Day 4, Part 3: Grassy’s mad dash.
(Perspective: Grasshopper)
I opened my eyes, and the never ending headache began anew. I was in a bed, or at least I thought I was. I turned to see a sleeping Vinyl Scratch. I sniffed her breath. That wonderful, beautiful, telltale scent of alcohol graced my nostrils. I looked at the floor around the bed. At least five empty bottles of brandy were spread across the room. I slipped out of the bed, careful not to wake her. She gives me alcohol and sex, I thought, gonna have to come back here. I opened up the shutters on a window and flew out. The street was completely devoid of any ponies. I landed on a rooftop and looked around. This isn’t right, I thought, there should be somepony out here. I took off again, this time heading to Free’s house. I could at least find someone there. I broke above the cloud barrier, landing on them and creeping above Free’s house. There were mares all spread out across the base of the hill. I slowly backed away. I wasn’t about to risk being found by what looked to be most of the town’s single mares. I flew towards the only place that Free ever went besides his house: his workplace, the Castle of the Two Sisters.
The fly there wasn’t too bad. I bucked a couple of clouds on the way to get my senses back in order. I crept above the clouds, trying not to alert anypony to my presence. I hope Free and the others made it out alright, I thought as I peeked over the edge of the cloud bank. What I saw below me would scar my life for the rest of my days. It was Nurse Redheart. She was walking calmly through the street, a whimpering stallion dragging behind her. Something was strapped to her barrel. It must have made a hay of a racket, because I could hear it rumbling from the clouds. Then suddenly the rumbling increased tenfold.
“Ohhhhhh yesssss!” she shrieked above the rumble. “ I knew the 3000 model was worth the extra five hundred bits.”
Goddesses, I thought, five hundred extra bits. Celestia, Redheart likes expensive toys. Then, she brought a hose out of the machine, and inserted it into the stallion’s mouth. She flicked a switch and a liquid began pumping into the hose and into the stallion's mouth. They started bucking almost immediately after, out of the blue. I resisted the urge to throw up the alcohol I had recently ingested. I looked away and continued my trek across the clouds to the castle of the Two Sisters.
I finally reached the Everfree forest. This was one of the few places near Ponyville I hung out near more than the bar. I was assigned to kick clouds near this area, preventing them from going rogue above the forest. I leapt off the clouds and plunged into the trees. I made my way through the forest flying just below the foliage. I didn’t trust Free’s word on this place. If I were desperate, I would risk it to go in here, I thought. I flew across the gorge that lead to the castle. I hope they didn’t get into much trouble without me, I thought. I landed quietly inside the castle, descending through one of the castle's gaping holes. Slowly making my way to the library, the castle became less dilapidated. I entered the library, there were books scattered on tables; notes were piled in between them. I walked further into the room, looking at the covers of the books. Some of the titles included, Advanced Theorem of Shielding, Magic Nullification, and A Mare’s Guide to Finding a Mate. Wait, what? I thought, this must be her’s. Suddenly a hoof tapped my barrel.
“Um, you didn’t let any of them follow you, did you?” A male voice asked behind me.
“No,” I said turning to the pony behind me. “ Who are you, anyways?
“Oh, my name’s Page Turner.” he said, standing back. “ I was sent from Manehatten to look for a pony by the name of Iron Ore. You wouldn’t happen to know him?”
“Yeah, I do, actually.” I answered him. “ He’ll be here any minute with another friend.”
“Ah, good.” Page said, he started rubbing something in his saddlebags.
“So do we wait?” I asked.
“Yeah, I guess we do.” he replied.
We sat on some unused benches and began to wait. Free Writer and Iron Ore got to the library about a half hour later. They collapsed on the benches next to us.
“So,” Free asked. “ who’s the new guy?”
“Oh,” I said. “ that’s Page, he says he was looking for Iron.”
“Hey, Page,” Iron spoke up from further down the bench. “ how’re things at the office?”
“Alright,” he shrugged. “ the boss sent me to look for you. Neglected to tell me that you were in a town this rural. I ended up in fleeing into the forest from the mares.”
“Hhmm,” Iron nodded. “ I guess we’re gonna have him on our tails when we get back. Oh well, this was a pretty eventful vacation.”
“Amen to that.” I agreed.
“I can second that.” Free agreed. “Well, we may as well get some sleep; the last day is tomorrow.”