by
Dafaddah

Chapter five: I spy with my little eye...

Edited by Sharp Logic and welcoming a new editor to my prose, Honeycomb. This story has benefited greatly form their awesome contributions!

PS - if you want to read what happened to Zecora during her expedition into the Everfree, please check out Outland, which relates events that happen in parallel to this story.

Dash was worried. Despite two days of intensive search, the Everfree was refusing to yield any further evidence of Zecora’s passage. Twilight tried to hide her concern, but Dash could tell how deeply her friend was affected.

Feeling useless on the ground, she decided to do some aerial reconnaissance. From high above the Everfree she could search for visible landmarks that would attract a wounded pony seeking rescue, or signs that would indicate – even subtly – an equine presence on the ground. She decided to scan the highest points first, and was surprised when a distant promontory hosted several flashing lights.

Dash made a beeline for the escarpment. A bit more than halfway there she spied a pony sporting black-and-white stripes. A hulking green shape, clearly some large reptile, lay nearby. With a start she realized it had been cornered by the zebra and somehow subdued.

Even though she was still at a considerable distance, Dash watched with interest as Zecora forced open the creature’s jaws and inserted a bottle inside. A few seconds later she plugged the vial, trotted back a few paces, and placed it into a saddlebag. She then did something that puzzled Dash: she drew close to the reptile and removed a huge golden ring from its neck with her forehooves. The ring appeared to shrink between them, and then she placed it around her own neck.

Dash suddenly recalled what Twilight had said Zecora was looking for. A quick glance at the crest on the green beast’s head confirmed her suspicions. Omigosh! A basilisk!

Her admiration for Zecora grew by leaps and bounds as the zebra calmly turned and went back to fiddle with her saddlebags.

The pegasus was finally getting close enough to call out when, in a flash of green, the lizard jumped up and struck the zebra from behind with its massive tail.

Zecora tumbled to the edge of the cliff, barely managing to clamp a hoof around a branch overlooking the drop. She hung precariously as the creature slowly shuffled in her direction.

Dash gritted her teeth and took off under maximum acceleration while the reptile crept inexorably towards the zebra.

Approaching at high speeds from above and behind the beast, Dash realized she would have only one chance at saving her friend and not getting turned to stone in the process! She gritted her teeth and at the penultimate moment flung her hind legs forward. With a massive crunch, her rear hooves slammed into the creature’s side and sent it flying off the cliff’s edge and onto the rocks far below.

Breathing hard, Dash stood in its place, striking a heroic pose. “Saved at the last second by yours truly! Now what could possibly be cooler than that!?”

“Rainbow Dash!” Zecora looked up, disbelief on her features. “How is possible that you arrive, just when I need help to stay alive?”

She trotted forward and helped Zecora scramble up to safety. “Oh, you can thank Twilight and Apple Bloom. When you went missing they checked out your house and somehow figured out you probably were around these parts. We’ve been searching for two days. And then –” she pointed to the sparklers “– I saw these and figured it might be you. A bit of fancy flying and awesome hoof work later, and it’s bye-bye monster!”

Finally back on all fours, Zecora’s grin was replaced by a look of horror when she glanced over Dash’s back to where her saddlebags lay crumpled on the ground. The bags had been struck by the basilisk when it hit her.

Hurrying over, Zecora pulled open the flap and looked inside. Shards of shattered glass fell out. Her head drooped and she fell to her haunches, tears welling up in her eyes.

Dash was stunned at the change. “Zecora? What’s so important about that bag?”

“The medicine I needed to save the foal, it’s... it’s been destroyed.” Zecora gulped and looked up. “And the one source for it known, you just bucked into the void...”

A cold lump formed in the pit of Dash’s stomach. She wanted to ask what foal Zecora was talking about, but figured this wasn’t the moment.

“Geez, I’m really sorry, Zecora, but that was a basilisk! A pony doesn’t mess around with those critters!” A thought struck her. “Say, is this like some medicine you would find in a first aid kit?” she asked, tilting her head. “Twilight insisted we bring her mega-big camping medical kit with us when we set out to find you. She’s maybe ten minutes away at my top speed. Should I, like, go and get it?”

Zecora jumped up onto all fours, fear and hope warring in her eyes. “Rainbow Dash, the kit you must bring! The life of a colt now depends on your wings!”

Dash didn’t have to be told twice. She took off in a blast of air and a blur of feathers. Behind her, a rainbow trail arced into the sky. She was already on the downward part of her ballistic arc when a huge bang echoed over the Everfree, and an expanding circular rainbow spread out to the horizon.

Whaddya know! I’ve pulled off another one! She slitted her eyes and grinned, exulting in pure, awesome speed.

Hang-on kid, whoever you are, she thought. The fastest wings in Equestria are on the job!

“Welcome to Portage and Mane, the historic heart and soul of Whinnypeg!” Rarity gestured gracefully towards the multi-layered crossroads with an elegant white hoof. Carts and wagons moved non-stop at nearly breakneck speeds across the ground level intersection. In the angles of its corners, ornate staircases led underground. High above them, ponies jostled over elegant aerial causeways joining the tall buildings that clustered in the area like some forest of glass and marble giants.

Scootaloo, on the other hoof, wore a skeptical frown. “Big deal! It’s just a street corner! Besides, what’s the point of having an underground concourse, and even worse, a Skywalk?” She buzzed her tiny wings. “Any pegasus can fly higher and faster!”

“The point, my young friends, is that this intersection is a three dimensional representation of the founding tribes of Equestria! It’s richly symbolic, a marvel of architecture and civic planning, and the headquarters of the western Equestrian fashion industry!” Rarity lowered her hoof. “Not surprisingly, it is also a highly concentrated retail hub, with four Hay Burg... er, I mean Princess Burger franchises all within trotting distance of each other.”

Spike handed out saddlebags to each of the three fillies. “You each have your assigned restaurant. There’s paper and pencils in the bags, and some of those new Poloroid instant cameras if you see any images worth recording. Please get there before the observation period starts, and make sure to stay in position and record what you see until it’s time to come back. Rarity and I will be waiting for you all at the restaurant in the underground concourse.”

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes. “Yeah. I’m sure you’ll be doing a lot of counting with my sister there!”

Rarity raised an eyebrow. “Really, sister dear, I have my own sales meetings scheduled at the Mare’s Wearhouse and Cudson’s Bay Company, so Spike will be on his own most of the day, as will you all.”

“But we thought bein’ spies would be like sneakin’ around in trenchcoats an’ stuff!” complained Apple Bloom, shrugging into her saddlebags.

“Yeah! All we’ll be doing is sitting in restaurants counting up what ponies order,” whined Sweetie Belle as she doned hers.

Scootaloo was the only one of the three fillies smiling. “And we’re supposed to keep ordering and eating food while we do the counting! Free food!” The filly shook her saddlebags jingling the gold bits inside. She smacked her lips in anticipation.

“Girls! We all agreed to help Spike in his mission for Princess Twilight, and we don’t want to let her or Spike down now, do we!?”

The three fillies shook their heads. Rarity made a shooing gesture. “Good! Then run along now, and do you best to keep precise counts.” As the girls trotted off, she draped a hoof over Spike’s shoulder and called out to them a final time. “And don’t ruin your appetites by eating too much of that unhealthy junk food! Now, Spike...”

When she turned back around she found the young dragon gazing dreamily up at her, slack-jawed and with rosy cheeks. She sighed, pushed gently up on his chin to close his mouth, and took the paper and quill from his unresisting claws. “Perhaps it’s best if I get the process going until I have to leave for my meeting. Come along, Spikey-wikey!”

She hid her smile behind a discrete hoof as Spike obediently followed her in the direction of the fast-food restaurant, a look of bliss on his chubby face.

“A Sonic Rainboom!” the few ponies not out searching for Zecora shouted in awed tones, hooves pointing as the prismatic wave rolled outwards to the horizon.

A grin lit Twilight’s features. “Call back the search teams and prepare to break camp, everypony! Dash found Zecora!” It was no surprised when seconds later the cerulean mare landed with a thud next to her.

The Pegasus nodded, then shook her head. “Yeah but... we need the med-kit...” She ran off to the tent where the medical supplies were kept. “There's a colt...”

Twilight trotted after her, concern on her face. “A colt? That explains the small-sized hoofprints you found! What type of medicine does Zecora need?”

Dash’s rump stuck out of the tent as she tossed items about inside. “Aha!” She pulled out a large grey bag with a red cross stitched on its side. “Don’t know! And I gotta fly this toot sweet back to Zecora!”

She was about to take off when Twilight hooked a hoof through her foreleg. “I’ll go with you. I know a bunch of first-aid spells!”

Dash looked flustered. “Zecora said to hurry, and no offense, but you’re way too slow on your wings.”

Dash looked through a gap in the trees beyond the tent. The promontory where the zebra waited was barely visible in the distance. She pointed with a hoof. “There! But...”

... and shrugged off the effects of her teleportation spell. She scanned the area around her. Next to her, Dash shivered as Zecora started in reaction to their sudden appearance.

“You know, every time you do that it gives me the heebie-jeebies!” The cerulean mare rubbed a hoof on her chest as if to reassure herself that she had exited the teleport with all her pieces intact.

Twilight trotted up to Zecora and hugged her tightly. “Thank goodness you’re safe! Dashie says you need medicine for a foal.” Taking a step back she noticed Zecora’s injuries. “Looks like you could use some patching up as well!” She levitated the med-kit satchel into Zecora’s hooves. The mare wasted no time, opening it up and digging hurriedly through its contents.

“A youngster lies nearby with a deadly blood infection,” she said as she pulled and discarded items from the kit. “We must immediately give him antipathogenic potion!”

"Ndiyo!" she exclaimed. With a trembling hoof she pulled a small box of vials from the huge kit. “Thank the spirits! We have it!” She began trotting into the forest.

“Wait!” Twilight called, “Zecora, can you point out where we need to go from here?”

The Zebra stopped abruptly and went back to stand next to Twilight. She pointed towards a low hill. “At the base of that mound is a cave. Within lies the colt we must save.”

“–ain!” Dash’s vision cleared. The three mares stood near a rock wall. She inspected her limbs and sighed in relief when nothing was missing. The entrance to a cave was just barely visible next to a large thorn bush.

Twilight and Dash rushed in after her, finding Zecora kneeling on the cave floor next to a depression full of soft materials, including a large number of grey feathers. She was injecting a shot of the antipathogen into the flank of a small rust-coated earth pony colt.

“Ewe, what’s that smell?” asked Dash. Twilight lit her horn and carefully moved deeper into the cave.

“There’s a pool of vomit here.” The sound of Twilight’s voice was followed by a flash. “Correction: there was a pool of vomit here!” Walking back she found Dash with her brow furrowed examining one of the feathers.

“This is a pegasus feather, Twi.” She placed it reverently back into the nest. “I figure these were left here by the kid’s mother.”

Twilight’s horn glowed brighter and she looked around. Her eyebrows rose when the light revealed the walls of the cave. They were full of words and pictures. “Apple, Bear, Cat,” she read. “Looks like the foal was learning to read as well.” She exchanged smiles with Dash.

Zecora, finished with her ministrations, had wrapped her forelimbs tightly around the little foal and was crooning to him softly. “Namshukuru Muumba...”

Looking at the pair, Twilight grew serious and her ears drooped. “Zecora, do you know where his mother is?” she asked.

Zecora took a halting breath. “He has lived alone in this cave for months, if not longer. His survival in the wilds is truly a wonder.” She wiped her eyes and stroked the colt’s mane. “I’ve seen no evidence of young Shad’s mother. That she yet lives, I would not wager.”

She straightened slightly and looked up at Twilight. “He needs the attention of a proper medical facility. Can you transport him to Ponyville with your ability?”

Twilight looked at her wounded friend and nodded. “I can manage a teleport that far nowadays. And not only him but you too, as you’re also clearly in need of a doctor. Rainbow Dash?”

Twilight pulled an expandable bag from her saddlebags. “Please fill this with everything that will fit from this cave, especially all of the feathers from the nest. They might be all this little fella has left of his mother.” Rainbow nodded and promptly began looking around at what she could gather from the colt’s few possessions.

“And, Dash,” Twilight called. Rainbow looked back. “Bring the team back home safely!” She touched Zecora and the colt with a hoof, winked at Dash, energized her horn, and called to her mind the spell sequence to teleport. The cave winked out in a flash of purple.

Spike sat alone in the Princess Burger franchise in the Whinnypeg Underground Esplanade. He had the tally sheets in front of him, the first page graced by Rarity’s flowery (and very feminine, in his opinion) horn-writing. When the action at the cash-registers was slow, which wasn’t that often, he would stare at the page dreamily. He was engaged in just such a reverie when Scootaloo plopped down onto the bench on the other side of his table.

“First!” she said with a grin, then hoofed over a untidy stack of papers covered in a blocky, foalish hoof-script. Spike sighed and tried to put some order in the unruly mess. Two papers wouldn’t align, and when he took them out he saw that they were stuck together by a large reddish blot.

“Be careful!” said the filly with a snicker. “I dropped some ketchup on that one!” Then she gave him a sly grin. “And you’ll never guess what I saw on the way there.”

Giving up, he rolled his eyes. “Okay. Did it involve mustard by any chance?”

“Nope!” She giggled and pulled an instant photo from her saddle bag. “But I did take a picture of it.”

Spike suddenly found himself sandwiched between Sweetie Belle on one side and Apple Bloom on the other as they jostled to get a better view of the photo.

“Wow!” said the unicorn filly. She fished with a hoof inside her saddlebag. “And I took this coming back from my restaurant.”

“Well whaddya know! Ah took a picture of another advert too!” Apple Bloom poked her muzzle into her own saddlebag and pulled out her own photo, which she placed next to the two others.

The four youngsters were still staring at the photos when Rarity uncharacteristically slumped down next to Scootaloo, looking flustered. Glancing down at the photos she did a double-take.

“Oh, my word! This is absolutely far more serious than I had ever imagined!” she said, eyes wide. “Pack your bags, fillies and young drake. We’re heading back to Ponyville this very instant!”

“Well, if you must know,” Rarity looked a bit green around the gills, “I also saw an advertisement featuring Princess Twilight.”

Rarity opened her mouth to speak then blushed. She smiled crookedly at Spike. “Spikey-wikey! Could you possibly give us girls a moment of privacy please?”

Spike was only slightly taken aback. It wasn’t the first time one of Twilight’s friends made such a request when he was on an outing with them. Still, he had been embarrassed by girl talk not meant for male ears before, so he quickly nodded. Hopping down from the table he waddled briskly to a discrete distance.

The three fillies and mare huddled together for a moment. There was a chorus of gasps, and then Rarity, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom left the table in a hurry. Only Scootaloo stayed behind looking confused.

“I don’t get it,” she called out. “Who’s Gene? And why do ladies want to say Hi to him?”

“Uh, I’ll tell you later, Scootaloo darling." And then, with another glance at Spike, “In private.”

Scootaloo and Spike stared at each other a moment. With similar shrugs they gathered their things and chased after the others, who were already on the way out of the restaurant.

Twilight left the hospital feeling better than she had for days. Zecora’s disappearance had been a heavy weight on her heart. With a pang of guilt she realized that part of the feeling was due to her own relief at not failing in her promise to Apple Bloom. I’m starting to understand why you choose your words so carefully, Celestia!

Zecora’s description of what had happened during her medicine hunting expedition was still making her head reel. Zecora had almost succumbed to a basilisk, coming out of the encounter deaf and blind. She had only survived with the help of a mysterious little colt named Shad, who lived alone. In a cave. In the Everfree! In the process, Shad himself had been clawed by the basilisk, and the wound become infected. Still half blind, Zecora had then gone after the reptile, whose venom was the only known cure for the creature’s infectious bite and claws. Twilight shook her head in wonder.

She trotted lightly on the road leading into town, wondering how Spike’s mission was coming along, when she ran into Pince Nez. The two stopped short, facing each other. It was a moment before the pale green stallion made an elaborate bow.

“Your Highness! I read the good news of your return. Congratulations on your successful expedition!” Despite the warmth of the words, the expression in his eyes left Twilight feeling uneasy.

“Good day, Pince Nez,” she replied. “And thank you. The doctors assure me Zecora and the foal are both doing well.

“That’s good to hear. As it happens I was just on my way to the hospital to gather information on this foundling. Of course, we need to ascertain his identity as quickly as possible. Did that zebra provide you any details that could help in that regards?”

Twilight frowned at his referring to Zecora as that zebra. She counted to five mentally to calm herself down.

“Not much, unfortunately,” she finally answered. “All that we know is that he calls himself Shad, and his mother is quite likely a gray-coated Pegasus. My friend Zecora...”, she felt a twinge of self-satisfaction when the unicorn raised his eyebrows at her choice of words, “... thinks the mother might have fallen victim to some creature from the Everfree. Rainbow Dash is collecting as much material evidence as possible from the cave where he was living. Hopefully that will provide sufficient clues to find Shad’s full identity.”

“Oh my,” he said with mock concern, “the little one is then most likely an orphan! How sad.” A crafty gleam crossed his narrow features before he looked away. He backed up a few steps and bowed again. “Thank you, Your Highness. I believe it might be useful for me to look into disappearances of pegasi in the Everfree, don’t you think?”

The stallion turned on his hooves and trotted back towards town. Twilight stood in the road watching him go, chewing her lip. She felt too exhausted, emotionally and magically, to leave herself open to the risk of crossing the unpleasant bureaucrat again, so she took wing and flew back to the castle.

It was a pleasant evening when they arrived at Twilight’s apartments in Friendship Rainbow Castle, so she invited them all to join her around the balcony table. Spike sat next to Twilight, with Rarity and the Cutie Mark Crusaders sitting across from them.

“I was able to compile the stats from Whinnypeg,” Spike said, holding a sheet of paper with tidy columns of figures in his claws. “It’s clear that over thirty percent of the items ordered at Princess Burger carry pictures of you on the packaging. A further forty percent of the items have been renamed to include the words Twilight, Sparkle, Friendship or Magic.” He looked up. “Even the image thieves aren’t sure what you’re the princess of!”

“As solid as this information is,” began Twilight, “it doesn’t justify nearly a full day’s train travel to get back to Ponyville way ahead of schedule.” She locked gazes with the other adult mare. “So, Rarity, what caused you to suddenly cut your business trip short?”

Twilight’s eyes grew big as she examined the photos, her eyes getting bigger as she looked at each one.

She looked up at Rarity and pointed to one of the pictures. “They made my bad mane day into a fashion!” She indicated the one next to it with her hoof. “And I only went to that fitness club once, five years ago, before I was even a princess.” She picked up the one of her in greasy overalls. “And what do I even make of this one?” Dropping the photo, she facehoofed. “How could this possibly get any worse?”

Rarity winced and placed a hoof on her withers. “Unfortunately, it does, Twilight dear.” She leaned over and whispered in her ear. The purple mare’s face turned as red as beet.

Rarity floated a thick magazine from her saddle bag into Twilight’s hooves. “I found a copy of the ad in Cosmarepolitan on the train ride back.”

Twilight seemed to deflate. She didn’t move for a full minute. Finally she sighed and looked up with a sad smile. “Thank you all for your efforts. Please, go home and have a well deserved rest.”

Unusually subdued, the fillies and Rarity filed out. As they got to the door, the mare turned around. “Twilight, dear, do you have any idea what are you going to do about this?”

A feminine voice spoke up from just beyond Rarity. “Don't worry yourselves, dears. I have an idea or three up my sleeve.”

“Mrs. Mom!” Spike ran from the table and jumped up into the waiting forelegs of Twilight Velvet.

“Hello, Spike!” she said, showering him with nuzzles and hugs, then nodding towards Rarity and the fillies. “Miss Rarity, children. I hear my only daughter needs a helping hoof.”

She walked over to the table and gave Twilight a fierce embrace. She sat down, placing Spike in the seat beside beside her. The photos on the table floated up to her face, and after a moment floated back down and into a neat pile, face down.

“I’ve seen a few of these myself. So your dad and I figured you might need help from ponies who understand the publishing business and the law.”

“Do I ever!” exclaimed Twilight. Spike leaned onto the table, elbows on the magazine Twilight had left open.

Twilight Velvet gave a predatory smile. “Well, it’s time to get to work!” She glanced back towards the doorway where Rarity stood waiting. “We could use your help as well, Miss Rarity. Care to join us?”

“It’ll be my pleasure, Mrs. Velvet,” said Rarity, and then to the fillies, “You go on your way now, darlings. And take care.” The three looked at each other, nodded, waved to Twilight’s mother and rushed out.

“I would love to help in any way I can!” said Rarity. She trotted over to the table and sat next to Twilight. “So where do we begin?”

“Well,” said Spike, eyes still on the magazine, “somepony could start by explaining to me why At that special time of year, a mare needs a –” The magazine slammed shut from three overlapping horn fields.

He looked up at the three unicorns, and blushed. “I guess that’s one of those ladies only things, huh!?”

He slipped out of the chair, and waddled back into the castle. “Too bad,” he commented over his shoulder on the way. “That magazine ad had a pretty good picture of you, Twi.”

Silence followed him to the door. He was barely inside before he heard the tittering start, and then Twilight’s unmistakable laugh. He smiled and went to bed.

A Herd of my Own

by Dafaddah

I spy with my little eye...