Adventures In Ponyville: Chicken Chaser
Fluttershy was taken completely by surprise. In hindsight, she should have seen it coming, or at least something like it. After all, Mr. Manitcore was by no means a domesticated cat, and even domesticated cats were not necessarily divorced from their instincts. Mr. Manticore was a predator, no matter how sweet he was by insisting on protecting her.
The first she heard was the frantic squawking of the chickens. To her animal attuned ears, they were a call for help, and she rushed outside to find out what was wrong.
She found the chicken coop door askew and Mr. Manticore with Elizabeak, helpless, between his jaws. The rest of the chickens were scattering, panicked beyond reasonable thought, flying and running away from the fearsome predator as fast as they could go. The scorpion tail swished playfully and the bat wings quivered in joy. His prey was caught, and now he would fea–
“STOP!”
For such a timid pony, Fluttershy was very loud when she wanted to be. Mr. Manticore paused as Elizabeak continued to struggle in his mouth, eying the pony who had interrupted his meal–
“NO! BAD KITTY!” Fluttershy chastised. Very loud and very intimidating. She stalked up to him without fear and without a single hint of weakness. Mr. Manticore drew back from the pony in front of him, ears flat against his skull as he raised a paw as if to ward her off.
“YOU PUT ELIZABEAK DOWN RIGHT NOW!”
The jaws of the manticore opened on their own accord. Elizabeak scrambled away, squawking her head off. Fluttershy did not let up.
“YOU WILL NOT EAT MY ANIMALS SO LONG AS YOU SHELTER UNDER MY ROOF!”
The manticore, mighty predator of the Everfree Forest, King of the Wild, cowered at the hooves of the normally-timid yellow pegasus from Ponyville. She let him cower there for a few seconds, her face carved from stone, before she decided that he had been chastised enough and her features softened.
“Mr. Manticore, you have to understand, all the animals here aren’t for you to eat or to play with. They are my friends, and it’s my duty to look after them. I know you normally hunt in the Everfree, and I know you miss that, but this isn’t the Everfree. These aren’t your hunting grounds. Every animal here and in Ponyville is not to be eaten, because we ponies promised them that we would protect them in return for their companionship, or their services. I won’t let you eat them.”
The manticore mewled something from beneath his quivering wing, daring not look at her. Fluttershy sighed.
“If you were hungry, you should have told me! As long as you want to be here, it’s my job to feed you. All you have to do is ask,” Fluttershy told him kindly. The wing stopped quivering as a single eye poked out from underneath. He hissed something to her.
Fluttershy smiled. “Well then, lets get you all fixed up with a nice trout! Is that alright?”
The manticore sprang to his feet and enthusiastically licked her mane. Fluttershy giggled.
“Well come on then!”
The manticore, fearsome predator of the jungle, trailed after the yellow pegasus like a little duckling.
He hadn’t been hard to please. A few fishes and he was happily napping in the sun. Which left Fluttershy with a problem. She needed to get her chickens back. They wouldn’t want to come back on their own though, not with Mr. Manticore still around. They knew her well, knew she would protect them, but like most animals were ruled by their instincts; Mr. Manticore was now a threat, they would not come near him willingly. Even worse, they were all gone, scattered to the four winds.
Fluttershy sighed. It was going to be a long afternoon, rounding up all her chickens. She turned around and promptly squeaked like a mouse as she came face to face with a wolf. Her wings clamped tightly to her sides and she froze in place.
Link cocked his head to the side curiously.
“uhm, you startled me,” Fluttershy whispered.
Link looked apologetic.
“No, it’s okay. I just wasn’t expecting you,” she said quietly. “A-anyways, I’m very sorry, but I have to go. All my chickens were scared off by Mr. Manticore and I have to go find them…”
Link, ears pricked, gave a small whuf.
“Y-you would? That would be, uhm, nice. Thank you,” Fluttershy told him. “Uhm, I’ll look around and wait here in case any come back…?”
Link nodded as he padded silently towards the town.
---
The town was almost in a panic. It was a strange state for most ponies in Ponyville; it was usually either full-blown panic or everything was (relatively speaking) normal.
Having a wolf the size of a mare padding down the street in broad daylight would normally have fallen under ‘full-blown panic’ and sent everypony running for cover. However, this wolf had saved a good portion of the town no more than a week ago now, freeing them from their diamond dog captors. Word had spread. And as such, most ponies gave him a wide berth, kept a sharp eye on him for any sudden moves, and straddled the line between panicked and merely stressed.
The wolf, however, paid them no mind. It seemed unusually focused on something. His nose led him behind an empty flower stall (one normally run by Daisy; however, she had decided that panicking was the better part of valor and had bravely abandoned her post). The surrounding ponies looked on curiously as the wolf disappeared behind the wooden stall.
WOOF!
Half the ponies started, ready to bolt, and a quarter of the ponies watching the scene did bolt, eyes wide with panic. Those who remained saw a squawking chicken rush out from behind the stall. The wolf was after it quickly, but did not pounce or otherwise try to catch the chicken in front of him.
The crowd watched, stunned, as the wolf proceeded to herd the chicken down the street and out of the town.
---
This continued throughout the day at various points around Ponyville. A chicken would be hiding, behind stalls, in backyards, on patios. Link would appear. He would chase them, root them out, and herd them through the streets of Ponyville, out of the town, and into Fluttershy's chicken coop. Quite expertly, it must be said, almost as though he had been herding his whole life.
Most ponies continued to be wary of him throughout the day. He paid them no mind though, simply continued rooting out chickens. At least until he came to a particular-looking establishment, one that a very pink pony lived in.
"Heeeeeyyyyy!"
Link let out a startled gasp and very nearly fell off the roof of Sugarcube Corner. He looked around quickly to find the pink pony standing next to him on the roof. How she got there, without him noticing, he didn't know.
"I've got a letter for you!"
Her hoof went into her pink, curly mane, and came out with a letter. A letter with Link's name written on it in energetic pink hoofwriting.
“It’s a party invite! I always invite every new pony in town to a surprise party when they first get here, and even though you aren’t a pony you’re smart like one and Epona likes you and she said it would be a good thing for you so I’m throwing you a “Welcome to Ponyville” party! It’ll be fun!”
With that, Pinkie Pie promptly shoved the letter into his mouth and threw herself off the roof. Link gasped and ran over to the edge just in time to see Pinkie get flung back into the air at about the same height.
“Woo hoo!” she cheered, doing a backflip. “I knew it would be a great idea to put a trampoline out back!”
Confused and slightly alarmed at her attitude, Link backed away slowly as Pinkie continued to bounce. He then decided the best thing to do would be to get back to what he was doing before. He dropped the letter at his forepaws and began stalking the chicken that was resting at the crest of the roof once again. Nopony noticed the sliver of shadow detach itself from his form and grab the invitation.
---
It was nearing nightfall now, and it looked like Link was almost done. She’d spent the time reassuring the chickens that everything was alright as Link herded them expertly into their coop, one or two at a time. There was, as a matter of fact, only one remaining.
Fluttershy watched as Link herded Elizabeak towards the farm. She did not seem to need much convincing to get into the coop, much to Fluttershy’s relief; Elizabeak was a flighty one. Still, all the chickens were back in their coop, and everything was once again back to normal.
“Thank you so much,” Fluttershy told Link. She gave him a pat on the head and got a little tail wag in response. “I’m not sure what I would have done without you.”
Fluttershy paused. She felt compelled to at least try to offer him a reward of some sort, considering he had done so much for everypony. But what could she offer him?
Fluttershy ruffled her wings nervously as she tried to think of something she could offer him. As she did, a single yellow feather fell from them onto the ground. She didn’t even notice until Link padded forward and picked it up.
“Oh… uhm… you can have that… if you want it…” Fluttershy trailed off.
Fluttershy got the impression that Link was smiling as he walked off into the twilight, a yellow feather grasped between his teeth.
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I wonder how they will react when they met Midna.
Roc's Feather maybe?
In any case, loved the chicken herding. Makes me remember the mini game from Ocarina of Time and the one of Minish Cap.
Keep it up, love the work!
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand queue Item Get music.
Link got the Pegasus feather allows him to jump higher in wolf form and glide short distances
4540978 Or it negates falling damage...
4541029 too op
It's the start of a chain of deals! They're in almost every LoZ. I wonder who'll want a pegasus feather?
You got the Yellow Pegasus Feather!
Great chapter! It is nice to have calm times in between events. Just like the game you get your side quests and have a little off time fun!
May you be blessed with inspiration.
Happy Readings and Discussions All! Be Well Friends.
4541031 Not if it requires magic, like the Deku Leaf.
Well Link got a Letter From the The Pinkie Postmare!
*beat* Huh anyone got that?
All that's missing is the music
lol Cute chapter. Wonder if another side quest would be racing Dash.^_^
4541087 well I guess but its kinda more like the roc feather really
4541035 someone trying to make a love poison?
When I saw the title, I thought Link would do something to piss off the chickens and they would attack him like the coocoos.
I think Link Missed Scootalo.
Everyone immediately got the postman, but since I have more recently played Ocarina of Time, I could only hear one sound over that "Heeeyyy!"
"Listen!"
"Watch out!"
I actually can't read that section, even knowing that it's a reference to the postman, without that little annoying goose-call-sounding "hey" playing in my head.
bah-da-da-DAAAH!
4541824
He got lucky this time and didn't attack them with his sword because he couldn't hold it right.
4541831
I did attempt to make the obligatory Scootaloo=chicken joke, but it fell flat and I found it didn't fit. If I have a deleted scenes chapter sometime, you can be sure it will be in there.
Has anyone offered Daisy a position at the round table yet. You would think her bravery would get her knighted at some point.
Chasing chickens:
4542765 Brave Brave Sir Daisy
of course, it wouldn't be Link if he wasn't sticking his nose in other people's problems and fixing them for no other apparent reason than he has too much time in his paws
Also, that feather, we are in for one of those long, long, long trade quests, huh?
4544893 I foresee one of those long trade quests to, it wouldn't be Link if he didn't get at least one
Are these going to be like those points in the video games where you just stray off the plot and do some sidequests? If so, awesome ^-^ (i wrote this before noticing the bit you wrote in the authors note)
I lost track of this story for quite a while, but just now found it again this morning...
Congratulations on the re-feature, by the way!
Onward! New chapters await!
I love the idea of Wolf Link running around doing sidequests with intense, oblivious focus in a town on the edge of panic at his presence. The mental image is kind of like the hub areas in the LEGO games or the Simpsons game.
I can already see it, he ate Fluttershy
CUCU HUNT
Yeah - this chapter was written over a year ago. But I just have to comment on these few lines.
THAT'S A WHOLE TON OF FISH!
Full grown Bluefin tuna can weigh up to 1000 lbs.
Two of them would make a whole ton.
4541029 Wolf form doesn't really have that problem, though...
4544160 ...Gallantly "chickened" out!
*Ba-dum-TIIISSSHHH*
So the short chapters have commenced... dis going be good. *grabs bag of popcorn*
Frikin Cucu’s man...
Hells he gonna use flutters feather for? Someone refresh my memory?
Hahaha, this is pinkie to
be pinkie