• Published 26th Nov 2013
  • 2,618 Views, 92 Comments

The Country of Roses - Dutch Tilt



FiM + Stephen King's The Dark Tower. A re-telling of the first two episodes, in a world where the balance of power is in flux, and Celestia charges Twilight Sparkle's protection to a mysterious gunslinging earth pony from another land.

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6: Sister Fluttershy

6

SISTER FLUTTERSHY

“So that’s the food, weather and decorations all seen to. That leaves the music,” said Spike. He tucked his pencil and the scroll away inside a skin-pouch, then turned around so he was facing forwards on Twilight’s back. “That’s being handled by a pegasus pony named Fluttershy.”

Jack-a-Nape, who had re-joined them after their escape from Carousel Boutique and had spent the last five minutes poking fun at Peacemaker’s new, clean-cut appearance, calling him, ‘the Lone Ranger of Dodge Junction,’ suddenly perked up. “Not a problem,” he said. “I know a shortcut.”

Twilight Sparkle looked at him. “Do you know shortcuts to everywhere in town?” she asked him.

Jackie shrugged. “When you get chased ’round as much as I do,” he explained, “it really helps a bunch. Not only in town, either.”

Peacemaker did not question why Jackie would get chased around so much. He had seen evidence that the chestnut stallion was an able thief for himself. He was able to pick up the blur of his hooves as they lifted the writing utensils earlier. Most could not have done, but if he could, it was likely others could also. He wondered if Jackie had in fact been caught by such others, perhaps by the wrong pony while he was living in Manehattan, and was now in hiding here in Ponyville. Out there in the world, he could envision somepony wanting Jack-a-Nape badly, and therefore could believe that Jack-a-Nape prioritised learning all the narrow squeaks and hidden routes that his locale could provide for him. He would do well to keep a sharp eye open in his company.

Their destination was a cottage in the hills approximately six or seven wheels south of the town. A little way beyond that, they could see the treetops of an immense forest which Jackie informed them was called the Everfree.

“That there’s one place nopony’s got any business going, ’less they got a death wish,” he said. A brook gurgled down from it, and passed by the front of the cottage, so that visitors had to cross with the aid of an arched stone bridge. The trees closest to it were bedecked with colourful, hoof-crafted birdhouses, more of which could be seen mounted on a wooden signpost and sprouting from the moss-covered roof. These latter structures were surrounded by various little perches, holes and runways. The red front door consisted of what Peacemaker knew as ‘stable-make,’ that being two separate panels, one over the other, that could be latched together from the inside.

“What kind of pony lives so far from town all alone?” asked Spike.

“Well, she ain’t what you’d call social,” said Jackie with a shrug. “I heard she showed up maybe a year before I did, and got herself this cosy little set-up. Close enough to civilisation to get what she needs, but far enough way so’s she ain’t gotta deal with ponies all day long. Likes her privacy, I guess. Never one for the nightlife.”

“Ponyville has nightlife?” Twilight asked incredulously.

“Sure it does,” said Jackie. “Y’know, every now an’ then. If the stars are right.”

Twilight Sparkle rolled her eyes and knocked on the front door. “Hello?” she called after a moment’s silence. “Miss Fluttershy? My name’s Twilight Sparkle, I’m the celebration overseer. I just wanted to ask for a moment of your time.”

No answer. Twilight knocked again. Still nothing.

“Guess she’s not home,” said Spike.

“Wait,” said Twilight Sparkle. She closed her eyes and perked her ears up. The others followed suit. There was a sound coming from behind the cottage. A high, melodic warbling of birdsong. They had all assumed that the music would be reliant on the playing of instruments, as it had been for years, but what if this year they had seen fit to give the job to the cottage’s owner because she could provide something more unique?

Twilight smiled gently in appreciation and followed the sound to the back garden. It was fenced off by white posts, with an old tree at the back. The branches spread out beyond the boundary, and perched on the branches were small woodsy birds of all shapes and colours, chirping a beautiful chorus. A pale yellow pegasus with a long, sugary pink mane and tail was conducting them with a thin stick, swishing and bobbing it with the expertise of a pony who was wonderfully self-taught. She was wearing a white band around her neck. The band was trimmed with black fabric, separated down the front by a vertical line, and clasped using a copper circle emblazoned with the letters ‘Zn.’ The quartet watched as she moved her forelegs akimbo in a gesture for quiet, and the songbirds obliged.

“Pardon me, sir,” she said to one of the birds in a demure voice, “I mean no offence, but your rhythm is about a quarter-beat behind the rest. Would you mind if we tried that again, please?”

The bird shook its head because it did not mind. The pegasus hovered backwards a bit and raised her stick again. “All righty then,” she said, “follow me. One, two, three.” There was another short chorus of warbling and twittering from the avian choir, and Twilight Sparkle could not resist leaning on the fence and clapping her forehooves together in appreciation. The startled birds flew away in all directions, and the pegasus hid herself behind the old tree.

The unicorn winced. Jack-a-Nape covered his mouth to stifle a snort of laughter. Peacemaker kicked him lightly in the side and Jack-a-Nape swallowed his mirth for all of two seconds.

“Say something, Twilight,” Spike whispered in her ear.

Twilight pursed her lips, then eventually called in the general direction of the tree, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you.” The yellow pegasus hesitantly poked her head out. “Come on, you can do it,” said Twilight encouragingly. The words fell uncomfortably from her mouth like unevenly formed ice-cubes. “We’re not here to hurt you. I promise.”

The pegasus emerged the rest of the way, but did not make eye contact with her, apparently finding the sight of her own hooves vastly more engaging.

“We just came by to check on the music,” said Twilight, “and it sounds beautiful. Did you train all those birds to sing like that?”

The pegasus gave them a nod so slight it would have taken a microscope to detect it. She made a sound which might have been, “Yes, I did,” but came out more like, “mimble-wimble.”

Twilight Sparkle scrunched up her snout. Why did this whole overseer business have to be so persistently awkward? She wondered if she had come on too strongly before, and tried a more genial approach. “My name’s Twilight Sparkle,” she offered.

The pegasus said nothing. In fact she seemed to withdraw further into herself. The pink mane obscured her head like the lip of a tortoise’s shell. Twilight felt like she wanted to blush, but her body did not agree, and weirdly enough that was even more embarrassing. She knew being genial was not one of her strengths, but this reaction was a thousand times worse than she had been expecting. Princess Celestia herself had told her to make some friends, and no matter how silly or unnecessary she thought that was, a school assignment was still a school assignment, and it was starting to look like she might just fail this one!

How spectacular. On top of everything else that had happened to upset her in the past few hours, now her attempts to be friendly had succeeded only in denting her self-esteem. She decided to try again. “That’s Peacemaker,” she said, “and I think you know Jack-a-Nape already, right?”

The pegasus lowered her head a bit more, but still she said nothing. Twilight sighed, exasperated. There no way she was coming out of this with an A+. Perhaps she could just make up for it with some extra credit work. She had never used extra credit before, and she was certainly due some. Except what if that made Celestia think she was unreliable? What if it made her look unwilling to put in that little bit more effort? She might only miss the goal by inches, and really the only thing worse than missing was missing by inches. When she thought of it that way the phrase, ‘so close and yet so far,’ stopped being a passing lamentation and started being a harsh, self-deprecating funeral march.

The pegasus named Fluttershy’s eyes filled with a spirals of dazzling starlight. “Is that a baby dragon?” she asked, her voice still tiny but audibly excited. “I’ve never seen a dragon up close before! Does he have a name?”

Twilight blinked in confusion, then the question made sense of it herself in her mind. Spike must have poked his head out from behind her mane when she was unable to speak anymore. She wondered how much time must have actually passed between her last attempt to get the pegasus to respond to her and the present moment. Spike was looking at her with a mischievous, conceited smile. ‘Well, well, well,’ he appeared to be saying. ‘Look at the great girl genius.’

Aloud, what he actually said was, “My name’s Spike. How do you do?”

“Oh! My goodness!” Fluttershy gasped, leaning closer to the both of them. “I mean, I’m doing very well, thank you. This is so wonderful. I had no idea dragons could talk. What exactly do dragons talk about?”

“What do you want to know?” Spike asked.

“Everything. Why don’t we go inside?” Fluttershy tipped a wing towards the back door of her cottage. “I’ll put a pot of tea on. I’d love to know all you can tell me about dragons.”

Twilight Sparkle noticed the plate above the back door. It was a larger version of the clasp on Fluttershy’s neck-band, and now she could see that the letters ‘Zn’ were formed by overlapping plant stalks. The same stalks, painted dark blue with spots of white, were knotted together along the border of the plate. The middle of the plate was pressed inwards, like a dish.

“Actually, do you mind if I ask a question first?” Twilight asked.

Fluttershy hesitated, then softly replied, “All right. What is it?”

“That symbol,” said Twilight, “the one above the door, I mean. It’s the same as the one on your clasp, isn’t it? What does it stand for exactly?”

“Oh. You mean my sigul of Oriza?” asked Fluttershy. Twilight nodded. “It’s a religious symbol,” said the pegasus. “I don’t think you’d find it very interesting to hear about.” She pushed open the back door, and aromatic warmth poured out over them. There were all kinds of smells emanating from within, each one more intriguing and pleasant than the last. It reminded Twilight of the kitchens at Canterlot Castle, where the cooks were always brewing up rich, fine cuisine. Her appetite had yet to recover from the gorging she had done at Sweet Apple Acres and the subsequent visit to the Upchuckle Motel, but her senses still soaked up the atmosphere and coated her tongue with water. Spike had actually started drooling, and she had to prop his jaw shut with her hoof.

She swallowed, and went in after Fluttershy. “On the contrary,” she said, “I’ve studied a lot of different belief systems, and I find many of them quite fascinating. In fact last year in Canterlot, my holiday pet project involved charting the similarities between several different ones.”

“It’s no joke, Miss Fluttershy,” said Spike. “That’s really her idea of fun.”

Twilight glowered at him, then arched her back sharply, dropping him onto his rear end on the floor. Spike grumbled about how he had only been joking and stood up, dusting himself down as he did.

“So, anyway, I’d love to hear about this Oriza of yours,” the unicorn said, “and maybe after you tell me that, Spike can tell you all he knows about being a dragon.”

“Well, I suppose so,” said Fluttershy thoughtfully. Peacemaker and Jack-a-Nape were now entering the cottage, and the pegasus busied herself in the small kitchenette. She put a pot of tea on the oven to boil, and placed a bowl of fruit on a round table propped up by wooden, prancing animals. A white rabbit was sitting on the table, twitching its pink nose and watching the visitors curiously.

“Lady Oriza is an alicorn princess,” she explained. “She watches over all the animals and helps farmers to grow their crops.” Her cheeks darkened. “I leave a charm of hers by the gates at Sweet Apple Acres every year, between Wide-Earth and Sowing. I don’t think any of them notice.” After a pause she added, “Please don’t tell them. I’d hate for them to think I mean to interfere. It’s just my way of helping out.”

“We won’t tell,” said Twilight. “So, is your connection to Oriza why you live out here surrounded by nature, instead of in town?”

“Oh. Oh, no, no not really,” Fluttershy both hung and shook her head at the same time. “I just don’t like to be in anypony’s way.”

“But you have no problem presenting the music at the celebration?” asked Twilight, then cringed inside. That sounded more accusing than she had meant, and she could tell by Fluttershy’s own expression that the pegasus had taken the tone like a whip cracking.

“No?” she squeaked.

A loud whistling came from the teapot on the stove. Fluttershy stood up and went to pour the tea out into a set of polished, flower-patterned china cups.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it that way,” said Twilight, She thought for a moment, then said, “Okay, look, I don’t want us to start off on the wrong hoof. You’ve answered my question about your sigul, so it’s only fair I let you ask about my dragon. That fine with you, Spike?”

“Sure!” Spike said. He toddled over to help Fluttershy with the tea. “You said you wanted to know everything, right? Well, I started out as this cute little purple and green egg…”

Twilight decided the best approach was to belt herself in and make it through the ride with dignity.

The hours melted into one another until it became impossible to tell exactly how much time had passed once Spike began his tale. However long it was, they had gotten through at least three pots of tea, five plates of assorted cakes and biscuits, a small pile of sandwiches – Peacemaker had eyed these like an inspector and asked if popkins were supposed to be eaten uncooked in Equestria – and more than once Twilight had to catch herself before she could drop off and bang her chin against the oak table’s surface.

Just as he had done earlier, Jack-a-Nape had taken the opportunity to make himself scarce, although Twilight could not say when he chose to make his escape. He had simply been there at one point and vanished the next. She reckoned Peacemaker probably knew the exact millisecond, probably watched him do it with those old, cold eyes of his, the way a daydreamer watches a passing butterfly. She would have questioned him, but if she did and he answered her, if she came to understand the secret of Jackie’s miraculous aptitude as an escape artist, even mastered it for herself in due time, she might not have been able to prevent herself from strangling him and cursing his name for not saving her from the arduous tedium.

“And that’s the story of my whole entire life,” Spike finished. “Well, right up until today, anyway. Want to hear about today?”

Fluttershy would have told him she did, but Twilight had decided this was her stop and unbuckled her metaphorical belt.

“Oh, my! Would you just look at the time!” she said in a hurried voice. “It’s getting really late, and I think we’ve kept you from your birds for far too long. Also, it’s close to Spike’s bedtime. He’s a baby dragon, after all.” She emphasised the word ‘baby’ in a way that earned her an angry glare from Spike, the kind of glare that said, ‘Quit treating me like a baby, Mom! I haven’t wet my bed in like three whole days! You’re so embarrassing!’

“But I’m not even ti—” Spike tried to argue, but Twilight quickly used her tail to sweep his paws out from underneath him. Fluttershy did not seem to notice this, but she did see the dragon fall on his rear for the second time during that visit and scooped him up, cradling him gently in her forelimbs.

“See what I mean?” said Twilight Sparkle, and put on a patronisingly cutesy speech impediment. “He’s so sweepy, he can’t even keep his widdle bawance!”

Peacemaker let out a quiet grunt that might have been an appreciative laugh. Spike’s eyes narrowed and his angry glare became more intense. Now it did not say, ‘You’re so embarrassing, Mom!’ but rather something closer to, ‘I will wait until you’re in bed, then I’ll eat everything in the refrigerator, chew on the furniture for dessert, and then I’ll track mud across the floor just to spite you!’ Fluttershy rubbed his head and he relaxed in her embrace, his petulant frustrations abated instantaneously. She had a magick touch, this Sister of Oriza, simply magick.

“You’re quite right,” the pegasus said. “He should be in bed. Is it far, where you’re staying?”

“We’re in town,” said Twilight Sparkle. “The princess said it was a place called Golden Oak Library.”

“Oh, my,” said Fluttershy. “Will this little one be all right to travel that far?”

“He’ll be just fine,” said Twilight. Her horn lit up, and her willpower lifted the disgruntled dragon out of Fluttershy’s grasp and draped him over her back. “Thank you ever so much for your hospitality, Miss Fluttershy, but we really have to be on our way. We’re all really looking forward to hearing the big performance. Buh-bye, now.”

The guests excused themselves. They made their way back to the road into town. The sun was descending now, slipping between the hills on the distant horizon and painting the skies overhead with shades of fiery orange. They found Jack-a-Nape leaning nonchalantly against an old fence gate, munching on a peach he had snatched from Fluttershy’s fruit bowl. He was beaming at them. A sign reading ‘WELCOME TO PONYVILLE’ hung above him.

“Have fun, you guys?” he sniggered. “Didn’t mean to abandon you, but they was about to close up Sugarcube Corner, an’ lemme tell ya the coffee an’ cake combo deal they got on, it just can’t be missed. Out of this world. We should go some time. Maybe you should’ve tagged along, T.S., ’cause you’re lookin’ kinda tired. Do that next time rather than let Spikers run his mouth to impress the fillies, huh?”

Twilight wanted to get angry with him, call him a rude name, tell him to shut up, anything, but he was right. The day had been long, and she was tired. Her legs and hooves were sore. She had transferred Spike’s weight to the more toughly built Peacemaker when Spike, who had indeed dozed off during the trip, grew too heavy for her. She tried to hide a groan, but was unsuccessful.

“She is exhausted, Jack-a-Nape,” said the gun-pony. “It is unfitting to tease her.”

“Hey, cool your hooves, chief,” said Jackie, and he chucked the rest of the peach into his mouth. He went behind a nearby hedgerow, and came back out with a battered-looking pony-drawn cart. “Park your rump on the party wagon, T.S. Consider it one more example of the fine service we provide here at Jack-a-Nape’s Friendly Freight Company. We apologise that our dinin’ car is no longer functional, but there were too many complaints from the health inspector.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled briefly at him and clambered aboard. She magickally lifted Spike and placed him beside her in the cart.

“Where did you get this?” the gun-pony asked incredulously.

“I didn’t steal it, if that’s what you’re gettin’ at,” said Jack-a-Nape. “It’s mine. I work deliveries.”

“You work?”

“Sadly, bein’ an all-around great guy don’t exactly pay for all the nice things I want.”

Jackie hitched himself to the cart and started off. Peacemaker went beside him.

Author's Note:

And with that, each member of my interpretation of the Mane 6 has been properly introduced. Some have been given new roles, others transformed. In spirit, they are here, reunited once again by the wheel that is ka and ka-tet. So, I guess from this point on, it'll be more or less all plot. Ugh. This chapter's a little bit shorter than the previous entries, but in a way, it's just long enough to tie up the first act. You'll notice now, if you haven't already, that I've expanded the time-frame a tad between Twilight Sparkle setting off from Canterlot and the opening of the Summer Sun Celebration itself, but that's because I want to have a bit more fun with Ramrod and his goons without diminishing Nightmare Moon's role in the story to come. If you're at all wondering why things are underway now in regards to preparations, well, it's just the same as how we tend to prepare for important festivals days or sometimes weeks in advance.