Are You Ready?

by Dirty Bit

Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Forming a plan

The party lasted till evening, and everypony present soon retired to their respective homes with looks of satisfaction and tiredness on their faces. Fluttershy and Dr. Facilier were the last to leave as they trotted back side-by-side, the Shadowcolt looking neither satisfied or tired. He wanted to go back so he could make more potions for himself and his new paying job and decorate more dolls from the spare base ones he bought so he could remember to keep a proper census of Ponyville and pluck a few hairs if necessary. Fluttershy smiled, but felt as if she were being avoided ever since she decided to hug the doctor earlier today. With newfound courage and a reason to talk to him, she wanted her feelings to be heard after all that he had done for her in the past. The two continued trotting back to the cottage in silence. Pinkie waved goodbye with her signature ecstatic grin "See ya around, you two! Good luck on your new job, Dr. Fa-silly-a!!" She called out as she went back inside.

Back at Sweet Apple Acres, Applejack and her younger sister were in her room while the rest of the family was asleep. They were trying to think on how they should approach handling Dr. Facilier ever since Pinkie decided to tip them off on his dark motives. Applebloom looked up to her older sister after thinking "Maybe we should meet up with Rainbow Dash an' mah friends an' try t' plan things from there. Ah mean, we're th' only ones who know about Dr. Fa-cee-lee-ae's sneaky behavior, an' it's not like nopony else'll listen t' us! Especially Fluttershy, now that I think about it..." Applejack sighed, hoping that her timid friend's heart wouldn't be crushed by the Shadowcolt, then nodded to Applebloom's idea "Good idea, sis...But we gotta be super stealthy-like iffin' we're gonna meet at this late hour..." She slowly opened the door as it gave off a quiet yet continuous creak, smiling back at her younger sister "C'mon, Applebloom...this'll be our little secret!" Applebloom smiled with glee at how her sister acted as the two snuck out of their home. They were lucky to realize that Granny Smith can be such a hard sleeper at times, especially when Applebloom and her friends tried using her as a puppet to decline her visit for Family Appreciation Day. When they finally got out of their home, they galloped into Ponyville to find Rainbow Dash first, considering she was the first one who was suspicious about Dr. Facilier and was true about it.

When they reached the town, they waited to see if Rainbow Dash's cloud house would float into view, but instead, they noticed a shadow coming towards them. They both got into a defensive stance, though they showed visible signs of fear at the shady figure advancing towards them. When it got close, the shadows lifted to find Rainbow Dash with a smile on her face "Wow! And here I thought I had to go all the way to your house to wake you two up! You really saved us the trouble, girls!" She said with happiness and determination, but only earned confused glances from the two Apple siblings "Us?" they said in unison. Rainbow turned her head behind and nodded it, signalling two more shadows to appear and approach the small group, revealing themselves to be Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Scootaloo was full of vigor, smiling at the excitement about to ensue from trying to expose Dr. Facilier, while Sweetie Belle looked like she was ready to drop and go back to sleep, here eyes a little bleary as she rubbed them and gave a cute yawn. Applebloom noticed and smiled "Scootaloo! Sweetie Belle! Ah didn't think y'all would join us like this! Are ya tryin' t' plan to stop Dr. Fa-cee-lee-ae with the rest of us?" Scootaloo puffed out her chest "Are you kidding me? I'd never pass up the chance to go on some exciting investigation and try to get some bad pony behind bars! I could barely sleep a wink!" Sweetie Belle gave a tired moan "Rainbow Dash woke us both up and wanted us to come out here and try to plan something...How she was able to do it without Rarity waking up, I'll never know...Couldn't we just do it tomorrow? We have school in the morning..." Scootaloo turned to Sweetie Belle "How can you still be tired when there's a sneaky sinister stallion on the loose?" She nudged her friend "C'mon, Sweetie Belle, open those eyes! We could be heroes for this AND get our cutie marks!" This caused Sweetie Belle to instantly perk up and look ready "What are we waiting for?" Rainbow Dash chuckled at the unicorn filly's new-found vigor and looked around "Okay, if we're gonna form a team to take care of Dr. Fa-silly-a, we're gonna need somepony who could relate to him in terms of who he is, what he does, how he does it, and what he needs in order to do it...They'll even have to talk like him, too!" She turned to her friends "Do we know anypony like that?" Everypony present except Scootaloo gave Rainbow an 'Are you serious?' look, and upon seeing it, she quickly facehoofed as she remembered "Horseapples..." She then smiled "Everfree Forest it is! Let's go, team!" Rainbow Dash took off on her wings and sped, the rest of the group galloping after her.

When they reached the Everfree Forest, they arrived at Zecora's hut, knocking on the door and waiting for her arrival. The door opened to reveal the zebra mare with some minor wounds on her body, causing the crusaders to gasp, Applebloom rushing up to Zecora "Zecora, what happened to ya!? Didya fight some o' the creatures in the forest to get some ingredients? Oh, Celestia, please be okay!" Zecora sighed and smiled at Applebloom's care, patting her on the head.

"They are minor scratches, Applebloom.
But how they got there, I cannot assume...
What exactly are you doing here?
Are you seeking guidance? Is your mind not clear?"

Rainbow trotted forward with a look of determination "It's not a matter of guidance, but a matter of joining our team. We're going to put a stop to that creepy zebracorn doctor and get him out of Ponyville before other innocent ponies get hurt!" This made Zecora's eyes widened, not anticipating for even Rainbow Dash to figure out Dr. Facilier's true colors. She trotted backwards into her hut, signalling for the small group in so that they could explain their cases and try to formulate a good plan to put a stop to the Shadowcolt's plans.

Inside, the small group of mares were watching Rainbow Dash, who stood and tried to act like a commanding officer debriefing her squadron "Okay! What exactly do we know about this Dr. Fa-silly-a guy? Gimme all you got so we can use it against him in this battle for our town!" Applebloom spoke up first "That Zecora was right about him all along!" Applejack added "That he somehow cheated in a race against ya..." Sweetie Belle chimes in "That Fluttershy really likes him?" Scootaloo "That he got a job at Ponyville Clinic after saving Nurse Tenderheart?" Rainbow nodded at each bit of info, although she already knew some of it, hiding her grimace at Applejack's knowledge. She really hated losing, and having to be brought up on the particular subject of losing to somepony. When she went to go speak again, there was a knock at Zecora's door, the group turning to it with suspicion. Rainbow Dash swoops over, waving a hoof at her team to keep quiet as she crept up to the door, advancing a hoof to the doorknob slowly and wearily, the quickly opening it as it showed Spike looking up. Rainbow raised an eyebrow at this "Spike? What are you doing here?" As she waited for an answer, Spike lifelessly floated upwards, causing Rainbow to shriek and jump back. She thought one of her best friends had turned into a ghost, until she noticed a stick jammed into Spike's body, followed by a pink hoof holding the stick. Pinkie Pie came into view with a mischievous grin on her face "Noooooope! Pinkie Testa!" Rainbow Dash groaned at falling for another one of Pinkie's small pranks, looking at her friend in annoyance "Pinkie, what are you doing out here? We're kinda busy at the moment!" Pinkie replies in her cheery tone "My Pinkie Sense told me that you, Applejack, and the crusaders were gonna come down here and talk to Zecora and see if you could find anything useful in trying to get rid that meanie pants doctor!" She then chucked the replica of Spike on a stick into the woods and turned to the cyan pegasus "Is it okay if I come in?" Rainbow groaned, but then remembered she would need all the help she would get to form a plan, and knowing Pinkie's randomness, she could be a worthy member on her team "Yeah, come on in, Pinks. We're trying to come up with a plan, and since you know that Dr. Fa-silly-a's all sneaky, maybe you could help us!" Pinkie clapped her hooves "Goody!" She hops inside, the cyan pegasus shutting the door.

They went back to talking about how to deal with Dr. Facilier, the group focusing their attention to Rainbow Dash, claiming herself on being the de facto leader on account of her 'awesomeness', or so she claims. She trots back and forth like a military officer "Okay, since we've got all we know about that zebracorn, we'll need a plan!" Scootaloo perked up with one of her ideas "What if we set up a trap somewhere in town and lead him to it! Then we can just easily turn him in from there!" Rainbow nods "I like the way you think, squirt, but that guy's already got most of Ponyville's trust! We'll need to think harder!" Applejack tapped a hoof to ehr chin "What if we talk to Twilight about this here problem? Ah'm sure she'll come up with a plan!" Rainbow shook her head "No! We've got enough team members as it is! And besides, more ponies would complicate things!" Sweetie Belle looked up at Rainbow "But things are already complicated with what he's doing! And Twilight's the smartest pony we all know! She's bound to know how to stop Dr. Facilier and force him out of town!" Rainbow shook her head again "With OUR combined brainpower, we can come up with something just as good as Twilight! We just need something good to think of with what we know about him!" Zecora took this time to speak of her own idea.

"A good way to get rid of him is for us to find
A certain gimmick that would strike fear in his mind..."

Applebloom spoke up, thrilled with the idea "Yeah! Why don't we jus' scare him outta Ponyville like we did with Trixie, and those two cider-makin' brothers? We could find somethin' in town that'll give 'im the heebie-geebies!" Scootaloo turns to Applebloom with a grin "That's a great idea! Then he'll be out of Fluttershy's life and won't even THINK about going back to Ponyville again..." She looked down, trying to think "What DO we find that'll make him scream?" Rainbow Dash and Applejack looked at each other, putting their heads together as they tried thinking "Wait, Dash. Didn't Dr. Fa-cee-lee-ae get all worked up over that song Pinkie played at his welcome party? He was screamin' up a storm and galloped outta Sugarcube corner faster than a stampede o' cattle!" Rainbow Dash perked up and hugged Applejack "Nice thinking, AJ! Now we got something that'll make that'll get rid of that looney doctor!" She then stopped "But where do we find a copy of the song?" Everypony stopped, then turned to Pinkie, who was looking around, then gasped at the reason they stared "Nonononono, girls! I totally think he's a real meanie pants, but I don't wanna make him all scared with that song!" She looked down "It made me feel bad how he acted..." Rainbow trotted over and lifted Pinkie's chin with a hoof "Pinkie, you gotta remember that this pony could hurt Fluttershy if he wanted to, maybe even ruin her life, or worse! You have to get that song you played for him that night so we could use it against him and get him out of Ponyville!" Pinkie quivered her lips, but then realized that Fluttershy's life was indeed on the line. Also, seeing as how he broke a Pinkie Promise the other day, he really couldn't be trusted as a friend. With a look of determination on her face, she nods and does a salute "Okay. You can count on me, Dashie! I'll go get that song and I'll play it whenever I see him!" Rainbow nods with a satisfied smile "Thatta girl!" She turned to her team "Okay! So now we have something small to work with, but we can't do it right now! We'll get ready for the plan tomorrow, and when we see him, we'll let him have it!" Applejack got up and looked concerned "Ah hope this plan o' ours really works, Dash. Ah don' wanna have t' deal with so many problems that could rise from this..." Rainbow draped a hofo around her marefriend "Ah, you worry too much, AJ! Sure, we'll have a problem or two along the way, but what's the worst that could happen??" On cue, a pained grunt sprang from Zecora's mouth as another small wound opened on her body, with Applebloom gasping "Oh no! Zecora, we need t' get y'all to bed!" Zecora breathed deeply to cancel out the pain she was feeling, smiling at the little filly's concern.

"Yes, I should hurry and get some rest
For tomorrow, we all shall do our best."

Applebloom smiled as her fellow crusaders helped her into her bed. Applejack looked concerned "How is she really gettin' all them scars? It's really startin' to bug me..." Pinkie saw what happened to Zecora and growled, Rainbow Dash turning to the door "We'll deal with that later! Right now, we need all the sleep we can get if we're going to start our little plan tomorrow!" She opened the door and went outside "Let's go, girls!" She sped off into the air, Pinkie trotting at a neutral pace with a stoic expression on her face. Applejack rounded up the crusaders and followed after the pink mare, heading out of the Everfree Forest.

When they all got out of the forest, Pinkie stopped and turned to see Fluttershy's cottage, her stoic expression turning into one of sadness and worry '...Fluttershy...' She continued staring, but then sighed as she continued back to Sugarcube Corner. While she worried for her timid little friend, she didn't catch that one of the lights in the cottage was still on.

Inside the cottage, Dr. Facilier was chuckling as he poked his little Zecora doll with a pin and finished another potion, thinking to himself 'With all these little cures, those little ponies won't even get rid o' me! Things are really lookin' up with me stayin' here...well, except with dealin' with that little timid pegasus...' He began thinking about Fluttershy, placing his newly made potion on a shelf next to his others. Why would somepony like her have feelings for him? It was just puppy love with other women, but he could actually FEEL how Fluttershy was acting around him since he lived with her. He poked his chin with a hoof as his thoughts then branched to Zecora and Rainbow Dash. Those two would get rid of him even if it meant turning to Celestia for help, and they are both close to showing his true colors to the other ponies. This worried him, but then he widened his eyes as an idea sprung in his head. His eyes then narrowed with dark glee as he began to cackle at his new idea slowly, building his laughter as he knew how foolproof his new idea was. He got up from his chair and trotted upstair with a smile on his face.

"Oh, Fluttershy~!"

End of Chapter 22

Comments

[Lionheart]

DONT BE DOIN THIS TO ME WITH THE CLIFFHANGERS

[DavidPony]

if they play the song on purpose...................ooooooh..........the doctors gonna snap

dis iz gonna be goooooooooood ^_^

[Dirty Bit]

170385

[Delicious]

Is this Equestrian Deadpool's comment? Nope, Pinkie Testa!

[TenshuraX]

this was less confusing than this (song)

[Keldeox]

170540
Is this Keldeox's comment?
NOPE, just Pinkie Testa...
NOOOPE, its actually Pinkie Pie.