Dog Catcher's Mill Company

Fluttershy followed the fox and it led her out of Ponyville,

"Where are we going?" Fluttershy asked, the fox kept running and arrived into a town to the west of Equestria. She looked and saw limping puppies walking and hid from her when they saw her,

"Wait, it's okay, I'm not here to hurt any of you." Fluttershy stated, but the puppies still hid. The fox went over and it bowed down, the puppies looked at the fox and they came out to see it, the fox then began comforting them while Fluttershy walked over. She sat down and held some of the puppies with her wings,

"It's okay, I'm here to help." Fluttershy spoke, and the puppies went to her and she began petting them,

"Where are your parents and owners?" Fluttershy asked, the puppies began whimpering, the fox rubbed its snout on Fluttershy to get her attention, it ran and she followed it.

Fluttershy arrived at a cemetery and looked at the wooden gravestones, she looked at the photos and saw they were all the graves of dogs,

"What happened to them?" Fluttershy questioned, the fox ran and she followed it, she saw some of the graves had newspapers with them. She read one and gasped when she read that the dog of the grave was found covered in scrapes and bruises and saw a picture of it, she went to another one and saw the newspaper was the same story as the previous dog, she looked at the ones in her sight and saw all of the newspapers had basically the same story. She soon heard the dogs whimpering from nearby and she and the fox saw the black dog from before, the dogs' whimpering were coming from its body and echoing. Fluttershy noticed it and she walked to the black dog as it just stood there,

"You're a ghost, aren't you?" Fluttershy asked, dogs whimpering continued to sound from its body, light blue flames flew out of the graves and into the dog's body, it winced in pain and grew a bit bigger. Fluttershy looked on and the black dog just stood there and looked down, the fox left and she trotted after it. The fox ran back to the puppies and saw them wandering around, it did a gesture with its head to tell the puppies to leave, they heard footsteps and they all ran to hide. Fluttershy heard mares conversing and then a loud thud and dog whimper, she gasped and flew to the area.

Fluttershy flew to where she heard the hits and dog whimpering, she saw two earth pony mares, one had a red coat, long pink mane and tail, orange eyes, and her cutie mark was a gray rock, and the other mare had a blue coat, long grayish-white mane and tail, green eyes, and her cutie mark was a fist. The red mare picked up a rock,

"Hey, Bluebird, watch this." the red mare stated, and she threw the rock and hits a puppy in the head, the puppy yelped while Fluttershy's jaw dropped,

"Nice shot, Cardinal, but watch this." Bluebird replied, and she picked up a bigger rock and threw it at the puppy harder than Cardinal, the dog yelped as it fell over,

"There, come on, let's put it in the puppy mill." Cardinal ordered, and they got ready to carry the puppy away. Fluttershy watched the puppy try to struggle to break free from Cardinal and Bluebird's grips, but the two began kicking and stomping on the puppy and it whimpered, Fluttershy's rage went up and she began glaring,

"LET THE PUPPY GO!!" Fluttershy yelled, Cardinal and Bluebird looked at her,

"If you don't let it go, I'm going to tell your mommies about your behavior!" Fluttershy thundered, Cardinal and Bluebird laughed,

"Tell our moms? Look around you, there's nopony around here." Cardinal spoke, Fluttershy did not see anypony around at the moment,

"See, there's no one for you tell off." Bluebird said smugly,

"Return the puppy to its owner." Fluttershy commanded, the puppy whimpered and her attention got caught,

"What did you two do?" Fluttershy seethed as she walked to them, the two mares ran to her and tackled her down. They began punching her while she screamed, she tried to defend herself with her forelegs and wings as the two attacked her, she saw the puppy limping away and Bluebird noticed and ran to get it. They heard snarling and black dog knocked Cardinal off of Fluttershy, she grunted as she fell onto the ground, she then screamed when the dog bit into her neck, Fluttershy looked away and covered her eyes while she heard flesh tearing, she then heard the dog growling again and Bluebird screamed afterwards. The noise stopped and Fluttershy looked back and saw the two mares bleeding from their necks', Cardinal and Bluebird panted as they bled out,

"Why did you two do what you did?" Fluttershy inquired,

"Dog Catcher's orders." Bluebird answered,

"So you just follow his orders and do what you're told?" Fluttershy asked,

"There's more, us, including everypony who works under him, are his childhood friends, we hate dogs as much as he does." Cardinal replied,

"Why?" Fluttershy asked,

"Do you know what it was like for us as kids? Having to hear those dogs barking every night and keep us up when we're trying to sleep? Dog Catcher did us all a favor when he began killing them." Bluebird explained,

"That's your reason?! You could've just asked them to quiet down!" Fluttershy fumed,

"Yeah, but that's no fun." Cardinal objected, Fluttershy's eyes widened and jaw dropped,

"What are you going to do? Put us in jail?" Bluebird asked, Fluttershy had flashbacks of the three assassins from the previous day and whimpered at the thought at the two getting killed in prison,

"Look at that, the thought actually traumatizes her." Bluebird commented,

"Of course, didn't you hear? Knock Out, Poison Fist, and Lights Out were arrested yesterday because of her and Dog Catcher had to kill them so they don't reveal our doings." Cardinal explained,

"Wait, that was you?" Bluebird asked as Fluttershy just stood there and continued having flashbacks, she stopped and came back to reality while shaking her head,

"Which ones were they?" Fluttershy asked,

"Knock Out was the light blue stallion, Poison Fist was the light pink one, and Lights Out was the light orange one." Cardinal answered,

"I see, I'm going to destroy your entire operation, no animal deserves to be treated like how you all do." Fluttershy declared, the two mares laughed but they soon began gagging, they bled out from their wounds and died. Fluttershy looked at the bodies and closed her eyes, she nearly cried while the black dog carried them away. She looked at the whimpering puppy and walked to it shortly afterwards,

"Where's your owner?" Fluttershy asked, the puppy limped and she followed it, she gasped when she came to a dead stallion covered in bruises, she ran to the pony while the puppy rubbed its snout on him,

"Did those two mares do this?" Fluttershy asked, the puppy barked in agreement, she then laid her head on the stallion and paid her respects,

"Where are the residents of this town?" Fluttershy asked, the puppy barked and she understood it, it said the town was very small to begin with, and the residents were all dead because Dog Catcher ordered the mares to kill all dog lovers in the town,

"What? Why haven't they been arrested?" Fluttershy questioned, the puppy ran and she followed it.

Fluttershy followed the puppy to near the edge of the town and saw another puppy mill, alongside two mares and a stallion, she gasped when she saw the stallion was wearing a royal guard uniform, the mares were unicorns while the stallion was a Pegasus, one mare had an orange coat, long yellow mane and tail, green eyes, and her cutie mark was a magician's hat, the other mare had a purple coat, long light pink mane and tail, red eyes, and her cutie mark was a black pentagram, and the Pegasus had a white coat and blue eyes with his mane, tail, and cutie mark being hidden under his uniform. Fluttershy watched them and saw a green aura on the purple mare's horn, she picked up several rocks and threw them at the puppies in the mill, they whimpered while the orange mare laughed a little,

"Wow, Indigo Dragon, your aim's getting better." the orange mare stated,

"Thanks." Indigo Dragon responded,

"I'm going to try now." the orange mare said,

"Good luck, Orange Tiger." the stallion said, she smiled and a yellow aura appeared on her horn, rocks floated up and she threw them at the puppies in the mill, they whimpered while the three ponies laughed,

"Come on, Cat Lover, join in." Orange Tiger said,

"Okay, here goes." Cat Lover replied, and he picked up a rock and threw it at a puppy harder than the ones Orange Tiger and Indigo Dragon threw, a puppy whimpered loudly and they laughed. Cat Lover walked over and checked the puppy,

"It's dead." Cat Lover stated, Orange Tiger and Indigo Dragon began cheering. Fluttershy gritted her teeth as her anger rose, she growled and began making animal sounds to command them, the dogs from the town ran to her and birds flew down and began pecking the three ponies, they screamed as Orange Tiger and Indigo Dragon used their magic to fling them away, Cat Lover tried to attack the birds with his spear but they flew out of range, he tried to fly away but the dogs jumped and pulled him down, the three screamed as the birds pecked them and the dogs bit and scratched them, Fluttershy continued to glare and huff as she heard their flesh being ripped apart. The noises stopped and Fluttershy calmed down, her eyes widened with horror at the sight of their dead bodies, she saw the fox rip the fence off of the puppy mill and they ran out. The dogs bumped their snouts on her to bring Fluttershy back to reality, but she continued looking at the carnage,

"I did that?" Fluttershy asked herself, she continued staring on in horror until she was startled by puppies barking, she looked back and saw the dirty and injured puppies,

"Let's get you all cleaned up." Fluttershy said, and she led them back.

Fluttershy got the puppies together and flew through the ghost town to try to find any cleaning supplies left, she found a few and tried her best to wash the puppies, the adult dogs, fox, and black dog tried their best to help her and some of them looked for food to give them, they found a few vegetables and the puppies ate them,

"Hold on, I'll get food from my home." Fluttershy spoke, and she flew away.

Fluttershy flew back to her cottage and saw Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle taking care of the puppies,

"Oh, good, you're back, the puppies are being hard to clean." Sweetie Belle stated, she looked and saw Apple Bloom and Scootaloo trying to scrub the puppies but they ran away,

"You got the hose's water on too high, turn it down so it's weak." Fluttershy said, and they did, the puppies walked to it and began sitting under it,

"Wow, it worked." Scootaloo stated,

"They're still scared, Scootaloo, so everything has to be done gently when taking care of them." Fluttershy explained,

"Y'all two watch me, Ah'll show y'all how to take care of them puppies." Apple Bloom said, and she began scrubbing them gently and pat them,

"Very good, Apple Bloom, you two follow her example." Fluttershy instructed,

"What about you?" Sweetie Belle questioned,

"Dog Catcher's got puppy mills around the country, I'm going to put a stop to them." Fluttershy responded,

"Is it that bad?" Scootaloo asked,

"Oh, yes, I saw one earlier today, and the ponies at the mills were throwing rocks at the puppies." Fluttershy explained, the three fillies gasped,

"Are they okay?" Sweetie Belle asked,

"Yes, but... one of them didn't make it." Fluttershy replied while trying not to cry, the Cutie Mark Crusaders looked on sympathetically while she held her tears back,

"Ya rescue 'em, Fluttershy, we'll hold down the fort here." Apple Bloom spoke,

"Really? Thank you, I'll be going now." Fluttershy spoke, and she got some of the dog food from her cottage and left.

Fluttershy arrived back and gave the dog food to the dogs and puppies, the fox and black dog pushed the dog food to the puppies and they ate,

"I'm going to look for the rest of the mills." Fluttershy told the fox and black dog, and she flew up into the sky and looked for where in Equestria and other countries Dog Catcher had puppy mills.