“How in the hay,” said a little winged orange filly, kicking at some dried twigs, “did that fall apart so fast? We totally had ‘em.” She snapped another stick under a hoof.
“Maybe we just have to rethink this,” mused another filly, this one white and with a delicate horn on her forehead.
“Hmph,” scoffed a third filly, her coat bright green and sporting ultramarine stripes. “Nopony gets away from the Three Terrible Terrors so easy,” she said darkly, casting a contemptuous gaze over the deep ravine.
“Who says they got away?” the white filly said with a smirk. “We just need to come up with a new trap.”
“We could always use the Dogs,” said the green Whinny filly. “You still have a gem in the Bucket, Sparks. We could—”
“No way!” said the white filly accused of being Sparks. “I’m not gonna use my gem just for this, besides, Auntie said we just have to keep her from getting to Ep. I don’t trust the Dogs to do everything I say. They would screw it up, and that would make Auntie mad, and you don’t want to do that. Do yah, Boots?”
“Hm-uh,” the green filly, known as Boots, affirmed.
“There’s gotta be an easier way,” said the orange filly, tapping her chin with a hoof. “Auntie never said we had to make them go back to Punchin Land.”
“Hey, that’s a thing there, Shoots,” interjected Boots, beginning to pace. “We need a better trap, one that just stops them rather than turns them back.”
“Hmm, but what?” mused Sparks, perched atop a rock. “If we tangle them up in vines, the metal one will just cut them loose. If we try to put up a wall, the gryphon would fly them over. If we try to trick them with magic, the White Witch would break the spell.”
“What about the scarecrow?” asked Shoots.
“The scarecrow isn’t important,” said Boots dismissively, “she’s too stupid to figure anything out on her own. If we separate her from the others, she’s just a scarecrow.”
“Alright,” said Sparks with determination, “we need a new trap, something big.”
“Something that doesn’t look like a trap,” interjected Boots.
“Something that isn’t scary so they don’t run away,” added Shoots. “Even if the scary things are more fun.”
“A field of flowers is really big, and most ponies like flowers,” suggested Sparks.
“Hay yeah... I saw a big field of flowers between the edge of the forest and the city!” exclaimed Shoots, fluttering her wings.
“That’s perfect!” declared Boots.
“You girls thinkin’ what I’m thinkin’?” asked Sparks with a mischievous grin.
“You bet,” replied the other two in unison.
The moonshadows shifted and embraced the three fillies as they giggled at their nefarious plans. From one blink to the next, the fillies disappeared, leaving behind their malevolent mirth to echo in the dark.
Rarity awoke, and instantly wished she hadn’t. Her eyes were grainy and her legs were stiff. Without even needing a mirror she knew that her mane was a tangled mess. Twigs and mulch poked at her, making her itch. She worked her mouth and tongue, in a most unladylike fashion, attempting to dispel the feeling of it being stuffed with cotton. Bright sunshine filtered into the hollow from the green canopy, dappling the ground around her and making little starbursts in her weary eyes. She lifted her head, the act taking considerably more effort than usual.
“Mmmm,” she said, stretching, “Opal? Lumberjack? Argie?” A yawn interrupted her feeble roll call. She remembered to lift a hoof to her mouth, if a tad late. “Smartypants? Mmwhat time is it?”
“G’mornin’ there, Rarity,” came the soft tones of Lumberjack’s viola.
“Good morning, Rarity!” Smartypants greeted with a laugh. Opal was attempting to grab onto the scarecrow’s tasseled tail, but Smartypants pulled it out of the cat’s reach just in time, chuckling at the frantic batting of her white paws.
Rarity took a quick survey of the hollow. “Where’s Argie?” She stood, wincing at the cramps in her legs.
“She went to go find breakfast, I think. She’ll be back soon,” Smartypants replied absentmindedly, pulling her tail out of Opal’s reach yet again.
“Are you feeling all right there, sugarcube?” Lumberjack asked, the delicate metal plates of her face folding together.
Rarity smiled at her, azure magic springing up around her horn with only a small ache behind her eyes. “I’m a little sore, dear, but after a quick brush I’ll be right as rain.”
“How does rain go wrong?” Smartypants asked the sky.
“When it goes sideways,” quipped Lumberjack.
“It can do that?” The scarecrow turned her button eyes from the cat. Opal took the opportunity to latch onto the tail that had been eluding her.
“Sure it can, when it gets real bad.”
“Well, I hope I don't ever get to see the weather misbehave,” the scarecrow said fervently.
Rarity chuckled softly at their banter as she got out the last of her food: a hoofsworth of rolled oats, a heel of bread, and a few swallows of red Punchin punch. She decided to eat all of it.
“You sure you want to eat all that right now?” Lumberjack asked.
Rarity held up a hoof while she chewed then dabbed at her mouth with the cloth that had once held the heel of stale bread. “Yes, we have to be at least reasonably close to the city by now. Besides, if I get really hungry, I could always... graze, I suppose. It may not be all that dignified but drastic times and whatnot.” She quickly downed the last of the punch, stowing away the containers of her erstwhile foodstuffs. Her brushes came out of her bags next. She winced preemptively at the coming pulls and snags she was about to experience. With a deep breath and a determined set to her jaw, she set to work reconquering her mane.
She was halfway through the first hundred strokes, and proud that she had not actually shed any tears yet, when the gryphon returned. Argie flew low under the trees, deftly weaving her way around the living pillars.She landed silently on the cusp of the hollow, and gave Rarity a curious look.
The white unicorn paused in her assault on her unruly mane. “Good morning, Argie. Did you have a nice breakfast?”
The gryphon shrugged. “Sure.”
“That’s good.” Rarity continued, wincing at a knot.
Argie extended a wing and started preening out a few feathers.
The silence was not complete; Lumberjack’s springs and gears wurred and dinged, Opal purred at Smartypants’ attention and Rarity gasped and grunted as she endured pulls, knots and snags. Eventually, the fashionista called it good enough and started working on the burrs that were firmly lodged in her coat.
“Why do you do that?” Smartypants abruptly inquired.
“Do what, darling?”
“Brush your mane. It looks like it hurts.”
“Oh, well I want to look my best, don’t I? First impressions mean a lot and I don’t want to ask the Dragon for help looking like I had just been dragged in by the cat.”
“Haha,” giggled the scarecrow “I don’t think Opal can drag you anywhere.”
“You would be surprised,” Rarity replied with a giggle herself.
Argie finished preening and snapped her beak. “We’re near the edge of the forest,” she announced to nopony in particular.
“How far?” Lumberjack asked.
“Maybe a mile. The forest stops about four miles from the city, heh... it seems that even the Marching Forest is scared of Ep.” She tried to say it lightly, but Rarity saw a nervous flutter in her wings.
“Isn’t the land called Ep? How can a forest be afraid of the ground it grows on?” Smartypants asked, oblivious to Opal climbing up her leg.
“Ep is the name of the Dragon too,” Lumberjack explained. “When he saved the ponies from the Ice Queen, they named the land after him, after all, he did save it.”
Rarity quickly packed away her things. Even if she hadn’t gotten all of the burrs out, she would have time before seeing the Dragon. “Well, let’s get going then!” she declared, plucking Opal from Smartypants’ head and putting her in her basket. The feline poked her head out of the little hatch at the top and gave her a baleful glare. Rarity wasn’t perturbed; glaring was how the cat looked at everything.
Argie led the way back to a slightly less broken version of the Yellowbrick road. They walked at a slightly faster pace than the day before, now that the road was more manageable for Smartypants.The dense canopy started to disperse, the trees growing farther apart. Their trunks gradually got thinner and less gnarled and the sunlight enjoyed easier access to the ground. Rarity felt her mood getting lighter with the retreat of the dark forest. Smartypants ambled around the road as per her usual habit, asking about every bit of plant life she saw. Argie didn’t say much at first but Smartypants got her to open up a little when she started asking questions about gryphons that Rarity couldn’t provide answers for.
“No, we don’t make nests like birds...” Argie was explaining to the inquisitive scarecrow, “well, sort of, I mean, we use sticks and things to make a shelter but most of the time we use caves. Caves are safer, easier to defend and they don’t fall apart whenever the wind blows.”
“Oh, so you live in caves like bears?”
“No... well, yes, but it’s not the same ahh...” She screwed up her face, trying to find an explanation that would satisfy. “Okay, the difference is gryphons find caves that are on top of mountains and bears live in caves on the ground.”
Smartypants was about to assail the gryphon with more questions when the forest suddenly disappeared. She, Rarity and Lumberjack took several surprised strides in the sunshine before they noticed that Argie wasn’t with them.
Rarity turned to look behind and found the gryphon standing at the edge of the forest’s shadow. She trembled, staring wide-eyed at the vast expanse of earth and sky.
“What’s the matter, darling?” She went back to the shadow’s edge.
“I-I... I haven’t left the forest since I they...." she confessed, barely moving her beak. She gulped. "Out there... there’s nowhere to hide.” Argie avoided looking at Rarity. Her claws gripped the ground, ebony talons digging furrows in the dirt.
“It’s alright, Argie. There’s nothing to be afraid of, I’ll be with you the whole way, all of us will be. You don’t leave your friends behind.”
The gryphon glanced at the road where Lumberjack and Smartypants waited. The scarecrow beckoned enthusiastically with a stuffed hoof. Argie squeezed her eyes shut and took a deep breath. She forced herself to step forward. Rarity walked next to her. The gryphon let out her breath and squinted at the world.
“See, that wasn’t so bad,” Rarity cooed with a smile.
“Heheh, yeah, not too hard, I guess. Uh...” Argie put a claw behind her head in and ran it down the back of her neck. “Thanks,” she muttered.
“It’s what friends are for, dear.” She blinked at the phrase. Did she say it an awful lot?
Outside of the forest the land rose up in a small ridge, just tall enough that they couldn’t see beyond it. Tall grass rippled in the wind like a green sea to either side of the road out of sight. The uniform blanket was interrupted by a few short bushes and some brave copses of thin birch trees. Rarity was about to compliment the landscape when they topped the rise and her breath was stolen away by an astonished gasp. A sapphire sky held a few fluffy white clouds that dappled the land in wistful shadows. Below them the rolling hills were covered in flowers, swaying gently to and fro as if dancing a slow waltz in the wind. They were of every hue Rarity could name and a few more besides, their delicate petals shimmering as if made of glass.
“Oh my stars!” she exclaimed, rubbing at her eyes with one foreleg. “Why, I've never seen so many beautiful flowers in one place before.” She trotted down the hill to the field's edge, the flowers seemed to overflow onto the road, covering it entirely. They looked like lilies, if lilies grew out of crystal. Rarity was a pony who knew her gems, but this was simply astounding. She gave one an experimental poke and gasped again. It gave under her touch, just as a normal lily would; it wasn't stiff like crystal.
“That sure is somethin’” Lumberjack observed, “but I think you ought to look over there for a sight to see.” She pointed with a gleaming limb to the horizon.
Growing from the rolling hills of prismatic flowers was the City itself. Delicate spires and great domes rose gracefully into the sky, throwing the sunlight back against the clouds above. It shimmered with an otherworldly aura, sparkling as it were with the lights of countless stars attached to fanciful buildings.
“I... It’s... I can’t even describe...” Rarity spluttered.
Smartypants joined Rarity at the edge of the ocean of flowers. “I don’t know about these,” she said, suspiciously poking at one, “Why would they cover the road like this. It seems awfully strange to me.”
“They probably don’t use this road very often anymore,” Lumberjack said with a hint of annoyance. “Especially considerin’ how the rest of it looked. I’d imagine nopony’s been down that road in ages.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Rarity asked excitedly. Without waiting for an answer, she reared up and took off into the lilies, laughing as their leaves and the tall grass tickled her. The others soon followed in her wake, excited as she to finally reach their destination. Argie forgot herself enough to bound through the flowers with Rarity. Smartypants stumbled through the flowers but laughed as she tumbled down a hill with the other two. They danced with the swaying flowers until Rarity topped a particularly tall hill. She gazed out at the city and felt a sudden wave of weariness come over her. She swayed with the flowers, the horizon becoming blurry. She smiled at the thought of laying down to rest for a bit; the city was near, they could get to it anytime they wished.
“Whoah, sugarcube, are you feeling alright?” Lumberjack’s strings carried astonishment in their strokes. “Rarity? Really, you’re making me worried.”
The fashionista looked up. When had she fallen down? Did it matter? She was just so tired. “I’m fine Lumberjack... I jussneedarest, I think,” she slurred. Her head was just so heavy.
“Rarity?”
She felt a metal nose against her shoulder, but couldn’t be bothered to make it go away.
“Lumberjack!” Smartypants cried. “Something’s wrong with Argie, she fell asleep! I can’t get her to wake up!”
Rarity couldn’t understand all the fuss. It was a nice day. The sun was warm. The grass was soft. The breeze was cool. Why not take a short nap?
“Rarity too! Something’s not right with these flowers,” Lumberjack said darkly. “I think you were right, Smartypants, these aren’t natural. C’mere, help me get her up on my back. We’ll have to come ba—”
“Lumberjack?! Oh no not you too! Wait, wait, wait! Oh! I remember! Your springs, yeah! Hold on, Lumberjack, I’ll get you wound up.” The scarecrow fumbled with the compartment under the tin mare. She finally got it open and the crank fell out, striking her outstretched hoof and pulling her to the ground with it’s weight. “Oof! I don’t know how she carries this thing around.” She grunted and heaved with all her might, lifting the crank from the ground. Balancing as best as she could, she reared up on her wobbly hind legs. The crank slid into place. The scarecrow let out a cry of triumph. She pushed on the crank, it turned slightly, then stopped. “Oh no!” She pushed again, throwing everything she had into it. “No, no, no! Please, c’mon!” Smartypants let off of the crank, took a few steps back, then threw herself at it. Nothing.
“I can’t do it,” the scarecrow gasped. “Oooh, no this is bad! Bad! Bad! Bad! What do I do?” She ran over to where Rarity slumbered and shook her shoulders. “Rarity? Please wake up! I don’t know what to do! Rarity!” Her stuffed head jerked around the field. She ran to where the gryphon lay. “Argie! I need your help! Please, Argie.” She pulled at one of the gryphon’s wings, unfurling it and flapping it up and down, stirring the lilies around her, but not the gryphon herself. With a sigh that bordered on a frustrated sob, she got up and ran around the top of the hill where her friends were trapped.
“C’mon, Smartypants! You can do this! You can find some way to help!” She kept teetering around the hill, trying desperately to think, even though she had no brain. “Oh! I could go to the City and ask for help!” she exclaimed, raising a hoof in triumph. It was quickly lowered, however, when something else occurred to her. “But if I leave them here all alone, something could happen to them. Ooooh I can’t leave them here! But, if I don’t get help soon, and they keep sleeping... Rarity needs to eat food, and so does Argie... If they don’t eat food then they’ll die! How long does it take to starve? Uuuugh! I have no idea! No! There’s a way out of this, there has to be!” She stopped abruptly, movement catching her attention.
Several lilies swayed against the breeze, jerking and bouncing as something small passed underneath them. The scarecrow watched, transfixed as the lilies seemed to dance in a line towards her. The disturbance advanced to the circle she had trampled into the grass and out popped a most curious creature. It had a long neck and bulbous sort of body beneath which two skinny legs sprouted, ending in little feet with three long toes. It was covered in purple feathers and blinked at the scarecrow with beady black eyes above a yellow, triangular beak. Atop its head were a few golden feathers standing straight up. The strange creature flapped little wings at its sides.
“Oh my,” it said.
“Hey! You can talk!” Smartypants blurted out.
“Oh, dear! Oh, me oh my. Off we go! Follow me, lads!” the creature yelled. It turned on one leg away from Smartypants and started running off into the field. Soon after it disappeared into the flowers, a line of more creatures just like it filed through the circle, only these were more brown in color and smaller of stature.
“Hey! Wait!” Smartypants called after the purple one with the golden feathers.
It poked its head up out of the lilies. “No time to talk!” it yelled “Very busy! Army to lead, war to fight! You know how it is!”
“No actually, I don’t. Wait!” she shouted back when it disappeared into the flowers again. With a last anguished glance at her poor friends, she ran after the little bird. She wasn’t sure, but she might have had an idea.
