It took several extra minutes for Applejack to pass Pinkie Pie's own "smell-me test." After that, although they were all exhausted from the long day, they agreed to press on northward for a ways. The sun was still giving them a couple hours to travel, and should Twilight's spell break prematurely, it would be best for the three ponies not to be standing in front of the cave.
It wasn't going to be an easy haul. To reach Canterlot without some mode of transportation meant climbing Uppeak Mountain manually. It wasn't a dangerous hike, really, but it would probably take the better part of a day to do it. However, Twilight had said, they had no need to stress out over that yet; they could never make it there before nightfall. A heavily wooded area, even complete with a river, would impede their progress too much for that.
Even with a logical reason, it was startling to realize how quickly it got dark inside of a forest. Trees thirty ponies high blocked out the remainder of the sun, even before it fell all the way down. They managed to make it past the flowing stream, with Pinkie only falling in twice (and only one of those was on purpose). Soon after that, the trio found the next closest spot they could call a campsite. Twilight broke every rule of survival just by using her magic to ignite a pile of sticks. Pinkie ended up forgiving her rather quickly, though, and the three of them stayed huddled around the bonfire.
"So," started Applejack, her weary gaze not moving from the fire, "you two hear anything from Rarity or Fluttershy?"
Pinkie shared an uncomfortable glance with Twilight before answering. In the back of the party pony's mind, she found it crazy that one letter from either of them might have prevented her from coming up with this quest at all. "Not a thing. There's been nothing from Rainbow Dash, either."
A rough snort was the reply she got. Now that was strange. Sure, Rainbow had disappeared from Ponyville after AJ had already left. In fact, if she never made it back to Ponyville, did Applejack even know Rainbow was missing? But that huff seemed so... hostile.
"I'm worried."
Twilight's voice broke the concentration she had, and the continuity got messed up in her head. Oh, well. Maybe a bug had flown up AJ's nose.
"We didn't hear from you, Applejack, for so long, and you ended up being in a lot of trouble. What if... What if the others aren't okay too?"
Pinkie frowned. Usually when Twilight says 'what if,' it's for a pretty strange reason. Like, 'what if we don't get the floor swept in time for the meeting?' Then the dust bunnies get to stay and play, silly! But this time was different. She had a point. Even if it was Pinkie's goal to go back in time, that didn't mean she wanted her present friends to be in danger. Applejack was able to quell both of their concerns.
"No need to get too worked up over it, Twi. We're headin' to Canterlot, ain't we? We'll find Rarity's shop and make sure she's doin' okay. Ya'll know the princess wouldn't let a thing happen to her."
Twilight donned a grateful smile. "You're right. If we can get an early enough start, we can be there by this time tomorrow. We'll be able to save some time if we—"
"Shh!"
It was Pinkie that got to shush the librarian this time. It was fun! But also for a good reason. Something was stomping on twigs while approaching them... over there, in Applejack's direction. Seeing Pinkie watch over her shoulder made AJ rise to her hooves and turn around so her back wasn't turned to whatever it was.
The other two must have heard it as well, for they stayed perfectly silent. It was getting louder; it was getting closer. The bonfire they were sharing wasn't a large one, so its light didn't extend far. For better or worse, it didn't need to, since the source walked into the light on its own.
A long coat, with a long black cowl. He didn't wear his sleeves down all the way. He seemed perfectly comfortable revealing his paws. A werebear had found them. A werebear named Sam.
"Why, hello again, my pony friend." His voice was still suave, but Pinkie found it much less charming.
"Sam!" Pinkie shouted. She was on all fours, and angry. "What are you doing here?!"
Twilight snarled at the beast. Applejack threw a glare at him. "So this is the Sam I've been hearin' so much about. Listen, you. I appreciate you tellin' my friends where I was so they could rescue me, but you din't need to trick 'em to do it!"
"It seems I'm on the wrong end of a misunderstanding," spoke a voice from underneath that hood. He didn't seem the least bit bothered with the un-welcoming he got. "Would one of you be kind enough to fill me in?"
Twilight accepted the offer. She was unable to keep anger out of her voice; not that it really looked like she tried. "You tricked Pinkie Pie into walking into a hive full of your kind! There was never any treasure there, and you knew it! No one could possibly know about a cave so remote without knowing what was in it!"
Still, he didn't physically react. "I think we should all simmer down and think about this for a moment. If I had pointed you to a trap, what would I have to gain by approaching you like this now?"
Frustrated silence was the only answer he got. Pinkie couldn't... wouldn't trust a thing he said, but still had a hard time answering his question.
He hummed. Whether that was a "that's what I thought" hum, or a "I wonder what's for dinner" hum was too vague to figure out. "Maybe I didn't hear you correctly before. What was it you said you were looking for?"
"Why? So you can lead us to a bigger den o' yours?" Applejack cut in.
This time, there was a pause before he said anything. A disturbing pause. He eventually did speak again, but when he did, his tone sounded more upset than before. "I didn't come all this way for a fight. But if that's what you insist on, my pony friends, I'll give one to you."
"That a threat or a promise, sweetheart?"
The farmer's words must have been taken as a taunt. Sam took a series of heavy breaths; then, with a distinct werebear growl, he lunged at her.
"Applejack, look out!"
Twilight tackled the orange pony on her side, pushing both of them away from the painful swipe. Sam landed on all fours once he saw his attack wouldn't connect. The ground quaked a little when his body met it. Pinkie's eyes narrowed at the werebear. Apparently, they weren't quite done fighting for the day yet.
With a mysterious chuckle, Sam walked backwards. He didn't need to take more than five steps before completely vanishing into the darkness. Twilight noticed this after helping Applejack back to her hooves. "He isn't retreating, girls! This is the kind of territory bears thrive in. He's just figuring out a different way to attack us!"
Sam's voice rang out. With his body nowhere in the light of the fire, it sounded like it was coming from every direction at once. It was pretty scary, really, but nothing could be done about it except sidling closer to the fire. "Just because I'm one of my kind," he accented, as if mocking Applejack's statement to him, "doesn't mean I'm in league with those other guys."
There was a stampeding-like sound. Pinkie was given only seconds' worth of warning to roll out of the way from a charging werebear. He missed the pony, but didn't stop his momentum. The result was him trampling over the fire; what little sight they had vanished in that same instant. Twilight wasted no time in trying to reignite the leaves and twigs that had fueled it in the first place, but until then, they were blind.
"It's not very considerate to accuse someone of that."
Pinkie Pie bit her lip in an attempt to control some of her fear. The darkness didn't affect her as much as the thousands of questions spinning around in her mind. "Twilight, what do we do?"
"I don't know!" she cried. One after another, she hiked mini fireballs at her inanimate target. With all of it so burned already, she couldn't get a consistent flame going. "I haven't had time to properly research these things. Some creatures similar to him are weak to silver, but I would have tried that before if we had any! And I thought after earlier maybe we could use fire, but..." The stressed mare sighed, probably looking at the burnt remains of their fireplace. "apparently not."
"Probably that darn coat of his ate the fire up," Applejack offered.
Once again, the night was interrupted by Sam's echoing voice. "Why don't you and I talk privately for a minute, my pony friend?"
That wasn't very specific. Or helpful. Proper nouns, Sam! Before any scolding could be done, Pinkie felt a heavy tug on her poofy tail. Suddenly, she felt like she had her answer. Her body froze against her will for a moment, right up until she was yanked with such force that she traveled through the air. She was swiftly flying backwards, toward the way they came from, and very, very far away from Twilight and Applejack. The only thing she could hear over her own screaming was her name being frantically called by her friends.
-TRS-
She wasn't sure just how far she had gotten flung. It was quite a toss, no doubt. When she finally landed (somehow having not connected with a single tree or shrub), she rolled over herself four times before skidding to a halt. If she could actually see anything, it would probably have been spinning. Her surroundings were nearly a complete mystery to her; all she knew was that she had a decent view of the starry sky.
Still shaking off the shock of that event, Pinkie slowly got to her hooves. "Where are you? Quit hiding!"
"Oh, I'm not far," said that voice. It remained circling in every direction around her. "Question is, who are you to start pointing hooves at me?"
"I..." Pinkie started that sentence, but had no idea how to finish it. She chose a frustrated screech. "No! Applejack can find any liar! We just can't trust you anymore!"
"That true?" There was some shuffling noises over in that direction. Was he getting ready to make a move? "Tell me, though. Is it you that doesn't trust me, or your friends?"
That sound was temporarily forgotten in the face of the question. "I... don't..."
A second charge. Unlike the first, Pinkie didn't see it coming in time—she didn't see it at all—which made evading impossible. Pinkie got bowled over, and Sam disappeared once again into the surroundings.
"I think you want to trust me," he said. "That's good enough for me."
"Then why are you fighting us?" Pinkie countered, holding her aching head while rising up once more.
"This? This is just to rough you up a little bit. Your friend, there. She got me off on the wrong foot this evening."
The pink pony was far past confused and well on her way to confuzzled. At the exact moment, though, it didn't seem to matter. If she needed to fight, then she wasn't going to hold back. Her eyes immediately turned to the saddlebag that was thrown over her right side. She hadn't opened it much so far, and had hoped she wouldn't need to. It was time.
Inside the bag were four helium-filled balloons. They tried escaping as soon as the top of the bag was lifted, and would have if Pinkie didn't catch them with her mouth. Connecting them together at the base of the string was a lightweight harness. Quickly fitting the harness on herself, Pinkie's feet left the ground. Before long, she achieved what was impossible: an earth pony mastering flight.
"How I do like surprises," said a genuine-sounding Sam. "Especially interesting ones."
Packing the balloons hadn't been an easy decision. It had, after all, been several weeks since Pinkie Pie felt like there was much to party about. However, the decision to bring them along was rewarding her in spades. She gracefully drifted away from earth, her range now exceeding that of even the gigantic werebear. The best part was that the balloons were multi-colored! Even if it was too dark to really tell.
"I'm not sure what you plan on doing once you're up there, but unfortunately, we're not going to find out."
A branch on a nearby tree shook rapidly. And then the one right next to it did the same. The moon wasn't high enough yet, but the stars aided her in just barely catching a glimpse of Sam's jacket. It was startling to see how fast such a big creature could climb delicate tree limbs. Seeing anything, however, was all that Pinkie needed.
When he was close enough to Pinkie's height, Sam leapt from a branch and towards her. He held a sharp claw out, and with no problem at all shredded half of her balloons. Sam fell back down to the earth; what he didn't seem to be aware of was a Pinkie Pie that was following him.
After he got close enough to chop the balloons, Pinkie watched his trajectory like a hawk. With the slightest bit of effort in aiming, Pinkie freed herself from the harness. The remaining balloons carried it into the air while its owner went in the other direction. Picking up some immense speed in the air, the pony held her knee out and...
Crack.
Less than a second after Sam's own landing, Pinkie's followed. Her extended limb had nailed the bear directly in the face, causing him to instantly collapse to the ground. There had been some recoil to the move, but Pinkie felt safe that Sam had taken the worst of it. That crack, after all, hadn't come from her.
"Bonk!" she added after the fact.
Sam made a series of incoherent grunts and sounds while standing up. He seemed truly dazed, something Pinkie felt she should be proud of for accomplishing. After regaining some of his senses, Sam again retreated into the concealing blackness.
Pinkie was half expecting more conversation. A taunt, a question, a demand, or just maybe a compliment. She received none of the above. Rather, she heard a series of pounding claws against the grass. "Uh-oh," she squeaked.
Once again, she was assaulted with Sam's signature charge attack. This one was different in the way that after she felt him connect, he failed to let go. Gripping onto her midsection with his arm, he carried her forward for more momentum, then hurled her onward. Unlike before, she felt a tree near instantly; a tree with sharp bark, and a stone planted uncomfortably at the base. Pinkie slid down the former and onto the latter, where she paused to regain her strength. To her great joy, however, her sparring partner spoke up again. He still sounded winded from Pinkie's blow.
"That's good. I'll let you get back to your friends now."
Yet one more time, Pinkie Pie stumbled to get to her hooves. Her side was stinging really bad, but she ignored it. "So..."
"You and yours can think of me any way you want," he answered back. It almost sounded like he could have been smiling. "Just remember that I'm just a guy looking to do some good. And don't worry. You'll be seeing me around, my pony friend."
... Was he gone? How could one know? A sigh escaped from Pinkie. With a limp (getting chucked into a healthy, woody tree hurt), she wordlessly started on her way back to camp. She still couldn't see anything, but as long as she went straight, she knew she'd be fine. Luckily, the mental strain outweighed the physical ones.
So was Sam actually an enemy? Or was he more like a rival? Or... maybe Pinkie was right all along? No. He still readily lied to her and never gave an explanation for doing it. That wasn't a very friendly thing to do. Not to mention he started the roughhousing! Even if it did feel like he pulled his punches a little.
Ugh. Maybe this was a problem for tomorrow.
The night continued on. It was hard to tell exactly how much time it took her, but finally a speck of light caught her eyes. It was a fire—a controlled fire. Minding the sting on her side, along with the aching of her head and leg, she galloped forward, eager to reach the site and her friends.
Her presence in the campfire's light alone was enough to make the local pony stand up (for some reason, there was only one). The lavender mare sprinted over to her battered-looking friend and threw a pair of hooves around her neck. "Oh, Pinkie Pie! Thank the stars you're all right!" Twilight jerked her head back and started hastily examining Pinkie. "You're all right, aren't you?"
Her eyes must have reached Pinkie's side. The orbs almost doubled in size when she saw it. "Oh, no. He didn't bite you, did he?"
Now that she was able to actually see something, Pinkie glanced at her side to see why it hurt so much. It turned out there was a long scratch there, and it was even bleeding a little. Despite that, she had no problem sharing a tired smile with Twilight. "Nah, that was from an unfortunate meeting with a tree. I'm okay." She remembered the pain in her noggin; rubbing her head, she corrected herself. "Or at least I will be."
Twilight took a seat on her haunches. Working her magic skills, she pulled out a clear plastic box from her bag. "I couldn't stop Applejack from trying to find you." The box opened. With a cotton ball, some alcohol, and Twilight's worried gaze on the injury, Pinkie could guess where this was headed. "But I did make her promise she'd be back in ten minutes. Sam didn't try any more of his tricks, did he?"
Pinkie grimaced when the liquid touched her skin. That stung more than the cut did! The question wasn't comforting, either. "Honestly, I'm not sure what happened tonight."
"It's okay, Pinkie." The demonic cotton ball was placed back in the plastic box. Some white bandages flew out in its place. "We can talk about it tomorrow. But after that little intrusion, I'll talk to Applejack about keeping watch in shifts tonight."
"You don't need to do that," Pinkie blurted out before she thought about it. Once the words were out in the open, however, she didn't seem to regret them that much. Even with Twilight's uneven stare. "I mean, after everything today, we all need sleep. And, besides that... I don't think Sam will attack us again like that. Just trust me, Twilight!"
Twilight hung her head low and shook it. After she let out an exasperated groan, she gave Pinkie an answer falling into the "close enough" range. "You should get some rest, Pinkie. I'll talk to Applejack and see what she thinks."
It was difficult to contest that. With her scratch bandaged up, Pinkie allowed herself to lay down on the grass. Within the next minute, she was out cold.
