Putt Putt Becomes a Pony

by Rainbow Sparkle

Chapter 6

Putt Putt waved goodbye to as many of the ponies as he could as he and Fluttershy started heading out, his eyelids feeling heavy and his belly a bit bigger than it probably should be. He’d eaten quite a lot in the span of a few hours, and had more than he’d had in… well, since his last great adventure!

In fact, it had been the biggest party he’d ever been to! Even the party he threw for Pep couldn’t hold a candle to this one! Fluttershy and her other friends hadn’t been exaggerating when they’d said Pinkie Pie was the premiere party pony in Ponyville, perhaps even all of Equestria!

Sure, a few of the foals and adults had given him weird looks when he explained how he got to Ponyville and where he was from. And he’d noticed that Fluttershy, Twilight, and Pinkie Pie had these odd, almost sad looks when they overheard him sharing the tales of his adventures with others, but everyone had been nice and welcoming, and he’d gotten to ply a bunch of games with others his age!

… Odd, that last bit seemed to stand out more… especially given that now that he thought about it, his adventures didn’t involve him doing much of anything with kids like himself.

“You okay Putt Putt?”

Putt Putt blinked, gave his head a little shake and looked up to Fluttershy. She was walking beside him and had a wing draped over him as they made their way back to her cottage.

“You looked a little spaced out there for a moment…” Fluttershy added in answer to his confused expression.

“Oh, ohh it’s nothing, I guess I’m just tired. That was one exciting party! I got to meet so many other ponies and make a bunch of new friends… and there were so many kinds of treats to try!”

Fluttershy smiled at that, letting out a small titter as she said “Pinkie’s parties have a tendency to do that. Just let me know if you get too tired, you can ride on my back the rest of the way.”

Putt Putt thought about that for a moment, then shook his head. Even if he was a bit confused by that strange thought a moment ago, he wasn’t that tired. Not yet anyways.

“I can manage.”

Nodding, Fluttershy lead the way back. Silvery moonlight bathed the town and the woods around it as they took their time walking. The quiet was a nice reprieve for both of them after half a day spent in Sugarcube Corner with lots of talking, singing and laughing.

The cool night air also felt rather nice, though Putt Putt could have done without the light breeze that occasionally blew by.

By the time that Fluttershy’s cottage had come into view though, Putt Putt’s eyes were trying to close all on their own, and he was leaning into Fluttershy more and more. He barely even registered when she carefully plucked him up with her teeth and set him on her back.

With a big yawn, he laid his head down on his hooves and got comfy, the soft swaying as Fluttershy carefully walked the rest of the way home being more than enough to help lull him into a pleasant sleep.

-*-

Tonight’s dreams were turning out much better. He was back in Cartown, retracing the steps of his adventure to join the parade. He’d taken care of the things blocking the roads to the various streets of Cartown, had even mowed some lawns and delivered groceries for some coins to get himself a car wash.

Everything was going as it should. It was almost like he was reliving it all perfectly.

That was however, until he got to the parade part itself.

He had started leading the parade, just as he had back in Cartown… but when Pep had popped up to stick his head into the wind and barked… only to sound just like the fake barking from the previous night’s nightmare.

Yet Pep looked like… well, Pep.

He’d pulled off to the side then, and it was only as the rest of the cars drove by that he noticed something… weird. Almost invisible save when the light glinted off them just right, were lines of string… almost like fishing line, that went straight up into the sky… which now faded to black if he looked high enough.

He watched as the parade went on ahead, some cars now rising to float in the air or dance… as much as cars could dance. But they only seemed to move when the strings attached to them moved this way or that…

“What the… what’s going on?” He called out, his smile quickly falling into a confused expression.

Pep barked again, interrupting his pondering and this time sounding like himself, albeit rather insistent. He tried to calm him down, only to feel him smack a paw to his… muzzle?

Putt Putt sat up with a start, Pep jumping to the side and giving him a worried look. He wasn’t in Cartown now… he was in a bed… the bed in the guest room at Fluttershy’s cottage.

“W-What a weird dream…” Putt Putt said, shaking his head and trying to dispel the strange feelings it left him with. He wasn’t doing a very good job of it, but the nuzzling and licking from Pep at least made it easier to push them away for a bit.

It didn’t take him too long to head back to sleep, this time with Pep snuggled up to his barrel. The remainder of the night went by in a peaceful, dreamless sleep. When he woke up later that morning, he found himself hoping that the next night would be just as peaceful.

After a rather uneventful day spent helping Fluttershy with her critters and reading some books she had, he would learn that such a hope had sadly been in vain.

Once more, nightmares haunted his sleep, and over the next three days would continue to do so. They all followed a common theme- ending up alone, often in a dark void of nothingness. Sometimes he heard the echo of a voice that sounded hauntingly familiar, yet his mind couldn’t seem to place it.

The voice was often disjointed, with some words it was trying to convey being lost in the darkness, but he caught ‘smile’ and ‘just hang on’’ often enough. Hearing both made him want to smile, and yet at the same time, gave him a feeling of deep sadness he couldn’t understand.

His sixth night in this world with Fluttershy and the other ponies would prove the worst of them all. The nightmare once again lulled him into a false sense of security by letting him see many of his friends all over Cartown.

Then, after a short nap in his garage, he got ready to go through the town again, maybe head over to Mr. Firebird’s lab or the Cartown Zoo… but when he came across another car and gave a wave with a wheel, he saw the car begin to fade away.

Putt Putt tried to rush over to them, but by the time he reached them they had already vanished, as if they’d never been there.

Putt Putt began a race through town to check on all the other residents. Each time he saw one, they started to vanish, until soon enough, it was just him and Pep sitting in the middle of Cartown square.

Letting out a whimper, Putt Putt exclaimed “W-Why is this happening… w-what’s going on?” He turned his head to ask Pep… but then froze.

Pep wasn’t there with him anymore.

Instead, sitting in the seat, was a stuffed animal doll that very closely resembled Pep. Again, a strange sense of familiarity washed over him, and only added to the mounting fear he was feeling as he realized he was all alone.

“Pep? PEP! What happened to you!? Why… w-why am I all alone? Wh-Why does everyone keep disappearing?”

The stuffed animal gave no response to him, simply flopping over in his car seat. He used his antenna to pick it up and bring it out in front of him. He closed his eyes, hoping that when he opened them it’d be his canine buddy and best friend.

When he opened them, instead there was nothing. Even the stuffed animal had faded away.

He let out a loud, sorrow filled cry as his eyes screwed shut, trying to fight the tears. Putt Putt failed to notice that now everything around him was dissolving, streaming up and away into a vast dark void. He only opened his eyes back up when he felt his back wheels slipping, which clued him in to face the ground around him was falling apart and dropping into an endless, inky pit of black.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!” He screamed out as he tried to grip onto the ground, his antenna lashing out to snatch onto something, anything, to keep him from falling in.

Unfortunately, it was too little, too late. His antenna wasn’t long enough to reach anything… and even if it did, much of it was falling apart, sinking into the abyss above and below. And soon enough, so was he, his screams of terror lost after but a few seconds…

-*-

Putt Putt practically leapt into the air as he screamed, sending both Pep and Fluttershy tumbling back off his bed. Gravity pulled him back down, and he hit the mattress with an oomph and rolled off to the opposite side. He brought some of the blankets with him, not that he cared at the moment as the pain helped him to realize he was awake…

Which, sadly, did nothing to keep the pain he felt in his heart from going away.

He was quickly sobbing and crying, tears rushing out as he buried his face in the blanket. He could hear Pep and Fluttershy coming around the bed, and the instant she picked him up in her hooves he buried his face into the crook of her neck.

“I’m so, so sorry…” He heard her whisper, though it was hard to make it out over his bawling. She didn’t try to explain what she was sorry about for half an hour as she just held and comforted him, letting him get it all out.

Each time he thought he was getting close to stopping, he’d see a flash of the nightmare in his mind, of one of his friends fading from existence before his very eyes, and it’d start the waterworks anew.

He kept trying to tell himself it was just a nightmare, a bad dream… that it shouldn’t bother him so much… he… he knew his friends were still out there… they… they weren’t going to vanish or disappear. He knew… or so he told himself again and again just as he had these last few days, that Mr. Firebird was hard at work finding a way to bring him back home…

So then, why did these visions in his mind terrify him so? Why was tonight’s vision so much worse than the rest?

When he finally managed to calm down, Fluttershy explained that she had come to check on him, and Pep had been antsy, so she took him outside for a quick walk. By the time she came back in, she could hear Putt Putt whimpering and mumbling in his sleep, which had quickly transitioned into crying.

It seemed Pep leaving the bed, and thus leaving him in the room all by himself, had triggered tonight’s nightmare.

“These Nightmares don’t seem to be going away…” Fluttershy said as she tightened her hug around him. Putt Putt could hear the worry in her voice, which made him feel a little better as he sniffled and tried to dry his eyes.

“Come on… I’m going to make you some warm milk… then you and Pep are going to sleep in my bed. Tomorrow, we’re going to see Twilight, and see if she can help.” She said, earning a tired but thankful nod from Putt Putt.

The warm milk was a welcome treat, and helped Putt Putt feel better… by the time he finished his cup he was nearly ready to fall asleep at the table itself.

Placing him on her back again, Fluttershy carried him up to her bedroom, and tucked him and Pep both in before sliding next to them and wrapping them both in a warm, motherly hug. It made Putt Putt feel odd for a brief moment… but the warmth she gave both physically and emotionally helped to push that feeling aside.

Less than a minute later, he was out like a light.

Comments

[ComradeCheese]

Keep it coming

[Switch Swap]

I just realized. Where is Luna?

[Luckyfanisaac]

The quiet was a nice reprieve for both of them after half a day spent in Sugarcube Corner with lots of talking, singing,(—— and laughing.