//------------------------------//
// Preparations 
// Story: A War 
// by Comma Typer 
//------------------------------//

Once again, it was night. Dark was Ponyville right now, touched by the lights of its homes and stores. The rivers continued to rush around trees, under the bridges.
As Fluttershy walked her way to Sugarcube Corner, she looked up and caught a glimpse of more construction ponies at work on the bakery's rooftops.
Scaffolding around the top floor which looked like a cupcake on the outside.
Fluttershy continued on inside.
The interior had remained intact. The floor was still blue-green, the walls were still yellow, the smell was still sweet and was still enough to bring ponies to the counters, for there were still ponies lining up there, waiting for their turn to get a cake or a pie or a puff or some other sugary pastry.
One new thing: loaves of bread were on display, too, under the counter, for the price of "One bit, two loaves" as written on the price tag.
Mr. Cake and Mrs. Cake were busy with handling orders, one of them whizzing into the kitchen to whip up new batches of baked goods while the other did the talking and order-taking. At times, they would switch roles. Now, it was Mrs. Cake who was at the counter and Mr. Cake in the kitchen, appearing for a few moments to restock a flavor of cake before trotting back in.
Diners ate at their tables, having exquisite desserts such as chocolate cake, apple pie, blueberry tart, and cream bagel. Over their food, they chatted, their smiles sometimes turning into frowns and pouts as their conversations steered away from small talk.
At a table by one of the windows, Yearling waved at Fluttershy.
She gasped and trotted her way to the table.
Sat down.
On this table, two plates of apple pie.
Fluttershy glanced at the rest of the ponies there. "Oh, wh-why did we have to talk over here? This place has lots of ponies and...I'm not sure i-if you've noticed but..."
"You're shy," Yearling said, slicing her apple pie with a knife. "That's alright. I'm not going to force you to talk."
Fluttershy looked out the window, seeing the dark streets and the ponies who walked under the lights. "Y-You...aren't you that famous author with the adventurous adventurer?"
"Yes," she answered, slicing another slice. "The one and only, I guess."
"But, I-I'm not a fan of your books. I don't even know the names of your books."
"'Daring Do', and now you know."
Fluttershy smiled a little. "I feel like I should recognize th-that, but...nevermind." She shook her head.
"It's OK. I don't want to talk about my books, anyway."
Fluttershy raised a suspicious brow. "Then, what do you want to talk about?"
"You brought the book with you?" Yearling asked, eyeing her saddle bag.
"What book—oh!"
Fluttershy opened her bag and brought out the book.
It was an average-sized book. It was not dusty nor did it have any tears. On the cover were the words: "Rivers and Streams by Semi Classic".
"It's a weird book," Fluttershy said. "Judging from the title, I thought it was about sea life. Then, it had nothing about animals at all." A pause; opened the book.
Yearling ate one of her slices.
"It's about unicorn magic that could change time....I think. I didn't read through the whole book."
"I don't think you would want to read the whole book," Yearling said, placing a hoof there.
Fluttershy gasped. "Why? Am I holding one of the last copies and you want it? Oh, I'm sorry, Y-Yearling! Here—" held it to her "—t-take it!"
Yearling shook her head and her hoof. "It's not that, although it is an uncommon book."
Sighed and ate another apple pie slice.
"You could read it. I'm fine with it. But, what I'm concerned of is...who else wants the book."
"Are there collectors out there?" Fluttershy asked. "We could, uh, gift it to them! I don't really like the book, although I don't mind keeping it...to pass the time."
Yearling scratched her chin. "Well, I think there's a collector. But, I'm sure she's not entirely good."
Fluttershy gasped again. "Do you mean that she's...she would do anything to get the book?"
"Not the book," Yearling said, "but, who has the book."
Fluttershy screamed and smashed her face against her pie.
Everyone in the bakery looked at her.
She slowly rose, her face covered in crispy crust and apple filling.
Yearling stood up and patted her on her shoulder.
Whispered to her ear: "Fluttershy, just watch out for a cloaked pony. She may be on to something. If you see her, I'll be in Canterlot."
Yearling flew out.
Fluttershy looked out the window.
Then, at the crowd.
Who was looking at her pie-filled face.
She screamed. "No! Please! Don't laugh at me!"
"Uh, no, ma'am," an aproned Mr. Cake said, walking up to her with a towel. "We just want to clean your face up. That's all."



The clinic looked much like many of the cottages here in Ponyville, but it had a few differences. It was on a raised stone platform of sorts, had a fence around it, and contained a sign on which was carved out holes that looked like a dog's paw.
There were two food bowls and two water bowls near the door.
It had a peephole on it.
Fluttershy walked up to the door and knocked on it, standing on a heart-shaped rug and under a lightbulb.
Waited.
"Fluttershy?" a female voice from the inside asked. "Oh, it's great to see you! Just in time, too!"
She smiled.
The door opened, showing a yellow Earth pony in white coat. A yellow woodpecker was perched on her blue mane, one of his legs patched up with a cloth.
"Edward!" Fluttershy said, holding the woodpecker closer to her with a hoof. "Did Doctor Fauna treat you well?"
Edward flew and perched on Fluttershy's mane, pecked the air.
Fauna smiled. "It's been a pleasure helping your animals out, Fluttershy, even though it's quite unusual to see a pegasus have such an interest in pets."
Fluttershy smiled back. "It all started with a race and a sonic rainboom..."
"I'm sorry, Fluttershy," Fauna spoke up, eyes uneasy, "but I can't really stay to listen! I've got lots of packing up to do."
"Packing?" She leaned in forward. "What for?"
"You probably didn't hear beacuse you always sleep up in Cloudsdale, but trouble is that there've been reports of robbery going on lately. Some say it's the Crystal ponies, others say it's the extremists. It doesn't matter who they are—I'm not going to be a sitting duck!"
A duck waddled into view from inside.
"Stay inside!" Fauna ordered, jittery.
The duck waddled back inside.
"I'm moving down to Perlino," she said. "That place has lots of animals and lots of pets, too. I wish it didn't have to come to this, but I'm not going to let them steal my stuff!"
Fluttershy took a step back, almost cowering. "But, what about your f-friends here in Ponyville?"
"I'll send them letters. I'll send you letters, too, to tell you how I'm doing."
"Wh-What about staying here?" Fluttershy said. "Sh-Shouldn't you be—"
"Sorry to say this, Fluttershy, but that's none of your business," Fauna said, a little frown on her face. "As much as I want to stay here in my home where I was born and grew up in...desperate times, Fluttershy."
She whimpered.
"And, if you were living in Ponyville, you would consider moving out, too. This town's not the most well-protected of places. Doesn't have a wall, has few guards, and we're woefully undertrained—I've been asking Mayor Mare to continue the program and she's been trying, but there's been shortages of soldiers willing to help us. They're all busy there." A pause and another sigh. "The only thing that's keeping all of us from moving out is that we're near Canterlot; several guards could swoop in within a minute. And, of course, the Princesses are there, too, but...Princess Celestia is out almost half of the time and Princess Luna's not really here during the night—because, you know, dream world."
Fluttershy nodded. "I...I understand, Doctor Fauna."
Looked back.
Fauna holding her, keeping her back.
"Fluttershy...I just want to say...thank you for being here." A pause, a look down. "You m-might as well be my last customer before I go."
Fluttershy examined her face. Trembling lips.	
"So, here's something."
Fauna pulled out a photo.
Fluttershy held it with her hoof.
A picture of the two of them smiling at the camera with several happy animals gracing the image.
The two hugged each other.
They let go.
"Hopefully, I'll pay Ponyville a vist when I have the time," Fauna said.
"I'm not sure i-if I'll still even be here," Fluttershy replied. "B-But...I'll try."
The pegasus walked away.
The two waved.
"Bye!" Fauna yelled.
Then, Fluttershy turned a corner and was nowhere to be seen.
In the dark.
Fauna sighed. Her ears drooped.
She walked back inside.



The sun dawned, turning the whole sky into a bright pink and then an overarching blue. Its warmth filled Ponyville, completing the transition to morning, to another cool and windy day.
Another yellow pegasus walked up to the clinic.
Went to its door, raised her hoof to knock.
"Huh? What's this?"
She read the note posted on the door.
"'To everypony.
"'I'm sorry for leaving on such a short notice, but I couldn't stand sleeping here while knowing that somepony keeps robbing us of our things. This is why I'm not here. If you want to visit me, I'm living in Perlino which should take two to three hours by train. I told Mayor Mare about this and she's fine with it.
"'From your former Ponyville veterinarian,
"'Doctor Fauna.'"
The pegasus let go of the note.
Silent, staring at it.



"Yes, that's what happened," Cheerilee said as she and the pegasus sat at a table in the park.
The park was a normal-looking one. Browning grass, dying trees. Dirt paths, wooden benches, short bridges, long rivers, and a fountain. A few ponies went around in the park, giving it quite a normal feel as they stepped on dry leaves and crunched them up,
There was the fresh air, too.
"She told me herself," Cheerilee went on. "I don't want to view her as disloyal, but...you would think that she'd considered defending Ponyville since she was an Earth pony. She could punch and kick and brawl to the last pony. But, that didn't happen, Strawberry Sunrise."
Strawberry grabbed a strawberry from the strawberry bowl on the table and ate one. "At least I was able to get to her in time when I got the orthos."
That unique dog rolled around on the grass, his two heads lolling up their two tongues.
"I still can't wrap my head around Fluttershy, of all ponies, teaching a vet how to tame that," Cheerilee commented.
"I know," Sunrise replied. "She's a pegasus." Scrunched up her face and wondered. "Well, you're not looking at me funny because my talent's about growing strawberries."
"But, I understand that," Cheerilee said, grabbing a strawberry from the bowl and eating one, also. "You can control the weather. You can rain on your fields. Animals, on the other hoof..."
"She's good at it," Sunrise remarked, "so there's that. Plus, it's her talent."
"A pegasus destined to be one? Then again, you never know if you don't have your cutie mark."
"True."
The two sat there, silent, eating strawberries.
"In my class," Cheerilee started, gesturing around with a strawberry on her hoof, "there were the usual names colts and fillies memorize when you get to the military subject. General Lance Two, Admiral Clipper, Wave Quiet, Firebase, Hit Run—to name a few."
A pause.
"If you were famous enough to get into a school textbook, it usually meant that you've done something good and honorable for Equestria in your way. The more rowdy ones and the more stalwart ones—I can't tell at times—they want to enlist as soon as they get old enough. I even heard Scootaloo say that the age should be set lower so they could accommodate her."
Sunrise let out a gasp. "That's terrible! An innocent filly like her?"
"She puts Rainbow Dash on a pedestal so high...and, I'm not sure if she's even a good role model to begin with. I don't deny that she's been a great hero to Equestria, but her attitude isn't exemplary, to say the least."
She ate her strawberry.
"Cocky, arrogant, boastful, proud, mean, inconsiderate."
Sunrise smirked. "I would like to see you say those words straight to her."
"Not likely."
The two laughed.
Winded down.
A little while.
More strawberries gone.
The park was then empty, those two the only ones left.
"My students...or, some of them...they have no idea what they're getting themselves into if they become soldiers."
"You've told them the dangers, right? Because, you're a teacher."
"I've said all I could say," Cheerilee replied, a frown growing. "That's not stopping them. I have to tell them everything, and that means both the bad and the good of war. They have to remember the list of medals and honors a soldier could attain, the most successful operations and maneuvers during each war including this one—so far—and the stories of heroes other than Rainbow Dash. I have to give them an open mind, a neutral outlook on everything."
Sighed.
"That's what they say when it comes to teaching them how to think for themselves, but...what happens when you know...you know you could've prevented that pony from falling by the wayside but you can't because we have to let him think for himself, too, and he thinks that it's the reasonable, rational, logical outcome of all he's been taught?"
"Punish them?" Sunrise asked. Shrugged and ate another strawberry.
Cheerilee grunted, gave her a mean look.
"Uh, set some principles?"
"Somepony's going to ask about those principles," Cheerilee said. "And then they'll ask, and ask, and ask. I get it that foals are curious and we shouldn't stifle them, but—"
"Self-evidence?" Sunrise suggested.
Cheerilee was taken aback. "Since when did you get a refresher on philosophy?"
"You think I just grow strawberries and don't do anything else?" Sunrise said, giving her a sour expression. She crossed her forehooves and hovered out of her chair. "This is after how many years we've been in Ponyville together!"
Cheerilee sighed. "Shouldn't have underestimated a strawberry farmer."
It was getting colder.
Up above, clouds were forming. Or, rather, being arranged as pegasi hauled in more clouds, turning the clear sky into an overcast one.
Sunrise distanced herself from the table. "We better get moving. Rain's about to kick in."
Cheerilee got out of her chair.
Went their separate ways.
The orthos barked and followed his flying owner.



The sky was getting darker.
Cheerilee trotted her way through a little patch of forest and back to the schoolhouse.
Boarded up with barbed wire. Pointy, sharp, lengthy, obstructive barbed wire.
Screamed.
Ran to the entrance.
Well, as close as she could without touching the barbed wire which stood between her and the door inside.
Planted a hoof firmly on the dirt path.
"I know you're in there!" she shouted. "If you think this is funny—it's not, and I am not laughing at all."
The door swung open.
Revealing three students inside. One filly and two colts.
Cheerilee stomped her hoof. "Scootaloo, Rumble, Button Mash! What have you done here?!" She pointed at the barbed wire surrounding the entire school.
Scootaloo jumped up, flapping her wings, and landed. "We're trying out the cool thing you taught us last Friday! Barbed wire!"
Cheerilee looked at them with raging eyes, a mouth restrained. "That doesn't give you the excuse to do this!" Pointed at the barbed wire again. "I was supposed to do a bit more work like checking your projects, but I can't even get inside because of what you've done! That thing's dangerous—you could've hurt yourself and other ponies!"
"I know!" Scootaloo said.
The three of them raised their scarred hooves.
"It's called 'experience'!"
"Yeah!" Rumble said, flapping his wings and staying above the floor, flying. "How can we get to the frontlines without getting some pain first, right, miss Cheerilee?"
"What they said!" Button Mash said, a slightly orange Earth pony of around the same height. He was wearing a propeller hat. "Imagine using this on our school forever!"
"Nopony's gonna stop us!" Scootaloo added. Looked at her two classmates. "Hey, why stop with school? We could put it everywhere! On our homes!"
"On our stores!" Rumble quipped.
"On our town hall!" Button Mash yelled.
"Ponyville will be the safest place in all of Equestria!" Scootaloo shouted, raising her scarred hoof in the air.
The three of them bumped their hooves with each other's.
And said their "Ow's!", rubbing their damaged hooves and shutting their eyes at the pain.
Cheerilee's eye twitched. "What did you say?"
"Oh, that we were going to decorate Ponyville in barbed wire to defend it from the Crystal Empire!" Scootaloo grinned at her teacher.
Her very mad, very angry teacher.
Breathed out.
"OK. You three?"
The three of them looked at her with attentive eyes and ears.
"Barbed wire is meant for the frontlines only. You're not supposed to bring it here way behind where our soldiers are fighting." Placed a hoof on her chin. "What's even stranger...how were you able to acquire all of this barbed wire?"
"An Apple pony!" Scootaloo answered, still smiling.
"Applejack?"
The three of them shook their heads. "Doesn't live here, I think," Scootaloo added. "If you can catch him, he's the pony with a hat and is selling home-made barbed wire and other survival things."



"But, ma'am, I was jus' passin' through!" the stallion blathered, shaking his head while bowing it down a little. "Then, those there ponies wan'ed my stuff an' said their fam'lies needed the extra d'fense, so, I say 'Why not?' an' they got what they got."
The two of them stood at the Ponyville outskirts. One way, Ponyville. The other way, some hills and some dull flat grass but not much of a settlement since there was none.
The stallion stood by his wagon filled with not only barbed wire but also sandbags, shovels, helmets, and canned and powdered food. He was orange and had freckles on his face, wore a polka dotted green-yellow cloth tied around his neck. His two big front teeth were visible even when his mouth was closed.
He put on his hat.
"I know you meant well, Half Baked Apple," Cheerilee said, "but, next time, you better be sure that your customers aren't lying, especially if they're foals."
"Alrighty, miss!" He waved at her. "And, wha'bout some survival gear of yer' own? It's half off to compensate!"
"I think I can handle myself fairly well."
He waved at her again. "So, see ya' soon!"
She giggled as she walked away, heading for Ponyville. "See you soon."
He kept on waving at her until she was gone.
Half Baked Apple looked up.
Sky covered in dark clouds, hearing the rumble of thunder.
He pulled out a cover and spread it over his wagon.
Then, it rained, drenching his hat and his mane and the rest of him.
"Always good to be prepared," he said before hooking himself up to the wagon and moving on.