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// Chapter 7: A Pugs Life at the Farm 
// Story: My Little Puggy 
// by DarthWill3 
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Sunbeams were penetrating every nook and cranny of the barn’s walls. The roaster sounded out his usual crow. It was morning time.
Rainbow had had a surprisingly good night. She didn’t let the Wonder Pugs’ snoring or the thunder and lightning wake her up. Not even once. And the puppies never flinched at the noise, either.
She gave a big yawn, slowly opened her eyes, and looked at the vacant green shell. “Morning, Tank,” she said quietly.
In response, the tortoise popped his head out of his shell and yawned.
Then, Rainbow looked to her left and cooed, “Morning, Wonder Pugs…”
Suddenly, her eyes went wide in shock. The spot where the Wonder Pugs slept next to her was completely empty.
“Oh no!” gasped Rainbow. “Not again! Tank, we gotta find them!”
Tank immediately activated the helicopter hat on his shell and took off onto the barn supports. It was good to have some watchful eyes from above.
“Spitfire?” Rainbow called out after searching through every interior of the haystacks. She looked behind a hay bale and cried “Soarin’?” As she peered into one of the stables, she hollered “Rapidfire?” After catching up with Tank on top and screened through every haylifter, she was on the brink of tears as she screamed “Fleetfoot?!?”
Just then, she heard a series of very faint yips. Then, there was a series of chicken clucking and sheep baaing. By the sound’s proximity, it was coming from outside. She looked down and found the barn doors to be open.
By now, it was all too clear about who let the pugs out. “Applejack,” Rainbow hissed, ominously.
She raced out of the barn, with Tank at her back, and suddenly stopped.
“Huh?” she began, utterly shocked. “What the…?” She couldn’t believe what she was actually seeing.
Over at the henhouse, Soarin’ and Fleetfoot could be seen chasing chickens. Feathers were falling in all directions. The chickens were evidently not enjoying a running exercise of this sort.
At the sheep pen, Rapidfire and Spitfire were just running around and barking at numerous ewes. Whether the sheep were annoyed or just plain not amused, Rainbow couldn’t tell. They just stood there.
“Those pups sure love to have fun, don’t they?”
Rainbow, a bit surprised at first, looked to her right. Applejack was standing next to her with the Apple family dog Winona, clearly oblivious to her friend’s stress.
“Applejack,” she snapped, “did you have to let the Wonder Pugs outta the barn?!?”
“Oh, um…” Applejack’s face turned to one of embarrassment. “Yeah, Ah did.”
“Without even waking me up first?!?” continued the temperamental blue Pegasus with the multicolor mane. “I was worried sick!”
“Ah’m mighty sorry about that, Rainbow,” Applejack chuckled, sheepishly. “Musta slipped mah mind somewheres.” She paused and took a cough, giving Rainbow the impression that this was a way to move on to a different topic. Her hunch proved correct. “Now Ah owe you an explanation, right?”
“Eeyup,” answered a nearby Big Macintosh.
“Well,” summarized Applejack, “y’all have seen what those puppies can do to make the chickens feel all riled up. Now, since they’re pugs, Ah don’t think they’d make pretty good sheepdogs. Bodies are too short for that kinda work.”
“Yeah, I think I get what you’re saying here,” said Rainbow.
“Also…” Applejack moved her head close to Rainbow’s and placed a hoof next to her mouth to utter a whisper. “We don’t want Winona to get the wrong idea.”
Rainbow could see why Applejack mentioned that. And it was scaring her, almost as much as Opal’s actions from yesterday.
Winona was looking at the Wonder Pugs with envious eyes. She opened her mouth, showing gnashed teeth. She crouched herself to a hunting position, growling at her supposed competition.
“Easy, girl,” soothed Applejack, rubbing a hoof on Winona’s head. “Easy. Don’t you worry none. They’re just visitin’.”
Rainbow let out a sigh of relief as Winona’s mood was set at ease. Applejack sure trained her dog to be obedient.
“Ah’ll handle those pups for ya, sis!” volunteered Apple Bloom, who was running in between the sheep pen and the chicken coop. “Ah’ll work ’em up no sweat!”
“Uh, Apple Bloom,” said Applejack, unsure of the situation, “Ah don’t know if that’s such a good…”
“Here, pug, pug, pug, pug, pug, pug, pug, pug!” called Apple Bloom. “Here, pug…”
Suddenly, seconds after hearing her, the Wonder Pugs miraculously rushed over to Apple Bloom and knocked her to the ground, laying her with the usual licks for kissing.
“Hey! Stop!” chuckled Apple Bloom. “Put them tongues back where you found ’em! Skidat!”
While watching the whole scene from a distance, Rainbow Dash remembered the Wonder Pugs’ playing with Sweetie Belle yesterday. “I guess puppies are pretty good with kids,” she told Applejack.
“Eeyup,” answered Big Mac.
“Don’t you think you oughta take these little critters to Fluttershy’s?” asked Applejack. “She’ll know what to do with ’em.”
After hearing those words, Rainbow Dash, the best flyer in all Equestria, the pony that represented the Element of Loyalty, lost her patience. “For the fourth and final time, no!” she yelled in close proximity of Applejack’s face. “Out of almost all my best friends—Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and now you, Applejack—do none of you remember that Fluttershy has too many animals to take care of, not to mention a way to be more assertive now? She’ll probably say ‘no’ in my face!”
“Aw, come on, R.D.,” soothed Applejack. “She ain’t known for havin’ a cold heart. You just gotta ask her somehow.”
“I wish I could, A.J.,” Rainbow moped, heavily. “Fluttershy’s the second-to-last pony I wanna ask for puppy management.”
Applejack raised an eyebrow. “What do ya mean ‘second-to-last?’”
“What? You don’t remember Derpy?”
It took Applejack two seconds before she answered “Oh, right.”
Everypony knew that Derpy Hooves, despite having a very good heart, was a cross-eyed Pegasus with an inescapable clumsiness. Anything she touched while on the job, she destroyed. Ever since that little mishap at Ponyville Town Hall, the Mayor had requested that Derpy be kept under watch of the police, so that they would be ready to intervene, in case of emergency. Trusting her with four pug puppies would be like switching a barrel of apple cider with nitroglycerin.
“Listen, Rainbow Dash,” said Applejack, sternly, “Fluttershy is the best pony who can take care of all sorts of animals, big or small, mammal or reptile, furry or feathery. Ah don’t care what you say. If you wanna find a home for those pups, she’s the very pony you should take ’em to. No questions asked.”
Rainbow, taken aback from what Applejack had to say, lowered her head. “You’re right,” she sighed in defeat. Then, she turned to her tortoise. “We might as well march the Wonder Pugs outta here, Tank.”
“Now just a cotton pickin’ minute, partner!” started Applejack. “You can’t have them pups leave without a little…”
“Breakfast!” called out Granny Smith.
Hearing that very word, the Wonder Pugs hopped off Apple Bloom and made their way to the cow which Granny Smith had brought out of the barn. Under the udder, there was a stool wide enough for all four puppies to hop on top of and suck the mammary glands. Delicious milk was waiting for them.
Rainbow watched as the little pugs drank, and drank, and drank, and drank until they were full. She never saw them this thirsty before.
“Yep,” smiled Granny Smith. “That’ll keep the little whippersnappers energized for a long journey.”
“Good luck with Fluttershy, R.D.,” said Applejack. “Y’all gonna need it, Ah reckon.”
“Thanks, A.J.,” replied Rainbow, confidently. But she was feeling deeply nervous inside.