The Purloined Pony

by Chris

Page 15

With a mental shrug, you enter Fluttershy’s cottage. You might as well take her advice; after all, Applebloom’s missing, and you really could use all the help you can get. Maybe she has a pet hawk named Danneltuft that can help search the woods?

You stand in the middle of the living room and, feeling more than a little silly, call out, “Danneltuft! Danneltuft! Danneltuft!” You look around, but nothing comes to answer to that name.

You sigh and are about to leave when you hear a tiny voice from the direction of the backdoor.It chants a strange rhyme in a rough but lilting voice, coming closer as it sings:

“Oh, Danneltuft’s a lovely name,

But if it weren’t, then all the same,

I’d keep it for myself, I would,

For what care I if my name’s good?

But now I hear it spoken thrice,

And so I’ll be there in a trice,

Clothing laundered, pillows fluffed,

Leave it all to Danneltuft!”

And as he sings the last line, a tiny ape-like creature bursts through the pet flap at the bottom of the door. It is perhaps six inches tall, and dressed all in brown. Its face looks squished and flat, but the glint of laughter is shining in its eyes. With a start, you recognize this creature from your favorite childhood stories; you’re face to face with a real live brownie!

Danneltuft, for his part, looks more than a little disheartened to see you. “Oh dear, you aren’t the lady of the house. How came you to know my name, stranger? And how did you know to speak it three times to call for me?” You’re about to tell him that Fluttershy told you his name so you could ask for his help, when you remember another bit of brownie lore: if a pony lucky enough to have a brownie housekeeper ever reveals that the creature lives under their roof , then the brownie will leave, never to return. The brownie will leave even if the discovery is accidental, in some stories. You need this creature’s aid, though, and how can you expect it to trust you if you aren’t honest with it?

*****

If you admit that Fluttershy told you his name, go to page 22

If you refuse to say where you heard the name, go to page 20

If you lie about where you heard the name, go to page 19