A Wish Before Midnight

A Wish Before Midnight

Chapter 6 – Rodents

“Bronze opened his eyes to the harsh beams of sunlight. His head ached immensely once the light reached his irises. He took a good look around him, and the area seemed quite familiar. The same broken branches immediately reminded him of the altercation between him and Trixie. He lowered his head from exhaustion, and found himself tied to a tree by a long, red curtain. He struggled and struggled, but there was no way he could free himself. . .”

Bronze thrashes about in the hopes that he can loosen the curtain, and quickly gives up as soon as he notices he’s making no progress. “I’ve tried that already. . .” A voice mutters behind him.

“W-What? Who’s there?!” Bronze asks as he glances to his left and right attempting to get a view of the stallion who’s speaking. However, the thick tree trunk they’re tied to obstructs his view.

“Look, don’t freak out. I’m in the same situation as you.”

“Who are you? Why are you here?”

“I’m just a local from town. I was just taking a stroll through the woods, looking for any fruits to pick, until I heard the commotion. I hid in the bushes, trying to think of what I should do. After that mare knocked you out, she came right after me when I accidentally made a noise. I tried to run away, but as you can tell . . . it didn’t really help.”

“Oh . . . I’m sorry you got involved in this. All sorts of crazy things have been happening lately.”

“Well, since we’re going to be tied up with each other for a while, I might as well introduce myself. My name’s Awry, the town ‘fruit-picker’ I suppose.”

“It’s a pleasure, Awry. I'm Bronze, Knight of— Actually, I suppose I’m a knight no longer. My knighthood was redacted just last night.”

“Oh . . . is it because you lost to that mare?”

“No, no, i-it’s hard to explain.”

“Just who was that anyway? Are you and her together or something? Like . . . ‘together’ together?”

“What?” Bronze looks completely baffled. “No, not even close. I’m starting to get the feeling she’s just gone completely insane.”

“Oh, good. I was going to say you really picked a nutty one. But, since you’re not together, I guess it’s alright to say it. . . She is a real nutty one.”

“Ugh, where could she have gone anyway? Her carriage isn’t here, so she could be miles deep in the forest by now.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Why’s that?”

“Well, when she lifted me up by my waist-bag, she tried to scare me by saying that she would tie me up and leave me for trying to interfere. Then, she said that she was going to head to the nearest town to get her wheel fixed.”

“Surely she must’ve done it by now.”

“Oh, no. Trust me, I wasn’t scared then, and I'm not scared now.”

“No, not that. I meant she must’ve gotten her wheel fixed by now.”

“Oh, well of course. . . Also, I think she said she was going to get us turned in to the Princess.”

“What?!”

“I know, it’s odd right? I mean we haven’t done anything wrong. Plus, you were a knight. What is she going to get by turning ‘you’ in?”

“You don’t understand, I lost my knighthood for a reason! I failed to follow orders-and resisted arrest! She has a ton to gain by turning me in!”

“Ah, I see. You’ve gone rogue, huh? ‘Down with the Monarchy’ and all that, right?”

“No! That’s not it! Look, we need to get out of this.”

“Really? No, let’s stay. It’s nice and cozy here.”

“Enough with the sarcasm! Now, have you tried biting through this?”

“I’ve tried biting, squirming, pulling, intimidating, decorating—”

“Alright, I get the point. . . Do you have anything useful in your waist-bag?”

“I would, only problem is that she took it and threw it in the back of her carriage.”

Bronze sighs from frustration. “There has to be some way we can get out of this. Take a look around. Do you see anything useful?”

“Umm . . . no, I . . . Uh-oh.”

“What do you mean ‘uh-oh’? What’s there?”

“Squirrels. . .”

“I told you already, enough with the sarcasm.”

“No, I’m not joking! There’s a few . . . never mind there’s . . . oh, that’s a load of squirrels.”

“Awry, focus, we need to find a way out of here fast.”

“They won’t stop lookin’ at me. I-I’m starting to think they’re hungry. . .”

“Wait a minute . . . Awry, I think this is an oak tree.”

“Fabulous, you know your trees. I wish I had a gold star for you.”

“No, hold on! This might sound crazy, but I think I’ve found our way out of this.”

“Well, go ahead and say it! I’m starting to think these squirrels want blood.”

“If we can knock down some acorns, some might fall around us or even onto the curtain. The squirrels will hopefully come to us—”

“What?!”

“—then they’ll climb onto the cloth, and their claws should cut through making it easier for us to break free!”

“Ha! And I thought I was the one making jokes.” Bronze leans forward as far as the curtain will allow him, and slams his armored back onto the tree trunk. “Woah! What are you doing?!”

“Trying to get some acorns out of this blasted tree!” Bronze slams his back into the tree once again.

“Oh, you were serious? I’d be calling you nuts, but that would have to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever said. Also, their stares are starting to creep me out. So, I guess we’d better feed these little rodents.” Awry joins Bronze in slamming the tree trunk, and within seconds, acorns rain down from above. Landing atop their heads and bouncing off the ground, acorns surround the two of them. However, the squirrels remain motionless. “. . . Umm, I don’t think they—” They all then scurry across the ground at lightning speed towards Awry, who screams in horror as they all grab an acorn and climb onto the curtain. Like a horde they claw and tear at the curtain as they ascend up the oak tree. Once the last squirrel takes its share of the fallen nuts, Awry finally ends his constant screaming.

“So, you weren’t scared of Trixie, but those squirrels really got to you; didn’t they?”

“Look, Bronze, you don’t know what it’s like to have fifty of those things coming at you. My whole life practically flashed before my eyes!”

“Alright, well did it at least work?”

“Oh, it worked. . . A little too well.” Awry starts biting and ripping the curtain. Shreds of red cloth are tossed into the air, and Awry breaks free from tight grasp of the curtain. “Tada!” He makes his way around the tree trunk to meet Bronze, allowing him to finally get a good look at Awry. He’s a rather young stallion with a messy, greasy, brown mane with bangs that cover his entire forehead. His fur coat is of a dark gray color, and is adorned with a filthy, torn, navy-blue jacket with several pockets. Judging by the amount of dirt on him and his clothing, Bronze figures he must be one of the ‘less fortunate’ ponies. “Here, let me help,” says Awry as he loosens up the curtain. Bronze gets to his hooves, pressing his forehead to hopefully ease the headache he’s developed. “You don’t look so good.”

“I know. These passed couple days have been a little rough, but I’ll be fine.”

“So . . . what do we do now?”

“Well, now we need to find Trixie before she gets any closer to Canterlot Castle.”

“Why? I mean, we’re free. So, let’s just get as far away from here as we can.”

“And you think they’re just going to forget all about us? If they don’t find us here, they’ll just put us on Equestria’s ‘Most Wanted’ list. Every pony of authority is going to be looking for us, and when they find us, believe me when I say you don’t want to know what they’ll have in store for us.”

Awry nervously clears his throat. “. . . So, back to your plan then.”

“Now, considering she took her carriage despite having a broken wheel. . .” Bronze walks over to where Trixie’s carriage used to be. “It looks like she’s left quite some nasty tracks behind.” Awry gazes down the path, his eyes following the deep tracks in the soil all the way down.

“Oh, so we follow the tracks!”

“That’s correct.”

“. . . I guess I’ll lead the way.” Awry walks ahead of Bronze as he attempts to follow behind with a slight limp. Following the tracks, the both of them remain silent for quite some time. Again, Bronze is disturbed by the complete lack of birds and their chirping. Along with the lack of wind, the only sounds to be heard are their hooves stepping onto the dry soil. He constantly looks up to the trees, examining them for any birds.

“Awry?”

“Yes?”

“Have you noticed that no birds are singing?”

“Uhh . . . now that you mention it, I suppose so.”

“Isn’t it strange? Where could they have gone to?”

“Beats me.”

“A-And the deer, the rabbits, everything. They didn’t just vanish, because we saw all those squirrels earlier.”

“Sounds like quite the mystery.”

“Aren’t you at least curious?”

“I’m sorry, Bronze, but the animals aren’t really at the top of my ‘list of concerns’ right now. If anything, I’m more curious about those earthquakes we had.”

“So you felt them too! Ha! I knew I wasn’t losing my mind!” Bronze celebrates.

“Yeah . . . I think just about everypony in Equestria felt them.”

“And did you see that black wave that swept across the forest?”

“Uhh, nope.”

“What do you mean, how could you ‘not’ have seen it?!”

“Because I was trying to get back to sleep after those earthquakes.” Bronze rubs his eyes as he can feel his headache worsening from Awry’s response.

“Hey, Knight Paranoia! I’ve found your rabbits!” Bronze’s eyes fly open as he watches Awry beckoning him further down the path. He hurries to his side, and as Awry points to a set of bushes, he notices a family of rabbits huddled together inside. “There, mystery solved.” Awry turns to continue down the path.

“Hold on. . .” Awry stops, turning back with a sigh. “Try luring them out.”

“Honestly? I thought we were on a bit of a tight schedule with the ‘soon to be Most Wanted’ thing.”

“It’ll take one second. Just try.”

“Oh, boy. You have a thing for rodents don’t you?” Awry walks over to a bush behind them, collecting a few berries from the branches. He sets them down in a pile near the bushes.

“No, put them a bit further away so that they’re more in the sunlight.”

“. . . Alright then.” Begrudgingly following his orders, Awry moves them and kneels down to get a better view of the rabbits. “Come on then you big-eared freaks. Get these berries so we can keep walking and do what we were supposed to be doing.” The rabbits simply stare at them, not moving an inch. Bronze watches them in confusion, and Awry watches Bronze in the same manner. “Have you ever considered that perhaps they’re just not hungry?”

“Impossible, animals are always hungry. Those squirrels; it’s like they haven’t eaten in days. The way all collectively stormed towards us to get their food, it didn’t seem normal.”

“Okay, so what’s your point?!” Awry, now getting impatient.

“My point is that ‘something’ is keeping these rabbits from getting those berries!”

“Oh, for goodness sake!” Awry gets up, continuing down the path. “Squirrels and nuts, rabbits and berries, who cares?! Forget this, I’m just gonna keep walking.”

“Wait!” Bronze watches as Awry walks down the path, but is reluctant to leave. He stares intensely at the rabbits, eagerly waiting for them to attempt to go for the berries. Suddenly, a sliver of sunlight penetrates through the bush, and the rabbits quickly crawl backwards to stay within the shade. Bronze stares, puzzled by their need to stay out of the light. Before a single thought can cross his mind, Awry calls to him from far down the path.

“Oh, Knight Paranoia! I think you’re going to find ‘this’ a whole lot more interesting than your rabbits!” Bronze gets up, hurrying over to Awry as quickly as his limp will let him. Awry is smiling as he points down a fork in the path, and Bronze looks as his eyes are presented with a hopeful view. A village; smoke leaving the chimneys of cabins, and townsponies that bring it to life. More importantly, they can see Trixie’s wagon in plain sight.

“Neither of them wanted to waste any more time, so Awry and Bronze galloped towards the village. However, Bronze couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling he had when he was watching the rabbits. Their lack of energy, and desire to escape the sunlight puzzled him deeply. However, there was no time to dwell on such thoughts. They were lucky to find Trixie’s carriage. Next, they just needed to find her, and hope her temper didn’t get the best of them.”