//------------------------------// // Ch.5- Day 2 (part 1) // Story: The Equestrian Flower Garden // by RoyalStar709 //------------------------------// Once I woke up all I saw was darkness like every morning before school started. Thinking I was still in my room and remembering what I thought was a pleasant dream, I went back to sleep to try and get into that dream again. What prevented me from having any sort of sleep was the snores of someone nearby. Looking over I saw the small foal I saved yesterday, sleeping on a makeshift bed with a wooden splint on her broken leg. “So I really wasn’t dreaming about yesterday. I really am Alph.” I mumbled to myself, watching the foal’s ears twitch from my voice. Realizing that I possibly will never again see my family or friends, I started back down the path of depression. Looking down at the ground, I started to cry, already missing my family. Crawling to the side of the cave, I wrapped my arms around my knees and just lost hope of returning back to my normal life. Spending an unknown amount of time, I remembered something about Alph. “Wait a second, Alph’s ship was the S.S. Drake, all I need to do is find that and hopefully find the cosmic drive key and I could try my luck out in space,” I argued in my head, trying to fill myself with hope. Noticing that she was still sleeping I pondered what that creature was doing since I have never seen one like it during any Pikmin gameplay. “Maybe she is a local to the island,” I thought aloud. Seeing that the foal was starting to wake up, I cursed under my breath for waking her up. Once it was up I noticed a somewhat faded yellow coat and a red mane with a red bow. After realizing we were both staring at each other I saw that the snout was short and there were big intelligent eyes. I barely registered a young country voice when I noticed she was backing away with a noticeable limp. I slowly moved closer to try to get her to stop moving with the injured leg. “I wouldn’t move too much if I were you. You need to let that leg of yours heal up after falling from that Snitchbug. That is, if you can understand me,” I calmly said, noticing that she stopped moving, which was a relief. “So you're not gonna eat me?” the foal asked, with fear and a hint of confusion in her voice. My eyes widen, shocked that this foal had just spoke. “Y-you can talk?!” I asked, taking a step back from the pony. The small filly tilted her head in confusion, “Well of course I can talk, why wouldn’t I be able to?” “Alright, someone must have spiked that water I drank... it must have been something real good for the effects to last this long,” I said with a dazed look, finding the wall more important than the filly that just talked in front of me. “Are you alright Mr. Alien?” the filly asked, taking a step forward, a bit worried from my reaction. “Well, I may be on the brink of being mentally unstable, but nature forgives no one in this cruel world, and it's time to explore ... and find some food,” I replied, hearing my stomach grumble from the lack of food. “Are you sure, mister? The critters are scary out there,” the filly frighteningly proclaimed. “Just leave them to me. Say, do you by chance have a name?” I asked while preparing myself for another day of exploring, getting tired of calling my newest companion filly. “Yeah I do, my name’s Apple Bloom. What about you?” the now named Apple Bloom curiously questioned. “You can call me Chris,” I replied, walking out into a whole new day. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Sco... p.” “...Aloo... wak...” “SCOOTALOO! WAKE UP!!” Scootaloo jumped, startled from being woken up in such a way. “Sweetie Belle!” She glared at the giggling unicorn. “What was that for?!” Sweetie quickly shushed the pegasus, “Scoots, not so loud!” she lightly scolded. Quickly, she checked the area around them to see if the weird alien or any other monster was around. “Come, this way!” She ran, gesturing Scootaloo to follow. “Sweetie Belle, wait up!” Scootaloo yelled, quickly getting up and running after her. After a few minutes of running, the two stopped in front of a tall onion shaped object with a few blue carrot shaped creatures standing in front of it. Sweetie Belle smiled at the small group waving at them. “Hey guys!” she yelled at them, her voice cracking when she called for them. The blue plants jumped, turning towards Sweetie, then they all immediately crowded around her, letting out a small whine. Sweetie’s smile grew as she turned back towards Scoots, who stared at them a bit uneasily. “Aren’t they cute?” she said, her voice slightly cracking again. “Yeah... cute.” She backed away slightly, not taking her eyes off them. Sweetie’s ear began to twitch and she looked back towards the cave. “Quick hide!” she yelled, quickly grabbing Scootaloo and ducking behind the bushes. A few of the Pikmin hid with them. “...So you’re saying we should start looking for your friends that you got seperated from when the Snitchbug grabbed you?” Chris looked down towards Apple Bloom, making sure he got that right. “Eeyup!” Apple Bloom nodded. “We should probably hurry too, before one of those monsters manage to get one of them!” she yelled fearfully. “Okay, let me go and get some-” Chris started to form a reply before being interrupted. “APPLE BLOOM!” the two fillies yelled, jumping out of the bushes, a large group of Pikmin jumping out with them, all of them gathering behind Sweetie Belle. Seeing their friend, the two tackled her into a hug. “Girls! You’re alright!” Apple Bloom yelled happily, hugging them back. “Well that was easier than I thought it would be,” Chris said in relief that the three friends were reunited. “Wait a second, where did you get all those blue Pikmin at?” Chris focused on the one named Sweetie Belle. Sweetie pointed at the Onion. “I got them from there. A bright blue screen appeared in front of me, and when I pushed down a button, a bunch of these blue guys came out,” Sweetie explained, nuzzling one of them, “And they’re so cute!” “Well that looks like all of them.” Attempting to whistle them to me resulted in them not moving. “Do you mind disbanding them so I can look for my ship?” Chris asked Sweetie. “Disbanding them...?” Sweetie looked at him confused. “Uhh... how do I do that?” “Umm...” Chris tried to think of a way to disband them, “How about... Huh, how do you disband them...?” Sweetie frowned, trying to think of a way to help. “Well what about that sound spell we used to try and get our cutie marks for being a band? Could you, I dunno, alter it to make a lower sound?” Scootaloo offered. Sweetie Belle nodded, “Yeah, that could work!” Taking a deep breath, her horn began to glow a greenish hue, a high pitch noise began to come out of her horn, slowly the noise began to get deeper, until finally a the noise coming out of the horn became deep, causing the Pikmin to jump and disband, crowding around each other. “It worked!” She cheered. “Okay, well, that’s one problem solved.” Chris sighed in relief while whistling the Pikmin over. “Would you three like to help me find my ship, if she is still in one piece?” All three of them nodded, Scootaloo jumped up eagerly, “Maybe we’ll be able to get our Cutie Marks in ship tracking!” The other two cheered, both of them equally as excited at the idea of getting their Cutie Marks. With the Pikmin following Chris, and the CMC bouncing along, the group moved into the dark forest, hoping that they could find the ship within. Luna stared at the wooden boards in front of her, watching silently as two guards finished up the makeshift graves. “It has only been a day since we got here and we have already lost five ponies...” she sighed, levitating one of the fallen guard’s helmets and setting it on top of the wooden tombstone. “I’m sorry that your lives ended so suddenly... I can only hope that your sacrifice won't be in vain.” “Princess Luna...” Luna turned towards the source of the quiet voice, “Good morrow, Fluttershy.” She nodded at the shy pegasus, noticing the bundle of flowers she held in her hooves. “I assume that you brought an offering for them?” Fluttershy sniffed, trying to stop the tears that were threatening to escape. “Y-yes...” She stepped closer and sobbed as she read the names of the deceased guards. “Princess... do you know the name of the pony who...” She choked back on a sob. “The pony who saved my life?” Luna nodded. Using her wing, she pointed at a lone tombstone to the left. The two trotted in silence, reaching the tombstone. The two remained silent, staring at the guard’s grave. Fluttershy gripped the flowers in her hooves and planted them in front of the wooden tomb, quietly sobbing. “Thank you... for saving me...” After everypony gave the fallen guards a moment of silence, Twilight looked up and noticed they had plenty of time to look for the stowaway fillies and make a fortified camp. Noticing that half of the supplies have been lost to the storm or the beast from the day before, a few squads of guards were ordered to start scavenging near the forest’s edge for edible food. Twilight turned to Luna and asked, “Do you think we should move further into the forest and make shelter or stick to the beach?” Luna pondered over the question and thought about the fillies lost out in the forest with who knows what lurking in the shadows. Looking at the rest of the ponies, she realized that morale had dropped since the previous evening. “We shall send Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Spike with three squads of guards to look for the fillies. While Twilight, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie, and myself shall stay here and improve camp conditions.” The ponies nodded, accepting their princess’ plan. Twilight walked towards Fluttershy, putting a hoof on her withers, “Fluttershy, do you think you’re okay to go...? You don’t have to go if you don’t think you’re well enough to do it.” She shook her head, “No Twilight... I owe it to him to go out there.” Fluttershy hugged Twilight, sniffing. Twilight hugged her back, taking a step back, she turned towards Spike. “Spike... you don’t have to go if you don’t want to... if you want to stay that’s perfectly fine, no one is going to think any less of you.” Spike smiled. “Don’t worry Twilight, I’ll be fine! Besides, I can still send letters to you guys in case anything goes wrong,” he said, trying to comfort her. Twilight frowned, giving Spike a quick hug. “Just make sure to stay out of trouble, and listen to whatever they tell you, alright?” Luna looked at Spike. “Let me alter the spell Tia used on you so that we receive the letters your flames burn.” A faint blue glow could be seen on her horn before quickly fading. “There, now we can keep in touch should anything go wrong,” Luna reassured Twilight. Then looking at the other element bearers she continued, “Best of luck to you four. Come, we have work to do around here while the day is still young.” They nodded, giving each other one last look before separating to complete their assigned tasks. Applejack sat down on top of the large log, panting from exhaustion. The ponies had left the camp hours ago to start searching for the fillies, and so far hadn't made any progress. Turning towards the others in her group, she noticed the squadron of guards sitting next to each other in the shade, Rainbow Dash seemed to be digging into her saddlebags for something, and Spike along with Fluttershy were just observing the large pony sized butterfly landing near them. “AHA! I knew I packed an extra case!” Rainbow yelled, destroying the silence. “Packed an extra case of what exactly, sugarcube?” Applejack asked, raising an eyebrow. Rainbow grinned, taking out a pack of six cider bottles. “Some of your family’s famous apple cider!” Taking out a bottle from the box, she yanked off the cap and began to drink from the bottle. Seeing some of the envious looks she got from the guards, she offered them the rest. “You guys want some? It’s still cold!” After passing around the bottles of cider, one of the guards felt a little uneasy after drinking. Looking around to try and figure out what the case was, he started to feel vibrations under his feet. “Uh... is anypony else feeling the ground shake a bit?” he asked confusingly to his comrades. “I’m starting to feel it too.” another guard replied, looking at the ground to figure out what is going on. *Rumble* Just to the side of the large group of ponies and drake, a fat and short worm dug itself out of the ground. Its two black beady eyes started at the intruders before wiggling its pink body, and more of its kin popped out of the ground. Shortly afterwards, another set appeared from behind them but they were dark purple with two mandibles slightly opening then closing. This third set charged towards the group. Several of the guards realized this was a fight and pulled out their swords and spears, aiming them at the group of insects. Spike recoiled in fear, backing away from the Sheargrubs. Seeing that the purples looked like they were going after the guards and the pinks had no mouths he yelled, “Go for the purple bugs, their mandibles are make them more dangerous than the white ones!” Voices of confirmation and agreements rung out in the squads and they waited for the bugs to come at them. Unicorns were shooting bolts of fire to drive them off which caused a few purples and pinks to burrow underground in fright. When the creatures got close, there were sounds of metal cutting exoskeleton, until a shout of alarm was heard. After forcing the rest of the Sheargrubs to flee, one of the guards was found to have a bite that went past his leg armor. Seeing the wounded guard, Fluttershy walked over and asked “Are you okay?” Letting out a sigh of relief that the bite was only slightly bleeding, she pulled out some bandages from her saddlebags and tended to the wound. “Thank you so much,” the guard replied, feeling grateful for her help. *Rumble* “Not another wave of those insects,” Rainbow Dash muttered, getting a few grunts of approval. “Nope, if you’d stop drinking that cider and pay attention, you can see that a hole just opened up in the ground,” Applejack lightly scolded, approaching said hole. Looking down, all that could be seen was pitch darkness, suddenly a pair of blue eyes opened up, startling her. The ponies quickly darted towards the bushes, trying to avoid further confrontation with the native wildlife. Seconds later, a large brown creature wobbled out of the hole. The creature’s body reminded them of a loaf of bread, two small legs supporting its weight, its small beady blue eyes scanning its surroundings. The bread-like creature sniffed the area around it. Seeing the Sheargrubs’ remains on the ground, the Breadbug grabbed a body with its teeth, pulling it closer to the hole and dropping it in, then the creature repeated this several times. Finally it stopped and narrowed its eyes at Rainbow’s saddlebag, the Breadbug sniffed the bag and grabbed it, carrying back to its den. “Hey! That’s mine!” Rainbow yelled. Realizing her mistake, she quickly covered her mouth, glancing at the Breadbug fearfully. The creature stared at her, making eye contact for a full minute before barking and going back to carrying its stolen goods. The ponies gazed at the creature oddly, shocked that it had decided to not attack them. “It’s... harmless?” a guard asked. “Maybe it’s trying to lure us into a false sense of security, then attack us when we least expect it!... What a cunning, diabolical beast,” another muttered, glaring at the Breadbug, his spear already firmly gripped in his hooves. “I don’t think it’s trying to lure us into a trap,” Fluttershy said uneasily. “Its behavior doesn’t show any signs of being a natural predator... it’s more like a scavenger, trying to collect whatever leftover food there is.” “But then why did it take Rainbow’s stuff?” Spike asked. Fluttershy tapped her chin, trying to think off an answer. “Maybe it’s using it to build a nest...? That or it could be that it is just likes to collect things,” she answered. “Well I’m not letting some stupid loaf of bread take my stuff. C’mon, let’s go get my bag back!” Rainbow nearly roared as she charged towards the hole the Breadbug entered. Some of the guards who were drinking the cider agreed and pulled out some rope to begin rappelling those without wings down towards the unknown depths, hoping there was still some left over. “Now just hold on a minute! We can’t go in there!” Applejack yelled, “We don’t know what’s down there!” She growled when she noticed that they were ignoring her. “Um... Applejack.” Fluttershy whispered, “Perhaps we should follow them? They could probably use the help,” she suggested. Applejack growled, stomping her hoof. “I suppose so, those boneheads will need someone to reel them out of trouble.” The two trotted towards the hole, jumping in along with the guards.