Chapter IV
Bogie Mountains
"One: There are three of us, so we vote on decisions and majority wins.
Two: We are a group. We stick together, eat together, sleep together, and don't leave each other behind.
Three: We share the food, and everything else for that matter, EQUALLY between the three of us.
Four: There will come a time for us to part ways. Splitting up will be a unanimous decision, and we stick together until we all agree it's safe."
It was safe to say that Junker was still incredibly angry at Alder and Hazel for the trouble they had put him through. He was living a perfect life, and then, out of what was OBVIOUSLY sheer jealousy, they ran him out of his own kingdom. If they hadn't been chased out as well, they would probably be on the throne - HIS throne - right now, taking his place, turning him into nothing more than a distant memory. Even worse, after the three of them were chased off, they had the nerve to try and take leadership over him! He had accepted after a while, but only to use them until he could survive on his own. He didn't intend on keeping the promise he had made with Alder. Why should he? This mess was his sister's fault.
Plus, he had lied to Junker not a few days ago. Junker could've sworn Alder lived with his sister and no one else, but when trying to keep his precious rank after he failed to get the large amount of celery from an unsuccessful heist, he mentioned that he had a family to feed. After further investigation, this proved to be nothing but a fib.
Junker tried to save his rage for later and pretend to go along with the two disaster-prone squirrels. He took the lead as they followed the trail of the track the train loaded with food that passed Junker had taken. After all, he was the one who had seen the train. He had its scent, so it was reasonable that he lead the two troublemakers.
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Hazel took a look around, trying to take in the mountainside and ignore the lingering sting of regret. She had made up with her brother, and if Junker was willing to swallow his pride, that was definitely progress. She absorbed the rocky landscape around her. The dew still clung dearly to the tall, individual blades of golden grass along the side of the worn rail road. Everything had that damp, earthy smell that makes everything feel heavy and bogged down, yet brightens up those it touches with a cool, crisp, "let's start this day out right" sense to the air.
And starting this day out right was precisely what Hazel intended on doing.
She wasn't that surprised that Junker had seen a train carrying food rocketing down the tracks; that's what the tracks were mostly there. She had read a bit about it once in one of the books in the library she had visited so many times. Hazel racked her brain, trying to remember what it had said about the mountains. She thought it through as though she was reading the book herself.
The mountains that surround the grand city of Canterlot, known as the Bogie Mountains, was filled with countless tunnels and hideaways, many of which Celestia and Luna used to shield themselves from Discord's reign before using the Elements of Harmony to defeat him. After Discord was defeated, Celestia and Luna colonized a city atop these mountains, which is now modern-day Canterlot, fearing that Discord was not truly gone. Once the princesses were positive that the chaotic beast was gone, a problem surfaced: Because of Canterlot's location, they were isolated from the rest of Equestria. They had no way of communicating with the other cities that were popping up throughout the land, and the city had already developed to the point where the ponies who lived there couldn't move elsewhere. Bogie Caboose, a strapping young stallion and a resident in Canterlot, suggested to the princesses the idea of having a railroad system run throughout the mountains. The princesses loved this idea, and put Bogie in charge of the project. The project was surprisingly beneficial in many other ways, such as helping the economy of the young city of Canterlot and taking the ponies' minds off of Discord and the terror he had so recently caused them. Sadly, Bogie died right before the railroad system was finished. Celestia and Luna decided to name the mountains in his memory, and told his workers to expand the railroad system as far as they could, connecting every major city that had sprouted to every other one. The crew got right to it. Thanks to both Bogie and his crew, transportation of both ponies and goods between distant locations became a lot easier. No single city was able to be prosperous without connecting themselves to the railroad system, though a couple tried to, including the distant town of. . .
"HAZEL!" Alder barked, snapping Hazel back into the real world from her tangential train of thought. She had strayed from Junker and Alder in her daydreaming, and quickly jogged to catch up with them, giving an embarrassed giggle.
They kept at the rugged mountainside for a good two hours until Junker doubled over, his stomach growling loudly. "Oh, dear Celestia!" He moaned, "I don't think I can make it much longer without some more fuel! I'm starving!"
"Come to think of it, I'm getting hungry, too," Alder admitted.
"Me three. I'll go and look for something," Hazel offered as she scampered away. Once Alder and Junker were out of sight, she started reciting a book on flora in the Canterlot area.
There was a wide variety inside the city of Canterlot, thanks to Princess Celestia's fondness of plants. Different types had been imported from all over Equestria to the Royal Canterlot Garden. Normally, the sheer amount of alien species would be catastrophic to the ecosystem, but not in Canterlot. Because it was shielded by the Bogie Mountains, there wasn't anywhere for many of the plants to go, seeing that they could never survive the harsh elements in the mountains. There were a few however, that established themselves across the mountains. One of them was the mumblebush. The mumblebush grew wide and low to the ground, and sported many tiny, maroon berries called mumbleberries that were safe to eat in small quantities, but would make you lose your voice if you ate too many.
After going over the passage in her head, she quickly spotted a small cluster of mumblebushes. She plucked a good amount and rushed back to Junker and Alder.
"Eat these," Said Hazel as she shoved some of the berries towards Junker. She then gave some to Alder and started eating the rest herself.
Junker ate them, and immediately felt better. "Wow!" He exclaimed, "What were those?"
"They're called mumbleberries. They're really good at perking you up," Said Hazel.
They were. All three of them felt full and energized despite the small amount Hazel had retrieved. Hazel was glad it was enough, because she wasn't sure how much they could eat before losing their voices.
Though, now that I think about it, it wouldn't be the end of the world if Junker couldn't talk, She thought to herself, giggling.
Junker, Alder and Hazel continued the path for most of the day, following the winding track towards the train's destination, wherever that was. Quite frankly, Alder was beginning to suspect that this was all just a wild goose chase, and that following the train would get them nowhere helpful, but Hazel and Junker seemed positive, and he didn't want to crush their hopes. In fact, if anything, he wished he had them himself. They stopped again after about five hours had passed to regroup and eat again, and then they resumed their quest.
It was growing dark rather rapidly. A cool evening breeze flowed through the tunnels of the mountains, and the entire landscape was tinted with a beautiful yet chilling blue-violet hue. All of a sudden, Junker halted. Alder bumped into him. Junker looked back with a stern look on his face.
"Problem?" Alder asked.
"Problem," Junker confirmed.
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"Well, which way do we go?" Hazel asked, looking at the fork in the road that had appeared. The train could've gone in either direction. Junker strained his senses, trying to figure out the answer to Hazel's question. After some time, he looked up with a confident face and pointed left.
"That way. The train definitely went that way," he spoke with certainty
"Are you sure?" Alder asked doubtfully. "That way leads back up the mountain. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't take the trail back to Canterlot."
"Of course I'm sure!" Junker shouted. "Come on!"
"We should vote," Hazel suggested. Oh, for the love of Celestia, Junker thought.
"Fine. We already know which way I want to go, which way do you to want to go?" Junker asked the two squirrels. They both pointed to the track on the right. Junker groaned on the inside. He should have realized that when he agreed to join up with them, he would be powerless. The two siblings thought the same way, yet their vote counted as double of what Junker's did.
"You have to trust me!" Junker pleaded. "Give me this one chance!"
"I'm sorry, Junker, we're going this way," Alder said as they started to continue down the path leading down.
"YEAH? WELL, I QUIT!" Junker shouted. "JOIN ME WHEN YOU REALIZE YOUR MISTAKE! UNLIKE YOU TWO FILTHY SQUIRRELS, MY NOSE DOESN'T LIE TO ME!" And with a loud harrumph he marched off alone towards the trail leading up.
However, as they parted ways, all three critters were haunted by a lingering sense of doubt about which path they had each chosen. Hope in their tiny hearts faded away with the sunlight as the mountains grew even darker and much, much scarier. A timberwolf howled in the distance, and Hazel could only hope that it was her wild imagination that was perceiving it as a dangerously bad omen.
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