//------------------------------// // Seeing Things // Story: Escapade // by Essbie //------------------------------// 2: Seeing Things "When you arrive there, one of you will gather information of this place as opposed to the main priority." "Why is this?" "Curiosity, that's all." "..." ~~~ Screams of bloody murder came from Dinky's room, making Time Turner leap from his seat and gallop there instinctively. She had bad dreams before, but nothing ever made her scream like that. He wouldn't be surprised if the neighbors heard it. As he pushed the door open, he saw her huddled on the floor, shaking in terror. He couldn't help but remember his own episode just an hour earlier, hairs standing up all down his spine. “Dinky!” He took her and held her tight. “It’s only a dream! You’re all right!” She wasn’t. Her eyes were bugged out, red and full of tears. “They made me see it!” she howled. “They killed him!” “It was only a bad dream dear,” he whispered. “It… wasn’t real.” Dinky stopped screaming, but the shivering, the tears, and the look of terror remained. Time Turner could only hold her gently rock her in an attempt to comfort her. “It’s okay,” he whispered. “We’re here.” Ditzy, previously standing in the doorway, trotted slowly into the bedroom to take over – she was much better at dealing with this sort of thing. After wrapping the small unicorn in her wings, she looked up at her husband with worry. In that moment, she thought that her crossed eyes saw something in her husband’s face. Did he look scared, or just really worried? It was just a filly’s nightmare; there was no reason for it to be either. She shook it off as just a mistake. “I’ve got it from here,” she whispered to him, turning her attention back to Dinky. “It’s okay, Muffin. I’m here, Daddy’s here. Nothing bad is happening, it was all just a dream.” Dinky wasn’t so reassured. For different reasons, neither was her father. The stallion turned and left the room, carrying a net of questions with him. "Maybe it was nothing," he said quietly to himself. "Maybe it was." An image of a red book with worn edges and bits of paper sticking out suddenly came to mind. He recognized it, but didn't remember how. "A journal... mine? I've never kept a journal, I don't think." Maybe it was important. Maybe it was nothing. ~~~ Pipsqueak had gotten up early. This wasn’t an accident; the future adventurer of lands unknown wanted to go do something before school. For the past few days, he had been visiting the cottage on the edge of town. A few days earlier he had gone there to see if the rumors were true about Fluttershy taking care of an actual parrot – the truest mate of a pirate (the ones he loved to read about)! Indeed they were, along with something a bit unexpected. The young colt had suddenly found he was interested in all the animals. Perhaps it had something to do with those adventure stories with the gentle wood-dwelling ponies that had a way with animals. In the case of Fluttershy, those stories were indisputably true! Whatever the case, he was interested in what it was like to be a sort of “beast master”. As he rushed around his grandfather – who sat at the kitchen counter drinking a cup of tea while reading the newspaper – the colt managed to nab his breakfast, a piece of bread, and his favorite bandana from next to the elder. After attempting to say goodbye past the full mouth, he ran out the front door. Nor’easter looked up and stared for a bit. The door opened again as the colt rushed back in a grabbed his forgotten backpack from the hook next to it and left. The elder looked back at his paper. “Hmph. Some adventurer… forgettin’ ‘is things like that.” Pipsqueak passed the buildings by with haste. All was a blur to him. There weren’t that many ponies out and about in the morning. In fact, the only one he passed was a familiar magenta unicorn who’s name he couldn’t recall. Ponyville was a small town, just not too small so that everypony would know each other’s names, talents, birthdays, and guilty pleasure. The only names everyone was certain to know were of the Element Bearers and Mayor Mare (if that even was her name). Finally, he came to the edge of town. There was only a little way to go until the cottage from where it sat by the edge of the dreaded Everfree Forest. How he longed to discover its secrets! Unfortunately, when the opportunity ever arose to go deep into the forest, he would freeze in his tracks. An adventurer was never afraid, but the point of an adventure was to come back and tell others what you discovered. The Everfree wasn’t a place one could just trot into and hope to come out of; it was said that many who went too deep were never seen again. But the Bearers of Harmony went that deep, right? So who was to say that wasn’t really true? Timber wolves, manticores, hydra, dragons and cockatrice, that’s who. No one could argue with them; if a hedgehog could be a good lawyer, than a creature from the Everfree could be a politician. They were immensely convincing with their ways. The cottage came into view, just as he heard the rooster crow. Something caught his attention as he approached the fence. An odd yet familiar smell lingered in the air. What was that? The answer was on the tip of his tongue to the point he swore he could taste it. Hold on, that was it! A taste that was like the smell! It all came to him. After a little misadventure a few months ago involving the Cutie Mark Crusaders and a rock pile, he had bitten his tongue. That was blood then. That smell was blood. A feeling a dread came over him. One of the animals must have been hurt badly or… Pipsqueak began searching for the source of the smell. It was too strong to be a little blood, there had to be a pool nearby. He only hoped it was just blood and not anything else. Blood and gore were not secret to him. The former was fine in stories, but the thought of a pony or an animal being ravaged was something he was rightfully repulsed by. Anypony who wasn't had to have something wrong with them – it just wasn't right. The animals must have noticed it too as they were acting strangely. One of the chickens (he didn’t know which) peeked out of the coop for a second before disappearing in a cloud of dust. That was when Pipsqueak saw it. A smear of blood ran along the side of the coop, forming an arc. The area below where the smear disappeared was the source of the scent. It was a simple puddle of blood, not as large as he thought. It was as if somepony clumsily splattered half a jar of tomato sauce. Why was the scent so strong? On a more important note, who was the donor? Not one of the animals, he thought. There would have been a commotion loud enough to wake Fluttershy in that case. The blood had to come from something from off the property. "Or maybe some rogue is about!" Pipsqueak imagined. "An' he's plottin' somethin' awful in the Everfree, it looks like!" Without another thought, he made his way down the path to the wood. Sure enough, there were a lot of red drops of blood along the path. They became more and more frequent the longer he followed them. Suddenly, the trail came to an end. There was more blood here, covering the leaves of some of the Everfree's vegetation, along with uplifted dirt and some hoofprints. A pony had been here, he concluded, but where could they have gone? That's when he noticed his surroundings. The Everfree Forest was full of life, and this, oddly enough, was unsettling. He could barely make out the rays of Celestia's sun through the thick layer of leaves above. Who knew what was lurking amidst these trees? Was something watching him? He swore he could see unearthly shadows moving about, along with glowing yellow eyes peering at him from between branches. With the weight of the forest seemed to be bearing down on him, Pipsqueak just couldn't take it anymore. He quickly turned, only to slam into something yellow. He fell back with a scream. "Pleasedon'teatme, pleasedon'teatme, pleasedon'teatme..." he repeated, eyes tightly shut. After a second of nothing happening, he opened his eyes a crack. It was Fluttershy. She too was shivering in fear, hooves covering her eyes. "Miss Fluttershy?" Pipsqueak got back up on his hooves. "What a' you doin' out here? I thought ye were in bed!" The pegasus lifted her hooves from her eyes. "Pipsqueak? W-why are you out here? No, this isn't where you want to be." She turned and whispered something to herself. Pipsqueak could barely catch it, but thought she said "...might be awake now". Thinking nothing of it, the colt informed her of his findings. "Yes, I heard something earlier this morning," Fluttershy said. "It sounded like a poor creature that was hurt in a terrible accident... I-I saw the blood, and I knew I just had to help them." "But I thought you were scared o' the forest, miss!" Pipsqueak said. "No offense, just... ye did!" "I am scared of it, b-but the thought of an injured animal out there... Well, I got my emergency kit–" she motioned to the saddle bag she had on, "–and went searching for it." "Well, eh... did ye?" Pipsqueak asked. "...oh, um, uh, yes. Yes I did." Neither pony said anything for a moment. Just as the awkward level reached critical, Fluttershy broke the silence. "Come on, Pipsqueak. We... we'd best be going." The two of them started to make their way back to the cottage. As the trotted, Pipsqueak took a look back. He thought he saw something. A white face with a beak just as pale spattered with blood. Just as soon as he saw it, it disappeared into the shadows. "Must be this place... it's gettin' under me skin," he tried to reason with himself. The hairs on the back of his neck didn't stand down no matter how hard he tried. ~~~ "Are you sure you're okay muffin?" Without responding to her mother's question, Dinky grabbed her things and left, heading for school. She went in a quick yet steady trot, determined to get through the day and get that dream out of her head. Try as she might, she couldn't get those words the stallion said out of her mind. "I'm here to help you." How, by telling a riddle then traumatizing her? It only got worse after she woke up and had her breakfast when she saw that news article. Was that the guard whose eyes she was looking through? It had to be; she knew what the entrance of the palace looked like, and that's where the article said the guard's body was found. It wasn't just a dream – this had actually happened, and she somehow saw it. "If a picture is worth a thousand words and words are said to be weapons, what is the picture?" How the hay would she know? She wasn't good with riddles, she was only nine! Great, now she had to actually dwell on it because of how important it seemed. "A word is a weapon..." Dinky said to herself. "A picture is a thousand words... a thousand weapons? What the heck does that mean?" After only a second of dwelling, she came to the conclusion that this was the first time she ever encountered something so important yet so meaningless at the same time. With the school coming into view, she thought about the last thing that elder had said to her. "Till we meet again, may the Sun and Moon guide your hooves!” Who said goodbye like that? She'd never heard anyway say farewell in such a mystical way before. Did anypony say that in Equestria? Maybe Miss Cheerilee would know. She was the second foal to enter the schoolhouse. Pipsqueak was already at his desk, taking off his red bandana. That silly colt always wore that thing wherever he went, sometimes forgetting Miss Cheerilee had a rule against hats and bandanas. The only ones who managed to find a loophole were Applebloom and Diamond Tiara – the bow tied her hair and the tiara was really a headband. There was something a little off about Pipsqueak. Usually, he was full of zeal, but now he was calmly putting his bandana on the desk and staring straight ahead at the board. If he was any other foal, Dinky would have assumed he was reading what Miss Cheerilee was putting up on the board ("The History of Cloudsdale"). He wasn't even paying attention to anything – he just had the thousand-yard stare. This worried Dinky incredibly. She would put aside her dilemma to see what was wrong in a minute, but right now she had a question to ask. "Miss Cheerilee?" she said, approaching the desk. The teacher put the chalk down and turned to her student. "Good morning, Dinky, is there something you need?" How could she explain this? "I, uh... wanted to ask you about something I heard. A phrase, I think." "Something you need to know the meaning of?" Nopony could put it better. "Yes. 'May the Sun and Moon guide your hooves.' What does that mean?" Cheerilee put on a pondering look. "I've never heard anypony say that, but I've seen that in stories. It was used often more than a thousand years ago as a farewell or a blessing. It appears often in the stories a legends from before the banishment of Nightmare Moon. I don't think anypony says it anymore – it's rather... archaic." Well, clearly that explained the stallion's age. Not at all, really, since he looked better than Granny Smith, whom everypony knew was possibly the oldest mare in Ponyville. There was a lot Dinky had to keep track of from that dream, as she felt it was all important. As such, she made a mental note to write it down in her extra notebook later. Dinky gave her thanks to Cheerilee and took a seat next to Pipsqueak, who was still staring into space. "You okay?" she asked. The colt jumped in his seat, startled. "D-Dinky, dear– I mean... Dinky," he stuttered. "S-sorry, I'm just... feelin' a li'l glum. Rough mornin' an' all, there was blood on th–" he cut himself off. "Just... never mind me. I'm as fit as a fiddle." "Blood?" Dinky asked. "What blood?" "Nothin', don't ask me, lass!" "Tell me!" Dinky said in a pleading tone. "Pleeeease?" "Nay." "Hrmph... Squeaky." "What was that ye jus' called me, lass?" The colt, feeling challenged by this absolute insult. No one mocks his name like that! "If ye were a stallion, I wouldn't hesitate t' give ye a clobberin'!" "Tell me what happened!" "Not on yer life, Dinky!" "Squeaky! Squeaky! Squeaky!" Dinky repeated, feeling utter joy from this poor colt's suffering. Pipsqueak groaned. "Fine, ye coaxed me into it." He swallowed bitterly before beginning his tale. "This mornin' I was visitin' Miss Fluttershy's cottage – don't ask why o' you'll be gettin' t' know plenty o' fishes before sundown. When I got there, I found this trail o' blood goin' into the Everfree." "Tell me you didn't follow it!" Dinky whispered, afraid of what was to come. "I can't, Dinky, cos I did. I followed th' trail to its end. Nothin', but I did run into Miss Fluttershy... literally." "Was she..." "Nah, she was fine, lass. Seemed t act a wee bit strange, but was fine. She heard some racket this mornin' an' followed that blood to where I wound up. Some animal was hurt bad, so she went lookin' an' patched it right up." "What was it? A deer?" Pipsqueak suddenly looked grim. "She never said. But... I thought I saw... somethin'. When we were leavin' the place, I looked back at me 6 o' clock an' saw it." There was a long silence. "Well? What did it look like?" Dinky asked. Pipsqueak couldn't say. "Alright kids! Get out your textbooks and open them to page 223," Cheerilee instructed. "We'll be reading about the founding of Cloudsdale and how important it is to Equestria – asides from its weather factory, that is." Dinky had to put her quest down for the day, at least until recess. She got her book out of her bag and opened it up to the page they were told. Her mind wandered back to the conversation, specifically how it started. "Dinky... dear? Ugh." Shaking off the mushiness, she passively glanced out the window and froze. Something big sped past it, casting a shadow over Cheerilee's desk. It didn't go unnoticed by the rest of the class. "What was that?" a colt asked. "What was what?" another replied. "That shadowy fella that flew by," a filly told them. "Who else saw it?" The room filled with raised hooves and chants of "me", "I did", and "anyone got a pencil". "Quiet down, class," Cheerilee ordered. "It was probably just a certain pegasus doing another stunt of hers." "Her stunts are cool though!" Scootaloo's voice called out. "Besides, whatever that was, it wasn't her. It was big!" "Oh, don't be sil–" Cheerilee stopped as she looked out the back window. "That... that's not a pegasus." The class turned around. Outside, they could see a tall creature with big black eyes and a long pale face that resembled a bird's head and beak, only spattered with red. The rest of the creature was covered in black. It was turning its head, as if it was scanning the area. "Featherweight," Applebloom said, prodding the skinny colt's shoulder. "Get a photo of that thang." The junior photographer nodded and got out his camera. "Ready..." He clicked, and the camera flashed. The creature noticed this and leapt into a stance. Something glinted on its arms for a second. As suddenly as it had readied itself, it was gone, disappearing in the direction of the forest. "I want all of you to stay where you are! I will be right back, don't near the windows!" Cheerilee yelled as she left through the front door. The class erupted into excited murmurs. Most of them speculating on what it was they saw. Others, like Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon, were indifferent, talking about plans for the weekend. Dinky turned over to Pipsqueak. Again, he was staring into space. "That was it..." he said. "Th-that was what I saw in the forest this mornin'!" ~~~ The stack of papers slammed down on the desk in front of him. "What's this?" Shining Armor asked. "Panic, sir," the messenger guard stated. "Reports of mysterious creatures in a few city areas. Canterlot, Trottingham... Ponyville." "Ponyville..." the Captain murmured. "My sister's there, yes?" "She's not due back for another day, sir." The blue-maned stallion sighed. "Very well. I'll look over these. In the meantime... send some troops to the reported locations." He picked up one report in his magic and began reading. "It's merely panic sir... is it wise to scramble the guard on short notice." Shining stopped reading and slowly put the paper down, leaning over the desk. He stared right in the messenger's face, making the colt sweat. "One," he stated. "You. Are not. My adviser. I don't not have an adviser, but if I were to pick one, it wouldn't be you." the guard gulped and backed away. "Two: we are not scrambling them. We are upping the security around the palace and sending some extra guards out to see if there's any truth to these rumors. Three: I. Will not. Take. Chances. Do I make myself clear, Corporal?" "Sir, yes, sir!" The guard said, despite his shaking. "Good. Now go do your job." The messenger saluted before hastily going off to do his duty. As soon as he left, in came Wall Flower. "What's happening, sir?" The Lieutenant Commander asked. "Creature sightings around Canterlot, Trottingham, and Ponyville. I wonder why they're nowhere else?" "Immediately after one of my guards is killed, too. Coincidence?" Shining shrugged. "Possibly... hey, why are you here, anyway? I didn't summon you." "I accidentally received a message intended for you," the bat pony explained, tossing a scroll onto the pile of paper. "It's from your wife, sir." "Oh! Thanks, Wall. I could use it, Celestia knows." Wall Flower nodded as the Captain opened the scroll. "I'll be going now, sir." "Hold on, Commander," Shining said. "About the creatures..." "What about them?" "I want you to managed the search in Canterlot." Wall Flower was taken aback. Usually, that would be the Captain job, to oversee patrols of the capitol. "But, sir–" "I'll be managing the search in Ponyville," the unicorn stated. "It's only for a couple days, I believe. So I'll come back and transfer you to that section when I return with my sister." "I see, very well sir. Anything else?" "Yes... keep your eyes peeled. See if these creatures are real, and see if they can communicate if they are. Find out what they want, but don't let your guard down." The winged stallion nodded, saluted, then left.