Chapter 9: Quest for the Senzu Part 1

This morning was different. This morning I woke up before the rooster could wake me. I snuck out without waking Fluttershy and got dressed quickly so I could race over to Zecora's hut to ask her where I could find the bean. When I got there she let me in and offered me some tea, but I declined, telling her I was far too busy. When I asked her if she knew where the bean was she told me about a legend, a story that contained clues as to where it would be. She said that it grew on the highest point of one mountain in particular. That it was known for certain to have healing properties, that some pegasi have eaten it before only to confirm the stories, and that exhausted migrating birds have eaten it as well so that they could continue their journey. The one mountain just happened to be the one where the dragon had been taking his nap in the episode Dragonshy. All I needed were directions, directions Twilight had, on her map.

After finding all of that out I flew back to Fluttershy's at top speed, and quietly entered without making a sound. I made us breakfast, then brought Fluttershy hers to the bed and woke her up. I explained to her the events I had planned for today, and she seemed concerned.

"Dako, are you sure this is a good idea, Zecora said herself it would be dangerous, you could get hurt." She said to me.

"It's okay, I'm tough, you know that, I fought a dragon before, and besides the Senzu bean has healing properties anyway." I told her.

"Okay, but do I have to go?" she asked me.

"Well, no, but I'd like you to come with me, but at the same time I want you to stay so nothing happens to you, it's weird. You can stay if you really want." I said.

"I'll come, I want to make sure you don't do anything reckless." She said.

"Don't worry, I won't." I said reassuringly.

After awhile, I had to go, it was 7:45 now, and I had to be at the post office at 8:00, although I began to wonder if I should be late on purpose. I opted to go on time, so I did. When I got to the post office, all the other mail carriers were there too, on time and ready to make their deliveries. I saw Derpy and asked if I could have a word with her.

"Hey Derpy, you got a minute?" I whispered to her.

"Sure, what do you need." She asked me. I motioned for her to follow me into the mail room where I could talk in private.

"Well, I'm going to quit this job. I know I actually haven't worked except for half of one day, but I just don't like the boss and his jokes." I told her.

"You don't have to do that, that was the only time he'll mess with you, I promise." She said to me.

"Yeah, but he might actually make fun of me, because I'm not a pony. That and, I'm going on a little, you could call it, an adventure." I told her.

"Really? That sounds fun!" she said excitedly.

"Yeah, and I can't keep this job and not work at the same time, I need to be free to do my little quest. It may take me an entire week, and this early in the job there's no way I can get my time for vacation." I explained.

"I see. Okay, go ahead, but I'll miss you." She said, starting to get a little sad.

"It's okay, I can still meet you outside of work." I told her, which cheered her up a little.

We left the mail room, and while Derpy kept getting ready to make her deliveries, I went looking for the boss, although he found me instead.

"You! New guy, why aren't you in uniform? We got it especially for you, so wear it!" Mr. Stamps yelled at me out of his office door.

"Oh, good morning to you too Mr. Stamps." I said with sarcastic kindness. "May I speak to you?" I asked.

"What is it, make it quick, the mail ain't gonna deliver itself!" he yelled.

"It's about the job, sir." I said patiently.

"What about it? Spit it out!" he kept yelling impatiently.

"Yeah, take this job, and shove it! Shove it right where the sun don't shine!" I started yelling at him. Everyone in the post office, customers and mail carriers went dead silent, and I knew they were staring, how could they not?

"I didn't appreciate that little prank you pulled on me, telling me to be here Saturday. If I had any less sense of reason or self control, I'd have half a mind to throw your sorry ass off a cliff, but I won't do that. No, that's to good for you anyway, and it'd make me look bad." I said, getting closer in his face.

"And don't worry about dangling this job in front of me, I don't want it anyway. Seriously, who in their right mind would want to work for you?" I finished, turning and walking towards the door. I saw the mail carriers looking at each other, thinking about the last thing I said. Mr. Stamps really didn't like that.

"Well what are y'all looking at? Back to work, or you'll be out of here just like him!" I heard him yell, just before I took off to Twilight's.

Twilight had a map, and had been to the mountain before, I never have, so she would be very helpful. She might also have some knowledge as to where the bean may be as well. When I got to the library I knocked on the door, and naturally she asked why I had stopped by. I explained what I was planning on doing, and how I needed her help. Then she let me in.

"Thank you Twilight. I knew if anypony could help, it would be you." I said.

"I don't know about this though, Dako. Are you sure you want to do this? A search for a plant that nopony knows really exists or not, and to top it all off it requires a dangerous trek up a dangerous mountain, I know I wouldn't want to do it." She said to me while looking for her map.

"Yeah, I know it won't be a walk in the park, literally. But the risk is well worth the reward, especially if you consider the benefits this plant would have for pony kind." I said.

"Well, you certainly can't do this alone. You are planning to take a team, right?" she asked.

"Well as far as I know, you guys are the only to have ever gone up that mountain. So I was considering having you all come with me. And since this is unfamiliar terrain, I need someone to carry me back home if I get hurt." I told her, the last part said jokingly of course.

"Here it is." She said pulling out a map with her magic.

I looked at the map, which I imagined would look old and tattered, but not while under Twilight's ownership, I looked pristine and brand new, as if printed yesterday.

"Awesome. Oh, you wouldn't happen to have any books on the bean, would you?" I asked.

"No, sorry. So you want to take all of us up there with you?" she asked me.

"Well I can understand if you guys don't want to, but, yeah pretty much." I said plain and simple.

"I could go alone, but there's the issue of my personal safety. If it weren't for that, I could easily carry all the equipment I need to complete the trip." I said to her.

"No, we're going with you, I'll write everyone a letter informing them of the journey." She said, walking off to find some scrolls and a quill.

So Twilight, "Rallied the troops" and told everyone to be prepared for a second trip up the mountain. If everyone prepared quickly enough we could leave the same day. And as luck would have it, they were ready. They all met on the edge of Ponyville, facing the Everfree forest. Unfortunately, they had to wait for me, the one with the idea for the trip, was late. I was still getting my stuff together and packing my backpack, and just in case, a tent.

After being 15 minutes late, me and Fluttershy finally met with the group.

"Sorry I'm late guys, I still had to pack my stuff, most of its food, I eat a lot." I said.

"Well what matters is that you're here." Twilight said.

"Oh man, this is gonna be so awesome! Just like Daring Do!" Rainbow Dash said to herself, hovering above the group.

"Oh, does anyone know what time it is?" I asked. No one had a watch, so they looked at each other and shrugged.

"It's, Adventure Time!" I yelled out, and began marching towards the forest. Okay, so they were a little confused, but the played along alright. You may ask why I didn't fly off towards the forest, well just remember that only three of the seven of us can fly. That wouldn't be fair to them.

As we trekked through the forest, Twilight led the way, since she had the map and all. But I was right alongside her blasting branches and bushes out of the way. It might have been better if I just chopped them down instead, because I did start a couple fires, which I had to stomp out. But hey, it got the job done.

Walking, is so much slower than flying. I had gotten to used to the freedom of being able to fly here that I forgot how slow walking is. To make things worse, I wasn't properly dressed for the hiking, just to get to the mountain. My boots weren't hiking boots, I wore thick denim blue jeans instead more appropriate shorts, and out of all the food I had, I brought no water with me. I had been walking like this for 45 minutes now, and there were still another 45 minutes to go.

"Pinkie, where do you find the energy?" I asked panting under my heavy backpack. She wasn't walking, just hopping along as usual.

"Don't worry Dako, maybe a song will make you feel better!" she said, hopping over to me. "What song do you want to hear?" she asked smiling.

"It's fine I just, whew tired!" I said as I fell to my hands and knees trying to catch my breath. Vegeta would be disgusted with me, I'm the most out of shape saiyan ever.

Everyone circled around me.

"Dako, are you alright?" Applejack asked me.

"I, just need, some water." I said breathing heavily. Applejack pulled a canteen out of her saddle bag.

"Drink up." She said with a friendly smile.

I franticly grabbed and pulled off the cap and drank as fast as I could, almost choking a couple of time's.

"Whoa! You weren't kidding." Applejack said as I handed the now empty canteen back to her.

"Thank you. Twilight, how much farther till we reach the base of the mountain?" I asked.

"Well, we might need to make camp, the weather seems to be getting pretty bad, we don't want to get caught in it." She said with slight concern.

"Let me check it out." I said taking my backpack off. I flew up and through the trees to get a view of the sky. The sun was no longer visible, and the clouds were dark gray, and I could hear thunder. I immediately dropped to the ground. I swore to myself I would never fly in bad weather again, ever since the tornado incident.

"Alright guys, you heard Twilight, were setting up camp." I said to everyone.

We found the densest group of trees in attempt to shield as much rain as possible. We began setting up our tents under the trees, and fast, as we could hear a few raindrops coming down.

"Who needs help? I'm already done with my tent." I announced to the group. Before they could get their tents up the rain started, lightly for now.

"Could a lady get some assistance, please?" I heard Rarity ask. I jogged over and quickly helped her set up her tent. Then I helped Pinkie Pie.

"Alright everyone, inside!" Twilight yelled out over the sound of the rain.

It was really coming down now, pouring buckets. Fluttershy and I huddled together inside of our tent. Every time there was a clap of thunder she jumped a little and would squeeze me tighter. I had my arms around her, holding her closely to me.

"It's okay Fluttershy, it's just thunder." I said in a soothing tone.

Before it started raining it may have only been 12:00. The rain continued for hours, almost five hours! It would lighten up at times, then come down even harder than before. At one point it was calm and quiet for almost 30 minutes and allowed us out of our tents.

"Okay everypony, here's the plan." Twilight began. "Due to inclement weather we will camp here for the rest of the day and tonight." She said.

"We will continue in the morning if the weather allows. Stay in your tents, don't go out unless you absolutely have to." She said.

Rarity spoke up, obviously not wanting to stay in her tent any longer than she already had.

"Why can't Rainbow Dash clear the skies for us? As fabulous as my tent is, I do not wish to stay cooped up inside it any longer." She said.

"Rarity, this storm is too big for one pegasus to handle, besides, its natural weather, outside of what the pegasi at Cloudsdale are responsible for. It would be against the rules for me to mess with it." Rainbow Dash said.

"Rainbow Dash is right, we're all just going to have to wait it out." Twilight said heading back into her tent.

"That's cool, well early to bed, early to rise. Good night!" I yelled out of my tent.

Shortly after everyone went back in their tent the rain started again. I heard the others groan in disappointment. It kept raining until was completely dark out, then I lit our lantern.

"So Fluttershy, how are you?" I asked her. "You doing alright?"

"I'm fine." She said to me with a smile.

"Good." I said smiling too. "Come here." I said smiling with my arms out. She walked over and put her forelegs around me as I put my arms around her. We sat hugging and holding each other, and she would jump at the occasional thunder clap. She was resting her head on my shoulder with her eyes closed. Being in my arms made her feel safe, no matter what was happening outside.

"I love you Fluttershy." I whispered to her.

"I love you too Dako." She whispered back.

We continued holding each other for a while, until she fell asleep in my arms. Then I unzipped our sleeping bag and gently laid her down in it. I got undressed slowly and quietly trying not to wake her, then I laid down next her and zipped up the sleeping bag. I kissed her on the nose and cuddled up next to her, stroking her mane. I laid there for a while listening to the rain outside. Tomorrow would hold either great satisfaction or colossal disappointment. I blew out the lantern and shut my eyes, trying to shut out the thunder. Fortunately I was so exhausted it only took me a couple of minutes to fall asleep.