//------------------------------// // Ch 18 - A Prank Gone too Far // Story: A Trail Leading Home // by Hades Shadow 92 //------------------------------// Chapter 18 -- A Prank Gone too Far -- “Rainbow, he clearly sent out that flare to scare off their fox! Fluttershy looked at his report, it’s blank! He didn’t come here to participate!” Trail yelled.  He had taken Rainbow aside, to a remote part of camp away from the students. He was clearly not pleased with what Comet and her friends had told him about Tourmaline’s little prank. “Look, I get it Trail. But he gave a believable excuse, and hasn’t caused any trouble since. I can’t just punish him without him breaking a legit rule.” Rainbow said, her brow furrowed.  “I clearly said no pranks, and don’t tell me you are buying that “lost control while sneezing” excuse. That’s the oldest unicorn lie in the book.” Trail said.  Rainbow groaned, “I’m not saying I don’t find it fishy, but scaring away an animal isn’t enough to ban him from the exercise. You, Starlight, and Zecora can keep a closer eye on him if you want. Now I have to go.” Rainbow argued before taking off in the air.  Trail grunted, rubbing at the bridge of his snout in frustration.  “You know she’s right Trail.” Starlight said, coming up from behind him.  “You were listening I guess?” Trail said, not looking at her.  “Yeah. I know you’re worried about Comet, but you have to understand our position as teachers. We can’t show favoritism, or any disdain towards students, no matter how much of a brat they are.” Starlight said.  She sat by him on her haunches, trying to get him to look at her.  “I know that. That’s what makes me hate this kid even more. He knows that.” Trail growled.  “It’s frustrating, but until he is caught in the act of doing something like at the race, we can’t do much of anything other than giving him a lecture. Trust me, every teacher has tried.” Starlight said.  “If I didn’t have to set hoof in Canterlot, I would find that brat’s father and give him a piece of my mind.” Trail said.  Starlight turned to give him a confused look, “What’s wrong with Canterlot?”  Trail’s eyes widened a moment before he tipped his hat over them, “Let’s get back to the students. It’s almost time for the survival course.”  Trail got up and walked away, leaving Starlight confused. After a moment to gather herself, she too left to join the students. “Alright kids. Here’s the layout for the survival course. With help from Trail Blazer and Zecora, we have plotted out 5 different routes for you all. Each route will have a group of seven students and a chaperone. We have already picked out groups and who their chaperone will be.” Rainbow said.  The students all murmured to themselves. But a quick blow of Rainbow’s whistle got their attention back. “Now, we’ll announce groups in a minute. But let’s talk about the course itself. Like I said, five different paths. Now Trail and Zecora have assured us that no predators will be on these paths, or in the general area. But your chaperone will be with you at all times just in case. Your goal is to reach the edge of the swamp that leads into a clearing to the north. There is no time limit, but there is something special for those who reach the clearing first.” Rainbow explained.  And with that, she pulled ou 7 pieces of paper, “Seven tickets to the Wonderbolt’s show in Cloudsdale!”  All the students went wide eyed and started cheering, eager to win the prize. After a minute of whistle blowing, everyone calmed down.  “Now, let’s do groups. The first group will be with Counselor Starlight. Sandbar, Yona, Smoulder, Ocellus, Silverstream, Gallus, and Comet Trail.”  Comet and her friends all screamed in excitement and delight, making their way to Starlight who gave them all a smile. Rainbow announced the rest of the teams, but Comet didn’t pay much attention until Tourmaline’s name was called. He was in the fifth group, with her dad. With the farthest route away from Comet and her friends.  “Mr. Trail, are you sure there won’t be any monsters in there?” A pegasus filly asked as she hovered in place, shaking a little.  “No need to worry kids. Zecora and I scouted this place for a whole week. Ain’t nothing here except deer and some small animals like squirrels and such. Might see the occasional snake but I’ll see ‘em long before you kids get near ‘em.” Trail said, assuring the kids of their safety.  The filly landed and gave him a smile. The other students in Trail’s group all had mixed feelings about the swamp. Some looked eager while others looked nervous. And then there was the one student who looked completely uninterested.  Rainbow Dash had placed Tourmaline in his group at his request. He wanted to make sure the colt did not sneak away to mess with his filly. He wouldn’t be getting away from him.  “Alright now, everyone get ready to head out. We’re gonna be the first to the clearing I betcha.” Trail said.  The students all cheered, except Tourmaline of course, who just kept that uninterested stare, almost like he didn’t hear Trail at all. Well, as long as the kid stayed quiet and in his sight, Trail could live with it.  Rainbow Dash blew the whistle, signaling to every group that it was time to head out. So Trail began to lead his group into the swamp, ready to show them the ropes and get them to that clearing. Part of him wanted to let his filly win, but that wouldn’t be fair to the kids in his group. Comet was on her own this time.  As the group traversed the brush and shrubs, they soon found themselves on a path that seemed to be naturally made. Trail took a moment to get in the center of the group and talk while they walked.  “Now kids, this trail as you can see has been worn down by all the traffic of animals that have come through here. This shows us the best way through the trees and gives us an idea of the animal's natural routine. They most likely come through here to get to the water back at base camp.” Trail said, gesturing all around them as they moved.  Some of the students looked around while the group moved along, some even finding signs of deer. Tracks, droppings, all ways to indicate what had come through the area recently. A good bit of information to know, especially as it means that no predators have been around here in a while, given the quantity of sign.  Trail looked back to see Tourmaline walking through the trees and brush without a care in the world. He didn’t struggle, and wasn’t even bothered by the muck that he occasionally stepped in. He just kept walking, not really participating at all. It seemed off to Trail, he expected to at least hear him complaining.  Trail shrugged and the group continued along. They soon reached some larger trees, thick trunks and large branches that blocked out the sun. “Ah, take a look at these trees kids. You’ll only find them here in the Everfree. They are very old, and absorb the sunlight above for nutrients, then they feed the excess energy into the ground. That’s how all these plants can grow with so little sunlight here.” Trail explained.  The kids were actually enjoying the lessons, some asking questions, others looking at the trees with more understanding and a bit of respect. Still, Tourmaline said nothing and kept to the back of the group.  Trail still had that feeling that something was wrong, it made his mane itch under his hat. Finally, he had enough and turned to address Tourmaline.  “Tourmaline, are you paying attention?” Trail asked.  The colt said nothing and continued, even walking past Trail when he and the group stopped.  “Tourmaline, answer me when I speak to you boy.” Trail said, a bit of frustration escaping him.  He tried to reach for the colt’s shoulder, but to his surprise, his hoof passed right through him, like he wasn’t there. Shocked, he took a closer look at the colt, seeing on mud or grass coating his legs like the other students. But what really stood out, was he did not cast a shadow.  “He’s an illusion.” Trail said, lighting up his horn.  He took a stick off the ground and poked it through the illusionary colt, making it dissipate. Trail was furious, more at himself than the colt. How could he not realize that it was an illusion the whole time? A filly came up  to him, “Mr. Trail, where is Tourmaline?”  And then another thought struck him as the filly asked that question, making him turn off to the left. A chill ran down his spine as he had a good hunch where the boy had gone.  “Comet…” Trail said quietly.  “This is so cool!” Comet squealed.  Starlight tried to keep up with the filly, getting a little winded. She wasn’t used to this much outdoor activity. Personally she would be in the library with a cup of tea by now.  “Comet slow down. You’re gonna leave some of us in the dust.” Starlight said, humor in her voice despite her obvious fatigue.  Comet stopped in her tracks and looked back at the rest of her group with a look of embarrassment. Most of her friends had managed to keep up with her. Yona had some issues with the mud and occasionally tripped over the large tree roots on the path. Ocellus, Gallus, Smoulder and Silverstream used their wings to traverse the hard parts of the path, though Silverstream did try and stay on the ground to look at all the small bugs and creatures they discovered along the way.  “Sorry guys, I just love these kinds of places. So many different plants, flowers, animals. And almost completely cut off from ponies. So much to see and learn.” Comet said gleefully.  Ocellus landed next to Comet, “I like learning new things, but this place gives me the creeps. Almost like something is gonna jump out at us.”  Comet shook her head, “Nah. Dad and Zecora scouted these trails remember? They wouldn’t have brought us here unless it was absolutely safe.” Ocellus nodded, but still had a worried look on her face.  Silverstream landed on the other side of Comet, “Come on Ocellus. Even if something jumps out at you, you can fly. Doubt anything here can fly.”  “And if anything tries, I’ll give it a taste of dragon fire.” Smoulder said, having caught up with them.  Everyone gathered together as Starlight pointed out a snakeskin that they found. A small one, possibly from a rat snake. But one of the group was looking at something else entirely.  Sandbar was looking at this one tree in particular, with a look borderlining confusion and irritation. Not a look you usually saw on him. Yona noticed this and walked over to Sanbar.  “Sandbar, what wrong?” Yona asked.  He jumped a little when she spoke but calmed down when he saw it was her, “Oh Yona. Sorry, but something is bugging me.”  “What bugging you? Yona asked.  “I swear I’ve seen this tree before. Like we’ve already passed it.” Sandbar said.  The rest of the group had joined around him as he said that, catching Starlight’s attention.  “Sandbar, I’m pretty sure we’ve stayed on the path the whole time. A lot of these trees look the same.” Starlight said.  “Yeah, not sure how you can tell the difference.” Smoulder said.  “Actually you can certainly tell the difference between all the trees. Shape, size, species. Different fungi and growths have accumulated on it.” Comet said.   That got the others laughing, making Comet scrunch up her nose.  “What’s so funny?” Comet pouted.  “I totally knew you’d go off on a nerd rant.” Smoulder said before going back to laughing.  Comet continued to pout, but eventually she couldn’t help but giggle. Starlight hid a giggle behind her hoof. Eventually the group moved on again, taking in the sights as they continued through the swamp. It seemed to go on forever, making it seem like they hadn’t made much progress at all. There was eventually supposed to be a clearing. But they had been going for a while and hadn’t even gotten out of the treeline.  “Thought so.” Sandbar suddenly said as the group stopped to look at him.  He was standing in front of another tree, making Gallus land next to him with a sigh.  “Sandbar, all these trees look the same. What’s the deal?”  “Then how do you explain that?” Sandbar said, pointing to something on the trunk.  Everyone had joined around him to see what he was pointing at, and when they did, they were even more confused. Near the middle of the trunk, Sandbar’s name was carved into the bark.  “You carved your name into the tree. So?” Smoulder said.  “No. I carved my name into that tree I was talking about a while ago.” Sandbar said.  That got Comet’s attention real quick. She moved to look at the tree, and then to their surroundings. What was going on?  Starlight’s horn glowed, her eyes closed in concentration for a moment before the air seemed to shift around everyone. They huddled around the older mare, looking in every direction as the images shifted and swirled like a ripple in a pond. After a minute or so, everything was completely different.  The trees were thicker and had less fungus growing on them. The thick brush was also gone, replaced by a large smoothed out path. Boulders could be seen dotting the path and toppled trees were smashed as it something bulldozed their way through.  “What’s going on? Where are we?” Silverstream asked, panic creeping into her voice.  “We’ve been stuck in some kind of illusion spell.” Starlight said.  “An illusion spell?” Sandbar asked.  “A spell that made us see what wasn’t there. We could have walked in a completely different direction and never noticed.” Comet said.  “But if this was an illusion, how come Sandbar’s carving stayed on the tree? Wouldn’t it change back to keep the illusion up?” Ocellus asked.  Starlight hummed, “Good point. Clearly whatever is behind this wasn’t paying attention when Sandbar marked the tree.”  Suddenly, a noise came from behind them. It sounded like something stepping on a stick. And Comet could have sworn she heard a voice.  Smoulder’s eyes narrowed and she flew like a lightning bolt into the treeline.  “Ow! Get off me dragon!” A colt’s voice said from the bushes.  Smoulder reappeared shortly afterwards, dragging a dirt covered Tourmaline with her. She threw him at Starlight’s hooves and as he looked up, he was met with a very angry glare.  “Tourmaline! What is Celestia’s name are you doing here?” Starlight yelled.  He got back to his hooves only to stumble back a little from the ferocity coming not only from the older mare but everyone else present.  “I… I…” He tried to speak, but couldn’t find the words.  Comet’s eye widened and she got right in his face, “It was you! You’ve been following us, keeping us in an illusion!”  Silverstream gasped, “He totally did.”  “This is low, even for you!” Sandbar shouted.  Tourmaline tried to get more distance from them, but bumped into Smoulder who was cutting off his escape route. Starlight advanced on him and picked him up in her magic.  “Tell the truth Tourmaline!” She yelled.  “Alright alright yes. I made an illusionary path for you all.” Tourmaline finally admitted.  “You are in serious trouble mister. More than ever before. Princess Twilight will hear about this when we get back to the school.” Starlight glared at him.  “Uh, Counselor Starlight, which way is the school?” Silverstream asked.  Starlight’s eyes widened as she looked around, realizing that she had no idea where they were. The map Trail had given her only had the path they were supposed to take. The rest of the swamp was largely unmapped.  She glared back at Tourmaline, “Where are we Tourmaline? How do we get back to the path?” He blinked for a moment, and looked away slowly, “I honestly didn't think about that. I was simply going to teleport back to the base camp when I figured you had lost the race.”  “So you have no idea where we are!?” Starlight yelled.  Starlight groaned and put the colt down, rubbing her temples in frustration.  “Alright Starlight, calm down. Just stay calm and think of a way out of this.” She said to herself.  “Can’t you just teleport all of us back to base camp?” Silverstream asked.  “Teleporting multiple targets is difficult and takes a lot of magic. Between all the activity today and dispelling that illusion, I don’t feel comfortable teleporting all of you. We’ll leave that as a last resort.” Starlight said.  “Maybe one of you could fly up and see which way the clearing is?” Comet asked.  “Good idea Comet. I’ll go.” Silverstream said, taking off into the air.  She made it past the canopy of the trees and disappeared from sight for a while. Minutes passed and they were starting to get a little worried.  Suddenly, Silverstream came back down and had a worried look on her face.  “Counselor Starlight, I couldn’t see the clearing, just a cave that way.” Silverstream said, pointing to the west.  “Ok, maybe we can send out a flare, or some kind of signal to the others.” Starlight hummed to herself.  “But that’s not all. I saw movement in the trees. Something big is coming from that way.” Silverstream pointed a claw to the east.  Comet immediately looked and focused on listening for anything out of the ordinary. Sure enough, she heard it. Something big was coming, something very big.  “Everyone in the treeline, now!” Comet yelled, pushing Starlight in the direction of the treeline.  Everyone immediately went for the bushes, even Tourmaline. They got down as low as they could, peeking out just enough to see the path. Minutes passed with the sound of movement getting louder. Comet was getting scared. And then they saw it, a large black creature with piercing yellow eyes. Its head was huge, rivaling an adult dragon in size. As it started to move closer, Comet could see the rest of the body. Long and slender, with thick scales all across it’s back. The belly had smoother scales as it was drug across the path. As its forked tongue flicked out of its mouth, Comet had no doubt as to what it was. A basilisk.  “Don’t move.” Comet said as quietly as she could.  No one moved, not even an inch. The basilisk slithered along the path, thankfully not seeming to notice their presence. If they just stood still and didn’t make a noise, it would continue onward and they could escape. She knew enough about snakes to know they relied on smell mostly. The countless smells of the shrugs, trees and other stuff around them should provide enough cover.  But then she noticed a glow to her right. Panicking, she looked to the source. Tourmaline.  He looked back at her, and looked utterly terrified. His horn glowed brighter, making Comet shake her head vigorously. He didn’t pay her any mind as he closed his eyes and released the teleport spell he had charged, disappearing in a flash of light and a popping noise.  Comet’s heart grew cold as she noticed the large snake had stopped, right as the tail was creeping past them. Turning back to the front of the snake, she saw it had turned its head, looking right in their direction. Its large body shifted as it brought the front of it back around to sniff at the air with its forked tongue. It crept closer to them, closer and closer. When it was right next to them, Comet knew that it had found them. “Run!” Comet yelled, jumping back into the deeper part of the treeline.  Everyone else followed Comet as the snake hissed at them and tried to strike, only to hit a tree.  “Keep moving! Something that big will have a harder time in the trees!” Comet yelled out.  But as they ran through the forest, she looked back to see that the basilisk was moving around the trees and wasn’t bothered at all by the large shrugs and grass. The snake was catching up to them, gaining on them.  “This way!” Starlight yelled out, leading the children to the west. The snake continued to chase them, not letting them out of its sight. And soon, the trees stopped and the group found themselves at the mouth of a cave.  “Oh no…” Comet said softly, looking back at the forest.  Sure enough, the basilisk burst through the treeline, letting out an irritated hiss that sounded more like a roar. The children all gathered behind Starlight, who took up a defensive posture, her horn glowing as she stared down the beast.  “What are we gonna do?” Silverstream said.  “Don’t suppose you have a spell to contact your dad over distance, do you Comet?” Smoulder asked, her voice shaky.  Comet was about to tell her the bad news, when she remembered something. Something that she was given this morning. Digging in her saddlebags, she searched for the one object that might save them.  The others looked confused as Comet brought out a whistle. Just a plain looking whistle.  Before anyone could ask what she was thinking, she sucked in a deep breath and blew into the whistle. It barely made any noise at all, enough to sound like a little squeak to most of the group, all except one.  “Ow ow ow! Comet that hurts my ears!” Gallus said, covering his ears.  “What? I don’t hear anything.” Ocellus said, confused.  Comet stopped only when she ran out of breath, panting as she looked to the sky, “Please. Please let her have heard that.”