Not Asking for Trouble
Pony's Log Number 711: A not very well thought out festival and a very stubborn yak prince equals a very CHILLY situation...
One day, Pinkie was spending some time with Sakura. The cherry- pink colored pony had arrived from Horse-a-lulu to spend some time with the one pony she considered like a twin sister. Since she had given up her cherry blossom hairclip, she now wore a large cyan blue bow with cherry blossom petals in her mane. And having a sisterly bond with Pinkie didn't mean Sakura didn't love Anemone any less, but she and Pinkie connected and understood each other since they shared similar likes, dislikes, and insecurities. Sakura and Pinkie had been doing everything together, from helping out at Sugarcube Corner to even party planning together. While Sakura had some talents with party planning, she wasn't too good at baking. Fortunately, Pinkie was willing to teach her a few baking tips. They had just come out of the kitchen from one of their most recent baking lesson. Surprisingly, Sakura didn't burn anything this time around.
"Thank again for the baking lesson," said Sakura, "I've never been much of a cook or a baker, but I would like to be able cook something for my boyfriend that doesn't land him in the hospital."
"No problem," said Pinkie, "Your last attempt at blueberry muffins were still overdone, but at least all the flavors were there." Sakura just blushed sheepishly. It was then there was a chime and Muffins entered the shop.
"Mail call!" said Muffins as she held a scroll with a purple seal on it. Pinkie then took the scroll and looked at the inscription on the seal as Sakura looked at the scroll as well. Outside, the other ponies were chatting about and going about their business.
"Oh, wow!" Pinkie shouted and jumped into the air, "Oh, my gosh! Come on, Sakura!" Pinkie than zoomed off.
"Wheeeee!" Sakura shouted as she zoomed off as well. Neither pony noticed that Rainbow was just hovering by when she saw the two pink ponies rush off. Rainbow just gave them a puzzled look.
"Oh-my-gosh, oh-my-gosh, oh-my-gosh, oh-my-gosh!" Pinkie and Sakura bounced and said together as they bounced past the Carousel Boutique. Rarity peeked out of the boutique wearing her bathrobe and facial cream on her face.
At Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack had just finished putting a bunch of apples into some buckets. Fluttershy and Shenran had been there helping her out.
"Oh-my-gosh, oh-my-gosh, oh-my-gosh!" Pinkie and Sakura chanted as they charged right through the buckets, spilling all the apples and leaving some the buckets overturned.
"Hey!" Shenran called out annoyingly as he and Fluttershy hovered over the mess.
"Sorry, Applejack!" Pinkie and Sakura shouted and were quickly out of sight. Fluttershy just used her nose to overturn the bucket as she, Applejack, and Shenran exchanged curious looks with each other.
Inside the castle of friendship, Twilight and Diamond Tiara were just sitting on the throne room. Both were just reading a book, but the little filly was wearing her favorite brown glasses as she did so. Mario then teleported into the throne room.
"May day! May day!" Mario cried out in a panic, "Mad pink ponies are on the loose!"
"Mario, you need to chill out," said Twilight, "I know Sakura drives you crazy, but it's no reason to call a national emergency over it every time there out and about."
"Yeah, master," said Diamond Tiara, "Sakura is really nice and she's funny too,"
"Yeah, making me the flank end of her jokes is funny," Mario remarked, "Besides, Rainbow told me that Pinkie and Sakura are running wild all over Ponyville and even she's concerned about it." Twilight gave her husband a curious look.
"Twilight! Twilight! Where are you?!" Pinkie and Sakura called out together as they both ran back and forth down the castle hallways. Their silhouettes could be seen from the closed doors.
"If you love me, don't answer!" Mario pleaded to his wife in a whisper.
"Oh, stop!" Twilight replied as she and Diamond Tiara put their books down, "We're in here, Pinkie and Sakura! What is it?" Pinkie and Sakura both surprised the three ponies by appearing inside of the throne room.
"Cutie!" Sakura shouted as she zipped up to Mario's face.
"YAH!" Mario yelped as he jumped back and fall over.
"You know I don't like it when you do that!" Mario retorted annoyingly.
"Aw, love you too," Sakura remarked with a giggle as Mario rolled his eyes at her.
"You'll never guess what we just got!" Pinkie told Twilight as she got into the purple pony's face and held up the scroll with the purple seal.
"What is it?" Diamond Tiara asked curiously. Before the pink filly could get an answer, the doors to the throne room opened to show the rest of the Mane eight.
"Is everythin' okay?" Applejack asked with concern, "We heard a lot of "oh-my-gosh" in', and we weren't sure if it was a good thing or a bad thing."
"A good thing!" said Pinkie as she tossed the scroll over to Twilight and she and Sakura shared a high hoof together. Twilight caught the scroll with her magic to read the main seal.
""To pink pony who lives with baked goods"," Twilight read aloud, "It's from yaks!"
"The yaks?" said Mario curiously.
"Why would they send Pinkie a scroll, Mom?" Diamond Tiara asked curiously.
""Yaks cordially invite pink pony and guests of choice to Yickslurbertfest. Come. Now"," Twilight read aloud.
"Prince Rutherford is officially inviting me and guests of my choosing to Yickslurbertfest in Yakyakistan!" Pinkie said excitedly.
"Totally awesome!" Sakura added in the same tone.
"What is Yickslurbertfest?" Rarity asked.
"Good question, Rarity," said Diamond Tiara as she walked up to the marshmallow pony.
"It's a sacred yak holiday," Twilight replied as she walked up to the rest of the group and then looked at Pinkie, "How did you get Prince Rutherford to invite you?"
"I subtly hinted for an invitation in my letters to him," Pinkie said smugly as she and Sakura leaned against the edge of the cutie map table.
In Yakyakistan a few days ago, one of Prince Rutherford's servant yaks was holding up the scroll Pinkie had sent him.
"May I please come to Yickslurbertfest?" Pinkie asked. The servant yak then showed the next scroll.
"Pretty please?" Pinkie asked. The yak showed the next scroll.
"Pretty please?" Pinkie asked again.
"Pretty please?" Pinkie asked in the next scroll.
"Pretty-pretty-pretty-pretty-pretty please?!" Pinkie said in the scroll after that. By now Prince Rutherford was looking rather annoyed.
Back in the present...
"After my seventeenth scroll, I think he picked up what I was putting down," Pinkie replied smugly. The rest of the Mane eight shared looks with each other, except for Mario who just rolled his eyes as he stood nearby the two pink ponies as they started giggling excitedly.
"In other words, you pestered him to death until he finally caved in," Mario remarked, "That sounds alot like the two of you." Sakura and Pinkie shot him a glare. Sakura then got a devious smile on her face.
"Hey, twinsie," said Sakura, "Didn't we forget to do something today?" Pinkie blinked and then smiled sinisterly.
"Oh yeah...we did," said Pinkie sly as they both jumped into the table.
"Oh we're the party ponies, we hoped you like our show," Pinkie and Sakura sing-sang as they did the can-can on their hind legs, "We know you're rooting for us. But now we have to go!" Mario had an annoyed look on his face when two party cannons appeared at both of his sides.
POP WHISTLE!
And they fired confetti into his face, making Mario cringe and then groan.
"Why do I put up with you?" Mario said in a deadpan tone.
"Cause you love us," Sakura replied as she and Pinkie giggled. Mario just gave a loud groan and his frown got longer.
He knew today was going to be a long day.
(Main Theme)
Twilight and Mario were now rereading the scroll as Pinkie and Sakura were standing on the cutie map table again, bouncing on their hooves and giggling excitedly.
"You know," said Twilight to the two pink ponies, "we still don't know a lot about the yaks. So I think you should definitely go to Yickslurbertfest, Pinkie." The rest of the group gave a general consensus in agreement.
"Fostering friendships is what ponies do," Fluttershy added.
"Very true, my love," said Shenran.
"I won't let you down," said Pinkie as she gave Twilight and Mario a salute.
"It also says that you can invite guests," said Mario.
"I included that in the scroll as well since I knew Sakura was coming to visit and I was hoping big brother would go with us," Pinkie replied. Mario smiled but then cringed when he heard Pinkie had invited him. It wasn't Pinkie he was worried about, but rather Sakura.
"Um...actually, I was...uhh...about to..." Mario stuttered, trying to come up with a good excuse to decline.
"I think it's a great idea," said Twilight, "What a great way to strengthen the friendships between the yaks if the Prince of Friendship were to participate in their festivities." Mario was just firmly shaking his head to tell Twilight to stop talking, but the purple pony paid no attention to his protests.
"Come on, Mario," Pinkie protested, "Sakura doesn't get to visit Ponyville alot you know. Why not show her what it means to be a Prince of Friendship? I wanna hang out with my big brother!"
"Me, too!" Sakura added as they both gave them puppy dog eyes. Mario tried to resist, but then they're eyes began to get watery as well. Mario then groaned.
"Mario, I could use somepony to record what they learn about Yickslurbertfest," said Twilight, "Besides, the rest of us are busy and Diamond Tiara asked me to help her with her summer project. Come on, I'm sure Prince Rutherford will be happy to see you." Mario then noticed that Pinkie and Sakura were still giving him puppy dog eyes. Mario rolled his eyes.
"Fine," said Mario, not hiding the reluctance in his tone, "I'll go prepare the SS Harmony." Mario then walked off.
"Don't let the door hit you on the way out!" Sakura called out.
"What?" Mario asked.
THUMP!
"Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh! You...stupid...why do I always...GAH!" Mario mumbled painfully. Sakura had, once again, tricked Mario into paying attention to her while walking and he smacked head first into the door. Mario couldn't stand the fact that Sakura always got him with that joke. The others just snickered as Mario left the room grumbling.
"That never gets old," Rainbow chuckled.
"I know right," Sakura giggled.
"Alright, Sakura," said Pinkie, "As much as I like having fun, we need to remember that this is more than just a trip to a fun and super cool ceremony. You and me have the honor to be the official friendship ambassadors to the yaks!"
"Oooh! I've never been an ambassador to a princess before," said Sakura with a squee, "This is so exciting!"
"Um, that's not an official position," Twilight pointed out.
"True," Diamond Tiara added, "But I do like to think of myself as Twilight's assistant. Even if Spike already claimed the position. And gets possessive about it." Diamond Tiara rolled her eyes as she said the last part.
"Yet," said Pinkie to Twilight, "You're the princess of friendship." Pinkie then sing sang as she backed away so she was next to Sakura, "You can make it happen."
"Get what we're throwing down?" Sakura added with a big smile on her face. Twilight just smiled and rolled her eyes at the two ponies.
"Okay, you got it," said Twilight. Pinkie and Sakura then looked disappointed.
"Ahem?" Pinkie interjected and waved her fore-hooves about, "You have to make it official!"
"Yeah," Sakura added sadly, "I was ready to kneel or curtsey or something!" Twilight sighed loudly.
"Right," said Twilight as she stood up on the seat of her throne and opened her wings, Sakura smiled and knelt respectfully on a fore-knee, "I hereby make Pinkie Pie and Sakura the official friendship ambassadors to the yaks!" Twilight then looked around and saw her bookmark with multi-colored tassels on it. She turned it into a rainbow colored rosette, used her magic to duplicate it, and then placed them onto the chests of both pink ponies.
"This is officially the most exciting day of my life!" said Pinkie and Sakura together as they both squeed with glee. The rest of the Mane eight and Diamond Tiara just chuckled to each other.
A few minutes later, Mario came back to let Pinkie and Sakura know that the Harmony was ready to go and soon they had taken off into the wild blue yonder. Sakura was rather impressed at the airship that was designed to look like the Tree of Harmony.
"I never knew you could design airships, Mario," said Sakura as she took a seat and held her cup of hot green tea, "It's really cozy in here!"
"Thank you," said Mario, "I'm glad you're enjoying the ride. I worked hard to make sure the Harmony provides the safest and most comfortable trips to anyplace in Equestria, especially important friendship missions."
"I can certainly see that," said Pinkie, "and now that we have some time to kill, let's review some useful skills!" Pinkie then pulled out a brochure and opened it up, "Travel Tip: Roll. Want to move faster than your hooves can take you? Nothing beats a good roll. Just curl up and keep hopping about to increase your momentum, especially when moving downhill!" Pinkie then put the brochure away, "Well, that's it! If you want to review some more, just check the action guide." Sakura just applauded as Mario gave Pinkie a blank look.
"Still have no idea why she doesn't that?" said Mario, "since when do I have an...Odyssey?"
"Just don't think about it too much, cutie," said Sakura. Mario just made a face in reply.
"Say, big brother," said Pinkie, "Have you seen Gummy? I don't think he's inside."
"He's out on the balcony," said Mario casually and then blinked, "You don't think he'd fall off?"
"Of course not!" said Pinkie, but then had a worried look, "but I'm just gonna check on him anyway!" Pinkie then rushed out of the cabin and saw Gummy just sitting blankly on the balcony railing. She immediately suggested a game once Mario and Sakura had come out to join her, which all but Mario agreed that playing a game was a good idea. But Pinkie noticed that Gummy wasn't playing.
"Gummy! Gummy!" Pinkie called out, but Gummy didn't answer. Not like he ever did to most ponies, but Pinkie somehow could tell.
"I don't think he's listening," said Sakura.
And apparently Sakura could tell the difference too.
"Yoo-hoo! Gummy! Pay attention!" Pinkie said firmly, "We're in the middle of an official friendship ambassador friendship road trip game." Gummy's only response was lazily blinking his eyes.
"That's better," said Pinkie as used the tip of her mane to hold her rosette, "Okay. I spy with my official friendship eye something that is blue!" Pinkie and Sakura just stared excitedly for Gummy to take a guess, but Gummy just stared blankly and said nothing. Over time as the scenery changed in the background, the expressions of anticipation between Pinkie and Sakura didn't change, but Mario grew bored over time. In fact, he got so bored that he fell asleep leaning against the railing of the balcony. Finally the Harmony began to descend toward the top of a mountain where the massive gates of Yakyakistan could be seen. Pinkie gasped just as the airship touched gently onto the snow and the stairs allowing then to get off extended.
"We're here!" said Pinkie as Sakura clapped her fore-hooves together excitedly and then nudged Mario.
"Huh? Uh? Wuh?" Mario sputtered when he opened his eyes and saw that they had arrived.
"Oh, and by the way, the answer was sky," Pinkie told Gummy, "I win!" Gummy just blinked as Mario face-hooved himself.
"Yeah, I know," Pinkie told Gummy, not noticing Mario's annoyance, "That was a hard one, Gummy. You're the best official friendship travel companion ever!" She gave Gummy a loving hug and jumped off the platform and into the snow. Sakura looked rather jealous.
"What about me?" Sakura whined.
"Oh, twinsie," Pinkie chuckled, "Gummy's my pet. Of course he's the best travel companion, but you are my sister from another mother! You're fun to travel with too!" Sakura smiled and felt better. Then she felt her body glow for a second and then stop.
"Did you just cast a spell on me?" Sakura asked suspiciously.
"Body temperature regulation spell," Mario replied, "You come from a warm part of Equestria after all and I'd hate to see you get too cold to have fun while we're up here. I've put the same spell on myself and Pinkie too."
"Aw!" Sakura replied happily and hugged Mario to say thank you. Mario quickly pushed her off since he couldn't breathe whenever she hugged him.
"Come on, slowpokes! Let's get movin'!" Pinkie called out as Sakura and Mario got off the airship. While Mario just trotted, Pinkie and Sakura both bounced up to the entrance gate. They were just about to knock on the door when they were startled by some rumbling.
"Earthquake!" Sakura said frightfully.
"Not an earthquake," said Mario, "It's the yaks!"
"What is going on?" Pinkie wondered curiously. She was the first to crack open the door and peek inside, followed by Gummy, Sakura, and then Mario.
"Yaks destroy!" Prince Rutherford commanded.
"Yaks destroy!" said the other yaks as they stomped about and smashed some nearby logs.
"Yikes!" Pinkie, Mario, and Sakura all shouted at once. They were all wondering what they had just walked into when Prince Rutherford lifted his bangs and saw the three ponies.
"Pink pony!" said Prince Rutherford with another laugh as he walked up to the three ponies.
"It's an honor to...be here, prince," said Pinkie as she and the others knelt before the yak prince, but they were shaken up again from all the rumbling, "Uh, did something terrible happen? Is Yickslurbertfest cancelled?!"
"No!" said Prince Rutherford, "This Yickslurbertfest, where yaks come together to stomp." The other yaks just continued to stomp about on their logs and tree stumps.
"Ohhhhh. I didn't know that was part of the sacred holiday," Pinkie replied, "So this angry display of destruction is part of festivities. Huh. And here we thought you yaks were just in bad mood."
"No. Stomping relaxes yaks," Prince Rutherford replied as he smashed a log with his fore-hooves and his head, getting splinters all over it, "Yaks' head never been so clear." Sakura smirked.
"Now you know why I make you run into doors," Sakura told Mario.
"Oh, hush!" Mario replied when Prince Rutherford walked up to them. Sakura cowered back timidly.
"Yak prince recognize pony prince," said Prince Rutherford, "yak prince grateful pony prince come to take part in sacred holiday."
"I thank you for the invitation my friend," said Mario politely with a bow.
"Who is second pink pony?" Prince Rutherford asked.
"This is my twin sister, Sakura," said Pinkie.
"Ah, yak prince welcome other pink pony to Yakyakistan," said Prince Rutherford, "Call you, other pink pony."
"Uhh...thanks...your majesty," Sakura replied in a polite but rather puzzled tone. Mario snickered at Sakura's yak nickname.
"Come and take part in yak stomping!" said Prince Rutherford, "Yak prince want to see how strong pony prince is."
"Okay," said Mario, eager to show off his earth pony strength. Another yak brought over a very thick log over to Prince Mario and Prince Rutherford. Prince Rutherford smashed his log in two with just one stomp.
"Can prince pony smash log?" Prince Rutherford challenged. Mario smirked. charged up his energy, and he jumped high into the air and then home attacked the log with just his fore-hooves, splitting the log into two as well. The other yaks were most impressed. Pinkie and Sakura smiled as the latter clapped for Mario excitedly. Prince Rutherford laughed.
"Prince pony strong, strong as yak!" Prince Rutherford announced, "Now yaks smash!" The other yaks cheered as they continued stomping and smashing about. Mario smiled as he went to smash another log.
"This is awesome!" said Pinkie, "Come on, Sakura! We smash!"
"O-okay..." said Sakura, feeling a little shy at first, but she and Pinkie were soon grunting and having fun as they stomped about some smaller twigs. Pinkie had just started stomping with a single fore-hoof on another twig.
"Stop!" Prince Rutherford shouted. The yaks, including Mario and Sakura, all stopped smashing. Pinkie just kept poking at her twig until the yak prince walked up to her.
"Pink pony better check before wreck self," Prince Rutherford warned, "That is century-old sacred yak twig passed down from generation to generation." Mario bit his lower lip and winced as Sakura gasped and put for her fore-hooves over her mouth. Pinkie then gasped in horror.
"Oh no! I'm so sorry," said Pinkie as she knelt down beside the broken twig, "I was just trying to get into the spirit of Yickslurbertfest. Maybe I can fix it!" Pinkie looked distressed as she tried to figure out what to do when Prince Rutherford snorted and gave a hearty laugh.
"Yak kidding!" said Prince Rutherford and gave a grunt as he smashed the twig into splinters and getting a splinter in Pinkie's mane, "Yak got pink pony good. Yak even scared other pink pony and pony prince too! Horn Bump!" Prince Rutherford and another yak bumped the sides of their horns. Sakura and Mario smiled and chuckled sheepishly.
"Y-y-yeah, s-s-sure did, your majesty," said Sakura.
"G-g-good one, Prince Rutherford," Mario added rather meekly.
"Phew! Oh, you sure did get me good, Prince Rutherford," said Pinkie as she chuckled and turned to Gummy, Mario, and Sakura, who was standing nearby, "That was a close one, you guys! This trip has to be perfect! After all, we're not just visiting as friends. We're on official friendship ambassador business!" Pinkie held her rosette to prove her point.
"Right, twinsie," said Sakura as she held her rosette as well.
"Just remember to be considerate and you'll be fine," said Mario and noticed the other yaks staring at Pinkie, "and we shouldn't keep Prince Rutherford waiting." Pinkie turned around and put her rosette away to give the yak prince her full attention.
"Less talking, more stomping!" Prince Rutherford called.
"Don't forget smashing!" Sakura called out.
"Yak Prince like how other pink pony thinks," Prince Rutherford replied, "Now smash!" All the yaks, including Pinkie, Sakura, and Mario.
"Stompie-stompie-stompie-stompie," Pinkie and Sakura chanted together as they enjoyed their smashing together. Mario just let the two girls have their fun as he and the rest of the yaks smashed to their hearts content.
Later, Prince Rutherford had Pinkie, Sakura, and Mario along side of him as they were chatting with each other.
"Now, yak prince take pink ponies and prince pony on Yakyakistan tour," said Prince Rutherford.
"Thanks, Prince Rutherford," Pinkie replied, "but, heh, I've been to Yakyakistan before."
"Uh, twinsie," said Sakura, "Did you forget that I've never been here before?"
"And the last time you all came, you made it a girl's trip and I couldn't go!" said Mario, "Even though hanging out with Shenran and Big Mac was pretty sweet."
"Yak know," Prince Rutherford answered, "and no worries, pony prince and other pink pony. But thought pink pony might not recognize town since decorated for Yickslurbertfest." He showed the three ponies that all the huts had some simply colored garlands hanging around the area.
"Simple, but elegant," said Mario, "I like it."
"I agree," said Sakura.
"You're right!" said Pinkie to the yak prince, "It's so different, now that you've pointed it out." Pinkie gave a light chuckle.
"Oh, not just have eye for decorating," said Prince Rutherford, "Yak also amazing builders!"
"I can tell," said Mario, "Those huts look like they could withstand anything."
"No way!" said Pinkie, "I thought you hired professional contractors!" Pinkie gave the side of one hut a tap and cause a hole to appear in the wall.
"Here. Uh, let me help you with that," said Pinkie as she quickly patched up the hole and bounced away to catch up with the others. She didn't even noticed that her quick patch job fell apart as soon as she left. Mario took notice.
"This is why I tell you and Pinkie not to touch everything you see," Mario told Sakura in a quiet tone.
"Boop!" Sakura said as she tapped his nose with her fore-hoof. Mario just rolled his eyes and said nothing else. It wasn't long before they reached the next point of interest.
"This is ceremonial yak fire pit, where yaks tell stories," said Prince Rutherford.
"Oooh!" said Pinkie Pie, "I have so much to officially tell the ponies when I get back."
"Same here," said Mario, "Plus this place must be quite cozy in the nighttime."
"This would make a cool place for marshmallow roasting," said Sakura.
"Other pink pony correct," said Prince Rutherford, "Except yak marshmallows have vanilla flavor in them."
"Yummy!" said Pinkie and Sakura together as Mario smiled in agreement. Prince Rutherford then took the three ponies into one of the huts.
"This yak eating hut," said Prince Rutherford as he, the three ponies, and several yaks say before some multi-layered cakes with icing, "Hut where yaks eat."
"Good, cause this pink pony is hungry," said Sakura as she licked her lips. Pinkie took a bite of her cake from the side.
"Mmmm!" Pinkie hummed, "The perfect balance of vanilla extract."
"Yaks grow own vanilla bean," said Prince Rutherford, "Nothing imported."
"I can see why," said Mario, "In fact, I might suggest the idea of exporting your vanilla to others in Equestria. Never hurts to have extra bits in the treasury." Prince Rutherford pondered.
"Pony prince propose good idea," said Prince Rutherford, "But yak prince think about bits later. For now. Yaks eat!" Prince Rutherford opened his mouth wide and gobbled up his cake in one bite as the other yaks did the same. Pinkie and Sakura exchanged smirks with each other, rubbed their fore-hooves together, and gobbled up their cakes in one bite. Mario just rolled his eyes and then gobbled up his own cake in a single bite, getting frosting on his lips.
"Delicious," said Mario as Prince Rutherford gave the three ponies a content look on his face. Once their meal was finished, Prince Rutherford led the group to another hut that was filled with square shaped stacks of hay with pillows on top. Some of the nearby yaks were sleeping on them. Gummy was just sitting on a nearby pillow.
"Yaks sleeping hut," said Prince Rutherford, "Hut where yaks sleep." Mario just smiled and looked around as Pinkie and Sakura bounced from one empty bed to the next. They both were about to jump up to another bed when they stopped in midair and noticed the sleeping yaks. Pinkie and Sakura both flipped over and fell asleep instantly on two separate yaks beds. Prince Rutherford and Mario just stared when the former looked at the latter.
"Pony prince not like sleeping hut?" Prince Rutherford asked. Mario blinked.
"Oh! My bad, Prince Rutherford," said Mario with a chuckle, "I was too busy making sure pink ponies didn't disrupt the other yaks that I forgot to try a yak bed." Mario hopped up and settled down onto one of the bed and hummed.
"Very cozy," said Mario as he closed his eyes for a quick nap. Prince Rutherford just gave the three ponies a smile. The next hut Prince Rutherford led the group into had a phonograph in the middle of the floor that was playing music. Several other yaks were there as well.
"Yak music hut," said Prince Rutherford, "Hut where yaks enjoy beautiful music." Pinkie, Sakura, and Mario were soon sandwiched together between two yaks as the entire group swayed from side to side while listening to music.
"I could get used to dancing like this," said Sakura as she gave Mario a flirty wink. Mario just rolled his eyes and looked away. Pinkie just giggled.
"This is beautiful and-!"
"Shhh! Pink pony ruin with talking!" Prince Rutherford interrupted. Pinkie just smiled as the three ponies kept quiet and just enjoyed the music. Gummy stood nearby as he swayed his tail to the beat.
Once the yaks had their fill of music, Prince Rutherford gathered the yaks and ponies around the ceremonial fire pit. He was sharing a story with them all.
"...And that how yaks defeat evil and save world!" Prince Rutherford finished. Pinkie and Sakura clapped as Mario smiled impressively with Gummy next to him.
"Prince pony enjoyed yak story," said Mario, "Full of yak heroes and adventure."
"Pink pony like yak story!" Pinkie replied in a deep voice.
"Other pink pony give it two hooves up!" Sakura said in her own deeper voice.
"Ho-ho! Yak! Impressed!" said Prince Rutherford, "Pony prince and pink ponies can almost be honorary yaks!"
"Awesome!" said Mario and Sakura as they shared a high-hoof together. Pinkie got very excited.
"Official friendship ambassador and honorary yak?" said Pinkie with a squee, "Pink pony's title card is full!"
"Must be a small card," said Mario, "My card has more titles than that."
"Is being a cutie one of those titles?" Sakura asked, Mario just blushed and looked away irritably.
"Okay, getting back to me," said Pinkie and then said in a deep voice, "Horn bump!" Pinkie then leaned into Prince Rutherford and then gasped when she realized something.
"Oh, wait!" said Pinkie, "I don't have a horn!" Then she gasped again as she looked at the yak prince, "Prince Rutherford, can I get some honorary yak horns?"
"Pinkie, it's not polite to ask such a thing," said Mario.
"Pony prince not to worry, not offended by pink pony question," Prince Rutherford replied and then spoke to Pinkie, "but answer is no. Yak horn too heavy for small pony head."
"They might fit on Sakura, her head is as big as her mouth," said Mario, quickly getting a hard bonk on his head. Mario winced and glared at her, Sakura just stuck his tongue out at him and smirked. Pinkie just pouted and didn't notice their little squabble. It was then the sound of a deep horn was heard that got the attention of everyyak and everypony.
"Yickslurbertfest stomp time!" Prince Rutherford announced. The yaks grunted as they gathered around some logs and started stomping and smashing about. Pinkie, Sakura, and Mario did the same. Gummy just stood like he normally did, bouncing about from all the stomping. They were stomping about so hard that the entire area was starting to rumble.
"Stomp harder! Yaks extra happy! Ponies and yaks friends!" Prince Rutherford called out. The yaks did just that, making the surrounding area rumble even harder. It wasn't long before a nearby mountain top, full of snow, dumped all its contents on top of all the yaks and ponies, burying them completely. Pinkie and Prince Rutherford were the first to pop out of snow wearing snow made smokestack hats on their heads. Sakura and the rest of the yaks popped out of the snow wearing the same hats on their heads. Sakura shook her hat off and looked around.
"Hey! Where's Mario?!" Sakura asked worriedly. Pinkie looked around and then saw a familiar flank sticking out of the snow. Mario had gotten twisted about during the avalanche and was now stuck front half first into the snow.
"How-wow-wow-wow-wow..." Mario said woozily upside down. Sakura just her teeth to grab Mario's tail and pulled him out of the snow. She tugged so hard that Mario went flying into her so she was holding him from behind with her fore-legs as Mario recovered.
"Ooooooh! Snuggly!" Sakura cooed as she cuddled him from behind.
"Get off!" Mario bellowed as he pulled out of her fore-legs and said hastily, "and thanks for getting me out of the snow."
"Isn't he the cutest thing?" Sakura said giddily to herself. Pinkie just smiled and rolled her eyes as Mario walked up to her.
"Uhhh...was this supposed to happen?" Mario asked with concern to Prince Rutherford.
"Is this part of the festival?" Pinkie asked. Sakura then approached and gave the yak prince a worried look of her own.
"Pink pony and prince pony ask too many questions," Prince Rutherford remarked. Pinkie, Sakura, and Mario looked indignant until Gummy and Pinkie's snow hats collapsed on top of each other so only their eyes were visible. Mario wasted no time using his magic to remove the snow off of Pinkie and Gummy. Then Mario helped Pinkie get back on her hooves again.
"Thank you," said Pinkie as she worriedly looked around.
"Everything is buried in snow!" said Pinkie, "What are we gonna go?!" Mario looked concerned while Sakura looked very worried.
"Uhhh...Y-Yaks fine!" Prince Rutherford stuttered, "Snow falls from mountain all the time!"
"All the time?" Pinkie and Mario said at once skeptically.
"Every Yickslurbertfest," said Prince Rutherford.
"Okay," said Pinkie, "Avalanches like this completely bury all your homes every Yickslurbertfest? Really?"
"I've heard of going hard core," said Sakura, "But this seems quite extreme, especially considering the avalanche was so huge that the entire village is completely burried."
"This is...big avalanche," said Prince Rutherford as he pondered to himself, "But not a problem, for yaks are tough! Yaks dig through snow! Won't take long."
"Oh, good," said Pinkie as she wiped her brow, "You have an emergency plan in place."
"That's a relief," said Sakura.
"Mm-hmm," Mario nodded in agreement. Then the yaks all got to work using just their hooves to dig the snow away. Mario noticed that their short legs were going to make snow digging difficult.
"Looks like we're gonna need some extra pony power," said Mario as he got ready to zoom at full speed.
"Super speed forbidden!" Prince Rutherford shouted, "This yak job, not pony prince!" Mario blinked for a second before he recovered.
"Okay...I'll just use this then," said Mario as he reached into his saddle bags and pulled out a capsule that had a yellow essence. Mario broke the capsule as the yellow essence went into his body.
DRILL!
Mario then transformed into a yellow colored drill and began to burrow through the snow. Sakura was rather impressed and Mario had also inspired Pinkie.
"Here, let me help too!" said Pinkie as she turned to tip of her mane into a drill, "What about you Sakura?" Sakura gave a rather definitive cough.
"My...uhh...doctor has forbidden me to dig," Sakura replied with a big smile. Pinkie gave her an annoyed look.
"You're a garden pony," Pinkie said bluntly. Sakura snorted.
"I'm not as strong enough to make something appear out of nowhere like you can," said Sakura sadly, "Some twinsie I am."
"Aw, that's just stinkin' thinkin'," said Pinkie, "You can do anything you set your mind to. You just gotta stop think about how. Forget the logic, the science, and all that Twilight-sciency stuff. Just think of what you wanna do and make it happen!"Sakura nodded, pondered, and then reached into her mane and pulled a pony sized snow plough attachment.
(Insert your favorite RPG "You got a key item" fanfare)
"You got it!" said Pinkie, clearly impressed, "Now let's get this snow party started!" Pinkie then used her drill tip to burrow through the snow. Soon everyone was at work digging the snow away. Gummy just started using his tongue to gobble up the snow. Sakura attached her new snow plough to push the snow aside.
A couple of hours later, the yaks had to stop digging due to exhaustion. Sakura stopped pushing her snow plough and leaned over it, sweating from exhaustion as well. Pinkie and Mario both surfaced right after, looking just as tired.
"Whew, I'm tired," said Pinkie, "We must be almost done."
"Not really," said Mario with a groan.
"Look!" Sakura groaned wearily. Pinkie looked to see that they had only made a small hole in the center of the buried village.
"There's still snow everywhere?!" Pinkie exclaimed.
"Yaks keep digging!" Prince Rutherford shouted. The yaks did, wearily. But some of the yaks were getting frustrated and started stomping the snow instead of digging.
"Hey, dig, don't stomp!" Mario shouted, "you're gonna cause another-"
FWOOOOOOSH!
"-avalanche..." Mario finished as the group was now buried once again. Pinkie and Sakura both whined.
"All that hard work gone," Sakura whimpered.
"Yaks stopped digging!" Prince Rutherford called out, "Make situation worse!"
"Thank you captain obvious," Mario muttered to himself.
"Okay. Don't worry, Prince Rutherford," said Pinkie as she walked up to the yak prince with Gummy biting her tail and Sakura standing next to her, "We'll go back to Ponyville and ask for help. Twilight and the others will be happy to come dig the snow away. After all, "many hooves make light work". Right, Gummy?" While Gummy said nothing, Sakura nodded in agreement.
"Great idea," said Mario, "The Harmony is not just a smooth airship, but a fast one! We can get the family here in just ten minutes flat!"
"Yaks no need pony help!" Prince Rutherford said sternly. The other yaks gave general agreement.
"Well, if you've got a plan, we can hold off getting help," said Mario in a calm but firm tone.
"Are you sure about that Mario?" Sakura asked worriedly.
"Oh. Well, I'm sure it'll be okay," said Pinkie, "'cause you probably have a Plan B."
"Let's hear it, your highness," said Mario.
"Yes. Yaks wait for snow to melt," Prince Rutherford replied. Sakura and Mario's jaws hit the floor before they recomposed themselves.
"Say what?!" Sakura exclaimed.
"That is your plan?!" said Mario, "Is that even possible at this altitude?!"
"All this snow?!" Pinkie exclaimed, "It'll take a thousand moons before it melts!"
"Yaks known for their patience," Prince Rutherford replied.
"Right," said Mario skeptically, well remembering how patient Prince Rutherford was for Pinkie's party.
"Well...be that as it may, in the meantime," said Pinkie, "What will you eat? Where will you sleep?"
"I'm assuming you've got that covered in your plan," Mario added.
"Dah!" Prince Rutherford snorted, "Yaks can make this work! Hardship make yaks the strong yaks that yaks are! If three ponies disagree, then they can leave Yakyakistan and never return!" Sakura gave a loud puppy-dog whimper and teary eyes as Pinkie and Mario yelped.
"Whoa! Easy there, Prince Rutherford," said Mario, "We're just concerned about you and your fellow yaks. That's all."
"Uh, of course ponies agree with you!" said Pinkie with a nervous chuckle and then got an idea, "Hey, let's try out some snow recipes!" Pinkie then grabbed some snow and shaped it into some food, "Snow cakes! Snow spaghetti! Snow sandwiches!" Pinkie then gave another nervous chuckle as she took a nervous look at her fellow ponies, "Mmm! Right, Sakura!" Pinkie than gave Sakura a smile that had a hidden death glare on it, "Riiiiight, Sakura?"
"Eh-heh, r-r-right, twinsie," said Sakura nervous and forced herself to take the sandwich and eat it, cringing a bit at the cold snow in her mouth, "Mmm. Yummy." Sakura just smiled bravely as Pinkie turned to Prince Rutherford.
"Yaks can make this work!" Pinkie told the yak prince. Prince Rutherford just smiled for the support.
Once it was nightfall, Prince Rutherford yawned as the three ponies stood beside him.
"Yak tired," said Prince Rutherford, "Yak retire to new sleeping hut. The sleeping hut wasn't even a hut at all. It was just some bed made out of snow and there wasn't even a roof. Several yaks were already asleep. Prince Rutherford quickly jumped into his bed and fell asleep at once. Pinkie, Sakura, and Mario just got into their own beds, watching the other yaks at they snored and shivered.
"If I get sick due to sleeping out here..." Sakura warned Mario.
"Chill out," said Mario, "My spell should keep you safe and warm. So just relax, okay. Now let's just get some sleep and hopefully things will be brighter in the morning. Right, Pinks?" Pinkie said nothing as she lay down to sleep, looking rather miserable. Sakura and Mario gave her concerned looks.
"Okay, if my twinsie can't smile through this, then we've got a problem," said Sakura as a matter of fact. Mario just sighed. He had to admit that he was rather worried as well.
By next morning, Pinkie, Sakura, Mario, Prince Rutherford, and the other yaks were now getting ready to eat their breakfast. Cakes made out of snow. Prince Rutherford gobbled up his cake quickly and swallowed without much fun.
"Snow cake good!" said Prince Rutherford. Sakura just slowly chewed her snow cake, trying not to make faces as she did so. Mario gobbled up his cake in one bite and sighed, but then cringed as he put his fore-hooves to the sides of his head.
"GAH! BRAIN FREEZE!" Mario yelped as he panted and tried to get the chill out of his brain. Sakura didn't resist a snicker. Pinkie then gobbled up her cake like Mario did, which afterward she cringed as part of her mane and tail frosted up. Prince Rutherford gave her a glare. He was already annoyed at Mario's yelping and moaning.
"Mmm! Just the right balance of cold and water," said Pinkie quickly. Prince Rutherford turned away as Mario walked up and gave Pinkie a hug. The love of a good friend helped Pinkie thaw out quickly and she was very grateful.
"Thanks, big brother," said Pinkie and kissed his cheek. Mario smiled, but then he heard a loud whimper and saw Sakura looking rather cold and lonely. She then smirked for Mario to take a hint and the alicorn prince rolled his eyes.
"Here," Mario said bluntly as he raised his fore-legs. Sakura tackled him down and just held on to him happily. Mario just rolled his eyes and hoped he wouldn't have the pull the cherry-blossom pony off.
"Aah! Stop!" Prince Rutherford shouted to a nearby yak that was eating a wall of snow behind them, "Yak eating new eating hut!" The yak just sitting down, looking rather embarassed.
Later on, the group were huddled close and swaying from side to side before a phonograph made out of snow. Pinkie, Mario, and Sakura all had blank looks on their faces.
"I don't get it," said Sakura in a quiet whisper.
"I think I do, but I wish I didn't," said Mario in the same. Pinkie then turned to Prince Rutherford.
"Psst! Prince Rutherford," said Pinkie in a whisper, "What are we doing?"
"It's obvious," Prince Rutherford replied, "This new music hut."
"Oh," said Pinkie, "so we're swaying to-"
"Shhh!" Prince Rutherford interrupted, "Pink pony ruin snow music with talking!" Pinkie was most annoyed when she felt Mario nuzzle the side of her head and gestured that they should leave the music hut, if one could call it that since, like the eating hut, there was no shelter around. Pinkie nodded in agreement as the three ponies, with Gummy on Pinkie's back, walked off and let the yaks enjoy their snow music.
"This is getting ridiculous," said Sakura irritably, "I've heard of going hardcore, but this is crazy!"
"I have to agree," said Mario in a calmer tone, "but we have to trust that Prince Rutherford knows what he's doing."
"Can you seriously look me in the eye and tell me that you actually believe that?" Pinkie asked.
"...no..." said Mario sadly. Their conversation was interrupted when they saw some young calves talking to each other when there was a loud rumbling.
"What was yak?" asked the first calf.
"Yak stomach rumbles," second calf replied, "Yak hungry."
"Shhh! Prince yak will hear yak!" said the first calf.
"But snow worse than yak ever seen!" second calf said worriedly.
"Yak know," said first calf, "Yak hungry, too." Pinkie and the others gasped.
"This is getting serious," said Mario, "all the yaks rely on Prince Rutherford to guide them through troubled times and their law impose harsh penalties to yaks that try to overstep his rule. And in a situation like this..."
"Their entire well-being is in jeopardy," said Sakura, "because they are not allowed to speak up!"
"Gummy, did you hear that?" Pinkie asked her baby alligator, "They can't make it work!"
"Yaks stop swaying! Music over!" said Prince Rutherford behind them. The three ponies looked at them before going back to their own conversation.
"If Twilight and the others knew what was going on, they would be here to help in a pony's heartbeat," said Pinkie.
"But even if we do, Prince Rutherford won't allow them to help," said Sakura, "And if we can't help the yaks and the yaks can't help themselves. Nopony wins!"
"And as much I hate to sound like my wife," said Mario, "Openly defying Prince Rutherford's wishes, even if for a good reason, could convince him to end his friendship with us. Or if he's really mad, he'll try to declare war again!"
"We have to convince Prince Rutherford that asking for help is okay," said Pinkie, "Will you help me, you guys?" Mario and Sakura gave her a smile as they stretched out their fore-hooves to Pinkie. Pinkie did the same as the three ponies shared a high-hoof, Cutie Mark Crusader style.
"What about you, Gummy?" Pinkie asked the little gator, who said nothing but a low gurgle.
"Thank you!" said Pinkie as she gave her alligator a hug, "And see? Asking you to help wasn't so hard at all." Gummy licked Pinkie's cheek to kiss her, which Sakura awed.
"Hopefully, we can convince Prince Rutherford to do the same," said Mario, "But it won't be easy. I can already tell that directly speaking to him won't work. He seems more stubborn than Applejack."
"That's why I came up with something more...yak-like," said Pinkie.
Later that day, Pinkie had gathered everyone to a ceremonial fire pit made entirely out of snow. A random yak then ate the part that was supposed to be the fire.
"Pink pony has gathered you around the new ceremonial yak fire pit to tell you a story!" Pinkie told them, "A yak tradition, right?" The other yaks nodded and mumbled in agreement.
"Yay!" said Pinkie.
"I sure hope Pinkie came up with a good story ahead of time," said Mario worriedly.
"Nah! She gonna do what I would've done," said Sakura, "wing it!" Mario blinked and then face-hooved himself, wondering if he should've seen that one coming.
"This is a story about a group of...uh, goats!" said Pinkie. It was then a picture of a goat and their village was seen in some elementary art style.
"Who lived in the desert," Pinkie narrated, "There was a sandstorm, and their entire village was buried in sand. There was nothing they could do. They knew they could not survive by only eating sand...wiches!" The animated scene showed the goat village being covered in snow and some other goats held some sandwiches made out of sand. The scene returned to reality when Pinkie had her sand pun.
"Get it?" Pinkie giggled. Silence was her only reply...for about three second.
"Boo! Bad joke!" Mario called out, "GAH!" Then a snowball smacked the side of Mario's head. Mario turned and glared at Sakura, who was just smiling innocently. Pinkie just rolled her eyes at the two.
"...Okay. Anyway..." said Pinkie as she continued and the animation of the goats returned to view.
"Finally, the goats' brave, wise leader - let's just call him Prince...uhh...Drutherford," said Pinkie with a giggle as Mario groaned and face-hooved at Pinkie's creativity with names, "decides that they couldn't do it by themselves. So he asked the neighbor town of, uh, Bovineville to come and help them." It was then the animated drawings showed the goat prince writing on a scroll and then showed another town that consisted of magical cows of various colors.
"Yeah! Cows!" Pinkie giggled, "The magical cows helped the goats, everyone survived, and lived happily ever after!" The view then returned to reality, "Because they asked for help. The end!" Pinkie nudged Prince Rutherford to make her point as the other yaks, including Sakura and Mario, cheered. Prince Rutherford remained silent.
"So what is the moral of that story?" Pinkie asked the group.
"Pushing, pushing...mmmmph?!" Mario was then cut off when Sakura shoved a giant snowball into his mouth.
"Snow dumpling!" Sakura called out. Mario spat the snowball out indignantly, gave Sakura a glare, and then used his magic to dump a load of snow on top of her. Sakura shook the snow off and glared at Mario, who was now smiling innocently.
"Is it - A - asking for help is okay? B - asking for help saves the day? C - asking for help is good for everypony?" Pinkie asked.
"D - goats weak and horrible! Magic bovines need to stay out of goats' business!" Prince Rutherford replied sternly.
"Um..." Pinkie stuttered with a nervous chuckle, "Not quite. Any yak wanna shout out another answer?" Pinkie looked around and saw that neither of the other yaks had anything to say. She then remembered what Mario had said about why they wouldn't speak up and whined in defeat and disappointment. Mario and Sakura just gave her sympathetic looks.
Once story time was over, the three ponies decided to try a more direct approach. They found Prince Rutherford shifting some snow about as they approached him.
"Hey, Prince Rutherford, we wanna talk to you about something," said Pinkie, "Uh, what are you doing?"
"Uh, yak's snow bed got a little melty last night," Prince Rutherford replied. Pinkie, Mario, and Sakura all gave him funny looks before they exchanged nods with each other to execute their plan.
"Okay, yeah," said Pinkie slowly, "That's what I wanna talk to you about." Pinkie then gestured for the three ponies to sit on the snow beds, "You know, these yak snow beds are the fluffiest I've ever slept in. They're so comfortable, you forget that it's just a cold block of ice. Right, guys?"
"Yes, indeed," said Sakura.
"Very cozy," said Mario.
"And the yak snow sandwiches?" Pinkie continued, "Mm-mm!"
"Yes indeed," said Mario as he held a snow sandwich, "Right, Sakura? Take a bite!" He held it up to her to take a bite.
"You tell me, sweetie," said Sakura as she shoved the whole sandwich in his mouth so fast that he swallowed it hole.
"DAH! BRAIN FREEZE!" Mario yelped and fell over. Pinkie just looked at them and then at Prince Rutherford before moving on.
"My point is," said Sakura, "I hate it when foods burns your mouth or overwhelms it with flavor."
"Agreed," said Mario.
"Yeah," said Sakura, "Bland food all the way."
"Ah!" said Prince Rutherford, "Yak hates that, too! Food burning mouth yak mean!"
"You know who would really, really enjoy these snow sandwiches?" Pinkie suggested, "Twilight Sparkle and the other ponies! Oh, hey! We have an idea! Why don't me, Mario, and Sakura go to Ponyville and bring them back here?"
"Good idea!" said Sakura.
"Pure genius, Pinks!" said Mario as he and Sakura stood around the pink pony.
"Ponies like snow sandwich?" Prince Rutherford remarked.
"Oh! Ponies love snow sandwiches!" Pinkie replied, "And hey, while they're here, you can ask if they can clear the snow away. Fun, right?"
"Pinkie!" Mario snarled as Sakura glared at him.
"What?" Pinkie asked innocently. Prince Rutherford just gazed up at the sky for a moment.
"When prince was little yak," Prince Rutherford began, "prince stomped on ground too hard. Made deep hole and fell into hole. Ice froze over hole. Prince waved to friends and family from inside hole. Waited for spring thaw. Prince survived on own."
"Wow..." said Sakura, clearly impressed. But Pinkie and Mario were more skeptical to his story.
"W-W-Wait a minute," said Pinkie, "You spent the whole winter in a hole?"
"Yes," said Prince Rutherford, "And yak never asked for help." Prince Rutherford then horn bumped a nearby yak.
"Impressive," said Mario in a plain but skeptical tone, "You must be very tough to manage staying in a hole for a roughly three and a half months." Prince Rutherford cringed but quickly recovered.
"Y-y-yes, prince yak is tough," said Prince Rutherford, "Glad at least prince pony gets that!" Now Pinkie was getting irritated.
"Okay. First of all, how did you make such a deep hole from stomping?" Pinkie asked the yak prince in a stern tone, "And how did it freeze over so fast? And how could you see your family and friends to wave to them inside a frozen hole? Even if all that was possible, how did you breathe in there?!" As Pinkie was asking her questions, the other yaks were gathering around Prince Rutherford and looking at him. It was clear that they were thinking the same thing even if they didn't say it out loud. And Prince Rutherford was getting very uncomfortable with all the attention.
"Not to mention, how did you survive without food and water that entire time?" said Sakura, "I don't think yaks hibernate and also, how did you use the bathroom?" Prince Rutherford angrily stomped the ground, making Pinkie flinch and Sakura jump back.
"EEP!" Sakura yelped as she ducked behind Mario and shivered fearfully.
"YAKS DON'T ASK FOR HELP!" Prince Rutherford yelled so firmly that he blew all three ponies away and sent them crashing into a snowdrift. Pinkie and Sakura both did spins to get themselves out while Mario just poked out of the snow on his own and climbed out.
"But the yaks are hungry! And who knows when the snow will melt?" said Pinkie.
"We mean no disrespect to your yak strength, your highness," said Mario, "But even you have to realize that snow foods don't exactly fill up your stomach. Why else would the yaks be eating the snow buildings and the fire pit?" Prince Rutherford then heard munching and saw another yak munching on the snow phonograph. The yak prince shot the other yak a glare, which the yak smiled sheepishly and zipped off. Pinkie just huffed.
"That's what we're talking about!" Sakura protested.
"We just don't understand why-" Pinkie tried to explain but the yak prince cut her off.
"Ah, yes," said Prince Rutherford, "Is clear now that neither pink ponies or prince pony not understand yaks." Mario glared.
"Yeah, I guess we don't," said Mario in a stern, honest, but also hurt tone.
"Honorary yaks status rescinded!" Prince Rutherford declared.
"What?!" Mario interjected, "Hey! Just because we don't see eye to eye with you doesn't mean you have to-"
"BANG!" Prince Rutherford snapped as he turned his back to them, "Pretend there is door! I just slammed it!" He then lay down in the snow with a huff.
"Fine! Be stubborn!" Pinkie yelled angrily.
"Nevermind, Pinkie," said Mario, "Let's just get out of here." Pinkie just snorted, but then both ponies heard the sound of sniffling. Poor Sakura was very upset and was now crying. Pinkie's expression soften as she pulled the cherry-blossom pony into a hug as she cried into her shoulder. Mario stood behind Sakura and just patted her shoulder sympathetically.
Few minutes later, the three ponies were back on the Harmony and heading for home. Pinkie and Gummy were hanging out on the outer balcony as Mario exited the main cabin.
"Sakura's calm down a little now that she's stopped blaming herself over what had happened," said Mario.
"Why would Sakura blame herself for what happened?" Pinkie asked and groaned, "Those yaks are so stubborn! They refuse to ask for help, even though they need it."
"It just hurts her feelings because she had friends in the past do the same thing to her," Mario explained, "She offers a hoof to help, and they slam the door in her face. Some of those ponies have even broken their friendship with her. Simply because she cared." Pinkie gave Mario a sad look.
"Sakura did tell me about that," said Pinkie, "You did let her know this wasn't her fault, right?"
"Of course," said Mario, "I mean. As much as I want to be respectful of the way Prince Rutherford wants to lead the yaks. It's pretty clear that he doesn't know what he's doing! I want to understand why he thinks asking for help is such a weakness, but I just don't get it and it's making my head hurt!" Mario groaned as he leaned over the railing and just rubbed the back of his head.
"Well, unless you think it's a bad idea," said Pinkie, "this official friendship ambassador is gonna take matters into our own hooves! We'll show them!" Pinkie then noticed Mario just looking at her as well as Gummy. Pinkie just sighed.
"You're right, Gummy and Mario," said Pinkie, "I am too worked up. Plus it's probably a stupid idea anyway."
"Honestly, Pinkie," said Mario, "I'm all up for it." Pinkie blinked.
"Really?" Pinkie replied, "but what about not breaking relations with the yaks or causing a war?"
"When you really think about it?" said Mario, "Prince Rutherford is going to really make a fool out of himself if he declares war over an act of kindness. I think they're might be a way we can help them out."
"I hope so..." said Pinkie doubtfully and then looked at Gummy before blinking, "Great idea, Gummy. Road trip game would definitely calm me down."
"Did somepony say a game?" said Sakura as she appeared immediately beside Pinkie and Gummy, "I wanna play!"
"You didn't take long perk up," Mario remarked, "Anyway, what's the game, Pinks!"
"I know! Let's play Twenty Million Questions!" said Pinkie. Mario's eyes widened in horror.
"Oh please no!" Mario yelped and tried to run back inside when Sakura held him down.
"Oh I love that game!" Sakura said excitedly. Mario groaned loudly. Even if he could break away, teleport away, or magic blast the cherry-blossom pony off, Sakura was like Pinkie when it came to tracking him down. So he knew there was no escape and didn't bother to struggle.
"You think of something, then I'll ask you twenty million questions until I can come up with what you're think off!" Pinkie explained, "And Gummy is going first!"
"Oh good grief," Mario groaned as he slumped forward in defeat and Sakura continued to hold him.
"Let's go!" said Pinkie.
"Is it blue?" Pinkie asked.
"Is it pink?" Sakura asked and they took turns asking questions.
"Is it green?"
"Is it orange?"
"Is is red?"
"Is it yellow?"
"Is is greenish-red?"
"Is it yellowish-green?"
"Is it reddish-blue?"
"Is it purplish-pink?
"Is it bigger than a bread box?"
"Is it shaped like a bread box?"
"Is it smaller then a bread box?"
"Is it the same size as a bread box?"
"Is it a bread box?"
"Is is something that looks like a bread box?"
"Is it bread?"
"Is a loaf of bread?"
The questions continued for the remainder of the trip. Poor Mario was just trembling and crying by the time the Harmony was reaching the Castle of Friendship. Pinkie and Sakura were still asking questions as the ship landed on the dock.
"...Is it teeth?"
"Is it a pair of dentures?"
"Is it Granny's dentures?
"Is it you?"
"Is it Winona?"
"Is is a rooster?"
"Is it a brown rooster?"
"Is it a red rooster?"
"Is it a red rooster crowing?"
"Is it a red rooster eating corn?" Pinkie asked as she noticed the Harmony had landed, "Ah! Used up all twenty million questions! Oh, well. We're here anyway!"
"Gummy is really good at this!" said Sakura. Mario bolted from the Harmony. rushed inside the castle, headed into the first empty room he could find. and shut the door.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!
And he screamed at the top of his lungs to regain his sanity. Pinkie and Sakura just blinked.
"What's with him?" Pinkie asked cluelessly.
"Mm-mm?" Sakura replied in the same tone with a shoulder shrug.
Back in Yakyakistan, Prince Rutherford and several yaks were gathered around when one yak approached the group.
"Official pony airship still here?" Prince Rutherford asked. The other yaks shook his head.
"Pink ponies and prince pony gone because pink ponies and prince pony not tough like yaks!" Prince Rutherford snorted, but then noticed that the other yaks were silent.
"Horn bump in agreement! Now!" Prince Rutherford ordered as two yaks did just that. Then Prince Rutherford then gobbled up his snow sandwich and then spat it out, "Snow sandwich lose novelty! Snow couscous for dinner!" The other yaks just groaned in disappointment.
Back at the castle of friendship, Mario had finally recovered and the three ponies were now with the rest of the Mane eight and Diamond Tiara in the throne room. Pinkie quickly took charge of telling the rest of the group what had happened.
"Then Prince Rutherford said," Pinkie told them as she made her voice deeper, ""Bang! Pretend there is door. I just slammed it!""
"Pinkie Pie-" Twilight called out, but Pinkie wasn't listening.
"So then pink pony said," Pinkie continued as she used a high pitched voice, ""Fine! Be stubborn!" And he also made my twinsie cry!"
"Well that wasn't very nice," Shenran remarked as Fluttershy hummed in agreement.
"True," said Twilight, "Pinkie Pie, we have to help the yaks."
"So in conclusion, we have to help the yaks!" said Pinkie.
"Hmm?" said Twilight with a puzzled look.
"Just go with it, hon," said Applejack with a smirk on her face.
"Yeah, Mom, your head will thank you later," Diamond Tiara added, smirking as well.
"Great idea, Pinkie," said Twilight, "We'll be happy to help the yaks. This is what friendship is all about."
"There's just one problem, Twilight," said Sakura as stood between Twilight and Mario, but was quickly cut off.
"Hey! I'll bring apples," said Applejack, "This season's batch are extra juicy."
"And I shall provide the yaks with Equestria's finest textiles," said Rarity, "They'll be silky and warm with hints of gold to complement their horns. Rainbow was just hovering behind her, but didn't help but smile and roll her eyes when Rarity started describing her textiles.
"Uhh...just one problem with that..." Sakura tried to speak up again.
"Stop!" Pinkie yelled as she stood on the table, "Sakura is right! We can't bring the yaks any pony stuff!"
"Why not?" Fluttershy asked.
"The yaks are very proud," said Pinkie, "They won't ask for help. You know what they say - "You can lead a yak to water, but you better not let him know you're doing it"."
"Nopony says that," said Rainbow, "Do they?" Rarity just shrugged in reply.
"Not really," said Mario, "But it does sum up the type of situation we're dealing with. We are literally going over Prince Rutherford's head seeking your help right now. Like I told Pinkie and Sakura before, as much as I don't wish to disrespect Prince Rutherford, he doesn't seem to know what to do about the situation at all. I mean...he thinks they can survive on food made out of snow! And they're idea of snow shelters are just mounds of snow and with no roofs on them!"
"Don't forget the imaginary doors and melty snow beds," Sakura added.
"Oy ye," Shenran groaned.
"Okay then," said Twilight, "This'll be an official covert friendship mission."
"Mm-hmm!" Applejack, Fluttershy, Shenran, and Rarity said together.
"You got it!" said Rainbow Dash.
"Can I help too, Mom?" Diamond Tiara asked, "Please?"
"Sweetie, we're going to be busy all night!" Twilight protested, "You're too young to be staying up so late!" Diamond Tiara groaned.
"Honey, it's not like she's gonna be partying during that time," said Mario, "She's gonna be helping on official friendship business! Plus she is on school break right now so she can recover from the loss of sleep the next day." Diamond Tiara just smiled excitedly as Mario's support and gave Twilight a pleading smile. Mario gave her a pleading smile as well. Twilight just rolled her eyes and smirked.
"You're lucky Mario is so cute!" Twilight remarked to the tiara-wearing filly, "But fine. If you think you can stay up, you can come with us."
"Yes!" said Diamond Tiara, "Thanks Master!" Mario and Diamond Tiara shared a hug.
"Now to prepare the Harmony," said Mario, "Unlike other airships, I've got some modifications that will make it the perfect for stealth flying. The yaks will never know we showed up." The others oohed with curiosity as Mario rushed off.
"Watch out for the door!" Sakura called out. '
THUD!
"Oh come on! Whyyyyyyyyyy?!" Mario bellowed as he rubbed his sore head and exited the throne room. Twilight just rolled her eyes as the rest of the girls and Shenran all snickered quietly to each other.
It only took Mario about thirty minutes before the Harmony had been upgraded so it could fly even more quietly than a normal balloon. By late afternoon, the Harmony was ready to go and everypony quickly got on board and headed on their way to Yakyakistan. They had all decided to enjoy the view from the balcony railing when Pinkie and Sakura giggled excitedly.
"Is it yellow?" Pinkie asked.
"Is it blue?" Sakura asked.
"It is slimy?"
"Is it scaly?"
"Is it slimy yellow?"
"Is it scaly blue?"
"We're NOT playing that!" Rainbow snapped.
"Thank you, Dashie!" Mario exclaimed.
"Sorry, we're just trying to entertain you," said Sakura and then got an idea.
"How about a song?" Sakura suggest and started singing, "Unicorns are fluff, fluffy, unicorns are lovely..."
"Am gonna throw you off the airship if you don't stop singing that song!" Mario warned.
"Uhh, you do remember that I'm a Pegasus right?" Sakura pointed out.
"Good grief..." Mario groaned. It was already nightfall when the Mane eight, Diamond Tiara, and Sakura arrived at the main gate of Yakyakistan. Mario had already equipped everypony with a body temperature regulation spell to keep them warm in the below freezing weather. The group was barely exiting the airship when Pinkie and Sakura appeared wearing black spy shirts, black caps, and night vision goggles. Mario and Shenran were most indignant.
"Seriously?" Mario asked annoyingly when Sakura walked up with a serious look on her face.
"We are elite warriors mastered in the arts of stealth," said Sakura in a very serious tone and then smiled, "And besides, Twilight said I could barrow your night vision goggles." Sakura then zipped away. Mario groaned, knowing he wasn't going to get those goggles back undamaged.
"First we have to infiltrate the yak compound," said Pinkie as she grabbed a grapple hook and tossed it toward the top of the giant gate door, "These walls are high. Sneaking in will not be easy."
"But when has that ever stopped us?" Sakura added. Then Pinkie and Sakura started to climb up the gate door. Rainbow, Twilight, and Diamond Tiara shared annoyed looks with each other before Twilight gave Rainbow a nod. Rainbow quickly flew off. Pinkie and Sakura grunted as they continued to climb the door. Then Rainbow surprised her by opening the door from the inside.
"Or it's super-easy 'cause I'm awesome," said Rainbow.
"Quick and efficient as always my awesome sis!" said Mario as he and Rainbow shared a high hoof. The rest of the group walked inside.
"Go ahead! We'll catch up! You all know what to do!" said Pinkie as she and Sakura continued their trek up the gate. But then both ponies lost their grip and tumbled into the snow. The two pink ponies quickly recovered and just burrowed under the snow to catch up with the others. Meanwhile, Prince Rutherford and the others were snoring loudly in their snow beds. The ten ponies quietly crept up to the yaks.
"Alright, everypony," said Mario in a very quiet whisper, "It's a go time. Work quickly and quietly and, most importantly, work together." Mario then extended a fore-hoof and the rest of the ponies did the same. They quietly gave a cheer before splitting up to get to work, except for Sakura, who tried to follow Mario until he gave her a death glare. Sakura huffed and went off on her own.
As some montage music began to play, Mario and Shenran teamed up to dig the excess snow away. The latter used a speed horseshoe to keep up with Mario. Without Prince Rutherford to restrict how much digging he could do, Mario was able to use his full speed to clear out most of the snow surrounding the village huts. With Shenran's help, they cleared most of the excess snow in just a few minutes. Rarity used her magic to clear the snow that was on the roofs of the huts. Applejack and Diamond Tiara teamed up to buck the snow off of another hut, but they were quickly buried alive. Rarity used her magic to remove the snow off of the two earth ponies, who smiled sheepishly to say thank you. Rainbow and Sakura both teamed up to clear the snowy clouds, leaving a clear night sky. Twilight then used her magic to remove some snow off some gardening soil and used a spell to speed up the growth of some of the crops. Inside the sleeping hut, Fluttershy and Diamond Tiara then got to work preparing the beds while Pinkie and Sakura bounced from one bed to the next. Rarity and Shenran, the former using her magic and the latter using his wings, worked together to set up the garlands back onto the huts. Pinkie and Mario then got to work baking and decorating some more vanilla cakes. Of course Pinkie didn't resist stealing some frosting off the top of one cake.
By the time it was morning, Prince Rutherford then began to wake up. He yawned loudly before he gasped at what he saw.
"What happened?!" Prince Rutherford exclaimed when he saw all the snow as gone.
"Snow melted!" said a yak, "Prince Rutherford was right!" The yaks all laughed and cheered with jubilee. But Prince Rutherford was rather puzzled. He knew that all that snow couldn't have melted by itself, but he felt better once he gave another yak a horn bump.
"Yaks tough! Yaks wait patiently! Yaks win!" Prince Rutherford remarked, but then he lifted his bangs as he looked at the gate. For he had caught sight of two very familiar pink tails leaving through the main gate!
Back outside the main gate, the rest of the main eight and Diamond Tiara were boarding the Harmony. Diamond Tiara was exhausted as she rested tiredly on Applejack's back.
"Hoo-wee!" said Applejack, "Helpin' fix an entire yak village sure takes a lot outta ya!"
"You can say that again, Aunt AJ," Diamond Tiara said tiredly and gave a loud yawn. Applejack just smiled at her sympathetically. It was then Pinkie and Sakura bounced up to the rest of the group. Mario was also shown to be with them.
"We can relax later," said Mario, "Right now we need to get out of here."
"Agreed, dear," said Twilight, "Let's get out of here before-"
"Oh, pink ponies and prince pony!" shouted a very familiar voice, making everypony cringe.
"Oh, we are so busted," Mario groaned as he turned to see Prince Rutherford stomping up to them. Pinkie shuttered.
"Just play it cool!" said Pinkie, nervously gasping to try and regain her composure. She turned around to face the yak prince, "We didn't help fix Yakyakistan!" Pinkie then chuckled nervously, "No, no! We're just here for the snow sandwiches! But then we got here, and the snow was gone, so we thought we'd hit a diner on our way back to Ponyville! Bye-bye!" As Pinkie was talking, the rest of the Mane eight just smiled sheepishly. Sakura did the same as Diamond Tiara covered her eyes, fearing the worst. Pinkie then turned to board the Harmony when Prince Rutherford stopped her.
"Wait," said Prince Rutherford as he raised a fore-hoof before Pinkie's face, "Yak not mad at pink ponies or prince pony."
"Yak not?" said Pinkie, Sakura, and Mario together.
"Pink ponies and prince pony help yaks without yaks asking," Prince Rutherford explained, "Means pink ponies and prince pony understand yaks."
"We do?" said Pinkie.
"Yes, we do," said Mario as he walked up and faced the rest of the group, "I've been thinking about why Prince Rutherford declined direct help and now I see why."
"Why honey?" Twilight asked as the others gave him curious and puzzled looks.
"In yak culture, the leader is in charge of protecting and keeping order among the tribe," Mario explained, "The strength of the leader determines how much the other yaks trust and follow him. For Prince Rutherford, accepting direct help would be seen as a sign of weakness, which lowers the morale of all the yaks and making them hesitant to trust and depend on him."
"So the yaks rely on Prince Rutherford to guide them during troubled times," said Shenran. "Otherwise they'd be causing chaos because they don't have a leader to trust and depend on."
"Exactly," said Mario, "It's why Prince Rutherford kept trying to stay positive and make the best of a tough situation. He was never truly trying to turn down help or wanted to banish us from the village. In fact, the reason he sent us away was because he knew we would find a way to clear the snow and the other yaks would never know he had anything to do with it. So when the snow mysteriously melted, they would know that trusting in their leader was the right call and their respect for him would grow. A sneaky, but a very effective tactic." Prince Rutherford laughed.
"This is why yak prince like pony prince," said Prince Rutherford, "Pony prince truly understand yaks and helps other ponies understand yaks."
"Huh! He does! And we do!" said Pinkie as she and Sakura shared smiled with each other. Then Pinkie, Sakura, and Mario were taken by surprise when Prince Rutherford squished them into a tight hug.
"Pink ponies and pony prince the best kind of friends," said Prince Rutherford, "Official honorary yaks!" Some other yaks appeared and cheered as they gave each pony their very own set of yaks horns. Mario's horns were extra special because they had gold horn rings on them similar to Prince Rutherford's.
"Ooooooh! Handsome yak!" Twilight and Diamond Tiara cooed, making Mario blush.
"Yippee!" Pinkie chanted with glee, "My own honorary yak horns! Now I can officially horn-bump!"
"Watch how it's done," said Mario as he jumped up and gave Prince Rutherford a firm horn bump. Then gave himself a hoof-pump for a successful move. Sakura and Pinkie decided to do theirs at the same time on opposite horns.
"Whoa!" Pinkie and Sakura yelped as their horn bumps sent them spinning away and crashing into some snow.
"Yeah...You know, this is a little heavy for my small pony head," said Pinkie.
"Yeah...despite what some pony prince said earlier," Sakura added, "having a large head doesn't help make these horns lighter!" Sakura then blinked and face-hooved herself, "I just made a boo-boo!"
"She finally admits she's got a big head," Mario replied with a smirk as Sakura gave him a glare and rolled her eyes. Applejack chuckled as well.
"Need some help with that, Pinkie Pie and Sakura?" Applejack offered.
"Pink ponies no need apple pony's help!" Pinkie said sternly to Applejack's face. Sakura glared at her as well, but then both pink ponies giggled.
"Just kidding!" said Pinkie.
"Pink ponies got apple pony good!" Sakura added. Everypony laughed. It was then the iris out appeared to end the chapter, but then opened up again as Pinkie and Sakura glared at...me?!
"Seriously, this is heavy," Pinkie remarked before she and Sakura ended up face-planting the snow.
Well, what did you expect when you two have heads filled with nothing but air?
"GRRR!" Pinkie and Sakura growled.
Oh look at the time...it's time to end the chapter! Bye!
Well, I hope you enjoyed my new take on this chapter. In case you forgot, Sakura is the OC pony name of my best friend and a huge fan of G4 pony. We're very close to one another and we also drive each other crazy. That's kind of why the dynamic between Mario and Sakura is like that. And joke involving Mario running into the door. That's her favorite joke to play on me...and I can't stand it. She's always wanted an adventure that involved Mario and Pinkie teaming up and this was the episode she chose. If you like seeing her, like me know in your reviews. Maybe she'll come back for another future episode. (But NOT the movie, I'm saying no to that suggestion right NOW.)
Kudos if you caught the Looney Tunes joke!
And somepony asked me to show off a power-up from Sonic Colors years ago and I've finally been able to fulfill that request.
And kudos if you got the Railway series joke as well!
And the biggest peeve that many fans had with this episode was the lesson. I kind of have to agree since it feels like the lesson was that its okay go behind somepony's back, whether it be for the greater good or not. I did my best to kind of clarify what Prince Rutherford was trying to get Pinkie to understand, which in term makes his character less one-dimensional, aka a simple minded hotheaded yak.
Next time: Fluttershy and Shenran are invited to a tea party...at Discord's house! Just what kind of chaotic craziness is in store for them?
Peace Pony Fans!