Chapter 10: If I Were King of the Forest

The gang rushed to a door the citizens of Oz were crowded at as a stallion with a white coat, a blue mane, and purple armor with gold lining was holding them back.
"Here!" The figure called out. "Here, here! Everything is alright! Stop that now! Everything is alright! It's alright! The Great and Powerful Oz has got matters well in hand... I hope. So you can all go home, and there's nothing to worry about. Go on home. Go home."
As the crowd dispersed, the group walked up to the guard.
"If you please sir," Applebloom said calmly. "We wanna see the Wizard right away. All four of us."
"Orders are nopony can see the Great Oz!" The guard barked. "Not nopony! Not no how!"
"But please, it's very important!" Applebloom pleaded.
"And I got gussied up just for the occasion." Lion added.
"Not nopony! Not no how!" The guard repeated.
"But she's Applebloom!" Scarecrow blurted out, pointing at Kara.
"The witch's Applebloom?" The guard asked before looking her up and down and noticing the Ruby Slippers. "Well, that makes a difference. Just wait here. I'll announce you at once."
The guard then walked through the door.
"Did ya hear that?" Scarecrow asked. "He'll announce us at once! I've as good as got my brain!"
"I can barely hear my heart beating!" Tin Mare remarked excitedly.
"I'll be home in time for supper!" Applebloom pointed out just as excited.
"In another hour, I'll be king of the forest!" Lion remarked. "Long live the king!"
If I were King of the Forest,
Not queen, not duke, not prince.
My regal robes of the forest,
Would be satin, not cotton, not chintz.
I'd command each thing, be it fish or fowl.
With a woof and a woof and a royal growl - woof.
As I'd click my heel, all the trees would kneel.
And the mountains bow and the bulls kowtow.
And the sparrow would take wing - If I - If I - were King!
Each rabbit would show respect to me.
The chipmunks genuflect to me.
Though my tail would lash,
I would show compash
For every underling!
If I - If I - were King!
Just King!
The group then helped dress Lion up as a king as they smiled.
Monarch of all I survey.
Mo-na-a-a-a-arch of all I survey!
"Your majesty, if you were king, ya wouldn't be afraid of anypony?" Applebloom asked with a smile.
"Not nopony!" Lion remarked proudly. "Not no how!"
"Not even a rhinoceros?" Tin Mare asked.
"Impossiros." Lion remarked with a smirk.
"How 'bout a hippopotamus?" Applebloom asked.
"Why I'd trash him from top to bottomus." Lion remarked again.
"Supposing ya met an elephant?" Applebloom went on.
"I'd wrap him up and sell himphant." Lion went on.
"What if ya met a brontosaurus?" Scarecrow went on.
"I'd show him who's king of the forest!" Lion finished.
"How?" The group asked at once.
"How?!" Lion asked aghast. "Courage. What makes a king out of a slave? Courage. What makes the flag on the mast still wave? Courage. What makes the elephant charge his tusks in the misty mist or the dusty dust? What makes the muskrat guard his musk? Courage. What makes the sphinx the seventh wonder? Courage. What makes the dawn come up like thunder?! Courage. What makes the Hottentots so hot? What puts the ape in apricot?! WHAT HAVE THEY GOT THAT I HAVEN'T GOT?!"
"Courage." The other three said.
"You can say that again." Lion said with a chuckle before stopping. "Wait."
Just then, the guard burst in.
"The wizard says go away!" The guard shouted as he returned to his post."
"Go away?" Everyone asked, dejected.
"Looks like we've come a long way for nothin'." Scarecrow said as her shoulders bowed in embarrassment at coming at all.
"Oh, and I was so happy!" Applebloom sobbed, thinking about Granny Smith and what Trixie had said. "I thought I was going home!"
"Don't cry, Applebloom." Tin Mare said, trying to comfort her. "We're gonna get you to the Wizard."
"We certainly are!" Scarecrow agreed, no one knowing that the guard had begun listening to the poor girl crying.
"Granny Smith was so good to me." Applebloom went on, unable to control herself. "And I never appreciated her. Running away and hurting her feelings. Trixie said she was sick... She may be dying, and it's all my fault!"
The guard continued to blubber as the three try to comfort Applebloom.
"Oh, I'll never forgive myself!" Applebloom wept. "Never, never, never."
"Oh, please don't cry anymore!" The guard blubbered. "I'll get you into the Wizard somehow! I had a Granny Smith myself, once!"
The guard continued to blubber and cry as he let them in.

---

Oh... That was so sweet!