//------------------------------// // Chapter 11 // Story: Home Again // by drnkntst //------------------------------// Chapter 27 “Well, are you sure this is the way he went?” “This is where the tracks lead, Twilight. If Fluttershy’s critter friends were right, then these are the only tracks around.” “Oh yes, Applejack. The little animals were very certain this is the way he came.” The three mares trudged through the Whitetail Woods following a set of hoofprints as best they could. None wanted to admit to the others how much they wanted to reach the end of this trail. They all wanted to get Rick back. Not knowing why he left in the first place, they were getting more worried by the minute that the trail might end with no stallion found. They had been walking for what seemed like days, in fact, it was only a couple hours, but time gets distorted sometimes. The trail was odd to say the least, making it harder to follow. It was apparent he had been running judging by the gate, that was easy to tell. What was odd, was the path he seemed to take. He hadn’t been following any set trail through the woods. From what they could tell, he had been zigzagging all over the place. There even places where it looked like he had been bouncing off trees and rocks. It was almost as if he was running with his eyes closed. The trail continued to be sporadic until it collided with a stream, after that, it seemed he slowed down and started to have more sense to it. “Ah jest don’t understand why he would come all the way out here in the middle uh the night. Ah know he was upset, but he coulda jest talked ta us.” “Um, he did, Applejack, and none of us were able to help him,” Fluttershy quietly answered AJ. “That’s true, you said so yourself that when he talked to you, it only made it worse. I know I wasn’t able to help him no matter how much I wish I could have.” Twilight added. “Ah know, Ah’m jest… Ah don’t know. Ah guess Ah’m jest worried ‘bout ‘im.” AJ surrendered as she dropped her head. Twilight walked up next to her and leaned her head into Applejack’s shoulder. “It’s okay, Applejack, we all are, but we’ll find him. If we can’t, I’ll ask Princess Celestia for help.” Applejack looked into Twilight’s eyes and saw the certainty therein. “We will find him.” Applejack, reassured, nodded and continued to follow the trail. After another hour or so, they came to a clearing. There was evidence of a fire, a wagon being hauled in, parked and hauled out, and there was at least one other pony there. Soon, a familiar sound came from above followed by Rainbow Dash landing near the trio. “Hey, guys, any sign of ‘im,” her voice alone was enough to indicate that she hadn’t had any luck either. “No, we’ve been followin’ his trail ‘n’ this is where it led us.” Applejack answered. “Although it seems like he met somepony here ‘n’ they left in uh wagon headin’ in that direction,” she indicated with a hoof the direction of travel. Twilight turned to Rainbow, “what’s in that direction?” Rainbow drifted up above the trees, looked around and floated back down. “Canterlot, the trail leads to Canterlot.” For the first time that day, hope had started to drift into their hearts. “If he went that way, then Rarity should find him,” Twilght was starting to feel better until she realized that that would mean Rick and Rarity would be alone in the royal city. A glance at her companions let her know they came to the same conclusion. “It’s… starting to get dark, we should hurry.” “Huh, it’s the middle of the day. What are you-” Rainbow Dash was cut off by the country mare. “Nah, Twilight’s right, we need to get moving.” “O-kay, I’ll fly back up and see if I can spot him.” “That’s a good idea,” Twilight said over her shoulder as the three were already heading back into the trees following the tracks. They were all concerned for their friend’s safety and they would all swear that was the only reason for the rush. Chapter 28 The wagon pulled through the gates to the royal city and was parked nearby. It would be more pain than it would be worth to drag it through the busy streets. Besides, Trixie only needed to get a small amount of supplies, fresh produce and the like. Rick decided to help since he couldn’t offer any financial compensation just yet. He had a paying job, it just hadn’t paid thus far and Rick was not the kind of person… pony who demanded compensation and he’d be damned if he was going to beg for it. The pair headed off toward the market. He had only spent a short time with Trixie, but in that time, she had done nothing but be helpful. He couldn’t imagine her being as cruel as she said she had, he definitely couldn’t picture her overpowering Twilight in a magic duel. Still, she had no reason to lie to him either, especially if it only would have made her look bad. The two were enjoying light conversation when a familiar annoying laugh came to his ears. “I say, isn’t that that brute from a few days ago?” Jet Set’s voice pierced his previously good day. “Why yes, I do believe it is. Seems as though he has another little filly pining after him.” Upper Crust observed. “Either that or he is some kind of… stud.” The way Jet Set spat the word made Rick freeze. When he saw Trixie blush and shrink, he almost lost his mind with rage. Somehow, he managed to keep it under control. Rick slowly turned and approached the pair, “you two really don’t have a lick of sense do you? You need to apologize.” They opened their mouths to do so, but when they saw his horn flair, they stopped. “Apologize. To. The. Lady.” The pair stumbled over themselves to comply as quickly as they could and then disappeared into the crowd. “Has this happened before?” Trixie asked. “Once, I didn’t go so easy on them and wound up spending a night in the royal dungeon. They seem to have not really learned their lesson.” “So it would seem.” She giggled and the pair continued their shopping. For about thirty minutes, they went from stall to stall and gathered what Trixie needed for her journey. Rick was happy to carry the heavy bags to the wagon. After they reached it, Rick loaded the produce and waved goodbye as Trixie went on her way. “Now, what am I gonna do?” He turned back toward the city and started to wander in. He had no money for the train and going back through the woods was not the best option and following the coach road would take a day or two. His only option was the palace, maybe the princesses would help. Either way, he was proud of himself for holding back when… “Hey! Watch where you’re going!” The shout caught him by surprise. What caught him even more by surprise was the response. “Oh, uh, I’m sorry, I just-” the sweet little voice could only belong to one pony in all of Equestria. “You got my wing dirty! What are you going to do about this?!” “I-uh I-” the little voice was just a squeak now. Rick could just make out the cute little pegasus hiding behind her own mane. He could also make out the single tear streaking down her cheek. “How are you gonna make this right?! Huh, speak u-ah!” The pegasus stallion was surprised to find himself flying above the ground by his wings. The only problem was that he wasn’t flapping them. “Nobody makes Fluttershy cry!” Rick growled at the pegasus with murder in his eyes. The floating stallion was finding it impossible to speak and instead only managed to ‘eep’. “Rick. Is that you?” Fluttershy trotted over to him. “Hey there, Fluttershy, how are you today?” all hate gone from his voice in an instant. “Uh, I’m… fine. What are you doing in Canterlot?” “Weird events coalesced and this is the result, I’ll explain in a bit.” Rick turned back to the offender, “now what is your issue?” The strange pegasus had managed to find his tongue again, “hey, I don’t want any trouble, but she ran into me.” “And that required you to yell at her? Oh, and the only reason you don’t want trouble now is because I can and will give it to you. This little pony is more than capable of the same, but she won’t. In fact, the only reason why I haven’t plucked every feather off those wings you seem so proud of, is because it would make her sad. She is too kind to ever bring harm to any other pony. That’s why I was assigned by Princess Celestia herself to protect her. Now, give me good reason not to simply remove your wings.” The offending pegasus tried to draw his wings back into his body, but with his weight being suspended by them, it was impossible. “Please, I’m so sorry! Please, just let me go!” He was nearly crying out of fear. “Have you learned your lesson?” Rick asked bringing the suspended pegasus closer to his face. A quick nod was the only response. “Very well, now go.” The magic that had held the stallion aloft vanished and he fell on his rump then scrambled to his feet and galloped away as quickly as he could. “Are you okay, Fluttershy?” Rick turned to inspect his friend. “Oh, yes, I’m okay. Thank you for helping. I’m glad you didn’t hurt him.” She looked up at him with a small smile on her half-hidden face. Rick smiled down at her and then wrapped her in a gentle hug, “You know I’d never hurt someone who hadn’t tried to hurt me or my friends. I’ll admit, after he made you cry, it took all I had not to.” As he released the hug, it seemed like she was a little reluctant to match his action. “What are you doing here?” “We came looking for you. We were worried when we found that you ran off.” “Ran off? I didn’t run off.” The response was a bit of a shock to Fluttershy. “B-but, you left in the middle of the night. We even followed your tracks and Applejack said you were running. You were even in such a hurry you were running into things.” “I was asleep.” The furthered surprise on her face was only serving to make her cuter. “I was having a nightmare and wound up acting it out and just… ran.” “So… you weren’t running away from us?” “Only in my dream,” he mumbled to himself. “What?” Her head tilted slightly, her cuteness was amplified even more. “Uh, nothing, don’t worry about. What were you saying about ‘we’?” Chapter 29 Rick and Fluttershy were waiting in a doughnut shop for their four friends to meet them there. Fluttershy had purchase a treat for both of them; she a dainty Danish and Rick had a delicious cruller with multicolored sprinkles. The unicorn stallion running the shop had been polite to the couple and even seemed familiar with Fluttershy, thus, Rick was at ease and thoroughly enjoyed his pastry. Suddenly, four mares came bursting through the door, all searching the room frantically for something. They appeared to find what they were looking for; they rushed over to the table occupied by Fluttershy and Rick. It would have been a touching reunion if their lunge hadn’t pinned Rick against the wall with the table squeezing the breath out of him. Eventually, they realized their mistake when he was staring to turn a shade of blue that Rarity would probably describe as a 'beautiful spring time color'. In mass, they leapt back from the table and were relieved to hear the huge influx of air into his lungs. The whole group got to enjoy their post panic laughter and then they had a group hug sans table. After a brief explanation of how Rick wound up in the middle of the woods, they all calmed down. “So yer sayin’ that ya’ll had some crazy nightmare ‘n’ fer some reason, ya got up ‘n’ jest galloped off in yer sleep?” Applejack asked. “It wasn’t that dream about… ” Twilight started. “No, Twilight, it wasn’t and yes, AJ, that’s pretty much what happened.” “Why, whatever were you dreaming about, Darling?” Rarity inquired further. “I would rather not discuss it right now, but I have been putting myself under a great deal of pressure lately. I’ve just… got a lot to consider is all.” Rick offered. “What are you so pressured about?” Rainbow Dash questioned. “There is something I need to figure out for me own, that’s all.” He was starting to really wish this conversation would change directions. “Is it about what we said at the party?” The ambient temperature dropped about twenty degrees as Fluttershy’s question reached five pairs of ears. Rick stared down at the table in front of him, the cruller suddenly seeming like the most inedible thing in Equestria. He could feel ten eyes boring into him. He didn’t know how to answer. He didn’t want to offend them and he simply couldn’t lie to them either. The best he could do was a single, small nod. “But, I don’t understand. Why would that cause you so much trouble?” Rainbow Dash tried to get things straight. He was still having trouble speaking and couldn’t give a reason. “Well, Rainbow Dash, it had to come as quite a shock. It isn’t every day that such things come up. Try to see things from his point of view,” Twilight defended. “It can’t be easy to figure out what to do.” “Easy? No. No, it certainly isn’t easy.” Rick stood and waked to a window with a view of a garden. Fluttershy walked up to him and rested her head against his shoulder, “Rick, you know that we will help you no matter what. Remember, I promised to never leave you.” He nodded. “I meant it, every word and I know everypony else feels the same way.” Rick was suddenly enveloped by the five mares who were pressing against him and he felt the warmth of their love filling his soul. It lifted him out of the fog he was in and put him in a better mood. He still wasn’t sure what he was going to do but at least he knew they weren’t going to hold his decision against him and that made him happy again, if only a little bit. Again, there was a tingling feeling on either thigh, it was getting stronger but Rick figured it must have been just a muscle spasm from all the galloping. “By the way,” Applejack lifted her head and turned to look up at him, “when we were followin’ yer trail, we found wagon tracks. Who’d ya find out in the middle of the woods?” “Oh, some unicorn named Trixie.” The collective ‘WHAT!!’ should have blown out the windows of the shop by sheer explosive force.