Pony Pony Pony: The Thirty Minute Stories Collection

by -Jules

5: A House-guest

“But, why is it in my house?” Rarity asked tiredly.

“Well,” Fluttershy started quietly, hiding behind her hair. “I think he liked the colors of the fabrics.”

Rarity closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Keep calm Rarity, it’s just a bird. It can’t be worse than the parasprites. Just be patient with Fluttershy. “Why would he like my fabrics?” she asked without opening her eyes.

“Umm… I think he wants to build a nest.” the pegasus trailed off.

Rarity could feel her heart beat faster. Fluttershy did that when she knew somepony would be angry. That was never a good sign. “He what dear?”

“He, uh, might want to build a nest,” Fluttershy squeaked.

Rarity’s eyes shot open and she stared over her fence and at the boutique. “You mean to tell me,” she started, struggling not to shout, “that there is a bird in my home because it wants my fabric for a nest?”

Fluttershy tried to make herself as small as possible. “Probably.”

Rarity’s nostrils flared. I will not stand idly by while a bird destroys my fabrics. She threw open the gate and started to march across her yard towards the front door. Fluttershy followed close behind her.

“Rarity wait! Don’t scare him!” she pleaded.

“I want it out Fluttershy. I’m going to get rid of it before it causes any more damage than it already has.”

“But–”

“No ‘buts’ Fluttershy. It’s leaving.” Rarity threw open the door. “You listen here!” she called inside, “It’s time you left. There’s plenty of fabric elsewhere! I don’t want to have to…” Rarity trailed off as she turned and caught sight of the invader. Sitting in the corner of her boutique and on top of a pile of brand new reams of cloth was a bird. Rarity had expected that much. She had not been prepared for it to be easily twice her size.

Rarity stared in confusion and the bird stared back. Eventually it flared out its wings and screeched angrily in her direction. Catching sight of talons as long as her foreleg Rarity quickly moved back outside the boutique and slammed the door.

Fluttershy looked timidly up at her as she breathed heavily.

“Fluttershy, dear, what. In Equestria. Was that?” she asked as calmly as she could manage.

“He is a roc,” Fluttershy answered very matter-of-factly.

Rarity now saw that her yard was pockmarked with deep gouges, no doubt a souvenir of the bird’s journey to her home. “A roc… There is a roc in my house.” She turned back to the pegasus. “Why?”

“Well, he liked the fabric and –”

“No, why me? Why, out of all of the homes in town, is it in my home?”

“Well rocs are naturally from the arctic, he must have thought all that cloth looked like it would make a warm nest and then your door was unlocked and –”

“But I’m not the only one with fabric!” Rarity whined, throwing her head back. “Your house is full of wool! You could have knitted the bloody thing a sweater! You could have –” Rarity slowly brought her gaze back down to her friend. “Fluttershy… how did it get into my house?”

Fluttershy looked away.

Rarity’s jaw dropped. “Fluttershy, you didn’t!”

“I– I’m sorry. He just looked so happy seeing the–”

“Fluttershy! No! I’m willing to put up with a parasprite swarm every now and then or the occasional cockatrice attacking my sister, but you never meant for those things to happen! You let a giant bird into my home so that it could steal my fabric! I just bought most of that!”

Fluttershy did her best to turn invisible, but that never actually worked for her.

“I don’t even know what to say.” Rarity slumped to the ground. They both sat in silence for a few minutes, listening to the roc rummaging around inside the boutique. “What do I do to get rid of it?” Rarity finally asked.

“Him.” Fluttershy corrected. Rarity glared at her. “Well, we could always just wait for him to pick what he wants…”

“No. Not an option. Not even on the table. Give me something else.”

“Umm… We could try to lure him out with food.”

“What do rocs eat?”

“Sea serpents.”

“Having a sea serpent in my yard and roc in my house sounds like the opposite of a solution.”

“We, um… we could try scaring him out.”

“And how, pray tell, would we do that?”

“Well, a roc’s only natural predator is a dragon.”

“But we– Spike. You’re proposing we use Spike, the Spike that lives in the library, the Spike who makes nachos in a pink apron, the very same Spike who was chased across town by a ferret just last week, to terrify a ten foot bird into leaving my house.”

Fluttershy nodded.

Rarity sighed. “Let’s go find him.”

Author's Note:

Story Prompt #5 “Take Me or Leave Me:” "Rarity and Fluttershy have their first big fight."

Time taken: 29:58 (Cutting it close aren’t I?)
All prompts courtesy of http://thirtyminuteponies.tumblr.com/

Well, I kind of strayed from the prompt once I had an actual idea to work with. And by the Nine these prompts are really shippy. Maybe one day I’ll come back and write this one the way it was intended. But I’m never going back to the last one. I’m still sorry if you read that. At least now I've got two possible spin offs in the future, Spike and the ferret, and Spike versus the roc.

Comments

[GJT_Productions]

I wonder what Twilight would think when Flutters and Rarity try to explain what they need Spike for. XD