Scene 10: Sunny Town

GH-Gray Hoof

MT=Mitta

-Sunny Town-

The group arrived in a clearing just before dusk.

RU-"Well, here we are. Sunny Town."

RD-"Well this doesn't look so bad. Where are all the zombie ponies that you mentioned?

Just as she said that, a stallion they hadn't noticed before appeared to their left.

GH-"Why hay there folks, welcome to S- wait. I know you. You managed to get away from us last time. Well, that won't happen again."

As he said this, gradual chunks of flesh started falling from his body. The town behind him started to crumble to ruins; chunks of rocks fell from the walls, roofs collapsed, and vines grew out of cracks.

Suddenly, another pony came in from behind Gray Hoof. She appeared to be rotted, but not as much as Gray Hoof; her fur was still noticeably brown, although it may just have been the all the dirt.

MT-"No! Gray Hoof! This has gone on for too long! This town can't continue to do this! It's just plain wrong!"

GH-"But you know that all the ponies that have the mark will bring bad fortune to us all!"

MT-"Don't you see? Getting rid of those with Cutie Marks is what caused us our demise! We were cursed because we were foolish enough to rid our town of Ruby! Don't you realise that?"

GH-"The mark is cursed! You won't convince me otherwise!"

MT-"At least give me this one chance to help us all. I believe I found a way to cure us of this curse. But to cure it, we'll all have to work together. Blanks and Marked."

Gray Hoof scowled at the five Marked ponies. However, this look quickly changed into one of defeat.

GH-"Fine. I'll work with these... Marked ponies. But don't expect me to like it."

MT-"Excellent."

Mitta then led the six into a house. The walls were stacked high with ruined books.

FS-"Wow... This library is comparable to Twilight's..."

Mitta held up a half-decayed book.

MT-"I was reading this one book. It has this one article on a rare phoenix-"

RD-"Wait. Rare phoenix? Does it happen to be rainbow-coloured, too?"

MT-"Actually, yes it does. How did you know?"

Rainbow Dash stared at the book carefully. She could barely make out any of the cover.

RD-"Eq... Fa... Ency... Wait... Is this the Equestrian Faunal Encyclopedia? My friend Twilight and I were reading about the phoenix in that earlier! My friends and I came into Everfree Forest to look for that phoenix. I was going to rai-"

MT-"Wait, you came into this forest to tame that accursed phoenix? That's great news!"

RD-"Wait. Why is that great news? And why is it 'accursed'?"

MT-"Well, as you probably know from reading, these phoenixes are quite rare. Phoenixes birds aren't born by natural means. They only appear when a great and powerful being, such as Princess Celestia, Princess Luna or, dare I say it, Discord wills them to appear. And they don't will these creatures to appear very often. They're only made whenever a 'special' kind of punishment is required- such as our nightly zombification. Many of the materials required to make a new phoenix are also quite rare; most of them are only found in the areas surrounding the Everfree Forest."

RD-"So that's why this phoenix lives here. So as long as it's here, you're all going to be cursed?"

MT-"You got it. This phoenix flies over our skies every evening; this causes us to become these horrid beasts and it causes our town to go to ruin. Every morning, it flies back over in the opposite direction, causing the curse to temporarily lift. But if someone manages to tame this fowl beast, then our curse will be lifted!"

RD-"Looks like a job for Rainbow Dash!"

MT-"Great. Now, the phoenix lives somewhere on a mountain peak in the middle of the forest. We'll have to split up for a more thorough search. What will the groups be?"

AB-"Well, me, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo could be a group!"

FS-"But you'll need a responsible pony with you! You three can't just go alone!"

SC-"We don't need someone to look after us! We can handle ourselves!"

Just then, a pair of glowing eyes appeared behind Gray Hoof. The eyes then winked at Fluttershy.

FS-"You know what? You're right. You three can handle yourselves. You three can go on your own."

MT-"So that's one group. I'm guessing that I'll be going with Gray Hoof here?"

RD-"Oh no. I'm not letting Sir Crazy here go unchecked by one of us. I'm going with him."

MT-"So then I guess I'm going with... Sorry, I didn't get your name yet."

FS-"My name is Fluttershy... I guess I'm your partner."

MT-"So the teams are set. I guess we're off."