Third lesson- Flutter Plan!
"So this is the place the Flutter Ponies call home!" Twilight said in awe, looking at the jungle around her. "Looks very... tropical!"
"That was totally crazy, the way it switched from forest to jungle like that!" Firefly snorted in disbelief. "It's like takin' two steps, and yer instantly in another part of the world!"
The six fillies had made it to the edge of Flutter Valley, having survived the perils of an enchanted forest. The path before them had become much clearer, and they were finding more and more signs of Flutter Pony activity. Flutter dust was scattered across the path in front of them, while the path beneath their hooves became rougher and less maintained, a clear sign that it was not being used very often.
"We need to be careful, girls!" Glory warned, looking at the silent jungle around her warily. "We have no idea what those flaky flutters have in store for us!"
"And those witches could attack again at any moment, too!" Twilight whinnied, looking around at the trees nervously.
"Aww, don't worry your pretty little heads, you two!" Applejack reassured them. "If those bug winged bozos attack us, we'll be ready for 'em!"
"I must say, they do live in a rather warm environment here!" Glory commented, wiping a bit of sweat from her mane with her hoof. "If it were any hotter here, I swear I would probably melt!"
"It's the power of the Sunstone, that’s what’s keeping the temperatures here at tropical levels. It was a powerful artifact which the Flutters stole from the kingdom of old Equestria!" Twilight told her. "Because of that sacred stone, Flutter Valley is kept in a state of perpetual warmth, never knowing snow or cold!"
"That very warmth gives them the longest growing season, allowing the Flutter ponies to cultivate all the best tropical fruits and vegetables in Ponyland!" AJ explained. "They always have a bounty of crops, and lord that over all the other Ponyland herds!"
"That's why they have such a hard time with the rest of us here! It gives other equines a reason to hate 'em!" Firefly replied with a snort. "That stupid sense of superiority they have! Why, if one of them even came near Fort Rainbow Dash, they'd probably be speared on sight!"
"Wow, so that's why the flutters keep minimal contact with other types of ponies!" Glory replied, amazed. "The rest of Ponyland didn't even know where Flutter Valley was until now!"
"We still don't know where it is, Glory." Twilight sighed, moving a low-hanging branch out of the way with her magic. "The path we took here was almost like a labyrinth, and is protected by several magical wards that obscure direction. There is no way we could possibly tell where we are!"
Watching from the treetops, two flutter ponies were growing more and more uncertain about what they were doing.
"I just don't know, Honeysuckle," Morning Glory snorted, staring down at the five ponies. "In a lot of ways, they seem just like us!"
"As much as I don't want to believe it, I'm inclined to agree with you," Honeysuckle agreed. "I don't care what their ancestors did, I'm starting to think maybe we didn't need to rescue Posey from her friends at all!"
"You're not actually thinking of helping them, are you?" Morning Glory asked. "That would be treason!"
"I don't know!" Honeysuckle snorted, shaking her mane. "All I know is... this doesn't feel right!"
It was at that moment that five flutter ponies began circling overhead the traveling group, and began releasing Pollen from their wings.
"Hey, isn't that Sky Dancer and her team?" Honeysuckle asked, narrowing her eyes. "What are they doing here?"
"They-they're trying to put the harmony bearers to sleep!" Morning Glory replied in shock. "The queen never would've ordered that!"
"Hey, what's this powdery stuff?" Firefly yawned, looking at the snow-like pollen all around her. "And why am I so sleepy?"
"Girls, Look out!" Twilight's eyes suddenly went wide, Then she immediately cried out. "The flutters are trying to knock us unconscious!"
She and glory immediately threw up a shield, while Firefly shook the pollen's effects off.
"Firefly, take it high!" Applejack yelled towards the pink Pegasus.
"I'm on it!" she replied, flying away from the others, then rising high up into the sky. Spotting their unsuspecting attackers, she dive bombed a purple one with a turquoise mane.
"Hey, where'd that Pegasus go?" High Flyer asked, looking down.
"Right here!" Firefly yelled, tackling the flutter mare to the ground. The two scuffled in the dirt, as the other three dove at the harmony bearers.
"Get em', ladies!" Sky Dancer called out. "Lady Windsong doesn't want them leaving these woods alive!"
"Lady Wingsong!?" Morning Glory snorted. "So that's what going on?"
"She's defying the queen's orders!" Honeysuckle agreed. "We need to do something!"
Moon Jumper flew straight at Applejack, who spun around and horse kicked her straight back in the air.
"You want to fly so badly, flutter face?" AJ snorted. "Then stay up there!"
"Hey unicorns!" Glow, a blue mare with a blonde mane, yelled. "In your face!"
Flying in front of the sun, Glow let the light refract through her multicolored wings, blinding Glory and Twilight on the ground.
"Aieeeeee!" Glory cried out, shielding her eyes with her hoof. "I can't see!"
"Hey, ugly!" Surprise finally appeared again, holding a trumpet. "You should really go out on a high note!"
A loud TWEEEEET! came from the horn, causing the flutter to grab her ears in pain.
"AIEEEEEEEEEE!" Glow shrieked, ceasing her attack, and nearly falling out of the air.
"Glory, let her have it!" Twilight yelled, shaking off the visual assault. "While she's distracted!"
The two unicorns zapped the Flutter pony, sending her into a tailspin. Glow crashed to the ground just as Firefly knocked her opponent out.
"Fall back, ladies! They're tougher than they look!" Sky Dancer yelled as Whirly and Moon Jumper flew up beside her. "Shift to utter flutter!"
The three flutters still airborne began to shift their wings very rapidly, kicking up a powerful wind. A sheer wall of force hit the five mares, trying to blow them away.
"It's the utter flutter! The flutter's special attack!" AJ called out, digging her hooves in.
"Hold on, girls!" Twilight called out, and she and Glory threw up a weak shield to protect the group. "There's only three of them, so their utter flutter is gonna be weak!"
The Three flutter ponies kept up the attack, until another utter flutter attack hit them from behind! As the three attackers fell to the ground unconscious, two new flutter ponies came out of the trees.
"Hold it right there, you two!" Glory warned, lowering her horn defensively. "Don't make any sudden moves!"
"We just saved your flanks, unicorn!" Honeysuckle snorted. "Why in the world would we attack you?"
"We can guide you to your friend!" Morning Glory told Twilight. "We know where Poesy is!"
"That's all we needed to hear!" the pink unicorn replied. "Follow them, girls! Though keep an eye on them, see if they make any suspicious moves!"
While the three ground ponies galloped along after the two flutters, Firefly flew up beside Surprise.
"Hey, nice trick back there!" the pink Pegasus smiled. "But where'd you find that horn?"
"Oh, up in that weird lookin’ city up ahead!" the white Pegasus replied. "There's lots of fun stuff to do up there!"
"You were up scouting ahead?" Firefly asked in shock. "Huh, guess I really did sell you short!"
...
A beautiful mixture of the natural and the artificial, Flutter city was like a tropical play land. A large grove of towering trees, the center part of Flutter Valley was filled with flutter pony homes built right into the branches of the towering cypresses and cedars. Flutter Ponies flitted around the forest canopy, only coming to rest on the ground to smell the sweet fragrance of the many exotic flowers that dotted the landscape.
It was in one such garden, that a yellow flutter pony with a pink mane pawed softly and the ground, her tear stained eyes red from several hours of weeping. Nearby, Prince Clever Clover watched the filly scratch and the ground sadly.
"The flowers... I can't hear the flowers...." she sobbed, looking at the dirt sadly. "The soil is dead, I can't feel it's love and life anymore... I've gone deaf to the earth..."
"There, there, Posey, it's going to be all right!" the prince told her reassuringly. "We'll find a way to- oh, look! Here comes the dragon mare herself!"
Wingsong was flying over the horizon, speaking with some kind of black and yellow... insect like creature. As they finished their conversation, the human-sized bug flew off, and the arrogant mare turned towards the prince. Flying downward, Wingsong landed nearby, and came trotting up to where the two ponies were standing.
"Hello, Clever Clover! How are you and Starry Wings enjoying the freedom I so graciously gave to you!" she noticed Posey pawing at the ground helplessly. "What's bothering her?"
"Don't you get it?!? She was an earth pony! Raising and cultivating flowers was her special talent!" the angry stallion snorted. "Earth ponies have a special connection to plants and the earth, and you've taken that away from her! Can't you see you've ripped out a piece of her heart?"
"She's learn to cope, in time. It's worth the sacrifice, to be raised from a lowly earth pony, to the obvious genetic superiority of being a flutter pony!" Wingsong snorted. "Starry Wings will come to thank us for the gift we've given her, in due time!"
"Poesy! Her name is Poesy!" Clever Clover snorted. "You might be going around pretending she has a different name, and you might've used paint to alter her cutie mark, but you cannot change the kind of pony she is on the inside!"
"Hmph, ungrateful ponies! If it weren’t for me, you'd both still be rotting in that dungeon!" the angry mare snorted, before fluttering away. "And to think you're named for Starswirl the Bearded’s famous apprentice!"
It was at that point that Dr. Puff came flying up. At first, the stallion scowled at her angrily. But the terrible look of guilt on her face put the prince somewhat at ease.
"Is Posey doing all right?" the flutter mare asked in a worried tone. "I was afraid she wouldn't have been able to psychologically adjust!"
"She's alive, if you can call it that!" the prince snorted angrily. "So what is to become of her?"
"She is to be kept as an icon, a living embodiment of her ancestor to be a visual reminder of Flutter Pony values."
"Lovely," the prince grumbled. "And when am I to be sent home?"
"...In a mere few days," the doctor replied hesitantly. "Though you may regret returning home!"
"Why is that?" Clever Clover asked suspiciously, his ears perking up. "Doctor, is there something you're not telling us?"
"Well, I'm not supposed to talk, but..." Cloud Puff looked around nervously. "Windsong is negotiating with the Apodians, to carry out a holy mission for the flutter ponies."
"The Apodians?" Clever Clover thought for a moment. "The giant bee folk who share flutter valley with your kind?"
"Yes, that's correct. They pollinate and maintain the flowers in the valley in exchange for a share of our tropical fruits," Cloud Puff explained. "Wingsong has allied herself with their queen, and they are currently planning to make all of Ponyland flutter ponies!"
"What, like they did with Posey?" the prince asked. "That's not going to go over well with the populace."
"No, that gift was given to her, because of her connection to Saint Fluttershy," Dr. Puff told her. "The rest of this land is going to be opened to flutter settlement."
Clever Clover suddenly went pale. "Wait... you don't mean..."
The flutter mare nodded. "Every stallion, mare, and foal on this continent is to meet the sharp end of an Apodian stinger, and be cleansed..."