Ch. 2 Following the Trail
Tired from last night, Twilight slept in. Spike was surprised when he woke up first. He decided not to wake Twilight, and that he would get all his chores done quickly, and make a surprise breakfast for her.
Twilight was pulled from her slumber by the heavenly scent of spiced oatmeal and grass pancakes. She groggily looked over at her clock, and promptly tried to jump out of bed, but only managing to become tangled up in her sheets on the floor. Spike ran upstairs and immediately tripped over the tangled mess. After a minute of struggling, Twilight managed to extricate herself and Spike from the sheets. With an exasperated tone, she said, “Come on Spike. Stop horsing around. There are a few things I want to do today, and I overslept.”
“But Twilight, you planned to have this day free since you were going to be up all night stargazing,” Spike said, with the faintest glimmer of whine.
“Well, something came up. Today we will be investigating a suspicious somepony,” And with that, she explained the chase from the night before, and her plans on finding the colt.
“Wow. So who are we gonna go see first? We should go see Rarity first. Yeah, definitely see Rarity first,” Spike said with a slightly glazed over look in his eyes. He was brought back to reality by Twilight’s rumbling stomach, and with a chuckle, and a blush from Twilight, went down to finish making breakfast.
After a lovely meal, Twilight went off towards Sugarcube Corner, leaving Spike to clean up the giant mess he made in the kitchen. As she passed Carrot Top’s house, she noticed Carrot Top in her garden, counting missing carrots and a pile bits with a worried look on her face. Twilight decided now would be a good time to ask about the situation. “Good morning Carrot Top, is something the matter?”
“Why hello, Twilight. Yes, something is wrong. For the past few weeks, somepony has been taking carrots I was going to sell, and leaving enough bits to cover them. Sometimes they would leave something extra too, like a beautiful and delicious flower, or cough medicine when Baby Carrot has the sniffles.”
“And you’re unhappy because somepony has been taking your carrots?” Twilight interrupted.
“No, I’m not mad at all! It means I have to bring fewer carrots to the market, plus those tips are wonderful! The pony once left a bouquet of poison joke, along with a card explaining what it was, and the cure for it. I gave it to Octavia after one of her performances, and she was deaf for two whole days!” She said, with a short laugh.
“Oh, I just thought that was from her friend, Vinyl Scratch. So, anyways, if you aren’t mad about the carrots going missing, why are you worried?”
“Well, I just counted the bits but only three carrots are missing, there should be nine more missing. I do hope nothing has happened to the pony,” Carrot Top said, her brow furrowed with concern.
“Oh. Well, whoever the pony is, I’m sure they will be just fine,” Twilight said awkwardly, “I’ve got somewhere to be, bye,” Twilight hurried off, wanting to see Pinkie Pie and beginning to think she had made a mistake running after the mysterious colt. As she continued on, she saw Applejack, pulling a small cart with a few crates of apples in it.
“Why howdy Twilight. You havin’ a fine morning?”
“It has been… umm… interesting. Where are you headed with those?”
“I’m just makin’ my bi-weekly delivery to Sugarcube Corner. Where are you off to?”
“Actually, I’m headed there myself. I need to talk to Pinkie about a mysterious colt that was stealing carrots. Only he wasn’t stealing, he left money on Carrot Tops doorstep, but I interrupted him, he ran, and I chased him. Eventually he ran into the Everfree forest and I need to talk to Pinkie and see if she knows who the colt is,” She said in one breathe, and then took in a big gulp of air.
“Hold your horses there sugarcube, what’s this about a carrot thief?”
As they walked to Sugarcube Corner, Twilight told AJ about the previous night’s chase, and her talk with Carrot Top.
“Hmm,” Applejack put a hoof to her chin, “Maybe since he didn’t get his carrots last night, he’ll come back for ‘em tonight, so ya can get him then. Here we are. I’ll head ‘round back an drop off these apples, then I’ll meet up with y’all inside.”
As Twilight walked inside, pondering what Applejack had said, she found Mrs. Cake at the register rather than Pinkie Pie. “Well good morning Twilight, Pinkie said somepony would be coming by to see her today, go on up.”
“Uh, thanks, I guess,” A confused look crossed Twilight’s eyes as she headed upstairs. She found Pinkie waiting at the top of the stairs. Pinkie started bouncing towards a back room. “Come on Twilight, you can tell me all about your mystery in here,” She giggled.
Root Strider’s stomach growled at him as he trekked through Froggy Bottom Bog. He ignored it and made his way to a small patch of dry ground where some radishes and potatoes were growing. He carefully picked two or three of each, making sure to plant new ones.
“It’s not safe to dawdle here, for there’s a hydra living near,” He rhymed, and then chuckled, “Heh, I sounded like Her just then,” As he turned around, he ran into a hard, scaly wall that wasn’t there before. “Aww, horseapples.”
Pinkie Pie fell over laughing as Twilight finished her story. Applejack and Twilight shared a confused look, and Twilight asked, “What’s so funny Pinkie?”
“You are, silly!” She wiped away a tear of laughter, “The colts are supposed to chase us mares, not the other way around,” She fell into giggle fits after saying this. Applejack covered her mouth to try and hold it back, but she started laughing too.
Twilight blushed and retorted, “Come on, be serious about this. Would you be happy if some of your baked goods, or some of your apples were stolen!?” At this, Applejack stopped laughing.
“If’n any pony tries to steal from the orchard, I’d buck him clear back to the Everfree Forest,” Applejack said, with a small hoof stomp to settle it.
Pinkie pie continued to giggle, “But Twilight, why would he steal from us if we already leave some out for him every other week?”
At this, Twilight looked at Pinkie Pie in shock. “You… leave some out for him already?”
“Well, yeah. I found this note on the door one morning a few weeks ago,” Pinkie scrounged in a drawer for a while. “Hmm, I’m sure I put it in here. Oh well,” She turned back to the two ponies. “I can’t find the card, but it said that a pony was willing to purchase some of our scrumptious goods, but didn’t want anypony to know, we thought the pony was just shy, like Fluttershy is.
We would leave ten bits worth of goods out before we went to bed, and the next morning, ten bits would be on the doorstep, and sometimes we would get spices that made our cakes extra super yummy and deli-”
Twilight interrupted, “And you never thought to stay up a see who it was?”
“Of course I did silly goose. I stayed up waiting for the pony, but he was wearing a cloak and he blended in with the night very well, so I couldn’t see what he looked like,” She gasped, “But now I know he’s a small brown earth pony with green hair! Thanks Twilight, mystery solved.”
“Soo…” Twilight asked, “You know who this pony is?”
“Nope, never seen a pony like that before,” She went stiff as a board, and then let out a large gasp. “If I’ve never met him, then a pony lives here that isn’t my friend! We have to find him Twilight so I can be friends with him!” She begged, holding onto Twilight’s hooves.
“Alright, Alright Pinkie, we’ll find him.”
Root Strider was running towards the edge of a cliff. The hydra following behind alternated between roaring and sneezing. The pepper he had thrown in their faces had slowed them down, but he would have to do something drastic to escape.
With a yell, he threw himself over the edge of the cliff. The hydra roared in anger at its escaped prey. Root strider landed on top of a large bubble of swamp gas, which stopped his fall. “Well, that’s lucky,” He said. The bubble suddenly popped, and he fell into the mud face first.
As the three ponies left Sugercube Corner, Twilight pulled out the cloak the colt had left behind, “We need to find Rarity, so she can tell us where this was made, and then we can track down this colt.”
Pinkie started bouncing ahead, “She’s at the spa with Fluttershy today,” She said in her sing-song voice.
Just then, a spiraling blue blur screeched to a halt right above the ground. “Drat! Not fast enough,” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, stomping her hoof on the ground. Pinkie bounced in a circle around Rainbow Dash. “Heya Dashie, whatcha up to?”
“Hey Pinkie, hi Applejack, hi Twilight. I’m just practicing my new move. I call it ‘The Rainbow Tornado!’ I fly up really high, and dive in a tight spiral. Right before I hit the ground, the rainboom goes off, sending me back up in the same spiral that widens the further up I go, until it becomes a rainbow colored tornado!” She shouted.
All three of the ponies oooohd and aaahd. “Uh, Rainbow Dash?” Twilight’s eyes had a concerned look to them, “Are you sure you should be trying to make a tornado in the middle of Ponyville?”
“Oh… yeah, that would be a bad thing.” Rainbow stammered with a blush coming to her cheeks. “I know! I’ll go out over the Everfree Forest and practice there,” She began to fly off.
“If you see a brown colt with green hair, come let us know, we’ll be at the spa or with Rarity!” Twilight yelled after her. A blue hoof waved, showing that Rainbow had heard her.
Rarity and Fluttershy were just about to enter the spa when Twilight, Pinkie Pie, and Applejack walked up to them. They exchanged greetings and Twilight got right to the point. “Rarity, I need your help identifying where this cloak came from.”
“I’m sorry Twilight; I’ve just finished a triple load of orders and I am at my wit’s end. Could this possibly wait until after I recuperate at the spa?”
“Well, this is the cloak of a colt I chased through Ponyville last night, and I want to learn more about him.”
“Oh, so that was you who made all the ruckus last night,” Rarity gave a slightly condescending smile, “Honestly Twilight, chasing a colt? If you need help attracting a colt, I could help you.”
Pinkie bursted into a giggle fit at this. Applejack gave a small smile. Both Twilight and Fluttershy blushed furiously. Twilight then stomped her hoof and declared, “Really girls, I’m not talking about my private relationship! I’m talking about catching this colt, he could be dangerous!”
“Calm down Twilight, I was merely poking fun. Come on, let’s all have a relaxing time at the spa, and you can fill in me and Fluttershy about this ‘possibly dangerous’ colt.”
Root Strider climbed out of the river fresh and mud free. “Well, now that’s over with.”
He decided to take a sunny route that would let his coat dry before he got home. As he trotted through the trees he visibly relaxed. He watched a white rabbit holding an apple scold an identical pair of brown rabbits.
He chuckled to himself, and turned his ears to the sounds coming from all around him. The forest was full of life, and he was enjoying it. “See Root Strider, all the bad luck is gone. What can go wrong now?”
He slapped a hoof to his mouth, but the words had escaped. He felt the breeze change direction and begin growing stronger. The entire forest went dead silent as the ground started rumbling. Suddenly a large group of animals came stampeding down the path. Root Strider leaped behind a large tree, and pressed himself against it.
After it passed, Root Strider became aware that the gentle breeze had become a bellowing gale. He heard an explosion, and a vortex of color twisted its way into the sky. Root Strider took a step back in horror. The colors of the vortex were unstable, and began mixing together until it was a brownish monstrosity.
“Celestia banish it!” He cursed as he ran directly towards the vortex, and his home. He heard a female voice let out a yell, and a blue blur shot out of the vortex, directly at him. Root Strider had no time to move out of the way, and even if he did, he knew he wouldn’t. He had to help this unfortunate pegasus who had gotten caught in the vortex. He leaped upwards towards her. They collided and landed in a heap.
The blue pegasus was dazed. Root Strider picked himself up and looked at the pegasus. She looked unhurt. When he noticed her rainbow colored mane and tail, he recoiled away from her with a yelp, and ran in the direction of his home, fear giving him speed.
Everything had been going according to plan. Rainbow Dash had achieved the Sonic Rainboom in a downward spiral, and it had rocketed her back upwards, like she predicted. She hadn’t expected the colors to fuse together and throw everything out of balance. She had reversed direction to try and nullify it. She could feel the tornado weakening.
Suddenly a pot flew out of the brownness and almost hit her. “Huh?” She looked back. She never even saw the sink coming. She shot out of the tornado and something brown and green shot up towards her. Everything tumbled and turned fuzzy. He heard somepony yell in fear, and through stars, she saw something run towards the tornado. “Wait… Twilight’s looki-” she whispered, before her world faded to black.
Root Strider looked over the remains of his home. His garden had been sucked up into the vortex, leaving no trace it had ever been there. His willow tree had split down the middle, and everything had been sucked up. He looked over where the vortex had petered out. “Even if I find my things, I have nowhere to live,” He complained to nopony in general. He trudged over to the willow, and looked about the roots. “Aha!”
He dug under a particularly knobby root, and pulled out two sacks. “At least these survived,” He breathed a sigh of relief as he looked inside the first sack. It contained a modest amount of bits. The last of his royalties for the book he wrote about herbal remedies that are simply… supernatural. He sighed as he remembered the dangerous, and silly things he did to write that book. He looked in the other sack. The inside of the sack had tons of seeds sorted into smaller, labeled bags.
“Hmm.” He pondered, “Where will I go now? I was hoping to eventually make a life for myself here. I guess I should go talk to Her. Maybe she’ll let me stay in her hut for the night and then help me make a plan,” With that plan set in his mind, he hoofed it out of there.
“Ah, now that was what I call relaxing.” Rarity said with a contented sigh as they all left the spa. “Now Twilight, be a dear and let me see the cloak of that mysterious colt you’re chasing after.”
“I told you, I’m not chasing him, I’m trying to find him,” Twilight retorted with a small blush. She pulled the cloak out of her bag and Rarity’s magic enveloped it.
Rarity carefully examined it. “Whoever made this did an excellent job; silk thread and such a unique material. Twilight, after that unfortunate misunderstanding with Zecora, I have been doing some trading for materials from travelers who have been to the zebra homeland. I’m certain this is the same material.” She declared.
“Hmm, He ran off into the Everfree Forest, and was wearing a zebra-made cloak. I believe we should ask Zecora about our mysterious colt,” Twilight said, walking purposefully towards the edge of Ponyville.
“Uhh, Twilight?” Applejack sounded apprehensive, “Are you sure that’s a good idea what with it startin’ to get late an all?”
Twilight looked at the lowering sun. “I want to get this over with as soon as possible, then I can rest easy knowing if he’s a threat to Ponyville or not.”
“A mare with rainbow hair, and you left her out THERE!? Go! Now! This you must amend, for she is a very good friend!” Zecora yelled as Root Strider ran out of the hut and back towards where he had left the blue pegasus. “You must ignore that which you fear, for the timber wolves are drawing near!”
“Ugh! All this trouble started with that purple unicorn. Since then, it’s been disaster after disaster,” He muttered to himself while he ran. “Now I have to go get this pegasus and bring her back, could this get any worse?” He felt a large raindrop hit his forehead. “I had to ask, didn’t I?” He heard a piercing howl, followed by several others, which made him gulp and run faster through the rain.
An old earth pony fell out of her rocking chair as she heard the familiar howling of timber wolves. “The first sign!” She yelled, as she grabbed some pots from the kitchen and ran outside.
Twilight and the others froze when they heard howling coming from one side of the path they were using. They resumed when they were able to calm down Fluttershy and when the howling sounded farther away, and made it to Zecora’s hut with no problems. Rain began falling as they knocked, and very concerned looking Zecora opened the door. “Oh my, come in quick while you are still dry,” They all rushed inside.
“There she is, right where I left her,” Root Strider said shakily. He inched closer to the unconscious pegasus. “Come on Root Strider, you’re not afraid. You’re not afraid,” He chanted to himself as he put her on his back. “Now to get back as quickly as possible,” He turned around to see three large timber wolves emerge from the trees. “Horseapples.”
“You mean Rainbow Dash is out there with the timber wolves!?” All five ponies asked at once.
“Do not worry all of you; the timber wolves are still very few,” Zecora said, fooling nopony, “Have a snack of cucumber shoots; to go get her, I sent the strider among the roots.” She put down a tray containing small cucumber plants, and looked out the window. The rain had turned into a downpour.
“Who is the strider among the roots?” Twilight asked “Is he the pony I saw last night?”
“He sounds scary.” Fluttershy said from under a table where she was hiding. She squeaked as thunder roared from outside.
“To find something in the forest, it’s him I’d send, and to me, he is a trusted friend,” Zecora rhymed, “His real name is Root Strider, he is-” She was drowned out by another crash of thunder, and frantic pounding coming from the door. Twilight pulled open the door with magic and a brown pony, Root Strider, Twilight reminded herself, carrying an unconscious Rainbow Dash on his back stumbled through the doorway. Twilight slammed the door shut behind them.
The tip of Root Strider’s tail had been shredded by large claws. His mane was a mess, and he had a small cut below his left eye. “I got her Zecora,” Root Strider looked back woozily at the pegasus, “She’s safe and sound right there, on my back,” and he fainted.
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Small error,
During RD's POV.
Damn, this guy goes far for his friends. CARRYING his fear, I know for a damn fact I wouldn't.
Man! What's this guy's cutie mark? The number 13!?
This guy could give Trouble Shoes a run for his money in the bad luck department.