The path leading from Zecora’s house to Ponyville led to the town’s farming district, in a place that was not far from Sweet Apple Acres.
“I did finish the dirt, though,” said Applebloom. She poked the horseradish in the shoulder. “So no I have a nice place for you to live! We can give you a garden bed out in the far fields, or pot you if you prefer.”
“I think he likes pots,” said Sweetie Belle. “Actually, Rarity has a really nice one. I bet I can pinch it. If he has to live in dirt, he might as well look pretty.”
They approached a windbreak, but suddenly stopped. All three of them looked around.
“Uh, where is Scootaloo?” asked Applebloom.
“I thought you had her,” replied Sweetie Belle. She looked around but did not see her friend. “Well, that’s just great! Now there are only TWO Cutie Mark Crusaders! We’re dropping like fly!”
“She’s probably back at Zecora’s,” sighed Applebloom. “We have to go get her.”
“But we just spent two hours walking this far! Look how tired the horseradish is!” They looked, and he was indeed tired. His leaves were wilting, and he seemed to be breathing hard out of whatever aperture he used for gas exchange. “I don’t think he can make it all the way back without getting dehydrated again!”
“Me neither,” said Applebloom. “But we can’t just leave her there.”
“Why? It’s not like, you know, anypony would notice.”
“We need cream for that poison oak anyway. I’m starting to get REAL itchy.”
“Yeah,” said Sweetie Belle, slowly acquiescing. “You’re right. I’m pretty itchy too. And Scootaloo is really, really, REALLY adorable. I mean, have you seen her little tiny wings? They look so soft! I just want to grab them and- -”
“Sweetie Belle?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re making this weird.”
“Oh,” said Sweetie Belle, blushing. “Sorry.”
“Besides, I thought you liked earth-ponies.”
“What?”
Applebloom’s face scrunched. “I said that we should probably let the horseradish stay here until we get back. You know, sit in the shade. Maybe get some water from the irrigation channel.”
“Oh. Yeah. That’s a good idea.”
They both turned to the horseradish. “You need to stay here,” said Applebloom. “Nopony comes out here, so just stay put until we get back.”
“Do you understand?” asked Sweetie Belle.
The horseradish paused for a moment, and then nodded vigorously.
“Great!” said Applebloom as she and Sweetie Belle galloped off back in the direction they had come. “We’ll be back in a half hour! Then we can get you some water and take you back home!”
The horseradish watched them go and waved as they did. This continued until they were out of range, and actually for several minutes afterward before the horseradish simply sat down in the shade and waited patiently.
It had waited for nearly the entire thirty minutes before it perceived something rustling in the plants near it. It turned, and was greeted by the smiling face of a small herding dog. Winona looked at the horseradish and let out several cheerful barks. The horseradish reciprocated by reaching out and hugging the adorable dog. Winona did not seem to mind, as she was indeed quite adorable and had grown accustomed to being hugged by ponies and pony-like organisms. The horseradish, likewise, was gentle and seemed to enjoy getting to hug a puppy as much as the puppy enjoyed being hugged.
Then something else rustled in the bushes. The horseradish looked up, and Spike emerged.
“Oh, finally,” he sighed. Then, calling behind him, “hey! Twilight! Winona found it! It’s over here!”
There was much more substantial rustling, and then suddenly Twilight appeared. The looked at the horseradish and then burst out laughing.
“It’s real! It’s actually REAL!” she cried. “Finally! After all these…several hours, I guess.” She reached out to the horseradish. “Here horseradish! Here boy!”
“It’s not a dog,” said Spike. “But I…um…actually I don’t know what it is at all.”
“Why don’t you come with me, horseradish?” said Twilight. “You’re going to help me with my potions!”
The horseradish, not being capable of understanding the danger that it was in, nodded happily, glad to be making a new friend. It then followed Twilight as she led it away from the place that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had told it to wait.
When the Cutie Mark Crusaders did return minutes later, Scootaloo was not in the best of shapes. She was pale and smelled like soup, and walked with a bit of a wobble.
“Oh…what happened to me?” she groaned.
“How should we know?” asked Sweetie Belle. “We weren’t there.”
“I feel like a teabag. Or a duty clam.”
“You wouldn’t be used in chowder,” said Applebloom matter-of-factly. “You would be in some chicken noodle soup.”
The three of them returned to where they had left the horseradish. Upon arrival, though, they found that it was missing.
“Where did he go?” asked Applebloom, a tone of panic rising in her voice. “Sweetie Belle, where did he go?!”
“Calm down. It probably wandered around. It’s probably nearby, or down at the channel.”
They then spent another half hour looking around, but to no avail. None of them found it. The horseradish was gone.
“I can’t find him! I can’t find HIM!”
“Applebloom calm down!”
“Sweetie Belle calm down!” groaned Scootaloo. “Ugh. I have a headache! It’s like the one I get the next morning after Rainbow Dash makes me drink cider until I go to sleep.”
“Are you fillies looking for something?” A head poked through the windbreak, and the three fillies screamed in surprise. Then they realized that they were looking at a turquoise unicorn, her body painted with camouflage.
“Lyra Heartstrings?” said Sweetie Belle, recalling having seen the mare around town from time to time. “What are you doing here?”
“I have a farming plot out here,” she said.
“Farming?” said Applebloom. “Farming what?”
“Secret things. Hence the camo. You know. Fingerlings, hardy palm trees, sarcodactylis, that sort of thing. And I don’t mean to harp on the subject, but it is a SECRET. If Bon Bon figures out the what I’m doing…”
“But you said you saw something?”
“No, I asked if you were looking for something.”
“We…are.”
“What is it, then?”
“It’s a secret.”
“Ah. Touché. I was figuring you meant the horseradish.”
The Cutie Mark Crusaders collectively gasped. Scootaloo choked on hers. “How- -how did you know about that?” asked Applebloom.
“Because I set up cameras all over town. To catch Kak Loshad and to steal his secrets. I mean, what did you think I was doing in the background of, like, every shot?”
“Well, where did it go, then?”
“The background?”
“No, the horseradish!”
“Oh. Old false-god Twilight came and took it. They went back to her castle, I think. Or that’s at least the direction they went.”
“Twilight?” Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo all looked at each other, and then immediately started sprinting.
They ran all the way to the center of Ponyville, and to the Castle of Harmony. Each of them knew exactly what was at stake, and the danger their friend was in. Twilight was known for her research into science and her knowledge of potions and magic, and the fillies knew what she could do if she got her hooves on the horseradish. Each of them hoped in their hearts that Twilight would not do anything rash, but deep down, all of them knew exactly why she had taken the plant.
When they reached the castle, Sweetie Belle was nearly unable to catch her breath. She was not physically fit by any means, but had done her best to keep up with Scootaloo and Applebloom.
“Sweetie Belle, are you okay?” said Applebloom, helping her friend.
“I’m- -fine- -I just- -we have to- -”
“We have to get to Twilight,” said Scootaloo, racing past them.
Sweetie Belle felt as though she were about to pass out, but she still got up and rounded the corner to find an entire case of stairs. She swore loudly, and continued to do so as she tried to follow Applebloom up the stairwell. Applebloom normally would have found Sweetie Belle’s reaction to physical exertion hilarious, but she did not have time to laugh now.
It took them some time, but the three fillies eventually found Twilight’s lab. A strange smell filled the air. The horseradish had definitely been here, and probably still was, but the smell was somehow different and far stronger than any of them remembered.
They threw open the door and the smell wafted out one hundred times stronger than it had been in the hall. As each of them looked in, they knew that they had arrived too late.
Twilight was across from them, standing over a large table. She was dressed in an apron, which was now spattered with plant material. Before her was the mess that had once been a horseradish. The pieces had been cut apart into thin slices. The limbs had been removed completely and peeled completely, although they were still held to the shackles that had immobilized the horseradish when it had been alive. Twilight was still holding the cleaver, but it was apparent that she had already run at least half of the horseradish through a grinding machine.
“Oh, hey girls!” she said, flipping off the machine and smiling gleefully. “You’re just in time! I know you all have your cutie marks, but how about helping me weigh out some storage portions? Huh? It’ll be fun!”
“Yeah,” said Spike, who was eating a bunned carrot. “And it’s delicious on dogs!”
The Crusaders just gaped, until Applebloom stepped forward. On the ground in front of the table were the horseradish’s leaves. They had been tossed away carelessly, and were now inert and wilting. Shaking, Applebloom picked them up. “You…you killed him,” she said.
“We’ll, it’s not a ‘him’,” corrected Twilight, “but yes, it is quite dead. It sure put up a fight, too. But now look how much reagent I have for my potions! I can share some with you, if you want. Or we can make them together! I know how much you like that sort of thing.”
Applebloom looked up at Twilight with tears streaming down her face. “You…you murdered our friend…”
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