//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: One Step Forward, Two Steps Ed // Story: Ed-ventures in Equestria // by Gallant Tempest //------------------------------// Fluttershy awoke with a soft, quiet yawn, her eyes slowly opening as the sunlight streaming in from the nearby window gently washed over the entirety of her bedroom. Slowly raising herself into a sitting position, she tenderly unfurled her wings and cricked her back as she threw the bedsheets forwards and off her body, before carefully leaping off the bed while stifling another yawn. After blinking a few times to reorient herself, she shook her head and made her way downstairs; heading over to the kitchen, she flew up to the cupboard and opened the door, pulling out a box of food pellets. Carrying it in her hooves, she flew over to the centre of the room and tore open the lid, before pouring the food out onto the carpet in the middle of the room as she called out to her animal friends. “Breakfast time, everyone! Who's hungry?” All of the animals quickly climbed out of their respective homes that lined the edges of the room, and leapt on the pile of food with great gusto. Fluttershy giggled softly at their enthusiasm, satisfied that her animal friends were well-nourished. As she returned to carefully place the half-empty box back in the cupboard, she felt a faint tugging sensation on her tail. She looked down to see Angel staring up at her, eyebrow raised and tapping his foot expectantly. Fluttershy gave him a warm smile. “Good morning, Angel bunny! How are you today?” Angel tilted his head to one side and kept tapping his foot. After a few moments of confusion, Fluttershy suddenly nodded in understanding. “Don't worry, Angel, I haven't forgotten. We'll have breakfast together in a moment, but I just need to go feed the chickens first. Is that okay?” Smiling, Angel nodded and scampered away. With this, Fluttershy closed the door of the cupboard, before flying over to the back door. As she opened it, she took in a deep breath of fresh air, sighing in contentment as the cool morning air refreshed and calmed her. After a few moments of rest, she began to make her way over to the chicken coop, a joyful smile spreading over her face as the pleasant weather lifted her spirits. “Today's going to be a great day...I just know it!” Before she could continue her train of thought, however, she was interrupted by the sudden onset of a loud noise just as she reached the coop. She turned to see where it had originated from, and was greeted by the sight of a hulking bipedal beast charging towards her, an unhinged look of madness filling its eyes as it bellowed some strange sort of war cry about mutants and chickens. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she took an instinctive step back. Pressing her ears flat against her head, she unleashed a scream of pure terror as her aggressor grew ever-closer. Finally, she turned and bolted towards the back door, her eyes tightly shut as her hooves thudded against the dirt path. As soon as she was inside, she slammed the door shut behind her as hard as she could, her eyes watering as she took in deep, panting breaths. Her animal friends all turned to look at her with worried expressions. Angel quickly bounded up to her and placed a paw on her hoof, looking up at her with concern. As she composed herself, she turned to Angel with an anxious look in her eyes. “A-angel...m-m-monster...a monster t-tried to attack me...” she gasped softly. Before Angel could respond, however, they both heard sounds of raucous clamour coming from outside. Sharing a nervous glance, they both moved over to the window and they peered out to see what commotion the strange creature was causing. The bizarre bipedal creature, with yellowed skin and peculiar clothing, held one of the chickens in its arms, making kissy faces at it and gently stroking its back. “Don't worry chickens, you're safe now! Ed is here to protect you!” Fluttershy and Angel exchanged a confused glance, but their attention was suddenly drawn back to the window by the sound of enraged yelling. “EDWARD!” They saw two more creatures join the first, both with pinkish-white skin – though the taller one had fairer skin and an odd black hat, while the shorter one had skin that was a more tanned pink. Again, these other two creatures were dressed in an odd fashion much like the first. Both of them were scowling, and approached their companion hurriedly with clear looks of annoyance on their faces. “How could you even think of doing something so irresponsible?!” the hat-wearer shouted furiously. The one with yellow skin – presumably named “Ed” –– froze at this and gently put down the chicken, before dragging its feet across the floor as it gazed at the ground sadly. Eventually, it turned to its companions and spoke. “But...but Double D! I though it might have been trying to attack the chickens!” The hat-wearer – whose name was now known to be “Double D” – simply shook his head and sighed. “Honestly, Ed...do you truly believe that? It should have been fairly obvious that the pegasus is probably owned by whoever inhabits this property. The likelihood of it trying to 'attack' the chickens would be slim at best, and your actions, however well-intentioned, were completely uncalled for.” The shorter one piped up at this, “Yeah, lummox! Can't we go anywhere without you causing some kinda trouble?” he complained. As the three of them continued their discourse in this manner, Fluttershy turned back to Angel with a confused look on her face. “So...it was only trying to attack me...because it was worried about my chickens?” Angel just tilted his head and shrugged. Fluttershy shook her head and turned back to the window, looking at the squabbling trio with mild curiosity. She placed a hoof under her chin thoughtfully. “They don't seem to be too dangerous, and it looks like they have good intentions at heart. But...” Before she could continue, however, she noticed the one known as “Double D” was slowly approaching the back door. Her eyes grew wide in shock, and she grabbed Angel and pulled him close to her chest before hiding out of sight behind the kitchen counter. “Eek! One of them is coming this way!” she squeaked. After a few moments of tense silence, the sound of three gentle knocks against the door resounded throughout the cottage. “Hello! Is anyone home?” a voice called out. Fluttershy held her breath and sat perfectly still, not daring to move even the slightest muscle. It wasn't long before the knocks repeated and the voice called out again. “Hello? Is anyone there? My deepest apologies if I'm disturbing you, but I was just wondering if my friends and I could speak with you a moment?” Fluttershy glanced down at Angel, who simply gave her a curt nod. Placing him down on the floor, Fluttershy calmly trotted over to the door. Taking a deep breath, she gingerly placed her hoof against the door handle, before slowly opening the door to see the strange bipedal creature stood before her with a look of surprise and its fist raised as though to knock a third time. “Um...hello?” she mumbled softly, “Can I help you?” The creature's arm and jaw both fell slack for a few moments as it simply stared at her. Its companions soon stood by its side and did the same. Eventually, the short one spoke up. “It...it can talk?” he stated in a hoarse whisper. Fluttershy was slightly taken aback at this. “Of course I can talk. And I'm a she, not an 'it', thank you.” Mentally berating herself for sounding rude, she flinched and quickly added a hushed “um, sorry” afterwards. There was an awkward silence following this. Eventually, Double D cleared his throat and began to speak. “Well, I was hoping we could talk with the owner of this delightful property. Do you know where they might be?” he asked. Fluttershy nervously kicked a hoof at the ground before turning to face Double D once again. “That would be me. I live here. This is my cottage,” she explained. After she said this, further silence descended upon the four of them, creating a rather discomforting atmosphere. Suddenly, Ed broke the silence with a simple statement. “Aliens!” They all turned to him with a look of confusion. “I beg your pardon?” Double D queried. “We were abducted by aliens, and they dumped us in that forest. Now we're trapped on an alien world. Simple!” Ed proclaimed triumphantly, folding his arms and grinning. Eddy sighed and facepalmed at this, while Double D shook his head. Before the trio could start arguing again, Fluttershy quickly interrupted them. “Er...maybe we could continue this inside? If that's okay with you, I mean...” she suggested. Double D turned to her and sighed, rubbing his fingers against his temples. “Yes...yes, please. That would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. It looks like we have a lot to discuss...” Fluttershy nodded. she turned and began to make her way inside, the three peculiar beings following her soon after. Looking down at the floor, she sighed and gently closed her eyes. “This is going to be one of those days...” she thought. “Come on, pick up the pace! I think they're gaining on us!” Eddy cried. “I'm running as fast as I can, Eddy!” Double D wheezed. “I'm not in my happy place, guys!” Ed whined. The Eds' feet thumped hard against the colourfully gravelled ground of The Lane as they thundered along, fleeing as fast as they could from the infuriated group of kids not far behind. “Wait 'till I get my hands on you, dorks! I'll pound the tar outta ya!” Kevin snarled, his legs pumping furiously against the pedals of his bike. “You have besmirched the honour of the son of a shephard for the last time, Ed-boys! Prepare yourselves for a most merciless thrashing!” Rolf roared, his rolled-up sleeves revealing bulging and muscular arms, his eyes disturbingly bloodshot and his mouth rabidly foaming at the edges. “Plank's gonna give you such a pinch!” Jonny growled, his shirt tattered and worn and his oaken companion clutched tightly in his hands. Hurtling around the corner, all three Eds began glancing around the lane worriedly, seeking any ways in which they could quickly escape from their livid pursuers – and distressingly finding none. “Mom's gonna be so mad, Ed!” Sarah screeched, her legs kicking hard against pedals of her tricycle. “Ooh, you're gonna pay!” Jimmy added from his spot in the wagon attached to the trike. “This is so uncool, you guys! It's gonna take me weeks of conditioning to even start fixing this mess!” Nazz screamed, her hair a horrifying and tangled echo of what it once was. As the angry cries of the Cul-de-sac kids echoed in the air behind them, Double D's eyes began to water as he wondered how everything could have gone so, so wrong. “And it had started as such a nice day...” he thought to himself, “the shining rays of the sun beautifully illuminating the quaint architecture of our peaceful little cul-de-sac...and now look at what's occurred! Oh, I should have known better than to trust another one of Eddy's ill-fated scams!” Before he could continue his rapid train of thought, he was snapped out of his sorrowful daze by the sound of Eddy's voice. “Hey, guys! Over here!” he cried out, “We can lose 'em in the thick of the woods!” As Ed and Eddy made their way towards the fence, Double D swallowed hard and grimaced. “I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Eddy...” Eddy shot Double D a panicked look and grabbed him by the shoulders. “You got any better ideas on such short notice, Double D? It's now or never!” Double D looked at Eddy with a shocked expression. He'd never known his friend to be so bluntly serious about something, and especially not in this sort of manner. Closing his eyes, Double D silently nodded. He then felt himself hurtling through the air, as Ed grabbed both him and Eddy and threw them both over the fence and the creek on its other side. Eventually the two of them landed right by the outskirts of the forest, where they were shortly joined by Ed. Double D was about to make a remark about his rough landing, until he was interrupted by the sounds of the kids' voices calling out from The Lane. “Hey, where'd they go?!” Sarah squealed, her voice laden with fury. “I think they went this way!” Kevin remarked. Shooting each other terrified glances, the Eds quickly got up and began quickly making their way into the forest, fleeing deep into the unexpected sanctuary of the woods. “...so, let me see if I'm understanding this correctly,” Double D calmly stated. Seeing Fluttershy nod, he took a deep breath and continued. “We are in a wide, vast kingdom known as Equestria, which is populated by all manner of colourful talking equines. The weather itself is not wild and free of control, but rather is manipulated by pegasi such as yourself. The only place where the weather flows in manner similar to what we're accustomed to would be the 'Everfree Forest', which we have just exited not long ago. And the kingdom as a whole is a diarchy ruled over by two royal sisters.” “Yes, that sounds about right,” Fluttershy confirmed. Double D took in another long, deep breath as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Eventually, he released this one as a tired and exasperated sigh, letting his shoulders droop as he stared distantly into his teacup. “Well, I would venture so far as to say that this is quite possibly the strangest situation the three of us have found ourselves in, but with the frequency of our madcap mishaps I somehow doubt that may be the case...” he commented sadly. The four of them were sat gathered around the table in Fluttershy's kitchen, Double D and Fluttershy each drinking a small cup of tea while Ed and Eddy drank from a tall glass of lemonade each. They had been discussing the basics of each other's culture (though the Eds had elected to avoid discussing the somewhat carnivorous nature of humans, considering the likely herbivorous nature of the ponies), along with how the Eds had somehow found themselves transported into Equestria. Though Ed and Eddy had adjusted to the weirdness of the whole situation early on, it seemed as though Double D was still having trouble acclimatising to the peculiarity of his new environment. Seeing Double D looking so upset caused Fluttershy to wince. She could hardly imagine how difficult it must have been for the three of them to have been pulled out of their world and dumped into her own, especially after all the hardships they'd gone through. She was about to say something to reassure Double D, when Eddy interrupted her. “Aw, don't look so down, Sockhead!” Eddy exclaimed, slapping Double D on the back and eliciting an annoyed glare in response, “It ain't so bad! It's a...a...” – he searched for the right words for a moment – “...a once in a lifetime opportunity, or somethin'!” he grinned. Double D fixed his friend with a look of skepticism, “How so, Eddy?” “Think about it, Double D! A brand new world, with all sorts of cool new stuff to see and do!” he exclaimed, mentally adding “And plenty of new suckers, to boot...” Seeing Double D's bemused expression, he continued, “Adventure awaits us, Double D! And besides, I'm sure you'll figure out a way to get us home in no time! I mean, there's gotta be someone around here who'll know how to get us outta this mess! Right, Ed?” They all turned to Ed, who was gazing off into the distance with a look of deep thought. As he turned back to the others, they all recoiled at the deathly serious expression he bore. Eventually, he spoke to them in a hushed tone, asking what the inflection of his voice would have led one to believe was one of the most important questions in the history of creation. “Why do they call them woodchucks if they don't chuck wood?” The others all sighed in bewilderment, and Eddy banged his head against the table. “Figures...” he groaned. Chuckling quietly to himself, Double D placed his hand against his chin thoughtfully, “In any case, you may be onto something here, Eddy. Perhaps there is someone in this town of, er...” “Ponyville,” said Fluttershy. “...of Ponyville that could aid us in finding a way back to our own world.” Finishing off his tea, Double D turned to Fluttershy with an appreciative look. “Thank you kindly for your hospitality, Fluttershy. Though I hope it isn't asking too much, there is one more favour I would like to request of you.” “Of course!” she smiled softly. “Do you know of anyone here in Ponyville that could help us with our plight? And if so, could you perhaps direct us to their domicile?” Fluttershy clopped her hooves together in thought for a moment before turning back to Double D. “Well, there is my good friend Twilight Sparkle. She lives over in the library at the west side of town. I could take you there, if you like?” Double D beamed at this, “That would be most appreciated, Fluttershy. Thank you.” “No problem! Just give me a moment to get ready, and we can be on our way.” It wasn't long before Fluttershy was ready to leave. Soon, the four of them exited the front door of Fluttershy's cottage, and began making their way over to Twilight's library.