//------------------------------// // Chapter 2 // Story: Babs Bunny Sized Adventure // by M Specter //------------------------------// Chapter 2 When Bab’s relinquished the hug she looked around for a spot that would be comfortable to sleep. As she looked around she noticed that Angel was watching her every move from his position on the couch. Eventually she had enough of him watching her, so she decided it was best to sleep outside. She walked to the door and tried to get it open. She hopped as high as she could to try and turn the doorknob but fell short every time. She couldn’t understand why. In the Everfree forest she was able to jump from the ground to the tree as if it was no problem at all. Realizing that she could get nowhere by thinking any more negative thoughts on the matter she tried to jump to it again. This time however she managed to fall directly on her rump. It didn’t hurt much because her fur managed to cushion the fall but it was definitely an embarrassing moment for the green eyed bunny. The sound of Laughter emanated from the white bunny sitting on the couch. Bab’s turned back to him and glared at him but it didn’t do much to lessen the bunny’s cries of joy. In fact it seemed to make him laugh even harder. Angel laughed until his sides began to hurt and even rolled over the couch and fell to the floor. The white bunny knew that it wasn’t that funny but he was trying to get under her fur and it seemed to be working. Fluttershy who had been taking care of some of the other animals heard a scratching sound coming from the doorway, when she saw it was Bab’s she questioned if she wanted to go outside with which she nodded in reply. Glad to be out of the watchful gaze of Angel she looked around at the environment around her. There were other animals running around playing and just all around enjoying their daily lives. She didn’t heed them at all as she took a breath of the fresh air. Bab’s always enjoyed how different the air was in Ponyville. Manehatten air was always difficult to breathe at times because how far it had industrialized itself. The sun was still relatively high in the horizon causing Bab’s to find a nearby tree to acquire shade from. Once finding a comfortable spot she closed her eyes and fell asleep. Once Fluttershy had finished feeding the birds she heard a knock on her cottage door. “Who could that be?” She said quietly to herself as she made her way towards the door. Opening it revealed to be Twilight, one of Fluttershy’s best friends. “Hi Twilight what brings you to my home?” “Hi Fluttershy, I just came by for one of Owlicious Weekly checkups.” “Sure, I just finished taking care of the other animals one more shouldn’t hurt.” With a smile on both their faces Twilight entered the cottage with Owlicious perched on her back. The Owl turned his head to look at the other animals and waved hello to most of them. Over the last couple weeks during his checkups and nightly excursions he had gotten to know them better. The critters waved back at him and continued with their conversations. While Fluttershy took a look at him he decided to eavesdrop as best he could on the animals conversations. At this time of day gossip flowed freely from many of them and at times it was a good way to find out information. “Can you believe what Angel did to that bunny earlier…?” “Elizabeak has been looking a little plump lately…” “Barry’s been seen stealing food from Fluttershy’s shed…” “That orange colored bunny outside looks different than most of the bunny’s I’ve seen…” Before he knew it the buttercream pegasus had completed her assessment of him. “All done Owlicious is completely healthy Twilight.” “Thanks Fluttershy, we better get going though, I’ve got a lot of things scheduled for today.” Fluttershy led them to the door and saw them out. Before Twilight could reach the front fence of the cottage she noticed Owlicious looking at something. Looking in the direction he was looking in she noticed a small orange bunny resting within the shade of a tree. “Who”? Owlicious said as he pointed toward the bunny. “I don’t know, let’s get a closer look” Twilight said as she trotted closer to the bunny. Not wanting to wake up the bunny from her slumber she inspected her with her eyes. Twilight took notice of how different she looked to the rest of the bunny’s frolicking around. “Perhaps this is a new species of bunny’s what do you think Owlicious?” “Hoot.” “I thought so let’s ask Fluttershy about it” As they made their way towards Fluttershy’s cottage again, Bab’s woke up from her small nap. For a moment she just sat their enjoying the shade but after a minute or so she began to get up. After quickly stretching her limbs she took a look at her surroundings. It didn’t take long for her to spot the purple pony talking to Fluttershy in the door way. Taking a look at her cutiemark confirmed to her that the purple pony was Twilight. Babs heard about Twilight from the Crusaders and Applejack while she was staying over at the barn. She was depicted as a smart pony with purple fur and a star cutiemark. ‘Maybe Twilight can help me turn back to normal’ Bab’s thought inwardly. With this in mind she began to move towards Twilight. She was a bit hesitant at first but her stride increased as hope began to surge within her. She stopped though when she saw the animal on Twilight’s back. It was an Owl and it looked at her inquisitively. They both stared at each other for what felt like months but in actuality was only about a minute before Fluttershy broke Bab’s out of her reverie. “Bab’s would you like to spend the day at Twilights?” It took a moment for the question to fully sink into her head before she nodded. ‘Although the owl is a bit strange that won’t stop me from trying to turn myself back to normal’ she thought. Twilight levitated her onto her back and began to head home. “Spike I’m home.” Twilight bellowed out as she entered the library she called home. Spike her number one assistant was putting some books on the upper most shelves before Twilight had entered the library. After climbing down the steps of the ladder he put the rest of the books down on the table to reshelf later. “Hey Twilight, Owlicious how was…” Spike was momentarily distracted as he saw the orange bunny on Twilight’s back. “So who’s your friend?” Spike asked as he motioned to the bunny. “Who?” “Her” Spike said pointing at Bab’s causing another “who” from Owlicious. He decided to stop asking him quickly afterward. The green and purple dragon had been down this road before and it always ended with him making a fool of himself. Twilight chuckled at the scene before her she knew Spike couldn’t understand Owlicious most of the time but it was always funny to see how they reacted to each other. “Spike this is Bab’s she’s a bunny that Fluttershy found this morning on her doorstep, Fluttershy thought it would be a good idea for Bab’s to experience a new environment so I volunteered to take care of her for the day.” Twilight turned to the green eyed bunny and said “Bab’s if you need anything talk to Spike he’ll try to help you as best he can.” Bab’s nodded, she was nervous to be in the library. Her crusading hadn’t led her or the other crusaders to the library, and she wished at least one of them had though because now she had no idea how she was going to convey to Twilight her predicament. Before her train of thought could continue a voice stopped her “you’re not really a bunny are you?” The question stopped her in her tracks for a variety of reasons, one the voice couldn’t be Spikes or Twilights and second it knew she wasn’t a bunny. She looked around and Twilight and Spike were nowhere to be seen having moved out of the room to go handle something upstairs the only other occupant in the room was Owlicious. She scratched her head in confusion and looked at the owl “Did you… just talk to me?” Owlicious just stared at her unblinkingly and when Bab’s turned away he said “of course I did.” She quickly turned her head back around her face a mixture of shock and confusion. “I thought you could only say who?” Owlicious rolled his before replying. “I only say who to test out an animals will and annoyance levels, clearly Spike has some work to do in improving that.” “Let’s go back for a minute how did you know that I wasn’t a bunny?” “It was pretty obvious your scent gave you away” Bab’s took a whiff of herself and almost gagged. “It isn’t my fault that I haven’t showered since coming out of the Everfree.” “No my dear I don’t meant that…” there was a slight pause “I didn’t mean to say that you smell bad I just meant that you don’t smell like a bunny, if I had to place your scent with another animal I would say you smell like that of a pony.” “Was that the only thing that gave me away?” “No, to make sure I observed your actions, back at Fluttershy’s Cottage when you approached Twilight you stopped to look at me.” “So what I just wanted to get a look at you what does that prove.” “You didn’t shiver in fear like most bunnies do when they first see me, even Angel feared me when I first met him as strong willed as he is, leading to my theory about you.” “Well your right I’m not a bunny I was originally a pony.” “How about we talk this over some tea?” Bab’s nodded maybe some tea would make her feel better. Within about 30 minutes Owlicious had made some tea and had set up the table in the kitchen for the both of them. While drinking their tea Bab’s told the librarian’s owl what had happened throughout the past two days. “So just to make sure I heard you right I’m going to repeat what you just said. “You and your friends went to the Everfree forest in an attempt to get your cutiemarks.” Owlicious looked back for confirmation and to which Bab’s nodded. “Then you were separated from them and had to find a way out from the forest. “But during your search you got attacked by timber wolves and you were able to ward them off with a blue flower.” She nodded again. “You then eat some of the flowers and slept and in the morning you were a bunny?” Bab’s nodded again and the owl scratched his chin with his wing. “Most peculiar indeed, It seems whatever that flower was did this to you, and you said it was blue correct.” “Yes” “I believe I’ve heard of a flower doing strange things to Pony’s but I’m sure none of them ended in full transformations into other creatures. “I’ll have to look for one later but for now there are two things we must address.” Bab’s scratched her head in confusion. “What do you mean?” “Well my dear not to be offensive but you really do need to take a bath of some sort the smell you’re emitting has started to become pungent.” “I guess your right is their anywhere I can take a bath in peace?” “There’s a bathroom upstairs that you can take a bath in, I’ll guard the door if you want some privacy.” “Thank you.” “But before that we need to address the second issue.” “Alright what is it?” “We need someone to train you on being a bunny, I’m sure by now you’ve noticed that you can jump higher and that the body you have now is lighter than your pony one.” “Yeah I’ve noticed that.” “We need someone to train you in the ways of the bunny so that you fit in.” “So who do you have in mind?” “Angel…” “What no way am I learning anything from him?” she said as she crossed her arms in disgust. “I’m guessing you’ve had a bad encounter with him.” “Yeah it ended in us fighting.” “Well he owes me a favor and if I’m there to oversee your training nothing can go wrong.” Bab’s thought about it for a moment weighing her options. ‘I hate that bunny with a passion but if Owlicious is their he may be able to get some progress in but if we look for a remedy for this can’t we just bypass it all together?’ “Can’t we just find a remedy to turn me back?” Owlicious shook his head. “No, I need some time to find the book that will explain what that flower is plus who knows what the remedy could require us to do so until then you will need to act like most bunny’s.” “Fine, but I haven’t made a decision yet I’ll think about it further when I’m taking a bath.” Owlicious nodded and said “Follow me.” He led her up the stairs through Twilight’s room and into her bathroom. “If you need any help just call out I’ll be just outside if you need anything.” Bab’s nodded and began to take her bath, hoping that most of the day’s troubles would be washed away in the pink suds.