it through the chest.

"Nice work." I congratulate him.

"Wow. That was pretty sweet."

Just then, we hear some hoofsteps in the distant as three figures approach. Who should it be but the Cutie Mark Crusaders?

They rush up to me with smiles on their faces. "Hey, Blue." they say. Again with the unison thing.

"Hey, girls."

"This that Ice feller you were tellin' us about?" Apple Bloom asks.

"Yep."

"Who are these three?" Ice asks in confusion.

"These are the Cutie Mark Crusaders." I explain. "Apple Bloom, Applejack's little sister. Sweetie Belle, Rarity's little sister. And Scootaloo, their friend."

"Okay, but why are they here?"

"I asked them to help us with target practice. Don't worry, they know about my powers and have been able to keep it a secret so far. Right, girls?"

"Mmhmm." they reply.

"Hey, aren't those the scarecrows Applejack said were missin'?" Apple Bloom asks, noticing the scarecrows.

"Moving right along!" I scream, pushing the crusaders over in the distance.

"Okay, now we're going to work on hitting a moving target." I begin to explain. "While we stand over here, the girls are going to throw targets in the air for us to hit."

"Sounds good to me." Ice begins to conjure up another ice shard. "Ready when you are."

"Okay, and THROW!" I shout to the crusaders. They throw the first target into the air, and Ice hits it dead on. "Nice shot."

"Heh, no sweat."

"No sweat, eh? Then how about we have a little competition?"

"I'm listening." he says with intrigue.

"Let's have a contest, the first to hit five targets wins."

"Oh, you're so on."

"Alright. Sweetie Belle, you keep score! Apple Bloom and Scootaloo, you throw out targets!"

"Got it!" they reply.

Since it'd be boring to go through the entire competition, let's just skip ahead.

Ice and I were tied at four to four. The heat was high(hope Ice doesn't melt) and we were both eager to win.

"THROW!" I shout.

Scootaloo and Apple Bloom each throw our targets into the air. We each fire our attacks and...

*BAM*

We each hit them at the exact same time. Ice and I both look at each other and smile.

"Good game." I say, extending a hoof.

Ice brohoofs me. "Same to you."

"Now, how's about we all go get some lunch at Olive's Garden? My treat!"

The crusaders all shout will glee as they take off running, Ice following behind them.

I gotta admit, this being Ice's trainer thing is going much better than I expected. But his lazy flank better get a job soon.

Griffon back to Business

Author's Note: Would you look at that? A double update because I love you guys so much. Do you like the title? I like puns! Also, forget all that stuff I said about writer's block. I've gotten more ideas, many of them involving more characters. Who they are will be revealed later on. Now, on with the story(DON'T YOU DIE ON ME!).

A week had passed since Ice started working at the cafe. His training had been going fairly well and I had gone back to work. I think Dash is made about all the free time I was getting. Good thing she loves me.

Dash and I were getting ready to leave work and go out on our date to(guess where) Olive's Garden. What can I say? It's grown on us since our first date back before we were together.

As we got outside, I look up and see something. "Hey, what's that?" I ask.

Dash looks up to see what it is. "Oh no." she says.

The creature lands infront of us. A griffon? Shouldn't she be back in Hippogriff? Equestria's got pretty strict rules to letting griffons in.

She walks up to us. "Sup, Dash?" she says. Reminds me of Rainbow Dash in a lot of ways.

"What are you doing here, Gilda?!" Dash yells at the griffon. She knows her?

"You know her?" I ask Dash.

"Yeah! She was a jerk last time she was here!" she tells me. She turns back to Gilda. "I thought I told you that if you couldn't accept my friends, then you should get lost!"

"Look, I know what I did was uncool. I came back to make up for what I did, honest." Gilda says to us.

"Yeah, right!"

"Come on, Dash. Everyone deserves a second chance." I say, trying to help Gilda.

She looks at me and back to Gilda. "Okay, if you're really serious about this."

"I swear, Dash."

"Good, now that that's all settled, I'm Blue Breeze, Dash's coltfriend." I introduce myself.

"Wait, Dash is with a lo-I mean a lucky guy like you?" she asks nervously. Was she gonna call me a loser?

"Yeah, we were actually about to go on a date before you showed up."

"Oh, then, don't mind me. You two go have fun."

We leave Gilda and head on our way. We soon reach the restaraunt and order our food. Once it arrives, I decide to ask Dash what's been on my mind since Gilda showed up.

"So, what's the deal with Gilda?"

"Ugh, she's a jerk, that's the deal."

"Can you start at the beginning?"

"Well, we were friends in flight school. We did everything together. Pulled pranks, raced, and just had fun. I didn't see her for a few years after that. She came by to visit me in Ponyville last year. At first, I was happy to see her because I had missed her, but then I found out she had been acting like a jerk towards everypony else. Stealing, pulling mean spirited pranks, and bullying. She was especially mean to Pinkie, even after Pinkie tried throwing her a welcome party. I told her off after that and haven't seen her til now."

"Jeez." I reply. I knew griffons weren't as nice as ponies, but still. "She at least seems nice now."

"I guess, but I don't trust her. People don't change that easily."

We finish eating and go off on our own. 'Maybe I'll go see what Ice is up to.'

I head over to the cafe and see Ice. "Hey, Blue. The usual?"

"Yep."

"Okay, one capucino, coming up."

I go take a seat upfront and wait for my coffee. Ice shortly comes back and gives it to me.

I hear the front door open and look over to see Gilda.

She walks up to Ice to get an order. "Coffee, black." Ice gets her coffee and brings it back over. She takes a drink, only to put on a disgusted face and spit it out on Ice.

"What the hay?!" he shouts.

"What is this junk?!" Gilda shouts.

"Coffee!"

"Well, it tastes like garbage!"

"So you had to spit it all over me?!"

"You're lucky that's all I'm doing." she then notices his horns. "Ha! What's with the stupid horns? You a freak or something? You look like a midget buffalo with frostbite."

Ouch.

"What'd you call me?! Why, I oughtta..."

Before he can finish, Gilda cuts him off. "Pssh, whatever. I'm leaving this lame-o place."

She walks out with a smug attitude. I walk up to Ice, him steaming(never thought I'd say ice looks steaming).

"Who was that?" he angrily asks.

"Gilda, Dash's old friend. She said she came back to make amends for what she had done last time she was here. That's apparently not happening."

"Well, somepony better set her straight, or I will."

"Just chill out, Ice."

He glares at me. "You know I hate ice puns!"

"Okay, sorry. Don't worry, I'll fix this."

I leave the cafe in a hurry. I think I know somepony who may be able to help. Or, from what Dash said, may need helping.

Pinkie Pie.

I head over to Sugarcube Corner and hurry inside. "Pinkie! You here?!" I shout to nopony in particular. I hear some whimpers from up stairs. I walk up and see a horrifying sight: Pinkie Pie, only she's not. She was grey toned, and her mane and tail were straightened. I slowly wak up to her. "Pinkie?"

She gets up and looks at me, her eyes red and her face soaked from tears. The worst of it was that she had claw marks on her right cheek. "Breezy?" she says weakly.

I embrace her to try and comforst her. I let go and look her in the eye. "Pinkie, who did this to you?"

"G-Gilda."

"What?!" I was afraid of this. "Do you know where she is now?"

"I-I think she s-said something about the p-park."

"Okay, you stay here. I've got a griffon to talk to."

I leave the building and make a dash for Ponyville Park. She's gonna pay. I get there and what should I find? Gilda picking on the CMC. How low will she go?

"Give us back our ball!" Scootaloo shouts at Gilda.

"Why? If you want it so badly, you should take it yourselves."

"Hey! Gilda!" I shout.

She looks around and grins. "Well, well, well. It's you, Dash's loser coltfriend. What do you want?"

"Instead of picking on innocent ponies, how about you try me?"

"Are you serious? You think you can take me?"

"I KNOW I can."

"Huh, yeah right!" she throws her claws towards me.

Just before they hit, I stop them with a hoof. "I recommend leaving, before you get hurt. I don't care if you're a girl. Hurt my friends, and all bets are off."

I throw a punch and hit her in the face, knocking her over.

Just then, everypony else except Pinkie shows up. "Blue!"

I look back. "Dash?"

"What are you doing?!"

"Fixing a prolem. Gilda has done nothing but bad things since she got here."

"It's true." Ice speaks up. "She insulted me and spit coffee on me."

"Really?"

"Yeah, and she scratched Pinkie." I tell her.

As Gilda tries to get up, Dash walks up inbetween us. She stares Gilda down. "I knew you could never change." she says with venim. "Leave, and never come back!"

Gilda gets up and lunges in the air. "Fine! You ponies are a bunch of lame-os anyway!"

She takes off and leaves everypony in silence. Dash walks up to me and puts her head on my sholder. "I'm so proud of you." she whispers.

Everypony starts cheering for me, even pinkie shows up, back to her energetic self once again. Good thing to. She was creeping me out before.

I hope we never see her again.

Traveling Weirdos

A few more days had passed that... unpleasantness from a certain griffon. Today was just an average day, not much going on. I had gotten off of work and Ice had gotten the day off. We were walking through town, trying to find something to do.

We come to the center of town to see a bunch of ponies surrounding a stage. Wonder what's going on. We make our way up front to find the girls and Spike.

"What's going on?" I ask.

"If this is what I think it is, then it's trouble." Dash replies.

"Why? What is it?" Ice asks.

Suddenly, some twin unicorn stallions, one with a mustache and one without, both with light olive coats and red and white manes wearing what look like barber shop quartet outfits come on stage.

"Why, hello there fine residents of Ponyville. My name is Flim." says the one without a mustache

"My name is Flam." says the other one.

"We're the world famous Flim Flam brothers. Traveling salesponies nonpareil." they both sing. I can already tell things are about to get weird.

"You may remember us from our last visit. Thank you, to those who do."

"You're not back to sell more junky cider, are ya?!" a random pony shouts. I'm definitely missing something.

"No, no, we are here to show you all something most wonderful!"

"The unbelieveable!"

"Unimpeachable!"

"Indespensible!"

"I can't believe-able!"

They both hold up their hooves to the center of the stage. A cloud of smoke poofs up and an azure unicorn wearing a pointed hat and cape pops out. Yeah, things are getting weird.

"Great and Powerful Trixie!" the unicorn shouts.

"What?!" the girls and Spike shout. Am I missing something?

"Is the circus in town?" I say.

"They ain't circus perfermors! They shouldn't even be here!" Applejack shouts.

"Then who are they?"

"They're a bunch of jerks! Trixie's a show-off who nearly got the town destroyed by an ursa minor. That is, before Twilight stopped it." Spike says.

"Good going, Twilight."

She blushes. "Thanks."

"But, who are the other two?" Ice asks.

"They're the Flim Flam brothers. No good varmints who tried to run me and mah family out of business."

"What could they be doing back here, I wonder." I say.

In the past

"What are we going to do Flam?" Flim says.

"I'm not sure, Flim." his brother responds.

"If word gets out about our cider, nopony will ever buy it from us again."

Before they continue, they notice a caravan sitting near a lake with a unicorn sitting out front.

"Maybe SHE'LL be wanting some cider."

They approach her. "Hello there, young miss. Would you like to buy of our tastebud tantalizingly delicious apple cider?"

She gives them a bored look. "Can't you see Trixie is busy?" she says. "Those Ponyville know-nothings will pay for what they did to Trixie." she says to herself.

"Wait, did you say you were wronged by onies in Ponyville?"

"Yes, Trixie did. They humiliated Trixie and ruined her magical career!"

Flim and Flam look at each other. "So, you do magic, Miss Trixie?"

"Trixie does not simply DO magic, she uses her incredible magical abilities to dazzle and amaze ponies!" she says with confidence.

"Then, how wold you like to make a deal with us?"

"Trixie is listening."

"You put on a show for ponies, and we sell them cider during the show!"

She puts a hoof to her chin. "Tixie accepts! First we shall start with Ponyville. Those ponies will regret ever messing with Trixie!"

"Or us!" Flim and Flam say.

They all begin laughing with each other.

Back to the present

Flim waks up to me, holding a mug of cider. "Fine stallion, would you like to try a mug of our cider? First one's on the house."

I take the mug and shrug(hey, that rhymed). "Eh, what the hay?" I drink the cider. "Wow, this is delicious."

"If he likes it, I want some!" a random pony shouts.

"Me too!"

"Me three!"

"Blue!" everypony yells at me.

"Oops." I say sheepishly.

"Now, watch and be amazed at the Great and Powrful Trixie!" Trixie(as if you couldn't tell) shouts.

Trixie begins putting on a little show. Shooting off firework, some lights, nothing I haven't already seen.

'We need a way to drive these three out of town.' I look over towards Rarity. 'And I think I know how to do it.'

"Rarity, can you meet Ice and I over at the Carousel Boutique?"

"I suppose, but whatever for?"

"Just be over there in a few minutes, I've got a plan."

We reach the boutique and go inside, Rarity sitting inside in confusion.

"Okay, so what's your plan?" Ice asks me.

"We're gonna use our powers to put on a show!"

"What?!"

"We're gonna dress up in costumes and use our powers to upstage that blowhard Trixie and run all three of them out of town."

Ice smiles. "I like it."

I turn to Rarity. "Think you've got anything for us, Rarity?"

She beams. "Yes, I know just the thing. Give me a minute, and I'll be right back."

While Rairty's gone, Ice and I devise a plan for our little show.

Ten minutes later... a minute my flank

Rarity comes back with some Wonderbolts style costumes for us, Ice's having holes in the top for his horns. "These should do nicely."

"Thanks, Rarity."

We put on the costumes and head back towards town square.

Trixie finishes up her show as the stage comes into out view. "Isn't Trixie amazing?!" guess who said that.

"Hey, Great and Powerful Loudmouth. I thought you said your talent was magic, not talking about how great you think you are!"

Her eyes widen and her face turns red. "Who dares to insult Trixie?!"

"We do!" I shout. "I'm Wind."

"And I'm Frost." says Ice.

"If you think Trixie is not so great, why don't you show her something better?!"

"Gladly."

All four of Ice's hooves begin to give off a mist. He pounds all four of them down and creates a trail made of pur Ice he can use to slide on. I take off flying and we zig zag past eachother in the air. Everypony in the audience sits in. We land and I start spinning up a mini tornado. Ice starts shooting ice shards into the tornado, the shards being shredded up by the wind and shoot out the top as a magnificent aray of snowflakes.

Time for the finale.

Ice starts his ice slide once again and starts going up into the air in a spiral. I start fying up through the middle of the trail, my wings glowing, myself soinning in a corkscrew, and the trail shattering below me. Ice stops going up and lands back down. I finish off by reaching the top of the trail and stopping my spin while releasing the energy in my wings, causing a sparkling light to shine around me.

The crowd cheers as I land back down and high hoof Ice.

Trixie, Flim, and Flam all sit slackjawed by our performance. "You call that a show?! No pony can defeat the Great and Powerful-" but before Trixie can continue, Ice fires ice shards that hitt all their hats off.

Flim and Flam scram(rhyming is fun) to their cider mavhine and take off shouting. "You're on your own Trixie!"

Trixie starts taking off after them. "Wait! You cannot leave Trixie behind! Please, wait!"

Another day, another crazy event in Ponyville.

Author's Note: Just wanted to say that I appreciate all the feedback I've been getting recently. Next chapter will be introducing a new character, but not just any character, an OC. Can you guess who it is?

Another One

I was at the cafe, hanging out with Ice. I had gotten off of work(I bet a lot of people wish they could get off as early as I do) and Ice was on break.

"So, you got any plans for tonight?" I ask Ice.

"Yeah, I'm taking Vinyl out. She said she wanted us to go to her club, Club Pon3. She said it would be awesome." he answers.

"I've heard about that place. It sounds really awesome. I hear the music's so loud, dozens of ponies have lost their hearing, but were too happy about having an awesome time to care."

We both laugh. "So, you doing anything?"

"Yeah, going back to the Everfree Forest, only instead of doing my basic note taking, I plan on asking Zecora if she may know anything."

"Zecora?"

"Oh, right, you don't know her. She's a zebra who lives in the forest. I met her through Rainow Dash."

He smiles and shakes his head. "Why am I not surprised?"

"Ice, break's over!" we hear Bon Bon shout.

"Coming!" he shouts before turning back to me. "I've gotta go, I'll see you later."

"It's cool. I think I'll just hang out here for a bit."

He nods and walks off. Just then, the front door opens and I turn to see a tall and slender green pegasus mare walk in and take a seat. Her mane is white with a green stripe, lighter than the green of her coat. Her hooves are also white and her cutie mark is some sort of strange looking tree. To most ponies, she would appear completely normal, but I couldn't shake this weird feeling I had about her. Could she really..?

"Hey, Vine. Good to see one of my regulars." Bon Bon says to the mare. Vine huh?

"Hey, Bon Bon." the mare replies.

"So, your usual normal coffee?"

"Please."

I continue to look at the mare before she looks over at me. "Are you just going to keep staring at me?"

"Oh, uh, sorry." stealth is not my strong point.

Bon Bon returns with her coffee and sets it down. "*sigh* Stallions." the mare says before drinking her coffee.

Ice walks by and I lean near him. "Hey, Ice, you see that mare over there?" I whisper to him, pointing to Vine.

"Yeah, she's in here pretty often. What about her?"

"I have this weird feeling about her, kinda like the feeling I got when I first saw you."

"You mean, you think she could have powers?"

"I can't be too sure, but I think so. Do you know anything about her?"

"Only that her name is Vinetion and she really likes normal coffee. Not much else besides that."

"It's fine. I'll look into it later."

"Ice, no talking while on the clock!" Bon Bon shouts.

"Oh, sorry." he trots off and gets back to work.

I start thinking. 'Could she really have powers? It's definitely possible. Ice proved I'm not the only one out there with them. Any other pony with powers would probably be in hiding just like I was. But, if she does really have them, then just how many of them are out there?' I get up and make my way out. 'I can't let this distract me. Right now, forest. I'll deal with her later.'

I make my way back home and get inside. Since it's still early, I think I'll take a bit of a nap before I go. I hope Dash's laziness isn't starting to rub off.

Two hours later

I get up. Now I see why Dash naps so often. It's nice. I start doing my normal preparation routine. Grab notes, make about a dozen chimicherrychongas, pack everything up, and head out. I'm hoping this visit can be uneventful, but knowing my trach record with the forest, it doesn't seem likely.

I get to the forest and make my way inside, actually having a destination rather than blindly running around.

As I walk, I try to recall how to get to the zebra's hut. "Now, if I take a right here I-WOAH!" I scream as I begin flapping my wings to stop my fall. "I fall off a cliff. Right."

After some walking around, this place is even worse than the near identical houses in Ponyville, I find Zecora's place. I go up and knock on the door.

Zecora answers the door and looks at me with a smile. "It is very nice to see you, Blue Breeze. I feel the time since your last visit has been centuries."

"Hehe, sorry about that. May I come in?"

She steps aside and allows me to walk in. The place is decorated with masks, potions, and a big cauldron. And I thought the outside looked weird. Then again, I'm not the best interior designer either.

"Now, how may I help you this fine night, my friend with colors so bright?" do all zebras rhyme?

"You've been living in this forest for a long time, correct?" she nods. "I was wondering, do you know anything behind what makes the weather here so weird?"

"Ah, the answer you seek does not come from the sky, the ground, or even the ants. The answer to this mystery you will find from the plants."

"The plants huh? I'll try it. Thanks, Zecora." I say before leaving.

For about the next hour, I try studing the plant life. Let's see, there's trees, flowers, trees, the grass, trees, berries, and, guess what? More trees! I wish Zecora had been a little more specific. The entire time I'm doing this, I can't help but feel I'm being watched. Maybe I'm being paranoid again. Then again, does anyone remember what happened the last time I thought I was being paranoid?

I start getting a little frustrated by the lack of any findings."Ugh, what's the deal?!" I kick at some shrubs near me. "Dumb plants!"

Just then, I feel something wrap around my back leg. A large vine shoots up from the ground and pulls me into the air.

"What the buck is going on?!" a mysterious figure emerges from behind the trees and comes out. No way. "You're the mare from the cafe!"

"And you're the creep who kept staring at me."

"It wasn't what it looked like."

"You expect me to believe that? And now you go and attack these innocent plants for no reason. What did plants ever do to you?"

"A ficus killed my father." I say sarcastically. Even in danger, I'm a smart flank. My mouth is gonna get me killed one of these days. "Look, this is a big misunderstading. Why don't you put me down and we can talk about this?"

"I don't think so." her hooves begin to glow a soft green to match the green of her mane.

I start feeling the vine around my leg grip to me tighter. This is actually starting to hurt. I charge my wings and send out a wave to cut the vine off.

"What?!" the mare shouts in confusion.

I land back on the ground. "This is a big mistake."

"There's a mistake, alright. You being in this forest." her hooves start glowing again as more vines shoot up around her and point at me.

What'd I tell ya? Something ALWAYS happens when I come in here.

Author's Note: The pony used in this chapter comes from my friend(we are friends, right?), the coffee drinking, plant controlling, internet trolling, Vinetion. Go check her out. Like I said with Ice, let me know if you ever think I write you incorrectly.

Wind vs. Nature

Author's Note: Several things to go through this time. The story has just hit 2000 views, and I thank all of my viewers for that. This is also the first chapter of the story to pit power against power. I hope all my years of watching super crazy action anime can help me out here. Lastly, for those who don't check my blog, I went and made a mare version of Blue Breeze. Go check it out. Now, on with the story.

"Look, I don't want to fight you." I tell the mare. Let's hope my mouth can actually save me for once.

"Then don't fight, it'll make it easier and more fun for me. You'll make excellent fertilizer for the plants. You're already full of dung(I know it sounds lame, but I don't feel like using human swears)."

She starts sending out vines after me. The first one scratches my right cheek, and I immediately start dodging. "Woah! Hey! Watch it!"

While I'm not looking, another vine comes up from below, wraps around my waist, picks me up, and slams me down hard, leaving cracks in the ground. Okay, screw talking my way out of this. Play time is over.

I get up and crack my neck. "You wanna play rough? Fine. Let's do this!" I was always thinking the first pony with powers I'd go up against would be Ice. That's not gonna happen now.

"Gladly." she starts throwing more vines my way. I start flying towards her, dodging all the vines. Right before I can get to her, a vine shoots up from the ground and forces me back.

The direct approach isn't going to work.

I charge up my wings again and start firing more waves towards her. She dodges them without a scratch. I try blowing large gusts of wind to try and hold her back, which works at first, until she grows some vines to keep her hooves tied to the ground.

"Let's see your little wind trick work now." her hooves start glowing again as four large vines wrap around my legs and start pulling in seperate directions.

'I've gotta do something, or she's gonna rip me to pieces!'

I feel the vines start pulling even harder, stretching my limbs farther than limbs should stretch. Out of desperation, I try angling my wings and fire once more.

"What?!"

The first misses her, but the second grazes her side. The vines around my legs let go and I take off to find cover in the trees. Looks like I'm on the defensive for once. I don't like it.

I hide in the trees for a bit, sweating and breathing heavily. Suddenly, I feel a vine wrap around my neck and yank me out of the tree.

"You really thought hiding would work? I can sense everything through the plant life."

I start feeling the vine tighten around my throat, choking me out and making my face more blue than usual. At least this is easy to get out of. I shoot another wave and cut off the vine.

"And you really thought some overgrown weeds could kill me?"

"Enough! I'm tired of dealing with you." her entire body starts glowing. This can't be good. The ground starts shaking immensely.

"What's going on?!"

An incredibly large venus flytrap immerges from the ground, it's mouth gaping to show the vines it has for teeth. "Meet Rosebud!"

You've gotta be bucking kidding me!

The plant grabs me and I start struggling to escape, but to no avail. It chucks me inside it's mouth and closes shut. Man, this place smells worse than an outhouse. I start slamming into the walls of the creatures mouth, but it does nothing.

"That'll teach him to mess with me." the plant starts showing signs of discomfort. "Rosebud, what's wrong?!"

The giant flytrap's mouth bursts open in a ton of guts from my cutting it from the inside and I fly out. No more of this. I'm going to end this with one of my most powerful moves. A move that combines the Blue Typhoon with the Wing Waves.

I start flapping as fast as I can. I then start building energy in my wings while still flapping. Dozens of waves start shooting out and cut the plant monster as it thrashes in pain.

"SLASH STORM!" I shout. I do enjoy having these attack names.

The beastly plant eventually explodes from the amount of attacks I shoot at it.

"ROSEBUD!" Vinetion shouts.

I've got to end this fight fast, that last move really took it out of me. I begin flying full force towards the mare. She doesn't notice me and I glomp her. We roll around before I eventually land on top, wrapping myself around her and restraining her legs.

I swear, if I hear even a single thing about that last line.

She begins to struggle to free herself. "Let me go!"

"No way. You can't fight if you can't touch the ground, and I'm only going to let you go if you promise to calm down and let me explain myself."

She sighs in defeat. "Fine. I won't attack you, just let me go."

I let go of her and we get up. "Now, why did you attack me?"

"I saw you walking around. You see, I love all plants and do my best to protect them, including the plants of this forest. I saw you attacking the plants, so I just kinda lost it."

"I wasn't attacking them, I was just getting frustrated while studying them. I didn't mean any harm."

"Studying them?"

"A friend told me the plants here are the cause of the strange weather, and it's my dream to be the first pony to discover why the weather here is so weird."

"Oh, I'm very sorry then. You aren't hurt, are you?"

"No, I'll be fine. Just a little sore from the tugging." I say while stretching my limbs. "Now, if you don't mind, it's late and I should be getting home."

"Of course, but before you go, what's your name?"

"I'm Blue Breeze." I extend my hoof to her.

"And I'm Vinetion, Vinetion Lutin." she shakes my hoof and we both exit the forest.

I return home to find Ice relaxing in the living room. "So, anything special happen tonight?"

I shake my head at him and smile. "You have no idea."

The Reunion

A week had passed since my encounter with Vinetion. She turned out to be pretty cool. I had intoduced her to the girls and Ice and that all got along pretty well. Vine seemed a little too... friendly with the girls, but whatever. It's probably nothing. They were all pretty surprised to meet another elemental pony. You'd think with all the other crazy stuff that happens that they would be expecting this by now. Turns out Vine owns her own shop in town that sells products like medicines, perfumes, and shampoos, all of which made with plants she grows herself. I thought it was weird she kills plants for this, but she said since all plants die eventually that it's best these ones do serve their purpose while they can. She can also communicate with plants, and apparently the plants are cool with being killed to help her and ponykind.

Anyways, Ice and I were both about to leave for work, until we hear a knock at the door. "I wonder who could that be so early." I say.

"Well, don't just stand there, go answer it." Ice says. I tell ya, he's changed since he started hanging out with me and the girls. I can't tell whether that's good or bad.

I walk up to the door and open it to see a familiar cross-eyed mail mare. "Derpy? What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to deliver your mail. I usually just put it in your mailbox, but I have instructions to hoof deliver this letter." she reaches into her mailbags, pulls out an envelope, and gives it to me.

"Oh, okay, thanks." she nods and then flies off.

"What's it say?" Ice asks. Somepony's nosey.

"Let me open it first." I rip open the envelope and pull out a letter(no duh). ""Dear Blue Breeze, you are cordially invited to a reunion being held at Cloudsdale High School this Friday from 6-10 pm. We do hope you can make an appearance. No formal wear is needed. Sincerely, the teachers and staff at Cloudsdale High School." No way."

"A school reunion? Pretty strange to be having one when you've only been out of high school for a few years, and to give you a notice only two days in advance."

"Yeah, well, the ponies who run my school are pretty crazy." especially the principal. Me and everypony else who didn't chicken out and switch schools had to deal with four years of having textbooks being thrown at them.

I put the letter away, not even needing my saddlebags(Pinkie taught me how to do this), and leave to work.

I arrive to find Dash and Sunny talking in the lobby. "Hey, Blue." they say.

"Hey, girls." I reply, taking out the letter. "Either of you two get an invitation to the Cloudsdale High reunion?"

"Yeah, I did." Dash says.

"What about you, Sunny?"

"I went to school in Fillydelphia, I never went to Cloudsdale High."

"I'm not even really sure that I wanna go." I tell them.

"But, Blue, I think it could be really fun."

"*sigh* Okay, Dash. I'll go if you want to go."

"That's the spirit." we brohoof on it. How many couples do you know that brohoof?

Later that day

I was at the cafe, hanging with Ice again. We he had sorta made it our regular hang out since he started working there. I had told him that I was hesitant about the reunion.

"Why wouldn't you wanna go?"

"High school was one of the roughest times of my life. I had a psycho principal that would chuck twelve inch thick textbooks at me, bullies, and just a lot of crazy stuff happening in general. That's why."

We hear the front door open and see Vine walk in. "Hey, guys. What's up?"

"Hey, Vine. I just got an invitation to my high school reunion in Cloudsdale."

"Really? So did I."

"Wait, you went to Cloudsdale High?"

"Yep, I spent my last year of school there. I went to school in my village before that."

"Heh, maybe going there won't be so bad after all."

"Why would it be bad? I'm looking forward to it."

"I just never liked high school. At least I'll have you and Dash to keep me company."

We go the rest of the day just talking and hanging out. Exciting, I know.

Two days later

It was the night of the reunion and I was picking up Dash at her house. "So, you ready to go?" she asks me.

"As ready as I'll ever be."

She kisses me on the cheek. "Don't worry, it'll be fine."

I look at her and smile. "Thanks, Dash." I love this mare.

We take off for Cloudsdale. I'm getting that feeling of something bad happening again.

We arrive an hour later. The school was nothing special, just your typical school.

"ALL PONIES, REPORT TO THE GYMNASIUM!" a staff member shouts.

We head inside and make our way towards the gym. Feels like yesterday that I was walking through these halls. I hated it then, and I still hate it now.

We reach the gym to find it being watched by the principal, Silent Charger. He is very large for a pegasus, though whether he is a real pegasus or not is a mystery. I say that because he has webbed wings, similar to a bat or dragon. He is also very dull in terms of color. He is literally black and white all over. Black and white coat, mane, tail, and even a suit. He also wears a pair of glasses.

"Ah, so nice to see you, Mr. Breeze and Ms. Dash." he says to us. Just being near this guy worries me.

"Hey, Mr. Charge." I reply nervously. This guy is way scarier than any monster I've fought in the Everfree Forest.

He pulls out a large textbook(this guy must've taken lessons with Pinkie, too) and grins at me. "How about a book for old times' sake?"

"I'd rather you do-"

*WHAM*

The book connects with my face and I fall over. Dash kneels down and helps me up.

"Just like old times, eh Mr. Breeze?"

I rub my face, which is now bruised. "Yeah, just like old times."

Dash and I walk away towards the middle of the gym. It'd filled with ponies, some I remember, and some I don't. We see Vine and walk over to see her.

"Hey, guys. Mr. Charge get you, Blue?" she says, noticing my face.

"Yeah, I hate that guy."

"I always liked Mr. Charge."

"Of course you did, he never threw books at mares."

"Oh, don't be such a little filly, we know you're made of tough stuff."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Bluey!" we hear a random pony call from across the room. We turn to see two ponies smiling and waving at me. Oh my Celestia!

"Zephyr! Drax!" I shout. I hurriedly gallop over to see them. The three of us all brohoof, just like we always did. "It's so great to see you guys."

"It's good to see you too, Blue." Drax says. You want a description of them? Why, certainly.

Zephyr is a tan pegasus with a royal blue mane and tail. He is a little more lean than most pegasi. He was always one of the most agile flyers in school, shown by his cutie mark of a wavey blue arrow. Drax is quite different. He is a black pegasus with a gold and red striped mane and tail. Everypony knew him to be the biggest and strongest guy in the school by far, represented by his cutie mark of some weights, and he still looks to be as strong as ever. He's like Big Macintosh, how he's big and strong, but nice and a little shy.

Vine and Dash come over to join us. "Vine, Dash, these are my old friends, Drax and Zephyr."

"Sup?"

"Nice to meet you."

"Drax, Zeph, this is my marefriend, Rainbow Dash, and our friend, Vinetion."

"A marefriend? So, little Bluey finally got a mare of his own." Zeph teases. I feel like I'm in school again, but in a good way for once.

"Yeah, yeah, yuck it up. So, what have you guys been up to?"

Zeph looks down in sadness. "Um, I'll tell you later."

"Oh, alright. What about you, Drax?"

"Same with Zeph. Later."

Just then, a yellow and orange pegasus mare walks up and kisses Drax on his cheek. "Hey, baby. These your friends?"

Rainbow Dash stares with a shocked expresiion. "Y-You're-"

"Spitfire of the Wonderbolts? Yep, that's me."

"Dang, Drax. How'd you you catch her?"

"All will be told soon, but for now, let's just enjoy ourselves."

We all walk over to the snack table and start chatting. "Well, I finally moved to Ponyville and got a job working the weather team."

"Just like you always wanted, eh Blue?" Zeph says.

"Yep, it's been pretty good so far. Made a few trips back to the forest, each time being pretty crazy."

"You'll have to tell us more later." Drax says.

"Don't worry, I will."

"So, how'd you and Rainbow hook up?"

"Last Hearts and Hooves Day, I took her to a Wonderbolts show and had them write a message in the sky asking Dash to be my marefriend."

"I remember that!" says Spitfire. "I thought I recognized you two."

"Hehe, yeah. Again, thanks for doing all that."

"No problem. Anything to help two ponies get together."

Just when I'm actually enjoying myself, the WORST. POSSIBLE. THNG. Comes up. Our old school bullies. Dumb-bell, Score, Hoops, and... Gilda? I remember a griffon going here, but I had no idea it was Gilda.

"Hey, Rainbow CRASH!" says Dumb-bell. And now it hits the fan.

"Ugh, what do you losers want?"

"Just wanted to say hi to our old friend Rainbow Crash."

"Do you guys mind leaving us alone? I'm trying to enkoy myself, and it's hard to do that with you talking to my marefriend like that."

"Your marefriend? Makes sense. Both of you two were complete losers."

"Then why do I remember us always being the ones to kick your flanks in fights? Remember a few weeks ago, Gilda?"

"You got lucky!" she yells.

"Luck had nothing to do with it."

"Come on, Blue. Let's just go somwhere else." Dash says. We all start walking away.

"Yeah, go with your slut of a marefreind!"

That motherbucker.

I snap. I turn around and deck Dumb-bell in his stupid face. Everypony gasps at me in shock. Hoops, Score, And gild all jump on top of me and hold me down. Drax throws Score off of me(and when I say throw, I meant he went soaring), Zeph buck Hoops off, and Dash pushes Gilda away.

"You guys mind helping me teach these jackflanks a lesson?" I ask them.

"No problem." they all say.

"Okay, I'll take Dumb-bell. Drax, you take Score. Zeph, you take Hoops. And Dash, you take Gilda."

"Got it!"

We all start going after our targets. Dumb-bells gets back up and pounces on me. I can't shake him off due to his strength. Looks like it's time to fight dirty.

*BAM*

I use one of my free legs to hit him in his "apples". I get back up and head-butt him. OW! This guy's head is hard. As he staggers around, I lift him up and out him on the snack table and slide him across it. Food goes everywhere as his face hits it. We reach the end of the table and I throw him off, leaving him lying on the grund groaning in pain. That'll teach him.

I look around to see the others had taken care of their opponents as well, barely getting a scratch. That's my team!

"Well, I think this reuinion has gone great!" Mr. Charge shouts. I have to admit, even with the books, Mr. Charge is pretty cool.

We all gather around and do a celebratory group high hoof. After that, we all leave to go find a nice place to get caught up.

This I gotta hear.

Author's Note: That was an awesome chapter, wasn't it? I certainly had fun with it. This is also the first(and probably one of few) chapters to break 2000 words. We saw a total of THREE OC's appear. Zephyr belongs to Zephyr, Drax belongs to vl4d4r, and Silent Charger belongs to Setlef a.k.a. Silent Charger. Like before, tell me if I ever write you incorrectly.

Catching Up

Author's Note: I'd like to start off by saying happy birthday to Dark Lightning. Happy birthday, bro! Next, I went and made some ponysonas of the OC's I made in this story and posted them on my blog. They include Thundercloud(Blue's dad), Raindrop(Blue's mom), and Sunny Rays. I recommend checking them out for when they reappear in the future. Now, on with the story.

We had all left the school and found a nice patch of clouds to lay on and hang out. The good thing about Cloudsdale is that it's incredibly easy to see the stars in the sky at night, so it was a great place to just relax in.

I was staying near Dash and Drax and Spitfire were staying close to each other. Zephyr and Vine were kinda on their own. Sucks for them.

Just kidding.

"Alright, this seems like a good a time as any to finally catch up with each other." I say.

"Um, how about you go first." Zeph says. He's really trying to avoid this.

"Okay, sure."

I begin to tell them all about the crazy stuff that I've done since high school. Graduating college, moving to Ponyville and getting a job on the weather team, meeting Dash, my revisits to the forest, meeting and training Ice, and everything else.

"Woah. So, you really have a roommate named Ice who has powers just like you?" Drax asks.

"Yep. I never expected that things would be like this with him, but it's been fun having him around. Plus, since he works at the cafe, he gives us half off on anything in there."

"I definitely enjoy that." Vine says.

"And Vine really tried to kill you last time you went in the forest?"

"Yep."

They turn to the green mare and stare at her. She gives a nervous laugh. "Hehehe, it was an honest mistake. I said I was sorry."

"An honest mistake that nearly cost me my legs, but whatever. I forgave you, so it's ancient history as far as I'm concerned. But enough about me, what have you guys been up to?"

Drax and Zeph look at each other for a moment before Drax speaks up. "I guess I'll go. After high school, I moved to Manehatten for two years. Do you remember my parents?"

"I remember them being total snobs."

"Exactly, and going to Manehatten didn't do anything to make it better. I eventually got sick of my parents and moved out, taking some money with me so I could get by. That happened a few weeks ago. Ever since then, I've just been staying in hotels, trying to find a job and a place to live."

"Dang, that sucks."

"Yeah, but how about I tell how me and Fire got together?"

"Oh, I love this story." Spitfire says.

"A few weeks ago, after I had just left my parents, I went to a Wonderbolts show. I don't normally go to them, but I just felt this weird urge to. During the show, the smoke machines on Spitfire's suit broke down and started releasing gas all over Fire."

"The engineering guy was replaced after that." Spitfire says.

"She started passing out from the gases and began plummeting. I couldn't let her just fall, so I broke out of the audience and went to catch her. When she came to, she thanked me for saving her. We've been going out ever since."

"Wow, that's awesome, Drax. Now, what about you, Zeph?"

Everypony looks at him as he hangs his head before looking ack up. "Okay, I'll tell you. It just kinda hurts to remember it."

"Zeph, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

"No, it needs to be said. I've been keeping this in for too long." he stops and takes a deep breath. "After high school, I went to the Royal Guard training academy. While I was there, I made some close friends, Iron Will and Radiant Gem, but I always felt Gemmy to be more than a friend. After two years of training, we all graduated and officially became royal guards. Gemmy and I were put in the same squad while Will became our commanding officer. One night, my squad was sent out on patrol. While we were out, we were attacked by some bandits. My team fought valiantly, but... they didn't make it, not even Gemmy. I myself nearly died, but I dragged myself to Ponyville and was taken to the hospital by a pony named Derpy."

"Wait, Derpy saved you?" I ask.

"Yeah, she did."

"Then I guess I'll have to remember to thank her later."

"Anyway, after I fully recovered, I went back to tell everypony what happened. Will blamed himself and went into a depression. I eventually snapped him out of it and then left the Royal Guard. I've just been doing like Drax and trying to find a new life for myself."

Dang, poor Zephyr. He always said we should've joined the guard with him. With my powers and combat skills and Drax's incredible strength and endurance, we would've been great for it. But neither of us wanted that life. I only wish I could've been there to help.

"So, neither of you two have a job or place to live?" they both shake their heads. I know what to do. "How would you both like to live with me and Ice?"

"What?!" everypony shouts.

"Yeah, I've got an extra room, and one of you could sleep on the pull out couch in the living room. Plus, there's still job openings at the weather office, right Dash?"

"Well, I guess."

Drax and Zeph both look at each other and smile. "Sure, Blue. We'd really appreciate it."

"Great!"

"Can you take me by your place? I'd like to know where Drax is staying." Spitfire says. Looks like he's caught a good one here.

"Sure." I look up at the sky. "Actually, it's getting pretty late, so maybe we should just go now."

Everypony nods in agreement and then we tak off. Vine had seperated from the rest of us on the way while the rest of us kept going towards my place.

"Alright, here it is." I say.

"Looks nice." Drax says. "Alright, see ya later, baby." he kisses Spitfire and she heads off.

"You too, babe. See ya." I kiss Dash. I'll never get tired of that.

"You too. Just be careful with these numbskulls." she says.

"HEY!" they shout.

Dash flies off and I open the door. "Here you are, gentlemen. My house."

"Blue, who are these two?" Ice asks.

I step by and let Drax and Zeph in. "Drax and Zephyr. They're going to be staying with us for a little while."

"You're gonna let random ponies live here?!"

"They're not random ponies, they're old friends of mine. They've hit some hard times and need my help." I explain. "Zeph, you're room is at the end of the hall upstairs. Drax, the sofa in the living room folds out into a bed, you can sleep on that."

"Thanks." they say, heading off to their assigned places.

"You couldn't have asked me before doing this?" Ice asks.

"They really needed my help. And besides, my house, my rules."

"Ugh, fine. But this better not blow up in our faces."

The four of us living in one house. What could possibly go wrong?

Author's Note: The backstories for Zephyr and Drax were written by their respective owners. I had nothing to do with them. So, what do you guys think'll happen now?

Another Party

The next day

I wake up in my bed, having that feeling of something happening once again. I shake it off and get up out of bed as I prepare to meet with the others. I walk into the hall to find Ice and Zephyr also walking out from their rooms.

"Hey, Zeph. Sleep well for your first night?" I ask.

"Yeah, it was pretty nice. Much better than those cheap motels I had been staying at." he replies.

"And you, Ice?"

"Eh, can't complain." the earth pony answers.

"Alright, I think breakfast is in order. Let's just go down stairs to get Drax."

They nod and we all head down stairs. Upon arriving down stairs, we reach something we weren't expecting at all.

"SURPRISE!" the room filled with ponies shout, scaring all of us and waking up Drax. I gotta admit, that one even got me.

After stopping our hearts from exploding, we all rush down the steps. "What the buck is going on?!"

"I don't know!" Drax shouts.

"You didn't hear any of this being set up?!"

"I'm a heavy sleeper!"

Pinkie then bounces up to us with her usual creepily cheery expression. "Hey, Breezy! Hey, Breezy's new roommies! Isn't this party just the most amazing thing you've ever seen?!"

"Pinkie, isn't it a little early in the day to be throwing a party?"

"Are you kidding?! Any time is party time!"

"But shouldn't everypony be working?"

"They all took the day off for the party!"

Dash and the other girls, including Vine, Vinyl, and Spitfire, walk up to us. "Dash, how did they find out about Drax and Zeph?"

She puts on a nervous look. "Hehe, I may have let it slip that you were letting them stay with you."

"And I just couldn't let new ponies come to town without a Pinkie Pie welcome." Pinkie says. It's too early for this.

"Well, since you're all here, I might as well introduce you all. Girls, these are my old friends, Drax and Zephyr."

"Hello." Drax says.

"Hey." Zeph says

"Drax and Zeph, these are Pinkie Pie."

"HI!" Pinkie says energetically.

"Rarity."

"A pleasure." Rarity greets

"Applejack."

"Howdy." AJ says

"Fluttershy."

"Um, hello." Fluttershy says shyly(duh).

"Twilight Sparkle."

"Nice to meet you." Twilight says.

"And Vinyl Scratch, Ice's marefriend."

"What's up?" Vinyl says.

"Wait your going out with DJ Pon3?" Zeph asks Ice.

"Yep, you jealous?"

"Not really."

"Now, that everypony knows each other, it's time to get this party started! This party's going to be so amazing! Especially know that we've got even more ponies and readers to celebrate with than last time!"

"Readers? What readers? What are you talking about?"

"The readers, silly! They're right over there!" Pinkie points towards what seems to a normal wall, going up to it and waving at it. "Now, let's party!" Pinkie then bounces off.

"I'll go hit the music!" Vinyl says, heading over to the turntables she has set up.

"Um, what was that?" Drax asks. I wish I knew.

"I... I don't even know." I say while facehoofing. "That's just Pinkie being Pinkie. It's usually best to ignore it and let her do her own thing. As long as it doesn't involve explosives that is."

"She reminds me of Gemmy." Zeph says sadly.

I put a reassuring leg on his holder. "Hey, it's all right, buddy. We're here for ya. Now, why don't we just try to enjoy ourselves?"

He looks up at me and smiles. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Aren't I always?"

"You're always a smart flank, that's for sure."

"There's the Zeph I know and love! Now, let's have some fun!"

We all shout in agreement. Let's blow the roof off this joint! But not literally. This IS my house.

We start by playing Pin the Tail on the Pony. Kiddy, I know, but it's still fun. We set up for Zeph to go. We spin him around three times before starting. He nearly falls over from being dizzy, but he accidentally falls while slapping the tail in the right spot. Dang, wish I was that lucky.

We then set up a hoof wrestling match: Drax vs. Big Macintosh. This should be good.

"Are you both ready?" I ask, playing the referee. They both nod, never taking their eyes off of each other. "Then BEGIN!"

They clench their hooves and start pushing in opposite directions, neither budging an inch. They both stay at a stand still
for about two minutes, that is, before Spitfire speaks up.

"Drax, if you win, I'll give you a special reward later!"

Lucky.

His eyes widen in excitement. He starts pushing harder, his veins bulging. Big Mac's hoof begins moving down slowly. His hoof hits the table as Drax gets up and cheers.

"Drax wins!"

While everypony else is celebrating, a certain purple earth mare goes by the punch bowl and poors something in. "This should liven things up." she says.

The guys and I go over by the punch to get a drink and celebrate some more. "That was awesome, Drax. I never thought I'd see anypony beat Big Mac." I congradulate.

"Thanks. It was definitely the toughest hoof wrestling match I've ever had."

"I thought you two were gonna break the table." Ice says.

We all laugh as we each get a drink. 'Tastes kinda funny. Oh well.'

An hour and seven cups of punch later

"Boy, I tell ya. This is the *hic* life. Makes me wish I *hic* moved out a long time *hic* ago." Drax says.

"I hear ya *hic*, bro." I say.

"Being here makes me *hic* forget all about all that *hic* stuff that happened before." Zeph says.

"Good for *hic* you."

Another hour later

"You know, *hic* I never liked you." Ice says angrily at me.

"Well, that's fine *hic* 'cause I don't like you and *hic* I don't give a flying feather who likes *hic* me."

"Oh yeah? *hic* Then why don't I kick your flank?"

"No, I'm gonna kick your *hic* flank."

He reaches over and grabs me before he starts crying. "I'm sorry I *hic* snapped at ya. I love ya, bro."

I hug him back. "I love ya too *hic*, bro. I didn't mean any of that other stuff."

Zeph reaches over and joins the hug. "I love ya *hic* both too."

Drax does the same. "Same with *hic* me. If it wasn't for you guys, *hic* I'd still be looking for a place to *hic* live."

We all continue to sob and hug each other while the girls stare at us.

...This is awkward to talk about while sober.

"Is it just me, or are they acting more stupid than usual?" Vine asks the others.

"I'm not sure what's gotten into them." Dash says.

Vinyl goes over and sniffs the punch. "It's the punch! It's been spiked!"

"What should we do?" Fluttershy says.

"Nothing." Dash says.

"Huh?" everypony else asks in confussion.

"Just wait, it'll be out of their systems soon enough."

I jump up on top of the turntables. "Everypony mombo!" I shout before falling over and passing out.

"I hope."

This is why you should never drink, kids.

Author's Note: Honestly, which of you waved back to Pinkie?

Oh Zephyr

The next day... I think. I'm not sure how long I was out.

"Ugh, I'm never drinking again." I say as I groggily get up. "My head is killing me."

"Hmm, Vinyl." Ice says while holding a pony.

"Hehe, Spitfire." Drax says while also holding a pony.

Both of them open their eyes to find they are holding... each other. "AAAAHHHHHH!"

They both get up and back away from one another. "Dude, why were you holding me?!" Ice shouts.

"Me holding you?! Why were YOU holding ME?!" Drax shouts back.

"You know you're both idiots, right?"

"Ugh, what's with all the noise?" Zeph says, getting up.

"Ice and Drax spent the whole night cuddling."

"SHUT UP!" they both shout.

"Ugh, not so loud." Zeph says. "Blue, I know we're supposed to start working today, but can we just take the day off to get rid of our hangovers?"

"Sorry, Zeph. No can do. We're going to work and that's final. Ow." I grab my head while it throbs in pain. "No matter how hungover we are."

"*sigh* Fine."

We all get ready and head to work, Ice going off by himself while Zeph, Drax, and I head towards the weather office.

"So, what's this place like, Blue?" Drax asks.

"It's really nice actually. Other than me and Dash, there's only one other worker. The job's pretty easy, shifts are short, and it pays pretty well."

"Wow. Only three workers in total?"

"Yep, that's why I'm sure you guys will get the job no problem." we arrive at the building in almost no time at all. "Ah, here it is. Guys, welcome to Ponyville Weather Control."

We head on in to be greeted by Sunny. "Hey, Blue. These your friends Dash was saying wanted to get jobs here?" she asks.

"Yep. Sunny, meet Drax and Zephyr Verve."

"Nice to meet you both."

"And, guys, meet Sunny Rays."

"Hey there." Zeph says.

"How's it going?" Drax says.

"Well, you can all find Dash in the lounge like usual."

We nod and go into the lounge to find Dash Reading 'Daring Do and the Temple of the Moon.'

She gets up and walks over to us. "Hey, guys. So, you guys ready for your first day on the job?"

"Sure am." Zeph says.

"You bet." Drax says.

"Okay, Blue, since you're the one who thought it was so brilliant to give these two jobs, you're responsible for them."

"Sounds fair, I guess."

"Now, we've got an excess amount of clouds drifting over from the forest. I think this'll be the perfect thing for the three of you to do on their first day. Sound good?"

"Yep, sounds good. Okay, guys, let's get going."

"Right behind you, Blue."

"Me too."

We all leave and start flying towards the sky. We all start clearing away clouds, but I can't help but notice Zeph doesn't seem very focused.

"You all right, Zeph?"

He snaps to attention. "O-Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just, who lives in that cloud house over there?" he points off towards Dash's house.

"Oh, that's Dash's place."

"Oh, that's cool."

Drax kicks the last of the clouds and wipes his forehead of non-existant sweat. "Looks like that's the last of 'em."

"Not bad for your first day, guys. Now, let's head back."

"Got it." Drax says.

As Drax and I leave, Zeph continues to float and stare at Dash's place before he starts following us.

After work, Zeph decides to head off while Drax and I decide to go to the cafe.

We arrive at the cafe to join Vine and Ice. "Hey, guys. What's up?"

"Not much, just enjoying some half off coffee." Vine answers.

"Shh, don't say that outloud. Bon Bon doesn't know I do that." Ice tells her.

"Oops, sorry."

"So, how did the first day go?" Ice asks me.

"Pretty good, except Zeph seemed kinda distracted." I tell them.

"Yeah, he wasn't paying that much attention." Drax adds.

"Hmm, do you think he may still be down about what happened to him?" Vine suggests.

"I don't know, but I hope he gets better soon."

Off somewhere else

Zephyr had a box of candy and some flowers with a note with him. He was flying towards Rainbow Dash's house. He soon arrives there and places the items down at the doorstep.

"Celestia, please forgive me for going behind Blue's back like this."

The next day(because I can't think of a better transition)

I was punching out of work for the millionth time when Dash walks up to me. "Hey, Blue?"

"Yeah, Dash?"

"I need to talk to you about something with Zephyr."

"Okay, what about him?"

"Well, the thing is, he left me a note and some gifts on my door. The note asked me to go out with him."

"What?!"

"Yeah, I know. What are we gonna do about this?"

I sigh. "I'll go talk to him."

She comes up and kisses me. "Good. I don't want things to go bad between us or you and Zephyr over this."

"Yeah, neither do I."

Later that day

I come home and find Zeph chilling out in the living room. "Hey, Zeph?"

"Yeah, Blue?"

"Can I talk with you? It's important."

"Sure, I guess."

I walk over and take a seat across from him. "Zeph, Dash told me about the note and gifts at her door."

His eyes widen. "Blue, you gotta believe me when I say I'm sorry!

"I know, Zeph. I know you must be a little lonely since what happened. "

"Yeah, I do. Just, seeing how happy you and Dash were, I wanted some of that happiness for myself."

"*sigh* Look, I forgive you, as long as you promise to let this whole thing go."

"I promise."

"Cross you heart and hope to fly? Stick a cupcake in your eye?"

"What?"

"Hehe, it's from a Pinkie Pie promise."

We both share a laugh before brohoofing in agreement.

The next day(does this get repetitive?)

"So, you talk to Zephyr?" Dash asks me.

"Yeah, and he promised to drop it."

"Good. I'm glad everything worked out."

Later

Zephyr was going to towards Dash's house once again. He arrives and knocks on the door.

Dash answers the door and looks at Zeph quizically. "Zephyr? What are you doing here?"

"Look, I know I promised to drop it, but would you like to go out with me? Just once?"

I walk up behind Dash and stare at Zeph. "Hey, Zeph."

"Blue! What are you doing here?!"

"Spending time with my marefriend." I answer. He's dead. "I heard everything. I'm not usually the one to jump to violence, but it seems I'm gonna have to beat this into you. So, any last words?"

"Yeah, I spied through Dash's bathroom window the other day."

"You peeped on me?!"

"That's it! I'm gonna buck you up!"

"You''ll have to catch me first!" he makes a meep meep noise before speeding off. Dash and I give chase after him.

When I get my hooves on him!

Getting Zeph a Girl

A few days had passed since the whole Zephyr incident. We caught Zeph and had a little "chat" with him. I never would've been able to catch him on my own of course, but luckily I had Dash with me to help. He had to walk with a limp for a little while after that. He promised to never do it again, but he had already broken one promise, so I couldn't simply trust him to keep it this time. I knew the only way to end this once and for all was to get Zeph a girl of his own. But, not tonight. Ice and I were planning a double date with Dash and Vinyl at Club Pon3.

I'm terrible, I know.

Ice and I are both getting ready to leave to meet our dates at the club when I notice Zeph, sitting in loneliness.

"Come on, Zeph." I say to him. "It won't be so bad. Maybe you could spend the night here with Drax."

"Sorry, but I'm busy tonight." Drax says.

"With what?"

"I'm meeting Spitfire at the gym. We're not just a couple, we're also workout partners. She helps keep my muscles up and I help her keep her wings up(sounds like a wingboner)."

"Oh."

Zephyr sighs. "No, it's all right. I'll be fine. You guys enjoy yourselves."

I really hate to see him like this. "Hey, would like to join me and Ice tonight?"

Ice's eyes go wide and he comes over to me. "Blue, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, I-WOAH!"

He pulls me into the hall before I can finish. "Are you crazy? Bringing Zeph would make him a HUGE fifth wheel on our date."

"Com on, Ice. Just look at him." I motion towards Zeph.

"I still say no."

"Don't you remember what it was like to be all alone? Do you want to put Zeph through that?"

Ice's face drops into a frown at my comment. He looks down and then back to me. "Okay, fine. He can come with."

We walk back into the living room to join Zeph. "Okay, Zeph. So, do you wanna come with?"

"Are you sure? I wouldn't wanna be a fifth wheel."

"Nonsense. We insist. Right, Ice?"

"Uh, yeah, we do."

"Okay, if you're really sure."

We exit the house. "Catch you later, Drax!"

"You too! Have fun!"

We start making our way towards the club. "So, what's this club like?" Zeph asks us.

"Well, I haven't been yet, but Ice has. You tell him, Ice."

"Oh, it's awesome. Lights, music, and even a mini-bar."

"Mini-bar? No way am I drinking any alcohol after the other day." I say.

"Me either." Zeph agrees.

"Meh, suit yourselves."

We shortly get to the club. It sure does stick out. It's much flashier than most buildings in Ponyville. It also looks much more modernized compared to the pony tale(HA!) village look of the rest of the town.

We all walk in to find Vinyl and Dash waiting for us. "Hey, about time you made it." Dash says.

I greet her with a kiss, Ice doing the same with Vinyl. "Well, excuse me for wanting to enjoy a nice walk."

"Come on, we've already got a table to sit at." she notices Zephyr and then looks at me. She pulls me over to her and whispers. "What is he doing here?"

"He just looked so alone. I couldn't leave him alone all night."

"Ugh, fine. But you owe me later."

"You got it."

We all make our way to the table and sit down each couple sitting close together. Zephyr sighs in despair.

I quickly try to lighten things up. "So, uh, Vnyl, what's playing tonight if you're over here?"

"Oh, I've got a friend playing up on stage. She lives with me and I give her gigs when she doesn't have anything else going on." she answers. "Not really my kind of music, but she's definitely good at what she does. I think she's coming up right now."

We all look towards the stage to see a grey earth mare with a purple treble clef cutie mark walk on stage while holding a cello on her back.

She walks up to the micorphone and starts talking. "Good evening to you all. I am Octavia Philharmonica and I am here to play a song for you all."

She gets up on here hindlegs, grabs her bow, and start playing a song on her cello(null). I have to agree with Vinyl, she is pretty good. During the entire show, Zeph stares deeply at the mare, never taking his eyes off her. I think I found a solution to Zeph's problem.

The song end and everypony cheers for her. She takes a bow and walks off the stage to come join us.

"Hello everypony. It's good to see you again, Rainbow Dash. What did you all think of the show?"

"It was awesome, Octy." Vinyl says.

"Thank you. I see you brought some new friends with you." she says while looking at us. "I'm Octavia, and who might you three be?"

"I'm Blue Breeze, Dash's date."

"I'm Ice, Vinyl's coltfriend."

"Oh, so you're the pony Vinyl's been telling me so much about. It's good to finally meet you." she looks over to Zephyr. "And who might you be?"

He snaps to attention. "Oh, I'm, uh, Zephyr."

"Pleasure to meet you, Zephyr."

I think we should give these two some alone time. Anypony wanna join me at the bar for some cider?"

"I could go for a drink." Dash says.

"Me too." Ice adds.

"Me three." Vinyl says jokingly.

"I'll come too." Zeph says.

"Actually, Zeph, we need somepony to stay and watch the table so nopony else takes it. Would you mind doing that?"

"Oh, uh, sure."

"Mind if I join you?" Octavia asks Zephyr. He's so in there.

"I'd like that." he answers with a smile.

The rest of us make our way to the bar and order some drinks. I look over and see Zeph and Octavia having a good time together.

I nudge Dash with a hoof. "I think we finally fixed the Zephyr problem." I say while motioning to Zeph and Octavia.

She looks over at them. "Hey, I think you're right." she puts her head on my shoulder. "That means we can finally be together peacefully."

I put my head on her head. "I love you, Dash."

"I love you too."

After about another hour, we all decide to head off.

"I really enjoyed getting to know you, Zephyr." Octavia says. She gives him a kiss on the cheek and his grin goes about a mile wide.

"Same with me."

We leave the girls and start making our way home. "So, glad you came after all?" I ask Zeph.

"Yeah, it was amazing!"

It's good to see Zeph happy again.

Author's Note: Congrats to Zephyr for not being forever alone anymore. Guess that only leaves Vine unshipped. Don't worry, it's coming. Now, I'm going to be doing next chapter a little differently. We're going to be taking a vote on which chapter you guys want to see next. I'll give you guys the names of two chapters I've got planned and you guys will write which one you want down below. The one with the most votes will be coming next. The chapters are "The Marepocalypse" and "Blue's Pranking". Happy voting!

The Marepocalypse

Author's Note: Well, you guys voted, and you unanimously chose "The Marepocalypse". Guess you guys just really like rape or something. Since this story is rated everyone(I don't even use human swears for crying outloud), I won't be going into much detail with this. For those who wanted more detail... you sicken me. Now, on with the ra-I mean story.

I was in the living room of my house, reading a Daring Do book I borrowed from Rainbow Dash... which she borrowed from Twilight... leaving me with having to return it. Anyway, everypony had gotten the day off from their jobs today, but I couldn't remember why.

As I read, I hear a furious knocking coming from the front door. I get up to go answer it. "I'm coming, I'm coming. Hold your flank."

I answer the door to find Rainbow Dash, her eyes and grin extremely and creepily big. Um... what?

"Hi, Blue!" she says in a creepy tone. She starts trotting up to me, never looking away.

"Um, h-hey, Dash. What's up?" I start inching back as she approaches. This is really freaking me out.

"Oh, I just wanted to spend some time with my coltfriend." she pushes me over and pins me down.

I try to push her off, but somehow she's become much stronger, making me unable to get her off. "Dash, what's going on?!"

"I want you! Let's do it! Right now!"

My pupils shrink in terror. "Dash, no! Not like this!"

Drax walks down the stairs and looks over to see Dash on top of me. "Um, do you two want some alone time?"

"Drax, help! Get her off!"

Drax trots down and quickly pulls Dash off of me. He holds her around the waist and forelegs to restrain her. "What's gotten into Dash?"

"I don't know."

Zephyr and Ice walk down the stairs to join us. "Um, what's going on and why is Drax holding Rainbow?" Ice asks.

"Something's gotten into Dash, and I'm not sure what it is."

Dash looks at all of us with her tongue hanging out. "So many stallions! Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!"

I flinch back at her outburst. "Somepony get a chair and rope! We need to keep her restrained!"

"I'm on it!" Zeph says. Zeph comes back a few moments later with the items and we tie up Rainbow Dash.

"What could've gotten into her to make her act like this?" I ask myself. I ponder it over for a moment and... oh buck. "Guys, what's the date?"

"The ninth." Drax answers.

I run over to the calendar on the wall and take a look at it. This is bad! I turn around and look at them with a terrified face.

"What's the matter?"

"EVERYTHING! Today's the first day of the annual three day period when the mares go into heat! IT'S THE MAREPOCALYPSE!"

"WHAT?!" they all shout.

"How could we forget something this important?!" Drax shouts.

"We're screwed! Literally!" Ice shouts.

Now it makes sense why I couldn't overpower Dash. Mares become a lot stronger during the heat. They're climbing in your windows, snatching your ponies up, trying to rape 'em, so you all need to hide your ponies, hide your zebras, and hide your donkeys 'cause they're raping everypony out here(anyone rememer this meme?).

"Just calm down!" I shout. "We need to think up a plan. The mares are going to jump all over us, being in a house with four stallions."

"I know I am!" Dash shouts.

"Hush. Now, I propose we-"

*CRASH*

A bunch of mares break down the windows to my house and jump in.

"GET THE BUCK OUT WHILE WE CAN!" I shout. I grab a nearby chair and throw it at the back window, smashing it so we can all jump out(I wasn't thinking there. It was an impulse.).

As I jump out, Berry Punch pins me down. "Nice to see you again, Blue! I've been waiting for this!"

"Berry, we've done this before, and the answer is still NO!" I quickly use my hindlegs to get under her and hoist her up and over me. I get back up and the others and I take off, not trying to find a destination, only to escape the large group of horny mares trying to catch us.

As we run, Vinetion drops down infront of us. WHY CELESTIA?! WHY?! "VINE, PLEASE HAVE MERCY!"

She shakes her head at us. "DIDN'T YOU BOYS KNOW?!" she flies over us, getting between us and the mares. We stop and look back at her. "I LIKE MARES! COME AT ME, LADIES!" she gets up on her hindlegs and puts her hooves in the air. Surprisingly, a large portion of the mares stop at her. Huh, guess more mares in this town are bi than I thought. And this definitely explains a few things about Vine. Oh well. Works for me!

We use Vine's little distraction to find a dark alleyway as a hiding place from the mares. I poke my head out on the other side of the alleyway and see the perfect thing.

"Yes! The weather office! We can use that as a temporary bunker til this blows over!" I whisper in excitement. The others agree and we make our way over there, making sure not to let any mares spot us. We go inside and go into the lounge. We take all the nearby furniture and barricade the door.

"There, that should do for now. I just hope no mares discover us." I say.

"So, what do we do til this is over?" Ice asks.

"Guess we just stay here and find ways to entertain ourselves."

"With what?"

"Well, there's plenty of magazines to read. Not much else besides that."

They all groan in displeasure. This is gonna be a long three days.

Day Two

"Well, would you look at that? A tie... again." I say as Zephyr and I hit our fiftyth tie in a row on tic-tac-toe.

"Ugh! This is so boring!" Zephyr shouts in frustration.

"I know, but it's better than being raped by mares for another two days."

"*sigh* True."

Ice steps out of the bathroom(yes, the lounge has a bathroom) with a concerned look. "Guys, I used the last of the toilet paper."

"You what?! Now what are we gonna do if we have to do?!" Zeph shouts in worry.

"Just calm down. We can always just tear out and use pages from the magazines." I tell him. You work with what you've got.

"I'm not using magazines!"

"It's either that, using your hooves, or holding it."

He looks at his hooves. "Magazines don't sound so bad."

That's what I thought.

Later

Ice looks around the room nervously. "I can't take this anymore!"

I go over to him and slap him. "Get a hold of youself!"

He looks at me. "Thanks, I needed that. " I slap him again. "Ow! What'd you do that for?"

"I felt like it." I feel a hoof connect with my head. "Ow!" I look back to see it was Zephyr.

"Sorry, I just felt like it." a hoof connects with his head.

"I felt like it, too." Drax says.

We all look at each other and then start fighting.

Good thing there's only one day left before things go back to normal.

Day three, the final day

As we sit around waiting out the clock before the end, Drax gets up and starts taking down the barricade. Not him too!

"I need fresh air! I'm not used to being inside this long!"

The rest of us grab on to him to get him to stop. "Just calm down, Drax!" Ice shouts.

"Yeah, you'll get raped if you go out there!" I shout in agreement.

He breaks free of all of us. "I'll take my chances!" he takes down the barricade and goes outside. "Fresh air!"

Mares immediately start swarming him. Even with his great strength, he can't break free of them.

Poor guy.

Mares start breaking into the weather office after us. We break a window on the wall and jump out of it.

"We'll never outrun them!" I shout. Zeph stops in his tracks. "Zeph, what are you doing?! We gotta go!"

You guys go! I'll stay back and buy you some time!"

"No way! I'm not leaving you!"

"Me neither!"

"Just go!"

I look at him for a moment efore turning around. "Thanks, Zeph. For everything."

Ice and I start running away again. Zeph turns around and starts rushing the crowd. "LEEROOOOOOYYYYYYYY!"

Poor fool.

As Ice and I run, Ice is suddenly lifted up in the air by a magical aura. "GOT YA!" Vinyl shouts.

"AH! NO!" Ice shouts.

"DON'T WORRY, I'LL SAVE YOU!" before I can though, Rainbow Dash lands infront of me.

"Miss me?!"

I start making a mad dash in the other direction. "Sorry, Ice! You're on your own!"

As I keep running, I turn into an alleway to be stopped by a dead end. "OH BUCK ME!"

I turn around to see Dash meer inches from me. "Oh, I plan to!"

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!"

The next day

"Man, that was amazing!" I say. You're all probably confused right now.

"Totally!" Zeph agrees.

"I always heard the Marepocalypse was terrible, but it felt amazing!" Drax says.

"I guess the stallions who got caught just never were able to take it." Ice says.

We were all hanging out the cafe, talking about our recent adventures in the heat.

Dash and the other girls walk up to us with expressions of shame. "Guys, we're really sorry about yesterday. We just couldn't control ourselves."

"I'm not sorry. I had a lot of fun." Vine says. All the other girls look at her. "What?"

"Why be sorry? It was awesome! I always knew you'd be good in bed." I say to Dash

Her cyan face goes a deep crimson from what I said. She growls at us. "You guys are impossible!"

"All I know is, I can't wait for next year's heat!"

Blue's Pranking

Things had finally gone back to normal since the recent Marepocalypse. All the property damage, including all the stuff broken in my house, was fixed. Finally my tax money does something that shows a difference. Seriously, there's a "Fix Town after Horrible Disaster" tax. It's already been used a few times because of Pinkie's shenanigans.

Anyway, I was getting ready to leave for work... again. "See ya, Blue." Drax and Zeph say to me as they walk out.

"Yeah, see ya *sigh*." I reply.

"What's wrong, Blue? You seem kinda down." Dash says.

"Well, I know I'm always complaining about crazy stuff happening, but lately I've been bored because of nothing happening. Every day I pretty much get up, come to work, finish work, and then either hang out at the cafe or just relax at home. I feel like I'm in a rut."

Dash puts a hoof to her chn. "Hmm, I think I've got an idea! Have you ever tried pranking?"

"Pranking?"

"Yeah, Pinkie and I do it all the time. It's lost of fun."

"I don't know. I've never tried pranking before."

"It's really easy. Here, let me demonstrate." she pulls out a whoopie cushion.

"Where'd you get that?"

"I always bring one with me incase I'm felling pranky. Now, watch closely." she puts the cushion away sgain and walks up to Sunny. "Hey, Sunny? I think the coffee machine in the lounge is broken. Could you check it out?"

"What? Broken?" Sunny goes into the lounge and Dash puts the cushion on her chair. Sunny returns. "There's nothing wrong with the coffee machine, Dash." she says, bemused.

"Oh, my mistake."

Sunny sits back down and a loud fart noise comes from beneath her. Her face goes red in embarrassment as Dash and I laugh.

She glares at us. "That's not funny!"

"Hehe, sure looks like fun to me. I think I'm gonna give it a try." I say.

"I just know you'll love it." Dash tells me.

I leave the building, on my way to get my pranking started. "This won't end well." Sunny says.

'I know there's a joke shop here in Ponyville named The Court's Jester. I think I'll head over there and pick up a few things.' I think to myself. 'Oh man, this is gonna be awesome!'

I reach the joke shop and the door opens with a fart noise. What's with jokes and farts? I walk up to the counter to be greeted by an employee wearing a fake arrow through his head and fake glasses with a mustache.

"Hello, sir. My name is Class Clown. How may I help you this glorious pranking day?" he asks me.

"I just recently started pranking and I'd like to buy some things to help pull some ideas I've got."

"Oh excellent! What can I get for you?"

"I'd like an airhorn and some glue, please."

"Right away, my good prankster."

He leaves and quickly returns with them. I pay for them and leave the shop. Time to get started! And I think I know the perfect place to do it.

I come home to see Zephyr resting on the couch. Perfect. I take out my airhorn and place it right by his ear.

*WHIIIIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRR*

The noise makes Zeph jump off the couch. "What was that?!"

"Oh, I just decided to start pranking, and you were my first victim."

"What?!"

"Oh, right. You're hearing should come back in a little while." I say to him. "But for now, I'm going to the gym to see Drax." I exit the house, leaving Zephyr in confusion.

"What?!" he shouts again.

Drax said he'd be spending his time at the gym today, so I knew he'd be perfect for this next prank. I arrive at the gym to see drax lifting some weights. Dang, that's gotta be at least three hundred pounds right there. When he's not looking, I take the glue and put it on the bars of his nearby weights. He turns around and tries to lift the largest weight behind him. He lifts it, but when he tries to put it down, he can't. He takes and step back and his hoof sticks to a smaller weight. He starts falling over from the weights.

"Hahahaha, that is the best!" I shout.

"Blue! I'm gonna get you for this!" he shouts at me.

"Sure, but it looks like you're in a bit of a 'sticky situation' at the moment."

He growls as I leave the gym. I may be dead later, but that's then and this is now. And right now I'm having too much fun to stop.

Later in the day

I was at the cafe with Ice and Vine. I had just prepared my best prank yet. These two are in for a big surprise.

"Hey, Ice. Can I get another coffe?" Vine asks.

"Sure, coming right up." for those who didn't know, Ice got promoted from waiter to coffee maker. Ice returns with Vine's drink. "Here you go." Vine takes a drink of her coffee before she spits it out on Ice. "What the hay?!"

"That's not coffe, it's mud!" I start laughing like a madcolt. "Blue! Did you do this?!"

"I sure did! This pranking stuff is so much fun!" I get up and head to the front door. "Oh, and by the way, that's not mud, it's manure I mixed well in water." I then exit the building.

Vine's normal olive green coat goes to a sickly green as her cheeks puff up. She runs to the nearest restroom and starts making barfing noise.

"Ah! Get this junk off of me!" Ice shouts, flailing his limbs.

Vine comes out of the restroom, still looking sick. "Darn Blue. He's going to pay for this." she says.

"You bet he is." Ice says.

"I think sticking a cactus up his rump will teach him a lesson."

"I say we hold off on that one. I've got another idea." he leans in and whispers into her ear.

"Ew! That's gross!" she says in disgust. "You should totally do it!"

The next day

I come to the cafe to see Drax, Zeph, Vine, and Ice, all hanging out. "Hey, guys. Hope you're still not upset about yesterday."

"Of course not. We can take a joke." Ice says. "In fact, I brought some ice cream to celebrate pranking well done."

"Well, that was 'ice' of you."

"Don't push it." he says, deadpanned.

"Right. Sorry." he opens the ice cream jug and fixes me a bowl. "Aren't you guys gonna eat any?"

"Oh, we're not hungry." Vine answers for her and everypony else.

"Okay, suit yourselves." I begin eating the ice cream. "Tastes kinda funny. What's this made out of."

"Oh, let's just say I made it..." he leans next to me. "myself."

My eyes go wide. "You don't mean.."

He nods. "I do."

My face goes green at this. I rush to the restroom and start barfing. I crawl out of the bathroom, still sick. "I oughtta kill you guys."

"That's payback for yesterday." Ice says.

"And that's just the start, unless you promise to not prank anymore." Vine adds.

"Fine, I promise!"

"Good."

I'm never going to prank again if they're gonna do this to me.

Being Male Models

Author's Note: Me being stupid(yet again) I forgot to mention last chapter that yesterday made exactly six months since I became a brony. Thanks to my viewers and everybrony else for making this the best fanbase I've ever been a part of. Funny enough, my half birthday is tomorrow. Go figure. I also went and linked my youtube account on my profile(here it is). Don't ask about the name. I was really into the Zelda series when I made it nearly three years ago. Now, on with the story.

The other guys and I were all hanging out back at home after we all got off of work early. Knowing past experiences, that probably means something's up.

I am in the middle of reading again when, surprise surprise, I hear a knock at the door. "Coming!" I shout. I open the door to see somepony I don't see too often when the whole group's not around: Rarity. "Hey, Rarity. What's up?"

"Hello, dear. Are the others here as well?"

"Yeah they are."

"Oh splendid! I'm in the middle of making a line of suits for a VERY important client and I need you and the other colts to wear the outfits as I make them so I can get the proper shape for them."

"Hmm, what's in it for us?"

"Uh... I'll make you any outfit for free!"

"You already do that."

"Fine. Then I'll pay you each one hundred bits. Sound fair?"

"Hay yeah, that sounds fair!" I walk back to go get the others. Hopefully their cool with me signing them up for this myself. "Come on, guys. We gotta go."

"Go where?" Ice asks.

"I agreed to let Rarity use us as models for suits."

"What?! No way am I doing that."

"Me neither." Zeph says.

"Neither will I." Drax says.

"Did I mention Rarity will pay us a hundred bits each?"

"I'll go!"

"Anything to help a friend!"

"Sounds like fun!"

Bribery: The easiest way to get anything done.

At the Carousel Boutique

Rarity put us all in suits to wear, using her magic so that she could work on more than one of us at a time. Even though I love flying, I would definitely love to use magic.

"Hey, Rarity?" I say.

"Yes, dear?"

"Why did you need all four of us for this?"

"To get as many size variations as I can. Zephyr is good for slightly skinnier stallions, Ice is good for average sized ones, you're good for slightly bulkier ones, and Drax is just PERFECT for larger stallions."

"Oh, I guess that makes sense."

"Ow!" Zeph shouts as a needle pokes him. "Watch it!"

"Oh, terribly sorry, darling."

"So, who is this super important client you were talking about?"

"Only one of the most important business ponies in all of Equestria, Fancy Pants."

"Fancy Pants? Isn't he some big, important pony from Canterlot?"

"Yes."

"Canterlot? I hope he's not a total snob. I left Manehatten to get away from that stuff." Drax says.

"He is no such thing. Fancy Pants is a true gentlecolt."

Just as Rarity is about to go on, a stallion with a white coat and blue mane walks in. "Rarity, it is such a delight to see you again."

"Oh, the pleasure is all mine, Mr. Pants."

"Like I told you before, my dear, just call me Fancy."

"Oh, alright, Fancy." Rarity holds in a squeal. Somepony's a real fangirl.

"Ah, these must be the suits you're making for me." Fancy says while looking at us. "Simply marvelous."

"Thank you, Fancy."

"Fancy takes a closer look at us. "What? Is there something in my teeth." I ask.

"No, not at all. I was simply wondering what were all your names."

"I'm Blue Breeze."

"I'm Zephyr Verve."

"I'm Ice."

"I'm Drax."

"Hmm, you know, boys, I have a male modeling agency and was wondering if you all would like to take part in it. You all are make for good models, and I'm sure Rarity would love to make outfits for you all to model."

Rarity's eyes beam at this. "Well, I'm not really sure if-WOAH!" I shout as Rarity pulls me and the others into the back room.

"Can I have just a moment with them?" she asks Fancy.

"Yes, of course."

"What the hay, Rarity?!" I shout.

"I know you're all not into fashion, but I would be eternily grateful if you could do this for me."

"But we've already got jobs. We don't need this."

"Fancy Pants is one of the most important ponies in Equestria, and he actually likes my work. You doing this would do WONDERS for my business."

"I still don't know."

"Please please please please please please please?" she gos on and on.

"Alright, alright. We'll do it. Right, guys?" they nod in agreement.

We walk out back into the main room of the boutique. "We'll do it!" Rarity says.

"Splendid! I'll be sending a taxi to pick you all up tomorrow. See you all then." he then walks out.

"The only part I'm worried about is telling Dash I'll be gone for a while."

"And Octavia."

"And Vinyl."

"And Spitfire."

We all simultaneously sigh. I've gotten use to the unison thing.

Later

I arrive at Dash's place to deliver the news. This isn't gonna be fun. I knock and the door and Dash answers it.

"Oh, hey, Blue. What's up?"

"I'm not gonna be around for a while."

"What?! Why not?!"

"I agreed to be a fashion model to help Rarity. Zeophyr, Drax, and Ice too."

"So you'll all be gone?!"

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"But what about the weather?! What about me?!"

I pull her into a comforting hug. "I know you can do this, Dash. Just be strong until I get back."

She looks at me and gives a weak smile. "Okay, I will." she replies. We hug once again. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too, babe."

We break the hug to give a kiss good bye. I then take off. I really will miss her.

The next day

A taxi had arrived and taken us all to Canterlot to get ready for our first show. We all got in our outfits and got ready to go out.

"Good luck to all of you out there!" Fancy tells us.

"Thanks. We'll do our best." I tell him.

We all go out of the curtain and make our way out on to the catwalk. As we walk by, we hear ponies whispering about how good we are and look. This sure is a lot easier than I thought. We finish our walk and make our way back inside.

"That was marvelous!" Rarity says. "You're all positively naturals. Though my outfits definitely did help." somepony sure is modest.

This is basically what goes on for the next few weeks. We go and do fashion shows all around Equestria, going to Baltimare, Fillydelphia, and even Manehatten. Drax wanted fyo get out of there as soon as possible.

After our last show, I sit in the back with a sad look. "What's the matter, dear?" Rariy asks.

"I'm just feeling homesck. I miss Dash and the others."

"Oh, then you'll love this."

"What is it?"

"Our next show is in Ponyville."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Sweet, I can see Dash!"

"And we can see our marefriends." Zeph adds.

We all do a group high hoof in celebration.

A few days later

We all sit in the back, getting ready to get the show over with so we can see our friends. We all make our way out and pass by the others. They look happy to see us, but at the same time they look sad. I see Dash in the crowd. Celestia, I've missed her. i look back and see the others notice how sad the girls look.

In the crowd

"Ugh, I'm so bored." Vine says.

"You too?" A pony next to her says.

"Yeah, the only reason I'm here is because my friends are in this and I haven't seen them in a while.
"
"I'm here because my father is running it."

"Your father? So that means you're Fleur de Lis"

"Yes, I am. Truth be told, I actually don't care for stallions, that's why I'm so bored."

"Really? Would you like to come see me after the show?"

Fleur looks at Vine and smiles. "Yes, I would love to."

Back to us

We finish our walk and go inside. "So, you guys noticed the girls too?" I ask them.

"Yeah, they looked pretty sad." Drax says.

"Exactly." I throw off my outfit. "I don't think I can do this anymore!"

"Me neither."

"I've been getting tired of this for a while."

"About time we stop this."

Rarity and Fancy Pants walk in. "Marvelous show, boys."

"Fancy, we all decided that we would like to quit."

"What?!" he and Rarity shout.

"Just being out there reminded us why I loved our lives here. I hope you aren't to upset with us."

He smiles. "I completely understand. You boys are free to go."

"Yeah!" me and the others shout as we run out.

"I knew it was to good to last." Rarity says.

"Come now. Just because they're gone doesn't mean you can't keep making outfits for me."

Rarity's mouth goes wide in a snile. "Thank you, Fancy!"

Back outside

Me and the guys walk as we make our way to see our marefriends. As we do, we walk by an alleyway to see... Vine making out with Fleur.

...That's actually pretty hot.

They stop as they notice us. "Um... This isn't what it looks like?" Vine says nervously.

"Um, we'll be going. Come on, guys." I say as all of us but Zephyr start walking.

"But I want to stay and watch!" he says.

"Would you come on?" I say as I pull him.

"Now, where were we?" Fleur says to Vine.

"I think we were right here." Vine answers as she starts moving her hoof down.

"Oh, Vinetion!" we hear Fleur shout.

We exchange nervous glances. "Just keep walking, guys. Just keep walking."

We go our seperate ways after that. I immediately start flying toward Dash's house. I get in there in about one minute flat. I quickly knock on the door and it opens to show Dash.

She slaps me across the face. "Ow! What was that for?"

She then hugs me. "Dont you ever leave me again!" she tells me.

I smile and return the hug. "Don't worry, I won't."

It feels good to be back.

When Elements Collide

Author's Note: Good news, everyone(can you name who says this?)! The story has just hit 3000 views! I think it's time to celebrate with a new chapter! But not just any chapter, the most epic chapter to happen in this story yet! In my opinion anyway. Now, on with the story(I think I'm gonna keep it this time).

I just got off of work and was heading over to the cafe. I arrive and make my way in. I know this place is a cafe, but would it kill them to do something about that strong smell? Oh well.

I look around and see Ice and Vine hanging out as usual. How often does Vine even run her shop anyway? "Hey, guys. What's up?" I greet them as I take a seat.

"Not much." Vine answers. "Where's Zeph and Drax?"

"They're both getting ready for their dates. I tell ya, Zeph's just been estatic ever since hooking up with Octavia."

"Good for him. It's nice that we all have marefriends to be with."

"Speaking of which, how have you and Fleur been doing lately?"

"Really great. She told her father about us and moved in with me recently."

"Boy, that was fast."

"Yeah, I know. It's really been great having her around, if you know what I mean." she gives me a wink.

Dang. "Haha, I know what you mean."

"So, what are you doing tonight, Blue?" Ice asks.

"Oh, I'm just going back to the Everfree Forest."

"Hehe, that'll definitely be fun." he jokes.

"I'll actually be in there for a little while tonight. I'll be sure to be on the look out and watch your back." Vine says.

"Oh come on. You more than anypony else should know what I'm capable of. You said it yourself, I'm made of tough stuff. Remember that?"

"Yes, I did say that. Tough stuff, but not indestructible. Don't go getting a swelled head."

"Okay, I hear ya. I appreciate the help, but I think I'll be fine."

After hanging out for a bit, I leave to get myself prepared. I get home and do the usual. I'm pretty sure everyone knows this by now. Rest up, make chimicherrychongas, grab notes, pack everything up, and leave. Same old same old there.

I'm going to be trying my hoof at studying the plant life again. Good thing Vine knows about me this time. I really don't feel like putting up with anything crazy this time.

I arrive at the forest and head on in. As I walk in, a timberwolf jumps out in front of me. "Ugh, seriously?" I say in frustration and annoyance. I unfirl and wings a shoot a wave at it, cutting it making it fall over. "This is just getting annoying now. These things aren't even a threat."

As I continue to walk, I start thinking. 'Hmm, I remember reading about some kind of weird plant back when I first moved here. It was called Poison something. Ivy? No. Oak? Nope. Errr, what was it?!' I start smacking my head to try and force the memory, but to no avail.

I take a break and start eating my snacks. I don't think I'll ever stop loving chimicherrychongas. I finish eating and go back to observing the plants.

As I go back to thinking about that plant and studying those nearby, I hear a noise come from behind me. I turn around and see a black pegasus with a red and black mane and tail. His cutie mark is a lightning bolt striped yellow, red, and black. What is it with ponies and lightning bolt cutie marks?

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." he says in a coy voice. I can already tell this guy is trouble.

"Can I help you?" I say nonchalantly.

"Yeah, you can. I just happened to see you strolling by and thought "Things have been pretty boring lately, why not have some fun with this guy?". So, how about it?"

"Forget it. I'm not in the mood for your garbage. Just buck off and let me get back to my business."

"It wasn't a request!" he says angrily. His hooves start giving off electrical sparks as he raises one up and shoots a bolt of lightning at me.

I quickly jump out of the way and fire back with some waves.

He dodges them and smiles at me. "Oooh, this should be fun. What's your name anyway?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but I'm Blue Breeze. You?"

"Even though you won't be alive long enough to remember it, I'm Dark Lightning."

We both get into a charging position and start galloping at each other. We hit each other head on, neither of us pulling back an inch. I gotta admit, that training with Ice definitely helped with my strength and endurance, but this guy is still gonna be tough.

He raises an electrical hoof and punches me in the chest, sending a shock through my body and making me sail backwards..

I get back up and look to see a hoof-shaped burn mark on my chest where he hit me. Being a weather pony, I've had a few accidents with storm clouds, so I have a bit of an endurance to electricity. But that doesn't make me an electrical sponge, I can only take so much before I collapse.

He gets on his hindlegs and what look to be two blades of electricity come out of his hooves. He makes another charge at me and takes a swing of his blades at my head. I duck down and look back to see the tree behind me cut clean off its stump. He starts slashing at me again as I contiue to dodge. I charge up my wings again, but lose my footing as I slip and fall on my back. I put my wings up for cover as he takes another swing at me and...

*SHING*

The sound of metal hitting metal goes off. I open my eyes to see my wings, while charged, stopped his attack. I push him back with my wings and use them to take a slash at him as our blades connect. Apparently, while charged, my wings become as hard as metal and can be used as two blades. Neat!

We start going back and forth, fighting like traditional samurai in an epic duel. We both take to the air and start going back and forth again, clashing as we swoop by one another. As we collide again, he puts down his blades, grabs the back of my head, and starts flying lower. He takes my head and pushes it along the ground, the gravel and small rocks scratching my face as he does. I charge up my wings again and cut his side, causing him to let go of me and giving us some distance.

We both ready our blades again and make another rush at each other. We both make a slash and pass right by one another. I feel another shock go through me and look to see a cut on my side. We each turn around to face off again. I look to see I also cut him. We both shout as we charge again, this time our blades clashing and leaving us in a power struggle as sparks shoot up in the air.

Up in the air

"I think it's about time to be getting home. The forest looks to be doing fine tonight." Vinetion says to herself as she flies. "But I do hope Blue is all right." just then, a large amount of sparks go off into the air. "What in the world is that?! I better go check it out!"

Vine makes her way to where the sparks were flying and lands to see Blue Breeze fighting somepony.

"Blue!"

"Vine?!" I shout. Dark breaks me off and forces me to the ground.

Suddenly, a vine shoots up and wraps itself around Dark. "What the buck is this?!"

"You do NOT hurt my friend!" Vine shouts at him. She makes the plant throw him away and then looks back at me. "Happy to see me?"

I get back up on my hooves. "You kidding? I totally had him."

"Yeah, right."

Dark gets back up and makes dash for vine. "You stupid slut!"

"Not so fast." Vine says. Her hooves glow as she makes a wall of vines make a shield infront of her. Dark makes more blades from his hooves and cuts the vines down. "What?!"

He puts away his blades again, flies up, and slams his hooves down on Vine's head, effectively knocking her out cold.

"Now, where were we?" he asks me in a smug voice.

"You motherbucker! You're going down!"

"Come at me, bro!"

He shoots off and starts making passes at me, hitting me in various spots as he does so. I can't keep up. This guy could rival Zeph and Dash in terms of speed. He then punches me in the face, which knocks me to the ground once again.

I get again and start flying around to make a tornado. As Dark flies, he is sucked up into the tornado and starts spinning around uncontrollably. I fly up and sock him in the face, making him fly out of the tornado and slide across the ground.

I break the tornado and land back down. "So, had enough yet?"

He gets up and wipes his mouth with a hoof. "No, but you will after this!" his hoof charges again and a ball of compacted electricity is formed. He throws the ball and sends it right at me. "Lightning Frag Grenade!"

The ball comes one inch from my face. OH BUCK!

*BOOM*

The smoke from the explosion clears and I slump to the ground, barely conscious.

Dark flies over and starts kicking me while I'm down. "You thought you could take me?! HA! You're too weak! You'd never be able to beat me!"

'Get up! You can't die here! JUST GET UP!' I think to myself.

"You may be weak, but this has been the most fun I've had in a while. I think when I'm done with you I'll kill the girl next. And who knows? Maybe I'll just go take down all of Ponyville." he starts laughing maniacally.

My eyes shoot open as I feel a surge go through myself. A kind of surge like the one I felt when I first got my powers. I get up and push Dark back.

"What?! Nopony has ever gotten up from one of my grenades!"

I charge my wings and he creates more blades from his hooves. We start clashing again before we get into another struggle. I break free of the struggle and ram him in the stomach, knocking him back.

I stop and stand up on my hindlegs. "You can hurt me all you want, but..." I start to say. "YOU DO NOT HURT MY FRIENDS!"

He gets up and starts charging one of his hooves for an electrical punch. He starts galloping at me again. "Well, when you're dead and burning in the pits of Tartarus, I'll be able to do whatever I darn well please!"

Before he connects, I grab his hoof and stop him dead in his tracks. I pull back my hoof and ready myself for a punch. I feel energy go through my foreleg as a visible wind swirls around it. I know the perfect name for this move.

"HURRICANE HOOF!"

I punch him in his muzzle(watch this for a good representation), making his nose bleed and sending him flying back while spinning. He slams right against the side of a cliff and leaves an imprint where he hit.

He crumbles to the ground as he slowly slips into unconsciousness. "This... isnt... over..."

He's right, this isn't over...

Not by a long shot.

Author's Note: Boy, was that epic or what? The pony here comes from Dark Lightning. Let me know if I write you incorrectly. Try imagining this song during the fight, it makes it way more epic.

Figuring Things Out

With psycho pony down, I shakily make my way over to Vinetion. I pick her up and gently tap her face. "Vine. Hey, wake up."

She begins to stir and mumble as her eyes open. "Blue? Oh, my head." she says grogilly as she puts a hoof to her head. Now awake, she shoots up. "Blue! What happened?! Are you okay?! Where'd that pony go?!"

I motion to Dark. "I took care of him. As for if I'm okay, not really, but I can walk."

"You look awful."

"Gee, thanks." I say sarcastically. Can never turn that off.

She rolls her eyes at me. "I mean you look like you seriously need help."

"Okay, but first we need to deal with him." I say, motioning to the knocked out Dark.

"Right." she walks over to him and her hooves glow as a bunch of vines constrict around him.

"What are you doing?"

"Making sure he doesn't escape. These vines don't conduct electricity, and they're reinforced, so our little friend here doesn't have any way to get out."

"Good thinking." I stumble before catching myself. "Can you carry him back? I don't have it in me."

"Of course." she hoists him onto her back and balances him. "Ugh, he's heavy. So, what do you think we should do with him?"

"We'll go back to my place. Then we'll alert the others. We need as much help on this as possible."

"Sounds good."

We begin walking out of the forest, luckily nothing coming out. We reach the exit and I stop to lean up against a tree and catch my breath.

"Are you sure you can make it on your own, Blue?"

I get off the tree and smile. "Don't worry about me. Tough stuff, remember?"

She returns the smile. "Right."

We start walking again. Lucky for us, there weren't any ponies around to see us with Dark. After walking for a bit and taking some rest breaks, we arrive at my house.

I open the door to see the guys all hanging out. They look up and immediately look worried for me.

"Bluey! What happened to you?!" Zephyr shouts.

"I got *pant* into another crazy *pant* situation like always. Vine will fill you in, but for now *pant* I need to take a nap." I explain before fainting.

The others immediately pick me up and set on me on the couch to tend to me.

Why does all this stuff happen to me?

Later

Vinetion had gathered everypony, Dash and her friends, and everypony's marefriend. For reference, we did tell the other girls about us. Vinyl actually offered Ice a chance to do special effects for her.

"Okay, Vine. So, now that we've got Blue fixed up, what happened to him? And who is this pony?" Twilight asks.

"Blue and this pony got into a fight in the Everfree Forest. Before I could really help, I got knocked unconscious. This pony apparently has powers just like Blue, Ice, and me. I'm not sure who this pony is, but Blue might be able to tell us." she explains to everypony.

Dash walks up to me. "Blue, you really need to stop getting into this stuff. I don't want to lose you."

I begin to stir and wake up. "D-Dash?"

She jumps on me and starts kissing me all over. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

I return the hug. "You think I'd go and die now? I would never do that to you guys." I say in a comforting voice. We break the hug and I notice something. "Hey, all my scratches and burn marks are gone!"

"While you were asleep, I casted a healing spell on you." Twilight says.

"Sweet!" I stop celebrating and look over to Dark. "What about him?"

"What about him?"

"I want you to cast the spell on him to."

"What?!" everypony shouts.

"I don't want him dead. Not yet anyway."

"Are you crazy?! This guy nearly killed you and Vine! He's a psycho!" Dash shouts.

"He's restrained. Zero chance of him breaking out. Right, Vine?"

"That's right."

"I rest my case. Now, do it, Twilight."

"O-Okay, if you're sure." she replies nervously.

Her horn begins to glow as she touches it to Dark's head. A magical aura envelopes him, causing all of his cuts and bruises to heal.

"There, all done." Twilight says.

"Good. Now, I'm sure Vine filled you guys in on what happened."

"All except who this pony is."

"He's another elemental pony. He said his name was Dark Lightning. He's definitely the toughest opponent I've gone up against. I wasn't really sure I was gonna make it a few times."

"Another one of us?" Ice says. "So, he can control lightning?"

"Exactly. He's also incredibly fast. I'd even say he's as fast as Zeph or Dash."

"No way!" they shout.

"I'm serious. There were moments I couldn't even see him."

"So, how'd you beat him?" Drax asks.

"Well, he said when he was done with me, he was gonna kill Vine, and then maybe all of Ponyville." everypony gasps. "Yeah, I know. Just hearing that made me snap. I quickly took him out after that."

Dark starts turning as he wakes up. Everypony looks over in terror at him. "Ugh, where am I?" he says. He looks over at me and then starts glaring daggers at me. "You!"

"Good to see you awake, sleeping beauty."

"Buck you!" he tries to create electricity from his hooves, but nothing happens. "What's going on?! Why can't I get out of this?!"

"Your little electricity tricks won't work on those vines, and they're reinforced, so don't even try to break out of them." Vine says smugly.

"Errr. So, now what?!" he shouts.

"I guess since we're here, we might as well introduce everypony." I suggest.

"I couldn't care less who any of you are." he says.

I ignore him and start introducing everypony. Everypony is either nervous when being introduced, or giving him angry eyes. Fluttershy nearly fainted from his hard gaze. The entire time this is going on, he gives a look which made me think he was thinking about how he wanted to individually torture and kill all of us. Just a feeling I got.

Last up: Pinkie Pie. Oh boy.

"I'm Pinkie Pie! And now that you're in town we just have to throw you a party! Oh, it'll be so ama-"

"NO! I hate parties! No parties! Got that?!" Dark interrupts.

Pinkie's mane deflates a bit at this. "O-Oh, okay." she says weakly.

"Hey, don't be such a hard flank. You should be grateful that we had Twilight heal you." I say.

"Oh, well, isn't that fan-bucking-tastic?! I got healed up by a bunch of miserable bucks like you!"

He continues on before I start getting annoyed. "Drax, would you?"

"I'm on it." says Drax. He walks over to hit Dark in the back of his head, silencing him.

"Was that really necessary?" Twilight asks.

"It shut him up, didn't it?" I say to her. "Now, what are we gonna do with him? I've run out of rooms here at the house. How about you, Vine?"

"Ugh, I do not want that brute staying with us." Fleur says. Oh great, another Rarity.

"Neither do I. I'm not gonna risk my and Fleur's safety like that. Plus, I'm still mad about what he did, so it'd be bad for him if you left him with us."

"Okay..." I then put a hoof to my chin and start thinking. Light bulb! "I've got it! We'll send another letter to the princess like we did with Ice. It's simple."

"I suppose." Twilight says. "I guess I can look after him tonight."

"I'll go with you." I say. I turn to the other guys. "I'll be back tomorrow. Don't you worry about me. And, Dash?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Need a few days off." she replies "It's fine now that we've got Zeph and Drax to help us out."

"Great. Well, see everypony later. You ready, Twilight?"

"Sure am." she says.

I put Dark on my back and everypony leaves with a good bye. Twilight and I make our way to the library and walk inside. I toss Dark down on a couch and Twilight starts writing a letter.

"There! Now, to send it off."

"How are we gonna do that? The mail office is closed."

"Oh, you'll see."

Twilight walks up the stairs and into the next room. Inside, she goes over to Spike, seeping. "Spike, I need for you to wake up, this is important."

"Mommy?" Spike says while looking at Twilight.

"Did you even hear me?"

"You're not mommy." he says disgruntedly.

"Actually, since I'm the one who hatched you, I technically am. But that's not important. Right now I need you to come with me."

"Okay, I'm getting up." Spike gets up and starts following Twilight.

While that was going on

Dark gets up from his slumber. "Ugh, now where am I?"

"We're at Twilight's house, the town library." I answer him.

"Ugh, I hate libraries."

"Tough apples."

Twilight and Spike come down stairs and look at us. "Blue?" Spike says.

"Hey, Spike."

"What are you doing here? And who's this other guy?"

"None of your business, shorty." Dark says.

"His name is Dark Lightning." I say.

"Buck you!"

"I know I'm a stud, but you're not my type."

"Boys!" Twilight shouts. "Enough of this petty arguing. Now, Spike, remember how I told you about Blue's and the others' powers?"

"You told him?" I ask.

"Yeah, I hope that was all right."

I shrug. "It's fine. It'll make this easier."

"Yeah, I remember." Spike says.

"Well, Dark here isn't as nice with his powers as they are."

"And never will be." Dark adds.

"He nearly killed Blue. I wrote this letter to the princess all about it. That's why I got you up." she uses her magic to levitate the scroll closer to Spike.

"Really?!" he quickly takes the scroll and burns it away with his breath. "There! She should get it in no time!"

"So that's how you send those? Pretty cool. Also, don't worry so much, Spike. Vine made sure there's no way for him to break free." I explain.

"Oh. That's good."

"Now, I think it's time to go back to sleep." Twilight says.

"I hear that." Spike says while marching back up stairs.

Twilight follows him and looks back at us. "You two get some rest. You'll need it for tomorrow."

She exits the room and Dark and I just stare at each other, never breaking eye contact.

This is gonna be a long night.

Author's Note: Now things are getting interesting. Speaking of which, I'm going to put up a seperate bonus chapter later today. Make sure to look out for it!

This Isn't a Good Idea

After Twilight leaves to her room, we continue to stare at each other in silence, both trying size up each other. Neither of us could really sleep right there because of all the thoughts and feelings going through us. At this point, neither wanted to give the other any kind of advantage, that advantage being going to sleep and leaving the other asleep. Our stubborness also get the better of us.

I start to break the silence. "So, why were you in the forest in the first place?"

"Not that it's your business, but I live there." he replies bitterly.

"Live there?" I ask, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Yeah, living there and using my powers to fight the monsters in there is one hay of a time." he puts on a sinister grin. "What were you doing in there, besides looking to die that is?"

This guy is definitely sick in the head. "I was there to fulfill my dream of being the first pony to figure out the mystery behind the forest's weather."

He starts chuckling to himself. "Seriously? That has got to be the stupidest thing I ever heard. You are such a loser."

"Well, don't look now, but this "loser" just punded your sorry flank into the ground."

"You got lucky! Let me go and I'll show you what I can really do!"

"Hehe, I don't think so. As long as you're tied up, you're not going anywhere. Even if you got out, I'd take you down before you could even do anything."

"Oh, yeah? If I weren't tied up, it'd put you six feet under in ten seconds flat(Ihad to)!"

"KEEP QUIET DOWN THERE! SOMPONIES ARE TRYING TO SLEEP!" we hear Twilight shout.

We both go to back to sitting and staring at each other in silence. We eventually both just pass out at the same time. Convenient I must say.

The next morning

Dark and I both wake up. This is kinda freaky. I sniff the air and smell something. Pancakes!

"Well, about time you two woke up. "Twilight says. "Spike's in the kitchen preparing breakfast. He should be done soon."

"Sounds good, Twi." I say.

"I don't want anything you have to give." Dark says.

Twi and I both roll our eyes at him. "Breakfast is ready!" Spike yells.

"Nice!" I get up and head towards the kitchen.

Twi uses her magic to levitate Dark and carry him over. "Hey! Put me down! I don't want breakfast!" he shouts.

"Hush. You're eating and that's final." Twilight tells him. Twilight sure can be tough when she wants.

We reach the kitchen and take our seats, Twilight putting Dark in his. Spike brings over a bunch of plates filled with pancakes and sets them infront of each of us.

"Bon appetite." he says.

"Man, these look great!" I say before digging in.

As the rest of us eat, Dark just sits there and looks at his food. "It's not poisonous. See?" Twilight says before taking a bite. "Besides, you really need to keep your energy up, especially after what happened to you last night."

"You mean me kicking his flank?" I say.

"You're not helping" Twilight says through gritted teeth.

"Even if I wanted to eat, I can't move my legs to grab the knife." Dark says to twilight.

"Well, do you want me to feed you?"

"Excuse me?" he says in annoyed voice.

"You let me feed you."

"No way! I'm not a little kid!"

I reach over to his plate. "Sweet! More for me!"

"Wait! Fine, I'll let you feed me."

Twilight smiles and uses her magic to begin feeding Dark. This is too rich, but I sustain my laughter. We all finish eating and head back into the main room.

"So, has there been a reply from the princess yet?" I ask.

"Yes, she wants us to meet at the palace at-" before Twilight can continue, a bright flash fills the room. As the light fades, it reveals to be Princess Celestia.

"Good morning, everypony." she says.

"Princess! I thought you wanted us all to meet at the palace!" Twilight shouts in confusion.

"I decided to give you all a break and drop by myself."

"Now I can see why ponies call her Trollestia." I mutter silently.

"What was that?"

"Nothing, nothing." I say nervously.

She looks at me with a raised eyebrow before trotting over to Dark. "Dark Lightning, after all this time, I have finally found you."

"What are you taking about, princess?" Twilight asks.

"You see, Dark has been a fugitive of he Royal Guard for over fifteen years. He is wanted for the death of his adoptive father."

"The son of a mare had it coming!" Dark shouts.

Everypony just looks at him with a shocked expression, everypony except the princess that is. "I think discussing this would be easier without you being constricted." her horn glows as the vines around Dark break and release him.

"Oh yeah! Much better!"

"Princess!" Twilight shouts.

"It is all right, Twilight. He shall not harm you. Right, Dark?"

Helands and looks at her smugly. "Sure. So, I guess you're going to take me away now?"

"No." she replies.

"No?"

"I want you to stay here in Ponyville. I think staying here would be good for you."

"What?!" everypony shouts.

"Are you sure, princess? I don't think that's a good idea. Even if he stayed, where would he live? I've run out of room at my place." I say.

"I am well aware of this. I think Dark here should stay with Twilight."

"What?! You can't be serious! This psycho is way too dangerous!"

"How about I show you how dangerous I am?!" Dark says, getting in my face.

"Bring it on!" I reply.

"Enough!" Princess Celestia shouts. "Blue Breeze, it is obvious you're being here is making this more difficult than need be. I think it would be best if you leave."

I back away from Dark and stomp out of the library. I just dont trust that guy.

'You needn't worry, Blue Breeze.' a voice says.

"What? Who's there?" I say outloud.

'It is I, Princess Celestia. I'm taking to you telepathically.'

'Really?'

'Yes. I'm sorry I made you leave, but I believe Twilight is fully capable of handing this.'

'Are you sure? Twilight is your student after all.'

'I know, which is why I am still worried. If he dares to hurt any innocent pony, especially one so close to me... I'll make sure he never sees the light of day again.'

'Geez, that's pretty harsh.'

'Harsh or not, if I feel it necessary, I just do it.'

'Did you feel it necessary to send your sister to the moon for a thousand years? Because I think you could've tried harder.'

'...Anyway, I really should be going. But before I go, can you promise to keep an eye on him?'

'Sure, I was planning to anyway.'

'Good. Good luck with him.'

'Thanks.'

We finish up our little telepathic discussion and arrive back home to see the guys hanging out.

"Shouldn't you guys be at work?"

"We're going. e just wanted to make sure you came back first." Zeph says.

"Thanks. Now, does anyone want some breakfast? I'm still a little hungry."

"Sure." they all say.

I go over and start making some chimicherrychongas. "So, what's the deal with Dark?" Ice asks.

"Apparently Celestia thinks he should live with Twilight."

"Really? I hope she'll be okay."

"Me too. Pardon me here, but if he so much as touches Twilight, I'll be dead on his flank like Spencer for bucking Hire. I'll hunt him down and feed him his own testicles AND I'll do it in a jiffy. And I dont care if his mom's there, his grandma, innocent bystanders, little kids, babysitters, bill collectors, whatever. I'll leave his whole body in pieces if I have to! And you know why?! 'CAUSE I JUST DON'T GIVE A BUCK!"

A bubble of grease pop as I finish. "So, who's hungry?" I ask hsppily. They just sit there and stare at me. "Come on, guys. You know I'd never go that far." I reassure.

Maybe I wouldn't go that far, but he's dead if he hurts Twilight.

Author's Note: So, can anyone name what that little scene at the end is inspired by? I;ll give you a shout out if you can.

Dark's Twilight

Author's Note: I am disappoint. No one even tried to guess where the last scene was from. It's from 'The Boondocks'. But anyway, this chapter is going to be a little differnt. Instead of it revolving around Blue, this one is going to revolve around Dark. Expect more chapters like this in the future... probably. Now, on with the story.

"Blue Breeze, it is obvious you're being here is making this more difficult than need be. I think it would be best if you leave." Celestia sayss to me. I mumble a bit and stomp out of the library. "Now, back to business. Twilight, will you let Dark Lightning live here wuth you and Spike? It would be most appreciated."

Twilight looks down and puts hoof to her before looking back at the princess. "Yes. Yes, I'll take on this duty for you princess."

"Wait a minute!" Dark says. "What if I refuse to live here?"

"You'll be captured by my guards and be locked away in a rubber cell with zero chance of ever getting out."

"Hmm, is that all?"

"No, you'll also be visited by the elderly to read for them."

His eyes widen. "Okay, I'll stay here!"

"Good to hear. Now, I must be going. And, Twilight?"

"Yes, princess?"

"Let me know if Dark causes you any trouble."

"Of course, princess."

"Well, I must be off now." Celestia's horn begins to glow as another bright light flashes throughout the room. The light fades and the princess is no longer around.

"Well, this is just great. Just make sure to stay out of my way. Got that?" Dark tells Twilight and Spike. He then trots off to be alone.

"Are you sure this is such a good idea, Twilight?" Spike asks.

"If the princess thinks so, then I trust in her judgement. Besides, Blue and the others are sure to be around to help us with him. It'll be fine, Spike."

"If you say so, but I still don't trust him." Spike then walks off to attend to his many daily chores around the library.

Twilight looks over to Dark, resting on a couch. "There must be some way to get through to him, and I'm gonna figure it out."

Twilight walks over to Dark, getting his attention and an angry glare. "What do you want? I thought I told you to leave me alone."

"I just thought since you'd be living here that we should get to know each other a bit more."

"I'll pass."

"Come on, please?" she starts giving him a girl's most powerful weapon against a guy: The puppy dog pout.

"That doesn't work on me. Beat it." she continues to put at him pleadingly. "I said cut it out." his glare starts to break. "Fine! I'll tell you anything! Just stop!"

"Yay! Goodie!" Twilight says in celebration.

"Yeah, yeah. So, what do you wanna know?"

"The princess said you've been a fugitive for over fifteen years. I'm curious to know why that is."

"*sigh* I had a pretty bucked up life. Even back when I was just a few days old."

Flashback time(WARNING! Another dark(no pun intended) backstory. This time with added child abuse. Fully written by Dark Lightning, just with some scenes I put in for dramatic effect)

A pony in a hood wanders around the streets in the middle of a dark and rainy night. The pony stops infront of a house and sets something down at it's door before knocking. The pony quickly gallops away before the door opens.

"Hello? Who's there?" the mare at the door says. She looks down and she something lsying there. "What in the world?" she lifts a flap up to reveal a crying baby foal. "Oh my Celestia! A baby!" she picks the foal up and takes it inside.

Back in the present

"So you're parents abandoned you as a baby?" Twilight asks with a sad look on her face.

"Yeah, but just because a family had taken me in doesn't mean I had a good life."

Flashback again

A five year old Dark Lightning is playing in the house's living room. As he plays, he accidentally knocks over and breaks a vase.

Dark's adoptive father approaches him with an angry look. "Dark! How many times do I have to tell you not to play in the bucking house?!" he takes his hoof and hits Dark across the face.

Dark gets up. "I'm starting to get tired of getting beaten!" he shouts.

"May I remind you that we took you in! Without us, be dead on the streets! You're nothing without us!"

Before he can strike Dark again, Dark yells and points what is now an electrically chsrged hoof. A bolt of electricity shoots off and zaps Dark's adoptive father to death.

Just then, Dark's adoptive mother walks into the room and gasps. "What did you do to him?!"

"I-I didn't mean-"

"You little monster! I'm getting the Royal Guard!"

Dark begins to panic and rushes out of the house. He just keeps running and running, just trying to get away. After a while, he eventually stops inside the Everfree Forest. He brings a hoof up to his face and sees sparks coming off of it, With one fick of his hoof, a bolt of lightning shoots out. To add to Dark's amazement, he notices a cutie mark of a yellow, red, and black lightning bolt appear on his flank.

In the present again

"After that, I spent up until now living in the forest, learning what I could really do with my powers."

Twilight looks at him with tears in her eyes. "Dark, I am so sorry."

"Don't be. Now that I can control these powers, my next goal is to get back at my real parents for leaving me."

"Dark, I'm sure they didn't want to give you up, but they had no choice."

He glares at her. "You weren't there! You have no idea what they wanted!"

Twilight's eyes slit at this. "And neither do you! Dark, sometimes you need to give ponies the benefit of the doubt. You shouldn't just assume they didn't want you."

Dark stops glaring and looks down. "I just... I've had such a miserable life. I thought getting revenge could fix it all."

Twilight embraces him in a hug. "I know, Dark. But you have friends now. You can put that life behind you."

"Friends? What friends?"

She breaks the hug and looks at him. "You have me."

He looks at her for a moment before hugging her back.

Maybe there's hope for him after all.

Sparks of Ice

Author's Note: This idea came to me when Dark and Ice got into another one of their arguements the other day. Also, anyone who reads 'Three of Me: School Society' by KillJoy knows Dark and Ice are rivals. So, why not? Now, on with the story.

The others and I continue eating breakfast. They were all a little worried about me after my little... episode, but they eventually let it go.

"So, now what are you gonna do with Dark staying at Twilight's?" Ice asks me.

"Since it's still early and I have nothing else planned I thought I'd just go to work." I answer.

"Good, it'll make the work a lot easier." Zeph says.

"You guys sure are lazy. I know my special talent is all about weather, but it's not that hard. Even when I did it by myself I didn't complain."

"That's because you got to work with Dash." Drax says.

"...Maybe, but that's not the point. Anyway, I'm going to work today, but not tomorrow."

"What for?"

"I'm going to need tomorrow to keep an eye on Dark. I still don't trust him as far as I can throw him. Though last night I proved that I could throw him pretty far."

"Okay, just be careful out there."

"You know who you're talking to? Don't worry, I got this."

"That's what we're afraid of."

We finish eating, turns out Zeph and Drax also like chimicherrychongas, and all head off to work. As we walk, we pass the library and I can't help but to stare at it as we pass. I just don't see this turning out good.

We arrive to the weather office and head inside. "Hey, boys. You already know where to go for your work." Sunny says to us. Why is it I never see her outside of work? Oh well.

"Thanks, Sunny." we all say.

We go int the lounge and see a surprised Rainbow Dash. "Blue? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be watching that creep, Dark?" she asks.

"*sigh* The princess wants him to stay with Twilight."

"What?!"

"I know, but I'm not going to question Celestia. I'm just here because I had nothing else to do."

"Is that it?"

"No, actually I'm not going to be in tomorrow."

"Why not?"

"I'm going to be watching Dark. The princess wants me to keep an eye on him, so I plan to do that tomorrow."

"Good, that's a relief. I just hope Twilight will be okay til then."

"Yeah, so do I."

"Well anyway, you guys are just clearing the clouds today. So, hop to it."

"You got it."

We leave the office and go on to do our work. "So, do you really think Twilight will be okay?" Zeph asks.

"I hope so. Her friends said she's handled an ursa minor before, so she's proven to handle herself."

"An ursa minor? Dang, that girl's tough." Drax says.

Later

We finish working and go punch out. "So, anything you guys wanna do now?" I ask them.

"Not really. I was just thinking of hanging out at the cafe." Drax suggests.

"Sounds good to me." Zeph says.

"Okay then, let's go."

We leave the office and make our way over to the cafe. We pass the library again and I continue to stare at it. Am I crazy? Yeah, I probably am. Whatever

We reach the cafe and go inside to meet up with Ice and Vine as usual. Really, does she even work at all?

"So, Vine, did Ice tell you what's up with Dark?" I ask.

"Yeah, and it really worries me." she answers.

"I know what you mean. He's already proved with you that he doesn't care about hurting mares."

"Don't remind me. My head is still killing me."

"It looked painful from where I saw."

"Not nearly as painful as it will be for Dark if I shove a cactus up his rump from hurting somepony."

"What's with you and cacti?" Ice asks.

She shrugs. "It's fun for me and painful for my victims."

I'm starting to feel a bit creeped out right now.

Back in the library

"Thanks a lot for helping me with some of the chores around here, Dark." Twilight says.

"Eh, it was a good timewaster." he says. "I feel like going out for a bit. Know any good places to get some coffee at?"

"There's a cafe near here. You can't miss it."

"Thanks." he says before walking out.

Did he say "thanks"?

Dark looks around and quickly finds the cafe Twilight mentioned. He trots over to it and steps inside to see the exact thing he was trying to avoid.

"Seriously?! You're all here?!" he shouts at us.

Oh great. "Well, if it isn't our favorite psychopath."

He walks over and takes a seat a few over from us. "Don't bug me. I just came here for some coffee and that's it."

"Even though I don't like it, what'll you have?" Ice asks him.

"I'll take it black, and make it snappy."

"Of course, your royal jackflank." Ice makes the coffee and trots over to give it to Dark. "There."

Dark picks up his coffee and takes a drink. "Heh, this stuff is actually better than I thought it'd be. I guess you're not a complete waste."

Ice puts on an angry expression from this. "You tring to say something, jerk?!"

"Yeah, I don't like you or your friends. If it wasnt for the fact that I'm under watch, I'd take you down right now."

"Should we do something about this?" Vine asks.

"You know what? No! If they want to beat the hay out of each other, then let 'em." I answer. "Hey, Ice and Dark?"

"What?!" they shout at me.

"If you two want to fight, follow me and you can fight all you want."

They both smile at the opportunity and both follow. "Great, I've got thirty minutes for lunch. I should only need a tenth of that for this." Ice says.

"Bring it, Frosty." Dark says.

"Okay, Sparky."

Finally, a fight that I'm not involved in. This should be good.

I lead everypony to the open space where I trained Ice to use for the fight. "Okay, both of you, come to me." I tell them. They walk up and stare at each other. "Only one rule in this fight: No killing your opponent."

"Dang it." Dark says.

"Now, shake hooves." they both put their hooves up. "And no shocking before the fight begins, Dark." he rolls his eyes and turns off his electrically charged hoof before the two of them shake hooves. "Now, go walk back a bit before we get this started."

They both walk back and I leave the vacinity before joining the others in the stand. I grab a bucket of popcorn before the fight starts. "This is gonna be good."

"Where'd you get that popcorn?" Vine asks.

I look at the popcorn for a minute. "...I don't know."

Another minute of silence passes of Ice and Dark staring each other down. "And... BEGIN!" I shout.

Dark creates blades of solid electricity from his hooves and starts charging at Ice. Before he can reach him, Ice stomps his hooves and creates an ice wall. Dark cuts the wall down only for Ice to have turned around and buck him in the jaw. Dark ges siding back from Ice's kick.

"Oh, did I mention I trained Ice myself?!" I shout at Dark.

He gets back up and looks at Ice. "Eh, whatever. He's still going down!"

"We'll see!" Ice shouts.

He stomps all four of his hooves down to create an ice slide, and begins to slide in the air. His horns give off a mist as he creates ice shards to fire at Dark.

Dark's amazing speed allows him to easily avoid the onslaught of crystals and fly up to meet with Ice's level. They begin to fire projectiles at each other only for them to collide and a cloud of smoke to appear.

In the smoke, Dark gets behind Ice and knocks him off of his slide. Dark then charge's up two lightning grenades in his hooves to chuck at Ice.

"Double Lightning Frag Grenades!" he shouts.

He chucks the balls of lightning at Ice and they explode near him. The smoke clears to reveal Ice had made a thick shield around him to block the explosives.

Dark lands back down and charges up one of his hooves. Ice also begins to charge one of his hooves. They both charge at each other while shouting angrily. They meet in close and punch each other in the face at the same time.

They both fall unconscious from the hard hits.

"*sigh* Idiots." I say. "You guys mind taking Ice home? I'll take Dark back to Twilight's."

"No problem." Zeph says.

They take Ice back home and I pick up Dark to take back to Twilight's. Vine was right, he is heavy. I make my way back in to town, getting strange looks from other ponies.

I reach the library and knock. Twilight answers the door and her mouth opens when she notices Dark. "What happened?!"

"Dark and Ice decided to have a little sparring match and went and knocked each other out. You mind taking him?"

"Sure." Twilight lifts Dark up with her magic and put him inside. "Thanks for carrying him back. I appreciate it, Blue."

"No problem, Twi. You just make sure to keep an eye on him."

"Will do."

The door closes and I walk off to go home.

Only one day here and Dark's already causing us trouble.

Showing Dark Around

After dropping off Dark at Twilight's, I start making my way home. As I walk, I start thinking. 'I'm surprised Dark actually listened and didn't try to kill Ice. Is Twilight actually getting through to him already?'

I stop thinking as I reach my house and walk inside. "Ice doing okay?" I ask Zeph and Drax.

"Yeah, he's fine." Zeph answers.

"Huh? What happened?" Ice asks as he comes to. His eyes shoot open as he remembers what happened. "Where's Dark?! Who won?!"

"Nopony won. You both knocked each other out at the same time." I answer.

"Aw man." he says in defeat. "I'll get him next time!"

"Just calm down there, tough guy. I know you don't like him, but that doesn't mean you should get so worked yp when we should be trying to watch out for him."

"Yeah, I guess." he gets up and starts heading out. "Well, I gotta be getting back to work. You wouldn't believe how upset Bon Bon can get."

"See ya." we all say.

Now that that's done with, I could really use a nap.

The next day(I wish I knew how to do a better transition)

Today was the day I was dreading: Keeping an eye on Dark by offering to show him around town. Doesn't that sound like fun? ...Yes? Do you just like watching me suffer?! Whatever.

After getting up, I go down stairs to meet with the others. "So, how are you gonna be keeping an eye on Dark today?" Zeph asks me.

"*sigh* I'm going over to Twilight's and I'm going to offer to show him around."

"Ha, sucks for you." Ice says.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I can handle it."

"Like that time you said you could handle Fluttershy's chickens?" Drax says. Why did I tell them that?

I shiver. "I don't want to talk about it."

They all laugh at my reaction. Don't I have just the best friends ever? We go on to eat breakfast and they make jokes about me spending time with Dark. After breakfast, I leave to start going to the library. I make sure to go the long way.

I shortly arrive at the giant, hollow tree and knock for Twilight to answers it. "Hey, Blue. What's up?"

I try to put on my best smile. It actually pains me to do this. "Oh, I was just stopping by to see if I could take Dark around town and show him some places."

"Really? That's great to hear! I thought you'd still be pretty cautious about him."

"Hehe, I'm just trying to help welcome a new pony to town." I say nervously. Kill me now.

"I'll go get him." she walks back with Dark following.

Dark looks at me for a moment. "No way." he says.

"Come on, Dark. For me?" Twilight says with a smile.

He looks at her and exhales. "Okay, Twilight. For you."

"Glad to hear it." Dark steps out and we start walking off. "Have fun you two!"

As we walk, we look at each other in displeasure. "Look, I don't like this anymore than you do." I say.

"Then why did you feel the need to drag me out here?" he responds.

"While Twilight may trust you, I don't. So let's just try to make this as painless as possible."

"Ugh, fine. Just don't get in my way."

"Wouldn't dream of it." I say jokingly. "First, I think I'll take you to Sugarcube Corner."

"Wait, isn't that where that crazy, pink pony works? I don't think I wanna go there."

"Just come on."

We make our way through town and to Sugarcube Corner.

We walk in to bbe greeted by an always estatic Pinkie Pie. "Hey, Breezy! Hey, Lighty!"

"Lighty?" Dark asks.

"Hey, Pinkie." I say.

"What brings you both by?" she asks.

"I'm just showing Dark around town. Thought we'd stop by here."

"Well you're both just in time! We made a bunch of free cupcake samples! It's a new recipe of vanilla and chocolate mixed together. Try some."

She pulls out a tray of the said cupcakes and Dark and I both grab one. I take a bite of mine. "Wow. These are good, Pinkie."

Dark spits his out. "Bleh! I never did like sugar." he turns around and goes out the front door.

"Sorry about him, Pinkie."

"Oh, it's fine. Not everypony can like everything. I'm sure he'll come around."

"I sure hope so."

"Well, thanks for trying the cupcakes anyway."

"No problem. See ya later!"

I head outside and catch up with Dark. "Okay, that could've gone better." I say.

"Any other annoyances you have planned?" Dark asks.

"Yeah, I do. Let's go over by Fluttershy's cottage."

"Whatever."

We start heading over there, Dark seemingly loosening up the more time we spend walking. We arrive to find Fluttershy watering her plants again.

"Oh, hi, Blue." she says. She then looks over to Dark. "O-Oh, h-hi, Dark."

"*sigh* I'm not going to hurt you, so just calm down." he tells her

"Oh, it's not that, it's just, um..." she starts to freeze up.

"Never mind." I interrupt. "Anything you've got going on, Fluttershy?"

"Oh, well, I was just about to feed my animals their late morning snack."

"Sounds fun. Can we help?"

"Say wha-" Dark says before I nudge him in the chest. "I mean, yeah, what he said."

"Of course you can help." she flies over and motions for us to follow. "Blue, since you're used to it, you can feed the chickens."

"Sounds good."

"And, Dark, you can help me feed the bunnies."

"Alright, I guess."

I start grabbing chicken feed and gently pouring it out of my hoof. The chickens come and starting eating quickly. They're actually pretty cute when they're like this. Fluttershy takes Dark over and gives him rabbit food to pour into a bowl. Dark pours it in, only for Angel to kick it over on to Dark's head.

"Why you little!" he shouts.

I notice him to about to lunge at the bunny and quickly gallop over to restrain him. "Dark, just calm down!"

"He's mine! I'm gonna wear his feet for good luck!"

Fluttershy steps infront of Dark and her gaze intensifies. The stories were true! I quickly let go of Dark as to not get caught by Fluttershy's stare myself. Dark just stands motionless under her gaze.

"You will NOT hurt my animals! You understand?!" she shouts at him. He slowly nods his head, barely able to even think. Futtershy stops starring at him. "Good."

Dark grabs at his head and rubs it. I go over to him and start leading him away. "I think we'll be going, Fluttershy." I say.

"Okay, thanks for your help!" she says as we walk off.

Dark lifts his head up. "What was that? I feel like my mind was just erased and then put back all at once."

"Fluttershy's friend told me she has this 'stare' that she uses on occasion. It apparently gives her full mental control over her victims."

"Ugh, I never want to go through that again."

"Well, I've got another idea. Let's go over to the Carousel Boutique."

"Ugh, I hate fashion."

"Stop your whining."

"I'm not whining, I'm complaining."

"Yeah, I think you and Rarity will get along just fine."

We walk for a bit(this is just so fun to keep saying) and arrive at the boutique. We go inside and the bell rings. "Hello, and welcome to-" Rarity starts saying before noticing it's us. "Oh, hello there, Blue, Dark."

"Hey, Rarity." I say. "I was just showing Dark around town. You got anything going on."

She gaps. "This is perfect! I was working on a new outfit when I realized I didn't have the proper model. But Dark here is just PERFECT!"

"No way." he says.

"Just do it." I whisper to him.

"No way am I modeling." he whispers back.

"I'll give you twenty bits."

He grins. "Deal." he looks at Rarity. "Okay, so what do I need to do?"

"Just up on the platform over here, and I'll do all the work." she tells him.

"Well, you two do that. As for me, I'll be back later." I say before leaving.

One hour later

I walk back inside the boutique to see how things are going. "So, how was i-" I stop as I notice Dark wearing one of those male ballet dancer outfits. I burst out in laughter.

He growls. "Blue, I'm going to kill you."

"I think it looks rather dashing." Rarity says.

Dark rips off the outfit and tosses it aside. "Screw this!" he leaves the boutique in a hurry.

I get back up and wipe my eyes. "Thanks for that, Rarity." I leave after Dark.

Rarity just sits there in confusion. "Why are things always so weird around here?"

I catch up with Dark. "It really wasn't that bad. *snicker* Come on, let's go to the cafe."

He sighs. "Good, I could use some coffee."

We make our way over there and go inside to meet up with all the others. "So, how are things going?" Vine asks.

"None of your business!" Dark shouts at her.

"Fantastic." I reply sarcastically.

"I can see that." she says.

"Your guys' usual?" Ice asks.

"Yep." I answer for us.

Dark and I take our seats, Dark sitting between Vine and I. Ice returns with our drinks and Dark reaches for his mug. As he reaches over, he knocks over Vine's cup and spills it on her *cough* crotch.

"OUCH! Hot hot hot hot hot!" she shouts. Dark just shrugs and grabs his mug. Vine glares at him. "Excuse me?!"

"What do you want?" Dark says to her.

"Isn't there something you should say to me? Something starting with an S?"

"Right now I'd like to say: Shut up."

She starts getting in his face. "Bad answer."

He pushes back in her face. "You wanna go at it?! I already took you down once!"

I get up and get between them. "Come on, guys. We can't keep doing this everyday."

"I'll stop if he says he's sorry."

"No way am I doing that."

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Before the fight continues on, a loud scream comes from outside.

Things just keep getting better and better.

Author's Note: What is the horrifying shriek all about? Will Dark learn to get along with everypony else? Will Vine get an apology from Dark? Find out all this and more on the next episode of Dragonba-*whispers* What? *whispers* That's the wrong show? *whispers* This isn't even a show?! WHAT THE FU-*message ends due to "technical difficulties"*.

Protecting the Town

Author's Note: Here it is, everyone. The chapter I've had planned for a long time. I've had this planned back when Ice was the only OC I planned on putting in. That's how long I've been waiting on this. I now just hope it's as good as I thought it'd be. Also, happy Saint Patrick's Day, my fellow Irish bronies. Now, on with the story

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"What in Equestria was that?" I ask.

"Who cares? Sounds like something interesting is finally happening." Dark says before galloping out.

"Come on, guys. Let's go!" the rest of us follow Dark outside.

Upon coming outside, we see something COMPLETELY unexpected. We come out to see a lupis minor attacking somepony. For clarification, lupases are wolf creatures, similar to timberwolves. But where as timberwolves are completely made of wood, lupases are celestial creatures like ursas. A lupas minor is slightly larger than an average pony and a lupis major is slightly larger than a full-sized alicorn like Celestia.

"What in the world is a lupas doing outside of the forest?!" Zephyr asks.

"I don't know, but we need to stop it!" I say.

"I'm on it!" Drax says. He goes and bucks in it's side. The lupis gets back up and snarls at him. The lupis lunges in the air at him, but Drax gets up and slams his hooves on its head before it can get close enough. The lupis then falls unconscious.

The rest of us gather around and look at it. "Vine, you're an animal expert. Is this normal?" I ask.

"No, it's not. I've never seen any creature leave this far out of the forest." she answers.

"Me neither. These things are predators, but they normal only attack ponies that come into the forest." Dark says. Everypony looks at him quizically. "You learn these things when you live in the forest for fifteen years."

Fair enough.

Before we can contiue thinking this over, Twilight shows up. "What in the world is going on?!"

"For some reason this lupas left the forest."

He pupils shrink at hearing this. "Oh no..."

"Oh no, what?"

Before Twilight can explain(so many interruptions today), Zecora comes running to us. "Ponies, we must make haste, for we have no time to waste!"

"What do you mean, Zecora?" I ask.

"It is worse than all of my greatest fears. The monsters are attacking like they do every one hundred years!"

"What?!"

"She's saying that the monsters of the forest are attacking because they have a curse where they become more violent and hunt for ponies. This curse also happens every century. Since Ponyville isn't a dentury old yet, not many ponies know about this."

Of bucking course! "If that's the case, you go and try help ponies find shelter! We'll stop the monsters!"

"But..."

"No time for buts! Just go!"

They nod and then run away. "What do you mean "We'll stop the monsters"?" Ice asks.

I close my eyes. "I know we're supposed to keep our powers a secret, but the only way we're gonna protect everypony is to use our powers to fight off the monsters."

"Sweet! That means I don't have to hold back!" Dark says.

"I'm sure there's another way." Vine says. "Let me try. I have a natural attraction for animals." a timberwolf starts running up to her. "Just watch." the timberwolf gets closer and closer, not slowing down. The wolf lunges and Vine braces herself.

Drax punches the wolf in the side of it's head, sending it flying and knocking it out. "I don't really think that's going to work here, Vine."

"*sigh* You're right. I guess we don't have a choice."

"Now that we're all in agreement, it's time to talk strategy." I say. We all get in a group huddle. "Okay, I think it'd be best if we all split up and cover different parts of the town. Dark, I know you still don't like us, but we all need to work together for this to work. Just make sure to not let anypony get hurt and to try and not let any property get destroyed."

"Ugh, fine. Just make sure you actually have my back." he responds.

"Everypony in agreement? We watch each other's backs and try to protect as much as possible. We also meet back in the middle of town when we think it's okay."

"Agreed." they all respond.

"Okay... BREAK!"

We all break off into seperate directions. A manticore comes running up and Dark gives it a good slah across it's chest.

"Oh, I'm gonna have fun with this!"

"I think you're enjoying this too much." I say.

"I've been stressed lately. Everypony deals with stress differently. Some ponies buck at funerals. I kick flanks(if you can name the game the quote I'm parodying comes from, I'll love you forever)."

I gotta admit, even though that was pretty crass, it was bucking funny!

We each continue to go in seperate directions. If the monsters left the forest, then they should've immediately attacked my destination. Fluttershy's cottage!

I gallop as fast as I can to the yellow pony's house. I just hope I'm not too late. I continue to go as fast as I can, ignoring my urge to take a breath.

I get to the house to see a scorpio trying to break down the door. "SOMEPONY! HELP!" I hear Fluttershy scream.

Scorpios are another celestial beast, just giant, orange scorpions.

"HEY! UGLY!" I shout, The scorpio turns around to look at me. "Bet you can't catch me!" I taunt while wiggling my rump at it. It's eyes turn to slits as it grows angrier. It whips its tail at me, only for me to dodge and fly in close. I charge up one my hooves and hit it right between the eyes, launching it back.

With that done, I go up to the door. "Fluttershy, it's me, Blue Breeze!"

The door slowly opens. "It is you!" she jumps out and starts hugging me. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

I make her break the hug and give her a smile. "It's no problem. But it's not safe out here. You go into town and find better shelter."

She nods. "Right." she flies off as directed.

I turn around to see some timberwolves leaving the forest. I fly up to them and charge my wings. "Okay, who's next?!"

Back in town, the school has been barricaded with teacher and students still inside. "Okay, children. This is not a drill! We need to stay here and remain quiet to not draw attention to ourselves." Cheerilee tells the students.

"I'm not afraid of those monsters!" Scootaloo shouts.

"Neither am ah!" Apple Bloom shouts.

"Um... I kinda am." Sweetie Belle admits.

"Come on, Sweetie Belle! This could be our chance to get our cutie maks! We could be CUtie Mark Crusader Town Protectors!"

"You girls are going to stay here and that is final!" Cheerilee tells them.

"Yes, Ms. Cheerilee." they all say. Suddenly, the front doors are blown away as a lupis major walks in, looking at the ponies with hungry eyes. "Stay behind me, everypony!" Cheerille shouts while getting between the giant wolf and the kids.

Before the lupis gets too close, Drax bursts through a window and wrestlses the beast down. "GET OUT OF HERE!" he tells the class.

Everypony nods as they run out of the building. The lupis hits Drax in the face and knocks him right off. The lupis uses this chance to chase after the fleeing classroom. Drax gets back up and gets to hunting down the wolf. Drax catches up to the wolf and grabs its tail by the mouth. The lupis looks back to see Drax holding it and grinning. Drax uses his powerful muscles to toss the giant lupis into the air. He wraps himself around it and starts flying downwards with a spin. A crater is formed as Drax slams the lupis into the ground head first.

The classroom of young ponies cheers for Drax as he gets up and gives them a salute before flying off.

Now, what could Zephyr be up to?

Else where in town, Zephyr has just defeated a group of timberwolves. "HA! Easy peasy."

"Don't be too sure of youself." Vine tells him, pointing in the distance. "We've got serious trouble."

Zephyr looks over to see a four-headed hydra approaching them. "I'm on it!"

Zeph starts flying up at the hydra, using his talent for manuevering to easily avoid the heads. He continues to fly around and avoiding getting nommed by each head. He suddenly stops and looks back to see a head coming right at him. Before it can reach him, it suddenly stops because it can't reach. Zephyr actually flew around the heads so much that they got tied together.

"Like I said, easy peasy!" he shouts to Vine.

"Yeah, yeah." her hooves glow as a bunch of vines wrap around the hydra and sending it flting back to the forest.

Let's see what our favorite psychopath is up to.

"This is what I'm talking about!" Dark shouts as he cuts off the tail of a scorpio. He turns back around and stabs the scorpio in the head. This dude's brutal.

Around the corner, Ice runs around to where Dark is. "Wow. You seem to be having fun." he says to Dark.

"You bet I am!"

Just then, a pack of lupas minors swarm them. Ice and Dark back up as the bump into each other. They turn and glare at each other only to turn back and look at the lupases.

"You got my back?" Ice asks.

"You got mine?"

"Yep!" they respond at the same time before jumping at the lupases.

Dark charges up and throws a grenade into his group and they get blown away. Ice summons a bunch of colunms and literally impales all of his(happy, Ice?).

They turn back and bro-hoof each other. "Nice going, Frosty."

"Not too bad yourself, Sparky."

They run off together to meet up with the others in the middle of the town. They go there to find everypony else, including myself.

"So, is that all of them?" I ask everypony. A loud stomping comes from behind me. "Never mind."

I turn around to an ursa minor standing right behind me. It takes a swipe at me and sends me into the second story of a nearby building.

Ugh, I'm gonna feeling that for a while." I say as I get up.

"AH!" a mare in a bath tub screams. Oops. "Pervert! Get out of my house!" she shouts as she starts throwing things at me.

"Ow! Okay! Geez, Lady! I'm going!"

I land back outside and look at the ursa. I know how to handle this.

"Ice, make a pillar under its head!" Ice stomps his hooves for a pillar to come up and knock the ursa to its back legs as its jaw is hit.

"Drax throw me!" Drax gets on his back legs and I jump into his forelegs. He pulls back and tosses me with all his might. I charge both of my forelegs to give the ursa a Double Hurricane Hoof to the chest. It stumbles back, but catches itself and grabs me.

I scream out in pain as the ursa starts to squeeze me. "AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

"Blue!" Ice shouts. He creates about a dozen ice crystals in the air and fires them at the ursa. The ursa reels back as the crystals penetrate its flesh The ursa gets mad and chucks me at Ice, sending the both of us tumbling back.

"That's it!" Dark shouts. He creates a grenade and each hoof and throws them at the ursas head. They explode in itsface and the ursa keels over.

I get back and grab my chest. Geez, this hurts.. "You okay, Ice?" I ask in pain.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." he replies as he gets up.

"Now, is that the last of it?" a loud roar comes in the distance as I finish. "Celestia dang it all!"

This time it's not a mere ursa minor, but an ursa major!

"I think putting junior down upset mama." Dark says.

"Group huddle!" everypony gather around me as I whisper my plan. I'm so good, I can think of a plan in ten seconds flat.

We break the huddle and Zephyr flies up to the ursas eye level, which wasn't easy since it was on its back legs.

"Hey, Smokey! Bet you can't get me!" he shouts at it. The ursa roars and begins to swing at Zephyr. Zeph dodges the colossal swings as he flies backwards to lead the bear away from the town.

Phase one complete.

"Ice, you're up!" I tell him. He stomps heis hooves and creates a pointed ice pillar. "Vine, your go!" Vine creates a bunch of vines and rips the pillar off of it foundation and up to the ursa' chest level, Zephyr still keeping it busy.

Dark and I nod to each other as we both fly up to the pillar. Dark uses his powers to electrically charge up the pillar, now pointed directly at the ursa.

I get into position at the pillar's back end. Time to end it!

"FUS RO DAH!" I shout as I give my wings a powerful flap and send the pillar through the ursa's chest.

Dark, Zeph, and I land back down to the others. The ursa falls backwards with a thud, now dead.

Everypony comes out of their shelters and gather around us. After a minute of staring, they start cheering for us.

The celebration is cut short as I fall over from the pain in my chest. "BLUE!" everypony shouts.

"He needs medical attention!" Vine shouts.

"We need to get him to the hospital!" Drax suggests. He picks me up and they all start hurrying me to the hospital, leaving the crowd of ponies in a sad silence.

Even in victory, nothing ever goes right for me.

Something Unexpected

"What do you think could've happened to him?" Drax asks as they continue to gallop to the hospital.

"Do I look like a doctor to you?" Ice asks. "I know I saw him grabbing at his chest. Those shots the ursa minor must have got him hard."

"Yeah, I was noticing that." Zephyr adds.

"Zeph, since you're the fastest, I think you should go tell the others about what's happened to Blue." Vine suggests.

"Good idea. I'm on it!" he then takes off as directed.

"Dark, why are you following us?"

"Just accept that I'm helping you and don't question it." he answers.

The rest of the ponies give him a smile. Big jerk just doesn't wanna admit that he cares. They arrive at the hospital and quickly go inside to the front desk.

"Oh my! What's wrong?" the nurse manning the desk asks.

"Our friend is in need of medical attention immediately!" Vine answers.

"Yes, of course!" she presses a button at the counter. "We require a gerny at the front office on floor one."

Suddenly, several ponies come out of an elevator and take me from Drax. They gently set me down on the gerny and take me to find an empty room.

"Don't worry, your friend is in good hooves. He should be okay." the nurse tells everypony.

"We sure hope so."

As I'm being wheeled by the ponies, I start thinking to myself in my barely conscious state. 'Why does everything happen to me? I nearly die by some hopped up, lightning powered psycho and two days later I'm going to the hospital after protecting the whole town from an army of monsters. *sigh* At least I can't say my life is boring.'

I then relax myself and fall asleep. These things are actually pretty comfy.

The next day(generic transitions for the win!)

After Zephyr had gathered up the others the previous day, the others had let them all know that I had gotten hurt during our fight with the monsters. Rainbow Dash was actually so worried she stayed the whole night in my room.

I start to wake up. "Ugh, that definitely is something I don't wanna go through again." I look myself over to see that I'm now wearing a hospital gown, and I can feel bandages around my chest. Great, back to this again.

Dash begins to stir in her chair at hearing my voice. She opens her eyes and they shoot up as they notice me. "BLUE!" she yells before hugging me. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Me too! But you're hurting my chest!" I say in pain.

She lets go and gives a sheepish smile. "Oops. Hehe, sorry."

"It's cool. We really do have to stop meeting like this though." I joke.

"Then you gotta be more careful."

"I've already explained this. If I weren't careful, I'd already be dead."

"Yeah, yeah. You keep telling yourself that."

"By the way, what am I doing in the hospital anyway? Couldn't Twilight just cast another healing spell on me?"

"Twilight explained that the spell she knows can only heal injuries on the outside of the body. You got some cracked ribs. An injury like that is a lot harder to fix. The doctors say you'll have to stay here until the day after tomorrow."

"Two more days of staying here?" I ask in annoyance. "Well, at least I'll have you hear to keep me company."

She leans over and kisses me. "You know it."

I smile at her before a thought comes to mind. "So, now that we've used our powers, other ponies know about them."

"Yeah, they do. Most ponies actually think it's pretty cool. News of it is spreading fast. Also, what was that you shouted at the ursa? Fus Ro what?"

"Fus Ro Dah. They're apparently these words of great power. I read about them. They were used by some guy named Dragonborn, but I don't really remember."

"Now don't go all egg-heady on me." she says with a poke at my side. Ow.

"Don't be jealous just because I'm smart." I say smugly.

"Oh, before I forget! There's actually a big award ceremony going on at town hall right now. They're honoring all you guys and giving you each medals."

"Really? That sounds awesome! But, why aren't you there?"

"Eh, I know how boring the hospital can be when you're all alone. I didn't want to put you through that."

I lean up and nuzzle her. "Thanks, babe."

Over at town hall

A stage is set up out front. Zeph, Vine, Drax, Ice, and Dark are all standing on the back part of the stage waiting for the ceremony to start.

Mayor Ivory Scroll walks up the side of the stage and gets behind a podium that is set. "Attention everypony!" she shouts, getting the crowd's attention. "We are all gathered here today to honor these ponies, the very ponies who protected our town from the invasion of the Everfree Forest monsters."

The crowd goes into a wild applause.

"Yes. The ponies we are here to honor are as follows. Mr. Zephyr Verve, Ms. Vinetion Lutin, Mr. Drax, Mr. Ice, Mr. Dark Lightning, and Mr. Blue Breeze!"

As each of the names are called, the corresponding pony walks up and gets a medal put over their head.

Off in the crowd, a pegasus mare with a white coat, blue eyes, blune mane with a white headband, blue and white tail, and cutie mark of of a cloud with hail dropping from it, looks up at the stage in glee.

"I'm so proud of Blue." she says. She then takes notice that, obviously, I'm not there. "Wait, where is Blue?"

Zephyr goes up podium and takes the medal that was meant for me. "I'd just like to say a few words for my friend, Blue Breeze. During the fight, Blue got hurt and is now in the hospital, that's why he isn't here. But, I'm sure that if he were here, he'd be honored to accept this award."

Pinkie suddenly appears beside him, looking as excited as ever. "And when Breezy does feel better, I'm going to throw a HUGE party to celebrate!" she says

"Pinkie, I'm trying to do something here!"

"Oops. Sorry, Zephy." she then gets off the stage.

"Anyway, we'll honorably be accepting this award on his behalf."

And with that, the crowd cheers for them all as they walk off stage.

"Blue's in the hospital? Hurt? I've gotta go see him!" the same mare says to herself before she gallops away.

Back at the hospital, I sit with Rainbow Dash as we wait for the others to drop by. As if on cue, everypony walks into the room.

"So, how'd it go?" I ask.

"Good to see you're finally awake, Bluey." Zeph says. "It went great. We even brought your medal for you."

He pulls out my medal and gives it to me. "Huh, it at least matches my mane and coat. " I say before putting it on.

Before we can continue talking, the mare from the before runs into the room. "Bluey! I came by to see you as soon as I heard what happened." she says before hugging me. "I missed you so much."

I return the hug. "It's good to see you, Haily. I missed you too."

"Haily? Blue, who is this?" Dash asks.

We break the hug and I smile at everypony. "Guys, meet my sister, Soft Hail."

My Little Sister

"SISTER?!" everypony but Drax and Zephyr shout in unison.

"You have sister?! Why didn't you ever tell us?!" Dash asks me.

"Because you never asked." always bein' a smart flank.

Hail smiles at everypony in glee. "It's so nice to meet everypony. Zephyr, Drax, it's great to see you two again, too."

"Nice to see you again too, Hail." Zeph says.

"Yeah, it's definitely been a while." Drax says.

Hail looks to Dash as Dash stares at her. "Who is this, Blue?"

"Believe it or not, this is my marefriend, Rainbow Dash." I tell her.

"Marefriend? Well, it's about time." she jokes. She extends a hoof to Dash. "It's very nice to meet you, Rainbow."

Dash grabs her hoof and shakes. "Yeah, it's nice meeting you too. Wow. I can't believe you're actually Blue's sister." she replies.

"Yeah, I got the looks." she says with a giggle.

"Hey!"

"Oh, Blue. You know I'm kidding."

"Heh, you definitely haven't changed a bit since I left."

"Nope."

I look at everypony else in the room as they look at us in surprise. "Guys, I know we all need to talk since this is the first time I've been up since yesterday, but I'd really like to be alone with my sister so we can catch up."

"Oh, sure, Bluey." Zeph says. "Come on, guys."

Everypony exits the room, looking back at us. Everypony but Dash that is. "That includes you, Dash." I say.

"Oh, fine." she says disgruntedly before kissing me on the cheek and leaving. I love that mare.

"So, where do you wanna start?" Hail asks me.

"For starts, why are you down here? Aren't you still in college?" I ask.

"We're on spring break. Mom and dad told me the news about what happened here in town. I thought I'd come down and visit you and say congratulations."

"Well, that was nice. By the way, how are mom and dad?"

"They're doing fine. But when I heard you got hurt, I rushed over to see you." she goes on before giving me a knowing look. "So, marefriend, huh? When did that happen?"

"Last Hearts and Hooves Day. Took her to a Wonderbolts show and popped the question there. We've been going out ever since."

"That's great to hear. Sure took you long enough to get one." she says jokingly.

"Yeah, yeah. It's definitely been great being with her."

"So, what are Zephyr and Drax doing here? I thoought Zephyr joined the guard and Drax moved to Manehatten."

I start frowning. "Well, they hit some hard times. I offered to let them stay with me."

"Aw, that was nice of you."

"Just the kind of guy I am."

"So, care to explain the rest of the ponies that were in here?"

I start telling her all the events that have happened since I moved here. Meeting Dash and her friends, Meeting other ponies with powers and taking Ice in, having been nearly killed by Dark just the other night, and defending the town. It was a muzzle full.

"What?! You just let that Dark guy stay with one of your friends?!"

"He's not nearly as bad as he sounds, Haily. He's really been turning around these past few days. He helped us protect the town afterall. There still may be a bit of enimosity between us, but we're at least in a truce right now."

"*sigh* You always were the wreckless one. Taking some random pony into your home and becoming friends with two ponies that tried to kill you."

"Heh, being wreckless has worked so far, so why stop doing it now?"

"Maybe because you've finally wound up in the hospital?"

"Hmm, I still don't see your point."

She nudges me with a hoof. Ow again. "You big dodo."

We share a laugh before I start talking again. "Hey, you have any place you actually planned on staying at while in town?"

She gives me a sheepish grin. "Hehe, well I was hoping to just crash at your place."

"Ha, figures you'd say that. Well, I'm kind of stuck here until the day after tomorrow, but I'm sure the guys wouldn't mind letting you sleep in my room."

"That sounds good." she gets up from her chair and walks out. "Well, I'll let you get some rest. I'll just see about asking them."

"Thanks. You go do that."

She walks out of the door and goes down in the main lobby to see everypony but the Drax, Zeph, And Ice had left. Well, ain't that convenient?

"Hey, guys." Hail greets.

"Hey, Hail." they greet in response.

"So, is Blue doing all right?" Ice asks.

"Yeah, he's fine." she says. "Blue said it'd be cool if I stay with you guys at his place. Is that all right."

"Sounds fine to me."

"Sure."

"Yeah, no problem."

"Great. Lead the way."

They all get up and head out of the hospital. As they walk, several ponies cheer for the guys as they walk. News really really does spread fast.

Before they can go on, the flower trio walk up to them, holding baskets with flowers. "Hey, guys." they say.

"Oh, hey there." Zeph says. "What's up?"

"We just wanted to say." Lily says.

"Thanks you for savig the town." Daisy adds.

"By giving you all some flowers." Rose finishes.

They each lean over and give each of the three a basket of flowers. "And here's Blues for when he gets better." Lily says, giving Drax an extra basket.

"Thanks a lot."

"Yeah, thanks."

"Yeah, this is pretty cool."

"No problem." the trio says before walking away again.

"Wow. You guys sure are getting popular." Hail says to the three.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." Ice says.

"Yeah, it's 'cool', huh, Ice?" Zeph asks jokingly.

Ice gives him a glare. "You know I hate that."

"That's why it's so much fun."

Hail giggles at them before they start walking again. More ponies continue to cheer, giving all the guys huge grins. They eventually reach the house and Hail stops to look at it.

"Woah, Blue sure did choose a nice place."

"Yeah, it is pretty nice inside too." Zephyr says.

Hail follows them inside and stops again to check the inside. It's a mess. "*sigh* Guess I shouldn't be too surprised. It is nothing but boys living here."

"Hey, we clean... sometimes." Ice says.

"Whatver. So, where do I sleep?"

"You can take Blue's bed. It's in the middle bedroom upstairs." Zeph tells her.

"Thanks, I think I'll go check it out."

They give her a nod as she walks off to go inspect my room. Please Celestia, don't look in the drawers.

She reaches the room and looks around. "This looks nice. At least It's clean." she says. She eyeballs the drawers. "Hmm, I wonder what's in here." she walks over to them and opens them. She blushes as soon as she looks inside. I said not to look. "Oh my!"

Inside are a bunch of Playcolt magazines I have stashed away. Why do I have these magazines? 'Cause a stallion has needs and Dash is always willing. But I really should choose a better place than my drawers to hide them. I'll deal with that later.

She closes the drawers. "Well, I guess I shouldn't be that surprised. I was actually kind of expecting that." Hail says to herself. She goes over to the bed and plops down on it. "*sigh* It really is nice to see Blue again. I can't wait to get to spend some real time with him."

The Big Trip

Author's Note: Well, now the story's hit 4000 words! Huzzah! I think it's time to celebrate with something big! For anyone who checks the comments, you'd know that I've been planning a big story arc for a while now. Well, here's where it begins. Be expecting LOLs, shenanigans, fights, attempted rape, and swag. This will be the biggest thing to hit this story yet, and I'm very excited about it. But enough of my babbling, on with the story!

The next morning, Hail gets up out of bed and stretches. Yep, definitely my sister. Neither of us are morning ponies. She walks out into the hall and downstairs to meet up with thr guys, all having breakfast.

"Morning, guys." she says.

"Hey, Hail." Zeph says.

"So, what are you guys doing today?"

"Eh, we all gotta go to work, and without Blue there to help, it gives more to do." Drax says.

"Oh, so you both work with Blue doing weather?" they nod. She looks over to Ice. "What about you, Ice? Blue said he helped you get a job here in town at the cafe."

"Yeah, he did. I just spend most of the day working there." he answers.

"That's cool. I'm just going to go see Blue. See you guys later" she then walks off and back up the stairs. She goes back into my room. "I think Blue will like this. Hehehe." she says to herself. After grabbing something, she heads back down and heads out the door.

As she walks through Ponyville, she looks with a sad face at all the property that happened to get destroyed the other day. Many ponies had to leave their homes and close their stores, but hey, that's what the taxes are for. It'll be fixed up in no time.

She walks for a bit before coming to the hospital and going to the front desk to check in as a visitor. So tedious in my opinion. She gets in the elevator and takes it to my room on the third floor.

She gets out as it stops and walks over to find my room. "Hey, Bluey." she says as she walks in.

"Hey, Haily. So, how's my little sis doing today?" I respond.

"I'm fine. But the better question is: How are you doing?"

"Eh, can't complain. Bandages are uncomfortable, but at least I'm not in pain."

"That's good to hear. I actually brought you something."

"Really? What is it?"

She reaches into her saddlebags and pulls out some magazines. "These."

Oh my Celestia! "You looked in my drawer?!"

"Yep." she answers. "Come on, it's not such a big deal."

I facehoof. "Okay, just don't tell anypony I have these."

She giggles at me. "Sure thing."

I take the magazines and set them aside. "So, any particular reason you stopped by?"

"Can't a sister just come visit her hurt brother? Besides everyone else is busy working."

"Yeah, and with what happened, ponies are starting to stress out."

"I noticed that. I just hope everypony will be okay."

This actually makes me think of something I've wanted to do for a while. "Haily, can you go get everypony else? I have an idea."

"Um, okay, if you say so." she leaves out the door and goes to ge everypony. This is should be good.

I reach over to the side and grab a magazine. "Oh, hello." I open it up and start "reading" it.

Just then, a nurse comes into my room. "Hello, Mr. Breeze."

I quickly get rid of the magazine in a panic. "I wasn't looking at porn!"

She looks at me for a moment and blinks. "Okay... Well, it's time for your sponge bath."

"You're going to scrub me down? Alright!" I'm a bit of a perv. Sue me.

She rolls her eyes at me. "No, Hugo will be doing that." she motions to the door.

"Hugo?"

A loud stomping comes from the hallway as a large and burly stallion walks into the room. "Time for bath." he says.

My eyes go wide. Celestia give me strength.

Later... That guy could've been more gentle.

Hail returns to my room with everypony following behind her. "I'm back, and I got everyone."

"Good, now we can get started." I say.

"Started with what, Blue?" Dash asks.

"Yeah, I'm losing my lunch break right now." Ice says.

"First of all, it's my job to be the smart flank, Ice." everypony laughs at my joke. "And second, I had a great idea."

"Oh no." Zephyr says.

"Anyways... Everypony around here has been doing a lot of work, and due to recent events, has been getting stressed out." they all nod. "So, since I get out of here tomorrow, I thought it would be an awesome idea if we all went to Las Pegasus on vacation in two days!"

"WHAT?!" they all shout.

"That sounds awesome, Blue!" Hail says in excitement.

"Las Pegasus?! That sounds awesome! I'm in!" Vinyl shouts.

"Vinyl, what about the club?!" Octavia asks.

"Don't sweat it, Octy. I've got a bud that can totally cover for me. It'll be awesome!"

Zephyr puts a sholder around Octavia. "Yeah, Tavi. Sounds really fun to me."

"Well, if both of you want to go, I suppose." she says while smiling at them both.

"Wait, what about the weather?! We can't just leave Sunny hanging!" Dash shouts.

"Oh, I know!" Pinkie shouts. "I've got some pegasus friends that can cover for you all! I can go too! The Cakes have been wanting me to go on vacation for a while anyway."

"Well, I guess that could work."

"See, Dash? No problem." I say. "So, how about everypony else?"

"I'm up for it." Vine says.

"As am I. I've been there before while modeling, and it is splendid." Fleur says.

"I'm sure I could ask Bon Bon if it's cool. I did help save the town after all." Ice says.

"I could use this as a chance to spread around my work." Rarity says to herself. "I'd be delighted."

Spitfire leans up against Drax with a smile. "What do you think, Drax?"

"Sounds fun to me." he says.

"Hmm, it does sound pretty exciting." Dark says. "How about you, Twi?"

Twilight puts a hoof to her chin. "Well, Spike is off on royal business. I'm sure he won't be back for a bit. It's not like the library gets a lot of visitors anyway.

At the library

A pony stands outside the front door with a scowl. "How come no one's ever here when I come to get a book?!"

Back here

"I'll go, if that's okay with you all." Fluttershy says.

"And ah'm good to go too. Business has been kinda slow. I'm sure Big Mac can handle it on his own." Applejack says.

"Then it's settled." I say. "Everypony, pack up all your bags. We're going to Las Pegasus!"

Everypony cheers in celebration only for a nurse to come in a shush us all.

Killjoy

The next day

It was late in the after as I was ready to finally leave the hospital. A unicorn stallion doctor walks into my room as I lay in bed. "Well, today's the day. Ready to be going, Mr. Breeze?"

"You bet, doc."

I get out of bed and take off the gown. The doctor(not the other one) uses his magic to remove the bandages around my chest.

"Now, you just take it easy for a few days, alright?"

"You got it, doc." I'm such a liar.

I make way out of the hospital(don't worry, I didn't forget the magazines) and take a deep breath as I get outside. "Ah, the sweet smell of freedom. There's nothing like it."

I open up my wings and start flying towards home. I arrive back and open the door. "You guys miss me?"

"Blue!" everpony shouts.

Hail rushes up and hugs me around the neck. "Great to have you back, big bro."

I return the hug and look at her. "It's great to be back." we break the hug and I look at them. "So, you guys get packed up?" they all nod in response.

"Yep, everything's all set for tomorrow."

"Great. Well, I'm getting a bit tired, so I think I'm gonna go hit the hay."

"Me too." Hail says.

Hail and I both go upstairs and get in my room. I go put the magazines back into my drawers. I think I'll put these under the mattress later. I climb into bed a get comfortable.

"Wait, now that you're back, where do I sleep?" Hail asks me.

"We can share the bed. I don't mind." I move over a bit to make some room for her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, it's cool. We're brother and sister, it's not weird."

She giggles and jumps into bed right next to me. We both get under the covers and try to start sleeping.

"I really missed you, Blue." Hail says quietly.

I turn over and put a wing over her. "I missed you too, Haily. Now get some sleep. Tomorrow's gonna be a big day."

"Okay." she closes her eyes and gently falls to sleep.

Checking In

Author's Note: I thought I'd bring this up because Vinetion did. No, this will not be a parody of 'The Hangover'. This will be something completely and utterly different. Prepare your anuses, 'cause we're going in. Now, on with the story.

I wake up the next morning and smack my lips. Anyone else hate that taste in your mouth you have when you first get up? Whatever.

I look to see that Hail had snuggled up to me in the middle of the night. D'aaawww. She's so cute.

I nudge her a bit and she looks at me with drowsy eyes. "Oh, hey, Bluey." she says before yawning.

My heart cannot take this! "Hey, Haily. You ready for today?" I ask.

She gets up and almost instantly gets excited. "You bet! This is going to be so awesome!"

I chuckle at her sudden enthusiasm. "You know it! Come on, let's go."

"Race you down!" she leaps out of the bed and starts running out of the room.

"Hey! I wasn't ready!" I get up and start chasing after her. She shuts the door behind her and I hit it snout first. Son of a... that hurt. I get up from the floor and rub my snout. At least it's not broken. I open the door and walk out of the room and down stairs, everypony else waiting for me.

"Hey, Blue." Zephyr says. "What happened to you?"

"Why don't you ask Hail?"

They look at her and she gives an innocent laugh. "Well, we're all set to go. We're all supposed to meet up at the library, right?" Drax asks.

"Yeah, Twilight said she was gonna request some chariots to ride in from the princess. Only we need to be need the one's who fly them all the way there."

"HA! Sucks for you guys." Ice says.

"I'll remember you said that." I tell him.

"Can we just get going already?" Hail asks.

"Yeah, come on, everypony. To the library!" never thought I'd be so excited to go to a library.

Everypony grabs their things, which isn't much since we won't need clothes or that kind of stuff, and we head out the door. We all make our way eagerly down the street, ponies still giving waves to us. I sure was missing out at the hospital. We get to the library to see everypony else but Rarity has already arrived and to see two large carriages. I need to get use to getting up earlier.

"Hey, guys. About time you showed up." Twilight says.

"Would've been here sooner if Blue and Hail got up sooner." Zeph jokes.

"Well, you know me, I like my sleep."

"Me too." Hail says in agreement.

"Well, now we just need to wait for Rarity."

"I'm *pant* coming!" we hear Rarity shout. We look over to see Rarity carrying a mountain of bags with her. I am NOT gonna help carry that all the way to Las Pegasus.

"Rarity, there's no way we can take all that." Twlight says.

Rarity sets down her luggage and looks at Twilight. "But this is all necessary. I need as much with me to show-off as possible. How else am I supposed to spread around my brand?"

"No, Rarity. You can only take ONE bag." she says sternly.

"Oh, fine." she says disgruntedly. Her horn glows as she levitates a bag near her. "I guess I'll just bring all of my sewing equipment and some fabric."

"Good, now we can get going."

"Who's gonna be flying these things?" I ask.

"I was thinking Drax and Zephyr can take one carriage and you and Dark can take the other."

"I have to work with him?" Dark asks.

"Please?" she asks pleadingly, giving him a kiss on the cheek. Suspicions confirmed. They are dating.

"Alright. I guess it's not that bad."

"Good. Now, climb aboard everypony" Twilight announces.

Ice, Hail, Vine, Octavia, Fleur, Vinyl, and Spitfire get in my and Dark's chariot as all the other girls climb in the other. The four of us stallions all go over to our chariots and hook ourselves up for take off. It's a slow start, but we get some momentum and take off to the air. Dark and I pulling the same chariot evens it out as we're both about equal strength, so it's not all that heavy to fly.

After flying for a bit, I get bored. "So, any plans once we get there?" I ask everypony.

We all look at each other and smile as we each think the same thing. "PARTY!"

We share a laugh before Dark speaks up. "This is gonna be awesome!"

"Yeah, just don't get too out of control and fry the whole city's electricity, Sparky." I say.

"You know it's a real party when you get seriously busted." he jokes.

"Yeah, until you actually get caught and then are partying with your new coltfriend in jail." Drax says.

"Hey, I'm more than capable of handling myself."

"Really? Then how about a race?"

"A race?" I ask. "You're on!"

"I'm in too!" Drax says.

"Then on three."

"Alright."

We all exchange glances at each other.

"One..."

I get my game face on as it approaches.

"Two..."

Here it comes.

"THREE!"

In the carriage

"This is gonna be totally bucking awesome!" Vinyl says in excitement.

"Calm down, Vinyl. I'm also excited, but there's no reason to go crazy before we even arrive." Octavia tells her.

"Oh, you're always such a party pooper, Octy. We're on vacation! Let loose!"

"I'm with Vinyl! This is gonna be great!" Hail says.

"I suppose, but can't we just enjoy this relaxing chariot ri-AAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Before she can finish, the chariot starts moving insanely fast, knocking every pony inside to the back wall.

The four of us go flapping our wings as fast as possible. Zephyr being extremely fast and Drax being incredibly strong definitely puts Dark and I at a disadvantage.

They begin to gain the lead on us. "HA! I knew we'd win!" Zephyr shouts.

"Oh buck that!" Dark shouts as he starts charging his hoof.

"Dark, what are you doing?" I ask nervously.

He puts the hoof to his chest and we instantly begin to fly faster, so fast that I couldn't even keep up. We begin to near the city as we tear through the sky.

"DARK! Slow down! We gotta land!"

"Ugh, fine." he says.

We begin to slow down as we descend and land our chariot right outside the Excoltibur, one of the biggest and best hotels in all of Equestria. The hotel itself also looks like a castle due to the tall, pointed towers around it.

Zephyr and Drax finally catch up and land right next to us. "Hey! You cheated!"

"No I didn't. You never said anything about using powers." Dark says smugly.

Before they can reply, the carriages open up as everypony dizzily makes their way out of the carriages.

Ice looks over to us and glares. "What the buck is wrong with you guys?!"

"Don't blame me, it was Dark's idea." I say.

"Woah, I feel really dizzy." Hail says as she falls over.

"Dark, I'm going to kill you." Vine says as she leans against the chariot. Dark sure is getting along well with Vine, huh?

"I think I'm going to be-" Rarity says before her face turns green and she runs over to throw up in a nearby trash can.

"Well, let's get going in." I say.

Everypony weakly nods as they shake off their sick feeling and grabs their things. We enter the hotel and everypony looks in amazement. Even the lobby to this place is extravagant.

We walk up to the front desk and the pony manning it looks at us. "Welcome to the Excoltibur hotel. How may I help you all?" he asks.

"Yes, how many ponies can a normal room fit?" I ask.

"Six ponies, sir."

"Then we'll take three rooms, preferably all next to each other."

"Certainly." he turns around and grabs three keys before hoofing them to me. "Your rooms will be on floor six. Thank you for choosing to stay at Excoltibur."

"Thanks."

We all walk off and take some nearby elevators to our designated floor. The elevators stop and we get out.

"Okay, so, Dash, Dark, Twi, Ice, Vinyl, and I will get the first room. Zeph, Octavia, Drax, Spitfire, Vine, and Fleur get the second room. AJ, Shy, Rarity, Pinkie, and Hail get the last room. Deal?"

They all nod and I give one key to Zeph and the other to Hail. We walk down the halls to find our rooms. We enter our room to find a pretty nice place. Two beds, a couch that I presume folds out, a bathroom, and a mini-fridge. Gotta remember not to touch that. Hotels always try to buck you on the price with those things.

I go over to a large window on the far wall and open it. "LAS PEGASUS HERE WE ARE!"

"NOPONY BUCKING CARES!" a pony shouts.

Great place so far.

Author's Note: The hotel in this chapter is a parody of the actual Excalibur hotel in Las Vegas. Living in Southern California, I've stayed there a few times while on vacation. Just a fun fact I thought I'd share.

Girls' Night Out

"THAT'S NOT WHAT YOUR MOM SAID LAST NIGHT!" I shout back. I turn back and mumble to myself.

"What was that about, Blue?" Dash asks me.

"Oh, just making new friends like always."

She giggles at me. "Well, time to pick out where to sleep guys."

"I call the bed by the window!" Ice says, running over to it.

Dark pulls him by the the tail and throws him back. No way! I get it!"

Ice jumps on his back and Dark gets up on his hindegs, stumbling with Ice on him. They both stumble into a shelf that then falls over and buries them.

Idiots. I roll my eyes and go plop down over on the bed they were fighting over. "Dash and I are taking this bed, you can fight over who takes the remaining bed."

"I'll just take the couch." Twilight says.

"Sounds good to me." Dark says weakly, still trapped under the shelf.

Twilight uses her magic and neatly takes the pile off the two of them and then... starts alphabatizing the books. Whatever. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised.

"Ugh, I hope there's something good to drink in the fridge." Dark says while popping his joints.

"Don't you dare take anything out of there!" I tell him.

"Why not?"

"Because those things cost a fortune to take out of!"

"Ugh, fine."

"Let's go check up on the others." Vinyl says.

We all nod and head out of the room, everypony else coincidentally doing the same. "OH MY GOSH TIS PLACE IS SO COOL!" Pinkie shouts excitedly.

"Yeah, the view is amazing." Hail says.

"Little too flashy for me, but ah guess it's kinda nice." Applejack says.

"I'm more used to forests myself." Vine says.

"Well, I still think we can have a whole bunch of fun." I say.

"You bet we are! Come on, Blue!" Dash says, dragging me away.

"Wait, what about spending time together, Blue?!" Hail shouts.

"Sorry, Haily! I promise we can do something tomorrow!"

"Oh... okay." Hail says, putting her head down.

"Don't worry, Haily. We can still have lots of fun!" Pinkie tells her.

"Actually, Tavi and I haven't been spending much time together, so we're going out." Zephyr says. He and Octavia then walk away from the group.

"Same with Fleur and me." Vine says, doing the same thing.

"And I plan to hit the club!" Dark says before galloping off.

"Me too!" Ice says, chasing after him.

Twilight and Vinyl share a glance. "We better make sure they don't get into trouble." Twilight says.

"Agreed." Vinyl says.

The two of them go dashing off after their coltfriends. "Drax and I have also planned to go around the town." Spitfire says.

"Yeah, we'll catch up later." Drax says. The final couple walks off, leaving Hail, Shy, AJ, Pinkie, and Rarity behind.

Hail looks down again in despair. "*sigh* Yeah, you all go have fun."

Applejack puts a hoof on her sholder in reassurance. "Don't you worry, sugarcube. The five of us can still have a great time."

"Of course we, darling. It will be splendid." Rarity says.

Hail looks up and smiles at them. "Thanks, girls. You're righ,. we can still have fun together."

"That's the spirit, Haily!" Pinkie shouts.

All of them giggle at Pinkie's usual craziness. "So, where do you all wanna go?"

"I heard there's going to be this really cool show at the hotel's indoor theatre." Pinkie says.

"Well, come on, let's go!"

They all begin to make their way down to the hotel lobby and down to the theatre area, which was easier said than done.
This place was freakin' huge after all.

They make their way in to a big, colosseum-like arena with chairs trewn all around a dirt pit in the center. The girls all take seats in a middle row and patiently await for the show to start.

I hate being patient, so let's get this started. A pony dressed up in medieval wear wakes up to the center and talkins into a microphone.

"Everypony, welcome to Excoltibur's jousting show!" he says.

The crowd begins to cheer wildly. "Jousting?" Rarity says. "How barbaric."

"Sounds cool to me." Hail says.

"Even though I hate violence, this does sound exciting." Fluttershy says.

"This is gonna be awesome!" Pinkie says, holding her hooves to her face and leaning over.

"Now, may our jousters please come out?"" the pony says. Two ponies wearing suits of armor and holding jousting lance to their sides step out from opposite sides of the arena. "Competitors ready?" both ponies nod. "THEN JOUST!"

The crowd cheers again as the ponies make a mad dash at each other. The pony on the far side of the arena lands a hit to the armor on the other's vhest, knocking the pony away. Everypony gasps at the sight.

The pony gets up and gives the crowd a wave. "He's okay, folks" the announcer shouts.

Both armored ponies exit the arena together. "That was pretty cool." Hail says.

The announcer calls everponies' attention back to him. "Now, it's time to ge the audience a little more into the show." the crowd goes wild hearing this. "We'll need a volunteer for this one."

"OH! ME! PICK ME!" Pinkie shouts, flailing her arms around.

The announcer looks to Pinkie and smiles. "Yes, you, the pink mare!"

"Oh! That's me!" Pinke runs over to some nearby stairs and quickly makes her way down.

"Now, what's your name, young filly?"

"Pinkie Pie."

"Well, Pinkie Pie. How would you like to compete in a joustng match?"

Pinkie gasps. "I'D LOVE IT!"

"Alright, then let's get you suited up." some ponies come down and slap some armor on Pinkie. A large stallion steps out from the other side of the arena and lines himself up with Pinkie.

"That feller's gonna take Pinkie's head off!" Applejack shouts.

"I can't look." Fluttershy says, covering her eyes.

"Combatants ready?" both ponies nod. "THEN JOUST!"

They both begin to run at each, well, Pinkie was more like a bouncing. They both reach each other and...

*WHIIIIIIIRRRRRRRRRRR*

A huge party blower shoots out of Pinkie's lance, hitting the stallion in the face and shooting him back. Everypony in the crowd looks in atonishment before they break out into a cheer, the girls especially cheering hard.

"PINKIE PIE WINS!"

Pinkie Pie bounces around in joy, a huge grin on her face.

inkie takes off the armor and goes back up to the girls. "Was I great or what?"

"You were wonderful, darling!"

"That was some fine jousting, girl!"

"That was awesome!"

"I thought it was... nice."

The girls all walk off and leave, still talking about how awesome Pinkie was. The girls make their way to a bar in the hotel and decide to go get some drinks.

The bartender comes by with their drink and leave them there. "This has been so awesome!" Hail shouts. "You know, I'm glad Blue has made awesome friends like you guys."

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy asks.

"Well, Blue didn't have many friends growing up. He was often picked on by bullies. I guess he was just one of the random ponies to get caught by it. Until he met Zephyr and Drax in high school, he only had me."

"Well, he's got tons of friends now!" Pinkie points out.

"Yeah, I guess he does." Hail raises her glass up. "To friends!"

The other girls join her in celebration. "To friends!"

6 Couples, 1 Night

Author's Note: Here it is, everyone. Chapter fifty. When I started writing, I never thought I'd ever make it this far. Even though this fic isn't the most popular out there, I'm happy with the feedback and viewers I've gotten. I'd like to thank all the OC's I've brought it and their owners. Without them, this fic wouldn't be anything like it is today. So, thanks to Ice, Vinetion, Zephyr, vl4d4r, and Dark Lightning. This chapter is in dedication to you guys. I'd also like to thank little dashie for the artwork he did of Blue Breeze down below. Now, on with the story.

Dash continues to pull down the hall before we stop at the elevator and wait. "Are you sure about this, Dash?" I ask. "Haily really wanted to spend time with me."

"I'm sure she'll be fine. We have plenty of time to spend with the others. It's our first night and we should make it a good one."

"I guess."

"I'll tell you what, you do come with me and we can..." she leans over to me and starts whispering in my ear.

*POOMF*

My wings stretch out involuntarily. "You're on!"

She giggles at me and the elevator arrives to take us down.

We reach the bottom floor and walk to the outside of the hotel. "So, what do you wanna do? Party?" Dash asks me.

"Actually I think I'd rather the two of us just spend some quality time together."

"That sounds good."

"Yeah, follow me."

I take off flying to the sky with Dash following behind me. We fly for a bit before we land on a nearby coud in the sky and sit down.

We look down at the city below and marvel at its beauty. "Wow. Look at all of those lights." Dash says.

"Yeah, beautiful." I say. I lean over and tilt her head towards me so I can look her in the eyes. "But not as beautiful as you."

I kiss Dash and she lies down so that I can get on top of her.

Now this is what I call quality time.

Zephyr and Octavia(this will be used to show what couple the chapter will switch focus to)

As Zephyr and Octavia walk, Octavia looks at Zephyr with a curious smile. "So, you said you wanted us to spend more time together. What excatly did you have in mind?"

"I have no idea! I was just thinking we walk around for a bit and try to find a nice restaraunt." he answers.

She giggles at him. "Alright, then lead the way."

They continue to walk and go down to the hotel's base floor. The hotel actually has a lot of built in restaraunts and stores for people who are staying at it. Awesome, right?

They walk around for a bit before Octavia spots a nice looking place. "That one over there looks nice." she says while pointing.

"Alright, looks good to me."

They walk over to the restaraunt and are given seats pretty quickly. It's just about your ordinary restaraunt except for one thing: It has open karaoke for anypony inside to go up on stage and do.

"That stage is pretty cool. You should totally go up and try it, Tavi." Zephyr says.

"Oh, I'm not much for singing. The cello is really more my thing. Maybe you should go try it though." she says.

Zeph puts a hoof to his chin and thinks it over for a minute. 'Hmm, I can't recall ding anything big for Tavi since we started going out. This could finally be my chance.'

He looks at her with a determined look. "Alright, I'll do it." he gets up from his seat and walks up on the stage.

He goes over to the microphone and starts talking into it. "Good evening, everypony. My name is Zephyr Verve, and I'm here to sing a song for the most beautiful mare in the world."

Octavia looks at him with a smile and blushes from his compliment.

"Okay, here we go!"

(Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up)

"We're no strangers to love
You know the rules and so do I
A full commitment's what I'm thinking of
You wouldn't get this from any other guy
I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

We've known each other for so long
Your heart's been aching but
You're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it
And if you ask me how I'm feeling
Don't tell me you're too blind to see

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh, give you up)
(Ooh)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)
(Ooh)
Never gonna give, never gonna give
(Give you up)

We've know each other for so long
Your heart's been aching but
You're too shy to say it
Inside we both know what's been going on
We know the game and we're gonna play it

I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling
Gotta make you understand

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you

Never gonna give you up
Never gonna let you down
Never gonna run around and desert you
Never gonna make you cry
Never gonna say goodbye
Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!"

YOU JUST GOT ZEPH ROLLED!

Zephyr finishes his song and the audience cheers. Octavia looks at Zephyr from the crowd with tears of joy in her eyes. She runs up on stage and hugs Zephyr. They look at each other before sharing a kiss, the crowd going even crazier.

"I love you, Zephyr."

"And I love you, Octavia."

Drax and Spitfire

Drax and Spitfire had already made their way down to the bottom of the hotel and to the outside, on their way to see the town.

"What did you mean that we had plans?" Drax asks Spitfire.

"Well, it's kind of true. We did plan on having fun, didn't we?" she replies with an innocent look.

Drax laughs at her playing innocent. "I guess we did."

The couple go walking around the town, taking in the many sights. Flashing lights, huge buildings, and tons of street performing ponies.

Speaking of which, they come across a pony who had gathered quite the crowd near the hotel who has gathered quite the crowd. "Ponies gather around! We are hear to see if anypony here is worthy!"

"Worthy of what?" Drax asks.

"I'm glad you asked, my fine stallion!" the pony motions to a rock with a sword stuck in it. "Legend says if anypony can pull the legendary Excoltibur from it's rocky prison, then that pony shall be named the rightful king of the land! By the way, this is all just for show" he says quickly. "Would anypony here like to try?!"

A line of ponies starts to form infront of the rock. Many ponies try to take the sword out by any means, whether it be their forelegs, hindlegs, or even their mouths, but none could get it out.

"Hmm, it seems that nopony here can do it!" the pony shouts.

"Maybe you oughtta give it a try, Drax." Spitfire says.

Drax shrugs to here and begins to walk towards the rock. "I guess it couldn't hurt to try."

Drax gets on top of the rock and wraps his forehooves around the swords hilt. His muscles bulge and his veins pop as he begins to pull. Sweat pours down his forehead as he struggles to pull the blade out.

"Drax looks like he could use some help." Spitfire says to herself. She rubs at her chin before she gets an idea. "Drax, you get that sword out and I'll show you a REAL good time later!"

Drax gets an excited look on his face as soon as she says that. He starts to pull even harder, his face turning red from how hard he's pulling. Instead the sword sliding out, the rock begins to crack under the fierce pressure. Drax gives one more hard oull, making the rock break and releasing the sword.

"My word! That's never happened before!" the pony shouts. He goes up to Drax. "What is your name, sir?"

Drax puts the blade on his sholder and smiles. "I'm Drax."

"Everypony, let's hear it for King Drax!"

The crowd of ponies cheer for drax, Spitfire cheering the most. "That's my coltfriend!"

Dark and Twilight/Ice and Vinyl

Dark and Ice had made their way down to a dance in the hotel to get some drinks as Twilight and Vinyl chased them there.

"*pant* About time you *pant* stopped running." Twilight said.

"Yeah, *pant* really." Vinyl says.

"Sorry about that, Twi." Dark says.

"Yeah, sorry." Ice says. "Guess we just lost our heads."

"What else is new?"

"The fact that we can get a nice at a cool place like this." Dark says.

"Eh, this place is okay." Vinyl says. "But where's the entertainment?"

"Hmm, that is a good question. This is supposed to be a dance club after all." Ice says.

They all look on stage to see a pony walk up on it. "Excuse me, everypony." he says. "We regret to inform you that our normal entertainment will be unable to play tonight due to eating some bad hay."

Everypony aws in disappointment. "Well, that sucks." Vinyl says.

Ice gets an excited look as he gets an idea. "I've got an idea!"

"Well, what is it?" Dark asks.

He motions for the three to huddle with him. He whispers his idea and Vinyl and Dark smile in agreement. "That's an awesome idea, Ice."

"Yeah, I'm in."

"I think you guys should do it. That's not really my type of music." Twilight says.

"Okay, then you stay here. It's time to put on a show."

The three ponies walk towards the stage and go in the back to see the pony that was just in stage.

The pony looks over at them and gets a surprised look when he sees Vunyl. "You're DJ Pon3!"

"That'd be me." Vinyl says.

"Well, might I say it is an honor to have you in my club, Ms. Pon3."

"You can just call me Vinyl."

"Of course. Now, how may I help you and your friends?"

"We've got a proposition for you."

Back out in the club, Vinyl, Dark, and Ice enter back onto the stage. Vinyl takes her usual set up behind some turn tables and puts a set of headphones on. Dark and Ice each grab a microphone and get ready.

"Hey, everypony!" Vinyl shouts. "Are you ready to get this party really started?!" the crowd cheers wildly in response. "Then let's hit it!"

(Hollywood Undead - Comin' In Hot. WARNING! This song is very vulgar, even the edited version I did down below. Dark will supply the lines of Charlie Scene, Ice will be doing Danny, and Vinyl will be covering for Funny Man.)

Dark:
If you got jack in your cup go raise it up (go raise it up, go raise it up).
If you ain’t got enough go fill it up (go fill it up, go fill it up).

Ice:
I’m gonna chase this whiskey with patron.
I want a girl on my lap and a jagerbomb.
I’m comin’ in hot you heard me and ima make it rain on the girl who serves me.

I’ll drink a fifth of vodka till its gone and if it feels so good then it cant be wrong.
I’m comin’ in hot you heard me.
And we be taking shots and if not you’re nerdy.

Dark:
We only leave a pre-party to go party some more.
I’m already junkfaced before I walk in the door.
This girls rubbing on my leg, I never met her before.
And now she is making her way down to my gentleman's sword.
It might be the drugs talking or the shots of patron.
But these bitches look like models and they're ready to bone!
I’ll take em back to my parents house, we'll be home alone.
Slap them cheeks and have em yelling like Macaulay Coltkin.

She’s tearing it up, yeah she's dancing her flank off.
This girl's like a mac the way she's riding my laptop.
I’m trying to get my rocks off so don’t try to woodblock.
I’ll grab my sawed off and I’ll blow your wood off!
You know we drink so much we getting drunk for weeks!
We drink so much goose, we turnin into geese.
Me and my crew fought the feed through VIP.
These mares blow my skin flute like they're Kenny G.

Ice:
I’m gonna chase this whiskey with patron.
I want a girl on my lap and a jagerbomb.
I’m comin’ in hot you heard me and ima make it rain on the girl who serves me.

I’ll drink a fifth of vodka till its gone and if it feels so good then it cant be wrong.
I’m comin’ in hot you heard me.
And we be taking shots and if not you’re nerdy.

Dark:
If you got jack in your cup, go raise it up.
If you ain't got enough, go fill it up.
If you had too much, don't throw it up.
And if you ain't got junk.
Throw your hooves up!

Vinyl:
Get gone with it, there's nothin' wrong with it.
Take shots, don't stop, sing along with it.
I wanna feel you bounce, girl go up and down.
Take shots, don't stop till I'm passin' out.

Dark:
Girl get down, you can have more, and you can shake your hips around on my man sword.
You're gonna have to rock this house, I'm your landlord.
So let your sweat drip down on the dance floor.

Vinyl:
I ain't try to go home with, nolla nolla.
We can hit the dance floor when you, wanna wanna.
Girl you know you're feelin' me so, holla holla.
Cause everyone compared to me is, nada nada.

Dark:
Okay dawg, this has gone on for way long.
Can't quit my day job till I'm played on K-Rock.
It's chaos! I'm in the club with my shades on.
And I'm about to smack that like I'm Akon.

Ice:
I’m gonna chase this whiskey with patron.
I want a girl on my lap and a jagerbomb.
I’m comin’ in hot you heard me and ima make it rain on the girl who serves me.

I’ll drink a fifth of vodka till its gone and if it feels so good then it can't be wrong.
I’m comin’ in hot you heard me.
And we be taking shots and if not you’re nerdy.

Dark:
If you got jack in your cup, go raise it up.
If you ain't got enough, go fill it up.
If you had too much, don't throw it up.
And if you ain't got junk.
Throw your hooves up!

If you got jack in your cup, go raise it up.
If you ain’t got enough, go fill it up.
If you had too much, don't throw it up.
And if you ain't got junk.
Throw your hooves up!

Ice:
I’m gonna chase this whiskey with patron.
I want a girl on my lap and a jagerbomb.
I’m comin’ in hot you heard me and ima make it rain on the girl who serves me.

I’ll drink a fifth of vodka till its gone and if it feels so good then it cant be wrong.
I’m comin’ in hot you heard me.
And we be taking shots and if not you’re nerdy.

Dark:
If you got jack in your cup go raise it up (go raise it up, go raise it up).
If you ain’t got enough go fill it up (go fill it up, go fill it up).

If you got jack in your cup go raise it up (go raise it up, go raise it up).
If you ain’t got enough go fill it up (go fill it up. go fill it up).

The song finishes and the crowd goes into a frenzy of a cheer. Dark and Ice brohoof in celebbration of a kick flank show.

Vinetion and Fleur

Vinetion and Fleur had also made their way to the outside of the hotel to go find something fun to do(there are only so many things I can say to start these off).

They look around at the city. "So, what would you like to do, Vine?" Fleur asks.

Vine looks around at the city, slowly getting dizzy looking at everything. "Woah." she as she puts a hoof to her head.

"Are you all right?" Fleur asks in a concerned tone.

"Yeah, it's just that I'm not used to all these lights and noises. It's making me feel kinda sick."

Fleur puts a hoof to her chin. "Hmm, I know just the place to go." she looks over to the streets. "TAXI!"

A pony pulling a taxi cart stops and Fleur pulls Vine over to follow her. The two of them hop on. "To the outside of the city, my good stallion."

"You got it." the cab puller says before trotting with cart in tow.

"Where are we going?" Vine asks Fleur.

"You'll see. You just try to rest."

"If you say so."

Vine lies down in the cart, resting during the trip as instructed.

The cab puller reavhes near the outside of the city and stops. "This is as far as I go."

"This is good." Fleur says. She nudges Vine in an attempt to wake her up. "Vine, time to wake up."

"*mumbles* Oh, Fleur." Vine mutters in her sleep. You can probably guess what she's dreaming.

"Vine, wakey wakey." Fleur says.

Vine opens her eyes and then looks at floor. "Oh, are we here?"

"Yes." the two jump off the cart and Fleur pays the cab puller before he leaves.

"This is what I wanted to show you." Fleur says while motioning to a forest.

Vine looks at her, confused. "I like forests, but did we really need to ride out her just for this?"

"You haven't even seen the best part yet. Just follow me."

The two of them make their way into the forest. As they walk, Vine still wonders why Fleur wanted to come all the way out there.

"Almost there." Fleur says.

"This better be good."

"Oh, it is."

They continue to walk more. Isn't this exciting? The tension is killing me.

"Fleur, I'm really getting tired of all thi-"

"We've made it!" Fleur says, interrupting Vine.

"Made it where?"

Fleur moves some leaves out of the way for Vine to gget a better look. "This."

(Dramatic effect)

Vine looks in amazement at the sight. On the other side of the leaves is a beautiful grove filled wth fireflies dancing around the air.

The two walk in as Vine continues to look around. "Fleur, it's beautiful."

"I thought you'd like it. I always did love coming out here. I always found it so relaxing to be in."

The two of them go to rest up against a nerby tree and continue to look at the light bugs. As they watch, a firefly comes up and rests itself on Vine's nose.

The two of them giggle at this before looking deep into each other's eyes and start *cough*. Well, you know.

Author's Note: So, how was that? Definitely a fun chapter I think. One thing though. I've been on the fence for a while on whether or not to change this fic's rating from 'Everyone' to 'Teen'. What do you guys think?

Winning Big

Author's Note: Okay, those of you who ACTUALLY decided to answer my question last chapter all said to switch the story's rating to 'Teen', and that's probably for the best. Now, on with the story.

After their little adventure in the restaraunt, Zephyr and Octavia had left to go find something else to do.

"So, anything else you want to do?" Zephyr asks.

"Actually, it's been a long day and I'd like to back to the room and rest." Octavia answers.

"Aw, but it's not even that late."

"Well, maybe you can try doing something on your own. The hotel does have more than enough entertainment for one pony."

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Normally I wouldn't suggest this, but the hotel does have quite the casino. Maybe you could try your hoof at a bit of gambling."

"Gambling? Hmm, I've never really tried it before."

"See? There you go. Just make sure not to get carried away and lose a lot of money."

"You got it, Tavi." Zephyr Octavia share a quick kiss before Zephyr pulls out the room key. "Here, you take this."

Octavia takes the key from. "Thanks. I'll see you later." she then walks away.

"You too!" Zephyr shouts. "So, gambling, huh?" he asks himself.

Zephyr begins to walk through the massive hotel, in search of a casino. The hotel was actually very famous for its casinos. It holds the world record for biggest jackpot ever won in one night(true story about the real one too).

Remembering seeing a casino near the lobby, Zephyr makes his way over there to look. He gets there and comes to find a HUGE casino filled with ponies playing slot machines, Poker, Black Jack, and basically any poker game you can think of. Well, except Solitare.

He goes over and takes a seat at a slot machine to start off. "Okay, this can't be too hard." he takes out a quarter and puts it in the machine. He pulls the big lever on the side and the slots spin. They land on a sevenand another seven. "Come on, baby!" the final one lands on a cherry.

Zephyr's grin turns into a frown. "Pony-feathers." he then takes out another quarter. "Well, I couldn't have expected to get that lucky on my first try."

He puts it in the machine and pulls again. This time getting a lemon, a cherry, and bar. He goes at the machine a few more times, losing at every try.

"Okay, one last try." he puts in another quarter and pulls. All three slots land on the word 'LOSER'. They make machines like that? Zephyr's eye twitches and he begins to pound on the machine in frustration.

"Oh buck this!" he says, stomping away in frustration.

An elderly mare he was sitting next to looks at him and shakes her head. "Young ponies these days."

Zephyr looks over at a nearby poker table and smiles. "Maybe cards are more my thing."

He goes up and takes a seat at a booth. "Put me in."

"Alright." the dealer says to him.

I don't know a thing about poker, so I'll just say he loses... hard.

Zephyr gets up from his stool and stomps awat again. He notices a counter in the back with a sign that says "Betting" on it.

"*sigh* One last try at this. It can't possibly get any worse than this."

He walks up to the front window and the stallion manning it looks at him. "Can I help you?"

"Yeah, what are we betting on here?"

"This here is where ponies come to bet on pony races. You just put down some money on a pony and which ever pony bets on the right pony will win all the money for that race."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that. Here's a list of ponies racing next." the stallion says, pulling out a sheet of paper.

Zephyr looks at the sheet and scnas it for names. "Hmm, I think I'll put two hundred down on Little Dasher." The stallion behind the window chuckles at bit at Zephyr's choice. "What's so funny?"

"Oh, nothing. Two hundred on *snicker* Little Dasher it is. I'll just need the money you're placing."

Zephyr reaches behind him(Pinkie taught it to the guys too) and oulls out a bag full of bits. "There you go."

The stallion takes the money and puts on a table in the back. He comes back to Zephyr. "If youd like, we have radios set up over there to listen in on the races." he says, motioning to a bunch of ponies sitting in chairs around some radios.

"Thanks." Zephyr says before he walking over to join the crowd. As he walks, he can here the stallion at the window laugh again.

He goes over and takes a seat near one of the radios. "Okay, everypony. The races shall be getting under way very soon." the announcer on the radio says.

A blu-ish grey unicorn stallion with a short, black mane and tail, yellow eyes, and a cutie mark of some playing cards looks over at Zephyr.

"First time betting here, I assume?" he asks him.

"Is it that obvious?" Zephyr asks.

The stallion chuckles. "Yeah, it kinda is. I'm Jack, as in, like Jack of all Trades."

"I'm Zephyr."

"Nice to meet you. Normally I'm more of a cards stallion, but from time to time I bet on the ponies. So, who did you bet on?"

"Little Dasher." the stallion tries to keep a straight face, but can't as he bursts into laughter. "Why does everypony laugh when I say that?"

The stallion recomposes himself. "Because Little Dasher is terrible! The bet against him is one thousand to one!"

Zephyr's eyes go wide and his heart skips a beat. "One thousand to one?! The others are gonna kill me!"

"Time for the race to begin!" the radio announcer says.

"Well, I'll pray for you." Jack says.

"And... THEY'RE OFF! Speeding Bullet comes at strong with a good lead. Little Daher all the way back towards the end of the pack>"

"I'm doomed." Zephyr says, putting his hooves to his face.

"Speeding Bullet still leading. This looks like it's going to be a pretty clean cu-WOAH! Hold the phone! Speeding Bullet has just tripped. Oh my Celestia! Every other pony has just fallen over due to Speeding Bullet. Wait! Here comes Little Dasher. I can't believe this! Little Dasher has just leaped over the mound of fallen ponies! Can he really pull off such an amazing up set?!"

"WHAT?!" everypony listening shouts.

"Go! Little Dasher! Go!" Zephyr shouts at the radio.

"Little Dasher has just won the race! I can't believe it!"

"Buck yeah!"

"Well, I'll be darned! You actually won!" Jack says.

"You know it!" Zephyr gets up and heads back over to the window.

"Well, I can't believe it myself, but you actually won." the pony at the window says. "Here's you winnings. Two hundred thousand bits." he says, pulling out huge sack of money.

"Two hundred thousand?!" Zephyr's eyes turn to money signs. He quickly grabs the sacks and puts them on his back, only to collapse from the weight of the coins. "Little help?"

"Allow me." Jack says, using his magic to lift up the money.

"Thanks."

"No problem. You, my good sir, are one lucky stallion."

"Don't I know it?"

"You know, with money like this you should be dressing to show it."

"Dressing?"

"Of course. Allow to take you to one of my favorite tailors in town. You won't regret it."

"Um, sure, okay."

They leave the hotel and get to the tailor's. "Welcome. Jack, it is so good to see you again." the store owner says.

"Good to see you too, Tailor."

Tailor the tailor?

"How can I help you and your friend?"

"My friend, Zephyr here would like a new suit."

"Of course."

He grabs Zephyr and takes him to the back for measurements. "Woah! Is this really necessary?"

"Of course it is. Don't you worry, Zephyr." Jack says to him from outside.

About an hour later

"Ah! It is complete!" Tailor says in excitement. "Go."

"Alright." Zephyr says.

Zephyr steps out wearing a black suit, simliar to this:

"How do I look?"

"Now you look like a true high class Las Pegasus pony." Jack answers.

Zephyr looks over his neew suit. "Well, I gotta admit, it is pretty swag."

"You'll be the definition of swag! Come on, we're going to show off the new you!"

"Lead the way!" Tailor coughs to get their attention. "Oh, right. Here you go." Zephyr pulls out a few hundred bits and gives them to him.

"Thank you. Please do come again."

Zephyr and Jack nod and leave the buolding. They start walking and come across a bar. "This looks like a good place to start." Jack says.

They walk in and they take seats at the front. "What'll you have?" the bartender asks.

"Scotch for me." Jack says.

"I'll take a virgin appletini. Shaken, not stirred." Zephyr says in a suave voice.

The bartender nods and walks off. "You're really starting to gethe hang of this."

"Thanks. I actually have an idea now."

"And what would that be?"

"DRINKS FOR EVERYPONY! ALL ON ME!" he shouts.

The entire bar goes crazy in applause. "Who is this awesome stallion?" a mare asks.

Zeph looks at her and smiles. "The name's Verve. Zephyr Verve."

Never Go to Fight Club

Author's Note: Just here to say I went and posted my skype info. on my latest blog right here for anyone who may be interested. But enough of my pointless plugging. Let's get to what you all came here to see. Now, on with the story.

After being named the "King" Drax puts the sword down. "So, what does being king get me exactly? Can I keep the sword?" Drax asks the stallion.

"Sorry, but we need that. We already have to replace the rock you broke. We don't wanna have to replace the sword too."

"Then what do I get?"

The stallion takes out a coupon. "A coupon for one night's stay at the hotel!"

Drax takes the coupon. "That's it? Well, I guess it's better than nothing." he puts the coupon awa(thank you, Pinkie Pie) and steps down to meet Spitfire. "So, anything you wanna do now?"

"Well, I saw a bar near here. You wanna get a drink?" Spitfire says.

"Sure, but not that much. I don't feel like waking up to find out I was cuddling another colt."

Spitfire laughs and smiles on him. "Okay, let's go then."

The couple starts making their way over to said bar, still taking in the sights as they do so. They go inside the bar and take seats up at the front. It seems to be our thing to sit up at the front.

"Two apple ciders, please." Drax says.

The bartender nods and walk off to get their order. He comes back a few minutes later and sets down their drinks.

Spitfire picks up her drink and puts it in the air. "To King Drax, the best stallion in the world."

Drax picks up his own drink. "To Spitfire, the best mare in the world."

They hit their mugs together and each take a swig. "So, scale of one to ten, what'd you rate our first night here?"

"Any night's a ten when I'm with you." Drax says before the two of them kiss.

Before they can continue to talk, a group of three stallions walk up to them. Hey, did we hear right about you being Spitfire?" one of them asks.

"Yeah. Lemme guess, you want an autograph?"

"Nah, we were just wondering what a fine mare like yourself is doing in a place like this." another says.

"Spending time my COLTFRIEND if you don't mind."

"Coltfriend? This loser." they ask, pointing at Drax.

"He's not a loser."

"Look, can you guys just leave us alone and let us enjoy our night?" DRax asks.

"Are you gonna make us, tough guy?"

"Maybe I will." Drax says while getting up.

"Drax, maybe we should get going." Spitfire says, getting up to leave.

One of the stallions grabs her foreleg and stops her. "Where you going, sweet thing?"

Spitfire begins to pull at her leg. "Hey, let go of me."

"That does it!" Drax shouts. He spins the stallion around and punches him in the face, sending him flying.

"Big mistake!" one of the other stallions shout.

One of them jumps on Drax's back to try and restrain him. Now THAT was a big mistake. Drax pulls him off of his back and slams him down on the other stallion. He picks them both up by their heads and slams their heads together, knocking them out.

As the othe stallion starts getting up, Drax grabs him by the throat and slams him through a nearby table, smashing the table to pieces.

"Sorry about all that." Drax says to the bartender. "Send me a bill for the damages leter. Come on, Fire."

Spitfire walks up to Drax and kisses him on the cheek. "Looks like you saved me again."

"Wait(imagine him with an Italian accent)!" a stallion on the other side of the bar shouts as the two are about to make their way out.

They turn around and look at him. "What's up?"

"I must say that was very impressive fighting, sir. You took down all three of those stallions without even breaking a sweat."

"Thanks. It was really nothing."

"Nothing? It was mazing. You know, I could use a guy like you in my kind of work. Would you both care to come with me?"

"I'm not really sure."

"Come on, Drax. We've still got plenty of time. One more little stop couldn't hurt." Spitfire says.

"Well... Sure, I guess we'll come."

"Excellent. Just follow me. It's not too far from here. I promise you won't regret this."

I promise you they will.

The three of them leave the bar and make their way down the street. They walk into aback alleyway. "What are we doing down here?" Drax asks.

"This is just the easiest way to get in." the stallion answers. They come across a door and the stallion knocks on it a funny way for it to open up.

They walk inside to see a big ring with a cage surrounding it and a crowd of ponies cheering as two ponies fight each other inside it.

"What in Equestria is this?"

"This is just a little sport we like to do. We have ponies fight and have ponies bet on 'em. The winner gets paid and ponies who bet correctly also get money. It's simple."

"So, you want me to fight?"

"Just once. Just one fight and you'll be free to go."

"Well, I guess."

One of the ponies in the ring knocks the other one out and cheers. Some ponies come in and take the unconscious pony away as the victor walks out.

"You'll do great, Drax." Spitfire says.

"If you say so. I just feel weird about fighting for sport."

Drax goes up and walks inside of the ring. "Fillies and gentlecolts!" the same pony from before announces. Apparently he announces these when he's around. "Introducing our newest fight, Drax!"

The crowd cheers for Drax as Drax just looks aroud in irritation. 'I can't believe these ponies enjoy this so much.'

A large earth pony walks inside and takes a spot opposite of Drax.

"And introducing his competitor, Steel Hoof!"

The crowd cheers again.

"You think you can handle me, newby?" Steel Hoof asks Drax.

"Heh, I've eaten things scarier than you." it's true. We dared him to eat a spider once. I can't believe he actually did it!

"And... BEGIN!"

Steel Hoof and Drax charge at each other and grab each other with their forelegs, getting into a lock-up.

"Heh, not bad." Steel Hoof says. He kicks Drax's hindleg, tripping him up. With Drax stunned, Steel Hoof takes him and throws him against the cage.

"Your new boy looks to be having trouble boss." a pony says to the announcer stallion.

"Don't you worry. I know he can pull it off, even against somepony as tough as Steel Hoof."

Back in the ring, Drax gets up and charges again. Just before coming to Steel Hoof, he uses his wings to hop over him and get behind him. He wraps himself around him and falls back, slamming Steel Hoof into the floor head first with a Germane Suplex.

Depit this, after impacting, Steel Hoof rolls backwards and wraps his forelegs around Drax's neck, putting him in a headlock. Drax struggles to free himself, but Steel Hoof's grip is too strong.

"He looks pretty licked to me." the pony says to the announcer.

"Just shut your muzzle and watch!"

As Steel Hoof's grip tightens, Drax begins to slowly slip into unconsciousness.

In the crowd, Spitfire watches in horror. "Come on, Drax! You can do this!"

Hearing this, Drax starts to regain his focus. He flies up into the air and and slams down on Steel Hoof, making him release his grasp. Drax begins to fly up again and position himself. As Steel Hoof gets back on his hooves, Drax comes down hard with an elbow in Steel Hoof's back, making a sickening crack sound.

Having had his spine nearly shattered, Steel Hoof falls unconscious on the ring mat.

"Everypony, let's hear it for Drax!" the announcer shouts.

Drax looks at the crowd as they cheer for him and he smiles a bit. Drax leaves the ring and goes to meet up with Spitfire.

"You did great!" she tells him.

"Thanks." he says. The two of them kiss again before the announcer comes to meet Drax.

"hat was a fantastic display, Drax. Here's your earnings." he says, giving Drax a bag of bits.

"Thanks. Now if you'll excuse me, we should get going." the two of them go towards the door only to be blocked by several large ponies. "What's going on?"

"I'm sorry, Drax, but you're toovaluable to just let leave. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Albert Capony, son to the great Al Capony. This here fight club I have set up isn't exactly legal, but it sure is good money. And I can tell you'd be the perfect money maker for me."

"But you said we could leave!"

"Yeah, welll, there's two rules to fight clubs. One: Don't talk about fight club. And two: Nopony gets out of fight club. You're gonna stay and make me money."

"And if I refuse?"

The group of ponies start taking out knives. "You don't wanna know. Since I am a reasonable pony, I'll st least give you both a place to stay. You'll find a spare room upstairs. Fifth door on the left." Drax and Spitfire just look at him. "Well, get movin'!"

Drax and Spitfire do as their told and make their way up to their room, almost completely empty except for a bed and a small bathroom.

"What are we gonna do, Drax?"

"I don't kbow, Fire. All we can do right now is play along and try to stay alive. I'm sure the others will come looking for us eventually. I'll try and think of something until then."

"Okay, I trust you."

"Yeah... I just hope I can actually figure something out."

Jail Ponies

"Thank you, Las Pegasus! Give it up for our great singers, Ice and Dark Lightning!" Vinyl shouts from on stage.

Ice and Dark take a bow before all three of them walk off the stage and go back down to join Twilight.

"Even though the song was a bit crude, I gotta admit, it was amzing!" she says to them.

"Thanks. The song's a personal favorite of mine." Ice says.

"You've got good taste, Frosty. We totally kicked flank up there!"

"You guys sure did!" Vinyl says.

The four of them celebrate with a group high-hoof. "I think this calls for a drink!" Dark says.

Drinking? I don't know, Dark. I don't want you getting overboard and getting into trouble." Twilight says.

I agree with Twilight. Drinks aren't a good idea.

"Come on, Twi. I promise we won't go overboard. We just want a few drinks to celebrate."

"Well... Alright, I guess a few drinks couldn't hurt."

YOU FOOL!

"That's what I'm talking about. Bartender, round of ciders over here!" the bartender at the other end of the stand nods and pours them four mugs of cider before sliding the ciders over the counter-top. It's always so cool to see that.

Ice takes a drink from his mug. "Ah. This stuff is pretty good, but it's pretty weak. It'd take forever to get drunk on this stuff."

"Oh, and you're a big drinker?" Dark asks smugly.

"I bet I'm a big enough drinker that I could drink you under the table and on your flank."

"Oh, really?" Dark looks over at the bartender again. "More cider, bartender! We've got us a drink off!"

"Maybe this was a bad idea." Twilight says to Vinyl.

"You think?"

I know so.

"Did somepony say a drink off?!" a random pony in the bar asks in excitement, everypony in the bar now focusing on Dark and Ice.

Everypony in the bar goes rushing around Dark and Ice as the two of them stare at each other with smug faces.

The bartender comes by and stands between them. This apparently happens often, and as such every bartender is set to play the referee.

He takes two mugs and sets them infront of Ice and Dark. "Only one rule: The winner is who ever is left standing. We'll have rounds. One mug equals around. Do you both understand?" the two of them nod, still eyeballing each other. "THEN GO!"

The two eager stallions immediately grab their mugs and start chugging them, finshing them off in about(you know what I'm gonna say) ten econds flat.

"No problem." Ice says.

"We'll see about that." Dark retorts.

After five mugs later

Dark looks at Ice as the two of them slightly wobble in their seats. "Getting tipsy, are we?"

"HA! You should see yourself right now! You look like you're about to fall right on your flank at any minute!"

The bartender sets down another set of drinks and Ice and Dark continue to drink as the crowd cheers for them.

"ICE! ICE! ICE!"

"DARK! DARK! DARK!"

This can only end in blood and tears.

Another five mugs later

Ice and Dark glare at each other, each of them looking completely wall-eyed and with a blush on their faces. Their each so drunk that they can barely see at this point.

"You son of a mare, *hic* I'm gonna win this!" Dark shouts at Ice.

"*hic* No way am I gonna lose to a jerk like *hic* you!"

Dark gets angry and throws his mug, but instead of hitting Ice, he hits a stallion behind Ice. "What the buck?!" he shouts.

He takes his mug and throws it at Dark. In his drunken haze, Dark leans to the side and the mug hits another stallion. The stallion he hit throws his mug and the entire crowd breaks out into a full on brawl. Chairs, bottles, and more than anything, ponies fly through the air.

Twilight and Vinyl immediately take cover behind the bar counter and look over at the mob. "A few drinks couldn't hurt, huh?" Vinyl asks Twilight.

Twilight looks at her and gives a sheepish laugh.

"Now this is a party!" Dark shouts. Even when drunk, those two aren't guys you wanna cross. He grabs the head of a nearby stallion and throws him into another stallion.

"This is getting totally out of control!" Twilight shouts. "We have to stop this!"

"What are we gonna do?!" Vinyl shouts.

Just then several stallions come in wearing police uniforms. In Las Pegasus, the city is actually big enough to support its own law enforcement, similar to the royal guards in Canterlot.

"Alright, break it up! Who are the ones responsible for all this?!" one of the officers shouts. The crowd clears, leaving Dark and Ice trying to weakly punch at each other in the center before looking towards the officers.

"What the buck do you want?" Dark asks.

"You two are under arrest!" the guards bring out some hoofcuffs and neck braces and slap them on Dark and Ice. Using their magic, one of the unicorn officers levitates Dark and Ice as the two weakly struggle in the air. They are both placed in the back of a police cart and are hauled away.

"What the buck, *hic* man? We disn't do anything." Dark says.

"Better use he spell on 'em." one officer says to the other.

"On it." his horn glows and he focuses his magic on Dark and Ice.

"What the buck-" Dark starts before blinking. "Wait, where are we?" he asks, the magic relieving him of his drunkness.

"You two started a bar brawl and are being taken to the Las Pegasus prison." an officer explains.

"Heh, yeah right." Dark says as he tries to build up energy in his hooves. "Hey, why isn't this working?"

"Here, let me try." Ice says. He tries to build energy in his hooves, but again to no avail." What's going on?"

"You two think we're stupid?"

"Well-"

"Shut it, Dark." Ice says.

"We know who you two are, Ice and Dark Lightning. Every pony in equestria knows who you are and know about your magical powers. See those braces around your neck?"

Dark looks down. "Yeah, so what?"

"They're not only numbered for identifying prisoners, but they also restrict all magic in the body, leaving powers like yours useless."

"You gotta be kidding me!"

"Just calm down, Sparky. I'm sure Twi and Vinyl are working on trying to get us out as we speak. All we need to do for now is keep calm. When we get there, we just need to lay low and watch each other's backs. Deal?"

Dark looks at Ice. "Yeah, deal. I definitely don't want us getting hurt while in there. *sigh* Fifteen years of running, just to be caught during a bar fight."

They sat in silence for the rest of the ride, trying to get themselves ready for the harshness of prison.

They soon arrive at the prison and are taken off the cart. "Welcome to Las Pegasus Prison. a guard says, opening the front door.

Upon entering, Dark and Ice have their hoofcuffs removed and are both taken for mugshots(imsgine their faces during this. It's hilaruous.) and for getting their hoofprints taken.

After that, they walk through the halls of the prison, stallions inside their cells watching in excitement.

"Looks like we got some new meat!"

"They'll crack in no time!"

"I really like their manes!"

...No comment.

They are taken towards the back before stopping. "We're a bit tight on space, so you two'll have to share a double wide cell with the other inmates we've got."

"Just fantastic." Dark says.

The guard opens the cell and gestures for them to walk in. The guard then locks the gate as they enter. "You four play nice noe."

Dark and Ice look over to see two fairly large twin earth pony stallions. Both having a red mane and tail, light green coat, and darker green eyes. One had a cutie mark of a switchblade and the other had a cutie mark of a crowbar.

"Looks like we got some new playmates, Zeke." the one with a switchblade says in a thick, country accent.

"Sure does look like it, Bubba." the other one says.

"Look, you two freaks just say away from us." Dark threatens.

"Ooh, a fisety one. Ah call that one." Zeke says.

"Then I'll take the little one. I like 'em small anyhow. Makes me feel powerful." Bubba says.

"What are you guys talking about?" Ice asks nervously.

"Well, let's put it this way. In Equestria they say, those pour stallions' anuses grew three sizes that day." Bubba says before he and Zeke break out into evil laughter.

"Hahaha, them boys was screamin' like pigs!" Zeke says while laughing.

Dark and Ice's eyes go wide as they look at each other. "Okay, not only do we watch each other's backs, but also each other's flanks."

"Deal."

"Every inmate should be in bed! Lights out!" a guard shouts.

Dark and Ice quickly rush over and take a bunk bed for themselves, Dark on the top bunk and Ice on the bottom bunk.

Nothing can ever go right.

Blue the Middle Stallion

Author's Note: I may be celebrating a bit early, but shortly after this goes up, this fic will hit its biggest milestone yet with 5,000 views! Next milestone on my list: 10,000 views. Think we can do it? ...I doubt it, but we can sure as buck try! Now, on with the story.

As Ice and Dark are hauled off by the police, Vinyl and Twilight watch in horror.

Vinyl turns to Twilight and raises an eyebrow at her. "Okay, I know what you're gonna say." Twilight says. "I know I shouldn't have let them drink, but that's not important. Right now we we need to get the others!"

"I'm right there with ya, Twi." Vinyl says. "Let's get a move on!"

"No need. I'll just teleport us back to the hotel."

"Sweet! I gotta learn how to do teleportation sometime."

Twilight's horn begins to glow as a bright flash of light encompasses the two of them. In a quick second, Twilight and Vinyl appear infront of the hotel.

"Now, to the get the others!"

Now back to me... now back to your stallion. Now back to me.

But seriously, Dash and I lay on the clouds above the city, both sweating and a look of ecstasy on our faces."That was awesome!" I say.

"Yeah, we need to get more alone time together." Dash says. "So, what now?"

"You wanna head back and meet with the others?"

"Sure, sounds like a plan."

We get up and wipe our sweat off before taking off back to the hotel.

Let's go check up and see what Zeph was up to after the bar.

At the bar Zeph and Jack went to, the two stallions continue to sit and talk as everypony else in the bar continues to drink, all on Zeph's treat.

"Man, who knew being rich could be so awesome?" Zeph says.

"I know, it's amazing." Jack says. "You're the toast of the town right now. Everypony who knows you loves you."

Zeph gets out of his seat and starts walking off. "Well, it's getting late. I really should be getting back to the hotel."

"The hotel? That's quite a walk from here. A stallion with money like yours shouldn't be walking the streets this late at night!"

"Then what am I supposed to do?"

"My house is just down the street. I insist you stay with me for the night."

"Really? That sounds great, Jack."

"No problem, Zephyr. That's what friends are for."

The two stallions pay for everypony's drinks and leave for Jack's house.

Now let's look at how Octavia's holding up with being the only pony back at the hotel.

Octavia sits back in the hotel room, reading a book as she worriedly glances at the door every so often.

Suddenly, there's a knock at the door and Octavia excitedly goes over to open in. "Zephyr?" she opens the door to see another pony stansing there. "You're not Zephyr!"

"No, but you look like you could use more Celestia in your life." the pony says.

"Would you get out of here?!" Octavia slams the door in frustration. Dang Celestia's witnesses. "Where could everypony be? It's not like them to be out this late."

The door knocks again as Octavia opens it angrily. "I thought I told you to bu-" she stops herself to see that it's Vinyl and Twilight. "Oh, Vinyl, Twilight, I didn't know it was you."

"Octy, is everypony else here?" Vinyl asks.

"No, I'm the only one." she answers sadly. "Why? What's the problem?"

"Ice and Dark got arrested for starting a bar fight."

"They what?!"

Before they go on, Dash and I walk up. "Hey, ladies. Where are the others?" I ask.

"Dark and Ice got arrested." Twilight says.

"What?!" I put a hoof to my face. "If they live, I'm going to kill them. But what about everypony else?"

"Nopony else has returned." Octavia says. "I've been the only one here since I left Zephyr."

"Really? It's not like everypony to just leave for the whole night without telling us." I say as I try to think of a reason. "What exactly did Dark and Ice do anyways?"

"They got drunk and started a bar fight."

I facehoof again. "I told Ice drinking was bad."

"Twilight told them not to, but they talked her into it." Vinyl says.

Twilight gives a sheepish look as everypony looks at her. "What's happened can't change. Right now we need to work on getting them out."

"How? The jail's closed right now. The earliest we'd be able to get them out would be tomorrow."

Before we can keep going on, Hail and the other girls walk up, Hail walking in a bit of a zigzag. "Hey, every*hic*pony." Hail says. "This town is *hic* great."

She comes over to me and she leans against me. "What happened?" I ask in a bored voice.

"Well, ah guess we weren't really payin' attention and kinda let Hail drink a bit too much." Applejack says.

"It was totally awesome! Hail's a lot of fun, especially when she's drunk." Pinkie says. She looks around the goup. "Where's everpony else?"

"Ice and Dark got arrested and the others are missing."

"What?!" the four of them shout. Hail was a bit too drunk to understand.

"That's awful! hat are we gonna do?!" Fluttershy asks worriedly.

"Not much we can do aboutDark and Ice til morning. As for the others, I say we just wait."

"Wait?! How can we just wait when all our friends are missing?! Including my coltfriend?!" Octavia shouts.

"Octavia, just calm down. For all we know, they could just be having fun and are just coming back late. Let's just wait out the night and see if they come back."

She wipes a few tears from her eyes as she gently nods. "Alright, I trust you, Blue. But it won't make spending the night alone any easier."

"I'll keep you company tonight, Octy." Vinl says as she wraps a hoof around Octavia.

"Thanks, Vinyl. I really appreciate."

"Good. Now, I think it's getting late." I say.

"I don't. *hic* I still wanna party!" Hail says.

I roll my eyes. "Can you four get her to bed for me?"

"Sure thing, Blue." Applejack says. She walks over and takes Hail. "You come on now, sugarcube. Time for sleep."

Everypony goes off to their rooms to get sleep. Dash and I get in our bed. "Are you sure they'll be all right, Blue?" Dash asks.

"*sigh* I sure hope so, Dash."

You're all probably wondering what Vinetion and Fleur are up to right now, so let's go check on that.

Vinetion and Fleur both lie down on the forest floor as they finish their little "fun".

"That was amazing." Vine says.

"You were amazing." Fleur says.

"Thanks. You sure do know how to use that horn of yours."

"And you certainly know how to use those vines you make."

The two of them share a giggle. "So, do you think we should go back to the-" Vine starts asking before being interrupted by Fleur's soft snoring. "Never mind. We can just go back in the morning. I'm sure the others won't mind."

Vine closes her eyes and joins Fleur in sleep. But unbeknownst to them, the two of them are sleeping in a patch of strange blue and pink colored flowers.

This can't be good.

At the Club

Author's Note: Okay, now we have officially hit 5,000 views! Also, for some reason, some people(you know who you are) seem to be losing faith in me and think I'm gonna do bad stuff. I am very disappointed in all of you. ...NAH! I'm just kidding! But you guys really have no reason to worry. But enough of that, it's finally Vine's turn to get the spotlight. Knowing Vine, she could either love me or hate me for this. Wish me luck! Now, on with the story.

The next morning, Vine and Fleur(I'm going to be using this for the next few chapters. There's going to be quite a bit of POV changing.)

In the forest, Vine and Fleur still lay sleeping together, but something isn't quite right here. Wait, are they..?

Vine rustles in her sleep as she wakes up. "*yawn* That was a a good night's sleep." she says to herself. Her eyes shoot open as she realizes something. "Hey, what's with my voice?!"

She gets up and starts to feel funny. "Woah, what's going on?" she rushes over to a nearby pond and looks in the water to see her new reflection. "Oh my Celestia! I'm a bucking stallion!"

She... He... You know what? I'm just gonna say "she" because that's what she technically is. She leans forward to look under herself and sees something dangling between her hindlegs.

She puts her hooves to her face as she goes into a panic. "This can't be happening! THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!"

Over in the distance, Fleur stirs in her sleep at Vine's yelling. "Vinetion? What's the mat-" she stops as notices Vine. "Who are you?!"

"Fleur?"

"Yes, of course." she suddenly stops as she notices her voice is also different. "What is wrong with my voice?!"

"Fleur, I'm Vinetion!"

"What? How can that be possible?!"

"Because, both you and I got turned into stallions."

You guys will have to use your imagination for Fleur here.

"What?!"

"Come see for yourself." Vine says, motioning to the pond by her.

Fleur hurries up and goes over to see her stallion self in the pond water. "Oh my Celestia! How in the world could this happen?!"

"Wait a minute." Vine says.

"What?"

Vine goes over to the spot they were laying at during the night. "These flowers we were sleeping in! They did this to us!"

"What do you mean?"

"See how they're pink and blue? Just like the colors that represent the genders. Blue for colts and pink for fillies."

"Yes. So what?"

"These plants are a cousin to the Poison Joke. They're called the Hood Swap plants. They change marehoods into stallionhoods and vice versa."

"So we're like those because of those flowers?!"

"Isn't that what I just said?"

"Well, is there any kind of cure?"

"Well, there is an herbal bath to reverse the effects, but all the ingredients I need are back in Ponyville."

"So we're just stuck like this until the time we go back?!"

"Unfortunately, yes."

"*sigh* Well, while we're awake, I guess we should go back to the hotel and let the ithers know what has happened."

"Agreed."

The two newly stallionized ponies make their way out of the forest together. They reach the outside of the forest and stop at a dirt road.

"So, it'd probably be faster if we get another cab." Vine says.

"Well, actually, funny thing about that." Fleur says.

Vine raises an eyebrow at her(it's kinda weird putting that for a stallion). "Why is that?"

"Well, I kind of used all of the bits I brought to pay the first cab driver."

Vine facehoofs. "Great. The one time I decided not to bring any money. Well, hop on my back and I can fly us there."

"Actually, I have something to admit. I'm kind of afraid of heights."

"*sigh* Of course you are."

With no other options, the two of them continue to walk into the city. Lucky for Vine, the city's flasing lights aren't nearly as disorienting in broad daylight, so simply walking through the city is made much easier.

As they walk, they go by a dark alleyway with a bunch of admittedly slutty looking mares standimg and smoking cigarettes.

They step infront of Vine and Fleur, blocking them. "Hey, fellas. Would a couple of good looking stallions like you want a good time?" one of them asks.

"Sorry, but we're taken." Vine says as they oush past them.

"Fine then, colt-cuddlers!"

"Ugh, I can't wait to get out of this stupid body." Vine says in irritation.

"You and I both." says Fleur.

They continue to walk for a bit before taking a rest break at a buncg. "Okay, I need a break." Vine says.

Over in the distance, a pair of stallions look over to Vine. "Hey, is that?"

"Yeah, that's the boss!"

Why is Celestia such a troll?

The two go up to Vine. "Boss, funny runnin' into you out here."

"Boss? I think you two have me confused for somepony else."

The two look at each other and laugh. "Good one, boss. Always with the "You got the wrong guy!" schtick. Come on, let's head over to the club for some free drinks."

The two pull Vine to her hooves and have her follow them as Fleur gets up to follow them.

Vine pulls away from their grip. "Look, I'm telling you, I'm not the guy!"

The two laugh again. "Enough jokin', boss. We ain't the cops, you can be cool around us. Now, let's get goin'."

Vine facehoofs as they contniue walk. "*sigh* Fine."

Vine and Fleur walk as Fleur looks at Vine. "You can't seriously mean we're going to follow them."

"These idiots obviously aren't gonna buy that I'm somepony else, so let's just play along for now."

"Fine, but if anything bad happens, I'm blaming you."

The four walk for a bit before stopping outside a building with a sign saying, "Woody's Woodies." on the front. "Here we are, sir." one stallion says as he opens the door for them.

They go inside to be greeted by a bouncer watching another set of doors. "Morning, Mr. Big Wood."

'From how everypony's acting, this guy must own this place.' Vine thinks to herself. 'Big Wood? Either it's true, or this guy is trying to overcompensate.'

They go through the doors and walk into a large room with a bunch of stallions drinking and throwing money up to mares dancing around poles on catwalks while this song plays in the background.

'This place is a strip club?!' Vine and Fleur simultaneously think.

"Never too early for clubbin', eh, boss?" a stallion asks, nudging Vine before going over to a stage and sitting down to the show.

Vine's wings stretch out at the site. 'That's definitely new.' she thinks as she feels something between her hindlegs.

"Hmm, maybe the others can wait." she says.

"What?!" Fleur shouts in confusion.

"Look, I know we should be going back, but we've already played along this far, what's the harm in staying here a few hours?"

"Well..."

"We just stay here for a few hours, get a free show, and then go back to the hotel around closing time. No big deal."

"Well, I suppose."

"Glad to hear you're on board. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to use the restroom."

She walks over to the restrooms and enters the mare's room. A few mares shriek as she comes in, her still being a stallion and all.

"Sorry, my bad!" she says as she jumps out of the room and goes into the stallion's room. She goes into a stall. Now, how do you use this thing?"

How does everypony wind up in these situations?

Author's Note: So, now we have Zeph living it up with his money, Drax being a hostage at a fight club, Dark and Ice stuck in jail with two gay rapists, and Vine and Fleur pimpin' over at a strip club. Oh the shenanigans! Also, went and made a new blog post that is kind of important. Click here to go see it.

Drax's Determination

Author's Note: Stupid fimfiction! Y U NO WORK?! It's like the site is against me writing today. But I shall not stand for it! But enough of my pointless whining(which really is whining). Now, on with the story(sounds weird putting this after what I just said. Meh.).

That same morning, Zephyr(confused we're starting off with Zephyr in a chapter about Drax? Good.)

Zephyr wakes up in Jack's living room, having slept on the sofa during the night. "*yawn* That was a rough night's sleep." he says to himself. He walks over into the kitchen. "Jack probably won't mind if I make myself some cereal."

Of course. Eat someone else's food without asking. Though, I'd probably do the same thing.

Zephyr pulls out a box of Applejacks. No relation to Ponyville's resident cowpony. "Huh, I wonder if Applejack knows about these." He pours himself a bowl and sits down at the dining table to eat.

Jack walks out from the hallway as Zephyr continues to eat. "Good morning, Zephyr. Sleep well?"

"Hey, Jack. No, not really."

"You should've taken my offer to sleep in my room with me."

Um...

"Uh, that's okay." Zephyr says with a nervous and fake smile.

Jack frowns. "Well, if you say so. So, any plans for today?"

"Yeah, I really just wanna head back to the hotel. My friends are probably worried about me."

"I'll go over there with you and help carry your money."

"Thanks, I appreciate it."

The two of them then just spend the next half hour eating breakfast and making small talk. Once done eating, they go get Zephyr's money and head out to the hotel.

They reach the hotel after a bit of walking and take an elevator up to the sixth floor. "Here's our stop." Zephyr says. Well, duh. That's why you hit the button with a six on it. But I digress.

They walk through the halls and come to the rooms. "Here's the rooms." he knocks on the door only to recieve no answer. "Huh, let me try the others." he knocks on the other doors, but again, nopony answers.

"It seems like they've all left already." Jack says.

"Aw, man."

"Well, no point in sticking around here. Let's just go out for a bit and come back later."

"*sigh* I guess."

Wondering where everypony is? That'll be in the next chapter. You mad?

That same morning, Drax(here's what you all wanted to see this chapter)

Drax and Spitfire sit up, barely getting any sleep during the night. "Man, this bed feels like it's full of rocks." Drax says.

"Tell me about it." Spitfire says. "My wings feel so stiff."

"Is that because of the bed, or are you just happy to see me?"

Spitfire playfully punches his sholder. "Shut up."

Drax chuckles a bit and gets up to use the restroom. Upon entering, he sniffs a horrible smell. "Bleh, this place smells like it's never been cleaned."

After "going" and trying not to puke from the smell, Drax gets out of the bathroom. Suddenly, a pony opens their door. "I'm glad to see you're awake. You're next match is in a few minutes."

"Fantastic." Drax says sarcastically.

"Good to hear. Break a leg. And we mean that pretty literally here. THey're leg, you're leg. Anypony's really."

The pony leaves them after that. "*sigh* Let's just get this over with."

Spitfire comes over and kisses him on the cheek. "Don't worry, I'll be in the crowds to cheer you on all the way."

"Thanks, Fire. You can make even this bareable for me."

"That's what I'm here for."

The pegasus leaves the incredibly dingy room and heads down the stairs to see a crowd of ponies has already gethered for the fight. Do ponies in this town ever sleep?

Spitfire goes over to the stands and takes a seat in the audience. Drax goes over to the cage and opens up the door to walk onto the ring.

'Hopefully my next opponent isn't all that tough. That Steel Hoof guy really gave it to me.' Drax thinks to himself.

"Fillies and gentlecolts!" Albert announces to the crowd. "Let's here it for our favorite rookie, Drax!" the crowd cheers for Drax... I think. I think they really just wanted the fighting to start.

Just then, an incredibly muscular pegasus pony with even more incredibly small wings and a scary look on his face walks into the ring.

"And introducing his opponent, Roid Rage!"

"YEAH!" Roid Rage shouts.

"Roid Rage? Haven't I seen you in Ponyville?" Drax asks.

"YEAH!"

"Then what are you doing here?"

"YEAH!"

"That doesn't really answer my-"

"YEAH!"

Drax facehoofs. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Don't bother talking to him, Drax." Alvbert says from his announcer's stand. "Al the steroids he's on kinda went to his brain. He can't really think too well anymore."

"YEAH!"

'Great. Just my luck. My opponent is a brainless, buffed out, psychotic, moron.'

"Well, bring it on!" Drax challenges Roid Rage.

"YEAH!"

"THEN BEGIN!"

Roid Rage takes off for Drax, despite his size, dude's pretty quick on his hooves. Drax narrowly dodges as Roid Rage slams face first into the cage.

"HA! Take that!"

Roid Rage backs up from the cage, unphased from the crash. I guess stupid people don't feel as much pain.

"YEAH!"

"Pony-feathers!"

Roid Rage grabs Drax and throws him onto the mat. He tries to drop his muscular elbow onto Drax only for Drax to roll out of the way. Drax gets onto his hooves and gets behind Roid rage to wrap his forelegs around his neck. As Drax tries to choke him out, Roid Rage opens his mouth wide and bites down on Drax's foreleg.

"OW!" Drax shouts in pain. He lets go and starts using his free foreleg to repeatedly hit Roid Rage in the face, desperately trying to make him let go. "Get off! Get off! Get off!"

With one last strong punch, Drax hits Roid rage between the eyes and makes him release his bite. Drax brings up his foreleg and blows on it to relieve the pain.

"YEAH!" Roid Rage shouts AGAIN.

He charges at Drax as Drax he falls onto his back. Drax his hindlegs to launch Roid Rage into the air. Becuase of his tiny wings, Roid Rage his unable to catch himself in the air.

Drax flies up and wraps a foreleg around Roid Rage's head. He pulls him down and delivers a devastating DDT to Roid Rage, making the entire cage shake and knocking Roid Rage out.

"Folks, Drax is on a roll! Let's give it up for him!" Albert shouts again. Drax just stands in the ring and pants as he looks upon Roid Rage. "Drax, you may exit the ring and head over to our locker room to blow off some steam."

Drax eits the ring and looks over to a door with a sign saying "Locker Room" on it. Deax goes over and goes inside the locker room.

Drax sits down at a bench for a minute before punching cracks in the wall in frustration. "I can't take much more of this!"

Just then, a familiar earth pony walks up to him. "I know what you mean."

"Steel Hoof? What do you want?"

"I'm just getting ready for my match."

"They're making you fight after that injury I gave you yesterday?"

He nods. "They had some medical ponies work on me, but I'm still hurt. This place just doesn't care about its fighters."

"Really? I never would've guessed."

"Joke all you want, but the truth is, I hate being here just as much as you do. Also, I wanna apologize for how I might have come off yesterday."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I know I may have seemed like a jerk, but I just do that to intimidate my opponents. I'm just trying to survive in this place."

"Well, apology accepted. But I don't plan on staying here."

"Heh, good luck getting out. But while you're here, just hope you don't have to fight my brother, Alloy."

"Why is that?"

"He's ruthless. He'll kill you and not even think twice about it. Everypony here fears him."

"Well, I don't care what he's like. I don't care who gets in my way, 'cause I'm gonna get out of here."

Steel gives Drax a smile. "Well, I wish you luck. But now, I've gotta go do my match."

"Yeah, good luck to you too."

Steel leaves the locker room and leaves Drax to be alone with his thoughts.

'I talk a big game. I just hope I can back it up.'

Showing who's Boss

Author's Note: Since most of my readers don't check my blog, I'm here to say that I recently posted a pretty important blog. And for those to lazy to go check it themselves, here's a direct link to it. Now, on with the story.

Now that we're done with most everypony else, let's switch focus back to everyone's favorite pony, me. I know, I'm a flankhole. But you guys know you love me.

I wake up the morning after the night everything went to hay in a hand basket. I've gots me an idea. I smile mischeviously as I get up and I snicker to myself.

Dash rustles in the bed and slightly opens her eyes at me. "Blue? What's with the look?" she asks drowsily.

"Hehehe, I haved something planned for Haily."

"Like what?"

"Oh, you'll see. You'll all see! Mwahahaha!"

"Hey, quiet down in there! Some ponies are trying to sleep still!" Vinyl shouts from the other room.

"Mwahahahaha!" I laugh more quietly.

I get out of bed and make my way out of the room. I walk over two doors and knock on the girls' room.

Pinkie answers the door and smiles at me. "Hey, Breezy. What's up?"

"Is Haily still asleep?"

"Yeah, that drinking really did it to her."

"Good. Got any symbals."

"I always do." she pulls out a pair of symbals out of nowhere as usual and hooffs them to me. "Early morning brother sister prank?"

"You know it."

She moves by, allowing me to walk into the room. I go up to the bed where Haily lays sleeping with Fluttershy. Turns out everypony else is also still asleep. Pinkie sure is an early riser. I prepare the symbals and...

*CRASH*

Everypony in the room wakes up with a scare, Fluttershy letting out an eep and shooting up up to the ceiling fan to clingon to.

"What in tarnation?!" Applejack shouts.

"Why must you wake us up like this?" Rarity asks in an annoyed voice.

"Yeah, what the hay, Blue? Ow." Haily says, grabbing her head as it throbs in pain.

"Sorry everypony. Everypony but Haily that is." I say.

"What'd I do?"

"Consider this payback for nearly breaking my snout." I smash the symbals again.

"I said sorry."

"No you didn't." I smash them again.

"Oh... right." I take the symbals and smash them once more. "Where'd you even get symbals?"

"From Pinkie."

"And where'd she get them? I don't remember her bringing any."

I look at the symbals for a second. "I have no idea." I say happily, smashing them together one lasttime. "Since you're all up now, I say we get to finding the others."

"What about the other girls?" Fluttershy asks.

Twilight, Dash, Vinyl, and Octavia all walk in. "We couldn't sleep with all the symbal smashing." Twilight says irritably.

"Super. That makes everything faster."

"Anyway, where should we start looking?"

"Twilight, Vinyl, and I will be going to the prison to check on Dark and Ice. The rest of you can go around town and look for the others."

"But, Blue, you said we could hang out today." Hail says.

"Fine, you can come with us to the prison."

"Yay!" she yells in excitement before wrapping around me.

"Yeah, yeah, just stick by us and be careful."

"Okay, I will."

"So we're just supposed to blindly go around town looking for the others?" Dash asks.

"Yep."

"You never make a plan, do you?"

"Nope."

"*sigh* Why am I not surprised?"

With that, the three mares and I go to make our way to the prison as the other remaining mares get to looking fo our lost friends.

We get out of the hotel and walk down the streets towards the peison. "So, does anyone here actually know how to get to the rison?" I ask.

"Yes, I do actually." Twilight says.

"And you know this because?"

"I looked at books on the city before we left for our vacation."

"Oh, that makes sense."

"Yeah, good going, Twi." Vinyl says.

"No problem. I always just like to be prepared."

Looks like Twilight's obsession to needlessly read about everything came in handy.

We walk for a bit before reaching just outside the prison. "Come on, visiting hours should be going on right now." Twilight says.

We make our way through a door to a room with stools placed at windows for prisoners to talk to visitors. Dark and Ice were there and they notice us. Upon noticing us, they beam and rush over to a window.

The rest of us hurry over to the same window. "Guys, thank Celestia you're here." Ice says.

"Yeah, we really need to get out of here. I CAN'T go back in those showers!" Dark says.

"I oughtta kill you both for being so stupid!" I yell.

"It was Dark's idea to drink."

"Yeah, but you're the one who actually agreed to do it and then acted like a show-off."

"Enough arguing!" I interrupt them. "*sigh* How much is your guys' bail?"

"Ten thoousand bits."

"WHAT?!"

"Each."

I put both hooves to my face. "Fine, we'll get to work and see what we can do."

"Thanks."

"Oh, and by the way."

"What?"

"Don't drop the soap." I joke as the others and I leave.

"FLANKHOLE!" Dark and Ice both shout.

As the four of us leave, a few guards come over to them. "Your time's up. Time to go get your breakfast."

The two nod and follow them out to the mess hall. They walk in and grab some trays before getting in line to getwhat the prison calls food but is actually closer to slop.

The worker manning the slop grabs a spoofull for Ice. "Uh, you wouldn't happen to have something actually edible, would you?" he drops the globby mess on Ice's tray, making it splatter.

Ice moves and Dark goes up. "Is the only stuff you serve here this stuff that even dogs wouldn't eat?" again, he is only answered with a heap of slop.

The two of them look at there plates in annoyance and go over to an empty table. "Ugh! This sucks! Cell mates that wanna rape us, oublic showering, and no real food!" Ice shouts.

"Tell me about it. I can't wait to get out of here." Dark says in agreement.

"Just then, Bubba and Zeke come over to their table. "Howdy, fellas." Bubba says.

"Can't you freaks just leave us alone?" Ice says.

"We just wanted to say hey." Zeke says.

"Yeah, we just wanted to get to know our future butt buddies better." the two of them then laugh.

Dark gets up and slams his hooves down. "That's it! I'm gonna put you both in your place!"

"Me too!" Ice says.

"Oh? Then how about meeting us out in the yard later? Y'all two boys can prove just how big 'o stallions ya are there."

"It's a date, big boy." Dark taunts.

The two brothers walk away, laughing to each other as they do so. "So, you think we can take 'em without powers?" Ice asks Dark. "I've just never seen you fight without them."

"Don't you worry about me, Frosty. All that time in the forest taught me how to do more than just control my powers. And that training Blue gave you should come in handy."

"Got it. We just need to watch each other's back in this fight."

"Deal." the two of them brohoof each other in agreement.

Two hours later

"Time for recess!" a guard shouts.

"You ready?" Dark asks Ice.

"Dude, I was born ready."

"I hope ya boys are ready." Bubba says from behind them.

"Yeah, it'll be fun to have a bit of a fight before the fun." Zeke says.

The gates open as all the prisoners walk out and are escorted into the yard by the guards. They reach the yard and the four stallions go to the middle to start fighting.

"Hey, the new meat's fighting BUbba and Zeke!" a random inmate shouts. A crowd of other inmates circles around them, eager to watch the fight.

"FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"

"Should we do something about this?" a guard asks another.

"Nah. There's nothing in our job description about keeping inmates from fighting each other."

"Sounds good to me."

Back over in the circle, Bubba charges at Ice, Ice side-stepping out of the way and hitting him in the head. While Ice is paying attention to Bubba, Zeke grabs Ice by the hindlegs and picks him up to slam him back down.

Before he can do it again, Dark slamd into Zeke, sending him flying. Bubba gets up and gets over to Dark, the two of them now locking hooves.

Due to his size, Bubba starts overpowering Dark, pushhing him down. Ice jumps onto Bubba's back and starts choking him. Zeke gets up and charges at Dark, Dark quickly noticing him and Zeke missing Dark to ram right into Bubba's gut and fior Ice to jump off of Bubba.

Ice walks over to Dark and they smile at each other. They're celebration is cut short however as the twins get up and simultaneously charge the two ponies.

Ice and Dark look at each other as Ice gives Dark his forehooves as Dark starts spinning Ice around in the air. Ice releases his grip and sends Ice soaring at the brothers. The two stop as they see Ice coming at them. Before they can escape however, Ice slams a hoof into each of their faces, knocking them out.

The ring of inmates sits in silence for a moment before one starts shouting. "Way to go, new meat!"

The rest of the crowd starts cheering as Dark and Ice do another brohoof.

The two guards from before had been watching the entire fight and look at each other with sinister smiles.

This can't be good.

Finding Friends both Old and New

"Don't drop the soap." I say to Dark and Ice before the others and I walk away.

"Was that really necessary?" Twilight asks.

"They deserve it for getting put in here in the first place."

"Even still, they're here and we need to get them out. What are we gonna do?"

"How am I supposed to know? We don't have twenty thousand bits!"

"I know, but we can't just leave them here. You know those collars they were wearing?"

"Yeah. So what?"

"They restrict magical energy, meaning they can't use their powers with them on."

"So, what you're saying is, they're screwed."

"Well, now necessarily. It just worries me is all."

"You really shouldn't worry too much, Twi. I know first-hoof just how tough Dark is, and I'm sure he's tough even without his powers. And I trained Ice mysef. I know he's tough."

"Yeah, I'm with Blue, Twi. Dark and Ice aren't the ones we need to worry about." Vinyl says.

"Well, if you all say so."

"Trust me, Twi. Blue may be an idiot-" Hail says.

"Hey!"

"But he'd never do anything to let his friends get hurt."

"Okay, I'll trust you all then."

"Good to hear. Nowwe should go back to meet up with the others." did I mention we planned to meet back up infront of the hotel after an hour? No? Well, I'm mentioning it now.

The four of us exit the prison and begin to walk back to our meeting spot. Ugh, walking is so boring. I wish we could just fly there.

After walking for a bit(again, very boring), we reach the front of the hotel to see everypony else but Pinkie Pie show up.

"Find anything?" I ask.

"No." Octavia answers sadly. "None of them are anywhere to be found."

"When we asked for Vine, the only pony around here to fit her description was some feller named Big Wood." Applejack says. I snicker a bit at that. "Oh, grow up."

"Right sorry."

"What about Ice and Dark?" Fluttershy asks.

"The bail is twenty thousand bits all together."

"WHAT?!" they all shout.

"Exactly. I have no idea what we're gonna do about them." I look around a notice our ball of talking and walking cotton candy was missing. "Hey, where's Pinkie?"

Pinkie suddenly appears from a nearby potted plant. "Here I am!"

"Oh, hey, Pinkie." this doesn't surprise us anymore.

"Hey. I heard everything, so no need to tell me. I actually have an idea."

"You know how to get Dark and Ice out?"

"Oh, not them. But I do have something for the others."

"What is it?"

"I went made posters to put around town."

"Great idea, Pinkie!" she pulls out the fliers she had made, all of which were really just crudely drawn sketches done in crayon. "Oh, um, these are g-great, Pinkie."

"I just knew you'd love them!"

"Well, I guess since we can't do much about Dark and Ice at the moment, we better continue to search for the others and spread these posters around."

Everypony nods and we begin to distribute the posters to each other. "I say we just stick to our groups from before. We'll stick to around the hotel area and the rest of you go around to the farther out parts of town. We'll meet back at the rooms in a few hours."

"Right." they all say.

Twi, Vinyl, Haily, and I begin to walk down the street to start our search. "Are we really going to put up these posters, Blue? Nopony's going to be able to tell you they are from these." Hail says.

"It'll make Pinkie happy if we do it. Besides, it's not going to hurt anything."

"If you say so."

We begin to go around to random buildings and putting up the posters. After putting up one over a store sign, the owner comes out.

"Hey, who put this here?!" Hearing this, we dash off somewhere else.

Haily puts a poster up, but mistakingly puts it on the flank of a large stallion. "Hey!"

I come by and nervously laugh at him before pulling Hail away.

Who knew putting up posters was so difficult?

Over at the strip club

Vinetion and Fleur continue to watch the mares up on stage as they sit over at the mini-bar. "Aren't you glad you listenbed to me now, Fleur?"

"Well, I must admit, I am having fun. But it is quite weird having a, well, you know." Fleur says, slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah, I know what you. It's pretty hard to get used to. No pun intended."

As they sit, watch, and drink, a unicorn pony with a mug of beer for a cutie mark watches them suspiciously. 'Hmm, why's Big Wood acting so wird?' she thinks to herself.

Vine takes a drink from her glass to find that it's already empty. "Huh, guess I'm out."

Fern(you already saw her name, don't act like you didn't) walks over and grabs the empty glass. "Allow me to refill that for you."

"Thanks." as she walks away, Fern wiggles her rump at Vine. "Um, what are you doing?"

"Oh, sorry. Just a bit of a twitch." Fern lies.

Fern goes to to mix another drink and as she returns, she spills it all over Vine. "Aw, what the hay?!"

"Oops, sorry."

"Ugh, it's fine. Just go get me some paper towels."

"Aha!"

"Aha what?"

"I knew it! You're not the real Big Wood!"

"W-What do you mean?"

"The real Big Wood would've freaked out at me for doing that!" Vine and Fleur panic as they quickly grab Fern and take her out of sight from everypony else. "Hey! Let me go!"

They set her down as soon as they think nopony is around to here. "Okay, sorry. You're right, I'm not this Big Wood guy. His goons just mistook me for him and I thought I'd play along."

"Hmm, sounds legit. But then who are you really?"

"You hear about that attack on Ponyville from the Everfree Forest last week?"

"Well, duh. Only everypony in Equestria has heard about that."

"Well, I'm one of the ponies who helped save it. I'm Vinetion."

"And I'm Fleur."

"What?! But those two are mares! You're both stallions! How can that be possible?!"

"We touched some flowers in the forest and they did this to us."

"Really? I didn't know there were any plants like that around here. Huh."

"So, are you gonna rat us out?"

"Nah, you're both cool with me. I'm just glad I was right in you not being the real Big Wood."

"Why's that?"

"Because he would've flown off the handle and hit me. While the money is good here, the way I'm treated isn't. Not just from Big Wood, but from everypony here other than the other mares. I'm always getting whistled at, always getting vulgar comments yelled at me, and getting my flank slapped."

"That's horrible. I'd probably rip a stallion's balls off if he slapped my flank."

"Yeah, but I have a lot of patience. I put up with it to get money to live on."

"Well, you seem like you deserve money and to be treated right."

"Yeah, but it's not like I can do anything about it."

"Maybe you can."

"What are you getting at?"

"Where exactly are you staying?"

"Just this little penthouse Big Wood has for his workers. It really sucks."

"Well, how about you come with us back to the Excoltibur hotel and stay with us."

"Really?" both of them nod. "That sounds great."

"And then you could stay with us in Ponyville. We know a bar in town that's hiring. It's way better than this place."

"That's awesome! When can we go?"

"We could go right now if you want."

"Sounds good. Oh, and I'm Fern by the way"

Fern walks off to get ready to leave. "I think that was very kind of you, Vine." Fleur says.

"Yeah, well, I just didn't want her to keep suffering. No mare deserves to be in a place like this."

Back to us

After hours of searching, putting up fiers, asking ponies, and getting a ticket for disturbing the peace(I hate cops sometimes), we all just decide to take a break for going back to the hotel.

"Ugh, I know I said I'd never drink again, but I think I'll make an exception just this once." I say.

"Well, there's a bar right over there." Vinyl says, pointing to a bar.

"Good."

We walk over to said bar and take some seats inside. "Apple cider." I tell the bartender.

"What about the mares?"

"Um, we're good." Twilight says, the other girls nodding.

Over off at the other end of the stand, Zephyr sits with Jack. "Man, I really should be going back, Jack."

"Comenow, it's still early. They're probably still gone."

"I just really miss everypony though."

I hear then talking and look over. "Zephyr?"

He looks over and notices us. "Guys!"

We all rush over to him and hug him. After the hug, I hit him upside his head. "Ow! What was that for?"

"You idiot! Do you know how worried everypony is about you?"

"I'm sorry. I just won a bunch of money gambling and, I don't know. I guess I just let it get to me."

"Wait, how much money?"

"Well, I still have one hundred and ninety five thousand bits left."

"WHAT?! That's great! You can pay for Ice and Dark's bail now!"

"They're in jail? Huh, I'm not really that surprised."

"Yeah, but we should be getting back to the hotel now."

"Right. I'm coming, Tavi!

"Tavi?" Jack asks.

"Yeah, my marefriend, Octavia. Sorry, Jack, but I really gotta go."

The rest of us leave the bar in a hurry, Zephyr speeding ahead of us. Jack just sits there, a sad look on his face. He leaves the bar and rerurns home.

Upon reurning home, he breaks down and sobs. "Why Celestia did he have to have a marefreiend?! I thought what we had was special!" he goes over to the suit Zephyr had left. "All I have left to remember him by is this suit." he sniffs it. "At least it still has his scent.

Okay, I'd like to move on now.

We get back to the hotel and find the girls waiting up there for us. "Look who we found." I say.

"Zephyr!" they all shout.

Octavia rushes over to him and starts hugging him. "Oh, I've missed you!"

"U've missed you too, Tavi." they break the hug and she starts tugging on his ear. "Ow!"

"Do you know how worried you've made me?"

"I'm sorry."

"Sorry won't cut it. We're going to have a long talk about this."

"Yes, Tavi."

"And no bed time fun for a while."

"Aw, man."

Before we go on, two familiar looking stallions and a mare walk up. "Hey, guys."

Everypony looks at them in shock. "Vine?! Fleur?!" I shout.

"Yeah... Long story short. We touched some plants that made us stallions. Some guys took me for the owner of a strip club named Mr. Big Wood. Sorry that we were gione for so long."

"Well, I guess that makes sense. But who's this mare."

"Oh, this is Fern."

"What's up?" Fern says.

"We met her at the club and offered to let her stay with us. Is that cool."

"*gasp* Of course it's cool. We can never have too many friends." Pinkie shouts in excitement.

"What Pinkie said. Well, it's good that we found you and Zephyr, but Dark and Ice are in jail and Drax and Spitfire is still missing."

"What? Since when?"

"Last night. Same time you two and Zephyr went missing. But not to worry, Zephyr's going to bail Dark and Ice out."

"How?"

"I won a couple hundred thousand bits while gambling." he says.

"What?!" everpony that didn't already know shouted.

He shrugs. "Guess I jut got lucky."

"That's good, but what about Drax and Spitfire?" Fleur asks.

"Hey, I know." Fern says. "I always hear gossip down at the bar. I'm sure someone's bound to talk about your friends there."

"And we'll go back there with her." Vine says.

"Then it's settled. We'll get Ice and Dark out tomorrow while you try to find something on Drax and Spitfire."

"Deal." they say.

Everything is finally coming togther.

Author's Note: Fern comes from little dashie. I've had a pretty good track record with writing these OC's, so hopefully I can keep that up with Fern.

Holding Out

Author's Note: Nothing really huge in this note except that I made a vlog giving a bunch of shout outs to people on the site. You can click here to go see it. Even if you weren't mentioned, it's worth viewing if you wanna see what I look and sound like. Now, on with the story.

"Well, isn't this something, folks?" Albert asks the crowd. "We have Dark Lightning, one of the ponies who recently saved Ponyville from the monsters of the Everfree Forest, versus our up and coming rookie, his friend who fought alongside him during the invasion of monsters, Drax!"

The crowd goes wild in applause at getting the chance to see such an amazing fight take place.

Drax and Dark look around at the crowd for a moment before looking at each other in confusion. "Drax, what the hay are you doing here?!"

"I came here the other night with that Albert guy who's doing the announcing. I won a fight and he's been keeping me and Spitfire hostage here ever since."

"Ha! Idiot."

"Oh, yeah? Then what are you doing here?"

"*sigh* Ice and I got drunk, started a bar fight, got thrown in jail, and two huards took us out and brought us here."

"Oh, and I'm the idiot?" Drax asks smugly.

"Shut up!" Dark yells threateningly.

"Wait, you said both you AND Ice were brought here?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Where is he?"

Dark looks back and sees Ice sitting in the audience between the two guards. "He's over there." he says, pinting out.

Drax walks over and looks at Ice. Ice gives an inncocent smile at him. "Well, that's just great."

"Hey, get back in your spots!" Albert calls. With a growl, Dark and Drax follow his orders. "Now, is everypony ready for this!" the crowd cheers violently. "THEN FIGHT!"

Dark and Drax look at each other, just standing there, neither of them wanting to fight their friend.

"Hey, I said FIGHT!"

"I refuse fight Dark."

"And no way am I listening to junk from a shrimpy jackpony like you."

"Why you little... Fight, or your little friends' blood is gonna be on your hooves!"

Dark and Drax look behind each of them to see several ponies holding knives positioned by both Ice and Spitfire.

"Drax..." Spitfire says.

"Dark..." Ice says.

"So, what'll it be?"

Dark and Drax look at each other with worried faces before lowering their heads and looking back at each other in anger.

"Sorry about this, Dark." Drax says bitterly.

"WAIT! I have an idea!" Dark says quickly, trying to keep Drax from making him nothing more than a bloody stain on the mat.

"What?"

"You see this collar around my neck." he puts a hoof on the piece of thin metal.

"Yeah. What about it?"

"It's restricting my powers. Ice has one too."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If you can break it off of me, I can use my powers to get us out of this mess."

"Yeah, that's a great idea."

"If you two are done blabbing, FIGHT!" Albert demands.

Drax gets ready to charge Dark. "You ready?"

"Yeah, just make sure you actually aim for the collar."

Drax nods before the two of them each take off after each other. Dark slows his flight, allowing Drax to catch him by the neck and slam him down, making sure to make most of the impact hit the collar.

Drax picks Dark up and starts repeatedly slamming his hoof into the collar in an attempt to wear it down, but also making it look like he's hitting Dark instead as to not draw suspicion to them.

He takes Dark with both hooves and throws up against the side of the cage. Drax starts running on his hindlegs, still holding tightly to Dark. As they run along, the collar continues to wear down.

"Dang, Drax is tearing Dark a new one." Ice says. His eyes open a bit as he starts noticing sparks flying from Dark's neck. "Of course. He's not hitting Dark, he's hitting the collar. Good thinking."

"Shut up, you." a guard tells him.

Ice snarls at him before turning his attention back to the fight. 'I hope they can do this.'

Back in front of the hotel

The four us of walk up to the front of the hotel to see everypony but Vine, Fleur, and Fern waiting in discouragement.

"Didn't find anything?" I ask.

"Nope." they all reply sadly before sighing.

Hail picks her head up and raises an eyebrow. "Hey, where's Dark and Ice."

"Believe it or not, the guard said they were nowhere to be found."

"What?!"

"I know, can you believe that garbage?"

"Well, it wasn't a total loss, we at least got their bail paid off." Twilight says.

"*sigh* I guess. I wonder how Vine, Fern, and Fleur are doing."

Let's go check, shall we?

At the club, Vine and Fleur sit bored at the benches while Fern makes and serves drinks.

"If it weren't for the show, I'd have given up on this a while ago." Vine says.

"I know this isn't very exciting, but we need to do this to find Drax." Fleur says.

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

Fern comes by and uses her magic to set down some drinks. "Cheer up, guys. This could be worse."

"How so?"

"You could be serving drinks to these drunken pigs like me."

"Oh, yeah."

A few feet away from them, two stallions sit and talk to each other. "Did you hear about that new guy at the fight club?"

"You mean the black pegasus with thr gold and red mane? Yea, I heard he's really cleanin' up."

"Yeah, he's taken down both Steel Hoof and Roid Rage."

"Yeah, dude's a freakin' beast."

The three ponies look at each other. "Did you guys hear them? That's gotta be Drax." Vine says excitedy.

"Yeah, and I think I know where they're talking about." Fern says.

"Then let's quickly get the others and head over there." Fleur says.

The three of them get up to leave, when suddenly, a large stallion that looks similar to VIne bursts through the doors.

"What the buck is this?!" he shouts.

"Oh buck." Vine says silently.

"I go out on vacation for one week, just to come back and hear some flankhole came and took over my club!"

"Boss?!" one of the orkers shout.

"Of course it's me! You idiots are in big trouble for this!" he turns towards Vine. "YOU! You're gonna pay for this, or my name isnt Pussy Willow-I mean Big Wood!" he shouts, trying to cover for his mistake.

"Pussy Willow? That's your real name?" Fern asks. The three of them giggle at his obviously emasculine name.

"SHUT UP! You're all gonna pay for this!"

"I don't think so." Vine says. Her hooves glow before making vines wrap him and his guards up.

"Hey, what the buck is this?!"

"Just something to make sure you stay put." Vine turns to the others. "Let's go!"

They start running out before Fern stops at her soon to be former boss. "Fern! I knew you wouldn't backstab me."

"Actually, I just came to say..." she starts saying before turning and bucking him in the balls. "I QUIT!"

She quickly runs out, laughing to herself. "You stuid slut... You're gonna pay for this." he says weakly.

How do I know he plans on keeping his word on that?

Found Them

Author's Note: Sorry for not mentioning this publicly before, but if anyone out there as any pegasus OC's they think might be good for my upcoming side story, then you can PM all about it. Now, on with the story(is this getting old yet?).

We all just sat around outside of the hotel as we waited for Vine, Fern, and Fleur to return with something of use.

"Ugh, I'm so bored." Hail says.

"Me too." Zeph says.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." I say, agreeing with them.

"Oh! I've got an idea."

"Celestia pray for us all." I say.

"Let me go get my party cannon and we can-"

"NO!" everypony shouts.

She has a cannon?! Where'd she even buy one?! Why is she even allowed to own one?! Ugh, I thought I told myself I'd stop querstioning Pinkie and her silly antics.

"I've got an idea." Twilight says.

"Okay, shoot."

"Let's play I Spy as we sit and wait."

"Sure, beats just sitting around."

"I spy, a dancing pony." over in the distance, a pony painted gold dances like a robot, waiting for ponies to give him loose change.

"I spy a pony carrying a bag of money running from the cops." Zeph says. And wouldn't you know, he was right.

"Should we do something about that?" Twilight asks.

"Nah, I say it's best to not get involved when we don't have to." I say. "Okay, my turn. I spy a mare giving a stallion a-Oh wait." I stop as I notice what they're doing.

"Woah!" Hail says.

I quickly rush over and put my hoof over her yes. "I think we should stop playing this game."

Everypony nods.

"Then what are we supposed to do?" Hail asks.

I put a hoof to my chin as I try to think. "Well, anypony got any good stories to tell?"

"Oh, I have one!" Zeph announces, raising his hoof up.

"Okay."

"Well, this one time, Tavi let me go to this bushy area and-"

Octavia quickly sticks a hoof in his mouth to shut him up. "Zephyr, shush! We don't talk about that in public."

I facehoof. "Anypony else?"

"Oh, me! Pick me!" Pinkie shouts.

"*sigh* I know I'm gonna regret this, but okay, Pinkie."

"Yippee!"

She starts going on about nonsensical ramblings about poptart cats, double rainbows, and this thing she calls "The fourth-wall".

"And that's how Equestria was made!" she finishes.

I facehoof again, this time harder than before. "I give up. Let's just sit here and wait for them."

"Okie Dokie Lokie!"

I need a minute to relax my brain, so let's go see what the others are up to.

Back at the fight club, Drax and Dark continue to try and free Dark from his collar to try and escape.

'Shouldn't but much longer now.' Drax thinks.

"I tell ya, folks. I was expecting a lot more from Dark. This fight is much more one-sided than I thought it'd be." Albert says to the crowd.

As Drax holds Dark in a headlock, Dark litens to Albert. "He's right, Drax. This is looking suspicious."

"You're right. Here, slip out from my forelegs and hit me."

"Got it."

Drax relinquishes enough of us his grasp for Dark to slide out. Dark turns around and punches Drax in his snout.

"OW!" Drax shouts as he holds his nose. "Son of a... Mother..."

He looks at Dark angrily. "Wait, Drax! Let's just calm down a bi-"

Drax grabs him by the neck and slams him down, this time on his back rather than his neck first.

Dark coughs a bit. "Drax, you're not supposed to fight me for real." he says weakly.

Drax blinks as he relizes what he just did. "Oh, yeah... My bad."

Dark growls at him in annoyance.

Switching to Vine and the others.

Vine, Fleur, and Fern continue to run for a bit before stopping to catch their breath once they think the coast is clear.

"*pant* That was close." Fern says.

"Yeah, no kidding." Vine says.

"But at least we have a cue on where Drax is at."

"Yeah, why is it that you know where a fight club is in this town anyways?" Fleur asks.

"Like I said, you hear a lot of things when you work in this business."

"It definitely seems to come in hoofy." Vine says.

"You know it. Now come on, we need to get back to the others and tell them what we found."

"Right." Vine and Fleur say.

They continue their tread to the hotel

In our boredom, Zephyr and I found some playing cards and decided to play Go Fish. Best card game ever!

"Got any threes?" I ask.

Zephyr looks at his hoof, all of his cards being threes. He smiles. "Go fish."

He sickers to himself as I grab another card from the top of the deck. I eye suspiciously. I know he's lying.

"Zeph, look! Hookers giving away free money!" I shout, pointing behind him.

"Where?!" he shouts excitedly, looking behind him.

I push his hoof down to reveal his cards. "AHA! You were lying!"

"Oh horse-apples."

"Why you no good, cheating son of a-"

"Hey, guys." Vine says from behind Zephyr.

"Hey, Vine. Find anything?" Zeph asks quickly, trying to switch the conversation.

"Yeah, we found out Drax is at fight club."

"And I know where it's at." Fern says.

"Fight club? What the hay is he doing there?" I ask.

"No clue, but whatever the reason, we need to go find him."

I nod. "Right. Fern, Zeph, Vine, and I will go. The rest of you stay here."

"But, Blue-" Dash starts saying.

"No buts, Dash. I wouldn't forgive myself if the rest of you got hurt. We can all handle ourselves."

"But-"

I grab her and look her in the eyes. "Dash, I promise you we'll be fine."

She gives me a weak smile. "Okay, I believe you."

I pull her into a hug and smile. "That's my girl." we break the hug as I look at the others. "I promise we'll be okay."

They all nod before the four of us run off with Fern leading us there.

We turn a corner into an alleyway and she gives a specific sequence of knocks on the door. "You even know the knock?" I ask, raising an eyebrow.

"Sure do." she replies.

The door is opened by a guard inside. As we walk in, he looks at us. "I think you guys are in the wrong place."

"I don't." I say.

He grabs me by the sholder. "Why don't you come with me?"

I glare at him theateningly. "Mind taking your hoof off me?"

"No can do."

"Fine, but this was your choice, not mine." I charge up a foreleg as I give him a hurricane hoof to the face, sending him flying.

Everypony in the building stops to look at us.

"Guys!" Dark and Drax both shout from inside the cage.

"Dark?" I look over to see Ice sitting down. "Ice?"

I'm not sure what's going on, but it's ending here and now.

The Beastly Pony

Author's Note: We have finally reached the climax to the Las Pegasus arc. Let's blow the roof off this mofo! Now, on with the story.

Everything is just going to hay in a hoof basket right about now. Not only are Drax and Spitfire here, but Ice and Dark are here too. And to top it all off, Dark and Drax are fighting inside the ring. Celestia has a sick sense of humor.

"What the buck is this?!" Albert shouts. "You motherbuckers are ruining my fight! Security!"

I turn back and look at Fern. "Fern, I want you to go get the others and get the police."

"What?!" she shouts. "But I can help!"

"Yes, you can by getting help."

"But-"

"Don't worry, we got this." I give a reassuring smile.

She smiles and nods before dashing off. Just then, about a dozen ponies surround us.

"Drax, hurry it up!" Dark shouts at him.

Drax comtinues to work at the metal buckle on the back of the collar. He winds up his hoof one last time. "Let's see how you like this!"

With one powerful strike, the buckle breaks, making the collar fall off of Dark's neck. "BUCK YEAH!"

Dark creates two lightning blades and slices open the cage. He puts the blades down and shoots a bolt of lightning at Ice's collar, breaking it and making it fall off.

"This is more like it!" Ice says. He stomps his hooves down, making a flattened off pillar of ice come up from beneath him and knocking away any nearby enemies.

Over at the opposite side f the ring, ponies with knives get close to Spitfire. "You're not gonna get away!" one shouts at her.

"I beg to differ!" Ice shouts. He creates several ice projectiles and fires them off at them, knocking their knives out of their hoofs.

Drax jumps out of the cage and quickly runs over to Spitfire. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" he rams into the ponies and sends them all flying away.

"How many times are you gonna save my life?" Spitfire jokingly asks.

"As many times as you plan on getting in trouble." they kiss each other. "Fire, I want you to take cover while we fight."

"I'm on it." she dashes off as instructed.

After that is done, the three stallions rush over to join us before taking notice of Vine's new look. "Vine?"

"*sigh* Flowers turned me and Fleur into stallions." she answers.

"Oh."

"I'd really like to know what you idiots are doing here, but we don't have time for that." I say. "Flank kicking now, explanations later."

"Right." everypony says.

You're not getting away with this!" Albert shouts. "Get them!"

The guards come closer to us before Vine makes a bunch of vines come up and toss them all away.

"Geez, way to hog all the action, Vine." I say.

"Quit your complaining. At least it was easy."

Just then, a stallion that looks very similar to Vine burst through the doors. "You thought you could steal my identity?!"

The others look at her. "Long story. I'll tell you later."

"You won't get the chance!"

Vine rolls her eyes before summoning more vines and-OW! She wraps a vine around his balls. "So, what was that you were saying?"

Geez, it hurts just to watch.

"Okay, I give! Uncle!" he shouts in a new high-pitched voice. Dang. She then has the vine chuck him into a wall on the other side of the room.

"Well, that's taken care of."

"Oh, you think so?!" Albert shouts at us. "I'll give anypony who can take them down one thousand bits!" he yells at the crowd.

They all immediately get up and rush over at us with looks of determination for that money on their faces. Typical.

As they get close, we immediately start mowing them down. Ice using physical strikes while manuevering on his slide, Vine using vines to chuck them away, Zeph and Dark rush through crowds with blinding speed, Drax his power to overwhelm groups, and me using my fighting skills to easily knock out these glass-jawed morons.

Suddenly, Drax looks behind himself as he sees a pony about to smack him over the head with a metal folding chair. Before it can make contact, the pony is sent failing by a buck from Steel Hoof.

"Steel Hoof?"

He smiles at Drax. "Thought I'd help you and your friends bust out of here."

Steel sticks out his hoof and they brohoof. "Thanks, I appreciate it."

Over in the distance, Albert watches in horror as all of his goons are utterly destroyed by us. "NO! NO! NO!"

I buck a stallion in his jaw and knock him out. "Well, I think that's the last of them." I say in relief.

"Oh, do you really?" a mysterious voice calls out.

Just then, a very large pegasus with... webbed wings razor sharp teeth, and a stare that looks down right evil comes down in front of us.

"Alloy! I knew I could count on you!" Albert shouts.

"That's Alloy?!" Drax shouts in worry. "What kind of monstrous pony is that?!"

"He is infused with dragon DNA." Steel Hoof says plainly.

"What?!" we all shout.

He nods slowly. "He was infused with it at a young age, giving him more strength, webbed wings, reptilian eyes, sharp teeth, skin nearly as hard as dragon scales, and worst of all, a taste for blood."

"That's right!" Alloy says. "Oh, look at all of my new victims. I'll enjoy ripoing the flesh from your bones."

This isn't good. Not only is this guy strong, but he's insane too. We'll need to watch it if we-

"BRING IT ON!" Dark shouts before flying after him.

"Dark, stop!" I shout.

He continues to fly at him, ignoring my warning. "EAT THIS!" he takes his electrically charged hooves and pushes onto Alloy's chest.

As he gets shocked, Alloy just laughs. "So weak!" he takes Dark by his hooves and slams him into the ground before tossing him infront of us.

Okay, now's the time to REALLY be worried. Dark nearly killed me, and this guy is making him look like foal's play.

This is seriously looking bad.

Author's Note: Don't you just hate cliffhangers?

All Against One

This is not good. This is not good at all! This one guy just completely resisted Dark's shocking attack and didn't get a single scratch on him. If what Steel Hoof said is true, then we're in for our toughest fight yet. Fighting one on one is out of the question. We'll have to fight together.

"Motherbucker!" Ice shouts, obviously not even thinking. He creates an ice crystal and shoots it at Alloy.

Alloy raises a hoof and catches it with ease. "Nice try."

"WHAT?!"

Alloy squeezes the crystal and smashes it with his bare hoof. "Is this the best you can do? I was expecting more from the very ponies who protected Ponyville from the monsters of the Everfree Forest."

"Guys, we need to focus." I say. "Fighting him individually is suicide. We need to face him as a group."

"Your friend is right." Steel Hoof says. "There isn't a single pony in Equestria that can defeat Alloy alone other than the princesses. Fighting together is the only option."

"I agree." Drax says.

"You can count me in." Zephyr says.

"Me too." Vine says.

"Right." Ice says.

"Even though I prefer doing things on my own, I refuse to let this guy win. You've got me." Dark says.

"Good." unlike normally though, I don't have a plan. Guess we'll just have to do what we pegasi do and just wing it... that joke was definitely one of my worst yet.

"Enough of your blabbing! Now we fight!" Alloy shouts.

Despite his size, he starts rushing towards us at speeds that could even match Dark. "Oh no you don't!" Ice shouts.

He stomps his hooves, making a thick wall of ice to appear. "Heh, foal's play." Alloy takes a hoof and smashes through the wall to be met with a Hurricane Hoof from me. Before it makes contact though, he puts his hooves up and blocks it, the impact only sending back a few hooves.

Vine's hooves start glowing as she creates vines that wrap around Alloy's torso. He raises an eyebrow at him/her.

"Really?" he spreads his wings, making the vines rip off instantly.

He starts rushing at her, before Steel Hoof and Drax intercept him and try to hold him off. As they struggle, they begin to slowly slide backwards. Before they start sliding too far, Ice makes an ice trail under Alloy's hoovers, tripping him up. The two buff stallions grab him and chuck him into the air.

"Now it's my turn!" Zeph shouts. He darts towards Alloy, taking precision aim for any stallion's weak spot. He hits Alloy's jewels, eliciting a growl of pain from Alloy.

"Stupid worm!" Alloy shouts. He grabs Zeph by his mane and starts spinning in the air. He releases Zeph and throws him at the ground, creating a crater and knocking Zeph out.

"ZEPH!" I shout. I give Alloy my best death glare. "NOW YOU'RE MINE!"

"Let me give you a hoof!" Dark shouts.

We both prepare our blades as we shoot after the draconic pony. We each keep slicing at him, only for him to either dodge or to deflect the hits with his hard skin.

He takes his spiked tail and stabs Dark through his left wing. "GAH!" Dark shouts.

With Dark distracted, Alloy grabs him by the head and gives him a devastating headbutt, knocking him out. He grabs me by the throat and throws me at the ground, me bouncing along it as I hit it over and over.

"Haha! Now this is a show! You give it to 'em, Alloy!" Albert shouts in the distance.

Ice stomps his hooves down again, this time creating a sword made of solid ice. He grabs it in his teeth as he creates an ice slide to get up to Alloy's level.

"Oh, you again?" Alloy asks in a bored voice.

He spins around, hitting Ice with his tail and sending him into a wall, Ice's sword barely missing his head as it stabs the ground next to it. Seeing this, Ice backs up from the sword worriedly.

This is not going well.

Alloy looks down at Drax and smiles at him. He glomps Drax on the ground and sinks his razor teeth into the side of his neck.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!"

"LET HIM GO!" I shout.

Steel Hoof and I both charge at him with our hooves reared back. Drax readies his hoof on the oppposite side as he gets ready to uppercut Alloy.

All three of our hooves hit him at the same time, releasing Alloy's grip of his teeth and shattering them

Alloy puts his hooves to his mouth as blood drips from it. "YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!" as he opens his eyes, his pupils have disappeared, the only part left showing being the whites of his eyes. Uh oh.

He starts rushing all over the place, hitting every conscious pony left and sending them each flying.

I shakily get up as I look at my remaining allies. "Guys, we need to think of something."

"Yeah, no kidding." Vine says.

Over in the distance, Spitfire watches in horror as her friends and coltfriend are mercilessly beaten.

Alloy looks over at her. "Oh, would you look at this. It seems I've forgotten somepony."

As Drax looks to see Alloy walk towards Spitfire, he leaps up and jumps onto Alloy's back.

"Ugh, get off of me, you pest!"

"Never!" Drax shouts. He takes his hooves and starts hitting Alloy at any visible point he can reach, most of them doing nothing. But, as Drax punches him in his stomach, Alloy flinches and coughs a bit.

Wait, of course! How could I forget?! He has dragon DNA, making his skin as hard as dragon scales. But dragons have soft underbellies. If we can give him one good hit in the gut, we can take him out!

"Drax, keep holding!" I shout. "Steel Hoof, go help him!"

"Right!" he shouts. He goes over to his brother and grabs onto him.

"Now, get him standing on his hindlegs!" Alloy struggles, but from Drax punching over and over again, they are able to force him on his hindlegs as instructed.

"Ice, freeze his hooves!"

"You got it!" he shouts. His horns give off a mist as the ground around Alloy's hooves freeze and stick him to the ground.

"Vine, restrain him!"

"On it!" she shouts. She makes several vines spring up and wrap around all of his free limbs, making sure to keep him from trying anything.

"Okay, time to finish this off!" I take off after Alloy and prepare both of my hooves.

"NO!" Alloy shouts.

I come in close to him and give him a Double Hurricane Hoof right to his gut, making him cough up some blood.

As the ice around his hooves crack and the vines release him, he faints over onto the ground, defeated.

It was a hard fight, but we won.

Bonus Chapter: Tearing Down the Wall

Author's Note: Pretty much everyone said scary images are cool. For those of who who are still scared(Zoom), I'll be putting a warning when those come up. I don't want anyone bitching at me that I gave them nightmares. Anyway, just remember that this chapter here is not in canon. Everypony is back from Las Pegasus, Vine and Fleur are mares again, Fern is living with them and is working at The Sleepy Stallion, Hail has gone back to Cloudsdale, and basically everything is back to normal as normal gets for the group. Now, on with the story.

Ice, Drax, Zeph, and I all sit in the living room together in a circle around a table. Ever since Zeph found out he sucks at poker so badly, he's wanted us to teach him how to play better. Luna, this is boring.

I groan as I lay back in the couch I'm sitting on. "What's up, Blue?" Zeph asks.

"This is just so boring. Can't something just happen?"

"I don't get you, Blue. Whenever something is happening, you complain that you want it to be over. But when nothing is going on, you're bored out of your mind. Does anything ever please you?"

"Your mom."

"Dude."

"Sorry, I get grumpy when I'm bored."

"*sigh* Don't I know it?"

"Well, you could always go check to see if the girls or Dark are up to anything interesting." Drax suggests.

"Hmm, I think I'll try that. See you guys later." I get up and trot out of the house.

"Okay, now back to our game." Ice says. He puts his cards down to show a full house. "Read it and weep, gentlemen."

Zephyr glares at his cards. "I hate this game."

While that's going on, I continue to walk through the streets in an attempt to find something to do.

'Hmm, well, there's always something going on with Pinkie. Guess I'll try over at Sugarcube Corner.' I think to myself.
I nod to myself(yeah, I'm weird) and start picking up my pace.

I get to the sweets shop and am immediately greeted by two foals. "Hey, Pound, Pumpkin. Haven't seen you two in a while."

"Oh, it's so nice to see you again, Blue." Mrs. Cake says.

"You too. Hey, is Pinkie around?"

"She's in the back. Feel free to go see her if you want."

"Thanks."

I walk through the flapping doors into the back to find Pinkie talking to a wall. Oh boy.

"And I said, "Oatmeal? Are you crazy?"." she says to the wall.

"Um, Pinkie?"

"Oh, hey, Breezy. Don't mind me, I was just talking to the readers." she turns and waves at the wall with a smile.

Okay, I know I said I'd stop questioning Pinkie, but I just gotta know what she's talking about.

"Pinkie, what readers? What does that mean?"

"Oh, that's easy. I can break the fourth-wall. I'm the only pony I know who can."

"Fourth-wall? Didn't you mention that while we were in Las Pegasus?"

"Yep, I sure did."

"So if I broke the fourth-wall, I could also do all the things you do?'

"Yep."

"Hey, you also talked to the readers through a wall at Zephyr and Drax's party! I bet if I break that wall, I can talk to the readers too!"

"Well, that's not exa-" I dash off before Pinkie can finish. "Blue! Wait! Uh oh."

I make a mad sprint back to my house in an attempt to break the mysterious wall. I see my house come up.

"Perfect." I prepare a Double Hurricane Hoof. As I approach the house, I slam both hooves into the wall Pinkie waved at from the outside, breaking down the entire thing.

"What the buck?!" the others shout from inside.

I put a hoof to my chin. "Hey, it didn't work! Did I do it from the wrong side?"

"Blue, what the buck are you doing?!" Zephyrs shouts.

"Trying to break the fourth-wall."

"WHAT?!"

"Sorry, guys! I'll fix the house later, but right now, I need to do this!" I shout before running off.

"Should we do something about this?" Ice asks the others.

"I... I don't know. I'm kinda scared to try anything right now."

'Well, that was a bust. No pun intended. Maybe Twilight will have a book that can help.'

I keep dashing through the streets, ponies giving me quizzical looks. I come to the giant tree and furiously knock on the door.

Twilight answers the door and looks at me. "Blue, what's the big rush?"

"I'm trying to figure out how to break the fourth-wall. Do you have any books on it?"

"Fourth-wall?" she giggles. "I think you've been spending too much time around Pinkie."

"I'm serious here, Twilight!"

Dark walks up from behind her. "Dude, you're losing it."

"I am not losing it!"

"Yep, definitely losing it."

"Aw, buck this!" I shout before running off again.

"I'm worried about him." Twilight says.

"Me too." Dark says.

I continue to run before stopping to catch my breath on a bench. "Why does everything have to be so difficult?"

Pinkie comes bouncing up to me. "Blue! Thank Celestia I found you! You gotta stop this!"

"I can't! I need to discover its secrets!"

"Blue, you're not ready for the fourth-wall. There are unspeakable horrors that lie in there."

"I don't care!" I put my hooves together in a prayer. "Celestia, please help me in my quest to break the fourth-wall!"

Just then, a bright flash comes out of nowhere and out comes Princess Celestia. "Good day, my little ponies."

"Princess Celestia! You heard my prayers! I didn't actually think it would work!"

"Actually I just came to try and stop you from destroying anymore of the town."

I slump. "Oh."

"Just messing with you."

'Troll'

'I heard that.'

'Dang!'

"Anyways, Blue Breeze. Are you absolutely sure you want this? Like Pinkie said, there are many horrors to the fourth-wall."

"Yes, I do want this. I can take it."

"Very well." her horn begins to glow as she puts it to my head. I feel a strange sensation go throughout my skull before she pulls away. "There, you are now fully capable of breaking the fourth-wall."

"Sweet!" I look over and finally see all the readers Pinkie has been mentioning. "Wow! Hey, everypony!" I give a wave. I put a hoof to my chin. "I bet I can do more."

I start stepping through a strange barrier and pop out of this strange black box. On the other side a strange, hairless ape sits on a couch.

"What the fuck?!" he shouts.

"Wow! Humans really do exist! Guess I owe Lyra an apology."

"This can't be happening!"

"Oh, but it can. I'm Blue Breeze. What's your name?"

"Well, um, I-I'm Tim."

"Well, nice to meet ya, Tim. If you don't mind, I'm just gonna explore around this black box thing you have. Bye!" I go back inside to boldly go where not many ponies have gone before.

Tim just sits there in shock. "Maybe making Blue Breeze break the fourth-wall wasn't such a good idea."

"Now, what to explore first?" I ask myself. I start looking around and find a file called "Ponies".

Don't expect there to be any clop in there.

I go over and open it up. I start looking through and I gotta say, this stuff's pretty awesome. Apparently these humans know of our existence and celebrate us as some kind of icons. Pretty sweet if you ask me. This artwork is pretty bucking awesome too.

"Well, enough of that." I leave the folder and come across another called "Video Games. "I wonder if this place shares any of the same games we have in Equestria."

I open it and, yeah, they do, only slightly altered to fit they're world. Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, Kirby, and even some kind of Ponymon copy called Pokemon. The only one I didn't recognize in there was Minecraft. Oh well.

I close the folder again and come up to one called "NSFW". "Huh, wonder what that one is."

I open and-NO BUCKING WAY! It's his porn! He has more in here than all the drawers back at my house. It's actually kinda weird. What's with the round things on their chests? Oh well. Different strokes for different folks. I'd probably be all into this if I were human too.

"Okay, that's done with." I leave and go searching some more.

"Creepypasta"." I read the next one. "What could be so creepy about pasta?"

I hop in and... WHAT THE BUCK IS THIS?!

(WARNING! THIS IS WHERE SHIT GETS CREEPY!)

Jeff the Killer:

Smile Dog:

Slender Man:

Exorcist:

Cupcakes:

"PINKIE?! WHAT THE BUCK IS GOING ON?!" I put my hooves to my head before breaking down into the fetal position.

Outside the fourth-wall

"Oh no. I was worried about this." Celestia says.

"Princess, you gotta help him!" Pinkie shouts.

"Yes, of course."

Celestia aims her horn at the portal, sending a beam of telekinetic energy to pull me out

She pulls me out, me still scared out of my mind. "Fourth-wall scary. Fourth-walll scary. Fourth-wall scary."

"Breezy..." Pinkie says, inching towards me.

"AH! A DEMON!" I immediately back away in fear.

"Breezy..?" Pinkie asks sadly, losing a bit of volume in her mane.

"Do not worry, Pinkie. I'm going to erase his memory of this. This is exactly why most ponies should never break the fourth-wall."

She aims her horn at me and fires a beam into my head. The awful memories as well as any memories about today start fading away.

"There, he should be just fine now." Celestia says. She flashes away with her magic.

I rub my head as I get up. "What happened?"

Pinkie's smile returns to her face. "And that's how Equestria was made!"

I shake my head and smile at her. "Pinkie Pie, you are so random."

One Last Night

(Reposted for reasons explained in this blog)

Author's Note: Wow. It's definitely been a while since I've been here. Most of you know that I've been hard at work on my recent side story, 'Those Awakwad Teen Years'. To those who didn't know, well, why don't you check my page for updates? Anyway, this chapter is getting back to the canon story and takes place at the end of the fight with Alloy. Also, I'd like to give a quick shout out to a long time fan and friend of mine here on the site, Rhino, who recently started his new fic, 'The First Steps of the Rest of Your Life'. I recommend that any of you that like this story, which you obviously must to have read this far, to check it out. Now, on with the story.

As if my I thought my life was crazy before, I know have myself leaning up against a wall, trying to catch my breath after my friends and I just took down some kind of super pony that was half dragon. Dark and Zeph both still lay unconscious after gettingknocked out by Alloy. Vine and Ice didn't get too damaged, nor did Drax or Steel Hoof. Overall it could've been much worse. At least npoony got killed or seriously injured. Oh, wait, Dark got stabbed in his wing. Um...

After seeing his prized fighter be taken down, Albert watches in fear at the other end of the room. "I gotta get outta here!" he shouts. He jumps up as he starts to bolt for the front door.

Just then, Dark's eyes snap open as he shoots up and dashes after Albert, tacling him to the ground. "You think after putting us through all this you're just gonna get away?! No chance!" he brings up and electrically charged hoof and slams it down on Albert's chest, shocking him and knocking him out.

Wow. Even a stab wound can't keep Dark down.

I smile at Dark as I look over at him. "I'm impressed, Dark. That stab wound in your wing doesn't seem to be effecting you at all."

"Stab wound?" he asks, raising an eyebrow at me. He looks over at his left wing to see blood dripping and a hole cutting right through it. He reals back as he now feels the full pain of his wound.

"*sigh* Never mind."

Just then, our friendly neighborhood flying expert wakes up, still dizzy and holding his head. "Oh, my head. What happened?"

I smile at him. "Don't worry, Zeph. We won."

"Really? Awesome!" he puts his hoof up in the air before flinching. "Ow. Guess I'm still a bit sore."

"No worries. Everything is good now."

"Good?! My bucking wing has been stabbed!" Dark shouts.

"Ignore him."

"I was planning to anyways."

"Buck you guys!"

"Ugh, would you just shut up?! I really could use a cup of coffee right about now." Vine says.

"And a nap." Ice adds.

As we continue talking, the rest of the group as well as some cops burst through the front door.

"Sorry about the wait, guys." Fern says.

"Sorry?! You would show up AFTER we got our flanks beat and nearly died!"

"Hey, I went as fast as I could. It's like I can fly or know how to teleport."

The surrounding cops walk over to Albert's unconscious body and look at him. "Well well well. Look what we have here. Albert Capony. About time we finally caught him."

"Yeah, no kidding." another cop says. He looks over to see a large, green stallion lying in a corner. "Looks like we caught Pussy 'Big Wood' Willow too. It's a great day for us."

As they do that, we get reestablished with all of our friends and marefriends.

"BLUE!" Dash and Haily both shout. They both run up to me and pull me into a big hug.

I return the hug with a huge smile. "What? You weren't seriously worried about me, were you?"

"I knew you could do it, Blue." Haily says. I can't tell if she's just being nice, or if she really thinks that highly of me. Even I thought I was gonna die doing that.

"Me? Worried? Yeah right." Dash says nervously, trying to play cool. "Just don't ever worry me like that again, okay?"

"No promises." I say jokingly, even though it is true.

"Heh, I figured as much."

A few yards over in the room

Octavia walks runs up to Zephyr and wraps around him tightly. "I was so worried! You musn'y keep doing this to me."

"Sorry sbout all that, Tavi. I promise to make you worried over again." he says.

She releases the hug as she looks him in the eyes sincerey. The two of them share a pssionate kiss. "You know, I think I was a bit harsh on yoyu. Maybe we can "celebrate" a little later."

Zeph's wings spread and his grin widens. "I'm liking the sound of that."

Another few yards over

Ice and Vinyl meet up, having now really seen in each other for the first time in days.

"I'm so glad to have you back, Ice."

"Back?"

"Yeah, Zeph used his winnings to bail you two out."

"Winnings?"

"Yeah, he got really rich. He's still got, like, 175K left."

"That much?! I'll have to go see him after this."

Vinyl just giggles as she pulls her coltfriend into a hug, which he returns.

Another another few yards over

Spitfire jumps into Drax for him to catch her and pull her into a hug. "You were amazing, Drax. I couldn't believe how you just jumped onto that lunatic to save me."

Drax releases the hug as he looks her in the eyes. "Spitfire, I'll always be there to protect you., I thought I already prived that."

"Yeah, I guess you did." she replies sheepishly. The two of them share a kiss before Drax turns back to Steel Hoof.

"So, what are you gonna do now Steel?"

He shrugs. "Dont know. Never thought I'd see the day where I could just walk away from it all."

"Well, would like to come back to Ponyville with us?"

"Nah, I couldn't see myself living in a little village like that. But I appreciate the offer."

"Well, good luck with whatever you end up doing."

He smirks at Drax. "Thanks."

Moving over a bit yet again

Fleur and Vine hug each other in celebration of the winning. "I'm so glad you're all right." Fleur says.

"I'll be all right once I get a nice rest. That was a real pain."

"Well, either way, I'm glad you're safe." the two kiss before looking at each other funny. "It feels weird to kiss a stallion."

"Yeah, I think we should wait til we're back to normal before doing any of that."

Fern just laughs at the couple's antics. "You two really do make a cute couple, yiou know that?"

Last transition to another part of the room, I promise

Twilight walks up to Dark and looks at him worriedly. "Are you okay?" she asks as she looks at his hurt wing.

"What? This? It's nothing but a scrAAHHHHHH!" he screams as she toches his wing. "Buck me, that hurt!"

"Sorry sorry." she says, backing off of him. "Don't worry, I can fix this. In fact, can everypony involved in the fight please come over here?"

We all get up and walk over to her as instructed, each of us giving curious looks to each other. "What's this about, Twi." I ask.

"You'll see." she says with a smile and a wink. Her horn starts glowing its normal glow, but as more energy charges in it, it grows brighter and brighter until a huge flash fills the room, making everypony cover their eyes. For some reason Dark had shades on to block his eyes.

As the biright flash fades, everypony looks down at themselves. Wait...

"Hey, I'm not hurt or sore anymore."

"Hey, me neither." Zeph says.

"And my wing is all better." Dark says, smiling at his wings and giving them a flap.

"What was that, Twi?" Vine asks.

"You see, I've been working on a new and more advanced healing spell since the last time I had to heal Blue. I just knew something like that was bound to happen again."

"Well, that was definitely some good thinking." I say. I stretch a little bit as I let out a yawn. "But it didn't make me feel any less tired. Celestia, I could use a nap."

Everypony nods in agreement except for Pinkie.

"Aw, but I'm not even tired."

"Well, Pinkie, the thing is, I think everypony here agrees that this'll be our last night in Las Pegasus, what with all the craziness we've come across. And since it's our last night, we'll want as much energy as possible to party it up before we go." I explain.

Everypony else nods.

"We'll, when you pit it that way."

"Glad to hear we're all in agreement then."

"I'm sorry to say, but I don't think I'll be coming to your little party." Steel Hoof says. "I'm very grateful for all of your help, but I just can't go. I do hope to see you all again some day."

Everypony just sits in silence as he walks out through the front entrance.

I'm the first one to brak the silece as I turn towards Drax. "What was all that about, Drax?"

"I couldn't tell you honesty. All I know is that we should just respect his decision and let him go."

"Aw, but I wanted to get to know him better. You can never have too many friends." Pinkie says.

"It'll be fine, Pinkie. We can still have tons of fun with just the rest of us." I reassure.

"Well, I guess so." she says, slightly bummed out.

"Quick question." Ice says. "Who's the new chick?" he asks, pointing at Fern.

"Oh, that's Fern. She's the one who helped us find you guys. She's gonna come back with us to Ponyville to live with Vine and Fleur and get a job at the bar."

"Hey, glad to finally meet you guys." Fern says.

"Now that that's out of the way, time to go."

Over at the prison

Two guards walk with Albert and Pussy Willow as they are escorted to their new cells. They stop in front of a cell and one of the guards opens the door.

"Here's your new cell, Capony. Hope you enjoy it."

"What's that suppoosed to mean?" he asks angrily.

"Oh, you'll see." the other guard says.

They close the door behind him and cotinue their walk with Pussy(stop snickering). Two figures get up from their cots and approach Albert.

"Well, look at this here lil' feller. I'm Bubba."

"And I'm Zeke."

"Looks like we'e gonna be cellmates together, eh, feller?"

"So, what?" he asks, again angrily.

"Ooh, another fisety one. Ah call the rump."

"ThenahI call the mouth."

Albert starts breaking out in a sweat at hearing this. "W-What?"

He's so bucked it's considered rape... wait.

Several hours later

Dash and I lay in our bed at the hotel, resting after all the craziness. Suddenly an alarm clock that we had set goes off and wakes up. Celestia, I hate those things. I would break it like my old one, but I don’t wanna have to pay for it.

Both Dash and I sit up and give each other a ‘good waking up’ kiss. What? It’s a thing.

“So, you ready to party our last night here, Dash?” I ask her.

“You know it! It’s about time we had a real vacation!” she says with excitement.

From all of our talking, the others stir as they wake up. “Ah, it feels good to sleep in a real bed with my mare friend.” Dark says.

“I hear that.” Ice says.

“I’m glad to hear you’re both glad to be back, but I think it’s time we meet up with the others so we can party.”

“Right.”

“Buck yeah!”

I chuckle at Dark’s enthusiasm, though his enthusiasm can also be worrying at times. All six of us get up and exit out into the hallway to have yet another coincidental meeting with the rest of the group. Guess we’re just that good.

“So, what’s all this super partying you were talking about, Blue?” Vine asks.

“Yeah, does it involve drinks?” Dark asks with excitement.

“No.” I answer.

“Drugs?”

“No!”

“Hookers?”

“NO!”

“Party pooper.” he says disgruntedly. He looks to see Twilight glaring at him. “What?”

“Anyway, I really didn’t have any kind of plan for the partying. I was just thinking we could go around and find something crazy going on. It usually seems to work for us.”

Vine facehoofs. “It figures knowing you.”

“OOH! I have an idea!” Pinkie shouts excitedly, bouncing around all of us.

I’ve given up on fighting it. I guess the least I could do is hear her out. “Okay, what is it, Pinkie?”

“There’s this really awesome pool with a water slide in the back of the hotel. We should all totally go swimming.”

I put a hoof to my chin and smile. “You know, that’s actually a pretty good idea, Pinkie.”

Everypony else nods and gives off agreeing mutters.

“Okay, looks like we’re all in agreement then. Tonight we’re going swimming.”

We make our way over to the elevators and walk inside of them. We head down to the bottom floor and start following the path that had a sign that read “Pool”. Well, ain’t that convenient? I'm pretty excited considering I haven't been swimming in a long time not counting cloud swimming. I'm especially excited for the pool.

What wasn’t so convenient was that we had to walk through one of the casinos to get them. We start slowly but surely making our way through. Vine got dizzy from all the lights and had to get carried by Drax. Through a lot of manuevering, pushing, and enduring second hoof smoke, we made to the hallways that led to the outside pool area.

We make our way outside to find a very quiet pool area. Perfect. Let’s us get the whole place to ourselves.

“Yippee!” Pinkie shouts with glee. She runs over and does a cannonball into the pool, making a big splash of water around her. She pokes her head out from under the water and smiles at us. “Come on in, guys. The water’s fine.”

Everypony cheers and runs over to join her in the pool, all jumping in with a slpah of their own. Everypony except Rarity, Fleur, and Ice that is.

I turn to our missing friends. “What’s up, you guys?”

“I will not allow my mane to be ruined by being dunked chlorinated water.” Rarity says.

“Nor shall I.” Fleur says.

Prisses. I turn the our only missing stallion. “What about you, Ice.”

“Well, let’s just say, water and I don’t have good chemistry.”

I shrug at him. “Whatever. Suit yourself.”

I turn around to get splashed in the face by Dark. “Hahaha, I got you!”

I smirk and raise an eyebrow. “Oh, did you now?” I fly out of the water and start furiously flapping my wings to create a huge tidal wave.

Dark stops his laughing and goes wide-eyed as he sees the huge wave. “Oh buck.” the wave hits him and send him flying into a wall. Everypony laughs as he peels off the wall like a piece of tape.

After that, everypony goes back to to their own business. The girls all splash about as they play Marco Polo.

Vine takes a sip of her coffee as she lays on one those blow-up lounge rafts. “Ah, now this is what I call a vacation.”

Outside of the pool, Dark watches Ice from afar. Is he bi or something? “This is gonna be so good.” he says to himself. “Hey, Ice!”

“Huh?” he says as he turns around to see Ark charging at him with full force. He kbocks him into the water, creating a splash that cover both Fleur and Rarity.

“My hair!” they both shout.

Everypony turns to look as they see a block of ice with Ice inside bobbing up and down. “Dark, what the buck, man?!” I shout at him.

“Hahahahaha, that was the best!” he laughs, holding his stomach. He smirks as he looks at Ice. “Actually, I just the greatest idea ever.”

He grabs the hunk of ice and flies up and over to the top of the stairs that lead to the water slide. He takes the ice block and lays it flat on the slide so that he can get on top of it as if it were a skateboard.

Ice shouts a muffled scream from inside the giant block. “What’s that, Ice?” Dark asks him. “You wanna do this too? Great!”

Dark uses his back leg to push off and they both start skating down the slide like something out of Jackflank. As they reach the bottom, Dark slips off the block and it shoots off, crashing into a wall and shattering on impact.

A now dizzy Ice shakily gets up, dancing around while his eyes spin in his head. “Dark, I’m gonna murder you.”

“I’ve got first dibs on that, Ice.” Vine says.

“You two don’t have any sense of humor at all.”

I just shake my head at them. I love these guys, but boy are they grating on the mind.

I step out of the pool and grab a nearby towel to dry myself off with. I finish my dry with a shake of my body, similar to a dog, and grin.

“Okay, so, anypony have any last ideas on what to do on our last night here?”

“Oh, I’ve got one.” Fern says.

“Okay.”

“I’ve always wanted to go see the night sky, above the clouds where the lights don’t block out the stars.”

“How do you suppose we do that? Only pegasi can stand on clouds.”

“Actually, I have a solution to that.” Twilight says. “I know a spell that allows anypony to walk on clouds.”

“Really?”

“Yep. Every nonpegasus get in lne and let me perform it on them.” everypony gets in a line as instructed as Twilight puts her horn to each of them, apparently giving them all the abilities originally only available to pegasi. “And done. That’s it.”

“Okay, then to the sky. Onwards and upwards!” I say, putting a hoof in the air jokingly.

The pegasi start hoisting the nonpegasi members of our group up into the air as they start flying. We fly into the sky and land on a somewhat high cloud and land.

The couples cuddle next to each other as we all start laying down.

“I gotta admit, this was a good idea, Fern.” I say.

“See? I told ya this was a good idea.” she says.

Even though this entire vacation was insanely crazy and didn’t go as planned, it was still pretty fun. And though this is our last night here, we made it go out with a bucking bang.

Heading Home

That was one hay of an awesome night. That was a good idea from Fern. Makes me wish I had thought about. The clouds were so comfy that we all just feel asleep on them and slept there the whole night. This is why it's awesome to be a pegasus. Best type of pony around. But I digress.

I open my eyes up the next morning only to immediately close them at looking directly into the sun. Celestia, why is that thing so bucking bright in the morning? I rub my eyes and open them again, this time looking down. I look to see both Dash and Haily snuggled up to me. Am I that soft? Or am I just some kind of big blue and yellow teddy bear? Oh well. I'm definitely not complaining. Other guys would kill to wake up with mares sleeping on him. SWAG!

I smile as I look down at the two cute mares, both smiling as they soundly sleep. I look around to see everypony else lying down happily. The couples cuddled next to each other and the loners by themselves. Eh, they'll probably hook up with somepony some day. Nopony wants to be forever alone.

I smack my lips a bit. Tastes like chlorinated water and dry air. Bleh.

"Well, it's been fun, Las Pegasus. But I think it's time to get on home." I whisper.

Haily stirs in her sleep as she hears me. She smiles as sh looks up at me. "Hey, Blue."

"Hey, Haily."

"Talking to yourself again?"

"Yeah, you know me. Sorry about waking you up."

"Nah, it's fine."

"Coulsn't help notice you came up to me in the middle of the night>" I give her a joking smile.

"Yeah, sorry about that. Couldn't help it. I've miised you too much since you left home."

"Hehe, no worries."

Dash wakes up from on top of me and looks at us. "Why do you guys gotta talk so loud?"

"Sorry, Dash."

"Yeah, sorry."

"It's cool. I guess we need to be getting home soon anyways."

"Exactly. Now, could you two please get off so I can get up?" I ask jokingly as always.

"Oops. Sorry, Bluey."

"Yeah, let me get up."

They get up from on top of me and all three of us stretch. Yeah, none of us are good with mornings.

Hearing us crack our bones, which is quite loud for some reason, everypony else starts getting up.

"*yawn* That was a good night's sleep." Zeph says. "We gotta sleep together more often, Tavi."

She giggles at him. "Sure, just get a house with your winnings and we'll be all set."

"Sure, I guess." he answers nervously.

I think she's starting to break him.

"Sleeping on clouds is always so awesome." Dark says.

"Yeah... Maybe we should be getting down fairly soon."

"Why's that, Twi?" Ice asks.

"Well, you see, that cloud walking spell I did, well, I've never used it on so many ponies at once."

"Why am I not liking the sound of that?"

"Because it means that the time given for its effects are redu-AAHHHHHH!" she starts screaming as she and all the other nonpegasi fall through the clouds.

The remaining of us poke our heads through the clouds to see they all landed in the pool below.

Fern spits up some water as she and the others resurface. "You couldn't have given us more of a warning?"

Twilight gives a sheepish smile as she blushes.

The rest of us fly down and help our cloud-challenged friends out of the pool. They dry off with some towels and we head back inside the hotel to our rooms. Thank goodness the casino is so empty this early in the morning. We reach up to the sixth floor and head into our designated roooms as we start packig.

"Wait..." I say.

"What is it, Blue?" Dash asks."

"I just realized that nopony brought anything but Rarity and Pinkie."

"Yeah, I think you're right." Ice says.

"Well, now what?" Dark says.

I pull out a deck of cards from nowhere and place it on a table. "Play a game of poker?"

They both shrug. "Sure."

They both walk over to the table and surround it.

"By the way, Blue. Where'd you get those cards from."

"Well, Pinkie taught me this neat trick where you..."

Twenty minutes later

"And that's how it's done." I finish.

"Waow. That's pretty sick."

"Yeah, except all you two have done is explain that while we haven't even started yet." Ice says, annoyance in his voice.

*knock knock knock*

"I'll get it." Twilight says. She opens the door with her magic to reveal everrypony else stansing and waiting at the door.

"You guys ready to go?" Zeph asks from the group.

"Sure am." I answer, putting the cards away.

"*sigh* Yeah, that figures." Ice says.

We all exit the room, locking the door behindus, as we enter the elevators for the final time. Pinkie tries bouncing in one, which somehow makes her hover as the elevator continues to drop.

Physics? What's that?

The elevators open up as we reach the lobby once more, still pretty empty compared to normal.

We walk over to the front desk and set down our three keys. "Checking out?" the desk manager asks.

"Yes, please." I say.

"Okay, that'll be fifteen hundred bits for three rooms for three whole days and nights."

Drax facehoofs. "Man, I think I lost the coupon."

"No big deal, Drax. " I say. "Zeph?"

"What?"

"Well, pay him, Mr. Money Bags."

Zeph grumbles as he places a bag of bits on the front desk. "There. Happy?"

"Very."

"And so am I. Thank you al for choosing Excoltibur. Hope to see you again." the desk manager says, waving us off.

Not happening.

We all turn around and exit the huge, castle-looking building. We go out to the parking lot filled with carriages.

"Um, anypony remember where we parked?" everypony remains quiet. "*sigh* Guess we'll need to go looking then."

An hour later... No, seriously, it really took us that long

"Hey, I found them!" Haily shouts.

The rest of us gather over to her and sigh inrelief that we found the carriages. Everypony starts gathering inside, same as before, only Fern is joining the other girls in their carriage.

As Dark is about to hook up, Vine steps infront of him. "No way am I letting you fly again. I'll take over."

Dark just shrugs. "Sweet. That means I don't have to do anything."

Vine rolls her eyes as he enters in our carriage. We take off with our carriages in tow, this time much easier than before. Guess Vine as a stallion is stronger than Dark. Sweet.

Inside the carriage

"So, anypony have any plans for once we get back?" Twilight asks.

"Well, I was actually thinking of heading back to Cloudsdal." Haily says. Spring break won't last much longer, and I could really use a break after this mess of a vacation."

"Hey, mind if Blue and I come with?" Dash asks.

"Why?"

"I've been wanting to meet your parents for a while now. Right now seems as good a time as any."

"Does Blue know you're asking?"

"Don't you worry about him. I can "persuade" him."

"Ew."

"Not like that!" Dash shouts, her face slightly red.

One hour later to skip noninteresting nothingness happening

We continue carrying the carriages on our backs as we see Ponyville come into sight.

"Well, looks like it's time to land." I say.

"You don't say." Zeph says.

"Hehehe, shut up."

"You mad, bro?"

"...Maybe."

As we descend, we land in front of the library where a big banner is hnging up, saying "Welcome back" on it. Several dozen ponies are also hanging outside and smiling at us.

Everypony starts piling out of the carriages before stopping and looking at the big set up.

"SURPRISE!" the crowd shouts. "WELCOME BACK!"

"Oh my gosh! This is so cool!" Pinkie shouts in joy. "Usually I'm the one to set up parties but having a party set up for is also really awesome,wouldn't you-"

"I stop her by putting a hoof in her mouth. "Yeah, Pinkie. It's awesome."

Just then, the Cutie Mark Crusaders run up to us with huge smiles on their faces.

"How did you like it?" they all ask.

"You girls did all this?" Twilight asks.

"Yeah, we told the entire town that we should throw a party in your honor for when you got back." Apple Bloom says.

"Yeah, especially since you just kicked major butt in Las Pegasus." Scootaloo says.

"You heard about that already?" I ask.

"Yeah, we figured you'd be coming back soon after that." Sweetie Belle says.

"Well then, let's party!" I shout.

Everupony else gives a loud cheer in response.

Now this is what I'm talking about."

Post Vacation Partying

Luna, Celestia, or whatever higher being there may be, I love this town. Second we come back, we get a huge welcome back party in our honor. I'm especially glad since I missed the big award ceremoney earlier in the week. Stupid ribs. Go and getting cracked and making me miss being in the spotlight.

...Why am I complaining at my ribs? I'm definitely losing it. Oh well.

There's tons of stuff they got set up here. Games, snacks, and even some posters made of us. Wow. Thst's pretty bucking sweet. But unlike earlier parties I had been to here in town, this one literally took up the whole town.

Everypony there seemed to be having a great time. Mingling amongst themselves, playing games, and eating snacks. Wait... OH MY CELESTIA CHIMICHERYCHONGAS! It may have only been a bit over a week since the last one I had, but it feels like it's been ages.

My tongue hangs out of my mouth as I drool over the delectable cherry filled tortillas. Yes, I love them that much.

Haily looks at me as if i were crazy. "Are you all right, Blue?"

Zeph turns his head to see where I'm looking and notices the chimicherrychongas himself. "Yeah, he's fine. They just have a bunch of chimicherrychongas set out."

"Cherry whats?"

"I'll catch up with you guys later!" I say excitedly before speeding off to the table and start chowing down. Sweet Celestia are these things good.

Haily blinks as she watchs me go at them like a wild animal. "Wha-"

"He just REALLY likes 'em." Zeph says.

"Oh, okay then... I guess."

"Well, now what? You guys have any ideas?" Ice asks the rest of the group.

"Well, this is party, so I'm gonna bucking party!" Dark shouts. He races off from the group, not really having an idea of where exactly he's going and only knowing he wants to party. Yep, that's our Dark.

"Anyways... I'd really like to go home and get myself changed back to normal." Vine says.

"As would I." Fleur says.

"Aw, don't be such party poopers. Let's have a little bit of fun, huh?" Fern says to them.

"Well, um..."

"Come on. I see this awesome drink mixing table set up. I'll make you guys something."

Vine looks at the table and gets a smile on her face. "Hmm, that does sound pretty good right now."

"Then let's go already." Fern demands, now pushing the two of them towards said table.

"I think I'll go find Dark and make sure he doesn't get into trouble." Ice says.

"And I'll come along to make sure you don't get into trouble." Zeph says.

The two of them start making their way through the crowd towards the direction Dark flew off in, leaving the rest of the group.

Looking over at me at the snack table, Dash decides to bring up the conversation her and Haily got into inside the chariot.

She walks up next to me and leans against the table as I continue stuffing my face. "Hey, Blue."

"Hey, Dash." I mutter, still eating.

"The food good?"

I stop eating as I look at her with a wide grin and ryes. "Good? IT'S DELICIOUS!" I put my head back down as I continue om nom noming.

She giggles at me. "Glad to hear it. Hey, Hail and I got to talk on the ride over here, and we thought it'd be a great idea if you and I went back with her to Cloudsdale tomorrow."

"Yeah, sounds great." I say, not even listening to what she was saying. I seriousy think these things are laced with, like, meth or something. How else can they be so addicting?

Over at the mixing table

As the three approach, Fern starts putting her talents to work as she starts mixing drinks for her friends and self. Everypony watches at her skills with mixing.

Fern stops as she sets down three drinks. "There you go."

Vine and Fleur each pick up their drinks and take a sip. "Even though I prefer coffee, I'll admit that this is pretty good, Fern." Vine says.

"Yes, it's absolutely divine. You have a real talent."

"Thanks. I try." she says kinda smugly.

Just then, a stallion approaches Fern. "Well, that was some nice drink mixing, missy." he says.

"Thanks. I plan to apply at the bar here in town."

"Really? Well, look no further. You're hired."

"You own the bar?!" Fern asks in shock.

"Sure do. When can you start?"

"Well, I kinda just got here. Can you give me, like, until the day after tomorrow?"

"Sure thing."

"Quick question: You're not gonna slap my flank when I walk by or hit me when I mess up, are?"

He chuckles. "Heavens, no. Where'd you get that idea?"

"Um, nowhere. Just curious. So I guess I'll see ya in two days then."

"I look forward to it." the stallion gives her a nod before walking off.

Fern turns to her two friends and smiles widely at them. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah. Good going, Fern."

"I'm so glad for you."

The three friends laugh as they continue drinking and talking amongst each other.

Over to Dark

Dark leans over on a table as he drinks from a mug of cider. "Ah, feels good to be free."

Ice and Zeph stop as they run up to him. "You really need to calm down, Dark." Zeph says.

"Yeah, we don't want you causing trouble right after we get back." Ice says.

"Heh, maybe you'd keep me from causing trouble if you could catch me, slow pokes."

"I could've easily caught up to you, I was just pacing myself." Zeph says. Well, he was the fastest back in school, but now I'm not so sure.

"Yeah right! You couldn't even outspeed a one-winged fly." Dark taunts with a laugh.

"Oh, yeah? Wanna have a race then? Once around Ponyville?"

"Oh no. This can't be good." Ice says.

"You're on!"

The two of them spit in their hooves before brohoofing.

This should be interesting.

Side Chapter: A Canterlot Wedding Part 1

Author's Note: Well, Season 2 of MLP: FiM has come and gone, but it shall live on through its dedicated fans such as yours truly. You guys said you wanted to see this, and you shall. Sorry if it seems I focused too much on characters outside the OC's. This is gonna be fun. Now, on with the epicness.

It is a beautiful spring day out on the edge of Ponyville. The sun is shining, birds are chirping, and butterflies are happily dancing around.

On this great day, all of the girls: Dash, Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity, Fluttershy, AJ, Spitfire, Fern, Fleur, Octavia, Vinyl, and Vinetion, are all out on a nice picnic together.

During all of this, a familiar purple and green baby dragon is huffing and puffing as he runs to the group as fast as dragonly possible.

Eh? Dragonly possible? See what I did there? Yeah, I'm not funny.

Twilight and the others stop as they hear the pitter-patter of Spike's footsteps.

Spike gasps as he reaches the group of mares. "Twi *gasp* light, I *gasp* have *gasp*. Let me just *gasp*-" Spike' stops as his cheeks sweel up and he belches out a scroll.

Twilight smiles as she uses her magic to unravel and lift up the scroll before she begins reading it. "Dear Twilight, I am sure you are as just excited as I am for the upcoming wedding in Canterlot." she stops as she looks to her friends. "Wedding?" she then goes back to the letter. "I will be presiding over the ceremony, but would love for you and your friends to hlp with the preparations for this occasion. Fluttershy, I would like for you and your song bird choir to provide the music."

"Oh my good ness. What an honor." Fluttershy says.

"Pinkie Pie, I can think of no one more qualified than you to host the reception."

Pinkie gets up as she starts doing cartwheels over to Spike. "Hip. Hip. Hooray!"

"Applejack, you will be incharge of catering for the reception."

"Well, clor me pleased as punch." she says.

"Rainbow Dash," Dash justs yawns. "I would very much appreciate it if you could perform a sonic rainboom as the bride and groom complete their 'I do's'."

"Yes!" she says, flying up in excitement.

"Rarity, you will be designing the dresses for the bride and her bride's maids."

"Princess Celestia wants me to-" Rarity can't even finish her sentence as she starts going crazy from shock. "Wedding dress for a Canterlot wedding." she says before finally fainting.

"Vinetion Lutin, I would be grateful if you were to go the floral decorating."

"Me? Wow. That's amazing." Vine says.

"Fern, I think it would be wonderful if you were to mix drinks during the reception."

"Mix drinks at a huge gig like this? Buck yeah!"

"Vinyl Scratch and Octavia, I think it best if you were to each play your music at the reception."

"Really?! Us?! That's awesome, Tavi." Vinyl says, grabbing Octavia and looking at her.

"Indeed it is, Vinyl." Octavia just laughs at her best friend's excitement.

"As for you, Twilight, you will be playing the most important role of all: Making sure everything goes as planned. You are also welcome to bring along any friends. See you all soon. Yours, Princess Celestia." Twilight looks as the letter closer, trying to find more information. "But I don't understand. Who's getting married?"

"Oh, wait." Spikke says. He turns around, looking sheepish. "I was probably supposed to give you this one first." he pulls out a second scroll.

Twilight looks back as she uses her magic to grab it from him. "Princess Celestia cordially invites you to the wedding of Princess Mi Amora Cadenza and-" Twilight gasps as she reads the last bit. "My brother?!"

"Your brother's gettin' married? Well, congratulations, Twilight. That's great news." Applejack says, shaking Twilight's hoof.

Twilight rolls up the scroll as she walks foward.. "Yeah, great news... That I just got from a wedding invitation. Not from my brother, but a piece of paper. Thanks a lot, Shining Armor." she points off towards Canterlot, a glare on her face. "I mean, really. He couldn't tell me personally?" she grabs a sandwich with her magic and starts making it talk. "Hey, Twilight. Just thought you should know that I'm making a really big decision that changes everything. Oh, never mind. You'll hear about it when you get the invitation." she sets the sandwich down as everyone else looks at each other. "Princess Mi Amora Cadenza. Who in the hoof is that?" she finishes with an angry snort.

Vine is the first to step up to Twilight. "Twi, I really think you should calm down."

Twilight walks a bit away from her. "Sorry, it's just that Shining Armor and I have always been so close. He's my BBBFF."

Everyone looks at her weirdly.

"Big Brother Best Friend Forver?"

"Oh." everyone says in acknowledgement.

"Before I came here and learned the importance of friendship, Shining Armor was the only pony I ever really accepted as a friend."

A huge musical number(pony thing. You wouldn't understand) starts up as Twilight explains the relationship had with her brother.

No, I'm not posting the song. Go find it yourself.

As the song ends, Applejack puts a hoof on Twilight's sholder. "As one of your PFF's,"

The others look at her.

"Pony Friend Forever?"

"Oh." the others say again.

"I wanna tell ya that yer brother seems like a real good guy."

"He is pretty special. I mean, they don't just let anypony be Captain of the Royal Guard."

"Wait, your brother is a captain of the Royal Guard." Fern asks.

"Yes."

"Does he know you're dating an ex-fugitive?"

Twilight's eyes go wide. "I didn't even think of that!"

"Just calm down, Twi." Vinyl says. "Didn't Celestia herself make that decision?"

"Well, yes..."

"Then it shouldn't be a big deal. Besides, Dark's been behaving... for the most part. I'm sure it'll be fine."

"So, let me get this straight." Rarity starts. "We're not only helping prepare a wedding for a princess, but also a captain of the Royal Guard?" she gets in Twilight's face from all the excitement.

Twilight shrugs. "I guess we are."

Rarity faints again as the rest of the group starts dancing atound in celebration.

Over at my house

The other guys, including Dark, and I are all hanging out as we sit bored.

"I thought interesting stuff was supposed to happen around here." Dark says.

"Quit Complaining." I say.

Pinkie Pie burts through the front door, a bunch of confetti popping up behind her. "We're going to CAnterlot!"

"Yep, that'll do it." Dark says.

"Wait, why?" I ask.

Twilight walks in, a bit of an angry look on her face. "My brother is getting married and he asked us to help out."

"Well, that sounds like fun."

"Wait, brother?" Dark asks. "Who?"

"Well, funny story about that actually."

"Twi..."

"Okay, he's a captain in the Royal Guard."

"Royal Guard? Oh, no way am I going!"

"Just calm down, Dark." I say. "Celestia called off the search on you a long time ago."

"Well, I suppose..."

"Great! We leave tomorrow! Meet us at the train station!" Pinkie says before bouncing off.

Twilight sighs. "See you guys later." she then walks off, leaving us alone.

"What do you think that was about?" Drax asks.

"No idea." Ice says.

"Do you think she just found out about the wedding?" Zeph asks.

"Nah, I'm sure that's not it." I wave him off with a hoof. That definitely can't be it.

The next day

We all sit inside the train as it chugs its way down to Canterlot. Why we couldn't have the almight princesses teleport us there, I have no idea.

Dash sticks her head out of the window we sit next to. "A sonic rainboom? At a wedding? Can you say "Best wedding ever!"?"

Pinkie takes a deep breath as we enter a tunnel. "BEST WEDDING EVER!"

The train exits the tunnel as we continue chugging.

"So you all get to help with a big, fancy wedding, but I'm the one who gets to host the bachelor party." Spike says.

"Bachelor party? Buck yeah!" Dark says. Any excuse to party.

"Oh, we are definitely helping you with that one, Spike." I say.

"Just don't go too crazy, Blue. I'm still your number one mare after all." Dash says, proudly crossing her forelegs.

"Me? Cheat on you? What kind of dimwit do you take me for?" I joke.

"A very big one." Dark says.

"I hate you."

"I know."

"I have just one question: What's a bachelor party?" Spike asks.

All the stallions facehhof in unison as the mares just laugh. Maybe we should just put him to sleep and then start the party without him.

In the corner, Twilight looks out a window. Applejack walks up behind, trying to figure out what's wrong.

"Why the long face, sugarcube?"

Twilight sulks in her seat. "I'm just thinking about Shining Armor. Ever since I moved to Ponyville, we've been seeing each other less and less. And now that he's starting a family with this Princess Mi Amora Ca-what's-her-name, We'll probably never see each other."

"Come on now. You're his sister, he'll always make time for you."

"He couldn't seem to make time to tell me he was married." Twilight uses he magic to angrily pull down the window shade.

We look over as we hear Twilight. "Huh, guess you were right, Zeph."

"Thank you. Now, where's those ten bits."

I reach behind me and grab the money I owe him. "Don't see why you need this, money bags."

He swipes the money and puts it away. "You can never have too much money."

The train continues its course for a good bit before we come to an entrance to Canterlot, guarded by two guards and some kind of magical barrier.

"We're here! We're here!" Pinkie shouts with joy.

As the train breaches through the magical bubble, everypony, especially unicorns and those of us with excessive magical powers, feel a strange sensation go through our bodies. The train gets right through as it comes up to a train station and stops. As we exit the train, we notice a lot more guards posted around than usual.

"Woah, what's with all the guards?" Dash asks.

"They're guarding, of course." I say.

She facehoofs. "That's not what I meant."

"I'm sure they're just taking the necessary precautions. Royal weddings do bring out the strangest ponies." Rarity says. Just then, Pinkie sneezes, making confetti and streamers fly out. Sometimes I think Pinkie is just a living pinata. The rest of us pile out of the train as we start walking towards the castle. "Now let's get going, we've got work to do."

Applejack looks over at Twilight. "And you've got a big brother to go congradulate."

"Yeah, congradulate... And then give a piece of my mind." Twilight says angrily as she walks past two guards holding spears.

The rest of us just sit then and exchange worried glances. Some stallion's about to be demasculated by his little sister. Good thing Haily isn't like her. I don't think I could stand that.

"I think I'll go with her." Dark says, taking off to follow his marefriend. I think some stallion's about to get his flank kicked by an older brother.

Twilight walks up to the castle as a bunch of guards guard the front entrance. "I've got something to say to you, mister." she says.

A bunch of the guards point their spears at her as she approaches. A bit excessive, don't you think?

Shining Armor looks over to see Twi approaching. "Twilee!" he says. He walks down the stairs to meet his sister. "Aw, I've missed you, kid. How was the train ride? I-"

He stops as Twilight backs away from him. "How dare you not tell me in person that you were getting married. I'm your sister pony's sake."

Twilight turns her head away from him. "It's not my fault. he says. "Princess Celestia has requested a major increase in security. Didn't you see all the guards at the train station?"

Twilight trots away to a nearvy puddle of water in anger. "Yeah, there's a big wedding coming up. Maybe you've heard about it."

Shining Armor walks over to Twilight. "It has nothing to do with the wedding. A threat has been made against Canterlot." Twilight looks up at him. "We don't who's responsible for it, but Princess Celestia asked that I provide additional protection." he moves her face up a bit with a hoof. "This you need to see."

Shining's horn begins to glow brightly as a beam shoots up and hits the forcefied, reinforcing it.

Shining rubs at his head as it thobs in pain. He starts walking off, Twilight following him. "The burden of keeping Canterlot safe and secure rests squarely on my sholders. Staying focused on the task at hand(should be hoof) has been my top priority."

Shining walks inside as Twilight stops. Dark now catches up with her. "Hey, Twi. You okay?"

"Oh, hey, Dark. Yes, I'm fine. Come on, let's go meet my brother."

"Woopie." he says sarcastically.

The two follow him onto a bridge as Shining notices Dark. "Dark lightning."

Dark smirks at him. "I see you've heard of me."

"Of course. I've spent years trying to find you. I can't believe Celestia let you go."

"Shining, the reason she let him go is so I could make him a better pony. And he has changed." Twilight says giving Dark a kiss on the cheek."

Shining looks down before looking back to them and sighing. "I see. Dark, have you really changed?"

"Yes."

"And do you really love Twilight as much as she appears to love you?"

"Of course. She means everything to me."

"And do you promise to protect her?"

"I'd rather die than lose her."

"Then I guess I can let it all go."

"Thank you, Shining." Twilight says.

"I'm really sorry for not telling you sooner, Twi. I'd understand if you didn't wanna be my best mare now."

"You want me to be your best mare?"

"Well, yeah." I'd be honored." she says, taking a bow. "But I'm still ticked you're marrying somepony I don't even know."

"I would be too." Dark says.

"Who is this princess anyways?"

"Does the name "Cadance" ring a bell?" Shining asks, giving her a knowing look.

"Cadance? My old foal sitter?"

"Yep."

"Oh my gosh! Cadance is the most amazing ponyever! I can't believe you're marrying her."

Just then, the very Cadance steps through the doorway. "Hope I'm not interrupting anything important."

"Cadance!" Twilight shouts, jumping over to her. "Sunshine sunshine! Lady bugs awake! Clap your hooves and do a little shake!" she sings, doing motions along to it.

"Yep, that's my marefriend." Dark says.

Cadance ignores Twilight before going with Shining. "Well, I guess we'll let you get to it."

The couple then leaves Dark and Twilight sitting there confused. "I thought you said she was really nice, Twi." Dark says.

"I have no idea what's gotten into her."

This chapter hasn't had enough OC's in it, so let's go see what they're up to.

Vine, as well as Fleur, are both hard at working putting up flowers in the room where the ceremony is taking place. Just then, Twilight comes into the room to check on them.

"What's up, Twi?" Vine says.

"I have no idea what's been going on with Cadance."

"Cadance?"

"Yeah, it turns out my brother is marrying my old foal sitter named Cadance."

"And something's wrong with that?"

"Yes. Cadance isn't acting like the mare I remember at all."

Cadance enters the room, an egotistical air about her. Cadance walks over to Vine and Fleur's flower arrangement to inspect it.

"Well, what do you think?"

"I don't like it."

"What?"

"I think the roses should be red, not white. Fix it."

Cadance then leaves the other three mares in silence. "Was that her?" Vine asks Twi.

"Yes."

"Then I think I just found someone to add to my list."

Outside in the garden

Fern is mixing drinks at a table she set up as Vinyl and Octavia are both setting up to play a set. The rest of us guys are hanging out as they work.

"You guys gonna play soon? I'm getting really bored." I say.

Vinyl scowls at me before turning to Octavia. "Ready, Octy?"

"Ready, Vinyl."

They begin to play an awesome techno/classical mix. It really does sound pretty awesome.

"UGH! What is that awful racket?!" Cadance screams as she walks outside with Twilight behind her.

Octavia and Vinyl stop playing. "Awful racket?!" Vinyl shouts.

"Yes, it was dreadful. They seriously hired you two to play at the reception?" Cadance walks over to Fern's mixing stand and grabs a drink. She gets a disgusted look on her face before spitting it out.

"What's wrong with my drinks?!" FErn shouts.

"This junk is way too strong."

"Strong? That's the weakest I have!"

"Well, it's still far too strong." Cadance then walks off yet again.

What the buck?

"What was that all about, Twi?" Drax asks Twilight.

"That's the bride. My old foal sitter, Cadance."

"I'd hate to have her for a foal sitter." Zephyr says.

"She was never like this before. It's really weird."

"Well, could just be stress." Ice says.

Twilight shakes her head. "I don't think so. I think it's something much more than that."

"Maybe she's just a bi-

I put an apple in Dark's mouth before he can finish. "Watch your mouth."

He just glares at me.

Later

It is now night time as all of us hang out infront of a drink shop.

Twilight walks up to the rest of us as she sets down her drink. "Cadance is the worst bride to be ever."

The rest of us are taken aback by this. "I don't know, Twi. Yeah, she was mean earlier, but like Ice said, it could just be stress and wanting to make it perfect. I say.

"What?! I know Cadance, and I know she wouldn't let stress get to her this badly."

"I still say she's a bi-"

I stuff another apple in Dark's mouth. "What did I say earlier?"

"I know I'm not crazy. I saw how she was acting today to everyone."

"She's definitely still on my list." Vine says.

"So you believe me?"

"No, I'm just targetting her for later."

"Ugh!"

"Maybe you're just being possessive of yerbrother, Twilight." Applejack says.

"Possessive? I'm not being possessive! Forget you guys, I'm going to get to the bottom of this!" she then hurries off from the group.

This can't end well.

Later

The guys and I hang out in the ceremony room as wedding rehersals are going on. "Do you think Twi will be all right?" Ice asks.

"I sure hope so." I say. "I don't want this ending up like Las Pegasus."

"Never gonna let that go, will you?" Dark asks.

"Nope."

The girls: AJ, Dash, Fluttershy, Fern, Fleur, Vinyl, Rarity, Vine, Spitfire, Pinkie, and Octavia, all enter and walk up to the steps where Shining Armor and Celestia both stand. Tak about a hay of a lot of bride's maids.

"Then Cadance shall enter." Celestia says.

The doors on the other side of the room swing open magically as Cadance walks in. She goes up and starts rubbing horns with shing.

Shouldn't they wait til their honeymoon for that?

"And then Shining shall recieve his ring from his best mare." they look behind him to see Twilight is not there and only Spike playing with the cake figurines.

"Has anypony seen Twilight?" Shining asks.

"I have>" Dark says.

"Where?"

"In bed." I smack Dark in the back of the head. Dark rubs at his head. "Worth it."

The doors swing open to reveal Twilight. "I'm here!" she starts walking up the isle. "I'm not gonna stand next her, and neither should you."

Shining looks aroud nervously before looking at Cadance. "I'm sorry. I don't why she's acting like this."

"Maybe we should just ignore her." she says.

"You have to listen to me!" Twilight shouts.

"Oh goodness. Are you okay?" Fluttershy asks, flying up to her.

"I'm fine."

"You sure about that?" Applejack asks.

Twilight uses her magic to push Aj's hat in her face. "I've got something to say." she goes up and points at Cadance. "She's evil."

Everypony gasps in confusion.

"She's been mean to my friends, she's obviously done something with her bride's maids, and if that wasn't enough, I saw her cast a spell on my brother to make his eyes go all." she makes her eyes start rolling around.

She goes over to Cadance, smiling. Cadance starts sobbing. "Why are you doing this to me?" she then rushes out of the room.

"'Cause you're evil!" she uses her magic to teleport over to the door. "Evil! And if I don't stop you, you're going to ruin my brother's life."

Everypony just stands and looks at her, their jaws looking ready to hit the floor. Twilight turns around, bumping into her brother.

"You know why my eyes went all?" he makes his eyes roll around. I wish I could do that. "Because ever since I started performing my duties, I've been getting terrible migrains. Cadance wasn't casting spells ion me. She was using her magic to heal me. And she replaced her bride's maids because they were only doing it to meet royalty. And if she hasn't been that nice, it's because she's had to make all the decisions about the wedding without me."

"HA! I knnew it was stress." Ice says.

"Twilight, if I were you, I wouldn't show up to the wedding at all." Shining then leaves the room, going after Cadance.

"Well... this is awkward." I say.

Everypony besides Twilight leaves the room in silence, leaving Twilight alone.

Later again

The guys and I all approach Shining's house, getting ready to pick him up for the bachelor party.

I knock on the front door, it then being answered by Shining. "Oh, hey, guys."

"So, you ready to party?" I ask.

"I'm not so sure if it'd be the best time right now."

"Aw, come on. It'll up you unwind a bit. And you could definitely use it."

"Well, when you put it that way..."

"Great!" I grab him by the hoof and start pulling him to follow. We had already chosen a bar to go to earlier, so getting a place was easy.

We reach the bar and take some seats inside. We order some drinks and the bartender gives them to us.

"So, is this all we had planned for the night?" Shining asks.

"Nope, I called in some entertainment." Dark says.

"Entertainment? When?" I ask.

"Never mind that. I think I see her coming in."

We turn to the front door and see a slutty looking mare walk in. "Did I hear it's some stallion's bachelor party?'

Dang it, Dark!

Side Chapter: A Canterlot Wedding Part 2

Author's Note: Since I can't stop plugging myself up the ass... that sounded kinda wrong. I'm here to say, to any of my viewers who don't know, I recently did a review of the recent season finale at my blog right here. Now, on with the story.

Did I mention how much I hate Dark? Yes? Well, I'm saying it again. I BUCKING HATE DARK! First this whole mess with Twilight and cadance, now Dark is trying to force a hooker on Shining.

Shining looks over at the mare and nervously raises up a hoof. "Um, yeah, it's my bachelor party."

FOOL! NEVER ANSWER QUESTIONS FROM A PONY LIKE THAT!

The mare walks up to Shining seductively and brushes her face with her tail. "Well then I guess I oughtta give you a VERY special present."

"P-Present?" Shining's normally white face starts turning a beet red from the mare.

Dark chuckles at Shining. "Yeah, now this is going to be a real party."

On one hoof, yay, a hooker. On the other, our marefriends would be pissed at us. Yeah, I'm going with the latter.

I grab Dark and pull him to the other side of the room to have a "talk". "Hey, what's the big idea? I'm gonna miss the show."

"Show? Show?!"

"Yes, a show."

"How do you think Twilight would feel if she knew you hired a hooker for her brother's bachelor party the night before he gets married?"

He shrugs. "What she doesn't know won't hurt her. Besides, with everything else that's been going on, I think she's got bigger problems to worry about."

I lean into his face and glare at him. "Make her leave. Right. Now!"

"Can't."

"Why not?"

"I already paid her for the night."

"Paid her for the night?! Since when do hookers take money in advance?!"

"I know. It's awesome, right?"

"I am seriously going to murder you. I'm going to rip your head off and use your open neckhole as my new toilet."

"Cool story, bro. Now, if you don't mind, I've got a show to go watch."

He trots away from me, leaving me with my face red and steam coming out of my ears. He's so dead.

I go back to the rest of the group and watch Shining as he is terrified of the mare. Captain of the Royal Guard right here folks.

He turns back to look at us. "Help me." he mouths quietly.

I hate to see a bro like this. I guess I'll help. Time for one of my trademark out of nowhere yet still totally awesome ideas that'll probably not end up as well as I thought. You gotta admit, at least I'm honest about them.

Turn behind myself too see a table wil a bunch of drinks on it. Yep, that'll do. I look over to Drax. "Drax, come with me."

"Uh, sure, okay.." he says. We get up from our seats and Drax follows me over to the table I picked out from before. I take my hooves to my head to try and get a proper image of Shining in his seat to help judge for distance.

Hmm, that should be good. "Okay, Drax. Just give the end of this here table a good hit." I say, patting the table.

"Hey, what are you doing?" one of the stallions sitting at the table asks us.

"Sorry, gentlemen. We'll be needing your drinks to save the Royal Guard Captain."

"Like hay you wi"

"NOW, DRAX!"

Drax takes his muscular foreleg and slams on the end of the table. All of the drinks go flying through the air, everypony in the bar stpping what they're doing to watch in shock.

The drinks fly over and barely miss Shining, hitting the hook right infront of him. She huffs as she turns around. "Ican tell when I'm not wanted. You were the most uninvolved customer I've ever had anyway."

She leaves the bar and Dark looks back at us. "What the buck? I was watching that!"

I facehoof. "Quit whining."

"Well, it's kinda hard not to when you just almost instantly ended the whole night!"

"Oh, you're night's far from over." the stallion from before says as he gets up. The rest of us friends follow his lead, getting ready to attack. There's five of them, just like there's five of us, minus Shining. Perfect.

"Well, if you boys wanna party, I'd be happy to oblige." Dark says.

Well, guess talking our way out of this just flew out the window.

The stallion near Drax throws a punch at him only for his hoof to get caught and have Drax hoist him into the air. Drax takes him and slam him through the table.

The stallion near me goes for a body slam, but I narrowly avoid him and buck him in the ribs, sending him crashing into the nearby wall.

Another stallion comes after me, but Ice makes an ice trail that slips him up. While he's off balance, Ice stomps his hooves, making a flattened ice pillar shost up below the stallion and smashing him against the ceiling.

Being the maniac he always is, Dark didn't even allow the stallion he was closest to to react. He took and electrically charged hoof and touched the stallion with it.

"Dark!" I shout at him.

"What? It wasn't enough to kill him. Just knock him out."

I can't believe Dark sometimes... Scratch that. All the time.

The last stallion was very shaken from seeing all of his friens be put down so easily. Zephyr looks at him as shakes with fear.

Zephyr gets right in his face and jumps. "Boo!"

The stallion shrieks before fainting over. Wow. Zephyr would get the easy job.

We all do a group high hoof in celebration. Nothing more fun than a group flank kicking.

We turn to Shining, who is just sitting there in silence along with the rest of the bar. "Hehe, sorry about all that, Shining." I say.

He shakes his head. "Oh, it's fine. Thanks for saving me from that mare."

"Save you from her? She was awesome!" Dark said.

Maybe hanging with Dark for too long is why Twilight's been acting so weird. Oh well.

"Well, anyway. the fight was no problem. You guys have really got some skills. Normally I'd have to take in for startinga fight, but I think I'll let it slide this time."

Dark goes up to Shining and wrapos a hoof around his sholders. "Yeah! Now that's my future brother-in-law."

"Brother-in-law?"

I clear my throat, getting their attention. "Speaking of wedding, maybe we should be heading home. It's gonna be a big day for everypony tomorrow."

"Yeah, I think that'd be a good idea." Shining says.

We exit the bar and wave each other off. "See ya, Shining!"

He waves back to us. "See ya tomorrow at the wedding, guys!"

We all continue to walk back to the castle to meet up with out marefriends and rest up for the big day tomorrow. I'm getting that bad feeling again And usually it's right. Curse my senses.

We reach the hallway to our bedrooms and stop for one last good night. "Well, see you guys in the morning." I say.

"Yeah, I just hope Twilight's okay." Dark says.

"Wow. Focusing on Twilight instead of partying, Dark?" Ice says.

"Hey, I know I can be a real jerk, but I honestly do care about Twi."

"Well, good luck, bro." I say.

Everypony except ark goes their seperate ways into their own rooms except for Dark, who is just standing there and looking at the floor.

"I really hope she's okay." he says. He enter his room to find that Twilight is not there and only Spike is. "Where's Twilight?"

"Don't know." Spike says. "But I'm really worried about her."

Dark climbs into the empty bed and covers himself up. "Yeah, me too."

The next day(still using my lazy ass transitions)

Dark slowly opens his eyes to see that Twilight never returned during the night. He gets up, sighing to himself, before going to the bathroom to get ready.

This is gonna be a lomg day for him.

Over to your favorite pony, me

I wake up the next morning and stretch myself out as usual. Even in a bed as comfy as this, I can't help but have to stretch myself awake.

Dash yawns as she wakes up next to me. "Hey, Blue."

"Hey, Ms. Sonic Rainboom. Ready for the big day?" I joke.

She shoots up as she smiles confidently. "You kidding? With all the practicing I've been doing, it'll be a snap."

"Hehe, you've gotta teach me how to do one of those sometime."

"You? Do a sonic rainboom?"

"Yes."

"Don't make me laugh."

I put myy forelegs to my sides in annoyance. "And why is that funny?"

"Just look at you." she motions at my body(you know you want this). "You're too bulky. You're a fighter, not a flyer."

"Heh, I'll show you one of these days."

"Yeah right."

"Anyway, any idea on Twilight last night?"

She starts frowning at my question. "No, I have no idea what's gotten into her."

"Well, she's got everypony worried. Even Dark."

"Dark? Really?"

"Believe it or not, yes."

"Woah, I guess this is serious."

We sit there in silence for a minute before getting up. "Well, all we can do now is go on about our business and hope things work out."

"I hope you're right about that."

Yeah, so am I.

We both get ready, Dash doing her hair and getting into her dress with my help, and myself getting into a tuxedo with Dash's help. Celestia, this is even worse than wearing those stupid bandages. At least this is only for a few hours.

I fidget about in my tuxedo a bit. "Why are these things so uncomfortable?"

"Hey, you think I like wearing this dress?"

"Heaven forbid a tomcolt wear a dress."

"Hey! I'm not a tomcolt." I look at her bemused. "Okay, I am. But still. That's not it. It's just not that aerodynamic, even with the adjustments Rarity made."

"Well, it's only for a few hours."

"Yeah, a good thing too."

We exit the room and walk out into the hallway, having about the millionth coincidental meet up with the others. It's pretty creepy how many times this has happened.

We all look at Dark, him with a sad look on his face. "No Twilight, huh?" I ask. He shakes his head in response. I put a hoof on in sholder in reassurance. "It'll be fine, buddy. I'm sure of it."

He looks at me and gives me a small smile. "Thanks."

After that, we all head down to the ceremony room. The room is aAs the bride's maid approach Twilight and Calready filled with ponies taking up the sots on both sides of the carpet. Princess Celestia, Shining Armor, and Spike all stood at the front of the room. The girls sepearated from us and took their spots on each side of the stairs. The guys took spots on the left side of the carpet.

Just then, the doors open with the Cutie Mark Crusaders hopping infront of Cadance, dropping flower petals. When did they get here?! They weren't on the train?! *mental sigh* I've gotta stop questioning things.

"Finally the moment has arrived for me to be one lucky bride!" Cadance sings as she walks down the isle. Um... okay. I don't get it.

She takes a spot next to Shining Armor up front. Um... Why are his eyes glowing green?

Celestia begins to start talking, silencing everyone. "Princess Cadance and Shining Armor, it is my great pleasure to announce you-"

"STOP!" Twilight screams from the front door. Everypony is very confused by all this.

"Err. Why does she have to be so possessive of her brother?" Cadance says. She then starts playing the crying bride card. "Why does she have to ruin my special day?"

"Because, it's not your special day, it's mine!" a pony that looks like a messier Cadance says. Everypony gasps in shock.

"I found her in the secret gems cavern buried beneath Canterlot. She was being held there as a prisonner by whoever that is." Twilight says, pointing to the Cadance on stage.

"What?! But, how did you escape my bride's maids?!" she demands.

Flashback to the cave

As the bride's maids approach Twilight and Cadance, Cadance notices something. She uses her magic to grab a nearby bouquet, why that was there, I don't know, and tosses it down a hole.

"I want it!" the bride's maids shout as they jump after it. Mares and weddings, I swear.

Back in the wedding room

"Clever, but you're still too late." the fake Cadance says.

"What the buck is going on?!" Dark shouts, some electricity coming off his hooves.

"She's a changeling." Cadance says. "She turns herself into somepony you love and gains power by feeding off your love for them."

Love is OP apparently.

The fake Cadance's eyes go green as a circle of green fire circles around here. The circle shoots up into the air, completely enveloping her. Everypony gasps yet again.

She starts changing form, growing insect like wings with holes, a pitch black coat, sickly looking hair, a crooked horn, and fangs.

She starts flying. "Right you are, princess. And I Chrysalis, as queen of the changelings, am responsible for finding food for my subjects.. she starts walking towards Cadance. "Equestria has more love than any place I have ever encountered."

You don't say.

"My fellow changelings will be able to devour so much of it that we will gain more power than we ever dreamed of!"

"They'll never get the chance! Cadance barks back at her. "Shining ARmor's protection spel will keep them from ever reaching us!"

Chrysalis giggles. "Oh, I doubt that. Isn't that right, dear?" she asks Shining, her horn glowing.

"Mmhmm." he says, nodding at her.

Cadance starts running at Shining, but Chrysalis gets in her way. "Ah ah ah. Don't want to back to the caves now, do you?" she threatens. Cadance backs off from her. Chrysalis turns and around starts doing the most cliche villain thing ever: monolouges. "Ever since I took your place, I've been feeding off Shining Armor's love for you. EVery moment he grows weaker, and so does his spell. Even now my minions are chipping away at it."

Looking outside, we see hundreds of black dots pounding away at the bubble shield. Buck.

Chrysalis laughs once more. "He may not be my husband, but he is under my total control now."

Isn't marriage pretty much the same thing?

"And, I'm sorry to say, unable to perform his duties as Captain of the Royal Guard."

"Not my Shining Armor." Cadance says.

"Soon my changeling army will break through. First, we take Canterlot, and then, all of Equestria!"

"No, you won't." Celestia says.

Finally, she's going to do something useful.

You may have made it impossible for Shining Armor to perform his spell, but now that you have so foolishly revealed your true self..." the two of them start clashing horns. "I can protect my subjects from you!"

Celestia flies up and shoots a beam down at her, Chrysalis shooting her own. The two beams go back and forth, but Chrysalis' own out powers Celestia's and takes her down.

"Princess Celestia!" Twilight shouts. All of us go over to our fallen leader.

Scratch that about me saying she'd be useful.

"Ha! Shining Armor's love for you is stronger than I thought. Consuming it has made me even more powerful than Celestia!" Chrysalis says.

All of us are silent as we watch Celestia on the floor. "The Elements of Harmony, you must find them and use their power to defeat Chrysalis."

We all nod to each other as the girls throw off their dresses and the guys throw off their suits and we head out. Oh yeah! It's flank kicking time!

Rarity stays back, trying to catch the dresses and suits. "RARITY!" we all ahout. She drops the dresses and follows after us.

"You can run, but you can't hide!" Chrysalis houts from behind us.

As we run through Canterlot, we look up to see cracks start forming in the shield. The changelings manage to break through and start flying down after us. Fire forms around them as they dive down and crash into the ground. One lands infront of us and I send it flying with a Hurricane Hoof right to the face.

We stop as we are surrounded by several dozen changelings.

"Well, looks like we'll have to do this the hard way." Dash says, pounding her hooves together. Celestia, I love that mare.

"That's what I'm talking about!" Dask says.

Just then, the changelings start talking on our forms. "They're changelings, remember?" Twilight says.

"They're changelings, remember?" a few Twilight clones say. Real mature.

"Don't let them distract you. We need to get to the Elements of Harmony."

We begin fighting off our dozens of clones.

Vine stands surrounded by her own clones. "Oh, hay no!" she growls. Her hooves glow as she summons a bunch of thorned vines and to wrap around them all.

Ouch.

A clone of myself tries to use a Hurricane Hoof against me, but I block it with my charged up wings. I release the waves of energy and cut him down. They my have our powers, but they definitely don't have our skill.

Ice stands as he too is surround by his own clones. He stomps his hooves down, making a bunch of large pillars impale his clones.

Pretty brutal.

Dark flies into the air as he starts shooting down dozens of lightning bolts at all kinds of clones. "THis is awesome!" he shouts.

Why am I not surprised?

Drax and Zeph each stand back to back as a crowd of changelings surround them. They each look at each other with a smirk as Zeph gives Drax his forelegs and DRax spins Zeph around. Zeph's legs smack the crowd of changelings away as Drax lets him go and they brohoof.

Fluttershy shakes in fear as a group of her evil clones approaches her. She then starts pretending like she's one of them and just walk by her. But as she runs away, she is cut off by a group of Rainbow Dashes. One of them kicks the others away and picks up Fluttershy, giving her a... Wait.

"Dash, did you just kiss Fluttershy?" I asks her.

Both of their faces start going read. "What?! No! It was just, like, a play kiss! Honest!"

"Well, okay."

I'm disappointed. I was hoping we could ask Futtershy if she would be up for a three... Nah, what am I saying? That's crazy talk... Crazy awesome talk. But that can wait. Fight now, sex later.

As the fight continues on, Pinkie grabs Twilight and starts repeatedly pulling down on her tail, firing out magical spells like a gattling gun.

Through everypony's combined efforts, we eventually break off the crowd. Where Pinkie got her party cannon from, I will never know.

We run into the chamber leading to the elements only to stop at a far, far larger crowd of changelings. With being tired from our last fight, we have no choice but to be captured.

Back in the throne room

Princess Celestia wakes up from her unconsciousness to find she is now in some kind of green, gooey cacoon. Cadance is also held to the floor by the same substance.

"You won't get away with this!" she yells at Chrysalis. "Twilight and her friends will-"

She stops as the front doors open with all of us captured.

Chrysalis looks at her smugly. "You were saying?" she then looks back to us. "You do realize the reception has been cancelled, Don't you?" she looks up to her minions. "Go! Feed!" and with that, they fly out of the room. "It's funny, really. Twilight was suspicious of my behavior all along. Too bad the rest of you were caught up in your wedding planning to realize those suspicions were true."

I walk over to Twilight. "Real sorry, Twi."

"Yeah, so am I." Vine says.

All of the others start saying they're sorry to her.

"I told you she was a bi-" Dark is cut off by an apple that suddenly appears in his mouth. He spits it out in anger. "Where did that even come from."

"The censors." Pinkie says.

"The what?"

Chrysais flies outside as she begins singing again. Really? Singing right now? That's just lame.

Twilight goes over to Cadance and zaps the goo off her hooves. "Go to him. Nows your chance." she says.

Cadance goes over to Shining and start crying. She pulls him into a hug as her horn starts giving off electricity. A heart pops out of her horn and onto Shining's face.

The magic of the heart snaps him out of his trance as he shakes his head. "Huh? Wha? I-Is the wedding over?"

Chrysalis lands with a thud infront of them. "It's all over!"

"Your spell! Perform your spell!" Twilight shouts at them.

"Hahaha, what would that do? My changelings already roam free!"

"No." Shining says. He tries to perform his spell, but is too weak to do so. "My power is useless now. I don't have the strength to repel them."

"My love will give you strength." Cadance says, embracing him.

"What a lovely but absolutely ridiculous sentiment." Chrysalis laughs.

Cadance and Shining's horns begin to glow as they touch, making an aura around both of them. They begin to levitate as they grow brighter, eventually making the aura expand and literally repel all of the changelings out of Canterlot.

Like I said, love is OP apparently.

The couple descends as they hold each other lovingly.

Twilight runs over to Celestia to check on her. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine." Celestia says. "Now you have a real wedding to put together.

Later that day, after resetting everything up(nothing happens, so don't worry about missing much)

Everypony once again is standing at their places in the wedding room. The Cutie Mark rusader Flower Fillies enter while throwing flower petals. Cadance follows behind them. Cadance talk a spot next to Shining and they smile at each other.

Celestia then starts the speech. "Mares and gentlecolts, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of the real Princess Mi Amora Cadenza-"

"Princess Cadance is fine." Cadance says.

Good. I have trouble remembering her full name.

"The union of Princess Cadance and Shining Armor. The strength of their commitment is clear. The power of their love undeniable. May we have the rings please?" she asks Spike. He holds the pillow holding them up. Celestia uses her magic to put their rings on their horns. "I now pronounce you mare and colt."

Everypony shouts for the new couple louder than any crowd this size I've ever seen.

Celestia leans in on Rainbow Dash. "Rainbow Dash, that's your cue."

Dash takes off her dress and fliex out of the room. She speeds through the air, creating a sonic rainboom. She wasn't kidding when she said it'd be a snap.

And then they fu-I mean, and everypony lived happily ever after.

Author's Note: For anyone who didn't know, Ice and I are doing a collab fic, the first chapter of which is available right here.

Never Food Binge before a Race

Author's Note: Time to get back to canon, and to the big town party. What will come from Zephyr and Dark's race? What will happen once Blue realizes what Rainbow Dash asked him? And will there be enough chimicherrychongas for Blue to eat? Well, you'll just have to read to find out. Now, on with the story.

Do any of you know what being in Heaven is like? For me, it's nothing but golden brown and red, crispy, sugary, mouth-watering chimicherrychongas. I literally couldn't stop eating them. I was going off on a binge. There was even a point where I ate so fast that I felt like the universe itself broke and I had crossed some forsaken threshold that would lead to the secret meanings to all life as we know it. But that passed and I just went back to eating.

And not a single buck was given.

Haily walks up from behind me with a concerned look on her face. "Blue, don't you think you've had enough?"

I pull my face out from the pile of flakey, delicious goodness and looked at her with a stern yet glazed over stare. "Don't you tell me when I've had enough! I'll tell you when I've had enough!"

"Yeah, you've definitely had enough." she says, trying to get closer to me and make me stop.

"Get back away from me and my babies!" I grab a big pile of them, but fall over as I trip on a rock as I take a step back. I flail my limbs as I try to get up, but it's no use with my large my gut has swelled. "Okay, maybe I have had enough."

"Do want some help getting up?"

"Nah, just leave me here to rest it off."

"You sure. It's kinda sticky and dirty down there."

"Yeah, I'm sure."

Haily looks over her sholder. "I wonder what the others are up to right now?" she asks herself.

Getting into trouble as always. I maybe all knowing as the author, but it doesn't take a genius to figure that out.

Zephyr and Dark continued to star at each other, the same spot they were in before. They do know they actually need to set something up to have a race, right?

Ice just sat there, looking very irritated. Finally, he broke them apart. "Okay, enough of this. Fine if you want to race, but we can't exactly do that if you boneheads just sit here and glare at each other."

They each blink at the relization. "Oh. Yeah, I knew that." Zeph said.

"Of course. What do you think we are, idiots?"

"Yes."

Agreed.

"So, who's going to set this up?" Dark asks.

"Well, guess we could try and find Blue." Zeph suggests

"Why?"

"Because the plot demands it."

"What?"

"I said because he seems like he'd be good at it."

"Oh, okay."

The three stallions then go searching around the crowded streets to find me. That should be easy. Just look for the blue guy with the huge gut laying nearly passed out on the street.

Over to Drax now

Drax and Spitfire walk through the streets of Ponyville, simply enjoying each other's company and the evening.

Spitfire looks over to a group of ponies lined up at a strength test machine. "Hey, Drax. You should totally go try that." she says, pointing over at it.

Drax looks over at it and puts a determined smile on. "Sure, no sweat."

Drax takes a spot in line as it starts moving, each pony in front of him barely capable of getting three forths up at the most. I know we're really tough, but these guys have gotta exercise more.

As Drax reachs the front of the line, the pony running the stand gets a bit excited. "Mr. Drax, I am very pleased to see you here."

"Just DRax is fine. I hate formalities."

"Of course."

"So, I'll I gotta do is buck this target as hard as possible?" he asks, getting in position.

"Yes, just try not to-"

"Okay." Drax bucks the target with all his might, sending the bump soaring up and knocking the bell at the top clean off.

"Break it." the pony finishes. "Well, it seems like we finally have a winner."

"Sweet! What'd I get?"

"This giant stuffed teddy bear!" the pony answers, pulling out a near pony-sized teddy bear.

"Teddy bear? Why is it that all the prizes I keep getting suck?"

"I don't know. I think it's pretty cute." Spitfire says, walking up next to Drax."

"Well, you can have it then."

"Really? Thanks, Drax." Spitfire raps him up in a big hug, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She takes the bear and balances it on her back as the couple then take off.

As they walk, they notice Ice, Zeph, and Dark walking around. "ey, guys!" Drax shouts at them.

They turn to look at him. "Oh, hey, Drax." Zeph says.

Drax and Spitfire walk over to them. "What are you guys up to?"

Zephyr and Dark start staring at each other again.

"Um, what's their deal?" Spitfire asks.

"These two thought it'd be a great idea to get into a race. We'rre trying to find Blue to help set it up." Ice says in an annoyed tone.

"Cool. Can we come with?" Drax asks.

"Sure. Maybe you can help."

The now five group of friends now set off to find me to set up their big race. I sure am popular, aren't I?

While this is going on, I still lay on the ground, holding my stomach. I groan as my it rumbles. "I think I ate too much."

"You don't say." aily says.

"Why must you mock my torture?"

"Hey, you did this to yourself."

"Ugh, whatever."

"So, did Dash ask you yet?"

"What? Oh, yeah. Sounds great."

"Great! I'm sure mom and dad will love to see you."

"Wait, what?!"

Before we can continue on, the group comes over to us. "Geez, Blue. What happened?" Zeph asks.

"He ate too much." Haily says.

"Don't change the subject! What was that about mom and dad?!"

"Never mind that, Blue. We need you to help set up our race." Dark says.

"A race?"

"Yeah, they got into an arguement on who's the best flyer and decided to have a race for it."

"Sorry, guys. But I don't think I'm really up to it." I groan again as my stomach churns.

"Well, then who are we gonna get to do this?!" Dark shouts.

"I don't bucking know! Go ask Vine. She seems like she could set up something like this."

"Well, I guess it's worth a shot." Zeph says.

"Great. You do that." I start resting before getting an idea. "Actually, Drax, can you carry me on your back? I wanna see this."

"Sure, I guess." he walks over to me and hoists me on top of his back. "You okay back there?"

"As I'll ever be. Now, come on."

For once, I'm actually looking forward to this.

Race-ists

Author's Note: This has no purpose here. This is simply going to be padding on my story. You mad? Now, on with the story.

What's the first thing that happens once we get back home? There's a huge party thrown for us. Awesome! I get wasted on chimicherrychongas. Fifty fifty on that one. Zephyr and Dark decide to get into a race... Can't tell if gusta. On one hoof, I don't have to get involved. On the other hoof, I can still tell this won't end well for me.

Right now we're just trying to find Vine so we can set the whole thing up while I try not to lose all those chimicherrychongas.

I groan as Drax carries me on his back. "*sigh* This is why you shouldn't east so many of those things." Drax says.

"I couldn't help it. They were just so delicious." I say. I lick my lips as I start to think about them again. "So tasty."

"Well, because of your over-eating, we have to hold off even longer on me showing up Zephyr." Dark says.

"You show me up?" Zeph says. "Mare, please. My talent is flying fast."

"Yeah, but they don't call me Dark Lightning because of my lghtning powers. I can even fly as fast as lightning."

"That's another thing. If you really wanna prove how much faster you are then me, then you won't use any of your powers."

"Pfft, fine. I don't need them to beat you."

We continue to walk as we approach Vine, Fleur, and Fern at a mixing table. We look to see Vine placing about her dozenth glass down.

"Geez, Vine. I didn't know you were such a drinker." Ice says.

"I'm not, really." she says. "But I know how to handle my liquor. And my new stallion body has definitely helped raise my tolerance." she stops as she notices me on Drax's back. "What happened to you, Blue?"

"Chimicherrychongas. So delicious. I couldn't stop."

"Ah. So, what's going on with the rest of you?"

"That's actually what we came to you for." Zeph says.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, Dark and I are gonna have a race. We were gonna ask Blue to help set it up, but..." the entire group looks at me as I groan. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen. So, you wanna help?"

"A race? Sure, sounds like fun. And I know the perfect way to have it." Vine gets a sly look on her face as she looks back at a stage set up by town hall.

Celestia, help us.

Half an hour later

The group from before stands up on the stage next to town hall, a big, circurlar mat with a mark of a bullseye set up infront of it.

A crowd of ponies starts to form as they notice it. "What's going on?" Tilight asks her other friends.

"I don't know, but it looks totally cool!" Pinkie says with excitement.

Vine taps on a microphone to get the crowd's attention. "Attention, everupony! I'm here to announce a race being held in our very own town that's about to be talking place right now."

The crowd starts cheering in excitement.

"Ooh! Let's get up on stage and join them!" Pinkie says, taking off right onto the stage.

The other girls shrug as they follow her up. Dash looks at me smugly as she sees me laying on my back. "Ate too much, huh?"

"Just shut up and watch." I say.

Vine clears her throat to get everypony's attention again. "This race is going to be between Zephyr Verve..." she motions towards Zeph, the crowd cheering for him. "and Dark Lightning." she motions to Dark, the crowd then cheering for him.

Would they just make up their minds?

"Now, this race is going to be taking place all around Ponyville. It will start here at town hall, then move to around the library, passed Sugarcube Corner, and then will finish off with each flyer going through the ring we have set up above us..." the crowd looks up to see a ring floating like the ones caoaches use at flight schools. "and then landing down at the target you are standing on." the crowd clears off of the target, getting ready in advance. "Ice and I will both be around the town, swtting up "obstacles" for our flyers. Now, let's get started."

Zephyr and Dark both get in a readying stance as they prepare.

"On your marks..."

Almost.

"Get set..."

Here it comes.

"GO!"

Both Zeph and Dark go shooting off and near blinding speeds as the race begins. Both ponies are both going neck and neck at this point, neither one having the advantage over the other. Dark, being the way he is, tries to bump Zephyr over. But Zephyr slows himself down a bit, making Dark miss and hit a wall briefly before shaking it off.

As they pass by the Carousel Boutique, a white and well-groomed cat jumps onto Zeph's face.

"AH! Get it off!" he shouts.

He throws the cat over onto Dark's face. "AH! No, you get it off!" he houts, throwing the cat back.

"You!"

"You!'

"YOU!"

They play Hot Potato with the cat for a bit before Dark eventually gets frustrated and throws it behind himself.

I never did like cats myself.

The two start approaching the library as Vine gets into position inside the tree. "Dark can consider this payback for the hit over the head, the coffee, and the chariot ride." she says to herself.

As Zephyr starts gaining headway on the race, Dark grabs his tail by the mouth and throws him backwards.

Zephyr shakes his head to get rid of any dizy feeling. "Hey!" he shouts before shooting back to Dark.

Dark laughs as he looks back at Zeph. "I told you I didn't need powers to-WOAH!" he stops his gloating as he starts spinning on a branch Vine used her powers to make grow longer.

Zeph whizzes by Dark, still stuck on the branch. Dark growls as he breaks off the branch and starts following after him.

Coming up to Sugarcube Corner, Ice has been patiently awaiting his prey. He peeks his head out from behind to see the two coming. "Perfect."

His stomps his hooves, making a dozen of so ice pillars shoot up infront of Zeph and Dark.

"WOAH!" they both shout.

They both bob and weeve passed the pillars with ease, each making an effort to out do the other. "Ha! This is no sweat!" Zeph says.

Just then, an ice pillar shoots up from below him, launching him into a nearvy hay barrel.

"No sweat, huh?!" Dark souts at Zeph tauntingly as he starts to fly towards the ring up in the sky.

"Oh no you don't!" Zeph says.

The crowd watches in suspense as we see Dark and Zeph climbing up after the ring.

Pinkie continuously bounces on my enlarged stomach. "This is so awesome!"

"Pinkie-OOF-please-OOF-stop!" I shout at her.

"Oops. Sorry, Breezy." she says, looking down at me as she stands on me.

"Oh, I think I'm gonna be sick."

"Here, let me get up." she bounces off of me, sending me rolling off the stage and onto the middle of the bullseye."

"Uh, guys, a little help?" I ask at my friends on stage. They leave me there as they just continue to watch the race.

Great friends. Celestia, I'm bucked.

Dark passes through the ring and immediately curves towards the target with me still on it. "Yes! I've got this in the bag!"

"No way!" Zeph shouts at him as he grabs onto him.

"Hey! Get off!" Dark orders, trying to pry him off.

"No way again!"

As the two of them start flying down towards the gound faster and faster, a visible cone starts to form around them.

"Hey, what's that?!" Haily shouts.

"No way! They're actually doing a..." Dash says before stopping in awe.

As Dark and Zeph struggle in the sky, the cone starts becoming more and more narrow before

*BOOM*

A huge blue, black, and red sonic boom goes off behind the two stallions, rocketing them forward with the same colored trail following behind them.

My eyes widen as I see them approaching me with double the speed as before. "WAIT! STOP!"

But before anypony can do anything, they each hit me directly in my gut and bounce back from the force as I spit out brown and red chuncks all over them.

They both land on the ground a few feet away from me as they sit up. They lookn at the gooey chunks coming off of them. "Aw, sick!" Zeph shouts.

"This is worse than that time I stepped in manicore dung!" Dark shouts.

I groan again. "I told you I was gonna be sick."

"So, who won?" Zeph asks, looking back at the stage.

"It looked like a tie." Vine says.

"So, we both won?" Dark asks.

"Actually, considering that Blue barfed on the both of you, I'd say you both lost."

"Aw man! So this was all for nothing!"

"Can we call it a night? I think I'm gonna be sick again." my cheeks swell up before I swalllow it back down. Celestia, that's gross.

"Yeah, I think that's a good idea." Haily says. "Drax, little help?"

"Sure thing."

They come over to me and place me on Drax's back again as they start walking back home.

"Don't worry, Blue. I'm sure tomorrow will make up for this." Haily says.

"Yeah, we still need to talk about that."

Going for a Visit

You ever take two guys going at mach-four speeds right to the gut after eating about half your own weight in food? I don't recommend it. This hurts as much as the time I got kicked in the balls, and I cringe when I think of that.

Drax and Haily were both taking me up to my room to make me be able to sleep it off.

Drax sets me down on the bed as Haily takes a spot next to me on it. "Thanks for the help, Drax."

"No problem." he says. "I'd hate to be him right about now. Did you see how fast they hit him?"

"I couldn't even see them they were going so fast."

The two of them share a laugh as I just lie there and groan. "Why must you laugh at my pain?"

"Sorry, Blue. But it was pretty funny."

"Funny?! None of you even bothered to help me when I rolled onto the target!"

"What were you doing there?"

"Pinkie pushed me there!"

"Then blame her, not us."

"Well, that's not important right now i-"

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything." Dash cuts me off, poking her head through the room's door.

Drax turns towards the door. "I think I'm gonna go. It seems you all have a lot to talk about."

He exits the room, leaving us. Dash walks in and stops next to me. "Hey, Blue. How you holding up?"

"Terribly."

"Oh, dont be such a baby. You've had worse."

"Well, I guess that's true."

"Anyway, I'm really excited to meet your parents tomorrow."

"Hold up one second."

"What?"

"I didn't even know that's what you were asking me earlier. I had no idea you two planned to go see my parents tomorrow."

"Well, I just felt like going back home. Visiting mom and dad was Dash's idea." Haily says.

"Yeah, we've been dating for, like, two months. I think it's about time I met your parents."

"I don't really know, Dash. Are you sure? I'm not really embarassed of my parents, but I'm a little worried about visiting them after just getting back."

"Oh, fooey. It just sounds like you're getting lazy to me."

"I agree." Haily says jokingly.

"Lazy?! Why I oughtta-"

"So, are we going or not?"

I think it over in my head for a minue. 'She does have a bit of a point. Besides, it would be a good excuse to get away from my friends for a while.'

"Okay, Dash. We'll go."

"All right! I'll go let the others know we're leaving tomorrow. I can't wait!"

Dash then rushes out of the room and the house, making Drax spin and fall over as she passes by him. "Oooh, now I think I'm gonna be sick." he says.

Haily giggles at a bit. "I'd say she's definitely a keeper, Blue."

"Yeah, I think so too." I grab my stomach as I feel another growl of pain from it. "Oooh, I'm never gonna get to sleep with this stupid stomach ache. Curse chimicherrychongas for being so good."

Haily scrunches her face as she puts a hoof to her chin and thinks. "Hmm, what was that thing mom always did to get you to sleep?" he face lights up as some kind of weird, light-bulb noise goes off. "Ah ha! I remember now."

"Wait, you're not seriously going to-"

She shushs me softly as she puts a hoof on my stomach and starts gently rubbing it. As she does this, she starts sining my old lulayby.

"Hush now! Quiet now.
It's time to lay your sleepy head.
Said hush now. Quiet now.
It's time to go to bed."

I start to yawn. "Haily, seriously. I'm not a baby. I don't need a lullaby like when I was little." but she continues, despite my arguing.

"Drifting off to sleep.
The exciting day behind you.
Drifting off to sleep.
Let the joy of dream land find you."

I slowly start closing my eyes as I can no longer keep them open. I start quietly snoring in my sleep.

Haily giggles again giving me a kiss on the head and covering the both of us up. "Good night, Blue. Sweet dreams." she snuggles up to me as she always did when we slept together, getting ready for some dreaming of her own.

I love having her for a sister.

The next morning(never gonna die)

I slowly open my eyes as I turn in my bed. GAH! Who left the blinds open?! I quickly turn back as I rub my eyes to help wake myself up. I see that Haily has already gotten up. Wasn't expecting that. I look at myself and see my stomach is back to its normal size. Awesome! But I really gotta use the toilet now.

I enter the bathroom and shut the door behind me before I do the do. After that, I check myself in the mirror and scratch at my face as I see some yellow stubble growing. Ugh, I hate any facial hair besides my natural fur. It itches like all hay. I shave that off and hop into the shower to wash myself.

'Ah, a nice relaxing morning.' I think to myself. 'You know, I'm actually looking forward to introduxing Dash to my parents. And I have to admit I've missed them too. This should be good for everypony.'

I turn off the water as I finish up and grab a towel to dry myself off. After drying, I exit the bathroom and head down stairs.

I go down to see a nice pancake breakfast. "Sweet!" I rush over and take a seat, my mouth watering.

"Yeah, good morning to you too." Haily says.

"Oops. Sorry about that."

"It's fine."

"So, you're really going to visit your parents, Blue?" Zeph asks.

"Yeah, I sure am."

"Tell 'em I said hi."

"Me too." Drax says.

"And one for me too." Ice says.

I chuckle at them. "Sure, you bet."

We spend the rest of our time eating and making some small talk, sharing a few laughs, but nothing LOL worthy. Shocking, isn't it?

After eating, we head out and see the others approaching us. I look at Vine curiously. "Vine, why are you still a stallion?"

She shrugs. "Meh, haven't gotten around to the bath just yet. Working on it after this though."

"Oh, okay. Well, guess we're off. See you guys la-"

"Wait." Dark says, cutting me off.

"What?"

"I want to go too."

"What?!"

"Things are always so boring when you aren't around. Besides, I've always wanted to go to Cloudsdale. And I think your parents would just LOVe to meet me. Right, buddy?" he says, finishing with a playful nudge at me.

I glare at him. "No."

"Bu-"

"No!" I cut him off. I get in his face angrily. "You are not coming wuth us. Follow us there, and I'm going to break you in half. Got that?"

He backs off, pushing at the air. "Okay, okay. Geez, don't be such a hardflank."

I smile in accomplishment. "Good. Well, see you guys la-"

"NO!" Pinkie shouts, latching onto Haily.

"Ter. *sigh* What is it, Pinkie?"

"I don't want Haily to leave. You guys might be coming back in just a few days, but she won't." she explains, having literal fountains of tears coming from her eyes.

Dash and I pull on her in an attempt to get her off. "Sorry, Pinkie. But I really do need to be getting home and back to school soon." Haily says, struggling to free herself.

I look back at the group. "Drax, a little help?"

"I'm on it." he says, rolling up nonexistent sleeves on his forelegs. He grabs hold of Pinkie and, with one huge tug, pulls her off.

"Cheese it!" I shout, alerting the others to get flying.

We take to the skies, leaving the others behind and Pinkie still balling her eyes out.

Now just a relaxing flight until we get there.

Later, at the library

A bit of time after our leave, Twilight and Dark, as well as the others, had gone back to their respective homes.

Twilight exits out of her room, looking for Dark. "Dark! Dark! Where is he?" she turns over to Spike who is dusting. "Spike, have you seen Dark."

"No, but he left a note." he says, picking up a piece of paper off a shelf. "I didn't have time to read it."

Twilight takes the note with her magic and begins reading it.

"Dear Twilight,

Gone trollin'. Be back in a few days.

Dark Lightning."

Twilights ears and face sink after reading it. "What's it say?" Spike asks.

"He's fine right now, but I really hope he actually comes back."

...He's dead.

An Uninvited Guest

Dark descends from the skies as he takes a spot under one of the windowsils. He starts mulling over his plan of action. 'It would probably be a bad idea to just rush into it and go in with Blue in there. I don't feel like getting my flank kicked again. I'll wait til after he's gone and the coast is clear.' he thinks to himself.

He slowly creeps up in order to look inside. He sees me, Haily, Dash, and two older looking ponies he assumes to be my parents.

Dedicated troll or stalker? You decide.

Inside the house

I look around as I walk back through the house. Everything is just as I remember. Same furniture, same pictures up on the walls, and same stain on the carpet. Don't ask.

Looking on the walls, you could see old family photos, baby pictures, pictures of me and Haily as kids, different pictures of me with friends during high school, graduation photos, every kind of thing you'd expect.

Dash looks at one of the pictures and giggles as she points at it. "Is that you as a foal, Blue?"

I look over to see her pointing at a picture of my mom holding me in her forelegs just after I was born, me sleeping soundly in her grasp. "Yeah, that's just after I was born." I smile as I look at it.

"Aw, you were so cute." she teases, pinching my cheeks playfully.

I slap her hoof away in annoyance. "Yeah, yeah. Yuck it up. You know I'm still just as cute now as I was back then."

"I'll say." Raindrop says. She wraps her arms around me from behind. "That was the happiest day of my life other than marrying your father and having Haily."

"Same for me." Thundercloud says, putting a hoof on my sholder. "I could tell right away you'd be strong, Blue. But what you and your friends have recently been up to is incredible."

"I still wish you would've let me go and help." Haily says.

"You help? Maybe I wasn't clear on how close to losing we all were against that guy. He was a psycho." I say.

"Well, you can tell us all about it during lunch. i just made a bunch of hay and daisy sandwiches. Good thing I decided to make so many." Raindrop says.

"All right!" I say.

"All you need to do is go wash up first."

I sulk at that. "Realy, mom? I already took a shower before coming here."

"Yes, really. Do you really want to eat after walking around the streets."

"Yes." she gives me a stern look. "Alright, fine."

We walk into the hallway, but as I do, I look back at a mirror and see something black duck under it. Must be that same "bird" from earlier.

"Man, I hate washing up." Dash says.

"Tell me about it. My mom can be a real clean freak sometimes." I say.

Back outside

"Blah blah blah." Dark says, just watching the rest of us inside talk. "When is he gonna go away so I can make my move? This is so boring just sitting here." he continues to look through until he sees Dash, Hail, and myself all start walking away. "Finally!" he quickly ducks as he sees me turning towards the window. He wipes his forehead. "Phew. That was too close. But now, it's show time."

He stands up and straigytens himself up as he wakes over to the door and knocks on it.

Is it wrong to pray for some else's death? 'Cause if it is, I don't care about being right.

A moment later, both of my parents answer the door. "Well, hey there." Dark says "I'm Dark Lightning, a friend of your son."

"Oh, yes. I remember about reading about you." Raindrop says.

"If you're one of Blue's friends, why are you just now getting here when he got here minutes ago?" Thundercloud asks.

Dark had actually planned out an answer for this. "I had some stuff I needed to do and Blue said to just meet them here. He gave me the address."

"Oh, well, please come in, Dark." Raindrop says, preparing the way for him.

"Don't mind if I do." he steps inside and takes a look around. He holds in a laugh as he looks at all the pictures of us when we were younger. He sniffs at the air a bit. "Do I smell lunch?"

"Yes, I just made some sandwiches. I do ask that you wash up before eating though. Blue and the girls should be coming back from there in just a second."

Dark becomes worried as he hears that. "Um, actually, I just remembered I need to do something. Maybe I should be go-"

Before he finishes, he sees us coming out of the hallway. The three of us stop as we notice him. Dash and Haily give him a confused look before looking at me with a worried look. You can literally see steam coming out of my head from the pure rage I am feeling.

"Hehehe, hey, Blue. *gulp* W-What's up, buddy?" Dark says nervously.

My parents are confused from how I'm acting. "Blue, are you all right?"

I lunge at Dark and grab him as I force him against the wall and shake him against it. "Motherbucker, I thought I told you to stay in Ponyville and not to follow us! You no good piece of-"

"Blue!" my mom shouts at me.

"What? I was only going to say junk." I respond, looking at her.

"I will not allow violence like that in this house.

"Fine, then we'll take it outside."

"I'm game for that." Dark says.

"No! Now, I know from what you said that Dark shouldn't have come here, but you two are friends, right?"

"Well, I guess so, yeah."

"Good. Then I say we just let bigons be bigons and make up."

I look between Dark and her before sighing and letting Dark go. "Sorry about that, man."

Dark puts on a smug smile as he looks at me, thinking I'm wussing out by listening to my mom. "It's cool. Now, how's about that lunch?"

"Wash up first. The bathroom's the first door on the left."

"Thanks."

Dark goes off to the bathroom as all the mares go over to the dining room. My dad goes over to me and rests a hoof on my sholder. "Bit of an issue with Dark?"

"Oh, you have no idea."

He chuckles. "Well, I'm sure it'll be fine. et me tell ya, you're not the only one to have obnoxious friends."

"Really?"

"Yeah my old guard buddies could be a real pain. But, as friends, we worked out our issues. Let's just go eat and get caught up on those stories of yours."

"Yeah, sure thing."

This is still far from over.

A Nice Lunch... Yeah, not so much

I just have the best friends ever. One of them loves me so much that they decided to go against my orders and followed me, my sister, and my marefriend to my parents house and invite themselves to stay with us and ruin the first time I've even seen my parents in about three months.

We ponies normally don't curse, but thanks a lot, Dick Lightning.

Right now I'm just enjoying the few moments we have while Dark is still washing up in the bathroom. What in Equestria is taking him so long anyway? I'm starving.

I slowly reach out for my sandwich. Come to papa.

"Blue!" my mom says.

I flinch at her sudden outvurst. "What?"

"You know we don't eat before everypony gets here. It's rude."

"Ugh, fine." what's rude is making everypony wait like this. Just then, Dark comes out of the hall looking satisfied. "Well, it's about time you decided to join us."

"Sorry, but I had to take this huge dump." he says.

"Oh, that's just a lovely thing to say before we eat. Thank you."

"No problem."

Haily and Dash just exchange somewhat worried expressions, each of them concerned things might start getting heated. They definitely should be. If it wasn't for my mom, I already would've broke Dark's windpipe.

Dark takes a seat as I make another grab for me sandwich. It's about ti-

"Ah ah ah." Raindrop says. "Blue, you know we always say a prayer before eating."

I slouch in my seat at that. Yeah, my mom likes to pray before every meal. It's pretty stupid if you ask me. Celestia and Luna have already proven a long time ago to be useless outside of moving the sun and moon.

We all put our hooves together as we close our eyes and si lently pray. I open one eye to see Dark take a bite of his sandwich. *mental sigh*

We finish the prayer and take our sandwiches as we begin chowing down.

"So, Blue?" my mom says.

"What?" I say through a mouth full of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, dear."

I swallow my bite of sandwich. "Okay, what?"

"Tell us about what you've been up to since you moved out."

"Yeah, how did you and Dash hook up?" my dad asks.

You can basically think of this as somewhat of a story recap.

Dash and I smile as we look at each other. "Well, I asked her out last Hearts and Hooves Day and asked her to be my marefriend. She said yes and we've been going out ever since."

"That's my boy!"

"Oh, that's wonderful."

"And expensive."

Dark pretends to gag from the storyu, but I just ignore him.

"What else has been going on?" dad asks me.

"Well you've probably read about Ice."

"Yeah, how'd you meet him?"

"Found him one night at the forest. Celestia asked me to train him to control his powers and I did. I helped him get a job and he's been living with me ever since."

"Woah, that's so cool." Haily says.

"Yeah, Ice is pretty 'cool'." I joke.

We all share a laugh at Ice's expense.

"I also met a pony named Vinetion while in the forest. She's pretty cool too."

"So, how are Zephyr and Drax doing? We heard you took them in and got them jobs."

"Yeah, I did. It's been hectic having four guys live in one house."

"Gay." Dark says.

I glare at him before continuing. "But it's been fun. Though Zeph may be moving out soon after winning all that money in Las Pegasus."

"Money?" my mom questions.

"Yeah, he won the jackpot while betting. He's rich."

"How about starting from the beginning. That Las pegasus story has been all over the news." dad says.

"Alright. Well, after getting out of the hospital from that whole Everfree Forest incident-"

"Hospital?!" my mom shouts worriedly.

I roll my eyes. "I'm fine, mom."

"Oh, good." she exhales in relief.

"Anyway, after that we decided to go to Las Pegasus. The couples basically went off on their own. Dash and I had fun."

"What kind of fun?" dad asks me knowingly.

"Sexy time."

"Blue!" mom shouts at me.

"Oh, come on! I'm twenty years old!"

"Fine, but I don't want to hear about it."

"Fine. Anyway, the others didn't have it quite so easy. Zeph stayed out the entire night, Drax got taken hostage at a fight club, our friends Vinetion and Fleur got turned into stallions and mistaken for strip club owners, and Ice and smart one here got arrested." I say, pointing towards Dark at the end.

"You making fun of me?" he says angrily, getting up.

"Maybe I am." I answer also getting up.

We both get into each oher's face and growl. "Let me handle this." Thunderclud says, getting up and going towards us. He grabs each of our heads and slams them together. "There. Now, are you two going to behave?"

"Yes." we both answer, rubbing our heads.

"Good, then continue."

"We found Zeph, Vine, and Fleur a day later. Vine and Fleur had decided to take in a bartender named Fern. We used Zeph's money to get Dark and Ice ou he next day, but they weren't around. Fern had helped us find Drax, who also happened to be at where Dark and Ice were. So we freed them, fought off all the guys there, and then partied it up on our last night."

"Wow. Definitely sounds like it was a hay of a vacation." dad says.

"Yeah, it really was." I say sarcastically, looking at Dark.

He just gives me a 'you mad, bro?' face in response.

"Just one thing." mom says.

"What?"

"How did you and Dark meet?"

This is the part I was dreading. My dad is a former Royal Guard member. How would he feel of us being friends with an ex-criminal?

I sigh as I begin to answer. "One night while I was out in the forest, I ran into Dark. When we first met... he wanted to kill me for fun."

Everypony but Dark and Dash look dumbfounded by my answer. They never thought Dark would be so vicious.

"We got into a fight, me winning in the end."

"I still want a rematch." Dark says.

He's not helping. "Princess Celestia decided to have Dark stay with our friend Twilight. Apparently they're going out now."

"Yep." Dark says.

"While Dark may not have started off so good, he has helped us out a few times. And I do appreciate that."

My parents just sit shocked by the story I just told. "So... you tried to murder Blue? For fun?!" my mom asks in shock.

Dark just slowly nods.

"Wait, Dark Lightning!" my dad says. "I recognize that name. You were a fugitive of the Guard for fifteen years."

"Yeah, what of it?"

"What of it?! How could Celestia let you go like that?!"

"Why don't you ask her yourself?! She is supposed to be our all knowing ruler after all!"

"Hey, don't talk to my parents like that!" I say.

Dark turns to me. "And what are you gonna do to stop me, blue boy?!"

"How about I show you?!" I get right up in his face. "I need to let go of some of my pent up rage from you following us in the first place!"

"Enough!" my mom shouts, silencing us. "I will not allow fighting in this house!"

"Oh buck this!" I shout, slamming hoof on the table. I walk away from the table and out the front door, away from everypony else.

Everypony else just sits in silence for a moment. "Listen, Dark..." Thundercloud says, breaking the silence. "Sorry I snapped at you."

Dark sighs. "No, it's all right. I probably would've done the same."

"What about Blue?" Dash asks.

"I think he just needs time to himself. He likes to be alone when he's upset." Haily says. "Just give him some time."

Dash looks down as she thinks it over. "If you say so. I've just never seen him like this."

KA-BOOP

Author's Note: Hate me for leaving you in suspense on what's going on with Blue in Cloudsdale? Good. Now, on with the story(yes, I'm STILL using this).

Meanwhile, in Ponyville

It has now been about a few hours since Haily, Dash, and I left for Cloudsdale and the rest of the gang had gone about their business. Zeph and Drax had gone back to the weather office, Ice had gone to the cafe, Fern had gone to start working at the bar, and Vine was currently at work making the herbal bath to reverse the effects of the Hood Swap Plant to turn them back into mares.

Vine had already prepared the bath water and was now gathering up the ingredients to give the bath its magical effects. But there was a bit of an issue.

She rummages through her many shelves, cabinets, and drawers, looking for something in particular but not quite being able to find it.

"Oh, where in Equestria is it?" Vine asks herself in frustration. "I could've sworn I still had some."

Fleur looks into the room and walks in. "What's the matter, dear?"

Vine throws her hooves in the air before covering her face with them. "I'm missing the most important ingredient for the bath! I'm all out of the Heart's Desire that'll turn us back to norma!"

"Oh no. How long will it be before you can get more?"

Vine sighs. "I should be able to ask Zecora for some later. But for now, I think I'll just go over to the cafe. I could really use a drink."

"Can you bring me back a latte?"

"Sure thing."

And with that, Vine leaves off to the cafe in a mix of both disappointment and annoyance. Looks like today isn't going good for either of us.

As she walks through town, she does get a few odd looks from ponies who are still confused about the gender swapping.

As she enters the cafe, she grabs the attention of Ice. "What's up, Vine?"

She ignores his greeting and just takes a seat infront of him. "Get me the usual and keep 'em coming."

He looks at her confused for a moment before he starts filling up an empty cup. "What's the matter, Vine? Got troubles?"

This reminds me of a scene of seen in about a hundred different movies, only in a cafe instead of a bar.

"Well, as you can plainly see, I'm still a stallion."

"Yeah, I was wondering what was up with that. Didn't you say you'd turn yourself back to normal once the others left?"

"I'm missing the most important ingredient in making the bath. I'm going to go get some more later."

Ice takes the now filled cup and places it infront of her. "Well, here you go."

"Ah, sweet sweet coffee." Vine takes the coffee in a hoof and takes a sip. "I feel better already."

Just then, Zephyr and Drax enter the cafe. "Hey, guys." Zeph says.

They go take some seats by their friends. "What are you guys doing off so early?" Ice asks. "I mean, earlier than usual anyway."

"The ponies who were taking our spots while we were gone showed up." Drax explains. "We got Thunderlane, Blossom Forth, Silver Speed, and this one white pegasus named Orion to help us out. With six of us doing owrk, it was really easy."

"Man, I wish we had six ponies working here." Ice says.

Zeph then takes notice of Vine. "Vine. what's with the, uh-"

"Missing ingredient. Working on it after this."

"Ah."

"Hey, anypony know where Dark is?" Drax asks.

"I saw him flying off towards the others a bit after they left."

"Think Blue killed him yet?" Ice says.

"Hmm, I don't know. Blue doesn't have it in him to kill somepony, but Dark is a bit of a special case." Zeph says.

"Well, either way, at least we won't have to deal with him." Vine says.

"Agreed." the stallions say.

There's a bit of a silence amongst the group for a few minutes before Ice decides to speak up. You know Vine, have you ever thought of maybe just staying a stallion?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you're a lot bigger and stronger as a stallion. Maybe staying one would make you more useful."

"Useful? You saying I'm not already useful?"

"Well, you definitely could've helped out more in our fight with Alloy."

'Hmm, I have always wanted to use this line. Now seems like the perfect time.' Vine thinks to herself.

"Shut your bucking mouth before I slap you with my wood." she says.

I don't even...

The three stallions just sit there giving her a 'Da buck?' face.

"That's a line my dad always used to get ponies to shut up.Now seemed like a good time for me to use it."

"Ah. Well, here's something I do to get ponies to shut up." Ice says. He takes a foreleg and presses it against Vine's snout. "Boop."

Vine just sits there, ablank look on her face. She can feel a very deep rage welling up inside of her.

Great, you opened the pits of Taurtarus. You happy now, Ice?

"Um, Vine...?" Ice asks nervously.

"Ten seconds." she replies.

"What?"

"I will give you ten seconds to run before I destroy you."

"Oh come on, Vine. That's a bit har-"

"Nine, eight, seven..."

Seeing that she wasn't kidding, Ice starts panicing. "Bon Bon, I'm going on break!"

He takes off his apron and dashes off out of the building.

"Three, two, one. Time's up!" Vine shouts.

"Just don't kill him, Vine. I still need him." Bon Bon says to her.

"No promises!" Vine tells her.

With ten seconds up, Vine dashes out after Ice.

Zephyr and Drax just look at each other. "Should we help him?" Drax says.

"And risk Vine going after us too? No way." Zeph says.

"Yeah, good point."

Now outside, Vine looks around the immediate area in search of Ice. "He couldn't have gotten far!"

In a back alleyway by the building, Ice hides from his predator. 'She's taking this a bit seriously. All I did was touch her nose.' he thinks to himself.

As he tries to sneak away, he hits trash can, knocking it over with a crash.

"Got you!" Vine shouts, looking in the alley's direction. She rushes over to it and prepares to attack. "I have you now."

"Not quite." Ice says. He stomps his hooves and makes an ice pillar hit Vine in her currently male genitals.

Vine falls to the ground in pain, holding her crotch. "Oh, yeah. You're really bucking dead now."

"You only live once!" Ice shouts before taking off.

Vine shakily tries syanding up, trying to ignore the pain. "Now I see why guys say that hurts so much. But now to find that little worm and make him pay."

Vine takes to the air, using her advantage of being a pegasi to get a birdseye view of the town. Through all the brown and white buildings, she spots a black and blue dot running through the streets.

"There you are!"

Vine descends like an eagle towards Ice with great speed for a pony of her size.

Ice looks back in terror as he sees his chaser approaching. He quickly stomps hooves down, making a pillar of ice form which he uses as an elevator to shoot himself up over an oncoming building.

But using a bit of strategy, Vine lands and makes some vines sprout up where Ice will be jumping off.

Coming over the building, Ice is captured by several vines.

Vine approaches him with a smile as he struggles to be freed. "I told you I had you now."

"As if!" Ice says. He begins to charge energy in his horns, only to have more vines wrap around them to cut off their power.

"Ah ah ah. We won't be having any of that." Vine then summons many thorned vines below Ice. "Have you ever seen any henthay(hooray for puns)?"

"No." Ice replies, plainly lying.

"Well, then you're in for a real treat with these vines.

At the cafe

Zephyr and Drax are startled by a loud scream off in the distance. "Good idea not helping." Drax says.

"I told you."

Over in Cloudsdale.

I stop walking as I hear a scream. "What in Equestria was that? Aw buck it. I'm sure it's nothing important." I wave off the noise and just continue my walking.

Later

Vine comes home, now having Fleur's coffee and the Heart's Desire. "I got the stuff. Now we can get going."

"What took you so long?" Fleur asks, lookig up from a fashion magazine she was missing.

"Oh, I just did a bit of Ice fishing."

Author's Note: Just for future reference, there's like NO way that Orion guy I mentioned is gonna be important. Like, he DEFINITELY won't have any revelance in the future whatsoever. And I mean that.

Familiar Faces

As I walk through the streets of Cloudsdale, I have probably the biggest scowl I've ever had on my face. Literally all I could think of was my rage at Dark. He's always caused us problems, but I had finally had enough of it all.

'That son of a mare is lucky I didn't send him through a wall back there. Hay, he's lucky I didn't kill him at the end of our first fight.' I think to myself. 'Trying to kill me, my friends, and worst of all, innocent ponies. And even after living with Twilight for a bit and hooking up with her, he's still a humongous flankhole. Why did I ever listen to Celestia about letting him stay? He's caused nothing but trouble since he showed up. I oughtta just put him out of all of our miseries.'

I contniue walking for a bit longer, ignoring basically everything. I get tired of walking and go sit down on a lone crowd, my hindlegs swaying over the edge. I exhale as I try to callm myself down.

'I'm getting too worked up. I really shouldn't be getting so upset. In general I've been getting too worked up these days. Dark may have followed us, but he hasn't caused any damage yet. I really should just let it go and try 'making the best of it'.'

I lay back as I try to calm down some more and start watching the clouds. I'll admit, clouds being stationary on their own is pretty boring to look at. Wait, I see something moving towards me in a strange pattern.

"May day! May day!" the object is a pony flying and losing control, heading right for me. Wait, that pony looks familiar. "Blue Breeze?!" the pony shouts, noticing me.

My eyes widen as I realize who the pony is. "Zoom?!"

"Look out!" he shouts as I duck under him. He crashes down and gets stuck in a cloud with his hindlegs hanging out.

I grab hold of his legs and start pulling. "Don't worry, buddy. I got you."

I give a strong pull that frees him and throws him over me, but neither of us are hurt.

I get up from having fallen over and look at my pale yellow pegasus friend with an orange mane, red tail, green vest, blue legbands, watch, glasses, and scroll cutie mark.

"You okay there, Zoom?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. You know I've had a lot worse." he answers, dusting himself off.

"Your lazy eye get you again?"

"Yeah, seems to always get me at the worst times."

We share a bit of a laugh together. "Well, anyway, good to see you again, dude."

"Yeah, same with you. I thought I saw you, so I rushed over. What brings you back to Cloudsdale?"

"Came here with my marefriend and a friend to visit my family. You know, keepin' busy."

"I'll say. You and all your friends are the talk of the town right now. Everypony is so thrilled to have such well known pegasi come from here."

"Well, I don't know about well known. We were just trying to help."

"I hear ya. Anyway, how are Zephyr and Drax doing?"

"Driving me crazy like always."

"Yeah, that sounds about right. Seems like crazy just follows where ever you go, huh?"

"You know it."

We share another laugh as Zoom gets an idea in his head. "Hey, I was just about to go meet SeaBreeze and Purple Blaze for lunch at the Cloudsdale Cafe. You wanna come with?"

"Breeze and Blaze? Buck yeah, I wanna go!"

"Sweet. I'm sure they'll love to see you. It'll just be like old times."

"So, crazy?"

"Probably."

"Meh, I'm used to it now."

"Haha, glad to hear it. Now let's get going. I'm already running late from the crash."

"Alright, lead the way."

We talk off from the small cloud and I start following him as he leads the way to his meet up spot with SeaBreeze and Purple Blaze. For the record, SeaBreeze and I aren't related. Kinda weird when we first met.

We fly for a bit before Zoom looks down and sees them. "I think I see them!" he announces.

"You sure? You're eye's not playing tricks on you, is it?" I jokingly ask.

"Oh, haha. Very funny."

We descend as Breeze and Blaze stop their conversation. They look over to us and stare at me in silence. "Hey, guys. Look who I found." Zoom says.

"Sup, guys?" I say.

"Blue!" they each shout

Breeze, a brown pegasus with a red and blue mane and tail and a cutie mark of a golden snitch, comes over to me and brohoofs me.

Then Blaze, a purple pegasus with a blonde mane and tail and a purple comet cutie mark, comes over and does the same.

"It's great to see you guys again." I say.

"You too, Blue." Breeze says.

"Yeah, it's been pretty boring since you left." Blaze says. He characteristically pulls out a pie from nowhere. "How's about one of these for old time's sake?"

He throws the pie in my face, making a big splatter. As the tin falls off of my face, I blink before bursting out into laughter.

"Wait, you're not mad?" he asks in confusion.

"Normally I would be, but getting a pie from you and seeing you guys again is bringing back too many good memories for me to be mad. Besides, I was still hungry anyways." I take out my tongue and lick off all the pie from my face. "Mmm, banana cream. Good choice."

"Woah, how'd you do that?" Zoom asks.

"My friend Pinkie Pie taught me how to do that."

"Wow. That's pretty cool." Breeze says.

"Yeah, it is. So, while we're all here, how's about some hanging out?"

"Sounds good to me."

"Sure."

"I'm cool with that."

We all take some seats around a nearby table. "So, you never said why you're here, Blue." Breeze points out.

"Eh, Haily invited me and my marefriend to visit. We'll be staying a few more days."

"That's cool." Blaze says. "Man, with all those stories we've read, it definitely seems like you could use a break."

"Heh, you're telling me. So, how are all the others doing?"

"We haven't heard from most of them in a while. Steel is still working at the school, and Book Worm and Comedic Arts are are busy trying to start up their own business." Zoom says.

"Ha! Those two starting their own business? I'm sure they're having loads of fun. So, why is it I didn't see you guys at the reunion?"

"I was too scared about running into Charge." Zoom says.

"I was playing at a gig." Blaze says.

"Meh, didn't really feel like going." Breeze says.

"Okay, fair enough."

We all just sit there in an awkward silence, not really sure of what to say next. You'd think after not seeing each other for so long we'd have more to say.

"Sooo, now what?" Zoom asks.

I snap(yes, it's possible in Equestria) my hoof as I get an idea. "How about heading to the old arcade? It's been forever since I got to play any video games." they all look at each other and nod before nodding at me in a group. "Alright, then let's get a move on.

Skipping ahead of pointless flying scene

We land outside the old Cloud Gaming(oh the puns) arcade, ready to go in. Ah, the memories I have of this place. The playing of games, the raging at losing of games, the countless quarters I've wasted. Good times.

We step inside and see tons of flashing lights from the many cabinets and hear the loud buttons and joysticks being used. Ah, I feel like a kid again. Well, when you think about it, I am kinda just like a kid in a stallion's body already.

"So, what do you guys wanna do first?" Zoom asks.

I look around the room in search of something in particular. I beam as I notice it and run over to it. Prance Prance Revolution! Buck yes!

"Oh, I've missed you." I say as I rub the machine. I turn back at the group. "Any of you ladies wanna challenge me to a dance off?"

That sounds weird outloud.

Blaze steps forward. "Yeah, bring it on."

"Somepony is eager to lose."

"That's because I'm not losing."

"Heh, we'll see about that."

We each take a spot and I insert fifty cents into the machine. I get the honor of selecting the song myself.

(Hatsune Miku - Po Pi Po)

The cartoony intro plays for a moment before the title drops. After the title disappears, the flashing arrows start appearing on the screen and Miku starts that irresistibly catchy tune of hers. Blaze and I each start matching the arrows in perfect rhythym, neither of us missing a beat.

"Go, Blaze!" Breeze says from the sidelines.

"Go, Blue!" Zoom says, rooting on the opposite, and bound to win, team.

As we continue to go and go, we start attracting a crowd around us. Ponies on opposite sides each cheering for the pony on their side.

Just then, Dark and Dash walk in and stop as they see me. Out of curiousity, they go see what's up.

Blaze and I go faster and faster, matching the increasing pace of the arrows. Pretty soon, we go so fast that the machine starts smoking. Eventually, the machine blows a fuse and ends our game.

The crowd aws in disappointment.

Blaze and I turn to each oher and shake hooves. "Good game." I say.

"You too. Definitely seems like you haven't lost your touch."

"Wow. That was so awesome, Blue!" Dash shouts, flying above us.

"Oh, hey, Dash." I say. I look down and see Dark. "Oh, hey."

"Hey." he says. "Look, sorry about earlier, I-"

"Nah, it's cool. Let's just put it behind us."

"Really?" he asks, smiling and raising an eyebrow. "So, you don't want me to leave?"

"Nah, you can stay in the guest room. Just make sure to tone it down, will ya?"

He taps a hoof to his chin. "Nah."

"Hehe, yeah, I was expecting that. So, how'd you guys find me?"

"Haily said you always came here when you were younger, so we thought we'd check it out." Dash says. "So, who are your friends?"

"Oh, yeah. These ae my friends Zoom, Purple Blaze, and SeaBreeze." I say, pointing to each one. "And guys, this is Dark Lightning and my marefriend, Rainbow Dash."

"Woah, you got THAT as your marefriend?" Breeze asks in surprise.

"Yep."

"Good going, bro." Blaze says.

"Agreed." Zoom says.

"Well, it's been fun, but I think I'll be going. See you guys later." I say, exiting with Dash and Dark.

Later that night

Thundercloud lays in bed as he waits for Raindrop to join him.

"Oh, it's so wonderful that Blue and Dark made up." she says, about to get in bed.

"Yeah, Blue actually had me worried. He looked ready to rip Dark to shreds, and Dark the same to Blue." Thundercloud says.

Raindrop stops as she hears a strange noise coming from the other room. Sort of like a squeaking noise. "What in the world is that?"

"Probably nothing. I say leave it alone."

"Well, I'm going to check it out anyway."

She exits the room and goes into the hallway. She stops infront of my room, hearing the noise from there. She opens the door and gives out a small scream.

Dash and I stop and look at her, me on top of Dash under the blanket. "Mom! Geez, haven't you heard of knocking?!"

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she screams back. All thre blue pegasi now have a bright red blush on their face. Raindrop hurries out of the room and goes back to her room with a blank stare as she gets into bed.

"Found Blue and Dash, uh-"

"Yes." she says, cutting off Thundercloud.

He shakes his head and chuckles. "Hehe, I told you to just ignore it."

Author's Note: Zoom and Purple Blaze belong to their owners of the same name. SeaBreeze comes from superfunnelc. For anyone who caught what SeaBreeze's cutie mark is, yes, it's exactly what you think it means. But that will have to wait until it happens in 'Those Awkward Teen Years'. Same goes for the other characters I mentioned.

The Morning After

Man, was last night great. Even with my mom's little, um... intrusion, Dash and I still had loads of "fun" together *wink*.

Sometimes
Something beautiful happens in this world
You don't know how to express yourself so
And lonely island
You just gotta sing

I just had sex
And it felt so good
I wanna let me put my penis inside her
I just had sex
And I'll never go back
To the not having sex ways of the past

Anyway, while last night might've been awesome, this morning is gonna be awkward. I can't believe my mom walked in on me doing my marefriend. My parents have never even seen me kiss a mare outside the family, let alone even THINK we would be doing that.

Ugh, I'm not looking forward to that breakfast.

My only other worry is that if they could hear the squeaking of the bed, what about Haily and Dark? Oh Luna. Why?! I don't need my sister hearing that and I definitely don't wanna give Dark something to use against me. Oh well. At least unlike him, I've gotten laid.

Oh well. If I don't get up now, then I only risk mom coming in to wake us up and deal with the awkwardness right now.

I open my eyes and see Dash soundly sleeping. Aw, she's so cute when she's sleeping. I'd hate to wake her up, but at the same time, I haven't done that special way to wake her up since just a few days after we met.

I take a deep breath as I get next to her face. One, two, three...

"RAINBOW DASH! WAKE UP!"

She yelps in surprise as she jumps out of thebed. Her face turns red with anger as I sit and laugh. "Not cool!"

I stop laughing as I reply. "Aw, come on. You haven't let me do thay in so long. I was just missing waking you up our special way."

She growls. "Youre a flankhole."

"I know." I get up from the bed andhive her a kiss on the cheek as an apology. "There, am I good now?"

"Well, I guess. You're lucky you're cute."

"Cute, am I?"

"Did I say cute? I meant pathetic in a cute way."

"Ouch. That hurts."

"So does being spooked awake."

"Point taken. Anyway, last night was awesome. Looks like flying isn't the only thing in Equestria you're the fastest at."

She blushes a bit. "I'm gonna kill you, you know that?"

"Yep."

"Well, while that was good,I still feel really awkward about your mom coming in. Breakfast is gonna be a bit weird."

"You're telling me. She's MY mom. It's gonna be the worst on me."

We exit the room together and step out into the hallway. We sniff the air as we can smell breakfast already made. Celestia, I love mom's cooking.

Dark steps out of his room and gives us a knowing smile. "Morning, you two. Have fun last night?"

"I-I have no idea what you're talking about." I lie.

He laughs. "Don't play dumb. I could hear all the rutting from you two all night."

He walks off to the dining room, leaving Dash and I blushing. We shake it off and go join the other ponies around the dining table.

"Morning, kids." my dad says.

"Morning." we both say.

Haily giggles at us. "Sleep well last night?"

I sigh in defeat. "Was it really that loud?"

"Yes." they all say.

Just then, mom comes out, holding the breakfast on her back. She's pretty good at that. "Good morning, everypony." she says.

Dash, her, and I look at each other and immediately start to feel uncomfortable. This is probably the most awkward I've ever felt. She goes around the table, dropping everypony's breakfast infront of them. Passing by me and Dash, she doesn't even look at us from the sheer embarassment she feels. We don't look at her for the same reason.

She takes a seat and we all start eating, the blue pegasi in the group eating more slowly and sharing awkward looks. Yeesh, this is really weird.

Haily looks at us suspiciously, trying to figure out what's going on. Pretty soon she puts two and two together. "You walked in on them, didn't you?!" she says to mom, laughing afterwards.

All three of us start to blush furiously in response.

Dark starts laughing outloud. "Hahaha, no way! I was wondering what that scream was about!"

"Well, I uh..." Raindrop tries to say. "Haily, you should know better to say things like that outloud."

"But it's just so funny! I can't believe you just walked in on the when they were bu-"

"Haily!"

"Alright, sorry." she says.

"No need to be ashamed, Blue." my dad says.

"What?! Who said I was ashamed?!"

"Nopony. Nopony at all. But I am happy for you, son."

"Thanks, I guess."

"Thundercloud." mom says.

"What? It's good that he finally got a marefriend. They have a perfectly good and healthy relationship."

"I suppose. But it is a weird feeling."

"They're just doing what couples do. Don't you remember when we first started going out?" he asks her, leaning in close.

She smiles at him. "Oh, you know I do. That was a wild time. You really know how to treat a mare."

She giggles as he purrs at her. "What do you say I show you a good time tonight?"

"Oh, Thunder." she says seductively.

I think I'm gonna be sick.

"Okay! Before I lose my breakfast, anypony got any ideas on what to do today?" I say, interrupting them.

"Yeah, I've got one." dad says. "How about you four come down to the weather factory? I'm sure that could be lots of fun."

"Weather factory? Sounds good to me." Dark says.

"Are you really sure you want to let Dark around such important work?" I say.

"Hey!"

Thundercloud chuckles. "Yeah, I'm sure he'd love to. You've never seen the factory, right, Dark?"

"Nope. Not even pictures."

"Then it's settled. You're all coming to the weather factory with us."

Oh joy. I'm sure nothing bad could happen there.

The Fall and Rise of a Star

Author's Note: Time for more happenings on whats going on in Ponyville. You can hate me even more if holding off the weather factory. And I don't care if I've already said this, I'm gonna say it again. This story has just passed ten thousand views, completely shattering my expectations for this story. Not only that, but I hit one thousand total views between all four of my stories up on my page. Thank you so much to all my fans and friends reading this. Now, on with the story.

While there was awkwardness and a bit of tension going on with me and my family up at Cloudsdale, the rest of the gang was doing just fine. Well, except for Ice's plot, but that'll heal... eventually.

But right now, something they aren't expecting is walking through Ponyville, on its way to club Pon3.

Orion, a white pegasus with a blue and black mane and tail, a scar on his face, a black shirt with a bandana, black and purple shoes, and a constellation cutie mark, is nervously thinking to himself as he walks through the town.

Orion is definitely different from most ponies. The thing most will notice about him is the fact he wears clothes all the time, compared to most ponies who only dress up on occasion or wear just one certain accesory such as Applejack with her hat or Vinyl with her shades.

But that's not the most unique thing about Orion. He has something most would call me crazy for if he admitted it to them. He has two comletely seperate consciences from his own set of thoughts. These consciences take on forms of smaller versions of him that only he can see. Eclipse, is nicer and more friendly side. And Nova, his more crude and agressive side. These two help Orion through situations and life, while at the same time being annoying voices in his head he wishes had an off switch.

[I say it's about time you finally did this, bro.] Nova says.
{Are you really sure this is a good idea? What if she says no?} Orion thinks to him.
(Don't think like that, dude. Think positive. Mares like stallions with positive attitudes.) Eclipse says.
And big di-
[Fine.]
{I guess you're right, but I still really want Octavia to like me.}
[Then stop being such a wuss and just ask her out. Luna's sake, you've been watching her for over a month now.]
{You're right. It's time I do this. I'm gonna ask her out no matter what.]
[That's my bro.]

After a bit of a pep talk with his consciences, Orion walks the streets down to Club Pon3 with more confidence than he did before, now ready to ask out the mare he's been admiring for so long...

Did he say Octavia? Oh no.

Over at the club

Zephyr and Vinyl sit together over at the club's drink bar, hanging out tiogether as they haven't had much time to do so as of late.

Zephyr looks over to Vinyl after taking a sip from his can of Ponsi. "Hey, Vinyl?"

"Yeah, Zeph?" she says to him.

"You know where Ice is at?"

"Yeah, I also thought it was weird he wasn't here yet. He said he was talking the day off from work because of Vine's, well, you know."

"Yeah. I wonder where he could be."

"I'm here." the cold, black and blue pony says, walking up to them in a funny way.

"About time you showed up." Zeph says.

"You try walking around after getting a dozen thorned vines shoved up your butt." Ice retorts. He takes a seat besides them and cringes as he feels a stinging pain.

"Still hurt that bad?"

"You have no idea. I may have gotten all the thorns out, but it hurts like hay to take a dump, and I think I saw some red in there."

"Well, thanks for spoiling my appetite for the next three weeks."

"No problem." he dringes again as he moves.

Vinyl gives him a kiss on the cheek in sympathy. "That do anything to make you feel better?"

"I don't know. How about kissing the spot where it hurts?"

"That is one spot I am NEVER kissing." she says in a peeved voice.

"Why not? You already kissed my di-"

"Shh, you two. Tavi's coming up on stage." Zephyr says, getting their attention to the stage.

Over at the other side of the club

Orion watches eagerly as he sees Octavia walking up on stage. To him, she was one of the most beautiful and talented mares in Equestria.

{So, you two got any ideas on how I should go about this?}
[I could take control and do the talking.]
{No bucking way! I'm not gonna let you screw this up for me, Nova.}
(I say just wait til she's done performing and then meet her backstage. Then start up a conversation and ask her politey.)
That's lame.
{I think I'll go with Eclipse's plan.}
[Lame!]

Orion ignores Nova's complaining and continues to watch Octavia up on stage. Her mane is long and beautiful, her coat clean and gistening, and her form while playing her cello masterful. Standing on one's hindlegs is no easy feet, so to see Octavia do so for so long is quite incredible. It also gives a nice view of everything she's got. And I do mean EVERYTHING.

Octavia takes a bow as she finishes her piece and heads backstage..

(Time for the moment of truth, Orion.)
{Um, I'm starting to have second thoughts about doing this, guys.}
[Either you do it, or I will. I'm tired of this admiring from afar junk.]
{Okay, okay. I'm going.}

Orion quickly finishes his drink and exhales as he puts on his game face. He gets up and trots over to the stage, meer hooves away from Octavia.

He peeks through to see Octavia putting away her cello. Octavia hears rustling behind her and looks back to see him.

"Oh, why, hello there." she says.

"Hey." Orion says. "That was a really nice show you put on out there."

"Thank you." she says. She raises an eyebrow at him. "Haven't I seen you in here before?"

"Yeah, my name's Orion Starchaser. I've been coming here for a while now. I'm a big fan of you work."

"Oh, you flatter me." the sit in an awkward silence as neither knows what to say next. Finally, Octavia decides to continue. "Was there something you wanted to see me for? I mean, besides to compliment my work."

"Well, the thing is, I was hoping to ask you out on a date." he answers, sheepishly smiling at her.

"A date? Oh, I'm very sorry, but, um..."

Just then, Zephyr comes through to the back. "Great show out their, Tavi." he says, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

At that moment, Orion can feel his heart shattering into a million pieces. He had no idea Zephyr was dating her.

"Oh, hey, Orion." Zephyr says. "What are you doing back here?"

"Zephyr, Orion here was asking me out on a date before you showed up." Octavia explains.

"He what?!" Zephyr shouted. He looks at Orion angrily. "Dude, not cool! How could you just try and steral my marefriend like that?!"

"I-I'm sorry, Zephyr!" Orion says through his tears. He rushes out of the club in a hurry, holding a hoof up to his eyes.

"Can you believe the nerve of that guy?!" Zephyr says to Octavia.

"Zephyr, I don't think he knew about us. I'm quite sure if he knew, he never would've asked in the first place." she says.

"Really? Are you sure?" he says, now feeling a bit of guolt. She nods. "Oh, man. I guess I was a bit hard on him. I'll go find him and straughten this out."

"Please do. I don't want anypony upset because of us." she says, rubbing up against him for comfort.

They share a kiss before Zephyr leaves the club in search of Orion.

Orion sits at a lone table as he quietly sobs to himself and his consciences. The one mare he ever truly loved, and she was somepony else's

(Come on, Orion. Thing's could be worse.)
{How? Not only is Octavia already taken, but Zephyr hates me now.}
[Who needs him? You didn't even know him that well.]
{Still, it's a rotten feeling knowing that you're hated. If I knew about them, I never would've asked.}
Beating yourself up about it isn't gonna do any good.
Not often I hear you say that.
{I guess.}

Just then, a white cat jumps up Orion's table and looks at him. "Um, nice kitty?" he says nervously. Rather than attacking him like he thought, the cat goes closer to him and rubs up against him like a cat would their owner. Orion starts petting her. "Aw, aren't you the sweetest thing."

"Opalescense!" a pony shouts. The pony, known as Rarity, walks up to the cat. "How many times have I told you not to bother other ponies." she loos at Orion. "I am so sorry, sir."

"Oh, it's all right." he says, still a bit saddened.

"But are you all right? I sound depressed. I'm Rarity, by the way."

"Orion Starchaser. I'm just a bit bummed out is all. I'll be fine."

"Sounds like you're just trying to be tough to me. I ask that you come with me and tell me the whole story. I'll even give you a nice cup of tea."

"Really? You wanna talk with me?"

"Why, of course, dear. What kind of pony would I be if I left you to wallow in sadness. Now, come along."

Orion smiles as he gets up and follows her.

[You are so in there, bro.]
{Don't get too excited just yet.}
[You guys are no fun.]

Before getting too far, Orion is stopped by Zephyr, who was just coming around the corner and spotted him. "Orion."

"Zephyr, I promise, I didn't know! I swear it!" Orion says defensively.

"I know, dude. I just wanted to say I was sorry. Can you forgive me?" Zephyr puts up a hoof and gives a weak smile.

Orion smiles as he pounds his hoof. "Sure, bro."

"Oh, Orion dear! Do keep up!" Rarity shouts back at him.

"Gotta go, Zeph. I've got a date with a certain fashion pony." he says. "Coming Rarity!"

As Orion catches up with her abd Opal, Rarity starts rubbing his clothes. "You simpky must tell me where you got your clothes. I adore ponies who have casual wear."

Zephyr smiles as he loos at them. "Huh, I guess everything worked out after all."

Author's Note: Orion comes from Eclipse160. Yep, turns out I was lying about Orion not being important. Big shock, I know. Just to let you know, only times we'll be seeing Eclipse and Nova are when the story shifts focus on Orion.

Tour Gone Wrong

Author's Note: Well, time to start off with yet another plug. Just started a new story called 'Cooking with the Author and OC'. Sort of an expansion on this story's universe, with the same characters. Go check it out here. Now, on with the story.

So, the morning was incredibly awkward pretty much the whole way through. And now, thanks to dad's brilliant thinking, we're on our to the weather factory, including Dark. He better try anything funny. With his lightning powers, who knows what could happen. I just hope the entirety of Equestria isn't caught up in a month long thunder storm. Then again, that may be the perfect opportunity to get Dark taken away...

Eh, I'll think about it.

We all fly as we make our way down to the factory. Why I'm letting this happen when I could try and stop it, I don't know.

"So, are you kids looking forward to this?" Raindrop asks.

"I sure am." Dark says. I don't like his enthusiasm in this.

"As much as one can look forward to a nuclear explosion." I say sarcastically.

"Blue, don't be such a downer. I'm sure the others at the factory will just love seeing you again. It's been so long since the last time you went."

It's true. With my parents working there, I met quite a lot of their co-workers and would see them whenever I went there. And with my knowledge on weather, I was often given the chance to help out. It was actually pretty fun. Weather sort of runs in our family, so Haily came along to help out a lot too.

"Well, I'm definitely excited. I always like going to the factory. I always liked seeing the rainbow room." Dash says.

"I wonder why." I say knowingly.

She rolls her eyes at me. She knowws she loves me.

"Heh, you two really do make a cute couple." Thundercloud says.

"Yeah, I really don't know what'd I'd do without Dash." I say, wrapping a foreleg around her and hugging her. She smiles at me and nuzzles me.

My parents look at each other and smile from seeing me so happy.

"Hey, I I see the factory." Haily says.

We look over and sees exactly what she was talking about. The factory itself is probably the largest building in all of Cloudsdale. You can see rainbow fountains pouring out of the sides and can hear thunder and see lightning coming from one of the upper parts of the building. They make sure to put a lot of distance in between each section of weather as to not mix them together and cause a huge mess.

I touch down outside of the front door and head inside. The front room isn't much to look at, all there being a bunch of lockers for workers as well as spare uniforms, being the standard white suit with a matching hardhat.

"Alright, everypony grab a uniform before we head in." dad says.

Dark looks as we all start putting them on. All except him that is. "Well, come on, Dark." I say.

"You've gotta be kidding." he says. "There's no way I'm wearing that."

I shrug. "Then you're not getting in. The uniforms are mandatory for everypony, including visitors."

"Still not doing it."

"Well, then I guess you'll miss out on the storm room." why am I trying to convince him to come in? Guess my wreckless nature coming back on again.

"Storm room?" he rubs his chin while thinking. "Alright, I'll play your little game."

He walks over and puts on a uniform of his own. I knew he couldn't resist... Yeah, I've definitely lost it.

We finish putting on our uniforms as my parents are out to walk off to get working. "Well, you kids have fun. Feel free to go anywhere you want, just make sure not to cause any trouble." Raindrop says.

"No problem." I say. That's obviously a lie. Luna's sake, we've got Dark Freaking Lightning with us. Troubles bound to follow.

They buy it though as they walk off to work. Just for reference, they work together in the rain room.

I look at the others. "So, what do you guys wanna do first?"

"Storm room!" Dark says with excitement.

"I'd prefer to wait a bit before we get kicked out, thank you. I say we head over to the snowflake room."

"Ugh, fine."

Though this'll probably also be bad, better than getting to the worst of it right away.

We all head over to the snowflake room where we see snowflakes hanging from the ceiling and a bunch of ponies work diligently at cutting the snowflakes into unique shapes.

"Why is everypony so quiet?" Dark asks.

"They need to focus to cut the snowflakes. Every individual snowflake is cut by hoof. It's a very long process just to make an inch of snow." I explain.

"Really?" he asks in a sly tone.

"Dark, don't you even da-"

*CRASH*

Dark uses his powers to produce a loud boom of thinder, scaring the workers and making their snowflakes crumble to pieces.

"Hahahaha!" Dark laughs outloud. "I knew that'd be funny>

"Um, I think we should go. Now." I say as everypony glares at us.

We grab Dark as we rush away from the pissed off workers. I'd pretty pissed too.

"Hey, what's the big idea? That was funny." Dark says.

"Look, if you promise to behave, we'll go to the storm room right now." I bargain with him.

"Really? Sweet. I promise. Scout's honor." he says, crossing where his heart is. At least, I think he has a heart.

I decide to just go with it as I direct the group up to the storm room. This should be interesting.

As we get there, we see ponies working on storm clouds as they pour water into a machine to make normal clouds.

"So, this it?" Dark asks.

"Yep. They use water to make normal clouds then they take those clouds to get juiced u with electrcity. Simple as that."

"Hmm, seems a bit boring. Let me fix that."

Oh no.

He goes over to a cloud and rubs his hooves together as sparks start flying off of them. "Time to make a real stiorm." he says.

He takes his hooves to the cloud, instantly juicing it up and making it grow dark(hehe). He continues pumping electricity into it, making it grow far larger than what an oridinary storm cloud should.

"Um, Dark...?" I say.

"Shh. It's almost ready, just a bit more." he says.

The cloud grows bigger and biggere, now almost taking up the entire room. "EVERYPONY RUN!" I shout.

Everypony in the room except Dark makes a quick dash outside of the room. Dark just laughs to himself like a madstallion. The ponies press themselves against the door, bracing it for the big-

*BOOM*

Well, that. A huge explosion comes from the room, putting a loy of fotce against the door. The group of ponies is able to keep it shut though.

As they back away from the door, Dark walks out looking stisfied. "That was awesome." he says.

As he walks out, everypony else looks inside to see a completely destroyed room, all burnt up from the huge charge of electricity.

Well, at least the factory is still in one piece. But it looks like Dark needs some taking to on how to "properly behave".

Tragic Misunderstanding

Author's Note: I'll say it once, and I'll say it again. Huge thank you to Rhino for the new story cover image. And big thanks to Eclipse160 for the recent fanart. Really gives me the warm fuzzies when I see people do this kinda stuff. Now, on with the story.

Dark leads infront of us as we walk through the factory after he just blew the storm room. He now has a satisfied look to himself and even a bit of a spring in his step. I just glare at him as I walk with Dash and Haily.

"Boy, I tell ya. I'm glad I et you talk me into coming here, Blue. I'm having loads of fun." he says smugly.

Okay, that's it. I grab Dark by the scruff of his collar and force him against a wall.

"Hey, what the buck, dude?"

I start furiously shaking him against the wall. "Motherbucker, I told you to behave yourself!" I yell at him.

"Your fault for believing me." he gives me a smug face.

"You're dead!" I charge up a Hurricane Hoof as I get ready to break his face. He panics and grabs his hardhat like a shield. My hoof connects with the hat, but instead of breaking the hat, I start jittering as my hoof shaks from hitting the hat.

Dark looks at his hat and smiles. "Heh, I guess these things really are protective."

I rub my hoof as it throbs in pain. "Geez, it feels like I hit a block of iron."

"Well, serves you right."

"Whatever. It's time to go to my favorite room: the wind room."

"Oh goody gumdrops." he says in an over-the-top, happy voice.

"Being the smart flank is my thing, douche."

"I know *troll face*."

I'm going to kill him.

We start making our way down to the wind room, one of the more important rooms as wind is all year round unlike everything else which is mostly either seasonal or done on ocassion.

As we arrive, we see ponies working on several different tasks from trying different tornado techniques or testing ponies' wind power. While I myself can do this stuff on my own, it usually requires hard work from dozens of ponies.

Taking a step inside the room, the wind starts blowing our mabnes all over the place. THis is why I'm glad to have such a short mane. The room is also very loud with the sounds of wind.

"So, what exactly do ponies do here?" Dark shouts.

"The practice tornado techniques for when ponies have to make tornadoes big enough to get water up here for clouds. The others test wind power for different kinds of wind for different towns." I shout in reply. "Here, let's get a closer look."

We walk over to where ponies can test their wind power. Wind power is different from wing power, where as wing power judges wing strength, and wind power judges how strong the wind you can create is.

"Allow me to demonstrate." I say. This should be good.

I fly up a bit off the ground as I prepare the real ahow. I start flapping my wings furiously, performing my Blue Typhoon. The others in the room start struggling to stand as my winds increase in strength. Haily and Dash grab onto some railing, while Dark isn't so lucky. My winds send him flying and get him sucked up in a tornado. He goes spinning through the tornado before being tosed out and thrown into a wall.

I descend as I finish my test and look over at a scorekeeper. "How was that?"

"Twenty wind power. No surprise coming from you, Blue Breeze." he says.

"Only twenty? Dang it. I probably could've gotten twenty two if I weren't wearing this uniform." I complain. "Oh well. Still ain't bad though. Now, where's Dark."

I look over to see him stuck to a wall. He groans as he slides off of it. "I hate wind."

"Oh, there you are, Dark. Come on, next is the rainbow room."

"All right! It's about time." Dash says in excitement. She really is obssessed with those things, but I'm one to talk about being obssessed.

Dark shakes off his dizzy as we go over to, while it is the prettiest, probably the least important room in the factory: the rainbow room. Getting to the room, you can see fountains of liquid rainbows pouring into huge vats to be stored and used for later.

"So, how are these rainbows made anyway? I heard a rumor they kill ponies and take their colors to make 'em." Dark says.

"What?! No! They simply use a process called pigmenting to take the color out of normal objects and use a spell to seperate the individual colors of the rainbow."

"Well, that's not nearly as fun."

"What is wrong with you?"

"What?"

"You say killing ponies to take their colors is fun!"

"Buck yeah, dude! It sounds awesome."

"You know, you never cease to amaze me. Why does Twilight put up with you?"

"Because I'm a stud."

"Well, you're definitely a stud in my side."

Haily and Dash just sigh as we continue to bicker. "Hey, Dash?" Haily says.

"What's up?"

"What do you say we just leave this two for a bit and you and I go check out the hail room?"

"Sure, I'm up for that."

The two of them leave as Dark and I just go on arguing. I gotta say, this is probably the longest verbal argument I've ever been in.

"Why do insist on acting like this?" I say.

"Because it's so much fun to piss you off."

"I still don't know why Celestia decided to let you go."

"It's because I have such a cute face."

"Oh yeah, cute. Red and black, the colors of darkness and bllod. That's real cute."

"Better than having the color of piss for my mane and tail."

Oh no he didn't. "Son of a... I'm gonna ram my hoof up your a-"

"Well well well, if it ain't ol' Bluey." a feminine voice says, interrupting me.

I turn around to see the last thing I was expecting: one of my old school bullies, Summer Dawn. Well, more of an annoyance who always got us in trouble rather than a bully, but my point still stands.

The yellow pegasus mare with a red and gold mane and tail walks up to us with a sly grin. "Long time no see, Bluey."

"Ugh, What do you want, Summer?" I say in annoyance.

"Aw, can't an old school friend say hi? And I wanted to meet your friend here."

I sigh. "Summer Dawn, Dark Lightning."

"Dark Lightning?" she says.

"Yeah. What of it?" he says.

"Aren't you the guy who killed his adoptive dad and ran away?"

"Yes."

"Ha! I can't believe Blue made friends with a guy like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean, Blue, while a wimp, is a pretty good guy. You're just a flankhole. Annd Blue is at least tough. You don't look all that tough to me."

"Don't look tough?! I'm the toughest guy around!"

"Really? Then prove it.'

"Okay, you choose how."

Summer gets a sly look as she looks at the rainbow bath. "Go drink some the rainbows over there."

"Drink rainbows? No problem." Dark says with confidence. He goes by a the rainbows to take a drink.

"Summer..." I say.

"Don't worry. This'll be good." she says.

Dark dips a hoof in the rainbows and licks it. He smacks his lips before his face turns a bunch of different colors. "SPICY!"

He runs by me and pushes me over, making me land on top of Summer. "Oh, Blue. I didn't know you were interested."

"Wha-"

She stops me as she forcibly pulls me into a kiss. Help! Rape!

As I'm being forced to kiss, Dash and Haily walk back in and gasp. "BLUE?!" Dash shouts.

Summer stops as she realizes what's going on. 'Oh, he just came on to me! I couldn't stop him! He was an anima!" she says.

I get up from on top of her. "Dash, it's not what you think!"

"Stow it! I thought you really liked me, but now I see your just like all the other jerks! I never want to see you again!" she shouts. She takes a hoof and slaps me across the face before running off with tears down her face.

I feel tears of my own stream down my face as I rub where she smacked me.

I just stand there as I feel my heart breaking.

Blue..." Haily says, putting a hoof on my sholder.

I ignore her as I take off after Dash. She follows behind me.

Summer just stands there and laughs to herself. "That was great!"

"Great?" Dark says to her. "I saw the whole thing. You feel good about yourself?"

"I sure do!"

Dark just shakes his head. "I may have done bad, but that was an accident. You... you're just a monster." Dark trots away from Summer, leaving her to herself.

I only hope now I can make this right.

Author's Note: Summer Dawn comes from Dark Lightning. Go figure. The male character he gives is a dick and the female one he gives is a bitch. But after over sixty chapters of being together, Blue and Dash are finally hitting a bump in the road. Ironic that Eclipse 160 just made this image yesterday(ignore Blue's height).

Stallion On a Mission

Author's Note: WE'VE GOT A THEME SONG! Go right here to check it out. Why do I retype things I put in blogs? Extra padding of course. Hooray! You gotta admit I'm at least honest about this. Now, on with the story.

Man, this is really bad. Because of Dark pushing me on Summer and Summer kissing me, Dash thinks I don't love her and she hates me. I don't love her? There's nothing farther away from the truth throughout all of history. I'd do anything for that mare. From the moment I saw her when I moved to Pnyville I've loved her. Her beauty, her adventurous spirit, her cute laugh. Now if I can't fix this, then I'll never have those things ever again.

Darn it! Why did I let all of this happen? Why did I come here to Cloudsdale? Why did I let Dark stay when he followed us? Why did I let him drink those rainbows? This is all my fault. I could've prevented all of this, but no, I let it all happen.

Celestia, just let her forgive me if I can't forgive myself.

I go outside of the factory in a hurry as I look around to try and find Dash. Darn it! I don't see her anywhere.

Haily and Dark follow behind me as I frantically search around. "Blue?" Haily says.

"No now, Haily. I'm doing something." I say.

"All I wanna know is, did you really kiss Summer?"

I turn around to her as I get really serious. "Did I kiss Summer?! No! I love Dash to much for that! I would never do anything to betray her!"

"Just calm down, bro." Dark says.

"Calm down?! How the buck can you expect me to do that when my marefriend hates me?!"

"ook, this is my fault. I'll do my best to help you."

I turn away from him. "No, you've "helped" enough. I'm going to do this on my own."

I dash away from them as fast as I can, still on the search to make this all right.

Dark and Haily exchange worried looks. "Poor Blue. I hope he'll be okay." she says.

"Yeah, me too." he says.

I continue running around, but still can't find any sign of her. As I run around, I spot Zoom walking around.

I stop him. "Hey, Blue. What's gotten into you?" he says with a bit of a worried face.

"No time for that. Have you seen Rainbow Dash? This is important." I tell him.

"Yeah, I saw her rushing by to your house. Is there something wrong, dude?"

"Sorry, Zoom. No time to explain. I'll tell you later."

I zoom(pun totally intended) away in the direction as soon as I finish talking.

Zoom readjusts his glasses, a bit confused. "I wonder what's up. I hope it's nothing too bad. I also hope Blue's all right." he shrugs as he continues walking.

I reach the house in record pace as I barge in and search around. "Dash?!" I call out, hoping for a response. "Dash?! Come on, Dash! I know this looks bad, but we can talk about this!"

My ears perk up as I hear some sniffling coming from my room. I go over and pull on the handle, but find it to be locked...

Wish I remembered that last night. But no time for that.

I knock at the door repeatedly. "Dash, I'm really sorry. What you saw, it wasn't my fault. I swear. I would never do that to you. Please Dash. Come out or or open the door so we can talk about this." I plead.

I hear the mechanisms of the door turn as it unlocks and opens to reveal a very mad Rainbow Dash with tears staining that beautiful face of hers.

"Dash..?"

"No, don't talk. I know what I saw. Blue, I really thought yoy cared about me, but I see I was wrong."

"But..."

"I'm leaving tomorrow. After that, I never want to see you again."

"Wait, you're staying here til tomorrow? But this is my parents' house."

"Then go sleep on the couch for all I care, but you're NOT coming in here with me!" she shouts. She finishes the conversation with slamming the door in my face.

Great, now not only is my heart broken, but now my face hurts.

I turn around, now feeling more saddened than ever. As I turn, I see my parents walking up to me.

"Oh, Blue!" my mom says as she pulls me into a hug. "Haily told us ehat happened. Are you and Dash doing okay, sweetie?"

I sigh as I gently push away from her. "No, we're not. She hates me."

"Don't you worry, Blue. We're here for you if you need it." my dad says.

"Thanks, but right now I'd just like to be alone if you don't mind."

"That bad, huh?"

"I don't know. How bad is it to be forced to the couch?"

"Ouch."

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Now, if you'll excuse me."

I walk away in my depression as they watch me. They nuzzle each other for comfort at watching their son in more sadness than he's ever been in.

Later in the night

I sigh as I look at myself in the bathroom mirror. Luna, I don't think I've ever looked so depressed. I exit the bathroom as I go into the living room and prepare to sleep on the couch.

As I lay in the couch, I start thinking to myself. 'Where did things go so wrong? Everything was going just fine for so long. I just can't bare to see Dash in the morning, knowing that she still hates me.'

I throw the covers off of myself as I get off the couch and head out of the front door. Like always when I want time to think to myself, I don't really have anywhere to go. I just want to be alone to think.

I spot a lone cloud in higher up and I go over to it. I sit on the edges as I think. 'Why is fate so cruel to me? Dash and I had so many great times before now.'

Old memories between Dash and I start flooding into my head as I think about them. The first time we met, the first day we worked together, our first date, becoming a real couple on Hearts and Hooves day, going on so many adventures together, the first time we... made love. I tear drops from my eye at that memory. Now there is no more love between us. For her there is only anger and hatred, and for me there is only sadness and sorrow.

Is my life even worth living anymore? I mean, the best thing to ever happen to me is now gone. I may have my friends, but I lack a lover. I may have my dream, but what's that point in that without someone to share it with? I just don't know anymore.

As I continue to wallow in my own self pity, Dark shows up and takes a seat next to me.

"How you holding up, buddy? Couldn't sleep?" I shake my head in response. "Come on, bro. If you makes you feel better, you can hit me. A free shot. I'll even let you do it in the balls."

"What's the point? It's not gonna bring Dash back to me."

Dark gets a serious look as he grabs me and slaps me across the face. "Snap out of it!"

"W-What?"

"Snap out of it! Come on, man! This isn't you! The Blue Breeze I know is tough and never gives up! Hay, he even beat my flank into the ground. If you were the real Blue Breeze, you wouldn't give up like such a little bitch."

I blink as I start to think it over. "You know what? You're right!"

"Darn right, I'm right!"

"I'm not gonna gonna give up!"

"Yeah."

"I'm not gonna be a little bitch!"

"Yeah!"

"I'M GOING TO GET MY MAREFRIEND BACK!"

"BUCK YEAH!"

"LET'S DO THIS!"

Sticking Together

Author's Note: I'd like to take a moment of silence for our friend, Ice, who has taken his own life due to his depression. Ice, if you can see this, thanks for everything. I hope you're finally happy. This'll be the last chapter to break away from the Cloudsdale stuff. Thanks to Rhino for helping me with th idea for it. Now, on with something a bit happier.

The next day, in Ponyville

Vinetion, now back to being a mare after days of being a stallion, stands behind the counter in her store, a very bored look on her face.

She sighs to herself. "Geez, no wonder I don't work here more, it's completely boring. Guess things really are boring around here without Blue or Dark."

She drops her face on the counter in defeat. Despite how annoying they say we are, those guys know they love having us around. Especially during a time like this.

The bell atop the door jingles as a pony comes in. "Oh, thank..." Vine starts before noticing who it is.

"Hello there, dear." Fleur says, walking inside.

"Oh, hey, Fleur." Vine says in disappointment.

"What's the matter?"

"Ugh, I'm just so bored."

"I'm sorry to hear that, but work isn't supposed to be fun."

"Yeah, I guess you're right. So, what'd you come in here for."

"Oh, I broke a chair at home by accident and wondered if you had any glue I could use."

"Sure, let me grab some." Vine reahes over to a nearby shelf and pulls down a tube of super strong glue. "Here you go."

Fleur takes it in her magic as she looks at it. ""Vinetion's Rose Thorn Glue". You have your own kind of glue?"

"Of course. I even patented it."

"Patented it?"

"You ALWAYS patent this stuff."

"Hmm, I suppose. Oh well. Thank you, dear."

"Sure, no problem." Fleur walks out as Vine goes back to being bored by herself. Her ears perk up as she gets an idea. "That's it! Glue! Oh, this is going to be fun."

Vine grabs her own tube as she pulls out a sign saying "Out to lunch" and puts it on the front door. She then makes her way down to the cafe to start her trolling.

Celestia help the ponies involved.

Vine arrives at the cafe and spots Zephyr and Drax haning out with Ice at the front as usual. "Perfect." she says to herself under her breath. She walks over to them and takes a seat. "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Vine." they all say. That unison thing still perplexes me.

Vine looks at Zephyr holsing something in his hooves. "What's with the box, Zeph?"

"Oh, this? This is something 've been wanting to do for a long time."

"Didn't know you were into boxes."

"Not like THAT. Inside is my engagement necklace to Tavi."

"You mean you're finally gonna propose?"

"Yep, taking her out tonight and I'm gonna ask her."

"That's great to hear". 'And only makes this prank even better.' she thinks to herself. "Hey, is that her coming in right now?"

"Where?" he says, turning his ahead around. With this opportunity, Vine puts some glue on his back. Zeph turns back around. "I didnt see her."

"Oops. My bad, I guess."

Drax turns his seat as he prepares to get up. "Well, I think I'm gonna go. See you guys later."

"Hey, Zephyr. Is that a spider?" Vine says, trying to trick him."

"What?! Where?!" he says with worry, He backs up from his seat and his glue covered back hits Drax's. Zephyr struggles, but to no avail. "Hey, what the?"

Drax gets up as he unknowingly takes Zephyr with him. As they reach the door, Drax's great height and Zephyr being on top of him makes Zephyr hit the door head first.

"Hey, what gives?" Drax says, un able to exit. He repeatedly gets stuck as Zephyr's head keeps hitting the door.

"DRAX!" Zephyr shouts.

Drax turns around to face the call, but sees no one. "Who said that?"

"I did! Me, Zephyr!"

"Zeph? Where are you?"

"On your back. I'm stuck and I can't get off."

"What? Why?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Here, let me try something."

"What are you do-"

Zeph stops as Drax flips forward and lands on him, the two of them still stuck. "Well, that didn't work."

"What made you think it would?!" Zephyr shouts inm anger.

Vine sits in her chair as she laughs. "You two are never gonna get that stuff off normally. Only way to get that glue off is my own special brand."

"Vine, you better give us that remover! I can't go on my date with Drax on my date!"

"One thousand bits."

"What?!"

"I'll give it to you for one thousand bits."

"No way! I'd rather rip my own fur off!"

"Oh, that's not possible. The glue's already gotten to your skin."

"Nothing's impossible! Ice!"

"What?" he says.

"See if you can freeze this stuff off!"

"Ugh, fine." Ice's horns give off mist as he focuses energy on their backs and ice forms on their backs. Vine just watches in amusement. "There, try that."

They try to pull again, but nothing happens. "I-I think it g-got more stuck." Zeph says as his teeth chatter from his frozen back.

"Y-Yeah, i t-think so t-too." Drax says, also cold.

"My offer's still open if you want." Vine says nonchalantly.

"N-Never! We'll j-just find something e-else. L-Let's go, D-Drax."

The two stuck ponies exit the cafe as they try to find a solution. From across the street, the Cutie Mark Crusaders spot them and walk over.

"Woah, what happened ta ya'll?" Apple Bloom asks.

"Vine stuck us together." Zeph says. "I'm used to being on top, but this is ridiculous."

"Hey, maybe we can help you guys get unstuck." Sweetie Belle says.

"Hmm, worth a try." Drax says.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER PONY UNSTICKERS! YAY!" all three fillies shout, nearly shattering they're eardrums.

With that, Drax hold onto a pole in the street as the crusaders tie one end of a rope around Zeph and the other end to Sccotaloo's scooter.

"Alright, go!" Zeph shouts at them.

The sccoter revs up as it starts going as fast as possiblr. Zeph and Draw pull towards them a bit, but Drax keeps a tight grip on the pole. The pole starts to get uprooted from his oulling as the fly off and crash into a wall.

"Can we just give Vine her money?" Drax asks.

"Please."

Drax picks them both up as they untie the rope and leave the crusaders. They return to the cafe to find Vine readinga book and drinking some coffee.

"Well?"

"Fine, I'll pay you. Just gets us unstuck."

"Can do, but the tonic will take me several hours to make."

"You mean you don't have any already made?!"

"Nope."

"Great! Looks like you'll be a third-wheel tonight, Drax."

"What?!' he shouts. "You're seriously taking her out like this?!"

"Look, I've already got this set up. I'm gonna wait another month to get a reservation to try this again."

"Ugh, fine."

Well, this should be just a barrel of fun.

Later that night

Drax walks to Vinyl and Octavia's house with Zephyr still stuck to his back. "Ugh, I can't believe you're making me do this." says Drax.

"Just go with it and help a bro out."

They get to the house as Drax knocks on the door. Octavia answers it with excitement. "Oh, Zephyr. You're-" she stops as she see Drax. "Oh, hello, Drax. Where's Zephyr?"

"I'm right here." he calls out. Drax bend over for them to meet face to face. "Hey, Tavi." he says to her sheepishly.

"What in the world happened?"

"Long story. All you need to know is Drax and I are stuck because of Vine."

"Well, are you all right?"

"Yeah, just fine. Now come on, we've got a reservation to make."

"Are you really sure we should go right now?"

"Yeah, sure. Drax will be so quiet you'll barely notice him. Right, Drax?"

He sighs. "If I must."

"Well, if you're sure then."

The three ponies go off, all of them feeling a bit awkward about this. Understandable.

They arrive at the restaurant a while later as they take their seats, Zephyr taking the seat and having to slouch with the much larger Drax on his back.

"See? This is perfectly fine." Zephyr says while struggling.

"My back hurts." Drax says.

"Zephyr, are you really sure about this? We can reschedule if you want."

"No! I mean, no, this is perfectly fine." he says. "Did I mention how beautiful you look tonight?"

She blushes. "Why, thank you. I did try to make myself look good tonight."

"I had to TRY to look that good? I just thought you were naturally beautiful."

The two leans in and kiss, Drax's mane drooping over them.

"Well, maybe you just might get something tonight for being so nice to me."

"Not with me you're not!" Drax says.

"Quiet you." Zephyr says. He starts feeling more strain before he completely falls on the table and Drax's head lands in a bowl of soup.

"Dang it, Zeph!" he shakes his head around to get the soup off, but due to his longer mane, it gets all over Octavia.

"Maybe I should go." Octavia says with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"No! I'll go get some napkins!" Zephyr says. He leans over as Drax takes control again and heads over to a sald bar with napkins.

Vine comes through the door at the front as she looks around and easily spots them. She goes over to them. "Hey, guys. Having fun?"

"Buck you!" Zephyr shouts. "Just give us the stuff! This is horrible!"

"Fine, fine. ere's some of my Sonic Tonic. Patent pending."

"Patent?" Drax asks.

"ALWAYS get patents." she pops of the cap as she rubs some against their backs and Zephyr slides right off of Drax.

"All right! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a mare to propose to." Zephyr says before dashing off.

He goes back over to the table where an irritated Octavia sits. She looks at him in surprise as she notices Drax has left. "Where did Drax go?"

"Vine came by and got us unstuck!"

"Well, that's very nice. Now we can finally enjoy ourselves."

"Actually, I've got something I want to do."

"Oh?"

Zephyr takes a spoon as he taps a glass and gets everypony in the restaurant's attention. "Everypony, I have an announcement." he oes over to Octavia and bends down. "Octavia, you are the most wonderful mare I've ever had the privelage to know. Will you do the honor of being my wife and marrying me." he finishes by taking out the necklace case and showing it to her.

Octavia cries tears of joy as she is speechless. She nods as she hugs him and everypony in the restaurant cheers.

Vine and Drax stand over at the slad bar as they watch. Vine looks at Drax with a setious look. "I still want my money though."

Author's Note: This chapter is brought to you by Vinetion brand Rose Lostion. Patented of course. Perfect for both couples and loners.

Loyalty to Love

The same day, early in the morning, back in Cloudsdale(ain't that a mouthfull?)

After Dark had snapped me out of my depression last night, we had spent the entire night trying to figure out a way for me to get Dash back before she leaves town today.

Dark suggested I just beat her until she listens to me. I then punched him right in the face. What made him think I'd even CONSIDER using his idea? Moron.

Anyway, through a lot of time, we, mostly me, came up with an idea. First thing is first, we need to make sure Dash doesn't leave before we're done. Since she hates both me and Dark, we're getting Haily to get her to stay.

Even though Haily hates being woken up early, this is important. Plus, I'm sure she won't mind helping out with this. I mean, she's always hated to see my sad. She even spent every Hearts and Hooves Day with me since I never had a marefriend before Dash. But I digress.

I tiphoof(hooves, remember?) through the hallway as to not wake anypony up. I come over to Haily's room and gently turn the knob as I push the door open and it makes a creaking sound. I peer in to see Haily sleeping soundly and her mane in a miss from a combination of sleeping and not wearing her headband.

I walk over to her bed as I nudge her a bit. "Haily?" I get no response. "Haily?" I whisper a bit louder, this time getting a bit of an annoyed grump out of her. "Haily?!" I say at silently shout. Yeah, I know it doesn't exactly make sense, but buck ogic at this point.

"Woah!" she says as falls out of the bed. She gets up and glares at me. "What the buck, Blue? It's only six thirty. What's the big idea?"

"Sorry about that, Haily. But this is important."

"Well, what is it? Can't you see I'm tired."

"Dark and I came up with an idea on how I can get Dash back."

"Really? That's great to hear."

"Yeah, except we need time to set it up and she plans on leaving today. She won't isten to me or Dark, so we need you to keep her busy and make sure she doesn't leave."

"You can count on me, Blue." she says with a mock salute.

I chuckle as I walk over and hug her. "Thanks, Haily. I knew I could count on you."

"By the way, what is your guys' plan?"

"Oh, you'll see. You just go back to sleeping and make sure you catch Dash before she leaves. Dark and I will get to work in the mean time."

"You got it, Blue."

I let go of her as I let her get back in bed and let myself out of the room, closing the door behind me. I look at Dark who had been silently waiting outside this whole time.

"So, she said yes?" he asks.

"Yep, it's set. Now all we need to do is get a bit of help from the others."

"Um, it's a bit early to do that, don't you think?"

I look out one of the windows in the living room to see it's still only dawn out. "Oh. Yeah, I guess you're right about that. How's about we sleep for a bit and then head out."

"Sounds good to me. I'm beat from being up all night."

So it was all set. Later today I'd save my relationship. But first I need a nap.

Two hours later

Haily gets up from out of bed and immediately starts straightening herself up so she may catch Rainbow Dash as I instructed. As she finishes up her mane, she exits her bedroom and sees Rainbow Dash exiting from my bedroom.

"Morning, Dash." she says.

"Oh. Morning, Haily." Dash says, still saddened.

"So, any plans for the day?"

"Yeah, I was just gonna leave. No reason for me to stick around after what happened."

Haily goes over to Dash. "Oh, don't say that. You can't leave yet."

"I'm sorry, Haily. But it doesn't feel right to stay here."

"Come on, Dash. Just 'cause Blue messed doesn't mean we still can't hang out or be friends."

"Well, I don't know..."

"Please, Dashie?" she pleads, fluttering her eyelashes for increased effect.

Dash smiles at her. "Alright, you got a deal, Haily. But this better not be any kind of set up."

"Oh Dash, I would never. Promise."

"Really?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye." she says while doing matching motions.

Dash giggles a bit. "Pinkie taught you that too, huh?"

"Yep."

"Okay, I believe. Now come on, let's get some breakfast."

"Right behind ya, Dash."

Haily follows her into the kitchen as she glances over at the living room to see I've already left, presumably with Dark. All according to plan.

Over to us

Dark and I walk down the cloudy sidewalks as I lead us towards our first destination.

"Where are we going anyways, Blue?" Dark asks.

"We need the others for this to work. We need Blaze's help the most." I explain. "Ah, here we are." I say as we reach the house. We walk up and knock on the door for it to be answered moments later by Blaze.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" he greets.

"Blaze, you still got your guitar?"

"Do I still have the guitar? Of course I do. I'd never give up that thing."

"Great. Go get it and come with us."

"Uh, sure thing." he says in a bit of confusion. He goes in for a second and quickly straps his guitar to his back before joining us back outside.

With Blaze now in tow, I start leading us on our way again.

"What's this all about, Blue?"

"No time to explain, Blaze. I'll let you know when we find Zoom and SeaBreeze."

"Um, okay, I guess."

Skipping ahead because I can't think of an interesting set up

After searching around for a bit, we find Zoom and Breeze together just casually hanging out.

"Phew. Finally found you guys." I say.

"What's the matter, Blue. You seemed to be in a hurry yesterday. Is something wrong?" Zoom says.

I sigh. "Guys, Dash and I are having some hard times."

"Ouch." they all say.

"Yeah. She basically hates me right now and I could really use your help with thid."

"Sure, bro. No problem." Breeze says.

"Always willing to help." Zoom says.

"Did you even need to ask?" Blaze says with a bit of smugness.

"Thanks guys. I'm gonna need all your help. First thing we need to do is get some building clouds and columns and make a stage in an unoccupied area."

"Ooh! I can already see where this is going! Can I sing back up?" Breeze asks.

"No! Breeze, you know as well as us how bad you are at singing!" I say.

"*sigh* Yeah, I know."

"Can we just get started already. We're burning daylight." Dark says.

"Right. Let's get to work."

After grabbing some clouds, columns, and tools we "found lying around", we start to get working the stage. Don't worry, we'll give back the tools later.

With Zoom's talent for multi-tasking, SeaBreeze’s athletic abilities, and the rest of the work from me, Dark, and Blaze, the construction goes pretty well. Well, except some incidents with hammering in some nails, but nothing bandages can't fix.

After all of our work, it is now evening as we get some microphones set up for me and Blaze to use. I can't sing to save my life, but I'm gonna put all my heart into this if it means I get Dash back.

Dash and Haily walk together down the streets, having spent the day together.

"I'm glad I let you talk me into that, Hail. It really helped cheer me up." Dash says.

"I told you so." Haily says.

"Hey, what's that?" Dash asks, pointing to a crowd of ponies infront of a stage.

'So, that's what they were doing.' "I don't know. Let's go check it out."

The two mares make their way over and push through the crowd and reach the front.

Dash becomes angry as she sees me up on stage. "I'm not sticking around for this."

Haily grabs her. "Oh yes, you are. Dash, Blue isn't the kinda guy to hurt anyone he cares about. And I know darn well he cares for you. Now, you're gonna stay here and listen to him."

Dash crosses her horlegs as she drops to the cloud ground. "Fine, but I'm not gonna like it."

"Oh, I think you will."

I grab the microphone ion stage and bring it close to my mouth. "This is a special message I want to send to someone I love very much. I hope you can find it in your beautigul heart to forgive me."

Blaze starts up his guitar as I begin to sing.

(AcouticBrony and MandoPony - Loyalty. I know, it's cheesy. But I couldn't help but use it. It just fits so well.)

"You see me soaring through the sky
I see you below as you walk on by
I could clear the sky in ten seconds flat
How about that (How about that)

I could be sitting here on a cloud
Watching the sun as it starts to go down
the only thing missing
is you by my side

give me a smidge of confidence
give me a speck of something that makes sense
give me an idea of dependency
give me a dash of loyalty (Loyalty)

I could save my lonely soul for you
but the feeling in my heart can't follow through
you can give your broken heart to me
cause you know that i'll stay with you
That's why they call me loyalty

The sun shines bright, yet the rain pours on
rainbows here one minute and then they're gone
they remind me ... of me and you
what did you do?
what did I do?

determination in those eyes
where has it gone? has it said goodbye?
a lot has happened
but I'll stay by your side

give me a smidge of confidence
give me a speck of something that makes sense
give me an idea of dependency
give me a dash of loyalty (Loyalty)

I could save my lonely soul for you
but the feeling in my heart can't follow through
you can give your broken heart to me
cause you know that I'll stay with you
That's why they call me loyalty

Time stands still when you're with me
how can i make you see?
your crazy antics make me want to scream
your name so loud till my throat starts to bleed

I could save my lonely soul for you
but the feeling in my heart can't follow through
you can give your broken heart to me
cause you know that I'll stay with you
That's why they call me loyalty

I could save my lonely soul for you
but the feeling in my heart can't follow through
you can give your broken heart to me
cause you know that I'll stay with you
That's why they call me loyalty."

As the song finishes, I put back my mic and look up to see Dash looking at me with a smile and tears flowing freely down her face.

She swoops in and I grab her we twirl around each other. We look into each other's eyes for a good bit.

"I'm sorry, Dash."

"No, I'm the one who's sorry."

"Apology accepted?" we both say.

We kiss in agreement as the crowd goes wild with cheering and my friends watch us in satisfaction of a job well done.

Later that night

Dash and I get in bed together as we share a long, passion-filled kiss. We look into each other's eyes again as we feel comfortable sharing a bed together agsin.

"So, you wanna do it?" Dash asks me.

"No, I just want to hold you tonight." I answer.

She gives me a warm smile as she cuddles closer to me. "You got it."

I wrap my legs around her tightly as I feel an overwhelming feel of comfort as I hold her. Forget what I said before. This is my Heaven.

Author's Note: This would've been up WAY sooner, but my internet conked out and then when I shut down my internet to restart it, my computer started automatically installing twenty updates which I couldn't control. Ain't life freaking grand sometimes?

Bonus Chapter: A Loan to Lose

Author's Note: About time we got to this. If you guys remember back a bit, I was holding a poll asking you guys whether or not Zephyr should keep his money. Since you guys are way too nice, you said he should keep it. But since I thought the idea was too good to waste, I decided to make this non-canon bonus chapter showing what would happen if you guys chose for him to lose it. Remember, none of this really happens and is really just done because I felt like showing it. Now, on with the story.

I lay in my bed as I softly sleep. For some strange reason, I'm sleeping better than I normally do. I feel completely relaxed and soothed. This is gonna be a great day. Nothing can ruin this mome-

*RRRRRIIIINNNNNNNGGGGGGG*

"BWAH!" I scream as I jump out of my bed. I hit the floor with a thud before getting up and seeing an alarm on my nightstand. What the buck? Where'd that come from?

I grab it and see it has a note on it. I take it and read it.

"Heard you liked alarm clocks, bro.

Trololol.

Dark Lightning."

Dang it, Dark! I'll get you for this! I then procede to take the clock and bust it into a million pieces, pretending it's Dark. Oh how I wish it was.

Dang it, I hate those things. After that little early morning episode, I wash up in the shower, ready to start a new day. It's another one of those weird and unexplained days that we get off of work again. Whatever. I'm not gonna question it.

(Translation: I can't think of a reason to explain these things. Sue me.)

After washing up, I head out into the hallway. I wish I could say that was uneventful, but I trip over a big, brown sack.

"What the hay?" I say, looking at it. I look inside to see a ton of bits. Must be Zephyr's then. I'm no thief, so I take the bag with me to give back to him. I sigh as I put it on my back. "How is it that somepony just leaves a big bag of money right in the middle of a hallway is beyond me."

I go down the stairs to find the others already up. How is it they're always up before me anyway?

I set the bits infront of Zephyr, still annoyed at him. "I believe this belongs to you."

He quickly grabs the money and hugs it. "Thanks, Blue. Where'd you find it."

"Under my legs after tripping over it in the upstairs hallway."

"Sorry about that. I honestly don't know what happened."

"Well, be more careful with that. That's a lot of money. Someone could easily take that. You should really put it in a bank or safe."

"Well, I don't have a safe. I also don't have a bank account in here Ponyville to go deposit it. So I'm sort of just stuck watching it right now."

"What are you going to do with that money anyway?"

"I don't really know yet. Tavi and I have been thinking of getting our own place though."

"Actually, Zeph, I've been wanting to talk to you about that money for a while now." Ice says.

Oh no.

"And what exactly do you mean by that?" Zeph asks , suspicion in his tone.

"Look, my crummy cafe job is easy and all, but I don't make enough that I'd be able to support getting my own place. I really could use a loan."

"Sorry, Ice. No can do."

"What? Why?"

"Because if you can't support you're own place, how can I trust you to pay me back? In fact, you still owe me for paying your bail."

"Come on, man. That was Dark's fault. If anything, he owes you more than I do."

"Sorry, man. Can't do it until I still get the money you owe me." he says, crossing his forelegs.

"Dang it." Ice walks over to the front door and opens it a bit. "I'm going out for a bit. See you guys later."

We watch as he leaves before I turn around to get breakfast started. "So, who's hungry for chimicherrychongas?"

"Bleck. No way. I can't eat anymore of those things." Zeph says before getting up to leave. "I'm gonna go get some real breakfast."

Drax and I look at each other after he leaves. "How much you wanna bet this is not gonna be a normal day for those two?" I ask.

"Do we even need to bet? We know the answer." he says.

We both chuckle at that. Yep, it's obvious. But it's still fun.

Zephyr walks through the streets of Ponyville on his way to get what he considers real food. How could he possibly get tired of eating chimicherrychongas? Even the name is awesome! But whatever.

As he walks, he ponders to himself on a few things. 'I wonder if Olive's Garden is still serving those muffins I like.' I never said it was anything important.

As he walks, he hears a voice call out to him. "Hey, Zeph! Over here!" he turns his head to see it's Ice, sitting at a table infront of a restaurant with some plates of food infront of him. "Come on over here, man!"

Zephyr thinks about it for a moment, but is cut off as his stomach grumbles. He shrugs. "Eh, why not?" he walks over and takes a seat.

"Funny bumping into you here." Ice says.

"Yeah... funny. So, what's with all the food?"

"Oh, I was feeling really hungry. But I think I may have ordered too much. You want some?"

Hesitantly, Zephyr smiles before grabbing a fork. "Sure, I'm starving." Zephyr starts to move his fork towards some pancakes before Ice holds up a hoof.

"Hold on, you need syrup on those." he grabs a packet and pours it on. "There you go, old buddy."

"Uh, thanks." Zephyr says, feeling a bit weirded out. He takes a bite of a pancake and swallows. "Ice, are you coming onto me?"

Way to be subtle there, Zephyr.

Ice just laughs. "Me? Coming onto you? Oh, that is the funniest thing I've ever heard. I may be bi, but I'm with Vinyl."

"Wait, since when were you bi?"

"Since always."

Zephyr drops his fork. "Well, this has been great. Thanks for the food, Ice. But I really gotta get going."

He then gets up from his seat and quickly trots off.

Ice rubs his chin as he thinks. 'I think he's coming around. I just need more to push him over.'

Zephyr walks around for a bit before deciding to stop by at the cafe. He walks in to find Vine and takes a seat next to her.

"Hey, Zeph. What's up?" she says.

"I think Ice is trying to get me to lend him money."

"Oh, that's right. You I forgot you won a bunch of money in Las Pegasus."

"How could you forget that that fast?"

She shrugs. "I don't know. I tend to not remember things that don't concern me."

"Well, whatever. I need a drink. Waiter, can I get a drink." he calls out.

"Sure thing." the waiter says. He turns around, revealing himself as Ice.

"Ice?! When did you get here?! Isn't this your day off?!"

"Yeah, but I figured I could REALLY use the money, you know? So, the usual?"

"Uh, yeah."

"Coming right up." Ice takes a paper cup and fills it up as he usually does. He places it infront of Zeph. "There you go. And don't worry about paying me. It's on the house."

Zephyr facehoofs. "Okay, Ice. You don't need to keep doing this."

"Doing what?" he asks innocently.

"Being nice to me. Look, if I give you some money, do you promise to pay me back in full?"

"I promise. I swear, you'll get back every cent."

"Okay, then let's go back to the house. See ya later, Vine."

"Bye, guys. See ya later." Vine says. She gets a thought as they leave and quickly leaves herself after paying.

After walking around for a bit, Zephyr and Ice return home with Drax and me in the living room.

"I'm glad to see Ice is still alive." I say.

"Yeah, I thought it over. I trust him to pay it back. Dark on the other hoof... Well, one step at a time."

As they go upstairs, Drax and I look at each other again. "Well, it seems things went better than expected." I say.

"Yeah, guess things can go easy for us."

We both share another chuckle.

As Ice and Zeph go into Zeph's room, where he had put the money back, they search around, but can't find it. "What the buck? Where is it? I could've swore I left it here."

At Vine's place

Vine sits by herself as she looks inside a huge bag full of bits. "Thanks, Zephyr. This is even better than Blue's porn."

Well... Sucks to be them.

Hot Under the Collar

Today must be some kind of cruel joke. We had been tasked with clearing al the clouds in the sky earlier today, but the bad part was that the sun was beating down much harder than usual, making it extremely hot and without any shade.

I really wish we had an air conditioner in our house too. Drax, Zeph, Ice and I all sweat profuously as we feel like we're inside of an oven. I can literally feel my back stuck to the chair I'm in.

Zeph wipes his forehead as he breathes hard. "Why is it we had to clear the clouds on a day like this?" he asks outloud.

"Because Celestia is a troll." Drax says.

No kidding.

As we all sit, Ice hangs his head over the side of a couch, completely red in the face and breathing hard.

He smacks his incredibly dry lips as he tries to talk. "I think I'm dying. I can't breah. Too hot." his tongue flops out on his snout. He tries to pull it off, but is unable to. "Muh tuhnge ih stuhck." he mumbles.

"What's that, Ice?" I say.

"Muh tuhnge ih stuhck!" he tries saying again, this time louder.

"I think his tongue is stuck. Here, let me get that." Drax says as he gets up, grabs a cup of water, and dumps it on Ice's face.

Ice licks his lips as he's able to move his tongue again. "Thanks. That felt good."

"No problem."

I slam my hooves on my chair arms in aggrevation. "Dang it! It's too hot! We need to do something to cool off!"

"What'd you have in mind?" Zeph says.

"I don't know. How's about we head down to Sugarcube Corner and get some ice cream?"

"I could go for some ice cream."

"Me too."

"Yes, please. Before I start to melt into a puddle." Ice begs.

All of us being in agreement, we get up, leaving big sweat stains on the furniture. Well, just bucking great. Ignoring that and tackling our bigger problem, Drax puts Ice on his back as we leave and make our way down the street.

Walking down the streets, there's almost no one around, save for a few very hot ponies. I think I even see a few tumbleweeds roll by. Geez, is it hot.

As we enter the building, we see a flustered and tired Mrs. Cake watching the front counter. "Oh, welcome, boys. What can I do for you today?" she asks, putting on a weak smile.

"Mrs. Cake, please tell us you have some ice cream." I say.

"Please..." Ice says weakly.

"Sorry, boys, but the refrigerator broke down and all the ice cream melted."

EVERY BUCKING TIME IT'S HOT THAT HAPPENS! WHY?!

We all groan.

Just then, a surprisingly cheery Pinkie Pie hops out. "Hi, guys." she says. "Is it a scorcher today, or what?"

Ice groans. "Pinkie, please help. Ice isn't looking so good. He's dying in this heat."

"Hmm." Pinkie scratches her chin as she looks back. "Ah ha!"

"You got it?"

"Yep! Why don't we gather up the others and go down to the watering hole? There's a nice shady tree over there where Ice can cool off."

"Sounds awesome. I say we go for it."

"Sweet! Let's get a move on."

We leave the sweets shop and all break into groups as we go around getting the others. I get Dark, Twilight, and Dash, Pinkie gets Vine, Fleur, and Fern, Zeph gets Octavia, Vinyl, and Spitfire, and Drax and Ice get the others.

Having so many of us can be a real pain sometimes, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy all my friends. Yes, even Dark.

After gathering everypony up, we make our way to the watering hole near the outskirts of town, a bit away from Sweet Apple Acres.

Pinkie bounces happily, leading the group. "We're almost there! We're almost there!" she stops bouncing as she sees it. "Uh oh."

"What is it, Pinkie?" I ask.

"Um, it seems the rest of the town kinda had the same idea as us."

We join her to see the watering hole, as well as under the tree, is completely packed by ponies. "Well, it's too hot to stay at home. Let's just try to make the best of it."

We all hesitantly enter the small lake, being pushed and shoved around by ponies. Ice deal with a bunch of kids pushing him under the tree, as well as crying babies.

As I try to swim around, I recieve a volley ball to the head. "Ow!"

"Sorry 'bout that, dude!" a pony calls out.

I grab the ball and slam it back in annoyance.

After a while, we all just squeeze our way back out and grab Ice, no longer being able to stand the huge crowd.

"Well, now what?"

"Oh, I just remembered!" Vine says.

"Do tell."

"I remember seeing another watering hole like this near the forest. The tree over there even has a tire swing."

"And you're just now telling us?"

She shrugs. "Slipped my mind."

I facehoof, but quickly dismiss it as I'm too hot to care. We leave again, this time letting Vine lead the way. After a good bit of walking, or bouncing for Pinkie, we near the promised swimming hole.

"And here we are." Vine says. Just then, a splash of water pops up. "What in the world?"

We look inside to see a Big Mac sized, green unicorn stallion skating on the surface of the water. Wait, skating? He also has a black mane and tail with a blue stripe in each and a cutie mark of a strange, blue circle with markings in it and a heart in the center with veins stretching to the edges.

Hmm, he looks very familiar.

Pinkie gasps as she recognizes the stallion and glomps him, making him fall into the water. As they resurface, Pinkie pulls him into a hug.

"Hey, Rhino! It's been so long since I've seen you! How've you been?!"

Rhino? That sounds familiar.

The stallion named Rhino breaks Pinkie off as he gives a smile. "Hey, Pinkie. I've been good." he looks up to see us. "Oh, I see you brought friends. A lot of them in fact."

"Yep, they're-"

"No need for introductions. I've heard about them all. As Pinkie said, my name is Rhino."

I go down to the stallion as I inspect him. "Hmm."

"Is there something wrong?"

"You look familiar. Do you happen to know a mare named Mist Scribe?"

"Mist Scribe? Indeed, I do. That's my mother's name."

"Ah ha! I thought I recognized you. She showed me a picture of you. She was our librarian back in high school." I explain.

"Oh, well, that explains it. I do remember she worked at the Cloudsdale high school."

"Excuse me. One quick question." Twilight says. "What was that you were doing to skate on the water?"

"Oh, that? A long time ago I developed a special spell I call Res. It allows me to control friction on myself or other ponies. It allows me to do things like walk up walls, stick to ceilings, and walk on water."

"Amazing. Think you could teach me sometime?"

"Well, I'm not sure..."

"Forget about that! Let's get swimming!" Dark shouts.

"And to cooling off." Ice says weakly.

"Oh, were you all coming to swim? I could leave if you all would like." Rhino says.

"Nah, it's cool, bro. This swimming hole is big enough. We'll just do our thing and you can do yours." I say.

"Oh, okay, if you're sure."

"I'm sure I'm sure."

With that, we all jump in, some by normal means, others by diving from the air, and a few by taking the tire swing.

We pull out a ball we had brung and start hitting it around. It's mostly your average 'keep the ball going in the air as long as possible' game.

But then Orion catches it and smirks. "Check out this trick I've got." he brings his hoof back and tosses the ball up. As he hits it, it goes flying with a streak of black with twinkling stars behind it.

We all look at him. "Woah, since when could you do that?" I say.

"Since always. I've just waited til now to show you."

The ball lands near Rhino, who looks at it questioningly. "Hey, little help?" I call to him. He uses his magic and passes back over to us. This gives me an idea. "Hey, Rhino. Why don't you come join us?"

"Me? Well, I don't really know about that."

"Oh come on! Just a quick game couldn't hurt."

He thinks for a moment before slightly smiling and coming over to us. "Okay, so, what's the objective here?"

Objective? "Just keep hitting the ball in the air without letting it hit the water."

"That simple, huh?"

"Yep. Now let's get going."

I toss the ball in the air, using my wind powers to give it a slight boost. We go back and forth for a bit and Rhino seems to start enjoying himself. That is, until Dark goes up to the ball while it's in the air like the jackflank he is.

"Spike!" he slams the ball down and right into Rhino's face.

"Dark, what the buck?! Why would you even spike when we're supposed to keep it up?!" I scold him.

He shrugs. "Meh, was bored."

"I'll show you bored!" I threaten as I wind my hoof back.

"No, no. That's quite alright." Rhino says, rubbing his face. "I don't want any fighting. I think I'll just go lay under the tree with Ice."

He uses his Res to stand on the water as he pulls himself out of the watering hole. I continue glaring at Dark.

Fluttershy looks over at Rhino, feeling a bit sorry for him. Despite her shy nature, she flies out of the water and sits a hoof away from him.

"Um, are you okay?" she asks him.

"Yes, I'll be quite all right. I've had much worse than that."

"Oh, that's good then." she then thinks of a good way to continue the conversation. "So, what do you do in Ponyville."

"Me? I work as a veteranarian down at the animal clinic."

"Oh, so you like animals?" she asks, getting a bit more excited.

"Yes, I do. I've always loved animals since I was little."

"Well, I've got dozens of animals down at my cottage."

"Really? Dozens?"

"Oh, yes. Would you like to come see?"

Rhino smiles at her. "I wouldn't like it, I'd love it."

The pair get up as they start walking off. I smile as I see them together. So, he isn't a complete loner. But I still feel like getting to know him. Maybe tomorrow.

Author's Note: Well, after a long and much appreciated wait from him, as well as many spoilers from myself, Rhino has finally joined in on the fun. Glad to have you along, buddy.

Rhinos and Butterflies

After Fluttershy and Rhino went off together yesterday, not much really happened for us. No one even really went to go check on them since we could tell they wanted to be alone. That's cool. Bro's definitely good if he could snag Fluttershy like that. Though it seems very odd that Fluttershy, scared of her own shadow Fluttershy, would hook up with a stallion like that. Hmm...

Well, whatever. I told myself a long time ago to stop questioning weird stuff. I guess Fluttershy hooking up like that isn't that weird compared to other things we've come across. I mean, we fought a draconic pony in an illegal fight club in Las Pegasus for Luna's sake. This is nothing compared to that.

Anyway, since Rhino left yesterday, today I'm gonna invite him to hang out with me. No, I'm not bored, I just feel like we should get to know the guy more and have him hang out with us. I guess Pinkie Pie always talking about having a bunch of friends is rubbing off on me.

Right now I'm clocking out of work like I always do. Well, like I always do when I happen to be here at least.

As I clock out, I turn to Zeph and Drax. "Well, see you guys."

"Where are you going?" Zeph asks, raising a questioning eyebrow.

"Oh, no where special. I was just gonna go see Rhino about hanging out."

"Rhino? What for?"

"Well, why not? He is our old librarian's son. And he seems to have hooked up with Fluttershy. He seems like a pretty nice guy."

"Well, you do what you want. We'll be headin' home." Drax says.

"Alright, see ya." as I walk out, I give Sunny a good bye, her returning it with her own. I feel kinda bad we've worked together this long and never hung out outside of work. We've really gotta invite that mare to hang out with us one of these days. But Rhino first. Sunny can wait.

I remember hearing Rhino say he works at the animal clinic, so that's where I'm going. I do a bit of uneventful walking until I reach the clinic and walk through the automatic doors. Very efficient I must say.

The pony running the front, which just so happens to be Rhino, turns around. "Welcome to the Ponyville Animal Center. How may I-" he stops as he sees it's me. "Oh, hey, Blue Breeze. How may i assist you?"

"Okay, first of all, what's with the unnecessary big words?" I say, curious.

"Oh, sorry about that. I tend to just use bigger words sometimes. I really have no control over it."

"It's cool. Just wondering." I feel something furry crawl up my leg. I bring it up to see a squirrel attached to it. "Where in the world did this thing come from?"

"Oh, sorry about him. That's my pet flying squirrel, Specter." Rhino says. "Come on over here, Specs."

The squirrel jumps off my leg and onto his master's head where he curls up into a ball as he rests.

"Huh, cute."

"Yes, he is. He's also very clingy. This little guy literally follows me everywhere unless it's something important. But I'd be lying if I said I didn't love him. Anyway, what did you come by here for? I know for a fact you don't have any pets."

"Yet. I don't have any pets yet. But anyway, I thought it'd be fun if the two of us could hang out today."

"Really?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Well, I still have a bit left before my shift's over."

"Nah, you can go on ahead." a fellow worker of his says. "Business has been slow all day. I'm sure it'd be okay if you left a bit early."

"See? Now there's no reason we can't hang out." I say.

"Well..." Rhino thinks a moment before simling. "Sure, sounds great. Let's go. You mind if Specs comes along? It's a bit impossible to get him to leave me alone."

"Nah, the more the merrier I say."

With us in agreement, we leave the clinic together, two ponies and a flying squirrel. I really ought to get a pet sometime. But again, one step at a time.

Just one problem though: I don't really have anything planned for us to do. Oh well. Guess we'll just make it up as we go like things tend to go.

"So, what do you want to do?" Rhino asks.

"Don't know." I answer nonchalantly.

"So, you invited me to hang out, but didn't plan anything?"

"Yep."

He shrugs. "Oh well. Not the worst idea I've heard."

"Exactly."

Rhino stops as he spots a stand. "Is that..?" he starts drooling. "It is!"

He rushes over to the stand, leaving me alone and leaving Specter to hold onto his mane.

I rush over as I try to catch up. "What's up, Rhino?"

"Sorry, but I can't believe I finally found some."

"Some what?"

"This." he says, holding up a jar full of jelly. "Strawberry applesauce. My absolute favorite."

"Really?"

"You jelly?" he says smugly.

"Ah, I see what you did there."

Rhino turns to the stallion running the stand. "I'll take two jars please."

"With pleasure, my good sir." the stallion says. Rhino gives him the bits as he stuffs the jars in his saddlebags. After that... the stallion jumps into a giant jar of jelly and pops out with probably the happiest face I've seen besides Pinkie's.

...Not gonna question it. Just gonna smile and back away.

Rhino himself is too busy with his applesauce to even bother with it. We decide to sit down at a nearby table. Rhino takes out a jar and starts eating directly out of it, not even using a spoon.

I decide to strike up a conversation. "So, what'd you and Fluttershy do yesterday?"

He stops eating and wipes his face. "She showed me a bunch of her animals. That one rabbit she has kept giving me this stare the entire time."

"Yeah, just give Angel some time. He'll come around. He's just protective of Fluttershy is all."

"That's what I figured."

"So, you do anything else?"

"Nope, that was everything."

"Wait, so you two didn't even kiss or anything?" I asks in minor surprise.

"Kiss? Well, no." Rhino says, blushing a bit.

"Well, don't you like her?"

"Do I like her? Oh, you bet. She's kind, she's good with animals, and she's the most stunning mare I've ever met."

"So, why didn't you make a move?"

"To be honest, I'm not good at relationship stuff. I'm quite shy about it."

"Well, would like my help with that?"

"Really? You'd help me with my bashful nature?"

"No, but I'd help you get with Fluttershy."

"Thanks a lot, Blue. I appreciate it."

"No problem. That's head over there right now."

"Wait, we're just going? No formulating a plan?"

"Nope. Just let me do the talking. I promise this'll work."

"Okay, I trust you."

And just like that, we're on our way to hook Rhino up with the mare of his dreams. What could possibly go wrong?

Rhino's Rage

Well, today is gonna be a bit more interesting than I first thought. I thought I'd just be hanging out with Rhino, but nope. First I find out he has a pet squirrel, and then I offer to help hook him and Fluttershy up because he's too shy to do it himself. Aren't I just the nicest guy ever? Maybe I should make a second career out of matchmaking.

That was a joke. Ha ha. Fat chance. Weather is the only career for me. You know, I really gotta stop getting off topic like this. How is it you guys can read through this? Oh well. I'm not complaining.

Anyway, right now we're walking just outside of town and nearing Fluttershy's cottage. As we reach the cottage, we see Fluttershy feeding her many animals. Does she just do this every moment of the day, or do I just have that kind of good timing?

She takes a break from feeding as she notices us and flies over. "Oh, Rhino and Blue Breeze. Nice to see you both. What are you two up to?"

"Not much, Fluttershy." I answer for us. "Rhino and I were hanging out and he thought it'd be a good idea if we stopped by here."

"I did?" Rhino says. I nudge him in the ribs. "Oh, yeah. I did." he says, smiling, but also becoming a bit more nervous.

"Well, that was nice of you. I was just feeding my animals if you'd like to help."

"Sure." we both say.

"Blue, you can feed the chickens."

"Aw, but I always feed the chickens." I complain.

"Well, would you like to feed Fuzzy? He still needs a feeding."

"Fuzzy? Sure."

"Great. Here." she hoofs me a fish. A fish? Must be a cat then. "Just go behind the house."

"You got it, Shy." I trot away and go behind the house. "Fuzzy! Come here, Fuzzy! Time for lunch!" I call out. Suddenly, a big grizzly bear comes out and roars. I see him wearing a tag with the word 'Fuzzy' on it. "Oh pony-feathers."

Out infront of the house

As Rhino and Fluttershy feed the animals, Specter pops out and lands on Fluttershy's head. She giggles. "Oh, he's so cute. Is he yours?" she asks Rhino.

"Yes, that's my pet squirrel, Specter."

"Well, he's very friendly." she says while the squirrel climbs around her. "I'm sure he'd get along with Angel." just then, her she freezes as she realizes she hasn't seen the white rabbit in a while. "Hey, have any of you seen Angel?" she asks her animals. They all shake their heads. "Oh dear. Where could he have gone off to?"

"Dont worry, Fluttershy. I'm positive he probably just went to go find a quiet spot to rest." Rhino says.

"No, that can't be it. Angel never misses lunch."

Suddenly, I fly out from behind the hoise, looking a mess from the fight I put up with from that bear. "A little warning about the bear would've been appreciated, Fluttershy." I say, dusting myself off.

"Sorry, Blue. But right now we've got bigger problems. Angel is missing."

"What? Okay, just calm down for a second. I'm sure he couldn't have gotten far." I look around and spot a trail of rabbit footprints on the dirt road heading towards the forest. "There!"

We go along trail, but stop as we reach the forest entrance. "Oh dear! What was Angel thinking to go in there?"

"Don't worry, Fluttershy. I'm sure he's fine. We just need to go in and look for him."

"Specter, can you stay here in case Angel comes back?" Rhino says to him. The squirrel gives a salute as he goes back to the cottage and gets in position.

"G-Go in?" Fluttershy asks nervously.

"Don't worry, Fluttershy. Rhino and I have got your backs. We won't let anything happen to you. Right, Rhino?"

He nods. "I'd rather let myself get hurt than let that happen."

"And besides, Fluttershy, we need you to help call out for him. You know him best."

"Well... Okay, I trust you both. I just hope Angel is all right."

"Well, it looks like we're going on a rabbit hunt."

"Hunt?!"

"Rescue! I meant rescue!"

After that we immediately head inside the forest, in search of the white rabbit. Sounds like Alice in Wonderland. This whole going into the forest thing is starting to become cliche. This is just like the time I had to go in here to save the crusaders, but whatever. Im not about to let my bunny bro get eaten.

As we go throughout the forest, we don't really find much. We find several rabbits, but none of whom are Angel. Why do animals have to look so similar?

We stop for a moment to catch our breath after a bit of searching. "Oh, I'm so worried about Angel. What if he..." Fluttershy starts having tears form in her eyes. Rhino and I go over to her to try and comfort her.

"Shh. Don't think like that, Fluttershy. Think positive." I say.

"He's right, Fluttershy. No one ever accomplished anything by being negative. Besides, it'd break my heart to see eyes as pretty as yours cry." Rhino says, slightly blushing at the end.

She looks up at him and smiles, blushing a bit herself.

Before we know it, we see another rabbit hop by frantically. "Angel!" Fluttershy shouts. The rabbit quickly gets behind us as we see a manticore pop out.

This seems familiar. Oh, no way! I look at the manticore's body and see an X-shaped scar on it. This is that same manticore from when I saved the crusaders all those months ago. Looks like I'll need to teach this kitty another lesson on how to play nice.

I step forward, itching to fight. "You ready for this, Rhino?"

"Right behind ya, Blue."

"This time I'm making sure you don't come back!" I charge the manticore, hooves charged. As I take a swing, the lumbering beast manages to dodge and hit me into a tree with a swipe from its paw. Okay, some manticore has obviously been practicing.

"Don't worry, Blue! I got him!" Rhino calls out. He uses his Res to charge at the monster, but it again dodges and swipes his legs with its tail. Rhino goes crashing back first into a tree, dizzy from the fly and fall.

The manticore turns over to the defenseless Fluttershy and grins. As Rhino shakes his head, his vision refocuses to see this.

'No! Fluttershy!' he thinks. He starts getting visions of Fluttershy getting hurt, and the blue stripes in his mane and tail turn red. He gets an angry snarl on his face as he gets up.

As the manticore is about to hit Fluttershy, Rhino uses his magic to grab its paw and have it hit itself. Rhino then does a quick teleport infront of the monster and gives it a strong buck to the stomach, making it fall onto its back.

He gets on top of it."You shall not touch her!" he shouts at it. He takes his magic and uses it on the beast's wings. He starts pulling upward, making fibers of the wings tear like construction paper. He stops about half away and grabs a rock with his magic, using it to repeatedly to pound into its face.

I see this in complete shock as I get back up to my feet. How could such a nice guy become so bloodthirsty? I've gotta stop him! I fly up and tackle Rhino off, having to throw my weight into it due to his larger size.

I look back at the manticore. "Get out of here!" it frantically nods, leaving as fast as possible. I struggle to hold Rhino as he tries to go after it.

"Let me go! It must pay!"

"Rhino, snap out of it!" I slap him hard in the face, getting his attention.

"Huh? What?"

"Rhino, Fluttershy's okay. Look." I turn his head to the shaking mare.

The red stripes turn back to blue as he calms down. "Oh, thank Celestia. Fluttershy, are you okay?"

She gulps as she gets up. "Yes, but what was that? You looked like you really wanted to hurt that manticore."

He sighs. "That... That is the part of me I hate the most. The part of me that I am afraid of. Whenever I get really upset, I go into this uncontrollable rage where I can't stop and I enjoy punishing my victims."

I put a foreleg on his sholder. "It's okay, bro. No pony got hurt. Plus, without that, Fluttershy would've gotten hurt."

"I know, but I just feel like a monster when that happens."

"Rhino, I don't think you're a monster." Fluttershy says.

"Y-You don't?"

"No. I'm very thankful you saved me and Angel." she starts blushing a bit. "Ca-Can I kiss you?"

She has to ask?

Rhino himself blushes a bit. "Yes, you can. I would like that."

She gives him a kiss on the cheek, both of their blushes intensifying.

Fluttershy looks at Angel. "What were you doing here in the first place, Angel?" through pantimime, he tells her he saw a bunch of carrots moving around and was chasing them. "Angel, you know carrots can't move."

Up in the trees

Vinetion snickers as she brings up a bunch of carrots with a vine. "I cant believe that worked."

Back to us

"Well, my work here is done. I'll see you guys later." I say. They say good bye to me as I leave and gather on home to take a break

As I get home, I walk in to find Zeph and Drax hanging out. "Hey, Blue. What happened with Rhino?" Zeph asks.

"Oh, we hung out for a bit, went to Fluttershy's, fought a manticore trying to eat Angel, Rhino nearly killed it in a fit of rage, I stopped him, and now I'm here."

"So, pretty boring day then?"

I chuckle as I plop down on the couch. "Eeyup."

Guys' Poker Night

Author's Note: After a very long time of crazy story arcs, we return to calm and relaxing filler chapters. Huzzah! Thanks to Rhino for giving me the idea for this. And thanks to my viewers for giving me things for losers to do at the end of each round. Now, I want to go over a few things.Every single guy member is involved, but will only have to go once and each of them will go once no matter what. If a pony loses and has to do a certain thing at the end of a round, it is because their name was randomly selected. None of the ponies who had to do the things chosen were on purpose. Don't blame me, blame the luck of the draw. Now, on with the story.

At the moment, Drax, Ice, and I are setting up for our weekly poker night. Didn't I mention the three of us play poker every week? No? Well, I'm telling you now. We move all the furniture in the living room out of the way as we set up a large, circular table in the center.

Zephyr, despite never really liking poker, especially after what happened in Las Pegasus, had agreed to play. We told him he wouldn't need any money, and since Octavia was away in Canterlot doing a show, he disn't have anything else to do tonight.

We had also invited Orion and Rhino to join in. They didn't really seem like the poker playing type, but they jumped on the idea of a guys' night without losing any money. Though with what we have planned, they may lose something more precious than money.

We finish setting up the table and chairs as everypony sets down and grabs their cards.

"Okay, gentlemen." I start us off. "This'll be normal poker, plain and simple. Though we have an interesting little twist in our game. Instead of playing for bits, we'll be playing-"

"All right! Time to play some poker! This is gonna be awesome!" Dark shouts, bursting through the front door, uninvited I might add.

We all are shocked before huddling together. "Who invited him?"

Dark joins in, having heard us. "I invited myself. I heard you guys were having a poker party and wanted to join in. Shame on you guys for not inviting me." he takes a seat and grabs some cards. "So, let's get started."

I sigh. "Fine, you can stay."

"Yes!"

"As I was saying, instead of playing for bits, we'll be playing for bets. We have punishments chosen for those who lose rounds. When you lose a round, you must take the punishment. All in agreement?" they all nod, a few more excited than others. "Okay, first punishment shall be to listen to Baby, Friday, and Hot Problems all at once and all the way through."

They all gulp as they look over their cards. After a moment, we place them on the table. We don't care about looking for a winner, only who is the biggest loser.

"YOU'VE GOTTA BE BUCKING KIDDING ME!" I shout. I can't believe I'm the first loser. All the others laugh as they drag me over and set me up in a closed room with three record players. The music starts playing and I can instantly feel it killing my brain cells.

I run up to the door and pound on it. "Let me out! I can't take it!"

"Nope." Dark says.

After some time, I just get into a corner with my hooves over my ears.

Soon, the door opens with Dark standing there. "Okay, you're done."

I rush passed him and back into my seat. "Okay, done with that. Next round." I say really fast. "This punishment will be to drink a glass of pure piquid rainbows."

We set our new cards down, this time the loser being ice. He shrugs it off. "How bad can it be?"

"Oh, you'll see." I say. I go into the kitchen and pull out a glass I had been saving. Even cooled, this stuff is VERY spicy. I give it to him. "Looks like you can lead a horse and make him drink."

"Pony!" he shouts. He quickly takes the colorfull beverage and just tosses it down his throat. In less than a nnanosecond, he starts breathing fire like a dragon. Ice breathing fire. Only in Equestria, folks.

We all laugh as he runs around like crazy. He runs into the kitchen and turns on the sink, putting his head under the faucet and drinking for a whole, non-stop minute. After that, he wipes off his face and takes a seat.

"Okay, where were we?"

"At round three." I say. "Next punishment is to ding dong ditch Vine's house."

Everypony starts shaking at the thought, but puts their cards down anyway. This time Rhino has the weakest hoof(hand?).

He immediately gulps at the thought, knowing ine's bad temper at such things, but tries to shake it off. "Well, let's just get this over with."

All of us snicker as he leads us down the streets, there not being many ponies out due to the late hour. As we reach near the house, the rest of us take cover behind a distant house as Rhino continues walking to Vine's door.

He looks back at us in worry, but we nod to him and that gets him going. He presses the door bell and then immediately uses his Res to try and walk up the house and fund a safe spot.

Vine opens the door and looks around. "Hello? Anyony here?" she starts getting mad as she realizes what's happening. "Ding dong ditch me will they?" Vine starts using her powers to sense around and finds Rhino. "Ah ha! Found you!" she has a vine bring him down in front of her. "Rhino?" she asks in surprise.

"Oh, h-hey, Vine. Lovely night, isn't it?" he says nervously.

"You ding dong ditched the wrong pony." she uses a vine to repeatedly slam him his head into the ground. After getting bored, she tosses him away and into a nearby food cart.

After laughing our flanks off and helping Rhino up, we head back to the house. "Okay, next round. This time the loser will do the cinnamon challenge."

We yet again place our cards down and find Zephyr to be our loser for this round. "Aw man." he says, slumping.

We take him into the kitchen and grab a spoon. We put a whle bunch of cinnamon in it and hoof it to him. He hesistantly puts it in his mouth, at first not feeling much. As time goes on, Zeph visibly starts feeling the burn. His eyes water and he holds back chokes. Soon enough, he starts coughing out a bunch of orange smoke as he chokes for air. We all just laugh like the good friends we are.

"You *cough* guys *cough* SUCK!" Zeph manages to choke out. We get him some water and after resting for a bit, we're ready to play again.

"Okay, just a few more. The loser this time will get a twenty second long shock, courtesy of Dark." I say.

Dark smiles as he rubs his hooves together. We yet again see each other's card and see Drax is the loser.

He shrugs. "Meh, I can take it."

"We'll see." Dark say.

Dark goes over to him and places a hoof on his chest as Drax starts jittering all over. Twenty seconds of this go by before Dark finishes and Drax has smoke coughing of him and his hairs are all sticking up.

"Okay, next round is getting kicked in the balls by Drax." I say.

Everypony cringes at that one. Same old same old goes by as Orion is the loser here. He takes a gulp as he gets up. "Go easy, man. I still want kids."

Drax gets up infront of him. "No promises." DRax takes a strong buck to Orion's junk, bringing tears to the white pony's eyes.

He collapses to the ground, holding his package. "I think I felt something crack."

"Um, we'll just have you sit this next round out." I say.

"Thank you."

"Okay, next round is loser gets their mane and tail dyed pink."

"Oh, hay naw!" Dark shouts.

"We'll just wait and see. Now place your cards down."

They do as instructed, and guess what? Dark loses. Before he can run away, Drax grabs him and starts carrying him off. "No! I don't want to! You can't make me! NO!"

After much strugglng and a few electrical shocks, we mange to dye Dark's mane and tail completely pink.

I stifle a laugh. "Aw, you look so pretty, Dark."

He turns to me and snarls. "I am going to end you."

"That can wait, we have a game to do first."

"Yeah, about that, Blue." Zeph says. "Since everyone has had a punishment now, can we just play for fun?"

I shrug. "Sure. I ran out of ideas for punishments anyway."

We continue the rest of the night just playing together and laughing it up. Luckily no one really had any hard feelings about what happened, so it went pretty well.

Anti-climactic? Yes, but it's the truth. Things don't always have to be crazy for us.

Author's Note: I swear I didn't plan any of this, but it sure did turn out great XD.

Return to the Forest... Finally

Our little poker night earlier this week went pretty well. Nopony got seriously injured at the least. Everypony ended up having a lot of fun once the punishments stopped happening. Since then everypony's injuries have healed, Dark's mane and tail went back to normal, and Orion is luckily still able to have kids after that. Don't get any funny ideas about how I know that.. He just decided to share after visiting the doctor.

Right now I'm hanging out with a few of the others at the cafe after getting off work. Tonight I'm finally getting back to the Everfree Forest after weeks of not being able to. Last time I went in was the time I encountered Dark and we got into a fight. Good times. Good times... not really, but whatever.

With all the crazy stuff like the monster invasion, the trip to Las Pegasus, and then the unscheduled visit to my parents' house in Cloudsdale, I've been reaaly busy. It's quite frustrating really. I move to this town to study the forest and then be kept away by a lot of crazy junk. Oh well. At least I've been having a hay of a good time with it all.

As I sit with Drax, Ice, and Vine, Orion walks through the front door and comes to join us. "Hey, guys. What's up?" He says.

""Hey, Orion. Not much." I say. I examine him, looking at his face. Might as well ask what I've been wanting to for a while now. "Hey, Orion?"

"Yeah, Blue?"

"I've been wanting to ask for a while where you got those scars on your face. You don't seem like the kinda guy to do something dangerous enough to get those."

"Oh, these? Well, it was very dangerous and stupid. You all know how I'm into atronomy, right?"

"Right."

"Well, I've been wanting to study the star patterns on celestial beasts."

"You mean like ursas, scorpios, and lupine?"

"Precisely. One night I was studying a sleeping ursa major when a baby ursa minor caught my with a paw and sent me flying. I was lucky I was able to fly out of there in time before I became an ursa snack."

"Hmm, pretty nice. So, have you ever gone back?"

"Gone back? Oh, no way. I learned my lesson. It's too dangerous to go back. At least on my own it is."

"Well, I'm heading there tonight, you wanna come along?"

"Wait, are you serious?" He say, raising an eyebrow.

"Buck yeah, bro. I'll study the plants for the weather, and you can study the sleeping monsters for astronomy. We'll watch each other's backs so neither of us get hurt."

"Do I need to come along and make sure you two don't get into any more trouble?" Vine jokes.

I wave her off. "No way. We'll be fine. What could possibly happen with two of us?"

"Well, can I think it over first?"

"Sure, go right ahead."

Orion then goes on to think with his two seperate consciences.

{What do you guys think?}
Do it, bro! This may be our big chance!
{Then it's settled. We're going}

He nods. "Alright, I'm in. I say we do it."

"Sweet! This is gonna be awesome, bro. You head to your house and get what you need while I do the same."

"You got it."

We both get up from our seats as we make our way out with Drax shouting behind. "Try to not get hurt or bring any psychos home this time!"

"No promises!" I shout back.

He shakes his head as he chuckles.

"Well, better start prepping the house." Ice jokes.

"I'll get the first aid kit ready. You and Zeph get the couch prepped."

"Heh, on it after I get off."

The three remaining ponies just laugh. Yep, this is all just a big joke to us now. Show's you just how crazy things are for us.

Orion and I go our seperate ways as we go to our homes to get ready for the big night. As I get home, I do my normal routine of prepping. I take a nap, make myself some fresh chimicherrychongas, grab my notes, and then head out. Depite having gone so long without doing all that, doing all of it felt pretty autonomous. Either I'm just that good, or I'm just that used to it. I'd like to think it's the first one.

Anyway, right now I'm heading to meet up with Orion at the forest's entrance near Fluttershy's place. We had agreed to meet up at about six and right now it's about ten til then. Pretty good timing if I do say so myself.

I reach the forest entrance to find Orion already waiting for me. "Eager, aren't we?"

He chuckles. "You know it. Now, let's do this!"

"Buck yeah!"

We do an awesome brohoof before heading inside together. This should be interesting.

"Okay, I say first we do the plants since they'll be the easiest." I say.

"Okay, that's cool." he looks over to a bunch of blue flowers. "Hey, what about those?"

"No! Don't go near those!"

"Why not?"

"Because that's Poison... um... I can't remember the name, but just remember it's very bad if you touch it."

"Okay, okay. I get it."

Geez, take a chill pill.

The rest of our time plant inspecting is pretty boring. Only things of interest we find are more Hood Swap plants and poison joke, but neither of which are very useful to us. To a certain trolling mare, yes. To us, no.

"Are we done yet? This whole plant thing is pretty boring." Orion says.

*makes snoring noises*

I finish eating up a chimicherrychonga. "Sure, I'll agree it's getting a bit boring. Normally something crazy happens by this point."

"Sweet! I remember where there's this ursa cave around."

"Okay, lead the way."

I start following Orion as we pass through dozens of trees and bushes, supposedly on a path to a cave where ursas sleep.

"Are we there yet?" I ask, getting bored by how long this is taking.

Orion pushes passed some leaves and smiles. "Indeed, we are."

I look passed him to see a cave where an ursa minor can be seen sleeping. "Woah, cool."

"Yep, you stand back and keep on the look out. I'll go over and examine its fur."

"You got it."

We both walk over to the cave as I get in position just outside of it and Orion steps inside to get near the giant baby. Still astounding how something so huge can be so young.

I stand by, bored as Orion examines the celestial coat. "Fascinating." he says.

"Yeah, real fascinating. You nearly done."

"Yeah, I-" he begins to have trouble talking as he feels a tickle in his nose.

I quickly rush over and catch him before he sneezes. "Phew. That was close."

"Yeah, thanks. We almost woke it up."

Suddenly, I flinch as I feel a drop of water fall on my head. "Hey, is it raining?"

"In a cave?"

We both look up to see a humongous ursa major standing over us. "Oh buck!"

The beast roars, making the entire cave shake. We quickly run off in an attempt to escape.

"I think we lost it." I say, looking behind myself as I run.

Orion stops as we near a cliff, but I don't see it in time, so I push us both down the steep cliff. AS we hit the bottom, we land on a lupis' tail and cause it to wake up.

We get up, looking to see we landed in a resting place for a pack of lupis minors. After our little fall, they are fully awake and looking hungry.

"Orion."

"Yeah?"

"Grab onto something."

He listens as he grabs onto a tree and I start creating my Blue Tornado. The tornado captures up all the wolves, sending them all crashing in multiple directions.

I land, feeling confident. "No problem."

"Yeah, nice work." Orion says, walking over to me.

We turn as we suddenly hear a bit of growling. We see a small lupis minor, a baby even, limping towards us in an effort to try and look intimidating. It trips and falls to the ground.

We rush over to it and look at it. "Blue, it's hurt."

"I can see that. We gotta do something for this little guy. I say we take him over to Fluttershy's to get patched up."

"Agreed."

I put the small star wolf on my back as we rush out the forest as fast as possible, ignoring every obstacle in our way.

We reach the exit and rush over to luttershy's and quickly knock on the door.

Fluttershy opens it, lloking worried. "Blue, Orion, what's wrong?"

She gasps when I turn to show her the lupis. "He's hurt. Can you help him?"

"Of course. Quickly come in." Fluttershy takes the wolf and uses disinfectant on a cut on its leg. After that she takes some spare bandages and wraps it up. "There, he should be fine now. Just a nasty cut on one of his legs."

Suddenly, the lupis wakes up and looks at us. I walk up to it. "Hey, buddy. ow ya doin'?" It opens it mouth at my hoof, but instead of biting, it licks me. "Hey, I think he likes me." I suddenly get an idea. "Hey, Fluttershy? Can I keep him?"

"Sure, you're the one who found him. He's basically just like a dog, so taking care of him is pretty simple."

"Yes!" I look over at Orion. "Well, thanks for the fun night, bro. I'll see ya around. Now I've gotta take this little guy home and introduce him to the others."

"No problem. Good luck." he says.

We both leave Fluttershy's as I head home with the lupis. I get there soon enough and walk inside. "Guys, I have a new friend I'd like you all to meet."

"Say what?" they all say.

The lupid pops off my back and goes over to them. "Meet my new pet lupis minor. I found him while out in the forest with Orion."

"Awesome, Blue. What's his name?" Zeph says.

"Hmm, I'm not sure yet. I'll think of something."

"Um, don't look now, but I think he just marked his territory on the rug." Drax says, pointing to a stain on the rug.

I facehoof. "Ugh, I'll get the cleaner."

I can tell having this little guy around is gonna be fun.

Author's Note: Finally! Now I've got an awesome pet! But I'd like you guys to get in on the fun too. I'm gonna let you guys suggest a name for him. I'll pick the best and use it next chapter. Come on, I know you guys must have some good ones.

Pet Playdate

Author's Note: I went and chose a name I think fits the lupis. Thanks to Star Light(better known as Vinetion) for the suggestion. Now, on with the story(think I should find a new gag?).

Well, things are definitely going to be interesting today. With last night's little adventure, I've finally got myself a pet. But who would've thought my pet would be a baby lupis minor? A beast straight out of the Everfree Forest. In all honesty, I think it's pretty badflank to have a pet like that. I've always liked dogs, so this is like having a really awesome dog. Hmm, I wonder how many of the others have pets. I know Rarity has a cat, Fluttershy has Angel, along with dozens of animals she's taking care of, Rhino has Specter, Twilight has an owl, and I remember Pinkie's creepy alligator with no teeth and eyes that blink at different times. Only ones I can think of off the top of my head. I'll look into that a bit later.

As for right now, I wake up at the feel of something wet on my face. I open my eyes to see my new little buddy sitting on me and his tongue hanging out playfully from licking my face.

"Well, good morning, buddy. Sleep well?" I ask. he nods in response. "Woah, can you understand me?" he nods again. "Awesome." he jumps off of me as I sit up. "You sure seem happy this morning. Guess you must be thankful after I took you to see Fluttershy, huh?"

He waves me off and smiles, giving me a look saying "Please".

"Hehe, I can tell you and I are gonna get along just fine. And luckily I've thought up a name for you."

He gives me a look saying "Oh?".

"Yep, I'll tell you along with everyone else at breakfast. Now let's get going. I bet you're hungry."

He nods and wags his tail before we both rush down stairs as if we're racing. Due to his smaller size, he's able to beat me down.

"Aw, you beat me." I say playfully.

The others look at us. "So, enjoying the new pet, Blue?" Zeph asks me.

I take a seat at the table with them. "You bet. This little guy is awesome."

"You think of a name yet?" Ice asks.

"Sure did. I've decided to call him Lyall. You like that, boy?" he licks, as if saying yes. "I'm glad to hear it."

"Lyall, huh? Pretty cool name." Drax says. "So, you two got any plans going on today?"

I shrug. "Not really. I just thought I'd take Lyall around town and see what happens."

"Something's bound to happen eventually, knowing our luck." Zeph says.

"My thoughts exactly. But right now, it's time to dig in." I grab a knife and fork as I'm about to dig into my pancakes that were on the table, but I stop as I see them missing. "Where'd my food go?" I look to Lyall. He snickers and gives me a 'you mad, bro?' face. "What am I gonna do with you?"

They all laugh at that. Sure, yuck it up now. Just you all wait and see.

The rest of breakfast goes smoothly. I had to make myself some more pancakes, but other than that all went well. I'll tell ya, Lyall has one hay of an appetite. He's like a bottomless pit. I dread having to feed him once he gets bigger, and lupis minors grow to be the same size as the average mare. That's going to be fun. But oh well. I'll just tackle things as they come like I always do.

After breakfast is over and done with, Lyall and I are on our way out to try and find something to do. I don't have a collar or leash yet, so I'm hoping he can behave himself on his own. As we walk, ponies look at us funny, obviously since I'm probably the first pony to ever take a lupis out of the forest and make it into a pet.

Lyall looks at the ponies worriedly. "It's okay, Lyall. They'll get used to it. They've just never seen a pony with a pet lupis." I tell him. As we walk around, I spot Rainbow Dash walking with... is that a flying turtle? "Hey, Dash!"

She looks over to me and walks on over. "Hey, Blue." she looks at Lyall. "Woah, where'd you get this guy?"

"Found him hurt in the forest last night. Took him to Fluttershy's and had him get patched up. I decided to take him home as a pet. His name is Lyall."

"That is so awesome! I always thought wolves were cool."

"Thanks. Hey, what's with the flying turtle?"

"He's a tortoise, not a turtle."

"Details, details."

"Anyway, he's my pet, Tank. He's got that propeller on his back so he can keep up with me and follow me home."

"And why am I just now fining out you have a pet tortoise?"

"Because you didn't ask." she says smugly.

"Ha, well, you got me there." I look down at our two pets who are getting closer. "Hey, I think they're friends.

They look at each other before bumping paw to paw. 'Hey, man. Name's Layall.'

'I'm tank. So, you Blue's new pet?'

'Sure am. He's a pretty cool guy. Makes some awesome pancakes.'

'Hehe, nice.'

(Yes, the pets are taking to each other.)

"So, where are you and Tank off to?"

"Oh, we're off for our weekly pony pet playdate with the girls. I also heard Rhino and Specter are coming along."

"Pony pet playdate, huh? You think the others would mind if Lyall and I tagged along?"

"I think that'd love it." she then turns around, getting ready to run. "Come on, you guys. Let's get a move on. We're already running late."

"Right behind you." I say as we start running together while she leads the way to the park.

We ignore the watchful as eyes of ponies as we make our way down the streets and eventually to the park where all the ponies and I pets I recognize are there, as well as Applejack with a brown and white coated dog.

"Come on, Winona! Fetch!" she calls, throwing a stick. Winona. Got it.

They all stop as they notice us coming up. "Hey, guys." Dash says. "Sorry I'm late. Ran into Blue."

"Hey, guys. Check out my new pet, Lyall. I found him last night and Fluttershy helped bandage him up."

"Wow! A real lupis minor! That is SO cool! He's so cool, Breezy." Pinkie says.

"He looks to be doing a lot better. He's not even limping anymore." Fluttershy says.

Despite his normally calm nature, or at least normally for the time I've had him, Lyall growls at some of the other pets.

"My word. He isn't going to hurt our pets, is he?" Rarity asks with worry.

I smack him in the back of the head, getting his attention. "Behave yourself."

He gives me another look saying "Okay, okay. You didn't need to hit me.".

"See? He's fine. Now, how's about we get to playing?"

This should be interesting.

The Best Pest-I mean, Pet

This is definitely an interesting first day of me being a pet owner. I just happen to run into Rainbow Dash and I get invited to a pony pet playdate out in Ponyville Park with all of my friends who also happen to have pets.

Lyall got along pretty well with Tank, but I am a bit more worried about some of the other pets. A rabbit, a squirrel, and worst of all for me, a cat. I just hope his animal instincts don’t kick in around them. I also hope his male instincts kick in for Applejack’s dog. I just got one pet, I can’t afford to have puppies right now. But at least for right now he’s behaving fairly well. I bit of sniffing here and there, but nothing bad.

Right now I’m trying to teach him how to fetch. I’m holding up a red ball infront of Lyall. “Ready, Lyall?” he gives me a confused look. “Go fetch!” I toss the ball off and he goes after it. Instead of running back with it in his mouth though, he throws it back and hits me in the face. I sneer at him as he snickers.

I’ve heard of pets taking after their owners, but this is ridiculous. It’s like having my own mini-me.

The others are also busy playing with their pets. Applejack having better luck at playing fetch than me, Fluttershy and Rhino hanging out with their pets, Rarity grooming Opal, Pinkie running with Gummy on her tail, Twilight reading with Owluiscious, and Dash flying around with Tank.

I get tired of trying to get Lyall to learn stuff, So I decide to ask about lunch. “Hey, anypony bring lunch?”

“As a matter of fact, I did.” Twilight says, levitating a picnic basket up. How did I not see that earlier? “Everypony ready for a lunch break?”

Every pony and pet agrees and Twilight uses her magic to quickly set up a nice little picnic for us. While we eat, all of our pets hang out together under a shady tree.

‘So, you’re from the Everfree Forest?’ Specter asks Lyall.

‘Sure am. Lived there for a whole three years before Blue took me in. He’s a pretty cool guy.’

‘Did someone say pie?’ Gummy says.

‘No, Gummy. He said “guy”.’ Angel says.

‘Aw, but I like pie.’

Angel facepaws. ‘Ignore Gummy. He’s a bit slow.’

‘And not slow like I am either.’ Tank says.

‘Anyways, ah think it’s mighty fine to meet ya, Lyall.’ Winona says.

‘And it’s nice to meet you too. Would you happen to be seeing anyone?” he asks her, bugging up his eyebrows.

That’s my dog. He gets all the bitches. Quite literally.

“Hehe, sorry, partner. But ya’ll ain’t really mah type. Ah don’t go out with wolves.’

Or not.

He slouches and crosses his front legs. ‘Dang it.’

‘Good for you, Winona. You shouldn’t be going out with such a mangy beast anyway.’ Opal rudely says.

‘What’d you call me?”

‘Did your simple brain not understand how fast I was talking? Then let me say it slower. A mangy beast.’

‘WHO do you think you are to call him that, Opal?’ Owluiscious says, sticking up for Lyall.

‘I think I am a good member of animal society who is actually fit to wander the streets, unlike him.’

‘That’s it!‘ Lyall shouts before lunging for Opal. She meows loudly and climbs up the tree. Lyall barks at her as he claws at the tree trunk.

We look over at this and rush over. I pick him up by the tail and look at him sternly. “Lyall, What did tell you about behaving?”

He gives me another look, as if saying “She started it.”.

Opal jumps down and goes over to Rarity. “Oh, Opal! I’m so glad you’re all right!” she then glares at us. “Blue Breeze, you need to teach that “pet” of yours proper behavior!”

“Hey, they looked just fine earlier. Opal must have done something to provoke him.”

“Nonsense! Opal is the most well-trained cat in the world.”

“Oh yeah? Then how about we prove it?”

“Prove it? What are you talking about?”

“An obedience contest. See who’s got the best trained pet. You guys can come on too.”

“Fine, I accept.” Rarity says, looking smug about it. “I’ll show you how a true pet should act.”

“Wait, wait.” Rhino says.

“What?” I say.

“We’re gonna need a fair and impartial judge for this.”

I rub my chin as I try to think of someone. “I think I’ve got just the guy.”

Later

Spike holds a stick in his claw, holding it up like a microphone. “Fillies and genntlecolts, welcome to Ponyville’s very own “Who’s Best Pet?” competition!”

“Spike, we’re the only ones here.” I say.

“Shh. Don’t ruin this for mw.” he says before holding back up the stick. “Now, I’ll be your judge today. I’ll be judging each contest on a one to ten point scale. The pet with the most points at the end will be crowned the winner! Our first contest will be to get your pet to sit.”

“But not all of them are dogs.” Rhino says.

“Just do it!”

I look at Lyall. “Okay, boy. Sit.” he pouts at me. I lean down and whisper to him. “You win this and I’ll feed you three big fish.” he gets an excited look at that. He sits as instructed.

AJ, Twilight, and Rhino are able to get their pets to sit no problem, but others are having some trouble. Gummy just blinks and Opal and Angel refuse to sit. It takes about five minutes, but Tank eventually is able to do it too.

“Alright, our next one will be getting your pet to stay.” Spike says.

“Stay, Lyall.”

‘Okay, focus. Fish is on the line. You want fish. And you should do it for Blu-Ooh, look. A butterfly.’ he leaves his spot as he starts chasing after a passing butterfly. Winona does the same, but the other pets stay without an issue.

“Next contest: doing a trick.”

“Okay, roll over, Lyall.”

He gives me another look saying “I a not a circus monkey.”

“Do it for the fish!”

‘Oh, right! The fish!’ he instantly listens this time and rolls over for me.

Angel doesn’t do anything, Opal walks off in announce, Winona catches a frisbee, Specter does some gliding, Tank doing the same, Owluiscious grabs some things for Twilight, and Gummy… just stands there and blinks again. I’m not surprised.

“Next is to do a walk around with your pet. That means no propellers for Tank.”

This one actually goes pretty well for most everyone. Gummy doesn’t walk as much as just hanging on to Pinkie’s tail with his mouth as she walks, and it takes about a century, but Dash and Tank eventually finish up.

“Time for our final event! A race!”

“A race? What does that have to do with obedience?” Rhino asks.

“Because this’ll show who’s pet is loyal enough to always come back to them.”

“Oh.” we all say.

After that we get a race set up with our pets at the starting line and ourselves at a far of finish line. We make it a straight shot to make it a bit easier on them.

“On your marks. Get set. GO!” Spike calls.

All of the pets go off, some faster than others. Even Gummy waddles, actually showing some real effort.

While running, Lyall gets a thought. ‘Hey, guys?’

‘What, Lyall?’ Specter asks.

‘Why are we doing this anyways?’

‘Um, too… I have no clue. I was just kinda forced into this.’

‘This whole thing sure is silly, ain’t it?’ Winona says.

‘And it’s ruining my coat.’ Opal says.

‘You guys wanna go do something else?” Lyall asks.

‘Sure.’ they all say. All the pets go off with Lyall leading the way.

We all sit at the finish line, wondering why they’re still not here yet. It’ wasn’t that far off. “Where in the world are they?” I say.

Over at my house

Lyall pulls out a deck of cards. ‘The game is Pegasus Hold ‘em. Aces are high.’ he then passes out cards to each of them. He looks over at Winona with a smile. ‘Would you like to split the winnings with me?’

‘Sorry, hun, but ah already said no earlier.’ she says.

‘I’ll get you yet.’

You guys know dogs. Always chasing pussy.

Author’s Note: Isn’t it just wonderful my internet was out and kept me from posting this sooner?

Jackflank

Author's Note: There will be pain. There will be shit. There will be a HUGE amount of stupidity. Remember to not try any of this at home under any circumstances. Do it at school or work so you can file for a lawsuit. Now, on with the story.

Another day another bit. Yet just another uneventful work session at Ponyville Weather Control. For some strange reason, nothing ever seems to happen while we're working. Not once can I remember something weird happening while on the clock. Oh well.

Right now the guys and I are leaving work together as we always do. I pass by Sunny as I walk towards the door. "Hey, Blue." she says. "We still on for hanging out on Friday?"

I smile. "You bet. I'm looking forward to it."

"Great. I can't wait. I can tell it's going to be fun.""

Yes, Sunny and I are still hanging out on Friday. I may asked her about it when I was acting all...flamboyant, but I still think it's about time I hung out with that mare. I feel bad for not doing it sooner.

...What is it with me rambling on like this? Whatever.

As we exit the office, Dark waits around the corner, holding a camera in one hoof. A presses a button on it, which turns on a small, red light on it. He then brings it up to his face.

"Hey there, folks. I'm Dark Lightning, and welcome to my new show, Jackflank. A show all about seeing how stupid and masochistic ponies can really get. For my first performance, I'm going to kick my buddy, Blue Breeze, in the balls." he moves the camera out so I'm in its view before bringing it back to him. "Wish me luck."

Dark sneakily rushes from behind the building and right behind us, my jewels an easy targetfor him. Before we get far, I feel a huge pain between my legs as Dark bucks me between them. I collapse to the ground, holding my crotch.

"Ballbusting successful." Dark says to the camera.

I squirm on the ground for a moment before picking myself up and punching Dark in the snout. I grab him by the scruff of his chest and shake him. "What the buck is wrong with you?!"

"Jackflank, man." he replies happily.

"Jack what?"

"My new show, Jackflank. A show all about doing stupid, painful, and gross stunts. And you're on it."

I look over at the camera, which he had on us the whole time. "Where'd you even get that camera?"

"Asked Pinkie if she had a spare and let me take this one."

"Of course she did."

"So, you guys wanna come on board for this?"

"Why would we do that?"

"Oh, come on. What do you have to lose?"'

"Besides my life, bottlely functions, and the ability to have kids?"

"Yeah, besides all that."

I sigh. "Fine, not like I had anything else planned anyway."

"I'm in too!" Zeph says. "This sounds kinda fun."

"I'm up for it. I can take any kind of pain you got for me." Drax says.

"Aw, sorry. No pain. But I did throw your wallet in a huge mound of ursa poop in the Everfree Forest." Dark says with a smug grin.

"You what?!" Drax takes him by the neck. "Why I oughtta..."

"Ah ah ah. You need me if you want to find it."

Drax thinks it over and drops him. "Fine. Let's go. Now!"

"Okay, just follow me."

We follow behind Dark as he leads us over to the forest. During the entire walk, Drax has annoyed look on his face. We enter the forest after a bit of walking.

"Not far now. It was pretty close to around here." Dark says, looking around.

I bring a hoof to mynose. "Bleck, I can smell it."

"Pew, so do I." Zeph says.

"Yeah, that baby is fresh." Dark says.

"Great." Drax says, obviously pissed.

"Well, here we are." Dark says as we reach the mountain of poop. "If you want it, you'll have to fish for it."

Drax growls. "I'm gonna get you for this." he walks over and takes a deep breath before he plunges into it.

"Now this is what I call entertainment." Dark says as he films everything.

After quite a bit of searching around for a bit, Drax comes out, wallet with him and covered in feces. "Dark, you're dead." his mouth swells up as he tries not to puke.

"You go shower up while we keep doing this, okay?"

He growls again. "Fine, but this isn't over." he then walks off, leaving just the three of us.

"Okay, so, what next?" I ask.

"Booping Vine's nose and not running."

Zeph and I each freeze up at that. "No way am I doing that!"

"Me neither!"

"Relax guys. I've got the perfect scapegoat." he reasures. We both look at him quizically, but he just walks ff. "Follow me and then you'll see what I mean."

Over at the vet's office

We walk in to see Rhino manning the front desk. "Hey, guys. What's going on?" he says.

"Hey, Rhino. Just curious, is Vine still upset you ding dong ditching her."

He looks down. "She's still irritated with me, yes."

"Well, how would you like it if I told you how to make her not only forgive you, but also make her SUPER nice to you?"

"Really? How?"

"Come with us and you'll see."

"Sure thing." he pulls out a sign saying "Off to lunch" and puts it down on the desk before taking off his coat and coming with us.

We walk the streets of Ponyville, on our way over to VIne's house. We stop as we near the house. "Okay, all you gotta do is knock on the door, and when she answers it, boop her on the nose." Dark says.

"That's it? Seems easy enough. I'll do it."

"That a boy. Now you go do that."

Rhino walks oss as the rest of us take cover behind another house. He goes over and knocks on the door for it to be answered by Vine.

She sighs. "What do you want, Rhino?"

Rhino raises up a hoof and touches to her nose. "Boop."

Vine stands there frozen for a moment. "Ten seconds."

"Say what?"

"Ten-No, seven seconds before I end you." she says coldly.

"Wait, this was all Dark's idea!" he says. He points over to where we were, but sees we are now gone. He gives her a nervous chuckle.

We pop out as Vine begins her assualt on every part of Rhino's body, her using a vine to grab his horn and keep him from using magic..

"Hahaha, this is the best!" Dark says. He places a hoof over the camera lens. "Woah ho ho! Best I not show that, or this would NEVER get on T.V."

"Um, is there anything else?" Zephyr asks.

"As a matter of fact, yes. I've got one more idea. Come with me."

We loook at each other before shrugging and following our black and red "friend". We follow to some kind of steep hill with a shopping cart at the top and that leads down to a cliff.

Dark pulls out some rpe and tosses them to us. "Tie these around your wings and then get in the cart."

Not questioning it for some reason, Zeph and I somewhat hesitantly do as we're told. We look at him as we sit in the cart.

"What's this about, Dark?"

"Downhill cart driving!"

"What?!" Zeph and I both shout.

"I'm gonna film you two while you guys roll down this hill that leads into a cliff, al while you're wearing wing restraining ropes."

"I don't think I like this ide-"

"No time! Let's go!" Dark takes the cart and gives it a strong push, sending us down the hill.

Zeph and I scream as we go downhill, dodging by rocks and ducking below tree branches.

"I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die! I don't wanna die!" I scream.

"Woohoo! This is awesome!" Zeph shouts. He stops his celebrating as we near the cliff. "I take that back!"

We scream as we go flying off the cliff. After a few moments of soaring, we crash into a fruit stand, luckily no ponies around to be caught in it. Zeph and I groan in pain.

Dark grabs the camera and points it at his face. "Well, that was our first episode of Jackflank. Hopefully you all enjoyed it as much as I did. See ya next time."

Later

Dark sits at the library alone while Twilight and Spike run arrons. As he does this, Zeph and I burst through the front door.

"Het, guys. What's up?" I ignore him and grab the camera. "Wait, what are you gonna do with that?" I ignore him again as I take the camera and smash it on the ground. "NO! My camera! My tape!"

I give him my coldest glare. "Never again."

100% Chance of Sunny Rays

Author's Note: Okay, should've done this a long time ago, but oh well. Down below is an image I'm putting of Sunny Rays for anyone who hasn't seen her. Now, on with the story.

It's Friday! It's Friday! Bleck, I hate that song and ponies who play or sing it, especially when it really is Friday. Curse you, Rebecca Buck!

But enough of my pointless ramblings. Yes, today is Friday, the day Sunny and I planned to finally hang out together after over four months of working together. If I didn't already make that clear before. And to just make things even more clear, we told Dash all about it and she said she's cool with it and understands nothing is gonna happen. I don't need a repeat of the incident that happened while visiting my parents.

I'm thinking of taking Sunny over to Club Pon3 and hanging out there. Get to know each other, hang out, maybe even some dancing. Sounds like fun to me.

I punch out of work as Sunny waits over by the front entrance. "Ready to go, Blue?" she says.

I turn back and smile. "You bet."

As I walk over to her, Dash joins us. "Have fun, you guys. But not too much fun. Remember, Blue, I'M the number one mare in your life."

"Do I detect a hint of jealousy in your tone?" I say in a smartflank voice.

"Me? Jealous? Pfft, yeah right!"

I go over to her and we do a quick kiss. "Don't worry. You were right when you said you were the number one mare in my life."

"Good. Well, I gotta go. See ya later." she then trots out the door.

Call me a perv, but I stare at her rump as she walks out. Yeah, she's DEFINITELY the number one mare in my life. I actually start drooling a little bit.

"Blue?" Sunny says, waving a hoof infront of my hypnotized face. "Blue!"

"Uh? W-What?" I say as I snap out of my confusion.

"You can make googly eyes at Dash later."

"I was not!"

"Whatever you say, lover boy. But let's just go already."

"Fine. Sure, I've already got just the place in mind."

"Then lead the way."

As you may expect here, nothing much really happens as we make our way out of the office and down the streets to the club.

I then get an idea. "You know, it'd probably be easier if we fly there."

Sunny starts getting nervous. "Um, I prefer taking the scenic route. It's just so nice to walk by all the nicely decorated buildings."

I give her a suspicious look before shrugging. "Alright, your call."

We continue our uneventful walk for a bit as we reach the club.

I go over to the front door and hold it open for her. "Madam."

She giggles before waking through. "Thank you, kind stallion."

Oh yeah, I've got swag when it comes to the ladies.

As we step inside, Sunny takes a look around at all the lights, the ponies dancing, and the interior in general. "Wow. This place is awesome. I always liked the outside, but I've never actually be inside here before."

I walk up next to her and smirk. "Well, then you're in for a real treat."

"I can see that."

"Come on, let's go start off with a drink."

"Sounds good. I'm feeling thirsty actually."

"Guess I've got wind and psychic powers then."

I get another laugh out of her. "You're such a dork."

"Yeah, but you gotta admit I'm as cool as dorks get." I reply in a smug tone.

She laughs again. Like I said, swag.

We take a seat up at the mini-bar and order some drinks, non-alcoholic of course. I don't want to go on another drunken walk, nor do I want the hangover afterwards.

"Well, well, well. Look what we have here." a voice says from behind us.

We turn around to see Ice and Vinyl. "Oh, hey, guys." I say.

"Hey, Blue. Who's your friend?" Ice says.

"This is my co-worker, Sunny Rays. Sunny, these are my friends, Ice and Vinyl."

"Nice to meet you both." she says.

"Same to you."

"Yeah, always cool to meet a new friend." Vinyl says. "So, what are you two doing here?"

"Just hanging out. First time we've actually done so since we started working together."

"That's cool." Ice says. "No pun intended. Anyway, you two have fun. Vinyl's gonna put on a show while I hang out backstage."

"That's 'cool'. Pun intended." he groans at me. "Hehe, anyway, see ya."

The two of them walk off, leaving Sunny and me alone again. "They seem nice." she says.

"Yeah, they are." I decide to get to know her a bit more, seeing now's about a good a time as any. "So, Sunny, tell me about yourself."

"Well, like I told you, I went to school and lived in Fillydelphia as a kid."

"It's always sunny in Fillydelphia, I guess."

"Ugh, I hate it when ponies use that joke."

"Okay, sorry. Continue."

"Alright. When I was little, I always dreamed of acting."

I raise an eyebrow at that. "Acting? But your cutie mark is the sun behind two clouds, and you work at the weather office. Shouldn't that mean your talent is weather?"

She sighs. "You'd think so, huh? Actually, it's supposed to be a metaphor. My mother always told me meant I was always meant to shine bright, I just needed to get myself out in the open. Out from behind the clouds."

"Wow. That's deep. So, why didn't you act?"

She starts getting sadder. "I tried, but my shyness when I was little made me always choke up during auditions. I still can't get over it to this day."

"Man, that sucks."

"Yeah..." she starts trailing off, thinking over something. "Blue, can I tell you a secret?"

"Sure."

"You promise not to tell anyone?"

"I swear." I say, placing one hoof over my heart and the other straight up.

"Well, you wanna know the real reason I didn't wanna fly over here?"

"Yeah, why is that?"

"I can't fly."

I'm slightly shocked by her answer. "What?"

"Both of my parents are earth ponies. I just happened to get the gene for pegasus. My parents couldn't teach me, and we couldn't pay for a tutor, so I never learned."

I see a tear roll down her cheek. I go over to her and put a hoof on her sholder. "Sunny, that's terrible."

"Yeah, it is... It's why I'm stuck working the front desk all day." she says, now becoming even more sad.

I take a hoof and wipe the tears from her face. "Hey hey, don't go crying on me. I'd hate to see such a nice mare like yourself cry."

She looks at me, giving me a weak smile. "Really?"

"Yeah, of course." a thought of how I can help pops in my head. Call me crazy, but I'm really gonna do this. "Would you like it if I taught you how to fly?"

Her mouth gapes at my question. "Blue, are you serious?"

"Sure, I'm serious. I wouldn't ask if I didn't mean it."

She pulls me into a hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"

I return the hug happily. "Anytime."

The rest of the day goes well. We drink, we joke, we even do some dancing out on the dance floor. It's great. After a while, we decide to head home.

"Thanks a lot, Blue. I really appreciate all you're doing for me." Sunny says.

"Hey, it's no problem. It's what friends are for.

We have another hug before departing to our homes. As I come home, I find Zephyr and Drax chilling out as I often find them doing.

"So, how was it?" Zeph asks.

"It was good."

"So, you didn't majorly screw up or cause any damage?"

I plop down on the couch and rest my forelegs behind my head. "Ha. You just jealous of my swag with the ladies."

Flight or Fail

Well, as if my life wasn't crazy enough or filled with enough ponies as is, I asked Sunny if she'd like me to teach her how to fly. Gives me memories of when I taught Ice how to fight and control his powers a few months back. Good times... good times...

I may not be a flying expert like Dash or Zephyr, but flying comes naturally to a pegasus like myself. Just about any pegasus could teach flying if they really wanted to. There's no much to it in all honesty. I think I'll just go about it how my parents did for Haily and me. The good thing is we're much closer to the ground, so falling won't be that big of an issue at the start.

But there is one big problem: Sunny wants her not being able to fly to remain a secret, so we'll need to come up with a good excuse to skip out on work. With Dash always being as suspicious as she is, I really hope the lie we came up with works. I hate to lie to her, but it's to help a friend. I'm sure she'd do the same thing.

Anyway, right now I'm making my way over to the office. I decided to let Zeph and Drax go ahead of me today so I could think over what I'm supposed to do. Not for the lie, that's simple. Just trying to think over the lessons. Meh, guess I'll just wing it.

Yes, that pun was intended.

I shortly reach the office and find Sunny waiting for me at her desk. "Hey, Blue." she says. "Ready to go?"

"Sure am." I say.

"Go? Where do you two have to go?" Dash asks, Zephyr and Drax standing with her.

"Oh, guess I forgot to mention, Dash." Sunny says.

"Mention what?"

"Im having family visiting from out of town and I need help setting up."

"So, I offered to help her." I finish.

Dash quints as she eyes us suspiciously. "And why did you offer to help her?"

"Because I'm such a nice guy."

She thinks it over for a minute. "Alright, fine. But this better just be a one time thing."

Not likely.

"We promise." we both say. With that, we both leave the other three pegasi.

Dash looks at the desk full of paerwork, which is usually Sunny's job. "We're gonna need somepony to take care of that."

"Yep." Zeph and Drax both say.

"Not it!"

Quickly realizing what is happening, Zeph joins her. "Not it!"

"But.. I... Paperwork... Buck me." Drax says. He sighs before taking a seat at the desk and grabbing the only pencil there. The pencil breaks in half under his grip. "Oh, that's just lovely."

After getting a decent bit away from the office, Sunny and I laugh and highhoof in celebration.

"I can't believe she bought it." Sunny says.

"Me neither. Guess it was my great acting and handsome face. Not to mention my awesome charm." I say.

She gives me a soft punch in the leg. "Just shut up and let's get a move on."

I chuckle at her. "Sure thing. And I've got just the secluded place where nopony will be see us."

"Heh, this makes it sound like we're doing something illegal."

"Or sexy."

She hits me again, this time with a hard smack to the back of my head. "Shut up."

I rub the back of my head. "Okay, I'll admit I deserved that."

"Let's go already!"

"Okay, just follow me."

We start walking to the outskirts of town, making sure nopony is around us. I take her out to the same open field I trained Ice in all those months ago. I knew this place would be useful.

"Okay, here we are."

"Great, when do we get started?" she asks eagerly.

"Woah, settle down there. We can't jump into it."

She blushes slightly."Right, sorry."

"It's cool. I was the same when my parents first started teaching me to fly. Now, first thing we need to do is stretch. So just open your wings and we can get started."

She starts blushing harder as she rubs her neck. "Well, the thing is..."

"You don't know how to open your wings, do you?"

She shakes her head. "No."

"Not to worry. I know how to get them open." I walk over to her and start rubbing on her wings.

She starts blushing even more from my tender rubbing. "Blue, what are you-"

"Just trust me." in just a second, her wings pop open on their own. "There we go. Getting a wingboner is the easiest way to get wings open."

She gives a hard slap across the face. "You big jerk!"

I rub at the red mark on my face. "I'll admit I dserved that oo, but hey, I got them open, didn't I?"

She gasps slightly at the realization. She looks back and smiles at her wings. "They're open!"

"See my point?" I say, smiling.

She tries moving her wings a bit, moving them in an irregular pattern. "Feels a bit weird to use them after so long."

"You'll get used to it. Now, first thing, like I said, is to stretch a bit."

"Okay."

She takes her wings and starts stretching them similar to how a pony stretchs their forelegs. Well, she seems to be catching on fast.

"Okay, that's good for now."

"Cool. So, what next?"

"Next we try flapping."

"Okay, I'll try." she starts trying to flap, but she moves each of her wings one by one, not really doing anything for her.

"Wait, let me help." I walk over. "Mind if I grab them for a second?"

She smiles. "Yeah, and thanks for asking first this time."

"Just trying to keep from getting slapped again." I joke. I grab her wings gently and start slowly moving them up and down together. "You want to think of them as an extension of your back. To properly flap you want to find your wings in the right rhythym. Moving them in seperate directions doesn't do anything." I let go of them. "Now you try."

"Sure." she does as instructed and starts moving them together in tune with each other. "Like this?"

"Perfect. Now we can move on to the real lesson one."

"What's that?"

"Getting off the ground."

She starts getting nervous. "Are you sure? I'm only just starting?"

I give her a reassuring smile. "I'm sure you can handle it. Besides, it's only a few inches at the most."

"Well..."

"If it makes you feel better, I'll be right beside you the whole time, ready to catch you."

She smiles at me. "Okay, I'm willing to try it."

"Great. So, all you need to do is flap like you were doing, only a bit harder than before."

"Okay, I think I can do that."

She closes her eyes and breaths out in preparation. She starts flapping her wings again, this time with a bit more force. Being that her wings are fully grown in, dust starts coming off the ground as she flaps. She bites down on her lip as she gets increasingly nervous. After a few moments, she opens her eyes and looks down to see her hooves have left the ground.

She looks over at me with a huge smile, which I return. She comes over to me and wraps me in a hug. "I did it!"

I hug her back. "You sure did. That was great for your first time."

"Thanks, Blue. I couldn't have done it without your help."

I chuckle a bit. "No problem, Sunny." we break the hug after a moment. "Well, I think that's good for one day."

"Sure, it was great. I can't wait for more."

"You bet. Well, see ya later."

"See ya, Blue."

I walk off, smiling to myself as I think. 'Job well done, sir. Job well done.'

Cutie Mark Tales

Author's Note: Finally, after nearly one hundred chapters, all of our OC's are getting their cutie mark stories revealed. I know one's such as Blue, Ice, and Dark have already been over, but whatever. The stories are just going to be simply told by the characters and not in exact details, as not every bit of info. is really important. All the cutie mark stories are from their creators. Well, except for Drax's, but I have permission on that. Now, on with the story.

Believe it or not, things have been pretty quiet here recently. No evil monsters, no trolling from Dark or Vine, no big explosions, not much of interest at all. The biggest thing is probably how Lyall and Winona started going out. How they're smart enough to actually go on real, unsupervised dates, I've got no freakin' clue. I also have no idea when they started going out. And like I said before, they better control themselves. I am NOT gonna be responsible for a litter of puppies.

Anyway, out off in Ponyville, a group of three rambuncious fillies are feeling bored from just how quiet things have been lately.

Apple Bloom scuffs at the ground. "Anypony got any ideas on how to our cutie marks today?" she asks her friends.

Scootaloo rubs her chin as se thinks. There's a faint 'DING!' as she thinks of something. "I've got it! Either of you two know where we can get some bungee cords?"

Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle look at each other worriedly. "Sounds fun, Scootaloo. But I think I have a better and SAFER idea." Sweetie Belle says.

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah, why not we ask Blue and all of his friends how they got their cutie marks. They might have some good ideas."

"But don't a lot of 'em have those crazy powers?" Apple Bloom says.

"Hmm, I say we do it! Even if some of their stories are impossible for us, the least we can do is try." Scootaloo says.

Without even being able to object, Scootaloo out the others in the wagon attached to her scooter and zipped off to go gather us all up.

This should be good.

With all of us at home, the crusaders were able to get me, Ice, Zephyr, and Drax all at once. They took us over to the town sqaure and told us to wait, but wouldn't say why. Curiosity getting the better of us, we complied and stayed in place.

After a bit, our group grew larger with Rhino, Vine, Dark, Orion, and even Fern joining us.

All of us exchanged confused mutters before Scootaloo whistled for our attention. "Mares and gentlecolts-"

"And whatever Dark is." I say.

'As I was saying, we've gathered you all here for a matter of great importance."

"And that would be?" Vine asks.

All crusaders stand next to each other and put on puppy dog eyes. "Can you tell us how you got your cutie marks?"

All of us look at each other before turning back to them. "Is that all? Sure, ask away." I say.

"Okay, then you go first." Scootaloo says.

"Okay. So, back when I was a little older than you three, I dreeamed to be the first pony to discover the mystery behind the Everfree Forest's weather."

"Which you still have yet to do." Dark says in a troll voice.

I just ignore him. "So, one night, I snuck out to the forest. I was there for a while without much happening, that is until I was attacked by a group of manticores. BEfore they could kill me though, I felt a surge of energy that gave me my wind powers, and that allowed me to beat them and lwave with my life."

"Wow." all three say.

"That's awesome, Blue!" Scootaloo says.

"Yes, well, I try." I joke.

"How's about you, Ice." Apple Bloom says.

He sighs at having to retell his horrible past. "It was just an ordinary day at home, and my father was just coming home from work. My mother felt I was extremely cold and I should go to the doctor's. I fought with her about it, and then my powers actually turned my parents into statues that crumbled before my very eyes. I ran away and lived on my own for a while after that."

Feeling his sadness, the crusaders decided to move on. "What about you, Dark?"

He sighs just as Ice did. "I was left in the care of an adoptive family when I was young. One night, I break something and my dad goes off on me as always. I get fed up and accidentally zap him and kill him. Adter that, I ran to live in the forest for many years. I may be a jerk, but kniw what I did was an accident. I'm no murderer."

There's an awkward silence before they decide to move on once again. "Zephyr?"

"Mine's a bit more normal, so you girls should be able to relate. Ahem. I always had bully troubles inschool, even before I met Blue. One day, this huge group of bullies went after me and chased me all around. I was able to evade most of them, that is until one took me into the Everfree. Inside there we were faced by a manticore. I don't remember ever having such pain while trying fly away from thst thing. I was luckily able to escape from the manticore and get away."

"Wow. That's cool. Too bad none of us can fly." Scootaloo says.

"Aw, I'm sure your wings will grow in eventually. Just give it time."

She smiles at him. "Thanks."

"Okay, what about you, Vine?" Sweetie Belle asks.

She clears her throat, as if giving a speech. "When I was younger, I lived in a village full of ponies similar to me. When I was thirteen, I still didn't have a cutie mark, making me the oldest in my village's history to not get one. I ran away because of this, into a forest. I lived in there for about four months before I found this gargantuan tree, as big as a building. I started to hum a song, and flowers appeared around me. As I became louder, more and more popped up, even tually creating a huge grove of them. Seeing this, I went back home and found I had a cutie mark."

"Wow. That's like something out of an old pony tale." Sweetie Belle says.

"I think it sounds cheesy." Scootaloo says. "Rhino, you're next."

"Sure. When I was ten and in Canterlot, I saw a bright flash come from behind a building. I went over to inspect it and saw a bunch of ponies drawing circles with runes on the ground. All the unicorns there touched their horns together and created some kind of mirror. I heard the ponies saying that they were trying to create a portal that would take them to another city, but that didn't work too well. Still curious on it, I went home and grabbed an old spell book. I went on to try and recreate a simpler version of the spell they did. I showed it to my mom, and I actually teleported because of it. After that my cutie mark appeared and we were so happy about it."

Scootaloo taps her chin. "Pretty cool. Okay, how's about you, Drax? I'm sure a big, strong, and tough guy like you has an awesome story."

He chuckles a bit. "Well, yeah. Just like Zeph, I also had bully problems before high school. One day, a group of bullies jumped me and took me down to the forest. They threw me inside a small cave and blocked the entrance off with s boulder. I literally sat there for hours, that is until a hhroup of lupine showed up on me. I started panicing and pushing the boulder. At first it didn't do much, but seeing the lupine get closer, I pushed harder and harder and moved the boulder just enough so I could escape the cave and fly away."

"Ha, I knew it'd be awesome!" Scootaloo cheers.

"Alright, you're next, Fern."

"Sure, okay." she says. "Las Pegasus was my first bartending gig, my first was actually when I was younger and in Canterlot. I was on the streets, so any job would do. I got this one job serving drinks, which led to me always get lude remarks from customers, and even worse, slaps on my flank." the crusaders flinch a bit. "Yeah, it sucked. Anyway, one day I asked to get a job making drinks instead of serving them. During an arguement with my boss, he pointed out my cutie mark, which I didn't even know I had. I won the arguement and started making the drinks after that."

"Yeah... I hope getting my cutie mark is a lot more present than that." Scootaloo says.

"Agreed." the others say.

"Okay, last up, Orion."

He steps up. "When I was younger, my mother started giving me flying lessons, and it was really great. But one day, my wings cramped up and I landed outside an ursa cave in the Everfree Forest."

"The forest again?" Scootaloo questions.

He shrugs. "Anyway, a baby ursa saw me, and I guess he thought I looked appetizing. I started running, and desperately tried flying. Eventually, I did start flying, ignoring the pain in my wings. I roundedback to the ursa, ready to fight. As I flew at it, a start trail formed behind me and gave me a boost that let me hit the ursa hard between the eyes. After escaping, I noticed this baby on my flank." he turns to them, showing off his cutie mark.

"Those were all great stories, but they don't really help us with gettin' our cutie marks." Apple Bloom says, a bit depressed.

"You girls shoulsn't feel too discouraged, we're all just kind of special cases. If you want to find your cutie marks, you should try expanding your reaches and go out a bit further like we did." I say.

"Hey, that gives me an idea." Scootaloo says.

"Oh?" I raise an eyebrow.

Scootaloo looks at her two friends. "You guys thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

"Mmhmm." they say, nodding.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER CAVE EXPLORERS! YAY!" they all shout before darting off.

We all look at each other and just sigh. "Kids."

We then go after them to make sure they don't get thmselves killed, because if they did, then we'd be the ones who are dead meat.

Trip Down Below

Author's Note: Here it is, chapter one hundred and the start of the highly anticipated Taurtarus arc. Thank you to all my fans and supporters for helping me reach much farther than I ever thought I would. This is for all you guys. Now, as the saying goes, on with the story.

It is another one of those days in Ponyville. Oh, do you think I'm talking about the crazy kind filled with crazy shenanigans and us getting hurt? Nah, I'm talking about one of those nice, quiet days where it's a perfectly nice day out and not much is really going on.

Right now Spike is doing his daily chores in the library while Dark is being a lazy flank by lying on a couch and reading a book off one of the shelves.

While Spike dusts the top shelves of the books and stands on a ladder, he huffs at Dark. "You know, it wouldn't kill you to help out. You do live here, and these harder to reach places would be easy for you, you know, because you can FLY."

Dark smirks. "Yeah, but then I'd be doing something nice, wouldn't I?"

Spike takes the feather duster and throws it at Dark. "How's that for being nice?"

Dark coughes from all of the dust. "That's it! You're dead!" he jumps up and goes over to the ladder, taking it in his hooves.

"Hey, what are you doing?!" Spike takes hold of the top step tightly.

"Oh, I'm just gonna shake this ladder. It's fun. Like ride at a fare." Dark starts jerking the ladder back and forth, going faster and harder as he goes, but Spike still clinges on to the top. "Back and forth! Back and forth! Back and forth! Back and for-"

Before Dark can go on, Spike belches out a scroll that drops on Dark's muzzle, making him drop the ladder with Spike still on it.

"WOAH!" Spike screams before crashing down.

Dark grabs the scroll and unrolls it. "What's this?"

Having heard the crash, Twilight steps out from her room. "What in Equestria is going on out here?"

Spike groans, trying to talk, but the pain is too much at the moment.

"Oh, Spike just belched out a letter and lost his balance. You know how clumsy he is." Dark lies.

"A letter? Is it from the princess?" Twilight comes over and takes the letter in her magic so that she can read it. "Dear Twilight, I hope this letter finds you well, but sadly, I cannot say the same. This letter deals with a matter of the utmost importance. I cannot tell you now, for I would prefer it to be in person. I request that you bring along all of your friends to Canterlot immediately. Yours truly, Princess Celestia."

"Matter of utmost importance? Canterlot? What's all this about, Twi?"

"I don't know, Dark. But what I do know is this is extremely important. We better gather up everypony and head to Canterlot right away."

Dark gives a salute. "I'm on it."

Dark goes on to gather everyone up and take us all down to Ponyville Train Station(really creative names here), only giving us all vague details. And when I say everyone, I mean EVERYONE. Ice, Zephyr, Drax, Vine, Orion, Rhino, Fern, Sunny, Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Vinyl, Spitfire, Octavia, Fleur, and myself. Geez, this group is getting REALLY big.

Now at the train station, we all gather around Dark and Twilight. "I'm glad you're here, everypony. I have something very important to share with you all."

Everypony exchanges confused whispers before I step up. "What's going on here, Twi? Why'd you have Dark bring us all down here?"

"I just said because I have something very important to tell all of you."

I facehoof. "I mean, what is this very important news?"

"Princess Celestia sent me a letter saying that something is happening and she needs all of us down in Canterlot right away. I'm not sure as to what the reason is, but what I do know is it must be something VERY important."

(Do you understand this is important yet? Good.)

I shake my head. "I should've known. Well, we know the drill. To Canterlot!" I say dramatically, raising a hoof in the air. Everypony else nods in agreement.

"Good. I already went ahead and reserved a train car for us, rather than just buying over a dozen tickets."

Clever girl.

The whistle of the train goes off, signalling it's about to leave. "ALL ABOARD!" the conductor calls out.

We all herd onto the train before it starts chugging it's way down over to Canterlot. The trip goes well for the most part, except Sunny gets motion sickness on the way there. But besides that, everypony is mostly quiet besides trying to think why Celestia has summoned us all.

Pinkie thinks it's some kind of huge party, but everyone else quickly dismisses that. Dark thinks she finally plans to give us rewards for everything we've done, but I'm pretty sure if she was gonna give us rewards, she would've done that a LONG time ago. From what Twilight was saying, this doesn't sound like it's going to be anything good.

After a few hours of riding, the train comes to a stop at the Canterlot train station. As it stops, we all head out and make our way to the castle to meet up with the princess.

Outside the castle, we are stopped by some guards. "Ah, welcome back, Ms. Sparkle." one says to Twilight.

"Thank you. We've come here to see the princess about the urgent news." she says.

"Ah, yes, of course. Follow me and I'll take you to the throne room to see her."

The front doors are magically opened up for us so that we can make our way through. We walk through the halls of the castle, most of us taking in the sight of it as most of us haven't been in here. Having been in here with Ice a few months back, I'm not so surprised by everything inside.

We reach the doors of the throne room and walk inside, Princess Celestia sitting in her throne as she waits.

"Ms. Sparkle and her guests are here to see you, princess." the guard says.

She gently nods. "Thank you, lieutenant. You can go."

He bows. "As you wish." he then leaves without another word. Man, do these guys always act like such robots?

We all turn to the princess, ready to hear everything. "Welcome, everypony. I'm sorry for such a sudden summoning of you all, but this is very important."

"What's this all about, princess?" Twilight asks.

"You all remember how I released Dark Lightning a few months back?" we all nod, looking at Dark for a second first. "Well, before this, one of my guards had the brilliant idea of getting drunk one night while on duty. While on duty, he found a pony he thought to be Dark and captured him. He banished this pony to Taurtarus without my even knowing of it."

"I hope that guy was fired." I say.

"He was. Anyway, since then, I have tried desperately to save the pony trapped inside, but with the magical spell casted on Taurtarus' gates, I have no way to simply teleport inside to get him. I've also tried sending in highly trained guards, but the results have been... unfortunate."

"Who is this pony?" Twilight asks.

The princess uses her magic to levitate a picture to us of a pegasus stallion with an icy white coat, a red and white mane and tail, and wearing a black suit with a white vest.

"Ooh, I know him!" Pinkie says with excitement. "That's Razor Graze. He lives in Ponyville."

"Pinkie Pie is correct." Celestia says.

"But, how could someone confuse this guy for Dark? I don't care how drunk they were." I say.

"Well, like you, he has magical abilities. His abilities consist of tribal, black flames that come from his wings, mane, tail, and hooves."

"Oh, now I get it." I examine the picture more. "So, another elemental, huh?"

"Yes, but I haven't even told you the worst of it yet."

"Oh great."

"Taurtarus is watched over by a mysterious and evil clan of ponies called the Grave Ponies."

"Did you say "Grave Ponies"?" Vine asks.

"Indeed, Ms. Lutin. They could tell right away that Graze was not evil, so they feared he would try to escape from Taurtarus. The Grave Ponies intent is to make sure no one escapes Taurtarus, so they captured Graze and dragged him to down to the very bottom floor, where he is closely being watched by their leader, Grim Blade."

She levitates us another picture, this one of a unicorn stallion with a dark bluish-grey coat, mane and tail that's a mixture of black and neon blue, wearing a black cloak with matching shoes, and a pair of red shades.

Vine stares at the picture, a mixture of anger and bitterness on her face. Um, tell if I'm wrong, but Vine seems as though she may know something about these Grave Ponies.

Twilight steps forward. "Well, I would be happy to volunteer to save Graze."

"I'm sorry, Twilight, but I cannot risk losing you or any of the other Elements of Harmony. You are all far too important to lose in case there's a time where we'll need them again."

Twilight's ears droop. "Well, then why did you call us all down here?"

"Blue Breeze, Ice, Zephyr Verve, Drax, Vinetion Lutin, Dark Lightning, Orion Starchaser, and Rhino." we all look at each other in confusion before stepping forward. "You have all proven to show acceptional skiill and strength, overcoming many seemingly impossible situations. I ask this of you all: will you volunteer to traverse the fiery pits of Taurtarus to save Razor Graze?"

"So, you're asking us to do it because we're not just powerful, but also expendable?" I say.

Celestia looks back, slightly embarassed. "Well..."

I chuckle. "Just pulling your leg, princess. Of course, I'll go. I don't fear anything."

"Me too." Ice says.

"Really, Ice? You can barely stand a hot Summer's day. How are you gonna live through a place filled with fire and lava?"

"Ah, I've planned for this. I went a learned how to control my body's internal temperature so that hot temperatures don't effect me so much." he explains.

"Wow. That's pretty sweet."

"Thanks for not saying "cool"."

"I'll go too." Zephyr says. He turns to Octavia. "Tavi, you know I love you, but I can't leave my friends hanging."

She looks down. "Just please promise me you'll come back."

He gives her a heart-felt smile. "I promise."

"I'll go too." Drax says.

"I'm going no matter what." Vine says with seriousness.

"Buck yeah! This sounds awesome!" Dark cheers.

"Even though I'm not one for violence, I'll gladly go to help a pony in need." Rhino says.

"And I'm coming too." Orion says.

Celestia smiles down upon all of us. "Thank you, all of you. Your help is most appreciated. We shall leave for Taurtarus first thing in the morning. But for now, you may all have dinner and rest up."

We nod before leaving the chambers and going to eat over at the dining room where a big meal had already been made for us.

Thank you, Celestia! There's chimicherrychongas! We all take seats and begin to dig in on our food. Despite our current situation, we all have a great time eating and hanging out together. Surprisingly enough, Dark doesn't even act like a jerk or anything. But throughout the entire dinner, Vine just sits there, looking deep in thought about something.

After dinner, we say our good nights to each other as each couple went off together and the four loners shared two rooms each.

Dash and I lay together in bed, both of us thinking the same thing. "So, you're really going through with it?" Dash asks a bit worriedy.

"Yeah, I guess I am." I say.

"Please come back. I don't want to lose you."

I see a tear come down her face, which I wipe away. "I promise. You already know nothing can kill me."

She starts smiling before clinging to me tighter. "Thanks, Blue. You go kick flank while you're down there."

I chuckle. "You know it, Dash."

We spend the rest of our night together, as a couple should. Before you ask, yes, there was sex.

The next morning

I get up and out of bed, strangely much more awake than I usually am when I wake up.

Dash gets up, looking at me. "So, today's the day, huh?"

I smirk. "Yep."

She grins slightly. "I know you won't let me down."

I go over to her and hug her. "Just know that I love you, Dash."

She hugs me back, gripping me tightly. "I love you too, Blue."

After getting ready and not even gettig any breakfast, we all head outside to the front of the castle where Twilight told us the princess wanted us to meet.

We go there to find Celestia as well as a bunch of carriages strapped to a bunch of guards. "Good morning, everypony."

"Good morning, princess." we say. That felt kinda weird.

"Are you all ready to go?" we all give our undoubted yesses to that. "Are you really sure? Taurtarus is filled with indescrible monsters and demons you could never possibly dream of. If you go now, there will be no backing down." we nod, not even saying a word this time. "Very well. Everypony climb aboard."

We all go into the carriages, Celestia coming with us. We all remain quiet for a majority of the jouney, Vine in particular. During the entire time, she's completely silent, almost like a statue. Okay, there is DEFINITELY something going on with her.

After a few hours of flying, we see some very large, omnious, stone gates off in the distance. We also see their watcher, the three-headed beast, Ceberus.

Okay, looks like we'll be getting some action even before we go in.

The carriages land a few dozen feet away from Cerberus, everypony piling out as they do. As we come out, Cerberus wakes up from a nap and growls at us. The more normal members of the group back up and take cover.

I step forward and crack my joints. "Okay, Ceberus. Let's see what the guardian of Taurtarus is made of."

Celestia steps forward. "Please, allow me." her horn grows brightly as she starts charging magic in it. She fires a beam of energy at the giant dog, putting it to sleep in an instant.

"Well, that was anti-climactic."

"No need to make this journey any harder than need be." Celestia says.

Touche.

"I shall have guards posted out here for when you return. Now, we should be going."

After saying our final good byes to our friends and lovers, we follow Celestia up to the gate. She uses her magic to open the huge gates, a huge wave of heat shooting out as they do.

We all take steps inside, turning back to Celestia before the gates close. "Good luck, my little ponies. You have my blessings." with that, she uses her magic to close the colossal doors.

I look back to see the sight before me: mountains of fire and brimstone with fire raining from the skies and many condemned ponies all around.

We step forward and look over the edge to see a giant hole that leads down.

I gulp for a moment. "Well, let's do this."

And we all descend down, Ice using his ice slide and Drax carrying Rhino.

I don't care what this place is supposed to be like, I'm not gonna lose.

Author's Note: Aw shit! It's about to go down! Razor Graze comes from KillJoy and Grim Blade comes from Iron Clad. Dis gon b' gud.

Up the Creek Without a Paddle

Author's Note: Okay, just a bit of a warning here, things are gonna become a bit darker and more disturbing from here on out. Not Cupcakes dark or disturbing, but darker and more violent than anything else I've really done. Also, thanks goes to Star Light for all of the battle music I plan to use throughout this arc. Now, on with the story.

Down in the very depths of Taurtarus

A group of ponies well known for their necromancy, a group feared by millions of beings, and the rulers over Taurtarus, the Grave Ponies, watch over the current happenings in Taurtarus. Their leader, the devilish Grim Blade, sits in his throne, looking bored. In his boredom, he looks over at Razor Graze, the suited pegasus looking beat up and his limbs chained the wall. Graze struggles to free himself in vein, but to no avail.

Grim chuckles. "Poor fool. You're never escaping from here. Never!"

Graze snarls. "You coward! How about you fight me yourself?!"

Grim laughs again. "Don't make me laugh. You could never defeat me. Nopony can except for those damned princesses, but they're not here right now."

During all of Grim's taunting, a random minion of his runs to him with urgent news to give. "Sir! Sir!"

Grim looks over to him. "What is it, Tombstone?"

The pony stops, huffing from all of the running. "We have recieved news that the gates have been opened!"

Grim puts his hooves together. "Excellent."

"No, not excellent!"

"What?"

"These ponies aren't being banished! Celestia personally escorted them in!"

"She what?!" curious and upset by this news, Grim chants a spell, causing a transparent window to appear infront of him, showing us descending down the hole. He carefully examines us. "I sense a great power from these ponies. What is Celestia up to? Does she still believe Graze has a chance of escaping?"

Graze smiles from seeing us. "Ha! I knew I could get out of here! Just you wait, bonehead!"

Grim glares at him. "Bite your tongue, fool! We shall see what these eight are capable of soon enough." Grim looks closer at the window, taking a good look at all of us. "We shall see indeed."

Back over to us

All of us soar down the gaping hole, heading down towards the first real area of Taurtarus. As we fly, I can feel tears in my eyes from all of the heat. I look at the others to see they are also having a bit of trouble, and even looking a bit worried.

"Just hang in there, guys!" I shout. "We should be down there pretty soon! Remember, be strong and watch each other's backs down there!"

"Right!" they all shout.

We all continue freefalling down, once in a while some embers passing us by. After falling for a bit, we touchdown on solid ground and look around.

For anyone who doesn't know, Taurtarus is structured like a cone with nine seperate floors, minus the top floor. The worse a crime the pony has done, the lower down they go. Right now we're not quite at the first real floor, we're only at the floor where ponies board Charon, the giant talking boat that guides the condemned ponies to the floors they belong on.

I know this is all sounding really dark, but it's the truth. Not everywhere in Equestria is as nice as Ponyville.

As we look around, we can see lines of condemned ponies. They look like zombies. No manes, no teeth, rotting flesh, black eyes, and looking extremely thin. They're in line to board Charon. The scenery around here is basically the same as before, only there's a gigantic river where Charon rocks back in forth as he waits.

He all look at each. "So, you guys ready to climb aboard?" I ask. They all nod. "*sigh* Okay, let's get going."

We all get on Charon's back, ready to go. But instead, Charon just sits there. He turns his head and looks at us angrily.

"What do you all think you're doing?" he asks in a booming voice.

Dark steps forward. "Hey, think you can get a move on? This place isn't exactly where I wanted to spend my vacation."

"What are you mortal ponies doing here?" he asks again.

I push Dark aside. "We've been sent by Celestia to confront the Grave Ponies and save Razor Graze."

"Confront the Grave Ponies? You fools do not stand a chance. You shall all die before you coud even make it that far, and I shant guide you either."

Dark steps forward agan, this time with anger. "Just get a move on, jerk! I want to get to kicking this Grim Blade guy's flank!"

"Puny mortals! You shall all pay for your insolence towards Lord Grim Blade! Harpies, attack!"

Dang it, Dark! Does he always have to go and cause us trouble?

From the air descends a bunch of creatures that look like winged monkeys. I've heard of harpies, but never actually seen any in real life.

The winged beasts growl, revealing their sharp fangs as they flare their wings.

Well, guess we have no choice but to fight our way out of here.

(Commence battle music)

The first harpy lunges at me, fangs showing. It takes a bite towards my neck, but misses, only catching the air. With the harpy wide open, I wind back a charged up hoof and send it flying into a wall, leaving an imprint.

Too easy.

The next two go for Zephyr. He takes off at a breakneck speed, the harpies following right behind him. He flies around for a bit, always ahead of them. As they near, they open their mouths, ready to grab his tail. He quickly stops though, the harpies continuing forward. They look back at him, him giving a wave with a smirk on his face. Looking back ahead, the harpies slam face first into a wall.

Ouch.

The next one goes after Rhino. Rhino is very passive when not in his rage mode, so seeing how he fights should be interesting. The harpy runs at him, but slips as Rhino uses Res to make it trip up. It continues slipping around as if the floor were covered in oil. Now getting mad, the harpy takes to the sky. The harpy divebombs at Rhino, smiling. But right before it hits, Rhino jumps out of the way and uses his Res to make the harpy slam down into the floor, knocking it unconcious.

Looks like he doesn't need to be raging to kick flank.

Next up is Ice. He starts off firing ice shards, giving the beasts small cuts as they attempt to dodge. As they approach, Ice creates an ice pillar that shoots him up. After gaining some height over them, he jumps down and drops his front hooves into their faces, puttig them down.

And who says earth ponies aren't awesome?

A group of five harpies surround Drax, ready to take down the large stallion. The first one jumps up, but is put back down by a punch. Two more jump at him, but are both grabbed and slammed together. The remaining two each leap for him, but are grabbed and spun around until they're eventually let flying into a wall.

Job well done.

Next is Orion. He takes off, the harpy following after him. After gaining a good lead, as well as distracting the harpy with his star streak, he turns around and rams into its gut, knocking it down and out, similar to how he once took down an ursa.

I just hope I'm never at the receiving end of one of those.

And now it's Dark's turn. This won't even be a contest. As the harpy he's faced with nears him, he takes an electrically charged hoof and touches it to the harpy, zapping it into unconsciousness.

Yeah, like I said, not even a chance for the harpy.

And last up is Vine. Oddly enough, she decides to fly up for this one. As she gets next to a wall with a harpy chasing after her, she releases several thorned vines that shoot out and stab the harpy through its wings. The harpy now unable to fly, Vine grabs it in a bear hug and starts falling with it in a downward spiral. Right before they reach the ground, Vine throws it down and angles herself to fly back up, taking out th harpy and saving herself.

Apparently she doesn't even need to be on the ground to be tough. Another reason I'm glad she's on our side.

(End battle music)

With all of the harpies defeated, we all gather around and give each other highhoofs.

"That was awesome!" I say.

Charon yells out in anger. "Fools! Do you even know the forces you are messing with?! You shall all pay for this!"

Dark steps up, a scowl on his face. "And you're gonna pay for making me mad!" he takes his hooves and charges some lightning grenades in each of them. The balls fully charged, he throws them directly at Charon's head. The massive boat beast shouts in pain from the explosions before falling unconscious.

Dark smirks. "That'll teach him to mess with me."

I tap him on his sholder. "Yeah, only now we're forced to go all the way down ourselves."

He shrugs. "Oh well. Better get a move on then."

Now with Charon out, we're stuck going down on our own, through all nine circles. Meh, I kinda figured this would happen.

Back in the throne room

Grim watches the window he had summoned very closely, taking in what he had just watched. "These ponies are very formidable. They are much stronger than I thought."

Graze laughs a bit. "I told you! They're coming to save me and I'm finally giving out of here!"

Grim gives a slight chuckle. "We shall see. They have yet to even make it down to the first circle. There the fun shall really begin."

The Forest of Shadows

Author's Note: Here's where things start getting really creepy. Like I said, it's gonna be a bit dark for one of my stories. And just to let you know, I base all of this off of the Dante's Inferno movie. Now, on with the story.

After Dark had idioticaly took out Charon, our quickest and easiest way down to the bottom of this stupid place, we had followed the river Charon was floating in and found what I assume to be the first circle, Limbo.

Limbo is basically the lowest form of Taurtarus, where only those who go against Celestia and Luna are sent once they die on their own. Them and evil foals for some reason I don't know. I don't see the point really. Aside from the royal pony sisters, the only beings to worship are Discord, Nightmare Moon, and Chrysalis. Celestia and Luna don't even banish people here themselves.

Anyway, this place is immensely creepy. Imagine the Everfree Forest, but even darker, colder, filled with rotting and bare trees, and almost completely void of life due to how few are actually sent here.

Vine looks at the whole scene in disgust. "How is it they can do this to innocent plants? Just another reason I plan to make the Grave Ponies suffere."

The rest of us look at each other worriedly before looking at her. "Vine, you've been acting strange ever since Celestia mentioned the Grave Ponies. What's your deal with them?" I say.

She sighs. "My tribe of ponies, the Vine Ponies, are the controllers of life. The Grave Ponies are the conrollers of death and decay. Our two tribes are sworn enemies. Besides, they've also killed countless members of my tribe, leading us down to our last few. I plan to make them pay for that."

All of that? Wow. "Vine, I can see the Grave POnies have done you a lot of wrong, but we're on a mission here. Don't let your personal feud cloud your thoughts and get in the way of that. WE're here to save Graze, not mess with some petty rivalry."

She starts looking at me angrily. "Petty? They KILLED my ancestors and family, so you better watch your mouth."

Trying to keep us from fighting each other, Rhino gets between us. "Okay, just settle down, guys. Fight amongst ourselves isn't going to get anything done."

We just turn away, both of us sitting on our haunches and crossing our forelegs.

"YEOUCH!" I shout as I feel a pain in my back leg. "Hey, why'd you bite me?"

"Bite you? I wouldn't bite you." Vine says. She turns around and lets out a yelp.

I bring up my back leg and find a demonic foal biting on it with its razor sharp teeth. I shake my leg in vein, trying to get it off. "GET IT OFF!"

Dark comes over and smacks it off hard with a hoof. "Nasty little bugger!"

We start looking around us, noticing dozens of them. "We're surrounded!" Rhino shouts.

Well, guess it's fight time again. "Then let's get unsurrounded!" heh, fighting demon foals in Taurtarus. And I thought my life couldn't get any crazier.

(Commence second battle music)

Dark creates a lightning frag grenade in his hoof and chucks it into a group of them, the explosion instantly destroying many of them.

Vine creates a bunch of vines from the ground and uses them as whips to take out nearby groups of them.

I use my Blue Typhoon to blow away a bunch of them, knocking many of them off of some cliffs.

The foals being a bit too small and quick to impale, Ice dashes around on his ice slide while firing ice shards at them

Since the others don't really have any powers, they simply use physical attacks like punchs, bucks, and air dashs to attack the demonic babies.

But despite all ourefforts, the waves of blood-thirsty babies keep on coming. As they approach, we all back up, back to back, into each other in the center of this mess.

"They just keep coming!" shouts Dark.

"We can't fight 'em all!" Zeph adds in.

"It's okay!" I shout. "I've got a plan B!"

"WHAT?!" everypony shouts.

I look back and forth, making sure everything is clear. "RUN LIKE BUCK!"

(End battle music)

I dash off, leaving my friends confused for a moment before quickly following behind me. We all start running as fast as we can, the army of hungry foals ever intebtly chassing us down and make us into their next meal. We weave back and forth, dodging passed trees, ducking under branches, and jumping over rocks, all in an attempt to escape down to the next level.

"Hey, I think I see something!" Zephyr calls out.

I squint as I look up ahead to see a bridge leading up to a very large door. "Yes! That must be the entrance to the next floor!"

As we near the bridge, the foals start retreating. "What's going on with them?" Orion asks outloud.

"Who cares? We're homefree!" Dark says.

As we reach the bridge, we stop as we hit some kind of invisible wall. "Hey, what gives?" Zeph says.

"Oh, look. Some new toys for me to play with." a voice says from infront of us. We look all around, but can't see anyone. As we sense an approaching figure, we back up.

Out from the shadows pops a very tall... stallion? The muzzle is kinda throwing me off. Anyway, he's purple with black stripes. He also has no mane, but a black and silver tail. He has webbed wings, sharp teeth, and reptilian eyes.

I know I should be more scared of this guy, but being that we're in Taurtarus, a hellhole filled with evil demons and monsters of all kinds, I'm not surprised by this. And having met ponies like Charge and Alloy, guys like this don't freak me out anymore.

He steps forward, a grin on his face. "Oh, just look at all of my new playmates. Do you all want to play with dear, old Shadow Blade?"

Shadow Blade. Got it.

I step forward, determined to get passed this weirdo. "Hey, mind getting out of our way? You're kinda in it."

Dark steps up. "Or you could make it more fun and we can move you out of the way ourselves."

"Oh, they both sound fun, but I'll have to go with option two." he crouches down, his wings flared and ready.

Dark pounds his hooves together. "Fine by me."

Oh great.

(Boss Battle 1: Shadow Blade. BEGIN!)

Dark lunges at him, eager to beat him down. He charges up his hooves, going in for a charged punch. "Take this!"

But before Dark can reach him, an invisible force hits Dark and sends him flying back.

I jump back a bit in surprise. "What the-" but before I can continue, the same kind of force knocks me back.

The others get ready to attack, but they themselves are also sent back. This entire time Shadow Blade has never moved from his spot.

Is he just that fast? Or is there just something I'm missing here?

We look at him as we get up, both confused and surprised by this. He gives us a menacing smile. "Hehehe, my turn!" he leaps towards us, ready to strike. I dodge a blow to the side, but am hit from the back and knocked into a tree.

"Blue!" Zeph shouts. He turns towards Shadow angrily. "You're mine!" he flies towards Shadow, but the demonic pony disappears as he steps into the shadow of a tree. Zephyr looks around aimlessly. "Where'd you ho?!"

Shadow pops out from behind a tee. "Here I am!" Zeph flies at him, but he disappears and reappears behind another tree. "No, I'm over here!" Zeph goes for him again, but he continues disappearing and reappearing, as if it were like a game of Whack a Mole.

With Zeph now confused on what to do, Shadow pos out and sends him flying with a punch to the face. Shadow laughs manically at how easy this all is for him.

Suddenly, Vine summons several vines from the ground and pulls apart his limbs.

Vine smirks at him. "Heh, what'cha gonna do now?"

Shadow grins. "This."

From out of nowhere and with no sign, Vine is knocked back yet again. She rubs her head before getting frustrated. "What the buck is going on?!"

"I don't know, but he's mine!" Orion shouts. He goes down for a divebomb on Shadow, but just as he reaches him, he vanishes. Orion continues flying around. With no sign of Shadow, he stops and scratches is head. "Where'd he go?"

"Right here." he says. Orion looks down to see Shadow directly below him. Shadow grabs him by his tail and tosses him away. "Is this the best you can do?"

"You haven't tried me yet!" Rhino calls out. He does a quick teleport and gets behind Shadow to give him a buck in the back. Shadow now flying, Ice stomps his hooves and sends an ice pillar to shoot him up. With SHadow still dazed, Drax does a double overhead hammer slam on Shadow's head, knocking him down.

Hooray for teamwork!

Shadow gets up, now mad. "You think you can take me down that easily?!"

The ponies who attacked him all go off in different directions after being hit by another invisible force.

"Hey, ugly!" Dark shouts. Shadow turns around to see Dark charging at him. While this is going on, I pay close attention to watch Shadow. As Dark nears, he slams into what appears to be nothing. Taking notice, I see what Dark had hit starts at where the line of a Shadow ends.

"Hey, guys! I think I got it! He's manipulating the shadows to be hard like walls!"

Shadow turns to me, slightly mad. "That may be true, but that's far from my only trick!"

I'm yet again tossed away by a force I can't see. I look around, but can't see anything. I am then repeatedly thrown around until Vine uses a vine to catch me and pull me over.

I breathe out as she sets me down. "Thanks."

"No problem. Sorry about earlier."

"No big deal. I'm the one who should apologize."

"We don't have time for this!"

"Right, sorry."

"Anyway, I think I saw what kept hitting you and us."

I perk up at that. "Really? What?"

"I see a shadow with Shadow's body shape moving all around. I believe it can actually interact with physical objects through shadows."

I scratch my chin as I think. "Really?" I look at the ground to see the shadow she was talking aboout approach. "Watch out!"

"I've got it!" Vine turns around and uses her own shadow to buck it back. "Hmm, guess I was right."

While this is going on, the others continue fighting Shadow. Zephyr flies around after him, but he continues popping out of trees.

When Shadow pops out to get him, Orion tries to bodycheck Shadow out of the way. But before he can reach him, he disappears.

"Wait a minute." Dark says, having seen the whole thing. "Orion, stop!"

Orion stops and looks back. "What is it?"

"Move out of the way! He's using your star trail to hide in!"

Orion looks back to see him and narrowly sucks under a punch. He fires back with a buck of his own.

With Shadow dazed, Dark moves in. "I've got you now, shadow stallion!"

But again, before he can reach, Shadow uses the shadow of a nearby tree to hide in.

Dark starts getting frustrated. "Enough of this garbage!" he charges up a grenade in his hoof and throws it out, the resulting light from the explosion forces Shadow out, howling in pain. "Oh, hate the light, do ya?"

Shadow turns to him, angry. He uses his shadow to grab Dark by the tail and toss him into several rocks and trees before chucking him away.

I think I got's myself an idea. "Guys, clear out of the way!" they all listen immediately.

I start spining aroud, creatig my Blue Tornado. This one I leave stationary, free on its own. I fire a dozen or so waves into it, the waves dancing around the inside. I call this move The Blender.

I start guiding the tornado around with blasts of wind, making it tear through all of the trees and rocks in sight.

After the tornado disappears, the dust sets to reveal a flustered and worried Shadow Blade. With nowhere left to hide, he's a sitting duck.

Dark steps and cracks his hoove joints. "Time to light it up."

Before Shadow can escape, Vine ties him up with a bunch of vines. Shadow now wide open, Dark flies at him with his hooves harged and delivers a devastating double charged hoof punch.

(End battle music)

Vine releases the unconscious Shadow Blade before we walk up to eexamine him. "Well, now what?" I say.

"I saw we rip him to pieces." Dark says.

"No! We can't kill him!" Vine shouts.

"Aw, but why not?"

"This place is Taurtarus, the underworld. Plus, the Grave Ponies are necromancers. If we kill anything, they can just bring it back to life."

"Then what are we gonna do with him?" Zephyr asks.

"Easy. I'll restrain him so he can't move when wakes up. Saving us the trouble of fightig him on our way back up."

"Good thinking, Vine." I say.

She uses her powers to make many vines grow, completely tying Shadow to the ground and keeping him from moving if we were to wake up.

I look over at the bridge. "So, you guys ready for the next circle?"

They nod, not even thinking twice. With the bridge now clear, we go over to it and open the door, finding some stairs that lead further down.

One circle down, eight more to go.

Further down in Taurtarus

Grim Blade sips some wine, having taken a break from watching us.

Suddenly, Tombstone comes to interrupt him. "Sir, we have received news of Shadow Blade's defeat."

Grim sets his drink down. "I figured as much."

Tombstone raises an eyebrow at him. "Sir?"

"Shadow was a weak fool. I expected as much from him." he takes another sip of his drink. "Besides, I always hated how we shared the same last name."

Author's Note: Shadow Blade(no relation to the alicorn) comes from Star Light. Not the last of her OC's we'll be seeeing.

Unpleasures of the Flesh

Author's Note: Just yet another warning, things get a bit... sexual in this chapter. I'm not gonna go all clopfic on you guys(Celestia knows that never turns out well), but a bit more steamy than usual. Now, with that out of the way, on with the story.

Grim sits in his throne, completely uncaring at hearing that we passed the first circle. He smirks to himself. "No matter about Shadow Blade. These ponies will have to with 'her' next."

"'Her', sir?" Tombstone asks in confusion.

(Image of Tombstone I made)

"Desire, you idiot!" he shouts in annoyance.

Tombstone gets embarassed at how oblivious he is. "Oh, right."

Grim facehoofs. "Tombstone, you are an idiot."

Back to us

After having gotten out of Limbo, we reach a long, snake-like trail that leads further down below. Now we enter to the parts where the real sinners and criminals go to, the parts where Celestia and Luna personally send these ponies to, whether they be alive or dead.

The first of these circles, if I recall correctly, is Lust. Here, those who are lustful and constantly crave sex, even sometimes forcefully trying to get it, are sent down here. The mares all go into a three day long heat every year, but that doesn't count. Only those who seek sex all the time, and who willfully go after it, are sent here.

As we go further down, a thunderous storm starts up. "Woah, what's with the weird weather down here?" I say.

"Remember, Blue. This is Taurtarus, it doesn't work like the rest of Equestria. The weather down here is even more spartic than the Everfree Forest's." Vine explains.

"Hmm, I guess that makes sense."

"Heh, maybe you should try to research this place's weather, Blue." Zephyr jokes.

"Screw that. I'm not spending anymore time down here than need be. The Everfree Forest is good enough, thank you very much."

"Hey, do you guys here that?" ORhino says, putting his ear out. The rest of us listen and start hearing wailing.

"It's the lost souls of this circle traveling through the air, howling in their misery." Vine says. She shivers a bit. "I recommend we just move along."

Not thinking twice about it, we agree as we continue on. As we continue down, we eventually come across a building with an arch out infront iof it.

"Sweet, we can finally get out of this weather!" Dark says.

We hurry inside the building, not wanting to spend anymore time out in the storm.

Upon coming we come inside to find a mostly empty room. Empty, that is, except for all of the admittedly seductive looking mares inside.

"New guests have arrived, sisters." they all say.

They all come over to us and start drooping themselves over us. "Well, where have you been all this time, handsome?" one says to me.

My wings, as well as most of the others', wings uncontrollably pop open. Rhino and Ice each have their horns giving off magic on their own.

"Well, I, uh..." I say, a bit nervous. I gulp in an effort to talk. "Hehehe, sorry to tell you this, but I've got a marefriend."

"Oh, we can still have some fun. She doesn't have no know anything. It can be our little secret."

"I don't know, Blue. This seems pretty awesome." Zeph says, sevral mares on him.

"ZEPHYR!"

"Right sorry. Sorry, ladies, but I'm taken too."

"Come play with us, Zephyr." they say.

Zeph shakes them off. "I said no!"

Vine decides to step in, being the female of the group and being the only one the mares aren't draped over. "Listen, we're just going to go on through to the next circle, if you don't mind. Come on, guys. Graze is waiting for us."

But as we are about to keep walking, the group of mares stands in our way. "If you will not have us, then we shall have you."

They stand up as... huge tentacles come flying out of their marehoods.

I'll be thankful if I'm still not afriad to have sex again after this.

(Commence more random battle music)

One of them flies at us, but Dark uses one of his lightning blades to slice the tantacle, making blood spurt out from it. "Mares with tentacles coming from their vaginas. Never thought I'd fight that." he says.

Completely agreed. This place just gets crazier by the second.

A tentacle flies at me, but I use my charged up wings to block it and throw it out of the way. The mare no open, I send a bolt of energy at her and slice her in half.

Thank you for my new nightmares for the next month.

Vine steps up, irritated. "I'm the only pony who does the tentacle raping around here."

"Don't remind me." Ice says as he bucks a wall, making a pillar fly out and impale one of the demonic harlets.

"Agreed." Rhino says. He uses his Res to make a tentacle flying at him stick to a wall. With the mare stuck, he uses his magic to throw her back, making the tentacle rip off and having the mare bleed to death.

"It seems you two are still flankhurt about that." Vine says smugly.

"Quite literally." they both say.

Vine makes a bunch of vines speout from the ground. The surrounding mares send their own tentacles at her. Vine grabs them with her vines and throws them around, slamming them into walls and each other.

She smirks. "I'm the only pony who tentacle rapes because I'm the best at it."

Anyone think Vine may be related to the Slenderpony?

Orion and Zephyr each deal with their foes a little less indirectly. As the tentacles chase them, they fly around them in a sort of air ballet. Eventually, the two tentacles become intertwined. The mares, now having lost all senses, pull until the tentacles rip off, leading to what's basically a double suicide.

Zephyr and Orion brohoof in victory.

Last up is Drax. He stands there, looking confident. The mare he's facing shoots her vag tentacle at him. Drax catches it and uses it to pull her in close range. He finishes up with a strong downward punch to her face, shattering her mouth and nose.

We all look around the now messy room, all the mares defeated. We look to see blood and cut up bodies everywhere.

"Geez, that sure was messy." Orion says.

"You surprised?" I say.

"Hmm, I suppose I really shouldn't be."

"I say we get a move on before anything else has a chanc to show up." Zeph says.

"Agreed." we all say.

We start walking, ready to leave. But before we can, just as Zephyr said we should avoid, a flies infront of the exit.

She is pegasus with a brown and green, splotchy coat. Her mane and tail are red, and her wings are just about indescribable. No feathers, or even webbed. They just look like a mangled mess. And her eyes have sort of an emptiness to them. I'm not sure why, but they just seem so hollow.

She looks around at the mess and tsks at us. "Oh, I see you all didn't like my girls."

"Girls? They're monsters with tentacles coming where Celestia's sun don't shine!" Dark shouts at her.

"They wouldn't have attacked if you had agreed to them, darlings. Or do you just all swing the other way?"

"Hey, nopony insults my stallionliness!" Zephyr shouts.

"Ooh, I bit of a fisety one, are you? I like that. I shall enjoy taking you."

"Take me?" he says, smiling at what he thinks that means.

Not again. "ZEPHYR!"

He starts focusing again. "Uh, I mean, what is that supposed to mean?"

She licks her lips. "Oh you'll see." suddenly, her eyes widen, a bit of a glow coming from then.

I try to step forward, but am unable to. "Hey, I can't move!"

"Urgh, me neither!" Dark says.

"Me neither, no matter how much I use Res!" Rhino says.

"I can't move either, no matter how hard I try!" Drax says. "It feels like I'm frozen!"

"Nope, that's not it, because I'm stuck too!" Ice says.

"Same here!" Orion adds.

"What the buck is this?!" Zephyr shouts.

Vine moves her hooves, being the only one able to. "Hey, I'm not frozen."

"Hrmph, I'll deal with you later." the strange mare says. She goes up to Zephyr and looks at him with a hungry look. "Oh, aren't you cute? You just let Desire take care of you."

Okay, so her name's Desire.

"Ever sense I was raped as a child, I've craved sex. You seven stallions shall do wonders for me" she gives him a lick on the cheek. "Oh, you taste so good."

Zephyr starts becoming increasingly worried. "Somepoy help me!"

Feeling that her friends are in trouble, Vine uses her powers to have a vine knock Desire away. "You stay away from them, you whore!"

Desire casted away, the guys and I are free to move again. "Phew, that was close." I say. "Good thing her stare apparently can't be used on mares."

Desire gets up, now angry. "You shall all become my new sex slaves, whether you like it or not! And as for the mare, I shall enjoy ripping your heart out!"

(Boss Battle 2: Desire. BEGIN!)

Desire silently chants a spell.

"What the?" Vine says.

As she finishes, a thick smoke comes from Desire, cover up the entire room. We all look around aimlessly, unable to see even an inch infront of our snouts.

"Funny thing about Taurtarus. Being down here tends to give ponies strange side-effects. Changed appearance, increased strength, and powers being the main ones."

"Well, buck us!" Dark shouts.

"I plan to."

Us unable to see, Desire flies around at incredible speed, hitting us all repeatedly.

I catch myself before I fall. "Smoke the best you got? Well, let me just clear that up."

I start flapping my wings furiously, blowing away the smoke. As the smoke clears, I see a ball of dark energy flying at me. It sends me flying back into a wall, leaving small cracks upon impact. I look at Desire in shock, seeing similar balls of energy in her hooves.

"Like I said, powers are some very nice side-effects of this place."

"How's this for powers?!" Dark shouts. He shoots over some lightning bolts at her, but she dodges them all and comes in close give him an uppercut.

Rhino uses his Res to catch Dark before he hits his head on the ceiling. Being preoccupied, he doesn't notice Desire as she comes to give him a swift kick to the face.

Seeing an opportunity, Ice tries to dash in on his slide. Desire notices him though and uses her powerful stare to cause him to stop.

I should've totally said she made him 'freeze'.

Before she can go over to him, Zephyr goes in for a hit, but she dodges. She goes in for her own punch, but she herself misses. They both take to the air, continuing this pattern.

They both stop as the eye each other down. "You're quite fast." she says.

"And you're not bad yourself."

"Oh, I'm even faster in bed."

"Too much infornation. Besides, not like I'm gonna find that out."

With Desire distracted, both Drax orion slam into her from opposite sides, making her go limp and fall to the ground.

Before she lands, Vine catches her by her limbs and stretches her ou. "Let's see how you like a little bondage." she says.

Shaking off the limp feeling, Desire feels her limbs start to stretch, feeling her bones about to pop out of their sockets at any moment.

She begins to chant another spell, summoning more balls into her hooves.

"Oh no you don't!" I say.

I fly up in the air directly above her. I charge both of my hooves before going into a spiralling nosedive towards her. My spinning and falling pick up speed as I near her. As I get close enough, I deliver my most devastating Double Hurricane Hoof directly to her stomach, making her cough up blood.

You can call that move The Auger.

After that devastating blow, Desire lays unconscious on the ground, a crater around where she hit.

(End battle music)

Vine smirks. "Serves her right." she uses more vines to yet again restrain our fallen foe from getting back up. We all get up and stretch, shaking off any injuries or soar feelings we may have gotten during all that.

"I still kinda wish I got some." Zephyr says.

"Dude, get over it. You're engaged." I say.

"Yeah, I know. But still, sex." he says with a sheepish grin.

We shake our heads before continuing to the doorway out of here and to the next circle.

My only worry now is what could be down there waiting for us.

Author's Note: Desire comes from Zoom. Who would've thought he would make something like her?

Glutton for Punishment

Author's Note: Just another generic warning, but this one is pretty dark. If you've seen the movie this is based on, you'd know what I mean. Now, on with the story.

Back down in Grim's throne room

Tombstone walks up to Grim, who is sitting in his throne, looking ever more worried. "Sir." Grim doesn't respond. "Sir?" a snoring sound comes from Grim. "SIR!"

"Huh? Uh? What?" Grim says as he looks all around from being woken up suddenly. He rubs his eyes to refocus them on Tombstone. "What is it, Tombstone?!"

"We have just received news that the ponies that are trespassig..." he trails off, worried how his master will react.

"Yes, Tombstone?" Grim asks, leaning in closer.

He gulps. "We have received news that the trespassing ponies have defeated Desire and her forces and are making their way down to the third circle."

Grim sits back in his in his seat. "Is that all? I expected this. So what if they passed the second circle? There are still seven to go, each more terrible and gruesome than the last. Alala should be able to take care of them."

"Um... If you say so, sir."

"Do you doubt my decision, Tombstone?" Grim asks, somewhat annoyed.

Tombstone freezes up. "N-No! Never, sir!"

"Good, now go get me more wine."

"Yes, sir!" he dashes off quixkly, leaving dust behind him.

Grim smirks. "I do so love being evil." he begins to silently laugh to himself.

Graze looks on in anger. He starts thinking to himself. 'Yeah, just keep laughing, flankhole. Your time's gonna be up pretty soon.'

Back to us again

Now we enter upon the third circle of Taurtarus: Gluttony. The circle where those who spend their time doing almost nothing but eating are sent to. I myself eat a LOT of chimicherrychongas, but I seriously doubt I'd be sent here for that. The whole reasoning behind this circle is that those who spend their lives trying to fill something they can't are to be tortured for their entire afterlife.

I seriously don't get what the princesses' beefs are with ponies who eat a lot, but this seems pretty harsh. Oh well.

We walk through the circle, the scenery looking similar to what the inside of a monster may be like. There are puddles everywhere, and the walls are pink and flesh-like.

Rhino shivers. "This place seriously makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Yeah, I know what you mean, bro." I say. "Let's just keep moving. Sooner we get out of here, the better."

As we walk, we come to a big open area with gargantuan monsters devouring condemned ponies, blood pouring out of their mouths like fountains.

"Could we maybe go a bit faster?" Zephyr says.

"Yes."

As we approach, we come up to a humongous, tentacled beast with mouths at the end of each tentacle, and a slimy hole for a mouth on the largest head. The best uses its tentacle to consume ponies, as well as pull ponies into its largest mouth.

"What the buck is this... abomination of nature?" Rhino asks in shock and disgust.

Looks like it's time for Vine to do more explaining. "The kraken, guardian of the third circle, Gluttony. It's job is to consume passing ponies to forver suffer in its insides."

Ice tries to keep himself from puking. "This is seriously disgusting."

Suddenly, it sends a bunch of its tentacles at us. "And it's seriously dangerous!" Dark shouts. He flies up and cuts one off with a lightning blade.

(Mini-boss: The Kraken. BEGIN!)

The chomping tentacles fly at us droves, ready to grind us to rivets. As one approaches, I do as Dark did and slice it off with a charged wing before firing it off and slicing another one.

Using his Res, Rhino jumps on one and slides down it. Eventually, another goes to bite him, but he jumps off, making the second tentacle bit off the first.

That tentacle open, Ice stomps his hooves, sending pillar up and straight through it. While he isn't looking, another wraps around him and pulls him off the ground.

Noticing his friend in trouble, Drax flies up and pulls Ice out and puts him on his back. The tentacle comes at them, but Drax catches it and holds it. With a free shot, Ice send some ice shards through the tentacle, making blood spill out all over as it falls.

Orion flies around as a tentacle chase him, avoiding its strong chomps. As they reach a pillar, Orion flies around it in a circle, the tentacle doing the same. It gets stuck, trying to pull itself towards Orion. The only thing this accomplishes though is ripping itself off of its foundation and ending its own life.

Putting his amazing flying skills to use, Zephyr flies away from a pursuing tentacle. He causes the tentacle to fly into a wall at a sharp turn, but it continues chasing him. Leading the tentacle to be in close range, Zephyr flies closer to Vine. With the tentacle now in range, Vine stomps hard, sending a bunch of hard vines to shoot up and stab the tentacle straight through.

The two of them highhoof for a successful plan.

(End battle music)

We gather around, the tentacles that were chasing us all defeated, but the massive monstrosity still standing.

We all stare it down. "We need to take that thing out." Vine says.

Dark cracks his joints. "With pleasure. Just give me a minute and-"

He's cut off as a piercing scream goes off, making us all cover our ears.

"WHAT THE BUCK IS THAT?!" Drax shouts through the scream.

The screaming subsides as a bluish pegasus mare with a bluish-grey tail and no mane lands. She has sharp teeth and eyes that look very faded.

She growls at us. "Grr, ponies sent from Celestia."

I step up, not in any mood for this. "That's right, so you best back off, lady. We're not afraid of you or anything down here."

"I didn't think you would be. But for being ponies from Celestia, you shall pay for her wrong doings against me! You shall be destroyed because of her! FEEL THE WRATH OF ALALA!"

Now not only do we have to deal with the kraken, but now this Alala mare too. Celestia dang it. Quite literally in this case.

(Boss Battle 3: Alala. BEGIN!)

She flies at us, ready to attack. Drax steps and gets in a defensive position. "I've got this."

She flies at him and they push back and forth, hoof to hoof. She actually manages to make Drax slide back a bit, making his forelegs shake a bit as they tussle.

Drax struggles a bit. "I like strong mares, but this is ridiculous."

Alala grabs him by a foreleg and throws him up. Drax looks back to see a tentacle from the kraken just before it knocks him away.

"DRAX!" I shout. I look back at Alala. "You're mine!" I fly forward towards her, intent to put her down. But before I can reach her, she does another scream that causes me to stop.

With me unable to focus, Alala comes in and gives me a strong punch to the face that knocks me back. Vine uses her powers to sprout a vine that catches me just before I fall off a cliff.

She looks back at Alala and makes several vines sprout up that grab her and throw her into a wall. Alala gets back up, looking really angry. She flies at Vine. Vine prepares for a defensive move, but Alala screams, making Vine grab her head.

Though it may look like Alala has a free shot, Zephyr comes in and tackles her out of the way.

Dark tries going in for a move, but is busy dodging tentacles from the kraken. "THIS IS HORSE-APPLES!" he shouts. He slices off another tentacle in anger.

Alala tries getting revenge on Zephyr, but finds him to quick to hit. Zephyr smirks at her. "You can't catch me! You can't catch me!"

Frustrated, Alala gives another scream that stops him. She grabs him and drags him along the ground as she flies low.

"Oh no you don't!" Ice shouts. Before he can go in to stop her, a tentacle strikes infront of him. He looks at the kraken in anger. "I've had just about enough of you!" He looks at the others. "Orion! Dark! I'm gonna need some help here!"

"You bet! I'm sick of these things!" Dark shouts.

"Tell me about it!" Orion says.

"Alright. Orion, you carry me in close! Dark, you hold off oncoming tentacles as we fly in!"

"Got it!" they both say.

Orion goes over and carries Ice under him as they fly. Dark stays close to them, watching for any threats.

Over on our end, Rhino uses his Res to raise the friction on Zephyr and make Alala stop. She tries moving him, but is unable to.

With an open target, I fly over and give her a good Hurricane Hoof to the side, making her help in pain and sending her away.

Shee stands up and goes for another scream, but Vine uses a vine to silence her. "That's quite enough of that." she says smugly.

Alala distracted, Drax goes in and punches her, sending her back more. Before she can even get fully back up, Zephyr goes in and bucks her.

"That's for shoving my face into the ground!" he shouts.

In the air

Orion carries Ice towards the kraken, Dark occasionally blasting or slicing an oncoming tentacle. As they get closer, Ice properly prepares his shot at the creatures mouth.

"Okay, this is good! Stop here!" they stop flying as ordered. Ice's horns giving off an immense amount of fog as he starts forming a giant ice shard. Once it's done forming, he gets ready to shoot it. "Okay, let me go!"

"WHAT?!" they both shout.

"JUST DO IT!" Orion lets him go onto the shard. Ice fires it directly at the mouth, going straight through to the creature's insides.

Orion and Dark both stare down in disbelief at what had just happened. "ICE!"

Inside the kraken

Ice gets up, having fallen down upon entry. He rubs his head. "Okay, not one of my better ideas."

He looks around, seeing many poor souls swimming in pools of some kind of fluid from the kraken, looking incredibly thin and hungry.

Ice looks more and notices a giant, black, fleshy orb. He smiles as he gets an idea. "That looks important."

He stomps his hooves, making an ice pillar shoot through the orb, making blood spill out from it and everywhere else inside.

Back outside

Dark glares angrily at the kraken and charges some grenades in his hooves. "You're gonna pay for eating my friend!"

Before he can throw his explosives, blood starts pouring from all of its mouths as it thrashes around in pain. Inside of the flowing blood, Ice comes outside of the creature's belly, messy, but unharmed.

Orion and Dark fly down to meet their still living friend. "Nice going, Ice! You did it!" Orion sheers.

Ice shakes his head. "Remind me never do THAT again."

While all of that had been happening, Alala was still where Zephyr had bucked her to. Before she went in for another attack, she hears a roar behind her, making her look back to see a tentacle from the fallling kraken collapsing towards her.

She tries to fly away, but Rhino uses Res again to keep her in place. "You're not going anywhere."

Unable to get away, the tentacle falls on Alala, knocking her out.

(End battle music)

Dark, Ice, and Orion all come back over to join us, looking accomplished. Well, Ice looks grossed out.

"Nice going on the kraken, guys." I congradulate. "How'd you do it?"

"I don't want to talk about it." Ice says.

"But-"

"NO!" he screams.

Vine goes over to Alala, examining her. "Okay, she's still alive, and luckily this tentacle is great for making sure she stays down."

"Better make sure to tie her mouth up too." Rhino says.

"Right." she summons a small vine and wraps it around Alala's muzzle, making sure she can no longer scream.

"So, now what?" Zephyr says.

I look around for our next path to travel. The only thing I see is a deep pit off the side of a cliff. I sigh. "Well, looks like down is our only option here."

Not having any other options, we descend down the extremely deep pit, on our way to our next challenge.

One third of this place done. Only two more to go.

Author's Note: Alla comes from Gutter_Cat. So, what do you guys think of the fight? I personally think it's one of my best fights so far.

An Unwelcome Re-encounter

Author's Note: Generic warning... blah blah blah... This is dark for my story... yada yada yada. Do I even need to say this anymore? Okay, with that out out of the way, on with the story.

Grim sits as his throne impatiently, tapping a hoof on oe of the chair arms. "Where is that idiot Tombstone with my wine?"

Graze smirks. "Getting a bit mad, bro?"

A vein pops out on Grim's head in anger. He glares at Graze. "Shut up, maggot! You'd best watch your tongue before I cut it out!" Grim looks over at a plate of food with a knife. "In fact..." he grabs it and gets up. He walks over to Graze, sick intentions in his mind.

Graze notices Grim approaching and starts shaking in fear. "What are you doing?"

Grim smirks at his prey. "Why so serious?" he goes over and forces Graze's mouth open before sticking in the blade. "Let's put a smile on that face." Grim chuckles before taking the blade out. "Look at you. So weak. Never forget that this is my domai. I could kill you over a thousand times and you would never truly be dea."

Before Grim can continue to monolouge, thank Celestia, Tombstone steps through the door with a tray with a bottle of wine and an empty glass on his back.

"I brough the wine, sir." he says nervously.

"Well, it's about dang time! What took you so long." Grim goes over to him and hits him upside the head.

Tobstone rubs the back of his heaf. "Well, we were all out of wine, so I had to make more. And since I'm just an earth pony, I had to find a unicorn to do the fermentation spell on some grapes and-"

"Enough! Just pour me a glass." Grim goes back up to his throne and takes a seat.

Tombstone pops the cork off of the bottle and pours it into the empty glass. He hoofs it to Grim. "Also, that wasn't all that took me so long."

"Hmm?" Grim says. He starts drinking from his glass.

"I was told those ponies just passed Gluttony and are on their way to Greed."

Grim does a spittake, making all of his wine land on Tombstone. "What?!"

Tombstone wipes some of the spat out wine off. "The ponies, they defeated Alala and are descending into the fourth circle as we speak."

"They even got passed the kraken?"

"Yes, sir."

Grim rubs his chin. "How can this be? Alright, no more just lying back. I plan to see these ponies in action. " he chants the same spell as he did earlier, making a portal showing all of us appear. "Not only are they still going, but they're all still alive as well? What kind of power do these ponies hold?"

Going back to us

We all rapidly descend the hole leading down to the next circle: Greed. For this circle, those who spend all of their lives chasing after money and riches are sent here. Now that I actually consider something that's bad. Not just chasing after money, but those who don't share any of their money either. Knowing this place, the punishments are bound to have irony in them.

As we descend, I look over to see Rhino using his Res top slide and hop around giant chains. "You doing all right there, Rhino?" I ask.

"Yeah, this is actually pretty fun." he says before hopping to the next chain.

"Agreed." Ice says, sliding down with him.

I shake my head and smile. "Nice to see you guys can still have fun during this whole thing."

"Well, don't be having too much fun, because we're nearing the bottom right now." Vine says.

I look down to see we are indeed about to reach solid ground.

"Phew, about time." Zeph says. "That fall felt like it was taking forever."

"Yeah, no kidding. I was begining to think it was bottomless." Orion says.

After another second of decsending, the pegasi touch down and Rhino and Ice hop off from the chains to come join us.

"Gentlecolts, welcome to thr fourth circle of Taurtarus, the circle of greed." Vine says.

"Greed you say?" Dark says. Before he continues, he sees a huge pile of gold up against a wall. "Gold!" he rushes over to itand starts rolling around in it. "So much gold. I'd never have to work another day in my life."

"Another? I think you'd have to work one day first." I say.

"Dark, get out of there!" Vine shouts.

"Why?" she quickly has a vine pop out and pull Dark out by a leg. "Hey! What's the big idea?!"

"Look, you idiot." she points him to the pile he was in to see a huge pile of gold coins fall on it. "One of Greed's punishments is to bury its inhabitants in mounds of solid gold coins, burying and crushing them."

Dark's pupils shrink in realization. "Woah, thanks, Vine. I owe you one."

"You actually owe me a lot more than that, but we can discuss that later."

"Hey, guys. Look over there." Rhino says.

We look to where he's pointing to see a giant machine covered in gears. The machine has a vat filled with ponies. A bunch of molten, liquid gold pours down on them, burning them as they scream in pain. Also on the machine, there's a conveyor belt taking ponies on it into a giant spinning gear where they are crushed into a bloody mess.

"Yep, I knew this place's punishmrnts would be ironic." I say.

"Grave Ponies have a very sick sense of humor." Vine says with a bit of disgust.

Aside from the giant machine and vats of molten gold, the rest of the area just looks like an ordianry cave with rocks, stalagmites, stalagtites, and small cliffs.

Orion looks around, a bit suspicious. "Hmm..."

"What is it, Orion?" I ask.

"Well, don't things seem a bit quiet?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, every time we've entered a circle there's been some kind monster just waiting to attack us. We've been here for a few good minutes and haven't encountered anything."

We all look around, seeing nothing very threatening. "Hmm, now that you mention it, yeah, it is a bit weird how quiet it is." Zeph says.

"I recommend we bail before something decides to come out then." I suggest.

"Oh, you're not going anywhere." a menacing voice says from up above.

Orion facehoofs. "Why'd I have to open my big mouth?"

We all look up on top of the machine to see... oh no bucking way!

Up at the top of the machine stands a figure none of us ever thought we'd see again. A... not even a pony, a monster we thought we'd taken cover a long time ago, stands at the top, peering down upon us with his hungry, vengeful, and angry eyes.

"ALLOY?!" we all shout in shock and fear.

(Image for anyone who hasn't seen it. I actually up a cutie mark: broken chains.)

He chuckles. "Oh, I'm SO happy you all remembered me. I never forgot any of you... Well, except my new little meals you brought." he says, referring to to Rhino and Orion.

He flies down, making a thud as he lands. We all slowly back up, all of us knowing just how dangerous he really is.

Grim watches this all from the portal he had summoned. "Hmm, it seems Alloy knows these ponies. Oh, this is too good." he starts laughing to himself.

"What the buck are you doing here?!" Dark shouts at Alloy.

The draconic pony snickers. "Well, after you and my worthless brother Steel Hoof defeated me in Las Pegasus, Celestia had found me. Rather than putting me in a dungeon, she sent me here. Smart of her really. She knew some puny dungeon could never hold me." he starts circling around us. "I should thank you all really. Ever since I came down here, I've been having a HELL of a time."

Sheesh, and thought my puns were bad.

I growl. "We took you down once, we can do it again!"

He smirks. "You got lucky. Do you honestly expect to beat me without my brother?"

"Steel Hoof may not be here, but we are." Rhino says.

"Yeah, and you best watch your step, dragon boy!" Orion says.

He looks at them. "Oh, I am going to enjoy tearing you apart and devouring you all!" he licks his lips.

I notice something. "Hey, I thought we shattered your teeth! Where'd you get more?!"

"Ha! Fool! Dragons can infinitely regrow their teeth, making them perfect for eating prey."

"Then stop talking and bring it on!" Dark shouts.

"As you wish!"

(Boss Battle 4: Alloy. BEGIN!)

He flies forward at us as we all jump out in seperate directions. As I remembered, he has quite the speed for a pony so large. He turns around and goes for Drax.

Despite knowing he can't match Alloy's strength, Drax stands on his back legs and gets ready to catch him. As expected, Alloy's strength forces Drax back as his hooves slide against the ground.

Using his Res again, Rhino is able to slow down Drax, making pushing him difficult even for Alloy.

"What's this?" Alloy says.

Seeing an opportunity, I go in with a Hurricane Hoof, but Alloy catches it, not even flinching. "That the best you got?"

"Nope!" I say, smirking. I take my free hoof and slam it between his eyes, but he doesn't move. "What?!"

He grins. He takes me and slams me over Drax, taking us both down.

Trying to go in for a hit on Alloy's vulnerable stoach, Ice stomps his hooves, trying to hit him with a flattened pillar. Alloy stands up on his back legs just in time though to dodge it.

"Oh? A gift for me? You shouldn't have." he grabs the pillar and rips it off. He holds it up like a club.

Trying to get a hit in, Orion flies in for him. But Allloy takes his new club and bats him away like a baseball.

Orion goes flying toward one of the vats of liquid gold, but Vine uses some vines to catch him.

Now frustrated, Ice stomps his hooves repeatedly, making a row of pillars that shoot after Alloy. Alloy repeatedly jumps back to avoid him. Seeing his chance, Zephyr flies down low and gets behind Alloy as he jumps back, tripping him up.

Alloy scowls at Zeph as he gives him a smug look. "You worm!"

"Not as weak as the last time we fough, am I?" he says smugly. "NOW, BLUE!"

With Alloy still on his back, Drax holds me like a javelin in the air, aiming me down at Alloy. He throws me before I start spinning and charging my hooves. Before Alloy can get up, I give an Auger right to his unarmored gut.

I jump back as the dust clears from having the ground get crushed in.

The others walk up behind me. "Is it over?" Dark asks.

"Yeah, I think-"

Alloy gets up, roaring. His eyes are now just pure white in anger. "I'LL MURDER ALL OF YOU!"

"Um... never mind."

Alloy comes sailing towards us, not really going for anypony in particular. He ends up going for Dark, the only pony not to get involved so far.

He goes flailing his limbs for punches and kicks, but Dark's speed allows him to avoid them. "You'll have to do better than that to-OOF!" he stops talking as he's backed against a wall.

Alloy goes in for a reeled back punch, Dark only barely jumping to the ground and out of the way. Alloy's hoof goes straight into the wall, creating an indent much larger than his hoof.

"Take this!" Dark shouts. He shoots a bolt of lightning at Alloy, blasting him back. Down but not out, Alloy quickly gets back up.

Orion goes in for another for body tackle and lands it, smashing Alloy against the wall. Not even dfeeling it, Alloy grabs Orion by the mane and tail and brings him over to a vat of hot gold.

"Time for you to melt!"

"NO! I'M TOO YOUNG TO DIE!" Orion shouts.

Before Alloy can throw him in, Drax and Zeph both tackle Alloy, making him drop Orion. Now madder than ever, Alloy goes after his new opposers. He quickly goes in and grabs Drax by is neck. He pickshim up and slams him back down in a choke slam.

With Drax out of the way, he looks at Zeph. Zeph gives a nervous smile before dashing off with Alloy after him.

Ice tries to put up a wall inbetween them, but Alloy smashes through it with ease, still gaining on Zeph.

Rhino uses his Res to start dashing around the field, trying to get after Alloy. Finally catching up, he jumps on his back and stomps his hooves on the back of his head, forcing him to the ground.

Alloy quickly grabs Rhino and forces him off. Before he can anymore harm to him, I come in and start slashing at him with my wings, but do no damage.

He grabs me and throws me off into a pile of coins. I quickly get up, not waiting to be buried.

"Okay! I've had enough of this!" Dark shouts fro the air. He charges up two grenades and throws them down at Alloy. "Eat grenades, metal head!"

*BOOM*

As the smoke from the explosions clear, Alloy still stands there, roaring.

Vine looks on the scene, trying to think of a plan. "It's like there's no hurting this guy. Even a direct hit to his weak spot couldn't take him down."

I start thinking myself. "Maybe taking him out is the wrong way to go about it." I look at the piles of coins and the ponies trapped inside. I get an idea. "IDEA!"

"Really? What?" Vine asks. I go whisper into her ear. "Do I have to?"

"Yes, you do."

She sighs. "Fine." she looks over at the raging Alloy. "Hey, dragon boy!" he looks over at her. "What's the matter, too afriad to hit a mare?" she turns around and shakes her rump at him tauntingly.

Alloy screams again. He flies at her as fast as he can, intent to kill. At the last second, Vine jumps out of the way, making Alloy fly into a pile of coins.

As he tries to get up, the souls inside the pile cling onto him. He tries forcing them off. "LET GO OF ME, YOU VERMAN!"

But before he can get out, another batch of coins falls down on top of him, completely burying him in gold

(End battle music)

We all gather around, smiling in victory. "Yes! I wasn't the first knowcked out this time!" Zeph cheers.

"Actually, none of us were knocked out." I point out.

"I'm just glad I didn't get my wing stabbed again." Dark says.

"So, should we keep going?" Rhino asks.

I breathe heavily as I lean against a rock. "I don't know. Four circles, plus the beginning, all without a break. Im feeling pooped."

"You know, other than Alloy, there doesn't seem to be any hostiles down here. Maybe we should rest." Vine says.

"I'm up for that." Dark says.

"Me too. All this flying is muder." Zeph says.

"Tell me about it." Orion says.

Feeling fatigued and tired, we decide it's best to take a well deserved wait before carrying on.

Not even half way done yet. I dread what else is up ahead.

Author's Note: Hmm, what do you guys think of that fight? I really think I'm getting better at this.

Taking a Break

Author's Note: Believe it or not, no warning this time, as there's no fighting or even carrying on to the next gruesome floor. Just stick with it and don't complain. We'll get back to your precious action scenes with ponies trying to brutally murder each other in the next chapter. Anywho, on with the story.

Grim sits in his throne in both shock and anger at seeing his defeat Alloy. He eventually has a mini-blowout, swinging his forelegs at the portal, but only distorting it.

"That idiot!" he shouts in anger. "Alloy, that fool! How could he let himself be defeated so easily?! This is what happens when you let your anger get the best of you!"

"You're one to talk, hothead." Graze taunts. "Haha, you look like you're about ready to blow a fuse."

"SILENCE!" Grim takes his empty wine glass and throws it at Graze, the pegasus stallion ducking under it just in time.

"Woah, chill out!"

"I AM CHILLED OUT!" he takes the wine bottle and throws it in Tombstone's direction, barely missing him. Grim takes a deep breath as he sinks back in his throne. "No matter. They still have five more floors to go through. What am I so worried about?"

"About how they're going to kick your flank?" Graze says in a smartflank tone.

"Shut up!"

"Whatever. I gotta take a leak."

"Then use the bloody chamber pot we set there for you." Grim says, getting annoyed again.

Graze looks over at thechamber pot that had been set near the wall he is chained to. "But... it's full."

Grim smirks. "As I said, use the chamber pot."

Graze gets a bit upset at that. "I'll show you a chamber pot!" he takes it and throws it at Grim.

Having heard his shout, Grim dodges it. "HA! You missed!"

"I wouldn't say that." Tombstoe says. They look at him to see the chamber pot sitting upside down on his head. "*sigh* I hate my life."

"I hate your life too, Tombstone." Grim says. He looks back at the portal and looks to see all of us just sitting around. "What in the world are they doing now?"

"Uh, I think that's what you call 'taking a break'." Graze says.

"They have the nerve to just sit around and "take a break" in Taurtarus? My domain? Fine. Let them have their little break, for soon they will only have to deal with even more torture from the upcoming circles."

"I'm just tingling with excitement."

Grim growls. "I thought I told you to shut up."

Back on the fourth circle

Having just gotten through what was probably our toughest fight yet, we decide it'd be best to just lay around for a bit to save our strength. Probably should've brought some pillows and blankets to sleep with, but oh well. There aren't any trees around to make a fire, but luckily the giant, molten baths of gold are pretty good sources of heat, so we don't need to worry about getting cold.

I'm getting a bit hungry, so I pull out a chimicherrychonga. "Mmm, come to papa." I take a bit out of the delectable treat.

"Where'd you get that from?" Rhino asks.

"I'm not entirely sure to be honest. I think Pinkie calls it hammerspace."

"Interesting. I gotta learn how to do that."

"Also, I brought you a little something special." I say, grinning.

"What?" I pull out a jar from behind me. "STRAWBERRY APPLESAUCE!"

"Yep, your favorite."

He runs over and takes it from my hoof. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" he pops the top off and starts eating it. "Ah, much better."

"What is your deal with that stuff anyway, bro?" Dark asks. Rhino simply ignores him as he continues eating. "Um, Rhino?" he goes to him and waves a hoof infront of his face. "Hello?"

Dark is ready to slap him, but Rhino grabs his hoof. "I can hear you, I'm simply just ignoring you."

"Ignoring me? Why?"

"Because ever since we've met you've caused me nothing but pain. I ignore those I don't like."

"Yeah, Rhino explained all those things he did to me were Dark's idea." Vine says. "I forgave him after he gave me a nice azalea bush."

"Hmph, fine. I don't care." Dark says. He gets a sly look as he looks over at one of the piles of coins. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got plundering to do." he goes over to a pile and starts grabbing coins. "Just because I can't be in this pile doesn't mean I can't take from it."

Suddenly, Alloy's head pops out, scaring Dark back. "You worms! You cannot defeat me! No being can!" he tries to struggle, but is unable to move under the weight of the gold.

I smirk as I lean afainst the pile. "Well, what are you gonna do about it? You seem to be under a lot of pressure right now."

Ice facehoofs. "That pun was terrible."

"You know you love it."

"Hey, I've got an idea." Zeph says. He pulls out a marker and goes over to Alloy.

"Hey! Get away from me!" Alloy demands.

"A little over here... A bit over there... And voila! My masterpiece!" he steps back to show he drew some large glasses and a mustache on Alloy's face.

We all burst out laughing from the sight. Some of us literally rolling on the floor laughing.

Dark gets up. "Hey, Zeph. Let me see that marker."

"Sure."

Zeph hoofs him the marker and Dark starts drawing. He steps back. "What do you think?"

We all burst into laughter again, this time from Dark drawing a penis on his face.

"That is awesome!" Drax says.

"I think it suits him!" Orion says.

"I'LL SEE THAT YOU ALL BURN FOR THIS!" Alloy screams.

I calm myself enough to talk. "Okay, that's enough of that. Let's leave him alone now."

We leave off from the piles of gold and head over to a more secluded spot, away from all of the loud machinery and screaming souls. And especially the screaming Alloy.

Rhino sighs as he finishes the jar of applesauce. "Thanks a lot for that, Blue. It was great."

"No problem, dude. I thought you'd like it."

"I think he likes it way too much. How could he finish an entire jar of that junk so quickly?" Dark says, but Rhino still ignores him. "Come on, Rhino. You can't ignore me forever." Dark gets an idea as we walk by a giant vat of gold.

This can't be good.

He pushes Rhino, making him fall toward the giant vat. "Woah!"

Just before he falls in, Dark pulls him back. "Ha, I saved your life. Now are you going to talk to me?"

Rhino huffs heavily, now looking angry. Luckily though he doesn't have the red stripes, so no danger right now. He turns around at Dark, looking very mad.

"Am I going to talk to you? No! You're a jackflank! I've done nothing but try to be nice to you, but you're just to big of a jerk! And when I try ignoring you, you pull junk like that and nearly get me killed!"

"I pulled you back in."

"That's not the point! The point is that you've done nothing but cuase me pain since we met. But if you try anything like that again, you're the one who's gonna feel the pain!" he gets in Dark's face, trying to intimidate him.

Never one to back down from a challenge, Dark starts pushing back. "Oh, yeah? Well, I say bring it on. You'renot that tough. You don't even have any powers. I could easily take you down."

They both continue pushing and growling at each other before I step in and push them apart. "What is wrong with you guys? I'm sick of always playing referee with you. Can't we go one day without a fight?"

"He started it." Dark says.

"Me? YOU started it when we met!" Rhino says.

"Enough! You two juat go your opposite ways and go cool off. It's already bad enough we have to fight monsters down here. I'm not gonna let us start fighting amongst ourselves.

They both give a huff before turning opposite ways and walking off to each be alone.

This is going great. Not even half way done and we're already at each other's throats.

I can tell the next circle isn't gonna be easy.

Riddles on the River

Author's Note: Yeah... Remember how I said we'd be getting back to the awesome fights this chapter? Well, it seems I unintentionally lied, but I promise you'll get them back next chapter. Now, on with the story.

Grim grins malitiously at the portal, relishing in seeing us fight. "This is wonderful!" he says. "These idiots are fighting themselves now. I may not even have to worry about them getting here because they're just going to kill each other."

Graze snarls at him. "I wouldn't be so sure if I were you!"

Grim looks over at him. "Are you kidding me? All it takes is one weak link to make a city, or in this case, a group of idiotic, meddling ponies to fall. Those two are the weak link in this equation. They're doomed if they continue this." Grim starts laughing insanely, nearly falling out of his throne.

Graze just grits his teeth in a mixture of frustration and anger. He starts thinking to himself. 'Come on, guys. I need you. Just pull yourselves together and snap out of this. I know you can do it.'

Back up in the fourth circle

After Rhino and Dark's arguement and near fight, we decided it would be best best to sleep for a bit to relieve some stress.

Right now most of us are just waking up, Rhino and Dark making sure to stay far away from each other.

As I get up, I see Dark sleeping and rubbing up against a pile of money he had taken. "Dark?" I say.

"Mmm, money. I love you too." he says in his sleep.

"Dark! Hey, wake up!" I say in more of a shout.

His eyes blink a bit before he rubs them as he gets up. "Morning already?" he mutters, still about half asleep.

"Actually, we have no idea what time it is. Also, I think your money and you may have taken things a bit fast." I joke.

"Huh?" he looks down at the pile before looking back at the group, who had woken up and also started looking at Dark. "Don't judge me."

"Oh, I think that ship sailed a LONG time ago." Drax says. We all laugh at Dark's suspense.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. Can we get a move on already?"

"Sure." I say.

"What's the next floor anyway?" Rhino inquires.

"I believe it's Anger. The circle where ponies spend all of their lives being angry at everything go to." Vine explains. "I forget the environment itself though."

"Well, that's helpful." I say sarcastically. "*sigh* Oh well. No point in fretting over something we can't do anything about. Let's just go."

"Yeah, I say bring it on. I'm not afraid of anything." Dark says before jumping off of his stolen cash. I goes back to it and whispers to it. "I'll come back and get you. I swear."

Ignoring whatever that was from him, we head out to our next challenge. We find a cave with stairs in it that lead further down, not much else besides that. It's very dark, not even any torches, just darkness, dust, and cobwebs.

A cobweb gets on Ice's face, making him sneeze and the snot freezing out from his nose. "Don't say a word." he says.

We all try to contain our laughter, but fail as we bust out, some of us nearly tripping down the stairs.

Ice keeps walking, looking annoyed. "Let's just go."

As we walk down the stairs, we see some light, well, at least compared to where we are now. We step out from the stairs into a swampy area with a forest so big it'd be impossible to venture through it.

We look forward to see a large swampy area with a giant pool of black much with ponies inside screaming and fighting each other.

"Oh, now I remember this." Vine says. "The fifth circle holds the River Styx. The river is very deep and sticky like tar. Ponies are thrown into it with no hope of getting out if put in deep enough."

We look upon in awe at how large the river is. That and just how many ponies are in there. "Hey, it's like death water." I say.

"Is that supposed to be a reference?" Drax asks.

"Yeah, but I kinda forget what exactly too."

They all facehoof.

As we step out to the ground, we are grabbed by a bunch of lanky hooves that pull at us.

"GAH! What the buck?!" Dark shouts.

"Okay, I guess I forgot more than I thought!" Vine says.

We starts stomping and pulling on the hooves to get them off of us. I try to charge up my wings to cut at them, but I feel nothing charge up.

"What the hay?" I say to myself.

We're able to fight off the hooves despite this. I noticed none of the others used their powers either. "Well, that was unpleasant." Rhino says.

Over a little off there's two large torches right next to where solid ground cuts off to the river. Dark steps over to the edge and looks out. "I can feel all the anger out here."

"No surprise that you can. After all, it was your anger that killed me... son." a voice says.

"No way." Dark looks out to see a familiar pony. "YOU! I thought I'd seen the last of you a long time ago! Then again, I shouldn't be surprised to see an angry, old bastard like you wind up in a place like this!"

"Come now, is that anyway to speak to the pony that took you in as if you were his own."

"I'd hate to see what you would have done to your real kids if that's the case. What I did was an accident, but your crimes were on purpose."

"Just you wait, boy. Soon enough you'll be stuck here with the rest of us." he comes closer to Dark.

Dark snaps. "NEVER!" he gives the pony a strong punch, knocking him back into the river.

We all walk up from behind DArk, looking a bit worried. "Dark, was that him?" I ask.

He turns around. "Yeah, that was my adoptive father." he starts walking away. "Can we just go now? I don't want to be here anymore."

"It is not quite that simple, mortal." a loud, booming voice says from the river.

Suddenly, a gargantuan, earth-colored unicorn pony with three horns, serpent-like eyes, no mane or tail, and a splotchy mark on his backside rises up from the river. And when I say huge, I mean this guy's gotta be nearly thirty feet tall.

We all back away from him slowly. "Um... Vine? You remember anything?"

She gulps. "Now I do. This is Iron Shell. Guardian of the circle of Anger."

"The Vine Pony is correct. I am Iron Shell, both the guardian and transportation to this circle and the River Styx."

"Wait, transportation?" Zeph asks.

"Yes, I am to carry ponies across the river to the City of Dis, which holds the next circle."

"Peh, what do we need that for? We can just fly over there ourselves."

"I would not recommend that."

"Why not?"

"Do you all wonder why you could not use your powers earlier?" we look at each other, thinking it over. We nod. "This circle is cursed. It drains all magical power from a ponies body. Pegasi cannot fly, unicorns cannot use magic, and none of you can use your powers."

"Oh, yeah?" Zeph tries flapping his wings, but he gets nowhere. He looks back at his wings. "What gives?"

"It is as I said. No magical abilities of any kind."

Rhino steps forward. "So, we have no choice but to use you to transport us there?"

"That is correct, but not quite that simple."

"Of course it's not." I say.

"Then what's the catch?" Orion asks.

"Yeah, do we need to beat you in a fight?" Dark asks.

"No, none of that. I am incapable of fighting in my old age, and my body is rock solid, so you cannot harm me. No, for me to allow you passage across the river, you must answer five riddles."

"Riddles? Are you serious?"

"I am quite serious. So, do you accept?"

We all look back between each other, all silently thinking the same thing. "I guess we don't have much of a choice." I say.

"Very well." his horn glows as the torches light and a bunch of hooves grab us, this time not letting go no matter how hard we struggle.

"What is this?!" I shout.

"Did you think it would be that easy? For every wrong answer you give, you will be pulled towards the river. Five wrong answers, and you shall be swallowed up by the river with no chance of escaping."

"That's bucking stupid!" Dark shouts.

Iron Shell ignores our complaints and continues going. "First riddle: The more you have of it, the less you see. What is it? You may begin."

(Boss Batlle-sort of-5: Iron SHell. BEGIN!)

We all huddle together as we try to think of a plan. "Okay, guys. This is really important. Only throw out an answer if you really think you have it."

"Don't worry, I think I've got it." I say.

"Okay, go for it, Blue."

I pop my head out to Iron Shell and clear my throat. "Chimicherrychongas."

"Incorrect." he says.

We are all forced forward towards the river by all of the hooves. The others glare at me angrily. "BLUE!"

"What? I thought I had it. I've literally gone blind a few times from eating so many at once."

"Then maybe you shouldn't eat so much!" Zeph shouts at me.

"Ugh, there's no point in arguing over it now. Let's just keep going."

Dark taps at his chin as he thinks it over. "The more you have, the less you see. Hmm..." he gets an idea as he looks down at his coat. "I think I've got it."

"You sure, Dark?" Vine asks.

"Positive." he turns around towards the mountanous pony. "The darkness."

"Correct." he says. We all cheer a bit at our first correct riddle. "Second riddle: It is greater than Celestia and more evil than Grim Blade. The poor have it and the rich do not need it. And if you eat it, you will die. What is it?"

"Ha! Sounds a bit like Dark in some ways." Zeph jokes.

"Incorrect." Iron Shell says.

We are all moved forward again. We all glare at Zeph as he sheepishly grins before lowering his head. "Sorry, guys."

I sigh. "It's fine, but only give an answer that you really think is right, and be careful what you say."

"I think I know it." Vine says. She turns towards Iron Shell. "Nothing. Nothing is greater than Celestia or more evil than Grim Blade. the poor have nothing and the rich need nothing. And if you eat nothing, you will die."

"Correct." he says. "Third riddle: At night they come without being fetched. By day they are lost without being stolen. What are they?"

"Ooh, I know this one! I've heard it before!" Orion says excitedly.

"Okay, go for it." I say.

He clears his throat. "The stars."

"Correct." Iron hell says.

"Heh, you would know that one." I tease Orion.

He takes a bow. "It's what I'm here for."

"Fourth riddle: There was a green house. Inside the green house there was a white house. Inside the white house there was a red house. Inside the red house there were lots of babies. What is it?"

Rhino taps his hoof. "Whenever I think of green then white then red, I think of watermelons."

"Rhino, no!" I shout.

"That is correct." Iron Shell says.

I look at Rhino in disbelief as he smiles a bit smugly. "Uh-"

He puts a hoof up. "Apology accepted."

"Fifth and final riddle: I am the beginning of the end, and the end of time and space. I am essential to creation, and I surround every place. What am I?"

We all start thinking it over. Vine steps forward, Well, as much as she can while tied down. "I think I have it."

"Woohoo! Go Vine!" I say.

"The sun."

"That is incorrect" Iron Shell says.

"What?!"

We are all forced even closer to the edge. "Boo! You suck!" I say.

"Shut up." she says.

"Um, I think I might have an answer." Rhino says. "The big bang?"

"Also incorrect."

We are pushed forward, this time putting our hooves literally on the edge.

"One more incorrect answer and the game shall be over." Iron Shell announces.

We all start looking at each other, now starting to have mini-freakouts.

"This is bad, guys." Vine says.

"Well, no buck." Dark says.

"I'm too young to die!" Ice says, holding his head.

"EVERYPONY, QUIET!" I shout, getting their attention. "I need to think."

'Come on, Breeze. Think. Both you and your friends' lives are t stake here. Beginning of the end. End of time and space. Essential to creation. And surrounds every place.'

My eyes light up as I get it. "Light bulb." I say.

"What?" everypony says in confusion.

"I've got the answer." I clear my throat to give it. "The letter E."

My friends all grab their heads as they start freaking out. "NO!"

"That answer is... correct." Iron Shell says.

(End battle music)

Everypony freezes and looks up at him. "What?"

Suddenly, the hooves all release us, letting us move again. Iron Shell kneels down. "You have all passed my riddles. You are all free to go to the City of Dis. Climb aboard."

All of my friends look at me, smiling. We all hop on Iron Shell's back. He gets up and starts walking along the river, taking us straight to the city and the sixth circle.

"So, Blue, how'd you figure it out?" Zeph asks.

"Yeah, I didn't even see that." Vine says.

I smile. "It was easy. I just thought about it a bit and guessed."

"WHAT?!" they all shout.

Dark grabs me and shakes me. "You mean to tell me that you risked all of our lives on a guess?!"

I chuckle. "Yep."

He facehoofs as he lets me go. "I should've known."

Author's Note: Iron Shell comes from Star Light. You guys can expect a whole ton of fighting and epicness in the chapters to come.

The Booming Fight

Author's Note: Okay, finally back to getting some action. I know you all have been craving it, so let's not stall any longer. Time to get on with the story and the action.

Grim Blade looks at the portal infront of him angrily, looking like he's on the verge of another freakout. He shouts in anger.

"GAH! Iron Shell, that idiot! I'll have his head for letting them pass!" he shouts.

Tombstone shakes in fear, worrying about getting something thrown at him again. "But he's just doing the task you gave him. Let anyponies who answer his five riddles be carried passed the river."

Grim sinks back in his throne and sighs. "I know." he repeatedly hits his forehead. "Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Why did I think of that rule?"

"Like you said, you're stupid." Graze says, smirking.

Grim growls at him. "I bet you think you're so clever, don't you?"

"Kind of, yeah."

"Well, you won't be talking like that when you see Volcanous rip your friends apart limb from limb."

Graze waves him off. "Yeah right. Like they'd go and die now. I know they're gonna do it."

Grim grins evilly as he puts his hooves together. "We shall see."

Over up at the River Styx

We continue riding Iron Shell as we near the City of Dis. The entire ride over, angry ponies in the river reach up at us, but are unable to reach us.

Dark thought it'd be fun to hang over the side and taunt them the entire time, talking about how he's free and they aren't.

He laughs. "You guys should really try this. It's fun." he says to us.

"I'll pass. I don't need the undead being angry at me when there's a zombie apocalypse." I say. Everypony else agrees, even on the zombie part.

"Aw, you guys are lame." he continues going back to making fun of them, but we suddenly stop, making him nearly fall off the edge. "Hey, what gives?"

"We have now arrived at the City of Dis. This is as far as I can take you all." Iron Shell says.

"Wait, so does that mean we can use magic again?" Zephyr asks.

"That is correct."

Zephyr flaps his wings a bit, making him hover off of Iron Shell. He puts a hoof up in celebration. "Buck yeah! I can fly again!"

I charge up some energy in my hoof and see wind coming off of it. "And we can use our powers again."

We all have a short celebration at no longer being handicapped before hopping off of Iron and looking back to him.

"Good luck to you all. I will stand watch here for if you return."

"Thanks, Iron. Don't worry, we plan to come back." I say.

We start making our way down a long, empty street leading up to what looks like a burning building. There's smoke and fire coming off of it, but it still stands easily. This place is weird.

If my memort serves me, next should be the circle of Heresy. This one's a bit tricky. It's the sin of having a faith, but believing in some stuff that goes against it. Like say you worship Celestia and Luna, but believe in having an eternal night like Nightmare Moon. Which is completely idiotic, but that's beside the point.

As we walk, Dark gets this weird feeling on one of his back legs. He shakes it a bit. "Why does my leg feel wet? Did I step in something?" he looks at it to see a gelatinous, water-like creature sticking to him. "Ah! Get it off!"

He shakes his leg harder and harder, eventually making the creature fly off and let him go. As it splats to the ground, the bits that flew off reform into one mass. It jiggles in place.

Dark charges up his hooves as he gets in a fighting stance. "You wanna go?" the creature forms into a miniature version of Dark, copying his pose. "What the? Hey, cut that out!" he points. The thing does the same.

We laugh. "I think it's making fun of you, Dark." Zeph says.

"It's going down!"

"Oh, just calm down, Dark." Vine says. She walks over to it and starts petting it as if it were an animal, the thing actually looking like it's enjoying it. "This creature is called an ooze."

"An ooze?" Ice asks. "What's that?"

"Yeah, it looks like jello." Orion says.

"Or like my favorite kind of jelly." Rhino says.

"Can't get that applesauce off the mind, eh?" Drax says.

Rhino gives a sheepish smile. "What can I say? That stuff is really good."

"As I was trying to say, an ooze is a water-like creature that is usually found near the River Styx, so finding it where we did was no coincidence. It probably followed us here." Vine explains. She looks at it and smiles as it smiles at here, it taking on a pony-like form. "You know what? I think I'm gonna keep it."

"You're gonna keep that thing as a pet?" I ask.

"Sure, why not? You adopted a lupis minor. Why can't I have an ooze?"

"Hmm, fair enough."

"So, what are you gonna call it?" Drax asks.

Vine puts a hoof to her chin as she thinks. "Ah ha! I think I've got it." she looks down at it. "I'm gonna call you Ciel. Do you like that?" the ooze does a bit of a dance before nodding to her. She giggles. "Alright, Ciel it is."

"Well, that's all fine and dandy, but we've got more work to do. We don't have time for breaks." Dark says, continuing to walk along the path.

"Right." we all say.

We follow after him as we all continue to walk, Ciel sticking with Vine. We near the incredibly large building and force open the doors inside. We take some stairs as we go down to the sixth circle: Heresy.

As we go down, we see the bodies of ponies being burned. We can hear their screams as they all cry out in agony.

We all look upon in disgust and even fear at these poor souls. Not only are they burning, but they are all stuck to the ground as well, stopping them from rolling the fire off of them.

Ciel looks at the fire angrily. Vine notices this. "I know, Ciel. I hate this awful place too." Vine starts getting an idea in her head(no, really? I thought it'd be in her butt.). "Ciel, you thinking what I'm thinking?"

The ooze looks at her and smiles before nodding. Using its(it's genderless) body made of pure water, Ciel douses some of the flames from the burning ponies.

The ponies look up at us, smiling in relief. "Thank you, noble heroes." one says. "You are true angels for saving us from that torture."

"Which is exactly the reason I am going to destroy them and wear their skins like pelts." a deep and angry voice says in the distance.

We look over to see a big, gruff, and muscular earth pony stallion wearing a suit and holding a large, iron hammer. The stallion has a red coat with a long, brown mane and tail and a short, brown beard around his muzzle. He also has a scar down his left eye and has a bite taken out of his ear.

"You ponies should have turn back when you had the chance." he takes a step forward, making a bit of a booming noise. "I am Volcanous, watcher over the circle of Heresy, and you have all made a grave mistake in relieving these ponies of their torture." he lets his hammer drop down. "I shall take you all down personally."

I step forward. "Okay, look. We didn't know it was against the rules. Our bad, alright? Now, if you'll just let us walk on by-"

"Never!" he interrupts.

I silently growl before glaring at him. "Fine, it's your funeral." I begin cracking my joints as I mutter to myself in annoyance. "Everypony's just gotta be a frwaking tough guys down here, picking fights when they can just step aside and let us through. No, they want to fight. Fine by me."

I finish cracking my joints as I get ready at to charge at him. "Okay, let's do this."

(Boss Battle 6: Volcanous. BEGIN!)

I charge up my wings asI stretch them out. I take off in a mad dash towards Volcanous, ready to take him out quickly. As I get close, I use my wings to slash his chest, cutting his suit and making blood come puring out.

I amirk. "Is that all?"

"Hmm, I was going to ask you the same question." he says.

"What?!" I say in shock.

"Weakling!" he grabs me by my tail and smashes me into the ground infront of him, creating cracks in it. Still having me by the tail, he chucks me over at a wall with incredible speed, making a hole in the wall as I hit it. "Is this all that you can do?! And to think you made it this far with your lives!"

"How about you try me, Mr. Cranky?!" Drax shouts. He fies at Volcanous while the red earth pony gets on his hind legs and goes for a swing with his hammer. Not being fast enough, Drax grabs the hammer and the push back and forth in a toss up.

Drax gives him a headbutt, but he doesn't flinxh. He smirks slightly. "You are quite strong, but not strong enough to deal with me!" he knees Drax in the gut before grabbing him by the mane and throwing him.

Drax goes flying at Rhino, but he teleports out of the way and over at Volcanous to give him a buck to the side. Volcanous looks at Rhino with a bored look. "Really?" with just one hoof, Volcanous swings his hammer at Rhino, sending the unicorn flying to an open fire pit.

"Rhino!" Dark shouts. He quickly flies off to uncharacteristically save him. He catches him just before he lands and sets him down on solid ground.

Rhino looks at him, puzzled. "Dark?"

He rubs the back of his head. "I got to thinking. You were right, I am sorry about all that stuff. We even?" he asks, sticking out a hoof.

Rhino smiles before brohoofing him. "We're even."

"Buck yeah! Now let's go teach this flankhole a lesson!" Dark takes off towards Volcanous, flying directly above him. "Let's see how you like this!" he shoots a concentrated blast of lightning at him.

Volcanous just stands there completely unphased. "And to think you all beat Alloy to get here. I am very disappointed." he takes his hammer and throws it at ark, knocking the black and red pegasus right out of the air.

Dark rubs his head, lying on the ground. "Geez, I think I felt my skull crack on that one."

Volcanous walks over to his hammer and picks it up. He suddenly feels a drop of water drop on his snout. He looks up to see Ciel hanging on the celing.

"Way to go, Ciel!" Vine cheers.

"What the devil?" Volcanous says. Ciel falls on him, completely engulfing him in water and keeping him in place.

"Now it's my turn." Ice says. He fires off a bunch of small ice shards at him, some only scratching him while others stab his chest.

Getting angry, Volcanous uses his incredible strength to burst out of Ciel, making water go everywhere.

"Ciel!" Vine calls out. She starts getting angry. "You're going to pay for that!"

"I doubt it with your puny powers." he retorts. He literally grabs an ice shard sticking out of his chest and crushes it with his bare hoof.

"We'll see about that!" Vine makes several vines pop up and go after him. He doesn't bother dodging, or even flinching at the small scratches and whips to his body.

"As I said, weak." he says plainly.

"Grr, you're mine!" Orion shouts.

"Mine too!" Zephyr shouts, following him.

The two pegasi go shooting off like rockets after him. They both tackle him simultaneously, making a small shock wave go off and making him slide back a bit.

Still as strong as ever, Volcanous ignores the blow and grabs the both of them. He throws Orion at Ice and Zeph at Vine, neither of them getting out of the way in time.

Coming back into the fight, Rhino uses Res to slip up Volcanous, making him wall on his back. He jumps on top of him with all of his weight, but Volcanous still doesn't flinch. The large earth pony throws him off and grabs his hammer.

He stands over him with his hammer ready. "Say good bye!"

Over off in the distance, Drax gets up, shaking off the pain. His eyes widen as he looks out. "Rhino! No! I'll never make it in time." he says to himself. Right next to him, Ciel reforms itself. Drax looks upon it in wonder. "Ciel?"

The ooze goes up to him and starts using its form to explain it's plan to him.

"You want me to throw you at him?"

The ooze nods before getting into a ball.

Drax picks it up and looks at it. "Well, if you're sure." he looks ovet Volcanous. "Hey, ugly!"

Volcanous looks back at him. "What did you say?!"

"I said you're ugly! Now back away from my friend!" he throws the ball at lightning speed towards Volcanous' face. As it makes contact, it makes a dinging noise, as if the ball were metallic. The force is so strong that it makes Volcanous stumble back.

Vine's eyes light up at seeing the ball. "Ciel! You're okay!"

Having gotten up earlier, I had watched the scene take place. As you can guess, knowing me, I thought of a plan. "Guys, we need to get him airborn!" I shout.

"What?!" everypony shouts.

"No time for questions! ust do it! Rhino, Res!"

"On it!" he says. Using his Res, Volcanous slips onto his back with a thud.

"Ice, pillar!"

"You got it!" he stomps his hooves, making a pillar come up that throws Volcanous into the air.

"Higher! Vine, vines!"

"Sure thing!" using her powers, she summons some vines that take Volcanous and throw him up in his daze.

"Drax, Orion, shoot him up!"

"No sweat!" they each say. They each shoot off towards him, and with Drax's strength and Orion's powerful crash, he shoots up near the ceiling.

"Now it's my turn!" I shout. I get under him and get ready for a wind-charged buck. As you can guess again, I named it. "BLUSTERING BUCK!" the force of the buck is so powerful that it sends him straight through the roof.

I look back down. "Zephyr, Dark, grab him!"

"You bet!" they shout at the same time. Going up through the hole in the ceiling, they each take hold of him.

"Now drop him!"

Zeph and Dark each get a mischievious grin at the idea and instantly start aiming downwards.

Kowing what's about to happen, the others and I make sure to clear out of the way. As they fall, they start spinning around as a cone forms. In seconds the cone breaks, makinga boom like the one they did before go off, making a spinning blue, black, and red trail do behind him.

"DOUBLE SONIC BOOM DROP!"

*BOOM*

As they hit the ground, a humongous explosion that destroys the roof goes off, making everypony in the air fly back.

We all get up as we see a big crater where they hit. As the smoke clears, we see Zeph and Dark coming out, giving a highhoof as they walk.

"WOOT! My plan worked!" I cheer.

"Yeah, and it kicked flank!" Dark says.

"Yeah, that was awesome!" Zeph says.

"F-Fools..." a voice says from the crater. We all look on in disbelief to see Volcanous still conscious, trying to get up. "I will not be defeated so easily."

Ice growls angrily. "I've had just about enough of you!" he stomps his hooves hard, making a bunch of small pillars shoot out and impale all of Volcanous' legs, keeping him from moving.

(End battle music)

He lets out a scream of pain from it. "What have you done to me?!"

Ice smirks. "Just making sure you won't try anything. I'm done playing."

Volcanous continues screaming at us angrily, but we ignore him as we continue on with our journey.

Yeesh, and I thought Alloy was tough to put down.

Author's Note: Volcanous comes from Dleifragcat. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did.

All the While

Author's Note: Decided to have a break in the action to see what's going on with the girls during this whole thing. Translation: the world is against me and I'm having technical difficulties with writing the next part of Taurtarus. Now, on with the story I'm stuck writing(ugh, I'm very bitter right now).

Up in Canterlot

While the eight of us were sent down to Taurtarus, Princess Celestia had offered the girls to stay in Canterlot castle. After sending a Spike a message with a list of things to do such as tell ponies where we are and take care of our pets, as well as staying out of my drawers(yeah, they know), they had agreed to it, if for no other reason than to be closer to the gates for when, and I do mean WHEN, we make our return.

Right now Rainbow Dash looks out a window, out into the open, silently hoping that we're all okay, especially me.

She starts whispering to herself. "Blue, wherever you are, just please be okay. I can't stand the thought of losing you."

Sunny comes over to Dash and puts a hoof on her sholder. "Don't worry, Dash. I'm sure they're all safe. They're tough. I know they can pull through this and come back safe and sound."

Dash gets up and turns around before she starts trotting. "I know, Sunny. But I just ca't help but to worry. This is Taurtarus we're talking about. The most evil place in all of Equestria. Even the stuff in the Everfree Forest can't compare to stuff down in that place."

Sunny comes back over to her. "I know. We're all worried."

Twilight comes over to the rainbow-maned pegasus to help try and comfort her. "She's right, Dash. Even with knowing how Dark is, I worry about him."

"Yeah, nearly two whole days since they've left. It's hard not to worry." Vinyl says.

"I worry about Zephyr every second. I do hope he returns." Octavia says.

"And I'm especially worried about Rhino." Fluttershy says. "He's never been through anything like this like the others have."

"Neither has my dear star-eyed stallion." Rarity says. "I do hope Orion is being careful."

"And Drax. Even a guy his size and strength isn't invincible." Spitfire says. "I definitely am gonna make good on those promises I gave him from before."

"And Vinetion. I'm worried about she'll act being in a place like that." Fleur says.

"Even I've been a bit frowny wowny since they left." Pinkie says. "But I plan to throw them the BIGGEST 'Welcome back from a dangerous place with your lives and a new friend' party EVER!"

"Just calm down, Pinkie. Now need to get worked up." Applejack says. "WHEN they get back, I'm positive they'll probably just wanna take a rest for a bit, especially with their mares." she smiles at all of her friends who have coltfriends. "Ah just wish I had a stallion like ya'll. Somepony to hold me and who ah know will always protect me."

Fern hops down from a chair she was sitting on. "Okay, I think that's enough of the mopey stuff. All of this worrying won't do us any good. I say we head out and do something that'll take our minds off of all this business."

"But what are we gonna do?" Applejack asks.

Fern taps a hoof to her chin. "I don't know. OH! I think I got it. I say we all head down to Pony Joe's donut shop and get us some donuts."

Dash gives a weak smile. "I could go for some donuts."

"Ooh, me too! I LOVE donuts!" Pinkie says excitedly.

All of the others give nods and mutters of agreement. "Okay, to Pony Joe's it is." Fern says.

Being originally from Canterlot, Fern knows her way around the town. Being Princess Celestia's student, Twilight knows her way around the castle, so she's the one to lead everypony out.

The large group of mares, now having gotten out of the castle, make their way down the streets of Canterlot, on their way to get donuts.

And donuts are awesome.

As they walk down the streets, ponies look at them a bit funny, but they ignore them... for the most part.

"Ugh, one thing I definitely don't miss is how snobby everypony around here is." Fern says.

"No kidding. They all look like they have sticks up their rumps." Dash says.

"You just need to talk to them a bit. Ponies around here are actually quite nice." Octavia says.

"Yes, I do love the ponies here." Fleur says. Go figure on that one.

"Octavia's right." Twilight says. "Some ponies around here may look pretty stuck up, but if you just take the time to get to know them, you may be surprised."

"Whatever." both Dash and Fern say.

After walking down the street for a little bit, they reach their destination: Pony Joe's Donuts and Joe. As they step in, they sniff the air and smell mouth-watering confectionaries immediately, some of them holding their mouths open at how delicious they smell.

You know what I kinda like? Smelling something and tasting it a bit. It's like free samples.

...Am I weird? Stupid question.

Joe smiles as they walk in. "Twilight, great to see ya and your friends again."

"Hi, Joe. What's up?"

He shrugs. "Eh, you know. The usual."

"Hey, Joe. Remember me?" Fern says, poking out from the crowd.

Joe laughs as he sees her. "Fern! Geez, it's been a LONG time since I've seen you around here. Great to see ya again. Now, what can I get all of you girls?"

"Ooh! I want jelly!" Pinkie says characteristically, meaning energetically.

"I'll take one with rainbow sprinkles." take a guess who said that one.

All of the others begin taking their orders one by one. As Joe gets a full list, he goes and grabs them. "Here you go, girls. Enjoy." he says, usinging hiw magic to levitate it over.

Twilight picks it up with her magic. "Thanks, Joe." they all say.

They all walk off from the counter and go crowd around one of the many tables inside as they begin to chowdown on their donuts.

As they eat, a black pegasus stallion with a mane and tail that's two shades of green, darker on the outside and lighter on the inside, a cutie mark of an infinite sign with a sword in the middle, and wearing a pair of green shades with a matching vest walks in.

He steps up to the counter. "Hey, Joe."

"Hey, Atom. Your usual?"

The stallion called Atom chuckles a bit. "That'd be it."

"Alright, one cinnamon apple donut coming up."

Hearing the stallion's order, Applejack perks up a bit. She looks behind her sholder to see this stallion. 'Well, nothin' too bad on him. Easy on the eyes at least.' she thinks to herself. 'Just take it slow, AJ. Don't wanna go scarin' the feller off.'

She turns back to her friends. "Ya'll mind if I go for a sec?" they all shake their heads, they're mouths full of donut. "Thanks. Ah'll just be a minute."

Atom takes his donut from Joe before turning around to see Applejack. "Hey there." he says.

"Howdy, partner. Couldn't help but hear you ordered a cinnamon appledonut." she says.

"Sure did. They're my favorite."

"Mine too." she extends her hoof. "My name's Applejack."

He extends his own hoof and shakes hers. "I'm Atomic Vortex, but you can call me Atom." they let go of ech other's hooves as they stop shaking. "So, Applejack, you don't really look like the type to be here in Canterlot."

"No, sir. Ah hate bein' around all these high falutin' city ponies."

"Then what brings you to Canterlot?"

Applejack starts getting nervous. Being the Element of Honesty, she can't lie her way out of this either. "A-Ah came up here with some friends. They had some business to attend to, so ah'm just stickin' around til they're done."

Atom buys it, being able to tell she's not lying. "Oh, I see. So, where did you come from."

"Ah'm just visiting down from Ponyville. Ah'm the proud co-owner of it's own apple orchard, Sweet Apple Acres." she says with pride.

"Ponyville? Apple orchard? I did always prefer the quiet farm life myself, but things just didn't turn out that way for me."

"Well, would you care to follow me and hear me tell ya about it?"

"Sure, that sounds like fun to me. I'd love to."

The two of them start walking towards the exit. As they do, Applejack looks at the other girls with a pleading face. They just smile and motion for her to go with Atom. She smiles happily as they leave.

The two of them continue to go throughout Canterlot together, talking, laughing, and just enjoying each other's company as a whole. Atom reveals to Applejack that he's actually a member of the Royal Guard who's on temporary leave right now. She tells him all about Sweet Apple Acres and her family.

They do this for several hours, getting lost in their story telling. They do this for so long that the moon actually comes up.

Applejack looks up at the sky and realizes how late it's getting. "Boy, time sure flew fast."

Atom looks up as well. "Heh, no kidding. Guess time flies when you're having fun."

Applejack gets up from her seat on the bench they were sitting on. "And boy did ah have fun. Ah had a really great time with ya, Atom."

Atom gets up. "And I had a lot of fun with you too, AJ."

Applejack catches him offguard with a kiss to the cheek, making him blush. "Ah've gotta be goin', but ah'll be up at the castle. Just ask fer me anytime ya want."

She then walks off, leaving Atom alone in slight shock. He puts a hoof to the cheek she kissed and smiles. "Fine job, sir. Fine job indeed."

Author's Note: Atomic Vortex comes from well, Atomic Vortex. Looks like you got in sooner than I expected, bro.

A Burning Hatred

Author's Note: You know what? Screw it. I can't get passed these stupid technical sifficulties, so most of the environments and punishments from here on out are gonna be of my own creation. It's either this or postponing the fic, and I am NOT doing that. So, on with the story I say!

Grim repeatedly punds the back of his head against his throne in frustration. "Idiots! Idiots! Idiots! IDIOTS!" he flings his hooves into the air, sending the plate of cookies flying. "WHY ARE THEY ALL SO INCOMPETENT?! HOW HARD IS IT TO KILL EIGHT MEDDLING PONIES?!"

The tray goes flying before landing to the ground next to Graze. Graze picks up a cookie. "Might wanna rethink what you just said, dude. There's eight of them. Kinda hard to kill them when it's always one against all of them." he takes a bite out of the cookie and swallows. "Hey, you're right, these things are pretty good."

Grim looks over. "My cookies!"

Graze takes the last cookie off the plate and eats it. He smiles at Grim. "I'm sorry, did you want one?"

Steam comes off of Grim's head as he gets increasingly frustrated. "You're all going to pay dearly for this."

"I doubt it. Correct if I'm wrong, but that was the sevnth circle, right? And there are nine circles in total, yes? Then that means they only have one more to go before they get down here, save me, and we all kick your flank."

Grim smirks. "I doubt that. Ignis Core is my strongest man. I'd like to see them try to get passed him."

Graze gives his on smirk. "Guess we'll just have to wait and see."

Grim slumps back in his chair as he looks at the portal. "Indeed, we shall. Tombstone, more cookies!"

"Yes, sir!" the grey earth pony says before dashing off.

"I enjoy having a snack while watching bugs burn. It's like the cherry on top."

A few floors back up

I can feel this terrible journey nearing the end. We literally only have two floors left before we can start making our way back home and get back to our normal lives.

If I remember correctly, the eighth circle is the circle of Fraud. This circle is the home(or prison really) to ponies who lie, cheat, and steal. I don't see how that's worse than violence oe greed, but it's not my place to judge this stuff.

After having beaten Giro back in the desert in Violence, we had made our way into the mountains, on our way to the second to last circle.

As we enter further inside of the rocky mountains, we come across a very deep chasm with three red rivers all pouring down into a vortex in the middle.

"What is all this?" Zeph asks.

"It's the meeting point of all the greatest rivers in Taurtarus." Vine says. She sighs. "We're going to have to jump in it to reach down to the next circle."

I shrug. "Meh, I'm not surprised."

"Yeah, with all the other stuff we've done in here, this isn't surprising." Rhino says.

"Indeed." Zeph says.

"Indeed? Heh, been a while since you've said that." Drax says.

He shrugs. "Eh, I'm trying to get back into saying it."

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Dark says before diving off.

"Yeah! This looks like fun!" Orion says, jumping after him.

Vine takes out a empty canteen of water. "You stay in here, Ciel. Don't want you getting swept up." the ooze goesinto the canteen before Vine jumps off the side herself.

The rest of us shrugging, we follow them down below. I'll admit, as I get closer, I start getting nervous before landing in the bloody river. The forces of the spin swerve of all around as we go down it like water going down a drain. As we go down, I actually pass out, the others not fairing much better.

After a bit of time, we wash up on some solid ground, luckily all still in one piece. As I get up, I spit out the blood in my mouth and shake some off of my body.

I look over at my friends to se them doing the same. "You guys all right?" I ask.

"Definie all right." Zeph says.

"Yeah, you guys are fine."

As they all get up, Vine lets Ciel out of the canteen. We look over to see a very large bridge suspended over a lake of lava. On the bridge are a buch of chains tied around colums along the sides of the bridge. At the end of these chains are tied up ponies.

"What's all this about?" Dark asks.

"One of Taurtarus' cruelest of fates." Vine starts explaining. "For those who come to Fraud are sentenced to suffer an enternity of being tied to this bridge over the lava while wyverns rip 'steal' parts of their body and eat them. Once done, the ponies' bodies are fully healed, as if they were never hurt, making them incapable of ever dying from this torture."

Rhino gags. "That's just sickening."

"Ugh, tell me about it. Even I'm not that bucked up." Dark says.

"Let's just go." Vine says impatiently. "I'm getting tired of all of this."

We start crossing the huge bridge, trying, as you can probably guess, to get to the other side. As we make it about half way, several wyverns come down and begin feasting on the helpless ponies.

For those who don't know, wyverns are basically like small dragons, but lack normal arms or the ability to breath fire.

They start doing things like rip off their flesh, tear off limbs, one even pulls out an eye and eats it right infront of the pony. All the while the ponies are screaming out in pain and suffering.

As the ponies continue eating, Vine starts trembling in anger. "Enough!" she hops onto the side of the bridge and stares down the wyverns. "You evil demon! You shall pay for harming these defenseless ponies!"

She summons a bunch of vines that attack and tie up the wyvern. Constricting the wyvern's wings, Vine chucks it down into the lava, completely incinerating it.

Seeing their brother be killed, the other wyverns start surrounding us in a circle as we back up into each other.

"Uh oh." Vine says.

"Nice going, Vine." I say.

"Sorry, I just kinda lost it there."

Dark pounds his hooves together. "Good thing too. I was just starting to get bored. Come on, let's do this!"

*sigh* I'm not surprised.

(More random battle music for your ears' pleasure)

Dark immediately goes in at the closest wyvern to him grabs it by the tail. Rather than using his powers, he spins around and around until eventually letting go and throwing the wyvern into a rock wall, making it fall asleep.

Being the next to get jumped at, Zephyr takes to the air for his bout with a wyvern. The wyvern keeps at trying to hit him, but his good manuevering skills allow him to go untouched. Eventually he flies over the wyvern and bucks it in the back of the head, taking it out.

Vine, being the way she is, simply summons some vines that grab and take out another wyvern. She can be a bit boring sometimes.

Ice, being unable to fly, takes the defensive against his foe. As the wyvern swoops in, he dodges to the side before creating a wall that the wyvern runs into and falls unconscious from.

Also being unable to fly, Rhino does the same against his target. He uses his Res to skate around before stoppiing. AS the wyvern comes in, Rhino teleports away, making this wyvern too crash into a wall and get knocked out.

I get a bit more up close and personal against the wyvern going after me. As it comes in, I give it a Hurricane Hoof to the face, knocking it back. I fly above it and give it a Blustering Buck right into the ground, creating cracks in the ground and knocking the wyvern out cold.

As Drax's foe comes in, he dodges to the side before giving it a hard slam over the back. He picks itup by the tail and slams it again and again repeatedly before chucking it over the bridge.

Last up is Orion. He dodges back and forth as a wyvern repeatedly tries to take a bite out of him. Eventually seeing an opening, he takes the wyvern by the stomach and flies around a bit. After gaining up some speed, his trail forms and he slams the wyvern hard into a wall, making its body go limp.

(End battle music)

We all land back on the bridge and do our traditional highoofs and broohoofs.

"Easy peasy." Zeph says.

"Yeah, but didn't seem a bit too-" Ice starts before I clamp a hoof over his mouth.

"No! Don't say that! It always jinxes us." I take my hoof off and start walking down the bridge. "Let's just go already."

Ice waits a few seconds. "Easy."

"Rain of Fire!" a voice shouts.

We look up to see fire start raining down from above. I grab Ice and shake him. "I TOLD YOU NOT TO SAY THAT!"

"BUCK THAT! RUN!" Vine shouts before taking off.

We all start running down the bridge, avoiding any incoming fire from the skies. We have a few close calls, but luckily no one gets hit or burned in our dash.

As we near the end of the bridge, we are stopped by a tall, red unicorn stallion with a long, flowing, and orange mane and tail, each with yellow points. He also has serpent eyes similar to Shadow Blade and Alloy and a splotchy mark on his backside similar to Iron Shell.

He steps forward. "The trespassers." he says bitterly. "You are not welcome here. Turn back or burn for your insolence."

I sigh. "Great, another one of Grim Blade's men. So, what's your name?"

"What does that matter?"

"I'm making a list of all the wackjobs we meet down here."

"Fine then. I am Ignis Core, the Burning Phantom."

"Burning Phantom?" Zephyr asks.

"I am not an ordinary pony. I was a phantom when I was created. I always detested the living for getting their chance to live when I didn't. My hatred eventually gave me physical form, that's why I am here. My entire being is all a fraud! I am not supposed to even exist!"

Dark steps forward. "Yeah, that's real sad and all, but you're in our way."

"Dark, what did we talk about when saying we shouldn't piss off big, angry ponies with powers that could easily kill us if they wanted to?" I say.

Rhino takes the front, trying to be the voice of reason. "Look, we don't want to fight. We only came here to save Graze. We don't need any of this confrontation."

"It is already too late for that!" Ignis shouts. He takes a deep breath, ready for an attack.

Why is this always so difficult?

(Boss Battle 8: Ignis Core. BEGIN!)

Ignis releases his breath as he spits out a fireball. I push Dark and Vine out of the way as I fire a Wing Wave that intercepts the fireball and makes it explode. As the smoke clears, we see Ignis bring up his front hooves before stomping them down, creating a shockwave of fire.

We all jump back from it. Getting frustrated, Ice decides to go in. He fires a bunch of ive shards, Ignis breathing fire to put them out. Using them as a distraction, Ice stomps his hooves, making Ignis shoot up from an ice pillar below him.

Being stuck in the air, Ignis starts breath fire down on us, but I use my Blue Typhoon to keep the flames at bay.

With Ignis suspended in the air, Zeph and Orion decide to make their move. Zeph goes in first, using his speed to act as a dustraction to Ignis' attacks. With Ignis busy with Zephyr, Orion hits Ignis hard in the abdomin with a slam, sending him up to a small cliff.

Ignis growls a bit. "Meteor Storm!" his horn glows brightly as molten balls of rock start raining down. Still up in the air, closest to the meteors, Zeph and Orion start dodging the rocks like crazy.

"Oh buck that!" Dark shouts. He starts shooting off bolts of lightning at the rocks, making them explode. I join in with my own projectiles.

"Time to bring you down a notch!" Vine shouts. Using her amazing ability to grow plants anywhere, she summons several vines that grab Ignis and chuck him down lower.

Rhino teleports under him to give him a swift buck, hitting him hard as he falls down.

Ignis growls again as he gets up. He summons another batch of meteors, Dark and I continuing to stop them with projectiles. But it's no good as too many get through and destroy the bridge we're standing on, leaving us all floating on stone blocks.

As a metor comes in, Drax does the unthinable and catches it. He chucks the huge boulder at Ignis, knocking the red stallion to another platform.

Ignis growls once more. "No more games. YOU ALL SHALL PERISH!" his horn begins to glow furiously as fire from the surrounding area begins building together and taking shape. Soon, the fire begins to resemble a dragon, claws and wings and all.

"FIRE DRAGON, MOLTEN INFERNO!" the dragon roars out in a loud screech.

Oh buck us.

The dragon starts swiping at us, looking for easy takedowns. Being shrunk by fire, Ciel takes cover on a high up cliff. The pegasi of the group start flying around as Ice and Rhino try to hop their way over to solid ground.

Rhino ducks as the dragon swipes at his head. "Watch it! I've only got one of those!"

"Just give up! It'll make it all the less painful!" Ignis calls out.

"No way!" Dark shouts. He creates a grenade and chucks it at the dragon, creating an explosion. He crosses his forelegs. "Heh, it wasn't so tough." as the smoke clears, the fire starts reforming into the dragon. Dark's legs slump. "Oh buck."

The dragon starts breathing fire all around. I try flapping my wings to blow out the flames, but they only reform like before.

The others make attempts to go for Ignis, but his dragon continues to keep them all at bay.

Ice starts growling as he gets continuely frustrated at all of this. "I'm sick of all the fite. Sick of all the lava. Sick of all the smoke. Sick of being in this place. I'm going to end this right now!" Rhino looks at him. "Ice? You all right?"

"NO!" he shouts. A huge amount of mist starts coming from his body as ice forms in the air. We all look down at him as we notice the huge build up of mist and ice.

Much like Ignis did earlier with fire, the ice starts forming into the shape of a dragon, almost identical to Ignis'.

The dragon roars as it takes shape. "ICE DRAGON, FREEZING TUNDRA!"

The two dragons immediately notice each other and start glaring, feeling the hatred of being polar opposites. The go to attack each other, causing a massive explosion to take place.

As the smoke from the explosion clears, neither dragons are left visible, both of them cancelling each other out in their duel.

"NO!" Ignis shout. He begins to charge his horn again, ready for another attack.

"Oh no you don't!" Drax shouts, looking at him. He quickly flies down to Ignis and grabs his horn, dutting off his magic. Drax smirks as Ignis looks on in shock. "Let's see how much damage you can do without this!" he throws his hoof down, snapping off the horn and sending a shockwave of pain through Ignis' head.

(End battle music)

He rolls around on the ground as he grabs his head and grunts in pain. We all go down and surround him.

"Let me restrain him." Vine says.

"That won't be necessary." Ignis says.

"What?" we all say in confusion.

Ignis sighs. "I know when I am defeated. Without my horn, I have no powers. I am no longer a threat to you. Just go on and leave me be."

We all exchange skeptical glance before agreeing with Ignis.

Only one last floor to go.It's almost over from here.

Author's Note: Ignis Core comes from Star Light. Last OC from her, I promise.

Light It Up

Author's Note: ...Seriously? What is this still doing here? *whispers* Since the FCC demanded I put them here? Since when do I answer to them? *whispers* Oh... that's when. Hehehe. Anyway, on with the story. Hehehe... PLEASE DON'T CANCEL ME!

Grim clutches the arms of his chair very tightly, putting cracks in them. "This cannot be happening." he grabs his head as it starts shaking. "This cannot be happening!"

Graze chuckles at seeing Grim. "Oh, believe me, it's happening. They're on their way here, they're gonna free me, we're gonna kick your sorry flank, and then we're all going to go home."

Grim growls angrily. "Not if I have anything to say about it! TOMBSTONE!"

The grey, nervous earth pony quickly rushes in at the call of his master. "Yes, sir?"

"Go get Glare ready. I'll be damned if I'm going to let those ponies reach down here."

Grim does a quick salute. "I'm on it, sir!" he quickly dashes off and through the doors.

Grim puts his hooves together as he scowls. "Glare better not fail me."

"Oh, getting cold hooves, are we?" Graze taunts.

"Not at all. I'd just hate to get my hooves dirty by squashing bugs."

Graze waves him off. "Yeah yeah, keep acting tough. You're finished and you know it. There's no way these guys are going to lose after coming so far."

"That's the thing about Taurtarus, every floor is harder than the last. Just because they got this far, doesn't mean they can't lose."

"You wanna make a bet on that?"

"Sure, I win then you die. You win then you'll still die from me." Grim starts laughing too himself.

Graze just gives him a blank look. "Geez, what a flankhole."

Up above

After having taken care of Ignis, we had gotten Ciel and flew over to the side of the bridge opposite to where we came from. I could've swore after we left that I heard a loud, agonizing scream. Sounded kinda like Ignis. Understandable considering what Drax did to him.

Anyway, on the opposite side of the bridge, we found this deep, dark, and damp cave that leads down wards to the next and final circle: Betrayal, the worst of all sins. Betrayal is for those who betray someone close to them like a friend, family member, or lover. Luckily Summer was the one who kissed me, so I don't have to worry about coming down here myself. This circle is also the residing place over Taurtarus' watcher, Grim Blade. Man, I can't wait to take him down for putting us through this.

As we walk through the cave, there isn't much in the way of visibility. Even while squinting, I can barely see anything.

"It's so dark in here." I say.

"Yeah, I can't see a thing." Zeph says.

"Ow." Vine says. "Watch it! That's my tail."

"Oops. Sorry, Vine." Drax says.

"This is even darker than all of those caves I've been in>" Orion says.

"Agreed." Ice agrees(...no comment).

"I could try to light it up with my horn." Rhino says.

"Nah, I'll do it." Dark says. He starts making sparks come off of his hooves before they start glowing brightly. As the room illuminates, we see many ponies stuck to the walls, unable to move any parts of their bodies. "Woah, that's creepy."

"Vine?" I say, knowing where to get the answer from.

"We're not quite at the final circle yet. We're at the junction between the last two circle. This place is used as a holding ground for ponies who go to Betrayal, whom Grim Blade likes to deal with personally."

"Sick buck."

"You have no idea. And he and the ones before him have been doing this for millenia. Imagine the billions of ponies, griffons, mules, and diamond dogs alike who have come through here to suffer endless torture."

"I'd really prefer not to." Rhino says.

"Normally I'm one for this kinda gross and creepy stuff, but being caught in the middle of it just gives me a horrible feeling." Dark says.

"Then I guess you can call it grimdark." I joke.

All of them facehoof at the bad pun. "I swear, Blue. Your puns are getting worse and worse." Ice says.

"You guys know you love me."

"Which is lucky for you, or I would've broke you a long time ago." Drax says.

"Let's just go. We're only another half mile away from the bottom floor." Vine says as she starts trotting away.

"Since we're technically not in a circle anymore, that means we shouldn't need to worry about anymore ponies trying to jump us, right?" Orion says with a hopeful smile.

"Seems legit." Zeph says.

I just know that this will not end well. Just a feeling I have, and as you may know, these feelings are usually write.

We start continuing through the cave when we suddenly see a light off in the distance. "What is that?" Rhino asks worriedly.

"Light Lazer!" a voice screams.

A beam of light comes from the direction of the voice and comes towards us at the speed of, well, light. I quickly charge my wings and push the others out of the way, using my wings to redirect the beam to hit the ceiling.

I glare back at Zeph and Orion. "What did I say before?"

Both of them droop their ears. "Sorry."

"Okay, we'll give you two seconds to show yourself!" Dark threatens.

From the shadows out steps a bright yellow pegasus stallion with a wjite mane and tail with darker yellow highlights in them. The stallion is glowing radiantly, lighting up the area around him. In all honestly, he's probably the most normal looking pony we've come across in this entire place.

"The trespassers Tombstone and Lord Grim Blade warned me about."

I sigh before taking out a notepad and a pencil. "Name please?"

He looks at m as if I have a mental issue, which is a big possibility. "W-What?"

"Name please? I'm trying to add you to the list."

"Um... it's Glare."

"Glare." I say as I write it down. I put the notepad and pencil away. "Thank you. Please procede."

He snaps out of his confusion as he starts getting enraged at us. He stomps his hooves down. "Idiots! How you got passed the other eight circles with your lives I'll never know."

"That's easy. Ten percent luck."

"Twenty percent skill." Dark joins in.

"Fifteen percent concentrated power of will." Zephyr continues.

"Five percent pleasure." Vine says.

"Fifty percent pain." Drax says.

"And a hundred percent reason to remember the name." the others finish.

Now Glare looks at all us, utterly confused by it all. He snaps out of it as he starts gritting his teeth. "Enough of this foolishness! Now you shall feel my wrath!" he starts glowing incredibly bright as he stands on his back legs and summons two twin swords of light.

This should be fun. And I'm totally not being sarcastic at all.

(Boss Battle 9: Glare. BEGIN!)

He comes charging at us, blades ready. Dark and I each intercept him with our own blades as we start a two on one match. From what I can tell this close up, he's nearly as strong as Drax, making him able to go against the both of us with ease.

While Glare is backing up from our duel onslaught of attacks, Rhino uses his Res to make him slip and fall back. Thinking we have an opening, we jump up, but Glare uses a flash attack that blinds us while midair. With us stunned, Glare bucks us both down to the ground.

Vine tries sending a number of vines after him, slowly pushing him back. Similar to how we dealt with Alloy, Zephyr flies low and behind Glare, tripping him up. With a free hit available to him, Ice stomps his hooves, making a pillar shoot up and send Glare against the ceiling.

Once the pillar breaks, Glare goes limp to the ground. As he gets back up, he fires several beams of light from his hooves to push us back.

Using a spare minute to prepare for the fight, Glare summons up a bunch of light that takes shape into armor around his body.

Drax decides to take charge and go in after him. He goes in for some punxhes on him, but the armor blocks the blunt force of the blows. lare creates a sword of light and swings it, but Drax catches it in his hooves. He tries breaking it, but the solid light is too strong for him.

As it seems like Glare is going to cleave him in half, Orion comes crashing into Glare, breaking the sword and armor and sending him back.

Orion starts circling around Glare, swirling his black star streak around him in a big circle. As the streak continues going around, Glare is swallowed into the ever growing darkness from the streak.

"Pfft, is this the best you can do?!" Glare calls out. He tries to create more light from his hooves, but nothing illuminates. "This isn't just darkness, it's... advanced darkness."

"Yep, and don't you forget it!" Orion yells as he comes in in the circle. He goes in fast and crashes into Glare, sending crashing hard into a wall.

Getting angry, Glare starts shooting off beams of light like mad. Some of the loose crystals in the cave start acting like mirrors as the beams bounce off of them and all around.

A beam ricochets and hits Dark, making him fall back. As Dark gets back up, he creates a greanade and chucks it into the open out of anger.

Instead of trying to dodge, Glare begins charging up a beam in his hooves. The beam absorbs the grenade, making it grow in size.

"Uh oh." Dark says.

Glare smirks. "Uh oh is right." he throws his forelegs forward, making the beam shoot out. "SOLAR BEAM!"

Hearing the name of the attack, Vine smirks. "Solar, eh?" she takes a step forward. "Allow me to handle this, boys."

She summons a small vinus flytrap out infront of us. I raise an eyebrow at it. "This is something I've been working on for a while. Remember when you killed my last pet, Rosebud?" she asks the last part a bit bitterly.

I give a nervous chuckle as I rub the back of my head. "Uh, yeah."

"Well, meet Rosebud the second." Ciel looks at Vine a bit worriedly. Vine rubs its head comfortably. "Don't worry, Ciel. You're still gonna get plenty of attention from me."

As the beam nears, Rosebud simply absorbs it into its body. Glare's eyes go wide. "WHAT?!"

With the new source of great energy, Rosebud starts growing incredibly large, reaching right up to the cave ceiling.

Glare starts taking steps back as the plant licks its lips. "N-Nice venus flytrap. G-Good venus flytrap."

He tries to run away from it, but the plant grabs him by the tail and smirks before throwing it inside and chewing him up a bit.

"No! Bad Rosebud!" Vine shouts. "We need him alive! Spit him out!" Rosebud groans a bit before reluctantly spitting him out. Vine pets the plant a bit. "Good Rosebud two. That's a good venus flytrap."

With its job finished, Rosebud goes back into the ground to fight another day.

(End battle music)

Glare groans on the ground, being covered in pain, bite marks, and plant spit. Gross. I know what it's like inside there, and it isn't pleasant in the least.

We all gather around Glare, him now defeated and barely conscious. He mumbles a bit, but it's inaudible to us.

"Vine, if you will." I say.

"With pleasure, Blue." she says. Her hooves glow as a dozen vines pop out and wrap themselves around Glare's near motionless body.

Him defeated, we look out into the cave with serious faces.

"You guys ready for this?" I ask. We all exchange determined glances and give silent nods. "Then let's do this!"

We all cherr before running down the halls of the cave, on our way to the final circle, Grim BLade, and Razor Graze.

Just one more circle. I know we can do it!

Author's Note: Glare comes from Flutterkiin a.k.a. Buff. ...I've got nothing clever to say, so I'm just gonna cut it off here.

The Final Confrontation

Author's Note: Ah, here it finally is. The big climax to the Taurtarus arc. The big fight with the group going up against Grim Blade, the lord of the undead. This is sure to be an amazing fight(I hope. Please don't kill me if not.). Now, let's get this shit started! On with the story!

After Celestia knows how long we've been down here, and after defeating countless monsters and enemies, we're finally ereaching the final circle where Grim Blade has Razor Graze held up.

Even though we still have to climb back up on our own, the hardest part of our journey is nearly over. I can feel it. Soon we'll all be going back home to our friends and marefriends and go back to our... still crazy, but not as crazy, lives.

After fighting Glare, we had continued our way through the cave, luckily nothing trying to attack us. Now all that's left is that flankhole Grim Blade. I don't care what kind of power he's supposed to have, we WILL win this fight no matter what.

As we make our way through the cave, we find a staircase that leads down. We all exchange glances again. "Any of you who want to turn back now? Because ter this is the point of no return." I warn.

Everypony is silent as I see the determination on each of their faces. I take one last look at the staircase before nodding. "Okay then, let's go."

In Grim's throne room

Grim looks the portal blankly. "Oh buck." he starts getting angry before throwing his hooves in the air. "NO! THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING!"

Graze just smirks at him. "Oh, it's happening. And in just a few minutes, we're gonna tear you apart."

Grim growls. "If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself. Though I hate to do so, I'll just have to kill you all myself."

As we walk down the stairs, we can hear screaming becoming louder and louder. As we near the bottom, we see a a set of large, stone doors being guarded by a grey earth pony in a black cloak.

He shakes in fear as we near the bottom. "S-Stop in the name of the Grave Ponies!" he yells nervously.

Vine narrows her eyes at the pony. "A Grave Pony, huh?"

"T-That's right! You b-better not mess with us!" he trembles, trying to look tough but utterly failing at it.

Vine silently growls before summoning a vine that throws him against the celing, knocking him out cold and leaving a large bump on his head.

"Wasn't that a bit harsh? Poor guy looked like he was about ready to wet himself." I say.

"He looked like he was gonna faint to me." Rhino says.

Vine shrugs. "He was in our way. And besides, you all already know my stance on Grave Ponies."

"And I like it. They deserve it for what they've put us through." Dark says with annoyance.

"Whatever. Can we just go in already? I'm getting antsy." Ice says.

"Indeed." Zeph says. Again with that.

"Yeah, I'm ready to go." Drax says.

"Ready when you guys are." Orion joins in.

"Alright, then let's do this!" I shout.

We push open the heaving doors, making a creaking sound. As the doors open, we look inside to see a very upset looking Grim Blade sitting in his throne and a slightly beat up Razor Graze tied to a wall.

Graze smiles as he sees us. "About time you guys showed up! It's literally been hell down here!"

"You try going through nine floors of this place. It's not easy." I say.

Grim sighs. "Idiots." he says quiet ly before jumping out of his throne.

(Music for dramatic effect)

Grim eyes all of us angrily, the hatred radiating from his eyes. "It really is mazing that not only you made it done here, but all eight of you made it down here in one piece."

I stomp a hoof. "Yeah, and we;'re here to take Graze back, so hoof him over."

Vine also stomps. "Yeah, you darn Grave Ponies. Or else I'm going to give you a permanent Grave."

Grim smirks. "Ah, the Vine Pony. I could've swore we wiped you all out a long time ago."

"Never! The Vine Ponies wil never fall to the likes of you! Death can never defeat life!"

"Ah, that is true. We need both death and life to maintain balance in the universe. Without the other, one has no meaning."

"Why is you're holding Graze anyway?! He was wrongfully put here!" I shout.

"Yeah! This has been a load of buck!" Graze adds.

"I'm simply doing my job."

"What?"

"Yes, it is the job of the Grave Ponies, especially myself to make sure no one leaves Taurtarus, wrongfully put here or not."

"Well, buck your job! We're taking Graze back and that's all there is to it!" Dark shouts angrily.

"For once you took the words right out of my mouth, Dark." I say.

Grim growls. "If you fools wish to throw your lives away, then so be it!" Grim's horn starts to give off a glow. 'Skeletal Thralls!" out from the ground comes a back of skeletal diamond dogs holding weapons in their claws.

Well, I knew this was coming. I say bring it on.

(Last random battle to go)

As a dog comes into rush me, I block its axe with a wing before pushing it back with my hooves. I charge up a hoof and hit it right in the ribcage, making it fly out into pieces.

Zephyr gets ready to dodge as a dog comes at him. It flails a mace at him repeatedly, but he easily dodges the blows. As it swings again, Zephyr grabs the mace and twists the dog's arm off, taking the mace for himself. With one good swing he sends the head flying off, making the body go limp.

Drax gets up close and usual against his as you'd expect. As he goes in for a punch, the dog uses a shield to block. Drax repeatedly punches the withered and rusty shield over and over again until it breaks. With nothing else to fight with, the dog gets a strong buck from Drax, breaking it into pieces.

Dark wastes no time against his foe as he uses his blades to block the blade swings of the dog. When he sees an opportunity, he cleaves it to pieces, beating it effortlessly.

Orion duck under a swing from a dog and grabs it by the leg. He flies around, holding it tightly. He flies close to a wall and drags it along it. Once done, he throws it down to the ground, breaking it up.

Ice uses his ice slide to ram into a dog, holding onto it as he does so. He goes up a small ramp and jumps backward once reaching the top. He finishes with a huge piledriver to the dog, taking it out.

Vine gets a dog using a bow, meaning she has to play it cautiously. The dog continuously fires arrows at her, making her dodge. As she dodges, keeping it busy, Ciel gets behind the dog and trips it up. With the dog on its back, Vine stomps, making a hard vine stab the dog straight through.

While everyone else is busy fighting, Rhino sneaks over to Graze and uses his horn to pich the locks on his chains. After Graze is free, Rhino uses his friction magic to make the collar slide off of Graze's head, giving him full reign over his powers again.

(End battle music)

Grim's jaw drops as he witnesses all of his forces destroyed and his prisoner freed. We all just gather around across from him and glare, ready to end it.

He growls. "You have not won yet! I refuse to let you win! Time that you all faced the true power of the Lord of Taurtarus!"

I have a bad feeling about this.

Author's Note: Pesky cliffhangers. Am I right?

The Lord of the Undead

Author's Note: Remember how I said this wouldn't be happening until tomorrow? Yeah, forget that. Thanks in part to Zephyr and a bit of rest, I feel like writing again(though most of you will still be seeing this on Tuesday. Oh well. At least I get to keep up my streak.). Anyways, here comes the real final battle with Grim Blade. The part this entire arc has built up to. I plan to make this BIG... let's just hope I can do it. Now, on with the story.

Well, now's where it all comes to a boil. Graze has been freed, but now Grim is extremely pissed and ready to murder us all.

All of us stand a good few yards away from him, getting into battle positions. We all keep very careful watches on him, making sure to be ready for any tricks.

"All of you will rue the day you decided to mess with me. I'll make sure you all burn for all eternity for this." he kneels down as he charges his horn up. "Now you shall face the true power of Grim Blade of the Grave Ponies! But first..."

As Grim's horn glows, the walls and throne in the room collapse down, expanding the room's size in both height and length, even putting a huge pit around the circle platform we stand on.

We look around our new arena in awe. "Hmm, that sure is nifty." I say, slightly impressed. The others look at me strangely. I shrug. "What? It is pretty cool."

"I'm glad you like it. I like to set the stage right when killing my prey myself. It took forever to carve out all of that rock and stone, but I feel it was worth it."

Graze stomps forward and snorts as Grim. "Enough of this pointless talking! It's about time I kick your flank!"

"Yes, it is time to end it! Come at me, fool!"

(Boss Battle 10: Grim Blade. BEGIN!)

Graze begins to flap his wings rapidly while flying in place, shooting out waves of fire towards Grim. Before the flames hit though, Grim teleports away in a blue fog. As he returns to normal, he smirks at Graze. Getting frustrated, Graze dashes towards Grim.

"Ah ah ah." he says. His horn glows creating a giant hand that comes up from the ground that grabs Graze, completely restraining him. "Now what are you going to do?"

"Kick your flank once I get out of here!" Graze shouts as he struggles.

"He's not the one you need to worry about!" Zeph shouts as he's about to take off for Grim, still holding the mace. He takes off in the blink of an eye, going full speed. As Grim sees this, he summons another diamond dog, which Zephyr quickly knocks to pieces.

While Grim is busy focusing on Zephyr, Dark goes in and uses his lightning blades to slice the hand holding Graze, freeing him from its clutches.

"Hmm, quite fast, aren't you both?" he says to Zeph and Dark.

"You haven't seen anything yet!" Dark says.

"Yeah, we're just getting started!" Zeph adds.

"Well, I'll just have to fix that then." Grim starts charging his horn again and shoots a wave that completely envelopes all three of the pegasi.

All three of them look over themselves, noticing no differences on them. "Hey, that didn't do anything." Graze says.

"Oh, it did something." Grim says. "Allow me to demonstrate. Skeletal Thralls!" he summons another batch of diamond dog minions before them.

Dark waves a hoof. "Peh, no problem." he flies in right after them, but as he gets close, he's hit right in the face by a shield, knocking him down. He rubs his head. "Hey, what the hay?"

A diamond dog comes after Zephyr. As he tries to dodge, the dog stops him by clashing its sword to his mace. "Hey, why can't I dodge this thing?" Zephyr says as he's locked in a stalemate.

Graze knocks the dog off of him, but as he does, another dog swings at him, knicking his cheek. Graze blasts a bit of fire at it, knocking it back as well. "What's going on? Why are we suddenly slower?"

Grim chuckles. "My Time's Touch spell. Slows down any beings caught in it. Your speed can't help you now."

"Good thing we also have strength on our side!" Drax says as he comes in and takes down a diamond dog by Dark.

I also come in and give a good Hurricane Hoof to a skeletal dog, smashing it to pieces in an instance. "That's right!"

"Oh, well, good thing I also have something for that too."

"Say what?" we both say.

"Weaken!" Grim shoots out another wave from his horn, this time at me and Drax. "And now for the finishing touch." after that he summons a giant hand that grabs both os us.

Drax and I both struggle furiously as we try to break free of the hand. "What the buck is this?!" I say.

"Yeah, I feel so weak." Drax says.

"As I said, I also have a spell to weaken physical strength. It's quite useful."

"How's this for useful?!" Ice shouts angrily before stomping hid hooves, impaling Grim's body. "Wow. That sure seemed easy. A bit too easy..."

"That's because it was." a voice says from behind Ice.

"What the buck?!" Ice says as he turns around. He looks back at the Grim he impaled to see a simple crow. He looks back at Grim.

"Prepare for more pain than you have ever experienced in your pitiful like." he removes his shades, revealing his solid-colored eyes. "Tatsuyomi!"

Inside of Ice's mind

Ice slowly opens his eyes, seeing that his is tied to a big, stone T i an area he's never been in. As he looks around, he sees hundreds of Grim blades holding knives. The GRims starting stabbing and slashing him one by one, never stopping.

Ice feels a new and even more intense pain with each new wound, almost wishing he would just die. To Ice this entire experience feels as though it's going for ten days.

Back out in the real world

In under three seconds, Ice's body collapses to the ground, motionless. Grim puts his shades back on.

"ICE!" we all shout. That motherbucker's going down!

"You're mine!" Rhino shouts. He goes in to tackle Grim with going at full speed Res, but Grim uses his haze teleport again to dodge it. Being unable to stop in time, Rhino accidentally goes off the side of the arena.

"NO! RHINO!" we shout again. okay, now I'm pissed!"

"Grr, no more of this!" Vine shouts. "You Grave Ponies have had this coming for a very long time!" she summons a bumch of vines that constrict Grim's movement, even grabbing his horn.

Grim struggles to get free, but to no avail. "No! You can't do this to me!"

"Watch me." Vine says bitterly. She stomps down, sending up a vine that hits Grim hard in the stomach, leaving a shallow wound dripping with blood.

Grim grabs his stomach as he glares at Vine. As he's about ready to perform another spell, Orion starts flying around him, preparing to surround him in darkness. "Can't hit what you can't see!" he says.

Grim starts rubbing his chin. "Thank you for the idea!" Grim carefully starts charging his horn again. He takes precision aim and actually manages to hit Orion in the eyes.

"AH! I CAN'T SEE!" Orion shouts as he grabs at his eyes. Unable to see, he crashes right into Vine outside of the vortex.

Vine rubs her head before looking at her fallen friend. "Orion, are you okay?"

"Hello? Vine?" he says, grabbing around.

"Yeah, it's me."

"Where are you?" he grabs at the air before eventually touching Vine's face, luckily avoiding her nose. Lucky man. "Oh, there you are."

She pushes his hooves off. "Yeah, of course. What's wrong with you?" she says before pushing him off.

"I can't see a thing!"

"Really?" she glares over at Grim. "What did you do to him?!"

"Oh, just another spell of mine. He'll be blinded for the next while now." he starts pointing his horn at Vine again. "Now time to deal with you!"

"Not on my watch!" Rhino shouts from the distance. He comes shooting up from the pit before landing dwn and knocking Grim away with a strong bodycheck.

"Rhino, how'd you get back up here?" Vine says.

"Like I said, grinding with Res is fun." he answers.

Orion comes over and starts touching him. "Rhino? Oh thank Celestia, you're all right!"

Rhino looks to Vine for an answer. "Uh..."

"Grim blinded him. He can't see." Vine answers.

"What?!"

"Don't worry, it's only temporary."

"Easy for you to say." Orion says. "You're not the one who's blind."

Rhino goes over to Ice's unconscious body. "I'll get Ice to a safe place."

"Good idea." Vine says. She looks at Orion. "I'll deal with him until he can see again."

"Hey, I'm not some little kid who has to be watched over." Orion says before tripping over a rock.

Vine smirks. "You were saying?"

"Shut up."

Grim looks over at them while trying to get up. As he gets up, he sees Graze, Zephyr, and Dark standing over him. He chuckles nervously. "Hey there."

The guys all look at each other before nodding. They all buck him at the same time. Once Grim is in the air, Zephyr bucks him up again, and Dark does the same, but with electricity charged in. As Grim goes up, Graze wraps himself around him before piledriving him into the ground, creating a bit of a crater.

Having gotten freed from the hand's clutches, I fly up above Grim, his eyes widening as he sees me. Still weak from the drop, Vine gets a chance to constrain him. With my free opportunity, I spin down and give him a hard Auger to the abdomin, deepening the crater.

As I look over to check him out, I see that he escaped with another crow substitute. He grins as he looks at us. "You pitiful fools! I am the God of the Undead! Nopony can defeat me-WOAH!"

Drax cuts him off as he grabs his hindlegs from behind and starts slamming him around. Drax finishes up with throwing him away. "Puny god."

Grim groans on the ground before shakily getting to his hooves. "ENOUGH! YOU IMBECILES! HAVE FORCED ! MY HOOVES! NO MORE MISTER NICE PONY!"

He was being nice before?

Grim's horn glows incredibly bright as a big, red circle starts foming on the ground infront of him. The ground begins to shake as something begins to crawl out from it. Soon, a giant, skeletal dragon emerges from the ground and gives a loud roar.

"Um, what's going on?" Orion says in confusion. We all slowly step back from the massive monster.

Grim begins maniacally laughing with the beast now out in play. "Meet Stallord!"

And just when I thought this couldn't get any harder.

Author's Note: You didn't honestly expect this to only take place in one part, did you? You did? Well, that's just stupid. Everyone knows final bosses never have just one form. Anyway, shit's gonna get REALLY real next chapter.

Stallord

Author's Note: Okay, I know I warn about either awesome stuff or gruesome stuff a lot lately, but I'm very serious here when I say things get heavy on both. Prepare yourselves, comrads, for we are about to embark on a journey of epicness. Now, on with it, as I tend to say way too much.

Right now should be the time when I should be nearly wetting myself in fear from having to take on a godly entity and his house-sized bone dragon, but honesty, I stopped caring what kind of stuff came after me a long time ago. I no longer give a buck. I just wanna take this guy down and go home.

Grim and his, um, Stallord? Yeah that's it. Grim and Stallord sstand across from us on the opposite side of the arena, Grim smirking at us.

"Seriously, what is going on?" Orion asks, still blind.

"Oh, you know, Grim just summoned a thirty foot tall skeletal dragon to try and crush us into a million little pieces. Nothing new."

"Say what now?"

"Never mind." I turn to Vine. "You make sure he gets to some place safe until his blindness wears off."

"On it." she says. She grunts as she picks him up on her back. "Geez, what have you been eating?"

"Rarity." he answers.

"Say what?" Vine says, confused and concerned at what he means.

"Nothing, just take me up."

Vine facehoofs. "Ugh, fine." with that she flies off with Orion in tow. She flies up to a small cliff and sets him down. "Okay, you just sit here and don't move. You might fall off."

"Alright, mom." Orion says in annoyance.

Vine rolls her eyes at him before flying back done.

I look to Rhin, Ice on his back. "And you get Ice out of here too."

He gives a salute. "On it." he uses his quick teleportation to teleport up to the platform with Orion on it. He sets Ice down. "Here, Orion. You'll have some company while you're up here."

"Rhino, is that you?"

"Yeah, just 'chill' out with Ice for a little bit."

"Isn't it Blue's job to make bad puns?"

Rhino chuckles. "Doesn't mean I can't make 'em. Anyway, just stay here for a bit." Rhino then teleports back down.

"Can do." Orion says. "So, Ice, how you doing?" he asks. He then realizes something. "Oh, yeah. You're still unconscious."

With our two incapable of fighting friends safe for themoment, we all regroup down at the arena.

Grim raises an eyebrow. "So, you going to fight, or are you going to just stand there, gawking?"

Zeph kneels down, ready to attack. "I'll go first."

"You sure, Zeph?" I ask.

He smirks. "Just trust me, Blue. I got this."

"Well, alright."

This should be interesting at least.

(Boss Battle 10 Part 2: Grim Blade and Stallord. BEGIN!)

With the mace in his forelegs, Zephyr goes shooting off towards Stallord. Grim smirks. "Fool! Thinking you could take on Stallord head on!"

"Not quite. I AM GOING TO BE THE BANE OF YOUR EXISTENCE!" Zeph retorts.

"We'll see about that."

As he reaches closer, Stallord swipes at the air only for Zeph to dodge the hits as he continues flying around him like a buzzing fly to a normal pony. As Zephyr keeps flying flying around and avoiding swipes from Stallord, he decides to land on the beast's nose. Not thinking it throygh all the way, Stallord goes in for a smack, but Zeph dodges it, making Stallord hit himself in the face.

"What?!" Grim says. "Stallord, get him!"

We all laugh at the spectacle.

As Zeph keeps flying around, he stops and turns back to Stallord. "Time for something a bit different." he dives in fast and flies right into one of his glowing eyes.

"Oh, now what is he doing?!" Grim says.

Zeph starts flying through Stallord's head, hitting it from the inside out with his mace. After a few momrnts, Stallord starts taking in breaths. After a few breaths, Stallord gives a might sneeze, making Zephyr fly out and hit a wall.

He rubs his head as he sits back up. "Ugh... What happened?"

"I think you just turned into a Stallord booger." Drax says.

Zephyr looks around after shaking his head. "Where'd my mace go?"

Stallord sneezes again, making Zeph's mace comes flying out like a bullet. We jump out of the way, but Zeph isn't so lucky as he takes the mace straight to the face, knocking him out.

We all go back to Zeph to check him out. "Zeph! You okay, buddy?" I ask worriedly, but get no response. I glare back over to Grim. "Bastard! You're going down!"

"Then do something about it, worm!" he calls out.

"That does! He's mine!" Dark shouts.

"I'm coming in too!" Drax says.

The two go flying in, Dark leading them as he's faster. Grim summons more diamond dog soldiers to fight them. As they get in, Dark gives the nearest one a good bash to the midsection, collapsing it to pieces. The ones by Drax try to jump him, but he uses his great strength to smash them together, taking them down.

With the two pegasi distracted, Stallord tries to smash his palm on Drax. Noticing this, Drax gets on his back legs and starts pushing up against it. The ground under Drax's hooves starts to give way, making a small crater in the ground.

Dark tries to fire at Stallord, but he gets jumped by several dogs in his distraction. Unable to sustain the force, Drax is smashed under Stallord's hand, completely incapasitated from it. No longer dealing with Drax, Stallord grabs the helpless Dark throws him against a wall hard, knocking him out as well.

This is getting really bad.

Rhino Reses up to Stallord to grinds along its arm. He gives it a swift buck to the eye, making the beast recoil. Before Stallord can shake him off, he hops down. Grim comes running up to him with his horn ready, but Rhino catches him with his own horn. When it seems like Rhino is about to overpower Grim, Grim shoots a beam directly at Rhino's head.

Feeling a new pain in the center of is skull, Rhino collapses to the ground, holding his head. "GAH! MY HEAD IS KILLING ME!" he shouts.

"RHINO!" I shout.

"Don't worry, I got him." Vine says. Using her powers, she pulls him, as well as Drax and Dark, over to us and out of harms way. We cotinue glaring at Grim.

"Do you like it? I used my Mind Flay spell on your green friend." he says.

"You're going to pay for this!" Vine shouts. She summons a bunch of vines to attack Grim, but Stallord blocks them. Using her inner strength, Vine's entire body starts glowing as she summons Rosebud the second to fight Stallord. The two behemoths start battling each other in a pushing match.

Taking notice of neither monster being able to overpower the other, Grim decides to attack Vine directly. "Haunting Shades!" using his powers for necromancy, he summons three ghost like creatures infront of us.

Graze and I each take on our own with our element powers, using distance attacks to take down the shades. Having used most of her energy on Rosebud, Vine isn't so lucky. The shade grabs her and throws her down to the ground. Noticing its master in pain, Rosebud throws at vine right through the shade's body.

"Exactly as I planned." Grim says. "Now, Stallord!"

With an open opportunity, Stallord uses his huge mouth to rip a big chunk off of Rosebud, then uses his powerful claws to rip the plant monster apart.

"ROSEBUD! NO!" Vine shouts. Tears come to her eyes before she gets up and wipes them away. "YOU WILL BE DESTROYED FOR THIS!"

Grim laughs again. "Not if this pitiful dusplay is supposed to do it!"

Graze and I, now having had enough, go in together. We both shoot projectiles at Stallord, but those have no effect. Instead, we try to charge our hooves and get in a bit closer. Graze takes some very focused hits at Stallord's frontal spine, making the monster yelp out in pain. I give it agood Double Hurricane Hoof to his nose, knocking it back and puting some cracks in it.

Seeing his pet being destroyed, Grim starts charging his horn. Graze notices this. "Oh no you don't!" he flies down towards Grim and tackle him. He gives Graze a powrful combination of punches and kicks all over before finishing up with a strong buck to Grim's jaw.

"Good going, Graze!" I say. In my celebration, Stallord grabs me and starts giving me an evil smile. I try to free myself, but find myself unable to get away. Stallord grabs my wings with two fingers as I freeze up in fear.

"NO! BLUE!" Graze shouts, turning away from Grim.

Grim grins. "Yes, Stallord! Do it!"

Stallord starts slowly pulling his hand up, tearing every fiber of my wings from my body. I shriek in the immense pain as the most sensitive part of the pegasus anatomy is torn from me. I feel hot tears form in my eyes from the agonizing pain.

"BLUE!" Vine shouts.

"BLUE?! WHAT'S GOING ON?!" Orion shouts from up above. The others are still unconscious, all except Rhino who is stil holding his head inpain.

As Stallord finishes, he drops my body to the ground, and I hit it with a thud. He takes my wings and plops them into his mouth before swallowing them and having them drup under him.

I can feel the stinging from the open wound of where my wings used to be. I slowly open my eyes and look to see a madded pile of feather and blood under Stallord. I feel more tears come to my eyes.

Even through all of the pain I'm going through, I know full well that I'm one of the last standing members of my team. I try to get on my hooves, but find it very difficult.

(Thanks goes to Rhino for this very well done, but still painful for me to look at, image)

I'm not sure what to do now. Now it's just down to Graze, Vine, a blind Orion, and two ponies who can't even stand up.

Is all hope for this fight lost..?

An Explosive End

Author's Note: Last time on Continuing the Dream, our heroes were being brutally beaten by Grim Blade and his monstrous Stallord. Zephyr got a mace to the face, Drax was crushed, Dark was smashed, Ice and Rhino were mind raped, Vine's second Rosebud was torn apart, Orion was blinded, and worst of all, Blue got his wings ripped clean off his back. Can our heroes pull an upset victory out of this bad situation? Well, let's move on with the story to find out.

This is not what was supposed to happen at all. I guess I either got cocky, or my luck just ran out, but this is bad. Most of us can't even fight anymore, and I'm near useless without my wings. Even with Graze and Vine, I doubt we can pull through this.

I try looking around the area, my vision still blurry from crying. I can just make out shapes that look like Vine on one side of me, and Graze and Grim on the other. I look infront of me to see what I believe to be Stallord. He raises his claw up above me.

"YES! DO IT, STALLORD!" Grim demands.

"BLUE!" Vine shouts worriedly. Just before Stallord crushes his claw on top of me, Vine darts out and pulls me out of harm's way. She takes me and sets me down.

"Vine?" I ask weakly.

"Shh, you just sit tight, Blue. Don't try to move."

Grim growls. "You can't escape that easily!" he shouts at us. His horn glows again as he summons more diamond dogs that surround us.

"GUYS!" Graze shouts as he tries to rush over and help us. He's stopped by a big hand that comes up from the ground and grabs him. He struggles to free himself.

"Oh no you don't." Grim says. "You're not going to interfere with my plans anymore."

Vine darts her eyes at them. "I can't use my powers. Guess I'll just have to do this the old fashioned way." I try to get up to fight, but she puts a hoof on me. "Just stay down, Blue. I'll handle this."

One of the dogs swings a sword at her head, but she ducks just in time, losing a few hairs off her mane. Now down, she does a quick buck, knocking back the dog behind her. Not seeing the incoming attack, a dog bashes her in the face with a shield. She gets knocked down, but she gets back up to defend me and jumps at it. The others grab her off of him and throw her back. They slowly approach her as she has nowhere to run to. The begin to wail on her unrelentingly.

Graze watches the sight in anger as he continues trying to escape. He eventually stops trying and takes a deep breath. "No..."

"No, you don't want to see your friends hurt?" Grim says.

"No."

"No, you don't want to die?"

"No!"

"No, you don't want to lose?"

"NO!" Graze's mane, tail, and wings burst into flames as he busts out of the giant hand.

Grim reels back a bit. "What is this?!"

"KILLJOY!" Graze screams, now having a double-sounding voice. Graze rushes over to us and quickly uses a combinstion of jabs and kicks to make easy work of the diamond dogs.

I've gotta learn how to power up like that.

"Graze..?" I say weakly.

He picks up both me and Vine. "Just relax, Blue. I'm going to end this once and for all" he flies us over to another bare cliff, a good distance up from the arena. With us in a safe location, he starts flying up higher and higher.

Having been a good five minutes since his blinding, Orion blinks his eyes as his vision slowly returns to him. As his vision clears, he starts making out the area around him.

"Hey, I can see again!" he starts celebrating. In mid-celebration, he looks around him to see his fallen friends. "Oh my Celestia! Guys! Did Grim do all this?!"

"Ye-Yes." Rhino says, still dealing with his head pain.

"Rhino!" He takes the green stallion and smacks him across the face.

Rhino shakes his head. "Hey, why'd you do that?"

"It got rid of your head pain, didn't it?"

"Hey, yeah! It did! How'd you know that would happen?"

"I guessed." Orion says proudly.

Rhino facehoofs. He then looks up at the sky in shock. "Hey, is that Graze?!"

Orion looks over. "What?! No way! He's not seriously going to dive down, is he?!" he then looks down at the bottom to see Grim charging up another spell. 'Oh hay no! He's mine!"

Leaving Rhino sitting on the cliff, Orion flies down and lands on Grim, catching him off guard. Grim struggles under him. "Ugh! Let me go!"

Orion grabs him by the horn, making him stop. "I recommend stopping before you lose this."

Graze stops once he reaches what he believes to be a high enough altitude. Seeing what Graze is going for, Rhino starts working his Res on him to cut down air friction.

This is gonna be good.

(Play this for the most dramatic effect possible)

Graze aims down and gives a might flap of his black, flaming wings , pushing him out into a nosedive at Stallord. He puts his hooves out infront of him to gain more speed. Soon enough, a mach cone starts forming around him. The flames from his mane and tail begin to taint the cone.

As Graze falls faster and farther, the cone starts shrinking around him before eventually he breaks through, causing a huge boom of black fire and a black fire trail to go behind him.

"NECROFLARE BOOM!"

As he nears Stallord, the skeletal beast puts his hands out infront of him to block Graze. Due to Graze's incredible speed, he breaks right through the ancient, boney hands.

"See ya! Wouldn't wanna be ya!" seeing what's about to happen, Orion quickly shoves Grim's head in the dirt before flying back over to the cliff.

Grim looks in horror as Graze reaches the ground and a giantic explosion of black fire goes off, completely desimating Stallord.

(End music)

As the smok clears, bits of Stallord fall around as Grim lays on the ground, groaning. Graze, feeling a huge impact upon landing, shakily tries getting to his hooves.

From feeling and hearing the explosion, the fallen members of our group start to get up.

Author's Note: Isn't it just wonderful that when this chapter was done fimfiction decided to make me wait four hours to publish because of bad gateways? I think it is. Anyway, I know this is short, but that's because I like to see you guys beg for more.

Licking Our Wounds

Author's Note: ...I honestly don't know why this is here. I have no warnings or announcements of any kind. Shall we just move on with the story now?

Believe it or not, despite all of the blood, sweat, and tears that were shed in this entire fight, especially my own, I actually am happy right now. Somehow, Graze pulled it off and beat Grim and Stallord. I'm not sure what we're gonna do next, but right now I'm just trying to enjoy this victory.

From the gigantic explosion Graze caused, the fallen members of the group start to wake up.

Ice is the first to get up as he rubs his head. "Celestia, my head hurts. Who knew dreams could hurt like that?"

Zephyr groans as he wakes up. "At least you got taken down a cool way. I got my mace sneezed back in my face at a hundred miles an hour."

"I'd rather take that than having my limbs collapse on themselves then get crushed." Drax says, stretching his body. A pop can be heard before he grabs his back. "Gah! My back!"

"Tell me about it." Dark says, rubbing his own back. "I don't recommend being smashed up against a wall."

Rhino just smiles at his friends. "Well, at least be glad we're all still all right."

"You know it. It sucked being blind. I like the dark, but I don't wanna live in it forever." Orion says with a chuckle.

Vine blinks her eyes as she walks up. She stretches her sore limbs a bit. "Remind me never to try something like that again. At least you're safe, Blue." she looks over to where she thought I was, but sees I'm no longer there. Her eyes widen. "Blue?!" she looks around frantically before looking down at the nearly destroyed arena.

Grim groans as he slowly and shakily tries to get up. He moves his head about as he looks around his desecrated ring. He looks to see the pieces from his fallen Stallord, as well as his own blood. He freezes up as he sees a battered and limping Razor Graze slowly approach him.

"You're not... getting away from me... motherbucker." Graze says through heavy breaths. Though hurt from his Necroflare Boom, Graze desperately tries to get to Grim.

Seeing Graze approach him, Grim worriedly tries to get to his hooves to flee. As Grim turns around to run, he freezes up as he sees me standing behind him.

"But, ho-"

I cut him off by putting a hoof up. "When there's a will, there's a way. And my will to kick your flank is VERY strong." I wind up a charged hoof.

His eyes widen. "NO! WAIT!"

"HURRICANE HOOF, MOTHERBUCKER!"

Send him flying back, passing passed Graze. Graze gives me a weak smile, which I return. The pain starts getting to us as we both collapse to the ground.

"GUYS!" the others shout before flying down to us.

Zephyr slowly approaches me as he notices the wounds on my sides. "Oh, Blue... I'm so sorry, man."

"Yeah, that has to suck more than anything, a pegasus losing his wings like that." Dark says, actually being sympathetic.

Rhino cringes. "I'm not a pegasus, and this hurts even me."

"Ditto." Ice says. "I'm really sorry, Blue. If only I wasn't knocked out." he stomps.

"Or if I wasn't blinded. This should've happened to me." Orion says.

"No, don't blame yourselves. It's none of your faults." I say weakly before coughing. Honestly, I feel like vomiting right now. I try to stand, but Drax pushes on me slightly.

"Don't move, Blue. You're in no shape for it."

Vine examines Graze. "Neither is Graze. That last move really put him over the edge. He's just about the most hurt besides Blue." she picks him up on her back. They'll both need to be carried for a bit, but first..." she reaches behind herself and pulls out a box with a red cross on it.

"Bandages?" Ice asks.

"I figured we'd need them, so I brought them along."

"Good thinking, Vine. Allow me to do it, being just about the most medically trained one here." Rhino says, volunteering. He takes the box with his magic and points his horn at my open wounds. "Sorry, Blue, but we need to keep those wounds from getting infected. This'll probably sting a little." His horn glows as he prepares a spell that has similar properties to that of rubbing alcohol.

I groan loudly as I try to keep myself from screaming from the pain. Sting a little?! This bucking burns!

He stops and smiles. "There. Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"

"Buck you!"

"Okay, I guess it was." trying to hurry things along, he takes the bandages and wraps them around my body. Great, back to these stupid things. You guys should already know how much I hate having bandages tied around me.

He snaps the bandages as he finishes up. "There. A bit crude, but it'll have to do for now. Now on to Graze." he goes to do what he did me to Graze, but not on a quite as extreme scale. He wraps some bandages around Graze's head where he is bleeding. Makes sense since he did take a lot of the impact on that landing.

With both of us bandaged up for now, Drax puts me on his back and Rhino puts Graze on his back.

"You guys just hang tight for a bit, don't try to move."

"Oh, you have got to be kidding me. I'm not ba-AH!" I'm cut off as I scream in pain.

"You were saying." Rhino says smugly.

I sigh. "Fine, you win."

"Good. As your doctor, I recommend not moving for at least the next few hours... or days."

"We better get a move on. It's gonna be a long climb back up." Dark says.

"Right." Vine says. "It's gonna be difficult with Graze and Blue like this, but at least all of the bad guys are restrained. I say we should go as quickly as possible."

As we begin to walk out of the huge arena, Grim groans as he tries to get up. He glares over at us with pure anger in his eyes. "No... NO! I won't let you win like this!" he leaps over at us.

Not being ready for his lunge, Grim tackles Graze off of Rhino. Using the last bit of strength he has left, Grim focuses magic in his horn and blasts Graze with a spell, making him writhe in pain.

Grim smirks before Vine grabs him by the back of the neck and slams him down. She brings his face to hers. "You bastard! What did you do to him?!"

Grim chuckles a bit as he coughs. "I simply shot him with my Venerian Curse. Just a little something I came up with. I would hurry if I were you, because if you don't help him, Razor Graze will die in three days."

"What?!" we all say simultaneously.

Vine growls before dragging him over by the edge and picking him up. "How's about this?!"

"WHAT?! NO!" ignoring him, Vine tosses him down the pit. Grim's scream echoes as it fades off.

Vine looks back at us as Rhino worriedly picks Graze back up. "You heard him! We have to hurry or Graze will die! Move it!"

"Yes, ma'am!" all of the guys say. Going as fast as possible without dropping us, they start hurrying out of the room.

Down deep in the pit, Grim Blade leans up against a wall on a small cliff he landed on as he breathes heavily. "Try as you might, ponies. But Razor Graze will not escape here with his life."

Shedding some Light on the Situation

Author's Note: HOORAY FOR SCHOOL BEING OVER! WOOT! Ahem, sorry about that. Just a bit excited still. That is all. Now, on with the story.

Well... I honestly don't have any words right now. I'm just sick of how unlucky we are. We finally beat Grim, after I lost my wings, only for Grim to jump on Graze and give him this weird curse that's gonna kill him in three days.

Isn't this just the greatest thing you've ever heard happen to a group of ponies? I hate my life sometimes.

Anyways, after hurrying out of Grim's lair, we run into the room Tombstone was knocked out in, the pony looking like he's finally coming to.

He rubs his head as he looks around. "What happened? Oh, my head. What happened?" his vision clears to see us standing over him. He jumps back in fright. "Ah! Please don't hurt me again!"

"We have no reason to hurt you again, numbskull." Dark says.

"R-Really?"

"Well, I do, but I have more important things to handle at the moment." Vine says.

That's Vine for ya, always holding a grudge.

Tombstone starts calming down a bit. "S-So, is Master Grim Blade... dead?"

"Unless he got extremely lucky when Vine threw him into that pit, I believe he is." Rhino says.

Tombstone looks at the ground as he thinks. "Hmm... Now what am I gonna do?"

"You could try being the new Grave Pony leader. You seem like a good enough guy." Ice suggests.

Tombstone rubs his chin as he thinks about it. "New Grave Pony leader, huh?"

"You do what you want with that, but we gotta get moving." Zephyr says.

"Yeah, Graze and Blue aren't gonna get better on their own." Orion adds.

"Not to mention what Grim did to Graze. We REALLY gotta get moving." Drax says.

Ignoring Tombstone, the group rushes off with Graze and I in tow, trying to hurry back as fast as possible.

Tombstone quietly talks to himself as he enters into Grim's lair, seeing nothing more than a desolate, rocky platform. "Hmm, I don't see why I couldn't try being the leader. I may even be good at it. Yeah, think I will try it. Tombstone, ruler of the Grave Ponies and Tartarus. I like the sound of that."

Unbeknownst to Tombstone, Grim reaches over the side of the platform behind him, grunting. Grim pants as he climbs onto the platform.

Tombstone hears this and turns around, gasping as he sees Grim. "Master Grim Blade! You're alive!"

"Yes. I am. Tombstone?" Grim says.

"Yes, sir?"

"Please come over here." Grim picks himself up as he gets ready to tell him something.

Tombstone walks over to him. "What is it, sir?"

Grim smacks him across the face. "You are an IDIOT! I am the sole ruler of the Grave Ponies, you got that?!"

He nods furiously. "Y-Yes, sir!"

"Good. Peh, you being the leader, what a stupid thought."

Tombstone hangs his head. "I know, sir."

"Anyway, don't worry about those ponies. If nothing else, that Graze pony should die from my Venerian Curse. Now, go get me more oatmeal cookies."

Tombstone turns around. "Yes, sir."

Grim puts his front hooves together and grins. "Excellent."

Back to us.

After leaving Tombstone, we had climbed back up the staircase that led back to the cave we had encountered Glare in.

A few of the ponies hanging on the walls gape at seeing us. "Oh my goddesses! You're all still alive!" one says. This alerts many of the others who just say much of the same.

With all the sudden noise, Glare himself even starts to wake up. "H-Huh? Where am I?"

"So, it seems he's awake." Dark says.

"Don't worry. The vines should keep him in place." Vine reassures.

Glare looks over to us and his eyes go wide. "Oh thank Celestia, ponies! Please you gotta help me!"

"Huh?" we all say.

"Zephyr! It's me, Glare. We were in the Royal Guard together for a bit! You gotta remember me!"

Zephyr rubs his chin as he thinks about it. "Glare... Glare... Wait, the same Glare that pulled the prank with dumping chili on all of the captains?"

Glare gets a relieved smile on his face. "That's me. Oh, I just knew you'd remember."

"Yeah, I do. I can't believe I didn't recognize you sooner."

"Looks like your great memory shines through again, Zeph." Drax says sarcastically.

"Shut up." he says to him. "Anyway, if you're Glare, why did you attack us?"

"Wait, I did?"

"Yeah, you tried to kill all of us, saying it was all in the name of Grim Blade." Orion says.

"I did?" he starts to think it over before thinking of something. "Wait, last thing I remember is that Grim Blade guy casting some sort of spell on me. He must've hypnotized me into being his watch guard."

"Yeah, that makes sense." Zephyr says.

"Here, let me cut you down." Dark says. He releases some blades and cuts the vines off of him.

Glare stretches his now free limbs. "Ah, much better."

"So, what were you doing down here in the first place?" Ice asks.

"Princess Celestia sent me down here to save Razor Graze, but I wasn't very lucky in my attempt."

"Well, don't worry, because we were." Rhino says, showing Graze.

Glare smiles. "I can see that." his smile fades as he looks at me. "Oh dear. I am very sorry about your friend."

"Don't be. We plan to fix him." Zeph says.

"Good. So, I guess now you all plan to go back now?"

"That was the plan, yeah. But we gotta hurry. Grim did something to Graze and said he'll die in three days if we don't help him."

"What?! Then why are we just standing here?! Let's move!" Glare takes off down the cave, leaving us in confusion. He shortly comes back, grinning sheepishly. "Sorry about that. Got a bit carried away."

"No, you're right, let's move!" Zeph says.

We start making our way through the caves again; Glare using his light powers to light the way for us. Luckily, much like the first time we came through here, nothing tries to attack us.

After getting out of the cave, we reach back out to the lava-filled ravine where we fought Ignis. Coincidentally, we look over to see the large, red unicorn leaning up against a wall, holding where his horn used to be.

He opens his eyes to see us. "Well, I can see my assumption was correct. You all really did defeat Grim Blade. I even see you saved Glare as well."

"That's right, so you better not try anything funny!" Dark threatens.

"I already told you, I am of no threat to you without my horn. I know when I am defeated." he takes notice of me on Drax's back. "I see your friend has lost something. Some would say it was karma for you taking my horn away."

"Buck karma. I don't believe in it." I weakly say.

He shrugs. "It is your choice what to believe. You may go now, but just be warned the other floors will not be as easy to climb back up as this one."

"You don't think we know that already? We welcome it at this point." Dark says.

"Very well."

The group takes flight over the river of lava under what remains of the destroyed bridge.

Even though Ignis is just a hateful jerk, he is right; this climb won't be as easy as one might think.

Going Up

Author's Notes: Just a bit of a heads up, but as you probably guessed, the climb back up Tartarus won't be quite as eventful as the descent was, due to all of the bosses being defeated and all the locations being the same as before it’s just going backwards, meaning going through all this stuff will obviously be much faster and not quite as exciting as the first time. So yeah, the most the climb back up will take around three chapters. Just a heads up. Now, on with the story(I promise not to use this forever).

Well, you all probably expect me to say something big or important here, but honestly, I don't have anything to say that I haven't already said. Literally, all we have left to do now is get out of this place and save Graze and hopefully my wings.

Celestia, I feel so naked and useless without my wings. I don't even qualify as an earth pony right now, but enough of my pointless brooding.

After flying over the destroyed bridge earlier, we came up to the blood river by the rocky shore we had washed up on.

"Please tell me we can just fly over the mountains to get back up." Zephyr says in a pleading voice.

"Sorry, Zeph, but there isn't." Glare says.

"I wish there was. The only way back up from here is to fight the current and swim back up ourselves." Vine says.

"But what about Blue and Graze?" Rhino asks worriedly. "There's no way they can swim in the condition they're in."

"I know that. I'm sorry to say, but the best we'll be able to do is keep a tight grip on them as we swim through."

"I don't know..." Drax says.

"Don't you worry about me. I'll be fine." I say.

"Yeah, me too. It'll take more than some river to put me down." Graze says.

"You guys sure?" Rhino asks one more time.

"Did we stutter? Get going!" I demand.

Dark smirks. "You head the stallion! Let's move!" he eagerly dives in, leading the pack like last time.

Vine breaks out the canteen again. "You stay in here, Ciel."

The ooze happily jumps in like last time.

And again like last time, Orion is after him, followed by Zephyr, then Glare, then Ice, then Vine, then Rhino with Graze, and finally, Drax with me. We all make sure to take deep breaths for the long swim up.

As you can probably imagine, blood is thicker than water, so both swimming and seeing in it is quite a bit harder. The swim up also starts getting much harder as we swim up due to the increasing force of the current from the vortex made at the meeting point of the rivers.

Drax and Rhino each hold on to Graze and I tightly, trying as hard as possible not to let us go.

But their attempted is disrupted when Ice, the smallest member of our group, as well as the only earth pony, loses strength and gets thrown around by the current. He slams right into Drax and I, making him let go of me and making me let go of my breath. I start spinning around and around as I start going down, not able to catch myself. Drax catches Ice and gives him to Dark to hold onto. Using his incredible strength, Drax's pushes furiously through the water. He inches near my unmoving form and grabs a leg. He pulls me in before he starts swimming back up, quickly losing breath.

After some rough swimming, we all make it back up to the surface. Everyone takes heavy breaths of air as they break through. Zephyr and Orion help Rhino and Graze up while Dark helps Ice up and Drax helps me up.

Drax sets me on the ground. "Is Blue all right?" Zeph asks worriedly.

"Blue? Blue?! Wake up!" Drax shouts, shaking me.

"Drax, he needs CPR!" Vine tells him.

"Oh, right." he takes hid hooves and presses down on my chest, making me spit out some blood I intook from the river. "He spit up some blood, but it isn't working."

Everyone gives each other awkward looks as they think about who the guinea pig will be.

"I say Vine does it." Zeph says.

"Me? Why me?" Vine asks defensively.

"You're the only girl here."

"Yeah, but I'm not into stallions."

"What about Rhino? He's a doctor." Orion says.

"No way. I'm an animal doctor. I don't do mouth to mouth." he says.

"I'll do it." Ice says.

"Uh, are you sure, Ice?" Dark asks, a bit surprised.

He shrugs. "Sure, doesn't bother me. I'm bi anyways."

"Well, if you're sure." Drax says as he gets up and steps back away from me.

Ice steps over to my body and bends over it. He inhales before opening his mouth wide and slowly leaning in.

As he leans in, I wake up. My eyes widen as I see him. I quickly get up and push him away. "No! No Mouth to mouth! I'm alive! I can breathe! See?!" I quickly say.

Ice just frowns and looks down as the rest of the group has a good laugh.

Even Graze chuckles a bit. "Heh, those portals weren't lying, you guys really are crazy."

"Bro, we fought through all nine floors of Tartarus. There's no way normal ponies could do that." Dark says.

He chuckles again. "I guess that's true."

Rhino examines us and takes out the bandages again. "Your bandages got soaked. I'll have to replace them before we can move on."

"Oh, well, isn't that just great?" I reply sarcastically.

One new set of uncomfortable and restricting bandages later and we're on our way through the mountain path again. Much like the last time we went through it, nothing tries to attack us. There seems to be a lack of anything extremely dangerous in these brief intermission spots between floors.

After the eventful trek, we reach back up to the red desert of the seventh floor once again. Upon arriving, we can hear aggravated rustling coming from the distance.

We look to see it's coming from the crater we put Giro in and walk over to see him struggle to free himself from Vine's vines.

"Having a little trouble there?" Vine asks in a trollish tone.

Giro looks up and gapes as he sees us. "You?!" he starts glaring at us. "Release me from this infernal web you've trapped me in!"

"Hmm, no, I don't think I will." the canteen at her side starts shaking before the cap pops off and Ciel breaks out. "Ciel?"

The ooze, being like Vine and holding a grudge, spits some water at Giro's face, basically getting some payback for shrinking it down a bit.

Giro spits a bit. "Bah! Stupid creature!" he shouts. He notices Glare with us "Glare! You're one of us! You must help me!"

"One of you? Not anymore. I can't stand knowing I was helping you, even if I was hypnotized." Glare says.

Graze slowly gets off from Rhino's back. "Graze?" Rhino asks. "What are you doing?"

Ignoring him, Graze walks into the crater. He gets in Giro's face and glares at him. "I'm the only one who gets to control black flames." he turns around and delivers a hard buck to his face, knocking him unconscious.

After Graze falls down from using so much energy, Rhino grabs him and puts him on his back again. "I recommend we just keep going." he says.

The rest of us nod in agreement.

For any of you who may remember, the part before this whole thing was the Forest of Suicide. And if you remember that, you'll also remember we didn't encounter anything besides a bunch of trees that say ow if you hit or step on them.

So yeah, aside from us avoiding all of the trees in the area, which isn't exactly easy to do in a forest mind you, not much happens during our walk through here.

After our walk through the forest again, we reach the first and yet most dangerous area of the seventh circle: the boiling lake of blood.

We all start thinking the same thing. "Okay, here it is. You guys ready to go again?" Vine asks.

The others nod. I tighten my grip on Drax. "Hold on tight, Blue."

"Can you not feel me already doing that?"

"Good to see losing your wings didn't ruin your sense of humor." he jokes.

"Never. My smart flankitude will last forever."

"That's not a word." Orion says.

"What are you, a dictionary?" Dark says.

"No, just been hanging around Sweetie Belle too much."

"Let's just go already!" Vine orders.

Snapping to attention, everypony starts jumping back across the pillars as they did the first time.

As we all hop from pillar to pillar, I bounce up and down every time. "You doing all right back there, Blue?" Drax asks.

"Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick." I say with my tongue hanging out.

"Not while you're on me you're not."

"Don't look now, but we've got company!" Zephyr announces.

We all look back to the blood hands shooting up from the lake and coming at us again.

"Ugh, not these things again!" Dark shouts. He stops and turns back around. "I'm gonna end this right now!" he charges up some grenades(do you expect anything different at this point?) and chucks them at the hands, making them all explode in a bloody mess.

We have nothing more than a few close calls after this as hop, skip, and jump our way back over to the other side of the bubbling, gaseous lake.

As we reach the other side, for some reason, the hands that were coming after us just stop and shrink back into the lake.

"Why is that the hands stop at the solid ground anyway?" Orion asks.

"I don't know. Some kinda freaky Tartarus magic I guess." Ice says. "Right, Vine?"

"Erm, something like that. I honestly don't know either."

Looks like she isn't all knowing about this place after all.

"Well, no use sticking around here to question it. I say we just keep moving while we've got the chance." Dark suggests.

And with that, we all agree. We've learned from experience not to stay in one place too long while we’re down here after all.

Even though these past few floors weren't that bad, we've still got a long way to go.

Author's Note: Yeah... you guys are probably wondering why this chapter is so late when I promised earlier chapters. Well, blame Zephyr for making me work on our collab and... I've said too much. Just expect to see that later on.

Plans for the Future

Author's Note: Okay, I know this arc has been lasting a LONG time, but as you know very well by now, I've had to write nine separate floors all being traveled twice as well as make the ending fight with Grim suspenseful with cliffhangers, so it should be expected that this would happen. I've also been trying as hard as I can to maintain this story's sense of humor, even in such a dark atmosphere. I just need you guys to see my position here. I'm sort of backed into a corner at this point. I promise, this arc will be over very soon and then we can go back to the slice of life bits(in the sequel that is). Now, on with finishing this up.

Yeppers, just climbing back up still. Three floors down, six to go. It's honestly a bit boring at this point because there are no more surprises or even suspense. We know what's on each of the remaining floors, and all of the guardians on each floor are completely taken care of. Unless something completely unexpected pops out, there's really zero chance of us not making it out of here alive.

After getting out of the incredibly long and tedious seventh floor, we had climbed back up to the sixth floor, where our good friend Volcanous should still be impaled to the ground.

We walk up the steps that lead inside the building to find just that: Volcanous still stuck.

Dark, as you'd expect, is the first to taunt him. "Hey, Big Red. How you holding up?"

"How can this be?! How are you all still alive?!" he shouts angrily.

"Through a lot of determination, fighting, and not giving up. Really just that simple." Rhino says.

Ice pats one of the pillars. "Glad to see my pillars doing a fine job of keeping you in place."

"Yeah, why is that, Ice? With all the fire around here I would've expected them to melt by now." Orion says.

"Blue?" Ice says knowingly.

"Magical ice. The ice is made through magic, so only magical flames can put them out. Like what happened during the fights against Giro and Ignis." I explain.

"Hmm, neat. That's definitely useful." Drax says.

"Indeed." Zeph says.

"I'm still having trouble getting used to that."

"Oh, get over it."

Volcanous growls angrily. "How in all of Taurtarus can such buffoons have survived this entire place?"

"It's something none of you guys could ever have: heart." Glare says. "Have all the strength you want, but nothing is stronger than the will of the heart."

"Um, I don't wanna seem like a killjoy-" Graze says.

"Bad pun." I cut off.

He glares at me for a second. "As I was saying, but I'm not feeling too good."

"Yeah, I recommend we keep moving. No reason to stay here any long than we need to." Vine suggests.

"Right." we all say at the same time. It still gets me how often that happens.

Unlike the last time, we ignore the burning ponies that are stuck to the ground as we continue walking. I know it sounds cold to just leave them, but we really don't have any other choice. Ciel is already too small from being shrunk earlier, so we can't do anything to help them. Anyway, as we continue walking down the walkway, we reach a flight of stairs that we walk up and reach a door that leads back out to the City of Dis.

We open the big doors and step out back into the city full of smoke and ash. The streets are completely void of any sign of life as we walk down them. After a bit of walking, we reach the end to find Iron Shell, still staying there just as he said he would.

He opens his eyes as he senses our presents. He looks down to see us and smirks. "Ah, I see I was right in staying here. Well done, ponies."

"You bet! Was there any doubt?" Dark says smugly.

"I suppose not. I could sense you'd make it. It is also nice to see you again, Glare."

"You too, Iron. It's been a while." Glare says.

"That it has. Well, I suppose you all want a lift back over to the other side of the river?"

"Correctamundo." Vine says.

"Very well." Iron Shell slowly bends his tree trunk thick legs so that we can hope aboard. We all jump on, Graze and I of course getting some help up. He bends his legs back up before turning around and moving his way down the River Styx.

As Iron Shell carries us back, I look at Dark, who's just lazing around. "Hey, Dark. No teasing the dead this time around?"

He shrugs. "Meh, not in the mood. I feel like a nap right now."

"I actually have something I have been wondering about." Iron Shell speaks up. "Blue Breeze."

"Oh, you're wondering about the wings, huh?" I say, a little saddened.

"Yes. I am very sorry to see that happen."

"Don't be. I don't plan on staying like this. And even if I do, I'm not gonna let anything hold me back from living my life."

He chuckles a bit. "I thought as much. Very noble of you."

"Blue? Noble? Get out of here." Zephyr jokes.

"I'd kill you right now if I wasn't so tired."

"I know."

The rest of the travel back is uneventful, aside from being cursed at by a bunch of angry souls coming from the river. Eh, haters gonna hate.

Iron Shell stops and crouches as he reaches the stone platform and giant forest from before. "Destination reached. We have arrived back at the fifth circle: Anger."

We disembark from the behemoth pony's back. "Thanks a lot, Iron Shell. You're definitely one of the good souls down here." Glare says.

"I am only doing my job. Nothing more, nothing less."

We wave our good byes to him as we quickly leave the circle and head back up the stairway as to not be grabbed by the hands again. We go up the staircase with nothing significant happening. As I said, seems to be pretty safe at these kinds of spots.

We reach the top of the stairs a few minutes later and come out of a cave entrance to be back in the gold filled caves of Greed.

Alloy looks over at us and glares. "Darn you all! It can't possibly be true!"

"It is true. Maybe this'll teach you not to buck with us again." Dark says.

Alloy glares before noticing me on Drax's back and the lack of my old appendages. "Hahaha! Oh, did the little blue one lose something?"

I growl in anger at him. "Just calm down, Blue. You don't have the strength to be exerting a lot of energy right now." Rhino says.

I sigh. "You're right. Besides, he's not worth it anyway."

"Not worth it?! Try saying that when I'm free!"

"Hey, speaking of not having a lot of strength, I'm feeling a bit tired." Ice says.

"I know what you mean. It's been a while since our last break." Orion says in agreement.

"Well, we know from experience there's no monsters down here. Maybe it would be a good idea to rest up a bit." Vine says.

"Oh great. So I get stuck with you all taunting me again?!" Alloy shouts.

Dark smirks. "I think that's a great idea."

We all agree as we walk off to an open area as we did before and all start to lie around as we relax.

I know this pretty boring, but I ask that you guys just try to hang in. I'm not enjoying the repetitiveness either.

"So... anyone got anything to talk about?" Zephyr says.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but once this whole thing is over, I can't wait to go home, be with Twilight, and just try to go back to a normal life." Dark says.

"You gonna get a job?" I ask.

He smirks. "Nope."

"Of course not."

"When we get out of here I plan to finally use that money I won to buy a house with Tavi before we finally get married." Zeph says.

"I know I'm gonna go right back to running my shop, drinking coffee, and of course, trolling." Vine says.

"No fun without the trolling, eh?" Drax says with a grin.

"You know it."

"Well, I hope to spend more time with Fire. She's always off doing her Wonderbolts thing, so we don't hang out that much anymore. What about you, Ice?"

"I don't really know. I hope to either get a better job or some kind of promotion at the coffee shop, because my check right now just ain't cutting it."

"I'm thinking I'm gonna go back to my simple veterinarian job and helping Fluttershy. Some new bear cubs were born, so we're pretty busy with that." Rhino says.

"Well, I was a royal guard before coming down here, so I guess I'll go back to that after this." Glare says.

"I'm thinking I may invest in a new astronomy themed clothing line with Rarity." Orion says. "Hmm, what about you, Blue?"

I breathe out. "Well, I'm really sick of all this crazy stuff. I mean, look at me; it's caused me the most important part of the pegasus body. I don't care if I have wings or not, but I plan to find out the mystery behind the Everfree Forest's weather and then try and have a normal life with Dash."

"Well, normal for us anyway, right?" Zeph asks.

I chuckle a bit. "Exactly."

"You sure you're up for that, Blue?" Rhino asks, a bit skeptical.

"I've tried to do it for over eight years. I'm not gonna give that up for anything."

"Well, I say good for ya, bro. I know from experience you're tough enough to do it." Dark says.

I smile before I turn my head towards Graze. "What about you, Graze? We don't really know much about you."

He looks at the ground. "I've been stuck down here quite a while. I plan to go back to Ponyville and hope my marefriend Ditzy waited for me."

"Don't worry, bro. I'm sure she did. If she truly loved you, she'll have waited." I reassure.

He starts smiling a bit. "Yeah, I'm sure she did."

Well, seems like everypony has got their lives figured out for now. And with only three floors left to backtrack through, we're not far away from making them a reality.

Author's Note: Okay, I promise, only one more chapter of Tartarus. We're almost there, guys. Just hold out a bit longer. .

Reaching the End

Author's Note: Here it is, you guys! The final chapter with Tartarus! Woot! We finally made it through! It's been a long journey, but I think it's also been quite fun. Okay, now on with finishing this up once and for all.

...I honestly don't know what you expect me to say here at this point. I mean, you all know what's going on. Right now we're resting on the fourth circle while we climb all the way back up out of Tartarus. That's really it. It's boring in all honesty. And this place is supposed to be the ultimate evil.

Some ultimate evil. Most evil, gruesome, and horrific place in Equestria my flank. *sigh* Whatever. I'm just glad we're almost up and out of here.

Anyway, after everypony shared their plans for the future(hehe, see what I did there?), we had all decided to take some naps. It wasn't easy to get to sleep With Alloy's constant yelling, but he eventually shut up for us to fall asleep.

After a few hours of napping, we all started to wake up. You know how we're close friends? Because we all always seem to get done doing our stuff at the same time. Isn't that convenient?

Zeph is the first to get up as he starts stretching. "Luna, sleeping on this hard ground is uncomfortable."

"Ugh, tell me about it." Drax says. There's a sudden pop from him. He grabs his back. "Oh! I think my bad back is acting up."

"I feel ya, bro." Dark agrees. "Stupid Stallord bucker throwing me against a wall like that."

"Ugh, I'd rather have back pain than this migraine I got." Rhino says, rubbing his temples with his hooves. "Feels like its right below my horn.”

"That's nothing. Try going through what I did inside my head. Ten straight days of being stabbed and cut over and over again. It was torture!" Ice says as he grabs at his head.

"That's what it was? It only took you three seconds to fall over." Vine says. "I got off pretty easy then."

"Me too." Orion says. "I may have been blind, but I wasn't hurt, and that was only temporary."

I get up and try stretching. As I stretch, I can't feel something. "Hey, where are my-" I look back to see my wings are no longer there, as they shouldn't after what happened. "Oh... right." my expression falls from the realization.

"Don't worry, Blue. I know you won't be stuck like that forever. We just need to get out of here like you said." Graze says reassuringly

"Yeah, in fact, maybe Princess Celestia could do you a favor and use her magic to give you new wings. It's definitely possible." Glare says.

(You ever have to write so many characters? Not that easy to balance 'em out while making what that say relevant and not seem just shoved in. Eh, I manage.)

"I really hope so. I can't live like this. I know I said I'd adjust, but I REALLY wanna be able to fly again."

"Well, we'll need to get out of here first before we can find out."

"Right, let's get doing. Drax?"

"What?" he asks.

I put my hooves out like a child. "Carry me."

He facehoofs before sighing. He trots over, picks me up, and puts me on his back as Rhino does the same with Graze.

Alloy sighs in relief. "I'm glad they're finally leaving me in peace."

"Love you too, Alloy. Be good now." I taunt as we leave. He growls again before yelling out in random and indescribable curses that sound like gibberish.

Bro be mad.

Since we came down here by falling down a huge cliff, we begin flying upwards, Ice using his slide and Rhino using his Res.

Rhino looks like he's not having as much fun as last time. He breathes a bit heavily as he runs up the wall. "I think the way down was a lot more enjoyable. I'm having trouble just keeping up."

"Agreed. This sucks." Ice says, also having a bit of trouble.

"Just suck it up, you two. We'll be there soon enough." I say.

"Easy for you to say. You're being carried up."

I smirk. "I know, isn't it awesome?"

They both just glare at me as we continue to fly back up. We fly up for a few minutes more before we reach back to the grossest of all the circles: Gluttony.

As we land and reach over the side, Ice goes down to the ground and kisses it. "Oh, sweet solid ground. How I've missed you." he realizes what he did and starts spitting. "Bleck!"

We all laugh a bit. "Well, ground, I was thinking about hugging you, but I see you and Ice are already in a relationship." Rhino says.

Ice wipes his mouth off with a foreleg. "Shut up."

Our little situation is interrupted as we hear muffled struggling coming from the distance. We look over to see Alala still with a vine tied around her muzzle and trapped under a fallen kraken tentacle.

"Don't bother struggling; your big mouth alone won't be able to break that vine." Vine teases.

Alala glares at her with her faded eyes. She struggles, but is pinned down with no chance of freeing herself. She tries opening her mouth to do another eardrum popping scream, but is unable to.

"What was that? I can't hear you, your mouth is shut."

"That's enough, Vine. We should really get going." I say.

"Why are you always the one to call the shots?"

"Because I'm the main character."

"Because what?"

"I said because you guys have always just let me call the shots. Now get moving! Graze is dying!"

"This isn't over, but you are right on that. We should get moving."

We ignore Alala as we walk through the mushy grounds of the circle. This place in and of itself looks a bit like the inside of a stomach. We travel up and out as we reach back to the circle of Lust a while later.

This place makes me really uneasy. Mares with giant tentacles coming out of their vaginas are now one of my new greatest fears.

Speaking of which, we walk inside the building to find Desire still tied up from Vine's vines(this sounds a bit weird to say).

"Well, glad to see our horny little captive is still here." Vine says.

"Yeah... About that, you think you guys could give me ten minutes alone with her?" Zeph says

"What?!" everypony shouts.

"Oh, that sounds good to me. I've been wanting your little friend ever since I first laid my eyes on him." Desire says.

Zeph looks slyly at Desire. "Speaking of getting laid..."

That's it. I'm not gonna take this. I lower myself off from Drax's back and get right in Zephyr's face. I give him a hard smack before shaking him by the shoulders. "What the buck is wrong with you?! You are engaged! Snap the buck out of it!"

He looks at me in a bit of fear. "Okay okay. I promise, no more."

I breathe a heavy sigh. "Good." I get back on Drax's back, trying to get back in my comfortable position. "Okay, carry on."

"Is that supposed to be another pun?" he asks, a little annoyed.

"...Maybe..."

Ignoring both Desire and my terrible puns, we walk out of the building and back into the stormy bridge area that leads into this place. We walk up the winded, suspended trail leading back up to the first and our last circle to travel: Limbo.

Glare looks at the barren area that once resembled a forest. "Wow. You guys really did a number on this place."

"Thank you. I try being thorough." I say with pride.

"Gah! It's all of you!" we hear a voice scream. We look to see it's none other than our first pain in the flank: Shadow Blade. "I cannot believe you all lived! It's not possible!" he notices a certain yellow pegasus in our group. "And Glare! I never did like you anyway!"

Glare looks at him with a scowl. He walks up to him. "I see." he rises up a simple hoof and makes light shine off of it. Shadow starts twisting in pain as the light burns him.

"GAH! YOU MOTHERBUCKER!"

"Glare, let him go. He's not worth it." Zephyr says to his old acquaintance.

Glare turns off his hoof before turning around and joining us again. We leave Shadow to just sit there as we walk through the once dense plain of land.

After a bit of walking, we came up to the original river we found upon coming in and follow it back. We follow along it for a bit before reaching back to the docks where Charon still lays motionless. Something I didn't notice before, his once glowing eye holes are now pitch black.

"Wow. He's still knocked out?" Dark says as he examines the, hopefully, living boat. "I didn't think my grenades were that deadly to a guy his size."

"Um, Dark, I think he might be dead." Rhino says.

Dark's eyes widen for a second. "Oh... oops."

"Well, now future souls that come down here are screwed." I say.

Dark waves a hoof. "Eh, that's the Grave Ponies problem. Come on, let's go"

We shrug it off as we continue on. Now the only direction to go is up. We take to the air, Glare taking Ice and Zephyr and Orion giving Rhino and Graze a little help due to the lack of walls to use to climb to where we need to go.

After some uneventful flying, well, uneventful aside from dodging some falling embers, we come up to the platform right at the gate out of this place.

We all exchange glances again. With us too weak to really help, the others set Graze and I aside as they begin pushing on the gate.

Outside of Tartarus

A patrol of royal guards are set up a good hundred yards away from the Gate of Tartarus, on the lookout for when we return.

"You know, I'm really getting sick of this waiting, Frank." One guard says to the other.

"What do you mean, Ralph?" Frank says.

"I mean, we've been stuck waiting out here for these ponies for four days. How do we know they're even still alive?"

"Don't go talking like that. The princess said she has full confidence in their abilities. Besides, you know as well as the rest of Equestria what these ponies have done."

"Yeah, I know but that doesn't mean they can do this. The Everfree Forest and a fight club are way different from Tartarus"

Just then, a noise comes from the gate as it is slowly pushed open from inside. Ralph and Frank look over at it.

Frank smirks "You were saying?"

"Oh, shut up."

From inside the gate, everypony furiously pushes to move the massive doors. The doors slowly start inching from all the force of the pushing and the momentum makes the doors easier to open as they go along.

"See? I told yeah they'd make it."

"Um, Frank, does it look like Cerberus is moving to you?" Ralph says with a twinge of fear in his voice.

Frank looks over at the giant dog and sees the heads yawn as it gets up. "Oh no."

The gates are eventually fully opened and the others go to grab us back. We take our first steps outside and take a deep breath.

"Ah, fresh air." Rhino says.

"And nice, green grass and plants." Vine says, looking around a bit.

"Move out of the way, quick!" some voices shout at us from across the way. We look to see a bunch of waving guards.

"Um, what's their deal?" Orion says in confusion.

He is answered by a loud boom from a paw hitting the ground. We look over and our eyes widen to see an angry and hungry looking Cerberus.

Well... buck my life. How did I forget about that?

Author's Note: Ah, it's another cliff-hanger. But hey, we are technically out of Tartarus now *troll face*.

Reunited and It Feels so Good

Author's Note: Hell yeah! Done with all those fight scenes! Yes! Sorry, but I just had to celebrate(and my brain won't let me go a chapter without an author's note). Now, on with the story!

Princess Celestia sits in her throne, still contemplating over sending us into Tartarus to get Graze out. Even though she didn't have much other choice, her guilt has been getting deeper and deeper over the past few days about sending us down there alone. She has also been worrying that we've been gone for so long already and won't return.

'Was I truly right in asking that of them and just letting them go in like that?' she thinks to herself. 'This is my entire fault. I should have kept better watch over what was happening with my guards and Tartarus. I feel just awful for being so weak as to have to sink down to asking them. I pray that they are all safe.' she hangs her head down in both shame and sadness.

Suddenly, Celestia senses a large amount of energy go off in the distance. She raises her head as she looks out a window to see smoke coming off from far away.

"Can it be?" she asks herself. "The smoke is coming right by where the gates of Tartarus are. It must be them. I need to get the girls here, no time to send for all of them."

She immediately starts building up a large amount of magic in her horn. After a few quick seconds, a bright flash goes throughout the room as all of the girls, as well as Atom, appear in front of her.

"Hey, what gives?" Dash says, looking around.

"Woah, that was so cool! Can we do it again?!" Pinkie asks excitedly.

Everypony stops as they hear some strange smooching noises. They look over, slightly grossed out, to see Applejack and Atom making out.

"Hoowee, Atom." Applejack says through hot breaths.

"Oh, Applejack." Atom says.

The two suddenly stop as they see everypony in the room looking at them. They quickly let go of each other. "Uh, howdy, everypony. We were just, um..." Applejack looks down at the ground. "Oh, ah got nothin'."

"Okay then..." Twilight says, breaking the silence. She looks up at the princess. "What's all this about, princess?"

"I'm glad you asked, Twilight. I felt a great energy near the gates of Tartarus."

"What?! So, Blue and the others are all back?!" Dash asks excitedly.

"I do believe so, but I am worried something happened to cause the explosion that went off. We need to get over there as quickly as possible."

Well, what are we waiting for?! Let's just go fly the chariots over there and-"

Dash is cut off as the princess' horn starts glowing. "That will not be necessary, Rainbow Dash."

Celestia's horn starts glowing even brighter as a light starts to encompass all of the ponies, minus the guards, in the room.

Back over by the gates

Well, I may be in a huge amount of pain and lying on the ground, but at least we beat Cerberus. Now the only thing left to do is get Graze and I some help and we can head home. I know I make this sound really casual, but I'm honestly over all this.

Glare flies down from above and lands next to Vine. He looks at her, angry. "What?" Vine asks.

"Did you seriously call that move "Solar Beam"?"

"Look, just because you have a move with the same name doesn't make it yours. It was a beam of energy powered by light. What else was I supposed to call it?"

"Well, anything besides one of my moves."

I cough a bit, getting their attention. "We're stuck lying on the ground, in pain, and you guys are arguing over a stupid name move?"

"Seriously, I feel like I'm gonna cough up a lung." Graze says.

"Right, sorry." they say.

"Here, Blue. I got ya." Drax says from behind me. Get those dirty thoughts out of your minds. Drax carefully picks me up and sets me down on his back.

"You too, Graze." Rhino says as he does the same with Graze again.

The others walk up to join us. "So... now what are we gonna do?" Ice asks.

"I've got a better question. Why didn't those guys try to help us?" Orion says, pointing out to where the guards are. They look worried for a moment.

"Yeah, that is a good question." Zephyr says. He looks over at them. "Cowards! You're no royal guards!"

They all just look down in shame.

"And these guys are the ones whose job it is to protect Equestria?" Dark rhetorically asks.

"Well, nothing we can do now. Guess we should just start making our way back to Canterlot." Glare says.

We agree to the idea as we're about to take off flying. But as we do, a bright light goes off, stopping us in our tracks. The light fades to reveal none other than Princess Celestia with all of the girls and a black stallion. Did we miss something while we were gone?

"You couldn't have done that the first time we came here?" Fern asks the princess.

"I needed to conserve energy. This time was an emergency." she explains.

"GUYS!" we all shout.

Both groups rush forwards to each other in a frenzy of hugs, kisses, glad you're okays, and welcome backs. Me and Dash, Zeph and Octavia, Ice and Vinyl, Vine and Fleur, Drax and Spitfire, Rhino and Fluttershy, Orion and Rarity, and Dark and Twilight were all reunited once more. And we of course didn't leave Graze, Pinkie, Fern, or Sunny out.

"Glare, I am very glad to see you. I had honestly believed you died in there." Celestia says.

"You kidding, princess? Like I'm gonna go and die from someplace like that."

"Good going, buddy. Knew you'd be all right." Atom says, punching him the shoulder.

"Thanks, Atom. So, who's the mare?"

Atom wraps a hoof around Applejack. "This is my new marefriend, Applejack."

"What?!" those of us who just got back say.

Applejack looks at us, a bit of a blush on her face. "Yep, it's all true. While ya'll were gone ah met Atom here and we just hit off like peas and carrots."

Atom steps forward. "Hey, guys. It's great to finally meet all of you. My name's Atomic Vortex, but you can call me Atom. I'm a member of the Royal Guard."

New name and career now stored into memory banks.

Vine's face lights up as she remembers something. "Oh, and speaking of new friends, check out what I brought back." out from behind her pops Ciel.

Fleur rears back. "What is it?"

"It's an ooze, and my new pet, Ciel."

"Are you sure? I don't really think I want an "ooze" as a pet."

"Aw, come on, Fleur. I think it's pretty cool." Fern says as she pets it a bit.

The ooze comes up to Fleur and smiles. It starts to rub against her leg. "Well, I do suppose it is rather cute."

As we watch the touching scene, Dash takes a look at me and gasps. "Blue! Oh my Celestia! What happened to your wings?!"

The others also start catching my lack of my old avian appendages.

I breathe heavily before I answer. "It happened when fighting Grim Blade. That was one of the greatest pains I have ever felt."

"Blue, that's just awful!" Sunny says. "I hate to see my friend and flying teacher so hurt."

"I know, but don't worry about me. I'm not the worst one off here."

"How can you possibly say that?! You lost your wings!" Dash says, nearly crying.

"Because Graze is dying."

"What did you just say?!" Princess Celestia hastily asks.

"It's true, princess. Graze is dying." Vine says. "Grim infected Graze with a Venerian Curse."

"A Venerian Curse?! Oh, heavens above, we need to get him back to Canterlot immediately. Everypony, get close to me."

Everypony does as their told as we all start to surround the princess. She starts charging her horn. Before we go, she looks back at the guards. "And I want a long talk with all of you about doing your duties later."

"Yes, your majesty." they all say shamefully.

I can't believe Zeph, Atom, and Glare were apart of these yahoos.

Celestia's horn flashes as we are all wisped away to the castle throne room. My eyes spin around upon arrival "I don't think I like teleporting."

"You get used to it after a while." Rhino says.

"Glare, Atom." the princess says.

They both snap to attention. "Yes, princess?"

"I need you two to take Blue Breeze and Razor Graze down to the medical center. I need to go fetch something."

"As you wish, princess."

It's like having the world's most obedient dogs.

"You guys follow us." Glare says to the group. We start following the two ponies through the castle chambers, doing it rather quickly for obvious reasons.

With us doing our part, Celestia uses her teleporting magic once again to teleport herself into the bedroom of Princess Luna(about time she showed up), who is sleeping soundly as she usually does during the day.

Celestia walks over to the bed and nudges her sister. "Luna. Luna, please wake up. This is very important."

The night princess mumbles a bit before waking up. "Tia? Is it my turn to watch the city already?"

"No, Luna, this is something much bigger."

"Well, what is it?"

"We have a pony infected with the Venerian Curse."

Luna is suddenly wide awake as she hears that. "The Venerian Curse?! You mean-"

"Yes, Luna, the ponies have returned, but one of them was infected by the deadly illness. By my guess, he only has a few more hours. You know what we must do."

"Yes, sister... But I really hate needles." she says nervously.

"I know, Luna, but this is necessary for the pony to live."

Luna sighs. "Yes, I know."

Princess Celestia summons a pair of syringes and a container. She sticks each of them with a needle, getting a good bit of blood from each of them. Celestia drains both syringes into the container.

"Thank you, Luna. Now rest." Celestia says before leaving with a flash.

"Um... good day to you too, Tia."

Down in the medical ward

The royal medical staff had taken Graze and I from the rest of the group and put us in the critical care. The others were all waiting out in the waiting room, all too worried to say or think about anything other than our safety.

Princess Celestia comes down there with the container full of blood, breaking the room of its silence. "Everypony, I know you must be very worried, but trust in me that I will save your friends."

They all just look back at each other before simply nodding. Celestia heads through the doors and goes to where Graze is. "Graze, how are you feeling?"

"Oh, just fine. I'm slowly dying, but can't complain other than that." he answers sarcastically.

"Don't fret. I have the cure."

"Really? What is it?"

"This." Celestia uses her magic to bring out the container of blood.

"Is that-"

"Blood? Yes, mine and Luna's to be specific."

"I have to drink that stuff?!" Graze shouts in shock.

"If you want to live, yes."

Graze takes the container and looks at it. He gulps. "Well, bottom's up." he starts chugging the red liquid, holding back gags of disgust. He finishes after a minute before taking a deep breath. "Bleck! That was definitely the grossest thing I've ever tasted."

"I know, but I ask that you please hold it down."

"If it's to live, I'll have no arguments."

The princess smiles before turning around and walking up to the bed I'm in. Her expression drops as she sees me. "Blue Breeze, I am incredibly sorry this happened to you. I never meant for anypony to be hurt."

"No, this isn't you fault." I say. "My only regret now is that I'll never be able to fly again."

"Oh?"

I sit up and look at her with wide eyes. "Wait, you mean-"

She nods. "Yes, I can give you new wings. Just hold still a moment please." she brings her vibrantly glowing horn to my head.

I feel a huge amount of magic go through my body as I suddenly feel something at my sides. In mere seconds, a big pair of wings comes ripping through my bandages like paper(maybe that's because they are).

The princess backs off from me and smiles. "There, good as new."

(Image of new wings)

I take a look back at my new wings and get just about the biggest grin I've ever had on my face. "Good as new?! Even better! I've got my wings back! And they're even bigger!"

"That is correct. Instead of pegasus wings, I have given you new griffon wings. These wings should allow you longer reach, faster flying capabilities, and stronger wind powers that require your wings."

Power up! This is so awesome!

Graze and I smile at each other as we get up out of the beds and celebrate with an epic brohoof.

The others remain sitting out in the waiting room nervously. They turn towards the door to see Celestia stepping out. They patiently await to be answered by a smile from the princess as she turns to reveal Graze and I.

The others all beam as they get up and come by to congratulate us and tell us how glad they are that we're okay.

"Those are sick new wings, bro." Dark says.

"Thanks." I say as I flare them.

Dash wraps me in a huge hug, feeling remarkably relieved. "Blue, I'm so glad you're okay!"

I hug her back. "So am I, Dash. It's good to be back."

Suddenly, a familiar grey and blonde mailmare enters the room. We all look at her in surprise. She smiles widely as she sees Graze. "Muffin!"

"Bright Eyes!" Graze says happily.

Derpy runs over and the two hug and kiss.

Okay, I'm officially confused now.

"Wait, I thought you said you had a marefriend named Ditzy. Her name is Derpy." I say.

Graze growls a bit. "I call her Ditzy because I feel that name is demeaning. And I swear, if I ever hear any of you call her that other name, what I did to Grim will look like a vacation." he says coldly.

"Dually noted!"

"I requested some guards to bring Ms. Hooves down here as soon as I had a free chance." Celestia explains. "Now that everything is squared away, I would like to invite you all to dinner in the dining hall."

We all do a group cheer in celebration.

About time we got some food. I'm starving! Oh, I hope there's chimicherrychongas. .

Back to Normal

Author's Note: My brain and I need to have a serious talk about this sometime. Let's just move on with the story, shall we? Oh, and heads up, this is the second to last chapter before the finale. Anyways, story time.

Finally things are getting back to normal(eh? See what I did there again?). It's not only good to have my wings back and to have saved Graze, but to also be back with all my friends, especially Dash. And even better, as a reward and bit of an apology to us, Princess Celestia has invited all of us to go have dinner with her in the royal dining hall. Kick bucking flank!

After leaving the castle's medical ward, the princess had started leading us to the dining hall where she said a huge feast would already be there waiting for us. I know I already said this, but I REALLY hope they have chimicherrychongas.

Right now we're all following the princess through the castle halls. Either I'm getting soft, or this place is a lot bigger than I remember, because I'm tired of all this walking.

"Are we there yet?" I ask as if I'm some kind of bored child, which in more than a few ways I am.

"Blue, don't be so rude." Twilight says sternly.

"It's quite all right, Twilight." Celestia says. "As a matter of fact, we’re here." she stops as we come up to a big pair of doors. The guard watching the door use their magic to open them, revealing a room with an extremely long table filled to the edges with food.

All of us give oohs and ahhs at the luxurious site of food after so many of us have gone without eating in days. I look over the spread of food: some sandwiches, hay fries, hayburgers, apple tarts, apple pies, apple dumplings, and...

"YES! CHIMICHERRYCHONGAS!" I shout in excitement, my mouth drooling and my eyes beaming. I rush over to the table and hang over the scrumptious treats. "Oh, daddy missed you!"

Dash facehoofs. "Yep, Blue is definitely back to his old self."

Celestia giggles. "I see he appreciates me asking the chefs to make his favorite food"

"Buck yeah, I do!" I shout, raising a hoof in the air.

"He just gets worked up over them a bit." Rhino says. "Blue, it's just food, no need to go crazy over it."

I look back at him. "Yeah, says the guy who smuggled a jar of strawberry applesauce off the table."

His eyes widen as everypony looks at him. He nervously chuckles before using his magic to pull out the jar. "Sorry, princess."

"That is quite all right, Rhino. All of you may help yourselves. Eat as much as you want."

"Did you say something? I was eating as much as I want." I say, my mouth full and crumbs flying out.

Everypony either rolls their eyes or facehoof themselves on that one. They all come to the table, Celestia sitting at the head of it. Everypony starts digging in, some more hastily than others.

Despite his normally calm and collective demeanor, Rhino goes right to town on the jar of applesauce, not even using a spoon as per usual. Fluttershy is just happily smiling at her coltfriend the entire time, happy to see him home safe and sound. As he finishes, he wraps a hoof around Fluttershy, pulling her into a hug. She takes a cloth and dabs his mouth clean as if he were a child.

Zeph and Octavia haven't stopped looking at each other ever since they first got back together. Guess that's what it's like to be engaged. I really need to get around to doing that sometime.

Ice and Vinyl keep talking about something. I think I can hear something about Ice saying he wants to quit his job at the coffee shop and work as a special effects guy on Vinyl's shows. Vine's not gonna be too happy about having to pay full price for coffee again.

Drax and tells Spitfire a bit of what happened while we were in Tartarus. She listens to the stories in complete awe. She always knew Drax was tough, but this was new even to her.

Vine continues introducing Ciel to both Fleur and Fern. Fern likes it, but Fleur is constantly creeped out over it, but tries to get used to it for her friend and marefriend. It's just water; I don't see the big deal over it.

Glare and Atom do a bit of catching up with each other, being friends in the Guard for a bit. Applejack sits with them as Atom tells the full story about how they got together. Its official, I must be bad at this for having taken as long as I did to get my marefriend. And I feel cheated for having spent so much money on it

Anyway, Orion keeps trying to eat, but Rarity keeps continuously wiping his face of crumbs, making eating a bit difficult for him. What he sees in her, I'll never know.

Graze and Der-I mean, Ditzy each hold each other tightly, it being the first time they've seen each other in over a month. Graze tells her about all the terrible things that happened down there. She comforts him with a hug. Good for him, I'm glad we went through all that to help him out.

Pinkie, well, is being Pinkie. She just eats, laughs, and goes flying around like crazy. Good to see she can have a good time on her own like that.

Dark is eating his food rapidly, as if he hasn’t eaten in days, which honestly he hasn't. Twilight groans. "Dark, can't you at least try to have some manners in front of Princess Celestia?" she asks, very annoyed.

Dark swallows his food. "Hey, give me a break it's been a while since I ate. I'm starving here."

"Dark is right, Twilight. He has been through a lot and deserves this." the princess says.

"See? She's cool with it. Besides, at least I'm not as bad as Blue."

The entire time I've just been eating while Sunny and Dash were sitting beside me. They were upset I was just eating, but they let it slide with how much I've been through.

I stop eating as I look at him. "What? I'm hungry, and these things are darn good."

"Then try getting more in you then on you." Sunny teases.

"Seriously. You look more red and brown than blue now." Dash says.

"Well, excuuuse me, princess."

"What did I say?" Celestia says.

I facehoof. "Ugh, never mind."

Everypony laughs at the princess' obliviousness to the reference as we go about finishing up our dinner. To be honest, it was nice. No explosions or arguing, just friends and couples hanging out. This is what I was waiting to get home to.

Though I hate how Dash made me shower before going to bed. Hasn't she ever heard the term 'down and dirty'?

The next day(haven't seen this transition in a while)

Ah, last night was awesome. Zeph couldn't seem to get Octavia to bed fast enough. I'm not surprised by him. I'm pretty sure all of us have felt the same after what we went through.

Anyway, today's the day we're heading back to Ponyville. No real reason for us to stick around here anymore. Besides, I'm worried about Lyall and I'm sure Rhino and Fluttershy are worried about their pets too. I've heard of how "good" Spike is at taking care of animals.

Everypony wakes up in their rooms from Celestia's sun cracking through their windows. Nothing special really happens as everypony comes out into the hallways.

Real interesting stuff right here people. Aren't you just bursting with excitement?

We share our good mornings before we decide to meet the princess. You know how people saying yawning is contagious? I think they were on to something, because when Zeph let out a yawn everypony started yawning. We could've made a choir.

Moving right along, we make our way through the castle, Twilight of course taking the lead. We head to the throne room and are met with Princess Celestia. She doesn't look a bit tired. How can she look so rested right now?

"Good morning, everypony." she says. We all just do tired grumbles in response. "Well, I assume you all came here because you wish to go back to Ponyville."

"That's right, princess." Twilight says.

"Very well. Allow me to escort you to some chariots I have waiting out in front of the castle."

"Wait, can't you just use your magic to teleport us there?" I ask.

"Um, I think that would be a waste of power for something like this." she answers.

Sure...

Ignoring that lame excuse, we follow the princess outside to where two chariots with some guards sit there waiting for us. Well, at least we don't need to spend more money on a train ride.

"Here we are everypony" the princess says as she stops walking. "These are the chariots that will be taking you home. Again, thank you so much for everything you've done."

"Wait, what about us?" Atom asks for him and Glare.

Her expression drops a bit. "I am sorry to say that you two will have to stay here in Canterlot. I am sorry, Atom and Glare. You may say your good byes if you wish."

Atom turn to Applejack, both frowning. "Applejack-"

"Shh, it's all right, Atom." Applejack cuts off. "Ah know you've got yer Royal Guard duties. Don't worry, ah'll wait for ya as long as it takes. Ah'm the Element of Honesty, so ya can take my word on that" she says reassuringly.

Atom doesn't say a word as the two give one last kiss. "Thank you, Applejack. I promise to come get you as soon as I can."

Now it's Glare's turn "Thank you guys so much for everything you've done. If it wasn't for you, I'd still be one of Grim's puppets, so thanks."

We all give our good byes to them before heading into the chariots. The chariots then take off with us inside, leaving the others behind.

It's hard, but I know we'll see them again.

The flight back to Ponyville is pretty uneventful aside from some idle chitchat between everypony. With the guards flying rather than us, we at least don't need to worry about another huge race breaking out and nearly killing everyone.

The chariots land in the center of Ponyville a few hours later, of course with the guards being robots and not saying anything about it.

I'm the first to stop off the chariot I was in. I'm excited to get home to Lyall, so I almost speed to the door. "I hope Lyall's doing fine."

Dash steps out behind me. "I'm sure he's fine, Blue. Why don't you just-"

I cut her off by giving her a kiss before turning around and flying off. "Sorry, Dash, but I need to see Lyall. See you later."

Dash stands there in a stupor for a moment before smiling. "Glad to have you back, Blue."

Celestia wasn't lying when she said these wings would make me fly faster, because I'm speeding through Ponyville. I speed down to my house and quickly grab the key to open the door but drop it. "Oh, come on!" I quickly bend over and pick it up before putting it in the lock and opening the door.

As the door opens, I am immediately met with a very happy lupis minor who jumps up and starts licking me. I bend down to meet him as I pet him "Aw, I missed you too, buddy. Glad to see you're doing fine."

Lyall stops his smiling as he notices my new wings. He gives me a "What happened to you?" look.

"Oh, these? Well, it's a really long and crazy story. But I'm not focused on that right now."

He gives me a look saying "Oh?".

"Yep, I've only got one thing on my mind right now: no matter what, next time I plan to finish my business with the Everfree Forest."

And this time I mean it.

Author's Note: Prepare yourselves, everyone. The next chapter is the big finale I've been working up to for all these months. Shit WILL go down next chapter.

Ending it All

Author's Note: Here it is, everyone, the final chapter to 'Continuing the Dream'. I'd like to thank all of you for sticking with me this long and giving me the motivation to continue this story. Without you guys, I would've given up on this story a long time ago, both the OC's and regular viewers alike. It actually feels very surreal to be ending it like this, but hey, that's what the sequel is for, right? I hope to see you guys when that comes out as well. Now, as I've said for over a hundred times now, on with the story.

Well, it's been a little less than a week since we got back to Ponyville. I decided it would be best not to just immediately rush back to the forest and decided it'd be smart if I just took a bit of a break for a few days. Don't wanna go doing something crazy right after all that.

Anyway, tonight's the night I plan to end it all(yep, I did it again). After eight long years of starting this whole thing, I plan to end my business at the Everfree Forest and find the true secret behind its weather.

Has anyone kept count of how many times I've said this? I know it's starting to sound REALLY corny and repetitive. Some would also say I'm sounding overconfident about it, but there's a difference between being confident and being determined. I don't even care if I have to stay in there all night; I'm not leaving until I get an answer to this.

Right now I'm just about to leave work and head off to the coffee shop to hang out with the others for a bit. Yep, back to this old routine. I actually kinda missed it.

I punch out for work, a big smile on my face. "Oh, I am feeling good today!"

"Don't go getting ahead of yourself, Blue." Drax says.

"Yeah, I can't believe how happy you are about this." Zeph says.

Still smiling, I turn to them. "How can I not be? I'm finally gonna end this Everfree Forest junk and hopefully not have to deal with anything else from there again."

Although, with my luck I probably still will.

Dash comes up to me and kisses me on the cheek. "You better hope so, because if you die, I'm gonna kill you. And I mean that."

I chuckle a bit. "No worries, Dash. I'll be fine."

"How many times have you said that now?"

I shrug. "Beats me." I give her a kiss before I walk off. "See you guys later. You too, Sunny."

"I'm going to hold you to that." she says.

I chuckle again. I'm glad that, even if they are still slightly worried, even my friends are taking this whole Everfree Forest business as a joke now. It makes things so much easier on me that they don't worry so much anymore.

But enough about me and my boring life, I(hooray for contradicting myself) leave the office, a bit of a spring in my step as I walk. I make my way down the colorful streets of town to The Coffee and Cream Cafe.

I open the doors a bit hard, making everypony inside look at me as I come in. I ignore the stares as I walk up to Vine and Ice hanging out at the front like they normally used to do.

"I am feeling good! In fact, coffee's on me!"

"Sweet!" Vine says.

"Oh, wait." I say as I remember something. I reach behind me and grab my wallet. I open it up to see what I thought was true. "Never mind, I forgot that I don't have that much money."

Vine's expression drops as she goes back to sipping her coffee. "You are so lame."

"Oh well. Ice, one cappuccino for me anyway."

"Sure thing, Blue." he turns around and starts filling up a cup for me. "So, why are you so happy, Blue?" he asks as he sets the cup down in front of me.

I pick up the cup and take a sip. "Didn't I tell you? I plan to finish up my business at the Everfree Forest tonight."

"Well, good for you. I was getting tired of you going in and bringing something crazy back every time. No offense, Vine."

"None taken." she says. "So, you're that certain of yourself, Blue?"

"You bet. I don't care how long it takes. I'll stay out all night long if I have to."

"Well, good luck with that. But I'll be busy tonight, so don't expect me to come and save you if something goes wrong."

I raise an eyebrow at her. "What are you busy doing?"

"Just a little work I'm doing. It's a secret." she gives a sly grin.

I think on it for a moment, but knowing that it's Vine, I figure its best left unknown for now. I'm too busy to think on that anyway. I quickly take my coffee and chug it, finishing it off. I don't recommend trying to chug hot stuff, but I'm too excited to care right now.

"Woah, thirsty much?" Ice asks sarcastically.

"Sorry, guys, but I gotta go. I'll see later."

"Okay, just don't die!" Ice calls out as I leave.

"You got it!" I quickly call back as I exit out the front door.

Vine looks at Ice. "So, you really think he's gonna do it?"

"Knowing how Blue is, yeah, I think he will."

"Yeah, I think he will too. Let's just hope he can do it without an explosion."

Her hopes are too high.

I hurriedly rush down the streets of Ponyville, paying no mind to anything at the moment except getting this done with. I get home a few minutes later and immediately head inside.

Lyall wakes up from a nap he was having and looks at me sleepily.

I pet him as I walk up. "Sorry to wake you up buddy, you go back to sleep."

Lyall just looks at me strangely as I immediately start packing up my gear for the trip to the forest. This time I'm way too excited for a nap, so I just right going with everything else.

After grabbing my notes and making a batch of chimicherrychongas for food, I give Lyall one last pet. "Wish me luck."

I shut the door as I walk out. Lyall just looks at the door before shaking his head and going back to sleep. 'I'll never understand Blue.'

With my bags ready, my mind in the game, and my will to end this strong, I march through Ponyville, this not rushing and with a much more determined look on my face.

As you can guess, I go straight through the town as I did before.

I reach the outskirts of town and get by Fluttershy's cottage to see Rhino and Fluttershy hanging out together. Angel is on Fluttershy's back and Specter is sitting on Rhino's head.

"Hey, Blue. What's going on?" Rhino asks as he sees me walking by.

"Oh, just heading back to the forest." I answer.

"Well, good luck. Don't be afraid to stop by if you need anything."

"And, if you don't mind, maybe bringing back any hurt animals you find like before." Fluttershy says. "If that's okay with you that is."

"Sure thing, see you guys."

The four of them wave me off as I continue my trot into the forest. Well, here we go.

I get inside the forest and hastily get out my notes. I begin looking around, trying to find any kind of plant life that may have some kind of significance.

I honestly don't know why Vine finds plants so interesting. This is bucking boring! I look at bushes, trees, flowers, even the freaking grass! Nothing!

What adds to the boringness of all this is how nothing even bothers trying to come out and attack me. I know I may be jinxing myself by saying that, but I don't care at this point.

I stop in my tracks. "Ugh, I need something to calm my nerves." I say to myself. I go lie under a tree as I put my notes away and take out a chimicherrychonga. "Ah, this should do the trick."

As I go in to take a bite, I suddenly hear very loud breathing coming from behind me. I freeze as I can feel the breathing on my back. I duck down as a huge, blue paw swipes through and decimates the tree I was lying by.

I quickly jump out of the way and turn around to see a big, angry, and hungry looking Ursa Minor standing over a destroyed tree trunk. He takes a step forward, stepping on my bag.

I suddenly feel something inside me snap. "My notes and chimicherrychongas!" I say through gritted teeth. I flare my wings as I start to crack all of my joints. "Okay, screw running away this time! It's time to put my new wings in action! You, you big tub of blue lard, are going down!"

This thing is going to pay.

(Final Boss Battle: Ursa Minor. BEGIN!

The ursa comes rushing towards me like a charging bull, ready to do what it did to my bag to me. It takes a swipe at me, but I dodge and hop on its arm. I run up the arm until I get behind its head and hit it hard with a charged up buck, making it hit the ground face first.

I hop off its back as it slides a bit and land back on the ground. The ursa starts getting angry as it gets the idea to grab a tree, rip its roots from the ground, and throw it at me. I don't notice the tree as it flies into me and sends me crashing right into another one.

I get up from the crash, a bit sore, but not so hurt I can't fight. I look at the tree next to me and get my own idea. I charge my wings and use them to cut it off. I start pushing the tree towards the ursa to angle it better. As the tree starts falling towards the ursa’s direction, I quickly get behind it and give it a strong buck, shooting it off like arrow.

The ursa, being so large, isn't fast enough to move out of the way as the tree punctures its chest a bit, making purple blood come out of the new wound. The ursa reels back in pain, but does not fall over. I quickly fly in to give it a Double Hurricane Hoof to try to push it over, but it doesn't go quite as planned. It makes its mark, but while falling over, the ursa grabs me and slams me down with it.

I shakily try getting up from the attack, the ursa doing the same. We both glare at each other, both of us thinking the same thing: I'm going to kill this blue prick.

The ursa makes the first move as it lunges at me. I quickly duck by its head as I run around its underside. The ursa keeps moving around, but I continue to stay under it where it can't get me. Luckily it's too dumb to think of crushing me with its weight or standing up on its back legs.

I start to continuously punch it all around its torso with Hurricane Hooves, making the ursa cringe in pain at every blow. I decide to go a bit lower down (not the balls) and give it a strong buck to one of its legs. The ursa rolls onto its back as it grabs at its knee in pain.

Just as I wanted. You guys can tell where this is going.

I flare my wings as I fly up into the air, very high up. I close my wings as I reach a high enough altitude and charge my hooves as I start spinning downward. As I reach the ursa, I deliver a devastating blow to its gut, making it cough up a bunch of blood. The ursa's body goes limp as it falls unconscious from the pain.

And that's what happens when I get mad.

(End battle music)

With my new biggest problem taken care of, I look over at my other new biggest problem. That ursa completely destroyed all my notes and food. Buck starting all over again like before, I'm gonna go see someone I know has the answer: a certain zebra who knows everything about the forest.

I remember passing Zecora's hut on my way over here, so with tired breaths, I start retracing my steps through the forest. I come up to the hut a short time later and knock on the front door.

The door is answered by the familiar zebra. "Blue Breeze? My, you look quite tired. I do admit, your persistence is to be admired."

I sigh. "Zecora, you told me the weather is caused by the plants. Please, just tell what plant it is. I can't keep doing this."

She frowns. "Well, the weather is caused by a cloud of blue smoke that comes from the plant you may know as Poison Joke."

My ears and eyes perk up at hearing that. "The Poison Joke?" I facehoof. "Of course it'd be the plant I forgot the name of! It was so simple! Thanks, Zecora!" I quickly dash off to go find some Poison Joke.

(I would insert a Zecora bit here, but writing in rhymes is a big pain. Trust me.)

Okay, now I'm REALLY excited.

I find a small patch of the blue flower and take a position a good bit away from it. I observe it closely, but nothing happens.

I wait for about half an hour, but nothing happens. I actually start getting frustrated. I growl. That zebra better not have lied to me, or I'll-"

I stop myself as I see the Poison Joke start shaking. After a moment, it puffs out a vibrant, blue gas that goes up into the air before fading after a moment.

Yes! It all makes sense now! Oh, I love that zebra. But there's still something I don't get, where did the Poison Joke come from? And I think I know somepony with the answer to that.

I grab a stick and stab a bit of Poison Joke so that I can carry it with me and not be affected by it. I examine it closely. "A certain green mare has some explaining to do."

I take to the skies to quickly escape the forest, trying as much as possible not to get attacked again. I fly towards Vine's house, seeking my answer.

I land as I see the house and walk up to the front door. I start furiously tapping on the door.

"I'm coming! I'm coming! Hold your flank!" I hear Vine's voice. The door opens to the olive mare. "Blue? What's wrong?"

"I need you to tell me the story behind the Poison Joke." I say.

She starts getting nervous. "S-Story? I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't you lie to me, Lutin. I'm desperate right now."

"I seriously have no idea what you mean."

"Maybe THIS will change your mind." I say as I bring out the stick with the Poison Joke on it.

She yelps before taking a step back. "Hey, be careful with that thing."

I walk closer, making her move back more. "Then tell me!"

"Never!"

"Tell me!"

"No!"

"TELL ME!"

"ALRIGHT, FINE!" she finally agrees. She sighs. "The Poison Joke was made by my clan a long time ago. They eventually thought it was too dangerous, so they just chose a random forest to put it in, which just so happened to be the Everfree."

"Really? Why'd they make it? And why couldn't you just tell me that?"

"I'm not the first troll in my family." she says with pride. "Also, it was supposed to be a secret."

I think it over for a minute. "It all makes sense..." I start beaming as I suddenly pull Vine into a hug and dance around. "IT ALL MAKES SENSE! I FINALLY DID IT!"

"Did what?! Also, put me down!" she demands.

I stop as I set her down and nervously chuckle. "I found out the whole mystery behind the forest's weather."

"Really? What is it?"

"Turns out Poison Joke shoots gas upwards that evaporates into the air."

"Really? Hmm, I'm surprised I never thought about that."

"Yeah, but the point is I DID IT!"

"Great. So, what are you gonna do now?"

I stop as I think about it. "I... I don't really know. I've never thought about it. This has been my entire thing over the past eight years."

"Well, don't sweat it too much. I'm sure you'll think of something."

"Yeah..." I start making my way to the door.

"Night, Blue." Vine says.

"Yeah, good night." I say as I exit.

I toss the stick away as I get outside and start heading home. I start to think over what my next plan really is. It's been so long, I never had to think of one.

I get home and open the door. I look around to see no one's home. Guess they all went off on dates for the night. I trot upstairs and make my way to the bedroom. I get there to find Lyall waiting for me on my bed.

He wakes up and wags his tail as he sees me come in. "Hey, Lyall." I say tiredly. He moves over as I get on the bed. "Well, I did it."

He gives a look that I read as "Oh?".

"Yep. Only, I'm not sure what to do now. This has been my entire focus for eight years. I never thought of anything else." I tap my chin as I think it over. Lyall licks me in an attempt to cheer me up and I chuckle. "Hehe, you're right, boy. I shouldn't worry over it. I guess all there is left to do is just see where life takes me from here. Whether it be a mountain, a freezing tundra, godly foes, or the apocalypse itself, I'm ready for whatever life throws at me... except maybe chimicherrychongas no longer being made."

To be continued... in the next story.

Author's Note: And that is the end of 'Continuing the Dream'. I hope you enjoyed it(which you probably would have to, to get this far) and I hope to see you all in the sequel, 'Life Goes On'. Until then, I'll be seeing you guys around.

The Day has Finally Come

(Disclaimer: I am well aware that these earlier chapters of this story are not nearly as good as my later work, but I ask that anyone who sees this as a new viewer just continue on past them. I promise that it gets much better.)

Author's Note: After getting some decent feedback on my last fanfic, 'The Mark of Blue Breeze', I decided to write a sequel to it, following Blue Breeze's life many years after that night in the forest. Go read the first story to understand what this one is about please.

Eight years. It has been eight long years since that fateful night in the Everfree Forest, back when I was only twelve years old. The night I first began my studies on the forest's mysterious weather and discovered the power that had been lying dormant inside me. The night that I will never forget. Since then, I have learned to control my powers and have grown ever more intent on discovering why the weather of the forest acts naturally, without ponies.

After finally graduating from Cloudsdale Community College and saving up enough money from delivering mail around Cloudsdale as a part-time job, I am finally able to move out of my parents' house and move down to Ponyville so that I can be closer to the forest and continue my studies.

Today is the day I am moving out, and my parents are taking it pretty hard. Can't say I blame them. It's a bit hard for me, too.

"Good bye, Blue. I just want you to know that we will always love you." says my mother, Raindrop, with tears flowing freely down her face.

"I know, mom. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." I say to her reassuringly.

"Good bye, son. Take care of yourself, and don't do anything reckless." says my father, Thundercloud.

"I won't, dad. Don't forget, you are talking to the guy who beat three manticores when he was only twelve." I say jokingly.

"Ha, I guess you're right. I just worry about you is all."

"I know. Well, good bye, mom and dad. I'll make sure to visit as often as I can." I then fly away after giving one last hug, now on my way to Ponyville.

"Good bye, Blue!" they both shout as I fly away.

I'm really gonna miss the both of them and my little sister. I feel bad having to leave when she's gone to college right now, but it's about time this bird left the nest. I promise I'll make it up to her.

After a good bit of flying, I am finally at Ponyville.

Upon arriving, I make my way towards Town Hall. I had made an appointment to see the mayor about getting a house and a job on Ponyville's weather team.

Once arriving at the Town Hall and walking inside, I am greeted by what I assume to be the mayor's secretary.

"Hello there. How may I help you?" she asks.

"Hello. My name is Blue Breeze, I have an appointment with the mayor." I say.

"Okay then." she takes out a sheet of paper. "Blue Breeze... Blue Breeze... Ah, here you are. Just go right through that door on the right to talk to the mayor."

"Thank you."

I walk through the door to see the mayor doing some work on her desk, probably filing taxes or something boring like that.

"Hello, sir. I'm the mayor, Ivory Scroll. How may I help you?" she asks.

"Hello, Ms. Mayor. My name is Blue Breeze, I have an appointment with you."

"Ah yes, Mr. Blue Breeze. You're here to ask about getting a house here in Ponyville and to ask about getting a job on our weather team, correct?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Well, I have the key to your new house right here, Mr. Breeze. All you have to do is sign this form and give me the bits for the house and you'll be all set." she pulls out the key and a form for me to sign.

I hoof over the bits and sign the form. She then hoofs me the key.

"Now, what about getting a job on the weather team?" I ask.

"Well, to get a job on the weather team, you'll have to go over to their office and ask them about getting a job."

"Okay. Thank you, Ms. Mayor"

"You're very welcome, Mr. Breeze."

And with that, I am off to the Ponyville weather team office. Probably should've asked where that is. Oh well. I'm sure I'll find it sooner or later.

After taking to the air and flying for a bit, I spot the office. Spotting it was actually quite easy since it had a giant cloud shaped sign on it saying, "Ponyville Weather Control".

As I walk inside, I walk up to the front counter and am greeted by a mare who I assume works there. This is starting to sound repetitive.

"Hello. Welcome to Ponyville Weather Control. How may I help you?" she asks. She is a pegasus who has a white coat, a yellow mane and tail, sky blue eyes, and a cutie mark that looks like the sun shining behind two clouds.

"Hello. My name is Blue Breeze. I came here looking to get a job."

"Oh, wonderful. My name is Sunny Rays. It's a good thing you showed up, we're a bit short on staff here. There's actually only one other worker here than me."

"Wow. Sounds like you guys could use some help. So, do I get the job?"

"I'm afraid you're going to have to take that up with my co-worker. She's the one who runs things around here."

"Sure thing."

"Just walk through the door on your right. She'll be on the inside, probably slacking off like usual." she says with a bit of annoyance in her voice.

"Okay..." I say, being confused as to what she meant.

I walk through the door on the right. Now I know what she meant.

I step inside, seeing the co-worker Sunny had mentioned, just sleeping on a couch, snoozing away.

"Um, excuse me?" I say trying to get her attention. No response. "Excuse me?" I say a bit louder. Still no response. "EXCUSE ME?!" I shout, waking her up and getting her full attention.

"What? What's going on? What?" she says after being startled by my wake up call. She is a cyan coated pegasus with a rainbow mane and tail, rose colored eyes, and a cutie mark of a rainbow lightning bolt coming out of a cloud. Well, that seems familiar.

"Hello. My name is Blue Breeze. I came here trying to get a job on the weather team." I say.

"Well, you could've just said so." she says, being slightly irritated by being woken up from her nap from my shouting. "The name's Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria and the pony in charge of Ponyville Weather Control."

"Hey, Rainbow Dash. So, can I have the job or what?"

"Not so fast. First you'll need to answer some questions."

"Okay, shoot."

"So, Blue Breeze, what was your occupation before this, if any?"

"Well, I had a part-time job delivering mail in Cloudsdale for a few years before deciding to move here in Ponyville."

"Okay. Next question, what makes you think you're qualified to work here at Ponyville Weather Control?"

"Growing up in Cloudsdale, my parents would often take me to the weather factory where they worked. So being there quite often, I learned an awful lot about weather. My talent also happens to be wind, as represented by my cutie mark."

She looks at my flank to see my tornado cutie mark. "Okay. Last question, why did you move from Cloudsdale to here anyway?" she asks with suspicion in her voice.

"To be honest, so I could be closer to the Everfree Forest."

"What?!" she asks, being very surprised by my answer.

"Well, you see, ever since I was a kid, I have wondered about the strange and naturally occurring weather the forest has. Since then, I made it my dream to be the first pony to discover the mysteries behind the forest's weather."

She stands there in silence for a moment."...You've got guts, dude. You're hired. When can you start?"

"Sweet!" I say excitedly. "Well, today's Tuesday, so how about Thursday? Just so I can get settled into my new house."

"Alright, Thursday it is. See you then." she says.

"Okay. Bye, Dash." I say to her as I walk out the door. "Bye, Sunny." I say to Sunny as I walk out of the building.

"Bye, Blue" she says back to me.

"Well, that sure was easy." I say to myself, happy everything went so well. "I've got a house and a job. Things are looking up Blue Breeze! And come this Friday night, I'll be able to head off back to the Everfree Forest to finally get back to studying its weather. I can't wait!"

The Cutie Mark Crusaders... Oh Joy

Author's Note: Hey, everybody. Sorry for not posting a chapter yesterday. Writer's block is starting to hit and I need to come up with some more ideas. If anybody has some ideas, just post them in a comment or PM them to me. Now, on with the story.

The scream is accompanied by a loud rumbling noise. The ground begins to shake as the rumbling becomes louder and louder. A herd of cows is charging full speed towards the apple orchard and the three of us.

"STAMPEDE!" I shout.

"CUTIE MARK CRUSADER COW HERDERS! YAY!" shouts three little fillies that are riding the cows. What is wrong with kids these days?

"We gotta stop those cows before they topple over all the trees!" shouts Applejack. "Blue, you grab the girls off the cattle. Big Mac and ah will steer the cows away from the trees. Got it?"

"Can do, AJ!" I say, giving a mock salute.

I quickly fly over and grab the fillies, moving them to a safe location. Applejack and Big Mac start running alongside the cattle, staying on opposite sides. Applejack twirls a rope tied into a lasso in the air and throws it around the neck of the leading cow, pulling them to their right. Big Mac begins also slamming against the cows on the far left to make them move over. The cows begin turning right and narrowly miss the orchard. Mission accomplished!

Applejack walks up to the cows with an upset expression. "Now, what in the world was the fussin about?" she questions.

"Oh, I'm very sorry, Applejack." says one of the cows. "But the girls thought it would be funny to throw a spider into out pen." she looks at the three fillies angrily. "It frightened us so much that we just lost control."

"It was just a rubber spider." says a yellow filly.

"Hush, now." Applejack tells her. She turns back to the cows. "Ah understand, but like ah told ya'll, make sure to watch where yer stampedin'."

"Will do, Applejack. Bye, Big Macintosh." the cow says with a wink to the stallion. The cows then make their way back to their pen

"Nnope." Big Mac says with a worried look and a blush on his face, showing up despite his red coat..

Applejack turns and trots over to the little filles with a very serious look. "Now what were you three doin' ridin' those cows?"

"We were just tryin' to get our cutie marks in cattle herdin', but it didn't work." says the yellow filly dejectedly.

"*sigh* No matter how many times ah say not to get into trouble, ya'll still manage to get into anyway. Ya'll are gonna be cleanin' the pig sties as punishment."

"We're sorry, Applejack." says all three fillies.

"Aw, come on, AJ. We all did dumb stuff when were kids." I say to her, trying to sympathize for the fillies.

She begins to think about it as she puts a hoof to her mouth. "Ah suppose. Well, nopony was hurt, and that's what matters." she turns back to the fillues and motions to me "Now, ah'd like ya'll to meet our guest. He's new to Ponyville, so treat him nicely."

"Wow. What happened to you, mister? Did you hurt yerself doin' a stunt?" asks the yellow filly.

"Did you get into a fight with somepony?" asks a unicorn filly.

"Did you go up against some big monster?" asks a pegasus filly.

'These guesses are getting too close for me.' I think to myself.

"Actually girls, I got in a flying accident. I'll be better in a couple of days." I explain to them.

"That's lame. Rainbow Dash never would've gotten into any "flying accident"." says the pegasus filly, putting air quotes with her hooves on "flying accident"..

"I wouldn't be so sure." I say smugly.

"And why's that?"

"I know Rainbow Dash and I can tell she's gotten into plenty of accidents."

"How do know Rainbow Dash?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.

"I work with her on the weather team."

"Must not be too good if you hurt yourself flying."

"Says the filly that can't even fly. And don't say your wings aren't strong enough because I've seen foals who can fly."

"Whatever." she says, annoyed and beaten by moi. You mad, filly?

I chuckle a bit as I get back on topic. "Anyway, I'm Blue Breeze. I just moved here from Cloudsdale a few days ago."

"I'm Apple Bloom." says the yellow filly.

"I'm Sweetie Belle." says the unicorn filly.

"And I'm Scootaloo." says the pegasus filly.

"And together we are... THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS! YAY!" they all shout. Ouch.

I rub at my ears, trying to hear again. "What's a cutie mark crusader?"

"We are on a journey to find our cutie marks." says Sweetie Belle.

"And we'll never stop the journey." says Scootaloo.

"Until we find our cutie marks." says Apple Bloom.

I hadn't noticed they were all blank flanks. "Well, keep at it, girls. I'm sure you'll find them all eventually. Just try to do it in a less dangerous way." I joke. Then again, I'm really one to talk about recklessly doing dangerous stuff.

"How'd you get your cutie mark?" Scootaloo asks.

Oh, darn it. "My cutie mark? Uh... I'm just really knowledgeable about wind related weather. That's what the tornado's for."

Nice save, me.

Sweetie Belle's eyes light up as she gets an idea. "Hey, maybe you could teach us about weather. Maybe that'll get us our cutie marks." she suggests.

I start rubbing my chin in thought. "Hmm, I suppose. Applejack, is it okay if I take the girls to town and teach 'em about weather and such?"

"Ah don't know. What do you think, Big Mac?" she asks the red stallion.

"Eeyup." he says with a smile and a nod.

She turns back to me. "Sure, why not? Just make sure to keep 'em outta trouble, okay?" she says.

"Can do. Okay, girls. Let's go learn about weather!"

They look to one another and smile, all thinking the same thing. "CUTIE MARK CRUSADER WEATHER PONIES! YAY!" they all shout.

That's going to take some getting used to. I hope I don't regret doing this. .

Let the Training Begin

I wake up early the next morning. That was one hay of a party. Berry had gotten drunk and passed out in the bathroom, Pinkie nearly blew up my fridge, and Vinyl nearly shattered all of my windows with how loud the music was. It was awesome!

Ice had also gotten to know the girls better, and we let them know about me training him. They were concerned at first, but they trusted me to be able to handle myself and Celestia's decision. Twilight almost immediately accepted it because of Celestia. Somepony's a suck up.

Anyway, I had gotten up early to give Ice a little "wake up call". By the way, he didn't know that training started today. Yeah, I'm a jackflank.

I walk into Ice's room, holding a megaphone. This is gonna be good. I walk up and put it up to his ear and...

"GET YOUR FLANK OUT OF BED AND GET A MOVE ON PRIVATE, PRIVATE!" I shout.

Ice jumps up and falls out of his bed. "What the buck, man?!" he shouts angrily. "I outta kill you!"

"Training starts today, so I wanted to help you get into the swing of things."

"By scaring the buck out of me?!"

"Yep. It's fun."

He groans. "Well, can we at least have breakfast first?"

I think it over. I guess I can cut him a little slack before I work him like a mule. "Sure."

We walk down stairs. I pour us some cereal to eat. He give Ice his bowl and he starts eating. "So, what kind of training are doing today?" he asks. "You gonna help me with my powers?"

"Nope, I've got another idea." I reply. "It's gonna be a while before you can really control your powers, and even when you do you won't always be avble to use them."

"So what are we gonna do about that?"

"I'm going to train you in hoof to hoof combat?"

"And you know about this stuff, how?"

"My dad was in the Royal Guard and taught me all he knew about it."

"Huh, I guess that makes sense."

We finish our breakfast and I bring out the megaphone. "NOW, GET MOVING, PRIVATE!"

He recoils. "Do you have use that thing? Can't you be more like those calm and collected maretial arts masters?"

"I could, but where would be the fun in that? Besides, I'm not always going to be acting like a drill sergeant, I'm going to switch depending on my mood."

"Fantastic." he says sarcastically.

We head outside and make our way outside of town to a bare area where nopony will be around to bother us.

"This seems like a good spot to get started." I say.

"Okay, what's first?"

"I'm just going to have you warm up with some quick exercises. Now, drop and give me twenty."

He gives me an "Are you serious?" look.

"I said: DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY!"

He drops to the ground and starts doing push-ups. This is fun. Once that's over, he gets up.

"Okay, now what?"

"Now, I want you to run a lap around Ponyville."

"What?! You can't be serious!"

"I am. Now, get moving." I point off to town and he starts running.

I get a lawn chair and start relaxing while I wait for him to get back. I should do this more often.

Fifteen minutes later

He gets back, huffing and puffing from how tired he is.

"This is horse-apples." he says angrily.

"I thought the same thing when my dad taught me." I reassure. "Trust me. It'll all be worth it."

"Yeah, I'm sure it will."

"Okay, enough getting warmed up. It's time for the real training to begin." I get up. I walk over to and open area and get in a fighting stance. I'll go easy on him. I don't want to hurt him too bad on his first day.

"Finally."

"Now, I want you to come at me with everything you've got."

"With pleasure."

Ice charges at me with full force. He brings up a hoof and swings at me. I jump back and avoid it. He continues to charge and swing at me, only to hit air everytime.

He charges at me once more, only this time he turns around and tries to buck me. I duck under his kick and push him over, causing him to flip forward.

He rolls over and gets back up. He charges once again. He turns around to do a buck. I get ready to duck again, but instead of kicking, he spins around again and hits me in the side of the head.

I stumble back a little and shake off the diziness. I smirk at him. "Not bad."

"You didn't think I was completely helpless, did you?"

We each get ready to have a stand-off. We both charge at each other. Half-way in the charge, I stop and stand on my hindlegs. Ice continues to charge at, but as he approaches, I grab him around the neck and use the momentum to give him a suplex.

I get up and Ice justs lays there, groaning. I might have overdone it a little.

I extend a hoof to help him up, which he takes. I give him a smile and a pat on the back. "Good going, dude. Not bad for your first time."

"Thanks, but can you go a little easier next time?"

I chuckle. "Sure thing. Now, how about we get something to eat."

"Sounds good."

Back at the house

"Why am I making you a sandwich?" Ice asks.

"Ah, because it teaches one concentration and dexterity. If you do not pay attention, then the sandwich will not come out right and will be all for not." I say like a cliche sensei.

"Really?" he asks, placing the sandwich infront of me.

"I don't know, but thanks for the sandwich." I take a bite of the sandwich and swallow. "Could've used some tomato."

Ice glares at me in anger.

Did I mention how fun this is?

Author's Note: You still mad, Ice?

A Job Searching We will Go

The next day... again

I got up, this time at my normal rising time. Being Ice's trainer was fun, scaring the buck out of him that one time especially, but it was nice to not have to get up early to set things up for once. Why was that? Because today we were going to look to find a job for Ice. Being the nice guy I am, I'm not going to ask him to pay me back, I'm just glad he's getting a job.

I go down stairs and start preparing some toast with hay bacon(yes, it's a thing here in Equestria. Not like that meat stuff griffons eat. Savages.). Ice better enjoy this, it's the last time I'm making him breakfast. He's on his own from now on.

Ice walks down stairs, still drowsy. "What, no wake up call today?" he asks.

"Nope. One, because you expect it now, and two, because this isn't a training day, remember?"

He starts thinking about what today is. "Oh, right. I need to find a job."

"Bingo."

He sits down at the table and starts eating. "So, any ideas on who's hiring?"

"No, but I have some ideas on where to look."

"Okay."

We finish breakfast and head out. First stop: Sweet Apple Acres.

We arrive at the farm to see Applejack, working as hard as ever. I guess you could call her a work horse... *crickets chirp* I know, I'm not funny.

"You want to try and get me a job here?" Ice asks in annoyance. "I don't do farms."

"Just give it a chance." I say. "Besides, you can't come home until you get a job."

He sighs in displeasure. "Fine."

We walk up to Applejack. "Howdy, Blue. Howdy, Ice." she greets. Her eyes widen in realization. "Blue! Apple Bloom told me about those scarecrows ya stole! Ya better pay me back, or ah'm gonna shove a stick up ya and use YOU as a scarecrow!" she threatens.

I step back and gulp. "Don't worry, Applejack. I promise, I'll pay you back."

She instantly calms down "Good. Now, what can ah do fer ya?"

"Well, sure does look like you got a lot of work to do around here." I say, examining the thousands of apple trees.

"Yeah, but it ain't nothin' Bucky McGillicuddy and Kicks McGee can't handle." did I mention she named her hindlegs? 'Cause she did.

"Actually, Applejack, Ice was looking for a job, and we were wondering if you were hiring."

She thinks for a moment. "Maybe. Do ya think you're up fer the physical labor, Ice?"

"I think I could take it." he responds.

"Well, let's see yer stuff. Buck that tree over yonder." she motions to a nearby tree.

"What the tree?"

I whisper in his ear. "She means kick it with your back legs."

"Oh! No sweat."

He crouches down and then charges at the tree and bucks it. The apples start falling down, hitting Ice on the head until they eventually bury him.

He pokes his head out. "Is there anything else I could do?"

"Well, there is one thing..."

She takes us over to the pig stighs and gives Ice a shovel. "Think you could clean the pig stighs?"

Ice drops the shovel. "I'm out." he says in a bored voice and walks away.

"Hehe, sorry about that, Applejack." I say to the cowpony.

"Aw, it's alright, some ponies just ain't cut out fer farm life. Good luck though."

"Thanks." I run off to catch up with Ice.

Next stop: Sugarcube Corner. Why do I know this won't end well?

We come to the sweet shop to find Pinkie working the front counter. She can do that?

"Hey, Breezy. Hey, Icy."

"Hey, Pinkie. You hiring here? Ice needs a job." I say bluntly. I'm tired of going slow, I just want to get some relaxing time already.

"Well, can he bake?"

We both turn towards. "I could try."

"Good enough for me." Pinkie pulls Ice into the kitchen so they can start baking.

"Have fun!" I shout before walking outside to go relax. For once.

Fifteen minutes later

I was resting under a tree near Sugarcube Corner. The sweet smell of the spring breeze mixed very well with the sugary sweets coming from the building.

Suddenly, I jump as I hear a large explosion coming from inside. I see Ice run out and look around. He was covered in dough and burn marks. The buck happened?

He notices me and runs over, panting. "Never *pant* again."

"What happened?"

"I don't *pant* want to *pant* talk about it."

"Fine. How about we take a break?"

"Please?"

Time for me to do something I've been outting off: going to Bon Bon's cafe. Been forever since I was invited over there. I remember hearing it was near here.

We walk around for a bit before we find it. "The Coffee and Cream Cafe" the sign read. Ten points to whoever can guess why it's named that.

We walk inside and up to the front where some stools sit. Hey, it's like a bar, only with hipsters instead of drunks.

Bon Bon walks up to us with a smile. "Hey, Bon Bon." I say. "You remember Ice, right?" I motion to him.

"Oh, yes. You're the new colt in town. I'm Bon Bon."

"I'm Ice. Nice to meet you."

"Now, what can I get for you boys?"

"I'll take a capucino."

"Ice coffee for me." how'd I figure?

"Coming right up." she walks off to get our coffee.

Just then I notice a 'Help Wanted' sign on the back counter.

"Hey, Bon Bon?" I ask as she returns and sets down our drinks.

"Hmm?"

"Are you hiring?"

"Why, yes, I am. Why?"

"Ice is looking for a job."

"Oh, that's great. We've been needing a new waiter. Would you like the job?"

Ice looks at her. "What would I need to do?"

"All you would need to do is ask ponies their orders, write them down, and bring them upfront. One of the workers will make it and you take it back to whoever ordered it. It's really simple."

I smile at him in approval and nod.

"Okay, I'll do it." he agrees.

"Great. Come in the back and we'll get you situated."

"Well, you two do that, I'll be at home napping." I say. I take my coffee and stroll off back to my house.

Mission: Get Ice a Job is successful.

New Mission: Go Relax.

Begin!

Bonus Chapter: Meet the OC's and More

Hey everybody. This is just a little bonus chapter I decided to make so everyone could get to know more about each of the important OC's in the story. If you're wondering where I got the pictures, I found them on Google Images.

Blue Breeze or Blue. Born with powers over wind. A friendly kind of guy who likes to help people out. Also laid back and a bit of a smart ass.

Ice. Born with powers over ice, but couldn't properly control then until after being trained by Blue. Originally a bit of a loner and not very social, but changed after hanging out with Blue and his friends.

Vinetion Lutin or Vine. Born with ability to control and communicate with plants. Stoic, reacts depending on situation.

Zephyr Verve or Zeph. Extremely fast and agile flier. Friendly, but also a little shy. Also likes joking a little.

Drax. Extremely big and strong, especially for a pegasus. Despite his size, he is very friendly and even a little shy.

Dark Lightning. Born with powers over lightning. Right now is just a typical bad guy who is an asshole, but usually he's just cocky and aggresive. Think of him like a male Rainbow Dash.

Becuase kickass222urmom asked his fans to, I went and made a ponified me. I think it's fairly good considering what I had to work with. I don't have a pony name for him, so I just call him Tim after my real name. Here's a picture of the real me for comparison:

Well, hope you all enjoyed this little extra. Til next time, see ya!

Meeting Up Unexpectedly

Author's Note: For any of my viewers who didn't already know, at the request of Zephyr himself, I wrote a clop chapter about him and Octavia. If you want to see it, send me a PM saying so. Also, no, I'm not gonna be doing anything trolly today just because it's April first. Can't stand that. Now, on with the story.

The next morning, at the hotel

After coming up with a plan for today yesterday, not much really happened except introducing Fern to everypony and getting her get caught with all the crazy that had been going on. She took it pretty well, probably due to the fact that she had already read about us. Very convenient really.

I wake up and hop out of bed to stretch, popping all my joints as I do so. you ever hear the sound of wings popping? It sounds more painful than it is.

Dash gets up and yawns. "Eager this morning, huh, Blue?"

"You bet. Sooner we get Ice and Dark out, the sooner we can focus all our attention on finding Drax and Spitfire."

"Sounds good."

I walk over to the bathroom and open the door. "I think I'm going to take a shower."

Dash hops out of the bed and walks over. "Mind if I join you?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

I'll let your minds play with that. I'm not writing anymore of that stuff.

After some fun time in the shower, we dry off and exit the bathroom to find Twilight and Vinyl had woken up.

"Isn't it a bit early for you two to be having fun times?" Vinyl asks jokingly.

"You kidding? Any time is fun time."

Twilight rolls her eyes. "Well, if you're done, I think we should get the others. I want to get Dark and Ice out of there as soon as possible."

"Sure thing."

We go out of the room and go knock on the next door over, Zeph, Vine, and their marefriends' room, which Fern had also stayed during the night.

Zeph opens the door. "Woah, you sure up early, Blue." he says with a chuckle.

"Yeah, yeah, joke away. I'll be the one laughing when you have to give up a tenth of your winnings to get those idiots out of jail."

"Ugh, don't remind me. For once I get lucky only to have to lose so much because of those two. Tavi is still pretty upset too."

Just then, the mares and mares turned stallions walk up behind him. "Hey, Blue. So, you ready?" Vine says.

"Am I ready? I've got the easy job. You guys just make sure to keep your ears peeled in there."

"Don't worry, it should be easy. The guys who come through that club are such idiots. You can practically hear them from a mile away." Fern says.

The third room door opens with the rest of the girls coming out to greet us. "Morning, guys." Hail says. "So, Blue, Zeph, Twilight, and Vinyl are going to the jail, and Vine, Fern, and Fleur are going to the club, what do the rest of us do?"

"That's easy. You guys will just look around the city and cover around it. We need to keep looking as much as possible. We'll meet out in front of the hotel as usual after a bit."

"Got it." they say.

"Okay, my little ponies(I couldn't resist)! Let's move out!"

Skipping right ahead to the prison because describing everything that happens before that would be boring.

The four of us reach the prison and go inside the front entrance to see a guard manning a window. "State your business." he says. Somepony has a stick up his rump.

"Yes, is this where we can pay bail?" Twilight asks.

"That's correct."

"Then we would like to bail out Ice and Dark Lightning."

"Sure thing. Let me go get them."

The guard leaves and goes down the rows of cells. "Well that sure was easy."

The guard returns a few minutes later. "I regret to say we can't really find them. They're nowhere to be found."

I facehoof. "Me and my big mouth." I look at the guard. "What kind of prison is this where you can't even keep watch over your prisoners?"

"Anyway..." Twilight says, stopping the arguement from going on. "Can we at least pay their bail even though they're not here?"

"Sure thing. That'll be twenty thousand bits."

Zephyr takes out a large sack of bits and sighs before setting it on the counter. "Good bye, my sweets."

The guard opens the bag to inspect it. "This'll do. Thanks."

We nod and start trotting out. "If they're not here, then where could they be?"

That morning, Dark and Ice

"All prisoners wake up! It's shower time!" a guard shouts.

An alarm goes off that wakes up all the prisoners and opens the cells. Dark and Ice get out of their bed and make their way through the crowd of inmates to the showers.

Once at the showers, they turn the knobs and hot water starts coming out of the shower heads.

As he washes himself, Dark gets an idea. He nudges Ice. "Hey, watch this."

Dark takes his soap and purposely drops it. "Oops. Looks like I dropped my soap." he says out loud. He looks back to see other stallions looking at him. "I guess I better lean over and pick it up." as he leans over, he glances at the stallions as they turn away in fear. He picks up his soap and goes back to washing. "Heh, that's what I thought."

"Oh man. That was awesome." Ice says.

"I know."

"Very ballsy, bro."

"Ballsy's my middle name."

They continue to wash before a guard blows a whistle. "Alright, shower's over."

They exit the shower and dry off before going back to their cell to relax, having their cellmates now being afraid them making it all the easier.

"Ah, now we can just lie down and rela-" Dark starts to say.

Before he continues, the two yard guards from yesterday come by and open their cell. "Ice and Dark Lightning, you're coming with us."

"Oh great."

They get up and follow the guards out. "Have fun!" Bubba and Zeke yell.

Ice and Dark turn back to glare at them, scaring them back inside.

They go to the outside of a prison to see a carriage there. "Hop in." a guard says.

They do as they are told and get in the back. "Where are you taking us?" Ice asks.

"Oh, we're taking you two to win us a bunch of money."

I don't like the sound of that.

That same morning, Drax and Spitfire

Drax wakes up and smacks his lips together. he gets up to go use the disgusting bathroom yet again. Hopefully he doesn't get a disease from that place.

He comes out to see Spitfire. "So, ready for another fight, champ?" she asks.

He gets a determined look on his face. "You bet! Nopony is getting in my way no matter what!"

"That's the spirit!"

The door opens to reveal the same opony from yesterday. "Next match is coming up."

"Fine. I'll be down in a minute."

He nods and leaves the room.

Drax and Spitfire follow suit and leave the room themselves. They go down to find another large crowd of ponies are eagerly waiting to see more bloodshed.

Drax exhales and walks over to the ring to start his next fight. 'No matter who this is, you've gotta win. Not just for you, but for Fire too.' he thinks to himself.

Outside the building, the police carriage with Dark and Ice arrives. They get out and go over to the alleyway and knock on the door to open it.

"Brought some new talent for ya." a guard says.

"Really? Let's see how they do then." the door guard says.

A guard pushes Dark. "You're going first." Dark turns and glares at him. "Move your flank!"

Dark growls before going inside the ring. "Of all the lousy-" Dark starts saying to himself.

Drax blinks as he looks at his new opponent. "Dark?!"

Dark looks at him in shock. "Drax?!"

Things just keep getting better and better.

Author's Note: Congratulations to Rhino for actually figuring this out before it happened... bastard. Nah, you know I'm just kidding, bro.

Hasn't Changed a Bit

Author's Note: Most of you already know this, but I'm gonna say it anyways. I recently published a story with the originally unreleased clopfics I did on this story. You can check it out right here. Now, on with the story.

"What do you mean, Twilight?" Spike asks her, not getting her meaning.

"It doesn't say exactly where he's going, but knowing him, I can tell he's left to follow Blue, Dash, and Hail to Cloudsdale. And Blue threatened for Dark not to go." she says.

"Aw, that was just Blue joking. You know how he is."

"I don't know, Spike. He sounded pretty serious. And Blue isn't exactly the same to Dark as he is to the rest of us."

"Well, can you blame him? Dark wanted to kill us all. All of us are still a bit peeved with him."

"Well, I guess I can understand that. But Dark I still hope Blue can control himself."

"Aw, I'm sure there's no reason to worry. Blue doesn't have it in him to kill somepony. If he did, he would've killed Dark a long time ago."

Twilight starts smiling. "I guess you're right."

"Glad you finally came to your senses. I'm also glad to have just you back, Twi. Dark can be pretty annoying. Yesterday when I got back was pretty lonely. Owluiscious was here, but..." he turns his head to the owl.

"Hoo." he says.

"Yeah, he's not very good for conversation."

Twilight walks over and hugs Spike. "I'm glad to be back too. And I'm sure Dark will be just fine."

She is talking about the same Dark we know, right?

Back over to us

We were still leisurely flying to Cloudsdale, getting pretty close at this point. Cloudsdale wasn't a long fly from Ponyville, so going to and from each was easy for someone who could fly.

As we flew, I just flew upside-down on my back and held my forelegs behind my head for support. Flying around is pretty relaxing.

As we flew, I couldn't help but feel something odd. "Hmm..."

"What is it, Blue?" Haily asks.

"Do either of you two feel like we're being followed?"

"Nope."

"Nuh uh."

"Hmm, I just can't shake the feeling." I look to see a black dot off in the distance, but it quickly goes inside of some clouds before I can get a good look at it. I shrug. "Must just be a bird."

"You're losing it, Blue." Dash says.

"Can you really blame me with all the syuff that happens around us?"

"Guess I can't. We've always had weird stuff going on in Ponyville, but it seems to have gone up since you moved there."

"Yeah, and I thought things were weird during Blue's high school years." Haily says.

"Maybe if we're lucky we'll run into some of my old friends while we're there."

"More friends?"

"Yep."

"Then why did we only meet up with Zephyr and Drax at the reunion?"

" I duon't know. Maybe the others were busy. Speaking of which, why weren't you there, Haily?"

"I just decided not to go. Real busy with studies when I got the letter."

"Yeah, thank Mr. Charge for giving us such a short notice."

She shivers. "It even scares me just to remember him."

"What are you so scared of? He never hit mares."

"That doesn't mean he still wasn't scary."

"Yeah, he even gave me the creeps." Dash says.

"Hmm, good point."

"Hey! I think I can see Cloudsdale!" Dash shouts, pointing off in the distance.

"Yeah, I see it too." Haily says.

"Well, that was fast." I say.

We descend as we approach the floating city of clouds and land on the ground with a puff. I take a look around the town, soaking it back in. Everything is still just as I remember it. Cloud buildings with pillars like the ancient Preeks used. Cloud walkways on individual clouds they're on and many seperate clouds with many seperate collections of buildings. It's nice, but I prefer the more down to earth, quite literally, feel of Ponyville.

"Well, lead the way." Dash says, motioning for us to go first.

We begin walking as we try to find our house, the same one we've lived in since even before I was born. You see, there are different types of clouds, even some specially made to last decades like ones used in construction. They're made by*goes through the entire complicated progress on making clouds*. Got all that? Good, because I'm not saying it again.

As we walk, we go by one place I was hoping to avoid: the neighborhood's crankly old lady's, Mrs. Not"s, house. My entire life living in Cloudsdale that mare has been nothing nothing but a bitter old bat.

She is sitting in her normal spot: her rocking chair on her front porch. She always sat there to keep anypony from even getting close to her house.

"Oh no. I was hoping you'd stay gone!" she shouts at us.

I sigh in exasperration. "Hey there, Mrs. Not. Long time no see." I say.

"Not long enough! Things have gotten so much quieter since you and Rainbow Dadh left, Blue Breeze! It got even better once you took those brats, Zephyr and Drax, with you! Can't you just go away so I can go back to being in peace?!"

"You think I wanna stay here with you any longer?"

"Get outta here!" she shouts, pointing away from her house.

We all roll our eyes as we start walking again. "Ugh, I hate her."Dash says.

"She give you trouble too?" I ask her.

"Yeah, she especially has a grudge against me for that one time I crashed a hole in her roof."

"That was you? Bwahahaha! That was hilarious to hear about!"

"Yeah, it was worth the twisted ankle I got from the crash just to get her mad like that. Her face was so red."

All of us share a laugh as we walk. After a bit, we stop as we come up to our house. "Well, here it is." Haily says. "They're gonna be so surprised to see you both."

We walk up to the house as Dash and I decide to hide at first. Haily knocks on the front door.

The door is opened by our mother, Raindrop.

"Haily! It's so good to see you, sweetie." she says.

"Hey, mom. Glad to see you too."

Just then our father, Thundercloud, walks up to the front door.

"Hey, kiddo." he says. "How was the trip?"

"It was fun."

"Is Blue doing all right?" Raindrop asks.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Haily replies, motioning to Dash and I as we pop out.

My parents gasp as the see me in pony for the first time in months. "Hey, mom. Hey, dad." I say.

"Blue!" they both say as they pull me into a hug.

"Oh, I've missed you so much, honey." my mom says.

"I've missed you too, bud." my dad says.

I smile as I return thr hug. "I've missed you both too." we break the hug as Iook back at Dash. "Dash, meet my parents, Raindrop and Thundercloud."

"Nice to finally meet you both." she says.

"Mom and dad, meet my marefriend, Rainbow Dash."

"Marefriend?! Blue, that's wonderful." my mom says. She was always pushing me to get a girl.

"Good going, Blue. It's about time." my dad says. He was never as pushy about it, but he did always think me getting a marefriend would be nice. "Come on in and tell us all about it."

We all go inside as a certain black and red pegasus watches us from above, rubbing his hooves together. "This is gonna be fun."

Visiting Hours are Over

Author's Note: Well, sadly this is the end of Cloudsdale, and even wrose, Haily's leave after being in for so long. 'Tis a sad day indeed. But don't fear, I always have plans for even more awesome stuff... somewhat. Now, on with the story.

Last night was great. Simply being able to sleep with my marefriend again and not have her hate me anymore did wonders for me. No sex, just holding each other and feel each other's touch all night. Sex is nice, but intamacy is what really makes a relationship. Feeling good inside feels way better than feeling good outside anyday. But I digress again.

I open my eyes the next morning to see Dash smiling happily. I could definitely get used to waking up like this everyday. Someday... someday. Anyway, I kiss her cheek as she sleeps, making her rustle a bit, but still smiling.

She slowly opens those beautiful rose-colored eyes of hers as she wakes up. "Morning, Dash." I say.

"Morning, Blue." she responds.

"Sleep well?"

"Much better than the other night."

"Yeah, me too."

We kiss again. "I don't know what I was thinking. Believing you would actually cheat on me."

"Well, it didn't look good on my part. But it definitely would've been easy if you weren't so stubborn."

"Me? Stubborn? Look who's talkin'."

"Oh, when have I EVER been stubborn?"

"You seem to stubborn to let me be on top."

"Okay, now I think we're getting a bit personal."

"You asked for it."

"Whatever. So, what do you think about us heading back today?"

"Yeah, that'd probably be good. We really need to be getting back to work."

"Yeah, especially me. I'm just about broke right now."

"Exactly."

"Well, guess we better let the others know."

She sits up. "Hold on there. Let's get some breakfast first."

"You just want another free meal."

"And you don't?"

I shrug. "Eh, good point."

We get up from the bed, not even bothering to stretch this time, before going out into the hall and smell another premade breakfast from mom. Gotta love her.

Dark exits his room across from us as he gives us a smirk. "Awfully quiet in there last night. No celebrating on being reunited?"

I sneer at him. "Relationships aren't all about sex, Dark."

"Really? I could've sworn they were."

"Then I guess you and Twi aren't in a relationship since I know for a fact you two haven't done it yet."

Dash and I laugh as Dark's face goes red in a mixture of embarassment and anger. "I'm going to kill you."

"And 'll make sure to take you with me so we can keep having fun. Now let's go get some breakfast."

We join my family at the table as my they just look at me. I sigh in exasperation. Yes, I knw it was quiet. No, we didn't do it, okay?"

"No idea what you're talking about, Blue." Haily says, playing innocent.

"We didn't say anything, bud." dad says.

"We're just glad to see you two back together, honey. I was so sad to see that happen." mom says.

I grab Dash's hoof. "Yeah, so was I. But you know me, I know how to handle a situation."

"I'll say. There anything you can't get yourself out of?" dad jokes.

"Nope." I say with confidence. "Right, Dark?"

He just grumbles under as breath as we all start eating breakfast. We do this for a bit with not much really happening before we finish eating. Imagine that. Nothing bad happening whatsoever.

After finishing, I stand up. "Well, I guess it's time we get going."

"What? You mean you're leaving already?" mom asks, a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Aw, lame." Dark complains.

"Yeah, sorry. We've just been gone for a while and realy need to be getting back to work."

"Oh, alright, sweetie." she gets up and comes over to give me a hug. "We'll miss you."

I hug her back. "I'll miss you too, mom."

Dad comes over and hugs me too. "Good luck out there, Blue. Keep kicking flank just like you have been."

"Haha, I plan on it, dad."

Haily comes next. "Bye, Blue. t was really fun while you were around."

"Bye, Haily. Same to you. I couldn't ask for a better little sister."

"Man, and I was just starting to have fun too. Dark says, getting over to join us.

"Thanks for killing the mood."

"No problem."

After saying our good byes, the three of us fly off as my parents and Haily wave to us from outside the house.

Man, I didn't think I'd be doing this again so soon. I'll miss 'em, but I've got more important things to do. A stallion's nothing without priorities.

Surprsingly, the fly from Cloudsdale back to Ponyville is mostly uneventful. Well, except that bird pooping on Dark's head. That was funny. That bird had good aim. Just add on to the pile.

But other than that, nothing really happenes.

We land on the road as we reach down to Ponyville. "Ah, feels good to be back." I say. "Wonder what the others have been up to."

"You hoo! Over here!" we hear a voice call. We turn to see Rarity sitting with a white pegasus. We walk over to them. "Welcome back, everypony."

"Hey, Rarity. Who's your friend." I say.

"oltfriend, actually." he corrects. "And my name's Orion. Nice to meet you guys."

"Same to you. So, anything besides thishappen while we were gone."

He starts chuckling. "Oh, yeah. Just check this out." he pulls out a newspaper with the headline "Never Growing Out of It". It has a picture of Zephyr stuck to Drax's back.

"What?!" Dark shouts, grabbing the paper from him. "And I missed this?! Dang it!"

I chuckle. "Well, that seems like it was fun. I'd love to stay and chat, but I think I'm gonna head home. See you guys."

"See ya." everypony but Dark says. Guess he's still upset about missing his trolling. Well, boo hoo, Mr. Flankhole.

I casually walk the streets down to my house, just trying to enjoy being back in town, and this time, staying. I reach the house and walk inside. Yeah, thanks for not locking the door. Lazy jackflanks.

I step inside to find Zephyr sitting with Octavia on the couch and Ice sitting on his own. "Hey, guys."

"Hey, Blue. Glad to see you back." Zeph says.

"Yeah, I REALLY need to get back to work."

"Yeah, no kidding."

I take notice of Ice. "Hey, Ice?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are you sitting like that?"

"I don't wanna talk about it. Just know that you NEVER boop Vine's nose."

"Um, I wasn't planning to, but okay." I then take notice of Octavia. "Hey, Octavia. What's up with the necklace."

"Isn't it wonderful? It's Zephyr's engagement necklace to me." she answers.

"Engagement? Well, congratulations, you two."

"Thanks a lot, Blue. Realy serious question here. Do you want to be my best stallion at the wedding?"

"Best stallion? Me?"

"Sure. It's because of you we got together. Plus, you're my closest friend. nd you're the one who took me in when I had nowhere to go. I owe you a lot, and I can't think of a better guy for the job."

"In that case, you've got a deal."

"Thanks a lot, man."

He comes over and we brohoof. "No problem. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go relax in my room for a bit."

I leave them as I go up the stairs and head into my room. I close the door behind me before going over to my special draers and pull out a magazine.

"Odd. I couldve swore I had more in here." I say to myself. Where could they have gone?

Over at Vine's place

Vine sits in her room as she looks at a magazine with a stack of a dozen more beside her. "Thank you, Blue Breeze."

Back to me

I shrug as I close the drawer and start my private time. Just doing the old rub and tug while I relax after getting home. Life is sweet.

Dudes' Day Out

Author's Note: The idea for this chapter is based-on inspiration I got from Rhino's fic. Why am I saying this? Just giving credit where credit is due. Now, on with the story.

Right now it's morning. Great, now that means I have to get up and go to work. I hate mornings. Worst part is it's Monday. I hate mondays.

As I groggily sit up in my bed, I look at the floor to see Lyall sleeping soundly. That is, sleeping soundly until I get up. He scratches behind his ear a bit before yawning.

I get up and smile at him. "Yeah, I know, boy. I hate getting up early too." I pet his head, which then makes him roll onto his back and smile at me. I roll my eyes playfully. "Alright, I'll give you a belly rub." I then go to rub his belly as he happily kicks his leg.

He REALLY likes it when I do this. He's just lucky I'm nice. I'm still a bit upset after leading all the pets away and ruining the competition. We called the whole thing off after that happened.

After rubbbing him for Celestia knows how long, I'm finally able to get ready for work. I go into the hall and try to go in the bathroom, but I find the door locked.

I knock on it. "Just give me a minute!" I hear Ice shout.

"Oh, come on! How long have you been in there anyway?!" I shout.

The door opens to reveal Ice. "Ugh, fine. I guess I'm done."

"Finally." As I'm about to go in, Zephyr zips passed me and locks the door. "Come on!"

"Sorry, Blue. You snooze, you lose"

"I'm going to get you for this!"

"You'll have to catch me first!"

It's literally nearly an hour before he eventually finishes taking a shower and before I can go in. Why a stallion showers for that long, I have no idea. I really hope he didn't rub one off during that time.

At least Drax didn't also knock me out of the way. For some reason I'm not sure of, I spend an exceptionally long time preening my wings while I'm in there. It feels right yet dirty at the same time.

After that, I meet the guys down stairs and we head off to work as usual. But as we go, I still can't stop thinking about earlier. Why were Ice, Zeph, and I each taking so long in the bathroom today? And is it me, or do Drax's muscles look a bit smaller? Why am I looking Drax's muscles?! Gah, this is all weird!

These kind of thoughts go on all throughout work as we move clouds around to spots in Ponyville that need the shade. I can kinda see the same looks of confusion on their own faces.

After work is done, we punch out. But as we walk, I decide to stop and talk to Sunny. "Hey, Sunny."

"Oh, hey, Blue. What's up?" she says.

"You know, we've been working together for a long time, right?"

"If you consider about four months long, then yes, I guess."

"Well, I was thinking we really oughtta go hang out some time. Outside of work. What do you say?"

"Well, sure. How's about Friday?"

"Sounds great. See you then, girlfriend." I step outside as I finish that last part. We all stop as we realize what I just said.

"Um, Blue..?" Zeph says.

I grab my head with my hooves and shake it. "What is wrong with me?!"

"What's wrong with all of us?" Drax says. "We've all been acting a bit different these past few days. I feel like my muscles are going flat."

"And I spent an awful long time cleaning myself this morning."

"And I spent a long time preening my wings." I get a serious face. "This must be a cause of hanging around the girls for so long. Gentlemen, we must call in the other stallions."

"Right!" they both say.

I go get Dark, Drax gets Ice, and Zeph gets Rhino and Orion, since he is the fastest of all of us. The four gathered stallions stand confused as to why we gathered them up.

"Gentlemen... No, I can't even say that anymore." I say.

"What's this about, Blue?" Ice asks.

"We have lost our stallionliness! The mares have sucked us dry of it!"

"Quite literally in some cases." Zeph jokes.

"This is no time for jokes! We have all let hanging out with mares make us soft!"

"That's ridiculous." Ice says.

"Oh, really? What were you doing in the bathroom so long this morning?"

He starts rubbing the back of his head. "Brushing my mane and goatee."

"Exactly! We are all becoming less stallionly by the day at this rate!"

"Well, spending so much time with Fluttershy has made me start acting a bit too nice as of late." Rhino says. "I can't even speak up to someone cutting ahead of me anymore."

"Rarity has been making me model dresses to help her out." Orion says. "And it actually makes me feel *shiver* pretty."

"I have no shame." Dark says, crossing his front legs. We all look at him before he eventually cracks. "Alright, fine! Twilight's been making me read books on how to be more "intimate"."

"So, you two finally did it and you rushed right through it?" I tease.

His face turns red. "Yes, we did it! Shut up!"

I snicker before composing my self. "Anyway, you all see my point?" they nod. "Then to fix this we must all have a stallions' only day! Partying it up like REAL bros!"

"Buck yeah!" we all shout as we do a group high-hoof.

"And I've already got me some ideas." I say, rubbing my hooves together.

"We have a contest to see who's biggest down south?" Dark asks.

"NO!"

Over back at my house

We have a table set up in the center for a hoof wrestling contest. Drax is referee and not playing because he'd obviously win. Besides, this makes it easier to keep track of with only six of us playing.

First round is myself versus Orion. We each start pushing, which is about even for a while, but due to Orion's lack of physical work and training like me, I end up putting his hoof down.

Next up is Ice versus Zephyr. While Zephyr may be a good flier, his legs are a bit skinny and not all that strong. And due to Ice being an earth pony who is naturally born with a bit of extra strength, Ice is able to beat Zeph.

Third round is Dark versus Rhino. Despite his name and size, Rhino isn't all that strong physically. Somehow, Dark is able to beat him without even cheating by using his powers.

With three of us left, we do a coin toss to see who Ice faces, and it ends up being me. While Ice is an earth pony, I am both bigger and older than him, and I'm the one who trained him in the first place after all. So with all of that, I'm able to win.

Now comes the big one: me versus Dark. We both stare at each other before starting. As it begins, we start pushing as hard as possible, neither of us wanting to lose. It doesn't help me that I had to do one more round than Dark. With that, Dark beats me and is made winner.

He gets up in a celebratory fashion. "Yes! I win! In all of your faces!"

I look over at Drax with a bored look. "Drax."

"Yeah, I'm on it." he says. He grabs Dark by a leg and twists, forcing the boastful pegasus to the floor.

"Okay! Uncle! Uncle!" he calls out.

The rest of us laugh as Dark rubs his sore leg.

"Well, that was fun. Time for my next idea."

This time we set the table up with a bunch of pancakes we had made in the course of an hour. We each take a seat infront of a plate, prepared to begin.

"Remind me, how is this stallionly?" Rhino asks.

"Simple. A true stallion can eat a buck ton of food." I explain.

"Oh, okay."

"Last stallion standing is the winner! GO!"

We all start eating rapidly, not even using any untensils or toppings on our food, just pure pancake in every fight. Zephyr is the first to go, as being a flier, he's never had that big of an appetite. Ice is next, being the smallest of us being against him in this. Orion is the next to fall, no explanation on him. After him is surprisingly Rhino. Being so big, I kinda expected more. Now it's just down to Dark, Drax, and myself. Dark looks ready to keel over, but his stubborn nature won't let him.

An idea pops in my head. "Hey, Dark!" I call. He looks over as I open my mouth full of food at him. He covers his mouth as he runs off to the bathroom. Too easy.

Now it's just me and Drax. We both eat like crazy. Being nearly the height of an alicorn and the mass of a professional fighter, Drax is really able to put away his food. But despite that, he falls onto the floor just before I do. I knew all that time eating chimicherrychongas would pay off.

"Okay, I've got one last idea." I say. They all groan. "Okay, rest first." my stomach gurgles in pain. "And maybe a trip to the bathroom too."

After resting off all of that food for a little bit, we head out to Club P0n3.

"Why are we going to the club again, Blue?" Ice asks.

"Because you're gonna convince Vinyl to let us do a big show on stage."

"Okay, but what song?" I lean in to whisper to him. He starts getting excited as I tell him. "Oh, buck yeah."

We continue to walk before getting to the club and heading inside. We head backstage to find Vinyl. "Oh, hey, guys." she says.

"Hey, babe." Ice says. "You think you could let us do a show for ya?"

She shrugs. "Sure, why not? Just go up when you're ready."

Well, that sure was easy.

We all go up on stage as I grab a mic. "Hey there, Club Pon3! You ready to rock?!" the crowd mutters a bit. "I said, ARE YOU READY TO ROCK?!" this time they cheer very loud. "THEN LET'S HIT IT!"

(Hollywood Undea - No. 5 WARNING! This is another vulgar song, so just be aware of that. As for who's playing what role: Blue Breeze = Johnny 3 Tears, Ice = Deuce, Dark Lightning = Charlie Scene, Rhino = Funny Man, Drax = Da Kurlzz, and Zephyr and Orion will be singing back up.)

Ice:
Ponyville we're never going down
Ponyville we're never going down
Ponyville we're never going down
And all the kids in the hood come and wave and shake your hooves,
Ponyville we're never going down.
When you're drunk shake that flank like you know how to groove,
Ponyville we're never going down.

Dark:
Start getting loud I want to party now, if you hit an Undead that's a party foul.
I only drink Mickey's I can't afford the grooves I drink so much they call me Darky forty hooves.
If they keg is tapped and you're getting capped, take your girl to the sack and I'll take a nap.
Ladies drink them fast so I can have a break
You got your beer gog's on and I'm getting flank

Rhino:
"Like oh my gosh! Is that Dark Lightning?"

Dark:
Ladies show me your treats and make a scene
You got a fake I.D. and you're seventeen

Rhino:
I'm a complete catastrophe buzzing around you like a bumble bee.

Dark:
So let's take some shots, do a beer run and flip off a cop.
Girls give me props and there in my hood.
Paris Hilton said that's hot when she saw my wood

Ice:
And all the kids in the hood come and wave and shake your hooves,
Ponyville we're never going down.
When you're drunk shake that flank like you know how to groove,
Ponyville we're never going down.

Blue:
I'm about to serve it up for all you party goers.
Scene Kids, Meat Heads, Alchies, Stoners.
Dancing around like a bunch of faggots, funnier then buck you can ask Bob Sagget.
I never claimed that I knew how to dance, but I'll get drunk, get high, and pull down my pants
So buck five bucks just fill up my cup, don't kiss me mare you just threw up.
Now I'm drunk as buck about to pass out,

Rhino:
Destination you're mother's couch.
Dude is it true that you screwed my mom?

Blue:
Buck yeah bro, that pussy was bomb.
So I'm humping, jumping, sipping and skipping.
It's nights like these that we all love living.
So take out your hands and throw the P.U. up
Now wave it around like you don't give a buck!

Ice:
And all the kids in the hood come and wave and shake your hands,
Ponyville we're never going down.
When you're drunk shake that flank like you know how to groove,
Ponyville we're never going down.

Rhino and Drax:
Can't stop, Won't stop, Darky make the booty drop
Can't stop, Won't stop, Blue Breeze make the booty drop
Can't stop, Won't stop, Zeph make the booty drop
Can't stop, Won't stop, Ice make the booty drop
Can't stop, Won't stop, Drax make the booty drop
Can't stop, Won't stop, Rhino make the booty drop
Can't stop, Won't stop, let me see those panties drop, Producer's on the dance floor.
Let me see your booty pop.

Drax:
Grab your drink. Get on the floor!
Grab your drink and get on the floor!

Ice:
Let's dance and go chill, shake that flank Ponyville
Ponyville we're never going down.
Let's dance and go chill, shake that flank Ponyville
Ponyville we're never going down.

The crowd goes wild for us as we finish up. As I stare out into the crowd, I feel accomplishment for a day well spent and feeling like a stallion again.

Now this is how to act like a real bro.

Pet Poker

Author's Note: I'd like to start off with a big happy birthday to my good friend and fan, Rhino. Happy birthday, buddy. Besides that, thanks to Star Light for giving me this awesome idea. Now, on with the story.

Well, it's been a few weeks since that whole thing weith me teaching Sunny how to fly started, and I must say, she's made really good progress. Now she's able to fly up in the air and maintain control for a pretty good time.

As you can probably guess, I couldn't keep coming up with excuses to Dash and the guys about why we were leaving, so we had to tell them. They were a bit upset at first, but they were pretty understanding about it after a bit of explaining. They even offered to help out with the teachings, which has really helped.

In fact, since then, we introduced Sunny to the rest of the group and she's started hanging out with us a lot more. She's basically become a member of our gang of misfits, probably making her the most normal pony in the group.

Upset and disappointed I'm only telling you all of this rather than actually showing it? You have every reason and right to be.

Anyway, right now I'm getting home from work. These days first thing I do when I get home is say hi to Lyall. "Lyall, I'm home." I call out. Usually when I do this he comes running down the stairs, but right now I wait and he doesn't come. "Lyall?" maybe this'll get him to come out. "I've got a nice, big fish for you." Even from that, he doesn't come out. "Nothing still?"

I get curious as to where he is and start looking around everywhere. Every bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen pantries, the dirty laundry hamper, even the attic. But I can't find him anywhere.

I scratch my head in confusion. "Where could that little lupis have run off to?"

Zeph at Drax walk up behind me, curious to what I'm doing. "Hey, Blue. What'cha looking for?" Zeph asks.

"I can't find Lyall, and I've looked all over the house."

"Well, I'm sure there's no need to worry. I doubt he would've just left like that. Maybe he just let himself out to use the bathroom and he'll be back in a bit."

"He better, or he's gonna get it when I find him."

Over off in Ponyville

Lyall leisurely strolls through Ponyville, ponies now paying him no mind as they are now accustomed to him and know he's trained enough to not attack anypony. He's currently making his way over to Sugarcube Corner for the day of poker and the other pets had planned on during one of our playdates.

But since no animals are allowed inside the bakery except Gummy, he's going to have to sneak inside. 'Hmm, well, cats may be more suited for stealth, but I think I can do it.'

He notices a pony walking inside and walks behind them as cover. The pony walks up to the counter, being watched by Mrs. Cake. As the pony reaches the counter, Lyall slides to the side of the counter closest to the stairs, remaining out of sight. With Mrs. Cake and the pony busy, Lyall starts tiptoeing over to the stairs.

'I'm in the clear!' he thinks. But as he's about to reach the stairs, he's stopped by Pound and Pumpkin cake. 'Why me?' the two foals start playing with him, giving him hard rubs acros the back, Pumpkin chewing on his tail, and Pound pounding on his body as if he were a squeaky toy. Lyall eventually escapes from them and shakes off. 'And ponies say I'm a wild beast.'

Having finally gotten away from them, somehow without being spotted, Lyall makes his way upstairs to Pinkie's room where he finds the other pets waiting for him around a poker table.

'About time you showed up.' Angel says smartly.

'Blame those foals downstairs.' Lyall says, pulling up a chair.

'Yeah, Pound and Pumpkin Cake can get pretty over-excited when it comes to animals.' Specter says.

'I like cake.' Gummy says obliviously.

'Anyway... What's the game?' Lyall says.

'Just some simple poker, hun.' Winona says.

'Celestia, I love that accent.'

'You gonna play, or you gonna flirt?' she taunts.

He gets a serious face. 'Deal me in.'

Lyall pulls out a bunch of dog biscuits, using them in place of poker chips or real money, the others doing the same with other things like carrots, catnip, nuts, and seeds. Probably the strangest yet still professional game of poker I've ever seen.

'So, Lyall, how was your first time sneaking out here?' Owluiscious asks.

'It was really easy actually. I jumped out of a window using my awesome, cat-like reflexes.'

'Don't use that term.' Opal says bitterly.

Lyall rolls his eyes before continuing. 'After that I just walked down here, but I did have to do some sneaking to get passed the front.'

'The front?' Angel asks.

'Yeah, what about it?'

'Hehe, guess we forgot to tell you to use the back entrance where Pinkie will just let you in.'

'What?! Pinkie knows about this and will just let us in?!'

Just then, Pinkie comes bouncing up the stairs, a tray of food on her back. "Hi, guys. Ready for a snack?" she stops when she notices Lyall. "Hey, Lyall! Glad you could come by. I always welcome new faces here." she takes the tray of food and sets it down before bouncing away again. "Okay, you guys have fun. And also try not to cheat."

Lyall just stares blankly at the stares. 'Isn't she something?' Gummy says.

'Yeh, she's... something alright. Anyway, let's get back to playing.'

'All your winnings are belong to me.' Angel says, placing his cards down and smiling smugly.

'Dang it.' Lyall says in annoyance.

They all continue playing poker for a bit longer, not much happening outside of the usual: Angel being a smartflank, Gummy being slow, Opal being stuck up, and everyone trying to put up with each other.

Eventually, Lyall decides to try and work his charm on Winona again. 'Say, Winona?'

'What is it, Lyall?' she asks, a hint of annoyance present in her tone.

'Will you agree to go out with me if I win?'

'Heh, if you win, I'll go out with you three times, no question.' she wagers.

'Deal.'

'Just give it up, bro. That's one pussy no dog can catch.' Angel says. Both Opal aand Winona slap him. Winona because he was rude, and Opal because of the pun against cats. 'Okay, I deserved that.'

'Okay, let's have one last hand, winner take all. You all in?' every pet looks at each other before looking back to him and nodding. 'Excellent.'

Here it is, the big moment. All that precious food is riding on this one hand. Ever pet looks at each intensely, sweat dripping down their heads. Well, for those of them that can actually sweat. Lyall and Winona just pant with their tongues hanging out.

'Draw!' Lyall says. Every pet puts down their cards. They all look at Lyall as they see his flush. 'Yes! I win! In your faces!' he cheers. 'And I'll see you for that date, Winona.'

'Well, dip me in vinegar and call me Pickles, ya actually did it. Well, a deal's a deal. Ah'll see ya then, Lyall.' she says.

Lyall smiles as he takes all the food and puts it in a bag. All the pets give a good bye as they leave and go off to their sepearate homes.

I sit at home, reading as I relax in the living room. I look at the front door as it opens to reveal Lyall with a huge sack of food.

"Oh, there you are, Lyall. I've been looking for you all day." he shrugs as he comes in. "Should I ask about the bag?"

He gives me another look, which I read as "I won all of this fair and square. I promise.".

"Well, okay then."

Guess Zephyr was right after all. I'm glad we didnt have a bet. He always wins.

A Heated Bout

Author's Note: ...Why is this here? A warning? I'm pretty sure everyone already knows it by now. Besides, it's not that bad. Anyway, let's just skip the crap and get on with the story.

Grim sits in his seat with his jaw wide open from the sight he just saw. "D... Did they just NUKE Volcanous and the sixth circle?!"

Graze chuckles. "Looks like it. What was that about them getting ripped part? Hmm?" Graze starts laughing harder. "Face it, you're screwed."

Grim growls. "You and then shall all pay for this! I swear on it my name is Grim Blade, lord of the undead!"

Tombstone steps in, holding a plate of treats. "Your oatmeal cookies are ready, sir." he says.

"Oh goody." Grim says before getting up and quickly going over to scarf down on the cookies.

Graze stares blankly at him. "Yeah, a real lord of the undead." he facehoofs. "How in the world did I let myself get captured by these losers?"

Grim swallows. "Because we are superior while you are an idiot,"

"At least I don't eat oatmeal cookies."

"You should, they're quite delicious." he takes the plate from Tombstone before going back up on his throne. "Anyway, your friends may have survived that, but let's see them survive the three parts of Violence."

Higher up, where we are

We had continued making our way further down Taurtarus after our fight with Volcanous. I tell ya, that was insane. I honestly didn't even know if it would work. And Ice impaling all of his legs to the ground when he tried getting back up: genius.

We came across this one really big gate. After going through it, we had made our way to what is tknown as the seventh circle: Violence.

Now this one is really big. It's split up into three areas: those who did violence to others, those who did violence to themselves, and those who did violence to Celestia. Celestia sure is egotistical to make an entire area dedicated to the last one. Whatever.

We enter into the first area of the circle where we see dozens of large, rocky pillars from off the side of a cliff. We look over the side of the cliff to see steam rising up from a boiling, red lake.

"What in the world is that?" Zeph asks.

"Yeah, makes me a little nausious just looking at it." Ice says.

"Looks like the cherry mash for chimicherrychongas." I say.

"Or strawberry applesauce." Rhino says.

Vine facehoofs. "It is NOT food. That is a boiling lake of blood for ponies who have committed violence against others go into."

"Yeesh, these guys are even worse off than the guys in the River Styx." Orion says.

"No kidding. Who knew violence was like this compared to anger?" Drax says.

Ciel looks over it and shakes a bit in fear. Vine tries soothing it. "I know, Ciel. Just stay on my back and hang on tight. You won't make it if you fall too close."

I look around at the many pillars sticking up. "Well, lucky for us there's an easy way to cross." I hop to a pillar and motion for my friends to follow. "Come on guys, move your rumps. It's time for a hop, a skip, and a jump."

My friends smile as they catch on and start hopping themselves. We hop along the pillars, acting carefree for the first time in a while.

Rhino uses his Res to slide around on the pillars a bit. "This is awesome!" he says.

I smitk. "Having fun there, Rhino?"

"You kidding? This is even better than doing parkour!"

Zeph shrugs. "Meh, I prefer flying." as he goes to make a jump, a hand comes shooting out of the lake at him before he dodges it. "Woah! What the hay?!"

We look forward to see dozens of hands aiming for us. "Oh buck." we all say.

The hands start flying at us rapidly, intending to pull us down into the boiling blood. We all consistently keep dodging them, staying away from them as much as possible.

As Dark hops around, a group comes after him. "Okay, you wanna go?" he says. He charges a grenade in his hoof. "Then take this!" he chucks it at them, the explosion completely blowing apart all of them and clearing a path for us.

Not much really happens during all of this except the dodging, but eventually, we do reach solid grond as all of the hands stop their pursuit.

Ciel wipes a watery hoof across its forehead in relief. The rest of us do the same.

We look on to the next area of the circle, an incredibly thick forest.

"Well, this doesn't seem ao bad." Zeph says.

"You'd think so, but this is the area I can't stand the most." Vine says.

"Why's that, Vine?" I say. "I thought you liked forests."

She growls a bit. "This is no ordinary forest. Every single tree in here sprouted from a sapling that came from a pony who killed themself. This place is known as the Forest of Suicide."

"Well, no getting around it. All we can do is try to speed through it." Dark says before stepping inside.

We all exchange glances before going in after him. As we walk through the forest, screams can be heard from all of the trees.

"Ow." one says as Drax steps on its root.

He quickly steps off of it. "Sorry about that."

Vine looks around angrily at the sight of the forest. "I can feel all of their pain. Each and every soul hear, crying for help." she starts getting frustrated, so she punches a tree hard. "Those Grave Ponies are monsters! I'll see them pay for this!"

"Ow." the tree says.

"Oh, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay."

We turn back to look at her. "Just calm down, Vine. Getting worked up won't help anything." I say.

She sighs. "I know, it's just..." she starts trailing off as she hangs her head down.

I rest a hoof on her sholder and smile at her. "Hey, it'll be all right, okay? We'll get those Grave Pnies and save Graze. I promise."

She looks and smiles at me. She goes to look at all of the others, as well as her new pet. "Thanks, everyone." she exhales before straightening herself up. "You're right. Let's get going. The quicker we get through this, the better."

"That's the spirit."

"Yeah, sooner we get through this, the sooner we get to kick Grave Pony flank." Dark says.

"And save Graze." Rhino says.

"And go home!" Zeph adds.

We all do a group cheer before continuing through the forest, this time making sure to not step on any roots. Don't want to make their punishments any harder now, do we?

As we escape out of the forest, we come to a dusty, dry, barron wasteland. The environment is like a desert, but with a bunch of fallen stone buildings around, some rock formations, and an ominous looking mountain under the red sky.

Oh, you want to know how there's a sky seven floors down? Well, that's simple. Every floor is like it's own realm, so there is no ceiling unless it's like a cave like the fourth floor. Got that? Good.

We look around the desolate area, seeing nothing of interest besides the mountain.

"Are we still on the seventh floor?" Ice asks.

"Yes, we have just reached the final area. Here is where the souls who have tried committing violence against Celestia are sent."

"That would be the farthest area down here." Dark says.

"Well, she IS the princess. It'd be a disaster if she were hurt." Rhino defends her.

"I still say it's egocentric of her."

"Whatever. I say we get a move on before something tries to attack us." Zeph says. But as he tries to take a step forward, a spear made of... black fire? Yeah, anyway, a spear made of black fire hits the ground right infront of him. "What the?"

"You were saying?" a voice says. We look in the direction of the voice to see an ash-colored pegasus stallion with red stripes, a red and black mane with matching tail, snake-like eyes, weird looking wings, and wearing a vest sitting on top of a rock.

I facehoof. "Okay, from now on, NO ONE can say anything like that. It always jinxes us."

The pony jumps down from his rock down to us. "You must be the trespassers Lord Grim Blade warned us about."

"So, another one of Grim Blade's men." Vine says with venom in her tone.

"That's right. I'm Giro Halberd, one of his leading men. After I tried to join up with the Nightmare, I was sent here. Grim Blade saw potential in my abilities, so he let me guard this circle." he grabs the spear from the ground and hoists it over his sholder, the flames not even phasing him.

I look back at Ice and Vine. "You two make sure watch it around this guy."

"Got it." they both say.

Looks like Graze isn't the only one with that power.

Graze looks at the window angrily as he tries to break free. "Black fire?! That's MY thing!"

Grim chuckles. "Not anymore. Besides, Giro's powers are different from yours. Just watch."

Dark steps forward, ready to take this guy out. "Okay, let's just skip the formalities. You gonna step aside, or do we need to make you?"

Giro points his spear at him. "What do you think?"

Dark smirks. "Good. Just the way I was hoping for." he cracks his joints, similar to how I do... copy-cat. "Let's do this, fire boy."

Giro's glare hardens. "I'll make you regret coming down here."

"I already do."

(Boss Battle 7: Giro Halberd. BEGIN!)

Dark fires off a bolt of electricity, which Giro dodges by simply tilting his head to the side. Seeing projectiles aren't gonna cut it, Dark brings out his lightning blades and charges in to get close. Now right to each other, they start exchanging clashes, shinging noises and sparks flying from their elemental weapons.

As the light comes closer to Giro, he gets noticeably weaker. Dark smirks at him. "What's the matter, you hate the light too?"

Giro growls before jumping back and literally coming in hot with a flaming punch to Dark's face, singing his face and knocking him back.

"Let's see how you like the wind!" I shout. I fire some projectiles at him, but he easily avoids them with his quick reflexes.

"Let's see how fast you are when you can't move!" Vine says. She summons some vines that gold him in place, but suddenly, Giro creates a scythe made of fire and uses it to break free. Vine facehoofs. "Should've seen that coming."

"And this." Giro says. He drags his scythe into the ground, ripping it apart and sending a ewave of fire at us. "Heat Wave!"

We all jump out of the way of the wave. Ice uses a pillar to throw himself in the air to get a better target. Using his powers, he shoots off a bunch of ice shards towards giro. Instead of doding this time, Giro spins the scythe at the incoming projectiles, blocking them and making steam come from where they melt. After this goes on for a bit, a thick layer of steam builds up, encompassing our battle field.

"Aw, isn't this nice? I do enjoy a sauna." Giro taunts.

"Let's see how you like this!" Zephyr shouts. Out from the steam, he comes in and tackles Giro to the ground before he can didge, making the both of them roll a bit away.

Getting back up, Giro snarls at Zephyr. "I'll enjoy burning you to ashes!"

"I don't think so!" Vine shouts from above. She throws Ciel at him, the ooze expanding like net to engulf Giro. While inside, Giro uses his opowers to creeate fire inside, making Ciel shrink as it evaporates into more steam. "Ciel!"

The ooze quickly jumps off of Giro, now about two thirds of it's original size. Ciel starts hiding behind Vine. Vine gets in a defensive position. "Don't you dare touch him... her... it. Yeah, let's go with that."

Giro starts smiling eevilly. "I want touch it, but my flames are gonna turn it to pure steam!"

"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Rhino shouts. "Now, Ice!"

"On it!" suddenly, a large pillar shoots out be neath Giro, but he backflips to avoid it. As he lands, he isn't able to stick it as Rhino uses his Res to make him trip.

Dark flies above Giro, looking mad. "Time for a little payback!" he charges up a grenade in his hoof.

Giro's eyes widen at it. "NO!"

Dark cucks the grenade down. "LIGHTNING FRAG GRENADE!"

*BOOM*

A big explosion goes off, mixing smoke with steam with dust.

We all look around like crazy to try and find him. "You guys find him?!" Zeph shouts.

"Yep." a voice says from behind him.

Zeph turns around to see a slightly chrred Giro behind him. "Uh oh!"

Giro uses his powers to summon a double-sided side, a handle in the middle and a blade at both ends. "Prepare to die!"

As he brings the blade down, I block it with my own charged up wing. "Not on my watch!"

"You don't wear a watch, Blue." Zeph says.

"Stop joking and get back!" I command.

"Right!" he says before dashing back.

"Grr, so many pests to fight at once." Giro says.

I smirk. "Yeah, we're kinda lke cockroaches. We come in a big group and are hard to kill."

"Well, you certainly got the cockroach part right!"

We start exchanging our own clashes with our blades. This kinda gives me flashbacks to when I first fought Dark in a way. As we go on, I start thinking up an idea.

I jump back a bit. Giro smirks. "What, getting scared?"

"No, just tired of all of this steam and smoke." I begin flying around, building up speed and signs of a tornado forming. Giro's eyes widen again. As the tornado forms, all of the smoke and steam are swept up, along with Giro.

Giro tries to fight, but is unable to. "Enough!" he shouts. He sends out a bit of black fire, nailing me right in the chest and knocking me out of the tornado.

I hit the ground with a thud. Giro smirks as he watches me try to get back up. "Did you honestly think that could beat me?"

I chuckle a bit. "Nope, just distract you long enough for our real plan."

"What?" dozens of vines come up, wrapping Giro up and forcing him to the ground.

"Hey, up here!" Drax shouts. Giro looks up to see Drax holding Orion, looking ready to throw him. "Ready, Orion?"

"Ready, Drax!" he says.

"NO!" Giro shouts as he tries to fight. Being pinned down, he can't even create any fir to escape his trap.

With Giro unable to move, Drax throws Orion hard, making a small, black boom comes from behind Orion as he shoots towards the ground. He crashes to the ground full force, making a bunch of dust shoot upward.

As the dust clears, Orion steps out, looking victorious. He pumps a hoof in the air. "Mission accomplished!"

We look over to see Giro is indeed knocked out cold and still tied up.

(End battle music)

Dark smirks. "That guy was all talk. We was no sweat."

"No sweat, but a whole lot of steam and smoke." Zeph says.

"Don't remind me and Ciel." Vine says.

"Don't worry, Vine. I'm sure we can find some water later and fix that." I say.

"I sure hope so."

Ice goes over to Giro and smirks before spitting on him. "That's a gift from ice. Remember not to mess with it."

We all laugh before deciding to continue through the wasteland and on to the next and second to last circle of this place.

Our descent is nearly over. Just a bit longer and we'll be there. Just hang in there, Graze. We're coming.

Author's Note: Giro Halberd comes from Star Light. Yes, he does look like Lance from Living the Dream. You can talk to Vine on that one.

Bad Dog

Author's Note: I don't know why I'm putting this here. I think my brain is just programmed to keep putting these in at this point, even if there's really no reason for it. Oh well. On with the story!

Remember how I said unless something unexpected came up there'd be zero chance of us not living through this? Yeah, I'm really kicking myself for that right now. I don't even know why though. I think I should be kicking myself for forgetting something that was this obvious.

After Celestia knows how long, we had finally reached back up to the top of Tartarus and escaped from it. Only, we're not out of the woods just yet. As soon as we escaped, we were met with a twenty foot tall three-headed dog that could easily make us its new lunch if we're not careful.

We try to slowly back up as Cerberus approaches us, its mouths open and their lips. We are stopped as we reach up against the closed gates. Um, weren't those just open?! Oh Celestia, why?!

We all glance back at each other, all a bit worried. Graze and I can barely walk on our own, let alone fight something like this. This is not good.

The guards off in the distance look at each other worriedly. "What are we gonna do, Ralph?"

"I don't know, Frank." he says. "There's no way to contact the princess and the fly back to Canterlot would take too long. And we definitely can't fight or even stun that thing like the princess could."

"Ah, geez. Looks like they're on their own here."

The finest in Equestria here, folks. Aren't you glad these are the guys we need to rely on to keep Equestria safe? Luna, I hate our government.

We all stand under Cerberus, trying to think of what to do. "So, anyone got any bright ideas now?" Ice says.

"I say we just put it down." Dark says.

"We still need it to guard Tartarus, dummy." Vine speaks up. "You already killed one important entity."

"Then what are we supposed to do?"

"I don't know. Blue and Graze are too hurt to help fight here."

"I resent that remark." I say.

"Agreed." says Graze.

"Hey, I've got it." Dark says. "Rhino, you're good with animals. You deal with it."

"Say what?! I can't handle this!" he shouts.

"Sure you can." Dark takes Graze off his back and gives him to Orion. "Here, hold this."

Orion looks at Graze. "Um... okay?"

Dark takes Rhino and pushes him out front. "Don't worry, big guy. You got this." he quickly runs back, leaving Rhino alone.

"Dark, wait! I don't feel too comfortable about this! This isn't what I was trained for!" he shouts back. His protest is interrupted as Cerberus growls, getting his attention. His eyes widen before he nervously grins. You can see the sweat pouring down his face. "Hey, big fella. Aren't you a good doggy? Does doggy want a treat?" the heads start drooling as they look at him. His eyes go wide again. "Okay, poor choice of words."

The massive dog rears its necks back as it gets ready to bite down. Drax gets an idea just before it bites though. "Sorry about this, Blue."

"Wait, what are you do-" I'm cut off as Drax throws me off of his back and onto the ground.

Drax grabs Rhino's tail and pulls him out of the way just before Cerberus bites down on him. With the dog's head right up close now, Drax brings a hoof back before delivering a strong hook to its nose, making it yelp and rear back in pain.

"You know I could've just teleported away, right?" Rhino asks Drax.

Drax freezes as he realizes that. "Oh, yeah. I forgot about that."

"And what the buck was that with throwing me?! My sides are on fire!" I shout as I slowly get up.

"Sorry, I was just going off instinct there."

"Well, I think your instinct only made it mad, look." Glare says, pointing at Cerberus. We look up at the beast to see its eyes bloodshot and nearly bulging out of its heads from anger. It's also snarling and foaming at the mouths.

"Hehe, oops." Drax rubs the back of his head.

Way to go, Draxy boy.

(Extra Boss Battle: Cerberus. BEGIN!)

"Everypony, get out of the way!" Glare announces.

Cerberus goes in to bite all of its heads at us, but Drax picks me back up and we all jump out of the way just in time. The beast gets its heads back and tries to go in separate directions due to us splitting up, but the heads end up hitting each other as they pull back into place. They eventually get their focus back after a moment.

"I'm going in!" Zephyr shouts.

"Be careful, Zeph. I wouldn't recommend flying in this one's eyes." I say.

He rolls his eyes before taking off to Cerberus. Zephyr starts buzzing around Cerberus, much like he did Stallord. Each of the heads tries grabbing at him, looking to either make him a new chew toy or an appetiser.

With Cerberus distracted, Ice decides to use this opportunity to slip up the carnivorous canine. He freezes the ground by one of Cerberus' paws, making him stumble over.

"Looks like this is my time to shine like a star." Orion says.

"Why is everypony trying to take my job as the bad pun maker." I say.

"Think of it more as material for later, Blue." Rhino suggests. Hmm, he's got a point there.

Orion takes off with his star streak behind him and slams hard into Cerberus' side, knocking it to the ground hard. Though that knocks Cerberus down, it doesn't do it for long as the huge dog gets back up.

"Let's see you get back up from this!" Dark yells out. He flies up in the air before charging up some grenades. He throws them down, but Cerberus manages to swipe them right back with a paw. Dark's eyes go wide in surprise. "Oh buck."

*BOOM*

The grenades explode at him, making him go flying right into a cliffside. A few of us rush right over to him.

"Dark, are you okay?" Ice asks worriedly.

He rolls his neck around. "The lightning part didn't hurt, but the being thrown against the wall by the blast did."

"Don't you worry, buddy. We'll get that big mobo." Drax says.

"I'm glad you think so Drax, because I have an idea." I say with a smirk.

"Oh boy, that can't be good."

"Just hear me out. I want you to throw me at Cerberus, and Rhino, I want you to use Res to cut down the friction around me to lower the wind resistance."

"I don't know, Blue. That sounds dangerous." Rhino says.

"I say we go for it." Graze says, jumping into the idea. "I want you guys to throw me too."

The others exchange some looks before going with it, knowing full well there's no talking us out of it.

Drax picks me up while Dark, Orion, and Ice get Graze. "Alright, steady now." I say. The others align us properly, taking straight aim at Cerberus. "FIRE!"

They launch us forward as Rhino prepares his spell, making his sail through the air much easier. Graze and I both charge our hooves as we get in close and deliver and doubly powerful blow to Cerberus' chest.

I like dogs, but boy is this one stupid. They say three heads are better than one, but not in this case.

Cerberus reels back on its back legs, but it shifts its weight as to not fall over.

Why am I suddenly regretting this plan?

With us now on the ground, Cerberus brings its paws down on top of us, crushing us from the waist down and keeping us pinned to the ground.

"AH! OH CELESTIA, THIS HURTS!" I scream. I actually feel blood in my mouth. Graze ends up coughing up a good bit himself.

Now I get why I was regretting this plan.

"Hang on, guys! We're coming!" Zeph shouts. As the others try to go in to help, Cerberus gives them a look saying "Come any closer and they die". They stop their advance from seeing this.

Luckily, Glare and Vine, who had been staying on the sidelines for whatever reason, stand behind Cerberus and out of its view.

"What are we gonna do?" Glare says. "They're gonna be crushed!"

"No, I have an idea, and I'll need your help to pull it off." Vine says.

"Really? Just say the word and I'll do it."

"Good. I need you to fly up and make a bright light. Quickly!"

"I'm on it." Glare unfurls his wings as he takes up into the air.

Vine gets up on her hind legs as she begin to charge up her hooves for something big.

On the opposite side of Cerberus, the others watch Graze and I in horror. That is, until Zephyr looks up to see something. "Hey! It's Glare!"

Rhino looks passed Cerberus to see something else. "Yeah, and Vine too!"

With Glare now high up in the air, he uses his powers to produce a bright flash, almost as bright as a second sun. The extra light from Glare makes Vine's glow intensify. A ball of energy forms in Vine's hooves as she gets ready to launch the attack.

"Hey, Cerberus!" she calls out. The huge dog takes its attention off us and turns around to her. "See the ball, doggy? Well, fetch this! Solar Beam!" she throws her hooves out as the ball shoots out a strong beam of energy. The beam takes a direct hit to Cerberus' chest, making the mighty beast keel over in pain

(End battle music)

And that's how you train your dog.

After all the fighting, the pain, and the blood, all the fighting is finally over. But our job isn't done quite yet.

Author's Note: Honestly, I have no excuse for the lateness of this chapter. I'm just really sick of writing these fight scenes and this Tartarus related stuff in general... After all, I want these things to be good, but it's become monotonous at this point. Thank Celestia it's just about over.