Dorm Room Disaster: Part Two

Skydancer grinned. "I like it!" he said. "This will be great!"

"Oh, I hope it works!" gushed Bouquet.

Angel's tail twitched nervously. "Remember, this is a back-up plan! Hopefully the posse of unicorns will be able to handle the mind sprite without us!"

"Even if we don't use it, I'll feel safer knowing we have a plan," I sighed, quickly peeling a pair of socks apart and stuffing one in my pocket, just in case I didn't remember later.

"Hey, I'm hungry," Skydancer said suddenly.

Bouquet nodded. "Me too."

"I refuse to eat any more of those muffins," Parasol declared, giving me the evil eye. "They should be classified as hazardous waste!"

"Well, I suppose we could order a pizza," I said doubtfully. Did ponies eat pizza?

"Great idea!" Skydancer said, licking his lips. "How about an extra large with anchovies, mushrooms, tomatoes, green peppers, and olives."

Yes, apparently ponies did eat pizza. "That's disgusting," said Parasol, scrunching up her face. "I refuse to eat anchovies, mushrooms, or tomatoes! They're not fit for equine consumption! I want a pizza with pineapple, sausage, extra cheese, onions, and chicken."

"Chicken?" Angel asked in disbelief. "Chicken was not meant to be on pizza!"

"Onions give me indigestion," added Bouquet. "So do peppers, anchovies, and sausage."

About an hour later, we finally got the pizza business sorted out.

"Hello, Pizza Time? I'd like to order an extra, extra large pizza . . . Well, one on quarter of the pizza . . . what? Yes, a quarter of the pizza--you know, a fourth. On one quarter I'd like anchovies, mushrooms, tomatoes, green peppers, and olives. On another quarter, I'd like pineapple, sausage, extra cheese . . ."

I could just imagine the look on the pizza guy's face. Well, it could've been worse. What if eight ponies had invaded my dorm room?

" . . . and on the last quarter I'd like just pepperoni," I said as I finished ordering. "About thirty minutes? That's great." With a click I hung up the phone.

"Mmm, I can almost taste the pizza already," Skydancer said, closing his eyes.

"Well, I can't," Parasol said in an irritable tone.

I suddenly felt a need to escape. Four ponies in the dorm room with me--the walls were closing in!

"Um, I'm just going to run out to the lobby of the dorm for a few minutes, okay? I'll be back in a minute." I leapt out the door before the ponies could answer. The last thing I heard as I raced down the hall was Skydancer saying "Hey, what do you think is on TV?"

Despite its garish curtains and ragged couch, I sighed in relief as I reached the lounge. I flopped onto the couch and relaxed. Thrilled as I was that the little ponies existed and that they'd chosen to visit me, but being squashed into a tiny room with four of them ("little" ponies indeed!) was beginning to drive me crazy. Maybe I could've managed if they'd been four different ponies instead of insecure Bouquet, sarcastic Parasol, bossy Angel, and the insane jokester, Skydancer. Still, they were certainly interesting to be around, I thought with a smile. I would rejoin them soon . . . after I closed my eyes for just . . . a . . . minute.

I woke up with a start.

Ponies . . . mind sprites . . . a back-up plan.

A dream, I told myself. It must've been a dream.

And then I saw Skydancer trotting by with something in his mouth. I sat up and watched turn the corner . . . he was going towards the main door! Was the pegasus crazy? I ran after him, zooming around the corner just in time to see the Skydancer giving a twenty dollar bill to a rather stunned pizza delivery man.

"Keep the change," Skydancer grinned, grabbing the pizza box in his mouth and awkwardly maneuvering through the doorway of the lobby.

The pizza men just gaped, staring as the last bit of Skydancer's rainbow tail flicked out of sight. Then he turned his gaze towards me.

"Did you . . . I just saw . . . I don't believe it!" he babbled. "There was a yellow talking horse here minute ago, wasn't there?"

"No, that was you imagination," I said quickly. "Goodbye!"

With a sigh, I slammed the outside door and backtracked through the lobby. When I got to my room, I found myself looking at four ponies wolfing down pizza with gusto. I quickly grabbed a piece before the entire meal disappeared. Bouquet, I noted, had shortened her mane and tail to their normal length.

"Skydancer, what on earth do you think you were doing?" I asked around a mouthful of pizza.

"Hmmm?" Skydancer glanced my way as he munched.

"A minute ago! With the pizza man! You went and . . . and PAID him!"

"I thought you were supposed to pay for things like that," Bouquet commented. "You mean the pizza was really free?"

"No! I mean you nearly gave the pizza man a heart attack! He's not used to seeing talking ponies, you know!"

"Well, he should learn to be more open minded," Parasol said decisively. "Mmm, pineapple!"

"Besides, you weren't around," Angel added. "And someone had to pay the pizza guy! So Bouquet answered the phone while the rest of us searched the room for some money . . ."

I gave up. Some things you can't explain to ponies.

"Just don't let any other humans see you, okay? It'll upset them," I said.

"Wha'ev'r!" Skydancer cheerfully said with his mouth full. "Hey, turn up the volume on the TV, would ya, Angel?"

I looked across the room. Sure enough, they had the TV on. "What are you watching?" I asked. Strange, I'd never pictured ponies being quite so . . . addicted . . . to television.

"Well, Highlander just finished," Angel said, awkwardly pushing the volume button with a hoof. "I don't know what's on next . . ."

Well, it didn't take long to find out . . .

"He was a cop and good at his job," the TV announced. "Until he committed the ultimate sin--testifying against cops gone bad, cops who tried to kill him, but got the woman he loved instead . . ."

"It's 'Renegade'," I said as the show's theme music started.

Skydancer began laughing. "That guy looks just like Tex!"

"And that guy looks like Wigwim!" Bouquet giggled.

A blond woman appeared on the screen.

"What about her?" I asked, pointing.

"Sugarberry!" all four ponies chorused.

"Yep, that guy's exactly like Tex," Skydancer added with an evil grin. "Just look at his long, lustrous hair! It would look great in curls!" He doubled over laughing.

Angel tried to hide a smile. "That was a mean trick, Skydancer! It took Tex months to get his hair back to normal after Sky 'helped' him with it," she explained to me. "His hair was all curly . . ."

Angel's voice suddenly trailed away. She was staring at the screen as it flickered with dark light.

Bouquet let out a scared squeak.

"Mind sprite," Skydancer murmured quietly.

We watched the screen in silence for a moment, mesmerized . . . then Skydancer leapt up with an insane shriek, his eyes bugging from his head, and flew out the door.

"Call the posse!" he shouted as he disappeared down the hall . . . and the room chilled as a misty form zipped through it . . . and the picture on the TV screen flashed back to normal.

For a second we simply stared after him; then Angel shook herself.

"Sky's given us a head start by distracting the mind sprite," she said curtly. "I'll call the posse."

The aqua earth pony closed her eyes for a second, concentrating. "They'll arrive in the lobby," Angel said, opening her eyes.

"Come on, let's be there in case they need help!" I ran down the hall with three ponies hot on my heels.

The lobby sat nestled in the middle of the building with halls running all the way around it. Judging from the insane shrieks echoing along the cinderblock halls, Skydancer was racing through the corridors that curled around the lobby.

"I hope he can stay ahead of the mind sprite long enough," Parasol muttered anxiously.

"He'll be fine," Bouquet said . . . but she looked paler than normal, even with her snow-white skin.

Luckily, the air began thrumming with magic almost immediately, and with a compressed **bang** a glowing splotch of purple appeared in mid-air. Several unicorns quickly poured out of it, and the din in the room grew. From the corner of my eye I could see the few other girls left in the dorm peeking timidly through various doorways. Well, that would teach them to drink on the weekends! Set my door on fire, would they? I mentally grinned at their shrieks as a blue unicorn lept out of the portal.

"Where is it?" shouted the unicorn.

"Where's the mind sprite?" added a white unicorn, raising her voice to be heard.

"Who's screaming?" wailed a green unicorn.

The last unicorn to arrive, a pink one decorated with the big dipper, stamped her foot. "Quiet everyone! Sparkler and Fizzy, you go through the doorway and go left. Moondancer and I will run down the hall to the right. We'll herd the mind sprite into the lobby and--who is that screaming?"

"It's Skydancer," Bouquet volunteered.

"He's keeping the mind sprite occupied, Galaxy," Angel added.

"Oh," the newly-identified Galaxy said. "Well, like I said, two of us will go one way and two will go the other and . . ."

Unfortunately, Galaxy's plans were interrupted when Skydancer ran through the room, sounding like a banshee with his unearthly wails. A faint, ethereal form seemed to zoom after him, fading into invisibility when sunlight hit it.

"There it is!" Fizzy yelped.

"GET IT!!" Sparkler shouted.

"Waaaait!" Galaxy called helplessly as the other three unicorns raced after Skydancer, pursuing the spirit.

"Take THIS!" Sparkler tossed her head and a lightning bolt from her horn zapped through the spirit. The mind sprite didn't seem to be damaged . . . although tongues of flame lapped the dingy curtains on the receiving end of the bolt. As the fire vainly tried to crawl up the cinderblock walls, irridescent bubbles appeared from nowhere, courtesy of Fizzy. The shimmering spheres drifted towards the half- seen mind sprite, trying to trap it . . . and they floated right through the evil spirit.

"Put it into hibernation, Moondancer!" Sparkler called, cutting off the mind sprite's line of escape.

The red-haired unicorn skidded to a halt in front of the mind sprite, closed her eyes, and concentrated.

"No good!" she said after a few seconds. "The spell's not taking hold!"

Galaxy joined the attack, a swirling current of stars rushing from her horn.

"This is bad, isn't it?" I asked Angel, watching Galaxy's starstorm unsuccessfully trying to smother the mind sprite.

"Yes," Angel said tensely. "Yes."

The unicorns continued their pursuit of the spirit. In an attempt to trap the sprite, Fizzy backed it into a corner. Slightly glowing, the creature writhed for a minute--then charged straight at Fizzy! The other unicorns skidded to a stop, surprised.

"Where did it go?" asked Sparkler, looking around in confusion.

"I don't know," Moondancer confessed. "Did you see where it zipped off too, Fizzy?"

The green unicorn still faced the corner, but now she turned around slowly.

"Oh no," Galaxy moaned.

"Look at her eyes!" Bouquet squeaked in terror.

She didn't need to tell me--I couldn't look at anything else! Fizzy's faceted eyes, formerly so cheerful, now glowed red like smoldering coals.

"The mind sprite's controlling her," Parasol said, her voice slightly unsteady.

Fizzy tossed her multi-colored mane back and laughed in a thin, almost sibilant voice.

"That'ssss riggght," she--or, rather, the mind sprite-- hissed.

As nausea filled my stomach, I turned my head away from the insane laughter burbling from the unicorn's throat . . . and found myself staring straight at Skydancer. For once he looked completely serious.

"The back-up plan," he uttered softly. "Now is the time. The unicorns can do nothing."

"Not those unicorns anyway," I whispered back. Raising my voice, I shouted, "Now, Bouquet! Our secret weapon!"

For a moment, confusion painted Bouquet's face . . . then a look of nervous comprehension spread across her features.

"Yes," she said a little too loudly. "I-I'll stop you," she added, turning to face the creature controlling Fizzy's body.

The gem-like eyes of the twinkle-eyed pony narrowed, gleaming cautiously as she--or "it," I suppose--braced for an attack.

Bouquet drew in a deep breath and snapped her eyes shut as her horn started glowing faintly . . . then brighter and brighter, until I had to turn my head from the blinding light. Once again the forces of magic gathered in the room, thick as the air before a storm breaks. The tension pressed against the walls as my skin prickled. The fake- Fizzy gritted her teeth, bracing for what would obviously be the most powerful attack yet. And at last Bouquet could no longer restrain the magic which swirled around her, blowing her multi-colored mane into her face . . . and she released the spell in a flash of brilliant illumination.

And Bouquet's hair grew, crawling towards the floor at an alarming rate, twisting into beautiful pink, aqua, orange, and yellow strands which separated or enfolded other tresses on the cream linoleum. Soon Bouquet's head drooped slightly the weight of the flowing locks of her mane, and her tail curled around her at four times its normal length. The other unicorns looked confused, but they couldn't match the pure, unfeigned astonishment that the mind sprite had put onto Fizzy's features.

"What issss thisss?" it hissed in consternation, the gem- like eyes of its host-body gleaming dangerously.

Parasol quickly jumped into the fray before the mind sprite could act. "It's your DOOM, demon!" she snarled.

The look on Fizzy's face twisted into amusement. "Doom?" said the creature inside her with growing confidence. "There is no threat here--only foolish ponies!" It laughed menacingly.

"That's what you think," Angel informed it calmly. "Obviously you don't understand the full consequences of Bouquet's actions yet."

Fizzy's brow wrinkled in confusion as the mind sprite attempted to figure out what we were up to. While it was distracted, I reached into my pocket, grabbed the lonely sock huddled there, and slipped it over my hand.

"That's right," I said, hiding my hand behind my back. "You might as well surrender now."

"Oh? And why's that?" the mind sprite sneered in Fizzy's voice.

"Because Mr. Quibble doesn't LIKE you," I snapped in a pseudo-British accent, whipping my hand into view.

The look on Fizzy's face hovered between dismay and bewilderment as she--or rather, the spirit--stared at the sock-turned-puppet on my hand. "WHAAAAAAT?"

"You're not crazy, are you?" I added. "If there's one thing Mr. Quibble can't stand, it's crazy people."

"She's crazy," I heard Sparkler whisper to Bouquet.

"Hush! Just play along!" the white unicorn murmured. She cleared her throat and piped up, "Why, noooo . . . we're not crazy!"

"Everything's fine, then?"

"Yes," Parasol confirmed nervously. "Everything's fine! Just let us go unharmed!"

"I can't," I said.

"Why not?" Galaxy questioned, genuinely confused.

"The king of the Potato people won't let me," I replied. "I begged and pleaded. I got down on my knees and WEPT."

"Well . . . can we talk to him?" Moondancer asked cautiously.

"You want to talk to the king of the Potato people?"

"Yes!" Skydancer said, contorting his face so he wouldn't grin.

"Do you have a flying carpet so you can reach him?" I demanded, gazing at Sparkler.

"Uhh . . . yeah," she said, backing away a few steps.

I twisted my wrist so "Mr. Quibble" stared at her. "You want to get on a flying carpet to talk to the king of the Potato people . . . and you're telling me you're sane? You're crazier than I thought. I think you'll all have to spend a few hours W.O.O.," I continued as Galaxy, Moondancer, Sparkler, and the mind sprite gaped. "W.O.O.? What's THAT?" Fear bled into the green unicorn's voice.

"With . . . out . . . oxygen!" My smile was a study in insanity. "That'll teach you to be breadbaskets!"

"This . . . does not make sense!" The mind sprite managed to comment in a strained voice.

I slowly rotated to face the creature who had possessed Fizzy. The flurourescent bulbs glared with sterile light, giving my eyes a demented gleaming that surpassed even the reddish glow of Fizzy's eyes.

"What shall we do with this one, Mr. Quibble?" I asked the puppet, never moving my steely gaze from the green unicorn. I turned my sock-covered hand so that Mr. Quibble appeared to "whisper" something into my ear . . . then with steady deliberation, turned my head to face first the sock, then Fizzy.

"Oh, no," I told the puppet. "We couldn't possibly do that. Who would clean up the mess?" With a cry of sheer terror, a faintly luminescent cloud formed as Fizzy collapsed into a crumpled heap on the floor. The mind sprite raced wailing towards the door.

"Get him, Mr. Quibble!" I shrieked, and with those words the room exploded with light, brightening and brightening as I dove behind a couch trying to escape. After a few seconds, the glare faded. I cautiously poked my head over the top of the well-worn couch.

"The mind sprite--it's gone!" Moondancer yelped. "No, no!" she added as Galaxy and Sparkler looked around. "It's really gone--self-destructed!"

"It thought you had the power to destroy it . . . or that Mr. Quibble did, anyway!" Parasol chuckled. And for the first time since I'd met her, she really grinned.

Galaxy quickly ran over to Fizzy, and after nudging her for a few minutes, the green unicorn raised her head.

"What happened?" she asked in her familiar (if ditzy) voice.

"Fizzy's all right!" Sparkler said in relief.

"And our back-up plan worked perfectly," I added, hugging Bouquet.

"What did you do to that poor mind sprite?" Moondancer demanded.

"Bouquet and Monica confused it to death," Skydancer said, collapsing onto the couch with laughter. "Oh, if you could've seen Fizzy's fa-a-a-ce! First Bouquet's hair and then Mr. Quibble . . ."

"Confused it to death?" Galaxy frowned.

"Yeah--mind sprites have flawless logic, so we acted in a very illogical manner," I explained. "Of course it couldn't understand why it should be afraid of Bouquet's magical power . . ."

"And it certainly didn't have a chance trying to understand 'Mr. Quibble'!" Angel smirked.

"So it self-destructed!" I concluded.

"Self-destructed? What?" Fizzy asked, bewildered. "What happened? Where's the spirit?"

As Moondancer and Galaxy interrupted each other in explaining the situation to Fizzy, I grinned at Angel, Bouquet, Parasol, and Skydancer.

"We make a great team," Angel smiled as Parasol and Bouquet slapped each other a high-five (a high-one?).

"That's for sure," laughed Skydancer, doing a double loop.

"We sure do! We--" I paused in mid-grin.

"What is it?" Bouquet asked anxiously.

"I . . . I guess this means you'll be leaving now," I said forlornly.

"Well . . . yes," Angel responded, her face clouding. "Yes, we'll have to return home . . ."

" . . . with you!" Skydancer concluded cheerfully.

Everyone looked at him.

"Well, why not?" he replied to their silent arguements. "Monica still has two days of vacation left, right? A lot can happen in two days!"

"Well . . ." Parasol paused. "Yeah, why not? Megan comes over all the time . . . and Monica's not half as irritating!"

"Parasol!" Angel scolded.

"Oh yes, do come! It'll be such fun!" said Bouquet.

"Of course she must come to Equinna," Galaxy decided. "She just destroyed the evil spirit that was ravaging our homeland, after all!"

"And if you like it . . . why not stay?" Fizzy giggled. The other ponies smiled and nodded.

Ponyland. Finally, a chance to go to Ponyland. A dream come true. I grinned.

A lot can happen in two days . . .

But that's another story.

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