The Elements of Equestria

by trooper7051

Chapter 4

The Elements of Equestria

Part 4

Trooper carried his saddle-bags in his mouth as he attempted to navigate his way through the dreaded Everfree Forrest. He was still fuming over his confrontation with Rainbow Dash, 'What is her problem with me?' he wondered angrily, 'All I wish to do is have a home away from home. Is that so much of a crime? She is the bearer of the Element of Loyalty. How is such a dissenting and rude pony possibly one of the Elements of Harmony? She is far from harmonious. If anything, she is quite probably the most un-harmonious pony I have ever met. Still, I should not have used such coarse language with her. There was no excuse for that. I know better than that, and no excuse I make can change that fact, but I refuse to be picked on. I will guard her from death but I will not submit to her abusing me. I suppose I cannot be on good terms with every pony I meet. I will simply stay away from her. If she tries speaking to me, I will turn a deaf ear to her. I will take any necessary steps to let her know I refuse to be around her until she apologizes to me for what she did. If that means never, then so be it.' Trooper looked around trying to gauge his direction. He could make out the sun through the canopy of trees and chose to head due West, 'This should lead me back to Ponyville . . . I hope.'

The greenery was closely packed; Trooper could barely see ten paces. The royal blue pegasus eventually stumbled onto a well-worn path that led in the general direction of Ponyville and decided to follow it. He kept to the path nervously; the Everfree Forrest was a spooky place. Trooper kept looking over his shoulder to make sure he wasn't being followed. Up ahead he saw a split in the path and the brighter light that seemed to hint that he was leaving the Everfree Forrest at last. The path split to the right and left. To the left was the brighter light, to the right, led deeper into the forest. Spurred by the sight of the light, Trooper began trotting faster. As his speed increased, he heard a new sound. Something else was nearby and it sounded close. Trooper swallowed hard and sped up to a gallop. The other sound sped up as well, it sounded like it was getting closer. It sounded like something was hunting him. Trooper upped the ante and ran as fast as his legs could go. The sound was so close now; and it was getting closer. Trooper looked over his shoulder but saw nothing, which was even spookier.

His blood pumped, he was close to the edge of the forest. Just a little farther and he would be safe. He reached the split in the path and reared back as something huge suddenly blocked his way. In a reflexive action, he swung his right hoof at his perceived assailant. His hoof felt like it struck solid steel, his whole leg throbbed terribly. Trooper looked up and found Big Macintosh's wide-eyed face looking back at him, hoof connected with Trooper's own.

The two stallions stared at each other for a few moments before they regained their senses and lowered their hooves,

"My most sincere apologies, Big Macintosh. I heard something in the forest and believed it to be after me. I suppose you heard the same thing and reacted in a similar manner?"

Big Mac's face betrayed nothing,

"Ayup."

"Then let us rejoin the rest of Ponyville shall we? What were you doing all the way out here anyway?" Trooper inquired.

"Ah was meetin' with Zecora." Big Mac replied.

"Ah yes, the zebra. Valiant mentioned she lived out here. He said he was sad to have never had the chance to meet her. What is she like?" Trooper asked.

Big Macintosh shrugged,

"She's a good soul. She sure knows a whole lot about plants and the like. Ah was askin' her if she'd be willin' to watch the farm while Applejack and Ah were away."

Trooper cocked his head to the left as the two stallions turned toward the light of day shining through the Forrest ahead of them,

"An odd choice." Trooper mused, "Were there no other ponies with the viable know-how available? Perhaps one who lives a touch closer to Ponyville? Seems to me she shall have to travel for quite a while each and every day just to reach the old farmstead, not to mention the return trip."

"Ah done offered for her to stay at the farm while we're gone." Big Mac replied.

Trooper shrugged his shoulders,

"Well, if it works, don't knock it. I suppose she agreed to keep an eye on the farm for you?"

"Ayup. In so many confusin' words, anyway." Big Macintosh admitted.

Trooper quirked an eyebrow and an ear,

"Confusing words?" he asked, "Does she speak in riddles?"

"Eeyup."

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The Elements of Equestria gathered in the Ponyville Library. Everypony sat on the floor; mares on the left, stallions on the right, except for Trooper who sat perched on the top of one of the bookshelves. Trooper specifically kept from looking at Rainbow Dash. She had tried to approach him when he first arrived with Big Macintosh, but Trooper had ignored her completely. The two groups were having no small amount of difficulty integrating. The only true common ground they all shared was one royal blue wingless pegasus, who was presently missing. Sea Blue had Patch come with him since he couldn't very well leave her alone by herself. She played happily with Angel, who had decided to join Fluttershy. For once Angel had found a pony he could actually stand and played with Patch, as happy as anything.

Dr. Mend, being the one to have called the meeting, began speaking,

"We need to address the issue which brought us all here. Valiant is still missing and we need to find him. The sooner the better."

"See that's all well an' good, for ponies that can spare the time. Not all of us can just pick up an' go galavantin' off into the sunset any time we want. Some of us got responsibilities." Applejack expressed.

Dr. Mend nodded politely,

"I understand Applejack. I know your family situation, and I'm well aware of your responsibilities. I'm just saying that we need to get going on a solution to the problems with taking an extended leave to look for Valiant."

"Why do we need to look for him anyway?" Rainbow Dash asked, "He's a big-colt, he can take care of himself. I'm not saying we shouldn't go help him if he needs it, but how do we know he even needs it and we wouldn't be wasting our time? He's not a Vagabond anymore and even when he was, he took care of himself. Well, most of the time anyway. The bear incident happened after five years, that means he went four-plus years safely. He should be good to go."

Twilight was surprised to find that she could find no significant faults with Dash's logic,

"Rainbow Dash has a point. Let's go over what we know and decide from there."

Dr. Mend removed Valiant's note from his saddle-bags and set it on the ground in front of him. He proceeded to read the note, out loud, to the assembled ponies. The older medical pony finished reading and looked up, only to be met with several skeptical-looking faces.

"Please tell me there is more than one dumb old note." Rainbow Dash said rubbing her eyes.

Dr. Mend nodded to Sea Blue,

"Sea Blue has a theory about where Valiant's headed . . .”

"A theory?" Twilight interrupted, "Excuse me for interrupting you Dr. Mend, but we need more than vague notes and theories to go on. We need facts . . .”

Twilight was interrupted by Rarity rising to her hooves,

"Excuse me darling but, something in that note . . . seems off to me. I for one, would like to hear the theory."

"Why's that Rarity?" Applejack asked.

"I have more than just an eye for details, Applejack. I think there's more to this than meets the ear. Besides Sea Blue's talent is psychology. We trust your talent pertaining to farming the same way we trust Fluttershy's talent with animals, and Twilight's talent for all things magical. It would be the very height of foolishness to make a decision without having all the . . . information available. Solid facts or no, everypony's opinion matters and they deserve to be heard-out even if we don't agree with them. All I'm asking is for you to have an open mind."

"Um," squeaked a quiet voice from the corner of the room, "I'd like to hear it too. If there's even the possibility of Valiant being in trouble, we should be willing to help him. Even if it is inconvenient." Fluttershy said meekly.

"Boy, that's an understatement." Spike groused from his spot on the stairs, "Princess Celestia told Twilight and me to stay here to learn about friendship. We'd need her permission before we went anywhere. Besides, who'd run the Library while we're gone? I can't do it alone even if I did stay here."

Twilight raised her voice,

"Alright everypony, settle down." she said turning to Sea Blue, "Let's hear your theory."

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Valiant began looking for a suitable place to make camp for the night, 'I think I made some good progress today.' he thought as he looked around, 'I wonder why it took me five years to get to Ponyville from Haysburg? I ran into other cities but I don't know the names, or even where they are on the map. Could I have traveled up as far as Manehatten or Fillydelphia? Perhaps as far west as Trottingham?' he shrugged to himself, 'Oh well, it doesn't matter now.'

Valiant spent the next half hour contemplating, before he spotted what he judged to be a suitable place to set up camp for the night. Up ahead of him, he saw a small clearing and heard the soft sounds of a gurgling stream. It was about as ideal as he could have hoped for out there. The Everfree Forrest held only a minimal amount of uncertainty for him. He was used to dealing with strange animals and spooky surroundings. He had survived an encounter with a bear and survived, even if it had been with a heavy loss.

Valiant arrived at the bank of the stream and looked carefully at the water, 'You can't afford to be so relaxed when it comes to the water you're going to drink. Dysentery is the last thing you want to have to worry about on a hike like this. You drink brackish water and before you know it you're going to the bathroom so much you're dehydrated. So then you drink more and it messes up your stomach even more. Eventually you can end up dead from dehydration. Not fun.' Valiant reached into his saddle-bags and pulled out his mortar and pestle. He set them down on the river bank and reached back unbuckling the bags.

Valiant set the bags down and looked around for three specific plants. He spotted one of them almost immediately. Walking over, he carefully plucked off six leaves from the small plant and set them aside to dry on a small rock. He began searching the surrounding area for the two other plants he would need for a specific formula; a formula which would be able to tell him whether or not the water was drinkable. After a few minutes of searching, he found the second plant. He used his hooves to dig up the roots then carried them, in his muzzle, over to the stream to wash them off. The water flowed gently around the earthen stems, cleaning them beautifully. Valiant was careful not to get any of the water in his mouth.

He carried the roots over and set them on the same rock the leaves were drying on, and then went in search of the final plant. The sun was beginning to set by the time he found the last plant. He plucked off two of the bright blue flowers and set them next to the leaves and roots to dry, 'I'll use the old ones while the new ones dry out.' Valiant turned and walked back to the stream bank, where his saddle-bags still lay. Nosing around in the bags he came out with a small pouch of finely ground plant matter. He set the pouch down on the forest floor and went back and removed a small, thickly walled, glass vial and wedged it between two small rocks. Valiant then removed a small piece of parchment and shaped it into a funnel. Placing the funnel into the mouth of the vial, he opened the pouch and carefully poured a small amount of the finely ground plant material into the vial. He closed the bag, removed the funnel, and put them back into his saddle-bags.

Valiant removed a small ladle from his bag and dipped it into the stream then poured a tiny amount of the water into the vial. The method was a bit 'hard-and-fast' but it worked. Valiant set the ladle back inside his bag and watched the vial. The contents of the vial mixed easily and began changing color to a light brown. Valiant smiled, light brown meant the water was safe to drink while really dark brown was not safe to drink. The difference was easy to tell, Valiant knew he was safe.

He rinsed out the vial and placed it carefully back into his saddle-bags. Turning back to the little clearing, he began scraping away a clear spot from the leaves and the typical forest debris. He scouted around and found a fair amount of dried sticks and, better yet, dried moss. He nosed the nearby rocks into a small circle which saw only darkening sky above, 'Have to be careful of what's above. Leaves can catch fire from hot enough smoke. Now the question is what the hay am I going to eat tonight?' he wondered.

Valiant took some of the smallest sticks and moss, and dropped them into the mortar bowl. He held the bowl between his back hooves and used his fore-hooves and mouth to manipulate the pestle and grind the pieces inside. The sticks were tough but the moss was simple to grind. When he had an acceptably fine grind, he took and poured the mess into the small fire pit and set some slightly larger sticks in it as well. Satisfied, he pulled out his flint and steel and proceeded to build his fire.

A short time later, Valiant sighed happily and settled back onto his haunches, admiring his work. The fire burned merrily and his dinner, mushroom, carrot, and leek soup was cooking away in his tiny cast iron cook pot. Valiant figured he had a fair while before the food was ready, so he decided to practice, 'What to focus on this evening? Maybe mobility again?'

Valiant rose to his hooves and began pacing around the fire while he thought. A glint of reflected light caught his eye from the far side of the stream. Valiant's head snapped up, alert for danger, for he of all ponies knew that animals’ eyes often reflected light in the dark. He searched the shadows for any sign of life, and saw the glint of light again. Zeroing in on it, he saw the reflection was not coming from any animal's eyes, but an object lying on the ground.

Valiant couldn't make out the object, but he locked his eyes on it and carefully made his way over to it across the stream. There was a large mound of leaves covering the object. He lowered his head and nosed several leaves away from it. He pulled his muzzle back suddenly and nearly tripped over his own hooves.

"Sweet Goddess!" he yelled.

Lying in front of him on the ground was a disturbingly lifelike statue. The reflection Valiant had seen was coming from a jewel encrusted helmet the statue wore. What had startled him was the statue's face. The statue depicted a canine face, like Wynona's, except the head was larger than a pony's. The statue's teeth were bared in a vicious looking snarl. The entire face was terrifying in how lifelike it was.

Valiant caught his breath and walked back over to the statue curiously,

"Why is there a statue out here? Who would even carve such a hideous thing in the first place?"

Valiant continued clearing off the statue and eventually uncovered the entire thing, 'Odd, it doesn't have a base, yet it's completely intact.' he looked around, feeling for its base, probing into the leaves with his hooves. His left fore hoof impacted something solid and he proceeded to dig it out. It was another statue, carved almost identical to the first one, 'Two statues toppled and without bases?' he thought, 'Alright then I'll just mosey around a bit and see if I can find either one.'

An hour and a half later, Valiant stood back and surveyed what he had discovered, 'Am entire garden of statues, all toppled and hideous. Why are they out here? There are no pony settlements in the area.' he counted the statues one-by-one and came up with a final number, 'Thirty seven? The work involved in making thirty-seven statues would be incredible. So why are they out here?'

Valiant wondered around each one, noting the comparisons and contrasts of each as compared to the other pieces of the set, 'Each one is snarling, like it's angry, each is wearing armor and carrying weapons, like they were going off to war and they were all carved to look as if they were in motion. Aside from that, they each have a unique facial and body structure plus their armor seems unique to each individual as well as their weaponry. The statues and both male and female, yet I have never seen or even heard of a species that has this kind of appearance. The only truly strange thing is that the jewels and gems adorning each piece of armor are real, whereas everything else is solid stone. Who would spend so many bits to buy these kinds of materials and put in the effort to carve the statues, yet not bother to use them in a place where they could be seen?' as much as Valiant puzzled over the fact he couldn't figure out a single answer.

Valiant finally gave up and decided to go eat his dinner back at camp, 'I'll figure it out tomorrow.'

***********************************************************************************

Sea Blue finally finished his exhaustive explanation of his theory about Valiant's motivations and destination, and waited for one of the mares to comment. Patch had eventually played herself out and had fallen asleep with Angel Bunny sleeping next to her peacefully. The two were adorable, sleeping as though they had always been the best of friends.

Twilight cleared her throat,

"Your theory is plausible, Sea Blue. However, psychology is still in its infant stages by all accounts in the scientific community. I'm not trying to be rude but your theory seems weak at best."

Sea Blue wasn't fazed in the least,

"Alright, let's say I'm wrong. What's the worst that can happen?"

"That's a very pessimistic attitude, Sea Blue." Rarity said curtly.

Sea Blue smiled at the perfectly groomed unicorn,

"I plan for the worst and hope for the best, that way, every surprise is a pleasant one. My mindset is like my theory, it's not perfect, but then again nothing is. It's simply the best I can do. Believe me, we wouldn't have wasted our time or yours, if we didn't believe Valiant was in danger. We haven't done all this lightly. I had a solid practice back in Canterlot and my daughter had plenty of friends there. We had two reasons for coming to Ponyville: one, we are the bearers of the Elements of Peace and as such we have an obligation to protect the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, two, we are worried about our friend and we came to you six for help. You know him better than the rest of us so we figured maybe you would have a better idea of how to help him."

Twilight shook her head,

"Honestly, I think you're blowing this whole thing out of proportion. Maybe Valiant just needed some space to clear his head."

Sea Blue nodded,

"It's a possibility, but I think it's a slim one. I've spent my entire life learning how to read ponies and I'm pretty good at it. Test me if you want. You'll find that I'm not often wrong." his eyes wandered to Rarity briefly, then back to Twilight, "It’s true, no system is flawless, but my ratio of correct vs. incorrect is very sound. I'm as certain as I can be that Valiant is headed to Haysburg, as I am likewise certain he'll be in trouble when he gets there if not in actual danger. Let me put it like this: wouldn't you rather have me be wrong and we go off and find him for nothing, than find out later on that Valiant has been killed when there was something we could have done about it? Which mistake would be easier to live with?"

Rainbow Dash flopped her head down on her hooves and rolled her eyes,

"He's right Twilight. It's definitely not my idea of a good time, but there's too many 'ifs' here for us not to go."

Fluttershy's voice was barely discernable, even in the quiet of the Library,

"Um Twilight, if there's even a little chance that Valiant needs our help, he deserves it. We wouldn't be very good friends if we didn't at least try."

"Ah'm in, hooves down." Applejack said loudly, "Valiant's done saved two members of our family and that pretty much makes him family right there. We Apples stick together. If he needs me Ah'm there, no questions asked. It ain't ideal for Big Macintosh and me, but ifn' it needs to be done we'll do it."

"Twilight," Rarity addressed rising to her hooves, "May I have a word with you in private please darling?"

"Sure Rarity." Twilight said, likewise rising to her hooves.

The two mares walked into the Library's kitchen and Rarity closed the door,

"What is ever wrong with you darling?" she asked the purple unicorn quietly, "Sea Blue has a good point and you know it. Why are you resisting what the rest of us have already agreed on? If I didn't know any better, I would think you had something against him?"

"It's not that Rarity." Twilight responded also whispering, "It's just that this is too much to take in. I haven't had time to process it all in my head yet."

Rarity crossed her fore hooves sternly,

"That's a weak excuse Twilight Sparkle. You had one tenth the time to process the events around Nightmare Moon and you coped with it just fine. What is the real reason you don't want to go, and don't tell me it's because they're new either. We were new to you and you dealt with that just as well. No more excuses."

Twilight's ears lowered,

"The truth is," Twilight began hesitantly, "The truth is, I feel cheated. We're the Elements of Harmony. We are supposed to be the ones who protect Equestria, the only ones, not one half of a group. I feel like I've been insulted. I feel, I don't know, useless I guess."

Rarity's expression softened upon hearing her friend's feelings,

"Twilight, have you even taken the time to talk to Lemon Lime?" she asked, "From what I've gathered from Patch, darling they practically worship us. They think of themselves like Princess Celestia's Royal Guards and we're the Princesses. They're only here to protect us; they came to us for help and to help. We are the ones who protect Equestria, but we do it with them. I've spoken to Sea Blue about all this. He told me the way it all works. The Elements of Peace keep the Elements of Harmony safe while we build up our power. They're the front-line muscle, we're still the precise, powerful, magic. And even if that wasn't the case, why should it matter? They've come to us for help. Why would you deny anypony help just because you may feel a little cheated? It's a poor reason and I know you well enough to know you're not that shallow; you'll eventually say yes. Let's save ourselves, and them, some time and just help them now.”

Rarity nudged twilight playfully:

“Besides, I think Lemon Lime looks rather dashing in his armor, wouldn't you agree?"

Twilight raised her head, a smile floating around the corners of her mouth,

"You're right, thanks Rarity."

Twilight and Rarity emerged from the kitchen,

"Let's figure out what needs to be set in motion before we go." Twilight said to the gathered ponies.

Pinkie Pie leapt up into a standing position, bobbing her head left and right as she broke out into song,

"Saddle up you poni-ies, we've got a trail to blaze, oh-oh-oh-oh, through the wild blue yonder under the sun's brilliant ray-ays, lets follow Twilight into the glorious unknown, this is a life like no other, oh-oh, this is the great adventure . . . " she sang it at decibels not meant to be reached by pony vocal chords, but then again, it was Pinkie Pie.

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Everyone wish Truthseeker a happy honeymoon with his new wife! Truthseeker’s gonna kill me for doing this but hopefully he won’t know ‘til thursday! :D

Comments

[The Slending Angel]

Wait... Who is it? I need to buy them a present... Trip to London, perhaps? Maybe on Christmas? Hmm...