“Oh, hi, everypony,” Fluttershy said, poking her head from the stairs into Pinkie’s bedroom. “Mrs. Cake said you were up here.”
“Fluttershy! You’re just in time!” Pinkie waved Fluttershy over. “We’re writing a story for Twilight!”
A confused look crossed Fluttershy’s face. “A story? Why?”
Rainbow blushed a bit after providing another part of her story to Spike. “Weeeell, she had a bit of a problem this morning while I was moving clouds around, and let’s just say she’s in a bad mood. Pinkie thought a story might cheer her up.”
Fluttershy gasped. “Oh, you mean no one told her about trying to use magic around Dashie when she’s controlling the weather? Poor Twilight!” She started looking through the pages filled with Spike’s writing. “What can I do to help?”
“Why don’t you narrate some of the story?” Pinkie suggested, popping another cupcake into her mouth. “Spike’s writing everything down, so you can just go ahead and add whatever you want.”
Fluttershy pawed at the floor, and looked away hiding her face in her mane. “I don’t know, I don’t think I’m a very good storyteller.”
“Nonsense, ‘Shy,” Rainbow came over to give her a reassuring hoof across her back. “You had some of the best stories back at flight camp.”
“Well, true, but...”
Pinkie came next to Fluttershy, opposite Rainbow Dash. “Come on, it’ll be fun!” She gave Fluttershy a wide grin.
Fluttershy sighed a bit, looking down to the floor. “Well, if you say so,” she replied softly. She coughed to clear her throat.
“Whenever you’re ready, Fluttershy,” Spike offered, his quill at the ready.
“Um, let’s see.” Fluttershy’s brow wrinkled as she concentrated on an idea. “Okay, here we go...’Flutterina, the Magical Tea Maiden, couldn’t wait for today. She was going to have her largest tea party ever with all the creatures of the kingdom, and she made sure her endless kettle of tea and basket of biscuits were ready to go.’”
“Argh,” Rainbow complained, slapping her hoof against her head. “Again with the tea parties!”
“Now, Dashie, let Fluttershy tell her story the way she wants it,” Pinkie said. “Besides, maybe it will be a big fun tea party with lots of games and sweets!”
“Pinkie, this is Fluttershy, we know exactly how her tea parties are like!”
Twilight Sparkle and Daring Do were still heaving, recovering their breath from being chased by the Grimacing Griffons. Daring got to her hooves and peered out through a slit between two boards covering a window. “No sign of the Griffons yet.”
Content that Daring was watching out for trouble, Twilight turned to look into the building, and then did a face hoof. “Oh, Fluttershy,” she moaned under her breath.
“Flutter-who?” Daring asked, turning to Twilight. She then saw what had confused Twilight. “Ah, wild animals!”
The main room looked like a tavern out of Dodge, with a large common room and a balcony that surrounded it on the second floor. There may have been more adornment before, but now the room was stripped of anything of potential value, leaving a mish-mash of tables and chairs in the center. Among the tables of the open area were numerous creatures, mice, squirrels, birds, ferrets, and even a bear, all sitting down enjoying tea.
“I’ll protect you, ma’am!” Daring said, stepping in front of Twilight, and leaning down into a snarl as she eyed the creatures.
“Daring, these aren’t wild animals!” Twilight scolded her. “They’re harmless woodland critters! And... they’re... having... tea.” Twilight couldn’t believe she just said that, and let out a low grunt.
“Twilight, I’ve been in enough jungles to know danger when I see it, and these creatures are dangerous!”
Twilight huffed. “Look,” she said, using her telekinesis to grab at a squirrel seated at a nearby table, “does this look dangerous to you?” The squirrel wriggled a bit at Twilight’s magical grasp.
“Lady, I’ve seen trouble,” Daring retorted, narrowly staring at the creature, eye-to-eye. “This guy reeks of it.”
“It’s a squirrel!” Twilight shouted. “A cute, cuddly little squirrel!”
Daring prodded at the creature in mid-air. The squirrel responded by giving her hoof a small nip, causing her to back off “Ow! Look, I told you it was dangerous.”
Twilight rolled her eyes. She levitated the squirrel back to its table, carefully setting it down. “Look, I trusted you, you trust me. They aren’t going to harm us unless you want them to, okay?”
Daring scrunched her face for a moment. “All right, but but they still smell like trouble to me.”
Twilight sighed. “You stay here and watch for the griffons. I’ll go see if there’s an exit out back.”
“Right, gotcha,” Daring said, already staring through a slit between the boarded-up window.
Twilight stepped carefully between the tables as to not disturb the animals. Their chirps and squeaks as they drank tea, by whatever means they could, made it sound like they were all in deep conversation with each other. Twilight, unfortunately, couldn’t understand a single word.
As she neared the back door of the main room, the soft tones of a quiet harp suddenly echoed in the building. Despite being lit from the beams of sunlight that broke through the boarded windows, the room appeared to dim, save for a single bright light near a doorframe on the second floor.
The animals went completely silent, turning simultaneously as one to the lit door.
The door creaked open and out stepped Fluttershy.
Well, it looked like Fluttershy, at least to Twilight. The pink mane and yellow coat were unmistakable, but she was dressed head to hoof in a billowing white dress with lace fringes. She wore a headband of bright flowers and lace around her head, while several more flowers were placed about her mane and tail in a decorative fashion. There was something else on her back, but from this distance and in the darkened building, Twilight couldn’t tell what it was. She was carrying a serving tray with a tea set on in it.
“I’m heee-eeeeere!” she sang. The animals began to make appreciative noises. The harp music swelled in volume.
“Wow, who’s that?” Daring had abandoned her post and stood near the main area of the floor, enraptured by the sight. She had taken off her hat and held it close to her, staring at Fluttershy. Her eyes were wide open, glistening at the newcomer.
Twilight facehooved again. “Well, I’d say that was Fluttershy, but given what I’ve seen so far, I really have no clue.”
“Here I come to serve you tea, my animal friends!” Fluttershy’s voice continued in a sing-song manner. She walked over to a break in the railing on the balcony. Two birds brought a pair of strings to the device on Fluttershy’s back, hooking the ends into place.
“Oh Celestia,” Twilight muttered, her face still buried in her hoof.
The strings pulled taut—likely pulled through a set of pulleys by a couple of animals elsewhere, Twilight rationalized—and Fluttershy was gently pulled off the balcony, suspended in midair. Somehow, the light pattern shifted to fall onto her as she floated there. “My endless tea kettle will quench your thirst with its wonderful flavors,” she continued to entone in song. A wild glissando came from the harp music, punctuating Flutterina’s song.
Twilight, wandering back towards the entrance of the building, could now see the device clearly, giving Fluttershy a pair of fake, sparkling wings, likely made from painted wood. Her real wings were tucked tightly to her body underneath them.
The animals cheered some more, raising their cups to the best each could.
“Wow, she’s beautiful,” Daring commented, a slight waver in her voice.
Twilight started to wonder if less surreal outside with the Griffons on the hunt.
“I am Flutterina, the Magical Tea Maiden, here to serve you your tea, my friends! Hold your cups high as I descend!” Fluttershy sang lightly, the harp music melodizing along with her. On cue, she was lowered down to the table tops, spinning gently and carefully holding her tea tray steady. As she neared a table, she used her mouth to lift the tea kettle and carefully pour into the waiting cups, spilling not a single drop. Twilight saw that the kettle, along with other parts of her tea set, were linked through a loose metal chain around Fluttershy’s neck.
“Yeah, this explains a lot,” Twilight commented under her breath.
“Hey, Twilight, if you know this pony, you’ve got to introduce me to her!” Daring prodded Twilight in her side. The adventurer kept on watching as Flutterina was carefully positioned by whomever was manipulating the rope, allowing her to visit each table to serve tea.
Soon enough, Flutterina had made it to the front of the room, where Twilight and Daring were watching. “Oh,” she said, as if noticing the ponies for the first time. “You’re not animals...”
“No, we aren’t,” Twilight tersely replied.
“Oh, um, well, would you like some tea? I’ve also got some light biscuits—”
Daring barged ahead, pushing Twilight aside. “Oh, I’d love some, ma’am,” she said, offering a bow to Flutterina. “My name is Dr. Daring Do, Professor of Archeology Studies at Cloudsdale University and Adventurer Extraordinaire!”
Twilight balked. “Wait, that’s not in the boo—” She was silenced by Daring’s hoof to her mouth.
“You’ll have to excuse my friend, she’s a little excited,” Daring rolled her head back, her grey mane flipping around.
Flutterina blushed. “Oooh,” she quietly uttered, then realized something. “Oh, here, have a seat, I’ll have you tea in a moment!” Without saying a word, she was pulled away, and over to a nearby table, where the bear and a few ferrets sat. She nodded to direct the two to the empty seats.
“Why, thank you, ma’am,” Daring took another bow and made to the offered spot. “You coming, Twilight?”
“Ugh, my stomach’s too upset for tea,” Twilight exaggerated. “I’ll, uh, just keep an eye out for the Griffons, if you don’t mind.”
Twilight prodded herself to the front windows to keep watch. She looked back every so often to see what was happening with Daring and Flutterina. The adventurer had taken a cup of tea from the Maiden and was excitedly describing her adventures to her, waving her hooves about to punctuate the stories.
“...And then there was this one time where that evil Ahuizotl stole the Sapphire Statue from me, but I was able to get it back, even with a sprained wing, a broken hoof, and having to wear an eyepatch!”
“Oh, my,” Flutterina uttered, entranced by Daring’s tale.
Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes, and went back to looking through the window slits. The Grimacing Griffons had been patrolling the town, passing by in small groups, but took little interest in looking in any of the structures. Twilight recalled they weren’t written as the most intelligent of Daring’s foes, just the most dangerous.
A muted thump echoed through the building, and some dust from the rafters fell into the sunlight beams. The animals skittered about, taking comfort in small packs. The harp music, which had been plucking soft notes for the last several minutes, suddenly came to a stop.
Daring was on her hooves instantaneously. “What was that?” she called out as she trotted to the window alongside Twilight.
Twilight had been watching the Griffons, and as soon as the distant noise waned, the creatures had turned en masse towards the other side of town, towards that cliff face they had fallen from before.
“Oh, dear,” Twilight mumbled. “This can’t be good.”
There was another ground-shaking noise, this one much much closer. A few of the tea cups rattled off the tables and shattered to the ground. Flutterina had gotten twisted around in her prop ropes, and was struggling to stop her lazy spinning. The animals below her had quieted down, their various ears perked to the new sounds.
Twilight eyed the Griffons as they continued to pour towards the noise. “Hang on a second, I have a bad feeling about this.” She pushed away the furniture they had stacked aside, and then magicked the door open a crack to peek out. Though she was in plain sight of the Griffons, they gave her no heed, called to the singular source at the far end of the town.
Assured that she wasn’t going to get captured, Twilight took a step out, enough to be able to see past the buildings that blocked her view of the street. One look was all it took before she darted back inside and slammed the door behind her, panicked.
“Oh, Celestia, Pinkzilla’s here!”
“Pink-who?” Daring asked, looking to take her own glance outside. “You mean that giant monster from before?” She waved a hoof dismissively as she started to step outside. ”Pshaw! She’s probably no match for the great Daring Do!”
Twilight bit down on Daring’s tail and yanked her back. “No, trust me, you can’t. There’s no time to explain!” Twilight scanned the room, spotting the back doors. “Fluttershy—I mean, Flutterina, do you have a wagon or something?’
Flutterina was still spinning slowly, lacking any sort of control on her motions. “Uh, I think there’s a cart for deliveries—”
“Good enough! Everypony, get to that cart!” Twilight commanded, pointing her hoof to the back door.
The room broke into a panic, as the building shook from further thumps. The animals made a dash for the door, with some of the smaller creatures having latched onto the backsides of the larger ones.
Flutterina struggled to get free of the ropes in a futile manner. “Uh, a little help... please?”
Daring dashed to the top of the closest table and jumped onto Flutterina’s back, extracting a small knife with her mouth from her kit. “Hold on, ma’am, I’ll get you down.” The mare went to work on the prop ropes.
Twilight took a careful look outside. The giant Pinkzilla had reached the spot of the ruined clock tower, and at the rate it was moving, would be atop them in a few more steps. The Griffons swarmed around it, but it simply swiped the relatively tiny creatures aside, laughing deeply.
“Gotcha!” Daring announced. Twilight turned to see Daring, slowly beating her wings as she lowered Flutterina in her hooves to the floor. “Twilight, let’s go!”
“Right after you, Daring,” Twilight said as she raced behind them towards the back door.
The door let to a short hall with other passages leading off it, but all the animals had left by the door at the far end of the hall that opened to the outside. As Flutterina had said, there was an open wooden cart, large enough to carry them all, sitting there.
A loud shattering noise rattled the building just as Twilight was exiting it. “Daring, you’re going to have to pull. Everypony else, get on!”
The animals didn’t have to be told twice, and quickly worked together to get themselves onto the wagon. Daring was already pulling the harness around herself, tightening the strap around her barrel.
Flutterina was trying to jump to catch the edge of the cart, her tea set jingling with each pitiful attempt. The fake wooden wings bounced uselessly against her sides. “Uh, help, please?” she called out weakly.
Twilight sighed, and quickly stepped in to push Flutterina up by the flank with her head to the cart edge. “Just hurry up, we don’t have much time!” The bear reached down to help lift Flutterina into the cart.
Another earth-shaking thump was enough to send the ruins of one of the nearby buildings collapse in on itself.
Daring was looking over her shoulder, eying the bright pink thing that could be seen over the tops of the buildings. “Hurry, Twilight, it’s right on top of us!”
Assured that Flutterina had finally struggled her way into the cart, Twilight lept on herself. “Everypony on? Then let’s go, Daring!” she ordered.
Daring had already broke into a gallop before Twilight could finish her sentence, jostling the ponies and other creatures as the cart creaked to life. Twilight was slammed into the back of the cart, temporarily losing her breath, as Daring took the cart onto a large street that led directly out of town into the grasslands beyond.
A crash came from too close nearby. Twilight, Flutterina, and the animals looked back to find the building they were just in now occupied by a giant pink foot. Shards of wood stuck out at haphazard angles from it.
Flutterina gasped in a whisper. “My tea room!”
Twilight felt herself hyperventilating a bit, and took a few slower breaths while trying to hold herself steady in the cart. “That was way too close.” She turned to look at Flutterina, who was agast and unblinking at the sight. “Flutterina? Flutterina?” Twilight waved a hoof in front of Flutterina’s face, but got no response. She turned towards the animals that had gathered around them. “Could you watch her?” The creatures gave various chirps and squeaks. They surrounded their maiden and patted at her sides with their paws and wings.
Twilight moved towards the front of the cart. “Daring, do you have any idea where we’re going?”
Daring kept her eyes on the horizon. “No clue. Isn’t this great?” Twilight could hear a bit of squeal in that response.
“Yes, this is just great. We’ve got a cart of woodland critters and a scared-stiff tea maiden back here, and thousands of angry Griffons and a giant pink—whatever that is, chasing us. I’d definitely rank this high on my ‘awesome’ scale.” Twilight snorted.
“Yeah, I wish all my days could be like this!”
A loud roar approached from behind them. Twilight glanced back to see Pinkazilla taking large, lumbering steps, each one bringing the monster closer to the cart. An indistinct cloud of griffons swarmed just behind the giant creature, maintaining the same pace. “Can you go any faster?” she called ahead to Daring.
“Hey, I’m the one pulling the loaded cart here! I’m at top speed! Can’t you do that levitation trick again?”
Twilight looked back at the load they were carrying. “No, there’s far too much weight for me!”
Flutterina had finally broken out of her spell, and pointed with a hoof to the distance. “What’s that?” Perhaps a half-mile away, a small trail of smoke could be seen on a horizon.
“It looks like a train...” Twilight said, squinting into the light, then suddenly realization hit. “A train! It’ll easily outpace Pinkzilla!”
“Perfect!” Daring changed course, bee-lining it for the trail of smoke. Twilight, Flutterina, and the animals held on as they were sloshed about the cart.
“Watch it!” Twilight shouted, using her telekinesis to grab at a ferret that was nearly knocked free.
“Sorry,” Daring apologized. “Just keep everypony safe back there, I got this!”
Within minutes, Daring had closed the gap between them and the train. Twilight could make out the details of the train, and was surprised that it resembled the ice-cream colored cars of the Express between Ponyville and Canterlot, but at this point, she didn’t even try to rationalize why that was the case. “Daring, there’s a flatbed car coming up!” she shouted. “We can get everypony safely on there!”
“Right, everypony get ready to jump,” Daring ordered through her heavy breaths. She angled the cart to run parallel with the train, leaving a few feet between the cart and the train. Daring had positioned the cart some lengths before the flatbed, but the distance was closing quick as the train surged ahead.
Twilight checked to make sure all the critters were ready to jump, and saw Flutterina locked in a dead stare ahead of them. “What’s wrong?” she asked.
“C-c-c-cliff!” Flutterina managed to eke out, pointing a hoof ahead.
Twilight turned and saw what freaked out Flutterina. The train tracks continued onto a narrow wood-framework bridge, crossing the gap between the two sides of a wide and very deep canyon.
“Don’t worry!” Daring called back. “Get everypony onto that train!”
Twilight pointed to the flatbed with her hoof as it moved into place parallel with them. “Go now! Jump!”
The animals quickly followed her command, with the bear helping to toss some of the smaller creatures across.
“That means you too, Flutterina!” Twilight shouts at the pony, frozen in fear.
“B-b-but I don’t like to fly...” Flutterina whispered, shivering on the spot.
Twilight rolled her eyes for a brief moment before channeling her magic to levitate the scared-stiff mare across the gap. Flutterina let out a soft “eep” and squirmed in the spell’s aura, her eyes firmly shut. Twilight unceremoniously dropped her into the flatcar before doing a final check. Only the bear was left and as she watched, the ursine was making a running leap onto the flatbed.
“Daring, we’re all clear!” Twilight yelled, before making the short jump herself, crashing into Flutterina. After untangling herself from the mare, she looked to see Daring still racing ahead with the cart, the cliff edge dangerously close. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the enormous mass of Pinkzilla racing for the train only hundreds of feet away.
“What are you doing?!” Twilight shouted.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be right with you!’ Daring called back. The mare put her head down and set into a faster gallop.
“DARING!” Twilight called again, just as the train started to cross the bridge. Daring and the cart fell over the edge, dropping out of side from the flatbed. Twilight could only gasp in shock.
“Oh, no!” Flutterina mumbled from behind Twilight, hanging onto the mare for dear life.
“We’ve got to stop the train! We need to go back and get her!” Twilight barked out, without thinking. Her head turned from side to side, looking for anypony to help her. “Quick, somepony get the cond—”
Something tapped Twilight’s front hoof. She looked down to find one of the bunnies poking at her while gesturing upwards with a free paw. Twilight followed the paw’s direction, looking up in the sky to see a flash of brownish-gray streak out of the canyon. Daring did a loop-de-loop above the bridge before coming to a quick landing on the flatbed.
“Oh, thank Celestia!” Twilight let go of her breath, as Daring shook out her wings before tucking them away. “I thought you were doomed.”
“Twilight, I told you, I’m Daring Do! Danger is my middle name!” The mare stood proudly, as the rescued animals gave her appreciative chirps, squeaks, and squawks.
Flutterina still kept a good grip on Twilight as she gasped in awe of Daring. “Oh, Daring, that was amazing,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Daring took a brief bow, tipping her hat to Flutterina. “All part of my day, ma’am.”
Twilight rolled her eyes and looked back from where they had come from. Pinkzilla had reached the edge of the canyon, and appeared to be stomping her feet in anger. Specks of black whirled about her head; Twilight guessed that the Grimacing Griffons were still trying to take down the giant creature. She sighed, muttering to herself, “What did I do to deserve this?”