Lola the Triffid and The Case of The Joy Taker
Please read, there are modifications to structure and new elements added to connect it to my last stories
"Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them - that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Let things flow naturally forward in whatever way they like" - Lao Tzu
"This is the best Nightmare Night sleepover ever!" Yelled out an excited Pinkie Pie, who this year was dressed up as a pig, giving her the excuse to 'pig out' on all the candy she could get her hooves on. She spoke out as everypony settled down in the center of Twilight's library/home. The group consisted of Rainbow Dash disguised as a griffin, Applejack as an apple eating pear, Rarity dressed up as Photo Finish, Spike a snail, Fluttershy a bunny, and Twilight as mad scientist. Joining the group was both Princesses, Luna as Slendermane and Celestia being Supermare.
"Yes, then it will be the best movie night ever!" Concluded Luna as everypony began to count their candy, making sure to keep the piles safe from Pinkie.
"It was nice of you to invite us my former faithful student." Said Celestia in a heroic stance.
"It was nothing, I just thought it would be a good idea since this is your first time participating in the festival, but I wish Tolerance and the others could of joined us." Twilight replied as she started to make of list of all the candies she had, naming them in alphabetical order.
"True it would have been nice, but you know they never really understood Nightmare Night." Celestia replied.
"It was mighty kind of ya to let Twilight stay in the library your highness." Applejack thanked as she got up to stretch her legs.
"It wasn't that big of a problem, we just had to add a door that magically send me to the castle and besides I knew Twilight wouldn't want to leave her friends. Also you just call me Celestia, it is less formal." Celestia replied.
"So what are we going to play first, truth or dare, board games, hang-pony?" Asked a curious Pinkie Pie while continuing to jump in place.
"What is this truth or dare that thou speaks of?" Asks Luna.
"We'll you see, truth or dare is when one is it, they spin a bottle and when it lands on another player, the player before will ask for a truth or may dare the player to do anything as long as it is not beyond reason." Rarity explains while Rainbow searches for the truth or dare bottle.
"I've heard of this game, but being a Princess I'm not aloud to play such games around the nobles." States Celestia. Pinkie drops everything she was doing and runs up to Celestia.
"OhmygoshyouneverplayedthisgameIcanunderstandLunanotplayingitbutyouohweneedtoplaythegamenow!" Yells out Pinkie until she was engulfed in a purple aura and moved over with Fluttershy and Twilight.
"Um Pinkie... can you please be a little quieter... if that is okay." Asked Fluttershy.
Pinkie looks over at Fluttershy as she is put down on the grounds, giving her best thinking face, "mmmm... Okie Dokie Lokie!" With that Pinkie jumped over to help Rainbow find the bottle.
"Where did Applejack run off to?" Twilight asked as everypony looked around for the missing farm pony. They continued searching until they heard a thud from the other room. Next thing they knew Applejack entered the room with three fillies in tow.
"Look who ah found sneekin around." The three fillies were huddled up in a group, looking down at the ground in shame. The purple maned filly was dressed up as Master Carpentry's 'The Thing', the pale white filly as a marshmallow, and the last one was a bail of hay.
"Sweetie Belle! I told you to go and sleepover at Scootaloo's place!" Roared an angry Rarity.
The giant marshmallow looked up at Rarity with sadness in her eyes, "Sorry sis, but we wanted to see the princesses and when we heard about finding a bottle for truth and dare we just had to find it."
Rarity's features softened up as she realized she was acting unladylike, "Well, Sweetie if you wanted to see the princesses why didn't you just ask?"
Apple Bloom, who was the bail of hay looked at Scootaloo with pride, "Ah told you we shoulda just asked." Scootaloo grunted at this, since it was her idea in the first place.
"Ah wouldn't be too hard on them fillies, they did find the bottle." Applejack interrupted as she lifted up the bottle. Rainbow Dash flies over and grabs the bottle with her mouth and land next to Pinkie as Applejack gives Rainbow a look saying 'Hey I had that first'.
Rainbow shrugged the look off and turned to rest of the group, "Then lets start playing this game, also since they are here they can play too, this is going to be so awesome!"
"Well, as long it is alright with Applejack and Rarity." Twilight stated, Pinkie, Rainbow, and CMC gave Rarity and Applejack the best 'Pretty Please' looks they could muster. After a short time of thinking and Princess Luna joining in the ranks of Rainbow's arsenal of 'Pretty Please' looks both Rarity and Applejack sighed in defeat and gave nods of approval.
"The fun has been tripled!!" Yelled out Luna in victory. The eleven ponies and one dragonling all huddled around in a circle with the bottle in the center.
After thirty minutes into the game, everypony was riled up and ready for anything to happen within the game, some of them removed their costumes so they wouldn't ruin them. It was Rarity's turn to spin the bottle, as she did she noticed an odd looking plant sitting on a table near bye, from were she was sitting she couldn't get a good look at the plant. The bottle stopped, facing towards Twilight, giving Rarity a chance to ask about the strange plant.
"Truth or Dare." Asked Rarity.
"Mmmm... Dare!" Twilight replied, this being the first time she picked dare over truth.
"I dare you explain what that plant is over there." Said Rarity as she pointed at said plant. Everypony looked to see the strange plant sitting in the low light.
"Oh, that's Lola." Stated Twilight as she levitated the plant over to the group. The plant, or flower as everypony got a good look at it, was beautiful, the base of the flower was wrapped around by multiple strands of thick vine, coming out of the base were three stalks that let up three buds, two on the side that were lower in height compared to the one in the middle. The body was a luscious green with the buds being bright pink with yellow anthers on the top. The flower itself looked like a cross of a vine plant and a rose.
"Lola is a nice name for such a nice flower." Spoke Fluttershy as she got closer to the flower.
"Triffidus celestus, a special type of flower from the Everfree." From hearing this the group moved away from Lola.
"Why do you have a plant from the Everfree?" Asked Pinkie was the second closest one to Lola.
"Because Triffidus celestus or Triffids are beautiful flowers, but don't worry, the last wild Triffid died out years ago. The only thing left are the harmless farm breed ones that are genetically engineered to be safe for decoration." Everypony, except for the already calm princesses relaxed, "But even in this state they must be well fed, which reminds me."
Noise could heard from the kitchen as a jar of redish brown stuff came flying over to Twilight, as it continued to levitate the lid was removed and a golf ball sized piece of gunk was moved over to Lola, who gladly engulfed the food with the vines, making distasteful sounds as she ingested the food.
"Is... that meat?!" Urgently asked Fluttershy.
"Sadly yes, the Triffids are carnivores in nature, but unlike most meat-eating plants the Triffids can, once fully grown, uproot themselves and eat any kind of animal, even dragons fall prey to the Triffids. Thankfully modern science and magic has made it so that only unicorns and alicorns can make a Triffid grow to full size, by giving it large concentrations of magic. Small amounts of magic help keep Triffids of this size from dying as meat doesn't give off enough nutrients to sustain it."
With the meat completely eaten, Lola was subjected to a small beam of magical energy. Unbeknownst to anypony was that Lola was unwillingly absorbing magic from all three alicorns and unicorn, building up large reserves of magic inside herself. Once Twilight finished giving Lola magic energy she took both the jar of meat and Lola into the kitchen and left to continue playing with her friends.
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Later that night as everypony, even Luna, were sleeping the most wonderful dreams something horrifying and beautiful was taking place within the kitchen. The magical buildup within Lola was reaching its climax as the flower's pigments started to darken and distort. At the climax Lola began to grow with her flower pot breaking apart from the pressure. Then the left and right buds grew out to form a pair a plant-like talons as the stalks thickened and grew in length. The middle bud extended higher than the other two to form a head with the pedals on the top like hair, two slitted areas on the face resembling eyes and a plant-like beak that separated into twelve thorns as Lola breathed air through it for the first time. Her roots wrapped around her base with some of them supporting her body, the main root was pushed forward to act as a single leg with thorns coming out of it.
As Lola looked around the kitchen for the first time she realized that her slitted eyes were not the only things used for slight as she was able to see using a complicated process of using smell, touch and three light waves that would come from her petals that reflected back to her slitted eyes forming an accurately colored image of the room. While she was looking around she noticed the jar of meat sitting on the counter. She then realized that she had what may be called memories of her life as an ordinary plant. She could not visualize the memories, but could remember what was said. Being cared by Twilight or who she referred to as mother, even when she knew they weren't of the same species, would be disappointed in her if she just ate the meat.
"I'll just put it away." With that she put a vine/tentacle over her mouth at her first words were made, she had a wonderful voice full of so much kindness and care it could put Fluttershy to shame. Once she got over the amazement of her voice she took the jar and put back into the cabinet, after a short time of looking for the right one.
As she quietly moved around the roomshe noticed the mess she had made during her transformation. "Oh dear that is quiet a mess and it would be rude of me to just leave it there." After looking around some more she found the broom and dustpan. She then cleaned up the broken pot and dirt and threw the remains of her past existence away. Looking up at the clock, she realized that is almost time for Twilight and everpony else to get up. Lola wanted to show Twilight her friends, co-rulers, and Spike, her alleged older brother whom she knew Twilight hatched and has been raising since then how much they mean to her.
"What to do... I know I can make breakfast for all of them and then I can continue from there." She then left the kitchen to find some books on cooking, while entering the kitchen again she noticed an old phonograph with some records sitting on a table next to the wall. She put the books down and looked over at the records, remembering how much she loved it when her mother and/or brother would play some of the old songs. Lola then took a record out, started up the phonograph and got to work.
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Twilight woke with the sight of both Celestial Sisters lowering the moon and bringing up the sun. As the sun rose up Twilight was able to see that her room was covered in mountains made out out blankets, pillows, and ponies plus one dragon. As Twilight got out of her covers both Princess Luna and Celestia were quietly reentering the room.
"How was your sleep Twilight?" asked Celestia.
Twilight slowly flew over the sleeping ponies as to not wake them, "I slept well, but doesn't Luna already know that since she can well... go into other ponies dreams?"
Luna giggled at the question which caused Twilight to give her a look of surprise and confusion. "We were to tired to even ether deans and stayed in our own dream."
"Princess Luna you are doing the royal 'we' again." mumbled a extremely tired Pinkie Pie as she still unaturally raced to the bathroom before Twilight and immediately exit with a large smile, "Ah all better now."!
"Pinkie you were only in there for a second and you can't talk that way to the Princess!" Twilight said angrily as she entered the bathroom and shut the door.
"How was your night Princesses?" Pinkie asked.
"We slept nicely." Luna replied.
"I had a good nights sleep, thank you for asking." Celestia replied.
"It's nothing,I just wanting to bring smiles." answered Pinkie as Twilight entered the room with a slightly brushed mane.
"We should start waking everypony else up so we can have breakfast?" asked Luna as the other three ponies nodded in agreement.
"Ya, Rarity said she had some more dresses to make by the end of today." added Pinkie.
"But shouldn't we let them sleep in a little longer?" interjected Twilight.
"It doesn't really matter anymore darling." spoke out a slightly disoriented Rarity as everypony else woke up, with the exception of the CMC.
"Oh Rarity, we didn't mean to wake you..."
"Its fine darling, I need to get myself ready for the day anyways." Rarity said as she headed for the bathroom to quickly brush her mane. While that was happening Rainbow Dash was being attacked by the CMC, mainly Scootaloo as she was on top of Rainbow's head.
"Hey, get off, your going to mess up my awesomeness!" Rainbow said while she played with the three fillies, eventually ending with Applejack roping them up in a blanket. Fluttershy was gently sitting up with angel bunny, who came over some time during the night. Spike was the last one to get up since he had somehow gotten covered in most of the blankets during the night. Once Rarity was finish in the bathroom the group opened the door the rest of the library. The smell that assaulted them was like walking into food heaven. The smell of pancakes and hash browns invaded their nostrils, they were all in a food trance until they realized something.
"Wait, who is cooking breakfast!"
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~Everypony young and old, learn how to rock and roll. Listen here, something new, everypony gonna do~
~Hoof Stomping~
~Hoof Stomping~
~Hoof Stomping~
~Hoof Stomping~
~Hoof Stomping~
~Hoof Stomping~
~Hoof Stomping~
~Hoof Stomping~
~Hoof Stomping~
~Hoof Stomping~
Lola was having a wonderful time in the kitchen as she was listening to 'Hoof Stomping' by The Flares. It was just amazing how fast she was able to learn how to cook using such simple books. Most other lower vines were moving to the beat of the music while her main ones continued to flip pancakes and hash browns. She was so caught up in cooking she didn't notice Pinkie Pie jump into the kitchen with a smile that was getting wider and wider as she saw the largest stack of pancakes ever. Being unfased by the Triffid, Pinkie hopped over to Lola's side and looked at the hash browns.
"Those are mighty good looking hash browns!" yelled out Pinkie, which caused Lola to stiffen up before looking over down at Pinkie. Lola, being twice as tall as the pink mare, could only see the big, pink cotton ball that was Pinkie's mane. After realizing who it was by the pink mare's voice that it was the party pony Pinkameana Diane Pie or referred as Pinkie Pie.
"Why thank you Miss Pie." Lola replied, but the only thing Pinkie heard was a series of quiet grunts, growls, and squeaks.
"Sorry an you repeat that?" Pinkie asked which caused a chain reaction of questions from Pinkie and patterns of sounds from Lola. Eventually they decided to communicate using a chalk board. Lola continued to cook, now with Pinkie's help, the two were making good conversation until they heard multiple hoof steps coming from the other room. Lola was about to ask Pinkie a question when she turned around to find that Pinkie was gone.
Deciding not to question how Pinkie was able to disappear all of a sudden, Lola took multple stacks of pancakes and a bowel of hash browns and headed to the living room turned dinning room.
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Twilight and company came downstairs to find that the dinning table had been set up with plates, napkins, syrup, forks/knives, and one Pinkie Pie waiting to be served.
"Oh hi girls, are you waiting for breakfast as well?" asked an excited Pinkie.
"Wait, what! You just behind us... Are you the one cooking the food?" Twilight asked.
Pinkie let out a small giggle, "No silly filly, Lola made breakfast."
"Lola, but that's impossible Pinkie darling, we all know that Lola is just a small flower, she couldn't have been the one cooking." stated Rarity in disbelief.
"Are you sure about that?" Rainbow flatly stated as Applejack, the CMC, and herself looked at the kitchen entrance.
"I'm pretty sure I know what I am talking a..." Rarity wasn't able as also saw the Triffid come out of the kitchen, with multiple stacks of pancakes and a bowel of hash browns. The room became dead quiet minus the sound of Lola moving towards Pinkie and placing hash browns and pancakes on her plate.
"Yeah!" was the only thing Pinkie said before diving straight into her breakfast. Lola let out a small giggle which to everypony else sounded like a she was wheezing. Lola then put down the rest of the food and turned to walk towards the group of ponies and dragon.
Once she was within hoof reach she took out a small chalkboard and wrote out, "Good morning everypony."
Twilight was shocked at what she was seeing, "Lola, is... is that you."
Lola wrote, "Yes it is me mother." With that Lola embraced Twilight in a gentle hug. This caused everypony else to snap out of their trances and look at the sight before them, Lola, the once small Triffid from the night before as a giant creature holding Twilight, who Lola referred to as mother, in a friendly embrace.
Rainbow Dash, not buying the friendly act one bit flew between the two and was all over what she considered as Lola's face. "Who are you and what do you want with us!"
Lola scribbled out, "My name is Lola and I just want to...."
"Want to what? Eat us and talk with your mouth, or are you..."
"No! What I was going to say was..."
"I don't care what you have to say, all you are is one big pony-eating plant that is planning on hurting my friends!"
"Rainbow Dash stop this instant!" Celestia yelled out.
"No! That's a lie, I never planned on hurting anypony!"
"Rainbow that's enough!" Applejack hollered as she jumped Rainbow, holding her down.
"WE'LL I THINK YOU'RE THE ONE WHO IS LYING AND GET OFF OF ME APPLEJACK!" yelled Rainbow Dash.
"Not until y'all calm down!" stated Applejack.
"CALM DOWN, THERE'S MONSTER READY TO EAT US AND YOU WANT ME TO BE CALM!" Rainbow screamed. She managed to get out of Applejack's grip and flew straight for Lola.
"RETURN FROM ONCE YOU CAME YOU MONSTER!" before Rainbow could make a solid hit she was tackled by a yellow and pink blur.
"RAINBOW DANGER DASH!" eveypony looked over to see Fluttershy holding down, breathing heavily with her wings fully opened out, Rainbow continued to struggle under the yellow pegasus before looking into the cold look of the stare, "Maybe she can't speak Equestrian and it's rude to question her like that, we should show her some kindness and let her explain!"
Rainbow was taken aback by how Fluttershy, the most timid pony she ever knew giving her the stare. After a short time of struggles Rainbow finally gave in and was let go. Rainbow looked down at the floor in shame, mumbling 'sorry' under her breath. Fluttershy then turned towards Twilight, "Twilight do you have a spell that can let us understand Lola... well if its okay with you and Lola?
"Well, I can use a translation spell on her." Twilight replied and then looked over at Lola, who has yes written all over the board. With that Twilight lit up her horn, which created a stream of aura that wrapped around Lola's mouth and neck. After a few seconds the aura dissipated and everypony looked at Lola in antisipation.
Pinkie jumped in and asked, "How do you feel?"
Lola at first grunted, but then said in her gentle voice, "I feel fine Pinkie, I think the spell worked."
Everypony looked at Lola with eyes the size of dinner plates, even the Princesses, who had been siting back and watching the event take place were amazed by how such a beautiful voice could come from such a creature, a Triffid none the less.
"Ummm... Is something wrong?" Lola asked.
"Oh it's just that... well, you've got a beautiful voice." Twilight replied. If Lola had blood running threw her face she would have been blushing.
"Why thank you mother." with that Lola turned around and walked to the table.
"I bet you have a lot of questions for me and I have questions for you, may we talk about it over breakfast." Lola said as she started to lay out pancakes and hash browns on each plate, except for Spike's, in which she took two gem filled ones and put them on his plate.
"I'll be right back, need to get my meal from the kitchen." Lola headed for the kitchen to get something to eat, in the meantime the eleven ponies and dragon started to eat their pancakes and hash browns in utter silence with the exception of an extremely hungry Pinkie Pie and a grumbling Rainbow Dash.
"What's your opinion on your daughter Twilight?" asked a smirking Luna.
Almost spewing out her hash browns Twilight was taken by surprise by the question, "What do mean Luna?"
"Well, she did call you mother and you did raise her as a seeding from what I have heard from my sister, to in reality you are Lola's adoptive mother." Luna replied
When Twilight was trying to think of some sort of comeback she realized that Luna was right. She did raise Lola since the plant was a seedling, planting her shortly after hatching Spike. Before she came to Ponyvile the only friends she had were Shining Armor, Spike, Cadence, and Lola. She was Lola's mother in some way and couldn't deny it.
"I think Lola is a fine plant, she was a lovely voice and manors. She even made breakfast for us." stated an inpressed Rarity. Fluttershy and the CMC shock their heads in agreement.
"She may be a meat-eatin plant, but she seams to be kind and honest, that's all the proof ah need." Applejack added.
Before Twilight could say anything Lola returned to the main room with a stack of drinks and some jars of meat. She gave Applejack and Apple Bloom applejuice, Rarity and Sweetie Belle tea, Scootaloo and Rainbow soda, Fluttershy a water, Slike and Pinkie chocolate milk, and the three alicorons orange juice.
"Why thank you darling." Rarity said with grace in her voice.
"Your welcome Miss Rarity."
"Please just call me Rarity,adding the miss makes me feel old."
"Oh, I'm sorry if I offended you in any way!"
"It's okay darling, but I have a question though, how did you grow so quickly, last night you were just a tiny little thing?" Rarity asked.
"Well, I actually don't know how or why I came to be from a simple plant to what I am now."
Twilight leaned over to Luna and Celestia, "What is your opinion on Lola?"
Celestia was the first one to answer, "So far she hasn't lied about anything and I don't sense any evil within her."
"So what about you Luna?" whispered Twilight.
"Thou thinks the same way about thy daughter, I find her quiet interesting though." replies Luna as her smirk from earlier gets wider.
"Me next, me next!" yelled Pinkie as she saved her front hooves in excitement.
Lola giggled at the site before speaking, "Yes Pinkie?"
"You see since your like a new member of town and such... can I throw you a party please!"
"I'd like that, but you may want to see if mother is okay with it." stated Lola who then looked over to Twilight.
Pinkie then turned to Twilight with puppy eyes, "Please!"
Twilight thought about the pros and cons of letting Pinkie throw Lola a party. 'One, everypony will probably freak out, two, she is a princess and Celestia and Luna seem to be okay with Lola. Yes, no, yes, no, yes, no... wait what if she eats somepony... I'll have to make sure she doesn't do that... also have to introduce her to the town before we do anything else we need to...'
Knock Knock
"I'll get it!" Lola leaves the table with two of four jars of meat eaten and heads for the door. Before anypony could do anything Lola was already at the door ready to open it. Twilight thought, 'Shining and Cadence!!!!'
"LOLA NO!!!!!" Twilight yelled, but it was too late. Lola had already opened the door to an I expecting Shining Armor and Cadence.
"Hello"
The only only thing she got back was Cadence scream, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" screamed Cadence causing Lola to jump in surprise. Before anypony could do anything Shining Armor jumped between the group and Lola.
"Stay behind me everypony, I'll take care of this thing!" Shining took charge, pointing his horn at the confused Triffid. Cadence had moved over to the rest of the group of shocked ponies and dragon.
"No!" yelled Pinkie.
"Stop!" continued Scootaloo.
"You don't understand!" Twilight finished.
The group continued to yell, but it reached deaf ears. Shining was about to blast Lola into oblivion when he was absorbed in a purple aura. Shining looked around to see Twilight putting herself between himself and the monster, Cadence tried to stop Twilight, but was held back by Celestia and Luna.
"Twilight, what are you doing!?" screamed Shining as he struggled to free himself, "That thing must be stopped!"
Twilight gave her brother a grim look, "That thing is Lola and she hasn't done anything wrong except for being kind and making breakfast."
Shining stopped struggling after hearing the name of the monster's name, 'Lola?' He then remembered the little plant that his sister planted and helped in nurturing Lola to the size it was the last time he saw it. 'It was so beautiful and tame. How could have this happened? How could such a nice plant become the giant monster... no not a giant monster, Twilight's right, Lola hasn't done anything so far since he had arrived. He's the one how has done anything... but this does require an explanation.'
"Okay... you're right, I'm in the wrong... I'm sorry Twilight." stated a sulking Shining Armor.
"You shouldn't be apologizing to me, but to her." Twilight coldly replied as she looked at Lola.
Shining hesitated before giving in, "I'm sorry Lola, I shouldn't have acted the way I did." Twilight gently released him from her clutches. Cadence, being unrestrained by the Royal Sisters, and threw her hooves over her beloved husband.
It's okay uncle Shining, I'm not one to hold a grudge on anything and besides it was my fault." said Lola as Shining and Cadence seperated themselves. Lola then looked over at Cadence, "I'm also sorry for scaring you auntie, I should have let somepony else get the door, then this would have never happened."
Shining and Cadence then gave quizzical looks at Lola and Twilight, "Uncle? Aunt?"
"Looks like I got some more explaining to do... and... well... do you want talk while we finish breakfast, we got enough food for everypony."
Shining and Cadence, still shaken up from recent events got on up and walked to the table, "Well actually we haven't had any breakfast yet... so yeah, some food would be nice." Shining replied as he was still trying to comprehend that he was talking to a giant plant that was Lola.
Lola clapped her main vines together, "Wonderful, I'll get the rest from the kitchen!" with that she headed for the kitchen.
"So... can sompony explain to me what just happened?" asked Cadence. Pinkie then jumped over to Cadence's side and whispered in her ear for a good minute before jumping to her seat and started to eat her pancakes again. Afterwards Cadence looked over at her husband and smiled.
"Oh I almost forgot to ask, but what do you want to drink?" Lola asked as she popped her head from out of the kitchen.
Shining thought it over for a few seconds before he said, "Oh, um I'll have a water and you honey."
"I'll just have some juice please." Cadence replied.
"Okay, do you want orange or apple?" Lola asked.
"Surprise me!" said Cadence. Lola then continued her quest of getting more pancakes.
Everypony then realized that the table was too small for all of them to use. Some of them thought that they could just add more chairs to the table, but Lola came in to save the day by bringing another table extension from the kitchen.
"I realized that we would need more space for the growing company, we wouldn't want anypony left out from the table." Lola then proceeded to add the extension to the rest of the table and set two more plates of pancakes and hash browns on the table.
"Thanks Lola, I thought we would have to get the couch!" Spike said as he sat down to work on his pancakes some more.
"It's nothing bro, I just want everypony to enjoy a great breakfast." Everypony then sat down to eat their breakfast, except for Lola, who is unable to sit down because her body wasn't built for such actions.
"So... how did you come to be this way Lola?" asked Cadence and Lola began to explain that since she was only a normal plant she could not feel or see the change, but how she heard it.
"Wait! You mean to tell us that you could hear everything we had ever said when we were around you ever since you first started to grow?" asked a worried Shining Armor.
"Yes of course, but why are you so nervous? Does it have anything to do with you and auntie being here or am I the reason, because if it is I could leave the room if you would perfer that?" asked Lola. Shining and Cadence tensed up at the statement.
"Oh no its not you, we just are wondering that..." siad Shining before closing into a whisper.
"How much did you hear Lola?" Cadence asked as she gulped.
"Oh, not that much." Lola then leaned over to Cadence with what anypony could swear was a smirk, "Little strawberry." Cadence then looked at the smirking Triffid before both broke out laughing. Everypony else except for the other royal alicorns and prince looked at Lola and Cadence in confusion as the two continued to laugh like old friends.
"Looks like were going to get along just fine Lola." Cadence squeaked as she calmed herself to a chuckle. Pinkie continued to think about why Cadence and Lola laughed.
"It was a good one wasn't it." Lola replied as she moved over to Shining in order to explain the joke before he could come up with the wrong idea.
Pinkie jumped in joy, "Ohhh I get it hahahhahahahahhahahhahahahahhaah!" Pinkie continued to laugh until she fell out of her seat, causing a gust of caffeti to fly up in the air.
"Oh dear!" Lola moved to pick up Pinkie and started to examine her, "Are you okay, is anything broken, are you bruised anywhere?!"
Pinkie looked at Lola with the biggest smile she could muster, "I'm as fit as a fiddle!"
"Oh, okay." with that she put Pinkie back down, she thenlooked over at Twilight. When she did Twilight had her head layed low, murmering something she could not exactly understand.
"Is something wrong mother?" That seemed to broken Twilight's concentration as she jerked her head up to face the Triffid.
"Oh, its nothing... I was just thinking about the whole situation and how everypony is taking it so well, thats all." Luna looked over at Celestia with a big smirk on her face and then turned to Twilight.
"Twilight." said Luna.
"Yes Luna?" Twilight asked as she tried to figure out why Luna's smirk was bigger then usual.
"You responded to Lola calling you mother." with the realization Twilight blushed and turned her head away from Luna just to see Lola, "I didn't expect you to adjust to the role of mother so quickly if thou already sees oneself as 'Mother' to Lola."
"Luna you're embarissing her." interjected Celestia before turning to face Twilight, "But I do agree with my sister on the fact that you did reacted camly to being called mother."
"Well sugarcube Ah didn't expect you would be one to adjust to a roll to quicky." Applejack added as she started to snicker. By then Rainbow would of added a comment as well but she was too busy trying to show off her moves inside the library, failing to grab anypony's attention.
"I think its wonderfull that everything is turning out the way it is." Rarity said as she was avoiding the syrup on the pancakes as she took lady-like bites of food.
Fluttershy walked over to Lola and and gently tugged a root, "Umm... Lola."
Lola looked down to see Fluttershy, her eyes showing only the greatest of all kindness as she shivered in place, "Yes Fluttershy, are you cold, I could get you a blanket?"
"Oh no... I just get this way when I'm nervous... or any other time." Fluttershy replied as she moved into a comfortable position, "I just wanted to say that you're a very kind plant... like when Pinkie fell out of her chair, when Twilight was not eating and looking depressed, and just now you asked if I needed a blanket."
Everypony, minus Rainbow Dash, nodded in agreement, "Oh... I don't know what to say... um... thank you, you are all too kind to me."
"It's nothan sugarcube, no need to thank us." stated Applejack.
"Mah sis is right and besides, you are so cool!" added Apple Bloom.
"Do you really think I'm cool?"Lola asked, a look of surprise on her face.
"Ya, your almost as cool as Rainbow Dash!" replied Scootaloo.
"Ya and you probably can do a lot of things with all your vines too!" said Sweetie Belle.
Lola then took all three fillies and hugged them with joy in the fact that even the little fillies had accepted her. After letting the fillies go the group continued eating their food, Lola bringing in more and more hash browns and pancakes. Most of them thinking the same thought.
"This is going to be a long day."
=====
Spike’s tongue slid across the face of the plate, grabbing every stray crumb and jam left behind. Smacking his lips, he then passed it over to Twilight, who scrubbed it with a soapy sponge until she could see her reflection in it.
“That’s the last of it,” she said, with a touch of finality. The plate dropped into the soapy water, the overflow spilling into the adjacent sink.
Lola had finished up packing the rest of the leftovers, dropping an uneaten pancake into a plastic tub. She wrapped it close with a whistle. “Goodness me! Seems that my eyes are a little too big for our stomachs!”
“You did a great job, Lola.” Twilight looked over the pile of containers in front of her. Her horn glowed, floating the tubs of food around her, and proceeded to put them one-by-one into the fridge. “Thank you for making breakfast.”
“I was trying to show my gratitude.” She dried some sweat with a dish towel, exhaling loudly as Twilight walked over to put away the soap. Lola looked over, lowering her head to the same level as Twilight's.
"Mother?"
Twilight turns her head to face the towering plant. "Yes, what is it Lola?"
The Triffid started to play with her veins, "I didn't expect this morning to work out as well as it did."
"What do you mean?"
"Well... I expected that this morning would had ended in disaster." Twilight gave her an expression of confusion as in saying, 'Now why would you think that'.
"I have to agree her with that one Twilight." Spike adds as he jumps onto the back of the alicorn, "Knowing you I would have expected you freak out."
"Spike! You know I don't do that anymore!"
Before anypony could say anything else, Pinkie Jumps into the kitchen, "We're done!"
"That's great, now I can get ready for the rest of the day, SPIKE!" Spike clutches his hears at Twilight's yelling as he falls of the alicorn's back. Luckily Lola was able to grab him before he could get hurt and put him down gently.
Spike looked up at Lola, "Thanks."
"It was nothing Spike, just trying to help."
Spike turned around giving Twilight an agitated look, "I'm right here you know and you don't have to yell for me every single time you need me."
"Sorry Spike, it looks like not all my old habits have left me." Shrugged Twilight.
"Yeah I know, so what did you need?" Said Spike while giving a small smirk.
Twilight straightened herself out while levitating a quil and paper, "I need help starting a list of things to do today."
"Didn't you already make one yesterday?" Questioned Spike.
Twilight looked over to Lola, "Yes... But with Lola here we have to make a new one."
"You don't have to change your schedule just because of me." Lola intervened.
"It's no problem, isn't that right Spike?" The drake in question thought about it for a moment giving the two a nod.
"Yeah! As long as it keeps Twilight out of trouble." Spike turned to see Twilight roll her eyes.
"It's going to be hard to do that when the Professor and Maximilian return from the their expedition in the east side of the Everfree.
Lola gave Twilight a confusing look, "Who?"
"I'll explain later."
=====
Meanwhile Rainbow Dash and Applejack were putting cleaning supplies away. Before Rainbow could leave Applejack closed the closet door.
"Rainbow?" Applejack asked, giving Rainbow a stern look.
Rainbow was confused as to what Applejack was doing. "Yeah AJ what is it?"
Applejack continued to stare down Rainbow, "During breakfast...what happened back there?"
Rainbow's face became stiff, "What do you mean?"
"You know what Ah mean, your accusations against Lola!" Said Applejack as she slammed her hoof into the wooden floor.
"I was just being over protective." Rainbow rolled her eyes and looked towards the wall.
Applejack wasn't going to drop the matter, "Oh your not getting off that easy. Ah saw the look on your face and it wasn't the look of some pony being protective... But a look of pure hatred!"
Rainbow shoved her face against Applejack's, "What are you getting at?"
Applejack raised voice, "Ah think you wanted to just get rid of Lola! You were treating her like a monster and that she had to be destroyed!"
"SO!!" Yelled Rainbow, which caught Applejack off guard. She's never seen Rainbow Dash so enraged before, "WHAT IF I DON'T WANT THAT... THAT THING BEING AROUND YOU GUYS!!!! THAT THING IS DANGEROUS AND WILL TRY TO KILL US WHENEVER IT GETS A CHANCE!!!!"
With that Rainbow flew straight through the closet door and left the library. The rest of the group looked over to the destroyed door. As Applejack walked through the pony sized hole Celestial was the first one to regain her composure.
"Applejack what was that all about?"
Applejack looked at the group with sadness and shook her head, "Rainbow is determined to believe that Lola is evil and is going to hurt every pony."
Lola the Triffid and The Case of The Joy Taker
"Only thing we have to fear is fear itself!" - FDR
One week later…
Filthy Rich’s Mansion…
Poker Room…
“So,” the unicorn guard said, shuffling the deck with his magic, “Is this your first night in the new and improved Ponyville? We don’t get many griffins working as guards in here.”
His new colleague shrugged, swirling a finger around on the poker table as she waited for him to deal. “Yeah. I heard there was some sweet stuff goin’ on, so I decided to get some work here.”
He smiled, and began dealing. “Well, I hope it’s met your expectations. Are you going to Miss Pie’s welcoming party? I hear all the royals are going to be there.”
“Pff. Don’t make me laugh.” The griffin smirked at him. “All the royals that are coming are either stuck up snobs or some sorta beatnik dweebs. And I’ve got better things to do than sit through some lame party.”
“Oh.” The stallion frowned. “Well I hope your experience at the Filthy Rich Mansion will be more enjoyable.” He placed the final card in front of him, and glanced at his hand. A four of clovers and a Nightmare Moon of hearts. No, he reminded himself, it’s a Luna of hearts now. The cards looked much too similar. Either way it wasn’t a promising hand, but he kept his expression neutral, and turned to the table’s third occupant.
“So, Miss Mayor,” he said, “it’s been a long time since you’ve stopped by. Need to replenish the town coffers again?” He grinned, and the mare laughed.
"Oh please, Iron Shield, give me some credit,” she chided, “I’ve just had a meeting with Queen Chrysalis, and I thought I’d have some fun tonight.”
He chuckled. “I hope you enjoy yourself then. And are you going to the party?”
“Of course!” she said, “I always go to Pinkie’s parties!”
“Hey, lamebrains!” the griffin cried, snapping her fingers at the two, “I came to play poker, not babble about my day.” The Mayor rolled her eyes, but then looked down at her cards. She adjusted her glasses with a hoof.
“Sorry, Miss Gilda. I’ll get right on with it,” Iron said, “I like a social table, you see.”
“Whatever. Just bid.” The griffin sighed, rubbing her eyes with a claw and grumbling to herself as she threw her bits into the pot.
The round continued in relative silence, and Iron grew worried. He liked talking to his fellow guards, it kept his job interesting. It also kept people friendly. Otherwise the players tended to get edgy as the game went on and more bits were lost, and the last thing he wanted was a disgruntled griffin lashing out at him. He scanned the room, looking for another guard he could call over to help spark up a conversation. He recognized a few faces at the other table, but none that he knew liked to gamble.
The griffin won the first hand with a pair of princes, and Iron dealt out more cards. During the next round, he tried to strike up conversation with the griffin, but she shrugged him off and continued to frown at her cards and the pot. He glanced at The Mayor and she rolled her eyes again, tossing a few bits into the pot. Then an idea struck him.
“Oh, Miss Mayor,” he said, “I heard you finally broke your losing streak at last year’s Winter Wrap Up since the town's growth, Congratulations!"
“Thank you, Iron,” she replied, “but it was Twilight Sparkle who managed to snap everypony into shape... again.”
“Twilight Sparkle? She’s the newest Princess, right?” He tapped a hoof against his chin, and levitated more bits into the table’s center. “I’ve been hearing a lot about her recently.”
“Oh yes..." The Mayor groaned. “It seems like almost every week she and her friends are creating some new sort of calamity for us to deal with.” She sighed. “I even had to give Rainbow Dash her own property-damage tax.”
“Huh?” The griffin perked up at the mention of the pegasus, “She’s got her own tax now?”
“Oh, uh, yes.” The Mayor turned to the griffin. “It’s quite frustrating, actually. You’d think that a Pegasus of her stature would have mastered basic landing techniques, but she still crashes through rooftops and windows all the time. Our construction workers can barely get anything new built because they’re so busy fixing all the things she’s broken!” The older mare threw down more bits, hardly paying attention to the game.
The griffin smiled. “Oh man, that gal hasn’t changed a bit since flight camp. I remember this one time, we were playing dodgeball in gym, and she bucks one so hard that it goes flying through about seventy clouds-worth of wall and hits one of the factory rainbow-makers just right so that it blows and goes flying halfway to noponies land. Ha!” She laughed, slapping her hand against the table. “It took her two weeks to clean all the rainbow bits outta the sky. And they never did find out what happened to that rainbow-maker...”
By now The Mayor was laughing too, and Iron had become so focused on the tale that he hadn’t noticed the changeling who had trotted up to the table. The new arrival coughed politely, and flashed Iron a smile as he took notice.
“Ah, good afternoon Mimic.” Iron said. “Would you like to buy in?”
“Indeed I would,” he replied, taking up a seat next to the griffin. Her smile dropped, and she scooted as far away from him as she could without looking suspicious. Iron dealt him some cards as an exotic-looking maid slid up to Mimic’s side, holding a plate full of drinks in her mouth. The changeling levitated them off the platter, and set them down in front of each player. The slim mare then stepped back into the previous room, reappearing a moment later without the plate, and draped herself over Mimic’s flank.
“I don’t mean to be presumptuous,” the changeling said, “but I brought a round for the table. I hope you all like sarsaparilla.” He grinned, and examined his cards. “Now, what do we have here...”
“Hrm.” The griffin took a sip from her glass. “Not too bad... I guess.” She stopped glaring at the changeling, but kept herself slightly closer to The Mayor.
“Thank you very much, Sir.” Iron said, raising his glass in salute before taking a drink. He turned to the mare. “And should I also deal in you, Miss?” He still didn’t know the name of Mimic’s companion, though he had played them dozens of times since he joined the mansions security.
“No thank you,” the mare replied, batting a lock of hair from her eyes as she posed for paparazzi that weren’t there. “I’m not in the mood tonight.”
“Very well,” Iron said, “Let’s continue, then.”
The next round played out quietly. The griffin couldn't stop glancing at the maid on Mimic’s flank. She posed there, head held in hooves, seeming content to gaze at the dead ceiling fans for the rest of the night. Finally, after The Mayor whooped in triumph and raked in a pile of bits, the white mare tilted her head to the griffin and spoke.
“By the by, this Rainbow Dash you were discussing earlier wouldn’t happen to be acquainted with a Miss Rarity, would she?” she asked, “I believe I’ve heard of her before, but I cannot seem to place from where.”
“Oh, uh, I wouldn’t know,” the griffin said, clutching her cards up to her chest, “I don’t know much about her friends.”
“You don’t keep in contact?” The mare leaned in closer.
“No. We don’t. What’s it to you, anyway?” the griffin snapped.
“Oh.” The mare raised her eyebrows in understanding, and relaxed back into her original pose. “What a shame...”
The griffin grunted in reply, and then turned back to the game. Iron had been watching the exchange, and when she noticed she glared at him. He quickly looked away and dealt the last card. It was a ten of hearts.
"Well drat, there goes my straight," Mimic said before folding. The Mayor and the griffin both stayed in. The latter won the pot.
"Heh heh," she cackled, "All mine!" The Mayor rolled her eyes.
Just then, the lights in the room started to flicker and the group looked around in confusion. An irritated Iron shield got out of his table.
"This has been happening every night for the past two days!" he shouted, "I'm going to check the generator to see if there's a wire loose."
Mimic got out of his seat, "I'll join you."
"No, you continue the game I'll be back in a little bit."
Mimic sat back down, "If you say so sir, just one thing."
"What?" asked Iron Shield.
"Just be careful, this whole thing doesn't feel right."
Iron Shield sighed, "If it makes you feel any better if I am not back in ten minutes you can come and find me."
The changeling nodded in reply as Iron Shield left the room. The thing about the Rich mansion was after dark, the halls were a place you didn't want to be found in. They were the only parts of the mansion that didn't have proper lighting, and the light available was flickering on and off. By the time Iron Shield reached the generator room the lights had gone out completely. Using his horn to light up his way he noticed something unusual, the door to the next room had been blasted open.
"Look what you've gotten yourself into, your alone in a dark hallway that has a possible intruder, if the intruder still here." whispered Iron Shield. he then saw a shadow moving behind him and quickly turned around.
"HALT!" Iron Shield roared, the intruder could be described as a tall, possible biped creature wearing a blue and brown fedora with a brown and green trench coat that was so long that it touch the ground, covering the creatures body, and blue mittens, "You're trespassing on the property of Mr. Rich, turn around and come with me or this could get ugly."
The figure, knowing it had been caught turned around, that's when Iron Shield got the only facial feature that could be made out from under the fedora, its eyes, small and green, they seemed to be similar to the eyes of a pony.
"It seems you have me at a disadvantage sir, I didn't expect anypony to get here so quickly." replied the figure, its voice seemed to have a mind of its own as it constantly crack between low, deep voice to a high pitched female voice.
"Well, you shouldn't underestimate the security here... now put your arms over your head and come with me, you'll take the lead." sneered Iron Shield. The figure did as told and they started there way to the mansion's private jail.
"Oh," replied the figure in a mocking tone, "It's not that that I underestimated the security, Iron Shield."
Iron Shield stopped in his tracks, "What do you know about me!"
The figure cackled and turned to face the unicorn, "I know a lot about you Mr. Shield, your thirty-four years old, you have a wife and two daughters. Your wife is twenty-nine years old and her name is Cherry Blossom. Your oldest daughter's name is Gleaming Shield and your younger daughter's name is Silver Crop, ages four and three respectfully. You originally trained to be a part of the royal guard, but a muscle defect in your front, right leg has left you unable to perform your duties. So now your just a pitiful security guard for a family that doesn't deserve the happiness it has."
"How do you know all this?" Asked the interested unicorn.
"Well the answer is simple," the figure leaned forward and slowly pulled a dagger out of its sleeve, the darkness hiding it from Iron Shield's view, "I'm The Joy Taker."
=====
"Iron Shield! Iron Shield!"
"Enough! Yelling out his name isn't going to help us," snapped the irritated griffin, "Also, why is she with us?" Pointing her talon at Mare Mayor.
"Because Iron Shield is my friend and I want to make sure he's alright." Mare mayor replied.
"I wish the power was on," Mimic stated, "It would make this job much easier."
Just then the lights flickered back to life, the group would have been relieved if for not the trail of blood on the floor. Not only that but everything in the hall was destroyed, paintings, vases, even the walls had holes in them.
"Iron Shield!" screamed Mare Mayor and she ran forth, following the trail of blood down the hall.
Mimic turned to face Gilda, his face completely without emotion while Gilda 's was full of fear, "Gilda, I need you to head back and alert the rest if the guards!"
"Y-yes sir!" With that Gilda flew off to alert the others.
Mimic slowly turned and followed the trail of blood to the generator room, were he found Mare Mayor rapping a rag around Iron Shield's left thigh.
"How is he?" Mimic asked.
The Mayor looked up with tears , "He's alive, but barely. I managed to stop the bleeding, but he needs to get to a hospital."
"I sent Gilda to alert the other guards. Whoever did this isn't going to get away with this." he walked over and helped Mare Mayor up from the ground.
"But why?" she whispered.
"I don't know, maybe he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I should of gone with him." Mimic replied.
The Mayor looked into Mimics eyes, "It's not your fault."
He shook his head, "Then why do I feel so guilty."
"Mimic!"
Both turned around to see a unicorn guard at the entrance, "Yes, what's the situation?"
"It seems the intruder has been gone for awhile now, we found that the eastern wall has been demolished." the guard replied, walking into the room looking around.
Mimic threw his hoof into the wall "Damn!"
"There's more sir. We've looked everywhere to and have found that the Rich family has been unharmed and nothing has been stolen, but..." the guard's posture faltered just thinking about what he was about to say next.
Mimic turned around, "But what?"
"Well even though nothing was stolen, everything instead had been destroyed."
Mimic gave the guard a look of disbelief, "What do you mean, destroyed?"
"That's just it sir," the guard looked over at Iron Shield and pointed towards the non-existent door, "Just like this hallway has been ruined, every other part of the mansion is in the same condition."
Mare Mayor moved over to the generator and asked, "What about the vault?"
The guard turned his head toward Mare Mayor, "Now that's another thing, the vault has been ripped wide open, but everything in it hasn't been touched."
Mimic walked into the hallway, looking at the destruction once again. "Take Iron Shield to the hospital, Mare Mayor I want you to contact Princess Twilight and her friends about this, I having a feeling this is only the beginning of something big."
