The Kobold of Ponyville
Chapter II - The Kobold and the Pony
The class was abuzz with noise as colts and fillies chattered or gossiped with one another. They had been separated into groups for a small project using crafts to make a final project for Miss Cheerilee when the bell suddenly rang out, signalling the end of the lesson.
Cheerilee smiled, “Okay, everypony! Please remember to clean up after yourselves, and I’ll see you tomorrow for the annual Ponyville Relatives Sports Day!”
The class excitedly tidied up, the chatter in the room only increasing in volume.
“I can’t wait until tomorrow!” Sweetie Belle squealed, “I get to spend the whole day with Rarity!”
“Well, you sure ain’t gunna beat me and Big Mac in the races!” Applebloom grinned.
“What about Applejack?” Sweetie asked.
“One of us has gotta stay on the farm to do the work, and Applejack took part last year, so she asked Big Mac if he wanted to this year,” she replied.
“Oh, that makes sense, I guess…” Sweetie Belle said.
“Can we just get this over with?” Scootaloo grumbled, “I wanna go home today.”
“You still mad ‘cos your parents aren’t gunna be here for the event?” Applebloom asked.
“Well yeah!” Scootaloo replied, “I mean, I know my dad’s got important business in Manehatten tomorrow, but my mum could’ve at least gotten one of the other veteran Wonderbolts to cover Spitfire at the academy!”
“Uh… isn’t that because all the senior Wonderbolts got food poisoning last night from that party thing they were at?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Well yeah… but… GAH!” Scootaloo groaned, “Rainbow could’ve gone with me but she’s busy as well!”
“Uh, Scoots?” Applebloom started, “Rainbow’s got food poisoning as well...”
“Right…” Scootaloo replied, blushing.
“Well, there’s always next year though, right?” Sweetie Belle said, trying to comfort her.
“Yeah I guess… I suppose—”
“Well if it isn’t the loser blank flanks.”
The three fillies looked over to see Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walking over to them. They rolled their eyes as the two fillies approached and turned away to ignore them. Scootaloo, however, ground her teeth as the duo walked over.
“Hey! Don’t you losers ignore me!” Diamond sniffed.
“Look, Diamond Tiara,” Scootaloo started calmly, “we’re kinda busy here so can you go be rude and annoying somewhere else? Thanks.”
Diamond’s eye twitched as Silver Spoon’s jaw dropped, shocked by the response.
“How dare you talk to me like that!” Diamond snapped.
“Well, it ain’t any different to how you treat us!” Applebloom retorted.
“Yeah,” Sweetie Belle added.
“Well, you all deserve it!” Silver Spoon interjected.
“Why? Just because we don’t have a cutie mark yet?” Scootaloo asked.
“Exactly,” Diamond smirked.
Scootaloo was about to rise up to Diamond but remembered something Rainbow had told her.
“Whatever, just go away, annoying little fly… buzz… buzz.” Scootaloo replied, lazily waving her hoof.
Diamond and Silver stared at her in disbelief as Sweetie Belle and Applebloom burst out laughing. Scootaloo smirked, making a mental note to say thank you to Rainbow. The two fillies returned back to their table, grumbling to themselves as everyone else finished cleaning up.
“Okay, class,” Cheerilee sang, “I’ll see you all tomorrow!”
The class quickly dispersed out of the classroom, eager to get home for the weekend. Just as the Cutie Mark Crusaders were about to leave, Cheerilee called out to them.
“Scootaloo, can we talk for a moment?”
“Err,” Scootaloo looked at her friends. “I’ll see you later, I guess.”
“Don’t worry, we’ll wait for you just outside,” Sweetie Belle said and Applebloom nodded.
“Thanks, girls,” Scootaloo said with a smile and walked over to Cheerilee.
“Miss Cheerilee?” she asked.
“Are you okay? About tomorrow, I mean. I know how much you love taking part in the games each year and—”
“It’s okay, Miss Cheerilee,” Scootaloo interrupted, “my parents have already offered to take me to a wonderbolts show next week to make up for it. And besides, I can always take part next year.”
“Oh, well, I’m glad to hear that, Scootaloo,” Cheerilee smiled at Scootaloo, “I hope you will still come along.”
“Mhm, gotta support my friends, haven’t I?” Scootaloo grinned.
Cheerilee smiled again as she said goodbye to the orange filly who ran outside to rejoin her friends. The three crusaders then made their way through the town, discussing ideas for cutie mark schemes they could try after the following day’s races.
As they passed the Carousel Boutique, Sweetie Belle came to a stop and rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment.
“I forgot to mention... I said I was going to help Rarity this evening, as a thank you for her taking part in the games.”
“Oh, come on!” Scootaloo groaned. “We were gonna go to the clubhouse and brainstorm.”
“I know. I’m sorry! You two can still do the brainstorming though, if you like. I’m sure you two can think of something cool to do.”
“Yeah… ah guess,” Applebloom replied.
“Sweetie, is that you?” Rarity called as she opened the door, “ah! Hello girls, I’m so sorry for stealing her this evening.”
“Nah, it’s okay, Rarity,” Applebloom smiled, “like she said, we can do the brainstormin’ ourselves.”
“Yeah,“ Scootaloo sighed and rolled her eyes.
“Alright, well goodbye, girls. Have a good weekend, won’t you!” Rarity smiled. “I’m sure Sweetie will see you tomorrow at the sports day.”
“Later, girls,” Sweetie Belle said.
“Bye,” the Scootaloo and Applebloom mumbled in response.
They watched as Sweetie Belle disappeared into the Carousel Boutique before they started to head off towards the path from Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres. As they headed down the road, they ran into Applejack who has been loading up barrels of apples ready to be shipped out. She wiped her brow before spotting the two fillies and waved over to them with a smile.
“Afternoon, girls!” she called.
“Howdy, sis!” Applebloom replied.
“Hey, Applejack,” Scootaloo said.
“Say, where’s Sweetie Belle?” Applejack asked.
“She’s helping Rarity,” Applebloom replied glumly.
“Ah see,” the mare grunted as she hauled another barrel onto the cart. “Well, ah hope you haven't forgotten about your chores, little missy.”
“Oh, hook a fish and slap me silly, ah completely forgot!” Applebloom groaned.
“You gotta be kidding me…” Scootaloo sighed.
“Ah’m sorry, Scoots… ah gotta—”
“It’s fine, Applebloom,” Scootaloo interrupted.” I’ll just do some brainstorming and go home, I guess.”
“Alrighty, I’ll see ya later?”
“Sure.”
The two said their goodbyes as Applebloom and Applejack headed back to the farm, leaving Scootaloo to walk to their clubhouse alone and annoyed. She soon reached the clubhouse and entered the building.
“Who needs them,” she complained, “I can get more brainstorming done then they ever could!”
“Why is this so hard?” Scootaloo wailed.
She had only been brainstorming for ten minutes and already she was out of ideas. Scootaloo walked over to one of the bean bags and flopped onto it, groaning loudly. Her eyes darted around the clubhouse in search of inspiration when they fell upon the bookcase they had filled with their favourite books. The girls all enjoyed very different books, but there was one series that all three of them enjoyed.
Scootaloo glanced at the cupboard that was near the bookcase and a small grin formed on her face as she remembered the present that she was given as a birthday present the previous year, and an idea popped into her head.
“There is no peril the brave and fearless Scootaloo won’t face!”
Scootaloo entered the Everfree Forest with a grin of determination on her face. She had picked up a fairly large stick and was wielding it like a machete in her mouth and was swinging it against the tall grass and bushes.
She was pretending she was Daring Do.
“The brave and fearless Scootaloo surveys her surroundings,” she announced through the stick, “even when danger lurks in every direction and only her skill with her trusty machete stands between her and her certain doom!”
Scootaloo swung the stick around her as if she was fending off wild animals and yelped slightly when it collided with a tree and snapped in half. She looked at the stick and groaned, discarding the piece in her mouth and sighed.
“Stupid stick, stupid Diamond Tiara, stupid everything!”
Scootaloo kicked a nearby stone into a tree and nodded as a satisfying ‘clunk’ came from her target. She trudged a bit further into the forest in the hopes of finding something exciting. She knew she wasn’t supposed to this far into the Everfree Forest, but right now she didn’t care.
“It’s not as if I even need to be at the sports day tomorrow,” Scootaloo sighed.
She continued to walk through the thick forest, marking trees so she know which way she came and occasionally tripping over the odd root.
“Stupid roots. I’ll show them. I’ll show everyone! Maybe I’ll get a cutie mark just like Daring Do’s! Mum and dad would be so proud, and it would make Rainbow so jealous!”
She chuckled to herself, lost in her fantasy. She imagined Rainbow Dash asking for her autograph instead. She leapt out of a bush, pretending to pounce on an invisible foe. She hissed when she toppled a little ungracefully and hurt her hoof.
“Stupid Diamond, stupid Silver. So what if I don’t have one? I’ll show them!” she muttered to herself.
She didn’t even notice the two little eyes watching her from nearby. There was a rustle that came from beside her in one of the bushes and she saw a chicken’s head poke out.
“Huh? A chicken? Maybe Fluttershy’s lost one—”
Her eyes suddenly widened in realization and fear as the ‘chicken’ stepped out, revealing it’s very unchicken-like body.
“A cockatrice!” Scootaloo gasped and took several steps back until her flank hit a tree. The filly desperately looked about for a way to distract the cockatrice, but she was frozen in place with fear.
Scootaloo screamed as the cockatrice’s wings flared out, but stopped when she heard a strange barking coming from nearby. Her eyes widened when she saw a small reptilian wielding a spear leap over a fallen tree and charge furiously at the cockatrice.
The cockatrice was as startled as Scootaloo was and didn’t react in time before the small lizard swung the spear it was holding into the head of the creature, causing it to squawk in pain and surprise. The little lizard didn’t give up and kept striking the cockatrice using the wooden pole of the spear, all the while barking out like an outraged dog.
Soon, the cokatrice recovered and pushed the lizard back with a strong gust of its wings. Just as the strange lizard prepared for a retaliation, the cockatrice turned tail and fled into the bushes. The small reptile panted as it glared after its fleeing foe before adopting a heroic pose and turning to Scootaloo.
“Are you okay?”
Scootaloo blinked at the lizard. It was yapping at her and appeared to be waiting for an answer. Was it trying to talk to her?
“Huh? A-are you trying to talk?” she asked.
“Oh yeah! Tak forgets ponies don’t speak same language,” the lizard replied with a laugh.
Scootaloo blinked again, not sure what to say to the creature before it spoke again.
“Tak said, you okay?”
She jumped up in surprise as she stared at the little lizard who tilted its head at her.
“U-uh yeah… w-who are you?” she asked.
“Tak, the greatest adventurer in the world!” he replied. “You?”
“Scootaloo…”
Scootaloo and Tak stared at one another for a while, Tak was waiting for her to say thank you to him and tapped his foot impatiently. Meanwhile, Scootaloo was trying to think of something to say.
“Well?” Tak said.
“Well, what?” Scootaloo replied.
“Aren’t you even going to thank Tak for saving you?” he asked.
“Huh? Oh! Yeah sorry, dude… uh… yeah thanks, you know?” she said.
Tak grinned and his tail wagged as he gave her a thumbs up.
“So… what are you, exactly?” Scootaloo asked.
“Tak is kobold,” he replied.
Scootaloo was walking alongside Tak as the two headed back out towards the edge of the forest. After a second brief silence, Tak’s stomach had growled loudly, and he searched his bag for his meal.
“Hey, where’s Tak’s meat?”
“You eat meat?” Scootaloo asked.
“Mhm. That nasty chicken-demon must have stolen it!”
“You mean the cockatrice?”
“Yeah, the cock-a-triss!” Tak said, testing the word.
“Hmm well, I think Fluttershy has some meat for her animals. Maybe we’ll find some there,” Scootaloo offered. “C’mon, I’ll show you.”
By now the pair had reached the edge of the forest and Tak had paused at the edge, “Who is Fluttershy? Is she part of your clan?”
“Er, she lives in my village, yeah. She lives just on the edge of the Everfree forest. You’ll like her.” Scootaloo paused as she realized that Tak suddenly looked very nervous. “Are you okay?”
“Tak is just… nervous,” he replied.
“Over what?”
“Meeting ponies… Tak isn’t exactly sure how they will react.”
“Fluttershy? She’s one of the sweetest and nicest ponies you’ll ever meet! She’ll love you!”
“Tak’s not so sure…” he mumbled.
“Come on, I thought you were the greatest adventurer in the world,” Scootaloo teased.
“Tak is! Tak fears nothing!” he snapped, pounding a fist to his chest.
“Then let’s go!” Scootaloo ordered.
“Onward!” Tak cried.
Tak charged ahead of Scootaloo out of the forest with a war cry that would have every dog within a mile radius howling with him. The filly watch in amusement as he suddenly stopped running and turned around.
“Uhm… where does Tak go?”
Scootaloo giggled and trotted over to him.
“Come on, Tak,” she instructed, poking him with a hoof, “climb on.”
With a soft grunt and a small leap, Tak clambered onto Scootaloo’s back with a grin and pointed his little wooden spear forwards.”
“Onwards! Adventure awaits!”
Scootaloo shook her head as she started walking. Tak quickly got distracted by the surroundings as he stared in awe and fascination at everything around him, and the pair began walking down the path towards Fluttershy’s cottage.
Twilight was making her way back to the library from the marketplace. She had just finished purchasing some more scrolls and ink when something in the corner of her eye caught her attention. She looked over at the bridge that lead towards Fluttershy’s cottage and saw Scootaloo, she squinted her eyes and spotted the small creature on her back.
“What in the… that’s odd,” she muttered.
She rubbed her eyes and looked again, only to see that both Scootaloo and the creature had gone.
“Where did… I must be imagining things, Spike did say I was up too late last night with that study session,” she mumbled to herself.
She yawned and continued on her way back home, making a mental note to check any of her books to see if the creature she thought she had seen could possibly be in one of the volumes of Equestrian creatures she owned.