//------------------------------// // Something rainbow this way dashes // Story: Fluttersized // by Barrobroadcaster //------------------------------// Twilight, Rarity and Pinkie Pie galloped to Sweet Apple Acres with Spike riding on Twilight's back. They followed the gobs of cheese in the road as they lead them into the countryside. Slowly, each gob diminished until finally the trail disappeared just outside of one the fenced in fields. They looked around, trying to find any other indication of Fluttershy's path. "Hey! What's that?" Pinkie pointed at a giant, lumpy canvas bag in the middle of the field. They climbed over the fence and trotted over to the bag. Pinkie Pie poked it with a hoof while Twilight trotted around with Spike to the mouth of the sac and peered inside. "Seeds? Didn't Fluttershy say she'd bought some seeds from Cloudsdale?" Spike asked. "They must've landed here when she dropped them," Twilight said looking around. "Maybe Applejack's seen her." They walked through the fields to the farm and saw no further evidence that any giant pegasi had passed through. Twilight and the others reached the farmhouse and saw no evidence of Applejack or her family either. They knocked on the door, called out to the family members but recived no responses. Twilight walked around the estate and finally saw them in the distance by the barn. "Hey! They're over here!" she called to her friends. The Apples were busying themselves around the barn and looked to be working frantically, except for Applejack who was facing a tree nearby. Twilight galloped over to the barn with Rarity, Pinkie and Spike following close behind her. Something seemed to be different about the barn... it seemed larger, wider. Almost like it had bloated outward but still maintained its shape. "Applejack! Big Mac! What are you guys doing?" Twilight asked as she came over. Applebloom stuck her head out from behind the barn. She held a can of red paint by the handle in her mouth and dropped it when she saw them. "Oh, uh, hi Twilight! We're just uh, remodeling the barn!" Applebloom said. "We're doing what to the barn?" Granny Smith asked. "Yes. We are remodeling the barn," Applejack stated flatly, still facing the tree. Twilight raised an eyebrow at her friend in suspicion. "Okay... have any of you seen Fluttershy today?" Twilight asked them. Applejack swallowed hard but didn't turn around. The barn's wooden paneling creaked. "Nope! No, haven't seen anypony all day have we Big Mac?" Applebloom said nervously as she backed away from the barn. Her big brother let out a long "Ehhhhh" as if to give one of his two trade mark responses but this time he trailed off and dropped his eyes to the ground. "Well, do you guys need any help with the barn?" Twilight offered. The paneling creaked again and a horizontal wooden beam on the side of the barn began to peel back as if forced outward by some inward force. Spike thought he caught sight of some sort of yellow bulge behind the board before Big Mac pushed it back in. "I think we've got it under control but thanks for offerin!" Applebloom said, starting to sweat a little. Big Mac began being pushed back by whatever was forcing out the board in the side of the barn. Applebloom put her back against the wooden beam and helped Big Mac push against it. Both of them gritted their teeth and the wood groaned under stress. "Ennnnnnnh, hey, why don't y'all go have some of Granny's lemonade back at the house!" Applebloom suggested as she dug her hooves into the ground, trying to hold back the beam. The barn began shaking. "Applebloom, is there something you're not telling us?" Rarity asked with a knowing smile at the young filly. Applejack finally turned around and gasped when she saw her brother and sister pressed against the side of the barn. The beam they were holding back snapped in the middle. The front of the barn burst open and long, pink hair spilled fourth from the breach. The back side of the barn collapsed outward, revealing the face of an uncomfortably cramped Fluttershy. Applebloom and Big Mac backed away with the others as the sides of the barn finally unfolded and crumbled to the ground in a cloud of dust. The dust cleared and Fluttershy stood exposed amongst the ruins of the barn. "Oh! Hi Twilight." Fluttershy said, smiling timidly and brushing off some debris from her mane. "Hey Fluttershy. Remodeling the barn huh Applebloom?" Twilight asked, accusing the young filly. "Ummm, yeah I mean, um-" "It's okay Twilight. I asked them to help me hide," Fluttershy explained. "Why were you trying to hide from us Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. "I wasn't hiding from you, I was hiding from-" "Well, lookey what we have here, brother-of-mine!" Flam announced as he, his brother and Trixie drove towards the group in their tank. The tank kicked up a cloud of dirt and knocked over a fence as the brothers jostled at the controls. Trixie held her head with one hoof and looked off to the side in an expression of boredom and disapproval as she rode with the brothers. "It's the Super Cheesy thing!" Pinkie yelled as she pointed to the tank. "That's Super Easy!" Flam yelled back. "Isn't that what I said?" Pinkie asked the others around her. Spike shrugged, conveying the combination of confusion at the approaching monstrosity and indifference at whatever the salesponies called it that was felt by the group. "Looks like the monster's trail has led us right to our former competitors, my brother!" Flim said. "The creature's not content with just destroying properties in Ponyville! Now it's attacking Sweaty Apples Acre!" Flam said back. "That's Sweet Apple Acres!" Applebloom shouted at their rivals, correcting them. "Isn't that what I said?" Flam asked his brother, confused. His brother shrugged. "You know, both of you are talking but at least one of you should be driving," Trixie said. They knocked over another fence. The tank ground to a halt just in front of where the barn had stood moments earlier. "Our apologies for roughing up the fence posts a bit my dear sweet apples but allow us to make up for it by catching this monster!" Flam announced to the group. "I've told you already! It's not a monster; it's Twilight Sparkle's friend grown giant,", Trixie told them. The brothers exchanged puzzled looks. "Preposterous! We saw this monster destroy the market place, Sugarcube Corner and now South Apple Anchor's barn!" Flim said. "It's Sweet Apple Acres!" "Whatever. I hope your apples don't mind a little cheese!", Flim said as he threw a switch. The cannon lowered and made a loud churning noise, the cheese inside surging. Point-blank range, there was no way to avoid this blast. Twilight's mind raced as she tried to think of a spell to counter the impending shot. Would she even be fast enough to intercept it if she knew a spell to counter a giant blob of cheese? "Soon, ponies from across Equestria will be lining up to get one of our Super Cheesy-" *ahem* "Easy" "Super EASY Catch-a-Beastie 6001's. Dragons, Hydras, Timberwolves, Ursas, giant pegasi, all will be problems of the past thanks to Flim Flam Science and Technology!", Flam said as the cannon prepared to fire. Fluttershy closed her eyes. The cannon was about to fire. "I think you two need to put a lid on it!" Pinkie shouted as she dashed to the tank. She climbed aboard and over the cabin where the two brothers sat and up to the barrel. With both hooves, she slammed the combat helmet into the opening of the barrel. "Oh dear.", Flam remarked. The cannon started to whine and rumble. The entire tank began to groan and shake as the pressure from the cheese in the barrel continued to build. The brothers leapt from their seats and and tried to remove the helmet blocking the barrel, to no avail. "Pull harder!" "I'm pulling as hard as I can!" Trixie pushed herself between the squabbling brothers. "Both of you, move aside and let the GREAT and POWERFU-" The cannon exploded in a torrent of cheese, blasting the three unicorns off the tank. A fountain of fromage erupted from the cannon's remains. The gooey mass covered the tank and spilled fourth onto the ground around it, not a single drop landing on Fluttershy or the others. "You fools! Ewah, it's everywhere!" Trixie complained as she was stuck to the ground in a glob of cheese fifteen feet away from the tank. "I can't believe this! How could this have happened?! We still had two payments to make on it!" Flim and Flam griped as they tried to pry themselves out of the cheese pile they were in. "You got cheese on my mane, my hat, even the Alicorn Amulet!" Trixie said as she tried to pull cheese off of her. She removed the Alicorn Amulet as and tried brushing the cheese off her coat from underneath it. A purple aura appeared around the amulet and it floated away from her hoof. "I'll be taking this," said Twilight as she levitated the amulet over to her. "Hey!" "This time, I think I'll send this to Princess Celestia for safe keeping," Twilight considered as she stowed the amulet behind her. "Ohhhh, I didn't even get to use it this time... and now I'm covered in cheese!", Trixie whined, still drenched in the sticky mess. Twilight smiled; things were finally starting to turn around. "All right, no more tanks, no more Amulets, no more Discord. Everything's going to be all right now. Nothing else bad is going to happen." Twilight ended that sentence in her mind withI hope. "Well, we still haven't seen Queen Chrysalis. Or King Sombra. He could show up," Pinkie stated. "That would require him to get screentime Pinkie. That's just not gonna happen," Applejack reminded her, breaking the fourth wall. Pinkie Pie nodded solemnly and looked at the ground. Twilight turned in response to the comment. "NOTHING ELSE BAD IS GOING TO HAPPEN!", she said in thundering declaration. The two ponies went silent. A shadow quickly fell over them all. "Fluttershy, no, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to yell! Please don't run away again!" Twilight said as she turned to Fluttershy but the pegasus was standing still in the remains of the barn. She shook her head. Twilight looked to Applejack and the others. Their faces were frozen with mouths hung wide open as they stared in awe at something behind her. Twilight turned back around nervously to the source of the other giant shadow that was cast over them to see another giant pegasus standing before them. "Can somepony please tell me what's going on?", a giant Rainbow Dash asked.