//------------------------------// // Side-1: Snapping the Wrong Photo // Story: Cornfield's Sour Side Story // by BSting //------------------------------// Side-1 The late afternoon sun was beating down on Ponyville, basking the town in the last of Celestia’s glow. Its rays were particularly bright for Cobalt Coral, as she wished the shade inside of a train cart would come faster. Instead, the hippogriff would continue to wait for the start of her journey, but with a new partner in tow. Ever since the rather awkward conversation she had with her tag-along, Cornfield, she decided to simply sit quietly with him on the bench placed on the small train station. Except, boredom would win over her patience as she daydreamed back on how the two of them met in the first place. On the back of her mind, she always wanted to ask a question that bothered her for the longest time. “So... Your cutie mark...” she started off to catch his attention. His body jumped awake, caught off guard from the broken silence. “Oh!” the young pony exclaimed, “Uhh, yes?” She pointed to the mark in question: a camera with autumn leaves circling it. “Is your special talent simply photography?” Her childish friend looked at his flank. “Umm... Well, honestly, it’s not something I reflect on much. To me… Actually it’s kinda a waste…” He lifted his head up to make eye contact with his avian partner, accompanied by a smile lacking confidence. “It doesn’t seem to show how helpful I am, does it?” “Well, truth be told, when I heard your name was ‘Cornfield’, I imagined you would have been a hick with a talent for shucking corn.” She stifled a giggle. “Imagine my surprise to see that you are a photographer and not called ‘Photo Shoot’ or ‘Paparazzi Pizzazz’ like the rest of these ponies.” “That’s because cornfields are the best way to hide when somepony catches you taking photos of his daughter,” he answered back firmly before realizing in that past event it wasn’t just their supple young daughter. “Or... Hot wife...Hehe...” Raising a single, solitary eyebrow, Coral was troubled that they would go down this rabbit hole so soon. “Rrrrright, ok,” she stated, cautious on how to continue. “So, from what I can tell so far, you use your special talent, the only one you get in life, not for your livelihood in a career or something, but rather...” She leaned a bit closer to whisper in his ear, for the sake of privacy. “Your personal collection of ill-gotten pornography.” Cornfield snapped straight up in his seat, being placed right in the hot seat. “Wha-!!!” he exclaimed, getting tense. “Ok, it’s true I have certain hobbies most ponies wouldn’t approve of.  But, it’s not like we have to use our talents to better the greater good, is it?” He folded his forelegs in a huff, not enjoying the interrogations one bit, as he leaned in to challenge her. “I don’t see you boasting about your cutie mark?” The pompous female over-exaggerated a scoff as she whipped the single feather dangling over her face to the side. “Like I need a stamp on my butt to tie my destiny down.” Her view focused on his saddle bag and pointed at it, referring to his camera inside. “Speaking of, it’s not hard to guess what you’ve poured your central focus on, too. Every single shot is of some poor, unsuspecting mare’s ass.” She turned her attention away to rub the underside of her beak in thought, recalling the pile of photos that spilled out while they were staying with her mentor, Zecora. “Except for one...” The ashamed colt lowered his ears after hearing her blunt comment. “Jeez... How about toning down the patronizing a tiny bit, eh, Coral? Besides, the only other photos I don’t have of mares were the ones of Caballeron.” He raised one hoof in the air as he closed his eyes, ready to correct her. “And technically, it’s on my flank, not my ass, thank you very much!” He flashed her his chin for maximum sassiness. “Same difference.” she chuckled, shrugging him off. “And no, that’s not what I was referring to. Among the sea of tails held high was a mare looking straight at you. I didn’t get a good look to see who, though, as I was trying to shield my poor, virgin eyes from your sinful ways.” She mocked with an innocent tone while posing in her seat like she was about to faint dramatically. Cornfield thought for a moment, only for his memory to snag onto the picture of an angry pony looking straight back at the viewer with rage. Seeing the photo in his head made him bend forward and back, covering his left eye with his hoof. “OH, THAT ONE!” he shouted. Confused, Coral cocked her head to the side. “Did a strand of hair get in your eye or something?” He looked back at her with his only eye open before realizing he was hiding his invisible bruise instinctively. Followed by a nervous chuckle, he put his hoof back down. “Hahaha...it’s... A long story...” She stared down the tracks passing through the station of the “Friendship Express”. “Good. At the rate of the train’s schedule, I can write, proofread, and publish a novel before it gets here. So, a long story might be good for my sanity in the meantime.” She leaned back, crossed her hind legs, and rested the back of her head on the wooden wall. “Must be because of what’s going on in Baltimare...” she whispered aloud. “Yeah... Wait, you want me to actually TELL you?!” His surprised brows quickly furrowed as he assumed in his mind why she was so intrigued. “Grrrrrr… Fine! I can already see where this is going.” “Whaaaaat?” she said, putting her claws on her chest and feigning ignorance. “You’re certainly not thinking that I’m asking just so I can get a cheap laugh at your expense, are you? Shame on you. I’m better than that.” She concluded her sarcasm with a wicked smirk. “Whatever! So, back last Fall... Well, not last Fall but the one before that. Actually, I think it was in summer?” He prattled on for a lot longer than usual, causing Coral to drown him out. She heard bits and pieces like “I was out of school that year” and “Maybe mid-Summer”. “And I remember I wasn’t taking pictures yet because she chose to stay in her curriculum. Maybe it was in the Fall?” Incapable of taking any more, the gem thief used her newfound powers to transform one of her claws into a vine and wrap his mouth shut with it. Afterwards, she demanded “How about you pick a location, rather than a date, and GET ON WITH IT!!” “OK, OK!” was the muffled sound of his voice, covering the ear she was shouting in. Unraveling the vine, she turned it back to its original shape and enabled him to talk. “Jeez, Coral. When I was... ‘running out of sources to go’ for my homework in pornogra- Er! Photography... I decided to do some research on rock farming.” A revelation hit him like a ton of bricks. ”OH YEAH! IT WAS LAST FALL!” Coral sat speechlessly dumbfounded, wonder how much time he wasted prattling on, until she pondered something her friend mentioned. “Are you... Still in school?” “...I WAS in school.” “Good, I was hoping I wouldn’t have to sign a permission slip to take you along on this field trip of mine.” Proceeding to command him like royalty, she waved her claws forward. “Continue.” “Anyway, where was I before I was so RUDELY interrupted?” Teasingly, he stuck his tongue out at her and said “Just kidding”. Coral let out a bit of uninspired spurious laughter before going back to waiting on him. He simply begun with “...Ok, so...” In his spare time, Cornfield was studying rock farm life, mainly due to how he heard that the Pie family was going to be joining Applejack’s family reunion. This meant that the Pie sisters would be all together before the big day, an excellent opportunity to acquire some shots of Maud Pie. This said pony was the only mare who he still had yet to snap and lived somewhere so obscure. He’d have to work very hard to find her private quarters, in more ways than one as she’s always wearing clothes. So, he packed his new camera, bought a train ticket, and went to the only rock farm known in all of Equestria. When he arrived on the farm grounds, the lonely photographer decided to act neighborly. After all, it’s not like they were from a populated area. He would just be a friendly colt who moved close by recently. He even bothered to bring old overalls to make himself appear more “rustic”. However, once the farm was in a describable view, he noticed a dark grey pony with a white, short mane and a lime with a stone for a cutie mark. The Pie family member scanned around the rock farm, looking to see if anything was out of place. Holder’s Boulder? Untouched. Next batch of rocks to be harvested? Check. She took a piece of granite from the pile to be worked on and crunched it in her mouth. It had a good texture to it. Something about this pony felt “hostile” to Cornfield. Possibly like she looked to be in a constant sour mood and would not be quick to accept a new face, let alone tolerate his presence. “Better resort to plan B; ninja mode!” he thought. He dropped the baggy overalls and flanked around a nearby hill, trying to avoid detection, to get a clearer path to the farmhouse. As he rounded towards the house, he spied a laundry line, drying wet clothes that he could use for cover to get into position. “Alright. Now... Just gotta make it over without being spotted.” Limestone Pie, after confirming that all was accounted for, went inside the farmhouse and headed to her sisters’ room. She was kind enough to grant them five more minutes of sleep after the rooster crowed, but work had to be done. She breached the door into their room and rang a triangle bell hanging next to it. “Wakey, wakey, you lazy lumps of coal,” she lovingly instructed her sisters. “Get yourselves ready and prepare for the day.” Cornfield pushed his back against the wall of the house and psyched himself up.”Ok. Now the easy part’s outta the way, time for the hard part. This is what separates the colts from the stallions.” Moved along the wall, he peeked inside a nearby window. From what he could tell, their parents were inside doing something rock related. It didn’t matter. He figured the sisters’ room would be upstairs. A house of wood along with an outdoor laundry? All the climbing through and around the Everfree forest would really help him here. After finding a proper hoof-hold on the barn’s support beams, he made his way carefully up. He hoped to not cause a scene as he started fantasizing of what he might find. “They say all four sisters will sleep in the same bed…” The thought provoked some of his blood to rush down south. Indeed, those rumors were not unheard of, as the inside of the room housed Marble and Maud Pie, the latter of whom was completely unrobed for the sake of a less stuffy sleep. In particular, Maud, with her beautiful body rising out of the bed covers, revealed her more intimate bits. “We’ll be ready soon, Limestone,” she assured her sister with a dry, monotone voice as usual. “Are my clothes dry yet?” “Not yet, just let the sun do its work for a while.” the grumpiest of the Pies informed. “By the way, my favorite chisel is under the bed. Get that for me, would ya?” Without saying a word, Maud got out of bed and bent down to fish for the item in question, innocently having her rump in the air and toward the only window in the room through sheer coincidence. Below the window, the sneaky young colt could hear voices and shuffling just above him. “Whoa!” he yelled in his head. “Quick, quick! You don’t want to miss this now, do you?” He stretched one hoof just latching on to the window sill, with the other hoof bringing himself up. His eyes peered inside to see his target, holding her normally secreted posterior in the other side high. It shook and even slightly jiggled, turning the colt’s canary into a woodpecker. Speechless, his heavy breathing fogged up the window with his tongue hanging out in freedom. “I can’t find it,” discreetly announced Maud to her sisters as her tail swayed. “Are you sure it’s not in your barn?” It took an awfully long time for his brain to fire out a signal through to the hypnotized stalker. The message went along the lines of “Dude! Get the camera! NOW!” He did his best to obey his impulsive master and struggled to reach for it dangling around his neck from a strap. He fumbled it up with one hoof, holding on for dear life, and aimed it squarely at the source of all things holy. “What’cha talking about-” Before she could finish, a bright flash and resounding click came from outside the window. Everypony in the room except for Maud noticed. Marble, who was waiting for her sister to get ready outside of Cornfield’s field of vision, mouthed a silent scream and pointed at the strange pony outside. Limestone scowled with a low growl at the direction of whoever may be out there. In a reflex, Cornfield ducked under while whispering obscenities. On top of all of that, he could feel his grip on the beams loosening. “Oh son of a--!” he cursed quietly. “Keep it cool... Keep it cool...” He attempted a bird call while keeping out of view. “Ca-coo! Ca-coo!” “I’ve never heard a bird call so unconvincing in all my life,” Coral blatantly interrupted, putting a grinding halt in Cornfield’s narration. “Well, EXCUUUUUUUUSE me, PRINCESS!” He huffed as he sulked on the bench, annoyed by her rudeness. “Where as I can emulate the perfect songbird. Don’t be jealous, it’s a natural talent.” After clearing her throat, she sung a few tweets, perfectly creating the notes that would come from any common bird. He gazed upon her sternly. Did he really just enable her or was she taunting his life as an amateur photographer? “Yeah yeah, look!” He put his hooves together and clopped them sarcastically. “I’m really impressed you are a bird.” “Ha. At least you admit I’m superior,” she snarked while brushing her talons through her mane and shaking it around. “To be honest, those bird calls have saved me more than once when I’m doing snooping of my own.” “Yeah, I’ll bet…” For a second, Cornfield was jealous. He could have used that skill during his own perv-covert operations many times. He’d probably be allowed in most places throughout Equestria still. Limestone, not buying the sounds of the bullshit she had to deal with now, scouted the window and waited patiently to catch the intruder in the act the second time he popped his head. Unfortunately for her, the sly shooter had other plans. “They should of bought it,” he hoped, “Now with this window compromised, I better find a new hide-and-observe point.” He carefully navigated down to the ground. “I found it.” Maud ceremoniously (for her) called out with the chisel in her hoof. Then, she observed Limestone looking out the window and Marble cowering in a corner. “What’s going on?” “Grrr... We got somepony snooping around.” Realizing that the intruder was too smart to make the same move twice, she turned to her shyer sister. “Marble, go inform mom and dad. I’ll go take a look around the second floor to make sure that creep doesn’t come in.” Then, she turned to her more humdrum sister. “Maud, yell if he comes back.” Meanwhile, the peeping colt spied into the first window on the ground floor to check and see if he stirred the hornet’s nest. Sure enough, he saw another sister, one he’s never seen before. Marble Pie, with words inaudible from the outside, explained to her mom and pop that there was somepony snooping around. The look on the parents’ faces was one of shock from the mother and one of awakened protective fury from the father. Cornfield didn’t care, however, as his eyes locked on to the cute pony covering her eye with her mane. “Whoa... She’s so... CUTE!” Back against the wall once more, Cornfield hatched a new plan. “Ok, plan C! Get a picture of HER! I’ll have to watch her carefully and track her movements. Find the perfect opportunity!” He glanced at his camera, then angrily realized the last picture didn’t count at all. “Ok, note to self: take off the bucking lens cap!” Quickly, he fled some distance away from the household, worried about what might happen should he get caught. The entire family was alert with the father, Igneous, checking outside around the house. What he didn’t know was Cornfield had hid in a nearby bush and decided to camp out until it’s either safe or if he saw that sexy new pony! After a good hour passed, the Pie family turned up with nothing and went ahead with their morning routine. Then, the once bored Cornfield smiled in glee after seeing Limestone and Marble walk outside to the pile of rocks meant to be harvested today. Maud, however, was nowhere to be seen. Limestone brought her sister close to whisper privately. “Since that dirtbag was looking for Maud,” she noted, “I’m going to have her stay in the house while you get started on the chores.” Marble, worried about the sneaky snoop still somewhere out there, nodded her head with a nervous “Mmhmm”. “C’mon…” thought the snoop in question from a distance. “Go away, limey pony. Your sister is safe with me. Go on! It’s just some harmless photos. I’m not circulating them beyond myself.” “Just act natural.” the grumpy mare instructed. “If he’s around, I’ll do a sweep around the place while he’s distracted. Can you do that?” Her introverted sister was extremely nervous, beads of sweat ran down her muzzle, but replied “Mmhmm” once again to keep a brave face. Satisfied, Limestone galloped behind the farmhouse, out of sight, and began to scan the area somewhere unseen by the stalker. “Finally!” Cornfield celebrated in his mind as he moved, slithering low like a snake, and hid in the next bush. He snuck from spot to spot, choosing where to move closer behind the clueless mare without being caught. Marble, getting into character for her sister, took a pick in her mouth and started to chisel away at the rock pile. “That’s right. Nothing suspicious about me. I’m just here on an assignment.” He crouched down by an old well and prepared his camera. “Better get some kind of shot, at least!” After removing the lens cap and tuning the camera’s focus, he got into a firing position around the well for a fairly decent shot of the poor mare’s backside. Then, he remembered the flash and moved his hoof over a few buttons to switch it off. “Alright! Perfect!” Pressing a button, he snapped a photo when the shyer Pie swung her tail to the side. However, at the last second, he did not capture the picture of his prize. Instead, he received a shot of a very angry mare staring down the camera lens. He glanced beyond the camera in horror to find it was Limestone. “Ok, time out,” interrupted Coral, making a “T” with her palms. “May I see the photo you took at that point again?” “Uhh... Sure...” Cornfield reached around in his bag for his camera and brings it up. This time, he used the latch to open its photo compartment properly, compared to the last time its contents flew out. “...Here it is.” He hoofed over the requested picture, a bit embarrassed. She took the picture in her claws and stared into the rock pony’s furious face. A snicker escaped her beak. The longer she stared into the furious mare’s grimace, the more she couldn’t help but bellow out heavy laughter, slapping her leg. She took a moment to catch her breath. “O-oh! Oh, my gosh! Ah HA! She looked like she was soooo gonna kick your ass!” The colt’s face blushed from the indignity. “Yeah... I wish she hadn’t popped in when I took the photo. Otherwise, it would have been a lot nicer.” He hummed contently, picturing what it could have been in his mind. “But instead of a lovely mare’s rear end, I got the exact opposite in a perfect frame.” “Huh. Now I’m rooting for her to do so in your story.” “HEEEEY!!!” Flustered, he glanced down the train tracks one more time. “Could this train take ANY LONGER???” he yelled. “Tell me about it,” the hippogriff sighed. “If I come back home to find Mount Aris destroyed, I’m going to hate trains for the rest of my life.” “Anyway... Do you really want me to go on with the rest of this story?” His head was resting straight forward with his eyes looking at Coral in his peripheral view, “I warn you: the rest could bore you to submission.” “By Novo, it can’t be anymore boring than waiting for the train that time forgot.” Flicking her wrist, she waved him on. “Continue.” “Fine,” he complied with a sigh. “So, where were we? Ah, yes… the pissed bitch”. “What do you think YOU’RE doing, you insignificant worm excrement?!” shouted Limestone Pie, staring him down with a murderous look. Scared speechless, Cornfield was absolutely stunned to find himself caught with nowhere to go. “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaa... I-I-...uuhhhhh...” he babbled. “I oughta chain you to the quarry and have you be my personal canary,” She inched menacingly closer to him. “I’d do Equestria a favor by making a pervert like you choke if we ever hit a gas pocket!” He cowered onto the ground, pleading “Oh! Please let me go! I didn’t mean anything by coming here! I was just sent to study rock farm life!” After watching her sister tearing into the stalker verbally, Marble opted to go back to mining, drowning out the noise, until a slight sparkle caught her eye. Marble traced the glimmer to the bushes near where she was working. She didn’t hear anything beyond her sister blowing her top. Curiosity got to her as the innocent creature followed through the shrubbery and into the forest beyond the rock farm. “Oh, what’s that?” Limestone questioned, holding her hoof to her ear. “You want to know what living at a rock farm is like? Ok loser, how about you pick up a hammer and start breaking down boulders until your teeth fall out!” “A-ahh, n-no, that’s ok!” begged Cornfield, dragging himself backwards on the ground. “I got everything I need already! I’ll just be on my way and you’ll never see me again, ok?” He sparked an idea and prayed that the angry female would go for a bit of mercy upon hearing her own sibling’s favorite oath. “Uh... Pinkie promise?” Unfortunately, all the gray earth pony saw was red. “You think using my sister’s name is gonna save you?! I’ll knock that thought right out of ya!” She pulled back her dominant hoof, ready to let loose on his fragile skull. “Any last words before I hit you like a ton of concrete?” The shivering shutterbug shrieked in a shrill pitch. “YIKES! NO! Please! Not the face! NOT THE FACE!” He covered up where she was aiming for and looked away, quivering in anticipation of the pain. However, in the corner of his eye, he found that the shy pony of his affection was missing from the pile of rocks. Seeing a possible opportunity for a distraction, he pointed in the direction of Marble’s last location. “OH! HEY! Where has your sister gone anyway?!” “Don’t try that with me! It’s not gonna save you from a broken jaw!” “Ouch!” his brain cried out. “What’s her problem? A little voyeurism never hurts.” To show he’s serious, he sat upright and faced her dead in the eye, pointing over her shoulder. “NO! Really! Look! She’s gone!” Limestone’s instinct to check on her family was quickly overriding her need to dole out some white-hot, rock farm justice. Growling, she reached her foreleg around his neck to keep him in a chokehold and turned around. Her anger melted into confusion as she glanced around the farm. “Huh...?” she muttered. “Marble?” Struggling and trying to break free, the colt squirmed to loosen the hold on his throat, but her foreleg was incredibly powerful. “Ah... Oh... What are you doing?! Shouldn’t-” He coughed and gasped for air. “-you go search for her?!” “Marble!” She called out again. “Marble, come here!” There’s nothing but silence. Well, more silence than usual for her reserved sister. Her heart said to drop the perverted colt and secure her sibling. She galloped and jumped on top of the rock pile in middle of the field and scanned around. “Finally!” he thought as he rubbed his hoof on his neck. “I wonder if I can still get a picture of Maud, at least? I’d hate to have come all the way here for nothing.” Sneakily, he tip-hoofed away while the limey mare had her back turned. “As long as that firebrand doesn’t see me, I should be in the clear. I wonder if Maud is still in the house? Should be easy with that pony looking for her other sister.” “Marble?!” Limestone circled around the farm house, still crying out. “Marble, say something! Anything! Even an ‘Mmhmm’ is enough!” Her calls were unfounded. She went back to the pile of rocks her sister was working on and found only the tiny hammer she used for her labor. Her face still had an angry expression, but her ears folded back and her lips quivered a bit. Meanwhile, the colt was up to his old tricks again, trying to get at least ONE picture before heading out with his tail turned. Once more, he snuck along the walls around the house, climbing up to search the windows for his primary target. He didn’t get very far, however, as Limestone, in her haste, decided to make another run around the grounds to find the creep who stalked her sisters. Instantly, she spotted him, as he didn’t get very far with his plan. “Hey, YOU!!!” she called out. “WHAAAA-!” he yelled. Startled by the mad pony, the photographer fell from the house and landed, groin-first, on a medium sized stone jutting from the ground. His eyes bulged upon impact, as a single tear formed and rolled down his cheek. He fell over completely still, screaming with his mouth closed. “BWAHAHAHAAHAHAHAAAHAAA!” Coral busted out laughing, derailing the only train running in the station: Cornfield’s train of thought. “HEY!” He shouted back and blushed profusely. IT’S NOT VERY FUNNY! THAT REALLY HURT!!!” “Ahaa... Ahaaa.... Sorry, sorry…” It took her awhile to dispel the giggles from her system as she wiped away a tear. “But, honestly, you really deserve it. Didn’t anypony teach you the importance of quitting while you were ahead? A smart stallion would have bolted from the scene of the crime and not look back.” She grinded her fist into her palm.”I hope that moment where you pureed your stallionhood into peanut butter had made you think twice in the future.” Her sidekick growled. “Shut up, Coral! MOVING ALONG!” Limestone cringed and winced away from agonized stallion doubling over. “Uh…” she said uncomfortably. “You ok?” Cornfield paused before doing a quick check that all was accounted for on his family jewels before uttering in pain. “I...think everything...” he struggled to answer as he stumbled getting up. “...Is where it should be… Ugh.” After waiting for the excruciating pain to pass over, he stood up straight to face her. “Good. Gaze into the eyes of Limestone Pie,” she introduced herself while pulling down one of her eyelids. “I want to negotiate with you.” “Limestone Pie?” he asked while analyzing her up from head to hoof. “How very... Rock based. What is it?” “It’s a rock farm family! What did you expect?!” She shook her head and put his comments aside for now. “Listen. I don’t like you. In fact, I think you are the gravel beneath my hooves.” She kicked up the dirt with loose pebbles underneath her to emphasize her superiority. “But, I want to make a deal with you. My sister is missing and I don’t know where she went. Did you see her before she disappeared?” “I’m not really that bad, am I?” he thought to himself before answering. “No? Was I supposed to?” “Well, since you had your camera on my sister’s rump when I caught you, I figured you had your eye on her.” “Well, SORRY! I would have, if some menacing pony didn’t sneak up on me and make hostile threats in the first place...” “What was I going to do, make you treats and invite you in to meet the family?!” She reared up for a punch while Cornfield reactively raised his foreleg in defense. Slowly, the head of the three sisters cooled herself down. She didn’t want to knock him out yet. “Look. I’ll be blunt. I don’t want to worry my family that Marble is gone. I’m trying to show my dad that I can run this farm on my own, and he won’t think that if I can’t keep track of one pony.” “Ok... And why do I care again?” he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. “Because if you don’t, I’m gonna take my sister’s disappearance out on you!” She banged her fore-hooves together with enough force to crunch a diamond into splinters. Sensing the strength contained in her made the timid peeper quick to concede to her wishes. “Ok. But... What do we do?” he asked, sweating bullets and thinking “Sheesh! It must be hard for her to get a boyfriend”. “Hold on… I didn’t think that far ahead yet.” As Limestone mulled it over, the gears in Cornfield’s brain started to turn. He tapped on his chin, then reflected on one of his notes about the environment prior to this endeavor. “Before I got here, there was a rumor going around that Diamond Dog activity was on the rise. I wonder, perhaps there’s some gem refuge nearby? This kind of terrain would be ideal, wouldn’t it?” “Diamond dogs?!” Limestone angrily exclaimed at the thought. “No bucking way! My family ancestors had a deal with them!” “A deal? Can’t say I’d trust a tribe founded upon pure greed.” “Yeah, well, what my grandparents unearthed was something priceless to them, and we exchanged it for their tribe to not trespass on our farm! We haven’t heard anything from them since!” “Kinda foolhardy, don’tcha think? I mean, who in Equestria is dumb enough to...” Limestone didn’t give him the chance to finish as she growled angrily, harshly crushing his nose with her own. “...Hehehe... What I meant to say was... Uh... Let’s go find your sister, ok?” He gulped loudly, worried he might just get the punch she’s still building up inside ever since she met him. The two returned to the scene of Marble’s disappearance, trying to find some sort of clue. “I don’t see anything out of the ordinary,” the ornery mare stated. “No sign of a struggle, no rocks out of place...” “Hopefully, it’s not Diamond Dogs and she was just distracted by some flower or bee.” “I would have noticed if it was a diamond dog. Those things aren’t particularly sneaky. Much like you.” “Heeeey...” Cornfield withstood her punches, getting acquainted from her abuse by now. “Well, anyway, shall we split up?” Limestone rolled her eyes and let out an annoyed whinny.”So you can run off? Nuh uh.” It was worth a shot, but he had to try anything to avoid being dragged along for anything too crazy. He stared at the dirt, contemplating where his life went wrong, until he noticed the many hoof prints in the soil. “Hey, look!” he drew attention to the ground. Then, he faced a harsh realization that tracking her down may not be as simple as he thought, as there were many tracks possibly belonging to his “friend” and the rest of her family. “There’s a lot of them. Which one is your sister’s?” Limestone’s eyes now focused on the prints that she had overlooked the entire time, not paying any attention as there were so many naturally. However, she did trace a line of steps that led to the bushes. After giving it a bit more thought on where this direction led to, her eyes widened in shock. “T-This way leads to the Ridge. Marble is too afraid to go into the forest alone...! That means-” “She grew sick of your bossy attitude and ran free?” the snarky stallion interrupted, chuckling. “Has anypony told you that you are an insufferable pile of trash lately?” the angry mare rasped with teeth clenched. “I WAS BEING SARCASTIC!” he shouted, sitting up and holding his hooves in the air, before crossing them and shooting her the stink eye. “JEEZ, where’s your sense of humor, lady?” “I lost it. Much like I lost my sister.” She walked toward the bushes, about to make her way between them, before waving Cornfield on to come with her. “Well?!” “Alright, alright.” The photographer begrudgingly followed as they trudged their way through the rough foliage of the forest. Limestone had trouble finding stable hoofholds among the roots and plants, while Cornfield navigated ahead of her, treating the forest like it was his backyard. After over a hundred meters of travelling, the horny colt got another idea in his head. “You know, if I get behind her, I could still get a picture of ass-quarters.” He slowed down and motioned for her to take the lead. “I think it’s this way!” “You sure?” the irritated mare asked. “Because it all looks the same to me.” She took the lead, but also caught that he had one hoof on his camera. Correctly assuming that she might go after her next, she rode her tail as low as it possibly could go. Pouting, he realized that she was too smart for him. “C’mon, it’s not like you’re wearing any clothes,” he argued in his head. But, as they marched forward, something shiny caught his eye in the treetops ahead. “See? I’m right!” Cornfield boasted. “I even saw something sparkling over there!” He didn’t count on finding such a beacon in the wilderness, as he depended on the trail of broken branches and bent leaves to get them as far as they did. The glint of the object also caught Limestone’s eye, as they proceeded closer. Looking upwards, they can see a diamond tied and hanging from a vine, dangling out of their reach on the branch of a tall tree. “Even I know when I see a trap like this,” Her forest guide pointed out the obvious. “These dogs are so foolish.” “Yeah.” she agreed. “Obviously just a distraction, though, considering how high up it is.” For her, however, it would serve its purpose. The mare could feel her hooves overcome by something wet and coarse. Then, her field of view shifted down slowly in horror of what she accidently stepped in. “Ugh! Quicksand!” Reactively, she lifted her legs higher to walk her way out, but only found herself to be stuck even further. “Well, if we’re all done here, then I-” Cornfield turned his attention toward her body helplessly sinking. He thanked his lucky stars that he didn’t follow along ahead of her and be trapped as well. Wicked thoughts of abandoning her raced in his head, thinking it would be a surefire way to escape her grasp. But, his conscience knew better than to leave a damsel in trouble. “Ah, Celestia. Why me…? Limestone! Hold on!” Finally recalling what she was told about quicksand, she forced herself to remained calm until he did something, anything, to try and get her out. “Don’t just stand there! Help, you moron!” Putting her harsh words and his fragile ego aside, he hastily removed the camera strapped around his neck and put it on the ground, before he shimmied up a tree as fast as his hooves could allow him. Then, he crawled on the top of the lowest branch above the quicksand and unraveled a vine to use. “It’s a good thing I live by a forest, too!” he shouted as he tied the vine around his barrel. Finally, he roped the vine around the branch and securely lowered himself down to reach down for her with one of his forelegs. “Grab my hoof when I’m over you!” Without delay, she snatched his limb with both hooves, but then let out a shocked grunt when she felt something grab her hind legs from underneath the sand. Somepony or something was pulling her down! “ARGH! Something is holding on to me!” Strangely, other than the creature’s grip on her, she didn’t feel sand anymore on the bottom of her hind legs. The sudden snag stopped the momentum of the swing and loosened the simple knot around him, reacting with a loud “Whooooooaaaa”! Before he knew it, she dragged him into the sand with her and they both were now sinking through it. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!” Cornfield screamed as he begun to pray for himself. He profusely apologized for every mare he took a perverted photo of, going into enough detail to make even the loneliest stallion cringe. Fortunately, their complete submergence didn’t spell their doom, as the quicksand was, in fact, a thin layer of the stuff to disguise an entrance to the tunnels below. Limestone fell a short distance and collided with the rocky floor underneath, followed by the colt landing right on top of her. “OOF!” When he opened his eyes, he was treated to a full view of her firm and shapely buttocks below his face. It was the perfect photo opportunity! That is, if he didn’t leave his camera on the surface besides the quicksand. “Damn…” he muttered to himself. “Not half-bad, too.” “Get off me before I-” She cut her threat short after sharp, jagged spears were pointed at their direction. Large dog-like creatures were wearing crude stone armor, threatening to skewer the ponies with their weapons if they made so much as a twitch. They were surrounded.