Pony of Everfree

by Wild Vine

Chapter 9

Spike had finished packing the mares' luggage with everything they asked for individually for this little quest. Twilight looked all about the house, meanwhile, looking for Wild Vine. Checking every closet and corner, she returned to Spike who was helping Fluttershy strap on her bags.

"Spike, where's Wild?" She asked, levitating her luggage onto her back.

"Wild? Um... he went out... to, um, buy me some cake." Spike had a goofy smile on his face.

"Cake? Really? Aww, I wanted to eat cake all day! I hope he shares." Pinkie licked her lips at the thought of the delicious cake.

"Don't worry, darling, if I know my Wild, he's just curiously walking around town." Rarity giggled, she had seen Wild running off to somewhere not to long ago. At first she had given chase, but the rain made it much harder to see, not to mention she was no where near as muscular as her handsome stallion of choice. In the end, she simply lost him, and had no other choice then to go back to her initial plan of going to Twilight's.

"Ah suppose we should just get a move on. Who knows what mess that dragons causin’ out there." Applejack headed for the door, however she was pushed aside by Rarity.

"Ladies first, I'll be leading this expedition if you all don't mind." Rarity boasted.

"For pete’s sake Rarity, ain't yall being such a pushy one taday. Quit being all flustered over some stallion yall barely met." Applejack got in her face, "And yall implying I ain't a mare?"

"Girls! Enough, we have bigger things to worry about than Rarity's questionable and sudden nobility. I'm pretty sure Wild went on ahead." Twilight assumed, which made Spike whistle innocently.

"I-I for one think we should go too. I'm worried for Wild's safety." Fluttershy added.

"Coming from the pegasus who asked Wild a lot of personal questions.." Rainbow Dash chuckled.

"You did what now?" Rarity caught ear of that little comment, making her blush and raising her jealousy ever so higher.

Twilight groaned, however when she looked around for a second time around the room, she noticed a pony missing. "Um... girls... where's Pinkie Pie?"

With no one answering, Twilight facehooved herself. She then demanded everyone to stop bickering and set off, hoping Wild and Pinkie will catch up later on their journey. Despite the cloudy weather, wet grass and muddy roads, Rarity wasn't complaining much about it, oddly. Her mind seemed more focus on finding Wild, despite it being messy outside, though in the back of her mind that nagging part of her wanting to be clean seemed to pester her. Good thing she brought some cleaning materials in her bag for later use.

Inside the forest, Wild was busy tracking down the dragon, that and talking to his old tree friends. An odd sight for a outside observer, seeing a pony jumping from tree to tree talking to himself. He stopped on a larger tree branch, looking around ahead into the dense forest, luckily his special eyes could see through the darker parts of the woods, though no sight or sound of the dragon that was mentioned. He recalled that the first ponies he met, The Cutie Mark Crusaders, Fluttershy and Pinkie, that he forgot about the zebra who lived here. It had been awhile and what with all the events going it was overdue for a nice visit.

"Maybe she has some info on this dragon thing..." Wild spoke, as the trees seemed to sway, the leaves rustling, however there wasn't a breeze. "You agree huh... just keep me posted if you see anything, alright? For now, point me to the direction of that zebra who lives here."

A few leaves began to fall out of the tree he was standing on, a light breeze helped guide the leaves and Wild, who followed the leaves.

Back outside of the forest, the others finally arrived after a small detour at the shops in town to get some food and water. Twilight took lead this time, Rarity following close behind her as were the others.

"We might as well stop by Zecoras' first, see if she saw or heard anything." Twilight suggested.

"As if a dragon is really hard to ignore.." Rainbow joked.

They walked down the path that lead to Zecoras' hut, avoiding drifting off the path and keeping an eye out for that dragon. Down the road, Wild had arrived at Zecoras' hut, though she wasn't home at the time. Wild let himself inside since the door was half open. The cauldron on the fire place was brewing something that smelled good, Wild took a sniff, looking around like a curious pony would. With nothing of interest or a zebra to talk to, Wild set off, walking out of the hut and out back into the forest.

A split second upon leaving, the others arrived, not seeing Wild trot off. Twilight noticed the door was wide open, peeking inside to see no one was home at the moment.

"Zecora must be out again, doing who knows what." She walked inside, along with her friends following.

"Yall sure it's a good idea to just waltz in somepony's house all willy nilly?" Applejack pointed out.

"It's not like we're breaking and entering, the door was open." Rainbow Dash flew in, keeping herself in place, flapping her wings to keep afloat.

"Zecora really should invest in something more elegant for this old shack. I mean really look at this scuff mark for example." Rarity looked over the scuff mark, closely examining it, and noticing a thin hair, familiarly colored green. "Oooh...so he was here..."

"What was that Rarity?" Fluttershy noticed how Rarity was very into her little discovery of the scuff mark.

"Oh nothing, nothing, don't worry your pretty little head darling. Come along girls, nothing to find here, nothing at all." Rarity shoved her friends, one by one, using her own magic out of the door, closing it behind them.

Meanwhile, in an open part of the forest, Wild Vine walked in the same meadow from the first time he had met Fluttershy, Pinkie and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, not to mention also save them from a dragon. The wind was blowing lightly through Wild's mane, the stallion looked up at the night sky, thinking hard, investigating the area.

The grass was still scorched; a perfect circle even from the last encounter, Wild lowered his neck, investigating the burned grass. Placing his ear to the ground, he tried to see if he could hear heavy footsteps.

"Hmm...Nothing out of the ordinary..." Wild sighed.

"You sure? I can hear ants talking about world domination!" Said a familiar voice, startling Wild.

He looked up to see Pinkie Pie, smiling as usual, bouncing in place.

"P-pinkie Pie, how'd...why...when..." Wild stuttered for awhile until he finally had control over his voice, "Ahem...um Pinkie how'd you know I was out here? And what did you say about world domination?"

"Oh, that’s trivial information, I just wanted to get your attention." She smiled.

"You...could've just nudged me or something, but I suppose 'tis not your style, eh?" He laughed, "But, in any case, you really should stay home Pinkie. I don't wanna see you get hurt."

"I can say the same to you! Cmon Wildy, I was there when you first took on a dragon, you can use some Pinkie support!"

Wild chuckled, "Can't argue there. Perhaps you can also help me find an answer for my... problems. By the way are the others close behind?"

"I dunno, last I checked, they spent most of the day arguing over you. Such silly fillies, don't you think? Cmon Wildy, let's get a move on. That dragon isn't going to ask himself to leave now, is he?"

Wild and Pinkie decided to venture together. With Wild navigating, Pinkie followed, keeping her smile on her face, and keeping up moral for Wild as well. Remembering where the dragon from last time flew off, Wild suggested they trot off in the same direction; luckily he had a good memory. The two disappeared into the thick brush, as the remaining few finally caught up, once again a few seconds later.

"Twilight, how long are we planning to run around in circles? I feel so dirty. How do you expect me to impress Wild?" Rarity whined.

"Ah for the love of.." Applejack sighed, "Will yall focus on the job, we ain't here to impress no pony, just roundin' up a dragon."

"You make it sound like it's easy to do one than the other.." Fluttershy remained behind the group, despite being anxious to find Wild, she still had her fear of dragons.

"What? Don't tell me your fear of dragons suddenly came back to you conveniently for this mission, Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash reminded her, "Don't you remember standing up to one?"

"Where in tarnation are we anyway, Twilight?" Applejack broke away from Rarity's nagging, walking towards Twilight who had a map of the area.

"An open meadow from the looks of it...it’s bad enough we haven't found Wild yet, but now Pinkie is also out here somewhere. Not to mention it's getting dark out." Twilight looked around.

She noticed some odd hoof prints near the patch of burnt grass. Approaching the prints, she could smell the scent of cupcake frosting, and noticing two sets of different tracks leading away from the patch.

"Girl's, this way, looks like Pinkie Pie and Wild Vine were here." Twilight deduced.

"How yall know that fer sure?"

"The smell of frosting of course, they went off towards the old ruins where we found the elements."

"Wait are you telling me...Pinkie Pie is alone...with Wild?" Rarity overheard their conversation.

"That's what I'm implying, yes."

"Oh...ladies...if you'll excuse me."

With that said Rarity galloped ahead, frantically trying to catch up, hoping Pinkie Pie wasn't trying any of her funny business with Wild.

"That there's one determined hormonal mare.." Applejack pointed out.

"Cmon girls, we can't lose Rarity too!" Twilight ran after her. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy following close behind.

Ahead of the pack, Pinkie Pie and Wild Vine were having a little quiet conversation, trying to get to know each other a little better as friends would. They laughed, taking there time up the slope leading to the ruins. Wild however had a nagging suspicion that they were being followed, not by the others but by something else, though he couldn't figure out what. Not even the trees knew.

"You ok Wildy?" Pinkie asked , noticing that Wild stopped a few steps back.

"Oh...nothing. Just had a feeling somepony was behind me..." Wild turned back to Pinkie, noticing the sky suddenly changing through the leaves of the trees overhead. He tensed up. Noticing that, Pinkie looked up herself, curious on what could alert Wild like that.

The clouds began to darken, gathering together and eventually swirling around like a vortex. A sudden flash of lightning, and a carriage was seen flying overhead, stopping above Pinkie and Wild. However their fear was suddenly at eased, seeing Princess Luna floating down towards them, though getting caught in the leaves for a few seconds, giving Pinkie a chuckle.

She landed as gracefully as she could, despite being covered in leaves, "Greetings to you Wild Vine and miss Pinkie Pie."

"Hello!" Pinkie smiled, waving hello.

"Luna? What are you doing out here?" Wild asked.

"I took it upon myself to come and visit you. Seeing how you never replied to any of my letters regarding a visit..." She seemed saddened by that, her hoof digging lightly at the ground.

"I'm sorry, but we can discuss this later princess." Wild suggested walking forward as they followed.

"I agree, a dragon is around this proximity, as told by my sister."

"Yeah! Were off to the ruins, at least that's where we wanna check first! Maybe the silly dragon decided to take a nap in there? But could you imagine a dragon napping in such a small building? Cahraaa-zy!" Pinkie babbled about.

Not far off the same trail, Twilight and the others saw the clouds change and swirl from earlier, Rarity had stopped suddenly allowing them to catch up.

"Y'all saw that, right? Ah ain't going crazy, am ah?" Applejack asked.

"It was probably some pegasi, out having themselves some cloud racing." Rainbow Dash suggested,

"Above Everfree, at this hour? Not likely. Plus, I remember reading that those kind of cloud patterns could be formed by Princess Luna during her ent-" Twilight tried to explain until Rarity interrupted.

"What?! Don't worry Wild, momma's coming!" Rarity ran off once again.

"Oh for the love of..." Twilight complained, then out of no where Fluttershy flew ahead right past them.

"Oh no you don't!" She called out before they disappeared, in a fast paced race to Wild Vine.

The bridge leading to the ruins was no longer existent. It seemed the rope had been burnt as Wild inspected it closely.

"Crafty dragon, it burned down the bridge." Wild turned to the two mares, "Any ideas?"

"Allow me." Luna walked forward, her horn began to glow, a few rocks nearby began to glow in the same colored aura, floating ahead of them making a bridge of floating rocks.

"Aww, I was gonna suggest we use vines to get across." Pinkie stepped on the floating stone, making sure it was at least safe before bouncing rock to rock to the other side.

"Your turn, sir Wild." Luna kept the rocks afloat, since she had wings she could easily dispel the levitating rocks and glide right over.

Suddenly, Fluttershy and Rarity were heard arguing, and still running blindly towards them, their eyes locked on each other as they argued. Without noticing, they bumped into Wild Vine, tripping on their hooves, Rarity and Fluttershy watched as Wild fell off the cliff side.

"Wild Vine!" they screamed, looking over the cliff's edge, Luna was about to dive when she saw it wasn't needed.

Wild used his vines on a branch that stuck out amongst the cliff side he fell from, pulling himself up and onto it's sturdy bark. "Talk about cutting it close.." He panted, "Oi, are you trying to kill me?!"

"I am so sorry! Please don't be mad at us...you can be mad at Rarity though...if you want.." Fluttershy apologized, almost anyway.

"Me? How dare you even say such a thing after almost taking away my true love!" Rarity protested.

"Is everypony ok?" Twilight finally arrived, Rainbow Dash and Applejack as well. "Oh, Princess Luna, looks like I was right."

"Greetings, though we hast other problems to fix." Luna flew down, helping Wild up, despite being so close to his mane, she kept herself tame, though taking light sniffs of it while carrying him to the others.

"Thanks Luna." Wild turned to his friends, "Why are you guys out here? It's way to dangerous even to think of coming out here without a plan."

"Oh, and what was your plan, going all Wild on it?" Rainbow joked.

There was a collective groan, and three snickers.

"It's better than continually arguing over me and almost killing me in the process..."

"Yooohoooo, girls! We can chat later; I'm getting lonely over here for pie sake! Cmon already!!" Pinkie reminded them she was still waiting on the other side.

"Look, either you keep yourselves together or you can go home." Wild seemed serious, he wasn't to fond of near death experiences caused by some aroma his mane gave off. Looks like asking nicely was out of the question from here on.

Once everypony settled down, they crossed the floating rocks to the other side joining Pinkie, this time sticking together as a team to confront the dragon up ahead, supposedly. A few meters away from the ruins, a few timber wolves ran out heading towards them. Taking a offensive stance, Twilight planned to blast them away until Wild got in the way.

"No, don't think about hurting them. They are my friends!" He begged.

"Say what now?" Applejack raised a brow in confusion.

Wild approached the wolves as they growled, not in any threatening way, just a way of communicating to Wild.

"Anypony else finding this weird?" Rainbow Dash nudged Twilight who was too busy writing down this event in a scroll. "Ugh...you egghead..."

A howl soon was heard coming from the ruins, almost a painful kind of howl seeing a timber wolf flung into the air and suddenly burnt into a crisp midair. The wolves who had spoken to Wild ran past the group, Wild couldn't believe one of his friends were just killed in front of his eyes. He galloped forward, a rush of anger and sadness filled his naive little mind, his friends following behind. More wolves soon ran out of the ruins, some injured and burnt, Wild jumped over to a nearby collapsed tree that fell against the stone wall, climbing it to the top.

To his horror did he notice several timberwolves burnt to a crisp, other various plants that took refuge in the stones of the ruins also burnt. Roaming around the debris, a massive green scaled dragon was scowering the rest of the ruins for any more intruders that hid in the smaller parts of the ruin.

"Wow, that's...o...one big... dragon..." Fluttershy commented from behind Wild Vine.

"What's he doing anyways? Kinda far off from a volcano or cave, dontcha think?" Pinkie asked.

"I'm not sure, but his poor lack of manners is quite upsetting." Rarity added.

"Any of yall have a plan on gettin' rid of this here giant lizard?" Applejack questioned.

Wild suddenly jumped off the tree, landing on the stone floor below and then began to charge towards the beast.

"Wild Vine! Has thou lost thy mind?!" Luna called out, getting the attention of the dragon.

The dragon soon stood up right, looking in the general direction of the mares, about roar until a massive boulder slammed aside of its face. Stumbling, the dragon managed to brush it off, falling on its side as it staggered still. Looking down, it saw a green stallion with a serious look on his face, his eyes lightly glowing. Opening his maw, it quickly fired a concentrated stream of fire downwards. Wild quickly dug up another massive rock using his vine's strength, using it as a stone umbrella, the fire blocked from cooking him alive.

"My my, he's quite the knight in shinning armor, isn't he?" Rarity giggled.

"How can thou even think of such a thing at a time such as this!?" Luna spread her wings and flew off towards the dragon, aiming for a cloud that was hovering over head.

"Yeah cmon!" Pinkie Pie said, rolling out a small cannon.

"Pinkie, where in Celestia's name did you get that?!" Twilight asked.

"I have party cannons scattered all over Equestria in case of party cannon emergencies. Duh." She giggled, rolling the cannon into place.

"How's a party cannon going to help us against a dragon?!" Rainbow demanded to know.

"Like this." Pinkie then slammed a hoof on the button, causing the cannon to fire her most deadly weapon: Apple Pie!

The pie flew into the eye of the dragon, making him lose concentration on his flame. Good thing too, as the rock was overheated, forcing Wild to toss it aside, with little damage to his own vines. This gave Luna the opportunity to jump on the cloud, making a bolt of lighting struck the backside of the dragon making it roar in pain, a high pitched roar nonetheless.

"Cmon girls!" Twilight jumped down below, Applejack following behind.

Fluttershy was hiding inside the hollow part of the tree they were on, Rainbow Dash groaned, forcing her out of the tree and into the fight. The ponies surrounded the dragon when it wiped the pie out of its eye, giving out a loud roar. Looks like asking nicely was out of the question from here on.

"Rainbow Dash, you're up!" Twilight called out, Rainbow giving a salute as she dashed towards the dragon at full speed.

Using her speed, all the others would see is her trademark rainbow trail, rapidly moving all about the dragon in an attempt on confusing the beast. At first it was working until...

"Ha, I got him right where I want him! No way this can go-" The dragon managed to grab her wings using the tips of his claws, halting her instantly, "wrong? Uh oh..."

She was then tossed, flung over the others and landing with a thud against a nearby tree, sliding down towards the ground slowly. She was upside down, seeing stars rotating over her head.

"Oooh...that's gotta hurt. Yall taggin' out?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah...tag out...I think I'm gonna be sick..." She groaned.

"Ah reckon I'll take this one down myself. Yeeehaw!"

Applejack charged forth, the dragon throwing a fist downward, slamming it into the ground a little too early, allowing Applejack to run up along its forearm, twirling a lasso. She skillfully managed to lasso the rope around its neck, climbing to his crown, pulling back on the rope tightly, causing the dragon to panic and buck.

"Whoooooo! Ride'em dragon!" She yelled out in excitement, but the bucking became too much for her to handle, the rope soon broke, sending her flying off the dragon and into a bush. "Ah'm ok...daggum rope dun ruined what could’ve been a record. Anypony else is welcome to try next."

The dragon loomed over Rarity, Twilight and Luna, ready to unleash its intense flame once again. The unicorns and alicorn had their magic at the ready to reflect the attack, until Wild had climbed on top of the beasts back, using his vines, he whipped the back of the dragon to divert his attention away from the others.

"Wildy, be careful! Who knows where that dragon's been!?" Rarity called out, seeing the dragon thrashing about trying to get Wild off its back.

"Pie Cannon is a go!" Pinkie Pie appeared once again, pushing the cannon of hers in-between Twilight and Luna, and for some reason wearing a war helmet on her head.

"Pray tell...where dost thou even have the time to find such weaponry?" Luna asked.

"No time for chit chat, I gots me a whole arsenal of tastey treats to fire!" She aimed her cannon. "Can't get a direct hit.."

"Cmon guys, I can't handle this on my own!" Wild cried out, the dragon managed to break his grip and flung him into the air, the dragon opening its maw, attempting to eat him.

Luckly, Fluttershy had gotten over her dragon fears, flying quickly to grab Wild before the dragon snapped its mouth shut, and stupidly the dragon had bit his own tongue.

"Thanks Fluttershy...talk about a close one..." Wild smiled up at her, as she descended down to the ground. The dragon soon turned its sights on them after the sudden pain stopped, which gave Pinkie time to fire.

"Fire the mango pie!" She announced, pressing the button once again, firing not one but two big mango flavored pies that smacked the side of the dragons face with a loud splat.

With a loud thud, the dragon fell, tired from the pie barrage and wild flailing. Things went quiet suddenly; Twilight approached the dragon seeing if he actually fell asleep. Using there combined magic, Twilight, Rarity, and Luna managed to teleport the sleeping beast far away, on a volcano far to the east to be specific.

The mares re-grouped together in the center of the stone floor.

"Everypony ok?" Twilight asked, checking up on each pony.

"Ah'm all accounted fer. No missin' limbs." Applejack joked.

"The only thing hurting me is my pride...but I'll manage." Rainbow muttered.

Wild Vine was quiet, alone on the far corner of the ruins, looking into the small cave the dragon was looking in earlier. Shortly after, a small family of timberwolves rushed out, running past the mares. He stumbled towards his friends, eyes half open, panting lightly as he collapsed.

The others quickly tended to him, he was hurt, but mostly tired out from the fight. They decided to call it a night, return home carrying Wild on Pinkie's cannon and look for the cure another day. Luna bid farewell, giving Wild a peck on the cheek, driving Rarity and Fluttershy to whole new levels of jealous. She disappeared shortly after, the same eerie feeling of being watched seemed to consume Wild Vine. He was half awake when the group began to trot back home, only catching a glimpse of a familiar purple glow high in the shadow of the trees. Wild soon passed out into a deep sleep, keeping what he saw in his mind for later investigation.

Comments

[High_Wind]

ENEMY SIGHTED!
FIRE ZE CANNON!!!

chzbronies.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/my-little-pony-friendship-is-magic-brony-orbital-friendship-canon-fire-at-will.gif

[Silent Breeze]

It's the funniest thing. I technically have the next chapter of the story here all edited and ready, but there's no Wild online to take it and post it up on fim.