//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Adventures With Ranger Jessi! // Story: The Ghost of Chicken Scootaloo // by Betty_Starlight //------------------------------// The teal green filly named Jessi Trotsky stares up at the two ponies from her side of the table, now with an empty syrupy plate before her and a half-drunk white cup of blond coffee at her right, and brushes her grayish-white wavy mane out of her face with her right forehoof before staring at the other ponies with her wide dark orange eyes and saying, “So uh, why are you girls looking for zebras?” Sunny stares back at the filly from the right of Izzy and says, “Well, Scootaloo says they know a lot about the spirit world and necromancy and said that they could probably help her get back to the afterlife…” Jessi widens her eyes, “Oh! Okay! Um,” she blinks, “yeah, well, there’s only Old Tiqua here in town, but if you REALLY wanna find zebras, you should probably head to the town to the northwest of here called Zendukka?” Izzy leans forward, “Well, does Tiqua know anything about how to help Scootaloo?” Jessi shakes her head, “No, not really? She’s a wonderful cook and can make just about any sort of potion you want though!” she says before nodding her snout up and down. Sunny sighs, “But that doesn’t help Scootaloo!” Jessi nods, “Y-yeah, I know! So uh, I guess we’re heading to Zendukka then?” she frowns, “I’m sure somepony there can help you?” Sunny eyes this filly, “Well, we should probably talk to Tiqua first though and see if she knows anything?” Jessi eyes the alicorn carefully, “So, your whole plan hinges on the assumption that zebras can help get Scootaloo back into the afterlife with their knowledge?” Sunny grins and giggles halfheartedly, “Yeah, it’s crazy, I know!” she widens her eyes as she leans forward slightly, “I’m still not sure it’s such a great idea? But it’s really all we got!” Jessi frowns again, “Uh, maybe Scootaloo was brought back for a reason?” Sunny retorts, “Yeah! Because I got turned into an alicorn!” Jessi lowers her gaze, “Are you sure?” Sunny raises hers and asks, “What do you mean?” Jessi fixes her neck and mouth, “Well, why do you believe your transformation, or whatever, was the reason Scoots came back?” Sunny blinks, “Well, because Scootaloo said so!” “Well, what makes Scootaloo believe that?” Scootaloo, currently invisible and standing to the left of Jessi and to the right of the other two ponies, finally appears visibly, looks at Jessi, and says, “Well, there was a power surge that I felt and then, a pulling sensation bringing me back to the world of the living! And Sunny here became an alicorn, so…” Jessi turns her head left to face the pegasus, “Yes, but correlation does not equal causation! You could’ve been brought back for any number of reasons!” Scootaloo frowns, “Like what?” Jessi leans towards the spirit, “I don’t know? Lots! But the point is, I really don’t think you should be just jumping to these conclusions without verifying…” Scootaloo stares at the filly for a moment before saying, “You’re pretty smart for a little filly!” Jessi gives a wide-eyed frown, “I get that a lot!” <*****> Sunny knocks on the thatched roofed hut door with her right forehoof, while Jessi stands at her left and Izzy to her right. The door opens to reveal a striped mare with a 4-inch-long interwoven golden necklace around her neck and a scraggly grayish black mane around her zebra ears. She says, “Why Jessi, it is good to see you again, so sublime! But who have you brought with you this time?” Jessi smiles, “Hiya Tiqua! Thanks again for fixing my knee! Um,” she blinks and stares up at the zebra and frowns, “I had some new friends who wanted to meet you!” Sunny smiles from Jessi’s right and to the left of Izzy, “Hello Tiqua! I’m Sunny Starscout and this is my best friend, Izzy Moonbow! We had some questions to ask you!” Tiqua narrows her yellow zebra eyes, “This is indeed, quite strange! But hopefully, your questions are not out of my range?” Sunny widens her own forest green pupils, “Well, yes! You see, we have a friend who is, well, she’s a ghost! Do zebras know any way of getting her back to the afterlife?” Tiqua smiles grimly, “A zebra shaman is whom you should seek! But I fear such a thing may be out of my reach! I say to Zendukka you should travel, for this mystery to truly unravel!” before lifting her right forehoof and using it to gently close the door… Sunny frowns, “Well, we basically got told to do what we were gonna do anyway!” Jessi happily chimes up from Sunny’s left as her little body shakes and her grayish-white mane jitters, “I know! This is gonna be fun!” <*****> Sunny stands to the left of Izzy with Jessi on the other side as all ponies stare westward, towards the open road leading to Zendukka. Sunny says, “Okay, since you have fifty stuffed animals…” “Forty-eight!” Jessi corrects the alicorn. Sunny nods, “Forty-eight stuffed animals, we’re just going to take one in your pack as your companion and we’ll be back for the rest when we figure out what to do with you…” Jessi turns her head right towards the alicorn, “What do you mean?” Sunny gazes at the filly, “Well, you’re only about ten years old! We can’t just leave you here!” Jessi frowns, “Why not? That’s what everypony else always does and I’ve been surviving just fine, so far? I even still go to school! The lunches are cheap!” Sunny sighs, “Look, Jessi! I’ve only known you for uh, for less than a day now, but I really do want to help you!” “What makes you believe that I need help?” Sunny starts, “Well, look at you! You’re small…” Jessi grins, “I know! They always underestimate me!” Sunny widens her eyes, “What?” Jessi lowers her smile and enlarges hers, “What?” Sunny shakes her head and stares back at the filly, “Look! Just come with us and you’ll be okay!” Jessi blinks and frowns, “We’ll be back for the rest of my friends, though, right?” Sunny nods, “Of course!” Jessi smiles and vibrates as she exclaims, “Hooray!” she turns to face westward, “So uh, Zendukka is some distance this way!” <*****> All ponies trot down the road towards a wide forested area when Jessi says, “Okay, we need to make it past the Yellow Dove Woods, and across the ravine! Once we’re past those two things, it’s pretty much a straight shot!” Sunny turns her neck left at Jessi, trotting there, “So uh, you know the way?” Jessi frowns, “Well, I’ve seen maps and I know this road will get us there, but I’ve never actually been through Yellow Dove or anywhere near Zendukka. I mean, I’ve been north and south of Tanglewood though, here in the unicorn areas of this district, but…” “Well, you talked about Old Tiqua back there? What are zebras like? Are there any rules or customs I need to know about?” Jessi frowns, “Uh, don’t be a jerk?” Sunny grins and giggles as she shakes her head, “Good enough for me!” The ponies begin to approach the treeline as the entryway into the forest begins to visibly lead down a trail. They soon pass the treeline into the woods and see many trees all aligned in a neat row along the sides of the trail. Sunny stares up in amazement at the bright green sun-soaked vegetation and the furry and slimy animal life and lush plants that inhabit the dimly lit forest floor as they pass while trotting along the path. Suddenly, a blue stallion with a black hood over his head and face leaps out from the left treeline to the front of the ponies and says in a gruff masculine voice, “Ha ha! I am the Masked Bandit! You will now give me your money, or I’ll beat you up!” The ponies stop trotting and Izzy frowns at this from Sunny’s right, “Masked Bandit? Really? You couldn’t think of a better criminal name?” The figure is visibly taken aback as he withdraws his head from the ponies, “Well I uh, wasn’t exactly going for clever here! Just a name, would work, you know?” Izzy nods, “Well, right! But I mean, if I were you, I’d like to think I could do better than just, The Masked Bandit!” She raises her neck and widens her eyes, “Okay, how about The Lurker or maybe The Yellow Dove Stalker, instead? Don’t you think those choices sound better?” “I uh, “ the stallion lowers his gaze and shakes his head before looking back at the ponies and leaning forward sternly, “now you’re just making me feel bad!” he shakes his head again, “L-look! Are you gonna give me all your money, or what?” Jessi just smiles and lowers her head and forces her horn to glow blue and the masked pony is soon encased in a spherical blue forcefield. She raises her neck, “Okay, you should be trapped in there for about an hour or two! Come on girls!” As the three ponies trot around the blue masked pony’s right and down the path, in the distance, the masked pony can be heard yelling, “Hey! I was robbing you! Get back here!” Izzy says to Jessi, “Those force fields you got are really handy! Can you show me how to do that later?” Jessi frowns, “Um, probably? I kinda figured it out on my own after magic came back!” Izzy giggles, “Well, yeah! There aren’t any high-ranking magicians in Equestria anymore, these days!” before frowning, “At least, none that I’m aware of!” Sunny says, “Oddly enough, that wasn’t the first time somepony tried to rob us on this adventure…” she looks up, “Scootaloo! You still around?” Suddenly, a raspy ethereal voice says, “Yeah, I’m here Sunny! Thanks for helping my friends, Jessi!” Jessi raises her neck, “Oh, no problem, Scoots! I’m not gonna let some masked hood knock over my best friends if I can help it!” “Heh, I know Jessi! And I’m sure glad you’re here!” Jessi’s body quivers as she replies, “Yeah, me too! I read that book on logical theory so many times now, I can recite it by heart and sudoku can only go so far. I was getting bored! And now, I get to encase ponies in force fields! Yay!” Sunny says, “You’re really cute, Jessi!” Jessi replies, “I’m not cute! Your mom is cute!” “You never met my mother!” “I never met your mother! You’ve met your mother!” “Uh, isn’t that what I just said?” “I dunno? Probably? Hey! We’re at the ravine now!” The ponies all stop to see a massive chasm of dark tan stone with a rickety old rope bridge with wooden slats and a rope on either side leading across from their section of the road to the one beyond. There’s forest on either side of the gorge, but just open air in-between. The fall is roughly 50-feet deep onto dark hard stone and the chasm itself is about 40-feet wide. Izzy raises her head, “Oh, yay! The precarious rope bridge adventure! I wonder who’s gonna fall?” Sunny looks at Izzy from the right, “What makes you think somepony is gonna fall?” Izzy turns her head to Sunny, “Well, it’s a precarious rope bridge, therefore, somepony is gonna fall! Don’t you know the rules? I bet it’s gonna be you!” Jessi looks over to the two arguing ponies from the other side of Sunny, “Shut up! Nopony is gonna fall!” she turns her head back to the bridge and says lower, “Not on my watch!” before taking a few paces towards the bridge and lowering her head before her horn starts to visibly glow blue… She can be heard grunting while she works her magic and finally cuts the glow to her horn and lifts her head to face the gorge before wiping the sweat off her brow with her right forehoof, “Okay! I just magically reinforced the bridge!” Izzy turns her head to Jessi, now ahead of her and frowns, “How long have you been experimenting with magic, anyway?” Jessi turns her body around to face the blue unicorn, “Um, ever since it came back about three and a half months ago?” she squints her left eye, “So uh, roughly fifteen or maybe sixteen weeks?” she normalizes her face. Izzy widens her eyes, “Wow! You’re a really fast learner!” Jessi frowns, “I get that a lot too? Ever since I first got my cutie mark when that strange blue light zapped me in a cave, I seem to have a knack for the arcane and stuff like that!” she widens her eyes, “I guess magic is my special talent and I just needed to wait for it to come back?” Izzy says, “You mean those three golden stars on your flank?” Jessi nods, “Well, yeah! The three rising gold stars with little magical trails on my flank is my cutie mark!” and smiles, “I’m sure glad magic is back in that case! I mean, a magical cutie mark doesn’t mean much if I don’t have magic!” Sunny looks ahead at the bridge and spreads her wings out to her sides before saying, “Well, I got these, so I’ll go first!” <*****> The ponies trot down the dirt pathway when they see a large pyramid-like structure rising out of the forest and they all see its cube shaped apex at the top, roughly 40 feet into the sky and rising 30 feet from the trees when they stop trotting to look. Jessi looks up and says excitedly, “Oh! That must be a zebra ziggurat!” Izzy frowns up at the structure, “A zebra what, now?” Jessi jitters, “A zebra ziggurat! It’s where they do all of their crazy hoodoo and voudon rituals!” Sunny looks at the other two ponies from the right, “Well, maybe that’s where we can find a shaman? Let’s go scope it out!” (To be continued…)