The Curse of the Statuettes

by Dusk Melody

Chapter 5 - The Runaway Professor

“So, Cloudy,” Sparkler spoke up after a good fifteen minutes of silence, “Did you get this gem because I told you not to?”

“Why?” Cloudburst asked. Sat next to the unicorn in the back of Stonecutter’s red wagon, the pale blue pegasus looked up to see the yellow unicorn playing with the large white gemstone. She was sure that Sparkler would never admit to ‘playing with it’, she’d say she was ‘studying it’, but she was turning it over in her green magical field, and to Cloudburst that meant playing. “Do you think I'm irresponsible and careless or something?”

Sparkler’s look of curiosity at the gem and its possible purpose became a broad smile, one she directed at her friend under the wide brim of her sun hat. “You're something, Cloudy. Very much something,” she settled on diplomatically, rather than admit that yes, she found her at times to be not just irresponsible but downright reckless.

“You didn't answer the question, Sparks,” Cloudburst pointed out as she sat upright in the back of the wagon and rested her hands on her flat belly. Even at this very, very early stage, she was sure she could sense the tiny life growing in there. Either that or the Tartarus damned heat was at last getting to her.

“If you want me to use a one word description of you,” Sparkler started and then she paused when the pegasus passed her one of the bottles of fresh water they had bought with them when they resupplied back at Site B. Without thinking, she levitated a bottle up front, where Stonecutter took it, “It would be impetuous. You live in the now and worry about consequences later.” Sparkler then nodded towards Stonecutter who was in her groove pulling the wagon, “The word for her is driven. She worries to much about how she is. Not how I see her. What about me, Cloudy. Do you have a word for me?”

As it happened, Cloudburst had many words to describe Sparkler. Not all of them as kind as she’d like. But, after getting to know her, she thrust those to the back of her mind. “I was gonna go with booky or nerdy, but I think 'dependable' would be better,” she said after a moment’s consideration, “You're smart. You know stuff I never will, you always have a plan, you always know what to do.”

Very quickly, Sparkler covered her mouth to stop a laugh, but she wasn’t quite quick enough. “I wish I had a plan, but I don't even know where we're going to plan! I do put up a good front, and I do know a lot of stuff so I can make a snap decision and it looks like I planned it.”

Cloudburst snickered, “Mom said once, when I was younger, if you slip, turn it into an aileron roll and act like you meant it.”

The fact that Cloudburst’s eyes got rather wet when she mentioned her mother did not go unnoticed by Sparkler. Although basic interaction skills were still somewhat beyond her, she knew enough to instinctively wrap her arm around the pegasus’s shoulders and pull her into a hug. “Hold the good memories and let the bad ones fade,” she advised, having read the passage in a book, “I noticed you didn't disagree with my word for you.”

“How can I disagree?” Cloudburst asked sullenly, “You're right, you got me pegged.” She then thought for a moment, and the scenery went past them on their way to Dustmane Ridge in the distance. Not that the scenery was anything to look at. It was nothing but sand, dirt, and rocks. “Is that what you do, about your dad, remember good stuff and forget the rest?”

Now it was Sparkler’s turn to go quiet. It had been a good while since Solar Flare, her father, had left her and her mother high and dry in Canterlot. It still hurt though. “Yeah, but you really can't,” she admitted softly, “You can’t just focus on one and not the other. It has gotten to the point I no longer cry. Mom asked me about that. She still does, but I told her I don't make time for it.”

Cloudburst considered that. She was mindful of not whining too much in this regard. As much as her parents were absentees, she still had them both. Her friend did not. “Yeah. I haven't seen my parents in three years, outside of the odd Wonderbolts performance. I always invite them to my harmonica recitals at school, they never show. Tartarus, they've never even met Seafoam!”

Nudging her friend’s ribs gently, Sparkler said, “You may have tried this, but have you scheduled an appointment?”

Of course she had tried that, what did the unicorn think she was, stupid? “Something always comes up at the last minute. Training schedule change, or whatever excuse comes next.” Then, Cloudburst went very quiet. She went quiet for a rather long time. So long in fact that she was sure the unicorn had thought she was asleep. “Sparkler, can I ask your opinion on something?”

The seriousness of the pegasus’s tone made Sparkler lift up the brim of her hat and give her a look to make sure she had heard right. “Before you ask, do you want a sweet, that's nice answer, or what I really think answer?”

“I wouldn't ask if I didn't want what you really think.” One thing that Cloudburst could be absolutely sure of was that Sparkler would not simply stroke her ego. “I know you won't just tell me what I want to hear, Sparks.”

“Ask away.”

As she looked directly down at her flat belly like it would spontaneously grow several sizes in an instant, Cloudburst said, “Do you think, when we have foals, I...I mean, 'we', are we like, good parents on instinct, or am I gonna be rubbish like my parents?” the pegasus pulled on her top, because suddenly it had gotten a lot of degrees hotter. Even out there in the Badlands.

“Your choice,” Sparkler answered simply before she elaborated, “Being a parent is not easy. You have examples that you learn from. Yours are the first. Then your friends, like Stoney. I know it’s easy to fall back on what you know best. You really need to make a choice,” the unicorn sighed and marshalled her thoughts, “Do you want to sacrifice your life for the life you brought into the world?”

Still looking at her belly, Cloudburst said, “I'd do anything for her, Sparks, and I mean that.” She sighed and her ears lay flat against her head, “Stone's parents have all but adopted me, and your mom's pretty cool too.”

“Um, ah...” Sparkler started and then, when realisation dawned on her like a very large bit sliding slowly down a coin machine, she leant in close so she could really whisper quietly, “Are you pregnant?”

Slowly, ever so slowly, Cloudburst nodded her head. “Fairly sure I am, yeah. It was that night when you two stayed at Zecora's place. We did it, like, a lot, and the last time we did it underwater and the rubber came off. He splodged in me, loads. Like, tons of it.” It felt good to tell somepony, so she wasn’t bearing the news alone.

When she spoke next, Sparkler made sure to keep her voice low, so that Stonecutter couldn’t hear her. “You shouldn't be out here. But we need you. If Stoney finds out, you know she will make you go home.”

“I know.” That much was blatantly obvious. “I'll tell her after it's all done. If I tell her now, I'll break her like I break the computers at school.” Suddenly, a pained sob left her, “I-I promised my Master I'd be super careful, and I've almost been killed like a million times!”

“We're going to get back,” Sparkler said with a rare determination in her voice, for now she had even more of a reason for them all to get back. “I'll keep pulling plans out my ass like I had them there all along. You'll keep being impetuous and doing what needs to be done when it needs doing. Stoney will be the sane one to say, ‘I don't think that will work’.”

“Sounds like a plan, Sparks,” Cloudburst’s signature cocky grin reappeared on her face and she offered her fist to her friend, which Sparkler bumped with a roll of her eyes. “Seafoam tried so damn hard to get me to stay behind, you know. But...I like hanging out with you guys. Crazy shit always happens, and it's fun!”

Lightly, Sparkler poked Cloudburst with her index finger, “When we get back you can remind me of the 'fun' bits. So,” she swiftly changed the subject, “Do you think Seafoam will stick with you when he finds out?”

“He already knows. Kinda hard not to know when he was still in me when we surfaced,” Cloudburst giggled at the memory of the night that had either gone disastrously badly or brilliantly right, depending on one’s point of view, “He wants to move to Mount Aris.”

“Is that where his parents are?”

“Yup. They're part of Queen Novo's palace guard.”

“That gives us a reason to visit then!” Sparkler smiled warmly before she lowered her index finger down to Cloudburst's enviously flat belly. It so was not fair that she had what was affectionately called ‘foal fat’ on her hips and belly. “There is no such thing as a 'good' parent. There are those that are dedicated to being a parent and those that are careless about it. Love. That is the key.”

At that, Cloudburst cried a little as the wagon rumbled ever onwards towards the ridge in the distance. She was very, very pleased that her best friend was looking ahead to their destination and couldn’t see her crying. She hated ponies seeing her cry. “See, I said you were smart and dependable,” through her tears, she giggled, “You know, when you come to visit, it's the cultural thing not to wear clothes.”

Of course, Sparkler knew of the Hippogriff social customs. To them, nudism was a practical consideration. When one could transform from Hippogriff to Seapony at will, clothing just got in the way, so they didn’t bother with it. “Just so you know, I'm so going to run around in very sexy lingerie.”

Her spirits somewhat lifted, Cloudburst laughed, “I'm counting on it, sis.”

Looking ahead, Sparkler gazed lovingly at Stonecutter’s fat behind that jiggled sexily as her marefriend pulled the wagon. The way it wobbled, the way her tail swished side to side with every step, it was mesmerising. “As the one pulling the wagon, I could watch her run around naked all day long.”

Cloudburst followed Sparkler’s gaze to her best friend’s generously proportioned rear, “I think she's a lucky sub to get you as her dom.”

Hearing that, Sparkler frowned deeply and she sat back against the back of the wagon. Their exchange at Site A came back to the fore of her mind, where it threatened to eat at her. “We had a ‘moment’, earlier when you were trying to recreate an earthquake.”

Sparkler’s deep sigh made Cloudburst take notice. “What kind of a moment? Was it a 'weight' moment?” It was a good bet, where Stonecutter was concerned, to assume any issues involving her also involved her weight.

“I told her to step lightly,” Sparkler said with a nod of her head, “She took that as I thought she was too fat to step lightly. I don't see her as fat, I don't even think of her as fat. Like crying. I'm not taking time to even consider her weight.” The unicorn’s voice went quieter and quieter until she was silent. She would never forget the angry expression on her marefriend’s face. She sincerely hoped she would never look at her like that again.

“She's had to deal with a lot of crap because of her weight,” Cloudburst stated from experience, “I've had to punch more than a few ponies at school when they forget what friendship's all about. I don't even think she was mad at you, more like it was an automatic response thing. It's not that she doesn't exercise, it's well, she's that size and that's that.”

“I like that size!” Sparkler admitted, her yellow cheeks flushing bright red as again she found herself staring at Stonecutter’s vast behind, and she had to force herself to not get lost in a fantasy where she was underneath and between those glorious mountains of flesh, “This wasn't the first time, and I doubt it will be the last. I just don't know if I should apologize for what I said, or I should confront her how she reacted.”

“How about both?” offered Cloudburst with a raised eyebrow and a wry grin, “You could always give her an attitude adjustment, Mistress style, when this is all put to bed,” she then hugged Sparkler just like she herself had been hugged, “I do know she loves the bones of you. I've never seen her so happy as when she got with you and she wore your collar. She never expected to get with anypony, because of her size.”

The thought of adjusting her marefriend’s attitude, with the aid of a crop, was very appealing right at that moment. She could always use her new creation skill to magically create a crop to use. “Maybe if we can camp somewhere safe, and you can keep the cat calls down, or do you want to watch?”

“Oh,” Cloudburst’s grin widened, “I definitely want to watch, and I promise I won't be an ass, because I like to sit on my ass.”

Again, the two mares shared a fist bump, though this time it was Sparkler who initiated the gesture, “Deal.”

“Thanks sis...” Whatever she was about to say next died on her lips as her sharp ears pricked up. She was sure she heard a shrill cry on the wind. Looking up and around her, she was surprised to see they were at the base of Dustmane Ridge already. “Hey, do you hear that? Sounds like...crying.”

Sparkler couldn’t hear anything out of the ordinary, not over the familiar rumbling of the wagon’s wheels, anyway. Now she was alerted though, she started to look around and use her ears. Like her friend, she was surprised to see they were at the ridge already. Where had the time gone? “Stoney, hold up for a bit, please.”

“Huh?” came the response from Stonecutter, who had been so much in her own little world that she was still holding the empty water bottle in her hand. Now shocked out of her reverie, she blushed, because she had been dreaming about Sparkler and her sculptures, she slowed down from the walk to a stop.

“There it is again!” Cloudburst cried as she heard the shrill sound again.

“Doesn't sound like a pony,” Sparkler commented, because now she could hear it too.

“Sounds like a bird,” Cloudburst mused, standing up in the wagon and straining her keen ears.

“I hear it now too,” Stonecutter called back, pointing to a point partway up the side of the cliff that rose up in front of them from the floor of the Badlands, “It’s coming from that rise over there!”

Sparkler surveyed the terrain and frowned, “No way the wagon can go up there. Can you scout it out please, Cloudy, just stay low in case whatever it might be thinks you might be a snack.”

“Yes ma'am!” order received, Cloudburst flapped her strong powerful wings and she took off, flying up the cliff to the rise that Stonecutter had pointed out.

“What were you two talking about?” Stonecutter asked Sparkler when the unicorn had alighted from the wagon and come to stand by her side, where she helped to get her unhitched so they could follow on hoof at a slower and safer pace.

“I asked Cloudy what her favourite sexual position was,” Sparkler said with such a straight face that even she was amazed at her growing interpersonal skills, “But she had a hard time narrowing it down to just the one.” She held Stonecutter’s hand, linking their fingers together, “I told her that you were my favourite position.”

As Cloudburst came swooping back down, Stonecutter coloured up in such a deep red blush that she resembled a walking tomato, “It's a bird alright,” the pegasus reported, “It’s trapped under some rubble on the other side of the rise, but it's not like any bird I've ever seen.”

Pleased that her pet had reacted like that, Sparkler whispered, “She didn't believe me and she wants proof,” she purred into the earth pony’s ear with a most salacious wink. “We'll be up as soon as we can Cloudy,” she said, raising her voice, “Keep an eye out for more of them.”

“You got it!” Cloudburst saw that they had ditched the red wagon and she flew over to where they had left it, behind some large boulders, and she grabbed her rucksack before flying up again.

“Sh-She does?” Stonecutter hefted her large pack, which was the largest pack they possessed, easily onto her broad shoulders, “Ah...I ah...th-think that's a good idea,” she stuttered, wishing that the heat she felt now was just on her face and not elsewhere. It was very much elsewhere.

Electing to travel as light as she could, which meant that Stonecutter clipped her backpack onto her pack and carried it for her, Sparkler lightly slapped her marefriend’s chubby ass. “I think you're right.”

Stonecutter’s blush remained intact as they carefully ascended the top of the rise, because she knew what was in the bottom of her pack, something that would ease the ‘elsewhere’ heat. “I reckon that's Dustmane Ridge up above the rise. We'll have to come back later for the wagon…” her words were then quieted when she saw what her best friend was standing next to. “Well look at that! What in Equestria is that?”

‘That’, as it turned out, thanks to Sparkler’s creature book, was a baby roc. And it wasn’t happy. The closer they got to it, the louder and clearer its shrill cries became. It was obvious to the three ponies that the poor creature was in a great amount of pain due to the fallen rocks that were strewn across its left wing.

Unanimously, with a silent look to each other, they agreed to help out the poor bird. It was only when Stonecutter had freed the roc from the rubble, easily tossing aside the heavy stones like they were softballs, that they could see the bird didn’t have feathers, at least not in the traditional sense. Instead, its body was covered in rows of stony shards covering its body and wings as well as being possessed of a large rocky beak and sharp talons.

Once Stonecutter had healed the roc by squirting some of their balm into the wound and then fixing a splint to its wing, something that took the master stone mason a matter of moments thanks to her creative flair, the three mares started on the long climb up the cliff face to Dustmane Ridge. Just as Doctor Caballeron had said, there was an unnaturally strong wind that blew the moment they started to climb, which made flying all but impossible.

They were about a third of the way up, using the grappling harnesses to effectively ‘walk’ up the side of the steep, almost sheer, surface, when Sparkler suddenly said, “I’m sorry about setting you off at the old dig site, Stone.”

“What?” Stonecutter, who was climbing on the unicorn’s right, with Sparkler in the middle, was caught off guard by the sudden statement, mostly because she was concentrating wholly on the cliff face in front of her and trying very, very hard to not look down.

Hanging from her grappling harness on Sparkler’s left, with the healed baby roc happily sat on her shoulder, Cloudburst called out, “She said, sorry for setting you off in Site A. what she means is, ‘what's your bucking deal?’, but she's too polite to say it.”

“Are we really doing this now?” Stonecutter asked, unable to keep the exasperated tone from her voice. Not that she felt that way towards her marefriend, it was where she was that was doing it. “We're hanging off a cliff!” Not the place she wanted to be.

“Yeah!” Cloudburst hollered, “You can't run away halfway up a cliff. Talk!”

“Stoney,” Sparkler started again, somewhat calmer than the pegasus to her left. She wanted to get to the bottom of her marefriend’s issues. Even if they were hanging off the side of a cliff. “I have no issues with your weight now, past, or future, but you do. I don't want something I say to hurt you, when I never mean to hurt you.”

“I...” Stonecutter looked away, unable to meet Sparkler’s piercing green eyes. This proved to be a mistake because she glanced downwards and then ended up hugging the cliff in fear, “I don't have an issue...”

“Horseapples!” yelled Cloudburst angrily, making the baby roc on her shoulder chirp and gesture with its wings in a manner that echoed the pegasus, “You tell her, right now! Or Celestia help me, I will, Stone!”

Realising she was defeated and metaphorically, if not literally, backed into a corner, Stonecutter sighed deeply and hung her head. “Alright, alright. I...I get bullied,” even though they were just three words, they felt like the biggest three words the earth pony had ever spoken, “Over my size. I always have been, ever since kindergarten, all through school, and I still do now.”

“If you went to the school I was at in Canterlot,” Sparkler said softly, reaching out to squeeze her marefriend’s hand, “I could have been one of those. If only to be with the 'in' crowd and not get picked on myself.”

“It's not just her size she gets bullied for…”

“CB!”

“Okay,” Sparkler raised her hands placatingly, grateful that the grappling hooks in the harness were holding her in place, “Let’s leave that, whatever that is, for now. Your weight, Stoney. I don't have a 'crowd' to be in at Ponyville. I have you. I don't want to lose you over a careless word.”

“You won't,” Stonecutter said as she took several deep breaths to calm herself down, “I...I need to get over it.”

“I help!” Cloudburst smiled smugly, “Anypony bullies my big sis when I’m around, I deal with them!”

Sighing, Stonecutter rolled her eyes, “I wish you wouldn’t, CB.”

“But it's fun! I snap my fingers,” the pegasus demonstrated what she meant by snapping he fingers and sending a small bolt of lightning bouncing harmlessly off the cliff face, “And they get a low level zap to their asses. Not enough to hurt, but enough to make them lose bladder control.”

Now, Sparkler was not a mare to advocate revenge, but her green eyes were alive with a mischievous glint when she heard that. “You need any help with that, Cloudy?”

“Totally!” Cloudburst pointed to Stonecutter, who was pretending she wasn’t there. “She can’t hit them, if she did she'd break them in half with one punch, but it's hard for a bully to bully somepony when they've just crapped their pants!”

Picturing that in her head, Sparkler couldn’t help but giggle. “Stinky business, that.”

Stonecutter groaned as she climbed up the cliff, “I tell her not to all the time! She's been called to Counsellor Starlight's office twenty times this semester alone!” Over the course of the school year, Cloudburst’s visits to Counsellor Starlight were almost in triple figures.

“I'm trying for thirty.”

Sparkler was at once amazed at the pegasus’s smug happy tone and alarmed, at her smug happy tone. She had never ever been summoned to a teacher’s office in her life, “What does the counsellor do to you?” she asked curiously.

“Nothing,” Cloudburst shrugged her shoulders, “She slaps my wrist and tells me to keep on watching out for my best friend.”

Sparkler let out a bright laugh, “And don't get caught!”

“Naturally. Starlight's cool, by the way.”

Seeing that Stonecutter was making an ascent, Sparkler continued to climb up alongside her so that she could not get away from her that easily. “When I said, 'step lightly', what was the first thing you thought?”

“The gym teacher, Track Meet,” Stonecutter admitted with a slow exhalation of breath as she stared resolutely at the rock wall in front of her. The wind was picking up strength, and she was acutely aware she was hanging from a cliff. “She's always on my case for being slow and heavy. Then the others join in, one time the whole class was in stitches because I broke two balance beams.”

“You were set up,” Sparkler stated grimly, “I've seen buffalo, bison and yaks on the balance beams at school.”

“Maybe. I dunno. That's not the only instance,” Stonecutter shrugged despondently, “But when the teacher and the entire class chant Light Hoof at you...it...it hurts, okay?”

Confused, Sparkler glanced over at Cloudburst for clarification, as ‘Light Hoof' made no sense to her. She was thinking more along the lines of Heavy Hoof. Thankfully, Cloudburst read the look on the unicorn’s face correctly. “She gets told to 'go lightly', so Light Hoof is the insult,” she shrugged, “I guess bullies don't have to make sense as long as it works, and trust me, it works.”

Sparkler facepalmed at the stupidity of it all, “Ponyvillieans are weird. And I'm including the three of us in that. After my demo back at Site A, you know what I really meant, right Stoney?”

Again, and not for the first time, Stonecutter’s slate grey cheeks turned a bright tomato red. “I know, and I know you'd never insult me like that, I just...I got angry. I'm sorry, for shouting at you.”

“Apology accepted. And when we camp again, don't think you're getting out of what you don't want Cloudy to talk about.”

Realising there was no way out of it, Stonecutter sighed deeply and she prepared to make her second admission that day. “I'm...I've got money. I get bullied because I've got money.”

“Pfft, 'got money' my flank,” Cloudburst snorted and added the air quotations as she spoke, “She doesn’t just ‘have money’, she's rich!”

In utter wonderment, Sparkler shook her head, “What kind of idiots would bully somepony that can afford a hitpony? I mean, that’s a special kind of stupid!”

“She could buy her way into Canterlot and still be loaded!” Cloudburst added.

“Thanks for that, CB.” Stonecutter groaned and rested her forehead against the cold hard rock of the cliff face, “I don't brag about it, but yeah, I have money, thanks to my art.”

“Counsellor Starlight and the Headmare have her busts in their offices!”

“I'd like your bust…” Sparkler giggled naughtily, “On my face. You know why we moved from Canterlot to Ponyville, right?”

Stonecutter nodded her head, after carefully removing it from the rock. “Because you couldn't afford to live in Canterlot anymore after your mom had to pay for the divorce. I know, my love. And CB's right. I could buy my way in Canterlot. So could my parents. They're both master masons. But...”

Cloudburst threw up her hands, almost dislodging the roc from her shoulder, who made its displeasure known by biting the pegasus’s ear, “Ow…just tell her!”

“I have a charity instead, that I fund with every sculpture I sell, to help disadvantaged ponies into school or to secure housing. I’m also patron of the orphanage in Ponyville.”

Sparkler just smiled, something now clicking into place in the back of her head. “I wonder if my mom made use of that charity?” it would certainly make sense, because she had no idea how her mother secured the house they had in Ponyville otherwise. They had moved with no money at all and next to no possessions, let alone furniture. “I don't want your money Stoney, I want you. You can still buy me ice cream though, of course.

Still blushing like she might at any moment burst into flames, Stonecutter nodded ever so faintly. “My papa always says, "the wealth of the few depends on the poverty of the many", and that it’s the privilege of the wealthy to take care of those in need, so that they won’t be in need. Besides, I don't need a gold plated yacht.”

“Not after the first one!” Cloudburst offered helpfully, making Stonecutter facepalm so hard it was only her thick hide that saved her from a concussion. Sparkler just laughed and they all continued to climb up together. Eventually, after almost an hour of climbing, the three mares came upon a flat ledge roughly just over two thirds of the way up the steep cliff. At the insistent chirping of the roc, they followed the ledge into a sheltered nook against the mountainside, where they found a large cave opening and the flickering light of a campfire.

Warming himself by the fire was a ragged-looking pegasus stallion with olive drab fur, a chestnut brown mane and beard that was greying at the edges. He jumped up in alarm at the sound of the hooves clopping on the stone floor. For a brief moment he thought he had been discovered! “W-Who are you three?”

“Professor Trotter?” Sparkler asked slowly, not daring to believe that she was this close to one of the premier archaeologists from Canterlot and one her idols. His knowledge of Equestrian history was second to but a very few, in fact he had lectured at Sparkler’s school a few times.

Cloudburst glanced at the unicorn and recognised the signs of an imminent fan mare moment mere seconds away. It was cute, if anything. “Uh oh...Stone, you best grab your mare, I think she's about to faint.”

Smiling, Stonecutter placed her hand on the vibrating unicorn's shoulder. “You need a moment?”

“What, no, um no!” Sparkler’s yellow cheeks flushed a violent crimson colour and she stuck out her tongue at both of the other two mares. “Hello Professor,” she said, in an attempt to compose herself, “I'm Sparkler, and this is Stonecutter and Cloudburst.”

Gully Trotter eyed the three ponies with a wary eye. They didn’t look to be in league with him, but one could never be too sure. He had learnt in the past few weeks to not blindly trust anypony. “What are you three fillies doing out here?”

“Hey dude,” Cloudburst greeted the older pegasus with a salute of her primary feathers, “Would you believe we’re on a school field trip?”

“CB, be serious for once,” Stonecutter admonished her best friend with a roll of her eyes and she smiled apologetically at the learned Professor. She couldn’t believe she had called him ‘dude’. “I’m sorry about her. We're from the School of Friendship in Ponyville, Professor Trotter. We're just looking for Headmare Twilight and the rest of our teachers, who've gone missing out here.”

“So, Caballeron didn't send you?” Gully Trotter asked, still more than a little cagey. Still, there was something about the three, and the earth pony in particular, that was very convincing. Idly he wondered if she had been born under the Sign of Honesty, because he was greatly inclined to believe what she said.

“Sent us, no,” Sparkler piped up, smoothing out her sundress just so she had something to do with her hands, otherwise she would have clapped them together and squealed in delight at just talking to Gully Trotter! “But he told us about you when we were there in Site B looking for the teachers.”

“And you know nothing about the stone tablet?”

“He said to look for you out here on this ridge...”

Cloudburst interrupted her best friend before she could finish whatever it was she had been about to say, “What tablet?”

“He did say you found something,” Sparkler said, “But not what you had found. He didn't seem to care you'd been gone for days. I think he was lying, but I don't know about what.”

“Most likely about this,” Gully Trotter, having decided he could in fact trust these three ponies, pulled the ancient stone tablet from one of his bags next to his tent by the campfire. “I ran away from the excavation after I found this. I overheard Caballeron talking to his henchponies and I couldn’t believe what I heard! He’s going to sell the treasure for money, when a find like this belongs in a museum! I didn’t want it to fall into his hands, so I took it and fled out here to Dustmane Ridge.”

“Oh my...” Stonecutter looked at the stone tablet that was carved with decorative patterns and what she assumed was writing, she had no real idea, “That looks old. Very old.”

Sparkler laid her hand reverently on the six inch by twelve inch tablet and she could feel the age, sense the magic bound within it. “This is old, but I can read some of it and I have a book with me for translations, if we need it.”

“That is interesting,” Gully Trotter grinned when Sparkler pulled out one of her books from her bag that Stonecutter was carrying for her, “It seems I have the same book.”

Sparkler’s cheeks flushed red once more, “You wrote it, Professor.” In an attempt to distract herself, Sparkler turned her attention to the stone tablet. She lit her horn so that the fire wasn’t the only thing illuminating it. “In the time after the great wizard was lost, when disharmony’s reign was cast across all lands and not even the two sisters could save us, to silence and safety we retreated, and there we will sleep until awoken.” It was obvious to them all that ‘the great wizard’ was Starswirl the Bearded, and ‘disharmony’s reign’ was a reference to Discord. “Here it says Umberfoal, Caballeron said something about that. If he knew you had this, I'm sure he would hunt you down.”

Cloudburst looked confused, “I thought you couldn't read Old Ponish, Sparks?”

“She's been studying it,” Stonecutter explained, “Ever since the incident with the wishing well in the Everfree Forest.”

“Typical book nerd,” Cloudburst giggled, ignoring the well-aimed raspberry that was sent her way as she wandered over and took a look at the tablet. The fancy carvings didn’t mean squat to her, but that didn’t stop her from being curious. Then, she noticed something funny. “Hey, guys...those weird markings look kinda like the ones on this bangle I found back at the abandoned camp site we stayed at.”

“Bangle?” that got Gully Trotter’s attention, “Let me see that, please.”

“Oh, sure thing, Prof,” Cloudburst slipped the gold bangle off of her wrist and handed it over, “Pretty right?”

“This is definitely from the same time frame as the stone tablet,” Gully Trotter announced after a few moments spent looking it over with his trained eye, “Where did you say you found this?”

“I found it at our teacher's abandoned campsite after we were attacked by this mental unicorn,” Cloudburst explained as she gratefully took the bangle back and slid it on her wrist.

Sparkler though was not paying attention to Gully Trotter or to Cloudburst. She was staring intently at the stone tablet while at the same time she looked at her translation book held in her telekinetic field. “Equestria…is troubled…built a new home…deep below…sanctuary…safety…city…Umberfoal.” The opportunity to learn was just too much, she felt the raw need to keep reading and translating. “Powerful spells…an enchantment of protection…created the Umber Orb…will transform us…form that cannot be harmed…long sleep.” Sparkler looked up from the tablet, her eyes alive with knowledge, “This part here, transformed, and long sleep. That sounds like the curse turning ponies into statuettes!”

“Whoever that unicorn was,” commented Stonecutter thoughtfully, “She was obviously the one who’s been turning ponies into statuettes and taking them. I just wanna know where, so we can get them back.”

“That unicorn must have this Umber Orb mentioned here on the tablet!” Sparkler’s eyes were still gleaming in the glow of the light from her horn.

“Well, that's what I'm looking for,” Gully Trotter put in, reading the tablet by Sparkler’s side, “But are you sure she has the orb?”

“Isn’t this all nonsense though?” Cloudburst asked before Sparkler could answer the older pegasus, “Sounds like an old mare's tale to me, something you’d tell a foal at bedtime.”

Although Sparkler kept on reading and translating what she could, she did spare Cloudburst one doozy of an eye roll, before turning her full attention to the tablet. “Find the door…magical seal…only those who complete the trials of the Badlands will be shown the path to Umberfoal. Seek out the Great Guardians of Fire, Wind and Earth. Receive their blessings and bring them together with this tablet. The…revealed…beware…harmony…awake.”

“Old mare's tales do originate from something, young pegasus,” Gully Trotter gave Cloudburst his most disapproving glare, though it was mostly lost on her.

“Have you found this door yet, Professor?” asked Sparkler, and she wasn’t at all downhearted when the pegasus shook his head.

“Look at that, there,” Stonecutter leant over and pointed to a picture of what was clearly a snake-like creature. “That carved picture there looks a lot like that tatzlwurm, and there's a stone next to it. Does that mean anything?”

Cloudburst’s eyes shot open, “Hey! We got a gemstone from that big worm thing!”

Gully Trotter’s grey eyes were as alive as Sparkler’s were, “You three mares have given me more information in the past few moments than the past two weeks here have. May I please see the stone?”

The pale blue pegasus pointed to Sparkler, “Sparks has it.”

“What, oh this?” Again, Sparkler reached into her pack and pulled out the large white gem that Cloudburst had so valiantly grabbed from the jaws of the monstrous tatzlwurm. “Wait, this part here. Trial of Earth…” the unicorn read from the tablet, “Seek out the Earth Guardian, the Great and Fearsome Tunneller of the west, and face him with courage.” She looked at the gem and handed it to Gully Trotter, “I think we got that one.”

“What's that all about?” Cloudburst asked disbelievingly, “Trial of Earth? Stone just battered it and I took that from its jaws!” at that, the baby roc on her shoulder twittered happily and she petted it, stroking the stone feathers affectionately.

“There’s a Trial of Fire and a Trial of Wind too,” Sparkler said as she pointed back to the tablet. “See here, it says, seek out the Fire Guardian, atop his southern spire, and share in his joy. Then it says, seek out the Wind Guardian, proud shining protector of the snow-capped mountains, and gain her respect.”

“Does that mean Stone gets to punch something else?” asked Cloudburst, loving the eye roll she got from her best friend.

After she had finished rolling her eyes at Cloudburst, Stonecutter asked, “So...do these trials all drop big gems like that one? Do we need them? Are they important?”

“The stone tablet says 'blessings', so maybe Stoney needs to punch stuff, but I think the Earth Trial was for her. It did say face him with courage. I bet the wind trial is for you, Cloudy.”

“She is full of hot air,” Stonecutter grinned, eager for the opportunity to shoot an insult back at her friend.

“Oh ha de ha…h-hey, what, what is it little guy?” Cloudburst at last asked of the baby roc, who had been chirping loudly ever since Sparkler had mentioned the Trial of Wind, and now resorted to lightly nipping Cloudburst's ear to get her attention and it pointed out the cave with its stony wing.