Chapter 1-8

“What's the first step?”

Cornfield questioned this as his friend, Coral, joined his side and awaited further instructions from Zecora. The zebra sized the two of them up to gauge how they would handle the road ahead.

"We need to train Coral to control the Heart for the sake of her health,” Zecora proclaimed to her student before looking at her partner. “Cornfield, you could learn to better protect yourself."

“Hey! I can protect myself just fine, thank you very much!” said the rapscallion, puffing his chest. “It's Coral who needs better defensive abilities.”

The hippogriff’s eyes widened in shock. “You know, I held my own through cunning and charm before I met you, Cornfield,” she rebutted. “I’m not as hopeless as you think I am.”

“Yeah, but... I can't help notice you're always charging into a situation and getting yourself in danger! Sometimes even putting me in peril as a result!” Momentarily, he thought back to a similar scenario involving another pony. “Just like that time, I was watching Rainbow Dash playing buckball...” He thought with his mind in the gutter. “...and she tripped right at the beginning...Ah, I'm so glad I snapped that moment...The way her legs were spread revealing her tight little-"

"What about the time you got so impatient that you almost walked into that carnivorous plant?" Coral interrupted.

The daydreaming colt snapped out of it, stammering.“W-Wait, hold on… That's not my fault!” He scratched the back of his head, getting the story straight in memory. “I was...in some kind of trance or something... I couldn't help it! Besides, you dared me to go in ahead of you, so it was your fault!”

“Enough! We have wasted enough daylight!” shouted the zebra, increasingly intolerant of their bickering. “Cornfield, if you are confident, I won’t teach you to fight. You’ve proven yourself with Caballeron’s brawl and Coral shouldn’t be using you as her wall.”

The treasure hunter growled with her beak tightly shut. "Fine,” she blurted out. “FINE! I get it. You want me to prove myself to you both? Fine! I’ll show you that I didn’t and won’t need Wondercolt over here to get me out of the holes I dig for myself."

“Ah…” the so-called Wondercolt uttered snidely. “So, I was right this time?”

"YES! HOLY CRAP, you are! Drop it already!" The flustered, feathered one sat up and crossed her forelegs in a huff.

"Now, now,” calmed Zecora. “No need to pout. It's your best interests he's pointing out."

“Yeah,” the excited stally-colt exclaimed. “The interests of me being awesome!” He raised his hooves in celebration. “Yeah! Woohoo!”

Coral’s teacher planted a hoof on her face while she, herself, glared with daggers in her eyes at the annoying buffoon beside her. "Can we just get started already before I change my mind about him tagging along?!" she pleaded.

“First lesson: listen to Cornfield!”

Taken more than enough from his blustering, her claws shaped into vines and wrapped them around his muzzle. He tried to shout in protest, only to let out a loud grunt. The hippogriff leaned in close with a wicked smile. “A mature stallion doesn't boast.”

Cornfield stared into her eyes. Knowing what’s good for him, he simply let out an “Ok” from the end of his restrained lips.

Outside of Zecora’s hut, underneath the giant peach tree, the treasure hunter’s sidekick helped the kind zebra in her lessons by setting up three primitive-looking, shoddily-crafted wooden targets. She made sure he would make them purely for the act of practicing vine abilities for the first stage of her training. They were set side-by-side from each other with Coral facing them with a determined scowl.

“Thorns are deadly sharp and a show of force,” her teacher instructed. “Use them when there's no other recourse. The scent of the flowers paralyze and pacify. Use it when large predators catch your eye. Smooth vines, you will find, are good for grabbing or to bind."

“Alright!” Cornfield huffed while wiping the sweat off his brow. “I can't wait to see it in action!”

Her claws writhing about as vines, Coral lashed them about to get a better feel for the weight of their swing. "This will be easy,” she cockily stated. “I just need to think about it and it will happen, right?"

"Not quite,” her striped mentor corrected. “The vines will change how your heart reacts. That's how you will mix up your attacks. Angry emotions bring out thorns. So, be careful to control your scorns. Flowers are tuned to happiness, too, but it requires concentration with a beast coming to you. If your emotions happen to be none of those, smooth vines are used to wrangle objects, friends, or foes.”

A snicker escaped from Cornfield’s gritted teeth as he held back a heavier laugh. “It’s a good thing Coral isn’t pregnant,” he announced. “She’d be having a lot more mood swings!” Unable to contain himself, he busted out in hysterics, rolling in the grass wrapped in his forelegs. “Oh, Celestia! I'm too much sometimes! Hehe!”

The childish colt’s insensitivities was enough to spark a flame in her heart. Embracing the anger, Coral swayed out her claws, allowing the vines to stretch and fly towards her target like a lion-tamer thrashing a leather whip. Razor-sharp thorns shot out from the vines and mercilessly shredded the target to tiny bits like a green whirlwind, leaving nothing but splinters behind.

“Haha...ha…” Suddenly scared out of whatever wits he had left, the young earth pony got off the ground with his legs shaking. He swallowed a deep gulp from the lump in his throat.

"Yeah, not so funny NOW, is it?" taunted the hippogriff before shrinking her vines to get a better look at her thorns. "Anger is easy. I just think of what I would do to the Storm King if he was still around."

“Jeez, ok, ok!” Cornfield cowered. “I'll try not to anger you next time…” He looked away from her judging sight, but not before whispering “tight ass” underneath his breath.

"Trust me, Cornfield,” assured Coral. “You might annoy me, but you don't anger me as much as that pompous baboon does. Besides, as long as the vines aren't out, you're in the clear.”

Knowing she wasn’t willing to use the thorns on him yet gave him some comfort as he breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that's good!”

"As you had said before,” Zecora said, continuing to educate them. “Anger is easy to do, but it’s hard to control. So, let's give controlling your happy thoughts a roll." Sitting up, the zebra focused on her center, motioning the calm breathing through her hooves. "Channel your happiness and when you've gathered enough, you can make your vines grow flowers, blossom, and puff. Its sweet scent calms and pacifies, but enough of the pollen can actually make your foe paralyze."

Thinking back on the events when he went temple raiding, the young colt pondered with a hoof on his chin. “Hmmmm…” he hummed. “I wonder if it's related to the flowers we saw in the ruins?”

“Ah, no, these flowers do not hypnotize. They only calm and, in an extreme case, paralyze."

“See, Coral? I told you I couldn't help it!”

“Cornfield,” his compatriot snapped back. “If the goal is for me to be happy, you are not helping with that argument. Knock it off already!” After a brief moment she tried to tune him and the rest of the world out. She calmed her breathing and dug through the memories of her mind. “Happy thoughts..." As per usual, she started with her gems and how she accumulated many priceless stones over the years. It's a couple happy memories, but not enough. Thinking back on how it worked before, she recalled meeting Cornfield and how they kissed. It made her heart race, but it had less happy moments than she realized.

“Come on, Coral!” she heard him shout from behind. “How hard is it to be happy anyway?” Grunting, she shook off his taunt and thought back, way back, to her family. With a foreleg outstretched, the vines slowly stretched towards another one of Cornfield’s makeshift targets. Tiny buds formed on the vines as she imagined her mom, her dad, and most beloved of all, her brother. She smiled as her mom made them kelp wraps for lunch, her dad would return from his knightly patrols to nuzzle her forehead with his beak, and her brother would play on the beach with her afterwards. The buds grew into small, white flowers, similar to small white posies. However, before they could bloom and release their aromatic payload, the petals started to wither and brown as the poor hippogriff’s face grimaced.

“Hmmm? Where's the pollen?” asked Cornfield, joining Zecora in their confusion.

The petals fell off, one by one, revealing their rotting core in the middle. Images of her family being happy were forcibly replaced with the polarizing memory of storm clouds blanketing the skies, followed by an armada of sinister attack blimps following suit. Flashes of her parents brutally slaughtered by the Storm King's foot soldiers flickered before her eyes, and the sounds of her brother dragged away screaming echoed in her mind. She opened her eyes with a gasp, before staring down at her vines laid bare...

“W-what?” asked the concerned colt as he stepped closer to her, but Zecora put her hoof on his shoulder, restraining him. He still proceeded to inquire “What happened?”

As Coral's vines turned back into claws, she covered her eyes with them and dragged them down her face like she's going to scratch her flesh off. Her hind legs hit the ground as the rest of her body slumped forward. “I can't do it, Zecora," she stated quietly before repeating it louder and slamming her talons into the dirt.

Her only other friend in all of Equestria looked to the zebra for an answer while she studied the hippogriff’s face. Thanks to her wisdom in locating pain in ailing ponies, it didn’t take long to find the source of Coral’s happiness and sorrow, especially with her locket in the back of Zecora’s mind. "Coral, why don't you let this lesson temporarily slide?” She walked around the earth pony, who had a confused look on where she might be going, before Zecora motioned him to her. “Cornfield. To my hut. Inside."

He checked his partner, who was still staring at the ground, then came back to Zecora, surprised. “Hey, why me?” he asked defensively. “I didn't mess up!”

"Don't be quick to think I blame you yet. I'm here to help you both, did you forget?"

“Alright, alright.” The two leave Coral to sort her emotional baggage out as they entered the hut and closed the door behind them. Almost immediately, Zecora quickly double-backed to face him, startling him. “AH!”

"Cornfield, I want you to hear my plea. Your opinion on Coral. Tell me honestly."

“Well, the first thing that comes to my mind is…” Visualling her in his mind, he couldn’t help to think back to her smooth, sensual face, down to her chest and back and, finally, her more supple feminine features. “She's smokin' HOT!” he exclaimed.

This reaction led to the striped horse doing her best not to roll her eyes. "Hmm, so you like her, do you not? That is, if you say that she is "smoking hot". She motioned her hooves in air quotes when she said that last part.

“Yes!” Cornfield sat up and held his hooves out, motioning to hold on. “B-But it’s not just that, really! I mean, yeah, she talks a lot, is nosy, and can be super emotional, but there’s a lot of good things about her! She’s beautiful, smart, caring, and, and-” He leaned towards Zecora, pointing to his mouth with a silly, lovestruck grin on his face. “She kissed me! No other female, pony or otherwise with the exception of my own mom, has kissed me! That sealed it for me. I don’t just like her! In fact… I LOVE HER!”

Zecora had her doubts about the unlikely pairing before. Indeed, his persisting immaturity didn’t help any fears she had. Yet, Zecora couldn’t help but smile at his response, hoping that his enthusiasm to stick with her, no matter what, would be enough to carry out her wishes. "Good,” she said. “Then it's time to help her recovery. She needs somepony to help her be happy." After walking to her bed, she reached underneath, pulled out a satchel, handed it over to the curious youth. "They say that money can't buy happiness. But, it certainly helps. However, I digress."

“Money?!” He weighed the bag in his hoof. It’s obviously full of cash. “What should I do with this? Go shopping?”

"No, Cornfield. Listen to me. Coral needs more than one bittersweet memory."

“Yeah? I'm listening, honest. In fact I’m just not gonna say anything to show how interested I am.”

"While you are travelling, take side journeys. Introduce her to more happy memories. LISTEN to her. Treat her right. Give her joyous days and never a lonely night. To let you in her heart, it will take a few tries. A lasting, happy relationship is about compromise."

Scratching his head, Cornfield chuckled nervously as he said “That sounds a little TOO mature even for a pony as old as me.”

The zebra raised a suspecting eyebrow. "Answer me this: are you too focused on the body parts that are more… round, or are you wondering what she's really like deep down?"

“NO!” Cornfield shouted, taken aback from her understandable, but incorrect assumption. “I love her…” Placing his hoof on his chest, he took a deep breath and before putting on his best serious face on for Zecora. “I’ll do my best. For Coral!”

Giggling at how he was looking so stern that he would pop a vein, the kind alchemist patted his shoulder gently. “I know that you will both grow closer in time. You'll set aside your differences and your lives will be more sublime.” Stepping back, she poised to the door. “I've rambled enough. Take that money with you. I just hope that you know now what you need to do."

“I do.” He walked with her to the door. “Let's check back on how your student is doing, huh?”

They proceeded outside only to find Coral missing from the training grounds. Zecora, in frustration, pulled her hoof up along her face. "Oh, come on now. Am I seeing this true? We were only gone for a minute or two!"

“She doesn’t like to sit still, does she?” Cornfield sighed. “I wonder where she is now?”

"She must still be around here. She wouldn't venture far with dangerous creatures so near. There are two safe paths that I know are around.” She pointed her hoof down a dirt road behind her hut. “One goes to a water spring…” Then, she pointed down a path by her front door. “And the other goes to town. I'll go down one path, you go the other, and we'll meet back soon. I'd like to finish her training before noon.”

“So, I'll head back to town then and look for her.”

"Very well, don't stray too far and be back shortly. I'll travel to the spring and see." She descended upon her path, leaving Cornfield to fend for himself.

“Hey, That didn't really rhyme that time.” Before he knew it, he was the only one standing out in front of the hut, alone in the dark forest. “Oh, I guess she didn't hear me… or is she just ignoring me.” Looking back briefly, he cautiously began his journey back to town.

Minutes passed, Zecora approached familiar surroundings leading to the natural spring she used as her personal bath. Some creature must have thought the same idea as she could hear splashing disrupting the otherwise tranquil waters. Carefully, the zebra peeked around the bend, hiding behind the foliage to avoid being seen. Her fears were unfounded, however, when she discovered Coral washing her body and feathers in the spring, chirping a short song to herself as she scrubbed. "Oops, so much for that mystery.” Zecora whispered to herself, blushing and looking away. “I'll leave and give her privacy."

Meanwhile, outside of the forest, Cornfield made it safely within the outskirts of Ponyville. Excited to find Coral and worried about where she might get into, he figured that the best bet was to first stop by his cottage and see if she’s crashing there. He opened the front door and found the inside to be vacant. Annoyed that it wasn’t going to be as easy as he thought, he closed the door and begrudgingly started walking around town in search of her. After about half-an-hour, he was getting tired trying to find her and thought about going back to his cottage for a nap. However, plans changed when he spotted a glimpse of the dastardly Dr. Caballeron making his way to the train station from among the usual townsfolk traffic.

“Huh?” he thought in disbelief. "What's he doing here?!" His first instinct was to make a dash towards him, but stopped himself when he remembered the time the crook put a hoof to his family jewels. Backing away, he decided that stalking him from afar to spy on what he was up to would be smarter. That idea led to another as a light bulb went off in his head. "Maybe I should run back home, grab my camera, and do a little RECONNAISSANCE!"

He did just that as he ran home as fast as his earth pony legs could and practically bursted through the door. Reaching under his bed, he pulled out his box that contained his pride and joy, his camera. He gingerly placed the valuable tool in a pair of saddle bags, along with the sack of money given to him by Zecora. “Secret Agent Cornfield reporting for duty!” he shouted out loud to himself. “Yeah! I like the sound of that!” Wasting no time, he latched the bags to his sides and ran back to the station, praying that he wasn’t too late.

Thankfully for the plucky colt, Caballeron’s aggressive hubris slowed his progress to a halt as he and the station teller butted heads. Furiously, the doctor shouted from the top of his lungs "No! YOU don't understand. I don't care if the tracks from here to Mount Aris is down. I have to be there soon! Otherwise, my boss is going to VERY upset, entender?”

"Sorry,” the teller responded, barely trying to keep his best customer service face without snapping., “But, we have to ensure the safety of our passenger. No trains are going to Mount Aris. Now please leave.

Taking advantage of the distraction, Cornfield steadied his camera and snapped a shot from a distance. The flash was a mere tinkle in the distance. “Mount Aris?” a thought popped up in the back of his mind. “Isn't that where Coral is from?”

"GAH!” Caballeron fumed. “Fine! You don't want to cooperate! Fine!" He stormed off from the counter in a huff and crept away from the station entirely.

Cornfield stealthy pursued him to a secluded location outside of town, where no pony can see him. “Never thought I'd end up stalking another stallion…” he thought. When the devious archeologist thought he was in the clear, Dr. Caballeron uncorked the potion he had in his satchel bag and poured it on the grass. The mixture bubbled before small lightning sparks shot up and an image was seen from the wavy blue mist emitting from the puddle of brew. A shadowy figure turned and directed his attention to who called him. The figure looked to be thin, lanky, and wearing some sort of jagged crown. His voice made him out to sound young, like a teenager. “Whoa… who's this dude?” Thinking quickly, the brave colt shimmied up a tree and sat on a sturdy branch, getting a good view of the conversation to take place.

"Did you secure the Heart, Caballeron?" the young figure inquired.

Despite the young voice, Cornfield was surprised to see Caballeron take a step back with his tail between his legs."W-Well... No... It was... already taken, sir,” the doctor stuttered. “B-But we can take the Mind of Water instead, right? I mean... It's location is so close to Mount Aris that it's practically outside your front door."

"IDIOT!” the figured boomed. “The Heart is NEEDED to unlock the Mind of Water. Who is the one who beat you to it?!"

"H-Her name is Cobalt Coral... She is the hippogriff that stole the map of the Gems' location from under my nose before and slowed my progress to beat her to the punch."

“She’s kinda like Daring Do, but a lot more moody.” thought Cornfield, chuckling at the comparison. "But, what did he mean by ‘outside his front door’?"

“Unbelievable…” said the figure, exasperated and placing his lengthy paws on his face. “The first race to fall under the Storm King's might, and one of their kind is now causing me trouble. The irony doesn't escape me. And when were you going to tell me about losing the map to her?”

"Ah ha ha,” Caballeron forced a laugh. “Well, I just figured that I'd tail her trail and get the Heart before she did at the last minute."

“Ha! Beat you to it, didn't we?” the cocky colt couldn’t help but whisper with a smirk.

"But, you didn't succeed,” the figure stated with an authoritative tone. “You failed. You failed to take the map. You failed to get the Heart. I put my faith in a mercenary, and I've lost time, money, and The Heart of Nature." A long finger of the creature's paw pointed menacingly towards the poor doctor. "Hide well, Caballeron. Should my army find you, they are ordered to kill you."

Caballeron doubled back in terror, weak in the knees and shaking profusely. "N-NO! Please! Lord Whirlwind! Give me another chance! I won't fail you! I'll find out where the Eye of Fire and Breath of Life is on my own! We don't need the map!"

"Lord Whirlwind?” pondered Cornfield. “I should take a picture now before he disappears or something." Aiming his camera downward, he shot a picture of the shadow in the mist with a resounding click, followed by a flash from the branches.

"What as that?!” the figure shouted. “Were you followed?!"

"Impossible, nopony would-"

Before the doctor could continue, Lord Whirlwind cut him off. "I thought it would be more sporting to let my troops hunt you down, but you’ve become too sloppy for my liking. This is your final failure, Caballeron." The mixture on the ground was starting to bubble and hiss VERY violently.

“Oops!” blurted the young photographer. “Should of turned off the flash.” He turned the camera towards himself, wondering where the switch to kill the lights were. With another click, he accidentally shot a picture of himself, blinding and surprising him with the flash. “WAAAH!” He dropped the camera, tumbled backward, and landed with his ass hitting the ground hard.
“Ow! Ah…” he rubbed his backside to try and relieve the pain. His camera was missing, however. “Oh, shit! Where did it go?” He scanned the area around him before suddenly noticing Caballeron.

Caballeron wasn't noticing HIM, however, as the shadowy image was long gone. He stumbled back as he tried to get away from the potion as fast as he could, but the mixture suddenly erupted a violent, blue explosion that rocks the area, engulfing Dr. Caballeron in the blast and blinding Cornfield. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" the villain let out a blood-curdling cry.

The colt yelped, covered his eyes with his foreleg as the force of the combustion knocked him back onto the grass. The smoke cleared as he slowly picked himself up and dusted himself off. He couldn’t help but think “What happened?!”

His misaligned sight focused on Caballeron's broken body lying on the grass. Clothing was burnt and shredded off. Third-degree burns covered his body as he fruitlessly and hopelessly tried to get up. He's grunting and crying in pain. "I-I think... my ribs... are shattered..." he gasped.

The sight of his mangled state made Cornfield pause, wondering what he should do. Realizing that he has a lot of sensitive information, he quickly thought "Better grab my camera and go!" He reached around some tall grass until his hoof ran into something boxy-shaped. Recognizing it as his camera, he grabbed it, shoved it into his bag, and went to run.

"Y-You! …” a weak voice called to him. “Please.... H-h-help me…” Caballeron could barely breathe, choking on his own fluids. "I can't... I can't...."

“Ah! What?” This strange request had Cornfield’s attention, as he slowly approached him. “Save you?! B-but... You tried to kill us!”

“I realize... that... but, amigo... If you... save me... I can help you... and your... chica girlfriend…”
He coughed up puddles of blood as they sunk into the soil and absorbed in the grass.

“Ah...umm…” Wracked with a rough decision, the colt cocked his head with a hoof on his chin. "Damn! What should I do!? What would Coral say...?" he argued to himself.

The mercenary was retching in pain. "Please! A doctor! A healer! Anypony!"

“Wait a minute... If the horseshoe was on the other hoof... What would you have done?”

"Why... are you... asking... these questions... I'm dying... Do you... want my death... to weigh on... your conscience?"

“If it was you...you'd probably say something like ‘This is what you get, burrito’ or ‘You chose this fate, jalapeno’,” Cornfield mocked with a fake accent. “I think we'll be better off without a greedy thug for hire in our lives.”

"Ah…” sighed the archaeologist solemnly “So... this is... how I go... mocked and... betrayed..." He's slowly closing his eyes, residing himself to his fate.

Cornfield was in a cold sweat, his eyes were darting around, hoping somepony could come and make this decision for him. Unfortunately, there’s no one or nothing to make this critical moment easier. "I can't just let somepony die, but…” he covered his face with his hoof and shook his head. “What if somepony comes after me?" At that moment, he stopped thinking about himself and started thinking about someone close to him: Coral. He remembered the tales of him and his underlings stabbing her. Then, he recalled the moment when a crossbow bolt punctured her thigh. Both moments where he could have potentially lost her, and the dying pony was behind her pain. “ARRRGH! I CAN'T DO THIS!” he cried out with his emotions reaching his limit, before turning tail and fleeing the scene.

The color fades in Caballeron’s eyes as he watched the young stallion give up on him and run off. He can feel his heart slow as the internal bleeding worsened.

"Ha... Fool,” He wheezed. “I could have... helped...you…” his last thoughts turned to the rival that indirectly bested him at every turn. “Coral... You trained him well... I hope... he... is... worth... it..."

His heart slowed to a crawl, giving up any hope of help. No one but Cornfield knew about this event. Whether or not he would have assisted them or not was left to speculation as he drew his last breath. The infamous villain starring in many novels around Equestria, Dr. Caballeron, was dead.

Cornfield ran through the town, as ponies witnessed him passing by them, wailing aloud. Caballeron was a crook and tried to kill both him and Coral. Yet, why were there tears in the young stallion’s eyes? He stopped at the base of the hill towards his house, breathing heavily. He may not have seen the bad doctor’s final moments himself, but the guilt of leaving behind a life in need of help would likely haunt him to his dying day.

Author's Note

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