After a week of free time, extra research, and getting-to-know-you’s, the pre-determined date of the search had come. Fluttershy and I went to bed early the night before so I could get some rest, and she made sure that all the other ponies going on the search were well-rested as well. She had her forest friends go around town, seeing to it that they all got in bed at reasonable hours. I thought it would be pretty hard to say no if a bear came through your window and roared at you to go to sleep…
Fluttershy and I had discussed her potentially coming along on the search, even though Twilight and I had agreed only to bring as many ponies as we needed. I had noted that Fluttershy’s new ability to understand me could come in handy. However, aside from possibly revealing that ability, she was hesitant to come with me because she didn’t really want me to start searching so soon in the first place, but we had made a deal— after another full week of rest and relaxation (and fun), she couldn’t really object to the determined day of the search. She also decided that the potential presence of Diamond Dogs would scare her too much, and she would just be in the way if they showed up, so she made her final decision not to come along. I understood her completely, and it was also one less conversation I needed to have with Twilight. I anticipated a very worried Twilight Sparkle if Fluttershy had decided to come.
I walked back to Fluttershy’s shed, which had been Toad’s abode for the past month plus. He had been hard to put a finger on. He had kept to himself the whole time, and he didn’t seem to be very social. The healing process had been slow for Toad, and during that time he seemed rather depressed. On his second day in Ponyville, Toad confided in me that after taking such a beating from Bowser, he realized he wasn’t meant for the kind of work that Mario and I do. He would stay behind in the Mushroom Kingdom from now on and only go out if it was a dire emergency. No more trying to play hero. Based on the droplets that leaked down Toad’s face as he told me this, I determined that the realization must have caused him a lot of internal pain.
Despite this, I was getting worried. Toad was becoming more reclusive than depressed now that he was healed. Every few days or so I had been coming to talk to him, and I was the only one he ever spoke to. He originally wouldn’t even talk to Fluttershy. He knew what had been going on between us, and while he admitted he found it strange, he had taken the same attitude as Angel. One day he even said to me, "I haven't heard the kind of pounding I heard that one night a few weeks ago. What happened? Lost the fire? Need a flower?" I sighed and shook my head at this comment.
I learned from Fluttershy that Toad eventually plucked up enough courage to talk to her— right around the time I decided we’d be spending some extra time in Ponyville. Apparently, the next day (the day that I spent hanging out with Pinkie Pie), Toad took the opportunity to ask Fluttershy for the robe I found him sporting, which she hoof-made in a single day with her ‘freaky knowledge of sewing’, as her friends called it. It looked big for him, which made me even more curious.
Toad and I discussed the upcoming search; he had thought about it quite a lot, and while he would have liked to help out, he finally determined that, like Fluttershy, he would have just been in the way. He said he also had something he wanted to do, which surprised me, but I didn't press the matter. I found it odd that he had been very adamant about keeping his robe on, though. He apologized and wished me luck on the search.
Before I did any searching however, I had a few stops to make. I needed my defender, my detector, my magician, and my translator. It was only 8 o’clock, but I knew who would most certainly be awake already. First stop: Sweet Apple Acres.
After insisting that two disappointed fillies (on two separate occasions) could not join us on the search, I was on the way to the library with Applejack and Rarity when AJ decided to ask, “So Yoshi, I saw y’all bein’ dragged to Fluttershy’s place by the girl herself the other day. What were y’all in such a hurry—” She was cut off by a hoof in the ribs from Rarity, who was shaking her head with a small grin. I sighed with relief and looked at Rarity with a clear ‘thank you’ on my face. Despite the language barrier, the two of us still understood the awkward situation just waiting to happen, and how easily it could be avoided. Even if it meant a sock to the farmer’s gut from the seamstress, we were both okay with that.
Since we really couldn’t converse that much, I listened to Rarity give a quiet lesson on tact to Applejack until we arrived at the big tree that was the Golden Oaks Library. When we got to the entrance, we all smiled at each other and knocked three times simultaneously on the door. Not two seconds went by until Spike swung the door open like a colt awaiting Santa Hooves. That was an analogy Fluttershy said to me referring to Angel once— it hadn’t taken me long to figure out what she had meant by it.
“Twilight! They’re here!” Spike shouted up the stairs.
“Relax, Spike, I heard the door!” I heard Twilight chuckle slightly. We were both clearly thinking the same thing— Spike was waaaay too excited about this.
“Are you guys ready? I am so ready!”
“Well, Ah’m ready if y’all are!”
“I’m all prepared, darlings!”
At that response from Rarity, I was actually a little surprised. “Wait, don’t you need to go over the enhancing spell with Twilight?”
Rarity laughed, “Oh no, darling. We’ve been preparing for some time now. The morning before your big flight with Scootaloo I was here practicing the spell with Twilight. I’m a much faster learner than everypony thinks; I actually mastered the spell so well that I can do it without Twilight’s assistance, so Twilight will be able to focus on the maps and navigate for us without being distracted.”
I was astounded at their dedication, and at the same time honored that they had put so much time and effort into helping me. These emotions became apparent when my eyes started to tear up a bit. “Oh, you are very welcome, darling. We did say we would do all we could to help you, did we not?” I smiled and nodded. Then a thought occurred to me— my magician had become my navigator. It wasn’t overly important, it was just a thought I found slightly amusing.
After all of my pony companions equipped a saddle-bag to carry various items (mainly maps, lights, and sustenance— the other pockets were left empty for the gems we were about to collect) and I was given one of Spike’s spare backpacks for the same purpose, we were ready to head off. Spike was allowed to go empty-handed because he would be our digger as well as my translator. They didn’t know I could do that as well, but Spike wanted a job to do on top of translating.
At 9 o’clock we were on the way to the mines when we passed Fluttershy’s cottage. We weren’t surprised to find Fluttershy standing at the door waiting for us to pass, wearing a look not unlike the one my mother made before my first adventure with Mario.
“Now you be careful up there, do you hear me? If I find out you get hurt again you are going to be in BIG trouble! You four also, PLEASE be careful! I don’t want anypony getting injured during this search, and please try to stay out of the Diamond Dogs’ territory if you can!”
Twilight was the one who decided to speak for the group. “Well, Fluttershy, we can guarantee you that we’ll be careful, but we can’t say the same about anything else. We’ll try our best not to get hurt, but please be ready in case anypony does. We know you’re the best at nursing ponies, and apparently dinosaurs, back to health, even better than Nurse Redheart. Don’t tell her I said that, but we all know that it’s true! Just please don’t get overly worried. If anything happens, we’ve got one of the strongest ponies in Equestria and an extremely powerful dinosaur for defensive purposes!”
I smiled at Fluttershy and she sighed, shaking her head. “Just… please be careful.”
I walked up to her and gave her a hug, which she returned. Then I said, softly enough so that only she could hear and Spike wouldn’t try to translate, “Don’t worry, we’ll be fine. Remember, this tongue isn’t only talented in the bedroom.” Then I gave her a naughty grin.
She smiled and nudged my shoulder with her hoof, then nuzzled me under my chin. While doing so she whispered, “If NOPONY is hurt when you come back, then I might expect you to give me another example of that talented tongue later tonight. But if I need to tend to something other than your leg, then there is going to be trouble, mister!”
“You’ve got another deal on your hooves.” I smiled and walked back to the search party as we continued our trek to the mines.
Spike looked at me with some confusion on his face. “How is she able to understand you so well with just your facial expressions, Yoshi?”
I hesitated for a second, wondering if I should tell him that he wasn’t the only one that could understand me anymore. I decided it was a bad idea to upset him right before we went on our search, so instead I told him, “Remember, we’ve spent a lot of time together, Spike. And also, her cutie mark?”
That seemed to satisfy him. “…I guess that’s true. Well, let’s get on with the search, huh? Ponyville Mines, here we come!” I breathed a sigh of relief. Spike was a lot more observant than I thought. I felt bad lying to him, so I decided that after the search, I would have a talk with Fluttershy about it. Our secret just might end up being revealed sooner than I anticipated…
As we entered the mines around 9:30 (Spike had also been assigned the job of timekeeper), I looked around and saw the glistening of all different shapes, colors, and sizes of gemstones. At first, I thought the search was going to be easy, but then I realized that with all these different kinds of gems around, how would we be able to tell which ones were the Augmentation Stones? I didn’t worry about it too long— I trusted Twilight’s spells and Rarity’s ability to use them.
Twilight turned to us and began to map out a game plan. “Alright, so here’s the deal: first of all, in case you wanted to know the science behind the spell…” At this Spike groaned. “…the basic idea is that it isolates the frequency of the Augmentation Stones from any other type of gem so that we won’t be distracted by any other jewels in the walls. You can see there are a lot of them, and the Augmentation Stones don’t all look the same. This being said, Rarity will be the only one able to actually locate them, so there’s no point in separating. I think that’s a bad idea, anyway. Since Rarity knows the spell well enough that I don’t need to help her, I can focus on the map.
“I believe the best thing to do would be to form a lineup like this: Rarity, you’ll be in front so you can guide us to the gems; Applejack, you’ll be right beside her in case anything tries to attack her; I’ll be behind you two with the map so we don’t go down any dangerous paths, and I’ve marked the Diamond Dogs’ territory so we can try to avoid it; Yoshi, you should stand just behind me, ready to counter in case anything tries to attack us from behind; Spike, you stay next to me— you’ll be close enough to Yoshi to be able to translate, and you’ll be just behind Rarity so you can dig as soon as she locates a gem. Any questions?”
“Sounds like a plan to me, Sugarcube.”
“Sounds like the perfect layout.”
“I’m alright with that. Good thing I’ve got quick reflexes.”
“It’s fine with me, but I know you just want to keep an eye on me…” Spike sounded a little miffed, but he let out a chuckle, as did the rest of us.
This was the first I was hearing about Twilight’s plan to be in formation like this, and I was happy she had thought this far ahead. This might take even less time than I thought. As I stood there smiling, prepared to forge ahead, Rarity began the spell.
“Sorry darlings, this spell will take me a moment to warm up. I may have mastered it, but I’m still nowhere near as good at magic as Twilight. Just hold on to your hooves for a secoooooooooond… HA!” I saw the glow around Rarity’s horn change from pale blue to a fiery red as she kept rigid concentration on the spell. “I have it! Onward!” Then Rarity marched, unwavering, into the depths of the mines, with the remaining four of us in tow.