36. I have a flashlight.
The Tale of Lord Barleycorn
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Chapter 36: I have a flashlight.
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A walk, as it turned out, was exactly what Applejack needed.
She and her friends had taken to aimlessly wandering the satellite roads of Hollow Shades for several hours now, eschewing every path that ran near the Everfree when possible. This kept them surrounded by wide swathes of freshly harvested fields, which perfumed the air with earthy smells that only Applejack could fully appreciate; it reminded her of home.
However, not all the fields they passed were empty. Several stretches of land were overrun with tall grass, patches of large thistles, and half-matured trees. The reason for why these fields had left to such degradation came in the form of the abandoned, crumbling farms that sat languidly amid this wild pasturage.
At each such uninhabited farm Applejack would pause, forcing her entourage of friends to a stop as she ran her eyes over every crumbled brick and vine-covered wall. She said nothing, nor did she make any gesture other than a slight bob of her ears. After a minute, she would continue along the road, and her friends would join her.
Eventually her friends began to whisper their concern among themselves, but Applejack quietly assured her friends that she was fine.
When the conversation did not return as quickly as she wished, Applejack decided to nudge her friends with more pleasant thoughts. She spoke of Twilight’s first sleep-over, when she and Rarity had not seen eye-to-eye on anything, and of her and Rainbow got a little too competitive. Those moments of nostalgia caused her friends to put the awkward moment behind them and begin talking casually amongst themselves, and allow Applejack to continue to brood quietly when she was not the center of attention.
While the six continued to wander along the back roads, they never once lost sight of the water tower. The rusting hulk was the tallest building amid the grayed, bare-wood structures that comprised the heart of Hollow Shades, and now it was growing larger as the road led them back to the beginning of their excursion.
All talk slowly died down as Applejack and her friends slowly returned to town, approaching along the same path they had taken when they first came to Hollow Shades.
When they had quietly exited the doctor’s clinic for their walk, the market had been abuzz with concern. Now, there was little activity. There were still ponies on the boardwalk, but now they were all congregated around two noticeable points.
The more obvious of the two was the Harvest family’s market table. A sizable percentage of the local farming community surrounded the roadside table, eagerly listening to Leadfoot, whose voice rose above the chatter of the crowd. Although Applejack couldn’t make out the exact words he was using, she felt she didn’t have to guess about what topic he was talking about.
The other location that was swamped with ponies free from the fields was the Rusty Nail, and Applejack felt no desire to drown herself in hard drink. She didn’t care if she had seen a hundred monsters, she wasn’t going to drink this early. Granny had told her often that ponies that drink to forget or feel better end up as hopeless lushes, and the doctor was a fine example of that warning made real.
Fluttershy was the first to break the silence that had fallen on their troupe, "So um, are we going back to the clinic?"
Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Does anypony here actually want to go sit inside for the rest of the afternoon?"
Her friends all answered with their own unique variations of ‘no.’
"Neither do I." Twilight said, "But I think we could find something to do-"
"Twilight! Hey Twilight!"
Twilight turned her attention toward the familiar voice calling her name. Standing on the boardwalk outside Tablecloth’s was Roseluck, alongside Daisy and Lily Valley. The rose mare was waving emphatically to get Twilight’s attention, sporting a friendly grin.
Twilight responded with an almost mechanical wave of her own, but was too surprised by the trio’s cheerfulness to form anything more than a strained smile. Behind her, only Pinkie waved back with equal fervor.
The casual nature of these three struck Applejack as odd as well. Surely by now rumors had spread to the point where a pony would have to be deaf not to hear them. These three were known in Ponyville for being cowards who screamed at the smallest of dangers, yet they were walking the streets of the eeriest settlement in Equestria without a care in the world. Lily, Daisy, and Roseluck were all earth ponies, did none of them know of the old stories?
Roseluck took the lead as she trotted out into the street with her friends trailing behind her.
"We heard you were in town," Roseluck said, "But this is the first time we’ve seen you. How are you doing?"
"Oh… fine." Twilight stated slowly, "And yourselves?"
"We’re alright," Roseluck said as she proudly patted her stomach, "The food here’s pretty good, I can say that for sure. I can’t get half the stuff on that menu back in Ponyville."
Both Lily Valley and Daisy rolled their eyes.
"Some of it can stay here if you ask me." Lily stuck out her tongue in disgust.
"Finally, somepony I can agree with..." Rarity muttered under her breath.
Applejack heard her friend’s complaint, but hid her amused smile behind her hoof.
Roseluck merely shrugged, sensing that the majority of the ponies around her disagreed, "Meh, some of use choose to live dangerously. That fish was good."
Daisy, however, decided to force the conversation onto a topic that didn’t involve weird local delicacies.
"It’s nice to see you all came to support this town. But uh," Daisy faltered as she glanced about, "You girls aren’t here on Princess Celestia’s orders are you?"
Twilight quickly shook her head and held out her hoof as if she could manually stop Lily’s concerns from forming.
"No no it’s nothing like that, we… erm…" Twilight hesitated, how was she going to explain this tastefully to one of the most excitable mares in Ponyville?
Thankfully for Twilight, Rarity interjected on her behalf.
"We heard a few rumors that something dreadful was happening here in Hollow Shades, so we thought we’d come and investigate." Rarity smiled, "Let me be the first to say that those rumors proved to be complete exaggerations."
Rarity’s choice of words proved to be the right ones, as Lily Valley seemed to relax.
Seeing an opportunity to inject herself in the conversation, Applejack cleared her throat to get the trio’s attention. "Say uh, have any of you seen Carrot Top lately? Ah kinda need to talk to her."
All three mare’s eyes turned down the road in the direction of the Harvest family’s produce table. Applejack followed their gaze to the assembled crowd, but she couldn’t discern Carrot Top’s distinct orange coif among the multitude of manes.
"We’ve been in the restaurant since we got here, and she went off with Leadfoot for some sightseeing." Roseluck said, "If she’s not here, then she must be still out with Leadfoot... Or, that’s what I would say if he wasn’t over there at his family’s table."
"We er, ran into her while we were at the… shrine." Twilight hesitated at the word, "She left with Lord Barleycorn shortly before..."
Rather than follow up with the anxiety that Twilight expected, the flower mares all shared an amused chuckle.
"You were with Lord Barleycorn, huh?" Daisy smiled, "Then you were in good hooves."
Applejack’s eyes widened, "You’ve met him?"
Daisy nodded, "Oh yeah, and he’s a very nice stallion.We met him on the road once after we were about to leave town when Summer made a colossal plot-head of himself. He had some kind and, actually pretty insightful advice, and well that’s why we’re still here."
Applejack wasn’t exactly comforted by the idea of Summer Harvest yelling at these three until they were ready to flee Hollow Shades.
"So to answer your question, if Carrot Top left with him then she might still be wandering around with him. Maybe she needs somepony to talk to, y’know… after what happened at the farm house..." Roseluck trailed off in a hiss, flinching as if she was expecting Applejack to go off on her.
"She an’ Ah ain’t lookin’ forward to this talk," Applejack rubbed her forehead, "But if ya see her please let her know Ah’m willin’ ta listen to what she’s gone through, even though Ah don’t really understand."
Roseluck turned to her friends, both whom looked very uncomfortable with this new responsibility.
"Well, we were planning on going back to Ponyville now that the crops at the Harvest place are picked, gotta salvage what we can of the festival." Lily Valley fidgeted behind her friends, "...And after Daisy gets to check out the antique store."
That earned Daisy a few odd looks.
"I just think we’ll find something neat in there." Daisy said defensively.
Rarity raised an eyebrow, "I shudder to think what exactly would a pony in this town call an antique."
"Actually, in small towns like this antique shops double as pawn shops. You never know what you’ll find." Daisy brightened up, "When I got a chance to look through the window they had a really neat old lamp I wanna look at."
Roseluck rolled her eyes, "Trust her on this, she’s a great dumpster diver."
Daisy frowned, "I prefer ‘antiquarian.’ But believe me, that’s not the only cool thing I saw."
"Well, it’s not a Canterlot boutique, but if you’re going to do some perusing would you mind if I tag along?" Rarity asked.
The trio of flower vendors looked at the fashionista with a measure of obvious surprise, but swiftly welcomed her request with bright and friendly smiles.
"If you want to come, you’re more than welcome." Daisy beamed, clearly eager to do some treasure hunting.
"As much of Ah wish Ah could…" Applejack said, "Ah gotta see Leadfoot fer a second. Ah’ll come find ya when Ah’m done."
"Do you want us to come with you?" Fluttershy asked, ready to go with her friend should she need somepony for support.
Applejack made sure she showed her friends an appreciative smile, but she shook her head, "Nah, Ah’ll be fine. Ya’ll keep an’ eye open fer anythin’ Ah might like, ‘kay?"
"Trust me, there is." Daisy grinned, looking over at Rainbow Dash, "They even got some old racing memorabilia..."
Rainbow blinked, not expecting to hear that, "... Alright, that might be worth a look."
Applejack chuckled, that was certainly what it would take for Rainbow to set one hoof in a musty antique shop.
"Alright, Ah’ll meet ya later at the bar." Applejack showed her friends a smirk, "If ya can handle it, Ah’ll buy ya a drink."
With that said, Applejack departed down the boardwalk with her friends headed in the opposite direction. Secretly, she had made her offer more for herself than any other reason, believing she may need a stiff drink should things turned sour. Summer Harvest was a concern, but she had already resolved to forego talking to the old goat if she could. It was Leadfoot she truly needed to talk to.
To approach her cousin’s spot in the market, Applejack had to walk alone in front of the bar, and she swore that she heard several conversations hush as she passed its swinging saloon door. She did not turn to look, but she could feel several sets of eyes on the back of her head as she trotted past its dusty windows.
Already an uneasiness began to swell in Applejack’s chest, and she began to wonder if it was really wise to attempt this alone.
Tearing her eyes from the ground before her, Applejack glanced over at the stage she had helped build. The foals that had been practicing were mostly gone, though Applejack could see them here and there, playing or milling about in small groups. The only one that remained on the stage was Corn Crib, looking very bored as she tapped on the wooden floor of the stage with her hoof.
There was no doubt that the filly was eagerly awaiting the return of the scarecrow.
The thought of crossing the street and visiting with her young cousin crossed Applejack’s mind; to ask if she had seen anything of the Autumn spirit. However, Applejack knew that if Corn Crib was nervous about speaking to her before, the filly would be utterly silent now that Summer was within eyesight.
Continuing onward, Applejack began to hug the wall of store fronts as she traversed the planks of the boardwalk. The crowd was not as quick to notice her as the ponies in the bar, in fact Applejack barely received any attention. Whatever attraction they had come for was over, it seemed, as the ponies that comprised the assembly were all absorbed in casual discussion with their neighbors. Applejack twisted her ears, but only managed to catch snippets of nearby conversation, and unsurprisingly all talk was centered on the topic of what happened at the shrine.
With so many ponies between her and the table, the thought dawned on Applejack that Summer Harvest, and consequently Leadfoot as well, may not spot her among the crowd. That was a small comfort, though Applejack removed her hat just to be on the safe side as she crept onward, repeatedly and politely excusing herself.
At last she could see Leadfoot clearly, sitting quietly beside his parents. The table that was meant to showcase their best produce was, in Applejack’s eyes, ranged from pitiful to strange, with only the corn being worthy of any compliment.
Trying to keep her head down, Applejack relaxed when she saw that Summer Harvest was lost in conversation with an older stallion, talking loudly and personably while Harvest Moon seemed to be taking over the actual business of the table.
Leadfoot, fortunately, was seated on the side that Applejack had approached. From this distance she could ascertain that he was not comfortable being at the center of such a large gathering. No doubt he had been coerced into retelling what he had experienced at the shrine several times.
Despite Leadfoot’s disinterest in the crowd, Applejack only had to wave her hat a little to get his attention. No sooner than she saw him react with now-predictable anxiety, Applejack gestured with a tilt of her head to follow her before turning and easing herself back the way she came. It was best she removed herself from the crowd before Summer noticed her.
After squeezing her way back through the crowd, Applejack continued down the empty boardwalk. She counted the alleyways as she went, and at the third one she turned and left the main road. Once she was sufficiently out of the public eye, Applejack breathed a sigh of relief and she sat on the dirt path between the mouldering wooden buildings.
Her wait was short-lived, as Leadfoot soon walked past the mouth of the alley. He would have walked right past Applejack if she hadn’t waved to get his attention for a second time.
"Hey over here." Applejack said in a loud whisper.
Leadfoot stopped in mid-step, and eyed Applejack for a moment. There was a brief instant where Applejack believed that he would continue walking, but instead he timidly approached his apple farming cousin.
"Thanks fer comin’ out ta see to me." Said Applejack, trying to show her cousin a supportive smile.
Leadfoot tossed a cautious look over his withers, "Any excuse to get away from the table is a good one."
Applejack’s smile fell from her face, "Is it really that bad back there?"
Leadfoot gave a tired sigh as he turned to face his cousin, "Let’s just say I really, really don’t like having that much attention."
That statement heavily reminded Applejack of her own brother. Despite his massive frame, Big Macintosh was notorious for shying away from social gatherings. The more attention he’d receive, the more it took to force him to participate. It was only recently that he’d begun to emerge from that thick shell of his by joining Rarity’s little acapella group.
Having been witness to her own brother’s struggle, she had nothing but sympathy for her cousin’s current state.
"Lotta ponies don’t." Applejack said, adopting a comforting tone, "But you ain’t gotta go back out there. From what Ah saw yer folks got things in hoof."
Leadfoot gave a half-hearted nod and shuffled a little further away from the alley’s entrance.
"So what did you want me to come over here for?" Leadfoot asked.
Applejack nipped at her cheek to help motivate her into saying what had to be said, "Ah… well, Ah know we were all in a panic, but Ah didn’t want you ta think me an’ Twilight ditched ya back there. Ah know how yer pa thinks an’-"
"Lemme stop you right there." Leadfoot held out a hoof, "That thought never crossed my mind, but we were all so scared we would’ve ran all the way to Canterlot if we thought we’d be safe so there’s no need for any kind of forgiveness speech."
A sense of relief washed over Applejack, at least that was one bit of awkwardness avoided.
"And I’d… prefer not to talk about what happened in the forest ever again." Leadfoot shook his head in a disbelieving manner, "I’ve just… never seen anything like that. I never thought they were real."
That last remark struck Applejack as profoundly strange, "What about Lord Barleycorn?"
The question seemed to disturb Leadfoot, as he stiffened and broke eye contact with her. He bit his lip, adopting a worried expression as he seemed to be trying to choose his next words carefully. At first Applejack thought he might not have forgiven her after all, but she swiftly remembered the old belief that the spirits did not like to be spoken of. Despite Lord Barleycorn’s own assurances that he didn’t mind ponies talking about him, Leadfoot evidently did not feel like taking such a gamble.
"N-no he’s a spirit," Leadfoot said at last, "But… he’s not… um, how should I put it..."
"Scary?" Applejack suggested, trying to help him along.
Leadfoot hesitated, seeming to chew on Applejack’s choice of words before he responded with a half-hearted nod of his head.
"Not in the slightest." Leadfoot said with a flicker of humor in his voice.
"If ya can keep a secret, Ah feel the same way." Applejack chuckled, "But if ya wanna go fer a walk, Ah wouldn’t mind gettin’ ta know ya a little better. We didn’t exactly get to talk."
At once Leadfoot looked back toward the road, suddenly looking very weary, "It’d be a lot simpler if dad would just let go of that grudge of his."
Although she wasn’t enjoying the jump from one difficult topic to another, Applejack nonetheless did see an opportunity to fish for more information.
"So you don’t think mah side of that family’s all that bad?" She asked.
Leadfoot shook his head, "Of course not. If it happened like he says then really then it’s just both sides being thickheaded. To be fair though, you didn’t exactly keep your cool when dad started pushing your buttons."
Applejack frowned, "Well he shouldn’t have talked like that about Granny Smith."
"No he shouldn’t have, but you shouldn’t have thrown fuel on the fire." Leadfoot rubbed his forehead with his hoof, "With all this talk about the spirits returning and you getting spooked by them, he’s happy as a clam. If you walked up to him now he’d just rub it in your face."
As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. She had met many stubborn ponies in her life, ones that couldn’t let go of grudges as well, and when they had the advantage in an argument they would always use it to get what they wanted. With a crowd of neighbors listening to him, Summer could easily slander her, and maybe Twilight as well if he felt it would benefit him.
In a situation like this, the safest bet was not to play.
"Yer right." Applejack said plainly, "Ah hope ya know Ah… really really wanna help him to git over that grudge but… Ah don’t really see how Ah can do that."
Leadfoot shrugged, "Maybe if you came crawling over to him and admitted that your side of the family’s arrogant and our side is better… but I think that would just give him a swelled head and we’d never hear the end of it."
"Ah’ll talk to mah friends, maybe they cin help me figure sumthin’ out." Applejack blinked, suddenly remembering something, "What about Carrot Top, does… she think the same about me?"
Leadfoot hesitated, "Well, she’s still a little mad about me accidentally cluing you in on her being part of the family and she wouldn’t like me sayin this but… kinda."
Applejack’s stomach tightened a little upon hearing that.
"Kinda how?" She asked.
"First," Said Leadfoot, "I gotta say she doesn’t have any grudge for the Apples like dad has, she’s more… worried, I guess. She really doesn’t want you spreading word that you and her are related."
Applejack’s frown returned, she had never had a relative who truly wanted nothing at all to do with her before.
"I remember her acting all riled up when you called her ‘Cousin Golden’ back at the farm." Said Applejack.
"She’s still a little sore at me for blurtin’ that out." Leadfoot’s ears folded against his head at the memory of that afternoon, "What are you planning to do about her?"
Applejack’s brow furrowed as she closed her eyes to help her think. The problem was that the whole situation was so topsy-turvy. When Pinkie had announced that she might be related to the Apple family everypony involved had been thrilled. Applejack had always believed family was supposed to pull together, not push each other away. The idea that somepony wanted to leave the family was… somehow more incomprehensible than anything else in this strange place.
"First, can ya tell me why she kept this from me at all?" Applejack asked as she began to rub the sides of her head to stave off a growing headache.
"Cousin Golden didn’t wanna get tied to the Apple family." Leadfoot said plainly, "She’s really proud of the life she’s made for herself, an’ had to change her name to make it happen while living in Ponyville. If everypony found out she’s a Harvest, and an Apple by extension, she’d just be another Apple an’ not ‘Carrot Top.’"
"That… that wouldn’t happen if everypony heard about that!" Applejack hastily argued.
Leadfoot frowned, "Maybe, but that’s what she thinks. An’ she’s talking about leaving Ponyville if you spread that around."
Applejack removed her hat from her head as she processed this new information. "She really thinks that?"
Leadfoot nodded quietly.
"Then… when ya see her next tell her…" Applejack stood up and replaced her hat on her head, "That Ah’ll be in town for a while longer, so next time Ah see her we'll try and correct a few things."
She quietly left Leadfoot in the alley, and headed toward the bar. She’d wait for her friends there, and maybe have just one drink.
----
Rainbow Dash moved through the overcrowded and musty aisles of the pawn shop, her expression a mixture of boredom and annoyance. All around her she saw the faded ceramic knick-knacks that lined the cupboards of every grandmother’s house, worn woodworking tools that had to be over a century old, faded patchwork quilts and other hand-me-downs from battered antiquity...
The pegasus let out a huff as she blew her short bangs out of her eyes. Her hoof steps grew a measure more forceful as she tried to search through the mountainous piles that crowded every shelf and most of the floor for what Daisy had promised existed among this uninteresting clutter.
Rainbow knew the odds of finding something ‘cool’ amidst in all of this junk was nearly zero. It was entirely conceivable that the flower mare had seen something entirely else and mistaken it for racing memorabilia.
At best, the item Daisy had seen was just some old, moth-eaten Wonderbolt pennant. A nice decoration for her wall, but hardly worth her time, considering she already owned three.
Rainbow could hear the others talking about some trinket they’d found in an aisle she had already passed through, and consequently rolled her eyes. Junk, junk, junk, it was all junk. She carefully extended her wings, stretching them as she felt ready to just turn around and leave this claustrophobic shop, she only had one more row of shelves… and then she saw it.
It only stuck out to her out of familiarity with the fabric, which was obviously not the home-spun wool meant for the musty quilts. It was a folded mass of weather-proof cloth that had been placed on a rusty milk can to showcase it.
Curious, Rainbow stepped closer and took the folded garment and shook it out to see it in its entirety.
It was a flight suit; faded, old. Where the Wonderbolts wore suits of blue and yellow, and had ever since their founding, this suit was almost as recognizable to Rainbow Dash. It was white streaked with red lightning bolt designs, with powder burns, scratches, and other marks that told that it had worn often and in extreme conditions, and in Rainbow’s mind, cemented the fact that this was a genuine stunt suit. The idea that she had found this just laying on a milk can like some discarded old towel was unbelievable!
The frustration Rainbow had felt toward this shop was now long forgotten. She frantically turned it over, her jaw dropping lower as she found the insignias over the flanks, on one side the black silhouette of a fiery bird, the other a set of fanged teeth biting down on what looked like a planet.
Rainbow knew who this belonged to. Her chest heaved a she fought to control her excitement. To hold this suit in her hooves nearly robbed Rainbow of her ability to breath. She turned the suit over several times, examining the protective garment with the daring idea of trying it on then and there. That was until she saw the large gash that ran down the upper half of the back, just over the wing-slit.
"Ra… Ra… Rarity..." Rainbow barely managed to croak out.
Rarity, who had been eyeing some of the old jewelry lying on an old oak dresser behind Rainbow, almost had the suit thrown in her face as Rainbow came rushing over to her.
An incomprehensible string of words struck the fashionista as Rarity pushed the offending bundle out of her face. Rarity could barely understand her friend's excited babbling, but the way Rainbow was gesturing to the flight suit in her magic made it clear what Rainbow wanted.
"Alright, alright darling calm down," Rarity said, managing to quiet Rainbow for a moment, "After we finish looking I’ll see what can be done to fix this… thing if it means so much to you."
Rainbow quickly scowled, clearly taking umbrage with the old garment being downplayed so offhandedly. Before she could defend her treasure's honor, Daisy came around the corner from a neighboring aisle.
"Hey Rainbow," Daisy cheerfully said, a grin on her face, "I found that racing thing I told you about!"
In the crook of her foreleg Daisy waved a tattered and faded Wonderbolt pennant.
Rainbow sighed, yet managed to remember her manners despite the more important find, and accepted the pennant with a concise; "Thanks Daisy."
----
The hours slowly ticked away and the activity at the Fall Harvest Festival’s marketplace slowly died down. All the locals had done their shopping within minutes of everypony setting their tables up, and wasted the rest of the day visiting with seldom seen neighbors. Despite the disheveled state of the town and the general poverty, every conversation happening along the boardwalk was casual and jolly as befitting the celebration.
Talk of what had transpired at the old stone circle was a favorite topic, with the older generation delighting in a chance to recant old, strange tales of their younger days. Though many of these stories ranged from highly dubious to outright self-aggrandizement, listeners accepted these embellishments as the right of old ponies who had mastered the art of telling an exciting ghost story.
Excitement ran wild for what was to come at night. The sun was already arcing toward the horizon, and there was no sign of the lordly scarecrow, and more worryingly, non-resident ponies. In fact, the only ponies from out of town were Princess Twilight Sparkle’s entourage, and the handful of mares who were boarding at the Harvest’s farm house.
Despite whatever worry that might be churning beneath the surface, the shop owners were anxious and optimistic. They were kitting their stores with decorations that they normally reserved for Nightmare Night in accordance with Lord Barleycorn’s descriptions of Halloween. Many were sitting inside, eagerly expecting a wave of fresh customers while they busied themselves with little touches to their businesses.
Talk of Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends was also a popular topic, though in conversation it was kept tasteful regardless of the opinion of the speaker. Many of the mares in the princess’s entourage had been very polite and helpful around town, and although the Princess has roused something dark in the wood there was little to suggest it would cause trouble. If what Lord Barleycorn said was true then no spirit would cause harm for fear of being unable to attend this late-night jamboree.
The foals however were by this time intensely bored. Their costumes were left with Corn Crib, who continued to linger by the stage with her friends while the others kept playing and wandering about the busy town. Most of her schoolmates never got to see their hometown so lively or be off their respective farms in the waning daylight hours.
Tablecloth’s had closed relatively early, its staff hard at work preparing what was promised to be a banquet for all the ponies partaking in the festivities. Pinkie Pie had disappeared when the restaurant had closed its doors, and her friends had every reason to believe she was assisting the chefs in her own way. Her friend said nothing, but hoped their staff was patient with Pinkie’s unique brand of enthusiasm.
This only increased the traffic at the Rusty Nail, which was now bloated beyond its capacity to seat everypony, but few cared. Most were content to stand in whatever space was available, annoying only the waitresses, but generous tips kept them smiling as they moved through the drinking, raucous mob.
Twilight was confused about Rainbow’s sudden enthusiasm about some costume she had found at the thrift store, but had said nothing when the pegasus had nearly pushed Rarity toward the tailor’s lonely shop. The outright fangirlish fervor in Rainbow’s eyes rivaled anything she had seen regarding the latest Daring Doo novel or event, and Twilight felt it would be dangerous to get between her and… whatever Rarity was being forced into. The one thing Twilight was certain of was that Rainbow would explain ad nauseam about it when the time was right.
With nothing to do but wait, Twilight settled into mingling the best she could with the townsponies, her remaining friends doing the same. She just hoped Princess Celestia never found out she was sitting in a tavern, sipping her first taste of beer.
In increments that could not be measured by the eye, the shadows began to stretch and meld together as the sun began to recede toward the horizon. The day still had several hours before the stars began to appear, but still the streets remained full of ponies freed from the labors of the field. With the coming of the festival they only had to return home to sleep, and none of them wanted to sleep through whatever their resident king had in store.
The one lone pony that wasn’t busy or enjoying herself was Corn Crib. She had kept her attention fixed on the road that lead out back to her home, and tried to listen for any sign of a violin or singing. Sadly the chatter of the loosely assembled ponies on the boardwalk made it difficult to hear anything quieter than the crowd, forcing Corn Crib to give up on audible signs of the scarecrow.
"Excuse me."
Corn Crib startled and leaped to her hooves. Her young heart pounded in her ears as she whipped her head around to the mare standing on the ground in front of the stage. How she had snuck up on Corn Crib was a mystery, but the filly quickly tried to play off her alarm as the spontaneous need to leap up and stretch her legs...
It was only then that Corn Crib noticed that this mare was unfamiliar to her. It was true that she didn’t know everypony in Hollow Shades by name, but Corn Crib was certain she had never seen this slate-gray mare before. Excitement soon wore away the awkwardness that Corn Crib felt, if this was a new pony, then maybe there were more like her coming to town!
"Can you tell me which road leads to the old shrine?" Asked the mare.
The way the mare spoke was as flat and without even a hint of inflection, and Corn Crib was at once confused and a little disheartened.
"Uh, it’s kinda dangerous to go there right now. Aren’t you here for the festival?" Corn Crib asked.
"I don’t really like parties." The strange mare stated with all the tact of a pickaxe, "And I’ll be fine. I have a flashlight."
As if it was some sort of proof of security, the gray mare pulled a black flashlight from her saddlebag and boredly showed it to Corn Crib before putting it back.
The way this newcomer was talking, the way she just kept staring at her… Corn Crib couldn’t help but think this pony was making fun of her on some level. No pony acted this way without a reason, she thought.
Thinking it better to just give her the directions and have her leave, Corn Crib pointed up the old dirt road, "That way, after a while the path’ll head into the woods, you can’t miss it."
"Thanks." The mare turned to begin heading toward the old road.
"Uh," Corn Crib called out to the newcomer, "Why’d you ask me and not somepony else?"
The mare looked over her shoulder, still not changing her disinterested expression, "Everypony else was having a lot of fun, I didn’t want to disturb them. Sorry if I bothered you."
Like everything else, the apology was dry and straightforward, but somehow this time Corn Crib felt a sense of genuineness in the gray mare’s voice.
"What a weird lady…" Corn Crib thought as she watched her trot down the road.
Her attention soon went back to the crowd, disinterestedly watching the ponies in the crowd… until she heard the sound of a violin.
---
To be continued…
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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Applejack has made the right decision for now regarding the Harvest family.
Hello, Maud
*gleeful clopping of anticipated hooves intensifies*
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...Also. AUGH. I was so hoping for him to come strolling over the rise playing his music like the pied piper with spirits following him in to town.
(Still wondering where the heck not-Celestia and nope-Luna are)
Ya know, it would be awesome if Lord Barleycorn played Bink's Sake for them. Ponies need to know this song.
I had a Guarded reaction to this chapter.
Google is easy mode, so without looking it up, I would guess World Eaters?
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I've been reading the Garro series of 40k books. I love Macer Varren, ex-world eater.
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Then I wish you a good time with the fluff and a long timespan to enjoy it, there is a lot around and some very entertaining.
Congratulations to reaching over 200,000 Words on this story
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*looks* holy crap. I never set that as a goal when I started this story but wow. That's the best thing I've seen in a week.
Thanks for the update!!
*Spirits Be Aware, For tonight The Song begins...*
I feel like that mare was Maud that Corn gave directions too.
That ragged old suit... is that Cherry's?
Also, Maud. Because rocks, and who can ever have enough Maud?
Wonderful chapter! I was so excited to check my favorites and see this updated, and I'm so glad this fic isn't dead!
Some minor typos were found.
Missing letter "s."
Capitalization error.
Missing word.
Missing word.
Should be "to."
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Fixed. =3
Well, I'm not sure if I should uppercase 'ah' or not, but I've done it in the past. I kinda think I should since it's replacing 'I' just to help it stand out... its not grammatically right but... writing accents is confusing enough. x.x;
But you don't have to worry. I'm like a train, always late but I will eventually make it to my destination.
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Great! I'm not trying to rush you, just wanted to make sure you hadn't scrapped this masterpiece. There's nothing sadder in the world of writing than a story left unfinished.
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Oh god how do I know that. I started on Fanfiction.net back in 03, and saw sooooo many good ideas never completed. At best they made it to chapter 5 then died. I wouldn't do that to my readers. =3
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Hey man, you've done a wonderful thing and we all want to see it grow and come to its conclusion.
Just wonder what Celestia and Luna will think of the performance once the King of Autumn starts playing...will they see it as dangerous or as relief?...
What I was expecting from this chapter? I have no idea...
It's not important thought, because our dear author, Rambling Puppet, did an awesome job! It's pure gold! Thanks for a wonderful read my friend!
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I'm very glad to hear that!
It's already been said but I'm going to throw the same guess out there that Maud was the one Corn gave directions to.
And deep within the shop, upon a small table which managed to look really creepy and foreboding despite being made of Formica, they found a pulsating bag from which came faint whispers, inaudible and yet so clear to their minds, which hinted of dark powers immeasurable that could be theirs if only they were to take up the mantle of He-Whose-Name-Must-Be-Misspelled-In-Season-4-From-What-It-Was-In-G1-But-It-Really-Doesn't-Matter-Because-The-Character-Was-So-Different-Anyway-It-Might-As-Well-Have-Been-Somepony-Else (The title does get really tiring to say each time, so they just call him Evil Bad Guy).
Anyway, have some Dark Powers.
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Damn, I was hoping for more.
I really can't get enough of this story. It just seems to hit almost all of the right notes for me.
You know....just for fun, I'm going to re-read this whole story over again, just to immerse myself more into it. That's how good this story is. I hope you can make more chapters for something this wonderful. (Also, good chapter.)
The trees sing in hushed tones, and the wisps play their little games~
The stomping of a thousand ancient pumpkin guards do herald the coming of a King!
Yes, a king!
A king of alder trees and golden leaves~
A splendid king who reaps just what he sows!
so what was the 40k reference?
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search for pre-heresy World Eaters, then read the part with the flight suit.
Maud's gonna move the shrine and the spirits are gonna get mad, I can bet.
Oh my Celestia, this story has 999 likes, soooo close......
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Teetering at the edge...
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Noticed this comment, and then noticed that I somehow never "liked" the story before. Despite it pretty much being my absolute favorite mlp-related story.
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Hey thanks. That breaks another milestone for me on this site. =3
Forever shall I move as the river does flow, always changing and moving, until I am stopped by the progress of intelligent life.
I am the howling winds upon the mountains high and valleys low, I bear my gifts for all within my domain and am powered by the sun and bring rain to those I deem worthy.
I, am life in all of it's beautiful, and sometimes terrifying, forms.
I am the winds of a thousand mountains and plains, i am the rivers that run from springs to the seas, and lakes to the oceans.
And I love you.
I've binged this story for the last 8 hours. should have read this sooner.
i'm gunna take a nap and get back to it
Hopefully for Maud the rocks at the shrine are interesting. I think that the spirits would be rather confused by her when she shows up.
Aww, Maud is such a nice person.