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Foals at Heart [Read OOC First]


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There was... something unsettling happening today. Ponyvile seemed to be quite lively with foals wondering about. And adults were looking about with confused expressions. Some foals were running around and shrieking their little heads off in panic. And many were off doing foal things, making new friends, and playing games.

 

Well except for one particular little colt.

 

Equestria can never seem to stay sane it seems. A coffee brown little foal laid under a tree. His hooves were draped over a stuffed animal that resembled a Displacer Beast. Well, a Displacer Beast if you can imagine it being designed to some how look cute and scary at the same time when the Foal held it close. And held being an understatement, as he was practically strangling the poor little thing to his chest.

 

His mane was long, and shoddy. One part of it was partially uneven like he had lept up out of the bed in a hurry and took off. And well, such was the case actually! The foal could only remembering going to sleep in his bed one night. Then by the time the morning hit, he was awake in some other bed, with a freakishly large cat next to him!

 

Well! It turns out that home was his mentor's study! And said mentor was no where to be found! Doing what seemed sensible, he returned home within the hour! Only to find out that his Grandma screaming at the sight of him! And his grandpa? Well apparently Grandpa Mandelbrot had been buried in the dirt for about a year! HE HAD JUST TALK TO HIM LAST NIGHT! That was only like... eleven hours and thirty five minutes ago! He doesn't need his cutie mark to tell any pony the absurdity of that!

 

He even tried going to the school! But none of the ponies there he... well actually no. No, can't say that. It was not like he actually paid any mind to those ponies. They were nothing but a bunch of pompous jerk faces. They were lucky he even recalled their names much less talked to them.

 

So that was the one good thing! Sort of? Does that mean he still needs to go back to that place? Hopefully not.

 

The digression asside, Voronoi had felt that things had grown... a little out of hand. His panic nearly had nearly pushed him to the edge of tears... and so he felt he needed to get as far away as possible so he could wake up from this nightmare!

 

And now here he was in Ponyville, staring up to Canterlot in the horizon with a neutral expression. And the flying device he used, an elaborate cross blend between a surfboard and a kite, had found it's self impaled in the branches of the three he was under.

 

He tried to be a tough pony...

 

..twitch and sniffle...

 

...but... he was just balancing on the edge of tears. His half lidded eyes were enough to show to any pony that he was probably as equally terrified as some of the other foals. Even if his face had been stoic.

 

"It's... just a night mare... just a night mare... just a nightmare...." he muttered dully to himself.

 

It had to be a nightmare still right? He wants his grandpa back! He'd gladly go back to that school! It was the lesser evil of this! He wants to see his mom and dad! But, unfortunately the wind was blowing the wrong way!

 

His eyes slowly glancing down to his stuffed toy. He tilted it to the side... eyeing just one particular detail about it. A stitching that was just out of place, and was only there for design purposes.

"It's.... it's........oh buggers... please let this be a ngihtmare..."

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Razor yawned, and grumbled as a bunch of high pitched screaming began. He tried covering his ears with his wings, but that didn't really stop the noise.

 

'Guess its time to wake up.' He thought bitterly. He stretched, yawning as he shook himself on the cloud he had been snoozing on the night before.

 

Hmm....did this cloud seem bigger? It certainly seemed bigger. Razor brushed it off and flexed his wings, ready to take off and get some coffee, until he head a small whimpering below him. Razor tilted his head confused, and peeked down from the cloud to the ground below. The cloud hung over a tree, that had somehow acquired a new branch of assorted parts and pieces. Beneath that sat a little foal, hugging a stuffed animal. The little thing looked to be in distress.

 

Razor frowned, not that he cared or anything, but seeing the kid in such a state was just putting a bummer on his day.

 

"Hey kid, why the long face? Lose your mom or something?" Razor asked, blinking in surprise at the different pitch of his voice. It didn't sound as deep. Confused and deciding to at least help the kid out first before dealing with his problem, Razor began gliding down to see how he could help the obviously lost colt. 

 

'Whoaa? This tree is bigger then I thought....' Razor thought as he landed in front of the foal.

 

'Hey....this kid....looks...a little taller then me!'  Razor thought, bitterly and yet confused at the same time.

 

While he was, unwillingly as he was, admit that he was not especially tall, he usually was taller then colts or fillies. But this...something didn't feel right.

 

Which, if he had a mirror would be true. For Razor was no longer himself. In fact, what stood before the colt was not a small sized adult Griffon, but a young, though somewhat smaller then normal fledgling griffon. His adult feathers replaced with child adolescent feathers, and lacked the darker luster as his full grown self.

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"Mmmmm! Mmm!" Came some muffled cries from up on a cloud. On said cloud, there appeared to be a set of armor sitting by itself on a cloud, from which the cries were originating. The armor would occasionally jump, as if there was something moving around inside it, and sure enough a little griffon head poked out from the neck hole of the suit, taking a big breath before slumping down again.

 

"Ugh... What did I fall asleep in? This isn't comfortable at all!" He said to himself, blinking the sunlight out of his eyes before looking at the armor and tilting his head. "Umm... Is this some kind of armor? How do I get out of this?" 

 

A bit of struggling proved that he couldn't get out through the hole he had found, so with a sigh and another big breath, he went back in, traveling to the other side of the armor and popping fully out of the armor.

 

"Ha! Take that, you stupid... Where'd it go?" He said, turning around only to find a blank cloud. He blinked a bit before he heard a noise from the ground like something had fallen from high up. He cautiously peeked over the edge of the cloud, spotting the armor laying on the ground nearby a couple other kids, with what looked like a giant sword and a large bow on top of it. He blinked a couple times before slowly moving his head back out of sight.

 

"Right, most things don't stay on top of clouds..." He said to himself before jumping off the could and flying down to the other two. When he landed, he rubbed the back of his neck with a claw and chuckled awkwardly. "Umm... Sorry about that... I don't know why I was sleeping on a cloud in that... Anyways, I'm Tehengu! I know it's a little strange, but my dad liked it, and he's not a normal griffon."

 

Speaking of dad, where was he? The little griffon looked around the area, trying to spot his parents, and came to two equally shocking conclusions. One, that his parents were nowhere in sight, and that he was not in Las Pegasus.

 

"Where am I? This isn't where I live..." He said, mostly to himself as a bandana floated down peacefully, ending up at his feet. He looked at it curiously, picking it up in a claw to get a better look. After another look around, it didn't seem to belong to anybody, so he untied the knot and tied it around his forehead. Besisdes, if someone came looking for it, he could always just give it back to them.

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Little Fire Walker slowly opened up her eyes. The little filly had worn herself out earlier trying to walk longer than she had the previous day. The braces were suppose to help her walk, and even make her stronger, or at least her father told her that. She had curled up into her special bed that was kept very close to the ground and drifted peacefully to sleep while reading one of her favorite books. And while there was a big window where she had slept, the light was all wrong! It was coming from the wrong direction and there was too much of it! At least what she could see, and there was also her bed. It felt like she was on the ground! Not her comfortable bed!

 

Fear quickly filled the filly as she felt the grassy ground underneath her, and finally her vision cleared. She was really outside! And not only was she outside, she wasn’t wearing her pajamas! Was this some sort of dream? Or was someone playing a very cruel trick on her? She knew her family would never do such a thing, and while she had only a few friends, she surely did not have any enemies! And now some evil person had left her alone in the middle of a spooky forest, where some horrible monster would snatch her up and make her into their next dinner. Was this the dreaded Everfree?

 

The red filly blinked as she spotted a small sign that asked ‘Please Curb Your Pets’. Was it normal for ponies to walk their dogs in the middle of an evil forest? There were also small sprinkler heads nearby, and an actual sidewalk. Maybe this wasn’t a forest after all? After turning to her other side, she could see signs of civilization. There were pleasant little thatched roof cottages and an assortment of other cute little buildings. It almost looked like the little model village that her grandmother would set up under the Hearth’s Warming Tree during the holiday. Was this Ponyville?

 

Along with being in a strange location, Fire also felt so strange! Her legs felt solid and strong, not wobbly and weak. It almost felt like she would be able to stand without help! Would she try? She considered calling out for her parents, and they would come, and they would bring their pitying looks with them. She hated how they looked at her. While they would tell her she was getting strong everyday, their facial expressions spoke the exact opposite. She would always be weak. She would be the first in the family to avoid joining the R.E.A. She would never amount to anything, Ever. Before the words even left her mouth, the filly found herself standing! How was this possible?

 

And not only were her legs strong, she felt a stirring in her wings. Could she actually fly as well? While this was obviously some sort of crazy dream, even in those worlds, she knew there were limits, right? Maybe she’ll figure out what’s going on first. There were plenty of kids running around, and some looked as confused as she felt. Maybe something was going on..But what?

 

Maybe one of these kids knew what was going on...”Heya..”, she felt even odder as her new legs made her move so quickly! She had meant to canter, but she had easily shifted into a full trot. “Do you know what’s going on?”

 

(OOC: This could be directed to the next player to post..)
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Naj had gotten off the train, arriving in Ponyville with some trepidation.  Though she'd made brief visits in the intervening time, this was the first time she'd committed herself to staying in town after the audience with Princess Celestia, and truth be told that's because she'd been putting it off.  Since receiving a sort of official recognition, she felt that in some capacity she'd lost the justification for lying all the time, and felt she probably owed it to a number of ponies in town to come clean.  She just didn't expect them to take it well.  Certainly not all of them, at least.

Still, she couldn't put it off forever.  If she wanted to see any change, sooner or later she'd have to be more open about herself.  Though perhaps not all at once, that would just end poorly.  To that end she was once again appearing as a pegasus, though with a colouration closer to that of her natural form: a black coat, cyan eyes and a faint blue mane and tail, kept fairly short.  She figured ponies would be comfortable talking to her like that.It was these thoughts, along with the idea that she could run away back to Stalliongrad if she felt threatened, that drove her onward.

 

Taking those first few steps out of the train station, Naj's demeanour changed.  There seemed to be something going on in Ponyville, something she had not heard of beforehand.  Was this another holiday she wasn't aware of?  That seemed the most logical conclusion.  The train station was severely understaffed, though fortunately the trains themselves didn't seem to be overly affected, and as she got closer to the town's centre she saw increasing numbers of foals running amok.  The thought made her feel hopeful, as it meant ponies were more likely to be in a good mood if she tried to talk to them and there would be plenty of ambient love around for her to snack on, guilt- and risk-free.

And that's when she started to feel like something was off.  The first clue was the other adults she spotted.  Though the proportion of foals-to-adults might make sense for a festival, their expressions didn't.  Adding to that, Naj wasn't sure there even that many foals in Ponyville.  Not that she was the expert, but something still seemed very wrong with this picture.

 

Naj's thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash very close by.  She snapped toward the sound, to find a suit of armour and a pair of weapons strewn haphazardly in a small area beside a tree where some of the children had started to gather.  Well that was just plain dangerous!  Set aside the fact that they could have hit somepony, who felt the need to carry these around a bunch of foals anyhow?

Naj looked up in the direction they presumably came from, starting to shout.  “Hey!-” she'd planned to follow up with an angry 'what do you think you're doing?', but stopped when she saw a tiny griffon poked his head over the edge of a cloud.  Kitten?  Chick?  She wasn't sure what the proper term was for griffon offspring but this was evidently one of them.  Naj managed to add, “You have to be more careful with that,” though in her surprise it came out a bit weak, and it appeared the griffon didn't hear her as he left to join the group gathering under the tree.

 

Naj looked at the fallen equipment once again, realizing she couldn't just leave it out here.  Someone could hurt themselves with it if they weren't careful, and there were potential someone's running around all over the place.  Gathering everything up, and thinking that something about it looked oddly familiar as she did, she placed the weaponry inside the armour and tied it up into a vague bundle.  The owner might chew her out for using packing it like that if she ever found them, but for the time being it should be enough to keep the things away from inquisitive foals.

 

With that done and still wanting some answers herself, she hoisted the makeshift bundle onto back and made her way toward the tree as well, just in time to catch a little pegasus joining the group.

”Heya...Do you know what’s going on?”

“Yeah, I'd like to know that too,” Naj said, announcing her presence as she approached the group, slowing her pace a little to make sure she didn't spook anyone.  Looking around, yet again something about them seemed oddly familiar, but that was the secondary concern.  More importantly, they appeared to be unsupervised.  Thinking it would be a good place to start, both in terms of finding answers and keeping things safe and under control, she followed up by asking, “Do any of you know where your parents are?”

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Ah, Ponyville. A quiet little town. At least, that's what September had heard. He had actually never been here before, but there was word that a pony princess lived here. Now that would be a cool experience.

 

As he hopped off the train, however, the peryton immediately sensed something...odd. The town in itself seemed pretty normal, with an open town square surrounded by several cottages and shops. But there was something about the ponies....that was surely a lot of foals, he had to admit. Maybe it was some sort of kids festival? Or maybe this town had a reputation of having a lot of foals? Nobody had certainly told him that about Ponyville though. He wasn't really sure, but he would like to find out. Whatever the case, this would be fun! Sep loved meeting new ponies, especially kids!

 

He decided to ask one of the adult ponies that was here. However, Sep noticed something else strange: all the adults here looked rather confused. But he decided to brush off that observation, there was probably an explanation he woulf figure out. First, he wanted to see why there were so many foals. Sep walked up to the first adult pony he saw: a black coloured pegasus.

 

"Hi....I'm kinda new here, if you can't tell..." he said with a chuckle. "Um, can you tell me what's going on today? I never knew there would be a kids festival right when I got here." He looked over to the red filly he was talking to. She didn't look all that happy, but Sep smiled to her anyways, giving her a slight wave.

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"Oooooow..." moaned a tired feeling filly as she pulled herself up from the ground, On top of her head was a really nice and well shaped Straw hat! This one was just like the one her friend Atelier wore. This little unicorn was still only able to form a conical shaped hat as the shape of a normal sunhat was still hard to get. Why was it on her head though? Did her teacher stop by and put in on her head while she was in be-- wait a second, why wasn't she in bed? This wasn't her room, this wasn't even her family's manor; It was the wide ,outside world during springtime! Wait... springtime?! The Freckled filly squeaked as she covered her nose with a hoof and looked around.

 

"W-where am I?" The painter looked back and forth as she began to walk, making sure to breath only through her mouth once her hoof was removed. "Mummy! Daddy!... Silver?" She called out but heard no reply save for the occasional bird's chirping song. "I-I know I said I wanted to travel instead of going to the school in Canterlot... but this really wasn't what I had in mind." The little cream colored filly looked around and only saw a town over the Horizon... Was that Ponyville? Mum had told her about this place sometimes but it looked so different from the photos she brought back. It looked bigger for one, and she was very sure it didn't have a big castle smack-dab in the middle that clashed horribly with the rest of the town. It could really use a paint job or something.

 

The filly sniffled a bit as she felt the tickles of spring getting to her and wiggled her snout before sighing, "Where is everypony... why aren't I home... What is going on..." The mare began to shiver as she felt tears well up in her eyes, but before anyone could see them she bit her lip and wiped them away with her mane. Like her mother always said, a pony of her class should stay composed even in the toughest of times! Maybe this was some sorta magic trial or something her Mom was putting her through so she could see if she could handle herself in the big, bad, world! Well, This pony was gonna prove she wasn't gonna cry  even now! She was the daughter of one of the REA's toughest general's and one of the best mages in Equestria! Now way she could let herself cry at such a ... weird situation. SO the filly pulled herself up and made her way towards Ponyville.

 

Okay, this was a lot harder than she thought it was gonna be. This place was kind weird, things were a bit quiet and there seemed to be a lot more foals walking around then usual. Each one of them passed by without paying her heed as she let out timid, barely audible, "Hello"s, "Excuse me"s, and "Can I get a moment of your time?"s and still there was no luck! The small unicorn then saw something incredible...

 

The little filly curiously strode up to the Winged deer and VERY gently gave his wing tip a tug, hoping to get his attention before speaking up in a soft and slightly excited voice, "U-uh, Mister. Are you a Peryton?" Pressy had never seen a peryton before, she'd heard stories about them and how incredible they looked but the stories she read and heard didn't do them justice so far! "I-I'm Presteza... Can I ask what your name is?"

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The whole timber of the scene changed like a tree falling on the edge of Apploosa in the middle of a thunderstorm when a little filly with comparable energy burst into town square, her hooves pounding the soft dirt of the ground as she zoomed towards a group of ponies near the middle. She didn't ever remember having this much energy in her whole life before! Her mane was all tied up in a cute little ponytail that her mama had just taught her to make and look at it, it was really good! Her tail- well, maybe the ponytail for her tail was too much, but goshdarnit she had just gotten so excited foe it! She had more freckles than a zebra had stripes, though you couldn't say that in polite company, and she couln't even imagine why she had such a large piece of rope at her hip. Maybe ma or pa would have something that size, but it seemed entirely too big for a foal!

She didn't slow down as she approached the ponies. She was too busy running and trying to remember any of them and was coming up naked on that account. That was dandy by Applejack! She loved meeting all sorts of new ponies. New ponies meant new friends, new friends met new adventures and she as shine loved adventures! Why, just the other day she met the prettiest unicorn ever. She had diamond cutie marks and really pretty mane and sweet Celestia was her mom having a laughing fit over Applejack's incessant yammering about her. Maybe there'd be some awfully nice ponies here too and she'd like'm. More on point, hopefully they'd like her! She didn't anypony to not like, but most especially not strangers. It wasn't good Apple pony business to be unkind and unsweet to strangerfolk because a stranger was just a friend you haven't met and a customer you haven't sold to 'cording to her Granny.

“Howdy!” Applejack said as, in the middle of a full gallop, she leapt over one of them and bounded up towards the fountain in the middle of the square. There she put down two big jars with critters in them. “Ah'm Ahpplejack! Nice tah metchah!” She said as her a's carried a bit. She then motioned towards the jars, one of which almost fell off as the frogs inside tried to jump out. Luckily Applejack caught it and out it back. She had woken up bright and early for her morning chores and farmwork but ma and pa weren't nowhere to be found. Applejack just chalked it up to them taking some sort of emergency business trip. What did that equate to Applejack? Free day! Free days were rare but golly did she just love'm. And there was a neat swamp nearby with the nicest frogs you ever did meet, so Applejack had grabbed some jars from the kitchen and trotted right out. She always was an independent filly.

“Ah cahught some froggies!” She beamed with pride, pointing to the six in two jars, “Thaht's ones Blahck Ahsh, White Ahsh, Hahwthorn, Pignut, Slippery, ahnd Ah'm gonnah cahll this one Butternut! C'mon out Butternut!” Applejack said as she popped one of the jars and quickly grabbed one frog, pulling it out and squeezing the lid shut. “Hahaha, ewww! Thahr all slimey! Hahaha! Who wants one?”  

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The little foal blinked when he heard something approach him.
 
"Hey kid, why the long face? Lose your mom or something?"
 
His gaze turned away from the mountains to look to a young Grifflet with a deadpan expression. Voronoi stared at the little creature in confusion when his gaze slowly tilted downwards to look him in the eyes. He quietly pursed his lips together while he regarded him.
 
Did... this grifflet call him a kid? Well, possibly he's just a late grower. Could be older by a margin too. If that was true or not, Voronoi couldn't possibly tell or really care. He barely found any real need to keep track of his own age as is. But he did know this little grifflet acted pretty mature.
 
“Uhm. Well no...” The foal hummed. His lips pulled back just the slightest. His tone was thoughtful if not neutral. “Maybe? I know where they aren't. Here. Mom and Dad? They're in or... should be... in Fet-” He quickly went silent as something loud filled the air. The young colt immediately spun around on his hooves, to spot an empty set of armor? What in the world is that doing there?
 
 
"Umm... Sorry about that... I don't know why I was sleeping on a cloud in that... Anyways, I'm Tehengu! I know it's a little strange, but my dad liked it, and he's not a normal griffon."
 
 
That question was answered much sooner than expected. His gaze quickly snapped to the newest arrival... another grifflet. Much more energetic it seems.
 
 
"Where am I? This isn't where I live..."
 
"Ponyville, I do believe..." he replied dully, just as another foal came to view. A fire red Pegasus this time. She seemed to be the fun sort. But she looks just as confused as Tenhgu was... himself included.
 
“Heya.. Do you know what’s going on?”
 
The foal offered her an impassive shrug. “I don't know. I only got here a few-" Once again, he had been cut off. Though, not by a rude falling piece of armor this time.
 
 
“Yeah, I'd like to know that myself. Do any of you know where your parents are?”
 
 
Then yet another arrival! Voronoi was starting to feel a very claustrophobic at this point when his gaze slowly switched to a Pegasus. She repeated a question that he had attempted to answer before. He wasn't going to repeat it again.
 

 

Hi....I'm kinda new here, if you can't tell..." he said with a chuckle. "Um, can you tell me what's going on today? I never knew there would be a kids festival right when I got here." 

 

Then yet ANOTHER creature joined in.... a creature he hasn't seen before. A very interesting creature. A deer with wings? Well that definitely peaked the foals interest. His indifferent expression had been swapped with a curious one. His head tilted to the side, while his eyes went over the many different features. He was even at the start of reaching out to poke at the oddity in the group with a small hoof.
 
 "I-I'm Presteza... Can I ask what your name is?"
 
But then he heard it! His eyes widened. His ears were standing straight up. The only sense of normality that he could actually count on! And if this actually was a nightmare then at least he had something that could keep him calm!

His gaze quickly snapped to a shy little filly who looked scared out of her wits. The cutie-mark was unfamiliar, and so was her mane style. But he couldn't forget her face nor her voice any day! And he most certainly couldn't forget her name!

He quickly dropped down to a predatory like crouch. His withers wriggled for a few seconds. One forehoof lifted up, then the next. A second later, he was soaring like a cannonball, playfully tackling the filly to the ground with a hug.

“Pressy! Good to see you again!” The foal laughed excitably A complete one-eighty to his original stature. Soon he lifted the mare up onto her hooves, and pointed to her flank. “OH! And you've finally gotten your mark too! Incredible! Though... wonder what it means! But wait! You've even done something different with your mane! Fits you much better this way!”

 

There was another. A filly with cowgirl mannerisms? Reminded Voronoi of his father, Gear Shack... who's possibly in FetLoch with his mom.. But he didn't care anymore! His best friend in the whole world was here! And that was good enough for now!

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Razor jumped to the side, away from the armor and sword that fell from the sky, landing not a few inches from him.

 

"Yikes. Hey watch it!"  Razor yelled, giving the grifflet that came down from the sky apologizing. Razor gave a slight glare, but shook his head with a roll of his eyes. He couldn't stay mad at a kid....who was....taller a bit then....him? And that armor....looked...big to.

 

"Well look, if you both lost your parents then-" Razor began, until he saw two other adults show up. He gulped and took a step away from the female, and...then noticed that they looked...bigger. Bigger then what should be normal for him.

 

'Something's...wrong.' He thought, as he felt sure that the adults question on their parents...was also directed towards him. But why?

 

 



 "I-I'm Presteza... Can I ask what your name is?"

 

 

Razor blinked, and his head snapped toward a filly that now showed up. He choked, his eyes widening as he got a good look at the filly. She looked a lot....in fact looked exactly how his friend Presteza looked, if perhaps a few years young. She even had the same name!

 

"P-P-Presteza?" He said, confused.

 

No...no....it couldn't be...h-his eyes were playing tricks on him...she couldn't be Presteza..though...they also had the same cutie mark...

 

 



 

 
Maybe one of these kids knew what was going on...”Heya..”, she felt even odder as her new legs made her move so quickly! She had meant to canter, but she had easily shifted into a full trot. “Do you know what’s going on?”

 

 

 Razor turned to see another filly show up, and his heart nearly stopped as his eyes bulged further. She looked exactly like the mare he had met at the beach once with his sister. Fire Walker he was sure the name was, the older sister to that spunky filly Wind Walker. But that....that was impossible!

 

"F-F-Fire Walker? No...nonononononono. I'm seeing things....I'm seeing things." Razor said, shaking his head as he rubbed his eyes.

 

Now that he took a good look at the colt....he did have a certain....air about him that reminded Razor of Java. But...if, just IF, these three kids were indeed his friends as kids now....why were they taller then he by some inches...and why were the adults taller then he then should be normal...

 

...Unless....

 

The horror of the possibility came to Razor's mind immediately, and he began taking some quick breathes as he felt himself to panic.

 

He looked around, spotting a fountain nearby.

 

"Umm....excuse me a moment."  He said, before bolting to the fountain like a shell from a cannon. He stopped by a filly who was offering frogs to other kids. Even the fountain wall was bigger, and that thought only made Razor start to panic more as he crawled up and gazed into his reflection in the water.

 

"No.....it...it can't be....its a lie!!!" He said, staring at himself in the water. He blinked, rubbed his eyes and slapped himself across the face several times to be sure this wasn't just some bad dream before looking back into the water at his reflection.

 

There, looking back at him was him. But him as he had been when he had been a kid.

 

A miniature, smaller then average grifflet. Navy blue feathers, that bore the fader color and markings of a younger grifflet who had not yet molted and got his adult feathers in. He looked from the water, and looked around at himself.

 

Razor looked up from the water, and back to the group that consisted of adults, and three child like versions of his friends....then he looked back at his reflection. Then the group, then his reflection and then finally he just looked up.

 

He stood there, silent and little body shaking as everything slowly started to dawn on him.

 

He had shrunk...or...regressed in age somehow. He was a kid again!!!

 

Such an event, could only warrant one response from the body changed griffon.

 

"AAAAGGGGGGGGAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" He screamed, a scream of pure horror and rage. It was loud, and very piercing for the brief  moment he yelled before finally Razor fell backwards and hit the ground, fainting.

 

 

 

 

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"Yeah baby baby, you've got something I need. Gimme just a moment to fulfill all your dreams, ooh-ee-oooh!"

The singing rang through the relatively quiet streets of Ponyville without care or worry, though some threw disgruntled looks his way. Inkbrand paid them no mind, tail and messenger bag swishing idly in time to the song he was belting out. A new release from Steppenhoof, RS's favorite band, was his choice of entertainment today - and a rather catchy one, too. Since he'd traveled back to Ponyville to try and expand his client base, business was once again slow. Though were such an occurrence would have had the grey stallion pinching every single bit as much as possible, a recent rash of suitably impressed mares at his parlor had him singing as free as a bird.

Relatively speaking.

"Ooh ooh, oh baby, gimme what I need. Ooh ooh, oh baby, I'll show you what you - "

SKREEEEE!

The actual noise that interrupted his singing was really more like a AA-OOOOOOH!, but it sounded all the same to his ears as the grey stallion actually took a startled step backwards - piercing and wailing. It was enough to make him raise a hoof to one ear and wildly rub it, as if that might soothe is startled and non-too-pleased brain from echoing the screech in the recesses of his mind - though, it seemed to only make the shriek bounce from earlobe to earlobe, temporarily leaving Inkbrand stunned.

A hard thing to manage, certainly, but usually not in this manner.

"Yeesh, who's dying over there?" he muttered to himself. And perhaps the thought of witnessing a fight or a carriage crash or something moderately interesting was what propelled him forward and around the corner of a building, curiosity and boredom both working in tandem.

He wasn't disappointed.

The thought of having foals of his own wasn't one that Inkbrand entertained often. He wasn't necessarily against the idea - sure, he figured he might want to pass on his genes when he was older or something - but they definitely weren't a part of his immediate future plans. Which was why foals, in general, didn't really annoy the grey stallion so much. The fact that they weren't his foals - meaning he didn't have to deal with the messy clean-ups or crying or other generally annoying things foals did - meant he got to reap only the positive benefits. Like playing the cool and rad foalsitter who bought all the candy, and left Bright White to deal with the subsequent vomit and stomachaches.

But still. Much as he hardly minded foals that didn't belong to him, Inkbrand wasn't exactly expecting a flock of them to be huddled around the town's center fountain.

A raised eyebrow was the only emotion that showed on his face as the tattoo-clad stallion trot forward casually, never minding that he was most probably interrupting whatever field trip these pack of foals were on. The two adults in the group made for a rather strange pair - a Peryton, for one, along with a black and blue colored Pegasus - but it was the screeching foal that had drawn him over in the first place. An interest that was quickly morphed as Inkbrand realized the foal responsible was actually a small griffon, staring into the fountain as if his puppy had drowned in it.

Inkbrand started, and stopped, eyes narrowing as his golden gaze locked onto the griffon. Why did the sight of that feathered creature suddenly give rise to the urge to punch the nearest pony?…

Which was all he had time to contemplate, really, when the griffon suddenly keeled over backwards, off of the fountain. Inkbrand moved automatically, only a warning of "Woah!" leaving his lips as he managed to catch the griffon's head with one hoof, effectively stopping his fall against hard concrete. The tattoo-clad stallion couldn't help frowning as he leaned in a bit clo -

…The buck? Had the griffon just fallen asleep?

Well. That was weird. With the griffon's head still cradled in one hoof while the rest of his body splayed out on the cobblestone, Inkbrand looked up and around, spotting the two adults in charge of this rather unruly flock of foals. "Might wanna keep a better eye on your foals, there," he called out, though not unkindly. A quick glance around showed at least five or six of the little monsters, some of which seemed rather excited, and most looking rather putout and frightened for some reason.

"Though I have to say, I would've stopped at three or four, myself," he added, with a quick wink aimed at the pretty, but strangely colored Pegasus. Maybe they actually were a couple with their youngins…adopted youngins? Lost and found youngins?

Scratch that. He would've stopped at one. Maybe two. Or three.

But mostly one.
 

 

 

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Really? No introductions in response? Oh well, he supposed it didn't matter that much. Still though, he was a little angry that the two had refused to show the same courtesy of introducing themselves. At least the pony had answered his question of where he was. Ponyville? What was he doing here? He didn't remember his parents talking about any plans to come here, let alone any actual traveling to the town.

 

He sat down in place as he continued scanning the crowds, hoping to spot his parents as more people joined the little group of kids and adults. He looked over at a black pegasus mare as she asked if any of them knew where their parents were. He blinked at that, mostly from trying to hold back some tears.

 

"No... I don't know where they are... I just woke up on one of those clouds up there..." He replied as he continued looking at the mare, giving a little sniff. "If you wanna help me find my parents, dad would be the easier to find, probably. He kinda sticks out, being half wolf... or dog or something... Mom's just a normal griffon..." He was going to say more, but there were more additions to the group, as well as the other griffon seeming to realize something, go over to the fountain, and yell.

 

Tehengu tilted his head a bit at that. What was his problem? Was he afraid of his reflection or something? Well, the scream served to attract another adult, one who caught the grifflet as he seemed to fall asleep standing up. He stared at the newcomer for a little bit, giving a little ooh-ing noise at all the designs on the stranger's body. Still, he eventually looked back to the pegasus mare, realizing he should probably introduce himself to her. Hopefully she would be nicer and return the favor, unlike those other two.

 

"Sorry, miss, I forgot to say my name. I'm Tehengu, it's nice to meet you." He said, giving her a small, forced smile. It was only forced because he was still sad from not being able to find his parents. Had they left him here on accident?

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As the little red filly made her way towards the small group of ponies, her hoof smacked into something that felt like metal. “The hay?, she glance down and found herself staring directly at a suit of armor. This was the  kind that members of the Royal Equestrian Army would wear. From her understanding of the R.E.A, the Pegasus pony knew the armor had to belong to an officer considering the amount of stars and bars that had been engraved onto it. This uniform apparently had been discarded near the spot where she had awoken from.  She tried to get a good look at the badge which laid half buried in the grass. If she could read what had been engraved under the Celestia Sun, it would tell her who this suit belonged to.

 

“My parents?”, before catching sight of the name, she turned her attention back to the friendly mare, “My parents are in Canterlot. Where I was until now.” A small puddle of tears started to form under her eyes, but she quickly shook them off. “But I was different.” A horrible thought formed in her young mind, had she passed away? All the grownups told her that she was getting better and stronger with each passing day, maybe they were just lying to her? The mare looked a little on the different side, but still very pretty. “This isn’t Paradise Estate, is it?” Fire Walker had heard of different places where ponies go after they die. She was very sure one of them was called 'Paradise Estate', or maybe that was the toy set she had in her bedroom. Or was it both? While living in an paradise forever would be fun, she did not like the idea that none of her friends of family were here.

 

 

(Insert Naj's response/actions.)

 

 

There were so many kids in such a small area! It was a shame she did not know any of them! Her ears perked up as she heard a familiar voice not that far from where she stood. "Excuse me Miss.", she politely smiled at the mare before taking flight. This was something she was able to do without even thinking about it. She just spread her wings and flew, as if she had been doing it for years. Knowing if she put too much thought into it, the filly might remember that she was never taught how to fly and would simply plummet back to solid ground. If she did, would she wake up?

 

"Presteza!", she shouted out as her eyes caught sight of the familiar tan coated filly. Fire Walker had always been just a little jealous of her friend. She was everything the red Pegasus pony was not. Or at least had been until now. Presteza was fast, clever and always full of energy. Her family was rather similar to her own, with members in the R.E.A. She also had a silly older brother. "Pressy!", Fire Walker landed near her friend and proceeded to give the filly a adult-sized hug. When Presteza had seen her last, the red filly could barely stand, let along run or even fly.

 

The colt she did not know, who apparently knew her friend pointed out something new. "Wow, you did get your mark..I wish I got...oh.", she glanced over at her flank, which was also marked. " A ROCK?! That's what I ended up with!?" While it was technically a meteorite, she was still not impressed.  An adult voice called out her name, but she did not recognize the griffon who said it. Was he a member of Zelda's flock? And then he fainted. What a silly bird. The colt had also stated that they were in Ponyville. Was this a special version of Ponyville? Paradise-Ponyville?

 

Thankfully, along with being super-pretty and super-cool, her friend was also super-clever, "Urm, Pressy, do you know what's going on? I woke up next to a suit of armor after going to sleep in Canterlot. Now I’m here and I'm not sick anymore. Did we die?"
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The cool afternoon air was absolutely refreshing, the maximum safe flight height providing quite a nice relief from the heat of Celestia's sun. A tiger striped griffoness was flying high above the clouds of the strangely famous town of Ponyville when she realized her wings were defective. They weren't lifting her and she was drowning or something, the lifeguard oblivious to the fact that she had stalled out and fallen back towards the ground. This happened all the time, the professional diver not seemingly able to understand air density as she tried to slow into a normal descent speed. After splashing down in the ocean a few days earlier, the black winged duck tigress had learned to slow down before coming to a complete stop!

And stop she did, Aquaria managing to stop just a few feet off the ground as she barely recovered from her fall and roughly tumbled on the ground beside Inkbrand. The lifeguard was used to rough landings and seamlessly recovered, opening her eyes to see Inkbrand holding a little grifflet! Her rose colored eyes went wide with excitement as she gave the tattoo artist a more gentle hug than he might have been used to. After releasing her friend, Aquaria noticed the unconscious grifflet, her jovial eyes entering rescue mode as they keenly focused on the victim. She hadn't lost a pony yet, and while he 'may' have been drowing in the fountain, victims could be anywhere at any time!

The over eager lifeguard pulled his cute little form from the artist and carefully placed him on the ground as she spread her wings to back the crowd up. "Stand back everypony. I'm an expert at this, I'll have the little guy back up in no time," she confidently declared, although her experience with griffons was almost nill, the lifeguard only having dealt with a faker who was sent to test her credentials. Now was her real test on an actual griffon! Chest compressions were the key to survival, 3 inches deep to revive someone. Moments before she might have crushed Razor, a thought entered her mind, stopping the lifeguard and giving him the shortest of reprieves. There were tons of little rules and suggestions for survival and technique that were often overlooked and misunderstood by the public. A common misconception was that mouth or beak to mouth was great for reviving others. But in reality, chest compressions were a much more efficient technique to use on the needy! Inkbrand learned this the hard way, and soon Razor was going to learn as she placed her black talons on his chest and prepared to bring him back to life.

"Half compression on children, silly me," she giggled, her words not exactly the best at instilling confidence in those around her. Her mind clear, Aquaria quickly began the rough work of 'reviving' his little heart as she carefully pounded on his cute little feathered chest. "Please get up," she begged cutely while she probably did a great deal towards waking him up. The lifeguard was all serious when in life saving mode, even if she was jovial and fun otherwise. Saving lives was what she most wanted to do, and would never knowingly do anything to risk that! After a few rough presses, she checked his pulse and found that she had 'revived' the already living youngster!

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A couple of the children, a little earth pony and a very tiny griffon respectively, didn't react so well to Naj's initial question.  She supposed the colt's reaction was probably sensible enough.  Based on the stink eye he gave Naj, he didn't appreciate the question.

The griffon's response was a little more disconcerting.  He'd hastily excused himself before running off toward the fountain.  Naj was still deciding whether or not she should be chasing after him.  On the one hoof this really wasn't her responsibility, to say nothing of what the parents would think if they found out a changeling spent time in close proximity to their foals.  On the other, there didn't seem to be enough parents around right now, and the mystery of the situation hit her protective instincts.

Naj did get a few more productive responses.  A young griffon didn't know where his parents were, and started to describe them so they'd be easier to find, and a little pegasus was wondering if they were all in some place called 'Paradise Estates'.  “Never heard of the place, last I checked this is Ponyville-” Naj started to explain, but apparently recognizing some of the other foals the pegasus excused herself and moved on.

 

"Hi....I'm kinda new here, if you can't tell...Um, can you tell me what's going on today? I never knew there would be a kids festival right when I got here."

She didn't have much time to ponder though, as the wandering peryton asked her a question, disrupting her chain of thought.  Looking back for a moment, Naj saw that little griffon had stopped by the fountain, and she decided to leave well enough alone for now, and turned her attention back to the peryton.

“I know about as much as you right now,” Naj began, “I actually just got back to town myself.”  She shook her head a little to emphasis the next point as she said it.  “And I've NEVER seen this many foals around here before...”  She returned the wave half-heartedly, though not so much that she didn't want to as she was a little distracted at the moment.  “By the way I'm Naj-”

 

Her attempted introduction fell short as little earth pony ran almost past the group, a filly that Naj would be certain she recognized if not for the little one's age.  The orange coat, the mane, the cutie mark, even the now-oversized lasso she carried: no doubt about it, this was Applejack.  She even introduced herself as such.

Applejack, (former) bearer of the element of honesty and part of the group which cut a swath through the changeling ranks at Canterlot, was now proudly (and Naj was loathe to admit, adorably) showing off the frogs she'd caught that morning.

Naj managed to mumble out, “...I don't  the frogs like that too much...” as the pieces started to click into place, unsure just how to approach the situation.  “Well,” she said, mostly to herself this time, “...I guess that explains why there are so many foals around.”  Most of them used to be adults!  Just what the hay was going on here?!  Her mind drawing a blank, and overwhelmed by the whole situation, Naj sat down.

 

She took a deep breath.  Several ponies and others around town, including a few that she knew, had been reverted to children.  As hard as that was to swallow, as one of the relatively few adults left Naj had something of a responsibility, to keep a level head and not contribute to the general chaos if nothing else.  She'd need to be alert and approachable for the foreseeable future.  She tried to collect her thoughts.

 

"Might wanna keep a better eye on your foals, there.  Though I have to say, I would've stopped at three or four, myself,"

What?  Naj looked at the peryton in confusion for a moment, before her gaze turned back to the tattooed stallion who'd called out.  What did he think was going on here?  And then the wink, was he...?

Naj blinked, and then tried to resolve the confusion as quick as possible.  “They're not ours,” she called back, “would you believe we found them like this?”

 

She might have said more, if the little griffon beside her hadn't chosen that moment to introduce himself as Tehengu.

Naj stared in shock for an instant, and regarded the dropped gear she was currently carrying around, before remembering her earlier realization.  She didn't know his parents, but if they were even still around she doubted they'd be found here.  He might be counting on her.  She had an honest smile, if a slightly uncertain one, as she replied.  “Er, my name's Naj,” it was a little awkward introducing oneself for the first time again, “and you probably don't remember but it's good to see you again.”  Full disclosure like that was a odd tactic, but having seen the welling tears and the look on Tehengu's face Naj hoped the mystery might take his mind off of things a little.

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“I know about as much as you right now,” Naj began, “I actually just got back to town myself.”  She shook her head a little to emphasis the next point as she said it.  “And I've NEVER seen this many foals around here before...” 

 

September frowned as the mare spoke. Well, that was certainly odd. If it wasn't a festival, what was it? Some sort of weird magic incident? And how could something that strange happen in a small town like this? Sep wasn't really sure how to reply, he wasn't the best expert on pony magic. But his ears perked up again when the mare began to introduce herself when...

 

"Though I have to say, I would've stopped at three or four, myself,"

 

Whoa whoa whoa...what? Sep's attention immediately turned to the tatooed stallion that was passing by, rasing an eyebrow at the wink he gave them. Was he really thinking that-? The peryton's train of thought cut off, and he shot a confused look at the mare, who was looking right back at him the same way. Luckily, the mare stepped in and said the foals weren't theirs. Good.

 

"Yeah, they're really not ours...." he chimed in in agreement with her. Besides, how would a pegasus and peryton offspring even wor-

 

He shook his head. Definitely not the time to ponder something like that.

 

The mare introduced herself again as Naj, though she was talking to the young griffon next tp her. Oh, it was just Naj. He had thought there was another part when the stallion cut her off, but apparently not. Odd. 

 

 

"U-uh, Mister. Are you a Peryton?" Pressy had never seen a peryton before, she'd heard stories about them and how incredible they looked but the stories she read and heard didn't do them justice so far! "I-I'm Presteza... Can I ask what your name is?"

 

Sep felt a slight tug on one of his wings, and he looked down to see a freckled unicorn filly looking right back up at him. He couldn't help but smile, this one was pretty cute looking.

 

 

"Yes, I'm a peryton," he replied. Sep had been asked this question lots of times as he traveled, but didn't really mind. "Oh, and my name's September." he looked around for a moment, searching for any ponies that looked somewhat like Prezeteza, but couldn't find any. He looked back to the filly. "Are you lost? Do you know where your parents are....or when you last saw them?"

 

Sep almost smacked his face with a hoof. What kind of question was that? Of course she was lost....all of these kids seemed to be! Some were just running around and talking to each other, one was carrying around a hooful of frogs...and then there was that one griffon who screamed by the fountain! Seriously, what was going on?

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The little freckled filly's eyes were practically sparkling as she stared at the Peryton, this was so cool! A live live peryton was right in front of her! She just needed to stay cool and not gush like she was most likely going to wind up doing if she didn't calm her little pony heart down. The filly took a deep breath and smiled shyly, freckles becomingmore prominent as a pinkish blush was appearing beneath them, "Uh... uh, are all perytons named after months?" she blurted out rather thoughtlessly before she bit her lip and laughed awkwardly. When the Winged stranger asked her if she was lost she thought about it a second. Was she lost? She knew where she was in Equestria but she sure as sugar didn't know how she'd gotten there! Rather than answer that question, she decided to focus on the second one September had posed. "Um... well I'm not sure where my parent's are right now... Last I remember I saw them in Trottingham and I just woke up on a road leading to ponyville So I came here... was that okay?"

 

 

 

 

Suddenly, Pressy was leapt over by a filly with just as many if not more freckles than herself. Once the newcomer had made herself comfy on top of the fountain with some jars full of ... were those frogs? How cool! Presteza's mummy never let her play with or touch frogs back home! They were so shiny and hoppy why did mum think they were so bloomin' gross?

 

“Hahaha, ewww! Thahr all slimey! Hahaha! Who wants one?” 

 

Oh... "Slimy" Well that answered that question. Well anyway, Mum wasn't here right now was she? Pressy was free to touch all the toads and frogs as she wanted! At the thought of this, the little filly smiled a very slight smile before cautiously raising up a hoof and speaking up in that midly posh accent that unmistakably belonged to the trottingham elite, "um... I-I'd like one!" she asked in a tiny cracking voice.

 

Her attempt at getting a frog would have to wait as she soon felt the wind knocked out of her as she was suddenly tackled and then felt the compress of a hug. Owowowow... who the hay did tha-- it was Voronoi! The little artist smiled and hugged her friend back just as tight before she was lifted up and put back on her hooves... only to be hugged by possibly the very last pony that the she had expected to see; Fire walker! Fire was usually not this energetic, in fact the very last time she'd seen her she was in a bed and couldn't even stand and here she was flying and giving out hugs like it was going out of style!

 

The attention drawn to her mark by both her old friends brought a blush to her cheeks once more, "Th-thanks... Um  well I'm not sure what my mark means yet... but I got it after doing some painting with my teacher in the park! About the mane... I don't really know how it got like this. I kinda like it though... and I really hope we didn't die... nopony or peryton said this was the afterlife... and I sure hope I didn't go in my sleep..." The filly thought a moment as Fire brought up the subject of her own mark... but her thoughts were interrupted by a loud piercing scream that had her reflexively cover her ears and wince before putting them down, "Um... should we check on that ... little... griff...in... Wow!" The Filly's eyes lit up as her gaze fell upon a grey stallion with brilliant golden eyes and marking on his body...

 

The filly shyly stepped forward and just stared for a moment awestruck before saying, "Oh... that's so cool! Mister, did you draw those things on yerself?! they're so cool! I saw dockworkers and stuff back home have things like that on them but nothin' like this! C-can you show me how you did that?!"

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Voronoi was confused when he found the filly being snatched away from his arms by another filly! And it was that energetic red filly to boot! No fair! She can find her own friend? Wait, did the two know each other before he knew Pressy? Well... that would be a bit mor- no he found her first! She was his best friend? Maybe they could share? Yeah, that'd probably be better. Plus it'd mean a new friend who's not a pompous rich jerk face! As long as there were no halfsies. Mutual sharing!

 

So! Voronoi tried his best to be friendly! Well, sort of. His tone lost the enthusiasm he'd used to tackle Pressy. But he didn't receded back completely to his socially awkward tendencies! He felt much more comfortable to be sociable now that his friend was here with him!

 

“Well... I believe that's a meteorite ya got as a mark there. I think it's cool. Those things are pretty powerful if they don't burn up completely.” The coffee colored colt paused for a moment. His lips pursing while he gave the filly a blank stare. Yeah. That probably wasn't helping. “Er... they leave craters after crashing at some ridiculous speeds. They come in... at around twenty-five thousand... toooo a a hundred sixty thousand miles an hour. If it hits... and say it's the size of a pea... that's about eighty thousand one hundred twenty joules. And leaves a four hoof crater. Er... to put this in perspective. Think of a really big dragon falling at... like a hundred miles in the air and he's constantly getting smaller and smaller till he's the size of a chicken egg... and comes crashing down on a banana. And that banana is blown to oblivion, and is now usable to make a smooth banana ice cream. That is how a meteorite do. So... really cool!”

 

That... hopefully cheered her up about her mark. It's a fact? Well, if not then part two!

 

He then turned to show the filly his. A golden gear with a sigma in it's center. “Better than a Gear and Sigma right? Talent's computation, and a punch of it's applications too.”

 

Some how... Voronoi was beginning to regret this decision. He already felt awkward. His gaze turned to Pressy to see if he could get some assistance with friend making. But it looks like she was busy admiring a gray stallion with some really cool tattoos.

 

And so... the pony gave Firewalker one more awkward smile. A flat smile before trotting that could only be completed by a large sweat drop. So... feeling that he had don borked it, he quickly dipped his head down to grab his stuffed displacer beast, and tossed it on his back. He then sauntered over to his friend with a confused look. By the time his terrible eyes managed to get the tattoos in focus, he observed them.

Huh... those tattoos look.... warrior-esque,” The colt hummed. He trotted closer cautiously to get a better look at the design style.

Smooth, and sharp. Jags were carefully place and were certainly not haphazardly thrown all over the place. So... this stallion genuine captivated his curiosity. Normally pirates wear these kinds of tattoos. But he remembered seeing similar designs back in Uyssai. Now the stallion looked up to meet the other's eyes with wide orbs as he laid down his series of rapid fire questions!

“Are you a sea gangsta? Or sky pirate? Or... were you raised by Zebras? They look like tattoos from the Husayo tribe. Were you raised by Husayo Zebras?”

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Of all the things Inkbrand had expected to experience today, wartime flashbacks were not one of them.

In retrospect, the tattoo-clad stallion was fairly proud that he managed not to scream like a little filly and fly into a martial arts post meant to intimidate while at the same time be completely ineffective against staving off a real attack. But still, it was a very near miss, and again in retrospect, it was a good thing Aquaria had shown up to take the small griffon off his hooves, as he literally flinched away at the feeling of those claws on his body again, and nearly dropped the griffon's large head against unforgiving stone.

..Then again, the only reason he had flinched away was because of the strange griffon's abrupt appearance, meaning he wouldn't have dropped the griffon in the first place. Or, something?

Whatever.

The important thing was, Inkbrand hadn't dropped the griffon on the ground and was therefor not responsible for a cracked and bleeding head. Once he managed to let out the breath he hadn't even realized he'd begun holding, the grey stallion finally managed to get his senses back into a semblance of working order, enough for a moment of panic to overtake him as the female griffon lay her claws on yet another unsuspecting suspect - and a foal at that! Girffonlet, buck, something small and easily crushed!

Though it appeared he needn't have worried. Before he could get out much more than a "Wait, don't - !" and one outstretched hoof, Aquaria was gently and carefully compressing the griffon's chest. Inkbrand let his hoof drop to the ground, another wheezing breath escaping his lips. Well. She wasn't crushing him, and despite the fact that Inkbrand was pretty certain the small griffon hadn't actually drowned in the fountain, he'd definitely lost consciousness, which meant he needed an adult with much more medical experience than he possessed. Which was bucking fine by him. "Er…good to see 'ya too, babe," he managed weakly, before a voice re-caught his attention.

And kept catching it, if only for the sheer incredibility her words arose within him.

"What, seriously?" he said, the rhetorical question spiraling into the air as Inkbrand glanced back around at the various foals and small griffons. As a matter of fact, no, he didn't believe the Pegasus and Peryton had just…found a bunch of unsupervised foals running amok around the town square. No parents, no teachers, no authoritative figures, not even a bucking crossing guard.

Who the buck was running this town? A trained monkey?

"That's…rather unfortunate," was all the tattoo-clad stallion could find it in himself to say, golden gaze roving onto an orange foal who was proudly showing off a collection of frogs.

Despite the absurdity of the situation, Inkbrand felt his lips curl upwards into a small grin. That was kind of bucking cute.

…And kind of bucking weird. Just like before, the grey stallion's gaze stilled, narrowing in on the orange foal with something like growing horror. Those freckles…that mane style…that accent. He could almost imagine a loop of rope secured firmly alongside the foal's shoulder and -

A new voice chirping near his hooves sent Inkbrand a startled step backwards, his eyes gazing down at a cream-colored Unicorn who was gazing up at him with something akin to adoration. She was quickly joined by a brown Earth Pony foal who seemed to be sharing something similar, if less enthused. But it was the two standing next to each other, one pale and one dark, and both making him want to punch the nearest available object, that finally settled things very neatly into place.
 

 

 

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He tried. Honestly, he did try. For about two seconds, before -

"Ahahahaha!" Inkbrand howled, fully reared backwards on his hind legs so he could clasp his heaving stomach with both forelegs, the force of his laughter sending him into actual, physical tears. "Holy buck, of course it's bucking Ponyville! Wait'll August hears about this one, ahahaha!" Inkbrand managed to peel open his scrunched up eyes to wipe some tears away, but the sight of the two most annoying ponies on the face of Equestria staring up at him from their puny existences only revamped the laughter, sending him flat on his back with his hind legs kicking in the air. "Stop, stop, I can't!" he gasped, completely undone.

Oh, this was just too good. Only in Ponyville.

"Oh, sweet Celestia," Inkbrand sighed, wiping away the last tears as he managed to right himself, though he didn't bother getting back up yet so he could face the foals on ground level. "Yes, yeah they are, buck no you're out of your mind," he stated at MFT, the sneer of his face belied by the sheer mirth still coloring his tone, before whirling on That SODD, "no, no, no, aw hay no, read a book for crying out loud. Both of you get away from me now."

A few stray tears of mirth escaped one eye, and Inkbrand wiped them away with a final chuckle, standing up and brushing past the two towards the couple - er, random strangers who were now responsible for this entire mess. "Alright, you've gotta tell me - who do I thank for this," he asked, golden eyes gleefully running over the gaggle of youngins. If this really was a pile of adults turned foals by some random magic, then the small griffon in Aquaria's grasp had to be Razor. And the orange Earth Pony? Applejack for sure, seeing how he'd been made her acquaintance not so long ago while he was being tossed in a Canterlot jail cell.

The others? Unknown, from what he could tell. Which just made this entire situation all the more fun.

 

 

 

 

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Razor felt something pressing up against his chest, as his mind slowly began to reconnect to consciousness. He grunted with each minor compression as his eyes slowly slid open.

 

"Who the buck is-"   Razor started, grunting as he slapped the compressing limb away with a snarl. Only for that snarl to turn into a little meow as he stared up at the female that was, for some strange reason, revive him.

 

Razor's eyes widened and he then shot like a bat out of tartarus, his body dragging a deep furrow in the ground as he tried to get space between him and the griffonness.

 

"Tooclosetooclosetooclose." He gibbered as his head bumped up against someones leg. Razor stopped, his head looked up and saw that he had bumped into the mare that had appeared earlier. He made a slight eep sound and he shot off again into the air this time. He floated above them all, taking deep breathes as he tried to calm himself down.

 

Then the sound of laughter came clear to his ears and he looked for who was laughing.

 

It was Inkbrand. Razor felt a slight desire to hit something, even more so when he felt that the stallion was laughing at him! He landed, landing beside the orange filly and her frogs. Razor glanced at the frogs, then at Inkbrand.

 

"Stop laughing!" Razor snapped, trying his best to glare at the laughing stallion. He didn't know why he was laughing, but Razor's brain told him from years of being laughed at when he was young, that it was directed at him.

 

Razor snarled, but instead of a growl after all that came out was a kitten like meow growl.

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Tehengu smiled weakly at the mare's introduction, still worried about where his parents were and how he was supposed to find them. Maybe they actually had left... But they always said not to go too far if he got lost, so he wouldn't get more lost. That meant he should at least stay in Ponyville, probably, instead of going back to Las Pegasus. His brain belatedly processed the second part of Naj's statement, saying it was good to see him again. He paused, blinking a bit in confusion, tilting his head as he looked at her. She certainly didn't look familiar... Or sound familiar, for that matter.

"Umm... I'm sorry Miss Naj, but I don't remember meeting you before..." He said apologetically as he looked at her. His gaze then drifted over to the other grifflet as he freaked out again, this time because of girls being too close, it seemed. Tehengu moved over to the other kid, patting him on the back lightly and giving a slight smile.

"Hey now, what's the matter? Sure, girls can be a bit icky at times, but they aren't that scary." He said before looking at the laughing stallion for a little bit. "As for him... I don't think he's laughing at you..."

After that, he gave the other griffin another friendly smile before he focused on the adult griffon. He moved over to her, looking up at her for a second before speaking.

"Have you seen my parents around, miss? My dad would be easy to spot, since he's the only griffin I know of that is part dog or wolf or whatever instead of part cat." He asked her, pausing for a second to look back at the other kid griffon before speaking again. "And... I don't think he likes being too close to girls..." He added, indicating the smaller grifflet.

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Fire Walker glanced over at her friend's new mark with a sigh. Even her cutie mark was better than hers! While the little red filly ended up with a plummeting rock, which she was still not sure what it meant, Presteza's was actually pretty cool. The paint brush with the magical light probably symbolized her artistic talent that would only improve and grow throughout her lifetime. An spark of creative energy that would never go out. As for the rock? Maybe she got really good at belly flopping? Or she's such a bad flyer that she's always crashing. Why would anyone want a bad cutie mark? "Little griffon?" The red filly realized she was still hugging her old friend and quickly released the pony.

 

"He looks alright to me....Ooooh!", she cooed as the mighty griffon let out the cutest of kitty-purrs. Fire Walker used her freshly granted source of never-ending physical energy and quickly made her way over to the griffon, who also got a hug, "So fuzzy!", realizing he had already been knocked unconscious before, a second trip to sleepy-land would probably end up giving the poor guy brain damage. And that would be bad. "Sorry.", she released the kitty-bird. "I used to have all kinds of problems with these." she glanced over at her two front legs, "I've never been able to actually really hug someone before. Weird."

 

And speaking of weird, the really odd, but sort of cute stallion with all the markings was acting extra silly, even more so than most adults she knew. What was he going on about? And what was going on with the orange filly with the frogs? She sure had a funny way of talking! Maybe she was a sort of pony one of brothers referred to as an 'yokel'. And frogs!? While Fire was not afraid of the creepy hoppers, she did not care for their sticky tongues or their need to eat flies! Yuck!

 


Fire blinked back at the very nerdy pony, "Cool? It's a rock." It took a moment for the young filly to process the fact that he was trying to be friendly.  While she believed his cutie mark was far more interesting that her falling stone, she had to play nice, "Er,  I mean. Yay! Rocks! And that plushy you have there is actually pretty cool. Wonder if I could get my grandmother to make up something like that.", she glanced down at the impressive panther toy. She'd probably leave the weird tentacles off her version. "A good friend of mine and Pressy's is an griffon named Zelda. She's a crow-panther griffon.  Probably be a little odd if my Granny makes an Zelda doll."


 

The red filly's attention was drawn back to the marked adult, who was in the process of being impressed by Presteza. She really liked his extra markings! This did not impress her at all! One day, Fire managed to draw all over her older brother Punk when he was sleeping. Her parents weren't impressed either. Still, one thing was still bothering her.

 

The armor.

 

After making her way back to the spot where she had awoken up from, the little pony pushed the armor aside with a hoof so she could get a better look at the badge.

 

She let out a gasp after reading the name that had been engraved under the sun symbol. It said, "Fire Walker."

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This little fluffy grifflet was strangely dry, his form surprisingly free of the fountain water he had just 'escaped'. Aquaria lived life as a lifeguard and diver and had a fairly waterproof set of fur and feathers, but even she still got wet when going underwater. She made a mental note to ask him how this happened, even though the clear answer was that he didn't get wet at all. While that might have been the most reasonable answer, it definitely was not the funnest answer, the option she often found her easily distracted mind using. After a few life giving chest compressions, she saw the adorable grifflet open his weary eyes, the kitten somehow managing to remain the most adorable little thing she had ever seen. After thinking about it for a moment, this was actually the first little grifflet she had ever seen in person, aside from her family photos of course! She had seen her own baby photos, but that particular griffon looked funny with all her stripes like some sort of zebra or something!

 

Like many patients she had the great honor of 'reviving', he was alarmed and startled by her sudden appearance in front of his formerly unconscious body. He quickly tried to swat away her talon with his own. His gesture seemed to work, but in reality it was just the lifeguard putting both her claws to her beak as she cooed cutely at the adorable little fluff ball. His image problem was further exacerbated as he let out a tiny kitten mewl, ruining any impressive and regal appearance he might have been aiming for. The tail of the lifeguard was flailing excitedly as she did her best not to squeal with pure glee at his overflowing cuteness. Aquaria would have squeezed him until he popped if she wasn't such a 'professional' lifeguard, the striped hybrid wiggling as she watched him panic cutely. "Hey little buddy, you should try not to swim in fountains, they are surprisingly dangerous. If you can't climb out of it, you can get waterlogged and cold. Although you seem to be water proof or something, you aren't even wet! Can you tell me your secret to staying dry," the lifeguard asked in a friendly and warm voice, hoping the answer wasn't not getting wet in the first place because that was the fun in swimming!

 

The lifeguard was surprised to see the grifflet up in the air so quick after being revived, his tiny griffon wings working frantically to keep him in the air. Her friend, Inkbrand, was laughing hysterically at the misfortune of this young hybrid and she couldn't quite figure out why. He never seemed like the mean type to her, not even getting mad when she gave him a thorough lesson in how proper CPR worked! When the kitten mewled again, Aquaria had to look away towards Inkbrand to avoid dying from cuteness overload. She now wanted a grifflet pet, but was worried about it getting too big to take care of and how to properly train it and so on. The lifeguard quickly remembered that griffons like herself were ponies too, and couldn't be kept as pets, forcing her abandon that plan for now. With her eyes on the tattoo pony, she could see he was having a great time as well, his being of laughter instead of cuteness overload though. She wasn't sure why at first, but his words indicated that there was some darker secret going on that she didn't know about.

 

Aquaria loved secrets, no matter how dark or scary they might be! She quickly scurried over to Inkbrand as he reared up in disbelief and laughter at the situation that was going on. "Is there something special about Ponyville?  Is it a town run by tiny ponies or something? That would be really adorable," the lifeguard quickly remarked, picturing a foal in a guard uniform as a smile dug deeper into her already impressed face. She always heard weird stories about super hero ponies in this particular town always saving the day from some sort of super villain. The lifeguard imagined that they were all great books to read or something, surely there couldn't be a real life superhero here like her giant Buddy Ryx! As usual, she was completely out of the loop, sitting on her large adult haunches as she expectantly looked up at the tattoo clad stallion with the best cute expression she could muster with her own rose-colored eyes. Surely some surprise was waiting for her, the lifeguard hearing the croaking of frogs while she impatiently waited for an answer. She found her tongue greedily licking her beak as she spotted a young filly with a bunch of frogs in a set of jars.

 

Frogs were tasty! They were even slimier than fish somehow! She needed to ask the orange foal about this after Inkbrand gave her an acceptable, or at least fun answer. She was really easy to impress, so his response was probably going to be received well, no matter how absurd it was! Before she could daydream too much about the consumption of slimy frogs, though, another grifflet approached her, this one a bit more serious and less mewly than the previous one. He was much more composed, almost as if he didn't realize that something was wrong. This was a sentiment she shared with him, the Baltimare native not knowing anyone in this city aside from the Tattoo artist who was currently looking and acting normal. When he asked for help in the locating of his parents, Aquaria excitedly gasped, her long striped tail flailing as she thought of all the ways to help him.

 

In her years of experience though, the best ways to treat sad ponies who were separated from their families was to entertain them. If kids liked anything, she knew that none of them could resist piggy back rides, aside from the grumpy face ones of course! "Don't mind him, he just doesn't want to get any cooties from a girl. In a few years he will be begging for cooties. Boys are a bit weird, don't try to think about it too much, it will probably give you a headache. I know it gives me a headache," she cheered playfully as her black talons picked up Tehengu and placed him on her striped back, cradled between her two black feathered wings. "My name is Aquaria, what is your name Mr. Darkclaw?" she playfully remarked, noting that they had similar colored talons. Maybe they were related or something, Aquaria didn't really know who any of her relatives were so it was possible, albeit very unlikely that she was related to random stranger! At the mention that his dad was some sort of wolf griffon, the lifeguard shouldn't have been surprised that there was such a thing at all. She didn't really know enough about her species to realize that there were a wide variety of subspecies that her kind were comprised of. Still she barely reacted, the idea that normal griffons were comprised of cats and birds not entering her mind as she sorta categorized her own species as a bunch of weird animals put together. The lifeguard was pretty bad at understanding her own species, not that she really minded either way. Knowledge only seemed to make the world less mysterious to her, and the mystery was where most of the fun came from.

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Truth be told, Naj was actually somewhat relieved when September was distracted by one of the little fillies.  It was one less adult-turned-child she had to worry about, and it freed her up to do some thinking.  There was a lot going on, and while she guessed it would have a singular source she had no idea what it was or even what to do if she found out.  She had a few ideas where to start, and the pause could give her some valuable time to plan.

At least in theory.

 

In practice, there was too much going on for the removal of any single thing wouldn't accomplish anything.  No sooner had Naj found a quiet moment to collect her thoughts when she felt something bump her foreleg.  She looked down in time to see the tiniest grifflet, the one that had collapsed just moments ago, shoot off into the sky.  Concerned about a repeat event, she flapped her wings, and brought herself into a low hover.  She didn't think she'd have any hope of actually catching him, but being airborne would give her more options if the grifflet fell.  “Relax!” she started to call out, “I don't bite-”

 

Naj had just taken to the air when a sudden burst of laughter made her flinch.  Her first thought was that the tattooed stallion had gone completely off the deep end, and she wondered if she'd have to subdue him.  He composed himself quickly though, at least as much as he seemed to get composed, and got away from a few inquisitive foals after a rapidly responding to their questions.

 

Given the what he said, and the change in attitude, Naj guessed he'd figured it out as well.  And he found it hilarious.  Apparently, most of the town being afflicted by an unknown and effectively crippling magic was funny.  “Well,” Naj said deadpan, as the tattooed stallion started walking in her and September's direction, “good to see somepony's got his priorities in order.”

She shook her head.  Now was not the time to be antagonizing others, regardless of how little they respected the situation.  This was, Naj realized, the only other adult so far that had figured out what was happening.  And unfortunately, that made him the best pony to discuss with at the moment.

 

"Alright, you've gotta tell me - who do I thank for this,"

Naj was hoping for similar information, though she was likely to give the culprit a blow to the face instead of thanks.  Still, she tried to keep her emotions in check.  “I don't know.  As I said, I just got back to town myself.”  She thought for a moment, and then sighed.  “I've got a couple ideas for where to start the search, but...”  She looked over at the various foals and others.  “I'm not sure it's right to just leave with everypony in their current state.”  She wasn't sure what to expect from confiding like that, the stallion seemed to be enjoying the situation. but hay, maybe he'd have some ideas for her even if he had no desire to solve things himself.

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Applejack was a little bummed that everypony didn't just rush on over and try to play with her little froggies. She'd gone through a lot of effort to corral them and then had made sure to name them after some great types of trees and here they were...umm, not playing with her froggies? Fact was that a lot of stuff was going on. Some ponies and otherwise were being overly dramatic, others were arguing and there was just this overall foggy sense of shared confusion. And in the midst of it all, nopony was playing with her froggies. Momma always said that a lonely critter was a critter who could end up eating all the silken sheets in the world. Applejack quickly gazed at the froggies still in their container- okay, all accounted for, even Butternut. Good, good. Nopony was having their silken sheets eaten up here. Applejack thought about that long enough to distract her further from the goings on of the chaos around her, which suited her just fine. She had froggies.

Butternut went all ribbit-ribbit on her hooves, his froggy throat-belly thing expanding and making the little filly giggle. She wanted to bring one of them home! Her Granny wasn't a big fan of the slimy-jumpy types but she was sure they'd be okay as long as she was a good filly and watched after 'em. That is what pa was saying 'bout the family getting a pet, maybe a puppy collie of some sort soon to help herd. It'd be up to Applejack and Big Maccy to watch over her but Applejack was pretty sure she'd be a responsible dog mommy. As a result, she hoped to be a responsible frog mommy., Granny's fears or not. Besides, who couldn't love Butternut! He was a ribbiting machine who croaked and croaked. He tried to jump out of her grasp and she caught him, giggling some more. Frogs were fun!

And then somepony wanted to share in her fun, finally. A little cream colored unicorn with a funny looking black spot on her mane and tail. Well, if she wanted a frog, she got a frog! “Sure, y'ahll cahn hahve a froggie! How 'bout little ol' Pignut? He's all sortsah...” Applejack began as she turned around to uncap the container of frogs. Which one was Pignut again? Well, whichever one she grabbed was Pignut today. Hopefully that unicorn wouldn't get all antsy about it all. Sometimes unicorns could be squemish about this sorta stuff but that's why Earth ponies were around, to make sure everything went just dandy pandy when it came to cute little critterfolk! She turned around to hoof over her new pet Pignut and found her frog-buddy being hugged by a brown earth pony and a pretty red pegasus. Well, weren't they just a trio! Applejck put Pignut away, more than excited to meet these new ponies.

“Howdy! Ah'm Ahpplejack. Hahppy tah meet y'ahll! Whahtcher nahmes?” Applejack trotted over and rubbed some manes, which was more or less her traditional rough house greeting. When she was gentle, anyway. And then a stallion started laughing his head off and that seemed mighty funny for some reason. Applejack trotted on over to talk but then he said some bad words and Applejack had to cover her mouth with her hoof- teehehehe, hopefully none of the adults would get down on him or such. When AJ swore she got three switches to the bells but, well, her parents were there and Granny's cane had gone missing so that couldn't pass as a substitute. She approached the stallion, eyes glimmering with excitement. “Yer mahrkings ahre ahwfully pretty! Ah hahven't seen nothing like it ever! Ooh, what's that?” She asked excitedly, pulling gently at one of his piercings, “oh, some sort of piercin'! Mommah hahd some when she wahs ah little filly. Does it feel ahll cool like?” Applejack asked as she let go, Butternut ribbit-jumping on top of her mane. Ribbit. Ribbit.

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