Treasure Trove

by HeatWave


Chapter 7

“Do you… think she’ll be okay?”
Twilight leaned over the still form of Rainbow Dash, peering down at her friend in concern. It had taken her a few moments to carefully pry the pegasus’ form from off the wall. The imprint she’d left there was rather impressive in and of itself, but she had more important things to worry about than makeshift modern art.
“I’m… sure she’ll be fine,” Rarity assured the other unicorn. “She has survived worse… I think.” Despite the brave face, she was just as concerned.  Rainbow, for her part, had been still and mostly unresponsive since her unfortunate impact with the door, though her limbs and extremities would twitch occasionally.  At least she was still breathing.
“You stay here, Rarity, I’ll go get some help. If she wakes up, keep her still and steady until I get back.”
Rarity nodded in acknowledgement, but before Twilight could start moving back towards the town, the prone form of Rainbow Dash suddenly sat bolt upright, surprising Rarity, who gave out a small cry.
“Wha-!? Who!? Where!?” the pegasus’ eyes flew over the scene wildly for a moment, then slowly crossed as she brought a hoof up to press it against her temple firmly.  “Ow, my head.”
“Take it easy, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight said, turning back around to lend the injured pony a hoof. “You took a pretty hard hit. Try not to move around too much.”
Dash was hardly one to listen to instructions.  She shook her head, attempting to clear the fog from her mind, then slowly stretched and moved her limbs, bending each joint experimentally to check for injury, “What… happened?” she asked slowly.
Seeing that Dash seemed to be more or less intact and sound, Rarity took a moment to peer into the home, the door of which now lay wide open. “Well, if I were to wager a guess, I’d say it was Pinkie Pie.”
“Pinkie Pie?”
“Well, I can’t be certain. I didn’t get a very good look at her, but I do believe that I recognized her unique method of panic.”
“It was her,” Twilight confirmed, still gazing to the horizon where the pink earth pony had disappeared. “But I think the real question is: What was she doing here? And why is she so hysterical?”
Dash groaned a little as she finally stood up, having found that no part of her body hurt particularly more than any other part. It was more of a general soreness.  “She’d better have a good excuse, or I’m gonna give her a reason to be hysterical.”
“You okay?” Twilight asked, helping the other pony up.
“I… I think so.” Dash replied, giving herself a final once over as she stood up, just to be sure. Her head was still ringing. “I’m sore. Everywhere. But I think I’ll be okay.”
“Well, that’s a relief,” the unicorn said with a small sigh before looking past the pegasus towards the cottage into which Rarity had disappeared from view. “Is Fluttershy home, Rarity?” she called out.
“I don’t think so, unless she’s upstairs in her room,” came the answering call, “but I don’t see that pest of a rabbit either.” A very frustrated sigh filtered out of the front doorway, immediately succeeded by a white horned visage, “It’s too quiet. There’s not an animal to be found. Oh this is so frustrating.”
Twilight knew she had to get control of this situation before things spiraled out of hoof again. She didn’t need any more hysterics. “I’m sure everything’s fine. We’re just having a stroke of bad luck, that’s all. First things first, let’s go track down Pinkie Pie and ask her what that was all about. Maybe she knows something the rest of us don’t.”
“Good luck tryin’ ta git it outta her, cause so far she hasn’t made a lick of sense to me.”
All three ponies turned to regard the source of this new voice, which turned out to be Applejack.  She, in turn, was closely followed by a bouncing Pinkie Pie. Twilight took note however that Pinkie’s current state was anything but happy. In fact, she looked downright panicked! Her mouth was moving so fast she might as well have been buzzing for all they could understand her.
Applejack strode up to the other three, her eyes passing over them momentarily, and doing a double take upon spotting the Rainbow Dash shaped imprint on the side of Fluttershy’s cottage. She chuckled once, but decided not to point it out. The pegasus, however, had already caught the motion, and glanced away, pouting a bit. Applejack turned instead to Twilight and Rarity, gesturing behind her to Pinkie Pie, “All I’ve been able to git outta her is somethin’ ‘bout Fluttershy an’ packing. If you cn’ calm ‘er down, we might be able to git the rest of it.”
Pinkie, for her part, had detached herself from Applejack once she had caught sight of her other friends, and rushed towards them, spending a few seconds buzzing around each one, forelegs flailing wildly and mouth moving so quickly Twilight swore she saw smoke.
The purple unicorn took a deep breath, “Alright, I’ll see what I can do. Stand back everypony.” Of course, the way Pinkie was buzzing around them like a mosquito, she realized it was easier said than done. “-If you can.”  Twilight concentrated, furrowing her brow as her horn took on the makeshift glow that was her trademark.  With a flare of violet light Pinkie disappeared from where she was bouncing off Rainbow Dash’s head and re-appeared floating in front of Twilight.
The motion seemed to surprise her momentarily, as well as all the other present. They were all aware of Twilight’s ability to teleport, but they’d never seen her actively teleport anything besides herself. I didn’t know she could do that! Rainbow Dash mused.
 Twilight knew that Pinkie’s surprise wouldn’t last long, though. Her horn flared a second time, a beam lancing out towards the other pony. Pinkie’s limbs snapped into a neutral standing position, and her jaw forced itself closed. With a steady glow of her horn, Twilight set the other pony on the ground gently and stood before her, “Now Pinkie, we need you to calm down,” she explained sternly, “None of us can understand what you’re saying! Slow down and explain what’s going on. If you understand me, twitch your ear.”
Pinkie’s ears began to flap like the wings of a hummingbird, momentarily pulling her into the air before Twilight yanked her back down.
“Calmer!” The unicorn demanded.
The ears stopped, then began to beat with a more controlled rhythm.
Twilight sighed, “That’s a little better. I’m going to let you go now. Try to explain what’s going on in a way that we can understand, ok-”
“TwilightyougottacomequickIwasatFluttershy’shouseandshewasalllikeIgottapackbecauseI’mgonnaleavePonyvilleforeverandIdon’twanthertogobutIdidn’tknowwhattodosoIwenttogetApplejacktohelpandthenwefoundherandthenyougothereandI’mscaredbecauseIdon’tknowifshe’sgoingtocomebackandIdon’tknowwhereshewentandwe’vegotta-”
“PINKIE!”
“FLUTTERSHY’S LEAVING PONYVILLE FOREVER!”
With that last screeching shout the remaining four rocked back onto their heels, staring at their mutual friend in stunned silence. Pinkie seemed to have shocked even herself with the outburst, and went quiet as well, except for the sound of Pinkie’s heavy breathing.
Rarity was the first to eventually recover. “Wh-What!?”
With the silence broken, Pinkie continued. “I was here at Fluttershy’s! And Fluttershy was here at Fluttershy’s! And I heard her talking to her little bunny rabbit, and she was all, ‘We need to leave Angel!’ and he was all-” Pinkie tried to mime Angel’s movements, despite the fact that she hadn’t even seen them. It essentially translated into random, wild flailing of the limbs. “And then she was all, ‘No I can’t tell my friends!’ and then he was all-” More miming. “And then she was all-”
“Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash finally couldn’t stand it anymore. She rushed forward, getting right into the earth pony’s face. “What do you mean she’s leaving? She wouldn’t leave without telling us, you had to have heard wrong!”
“Ah donno girls,” Applejack spoke up, stepping towards the rest, “I ain’t ever seen ‘er quite so riled up like this. And Pinkie Pah wouldn’t lie. It ain’t no prank or joke,” he nodded towards her beleaguered companion earth pony, “at least, she don’t think so.”
“But come on Applejack!” Dash continued. “Fluttershy wouldn’t just leave us like this!  She wouldn’t! We’re her best friends!”
“Ah wouldn’t think so either, Sugarcube, but… well,” she nodded towards Rarity, “Y’all came over earlier worryin’ yerself silly over ‘er… you think this might have somethin’ t’ do with it?”
The white unicorn seemed absolutely dumbstruck. “I… I… I don’t know!” she admitted woefully. “She… she seemed out of sorts… but… but abandoning Ponyville out of sorts!? I just… I cannot believe it! I refuse to believe it! But… but what if Pinkie is right!?  What if she really is gone!? I was the last to see her! I should have done something more! I should have made her speak to me! Oh dear this… this is just the. Worst.  Possible. THING!”
Twilight had been studying Pinkie Pie, who was all but running in place, but she quickly raised her hooves to get everypony’s attention, “Now hold on, everyone! We don’t know the whole story yet. Pinkie,” the unicorn turned towards her friend, “If she left, did you find out where she was going?”
“You mean she’s not here!?”
“What? No, she’s not! We got here and the only person in the house was you!”
“You mean I missed her!?  Aaaah!” She began to run around excitedly in small circles, “We’ve gotta go find her! She could be anywhere! What if she disappears forever?”
Rainbow Dash promptly applied hoof to forehead, “You mean you sat here and listened to her and didn’t find out where she was going!?
“I’m sorry! I panicked! I ran to get Applejack because she was the closest pony I could think of and I’m just no good with these kinds of situations when I get upset!”
Twilight stepped forward again, “Alright. All right! Calm down everypony! We’re going to figure. this. out!” She took a deep breath and exhaled sharply, trying to keep herself calm as well. “Rainbow Dash, get up high and do a sweep. See if she’s not in the air nearby, or if you can, try to spot her on the ground. She couldn’t have gone all that far.” As Dash took off Twilight glanced at the others for a moment before turning towards Pinkie once more, who had since ceased running in circles and was now dancing anxiously in place. “Pinkie, you need to tell us everything you know.”
“Yes, please.” Rarity chimed in, stepping forward.  Of all the ponies, the fashionista seemed the most upset about the news. She and Fluttershy shared a special bond with one another, and the fact that she was potentially never going to see her again pained the unicorn greatly. She promised! Rarity screamed desperately in her head. She promised there were to be no more secrets between us! How could she?
She wanted to cry. She wanted to wail in sorrow and frustration, but she grit her teeth. Rarity was not going to break down while her friends searched desperately for one of their own. She was going to help however she could! Lifting a hoof, the seamstress prodded at Pinkie Pie, “Did she at least give you a reason as to why she might just up and leave like that? There has to be some sort of clue!”
Twilight nodded, “Yes, that’s a great idea, Rarity! Pinkie, you need to tell us everything that she said that you can remember, okay? Did she actually say she was going to leave Ponyville?”
“I… I think so. But I was just so upset when I realized what was going on and I just started thinking so much and… and…” Pinkie’s ears lowered, the pony’s head coming down a bit, “I can’t remember everything she said. I’m sorry. I should have tried to stop her myself.”
Applejack placed a gentle foreleg over her fellow earth pony’s shoulders, giving her a comforting squeeze, “It’s alright Pinkie Pah. Ya went fer help. We all know ya wouldn’t ‘a let her go if ya thought ya could. Don’t you fret none, we’ll find her.”
Pinkie sniffed, still staring at the ground. A tear or two dropped from her eyes to leave damp spots in the dirt. “I… I should have said something. I shouldn’t have left her alone. I was selfish… thinking that I… I could…” Her voice trailed off, and she buried her face in Applejack’s mane, weeping openly. The sight nearly tore Rarity’s own aching heart in two.
Even Twilight was struggling to keep her emotions in check. “Come on girls!” she said forcefully, pushing the pain away with fixed determination. “Now’s not the time for this! The longer we wait, the further she’s going to get! We need to keep our heads and think about places she might be going!” She looked at the others, suddenly realizing something. She had absolutely no idea what those places might be!
The purple unicorn turned to the others, “Uh… and I don’t have a clue. Does she have any family nearby or in other towns? Any connection to another village or city at all?”
Pinkie and Applejack shook their heads. “As far as ah know,” Applejack spoke up, “She’s only lived two places, here in Ponyville, and before that, up in Cloudsdale.”
Rarity shook her head, “No, she wouldn’t return to Cloudsdale. Of that I’m fairly certain. Not without a good reason.”
“But Rarity, it’s the only lead we have!”
The white unicorn was insistent, “And I’m telling you we would be wasting our time searching there. Why, she’d sooner enter the Everfree Forest unaccompanied before going back there.
“As much as I hate to say it,” All four ponies looked up as Rainbow Dash fell from the sky landing in the midst of them with a dull thud as she spoke, “Rarity’s right. Fluttershy isn’t the biggest fan of Cloudsdale. I can’t see her going there if she wanted to get away from everypony. At any rate, I didn’t see her in the sky, or on the ground. I even did a wide sweep around town, I didn’t see her on any of the roads leading out of the village either.”
Twilight shook her head, “But if she wasn’t in the sky, or on any of the roads, where could she have gone? That would leave somewhere in town, which still gives us time… or…” Her head slowly turned, facing out towards the very infamous forest that shared the border of Ponyville with Fluttershy’s cottage.  The other four followed her gaze, until each of them were staring at the darkened woods that had proven to be the fire through which their friendship had initially been forged.
“She wouldn’t.” Twilight tried to convince herself.
“Of course not!”
“That’s a totally silly idea!”
“There’s no way she’d go in there!”
“Ah’d sooner see a rooster tweetin’ like a jaybird.”
There was a moment of silence, a hesitant pause as the ponies shared an apprehensive glance. Then in unison the five friends turned and winced at each other, coming to the same conclusion at almost the exact same time. A testament to the friendship they shared. Twilight groaned audibly, and all five sighed.
“She did.”
“I believe it’s true.”
“Like, she totally did.”
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but…”
“Right as rain, she did. Well, let’s go in an’ git ‘er afore she gets too far.”
Twilight had already stepped forward, inspecting the path between the forest and the house, “Mmm-hmm.” She said with certainty. “There are hoofprints alright. Fresh ones too. C’mon girls! If we hurry, we might still be able to catch her!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on a second here.” The four grounded ponies looked up towards Rainbow Dash, who had taken wing in the interim and was peering into the forest. “Are we sure she went in there to get away from Ponyville? Maybe she’s just going to pay Zecora a visit?”
Rarity surprised them all by pushing forward, past the others towards the woods, “Well, that sounds like as good a place to start as any. Let’s go. At the very least we might use her help if it turns out she hasn’t seen-“
The unicorn was cut off as a high-pitched and very recognizable scream echoed from within the dense foliage of the forest. Five pairs of ears twitched as five heads turned wide-eyed towards the trees. Immediately following the scream, a tremendous roar filled their ears, sending several roosting birds into the sky in fright. The ponies didn’t notice the birds though.  All they had heard was the desperate cry of their friend, followed closely by the fierce roar of a beast of the Everfree Forest. As one they bolted, each crying out the name of their missing companion in perfect unison. 
“Fluttershy!”
 

***

 

The forest quickly shrouded them in darkness, but they’d expected this.  Twilight led the way, her horn glowing fiercely, a determined look on her face as she carved a path of light before them. They galloped forward at full speed, intent on overtaking the source of the cries as quickly as possible.  Unfortunately, only silence had followed.
Twilight grunted in apprehension, “She could be anywhere in here!” she cried back at the others. Turning forward, she called out, “Fluttershy! Can you hear me?”
The others joined up the call, and soon their voices filled the forest with cries of her name, hoping for any sort of response.  None came, not that they could hear anyway. Twilight was still galloping at full speed through the foliage when something caught her eye, a flash of blue at the outer edge of her magical glow. She screeched to a halt with a shout of surprise, barely giving the others enough time to follow suit as they came up behind her.
“Whoa! Hey! What in tarnati- …oh.” Applejack had brought up the rear, not wanting anything to catch her friends off guard from behind, and thus was the last to see the enormous field of familiar blue flowers that spread out before them. She winced in sudden recollection, “Ooh… good call there, Twi.”
“Indeed,” Rarity affirmed, “I would hate to experience something like that again.”
Twilight crossed her eyes slightly, looking up at her horn as she remembered that rather bizarre incident in their past. “As would I,” she said in agreement. “But that doesn’t change the fact that we’ll need to get across this somehow.”
“Twilight! Twilight! Come here!” Pinkie had separated herself from the others, and was bouncing ecstatically in place. “I found something! Look! Look!”
Twilight and the others picked their way carefully towards the pink pony, peering down at the ground and what she was pointing at.
“It’s a hoofprint!” Applejack said for them all. “She was here! She cain’t be much further. It looks like she went in this direction, followin’ th’ edge ‘a the field!”
Rainbow Dash, who had taken flight and over the patch of poison joke in an effort to reconnoiter a bit, landed besides her friends. “Girls?” she said tentatively, “I had to say this, but… those aren’t the only set of prints in the area, look!” Gesturing towards another portion of ground, all five pony faces fell as they slowly approached a very large, very unsettling print in the soft, wet earth.
“That… is a big footprint,” Applejack again spoke first, vocalizing the thoughts in their heads.
Rarity sat around the print with the others, but something caught the corner of her eye, and she moved to investigate. “That’s not the half of it, girls. Look!” Gesturing towards the others, what she pointed out struck fear into their hearts. Everypony could see the two sets of prints converge together, but only one set—the large set—split off.  It went straight through the field of Poison Joke; they could see where the plants had been blatantly trodden down, matted into the earth from the creature’s weight.
“You… don’t suppose she took to the air and fled… do you?” Rarity asked, her voice wavering in uncertainty.
Rainbow Dash snarled, “I’m not going to take that chance. We all know what happens when Fluttershy gets scared! Her wings lock up like a... like a...” She shook her head, unable to find the phrase she was looking for.  “Well, anyway, we’ve gotta find this thing, whatever it is, and get her back before it’s too late! C’mon! I’ll fly you each over myself if I have to!”
“Hold on, Rainbow Dash!” Twilight spoke up. “That shouldn’t be necessary.  Take me to the other side of the field, following those tracks.  I might be able to get us all across without so many trips.”
“Huh? You sure, Twilight?”
Twilight nodded, a small nervous smile on her lips, “I, uh… I’ve kinda been working on something lately. I guess now’s a good a time as any to try it.”
Rainbow Dash wasted no time, but promptly scooped Twilight up into her hooves, zooming the mare across the field until they both disappeared. The three remaining friends stood back-to-back as they waited, keeping a wary eye out for any trouble. Rarity, in particular, tossed her head about, eyes darting towards any wayward sounds she heard, real or imagined.  Eventually though, the two returned, the pegasus dropping her unicorn friend into the middle of them all before setting down on the ground herself.
“Alright,” Twilight started, looking around at them all. “Now before I do this, I need to know whether or not you girls trust me.” She gave them each a serious, level gaze, “Do you trust me?”
The four friends looked at each other, their faces a little nervous as a silence settled between them, eventually broken once more by Applejack.
“Twilight, what’s this all about?” she asked, turning towards her unicorn friend.
Twilight took a deep breath. “I’ve been practicing my teleportation, trying to develop it. Expand what I can do with it. You girls saw me teleport Pinkie, right?”
“Yeah… I was wondering about that.” Dash said.
“Well, it’s not the only thing I’ve learned.” Twilight hesitated a bit, digging into the ground with a fore-hoof, “Theoretically, I should be able to get us all to the other side of the field, now that I’ve been there.”
“Theorechimacallit? Ain’t that mean you’re not sure?”
“Oh I’m sure!” the unicorn said hastily, “I’ve run all the numbers and I’m fairly confident that I have the figures right. I know how my magic works. I just… haven’t tested it yet.”
Another pause, another apprehensive glance between the friends, and another silence broken by the stubborn, stalwart farmpony.
“Well shoot, we didn’t come all the way out ‘ere ta let no measly flower stop us. An’ yer magic’s done helped us out more times’n I can count!  I’m in.”
Pinkie bounced forward as well, “Ooh! I get to be part of an experiment! Sounds like fun! Are we the control group?”
Rarity was a little more hesitant, but she slowly stepped forward as well. “I put myself in your hooves once, Twilight, and though I abused the gift you gave me, you did your part flawlessly after only having just learned the spell. I would be a hypocrite not to let you at least try.”
Twilight gave them all a grateful smile, “Don’t worry. I would never endanger you on purpose! I wouldn’t even be trying this if I wasn’t absolutely certain.”
Rainbow Dash, however, took wing, floating up over them, “Uh… you four go on ahead, I’ll just fly myself over, thanks.”
Instead of feeling insulted, Twilight nodded in agreement. “Yes, that’s probably for the better.  The fewer I have to take with me, the easier it is. Now if I can just… remember the calculations…”
The three ponies stood close to their friend, watching as she mumbled to herself.
 “No… no that’s not it… no… ah! Yes! There it is!” Twilight’s horn began to glow vibrantly, and she lifted her head high, only to have the glow suddenly fizz out. “What?  No, no no… that’s… oh… letsee… right, let’s just err on the side of caution and increase each pony’s weight to…”
  As Twilight rattled off her numbers, Rarity gasped beside her, “What!?  I most certainly do not weigh-”
  “Quiet, fussbudget.” Applejack admonished her, bopping her lightly on the back of her head. “Let Twilight work, she knows what she’s doin’.”
   Twilight lifted her head again with a triumphant cry, “Ah-HA!” With a brilliant flash that illuminated the immediate area around them, the four friends disappeared before Rainbow Dash’s eyes. The pegasus sucked in her breath, but wasted no more time. She took off over the field on her own.
 

***

 

When Rainbow Dash landed, she found the others much as she hoped to find them, staring at the large cave that she and Twilight had been led to by the massive footprints.  A cave entirely surrounded by the field of Poison Joke.
“Y-You don’t suppose they… perhaps went elsewhere?” Rarity asked hopefully.
“Not likely,” Twilight responded.  “The tracks led us straight here. Don’t worry, I’ll provide the light.”
“Yes, but… I’m not terribly fond of caves, or anything underground for that matter… ever since…”
“Oh posh.” Applejack scoffed, “You had everythin’ under control that whole time. We was more scared than yew were. Being in a cave shouldn’t have anything to do with it.”
“Well… this is true.” Rarity admitted sheepishly.
Twilight Sparkle stepped forward once more. “Come on. Fluttershy’s in there! We need to go help her. I’m going in whether you come with me or no-” She cut herself off as she turned away from the others and towards the cave, and leaped back in fright. For there, in the darkness of the cavern’s entrance, two gleaming yellow orbs stared back at her.
“Aah!” Rarity cried. “Wh-What’s that!?”
They all heard a low growl, emanating from deep within the creature’s throat as the soft sound of scuffling could be heard from within. Slowly, the beast stepped into the light of Twilight’s horn, the glow casting eerie shadows across its deep set face. Fangs bared fiercely, it’s teeth gleamed an eerie purple in the velvet light as its gaze settled upon the five intruders.  The ponies stepped back as a shaggy mane was revealed, each of them gasping in turn.
They sat there for a few moments, staring at one another: The ponies not wanting to approach, the beast seemingly daring them to.  Finally Pinkie’s voice rang out through the forest, a high pitched squeal of fright.
“MANTICORE!”
The signal given, the silence broken, the stalemate ended.  Claws bared, the beast lunged.