Hi there again, readers! I'm not entirely sure why, but the writing bug has yet to leave me, at least for this story. So I am still very excited to bring to you another chapter of Found! I would like to give a special shoutout to WastedTimeEE not only for giving me permission to write this story in their AU and use their characters, but also for answering my many many questions. And of course, I'd like to thank the wonderful Trismegistus Shandy, for their proofreading! Without any further ado, here's chapter 12 of Found!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Found (Chapter 12)

 

by

 

Elite Shade

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Yay!" Lily cheered as she hurried down the stairs, carrying Princess Callibrie in her paws. The little lizard chirped, seeming as excited as the mystery mammal.

"Woah," Vernon said at the foot of the stairs, quickly scooping up his youngest pup into his arms. "Careful there, Darlin'," he said to Lily, "runnin' down the stairs like that is a great way to fall and bump yer head."

"Oh, sorry, Daddy!" Lily said, bouncing herself in the large wolf's arms. "I'm just so excited that we're really gunna go see the OMO movie Camaraderie is Enchantment!"

Vernon silenced a groan he almost instinctively let out. Since a meeting between Dawn and her publisher had recently been bumped up, Vernon found himself to be the parent responsible for taking the girls to go see the new Our Mini Ostrich movie. Trevor, who hadn't been that enthusiastic to see it either, had come down with a cold. And since Dawn's meeting was going to be via webcam, that meant she could stay home with Trevor, and Trevor's ticket could go to Broomie, who, unlike Vernon, actually liked the series. So in the end, it all worked out perfectly... except for Vernon. Not that he minded getting to spend time with his pups. And seeing how excited Lily was, any dread quickly abated.

"I know, sweetpea, I know. But we got us plenty of time. Also, we can't go takin' yer little lizard into the theater with us."

"Awwww," Lily said in disappointment, "but Allie's bringing Princess Floppington with her!" Lily pointed to her older sister, who was sitting on the couch, her backpack slung over her shoulder.

"Nu-uh!" the little black wolf pup said, defensively, shifting the backpack out of sight.

"Lily, Princess Callibrie's notta stuffed animal. She's a pet, and it's against the rules of the theater," Vernon gently explained. Lily looked guiltily down into her paws, where the lizard was looking back up at her with its yellow reptilian eyes.

"I'm sorry, Princess Callibrie," she said, before leaning down and kissing the lizard's forehead. Princess Callibrie chirped in response, just as Lily was hugged by her father, and set down. She saw Dawn coming down, having been up in Trevor's room checking on him, and walked up to her mother.

"Mommy, will you look after Princess Callibrie while I'm not home?" Lily asked, almost at eye level with the diminutive ewe.

"Of course, Lily," Dawn said, opening her hooves to accept the small reptile. Princess Callibrie chirped twice, before scampering up the now surprised Dawn's arms and once more climbing up to bury herself in the sheep's head floof. "I don't know why she likes it in there." As Dawn said this, she heard a snort and looked over to her mate who was trying not to laugh at the sight as the lizard poked her head out from the top to chirp again.

"That's never not gunna be funny, Darlin'," he said, his tail wagging.

Dawn rolled her eyes before smirking. "Oh, Puppy, you and the girls should get a move on. You don't want to be late for your movie." Vernon's tail slowed upon hearing that.

"YAAAAY!" Lily cheered, once again, running up and grabbing Vernon's paw, and started to tug him towards the door. Dawn and Vern both shared a chuckle at that and shared a quick kiss before Vernon picked both Lily and Alice up and carried them out the front door. Dawn sighed as she watched her mate out the window, loading first Alice, and then Lily, into their seats. It was at that moment that certain reptilian face appeared in her field of vision upside down. Princess Callibrie chirped twice.

"Let's get you some lunch, Princess Callibrie," Dawn said with a giggle, reaching up to pluck the reptile from her floof, and carry her into the kitchen where her feeding dish was located.

 

Meanwhile, Back in the Northern Meadowlands...

 

"Okay, so it's definitely intelligent enough to successfully evade pursuit," Ulric said while scribbling notes down feverishly, in his notebook.
"Ully, you crashed the drone into a tree," Honey replied as she looked over the aforementioned drone, which she'd opened up, and worked on fixing a damaged propeller.

"Only because the creature tricked me! Maybe it even used telekinesis on the drone!" Ulric said.

"Ully, that's the third time you've crashed the drone today. I think that maybe from now on, I should be the one to pilot it," Honey said tenderly as she finished with the propeller, and began to reassemble the disassembled pieces.

"B-but I'm so close!"

"Ully, yes you were, but again, tree."

Ulric huffed and pouted before letting out a breath. "Fine... I can at least keep monitoring all the camera feeds! And also, we can't forget the map!" Ulric ran over to the assembled cork-board within their large command-center tent. Underneath the camouflaged canvas was a map tacked onto the board of the surrounding wooded area. On this map were several lines and X's, representing traced paths and campsites uncovered by their investigation.

"And that's another X for quadrant 3. Yes... there's a pattern here."

"Yeah, it seems to want to stay close to bodies of water, and I think it's foraging berries and nuts to eat, so we might be able to start ruling out areas for it to start migrating to," Honey chimed in, carrying the drone and setting it down on the charging station.

"Well, yes, but I was more referring to the pattern here on the map!" Ulric said, his excitement rising and his tail becoming a blur. The badger cocked her head to the side as she looked at the map.

"What d'you mean, Ully?"

"Can't you see it?" Ulric asked, before grabbing a blue marker, and started drawing lines connecting the X's. "See? It's an arrow!"

Honey looked on at the "arrow" which was a bit more curvy in order to incorporate all the X's. It was pointing to the southwest. "I guess that can be called an arrow... but I'm not sure what you're getting at..."

"Look where the arrow is pointing directly to! My old high school! Clearly, this creature is trying to learn as much about me as possible before it comes for me directly!"

"Uh... Ully, isn't your old high school more to the east? If you follow the direction your arrow is pointing, it's pointing to that old partially burnt-down barn..."

"You see how the arrow is curving? Clearly, it's intending to go in an easterly direction! Yup, it's definitely gunna be going to my old stomping grounds!"

"Or maybe it's going to try and make shelter in the old barn there..."

"... Maybe... maybe you're right! It must be getting ready to make a nest in the old barn, and THEN once its laid its eggs, it'll make its way to the high school! We need to call my Pa and get him to organize a district-wide evacuation!"

"..."

 

Back in Savannah Central...

 

"I can't believe you just did that," Vernon said with a quiet growl to the slightly rotund ram standing next to him in the theater, who was busy balancing his medium-sized mammal large tub of popcorn and soda. Vernon made sure it was quiet enough for the girls to not hear.

"What?" Broomie asked, sounding genuinely confused.

"You told those parents that were were a couple!"

"I did not," Broomie said, laid back as usual for him, "I just didn't deny it."

Vernon clapped his paw to his face with his free paw and his other one was currently holding his own popcorn. "And why was that?"

"Because being a single adult mammal goin' to see one of these movies nets you a lot of stares. So when it became clear that they thought we were mates and that these are our adopted kids, I ran with it. And here I thought that you would be more accepting, Vern."

"Oh, don't y'all try that on me!"

Broomie simply shrugged at that. "Fine, I figured it was worth a try."

"I would imagine that you Birdiebros would be used to that kinda thing by now," Vernon said.

"Hey, I already told you that we're no longer calling ourselves that," Broomie said, looking mildly annoyed before smiling as he and Vern herded Alice and Lily, the former resolutely holding her little sister's paw to keep her from wandering off, through the door marked with a large neon 6.

After climbing the steps to the highest row of seats, Vernon held Lily and Alice's own snacks while they got settled into their seats together. Vernon noticed that, despite her claims she was only agreeing to see the movie to make Lily happy, Alice's tail was starting to wag quite a bit as she got settled in and looked out towards the screen. He then saw that her backpack was parly unzipped and one of the grey ears of her stuffed bunny was poking out. He chuckled as he took a seat on Alice's left, while Broomie took a seat on Lily's right. The seats slowly started to fill up as families trickled in. They didn't have to wait long for the previews to start.

 

Back at Home, Some Time Later...

 

"So really, it's a fantasy/sci-fi epic saga, and not really a continuation of my and my family's biographical life," Dawn said to her publisher while sitting in the study, her laptop open on the desk before her, showing the face of a female jackal.

"Hmm," Nancy said, seeming to be thinking it over, "well, you wouldn't be the first author to break away from their debut genre... yes... I could make this work! Even though it's been a while, your controversial first book is still generating a LOT of hype. I'm sure we could play off of that to promote your new project!"

"O-oh, well, I'm glad that you like my idea!" Dawn said with a smile, feeling excited, especially since she had already written the first three chapters.

"That I do, Dawn, that I do. Now, I've got some calls to start making. And I'll send you an email asking about the book's progress!" With that, Nancy ended their call, and Dawn let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She closed the laptop, and exited the room. She headed upstairs to check on Trevor, who had been napping for quite a bit. She passed by Lily's open door, smiling at the tiny Princess Callibrie, whom she could see was asleep on her little bed, all curled up. Dawn carefully opened her son's door, not wanting to wake him up if he was still asleep. She was pleasantly surprised to find him sitting up in bed, reading.

"Hey there, sweetheart," Dawn said as she entered, prompting the small black ram to look up at his mother. While clearly not yet 100%, he was definitely looking better than he had been, at least he did to Dawn. "Feeling any better?"

"I think so, Mommy," Trevor said, before setting his book down and reaching over to the tissue box to blow his nose. He still sounded stuffy.

"That's good," Dawn said, taking a seat on the side of his bed and reaching over with a hoof to feel his forehead. "Hmm, well you're still pretty warm, but that's to be expected. Feel ready for something easy to eat? I can whip you up a batch of Forb Noodle Soup, just like your grandma used to make for me when I was a lamb."

"Okay, that sounds good, Mommy," Trevor said, quickly covering his muzzle with his paws as he coughed.

"Alright, it'll be coming right up," Dawn said, leaning forward to kiss Trevor on his forehead, not at all afraid of the potential risk of infection, before hopping down to make her little ram some soup. It was as she was nearing the bottom of the stairs that the front door opened. In ran Lily along with Alice, who seemed to remember herself, and tried to play it off being nonchalant. Vernon came in afterwards, closing the front door behind him.

"Well hi there, you three, how was the movie?"

"It was super fun, Mommy!" Lily said while giggling.

"Yeah, I guess it was okay, as far as movies go," Alice said, her tail once more betraying her true feelings.

"Well, I'm glad that you both had fun," Dawn said, smirking and looking up at her mate. "And I heard that you and Broomie made quite the cute couple," Dawn added, with her own giggle.

Vernon frowned, "Not helping, Honey Lamb. Also, how'd you hear about that?"

"Oh, Broomie updated his Muzzlebook page a little while ago," Dawn explained, giggling while Vernon rolled his eyes.

"'Course he did," Vernon muttered while Dawn and the girls all started to share a giggle, which of course made his own tail begin to wag.

"Anyway," Vernon said, walking up to stand next to his daughters, "I'm willin' to admit that it was better written that what I was expectin'."

"Daddy said that Feathershy was his favorite!" Lily said with glee.

"And there's the ice cream deal broken... you promised to keep that a secret," Vernon said, wagging a finger before he noticed a smirk once more on Dawn's muzzle.

"Feathershy, huh?" Dawn asked.

"She kinda reminded me of you, Lamb Chop," Vernon said, he and his mate sharing a chuckle, until he noticed a tugging on his pants leg. He looked down to see Lily looking up at him.

"I'm sorry, Daddy, I forgot I promised to keep that a secret," she said, looking up at Vernon with wide, sad-like eyes. Much like her sister, Lily was an expert at utilizing the "puppy-eyes" look. After two seconds, Vernon let out a breath.

"Alright... alright... ice cream... But no toppin's," he said before being subjected to another two seconds of the puppy-eyes.

"... Alright... fine... two toppin's, and that's it," Vernon said, crossing his arms. Lily giggled and hugged his leg.

"Thank you Daddy!" Lily said, before she hurried up the stairs to go get Princess Callibrie and to check on her brother, Alice quickly following behind, still lugging her backpack.

"You are such a puppy," Dawn said, her hooves on her hips as she looked up at her mate.

"I dare y'all to look at them eyes and tell 'em no ice cream," was Vernon's reply to that prior to leaning down to share a kiss with his mate.

"Mommy! Daddy!" Lily called in a panic as she rushed downstairs, Alice right behind her, looking concerned yet trying to remain stoic, and Trevor too, still blowing his nose.

"What is it, sweetie?" Dawn asked, wondering what could be troubling her lambs.

"We can't find Princess Callibrie!" Lily said, now a little panicked. Just then, there was a chirp, before the reptile in question poked her head up from within Dawn's head floof.

"Now when did you get up there I wonder?" Dawn asked, getting a chirp in response, while Vernon clutched his sides as he started to howl with laughter, thankfully not with a literal howl. The kids of course joined in, along with Dawn herself.

 

 

 

 

 

 

And there you have it, readers! I hope that you enjoyed the new chapter. Please feel free to leave a review!