Foals at Heart [Read OOC First]

[ShadowWalking18]

Razor wasn't quite sure what happened, but he did remember play fighting against Inkbrand, which he still couldn't explain why but some part of his mind of his bygone childhood told him to. Then he saw that orange filly, Applejack he was sure she was, come at them to his aid and....

 

...well BAM! Razor got himself bucked right in the face and thrown off Inkbrand by the sheer earth pony strength. As well he was a small griffon, smaller then most griffons his age.

 

Hitting the ground with a oomph, Razor snarled and groaned as he placed his talons to his face.

 

"Gah! That hurt!" He said, shaking his head and getting to his feet.

 

Razor rubbed at his face as he soon spotted Applejack and gave a low snarl as he crouched low.

 

So, she wanted to play rough eh? Well, griffon kittens were good at that. With a snarl, that seemed more a squeaky meow, he flapped his wings as he charged and pounced out at Applejack to pin her to the ground. Though maybe a bit roughly, his instincts telling him to both play, but also take retribution for his injury, so little Razor might have clenched his talons to scratch as well, as most playful cats do.

[tacobob]

 

“I sure was, so I’ll make sure not to clobber ‘em when I see ‘em.”, the little filly grunted as she started to struggle her way out of his hooves, but then something happened. Fire Walker let out a gasp as she looked the stallion right in the eyes. Her father always told her that one could judge a character by his peepers. And while there was something about the strangely marked earth pony that bothered her, he was obviously not the villain, or even the villain's lackey that she thought he was. He was just some silly goof who wandered into this magical mystery mess. And while she did not care for how he was acting, that wasn’t a good enough reason for her and the others to be fighting him. She could always tell her daddy later on and he would give the snarky stallion a good whooping.

 

But there was still the issue with the very adult sized armor with her name and the fact that she was healthy enough to be more than a pain in the rump to a much stronger and larger pony than she. Normally, a slight breeze or a butterfly would have been too much for her to handle.... And now where the flying feather-tips was her friend running after the frogs. “Hey! Pressy! Don’t go!”

 

One more thing also caught her eye. The little griffon, and he did not look happy! One thing her older brother, Cordy Walker told her, was not to underestimate a griffon! They may look kind of cute being a flying kitty and all, but those kittens had claws! And being an combination of both an bird of prey and an large hunting cat, they were more than enough to handle! Aquaria was probably a rare exception, considering how goofy looking she was, but she probably could still mess a fella up! And now the cute boy griffon was looking to pounce on the blank flank of a yokel! There was a good chance that he could really hurt her, mostly by accident, but she needed to stop this before it escalated!

 

So she mustered up all of her remaining strength and let out an very loud and commanding, "STOP!" Hopefully this would at least accomplish something. "We need to stop this silliness and just talk.", she pleaded with Inkbrand, "Before somepony gets really hurt!"

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu tilted his head a bit as Aquaria seemed to get to the conclusion he was a spy of some kind... Why would she think that? Just because he lived in a mostly pony town? That was silly! The young griffon gave a couple small laughs before the deer spoke again, admitting to being from space. Cool!

 

"What's it like in space? What was your home planet like?" He asked innocently, looking at the deer quizzically. His mood and expression fell a bit though when he said he didn't know where his parents were either. "Oh... Alright..." He said, a little sadly. He had heard the question about his dad, but he didn't respond at first.

 

"No... He would tell me if he was..." The larger than normal grifflet answered,  a bit hesitantly as September's words planted a little niggling of doubt in his young mind. Come to think of it, he had never seen any other griffons like his dad... Maybe he was from space!

 

Then that earth pony colt from before came up and pleaded with the space deer to go find some friend of his. Tehengu looked at the colt a bit sadly, then panned his gaze to September, giving him a pleading look too.

 

"Won't you help him Mr. September? Maybe me and Miss Aquaria can help too! Please? My dad always says to always help your friends, and his friend needs help!" He asked the deer, keeping his gaze on him.

[Gerrard]

Aquaria wasn't the most rational of lifeguards for sure, the hybrid forgetting that she was one of the few griffons from the pony town of Baltimare. The griffoness was pretty sure that she wasn't a spy herself, but maybe the diver was so undercover that even she didn't know she was a spy! Regardless, in her list of importance, aliens were way more interesting than just about anything. To make it even better, this was a space deer and he didn't want to cook her up and experiment on her. Most aliens were on world domination plans, so getting on his good side was the first goal. Even despicable aliens couldn't eat their best friends!

 

There were so many questions this alien needed to answer, but it would be rude to disregard his desire for privacy. She visibly squirmed, her muscular striped form contorting as she held back her desire to ask about his 'space boat' or space vehicle of some kind! The space fish would have to wait until they had a private location to talk in secret. Her rose colored eyes drifted over to see Zeig being attacked by a small herd of 'ponies', only to see him burst free of their cute clutches. She loved wrestling and roughhousing almost as much as she loved fish. Her powerful from slinked down into a pouncing posture, her tail wagging excitedly as she prepared to join the fun. A mere moment before she could attack, a cute red pegasus, yelled for everyone to stop fighting. The lifeguard frowned and returned her attention to September just in time to see another pony approach the odd trio of non-ponies.

 

The colt explained that they needed to go rescue Pressy, the cream colored foal with an attachment to delicious looking frogs. Pressy wanted to eat all the frogs herself! While that was a bit mean, Aquaria was obligated to save everyone as a lifeguard, no matter how many frogs they stole for themselves. Aquaria glanced up to the grifflet perched on her back and smiled for noticing Pressy's body disappearing into the dangerous swamp. "Tembie and Gu, we need to save the frog napper. I'll be your mom until we can find your parents, I promise" she declared excitedly, snatching the foreleg of the deer and spinning him around in the direction of the unicorn filly. "We need to save the day before she becomes owlbear food," she explained excitedly, hooting after saying owl. She had never hooted before, and now was as good a time as any!

 

"Inkbrand, stop beating up the foals or I will put you in a crossface or give you an owlbear hug," she cutely threatened the tattooed stallion as she awkwardly ran with her young grifflet in tow. While she could fly, Aquaria usually only did so in safe open areas since she had a habit of crashing when things got vaguely near her. Anyway, life was more fun when you ran into it head first instead of flying over it! The new 'mom' had to keep everyone safe, Pressy, Tehengu and all of the foals that Inkbrand was trying to beat up. It was going to be a busy afternoon for her, the lifeguard always eager to work to stave off insidious boredom. Some ponies might have looked at the swamp and seen it as ominous, but Aquaria knew better, it was just an adventure that may or may not have kept dangerous monsters hidden!

[Hawkeye12]

((Made a couple of mistakes originally, edited them.))

 

September noticed the older griffon noticeably fidget at his...space-deerness. What was that? Wasn't she interested in him being an alien before? Tehengu was also asking about his space life, to which he shook his head slightly. "I'll tell you later, right now I need to get some things sorted out." It was the best response he could come up with for the moment.

 

Besides, there were still a bunch of kids he needed to save. Though as he turned and looked, the foals seemed to be fighting back against the stallion. Well...good for them? Sort of? It was good that they weren't tied up or anything, but things really seemed to be getting out of hoof really fast...

 

But then that stallion turned to him, asking what he should do to keep them down. 

 

Huh. Sep was starting to get the idea that he wasn't turning them into frogs...

 

Still, even though he was maybe trying to do the right thing and round them up, something about him rubbed September the wrong way, "Well, for one, I don't think you should forcefully try to keep them together with rope," he scolded, which was weird as that was something he rarely did. "And as for ideas? Um... be nice? Play a game? Give them candy? It's not that har-"

 

The peryton stopped midsentence as a brown colt started to...attack him? It sure seemed like it at first, until he paid attention to what the colt was saying: that one of the fillies ran off. And as if on cue, he suddenly felt Aquaria grab his foreleg and pull, his body awkwardly twisting towards the Everfree. And sure enough, he could see a tiny speck of a pony as well as what looked like Naj off in the distance. 

 

Okay, so maybe it was that hard.

 

His mind raced. What should he do? Stay here and let Naj handle it? Aquaria also wanted to go after her as well, so she would have backup. But he knew about that place, and it was not fun, even for a forest dwller like him. But he probably knew the most about it...

 

September let out a sigh of relief as he made up his mind and turned to the pair of griffons. "Okay, Aquaria? Do you mind staying here? You can be in charge, the leader of all these foals...and even him," he said, gesturing to Inkbrand. She did seem to do well around them, so maybe she could get them under control. "And you," he turned to the brown colt, "You're coming with me. I'm going to need some help convincing your friend, you know." He smiled, scooping the colt up and placing him on his back. 

 

Though just then it occured to him the problem with this plan- his flying skills. Or lack thereof. September never liked to admit it, but he was never good at flying. He could hover if he concentrated, and glide if the wind was strong enough, but actual flying? Almost always landed in a crash. And the colt on his back wouldn't help either...though he already made up his mind, so it had to be done.

 

"Here goes... hang on, it'll be a bumpy ride," he muttered, before reluctantly opening his wings and took off. Luckily there was a good breeze going so it was a smooth glide for a while. But breezes never last long enough, and eventually the peryton was forced to flap his wings.But just as he thought he would crash..he didn't. Yes! He was actually-

 

...And then he lost control.

 

September landed on the ground with a thud, the colt rolling off of him. "Sorry! That...happens a lot..."

 

He looked towards the forest, where the filly seemed much closer now, hopefully a short gallop away. But still, she was moving awfulky fast. "Come on!" he said, breaking out into a run towards the enterance to the forest, glancing back to see if the colt was still with him. He then faced back forward, locked on the runaway filly. "Pressy!" he shouted, though he doubted thst was loud enough...

[Pretzelparty]

 

 

 

 

Foxglove giggled at the sudden shout from the stallion, she truly loved startling ponies... even unintentionally. To be honest the filly head was a tad jumbled by all this, particularly her memories. Perhaps it was her unique paraphernalia that managed to keep whatever spell had happened from fully rewinding her memory to that of her younger self. At this point the filly only had a vague recollection of her former self; she knew she used to be older and that she was in ponyville for something... but in the end that was about it. Nothing she could do about it now, just best to go with the flow until this all sorted itself out. Seeing as so far she wasn't getting an social interaction by this fountain, she figured she may as well spend some time with the funny stallion...

 

Once inkbrand turned around to witness Naj's return and almost immediate departure to chase after a rogue filly, Foxglove was standing right next to him, listening to his words and nodding. "Probably woulda been the best way ta go... but hay, what would I know about foals?" She said, with a slight drawl in her voice before she placed her umbrella on her back. The ghostly white coated filly idly hummed a tune beside the stallion, looking over to inkbrand a moment to speak, "So... Mister, if I wrote a story inspired by you... would Ya'll wanna cut of the bits it may make?"

 

 

 

 

 

The cream colored escapee was still on the run after her green targets, Seems she could really move! Not too surprising considering her lineage on her father's side. The filly's ears perked up slightly as she heard a familiar voice yelling at her from behind, "They prolly would be! But Applejack told me I was s'posed ta look after 'em! I gotta get 'em back!" she said speeding towards the swamp and grimacing as she thought about how she was gonna react when she was there. With her focus set so throughly on the escapign emphibians she failed to notice a patch of goldenrods in her path. She dashed straight on through covering her form in a small yellow cloud of pollen and soon...

 

"heh... ahh... ahh..." She stared through teary eyes at the swamp on the not-to-distant horizon and then, "ACHOOO!" the filly sneezed, her tiny horn exploding with magical energy that swiftly engulfed her and soon she was gone in a flash of blue. Much farther along the way, the group would see another flash of blue magic now inside the swamps boundaries...

 

"Eep!" squeaked the mare before scrubbing a hoof at her now itchy snout, "bloomin' goldenrod." she thought to herself, and then chuckling to herself at her in thought pun. After thinking about her situation she smiled as she realized now she could head those frogs off at the pass! She looked to some tall grass at the border of the swamp and hid her little body within, narrowing her eyes and watching carefully for any hopping, her tail flicking back and forth in anticipation like a cat.

[Zeig]

 

Oh, of course. Of course it wasn't that hard, what with colts pulling bucking knives from their hooves and fillies gullible enough to believe the sky was falling and griffons so uproariously funny that they mewled when mad.

Just an average day in Ponyville, why the buck hadn't he figured it out earlier.

"Don't see you doing a bucking thing 'bout something that's not 'that hard'," Inkbrand muttered snidely at September, still lounging lazily on the pavement, probably looking like an overgrown foal himself. But for the life of him he couldn't bring himself to care, especially since he was bucking right. Easy enough for the Peryton to lecture him about his foal restraining methods, when all September had done the whole time was stand around looking confused and being completely useless.

Easy enough for him, that was for bucking sure.

But before Inkbrand could invite the Peryton to actually get off his flank and try his "not-so-hard" methods out for himself, Aquaria suddenly reentered the picture, still with the young griffon in her clutches, and the tattoo-clad stallion actually found himself scrambling back onto his hooves in surprise before he'd even realized it - surprise, not fear, buck it! "I wasn't bucking - " the grey Earth Pony began, then dropped it with a gusty sigh as the griffon sped off towards the swamp like a champion, managing a fairly quick speed despite the burden of a griffon in her grasp.

Buck, why did he even bother.

That question didn't have much time to stew as a flash of red-brown suddenly passed by as well, apparently heading in the same direction as Aquaria - which allowed a short moment of time for Inkbrand to wonder, incredulously, as to why the adults felt the need to drag small foals with them into a potentially danger-filled swamp. And how the buck was one frog hopping so quickly that Naj hadn't caught up with the wayward foal yet? None of it made sense, not at all, but Inkbrand was just about done giving all the flying bucks he had available for the day.

There was a limit, after all.

Speaking of…Inkbrand had to pause and glance down at the white filly, who'd somehow materialized right back at his side as if by magic, still speaking in that calm and collected voice as if this were a completely ordinary day for her. Heh, maybe it was. "Yeah sure," Inkbrand answered distractedly, looking back towards the Peryton shrinking into the horizon, "so long as you don't forget to mention how handsomely roughish I am." A book inspired by him, keh…probably featuring the devastatingly handsome villain intent on stealing the soul of pure innocent maidens.

Buck, there were a hundred books inspired by him already. Why was he still working?

Still, one small thought nagged at the grey Earth Pony, vague and shapeless, as he watched the small contingency disappear into the distance. Something was not right with this current scenario, something was out of place…and if only he could figure out exactly, what that was -

SKREEEEE!

"Celestia's flaming flank - !" Inkbrand wheezed out, after he recovered his breath enough to actually manage any cursing. Which was after he had definitely not jumped a foot into the air because of the close shout that'd shaken him from his thoughts, no sir. The tattoo-clad stallion whirled his face around with a glare, wondering what in all Taurtarus the leftover foals could be complaining about now - but it soon became apparent in the form of a clash of sandy-brown and bright orange, with the sandy-brown clearly on top and ready to deliver a smack down.

Inkbrand didn't think, just did, and quicker than a flash of lightning, the two small bodies had been pulled apart, one held under each foreleg like small barrels. The nagging thought still tottering about in the back of his head grew stronger, and the grey Earth Pony resolutely ignored it as he waiting for the two to settle down, breathing a bit roughly from the excursion of holding two exuberant bodies in his grasp.

'Hehe, if you know what I - no no, wait no, wrong, wrooooong.'

He was going crazy.

As soon as he trusted the two foals - read 'em, griffon - to not fly into another headlock, Inkbrand turned back to the other foals in the area, attempting to rearrange the scowl on his face into something a bit more kid-friendly. "Alright already, fun time's over," the tattoo-clad stallion said firmly, settling Applejack and Razor down next to the other two, effectively arranging some sort of semi-circle with himself at the forefront. "Next colt or filly to move from their spot gets a spanking, got it?" he threatened, waving a hoof about in a vaguely disquieting manner, before taking a moment to step back and run a hoof through his mane, turning back towards the Peryton. "Hope you've got something figured out by now, Mr. Not Ha - "

'…Eh?'

For a moment that seemed to span a small lifetime, only silence greeted him, leaving Inkbrand momentarily stunned as he glanced around the area, first left, then right. Nothing adult-sized met his gaze, forcing him to look back down towards the pavement, where four still very small and completely defenseless faces stared straight back up at him.

'…Oh, son of a - '

The niggling thought at the back of his mind sprang to the surface full-force, unrepentant and completely heedless to the distress it was causing as Inkbrand realized, finally realized, that the other three adults had all buggered off to chase after a single bucking foal, leaving him in charge of the rest.

Him. Of all ponies. Clearly the least responsible and least involved adult amongst the entire lot. In charge of a gaggle of foals. He was the one that was out of place in this scene.

What the buck?

No seriously, what the buck?!

Buck it all to Taurtarus, now he couldn't just up and leave if he felt like it! Yeah he was selfish, but…buck, he wasn't that cruel! Not to mention that the town of Ponyville would probably sue him if anything happened to these adults-turned-foals on his watch, despite his watch being very much arbitrary and coincidental and seriously who the buck was running this town.

And there wasn't even a hot mare around to see him being all paternal and rot. What a bucking shaft!

With the mounting thoughts that were slowly becoming more hysterical in nature the longer they went on, Inkbrand forcibly shut down the recurring mantra of should've just left, should've just bucking left, marching around his head with a ferocious shake of his head, instead choosing to focus on the four charges he was…in charge of. Without any other adults around, the three fillies and one griffon suddenly seemed a lot more fragile, more helpless, than they had before.

…Buck. He had better be getting the best kind of karma for this.

"…Alright. Alright, here's the deal," the tattoo-clad stallion started, then had to stop, brushing a hoof through his mane again. He, had no idea what the deal was - at least, not until his gaze landed on Applejack, orange and yellow and completely blithe, and she in turned sparked an idea in Inkbrand's head, half-baked and perhaps ridiculous but it was there.

"Here's the deal," Inkbrand repeated with renewed vigor, beginning to pace in front of the assembled foals like a general in front of his soldiers. "We're gonna head over to Applejack's home for a bit - Sweet Apple Acres, yeah? See if that old - " bird, is what almost slipped from his mouth, but was fortunately caught and quickly amended, "- lovely grandmother is in. Gran…Grandma Apples. Yeah. And she'll probably want to stuff you all with apple pie and fritters and all that good stuff." Applejack would probably fill in those pesky details for the other foals along the way, and he was counting on the familiar name to spark a desire for the young filly to be home with her family. He knew she lived in Ponyville after all, and that Applejack's family was huge. And that she lived and worked on the Acres. Surely her parents would be equipped to deal not only with their blood relative, but with a small contingency of foals for a short while, right?

Right?

"I'm counting on you, sweetheart," Inkbrand added, pointing a dramatic hoof towards Applejack, "to keep these others in line, yeah? Can't give you your new mark unless we're settled someplace nice and comfy, see." Heading home to get back to her family, the promise of her earned tattoo - that would be enough motivation to keep the other foals in line, right?

…Right?

Ah, buck it.

"Aaaand, we're walking," Inkbrand sing-songed loudly, heading up the hopeful train of foals as he started edging his way away from the fountain, opposite the direction the other adults and foals had disappeared to. If he remembered correctly, Sweet Apple Acres wasn't too far away, shouldn't take much time. Unless a foal made a break for it and he had to make good on his spanking threat. "We're walking…move it or get left behind!"

If only. Oh, if only.
 

 

 

[DerpRavener]

Naj had been making good progress, or so she thought.  She'd managed to catch up to the galloping filly, and even managed to get her question out.  The filly didn't seem that receptive to her concerns, but it was still better than it could be.  She had hope that this could be resolved without any more complications.

 

That was, until the filly reached a particular patch of plants.  She sneezed, there was a flash of blue light, and what followed was panic-inducing moment for Naj as the filly disappeared.  The false pegasus breathed a sigh of relief when she caught sight of a similar flash further ahead, still having a rough sense of the filly's position.  That relief lasted until she realized that her 'jump' had carried her inside the borders of the swamp itself.

Naj wasn't that familiar with the swamp, but she knew enough to know that it was no place for a lone filly.  Heck, the only reason she ever felt comfortable there is that she was a soldier, and had more-than-average experience escaping from hostile creatures.  When she looked, she could almost hear something rumbling awake in the distance...

 

Naj wasn't sure if there was actually something there or if she was just imagining the worst, but she couldn't take that chance.  She was NOT going to let something happen to that filly, not while she was around.  Naj angled downward and put on a sudden burst of speed.  The filly had stopped to take up an ambush position ahead of the path of the frogs, which allowed Naj to catch up pretty easily.  It was the landing where she struggled.

 

Though generally competent in the air, Naj was no stunt flyer.  Her preoccupation over the filly, combined with the speed she was moving at, meant she couldn't keep up with the tangled branches of the scattered trees.  Too late she noticed just what she was flying into, and though she managed to avoid some of the branches the action carried her right into something else.  She collided with a tree trunk just beyond the filly with a loud 'thunk'.

 

Naj was out for only a second or two, but it was enough to break that bit of concentration she needed to maintain her disguise.  When she came to, the first thing she noticed aside from being upside down was that her chitin was showing, as were her leg holes.  Presumably her fangs, fins, horn and the rest were showing too, even her scar.  The second thing she noticed was the two distant, airborne figures, steadily getting closer.

Naj groaned.  It would way too late to stop the filly from seeing her, and she had maybe a minute before they caught sight of her and a whole new wave of panic might happen across town.  She'd have to work fast, and be a bit lucky.  With a grunt she rolled around, so she was upright once more, and while rubbing her sore head she took a moment to recreate her previous disguise.  She had to hope that the griffons couldn't tell what she was doing at this distance, though the green flash that came with changeling magic gave her some doubts.  “Hey, can you keep a secret?”  Naj asked the filly before finally looking over, and seeing what the little pony's reaction to this turn of events had been.

[SteelEagle]

 

Applejack had for the most part achieved total and unconditional victory in the awesome rough housing battle of fillies, colts, and otherwises. She loved it! Who didn't like a good ol' fashioned fight once in a while? She still had loads and loads of energy to burn, and her parents always told her to make sure she went to bed good and tired 'cause if you stored up all of that energy for too long then you would float away and become a star in the sky. And as pretty as that was, Applejack wasn't sure she wanted to be floating around in the sky for too long because she'd get real homesick and such and wanna touch solid ground, and her big brother would be mighty upset with her for going up into the sky without her. What was she thinking about again? Oh yeah. The fight had been fun. Too bad some of 'em didn't do much to fight back.

Except for one notable griffon which tackled her, a kitten's claws worth of fury lodged under her skin and drawing some minor blood as she went tumbling with it. There was that brief shot of pain, but nothing she couldn't grimace out of the way. At least somep- err, griffon- was trying to fight and have fun. Figured it had to be the clawy one to continue. Applejack grunted and pulled her back legs in and under the griffon, getting read to buck it in the chest as the fight continued! Well, before they were all pulled apart, the claws tracing small lines of red across her as she gave a small and impish yelp, quickly replaced by a deep frowny face as she pulled herself back. “Hey, why'dah stop thah-” she began before Inkbrand told her what the dealio was.

Well, that sounded like lots of fun! She'd love to show all these ponies her home and have'm full of all sorts of treats. Then they could alll roughhouse later! Worked for Applejack pretty well. “Well, that sounds greaht tah me! Ah reckon we cahn have so much ahpple frittering thaht everypony'll have ta be rolled on outtah Sweet Ahpple Ahcres!” Applejack replied with excitement, starting to trot ahead and leading the group towards her home. Well, this was a fine turn of events! Ponies were always welcome at Sweet Apple Acres, from townfolk to weary travelers. It had always been in the Apple family's manner to treat all ponies with love and kindness, fostering a sweet sensibility that made Ponyville so dang special to everypony that came to her. And Applejack was willing to share that with her rough and tumble buddies!

“Ah cahn't wahit for y'ahll tah meet mah fahmily! Mah brother's bigger thahn five colts his ahge but he's ahs sweet as honey. Mahybe he'll give y'ahll a ride 'round thah orchahrd!” Applejack laughed as she galloped faster home, reaching the edge of Sweet Apple Acres and waiting for the others. “Mah can make tha best Ahpple pie in Equestriah! Why, Ah just hahd some lahst night. Mahybe we'll hahve some pie extrah. Ahn' if not, she'll mahke some! She's always lookin' tah mahke some extrah pie,” she hummed excitedly, her tail flitting back and forth as she approached her home and opened the door. “Pah! Pah! Yer home?” Applejack bellowed before she started running about, looking for her dad. If he wasn't home then she would just have to teach her friends how to rope trick their way into coolness.

Applejack didn't look at the family pictures and that was a good thing. They were arranged in a wall near the entrance, next to a fireplace which was currently not being used. An older mare, a mare, a stallion, a colt foal. An older mare, a mare, a stallion, a slightly older colt foal and a filly foal. This was repeated several times, Applejack and Big Mac growing older and older. Another filly foal was added- but in the next picture, the stallion and mare were gone and replaced with two sets of flowers being held by the older mare. And from there, year by year, they grew older and older until Applejack as she was and should be, Big Mac as he was and should be, and Apple Bloom as she was existed alongside the elder Granny Smith in the most recognizable of fashions, the older siblings each carrying the same set of flowers as Granny Smith did before to symbolize their parents.

“Huh, Ah guess they must be out doin' some errahnds. Can't find'em anywhere! Who wahnts fritters?!” Applejack asked as she got into the family's specially constructed bakery hold, one of the only magical items they used- it kept the contents fresh as could be for up two forty-eight hours, with the mare who made these fritters- Applejack didn't notice her own initials formed in the container as eager as she was to open them- more than pleased in all likeliood with the results.

[tacobob]

 

 

This was horrible. Not just the feeling of not knowing what was going on, there was also a second feeling, which was even worst than the first, and that was knowing she was being ignored! Not just by these random group of strangers, but even by her only real friend, Presteza! It was like she wasn't even there. Her ears sunk down a little further along with her heart. Again, the jerky stallion continued to be a big jerk, even after her decision to stop 'attacking' him. Big jerk jerkyface! Those marks on his legs probably mean 'jerk' in his own special jerky language only jerks knew. She gave the friendly griffon an unearned glare after she spoke.

 

"We are -not- foals and he's not beating us up.", she grumbled, "If he did, actually hurt us kids, they would have locked him up into the deepest parts of Tartarus. Not before my daddy gave him a whooping that is." She always assumed gaining her mobility and strength would be the best thing in the world, but she was even more miserable before! She started to wonder where her family was. Did they know she was gone? Were they looking for her? If they were, they probably weren't looking for her in Ponyville! She could have never gotten here on her own.

 

And again! The marked stallion continued to say words, which were not necessary 'bad', but he obviously meant them to be. She gave him another dirty look as he even dared to mention a 'spanking'. She could picture her father arriving just in time to hear the bully say that word.  She would feel the ground shaking as he quickly made his way over to the skinny earth pony, she would then hear a big KERPOW and that would be the end of the silly tattooed pony. Still, things were mostly slowing down, with some others doing their own thing, while a few more rushed to catch up with her forgetful friend Pressy.

 

There was talk of following the 'hill-filly' to her house. What would they learn there? How to play a banjo? How to drink nasty liquids that came from a big jug branded with a whole bunch of 'X's'? Maybe how to properly say 'Y'all? At least there could be an responsible adult there, maybe one that could help?

 

Fire Walker headed over to the armor and tried to move it. The filly over judged the weight, which nearly caused her to slip and fall onto her rump. Thankfully she was able to stop just in time. After crawling under the empty gear, she quickly stood up and started to follow the others with the oversized R.E.A uniform on, she almost looked like an headless horse! Thankfully the armor was either magic, griffon steel or both, and was very easy to move.

 

As they neared the farm grounds, the red filly smiled as she got a good look. For a farm, it sure was very pretty! The buildings all looked like they were freshly painted with only the happiest of colors. The ponies here was probably as hardworking as any pony in Equestria to keep their farm so perfect! She always assumed farms were nasty, smelly places. Not wanting to drag the slightly dirty armor into the country pony's possibly super-clean home, Fire Walker dumped the gear onto a porch and continued to follow the others. Her smile grew even larger as the filly called out for her 'Pah-Pah', which placed an image of a large, handsome, hard working country stallion, with an never-ending supply of love in his heart, who while not as awesome as her own father, was probably still very cool anyways.

 

While still trailing behind, she stopped to admire the photos. Like her home in Canterlot, there were lots of family photos on the wall. The first had the little apple filly with her family, but then things got really weird, really fast. There were more photos. And the ponies in those photos were the same as the others, but they were older! This was almost like the creepy painting in the 'Haunted Stable' at 'Whinnyland', but instead of turning into a creepy skeleton, they just older, and the two ponies, Fire Walker assumed were the parents, vanished! This was very strange! The filly appeared as an adult in one of the photos! At least it had to be her! What was going on?

 

"Apple pony...", what was her name again... "APPLE JACK!", she cried out. "Please come here...."

 

 

[ShadowWalking18]

Razor found himself enjoying the fight, after all any griffon kitten loved a  good tussle. But the fun ended as he felt a hoof grab and pull him from Applejack and set him down.

 

"Hey! What are you doing? I was gonna win!" He said in irritation, giving Inkbrand a glare.

 

It was then that he noticed that Presteza was gone, and he looked left and right trying to find her. Where had she gone? In fact...where had the other adults gone?

 

He didn't know, though he had a few ideas. Presteza had walked off somewhere and, hopefully, the other adults had gone with her. At least that's what he hoped.

 

So that meant that Inkbrand was the only adult watching them? Not that he needed to be watched, as he still remembered being an adult. Which he would really like to go back to being.

 

....still....given the look of nervousness on Inkbrands face, and the fact that frankly he seemed desperate to keep them all in line if he had to threaten with spankings, which were frankly an ideal threat to him. Hard to spank him if he is twenty feet in the air.

 

Still...Razor couldn't help but...smirk.

 

'Oh...this could be fun.' He thought. If he was gonna be in a kids body...he might as well have some fun with the 'babysitter.' So...he guessed he could play along.

 

And besides, he was kinda hungry as he heard a very loud growl come from his stomach. So he followed Applejack and the other kids to the farm, though he decided that walking was boring and gave his wings a flap or two to propel him up and at the front of the line. He stuck his tongue out at the non flyers as he flew backwards...

 

....of course....that had its own consequences as he ended up flying into the wall of the farm house when they arrived and sliding down it to the ground, talons to his head.

 

"....Ow." He groaned, rubbing his head.

 

Okay...not the best moment. Still they were here, and he walked right in with the other kids, his stomach still growling. Still was all they had to eat fritters? Didn't these ponies even know what a proper nutritional diet was? Especially for a griffon.

 

"Yeah, you all have fun with the fritters. I'm gonna get me some real food." He said, and looked toward the barn where he was sure some little piggies or something were just waiting for him. He wagged his tail in delight, licking his beak.

[Pretzelparty]

Suddenly from behind inkbrand's head foxglove's voice spoke up, "Got it... and also my umbrella." Seemed that Foxglove was currently sitting on inkbrand's back, her umbrella held in hoof. With it's size in relation to her, the tip of the accessory occasionally poked on the ground and left short trails in the dirt. Seemed the little filly with the curly, two toned mane had already made herself comfortable as she relaxed on the stallion's back. If Inkbrand desired to get her off of him, he needed only ask but until he did something she was fine resting where she was. The filly watched the scenery go by and thought quietly to herself , looking over the faces and trying to think if she could fill the blanks in her memory...

 

 

Soon the group arrived at their destination; Sweet Apple Acres.The pale filly had heard many god things about this place growing up and she'd even visited a few times when she was younger and her parents stopped by here to pick up some apples for dinner.  As soon as they were in the door, Foxglove hopped off of her trusty mount and strolled over to the doorway and leaned her umbrella beside the doorframe. As she looked about the house she took notice of the pictures and her usual playful, knowing smile fell into a frown as she noticed the progression of the pictures. She was a pretty savvy little filly so she could tell something was up and from the look of the passage of time through the pictures, she figured that a normally happy and playful filly might not be so happy anymore if they found their parents ... weren't around. Foxglove looked to Inkbrand and then walked over to the pictures to turn them face down and put them behind some of the more happy looking ones...

 

Not a moment too soon either as soon a bright red filly cried out to bring the Apple pony's attention to the pictures. Suddenly there was a hoof on Fire's shoulder and a whisper in her ear, "I think we should keep this to ourselves for now... okay?" she asked in a calm and reassuring tone.

 

Once Applejack (hopefully) returned she would find somepony talking right behind her, when she turned to look she'd see the mysterious filly behind her, "We were just wondering where those fritters ya mentioned might be... we're a tad hungry, mind if I help ya look for them?"

 

*Ribbit... Ribbit ribbit*

 

The little freckled filly stared intently at the hopping herd of frogs growing closer and closer to her position. The young unicorn slowly hunched down, preparing to leap, and then she struck! The little creamy blur darting from the brush and swiftly scooping up all the little buggers before putting the cap on the jar and poking some holes on the top with a small twig. "Heehee!" she giggled in excitement as she danced around the jar, "I Gotch-AH!" 

 

The Filly reflexively clung to the jar and hugged it to her just as something huge whizzed past her head and then slammed into a a nearby tree. Pressy then opened one eye cautiously and then her jaw dropped. She slowly stood up and looked over the sight before her. Those fangs, the fins that unique horn and the bug-like wings, "W-wow... that is... SO.COOL!" The Filly galloped over and began to try and look at Naj from almost every angle she could, "H-how did you make yerself look like a pegasus? Are ya a cursed pegasus, or do you look like that normally but you use some kinda neat magic to change you appearance. Oh whatever the answer is, Can I paint you like this sometime? I promise I won't tell a soul!" The little filly's eyes were big as saucers and her smile was just as big, her eyes practically sparkling with intrigue and delight.

[Zeig]

 

 

…What was he, a bucking mule?

"Oi, I'm not your personal carriage," Inkbrand half-snapped, half-snorted as their small group moved along, after realizing that the white filly had once again hitched a ride on his back like it was her Equestrian-given right. "Bucking rude." Still, the grey Earth Pony spoke without any real heat in his voice - not because she was a little filly or because the assumption didn't tick him off, but because -

Well, buck him.

Their miniature migration seemed like the very first thing to actually work out alright today.

…Sans small griffon flying headfirst into a building because he was out to prove something, but since that still worked out pretty well for himself, Inkbrand was counting it as a win.

Amused and slightly malicious chuckles aside - served him right, the little blighter - he'd managed to get all four of the colts and fillies into Sweet Apple Acres without anything more than two evil looks, another mysterious teleporting trick, and somewhat inane babble courtesy of the homestead's very own resident. Inkbrand couldn't help the somewhat fond smile that speed over his lips as Applejack rambled on and on, pleased that his hypothesis had been proven right. The orange filly was clearly keen on showing off her home and family to the lot of them - so keen that it was getting difficult to actually hear what she was saying, given how the filly was galloping faster and faster away from them - but it was obvious how proud Applejack was of her family. Personally, Inkbrand was looking forward to this famous apple pie that her mother apparently needed no excuse to make.

And then maybe get a taste of her mother's apple pies, too.

…Eh.

Buck, he felt dirty. What was it about being surrounded by a small coalition of youngins that made jokes uttered even in the safety of his own head sound sleazy? Even more than normal. Bucking kids were messing up his game, was what.

"Yeah, don't think so," Inkbrand jeered without slowing down his pace, reaching out to grab Razor by the scruff of his neck again, "no eating the chicken feathers or pig's feet - or whatever it is you crazy birds eat." Bucking sick. He knew, of course, that griffon's preferred a diet that was distinctly different from ponies, but the farm animals of Sweet Apple Acres weren't going to meet that fate if he could help it.

He, for one, really didn't want to be on the receiving end of that old bird's cane.

Still, the grey stallion was feeling a bit more generous now that things were going his bucking way, and he released his hold on Razor when they were all safely tucked into the house, closing the door behind him with one hind leg. He could hear Applejack running to and fro inside her home, familiarity obvious in the way the orange filly bellowed at the top of her lungs for her father, and Inkbrand had to pause and wonder, just for a moment, if this is what it would be like to have kids of his own.

No more apartment in Manehatten, but a decent sized house on the outskirts of town, or something. A homely fireplace instead of his tattooing station. The invasive smell of apple-baked goods rather than a smoky steeliness. Family pictures inside the doorway instead of pinups and magazine pages.

Buck, it was too difficult to imagine.

Inkbrand shook his head once, lingering by the doorway in case said father wanted to arrive and beat him senseless for the audacity of being anywhere near his daughter, and his golden eyes involuntarily landed on the pictures again, grin growing. They all undoubtedly pictured Applejack's immediate family - ah, he recognized the granny, with or without her blasted cane - and older ponies that could only be her parents. Buck, did that stallion in the picture made him want to immediately turn tail, because as derisive as he could be about overprotective fathers who treated their daughters like innocent, pure and bucking stupid as flowers, some of those same fathers wouldn't hesitate to deliver a beat down if they felt like it.

Her mother was a beauty though, that rare sort of beauty that wore as well in a fashion magazine as it did in a muddy pig pen, and Inkbrand's golden eyes roamed further over the pictures, trying to see what the mare looked like now that she was -

…Uh, huh?

…Oh.

Inkbrand was vaguely aware that he was frozen, only the noise of Applejack still calling for her parents echoing in his ears as he gazed at the, presumably, more recent pictures of the family - grown by two but also minus two. It didn't take a genius from Canterlot's Gifted Magically School of Bucking Unicorns to figure out what was going on in the family portraits - also explained why he'd never seen the two older ponies around Ponyville either. Applejack must have lived with her siblings and granny alone all this time, so why -

…The spell. The bucking unicorn spell that had turned them from adults to fillies and colts. Their confusion and panic, their wonderment, the white filly who acted normally but the others who didn't know what happened or where they were or what was going on.

'They don't remember. Buck, she doesn't remember!'

Funny, today, how often his body had moved against his will. The red filly had only barely called out to Applejack before Inkbrand shot forward, wrapping her in his forelegs to clamp a hoof down over her mouth. A brief, thankful glance was sent the white filly's way, who, seemingly comprehending the situation much faster than he had, had turned down a good portion of the pictures, hiding the evidence, and it gave the grey Earth Pony time to think even as the red Pegasus struggled in his grasp.

Bucking buck.

Okay no, okay. Alright. It was fine. They were all fine. As soon as a cure was found for this magical mayhem, all the ponies would revert to their normal selves, and Applejack would have her memories back, and nopony would have to slowly and carefully go through painful and awkward conversations about death and goodbyes and things that fillies should have already know but didn't because of bucking Unicorn magic.

Buck, he hated bucking Unicorn magic!

"Save some of those fritters for us, eh?" Inkbrand called out in the general direction he thought Applejack's voice had come from, "we'll be right there! And you," he added in a whispered hiss, releasing his hold on the red Pegasus to crouch down so he could stare her straight in the eye, "just…just, keep quiet, okay? Let's just all relax and keep calm until we - I, can get everypony's parents and rot." …Rot. What if this filly's parents were also dead and she had forgotten, too?

Buck, the likelihood of him having children of his own was ever decreased. He clearly wasn't cut out to handle kids for an extended period of time.

With a rough sigh, Inkbrand got up from his crouched position, clapping both fillies on their shoulder and glancing around to make sure Razor was still in the area, before tossing his head and leading the way towards Applejack's voice. Sure enough, he found the orange filly in front of what looked like a miniature bakery storage, pulling out fritters to share with the class. "Hey, thanks Apples," the tattoo-clad stallion praised with some semblance of normality again, reaching out to swipe up one of the proffered goods, "nopony makes fritters like the Acres." Truth be told, Inkbrand couldn't recall if he'd ever actually purchased anything directly off the farm, but chances were any apple-tinted food item in Ponyville had originated within the bountiful orchards, so he supposed it was the same thing.

The not knowing made the tattoo-clad stallion realize, rather abruptly, that he didn't know half of the ponies he was supposedly suppose to be watching, too, causing him to swallow down his bite as he sat down directly on the floor. "Since I'm now in charge of keeping you rowdy rascals in line for the next…" he stated magnanimously, a vague wave of his hoof through the air to indicate the amount of time he'd be corralling them all, "I think it's high time for some introductions, yeah? I'm Inkbrand, but you lot can call me IB, or Mr. Ink. Or, 'My Liege,'" he added blithely, face completely serious save for the slight grin crooking up one side of his lips.

My Liege…yeah, seemed about fitting.
 

 

 

[moonshineTheleocat]

Well.... that backfired horribly. Seriously, what sort of creature that has wings, can't fly?! Voronoi knew better than to chide a pony about his inabilities. But come on! The age difference between himself and September were like... MILES APART! What could have easily been the most epic save in history, riding on the back of a winged deer... just turned into him tumbling off the things back and doing a face plant with the earth.

And so... after eatting that grit, he slowly pushed himself back up to his hooves rubbing his sore snout. His gaze shifted up for a moment watching as that Deer goes galloping off without him. Voronoi watched with a bit of dismay as he was left behind. It didn't take a math genius like himself to tell that there would be not a chance in Tartarus he would be able to catch up now.

 

With a disheartened huff, the pony turned his head to the leaving group and began to tail them. Yeeeaaaaah... great. Go with the big gray stallion whom seems like a big jerk wad? This day gets better and better. Maybe he can just find some bits or something lying around and catch a Train ride back home. Or... well... no that's not a good option either. That caused him to run off to ponyville in the first place. Jeeze... where could he go after this?

 

Well... that sort of thinking will need to be saved for another date. As the little foal ran face first into Fire Walker's flank, causing him to let out a startled yelp after being suddenly ripped out of his deep thinking.
“Why did you st-....” He started to ask Fire Walker.... his gaze following her's to a painting on the wall. And there it was. The last bit of evidence that really made something in the pony snap. A sensation of sheer panic began to fill his heart as he backed away slowly. His crazy theory was true! THERE WAS SOME SORT OF TIME DISTORTION!

“Oh... no... no no no no......” The stallion whimpered. There was no going back in time! Time lept forward! This could cause all sorts of problems! A MAJOR PARADOX! What would happen if he found himself in this time line!? NO! What would happen to Applejack! She was in her own house!

 

"I think it's high time for some introductions, yeah? I'm Inkbrand, but you lot can call me IB, or Mr. Ink. Or, 'My Liege,'"

 

Introductions!? THERE IS NO TIME FOR THIS! THIS IS CRITICAL! The stallion was quick to lounge up to the older buck. If his weight wasn't enough to knock him over... than he'd probably be hanging from his neck or something.

 

“We have no time for your silly games! This is an emergency! We-" he paused for a moment and narrowed his eyes at Inkbrand, "My Liege... really? Think highly of yourself do we? ENOUGH OF THAT! We went to the future! This shouldn't even be possible! There'd be a... time paradox or something! Reality would twist upon it's self and collapse! You've-”

 

The stallion stopped again, his head quickly spinning too look down to sweet sweet AppleJack and back to Inkbrand. His voice now dropping into a hush, "Brought her to her own doom, Oh Capn' me Capn! If she finds her older self, who knows what could happen beyond the space time theories! Maybe she just cease existing! Maybe she explodes into billions of particles to be scattered across the skies and stars! Maybe nothing at all!"

 

((Blah... a bit rushed.... ran into some horrible writer's block on this one))

[SteelEagle]

 

Some fritters were just made better than others and Apple fritters were legendary for being the best fritters since the word fritter was invented by Alfred C. Fritterfields during the great pastry conflict of oh-nine. Well, that was what her Granny told her and everypony new Granny's knew everything that ever was. Heck, Applejack was pretty dang sure that she was just as old as Princess Celestia and that they were the oldest olden ponies in all of Equestria and knew just as much. And since Princess Celestia was never wrong, Granny Smith couldn't be wrong. And she taught the whole family everything they knew 'bout cooking. Speaking of, why did these fritters have her initials on them? Hmm..probably a treat or nineteen because she was just that good a filly. She couldn't remember being told so, but her ma could be awfully obtuse sometimes. Time to claim her totally good and well behaved filly award!

Applejack leaped up and took the tray of fritters in her mouth and pulled them off, wobbling as she did so and landing with the small clack of a pan and a few fritters falling over others. She regained her balance before falling and pivoted in place, big'ol tray of fritters in her mouth and facing the whole wide world of fellow colts, fillies, and strange adults. It was right then that everypony in the world decided to be loud or a little weird and her mind overwhelmed by input for a few seconds. Geez, everypoy really wanted their fritters, didn't they?

The pretty red filly yelled out her name in near panic, her face twisted in some sort of terror. What, had somepony stepped on her tail? She could have just straightened that up without all of the drama. Gosh, she reminded Applejack of that white unicorn filly she crushed on at school! 'Course in this instance it was a pegasus who probably flew around all fancy like while Rarity simply shot Applejack some stares and signed stuff in their air with her horn. Maybe she was desperate for fritters? “Wahatcha whahhhnt?” Applejack mouthed through the tray before using her noggin and putting it down.

The second one was desperate for 'em, asking even to help Applejack find them. Well, guess what? Applejack was absolutely totally ahead of the curve on that. She pointed them out excitedly. “Thahr! Yer all set tah tahke one if yer fit for it!” Applejack said, quickly following her own offer up as she took one and started to munch on it.

But she had sure as shine saved plenty for everypony else, which was the command of Inkbrand! He seemed mighty pleased with the prospect of some fine Apple goods and darn right he should be. Apple goods were best goods, from sea to shining sea and anypony who said otherwise was probably a meat eater like that impossible to please Griffon. “Well if yer so excited yah better stahrt chowin' right on down! These fritters were hoofmahde bah...Ah dunno, but they look like thar for me so Ah'll say ma, so Ah can show'm with all of yah's! And you back thar-” she tried to get attention of that silly griffon, “don't be goin' all meaht eahtin' here! Thahr ahint's nothin' here fit for thaht. Stop being ahll silly like ahn hahve ah fritter, ya big dope,” she laughed, lookin' back at the group.

Something seemed off 'bout them, but she wasn't about to rock the boat too much. And she liked introductions. “Well, Ah'm Ahpplejahck! Nice tah meetchah ahll, even those Ah've already met. Ahnd Ah think Ah'll cahll you Mr. Inky, 'cahuse yah ink stuff. Sounds good tah me, whatchah think?" She said, swiftly stuffing her mouth.

[tacobob]

 

 

“No no no.”, the red filly pushed the hoof off her shoulder, “This isn’t right.”, she growled. “She needs to know the truth, as do the others! If we continue to believe this is all normal, we’ll never defeat this curse, or spell, or whatever this is!” The little Pegasus knew this would be one of the worst experiences a pony could endure. Losing one parent was bad enough? But both? And considering how the portraits went in order, poor Applejack probably lost them the same time. Fire Walker could not even imagine how horrible it must have been. Maybe the filly was right. Maybe there was another way. One that wasn’t so...

 

Then the red filly was once again handled by the jerky stallion. “Right. You’re going to get my father. Major Brass Hat, a very high ranking pony in the Royal Equestrian Army. Then you’re going to show him a little filly that looks just like his adult daughter. What do you think he’s going to say or do? I know one thing he’s not going to do, and that would be hoofing over an award.”, her frown quickly vanished, “I’m sure this is cute and amusing to you like some big joke with us being kids, but adult me obviously has a job to do. Heck, I might even have kids of my own by now. How do I know they’re not in any trouble right now?”

 

Fire Walker lost the hostilely in her voice as she spoke, “We need to get an real adult here. One that knows magic. I’m sure the Apple family’s fritters are a treat, but it’s not going to help us one bit, and more importantly, it’s not going to help you. Know what I mean?”, she waggled her eyebrows at the older pony.

 

 

 

Something seemed off 'bout them, but she wasn't about to rock the boat too much. And she liked introductions. “Well, Ah'm Ahpplejahck! Nice tah meetchah ahll, even those Ah've already met. Ahnd Ah think Ah'll cahll you Mr. Inky, 'cahuse yah ink stuff. Sounds good tah me, whatchah think?" She said, swiftly stuffing her mouth.

 

 

“Oh.”, even as an adult Fire Walker was a horrible liar. And she lacked Moon Walker’s acting skills. “I mean, oh-boy!”, she got on both of her back legs in a cheerful pony pose, “I’m just so excited to have some real country cooking! Not like that boring stuff back at Canterlot!” Good ol’ country cooking! Biscuits. Gravy. Cheese stuffed potatoes. Gravy. Cheese stuffed biscuits. And even more gravy. Not to mention grits.Or cheese stuffed grits.

 

Since they were offered, the filly snatched up a fritter and chowed down. She did not have to actually pretend to like these, as they were actually pretty tasty. Some vanilla ice-cream would go prefect with this. “This is pretty good! Yum! Almost magical.”

 

And not missing a beat she also added.

 

“Like a unicorn. SAY.”, she scooted a little closer, “Do you know if there are any unicorns in Ponyville? Ones that are a real smart-cookie? As in a real wizard? A real smarty pants?”

[ShadowWalking18]

Before Razor could go and score himself some bacon, he found himself being taken up and placed among the kids.

 

"Hey!" He protested, "I don't eat sweets anyway."

 

He scowled and huffed, crossing his talons in a pout. It wasn't fair.

 

He sighed in defeat, but gave Applejack an annoyed looked. He then gave a smirk and playfully snapped at her with his beak.

 

"You do know kid that you technically count as meat right?" He said with an evil grin.

 

Well if he couldn't get pork chops he could have fun and give a scare or two. What was the worse Inkbrand could do to him? Spank him?

 

He looked at the fritters, and made a slightly uninterested look....but his stomach gave a growl of hunger which made him blush in embarrassment.

 

"Gah...fine. I'll eat a stinking fritter." He said, snatching one in his claws and tossing it into his beak and eating it. He blinked, and licked his beak.

 

"Hmmm....not bad." He said, taking another.

 

Still even with food he wasn't anywhere near to being restored to his rightful age.

[Hawkeye12]

It didn't take long after he started running for September to realize that he wasn't going to catch up to the filly...heck, he had completely lost sight of her at this point! Well...hopefully that other Pegasus could handle it? Hopefully. But the best thing he could do was go back with the colt and OH MOTHER OF MOTHERS WHERE DID THE COLT GO.

The Peyton's eyes frantically looked around, but he wasn't in sight. Great...now what would happen? This was, like, child neglect! He didn't want want to go to jail! He was too young!

Okay okay, calm down. Taking a quick breather, September racked his mind to think of where the colt could have gone. Maybe he was sane enough to go back and join tattooed pony and the others? Yeah, that sounded about right... As quickly as his hooves could take him- because he didn't want to suffer another flying incident- the peryton galloped himself back into town.

...Only to find that everyone was gone.

"Oh, come on!" He shouted, feeling his own sanity starting to slip away from him. Just as before, he looked all around him, but this time he saw them: they were just a blob of ponies, but it had to be. Most of them seemed small, right?

So he hit the ground running once again, even though he wasn't able to catch up until the group had already went inside...a barn? He never pictured any of the adults living at a place like this. But that didn't matter, he had foals to protect.

But this protecting seemed impossible now, as it just dawned on him that he ran nearly the entire length of the town, no matter how small it seemed.

"Need...water..." He gasped out as he stumbled over to where the foals were. He was a skinny peryton after all, unsuited for running like that. So it wasn't long before his legs gave out beneath him and he flopped to the floor, panting like a dog.

...He didn't sign up for this...

[DerpRavener]

Naj watched in confusion as the two dots whirled, and turned back.  Or at least one of them turned back, the other went...somewhere.  Naj lost track of it at some point, after it moved past a tree.  In some ways it was an ominous sign, that the two of them would suddenly focus on something else with all the foals around, but it least it meant that they weren't hunting Naj down.  It would give her some room to manoeuvre, and confront the problem she originally came this way for.

 

Which just at the moment was a curious little filly asking a barrage of questions.  “Uh, er...” This was not the sort of reaction she ever expected, even if perhaps she should have in a situation this bizzare.  She struggled a bit to keep all the questions straight in her head.  “Well, that's what I normally look like.  Or at least, when I'm not in disguise.  I've never been cursed as far as I know.  At least, not with magic...”  She remembered there were some days in the barracks that got pretty raunchy, but the filly didn't need to hear about her time as a soldier.  Naj herself didn't even like remembering the before her exile, and grimaced a bit before moving on.  “And last...Oh! Changelings,” she pointed to herself with a hoof, “in general have the ability to disguise ourselves.”

 

She needed a moment to consider the prospect of being painted.  It was a little weird, she wasn't really someone of note, so it would be a little like sketching some strange animal for a book on biology.  It came down to a pony's curiosity though, so she supposed she wouldn't mind.  She had to wonder if she should be encouraging it when they have a bigger problem on their hooves, however.

Thinking of that though, she had a sudden idea.  “I'll make you deal: let me give you a ride back now, I'll let you paint me as soon as we get there.”  She smiled, though it faltered for a moment before returning.  “Well, and you'll need something to paint with, so I guess as soon as we get back and find some art supplies.  But we can start looking right away!”

Naj shifted her wings a bit, trying to make an obvious and comfortable place for the filly to sit.

[Zeig]

 

 

Alright, seriously. He'd just about had it up to here with these foals and their mysterious teleporting tricks.

Though to be more accurate, THAT SODD had simply run into the kitchen rather than suddenly appear in the area like the white filly was prone to doing, but that still didn't lessen his irritation. Would Perytons start falling out of the sky next? Still, as annoying as he was, That SODD was still a young and stupid foal at the moment - and currently going off on one of his tangents that usually resulted in Inkbrand either bleeding out of the ears or simply keeling over in boredom.

Despite himself, the tattoo-clad stallion couldn't help but stare as the brown colt continued ranting, something about time paradoxes and the end of world space and time as they knew it. Similar to the rant the red filly had given earlier, That SODD's continued vociferation as an adult would have probably contained more condescending I'm a science pony and know more than you do, more pretentiously calm and calculated answers to questions that were never asked in the first place. But this, raving and completely beside himself with real terror and worry over the state of his friend was -

Ah hay. It was funny.

Funny enough to force an unwitting quirk of his lips, one that Inkbrand mercilessly quashed down a moment later with an annoyed scowl. Buck, this was bucking THAT SODD. Foal or not, That SODD was a condescending, patronizing piece of rot, and Inkbrand would put on a dress and tiara before he forgot it.

This was all just temporary. Whatever these ponies were like as foals, they'd all be back to normal soon enough.

"Keep a watch out for her older self, then, if you're so worried," the grey colored Earth Pony snapped, irritation at his own self making the words come out a bit more harshly then intended, "and learn how to take a breath between every sentence or two, for buck's sake." Instruction given, Inkbrand firmly pushed That SODD out of his thoughts as he returned his attention onto the others.

And the doubts said others had raised within him.

The red filly did have a fair point. So caught up was he in the lack of parental figures in the lives of these kids, that Inkbrand had never attempted to ponder if the adults-turn-foals here had kids of their own. Or others that were depending on them to show up for dinner, or for work, or for bedtime. The thought was a sobering one, enough to bring a frown onto his normally grinning face - but honestly, Inkbrand wasn't sure what could be done at the moment. Once he got all their names, he could send out a missing ponies report or something, at least maybe get a sense of other ponies who were -

Aaaand, there it was. He was.

"The buck is - " Inkbrand started, and then honestly couldn't find it in himself to do anything but finish with a sigh as - true to his prediction - September suddenly came skidding to a halt in the kitchen, wasting no time in flopping over like a croaking frog. Heh. 'Cause frogs, they croaked - but still. Not that Inkbrand was put out at another adult showing up to give him a bucking hoof, but how in Equestria did a colt and a Peryton fly halfway across town, and then suddenly show up here as if they knew exactly where to go?

Time and space apparently did not apply to Ponyville in the slightest.

But whatever. As aggrieved as he was to see That SODD, the Peryton was certainly a welcome, if surprised, addition. So long as MFT didn't show up all willy-nilly like, he could get through dealing with the brown colt.

"SO ANYWAYS," Inkbrand exclaimed loudly to recapture attention, setting his half-eaten fritter down on a table to stand himself upwards, "Mr. Inky works fine," he extrapolated, with a grin towards Applejack. "Though, 'ya know, if 'My Liege' works better for anypony else, hey. Feel free." The grey Earth Pony also couldn't help but notice how none of the other colts and fillies, save Applejack, had felt the need to introduce themselves to the group at large, all content to either talk to themselves or throw crazy time warp theories out the window.

Pfft. So much for Ponyville politeness. Applejack was the only filly that'd shown any of the town-reared goodness he'd been told countless times to imitate.

Kinda hard to imitate it when it wasn't shown to him in turn. Though in all honesty, Inkbrand hardly minded, because it just proved him right. Bunch of hypocrites and pretentious elitists.

The lack of introductions did, however, give rise to other topics, causing Inkbrand to slow down a bit as he went about filling a random cup with water from the nearby sink, his ears trained on the red filly's questions. And as he did so, the tattoo-clad stallion almost couldn't believe what he was hearing, curious expression giving way to mild surprise, then complete incredibility.

Buck, he was such a moron.

"Buck yes," he exclaimed, hurriedly filling up the rest of the cup before making his way to the downed Peryton, even as his head remained fixed on the two fillies. "You've gotta know somepony in this town, eh Apples? Anypony that can use magic." Buck, the solution was so simple, he couldn't contain the glee in his voice as he unceremoniously dumped the water onto September, helpfully providing a cool refresher even as his mind whirled with the possibilities.

Inkbrand had no idea what sort of magic had caused this in the first place, but even with his lack of magical knowledge, he knew that failsafe spells existed, ones designed to negate any Unicorn magic. And even if there were particularly hard to perform, they'd just need one strong Unicorn to cast one. Never mind who cast the magic in the first place, or what the spell actually was - all they needed was for a Unicorn to trigger a failsafe, and they'd be golden.

Buck he felt stupid. All that worrying for nothing. Soon everything would be back to normal.

…Which, actually, meant he probably had little time to repay back the favor he owed.

"Think real hard, Apples," he demanded, even as he detoured to pick up his fallen bag where it rested against a chair leg, "and while you're thinking, I can give you that tattoo you've earned. Didn't think I'd forget, did 'ya" he added with a wink, tossing his head in the direction of the living room.

Or maybe Applejack would suggest a better place to get her reward, who the buck cared. This entire mess was going to fix itself soon enough.

…Probably. Hopefully.
 

 

 

 

 

[Pretzelparty]

Since the brown colt was currently speaking a mile a minute and the grey stallion who was stuck listening to him was only looking frustrated by having to deal with him. Hoping to help the stallion relax a bit Foxglove kneeled down before inkbrand,  "Well, My liege. I'm Foxglove... My parents are back in Canterlot. I came from there to... to..." The filly paused a moment and thought, laughing somewhat awkwardly, "I actually don't rightly remember... but it's nice to meet all of you."

 

"Oh! Oh!" Suddenly the filly's voice came from behind inkbrand, the owner of said voice now sitting on a chair behind him. "She's not in ponyville but she's ponyville adjacent right now! I saw a poster back in canterlot that said a Magical scholar was in town to give a lecture at Celestia's school for Talented unicorns!" Foxglove's enthusiasm seeming to getting the better of her with her latest statement. Seems being rendered a foal again had given back a bit more of her youthful vigor. 

 

The little filly tried to regain a bit of her composure and dignity and then spoke up again, "Her name's Silver Belle I believe, the poster I saw said she'd be in Canterlot all day so maybe we can catch her and ask her if she might be able to help us." 

 

 

 

The little filly sniffled and nodded, "Okay! I've got all o' Applejack's li-il frogs in her jar again so we can 'ead back now!" The little cream colored filly said, holding the jar over her head and beaming with pride. She then wrapped her silvery tail around the jar and tied it tight, whincing a bit as she pinched herself by pulling a bit too hard. While she worked to secure the Jar, Pressy listened diligently. Changelings? that sounded familiar... oh, who cares? They looked so cool! or at least Naj Did.

 

"Why would ya wanna disguise yerselves when ya look so cool?" She asked tilting her head curiously, rubbing a hoof to her now pink nose. While Naj hopefully answered, the little filly who posed the question walked over and climbed on her back and smiled. "Oh um... do you have a tissue?" she asked in a rather embarassed tone as she held her foreleg still to her nose in an allergic salute. Seeing as her previous sneeze teleported her and her little magical outbursts were usually random she was hoping that she could purge herself of unwanted irritants and not risk causing and harm to her new friend.

[DerpRavener]

For the briefest of moments, Naj looked at the bucket of frogs with a sad expression.  She sympathized with the poor things, pursued and captured by a group of creatures much stronger than them.  It mirrored her own situation only a few months ago.  She soon shook it off though, concluding in the end that her responsibility to the foals was far greater.  Besides, unlike her previous situation, the frogs had been captured because foals liked their presence so things would probably work out.  She had convinced this filly to come back with her, and she wasn't about to jeopardize that over something so minor.

 

The filly asked a question as she climbed onto Naj's, but as the disguised changeling started to mull it over a more immediate concern became apparent.  Naj of course didn't have a tissue, the only things she carried were her small coin pouch and note on disguises she's used, in case she suddenly needed to not be herself for some reason.  She shook her head.  “Sorry, I don't really carry that sort of thing.”  She tended to take a more primitive approach.  Looking around for a moment, she pulled a particularly large leaf off a nearby tree, and offered it to the filly.  “Can you use this in the meantime?”

 

After giving the filly a moment to consider the leaf, Naj readied herself and then carefully took to the air.  While the added weight would complicate things a little, she could deal with that fairly well now that she didn't have to rush.  She was a far better endurance than speed flyer.  Once she got to a comfortable flying pace, she finally, reluctantly returned to the filly's other question.  “As for why I want to disguise...well, a bunch of changelings did a lot of painful things to a lot of ponies.  So a lot of ponies don't want to talk to changelings, and might even try to do painful things back.”  It was a bit too complicated of a subject to have with a filly and while flying, so Naj deliberately omitted a few major details.  Such as the fact that she was once a part of the group she mentioned, but now for the most part regretted it.  Still, what she said got the most important parts across.  She continued.  “That, and some ponies don't like bugs, and aren't comfortable talking to what looks like a bug-pony.”  She chuckled a little as she flew.  "So, I find looking like this makes things a lot easier."

 

As the trees started to give way to buildings once again, Naj saw something that caused her great concern.  Or more specifically, a lack of something.  “Uh,” she started, speaking partly to herself, though she also hoped the filly on her back had some idea, “...Where did the rest of them go?”  She could not find her particular group of children among the crowd.

[PyroBlaze]

Tehengu gave a small noise of disappointment at the deer's response to his questions. Later? But he wanted the answers now! Oh well, he supposed there were more important things happening, like the missing foal and the frogs. He pouted slightly, sagging a bit on the griffoness' back as he looked towards where he had spotted the filly disappearing. When Aquaria spoke to him though, he perked up, smiling at her a bit.

 

"Really? You'll stand in for mommy for now?" He asked her before they ran off towards the forest. He had to wonder why they didn't fly, but he didn't mind too much. "Miss Aquaria? Can't you fly? Not that I mind running, but I was just wondering..."

 

Even as he spoke, he continued running, doing his best to keep up with the adult leading him towards the swamp. It was a bit difficult, given that his limbs were much smaller than the female leading him along. He had to flap his wings a bit to give him the added speed necessary to not be dragged behind the female.

 

(Sorry this was so late, I'm lazy...)

[SteelEagle]

 

Applejack had expected everypony to get real nice and acquainted with one another. True and friendly like, just like you were taught by your ma and pa when new ponies were out and bout. Treat 'em right, earn yourself a friend to the end. That was something she had always strived for, making friends and trying to be the most getting alongingest pony in Ponyville. That was hard because so many ponies in town were super getting alongingest but she figured it was a nice goal to reach. But these other ponies, mostly strangers and out of town folk, didn't seem to be all that in tune with the simple idealism of small town friendliness. What to do, what to do with the few who eschewed what you held so clear and dear? Nothing for now. It was fritter and talk time and later she'd have her Granny give'm some manner of ethics lesson. And they'd get set right quick about the rights and wrongs of Ponyville.

Before she could reall think on that too hard however, several things happened. That silly ol' Peryton came back and looked like she had been tucking herself out. That or she wasn't in the best of shape. Why was that a common feature of out if town ponies? Seemed like they came to Ponyville and about pushed up daisies after a little. Applejack made sure to put a fritter in her mouth, hanging open as it was. “Here ya go! That should perk ya back up!” she added with untold excitement before her tail flicked around her flank nervously. Subconscious. That griffon shouldn't joke about ponies being eaten in Ponyville to ponies, especially ponies who lived on the edge of the Everfree and worried about getting eaten by timberwolves and such. Her parents said that there wasn't much to fear if you were smart and respected it, but it didn't help her much. She was smart and all but heck, it was a scary place.

Not that she paid it too much attention when the subjects of getting her reward from Mr. Inky and trying to think of magic casting unicorns came up. Yay! She was going to get her big pony tattoo. Her parents would be so proud of her and so excited. Maybe she'd trick them for a few minutes into thinking it was her cutie mark! Teehee, that'd be a good laugh. Now all she could hope for was she could think up some fancy schamncy unicorn types in a town that didn't have those laying about except for one awfully pretty filly. They'd be better served in Canterlot, right? Oh well. They were here now. And first priority? Tattooing her flank. “We should probahbly go up ahn' intah thah livin' room. Thah kitchen ahin't ah sahnitorium plahce for this sortah thing, Ah think,” Applejack said succintly, trotting into the living room and then laying down in what she assumed was most effective tattooing position. Then, she though about unicorns.
 

“Hmm, so unicorns. Well, y'ahll might be outtah luck. Thar ain't no sort of high an' mighty unicorn types with powerful magic 'round these parts. Ah meahn thahr's a few unicorns ahn' such. Rahrity- she's this filly in my clahss- she's thah prettiest thing Ah ever did see! Umm...Ahmethyst Stahr sortah hahs good magic...umm...well, sorry fellahs, Ah'd reckon y'ahll hahftah go ta Cahnterlot for a powerful unicorn or somesuch. None of thaht here,” Applejack shrugged. Trying to think hard...”Oh! Mah ahunt cahn mahke her hoof vahnish! That's mahgicahl, right?”

[tacobob]

 

This was all still not going well. Very few of the 'kids' seemed to be too concerned about their predicament. At least it appeared so from where she stood. The fiery filly considered giving the scrappy griffon a swift 'bonk' on the head for being so 'snappy', but she knew the country pony was more than capable of taking care of herself. And there was always a chance that not all of the 'kids' present were actually magically transformed. She knew the orange filly was, but could she be sure the griffon was as well? From what she had heard, he seemed more concerned for his stomach, so there was a chance he was real kid, or he did not know the truth yet.

 

Fire Walker was still rather upset that her friend Presteza was not at her side. Knowing how clever the filly was, they probably would have no problem solving this little dilemma if they were able to put their heads together. Instead the little unicorn wandered off. Should she have followed her? The last time she had seen her friend, the little pony was playing with frogs. Maybe the spell hit her harder since she was a unicorn?

 

From the look on his face, she wondered if some of her words found their way into the adult's noggin, as he appeared to be thinking of something. Was he actually a clever pony and had an idea that would fix everything? This was promptly shut down as he proceeded to tell the others how he should be addressed! Mr. Inky? My Liege? Ho-Boy! She had something she could call him, but if her parents heard the filly use that word, she would have been grounded for a month! An voice in her head quickly shouted away such thoughts! She was not a child! This was helpless! Thankfully, the stallion returned to the subject on hoof, but it still just wasn't enough...

 

Her ears perked up as another voice could be heard. It was an earth pony who suggested they go see Silver Belle in Canterlot! "I could see that working...Find an adult who really knows magic. There can't be anypony here that would know about magic like an actual real magical scholar!" After all, they were in Ponyville for cripe's sake. Their unicorns here were probably only good at counting chickens! Or summoning a banjo for a real country hoedown. 

 

Feeling that were was hope once again, she bounced up,"Good idea! I'll just get some bits from my uniform and we can hop the next train to Canterlot!"

 

(OOC: She will lead Foxglove to her uniform. Grab her purse and quickly make it to the railroad station....or at least try to find the station...and then it's off to Canterlot..Unless somepony tries to stop them!)