Pagette ran down the street after Zecora, calling after her as she did. The Zebra stopped and turned around, surprised to see the little pony chasing after her. When Page got there, she was panting for breath and had to take a moment to get herself composed.
“Get your breath back, little filly. Now why are you running after me, silly?”
Once she got her breath back under control, Page looked up at Zecora and suddenly realized she had no idea how she was going to ask for her help. She decided to just come out and ask. “Zecora, I was wondering if you could help me out with something. You live in the Everfree Forest, right?”
“Yes, my little pony, it’s true. How can I be of help to you?”
“Well, Twilight Sparkle gave me this book, and it talks about this pony that seems to have disappeared in the forest a long time ago. I was wondering if you had ever come across anypony that lived there before you did.”
Zecora thought for a moment, scratching her chin with a hoof. Then she smiled and nodded. “Actually, young Page, I do. Perhaps I could introduce him to you? He lives deep in the forest, where I seldom go. But I’m sure I could lead you to his home.”
Page smiled and jumped up and down. “Alright! I’ll find that old pony in no time!”
Zecora tilted her head questioningly. “Old pony? What is this you speak? The pony I know is a bit younger than me.”
“Oh, I’m not talking about that pony. I meant the one I’m looking for. He’s called Duskrunner, and he’s been missing a very long time.”
“Well, before I take into Everfree, your mother you should go and see. Although I see you want to hurry, we wouldn’t want her to be worried.”
Page blushed and looked down. “I guess you’re right, Zecora. I should go and ask my mom if it’s OK first. I’ll meet you at your house.” And she took off down the road for her home.
Zecora smiled and turned to head for her own home. She had no idea why Pagette would want to know if anypony had been in the forest as long as her, but it wasn’t really her business. And now that she thought about it, the friend she had in the forest had mentioned the name Duskrunner to her once when they first met. Perhaps he would be able to help Pagette more than she could, after all.
=+=+=+=
Page walked into Zecora’s house with her saddlebags full of food and other things she would probably need. She didn’t know how long she’d be out here. Her mother had told her she could only go as long as she came back by sundown and she never left Zecora’s side. This seemed annoying, but Page knew better than to argue with her mother.
When she got there, Zecora was ladling something out of her cauldron and into several bottles. It looked like some sort of soup. When she saw Page, she set aside the ladle and put a top on the bottle.
“Little Page, there you are. Be grateful we must not go far. Though these bottles are very small, I’ll need your help to carry them all.” She set the bottle and several others into a bag and slung it over her back. Then she added a few bottles to Page’s bag as well, being careful not to crush anything.
Page looked at one of the bottles and sniffed it, noticing a very delicious smell coming from it. “Is this soup? What are these for?”
Zecora lead her out of the house before replying. “These bottles are full of my famous stew; a very tasty and healthy brew. I bring it to my neighbor each week. He’ll help you find the pony you seek.”
Page giggled a bit, and then almost tripped over a tree root. She caught herself just in time and managed not to drop a bottle. “Zecora, I’ve always wanted to ask; why do you always talk in rhymes?”
Zecora laughed. “I’ve always found rhyming to be fun. I’ve been doing it since before I could run. I used to do it for good luck, but I did it so often that I got stuck.”
“So, you can’t talk in anything but rhyme?”
“Oh, I can if I try to. But it brings a strange look to ponies when I do. By now they all expect my rhyme, so I do it all the time.”
“Is it hard coming up with that stuff on the spot all the time? I don’t think I could talk in rhyme.” Page giggled when she realized that she just had.
“It’s hard at first, I will admit. But by now I’m used to it. When you do it all the time, you find it harder not to rhyme.”
They walked and talked for about half an hour before they finally came across a clearing. In the middle of it sat a 2 story house that looked like it had just grown out of the ground. The roof was covered in grass and wild flowers, and the walls were so covered in vines that Page wasn't really sure they weren't just made of them. There was no glass in the windows, just holes in the walls. The front door was the only thing that looked ponymade and in good condition.
"This is the home of the friend I mentioned. He will be able to help you in your mission." She knocked on the door solidly, then called up to the second floor. "Are you up there, Descoleigh? Wake up, you lazy po-nay!"
A voice from the second floor called out, "Zecora, I keep telling you I don't sleep this late. I'm just working. And you know the door isn't locked, so just come in. I'll be right down."
The voice didn't sound very tough or noble, so Page had little hope that this Descoleigh was actually Duskrunner, as she had begun to hope. her hopes were completely gashed when she walked in and saw that the pony who lived here was just a young earth pony. he was several years older than her, and just a bit taller than Zecora. His coat was almost blindingly white, and the mark on his flank was tree with a door in it.
"Zecora, I'm so glad to see you. I haven’t had a really good meal in days. That stew is just too good to not eat all at once. Oh? Who's this?" He finally saw Page and walked over to shake her hoof.
"I'm Pagette, but everyone calls me Page. I'm helping Zecora to deliver the stew."
"Well, glad to meet you, Page. I'm Descoleigh, but those who know me call me Desco. So, are you an apprentice to Zecora? Learning to make all those potions and such?"
"No, I'm actually here because I wanted to know if you could help with something." She levitated the bottles in her bag onto the shelf in the back of the room.
"Well, if it has anything to do with this forest, I should be able to help. I've lived here for most of my life. what is it you need help with?"
Page pulled the book out of her bag and set it down on the small table in the kitchen. Desco frowned when he saw it and moved to turn a few of the pages. “Ah, Duskrunner. Yeah, I’ve heard of him before, but not in a long time. What makes you think I can help you with finding him? Come to think of it, aren’t you a little young to be looking for old fables in such a dangerous place?”
Page glared a bit, but composed herself quickly. If she didn’t get Desco’s help, she’d never be able to find Duskrunner. “You don’t have to be big to enjoy a good mystery. And this pony has been missing for over a thousand years now, so that makes it even more exciting. And I need your help because all the clues I have say that he’s in the Everfree forest somewhere.”
Desco scratched his chin with a hoof. “Well, I guess that’s possible. MY family came here a long time ago to try looking for Duskrunner, so I know this forest a lot better than anyone else. But there are some places here that even I have never really explored.”
Page smiled and hopped up onto a chair. “So, you’ll help me?”
Desco thought for a moment, then smiled back. “Why not? It’d be nice to have some company besides Lady Rhymes-a-lot. If she stays for more than a few hours I’m stuck talking like a poet for days.”
All three of them laughed at that, though Zecora couldn’t help commenting, “Perhaps we should end this visit soon; to save you from a rhythmic doom.”
“Aww, do we have to? We only just got here.” Page was reluctant to leave after she had just found help with her mystery.
“Your mother said be home by dark, so it must be soon that we depart.”
Desco walked over and opened the window. “She’s right, little filly. The forest likes to play trick on ponies, so sometimes a long trip can seem like a short one or vice-versa. It may have seemed like it only took an hour or get here, but it was actually more like three. So you’ll have to leave soon if you want to get back to ponyville by nightfall.”
“But I wanted to get started on exploring today! I want to find Duskrunner before anyone else tries to find him.” Page was almost sobbing. She thought she had the rest of the day to look. Finding out she had to go home so early after finding a lead was almost enough to make her cry.
“Now, don’t you start bawling. You’ll have plenty of time to have me show you around on another day. Your best bet is to wait until the weekend, that way it will give me time to look around for the map my grandfather made of this place, and we’ll have the whole day to look. For now, though, you should get home so your mother doesn’t start worrying.”
Page had to admit that he was right. She should be more patient and wait for the right time to look. All the mystery novels she read had gotten strait to the point, but only because they sometimes skipped over the really boring parts of the job. A real mystery solver was patient and waited for the right time and place for the answer to present itself. So she would do just that.
Descoleigh had been right about time working differently in the forest. Though it felt as though they had left Zecora’s place barely 2 hours ago, the sun was mush farther along than it should have been. And, even though the trip back to Zecora’s seemed to take even less time than the trip to Descoleigh’s house had, the sun was almost set by the time she had said goodbye and gotten home.
=+=+=+=
Ribbon was sitting at her work desk and filling out the last few papers for work that day. Pinkie Pie had come in asking if she could special order lots of edible food decorations. Ribbon had never done those before, but was more than happy to order some if it meant getting a discount at Sugercube Corner. When Pagette walked in, Ribbon put away her work and turned to her daughter. “So, how did your day with Zecora go?”
“Oh, it was awesome! The Everfree forest is such a weird place. But Zecora showed me to a friend of hers house. He’s called Descoleigh and he’s lived in the forest almost his whole life! He said that he’ll help me go looking for Duskrunner this weekend. Can I go, Mom?”
“Well, you know I don’t like you going anywhere with strangers, Page. I’ve never even heard of this Descoleigh before. I’m not sure if I want you hanging around with him out in that dangerous forest all day.”
“But he’s lived there longer than anypony! He’s the only one who can help me!”
“Well…” Ribbon was concerned that her daughter was letting her taste for adventure cloud her judgment. “How’s this, if you can get him to come to ponyville so I can meet him, then maybe I’ll let you go. But only if I think I can trust him, otherwise you’re staying right here at home.”
“DEAL! I’ll get Zecora to pass a message along to him and I’m sure he’ll come down. You’re going to love him, Mom. He’s really cool.” That last part was a bit of a stretch. Page hadn’t really seen enough of Desco to say if he was cool or not; but anything that made her mother more inclined to let her go would help.
“OK. Well, go get cleaned up and ready for dinner. You look like you ran through every dirty patch in that forest.”
Page took off up the stairs to go get cleaned up. There were 2 whole days before the weekend, and she was going to have to prepare thoroughly for her trip through the forest.