Persona: Innocent Wish

by Trismegistus

Chapter 2: A Brief Jaunt

The walk out to the E.W.E.F camp was taking longer than Arata had expected. When the camp was built, a small road was cleared to connect it to Foalsdale. Tonic had explained the previous night that most of the supplies for the E.W.E.F were purchased from the town and carried down the road. He had also mentioned that Foalsdale was originally a logging town. During its heyday it was one of the largest suppliers of lumber to Baltimare and Southern Equestria. Since then, both Baltimare’s rapid expansion and Foalsdale’s fervor to produce large amounts of wood had died down. The town’s mayor, nicknamed Hatchet by the locals, was the granddaughter of the Mare who first started logging in the Hayseed Swamps.

Arata felt refreshed today, he had slept surprisingly well the night before, and to his relief he was not visited by Igor and Caroline. Although still a bit unsettled by his dream, he had determined it would be best to ignore it. Today was the first day of Arata’s new life in Foalsdale, and thanks to the Poultices, much of the anxiety he had experienced the night before had dissipated, replaced by excitement for his new job.

Continuing down the road, Arata noticed the path was starting to widen, giving way to a hive of activity. It was only seven in the morning and he hadn’t expected the camp to be in full swing yet. As he maneuvered through the rush of ponies Arata wondered what his actual job was going to be. Most of the ponies around him looked older, more experienced, and unquestionably stronger. There was a strong chance that he would not get to be the fearless explorer he had dreamt of becoming. He worked his way through the maze of ponies and found himself standing outside of a large olive drab tent. Hanging just under the top of the entrance was a sign labeling this tent as the ‘Operation Head Quarters.’ Arata took a deep breath and entered the tent.

The tent was an amalgam of cluttered piles, from the lantern haphazardly suspended from the ceiling to the large square table sitting under it. Everything the waning light touched was trashed beyond comprehension. On the table, there seemed to be everything from personnel files, to elaborate maps of the swamp all strewn across it. Arata stared blankly into the tent wondering how a group this large stayed organized when its command tent was this much of a mess.

Pacing back and forth towards the back of the tent was an old stallion; it appeared he had taken no notice to Arata’s presence. He continued to stroll up and down the length of the tent muttering something to himself. The only indicator of his age was the grey beard that he stroked from time to time, at its end seamlessly blending into his white coat. Despite his age the stallion appeared to be in peak physical condition. The brown shirt and wide brimmed hat he wore reminded Arata of Daring Do, a character from a book he read when he was younger. Stepping further into the tent, Arata announced his presence to the unsuspecting stallion.

“Excuse me Sir, I’m the new recruit,” the stallion continued to pace back and forth ignoring the interruption.

Having crossed the width of the tent twice he faced the new presence and in an outdated Canterlot accent extended a greeting. “You must be Arrr-rah-taaa….. You arrre Arrrraahhtaah correct?” he paused waiting for affirmation of his deduction. At Arata’s nod he continued, “Exceptional! My name is Penzance, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance. Now, before I give you the Princess’s Bit, allow me to direct you on a brief jaunt around the camp, and introduce you to your colleagues.”

Penzance led his guest out of the command tent, and down the aisle towards the next prominent tent. The walk gave Arata some time to inspect Penzance’s appearance in greater detail. It hadn’t been clear in the dim light of the command tent, but now both his cutie mark, and the monocle which decorated his right eye were visible. The monocle was fairly mundane except for the royal crest etched into the side; his cutie mark on the other hand was anything but common place. It was a spear with a brilliant gold body which led to an equally ornate silver head, the tip of the spear was dripping with blood. Arata shuddered not knowing what to make of the gruesome symbol on Penzance’s flank. Penzance had once been on the Canterlot royal guard, but would that really lead to a cutie mark that morbid? Or an even more macabre thought, was it the cutie mark that got him onto the guard to begin with?

Before Arata could muster the courage to ask the stallion about the mark, they had arrived at their first stop. The tent was labeled “History & Mythology,” its size was similar to that of the command tent, although it appeared to be a bit wider. The shelves that lined the walls of the tent were filled with meticulously organized books and scrolls. The scores of lanterns that dangled from the ceiling basked the tent in a soft yellow light. Sitting in the center was a muscular stallion; he appeared to be slightly older than Arata. His mane was teal, and well combed. His coat was cerulean. In addition to being the first unicorn that Arata had seen since arriving to Foalsdale, he was also the first to be wearing semiformal attire, in the form of a collared shirt and bowtie. The stallion looked up from the thick book he was reading, neatly placed a bookmark between the pages, and set it down. He stood up and approached Penzance and Arata.

“This Gentlecolt is Blaze. He is the resident expert on local myths, legends, and history. He will be you partner. Blaze, as you no doubt have inferred by now this is Arrrraaahhhtaaa,” Blaze nodded in acknowledgment, and extended his hoof. “You two will have more time to chat at the end of your briefing this afternoon.” With his conclusion Penzance turned and exited the tent. Arata followed in his wake after shaking Blaze’s hoof, and providing a brief introduction.

After two hours of what was supposed to be a “brief jaunt” around the camp, Arata had been acquainted with every inch of the camp. Additionally Penzance showed no hesitation in introducing him to anypony they passed. Most of the members seemed as uninterested in the exchanges as Arata was, and Penzance was fully aware of this. As they approached the final tent in the tour he began to explain why he ignored their blatant displeasure with the extended introduction.

“Araahhhtaa, it may seem a tad odd that I insist on introducing you to everypony who passes by. It is a habit I developed during my time on the royal guard. The ponies you worked with were more than just coworkers, they were your support. Together we formed an unbreakable chain to protect the Princess, and if one of our links was weak we knew we would not be able to carry out our duty. I try to bring the same sense of unity to E.W.E.F. I have come to realize that no pony here treats unity with the same fervor that I do, but I will continue to uphold that practice until the sun refuses to rise!” Penzance’s passion had caught Arata off guard, leaving him without any meaningful response.

“Now, if you’ll proceed after me we have one last stop left to our journey,” Penzance walked into the last tent. This one was by far the largest they had toured, and once inside it became clear why.

The tent was simply labeled “Equipment,” it held everything that could possibly be needed for any kind of expedition. One wall was lined with what appeared to be communication equipment, another with various types of saddlebags, and the third wall was lined with an assortment of weapons; from machetes to spears, like the one displayed on Penzance’s flank. Just as in the other two large tents, there was a table in the center. This one only carried two neat stacks of paper, both appearing to be requisition forms.

“Good morning Penzance! Who’s the new pony?” rung out an energetic, and somewhat alluring voice. Walking toward them was a light blue filly, with a delicate, almost translucent, purple mane. Her cutie mark was a headset, clearly tying her to the communication equipment against the wall. Arata also took note of her horn. Besides Blaze, she was the only unicorn he had seen.

“Vox, this is Arahhtahhh, the new member I told everypony about. You would have been informed as well if you had attended this morning’s briefing,” Scolded Penzance.

She played off the scolding with a cheerful retort “Sorry, I slept in and decided setting up shop early would have been better than sprinting into the meeting late; I even finished setting up the saddlebags!” gesturing to the packs against the back wall, with a smile.

“Very well, we will see you at tomorrow’s meeting, correct?” Vox nodded. “You too Arata, I had forgotten to mention the morning briefing in my letter to you, but you will need to arrive an hour earlier each day.” Arata nodded in turn and followed Penzance out of the tent and back to the command room. When they arrived Blaze was already waiting inside. He had rearranged some parts of the tent to provide enough seating space for the three of them.

“Ah, Blaze, are you ready to begin Arrrahhta’s briefing?” Proclaimed Penzance as he entered the tent.

“Of course,” Blaze stood up and gestured to the chairs in the center of the room. As Arata and Penzance sat down Blaze had produced a magical projection of the Hayseed swamps. There were three circles on the map, each about a mile from the main camp.

“As you can see there are three marks on the map, it is our job to investigate these sites. Sounds easy right?”
Arata nodded. He was not expecting to be investigating predetermined locations, how could that possibly satisfy his want for exploration and adventure? More importantly he wondered if this would actually get him any closer to earning his cutie mark.

“We have found through past experiences that legends are often much more real than they appear. We’re going to start tomorrow morning with this lake here,” Blaze explained as he highlighted a portion of the map, “We need to compare everything we find at the lake with all of the local stories and legends that may be related to it.”

“Now, this is not the most glamorous part of our mission Arrrahta,” Penzance chimed in. “But do not be mistaken, your task is important. There are many mysteries in these swamps, and in a sense it is your job to solve them. Blaze, I believe you have this briefing under control. There are a few issues I must attend to around camp; I trust you will get Arata further acquainted with the mission and the base?” As Blaze voiced his assurance, Penzance got up and walked up to Arata. He then reached into his pocket, pulled out a Bit, and placed it in Arata’s hoof proceeding to walk out the door. Confused, Arata dropped the Bit into his coin pouch and then refocused on Blaze.

With a smirk, Blaze commented on the incident “So he gave you the Princess’s Bit? Looks like I lost a bet.” As he spoke the map he projected faded away and he began to rearrange the room.

“What does everypony mean when they say ‘the Princess’s Bit’?” Arata inquired hoping for an explanation.

Blaze paused from his organizing and looked up at Arata who seemed perplexed by the whole situation. “Oh right, you’re from Nippony. I guess that must be too far off the mane land to hear about the royal guard. The Major-General likes his military tradition. Years ago Celestia would give out a token amount of money to anypony who was recruited for the guard. Penzance saw it as a token of appreciation and so he continues the gesture.” Blaze, having finished his history lesson, went back to organizing the tent.

“I noticed a few of his traditions on the tour he gave me around camp,” replied Arata. “The copious amount of introductions was apparently one of them.”

“Yeah I remember that from my first day. I’ve got to give it to the Major General though, that did make fitting into the project a lot easier,” Blaze smirked.

He pitched small talk at Arata until he was done with his cleaning. Nothing of any value was discussed, although Arata did hear a few entertaining anecdotes about the ‘major general’. During the conversation Arata had noted Blaze’s cutie mark, a book with a Machete resting on top of it. That was the kind of cutie mark an explorer would have. But why was he doing book work and research if his talent, at least from Arata’s perspective, was exploring. He tried to ask Blaze but he didn’t have enough courage.
His thoughts of Blaze’s cutie mark had reminded Arata that no one at the camp had seemed to notice his lack of one, or if they did they didn’t care to mention it. Maybe here it didn’t matter if he got his cutie mark or not. Everypony would treat him the same with or without it. Following a suggestion Blaze had made during their conversation, Arata headed back to Foalsdale to rest for his first day in the field.

Blaze went back to his tent, and flipped through the book he had been reading earlier that day. It contained a compilation of local tales that he had borrowed from the mayor when he first arrived in Foalsdale. There was one story in particular that caught his interest. The story described a mysterious Alicorn made entirely out of fog that would appear before ponies that “had a desire in their hearts,” and grant their wishes. Several lakes were casually mentioned in the story but never in enough detail to figure out their locations.

In itself the legend seemed fairly ordinary; wish granting was a fairly common occurrence in most of the subcultures around Equestria. What stood out here was the Alicorn. Most ponies had only heard of one Alicorn, and that was princess Celestia. Besides the legend of Nightmare Moon there were no tales of Alicorns. The presence of one here could mean any number of things. This made the lakes of the Hayseed Swamps particularly interesting to Blaze, and the primary focus of his research.

‘Why did Penzance have to go and give me a partner,’ Blaze thought setting his book down. He had only found out that he would have a partner that morning at the briefing, and hadn’t had time to completely digest the news.

‘Working alone is so much more efficient, and I doubt this kid knows anything about history. I guess I shouldn't be too hard on him yet, the Major General probably had a good reason for sticking him with me.’ For an instant Blaze thought he heard a voice besides his own, he paused and looked at the entrance to the tent.

“Come in Vox,” he said with a sigh. Vox slowly slipped into the tent with a somewhat guilty look on her face. “You know I hate it when you do that, you can always ask what’s on my mind.”

“Sorry Blaze, your thoughts are just too tempting, and I really didn’t want to disturb you while you were so busy concentrating, soooo I just took a little peek. Besides, I taught you a spell or two, I’m sure you could return the favor,” She countered with an innocent smile. She then walked up to Blaze’s desk and starting to play with a quill that was left out.

“You got a bit too noisy, otherwise I might not have noticed,” Blaze smirked. “I hope you didn’t rifle through the new kids thoughts too much, no telling if he’d appreciate it.” He paused and mockingly stared at Vox, “Well I guess you would be able to tell if you were in his head.”

“There’s the Stallion I know” she proclaimed walking over and embracing Blaze, “You know as well as I do that the Major General disapproves of my magic more than you do. I’m sure he would have a fit if I tried to use it on the new kid.” Releasing Blaze she wandered back to the quill and continued to play with it. “Speaking of Arata what are your thoughts on him, I heard you being the broody ‘lone wolf’” Vox knew Blaze well enough to figure that part out even if she hadn’t been eavesdropping on his thoughts. “But I’m sure you have more of an opinion than ‘I work alone’,” she teased, trying her best to impersonate his deep voice.

“He seems alright, I honestly don’t know much about Nippony from a cultural standpoint so there’s no telling what impact that might have. He seems to be pretty shy, I can’t exactly blame him though, he’s a stranger in a strange land. Plus I’m sure that when he was accepted into E.W.E.F he was expecting to be an explorer, not my research assistant.” Blaze had planned to continue his dissertation on the new member of the operation, but noticed that he was losing Vox’s attention to one of the books on his desk.

“I’m listening, I swear,” assured Vox, closing the book for good measure.

“There was one other thing about him, he didn’t have a cutie mark. Not that that’s especially important, just a bit odd. What do you think about it?” He asked, sitting up from his chair and moving next to Vox.

“He was definitely trying to hide the fact that he didn’t have one, it doesn’t take a mind reader to see that. All it means is that he doesn’t know what his special talent is yet, who knows maybe it’s in ‘Anthropological Research,’ I know I would just die of excitement if that was my gift.”

“Thank Celestia it isn’t, I wouldn’t be able to get any work done around here if I had to deal with you all day,” he affectionately put his foreleg around Vox, “Don’t you have work to be doing?”

Vox looked thoughtful for a moment then snapped back to attention, “Damn it to the moon, I forgot to distribute the comms equipment to the second shift. I better go do that, Penzance is already mad enough at me for missing another briefing.” Blaze kissed her on the cheek and then she darted out toward her tent.

...

Although it had not gone exactly how he had expected it to, Arata was happy with his first day of work. The walk home gave him time to reflect on the disappointment of not being the explorer he had hoped to be. He realized that while it may not be as exciting as he had hoped this job would still give him the chance to do something extraordinary, something that he would never have gotten to do back in Nippony. Penzance seemed a bit eccentric but it was a welcome change to the stoicism that plagued his home land. Things seemed to be going pretty well for Arata, he was almost confident that he had made the right choice. Having most of the day off gave Arata a chance to unpack and get his room in order. As time passed he heard each member of the family arrive at home, first was Marigold and her friend from school, then Panacea, followed by Camphor, and finally Tonic.

Just outside of his room Arata found Marigold and her friend still playing, as he passed by they both looked up at him and with an excited smile sung, “How was your day?” Arata was surprised that they not only spoke in unison but they also harmonized perfectly. Brushing this off he headed downstairs where he found Tonic and Panacea.

“Today, was the first day of the rest of your life,” Panacea sang starting to do a little dance.

“We know that you want to do things right, and be an adventurous pony, maybe even learn the fife!” Tonic’s enthusiasm started to scare Arata, but what really convinced him that something was wrong, was when Tonic had swept Panacea off of her hooves and began to dance with her.

“Okay everypony, I think I get the joke…” Arata said backing up to the door.

The dance between Tonic and Panacea became even more intricate, as the two girls from upstairs came down still singing “how was your day”. Their tone had shifted from a high pitched harmony to a low, fast, and surprisingly catchy. Arata also heard what he thought was a guitar. As the four ponies got closer to him, he panicked and darted out the door.

Outside he was horrified to see that most of the small town had formed two orderly lines outside of the door. They were all preforming an incredibly complex line dance, and singing “Today was the first day of the rest of your life! And we know that you’re gonna make it right! There’s nothing you can’t do here, so have no fear. Because you’re in Foalsdale! Foalsdale!”

Arata broke into a sprint, he had no idea what was unfolding, but he knew that he wanted no part in it. Now he was sure he heard a guitar, and a trumpet, and at least three different kinds of drums. The further down the line he got, the more complex the dancing became. At one point four ponies, two on each side, back flipped from one side of the line to the other. The end was almost in sight, with one final burst of speed Arata was out of the madness. The singing continued but the dance had changed, now there were ponies dancing in every direction. Each one chanting “Welcome, Welcome, to Foalsdale!” Slowly they each made their way back to their homes.

Arata was able to take shelter behind a few crates in an alley, once he saw that everypony was inside, and the sounds of instruments had died down he worked up the courage to go back into the Poultice’s house.

Inside everyone was acting as if nothing had happened. As he passed the two girls playing the just looked up at him and smiled. Marigold made sure to mention the promise to help her get her cutie mark. He made his way into the dining room where Panacea was setting the table; she smiled at him and said “How was your day, Arata? Did you go on any exciting adventures yet?” Her tone was normal; she was clearly speaking, not singing. Arata replied politely and then went upstairs to find Camphor, the only pony he hadn’t seen during the show.

Camphor was sitting in his room grinding something into a paste in a mortar and pestle, Arata inferred that this is how he got his cutie mark. “Camphor, I need to ask you something very, very important.” Camphor looked up, his eyes barely visible through his mane.

“Easy there Arata, you look pretty spooked, what happened?” Camphor tried his best to say in a soothing voice.

“Everypony was just singing and dancing… it was like they had practiced it before… they were asking me how my day was, and welcoming me. But all in song, I’m pretty sure there was a trumpet solo at one point… I didn’t see a trumpet anywhere.” Arata gasped for air at the end of his rant.

“Oh that? What, they don’t do that in Nippony? It just kinda happens every now and then. Most towns here in mane land Equestria can just burst into song and dance.” Camphor responded with the most serious face Arata had seen in ages.

“So it’s normal?” He hesitantly asked.

“Yep, I’ve only seen it happen six or seven times, but I hear in Ponyville it happens a lot more frequently, but I’ve never been out that far.” He assured Arata, “Try to relax a bit; I doubt it will happen again. Let’s go get some food”

After dinner Arata found himself lying in bed, unable to sleep. The song and dance routine had been unexpected, but the worst part of it was that now he couldn’t get that song out of his head….

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[Ultimate Bromaeda]

bit's the contract, calling it now