Chapters It all began in the morning. Fluttershy was happily feeding her animal friends. She had worms for the birds (yuck), acorns for the squirrels, and carrots for Angel of course. Angel got only the best, as he was Fluttershy’s favorite.
As Fluttershy was about to feed the rest of the bunnies that lived in her yard, she noticed that one of them was limping. Naturally, she rushed to go and help it. After bandaging the poor bunny, Fluttershy went back to her work.
Later on in the day, Fluttershy realized she had to run to the market for some more medical supplies. On the way there, she noticed some strange bunnies hopping around. They seemed hurt, but when Fluttershy approached them, they ran away. More than a little disturbed, Fluttershy tried to go on with her task. When she came back home, fresh supplies in her saddlebag, she found three more injured bunnies. Suspicious now, Fluttershy bandaged the bunnies and then herded all the animals into her house to keep them safe. Then she set off for Twilight’s house, because Twilight was the smartest pony she knew.
Even near Twilight’s house she saw strange rabbits sneaking about, running away as Fluttershy approached. Now that it had happened twice, Fluttershy was really anxious to get to the bottom of it.
Fluttershy tried to be calm as she knocked on Twilight’s door but all she could think about were those poor limping bunnies. Fortunately, Twilight came to the door quickly.
“Hello Fluttershy. What a pleasant surprise. Do come in.” Twilight led the way into her house.
“Is something the matter, Fluttershy?” Twilight asked on noticing Fluttershy’s expression. Fluttershy nodded, and told Twilight about the number of injured bunnies she had treated in such a short amount of time.
“That does sound strange.” Twilight remarked, heading to her bookshelves and searching for something that might help.
“I’m really worried about these strange bunnies, Twilight. I think they have something to do with my injured bunnies. They look horrible too, like nopony takes care of them.”
“Describe these bunnies.” Twilight replied, still facing her bookshelf. She began pulling books down in her nature section. Caring for Your Sick or Injured Bunny? No, that wasn’t it. Adventures in Bunny-Sitting? Not that either.
“Well,” Fluttershy began, watching Twilight levitate books off the shelf and into two neat piles on the floor; one for books that wouldn’t help, and one for books that might help.
“Their fur is very scraggly and scarred and they’re definitely afraid of me. I tried approaching one that looked hurt and it ran away from me.”
“They sound like they might just be from the Everfree Forest. Nothing suspicious about that.” Twilight said, not taking her eyes off her work. She sounded more convinced as she kept pulling books down and examining them thoroughly.
“I wouldn’t worry about it, Fluttershy.” Twilight finished vaguely. “But I still want to see these strange bunnies.”
“There were some right out here when I first arrived. They must have left.” Fluttershy pointed at the shrubbery around Twilight’s house. Twilight took a closer look, noting the bunny droppings and places in the grass where multiple little mouths had nibbled.
“They were definitely here, though.” Twilight said, turning back to Fluttershy. “Where else did you see the bunnies?”
“Well, I saw a few in the market when I went out to buy supplies.”
“I see.” Twilight said, calculating. The marketplace was a strange place for bunnies as it would be easy for them to be stepped on. Whoever these strange bunnies were, they weren’t native or they would know better.
Fluttershy and Twilight set off for the marketplace, paying careful attention to the countryside on the way. Once there, the only creatures they saw were ponies, and none of them seemed to be worried about a bunch of strange bunnies. Perhaps they didn’t know. If they did notice, they wouldn’t have cared much. No. Caring about such things was for ponies like Fluttershy and Twilight.
“I guess they’re not here, Twilight. I’m sorry to have wasted your time.” Fluttershy said in her soft voice.
“Not so fast, Fluttershy. I have a sneaking suspicion about this whole thing and I’m going to get to the bottom of it. Where did you say you first saw these bunnies?”
“On the way to the market, in the park. But Twilight, I’m sure this is nothing. I’m just overreacting to a few newcomers. I’m sure they’ll come around…” Fluttershy trailed off when she realized Twilight was not listening. She was focused on something behind Fluttershy. Curious, Fluttershy looked behind her to see what was occupying her friend’s attention for so long.
It was a band of bunnies with ragged fur. They all had certain scars set into their bodies in a formulaic sort of way. Some even had the same scar as another. As soon as they noticed Twilight staring at them, they all froze. One of them, who seemed like the leader, stood up taller than the rest and approached the front of the group to glare at Twilight with beady eyes that appeared to have seen horrors that Equestria had never dreamed of. Suddenly, the bunny bared its teeth and charged the two ponies. Fluttershy screamed and cowered behind Twilight, who, unsurprisingly, had been prepared. She quickly made a shield around her and her friend that Shining Armor would have been proud of. The bunnies, even all attacking at once, could not penetrate the dense shield.
“Twilight, why are they attacking us?” Fluttershy asked, the fear in her voice more than noticeable.
“Because,” Twilight said, not breaking her gaze with the leader of the bunnies, whose claws were drumming uselessly on her shield. “these rabbits are from Efrafa, and they’re on a Wide Patrol.”
Captain Campion was having a very good day today. The General had allowed him to take a few from the Owslafa with him to a new territory. Beyond the Everfree Forest, there was a field where a warren called Efrafa lay. The pony town of Trottingham had grown out in recent years, causing General Woundwort to become concerned about the ponies getting too close to Efrafa, and therefore needed to seek out new rabbits to defend the warren. There were rumors that beyond the Everfree Forest was a town called Ponyville where there were plenty of rabbits without a warren. Captain Vervain was too busy and too important to let go on a journey such as this, so Woundwort sent the next best officer for the job: Captain Campion.
Campion was very pleased that he could be trusted to go on an expedition like this. In fact, he was excited by the possibility for adventure. The rabbits he had chosen to come with him were strong and fierce, and they’d have to be if they wanted to get past the Everfree Forest. Woundwort was counting on him, and to fail would mean demotion from Captain at best. Death, at worst. But Campion wouldn’t fail.
The journey through the Forest was grueling, but he only lost one rabbit to the terrible Black Rabbit of Inlé. Campion and his group moved on as normal and encountered many more dangers in the Forest. In particular, the bears had given the rabbits trouble. But bears are slow and clumsy, and Campion was easily able to lead his rabbits away from it. After several days of travel, Campion and his hlessil, rabbits wandering above ground, reached the other end of the Everfree Forest. Immediately the brightness of Ponyville blinded the rabbits, who had become accustomed to traveling in almost complete darkness. But no matter. The General’s owslafa was strong and quite used to traveling in extreme conditions. Campion wouldn’t have picked weaklings for this journey.
It didn’t take long to find the native rabbits of Ponyville, for they were slow and fat. Campion knew that they would be worthless to Efrafa should they survive the trip through the Forest, but he also knew that if he didn’t bring any rabbits, Woundwort would strip him of his rank. Campion asked around to find out where these rabbits lived. At first, they seemed slow and stupid, but once they understood what Campion was asking, they were happy to point in the direction of a pony’s house. The pony whom these natives called ‘Fluttershy’ lived in the house and supposedly took care of them. Campion, of course, could not understand this at all, but asked whether these rabbits would join them anyway. They all seemed to like where they were, but as always, Campion was able to convince a few of the more weak-minded rabbits to join him.
Campion left most of his rabbits in some bushes on the outskirts of town to rest and silflay, or eat above ground. He himself led a group of three of his strongest rabbits out to inspect the town. When they first encountered a pony, it tried to come close to them and they retreated. They found that same pony looking at them later and some of his group began to feel nervous. Still later, after all of the rabbits had rested, Campion spotted that same pony again, this time with another. The other pony was staring at Campion, and he didn’t like that. Giving a subtle signal to his group, Campion began to slowly advance, slowly about to take down this pony for its suspicious stares. The pony stood its ground, positively asking Campion to attack. So he did.
Suddenly, something on the pony’s head started glowing and a strange aura appeared around the two ponies. Fearlessly, Campion slammed into it, slashing it with his claws. His claws made no mark, but he kept trying vainly to pierce the evil aura and reach the ponies. The one who was causing the barrier was still glaring at him, and that was what kept him at his useless task.
Despite Twilight’s fatigue, her force shield was holding. The rabbits were still going strong.
“Fluttershy, can you use your wings to blow up enough dust to hide our escape?” Twilight asked, her voice strained. Fluttershy, still transfixed by the rabbits, didn’t answer.
“Fluttershy!” Twilight said more forcefully. The pegasus shook her head to clear her thoughts.
“Yes, I can try.” Any other day, the task might have proved too difficult, but today, Fluttershy was too afraid to consider protesting.
“I’m going to drop the shield and we’re going to run to my house. Do you understand, Fluttershy?”
Fluttershy nodded.
The magenta aura that had protected them fell slowly, like a slow explosion.
“Now!”
Flapping her wings harder than she had ever done, Fluttershy managed to raise the dirt in a giant dust cloud. The rabbits were soon obscured by the dirt, but just because something is hidden does not mean it is gone.
“Twilight?” Fluttershy’s voice was even softer than normal as she felt the tips of the rabbits claws. “Oh!”
Suddenly, she felt a nip on the tip of her tail. It was enough to get her into motion and remember the plan.
“I’m coming, Twilight!” Wings tired from churning up dust, Fluttershy ran, desperately hoping she ran into Twilight. Ahead, she saw a faint glow. She sped up, hoping it wasn’t some cruel trick. The dirt cloud she had created was very effective; Rainbow Dash would have been proud. This comforted Fluttershy, for it was a normal thought, and Fluttershy had the feeling she wouldn’t be having many more of those after today.
“This way!” Twilight’s voice called from up ahead, up where the faint light was starting to get brighter. Fluttershy followed that voice thoughtlessly, and finally she and Twilight had reached the library. Immediately, they were inside.
“Spike!” Twilight shouted in a scary tone that sounded almost recklessly urgent. The little dragon, recognizing the Twilight meant business, hurried downstairs.
“What’s going on?” Spike asked, yawning and scratching his scales.
“I need Watership Down .” Twilight said.
“But you just read that last week.” Spike protested.
“Just get me the book, Spike!” Spike groaned and yawned again.
“Twilight, what did you mean earlier? It sounded like you had met that particular group of rabbits before.” Twilight was on her way to her book stand, Fluttershy following her.
“I do know them, unfortunately. I had no idea they were real, though. The aggressive nature, the scars on their flanks, the desolated eyes, it all fits. Efrafan rabbits.” Spike had finally found the book and was about to carry it to Twilight when a magenta glow enveloped it violently and jerked it out of his claws, causing him to fall.
Fluttershy, though still recovering from her previous shock, rushed to help the little dragon up. Twilight, meanwhile, was flipping through the book furiously, nearly ripping out pages in her hurry.
“Twilight, what exactly is going on?” Fluttershy knew instinctively that Twilight was very busy and wouldn’t take kindly to being bothered, but she was scared and worried for her animal friends.
To her surprise, Twilight answered.
“I thought this was a work of fiction, but apparently it wasn’t.” She began, finally stopping on a page with a map on it. “Here it is! This is a map of Efrafa, but it looks different from how it used to look. See, this is the center of Efrafa, the Crixa. Right here is their patrolling area. Right here would be Watership Down, but that’s not important now. This is a pony town; it resembles Trottingham, but the author never calls it by name because it’s not important. Since we’re seeing Efrafan rabbits, that means this is Trottingham, which would make the Crixa…” Here Twilight, who had been pointing at the map and showing Fluttershy all the places she had read about, suddenly stopped speaking.
“The Crixa’s in the Everfree Forest. That’s really close.” Twilight shuddered and closed the book.
“Well, they’re just rabbits. Even if they are extra wild rabbit--” Fluttershy was cut off violently
“They’re not just rabbits! They’re dangerous, and if I were you, Fluttershy, I’d go and check on your animals and make sure they’re still there.”
This, to somepony who didn’t know the story, could have been a very disturbing piece of information, but to be disturbed by the information, one would need to lose enough confidence to feel paranoid. Otherwise, it just sounds completely laughable, impossible even.
Fluttershy, unfortunately, thought Twilight was overreacting, as she’s prone to do on occasion.
So she left Twilight’s house to check on her animals, but it was only because Twilight seemed like she needed some time to calm her nerves. Fluttershy took her time smelling flowers and stopping to chat with birds and squirrels, and occasionally one of her friends.
If only…
When Fluttershy finally arrived at her house, nothing seemed to be wrong. All the animals were in their places and they all looked just a little distressed by their strict retention in Fluttershy’s house. The first thing she did, in fact, was allow every animal out of the house and back into their natural habitat in her yard. Angel should have been the only one left inside, but he wasn’t in the living room. Fluttershy smiled; Angel had always loved a good game of hide-and-seek. But she didn’t feel like looking for him right now. It was late evening, and Fluttershy wanted to talk with her bunny friend. He’d surely get a kick out of what had happened to her today.
So Fluttershy called for Angel.
At first there was no answer, so Fluttershy called louder. Then she flew around her house, calling for Angel. Finally she screamed his name, unsettling a whole branch of birds in her backyard.
Finally, Fluttershy had to admit that something had indeed happened to poor Angel.
