Equestria's Anomaly

by Ash Bark

2: Ponyvilles' Forest

The train ride to ponyville was beautiful. I don’t consider myself a romantic sort, but there is nothing quite like the countryside to make a pony feel whole. Maybe it’s the earth pony in me. The trees were a rich green, flowered with colorful birds. I smiled as a robin flew alongside the train for a couple seconds. You don’t get robins in Manehattan.

“Five minutes til ponyville.” the intercom barked to life, startling me out of my observation. I looked up, my neck cracking from being in the same position for too long. I grabbed my briefcase from off the floor and opened it.

“Paper… pencils… quill, why do I have a quill but no ink?” I asked no one in particular as I shuffled through my belongings. Sighing, I closed the case again. It was a stressful day. I missed the seven o'clock train and had to take the eight o’clock one instead. I checked my watch, it was one thirty. I was supposed to have lunch with the princess at one. Usually I wouldn’t mind missing an appointment, but this was a princess. Why the hell did I have to miss an appointment with a princess. I glowered at my case before looked outside again.

Apple trees, Apple trees as far as the eye could see. Pinkie Pie told me that she had an apple farmer as a friend, she loved telling me about all her friends, I wonder if her friend worked there. For a brief second, as the train rushed passed a dirt path, I saw through the apple trees. In the distance I could see the forest. Everypony in Equestria knows about the Everfree, but I don’t think ponies realize how close it is to some towns. The founders of Ponyville must have been crazy.

The train began to slow down, it's brakes squealing and shaking my car slightly. Why the Ponyville train had to be so artsy, I couldn’t understand. The Manehattan trains were sensible and build with more function than form. This train was more like a supersized foals toy.
I gathered my belongings up, a suitcase, briefcase, hat, and overcoat, and set off to the meeting place. Maybe the princess was late too.

~One hour and ten minutes earlier~

“Where is everypony?” Twilight Sparkle asked, her wings fluffing out slightly on her back. “I did say it was at one, didn’t I Spike?” Spike rolled his emerald eyes in response.

“It’s twelve twenty-five, Twilight.” He looked up at his sister/friend/caretaker. “And we’ve been here since twelve.”

“I’m a princess now, Spike. I have to be punctual.” she leaned in towards the little dragon. “What if they show up and I’m not there? What would they think of me?” Spike ignored the question, staring at a pony's food two tables down.

“Why can't I eat my food until later?” he said, his stomach growling. “I’m hungry now.”

“That would be rude, Spike.”

“I think it was rude of you to drag me along with you.”

“You said you were hungry!”

“I was.” He scowled, “I still am.”

“Hiya, Twi!” A pink pony lept onto the back of Spikes chair. “Watcha doin?”

“Hey pinkie,” Twilight smiled lightly at Her friend. I’m waiting for the ponies that we're taking to the Everfree.”

"Why?" Pinkie cocked her head to one side, "What's in the Everfree?" Spike, craning his head up to look at pinkie, looked confused.

“Aren’t you one of those ponies, Pinkie?”

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie seemed happy to have forgotten “Am I too late?”

“Too early.” Spike gripped. Twilight glared at him briefly.

“You’re right on time Pinkie.” Twilight pulled out another chair for Pinkie, which Pinkie leaped into. "We're going to look for the anomaly."

“Ooooh" Pinkie said. "I remember! Is Pickles here yet?” Spike and Twilight exchanged glances.

“Um…” Twilight started. “Who’s Pickles?”

“The detective, silly!” Pinkie giggled. “You’re the one who hired him!” Spike ruffled through a heavily used notebook.

“Uuuh, you mean Pick Apart?” he read from one of the pieces of paper.

“Yeah! Pickles!”

“You were the one who recommended him, Pinkie, Why did you want a private detective to help with a magical anomaly?” Twilight asked. Pinkie's face scrunched up.

“He can Help!” she frowned slightly, “I don’t remember why.”

“Don’t worry about it, Pinkie, I’m sure he’ll be an asset.” Twilight patted Pinkie's hoof, receiving a brilliant smile in return.

“How long till we eat, Twilight?” Spike groaned.

“We’re still waiting on Zecora and the detective, Spike.” He groaned again, sinking down into his chair.

“Oh yeah!” Pinkie perked up. “I saw Zecora on the way here, she wanted me to say something to you. She was only wearing four bracelets, Twilight, FOUR! Do you know why? She usually wears five. I wonder why she does that? Do you think her other hooves get jealous? She has more than enough bracelets. Though now she only has four.” Pinkie paused for a moment. “That’s still enough for each leg though! Maybe I should give her more bracelets for her birthday.” she rubbed her chin in thought. Twilight blinked.

“Zecora had a message for me?”

“Yup!” Pinkie bounced up and down in her chair, a waiter passing by glanced at her disapprovingly. “She said you guys should go to her hut as soon as possible!” Spike shook his head exasperatedly, watching as the two ponies got up to go to the forest.

“I’m not getting food, am I?” He said as he walked back to the library.

~Current time~

They weren’t there. I wasn’t surprised, I was pretty late. But now I don’t know what to do or where to go. I looked across the empty tables, a pony was wiping one of them down.

“Excuse me!” I called over. The pony looked up passively.

“Yes? Can I help you?” I smiled at him thankfully, his expression didn’t change.

“Yes, Thank you, I was supposed to meet with Princess Twilight Sparkle about half an hour ago. Do you know where they might be?” The pony frowned, narrowing his eyes at me.

“You a reporter?”

“No?”

“Check the Library, she works there.” He went back to wiping his tables off.

“But she’s a Princess, why would she…” I trailed off as the stallion let out a loud sigh.

“She likes books.” He said in an annoyed tone. It was a good enough excuse for me.

“Where… is the library?” I asked sheepishly. I didn’t want to push the guy to much, he obviously wasn’t too happy about me talking to him.

“Walk that way, He flicked his rag down the direction of the path, keep walking until you see a big tree, it’s there.”

“Where?”

“At the tree.” I looked at him, he looked at his rag with bored eyes.

“... Thank you.”

I’m sure once I got to the tree I’d be able to see the library. My instructions were a bit vague, but I live in a city where every street looks the same. I’m sure I can manage. The ponies that were walking around talked and waved to each other, each one of them finding something to talk about. I’ve been to small towns before, but it always shocked me how interlocked everypony was. How much time must somepony have, when they can get to know everyone in a town well enough to have so many conversations?

What in tartarus is wrong with that tree. Why does it have a Door? Is that the Library? Why is there a Library in a tree?

I stomped up to the door. I was almost offended by this… building. Wouldn’t termites be a problem? It’s gotta be magic, some sort of illusion maybe. I knocked on the door.

“It’s a public library, you don’t need to knock unless we’re closed!” A young voice called from inside. I only felt slightly sheepish. I walked in, there were books, sure enough. It felt a bit ironic to have books inside a tree.

“Hello?” I called, not seeing anypony.

“Yeah, Hi.” I looked to my left. Sitting on a table was a small dragon snacking on a gemstone. I’ve met a dragon before, was one of my clients. Made a big fuss about how he thought a friend of his stole his hoard. Turned out he just forgot where is was and was trying to get me to find it without losing face. Dragons were a proud race. This one raised it’s eyebrow at me. It made my teeth hurt watching him take bites out of that rock.

“I was told Princess Twilight Sparkle… worked here?” he frowned and peered at me suspiciously.

“Are you a reporter?”

“No, I am not, I assume you get a lot of reporters?” The dragon snorted and hopped off his chair. He was a lot smaller than I expected.

“Are you the detective guy?” He asked standing in front of me.

“Yes, I’m afraid I didn’t manage to make lunch, the trains were running late.” that was code for I was too late for the train.

“You’d probably have missed them anyway, they had to run to the Everfree before it even started.” He grumbled lowly. “I wanted spaghetti.” I frowned, more about them being in the Everfree than the pasta.

“Do you have any Idea when they might be back?”

“Nope!” He said happily. “Soooo… you’re a detective, right?”

“That word defines me, yes.” He was sizing me up, he probably either wanted to either test my ‘detective skills’ or ask a favour, maybe both.

“You think you could figure out if…” he hesitated, blushing lightly. “I mean, If you could see if…” he stammered, struggling to put his words together. I’ve seen this behaviour before

“You want me to see if your crush likes you.” I stated. His eyes widened

“How… how did you know?” I leaned forward and tapped the side of my head.

“Detective.” His mouth opened in an ‘o’, seeming very impressed. It wasn’t that much of a feat, I doubt there’s anyone this little drake knows that doesn’t know about his crush. “I suppose I should go follow them.” The little dragon perked up.

“Hey, you need a guide?”

“You know where they went?”

“Yup, they’re at Zecora’s house, I know the way!” He puffed out his chest. Looking at me agressivly, “I could go there and back again in pitch blackness!” he searched for any reaction on my face, “Blindfolded!” rather than question the effect of a blindfold in pitch blackness I decided to let him guide.

“Lead the way, then.” He grinned and raced to the door. “You can leave the blindfold behind.” He flushed slightly at that.

“Hey, what was your name?” He said, glancing up at me as we left the tree building. “Mines Spike.”

“Private Detective Pick Apart, at your service.” Normally I would just say my name, but I figured the drake would appreciate the flair. He snickered, not a reaction I was hoping for. “What’s so funny?” he looked up, slightly startled.

“Oh, um.” he looked nervous. “You know Pinkie Pie, right?” I nodded, I did know her. “I was just remembering something she said.”

“Something about me?”

“Nooo.” his eyes flickered about. I decided to drop it.

“How far into the forest is Zecora’s?”

“Not too far, and as long as you stick to the right path, it’s completely safe.” He assured me. “There’s no way anything wrong could happen.” He continued to assure. “Completely safe!” At this point I don’t think it was me he was trying to assure.

“Well I’m glad there’s nothing to worry about.” I said. Spike chuckled half heartedly.

“Yeah! Nothing… at all.”

Pretty soon we had reached the edge of the forest. It was only a brief walk from the town. This forest is infamous for getting ponies lost, not to mention the monsters it’s supposed to hold. It's ridiculous how close the forest is.

“There’s the path, right there.” I looked up and saw a slightly overgrown path winding away into the dark forest. The leaves here were dark, it looked almost unhealthy. It was definitely unnerving. “Zecora said she covered the path with… scents or something that kept the wildlife away, right?” Spike asked me.

“I would have to take your word for it.” He looked at me surprised, I started walking to the path. “Why would I know?”

“Sorry, I thought you were someone else.” His embarrassment seemed to make him forget his fear.

“How do you know Twilight, Spike?” I wanted to keep him distracted, the path didn’t branch off so I was confident it was the right way. “Do you work for her at the library?”

“Huh?” He looked up at me. “Oh, no, we live there.” What? How does that work?

“You an assistant or something?” He puffed up again

“Yup, I’m her number one assistant!” okay, I guess that makes sense, she’s a princess and an assistant, a very young assistant. One that was also a dragon.

“All right, but how do you know her.”

“Oh, she’s my sister.”

“So your mother… adopted you?” I was a bit worried I was getting too personal with the dragon, sometimes I forget my manners when I want to figure something out.

“Well, uh, technically Twilight adopted me.” He scratched the side of his head, “I guess she’s also my mother?”

“That’s…” I trailed off, not really know how to respond.

“No wait! Legally I’m Celestia’s son.” He interrupted.

“Your mom is Princess Celestia?” I said incredulously. "You're a prince?" He didn’t answer, He had stopped moving and was staring forward with a worried look on his face. I looked up and saw two ways we could go. “What is it?” I asked.

“I… um.” He looked from the left path to the right path rapidly. “Just give me a moment.”

“Do you not know which way?”

“No! I know, but..” he groaned and sat down on the ground heavily. “I usually just follow Twilight.” he sighed, seeming disappointed. “We should probably head back.” he said. “I’m sorry I couldn’t help.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” I looked at the right path carefully. “Princess Twilight would have gone through recently right?”

“Yeah?” he frowned looking up at me, still looking dejected. “With Pinkie.” I switched to the left path.

“Well, we can still follow them pretty easily.” He stood up and looked where I was looking.

“How?” he seemed confused.

“Hoof prints.” His eyes widened and he looked at the paths.

“But..” he slumped again, “They both have prints on them.”

“Yes they do,” I smiled, “but the ones on the right path are old, and made by the same pony.”

“How can you tell?”

“The pony that went on that path, doesn’t have horseshoes.” He looked down again. “They have the same level of indentation. Who ever went down that way, was probably very light.” I pointed at the other path. “If Pinkie was with twilight that explains those.” He looked where I was pointing to see a set of four hoof prints, very close to each other. A couple feet forward there was another set of four. “Pinkie still hops, doesn’t she?” Spike jumped up and down excitedly.

“She does! Wow!” He looked up at me. “You’re a good detective.” I smiled at the praise.

“More like a nerd when I was younger, I spent a lot of time studying tracks. It’s how I got my cutie mark.” wow, normally I try to be professional. Telling someone how I got my mark is more something you tell a friend you’ve known for a while. Spike buttered me up with the compliments.

“Neat! I believe it. Cutie marks are weird, how do they know what your talent is?” I wasn’t listening. I grabbed my briefcase (the rest of my luggage was in a drop off zone at the train station.) and pulled out some paper and pencil. “-Which is fine by me since dragons don’t have…" He continued "What are you doing?” he asked when he realized I wasn't focusing on what he was saying.

“Look at this, do you recognize this print?” I pointed at the indentation in the ground that I was sketching as fast as I could.

“Woah, I can’t say I do.” It was a heavy print. Sinking much deeper than the prints it went over. It was a strange bean shape, with hexagonal segments and swirls within it.

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” I looked for another one. “There! Look!” I bounded over to the next mark. “...what?” I said, confused. It was drastically different from the other one. Spike looked nervous as I stared at the print.

“Um, Mister Apart? We should stay on the path.” The print was strange, if it wasn’t the right depth as the other print, and in the same direction, I wouldn’t think they weren't from the same thing at all. There was one large oval connecting to another oval perpendicular to it. The connection between the ovals was on the left side of the print, a gentle curve flowing from one oval to the next. At the front of the print-

“Mister Apart?”

“One second, Spike.” At the front were evan more ovals, they must be the toes, but no claws? What has toes but no claws? I sketched out this print too, taking note of where it was the deepest. It had a faint fuzziness to it. Like really dense but thin fur. I looked between the two prints, seeing more go into the woods. I was about to follow them when I felt a claw on my back leg

“Mister Apart!”

“What? What is it Spike?” I looked around, frightened at his tone.

“I’m sorry, but we really should stay on the path.” he said in a quieter voice.

“I’m just going-”

“This path is safe, we don’t know if it’s safe down there.” Spike interrupted.

“I-”

“Don’t you want to meet Twilight?” Twilight’s name reminded me of my job. I’m not getting paid to go pursue hobbies. Plus it is the everfree forest.

“Yeah, you’re right, Spike, thank you.” after one last longing look at the prints, I continued down the path with Spike. The tracks led out of the forest, and they were at least an hour fresh. I looked at my drawings, what was their connection? The bean shaped one was bowed right, and the ovaly one was bowed to the left, other then that there was no discernable symmetry.

“Look! There’s the Hut!” I heard Spike say, I looked up.

What’s with the ponies in this town and living in trees!?

Author's Note:

Things are happening! Like conversations with surly waiters! And dragons! Also, how the hell are you supposed to describe a footprint?

Read something you didn't like? THAN SCREAM ABOUT IT AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE SO I CAN HEAR AND LEARN.

Comments

[Axis of Rotation]

Looking forward to where this goes, Ash