I woke up the next morning to Yomega pushing me off of Fluttershy’s couch. “The fug…?” I looked up at him through blurry eyes. “The hell was tha’ for?”
Zann hobble over to me, pushing a small bowl of berries. Yomega jumped down beside me and, with Zann’s help, started cramming berries down my throat. “No time for you to wake up! The others are already in the edge of the Everfree!”
“The- Hell- Is-” I pushed them away, swallowing the berry mush. “Give me some room! What the hell is going on?”
Zann pushed the berries closer to me as Yomega looked towards the door. “Long story short: Fluttershy’s gone to get Twilight to try and figure out what we are.”
I promptly face planted into the bowl. If I wasn’t awake before, I was now. I find that the only thing more effective then caffeine is adrenaline. None of us want to be stuck as the unlucky Eevee that Twilight would experiment on.
“I stayed behind to wake you up and help Zann get out. Like I said, the others are waiting for us at the edge of the Everfree.” Yomega continued. “Hurry up and eat-”
All of our ears swiveled to the front door. We could faintly hear a pair of ponies on the other side. “No time!” I yelled, pushing the bowl over as we ran for the back door. Yomega and I managed to push it open by the time Zann got to it. I turned to lead the retreat when I came face to face with Angel.
“What’s the hold up?” Zann yelled behind me.
“A-Angel, h-hi!” I backed up a step.
“Just charge him and go!” Zann ordered.
“Won’t work,” Yomega interrupted, “He’s a fighting type, and faster than we are.”
Angel nodded, pointing over our heads with a carrot. He led us back to the main room just as Fluttershy opened her front door. “Well, like I said, they mentioned that they get stronger through fighting, but I don’t see how that has to do with hydras.”
“Because, Hydra’s have incredible regenerative properties,” Twilight followed the timid mare inside, “and nopony has ever seen a baby hydra before. Biologists believe they are lain in large clutches so that the strongest will reach adulthood. Maybe we’ve stumbled upon hydra young!”
“Twilight, I don’t think hydras are canines.” Fluttershy deadpanned. She looked into her living room to find us sitting in a row in front of Angel. “I think Angel could only round up those three. I can ask him to help me find the rest for you, if you want.”
A grin spread across Twilight’s face, sending shivers down my spine. “No, no. Those three will be perfect!” She turned to the pegasus, the smile dying down. “I might have to keep these three for a few days while I run some tests. Is there anything I should know?”
Fluttershy looked us over, ignoring our pouts. “Well, they eat berries almost exclusively, but I think they can eat fish if I’m judging their teeth right. The one missing his leg is called Zann, the grey one is called Yomega, and the last one’s Leo. Or at least, that’s what they call each other.” She looked from us to Twilight and back. “Oh they look so frightened, they must not like being separated from the rest of their pack. I’ll go look for the rest and keep them calm.”
Twilight turned to leave, calling to use as she did. “Okay, then. Zann, Yomega, Leo, please follow me.”
We had no choice but to do so. Not with Angel just waiting for an excuse to drop kick us. Twilight picked up Zann and placed him on her back once she saw him falling behind. I slowly dropped back past Yomega. After we crossed the bridge leading into town, I made my move. I bolted off towards the forest. “Hey, get back here!” Twilight shouted after me.
<<You don’t have enough badges to train me!>> I yelled back. I had just about reached the tree line when I felt myself leave the ground. I could see the pink tinged trees getting farther from me. I still tried to run, flailing my legs for all they were worth. <<No! Curse you, psychic types!>>
Finally, I was turned so that I was face to face with the purple menace herself. “Somehow, I just know you’re going to be trouble.” She muttered to me. She continued to head towards her library home, Zann on her back, Yomega following behind, and with me floating in her magical grasp.
<<And that’s why I wanted to leave before she got to us.>> Yomega stated.
<<Told ya we should’ve just left him.>> Zann groused.
I glared at him. <<Traitor.>> Zann froze on Twilight’s back.
Twilight didn’t let me go until we had reached her basement and she had closed the door. I gave a pleading look to Spike before we left his sight. The jerk just shook his head.
Twilight put me on the floor beside Yomega, before removing Zann from her back. He walked up to me with stiff legs. <<What did you do to me?>> he growled out.<<I can barely move!>>
<<I think I may have used Glare by accident.>> I apologized.
<<Impossible, Eevees can’t learn that move.>> Yomega said, tilting his head.
<<And yet, Zann’s almost paralyzed.>> I pointed at the Eevee in question, then saw Twilight turn back to us with three large needles held by her aura. <<Oh, hell no!>> I backed away from the group, before turning and running under a table.
Yomega tried to run once he noticed the needles’ shadows, but Twilight grabbed him and held him down. One needle flew down, and pierced his rear end. Another did the same to Zann. Once the needles were full, she let them go, placing the needles on the counter behind her.
“Now, where did Leo go?” Twilight sing-songed, as if she was playing hide and seek with a foal. I saw the edges of the table become encased by her aura, before it was lifted away from me. “There you are!”
The world blurred as I darted under another table. Zann looked at Yomega as Twilight placed the first table down. <<What’s his problem? It’s just a needle.>>
Yomega face-pawed as I burred into a new hiding place. <<Leo hates needles.>>
Unfortunately, Twilight wised up quickly. She levitated tables, chairs, and anything I could hide under or in, until she had me left out in the open. I just started burring around the room. “Oh, just hold still!”
My ‘rampage’ ended when Yomega Quick Attacked me. Then, something that looked like flying stars smashed into my side.
<<That’s for the Glare, you asshole!>> Zann shouted as I felt the needle prick my backside.
“Finally.” Twilight muttered as she brought my needle over to the others. She left us largely alone after that, only giving us any attention to gather more samples from us. Thankfully, she kept it to fur.
We got bored very quickly. After scrapping with the others for a few minutes, I decided to see just what Twilight was up to. I pushed a stool over the counter she was working at, using it to reach the counter top. There, she had the needles labelled with our names (I had to take a guess at that, Equish writing just looked like fancy squiggles) and had placed everything to do with each of us on separate trays. Currently, she was looking at three reels of parchment next to some sort of machine, muttering something about something “not making sense”.
My ears turned to the basement door as I heard the handle wiggling. I jumped down and joined the others at the base of the stairs as the door opened. Spike came in, closing the door behind him, carrying a tray. Once we smelled the berries, our stomachs growled as one. We forced Spike to dance around us as we each tried to use him to leverage ourselves up to get at the food.
“Okay, okay, give me some room!” He moved over to a table. “You guys are kinda lucky I decided to ask Fluttershy what you guys eat. It looks like Twilight forgot.” Shaking his head, he moved a pair of plates, a coffee pot and a mug off the tray. He turned back to us balancing three bowls. “Okay, now, sit still so I don’t spill these.” Each of us froze. Zann had it easier, though. He placed the bowls down in front of us, one bowl each. We still didn’t move even after he stood up.
“Um, okay…” He scratched the back of his neck. “You guys can eat now.”
Que the berry massacre. We were just licking up the last of the juices when the smell of caffeine finally drew Twilight from her work.
“Oh, thanks for the lunch, Spike.” She picked up a sandwich.
“It’s seven.”
She paused mid-bite. “Oh. I got carried away again, didn’t I?”
We all nodded. Twilight jumped when the bowl clattered off of Zann’s head. Shaking her head, she continued eating. “I kinda wished you had waited on feeding them until I could watch. I wanted to see if there was anything they avoided.”
“Well,” Spike rubbed his chin, “The grey one just ate everything, but the one with three legs ate all the jalapeno berries first, and the other one ate the frost grapes first.”
<<That’s what those were?>> Zann and I chorused.
“Great.” Twilight groaned out. “That matches everything else I’ve found out. Did you know that their DNA matches no other animal on Equis! Hay, it doesn't seem to want to match each other!” She swung a foreleg out to the side. “It’s like Celestia just decided that the world needed these small dog-shaped mysteries just to annoy me! And it gets better!” She brought her hoof down onto the table. “Their DNA seemed to slightly change each time I ran it through the Analyzer in some subtle way! And it’s not just their DNA that’s vexing me!” She glared at me. “That one, Leo, kept running around the lab before I could get a blood sample from him!”
Spike shrugged. “So why didn’t you use your magic?”
“I TRIED!” Twilight threw her hooves into the air. “He, and the grey one Yomega, can run at speeds that would make Rainbow Dash blush. And while they're moving that fast, my magic can’t seem to get a grip on them. And then that one, Zann,” She jabbed a hoof at the Eevee in question, “can just shoot stars from his mouth apparently!!” She slumped forward onto the table beside her half eaten sandwich. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to figure these things out. I don’t even know what they’re called.”
“Well, what did Fluttershy call them?” Spike asked.
<<Eevee.>> Yomega supplied.
“She didn’t.” Twilight sighed. “Or at least, she couldn’t understand what they were calling themselves.”
<<Ee~vee.>> Yomega and I stressed.
“If I just knew what to call them, I could start compiling my notes, have something to start from.”
<<Eevee!>> The three Eevees shouted out.
“Oh, shut it…” Twilight flicked her tail at us.
Spike leaned back in his chair. We could see the thoughts forming from the look on his face. “Well, every sound they make is some variation of ‘eevee’…” He mused. “Why not call them that?”
“I-” Twilight mulled the thought over. “That could work. From now on, we’ll call them Eevees. Thanks for that, Spike. I’m mark them down as Canis Eevee in my notes, that way, if we find more species of Eevees, we have somewhere to start from. Now, I need to do some more work down here, could you look after them upstairs? If they get tired, let them sleep on my bed.” She shot a glare at me. “And make sure the doors and windows are closed and locked!”