Species Relocation [Slice of Life]
Ditzy adjusted her mailmare hat, then gave the wooden door before her two solid knocks.
Cranky’s reply came through: “One moment.”
True to his word, the door unlatch and Cranky pulled it open after what Ditzy estimated to be ‘one moment’.
“Oh, it’s you. You can come on in.”
“Thanks,” Ditzy replied as she stepped through. Cranky’s home appeared as cluttered as ever, yet Ditzy learned some time ago that any randomly selected object would likely have some significant sentimental value and a fantastic story behind it.
Dinky loved storytime with Cranky, and Ditzy knew better than the grumpy face Cranky put on in the morning said; he liked storytime too.
“Sorry about the mess. I’m still not used to having company around. Besides Matilda.”
He apologised every time.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I think your house feels cozy because of it.”
“That’s the way I like it.” He made his way to the fireplace and carefully retrieved a pot of boiling liquid. “Coffee?”
“No, not this late in the day. I wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight.”
Cranky grumbled that it was still morning and poured himself a mug.
“Anyway, Fluttershy requested a special delivery. The post office doesn’t have a cart big enough and the Apple family’s equipment is tied up with the Zap Apple harvest. I’m here to ask if we can borrow yours.”
“Will it come back full of coffee? Because if that’s what’s going to happen, I think I can loan it to a friend for a while.”
“It can come back with whatever Barnyard Bargains has left in stock, but you’re paying for it. Celestia knows I couldn’t afford to raise Dinky and buy all of your coffee.”
Cranky took a sip from his mug. “All right. Fine. Just let me clean it out first… after I finish my coffee.”
Ditzy pulled the wagon up to Fluttershy’s cottage. After she unentangled herself from the harness, she went up to Fluttershy’s door and knocked.
Rainbow Dash answered the door.
“Oh, hey, Ditz.”
“Hey, Dash. I brought the cart; where’s Fluttershy?”
“She’s out back, filling buckets. You might want to bring the wagon over there. I’m going to fetch a couple of clouds and a few necessities.”
“Okay.”
Ditzy hooked up to the cart again and pulled it around back, where Fluttershy stood next to a large pond some distance away. She watched as Fluttershy swiped a net through the water and scooped it up with a cup a moment later. She poured the cup into one of the many wooden buckets that sat around her.
“Hi, Fluttershy.” Ditzy waved. “I brought the cart.”
Fluttershy looked up. “Oh, good. I hope Cranky didn’t mind.”
“I told him that we appreciate his noble sacrifice. I don’t think he really minds, though.” Ditzy shrugged. “Even if it smells like raw fish when he gets it back, he probably won’t notice it over the coffee.”
“These fish aren’t food – In fact, I really hope they all stay alive.”
“Don’t worry; I’m joking. I don’t think the cart is going to smell like fish at all.”
“Oh, okay.” Fluttershy glanced around. “Did Rainbow Dash get her clouds?”
“She left to fetch them a few minutes ago.”
Fluttershy looked back at the closest bucket of fish. “I see. I hoped we could get the fish to their new home before it got too hot out.”
“Don’t worry, Fluttershy. With the clouds and the tarp shading them from the sun, the fish should be fine. If it gets too hot, Dash and I took some of the advanced weather magic courses in school, so we both know how to make snow clouds even in warmer weather if it’s necessary.”
“Rainbow Dash said she slept through those classes a lot.”
“Then I know how to make snow clouds in warm weather. I guess Dash wouldn’t need them to become the weather team leader of an earth pony village. Now let’s load up the cart.”
Ditzy felt content pulling the wagon of fish, heavy as it was. She had pulled carts of mail between towns before, and if she had learned anything from the experience, it was that paper was heavy.
Rainbow Dash, on the other hoof, had pushed the clouds above the wagon for an hour, then started to complain.
“Three more hours to go? Why are we even doing this? How could a few buckets of fish possibly be this important?”
“Some of the streams in Galloping Gorge dried up two summers back and the fish population nearly died off in those areas,” Fluttershy replied. “The local Fish and Wildlife committee planted more trees and dug out some spots, but if there are no fish there, they can’t repopulate.”
“That sounds pretty important,” Ditzy remarked.
“I don’t think the ecosystem would collapse without them, but yeah, it is a pretty big deal. Can you stop for a minute? I’d like to check on them and make sure we haven’t splashed too much water out.”
“Sure. I could go for a quick break.” Ditzy turned her attention to the cloud above. “Dash, you got any soda up there?”
Dash’s head poked out from the edge of her clouds, shortly followed by a hoof holding a case of drinks. “What did I say? ‘A few essentials.’”
It hadn’t taken long to unload the cart once they had arrived, though Fluttershy insisted on feeding them after the trip so that they wouldn’t have to worry so much about finding food on their own immediately.
After the addition of new fish to the stream, Ditzy stacked the buckets back on the cart. She also took a discreet sniff, just to be sure; it still smelled vaguely like a damp, dusty attic.
A few days later…
“Now if you’re wondering why I had you all come out here.” Cranky said, addressing the dozen-or-so foals and their parents sitting on the bridge with him. “It’s because I won’t be telling tonight’s story.”
The foals collectively “awww”ed. Cranky had commandeered one of the bridges the largest stream that cut through Ponyville.
“But mommy,” Dinky whispered to Ditzy, “you said Cranky had a good one planned for today!”
Ditzy smiled and ruffled her daughter’s hair. “You’ll see.”
“We’re going to have a guest storyteller tonight: Stephan.”
With that, the stream below started to churn and a moment later, a giant purple reptile sporting a dashing orange set of facial hair emerged.
Stephan cooed. “Oh you are all so precious. Now, have I got a story for you. Cranky and I go way back, and if you think we can get ourselves into trouble now, you haven’t seen anything.
“It all started with a rivalry at a cornhole tournament...”
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Aww yeah! This was a good story!
That noodle incident at the end! ... Possible sequel or something, I guess. Keeping it mysterious is cool too!
That storytime at the end is nice~!
Have you read any of Carabas's Palaververse? I forget how many stories have Cranky as some big adventurer, but I think I've seen at least two. ... And I'm not sure if that's a meme, or founded in canon...
The travelling section had me confused, 'cause there was no clear indication that Fluttershy was speaking?
Typo:
Dinky, not Ditzy, I'm quite sure? Unless Dinky's full name is Ditzy Dinky Doo or something.
9033786
I said it before and I'll say it again: I don't kid around with the description/disclaimer for this collection.
Those spots have been fixed up a bit.
Founded in canon, I think. As I recall, Stephen (The wiki says "Steven".... Maybe I got that wrong.) makes a remark about how they adventured together while Cranky was looking for Matilda during Slice of Life / Episode 100.
Cloud coolers certainly make sense to me. And I have to say, I loved every bit of this, from cool grandpa Cranky to the Cloudsdale-Ponyville pegasi interacting to seeing more of ecosystem manager Fluttershy. Lovely work.
9033802
There was also that time he ran a raft for Spike in "Dragon Quest".
I felt like the final scene was disconnected from the rest. Might I have missed something? I liked what I saw, regardless.
9995815
It kind of was disconnected from the rest. Knowing me, it's just my cheap way of tying up the 'story time' thing that I mentioned in the first section but without doing any real work on said story.
To be perfectly honest, this entry ended up being a case of "just write something out of the card" where I didn't have any particular clever ideas in mind. They can't all be winners… right?