Pickuppickuppickuppickuppick oh! Hey!
Eraser: Hey.
What's UUUUPPPP?!
Eraser: This chapter? So far, I've been sitting in the back of this van FOR THE PAST THREE HOURS.
Aw, that's too bad.
Eraser: Whatever. Blocky's taking a break. Since I'm the CEO when he's not in charge... he let me take the call. Where's Discord? He's who he wanted to talk to.
Oh, he just kept screaming about this chapter. Eventually I just got so fed up with him that I locked him in a room. Do you want to see him?
Eraser: This video call would be for nothing if I didn't, so get him out here.
Alright. Diiiiiiiiscoooooord! Discord?
Hold on, he's probably still crying tears of joy.
Discord, come ou-
"Get the name of a sexual innuendo out of this room I am in! I am currently in the middle of waiting for the new episode to drop! Seriously! Personal! Space, people!"
Pen: Who you talking to, Eraser?
Eraser: Discord and Ital.
Pen: Cool! Yeah! You two. Heard a bit about you. So when're we gonna get those DVDs and comic books?
Huh? Oh. Today. I'll teleport them over to your front right glove compartment. Why do you need them?
Pen: Rrrrrresearch.
"Wait, if you can deliver comic books and DVDs, can you deliver me to Fluttershy?!"
Strangely, I can only seem to target their front right glove compartment. A bit of a squeeze, even for you.
"Hmmph."
Gee, depressing. And now back to your regularly scheduled program.
"With Fluttershy!"
Aaaahhhhhh... The pegasus in question lightly shifted in the spot she was standing, her loving creatures surrounding her from all angles on the walls. Squirrels, raccoons, and Harry the bear stood back, lounging around on this warm day in the meadows. Nice and calm. Just the way she liked it. She turned on the heat under her kettle on her cute little green stove.
She inhaled through her nose, taking in the sweet scent of the tea. Mmmmm! The slow, sweet smell of honey and chamomile wafted through her nose. Another wave of relaxation washed over her as she thought about her friends... or rather lack of them?
It was...quiet. Just the way she liked it. Too quiet. Not the way she liked it. No one had bothered her for the past two days, good...but that included her friends, not good. Including Discord...
She quickly picked up the kettle by its cork handle to dispel her increasingly scary thoughts, pouring the scalding liquid into two cups, one normal-sized, one small. "Oh, Angel! You said you wanted to try some tea today!"
The bunny in question hopped onto a small table, where he tapped his foot impatiently. Fluttershy slid the tiny teacup towards Angel Bunny, where he touched his paws to its side, but reflexively pulled them away at the touch of the heated porcelain.
"Oh! Don't touch it there! Here." Fluttershy lovingly curled his paws around the teacup handle. "It's still warm, so make sure to blow."
Angel took a few suspicious sniffs, then slowly took a mouthful. Then his eyes narrowed as he hopped to a nearby chair, teacup still in hand, feigning indifference to the drink. Fluttershy flew upwards a bit, allowing a chuckle to slip out. "I knew you'd like it!" She turned to the rest of her animal friends. "Would any of you like a try?" As the pegasus doled out small (sans Harry's portion) doses to her other animal friends, Angel rolled his eyes as he lounged in his chair. He looked around the room a bit more.
It was weird. For the last couple of weeks, the others, but mostly Discord and Rarity, came over to either help or check on Fluttershy. But since two days ago, they somehow went, how should he put it, missing.
Now that he thought about it... he didn't remember too much from a couple of days ago. Like, he usually had an immaculate memory, but he couldn't remember anything from the past couple... He racked his brain while his owner...well...caretaker sang her beautiful melody.
Alright... so what happened from today back to about two days ago?
Okay, start from the beginning of the day. Fluttershy woke up, then woke him up, tried to feed him salad, he pushed away salad, she said something about eating healthily.
Then she said something about the sun...
Light.
"Oh, Angel! You know that your greens are healthy. Don't just push them away like that.
"Hm-hm-hm! Oh, you know that your greens are full of, HEALTHY vitamins! Mmm-mm!
"You know why they're important, right? Let me tell you!
"Well, first is vitamin D! It's good for your bones. Oh, you don't HAVE to eat your greens to get it though. You can get it from the beautiful, shining sun-
Shoot.
Angel quickly dumped the drink onto an red, angry bird's head. It screeched in pain as it flapped around, trying to remove the liquid from any vitals as Angel ran towards where Fluttershy was.
She was still humming, but at least she was on the ground this time. The rabbit chittered to try to get her attention, but was ultimately drowned out by the other animal's noises. This would require another tactic...
He climbed onto one of the squirrel's nests. No one was home, lucky him. He slowly slid himself on a few of the branches to get to a higher location, and closer to Fluttershy.
A minute or two of heart-wrenching climbing from the incredible height of four meters, Angel was in position. He positioned a paw to be right in line with Fluttershy's head, gulped, then took a blind leap of faith!
He flew true!
Well, flew true into the ceiling. Then fell off the ceiling with a splat on the floor. It still got Fluttershy's attention all the same.
"Oh my goodness! Angel!" Fluttershy quickly ran over to the dazed rabbit. "Are you okay? What happened?"
Before he could get a "word" out, she quickly guided him to a tiny little bed made out of sticks and straw, shoving a thermometer in his mouth and wrapping him in a hot compress. He spat and wriggled out of both of them, sternly staring at his caregiver.
"Um, Angel? Is something wrong? Oh!" She looked at him apologetically. "Is it about those vegetables the other day?"
That was when he launched into his story.
Oh, why'd it have to be her?!
She'd been walking for several days now, probably started even sooner than the rest of the Seekers... She wanted to go home...
But that was impossible for now; they wouldn't listen to her. They would NEVER listen to her.
WELL... there was that one- Oh. Wait. Right. What a dirty trick that was.
But now, she was stuck in the cold, unforgiving world, who knows how far she was away from her...
Her parents.
Right, her parents. They didn't even try to stop them; they just went with the flow.Oh, WHY did everyone she knew have to be so cowardly? Why did she have to be the one who spoke out?
A small nuzzle from one of her puppies shook her from her thoughts. She smiled. At least she still had her puppies. They were always there for her, every step of the way. Even when she fell unconscious two days ago, her puppies were always there to help her.
She watched as two of her puppies frolicked around, not a care in the world. To them, it might as well be a simple outing, as rare as those were to begin with.
"Oi! Ruff! Tuft! Puff! Tatties and newbs!" All four of the sheepdogs pounced on her, deftly knocking her to the ground, licking her all the way.
Being a yearling lamb, she was definitely susceptible to surprise tickle attacks. “Ha ha ha! Stoppit! Stopp-aha ha ha ha ha! Ple-he-he-hease!”
Once they were done with their licking, they stood back in a straight line as they always did to wait for Pom to dish out their food. Smiling, Pom poured them the last of the food she had in her little knapsack.
Wait...
Last?!
Her heart skipped a beat. The last?! She checked again. The last. Pom started to panic; she could have sworn she had packed enough for the entire party, and to last a month at least!
She sternly, for her standards at least, turned to her puppies, discretely eyeing each and every one of them to find the culprit. One of them was clearly eating less than the others, only picking at his food. Upon seeing Pom staring at him, he shoveled several mouthfuls at once down his muzzle.
Blocky: Ha ha ha! That was a funny prank! For a prank, get a dimensional anomaly to make a pet hungry, and make him eat a traveler's food over a few days! Then, when the owner realizes it, watch as she gets clinically scared for a few seconds!
This program was brought to you by:
Blocky's Funny Doings, International
Discord: Aw, haw haw haw! You truly are a professional at this!
Sighing, the young lamb removed the glutted pup from his meal and gave him a scolding, as best she could.
“Um...”
She tried. She seriously gave it all she could.
The puppy gave her a lick right on her cheek, dispelling whatever she was working up to say. “Oh, Ruff. Jis’ don’t do it again?”
Alright. So no food. Now what?
Ask for help. That was the only option. There was nothing else she could do, besides... Not getting into that.
She knew what those dogs ate. Meat, but it didn’t seem like they would eat her, at least for now. She had found from experimentation some plants they COULD eat... but never mind that.
She looked around for anything, or rather, anyone, that might help her. In the near distance, not a two minute walk away, there sat a small cottage on top of a hill. It looked... friendly, nearly like her own home. She smiled a small smile.
But that didn’t mean anything, what if it wasn’t friendly? The ungulate in there could be anyone! Her already fast heartbeat sped up to match the beat of a snare drum roll. What if it was a mean witch? A murdering criminal?! A predator?!
Maybe it was better to just go back; there was still time. Yes, that’s what she’d do, go back and stock up again. Nothing wrong with- eh?!
All four of her puppies were pushing her towards the scary house! She scrabbled her hooves on the ground, trying to find a hold, but the force of the puppies were too strong for her. She was being carried against her will, to the house. “Wait! Hold on! Can’t we jus’ flip a coin?!”
Three minutes of dragging later, her merry band were at the foot of the hill, Pom trying in vain to escape their prods and pushing. Upon seeing where she was, she stopped. “Weel... guess there’s no goin’ back naou...” They said the first step towards a goal was the hardest...
Then the second step. Just as hard. Wait, that's not what they... Step number three. Still the same difficulty. Step number-
Internally, Pom violently reconsidered the validity of that specific phrase. All the steps were equally as hard. She shrank down lower and lower, when suddenly, she froze in place. She was at the door. There was just one thing keeping her from knocking. Her puppies stood next to her at the ready in case something went wrong.
She gulped, shaky hoof held up to knock on the door. Here goes...
Angel Bunny had finished his recap of the situation, retold as an epic monologue. Everycreature in the cottage stared at him slack jawed. With nothing else to say, Angel jumped off of the table, and back into the armchair, where he slowly and deliberately sipped more of his now cold tea.
Fluttershy floated down again. "Angel... I didn't..." He didn't really care anymore. He was basically retired from the conversation.
"I didn't know... remember-"
Out of nowhere, Fluttershy gave him a hug! "I didn't know you read Hamlet, Angel! That was beautiful!"
Angel and the rest of the animals facepalmed at the same time, as Fluttershy flew up to a tall bookshelf. "I think I know JUST the book for you to read!" She scanned several spines of several books involving plays, stage productions, and other similar ideas that she was clearly attempting to hide from her friends. "Um, it should be right around here somewhere... Harry likes them a lot!"
Angel turned to Harry the Bear as he stuffed a tutu and a pair of fairy wings behind his back, looking around nonchalantly. REAL smooth, Harry. He rolled his eyes, as Flutters inevitably came back to him, holding a medium sized volume in her hooves.
*Knockknockknock!*
Fluttershy stopped what she was doing, dropping the book right next to Angel's foot. She slowly walked towards the door, face in a state of fear and mild glee simultaneously. This was the first time in three days someone had knocked on her door! "Oh! Someone's here! I've been worrying too much; there they are!"
Then, she stopped, losing what little nerve she had. "Oh, no! What if it isn't them?!" She strained her ears, trying to hear the sound of her friends, only hearing rustling of leaves, and the clip-clop of unfamiliar hooves.
She ran over to the corner, panting heavily. Some squirrels even ran over and draped a blanket over her as her teeth chattered out of sheer fear, too scared to move until she heard a familiar voice.
*Knockknockknockknockknock!*
Fluttershy made no move towards the door this time. She continued to cower even further into the folds of the warm blanket, as an eerie silence descended on her home as most of the animals shuffled out of the way of the panicked pony.
Angel Bunny, on the other hand, wasn't having any of it. He (somehow) thoroughly dragged Fluttershy to the door as she struggled to remain rooted in the spot she was in.
Angel slammed the door open, revealing a... bush. Right in front of the door. Why was a... OH GOD IT HAS EYES THAT'S DISGUSTING OH GOD
Angel quickly picked up Fluttershy by her back, and threw her outside, (somehow) right into the bush. It screamed!
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH! Don't 'urt me!"
From out of the bush, a small lamb emerged, shortly followed by four little puppies. Seeing where this would most likely lead, Angel slammed the door, leaving pegasus, sheep, puppies, and bush outside.
The pegasus flew out of the bush as the sheep shakily rammed her back to the door, eyes darting around nervously. Oh, it was only a little lamb, not even a year or two old! Fluttershy gasped loudly, face breaking into a small grin, eyes sparkling.
"Oh my!" "Oh, dear..."
Fluttershy chuckled. "Pegasus, actually! Oh my goodness!" She landed, grin becoming larger. She walked forwards, pinning the nervous lamb to the door even more. "A little lamb!" She got up even closer as the lamb looked her with an unchanging nervous expression.
"Are you lost? Are you looking for help?" Fluttershy was pratically muzzle to muzzle with the sheep, speaking only barely coherently, and VERY excitedly. "Um, ken ye-"
Fluttershy's smile somehow spanned nearly her entire face. "You can talk too!"
"Er-"
"Can you tell me how?" With every sentence, Fluttershy came closer to the lamb.
"Uh-" Several beads of sweat dripped from the sheep's wool.
"Ohmigosh, do you need help?!"
"UH-"
"Do you need anything, sweetie?!"
"UHHHHHHH-"
The sheep eyes rolled upwards as she flopped forwards onto a shocked Fluttershy, in a faint.
The opposing Sheep fainted!
FLUTTERSHY gained 15 EXP. Points!
You got Unconscious Lamb for winning!
*slow clapping*
Eraser: Real smooth.
Blocky: Hahaha!
"*ugly crying* I knew it was a Pokémon!"
Pom slowly awoke to the sound of her puppies' paws striking the wooden floor of her home. She slightly smiled, her eyes still closed.
She snuggled deeper into her blanket, like she always did in the morning. It felt so warm, and safe. Safer than what she had to do by a long shot...
She didn't want to leave. But she had to... they said so. No harm in delaying as long as possible, though.
While she continued her pretense, she felt the warm aura of her parents surround her, the sound of her mothers hooves approaching the bed. Here goes...
Her mother nuzzled up to her, softly speaking, "Oh, I'm sorry for giving you such a fright, yesterday."
Wait, that wasn't her-
Pom jumped out of her bed with a scream, memories of the week earlier smashing into her brain again. She already went; did she go back in time?! That was exactly what her mother would have said to her-
Her four puppies tackled her to the bed, licking and nuzzling her profusely, as she took her time to calm down. It took about five to ten minutes for her breathing to become its normal, fast rhythm again.
Once calmed down, she sat on the bed, staring wide eyed at the new area she was in and at the pegasus she first thought was her mother. This wasn't her house... but it looked so similar... But who was the owner? The pegasus walked over and rested a hoof on the lamb's shoulder. Too scared to move, other than shake out of fear, the lamb could only watch and listen as the pony started to speak.
"I didn't mean to scare you, I just saw you and got so excited, I just couldn't help myself! I hope you understand." She rubbed her hoof caringly over the lamb's shivering back.
Pom still just couldn't bring herself to move. Her head dipped down as the pony continued her petting. Seeing how the pegasus was helping their owners, Pom's puppies nuzzled up to this unknown pony as well, licking her lower half deliberately.
Although still decidedly scared, Pom was beginning to slowly relax again. The pony asked, "So tell me about yourself. What's your name?"
It took a couple of seconds to gather any sort of... anything. "P-Pom... Miss..."
"That's adorable!" The pony nuzzled lovingly up to Pom. "That's a wonderful name! My name is Fluttershy." Then she sat back, further away to respect the lamb's fear.
Pom's puppies climbed all over Fluttershy, who was giggling as she extricated herself from the barking pile. She asked Pom, "Are these ones yours?"
"Er-" Pom was slowly becoming more comfortable "-Y-yes?" The dogs were beginning to become loud, so she barked for attention, causing all of the dogs jumped off the bed and sat in a straight line.
Fluttershy happily gasped again. "Oh my goodness! Did you just bark?"
"Yes." Pom took a quick roll call, then continued. "Ah learnt how tae talk lik' thaim tae make it easier fur us tae understand itch'otha'. They're guid puppies. They're my life..." The corners of her eyes started to tear up.
The pegasus mouthed the words "Oh, my...," then beamed. "You're so talented! You learnt it yourself?" She pointed to a few marks on her flank. "I wish I could speak to my animal friends like that. Even I can't speak like that to a squirrel or raccoon." A small rabbit hopped up next to Fluttershy, hands on his hips in indignance. "Or rabbit. Don't worry Angel, I didn't forget about you!" Pom and Fluttershy both chuckled as the dogs stared at them curiously.
The bunny held up a teacup in one paw, then motioned towards the table as Harry the Bear was quickly escorted out of the premise by the birds due to his voracious appetite.
"Well said, Angel!" Fluttershy continued, placing Angel in her mane. "If you wanted, could you help us set up for a true tea-time? We'd love to have you!"
With the exception of the last sentence, Pom seemed alright with setting up. Even her puppies joined in. With all their helping hooves and paws, the job was done in a matter of minutes.
Now Fluttershy, Pom, Angel Bunny, and Pom's puppies were all sitting at a table in the center of the room, drinking tea and not being as merry as possible. Several birds (except the red one) flitted around as Fluttershy and Pom started wrapping up a discussion that explained in more detail who they were and what they were doing.
"So, ye know about the bears and wolves?"
"Partially... Sheila the kangaroo has been telling me about them- eep! I've gone and checked, but I haven't seen anything...or is that a good thing?!"
"Weel... I dinnae kno about that... r'movin' them is part a' bein' a Key Seeker, an' I'm one of em' naow. I guess."
"That sounds so stressful." Fluttershy genuinely seemed concerned about Pom's mental state. She asked, "Would you like to stay here for a while?"
Pom drew in her breath and sat in thought for a few seconds, but sighed and shook her head, her bell jingling.
"Sorry, but my friends 'n' fam'ly need me fer this... What wood they think o' me if I just let meself bail out 'a it? I'm not like that." She straightened herself up as she unmaidenly slurped the tea out of the cup.
Smiling, the little Pegasus sighed favorably. “Wow, you’re so brave! I only know a few ponies who are that dedicated to their friends!”
“Not really.” Pom reared a hoof onto one of her Tuft’s head. “Only my puppies keep me goin’ at awl... They’re all I’ve got naow.”
Even though the dogs were originally somewhat tempted to attack Angel, after a couple of whacks they found him to be simply too tough to eat and basically forged a truce with him. Heck, even at the table they were nuzzling up to him as if he was one of their brothers.
Pom teasingly called them out for it. “Bad puppies!” Then her voice got softer as she whispered, “Good puppies!”
“Well,” Fluttershy said with a tip of her ears, “I don’t think you knocked on my door for some tea, Pom. Why did you come here?”
Pom sighed, while looking at her puppies. “I needed food; the wee pups ate it all without me knowin’! I couldnae turn back like that, so I went up to yew an’-”
“Don’t say any more!” Fluttershy flew away from the table and out her front door. In a matter of seconds, she was back with a sack of kibble large enough to make her struggle to carry it. “I-ugh- have- hng- more- grr-
food- woah!- than I need!” She slammed the huge bag on the ground.
Pom ran over to the sweating pony and gave her a big hug, thanking her multiple times in the span of twelve seconds. Tea party forgotten, Fluttershy and her animal friends helped him Pom ration her food in her bag, much faster than she did originally.
Once finished, the animals went back to whatever they were doing. While Fluttershy helped put one more portion of food, she asked Pom, “Where you going now?”
Completely comfortable now, Pom confidently gave the information. “I’m going tar’ the city of Reine, o’er that-a-way.” She gestured out a window. “I’ve heard scary rumors sat there’s predator markings there, so I’m gonnae take a gander.”
Fluttershy gasped again. “Oh, that's where Ponyville is! Can I come with you, Pleeeaaase!” She gave possibly the best puppy dog eyes impression Pom had ever seen.
She couldn’t say no. Not to that face. “Er... o-okay.”
Fluttershy relayed information to her animal friends as Pom rallied her puppies (with Angel Bunny in tow.)
They were just starting on their way, Angel situated on the pony, dogs behind the lamb. Nice and peaceful, they could take it slow.
Unfortunately, doe to an unforeseen sprite run-in, that peace and quiet all went out the window as the puppies ran off after it.
Pom and Fluttershy barked and screamed as they chased them, not realizing Angel had turned back.
Why would he have to be with these idiots?! He could be relaxing back-
He ran into two dogs with the same markings as the sheepdogs, much bigger than the rest. He screamed as loudly as he could as they picked him up in huge jaws and carried them back to the still chasing pony and lamb.
He inwardly sighed. He just couldn’t catch a break, could he?
Fin
Blocky: Well, that was pretty entertaining! Thanks for that!
np
Blocky: So anyways, that's why I wanted to talk to you. Are you down for it?
"Yes. Of course. Absolutely. I don't see why not."
Pen: Jeez, if you're gonna be sarcastic, at LEAST make it sound convincing.
"Well, I don't have to be sarcastic to tell you you're ugly."
Pen: If ugliness is the price I have to pay for less ship fics, that’s a price I’m willing to pay, aaaaaayy?!
"*flabbergasted noises*"
Is that, like, the first time that happened?
Pen: Probably. Ha ha! See ya.
*beep*
Eraser: So how long have you been driving for?
Pen: Relax! We've only been driving for six hours!
Blocky: SIX HOURS?! I'm going to tie my legs together if we don't get there soon!
Pen: Don't worry! The distance tracker says we only have one mile to go!
Eraser: But that says the destination is some weird apple farm.
Pen: Oh. Oops!
*"Abandoned" Shack: 276.3 Miles Away*
Everyone: *groaning*
Blocky: Great job, Pen! Now what? It's almost nighttime, and we have no idea where we are!
Pen: Well... that apple orchard is coming up. I see it! Let's see if we can crash there for the night!
Blocky: Sounds like a plan to me.
Eraser: Hey, Pen? I think you should put on the brakes before we, you know, ACTUALLY crash.
Pen: Oh, sure! The drum brakes are in my cap! I kept them with me just in case we needed them!
...
Eraser: Okay, who let you drive?
Pen: Myself.
*SMAAAAASH!*
Pen: Aw, sweet! He sent over the rest of the episodes too!
?: 'Ey! What're you doin' ere?!
Eraser: Dangit! Uh... Quick, come up with an excuse!
?: Who’re yew?
Pen: Don’t look at me! I was too busy crashing my van into your barn!
Pen: You know, if enough people face palm, it sounds almost like applause!