Pinkie squealed joyously as she yanked on the cord for the steam whistle again, filling the tall forest with its shrill call. What birds and creatures hadn't retreated from their train's approach cried their annoyance as they took flight. Pinkie nudged Raj in his seat “Hey, hey Rajy. Rajy!”
Raj snorted awake, looking around in confusion “Snnrkt, huh? What? What's happening?” He looked at her moving mouth and pulled out the wads of corking muting his ears “What'd you say?”
Pinkie pointed up “Look, look at the birds! Aren't they pretty?”
Raj looked up at the fleeing birds and rubbed his eyes “Sure, I guess so. Is that, is that why you woke me up?”
“Well, yeah, they're really pretty birds. Also we're here!” She kicked a leg back and engaged the brake, making the whole car lurch violently. “Mile marker eighty-seven!”
Raj grabbed the wall and shifted forward, the screech of the brakes jarring him to full consciousness in a second. He winced at the sound and rubbed his ears. “Ow. Pinkie why did you... Pinkie?” he looked around, the pink pony having vanished from the compartment. He looked forward to the annoyed engineer-pony and asked “Did you see?” The brown stallion just shrugged and adjusted his cap,
Pinkie's head poked through one of the nearby windows and she squeaked out “Rajy!”
Raj jumped, his chair clattering to the floor “Ah, god, Pinkie! Why?!”
“Come lookie Raj, there's something neat outside.” She pulled back outside and trotted to the front of the engine.
Grumbling wordlessly to himself, Raj grabbed his bag and his harness and moved towards the back. He called out over his shoulder “Four days, noon, don't forget.”
“I know my job mister, just make sure you're right here.” the engineer shot back.
Raj cranked open the back door, idly noting that Pinkie had somehow gotten outside with the door still shut and latched. He hopped off the back of the engine-car and asked “Alright, what is it?”
“Look at this mushroom, it's soooo big!” Pinkie pointed a hoof with a wide grin, drawing attention to a fungus cap at least two feet across.
Raj blinked “Is that it? A mushroom? What would you even do with that?”
“Duh, this.” Pinkie lunged forward and checked the stem out from under the fungus and caught the wide cap on her bobbing head. She stood up proudly, the squishy fungus drooping a bit. “Now I have an umbrella! Neat, huh. It's an old Filly Scouts trick, you never forget that kind of thing you know.” she chirped as she trotted around the clearing.
Raj watched her, his eyebrow cocked up “Right. We need to get moving, go get your bags.”
“Okie dokie loki!” she dashed away, her improvised cap spinning in mid-air once before splatting to the ground.
Raj decided to promptly ignore that and unfurled the map he'd appropriated from Twilight's library. He mumbled to himself as he scanned the paper, searching for detail. “Okay, so if we're here,” he poked the number for the marker they had just passed. “Then we need to go that way. Great.” He pointed to the east and put the map away.
“Alright!” Cried out Pinkie as she appeared from behind him with her bags draped over her sides. “We're gonna find that troll and shave him good!” She raised a hoof, somehow holding a buzzing pair of clippers.
“Inaccurate, but I like the enthusiasm. Come on, we're losing daylight.” Raj started into the thick woods.
Pinkie trotted along, humming to herself. “So this is the way to that village Twilight told us about?”
Raj gave her a sidelong glance “Of course it is. Where else would we be going?”
“I was just saying that we're planning to work out of that place and search for the herb with the help of the local ponies.” she explained “We also don't have a lot of time. It's autumn already and if we take too long, it could get cold enough that any Troll's Beard that's out there will die.”
He blinked “Why... why are you just reiterating what we both already know? We talked about all this before we left.”
“I'm just making sure everyone is on the same page. Like how the engineer is leaving to refuel and turn around because he doesn't have enough coal enough to get back to Ponyville.” her eyes shifted to the left, looking at something Raj didn't see. “Let's go, we've got to get there before dark, or they might not let us through the gate.”
He watched her go for a second before calling after her “I knew that already too. Why are you repeating everything? It's weird! Who is this for?” He asked towards her retreating back before grumbling to himself and following after.
* * *
They made a good pace through the thick forest, moving along a scant road that twisted around redwoods a dozen or more feet thick. Raj scanned up one of the highest trees and saw that the leaves didn't even start for a hundred feet or more over his head and the tree kept going for twice that besides.
“Wowee!” cried Pinkie as she stared up at them “Have you ever seen trees like this? These things are skyscrapers.”
Raj smiled “Yeah actually, in the Everfree Forest but... wait. You have skyscrapers here?”
“And look at these roots!” She hopped up on one of the protruding growths “I could hollow this thing out and live in it. Live in it!” She knocked a hoof against the sturdy wood before rolling off of it and out of sight.
Raj continued despite being soundly ignored “Seriously, ponies build skyscrapers? Because from what I've seen you don't have the engineering base to manage something on that scale-”
“Oh my gosh!” came an echoing voice from far overhead. “I can see my house from here!”
Raj looked up and had to shade his eyes to make out a pink shape poking out of the burl at the top of the tree. Shakily, he said “Pinkie?”
“Hey Raj.” She waved at him from the top of the enormous tree. “You look really small.”
“Pinkie!” He shouted “What the hell are you doing? Get down from there right now!”
“Aww, but I just got here.”
“Now Pinkie!” He shouted back, anger flaring for a moment.
“Okay...” She disappeared for a moment before bursting out of the burl and into a free fall. Raj's heart almost stopped and he sprang to get underneath her, a stream of curses falling out of his mouth and his arms raised. His alarm evaporated when he saw a series of balloons burst from her bag and arrest her fall, allowing her to lazily drift into his arms with a goofy grin on her face. She rolled her eyes up to him and said cheerfully “Hiya pal.”
Raj dropped her to the ground “I'm beginning to see why you seem to stymy Twilight so much.
“Eeehee,” she giggled as she rose to her hooves and the balloons somehow pulled themselves into her saddlebags “you're funny Rajy.”
“Another thing, don't call me that.” he answered dryly.
She shrugged “Okay, let's get going Rajamataj!” she pointed a hoof forward triumphantly.
“Also not my name.”
“Let's get going King's Sage.” she pointed another hoof forward just as triumphantly.
“Gonna strangle Spike the next time I see him.” he muttered as he started moving again, Pinkie still hanging off his shoulders.
Pinkie giggled and drooped until she laid across his shoulders like a fuzzy shawl, content to let Raj take over the lion's share of the work for a few minutes. They passed a dozen or more monolithic trees before Pinkie asked “Soooooo... are we there yet?”
“Pinkie, I will answer that one time. Are you sure you want to use it now?” Raj droned back as he negotiated a giant root.
“Hmmm.” Pinkie put her hoof on her chin in thought for a moment. “Yes! I mean no. Wait... yes!”
“No, we're not.”
“Shoot!” She thumped a hoof against Raj's chest in frustration “How will I know though?”
“You're a smart kid. You'll figure it out.” he smiled amicably.
“Aww, thanks Rajy.” She ruffled his patka.
Raj sighed “ Pinkie, please don't call me that.”
“Oh, lighten up buddy, no reason to be a sourpuss.” She moved until she was riding on his shoulders and leaned over him until she could make eye contact. “I'm just being friendly.”
“And I'm being serious. Don't.” He shot her a hard look. “And get off me, you're not exactly petite.”
“Meanie.” Pinkie whispered playfully as she hopped off his shoulders and trotted along his side.
* * *
It took a few more hours for the rising wall of the village to come into view. A huge barrier made from local sequoia painted with gloss to protect it from water guarded the town from any outside threat while the ground was cleared for a hundred yards in all directions, giving them clear sight lines against any approaching creature or pony.
Raj approached carefully, arms out to present no threat, until he reached the wide double doors that formed the gate. He rapped on the heavy wood with his staff and waited a minute for any reaction. He banged on it again harder but got no response. He shouted up “Hello? Is anyone there?”
Pinkie leaned out from behind him and stared up at the door “Maybe nopony's home?”
“Where would they all go?”
“Maybe for ice cream?”
“This is the only village for hundreds of miles in all directions. If there is any ice cream, it would be in there.”
“You're right!” she exclaimed as she started to rap on the door herself “Hello? We would like some ice cream please!”
“I'm going to have to climb this wall, give me a minute.” Raj drew out his axes.
A loud clunk sounded behind the gate and it swung open slowly, revealing an orange Earth Pony with his red mane tied back and a leather smock across his chest and flank. He looked over the two of them for a second before settling his gaze on Raj and saying “The Tartarus are you supposed to be?”
“I'm a human.”
“Never heard of them.”
“Not many have.”
“Fair enough. If you're bandits, I should tell you there isn't anything worth stealing here.”
“We're not bandits.” said Pinkie Pie as she hopped in front of him, a broad smile on her face. “We're on a mission to find a beard!”
The pony shrugged “Well, you won't find one here. Never been able to grow much of one myself.”
“Not... not that kind of beard. Sorry.” Raj put his axes away. “My name's Raj, this is Pinkie. We're from Ponyville. There's an outbreak of Froggy Flu and we need Troll's Beard to cure it. Is there any we can have?”
“There is not.” he answered flatly.
“Alright, well, do you know where we can find any?”
“No.” he answered just as flatly.
They paused for a few seconds before Raj asked “Okay, is there anyone in there who might?”
“Also no.” He started to close the gate.
Pinkie interposed herself “Hey, how would you know there isn't? You didn't even check!”
The stallion sighed “I know because I'm the only one here.” He stepped back and gestured to the hidden village.
Pinkie and Raj came in and glanced around, seeing sturdy plank houses and buildings standing pristine, but no ponies or anyone on the street or windows. “What the...”
“Welcome to Hollta village, population one.” The stallion paused “Well, three now I guess. I'm Iron Strike, come on.” He kicked the door shut and started walking into the village.
“Where is everypony? Are they on lunch?” asked Pinkie as she peered in windows and doors, looking for the townsponies.
“No, that's ridiculous.”
“That's kinda her thing.” said Raj.
“They all left, evacuated the other day. Only reason I'm left is because it's taken me this long to get my workshop squared away. If you were a few hours later, I'd have been gone.”
Raj rubbed the back of his head “Just lucky I guess. Why'd everyone leave.”
“Monster's been attacking the village, killing ponies and eating them up. Damn thing got three ponies before the chief called for an early retreat to winter quarters.”
“That's awful!” exclaimed Pinkie. “Why didn't you call for help?”
Iron Strike glared at her “We're not in Equestria miss, we don't take orders from no Alicorns. We take care of ourselves out here, don't need any Princess giving us a hoof.”
“But... three ponies died!”
“I know that. What's your point?”
Raj stepped in the way “Her point, is that we need this herb to save our town. Do you think there would be any stockpiled here we could have.”
“Probably not. I'm a blacksmith my trade, I don't know anything about plants. If it's valuable, they took it with them though.”
“Dammit. Alright, can you tell us anything about this monster?”
Iron Strike's eyes rolled up in thought “It's big, big and white. And fast, ran down Thistle Hoof, and he was faster than anypony. Only seems to be active during the day, thing never bothered anypony after the sun went down.”
Raj leaned against a wall “Okay... damn. This is not ideal. Well, whatever it is I'm sure I can kill it if I have to.”
“If you can, please do. The first pony that thing killed was my brother, tore open his belly the way I hear it. Nasty way to go.” He said calmly. “Well, you're welcome to stay the night before you go on doing whatever it is you're on to. Just close up if ya leave and don't burn the place down.”
“Where are you going?” Raj asked.
“Winter quarters. Monster don't bother nopony at night and dusk is just about to hit. I'm gonna have to hoof it all night if I want to make it. Good luck to you, hope you find your plant.”
“Thanks.”
Iron Strike hitched himself up to his wagon and was trotting towards the horizon within a few minutes. Raj watched his retreating silhouette and said “Well, this sucks.”
“I know. He lost his brother and two friends all in such a short time. He's really taking it hard.” Pinkie said back, voice filled with concern. “I should've shared some cake with him.”
“What are you talking about? Dude was fine.”
She shot him a look “Are you kidding me Rajy? He was on the verge of tears the whole time!”
He gave her an incredulous look “What are you- No, we're not getting into this. It's immaterial.” He shook his head. “Get some rest Pinkie. We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow. We're going to have to find the Troll's Beard on our own.”