//------------------------------// // Chapter 2.1: First Casualties // Story: Derpy and the Muffin War! // by Koregazz //------------------------------// AUTHOR'S NOTE I hope I won't need to do these notes all the time, but it couldn't hurt to get my insight on what is going on and my decisions. So you may be wondering why this is called "2.1" and there is a simple answer (if you can go with my reasoning). So I have enough time to read whatever I want (which can include 9K+ fic chapters), but I don't have all the time to write. So I have to make sure I put in an effort with every word. I split this in two, because of the two distinct sections of this particular chapter. I wanted to make sure I left you with enough to read for a while, but also so there isn't any need to put it down. I can elaborate more in the comments, cause this is taking up space...and I should just shut up now so you can get to the story Happy Hunting :3 “LET THE GAMES BEGIN!” The wind breezed by with nary a care. All was silent for those pristine moments. The collective excitement taking a standstill as the words flew by. A soft rustling of minor movement could be picked up over the dead silence. Starting up slow, there was a collective amount of rustling. The games were surely beginning indeed. A loud snap from a fallen twig seemed to awaken most of the individuals near the podium and the stampede began. Speeding past the before empty buildings were now a flock of ponies. All of them were in a rush to get to safety from beyond their competitors. Seemingly on cue, the wind changed direction again. The town square had become completely empty, except for the Princess and her guards. “Well I think they are all ready to get it on. Don’t you think so Parcel?” Celestia said to one of the guards to her left. “Right you are Princess! However, I do hope none of the citizens take this too seriously. It would be quite a disaster if anypony got hurt.” the guard named Parcel confidently stated. “Yes, that would be quite...unfortunate”. It wasn’t completely obvious, but Parcel could have sworn there was a soft chuckle under her stern demeanor. “Now then, it seems we should get a good spot to watch all the fun”, Celestia started trotting towards the chariot that had brought her to the town and called to be taken away. Oh yes...this will be fun indeed. Long after the Princess had left to wherever she was going to take watch on the whole area, stood Derpy huddled behind a tree. It seems in all the commotion of the war actually starting, she took to safety in case there was actually going to be a major breakout right then and there. Luckily though nothing happened, and she was safe to come out from her hiding spot. Taking a survey of the area, nothing looked out of place except for the distinct lack of ponies. From the looks of it, it seems that all had fled deep into the town for cover. It took a second...or fifty for Derpy to ponder, but she came to the conclusion that that was where most of the action would take place. Happily content with her dissection of the situation, she trotted at a slow pace to enter the confines of the town. The square was the most open space in all of Ponyville and thus would be the most obvious location to get discovered. With that in mind, Derpy walked along the alleyways that adorned the buildings. Stealthily crawling her way across the passages, she found there to be no activity at all. She had a traveled a good amount of yards, but still it was like a ghost town. How odd. Still she traveled deeper into the unknown hoping that there was at least someone around. It couldn’t be like they all vanished into thin air right? “Wait”. Derpy put on her most serious face as she concentrated on the thoughts in her head. What if they are all playing hide-and-seek!? Of course that was the answer! They were all just hiding from her. With this new profound sense of wonder she decided that if they were playing, then she would have to try extra, super hard to catch them. Taking a turnaround on a corner, she went into open territory in front of some shops. Now where could they be hiding? Taking in her surroundings, she seemed to be in front of the Sugarcube Corner. Hesitant at first, she decided that this would be the perfect spot to hide, if they were indeed playing. She slowly opened the door with a slight approval of the atmosphere. She usually comes in here once in a while to deliver treats for the shop, and then spends a good amount of time drooling over the confectionary. It takes the strength of both the Cakes and Pinkie Pie to stop her, but in the end she’ll take her leave with grace. With those memories in place, she looked at the surroundings and made a noise that was more of breathe of needed air than a gasp. No one was here. Frantically searching, there was indeed no sign of anyone running the shop. There wasn’t even the slightest clue that anyone was even here at all. The shop was cleaned out from top to bottom. No scrumptious cakes filled with confetti. No delightful cupcakes sprinkled with only the finest bits of sugar. No form of sugary-delight was in sight at all. It looked like the place had been ransacked, but that was only a hunch. Maybe they took the treats and left? That was only a guess really. There was no clue of the current location of the Cakes or the scrumptious foods that lay previously in their spots. Derpy made her way farther into the shop, going behind the counter to see if anyone was hiding. Much to her dismay, no one was anywhere in the room. Hmmph! With much determination in her crossed eyes, she took her stride into the kitchen; a good a place as any to hide. Taking a big leap, she dove into the kitchen like a lion. “AH HAH! I got yo-”. She trailed off as she noticed the same similarity with the previous room. No one is here either. With that bit of hope dashed from her, Derpy began to form a frown. It seems her hope to find someone had been thrust from her just as she was in need. Picking herself up, she came to the conclusion that there was no one in the vicinity. Taking some apprehensive steps, she made her way to the exit. Fwump. Huh? Picking up her ears on the location of the sound, she turned around. There swiveling in place was a vase that had previously been sitting very steadily on the stand behind it. Moving over, Derpy decided to kick it in hopes of discovering its dark secrets. With a mighty shove, it flung across the corner and hit the stairs. Peeved that it moved such a distance, she ran over to it and collided with the stairs. With a mighty thunk she started rolling her head in dismay. Shaking a few times, Derpy got her mind back into place, rubbing the place on her forehead that took the brunt of the damage. Getting back into focus, she looks up high towards the top of the staircase. It was quick, but Derpy could swear she saw a shadow of something moving up above. Taking some cautious steps, she makes her way to the top.  The creaking of the aged steps pulls the silence out of the shop. A resounding moan continued, making Derpy cringe with each step she took. Hitting the top of the staircase, she finally found solace. Waiting a few seconds to compose her breathing, Derpy made her way along the upper level. She finally reached the last known location of the fleeing shadow. Hoping to find someone or something to speak to, she carefully edged her way to the doors entrance.  Every breath caused a low amount of mist to be released into the air. The room in front of Derpy was definitely much colder than the rest of the surrounding area. Shaking her mane, she carefully pushed the door ajar enough to see inside.  Nothing. Pushing it all the way open, she strode inside to get a better look at the entire room. It looked like a baby’s room. No wait. More like two baby’s room. Remembering that the cakes had recently acquired two bundles of joy, one a unicorn and the other a pegasus, she noticed that there were in fact two little cribs for them. Smiling in relief at her previous fear, she continued forward into the room over to the cribs. Seeing some soft motion under covers of one of the cribs, she silently placed a hoof above it. Wanting to get a better look at the little baby, she took the covers off. WOOSH! Derpy ducked just in time to have something round flash past her ready to take her head off. Eyes wide in fear, she looked over to see the culprit. The room may have been in the dark with the lights off, but there was enough sunshine from the curtains to tell her what it was. A cupcake. Derpy made a soft noise showing interest in the cupcake, so she took a few brave steps towards it. It appeared to be a pink one with blue frosting, and little white ice crystals for sprinkles. Licking her lips, she decided to take a bite out of it. She suddenly gasped in delight at the very delicious morsel of pastry. Deciding that it was good enough to eat, she finished off the rest; making sure to lick the rest off of the wall for good measure. Satisfied with her small snack, she peered over to the other crib and noticed that it too had some soft motions underneath to indicate another being. “Maybe it is another cupcake”, Derpy thought out loud in the dim room. Using the same motion as last, she pulled the covers off with mouth wide open to accept the delightful treat that awaited her. That treat never came... A shadowed figure swooped from the carriage, ready to maim its prey. Derpy fumbled to the wall in a messy tangle of hooves and cloth. Whatever this thing wanted, she was sure it wasn’t all too good. Rattling her head to clear the fuzziness of the tumble, she picked herself up to get a clearer image of her assailant. Just as suddenly as her vision came back, she was tossed into another fumble with her attacker. No time to make any rationalized moves; she quickly grabbed whatever she could. In a last ditch effort she was able to grasp part of the cloth that the figure was wearing to cover their identity. Making a tight, firm hold on it, Derpy flung the mysterious mare away in time to get a second of freedom. No sooner had her attacker been flown across the room, Derpy was once again struck. Being kicked aside, she lost even more of her vision and nausea started settling in. What is even going on? Derpy thought as she was pummeled to the ground again. In a daze of confusion, she tried to grab whoever was attacking her, but failed in the end. Only tiring herself out, she collapsed slightly. Very much on the brink of fainting, she fell to the ground in vast exhaustion. The images of her surroundings started flying by her in quick sweeps, giving her no notice of where exactly she was anymore. Is this it? Am I going to lose it here? All these fleeting thoughts penetrated what little sanity she had left to muster. In the blurry haze of what appeared to be a room, she saw the shadowy figure going in for the kill. No...No....no. All she could do was keep saying that one word over and over in her head until she lost track of what it even meant anymore. This was it, whatever happened now HAD to happen! With whatever energy she had left, she willed it to the surface. In this last ditch effort, with one clean strike she needed to make. The sound of knuckle against cranium echoed out across the quiet room. A loud slam reached the end of the room, letting Derpy know that her hit had some effect. A loud groan came from across the other wall, and with that came a crash. Derpy didn’t know what it was, but a soft tune could be heard lively entertaining the space between her and the other individual. It was a lullaby tune from the sounds of it, which had a somewhat clear effect on the person it tumbled on. Derpy was starting to pick herself up from the ground, in an effort to recover from the fiasco she was just in. Lazily drooping from one side to the next, she balanced herself on the crib to her left. The lullaby tune ringing through her ears had started to get her focus back. She could easily see the masked individual, unconscious from the looks of it. Shaking her head once or twice, Derpy had finally managed to not vomit and got her act back together. Slowly she stumbled over to the attacker so she could find out who it was. And for better reason, why? Tripping over her own hooves once or twice she made the short trek to the other wall finally. Taking a deep breath she removed the mask. “Wha...what!?” was all she could muster as her attacker was unveiled. Mrs. Cakes. Collecting her thoughts once more, she tried to put two and two and four and three together, to get a better image of the situation. Whatever her reasoning, Mrs. Cakes had assaulted Derpy. Frowning a little, she tried to wake up the completely unconscious Mrs. Cakes so she could question her. After a minute of trying, she finally gave up. It seems she would need to get her answers later— “HONEY-BUN!” came a loud cry from the entrance to the room. Not having enough time to see who had now just entered the blatantly bad scene, Derpy was shoved aside by another masked individual. Mr. Cakes. In the sake of interest, Derpy watched as Mr. Cakes struggled a bit to wake up his wife. He put in more effort than she did, and seemed to be paying off. Mrs. Cakes started arising out of her seemingly deep slumber in a stumble. “What happened” she questioningly asked. Mr. Cakes gave her an approving nod that was more out of relief than an answer to her. “Don’t worry my little sugar dumpling. You’re alright” he reassuringly stated. Sighing in honest relief, Mrs. Cakes picked herself up surprisingly well. Brushing off the dust from her tumble she brought up a mighty huff. She had been keeping her eyes closed this whole time, probably in an effort to get her thoughts in check. “Well now Miss Hooves”, she started with cheerful pep. Derpy stood up a little bit more, happy that Mrs. Cakes was okay. “Are you okay?” she said while breaking out her trademark grin. “Yes, yes I am. However...” That is odd. She sounded happy a minute ago. “I believe you crossed the line Derpy!” a thundering roar had crept up out of her throat. Uh oh...this isn’t good. In a flash, Mrs. Cakes was back to her assassin mode, with Mr. Cakes right by her side. This was no place to be, even Derpy knew that. With no time to think she had to make an escape. Any escape! She made a dash to the door in hopes to gain freedom. THUD! Derpy was knocked back by Mr. Cakes with more strength than she thought he had. “Uh...Uh”, spouted Derpy in a nonsensical manner. Gazing over to her side, she noticed her last remaining hope. The window. It may be a little painful, but this was her only way out. In a mad dash, she crashed through the window. Tumbling to the ground, she landed on a soft patch of dirt. Scrambling up, she looked over her surroundings. There were many places she could run, so she dived to the right; trying her hardest to get away from the Cakes. Why didn’t I just fly away?! Soon enough there were hoofs galloping with increased pace. They were gaining on her...and fast.