The Apple Family farm has had a bad year. So bad, that Applejack doesn't think she'll have enough to keep the farm solvent. Until Big Mac trots in and saves the day
Applejack turned on a dime as she trotted her empty apple cart from Ponyville, back to Sweet Apple Acres. She kept up her trot even as her poor spirit was broken. The apple farm’s harvest this year had been poor at best, and all of the apples she could buck had been sold.
She had left Granny Smith with what apples she could for her special jam, but that still meant far too little to pay the bills for the farm. She was despondent. There was no way for her to pay off their creditors.
Maybe, she thought to herself, she could beg them for an extension. There had to be someway she could pay for it. She couldn’t let Granny down. Or Big Mac. Or her little sister, Apple Bloom.
If only her duties as the Element of Honesty wouldn't keep her from her farm duties, then maybe she could have spotted the apple blight sooner. They had only lost three trees. That was an acceptable loss, wasn't it? It could have been worse, right? The rest of the trees hadn’t wanted to bloom and bear fruit.
The worst part of it all, was the feeling of abject failure. She couldn’t lie to herself. Even if it took every bit she had, AppleJack was going to do right by the farm.
Her brother, Big Mac, came trotting up beside her, chewing on a hay stalk. “Hay, Big Mac,” Applejack winced at the pun, even as the stallion did his usual bi-syllabic reply. Her brother moved the cart’s harness onto his back with practiced ease. For the rest of the journey to Sweet Apple Acres, the two ponies trotted along in silence. The siblings didn’t need to talk, and the stallion’s presence was comforting to the filly.
They rounded the last bend and Applejack couldn’t help herself anymore. “Ah ain’t sure we gonna make it this year, Big Mac. The blight and the crops. We ain’t got enough for the bills. It would be a shame if the bank took the farm. Ah don’t think Granny would get over it.”
“Eh-yup,” Big Mac replied, hanging his head.
“Maybe, Ah should take a part-time job at a store in Ponyville? Maybe Ah could talk to the bank and get an extension. Ah’m good for it,” Applejack was ranting, loud enough for the stallion to hear.
“We’re gonna loose the farm?” Apple Bloom’s sudden appearance without the rest of the Cutie Mark Crusaders startled Applejack. “We can’t. Ah don’t know what Ah’d do without all dem apples!”
Applejack shook her head, her braids bouncing under her hat. “Gosh, darn tooting, we ain’t gonna be loosing the farm. Ah’ll talk to the creditors about it. Ah’ll get a job. Ah’m a dependable worker and can build and Ah’m good for it. Ah’ll save the farm, somehow.”
“Eh-yup,” Big Mac said, as Applejack felt her brother nuzzle her gently. The three siblings had stopped to talk, before entering the gates of the farm.
“Are we gonna tell Granny?”
“Only if we have to, sugahplum,” Applejack reseated her hat on her head. “Ah don’t plan on it, if’n we save the farm.”
“I know! I can sell lemonade and the Cutie Mark Crusaders can do a benefit.”
“That’s going a little far, sugar,” Applejack sighed. “We’ll figure something out,” then sighed under her breathe, “Ah’ll make sure of it.”
“Eh-yup.” Big Mac’s confirmation of her promise gave Applejack the courage to smile. Although the stallion was of few words, he knew what to say when.
Applejack helped her brother unharness himself from the apple wagon and put it away. With a sigh, she entered the Apple family’s home.
Inside, she was struck with a sight. Apple Bloom was sproinging, happily chattering to Granny Smith, as the aged mare laughed at her grandfilly’s antics. Upon spying Big Mac, the old grey mare bounded up to her grandstallion.
“There’s a parcel for you, Big Mac,” Granny said, pointing a hoof to a letter in the corner.
“Stuff,” the stallion said, working the seals on the letter. After reading it, the big stallion snorted, “I have to go.”
Applejack had never seen her brother run that fast in her life. He was out the door and hit full gallop, the letter held tight in his mouth.
“What was that about?” Applejack asked Granny.
“I dunno. Have another piece of fritter!”
It was late that night when Big Mac got back to the farmhouse. Granny was sleeping, Applebloom was reading a book over in the corner about a moongoose named Riki. She was practicing reading to younger fillies by reading out loud to Winona, Applejack’s faithful dog. “Wow, can you believe it, Winona? Riki took on that icky snake all by himself! Let’s find out what happens next.”
Applejack counted her bits for the third time. She had barely half of what she needed to pay off the farm’s debts and keep them solvent. She sat back on her haunches and resigned herself to tell her grandmare in the morning, when a sack full of bits the size of four apples high landed in front of her from a toss made by her brother.
“What’s this?”
“Bits,” said the normally taciturn stallion. “Enough for the farm.”
“Where did you get these?” Applejack asked her brother, completely puzzled.
“Books,” he said, trotting over to Apple Bloom. He plucked the book from his youngest sister to a startled complaint from the younger filly. He placed it in front of Applejack on the table. “Look.”
Applejack’s eyes bugged out when she read the name of the author, “‘Riki Tiki Tavi’ by Big McIntosh? When? How? Why?”
“Little foals love stories,” the big stallion spoke, as Apple Bloom stole the book back and settled back down to continue her story. She looked up occasionally, to give her big brother evil looks.
“I know they do, Big Mac,” Applejack rubbed her forehead, pushing a lock out of her eyes.
“Sold four books,” Big Mac snorted, and continued, “there’s bits enough for the farm.”
“And then some. With this, we have the farm completely paid off!” Applejack threw her forelegs around the big stallion’s neck and hugged the stuffing out of him.
“Eh-yup,” he said, and explained, “Ah don’t speak much, but Ah can write. Writtin’s good for readin’. Foals love my words.”
Applejack was smiling as she watched her young sister, Apple Bloom set up to read Big Mac’s book, at the Ponyville library with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle planning to act out the story behind her. The foals, fillies, and colts of all ages, sat enraptured by the antics of the trio.
The young mare sensed, rather than felt or heard their brother, Big Mac come up beside her. “They started?”
“Not yet, Big Mac…” Applejack started to reply when Cheerilee shushed them loudly. The Ponyville teacher was having none of it, while the foals in her charge were present.
“Shall we get started?” Apple Bloom asked, as the twenty or so foals, fillies, and colts, all sat on the haunches almost at once. “That’s better. I kin’t read to you if ya’ll are prancing around like kittens on a hot tin roof, Ah’ll get started.”
Apple Bloom opened the book once everypony had settled down, and started to read.
There once was a very brave moongoose named Riki Tiki Tavi, who saved a family farm. She was a brave moongoose, but sweet and loving to the colt who found her. She fought a small war that even the ponies of the house never knew about. She fought hard and brave, with her friends, Rock and Robin, the red breasted robins, and Squeakers, the fearful, yet very wise house mouse.
There was a flood once, on the old Ore farm. They were a mining family, and Coal Ore had taken his sweet mare’s name. He watched out the window, then turning away, chuckling at how his young colt had his muzzle pressed up against the glass, watching the flood waters recede. They had been caught inside. Their house itself was in no danger, up high on the hill, overlooking their gem mine, but the colt was fascinated by something in the water.
He ran from the window and out the door before his mare, Silver Ore, could catch him with her magic.
Rare Ore followed the flow of the water for a while, trailing a log that was bobbing up and down. What had caught his eye was a poor, half drowned, moongoose. When he was close enough, Rare Ore used his magic to lift the poor soaked creature off the log and onto his back. With careful steps, he retraced his steps back to the main house where his father and mother waited at the door.
“What did you find there, my colt?” Silver Ore chirped, using her magic to lift the moongoose off of her colt’s back.
“I could see it, ma. I had to rescue it.”
“Well, ‘it’ is a she,” Silver Ore replied to her colt as she wrapped the moongoose in a small blanket, and used her magic to gently rub the poor creature. She set it down in a basket by the fireplace before speaking again, “she’s exhausted, but alive. Keep her warm. Let her sleep in your room tonight so you can keep watch on her, and she might make it through the night.”
“Yes, mama,” the little colt sat by the moongoose, slowly breathing his warm breath across her body. If he could have, he would have willed her back to health instantly. He never left her side, even during mealtime. At bedtime, he carefully carried the basket with the poor moongoose up to his room and tucked it against him, snuggling around it. “Please wake up, little moongoose. Don’t die.”
In the morning, Rare Ore woke up to a pressure against his neck. It was warm and made a chittering sound. He carefully moved away and the little moongoose chittered at him. “You’re alive!”
The moongoose, a beautiful golden furred creature, sat up on her haunches and chittered happily at him. He reached out with one hoof to gently pet her and she lunged for his muzzle, pressing hers against his in an appreciative rumble. Rare Ore laughed back and gently cuddled his new friend. “Mama’s got breakfast going. I bet you’re hungry.”
With an appreciative nod from the moongoose, Rare Ore hopped out of his bed and trotted happily to the kitchen, with the little moongoose at his heels.
Rare Ore trotted up to his spot at the kitchen table, where a steaming pile of food awaited him. Fresh apple pancakes with real steaming hot maple syrop, butter, and hard boiled eggs, were just the start of the feast his mother, Silver Ore, had made for the family. He sat beside his cousin, Titanium Ore, just about the biggest stallion he had ever seen, and the little moongoose climbed up Rare Ore, to sit on the table top.
She went from plate to plate, much to the amusement of the ponies sitting at the table, sniffing the various foods. The moongoose found the bowl of hard boiled eggs and, after sniffing them first, grabbed an egg and retreated to sit on the table beside Rare Ore.
“You’re a lucky pony,” Titanium Ore rumbled to his younger cousin, while running his hoof over the colts mane. “Having a moongoose as a friend is very fortunate.”
“Why’s that, Titan,” asked Silver Ore. The unicorn had a twinkle in her eye as her nephew spoke to her son.
“Cause moongooses are blessed of Princess Luna,” Titanium Ore began to explain to the bright eyed colt at his side. “They watch and protect those they choose to take care of during the night, in order to keep away the things that may harm us. Treat her right, and you’ll have a protector for life. As the moon changes in the month, so will your little friend’s fur. See, how it’s silver right now? That’s cause of the full moon coming up.”
“She needs a name, my son,” said Silver Ore. “What are you going to name her?”
The colt paused in thought. “Riki!” he exclaimed, as the moongoose paused, holding the remains of the egg in her forepaws. The moongoose “Riki Tiki Tavi! Cause of the sound she makes with her teeth!”
“Excellent choice, my colt,” Silver Ore, she was proud of her son. Then something caught her eye. The sound of a rattling tail froze the mare’s blood. A rattlesnake had snuck up and was rearing up to strike at her colt. “Rare Ore, don’t you dare move!”
“Awwww… Apple Bloom! We want more!” Several of the foals started to complain.
Apple Bloom smiled as the foals once again settled down. A gallop outside was all that they had needed to be convinced to settle down and behave. The twenty odd foals sat in a semi circle around the Cutie Mark Crusaders as the other two readied to act out the story.
Applejack and Big Mac were joined by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
“What’s the big deal?” Rainbow asked, looking around.
“Isn’t it obvious,” Fluttershy replied, “the foals are going to listen to Apple Bloom read from Big Mac’s book.”
“If’n you’d mind,” Apple Bloom gave a look that would have melted steel to the older ponies. “I’d like to get started, unless you’d care to have a seat with the other little fillies.”
“I’m no braniac,” Rainbow Dash replied as she slid in behind some of the foals, “but a good story is always best when read to.”
Once the foals quieted down again and the other three ponies took their spots, Apple Bloom began again.
The telltale sound of the rattler caught everyone off guard. The metre long death-fang had reared up and was close enough to attack either Titanium or his little cousin, Rare Ore. Not even the big stallion’s hooves could guarantee a strike against the beast in time to save both or either.
Silver Ore whispered to the three males at her table, her voice filled with panic, “Whatever you do, don’t move.”
The rattle became more insistent as the snake weaved back and forth. “Which to ssstrike? Which to ssstrike? Ssstallion or silly colt?”
“I wouldn’t do that!” A chittery voice from on top of the table warned the snake. The moongoose stared down at the rattler, her eyes flashing anger and warning.
“Not do that?” hissed the snake. “I, Misster Hisssster, king of this land, do asss I pleassse!”
“A king? A king? A king does not torment his subjects,” the moongoose chittered back to the serpent, as she wound her way to where she had a better vantage point. “Begone with ye! I haven’t had my breakfast yet!”
“How dare you! Who are you to tell me what I can or can not do!”
“Me?” The moongoose’s whiskers twitched. “Why, I’m Riki Tiki Tavi, and these ponies are mine! Begone or I may have to skelp you! I’d rather not breakfast on raw snake, but for you, I’d make an exception.”
Mister Hisster pondered the thought long enough to choose the better part of valor. He hissed again, turned around, and went slithering outside from whence he came.
With a satisfied snort, Riki followed the snake out, her teeth chattering a warning the entire time.
To the ponies, it seemed as if the world had stopped while the moongoose and snake chittered and hissed at each other, before the snake inexplicably slithered off with Riki on its trail. Coal Ore followed the two to the door, then shut it, a giant sound of relief bubbling from him.
“That was AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Apple Bloom shot the older pony a look and Rainbow Dash settled back down on her haunches in order for the reading to continue.
“See? What did I tell ya!” Titanium Ore chortled. “Moongooses are the best!”
Rare Ore had been levitated to beside his dam, her horn still shimmering in fear and relief. “I wasn’t so sure about that wild animal before, but now... I am.”
There was a noise at the door and Coal Ore opened it. Much to the amusement - and relief of all - Riki bounded inside, spiraled up the table leg, and sat herself down to finish devouring her unfinished breakfast. Her whiskers twitched in confusion as the ponies all broke out in laughter.
“Keep that moongoose with you when you go out, Rare Ore,” said Titanium. “Riki’ll do you right.” He waved his hoof around towards the moongoose even as she grabbed a second egg to eat. “Listen to her chitters. She’ll keep you safe.”
Titanium Ore caught Coal Ore’s eye and nodded. “Looks like we have a rattler on the property,” the older stallion began. “Keep close to the house, Silver, and your broom handy in case you need it. And you, son,” he nodded towards Rare Ore, “do as Titanium says. Keep Riki with yah.”
Silver Ore kept her son within her sight that day and the next two. With a rattler on the loose, there was always the fear that there were more where that one came from. Riki had taken to balancing on Rare Ore’s head, holding onto his mane. From there, she could survey her new domain. This house of ponies were her ponies, and by all that she was, Mister Hisster was not going to interfere with them.
At night, Riki curled up by Rare Ore’s neck on his bed. Only once she was sure he was asleep, would she creep away. She took to prowling the house at night. Silver had spotted her the first night, and left a saucer of milk, a second of water, and small plate of munchies for the moongoose, on the kitchen counter.
Except, Riki wasn’t the only one who was eating the food left out for her. A shadow darted across the moonlit floor one night, and, quick as a flash, Riki was after it.
She rounded the corner and scared the shadow to go back the other way. “I’m going to get you, you filthy thief! No stealing my ponies’ food!”
The shadow skittered to a stop, slamming into the moongoose, causing the cheese the shadow had stolen, the shadow, and the moongoose to tumble end over end until Riki was able to find her feet. Her forepaws held tight the shadow in her hands.
“Let me go! Let me go!” the furry thief squeaked in her arms. “My family needs food.”
“Now why would your family need food,” the moongoose chittered at the rodent, pondering the reasons.
“That snake. That horrid snake!” The rodent’s hysterical voice caused Riki pause. She let go of the rodent and sat on her haunches to listen to it. “That horrid, icky, disgusting snake. Her and her husband! If I go outside, they’ll eat me alive! If two wasn’t bad enough, she’s bound to have eggs soon! Then there’ll be a boon! No one safe! No one! My children! My wife!”
Riki’s eyes had narrowed at the mention of the rattler and his wife, and worse, a potential cluster of newly hatched rattlers. Riki knew she had to do something about it.
Twilight Sparkle had stuck her nose into the school library, because she had heard that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were doing a reading from a newly published book. She also heard that the author was in town for the day and was potentially at the reading. Her curiosity having gotten the better of her, she had trotted down to the school to find out what was up. After all, the Princess of Friendship had to find out what all this commotion was all about.
She rounded the corner and entered the room, then stopped, in shock, just as Apple Bloom, was finishing up.
“Riki knew she had to do something about it,” said the Cutie Mark Crusader.
“More!” Echoed several foals, sitting in a semi-circle in front of Apple Bloom, including one positively excited Element of Loyalty, Rainbow Dash.
“You gotta keep going, Apple Bloom! You just gotta!” Rainbow Dash wrapped her forehooves around a foal and gave the surprised youngster a squeeze. “What does Riki do next?”
“If ya’ll settle down, I’ll keep on going, but first, I think it’s time for a hay break.”
The foals cried various exclamations of joy and ran out for a quick run for ‘hay.’ Twilight’s eyebrow shot skyward, when she saw the author’s table populated by Applejack and, of all people, Big Mcintosh. What drove her curiosity even more was that it was his name that was listed as the author!
“You’re the author, Big Mac?”
“Ehyup.” His bisyllabic replies went straight to the point.
“But when? How? Why did you write these?”
“My brother wrote them because foals love stories, especially of other foals. Riki is just one of multiple books that he’s written, haven’t you, Big Mac?” Applejack questioned the stallion.
“Ehyup.”
“Big Mac?” Twilight’s eyes fluttered. “You have to tell me where you came up with the ideas! ‘Riki’ is just your first one, right? Do you plan on doing others? How many?” ............................ “Ehyup. Ehyup. Many,” Big Mac replied to the overflustered Twilight who had slid right up beside him. Her fluffy wing had slid across his back in a gentle hug. He was slightly taken aback with the attention from the Princess of Friendship, and tried to pull away.
“So, how does this one end?”
“Ye’ll just have to find out fer yerself!” Apple Bloom eyed Twilight up and down. No one was going to be taking advantage of her brother if she had any say of it. She gave Twilight a look that spoke volumes to the Princess, and reluctantly, the alicorn took a half step away from Big Mac. “That’s better. When all the foals are back in from their hay break, I’mma gonna keep on telling the story. It gets better with every reading, don’t it, Big Mac?”
“Ehyup.”
Apple Bloom took her spot back where she had been reading when most of the foals had already returned, and many were settling back down again.
“When ya’ll are ready, I’ll begin again.”
Riki let the poor, frighted house mouse go, then introduced herself. “I’m Riki Tiki Tavi, the moongoose.”
“Squeakers,” the grey coloured mouse repled. “I watched you scare away Mister Hisster. You’re my hero!”
Riki twitched her nose, catching the whiff of the snake on her whiskers. She turned downwind to catch the scent. Mister Hisster was upwind of her and his ugly stench made her whiskers twitch. With a cautious slide, Riki went off in search of the creature who was terrorizing the garden.
“Where are you off to?” Squeakers asked, following the moongoose.
“It just wouldn’t do to allow a set of breeding snakes like those to stay on a farm like this, now would it? Not with that little colt. Did you see his mama’s belly? She’s got another on the way,” Riki chittered, and noticed that the wind had changed direction and the scent she was tracking was gone. “It wouldn’t do at all.”
Riki slinked off into the grass, parting it where she went, trying to get that snake scent again. Instead, she turned back when she saw the ponies heading to the house. It had been a long, hot day stalking the snake. Some loving by her colt would do her good. That night, tucked up against the colt’s chin, she heard the unmistakable sound of scales on the floor. As quiet as she could be, Riki shimmied down the bedpost and into the kitchen. There, Mister Hister was moving in the darkness.
“Get out of my house!” Riki’s teeth chattered.
“Thisss iss my houssse!” The snake hissed, rearing up to strike. The moongoose raised herself on her hind paws and steadied her nerves. This was no time for her to panic.
The snake lunged and the moongoose darted out of the path of the strike. She turned on a paw and struck the snake on the back of his head. Over and over, in the near dark, the two fought, until a victor was triumphant.
Riki spat out the snake’s blood from her mouth as the body of Mister Hisster fell limp to the floor.
“Ohhhh,” Squeakers worried his forepaws as he came forward, “Miss Hiss isn’t going to like this.”
With a smile towards the grey mouse, Riki Tiki Tavi, the moongoose, strolled back to her colt’s bed.
There would be more for Riki to do in the morning.
Twilight Sparkle sighed loudly, her wings fluttering as she sat with her friends. Apple Bloom was about to start another chapter of the story of the moongoose, and Twilight still could not get over the fact that the stallion of few words the author. Big Mac nodded and his little sister started up the story again, much to the joy of all the foals there, and a certain blue coated and rainbow maned pony.
Riki spent the next week getting used to her new home. In the mornings, she’d hop from the nest she made every night on Rare Ore’s pillow, and do a prowl of the ponies’ home before spiralling up a table leg. She was thoroughly enjoying herself in her moongoose glory.
After breakfast, she would follow Rare Ore out into the gardens where he would play. There, not a stone was left unsniffed. Not a single blade of grass left unchecked.
One morning, when Rare Ore was spreading seeds for the chickens, Riki smelled something amiss. There was a snake nearby.
She spiraled down the fencepost Riki had been perched on when the foal suddenly cried out in alarm. In front of Rare Ore, hissing and spitting on the ground, was a tiny brown snake.
Now, most snakes are not poisonous. They may bite, but they did not have any fangs to bite down and make ponies sick. This snake, however, was a brown rust snake, one of the most poisonous snakes in all of Equestria.
“Mom! Dad!” Rare Ore screamed, “help!”
Riki bounced back and forth from one hind foot to another. This was a snake that she would have to be quicker than it or else she’d be the one to pay the price. The moongoose’s teeth chattered and her tail became thick and bushy.
The snake lunged for the foal and Riki howled in indignation as she lept, smacking the snake with a clawed paw. She bounced away, with all of the snake’s attention was on her.
“Rare! What is it?”
“It’s Riki, dad!” the foal spoke in excited tones. The jet black earth pony moved to put himself between the snake and his son, and his cousin, Titanium, plopped the colt on his back. All three ponies watched with wide eyes and Riki and the brown rust snake danced in a battle to the death. If Riki did not strike the snake just right, she would die.
The dance of death spun around the garden, as more of the Ore family came to watch, staying a prancing distance away from the brown rust snake.
When it finally happened, Riki was a blur that the ponies could not follow. Hissing, spitting and teeth chattering, Riki tangled with the brown rust snake and got it in a death spiral, her razor sharp teeth finding the fatal spot at the back of the snake’s neck.
With a shudder, the snake went limp. Riki held on until she was sure the snake was dead.
She dropped the snake, and grabbed it by it’s tail, dragging it away.
“Did you see that, ‘tanium? She killed it dead!” the little colt cheered.
“That’s sure one ornery varmint, that moongoose. I think you brought in some very good luck when you found her, Rare Ore,” Titanium smoothed down the colt’s mane with a hoof before letting him down off his back.
“I reckon you best tell your ma to make sure there’s an extra heaping of food for that moongoose ‘a yours, son.”
Apple Bloom sat again with a semi circle of foals, fillies and colts as she continued her brother’s story.
Riki Tiki Tavi spent her days prowling the Ore family’s farm. The small critters that made that place her home had become her friends, and no other snake dared to slither upon the land. Word had gotten out that a moongoose roamed the farm and the critters that lived there were very thankful for Riki’s vigilance. They had sugar beets, and sweet berries always available for her, whenever she was hungry. A moongoose uses a lot of energy in her patrols, so she was always hungry, and always thankful that the critters of the farm took care of her in their own way.
What’s more, they were her eyes and ears. They told her when Miss Hiss was about. No one on the farm had been attacked in ages, but Riki knew that the snake would be getting heavy with eggs soon.
Snake eggs. Riki licked her long snout at the thought of fresh snake eggs. Those were a delicacy for moongooses, and something she had not had in a long while.
A blue crested robin landed on a small branch near where Riki laid, catching some afternoon sun on her soft belly.
“Riki!” Rock, the robin, screeched, “Miss Hiss got Squeakers! And his wife! And the babies!”
With a start, Riki was on her four paws and darted up to Rock just as his wife Robin landed. “It’s true!” She lamented. “We saw her swallow Squeakers at the far end of the farm. Oh, Squeakers! And Squeakie! All those cubs! The horror.”
Riki’s eyes narrowed. “That was the last straw. Miss Hiss is going to go away.”
“But what about the eggs, Riki?” Robin chirped and cried. “She was no longer egg heavy. She was fast. And hungry.”
Riki knew that laying eggs took a lot out of snakes. Squeakers and his family had been sacrificed by the snake in order to replenish her reserves. Riki also knew that a small meal of mice wouldn’t do for that snake.
“I have a plan. You have to trust me. Do you know where her lair is?”
“Yes,” Rock answered, confident. “Just outside of the fence line by the old oak tree. That way!” He rose up and pointed with his beak, flying off for a bit towards the old oak before turning back to glide and land beside his wife.
“What I need you to do, Rock, is to be a spotter for me. Robin, can you pretend you’ve broken your wing? A bird who can’t fly is an easy target for Miss Hiss.”
“What do you plan on doing?” Rock tilted his head even as his wife nodded in agreement.
“She’s gonna use me as bait to get Miss Hiss out in the open.”
“You’re my diversion, and I need her kept busy.” Riki’s teeth chattered as she explained her plan. “Make all the racket you can, and fly away when she gets too close. I am going to deal with her nest.”
“Do you really think that this foals need to be read a story about death and destruction?” The mare of one of the foals asked Big Mac while tapping her hoof on the table in front of him.
“Yes, ma’am,” he replied, and opened his mouth to continue when his sister Apple Jack stepped up.
“Ma’am, no offence, but if we coddle the foals, they’ll never learn to jump on their own,” the orange coated, yellow maned filly spoke in careful tones. “If’n they never learn to trot on their own, they’ll never want to gallop.”
The mare snorted, turned and trotted away to another part of the library.
“That was very wise of you,” Twilight Sparkle spoke to her friend.
“Ain’t it the truth? If the foals don’t learn to trot on their own, they’ll never want to gallop. Granny Smith taught us that.”
“If’n you mind, Ah’d like to get back to mah story!” Apple Bloom’s voice cut through the conversation, and the three older ponies all blushed.
Riki heard the commotion the next morning and saw Rock, the robin, circling the sky, making a cacophony. “My wife! My wife! Robin has broken her wing!”
With Miss Hiss occupied, Riki took off to the old oak tree. She found it, and used her nose to guide her to the snake’s lair. She disappeared down into the dark hole, her tail twitching until it too was out of sight.
“My wing! My poor wing! That rotten pony used his slingshot and hit my wing! Oh, my babies!” Robin circled on the ground, hopping and dragging her left wing. “What issss thisss?” Miss Hiss slithered into view, and Robin hopped back. “A bird with a broken wing? Delissssiousssss.” Her tongue flickered out of her mouth as she rose to strike.
With a flash of feathers, Rock dived bombed for Miss Hiss’ head. He struck her right behind her eyes and took off for the sky again, as Robin bounced further away.
Miss Hiss screeched in anger, and lunged for a strike. Robin bounced up and took to the air, joining her husband. The two robins took off for the sky.
Miss Hiss snarled and flicked her tongue. With a snort, she turned around and slithered away, back towards the old oak.
The snake paused at the entrance of her lair. She flickered her tongue and darted into it, with a horrified look on her face. She resurfaced a moment later, and looked up the tree. “Moongoossse! How dare you! You killed my babiesssss!”
“Aye,” the moongoose replied, her teeth chattering, as she leaned on the last remaining egg. “I’m saving this one for my dinner tonight.”
“You dare!” Miss Hiss began to climb the tree, but the moongoose was far too fast. Riki grabbed the still leathery egg in her mouth, and bounced from branch to branch, hitting the ground running.
Riki could hear the raucous complaints from the snake behind her as she ran for an open area. She wanted an area where none of the other animals would be in danger, in order to deal with the snake.
“I am queen of thisss land! The animalssss live or die by my will!” Miss Hiss screeched. “Even the ponies!”
In a clearing, Riki finally turned to face the beast bearing down on her. “Not today,” her teeth chattered. “No more fear! Your death is near!”
“Isss it?” Miss Hiss hissed, rearing up. Riki rolled the egg behind her, her muscles tensed and her whiskers twitched.
“Never again!” Riki caterwauled and lept out of Miss Hiss’ death strike. Her jaws hit the ground hard, a fang breaking on a rock. Her venom dripped out and her anger rose higher. She screamed in agony as the moongoose found purchase on the snake’s back. With a hiss of warning, Riki jumped away from the snake in time to avoid another poisoned strike. “You dare?” Miss Hiss screeched.
“I dare. Your reign terror of this farm is at an end. You are meat to be wasted. Your children are all dead, all but one,” Riki taunted. She continued, with her teeth chattering, “and that one will be my dessert tonight!”
Miss Hiss reared up and tried another strike that Riki avoided by jumping straight up and landing on the snake’s head. The moongoose bit down on the back of the snake’s head, and held on even as Miss Hiss Thrashed. Riki dug in, and bit down harder.
“Get off! You fiend!” Miss Hiss ranted even as Riki was certain she had grabbed the right spot.
Several of the critters of the farm had come out to watch the battle royal and cheered Riki on as she kept her death grip. Miss Hiss thrashed and rolled into the long grasses, dragging Riki with her.
Leaves flew into the air. A small nest of buzzy buzzes took off buzzing. The critters were able to trace where the fight is by watching the long grasses move as the two combatants fought for life and death.
Then, the grass was still.
“Did Riki do it?” A colt in the front row bounced up and down.
“She had to!” A fillie blerted out, with others joining it.
“Settle down, foals. Ah can’t finish if yer jumping more than a pack of Mexicolt jumping beans,” Apple Bloom interjected. She eyed the foals, fillies and colts, and waited patiently until they all settled back on their haunches.
The sea of grass parted, and a paw came forward. Then a nose, and finally, a long, but exhausted, moongoose body slinked out of the grass. “It is done,” she said, and gathered up the last remaining egg. Disgusted at finding a hole in the egg, Riki tore it apart, letting the inner goo spill on the ground.
Exhausted, Riki collapsed on the ground. Surrounded by her friends, they stayed with her until a young colt came trotting up.
“Riki!” Rare Ore exclaimed happily, “where have you been? Mother has been calling us for supper.” With a gentle hoof, Rare Ore put Riki on his back, and happily trotted back to the farmhouse for his supper.
“Ah do declare, that was a most surpising thing I found today,” Coal Ore lifted his hat and smiled at his son. “I found a snake with it’s neck bit nearly clear through. Ah’m thinking that that moongoose of yours did away with our snake problem.”
“That… was AWESOME!” Rainbow Dash bounced up into the air, doing a barrel roll over the head of the foals there in the library.
“So, Big Mac, do you have any other stories in that brain of yours?”