An orange hue illuminated through the shops interior as Rose and Carrot Top entered. Everything that was not covered in a cloth seemed to have a golden shine on it thanks to Celestia’s now lowering sun.
They duo had decided to take a quick rest from their hike along the trail to Everfree and catch their breath inside the store that was fortuitously placed along the path. Since Rose was more of a Gardner rather than a hiker, she needed longer breaks than Carrot top in order to recuperate.
“Hey Rose, come check this out,” Carrot top called out to her friend.
Rose looked around for Carrot Top. Nowhere in sight. She must’ve wandered off into the store’s labyrinth of shelves, each of which was holding a multitude of antiques and trivial artifacts of Equestria. This was like Rose, never able to keep herself still for more than a few seconds before something mildly interesting grabbed her short attention span and lured all of her curiosity towards it.
“Where are you? It’s kind of hard to find you in this place,” Carrot Top called out.
She wasn’t kidding either. The place looked much smaller on the outside then it did on the inside. The further she made her way towards the back of the store the quicker it became darkened despite the large glass windows that towered in the front near the entrance. Coming out of one of the aisles, she saw her friend standing at the far right of the store near the back corner. She would’ve actually missed her if it wasn’t for the fraction of light coming from the hanging oil lamp on the wall.
“What’d you find now Carrot Top?” Rose questioned slightly agitated. “Whatever it is, I doubt we even have the money to buy it.”
“Well you’ll be glad to hear it’s not an item.”
As Rose approached her friend, she could now see what Carrot Top had found hung up on the decaying wall. It was a board that was entirely filled with papers crudely stapled to it. On each paper was a picture of an arbitrary stranger from Ponyville with a large red font above them in all capital letters spelling the word: missing.
Rose briefly glanced over some of the many flyers that were placed along the board before looking over to Carrot Top. Her face seemed to be more solemn than her usual chirpy expression.
“I knew some of these ponies,” Carrot Top stated. “Some of them I had known since grad school. I always wondered what happened to them.”
Rose examined the flyers closer on her second glance. On one of the lines listed on the flyer, it stated that the pony was last seen on their way to Everfree. Inspecting closer on the array of flyers strewn out, she realized that they all said that they were last seen on their way to the Everfree forest.
“Carrot Top, didn’t you say we we’re going camping in the Everfree forest?”
“We are,” Carrot Top responded with her face not looking away from the board.
“Don’t all these missing ponies send some kind of premonition over you?”
Carrot Top’s eyes stopped scanning through the numerous posters sprinkled across the board. She seemed to stare out into space, as if she was coming up with an excuse to continue their plans for tonight.
“Ponies get lost in there all the time because they more than likely don’t know what they’re doing. It’s dangerous if you don’t know much about the forest,” She replied to Rose.
“I’m not convinced Carrot Top. That is a lot of ponies to get lost in Everfree. You really believe that many had no idea on what they were doing?”
Carrot Top paused for a moment before responding.
“Everfree isn’t touched by any of the ponies in Equestria. We don’t truly know what really happens in there, just a fundamental idea.” she stated with a hint of fear in her tone.
The slam of a door resonated off the plastered walls, cut through the silence with a lingering echo in the room. Someone has entered into the store.
Rose and Carrot Top turned around hastily because of the surprisingly loud noise coming from behind them. At the opposite side of the shop was an aged pony, or that’s what they assumed as it was hard to tell due to the attire he had covering his face and body. He stood there mutely for what felt to the two mares an eternity before he gradually made his way over towards them.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I’m afraid my shop will be closing within the next fifteen minutes,” he hissed at them. “If there is anything you need help with or would like to purchase, please do so quickly as I’m preparing to lock up for the night.” His voice was sluggish and coarse, followed by heavy pants he would let out with each step. It was not hard for the two mares to tell that he had one too many ciders to drink today.
“We we’re just wondering if you had any bottles of water or oil for our lanterns,” Rose spluttered at the stallion continuing to walk towards them.
“Bottled water? Lantern oil? I’m afraid I carry no such product. If that is all you look for then you’ll have to look elsewhere.”
With the stallion coming near them, the two could distinguish his appearance that was once hidden by his rather unusual clothing. Buried behind his transparent black veil was the face of a stallion that appeared to be in his late fifty’s. His eyes were bloodshot and the bottom part of his jaw was covered with stubble. Now that he was closer to them, Carrot Top and Rose could smell the cider on his breath that crawled out his mouth with each heavy breath he expelled.
The two of them were becoming unnerved by the approaching stallion eerily making his way towards them. When he became within hoof’s distance he stopped and stood tall above them, his worn coat blowing subtly from the draft coming in from the holes in the walls.
“If you two would be so kind,” he spat at them.
The two confusingly looked at the old stallion before tracing the invisible line that his eyes were following. He gaze was focused on the old board hung up along the wall behind them. Rose and Carrot Top stepped to the side before he cutted in-between them and grabbed the board off of the wall.
“This old thing hasn’t been touched in many moons,” he said in a monotone voice, “I will need to update like many of the belongings in this Celestia for saken store.”
Without another word he turned around and began his way over towards the counter on the other side of the store. The two looked at the drunken old stallion with a mix of sadness and fear.
“This drunk doesn’t want us in his store, we may as well leave him be,” Rose whispered to her friend.
Carrot Top didn’t say anything but rather nodded her head gently in agreement. The two began to trot their way over towards the entrance of the store.
“So you two are going camping huh?” a voice boomed behind them.
Rose and Carrot Top stopped in front of the door and looked over at the stallion who was removing flyers off of the board.
“If you plan on going to Everfree at night, you’re making a grave mistake.”
“It’s alright sir, we know what we’re doing when it comes to survival in the outdoors,” Rose reassured more to herself then to the stallion.
“Well I hope you realize that Everfree forest is not some campground that any filly can wander onto and camp freely, especially at night. It’s a place where nature instinctively does whatever it wants without restrictions. Almost no kind of magic will protect you when it comes to surviving in those parts of Equestria,” he informed them. Using his magic, the stallion levitated the stack of flyers over towards a trash bin sitting beside his register before letting them drop noisily. “But what do I know? It’s not as if I’ve seen many travelers go but never return.”
He stared at the two young mares standing in front of the door way, his grey eyes looking over every bit of their body until reaching their somewhat daunted faces.
“You must leave now, stores closed,” he told them before levitating a ring of keys beside him.
Rose and Carrot Top were swiftly escorted from the shop before an audible lock could be heard from behind them. Rose looked down the trail they were once heading along. A lavender twilight sky was starting to transition the day into the night above them, reflecting a dim shade of purple across the land.
“Carrot Top, are you sure Everfree is the place we want to camp? We can always go somewhere else in Equestria that is safer,” Rose worryingly asked Carrot Top.
“Rose, I promise you that the old drunk was simply spilling nonsense that filled his head, Everfree is one of the most admirable places in all of Equestria when it comes to scenery. Not only that but where we’re going there is almost no wildlife so there is no need to worry about fabricated dangers your imagination is conjuring,” she promised Rose. “Now come along, we only have about forty more minutes of walking before we reach that spot.”
Carrot Top tightened the saddle bags around her before trotting along the trail they had begun following since early morning. Rose looked back at the shop they had entered, reminiscing over everything that was said before trotting behind Carrot Top through the crisp fall air.
Author's Note
As someone who has been lurking since early 2013, feels good to finally try my hand in writing some pony fiction.
Will be more than happy to receive any comments or criticism whether it be positive or overwhelmingly negative, my goal is to take input from everyone in order to write higher quality stories for you to enjoy!
