Mortal Coil

by Reeve

XXXIX - Monster Sightings

We had decided not to waste any more time than was necessary, so rather than remain at Port Mule or the camp on the beach for the night, Fluttershy and I set off as evening began to set in. Olympus was almost an entire country away, beyond the Neptune and nestled within the northern end of the Wyvern Heights. To reach there, we would have to pass through Timber, Glean, Breakwater and finally Brine, assuming neither of those last two towns had suffered the same fate as Pivot. I estimated at the time it would take us roughly a week and a half to reach our final destination, so after we were both well stocked up in food, we took off north.

Fluttershy proved to be a surprisingly dedicated travelling companion, I had expected a pony with so little experience in travelling to want to stop for rests every few hours and insist on stopping to set up camp before nightfall, habits which I myself had learned to drop during my travels in Panchea. Fluttershy it turned out, was more than eager to keep moving, stopping only briefly when she saw some interesting wildlife that she wanted to examine, a desire which I was happy to enable since I knew she was still so new to the world outside the Bask.

When we came to the river, the same river that I had to cross to reach Port Mule from Sweet Apple Acres, we were faced with a choice. Find a way to cross it and cut across the Grand Pastures to Timber where we could rest, or take the long way around by following the river, thus avoiding having to cross it at all and skipping our stop at Timber. The choice was fairly easy, what proved harder was actually getting across the river itself. The sun had set long before we reached the river, and with the clouds obscuring the moon and stars it was pitch black.

“Can’t you just fly me across?” I asked, giving her wing a little ruffle.

“But if I drop you, then you’ll get all wet and some of your stuff might be ruined,” Fluttershy pointed out.

“If you had dropped me when flying me up to see the stars, I would have died,” I pointed out. “Is getting wet really worse than becoming wet… that is to say, a wet stain on the ground… of blood? That sounded better in my head.”

“It’s also too dark,” Fluttershy added. “Don’t you know any spells for the situation?”

“Not unless you want me to weave a bridge,” I countered. “And you have a dozen metres of strong fabric.”

“Well what if we…” Fluttershy began, but then she cut off suddenly as her ears pricked up.

I listened hard, but couldn’t seem to hear whatever it was that got Fluttershy’s attention. Before I could question her however, she walked over to the river bank and leant down as a dark shape rose out of the water. I edged a little closer to the water, curious as to what the shape was, the leapt back with a loud yelp when I saw it was a massive frog poking his head out at us.

“Hello mister frog,” Fluttershy greeted. “It’s a bit late for a swim isn’t it? Now that I think about it, you don’t normally live in rivers like this one, do you?”

The frog ribbited loudly in response, and to my utter astonishment Fluttershy carried on talking as if she could actually interpret what the wild creature had said.

“Oh I see, well I hope your holiday goes well,” she said sweetly to the frog, who ribbited in thanks. “While you’re here, you wouldn’t be able to help us, would you? My friend and I need to cross the river; you don’t know a way, do you?”

The frog ribbited happily before diving under the water and vanishing from sight.

“Um, Fluttershy…” I began, my mind sufficiently blown. “Is there something you want to tell me?”

“Oh, uh, I…” Fluttershy started, remembering I was there and hiding behind her mane as if in shame. “You see the thing is, I can sort of… talk to animals.”

Her voice had quietened to almost a whisper at that last part, and I was left standing stock still her, her words echoing in my mind over and over again.

“You… can talk to animals?” I repeated in the same neutral tone.

“Please don’t hate me!” Fluttershy said quickly, crouching low to the ground and looking like she was about to cry. “I don’t know why I’m able to do it I just can!”

“You can talk to animals…” I repeated once more, my tone brightening up slightly. “Fluttershy, that is incredible!”

“I’m so sorry… wait, what?” Fluttershy’s head snapped up and she looked at me in confusion. “You mean… you don’t mind?”

“Mind? Why on earth would I mind?” I asked, completely bewildered by the notion.

“Because High Priestess Starlight Glimmer told me it was abnormal,” Fluttershy explained, really starting to cry now. “When I first learnt I could do it and got my cutie mark, I went straight to her to tell her and she… she shouted at me, said I was unnatural and she never wanted me to do it again.”

“That’s awful!” I exclaimed, horrified that anypony could believe such nonsense, much less tell it to a filly.

I pulled Fluttershy into a tight hug as she wept into my shoulder.

“What you can do… unbelievable as it is, is nothing to be ashamed of,” I told her in a firm voice.

“But it is unnatural, isn’t it?” Fluttershy argued miserably.

“Well… yes, technically,” I admitted in a strained voice. “But unnatural isn’t necessarily bad, look at the Princess. You wouldn’t call her natural, but nor would you say she’s bad for what she is.”

“I… I suppose,” Fluttershy agreed tentatively as she wiped her eyes.

“That’s the spirit,” I said encouragingly before noticing something bobbing in the water. “Oh, it looks like your friend has returned.”

Fluttershy turned to see the giant frog pop his head out of the river, an oddly shaped log held in its hind legs. Fluttershy leaned down and talked with him for a bit, when she stood back up to face me, the frog swam off to put the log in position.

“Okay, he’s offered to hold the log in place for you so it doesn’t wobble too much while you cross,” Fluttershy explained. “It seems to have come from the town, so one side of it is flat.”

Indeed as the frog moved the log into position and flipped it around, it revealed that the underside was sawn completely flat. The log must have been cut in two at one of the lumber mills in Timber, perhaps it was discarded because of poor quality or lost while transporting. Whatever the case was, it would be ideal for getting me across the river. Before I set off however, I gave Fluttershy my compass and spyglass to hang around her neck, just in case I slipped, they were the only things I would mind losing.

I set my right hoof on the log first, testing its stability before adding anymore weight. It wobbled about slightly, but the frog was doing a good job of keeping it steady, although it looked to be quite exhausting for him, so I decided not to drag it out any longer than necessary. Once I had all four hooves on the log and started edging down the length of it, Fluttershy hovering just overhead in case something went wrong, I realised just how slippery the log was. Rather than lift my hooves, I opted instead to drag them along the log, only ever moving two at a time while using the other two to brace myself.

Everything went perfectly well until I reached the very end, at which point the frog’s strength gave out. He ribbited loudly in warning and Fluttershy cried for me to jump, and I did just that, leaping off the log right before it got flipped by the current and dragged away. I landed on the opposite bank, feeling a little shaky on my legs while Fluttershy dropped down beside me. The frog came and poked his head up to us, ribbiting something to Fluttershy.

“It’s okay, you did you very best, and that’s all we could have asked for,” she assured him.

“Yeah, I’m fine, no harm done,” I told him, doing a quick three sixty to show how unhurt I was.

The frog ribbited happily, or at least what I interpreted to be happy, I don’t actually speak frog if that wasn’t clear.

“Yes, thank you ever so much,” Fluttershy replied brightly. “I hope you enjoy the rest of your holiday.”

He made to swim off, but at the last second I shouted my own thanks after him. He didn’t stop however, and I wondered if he knew what I meant.

“Don’t worry, I think he got the message,” Fluttershy told me, returning my possessions. “What exactly are these anyway?”

“Family heirlooms,” I told her, pulling out the compass to check which direction we had to travel. “My father gave them to me before I came here from Equestria. I never did write to them, they’re probably worried sick about me.”

“You’ll see them again,” Fluttershy said, rubbing me on the shoulder. “And when you do, you’ll have so many stories to tell them, I think they’ll be very impressed at how they raised such a wonderful mare.”

I could feel myself blushing slightly at that, and I was glad it was dark enough that Fluttershy probably couldn’t see.

“Alright, we need to head this way,” I informed her, pointing in the direction I knew would take us to the town. “We should reach Timber just before midday.”

So we returned to our journey, stopping only to eat a light breakfast around sunrise. When we finally arrived at Timber, I was glad to see it bustling with activity as opposed to Glean, and not the bad kind of activity of Pivot. I was pleasantly surprised as we entered the town and found it completely peaceful, just looking about, you could be fooled into believing that the war never happened, or at the very least it really had ended. Timber was so called due to its chief commodity being timber, the entire section to the east, between the town and where the river curved around was a heavily wooded area.

Since wood was the trade of most of the ponies who lived in Timber, it was unsurprising that pretty much every building was made of it. Most of their workplaces related to woodwork, there were many lumber mills and carpenters, as well as general stores that sold mostly wood related products, and a transport agency that dealt with the moving of wood materials all across Panchea. Needless to say, ponies in Timber liked their wood. The ponies themselves were quite pleasant we found, for the most part they just wanted to get on with their jobs and do their part to restore the country to what it was like before the war. But when they weren’t doing that, they were more than happy to greet travellers such as ourselves and point us in the direction of specific locations.

“It’s a nice change from Glean,” I told Fluttershy as we made our way over to one of the inns we had been directed towards. “During the war, they had their crops burnt and their sheep killed, so lots of ponies had to sell their houses and move just to make ends meet.”

“That’s terrible, was it the Equestrians?” Fluttershy asked in a shocked voice.

“No actually,” I replied. “An innkeeper told us it was the Rebels who did it; Maverick said it was Iron Sights who had been responsible. He did something similar at Sweet Apple Acres, which is why Applejack left the Rebellion.”

“Do you think he was telling the truth?” Fluttershy asked curiously. “Maverick I mean.”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “But I’m looking forward to meeting this Iron Sights and finding out for myself what the deal with him is.”

We found the inn easily enough and went straight on in; hearing plenty of noise to indicate it was open. As we entered the inn, we found that the first floor was a quaint little pub; it was already full of workers just starting their lunch break. Some ponies nodded politely and smiled at us as we made our way up to the bar to see about getting a room, others just kept to themselves. We were seriously lucky that Twilight had passed us a bag of bits when she learned that Maverick was holding out on me, it wasn’t much, but it would be enough to see us to Olympus if we used it sparingly, and I was thankful for it none the less.

As we chatted to the innkeeper and organised a room to stay in for the night, I got the faint feeling that we were being watched. I looked around the crowded pub; it was very possible that some of the ponies there were glancing over at the two new mares in town, especially when one seemed to be a sister of the Celestial Sisterhood. It didn’t feel like that was the case however, for whatever reason, I was sure whoever it was was specifically watching me. Try as I might however, I couldn’t pick out any familiar faces in the crowd, although I was convinced I saw a shadow flitting among them.

I turned back to the bar while the innkeeper left to fetch our room key, trying to shake the feeling. Fluttershy was fidgeting nervously with the bag of bits Twilight had given us and trying not to meet my eye.

“Is something wrong Fluttershy?” I asked, momentarily forgetting my own feelings.

“It’s just…” Fluttershy began, sounding guilty. “He… he… he gave me a discount.”

“Uh, what?” I queried, a bit confused why she was acting so odd over a discount.

“He said he wouldn’t charge full price to a sister like myself,” Fluttershy elaborated. “Is it wrong for me not to pay full price? Am I taking advantage of my position?!”

“Fluttershy, you can’t keep worrying about the smallest…” I began, stopping when the feeling returned in full force.

“Rarity?” Fluttershy uttered, looking at me with a mixture of confusion and worry.

I was definitely not imagining it this time; someone was watching me and slowly drawing closer. I didn’t take my eyes off Fluttershy, not wanting to give them any indication that I was onto them. I reached across as subtly as I could manage, and drew one of my knives, keeping it close to my chest. The feeling in my gut died down instantly, but only for a split second before the assailant struck. My knife was pulled from my grip, I felt my horn get flicked and before I could react in any way, a pair of powerful forelegs wrapped around me and began squeezing me until I could barely breathe.

“If hugging was lethal, you’d be dead by now!” an excited voice declared in a sing song way.

“P… Pinkie Pie?!” I exclaimed breathlessly as I twisted my head around to see the massive grin of my friend. “I can’t breathe!”

“Oops, sorry,” Pinkie said, releasing me so suddenly that I thought I was about to pass out when the air came rushing back into my lungs. “But I was just so happy to see you again! It’s been like, what? Twelve days?! That is too long to go without seeing a friend!”

“I’m happy to see you too Pinkie,” I told her as I leaned against the bar, then I saw the wide eyes of Fluttershy as she stared at us in bewilderment. “Fluttershy, meet Pinkie Pie. She’s the pony I was telling you about, the one who helped Applejack and I at Pivot.”

“Oh, um, hello,” Fluttershy greeted in a very small voice, sinking behind her mane as Pinkie turned her grin on her. “Nice to meet you.”

Pinkie gave a huge gasp, almost trembling with excitement before she bounded forward and pulled the terrified pegasus into another bone crushing hug.

“Oh my goodness, she is so cute! Can we keep her?!” Pinkie screamed in delight, the entire pub was staring at us now.

“I think she likes you Fluttershy,” I said, trying to suppress my own grin and maintain a dignified face.

Fluttershy just mumbled something incoherent, but it sounded like she had just been traumatised, so I took pity on her and pried Pinkie off of her. Pinkie pouted as I did, like I was taking away her new puppy.

“I really am happy to see you Pinkie,” I asserted. “How have you been since you left? Did you find anything interesting?”

“I did! I did!” Pinkie declared, bouncing up and down on the spot.

The ceiling was quite low so she ended up banging her head into it every time she hopped up, but it never seemed to affect her; it was like she couldn’t feel it, and that might have actually explained a lot.

“Well I’m looking forward to hearing all about it,” I told her as I accepted our room key off the stunned innkeeper, as well as tossing a few bits over for the cracked ceiling. “Why don’t we head over to a table where we aren’t disturbing anypony else?”

Once we were settled in a corner table and the rest of the room had resumed their own business, Pinkie dived into her tale of how she journeyed far and wide to find information on the mysterious robed ponies.

“And there I was!” Pinkie stated dramatically, standing on her chair for added effect. “Surrounded by no less than fifty pirates! They said to me that if I didn’t give them back their treasure, they would make me walk the plank. So you know what I did? I walked the plank… then I just swam to the shore, got the treasure from where I left it and went on my way.”

“That’s an impressive story…” I admitted while Fluttershy clapped politely. “But what does that have to do with Suri Polomare.”

“Nothing, I didn’t find her,” Pinkie stated cheerfully as I slammed my face into the table. “No, listen Rarity. I didn’t find her for a very good reason. She didn’t just leave, she disappeared!”

“What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly curious.

“I asked all around, and nopony who knew her knows where she went off to,” Pinkie continued. “I talked to ponies who were waiting for commissions, her friends in the industry, even her sister, none of them could tell me where she went to. One day she was there, the next she wasn’t, it was as if she just up and vanished into thin air.”

“She just vanished?” I repeated, stroking my chin thoughtfully. “That does raise more questions, I have little doubt that those robes were made by her.”

“So do you think these robed ponies kidnapped her?” Fluttershy asked in a concerned voice. “Maybe she’s being held captive somewhere.”

“And what? They’re forcing her to stitch their uniforms?” I asked half sarcastically. “Seems like an odd reason to kidnap somepony.”

“Well if she is their prisoner, then I don’t know where they’re keeping her,” Pinkie told us. “These robed guys are seriously good at covering their tracks if even I can’t locate them.”

“Well we don’t have to find them just yet,” I began. “We’re heading to Olympus now to question the ex-marshal of the Rebellion about his involvement in whatever Arcana was doing for them, if you come with us we might be able to get to the bottom of this.”

“Nice, the dynamic duo is back together!” Pinkie declared, thrusting her hoof into the air. “Now with adorable sidekick holding a scary mace.”

“Um… yay?” Fluttershy muttered hesitantly.

“Oh, but that reminds me,” Pinkie added suddenly. “And it’s pretty good that we’re going to Olympus, because I have business along the way that relates to that monster you saw in Pivot.”

“Really? What?!” I asked, suddenly very excited.

“Well, not about that monster specifically,” Pinkie clarified. “But while I was asking around for your fashion friend, I heard lots of rumours of strange creatures appearing all around the country. It’s all isolated incidents that most ponies disregard as ghost stories or the ramblings of mad ponies, but I know mad ponies, and the ones claiming to have seen these creatures are most certainly not that. It’s just hard to prove because nopony can seem to find these supposed monsters afterwards.”

“So you think they’re all connected,” I asked, leaning in conspiratorially. “These monster sightings and thing I saw in Pivot?”

“More than that,” Pinkie countered. “I think they’re connected to our robed ponies. I can’t explain why, but I’ve learned to trust my hunches on matters like this, you could say I have a special sense for this sort of thing.”

“Interesting…” I said, pondering the notion. “So what is it you want to look into on the way to Olympus?”

“The latest rumour,” Pinkie explained. “Most of the stories or rumours I’ve heard occurred any time from the start of the war to just a few months ago, but I met this one stallion a couple days ago, he insisted that there was a monster attack in his home town Brine very recently. He couldn’t tell me what kind of monster it was, whatever he saw seemed to scare him so badly he could barely form a sentence when I talked to him. So it looks like the most recent incident seems to have occurred there in Brine, the town closest to Olympus.

“I was about to head there myself and look into it when I saw you two come in here,” Pinkie continued. “And since you’re going to Olympus, we could check it out together on the way. Since it’s apparently such a recent occurrence, the monster might still be there, and finding it for ourselves might help us figure out what they are and where they’re coming from. What do you girls say, the tenacious trio hunt some monsters?!”

“I liked the other name better,” Fluttershy murmured.

“I guess we could do that,” I agreed. “We’ll be passing through Brine anyway, might as well stop for a bit and ask the locals if they know anything about this monster the stallion was talking about.”

“I agree,” Fluttershy added. “If there really is a scary monster terrorising ponies, somepony should put a stop to it.”

“That’s the spirit girls!” Pinkie encouraged, pulling out her grinning mask and holding it up over her face. “Now who wants to play ‘whoever has the smallest smile buys the drinks’?”

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[Sir Budginton]

Pinkie is back