//------------------------------// // Two's Company, Tree's a Crowd // Story: Out on a Limb // by arcTangent //------------------------------// Spike grumbled something inaudible under his breath as he swept the library's floor. He'd spent the entire day cleaning the house without being allowed to go outside. It wasn't that it was an exceptionally nice day (the pegasi on weather patrol had made sure of that), although that was part of the reason for his frustration. Mostly he wanted to get out of the house to avoid Owlowiscious, who had been watching him from his perch next to the podium where Twilight often wrote letters. He still didn't trust that bird, no matter what Twilight said. He was convinced that the seemingly vacant expression and inability to say anything other than "Who?" was all a facade, that he was biding his time until the right moment to strike. But Twilight couldn't see the truth about him, convinced that he was as innocent a creature as any of Flutterhsy's many pets. And she let him know this in no uncertain terms. But so what if he was being paranoid? Better that than to let his guard down. The purple dragon was still thinking about Owlowiscious when Twilight ran inside. "Spike, I need you to do me a favor," she said frantically. Spike didn't want to hear it. "Oh, sure, just like how I needed a favor and you forced me to slave away inside, sweeping up a floor that's not even dusty, all while being threatened by that--" he gestured towards Twilight's pet owl "--menace?" Twilight's anxious look was replaced by one of annoyance. "Spike, Owlowiscious is not out to get you. And you're just doing your routine chores, the ones you do every week. Now stop complaining for a second; I need you to help me look for a book." Spike rolled his eyes, obviously still agitated over the arduous labor. He crossed his arms over his chest and said in a flat voice, "Fine. What do you need?" "Remember that book on Transfiguration spells I was looking at a few days ago? Or, more precisely, reversing Transfiguration spells?" "Yeah." "Help me find it." "Didn't you lend it to somepony?" "Now who in all of Ponyville would need a book about how to reverse a Transfiguration spell? I'm really the only unicorn around here who takes her magic seriously." "I remember Lyra coming in here recently. Didn't she ask for it?" Twilight took a second to register this information. Suddenly she facehoofed as she remembered the same thing: the unicorn had come by to pick out that exact book, though she hadn't given a good reason as to why she wanted it. In fact, she seemed very suspicious the whole time she was there. Twilight realized what this meant for Flutterhsy's current predicament. She'd have to go find Lyra, get the book back, find the spell for reverting arborified ponies into their rightful forms, and use it on her pegasus friend. This was going to take some time, and she didn't know how long she had. The longer a transformed object stays in its new form, the longer it takes to reverse the process. And she'd never turned a pony into a tree before; there were too many unknown variables to be certain whether the spell would even work. Well, standing around isn't going to solve anything, she told herself. She had to track down Lyra as soon as she could. She hurried out the door to tell Fluttershy her plan, but when she saw the large hole in the ground where Flutter-tree had been, she froze. Flutterhsy was missing. "Oh, or the love of..." Twilight ran back inside in a hurry. She went over to Spike, who had resumed cleaning and had his back facing the door. "SPIKE!" she yelled, nearly scaring the baby dragon out of his wits and making him jump straight up into the air. As he checked to make sure he didn't have a concussion when his head had hit the floor, she yelled, "She's gone!" "Who?" Spike replied in an unintentionally perfect impersonation of his archenemy. "Fluttershy!" she shouted. Before her assistant had time to answer, she grabbed his arm and pulled him with her out the door in search of the missing tree-pony. ---- Walking as a tree was exponentially more difficult than walking as a pony. Trees don't have joints, so it required a lot of energy for Fluttershy to move her "muscles." In fact, she wondered how it was possible for her to move at all, seeing as plants don't really have nerves. Then again, she was able to talk and think, and she knew for a fact that trees didn't have brains. Oh, this is making my head hurt! she griped internally as she thought about the theoretical impossibilities she was currently facing. She knew nothing about all that sciencey stuff. She chalked it up to Twilight's magic, which was a simple enough explanation for her. "Oh, Angel Bunny!" she called out as she walked around Ponyville, ignoring the confused glances she was receiving from the locals. Finding her lost pet was far more important than explaining her current predicament. Where could he have gone? she thought. What did I do to make him run off like that? I just wanted to give him a bath. I wasn't doing anything to hurt him! Her branches creaked. She walked in no particular direction, scanning the ground looking for Angel. It was a long, slow, agonizing process for her to even move. If she didn't see him soon, she was going to petrify. After what seemed to take days, she spied a small white ball of fluff at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Her mood brightened significantly as she excitedly hurried over as fast as she could, her roots churning up the dirt like the wake of an ocean liner cruising at high speed. "Don't worry, Angel Bunny!" she called with great joy. "Mamma's coming!" She entered the forest. Immediately she froze, noticing the sudden drop in volume. The air was deathly still, and there was not a sound to be heard. Odd, considering the forest was usually populated by noisy, rambunctious critters. The least she should have heard was the rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze, but it was as if she'd instantly gone deaf. Then she heard movement. So she wasn't deaf after all. But she'd lost sight of her rabbit, if that's really what she had seen, and was now standing all alone in the middle of a clearing. She couldn't shake the ominous feeling that had befallen her the second she'd arrived. "H-hello?" she called out to whoever was moving around. "I-is anypony there?" A barely audible whisper from behind made her turn around. She didn't see anything but a cluster of trees. But these were no ordinary trees, she realized slowly--they had gruesome fangs and wicked, bloodshot eyes, and their expressions were curled into grotesque snarls. She gave a small squeak in fright. They were about to attack her! She shut her eyes tight and prayed silently that she'd make it out alive. Then she remembered what Pinkie Pie had told her once when she and her friends were in a very similar situation. She decided to stand up to her fears as she had been instructed with the aid of musical cues. She opened her eyes, staring the menacing trees in the face. With a determined look she emitted a small laugh--though it couldn't really be counted as a laugh. It was far too feeble, sounding more like a cross between a whimper and a sniffle. She tried again, a little louder. Still the threat did not go away. Mustering up all the courage she'd learned from her cheering lessons with Rainbow Dash, she took a deep breath and expelled it. "HAH!" The noise echoed loudly, resonating through the woods and amplifying the volume. It was so loud that it even scared Fluttershy herself. When the echoing stopped, she ceased cowering and looked up to find that the trees no longer appeared frightening. She smiled at her bravery and lifted up a root to continue her search. That's when the forest started to come alive. She froze in mid-stride. The trees surrounding her didn't have horrible, disturbing faces anymore. Instead they now had sickeningly delighted faces, their lips upturned into smiles. But there was nothing cheerful about these smiles. Fluttershy screamed at the top of her lungs. The now-moving forest was closing in on her, surrounding her, trapping her... ---- Twilight realized how crazy she must have looked, galloping through town asking everypony if they had seen a large yellow tree pass by recently. They all stared at her like she was a madmare and continued on their daily business, shaking their heads as they passed. How hard can it be to find a walking tree? she bemused, still clutching her assistant. The latter was being tossed about wildly, flailing like a flag in the middle of a hurricane. "Slow--oof!--down--ugh!--Twi--ouch!--light--ack!" he yelled as he was thrown against the ground again and again, unable to keep up with his mistress. The unicorn was in so much of a hurry to find Fluttershy that she didn't even notice Applejack passing by until the two headbutted each other. She yelped as she fell on her hindquarters, dropping Spike in the process. Dazed, she sat up. The blow to her noggin had left her seeing double. Two images of the earth pony rolling over to get her hat spun around in front of Twilight's face. She shook her throbbing head, and her vision was restored. "Applejack!" Twilight shouted. "Thank goodness! You wouldn't have happened to see Fluttershy around, would you?" Applejack took a moment to reply. "No, ah just came by ta pick up some fruit at the market." She picked up her empty saddlebags that had fallen off in the collision. "Why? Is something the matter?" Twilight grinned sheepishly, a bit embarrassed to tell the truth about how she'd screwed up. "Well, you see, there's been a sort of...ah...hmm...how to put this delicately...uh...a mix-up. Yeah, a mix-up!" "What kind of a mix-up?" Twilight opened her mouth to reply when she heard a scream. It sounded like it was coming from the Everfree Forest. They both looked at each other, knowing instantly from whom it had come. There was only one pony in town capable of producing such a terror-filled cry at such a high pitch. Well, to be more precise, only one tree. Applejack spoke. "Looks like we know where Fluttershy is." Twilight sighed. Boy, was she going to have a fun time explaining this one. "Maybe you'd better follow me..."