If You Can't Beat 'em, Eat 'em!
Chapter 21: You Want Me to Eat WHAT?!?
Previous Chapter Next ChapterNotes: Well after a LOOOOONG delay, I'm back! But I do have some notes to give out.
1. All the foods mentioned in this chapter.... I'm sorry to say they are all ACTUAL dishes. I did research on every single one.
2. This is dedicated to every reader whose been patient with me during my break and understood my situation.
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A multitude of thoughts were going through GIlda Clawden's mind as she finished setting up her table in the backyard of Sweet Apple Acres, a large white sheet covering up the secret supplies she'd spent the entire night gathering. Although she had very little trouble staying awake, remembering what Josh had told her back at the hospital....
She had never known anger like that....
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*The night before*'
As Gilda Clawden approached the door of room 052, a large bag slung over her wing, a battle was raging in her mind, A battle between whether to just run out of the hospital after Champagne himself or to keep her cool and tell Josh what she needed to tell him. Either way, she knew that by tomorrow night, she'd be out of Ponyville and back on her own. But in the short time that she'd been there... a lot of changes had taken place in her mind... changes she needed to get off her feathered chest. Raising her claw, she gave a sharp rap on the door and soon heard Josh's voice echo from the hospital room she had only visited the day before.
"Who is it?"
"Dude, it's Gilda. I need to talk to you.... It's.... I..."
"Just come in, ok? Meowth's down at the cafeteria getting some food with Rainbow Dash, then the two of them are gonna head out so I can attempt to get some rest... There's no one in here but me."
With a sigh, Gilda opened the door and slowly crept into the room, the sparse light from Celestia slowly lowering the sun seeping through the window and shining onto Josh's face, letting the avian see his injuries again. Blood-soaked bandages still covered up a part of his skull from where Dev had shattered it with his hoof. His nose looked still a little bent, but otherwise none the worse for wear, and his mouth still had traces of blood around it from where several of his teeth had been knocked out, leaving the teen with a smile that she would have expected to see more on a redneck pony. The whole sight just shook her to the core.
"Josh... I..."
"Save it..", Josh sighed, resting himself up on his shoulders, "This whole thing is going nuts... Black Thorn won't get away with what's going on here...."
"I know they won't.." Gilda sighed, setting her bag down, "But I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon anyways... I'm gonna take some time off from the fights and see what I can find out.... But I wanted to give you something special before I go..."
Before Josh could say anything, the gryffin reached into her bag and pulled out what looked to be, a large white trenchcoat, it cape seemingly flowing in a perpetual wind. Without even a small hesitation, she gave the teen the garment and started to walk away... but a growl stopped her in her tracks.
"Damn them.......... GOD-FUCKING DAMN THEM!!!!!"
Turning around, she saw Josh staring straight ahead, his remaining teeth gnashed together and bloody tears starting to ooze from his eyes and covering his bare chest in crimson.
"THOSE... THOSE... THOSE FUCKING DEMONS!!! THEY THINK THIS IS ALL A GODDAMN JOKE!! LIKE WE'RE JUST TOYS!! FUCKING TOYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Josh...", Gilda tried to calm the human down, "You're starting to scare me..."
"DON'T YOU SEE, GILDA?!", Josh roared, throwing the garment to the floor, "THEY TRIED TO PLASTER ME... TO SPREAD MY SKULL ALL OVER A BATHROOM WALL!!! BUT THEY WERE THE ONES LEFT A SMEAR ON THE TILE..... AND NOW THEY'RE PISSED MORE THAN EVER.... THEY THINK CELESTIA.. THEY THINK LUNA... THEY THINK WE'RE JUST GONNA ROLL OVER AND FUCKING TAKE IT UP THE ASS LIKE FUCKING PUPPETS!!!!"
The teen stopped to wipe the red froth that was beginning to form before he continued, his voice growing dangerously calm and unnerving the gryffin even more.
"Dashie... my sweetness... my soul.... They think they'll be able to separate us... they almost made me leave... they almost made me ABANDON everyone..... But NO! No I will not LET them!!! WHATEVER it takes... whatever the FUCK it takes... THEY'LL ALL GO DOWN!! THEY'LL ALL BE REVEALED FOR THE SCUM THEY AR-----"
It was then Josh's breath caught in his throat and he found himself clutching his chest, all the rage raising his blood pressure and beginning to shut down his heart, his monitor going haywire as doctors and nurses stampeded into the room.
"Whooves, he's going into cardiac arrest!!!"
"Stabilize him! NOW!!!!! Get his heart rate back to normal!"
"JOSH, STAY WITH US!!! STAY AWAKE!!"
All Gilda could do was dash out of the open doorway and rush down the hall of the hospital all the way down to the front door, gasping and looking back in absolute terror. Death was trying to take Josh away in every way possible and the teen was fighting for his life now... as well as all of Equestria.....
And she didn't know how much more he could take...
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A few hours after she left the hospital, she had gotten word from Dr. Whooves the teen was gonna be ok, his heartrate brought back to standard within a half-hour of her departure. But even remembering Josh's rage in that bed... that sheer rage in his voice chilling even her brash heart to the core.
That was what had led her to make a stop in a side-market of Manehattan, one that specialized in exotic dishes from all over Equestria, and pick up as many of the dishes that she'd overheard Knuckle, Buttle, Gustav, and Champagne talking about back at the mansion. If Champagne was gonna force her friends to choke down those unspeakable dishes, then Gilda was determined to help Dash and Applejack beat him at his own game.... by any means necessary.
As she drummed her talons against the side of the table in front of her, knowing Big Mac was gonna bring Dash and AJ out soon for their daily run of calisthenics, she knew that this was her last chance to properly watch them train before she went back to Gryffindale for not just her EWC schedule, but in order to start her search on all the information she could gather on Black Thorn. With the EWREC in only a few days, she was more driven than ever to make sure the ponies were prepared for anything Champagne had to throw at them.... although this may have been one the most disgusting things she'd ever had to do...
Nearly every one of the dishes looked and smelled awful and even KNOWING what they really were turned her normally iron stomach. It made the thoughts of Rainbow Dash taking a dump and picking her nose seem almost pathetic. She KNEW by the end of this session both ponies would be vomiting in capacities not even she thought possible... but it had to be done... and as she watched the group of equines approaching her, she said a silent prayer to Celestia, as if asking for forgiveness for what she was about to do.
"Gilda???", Rainbow Dash asked as she approached the table and her friend standing where the red stallion normally stood to bark calisthenic orders, "What are you doing here?"
Instead of responding, the Avian looked towards where most of the other ponies were in discussion "Everypony.... Meowth... can I have your attention?", Gilda shouted, "NOW!?"
Immediately, the discussion grew to a standstill and Gilda found herself with 8 sets of eyes looking at her. She almost wished Josh was there to help keep the calm for what she was about to do.
"Everypony, listen..... This will be my last exercise for you all before the contest in three days. Immediately after this session is done, I'll be leaving Ponyville in order to continue my own training... But I want to let you all know that I.... well........ I'm...."
"Yer what?", Applejack asked, "Ornery?"
"Angry?", Twilight offered.
"Pregnant??"
Immediately, everyone looked over at Pinkie Pie in surprise at her suggestion. The bird just shook her head and grimaced before saying the two words she never thought she'd be saying in her entire life....
"I'm....................... sorry...", she groaned, looking down at the grass as if it had suddenly become the most interesting thing in the world. Immediately the jaws of every pony dropped slack and it took Fluttershy to speak what they were all thinking.
"Did... you just say... you're sorry??"
Gilda nodded and rubbed her shoulder. "I'm sorry for a number of things... for how I treated all of you when I first came here.... for all the Hell Champagne is putting you through.... for making Fluttershy cry.... I'm sorry for everything.........."
Rainbow Dash's expression turned into one of gentle acceptance and she walked over and placed her hoof on Gilda's wing.
"You're forgiven, Gilda... You're forgiven ten times over..."
"I KNEW there was some good in you!", Pinkie cheered, clapping.
"Way to go, Gilda!", Twilight added, "I knew you weren't all bad!"
The bird sighed again. "It may be a long time before I come back to Ponyville... but I promise all of you someday I'll return...... and there's one other thing I'm sorry for...."
"What's that?", Applejack asked.
Gilda walked over to the sheet covering the large table and, with three words, tore the large tarp off....
"Sorry for THIS!!!!"
The second the 5 buckets on the table were revealed, the entire group recoiled in a mix of horror and disgust at what they were looking at.
"Holy sakes.....", Applejack uttered, placing her hat across her breast.
"No....", Rarity gasped, "For the sake of Cantelot..... tell me you're not planning....."
Gilda just gave a resigned nod as she gestured to the 5 bowls, all containing different horrific looking dishes almost akin to what could have been found in a horror film. Each one of them looked disgusting and the smell coming off some of them was sufficient enough to make them all turn green. One dish held a tannish lumpy mealy looking substance that seemed to be literally shivering. Another contained a normalish looking ripe fruit with a smell coming off it that made even Gilda gasp for air. Another a white liquid looking similar to lumpy milk. One holding what looked like a giant pile of boiled candies smelling like death... and the last one... was the worst of all.... It held opened eggs in its center... all containing unidentifiable substances mixed in with the normal yolk. Compared to the dishes in front of them, the Baked Bads Applejack had once made looked like a fine delicacy.
"I... I think I'm gonna throw up....", Twilight gagged, struggling not to be sick.
"I thought the baked bads were awful!!", Pinkie gasped, "Gilda what IS that stuff?"""
The avian just sighed before she replied. "Josh, Meowth, and I..... we overheard that Champagne is planning to switch out some of the normal EWREC dishes with these unholy delicacies in an attempt to get the other ponies to back out during the contest or even just vomit and make themselves look humiliated. Apparently the prick has no gag reflex..."
"But we sure do!", Rainbow Dash heaved through her hoof, "and that smell is making mine go haywire!"
"Trust me, I'm as horrified as you all, especially since I know what all these ARE.... but this may be the only way to show him up.... beat him at his own dirty tricks... Applejack... Rainbow Dash....."
The bird bit down on her claw before she continued,
"I want you both to consume parts of what rests in these bowls... you don't have to finish the entire container, but I want you to manage to get down at least a little bit..."
The two equines just looked at her like she had sentenced them to a guillotine.
"You... you're not serious.... are ya'll?", Applejack stumbled for words, "Yer outta yer mind!"
Gilda just shook her head. "AJ, either way, if you want to beat Champagne, yer both gonna be forced to eat these..... things. Better to get started now than wait until the contest for that bloated sack of crap to make everyone his bitch."
As much as she was less than pleased with Gilda's colorful language, Rarity knew that she was right. "She's got something there, girls."
"Aw come on!!!", Rainbow Dash groaned, "You can't be serious! I'm all for training and taking risks... but just the SMELL of whatevers in those dishes makes me wanna hurl!"
"If you can't even try it here... what do you think is gonna happen during the contest???"
The two ponies looked at each other, then at the foul smelling, disgusting objects on the table, then gave a resigned sigh.
"Just tell me... that you're not doing this for your own pleasure, Gilda... just tell me that.", Rainbow Dash asked with a groan.
"Dash, there's not gonna water HOT enough to clean my flesh after having to handle some of these with my talons! If I never have to even LOOK at some of these..... "delicacies" again, it'll be way too soon."
The look of disgust in the gryffins face was one that even Applejack could read as being full of pure disgust and disdain. "Ya'll win.... we'll try them...."
"This is gonna be da stuff dat gives Meowth NIGHTMARES!", Meowth groaned as he watched Gilda walk over to the bowl of lumpy liquid and take the two plastic cups next to it, filling them with the drink..
"This first dish is called Kumis. It's supposed to be a drink to promote virility and strength.", the avian remarked, offering the cups to the ponies, "Drink up."
As she looked into the red plastic drinkholder and looked at the large lump in the center, Rainbow Dash couldn't help but grimace. "What's IN this Kumis?"
The cowpony sniffed at it cautiously, a weak scent of spoiled milk entering her snout. "Smells like milks that's been out too long..."
"Just drink it... if I told you what all these dishes actually ARE... you'd never TOUCH them. I'll tell you what each one is after each one is consumed. Deal?"
The pegasus just groaned and brought the cup to her lips, her trembling hoof tilting it up so all the mush slowly poured down her throat, the cowpony doing the same. The liquid sloughed down their throats like oatmeal mush and had a taste comparable to drinking rotten liquified salt, even if the smell was diluted. It took almost a minute for the two mares to finish drinking the Kumis and the second the cups were empty, they chucked them to the ground and wiped the excess off their mouths.
"That... was disgusting...." Applejack muttered.
"And it tasted like I was eating part of a salt lick!", Rainbow Dash added, "What was that??"
The avian just sighed before she replied....
"That..... was mare milk..... otherwise known as pony semen."
The reaction given by the group was pure disgust, Dash and AJ retching and trying to wipe the taste off their tongues, Rarity covered her mouth as if she wanted to be sick, Fluttershy paling, Meowth having to plug his mouth with his paw to keep from throwing up, Twilight nearly passing out, even Pinkie Pie was groaning in horror. Big Mac just looked at Gilda like he was looking at a mental patient.
"You just gave them pony....... cum!?", he stammered in his trademark drawl, "Are ya'll crazy!?"
Gilda just shook her head and went to the bowl of candie-like objects, tapping the side with a claw. "The next two may not be so bad.... This one is called Escamoles. It's supposed to be popular in New Whinea. Just take a hooveul."
"Ya'll just made us drink pony juice..... ya'll had BETTER not be just doing this for kicks.", Applejack spat as she quickly scooped up a hoof full of the small candies and popped them in her mouth. By now her and Dash had realized what was going on and they just wanted to be done quicker rather than slower. The candies were actually somewhat tasty, crunchy like they were eating crispy rice bars, and it lacked any real smell. It took very little time for them both to swallow their mouthfuls and smack their lips curiously.
"Ya know, that wasn't too bad..", Dash admitted.
"Yeah.. it was kinda crunchy like peanut shells...", Applejack agreed, "But I doubt we'd be lucky enough to just get that..."
"Don't worry girls...", Gilda assured them, "This one was just basic boiled ant larvae. Nothing more."
"Oh those poor ants!", Fluttershy whimpered, "Gilda how could you??"
"Fluttershy, relax... these ants are far from endangered. Heck, I saw like 3 nests full of them!"
Rainbow Dash just scrunched her snout in disgust. "Still... I could have gone my life without eating ants of ANY kind! Just tell us what's next and let's get this over with..."
Gilda nodded and went over to the odorous fruit. "This is called Durian... a food with such a foul smell it's been banned in certain parts of Equestria, but in the few parts that allow it, it's supposed to be better than candy apples!"
"Oh come on!", Pinkie Pie insisted, "Candy apples are delicious! Especially with caramel and sugar!"
The cyan pegasus took one of the fruits and couldn't help but sniff at it out of curiosity, and immediately she regretted it. The smell of the fruit was comparable to that of dog manure mixed with skunk fumes combined with rotten eggs and topped off with sewer waters. The second the smell hit her nostrils, she felt the Escamoles and Kumis come up her throat with a portion of her meals from the previous day and she had to cover her mouth with her hoof until she could swallow all that was making her cheeks grow to the size of melons. She'd had cases of diarrhea that had better odors than the fruit in her hoof.
"What IS that smell?!?", she gasped.
"It smells like a case of cider gone bad!", the cowpony agreed.
"Oh ah don't know...", Big Mac admitted, sniffing the aroma of the fruit with a curious smile, "It don't smell that bad to me!"
Immediately, everyone looked at the stallion slackjawed and even Gilda could only just blink in amazement.
"Dude, you HAVE to have no sense of smell if you think THIS stuff smells good!!!", Gilda groaned before turning to AJ and Dash and gesturing for them to bite into the fruit. Reluctantly the two ponies did so, having to pinch their snouts shut from the smell as they bit into the ripe fruits, but to their surprise a tart, juicy, spicy taste filled their mouth, similar to biting into a fresh apple or lemon.
"Mmmmhh!", Rainbow Dash grinned through her mouthful before she swallowed, "This is delicious!!!"
"Yeah!", Applejack added, wiping a bit of juice from her chin, "It may smell bad, but it tastes great! Dare I ask what it is?"
Gilda just chuckled. "It's just fruit, nothing more. I don't know why it smells so rancid, but all it is is fruit."
The pegaus grinned and stuffed the rest into her mouth, chewing it up vigorously and reaching for another, biting into it with gusto. "I can't get enough of this!!"
"I still say you're both nuts!", Meowth grumbled, "I may be a big eater, but I ain't going near dat fruit wit' a 10-foot pole!"
"Yeah...", Twilight admitted, "I'm all for trying new things... but that just smells disgusting."
"Erk...", Rarity groaned, "I shudder to imagine what's MAKING that aroma!"
The avian just shook her head as she watched the ponies finish their fruits and went to the next bowl. "This next dish is a specialty in Burrdinia called Casu Marzu. Go on, take a taste!"
Shrugging, the two ponies went over to the bowl of grey curdled mush and stuck their hooves in, pulling out big lumpfuls. It was then Applejack noticed something peculiar about her lump.
"What in tarnations?? Is.. this thing movin'?"
"Just eat it, AJ.. ok??"
Wincing, the cowpony placed her lump in her mouth at the same time Rainbow Dash did and almost immediately a disgusting feeling filled their mouths, like they were eating raw garbage.
"UGHHHHHH!", Rainbow Dash shivered, "That's NASTY!"
"Not surprising...", Gilda remarked, "That's rotting cheese and maggots."
"R-r-rotting c-c-c-cheese...", Applejack wheezed.
"And... m-m-maggots??", the cyan pegasus shuddered as a peculiar feeling entered her snout. Before she knew what was happening, a single maggot had crawled into her sinuses and out her nostril. Frantically, she wiped at her snout, trying to get the bug out of her nose, watching as it and a small amount of mucus fell from her nose onto the grass and she covered her snout in horror, "You fed us LIVING THINGS?!?"
The avian just sighed sadly. "You've got one dish left.... and this is the worst of them all, then you can barf it all up if you want..."
"Yer dern tootin' ah'm gettin' this muck out of my belly!", the cowpony growled as she looked at the last bowl full of eggs, "At least this last one is just eggs... how bad can it be, right?"
"These... are a favorite food from the Fillipines... they're called Balutes.... and I am NOT gonna say what they are until you've eaten them... and Fluttershy?"
The yellow pegasus looked up at the mention of her name. "Y-yes Gilda?"
"Understand I take no amount of pleasure in this last dish..... and you may want to leave the area...."
Fluttershy winced and looked around at her friends. But when she saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash shivering as they approached the bowl, she stomped her hoof in defiance. "No! I'm staying! They need us ALL here!!"
The gryffin sighed sadly and nodded at the two equines to take the eggs and bite into them. With trembling hooves and quivering bellies, they both picked up two big eggs and looked at them, scared to even GUESS what was inside them.
"It's ok Dash...", the cyan pony murmured to herself, "Just imagine it's a chocolate egg.. just imagine it's a chocolate egg..."
"It's apples.. big juicy apples..." the cowpony muttered in her head as she brought the egg to her lips and turned to her friend, "On 3....... we bite..... 1.... 2.....3!"
Simultaneously the two ponies took big bites of the eggs and immediately one of the most horrific and unholy tastes filled their mouths as they tried to chew up what was now resting on their tongues and against their teeth. It had the smell of death and a taste like liver and hard-boiled eggs mixed in a blender with sour milk and it was all they could do to not spit them out. Slowly and painfully, they chewed through the shell and the insides, vurping in their mouths and forcing themselves to swallow their lunch and the eggs. Quickly they popped the other half of the eggs in and gripped the edge of the table, trying to stabilize their bodies as they chewed, Gilda stepping out from behind the bowls as she watched their cheeks grow bigger as they fought to get the eggs down.
"Girls.. you may wanna step back..", Twilight warned, "I get the feeling this is gonna get messy."
"You don't have to tell me twice..", Rarity groaned, ducking for cover and plugging her ears.
"They deserve damn MEDALS!", Meowth added, gnawing on his nails anxiously.
"Eeyup.", Big Mac agreed, patting the cat-pokemon on the head.
"C'mon girls!", Pinkie Pie cheered, "You can do it!!"
"Chew them up... get them down...", Fluttershy piped in a voice that was about as loud as a mouse's roar.
Finally, with tears in their eyes and violent shivers, Applejack and Rainbow Dash tilted their heads back and swallowed down what was in their mouths, immediately placing their faces on the table and starting to cry.
"That... was..... the most disgusting thing.. I have ever eaten...", Rainbow Dash wept.
"It's only out of a sheer curiosity I'm about to ask this...", Applejack shuddered, looking up with red eyes and looking at Gilda, "What... were those things..."
"Just... tell us... and get it over with...", Dash added tearfully.
"I'm only gonna tell you when you're facing the other way... I KNOW the second I say, it's all gonna come out.", Gilda insisted.
With sad nods, the two ponies turned back towards the table and looked out past the fence of Sweet Apple Acres.
"Those...", Gilda shuddered, "Those were, as you figured, eggs..."
With a wince, Rainbow Dash turned towards her friend, "That's all?? Then what was that taste in them?"
What Gilda Dellarosa Clawden said next would stay in the heads of all 8 of them for a LONG, LONG time....
"Those were duck eggs..... ducks boiled..... right before they were ready to hatch."
The second those words left Gilda's mouth, Rainbow Dash and Applejacks cheeks ballooned to the size of watermelons and........
"BLLLLLLEEEARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The two ponies opened their mouths wide and projectile-vomited all over the table, all over the fence, even onto some nearby trees, a disgusting multicolored wave erupting out of their maws and coating the area in front of them, their tummies disgorging all that had been inside from not just the session, but from their previous few days... and as Gilda covered her face with her wing, she noticed the reactions of the others weren't much more varied.
Meowth was retching and struggling not to be sick, Pinkie Pie was gagging, Big Mac was just looking at his sister vomiting wide-eyed, Twilight was covering her mouth in shock, Rarity had long since run off in horror, and Fluttershy......
Fluttershy had fainted.
All Gilda could do was shake her head in dismay. "I warned her..."
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*A few hours later*
After evacuating her stomach of all its disgusting contents, Rainbow Dash was trotting through the halls of Ponyville Urgent Care, headed towards room 052 and her lover. Gilda had told her about Josh going into cardiac arrest and getting stabilized and after bidding her a fond farewell, helping Applejack clean up their puke, and waking up Fluttershy, she'd made a beeline for the hospital, determined to see her sweetie.
"Josh.. Josh, I'm coming!", she thought as she approached the doorway leading to a room she'd become all too accustomed to and pushed it open to see the human resting peacefully in the hospital bed. He looked so calm and serene that if it weren't for the small rises in his chest, she would have worried he had passed on. She knew it wasn't sleep likely as much as pure sedation, but it was probably the first time his brain was able to shut off in a while. With a gentle smile, she trotted over and rubbed his hand with her hoof.
"Soft... but strong...", she thought to herself as she rubbed along his knuckles. His mouth, slightly opened, revealed that all his teeth had finally been replaced thanks to one of the doctors spells, giving him back his sparkling smile and the bandages had finally come off of his skull, the marks on his head and the slight stickiness on his hand easily revealing that he'd taken them off manually, showing the still scarred up skin. She knew even with powerful magic, it'd take at least 24 hours for wounds like that to fully heal, and all she could do was just hope the teen was comfortable. But as she continued to rub his hand, she saw him begin to stir and turn towards her, opening his eyes slightly as if to see who was stroking him.
"Uh... Dashie?", he asked, his voice frail and whispy, "What.. what are you doing?"
The pegasus just shhed him and continued to rub his hand. She knew if she said anything to him regarding what had just happened, she ran the risk of causing him to have another heart attack and all the teen needed right now was just rest.
"I'm just checking in on you. A future Wonderbolt and EWREC Champion's gotta make sure her friends are ok."
Josh just gave a shaky laugh and a cough as he lifted his hand and rubbed her mane. "You're confident you can win this, aren't you?"
The pegasus nodded firmly. "After all I've been through, all Applejack's been through... we've got this in the bag!"
The human just gave her a warm smile. "You know... I'm kinda glad you're staying at Applejack's while I'm here...."
"Oh? Why's that?"
At this, the teen just grinned, "Well let's just say I've got something special planned... and iI'm sure it'll be done tomorrow.. a great gift for the day before the EWREC."
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but blush at this before a thought crossed her mind. "You'll be there to cheer me on, won't you?"
At this, Josh just sat up and gave her a sharp grin.
"Dashie... I wouldn't miss it for anything..."
Dash just smiled back and leaned in, giving him a gentle kiss. She'd taken a whole bottle of breathmints and brushed out her mouth repeatedly to make sure no trace of the gunk she'd been forced to eat and puke remained. Slowly, the pony broke the kiss and turned back towards the door. But before she did, she gave Josh a nod and another smile.
"Thank you, Joshua Rocket..."
"For what?"
The pegasus just grinned. "For coming back." With that, she opened the door and left the room, the teen sitting up and resting the side of his head on his fist in thought.
"Thank you too, Dash... for taking me back..."
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