Chapter three
... and friends In the forest
Kid was somewhat disappointed the entire group followed him in the forest, but thankful nothing had attacked them. Yet. With the trees so far apart, Celestia's blessed sunlight safely guided their way, and prevented any surprises from attacking gasfellas. Though the quickly coming winter clearly showed as most trees were bare; their leaves now littering the ground in a mess of oranges, reds, and yellows.
The forest was quiet except for the footfalls and crunch of leaves under their hooves and Kid's boots, and the clank of armor from the guards. Natural would occasionally join in when a bird would chirp or the tapping of a woodpecker echoed somewhere in the distance. which Fluttershy followed up with a quiet squeal of fear, who acted more high-strung than Zia's harp guitar. It was a good thing Rainbow Dash was here to calm her nerves.
As the group found themselves in a small grove of brush, Twilight took a moment to look at her surroundings. "It seems very peaceful in the forest. Maybe these... gasfellas," saying it in a hesitant and awkward way, "might be avoiding us?"
"Doubt it," Kid answered with a grunt. "They know where we're heading and will probably attack in a group when we get there." He eyed the vegetation as well and noted nothing out-of-place. No Pincushions or Wallflowers yet. And Pyth forbid they run into a Lungblossom. Was it possible they haven't spread in this direction yet? Maybe the guards managed to weed them out before they got here?
"Ooh, what's this thingy?" Pinkie spouted from beind a tree. She then reappeared with a plant clenched in her teeth. The large yellow orb about the size of a grapefruit bobbed along with her bouncing. It faintly pulsed a yellow light that spread across the leafy floor whenever her hooves touched the ground.
"STOP!" Kid yelled in panic. To his surprise, Pinkie floated in the air mid-bounce for a brief moment before falling safely to the ground. "Pinkie," he continued cautiously while holding his hands out and palms facing her. "I need you to carefully put that back where you found it."
Pinkie tilted her head as if she didn't understand his request, but followed his order anyway. "Aw, okie dokie." She twirled the stem in her teeth and used the momentum to toss the strange plant back towards the tree she found it next to. Soon as it made contact with the tree, its glow brightened considerably. Soon afterwards the sound of a large balloon popping and an explosion filled the air as the plant exploded, causing the tree's trunk to splinter.
Everypony shielded their eyes as splinters harmlessly bounced off armor or got stuck in their thick coats, while yellow pollet dusted them. When the danger had passed they lowered their guard to find the tree had a pony-sized chunk ripped from it. However, the tree was wide enough to not be in any danger of tipping soon.
"What the hay was that?" Twilight shouted in anger towards nopony in particular. Her anger disappeared in confusion when a thick piece of pollen landed on her snout, which caused her to promptly sneeze. Rarity on the other hand, was panicking as the pollen began dirtying her beautiful mane.
"That would be a Vineapple." Kid informed as his left eye noticeably twitched once in agitation from Pinkie's antics. He wasn't surprised any of the guards were phased over what had transpired.
Pinkie let out a sheepish grin. "Hehe... oopsie?"
"Oopsie?" Rainbow took to the air and threw her forelegs in the air. "You nearly blew us up with that thing!"
While Rainbow and Pinkie had a discussion, which ended up in a hug to calm Pinkie's downtrodden frown, Twilight finally realized what a Vineapple was. "B-But isn't a vineapple used to make Black Rye? Why would you use something so dangerous to create a drink?" She nearly shouted. The logic behind creating such a drink without having it to explode in her stomach made her head spin. Not to mention being so delicious.
Before she could get an answer, a crow's squawk pierced the air from atop one of the trees. Nobody took notice of it except herself and Kid as their eyes scanned the treetops. The sound came again, but this time the culprit made itself known as it perched itself on a branch. Followed by another loud squawk.
Twilight's and Fluttershy's eyes lit up in wonder upon spotting the strange bird perched on one of the trees whos branches were bare. Though Twilight was more towards studying the bird for research than Fluttershy's wonder in all animals. The odd bird tilted its head at the two ponies and only stared back at them.
"I've never seen this kind of bird before!" Fluttershy said with enthusiasm, although sounding more like a whisper for everypony else. The bird lost interest in those staring at it and opened its black wing to reveal autumn colored feathers at the ends, which it then began preening with its yellow beak. Fluttershy took flight and slowly approached to look at the creature more clearly. When she did so, the bird's head snapped up to glare at her. "It's okay little guy. I'm not going to hurt you," she cooed. However, it didn't help ease its distress.
The bird opened its wings threateningly and let out a screech that rivaled Hammer's Scrap Musket. However, it still stayed perched on the branch. Fluttershy immediately retreated back to the others with her ears tilted down in rejection. "I-I don't understand. I've never had trouble speaking to birds before."
Even with Fluttershy far away from it, the bird continued to screech in anger. Kid had a mind to put his musket back to use, but before he could, a second Pecker landed on another branch. Slowly more and more Peckers joined the tree devoid of foliage. By the time it took for him to take out his Musket for fear of them attacking, the entire tree was now covered in Peckers, and they all stared down at the group below them.
Rainbow Dash looked back at the birds cautiously. "Looks like we got a fight on our hooves!" She took a readied stance with Applejack and the guards.
Kid grimaced as he weighed the outcome in his head. This many Peckers could easily overwhelm them at this point. Nothing short of possibly the Calamity Cannon or the billows would be very effective if they all attacked at once. However, it was odd enough seeing them organize in front of him like this. Usually they attack on sight of another without question, making Kid wonder if they've changed considerably last time they fought. He pointed this out to Twilight who had stepped back beside him.
"If they're organized like this then it's possible one of them is the leader," Twilight pointed out. "But I don't see an alpha in the group.
Another loud screech filled the air from high above the canopy. Everyone looked up to find a Pecker lazily float to the forest floor; keeping distance from crashing into the trees. When it landed it looked exactly like the others, only its size was twice as large, making it at level with Kid's chest. After tucking its wings back in, it stared up at Kid as if expecting something from him.
Kid tilted his head to the side as to why it was staring like that, but then the bird copied his movements by tilting its head as well. He tilted his head to the other side and the bird continued to follow him movements, like looking at a reflection.
It cant be... I wonder if he's too heavy to still do it.
Kid was hesitant to do it considering how big the bird was, but he had to know for certain. Letting out a high-pitched whistle, as if calling for a dog, he extended his arm out. To everypony's amazement, the bird shot towards his outstretched arm and perched on it as if it were a tree branch. Kid struggled for a moment from the sudden weight, but managed to keep his arm aloft.
"What in tarnation was that all about?" Applejack looked between the birds in the tree and the one perched on Kid's arm. "You two know each other?"
"You could say that." Kid stated with a smile. He rubbed the back of the bird's head and it let out a small croon. "I was the one who rescued him when he first hatched after all."