//------------------------------// // Strange Happenings // Story: A Magical Odyssey // by Yoh_3 //------------------------------// Chapter 4 Strange Happenings Rarity yawned as she watched the darkened entrance to the ancient castle. She'd been woken about ten minutes earlier by Pastel to take her shift. After dinner all of the ponies and half the mages; Shade, Torrent and Arctic had been excluded on account that they needed their rest, had pulled straws to determine who would take what shift. Rarity had been lucky enough to pull the longest and chose the last shift, on account that it and the first shift had the most hours of uninterrupted sleep. While that fact was appreciated, Rarity was still missing that one extra hour of beauty rest. She'd also learned a few thing about guard work. 1. It was dreadfully lonely and boring work. 2. One of the male mages snored quite heavily, although she couldn't tell which. 3. Heavy snoring made it quite easy for one to stay up while doing guard work. As Rarity reflected on these lesson, she heard a slight shuffling coming from the area where the three drained mages rested. She tensed and tried to make herself as unnoticeable as possible. From out of the gloom of the castle's main hall stepped a blue robbed figure, their hood pulled over their head. The figure glanced around, somehow not noticing Rarity's pristine white coat, and proceeded to shuffle out of the castle. Rarity assumed that whoever they were, they must have had a lot on their mind to not notice her. After a second's hesitation, Rarity followed whoever it was out. The Sun was peeking coyly over the horizon, coloring the landscape in a orangeish-red. The figure sat on a small knoll, staring at the rising sun, not moving. The figure had also been kind enough to pull her hood down, and the damp looking hair was an instant give away for Rarity. "You know dear," Rarity said, trotting up to the preoccupied mage, "you really should be resting after what you did yesterday." Torrent shot a quick glance at the Unicorn before returning her eyes to Celestia's handy work. "Rested enough." She muttered, her voice monotone. Rarity settled down next to Torrent to watch the raising sun for a minute. "So, what's on you mind, dear?" Rarity pried. Torrent shrugged. "Stuff, I guess." "You know, if you want to talk, I've been told I'm a fairly good confidant." Rarity said. "I'll keep that in mind, Rarity." Torrent laughed, standing up. She turned and walked back to the castle, with nary a backward glance. As Rarity watched her reenter the ruins, Rarity had the feeling that her help was needed. --- "Everyone get ready to go," Shade's voice echoed through the hall, "I want to make it to the base of the Terra Mountains by nightfall." "Take it easy, Shade," a passing Pastel said, "you know working yourself too hard after that much magic usage could be hazardous, it won't do us much good if we lose a whole day because you ran yourself rampant." Shade just grunted and walked off, to gather his supplies. Pastel watched him go with a touch of concern. "Don't worry." Twilight said, surprising Pastel. Pastel looked at Twilight, who had trotted up to Pastel without her noticing. "Huh?" "I said not to worry," Twilight continued, "I took Shade's, Torrent's, and Arctic's condition into consideration when planning our route, so it's going to pretty easy going, and, by my calculations, we should make it to the base of the mountains right before night fall." "Thanks Twilight." Pastel said, a smile touching her lips. "Don't mention it, I know what it's like to worry about a friend working themselves too hard." Twilight said. "Still, Thanks." Pastel insisted. "Your Welcome," Twilight laughed, "now, if you'll excuse me, I need to perform the navigational spell, and it needs plenty of light to actually see it." Twilight trotted out of the ruins, her horn already starting to glow. Pastel, her worries eased a tad bit, walked to her sleeping area to gather her supplies. She happened to run into Rarity on the way. "Excuse me," Rarity said, walking with Pastel, "there's something I need to ask you about." "What about?" Pastel asked. "Well, it's about Torrent." Rarity continued. Pastel's eyebrows furrowed. "Torrent?" "Yes." Rarity confirmed. She then went on to explain her and Torrent's encounter earlier that morning. "She's still doing that?" Pastel asked once Rarity's story was over. "Excuse me?" Rarity's voice jumped a pitch, "This is a common occurrence?" "It used to be," Pastel explained, "but we thought she stopped. You see, sometimes one of us would find Torrent on the roof of the castle, just watching the sun rise." "And you've all found her watching the sun rise?" "Yep," Pastel said, "well, all of us except for Sparks, but she's a fairly heavy sleeper, in fact, I don't think she's ever not had a good night's sleep." "Has Torrent ever said what was on her mind." Rarity pried. "Not as far as I know. She was always pretty morose when we found her, well, more so then usual. Sorry, but I kinda need to get ready to go." "Oh no," Rarity said quickly, "sorry for holding you up, dear." "No problem." Pastel said, hurrying off. Rarity glanced at Torrent, who was rolling up her sleeping bag. Something was eating at her, and she was going to get to the bottom of it, sooner or later. --- Normally, the sound of the Everfree forest can be summed up as the sound of leaves rustling, the creak of the occasional falling tree, and the growls of strange animals not before seen by Pony or Human kind. However this day introduced a few other sounds to the environment; the tromp of marching feet and hooves, the flapping of a pair of Pegasus wings, and a little tune originating from a certain bubble gum pink pony. "Ooooooh, 1,257 bottles of cider on the wall! 1,257 bottles of cider! Take one down, pass it around! 1,257 bottles of cider on the wall! 1,256 bottles of cider on the wall! 125-" "Remind me, how long has she been singing that?" Cinder asked, cutting a glance back at Pinkie. To his surprise, Pinkie Pie seemed to have disappeared. "About 4 1/2 hours now, why?" Pinkie's voice said from directly in front of Cinder, causing him to whip his head back around in confusion. Indeed she was now in front of him, and walking backwards, so she could face him while she talked to him. "How did you do that?" Cinder asked, checking behind him again just to make sure he wasn't going crazy. "Do what?" Pinkie inquired, continuing her reversed pace. Cinder looked around, seeing if anyone else was as confused as he was. Rainbow Dash, who was flying by, merely shrugged her shoulders and kept flying. "Speaking of the time," Sparks said, shooting a glance at the little sky they could see, "you took rests into considerations when you planned our route, right, Twilight?" "In fact I did." Twilight pulled out her calculations to consult them, "we should actually be due for one soon." "Is there a chance we could ski-?" Shade started. "No." Pastel answered, not waiting for him to finish, much to his annoyance. "Well we should find a safe place to take a break first." Arctic said, glancing about, "I'd rather not present myself on a silver platter for any animal with a taste for Human or Pony meat." "Well, that house over there looks like a good place." Pinkie said, pointing. Every eye instantly followed Pinkie's hoof, and, what do you know, there happened to be a house there. It stood a respectable two stories tall, it's red shingle roof missing a few shingles, the forest hadn't quite over taken the dwelling, but it was giving it's best shot. About twenty feet away was the remains of some other building, the only thing that still stood where two walls and a foundation with a few holes in it. "What is that doing there?" Twilight asked as they approached the anomalous house. "Oh," Applejack said suddenly, "I know what this is. My granny's told me about places like this. Before Princess Celestia gave our family the land for our farm, there were other attempts to set up farms on the edge of the Everfree Forest, but until my granny discovered zap apples, none of them were able to make enough money to run the farm, so they had to abandon them and the forest must have grown around them." "Well," Shade said, "this might be a good place to rest for a little bit, anyone else agree." Everyone in the party nodded their agreement, except for one. "Um, it might not be safe." Fluttershy muttered just loud enough for everyone to hear. Everyone glanced at the shy Pegasus. "Well," Fluttershy said, shying away from the attention, "animals might be using it as a home, and they might not like our company." "Hmmm, you might be right." Cinder said. "Well nothing else to do I guess." Cinder reached into his cloak and when his came out his clutched his wand. With a spark, a fireball appeared at the tip of his wand and he took a step toward the entrance of the house. "Wait!" Fluttershy cried, she suddenly appearing in front of Cinder. "What are you going to do?!" "Well if there's animals in there that aren't going to enjoy our company, I've gotta clear them out." Cinder said, the fireball crackling at the end of his wand. "B-but we can't just barge in and demand they get out, this is their home." Fluttershy stammered, holding her ground. "Well I'd rather not get my face scratched off by a rabid squirrel." Cinder retorted. "Well...," Fluttershy thought for a second, "what if I asked them politely if we could rest here for a little bit." "Hold on," Cinder said, pinching the bridge of his nose, "you can talk to animals?" "Umm, kind of." Fluttershy answered, her cheeks reddening just a tiny bit. "Right, I've gotta see this," Cinder said, extinguishing the flame at the end of his wand, "why don't you guys check the perimeter, while Flutters here and I go make some furry friends." "And if you need help?" Shade asked. "Just listen for a girly scream." Cinder answered. "And what if we hear Fluttershy?" Torrent asked. "Heh-heh-heh," Cinder deadpanned, "it is to laugh. Come on Fluttershy." Cinder pushed past Fluttershy and slowly pushed open the door to the house, the door letting out a low creak as it presumably opened for the first time in many years. "If you guys aren't back in 10 minutes we're coming in after you, alright?" Shade said. "Sound's good to me." Cinder said over his shoulder, before stepping into the house, Fluttershy following a couple of steps behind. The door seemed to swing close much faster, shutting with an audible thump. The two stood in a living room that might have been comfortable in the past but now was only dusty and a tad sad, a shoddily preserved memory of what the house might have been like long ago. In one corner of the room was the remains of what might've been a rocking chair, now only splinters and an armrest that somehow survived what ever had crushed the chair it had been attached to. The rest of the furniture had held out about as well as the rocking chair, either left a molding/rotting mess or having been destroyed long ago. "Alright," Cinder said, looking about at the sad scene, "what exactly are we looking for?" "Um," Fluttershy considered the question, "a cool dark place, some animals like to sleep in those, but some animals also like to sleep in a sun ray..." "So just look around until we find something?" Cinder asked. Fluttershy simply nodded. "Right, so just speak up if you find anything, okay?" Fluttershy just nodded again. So they searched the bottom floor of the house, looking into the remains of cupboards, a few closets, and various other places, not finding anything. Cinder, closing the door to a wardrobe, was beginning to think that maybe, somehow, the animals had decided to avoid settling in the decrepit house, until he heard a loud gasp from Fluttershy in another room. "Found something?" Cinder called. "Oh, yes." Fluttershy called back, glee lining the sound of her voice. Cinder quickly joined her in the room in which she had made her discovery, which happened to be what looked like a master bedroom, that oddly, seemed to have aged a tad more gracefully then the rest of the house. It was still dusty as all get out, but nothing seemed to be to broken, which included a queen sized bed, covered in orange sheets and blankets, a wardrobe, and a vanity pushed against the wall. Fluttershy was peaking under the bed, seemingly trying to hold back a large amount of excitement. "What'd you f-" Cinder started, before being quickly shushed by Fluttershy, who motioned for him to join her. Cinder sighed but walked over, got on all fours and peaked under the bed as well. What he saw was a furry animal that appeared to be about a foot and a half long, with a tail about as long as the rest of the body. It had lemurish looking face, although it had a shorter snout and rounder, tinier ears then the lemurs Cinder was used to. It was currently curled up, fast asleep. "What is it?" Cinder asked, staring at the animal. "It's a Kinkajou!" Fluttershy explained, just barely able to restrain her voice to a whisper in her excitement. "Ooh, I've only ever seen a couple before, but they're so adorable, with their little eyes and the way they use their tail to climb." She looked to be on the verge of squealing in delight. "So have you asked it if we can stay here yet?" Cinder asked. "Oh, no, um one second." Fluttershy cleared her voice before continuing, "Excuse me, Mr.Kinkajou." The kinkajou cracked open one of his eyes, staring at the mage and pony with a hint of irritation, "Sorry for disturbing your sleep, but we we're wondering if you or anypony else would mind us and our friends resting here for a short time." The kinkajou continued staring at the two for a short while longer before yawning, turning it self slightly away from them, and falling asleep again. "So, I assume he doesn't mind." Cinder said, standing up while dusting off his knees and hands. "Nope." Fluttershy confirmed standing up herself, "We should go tell Twilight and the oth-" Fluttershy started, turning to leave, before abruptly stopping, her voice dieing in her throat and her eyes widening to the size of dinner plates. "What?" Cinder asked, turning to see what would have caused such a reaction, it didn't take long for similar symptoms to settle in for Cinder. Because, standing in the doorway was a transparent, hazy form. --- Meanwhile, outside, the rest of the group, after checking the perimeter of the house, were waiting, growing increasingly concerned with each passing minutes. "Eight minutes." Twilight informed the rest of the party. "Two minutes left." Shade finished. They had kept the running count together for the last few minutes, keeping a steady watch on the door. "Okay, I say we just go in now." Rainbow Dash said, stopping her pacing for a second or two. "I promised Cinder 10 minutes." Shade said, although he himself wasn't all that against the plan himself, "Cinder can get kinda sore if he thinks you don't have faith in him, and I'd rather not deal with that." Rainbow was about to continue the argument with Shade when they all clearly heard twin yelps of fright from the house. "Okay, that's it!" Rainbow growled, before busting through the door, it slamming forcefully against the wall. "Fluttershy!" Rainbow's voice echoed through the house as the rest of the party followed close behind. They all herd a weak little whimper that might have been Fluttershy and followed that sound as closely as they could, eventually leading them to the room. As Rainbow came around turned a corner into the room, she leapt back to dodge a fireball about the size of her head, which hit the wall opposite of the room, leaving a small scorch mark. Rainbow peaked into the room, more cautiously now. In the room she found Fluttershy and Cinder backed into a corner, both visibly shaken. Cinder kept his wand pointed at the entrance, although his grip wavered noticeably, despite his attempt to steady his wand with his second hand. "Be careful with that!" Rainbow called into the room, more for their benefit then her own, "Do you always set your friend's heads on fire!?" Cinder lowered his wand, releasing a breath he had been holding. "Solar's Crown, it just you guys." "Yeah, just us." Rainbow said, the group entering the room now that there were less flying fireballs. "So, what was with the pyrotechnics?" Arctic asked, glancing back at the scorch mark. "I'm sorry," Cinder said, "but there was th-this thing it-" "It was awful," Fluttershy uncharacteristically interrupted, "it was hazy, scary, and, and-" "Mist like, undefined and peaking around the doorframe?" Pinkie asked. Everyone stared at Pinkie for a quarter second in amazement. "Yeah, how'd you know?" Cinder said slowly. "Because he's standing right behind us." Pinkie said matter-of-factly. Everyone slowly looked behind them, and peaking around the doorway was the hazy figure. Everyone hurriedly backed away, settling back into the corner they had Cinder and Fluttershy in. Well everyone except Pinkie, who simply stared at the figure, even cocking her head just a tad bit. "Solar's robes what is that?" Pastel whispered, reaching for her wand, mirroring every other mage present in the corner. "I don't know," Twilight whispered back, "I don't know." Pinkie, meanwhile, glanced back at her friends, cowering in the corner, glanced back at the figure, and, to the surprise of everyone, just walked up to it. "Hi!" Pinkie greeted, and, to everyone's continued surprise, a booming laugh echoed through the room. "Hello to you to, my pink equine friend." The voice said, seeming to come from nowhere, and the rest of the figure came around the door frame, and, continuing to dumbfond everyone who wasn't a pink pony, it seemed to be holding a silver tray with a tea pot and 2 tiny cups on it. It held out a hazy appendage to Pinkie. "It's very nice to meet you miss...?" "My name's Pinkie Pie." She answered, taking the appendage and shaking it. "Miss Pinkie Pie, although I've appeared to have frightened your friends, terribly sorry about that folks." "Um, it's... Okay?" Shade said, not quite sure what to say. "No no," the figure said, holding up his appendage, "I must make it up to you." "We kinda need a place to rest for a half hour." Torrent quietly. "It's settled then, I'll lend you my home for a little while, follow me, I'll make tea for the rest of you." He left without another word, with Pinkie close behind. The rest of the group simply looked at each other, a couple of shoulders were shrugged, and they followed them out of the room.