Pikmin Rescue Mission - Day 2: The search begins - Part 1
The start of a new day always meant a new day of work on the farm at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack already woke up beforehand, and along with a coffee, took a stroll outside to check what was to be done today. As she stepped out, she noticed Apple Bloom already outside.
“Howdy there, Apple Bloom,” Applejack said, getting her sister’s attention. “What’re ya doin’ up so early, sugarcube?”
“Oh, howdy sis!” the filly replied enthusiastically. “I wanted to wake you up a little earlier actually, but I wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea or not, so I waited out here because I wanted to tell you of this amazing thing I saw yesterday!”
Applejack giggled and gave her sister a little noogie. “Alright you, what’s got you so worked up?”
The two sisters began strolling towards the field as Apple Bloom began to tell her story.
“Okay, so I know ya might not believe me, but I swear I saw shooting stars yesterday while I was coming back inside!”
“Shooting stars? At this time?”
“Trust me, I know what I saw! But this was weird! It started as one, but then it split into more!”
“Er, sugarcube, I ain’t no Twilight, but I don’t think shooting stars can do that…”
“But it did! I don’t remember how exactly, but I swear it did! And it was multicolored! It was almost like a nighttime rainbow!”
“Maybe it was Rainbow Dash doing a new Sonic Rainboom technique?”
“At this time? That pony sleeps longer than a bear during hibernation, and ya want to tell me that she’s doing Sonic Rainbooms at night?”
“... alright, I guess ya got a point there. Still, like I said, I think that shooting stars splitting like that is a little far-fetched.”
“But I know-”
Apple Bloom got cut off by the sound of the family dog, Winona. She sounded frightened for some reason. Before the girls could give it any thought, Winona sprinted towards them and hid behind Applejack.
“Hoowee, ya seem startled as a sheep by a timberwolf. What’s gotten into ya, Winona?”
She gestured towards… rocks?
“... rocks got ya so worked up? Yeah, they are movin’, but the field’s a little steep, girl. It’s fine.”
She just whimpered some more after she looked at the rocks.
“Uhh, AJ…?” Apple Bloom looked weirded out when she looked at her. “… do rocks have eyes?”
“Uh… no, they don’t. What kinda question is that?”
“… these ones do.”
Applejack looked at the rocks Apple Bloom gestured to, and she wasn’t kidding. These rocks did indeed have eyes. Tiny white eyes, along with gray limbs, and stems on their heads, with a mixture of leaves as well as purple buds and flowers. There were about ten or so, by the looks of it, and they were all staring.
“… what in the name of Celestia am I lookin’ at…?” Applejack thought out loud.
Apple Bloom seemed just as bewildered as her sister. She hid behind her sister’s tail. They didn’t seem dangerous though. Weird, but not dangerous. They were just… staring. Some tilted their bodies, and a few also began rolling around, like actual rocks.
After a couple of seconds of mutual, weirded-out stares, one of the rocky creatures gestured towards them in a “follow-me” way. The rest of the creatures joined their comrade, and also gestured.
Applejack and Apple Bloom looked at each other with uncertainty.
“… I think they want us to follow them…?” Apple Bloom looked at her sister. “Should we?”
“Well, do we have anything to lose?” she replied. So with a shrug, she, Apple Bloom and Winona began to follow the weird little rock creatures.
They weren’t very fast due to their size, and Applejack learned that the hard way when she felt herself step on something hard. It turned out to be the rock creature, but it seemed fine after being stepped on. It seemed annoyed, but otherwise it was fine.
“Oh, sorry ‘bout that, lil’ critter.”
The rock creature seemed to shrug it off, and joined its comrades. After a while, they reached the end of the hill, and the creatures rolled down the hill to join some more rock creatures. Oddly enough, they weren’t alone.
The ponies’ surprise doubled when they saw some more odd creatures. Purple ones, who looked to be bulky, had little limbs, hairs on their heads, as well as stems, said stems having leaves, pink buds or pink flowers at the top, mixed.
As if they weren’t surprised enough, these creatures were strong, as they had the capacity to carry an entire basket full of apples. Applejack had remembered that Big Macintosh woke up a little early to get some extra work done, but he was nowhere to be found.
The basket must weigh at least three kilograms*, and around thirty of these purple creatures were carrying one, no problem. At least four baskets of apples were being transported to the barn, the rock creatures contributing to their transportation as well.
“Hoo nelly, them critters are mighty strong.” Applejack said in awe.
“But what are they?” Apple Bloom asked, just in awe as her sister. “And why are they carryin’ the apples?”
“I’m as clueless as you are, sis…”
As the little creatures reached the end of the barn, before they could run back, the sound of a sharp whistle in the distance made them perk up. They looked in the other direction and ran towards something, or rather, somepony.
“There you are, little Pikmin.”
“Oh, hiya Flutters!”
“Fluttershy?”
Said timid pony walked up to them. “H-hello Applejack, Apple Bloom.”
The girls noticed that her mane had flowers in them, a mixture of white, purple and pink. One of the flowers seemed to move, and it was another half-plant creature, a red one with a nose. Another white flowered creature did as well, a yellow one with ears.
“S-sorry about the Pikmin. I hope th-they didn’t cause any trouble.” Fluttershy muttered.
The earth ponies were confused. “... say what now?”
“What’d ya call ‘em again?” Apple Bloom asked curiously.
“P-Pikmin. They’re called Pikmin.”
A minute of awkward silence passed by. Fluttershy didn’t know how to explain the situation, and Applejack and Apple Bloom had opposite emotions, Applejack seemed weirded out whilst Apple Bloom was in wonder of the half-plant creatures.
“I believe your friends deserve an explanation, Miss Fluttershy.” Another little creature looked out from Fluttershy’s mane, one wearing a spacesuit.
“... this mornin’ just got a whole lot weirder…” Applejack mumbled.
“So. lemme get this straight…” Applejack started. “Yer friend Cap’n Olimar here needs help findin’ these lil’ plant critters. Pakmin, was it?”
“Pikmin, Miss Applejack,” Olimar corrected. “Indeed that is the case. You were lucky to discover the Rock and Purple Pikmin. It would be easy to confuse Rock Pikmin for mere stones.”
“I gotta wonder though, why were they carryin’ our baskets?” the cowpony asked.
“It is an instinct of the Pikmin to carry things. When they have a destination, in this case, your farm, and objects to carry, in this case, those baskets of insect condos-”
“Inse- what?” Fluttershy and Applejack asked simultaneously, the latter more in disbelief.
“I-Is that not what they’re called?” Olimar asked, confused.
“Of course not! Those are the finest apples you’ll find in these here parts of Equestria!” Applejack shouted, with offense taken.
“M-My dearest apologies,” Olimar spluttered. “I had no idea. We do not have these kinds of specimens on my planet, and I had heard an AI named these objects.”
“H-He couldn’t have known, Applejack… he’s not from this p-planet…” Fluttershy added.
Olimar got out a little device and began to write something. “Note to self, insect condos are named apples in reality…” He stopped to glance up at Applejack. “... and farmers take great offense to misnaming their cultivations.”
He put his device away. “I apologize, we got off track. I am grateful for you being able to find the Rock Pikmin and Purple Pikmin. Did you happen to see their nest?”
“It’s c-called an Onion because i-it’s… well… shaped like an onion.” Fluttershy added.
Before Applejack could reply, Apple Bloom got her attention.
“Hey sis! Look!”
The group turned to Apple Bloom to see - according to Fluttershy - an utterly adorable sight. Apple Bloom was lying on the ground, whilst some Pikmin were performing somersaults on her back, and the rest were skipping around her in laps, humming a tune whilst they skipped.
“I think they like me!” Apple Bloom said with a big smile.
“Ooooh!” Fluttershy squealed. “How adorable!”
“Huh, now that is a fine sight to capture,” Applejack commented with a smile.
“A way for Pikmin to show their contentment.” Olimar added with a smile. “Anyway, have you seen a nest of the Pikmin? Any clue would be very helpful.”
Applejack looked a little despondent. “I’m sorry Cap’n, but I’m afraid not.”
Olimar snapped his fingers. “What a shame. Still, I thank you for locating the Purple and Rock Pikmin. We shall take them off your, er… hooves.”
Apple Bloom heard that and looked a little upset. “Aw, come on! Can’t the Pikmin stay and play a little longer?”
“I’m sorry sis, they can’t. They have somewhere to be, and y’all have school to get to.” Applejack reminded her sister.
“Okay…” The Pikmin got off her and stopped skipping, and looked up at her. “It was nice meeting y’all, Pikmin.”
With a whistle, the Pikmin perked up and all went into Fluttershy’s mane.
“It was a pleasure, Miss Applejack, Miss Apple Bloom.” Olimar said.
“Pleasure’s all ours, Cap’n.” Applejack tilted her hat, before giving him a weird look. “But can I just add… y’all have some real weird names for fruits. Next thing ya tell me, you call strawberries, I dunno… sunseed berries or somethin’.”
Olimar looked awkwardly and got out his device. “Note to self - sunseed berries are named strawberries.”
“… really?”
Apple Bloom couldn’t stop thinking about that morning’s events on her way to school. According to Fluttershy and Captain Olimar, the Pikmin, as they’re called, are half-plant, half-creature hybrids from another planet. They love to move things around, hence why they were carrying the apple baskets.
There were red and yellow-colored Pikmin with Fluttershy, and the ones Apple Bloom and her sister found were Rock and Purple Pikmin. Purple Pikmin could carry ten times their size!
It wasn’t long before she arrived at the Ponyville schoolhouse. She had no idea how she would concentrate today. It wouldn’t last long though.
Not long after she stepped inside and greeted her friends, however, she heard something peculiar from some conversations.
“Did you see the shooting stars yesterday?”
“Those shooting stars yesterday were beautiful!”
“Have you ever seen stars split?!”
Interesting. Apple Bloom only smiled to herself though, knowing exactly what they were.
It wasn’t long before Miss Cheerilee stepped in, and the class began. Apple Bloom could only hope that the Pikmin would be okay. Who knows? Maybe she could tell her friends about them. She’d find her wish come true during the after-class recess, however.
After a couple of minutes being outside, she noticed that the kids were gathering nearby. One pony in the middle. Scootaloo.
Weird… I wonder what she’s up to this time…
Apple Bloom was quite surprised when she saw what the commotion was about. Standing behind Scootaloo, looking up at her expectedly, was a Pikmin. A blue one, with a mouth, as well as a familiar stem and flower.
“What is that little thing?”
“Oh my gosh, it’s so cute!”
“Where did you get it from?”
Scootaloo looked a bit proud. “Well, I plucked it out, and it began following me!”
“What do you mean by plucked out?” Twist asked.
“It was in the ground!” Scootaloo replied. “I thought it was a flower, and I plucked it out, but then this came out!” she gestured to the creature, which was looking at her with a tilted head.
“What is that thing, Scootaloo?” Pipsqueak asked the pegasus.
“Not sure, honestly.”
They started talking over each other a bit, whilst Scootaloo simply looked back at the creature.
“Heya, Apple Bloom,” Sweetie Belle greeted her friend, walking up to her from the crowd. “Did you see what Scootaloo found? It’s really cute!”
She looked at her friend in acknowledgement, but then directed her attention back to Scootaloo’s find. She walked through the crowd over to her.
“I…” She got the attention of the crowd. “I think this could be a Blue Pikmin.”
“A blue what?”
“A Pikmin. At least, that’s what Fluttershy called it…”
From there, the attention was derived entirely onto Apple Bloom. She felt overwhelmed, but she did her best to split her attention equally. Scootaloo seemed just as astonished that the farm filly knew what the little creature was.
“You know what that is?”
“Do you know where it came from?”
“Is it dangerous?”
“Whoa, whoa!” Apple Bloom tried to slow things down. “I-I don’t know much myself, but I’ll try!” She started one by one. “Er, it’s called a Pikmin. A kind of half-plant, half-animal lil’ critter. I don’t know where it came from, all I know is that it’s not from our planet, and no, it’s not dangerous.”
She realized that she may have said something she shouldn’t have. “They’re from another planet?!”
The critter behind Scootaloo winced.
“I-I think so! I didn’t understand much!” She then had a revelation. “W-wait, I-I’m gonna try somethin’...”
She tried to… whistle?
Eventually, after multiple attempts, she remembered how Fluttershy did it - she lifted her hoof to her mouth, and tried a sharp whistle. Nothing happened.
The fillies and colts looked confused. Why was she whistling?
“Aw, phooey…”
One of the colts, Rumble, walked up to Apple Bloom. He gave her a whistle.
“Here, use mine. I don’t know what you need it for, but I think it might help.”
“Thank ya, Rumble.” Apple Bloom smiled at him. She then whistled sharply into it, and all of a sudden, a bunch of Pikmin ran up to her, surprising everypony once more. Even the Blue Pikmin from behind Scootaloo ran up to her, and the Pikmin were a mix of blues and yellows.
“Oh, wow! It actually worked!”
The children then gathered around the little Pikmin, confusing them. Why were they suddenly so interested? Some of the Pikmin looked confused, some a little frightened, and some seemed to like the attention, laying down in different poses.
Eventually, one of the Yellow Pikmin pointed up to the roof of the schoolhouse, getting everypony’s attention.
“Our old frisbee?” Sweetie Belle asked. “That’s been up there for a while. But nopony has bothered to get it down.”
The same Pikmin ran over to one of the little tables. It jumped - quite high - up onto the table, and tried to get the fillies’ attention. The rest of the Pikmin seemed distracted though, so Apple Bloom wanted to use the whistle to get their attention. Before she could blow into it, Scootaloo got her attention.
“Wait! Can I try?” she asked, walking up to Apple Bloom. She looked a little conflicted, but eventually went along with it. She gave her the whistle, and she blew into it, then getting the Pikmin’s attention.
“Cool!”
“Okay, now I need it back.” Apple Bloom took the whistle back and got the Pikmin’s attention.
“Hey, I wasn’t done with it yet!” Scootaloo snatched it back and whistled.
“Scoot, I need that thing!”
“No! I want to play with them!”
“They want us to do something!”
“And I want to play with them!”
“Give it back!”
“Make me!”
The dispute went back and forth and back and forth. While the ponies seemed a mix of worried and entertained, the Pikmin looked overwhelmed. A few fainted, even, and most looked dizzy.
A loud noise got the attention of all creatures, the one Yellow Pikmin at the table, which was looking very agitated. Was it emitting sparks?
It was exclaiming something to them, but they didn’t understand anything. Soon enough, it pointed up to the frisbee on the roof again, and it kept pointing, as if it was gesturing something.
“... uhh, we don’t understand.” Scootaloo said.
The Yellow Pikmin looked exasperated. Then it pointed at Apple Bloom, then at itself, then made a gesture which looked to be one of throwing something.
It clicked for both of them. “Ya… want me to throw ya up there?”
It nodded. It then held a hand out, as if it wanted Apple Bloom to hold out her hoof. She did that, and the Pikmin jumped into her hoof.
“Alright, here goes nothin’…”
Apple Bloom threw the Yellow Pikmin, and everypony was amazed at how high it flew. A light throw was enough for the Pikmin to reach the roof. It tried to lift the frisbee, but failed, and gestured for more.
A group of four more bloomed Yellow Pikmin ran up to Apple Bloom. She threw them up there, and then they were able to lift the frisbee. They walked to the edge of the roof, then, with a few hoists, they threw the frisbee off.
Before anypony could wonder how the Pikmin would get down, they were taken back to see them jump off the roof. Some even did flips as they jumped. Before they could hit the ground, their flowers lifted up and slowed their fall. As they touched the ground, they took the frisbee over to the rest of the fillies, and placed it in front of Apple Bloom. The children were amazed at how well they worked together.
The Yellow and Blue Pikmin looked up at Apple Bloom, as if they were expecting something. But what? Their little chatter wasn’t understandable.
She sighed. “Where’s Fluttershy when you need her…?”
“Um, I’m right here.”
Everypony jumped, causing the timid pony to jump as well. The first thing they noticed is all the flowers in her mane.
“Fluttershy?!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”
“Er, I-I’m looking for…” She noticed the Pikmin, who she pointed at. “Them!” The Pikmin looked at her in… familiarity?
“P-please excuse me…” Before anypony could ask, Fluttershy whistled sharply. The Pikmin perked up and all ran over to her and jumped in her mane.
“Woooow…” All the students marveled at how easily Fluttershy handled the Pikmin.
“O-Oh, there are more. O-over there.” Fluttershy pointed at some flowers alongside the fence, said flowers having a mix of blue and yellow stems. “W-would you mind p-plucking them out, children?”
“Don’t need to tell me twice!” Scootaloo suddenly ran over to one of the yellow stemmed flowers and plucked it out, getting a Yellow Pikmin. “Come on, everypony!”
From there, all the kids went and plucked them out, one for everypony, getting a mix of Blue Pikmin and Yellow Pikmin. Fluttershy smiled at them.
“Th-thank you, children.” With a whistle, all the Pikmin ran over to the timid pegasus and jumped into her mane.
“I-I need to go now. There are m-more Pikmin to be found. H-have a nice day.” With a shy wave, Fluttershy walked off again.
They all watched her walk off, and then they saw what the flowers were. They were all Pikmin. A red one popped up from the top of her mane, looking back at them with a tilted head, before disappearing into her mane.
“... is it weird that I miss them already?” Sweetie Belle asked, out of nowhere. It sparked agreements, all of the kids agreeing that it was sad to see them go.
“Recess is over, students! Back inside, please!” They heard the voice of Miss Cheerilee. She looked confused, most likely because everypony was gathered into one big group, which wasn’t a common sight.
“... did I miss anything?”