Pinkie's Dream Quest

by MadHauk

The Forest

Part Two: The forest

On a normal day, Pinkie would have waited until the next day before entering the forest, to be able to start off earlier and get more hours of sunlight. On a normal day, Pinkie would certainly not have gone alone. She would have conferred her plans with her friends, and happily suffered through all five different speeches about how her plan was reckless, idiotic or simply a waste of time, but today was not a normal day. She knew beyond a doubt that every hour mattered, she didn't really know why or how it mattered, but it did! And so she trotted directly from Twilight's library, straight through Ponyville, past Fluttershy's cabin and into the Everfree Forest.

The moment Pinkie entered the forest she could feel the difference in environment.

Not only was the forest so dense and deep that most places had not seen a single glimmer of sunlight in centuries, the very air was different. Wind blew without help from any pegasi, rain and thunder could start and stop all by themselves and some of the plants had strange and unpredictable properties, like thorns, poisons or even teeth.

This strange environment had naturally affected the animals living in the forest as well. The birds were quiet and lived hidden amongst the leaves. The predators, like wolfs and manticores, were abnormally large and fierce, and their pray were even bigger and tougher, just to stand a chance in the daily fight for survival.

But Pinkie did not fret. A few years ago she had been terrified of this place, just like everypony else, but since then she had been here several times and discovered that many things that seems scary or dangerous might not be so bad if you only deal with it correctly. Not having her friends with her was a slight drawback to be sure, but Pinkie just hummed a little tune and pronged on down the path.

Pinkie had no concept of time as she traveled ever deeper into the forest. The track ran downhill and the trees kept getting bigger and darker. It almost felt like forever, but at last the terrain flattened and the trees started to thin out some. When Pinkie finally again spotted the sun it was considerably higher in the sky then it had been last time she had seen it. She stopped a moment to make sure she was going the right way, and noticed a reassuring sound: there was a stream nearby.

A little while further the trees made way, and the sun shone on a brilliant blue river. The river was not too deep, but very vide, so Pinkie had to look for a safe place to cross. She had not gone far, however, before she was greeted by a familiar laugh.

“Well, isn’t it one of my old pony friends! How wonderful!”

The huge purple Sea Serpent looked like he was about to jump out of the water with joy. Pinkie noticed that his mustache was back to its shiny golden-orange self, perfectly matching his flowing, well-groomed mane.

“I don’t believe we have been properly introduced,” he added. My name is Steven Magnet, but you may call me Steve.”

“Oh, my name is Pinkie Pie! I’m actually called Pinkamena Pie, but you can call me Pinkie, all of my friend do! And I’m sorry for being so rushed last time we met, but we had a real rush saving Equestria from this really mean Queen Meanypants, who turned out to be not that bad after all, she was just mad because nopony wanted to be her friend, and then she had to live on the moon for a really long time, and I hear the atmosphere is really bad up there and…”

Here Pinkie was stopped by Steven’s laughter. She didn’t really get what she had said that was so funny, but making ponies (and Sea Serpents) laugh was her absolute favorite thing to do, so she was happy either way.

“Well you sure have a delightful mind, my dear pony friend!” The Sea Serpent said when he managed to stop giggling. “But I do have to ask: whatever are you doing so deep into the forest all by yourself?”

“Oh, I’m looking for the same old pony castle that we found last time,” Pinkie answered. “I’m on a treasure hunt you see, and I’m fairly certain there’s a clue in that castle.”

“Oh my, that sure sounds exiting. I do have to warn you though: the forest is not completely safe these days. The creatures you ponies call the Diamond Dogs are gathering en masse, just a stretch downriver. It might be vise to avoid them, maybe take a detour just to be safe?”

Pinkie had to consider this for a moment. The Diamond Dogs was definitely an unfriendly bunch, and not one Pinkie cared much for meeting, but then again, if they were gathering in such numbers they must have some reason. Maybe they were planning some mischief, or maybe they needed help! Either way, pinkie was better of knowing. So she bid the friendly Sea Serpent adieu and trotted away down the bank of the river, talking aloud to herself about how this had nothing to do with satisfying her own curiosity, but was simply the rational thing to do.

---

The river went on without any major changes to about a mile before it ran into a small lake. At one side of the lake there was a large flat area where a number of tents had been set up, and several tunnels had been dug into the ground. Out of the tunnels crawled a steady torrent of gray dog-like creatures. Pinkie could see several dozen of them already gathered by the tents, and yet there seemed to be no end to the in pour trough the tunnels.

Pinkie noticed three armored dogs standing on their hind legs and shouting what sounded like an angry motivational speech to the gathering masses and concluded those were probably the leaders. She skipped happily forward and greeted them with a shrilling “hello!” that quickly earned her the attention of every dog in the camp.

“Do you remember me?” she inquired cheerfully, “I’m Pinkie Pie, we met once, remember? When you pony-napped my friend?”

There was no reply, so Pinkie just continued: “I was in the area you see, and I heard there was a gathering, so I thought ‘hey, maybe they need help or something?’ so I decided to come by and see what you are all up to!”

Pinkie paused, looking at the three armored dogs with an innocent grin on her face. The crowd was completely quiet, but was now looking back at their leaders, who were whispering to each other in what seemed like a heated argument. Pinkie caught a few words like ‘pony’, ‘problem’ and ‘annoying’; but not enough to make out the conversation.

The conversation seemed to drag on for quite some time, several dogs in the crowd started to shift uncomfortably where they sat or to speak in hushed voices among themselves, but Pinkie just stood there patiently. After a while the three dogs turned to her and the shortest of them shouted at her. “Pony! Get up here, we have a request!”

They did not have to tell her twice. Pinkie rushed through the crowd speedily and effortlessly, and soon all the Diamond Dogs paid full attention once again.

“You see, pony,” the leader dog explained. “We are planning a little party to take back what is rightfully ours. That annoying pony friend of yours stole a lot of our gems, and we want them back.”

“I thought you gave them to her to have her go away?” Pinkie asked in a friendly, inquiring voice; without any hint of reproach.

“Yeha, I think that’s what happened” another dog agreed.

“That’s not the point!” the leader said angrily, and slapped a paw over the other dog’s head before he turned back to Pinkie and continued in a polite and diplomatic tone. “As I said: we want our gems back, the problem is that the annoying pony has a cat guarding her house at night. Now, of course, we could easily dispose of the cat and be rid of the problem, but that’s extra work, and someone could get hurt. What we want you to do is to lure the cat away for the night, then we can come and do our business, and leave without anypony even needing to notice we were ever there. Sounds like a deal?”

“So let me get this straight” Pinkie said. “You want me to go back to Ponyville, the place I have spent all day walking away from, to lure a cat away from its owner’s house, so you guys can rob one of my best friends in peace?”

The dog that got slapped earlier started mumbling and got an elbow in the face from the leader, who just nodded and smiled nervously, not knowing how to interpret a face that seemed to smile equally wide no matter what, but Pinkie didn’t take long to consider. “Okie, dokie, lokie” she said cheerfully. “See you after nightfall!” And then she was on her way back from whence she came.