Ghost of the Everfree

by David Silver

50 - Stocking Up

"Before we go." Dry smiled up at their new ally, the druid. "Can we have your name, sir? And, um, do you know where to get some food? Only enough for her--" He pointed at Apple Bloom. "--and her caretaker are being provided."

"Before you ask," cut in Silver. "This isn't her being a jerk. This is us messing up her little perfect little dictatorship by not staying in the home they assigned us to."

The druid huffed gently. "I am at least partially mollified to hear that. Come." He led the way to a bush full of berries. He sang strange words as he reached for them, only for the foals to join in. It became a production about the wonders of the natural world and the bounties it would share, handled with respect.

The druid came to his senses, a pile of about a dozen berries in front of him. "What? These are far more berries than one casting of that spell should provide." He poked at them with his Equestrian hoof, as if they were suspects in the mystery. "What happened?"

Dry had that answer, waving excitedly. "That was a heart song, sir. When ponies sing in this world, sometimes other ponies join in, and the more join in, the more powerful the magic. It's, um, natural, for local ponies."

"Hm." He pointed to the pile. "Eat a few of those, and they will banish your hunger and thirst for a day. They also have a healing property. Don't hoard them, as they will go bad and decompose within a day if not already consumed." He turned to the gathering of foals. "Can you do that reliably? I could feed the community far more easily if I could have your help."

Sweetie shook her head. "The more you feel about it when you sing that spell, the more likely another pony will join in, and the more join in, the more likely more will join in. If you could get the whole town in on it, you'd bury yourself in berries." She giggled at the idea. "But, since they only last a day, probably don't want that."

"No, that would be a waste of berries." He rubbed at his chin thoughtfully. "Such a wondrous world. Not the nature I am accustomed to, but wondrous none the less. Now, I have met your needs, at least for today. What was the next topic? You sounded like you had a plan." He shook his head with a chuckle. "Here I am, colluding with foals. Share your idea."

Diamond tossed her head at where the commander had gone some time ago. "She's hiding, and has been hiding. She thinks that protects her, but it leaves her wide open. It means if we reveal her at the right time, she'll lose all credibility."

"Are you certain you are a foal?" The machinations of the filly were a bit much. "My first question is thus, how do you plan to do this? One does not simply peel a battle-ready pony free of their armor easily. It takes considerable effort to put on or take off."

Apple Bloom waved over herself. "She can't live in th' stuff! That'd get powerful stinky after a while, wouldn't it?"

Sweetie lifted her hooves in a grand shrug. "Unless she has magic. Does she have magic?"

The druid hummed. "Spellcasting is not her specialty. If she has tricks, she has not shared them with me, but she hardly owes me that information. Still, you asked." He turned to offer a profile. "I am Shaded Birch, druid of the plant order." He pointed back at his brand of destiny. "The gods were not subtle." There stood a birch tree on his rump, a long shadow cast out from it. "And I thank them. My purpose always felt clear."

Scootaloo applauded that. "Nice when that works out. We're the crusaders!" She got into formation with the other two crusaders, meeting with hooves. "Our cutie mark agrees."

Shaded inclined his head, noting their brands, er, cutie marks for the first time with purpose. "Matching marks. I had thrown it away as you being closely related. Are you not?"

Sweetie burst into fresh giggles. "We're practically sisters, but not literally, I assure." A thought pinged to life. "Oh. Ponies in this world get their marks when they realize their purpose. Everglow ponies start with theirs, right?"

Shaded nodded at that. "Yes. I spilled from my mother with the same brand you see today." He turned his back to show it off anew. "The gods had plans, and they shared it with us. They had no plans for you?"

Diamond waved that away. "Different world, different rules. We don't even have gods."

Silver grabbed Dry. "Not, like, all true. We worship Princess Luminace."

"I see." Shaded started after the small form of the weather pegasus. "I am obligated to keep him in sight, even if he seems to be doing fine on his own. Still... borrowing our gods is hardly the same as having your own... The service may become the same. Have you heard of the Author?"

All the foals, save one, looked clueless. Dry knew this one. "The one that made ponies, and the rest of the Everglow fae. She who plans. She who writes. Not, um... knowledge, but stories. Stories people live."

Shaded patted the eager little pony. "Very good. Were Her attention gained here, maybe your marks would come sooner, were she be the one to plan you. On the other hoof, perhaps it is a mercy she does not. Your stories are your own to make. Ah, listen to me prattle. I'm not even a religious sort. Nature is all the religion I require, and it has no specific face to praise or decry." He looked to Diamond, the plotter. "How do you plan to proceed?"

"Does she have any right hoof ponies?" Diamond waved a bit aimlessly. "The sort she trusts a lot?"

Shaded tapped his chin softly. "A good question. It is certainly not me. She barely tolerates me, and my patience for her has lowered.

Diamond clopped her hooves slowly. "If you have a pony in charge of more than about ten other ponies, you need more ponies to keep track of the ponies. She's in charge of a lot more than that. There has to be a #2 or she'd lose her head, and lose track of what's going on, and it'd all fall apart."

"Right, like..." Silver was watching the pegasus doing their best to tame the sky that'd been left to go a little wild. "But who? None of us know that."

Apple Bloom pointed back at town. "The guards'd know. They gotta know who they talk to. Some of 'em don't talk to her, not direct-like, so some of 'em report to a pony, who reports to her. Just gotta find 'em."

"We just have to figure that out." Diamond waved for the others to fall in with her. "So let's get to... Oh, grab those berries. Won't do us a lot of good sitting here."

Dry stuffed his saddle bags full of supercharged berries. "Got it. Thank you, sir. This'll keep us a few days. Um... if we run low again?"

"You return to me," concluded Shaded. "And we sing a new song."

Supplied and bouyed by a potential line of attack, the children rushed back into town. With an excuse for being there, they didn't try to hide, just walking right back to where they wanted to be. "You're back." Apple Bloom's temporary mom was there to greet them as they filled in. "And you look alright. I'll make some lunch."

Silver raised a hoof. "No thanks. We got food. Save that for yourself."

She flopped to her haunches with obvious amazement. "Where? You didn't... steal it, did you?"

Sweetie gasped with shock. "My sister would probably tan me if I shoplifted. We asked the druid, and he helped us."

Scootaloo reached into Dry's pouch, drawing out a berry on either hoof. "And he did some magic on these. A few of these is good for a whole day. Wonder if they're tasty too...?"

Dry went to a platter and filled it up with the berries, rather than keeping them in his saddlebag. "They probably taste like berries." That felt safe. "I'm not hungry yet."

Silver poked at him. "Skinny thing. You get hungry less than a lot of ponies, I bet."

He colored at this accusation. "I... never compared." He took a berry and offered it towards Silver. "You're, um... Um." How did he say she was less-thin without getting in huge trouble? "Would you like one?"

"Smooth." But she accepted the berry and chomped into it. "Mm... It's good." It soon vanished down her throat with a big gulp. "Not bad at all. Alright, Diamond, how do we find that pony?"

"I have to think up everything!" She grabbed a berry and ate it with a growing anger. "Fine. Let's keep an eye on her headquarters. Her #2 has to come and go from there to keep her up to date. The only trick is those could be messengers... We're going to have to stick our necks out."

With a few other berries vanishing into eager maws, they were ready to return to the street. They had less reason to be there, resuming their stealthy darting from cover to cover to arrive in some bushes. "This is a good hiding spot." Dry was busily reinforcing their hiding nook, making sure they had good spots to peer at their target and as little ways for those passing to see them.

Apple Bloom poked at the bush from the inside, testing its stability. "You really do specialize in this, don'tcha?"

"To not be seen is to survive," stated Dry as if this were simple common sense. "If they were better at hiding, we would have a harder time attacking them."

Diamond shrugged with a chuckle. "He's not wrong there. Let's hope they keep on being bad at hiding."

They looked out at the headquarters and the guards who stood at attention. Once in a while, they shuffled or scratched at itches. Standing there in silence was pretty obviously uncomfortable, but still they stood, as they had been ordered.

"Lunch." Another pony arrived with a tray balanced on their back. "For you and the commander. Yours are on the side."

"We know the drill." One of the guards stepped down to get their shares. "Thank Blaze you're here. I was ready to eat him in a moment."

The other guard paled. "Don't even joke about that."

"My humor's staying just as bad." With a toss of his neck, he sent a bag of food over to his co-soldier to have. "I'll take the commander's in to her." He set his own aside for later and took charge of the platter, then on his back. "Thank you."

"Of course." The chef/messenger saluted and started back off into the city.

Scootaloo inclined her head. "Think any of them are #2?"

Diamond swatted at Scootaloo. "I doubt it, now shh. We don't want to be heard."

The first guard emerged without the tray. He sat and started on his food, leaving the other, who had already eaten, to stand watch. "Not bad... Local food taste funny, but not bad."

The second inclined his head upward at the sky. "Think it'll actually rain?"

"No reason it shouldn't." The first pushed his bag away and stood up. "If our weather people said the same thing, we'd expect rain, right? Not looking forward to standing watch in the middle of it."

"Maybe our watch will end before it starts?"

"Pray it is so." The first took up his original spot, ready to observe with a mild scowl. "But if it isn't, we still do our job."

"Of course."

The conversation quieted as they did their quiet job in stoic silence.

Apple Bloom rolled her eyes. "How long do we haveta watch?"

Diamond shrugged. "Until we see what we came for. Rain or not."

Author's Note:

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Comments

[Booster Spice]

A pile of Sweetbeerry in a bag has to go to people that day or it goes off, and it cant be made indefinite by being brewed into a healing potion?

[redmar]

We're going to have to stick out necks out.

Our necks. We don't want typo's after all.

[David Silver]

11561211
Typos, in the middle of spying? Unacceptable.

[David Silver]

11560648
You'd have a healing potion that'd lose its fill-you-up properties.