The Path to Trifectown
The Battle Foals had left Gardenia and embarked on their trek to Trifectown. According to Meadow’s directions and Shadow Shroud’s map, it wasn’t too far away. Much of the terrain they had to hike through was wide open, so the warm rays of Celestia’s sun gently shone down and encouraged the entourage of fighting foals.
Greensprout was already loving her new friends even more now that they weren’t having to worry about surviving an underground ruin inhabited by ponies that had been zombified by mystical, parasitic resin. Her lively chats with the other fillies was pretty much a clear sign that she was going to get along with them pretty well even if she wasn’t aware that Shroud had taken a life yet. Crazylocks’ antics never seemed to annoy her, but rather serve as encouragement for to try and find a way to heal her if she wasn’t laughing her flank off. She was no longer weary of Shrapnel, and Zebota even let her play fetch with the beast about halfway through the trip……even if he ended up bringing back logs rather than the sticks thrown for him, much to their amusement. Zebota himself combined some of the herbs he’d gathered in the Everfree forest with Greensprout to create various concoctions they thought might help along the way such as sedatives, healing elixirs and the like; they agreed to experiment more when they had the opportunity to cultivate more of their herbs.
Air Slash was undoubtedly the happiest to have the gentle monk at their side. Despite encountering little resistance along their trek in the form of weaker monsters, he was always the first to draw his weapon in her defense. The other foals were used to him going on the offensive with the sheer ferocity that his swords let him exhibit, but seeing him think more of his comrades was welcome indeed. The other fillies smirked whenever they caught him stealing a glance at her.
“Um, excuse me?” Greensprout said.
“What’s up, Greensprout?” Fire Fight asked.
“When I looked at Shadow Shroud’s map, I noticed that Las Pegasus is just over these mountains to the west. Perhaps we should go there first since it’s closer and then travel to Trifectown?” Greensprout said.
“I think it’s best if we stay out of big cities for a while, Greensprout.” Shroud said. “We’re really beginning to grow in number, and between Quantum’s big mech suit and Shrapnel, we wouldn’t exactly be easy to miss.”
“The mass of our group is independent of the size of the towns and cities we visit, Shadow Shroud. I don’t really see why that would matter.” Air Slash said.
“Man, y’all shoulda been d’here when it just me, homegirl and Fire Fight. Just the three of us li’l foals! Don’t nopony care ‘bout three normal foals in da hood. Some ponies see us now, d’hey gonna be curious. A whole lot of ponies see us, an’ the whole damn city gonna be curious!” Turf War said.
“Turf War’s right. A bigger population and us gaining in numbers like this means less room for error. We really should wait until we’ve set our roots somewhere before going big since we’d actually have a home to come back to.” Spiral Galaxy said.
“Hmm….I suppose that’s true.” Greensprout said.
“We need to find a homestead to settle ‘ere pretty soon then, now don’t we?” Kickback commented.
“Yes, but if even the forest called Everfree has proven to not be an ideal location, then finding a well-hidden location for us to safely construct our home will be most difficult.” Zebota said. Shrapnel grunted in agreement.
“All we can do is continue our journey until we do.” Quantum Tech said.
“Let’s not wait too long! We won’t be able to take our manes for a walk if we don’t have a nice dog fur garden planted for them!” Crazylocks blurted.
Everypony just looked at her with annoyed stares save for Greensprout, who only wore her saintly smile. “We’re counting on you to help us with that, Crazylocks.” She said.
“IN THE NAME OF THE EMPRESS, I SHALL LEAVE NO SHED HAIR UNSHAVED!!” Crazylocks shouted.
“Ugh….Darling, it’s best not to encourage her.” Quantum said.
“I know, but unless you’ve determined a way to fix her genetics, then there’s little else we can do for her.” Greensprout said.
“Have you, by the way?” Fire Fight asked.
Quantum shook her head. “Sadly, no. However, I may have deduced how her hair hardens and her physical strength increases when she assumes the form of an earth pony.”
“Go on.” Shroud said.
Quantum fixed her glasses. “As I explained before, you-know-who injected a form of nucleic emulsifier that that contained pegasus and unicorn traits into her that bound to her already existing DNA that made her an earth pony. As this is foreign matter, her body will naturally attempt to fight it off, but it can’t seeing as the foreign DNA has been forced to assimilate itself into her genetic makeup, even going as far as being repeated in the proteins manufactured in her cells. Thus, when she assumes her natural form as an earth pony, her immune system overcompensates for its inability to purge the foreign DNA as a result of overproducing proteins. Hair strands are protein growths, so more protein giving her hair structure means……well, I highly doubt I don’t have to explain myself from there.”
While they didn’t totally understand everything she said, it all seemed so simple when they thought about it. “Is that so?” Air Slash asked.
“Well, at least I think that’s what’s happening.” Quantum said.
“Now how would y’all explain her changin’ forms like that? Ya kinda made it soun’ like she ain’t supposed to.” Kickback said.
“How so, Kickback?” Quantum asked.
“Well, ya said that her body’s tryin’ to fight off the unicorn an’ pegasus stuff, so….how is she able to be whichever whenever she wants?” Kickback asked.
“Ah! Well, I trust you are all familiar with alleles?” Quantum asked.
“Umm……maybe?” Turf War said.
Quantum sighed. “Thought so. <ahem> If I’m to summarize, an allele is a possibility for traits that can appear in one’s genetic structure depending its ability to dominate and thus essentially nullify other alleles of the same trait. For example, the trait for hair length in our coats is determined by two alleles that are either dominant or recessive, as is the case with all traits in organic life as we know it. The allele for longer hair is dominant while the allele for shorter hair is recessive, meaning that if somepony has the allele for long coat anywhere in their genetic structure at all, it doesn’t matter if the recessive trait exists as well, because that dominant trait will override it.”
“But what does that have to do with determining your pony tribe?” Spiral asked.
“I’m getting to that.” Quantum answered. “There exists the possibility of something called ‘codominance’, and what that basically means is that two dominant alleles are expressed equally in a subject’s genetic structure and thus are seen as traits. An example would be some flowers of the same species having red and white petals rather than either or. Both traits would be dominant in that species for it to work. Anyway, since Crazylocks has the genes for three different species of pony, that essentially is codominance, but her earth pony traits are natural to her, and thus more dominant than the other two, preventing all three from being expressed at once. However, since all three traits are dominant, that means that they can indeed be expressed in some way, but how exactly she is able to change her allelic expression at will is what I cannot discern.” As she finished her explanation, Crazylocks could be seen flying upside-down with a squirrel on her belly. They chirped at one another as if to have a conversation. Oddly enough, her mane and tail weren’t obeying gravity.
This explanation was more confusing than the last, but again strangely made sense. It was times like this that Fire Fight was glad to have a more advanced intellect on the team. “And that’s just a theory too?” he asked.
Quantum fixed her glasses and smiled confidently. “A rather solid theory if I do say so myself, but a theory nonetheless.”
“Probably about as solid as anything about her.” Kickback said. As they neared the river, they came across a dirt trail that led into the mountains beyond. It extended to a bridge off in the distance that was adjacent to the bridge meant for a train. Thankfully, there was nopony around to see them, but a good number of yards away in the direction of the mountains was an overturned freight wagon that was both empty and desolate. “Whu-oh. Looks like somepony lost their luggage.”
“Think we should check it out?” Spiral asked.
“Nah. We getting’ close to Trifectown already. Ain’t no reason to take a detour.” Turf War said.
“An’ Ah reckon that the Sand Vipers never came out this far anyhow.” Kickback commented.
Spiral shrugged. “Yeah. Guess it’s not really our problem anyway.” They had at last reached the river, and Trifectown was just over the horizon. There was just one problem: the river was far wider than they had anticipated, too wide for Shrapnel to jump over. “Well, guess I better gather my focus! Good thing there’s lots of water here.”
Zebota then walked up to the riverbank. “There will be time for meditation later, Spiral Galaxy. Please allow me.” He took out his boomerang and held it to his brooch, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath. “Kama mto huu unapita na wakati wenyewe, sauti yangu wito nje kwa njia ya hewa. Kusikia na kutii ombi langu. Sehemu maji hayo ili kujenga njia ya hatima yetu.” His brooch began glowing as he finished his incantation. The light from his brooch seem to flow to his boomerang, and it began to shimmer. Zebota then threw his boomerang across the river. As it passed over the river, a line of the same light stretched from each side of the river. When his boomerang returned to him, Zebota quickly raised it above him, causing the stream of light in the river to separate into two and part the river!
The other foals looked on in complete awe of what Zebota had just accomplished. They shouldn’t have been too surprised considering he was able to tame a freaking timberwolf, but it had been a while since they witnessed his ability to command nature itself. The path he’d made in the river was wide enough for Shrapnel to walk through. “Whoa….” Fire Fight was quickly reminded of the powerful force he’d allowed into the Battle Foals.
Zebota turned to them. “I cannot hold this for long, so please do not dawdle.” The other foals snapped out of their amazement and crossed the parted river with their mystic friend and his wooden titan. Spiral Galaxy and Fire Fight had to help Quantum Tech magically lift her mech suit across for fear that it might sink into the mud; Turf War helped some with his brute strength.
Once they were all safely across the river, Zebota released his spell on the river. As the parted river became whole once more, Zebota nearly fell to his knees and started panting. Greensprout trotted up to him. “Are you alright, Zebota?”
“<pant>…Yes…<pant>…Greensprout. Thank you. That just took a toll on me.” Zebota took a deep breath. “It seems that I am not as attuned with nature as I thought.” Shrapnel lightly nuzzled his master.
“Here.” Greensprout emitted a little pulse from her Gaia Root at Zebota. The zebra immediately felt his strength return and managed to get up.
“Ah. Thank you.” Zebota said. Greensprout nodded.
“Zebota, has anypony ever told you how awesome you are?” Spiral said.
Zebota chuckled. “That could very easily have not worked, my friend. The spirits of that river seem like fickle beings and could have refused my call without a second thought.”
“And then we could’ve just taken that bridge over there.” Shadow Shroud said with a smirk.
The other foals looked off at the bridge and nearly facehooved when they realized this. “Umm…..y-yes….I…..suppose we could have done that….” Zebota mumbled. He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
Shroud giggled. “Don’t worry, Zebota. At least you got some exercise.” She teased.
Zebota rolled his eyes. “If only you knew….” He muttered.
Trifectown was a mere hike away, but the open field around it provided little cover for the Battle Foals. “Hmm….Looks like we’ll have to hide out in the White Tail Woods. Otherwise, we’ll stick out like a sore hoof even from this distance.” Shroud said.
They all nodded. “Yeah. We’ll find a place to hang out and plan things out from there. Let’s hope that we don’t bump into any more giant pythons or plant monsters this time.” Fire Fight said. With some not so fond memories brought up, Fire Fight led his entourage into the forest and kept his head held high as his mission continued.
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First time I've heard any sciencebabble since meeting QT. And then we're reminded of the force of nature that is Zebota.
White Tail Woods. Well known for being the second most dangerous forest in Equestria for most fanfics. Can't wait to see where this goes...
Also, first batch of errors is served! Next batch will be here when I have more time...
Unnecessary 'of' here.
Don't doesn't have a second '.
I believe you mean 'head held high' my friend.
8037983 Didn't she do a science explanation in the 'Mysteries Unlocked' chapter?
Each chapter gets better and better. But I do agree how going into big cities are going to cause a problem... Are they going to spilt up then?
8038002 I said that because it was a while since the last time Quantum talked about science.
8037995 How is White Tail Woods the second most dangerous in Equestria?
8038099 but you said the first time meeting her. That's a bit after. Also, I don't know, writers like to make White Tail dangerous as well.
8038290 First fic that made it dangerous was Fallout Equestria, I think.
8038389 Oh, didn't know that. Never read any of the Fallout stuff, not a fan of the games.
8038429 Fallout Equestria is a very famous crossover fic. How have you not heard of it?
8038541 I've heard of it, I said I haven't read it.
8038932 Oh.
8039132 Its cool. I'm just not a fan of Fallout.
8039151 That's okay.
8038096 Only when they find a permanent home base I reckon.
Can't wait for either a base or a new foal. It's always so exciting!
8040110 Awesome! Feel free to give feedback and constructive criticisms!
Found a error a chapter back:
I didn't know Crazylocks owned a 'to'.
So apparently in this chapter, Zebota is zebra Moses.
Cool chapter btw, still not caught up.