Anti Alien Critter Campaign
Rainbow Dash flew at high speed across the Solway Firth, skimming close to the waves and feeling the spray of salt water on her wings. She dipped a hoof in water to see how it felt and sent flocks of gulls and auks squawking and flying away in all directions. She laughed, and picked up speed, flying higher. Once up high, she surveyed the coastline and the shape of the hills and mountains to one side. She banked left and soared over a wide flat river estuary, admiring the ruined towers of a triangular medieval castle before flying higher still to survey the terrain and setting off up the river valley. Further inland she flew down low again and did a few aileron rolls for the fun of it. Then banked again, nearly completing a full turn, then straightening out and gliding southwards over the woods and open farmland and down into a dense forest. She skimmed back and forth among the pine trees until she spotted a yellow pony on the ground. She sped towards Fluttershy, and as an extra stunt, did a sudden barrel roll, turning head over hooves to land on her back on the springy peat covered ground.
“I love this country!” she cried. “It’s got a cool coastline, awesome forests, and they’ve even covered the mountains with this soft stuff to make for more comfortable crash landings.”
“It is nice,” said Fluttershy, sniffing at the heather flowers. “There are dolphins and seals and puffins and wildcats and pine martins and hedgehogs and eagles and…”
“Yeah, yeah—lots of cute critters... I’ll admit those peregrines were pretty cool.”
“But remember Rainbow. We are here on an important mission—we’ve got to help protect the native animals.”
Following their brief adventures with the breezies, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy had searched the Everfree forest for magic portals leading to other worlds. One of these had led to a remote part of the Galloway Forest. And through this gateway, they had come to meet many of the creatures of Southern Scotland, with whom Fluttershy had made friends, and learnt that wild animals in this world were not quite like those in Equestria.
“Yeah, yeah. They seem to know how to take care of themselves here—”
Fluttershy pushed a hoof against Rainbow’s mouth and signalled with a wing that she should stay still. Then she pointed another hoof towards a spruce tree on the edge of the clearing. Rainbow followed her gaze and spotted a small squirrel scramble up the trunk of the tree and out along one of the branches. It stopped and started nibbling at a kernel. Then pricked up its tufted ears. On realising it was being watched, it ran on to the end of the branch, leaping onto the next tree, and disappearing into the forest.
“That’s one of the red squirrels,” said Fluttershy, with moist eyes. “They’re really sweet, but so much more timid than the animals of Equestria. And we need to help them. They’re under threat from the invasion of alien greys.”
“Err… Invasion of what?”
Fluttershy sat down on the ground beside Rainbow. Her pet rabbit Angel Bunny hopped out of a saddlebag lying on a rock to one side and climbed up her mane onto her head.
“The red squirrel used to live across the whole of Britain,” said Fluttershy. “But over a hundred years ago humans brought grey squirrels over from North America. They didn’t mean any harm—they just thought they’d make cute pets—but since then the greys have spread across the country, pushing out the reds. They’re bigger and stronger and they take all the food. B-but there’s more… They carry the squirrelpox virus. It doesn’t harm them, but when the reds catch it they get swelling and ulcers on their face and paws and within two to three weeks, they die a h-horrible death.”
Fluttershy looked away, wiping a hoof across tearful eyes, and sniffing at the traumatic thought. Angel combed his paws through her pink mane to comfort her. She soon recovered and turned back to face Rainbow.
“Except for a few havens, the reds have now gone from England. They still hold strong here in Scotland, but now that squirrelpox has reached the borders, they may not survive without our help. We have to help them!”
She looked back at her friend with a determined face.
“Yes ma’am,” said Rainbow, saluting her. “Where do we start?”
General Fluttershy took a map out of a saddle bag and spread it out on the peaty ground. It showed the whole of Southern Scotland.
“Greys have been sighted near Dumfries,” she said. “Moving up the Nith, Esk and Annan river valleys. We have to intercept them here.” She pointed a hoof decisively. Field Marshal Angel Bunny jumped off her head onto the map and thumped a foot at the precise spot.
“How?”
“Traps.”
“Traps?”
“I set some yesterday evening. Let's go and inspect them.”
Fluttershy rolled up her map and put it back in her saddle bag, together with thermos, sandwiches, waterproof coat, shotgun and cartridges. Angel hopped in a pocket. Swinging this over her withers, she spread her wings and the two pegasi were soon airborne and moving down the wooded valley. As they flew, Fluttershy explained the necessity of invasive species management.
“Invasive species are a big problem across this world. When a new animal comes into a country, without its usual predators to keep it in check, it can quickly spread across the territory. They just follow their instincts. But they can devastate native wildlife. American mink have slaughtered millions of British water voles. Voracious signal crayfish are eating young fish and destroying homes in Scottish rivers. Over in America, rapacious European Starlings are spreading disease and pushing out native American birds. Chicago is fighting an aquatic invasion by the huge gigantic terrible enormous Asian carp. Australia and New Zealand have been overrun with rabbits, cane toads, and many other invaders, which are threatening their unique ecology.”
After they had flown a few miles south, Fluttershy turned away from the river and into a small pine wood. She landed in a small clearing and walked back and forth between the trees until she found what she was looking for, a small metal cage hidden under a sheet of cardboard at the base of a tree.
“Looks like we got one.”
Angel jumped to the ground with a satisfied grin. Rainbow bent her neck down and stared into the cage. A chubby little squirrel with a large tail and grey and white coat stared back while nibbling at a cob of corn with yellow teeth.
“Okay…” she said. “I'll admit this one's not quite as cute as the red one. But is it really a threat? He looks harmless enough.”
Rainbow stared at the little squirrel. If somepony had proposed it as a pet, she would have rejected it without a second thought. But there was something pitiful about a furry creature that Fluttershy did not coo over. It was very disorientating.
“Seems a shame that all squirrels can't live together. Can't reds and greys be friends?”
“Rainbow,” said Fluttershy firmly, “these are wild animals—not characters from some kids' cartoon. It has become very clear that grey squirrels do not co-exist with the reds. Wherever the greys have taken over, the reds have disappeared. They have their place, but they don’t belong here. We have to keep them out.”
“But is there no other way?”
“No. The greys have taken over nearly all of England. We have no chance of displacing them there. But if we can keep them out of these border regions, we can protect the red population in Scotland.”
“So what you gonna do? Take it back to Equestria?”
“That would be irresponsible. Think of our native Equestrian squirrels. And you remember the parasprites?”
“So… How do you… Err… Get rid of it?”
Fluttershy turned away and opened her saddle bags. When she turned back, she was holding her shotgun in her mouth. There was the trace of a tear on her cheek, but a determined look in her eyes.
“In the kindest possible way,” she said.
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I got a headache just thinking about that. Ow.
I like stories showing the darker side of Fluttershy's work with animals. It's not fun, but it needs to be done. And Fluttershy will get it done, even if it is painful. It's also a good reminder that just because an animal is cute doesn't mean that it isn't capable of causing immense destruction.
Yikes, Fluttershy sure doesn't coddle. Tough love, very tough love.
I'm obviously a horrible man because that ending made me laugh. Horrible, horrible man.
But sooooo funny.
I laughed way too much here. I suppose we should be grateful that the invasive squirrels aren't mutilating cattle.
In any case, a nice little heads-up about invasive species and a good job portraying Fluttershy doing the less pleasant duties of a nature warden. Still, one thing bugs me: how does she know about the other invasive species? The backstory made it sound like they only just got here from Equestria. I know the narrative is secondary to the message, but that still bugs me.
Regardless, thank you for this.
I see what you try to do here, but FlutterShy is out of character:
Even when parasprites consumed all of the food in Ponyville, Fluttershy did not want to kill them. When VamPireFruitBats threatened SweetAppleAcres, her solution was to give an huge section of the orchard to the VamPireFruitBats, even though this would cause hardship to the AppleFamily, rather than forceabye relocating the VamPireFriutBats without even killing them. She does feed animals fishes, but those fishes could have been caught for PetFood by other ponies:
As herbivores, ponies would not want to kill animals for their pets unless they are pretty sure that the animals the ponies kill are pretty much automatons running on instinct. If one looks at vertebrata (chordates with skulls, brains, vertebrae, and spinal chords), the brain is more massive than the spinal cord in all cases except some fishes (some fishes are brainy). In the most common ape on Tellus, the brain is 50 times more massive than the spinal cord. FlutterShy could probably rationalize buying dead fishes she did not kill on the grounds that the fishes operate purely on instinct anyway.
What FlutterShy could do, which fits her character, is give the GreySquirrels an uncontrollable desire to go south back into England using The Stare. Another alternative is for FlutterShy to learn what nonmagical humans have to do. She would not like it, but she knows what carnivores have to do on Equus, so FlutterShy would resign herself to the necessity of humans killing GreySquirrels.
Speaking about brains, BrainMass increases by the ⅔ power of BodyMass.
I find it interesting that animals from foreign ecosystems can outperform other species that presumably evolved specifically to fit the particular ecosystem they are now being pushed out of.
Our Fluttershys would get along, I think.
Man, lots of stuff is happening in Scotland these days isn't it?
I...I just can't imagine any situation outside of a direct life or death scenario (and even that is pushing it) where Fluttershy would willingly pull the trigger on a defenseless animal. Kindest way possible or not, I just can't see it. I can see her recognizing the necessity, in this instance. I can see her acknowledging that it needs to be done, but I cannot see her being able to do it.
But then, okay, so maybe Flutters is being OOC here. S'not that big a deal right? I mean, you gotta make allowances for the story's message, and as this is about invasive species and what to do about it, that means Fluttershy shooting the little guy has got to happen, right?
Well...Not if you can help it. Thing is, if you are using fanfiction, and pre-established characters to help get your message across in this way, it's all the more important they don't break character. Because these stories you write work by immersing you into the subject via familiar characters. If the characters then act in a way that is noticeably off, that breaks the immersion, and damages what you are trying to do. If at all possible, avoid anything that could be perceived as strongly out of character. In this instance, it might have worked better if, for example, Fluttershy handed the gun to Rainbow. Same line, but with the gun going to a character who could be seen as more willing to do the job.
Also, aren't cartridges rifle ammo? Shotguns use shells packed with pellets, not cartridges. Though, I am not a gun expert, so it is possible I am wrong on this point.
EDIT: NEVERMIND. I just looked it up, cartridge is in fact correct here. DERP DERP I'm out!
This...isn't really a story. It's an environmental message with the vaguest hints of a story slapped on to it. I don't have any issues with the message itself, but I clicked on this expecting a story, so this just left me disappointed.
And then there's the problem with Fluttershy's character here. As much as I would like to believe that she could act like this when necessary and that she understands why invasive species are bad, the evidence suggests otherwise.
5018213 A few reasons that can happen:
Originating ecosystem had much more aggressive competition, turning out furry little murderers onto a relatively peaceful community.
Climate change (eg I'm optimised for a few degrees warmer than your home used to be).
Invasive species carries diseases to which it has developed some degree of resistance, and which are transmissible to the other species which has no such resistance.
Probably lots more but it's been years since I studied ecology.
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I was expecting such comments as I admit I am pushing Fluttershy to the limit here. I respect your views. But permit me to defend this characterization.
This is a story which has to be set in our world. It confronts the reality that you can't save Scottish red squirrels without killing greys. To invent another solution would be cheating.
How would Fluttershy react on finding herself in such a cruel world?
Curl up into a ball sobbing, unable to face such horrors? Maybe a bit at the start, but she would get over it.
Refuse to accept killing greys under any circumstances? But that condemns the red population to death.
Accept the necessity of killing one species to protect another. This is the unpleasant, but true conclusion, which Fluttershy would come to.
Would she be strong enough to pull the trigger? Yes.
Fluttershy may appear a weak little pony who is scared of her own shadow. But superficial appearances can be wrong. Strong female characters are a key part of MLP, and Fluttershy is no exception. She has a formidable inner strength, driven by a very real compassion for others, which lets us overcome her fears and take on dragons and cockatrices and do the right thing to help the breezies. This strength would allow her to kill a grey squirrel.
This is a thought process which many young animal lovers in our world go through as they grow up and they have to decide if they want to works as vets, or countryside rangers, or in any other job where they will be helping animals, but also killing them. It's not an easy decision to make. It all depends on how strong they are, and how much they want to help wildlife.
As for getting Rainbow Dash to pull the trigger, well having made the decision to play Fluttershy in this rule, it seemed cowardly not to see it through to the conclusion. Rainbow did not understand that this was an act of kindness as Fluttershy did. And I'm not sure I would trust her with a shotgun.
The vampire fruit bats was a different situation as the bats were not unequivocally threatening the survival of another species.
5020466 That and she works with animals so I am sure she has dealt with having to put animals down
Scotland!
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Well I guess that would kind of defeat the intellectual value of this fic, but Fluttershy would totally get all the grey squirrels in Scotland (/Great Britain /all of Europe) to peacefully board a ferry back to America.
1) I thought this was going to be more comedic.
2) What the Hell man? What the actual Hell?
3) Were you on something while writing this?
*reads title* i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/173/576/Wat8.jpg?1315930535
Then I smiled because it was a funny story that made me feel like I took acid....
Aha! I'm not the only one to have written a Scottish-themed fic today after all! Marvellous.
You are all misunderstanding. Fluttershy is planning on shooting the squirrel with her sedative shotgun. Once the squirrel is safely asleep, it will be transported to a squirrel sanctuary in the Appalachians.
Oddly enough in parts of NE Ohio in the USA black squirrels brought over from outside the country to Kent Ohio have slowly pushed out the other species. They are not yet that wide spread and the grey ones are not completely gone but you see a lot more black squirrels than any other.
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Fluttershy's decision in this story would have bothered me more if Estee's Five Hundred Little Murders hadn't permanently, like an invasive species of its own, colonized a corner of my headcanon.
Let Italy boast of her gay gilded waters
Her vines and her bowers and her soft sunny skies
Her sons drinking love from the eyes of her daughters
Where freedom expires amid softness and sighs
Scotland's blue mountains wild where hoary cliffs are piled
Towering in grandeur are dearer tae me
Land of the misty cloud land of the tempest loud
Land of the brave and proud land of the free
Enthroned on the peak of her own highland mountains
Te spirit of Scotia reigns fearless and free
Her green tartan waving o'er blue rock and fountain
And proudly she sings looking over the sea
Here among my mountains wild I have serenely smiled
When armies and empires against me were hurled
Firm as my native rock I have withstood the shock
Of England, of Denmark, or Rome and the world
(All i know)
She will commit genocide. Strangely,I was watching Fluttershy's Genocide a while ago....
Invasion? Exterminatus.
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*points out that herbivores have killed far more people than carnivores*
For some reason, I was expecting someone a squirrel to rip off it's fur, paint itself blue, and fight for it's freedom.
Was expecting more of an alien invasion, like with UFOs and what not, but this is good too
i have to be honest i really loved this one and am glad that someoen actually mentioned something conservation related issues
I liked this. Fluttershy was realistic in how she needed to handle the Grey Squirrels that most people who love nature just don't get.
Two to the head Fluttershy, two to the head...
It felt really weird reading this because I live in southern Scotland. 5/5
Aw, no! Don't use a SHOTgun! Then there's nothing left of the body! I mean, if you're hunting down animals you don't intend to eat, you should leave them where a predator can make use of it. Everybody's gotta eat, right?
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The advice I got from a professional is that a shotgun is the kindest way as it pretty much ensures the animal is killed instantly. With air guns there is a finite chance that they may survive and suffer. The official advice is to burn or bury carcasses - I guess to avoid spreading disease, but there are other options.
6738562 The heck is an air gun..? I just meant something that would leave a useful corpse and not furry confetti. And, far as I know, shotguns are for Serious Business, like cougars!
(Note, I live in Canada, and for anyone who doesn't know, cougars are also known as mountain lions. They show up in backyards, stare at you through windows, and attack hikers.)
Dude, you know I'm messing around, right?
Nice talking to someone who can keep it cool though!
...although, I am seriously confused, here. Why the hell don't whatever predators are over there keep them in check? Squirrels don't breed 'like rabbits', do they..?
6740322 No problem. What else eats squirrels? I'm no expert, but I had the impression that their numbers are limited by the amount of available food, rather than by predators. But Scotland does have a problem with a lack of top predators since the wolves disappeared. The deer population needs a lot of management. There's some talk of bringing wolves back, but doesn't look like it will happen any time soon.
6740997 ...crap. I googled and got this.
"Predators in Scotland range from the wildcat, pine marten, red fox, grey seal and otter to even the domestic cat and issues relating to these species, such as fox hunting, bird of prey poisoning and even the reintroduction of wolves have always been controversial issues."
So it sounds like they're running out of predators altogether! Jeez, people, stop killing off your critters, you kind of need them!
I am a Scotsman, and I approve of this story.
Down with the greys!
I'm an Englishman, and I love this. I'm just upset I can't do what Fluttershy is about to do in Hyde Park. Every time I walk through there my fingers itch, and I long to exterminate me some greys.
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Even if you could, you might want to save the ammo for when a more problematic animal come to the UK later this year.
http://www.fimfiction.net/blog/597932/fluttershy-defends-scotland-against-invasion-by-donald-trump
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I can't do that, I only have lead shot, and it's illegal to use that on ducks you know.
editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/VarveG/2015/VarveG20150722_low.jpg
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I also feel the same way about rabbits. And so does Fluttershy...
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I live in a community with a bunch of hunters and farmers, and I've learned over the years that they're the best conservationists out there (by and large) because they don't Disney-fy the animals. They know the environment well because they're constantly out in it, and they do what needs to be done because they love the natural world as it is, not as people think it is. (Check out the Pittman-Roberston Act - major conservation efforts are actually funded by hunting, fishing, and boating, and it's saved a lot of game species and their environments). Bottom line, I really appreciated this story for showing the full narrative. Plus, the ending really made me laugh.
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I love how people who have never been in nature feel the need to legislate on it