What's Cut and Dried
Base camp, the next day, early morning...
“Mushroom... men?” Shining asked with a raise of his eyebrow, and a hint of disbelief in his voice “You’re telling me that you and Zecora found a colony of sapient mushrooms, shaped like these mythical humans creatures I might add, and that they threatened you to leave the Everfree forest otherwise these so called guardians of the forest will force us out?”
“It’s true, I met with them and they outright insulted everything that we believe in!” Twilight argued “These mushroom men refuse to come with us peacefully, no matter how hard I tried to convince them. They think that what we’re doing is evil! The nerve of them!” she snapped.
“Easy there little sis. I’m still having trouble believing that you actually met these mushroom men. In fact, I’m starting to think that you may have...”
“May have what?” Twilight poked, her hoof tapping the ground impatiently.
“You know... with you hanging around a patch full of mushrooms... some possibly associated with psychotropic drugs... you may have hallucinated about everything, don’t you think?” he concluded with a nervous grin. Twilight’s cheeks burned red with embarrassment before her eyes flared with anger. Anger that she unfortunately directed towards her brother.
“I did not hallucinate about any of it!” Twilight exploded “This is serious, Shining! We are practically at war with this forsaken forest. It’s doing everything that it can to undo all of our hard work! This evil and a plague and we are the cure, never forget that!” she fumed, feeling her neck strained as each word came out as if it were covered in barb wire.
Shining backed up a bit from his younger sister’s unexpected outburst. This wasn’t the first time that she has exploded like this, but given how stressful it may have been to not only encounter a new species of sapient creatures but to be insulted and berated by them as well, it seemed inevitable. However, this was also about supposed mushroom, and threats towards their cause. In summary, Shining thought that it was all just too crazy to believe.
“Well, what do we do then?” Shining asked “If these mushroom men are real, which I’m saying they’re not, and if they really are what you say to be, being one of the many guardians who protect this forest, which I’m saying it’s not, what are we suppose to do about them?”
“What do you think? They threaten us, that makes them our enemies!” Twilight shouted “I want you to go assemble some of your best guards and send scouting parties out there. If they find anything suspicious, we’ll personally take care of it”
“What!? You can’t just have me order some of my best guards out into this untamed wilderness hoping that they’ll run into some make believe guardians just so you can reason with it!” Shining protested.
“Oh, I am beyond reasoning at this point” Twilight stated “Those mushroom made it clear to me that this is cut and dried situation. These so called guardians will stop us, no matter the cost. So we have to take the initiative and strike first while we still have the advantage!”
“How about we just leave?” Shining suggested “ If they don’t want us to intrude on their way of life, then that’s fine, we’ll leave on more... peaceful grounds. The Everfree forest will be left alone, and we can just build your new city somewhere else”
“Shining, listen to yourself. You’re honestly suggesting about running away when we’re months ahead of schedule. If we leave now, then the dream of Scientia is dead and we lose this fight! Equestrian history will be forever stained by the Everfree blight!” Twilight shot back “Think about the ponies! Think about the future generations!”
“I am thinking about the ponies!” Shining raised his voice, something that he rarely does against his own sibling ”Do you know how many guards and loggers we sent here when we first started? We sent around one hundred loggers, and one hundred guards to defend them. That’s two hundred individuals in total, Twilight! And do you remember how many survived!? One! Just one! We’re still finding bones and remains of the others who got dragged into the Everfree weeks after the logging operations resumed!”
“What does that have to do with anything! And don’t you dare bring up the fallen anymore in this conversation, do you hear me!” Twilight spoke through gritted teeth.
“I’m saying that what if everything turns out to be meaningless! If these guardians truly exist and they succeed in repelling us, do you know how many lives that we are putting at risk here!?” Shining snapped back “We’re dealing with an unknown variable here, Twilight! I still don’t believe you about these guardians but I won’t give up on this operation either. We’ll continue this operation like normal unless I’m convinced otherwise!”
“B-but...” Twilight babbled as her vigilance deflated.
“I’m sorry, Twilight, but I am not going to divert an entire division under your command and have them blindly rush into an environment that we know next to nothing about. For now, just go and lie down or something. This whole forest has been riding on your nerves ever since we arrived here” Shining replied calmly “Just take a nap of something, let me handle the logging operations”
“B-but...” Twilight babbled again, trying to find some way to convince her brother to give her some control over his soldier. And then it hit her “What if I prove to you that they exist, then will you help me?” she asked wearily.
“I do what is best for Equestia, you know that. Even though I co rule the crystal empire now with Cadence” said Shining as he looked up from his paperwork with a long winded sigh “But this is not about Equestria, it’s about the Everfree. It’s not like there are any evil deities or villains that wish to cause mayhem and destruction just for the fun of it” he paused to catch his breathe.
“If these guardian’s title implies anything, then it’s plain to see that their job is to protect the Everfree. Kind of like how it’s your job to look over political matters as princess”
“But it’s also my job to think about the welfare of my little ponies” Twilight argued “And I believe, no, we, as in the ponies of Equestria, believe that getting rid of this forest will be beneficial for everyone. Even Princess Celestia and Luna back this operation one hundred percent”
“Then what about the mushroom men?” said Shining.
“What about those freaky little things” Twilight spoke with venom in her words “Besides, I thought you didn’t believed in them” she shot a piercing glare at her brother.
“I don’t. But theoretically speaking, what’s going to happen to them if you build Scientia here?” Shining asked with his eyebrow raised.
“It’s simple, they move on” Twilight replied as if nothing were wrong.
“Move on? Move on where?”
“Well, I don’t know. And more importantly, why should I care?” Twilight asked.
“Because it’s both our responsibilities as rulers to think about the other parties that get involved with everything we do” Shining spoke sternly “Mushroom men included”
“Whuah!? H-have you lost your mind!?” Twilight stammered with eyes wide in disbelief “Unbelievable. A moment ago you were all skeptical about them. And now you actually care for their well being?”
“Plants or no-”
“They’re not plants, they’re fungi” Twilight corrected her brother.
“...Right. Fungus or not, if they live here, and are honest to goodness natives to the Everfree, and they don’t like us raiding their home, then it’s up to us to respect their demand and acknowledge them for the betterment of both collective parties” Shining stated.
“Shining! I will do nothing of the sort! Demeaning myself by acknowledging the wishes of these worthless weeds, unthinkable!” Twilight rebuked.
“I thought they were fungi?”
“They are! It’s just... gah! I don’t have time for this. The future is at stake here!” Twilight shouted before angrily stomping out the tent with a dark cloud hanging above her head.
“Twiy!” Shining called out “Twily, get back here! Just... ugh, forget it” Shining slouched down before letting out an exasperated sigh. He rubbed his hooves on his temples, trying his hardest to alleviate a massive headache he acquired from hearing about mushroom men “Honestly, that anger isn’t even cute anymore. I swear for someone so smart she has a one track mind sometimes” he said quietly to himself.
“I’m starting to think that she isn’t cut out for being a princess. She cares about her subjects, that much is good. She cares about her friends, she cares about Equestria, she cares about me. But does she care about everything else?” he asked no one as he got swept up back with the papers on his desk “Huh, twenty seven plus three... carry the six...”
* * *
“Hey, what’s going on?” Rarity asked as she noticed a particularly large group of royal guards gathering nearby the gates of their base camp. Approximately three full battalions of guards had been assembled nearby and were awaiting command by their superior. Rarity decided to trot on by and see what all the hubbub was about. Surprisingly, she spotted Twilight at the helm of the battalions “Huh? Twilight? What on Equestria are you doing?” she asked.
“Rarity, there you are” said Twilight as she took notice to her friend “I’m assembling a scouting party to find the guardians that threaten us” she replied coolly.
“Uh... guardians?” Rarity asked with a perplexed look on her face “Twilight, darling. Are you feeling alright?” Twilight pretended that she didn’t hear that last part and keep her collected composure.
“I’m fine” said Twilight “But we’ve got trouble. Trouble that requires the elements of harmony. The fate of the world is at stake here”
“The fate of the world? Are we talking like when we encounter NIghtmare Moon or Discord?” Rarity asked “If so, then where is everyone else?”
“They’ll be here eventually, I already told them about everything. The mushroom men, the guardians...” Twilight trailed off.
“Mushroom... men?” said Rarity “Do I have to ask?”
“Believe me, it’s no joke. Me and Zecora encountered them when we were investigating the cause of a mysterious outbreak at one of our lumber mills” said Twilight “They told me that the Everfree forest has guardians and that they’ll tear out base apart if we keep up the logging operations”
“And you believed these hallucinations?” Said Rarity. Twilight, again, did her best to ignore that last part.
“They were not hallucinations!” Twilight cried “Look, I already had this conversation with my brother already so please, just humor me for about five minutes”
“If you insist...” Rarity sighed.
Twilight went on to explain the whole situation with Rarity, no matter how far fetched it may have been. She went through incredible details just to get her point across, from when she first encountered the mushrooms that have been causing her such grief from the moment she met them, to the threats that were made by a two inch bolete and his entire colony of fungi brethren.
“My, you certainly know how to spin quite the tale. It must be from your overactive imagination after reading all of those books” Rarity joked, much to Twilight’s chagrin.
“Ugh... it’s all true” said Twilight dejectedly “Anyway, we’re going to be covering the eastern end of the forest. That’s the only place that we don’t have plans for a lumber mill yet. We need to scout it out to see if it’s safe or not. And if there is a guardian there, we’ll use the elements to get rid of them”
“Well, that explains all of the guards that you’re bringing” Rarity stated “Did you get your brother’s consent to gather this many guards?”
“Of course I did” Twilight lied “He gave me full command of as many guards as I needed on this scouting party”
“Uh huh, are you sure it’s not because you’re exerting your power as princess of Equestria over them?” Rarity shot back with an incredulous glance “I’m going to talk to Shining just to get everything clarified...”
Just as Rarity was about to head towards Shining Armor’s tent, a pinkish bubble was formed around her, impeding her path. Rarity turned to face Twilight, her expression of unamusement burned right the bubble like a laser directed at Twilight. She tapped her hoof impatiently at Twilight, demanding an answer through her fiery glare.
“He’s not here right now. He’s assessing something at the western lumber mill” Twilight fibbed again “He’s on a very tight schedule and so are we” she said as she forcibly yanked Rarity away and brought her toward the gates “Now are you ready?”
“Twilight, I may not be the best when it comes to laws and rules, but what you’re doing is going against regulations placed to limit your control as a princess. You cannot just sweep up several battalions of guards and send them into unknown territory looking for make believe creatures without your brother’s consent. Even if it is for plans of another lumber mill” Rarity argued “And get me out of this bubble!” Twilight released her hold and Rarity dropped onto the ground.
“I know it does, but just trust me on this. It’ll all work out in the end, I promise” said Twilight “We have to do this behind my brother’s back until I can prove to him about the evils that lurk here”
“You mean the awful humidity and lack of sunshine” Rarity sharply retorted “Or these guardians you keep bringing up. How do you know if they even exist? What if those mushrooms you thought up lied to you just to get you all riled up?”
“We used to think that Nightmare Moon and Discord didn’t exist either, and you remember what happened afterwards, right?” said Twilight “Look, my hunch on this is good. Believe me on this, please” Twilight pleaded.
“ *Sigh* fine, I’ll trust you for now. Only because of defending Equestria and to further the removal of the Everfree” Rarity conceded “But if this turns out to me nothing at all, then you know what me, and everyone else, have to do”
“Don’t worry, you can count on me” Twilight replied.
Without uttering another word, the entire scouting party made their final preparations before all of the other element bearers showed up as well. Out of the few, only Rainbow Dash and Applejack seem to be the ones who are actually anticipating the encounter with supposed evil. While Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie seemed to just go with the flow. Before long, they collectively headed east.
All six element bearers and three full battalions.
* * *
The eastern area of the Everfree forest was surprisingly different from the rest of the forest. This was probably the deepest that they had descended ever, and were astounded by the sheer diversity of the, thankfully non hostile but still less than agreeing, flora and fauna that inhabited the eastern end.
While the places that they had explored were more or less woodland, the east was more rocky and mountainous than the others and had less trees, allowing more sunlight to properly shine through. Albeit, slightly. The wild river that they had encountered back then had split up into various separate streams here, turning it into a small river delta.
It was muddier than than normal. The delta turned the clearing into a bog that made it feel like you were walking in Pinkie’s super thick cake batter. It was so sticky and hard to traverse that various members of the guard’s horse shoes and boots got sucked into the quagmire, never to be found again.
As if it weren’t enough, the many insects that lived there acted a little too friendly to the mares and stallions by pestering them every step of the way. If there was anything that could break the stoic faces of the royal guards, it would probably be a whole swarm of bloodsucking mosquitoes making a meal out of them. For that day, the mosquitoes were fat and bloated with the buffet of ponies presented to them.
Eventually, after several hours of strenuous and exhausting trekking, they came up to a reasonably sized river whose clear waters and bug free environment invited them to take a break. A break that everyone was far too happy to take. Though Twilight insisted that the group goes further into the forest, her growling stomach prevented her from doing so. Reluctantly, she agreed and issued a break for everyone.
At the drop of a hat, the sound of nearly every guards armor and equipment dropped to the ground and they all let out a relieved sigh. Within seconds, a small camp was formed. For the next hour, everyone sat down and enjoyed a much needed break after walking for so long. As of now it was noon time. The sun was high in the sky, something that put Twilight in a calmer state of mind. But that just meant she was focused when it came evaluating her surroundings.
While everyone else ate, laugh, and told stories, Twilight alone next to a tree with her sheets of parchment and some quills. She wanted to take her mind off the Everfree. So in doing so, she began plotting the location of the new lumber mills, calculating the numbers of workers required to run it, and wrote down any possible obstacles that they have to overcome.
As she was enveloped with her work, a looming shadow reminded her that she wasn’t alone. Greeting her was none other than Rainbow Dash, who was hovering right above her.
“Heya, Twilight” said Rainbow Dash “Working on some egghead stuff” she joked.
“Egghead stuff that’s crucial to removing the Everfree” Twilight replied “What’s on your mind, Rainbow?”
“Can’t I just come over to say hi anymore” said Rainbow Dash “Ever since we started chopping this place down you haven’t spoke to me or the others as much as you used too”
“That’s because I’m busy” Twilight replied “Speaking of being busy, how is progress on taming the wild weather?” she asked.
“It’s not going anywhere” said Rainbow with a grimace “I just don’t get it. No matter how hard we try, the clouds don’t respond to any magic that we use on it. Pegasi can’t grab it, we can’t manipulate it, and more times than not, some of the workers get zapped with a bolt of lightning that ends up frying them”
“What about the unicorns?” said Twilight “Didn’t they come up with a solution?”
“They tried, only to find out that their magic did nothing at all” said Rainbow “Anywho, are you sure that there are guardians here?”
“I’m positive, we just haven’t found them yet” said Twilight.
“But we’ve been walking and exploring for close to six hours now! I’m pretty sure if an ancient guardian bent on our destruction is here, then we would have ran into it by now”
“It’s probably scheming, waiting for the perfect opportunity to attack us”
“I guess, but what do these guardian’s even look like?”
“I’m sure we’ll find out when we encounter them” said Twilight.
“Well I hope it’s soon. I want to kick its butt for trying to hurt everyone I care about!” said Rainbow with fire and vigor “Oh yeah! I’m ready for anything!” she proclaimed loudly.
“Oh really?” a deep, growling with a strange scottish voice spoke out from out of nowhere, which caused the two ponies to jump. Everyone in the camp immediately snapped to a defensive stance, doing their best to find the source of the voice.
“What can a weak little worm like you, do to me?”
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It's the DEMOMAN!!!!!
0_o
Yay
Twilight is Stupid! Shining is Smart! I like this Story!
No. You had a two, maybe three minute conversation during which you acted belligerent and rude to a Mushroom Man whose home you are destroying and did not even attempt to build a bridge or build up a communication between your two races.
Um, you never tried reasoning with them. At all. Oh, and again, one single individual talked with you Not all of them.
...
You know what, I'm just going to start calling her Not Sparkle. Because again, this is not Twilight.
That's because this isn't Twilight, Rainbow. Someone has impersonated her, and I hope you beat this one half to death before taking her in for proper sentencing and go rescue the real one, probably left tied up and locked in a closet with an inhibitor ring.
Oh, and I just noticed how old these early chapters are. So, I now feel kind of like a dick because I'm sure writing skills and even story have changed over the years. That being said, I think these early chapters are deserving of a complete rewrite because they've got some serious issues.
someone who actually thinks *gasp*
OH MY G----sci-ence.org/comics/2011-08-29-difficulties.jpg
Thank you shining! Glad at least one of the ponies has a brain.