The Griffonstone Infestation

by Brass Polish

Rating: everyone
Tags: Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Mystery, Dark, Comedy, Other, Fluttershy, Adventure, Gilda, Random, Gabby
Length: 14868

Fluttershy is invited by a member of Equestria’s rare creatures society to see a project in Griffonstone, and is surprised to find a weather factory is being built there. Why was she of all ponies asked to see this?

Fluttershy is invited by a member of Equestria’s rare creatures society to see a project in Griffonstone, and is surprised to find a weather factory is being built there. Why was she of all ponies asked to see this?

Published 2017-03-25 19:00:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-03-25 19:00:01 UTC

1 A Typical Tuesday

“Ivatt was always a free spirit. Easily the pick of the flying pig litter,” grinned Discord. “I thought he and Trixie would get along swimmingly. I never would’ve guessed Trixie’s piggyback ride would’ve ended with a face full of curry.”

Fluttershy had learned long ago not to sip her tea while Discord was telling his stories. Angel still hadn’t forgiven her for that spit take on that very first Tuesday Tea.

“So anyway,” Discord went on, growing a second mouth so he could talk and eat his cheese and tomato sandwich at the same time, “after I lost sight of Ivatt and Trixie, I figured I’ll ride Horwich to Twilight’s castle and get a head start setting up for Guys’ Night. Or… well, I guess we can’t call it Guys’ Night anymore. Not since Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Ladybug joined us.”

“Uh, his name’s Lazybug,” Fluttershy corrected.

Discord raised an eyebrow. “So that’s why Crookneck the Drifting Sage kept casting hypochondria spells at Captain Wuz under his breath. That’ll need sorting out later this week.”

Fluttershy took a gulp of tea. “You mean you have Guys’ Night more than once a week?”

“I believe I just said we can’t really call it Guys’ Night anymore,” sneered Discord.

He conjured a pair of yellow pony ears and grafted them onto Fluttershy’s head.

“That should help,” he grinned.

“I mean you play Ogres & Oubliettes with Spike, Big Mac, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Lazybug twice a week?” asked Fluttershy.

“Unless Rainbow’s away zooming around with the Wonderbolts,” answered Discord. “Then it’s just the five of us.”

“But we only have tea once a week,” said Fluttershy.

Discord chuckled. “It’s Tuesday Tea, Fluttershy. And Tuesday only happens once a week. Mind you, there was a time when it didn’t, back when I was ruling Equestria.”

He sighed contently

“Salad days,” he said dreamily.

“And what’s this?” he went on with a devilish glint in his eyes. “Is there a little green monster welling up inside you?”

“No,” objected Fluttershy.

“I think I had that look that time I met your little buddy from that club,” grinned Discord.

“You mean Tree Hugger from the Equestrian Society for the Preservation of Rare Creatures?”

“Boy I remember how much I wanted to feed her to Senior Dryer Lint just because I thought she was stealing you away from me,” Discord snorted. “Now I suspect you’d like to do that same with Garbunkle and the rest of our party?”

Fluttershy knew it’d be futile to hide how she felt about this.

“Well, it’s not like you’ve tried to get out of having tea with me,” she reasoned. “Accept for that one time with Tirek.”

“Oh, don’t go on about that,” muttered Discord. “I was young and impressionable then.”

“It only happened over a year ago,” Fluttershy frowned.

“Well, younger.”

“So I really don’t have any reason to be jealous,” said Fluttershy. “I mean, I’m the one who recommended you ask Spike and Big Mac if you could join them. Like I said, it never hurts to expand your circle of friends.”

Discord glanced at the window.

“Have you been doing that lately?” he asked, pointing.

Fluttershy turned her head and saw a bright, bubbly beaked face beaming at her and waving energetically.

“That’s Gabby the letter carrier from Griffonstone,” she said, getting up off her chair.

She saw that Gabby had a sealed envelope clamped in her beak.

“Who’d be writing to you from Griffonstone?” asked Discord. “I thought you said that friend of Rainbow’s and Pinkie’s is still not really in your good books.”

“Well, no, I still haven’t really talked to Gilda,” said Fluttershy as she shuffled towards the window. “Even though Rainbow and Pinkie say she’s sorry for how she acted when she came to Ponyville. It must be…”

Gabby seemed to have taken Fluttershy’s movement towards the window as an invitation to come in. She opened the window and burst in, giving Fluttershy a big hug.

“Hi, Fluttershy! I haven’t seen you since my cute-ceañera!” she squeaked. “How’ve you been?!”

Discord smirked. “A griffon having a cute-ceañera?”

“Yep!” smiled Gabby, completely unperturbed being in the presence of the Spirit of Chaos. “And hi! Who are you?”

“I am Captain Wuz-- I mean Discord!” grunted the draconequus.

He conjured an extra tea cup for Gabby.

“Oh, yeah! You’re the one with the crazy powers. Huh. Maybe I should’ve gone to you when I wanted to get a cutie mark,” chuckled Gabby. “If you can give a pony an extra pair of ears…”

Fluttershy realised she still had four ears, and quickly tore the fake ones off her head.

“Anyway, I’m here with this letter for Fluttershy from George,” Gilda passed the envelope to Fluttershy.

“Oh, yeah. You told me about that peanut farmer from Griffonstone last month,” recalled Discord. “You know, between him being a member of the rare creatures club and Gabby here being a member of the recovering blank flanks club, Equestria might end up changing its name soon.”

“That would be kinda cool,” said Gabby, scratching her chin. “But I still love it in Griffonstone.”

Fluttershy opened the letter.

“George says he wants to invite me to his farm to show me a project he’s been working on,” she told Discord and Gabby.

“What kind of project do you think a peanut farmer would do?” wondered Discord. “If he thinks he’s discovered a use for the shells and skins, I gotta tell him, he’s way too late to take credit for that.”

“I love his peanut butter. I put in on Gilda’s scones. It’s delicious,” sighed Gabby.

“He’s studied the language of other animals for years. He even wrote a vampire fruit bat phrasebook,” said Fluttershy. “Maybe he’s written even more phrasebooks and wants to show them to me.”

“So he spent years of his life actually studying animal languages, did he?” asked Discord. “Well, that’s much more impressive.”

Fluttershy frowned. “More impressive than what?”

Discord took a long sip from his tea cup… and was plainly making it take longer by constantly refilling it.

“Discord, what are you implying?” demanded Fluttershy.

“Uh, hey Fluttershy, Gabby interrupted, “you can take your time writing your reply to George. I’m gonna go golfing with Scootaloo, Apple Bloom, and Sweetie Belle while I’m in town.”

And she flew out the open window. Fluttershy carried on glaring at Discord.

“Well,” Discord said when at last he finished his seemingly bottomless cup of tea, “it’s been a delightful Tuesday as always, but…”

Fluttershy knew it’d be an uphill struggle to try and squeeze a confession out of someone who could disapparate in the blink of an eye, but she was gonna try anyway.

“Before you go, I’d love to know what George being fluent in animal speak is more impressive than,” she insisted.

“In my experience, there’s very little more irritating than being told something you already know,” said Discord oily. “I’ll spare you the pleonasms. Let me know if you decide to visit Georgie Porgie next week so I know that we won’t be having our Tuesday Tea then.”

And as Fluttershy predicted, Discord melted away into the cracks in the floor and vanished without trace.

Fluttershy did indeed know what Discord was implying; unlike Fluttershy, who had an inherent ability to understand animals, George had to work at acquiring the ability to comprehend tweets, meows, barks, and suchlike noises. If Fluttershy wasn’t feeling jealous before, she certainly was now.

“Alright, Discord,” she muttered. “I will tell George I’ll go to see his project next week. Then you can spend your Tuesday firing arrows as cardboard cut-outs of octopi or something silly like that.”

She took a blank sheet of paper and wrote her reply to George’s invitation. She then stuffed it into an envelope and cleaned up the tea supplies while she waited for Gabby to return. She didn’t have to wait long.

“Oh. Back already?” she asked when Gabby turned up barely an hour after she left.

“The golf course is closed,” sighed Gabby. “They’ve got a gopher problem.”

“Gophers? Oh, dear. I should probably get them out of there and take them somewhere else where they can make their dens,” said Fluttershy.

“Oh, there’s no need,” said Gabby. “Apple Bloom said she’s gonna get her friend Lazybug to tell his sister Crosspatch about the problem. She says those two are pest ponies. They should straighten everything out in no time.”

Fluttershy grimaced.

“Is that your answer to George’s letter?” Gabby pointed to the sealed envelope on the coffee table.

She reached out for it, but Fluttershy swatted her talons away.

“Hold on. I wanna rewrite it,” she said through gritted teeth, grabbing another sheet of paper. “I’m gonna tell him I’m coming tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” asked Gabby as Fluttershy started writing. “But Scootaloo told me you were gonna be playing buckball tomorrow.”

“Oh, right,” Fluttershy had forgotten that the Splinterbolts had scheduled a game.

Then another letter carrier arrived at Fluttershy’s door.

“Hi, Derpy,” said Fluttershy, taking the letter she had for her.

The news was not favourable.

“What is it?” asked Derpy.

“It’s the Splinterbolts,” groaned Fluttershy. “They accidentally double-booked the defense position for our buckball team.”

“Huh. Scootaloo did say they are a fledgling operation run by volunteers,” interjected Gabby.

“But how could they overbook something that only needed one pony?” wondered Derpy. “And how could they forget you Fluttershy? Rainbow Dash told me you were the one who introduced the Splinterbolts to buckball.”

Fluttershy grabbed another blank paper.

“They can keep that other pegasus,” she said flatly. “I’m busy tomorrow. I’m off to Griffonstone.”

Crosspatch returned from the golf course soaking wet; not exactly a problem for her, but unusual for a job on land. She found Fluttershy waiting in her front yard.

“I need you to petsit for me,” said Fluttershy bluntly.

“Okay,” shrugged Crosspatch. “When?”

“Tomorrow. For a week.”

“Uh, well I’ll only be able to pop in and out of your cottage for about an hour a day,” said Crosspatch.

Fluttershy passed her the key to her cottage’s front door.

“Where you going then?” asked Crosspatch.

“Griffonstone,” answered Fluttershy.

“Oh. Gonna duff up that Gilda lady for scaring you and those ducks, huh?” chuckled Crosspatch. “Is that why you’re being so rough?”

Fluttershy squirmed. “No.”

“I’d like to go to Griffonstone,” said Crosspatch. “I never got to lay into the George fella for scaring the life outta me.”

“Oh, George is a good guy,” said Fluttershy. “He did try to save you and the others from that giant bat before he knew it was just an arts and crafts project. Actually, he’s the one I’m visiting in Griffonstone.”

“Huh. I bet they’ve got some weird animals in Griffonstone that we’ve never even heard of here in Ponyville,” grinned Crosspatch. “Let me guess. He wants your help repopulating an endangered species that have some kind of beneficial property.”

Fluttershy’s imagination began to run away with her and she quickly felt a lot better.

“Maybe,” she smiled. “Well, thanks for being my petsitter.”

Author's Note

Partially inspired by the unmade Red Dwarf episode "Bodysnatcher".

2 Two More Volunteers

The train ride to Griffonstone Junction the next day ended in a surprising way for Fluttershy. She was expecting George to be waiting on the platform for her, but the station halt was virtually empty. Also, there appeared to be a large cloud over the city in the distance. All the same, the possibilities Crosspatch had suggested kept Fluttershy pumped, and the long trip up to Griffonstone seemed to only take a few minutes to her. Now that she was just outside city limits, the large cloud didn’t look as big. It was still the most dominant thing in the sky, and she could see several griffons flying around it. She took to the air to get a closer look at the top of the large cloud. Unfortunately, she was so focused on it that she wasn’t looking where she was going. She banged the top of her head on something.

“Hey, watch it!” snapped a familiar voice.

Fluttershy shuddered when she realised she’d bumped into the underside of Gilda’s scone cart.

“Oh. It’s you,” Gilda flew away at once, towing her good-smelling cart behind her.

Fluttershy rubbed her head as she watched Gilda fly towards the large cloud. She quickly lost interest in it and went back down to the ground.

Fluttershy looked around. There were plenty of griffons around; some of them waved politely to her when they saw her, others paid no attention. But none of these griffons had osprey heads or snow leopard tails. She pulled out the envelope George’s invitation had come in and checked the address. Then she remembered that George was a peanut farmer and knew she’d definitely know it when she saw it. After several minutes of walking around town, she came across a plantation that couldn’t be mistaken for anything other than a peanut farm. She reached the farm house and knocked on the front door.

“George?”

There was no answer. Fluttershy knocked again and still no one opened the door. Fluttershy, feeling audacious, tried the handle. The door creaked opened and she stepped in. Her imagination had run away with her at first, but everything appeared to be intact, and there was no sign of a struggle. Beyond the front hall, Fluttershy could see the living room was full of assorted domestic animal accessories; small treadmill wheels, a nylon rope spread from the couch to the coffee table, and an assortment of hoops hung from the ceiling and mounted on posts on the floor.

“Looks like George’s project has something to do with rodents,” said Fluttershy.

She looked around, but she couldn’t see any rats or hamsters or rabbits. There weren’t even any cages, empty or otherwise.

“George?!” she called.

No reply.

Fluttershy looked all over the house, and there was no sign of George.

“Maybe he’s out in the field.”

She went out the back door and looked around at the peanut plants. The only thing she could see standing amongst them were two wooden poles. Then she noticed something crumpled up between them.

“Looks like the scarecrow fell down,” she observed.

She decided she’d pick it up and put it back on its posts. But when she knelt down and took hold of the old tattered jacket, it jumped into the air.

“What?!” it cried.

Fluttershy leapt backwards in shock as the scarecrow stood up.

“George?”

The scarecrow’s clothes fell off to reveal the very griffon Fluttershy was looking for.

“Oh. Hi, Fluttershy,” smiled George.

“Why were you out in your field sleeping and dressed as a scarecrow?” asked Fluttershy.

“Oh. I’m having a pest problem,” yawned George. “I don’t even know what’s been coming into the field at night and eating my peanuts. I had a stake out last night, but I guess I fell asleep.”

Fluttershy looked around. “It looks like no animals took advantage. There’s still lots of peanuts on these plants.”

“Huh. I guess I got lucky,” shrugged George.

“Was this the project you mentioned in your letter?” asked Fluttershy. “Do you need help catching these animals?”

“Uh, no, this isn’t it,” said George. “I only found out about this shortly after I gave Gabby that letter.”

“So what is your project?” asked Fluttershy.

George chuckled. “I’m surprised you missed it.”

He pointed to the large cloud over the city.

“Oh,” said Fluttershy. “What is that?”

“We’re trying to open a weather factory right here in Griffonstone,” grinned George.

Fluttershy blinked.

“Let’s have a look, huh?” suggested George.

“Um, but don’t you want to have breakfast first?” asked Fluttershy. “You only just woken up.”

“Well, Gilda’s catering the project with her delicious scones,” said George. “We can get breakfast up there.”

Fluttershy tried not to pull a face.

George guided Fluttershy up into the sky.

“I’ve never actually gone straight to the building site,” he said. “I volunteered to divert all the migrating birds around the big cloud.”

“Volunteered? Is the project entirely volunteer based?” asked Fluttershy.

“Yep,” nodded George. “Gilda got through to quite a lot of us when she said we don’t really need the Idol of Boreas to be a great civilization.”

Fluttershy grunted. “Well, you know, it was my friends Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie who told her that.”

“Yeah, but who around here would’ve taken a couple of ponies word for it?” scoffed George.

Fluttershy frowned.

“I mean, at the time,” said George hastily. “I won’t lie. I used to think ponies were soft and weak and annoying and easy to squash…”

“Easy to squash?!” exclaimed Fluttershy.

“Uh, the point is,” George went on, “when Gilda told me about what those friends of yours did for her, I realised Equestria must have something to offer. That’s why I went there to see if they had any clubs relevant to my interest in animal languages.”

George glanced around and spotted Gilda nearby serving a few griffons with scones. Fluttershy saw her too, and now noticed that her scone cart was held up by balloons.

“Listen, I gotta go sign in with the project manager,” said George. “Why don’t you go get us some breakfast from Gilda while I’m at it?”

And off he went.

Fluttershy considered how it had been Gilda who set the wheels in motion to encourage community spirit in Griffonstone, and this made it much easier to approach her cart.

“Hi,” grunted Gilda. “So are you joining this project?”

“Uh, I’m actually here with George,” said Fluttershy.

“George? So he’s gonna pitch in, is he?”

Fluttershy raised an eyebrow. “Hasn’t he been involved all along?”

“If he has, he’s been hiding from me,” replied Gilda. “What’s a peanut farmer gonna do up here anyway?”

“He said he’s gonna divert the migrating birds away from the site,” said Fluttershy.

“But it’s summer,” objected Gilda. “What birds migrate during the summer?”

Fluttershy scratched her head. “George must be hiding something.”

Gilda hadn’t heard her. “Rainbow Dash told me your dad worked in Equestria’s weather factory. Haven’t you got some info? We’re all armatures here.”

Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Maybe I will!”

Fluttershy forgot all about her suspicions about George when he returned. She gave him his scones and told him she wanted to offer her services.

“My dad told me lots of things about where he worked,” she said.

“Oh, that’ll be great,” said George, crumbs falling from his beak. “You must have lots of information for the research team.”

“Yeah. I’d be happy to contribute!” beamed Fluttershy. “Where do I sign up?”

George pointed to a griffon with a clipboard. Fluttershy went straight to her and told her what she had to offer. She snapped her up at once and pointed out the research team.

“This is Fluttershy,” said the project leader to the research team. “She’s got some information for how to run the machinery and craft snowflakes and regulate how often it should rain.”

So the research team showed Fluttershy to a table and grabbed some pen and parchment.

“Alright, so where do we start?” they asked.

Fluttershy opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She drew a complete blank. Her dad certainly had told her a lot of things about the work he’d done at the weather plant in Cloudsdale, but she found she couldn’t remember a word of what he said.

“Uh… well… when you have a rigid schedule for rainy days,” she said, “griffons will be able to plan outdoor activities and festivities.”

The research team gave Fluttershy a nod that said quite plainly “We know that.”

“And, uh… oh, there’s a simple recipe for rainbows,” Fluttershy went on. “You take a…”

One of the researchers showed her a sheet of paper that had the very recipe she was about to recite written on it.

“Right,” Fluttershy smiled weakly. “Um, also, you need some specific tools to make snowflakes…”

“Miss, these are basic weather-making facts. We want information about the type of machinery required, the appropriate measurements for water vats and pipes, and stuff like that. Can you tell us any of that?”

George did have some birds to guide around the building site, but he spent most of his time just flying around looking around at all the other griffons working. For a while, he saw nothing flying towards the site, but soon, he spotted something flying away from it.

“Fluttershy?”

He flew after her.

“Fluttershy, what’s wrong?!”

Fluttershy didn’t respond and carried on flying away. George caught up to her and grabbed her tail.

“What is it?!” he demanded.

Fluttershy spun around, red in the face.

“I made a complete fool of myself!” she groaned. “I don’t have any useful information at all! I don’t remember a thing my dad told me! I can’t be useful at all!”

“Take it easy,” insisted George. “Okay, so you don’t know as much about weather factories as you thought. That doesn’t mean you can’t be useful at all.”

“Yes, it does,” groaned Fluttershy. “I’m not the only one in Equestria who can keep Discord in check now that he’s got Spike and Big Mac and their Guys Night, I’m not the only one in Ponyville who can get intrusive animals out of ponies’ property, I’m not even the only one who can understand animals now!”

George didn’t know what to say.

“No one really needs me anymore,” Fluttershy choked as she spun around to leave.

She hadn’t noticed a line-up of griffons to Gilda’s scone cart directly behind her, and bumped right into the last griffon in line. A domino effect took place until the first in line got knocked into the cart, which bumped the head of the irate Gilda.

“What is it with griffons and silk curtains?!” she spluttered.

Looks of confusion spread across the line of griffons and Gilda herself.

“What the heck did I just say?” she asked.

Most of the griffons in line shrugged. The only ones who understood Gilda’s outburst were Fluttershy and George.

“That was the language breezies speak,” said Fluttershy.

George nodded. Fluttershy approached Gilda.

“You just said ‘What is it with griffons and silk curtains?’ in Breezian,” she told her.

“Who’s Breezian?” asked Gilda gruffly.

“It’s a language,” said Fluttershy. “Spoken by tiny fairy creatures called breezies.”

Gilda scratched her head. “Aren’t they those useless flying things that are completely dependent on others?”

Fluttershy’s lip wobbled, and she flew quickly away.

That evening, George found Fluttershy patrolling his peanut field.

“You okay, Fluttershy?” he asked.

“I’m fine,” said Fluttershy. “I was just keeping an eye out for any animals that might be eating your nuts.”

“Well, I can’t say I don’t appreciate that,” George faltered, “but I can’t help but think you just want a way to feel needed.”

“I know I overreacted back there,” sighed Fluttershy, “but I used to think I was useless until I made more friends than just Rainbow Dash. I realised I had a great gift being able to talk to animals and persuade them not to cause trouble, and I felt proud to have gotten through to the Spirit of Chaos and encouraged him to give friendship a chance. But now there are others doing all that.”

“Look, you don’t need to worry about the both of us being able to understand animals,” said George. “We live in totally different places. You’re still the go-to translator in Equestria.”

“I guess,” nodded Fluttershy. “Speaking of translating, what was that about Gilda speaking Breezian.”

“Eh, I have no idea,” shrugged George. “She must’ve picked it up from somewhere.”

“But where? I’m really curious,” said Fluttershy. “I may be in her bad books because I’ve bumped into her more often than Twilight’s bumped into Flash, but I know she’s not the meany she was when she was in Ponyville. Where does she live?”

“W-what? You want to go see her?” stuttered George. “Uh, why don’t you leave this to me? I am in the rare creature society. It falls to me to find out if there are breezies about during summer.”

Fluttershy looked objectionable.

“You still just want to feel useful, don’t you? Fine,” grunted George, pointing north. “Gilda lives that way.”

He watched Fluttershy leave his field, and as soon as she was out of sight, he left the field himself and headed south.

Fluttershy looked up at the building site as she made her way to what she thought was Gilda’s residence. It looked like all the volunteers had gone home. There were hardly any griffon flying about or in the streets either. Fortunately, Fluttershy did come across a friendly face.

“Oh, hi Fluttershy! Sorry I didn’t see you earlier. I was doing my rounds all day.”

“Hi, Gabby,” said Fluttershy. “Are you part of the weather factory project?”

“Well, I’m not involved in any construction, but I am passing out flyers calling for volunteers,” said Gabby. “Though I don’t think there’s much of a point now. The whole town knows about it. I mean, how could anyone not notice that?”

She pointed to the most ominous structure in town, and Fluttershy nodded.

“I’ll be honest, we got a lot more volunteers than I thought we would,” Gabby went on. “I heard even you got in on this.”

Fluttershy decided not to avoid this subject. “Well, I did get involved for a few minutes. But I didn’t realise until too late that I hardly have anything to contribute.”

“Oh. Well, don’t take this the wrong way, but maybe that’s for the better. I think a lot of griffons in this town would rather our weather factory gets build and starts running without any Equestrian help,” Gabby explained.

Fluttershy considered. “Well, I guess that’d be good for morale if the griffons could pull this off on their own.”

“You know what else I heard?” asked Gabby. “Appearently Gilda’s bilingual.”

“I was actually just going to ask her about that,” said Fluttershy.

“Well, she lives down there,” said Gabby, pointing south. “I gotta go do my evening deliveries now. Bye, Fluttershy.”

And she left, leaving Fluttershy to realise George misdirected her.

Author's Note

Yes, I did sort of use A Monster Looming Over Us as a means of establishing George beforehand.

3 The First Storm

The sun hadn’t even set yet, and already Grandpa Gruff was asleep on the sofa when Gilda arrived home. This was typical, and Gilda always suspected that Gruff was using his age as an excuse to lie about and do nothing. Today, she was glad to be left in silence. After Fluttershy had left the building site, George had been hounding her with questions.

“He’s such a worrywart,” she grumbled to herself as she stoked up the fireplace. “Who ever heard of dragonflies eating peanuts. And everyone knows dragonflies don’t talk at all.”

She paused as the fire started to grow in the grate and warm the room.

“Still, I gotta wonder what I ended up yelling.”

She shrugged it off and was just about to go make dinner when a crunching noise made her turn back to the fireplace. A few sparks came from the smoking fire, but nothing appeared to be moving. Gilda kept her eye on the fireplace, and then she saw something fall from within the chimney and land in the fire, making the same crunching noise and raising a few sparks.

“Is that stupid old chimney falling apart?” she wondered.

And she opened a window, flew out of it, and went up to the roof to inspect the chimney. It appeared to be intact, and when she inspected it, she could see no stones missing from it nor smoke leaking from anywhere but the top. Then something shoved her head into the chimney top. She was stuck, and she couldn’t breathe. She tried to call Grandpa Gruff, but all she could do was cough with a face full of smoke.

“Won’t be long and that’ll be the witness dealt with,” said the one who stuffed Gilda into the chimney.

His surveyance of his victim struggling to free herself was interrupted when George came up behind him and grabbed him.

“Alright, Bluster! Anything you want to say before me and Gilda here take your wings off?!” he demanded.

Bluster laughed derisively. “You think you can take my wings off?! You know perfectly well I’m no ordinary breezie.”

“Yes, I do know that perfectly well,” seethed George. “I also know that Gilda here picked up stuff you’ve said outside her window in her sleep and now you’re trying to keep her from saying any of it again so no one catches you in the act of… whatever sick game you’re playing.”

“There’s nothing sick about ensuring the continuation of the next stage in breezie evolution,” protested Bluster.

“I told you, you can’t build another creature like yourself,” scowled George. “It’s not possible to simply mix water, gossamer, and all that gunk and create an actual animal with, like, gelatine mould technology. I knew all along you never went back home to find a mate so you can pass on your genetics properly. Why are you so against that?”

“I won’t find anyone suitable,” Bluster insisted. “Don’t you get it? No other breezie can lift small objects, chew and digest solid foods, and not get squashed by a leaf! All breezies accept me have an appalling immune system, dismal vision, and a heart rate that could create a sonic rainboom. Not to mention how easily hypnotised they are by any swaying object. There’s no guarantee at all that any offspring I have will inherit only MY traits.”

“It’s the only way you’ll ever get your new race of superior breezies,” said George flatly. “You’re not gonna manage to bring one to life in a mixing bowl, and you won’t get away with trying. My friend Fluttershy knows there must be a breezie around, and Gabby knows about Gilda’s outburst as well, so it’s no use trying to…”

George’s heart raced when he realised Gilda had stopped moving. He leapt forward, grabbed Gilda’s tail, and yanked her free of the chimney. A huge cloud of black smoke escaped the chimney top. Gilda coughed and spluttered; her face was pitch black.

“Ah, nuts! I let Bluster go!” exclaimed George, clenching his empty fists and looking around frantically.

“What the heck are you saying?!” choked Gilda. “What just happened?!”

“Oh, sorry,” said George “Forgot I was still talking Breezian.”

“Breezian?! Why is everyone talking Breezian all of a sudden?!” demanded Gilda.

“Because there’s a breezie around, of course,” sighed George in frustration. “He’s trying to make a female clone, and I’ve been trying to catch him out. You spoke his language earlier because he was obviously outside your window while you slept hoping you had gossamer curtains he could make a pair of wings with.”

“What does this little wimp look like?” demanded Gilda hoarsely.

“He’s no wimp, I assure you,” said George. “He’s way above average for his species. He’s actually got some muscle mass.”

“Okay, okay,” groaned Gilda impatiently. “What does he look like?”

“Red, with a purple mane and tail,” said George, looking around again. “Not that it matters. He’s the only one around. He’s not interested in any of his fellow breezies. That’s why he left the swarm that last time they were gathering Equestrian pollen. He knew he was above average and wanted to build himself up even more. I caught him eating some peanuts from my field, and I quickly realised he was bulkier than normal, and so I offered to help him with his diet and exercise. But he took off yesterday. We agreed to show him off to Fluttershy, but he didn’t agree with me when I said he ought to return home afterwards to find a mate.”

Gilda looked up at the weather factory building site. “I’ll bet he’s hiding in there. No one works on it during the night.”

“Let’s go,” nodded George.

And the two griffons took off towards the building site in the sky.

Fluttershy didn’t get to Gilda’s house until several minutes after she and George left, and Grandpa Gruff’s snores drowned at her knocks on the front door. She did suspect that George was behind this though, and when she went back to the peanut farm, sure enough, she couldn’t find him there. This was when the puzzle started to come together in her mind.

“That project he wanted to show me…” she said to herself. “It wasn’t that new weather factory at all. It was something to do with breezies.”

She looked at George’s coffee table and saw an open phrase book sitting beside some quill and parchment.

“This must be one of the one George wrote himself.”

She closed the book. As she expected, the cover told her it translated Breezian words and phrases. Fluttershy looked around the living room, the various pet exercise apparati hadn’t been cleaned up. Then Fluttershy noticed a full bowls sitting beside the wall. They were full of peanut shells and skins. Her imagination began to run away with her.

“Has George been trying to create a race of breezie stronger than normal? Did he find some breezies who got separated from their swarm on a pollen hunt and convince them to live with him? I hope he didn’t push them too hard. Oh, but he must have. They must’ve escaped last night. So he couldn’t show them off to me like he wanted when he invited me here, and he wanted to catch them if they came back to his field for some food.”

If Fluttershy wasn’t so mortified by the prospect of one of her good friends mistreating some small, helpless creatures, she would have gone out to find George and find out if this was really the case. She knew first hoof how weak and dependant breezies were, and could hardly bear the thought of someone forcing them to constantly exercise and eat something high in protein day in and day out.

At the weather factory site, George and Gilda were trying to make as little noise as possible as they investigated the building. Unfortunately, Gilda had trouble controlling her coughing. After several minutes, they’d gone through all the rooms and inspected every piece of amateur-built machinery, they decided to head back outside.

“We shouldn’t go too far though,” George recommended. “He may be above average, but he’s still small enough to hide himself easily.”

“So how come you never told anyone about this?” asked Gilda. “I mean, pretty much everyone in Griffonstone knows you’re in that Equestrian rare creatures club.”

“It’s not because I was embarrassed,” said George. “I was just concerned that others would think I was toying with nature.”

“Well, you were trying to create the apex of the breezie race,” frowned Gilda.

“Bah!” George scoffed. “He was already the pinnacle of breezie evolution. Stronger, smarter, and able to fly downwind. But he wanted a boost. To make absolutely sure that he surpassed all the statistics. That’s why he was drawn to peanuts when he left the swarm. East for him to chew and digest, and full of protein.”

“Sounds like he could be a spokes model for those jars of peanut butter you sell,” sniffed Gilda.

George shrugged. “That wasn’t the point. I was just happy with the opportunity to give a boost to a species labelled by popular culture as weak, needy, and pathetic. And I still stand by the fact that if he went back home and found a…”

Gilda hushed him. “Listen.”

A whirring noise filled the corridor.

“One of the machines is running,” said Gilda.

“He is here,” seethed George.

They backtracked and ran down the hall, following the noise of the inexpertly built machinery.

Fluttershy finally managed to stop herself from dwelling on an awful thought that she didn’t even know was true or just an assumption, and stepped outside George’s house. She could make out three figures in the sky flying towards her, all of whom looked familiar.

“Is that you, Gabby?!” called Fluttershy.

“Yeah!” Gabby replied. “And I’ve brought Twilight and Rainbow Dash to help find those breezies!”

Fluttershy was delighted to see Rainbow and Twilight.

“Thank you for coming, you two,” she beamed.

“It ain’t just us two,” grinned Rainbow Dash.

“I’m gonna try and teleport Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie here,” said Twilight.

“Can you do that?” asked Fluttershy.

“I can if I know for certain where they are,” answered Twilight. “We left the three of them standing on the Map. No you guys better step back. I need to concentrate.”

She shut her eyes and took a deep breath. Her horn began to glow.

“So Fluttershy,” said Rainbow quietly as Twilight worked her magic, “have you seen Gilda at all?”

Fluttershy groaned. “A few times.”

“She still hasn’t apologised for scaring you and those ducks, has she?” Rainbow Dash frowned. “She keeps telling me she was in the right. That you were the one who bumped into her.”

“I keep doing it,” admitted Fluttershy. “I’ve done it twice since I came here.”

“It doesn’t matter,” insisted Rainbow. “Gilda’s never gonna bring friendship to Griffonstone if she thinks she doesn’t have to apologise for her abuse.”

“She’s managing just fine,” said Fluttershy. “Just look up there. That’s gonna be a weather factory. And it’s being built be volunteers. Before you and Pinkie came and gave Gilda her task, no griffon would ever have considered working on a project like this without payment.”

Rainbow Dash scratched her chin. “I guess. But I still think if she wants to completely make up for how she acted in Ponyville, she owes you an apology while you’re here.”

Twilight’s spell succeeded.

“Well done, Twilight,” congratulated Rarity.

“Alright. Let’s rustle us up some breezies,” said Applejack enthusiastically.

“Wow, Twilight. You look beat,” observed Pinkie Pie.

Twilight wiped some sweat from her forehead. “I’ll need a minute before I turn us all into breezies.”

“You’re gonna turn us into breezies again?” asked Rarity.

“I thought any actual breezies in town would be more attracted to their own kind,” panted Twilight. “I don’t need any actual breezies around to cast the spell this time since I’ve already done it before. If Gabby and maybe Gilda and George can keep watch over us while we search the town, we should have no problem drawing the breezies out.”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to get George or Gilda to help us,” said Fluttershy glumly.

They all looked to her for an explanation.

“I think George is the reason there are breezies stuck in Griffonstone.”

She told them about George’s suspicious behaviour and the items she saw in his house.

“But what does Gilda have to do with this?” asked Rainbow Dash. “She’s not interested in animals as far as I know.”

“She yelled something in breezie language today,” said Fluttershy. “There must’ve been a breezie outside her window while she slept. I think George went to ask her if she knew anything about escaped breezies.”

“So where are they now?” asked Gabby.

Fluttershy shrugged.

Gabby, being the eagle-eyed sort, hovered above the air for a minute, peering out at the city for any sign of Gilda or George.

“Looks like you six won’t be able to split up when you transform,” she said at last, returning to the ground. “I’ll have to keep watch on all of you. If they see you and mistake you for the breezies they’re looking for, I’ll stop them before they can reach you. I promise.”

“Thanks, Gabby,” smiled Pinkie Pie. “So are ready now, Twilight?”

“Yeah, I think so,” nodded Twilight. “Everypony, get in a line.”

Everyone did so.

“Not you, Gabby.”

“Oh, right. Sorry”

Gabby broke from the group, and Twilight got ready to cast her transformation spell.

In her delight and excitement that her friends had come from Ponyville to help her sort out this problem, Fluttershy hadn’t considered a pertinent question until now.

“Um, how did you all know there was a breezie infestation here in Griffonstone?” she asked Applejack, who was standing next to her.

“Y’all wrote to Twilight, didn’t ya?” asked Applejack. “I mean, Gabby popped into town with a letter form you saying you were sure there were stray breezies in Griffonstone and y’all wanted help finding them.”

Fluttershy gave Applejack a quizzical look.

“Uh, wasn’t it your idea for us to turn into breezies to make it easier to find em?” Applejack looked towards Gabby. “That is your letter, ain’t it?”

Fluttershy saw Gabby was holding a paper airplane with scribbling on it.

“But I didn’t write to you.”

Fluttershy leapt forward to take the letter from Gabby just as Twilight cast the transformation spell. In a flash of purple light, Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie had turned into breezies.

“Fluttershy,” said Twilight in a high-pitched voice, “why did you leave the line?”

Fluttershy was looking at the unfolded letter.

“I didn’t write this,” she said to her friends.

“A forgery?” squeaked Rarity. “Who would do that?”

“Come to think of it,” said Gabby, “I didn’t see who threw that paper airplane at me. I saw Fluttershy’s name on it and assumed she was in a hurry.”

“George might have done it,” suggested Pinkie Pie. “He must’ve known we’d be better at finding those breezies than him.”

The wind picked up.

“Help!” exclaimed Twilight as she, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash got caught in the draft.

Fluttershy and Gabby darted forward and caught the pony breezies. Then suddenly, Fluttershy found herself getting dragged sideways in the strong wind. She tried to beat her wings to keep herself there, whilst trying not to squeeze Applejack and Rarity in her grasp, but it was no good. The wind began to lift her off the ground.

“Grab my tail!” called Gabby over the roar of the gale.

Gabby managed to anchor herself to the ground with her claws, and Fluttershy was secure now that she’d bit down on Gabby’s tail. Then there came a horrifying sight.

“It’s a twister!” cried Applejack.

A cyclone snaked down from the unfinished weather factory above Griffonstone, and began to creep its way along the city streets. Anything that wasn’t tied, bolted, or taped down got sucked into it. And it was heading straight for Gabby, Fluttershy, and the breezie ponies.

“Hang on, everypony!” shouted Gabby, digging her claws as deep into the ground as she could.

It was extremely difficult to keep a tight enough hold on Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash to keep them from getting sucked into the cyclone, but gently enough to not harm their breezie bodies. As the cyclone drew closer, Gabby tightened her grip. Rainbow shouted in pain, and instinctively, Gabby loosened her gasp; too much. Rainbow Dash shot out of her clutched, and instinctively, Gabby leapt after her. She managed to catch Rainbow Dash by the tail, but the cyclone was now pulling her in. She couldn’t reach the ground to dig her claws into, and her wing beat wasn’t strong enough to escape.

“Oh, no!” cried Fluttershy, trying to beat her wings as well.

It was no use. She, Gabby, and the breezie ponies quickly found themselves sucked into the cyclone. They spun around and around for what felt like hours. Fluttershy, eyes shut tight, was still trying to beat her wings to freedom, as if this was the same sort of tornado she and her fellow Ponyville pegasi produced to bring water to Cloudsdale. She didn’t stop flapping her wings until she felt Applejack and Rarity slip out of her clutches. Fluttershy opened her eyes and tried to see where they went, but immediately got dizzy and lost control of her wings. The next thing she knew, she was tumbling downwards. A large black object zoomed towards her face, she felt a sharp pain in her muzzle, and out went the lights.

Author's Note

Don't worry. I don't skirt around the issue much in this story. I mean, I do try to emulate the MLP writing as best I can, but I know it's futile to supress my own way of writing.

4 Crab Apples

When Fluttershy came to, she gasped as the pain in her muzzle caught up to her. Holding her nose, she stood up. Her chin and underside were covered in mud. She looked around. It was sunrise. The large mud wallow she’d landed in had a few wild boars standing around casually in it. She saw that her face had hit a large rock. There was no sign of any ponies, griffons, or breezies.

“Hello?!” she called in a slightly gurgly voice.

The only reply came from two of the boars, who sauntered towards her inquisitively.

“Oh, hello,” said Fluttershy politely. “I’m Fluttershy. My friends and I got caught up in a cyclone in the town of Griffonstone. Do you know where that is?”

One of the boars turned his head, and Fluttershy saw a mountain that was the spitting image of the one Griffonstone sat atop.

“Thank you,” said Fluttershy nasally; she couldn’t breathe through her nose.

A few more boars approached her out of curiosity.

“Um, have any of you seen a griffon around here?” asked Fluttershy.

The boars all shook their heads. As Fluttershy was about to ask if they’d seen any breezies, a horrible thought entered her mind about one of the boars finding one of her breezie pony friends and eating her.

“What about any breezies?” she gulped. “Seen any breezies?”

Again, the boars shook their heads.

“Okay,” sighed Fluttershy. “Well, I need to go to Griffonstone, but first can any of you show me to a source of food?”

One of the boars beckoned Fluttershy to follow her.

The boar led Fluttershy to a cluster of crab-apple trees. He asked in return for her to knock some of the topmost crab apples off their branches since he and his fellows couldn’t reach them. Fluttershy agreed, thanked the boar, and flew up to the top branches of the trees. She shook them and made it rain crab apples for a few minutes. She watched happily as several boars jogged over to eat the fallen crab apples.

“It’s good to be useful,” sighed Fluttershy.

She was about to fly back down to the ground when something leapt out of one of the trees and grabbed her by the wings. In a split second, Fluttershy knew it was a breezie. Next second, she found she had to grab a branch to stop herself from falling several feet.

“Alright, Fluttershy!” shouted a foreign voice. “Who’s the strongest of your pony friends?!”

Fluttershy did of course understand every word, but she couldn’t ignore her astonishment or the discomfort in her wins.

“H-how can a breezie be holding my wings so firmly?!” she exclaimed.

“That is no way to speak to me! Bluster! The peak of the breezie race!” growled the squeaky voice.

Fluttershy felt one of her wings break in the breezie’s grip.

“Ouch!”

“Give me the answer!” demanded Bluster, tightening his grip on Fluttershy’s other wing. “Who is your strongest pony friend?!”

“Applejack!” wailed Fluttershy in Breezian.

“That’s better,” growled Bluster.

And with that, he squeezed Fluttershy’s other wing and broke it too.

When Bluster had let go of her wings and started to fly away, Fluttershy tried to reach out and grab him. But she missed and ended up losing her grip on the tree branch. She managed to land on her hooves, and fortunately, no further bones broke. She looked up. There was no sign of the breezie that attacked her.

“Where are you!” she called, looking all around the cluster of trees.

Bluster didn’t answer. Fluttershy couldn’t see where he’d gone. She thought he must be hiding in the leaves on the trees, and kept her eyes on them for almost half an hour. Then her stomach growled, and she knew she had to eat. She scooped up some crab apples and munched away. They weren’t too bad, though that might have been just because she was starving, and she scooped up a few more and ate them. A minute later, one of the wild boars snorted at her. He told her the breezie was flying away. Fluttershy spun around. She couldn’t see Bluster. She asked the boar where he’d seen it, and he pointed towards the mountain Griffonstone sat on. Fluttershy thanked the boar and began to run towards Griffonstone. Along the way, she slowed down.

“What if I pass by any of my friends without realising it?” she worried.

Reluctantly, she carried on at walking pace, and looked around as she went; stopping to look in bushes, patches of tall grass, and between rocks in case one or her breezie pony friends was stuck there.

As she drew nearer to the mountain, her restrictive precaution proved justified. In between two shrubs, stuck to a spider web, with legs, wings, body, and mouth wrapped in silk, was Rarity. She was writhing and screaming inaudibly.

“It’s alright, Rarity,” said Fluttershy. “I’m here.”

She reached out and let the entire web stick to her hoof. Then, very gently and carefully, she peeled the spider silk off of Rarity.

“Thank you so much, Fluttershy,” gasped Rarity. “Oh, it was dreadful. I got dizzy and didn’t know where or who I was for who knows how long. And then my vision cleared up, and…”

She shuddered in Fluttershy hooves.

“All I could see was this horrible face with eight black eyes and two long pincers staring down at me,” she groaned, shutting her eyes. “I screamed, and it gagged me with its wretched silk. I struggled and struggled, but couldn’t escape. And then it left the web for some reason. I can’t imagine why.”

“It must’ve been a nephila clavata,” said Fluttershy. “They like to compete with each other for the biggest thing they catch in their webs. This one must’ve gone to find some others to show you off to.”

Rarity winced. “Well, I’m happy to say that disgusting beast has no meal to show off to his revolting fellows.”

Fluttershy frowned. “I wouldn’t call them disgusting.”

“Bah! Just you wait until you’re as small as I am now!” huffed Rarity. “Then let me know what you think of them!”

“Oh, my dear!” she exclaimed. “You’re nose looks in a terrible state. And whatever happened to your wings?”

“Bluster broke them,” sighed Fluttershy.

“Gracious! But who’s Bluster?”

“The breezie we were looking for,” Fluttershy grunted. “But he’s no ordinary breezie. He’s stronger, bulkier, and much, much meaner even than Seabreeze.”

“Evidently,” said Rarity, gazing repulsed at Fluttershy’s bent wings. “Why would he do that to you?”

“He wanted to know who my strongest friend was,” said Fluttershy, with a twinge of guilt. “He broke me.”

Rarity gasped. “He’s after Applejack now?! We’ve got to stop him!”

“He went that way, towards Griffonstone,” Fluttershy pointed to the mountain.

“Surely he wouldn’t go back there,” said Rarity. “He’ll be spotted for sure. There’s bound to be lots of griffons out and about after that awful storm.”

That was when Fluttershy realised why that cyclone came down upon Griffonstone. It was unbelievable. She never would have guessed one breezie could cause so much damage.

Author's Note

This story might be the darkest I've gone in my MLP writing... but not by much.

6 The Second Storm

Constantly breathing through her mouth made Fluttershy all the more thirsty as she walked along the rails under the baking sun, but she still kept her water consumption to a minimum. She stopped at the bridge connecting to Equestrian soil, and listened for the sound of a train approaching. When all seemed quiet, she took a swig of water and ran along the bridge. It wasn’t a very long bridge for one that connected two different lands. This wasn’t the bridge Fluttershy was afraid of. It was the next one that would take her straight to Rainbow Falls that could give her trouble. It was a lot longer, and if a train came along while she was crossing it, without her wings, her options were gone. After crossing the bridge across the Celestial Sea, she wondered if she should try swimming to Trottingham instead. But she knew that sea serpents lived in that sea, and that not all sea serpents were as friendly as Steven Magnet.

“I can make it,” she said. “I can be useful.”

So on she went down the line towards the more riskier bridge. It was getting hotter, but a cool gentle wind blew from the north, and Fluttershy found she didn’t need to drink too much water. Eventually however, the wind died down, and she could see the bridge to Rainbow Falls ahead. She stopped and listened. If a train was approaching, its whistle and exhaust would surely echo around this gorge. With a sigh of relief, Fluttershy sat down to rest for a minute. Then she stood up to take a sip of water before she started crossing the bridge.

A noise reverberated through the gorge below. Fluttershy jumped. Her water bottle, still capped, slipped from her hooves and fell into the valley.

Fluttershy was not dismayed. “Well, this means a train’s coming. That’s good. I can catch the driver’s attention and then the crew can get help from everyone in Griffonstone.”

But when Fluttershy heard the noise again, it didn’t sound like a high-pitched engine whistle. It sounded more like a high-pitched voice.

“A breezie,” she breathed. “Or more than one.”

The vibrations were preventing Fluttershy from understanding a word that was being spoken. Fluttershy looked at the slope her water bottle had fallen down. It wasn’t too steep. If that breezie voice was Applejack, then Fluttershy wanted to go down and find her. But if it was Bluster, she wanted to stay out of sight. Then there was the possibility of it being both Applejack and Bluster. If it was, Fluttershy wanted to interfere.

She perked up her ears. “The voices stopped.”

She realised her water bottle must’ve caught their attention.

“Bluster must know someone’s nearby, and he’s trying to hide himself and Applejack.”

Fluttershy took a deep breath and took a cautious step on the slope before her. The rock was stable, and the slope proved easy for her to climb safely down.

Fluttershy reached the bottom of the pit without slipping, but she knew she’d made quite a few noises that echoed around the cliff walls. She was sure if Bluster was down there, he’d know for certain she was around. Also, she couldn’t see her water bottle anywhere; she thought Bluster must’ve taken it. But when Fluttershy perked up her ears, she could hear a high-pitched voice echoing around again. And this time, she could hear what was being said. The voice called her name.

“It’s Applejack!” Fluttershy exclaimed.

She ran through the gorge to find the source of the voice, which was difficult as it was echoing in all directions. It was such a relief to know Bluster wasn’t causing trouble.

“Fluttershy!” called Applejack’s squeaky voice. “I’m over here!”

Fluttershy looked all around. “Where?!”

There was a pause.

“Over here!” replied Applejack. “To your left!”

Fluttershy darted left and ran ahead through the canyon towards the south.

“No, no!” she heard Applejack squeak. “I’m over to your right!”

Fluttershy changed course and quickly headed deeper into the gorge.

“Can you give me a landmark?!” called Fluttershy.

She coughed. Her throat was getting dry.

“I’m caught in a crack in a huge rock!” Applejack responded.

This didn’t help. There were lots of big rocks in the gorge.

“Go left again! You’re almost here!” called Applejack.

This went on and on for a quarter of an hour. Fluttershy was getting breathless. The sun was heating the rock, and she was far away from the shade of the railway bridge. She stopped and sat down panting and sweating.

“How do I keep missing her?” she breathed. “I didn’t have this much trouble finding Rarity.”

She coughed again. Her throat was dry from constantly breathing through her mouth. She tried breathing through her nose. She managed to draw breath, and she smelled peanuts.

She stood up. “Bluster! I know you’re in here!”

“Ha! You found me out!” replied a voice unlike Applejack’s.

“You managed to hypnotise Applejack, didn’t you?! How did you do that when you don’t speak her language?!” demanded Fluttershy with a cough.

“That silly kid George has a translation book!” answered Bluster.

“But he burned it!”

“I read it before I went up to the weather factory and made that cyclone!” said Bluster with a cackle. “So I could forge a letter from you to your friends, and give orders to whichever breezie pony I wanted to train so I could have a mate!”

“You can’t have my friend!” snapped Fluttershy. “Give me Applejack!”

She coughed again as Bluster’s laugh echoed around the gorge.

“You can have her, and your water too, if you can find us!” he snorted derisively. “Go on! We won’t go anywhere!”

Fluttershy didn’t believe this for a second, but this didn’t stop her from staggering onward in search of her friend Applejack, the villainous Bluster, and her ever more crucial drink of water.

Gilda and George knew very little of Equestria’s geography. They were flying about a mile above the ground, but since they were keeping their eyes on the railway line below, they never even saw the little island of Trottingham as they propelled themselves on their clouds with their wings. Periodically, their wings would get tired and sore, and they had to stop and rest on their clouds. By now, they were taking a break above the bridge to Equestria.

“It’s pretty hot out,” said George.

“Don’t worry. I gave Fluttershy a bottle of water for her trip,” said Gilda.

“Oh, good,” sighed George, taking a bite of his cloud and sucking up some rain water.

Gilda did likewise. “She may get in the way sometimes, but I guess… I still like her. Plus, if she made it to Rainbow Falls, she can get her nose fixed and call Discord to come fix up Griffonstone and find Bluster. I’ll bet he can come up with a good punishment for that little bug.”

“Bluster’s not going anywhere but back where he came from!” snapped George.

“Are you stupid? He almost destroyed our town. He could’ve killed me, you, Gabby, Dash, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and everyone else.”

“He’s still the finest specimen of the breezie race,” insisted George. “He can return home and find a mate there like I told him. Heck, he can even bring some Equestrian flowers back with him if he’s so determined to be completely independent from any outside help to collect pollen.”

“He’s not your pet anymore, George,” snorted Gilda. “You had your fun building up an inferior animal, but he’s a total criminal now. He’s got to pay.”

George didn’t reply. He flapped his wings and propelled himself forward on his cloud. Gilda followed on, wishing she could still use her arms and legs so she could give George some convincing.

By this point, Fluttershy was exhausted and frustrated that Bluster was giving her the run-around and holding Applejack and her water bottle hostage. She didn’t know how long she’d been down there, but she was determined to find and secure Applejack no matter how long it took. She wiped some sweat from her eyes, and then at last she saw a breezie. It was Bluster. He was carrying Fluttershy’s water bottle.

“Thirsty?” he smirked. “Come have a drink.”

Fluttershy darted forward, but her lack of energy slowed her down, and Bluster was flying backwards, waggling the water bottle in front of her. Fluttershy gave chase for a minute before realising Applejack must be somewhere around this spot. She backtracked, hoping to spot her breezie pony friend. If she could find her and snap her out of her hypnosis by clapping her hooves, Applejack could escape. But Bluster quickly realised what Fluttershy was doing.

“Applejack, fly up on big rock there!” he called in what he memorized from George’s phrasebook.

“No! Come here, Applejack!” cried Fluttershy in a raspy voice.

Applejack emerged from behind a rock and flew towards a bigger one where she’d be well out of Fluttershy’s reach. Fluttershy clapped her hooves, but Applejack was too far away to be shocked by the noise, which was echoing around the gorge. Fluttershy swayed and coughed. She heard a slurping noise. She turned and saw Bluster taking a sip of her water.

“This is good water,” he grinned. “Come have some. You don’t want to get dehydrated, do you?”

Fluttershy tried to catch up with Bluster, but he carried on flying backwards, sideways, and high above her, taunting her with the precious water. Periodically, he’d take a sip himself, and even flew over to Applejack’s rock and tell her to have a drink. He even gave Applejack an occasional peanut. Fluttershy’s legs were barely supporting her now, and she was drenched in sweat. In a fit of frustration, she bellowed “I will stop you, Bluster!” before her parched throat was fit to choke her, and she collapsed to the sound of the athletic breezie’s laughter.

Gilda and George reached the gorge below the bridge to Rainbow Falls.

“I heard Fluttershy,” said Gilda.

George nodded. “She and Bluster down there. Come on.”

Atop their clouds, they sailed down into the canyon. They tried to maintain their cloudy camouflage in case the situation they were about to enter called for a surprise attack. Neither of them knew how exactly they were going to attack when all they could do was smack Bluster with their wings or tails. They were sure they were in for a hard time, but what they saw was a lot worse than they were expecting. They could see Fluttershy crawling along the bottom of the gorge, her bandages torn and coming off her wings. And just ahead of her, hopping backwards and waggling the water bottle, was the cackling Bluster. He hadn’t noticed two small clouds hovering into the gorge. He was having too much fun watching Fluttershy suffer. He wasn’t even flying anymore, but Fluttershy had so little strength left in her, she couldn’t reach him. Her eyes weren’t even focused by now. Every noise she uttered was raspy and lifeless.

“Won’t… let… you… have… Applejack… as… mate…” she exhaled as they approached the rock Applejack was sitting on.

Bluster took a sip from the bottle and tossed it to Fluttershy. A hollow clunk told Fluttershy that it was empty.

“I’m not gonna have Applejack herself as my mate,” smirked Bluster. “Once I’ve given her enough diet and exercise, we’re off to the Mirror Pool I’ve heard so much about. Then I’ll have a proper mate. I can’t start the population of superior breezies with a nasty halfling. I’m afraid you’ve wasted all your time and energy for nothing, my little chew toy.”

The griffons watched with alarm as Fluttershy slithered to a standstill and rolled over on her side. Right under the beating sun, she lay completely still, her tongue sticking out of her mouth, her left hoof still holding the empty water bottle, her wings stuck out at odd angles with a trail of dirty bandages behind her.

“So ends the battle of the strongest breezie in the world VS the weakest pony in the world,” Bluster said with a cruel laugh that showed off all of his pointy teeth.

George was shaking with fury. The cloud he was laying on turned black. Bluster looked up. As he did so, a jet of blinding lightning shot from George’s thundering cloud and gripped the mighty breezie in a violent shock.

“You’ll pay for this!” George roared as his cloud rumbled and shot another lightning bolt directly at Bluster.

Bluster yelled as his wings were burned by the lightning. Soon, they’d dissolved completely.

“Take that!” barked George.

Bluster spluttered, and turned around and ran.

“No you don’t!” George’s wings pounded the air as he launched himself and his weapon onward.

Bolt after bolt of lightning hit Bluster as he attempted to flee.

“You don’t deserve to recreate your race!” bellowed George, his voice and his lightning echoing around the gorge along with Bluster’s yells. “The world couldn’t bare even ONE of you!”

Gilda was barely aware of what was happening and had no idea what was being said. All she could do was look down from her cloud at Fluttershy as she lay motionless, dehydrated, and broken. Tears welled up in Gilda’s eyes, and the cloud she was laying on turned grey. It rained. Water spattered down gently onto Fluttershy. Gilda watched hopefully for a sign of life in the fallen pegasus, unphased by the noise of the thunder and lightning close by. The rain water from Gilda’s cloud got Fluttershy wet all over, and a fair amount did her into her open mouth, but still she didn’t move.

“Fluttershy?!” called Gilda.

Fluttershy didn’t even twitch. Gilda beat her wings and lowered herself to Fluttershy’s level.

“Fluttershy, you can’t die. You can’t leave your friends,” sobbed Gilda. “They… well, they may not really need you around, but they do want you around. That’s what counts, Fluttershy.”

“Thank you, Gilda.”

Gilda gasped as Fluttershy picked herself up and took to the air, her wings intact and strong, her coat, mane, and face clean and radiant, her voice as clear and powerful as it had ever been.

“Fluttershy! You’re okay!” Applejack squeaked.

The thunderous lightning from George’s cloud had snapped the little orange breezie pony out of the hypnosis. She tried to fly towards her friend, but immediately got caught in a draught. Fluttershy swooped down and gently caught Applejack in her tail. Gilda still couldn’t move her arms and legs, but she flapped her wings to join Fluttershy and Applejack in the air.

“I knew you were a lot tougher than you let on!” she beamed.

“And I knew you were a lot nicer than you let on,” smiled Fluttershy.

“I guess so,” blushed Gilda. “It’s a little overdue, but I’m sorry I overreacted to you bumping into me.”

Fluttershy gave Gilda a hug. “It’s alright.”

“I’ve got him!” they heard George call.

Fluttershy, Gilda, and Applejack were delighted to see George returning on his cloud with the burnt and battered Bluster clamped firmly in his beak by his legs.

“Golly, he is the toughest breezie in the world!” exclaimed Applejack.

Bluster was black from antennae to tail, and no longer had his gossamer wings, but was still squirming in George’s beak.

“And the most evil breezie in the world,” said George through his gritted teeth. “And he’s going straight to Tartarus.”

“So you’re tossing your project out the window?” asked Gilda with a grin.

“Can’t let him go back to join his own kind,” said George. “He’ll lord over them like the tyrant he is.”

“Talk so I can understand you!” demanded Bluster.

George swatted Bluster with his tail.

“Great to see you survived, Fluttershy,” smiled George. “And… are your wings fixed?!”

“I’ve heard clouds can do amazing things when a little love and feeling goes into them,” said Fluttershy.

“And yet my arms and legs are still numb,” Gilda groaned, but still couldn’t help smiling.

At last, things were looking up. Fluttershy took Bluster from George and flew both him and Applejack straight to Rainbow Falls. Help was summoned, and a special train was chartered to bring medical relief and building assistance to Griffonstone. Zecora came along to treat Gabby’s wounds properly, and a day later, Gabby could walk and fly perfectly. Tree Hugger knew how to cure Twilight’s head, and once the little purple breezie pony had recovered, she was able to turn herself, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie back into ponies. The residents of Griffonstone didn’t seem as annoyed about the Equestrian relief as Gilda and George thought they would be.

“Deep down,” Gabby said to them in secret, “even though none of them wanted to ask for Equestria’s help, they all wanted it.”

Twilight and Starlight were able to clear away the remnants of the decimated weather factory without any injuries ensuing in the process. As for Bluster, George got his wish.

“He can consider this the final test of his so-called superiority over all other breezies. Let’s see if he can endure living in Tartarus for all time,” he said.

“If lightning didn’t finish him off,” said Gilda, “Cerberus will.”

When at last the storm damage was repaired and all injuries and illnesses were rectified, a ceremony was held in the former home of King Guto. Pony and griffon alike gathered around the stand where the Idol of Boreas once stood, and watched as Fluttershy took center stage… with no sign of stage fright.

“Mares and stallions, fledglings of all ages, I want to thank you for your compassion and praise. I’m glad I could do my part. And now, as a member of the Friendship Council, I want to thank the two griffons who saved my life and brought the villainous breezie Bluster to justice. Gilda, George, came on up please.”

Fluttershy unfurled her wings as Gilda and George joined her, revealing two shiny gold pendants.

“I know you both had a lot to lose helping me,” she said, “whether it was having to let go of something you’ve spent days working on and daydreaming about, or having to swallow a pride that runs deeper than the Abysmal Abyss. And for that, I am happy to declare you two official Knights of Harmony!”

Gilda and George knelt down as Fluttershy placed a medal each around their necks, and turned to face the applauding griffons and ponies.

“We learned a lot from that mess,” said Gilda. “Probably the biggest thing we took from this was that even though trying to make that weather factory didn’t end well, we griffons still have a lot to gain from making our own clouds and rain.”

“So we’ve decided to restart the project ourselves,” George announced. “We know we can’t give up on this endeavour just because of this disaster. We still see a lot of potential with it, not just so we can avoid random storms, but as far as community spirit goes as well.”

Gabby jumped up from the crowd and applauded loudly, and the rest of the crowd joined in.

“You know,” chimed in Pinkie Pie when the applause died down, “I didn’t see anyone bothering to put back up the No Singing signs that got blown away in the storm. So technically it’s not illegal now…”

Author's Note

And that's this year's batch of ten fanfics sorted.

5 Half-Hearted Clean-Up

Fluttershy carried on towards Griffonstone, slower now that she had a delicate passenger; that and the temperature was going up as the day went on. She carried on checking trees, bushes, stones, and weed clusters in case any breezie ponies were stuck there. As the mountain got larger, Fluttershy had found no others.

“With any luck, the others are up in Griffonstone,” said Rarity optimistically. “We’ll be able to get your nose and wings seen to, and Twilight will be able to restore us all.”

“And maybe we can help Griffonstone rebuild,” added Fluttershy, beginning to climb the slope.

It wasn’t easy waking up the steep mountainside; Fluttershy knew that if she slipped and fell, not only would she be unable to fly to safety, but Rarity would most certainly sustain nasty injuries. She walked carefully, pausing periodically when the rock looked unstable, judging her movements, and keeping herself balanced.

“Fluttershy,” said Rarity when they’d stopped halfway up the mountain, “what does Bluster want with Applejack?”

“I have a guess,” said Fluttershy with a grimace, “and I hope I’m wrong.”

She didn’t say anything else, even though Rarity tried to press the issue a few times. Fluttershy wanted to concentrate on the climb. When they were nearly at the top, the mountainside began to level out, and they spotted some debris lying around.

“How much damage do you think the town took?” asked Rarity.

“We’ll just have to see for ourselves,” shrugged Fluttershy. “Oh, I hope none of our friends are trapped under all this wreckage.”

Their journey was slowed even more when Fluttershy decided to check under every roof tile, sign post, trash, bin, and flower pot for a sign of a breezie pony. Every piece of litter she picked up revealed nothing.

At last, Griffonstone loomed into view.

“We made it!” exclaimed Rarity.

Fluttershy looked up. “The weather factory building site’s all gone.”

Indeed, the sky above Griffonstone only had a few small clouds hovering over it. And strangely, a few clouds were lingering close to the ground. It seemed no one was bothered about them.

“Look!” squeaked Rarity. “There are griffons about!”

As they suspected, a clean-up operation was underway. Greta was the first griffon to spot Fluttershy and Rarity approaching the town.

“Hey, are you some of George’s friends?” she asked, setting aside her rake.

“Yes. Have you seen him?” asked Fluttershy.

Greta nodded. “He’s at his farm. Gabby’s with him. She whacked her whole left side during that storm last night. Her left legs and wing are totally wrecked… they look a lot like your nose and wings.”

“What about our breezie pony friends?” asked Rarity. “Are any of them here?”

Greta nodded again. “Three of them. I forget their names. One’s got a head injury. The other two aren’t too bad.”

“Thank you,” smiled Fluttershy, and carried Rarity to George’s farmhouse.

When they arrived, it was Gilda who answered the door. She still had some soot on her face.

“Hey! Fluttershy and Rarity are here!” she called into the living room.

George ran up, arms outstretched.

“Careful, George!” exclaimed Fluttershy before he could hug her. “I’m carrying Rarity.”

George slowed down. “Oh, good. You’ve got Rarity with you.”

He gently hugged Fluttershy, making sure not to squash Rarity.

“Now there’s only one breezie pony missing,” he said.

Fluttershy gulped. “It’s not Applejack, is it?”

“Fraid so,” frowned George. “The rest are here, though. Twilight got the worst of it. She’s got a pounding headache. Fortunately, my guidebook on breezie care gave us plenty of information on how to cure that within the week.”

Rarity groaned. “That means she can’t change us back to ponies for a while.”

“And I can’t get a message to Discord,” said Fluttershy glumly. “Just look at my nose.”

Both George and Gilda had heard enough about Discord not to question Fluttershy’s odd statement.

“George, I need to ask you about Bluster,” Fluttershy went on.

“Oh, you know about him,” said George.

“We certainly do,” said Rarity crossly. “Look what he’s done to Fluttershy’s wings.”

“Oh, no. He wasn’t torturing you for information or anything like that, was he?” groaned George.

“He demanded to know who my strongest friend was,” answered Fluttershy.

“That stupid, big-headed egotist!” growled George. “He’s gonna hypnotise Applejack into being his mate!”

Rarity gasped. Fluttershy moaned. Gilda raised an eyebrow.

“How’s that, now?” she asked.

“I’ve mentioned how vulnerable normal breezies are,” George said. “If they see any swaying object…”

He snapped his talons.

“Their minds are ripe for control.”

“I can attest to that,” chimed in Rarity. “That cyclone scrambled my brains something dreadful. It took the sight of a horrible great spider to snap me back to my senses.”

“Over and over again, I told him he and everyone else would be better off if he went back home,” said George through gritted teeth. “But no, he’s bent on having an above-average mate.”

“So Bluster wanted to become stronger than every other breezie,” said Fluttershy. “I’m sorry, George. I thought, since you were being so secretive, that you were guilty of animal cruelty.”

“I will be if I ever get my talons on him,” snarled George.

“Get in line,” seethed Gilda. “That thing could’ve fried us up in the weather factory.”

“Were you two up there looking for him when he created that cyclone?” asked Fluttershy.

Gilda and George nodded crossly.

“We opened the door to the factory floor and a jet of hot air from one of the machines blasted in our faces,” said George.

“And since all that machinery was so shoddily built,” added Gilda, “the whole factory fell apart. And the way things are going right now, no one’s gonna want to try again.”

“Morale is pretty low now,” said George glumly. “After what happened last night, everyone would rather let the weather just happen.”

“Even though that’s what caused the trouble in the first place,” Gilda frowned. “If Griffonstone’s weather had been griffon controlled from the start, that bolt of lightning would never have knocked Arimaspi into the Abysmal Abyss, and we might still have the Idol of Boreas. But no one will care now. We’ve got too much too clean up now.”

She picked up a tool box and began to leave.

“Wait, did you say Bluster’s gonna try and hypnotise Applejack?”

George nodded.

“But how can he make her do what he wants when they don’t speak the same language?”

George went to check to see if he still had his breezie phrasebook, and Fluttershy followed, still ferrying Rarity. In the living room, Grabby was lying on her right side sleeping on the sofa. Her left legs and wing were in bandages. Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie were lounging about on a throw pillow sitting on the rocking chair, with Twilight curled up in a ball further back. She was holding an ice cube to her forehead. She perked up when she saw Fluttershy enter the room with Rarity.

“You’re okay!” she cried.

She immediately groaned in pain, but still smiled as Fluttershy and Rarity approached.

“What happened to you?” asked Pinkie Pie. “You both look even worse than us.”

“Fluttershy’s nose and wings are broken,” said Rarity as Fluttershy set her down on the throw pillow. “But she still managed to save me from a spider’s web.”

“How are you all?” asked Fluttershy.

Rainbow Dash grunted as she stood up. “I haven’t felt this awful since that time I thought I was gonna fail my Wonderbolts history test.”

“I’ll bet you don’t feel anywhere near as awful as Twilight, though,” said Pinkie Pie. “Gabby was trying to angle herself when we were about to hit the ground so that she wouldn’t crush any of us. Dashie and me weren’t too bad, but Twilight’s head got caught between Gabby’s elbow.”

“And Gabby didn’t come out of the crash well herself,” said Rainbow, pointing to the napping mail griffon.

Fluttershy and Rarity gazed with pity at the half-bandaged Gabby.

“Good thing she’s got those sharp talons and claws,” said Pinkie Pie. “Or she wouldn’t have gotten us back here.”

“What about Applejack?” asked Twilight groggily.

George interrupted. “My breezie phrasebook’s still here.”

Fluttershy looked at the open book on the coffee table, and realised it was still on the page she’s seen it on last night.

“It had to have been Bluster who wrote that note,” she muttered. “He used that phrase book so everyone would think it was from me.”

George chuckled. “Well, if he wants to hypnotise Applejack, he’ll need this book.”

He closed the phrasebook and clutched it in his talons.

“What?! What does that bodybuilder-breezie friend of yours want with Applejack?” demanded Rainbow Dash.

“It doesn’t matter,” said George. “Gilda was right. He can’t do it if she can’t understand him, and he’ll never get through to her without this book. And I’m gonna guard this book with my life. Ha! I’ve won!”

Twilight held her head. “Please, George. Not so loud.”

“Oh, sorry,” said George. “Need another ice cube?”

George kept his breezie phrasebook tucked under his wing as he went about tending to his wounded friends.

“We don’t exactly have good doctors or nurses in Griffonstone,” he said grimly as he bandaged Fluttershy’s wings. “Gilda’s been complaining that no griffons will accept outside help.”

Fluttershy washed her nose, but still couldn’t breathe through it.

“I’ll have to go to the nearest Equestrian town,” she said. “Whether Griffonstone will accept our help or not makes no difference. They need it, and I know plenty of Equestrians who will offer it. Is the train still running?”

“I don’t know,” said George. “I haven’t checked. I hope Bluster hasn’t sabotaged the rail line.”

“Then it’s settled,” said Fluttershy. “I’m off to Rainbow Falls.”

“Shouldn’t you rest first?”

“There isn’t time,” insisted Fluttershy. “The sooner we get professional help for everyone, the better. And for all we know, Bluster could have found Applejack and tried to hypnotise her hours ago.”

George brandished the breezie phrasebook. “He’ll be coming for this either way, and I’ll catch him when he does. I swear it.”

He shook Fluttershy’s hoof, and off she went.

The griffons Fluttershy saw outside were looking dejected as they went about with their half-hearted clean-up operation. Along the way to the city limits, Fluttershy saw Gilda mending a fence, and decided to fill her in on everything.

“Gilda, I’m going to Rainbow Falls to get help,” she said.

“Good,” said Gilda huffily. “We need it, whether anyone around here will admit it or not. What are you smiling about?”

Fluttershy did indeed have a grin on her face.

“Oh. Well, it’s just… it feels good to be important. I’m off to the station now.”

“You want my advice? Don’t wait for a train there,” said Gilda. “The train from Equestria only comes to Griffonstone Halt when there are passengers who want to go there. You can’t be sure one will come.”

“You mean I’ll have to walk along the tracks all the way to Rainbow Falls?” gaped Fluttershy.

She looked up at the sky. The sun was beating down, and the small number of clouds in the sky did nothing to shade the ground below. Even the clouds that were hovering near the ground barely had any shadows beneath them. Gilda grabbed a full water bottle from next to one of the broken fence posts.

“Here.”

She held it out to Fluttershy without looking at her.

“Thank you, Gilda,” said Fluttershy, taking it.

She was tempted to say she would consider this a gesture of apology for scaring her in Ponyville, but thought better of it.

Fluttershy took a run at the gap between ledges to make sure she wouldn’t fall into the Abysmal Abyss; she knew if she did, it was all over. A hop, a skip, and a jump later, she was on the other side. She got a good few feet from the edge, and she hadn’t dropped her water bottle. Her confidence mounted as she carried on down the mountain towards the station halt. Even though the journey was downhill, she still took it slow and steady. It wasn’t long before she reached the deserted station. She stopped to rest and have a few sips of water. Minutes later, she went to the booking office. It appeared deserted.

“Hello?”

No sound came from the building. Fluttershy went inside. No one was there.

“Either this station is always deserted,” said Fluttershy to herself, “or the staff didn’t feel like coming to work today.”

For a moment, she wondered if Bluster might be hiding in here, given how desolate it was. She grabbed a nearby waiting room chair and started to search every nook and cranny of the station building. Before long, she came to discover that it was well and truly empty. She stepped out onto the platform and looked along the line. There was no sign of an approaching train. She sighed as she stepped down onto the tracks and began making her way along the line to Rainbow Falls.

Gilda had gone back to George’s farmhouse.

“Hi, Gilda!” exclaimed Gabby. “Oops. Sorry, Twilight.”

Twilight moaned, but waved to Gilda as she entered the living room.

“I see you’re up and about now,” observed Gilda as Gabby limped around the room.

“She’s still in a bad state,” said George.

“I can still help you take care of Twilight and the others,” Gabby grinned as she replaced Twilight’s ice cube.

“Just don’t overwork yourself,” warned George.

“So Fluttershy went off back home to get help,” said Gilda.

George nodded as Gilda returned his toolbox.

“Gilda,” squeaked Rainbow Dash, “could you go after her? Make sure she’s alright? You know her wings are busted, right?”

“You think Bluster’s gonna attack her again?” sniffed Gilda. “Relax. Bluster’ll be trying to get here to steal George’s translator book.”

“Which,” smirked George, “I’ve burned.”

“Hm. Good idea,” nodded Gilda.

“Gilda,” said Rainbow Dash imploringly, “Fluttershy’s my best friend. And you’re my griffon friend. Please?”

Gilda looked away from Rainbow Dash. “She’s not in danger, Dash. And neither is Applejack as long as Bluster can’t speak her language. Come on, George. Since Gabby’s fit enough to take care of our little breezies here, can you come help me move those clouds that’re hanging around the ground?”

“Well, I’ll clear away the ones that are close to the farm,” agreed George. “I don’t want to be too far away in case Bluster does show up.”

Rainbow Dash watched dejectedly as Gilda left the house with George right behind her.

Twilight moaned. “Fluttershy… still… danger…”

Greta was returning home for a rest, carrying a loaded trash bag over her shoulder. She saw Gilda and George leaving the farm house. Right outside George’s front door were two clouds hovering near the ground. Gilda and George both beat their wings and jumped forward to grab one each.

“Don’t touch those!” shouted Greta.

It was too late. Gilda grabbed one cloud, George grabbed the other, and they both got electrocuted. The lightning blackened their legs; they were completely limp.

“I tried to warn you,” groaned Greta as Gilda and George slid off the clouds. “Those clouds came from the weather factory during the storm.”

“You mean a by-product?” grunted George, trying to move his talons.

“Just before the whole thing fell apart,” nodded Greta. “That shopkeeper down the road had the same thing happen to her. She wasn’t able to move her talons or claws for hours. If we want to get rid of those clouds, we need…”

Greta stopped talking and began to walk away.

“Hey, wait a minute!” barked Gilda, flapping her wings after her. “Why would you just leave us like this?! We’re friends, aren’t we?”

“You’ll be fine in a few hours, like I said,” sniffed Greta.

“And what were you gonna say?” demanded Gilda.

Greta heaved an annoyed sigh. “We’d need unicorn magic to move these clouds without anyone getting zapped. But with Princess Twilight out of action, that’s just not gonna happen.”

Gilda scoffed. “Yeah, it will. Because Fluttershy’s on her way to Equestria to bring help.”

Greta began to walk away again.

“What’s wrong with you?!” demanded Gilda, still beating her wings to keep herself upright. “You weren’t like this when I asked you to help defend southern Equestria.”

“That’s different,” said Greta over her shoulder. “That was us helping them for a change.”

And off she went.

Gabby waddled through the front door.

“Twilight says Fluttershy could still be in danger,” she said. “Bluster might not bother with George’s phrasebook and just try and make Fluttershy do the translating.”

“She’d refuse,” insisted Gilda. “She would. She’s tougher than she lets on.”

George snorted. “Now who’s avoiding being helpful?”

“Well what do you expect?! I just fried my arms and legs!” snapped Gilda. “Are you gonna go after Fluttershy in this condition?”

“What happened to you two?” asked Gabby, noticing with alarm that Gilda and George were both mostly limp.

“Let’s just say we can’t clear away these clouds without magic,” said George. “And to answer your question, Gilda…”

He flew onto the cloud that had zapped him, which had of course used up all its electricity.

“I am going after Fluttershy.”

Gilda and Gabby looked at him as if he had a snot bubble oozing from his beak.

“Hey, between my gimpy arms and legs and her gimpy wings, we should be fine,” shrugged George.

Gilda looked at the cloud that had electrocuted her. “Hmm… we might be able to hide from Bluster if we use these clouds.”

“So you’ll come with me?” asked George.

“If Gabby’s okay being left along with the breezie ponies,” said Gilda.

Gabby nodded. “I’m sure Twilight’s right about Fluttershy being in more danger than any of us.”

“Thanks, Gilda,” came the squeaky voice of Rainbow Dash.

Gilda jumped when she spotted the tiny blue breezie standing on Gabby’s back.

“I’m only going because Gabby can’t and, besides George, no other griffon will,” snorted Gilda, mounting her cloud. “Come on, George.”

She and George beat their wings and off they went atop their respective clouds.

Author's Note

Not sure if things get too contrived at this point.