Three Wannabe Heroes

The next day, after traveling in secret too Ponyville by train, Trixie, Gilda, and Blueblood were now wandering through the Everfree Forest. Fortunately, it was daytime, so it was less dangerous and scary now then it was at night, but not by a lot. Furthermore, it would be easier to find the Witchweed during the daylight than it would be at night.

“Girls, let’s turn back,” said Blueblood, who was wearing a set of golden colored armor. “There is absolutely no shame in giving up.”

Trixie and Gilda glanced back at Blueblood behind them and rolled their eyes. Blueblood hadn’t stopped whimpering at every little sound since the moment they had entered the forest.

“Blueblood, we’ve only been in the forest for a few minutes,” said Gilda. “And unlike you, Trixie and I aren’t even wearing any armor. You don’t see us being wusses.”

“Where did you get that armor, anyway?” asked Trixie. Although she wasn’t wearing any armor, she was wearing her trademark purple cape and hat.

Blueblood suddenly held his head high. “It’s my ceremonial armor,” he said proudly. “I am a prince after all.”

“Some prince,” muttered Gilda loud enough for Blueblood to hear her. “You’re afraid of your own shadow.”

“I am not!” stated Blueblood. “Besides, my shadow is without a doubt the most handsome shadow in Equestria.” He looked down at his shadow on the ground with a grin, nodding in approval of how great he thought his shadow looked.

Gilda groaned.

“You’re shadow may be the most handsome,” said Trixie from the front of the group, “but Trixie’s shadow is the greatest and most powerful shadow in all of Equestria!” Then she added, “As well as the most beautiful.”

“Oh, not you too!” groaned Gilda again, even louder. “That’s it. I’m going top side to keep a look out around us, as well as get away from you two for a while.” With a few flaps of her wings, Gilda took off into the air.

Trixie and Blueblood continued onward on the ground, with Gilda now keeping an eye on things from up above.

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After a while of unsuccessful searching later, Gilda’s attitude was only souring more. She had been flying up above the treetops, staring down at the ground below her. She had successfully diverted Trixie and Blueblood away from a pack of timber wolves, as well as what had appeared to be a gay sea serpent in a river. But now she was starting to get bored.

Finally, Gilda had had enough and flew down to the two unicorns.

“Alright, Trixie, it’s been like three hours and we haven’t found one single bit of Witchweed,” said Gilda as she touched down on the ground. “I’m starting to think this whole idea was stupid.”

“Gilda, it’s been only one hour!” said Trixie in annoyance. “It’s bad enough Blueblood keeps whining that he wants to go back.”

“I am NOT whining!” stated Blueblood angrily. “I am complaining. Do you want to hear whining?”

“NO!” Trixie and Gilda shouted together in horror.

Blueblood stuck up his nose. “All I’m saying is this forest is too dangerous.”

“Oh, please,” said Gilda. “From what I’ve seen in the air, this forest ain’t so scary. The scariest thing you’re bound to run into in this forest, Blueblood, is me.”

Gilda walked ahead of Trixie and Blueblood too a wall of hanging foliage, and slashed it down with her claws, only to reveal a giant dragon lying before them.

Trixie and Blueblood leaped backwards in fright at the sight of the giant, fire breathing beast resting in their path, but Gilda remained calm.

“Relax, it’s dead,” Gilda said, pointing up at a large wound on the dragons ribcage where flies were buzzing around.

Trixie and Blueblood let out a sigh of relief.

Just then they heard a low growl coming from behind the dead creature. A split second later, four giant reptilian heads popped up from behind the dead dragon, each ones' mouth covered in blood from where it had been feeding on the dragon’s carcass.

Trixie Blueblood, and Gilda stared up in horror at the giant hydra.

“Okay, no pony move a muscle,” whispered Gilda.

All four of the hydra’s heads roared down at them. Trixie and Blueblood screamed and galloped away as fast as they could through the forest.

“Son of a…” Gilda muttered as she saw her two unicorn companions running away, and then flew off after them. The hydra stepped over it’s kill in pursuit of them.

“OH, I DIDN’T WANT TO DIE LIKE THIS!” cried Blueblood.

“JUST SHUT UP AND MOVE IT! yelled Trixie.

The hydra continued chasing the three companions through the forest. No matter which way they ran, the hydra was always right on their tails. They tried splitting up, but each head went after a different one of them, keeping them from getting too far away. Gilda attempted to fly away a few times, but each time she flew above the tree tops it left her wide open for one of the hydra’s heads. So she had to stay below the trees, which didn’t make flying easy.

The two ponies and griffon were tiring quickly, but the hydra didn’t seem to be tiring at all. They didn’t know how long they would be able to keep ahead of it. Not that it mattered because at that moment, they came to a cliff.

“GAH!” Blueblood cried out as he almost fell over the edge, but he stopped himself just in time.

The three of them quickly saw a set of stepping-stone pillars leading from one side of the chasm to the other. If they could just get to the other side, they’d be safe, but the first stepping stone was too far away for them to jump too.

They heard the hydra roar right behind them. It was now or never.

Gilda quickly grabbed Trixie and flew her across the chasm to the safety of the other side.

“HEY, WHAT ABOUT ME!” shouted Blueblood, but it was too late. Blueblood looked back at the hydra as it roared and lunged all four of its heads at him at once. Blueblood gulped and, in a moment of desperation, leaped for the first stepping-stone pillar, just as the first hydra’s head chomped down on where he had just been, getting nothing but dirt and rocks in its mouth.

Blueblood felt the air rushing past him as he fell screaming into the chasm, having missed the pillar by a mile. He fell and landed with a splash in the thick smelly muck of the bog down below.

The hydra, with it’s prey now out of its reach, disappointedly turned and stomped away back to its meal it was eating before. On the other side of the chasm, Trixie and Gilda stared down over the edge of the cliff at the bog down below, trying to see any signs of the prince.

“Yo, Blueblood!” shouted Gilda. “Y’all right?”

Down below, they saw something crawling out swamp onto a relatively dry patch of land, and knew it was the prince.

“Yeah, he’s alright,” said Gilda with an amused grin. Gilda picked up Trixie and they flew down into the chasm to where a slime covered Blueblood was lying on the small patch of land, spitting the bog muck out of his mouth and trying to catch his breath. He was literally covered from head to tail in mud and slime. Not even a single golden part of his armor was visible through the filth as the two girls landed next to him.

Blueblood wiped the mud from his eyes and looked up at Gilda in anger. “BITCH!” he shouted at her. “I ALMOST DIED BECAUSE OF YOU! NOW LOOK AT ME, I’M FILTHY AND DISGUSTING! THIS IS GOING TO TAKE FOREVER TO WASH OUT OF MY COAT!”

Gilda started laughing hysterically at the prince’s state, finding his misfortune utterly hilarious. Her laughing was cut short as she suddenly felt something wet and slimy make contact with her face, and the inside of her mouth. Gilda spat out the disgusting muck in her mouth and she realized that Blueblood had thrown a wad of the bog slime at her while she had been laughing. Now he had pissed her off.

The griffon growled in rage at Blueblood, getting right in his face. Blueblood growled back at her. He was in no mood to show any mercy anymore.

Trixie rolled her eyes and took a step back from the two hotheads, wanting to avoid any stray shots between them. That’s when she noticed something about where they were.

“Hey love birds,” Trixie shouted over at Blueblood and Gilda, to which they both turned and stared at Trixie in appall.

“What did you just say?!” they both shouted at her in anger.

Trixie smirked. “I thought that would get your attention. Anyway, if you two weren’t so busy fighting; you’d notice what we’re surrounded in.”

Blueblood and Gilda took a few glances around them.

“What? All I see are plants!” said Gilda.

“Exactly!” said Trixie. “It’s the Witchweed!” She pulled out a piece of paper from her saddlebags with her magic and held it up for them to look at. On it was a picture of the Witchweed, along with a description. Sure enough, the dark green plant in the picture matched the plants they were currently standing among.

“You mean we found it?” exclaimed Blueblood with hope.

“We found it!” said Trixie triumphantly. “Let’s grab as much of it as we can and get the hay out of here.”

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As soon as they packed as much of the Witchweed as they could fit into their saddlebags, the three companions got out of the chasm, courtesy of Gilda’s wings, and made their way out of the Everfree forest as fast as they could and headed back to Canterlot.

After Blueblood had finished taking a seven hour bubble bath when they arrived back at the castle, he, Gilda and Trixie began focusing on their next agenda.

“Okay, now that we have the Witchweed, all we need is somewhere private to brew it so we won’t get caught,” Trixie explained to them in the privacy of Blueblood’s room.

“Why can’t you simply brew it at you’re place?” asked Blueblood.

“Because our landlord would probably discover it,” said Gilda. She and Trixie shared an apartment.

“Well, there are guards, and servants all over the place in the castle,” said Blueblood. “So we can’t have it here.” He thought for a moment. “Wait! I think I might know a place. Follow me.”

Leaving Blueblood’s room, Blueblood lead them through the castle, and, much to Trixie and Gilda’s surprise, down into the dungeons.

“Cadence and I used to play ‘hide and seek’ down here back when we were foals,” said Blueblood as he led them through the dark passages. “We weren’t supposed to, as our parent’s forbade us from ever going down here, but we just couldn’t resist. Hardly anypony ever comes down here anymore, so we never got caught. Anyway, while I was down here one day, I found this room.”

Blueblood turned to a wooden door on the wall that they suddenly came to and pulled it open with his magic. Inside, it was pitch black. Trixie and Blueblood lit up their horns with blue and violet glows, illuminating the room.

The room was large and filthy, with cobwebs hanging around everywhere. The room was full of nothing but large crates and boxes and hings covered in sheets. Everything had about two inches of dust on it.

“This is an ancient storage room that I guess everypony just forgot about,” said Blueblood. “I have no idea what any of this stuff is in here, but its obvious that nopony ever comes down here.”

“It’s perfect,” said Trixie excitedly. “This is a perfect place to brew the potion. It will be completely secret and safe down here.”

“I gotta hand it to ya, Blueblood,” said Gilda. “You were finally useful for something.”

Blueblood gave her a glare and then stuck up his nose. “I’m glad you like it,” he said. “Now can we please get out of here for now? This place is horribly filthy, and I just spent several hours getting myself clean.”