• Published 12th Aug 2012
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To Err is Equine - RLYoshi



Everyone, pony, and thing makes mistakes. Not as many try to fix these mistakes, and even fewer succeed.

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35: Windigo's Dilemma

DATE: February 24th
LOCATION: Everfree Forest

[Perspective: Arrell]

“I’M A BIRD, MOTHERF-”

CRASH

“No, you’re not. Get up.”

I groaned as I hauled myself to my hooves for about the fifteenth time. How I hadn’t broken any bones yet, I wasn’t sure. I wasn’t even sure if Windigoes had bones. Someday, I needed to start learning more about my own damn species.

Risk sat idly by, his back against a tree. He had been watching me for the past hour as I trained. At some point, I decided to practice using my abilities while flying...and somehow started thinking about flying too much, and the next thing I know, I can’t even take off anymore.

Bucking centipede’s dilemma.

“You know, you could just try taking off from the ground...” Risk suggested again.

“There’s no danger in that. This way, I’m falling, and it gets my brain to realize that if I don’t start flying, I’ll be in pain!” I reasoned as I climbed back up the giant tree. I was getting very good at climbing it.

“Well, hopefully your brain starts realizing that soon, or you’re gonna break something,” he sighed. “Aside from the ground.”

CRASH

“...how about a world record for deepest hole?” I grumbled, climbing out of my steadily growing crater.

“It’s plausible.”


Okay, maybe I should give you all some context before I keep this going.

Between my meeting with a certain Fire-type Pokémon and my struggle with overthinking, it’s been maybe two months. We got back to Ponyville, but were weighed down a bit thanks to Nimble not quite being fully healed again. Smooth Grove didn’t do much for him. Even with the elder’s shortcut, it took us a few days to get back to Ponyville and get him in the hospital.

He came out fine. Some scars, but that aside, he was no worse for the wear in the end.

We stuck around Ponyville for a while, though part of me wished we stayed in Smooth Grove. Sure, Ponyville was...well, Ponyville, but lately all the action had been happening in other random places. If something exciting actually happened in Ponyville, it happened while I was training. I went back to Smooth Grove once or twice, but usually nothing was happening.

I had set up a strict training regimen for myself that I frequently procrastinated on. I was supposed to spend several hours a day in the Everfree Forest working on my powers, but I was lucky if I went out there even three times a week. I’m lazy like that.

Aside from training, nothing much was going on. I wasn’t on probation anymore, but False still stuck around. Risk and Asylum both seemed like they’d rather stay in one place instead of travelling around and having adventures like Styx wanted me to, so I wasn’t sure what their plans were. And Nimble was just going along with whatever the majority vote was.

All in all, things were at a standstill. My training was the only thing we considered interesting that was going on, and even I was beginning to doubt its usefulness. After all, I hadn’t had even a regular battle since Cinder, let alone one on which the fate of Equestria hinged. Everything was slow and steady.


[Perspective: RLYoshi]

...well, that’s just dull. Can’t have that. Plot device time!


[Perspective: Arrell]

CRASH

“Thirty-six.”

I hauled myself out of the crater again, flopping down onto the ground. My body was scraped up, I likely had a broken rib, and I couldn’t even feel my legs anymore. I coughed a bit of blood up, which instantly wilted the grass it hit.

Risk just nonchalantly levitated my saddlebags over to me. “We’re done. Just heal up.”

I sighed, nodding. We had stashed several large bags of ice in my endless saddlebags, so I could absorb it and heal up if I got hurt. This was a good example of such.

With Risk still holding the saddlebags in his magical grip, I began absorbing the ice from within the saddlebags.

That would turn out to be a big mistake.

I felt the ice struggling against something as I tried to pull it out. Confused, I made the stupid move of just trying harder. The saddlebags started to vibrate, and Risk’s magic suddenly took on a dark aura. I saw that he was just as confused as me, and also seeming worried.

With a flash of light, the Fine Rock disconnected from Risk’s horn and flew over to the bags, which were still being held by the dark aura. He slowly backed away; a move I would have emulated had I been capable of moving.

The Fine Rock came into contact with the saddlebags, and for a second, everything stopped.

And then exploded.


[Perspective: Risk Reward]

I regained consciousness with a splitting headache.

Groaning, I grabbed at my forehead, faintly realizing I didn’t have my full horn. Opening my eyes, I saw that it was the middle of the night...and I was still in the Everfree Forest.

Panic overcoming pain, I jumped up and looked around. Arrell was lying still several feet away. His saddlebags were crumpled on the ground between us, the Fine Rock lying beside it. I snatched the jewel up and fixed my horn before walking over to the Windigo.

He must have unconsciously absorbed the ice I was trying to give him, because most of his injuries were gone. All that he had left were some cuts. I shook him, trying to wake him up.

“Arrell? Arrell, wake up!” I yelled, before realizing yelling in the middle of the Everfree Forest was probably a bad idea. Sure enough, a manticore growl pierced my ears, though it seemed distance.

Quickly, I lifted Arrell onto my back (and he was not light), grabbed the saddlebags in my mouth, and started heading back down the path towards Ponyville. Whatever happened tonight, the others need to know about right away.

Arrell began to wake up on the way back. We just got out of the forest when he finally caught my attention. I stopped and lowered him to the ground. “You okay?”

He mumbled something incoherently, then repeated himself. “Been better, been worse...” He rubbed his eyes and yawned. “The hell happened?”

“There was a big flash of light. That’s all I remember. It knocked us both out.” I helped him stand up properly. “Can you walk?”

“Yeah. I’ll be fine.” He staggered a bit, but managed to walk at a decent pace after a few missteps. “Do you think what happened has to do with the Fine Rock?”

“Probably. I don’t know why your saddlebags were involved, though.” We continued walking in silence for a while after that, both of us trying to figure out this little mystery. “Any theories?”

He shrugged. “Either some kind of extra part of the legend of the Fine Rock, some douchebaggery by Styx’s hand, or just magic gone wrong. Or some combination thereof.”

“...sounds about right.”


[Perspective: Arrell]

Most of us were now assembled in the living room of Risk and False’s house. I say Risk and False’s house because they were the ones to pay for it, and because the rest of us typically didn’t stay there. Nimble went off to do his own thing, Asylum rented a hotel room or stayed with somepony for a night, and I had discovered the comfort of clouds.

Clouds made excellent beds, even without blankets. Not like I even needed blankets, being immune to the cold night air. That proved to be very convenient. But now I’m getting off track.

The only one not present was Nimble, but that was because we just couldn’t find him. Not surprising. Instead, we had Twilight, whom Risk had fetched on our way back. She seemed both confused and annoyed at first, which may have had something to do with my way of explaining the situation. Apparently “Giant flash rock bags stuff help” doesn’t translate well.

Fortunately, Risk explained what was going on much more coherently, and after we got back he did the same for False and Asylum. Now we were more or less waiting, as Twilight had used Spike to send a quick letter to Celestia explaining the situation and asking for her assistance. Until she arrived, all we could do was keep an eye on my saddlebags so they didn’t pull any other magic tricks.

I’ll admit I was feeling extremely nervous. I had only had one completely peaceful interaction with Celestia out of three interactions total. So just over sixty-six percent of my meetings with her had gone south. So I wasn’t betting against her showing up, instantly blaming me for what happened, and banishing me and locking me up in a dungeon in the place she banished me to.

Just as that train of thought finished, there was a flash, and we were joined by the solar princess. Almost instinctively, everypony sans myself and Twilight moved to bow, but the alicorn spoke before they could.

“This is not a time for formalities, my little ponies,” she said ominously. “There is a problem afoot, and it must be dealt with immediately.”

Twilight nodded. “That’s why I-”

“That’s why I am going to take action right away,” the princess interrupted. She lit her horn, grabbing me in her aura. “Arrell...we need to talk.”

With a flash, we were gone.

Author's Note:

Sorry about this chapter being kind of short. There'll be a nice little exposition dump and new plotline next chapter, but for now, I just wanted to establish the new setting.

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