Fable

by lunabrony

2 - Denial

While the Cutie Mark Crusaders were off exploring the forgotten town of ages past, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were dealing with problems of their own. They had travelled countless miles to deliver Fluttershy's yellow striped bat to the Bat Sanctuary, and now some uppity-know-it-all staff pony wouldn't even let them through. It wasn't as if he was being necessarily rude about their predicament, he was being as patient as he could, given the situation. But his answer was still not the one that either of the pegasi wanted to hear.

"What do you mean you can't let us in?" Rainbow Dash asked incredulously.

"Ah mean," the guard drawled, "that y'all got there an outside bat, and ah don't know where it came from. Don't got no paperwork, could have any number of diseases. Ah can't jes' let an outside bat in with the inside bats, it ain't procedure. What if it got some virus that spreads, and it wipes out the whole population?"

Fluttershy gasped with horror. "Oh, we can't have that... well, we tried, maybe we'd best just turn around and-"

"Not so fast!" Rainbow interrupted. "Our bat is good, you have our word on that!"

"Oh, your word!" The guard exclaimed. "Well that changes everything, don't it? As long as ah have yer word, ah'll just break procedure and let y'all in anyway."

Fluttershy beamed. "I knew you'd understand, thank you!" She said.

Rainbow facehooved. "He's not letting us in, Fluttershy. He's being sarcastic. You're gonna have to do that thing to him."

The guard was instantly on alert. "Thing? What thing? Ah think y'all had better leave."

Fluttershy was equally confused. "What thing, Rainbow?"

"You know, that... thing you do?" Rainbow Dash widened her eyes to comical proportions.

Still lost, the yellow pegasus now just looked concerned. "Do you have something in your eyes, Dashie? Do you need to rinse it out? I could get you some cold water... if that's alright..."

"No! The stare! Use the stare!"

Fluttershy bit her lip. "But I don't like to use the stare, and it only works on animals, not on other ponies!"

The guard outside the sanctuary was not relieved by any of this, and gestured back the way they'd came. "Ah really think you two oughta leave now," he said.

Rainbow Dash frowned, and gradually slid a hoof in front of his face. "You are going to let us in," she said slowly.

"Git!" The guard shouted, with such sudden force that Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took off running in the direction they'd come from. Rainbow Dash looked at Fluttershy.

"Well that didn't work," she said.

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash. "At least you tried, Dashie," she said gently. "Although what you were trying to do I have no idea. But it was a good try."

With neither of them looking where they were going, they proceed to run down some poor pony who had been walking towards them. The three bodies tumbled head over hooves, the yellow striped bat becoming frightened and zipping into the air where it hovered until things settled down.

"Why don't you watch where you're going?" The newcomer scolded.

"We're sorry!" Fluttershy squeaked. "We just... oh!"

Both of them finally got a look at the pony they'd run down, as Braeburn reached down to pick up his hat, dusting dirt off his vest.

"Well howwwwwwwdeeeeeeee and blow me down!" He hollered. "I know y'all! Yer them buffalo gals! Whatcha doin' way out in these parts?" He asked, the former attitude of annoyance gone almost instantly.

"Braeburn!" Rainbow bounced back onto her hooves. "What do you mean? Didn't the girls tell you?" She asked.

"Girls?" Braeburn asked. "What girls?"

Getting a sinking feeling, Rainbow's voice struggled to stay even. ."The Cutie Mark Crusaders? Three fillies... they were supposed to come see you immediately!" She insisted.

Braeburn took off his hat in a solemn gesture, and held it against his heart. "Well ah'm rightly sorry ma'am, but ah ain't seen no little fillies, not hide nor hoof of 'em."

Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, a dangerous red flush rising to her cheeks.

"Apple Bloom..." She hissed.

Fluttershy folded her wings against her sides, and the bat lowered itself from the air to nestle itself in her hair once more, now that all the commotion was gone. "You don't know that Apple Bloom's behind this," she said gently. "It might easily have been Sweetie Belle, or Scootaloo."

Rainbow looked offended. "Scootaloo wouldn't be involved in horsing around like this! She's got a good head on her shoulders... takes after me."

Braeburn snickered. "Hah. Horsing around."

Rainbow glared at him. "Well I don't suppose you know of any place they could have gone to?" She asked, her angered voice now tinged with an increasing level of worry.

"Well, the kids around here like to play in Oldtown, that's the name folks 'round here call the abandoned village. Was a thriving community about thirty years ago, but we outgrew it, moved onto what's now Appleoosa instead," he said calmly.

"Thanks for the history lesson," Rainbow chided. "Can you take us there? Those kids get into all sorts of shenanigans, but they're in a strange town in a remote part of Equestria, if anything happened to Scootaloo, I'd... I'd never forgive myself." Fluttershy looked at her, and Rainbow Dash quickly added "....Or Apple Belle either," she said. "Wait..."

"Sure ah can take ya, ain't far!" Braeburn said, rearing up on his back legs and kicking his fronts in the air. "Come on, gals, times a wastin'!" He galloped back down the road towards Appleloosa, the two pegasi following him without a moments hesitation.

Comments

[Neko Majin C]

They had 1.)travelled countless miles to deliver Fluttershy's yellow striped bat to the Bat Sanctuary, and now 2.)some uppity-know-it-all staff pony wouldn't even let them through.

1.) "Traveled."
2.) Extra space.

"...As long as ah have yer word, ah'll just break procedure and let y'all in anyway."

These are replacements for I and I'll, so they should probably be capitalized.

"Sure ah can take ya, ain't far!"

Once again, this should probably be capitalized.

A wild Braeburn appears! Fun. The plot thickens. With Brony nomenclature that sounds so wrong...

KBO.