It was mid-morning, the sun shone bright and warm, the sky was clear of all clouds, and a slightly cooler breeze blew lazily through the town of Ponyville, keeping the temperature pleasant for everypony. It was the perfect day for strolls in the park, laying under a tree to read, picnics, and really just relaxing, but the ponies of Ponyville had other plans in mind. Everypony in town was gathered in front of a stage in a large meadow located at the edge of Ponyville.
“Hello everypony and welcome to the 35th bi-annual Ponyville Hide and Seek Extraordinaire!” Mayor Mare announced into the microphone with much enthusiasm. The large crowd of nearly 1000 ponies stamped their hooves on the ground and cheered in applause. “This well-loved tradition of the Hide and Seek Extraordinaire was started seventy years ago today, by Ponyville’s oldest resident, Granny Smith, who began the tradition when she was just fourteen, and Ponyville was still very small, an eighth of the size it is today! This beloved event has always been celebrated with a party, and the drinking of finely aged apple wine for the older ponies and fresh apple cider for the younger ponies!”
Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, AppleJack, Rarity, Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders stood at the edge of the crowd near the back, talking animatedly to each other, excited about the event.
“Aww yeah, I’m totally gonna win again this year!” Rainbow Dash said cheerfully to her friends as she hovered in the air, “I’ve been champ for the past 4 times!”
“Yeah, we know that Rainbow, you’ve been braggin’ ‘bout it for a whole week now, but you never know, I could win this year, or Twilight, or Pinkie, or even Rarity” AppleJack said with a smile.
“Yeah, maybe even I could win!” Spike said, pondering if winning would impress Rarity enough to make her want to finally date him.
“Ha ha, yeah, as if you could win Spike” Rainbow Dash laughed.
Spike was about to retort when Twilight cut him off. “Hush you two, Mayor Mare is about to announce who the seeker will be!” Twilight said excitedly, this being her first ever Ponyville Hide and Seek Extraordinaire; she wanted to remember everything so she could report this new experience to the Princess.
“I shall now pick the seeker from the barrel. Remember, everyponies name is in here so any one of you could be seeker.” Everypony watched as Mayor Mare stuck her hoof into the barrel and pulled out a slip of paper with a name on it. “And this years seeker is… Rainbow Dash!” There was more hoof stamping and cheering.
“What!?” Rainbow cried in shock.
“Well RD, it looks like one of us other ponies will get a chance to win now.” AppleJack said, laughing at the look on Rainbow Dash’s face.
“Come on up Rainbow Dash!” Mayor Mare called over the speakers.
Rainbow frowned, “I’ll find you first AJ, then you’ll get the wooden spoon” and with that she flies up to the stage.
“Oh I hope she isn’t angry” Fluttershy said quietly.
“Oh, Dashie will get over it” Pinkie Pie beamed, her mouth impossibly wide. “Being Seeker is lots and lots and LOTS of fun! Like, supermegaawesome FUN! I’ve been Seeker thrice and I found everybody! And then I threw a party! A supermegaawesome ‘I Found Everyone!’ party each time! It was supermegaawesome fun!” She said this all in one breath, really fast, yet everypony somehow understood everything that she said.
“Yeah, that was an awesome party last time Pinkie Pie!” Scootaloo said.
“No Scootaloo, it was super awesome” Sweetie Bell said.
“Nope, Pinkie said it was super MEGA awesome, and it was!” Applebloom said, and Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo nodded in agreement.
Rarity hushed them all. “Quiet dears, Mayor Mare is going to go over the rules.”
“We know the rules sis,” Sweetie Bell said with a roll of her eyes.
“Yeah, no flying, no magic, stay in Ponyville, simple” Scootaloo said.
“Still, we need to be courteous to Mayor Mare, and let her speak unhindered by little voices” Rarity replied.
“Rarity’s right girls, also, Spike and I have never done this before so we need to hear the rules” Twilight said.
“Okay Twilight, we’ll be quiet” Apple Bloom smiled.
“Okay, now for the rules everypony! Rule one, Unicorns are not allowed to use any magic and Pegasi are not allowed to fly, only hover, or you will be disqualified from the raffle, the no flying rule applies to the Seeker as well.” Everypony could hear Rainbow Dash groan up on stage, but Mayor Mare ignored her. “Rule two, nopony can hide inside a building, you must hide outside, or you will be disqualified from the raffle. Rule three, stay inside the Ponyville boundaries, anywhere else is out of bounds and you will be disqualified from the raffle. Rule four, once you have been found, you need to report back here to be marked off the list and get your raffle ticket for the prize draw, and Rule five, Have lots of Fun!” The Mayor said loudly.
“Rule five is my FAVOURITE rule!” Pinkie said happily.
Nearby the group, Derpy Hooves was preoccupied with a butterfly sitting on a flower, so she wasn’t listening, and she didn’t hear the rules. She didn’t know the rules, as the last 6 times she could have attended the Hide and Seek Extraordinaire, she had either been away, or ill. This was her first time.
“So remember the rules everypony, last pony found wins! Now get hiding! Start the countdown Rainbow Dash!” There was a flurry of movement as ponies ran off to find the perfect hiding place, and soon the meadow was cleared of all but Derpy. Blinking as she looked around at the now large, now empty space and hearing the bells of the 10 minute countdown.
“Get hiding Derpy!” Rainbow shouted over to her from her place on the stage where she had to stay until the countdown ended.
“Oh, I’d better hide!” Derpy shouted, running off.
Rainbow facehoofed with a groan. “That mare is hopeless!”
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Twilight ran around, searching for a hiding place, but all the good ones she could think of where already taken. Applejack was with her.
“Ah’m gonna go hide in the orchards, maybe you should try hidin’ under the bridge, or in some bushes. See ya later Twi” the farmpony waved and galloped off. Taking Applejack’s advice, Twilight galloped to the bridge to find it free of hiding ponies. She ducked under and hid as well as she could, not noticing when Derpy Hooves trotted past, heading towards the Everfree forest.
“I’m sure to win if I hide in here!” Derpy said happily, not thinking about how scary or dangerous the forest was. She entered the forest by the path to Zecora’s home, but she soon wandered off the path, trotting deeper into the Everfree, oblivious of the possible dangers, her mind preoccupied with thoughts of all the muffins she could buy for herself and her daughters, Dinky and Sparkler, with the prize bits. Five hundred bits would buy like, five hundred muffins! And that was a lot of muffins! Maybe Pinkie Pie would throw a ‘You Have Five Hundred Muffins!’ party?
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A loud bell clanged, sounding the end of the 10 minute hiding period. Rainbow Dash went to the microphone, and as was tradition, said “ready or not, here I come!” Only Rainbow shouted it as loudly as she possibly could, then galloped off the stage, heading for the orchard, determined to find AJ first, but that wasn’t going to happen. RD slowed to a halt and laughed, for there on the side of the road was Big Macintosh, rump in the air, head and front hooves in a small bush. “Umm, he he, Big Mac? Did you seriously think I wouldn’t see you?”
The large stallion lifted his head and looked at the cyan pegasus. “Nnope” he replied.
“You’d better get back to the meadow so they can give you the wooden spoon” Rainbow said, grinning.
“Eeyup” Big Mac said, and he then walked down the road towards the meadow.
Rainbow Dash chuckled to herself and continued towards Sweet Apple Acres, finding two or three dozen ponies along the way. Getting to Sweet Apple Acres, she searched the farmyard, finding Applebloom in an empty barrel, Sweetie Bell in a bush and Scootaloo in Winona’s dog house. “Found you girls, you’d better hurry along to the meadow” Rainbow said, smiling at the young fillies.
“How many ponies have you already found Rainbow Dash?!” Scootaloo asked enthusiastically.
“I’d say a few dozen now” Dash replied.
“Awesome! Let’s go girls! Bye Rainbow Dash! See you at the party!” Scootaloo said, leading the other Cutie Mark Crusaders back to town.
“Bye girls! See you there!” Rainbow called, giving a little wave. She felt flattered by how much young Scootaloo adored and idolized her. “Now, to find AJ.”
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In searching the orchards, Rainbow Dash found multiple ponies, Spike, and finally, she found Applejack up an apple tree. “Found you AJ, told you I would!”
“You said you’d find me first, an judgin’ by all tha talkin’ ah heard, you didn’t” Applejack smiled.
“Well other ponies got in the way of me finding you first, especially your brother, I found him first, he was hiding in a bush with his butt in the air” Rainbow replied.
Applejack smirked. “And jus’ what were ya doin’ lookin’ at mah brothers rump hmm?”
Rainbow glared at AJ. “You’d better get to the meadow AJ… Bye” RD galloped away to find more ponies. AJ laughed and shook her head, then climbed out of the tree and trotted off to the meadow.
By the time ponies would usually start getting ready to cook dinner, Rainbow Dash had thought she had found every pony, dragon, zebra, donkey and cow in Ponyville, and though this may have sounded like a long time for finding everypony, Rainbow had beaten the previous record for time spent finding everypony, a record which was previously held by Pinkie Pie.
Every citizen of Ponyville sat in the meadow whilst Mayor Mare went over the list of ponies that had been found. Rainbow Dash stood on the stage, more than confident that she had found everypony, and that the winner was the young pegasi named Featherweight.
“Okay everypony, it seems there is one more pony to be found!” Mayor Mare said loudly into the microphone. Rainbow’s jaw dropped, she thought she’d found everypony!
“Rainbow Dash, you now have one hour to find Miss Derpy Hooves, starting now!” Everypony cheered as Rainbow galloped off the stage.
“Mummy’s won it!” Dinky said happily. She was standing with the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“Your mums pretty cool Dinky” Scootaloo said, “even if her eyes are really wacky and she’s a little clumsy.”
“Scootaloo, don’t talk mean ‘bout other ponies, it jus’ ain’t nice” Applebloom frown.
“Oh, umm, sorry Dinky” Scootaloo said.
“It’s alright Scootaloo” Dinky said with a smile.
Sparkler pushed through the crowd, smiling when she saw her little sister. “There you are Dinky! We should go stand at the stage to congratulate mummy when Rainbow Dash finds her!”
“Okay Sparkler! See you all later girls!” Dinky said as she followed her big sister into the crowd.
“Bye Dinky” Sweetie Bell called with a small wave.
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The hour passed quickly and the tolling bell sounded, signalling for Rainbow Dash to return to the stage, with or without Derpy Hooves.
Rainbow of course returned without Derpy and now had to call her out, as was tradition when the last pony hadn’t been found an hour after everypony else had been found. Taking a deep breath, trying to keep her cool despite the shame of having lost, she walked to the microphone, and said loudly, “olly-olly-oxen-free!”
The speakers all over Ponyville sounded with the call of Rainbow Dash’s defeat, but after half an hour of waiting for Derpy to come to the stage, it was clear that she wasn’t coming. Ponies started to get worried, and Mayor Mare told Rainbow she could fly now to try and find Derpy. Fluttershy, Applejack, Twilight, Pinkie and Rarity joined the search, which proved futile after another hour of searching.
“Where could she be?” Applejack said.
“Either she’s super-duper good at hiding and didn’t hear the speakers, or she fell asleep in her hiding spot, which might be a log!” Pinkie Pie said.
Rainbow shook her head “I know EVERY good hiding spot in town and I haven’t found her yet, either she’s moving about to not be found or she’s not in town.”
“I’m sure we’ll find her soon, she wouldn’t leave, would she?” Twilight asked.
“She might, she isn’t really the brightest ray of light in the sky if you get my drift” Rainbow replied.
“But that…” Twilight stopped as Owlowiscious flew down from the sky and landed on her back. “Owlowiscious! Do you know where Derpy Hooves is?”
“Hoo” the owl replied with a nod.
“Oh good, where is she?” Fluttershy asked.
“Hoo hoo” Owlowiscious pointed his wing towards the forest, but not just any forest.
The six ponies stared at the owl for a few moments in silence. Applejack was the first to recover.
“Tha Everfree Forest!?” AJ exclaimed.
“Hoo” Owlowiscious hooted, nodding.
End Part 1
Derpy Hoove's trotted happily through the Everfree, not a care in the world, when she remembered why she was here. "Oh, I better hide!" She started searching for a good hiding place, and came to a large cave in the side if a small mountain, one of the hoofful of mountains that dotted the Everfree.
Glancing around she trotted in. "Nopony will find me in here! there'll be lots of places to hide!" She giggled as her voice echoed around the massive cave.
A short while later she entred a massive cavern, filled with mountains of gold, jewels, bits, jewelry, old armour, everything precious that you could ever think of! "Wow..." Derpy stared, mouth agape. She had never seen so many riches in her life.
She wandered through the mounds of treasures, taking it all in. Suddenly she spotted something, silver, not gold. Curious, she wandered over to see what it could be. reaching out a hoof, she picked up the object, a silver necklace, with a perfect little blueberry muffin pendant.
The pendant was silver and shaped just like a muffin, studded with perfect purpleish-blue saphires for blueberrys. Captivated, she studied the pendant for a long time, then slipped the necklace over her head to admire it against her coat. Beautiful!
Just then, she heard a rumbling from the mouth of the cave, a monsterous sneeze, and smoke streamed into the cave. A dragon! And by the sounds of it, it had a cold.
Dragons with colds were less agreeable than non-sick dragons. Derpy quickly hide as the dragon came in, sneezing again, filling the cave with more smoke. Maybe she could escape through the the haze of the smoke without being seen.
A few sneezes later she could barely see the dragon, which meant he wouldn't see her. She edged around the edge of the cavern, headed for the entrance.
She reached the entrance tunnel safely, but just as she went to leave, the dragon sneezed again, sending a watermelon sized booger to the ground next to her. She cried out in disgust as it splashed onto her leg. "EW EW EW EWWW!"
"ROAAAAAAAAAAR!"
"AHHHH!" Derpy Hooves cried, galloping away before the dragon could even stand up. She galloped and galloped deeper into the Everfree. She was about to start slowing down when she tripped on a tree root, landing hard on her wing whilst getting tangled in vines.
"Ow!" she cried out. She struggled, trying to free herself, but she was well and truely trapped. "Oh well..." she sighed, "at least thing's can't get worse." And she spoke too soon.
A foul stench started filling the air. Timberwolves. A pack of 4 emerged from the tree's, growling menecingly at Derpy. Their fangs were sharp, claws sharper.
She shook in fear, surely this was the end for her.
The timberwolves approached.
She waited for the inevitable.
Waited.
Waited...
The attack didn't come...
"CRASH!!!"
A howl of shock.
Another crash.
"Not today you twiggy mutts!"
Derpy's eyes flew open, she gasped.
Two of the timberwolves were now piles of firewood on the ground, whilst the other two growl and snap and jump at a yellow-brown coated pegasus in an adveturers vest. With a strong kick from the pegasus, another timberwolf collapsed ontop of the fourth, trapping it.
"Nothin to it" the pegasus declared, landing. Derpy gasped at the sight of the pegasus. Greyscale mane and tail, adventurers cap and vest, rose eyes, compass cutie mark.
"Oh my gosh! Your Daring Doo!!!" Derpy cried, eye's wide, mouth agape in wonder.
"I surely am, and you are?" Daring asked.
"I'm Derpy Hooves, I'm a big fan! and so's my little muffin Dinky, but we're not as big of fans as Rainbow Dash is!" Depy gushed.
"Okay, Derpy. How about I get you of those vines?" Daring Doo Gets a machette from her saddlebags and starts chopping away the vines, and soon Derpy is free. "So what are you doing all alone way out here in the Everfree?"
"I was looking for a hiding spot for the 35th Bi-Annual Ponyville Hide and Seek Extraordinaire, but I had a run in with a dragon, and then these Timberwolves, but you saved me, it was so awesome! But... Why are you here?" Derpy explained.
"Ponyville hey? well, I was searching for new ruins and such for the setting of my new book" Daring replied. "Umm, is your wing okay?"
Derpy looked at her wing to find that it was hanging at her side. In all the excitment she'd forgotten about it, but now began feeling the pain. "Ow... I think I dislocated it when I tripped..."
"Okay, well I'll bandage it for you, but we should move away from here first, before the timberwolves recover" Derpy nodded and followed Daring out of the clearing, back to her camp.
