Crystal Synergy sighed as she dismissed her automap’s projected display. It had been hours since the party had entered the Everfree Forest, but despite the total distance traveled, the net gain once they were led back to the road hadn’t been very far at all. They were, perhaps, a mere fifth of the way to the Castle of the Two Sisters.
On the other hoof, the seven league detour Big Mama had taken them on, which bore a disturbing resemblance to a Celtic knot as interpreted through the artistic lens of M. C. Escher, meant that they now had a basic working map of a rather sizable portion of the Everfree Forest south of the road. Crystal wondered if that was deliberate on Big Mama’s part. The larger than life sphinx certainly hinted at knowing far more than a native resident of Gaia should.
Was Big Mama another displaced and transformed human? Or was she something else altogether? And why was she so big? According to what little the Golden Oak’s Library had on sphinxes, adults normally ranged from about the size of an average pony to just a little bit larger than the average griffon. Big Mama had been quite a bit larger than that, and would most likely have dwarfed the manticore they were supposed to have encountered by now.
Wait…
Where the buck was the manticore? Crystal could understand missing the first trial as the gap between where they had left the road and where the had rejoined it included a drop in elevation, but wasn’t the next test a variation of the Lion and the Mouse scenario? Did Big Mama scare it off or something?
*O o O o O*
The manticore licked its chops, having recently fed on the abandoned body of a satyr after following the scent of it’s blood to this clearing. The scent of several aroused female ponies had also permeated the clearing when it had first arrived, and it probably would have tried to kill at least one of them to add more meat to its meal had they still been there, but it knew better than to leave a free meal unguarded just to hunt down fresher prey.
They had obviously run off due to his presence, which satisfied the urge to challenge them that he’d been experiencing. Content in this proof of his superiority, as well as his now full belly, the manticore settled down for an after meal nap.
*O o O o O*
Crystal blinked as they came to a gap in the road where it crossed a small river. Or a large creek. Or… Buck it. It wasn’t like anypony agreed on which waterway was which anyway, other than the fact that they were all technically streams.
Anyway, while the road led right up to the river, and continued as if uninterrupted on the other side, there was no sign that there had ever been a bridge.
For that matter, there was no sign of Steven Magnet either, bawling or otherwise..
“I dunno,” Applejack looked at the river uncertainly. “This ain’t no proper ford.”
“Well, it is kind of obvious that there should be a bridge here,” Rarity agreed, “but I’d hardly call a ford a proper river crossing anyway.”
“Hard to tell how deep the water runs with it dark like this,” Crystal observed. “If it’s too deep, we won’t be able to climb out on either side at this point.”
“Eh, so me and Fluttershy’ll just fly everypony across,” Rainbow Dash waved a hoof dismissively.
“Um…” Fluttershy temporized. “I’m not a very strong flyer. I usually only lift bunnies and other small animals…”
“Eh, you’ll do fine, Shy,” Dash stated reassuringly. “I’ll have hold on the other side, and it’s not that far to the other side.”
“Well, if you two take one between you, Rarity and I can lift the others across, then float over ourselves,” Crystal pointed out.
“You both know a flight spell?” Twilight asked, intrigued.
“What spell?” Crystal asked, tilting her head. “All you need to do is wrap yourself in your own aura and lift.”
“Crystal,” Rarity interjected, “Just because you find something ridiculously easy to do, doesn’t mean anypony else can do it.”
“What do you mean? I’ve seen you lift half the stock in the shop at a time and shuffle it about like a choreographed dance!” Crystal countered. “You’ll do fine!”
“By any chance was this during a heart song, perhaps?” Rarity asked, already knowing the answer.
“Well, yes, but…” Crystal admitted.
“No buts, dear,” Rarity chided. “You know as well as anypony else that heartsongs can have unusual effects when they occur.”
“But it really isn’t that hard,” Crystal insisted. “Look, I’ll just float myself over…”
And with that, Crystal Synergy wrapped herself in her own aura and began to float across the river.
Only to hear an enormous splash as a pair of titanic clawed azure hands snatched her out of the air as their owner sailed overhead and back into the water upstream. Crystal struggled for air for a moment before gasping it in greedily as her captor arced out of the water again in a series of excited jumps.
“I caught a pretty pony! I caught a pretty pony! I can’t wait to show Unca Steve!”
*O o O o O*
“Crystal!” Rarity cried out, immediately galloping along the bank, dodging through the underbrush and around any trees in the way.
“You come back with our friend!” Pinky Pie called out, passing Rarity with ease, with Applejack following suit shortly afterwards.
Rainbow Dash zoomed off ahead of them all, leaving Twilight and Fluttershy to bring up the rear as well as they could…
*O o O o O*
One would think that there would be a fair bit of panic involved in finding oneself snatched out of midair by a giant who-knew-what and subjected to a series of repeated dunkings. It was definitely disorienting, and Crystal could barely see anything but blurry water and rapidly shifting shadows under the moonlight. So, yes, there was definitely a sense of panic.
There was also a pattern, and the part of Crystal’s mind that tended to become detached in these sorts of situations latched onto this pattern as soon as it was able.
Down. Splash. Water. Up. Air. Wind. Incomprehensible voice speaking nonsense. Down. Splash. Water. Up. Air. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. INHALE NOW! EXHALE NOW! BREATHE! BREATHE! BREATH IS LIFE! BREATH IS GOD! BREATH IS SELF! BREATH IS… Clarity.
Crystal’s panic subsided as she began to focus on timing her breathing to the rhythm of the sequence. She was still disoriented, but the mind numbing fear was gone. Whatever had her sounded more like some sort of excited giant kid than something actually intending to harm her.
Now that she could sort of concentrate, it occurred to Crystal that she could use her magic… To do what exactly? She didn’t know how to teleport. Whatever had her was too big for her to do much of anything to, and too strong for her aura to force it to release its grip on her (she did try a few times, to no noticeable effect).
Okay, she could start up her Thaumic Flywheel, so she could accumulate and amplify mana, but she was still too disoriented to concentrate on splitting her focus past timing her breaths and maintaining the spell, so whatever she did with the growing reserve pool had to be something simple.
Maybe feed it into the automap crystal?
Worth a shot, anyway…
*O o O o O*
“Bucking Celestia damned vines! “Rainbow Dash cursed, regretting her impulsive rush to chase after the sea serpent that had captured Crystal. Yes, she was fast. Definitely the fastest flyer in Ponyville and a strong contender for being among the fastest flyers in Equestria if not all of Gaia. Which did her absolutely no good at all when trying to fly at any decent speed through a dense forest at night.
The mess of vines she had become entangled in after knocking herself about several overhanging branches and nearby tree trunks while following a blind turn of the river was proof enough of the futility of said attempt.
Still, she had not suffered any serious injuries from her self-inflicted series of crashes. Just some light bruising and maybe a few scrapes and ruffled feathers. Once she got loose, she’d be good to go. Preferably before any of the others saw…
“I’m flattered, Rainbow, I really am,” Pinkie Pie stated carefully as she stopped to stare at the trapped pegasus, “but you’re not the one I want to play Spank the Piñata with. Besides, this isn’t really the time. Maybe after we rescue Crystal and save the day. Wow, we literally would be saving the day, wouldn’t we? We should totally have a We Literally Saved the Day party after this! There'd be cake, and ice cream, and music, and singing, and dancing, and games! Games like Spank the Piñata! Do you think Crystal would be interested in playing Spank the Piñata?”
“Pinkamina Diane Pie!” Rarity exclaimed in outrage, as she and Applejack finally caught up during the tail end of Pinkie’s babbling.
“Whups! GottagosaveCrystalbuhbye!” The pink party mare rattled off before galloping off.
“Miss Pie! You get back here and explain yourself right now!” Rarity shouted, persistently pursuing Pinkie Pie.
“Haaaah… Haaaaah…” Twilight gasped as she and Fluttershy reached the spot where Rainbow Dash had entangled herself. “Come… Haaaah… back!” she wheezed. “Don… Haaaaah… don’t… separate… the party! That’s always a bad idea! At least use the buddy system!”
"You okay there, Twilight?" Applejack asked the exhausted unicorn.
"I'll be fine in a moment," Twilight said as her breathing became more steady.
“Um… Rainbow?” Fluttershy blushed at the unfortunate position her foalhood friend had managed to trap herself in. “Would you like one of us to get you down?”
“No, I want to play Spank the Piñata, whatever that is!”
“Um… Okay… Since you want to…”
SLAP!!!
“I WAS BEING SARCASTIC!!!”
*O o O o O*
“Okay, according to this, the Golden Oaks Library is located on the corner of North Folk and Wey,” Moondancer informed her companions as she examined the town map posted at the Ponyville train station. “Looks like the easiest way to get there from here is to go to the town square first and then just head north.”
“What about Lyra’s house?” Minuette asked.
“Her address would put her over here,” Moondancer poked different spot on the map. “It should be easy enough to get there from either the library or the town square.”
“Where is everypony?” Twinkleshine asked. “I know the sun hasn’t risen yet, but it’s still technically daytime, isn’t it?”
“Well, given that everypony usually stays up all night just prior to the Summer Sun Celebration, they’re all probably asleep at home,” Minuette guessed.
“Or hiding,” Lemon Hearts added.
*O o O o O*
Crystal coughed a bit as her captor set her down on a mossy bank where the river forked and looked about. A quick check of her map showed that Pinkie Pie and Rarity were heading more or less in her direction, or were at least following the river, and the others were following along even if they had fallen behind a ways for whatever reason. It made sense to Crystal that her sister and her best friend were pushing extra hard to rescue her, and while Applejack and Rainbow Dash could probably have kept pace with them, they had probably hung back to help out Twilight and Fluttershy.
“Are you all right?” the sea serpent asked. “You don’t look as pretty anymore…”
Crystal reigned her temper in, reminding herself that for all it’s size, the sea serpend sounded like (and probably was) a child. “I’m not a sea pony, siren, or kelpie, so I don’t have their innate magic to stay pretty when leaving the water. I also don’t have their innate ability to breathe water.”
“Oh! Did I hurt you?” the sea serpent asked in a worried tone as she began to shrink rapidly. “Unca Steve isn’t going to like that…”
“I’ll be fine,” Crystal assured her, right before coughing again. “More or less, anyway. Just don’t dunk me again. Anyway, my name is Crystal Synergy. What’s your name?”
“I’m Zoey Loadstone,” the sea serpent replied as she finally stopped shrinking, ending up roughly the size of a python. “I was visiting my Unca Steve for a bit while Momma and Poppa are away. They said they wanted a quiet Annie Versary. Do you know who Annie Versary is? She must be very noisy if Momma and Poppa had to go away to make sure that she is quiet. Unca Steve won‘t tell me who Annie Versary is. He just laughs when I ask. Then he tells me stories of how Momma and Poppa met each other and got married, which is interesting but doesn’t tell me who Annie Versary is at all! But that’s okay because Unca Steve is fun, and I have a good time whenever I come to visit him. What’s that noise?”
Looking about, Crystal saw that a pair of cragodiles had emerged from the water on either side of them and were rapidly flanking them.
“Okay, that’s it!” Crystal yelled angrily as she lifted one of the rocky reptilians with her aura and promptly used it to start beating on the other one. “I” WHAM!!! “have” WHAM!!! “had” WHAM!!! “Just” WHAM!!! “about” WHAM!!! “enough” WHAM!!! “of” WHAM!!! “this” WHAM!!! “stupid” WHAM!!! “forest!” WHAM!!! WHAM!!! WHAM!!!
The pack of timber wolves that had been sneaking up on the pair’s third flank wisely decided to turn away and hunt easier prey.
*O o O o O*
Pinkie Pie and Rarity emerged from the trees on the far side of the western fork to discover that Crystal was trying (and failing) to calm down a terrified and somehow much smaller sea serpent.
“Crystal, dear,” Rarity addressed her sister from where she was, “might I enquire as to what is going on?”
“I hit a cragodile with another cragodile.”
“And this was enough to reduce a sea serpent to tears?” Rarity prompted.
“There may have been some yelling involved,” Crystal admitted guiltily.
“And where, pray tell, are the cragoldiles in question?”
Crystal just pointed a hoof at a pile of rubble.
“Yes,” Rarity observed dryly, “I suppose that would be sufficiently traumatic to witness something like that.”
“Aw, don’t be scared,” Pinkie tried to assure the trembling sea serpent, popping out from behind a nearby tree despite having been just across the river a moment ago. “Crystal wasn’t mad at you! Here, have a cupcake!”
Zoey Loadstone cautiously took the cupcake from the pretty pink pony that shouldn’t have been able to get that close without her noticing her. She decided right then and there that all ponies were scary, no matter how pretty they were.
The cupcake was good though…