Cloudsdale
Cloud Kicker was soaring out of the factory, with plenty of rainbow guards behind her. She was heading for the safety behind the barricades. There would be enough pegasi there to repel or even capture them.
"Look out everypony!" She shouted to the crowd. "Here they come!" She flew faster to dodge the rainbow bullets that were being shot at her.
The other pegasi behind the barricades attempted to arm themselves with all sorts of harmless weaponry, such as nets and water guns.
The two forces met at the walls and the brawl began. Ponies were knocked around and rainbow liquid flew.
Meanwhile, inside the factory, Rainbow Dash's crew was steadily advancing. Rainbow was still in a bitter mood for abandoning Cloud Kicker. The crew had been scouting the entire first and second floor for Leeroy, but he was nowhere to be found.
"We'll never find out where they're keeping him at this rate!" Spitfire complained flying over several rainbow pits with Soarin'. "There's gotta be a way we can find him faster."
"Ooh! Ooh! Pick me!" Derpy demanded, waving her right hoof in the air excitedly.
Rainbow sighed. "Fine, what Derpy?"
"How many floors are in this factory?" The gray pegasus inquired.
Rainbow thought for a second. "Three. Four if you include the basement."
"Aha!" Derpy realized, pounding one hoof into the other. "They're obviously keeping him in the basement!"
The other ponies were skeptical. "How would you know that?"
Derpy gaze Rainbow an 'are you kidding me' look. "Come on. You of all people should know this. The bad guy always keeps the hostage somewhere below ground. I mean… They did that back in 574 AB, After Banishment, for crying out loud!"
The pegasus put her saddle bag down and reached into it. She pulled out a projector and a screen. She turned the machine on and a light flashed onto the screen, showing a timeline labeled "All of Equestria's History. EVER."
"You see," Derpy said, now with all eyes on her. "During mid-winter of 574 AB, one of Celestia's nephews, Princess Rubyheart was kidnapped by these wicked, bipedal creatures only known as the Bandits of the Maelstrom! So then, a handsome colt named 'Night Rider' set off to find the princess! But then he died after he was strangled by a blanket and Princess Celestia banished the Bandits of the Maelstrom to a planet called 'Earth' where they, in legend, became the planet's rulers and constantly waged everlasting civil war over one another. The end!"
"Wait," Soarin' interrupted. "What did that have to do with being locked up in a basement?"
Derpy facehoofed. "Oh yeah. Princess Rubyheart was locked up in the basement of a castle. The end!"
"This still doesn't prove your point." Rainbow stoically replied.
"Do I really have to remind you that Rarity got captured by dogs underground that day?"
"Oh… right…"
"Not as dumb as you guys thought I was, now am I?" Derpy asked smugly, eyes dilating as if to disprove her point.
Rainbow sighed. She quickly spotted the staircase to the basement and slowly trotted towards it. "Come on everypony, let's go to the base-"
BANG!
The cyan pony turned around, to see Ditzy Doo flailing around on her hind hooves. "Medic! Medic!" She yelled. There were several rainbow splatters on her body.
The ponies saw the perpetrator, yet another rainbow guard was there, armed with what looked like another trigger weapon. The guard took part of the weapon out from the bottom and put in another rainbow cartridge in.
It fired at Derpy again, this time at her mouth. Being so vile tasting, the pegasus could not stand it. "My mouth is burning! And it's not because of baked bads this time!" She flailed around before over-dramatically falling out of a conveniently placed window.
"That was dumb." Soarin' commented. He soon realized that the guard was attempting to reload again. "Oh no you don't!" He quickly raced towards the enemy and drove his head right through the chest, accidentally getting some of the rainbow in his mouth. "Bleck…"
He looked behind him, but his smug face turned into panic when he saw the hole he had inflicted regenerate itself. "That's not good…"
Now its main target, Soarin' started backing away from the guard as it continued to reload. Once it finished, it turned to Soarin', turning its back on the other two pegasi.
Soarin' started running side to side in an attempt to dodge the soon-to-come hail of projectiles. The guard took its aim, unable to get a good shot on the pony.
"We need to do something!" Rainbow analyzed. "Come on Rainbow… Think, think, think…"
She heard the firing of the guard's weapon. The two mares looked over at Soarin', who was now nimbly flying around to avoid getting shot. Judging by Soarin's lack of mess and several rainbow splats on the walls, it was apparent that the guard missed.
"Spitfire, keep him off Soarin's tail." Rainbow commanded. She internally admitted it felt weird giving orders to her idol. "I'll try to find something around here that'll beat this baddie."
The Wonderbolt did not hesitate and started flying circles around the guard.
"Think Dash, think…" She couldn't think of anything on her own. She thought of what her friends would do. Muscling through it AJ style wouldn't do much damage and she has no magic, so any Twilight-related ideas were a bust. Fluttershy would probably love and tolerate the heck out of this guy.
The cyan pegasus took a small break from her thoughts and looked at the guard. By now, he had "run out" of bullets for his weapon, and was now flailing a rainbow morning star about to hit the pegasi who circled around it.
"Not gonna happen." Rainbow thought, disregarding the Fluttershy theory. Pinkie Pie would probably do something random or-
Random! That was it!
Rainbow Dash looked around. "I know she left it here… Ah ha!" The pegasus sped to the saddle bag that Ditzy Doo had left behind. "Please tell me she still has it… Aha!"
With all of her might, the pony heaved a familiar muffin blaster. She grunted and panted as she picked up the enormous object. With a booming thud, she dropped the object to the ground. She took a small moment to regain her composure. Unable to grasp the weapon with her neither mouth nor hooves, she manually pushed the weapon to face the distracted guard.
She checked the end, glad to see that Ditzy Doo had not eaten the muffin ammunition. "Incoming!" She warned her companions.
The pony tried to find the trigger. Luckily, it was a large button, as opposed to a pull trigger that would be impossible for her to fire.
Click
BOOM!
Rainbow cleared the smoke by making a small tornado to sweep up all the dust. Taking a good look at where she just fired. She saw was an indistinguishable blob of muffin batter and liquid rainbow, as well as a slightly colored and messy Soarin' and Spitfire.
"That… was awesome!" Soarin' exclaimed. "It could have been less messy, but that was radical!"
The other Wonderbolt rolled her eyes. "At least you gave us a warning."
"Sorry," Rainbow Dash apologized. "I didn't know that'd happen."
"No biggie." Spitfire insisted. "Let's just get going."
Rainbow Dash remembered that Derp did just fall out the window. "But what about Derpy?"
"She's a pegasus. It's not like she'd fall 400 feet to Ponyville."
Ponyville
Derpy was indeed falling to Ponyville. She had been knocked out by terrible flavor of the rainbow as was falling faster than any pegasus could fly, spiraling all the way. About halfway down her decent, the amount speed she was falling at turned her into a meteor, mane on fire and all.
Being a meteor heading straight for Ponyville, Derpy didn't go unnoticed.
"Meteor! We're all going to die!"
"Celestia help us all!"
"For sooth, a fiery clump of unidentified mass is on route to our fair village, I say!"
"Twitchy twitch! Something's gonna fall!"
The citizens started to panic, running around and screaming.
Twilight Sparkle was also about, but not in panic. Oblivious to the "meteor" in the sky, she was still looking for Derpy to assist with her project.
She tried getting anypony's attention, to no avail. She attempted to stop a green mare. "Excuse me, have you-"
"AAHH!" The pony she was talking to immediately ran off.
"What's everypony so worried about?" The lavender mare asked herself.
Meanwhile in the air, Derpy had come back into reality. Perhaps it was the smell of burnt fur or the immense nausea that overcame her, but somehow she woke up. "Uggh… No more muffins… please…"
It took the pegasus another few seconds to realize what she was doing. "Huh… Wha- AHH!"
"INCOMIIIIINNG!" Another pony shouted.
"Huh?" Twilight innocently asked. She looked up. "Oh n-"
CRASH!
Ponies gathered around the newly formed crater where Twilight was just at. There was a dazed, walleyed Ditzy Do, as well as a pancake-flat Twilight underneath her. Ponies crowded around the crash site.
"Woo-wee! That looked like it hurt."
"I guess this means Derpy Hooves-" Pause. "Is the new Painbow Crash."
"Yeah… Wait, what?"
"That'll leave a mark."
"Mark? Where?"
"Oh Celestia, it's the Cutie Mark Crusaders again. Go home!"
After a while, the crowd dispersed, leaving the two unconscious ponies.
Derpy stumbled off of the unicorn and shook her head. Her eyes rattled before settling down. Twilight got up, still flat as paper.
"Whoops." Derpy said. "Sorry! My flying's not straight, and its worse when… well, I'm knocked out."
The unicorn channeled a little bit of magic in her horn and she was no longer flat. Despite being hit by a pegasus falling at speeds fast enough to turn her into a fireball, she was in a good mood because she had finally found the pony she was looking for.
"That's quite alright Derpy!" Twilight said, beaming. "Because I was looking for you in the first place."
Derpy blinked. "Really? No one ever looks for me… except for my boss when I get lost…"
"I need your help with an experiment." Twilight replied. "Time isn't on our side right now, so just follow me."
The pegasus shrugged. "Okie doke! As long as I'm home before six."
Everfree Forest
"This isn't happening… This isn't happening…" Fluttershy chanted nervously. Her mane was very messy and her coat was dirty. "This isn't happening…"
Big Macintosh decided that they should wait until the rain passed. Thankfully, there was a very large tree with plenty of other vegetation nearby. He had built a crude, small shelter for the two ponies out of a smaller, weaker tree. It wasn't perfect, but would hold its ground.
But even with relative safety, Fluttershy was incredibly scared. The normally calm, quiet pony was going insane at
He stepped into the little hut. The colt spotted his partner in the corner, rocking. "Fluttershy? Ya'lright, sugar?"
"Everything's fine…"
"Err…" The red stallion didn't know how to react to a situation like this. The pony he had fallen in love with was mentally unstable in the middle of a forest when they had no supplies and no way back home.
He couldn't decide if this was the worst or best thing that ever happened to him.
"Say Fluttershy," Big Macintosh asked slyly. "If ya'll so nervous, I could… ya know… relieve the tension for you."
Fluttershy looked up at the stallion with big, longing eyes. "Y-You can?"
"Eeyup." Big Macintosh replied with a sinister-looking grin on his face. "It'll feel amazing! Like ya'll smiling and just don't wanna stop. Just lie down and we'll get started…"
Meanwhile at Fluttershy's home, Angel had many guards (all being animals, of course) stationed all over the perimeter. The creatures of the Everfree Forest were not in sight, for each time one would try to cross the border, the bunny's army would viciously maul them until they started crying and ran off into some other direction.
Angel smiled to himself. He had been able to protect the cottage for several hours without any casualties.
Father would be proud. He smugly thought.
Suddenly, his ears perked up. The eagle that entered in Rainbow Dash's contest raised an eyebrow. He flew to Angel. In their animal talk, he asked, "Is something wrong, sir?"
Angel shook his head. "I feel as though… Fluttershy has done… something dirty…"
The eagle thought for a moment. "So, I guess that means you," He put on a pair of sunglasses. "Sensed a disturbance in the horse."
Legends say that the following "YEEAAH!" from an unknown voice was so loud it could be heard all over Ponyville.
Back in the forest, the only sounds that were heard were those of rain falling onto the leaves and ground. The calm atmosphere of it all could not be disturbed by anyth-
"Ahhh…! H-Harder, please…" A blissful voice moaned.
Nevermind.
"How ya feelin'?"
"So good…"
"Ah apologize fer doin' this when ya weren't so sure of yerself."
"No no, it's quite alright! Just… keep going… please."
"Okay. How's this?"
Crack
"Aah! Y-Yes!"
The pleasurable moans came from inside Big Macintosh and Fluttershy's makeshift cabin. Inside, Fluttershy's screams of bliss could clearly be identified by Big Macintosh giving her…
…a massage.
The pegasus was lying on her stomach, thoroughly enjoying a back massage given by Big Macintosh.
"This is the most relaxed I've felt in years." Fluttershy admitted. "I had no idea you were such a great masseur."
"A few short years at community college and I can rival the spa ponies." Big Macintosh replied with a little pride in his voice.
Fluttershy's ears perked up. "I didn't know there was a community college in Ponyville."
"Well, of all places they put it right in between the bowling alley and the arcade." Big Macintosh said. "I found it this one time I took Applebloom to the arcade. Applejack was gettin' tired of me knocking the entire trees down by accident while applebuckin', so she thought it'd be a good idea."
The pegasus murmured in relaxation as Big Macintosh's hooves moved from her back to her shoulders. "Thanks again for the massage." Fluttershy let a blush creep onto her cheeks.
"Not a problem, sugar." Big Macintosh replied. A small blush appeared on his face as well.
He's such a sweet colt. Fluttershy thought, closing her eyes as the other pony continued rubbing her shoulders. Maybe Mr. Sea Serpent was right. I am enjoying his company and he's such a nice stallion. He's very good-looking too… I like him, but I can't tell him…
Unfortunately for her, they don't call her Fluttershy for no reason.
Maybe I can talk Rarity about this later? Or maybe Applejack will be okay with that and help me. Does Twilight have a book on confessing things?
Meanwhile in the library, Spike was reorganizing the books. He took out a large, purple one that stood out.
"Hmm… Revealing Your Secret Feelings to Your Love Interest for Total Morons." He looked around suspiciously. "Twilight won't mind if I hold onto this."
Fluttershy's thoughts were disrupted when Big Macintosh stopped moving his hooves. She opened her eyes and saw that Big Macintosh was looking outside, watching the rain. She got back up on her legs and walked up to him.
"Somethin' tells me that the rain ain't stoppin' anytime soon." He sighed. "If we don't wanna get sick, we'll need stay in here."
"Oh…" Fluttershy said. "Well… What are we going to do in the meantime?"
Big Macintosh thought for a moment. "Ah'm kinda tired after all that stuff that had happened. Met a giant snake thing, ran in the wilderness fer' 'bout an hour. Ya still must be exhausted from wandering in the forest fer that long too."
Fluttershy nodded. Indeed, she was still tired and somewhat messy. Thankfully, Big Macintosh's massage calmed her down a lot. He even managed to get her mane back into its regular shape, as opposed to the "Crazy-Twilight" messy form she had before.
"Yes… I still am." A chilling wind swept by, making both ponies shiver. "Erm… should we… um…" She was lost at words and began blushing heavily.
"Huddle together fer warmth?"
The pegasus nodded and looked away. She was too embarrassed to actually say those words.
Big Macintosh grew a sympathetic smile. "Ah think that'd be good fer' both of us."
He laid on the floor, stomach to the ground. Fluttershy hesitatingly laid down next to him. If he tries anything, She rehearsed. I'll stare him until he cries, apologize, and most likely return the massage.
"Good ni- I mean afternoon." Big Macintosh said as he closed his eyes.
Fluttershy paused, internally questioning if sleeping with Big Macintosh was a good idea. She turned her head to the gentle giant, who already sleeping. Hopefully he wouldn't try anything… devious while she was sleeping.
"He's not like that…" The pegasus said to herself. "He wouldn't do… that."
As if he heard, Big Macintosh unconsciously put a front hoof around Fluttershy's middle.
Fluttershy blushed for the umpteenth time that day. "Maybe I could get used to this."
Not much farther away, a gruesome monster smirked. It was obscured in the shadows, but its silhouette showed a bipedal, hoofed creature with horns. It looked incredibly strong with a very muscular upper body and legs. However, it was only slightly taller than a pony standing on its back hooves
"Hrmph." It sniffed. It was trying to pick up some kind of scent. "Rrr…"
It found one after about a minute. It sniffed again, and followed the trail, using its huge arms to help boost with running, hunting for whatever prey would be unfortunate enough to cross it.
It finally noticed a small mouse wandering in the dirt. The mouse scurried away, but the beast lunged forward and swiped the poor animal up in its human-like hand. It brought the animal to its watery, hungry lips. It was about to chomp the mouse, but was distracted by a new scent.
It was the scent of a more appetizing, filling prey than a simple mouse. The beast threw the animal away and let its nose lead the way.
"Pony…"