Chapter 3
“Where is that incompetent buffoon?” I growled, wearing down the creaking floorboards. I’d finished packing ages ago. It hadn’t taken him so long to dig the tunnel and get back. I had assigned the simple task of planting the plunderseeds and returning to me. Was that too much to ask? I was beginning to wonder if the idiot had allowed himself to get caught, either by Twilight or the plunderseeds. Either way, my plan was as good as thwarted. I still needed to ensure civilization’s downfall: a task I couldn’t do without him.
I hadn’t been too far off when I assumed he’d been caught. I was getting ready to head after him when a giant paw emerged, scrabbling for leverage. “Mistress!” Buster’s pathetic, wavering voice cried. I peered down into the hole. The diamond dog’s eyes were wide with terror, but I almost couldn’t see them for the blindfold of vines. Buster’s skin was quickly becoming pruney and wrinkled. He was aging at an extreme rate; the plunderseeds were sucking the very life out of him, absorbing his energy.
“You bungling oaf! What did I tell you?” My eyes flashed. Or maybe it was just the amulet.
“I’m sorry! Mistress, help! Please! Mlmph!” The plunderseeds had clamped his jaws shut.
“Of all the henchmen I could have chosen, I ended up with the most feckless of all.” I was almost tempted to leave him to his fate, but I knew my limits. As much as I hated to admit it, I still needed him. So I called upon the amulet’s magic yet again, soothing the vines and easing them off my useless hunk of a diamond dog. As soon as he was free, he scurried behind me, badly limping, clutching at his sides and wheezing like an old geezer. I performed a brief age spell to return him to his strong, youthful self.
“Thank you, Mistress.”
“You fool! Now how do you suppose we’re going to get back to the Everfree?” Buster glanced at the tunnel now completely barricaded by the plunderseeds, then sheepishly back to me.
“Perhaps it was for the best, Mistress. I heard voices in the Tree’s grotto just before I left. At least now they won’t be able to follow us.”
“Even better. Princess Twilight knows her Element is missing. No doubt she’ll come looking for it. We need to be out of here before she does.”
“But Mistress, she can’t follow us,” Buster pointed to the vicious, hungry plants still cropping up out of the hole.
“Numbskull! She doesn’t need your tunnel to follow the plunderseed trail. The amulet infused the plants with powerful magic- a resounding signature that will lead her back here like a beacon, should she track it. And if she’s half as smart as her reputation suggests, that will be the first thing she tries. We have to get a move on. Time is short. Take the luggage- we’ll have to hoof it.”
“Walk all the way to the Everfree ruins?” As a diamond dog, Buster tried to minimize his time spent outside, especially out in the open. He felt uncomfortable without some sort of roof over his head.
“I’ll use the amulet and administer a cloaking spell for cover. But that doesn’t mean you can loiter here. Let’s go! NOW!” I cuffed the back of his head, and for fear of being struck again, slunk away to do as he was told. I waited on the porch as he collected the bags.
“Hurry up!” I barked. After a lot of bumping and clunking from within, Buster emerged, his awkward load precariously balanced in his arms. He almost lost the load entirely when I pounced on his back.
“What are you-”
“Stop your whining. I can save magic and cast only one spell if we’re touching.”
“But-”
“I SAID QUIET!” He slumped a bit, but ceased his complaining. Finally able to concentrate, I accessed my accessory’s power. The surface of our skin and the bags shimmered for a moment, then vanished entirely. Startled by the effect, Buster poked himself a few times to make sure he was all still there, and successfully dumped all my bags in the process. “BUSTER!”
“Sorry, Mistress.” He scrambled to collect them all. I groaned. I could already tell, this would be the longest trip of my entire existence. Considering my age, that was saying something.
“Hmm...”
“Shh!” I rapped Buster so hard to get his attention that he winced. At least it worked; he stopped moving, and with only one bag to go. “Someone is here,” I whispered. Though I couldn’t see him, I felt him nod, and carefully straighten up with the last bag.
“A chaos spirit must live here... look at the state of this place!” A head popped around the corner, one that I recognized all too well. Twilight Sparkle was here, as well as her entourage.
Oblivious to Buster and I, the pink one darted around to the porch and took a look inside. “Or maybe just some old grouchy hermit,” she commented. “What do you think, girls?”
“It’s a creepy old place, for sure,” the pegasus with the colorful mane turned up her nose.
“Won’t argue there, pardner,” the country girl tipped her hat.
“Heeeeeellllloooo? Anypony home?” Pinkie popped inside, out of my sight. The other girls followed, and once they were all inside, I silently urged Buster to creep forward and keep an eye on them. This was no easy task, considering first of all his size, and secondly all the cargo he was currently balancing. It was all in vain, for as soon as Buster made it to the door, the yellow mare reappeared in the doorway.
“I’ll just wait out here.” She was quaking, apparently unnerved by the spooky old house.
“Oh, come, darling. Sure the house... could use some work... but it isn’t all that bad.”
“There’s nothing here, anyway,” Rainbow reported.
“But this makes no sense... the trail leads here!” Twilight reemerged, and it gave me great satisfaction to witness the frustration on her face. “This is either a very clever decoy... or a very well synchronized attack.”
‘Could have been better in the execution... and synchronization, for that matter,’ I thought to myself.
“Maybe whoever’s behind this just wanted to send us on a wild goose chase,” Applejack suggested. Twilight sighed.
“Maybe you’re right. Let’s head back to the castle and see what else we can dig up.”
“Do you think Discord’s back yet? I’m getting worried. His letter was so cryptic... It’s making me nervous.” Fluttershy shivered.
“I’m sure he’s fine,” Twilight tucked Fluttershy’s trembling form beneath her wing for comfort. “Come on, let’s go check up on him. Fluttershy nodded, and making sure the other girls were ready, Twilight cast a teleportation spell. Buster and I were left alone.
“So... the princess sent Discord to look into matters for her. Excellent! My plunderseeds will have assimilated his power. With his chaos magic, they will become unstoppable!”
“Shouldn’t we stop them?” Buster grunted from beneath me.
“The girls? Why? They found nothing. I left nothing behind that could possibly tie me to the crime. Go, Buster. We’ve lost enough time as it is.” He rumbled acknowledgement, and started for the Everfree.