Pound and Pumpkin Tales 2

by Never2muchpinkie

6-4: Pound and Pumpkin

Flurry took to the air. This was going to be tricky. All of the other kids had run in different directions at the sound of screams from their family. There was a chance that all of them were in danger. Who should she go for first? If they were in trouble then she didn’t have time to debate it.

She decided on Pound and Pumpkin, if only because they had run off together. Two ponies were going to be of more help than one.

She looked around, trying to spot them. With the big battle she had just been in it was hard to remember which way any of them went.

She didn’t see anyone at first, so she went even higher. An odd buzzing noise caught her attention in the distance, and she saw a lot of black bug-like creatures swarming around. She had read about them. They were called Changelings. She did occasionally see Thorax, but he was a different kind of Changeling. Colorful and kind.

She could make out them going after something, and took off in that direction. Lightning bolts were going off in all directions, frying some of the Changelings. She put on more speed, eager to be of use.

As she got near the battle she could see the colt and filly holding hooves and shooting magic.

A large swarm of Changelings gathered above them. As they descended another group snuck up and hit them from behind, separating the two of them.

Queen Chrysalis laughed as the twins struggled to get out of their grasp. “Got you brats at last.”

Pound inhaled, his chest swelling a bit, before breathing out hard as a stream of air came toward her, but it was barely enough to ruffle her hair.

“Is that all you can muster, little freak? It seems like all your power is gone when you’re not actually touching. I don’t understand how you have such an ability, but I guess it doesn’t matter, does it? You’re finished.”

As she started laughing it was cut short as Flurry descended and kicked her in the back of the head, sending her crashing into the ground. She quickly followed it up with a large magic blast, leaving the queen a sizzled mess.

The rest of the army looked at the corpse of their leader. A few fled, but the rest hissed in outrage and went after her. Flurry teleported to the other children as they neared, pulling them next to her with her magic.

Flurry also didn’t understand it, but from what the queen had said these two children had elemental powers that only worked well when they were in physical contact. How they had those powers was irrelevant. Right now she would put it to use.

Her horn lit up, creating a sideways tornado.

“You two! Add your unique powers to this.”

They were still trying to catch up to what happened, and it took them a few seconds to react. They did understand that help had arrived, and, putting one set of hooves together, they put the other one right below the tornado, shooting a plume of fire into it.

Flurry expanded the tornado as the Changelings attempted to run, but ultimately they were all sucked into it, burning to ashes.

The twins lowered their hooves as Flurry stopped the tornado.

Flurry looked around the area to make sure it was safe, then sat down on the ground. She needed a little break to recharge her magic.

The other two children sat down across from her. “Thank you,” said the colt.

“Yeah. Thanks,” said the filly.

“You’re welcome,” said Flurry. After a few seconds she said, “So with all the craziness going on we haven’t been introduced to each other yet. I’m Flurry Heart.”

“I’m Pound Cake,” said the colt.

“I’m Pumpkin Cake,” said the filly.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you two,” said Flurry, letting out a breath.

“Are you all right?” asked Pound.

Flurry nodded. “Just a little tired.”

“I’m guessing we’re not the only ones to run into trouble, then,” said Pumpkin. She put her head on her knees. “Man, who would abduct little kids and put them through this?”

Mayhem popped into Flurry’s mind. “Another kid.”

“Another kid?”

“Before I came to find you I ran into this odd creature. It called itself a… draconequus, I think. I’ve never seen anything like it. It looked like it was made of ten different kinds of animals. A claw here, a hoof there…”

She sighed. “It claimed responsibility for doing this. I tried my best to fight him, but I couldn’t win.” A tear came down her eye. “He just toyed with me, treating the whole thing like a game. He didn’t even try to hurt me. He just let me use all my spells, and then went on his way.”

“Mmm…” Pound didn’t like the sound of that. “So even you couldn’t do anything, even though you’re an alicorn?”

Flurry put a hoof to her stomach. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” said Pumpkin. “No sense in beating yourself up about it.”

Flurry looked between the two children. “Tell me something. Have we ever met before?” They both shook their heads. “Well, I didn’t think so. Even so, it’s nice to see you anyway. I was feeling kinda lonely and scared after he left. I’m scared for my family.”

They both nodded. “I can understand that,” said Pumpkin.

“That thing… it said that if we wanted to go home that we’d have to go to the castle, and we’d only be able to go in if all six of us were there.”

Pound stood up. “So we team up, take this weirdo down, and we get to go home? Sounds good to me.” He got a confused look on his face. “But wait a minute. Ponyville is our home.”

Pumpkin got up too. “Well, this doesn’t look like the Ponyville we know. Even if…” She took a deep breath. “Even if he killed everybody in Ponyville how could we not know anything was happening? The last thing I remember we were at home.”

Flurry got up too. “Well… I really hope this isn’t actually Ponyville, otherwise it likely means Aunt Twilight is dead.”

“But if this isn’t Ponyville then how did he do it?” asked Pound. “Why go out of his way to make a broken-down version of our town?”

“I don’t know,” said Pumpkin. “All we can do is work together to bring him down.” She put her hoof out.

Pound put his on top of hers, and then they both looked at Flurry.

Flurry looked at their two hooves. “I suppose I might as well, considering I failed.”

“What do you mean?” asked Pound.

“I was studying so hard because I had a lot of pressure being put on me. Every time I went out I had someone putting an expectation on me of being great.” A tear came down her eye. “I started getting more and more afraid that something would happen to my parents, and force me to step up. After all, alicorns have always been rulers of something.

“Celestia and Luna control the sun and moon, and rule over Canterlot. Aunt Twilight is responsible for spreading friendship, and rules over Ponyville. And my mother is responsible for spreading love, and rules over the Crystal Empire.

“If something happened to her then who else would be chosen as a ruler than an alicorn?” Her eyes clenched shut as a quiet sob escaped her. “I’m just not ready! And even though I’ve worked my butt off preparing for a time like this it came out to nothing. That creature treated me like a plaything, and because I wasn’t strong enough I might lose my parents to him!”

The twins walked over to Flurry and hugged her. “There, there,” said Pumpkin, patting her back. “Don’t cry.”

“You saved our butts,” said Pound. “So now we’ll work with you to protect you too.”

Flurry glanced between the two of them, and much like before the crushing weight of despair began to dissipate.

She sniffed. “I’ve been afraid to make friends, because I’ve felt like I never knew when I might be forced to take my parents place, so I needed to be as strong as possible. Here, in this place, there’s no more time for any training.

"I lost to him by myself, but maybe, if we work together, we might be able to win.”

Pound smiled. “That’s the spirit. Let’s be friends.”

Flurry smiled back, but after a few seconds it faded. “Do you actually want to be friends with me?”

“Why not?”

She pulled away from the two of them, backing up a few feet, before hanging her head and unfurling her wings. “You didn’t want to deal with me before, and called me ‘mutant wings,’ remember?”

Pound flushed. “Hey! I’m really sorry about that.”

Flurry shook her head, crying again. “Don’t bother. I know how it is. I’ve dealt with it all my life. All the kids made fun of my giant wings. Why should you be any different?” She lifted them as high as they would go. “Well? Go on, then. Get your fill.”

Pound walked up to her and hugged her again. “I’m sorry, Flurry. I mean it! I was just mad before because that green kid pushed my sister. I didn’t mean to take it out on you.

“Believe me, I know what you’re going through.”

Flurry let out a scoffing noise. With a bit of magic she lifted his wings before pushing him away from her. “Oh, yeah. Sure. You really look like you understand the pain of having ginormous wings.”

Pound shook his head. “No… I don’t know about that. But…” He looked down at the ground. “I do, however, know the pain of being bullied over your wings.

“For the longest time I couldn’t fly. Everyone in my class could at least hover, but I was dead last. I used to be called the flightless wonder. I hated school because of it.

“One day, I got into a huge fight with Pumpkin for calling me a flightless loser, and I got to the point where I started to hate myself. I felt like I would rather have my wings removed and live as an earth pony than continue to be a pegasus.”

He looked up into her eyes. “I’m sorry, Flurry. I wouldn't wish that pain on anyone.”

Flurry could see the hurt in his eyes, and she felt he truly did understand something of the pain she had gone through. “So… you don’t think my wings make me a freak?”

Pound shook his head. “No way! If I had had wings like yours I probably would have been flying a long time ago.”

“We’re all different,” said Pumpkin. “I didn’t go through the same kind of bullying Pound did, but I got to see the pain he went through because of it. Whatever our differences, we’re all just ponies.”

Flurry got a warm smile on her face. “Thank you.” She put her hoof out. “Okay. Let’s go rescue those other ponies too and go home!”

The two of them put their hoof over hers. “Right!”

Author's Note:

Two friends down. Three to go.

Comments

[Lord King Cocoon]

I noticed that even though Flurry noticed their elemental powers, she never actually asked about them. I'm curious as to how they figured out those powers.

[Never2muchpinkie]

9413274
That's coming at the start of the next chapter.

I'm a little fuzzy in the details, but Mayhem only took away the memories of their friendships with one another. So they don't remember Mayhem giving them the ability, but they do retain knowledge of the ability itself and how to use it.

So, to them, it's just something they've always had.

[KingJoltik]

Nice to see the twins can still do friendship even if they've forgotten about their original bonds. Pinkie taught them well!