Forces of Nature
As Manic was dashing to the animal center through the city of Canterlot, a number of thoughts were crossing his mind as he placed his hand on his chin.
“(I wonder what caused Fluttershy to want to meet suddenly?)” Manic thought to himself. (Was it that she finally realized my drumming skills belonged to a true genius born once every century? Did she finally realize how much of a dashing rogue I am? Could it have been my pick up lines, which she finally saw were golden?)”.
“(Speaking of picking…)”. Manic noticed as he was running that there was a field next to him covered in multiple bright colored flowers each of them showing the different colors of the rainbow. Manic grinned, and a green streak suddenly went past the field. Manic was now holding 7 flowers, each of them a different color. Manic sniffed them and smiled.
“What is that smell? Oh, wait a minute. It’s happiness!” Manic said cheerfully as he finished sniffing the flowers. He then continued on his way to the animal center.
Manic arrived instantly at the shelter but as he came to stop, he noticed there was something.....off about the place. First of all, all the windows were smashed, and the lights were off. Second, it was covered in vines, flowers, grass, wood, mushrooms, and other things a person would expect if they were in the forest.
“Okay, I’ve been here about once or twice, but I have a strong feeling this isn’t what its supposed to look like.” Manic said as he observed the scene. “It looks like something crazy happened here. Is that why Fluttershy called? What if she’s in danger? Hang on Fluttershy, you’re knight in shining armor is coming to your rescue!
Manic then dashed into the animal shelter as a green streak. Inside the receptionist office, it was covered by vegetation as well, the same type as outside. There was no one else there. It gave off a very creepy vibe.
“Fluttershy! Fluttershy!” Manic called, but no one answered. He then went into the room where the animals were kept in either cages or containers. As Manic opened the door, again he saw the room was covered in vegetation . But what was even more surprising was that the animal cages and containers were empty. In fact, most of the cages(for dogs, cats, hamsters, birds) looked bent, and the glass for most of the containers(snakes, spiders, butterflies, and other insects) was smashed. Manic was getting uncomfortable as his eyes darted around the room.
“Okay, now I REALLY don’t like this.” Manic said nervously as he began to back up. “It looks like there was some kind of fight here or something. I hope Fluttershy’s okay.”
Suddenly in the back of the room, covered in bushes, the bushes began to rustle. Manic heard the noise and turned towards it. He approached it slowly.
“Hello? Who's there? Show yourself!” Manic commanded. The bush began to move even more until a figure started to arise out of them. The figure had bright red eyes. Then the sound of fingers snapping was heard, and the light turned on. Manic covered his eyes due to the brightness.
“So you’ve decided to show yourself eh? You’d better tell me what you’ve done with Fluttershy or I’ll-.” Manic started to say as he adjusted his eyes to the brightness and opened them. He saw the figure and gasped in surprise. It was Fluttershy. But she looked different. She was wearing what it appeared to be a skirt that was made of green leaves. Her top was also made of leaves as well, but it didn't cover her shoulders or back. Green vines with red flowers decorated her hair, arms, and feet(she was barefoot). It took some time for Manic to process this.
“(Fluttershy? Yes. New outfit. Do I like? Yes. Something off about this? Yes. What to do? Gather more information before taking next course of action).” He thought to himself. Fluttershy then walked over to him, slowly. She then placed her hand on his cheek, making Manic turn red a little.
“Hello, Manic. I’m so sorry I wasn’t there to greet you at the front door. I had some “business” to attend do.” Fluttershy said in a soft, yet seductive tone.
“I-It’s all right.” Manic said, a little flustered. Fluttershy then started to stroke his hair, making him blush more. “Um, w-what are you doing?”
“Oh, please excuse me. I just love your hair. It’s like a mini-garden or grass field. Perfectly in touch with nature, untouched by corruption.” Fluttershy praised.
“N-no problem. Carry on.” Manic replied. He then took out the flowers he brought with him and placed them in front of Fluttershy. “I-I uh, g-got these for you.”
“How wonderful. Thank you, Manic.” Fluttershy said as she took them from him and sniffed their scent. “These flowers smell wonderful. Where did you get them?”
“In a field I passed before coming here.” He explained. Fluttershy then got a frown on her face. “Is something wrong?
“Oh, it’s nothing. I’m just thinking how the flowers you took from their natural habitat could’ve have been the favorite flowers of a bunch of bees. These bees today probably won’t be able to pollinate their favorite flowers and will be sad. All because of you.” She said with a slight edge in her voice.
“Um, are you mad at me?” Manic said.
“Why would I be mad at you?” Fluttershy said. “It was a little accident, accidents which probably happen everyday because of people like you and deprive poor little animals of the good things in their life. But don’t worry justice will be served soon.”
“Right. So, why did you call me here? Do you need help cleaning this place up because of whatever happened in here or something?” Manic said, a bit unnerved by Fluttershy’s behavior.
“Clean this place up? Heavens no! This place has been brought into one with nature, like how everything should. I’ve restored balance.” She explained. “The reason you’re here is very special. All my friends will love it.”
“Friends?” Manic asked. All of a sudden, out of the vegetation emerged animals that were missing from their cages, who began to surround Fluttershy. In fact, even animals from the forest such as squirrels, beavers, deer, and raccoons. Manic was taken aback.
“Uh, Fluttershy why are all the animals out of their cages, and why do you have forest creatures here as well? This is kind of weirding me out.” Manic said uneasily .
“Why is this weird? I’m merely restoring proper balance and giving these animals what they deserve. The animals who were locked up here didn’t deserve to be trapped until some worthless human came along and took them to another prison. I set them free, so they could be with their other free-roaming brethren.” Fluttershy said.
“What about the owners? Are they okay with this?
“We reached an understanding. Besides, they won’t be back anytime soon. Decided it was “best” I take over from now on. Humans are really foolish aren’t they? They try to suppress nature, tame it, and become its masters. But they are dealing with forces they can’t understand.”
“(All right something is seriously wrong with Fluttershy? She’s acting creepy, and going on about this nonsense about justice, foolish humans, and other crap. Could it be? Is she-).” Manic thought to himself, when suddenly Fluttershy approached him and wrapped her arms around him. Manic turned red as a tomato and lost his train of thought.
“Manic, you should stop asking so many questions.” She said as she tickled his chin. “Soon everything will be better, trust me. Now come on. Let’s go have lunch.” Fluttershy let him go and walked forward deeper into the vegetation. Manic started to follow her before he heard a noise coming from a bush behind him. Manic turned around, and out the bush came Angel Bunny, with a look of panic on his face. Manic rolled his eyes when he saw the rabbits presence. Angel then came towards Manic and started tugging his leg desperately. He motioned for Manic to exit by pointing at the door.
“Oh for the love of-. Listen I don’t have time to deal with you. Fluttershy, and I are going to have lunch. Aside from the animals who don’t count as people, this will be a great chance for me to have some alone time with her, and make my move. I don’t need you screwing this up. Go eat a carrot or something.” Manic said with an annoyed tone. Angel shook his head and did a notion of sliding his finger across his neck.
“Are you threatening me? You know what? Do your worst. You’re just a little rabbit. You can’t do anything to me.” Manic said. He then picked up Angel and gave him a small toss into the bushes nearby. “Now that takes care of that.” Manic then followed Fluttershy deeper into vegetation. It was like walking into a mini-forest or something. He then saw Fluttershy sitting on a patch of grass covering the floor. She then motioned for Manic to sit next to her, which he did with a grin.
“Sorry, I’m late. I had to deal with a pest. I’m starved. What are we eating?” Manic asked, making Fluttershy chuckle a bit. “What’s so funny?”He then felt wet stuff falling on his head and became disgusted. “Fluttershy, I think the roof is leaking or something. You should get that checked out.” Fluttershy chuckled again.
“Oh, Manic. You amuse me so much with your ignorance.” She said with a devious smile.
“Hey, that was uncalled for. What’s with the insults?” Manic protested Fluttershy pointed upwards, and Manic looked up. What he thought was a leaking roof was actually a large bear! It was drooling and grinned menacingly at Manic. Manic yelped in fright, and dashed away from it, taking Fluttershy with him. He then put himself between the bear and Fluttershy.
“A bear! Why is there a bear here?!” Manic said in shock.
“He’s here for lunch.” Fluttershy calmly explained, not surprised by the bear at all.
“Lunch? What’s his meal? You and I?!”
“No, just you. In fact, you’re everyone’s meal.”
“Wait, what the-.” Manic started to say before he felt a wicked pinch in his leg. He then started to feel dizzy as he began to fall tot he floor. As he lost consciousness he looked up and saw a spider crawl into Fluttershy’s hand as she flashed a sinister smile..
Back at CHS, Knuckles was walking the hallway, trying to piece together what was happening so far.
“Okay, Rainbow Dash for some reason is evil, challenged Sonic to a race, and the two of them exploded or something. Twilight, Tails, and the Crusaders went to check on them. Manic went to go do whatever with Fluttershy, but he hasn’t come back yet which isn’t a good sign. Silver’s also missing, along with Rarity and Shadow went to get revenge on Pinkie, who is also evil. All that’s left is Applejack. But who knows, maybe she’s normal. Maybe these are all the problems for the day.” Knuckles said to himself. All of a sudden Knuckles heard a high-pitched scream coming from the end of the hallway and sighed,
“Why did I have to jinx it?” Knuckles groaned as he went to the end of the hallway. Knuckles arrived at the main lobby of the school where he saw Bulk Biceps on his knees. His right arm was being crushed by someone. That someone was Applejack! Applejack was wearing an all-black female business suit with a black and gray tie. Instead of her usual hat, she was wearing a black top hat. A crowd of students was around them, and they had a fearful look on their faces.
“I warned y’all that anyone who tries to cross my hallway without payin’ a fee, is going to be in for some pain!” Applejack snarled as she crushed Bulk’s arm tighter.
“I just got here! I didn’t know!” Bulk cried out.
“No excuses! My family helped build this school, and it’s time y’all start givin’ back to us what we deserve!” She shouted. “I’m lettin’ you go this one time, but to spread a message. Anyone who wants to cross this area has to pay a fee of 50 dollars, no excuses! Tell ‘em also the library cost 80 dollars, the cafeteria 150 dollars, the field 90 dollars, and the gym 170 dollars! Anyone who doesn’t pay can just quit comin’ to school! In fact, I’ll build a wall to keep ‘em out. Understand?!
Bulk nodded greatly, which made Applejack let him go, and he ran as far away as he could. Everyone else in the crowd looked at each other nervously before Applejack noticed them.
“Hey! Are y’all deaf or what?! You heard me, pay up! 50 dollars if you want to cross! Applejack yelled at them. Nobody moved out of fear. “I guess I’ll have to come over, and teach y’all a lesson like I did with Bulk! But I won’t go easy this time!
Applejack started to approach the students when Knuckles came in front of her.
“Knuckles? What in tarnation are you doin’? Wait a minute, you just used the hallway. Pay up!” Applejack said she got into Knuckles' face.
“Okay, just calm down Applejack.” Knuckles said as he raised his hands. “What’s up with this whole “fee” thing. You can’t charge people for using the hallway. They're just walking.”
“Shows what you know! It’s time ma family gets reimbursed for all the sweat and hard work they put into to building this dump. We should be millionaires, but this school cheated us. I’m takin’ back what’s mine! She explained harshly.
“Applejack, I don’t think things work like that. Anyway, you need to-.” Knuckles said as he put his hand on Applejack’s shoulder. When he did, Applejack grabbed his hand and used it to throw Knuckles at the ceiling, but before he crashed into it,he stuck his spikes into the ceiling, preventing him from hitting it and was now hanging on to the ceiling.
“Do you know how much that ceiling cost?” Applejack asked annoyed. “I’m addin’ it to your debt!”
As Knuckles was hanging from the ceiling, he noticed that Applejack’s eyes were red. Something was definitely off. He then dropped down from the ceiling in front of Applejack. She glared at him intensely.
“You’re in for a world of hurt!” Applejack said as she charged towards Knuckles. She threw a punch but Knuckles held it. She threw another one, but he held it as well.
“Give it up, Applejack.” Knuckles said. “I’m much stronger than you.”
“Oh really?” Applejack said. She then head butted Knuckles, making him stagger back. She then punched him in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. She then elbowed him to the ground, making the ground crack as he hit it. Applejack then lifted him up and prepared to throw another punch, but Knuckles grabbed her right arm with his left hand and using his free right hand, he pushed Applejack, sending her flying across the hallway, and crashing into the wall. cracking it as she made contact with it. Applejack then slumped towards the ground apparently unconscious.
“Hope I didn't use too much force. Anyway, that takes care of-.” Knuckles began to say when he noticed Applejack rising without a scratch on her. She looked angrier than before and clenched her fist.
“At this point, yer debt is risin' so fast by the time yer in yer grave, you won’t be able to cover it. But that'll be in a short time.” Applejack said menacingly as she rushed towards Knuckles.
Manic slowly started to open his eyes. He was groggy and tired. As he was opening them he noticed something was off about the world. He felt as if he was upside down or something. Manic then fully opened his eyes and observed his surrounding. It turns out he really was upside down! He was tied up with green vines and suspended from a larger green one. Beneath him was large cauldron with boiling hot water. Fluttershy, and her animals friends surrounded it and were looking up at him.
“Okay, Fluttershy I admit, I really dig the new outfit. I mean, extremely dig it. But, I don’t like you whole crazy attitude. Untie me right now!” Manic demanded.
“Oh Manic, you should be honored!” Fluttershy said as she was petting a squirrel in her arm. “By being a meal for my friends, you will give them the strength they need to overcome the foolish humans, and take back what is rightfully theirs!”
“Quick question. Do you hate humans?” Manic asked her.
“Of course I do. I hate all humans!” She yelled. “For generations, they have stolen from my friends and destroyed their homes. I want to get justice for the crimes they have committed. They will be punished for their insolence!”
“That makes no sense at all. You're a human yourself! Why are you exempted from your revenge plan? By your logic, you should be punishing yourself.” Manic pointed
“Well, I, uh. I’m uh, not really a human! My body may be one, but my mind is one with nature!” Fluttershy exclaimed as the animals went closer to her.
“Really? That’s the best you can come up with? Anyway, I’ve had enough of this. Time to break out.” Manic said. He tried to move, but he couldn’t move any of his limbs at all. In fact, he couldn't feel them. Struggle as he did, his body did not obey him.
“Having trouble Manic?” Fluttershy asked with a devious tone. “I’m sure you're feeling Mr. Spidey’s venom right now.” A black spider with a blue hourglass then came into Fluttershy’s hand.
“Spider-venom. Oh boy. Guess I’ll try this. Hey, Fluttershy, have I told you you’re looking awesome in that outfit?” Manic said coolly, making Fluttershy roll her eyes.
“More expression of human superficialness,” She growled. “Lower him.” 3 squirrels climbed to the top of the vine, and began chewing it, lowering Manic. He gulped. It wasn't looking good
“(Whelp, I guess this it it. I always thought I’d die in a blaze of glory. Declared a hero. But-wait a minute is that Angel?)”. Manic thought to himself when he saw in the corner, hidden in a bush, the faint image of Angel. Angel poked his head and motioned to his lips for Manic to be quiet. Angel pulled out a blow dart staff and attached a small syringe filled with red liquid in it to one end. He put the staff in his mouth with the syringe end facing outward and then aimed at Manic.
“(What’s he doing?)”. Manic thought. Angel then blew, and the syringe shot, and hit Manic in the throat, making him wince in pain. Suddenly, a rush of energy came through Manic’s body, and he could feel his limbs.
“(What, I can feel my limbs again! I guess that rabbit is good for something after all!)”. Manic thought excitedly. Suddenly the squirrels finished chewing the vine, and it broke, dropping Manic. Manic, however ,with control over his body returned, broke out the vines easily, much to the shock of Fluttershy, who had a surprised look on her face. He then did a flip just as almost landed in the cauldron,and used his feet to kick off it, spilling the contents of it as he landed on the ground.
“What? This is impossible. The blue hourglass Spider’s venom is impossible to recover from! It paralyzes the body indefinitely unless one has the antidote!” Fluttershy said. Just then Angel leaped out the bushes, and came on Manic’s right shoulder. Manic took the syringe out of his neck, and showed it to Flutterhsy.
“If it wasn’t for this little guy, I would’ve been dead.” Manic said as he looked at Angel. “I’m sorry about the whole throwing you in the bushes thing. Are we cool for now?” Angel nodded his head. Both of them turned to face Fluttershy.
“Traitor! How dare you side with those vermin, Angel! You will be punished along with them!” Fluttershy shrieked. Her animals then pulled out spears and aimed them at Manic and Angel.
“Give it up, Fluttershy. Even with your army of animals, you’re no-woah.” Manic said as suddenly came to his knees, out of breath. He then looked and saw the room was spinning. He held his head in pain. A smirk came on Fluttershy’s face.
“You fool. Even if you take the antidote, it will take some time for your body to adjust, and the conflict between the poison and the antidote will yield side-effects. You’ll be easy to finish.” Fluttershy said triumphantly. She and her animal friends approached Manic, and Angel.
“(Fluttershy’s right. I can barely stand up right even after taking the antidote. There’s only one thing to do.).” Manic thought to himself. “Run Away!” He grabbed Angel, and as fast as he could, he bolted out the animal shelter.
Knuckles and Applejack were in a power struggle, each of them trying to push the other back.
“(Okay, she’s a lot tougher than I thought, but this isn’t too much of a problem, just have to put my back into it).” Knuckles thought to himself. He then pushed with more force, and started to slide Applejack back, causing her to nearly lose her footing. Knuckles then lifted her up and threw Applejack in the air up to the ceiling. Like Knuckles before, Applejack was able to avoid crashing into it by stick her fist out, causing them to enter the ceiling instead of her whole body.
“Hey come up with your own ideas.” Knuckles called to her.
“Ah’ve made it better!” Applejack retorted. “In fact, I’m also chargin’ you for doing it worse than I did!”
“What are you talking about? You did it the exact same wa-oh crap!” Knuckles shouted, when Applejack used her hand stuck in the ceiling, to rip out a huge block from it(the size of a boulder), and came crashing towards him with it. Knuckles readied a punch, and with one blow shattered the block, but amidst the shattered pieces, Applejack’s fist came out, and she landed a punch on Knuckles’s face, creating a shockwave. Or so it seemed. Knuckles managed to block Applejack’s blow, and quickly punched her and she was sent sprawling on the ground. Knuckles then walked over to Applejack who struggled to get up.
“You varmint!” Applejack said as she held her sides in pain. “I expect you to pay for all my medical bills!”
“Will you shut up about money for at least 5 seconds?” Knuckles said in annoyance as he raised a fist. “Sorry Applejack, but this is for your own good.” Before Knuckles could deliver the finishing blow, AppleJack smirked and another large piece of the roof(half the size of the previous one) from where Applejack had taken her piece from, suddenly broke off, and fell towards the ground. It hit Knuckles right in the head, shattering into tiny pieces at it made impact. He was still for a moment, before he fell to the ground, completely unconscious. Applejack rose up, and poked him a few times. He didn't move at all. Applejack then got a smug look on her face.
“That’s what ya deserve for messin’ with an Apple!” Applejack declared haughtily. She then looked up, and saw a huge hole in the roof, courtesy of her fight with Knuckles. She then turned towards the group of students who had witnessed her fight with Knuckles. She gave them an angry look.
“Well, what are you waitin’ for?! That roof won’t fix itself! I’m chargin’ all of you triple for lettin’ this happen instead of just payin’ the normal fee like yer supposed to!” Applejack shouted making all of them wince in fear. “To make sure he doesn’t cause any more trouble.” Applejack then lifted up Knuckles and threw him as hard as she could through the hole in the roof, leaving a red twinkle as he disappeared in the sky.