Steam The Unknown

by Cavedragon

Red Hearts

Chapter 5: Red Hearts

By Cavedragon

Edited by: JTHENOOB

We where going to head out early that morning, we wanted to leave Northern Fourties A.S.A.P. OK I wanted to leave sooner, I just didn't want anything dangerous or weird to happen that we had to deal with right then. When we left the Inn in the morning, we were greeted by a small mob of ponies. Hoof shakes and thanks abounded from all the towns folk even Double Scoop was there to say her thanks, she gave us each a personal half gallon of our favorite flavor of ice-cream. It was a bit overwhelming really to have some many like you for so little, I mean all I did was distract the Windigo until Edge blew it up with a huge, ginormous, Ba-bomb. I looked at my half gallon and was about to ask how we keep them cold, but I was interrupted by the front doors being kicked open by none other than Ogre the thick headed Diamond dog.

He looked good not being a Popsicle and all but what was notable about his attire was the large metal box on his back. "Um what's with the box?" I asked pointing at the box on his back. He grinned at us with excitement in his eyes. Taking it off with a audible thud, he began to explain. "This “little dragon” , is cold box, meant to keep food cold on long gurneys" he said with a grin. On closer inspection, it was the size of a fridge made completely out of cast iron. The handle of it was a long thick piece of dark wood that resembled the handle of an old 60's fridge. "How does it keep the food cold?". I asked testing the door, it wouldn't budge I yanked on it a couple more times didn't even shimmy. With an amused chuckle he grabbed the handle and flung it open, a wave of cold washed out and made me cough a bit when I took a breath. It had a few shelves and two doors inside. Imbedded in the back was a small glowing gem its glow a slight icy blue, “see little dragon, frost gem is in back of cold box which make box cold for years”.

" Wogw," Sharp edge said through a mouth full of ice-cream. "that could be useful", he said finally swallowing his mouth full and placed his half gallon, with the spoon in the cold box. "yes, It is not the greatest like moi but The Great and Powerful Trixie will use it for her pleasure." Trixie said putting her gallon in the cold box. I shrugged and added my ice-cream to theirs. “ I guess it would work to keep our food good for our trip.” I said, before I noticed that his underwear was rapped around a old sandwich. “ there's Oger's sandwich,” he said taking it out, and I started to gag when he started eating it. After that, we headed out with some food, a few supplies, and Edge's bit pouch a little heavier.

. . .

It finally started to get warmer once we started to get to the bottom of the mountain. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, the flowers were blooming giving the air a sweet smell and the sun was shining. It seemed to be the start of a good day. For the first time in this place, I was calm for once.

Sharp Edge took a deep breath and tilted his head up letting out a loud,” SOOOOOO BOOOOOORRRIIING!” he said on the exhale. I looked at him as we walked,” what's wrong with you?” I asked. He shook his head looking down, “ We been walking for hours, and there is nothing. There's no village's, no towns, no action for hours. There's nothing out here except mammy pamby flowers and disappointing trees.” he trotting beside me, looking like me in math class. I shrugged,” well, maybe we will find a town up here soon”. I looked back at Trixie,” hey, anything from the map yet?” I ask curiously. She glared at me over the map still a little sticky,” not yet! Trixie told you this five minutes ago. Nothing has cha-”. She stopped in mid sentience, “ wait, the words are back”. We all stopped and looked over her shoulder in interest. She began to read:

I applaud your achievement,
Now we are in agreement,
that you will find my book,
so, to the west you must look,
in a place founded by love and kindness,
even for the mindless,
now for the only question you should ask,
is what lies behind the mask.

Just like before, the words vanished and the compass on the map spun around and pointed down the road we where walking down. Edge's grin just got wider, he stood up on his hind legs, and pointed a hoof forward,” ALONS'Y!!” he yelled, starting to sprint down the road full tilt. Trixie, Oger, and I watched him in amazement from his sheer speed. It took a minute to snap out of it, to follow him. He was a fast little pony. Oger was huffing and puffing behind Trixie and me. He was complaining that Diamond dogs warriors we not good at cross country sprinting, but they where dangerous at short distances. I would have chuckled at that if I wasn't so winded. They slowed down to a brisk jog, but I kept my speed till I could see Edge.

Edge finally stopped at the top of a hill looking down. “ what's huff the matter pant?” I said trying to catch my breath. He sighed and pointed to a town in the distance. The town was fairly large, however, it's was all painted white, pink and red. A large clock tower with hearts on the hands of the clock telling everypony that it was five minutes to six for twenty miles. The clock face had a smiling pony face which was a little creepy to me. The eyes moved back and forth counting the seconds, adding more to my creep-ometer. I looked back at Edge, “so, what's this place?” I asked with my air easily going in and out of my lungs. He sighed and began to explain,” this is hearts and hooves town, or the town of hearts for short. Its, as you can see, hearts and hooves day all year round.”, he rolled his eyes just thinking about it, “ most ponies come here to get hitched or have a honeymoon . Romance is always in the air here.” he gagged a bit when he mentioned romance. “Not really a place for me, but I'll pace through and eat some free wedding cake every now and again.” he finished. Trixie and Oger showed up, Trixie popped Edge over the head with her magic, and Oger flopped down on his face with the heavy mid-evil fridge on top of him.

Edge yelped and rubbed his head with hoof, “ow what was that for”? She glared at him panting,” You..made..Trixie...all..SWEATY!” she put a lot of influence on sweaty. She was covered in sweat, the brim of her hat and some of her cape was getting soaked with sweat. She looked like she would keel over if not for the death glare she leveled at Sharp Edge. He just waved her off, “ Na, exercise is good for mares, keeps them slim and fit”, he joked, but Trixie was not laughing when she popped him again and sat on the fridge Oger was under. Oger let out a soft squeak when Trixie sat on top of it to pout.

Edge was still grinning, but I turned my attention to the town down below us. “ well, its getting dark, we wont be able to get down there today”. Edge sat down next to me looking down there with me. “ we could always run down there. We made it this far from spr- ouch” he was cut short from Trixie throwing a rock at his head. “ TRIXIE, it not running again today!!” she shouted making her point. “ OK,ok we wont run anymore, ow.” he said rubbing his head. He looked at me,” what are you laughing at chuckles”? I was grinning with a few small chuckle escaping my lips. “ nothing nothing,” I looked back to the hill,” anyway, if we had a cart or something, it would be faster”. I sighed and looked over at Edge grinning the Genus Sharp Edge grin again.” um any ideas?” I asked a little worried. He looked back at Trixie. Trixie starting to look worried too. “ I may have a few Ideas my scaly friend.”

. . .

“ this isn't a good idea!” I protested as I sat on an unconscious Oger, still strapped in to his cast iron frig. “ no worries, I have everything under control” he said carefully balancing the metal box over the only large cliff we could find that leads up to the city of hearts. Trixie was clinging to me for dear life, “ YOUR OUT OF YOUR MIND!!” she screamed like a little filly. Edge just shrugged,” don't worry”, he hopped up with us pulling out his sword to cut the ropes holding us from plummeting. “ there is a method to my madness!” he said with one swift slash, he cut the rope. We were off like a rocket on ludicrous speed. My eyes were watering from the wind, Oger's lips were flapping violently, Trixie was chocking me from how tight she was squeezing me, and Sharp Edge was cheering as we bounced, rattled, and jumped along our path down ward. Edge climbed to Oger's face, and using his head like a steering wheel, some how guided the box sled down the cliff face.

He swerved between trees with strange ease. My head let out loud long squeak as I could feel my eyes nearly popping out of my head from Trixie's increasing grip. Her grip got tighter every time we nearly hit a rock or a tree. That is, he did make a direct hit on a large tree. After that, everything went into slow-motion. The box snapped the tree in half with a resounding crunch, and Oger's straps gave way, sending us all flying. We serf Oger for a wile, till he fell away. Trixie and I slowly flew away from Sharp Edge, who was in full superman formation. “YYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!” I could hear him yell as he headed for the top of a tree.

We landed with a crash. Thank Celestia we landed in a berry bush. Trixie and I were a tangle of hoofs and legs, when I opened my eyes... well lets just say, in the position I was in, I saw something I wasn't meant to see. Trixie told me that if we ever spoke of this again, she would smother me in my sleep with a pillow and turn my face into her new toaster cosy . I didn't say anything and just nodded in agreement. I was blushing a very bright shade of red after wards.

It took us a moment to find where Edge was. We found him after he stood on top of the tree he was in and yelled out,” THAT..WAS...AWWWESOOOME!!” he did hoof pumps,” who wants to go again!”? We just glared up at him. He just held up his hoofs,” ok, ok I get it”. He step forward, there were snapping of branches, and he feel all the way down to the base of the tree within moments. I just shook my head, helping him up,” can you please do something crazy that doesn't involve you getting hurt.”, I dusted him off. He was still grinning, picking his hat up in his magic and plunking it on his head,” Na, what would be the fun in that?”, he asked still grinning wide. I smiled shaking my head at this crazy unicorn,” come on, we need to find a big diamond dog .”, I said patting him on the shoulder.

It wasn't too hard to find Oger. He was face down in a face plant crater that he made from the impact. Trixie was the first to speak,” is he dead or just sleeping?” she asked a little worried. Edge just blew a small raspberry,” it would take a lot more then that to put this dog down.” he said waving a hoof at him. I wasn't too sure. So, I approached him, slowly reached down to check for a pulse like you would normally. Well, normal for a human. I could feel his heart was still beating and he was breathing. I jumped a little to see Edge and Trixie on ether side of me, checking out what I was doing. “ well, is he ok?” Trixie asked looking more worried. I nodded, “ hes ok, just out cold”. Edge just smiled looking at her,” So, you do have a heart.” he said with his grin in place. Trixie just huffed and turned her nose up in the air, “ Trixie just wanted to know if he can still carry Trixie 's luggage”. Edge just rolled his eyes, “ riiiiight. Ok, how can we wake him up?”, he asked the grin back in play thinking up many crazy ways to wake him. “ roll him over”, I said looking through the saddle bags for one of our canteens of water.

With some shoving, and pushing, we were able to flip him on his back. I twisted off the cap from the canteen and poured water on to his face. He sputtered and flinched tossing me like a rag doll on to my back, but he was awake. He slowly sat up,” what happened to Oger ?”, he said rubbing his head,” and why Oger's head hurt”? We..well, Edge explained the hole thrilling ride down the cliff face, and he finished,” it was very awesome, but you do need a breath mint”. For spite to Sharp Edge's comment, Oger took a deep breath and breathed on him. Trixie and Edge held their breath with their hooves over their noises. “ gross , dog breath. Trixie is very disgusted by her help”. The smell didn't bother me much. Living with a lot of dogs growing up, I was kinda use to it.

Once that was over, we retrieved the iron cold box and headed into town. Light was still out so we could see all the cheesy colors of Valentine day or hearts and hooves day. The color scheme was a variety of pinks, reds and whites. Mainly Pepto pink. There were many stores from flower and card shops to wedding chapels and ring shops. Once we entered this romance city, you can literally taste the sweet love in the air, and I don't know if I was on something but I could swear that I saw butterflies with heart wings in the same colors of the town, leaving little hearts in its wake. Ponies all around us where all twiterpated. There was baby talk every where and not one pony thought it was corny, except us.

Edge gagged slightly, Trixie was admiring the dresses and hats, and Oger was looking at the food. I ushered them over to a coffee house/Inn. It had the same qualities of a coffee house, with tables for couples to sit around drinking coffee together. There was a cute red mare with a coffee mug with some red substance in it, behind the counter washing dishes. I rang the bell to get her attention. She turned around and gave use a soft and kind smile. “ yes , can I help you with anything sugar?” she said with an eyelash flutter. “ um” I stuttered, “we need rooms for all of us for the night”. Ya, im still not good on talking to girls, even in a different species. She smiled at us as we each got our own room. Then she put three coffee mugs with the red liquid in it. “ whats this?” Edge inspected it with a hoof. He gave it a courtesy sniff. “ smells like a sissy drink”. He said curling his nose a bit. She giggled at him, “ its called Loves First Blush. It's free with the room sweetie.” she cooed. Oger shrugged and slammed his hard and fast. It wasn't too hard for him to drink all of it in one gulp. He smacked his lips, “ not bad, Oger like, but Oger has to hide cold box so no pony steal.” he said heading out,” Oger will return”. He was gone and the coffee mare giggled again and started washing dishes again.

I looked at Edge and Trixie,” well, it seems ok”. “ ya, at least its not poisoned.” Edge said putting the mug up to his lips and started to sip it. Trixie started to drink hers too. I shrugged and drank mine. It had sweet pungent taste with a hint of a fruity flavor. “ hum , not bad.” I said looking at my empty mug. “ what do you think Edge?”, I asked looking over at him. He was staring at the coffee mare smiling a goofy smile. “ Edge, HEY Edge?!” I shook him. “ hum, what?” he said coming out of his daze. “ are you ok?” I asked wondering what was with the sudden mood change. “ ya I'm fine, I think I might ask the coffee mare out on a date.” he said with a smile. “ hu, umm ok, you can do that, I'm going to find the page so we can get out of here as soon as possible.” I said letting him sit there. That's when I noticed,Trixie was gone.

. . .

Even though I didn't know where Trixie was, I knew she would be ok. I mean its not like you could get mugged in a town that's all about love. I managed to get the map from Trixie's saddle bags once I dropped them off in her room.

I headed around town following the map's compass. I bumped in to a hard frame of a stallion. I backed up to apologize to him, but he spoke first. “ oh, I'm sorry, are you ok?” he said looking down at me. He was, like I said, a hard solid frame earth pony stallion with a pink mane and white fur. His cutie mark was a red and blue hearts over lapping each other. “ I'm fine thank you, but I think I ran into a you, sorry about that.” I said righting myself. He chuckled, “its fine”, he said with a smile,” I'm Puffin Pants, the mayor of hearts and hoofs town”. He patted me on my shoulder, “ let me give you a tour of my town my friendly dragon.” he said guiding me through the ponies. I smiled sheepishly,” ok, that would be.. um nice”. The only thing that came to my mind at the time was. Is he like Fancy Pants gay cousin or something. I'm no expert on that type of thing but to each his own.

He showed me around the town, stopping at various shops, giving me tips on the best type of flower to give your special somepony..er dragon, and telling me the history of the town and holiday. It apparently started in 1200 BL, during the fight of flaming seeds, that lasted for three months. A stallion was sending letters to the mare that he loved. From their love started a holiday that celebrated love. It was a little fascinating how in other dimensions dimensions history plays out that is different from my own.

We finally came to the center of town with the pony clock tower and a fountain, with a large stone heart on a pedestal in the middle of it. I glanced at the map and the arrow was pointing at the fountain. I thanked Puffin Pants for the tour for his town he told me if I had any question come and see him at his house. I did think that would never happen. I examined the fountain when he left. The base was cared with cults and fillies pegasi with bows and arrows, I was guessing that this was their version of a cupid. The pedestal was a roman style, with a well cared stone heart that was smooth. Water sprayed out the top of the pedestal. It was a very well done piece, but how was I sappost to get page that was inside of it?

I don't know how long I took trying to find a buttons or levers of some type. I pressed every carving, pulled on ever appendage I could find hanging off of it. Until I started hitting my head on it out of frustration. I finally hit my head a bit to hard, and the heart clicked open. My head hurt and I was tired. I climbed up to where the heart opened and I could see a pink chest inside, but it was open. I looked inside the chest to find a piece of parchment. I still having trouble reading their language. I folded up the paper in the map. And closed the heart. That's when I heard something strange, like and suffocating sucking sound.

I hopped down and noticed that the sun was coming up, but I sighed and fallowed the noise knowing it would get me into trouble again. I fallowed it to a back ally were and eary green glow was coming from there. I was going to regret this but I looked down the back ally way to see something that still gives me the creeps today. A brown pony was laying on their back with their mouth open and their eyes a neon green. There was a bug like pony with its back to me, standing over top of them with their mouth open and seemed to be inhaling this green mist coming from the brown pony. The disgusting thing was, the brown pony was slowly turning into a mummy before my eyes.

I was speechless, as I slowly backed up and ran away. Within moments I was at the door steps of Puffin Pants. I bang on the door three times before he answered yawning. “ little dragon friend? What brings you to my humble abode, so early in the morning”? I was panting a bit,” I need to talk to you, its an emergency!” I was slightly out of breath as I spoke. He looked a little concerned as he let me in to his house. He walked me up to this fourth floor of his house and pasted me a coffee that was pleasantly sweet when I took a sip and sat in front of him. “ So, since your calmed down, tell me what emergency are you talking about”? I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and I took my time on telling him what I saw moments before coming to his house. He sat in his chair taking it all in, and lisened intently to every word I said. He sighed slightly, “ would you like a crumpet with your coffee?”, he asked politely. I took a deep breath and nodded slightly a bit confused, but I thought he was being kind. As he turned away, I noticed something strange about his cutie mark, instead of having a red and blue hearts, it was pink and yellow. “ um, didn't you have a red and blue hearts?”, I ask getting a little nervous. He turned back with a sigh, holding a plate of small crumpets in his hooves. When he looked at me I notice a green sheen to his eyes.

That's when he spoke,” I guess I am found out.” his voice changed from soft and kind to hard and gravely. Green aura surrounded me and pined me to the wall. It was coming from his earth pony forehead. He sat and ate his crumpets as he explained,” I've been running this town for over thirty years with out any problems from the princesses or the queen. Now a little dragon comes to my town and already knows everything.” he said before sipping his coffee. He turned his chair, dragging me along in the wake. I smashed into everything on his shelves, from books to glasses that shattered against my scales. “ I don't know anything.”, I pleaded. He slammed me hard into the roof then into the floor dragging me along for the ride. I could feel my limbs acing from all the abuse. He made me look at him,” I think you know more then you think.”, he bounced me off the floor again then held me ageist the window. “ I know I cant kill you, since your hide and scales are too thick.”, he pulled me away from the window and held me suspended in mid-air for a few moments. “ but I do know, no matter how much armor you were, it wont save you from a broken neck.”, he smiled evilly before say, “ goodbye my little dragon friend”. With one are thrust, he smashed out the window and lunched me out of a four-story building.

I floated aloft for a moment thinking, why do I always falling to my possible death? Well, cant do anything about it now. I flipped over to see the ground coming in closer fast. I closed my eyes and I landed and slide to a stop. I felt a life but sticky. I pushed myself up and wiped frosting from my face and I seen what broke my fall. “ saved by wedding cake.”, I said looking down as the flatted remains of the cake. “ I must be at a wedding,”, I looked around and saw something I thought I would never see. It was Sharp Edge in a tux, with coffee mare in a dress and they where about to become married.

Foot note:

Achievement Awarded: High Flier: fly over 100 meters and live

Perks : broken heart anti-bodies: you are now immune to love poison and changeling's kiss

Author's Note:

I'M BACK EVEYPONY! Sorry it took so long, my computer took a a swim and fried itself. It's fixed and i am continuing the story. please leave a like, a favorite and even a comment if you feel like it, It would be much appreciated. Thanks for waiting! XP