//------------------------------// // With Only One Choice Available // Story: Trust in a Wild Goose Chase // by Fairyhaven13 //------------------------------// Flim stomped down the hoofpath that led from the Apple residence's front door to their fence. His head down, his teeth grinding, the cream pony just focused on leaving the grounds as fast as possible, his mind a whir of frustrated, disappointed, and desperate thoughts. Can't believe that mare... Got what was coming to him? How could she say... All I wanted was help! Was that too much to ask?... I did nothing to bring that on!... Aside from trying to assert my own good business sense where hers was lacking, but that was months ago!... I try to be humble, and all I get is... Why did she... Why can't she... What am I going to do? The salespony looked up, realizing that he was standing under the main entryway to Sweet Apple Acres. Directly above him was a white picket arch covered in apple vines (he didn't realize those existed until he came to Sweet Apple Acres the first time; the things Earth Ponies can do these days...), with a wooden sign dangling at the apex. There was an apple-shaped cut in the sign, signifying the Apple Family brand. Flim offhoofedly wondered if the Apples actually used that brand on the animals they raised, the way some wealthy ranch owners did. Probably not; Applejack was much too goody-goody for that. Dejectedly, Flim sat down under the arch. He wanted to keep walking off, away from the farmers and their brutal honesty. This was why he preferred lies; honesty only ever hurt ponies' feelings. It also got you far less bits to jingle in your pocket, but still. However, he had no idea who he could turn to, if not Applejack. Flam was the only pony he really trusted; the only pony who understood him, and didn't hold a grudge for his past, eh, less beneficial business deals. Well, besides the ponies in other towns who hadn't encountered the twins yet. Flam was the pony who Flim wanted to turn to in this situation, as in any, but how could he if Flam was the one who needed to be found? Besides his brother, Flim couldn't think of a single pony he could trust to get the job done. Except maybe Applejack. Other ponies, even the famed "Elements of Sunshine and Sweetness," would turn up their nose and walk away upon seeing the clever (if greedy, swindling, and half the time malicious) conponies in need of help. And that would be the turnout at its best. At worst, they might offer help in exchange for being paid back for the bits they lost in the brothers' last deal, or in exchange for the brothers facing capital punishment for their extortion. They might even pretend to be willing to help, only to turn around and hand Flim and Flam over to the authorities once the ordeal was over- if they waited that long. Other ponies couldn't be trusted in a situation like this; other ponies wouldn't be honest in a situation like this. But, Applejack would. She was the Element of Honesty; the mare couldn't lie to save her life! The closest she ever came was when Flim and Flam convinced her that telling Granny Smith the truth about their Miracle Curative Tonic would make the elderly pony miserable. That wasn't a lie, either; Flim was certain that the grandmare wouldn't feel nearly as eager to swim or jump off of impossibly high diving boards if she knew that the Tonic was just apple juice and beet leaves. And the Tonic did help Granny Smith to feel younger again; it was simply a placebo effect. Placebo effects were still effects in any case. Therefore Flim and Flam had been in the right all along; not that Applejack or the rest of Ponyville saw it that way. It was a good thing the brothers were experienced with daringly running off into the sunset after a successful scam- er, perfectly legitimate deal that helped ponies and also got the FlimFlam brothers lots and lots of money. Anyways... Applejack didn't believe in lying, and hated the idea of holding back the truth in any way, shape, or form; even if it didn't mean outright telling a fib, she still considered it dishonest. Flim considered it a very silly limitation, but, at the same time, a useful one. She was really the only pony he could turn to at this point and feel certain she wouldn't try to make a crooked bargain out of helping, or stab him in the back. She was the only pony who could help him. Too bad she wouldn't help him. Apparently she also knew what a phooka was. That irked him. Not only did Flim have to ask the assistance of a mare with a grudge against him, but she'd been collaborating with Flam's kidnapper! Well, maybe not quite collaborating. She did say that it snuck onto the farm the night before without any of the Apples being aware of it. And Applejack didn't lie. Still, if she didn't know it had been there until that morning, and this was most certainly the same phooka that had kidnapped Flam, and she knew more about what a phooka was than Flim did, then just how far had the Celestia-forsaken thing planned this all out? It was a horrible feeling, knowing that Flim might be playing right into the enemy's hooves and having no idea what to do about it. What if this whole ordeal was staged? He wouldn't put it past the phooka to plan each item on that list out so that Flim wound up tangled in a horrible, inescapable trap of some sort. He was already feeling pretty trapped. The list! He'd forgotten all about that in the stress of the last few hours. If Flim could see the items on the list, it would be a good start towards making a plan of action. Maybe he didn't need help finding them all; maybe there would be some sort of common pattern in the kinds of items he needed to find, some sort of clue that would lead him to the phooka himself. Why bother going on a wild goose chase if he could go straight to the source? The Skim family wasn't notorious for their cleverness for nothing, after all. Leaning back on his haunches, Flim lit up his horn as he reached into his vest with magic and pulled out the small scroll the phooka had thrown at him. It was only about three inches wide, and so small that it couldn't be very long once unrolled. Either the phooka wrote in a miniscule script, or it was a short list. Flim couldn't decide which he hoped for- a long list in small writing meant more opportunity to look for a pattern, but a short list meant a shorter amount of time to find the items in the off chance no pattern could be found. What sort of items could a phooka want a salespony like Flim to find, anyways? It could be any amount of bizarre, outlandish things. A talking rock? A changeling skull? He could only imagine what sort of nightmare fuel he had to find. The grip of Flim's magic shook slightly with anxiety as he slowly unrolled the scroll. His heart stopped when it was fully opened. It couldn't be. This didn't make any sense! It wasn't a long list, and it couldn't even count as a short list; there was only one item on the page! The two words, the only two words, were in a bright green script that curled with intertwining vines, edged in a crude brownish black that almost looked burned onto the page. The two words, the only two words on the scroll, read, Trustworthy Pony. It was the same instruction that the phooka had given him that night. To find a trustworthy pony. But, that was all the scroll said. There were no other items on the list. There wasn't even a list! It was just those two words, Trustworthy Pony, dead center at the top of the page. Apparently, that was all the phooka wanted him to do, was to find a trustworthy pony to lead him to Flam. But, why? It couldn't be that simple. The phooka had said, "items," with an "s" on the end. Flim was sure he'd heard it right. Yes, he was too horrified by Flam's capture to notice any of his other senses besides sight and sound- he couldn't have described what the scene physically felt or smelled like aside from horrifying. Everything else was canceled out, because he was too busy focusing on the awful black horse dangling Flam in the air. But, he knew for certain he had heard right. There was supposed to be more than one item on the list, and there was only one. Flim stared at the page, his face blank and his mind full of even more questions than before. This was worse than being back to square one. He had no help, no items to find, no idea what to do next. This was more like being on square zero. Applejack frowned to herself as she trotted down the cobblestone path in front of her house, stopping at the first fence in her way. She wanted to get this over with, and get it over with fast. Honestly, she hadn't a clue whether or not Flim would still want her help. He'd said there was nopony else to ask, but did he really mean that? From past experience, Applejack knew the conpony to be both resourceful and always ready with a backup plan. It wouldn't surprise her a bit if he'd just left the property all together. And another thing, what was she supposed to say when she caught up with him? "I'm sorry I yelled because you were a jerk?" This was one time being blunt wouldn't work; besides, she was pretty sure that in this case, the trophy for biggest jerk went to her. Flim had done some pretty infuriating things in the past, but today the only annoying thing he'd done was show up before Applejack started yelling at him. Granted, that was a pretty big crime on his part, since his schemes had been directed towards her before, but maybe Applejack should have given him a chance before throwing him out. Maybe. Well, first things first, she had to figure out where Flim went if she wanted to get this whole apology thing out of the way. Where should she look first? Sweet Apple Acres was large enough without having to look for somepony wandering around on it. Applejack looked to her right. There was no sign of him by the seed shed. Maybe he'd walked beyond that, into the carrot fields. Then again, he might have walked around behind the house, to the expanse of apple orchards. The mare inwardly moaned. This was going to take a while. She turned her head to the left, carefully taking in all the details of the farm around her, trying to spot a cream pony that didn't belong. Nothing in the carrot field, or the potato field, or the cabbage field. The corn field was a good hiding place, but it didn't look like it had been disturbed, at least outwardly. There was the well, with Flim's hat poking out beyond it... the chicken coop looked empty, and there were the edges of the apple orchard... waitaminute! The mare snapped her head back to the well. The stone structure was surrounded by water barrels, and sat in front of the entrance to the farm, just inside the picket fence that surrounded the property. Applejack had almost completely missed the fact that Flim was under the arch because of the well blocking her vision. Breathing a sigh of relief, she trotted over to the fence, glad that her search for Flim hadn't entailed a lengthy, hours-long hike through the orchard. Maybe this would be over sooner than expected. Applejack stopped a few feet away from Flim. A look of confusion crossed over her muzzle. She would have thought he'd have responded to her hoofsteps by now and either turned around to face her, or huffed and walked away. Instead, he just sat in the dirt, staring in the other direction. He hadn't reacted at all; he was just sitting completely still. It was almost creepy. Cautiously, Applejack stepped around the stallion, edging through the arch until she was standing in front of him. Now she could see that he was holding some kind of scroll in his magic, starting at it with a look of... well, nothing. His face was totally blank. It was like whatever he saw on there had completely shut down his brain, and his mind couldn't keep up with it. Applejack had seen that look before. The "thousand acre stare," she called it; the very first time she went apple-bucking, she'd had that look on her own muzzle, gazing out over the hundreds and hundreds of rows of trees she had to clear of fruit. Big Mac had laughed and told her he'd looked the same his first year. It was his comforting, deep, rumbling chuckle that had broken her out of her stupor and allowed her mind to catch up to the situation. She was tempted to sneak over and peek at the scroll herself, to see what was on it, but she had a feeling that if Flim snapped out of it and saw her doing that, it wouldn't help her apology any. It would probably be better to wake him up the same way Big Mac had for her- by talking to him. Applejack took a breath, hesitated, and closed her mouth. Her right forehoof scraped at the ground- not angrily, as with earlier, but awkwardly, almost shyly. Applejack glared at the ground, as if it held the answer for her reluctance. Should I really apologize to the likes of him? she thought uncertainly. Yes! came the immediate reply from her conscience. You're darn right, you should! Just 'cause he's a jerk don't mean you have to be one, too. Buck up and do it, filly! The mare sighed and looked back at Flim. He still hadn't moved. With another sigh and a resolved swallow, Applejack opened her mouth again and said the first thing her mind could come up with: "Whatcha got there?" Unlike before, this time Flim heard her and responded, jumping nearly a foot in the air before landing spryly on his hooves. He looked wildly around before his eyes rested on Applejack, and he seemed to settle down some. Panting as if he'd just won the Running of the Leaves, he gasped, "W-what?" Applejack resisted rolling her eyes. "I said, whatcha got there?" For a minute, the stallion just goggled at her, his eyes wide and uncomprehending. Then he suddenly seemed to remember where he was and who she was, and, more importantly, that he was very upset with her. Composing himself, he sniffed and rolled the hovering scroll up, neatly depositing it into his vest. "Well, I really don't believe that's any of your business," he crisply retorted, glowering at her with as much rage as he could muster with his thoughts still going haywire. A rush of irritation hit Applejack, but she fought it off. Flim was clearly overwhelmed with his position, and of course he'd still be angry about what she'd said to him. That's why she was here to apologize. "Look, about earlier-" "You don't have to repeat yourself," Flim cut in. "I know when I'm not wanted. You made that quite clear the minute I knocked on your door. You have no intention of helping scum like me. I'll just have to find somepony else to help me get Flam back." He tried to walk around Applejack so he could leave by way of the road, but she blocked his way. He turned in the other direction, and she jumped in front of him again. "Excuse me, but I am trying to make a dignified exit," he snapped. Applejack shook her head, not bothering to hide her frustration as it coated her features. "Would you hold on a second? I'm tryin' to apologize here!" Flim raised an eyebrow incredulously. "Oh, really?" "Yes, and it ain't easy, so let me get it out!" the mare bit back. Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she started over. "Look, I'm sorry about earlier. What I said was completely out of line. You and Flam might'a caused my family and I a lot of trouble, but that don't mean Flam deserves to be kidnapped. I got carried away. It was just the combination of findin' out a freaky critter climbed into our barn last night, and making a full breakfast and expecting to get on with the day, only to never finish that breakfast because you showed up with a crisis. Now, I know it ain't your fault he got kidnapped, but it's a lot to take in all in one morning. And I know that ain't no good excuse for what I said, neither. Hence why I'm apologizing." Applejack let out her breath, her shoulders relaxing as she felt a small weight she didn't even realize was there vanish off her chest. The strained salespony looked her over dubiously for a moment, before a small smile spread over his face. "Apology accepted," he declared. "Now, dear Applejack, was that so hard?" Her teeth grit at the smugness in Flim's voice and smile, but Applejack forced herself to relax anyways. "No... I suppose not..." she admitted reluctantly. Flim's smile widened a measure. "That's good! Because we are certainly going to have to get used to each other if you're going to help me find Flam!" Something inside the mare deflated a little. "So you still want my help, then?" "Well, of course I do!" Flim exclaimed, a familiar look of mock surprise on his muzzle. It seemed Applejack's apology had cheered him enough that he was getting some of his usual drama back into his features. "I told you that I have no other choice, didn't I? I certainly wouldn't have bothered you with my needs if it were otherwise!" Great. That meant Applejack couldn't go back to her schedule like she'd hoped. Apple Bloom was right- it wasn't like she could just finish her chores for the day if Flim needed her help. She was going to have to go with him. But, her sister was right about something else as well; Applejack was an Element of Harmony, and as such, she had a responsibility to help other ponies who needed it. And, this time, she was going to embrace that responsibility. This was who she was after all, and there was no use getting mad about who you were. So, she gave Flim her own brand of smile- a cynical, stubborn, down-to-earth Apple Family smirk. "Flim, before we set off on this harebrained journey to get your brother back, lemme make this clear: you annoy the hay out of me, and I don't like you much. But, I suppose I am just going to have to learn to tolerate that for however long it takes to find that darned phooka." She wasn't surprised to see that Flim's smile widened into a full-on grin. "Well, then, allow me to say that I find your naive alliance with integrity and stubborn refusal to use the occasional convenient loophole both amusing and ridiculous, but I'll just have to learn to tolerate your brutal honesty for however long it takes to find my brother." Applejack nodded in agreement. "Right. I'll tolerate you so long as you tolerate me. Deal?" She held up a forehoof, spat in it, and stuck it out. Flim's grin wavered just slightly in disgust before returning full force. He lifted his own hoof, spat in it, and slapped it to hers. "It is a deal, my good mare." The two ponies shook on it, both in accord with their dislike of the other and their need to put up with each other for as long as they were allied. It was a strange deal, one that would probably just lead to trouble, but it was one borne out of necessity. Suddenly, there was a flash of green and an explosion of black smoke. Flim yelped and used his magic to yank the scroll back out of his vest, and Applejack saw that the black mist was pouring from the paper in waves. Then, just as suddenly as it started, it stopped, and the smoke vanished without a trace. Flim was bent over, coughing and hacking from the force of the thick smog, while Applejack looked on in bemusement. The salespony straightened and shook the scroll hard, as if making sure all the smoke was gone. "What in Celestia's name was that?" he exploded once he caught his breath. "It looked like the same smoke from last night, when the thing that caught my brother teleported away! And do you smell- ugh- cinnamon and sulfur?" Flim's nose wrinkled in distaste as he continued to shake the scroll, now trying to get the scent off of the apparently combustible object. "I don't rightly know," Applejack replied. "What I do know is that it looked an awful lot like phooka magic- smelled like it, too. That's the cinnamon and sulfur you've got a big whiff of. Didn't you notice it last night, if that critter teleported in a buncha smoke, like you said?" Flim shook his head. "I was too busy focusing on my brother to notice what anything smelled like. Do you think the scroll was booby-trapped?" The mare thought a moment, then replied, "Nah, that doesn't sound like something a phooka would do. They're more into being all mysterious and making complicated plans to lead somepony where they want them to go, not big, direct attacks or explosions. They only do those if they really have to, I think... did the phooka give that scroll to you, then?" Flim nodded. "Yes. It's supposed to have a list of things I need to gather for the beast before it lets Flam go, but when I looked, it only had one item on the list. I can't understand why." Applejack's eyes lit in realization. "Oh, is that what the Thousand Acre Stare was for, then?" She got a bewildered look in response. "What?" "Uh, nevermind," Applejack chuckled without any mirth. "Er, what did the scroll say?" Flim blinked, then shrugged the odd comment off. "See for yourself." He unrolled the scroll, twisting it so that they both could see what was written on it. Two sets of green eyes scanned the words. One set squinted, read, and read again to make sure it got it right. The owner pursed her lips and turned to the second set of eyes. "The 'trustworthy pony' thing I get," Applejack commented. "That's probably referring to me. But... it looks to me like there are two items on the list, Flim." Flim himself was absolutely gaping at the words on the page. "I... I know! They weren't there a minute ago! All it said was 'trustworthy pony,' before. It must have been that burst of smoke. It only did that when we agreed to work together. It's... it's almost like the scroll refused to show me anything else on the list until after I had accomplished what was already there. That's astounding! And somewhat frightening, as well." "Phooka magic," Applejack repeated calmly. "I call phookas freaky critters for a reason." "Freaky is a good way of putting it," Flim agreed. "What this means, though, is that we have no way of knowing exactly how many items are on the list, nor what they are, until we finish. That will make things difficult." "Difficult?" Applejack snorted and tossed her head in a way that suggested she thought Flim was severely understating the circumstances. "Try madder'n a bull with cabin fever! The darn phooka's already made it difficult enough with his crazy vague instructions. What the hay does that even mean?" She pointed a hoof at the scroll for emphasis. Underneath the words, Trustworthy Pony, at the top of the list, a new set of green words had appeared. They looked just as burnt, and just as delicately intricate as the letters above them. They read, Element'ry, my dear Trotson!