THE EQUESTRAIN VENTURE
Chapter Twenty: The Forest's Secret
Written by TheCrimsonDM
The sky was blue with no clouds in sight, the grass was warm, and the sun shined down across Rita’s back to keep her nice and warm as she lay face down in the grass. A pony laid beside her lightly snoring, and together they enjoyed an afternoon nap.
Rita opened her eyes slowly and groaned as she rolled over onto her back. She looked at Pinkie’s back and decided not to wake the sleeping pony just yet. Rita just closed her eyes and thought to herself silently, all the while enjoying the sounds of Pinkie’s snoring. Rita couldn’t point out exactly why, but she found the snoring calming.
It had been about a month since she first came to this world now, and she was still trying to understand it. She had picked up reading the language much faster than Twilight had anticipated and speaking it was also something she was learning quickly, although it she still had difficulty with it. She had made a nice group of friends, although she realized that she wasn’t fully integrated into their little group, but she was determined to force her way into it one way or another.
Fluttershy had been so kind to Rita, letting Rita stay at her cottage was a wonderful experience and taking care of her was even more important. Now that Rita had decided to attempt a romantic relationship with Pinkie Pie though, she had some new questions that needed to be answered sooner rather than later. Being lazy and sleeping around Fluttershy’s house all day wasn’t going to work anymore.
The first thing that Rita now needed to do was figure out what her boundaries with Pinkie were in this relationship. It was weird and crazy, and she couldn’t fathom just how Pinkie could so easily be with a human without any concerns. Once Rita figured out how this relationship would work she had another objective. Figure out what she was going to do in this world, she needed to find a proper place here, but all she was good at was inventing things… though that in itself could present some interesting opportunities. Equestria’s level of magic technology was sorely lacking after all.
Finally after those two questions were answered she still had one more thing to do. She needed to get her own home, preferably something just outside of town. Close enough to visit every day, but far enough that she wouldn’t be bothered by people meandering by when she was working on her projects. The best part would be that she could finally live in a home that had no animals or smelled like pine cleaner all the darn time.
Rita let out a content sigh as she imagined what her tower would look like. It would be several stories tall to say the least, have a library, a lab, a workshop, and a training ground. Pinkie Pie rolled over and suddenly wrapped a foreleg around Rita’s waist and drew her in close for a hug. Pinkie Pie smiled softly at Rita and said, “That was a good nap. Thanks for that.”
“You were upset earlier, of course you needed a nap. I needed one too, so don’t mention it,” Rita said before returning the smile.
Pinkie Pie stretched out her legs while saying, “I know a beautiful little place where we can be all alone. I think you would like it.”
“Oh yeah, where is it?” Rita asked.
“It’s in the Everfree Forest. There’s mushroom monsters there though, so it’s a tad bit dangerous,” Pinkie Pie admitted.
“Sounds like an adventure to me. Let’s go,” Rita said excitedly and finishing with a grin. “But first we will need to stop by my place, I need to get some supplies if we’re going somewhere dangerous.”
***
Back at Fluttershy’s cottage Rita stood silently in front of the living room bookcase. She examined some of the books that rested on the shelf; romance, action, and adventure were all some of the books that Fluttershy owned. Other books on the shelf included history, various sciences, and of course books on magic; these were all part of Rita’s personal collection.
“So we’re getting a book? Ooo is it going to be a story book? Will it have pictures? Will you read it to me?” Pinkie asked with such speed that Rita had a difficult time keeping up.
“Um… actually I’m just getting one of the books about monsters. Next we’re going to get my stuff from the shed,” Rita explained while looking through the shelf trying to find the bestiary that Twilight had leant her.
Suddenly Pinkie’s head appeared next to Rita’s without warning causing Rita to stumble back in surprise. Pinkie’s mouth opened and grabbed a book before turning to look at Rita and say, “I vound eh.”
“What?” Rita asked.
Pinkie leaned her head forward and waited. Rita stared flatly at Pinkie without comprehension until she looked at the title of the book that Pinkie was chewing on. It read ‘All You Need to Know about Monsters and More’.
“Oh, you found it,” Rita said as she grabbed the book timidly from Pinkie’s mouth. Once Pinkie Pie let go, Rita quickly began wiping the saliva off of the book with the sleeve of her jacket. “I have no idea how you ponies get around without destroying everything if all you can do is slobber on stuff.”
“Sorry,” Pinkie apologized.
Rita looked towards the kitchen and its back door while saying, “It’s okay, let’s get that stuff I mentioned before Fluttershy stops us.”
Pinkie Pie smiled and followed Rita as she walked towards the shed out back. Once in the backyard Rita grinned at the changes that had been made. A few scarecrows stood off to the left of the house, scorch marks and deep tears covered them. The poles they stood on had been duck taped in multiple places causing Rita to consider getting some new training dummies.
There was also a series of hay bushels that were stacked in awkward and rather nonsensical ways. The highest stack actually led up to the top of Fluttershy’s cottage. Rita remembered how weird Rainbow Dash had thought it was that Rita was using these as platforms to train her acrobatics; of course after actually watching Rita in action Rainbow Dash realized just how cool it really was.
When at the shed door Rita placed her hand around the handle gently and said, “Now bear witness to the greatest thing in all of Equestria, my treasure horde!”
With a grand sweeping motion Rita opened the door outward and showed off the inside to Pinkie. Pinkie’s mouth was left agape for a moment before she exclaimed, “That is so neat!”
“Neat? Not awesome, or epic, or even cool… neat? Huh, I guess that’s one way to describe it,” Rita said feeling a little put out.
Inside the shed the walls now lined with various weapons and armor and even a single shield that Rita had found from her forays into the Castle of the Two Sisters. She had tried to fight the urge to go back and loot the armory there, she really had, but the magical weapons were just too much to ignore; in the end her lust for shiny objects had gotten the best of her. Some of these weapons though really stood out to Rita as they should not have been able to be used by ponies, such as the golden bow she had found. There was also a scythe of the deepest blue, and white gold spear, these had obviously been weapons of some importance, considering they had the symbols of the moon and the sun on them, and those from her understanding belonged specifically to the princesses Celestia, and Luna.
After giving Pinkie a few minutes to ogle the weapons and everything Rita quickly went inside and grabbed a few things of choice. The first thing she made sure to grab was actually a secondary gauntlet that she had constructed from old pony armor, it was steel colored with lines of intricate designs in gold on the sides. She was proud of this gauntlet and thanks to the useful material she was even able to add in several gems as opposed to only one.
The next things she grabbed included her twin crescent blade daggers that she had found in the castle during her first venture into them. These things might hunger for blood but in a fight against monsters that was not necessarily a bad thing. Finally Rita made sure to grab the side pack she had which was now full of useful things that she could use while out in the field. She slipped her monster book into the bag and made sure to keep it close on hand.
“So,” Rita asked as she walked out past Pinkie Pie, “What weapon do you want?”
Pinkie Pie looked at Rita with wide eyes for a moment with a shocked expression. After the momentary silence Pinkie asked, “Do you mean I can have one?”
Rita put a finger to her chin and looked away before saying, “Maybe, right now I’m just lending one too you. I can’t have my marefriend go into a dangerous monster filled forest without proper protection, now can I?”
Pinkie Pie beamed at Rita before jumping into the shed. After a few minutes of looking around Pinkie walked out with a peculiar object in her mouth, Rita admired her choice. With her mouth Pinkie held a teal colored mace, Rita could only imagine that this weapon was crafted with some amount of mythril but considering it lacked any sparkly shine to it, the crafter hadn’t used pure mythril. Pinkie set the weapon down against the side of the shed before ducking back in and after rummaging around for a moment she came back out dragging out a blue tinted chest piece.
Rita examined the two objects in silence for a moment before grinning. “That looks like it will work. I’ll help you get that on you.”
“You know how to put armor on a pony?” Pinkie asked.
“Yeah well I was trained on how to use horses back in my world. That included armoring them so they could enter battle, although after a… certain accident I couldn’t go near them anymore,” Rita admitted.
“Oh… is that why you’re scared of ponies?”
Rita picked up the mace and gave it a test swing. It was definitely still too heavy for her to use properly, so she set it down. “Let’s get you dressed for adventure. You were right to grab armor, if you’re going to fight, you should keep yourself safe.”
Pinkie’s ears folded back for a few seconds before popping back up. Pinkie looked back at the shed and asked, “Is it okay with Fluttershy that you have this thing right here?”
“She’s fine with it. When I get a new tower I’ll be sure to make one of the floors into a treasure horde, I want to have all the magical weapons, armor, and artifacts that I can find. I’ll be sure to show it off to you,” Rita said.
Pinkie smiled and said, “Sounds like fun. I’m all about fun!”
***
The forest was dense and the ground was becoming increasingly difficult to traverse as the two walked side by side. Pinkie Pie was leading Rita through the Everfree Forest to someplace that she had promised was going to be entertaining. Although the two of them had been walking for quite some time they had not yet reached their destination, Pinkie however continued to promise that they would arrive soon.
The mushrooms on the forest floor were growing larger then she had suspected possible in a region such as this. The mushrooms in question were tall with white shafts and purple spots, most of them reaching Rita’s shoulders. The trees were also very tall, and the sky had nearly completely vanished above them. Suddenly something unique caught Rita’s eye and she stopped to kneel down and examine it.
“What’s up?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Rita gave her a quick glance and admired the blue chest piece and the mace slung around Pinkie’s side before returning her gaze to something glowing just underneath one of the tall mushrooms. “Come here and take a look at this.”
Pinkie walked over and lowered her head to see what Rita was so interested in. A blue glowing mushroom about a foot tall and a foot wide was growing underneath the larger mushroom. Rita had seen mushrooms like this back in her own world, just not quite so large. These blue mushrooms had some amazing healing properties, and if mixed into a potion, their healing factor increased exponential.
Lifting up her right arm Rita used the scanning spell from her new gauntlet. The blue light from the scanning spell mixed in with the light being emitted by the mushroom making difficult to see exactly what was being scanned. After a few seconds she stopped the spell and stood up. She opened her palm and took a look at the mushroom she just scanned. A blue transparent illusion of the mushroom appeared on her gauntlet along with some text just under the mushroom itself.
“AZURE SHROOM: Has incredible healing properties, often used in potion making.”
“Wow,” Pinkie admired, “How does that thing of yours know what that is?”
A small smile grew on Rita’s lips. “I was scanning a bunch of books that Twilight gave me, including monsters, ore, and plant life. I’m glad to see the scanner works so well, I just wish it was written in Arcadian, not in Equish. Oh well, I can read it just fine at this point so I suppose it doesn’t matter.”
“That’s awesome,” Pinkie said. Rita agreed with that sentiment.
After carefully taking a chunk out of the mushroom Rita tucked it away into her side bag. Having a little bit of a healing mushroom couldn’t be a bad thing now could it? Rita and Pinkie Pie continued walking after that, she couldn’t wait to find out what else was in store for her on this trip.
***
The further in they walked the larger the mushrooms became until they reached a point where the trees were being replaced by giant mushrooms. Another thing that Rita had noticed along with the steady growth of the mushrooms there was a decline in the terrain, meaning that although walking down right now was easy, walking back up for the return trip was going to be a hassle. Rita spotted a few more of the blue glowing mushrooms along the way, she made a note to return here to collect them at a later date.
“So why haven’t I seen you using that new hand thingy?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Rita carefully stepped over a giant root sticking out of the earth before answering, “You mean my new gauntlet? Well it’s not really combat effective yet, so far it’s just a scanning device, but I’m working on making it into a secondary magic weapon. Right now I can work with just a single magic gauntlet for fighting, I don’t feel that I need to make anything too powerful just yet.”
“But don’t you have an arsenal of weapons at home?”
“Yeah but those are more of a collection than anything else at the moment. I don’t plan on actually using most of that stuff, but maybe I’ll sell it and get some good cash for building my tower,” Rita explained.
“But… didn’t you kinda, sorta, maybe just a little bit… stole all of those weapons?” Pinkie asked.
“They were left to rot in that old castle, it’s not stealing its repurposing. Hell, I might even sell this stuff to a museum if I can find any that do that kind of thing. Unfortunately most museums in my world don’t buy artifacts unless they are exquisite,” Rita explained.
“Hmm, I think that you can try that here, but you might be better off selling them to a merchant or a collector or something,” Pinkie Pie explained, all the while easily avoiding the rough terrain.
“Sounds like a good idea,” Rita said.
A sudden rush of creaking noises made the two of them stop dead in their tracks. Rita looked around scanning the area with her eyes, all she could see were mushrooms and grass, and puddles of stale dark liquid. Pinkie Pie seemed on edge too, but she was wearing a little frown as opposed to Rita’s grin. Pinkie Pie cleared her throat before saying, “Um, did I mention that the mushroom monsters were a little bit crabby?”
“Well I figured that any monster worth its salt was going to be at least a little aggressive,” Rita replied.
“Um, not quite what I meant,” Pinkie Pie said. “Look over there.”
Rita followed Pinkie’s outstretched leg with her eyes and stopped as soon as she saw a mushroom moving towards them. It suddenly stopped as Rita noticed it, but as she continued to stare she saw the six crab legs, and the crab body which held this mushroom aloft on its back, along with its two giant pincers that were as big as her hands. As she continued to watch it she realized what it was, this was a land crab, which had grown a giant mushroom on its back. With the mushroom included, this monster stood about Rita’s height.
Rita quickly grabbed one of the daggers out of her bag and watched the crab carefully. “Pinkie, watch our surroundings, these things could be anywhere. And ready your weapon.”
Pinkie quickly grabbed the mace and wielded awkwardly in her mouth. Rita was beginning to suspect that Pinkie had never actually used a mace before, that could prove troublesome if these things were dangerous. Suddenly Pinkie began making muffled noises causing Rita to turn around and notice that three of the mushrooms were advancing towards her position.
With great swiftness Rita summoned forth a fireball with her left hand and threw it at the group of mushrooms. The fireball sailed through the air and on contact explored. Chunks of mushroom went flying everywhere along with a purple cloud spreading out from the bodies. The cloud was clearly not a good sign and so Rita turned and said, “Stay away from the cloud.”
Rita began running back as the cloud dispersed and Pinkie Pie followed. Another group of mushrooms looked ominously at Rita as she moved through the forest. She decided not to use another fireball this time. Instead Rita lead Pinkie through the mushrooms carefully, some of these must be the crabs, using mushrooms on their backs as cover was a perfect camouflage in this environment.
Suddenly a mushroom leaped out at Rita from behind, she turned just in time to notice the crab; its pincers sharp and aiming for her throat. A blue blur came swinging down at the crabshroom and sent it into the ground hard before it bounced back up, and with another swing of the mace, the crab was sent flying off into the distance. This time it did not explode.
Rita looked at Pinkie who was wielding the mace in her mouth and felt thankful for having the pink pony by her side. It was good to know that Pinkie did indeed know how to fight. Rita turned and continued moving on.
Rita saw a mushroom with legs on it standing in front of her, so she quickly spun around and kicked it, hard. The mushroom broke in half and was sent flying as a cloud of purple mist began spreading rapidly from the mushroom. Rita looked down and realized with horror that the legs she had seen had fallen over from her kick and revealed themselves to be sticks. She cursed not being able to see properly in this dark forest.
The purple smoke swept over Rita but she held her breath and ran backwards away from the mushroom’s poison. She wasn’t actually sure that it was poisonous, but she wasn’t willing to risk it. On her way back Pinkie Pie took the lead this time and ran into several more of the crabshrooms. Pinkie began swinging at them wildly and managed to hit them every single time. Rita charged in and using her dagger began stabbing the crabs in their sides. They fell quickly to the two’s teamwork.
Rita stood and looked around, with Pinkie at her back. Fighting crab monsters was a job best done with bashing weapons, not piercing ones. These daggers of hers though were hungry enough that they could still kill the mushrooms without much effort. She was still a little fearful of her daggers blood lust.
The two worked together to fight off a few more of the crab monsters before everything seemed to calm down. Finally after all was said and done, they were left alone standing together in victory. Rita was grinning along with Pinkie Pie. They had just fought off a group of monsters and the best part was that they did it together.
***
After the battle Rita and Pinkie decided to find somewhere safe to relax at, and Pinkie knew just the spot. After using several of the smaller mushrooms to climb up on they had made their way onto one of the largest mushroom trees in the forest which was actually conjoined with an even taller tree. From this spot they could stare out over the impossibly long stretches of forest as the sun began to set, its orange light casting a serene mood over the entire countryside.
Pinkie Pie was lying on her belly and Rita was sitting down next to her. Rita raised her arm up but set it down quickly, while feeling unsure. Pinkie Pie just stared over the forest with a soft smile on her face. Rita looked up at the tree above them and thought aloud, “I wonder how long this mushroom forest stretches?”
“It’s not actually that big, in fact it’s actually quite small compared to the rest of the Everfree. I discovered it by accident once, and fell in love with this as my little secret place. I haven’t shared it with anypony else… until now,” Pinkie Pie explained quietly.
Rita’s heart filled with warmth at this revelation of Pinkie Pie’s but she still wondered if their relationship was really going to work. Rita raised her arm up again, she began stretching over towards Pinkie’s neck but stopped. Her face was heating up and she couldn’t explain why it was so hard to just give Pinkie Pie a hug now, she decided to put her arm down again.
Pinkie Pie looked up at Rita and spoke with a gentle voice, one that Rita wasn’t used to hearing, “I’m sorry about all this fuss I caused today. I know how weird this is for you, trust me it’s actually pretty weird to me too. I… I know that we might not last long, but I’ll cherish every moment that you decide to give to me, I can promise you that.”
Rita heard these words but despite the gentle tone that Pinkie used, she also heard something else behind them. Rita’s heart throbbed painfully for a moment as she thought about how little self worth Pinkie Pie actually had, it was just like her own pain. Rita raised her arm up and draped it over Pinkie’s shoulders. “I don’t know how long this will last either, but I promise to make it the best that I can. It’s still weird, and I don’t know if this is right but I do want to see where this goes. I’m stuck in this world, Pinkie, it’s my new home, and I refuse to be lonely forever.”
Pinkie Pie smiled at Rita and she returned the favor. For a long while the two of them just watched the sunset together in complete silence but eventually they were going to have to head home; or else Fluttershy might get worried, and Rita didn’t want to happen again. Rita was the first one to stand up and as she did so she noticed something shinning on the tree. Just a small glint that she never would have noticed if the light wasn’t in the right spot, and if she hadn’t decided to stand right there in that exact position.
“I see something,” Rita said as she cautiously walked across the mushroom to the tree. The tree’s bark looked a little strange in one square spot, and after touching it Rita realized that it wasn’t actually bark, it felt like some kind of metal, but it looked almost exactly like the tree that it was attached too. Whatever it was Rita wanted to know more.
She took out one of her daggers and found a small line where the metal was separated from the tree itself and stuck the tip in. She pried at the metal for a second and it gave loud groaning noise before popping open so suddenly that Rita fell forward a few steps. Pinkie Pie made an audible gasp and Rita felt her heart racing, she just discovered a secret stash, but what could be inside?
Unfortunately Rita only found a single piece of paper. Sure it was ancient, and written in both Arcadian and Sylvan but that didn’t make it special. It wasn’t some kind of super secret artifact like a magical ring, or anything like that it was just a piece of paper that was written a long time ago. She set the page back inside the hole and was about to close the metal door when it hit her that it was written in Arcadian, her language, from her world.
She pulled the page out quickly and began reading it aloud, not so much for Pinkie’s benefit but more out of complete disbelief that this could exist in this world.
“My dearest princess, I have been working on those guardians like you advised me too. But unfortunately I have not been able to reproduce the same magic as was once used long ago by the mages of old. That being said I have been able to create self repairing constructs made of wood, these things are surprisingly tough and capable of defending the castle’s surrounding forest.
In the case of an invasion I have been preparing the dragon golem, who will be able to defend the castle, along with you and your sister. If all else fails, he will return to your old homeland to find whatever may be left to save us. This is of course a last resort that we should never have to worry about, so please my dear princess know that you and your kingdom are safe from the darkness that is spreading outside of its borders. I, The Great and Mighty Starswirl shall find a way to save our new found home from this ever growing darkness,” when Rita finished reading the letter she fell to her knees.
Pinkie Pie ran up to her and asked, “What’s wrong?”
Rita looked up into Pinkie’s wonderfully, worried blue eyes and said, “This… this is written in Arcadian, a language from my world!”