Our Inner Ponies 3: A New Villain

Lucky and I were now making our way into some dark, creepy forest. Earlier, when I had told him the riddle, he immediately got excited for a "real adventure." I had spent a painful amount of minutes waiting for him to stop soaring the sky in search of a forest, because that was the first thing that had come to mind. And even though it was broad daylight outside, the prickly trees blocked any rays of sunshine from warming me and Lucky. We were now pushing past bushes and jumping over ragged stones, looking for just one clue that would lead us on to this mini mission.

"You think we'll find the others in time?" Lucky asked, flying across a slimy stream.

"Don't even ask me that," I answered, grabbing a nearby pebble and tossing it into the water. It acted like quicksand, swallowing the innocent pebble in one bite. Now I know how deep the stream is, I thought numbly.

"I'm just saying," Lucky said, watching me struggle to lift a moldy log, "that if we don't rescue the girls—and that dragon dude—in time, what would you do?" I was balancing myself on the log when Lucky said these words, causing my head to snap up and my foot to slip. I lifted my shoe to find it covered in green slime. Gross.

"Can you just shut up and help me cross this death trap?" I asked, wiping the muck on the log I was standing on. I was suddenly grabbed under my arms and flown nearly halfway across the forest.

"I only asked you to help me across the stream," I pointed out, my legs fidgeting. They weren't used to being this far from the ground.

"I know, but I figured you'd be tired from walking so much today," Lucky said. "No need to waste your energy when you need it for the real battle." I still could've walked on my own, but I was really thankful for the kind gesture. I actually felt like we were getting closer to the riddle than last time, and the feeling rocketed up when I took a quick peek at Lucky. His red face was gleaming in the sunlight, and his yellow hair was whipping slightly against his face. His expression held a mixture of determination and worriedness, and when he looked down at me I snapped my attention to the ground.

"So Zaria...are you, uh, nervous about this whole kidnapped thing?" I heard Lucky ask. I looked back up at him.

"What?"

"You know, nervous about finding out who this villain is and why they kidnapped Maya and the other ponies?" Lucky went on. "You're really good at staying strong and determined about this whole villain thing."

"Well this happened a few years ago, so I've had a lot of training for dealing with bad guys." Lucky laughed, and I had to laugh along with him. We spent the remaining minutes getting to know a teeny bit more about each other, but I got weirded out when questions about feelings for another person and what made me happy escaped Lucky's mouth. I get filling in an awkward silence with mini questions about your life, but asking about the deeper details of it? Creepy with a capital C! Half an hour later, I was starting to doze off when I noticed a tan blob below our feet.

"Lucky, down there!" I cried, pointing toward the ground. "See that thing? What is it?"

"Huh? What's what? Where?" I didn't know if my sudden shouting threw him off, or if he was starting to doze off like me and I'd interrupted him, but Lucky's frantic screams made his face meet a tall tree. I made an that's-got-to-hurt face as Lucky literally slid down the long trunk and softly hit the ground. I wriggled out from under his hooves and looked around. The tan blob was standing a few feet away from us and, not wanting to go alone, I started dragging Lucky by the tail toward the weird object only to find out it was a small hut. Smoke was dancing out of a small chimney, and a dark yellow light was glowing in a nearby window.

"I've seen this hut before," I muttered, slowly creaking open the door. Different bottles full of liquid were lined on wooden shelves on the walls, a small bed in between the walls held a thick blanket, and in every nook and cranny held freaky looking masks that made me wonder how this person could sleep in this hut. Or, how this zebra could sleep in this hut.

"Is it bad that I taste mouthwash right now?" I heard Lucky mumble dizzily, struggling to sit up. At least it wasn't blood he was tasting at the moment. As I looked around the stuffy room, I was starting to wonder why Zecora would chose such a bleak place to live, far away from civilization I might add. But I had to get back to the task. Trying not to make a big mess, I searched through bottles, behind masks, under the bed...but found nothing that could lead to a riddle.

"What are you looking for?" Lucky, who was finally back on his feet, asked.

"A clue to the riddle," I replied, dumping out a bottle of pink liquid that burned the edge of a nearby table. I guess Zecora borrowed Twilight's potion that helped improve ponies' athleticism for her little collection—or should I say Maya's potion. Sure hope that judge who taste tested it was okay.

"This might be the wrong place," Lucky said, flying over to the bed and snuggling above the covers. "We could be searching the wrong place, and then some freaky cloud will appear and be like, 'You've run out of time! You failed! Failed!'" I groaned at Lucky's attempt of an evil laugh and continued my search. My energy was gone by the time I finished looking through the hut. All that time I wasted looking for a stupid riddle, only to be freakin' disappointed when I couldn't find anything!

"Hey, how'd that riddle go?" Lucky asked, using his magic to flip through some dusty books.

"What's the point? We're probably too late or something," I said, slumping against the walls. "But if you really want to know, it said something about ponies screaming and we had to follow some path that would lead us to a spell."

"A spell?"

"Yeah! It's ridiculous, I know! I thought we'd been right since Zecora mixes up all kinds of spells and whatnot. How could we guess wrong?" I buried my face in my hands, but I wasn't crying. I was getting really flustered, and I was also fearing for everyone else's safety. I didn't want them to be destroyed, but if I didn't find a riddle sooner or later, that's just what would happen. I was then blinded by a light red glow, and when I removed my hands from my eyes, I saw Lucky's horn charging up with energy, his eyes squeezed tight.

"Lucky, what the heck are you—?"

"Shh...! Concentrating...!" There we go with the "shh!" again. But because of my phenomenal job of not punching him for telling me to be quiet, I watched in amazement as the floor shifted inch by inch, slowing unearthing a dark passageway. I peered down at the darkness and couldn't see any ladder or stairs.

"How can Zecora afford all of this crap?" I screamed.

"Hope she has insurance," Lucky said, joining my side."If she doesn't, we were never here." I was soon hanging on to Lucky's back as he flew in a straight line in complete darkness under the floorboards. The light from above and the light from his horn didn't make a difference, and I was starting to think we'd run into something and lose our path.

"You sure you're okay Lucky?" I asked for the third time. "I don't want you to run into anything and hurt yourself.

"Don't worry, my eyes are kind of trained to see in the dark. So think of me as part cat." Yeah, a cat with a unicorn horn and Pegasus wings. It took a long time, but we finally saw a dull light that led to another riddle.

"Finally! We found something!" I cried joyfully, hopping off of Lucky's back. I was expecting a long fall, but thankfully I only fell for a good seven seconds. I ran toward the light and found a humungous book lying face up. I turned to a page where a silk orange bookmark was sticking out, and read the riddle aloud.

"'Congratulations, you have completed the riddle quest. But are you ready to pass my test?'" My eyebrows wrinkled in confusion, and I had no time to be confused. A blast of strong wind came out of nowhere, causing me to tumble backwards and hit something hard. I didn't know what it was, but my eyes were squeezed tight in order to be protected by the wind.

This is it! I thought with both pride and nervousness. This is where I finally meet this villain!