tacobob

 

 

 

The little fillies seemed to be so lost in conversation and their anticking..... antiquing? Were those words? These pesky little ponies seemed to be really excited for their little trip. Which was good. However, she was surprised their crazy pony parents signed the permission slip and paid the required fee to have Gallus and her watch over them! What a horrible, horrible joke. Both she and the blue bird of sappiness were responsible for the deaths of five ferns, one Peperomia, one Calathea, which Smolder refereed to as 'Spike Jr' due to its color and five plastic Bromeliads. They were not sure how this happened. And now the crazy ponies wants them to watch real living children? Ho-Boy. Still, while they did ignore her, the bold dragon still did her best to herd them to their right spots. Get all their carry-on luggage, get off the train, and get the rest of their stuff.

 

Once the kid's needs were done, it was then time for Smolder to make sure she had all of her items. And to help Gallus if necessary.

 

"Gladiator Fights.", the dragon responded, "They're supposed to have recreations of the old gladiator fights at the Coliseum. We'll get to see ponies in armor pretending to poke other ponies in armor with tridents. Maybe they'll let us play.", she rubbed her claws together. That would be fun.  And they would get to try some Cacio e Pepe and Carciofi alla Giudìa! Her dragon ancestors would frown upon her choices in meals, but Smolder wasn't the type to stick to the same ol' same ol'.  

 

Once off the train, and all of the foals were there with all of their body parts intact and still attached to their chubby little bodies, the dragon had time to give her little blue kitty pal some attention. Unfortunately it did not seem Gallus was in the mood for their usual banter. "You did? Seriously?", there was a chance they could have flied after the train, but that ship had sailed already. Or train had sailed. Or whatever trains do.

 

To make things even worse, Sunburst stole her idea and brought a toga of his very own. Thus pushing the young dragon away from a cool-zone to his own brand of nerdieness.  "Don't worry Blue.", she sighed, "We'll make sure you have everything you need.", she loved to tease the guy, but even her mighty dragon heart could not dare to see him really upset. Even if it was his fault he left his stuff on board.

 

 

 

 

“Hurt me, as if!”, the Siren huffed as she started to float down. Her size also shifted from really really big all the way down to pony size as her form drifted to the ground “And seriously like-please, like do not stick a cupcake in your eye as that would venture into the realm of the bogus and make me gag and gag and gag." The now fun-sized Siren was eventually within reach once she hit her last 'gag'. She gracefully landed on the ground and kept her self prompted on by her long tail and front legs.

 

"Also, for the record. ", she glanced over at Fire Walker, "I hope you're writing this down! Cause this is like, so very important. Or something.", she turned her attention back to Applejack. "I don't live here. Nuh.", she turned to Fire Walker for a brief second, "Nuh."  The second 'Nuh' was to make sure the red pony got it. "This is just my super secret place I sometimes hangout when the parental units or dumb sibs get on my nerves. Took my 'boo' here like once and he was like all.", she shifted into a parody of a male's voice, 'Uh-gee Tre-Ta, there an't nothing to do here!'", she returned to her 'valley-speak', "And I was like, hello? There's me! And he didn't get my meaning cause he's thicker than a whale-omelet. Dumb guys wouldn't notice a romantic moment if It painted itself purple and started to like, dance on the table while shouting 'I'm a romantic moment'."  One thing really bothered her. Pony city names. San Flanknado? Really? They have a city with a 'butt' in it? Weird. "Nah, never heard of that place. I'm sure your cousin is a total rad to the tad, all the way to being all bad."

 

"Oh." From where they stood they could see a large creature swim along the surf. This was a blue Tri-horned Bunyip. She was followed by several smaller versions of herself.  "Hey Miss Princesa!", she waved at the creature who honked back. With this vindication, Swift Star could not help but grin.

 

"And there's her kids: Conejito, Lil' Jefe, Chulo and Chuloa...They're twins and Pachuco. Cute lil' kids....So...", her attention slowly drifted back to the ponies, "So, why are you on my island?"

 

 

The others were right. The water looked incredible! Nice and clear and she could see all kinds of fish! What a fool she was! She originally just wanted to stay home and grumble to herself and read her favorite magazine, 'Grumble Weekly'.

 

This was the best field trip EVER! They got to see some pretty awesome sights like waterfalls, old sea forts, legendary mini-islands that were supposed to hide secret pirate lairs and soon they would be heading over to a old amusement park called the ‘Kick & Canter Park’. They had ten wooden roller coasters! Ten different kinds of churros! SIXTY kinds of fried foods! And sadly, only one first aid station.

 

Today, they were going to do a little snorkeling with her group. The young dragon made sure she had everything on claw. She had her bathing suit, which she looked pretty darn good in. She wasn’t ready for a bikini, but this look, she could handle. She had her snorkel gear and flippers. There was also this water-proof camera that she was going to use to take some pretty awesome photos. And not just the sad, sad sight of a soggy Gallus! Nope! She was sure she would have time for maybe two or three photos of some fish. Nah. she couldn't lie to herself. It was all going to be soggy kitties. And maybe a pic of one big wet Yak.  As she slid the flippers on, an eerie voice could be heard.

 

 

While the voice was kind of creepy, dragons don't scare easily.  As long as 'vampony books' aren't thrown into the loop. She wasn't scared. Nope. But she was polite. "Nah, I'm good. I have all the gear need and dragons have really great lungs." But the voice continued and while Smolder could ignore it, this time it was backed with magic, evil magic!

 

 

"No. I do have a choice. Which is no. What are you doing? Please no!" Her cries were ignored. Horrible magic covered the helpless dragon. She let out a scream as the painful spell transformed her into a ugly, ugly monster. Curse you Silverstream. Was the last thing the poor creature could think before she took the form.

 

 

 

"WAAGH!"

 

Thank goodness it was only a dream.

 

As Smolder got into a seated position, she wiped the flop sweat from her brow, which confused her as she was pretty sure dragon's didn't sweat. Her other claw was holding her festive little blue pillow so tight, she was surprised it didn't explode and send feathers all over the room. That was the second time this week she had that dream! Spike was the true king of horror! The little dragon told her not only was he turned into a dog in that other world he was in, he was also transformed into a puffer-fish when he visited Seaquestria. Why a dog or a puffer-fish? Dragons were awesome. He should have turned into an cool scaly lion or a sea-dragon!

 

But that park looked really. Oh poop. She had already forgotten about the dream. Or at least the good parts.  She was going to need a drink of water. So with her pillow still in hand (it was stuck), the heroic young dragon climbed down from the top of her bunk-bed and proceeded to amble towards the mini-fridge. She had a full bottle of Cantermart Drinking Water waiting for her. Nice and chilly. But something was wrong? Where was Silverstream? She never wakes up early! The bathroom door was cracked partially open, so she wasn't using that, and it was forbidden for students to wander around the campus during the night. They would lose House points! And um. Wait. That was also from another dream she had. And like the one piece bathing suit, she also looked pretty darn good in green robes. At least she could remember that. Oh no. She forgot it again.

 

Something else caught her eye.

 

New issue of 'Grumble Weekly' arrived! Score!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The large Siren floated along with her eyes closed as her head bopped back and forth to a song nopony could hear. One could only assume it was similar to what the impressive creature was singing along to.  “In a clothing store...Okay, fine...Fer sure....Fer sure....She's a....Like, oh my.....",  Already looking down, her eyes opened up and was rather surprised to see a small army of adorable little horses!

 

"Like, oh Wow.", she gasped. The little orange one with the funny accent was trying to talk to her. "Like wait a sec, my little Bettys.", she removed a red colored pearl-like earring from her right ear. She then placed it on a bracelet which was covered in pearls of the same size but of different colors. The unicorns in the group recognized it as a form of a memory stone or gem. Spell-casters could enchanted stones or other small items to record messages, which was unusually very helpful in school, meetings or other activities that required taking notes.  This Siren apparently recorded music on hers.

 

"Oh, gag me with a trident! Look at all thuh adorable little ponies!", at first her tone was cheerful, but it slowly shifted into less positive territory. "Little ponies wearin' armor canterin' around with weapons. On my island! Without an invitation. Messin' up my mournin' groove. Gettin' cute little hoof prints all over my sand.", she added as she folded her front legs, "And now you wanna me to get all shrinky so you can beat with your little horsey hammers. As if!"

 

Fire Walker started to talk, "I assure you we were.."

 

She was quickly cut off by the Siren. .."I am so not talkin' to you, little red, like I am talkin' to thuh country orange horse!', she glanced over at Applejack as she spoke before shifting her eyes back to Fire Walker for a moment. "Betch.", she sassed as her eyes rolled up. Her expression quickly reverted back to cheerful as she turned back to the farmer.  "Okay Country Time, like, are you goin' to promise you and your little pony pals are not gonna hit me with your weapons if I get all fun sized?"

 

There was just one more thing she needed to say before she opened it up to the Earth Pony, "Oh, and if you need to, like, know, my name,  it's Toccata Tre, as in 'Tre-Awesome, Tre-Hot, and so Tre-Talented!", she broke into three different poses for each of her 'Tre's, "Just don't you dare call me, Tre-Ta. Only my boyfriend can call me that and he's, like, so-very super-hot. Wish he was with me right now. As we'd be doing stuff." And to make sure everypony knew what she meant, she started to rock up and down.

 

As the strange and scary dark world shifted away into the bright and colorful real world, Thrilly pointed to a sign. The cat, who was back to being a proper cat smiled, “Looks like you got the high total score. And look, Knife, you got the award for ‘cutest baby dragon’.”

 

 

The dragon rolled up her eyes, “Ha Ha.”, she was not laughing, “You are so full of it your...oh..”, she was utterly amazed when there was an sign underneath Daze’s that proclaimed the little creature for being the ‘cutest baby dragon’  complete with a adorable image of Knife. “For the love of.”

 

The threesome walked by an rather annoyed brown colt as they left the building. He knew they had been up to no good! Using the wrong comic! He said nothing to the group, but his cute little frowny face said it all.

 

After noticing how late it was, the dragon waved a taxi and the pony, cat and dragon soon found themselves entering Thrilly and Knife’s hotel, where a friendly looking male dragon waited in the lobby.  “Imagine..”, he muttered before he got up from his chair and made his way over to the group. “They told us you made two new friends, so we made sure to reserve a few extra seats.”, he smiled at Thrilly and Daze, “Thank you for looking over my little whelp.", he gave the dragon formally known as Knife a hug. "Dad....Not in front..", the reptile groaned as she tried to keep away a blush.

 

 

"If you want to come with us...Follow me..", the large creature said with a grin before turning back to his child, "Mom is holding our seats..Let's go.."

 

Being the types not to turn down a free meal, the brave group of 'heroes' made their way into the fanciest restaurant they had ever seen and ran into who was Imagine's mother who was covered in impressive white scales. "You'll have to tell us about your little adventure.", the male said with a wink.

 

And that they did. And they made sure not to mention Imagine's short career as a thief.

 

The three also made sure to exchange addresses and promised to write each other when they could.  The cat had a P.O. box that would deliver the mail to the current location of her circus.

 

Thrilly would contact them when her circus would be in their town.

 

Imagine really wanted to find the right date so the pair could visit her home and meet her siblings.

 

And Daze would need to inform the of her next show. She would have the most interesting cheering squad. Dragons and cats.

 

Once their meal was finished, they retired to Thrilly's hotel room and planed their next visit to Canterlot..

 

 

 

 

 

Fire Walker smiled as they made their way onwards. With a skilled scout in the air and an honest to goodness experienced hero in the back, the young officer had confidence for their mission. She was in such a good mood, she almost felt a song in her heart. One that was telling her to keep up cantering. Everything was going to be alright. And nopony's gotta worry 'bout nothing. Don't go hittin' that panic button. It ain't worth spilling your drink. Everything's gonna be alright. Alright, alright. The mare could not help but wonder where that song came from? The old song just popped up in her head. This was a favorite song she remembered hearing back in college. The singer went on and changed her style to pop a few years later, which was far more popular than country. Boo.

 

Normally, she would have considered this a 'dooming moment', when things were going well, and then the goofy hero thinks about things going well, and then things go right to h-e-double-hockey-sticks! But she couldn't even believe that. Things were going well. And if she had a drink, it wouldn't be worth spilling. But she had so much to look forward to. Her bachelorette with the girls. Her marriage with Swift. Grindecologist Coffee just shipped her a fresh box of her favorite coffee. Her mother's first romance-adventure novel was being released. Rom-Adv? Advent-Rom? Her old instructor, Greasy Spoon was visiting her parent's house in Ponyville and was going to make a big meal for all. And hopefully give a few lessons to her Culinary challenged family. Things were going just swell!

 

As they cantered on, she could not help but be impressed by somepony who broke out into song. Who here had such a lovely voice? She knew it wasn't Applejack as it lacked her usual country twang.  "Guys, I do appreciate the skill it takes to carry a tune, but could you stop with the....", she glanced behind her. Nopony was singing. "Um.". The creature who was singing was right in front of her. And it wasn't an Tri-Horned Bunyip, but an...

 

 

 

"Come on Swift Star. Did you flunk your  U.L.C.U.D test? That's a Siren!"

 

For a moment, the large creature stopped singing and glanced down at the little ponies with a grin. Was she hungry?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Bah!" the ghost bah'ed. "Your brain is as useless as a Simulacron-3 sub-space motivator without it's prime-motivator, or as worthless as my mentor, Sigfrid Von Shrink's hunchback assistant! Guy had no......hey!", the ghostly spirit had become so distracted by his minor ranting that he lost track of the brave pony. "Huh?", he did not like the amount of guff the hero was giving him. "I am not just a 'ghost', I am the late, great Professor Whineas P. Hoofnmorder! And I'm also not a 'it'. I am a stallion. Geez." In life, the brilliant pony had no time for games or what he would consider 'foolish games' so he was not sure what Golly meant.

 

This gave him the golden opportunity to snatch his saw on a stick. "Hey!", the ghost growled, "You clearly lack both the brain power and the license to operate an Illudium Q-36 Brain Discharger! I don't think you'd be allowed to work a toaster!", he chuckled at his own joke, which gave the pony even more time!

 

Considering the machine was meant to saw through a pony's skull, it took only a few seconds to cut the ropes. "Thanks Big Brudda!", Bratty shouted as he was freed from the chair. The mare was happy to be free, but instead of thanking her hero, she let out a gasp. "G-G-Golly!", she gasped, "Look at that tool you have!"

 

The saw on a stick, or as the mad professor called it, the 'Illudium Q-36 Brain Discharger' now appeared to have a pair of very evil ghostly eyes and was now floating like a ghost! The professor had taken over it. "Bah! Looks like my experiments were ruined by you meddling ponies! I'll have to get my revenge by showing you all what a real cut-up I am! Ha Ha!", he laughed as he turned on his blade. "RRRRRRRRRR!" the saw sounded off as it slowly made its way towards our heroes.

 

"Oh heyburgers!", the colt yelped, "The sun is coming! We need to get out of here before its day and we'll be stuck here forever!"

 

What would Golly do?

 

 

 

Fire Walker nodded her head and went to work.

 

She had a common medical kit in her saddle bag, which she pulled out. She really hated to see anypony suffer, especially kids. Thankfully Apple Bloom would be unconscious for most, if not all of this. Maybe with some luck, it will all be just a really bad dream for her. The red mare  dropped the kit right near the poor little pony.  Inside she found a small cleaning rag which was still sealed in its air-tight bag. After opening the bag, she got the cloth wet with clean water from her canteen. She watched the little farmer for a moment and yuck. The nasty ol' boils really stood out on the filly's light coat.  After cleaning up her area, it was time to release the fluids!

 

This called for a sterilized needle which was also packaged. This is one of the times she wished she was a unicorn. A good ol telekinesis spell would do wonders, but without that, she had the very tips of her wings which were good for holding things. After she made sure the area was very clear, she proceeded to lance those suckers. These were then cleaned. Then it was antibiotics, which came in a little 'squeeze please' tube, which was applied and then it was loose gauze. Or gauzes? Was that a word? "Right, I'm done here. So far so good.", she cleaned up her little mess and waited.

 

She rather liked Alizarin. For such a little pony, she sure was feisty! And this 'Sombra' fella. She was beyond curious now. What was he? Was he even a he? The real Sombra had been killed like three times? But he was evil. Like really really evil. This one was just cranky, although she had a feeling it would be very unwise to get him mad. Fluttershy's experience at her wildlife rehabilitation center proved to be beyond useful at this situation. She had changed so much over the years. When the officer had encountered the pretty Pegasus, she was so delicate, a small breeze would knock her over. Now she was giving out commands like an experienced officer.

 

It also might be wise to head back to Ponyville once things settled. There was a small medical center they could drop Apple Bloom off, and then they would need to get a hold of her parents, er, family.

 

The ghost doctor looked rather confused. “I just.....Pointed it out to you on the board, you meddling milquetoast! Your friends will get gorilla brains, while the gorillas will get pony brains. You on the other hoof, will get the best of the best.”, he grinned rather evilly. “My perfect brain, which is stored away for safety.”,he huffed, “It’s a good thing your brain will be tossed in the nearest bin as it's obviously defective!", he let out another well timed 'BWAH-HA-HA-HA-HAAA!' that was perfectly synchronized with the outside thunder.

 

"Ha! I don't need to catch you when I have my trusty gorillas at my side, you blunderous buffoon!", he let out a yelp as the flying gorilla came crashing towards and then through him. "Bah!", he bah'ed, "Your foolish plan was doomed at the start! Soon I will be in control of your youthful body and um. What's that sound?", he noticed the other gorilla had rushed over to catch the thrown beast. Doing so, the large primate crashed into the doctor's machines.

 

"What are you doing, Gertrude?", the ghost groaned. Apparently Gertrude was a female gorilla and she turned her attention to the male and fluttered her eyelashes at him. Very large red and pink hearts floated from the pair. "This is not the time for wedding bells! Seize him!", he pointed to Golly. But the pair had other plans as they waddled out of the door, arm in arm. Ignoring both the pony and sinister spirit.

 

"Hmmph.", the ghost turned his attention to Golly. "As they say, if you want something done correctly, you'll have to do it yourself!" With that said, he slowly made his way towards the hero with what appeared to be a giant saw. Perfect for brain surgery!

 

 

WHAT WILL GOLLY DO?

 

 

 

 

Fire Walker waited for the good mare of 'many many jobs'  to finish talking before she dismissed the others to start on camp. 'Pork Walker' was allocated rations of table scraps, which made him very happy. Not being the type of a commanding officer who just stood around while her fellow officers did all the work, she lent a helping hoof. She did pause for a moment. Applejack was pregnant again? This would be the second adventure the pair had been on together where she was with foal. Thankfully all of the red Pegasus pony's fears during their trip were unfounded as foal number one was born without any issues, or at least none Fire Walker had heard about.

 

Once the camp was dismantled and placed in storage, the officer made sure everypony was ready and was fully equipped. She also made sure they all had time to visit the little filly and colt room before she secured the ship. After that, they would need to use the bushes for their business. The ship itself had a few features that kept nasty folk from breaking in, and her favorite new addition was a cool little new enchantment known as the 'Chameleon Circuit'.  One of the head enchanters of the R.E.A, a unicorn named Ilinalta had come up with it. Once everypony was ready and all the doors were locked,  Lighthouse activated the device. Within seconds, the ship was replaced by an large grouping of impenetrable native trees. "Neat.", the mare uttered as this was the first time she got to see the device in action.

 

And thus began the march towards EVIL! Or at least over some rather rocky ground. Thankfully their assigned horseshoes were created for such surfaces. They were hard on the outside, but as soft as a kitten who was hugging a bunny inside. This was also good for Applejack as the shoes prevented too much rocking when one was walking. Swift Star did not have to worry about the ground as she was the first to go ahead into the sky.

 

As they trotted on by, Fire spotted the usual native animals as they wandered about. More of those cute piggies. Lots of birds. Adorable little beach mice. And even some turtles. These quickly vanished the further they moved away from the beach. And what had started off as rocky mounds appeared to grow larger the further they moved on. Eventually there would be cliffs and the cave they wanted to to find.

 

Fire was surprised to see their scout already. "Just a head's up Sirs.", she floated to the ground, "There's an U.L.C.U.D. ahead. Maybe a half-mile ahead. Walking your way. It's a little hard to see as it's a mess of trees, but I have a feeling it's an  Tri-Horned Bunyip. They're usually harmless but please proceed with caution.", before returning to the sky, she paused just in case anypony had any questions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Private Pork Walker reporting for duty.", the officer chuckled before she turned her attention to breakfast and her map. There were things that needed to be planned. Numbers to be crunched. Her squad could move so far with an steady, but captious march down this way. With the weight of gear, armor and supplies. They would get here before the sun went down. And there were the weather reports for the next few days she brought with her. Sunny for the day, but there was talk about some heavy clouds, or as Director Red Skies made hem into, they were cute little grey clouds with angry faces on them.

 

It took a moment before the food really hit her, "Wow Corporal, this is really good. Like really really good.", she closed her eyes in a moment of pure bliss as she enjoyed her meal. Military meals on the go, usually were furchtbar, or at least that's what they would say in Germane. She could eat this everyday! "Honestly, with the way things have calmed down after taking down Tirek, I think they’re just trying to find things to keep us busy. Last week they even sent me over to find Mister Waddle's glasses." They were of course, on the top of his head. Just like the previous week. "I have a feeling there might be more into this mission than we all might realize.", she kept her voice down low as well.

 

"Thank you.", her plate was swiftly snatched up by the farmer once she was finished. The officer pinned the map on a board which she held up with a wing. After getting the attention of the others, she started.  "As you can see here is a map of the island.", she poked a red pin into it. "Where we are.", another went into what appeared to be a gray blob. "Our first destination will be this cave right here as it is the nearest and has by far one of the more idea places we need to be searching. Please note that there is an advisory in this location. Said it used to be a Sand Tatzlwurm cave, so breathing masks have been inserted along with your gear. They attack their foes with a very highly allergic sickness called the ' Tatzl-Flu' which is also very contagious. They are large creatures but are vulnerable to magic and heavy vibrations. We will do a total exploration of this cave before we head off here.", she poked another pin further from the cave. "Was told this was a temple at one time. Considering its location near the volcano, one could probably guess it was meant to appease the volcano itself."

 

"For this, I will need Swift Star in the sky for scout duty. I will take the lead, Corporal Applejack will protect the rear. And.", she showed the others on a chart where they would be. "Unless there are any questions, we may start on dismantling camp and gathering up all of our supplies and gear."

 

Once that was taken care of, Fire Walker aided with camp. Soon, they would be traveling to....THE 'CAVE OF THE SAND TATZLWURM.' or as it was probably called now. 'The empty cave with nothing cool inside." Duh Duh Duh Dah.

 

 

 

Fire Walker tried her best not to get too close to the hurt filly. Crowding somepony like that would only cause panic and panic was never good for a hurt little pony. As she waited, more of her first aid lessons continued to pour into her head. When did she take classes on more fantastical beasts? Regular old animals rarely attacked ponies. And if they did, it was either out of defense or they were sick themselves. Basilisks were just miserable little jerks. Usually you would need to ether convince them to stop the venom and eventual shift into stone, or just stop on the little hobknockers until their skull cracked or they gave up.

 

Like the others, she heard what Apple Bloom said. And while the Pegasus mare started to rummage through the child's bags, the officer gave the filly a little bit of water from her water-skin. Or at least attempted to, as what she had heard stopped the mare in her tracks. She carried Basalisk venom antidote in her bag? Was that even a thing?  As Fluttershy made her back over, Fire Walker quickly moved out of the way and watched.

 

She could only imagine the filly acquired it from the potion-maker that lived near the entrance of the Everfree. That zebra probably had a cure for anything. She waited And there was some chatter. Some she didn't care for, but she choose not to take it personally. She turned to the others and whispered, "If this potion doesn't work, we'll need to find the Basilisk that did this to her and find a way for it to restore Apple Bloom. Either that, or just stomp on its head. I heard killing 'em usually disrupts the conversation. At least that's what I heard.", she added rather grimly.

 

 

Smolder sighed as she watched the assortment of trees, mountains, lakes and hills zoom on by. She was going to a very old city known as Roam. Instead of the thatched roofed cottages of Ponyville that could be easily burninated or the pretty pony princess girlie fancy buildings of Canterlot, this old city was one a dragon could appreciate. Buildings made of marble, stone and bricks. Everything was solid and strong, like a good old cave. She was rather surprised to read in her guidebook that the city was created by the Pegasi. She assumed Earth Ponies would have created such a solid city. But Pegasus Ponies? Weird. She flipped through a handy little guidebook her friends had given her before she had rushed off to join the others at the train station. She was utterly heartbroken when she found out that with the exception of Gallus, her other friends were not going to be able to come along with her.  Instead of having fun with her pals in Rome, she was going to be on 'Foal-Patrol' with her poor griffon punch-buddy. This was no place for a bunch of bouncing babies! They should have sent them to Dumb Babyland or Foalcity. Smolder wasn't sure those places existed, but they should!

 

Along with the book, she was also given an rather snazzy blue toga, bracelet and sandals. She didn't ask who made it, but the young reptile was pretty sure Professor Rarity had a hoof in this. Stylish and very comfortable that highlighted all her good bits and hid all the bad ones. She was told, 'When in Roam, Do as the Roamans Do'.

 

She glanced at a few pages that showed off the great Coliseum! This placed used to be packed with tough creatures adorned in armor that were ready to fight to entertain the crowd! Apparently they had some shows going on there. Hopefully they're as close to the real thing as possible and they didn't ruin it by making it all babyish. 'I challenge you, Huggis Maximus in a fancy prance-off for the honor of being booped on the snout by the good Emperor Friendly Flank'. Bah! They needed to have really realistic blood with cool trick weapons. And maybe a few heads that would bounce into the crowd.

 

The dragon watched three fillies as they wobbled about. Smolder never really had any gal pals growing up. After she was bounced out of her family cave, it was just her brother at her side. Always looking out for each other's backs. Ugh. She needed to turn away as they were kind of cute.  There was one of those odd pony-dragon gals nearby. How odd. They had pony wings, scales, could breathe fire and had horns like a deer. Thankfully pony knock-offs were not as cool as the real thing. Which was a dragon!

 

There was one of the new students Smolder was unaware of, along with Professor Applejack, some blue Pegasus pony and Sunburst who was already starting to geek out. Thankfully the train finally stopped. "Hey, wake up.", she gave her sleepy griffon companion a friendly 'wap' on the flank before she turned to her duties. She helped the little foals gather up all of her loose items and head out of the train. Drop kicking them out would be fun, but that would probably get her into trouble. "Come on ill' ponies..", she grumbled.  There was also their hotel. She had read about some pretty awesome places to stay. Roam Cavalieri. Palazzo Marefredi! Among a few other places she couldn't pronounce. Hopefully it would be one of those. While she would never admit it, living in pony buildings had started to agree with her over the last year. She could picture and nice comfy bed and a large tub with bubbles.  There was also the famous food. None of that nasty pony food from the Olly Hoove Garden. Nope. She's gonna have the real thing!

 

 

There was something different about ‘Boopsy’ and ‘Bratty’. They no longer appeared to be their respective forms. Boopsy no longer looked like a humanoid cat, but a  cute and very unconscious young filly who was very close to becoming a mare. Bratty was now a Pegasus colt, resembling what ‘Golly’ know looked like, but younger. Thanks to a nearby mirror, 'Golly' could see that she was also an older colt. Not yet an stallion. Thankfully they were all  Pegasus ponies, so they could at least fly. Both of Golly’s sidekicks were tied to chairs. These chairs were near two very large and scary gorillas. Next to the gorillas was a chalk board which outlined the removal of a pony brain, which would then be inserted into a gorilla body and then vice versa!

 

 

A bespectacled and well dressed ghost floated into view. “Well, at least you’re honest.”, he chuckled as he eyed the hero. “Your little friends are perfect for the gorillas. But you, my young and sturdy friend. I have other plans for you.”, he quickly made his way over to his chalkboard and turned it so that every-pony could see the other side. This board showed an picture of the ghost doctor, which had a great big "plus" sign to a drawing of some odd machine that looked like a vacuum. This was also  "plus" a healthy living pony, which equaled a living professor who was shown cantering about town with two mares at his side. This living professor was smoking a big cigar and was also pulling a wagon filled with bits. Nearby on the board was also an crudely drawn image of a gorilla enjoying a lollipop. This caused the ghostly doctor to howl at one of the large creatures.

 

“No! Bad monkey! Bad! Only I get to draw on the chalk-board!”. This caused one of the gorillas to break out into tears. “Bad! No banana lollipops for you today!” He turned to Golly as he pulled out what was probably that vacuum machine thing from the chalkboard. “Of course you’ll be favoring hay and oats very soon....”, he let out another “BWAH-HA-HA-HA!” as he slowly made his way, ever so menacingly towards the heroic colt.

 

Golly noticed the very sad gorilla was staring at a old desk that was within the young pony's reach.

 

 

 

 

 

It was a night that could not be any better. A full moon was out and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky.

 

Fire Walker's beloved fiancé, Swift Squall was at her side and they were slowly walking on his private beach on his private island, somewhere in the Gallopocus Islands. As they slowly made their way towards a simple, but lovely cabana, the mare paused to soak in the atmosphere and let her hooves feel the sand. So bloody perfect. She sighed and they continued.

 

There was a rather large picnic blanket rolled out near the small beach cabin. Festive candles along with a bottle of Bon Marché, which was her favorite, was resting in an wicker wine basket. "Il est temps pour certains baisers de fantaisie!", her beloved spoke in Prench for some reason. She really was curious, but as she opened up her mouth to speak, it was clear that kissing was the only thing she was actually going to do with that! well, at first that is. But as the handsome visage of 'Fillydelphia's favorite son' drew near, it was quickly replaced with a pig.

 

"Pig Walker!", the mare gasped as the friendly little Piggie gave her a rather quick kiss.  "That is such a cliché.", the mare muttered to herself as she slowly woke up from her dream. Sure enough, the adorable little creature had snuck into her tent and slept at her side like a faithful puppy. She gently woke up the little guy before she started with her morning routine. They were out in the middle of a island, but she still needed to look good. Everything must be in regulation even when there was only her fellow officers! If she were out of uniform, the other officers would lose respect for her!

 

Once everything was proper and she looked utterly perfect, the red mare put away her mirror and slowly made her way out of her tent.

 

"Good Morning...", she whispered as her eyes caught sight of breakfast! Yum!

 

As he gathered up her meal, she smiled at the farmer. "Yeah, one of the little guys snuck into my tent and slept at my side.", as she spoke, 'Pork Walker' scrambled out of the tent and towards the bushes, for a little hunting of his own. "I Slept well enough." Her watch-partner proved her name wrong as she might have been swift when it came to flying, but not when it came to waking up! Thankfully she soon was out and about.

 

"Lets enjoy our hardy little breakfast, and then we will begun discussion on her mission for today."

 

 

 

 

 

 

Golly entered a long hallway, which was illuminated by more of the same wall sconces. If he looked closely, he would be able to tell they just repeated the same textures for all of the spooky lights. Copy and paste. How lazy.

 

As the very brave pony thought of what to do next, he could hear a unfamiliar voice call out. “Hare dare you!”. Golly might not be able to determine the species of the speaker, but it sounded like an older male.

 

“You dare break into the lab of the great.” There was a pause for effect. “Professor Whineas P. Hoofnmorder! The Great Professor Whineas P. Hoofnmorder!", he growled, "And then you touch all of my stuff with your filthy hoofs! You will suffer the worst kind of torture!"

 

A familiar voice responded back in full snark. "What? You'll talk to use even more! Ha! My brudder is gonna  hit you so hard, you're gonna come back to life and then die again! Just you wait!", he said with no fear whatsoever in his voice.

 

"Bah!" Now that was a well, done 'BAH' if you would say so yourself.

 

This 'BAH' was followed by. "Your feeble-minded pudding-headed older brother is no match for the great “Professor Whineas P. Hoofnmorder!", this was also followed by a "BWAH-HA-HA-HA!!". Thunder could be heard in the background. "Also." the older voice continued, "What's with the girl? She's out cold. I didn't tie the ropes that tight.."

 

"Eh, she's a fainter.". Bratty's voice answered in reply.

 

WHAT WILL GOLLY DO?

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I'm going, I'm going! Yeash!", a lightly bundled up Wind Walker rolled out of her family cottage. Her parents had determined that they would enjoy one more slightly chilly day together before Winter was finally over. So their only remaining child that lived at home, needed to be out of the house! She could help with the Winter Warm Up! She did before. Although it was less of a hard working member of the team, and more of a student. Good Ol' Rainbow Dash had shown her around the last time. Now she was going to do it for 'realsies' this time. After letting out a annoyed snort to the now very closed door, the filly took to the sky.

 

The speedy little Pegasus pony made it just in time for the....singing? Oh crap. How did they do it? How did they manage to come up with lyrics so quickly? Thankfully it was Rainbow Dash that was singing. She was the quickest and bravest pony around, but when it came to vocals? Eh. She was a speedy pony.  This was followed by a stallion and then Miss Berry Punch, who had, punch, which she probably mulled. She really wanted to try heated up  Pan-Galactic Gargle Blasters, but after the little couch incident at home with their new couch, the very purple and very sugary drink was banned. Well, there was an opening..

 

"Gotta clean up the sky before it's too late!

Pesky clouds have worn out their stay.

Being smacked up the side will be their fate.

Time for them to go away!"

 

With that, she punched and kicked away the nearby clouds, letting in a little bit of light. Huzzah!

 

"Soon the skies will be clear.

Wish these clouds would get a clue."

Spring is almost here.

And move on to a season that is brand new."

 

Another cloud! And another! Pow! Bam!  Well, she wasn't up to mare standards, but she was doing a good job for being such a little pony.

 

"Dumb parents kicked me out of bed.

Wanted me to help Ponyville without fuss.

Being outside during this weather is  something I dread.

Can't believe you rhymed 'us' with 'us'.

 

The little filly playfully stuck her tongue at the blue Pegasus and continued her work.

 

One of the things a pony needed to be during watch was on their hooves. None of this sitting about. That usually opened up a quick trip to Slumberland. Nope. On your hooves and also one needed to move about. Circulate those legs! Her older brother, Walk did this for a living! He could have easily got a nice, comfy office job. But nope, he prefered to walk the streets of Canterlot, making sure things were nice and safe. How he was not driven insane to the boredom had always puzzled the young mare. She also needed to keep her mind set firmly in reality. There are no monsters. There are animals, small and large, but no monsters. She needed to keep her eyes moving. If one stared at one spot for too long, one's mind starts to make up stuff. A stump in the distance starts to look like an Cockatrice lurking in the night.

 

The mare did pause to breathe in the salty, but very healthy air. She would soon be here, or at least in the region, with her Swift Squall. It would take some convincing, but she would prefer a simple Island Cabana. A nice little hut on stilts that rested over the beautiful waters of the Gallopocus Islands. He would want to go big. Rent one of those oversized estate mansions that were usually as far away from the beach as possible.

 

Huh? Fire Walker heard some rustling in one of the nearby bushes. Wild dog? Lost pelican? She nodded at Swift Star who got a better look at it with her 'Special Eyes'. "It appears to be one of those feral piggies. Nothing to worry about.", she added with a smile, "Cute little guy." before she returned to her side. There were stories about a group of Diamond Dog pirates known as the 'Sea Dogs'. Their Captain kept a few onboard as pets. However, when the 'Sea Dogs' were blown out of the water by a rival, the pigs were able to swim to an nearby island and over the next hundreds of years, those pigs managed to make a ton of new piggies. Those piggies made new piggies and so-forth. There was now an island known to the tourists as 'Piggie Island' where the adorable piggies would play with the visitors and more importantly, clean up after them as well.

 

 

 

 

And sure enough, there was now a Piggie. A rather adorable little guy. Oh, how Fire Walker wanted to pet the Piggie. But she could not. She needed to keep watch. She managed a quick smile at the little guy who made a friendly snort before finding a little spot for a nap. He could be useful. If something horrible got near, the Piggie would be alerted and make a good deal of noise. She will name him Pork Walker. He sort of reminded of her brother, Punk. And if he were on guard, he probably would be doing the same. Even smelled very similar to her often in trouble sibling  as well.

 

The watch continued with no other random 'events.'. Pork Walker seemed to be having a dream where he was enjoying a good meal, as his little Piggie mouth was making adorable 'nom' sound. Soon it would be 'House' Siblings' turn, and then Fire Walker would be able to get off her hooves for the rest of the night.....

 

 

 

 

 

“Eh.”, the little pony shrugged his shoulders, “Maybe evil. Probably a little evil. But not super evil. It’s just a creepy little mist.”, he moved onto the next horrible, eldritch evil. Taking a good look at a book with a cover that appeared to be made out of rather thick, dark leather.  "Oh. Says it's the Necrponomicon. I'll take this as a bit of light reading.."  Thankfully, before he could snag it, he was distracted by his 'brother' and his missing girlfriend.

 

"I dunno.", he added with a shrug, "Thought she was going through the books. Which aren't really books.", he poked at the shelves. "Yep. Painted plastic. Cheap. And also....Wagh!", he let out a shout as he was snatched up and flown somewhere else.

 

Once placed on the ground the little 'colt' grumbled and glanced over at a wall with a torch that was not lit.  The creepy scream caused the heroic 'Golly' to turn away. Where did the scream come from? And when he called for the little pony's help to follow the scream, there was no response. He was gone. Poor Golly was all alone in a dark and creepy house. Would he go and try to find Bratty, or would he run towards the scream?

 

 

 

"I doubt it.", Boopsy warned, "I have a feeling each monster has a different way to defeat it.", she glanced around the small, but impressively themed room. "There's so much cool stuff here.", being the curious sort, she tried to take out an book she found interesting. Unfortunately just like the ride itself, the books were just molded into the bookshelf and painted to look like a book. "Ah table-scraps.", she properly cursed. Still, she was bound to find something interesting. So she continued to search the bookcase as Golly went to comport his 'little brother'.

 

"What am I doing?", Bratty was enjoying himself just a little bit. "I'm being a lovable scamp....Whoops!", he said as he 'accidentally' knocked over a small mason jar while placing what would be his front right hoof on his cheek. The jar promptly hit the floor, causing a small green mist to pour out. "Hope that wasn't evil!" As he reached into the very interesting display, he was stopped by his 'brother'.  The little pony not too keen to be blocked from the incredible 'Cabinet of Dr. Ponigari' as it was marked on the side.

 

"Yeah, come on! I wanna play with the monkey paw!", he shouted. As he did, another scream could be heard. "Oh-Oh, looks like your girl-friend got into some trouble!", he shrugged his shoulders and quickly scooted underneath the colt.

 

The last time Golly saw his 'gal-pal', she was standing near the book-shelf. Now she was gone! What would he do?

 

 

 

 

The month had been interesting so far. The red coated officer was able to spend some quality time with her mother during the early week. She had never been the same when a old friend of hers said she 'looked good for her age'. This did not sit well for the middle-aged mare who proceeded to try her very best to push back the march of time. From hiring a personal trainer to get back into shape, to dying her hair back to its original color, she didn't want to look 'good' for her age, she wanted to look incredible. And normally she would have enjoyed a nice cup of tea with her mother on Monday, but not anymore. They spent the day at the 'Obstakillers Cirque Du Sore Legs' Obstacle Course' in Canterlot.  Fire Walker's poor performance highlighted the need for her to go on a mission. Any mission to get any from her mother. Thankfully Applejack had one lined up for her. One that did not seem very serious, but somepony knew something she didn't know, as they gathered a rather skilled group of guard to figure out who was causing some ruckus on the islands. Or was that rackus?

 

Hokey smokes, Applejack was really getting into this. You would have been lead to believe they had snuck into enemy territory and were about to sneak into the head's base. Still, the farmer took this very seriously, which was good. It had been a rather long time since the Pegasus pony had joined a group such as this. With a grin, the officer joined in and helped set up everything. In The R.E.A, nopony just sits and 'supervises'. Once things were settled, she did go over and make sure everything was set up correctly. And that it was.

 

"Everything looks good.", she responded, "Get some rest and we'll alert the siblings (Brickhouse and Lighthouse) once it's their turn. Till then, get some rest..", she saluted the good Captain*

 

Now it was Fire Walker's least favorite thing to do. Watch. One obviously does not want anything to happen, but it gets so boring, you almost want something. But nope. She made sure the mare was on opposite ends of her so they had an optimal view of the surrounding areas...

 

And so they waited...And watched...

 

 

 

* Or whatever Applejack is. I forgot