Animals
“That's four.” said Applebloom, firmly. “Ah got the bit from mah sister's room...”
“Are you sure it's the right bit?” asked Scootaloo.
“Ah'm pretty sure.” said Applebloom. “If it's not, Ah can go back an' look again. You got the Wonderbolts badge...”
“I got my sister's thread!” squeaked Sweetie Belle.
“Yeah, an' we got Boneless from Pinkie's room while we were gettin' the balloons.” finished Applebloom. “Next up, we got ta get the flower from Fluttershy's house.”
All three fillies turned imploring looks towards Daring Do.
Daring sighed, and pulled her hat down over her face. “Please tell me Fluttershy doesn't live in a cloud house.” she said.
“Nope! On the ground!” said Sweetie Belle.
“Little cottage next to the Everfree.” said Applebloom.
“I've been there lots of times!” added Scootaloo.
“Well, that's positive.” Daring pushed her hat back to its proper place. “And do you know where in the house this flower is?”
“Nope.” Applebloom shook her head.
“This Fluttershy – she doesn't sell flowers or anything, does she?”
“Nope.” said Scootaloo.
“And her home's not filled with deathtraps?”
“No.” said Sweetie Belle.
“Alright, then. Why haven't you got this flower then?”
“Weeellllll...” said Applebloom. “You remember Tank?”
Daring Do sighed. “How could I forget?”
“You remember how he hadn't been properly fed for, well, a few weeks?”
Daring nodded.
“Well... Fluttershy's kinda got lots of animals.”
Daring sighed. “Cats?” she asked.
“Mice.” said Applebloom.
“Birds.” added Sweetie Belle.
“And a bear.” contributed Scootaloo.
“An', yeah, cats.” nodded Applebloom.
“And cute little puppies.” continued Sweetie Belle.
“And a bear.” repeated Scootaloo.
“And tortoises, butterflies...”
“...eagles, bats, butterflies, bees...”
“And a bear.”
“Chickens, geese, owls...”
“...rabbits, rats, weasels...”
“And a bear.”
“Okay, okay, I think I get the point. So, this 'Fluttershy's' cottage... it's full of probably-hungry critters of all sorts, including, most probably, at least one bear?”
“Eeyup.” nodded Applebloom.
“And, do you by any chance happen to know what this particular flower looks like?
“Eenope.” Applebloom shook her head.
“...right.”
* * *
Daring knocked at Fluttershy's door, very cautiously.
“Yeah?” called a voice from inside.
Daring blinked. This... had not been what she'd expected. Perhaps she had the directions wrong? It wouldn't do to go breaking into a stranger's house, after all.
Daring reviewed that thought, and edited it – it wouldn't do to go breaking into the wrong stranger's house.
“Is this Miss Fluttershy's house?” she called out.
“Yeah.” said the voice from indoors. After a moment, it added “She's not in.”
“Ah, right. Of course. Um, I'm actually here looking for a flower...”
“A flower?” There was the sound of approaching hoofsteps, and then the door opened, to reveal what must have been the third-biggest pegasus Daring Do had ever seen, a huge white fellow, with muscles on his muscles and tiny, underdeveloped wings. There was a grumpy-looking rabbit seated on his back. “Fluttershy doesn't usually sell flowers.”
“Er. Well, actually, it's... this is going to take some explanation. You see, my name is Daring Do, and -”
The pegasus raised one eyebrow. “Yeah? You're Daring Do?”
“Yes.” said Daring, firmly.
“Well, come in, come in!” The pegasus grabbed Daring by one hoof and dragged her indoors. “My name's Bulk Biceps, I'm just here to feed the animals. Standard arrangement, any time Miss Fluttershy's out saving the world again. But I've heard all about you!”
“You have?” asked Daring.
“Every pegasus in Ponyville has!” said Bulk, vigorously shaking Daring's hoof. “See, there's this pegasus by the name of Rainbow Dash...”
“Ah.” said Daring. “I quite understand.”
“Yeah, so, I must admit, I rather thought you were just a story.” continued Bulk. “But now I'm guessing... with the Bearers of the Elements down... you're here to save the day, right? Defeat Tirek once and for all, save everypony, like in the books?”
“Yes.” said Daring, firmly.
“And this flower will help?”
“Yes.”
“Right, well, I'm not going to ask for details, I can read them in your book later, I'm sure. Does it need to be a specific flower, or will any flower do?”
“A specific one.” said Daring, firmly. “The trouble is, I don't know what it looks like.”
“Hmmm. So, if I could get every flower in the house to right here?”
“That would be perfect.” said Daring.
“Right.” Bulk Biceps grinned. “Watch this.” He turned his head, and addressed the bunny sitting on his back. “Angel? Did you hear that?”
The bunny glared at Bulk, but reluctantly nodded.
“If Miss Do gets the right flower,” said Bulk, “then she'll save Miss Fluttershy.”
Angel considered, then conceded the point with a nod, and a shrug.
“The sooner Miss do gets the flower, the sooner she can save Miss Fluttershy.” continued Bulk.
Angel frowned, but nodded again.
“So why not get the critters together?” asked Bulk. “Pull together every flower in the house, so that we don't waste valuable time searching through the nooks and crannies?”
Angel considered this for almost half a minute, then snorted and hopped off Bulk's back.
Bulk sat down next to Daring. “And now we wait.” he said, firmly.
“So... the bunny's going to...”
“Miss Fluttershy has a way with animals.” said Bulk, firmly. “They'll do almost anything to get her back.”
* * *
Fifteen minutes later
“The horror! The horror!” Rose galloped full-tilt through the streets of Ponyville.
“AAAAAAHHHHHHH!” screamed Daisy, chasing after the swarm of starlings which had just flown off with her entire stock.
* * *
“Did you perhaps,” said Daring Do, “just send out a few hundred animals to fetch flowers without ever specifying that the search was to be limited to flowers that came from inside the cottage?”
“...yeah.” admitted Bulk, quietly.
“Well, what's done is done. The right flower's almost certainly got to be in this pile.” Daring looked over the pile, and added “You can pull a really big cart, right?”
“Yeah!”
“Great. Now, you you know where a really big cart is? We've got to get these flowers to a location in the Everfree Forest...”
* * *
At the Tree of Harmony
Zecora's eyes bulged as Daring and Bulk entered the cavern, accompanied by the biggest cart Bulk could find. “You've bought a lot of flowers.” she said.
“Oh, don't worry.” said Daring. “This is just the first load. There's probably about two more to go.”
“I'll never again doubt your powers.” Zecora assured Daring. “Bring that cart nearer, I can make your task clearer.”
“Yeah!” volunteered Applebloom.
“This part's cool!” said Scootaloo, jumping up and down, wings buzzing.
Daring shrugged, and waved Bulk forward. Bulk trotted a little closer to Zecora, and the locked box in front of her with three keys in it.
“Be not misled, keep your eyes on this thread.” said Zecora, holding up the spool of thread. She tossed it towards the box, and it stopped in mid-air in front of one of the keyholes. The spool of thread spun several times, then reformed into a key, sliding neatly into the lock.
“So... we toss the flowers one by one at the box, until we find the one that turns into a key?” asked Daring Do.
“It is a simple task.” said Zecora. She turned to the Crusaders. “And it is your help I'll ask.”
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADER KEY OF HARMONY FINDERS, YAY!”
“That would take us up to five keys.” said Daring, as the three fillies began to rapidly empty the cart. “Where's the sixth?”
“That I cannot say.” said Zecora. “I hope Discord will find a way.”
“Discord?” asked Daring. “You mean, Discord, the avatar of chaos? Discord, who helped Tirek absorb everypony's magic? That Discord?”
“On him lies our final hope.” said Zecora. “As long as he can cope.”
“Right.” said Daring, firmly. “I can see I'm going to have to do some serious research.” She straightened out her hat. “But don't worry, finding relics is my speciality.”
“Is that Heart's Desire?” asked Zecora, looking at the flowers the Crusaders were tossing aside. “And there – Phoenix Fire?” She rushed forward, and quickly began pulling certain blossoms out of the Crusader's discard pile.
Daring sighed. “You know,” she said to Bulk, “I'd be willing to bet that right now, Discord is in Tirek's throne room, trying not to laugh.”
* * *
“So, who's laughing now Discord?” boomed Tirek, triumphantly, from his throne. A bruised and battered baby dragon hung by his wrists from the ceiling, and six unhappy ponies were tied to his throne.
Discord, who had Shining Armour's spear pointed at his back, didn't reply. Instead, Shining Armour saluted. “Found him wandering around the palace, sir.” he said.
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4968147
4968313
Some of them will be. There's really not much in the way of obstacles that can believably prevent Sweetie Belle from laying her hooves on Rarity's thread, for example.
4976432
4979189
4979165
Just another day for the Crusaders. I think you probably have to pay special insurance premiums to cover damage dealt by them.
4992017 CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS TOWN REBUILDERS YAY!!!!
4992053
(every single insurance premium in Ponyville promptly rises by another 20%)
4992066 *Cough* Cutie mark crusaders time travelers *cough*
Great chapter. Is Bulk Biceps tending the animals a nod to Estee's excellent Triptychverse?
I thought there were no more cutie marks since Tirek stole every pony's magic? Unless I've overlooked something and he somehow missed Roseluck.
4992069
...are you trying to give the insurance assessors heart attacks, by any chance?
4992408
Um. Maybe. Quite possibly. I'm not sure.
See, there was this story once, which involved Bulk taking over for Fluttershy when she was away, only I don't remember which story it was... so when I needed somepony to feed Fluttershy's animals, I just sort of latched on Bulk...
4992446
Fixed... now I feel silly...
4994278 But the insurance assessors are definitely Tirek minions
I MEAN THEY WEAR SUITS AND RAISE TAXES
WHAT IS MORE EVIL THAN THAT?
Oh, that's not good...
This is getting quite interesting. I look forward to more.
Standard arrangement, any time Miss Fluttershy's out saving the world again.
-Ah, that makes a lot of sense...
“Pull together every flower in the house,
-This contradicts later events... although I could see miscommunications happening later, or if Bulk announced it after Angel gathered the animals, rather than Angel passing the message on... shoot, Angel could have done it intentionally because he is a brat. But usually he's SELFISH, not randomly destructive. Then again he is probably in a BAD mood with no magically boosted care.
“Found him wandering around the palace, sir.” he said.
-You are even worse than the show at making travel times clear, but I can only assume that he already used the wedding photos on Shiny and this is the part where they break out the Mane 6... or probably just get the amulet.
7129663
Huh. You're right.
...I'm going to go with "miscommunications happened later". Angel probably didn't do it on purpose, but a lot of the other animals may have decided that if some flowers are going to bring the nice yellow pegasus back, then MORE flowers will bring her back QUICKER.
...now I'm imagining Angel facepalming next to a giant pile of flowers.