OPP Side Story: Fluttershy Gets Meat · 3:38am Feb 18th, 2015
OPP Side Story: Fluttershy Gets Meat
A huge thanks to my pre-readers: MSPiper, metallusionismagic, and AShadowOfCygnus. Give them some love, eh?
Obviously, this particular chapter touches upon a subject often broached in HiE fics. While I'm not going to pontificate (I have other blog posts for that), I'll just say that of all the mane 6, Fluttershy's going to be the most comfortable around omnivores, carnivores, and scavengers. That's not my opinion; that's canon.
Robins and red-winged blackbirds have grubs as a normal part of their diet. Ordinarily cardinals don't, but when they're nesting, they do. All three birds are native to Michigan (not that that's relevant to the story). For whatever reason, red-winged blackbirds like to perch on highway mile markers.
Red-winged blackbirds aren't above hitching a ride when it's offered.
A cougar, or puma to use the term preferred by scientists, has the distinction of having the most names of any animal in the world. It's called over 40 different things just in English; in Michigan it's generally called a mountain lion.
It's also the largest of the small cats. I'd like to think this means that you could breed a domestic cat with a cougar and get something big but friendly and fluffy. Maybe it is possible—I want all of you mad-scientist types to get right on that.
some of her sparrows would harass hawks whenever they saw them
Mobbing is a behavior that many prey (or smaller predator) animals have. I've heard that bottlenose dolphins will bludgeon sharks to death if they can.
Sometimes it sucks to be a predator.
Lleó Àguila is Catalan for eagle lion. I had also considered naming him for a famous general, since some of them had really cool nicknames, but nothing really caught my fancy.
As one of my pre-readers correctly pointed out, only mammals have proper eyebrows. However, it's canon the Gilda and other griffons do (and they're half-mammal, anyways). That having been said, IRL birds don't have eyebrows.
Not in the most technical sense of the term, anyway.
Molasses is said to help cramps, most likely because of the magnesium and potassium in it. For what it's worth, I used to put molasses on my pancakes.
Rice paper is a very thin paper which is also used in some types of cuisine. As for printing secret messages on it, that's actually kind of silly. Ordinary paper would work just as well, and could be eaten if the need arose. Still, sometimes clandestine organizations are too paranoid for their own good.
Oops, forgot to include the picture of Gilda and her eyebrows.
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I don't even.
~Leonzilla
Lion #rekt
Did I, uh, miss the story?
2806760
It's an Onto the Pony Planet side story. If you clicked on the blog within a few minutes of publication, you won't have seen the new chapter notification.
2806769
Ah, so it is.
You know, I always wondered what happened to Fluttershy after that incident. I just assumed she banished herself.
2806775
She's pretty tenacious when it comes to taking care of animals who need help (and Dale and Kate fall under that umbrella). I think the episode with the phoenix was proof of that.
Cougars are thought by some scientists to be kin to cheetahs. They are powerful jumpers and notably shy of Man (probably because we hunted them almost to extirpation in the United States of America. They will sometimes attack humans, including as prey, but usually would rather avoid us. I once saw one outside my window in an alley at around 3 am -- it was a young one, probably a male dispersing to find a new territory. It looked kinda scared.
Everything about the interaction between Fluttershy and the Griffons was funny, including the way she was scared of them at first and eventually had them more or less liking her, and the fact that the officer was a spy. And the fact that he appreciated her molasses remedy.
Been done. You want the Ashera, a Fhuge hypo-allergenic cat that's 30 pounds! There's also the Savannah cat, which is a cross between the domestic cat and the desert serval.
2806733
)
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(I couldn't help myself; I've been waiting to post that as a response
2806800
I'll take it!
2806803
Never seen a mountain lion in the wild--not yet, anyway. Probably just as well. I have had foxes in my yard, though, and I've got feral cats...
2806821
I'm so glad that science hasn't let me down.
2806880
Given recent trading rates, I'd say that's about right. I used to joke about my brother's worthless Canadian currency, but then it unexpectedly became worth more than American money....
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/37540750/_ponies/fluttershy%20fish.png
One reason I could see they'd rather use rice paper is that its easier to eat. They probably had too many complaints from agents who couldn't swallow their words.
--Sollace
Or use ink that washes off? Ink tastes terrible usually...
Those dolphins will kill each other too, and rape. They're actually pretty mean.
2806917
I thought about leading off with that pic. I really did.
2806992
It would be easier, yes, but in the case of short messages, I don't think it would make much difference, especially if you used thin paper.
I see what you did there.
2807097
It's not so bad when it's dried on paper, but right out of the tube (or inkwell, I suppose), it's pretty bitter.
2807118
Yeah, they're not as nice as some people imagine. Of course, the same can be said of many wild animals.
You hear mountain lions more often than you see them. I've never seen one, and only heard one twice. It's a pretty unforgettable scream.
2809676
The same could very much be said of people.
And, just as with people, the experience you have with a wild animal depends entirely on the individual animal you end up encountering. Could be shy, could be aggressive, could even be friendly if it's been socialised long enough.
2809662
Rice paper has a long tradition in spy novels. I think the idea might be that it's easier to chew, and will at least partially dissolve in your mouth, which makes it even harder to recover if someone’s started working on destroying it.
It was described as being diverted from the kitchen supplies, so I'm picturing something like the “paper” used to make Vietnamese summer rolls—that stuff will turn from a flat sheet into an undifferentiated mound of goo in about thirty seconds if you get it wet.
2809669
Maybe soy-based ink would go well with rice paper…
2806874
I am somewhat surprised. I read somewhere that domestic cats hybridize easily with the original wild stock (still common in the wild in the Old World), but that the offspring are untamable: they're very friendly as young kittens, but once they’re old enough, they get bored with people and walk out, and unlike domestic cats, they never come back.
OTOH, pure leopards are supposed to be domesticatable, so who knows.
ETA: oh, also cheetahs, which are apparent tameable taken straight out of the wild as adults, which is more than you can say for a lot of feral housecats, frankly…
Ok that and the relevant picture is going to leave me reeling for a while.
2806722 And don't forget that MLP griffons have teeth beneath their beak. (real birds don't)
Love your picture of the redwing blackbird. "surf's up, dude!"
3798028
In my headcanon, they don't. Eagle beaks are cool enough without putting teeth in them.
One of the best bird pictures ever. It's right up there with the eagle holding the knife.
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3802027
YES!! I can see him staring in the action movie, "Rambird: First Talon!"
3802065
I would watch the hell out of that movie.
Also related:
i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/05/10/article-0-1304EA9E000005DC-378_964x711.jpg
Moral: Don't fuck with eagles.
Definitely from "Rambird: First Talon Part II"
How about ponetificate?
5658439
I could do that, yeah.
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