One night in a secure location, seated before a table was Dr. Pierce, and on opposite end was another person hidden by shadows.
“So what have you brought for me, Pierce?” the other figure said in a woman's voice.
“Something that will be very beneficial for you, my dear,” Pierce said, as he motioned to Buzzworth behind him. The mutant bug approached and placed a canister of mutagen on the table.
“And what is this?”
“A very special chemical with mutagenic properties,” Pierce explained to the other, “Buzzworth here used to be a regular housefly. But just a bit of this stuff, well, you see the results.” Buzzworth posed for dramatic effects.
“Interesting. I could make very good use of this stuff for my garden,” the buyer said, before stepping into the light to reveal a wrinkled faced red haired woman wearing a purple dress and a red apron, “Thank you, Doctor.”
“My pleasure, Fern.” Pierce snickered, as he slid the canister over to the lady.
The next day, at Creepie's house, the ninjas and Rainbooms were either relaxing or practicing their ninja moves.
As Raph and Leo were sparing, the hothead was grumbling, “I don't understand why we're cooped up in here when we should be out there looking for the mutagen.”
“We talked about this, Raph, we have no idea where it is.” Leo reminded him.
Rainbow was sparing against Sunset, and spoke up, “All we do know is the one who has it is some guy named Lance Pierce.”
“And he apparently has a vendetta against Creepie.” Sunset put in.
“So until we get a lead on his whereabouts we'll have to wait here.” Leo added.
“Or at least until we can go out for some air and food.” Donnie stated while checking his laptop.
“Especially food.” Mikey agreed.
“And at least Creepie's family is generous enough to let us bunk here during our stay.” April said.
Caroleena entered the room, “Pardon me, everyone, but you'll be happy to know Creepie has returned, and she's brought one of her friends with whom she insisted you all meet.”
“A friend?” Twilight wondered, as the group decided to go downstairs to check it out.
Waiting in the parlor was Creepie and Budge who was looking nervous and excited at the same time, “Guys, you there?” Creepie asked as she heard foot steps approach.
“It's us.” came Sunset's voice.
“Come in here all of you. I wanna introduce you to someone.” Creepie beckoned them.
Soon the Rainbooms and Wallflower entered, and Budge's eyes lit up, “Ohmygosh! Creepie, that's them! That's the Rainbooms!”
“Yeah. I told ya.” Creepie replied.
“Creepie, who is this?” Fluttershy asked.
“This is my friend Budge from school.” the bug girl introduced them.
“Well, it's nice to meetcha, Budge.” Applejack said, as she shook the boys hand.
“I'm shaking hands with Applejack,” Budge gasped, “I'm shaking hands with the Rainbooms' bass player!” he managed to let go of Applejack's hand.
“I take it you're a fan?” Sunset said slyly.
“You bet!” Budge answered, “You girls are amazing.”
“We know.” Rainbow boasted.
Budge then noticed Wallflower, “Hey, I know you.”
“You do?” Wallflower asked curiously.
“Yeah. You're Wallflower Blush. I saw an article about you for growing one of the best gardens in Canterlot City.”
“You read the article about me?” Wallflower asked while blushing sheepishly.
“Uh-huh. And you were right to win that award.”
“Well, thanks.”
“Pardon me, Budge, but you do know your friend lives with insects?” Rarity said noticing how Budge wasn't the least bit concerned from all the bugs in the house.
“Of course. But I don't have a problem with it.” he replied.
“Budge is the only one at school who knows my family.” Creepie explained.
“And I ain't one to judge.” Budge added.
“In that case we got some more friends for you to meet.” Pinkie smiled, and soon the turtles and their friends came into the clearing.
Budge looked surprised, “Whoa! You weren't kidding, Creepie. Mutant turtles!”
“Nice to meet you, Budge.” Leo greeted.
“What up?” Mikey asked.
“Nice to meet you guys too,” Budge began listing them off, “Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Donatello. And you're April, Casey, Karai, Keno, and Shini.”
“Right on the dot.” Shini confirmed.
“And you really are ninjas?” the boy asked.
“We sure are.” Mikey boasted.
“This has to be the greatest day of my life.” Budge said in joy.
“Just don't go blabbing about us to others, ok?” Raph asked.
“Wouldn't think of it.”
“Did Creepie mention anything about why we're here?” Leo asked.
“Something about looking for this ooze that can make mutants?” Budge recalled.
“Correct term is mutagen, but yeah that about covers it.” Donnie confirmed.
“Dang, and I thought the things we deal with was weird.” the boy told Creepie.
“I know.” the girl replied.
Wallflower checked her phone seeing the time, “Oh, sorry, guys. But I gotta go.”
“Where are you going?” Rainbow asked.
“Remember I came here to Middlington to check out its greenhouse.” Wallflower reminded her.
Suddenly Creepie and Budge's eyes widened, as the girl asked, “The greenhouse?”
“Yeah, I've been in contact with the keeper.” Wallflower answered.
“The keeper?” Budge asked in worry, as Nat and Pauly screamed and his inside Fluttershy's hair much to her surprise, “The keeper's name wouldn't happen to be Ms Fern, by any chance?”
“Now that you mentioned it, yeah. Why?”
“Wallflower, I don't think you should go there!” Creepie warned her.
The ninjas were confused, as Wallflower asked, “Why not?”
“We've been to that greenhouse and, let's just say, it wasn't a pleasant visit.” Budge explained.
Pauly and Nat peeked out of Fluttershy's hair, as the pill-bug spoke, “Especially for us!”
“Yeah, yeah! Scary!” Nat said trembling.
“What's so scary about a greenhouse?” Wallflower asked wondering what had them so scared.
“It's not the greenhouse, it's the keeper, Ms Fern. She's not exactly what you'd call, sane.” the short girl answered.
Wallflower rolled her eyes thinking they were exaggerating, “Look, I've talked with Ms Fern and I don't think there's anything to worry about. But just to be safe, I'll call you guys if anything happens.” she grabbed her back and left the house.
“She's a goner.” Pauly said bluntly as Nat nodded in agreement.
“Creepie, Budge, what's going on?” Karai asked as everyone present knew there was more to what they were telling them.
“What exactly happened at that greenhouse?” Leo inquired.
Creepie sighed and told them, “Well, it all started when Budge and I had to work there as a make up assignment. When we got there, a lady came running out screaming.”
“Then she said to us, and I quote, 'kids don't go in there! It's pure evil!'” Budge continued.
“Oh, my!” Fluttershy gasped.
“Uh, how can a greenhouse be pure evil?” Applejack asked in confusion.
“We didn't know, until we met the greenhouse keeper, Ms Fern. And she reeeally loved plants.” Budge continued.
Creepie spoke, “She made a big fuss when I picked up a potted cactus. She even called it her baby. Then she had us clean all the windows. Which by the way was a lot. And she warned us not to drip any soapy water on her plants... or else, while making a sinister face. While we were cleaning the windows, I heard Ms Fern crying and found out that someone...” she looked at Nat and Pauly, “Or rather two someones, had eaten her 'babies'.”
“You two?” Fluttershy asked Creepie's brothers.
Pauly spoke sheepishly, “Uh huh, yeah, when we heard about the greenhouse, we thought it would be the perfect place to chow down. And even though mom told us not to, we kind a snuck along in Creepie's backpack.”
“Yeah.” Nat confirmed.
“Ms Fern was not happy about that and began spraying toxic pesticide everywhere, saying nobody eats her lovelies and gets away with it.” Creepie pressed on.
“I think she would get along with Poison Ivy.” April said, as Fluttershy and Pinkie nodded in agreement.
“So I hid Nat and Pauly in my backpack, but Ms Fern tricked them into coming out saying she had sugar pie for them.”
“Sugar pie, tasty!” Pinkie said while licking her lips.
“And they fell for it just like that?” Raph asked dryly.
“Yeah, she lured them into room that we discovered was full of carnivorous plants!” Creepie added.
“Carnivorous?” Mikey asked in confusion.
“Plants that eat bugs.” Donnie enlightened him.
“Oh, goodness.” Fluttershy gasped.
“I managed to save Nat and Pauly, but Ms Fern caught me and tried to feed us to a giant man-eating venus fly-trap named Bruno!”
“Good heavens!” Rarity held a hand to her mouth.
“And they would have become part of the plant's dietary supplement, had yours truly not come to the rescue!” Budge boasted proudly.
“Whoa! That Ms Fern sounds crazy!” Rainbow said in shock.
“Forget crazy, she sounds like a total psycho!” Keno replied.
“She would definitely get along with Poison Ivy!” April corrected herself, as the Rainbooms still agreed with her.
Spike looked up at Twilight, “Kinda reminds me of the magical mishap at Celestia's garden, huh?”
“Don't remind me.” Twilight shuddered.
“You had trouble with plants too?” Creepie asked Twilight.
“Our school principal Celestia asked me to take care of her garden while she was away,” she began, “At first things were fine, but then the watering can I was using was infected by stray Equestrian Magic and the plants started growing and coming to life as I watered them. The more they grew the more aggressive and demanding for more water they became. I had to call in Applejack for help. When we turned on the sprinklers the plants turned back to normal.”
“Freaky.” Creepie said.
“That's nothing. We had our fair share with plant related enemies,” Mikey began, “One of our first mutant enemies was this thug named Snake who mutated into a mutant plant from getting doused in mutagen. So I decided to call him Snakeweed.”
“Huh, with a name like snake, you'd think he-” Budge was cut off by Raph.
“Heard it already.”
“Second time was during our stay at April's farm house,” Donnie explained, “The mutagen medicine I had Leo take to recover from previous injuries ended up merging into some soil, and that created a bog-mutant we referred to as 'The Creep'. He absorbed the mutagen from Raph turning him into a plant creature.”
“Yikes.” Creepie gasped.
“Luckily I was able to perform a mutagen transfusion from the Creep back into Raph saving his life and turning the Creep back into swamp goo.” the smart turtle finished.
“Yeah, but fighting that thing wasn't a walk in the park.” Casey reminded him.
“Especially when you're fighting with one broken leg.” Leo added.
“And we have an ally in another dimension who has a plant-based enemy too.” Rainbow explained.
“Who is that?” Budge wondered.
“Batman, and he is an awesome superhero, despite others initial thoughts.” Mikey motioned to Raph and Applejack who scowled.
“And what's his plant enemy like?” Creepie asked.
“I'm guessing it's this Poison Ivy April mentioned before twice?” Budge guessed.
April nodded, “Yeah. According to Batman's files, Poison Ivy or Pamela Isley was a botanist who was obsessed with plants on the same level as your Ms Fern is. Ivy was poisoned with these deadly herbs, but soon discovered she had an immunity to them and all forms of natural toxins and diseases. She started growing unnatural plants which she can control as well as an assortment of toxins and poisons from them.”
“She became a full blown Eco-terrorist wanting to destroy anything that could threaten plants or nature itself.” Rarity added.
“There's being supportive and dedicated to helping nature, but her method is just plain crazy.” Applejack concluded.
“Whoa.” Budge gasped.
“And if Wallflower is meeting with someone comparable to Poison Ivy, then we better follow her and make sure she's safe.” Leo said, as the rest of the group agreed.
“Count us out!” Pauly declined.
“Yeah!” Nat agreed.
“We're not setting a mandible near that place! Those plants almost ate us alive!” Pauly added.
“Good idea,” Creepie agreed, “We'll handle this.”
“Come on, everyone.” Sunset said, as the group headed out.
Meanwhile, Wallflower had arrived at the greenhouse, and walked up to the entrance. Upon walking inside, she looked around seeing all the plant-life growing.
“This doesn't look so bad,” Wallflower said, as she looked around, “Hello? Anyone here?”
“Who is it?” came a woman's voice.
“I'm here to check out the Middlington Greenhouse. I'm Wallflower Blush.” Wallflower called, as she saw Ms Fern approaching while bearing a smile.
“Ah, Wallflower, of course. Welcome-welcome!” she went over and shook the teens hand, “I'm Ms. Fern. I'm so glad to meet another lover of plants.”
“Feeling's mutual.” the teen replied.
“Let me show you around.” Fern led Wallflower around.
As Wallflower walked along side Ms Fern, she marveled at all the different plants growing inside the greenhouse, “These are all so amazing, Ms. Fern.”
“Thank you, child. But I have yet to show you my newest addition.”
“Newest addition?”
“Oh, yes. Right this way.” the woman showed Wallflower to a spot where a curtain was set up.
Wallflower looked at the curtain wondering what the keeper was going to show her, “Wallflower, may I present to you the greatest plant in the world!”
She pulled the curtain open to reveal a giant mutated plant creature that appeared to be a cross between a Venus Flytrap, A Drosera Capensis, and A California Pitcher Plant.
Wallflower's eyes widened in shock, before gasping, “My God!”
“Marvelous, isn't it?” Ms Fern asked before petting one of the mutant plant's leaves, “I call him Bruno Jr.”
“Ms. Fern, how did you...”
“Grow this?” Fern answered, “Let's just say I planted three individual plants close together and added a little extra something to give it life.”
Wallflower looking at the mutant knew there was only one thing that could've given life to this monstrous plant, “Was that extra something green and glowing?” she scowled.
Ms Fern was surprised, but answered, “Yes. How do you-”
“I know what you used, and it shouldn't be used like this!”
“Wallflower, I don't understand. I thought you'd be excited. Imagine a new race of plants.”
“This goes against the very laws of nature!” Wallflower argued.
Fern started to scowl, “Foolish girl. I am one upping nature. I am creating new life, and from this life will spawn millions if not billions of new species of plants!”
Wallflower seeing Creepie was right about Ms Fern felt like a fool for believing in this woman, “This abomination should not be allowed to spread its seeds to make more!”
“Abomination?!” Fern gasped taking high offense, “It seems we don't share the same ideals about plants as I thought.”
“Looks that way.” Wallflower frowned.
Fern frowned, before smirking and looked up at her monstrosity of a plant, “Jr. bon appetit!” Bruno Jr growled before looking down at Wallflower who knew she was in for the fight of her life.