Chapter 27 - Clues
Rainbow Dash had a problem.
She was with her five best friends. That, in and of itself, was not the problem. She was often with her best friends for one reason or another, whether it be because Rarity had stitched them all new dresses to try out, or perhaps Fluttershy had gathered them all together for some tea with her critter friends. And sometimes they all banded together to save Equestria from the brink of absolute disaster.
This was one of those times. And yet, that also was not the problem.
"Wow, Dashie! Isn't this place amazing?" Pinkie Pie said as she swam by.
That. That right there was the problem. Or part of it, anyway. The fact that Pinkie was swimming in mid-air and not in water. The fact that Twilight Sparkle hadn't cast a flight spell on her. Sure, Pinkie had defied gravity in the past, and Rainbow was almost ready to say that she'd grown used to it by now.
Almost.
But this was on a whole other level. And it wasn't just Pinkie Pie. Trees, shrubs, and even buildings hovered in the air at odd angles like toys suspended by invisible wires. It reminded Rainbow of her run-ins with Discord, the chaotic draconequus who seemed to show disdain for gravity the way he could cause just about anything to float, fly, or both with the snap of his fingers.
Discord wasn't there, though. No living things were, save the six friends. The entire village looked abandoned, and rightfully so.
Rainbow met the gaze of Twilight Sparkle, who said, "Come on. We need to find out what happened here."
Twilight led Rainbow and her friends down the cliff they'd been on and into the valley below. Shivers ran down Rainbow's spine as the gravity shifted with each step. She caught Applejack looking her way and immediately straightened up and pushed forward. AJ would see no weaknesses from her this day. Nevermind the total creepiness of the place—Rainbow could handle it.
Maybe.
They came upon one of the homes that was still bound by gravity. One at a time, they entered the house and split up to search for clues. Rainbow opened up an old iron stove and found nothing of interest inside. She flapped her wings to gain height and started to search through the overhead cupboards when she heard Twilight call out.
"Look at this!" she said.
Rainbow and the others came over to where Twilight was standing. A moment later, Rainbow rolled her eyes.
"Of course it's a book," she mumbled.
"But what kind of book is it?" Fluttershy asked.
Twilight, apparently eager to share this information, given the ridiculous grin on her face, tapped the book with a hoof.
"It looks like a journal. I haven't read any of it yet, but look here." She indicated the small table the book was on. "This is what's exciting."
Rarity wrinkled her nose. "Darling, I might expect as much from Applejack, or perhaps Rainbow Dash, but since when do you get excited about dust?"
Rainbow glared at Rarity, but Twilight grinned. "That's just it, Rarity. There's a thick coat of dust on everything in here. Everything except this book. There's just a thin coat on it..."
There was a moment of silence as everypony absorbed what that meant. They didn't have to, however, because Twilight spelled it out for them.
"This means that somepony else explored this town well before we got here. And whoever did, might have left some clues in this journal!"
Elsewhere, Flim was in what he would call a bit of a pickle. He stood motionless, staring out into the depths of the Everfree Forest. It was what was immediately behind him, crouched and ready to pounce, that was the cause of his problems.
The timber wolf didn't hesitate. It leaped forward, claws extended...
...and flew right through the illusion, crashed against the large rock that had been hidden by said illusion, and splintered into a hundred pieces. A green aura immediately surrounded the scattered pieces and prevented them from reforming as Flim and Flam stepped out of the shadows to observe the results of their trickery.
"Gets them every time, dear brother of mine," Flam boasted. He took a look around the clearing. "I do believe that's the last of them."
Flim nodded. "As do I," he responded. He frowned as he looked at the dozens of defeated slimes and timber wolves. There were even a few weird giant mushrooms that had attacked them on sight, though they were no longer a danger to anypony.
This was a problem. Things had gotten even worse in the short time it took for him to warn Flam of what was happening and to return to the forest. It was beginning to get out of hoof... and there was nothing Flim and Flam liked less than not being in control of a situation.
"It seems you were right," Flam observed, as if reading Flim's mind. "But this doesn't make any sense. That concoction I discovered was only supposed to create slimes! They're harmless, strictly speaking. Nothing more than a minor nuisance. The perfect fodder for our little startup!"
"But then what, oh brother of mine, has the timber wolves all riled up?" Flim asked. "And why are there so many slimes? Dare I even ask what those were supposed to be?" He indicated the formerly-moving mushrooms.
The brothers looked at each other nervously. Things were, strictly speaking, getting out of control fast.
Back at the guild hall, the last of the secret guild members returned. The figure entered the hall, but there was nopony there. The main hall, the back rooms, everything was devoid of ponies. Flim and Flam were still out.
No matter. They could be found.
The figure bent down and sniffed the ground, then eyed a small rock that was ground into the soil.
Igneous. Granular and phaneritic texture. Feldspars and quartz present. Positive ID: granite.
There was a quick mental calculation of its dimensions, its weight, and the weight necessary to compress it into the soil to the degree it had been.
"They went this way," a monotone voice said. A moment later, the figure was on its way to the Everfree Forest.
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try on.
Nice description of the spooky village.
Enter stage left Maud.
This is my surprised face:
derpicdn.net/img/2016/8/9/1220780/large.gif
Cap. (Name)
_________
oh
_________
9232484
My punishment for foregoing sleep to ensure I keep to my writing schedule.
I'll try to be more aware next chapter.
Huh, well that explains all the slimes.
Look out Flim and Flam, the Mauderater is coming.
Oh my Mmmaaaauuuuud!!
The plot, she thickens.
Do like an Englishman. Steal all the best bits from all the RPG games so that not only does a Monk gain a boost from using only their fists, but doesnt get penalties from having items.
If computer is going to cheat, so are we.
After all, its only fair.
9232454
I think "trial" works. Like a trial run or product trials.
9233387
Not the way the rest of the sentence is structured. If you wanted to keep 'trial' you'd need to replace "to" with "for".
One of the two words needs to be changed.
9234099
Nope, because trial can be a verb.
9234165
It can be a verb, but that doesn't mean it works with 'to' in that particular sentence. Not all preposition-verb pairs work in all circumstances.
9234344
I disagree, but since Slorg decided to change it, he apparently agrees with you (or close to it, since he changed it to "try out" rather than "try on").
9234349
Coulda worked either way, but if it makes it a more enjoyable read it only takes a second to change.
Well, at least Pinkie's comfortable with levity.
So it sounds like this mess is Flim & Flam's fault....but is it? I wonder if there's perhaps a 3rd variable that is causing all this chaos. Then again it could just as easily be Flim & Flam not reading the directions or otherwise misusing their slime creation thing.
Super stoked that we should see Maud next chapter! <3
Here’s the guild members as stands, all of Pinkie’s predictions were correct
Somepony’s sister- Maud Pie
Somepony’s brother- Shining Armor
Somepony to look up to- Spitfire and Rainbow Dash
Somepony who’s finding out who they are- Scootaloo
I also enjoy this story immensely
9267605
This is crazy late, but I also remember having Iron Will in mind as another "someone finding out who they are." I think I never directly mentioned it though because Pinkie says "Somepony" and while it still works since that's just something ponies say, I didn't want to have to explain that.