Previously:
>You were able to finally make Rarity sneeze, bringing her back to normal.
>With her help, the two of you were also able to rain sneezing powder on all the ponies standing in front of Sugar Cuber Corner.
>They all seemed to turn back to normal, but were all very confused and disoriented .
>Rarity went to go round everyone up and get them away from the trouble.
>You snuck up to Sugar Cube Corner, seeing Fluttershy, Pinkie, Zecora and a few others in the store.
>Threw a can of sneezing powder in, you were able to turn them all back to normal.
>As soon as you did, Twilight showed up from the kitchen, still under mind control.
You are Rusty Shackleford, a human with no memory who has found himself lost in Equestria.
Currently, you are in Sugar Cube Corner with Pinkie Pie, Zecora, Fluttershy and a few ponies you don’t think you know the names of. Directly in front of all of you is Twilight Sparkle, standing in the doorway to the kitchen. She is still clearly under mind control of the Helmet Head. Her horn is glowing brighter then it's comfortable to look at, as well as making a steady humming noise that’s rising in intensity.
"Everyone! Out!" You shout to all of the ponies as you pull out another can of sneezing powder and open the cap as far as it will go. "Run!"
All of the ponies in the room seem frightened and confused by what's going on. A few timidly start heading to the door, though in no great hurry.
Of course, Pinkie isn’t one of them.
But you don’t worry about any of that right now, focusing everything you have on Twilight. Powder can in hand, you throw it straight at Twilight's face. Despite being only halfway across the room, you still miss and it hits the wall next to Twilight. But the flimsy cap does pop off, spilling powder everywhere in a poof near Twilight.
The purple pony's nose wrinkles and she starts to rear back. Her mouth is open and you can hear the sneeze just begging to turn over. This is the longest held sneeze in history. You're not sure if she's even going to sneeze at this poin-
ACHOOOOO!
Twilight lets out the biggest sneeze yet, losing balance and stepping forward into the room a little. When she looks back up, her eyes and nose are watery. Her horn has also stopped powering up.
"W-what? Where ar-" She starts to say, but is interrupted by the second can of sneezing powder you throw at her, beaning her right in the face and completely covering it with powder. She starts sneezing and hacking violently in the cloud of prank powder.
Ooops.
"Everyone, come on get out of here! Yes that means you too Pinkie!" You say, rushing over to Twilight who wheezing. You hold your breath, grab hold of her and lead her away from the kitchen and towards the exit.
"Rus*cough*Rusty, why?" She stammers between coughs, stumbling blindly.
"Sorry, sorry." You say, pushing her along and trying to keep her upright. "It's a long story. I thought yo-"
The door to the kitchen bursts open and two little figure dart into the room, zipping around in ever other direction. What ponies are still in here with you now duck for cover, putting their legs over their heads protectively. One of them hits you hard in the side and you feel something sharp stab into your skin.
"Son of a horse!" You shout, looking at your arm. It's one of the little Cake babies you've seen before. It's biting really hard on your forearm, making a little snarling noise, his little wings buzzing like an electric motor. It really hurts.
The other one is still darting around the room
"Twilight! Help!" You try shaking your arm, hoping the baby will let go. He's on you like a steel vice with tiny wings. "Use the sneezing spell!"
"Uh, alright!" She says, stumbling around some more. You can see her squinting really hard at... a wall for some reason. When her horn starts glowing, you run over into the line of fire, holding the pony clamped to your arm out into it.
Attzzzo!
The little foal makes an adorable little sneeze, spraying a not so adorable little mess on some of your arm. He stops biting almost immediately and flutters to the ground, looking all around. You check your arm; there’s a fairly deep little bite in the middle. Luckily, it seem he only has a few teeth.
"Did I get it?" Twilight says, bumping into you.
"Yeah, yo-"
You nearly lose your head as another little shape shoots past your ear like bullet, making you duck instinctively. The other Cake baby is still flying around, using magic to dart around the room like a demonic bat.
"Twilight, take this." You pick up the little winged baby, who has started crying and give him to Twilight by the scruff, putting him on her back like a little rider. "Now get out of here, hurry!"
"OK OK!" Twilight says, hurrying out with the others, making a straight be line to the door, knocking over a some of the stragglers on the way.
Something sweeped your legs from behind and you fall backwards to the ground, head bouncing against the floor. Your vision went blurry for a moment but you didn't get knocked out. Looking straight up, you see the other foal, glowing and flying all over above you.
You shake off the dizziness and start groping around for the bag with the cans of sneezing powder. You can't seem to find it, so you flip over onto your front to look around for it. You spy it just out of reach, just under the counter.
As soon as you do, a force hits you in the middle of your back like someone dropped a heavy rock on you, followed by a painful wrenching of your left ear being pulled back.
You try to reach back for the last Cake baby, but it's right on the center of your back and you simply can not seem to bend your arm back to reach it. Meanwhile, it's still pulling at your ear, each tug feeling like it's tearing the skin a little more each time.
You turn over and try to get up. Now, you are fairly sure these babies don’t weight all that much, but when all of they weight is pulling straight down from your ear, it really hurts. You are able to get to your hands and knees, but lean your head very lose to the ground so that Pumpkin Cake is standing and not hanging off your ear. Of course, she's still latched on tight, pulling and walking back, dragging you along ever so slightly.
"Ow ow, come on little pony," You say, talking down to the little thrall. "Stop it. Stop it."
Gently, you try to push the baby off of you, making sure not to hurt the little thing. But she's glues on like a magnet in velcro and shows no sign of letting up.
Mindful of the fact that its just a baby, you give the little foal a flick on the horn with your index finger. It makes a little funny twang, like flicking a spring door stop.
But it doesn’t help. She's still biting down on your ear and yanking hard.
"Twilight! Help again, please!" You shout out. You don’t really hear anyone come to help you over the sound of Pumpkin Cake gnawing on you. But suddenly a couple pink hooves step in front of your vision.
"Need some help?" Pinkie says cheerfully.
"Pinkie, please get her off! She's going to tear my ear off."
"Okie dokie." Pinkie replies cheerfully and walks out of your field of view. Suddenly, you are retched up to your knees by your ear.
"Ow ow ow ow!" You cry repeatedly, now in a whole new level of pain. From this position, you can see Pinkie holding Pumpkin Cake in her teeth by the scruff, pulling against you. "Pinkie, ow, no not that, ow ow, way stop ow! Pinkie!"
"Orrff," Pinkie muffles in reply and sets the sadistic foal back to the floor, your head following along. "My bad."
"The bag, Pinkie, get the bag." You say, pointing in the general direction you think its in. "It's full of sneezing powder. Make her sneeze."
"Ooohhhh," Pinkie says. You hear her rummage around, doing something. "Silly Billy's! I love this stuff."
The pink pony returns and starts shaking a can over you and your assailant. Inevitably, it makes you sneeze with the little foal. Thankfully, your ear is finally free.
"Pinkie, take the baby outside please," You say and gather up the bag. Pinkie spits out the can of powder she had in her mouth.
"Alright. C'mere little Pumpkin. Let's go and play in the snow!" Pinkie picks up the little foal, who is reacting happily to the pink pony. The two of the disappear out the door. Through the glassless store window, you can see out into the snow laden street. It looks like it's stopped snowing and the streets are mostly empty, through you see Pinkie heading to a group shadowed on the other side of the street.
You take stock of the saddlebag. You have 5 full cans of sneezing powder left.
A fresh can of powder in hand and a breath held in your chest, you carefully peek into the kitchen, pushing the door open a crack.
You are immediately washed by a wave of heat. You can see that the ovens are still wide open and glowing red hot. There’s a few ponies in here, including the Cakes, milling around the counters. The helmet head doesn’t seem to be here from what you can see.
None of them seem to have noticed you.
You give the can a good shake, pop the top and underhandedly toss it in the kitchen like a grenade, letting the door close behind it. You then quickly head back over to the window. Pinkie and Pumpkin Cake have already mingled in with the group across the street.
"Pinkie! Get away from them!"
"What? Why?" You hear her shout back.
"They could be dangerous!"
"But we're not!" Twilight's voice clearly calls back. "You said for us to get out of there!"
"Never mind!" You shout back. "I think the Helmet Head might have gotten away! I don’t see it in the kitchen! That's where I saw it last!"
"Oh that’s just great!" You hear Rarity too.
"Do you have any pegasi with you?"
"No! It's me, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Zecora, Rarity and the babies."
"OK, just stay there for a sec!" You turn to go check on the kitchen and see if the ponies are OK. But you bump into the Helmet Head as you turn around.
"Ah! It's here! It's in here!" You yell out to the others. "Help!"
Before you have time to fight or flight, the Helmet Head falls over on its side, hitting the ground with a surprising soft thud. Its cap breaks under the weight of the impact and its limbs splay out from its body slightly. There’s a little sound of air escaping while it begins to deflate slightly.
"Rusty! Are you OK?!" Twilight says, running into the window ledge and tumbling over the side, landing face to face with the Helmet Head. "Aaahh!"
Pinkie, Zecora and Rarity come in through the door.
"What happened?" Pinkie asks
"I... think its dead," You say, dragging Twilight away from it. "I don’t think we should get too close. Do you know if it does anything after being exposed to heat for hours? It was in the kitchen broiling for a hours I think."
"Nothing I read," Twilight say, keeping her distance from the mushroom creature. "My books said they like slightly warm places but nothing like that. Zecora, do you know anything?"
The zebra merely shakes her head.
The kitchen door opens and a bewildered looking Mr. Cake stands in the doorway when he spots the bunch of you standing next to the giant dead fungus.
"Have any of you seen my kids?"
Yeah, Fluttershy has them. They're right outside, across the street." Twilight says, pointing outside. Mr. Cake runs past the bunch of you and disappears outside like a shot.
"So what do we do with this... thing?" Rarity asks, keeping a discreet distance from the Helmet Head behind the rest of the group.
"That’s a good question," Twilight says.
"Are you sure it's... you know..." Pinkie asks, her voice trailing off.
"I think so." You say cautiously. "Maybe we should take it outside of town and burn it to be safe."
"Excuse me," Mr. Cake says, coming back inside with his babies on his back, lightly sugared with snow. He takes the two of them back into the kitchen. "I found them!"
Fluttershy comes in behind him and as soon as she sees the Helmet Head lying on the floor she freezes dead, her eyes widening.
"Fluttershy, do you kn-"
Fluttershy pushes past you, nearly knocking you over and collapses with her legs across the Helmet Head. She lays her head against it, her little body shuddering with each breath, clearly on the verge of having a full on tantrum.
"Fluttershy..." Twilight says softly. She goes over to Fluttershy and rests her hoof on her shoulder.
Everyone in the room sorta loosely gathers around Fluttershy as she weeps over the still Helmet Head. You go over to her side, opposite Twilight. The atmosphere feels really awkward.
"Fluttershy..." You speak softly, trying to choose your words carefully. "What... what do you know about this?"
"It. Was. A. Living. Thing." Fluttershy pants the words out between clipped heavy sobs. The act of talking seems to have pushed her over the edge and she's loudly whaling over the creature, a little puddle of tears starting to form up.
"But Fluttershy, it attack us!" Pinkie interjects.
"And it nearly had the entire town under its control." Rarity adds.
"It was just trying to stay warm!" Fluttershy cries, going into hysterics.
"Shhh, shhh," You hush Fluttershy and put your arms around her and pick her up away from the body. She doesn’t resist but she continues to bawl, burying her face in your shoulder. "We just found it like this. It's OK, we'll take care of it now."
You hold Fluttershy, standing with the other ponies around the Helmet Head. The danger is over for now, but there’s only more questions now than when things started.