Ch.13: The Great and Powerful Oz
The red, yellow, and blue hallway they entered was long and quiet. It was so quiet that their footsteps echoed throughout the hall as they made contact with the marble floor. Of course, it was also too quiet for Gryphon.
"Uh, guys, I've been thinking," he whimpered. "I don't want to see the Wizard that badly. I'll see ya later." He then started to back away, but the others stopped him.
"Hey, hey," Scootaloo asked him, "what's wrong?"
"Oh, he's just being scared again," Chopper answered, going up to the freaked out beast and trying to calm him down. "Okay, easy, big guy. Cleansing breaths…cleansing breaths…" Gryphon then started inhaling and exhaling rapidly to try and calm down.
"Don't ya know the Wizard's gonna give ya some courage?" Apple Bloom asked him.
"I'd be too scared to ask him for it," he answered, wringing his tail tip with his talons with a gulp.
"Well, we'll ask him for you," Sweetie Belle assured him.
"I still think I should wait outside," he replied, turning to head to the front door. But the others stopped him and turned him around.
"Don't worry," Spike assured him. "We're here for ya; nothing's gonna happen." Gryphon would have said something but cried out with fear a second after pulling his tail roughly.
"What's wrong?" Scootaloo asked as they stopped him from running off again.
"Something pulled my tail!"
"Uh, you did it yourself," Pumpkinhead explained, pointing at the tail in his talons.
"I did?" he replied, looking down to see the tail in his shaky grip. "Oh…sorry." They all then lined up in a row and held hooves, talons, handlebars, and hands before stepping forward towards the large black and white double doors at the end of the hall. As they were halfway to their fifth step, the doors suddenly opened slowly before them, making them jump back a bit.
"COME FORWARD!" a deep, loud voice bellowed from the room behind the doors.
"Tell me when it's over," Gryphon whimpered, covering his eyes as they stepped closer to the doorway. It wasn't long before they entered some sort of throne room of ruby, topaz, and sapphire with black and white furniture. They then turned to the giant throne at the back of the room, a large, black-and-white marble throne decorated with the same gems. At either side of it is an ocean blue bowl-like torch holding a large tongue of golden-and-crimson fire. Suddenly, a cloud of black-and-white smoke emit from the seat of the throne.
"Look at that…Look at that!" Gryphon whimpered with fear. "I wanna get outta here!" They held onto him and tried to calm him down as some large head with no body appear out of the smoke, wisps of hair flying around his intimidating, glaring face like a wildfire.
"I AM OZ, THE GREAT AND POWERFUL!" the head said, the deep, loud voice bellowing from his mouth filled with fang-like teeth as smoke billowed around him. "WHO ARE YOU?" With a fearful gulp, Sweetie Belle stepped forward from the trembling group up to the throne with Spike right behind her just in case.
"Uh, I…I am Sweetie Belle," she answered nervously, "the Small and Meek. My friends Spike, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo and I…we came to ask—"
"SILENCE!" Oz roared, making the two youngsters run back to the group with yelps.
"Jiminy crickets!" Apple Bloom cried as she and Scootaloo hugged them to help calm them down.
"THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ KNOWS WHY YOU HAVE COME HERE," Oz said to them. "COME FORWARD, CHOPPER!"
"Yikes…" the motorcycle whimpered, but wheeled up to the throne anyway, shaking in his spokes.
"YOU COME HERE TO ME TO ASK FOR HEART," Oz interrogated him. "IS THAT RIGHT, YOU CLINKING, CLANKING PILE OF SCRAP METAL?" Chopper gulped with fear as he kept on shaking.
"Y-Yessir," he stuttered. "I-I mean, yes, Your Honor…See, a while back, we were walking down the Yellow Brick Road, and—"
"SILENCE!" In reply, Chopper cried out before zooming back to his friends, hiding behind Gryphon. Now he knows how his black-and-golden friend feels.
"STEP FORTH, PUMPKINHEAD!" Oz demanded, and the poor scarecrow felt forward in a groveling position. "YOU COME HERE TO ME TO ASK FOR A BRAIN, YOU PATHETIC, WALKING STICK FIGURE SQUASH?" Pumpkinhead reluctantly looked up at him in fear.
"Y-Yes, Your Excellency," he stuttered. "I-I mean, Your Wizardry…"
"ENOUGH!" Pumpkinhead quickly stumbled back to the group. "AND YOU, GRYPHON?" Gryphon whimpered as the others ushered him up to the throne, and he looked up at the glaring head timidly. "WELL?" But the poor beast only crossed his eyes and fainted in a heap of fur and feathers. Quickly, Spike and Scootaloo ran up to him, followed by the others.
"Gryphon!" Spike said, fanning his larger face. "Gryph, you okay?" Scootaloo looked up at Oz angrily.
"You should be ashamed of yourself!" she yelled. "Scaring him like that when he came to you for help!"
"SILENCE, SMALL ONE!" Oz demanded, making her shut up. "THE BENEVOLENT OZ HAS EVERY INTENTION OF GRANTING YOUR REQUESTS." Gryphon's head immediately shot up as the others' faces lit up with hope.
"What was that?" he asked as the others helped him up to his feet. "What did he say? Huh? What did he say?" They all turned to Oz as he spoke again.
"TO PROVE YOURSELVES WORTHY OF YOUR REQUESTS, YOU MUST FIRST PERFORM FOR ME A SMALL TASK: BRING ME THE MASK OF WUYA OF THE WEST." Their faces fell at this request. Bring him Wuya's mask? That's crazy!
"But we'll have to kill her for it to get it," Chopper protested.
"That's right," Pumpkinhead concurred.
"THAT IS THE WISH OF THE GREAT AND POWERFUL OZ," the head replied firmly. "BRING ME THE MASK OF WUYA, AND I SHALL GRANT YOU YOUR WISHES…NOW GO." Gryphon gulped before speaking up.
"But…but what if she…kills us first?"
"I SAID GO!" Pumpkinhead jumped back in reply before tumbling to the floor, and Chopper and Spike went over to help him back up. The Gryphon, however, cried out with fear before dashing out of the room and down the hall. The CMCs then watched as he then smashed himself through one of the stained glass windows by the castle doors.
"I hope we're not gonna pay for that," Scootaloo stated with a sweat-drop.