Last time on 'POD PONIES' Quest:
>Went to gather up Fluttershy and see if she'd help with the current problems.
>No ones home apparently.
>Saw something skulking around outside.
>Confronted it with Twilight and Pinkie.
>It's Snips and Snails oh god no fuck.
>They wanted to check you out. They think you are neat.
>With Twilight's help, we're able to make them go home.
>Found Fluttershy in her room.
>She's almost completely catatonic and unresponsive, though is clearly awake.
>Could manage to snap her out of it, so opted to carry her back to Twilight's.
>On the way back, found Snips and Snails again, standing next to a giant mushroom.
>They were acting really strange. You all had a bad feeling and went to leave.
>Snips, Snails and the mushroom are all now silently following your group.
You are Rusty Shackleford, a human with no memory who has found himself lost in Equestria. Currently, you are walking back to Ponyville carrying Fluttershy with Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity. Snips, Snails and the strange mushroom are following not to far behind you, their steps making crunching sounds in the snow. Your friends are really nervous and aren’t sure what to do.
"OK, I have a plan. Twilight, you go back home and try to find out anything you can on giant mushrooms. Pinkie, Rarity, you two follow me to Zecora's. If Twilight can't find anything, chances are she'll know something."
"Right." They all say in unison. Fluttershy is still a lump.
"But if they come after you, Twilight, regroup with us."
"Got it." Twilight says and breaks off from the group, walking quickly but not rushing. You and the others also turn, heading to the forest. You look back and see that your pursuers are still fallowing you, seemly taking no notice that Twilight is gone.
You all enter the forest. It's really dark; the snow is clinging densely to the canopy and the moon is being blocked by the weather.
"OK, which way to Zecora's?" You ask.
"Uhhh... "Pinkie says, looking around. She points to a trail heading to the left. "That way!"
"Pinkie, darling, that’s not right." Rarity says, pointing the opposite direction. "I'm positive Zecora lives in that direction."
Both ponies seem sure they're are right.
You decide to take Pinkie's path to the left. Rarity doesn’t say anything, but you think she looks a little snubbed. You do it quickly, still aware that the others are following closely behind you.
The deeper you trek into the forest, the darker it gets, making it difficult to follow the path. It's also fairly tense; the forest is deathly quiet, except for your collective feet crunching through the snow, occasionally snapping a twig.
"I can barely see a thing," You say, almost stumbling over a rock or something.
"Allow me," Rarity says and her horn starts to shine, lighting up the immediate area, glittering gently on the snow.
Snips and Snails are directly in front of you along the path.
You quickly take a step back in surprise and turn around. The mushroom is standing in the path. In the light you can see that it's a bit taller then you and has both arms and legs. It's stalk is bone white and the cap is brown with slightly darker brown spots.
You're surrounded.
"Rarity, do you think you could use your magic to push them out of the way?" You say, huddling close to the others.
"I.. think I can," Rarity says, unsure. "But I don’t want to hurt them. They're just foals."
"We don't have a choice."
"Alright," Rarity steps forward, her horn glowing brighter. There’s a low humming sound that slowly rises and BOOF! Snips and Snails are both thrown sideways, in opposite sides off the path. You lose sight of them as they go into the brush.
"Run!" You shout and the three of you hoof it in the dark. You can hear rustling coming from all sides, but you don’t stop. All of you keep running frantically in the dark woods, but eventually come to a break in the trees. Not far away, you can see the distinct glow of a house.
You look around. Pinkie and Rarity are still with you. You don’t see the others, but you can hear them not far away.
You all run the last leg of the path with every ounce of strength you have left, Fluttershy bouncing around as you hold her close to your chest.
"Uh oh!" Pinkie shouts just before you get to the door. You swivel around and see the pink pony being dragged backwards towards Snips and Snails, glowing magic pulling her by the tail. "Uh oh! Uh oh!"
You quickly, but gently, set Fluttershy down in the snow and dive after Pinkie. You land just in front of her and latch on to her front hooves, which are dug into the ground, trying to slow her drag. You try to get some leverage and pull Pinkie back towards you, but end up getting dragged back yourself. God, who would have thought magic would be so strong?
"Rarity! Help!" You call out and feel your legs being lifter up and pulled back towards Zecora's. You are level with Pinkie, holding her by the hooves, being yanked back and forth in the most intense game of tug of war ever. You don’t seem able to get Pinkie any closer, but you certainly don’t gain any ground.
Looking over Pinkie, you can see Snips and Snails standing not too far away, their horns both aglow. You can also see the mushroom not far behind them, stalking forward.
"Rarity!" You shout, holding tight to Pinkie and using all the strength in your arms to pull her closer. "Do something! Try and make them stop their magic!"
You suddenly fall to the ground with and OOF! You get dragged forwards as Pinkie is pulled closer to Snips and Snails. But, as you watch, a huge mound of snow suddenly falls on the two unicorns. Pinkies drops down in front of you with her own OOF!
Both of you hop to your feet and take off back to the hut just as the giant mushroom reaches Snips and Snails, who are already crawling out of the snow. You quickly scoop up Fluttershy and reach the door with the others. You pound on the door.
"Zecora! Open up! It's an emergency!"
Zecora opens almost right away, rubbing her eye. Before she can say a thing, Rarity and Pinkie rush in and you follow them. Rarity quickly shuts the door behind you.
"For your rudeness, I'll not be sour," Zecora says, clearly confounded by the situation. "Why are my friends out at this late hour?"
"There's something out there. That... that witch in the cellar is only part of it. It lives... out in those woods, in the dark... something... something that's come back from the dead. "
Everyone is looking at you with a weird look. Somewhere, a cricket is chirping.
"What?" Pinkie asks.
"There’s a big mushroom outside!" You shout, snapping out of it. "It's controlling Snips and Snails somehow! And Fluttershy is all limp!"
As if to accentuate your plight, the door suddenly bangs, rattling it in the hinges. You and all the ponies all make a sound and jump back in surprise. At the window, Snails has his face smooched up against he glass like he's making silly faces.
"Hmmm, two little foals have been made into thralls?" Zecora says, scratching her chin. She goes over and pulls down a book from a shelf. "I'm sure I can fix it, but you'll need to stall."
"OK everyone," You say, trying to take control of the situation. "We need to barricade ourselves in and buy Zecora time to work! Do whatever you can to block to the doors and windows!"
Pinkie and Rarity nod to you together and dart off around the hut, getting to work. You set Fluttershy down gently near Zecora. She's still out of it, like a rag doll. Zecora is pouring over a book with a lot of small text and big pictures of plants. She looks very busy so you don’t bug her.
Together with the other two ponies, you move a book case in front of the door, which is still being pounded at a steady pace. You don’t really find anything useful to defend yourself with, but you're not really worrying about that right now.
"Uh oh!" Pinkie shouts again by one of windows not yet barricaded. You turn to see her levitating up off the floor in a glowing aura. "It's happening again!"
"Pinkie!" You shout and rush over to help her, but she suddenly shoots out the window like a bullet. The glass shatters in a millions shards and clatters all over. You're still away from the window, not sure of you should get too close. You can't see Pinkie outside.
"Zecora!" You rush back across the room to the little zebra still nose deep in her book. She's also gathered together some plants and bottles on the table now. "Do you think you'll be to fix them? Make them normal again?"
"As I said before, things will be fine," Zecora says, picking up a bottle and smelling the contents. She frowns and puts it back. "But I will need more time."
You want to save Pinkie, but don't see anyway to go about it. Besides, if Zecora can make them normal again, all you really need to do is just hold tight and have her cure the others.
The door rattles in its frame as another heavy thud hits it.
You just hope Zecora will be quick about this.
You take the time to look for some kind of weapon, anything to defend yourself. You're able to find some kind of short stick. Its about half the length of your forearm and as think as your thumb. One end has a little rope loop notched in it, probably so it could be hanged from a hook. You're not sure what this thing is for, but you guess you could use it to bop some shrooms.
You and Rarity continue to block up all the access points as best you can, shifting shelves and moving large masks. Occasionally you look out side through all the clutter and see some of the ponies. Sometimes you see Pinkie, but she's not trying to get back in or run away.
"Rusty!" Rarity cries. You look over to see her being dragged across the room, a glowing aura around her. She's digging in her hooves and using her own magic to get a foot hold, but it doesn’t seem to stop her. She's dragged up a wall and through a window barricade. She has her hooves clutched to the sides, desperately trying to keep herself from being pull outside. "Help me! Please!"
Quickly, you run over and grab hold of Rarity by the hooves. Just as you do, she loses grip and is pulled partially outside. You lean out side, bracing your legs against the wall as an anchor. You can see Snips and Snails using their magic just off to the side. Pinkie and the big mushroom are no where to be seen.
"Rusty, please! Pull me in! I don’t want to be a zombie-he-heeeee!" Rarity cries frantically and becoming pretty hysterical.
"I'm... trying!" You grunt. Jeeze, why is it so hard to fight against two little colts? You strain and huff and pull with everything you can for what feels like minutes. Suddenly, something breaks and you fall to the hut floor on your back violently, followed by Rarity falling on top of you, knocking the air out of you. The two of you laying there, painting.
"Thank you." Rarity says, exhausted.
"No... no problem." You say, gulping in air.
You gently push Rarity off of you and inspect the barricade she was nearly dragged through. It's nearly completely wrecked; parts of masks are broken and a shelf has completely collapsed. You and Rarity quickly get to work fixing it.
Zecora, meanwhile, has lit a fire under the cauldron in the corner and starts to mix ingredients together in a brew. Watching her work, you see her add in some flowers and colorful liquids, string them all together. After a few minutes, its stars billowing an ugly black smoke. Zecora quickly puts out the fire, swishing the smoke out of her face and coughing. She goes back over to her book.
While you are distracted watching the zebra work, the barricade you were fixing is partially knocked apart. Turning around, you can see Pinkie on the other side, kicking at the barricade. Her expression is completely blank, despite how intense she's assaulting.
"Zecora! How's that cure coming along?"
"I'm sorry, I need to start again," Zecora says, starting to sound a little frantic, turning through the pages of her book. "I need more time to help the insane."
"Great." You say, trying not to get mad. Pinkie is kicking the barricade apart and is trying to climb inside through the window. Rarity is trying to hold everything together with her magic, but it's a losing battle on her end. You take out the stick you found.
"Pinkie!" You shout at the pink pony fighting her way in and hold the stick above you head, ready to strike. "Don't make me do it! Pinkie, snap out of it!"
She doesn’t even look up at you. She's on the ledge and nearly inside. You don't have a choice. You strike down with the heavy stick.
Pinkie catches it in her teeth with lighting speed. She then jerks it out of your grip with a violet shake of her head.
Uh oh.
"Pinkie! Give me that back!" You yell at the pink pony, still clutching the stick in her teeth. She swipe at you with it, but you grab a hold of it. Pushing her face with one hand and pulling the stick with the other, you force it out of her mouth and push her off balance, making her fall back outside. You and Rarity quickly scramble to fix the barricade.
There’s heavy thumps at the door and other barricades, but everything holds. Zecora has gone over to a table and is chopping something. Fluttershy, despite all the activity, is still laying where you left her on the floor.
Bang.
Bang.
BANG!
CRASH!
The door and the measly barricade blocking it fly apart in a storm of wood splinters. The giant mushroom creature climbs over the junk and comes through the doorway, its cap head folding through the small space and snapping back to its full length as it enters the hut. It seems to be looking around the room, back in forth, despite its apparent lack of eyes. Its pony thralls start climbing in behind through the destroyed door.
"Zecora..."You say, slowly. "Did you find the cure yet?"
"I'm sorry, it's not ready yet," Zecora steps away from her station facing. "But now it's time to deal with the threat."
The mushroom walks into the very center of the room, the zombie ponies taking what seems like a defensive stance around it. seeing no other choice, you get up and rush the giant fungus.
"Everyone! Hold your breath!" You shout as you dive at the mushroom hoping to knock it back out the door. You hold your own breath.
Snip's horn glows bright and you stop mid air, a foot away from the mushroom. You are then slammed repeatedly into the ground, the hut shaking a little at each impact. The breath you were trying to hold is literally knocked out of you. You're thrown aside and hit a wall hard.
You hear the strangest sound, like someone taking in a very large breath. As you look up from the floor, you see the mushroom puffing up, its little stem body expanding ever so slightly. And then...
PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!
The entire room is suddenly filled with some kind of yellow pollen or spores. It's everywhere, clinging to the furniture, pony hair, in your eyes. Oddly enough, it sorta smells like... pop corn. Weird.
You hold your breath.