My Little Creeper

by benger

Chapter 3: The Road to Canterlot

This was supposed to be a one shot, but then I got a great idea, what if it wasn’t? This fic is essentially a dark comedy, so take it lightly! It doesn’t take itself seriously, so why should you?

Per the Princess’s request, the twelve remaining residents of Ponyville began their journey to Canterlot. Rainbow Dash lead the pack, flying overhead to scout the path for creepers. She was followed by the remaining Elements of Harmony, the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Big Mac who were all walking silently. At the rear of the group there was a lone manticore with a sleeping bunny on its back.
After a few hours of walking, the group’s nerves began to settle and they became more talkative.

“Ah’ rekin we won’t make it to Canterlot by nightfall” Applejack said aloud

While the capitol city could be seen off in the distance, it was already late in the day.

“We may make it to the cliffs by nightfall, but we’ll need to leave scaling them until morning” Twilight said with authority

“Can’t you just get the princess to send us a chariot? I can’t wait that long to take a bath, I’m absolutely filthy” Rarity complained

“Twilight already tried” Spike interjected, obviously unhappy to be upsetting the object of his affections. “It wouldn’t go through, it came right back up. I’ve never had that happen before”

It was apparent to everypony that Spike was embarrassed at his inability to perform

“It’s all right Spike” Twilight said, trying to reassure her number one assistant, “There is probably some magic blocking the transmission. Extra spells cast by Celestia and Luna to protect Canterlot”

Twilight’s words seemed to calm the young dragon. The conversation continued, moving from topic to topic, and it eventually came back to their journey.

“Ah’ normally don’t have a problem with sleeping outdoors and such, but I don’t fell comfortable out in the open with these creepers on the loose” Applejack announced.

A general consensus came from the group

“I was thinking about that” Twilight began “There are many caves in the cliff face; I would suggest that we find a suitable one and spend the night in it.”

This peaked the three filly’s interests

“So we get to explore a cave?” Scootaloo asked anxiously

“Yell I guess, but were going to choose a small one an-” Twilights response was cut off by synchronized screaming

“CUITE MARK CRUSADERS CAVE EXPLORERS! YAY!”

“Sweetie belle, the correct term is spelunkers” Rarity instructed her sister

“CUITE MARK CRUSADERS CAVE SPELUNKERS! YAY!”

Rarity immediately regretted her comment

“Can I join you?” Pinkie asked the three crusaders “Exploring is so much fun. I especially like when you’re exploring and searching, like a search party! Can it be a search party? Except we don’t have anything to search for. You can’t search without anything to search for, can you? We could search for rocks. Or dirt. Or moss. But that would be too easy. Maybe we can just have a normal party!”

Eventually everypony tuned Pinkie Pie out.

The group arrived at the cliffs just as sundown began. They found a suitable cave. It was large, but not very deep and it didn’t leave much room for spelunking, to the chagrin of the crusaders. After the ponies ate their fill of grass, the entrance was covered up and the group settled down for the night.

“So somepony will need to be constantly keeping watch. I know that we all are tired, but were so close together, it would only take a single creeper to, well, you know.” Twilight said to the group

“Well I think that we need to be far more worried of the monsters inside this cave” Rarity said while gesturing toward the manicore.

“Ah’ have to agree” Applejack added

Angel looked angry; he didn’t seem to like the prospect of kicking out his friend

“Fluffy is not a monster!” Sweetie belle said defiantly to her elder sister “He is cuddly and nice”

“Fluffy? When did you name him?” Rarity responded

“When we were walking, he likes it!” Sweetie retorted.

The manticore nodded in agreement

“Awww, it’s a cute name. I like it” Pinkie said. “Although it’s a little clique. I know! we should –“

”Pinkie, we are all way too tired for a party” Dash cut her off

Pinky laid down, defeated.

After a moment of silence, Twilight revived the conversation.

“He seems nice enough; I think we can trust him. Fluffy is the manticore Fluttershy befriended on our way to defeat nightmare moon”

Nopony else knew of the past history with Fluffy, but the mention of Fluttershy’s name and the pain it brought up overwhelmed any concern.
Eventually Twilight put out the fire and everypony went off to sleep. Finally having a moment to themselves, everypony in the group began thinking of everything they lost during the day. Faint sounds of crying echoed across the cavern.

Big Mac was the only member of the group who was awake. He had recently been woken up by his younger sister Applejack for watch and sat at the entrance to the cave, peering through the bush that covered it. Watch was a boring job and it was generally uneventful. Big Mac just hoped it would be over soon.
A little more than half way through his shift, Big Mac saw something that defied belief. Suddenly a Creeper just appear, as if it popped into existence. The creeper seemed unfazed and began searching for prey. Seeing another one of the monster brought traumatizing memories of the day earlier. In his surprise, Big Mac made a slight gasp. It wasn’t loud, but it was enough to get the Creepers attention. Seeing the creeper approach the cave, Big Mac froze. Luckily, the gasp also awoke the resident beast.
Fluffy’s sensitive hearing easily caught Big Mac’s gasp. First he just twitched a little, annoyed at the rude awakening, and then he sensed something was not right. He stood up, accidentally waking up Angel who was snuggling against him. The manticore roared wakening everypony up. Before any member of the group could complain, Fluffy then jumped straight over the confused ponies and bounded out of the cave’s entrance, tackling the creeper head on. The living explosive was sent flying backwards and crashed into a tree, flashing red, but then recovering. It wasn’t ready to give in. The creeper charged Fluffy, hissing almost as loud as the manticore could roar, but Fluffy nimbly moved out of the way. The creeper, unable to stop, ran straight into the cliff face and exploded.
Adrenalin pumping from the ordeal they just witnessed, the group was unable to go back to sleep. The sun was going to rise in just a couple of hours, so the group prepared to climb their way to Canterlot.

In comparison to the previous chapters, this one is lighter on comedy, lighter on dark / grim imagery, and a lot heaver on dialogue. I actually dreaded writing it, but am extremely impressed with the outcome. It might actually be the best thing I have ever written.
If you have played Minecraft, you may have some issues with the creeper battle mostly that the creeper acted very un-creeper-like. It’s just that some green thing slowly hopping toward you is not very fun to read about in a fight, so I made the creeper faster and more aggressive.
The "My Little Creeper" image is by sonderjen (sonderjen.deviantart.com/) and is used with his permission
I do not own My little Pony, any of the characters, or Minecraft. please support the official release.