//------------------------------// // Phantom Sticks // Story: The Epic Journey // by JerryTheHouseGhost //------------------------------// "Hey, if you ever get super-bored or something, come visit us," said changeling Twilight. "Okay, we might," said Twilight. "I don't know when we'd ever want to travel this far again, but maybe sometime in the future. It would be informative for me to study your society." "Hey! That rhymed!" said Pinkie. "Well, we better get going to the West," said Twilight. "Um, which way is that again?" "Oh, just follow that road past the library," said changeling Twilight. "There'll be a path into a forest that heads West after you leave Pony- er... Changelingville..." "Don't worry, you can call it Ponyville," said Twilight. "Okay, thanks," said changeling Twilight. "See you all later," said Twilight. "Goodbye everypony!" said Pinkie Pie. The four other ponies said their goodbyes, and so did all of the changelings. Literally all of them, one-by-one. It took some time. Finally, the six ponies began to walk down the road that led past the library. Once they reached the outskirts of Ponyville, they spotted the forest path that changeling Twilight was talking about. They began to head West on the path. "How's everypony doing?" asked Twilight. "I'm doing okay for now," said Rainbow Dash. "For now?" asked Twilight. "Well, yeah. I haven't used my wings in some time, and I'm worried that they might get weak." "You know you could just fly when we're walking, right?" asked Rarity. "Oh yeah," said Rainbow Dash as she lifted off the ground and started to fly over the other ponies. The ponies had been walking for a long time when Twilight decided that they should stop for the day. They found a nice little flat clearing off the right side of the path they were on to set up their tents. Since it wasn't too dark at the time, Applejack and Rainbow Dash decided to go out and look for some sticks to make a camp fire. "I just realized something," said Twilight. "What?" asked Fluttershy. "You know how we've been getting hungry and looking for things to eat?" "Yeah?" "We packed some food in our saddlebags before we left. We could have easily saved time looking for food by just eating what we already had." "Oh! You're right!" said Pinkie Pie. "I almost forgot about all of the things we had in our saddlebags. I have the ingredients for s'mores! We should totally make some with the campfire we're gonna have!" "We should," said Twilight. "And speaking of the campfire, where are Applejack and Rainbow Dash? They've been out searching for a long time now." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thirty Minutes Earlier "Rainbow Dash 'n I are gonna go get some sticks for a campfire," said Applejack. "Okay, but don't be out for too long; it will be dark soon," said Twilight. "Don't worry, Twilight," said Rainbow Dash. "We'll be back in no time." Applejack left the clearing, and Rainbow Dash followed closely behind her. The two ponies started looking for the perfect campfire sticks. Rainbow Dash wanted to just pick up the first sticks they found, but Applejack insisted that they find the perfect sticks for a campfire. She described them as a "lighter-brown" color than the other sticks, and that they were also "as dry as Granny Smith's skin after a hot day." Rainbow Dash decided not to question that one. Rainbow Dash looked over to her left, and saw a nice pile of the sticks Applejack had described. "Hey, Applejack, I just found a lot of those sticks you were talking about." "Well I'll be! I thought they'd be more scattered around. Good find, Rainbow Dash!" "Well, it's not like anypony else wouldn't have seen them. I mean, that's a pretty big pile; it would be hard to miss." "You've got a point there, Rainbow Dash. This is a pretty big pile, almost like somepony made it. I get the feelin' that we might not be alone in this place." "Just pick those up and get back to the others, I don't want to be out here anymore." "What? Are you gettin' scared?" "No! I'm just getting hungry, that's all." "Fine, we might as well take them since they're all here- what the hay?" Applejack had turned to see that the pile of sticks was gone. "Where'd they go?" "I don't know, let's get back to the clearing." Rainbow Dash didn't want to admit this to anypony, but she was legitimately scared at that moment. She hadn't felt this scared since the six friends had their first journey to get the Elements of Harmony, but even then Pinkie Pie had helped everypony out with her song. Rainbow Dash remembered to just laugh at whatever scared you. The only problem was that there was nothing there to laugh at. A pile of sticks had just vanished. Even if there was something to laugh at, it would be a little weird to just randomly start laughing. Rainbow Dash started to wish Pinkie Pie was there. "We ain't goin' back 'till we have those sticks," said Applejack. "We'll just have to find other ones." All of the sudden, the two ponies heard a strange noise just behind them. "Who's there?" yelled Rainbow Dash. Nopony answered, and the noise didn't happen again. The darkness was starting to get thicker. "Okay, we're just going to have to find any stick! It'll take too long to find your so called "perfect" sticks, and we won't be able to find our way back!" "Fine, I guess you're right," agreed Applejack. "I saw some other sticks back there- what the? There's that pile of sticks again!" Rainbow Dash looked where Applejack had just turned to. The pile of sticks was there. "Teleporting sticks?" asked Rainbow Dash. The sticks started to shake. All of the sudden they flew into the air and disappeared into the sky. "Scratch that, flying sticks. I have no idea what's going on. Here, I'll just take these sticks. Now let's head back before those sticks come back." Rainbow Dash looked where Applejack had been, but she was gone. "Applejack!?" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Applejack ran into the clearing. "There's something wrong with this forest!" "Slow down there, Applejack," said Twilight. "What do you mean? And where's Rainbow Dash?" "Rainbow Dash?" Applejack turned around. "I could've sworn she was behind me the whole time!" "We can't just leave her out there! Come on!" said Twilight. Her plan for a rescue mission was cut short when Rainbow Dash flew into the clearing. "Here're the stupid sticks!" she yelled. "Now let's get the hay outta here!"