The Search in Winsome Falls

by Comma Typer

About to Go

Thursday

Tapping a hoof on the ground in front of Watts Onion's, Isobar waited, carrying a saddle bag.

Cool morning air was around, chilling the town of Ambling with its pleasant wind. Only some were out at this hour.

The pegasus tapped and tapped his hoof, now more rapidly as his expression became tainted with an impatiently downward expression.

Then, hoofsteps surging down.

His ears went up.

Door opened.

"Oh, hi!" Watts Onion said, smiling as he held up a hoof. "You don't need to come inside—I've gathered all the necessities that we need for Winsome Falls!"

Isobar sighed, rolling his eyes. "I was expecting a 'How do you do?' or something along those lines."

Rubbing his friend's head, Watts said, "Well, we've got to get to it right now! No time to waste!"

Isobar reacted by keeping up his serious, unfazed face. "Alright."

Turned his head around, then turned back to him. "Wait here!" Watts exclaimed as he started with a halting walk/hop hybrid and then switching to a full-blown gallop up the stairs.

Isobar sighed again, not taking a step inside the abode.

"Ah, don't forget the Power Ponies and Daring Do!" he could hear amidst the clatter and the clack that was going on upstairs. "And—where's my—yes, there it is! My box of chocolates and also the rest of the necessities!"

"A box of chocolates is necessary?" Isobar muttered, gazing toward the window up there. Raising an eyebrow, he said "What is he thinking?"

This racket continued on for a few more minutes, with the pegasus's tapping returning.

After that, it stopped, replaced with the rush of those same hoofsteps down, though accompanied with the squeaking of something—which brought with it more of that clatter and clack.

Finally, open door again, revealing a tired, panting unicorn and a wagon behind him.

Eyeing the wagon, Isobar said, "Are you completely sure that you have everything, Onion?"

Watts nodded eagerly, grinning through it.

"Enough food to last us a month if need be?"

"I brought lots of onions and a cooking pot!"

Isobar moaned.

"Of course, I'm also bringing other food. What, just because half of my cutie mark is an onion it means that I can only eat onions?"

"Oh, no, I was expecting to eat batteries as well."

Onion bended an eyebrow at that, examining his friend with scrutiny. "Did you do something?"

"What? It's humor!" Isobar said, smiling.

"We're not having jokes about my destiny or my talent, OK?"

"Hey, you're the one who kept joking about me liking the Power Ponies!"

"I mean, with a collection as big as that, I'm not surprised that you might end up being Ambling's premier Power Ponies's expert. Imagine it: Lines of ponies coming from all over Equestria to ask you whether this background pony who appeared in this issue has appeared again later on."

"I'm not that knowledgeable!" Onion complained, then pulling the wagon closer with his mouth and grunting.

Isobar looked at the sturggling unicorn.

Then, a tap on the horn.

"Uh, you know you could use your magic, right?"

Onion's grunting stopped at that as he opened his eyes. "Oh. Right." Letting out an anxious chuckle, he lit up his horn with that blue magical glow and levitated the wagon to the outside, everything landing smoothly with nothing falling.

"Wait," Isobar began, pointing a hoof at him, "does that mean you just picked up all those things for the wagon upstairs without using your magic at all?"

"Uh, probably?" Onion scratched his head, beads of sweat pouring down his face as he put up a sheepish grin.

Isobar looked at him with a severe face. "You've been overthinking it, haven't you?"

"Well, I wouldn't exactly say that I was overthinking it, Isobar, but, please, it was an important that couldn't just get out of my head!"

"So, you didn't even try?"

Onion slapped his head with a hoof, looking up. "I did!"

"Did you keep on trying, at least?"

"That's why I'm bringing the comics and the novels!" Onion countered. "I'm not going to be bored in the trip, even though I shouldn't be because it's a trip that Princess Luna wants us to have!"

"Trip or search?" Isobar asked, moving his head a little.

"What's the point, Isobar? Can I just get on with you asking me if I have this or that inside the wagon so we won't be missing something utterly important?!" He ended this with a flail of his forehooves and an exasperated face of shrunken irises and slightly shaken mane.

Isobar blinked, remaining calm for some seconds. "Alright, Onion." Sighing, he went on, in a more drawn out tone:

"Enough water to last for a month, in case we might get stuck in a place with no water?"

Onion nodded.

"Jackets, sweaters, thick hats, and firewood to keep us warm if we get trapped in a freezing location?"

Onion nodded.

"A good stash of bits we can use to pay for anything additional along the way to Winsome Falls?"

Onion nodded.

"Four tents to shelter us plus an emergency tent?"

Onion nodded.

"Those are the essentials," Isobar said. "We're not going to be calling for help anytime soon."

"Now we can—"

"Not yet, Mr. Fastguy," the pegasus interrupted, placing a hoof on his friend's shoulder. "Do we have paper to write letters on? We'll use them to report to the Princess about any new discoveries and findings."

"I brought tons of paper!" Onion answered with excitement as he jumped up to the air.

"Did you really have to do that?" Isobar asked when the unicorn finally landed.

"Well, what if I have to detail everything? And, what if I bore the Princess if I write too short or in a certain way that isn't allowed? Is there a royal way of writing to the Princesses when it comes to reporting on official business?"

Isobar, once again, sighed. "Look, you're worrying too much about this again. The Princesses don't like too much of a royal attitude, especially Princess Celestia. Just respect them as the Princesses they are and write."

"But, you only said 'especially Princess Celestia'!" Onion responded, sounding hysterical. "Maybe Princess Luna likes royal attitudes more and I have to write differently to—"

"You're not writing to the two Royal Sisters; you're only writing to one of the Royal Sisters, so don't worry about what Princess Celestia might think of your approach in your letters."

"But, even if we have that, we also need to have a sure line to send our letters through!"

"If you were worried about that, why didn't you think about something before today?"

"I checked my history books and—"

"You should've asked somepony," Isobar said. "Because I asked one of the mailponies yesterday if there was postal service in Winsome Falls and he said 'Yes.'" A pause as he placed a hoof to his head, his face a mix of annoyance and concern. "Instead of wasting hours scouring the pages of history books—which, I'm sure, must be big, and I don't know why history books—you could've just spent like, what, twenty minutes looking for the right pony who knows the answer."

"I was speeding things on!" Onion yelled.

Isobar, once more, sighed, now shaking his head. "This overthinking, this stressing out over something, yes, important but not too important—I mean, you're not out to save Equestria or the entire world. You're just being sent to investigate something in Winsome Falls—nothing more, nothing less. If it's just an unfounded fear that the Princess has, then it's alright—maybe there's some ponies who are pulling off pranks at tourists there. We'll just step in and say, 'Hey, you're not supposed to be doing that!' If we have to fight, well, I'm sure you know some defensive spells at least, right?"

"Some." Onion grinned.

Isobar stared at his friend with a penetrating glare. "We're going to Wakes Week and Dally News now. Let's settle this on the way, OK?"

---

Up the narrow, escalating flight of stairs that reeked of musty timber; hoofsteps echoing and hallowing. Doors on the sides at stoppers—flat sections, interruptions, before the next flight of stairs; long stretches of hallway.

Walls of yellow, carpet of a simple blue design, and windows letting in the light at the end of the hallway.

One door—then, Watts Onion knocked on it.

"Hello?" he hollered. "Is anypony inside?"

"Yes! I'm coming over, just wait!"

Onion shot a glance at the pegasus.

Isobar shrugged.

So they stood in the middle of the otherwise empty hallway, faint tones of other hoofsteps and noises from within the other rooms.

Rattling and shaking of the door. Then, it opened.

An Earth pony mare with frizzled mane and a pretty red face at the door, smiling. "Onion! Long time, no see!" She gave the unicorn a little hoof wave.

Onion nodded, a shivering smile trembling on his lips.

"And, Isobar—you, too!" She gave him her own little hoof wave.

Isobar merely smiled at that.

"But, in all honesty, Wakes Week," Onion spoke up, "it wasn't so long. Just a few weeks of absence, that's all."

"A few weeks might as well be a few years if you're not communicating with the both of us! You haven't sent us a single letter!"

"We live in the same neighborhood," Onion answered, beaming somewhat. "You could've just walked your way—"

"I could say the same for you," she barged in, tensing her voice. Then, brightening up: "But, the past is in the past. Now, we're all together!" A nervous chuckle. "Well, most of us. Come on in! I promise you that the room's not as bad as it was last time."

The two entered, both of them not looking around and opening their mouth in wonder. Instead, they just looked forward to the bed which was cramped and surrounded by lots of paper on the walls—on some were scribbles, on others were sketches, and still on some were a combination of both as they almost covered the wall in a storm of paper. The rest of the room, however, was clean: The wooden floor was clean, even showing a little reflection because of the varnish; the two desks at the far end of the room were free from any dust, grime, or any other form of trash. The garbage can was right beside the bed and a short table which had a classic lamp on it and two pictures—on both of them were groups of ponies huddled together, hugging each other while managing to face the camera, all with smiles and grins that were wide. Labels were on the frames—one was "Wakes Week" and the other was "Dally News." A light, not on, was hanging from the ceiling and a bit close to the ponies there. Some shelves and cabinets dotted the walls and they were also covered with paper, with the knobs sticking out. Finally, there was the window which let in ample light that filled the room with bright clarity and a slight glimmer to the ponies' eyes.

"Dally News is going to be late," Wakes Week said, looking out the window, with a little pout. "Big news day today."

"The four Princesses at the Changeling Hive?" Isobar blurted.

"Yeah." She leaned on the wall. "The four of them meeting King Thorax and Pharynx for a special meeting about expanding changeling businesses and accommodating changelings who want to live outside of the hive."

"They should just let them in already," Isobar said. "Both changelings and their stores. It's hard to think that they were this slow to encourage them. They already heard of the big corporations going around and actively recruiting changelings into their workforce, but encouraging changeling business should've been done months ago—way back when everything was just starting out."

"However," Wakes Week replied, "you know that businesses are more complicated and complex than just 'Hey, I want to make money so I'll buy some things to sell!' There was no possibility of a changeling business thriving at all in the first few days right after the whole changeling reformation thing went on and over. Infrastructure was basically destroyed to bits and pieces, their whole way of living was uprooted and replaced with something else, and, even if the changelings wanted their new life—and they did—they were still ignorant about how that new life actually worked. Culture disputes and misunderstanding weren't going to give these changelings an easy time in anything at all, much less having a working economy all from changeling-grown markets."

"That's where you get it wrong," Isobar countered, adopting a tone of offense. "You just leave it at that and assume that everything is going to go bad unless they take their time. Except, if they took their time without asking for instant help from Equestria, then they wouldn't be having that time of slow rebuilding. If they asked for help when they didn't, then they would've—"

"Not so fast!" Wakes Week yelled, raising a hoof in protest and wearing a ready smirk. "What kind of help? They sent ponies and materials—"

"And, keep going," Isobar said. "Soon, you're going to get to—"

Wakes Week glanced at Watts Onion. "Uh, are you OK?"

Isobar looked at the unicorn.

He was just looking at the two of them, darting from one to the other. "I was, uh, out of the loop. What's this all about again?"

Isobar groaned. "Yet more consequences of thinking about this too much."

The look on Wakes Week dampened, facing the unicorn with a disheartened air around her. "Really, Onion?" Taking an umbrella and giving it to him, she said, "Don't let that bother you."

Onion, receiving the umbrella, said "Uh, thank you, Wakes Week."

She laughed a small a laugh in return. "Always the one to do that, huh? Some things never change about the both of you. And, today, you can properly worry about it."

"Yeah," he said, nodding before examining the umbrella given.

It was red, matching the mare's coat. It was also just red—no design, no other color, even. Just red.

"Do you have another umbrella of another color?" Onion asked.

"Not really," she answered. "The other one's with Dally News."

Isobar, eyeing and reading some of the papers tacked and taped on to the wall, turned away and said, "Before we go, Onion, I was thinking about saying our farewells to our families."

Onion gulped, sweating again and sporting that nervous and anxious laugh, looking left and right with shrunken eyes.

Isobar frowned. "Caught up so much that you even forgot to say your good-byes. That's very sad."

"Don't go shaking your head at me, Isobar," Onion said, raising his voice as he backed up close to one of the paper-covered walls.

Wakes Week stepped closer to him.

"I was just make sure that everything is perfect and ready to go for the trip—I don't want to miss a single thing!"

"Not at the expense of giving your family one last hug before we all go, Watts Onion," Isobar said.

Onion and Wakes Week looked on at the irritated pegasus.

Sighing, breathing slower, losing that aggravated attitude, he said, "Let's get back to your house, Onion, and say good-bye to them. Is that fine with you?"

Onion nodded.

Wakes Week placed a hoof around him.

Comments

[EverfreePony]

8485373
You're welcome. I'm glad I could help

Indeed, immersing the reader in the world is a great way of piquing their interest in the story, bringing the world closer to them, so to say.