Marshmallow Dreams

by Halira

Chapter 98: Rare Conversation Under the Mountain

To say that the ponies of Mountainshade were friendly was an understatement. Wild Growth wanted us to spend money, but I found that difficult, primarily because the main thing I preferred to spend money on was food, and these ponies kept giving it to me for free. Also, hard as it was to believe, my tummy reached a point where it said it was full far faster than I had ever had it do so.

"I can't eat another bite," I said, politely waving away another pony with a treat.

"But you haven't tried mine yet! My spider crumbles are better than Morning Mist's!" the stallion in front of me protested.

"Give it up, Afterlight. She can't eat anything else after having sampled the best," the mare I assumed was Morning Mist said smugly.

"She hasn't done that yet, because she hasn't tried mine!" Afterlight yelled back. More ponies were behind him, just as eager to get their turn at stuffing food down my gullet. This was a new experience. I'd never been in a position where I'd be refusing food before.

"Really, this marshmallow is stuffed," I assured them. "I don't think my belly is used to this much high protein food. It was all excellent, and I'm sure the rest of you have food that is just as good, maybe better, but I can only hold so much. Thank you all; you've been very nice. I'm definitely giving a strongly favorable review of your cooking."

There were a lot of looks of disappointment as they relented. The reason they had all swarmed me was that many of the other tourists were hesitant to try anything with spiders or insects included. Word seemed to have traveled through the bug baking community about which tourists were open to taking culinary adventures, and we'd become targets. I had been a little iffy about it at first, but I'd try anything once, and it turned out that their dishes were delicious— just as long as I didn't think about what I was eating.

Finally free from the grips of night pony bakers, I decided to do a little shopping. I also needed to figure out how to get to the address I would be sleeping at. The streets and roads of Mountainshade might have made sense to the residents, but to me, it seemed a chaotic mess.

It didn't help that I had yet to run across a night pony that wasn't extremely eager to socialize with the outsiders. It wasn't even that we were from Earth that drew the night ponies; it was that we were from anywhere but Mountainshade. They never got so many visitors to the town, and they never went anywhere else. I wondered why. The ponies in the Crystal Empire and Rainbow Falls had been friendly. It seemed like the night ponies would have been welcome in those places. They weren't like most night ponies I had met on Earth. Night ponies on Earth were more reserved, not to mention had a massive gender imbalance that didn't seem to exist in Equestria. However, one thing was eerily familiar to the night ponies back home.

"Miss, would you like to view our rock climbing competition? We have plenty of seats left."

"No! She doesn't want to see that! She wants to come to see our famous moss gardens!"

"Famous to who? You and your kin don't count as famous. Rock climbing is where it is at."

"Don't you dare insult our moss gardens! You eater of snails and worms!"

"That's great, coming from a pony with the diet of a dung beetle!"

"I'll dung beetle you!"

And before I knew it, blows were being exchanged. The two night ponies quickly forgot about me in favor of trying to kick the crap out of each other. Everyone gave them plenty of space, and no one tried to stop the fight. This seemed to be something the town was used to, and I heard some comments about letting them get it out of their system. A few residents even seemed to be taking bets on who would win and how long it would take. Night pony aggression towards one another was alive and well in Mountainshade; even if they were very friendly to ponies they didn't have to see every day.

After freeing myself from that group, I managed to make my way back to some stalls that were set up in the middle of town. I had long since lost track of where any of my friends were in all this hubbub, but I did see plenty of humans and ponies that were part of our overall group. It was pretty easy; if you were not a night pony other than Phobia Remedy's family, you were probably part of the tour group. The earth ponies from the other part of town were supposed to be arriving later, but most of us would likely be in bed by then. Although I assumed some would still be up.

"Hello there, dear. My, that's a lovely shade of white for your coat, and your mane accents it beautifully. Would you mind if I ask you a few questions?"

I turned and saw a unicorn with dazzling white fur and a perfectly styled royal purple mane and tail smiling at me. I didn't recall her being with any of the group, and she stood out enough that I thought I would notice. She didn't look like a local.

"What kind of questions?" I asked.

"Oh, just a few questions about your trip through Equestria," the unicorn answered. "Oh! Where are my manners? I'm Rarity. You may have heard of me? My friends and I are trying to resolve a tiny little issue, and we would appreciate your assistance. We are asking everycreature we can out of your group."

Wild Growth had said Twilight Sparkle and her friends might be around asking questions and to do our best to cooperate.

"Sure, I'll do my best! Ask away," I said as I sat down.

"It is very simple, really. We are just inquiring if you have noticed anypony… excuse me… anycreature—"

"Anyone is the word we use on Earth," I suggested.

She nodded. "A good word. Have you noticed anyone you know behaving in an uncharacteristic way? Or perhaps you came across ponies while traveling that acted oddly in some manner?"

"What do you mean by odd or uncharacteristic?" I asked, unsure what exactly she meant.

She waved a hoof. "Oh, it could be anything. Anything that felt off for any reason. Anything that didn't feel quite right. Especially anyone who wasn't behaving as they normally would, but even a stranger who said things that seemed too strange to simply note as culturally different. It could have been here, or on the airship, or anywhere along your trip."

I sat and thought about it. "Jimsonweed was strange, but I think I understand why she was the way she was."

"Is that a member of your tour group?" Rarity asked eagerly, pulling a notepad and quill from somewhere unknown.

I shook my head. "No, she's Krik's ward. Um...Krik is the former Dreamwarden that now lives in the Crystal Empire if you're familiar with Dreamwardens."

"I am indeed very familiar with them, although I confess I haven't spent time with Krik since his retirement. He is a difficult pony to have a conversation with. I much prefer Phobia Remedy, who I at least share some interests," Rarity said, seeming disappointed. "I do recall hearing that he had brought a ward with him from Earth and that she was a troubled youth in need of a loving home."

I nodded. "That's more or less what I got about her. She's pretty rude, but if you hear about what she went through on Earth, you understand it, even feel sorry for her."

"Well, I hope that things become better now that she's in a healthy environment. However, that doesn't seem to be what I'm looking for. Are you sure there was nothing else that felt off to you?"

"Well, there was Discord, but you expect things to be off when Discord is involved," I replied.

Her brow narrowed. "Discord? You ran into Discord? Dare I ask what happened?"

"To me, not much. I got hugged by a manticore. Which was scary till I learned that it wanted to cuddle me instead of eat me," I explained. "He did something worse to my friends Blanche and Jonathan. He sent them to another world, I think it seemed like months to them, and it was dangerous."

"WHAT?!" Rarity said in an apparent rage before seeming to compose herself forcefully. "Thank you for letting me know. I'll be having a word with Twilight about his actions. Unfortunately, that still does not seem to be what I'm looking for. I know Discord can overshadow most things, but is there anything at all else that felt off?"

I thought about it again. Not much came to mind. "There was the bellhop back in the Crystal Empire. She seemed kinda weird. She also reacted minds funny when I mentioned I had met Wild Growth. She seemed really intense, maybe a little threatening, but the second I mentioned Wild Growth, it was like she was disappointed and lost interest in me."

Rarity was rapidly jotting down notes. "Do you remember anything she said? Specifics would be beneficial."

"Let me see...She said her name was Crystal Burst. The stallion at the desk didn't seem to recognize her and asked if she was one of Thorax's group, whatever that meant. She didn't seem to know her way around the hotel. She said, don't ever turn your back on someone because you don't know who you can trust. She asked if I was there alone, and I mentioned I had friends here from school and was friends with Wild Growth. The second I mentioned Wild Growth, she complimented Wild Growth for being quite the pony and said she needed to leave."

Rarity finished scribbling with a look of triumph. "Yes! That is exactly the kind of lead I was looking for. Thank you very much for your cooperation. I hope you enjoy the rest of your trip, and please, be careful if you run into that pony again or anypony that behaves similarly."

"Um, you're welc—" I started to say, but she already dashed off. That was weird. I wondered what was up with the bellhop. I hadn't seen that pony again, so it wasn't like they were tailing us or anything.

It didn't matter. It was getting late, and I wanted to find where I would spend the night. Time to get some directions. With how nice these ponies all we're, I might get lucky and find one who would lead me right to where I was staying.

Comments

[PiMan]

I'm glad we got a partial followup on Burst. I was getting worried that that plot hook wasn't going anywhere.

[Halira]

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Things take their time sometimes. I admit, I have a habit of introducing things in one story and waiting till later stories to get to them, but they always come back up eventually. She's been stewing since Starting Over.

[PiMan]

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Yeah, I read that. I know her back story, I'm just looking forward to what happens next for her.