In the Footsteps of a Giant

Spike paced back and forth, wringing his claws in worry. "I don't know, Rarity, it's not like Twilight to just take off without leaving a note." And a to-do list. He mentally added.

Rarity set down the thread she was working with and walked over to the dragon. "I know Spike, but maybe she just forgot, you know how she can get."

"Maybe, but she's never forgotten before." Spike stopped pacing and stared sadly at his feet. "She knows I would worry about her."

The alabaster unicorn perked up. "Perhaps she did leave you a note and it you just missed it."

Spike shook his head. "No, I looked everywhere... well, all the usual spots, anyway."

"Maybe a breeze blew it off wherever she put it. I'll tell you what, let me close up here and I'll go with you to the library and help you look."

The purple dragon smiled gratefully. "Really? Aw, thanks Rarity!"

"Of course, darling!" Rarity said as she went into the back room to get her 'travel kit' and put on her saddlebags.

As they stepped outside, the white mare locked the front door and flipped the sign on it to 'Closed'. Spike was already heading down the street, and she had to trot to catch up. The poor dear really is worried. She thought to herself. The pair made their way to the center of town before they were accosted by an excitable pink pony. "Hiya Rarity! Hey Spike! What's up?"

"Hi Pinkie, Twilight wasn't in the library when I woke up this morning." Spike explained. "You haven't seen her, have you?"

"Nopey dopey! Wait, Twilight's missing?" Pinkie gasped. "Oh, no, that's terrible! Maybe she went back in time to warn herself not to go back in time and got stuck! Ooh, or maybe she got teleported to the middle of the ocean and a giant monster saved her but then got hungry and ate her! Oh, I know! She went to the moon to see if bananas could-"

"I'm *sure* Twilight is just fine, Pinkie." Rarity interrupted, "We're heading over to the library now to see if she left a note. Would you care to join us?"

"Ooh, a mystery! Count me in!" Ponyville's party pony bounced in step with the others as they continued on their way.

The giant's stomach rumbled hungrily, he paused for a moment and stroked his chin as he eyed the little pony in front of him thoughtfully. Hmmm... he thought to himself before waving a hand dismissively. Nah. Fortunately, Twilight was busy picking up some coconuts, and failed to notice Tim's momentary lapse in culinary decency. As she set them in a pile, she used her magic to poke two holes in the top of each coconut. If her memory served, coconut milk was not only safe to drink and hydrating, but had some vitamins and calories, as well. She floated one up to Tim, who was now staring very intently from her horn to the coconut. Woah, she can levitate stuff? That is so cool! Slowly, he held out his hand and took the offering, jumping a little as Twilight closed the magic field. Wow, it's like he's never seem magic before.

The purple mare sipped the water out of her second coconut, Tim had downed five already and was now walking down the beach toward some nearby cliffs. He had indicated he wanted her to stay put, and the sand was comfortable, so she agreed. She watched as the giant plucked a hoof- er handfull of the life-saving nuts as he walked, stopping occasionally to stare intently at the ground. Finally, when he was near the cliff, he stooped down and picked up a few rocks, one large and flat, the other thin and long. What is he planning to do with those? I can just use my magic to open the coconuts... He really loaded up on the coconuts on the way back, and by the time he reached Twilight, his arms were full. Tim dropped the coconuts in a pile and set the flat rock on the beach, he then set one of the empty nuts on the rock and began to beat at it with the thinner rock.

Twilight shook her head and sighed. "You could have just told me that's what you wanted to do." Tim looked at her with a blank expression. "Oh... right. I guess not. Here, let me get that." She floated the empty coconut over and carefully bisected it with a simple spell.

Tim's eyes lit up as he smiled. He quickly grabbed one of the coconut halves and began to scrape the inside with the smaller rock. Soon the makeshift bowl was filled with white chunks of coconut flesh, and the giant proudly handed the fruit of his labor to Twilight. She looked dubiously at the mess in the bowl, then back up at Tim. "I give up, what is it?" Sighing in mock frustration and rolling his eyes, Tim took a piece of coconut and ate it. Things went pretty quickly after that, they set up a system where Twilight would bisect the coconuts and Tim would scrape the flesh, once two were done, they would eat. The unicorn had never eaten coconut before, it wasn't bad, but it was kind of bland. Still it was much better than nothing.

They continued the process long after Twilight had eaten her fill, and now Tim was sadly looking at the empty husks of twenty coconuts, only three of which he had not eaten. Sweet Luna's ghost! Twilight thought to herself. What does it take to feed this guy? Shrugging, the pony began to look around, the sun was beginning to set, they would have to find a place to sleep soon. The beach was nice, but she felt vulnerable sleeping so close to the water; What if there was a tidal wave? Twilight looked back at the cliffs, if they wanted to be safe, they'd have to find a way up, and that could take some time. She tapped the sitting giant's arm to get his attention, then lifted her hoof and rested her head on it to mime sleeping, and finally pointed at the cliffs. Nodding, he stood up to follow the purple mare.

The closer they got to the cliffs, the more hopeless the situation seemed. They had to be hundreds of hooves tall! No paths or trails of any kind presented themselves, and Twilight had used most of her magic to cut coconuts, so teleporting was out. Besides, she couldn't just leave Tim behind, he had saved her life! Without an obvious way up, Twilight was at a loss for what to do. She sat down, staring at the top of the cliff, looking for an answer. Tim looked at the unicorn, then to where she was looking, then back at the unicorn. Shrugging his shoulders, he walked to the cliff face and leaned up against it to wait and see what she was planning.

Twilight's ears shot up and she leapt to her hooves. "That's it!" She cried "You're about a third of the way up the cliff already and you're just leaning against it! You can climb us up, it'll be easy!"

She had to make some climbing motions with her hooves, pointing to the giant, then the top of the cliff repeatedly, but she finally got the point across. Tim rolled his shoulders, then nodded. He lifted Twilight behind his head, where she could hang on so he could use both of his hands. In about a minute, they were on top of the 'insurmountable' cliff she had worried so much about. Having a giant around was useful!

It was late afternoon and the three friends still had nothing to show for all their effort. They had scoured the entire library and there was no sign of a note or Twilight. Pinkie was her usual self, but Spike was getting more and more desperate. Even Rarity was beginning to get worried.

"Pinkie, put down the sponge, I already told you we're not doing that kind of scouring." she said as demurely as possible.

Pinkie looked up from her work. "Oh yeah! Sorry, I forgot... Why are we in the library again?"

"Because Twilight's missing, and something really horrible could have happened to her and I may never see her again!" Spike started to shake, worry showing clearly on his face.

"There, there, Spike, perhaps she went to visit Zecora, that's quite a long trip."

"Oh, no! She could be lost in the Everfree forest! Maybe a manticore got her!" It was evident the dragon was barely under control.

"Spike, please calm down. I'll tell you what, why don't you stay with me tonight? You can write a note in case Twilight comes back, and if she hasn't returned by the morning, we'll send a letter to Princess Celestia, first thing."

Spike calmed down considerably at the invitation. "Can... can I send her a letter now?"

"I'd hate to bother her, especially if it turns out Twilight is just off running an errand or something. Pinkie, would you be a dear and let Rainbow Dash know what's going on? And ask her to let Fluttershy and Applejack know the situation, as well. Find out if anypony has seen Twilight today."

"Okie dokie Loki!" Saluting, the pink mare zipped from the room and literally bounced off the walls to go find Rainbow Dash.

"Thanks, Rarity, you're a really great friend." Spike said as he gave the mare a hug.

"Of course, Darling! To be perfectly honest... I'm a bit worried myself."

The sun had nearly set, that combined with the dense tree cover made seeing very difficult. The gloomy darkness of the jungle surrounded the pair, the humid air making the environment almost suffocating. The limbs of the trees were mostly at face height for Tim, forcing him to duck as he walked, constantly weaving around numerous trunks. For whatever reason, the unicorn had wanted to go up the cliff and head toward the mountain in the distance, even though night was coming and shelter should have been their priority. Still, she seemed to know what she was doing, maybe Twilight knew something that he didn't. They stopped abruptly when a wall of underbrush blocked their passage. Tim cringed as he pushed through, the tangled plants scratched at his arms and legs, and to add injury to insult, one of the plants turned out to be some kind of thorn bush.

Twilight winced in sympathy, the giant had cut his foot on a rock as he was climbing up the cliff. It had finally stopped bleeding, but it was starting to become inflamed. How could such a large creature have such soft feet? Surely he should have hooves as hard as stone! For her part, the purple unicorn had one little scratch on her cheek from the thorn bush. Her fur protected her from everything else. For all his size, Tim sure didn't have very much in the way of natural protection. He sat stoically as she pulled out the few thorns that had stuck in his skin. She could tell he was tired, but they hadn't run into any likely spot to set up camp. A little bit further, and if we don't find anything we'll stop. she promised to Tim as much as herself. This whole day had been extremely draining, she couldn't go much further, either.

Twilight finished with the thorns and took the opportunity to look around. They had entered a small clearing, ringed by the wall of brush. The plants fought with each other for every inch of sunlight. From here, she could see the mountain, the sunlight still struck near the top, contrasting sharply with the darkness at the base. With the top glowing orange the mountain almost looked like- "A... a volcano?" There was no smoke coming from it, and the orange was only from the sunlight, but the flattened top was unmistakably a caldera. First the threat of a tidal wave, and now an erupting volcano? Twilight sighed. "Talk about out of the frying pan and into the fire."

A raspy voice echoed from the pervasive darkness. "Oh, I couldn't agree more!" The giant sprang to his feet at the sound of the voice as laughter erupted all around them. Suddenly, a dozen armored diamond dogs appeared. They quickly surrounded Twilight, keeping their spears pointed in her direction. "Tell the big one to behave, or you'll both end up on the menu!"