[All right, this has gone long enough. Hiding in her little cottage is really not working. In spite of being embarrassed about the mossy mess that her mane as become, Donna takes to the scrolls.]

Okay. Scientists. I know there are, like, 20 of you out there. What's actually being done about this Poison Joke thing and how can we help? Because I'm about sick of having my hair constantly damp and slightly slimy. It's a mess on my pillow in the morning, and I'd really rather not live life on plastic sheets, thanks.

I know the regular cures for the Joke aren't working. What's next?

[So many folks lately had lost others...and her own heart was burdened a bit by this, truth be told. But Nephenee was bound and determined to try to make the best of the situation...as much as she could, anyways. She wanted to help those who had lost loved ones recently, and while she ultimately wanted to do it for all that had, she needed to start somewhere small...]

[So there would be a pony knocking on doors today, handing out some gifts. When they open the door, they see a possibly-familiar pelorus pony there.]

( List of people inside; Find the peace within ourselves, No need for a cure )
[OOC: I'm sure I forgot some people who've lost some recently, so please poke me via PM or Plurk if you think of any!] 

[As fun as the Gala was, it did something for Kafei he never thought would be possible: Put things in perspective. The food, while very pretty and some of it absolutely delicious, had some...interesting ingredients to it. Namely flowers, grasses, hay, normal pony food. It was not something he could eat, and a part of him was very thankful for that, and yet there were people...people he knew weren't ponies before, eating them like it was no problem. Nothing wrong with that, in fact he was almost impressed.

...And then it made him think. A lot. If he were a pony, how long would it take him to start eating those sorts of things? Because right now? It sounded a lot easier than what his body craved. In other words, in desperation of trying to get some kind of protein, Kafei often found himself snapping at bugs. It was awful, demeaning...but would anyone else think so? So far he's been able to control himself just in time, but with the way he shows up on the scroll resting pathetically on one of his cushions and the way his stomach begins to growl, he almost wonders if he should stop caring.

He could, you know, hunt, but that takes a lot more effort... Rabbits are way too fast.]

How...how long does it take to adjust to eating strange things here? Did anyone else have a difficult time with this, because I think I'm going mad.

[He says that so casually. But no, really, how long did it take for others to stop depending on cakes, because that information is important. For science.]

Oh look, Mako's on the scrolls. What fascinating wisdom will she regale you all with this time?

"Somehow, I did it again - that's two years running. Equestria, you are bad for my long-term memory."

...some context would be nice, Mako.

"Anyway, yeah, it seems to be a theme that I can't remember my birthday anymore. I turned 20 last month, so...go me?"

Pause for thought.

"...does this make me too old to be a magical girl? Am I a magical woman now?"

[Contrary to other new arrivals, Nagisa has spent the first bit of his time just walking around and getting used to his hooves. It's different, but kind of cool! Nothing worth freaking out about. Maybe it's just a really vivid dream, or maybe not. But either way, this pink pegasus doesn't seem freaked out in the slightest!]

Hey! I guess talking through a scroll is kind of weird, but it seems to work, right? Even cell phones can't do this back at home!

Anyway, my name's Nagisa! I'm new here, and I guess it's still a little strange that everyone is a pony or something, but no big deal! I guess it could be worse.

Don't hooves make it hard to do stuff though? I guess that's why we use these things instead of phones. But how do you cook and stuff? Do you mix things with your mouth?

[His wings rustle behind him for a moment before settling down against his body.]

Oh yeah! I'm looking for some friends of mine. Haru-chan, Mako-chan, Rei-chan, Rin-chan? If anyone knows any of those names, let me know!

[Oh, look, it's Nozomi. Normal Nozomi. Aaaaand, she's looking quite sheepish.]

Um, I know this is a very bad time with everyone showing up out of nowhere again and we're all normal again, but I got a VERY big question that I need answering!

How do you fix broken powers? Because I, uh...

[And she grins sheepishly.]

Kinda broke mine...?

The baby dragon that appears on the scroll might be recognizable to some as Mako's foster daughter, Etranger. She spends a couple of moments propping up the scroll before giggling and levitating over to a reclining Timber Wolf - the same one Mako introduced as Aeris a week or so ago.

"Okay! I'm all ready, and you promised me a song!"

The Timber Wolf matches Etranger's giggle with one of her own as she reaches out for the dragon with one wooden paw, drawing her down to rest against her side.

"I did♪ And I know just the one, too♪ I sang this to you while you were in your egg♪"

Etranger's eyes are wide with delight as Aeris begins to sing.

As the last few notes of the song fade away, Mako's voice can be heard coming from behind the viewpoint.

"Aeris, have you seen my scroll?"

Oh hey it's Mako, and this time she's accompanied by a Timber Wolf! Unlike normal Timber Wolves, this one has a beautiful, crown-like flower on its head.

"Hi, everyone! As some of you know - and more of you don't - this is Aeris, one of my Pokemon. Unlike...well, the entire rest of my team, Aeris is the one member that hasn't gained the power of speech by coming here."

The Timber Wolf nods in greeting at this and produces a sound halfway between a song and a howl.

"Indeed, that is the truth♪ The only ones I have to speak to are my fellow Pokemon♪"

Mako makes a sort of 'you see?' gesture with her hooves at Aeris before continuing.

"So, I've been wondering - is there anywhere - or anyone - I can go to in order to get something like a translator collar? Something that would allow her to communicate with others when I'm not around?"

"I would enjoy going out in public without an escort♪ The panic that follows in my wake threatens to make my flower wither♪"

[Apparently somebody was too distracted or infuriated to correctly make this transmission anonymous, but the voice that sounds over the scroll is so low and choked with barely restrained anger that it's almost too hard to tell who might be speaking anyway.]

I want to know who was responsible for poisoning the water supply last week and where they are now.

[Somebody is not happy. Not happy at all.]

Mako's sitting at a table, idly pushing a piece of turquoise back and forth with one hoof. As she speaks, her tone of voice is distant - she's not really paying much attention to what she's saying.

"You know, one of my biggest faults has always been my inability to forgive others...Dad always said it was because of my strong sense of justice, but frankly justice has never been much of a concern to me. I guess saying stuff like that is just something you do when you're a parent; Arceus knows I've been doing the same with Etranger."

She flicks the turquoise into the air and catches it as she continues speaking.

"There was this terrorist group back home, Team Plasma...while pretending to work for Pokemon liberation, behind the scenes they abused and enslaved Pokemon in an effort to conquer the Unova region. The King of Team Plasma was a boy called N - while I was on my Pokemon journey, I kept running into him. At first, I thought he was just a motormouthed weirdo that only cared about Pokemon, but eventually he told me, straight-out, that he was the King of Team Plasma, and he was working with them to liberate Pokemon from humans. I was...really angry, because Team Plasma had done terrible things to innocent Pokemon and my friends."

Mako puts the stone down and sighs a little.

"Of course, it wasn't that simple - it turned out that N had been manipulated. Since he was able to understand the voices of Pokemon, he had been surrounded since childhood by Pokemon that had been abused by their trainers, kept inside a small room and never learned of the outside world. When he met me and Hampyre for the first time, as I was setting off oon my journey...he told me it was the first time he'd ever met a Pokemon that was happy to be with a human. In the end, I was able to forgive N and free him from the chains of his upbringing with the help of Zekrom...he flew off on Reshiram and I haven't seen him since. But that was the first time in my life I had ever been forced to reconsider what I had thought I knew about someone...N is one of the very few people I've ever met that I've actually forgiven after they made me angry, and it was all because I managed to learn about him."

The distracted quality is gone from Mako's voice, and she's regarding the scroll directly.

"So, hey. Might as well try for a second time, right? Any time you want to talk, Calice, I'd love to learn more about you."

[Oh look who's finally showing her face. Granted, she was at one of the Pinkie's Thawing Party so some ponies might have already seen her there, but here she is now.

Coco takes a deep breathe before she starts talking.]

I...I must apologize for my actions during last week. I should have been aware that wearing my Pinky Catch outside when the windigoes were around would have corrupted it, and transform me into that...horrible form. I have failed as a Precure.

To all those I hurt when I was in that form, I am truly sorry. And to my fellow Cures, if Hoovesweek or whatever their name is now, takes what I did and make ponies fear us because of what I did, I take full responsibility for that.

The boutique will be closed temporary so I can catch up with my orders since there's only so much Clover could do on her own.

[She honestly expects business to get slower and she'll start hurting for money soon. All entirely her fault.]

Thank you for your time.

[She then rolls up the scroll and that ends the visual.]

It seems like Mako is using the Shack of Truth for today's broadcast, once again beaming her natural, human visage across the scrolls as she talks.

"In case you weren't here for the reveal, I have a magic mirror that shows your true form in a shack behind my house - I don't actually have a miraculous spell to return you to your original form. But that's not why I'm here today."

The reflection moves a little closer towards the scroll as Mako leans forward.

"So today is the Giving Thanks celebration, and I got to thinking - why not be thankful for things that are going to happen, as well as things that have already happened? That's why I'm announcing - in advance - the Shining Road Project."

An honest, happy smile spreads over the reflection's face.

"In the center of my home region, Unova, is something called the Entree. Instead of light and water, it flourishes thanks to the power of bonds - the feeling of wanting to help your friends. Using the power of bonds, the Entree allows people to explore parallel dimensions, growing stronger as they help others. Once everything's over here, I get the feeling there are a lot of us that will want to stay in touch with the friends they made here, right? That's what the Shining Road Project is for - I'm going to use my magic and the power of the Entree to make a pathway between all our different worlds, but I'm going to need your help. If you want to be connected to the world network, I'm going to need something from your homeworld to help me find it."

A slight pause for breath.

"So! That's something to be thankful for, right?"

When the scroll starts up to reveal Mako's kitchen, there is a thick layer of white goo coating everything, and Mako herself looks mildly shellshocked.

"...so, uh, here's a tip, everyone: if you're making homemade yogurt, don't let yeast get inside or it'll explode."

Pause.

"So, can anyone recommend a good house-cleaning service? And a hobby that won't explode if you screw up?"

I need an adult. A responsible one.

I'm getting my papers in for the Canterlot equivalent of high school in, and they want someone other than Marvelous-papa to sign these sheets for me. Clearly the profession of "Professional Pirate" doesn't sit well with the board of directors.

I already asked Granny Smith but she pointed out that being my landlord technically doesn't give her the right to sign off on it.

So yeah... anyone I know over the age of 18 able to sign this for me? So I can go start taking school here? I've missed a lot of my freshman year.

"Hey. If, uh, anyone here's been having unusually nice dreams lately, it's thanks to Princess Luna."

Pause.

"The one that is currently in Zebrica? Y'know what, let's just give her a nickname, or this'll get confusing. So. If you've been having nice dreams, it's because Woona apparently feels like she needs to do something to make our lives a little brighter after all the recent nonsense we've been put through."

...Mako's ears are flat against her skull. That is a bad sign.

"So now I come to the bad news: last night, I had a chat with Woona in the dreamworld, and, well...some kind of dark spirit of nightmares has latched onto her fear and self-doubt and is working to trap her in the dreamworld forever. So! I'd like to know if there's any way to physically enter the dreamworld and save her, or if I just have to hope there are enough of us capable of lucid dreaming to defeat the spirit on its own turf. Mako out!"

I was in on Zetta's plan the whole time. I let myself be captured to play the role needed of me...and while I'm not proud of it, I still lied to all of you. I made you worry and I deceived you. I couldn't tell anyone, but that doesn't excuse what I did.

My word might not mean much, if anything, anymore, but...I'm sorry.

Hello, everypony. Some of you may not recognize me from around town, which is fair... I only just got one of these scrolls. My name is Bon Bon, and yes, that means I'm the one who runs the candy shop downtown. Either way, I've got a few announcements to make, now that the nasty business with the eclipses is over.

Firstly: Since it's only a month until Nightmare Night, I'm accepting suggestions for varieties of candy to make for the big day-before sale. Last year's celebrations being cut short by the actual Nightmare Moon I entirely blame on my stocking of way too much black licorice, so I want to know if you all can help make the holiday not a catastrophic failure this year.

Secondly: thanks to that eclipse, I actually do have a bit of a surplus here, so until the end of the month, all taffy is 75% off. Something to chew on for a while. [The mare chuckles, quietly, at her own joke.]

Finally: Until further notice, Zetta and all of those who collaborated with him are blacklisted from the Sugar Shack. I understand that it was apparently some super-secret plan to lure out the evil mastermind keeping all of the offworlders here, but you caused Lyra and Fluttershy to work themselves into exhaustion, made one of my employees sick, and turned the other into a bear! [Yes, Zetta, she's blaming you for that too even if it happened after the fact. And was technically Teddie's fault.] If you want me to lift the ban, then I'm expecting a pretty big apology. Yes, your majesties, that includes you two, too. I'm a businessmare, not a politician, and you hurt my bottom line, so I have to take action.

Thank you all for your time.


( [Private to Dame Trixie] )


( [Private to Kyouko and Teddie] )


( [Private to Lyra and OU!Fluttershy] )