//------------------------------// // Chapter Six - The Native's Wrath // Story: The Evolution of Harmony // by Thornwing //------------------------------// Twilight pulled out the parchment and laid it in front of the ponies. “Alright team, the map says we’re here.” She pointed to the forested part of the drawing. “Rainbow Dash and I took a look above the clearing this morning, and by my calculations, we’re almost to the middle of this valley. It looks like there’s a large hill right in the center. I’m not sure if that’s where our journey will end or if we’ll need to continue on to the other side of this place. From what I remember from my vision, the Smooze was still quite a ways away from our current position. Nevertheless, we need to keep our eyes peeled today. If you see anything that looks important, just call it out.” The ponies all nodded. Twilight nodded back. “Let’s finish getting ready and head out.” The group loaded up their gear and made their way to the far end of the clearing where the not-so-beaten path began again. Their order unchanged, Pinkie Pie trailed along behind, once again humming another bouncy tune. It wasn’t long before everypony was back in their normal marching rhythm. The way had become more difficult. It seemed as though no pony, or no anything for that matter, had come along this particular path in a very long time. At times, they had to help each other as they navigated a particularly broken section of the trail, or had to climb over a fallen tree. Those without wings struggled to keep pace. Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie came to a stop as they examined a large tree that had fallen across the path. “Why does this tree have to be in my way?” Rarity whined. “Couldn’t it have fallen over there instead?” “Maybe you could just levitate it on over there, sugarcube?” Applejack paused while trying to refrain from letting Rarity’s whining get the better of her. “Don’t be silly, Applejack, it’s far too large for me to do that. I know my limitations. However, I must take a moment and fix this shoe…” Rarity turned sitting back on her haunch in the middle of the path and began digging at her left rear hoof. The muck and mud had thoroughly caked over her golden horseshoe, and it was beginning to look like she was wearing a pair of muddy, brown boots. “Hey Rarity, you mind lendin’ me a hoof over here?” Applejack grunted as she attempted to lift Pinkie’s back end over the fallen trunk. Pinkie Pie struggled to reach over the log in order to pull herself up. “Today would be nice…” Rarity looked up from her grooming and suddenly found herself muzzle-to-nose with a tan, wart-skinned creature who had silently approached the group from behind. He was sparsely dressed in drab muddy rags holding a garden hoe in both hands. A second, taller companion in equally poor attire stood to his left holding a small rake with eight bent tines. Rarity let out a scream. “Aaahhhhh! Trolls!” She bolted upright and stumbled back into Applejack and Pinkie. Applejack lost her footing, still carrying the teetering Pinkie Pie on her shoulder. They spun together like a pair of ballerinas as Applejack tried to regain her balance. Applejack danced around until she planted her hoof on a cluster of mushrooms and her leg slipped out from under her. Pinkie, along with Applejack’s favorite hat, launched into the air. Pinkie’s squeal carried a short distance in every direction, but the forest quickly absorbed her cry. She landed a stone’s throw from the trail in a clump of plush ferns. Applejack collapsed into a ditch to the side of the main path. She looked up just in time to see a net, along with a hefty tree branch, falling from above. Then, everything went dark. Twilight held Applejack’s head with tender concern. “Take it easy. Nice and slow.” Her voice seemed to echo in Applejack’s ears as the latter groggily lifted her head. “Ouch!” Applejack exclaimed, raising a hoof to her head and poking around to inspect the damage. “Stand back everypony!” Fluttershy called. “I can handle this.” Fluttershy glided over from the other end of the room holding a damp cloth in her hooves. She laid it over the bump on Applejack’s head and wrapped a bit of string into a bow to keep it secure. “I’m so glad you’re finally awake!” Twilight said as she released her grip on Applejack’s neck. Still groggy, Applejack responded, “Oww, that hurts like all get-out. H-how long was I out?” “Most of the morning, it seems. You got a nasty bump on your head when you tripped that trap.” Twilight stepped back from the bed giving Applejack some room to breathe. “We had the local witch doctor check it out—he said you’d be fine and not to worry about it too much.” Applejack slowly swung her head around as she gradually familiarized herself with her surroundings. Her friends huddled around the foot of the bed with an open window to her right. The faucet on the sink to the far left dripped over a pile of dirty dishes next to a flat-top iron stove. A low cabinet with rusty hinges and a shelf with a solitary potted plant rounded out the rest of the furniture. She turned back to face Twilight. “Yer not makin’ any sense, Twi. What doctor? And what’s this about a trap? And how’d we all get here in the first place. And where is… here?” “Hold on. One question at a...” “Let me handle this, Twilight,” Rarity interrupted. “I want to apologize to you, Applejack. I’m sorry I panicked and knocked you over. I feel absolutely terrible that you were hurt as a result of my carelessness.” Out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie shouted, “Did you see my amazing backflip somersault?” Applejack whipped around to face her. “Pinkie? What in Equestria are you talkin’ about?” “Oh you silly… We aren’t in Equestria. Now, out of Equestira, I’m saying I must have gotten some major air—you gave me a perfect launch!” Pinkie did an impromptu demonstration of diving and spinning through the air. “She’s right,” Twilight agreed. “You must have tossed her completely clear of that trap.” Applejack shook her head. “I’m still a bit confused here. Where exactly are we, and what was it that spooked ‘ol Rarity?” “Oh, sorry,” Twilight apologized for the apparent confusion. “I guess you still haven’t been properly introduced.” She gestured away and the cluster of pony faces surrounding Applejack opened to reveal a group of short, but sturdy, miniature troll-like creatures. “Trolls!” Applejack jumped from the bed and made ready to defend herself and her friends. “No silly… Grundles!” Pinkie replied with a chuckle. Applejack’s shocked expression melted to confusion once again. “What do you mean, Grundles? What’s a Grundle?” “They are, Applejack,” Fluttershy replied, pointing at the small gathering of little people across the way. Pinkie Pie burst into song as she bounced around the room: “Far away and long ago, there was a little town Where Grundles lived and worked and played until the sun went down. Together with their pony friends, they always saved the day The trolls were never happy that the Grundles got their way!” “Pinkie!” Applejack scolded. “What in tarnation is that awful song yer singin’?” “Don’t worry, Applejack. She’s been singing those same four lines since we got here. You learn to block it out… eventually.” Rainbow Dash stuffed her hooves back in her ears. Rarity slouched back onto her haunches and brought both of her front hooves up to cover her ears as well. “Apparently, she remembers it from one of her granny’s lullabies that she sang to her as a foal. The Grundle’s state of attire is nearly as deplorable as that song, and I’ll be saddled before I let that stand.” She groaned as Pinkie led into a second verse. A patch of clothing lay across her lap with a needle and thread hanging out. Twilight continued undeterred. “Anyway, what I meant to say was, these are the Grundles. They certainly aren’t Trolls. This one here is their king.” Twilight indicated a rather plump Grundle with a large mushroom cap atop his head. His clothing looked only slightly less ragged than the others they met on the trail. A few pieces looked they had recently been stitched back together, and a large part of the pant leg resembled the fabric of her traveling cloak. The King stepped forward and bowed to Applejack. “Sorry for trap,” the fat little man apologized. “We no think we catch pony in it. It been long time since ponies leave Grundleland.” Thick, bristly-brown hairs poked out from under his cap with another cluster growing straight out of black mole on his chin. His cheeks were red and rosy; his smile warm and inviting. Applejack relaxed. She started to reach up to tip the corner of her hat in deference to the creature that addressed her before realizing it wasn’t there. Scanning the room, she spied it sitting on the far bedside table and went to retrieve it as she spoke. “Ahh shucks, it ain’t nothin’. I’m sure you didn’t mean to have me fall into that there trap o’ yours. Sorry to say, but you do look a lot like the Trolls from my picture books back home.” “Grundles and Trolls cousins. We no like dem much.” The Grundle King’s lip curled into a bit of a snarl. “They no welcome here.” “Well, thank you for takin’ right good care of me. I sure am glad we didn’t run into any Trolls out here.” Applejack picked up her hat and spun it around as she placed it on her head. The King straightened up and adjusted his mushroom crown. “Princess pony, now that friend awake, I take you to pony tree.” Applejack fell into position with the others around Twilight and whispered in her ear. “Sorry if I missed it, Twi, but what’s this talk about a pony tree?” Twilight whispered back, “It seems as though they have something they want to show us. I have no idea what it is, but we’re about to find out.” She turned back to the King and gave a forced smile. Whispering aside, she continued. “Play along—their whole town looks like it was pieced together from George’s rock garden. Rarity spent most of the morning repairing torn clothing and used the material from our traveling cloaks to patch up the rest. I think we’ve earned their trust, but we don’t want to upset them.” Applejack nodded. “Gotcha.” “Ponies follow Grundle King. Me take you there now.” The portly King waddled out the door and kept on plodding down the lane as he paraded the ponies through the middle of town. Gundles of all shapes and sizes stopped what they were doing to stare at the pony crew as they passed. Pinkie waved and smiled at everyone as they went. The Grundle King led them past the last little huts in town, through a barely standing stone archway, and straight up a small hill beyond. As they came over the crest of the rise, the ponies gazed ahead in wonder. A large ring of stone held up by six towering columns materialized in the distance. A single black-bark tree stood in the center of the shrine. Twilight continued walking toward the structure in the center of the hilltop, perplexed by how unique it was. The stone matched the striation of the village huts, but didn’t seem nearly as worn. The giant tree at the center intrigued her the most. The other trees and brush of the Shadow Forest seemed to cower, yet surround the base of the hill in most every direction. The only open path was the one leading back toward the Grundle Village. The King came to a stop a good hundred paces from the shrine. He cleared his throat. “This sacred pony shrine. Only ponies go in. Grundle King not stay. You tell King when all safe. Good luck with Smooze!” The portly King hurriedly waved goodbye and took off running back toward the village. “Wait, what?” Twilight did a double take snapping from the King and back to the shrine. “The Smooze is here?” “Where do you think you’re going?” came Rarity’s shocked response. “Aren’t you going to show us the pony tree?” The King continued to wave over his shoulder without looking back. “King take ponies up hill. Ponies fix tree while Grundles hide. Come back when Smooze all gone.” He picked up the pace and double timed it back down the hill toward the village. “Well, that was weird.” Rainbow Dash folded her forelegs and hovered above the rest. “It sure doesn’t look like any monster from that storybook. It’s just a tree.” “He may have good reason to be scared, Rainbow. Look at that!” Twilight pointed over at the stone columns. Becoming more unmistakable with every step they took toward the stone circle, large statues resembling pony warriors arrayed in various battle stances came into focus beneath each stone pillar. The group continued forward and came to a stop near the great tree at the center of the circle. Twilight lifted a hoof and pointed in the direction of the far stone columns. A large pony statue in full battle gear stood holding a spear. Glancing over to the next column stood another pony statue in the same armor regalia, but this one holding a shield. One by one, she scanned the statues—six in all, each with its own version of pony in a different battle pose. “This is something, right?” Rainbow Dash asked while taking a closer look at a posing Pegasus. “Please tell me you remember this from your dream.” “I know it fits somehow,” Twilight affirmed. “This ancient pony shrine has to be important. Maybe it’s the key to stopping the Smooze.” She inched closer to a nearby Unicorn statue. “We just have to figure out how.” “The poor tree must be sick. It’s got a bunch of gooey sap leaking out all over the place.” Fluttershy lifted her hoof to the trunk intending to wipe off a bit of the foul goo. “Fluttershy, no!” Twilight’s warning came too late. Fluttershy reached up and swiped a hoofful of glop from off the trunk. Her eyes went wide and turned a dark shade of green before dancing back to flame red. She stumbled back from the tree and fell to the ground. Her friends rushed to her side. Applejack threw open her pack and fetched her canteen. Pouring some water from the container onto the cloth that she tore from her head, she wiped the goo from Fluttershy’s hoof. When she finished clearing the sludge, she tossed the cloth away. As it hit the ground, It burst into flame incinerating the bandage. Fluttershy coughed and came around. “Wha… What happened?” “Fluttershy! What were you thinking?” Twilight ran a hoof through Fluttershy’s mane. “You should never stick your hoof into strange substances like that. We have no idea what that stuff even is!” “I’m sorry, Twilight.” Fluttershy blushed. “I just wanted to see what was hurting that magnificent tree.” “What makes you think that stuff is hurting the tree, Fluttershy?” Rarity walked up to the trunk and tried to get a better look. “Well… just look up there.” Fluttershy raised a hoof and indicated in the general direction above them. The bottom parts of the tree were oozing with the purple goo. The leaves of the lower branches were all yellow and brown with many of them having already fallen to the ground. Further up, however, the leaves shone bright gold, contrasting with the shiny black of the bark itself. From the other direction, Rainbow Dash shouted, “Hey everypony! Check this out!“ Rainbow Dash hovered in front of one of the pony statues to their right. A twenty-foot-tall stone Pegasus statue stood rearing up on its hind legs. Its wings spread wide to both sides, and it looked ready to charge into battle. Rainbow Dash flew up next to the statue and tried to imitate the dramatic pose. Her own wing stretched out and brushed up against the stone wing of the pony statue. There was a spark—then a crack of splitting rock. Rainbow Dash suddenly burst into Rainbow Power. Beams of light sprang from her mane and tail and extended out from each hoof. Her wings lit up in multi-colored bands as she reared back and gave out a triumphant sounding neigh. All five of the other ponies looked on in shock. After momentarily losing control of her reflexes, Rainbow Dash floated away from the statue surrounded by a Rainbow Power bubble. She looked down at the group. “Uhh, I think I broke it.”