Fluttershy Digs Deep

by MagicS

Cannibals or Not

The unlikely group of adventurers had now stumbled upon perhaps their most flummoxing of dilemmas and finds.

They sat at a crossroads. A tunnel that went left and right with no idea which one to choose. They looked the same. The air flowed down them the same. Maud had no thoughts to give on which might be the better choice. And a sign was put up in the middle of the intersection that (while on the surface was very helpful) was causing them quite a bit of concern.

First of all, who in the hay even made the sign? Fluttershy had no idea.

Second of all, whoever made it was either very kind, had a bad sense of humor, or had a very nefarious purpose. And the group honestly couldn’t figure out which one. They had nothing else to go on and each scenario was just as likely to them.

As they stared at the sign in confusion, Fluttershy took another deep breath and sighed.

A simple wooden post with one arrow pointing down the left tunnel that read “Cannibals” and one arrow pointing down the right tunnel that read “No Cannibals”.

Fluttershy was understandably startled when they first came across the sign. And it was still making her just a little bit queasy.

“So um… how do we go about this?” Daylight Gleam asked.

“I think we’re just overthinking this,” Amethyst Star said. “Like—wouldn’t we be idiots for not going down the right tunnel?” She pointed.

“I think we’d be bigger idiots if it was a trap and we fell for such an obvious one,” Daylight frowned.

“But who would put a trap like this down here? It must be like centuries since anypony even stumbled on it,” Amethyst Star said.

Maud reached forward and tapped the wooden signpost. “It’s not totally rotted but it’s falling apart a bit. I’m sorry Mudbriar isn’t here, he’d be able to date it.”

“I just don’t trust this one bit, it has to be a trap,” Daylight shook her head.

“Well my instincts are telling me to not look a gift horse in the mouth. Let’s just listen to the sign and take the obvious route,” Amethyst Star frowned.

“If your instincts are telling you to do something then we should do the exact opposite,” Daylight flatly looked at her.

“I… I can’t exactly disagree with that sentiment,” Amethyst Star bit her lip and rubbed her head. She hated to admit that Daylight was probably right about that.

Angel Bunny snored from his spot on Fluttershy’s back.

Fluttershy glanced worriedly down each tunnel. “Oh—we really don’t have time for something like this! I’m, um, very scared about running into c-cannibals of all things but we need to hurry up and keep moving. M-Maybe the whole thing is just a prank and there aren’t any cannibals at all? I don’t think Pinkie would ever make a prank like this, but Rainbow Dash might.”

“Can we take that risk?” Daylight asked.

“We’re taking a risk already no matter what tunnel we choose,” Amethyst Star said. “It’s basically the same no matter what we do.”

Daylight Gleam sighed and nodded. “Either a trap and we look like idiots mo matter which tunnel we choose to go down or we end up okay.”

“I kind of want to believe that whoever set up a sign like this was doing it out of kindness and honestly wanted to help whoever came down here,” Fluttershy pawed at the ground. “So with that being said I think we should go down the right tunnel too.” She then grimaced. “Oh, but if it turns out to be a trick then I think I would feel even worse about it.”

Daylight Gleam dragged an exasperated hoof down her face. “So we’re still stuck.”

“Well if the tunnels aren’t that long maybe we can just scout out one of them for a bit and if we see anything bad we can just run back here?” Amethyst suggested.

“Maybe. Or just I or you can go since we’re the only ones who can illuminate things, no sense putting us all in danger,” Daylight said.

“I can guarantee that I would somehow screw something up and put us in danger if I was sent off alone,” Amethyst Star said, absolutely no hesitation in her voice. “I’m not even trying to get out of doing it. I’m just saying that’s what would happen.”

Fluttershy was a little too nice to voice her agreement on that but Daylight had no problem. “Yeah, that’s actually probably true.”

“Maybe two of us can go down the right tunnel and the other two can stay here?” Amethyst suggested.

“Maybe...” Daylight considered.

“I-I-I really don’t know if splitting up is a good idea,” Fluttershy said, a frightened expression frozen on her face. “That just sounds scary. In stories doesn’t something bad happen in scary situations like this whenever ponies split up?”

“I don’t know if I’d really call this a scary situation. More like a potentially scary one,” Daylight said.

“Well Fluttershy is afraid of tape measurers so I’m not surprised she’s scared right now too,” Amethyst Star said.

Fluttershy frowned. “Only the metal ones...”

“At this point I suggest we just pick a tunnel at random and go down it,” Maud said. “We’ve already been here long enough.”

“Well we don’t have a coin to flip,” Daylight said.

“I could spin around in a circle until I get dizzy and whichever tunnel I end up pointing at we can go down?” Amethyst shrugged.

Daylight groaned. “Look—I was only joking. I don’t think such an idiotic thing should be used to decide where we’re going. We should think about this more, use our heads. This sign is here for a reason and I think it’s because it’s a trap. We should go where it obviously is telling us we shouldn’t go.”

“But you don’t know it’s here for a reason at all!” Amethyst challenged.

Angel Bunny was briefly woken up by their arguing. He tilted his head up to see what the commotion was, frowned, and then went back to sleeping.

Maud meanwhile didn’t seem to really be paying attention at all anymore. She only stared down the right tunnel and occasionally tapped on some of the rocks.

And so Fluttershy—despite really not wanting to be in this position—knew she was the one who had to decide. She was the “leader” after all. It was her adventure and she was the reason they were down here and in front of this sign in the first place. But she was scared. Even though she was being optimistic about the sign’s meaning, she was scared at just the mention and possibility of cannibals. Although since they might not be pony cannibals maybe they weren’t actually in that much danger? She hadn’t seen any ponies down here after all. Well now she was kind of overthinking things too. She couldn’t exactly imagine cannibals were friendly though, even if ponies like them weren’t on the menu.

There were just other things they had to deal with right now. One big thing as it happens. And Fluttershy didn’t care if it was a trap or a trick but she was going to do her best to avoid any cannibals. So they were going to do the obvious thing. Even if it may have been so obvious that it was stupid.

“Enough!” Fluttershy stomped her hoof on the ground, gaining the attention of not just Amethyst and Daylight but Maud and a freshly startled awake Angel Bunny as well. She blushed in embarrassment at her mild outburst but quickly got control of herself. “Sorry, but we need to get a move on. I understand we’re all worried over this sign and what it could mean for us, but we have something very important to do. Even if we make the wrong choice and run into some c-cannibals we’ll just have to overcome that too.” She took a deep breath and looked into the eyes of the other three ponies one by one. “We’re going to go down the right tunnel that says “No Cannibals”, okay?”

“Roger that!” Amethyst Star smiled widely and saluted.

“Got it,” Maud nodded.

“I’m… yeah. Let’s go,” Daylight was hesitant at first but then smiled at Fluttershy.

“Good,” Fluttershy smiled. “I know we might have some differences in opinion and everything but I’m glad we can still work together and put those differences aside to make sure we do what we need to. That’s harmony.”

“You’re sounding a little like Twilight,” Maud said.

Fluttershy blushed. “Um, I-I don’t think I’m quite at that level of friendship speech yet. I just think it’s really wonderful when different ponies can come together for a common cause. It’s beautiful in a way.”

Maud nodded stoically. “I agree.”

“Uh, so are we actually moving now?” Amethyst Star asked and pointed down the right tunnel.

“Oh! Yes, yes, let’s go as quickly as we can—but still watch out and be careful,” Fluttershy said.

“I’ll light the way like always,” Daylight Gleam said and walked in front, the powerful light from her horn illuminating the tunnel. “And no need to worry, like this we’ll see any cannibals coming if they’re there.” She chuckled and winked back at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy gulped. “Oh dear...”

Comments

[RoboRed]

I swear to god I remember seeing something like this cannibals bit somewhere before but I can't for the life of me recall where...