//------------------------------// // Coocoo for Elements // Story: My Little Pony: Return of the Primal Fear // by Lizardsareradical //------------------------------// Chapter 3: Coocoo for Elements Twilight Sparkle was guided by her guard to the bottom of the mountain Canterlot was built on. I wasn't as flashy as Canterlot was but she could easily see the waterfall from Canterlot seep down to the bottom of the mountain, landing in a large pond at the bottom. Around the pond was a small village, which wasn't as extravagant as the city above her but hospitable enough. As Twilight and her guide walked further down, she could visibly see several ponies around the village. The mares and stallions down there were all earth ponies and looked much tougher and dirtier than the Canterlot counterparts, and they all had cutie marks that revolved around mining, such as drills, picks and even just plain rocks. As she was observing this new town, she noticed that she was now at the bottom of the mountain. Her guard was not far behind. "Thank you for your help, but I can handle it from here." Twilight said turning towards her pegasus guardian with sincere kindness. The guard just nodded and flew off. Twilight Sparkle just rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Not very talkative are they?" Twilight asked herself a rhetorical question. She then proceeded to enter to town. As she entered, she noticed that she didn't really blend in very well, being cleaner, more proper and a unicorn and all. When everyone saw her, they stopped what they were doing and stared at her in awe. It got so quiet, Twilight could hear the work going on in the nearby cave. It was so unbearable that she just had to break the ice. "Why..." She said to the residents hesitantly and awkwardly "...hello there folks of..." She frantically looked for the sign of where the village's name was. She found it on a sign just next to her "Diamondale...how are you guy's doing?" Twilight then forced a smile. "We don't take kindly to city folk." A random mare in the crowd told Twilight in a intimidating manner. Twilight couldn't even tell who said that. "Ah c'mon Digz, she ain't hurtin nobody." A stallion's voice came in response sounding much more reasonable. Twilight didn't even know who said that either. She just took a deep sigh and decided to ask the question she actually wanted answered. "Sooooooooo? Anyways? Anybody know where a pony named Coocoodrill is?" Twilight asked the residents of Daimondale already relatively uncomfortable manner. It got quiet once again. After thirty seconds, that random, unseen mare Digz spoke up again. "We don't take kindly to whackos." Digz once again called out from the crowd in the same unfriendly manner. "Ah c'mon Digz, he ain't hurtin nobody." The random stallion called out once again to the unseen mare. By now, Twilight was fed up with this town already, she just wanted out as soon as possible. And this "whacko" she's talking about? Was she referring to the element she's looking for? "Does anybody know where this Coocoodrill guy is? Anybody?" The Element of Magic asked quite irritated. Everybody just pointed to the tunnel leading to the mine. Twilight just looked at the mine for a bit, looked back and forced a smile to the villagers before running into the tunnel. The villagers of Diamondale just stared at the unicorn go into the tunnel in such a hurry for a good minute. The silence was then broken once again. "We do't take kindly to..." "DANG IT DIGZ! FOR THE LAST TIME! AIN'T NOBODY HURTIN ANYBODY!" After that outburst, the residents went back to their usual work. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight Sparkle explored deeper and deeper into Diamondale's mine. It wasn't as dirty as she originally thought it would be. In fact, it was well structured and very well lit. There was even wooden planks made for a path so she didn't even have to get her feet dirty. The workers there were in all sorts of crevices, from being in a hole digging with a shovel to hanging from ropes to grab loose jewels and precious metals from the ceiling. Those gems and metals were easily the best sight in the Diamondale mines, with the various rubies, gold, sapphires, silver, emeralds, diamonds, and topaz that stuck out from the walls, floor, and ceiling of the tunnel, with each gem reflecting the lights from the ceiling. "What Rarity would give to see this." Twilight Sparkle said to herself amazed at the visuals of the mine. She then walked up to a grey mare who was digging up a particularly large emerald with only a pick she held in her teeth. Twilight put on her friendly face once again. "Excuse me?" The working mare turned around. She was sweating from all the hard work and didn't look like she was in the mood for a conversation. "What?" The pony asked Twilight quite irritated and giving her an "I'm busy" look. She turned her head back to look at the emerald that was at least four feet in diameter, a worthy find for anypony. Twilight was relatively startled by the pony's reaction, but eventually composed herself to ask "Do you know where Coocoodrill is?" still trying to smile. The worker looked at the purple unicorn for a few seconds, then burst into a fit of chuckles. "Your looking for Coocoodrill? The only unicorn in Diamondale? That guy may have dug half of these tunnels, but he is bonkers! Why'd ya want to see him?" the miner asked Twilight now openly laughing. Twilight just rolled her eyes, sighing in annoyance. Obviously, this Coocoodrill wasn't very liked in the village, but even on that thought, it seemed she wasn't very well liked in this village. This town's greeting was far from Ponyville's. But finally, Twilight got the guts to speak. "Because he's an Element of Harmony." Twilight told the miner in a deadpan and stern manner. The miner stopped laughing and immediately pointed to a long, winding tunnel to the right of Twilight. Twilight nodded and left to go deeper into Diamondale. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- At the very end of a tunnel, a unicorn stallion was lifting a large bag of gems into a nearby mine cart. He was dark green with a brown, messy, medium sized mane. He had had two different colored eyes. His left pupil was blue and his right pupil was purple and bigger than his left pupil. His cutie mark was a grey circle with a black spiral inside it. He was looking at the mine cart smiling, proud of his work. He then started to talk in a formal manner. "Nice work good ol' Coocoodrill. You really outdone..." He stopped talking for a second, and heard his stomach rumble. His pupils got bigger, his horn started to glow red. "I'M HUNGRY!" Coocoodrill screamed as if it was the end of Equestria. Instead of his previous formal speech, he sounded more like a relatively high pitched Southerner. He then jumped into the air laughing like a maniac, went upside down and activated his magic to spin around extremely quickly. As he fell to the ground, he used his horn to drill into it, making a hole. He dug around for a bit, until he found a sapphire and a ruby in the ground. He then went to the top of the hole, still laughing with his prizes in his saddlebag. But suddenly, he stopped laughing and whimpered "I'm being watched." He then quickly turned around to find a purple unicorn mare looking down at him. Coocoodrill thought for a moment, then jumped out of the hole right next to his guest. His guest then began to talk in an approach, well meaning way. "Hi there. My name's Twilight Sparkle and..." "Hey there Twilight Sparkle!" the stallion exclaimed in a loud but friendly but loud manner as he used both his forehooves to shake the mare's hoof, causing her to stagger. His voice changed from Southern to a Fillydelphian voice. "Name's Coocoodrill! That's my name and mining's my game! Want me to sing about it? You from here? Don't think I've ever seen you in these parts! You being a unicorn and all! I thought I was the only unicorn in all of Diamondale! And...MPH!" He was interrupted by a hoof going into his mouth. "Whoooooah there. Slow down a bit will you?" Twilight suggested to the eccentric pony a little creeped out but forcing a smile. If she met this guy a while back, she'd run for the hills. But thanks to Pinkie Pie, she developed a tolerance for such energy and craze. Coocoodrill moved a couple of feet back to give her some space. He then smiled and nodded. "Sorry Twilight. I just get a little carried away sometimes. Never do get many guests." the green stallion told his visitor in a much slower manner. This made Twilight's forced smile much more legitimate. She then continued to talk. "So Coocoodrill. I been sent here by Princess Celestia herself..." "Celesty wants me? Sweet! What for?" Coocoodrill asked once again full of pep and sounding almost effeminate. He hasn't seen her since the day he left Canterlot. What he said sort of annoyed Twilight. "You don't just called our princess and my tutor "Celesty"! It's not proper! And you're supposed to be the Element of Respect for crying out loud!" Twilight snapped at the Element of Respect, making him corner himself in a wall. She hated when people didn't give her teacher the proper respect she deserved. She then saw how Coocoodrill was feeling. He was shaking from being talked down and was on the verge of tears. The Element of Magic immediately regretted her outburst. She began to apologize. "Coocoo! I am so sorry..." The stallion just cried streams of tears, and began to speak like a colt having a boo-boo. "But...I...was showing respect. I like to treat each and every pony as an equal. I don't favorite! That's just being..." He then stopped crying when realized something. He sprung back up, once again grinning as if nothing happened. He then started to speak in his Fillydelphian accent again. "I'm an Element of Harmony?" Coocoodrill asked Twilight almost squeeing. Twilight, just seeing the drastic mood swing, just smiled and nodded. "Just like what Gram-gram Hazelhoof used to say!" He changed his voice to sound like an old lady "You're meant for great things Coocoo. Just respect others and treat others as you want to be treated and you'll see that one day, you're would be known around the land. Also..." He was interrupted by Twilight's gasp of astonishment. "You're Hazelhoof's grandson?" Twilight questioned Coocoo in surprise. The wacky stallion just nodded, wondering why his grandma was so important to his newfound friend. "She was the one who wrote this book on Phobos then." Twilight said putting the pieces together. She couldn't believe it, she was talking to the grandson of a heroic explorer. And perhaps it also explained why her new ally had such questionable sanity. But who was she to consider someone insane? She went nuts over missing an optional deadline. The green stallion just smirked with pride. He then started to speak in his Fillydelphian accent once again. Twilight got a feeling that was how he normally spoke. "I course I know! Gram-gram always told me stories about it before beddy-bites! I know every bit about that book!" And with those word, Twilight immediately found him to be not as annoying, but quirky in his own little way. She couldn't understand why anypony in Equestria would called their grandmother "Gram-Gram" though. "That's great! I need to bring you to Celestia right now! She'd love to see you again." Twilight Sparkle said to Coocoodrill in a joyous manner. She then grabbed his left hoof and was about to use a teleportation spell, but was interrupted by her new friend. "Hey Twi? Do you like rubies" Coocoodrill innocently asked calmly and innocently. Twilight looked at him awestruck, but slowly nodded. "Great! Here you go!" Coocoodrill said in a positive attitude as he grabbed the ruby he found from his pack and tossed it to her. Twilight sparkle caught it and saw Coocoodrill toss the sapphire he collected into the air. He then opened his mouth and let the precious rock enter. He then swallowed the stone whole. "Delicious! Who said only dragons can eat gems? Always preferred a good sapphire over ruby." The stallion commented in satisfaction as he sat upwards to rub his stomach. Twilight just rolled her eyes and used her magic to teleport the two to Celestia throne room. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the throne room, Twilight Sparkle and Coocoodrill were greeted by a waiting Celestia. "Greetings my little ponies! Did you tell Coocoodrill the good news yet!" Celestia said in the warmest manner possible. Coocoodrill just nodded repeatingly and in rapid succession. "Twi sure did Celesty!" Coocoodrill hollered in joy, but mellowed out and continued "or Celestia. Give or take what you want to be called." He then smiled innocently. Twilight could have swore she saw a halo above his head. But then Coocoodrill continued to speak. "But anyways." He said nice and calmly, but then he began to speak louder and faster. "Do I get like...A SWORD, OR BATTLE ARMOR OR SOMETHING ELSE EQUALLY RADICAL?" Twilight just rolled her eyes. Boys, always think of cool before useful. Celestia answered Coocoo's question by using her magic to create a necklace around the green pony. It was a more masculine form of an element of harmony, with his grey spiral symbol in the center of it. He looked at this artifact of his with great curiosity. He poked it, shook it around and even bit down on it. He was so focused on it, that he wasn't paying attention to what Celestia was saying to Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle. We now have one of the lost Elements of Harmony. That will make Cosmus that much weaker. But we still need the Element of Caring and I have been hearing sightings of a frog-like earth pony wandering Manehattan. I have a feeling my brother's twisted magic made such a pony." The princess took a long sigh of sorrow, then continued on. "My hunch is that this amphibious stallion is the element of Tolerance." "So what do you say we do about these two elements?" Twilight asked her teacher perplexed. Finding Tolerance might be too dangerous but finding Caring might be easy. Celestia just got back to her positive demeanor and chuckled. She then stooped down to her pupil's level. "Don't worry about Paramail, the Element of Caring. I got that all taken care of even as we speak." Celestia told Twilight as she chuckled to herself. Twilight Sparkle had no idea what she meant, but she had faith in her teacher. "All right Celestia, so should me and Coocoodrill go back to Ponyville?" Twilight asked the Sun Princess as she bowed down. Celestia nodded in approval. "Sure thing!" the purple unicorn said to the princess. She then called out "Coocoodrill! Were leaving now!" Twilight turned around to the nutty stallion and saw him shooting harmless rainbow beams out of his element as he made "Pew! Pew!" noises. She facehoofed and went up to the brand new element and poked him a his side. He turned around and laughing with pure, innocent joy. "This...is...AWESOME!" Coocoodrill exclaimed at the top of his lungs. He then mellowed down to a more inside voice "So anyways, you got one of these?" Twilight was about to answer when she felt something on her head. Celestia summoned her magic tiara to show Coocoodrill. Coocoodrill stared in awe. "You get a crown? Awwwwww maaaaaan. That's hardcore." the green unicorn said almost envious of his newfound friend. But then he felt his stomach rumble again. "Hungry!" He exclaimed almost in panic as he used his magical horn. He shouted "Cupcake" and pointed his horn to the ground. There was a flash of light, then out appeared a piece of asparagus. "But didn't you say cupcake?" Twilight asked Coocoodrill confused. She had no idea how cupcakes led to asparagus. Coocoo just sighed and nodded, making her think this wasn't the first time this happened. Twilight then had an idea for the disappointed stallion. She patted his back and gave him a positive smile. "Don't worry Coocoo! I just just the right pony to see when it comes to cupcakes!" She told her kooky buddy as she almost felt hungry herself. she couldn't wait to see Pinkie. Her and Coocoodrill would get along real well. Coocoodrill cheered up within a second and the two waved goodbye to Celestia aand started to leave for Ponyville by chariot. This guy's going to love it here. Twilight thought in her head as she saw Coocoodrill looking down at all the sights. She made quite the friend today. Along with a valuble ally. She would have to remind herself to ask about his knowledge of Phobos and Screameater though. For an adventure like this, that would sure come in handy.