//------------------------------// // 9. Flutter Do // Story: The Ninth Fantasy - Equestria // by MrAlterad //------------------------------// “My fellow ponies!” An authoritative pony cried out, demanding attention, and he immediately got Fluttershy's. “I have received a royal report from Princess Twilight Sparkle considering the disappearance of Canterlot. My fellow ponies, gather round!” He repeated this cry until a number of ponies in the town had gathered around. Fluttershy backed away from the crowd as it grew, and after reaching a suitable size, the announcer continued. “I will now read to you the words of Princess Twilight Sparkle: 'My fellow ponies of Tall Tale, it is to my great sadness that I must inform you that Canterlot is gone. With it, we've also lost Princess Cadence, Pincress Luna, and Princess Celestia.'” Fluttershy feared it was true, but hearing now confirmed it, but she took solace in the fact that Twilight was fine. “'Our world is somehow connected to another called Gaia. Its magic, and a hazard called the mist, are invading our peaceful land. From the mist are born monsters, which can only be combated against with weapons from Gaia. My fellow Equestrians, we will get through this, I promise you. So please, be strong, for Equestria. Beware the mist, and if you don't have a Gaian weapon, avoid the monsters born of it.'” The announcer looked over the ponies and nodded to them. “You've heard the princess, we'll get through this, just be careful, everypony.” Fluttershy cleared her head, she had already done her crying yesterday, she needed to reach Ponyville. The announcement finished, the crowd started to break apart. Fluttershy started to shy away from the looks a number of them were giving her. Her pet and Quina were drawing all sorts of attention now that the announcement was over, which made it even harder for her to ask for directions to Ponyville. And the ponies that look kind of nice to approach, avoid us. She thought with a vague hint of frustration. She had no idea how they ended up in Tall Tale. My sense of direction's never been bad, it's like every time I try and get us going in the right direction, something distracts us from it. She wandered through the town, slowly, hoping that there was a train line to Ponyville here. “We eat now?” Quina asked her, and Fluttershy was hungry. She hadn't had a decent meal since breakfast yesterday. She nodded to Quina, who gave her a surprisingly genuine smile. “I make food now.” And s/he started to do just that, bringing out of cooking supplies almost on demand from seemingly out of nowhere, just like Pinkie and her party cannon. S/he was setting everything up, right in the middle of the street, to Fluttershy's embarrassment. Quina pulled out a number of plants, fruits, and vegetables that s/he accumulated on their way here, and Fluttershy was impressed with how much the Gaian had gathered when she wasn't looking. She was also glad s/he didn't have any meat on the cooking palette. “Um, Quina, isn't that a bit much for the two of us?” She asked, dodging the odd looks the ponies gave Quina's set up. For whatever reason, Fanglesnuffs never seemed to be hungry, and she assumed it was because it was a monster of the mist. Quina was always tasting 'food', but this looked like enough to feed a whole parties worth of ponies. “It plenty! Make lots to feed lots!” S/he replied, getting to work at cooking some of the vegetables together. The smell from his/her efforts were starting to draw in someponies, making Fluttershy slink behind the large chef. She didn't stay there long however, as she noticed a familiar looking pony in the crowd. Her eyes met hers, and for a moment, Fluttershy didn't think she remembered her, but then she saw her eyes widened as she made a shushing motion with her hoof. She walked over to Fluttershy, intent on talking to her. Oh, yay~ Somepony I can talk to! It was Daring Do, wearing her A.K. Yearling persona/disguise, Fluttershy wasn't sure which it was. “You're one of Dash's friends, right? And I guess also a friend of Princess Twilight?” She asked of Fluttershy, who weakly nodded. “Mind telling me what the hay is going on in Equestria. You heard the terrible news just now, is it true?” And Fluttershy nodded again. “Um, about that. I really need to go to Ponyville, I was wondering if you could-” “Help you?” She interrupted, “Sorry, even if you're Dash's friend, I've got my own problems to take care of. You'll need to ask somepony else to take you to Ponyville.” “Well, I was asking if-” But Daring spoke up before Fluttershy could clarify. ...if you could point me in the right direction... “Wait,” Daring hesitated before asking Fluttershy, “I could actually use some help. I work alone, but sometimes even an explorer like me needs an aide.” Fluttershy looked at her confused, and Daring continued. “There's this place I need to check out, I pretty sure it's connected to the mist and the moon turning red, thing is, it requires two ponies to get inside. It's not far from here, help me out and I'll get you to Ponyville.” That didn't sound like an unfair offer. Fluttershy's never read her books, but Twilight and Rainbow Dash both made her out to be a professional. Then she remembered watching her fight off those stallions that stole an important ring from her. “Um, will it be safe?” She asked hesitantly. “As safe as it always is. Nothing to worry about!” She assured Fluttershy. “Well, alright then. If it's tied to the mist, then it must be important. But once we take care of it, Ponyville?” “No problem little lady,” Then she eyed Quina, whom they had been conversing behind. “Friend of yours?” “Yes, s/he's helped me get this far, though we're both lost.” Fluttershy's attention was drawn to the food, and her stomach rumbled, making her blush. “Well, I guess another won't hurt either,” Daring said as she rolled her eyes. Her attention was then drawn to the food, “That smells pretty good.” She admitted as she eyed the meal Quina was working on. Almost on cue, s/he gave Fluttershy and Daring each a bowl of cooked vegetable salad. It seemed that Quina was intending to give his/her efforts out the anypony that was nearby, and when Fluttershy tried the salad, she was surprised by how delicious it tasted. “This is amazing!” Daring proclaimed loudly, getting some looks from the nearby ponies as she tried to avoid their gaze. Fluttershy was appraising her meal with a smile.It's tasty, and it looks healthy too. All the ingredients were literally picked by hand. I knew Quina loved to eat, but I didn't think s/he was a master cook as well! “Good food is good food! Quina know best, good food make happy with good taste!” S/he admitted as s/he gave out the meal to anypony passing by. And it wasn't too long before a full crowd of satisfied ponies had gathered around Quina's set up. Many of the ponies had worry or concern bogging them down, but looked a little better after eating what Quina had made. “So, Ms. Do-” Fluttershy began to ask before being interrupted, again. “Call me Yearling when we're in public, or just Daring when we're alone,” She quickly whispered to Fluttershy, a hint of annoyance in her voice. “Right, sorry,” Fluttershy replied before getting her question out. “Ms. Yearling, are you really fine with me helping you? Surely there are better ponies.” Daring frowned at her question, and shook her head. “Honestly, I'd rather you were Rainbow Dash, but she's probably got her own important things to take care of right now. Equestria's been a little hectic since the mist appeared. You're friends with her, and the princess. And from what I've heard, you helped tame Discord. So I'll take you over somepony I know nothing about. At least I know you won't turn on me.” “Oh, well, thank you for your trust,” And Fluttershy real was thankful for it. “So, where are we going?” “I'll tell you after we're away from prying eyes.” With that, they decided to wait until the crowd died down, Daring constantly avoiding the attention of any fans of her books. “Food all gone!” Quina proclaimed as s/he licked the dishes clean. I really hope s/he actually washes those. As Quina put away all the things s/he had used for cooking, Fluttershy noticed a fog start to creep over the town. “Oh, this is the mist from the Smoky Mountain.” Fluttershy expressed with worry, “There will be monsters soon! We need to tell everypony!” “Calm down, you don't need to tell them anything. Twilight mentioned the dangers of the mist. Look,” she pointed to the sky, and several pegasai were working to move the mist around the town. “They're already on it. And if monsters do show up, they should be fine.” She parted her dress slightly to reveal a whip hidden underneath. “A girl similar to your friend here, only with a tail came by last night and gave out weapons to anypony willing to take one.” “Mikoto was here?” Fluttershy asked in surprise. “Yea! That was her name, gave me this fancy whip.” She replied with a smile, eyeing the whip hidden under her cloths. “Twilight's address has put everypony here on edge, I feel sorry for any monsters that try and harass Tall Tales.” “Quina ready, go find food?” S/he asked as s/he looked to the others. “Well, since we still have plenty of daylight remaining, let's get moving.” Daring said, and she started to move out of Tall Tales, back the way Fluttershy had come from. “Oh, but there are monsters that way.” “Like I'm scared of a couple monsters, come on, we've got a castle to find.” And she flew out of town, then shortly returned after realizing her company was slow. Fluttershy gave an apologetic look before asking her a question. “We're looking for a castle? What kind of castle?” “I'll tell you after we get some distance from town, so just wait.” “Oh, okay.” And they left the town, wandering into the mist. Shortly after leaving town, Daring discarded her Yearling attire for her normal hat and vest. It was evident that she wanted them to move faster, but Quina could only move so fast, and Fluttershy was never a swift flier. It wasn't long before they ran into mist monsters. They were attacked by a pair of small humanoids with large ears and big red noses, and one perished in a single hit from Daring Do's whip. She looked shocked at how easily it was destroyed, but quickly covered her surprise. “See, not a big deal, nothing to worry about.” She said as Fanglesnuffs attacked the second one, greatly harming it. Quina opened his/her mouth and breathed in deep, making the wounded monster dissolve into mist and be swallowed up by Quina, getting a surprised look from Daring and Fluttershy. “Needs more frog flavor!” Quina proclaimed, then noticed their stares. “Did you want some to?” “Err, no, we're fine, but thank you,” Daring responded, clearly shaken by what just happened. Fluttershy kept some distance from Quina, eating monsters of the mist was even more unsettling to her, but she wasn't going to stop him/her from doing it. The monsters of the mist were different from animals. They looked like animals, but in the end they were just monsters. She saw from Fanglesnuffs that they didn't need to eat, so they attacked others simply because it was their nature too. The monsters of the mist were monsters, and though she had one tamed, she doubted it was possible to tame more of them. They wandered through the forest for a few hours, tackling the monsters that harassed them. Fluttershy made careful use of the few potions she had received from Zecora, luckily her 'weapon' provided her a power that made healing potions more efficient. As it became clear the sun would set soon, they looked for a spot to camp up. And once they had settled in, Daring looked at Fluttershy, gauging her, which made Fluttershy uncomfortable . After considering her for a minute, Daring Do shook her head. “I'm not ready to trust you with everything, but I can at least tell you about the castle we're heading towards.” “Oh, where is this castle? Does it have a name?” She asked, not offended that she didn't have Daring's trust. “The castle is in the White Tail woods,” Fluttershy stumbled at her answer. But I was just over there yesterday! She was backtracking, and couldn't help but wonder if somepony was playing a trick on her. She noticed that Fanglesnuffs giving her an odd, familiar look, but it was gone as soon as she noticed it. “You okay?” Daring asked her, surprised she had almost fallen over. “Oh, I see. I did say it was close. But that was if we were flying, I didn't think we'd have to walk.” “Oh, no, that's not it. I was just over there yesterday.” Ohh, my friends need me! “We will go to Ponyville after this, right?” Fluttershy didn't want all this effort to fail to pay off. “You have my word.” Daring Do replied, then realized something, “Oh, right, your question. The true name of the castle was lost to time, so it's simply referred to as Ipsen's castle. It's a rather strange looking place, you'd think somepony like Starswirl had built it.” “Why's that?” “Well, it's... Actually, it would be easier to just show you. We'll be there by tomorrow afternoon, so lets get some rest.” Fluttershy nodded, she could wait till tomorrow to know what this castle was like. Leaving Fanglesnuffs to watch over them, they went to bed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Watcher in the Mist saw the small group sleeping in the mist. One of them is a seal breaker, the Kind Introvert. They seem intent to stay in the mist longer than is safe. Outside of the mist, they were outside his influence, as well as his sight, inside the mist, however, he could aid them. As the watcher willed the mist around them, keeping them from breathing in more that was safe, he felt a pair of unfamiliar eyes watching back. His focus drifted towards the beast that watched over them. It saw him, even though he had no form, the beast knew he was there. Ah, I see. The Jester watches them. Giving the guardian a smile, he left them alone, letting the wolf take in the mist that would poison their minds instead. ~~~~~~~ Fluttershy ~~~~~~~ Items Equipped: Wooden Tambourine: Chemist(mastered) Lvl up! Lvl-7 HP 190/190 MP 66/66 AP 13/17 Pegasai's Flight (0) - You have wings that let you fly. Chemist (4) - Doubles the potency of medicinal items. Abilities: Tame: Action Command - You gain control of a monster, and it attacks for you. White Magic: