E. Aster Bunnymund in:
The Easter Egg Enigma
A new dawn came in the Warren. The sun crystals in the roof of the cavern started glowing brighter as the sun rose over the Australian plains above it. E. Aster Bunnymund let out a big yawn and stretched his arms. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and stood on his hind legs, scanning his surroundings. The Warren was still half asleep. It was peaceful. Too peaceful actually.
The Pooka's ears twitched, trying to pick up the sound that should have been present. But it wasn't. Not today. The lack of tripping little feet worried Bunnymund and for good reason. He hurried over to the nests, only to find them empty.
This was terrible! A disaster! All the eggs were gone! And just 2 days before easter! Who could have done this?! "Ok Calm down mate. There's gotta be a clue here somewhere," Bunny told himself. He hopped around the entire Warren, but there was not a trace of his eggs. Not even a cracked shell. Now he was really getting worried. This was the work of a professional. But who could possibly pull off such a heist? He didn't know. But there were only two people he considered capable of something like this.
He stomped twice, and jumped down a tunnel. It wasn't even a minute until he reached a dark metal door. He slammed his fists against it. The banging resonated deep into the cavern behind it. "Pitch!" Bunny shouted. "I know you're in there! Come out and face me like a man! Give 'em back you drongo!"
The door swung open. Pitch was standing on the other side. His hair was a mess, he had bags under his eyes and in his hand was mug of coffee. Black of course. "What in the blazes do you want at this time?" he asked, his voice cold as the north wind. The Guardians were his mortal enemies, and the Easter Bunny was the most annoying one in his opinion.
"My eggs mate! That's what I'm want! So give 'em back!" Pitch simply raised an eyebrow. "Your what?" "My eggs! You took 'em didn't you?!" Bunny shook an angry paw at the Boogeyman. Pitch sipped from his coffee. "It's too early for this nonsense," he said. "As much as I enjoy an egg with my breakfast, I don't have yours. I've been up all night making plans." "Plans for what?" "Uhm... redecorating. Yeah, it gets old after a few centuries. I was thinking maybe I'd add some cages from the ceiling or something."
Bunny gave him a weird look. "What?" "Nuthin' Just wouldn't pick you as the decorating type," Bunny responded. Pitch sighed. "Look, I'm no idiot. If I wanted to steal your stupid eggs, I would at least wait until I'm strong enough to take on a Guardian." The words rolled of his tongue with disdain. "Try again in 168 years or so."
Bunny though about what Pitch said. It was true, he had nowhere near enough strength to stand up against the Guardians. Besides, this wasn't Pitch's style. If it had been Pitch, he would have destroyed the eggs on the spot. Then again, maybe he had taken them somewhere else first to draw suspicion away from himself. "You sure you don't have 'em?" Bunny asked one more time.
"Oh go suck on an egg rabbit," Pitch said and slammed the door. He was too tired for hard-headed rodents. He took another sip from his coffee. "Needs sugar," he mumbled and went to get some. Cages dangling from the ceiling? He liked the thought of that.
Bunnymund sat down and scratched behind his ear with his hind leg. Pitch didn't look like he had been lying. And it wasn't his style. This didn't seem like some elaborate master plan, no it looked more of a prank. As far as pranks could go, this was definitely one of the worst. But that didn't mean he wasn't capable of it. That white-haired hoon never thought about anyone but himself. How did he even get in the Warren anyway?
He jumped out of the tunnel and a gust of cold wind made his whiskers curl. Yep. Jack Frost was here all right. For some reason he always came back to loiter in Burgess. He hopped around looking for the boy and soon found him caught up in a snowball fight.
"Oy! Frostbite! Get yer butt over here!" "Bunnymund?!" Jack was surprised to see the Pooka out of his hole so soon before Easter. He didn't look to happy either. Jack flew away, Bunny right behind him. The old grouch was fast! Jack had to fly higher to stay out of his reach.
When he came to the lake outside Burgess, it looked like he had managed to shake the furry fella off. He turned around laughing but bumped into Bunny instead. "Wow! You're fast," he grinned. Bunny grabbed his shoulders before he could fly off again. "Alright mate, spill it. Where are my eggs?" "Your eggs?" the boy asked. "Wait, you mean you lost your own eggs?!" Jack snorted. "You see me laughing frostbite?" Bunny asked coldly. "Now that you mention it, no. Not ever. You're the grouchiest furball I ever saw!" Jack joked.
"This ain't a joke! Give them back!" Bunny's tone grew threatening. He was angry enough already without the winter spirit making fun of him. "Hey chill rabbitlegs, I don't have your eggs. But thanks for letting me know. This totally made my day. I mean, the Easter Bunny can't find his eggs? That's hilarious! Hey! You could ask some kids to help you, maybe they can find 'em." Jack kept laughing, which made Bunny even angrier. But he wasn't lying though. The boy was a prankster, but he didn't have the pokerface to lie like that. He let him go and disappeared into another tunnel.
Jack's laughing subsided when Bunny had left. He actually felt a little sorry for the guy. But he shouldn't have interrupted him in the middle of a snow day. Besides, with a little luck, things should work out just fine. And luck shouldn't be any problem for a guy with four rabbit feet now should it? Unless he wasn't a rabbit. But if he wasn't a rabbit, then what was he, a kangaroo? Oh that was a good one! Jack would have to remember it.
Bunnymund was out of suspects and out of options. He hated to loose face in front of his fellow Guardians, but they were the only ones that could help him now.
The ground opened and he hopped out of his tunnel, right by the Tooth Palace. He hopped up the stone staircase. Seriously, why did Tooth have to have her castle so high up? He finally reached the gates, which swung open, as they would for any Guardian. "Tooth! Are you there?!" He shouted. "Ah Bunny old friend! Good to see you." "North? What are you doing here?" Bunny asked incredulously. "I – uhm was just visiting Tooth, yes. It's been long time and I had spare moment so I think why not visit my fellow Guardians? Sandy is here too," North said, gesturing towards the little golden man. Sandman waved hello. "Hello mate. Well, I'm sorry to interrupt your little reunion, but I need to ask Toothiana a question. It's rather urgent."
"What did you want to ask me?" Toothiana fluttered down. "Tooth! Boy am I glad to see you. Listen, your little fairies fly all over the world like 24/7 right?" "Yeah, collecting teeth is a full-time business." "Alright, and you have a mental link with every one of them don't you?" "Yes." "So, did any of your fairies see anything uhm... unusual?" "How do you mean unusual?" Tooth asked. "My eggs are missing. Every last one of 'em! If I don't find them back fast, it's bye-bye Easter and bye-bye Easter Bunny." "Oh my! That sounds serious," Tooth responded. "You sure they're not playing hide-and-seek?" "This isn't funny Tooth! Can you help me or not?" Bunny almost pleaded, he was at the end of his wit. "Well, I would love to, but I'm awfully busy, I don't think I can-" Toothiana paused for a moment when a mini-fairy send her a mental message. "Then again, I think I might be able to help you." She smiled mysteriously, and so did Sandy an North. Bunny raised his eyebrow. "Why are you all smiling at me like that?" he asked. But instead of getting an answer, he was knocked out by Sandy's dreamsand.
When he woke up, he was greeted by his fellow Guardians. "What's the big idea?" Bunny asked. The three just snickered.
"SURPRISE!" They shouted and confetti rained down on Bunnymund. "Wait, what?" he asked. The Guardians stepped aside, revealing a huge banner with 'HAPPY 1500', a bunch of elves, yetis, mini-fairies, and all his eggs, all wearing party hats. "My googies! Oh I've been looking all over for you!" He hopped over to them, and hugged a bunch of his beloved eggs.
"We're really sorry about making you worry, but we had to get you away to prepare all this," Tooth explained. All of what? Bunny looked around and saw that the entire Warren, because that's where the Guardians had taken him, was decorated with balloons, paper chains and lampoons. "But- what's the occasion. "Bunny old friend, you don't mean to tell us you forgot?" North asked. "Forgotten what?" "The 1500th Easter of course! Oh Bunny. Tee-hee, I never thought you would have forgotten," Tooth said. "1500th Easter?" "That's right! 1500 years ago, you became Easter Bunny and shared your hope with the children for the first time. It was the first time ever that children went out and found colorful eggs hidden everywhere." Sandy nodded firmly, illustrating North's words as the bearded man talked.
"So you hid my eggs, to keep me out of the Warren today, so you could organize this party for me?" Bunny summed up. "M-hm" Tooth nodded. Bunny's face grew into a warm smile. He grabbed his friends into a hug. "You guys have a few roos loose on the top paddock, ya know that?" he joked. The others just laughed along.
When Bunny let them go, North whistled on his fingers, summoning four yetis, carrying the largest cake any of them had ever seen. "Music!" North exclaimed.
Let me explain the years first;
After a little research, I found that the first (official) Easter was back in 325, which puts the time-line for this story in 1825 (1500 years later)
Pitch mentions he hasn't regained enough strength to fight the Guardians yet, and tells Bunny to 'try again in 168 years, which would put the time-line for the RotG movie in 1993.
The reason I choose this year is to maintain some constancy with my other fanfic, Dragon Guardian. It takes place 20 years after the movie. So because I want Dragon to Guardian to be happening now (2013), RotG would have to be in 1993 :p
And in the fic, Jamie grew up to write the script for RotG, so logically it wouldn't be finished until several years after it actually happened.
And second, while watching the movie, I got the feeling that (though still in this era) it didn't necessarily happened in 2012. It gave me a more old-school feeling, like it all happened several years ago.
I know, I put way too much detail in stuff like this, but I want everything to match up. XD
Drongo means a dope or stupid person, hoon means hooligan, and 'a roo loose on the top paddock' is a saying to call someone crazy.
But enough of my rambling! Feel free to leave a comment, or some critique. That's what that magic little box is for. ;)
HAPPY EASTER YA LITTLE ANKLEBITERS!