Part Thirty-Seven

~

After piling their bags at the base of the willow tree, the CBers followed Goldie away from the pond and back into the woods. They took a different route, one that twisted and turned with alarming frequency. In some places, they were forced into a single file line to avoid running into trees and brambles. At one point they passed a bright patch of calamum vesperum.

It wasn’t long before the CBers were hopelessly lost, but Goldie seemed to be confident. She led the way through dense undergrowth and forks in the path with apparent ease.

“How do you know the woods so well?” Agent Winter asked, looking around doubtfully. To her, the scenery looked the same as it had ten minutes before.

Goldie turned down another path and replied, “I’ve spent a lot of time out here. When you live virtually alone in a giant palace, hiking seems like a fun hobby.” She glanced around, taking note of her surroundings. “We’re nearly there.”

“Nearly where?” Jubilee asked. Goldie had refused to say where she was taking them, saying only that it was somewhere they could get supplies.

“You’ll see,” she said cryptically.

After another few minutes, the trees began to thin, and the CBers could see the edge of the woods. They reached the treeline and looked around. The Golden Palace was a good distance away and in every other direction were the rolling fields and grassy hills that made up the rest of the grounds.

“I forgot how beautiful it is out here,” Dusk sighed.

“It is quite lovely,” Goldie agreed. “I take it that means you’ve hiked in this direction before?”

Holly nodded. “Yes, we all came out for a walk after someone died.” She couldn’t remember who- there had been so many deaths, they started to blur together. The thought made her sad.

The clouds had started to clear up, and the afternoon sun peeked through, providing them with a bit of warmth as they travelled through the fields. After walking for a long time, so that the palace was merely a dot on the horizon, Goldie stopped in her tracks.

“We’re here!” she announced. The CBers looked around, confused.

“Right here?” Gracia asked. “What, is it buried underground?”

“Well, no, not right here. Over that hill!”

This made much more sense, and the group continued until they crested the next hill. There they could see what Goldie meant- down in the field was a ramshackle grey barn.

Understanding dawned in Jubilee’s eyes. “The pegasus!”

“Wow, I guess you did more exploring than I thought,” Goldie said, looking surprised.

They started down the hill and quickly reached the barn. Hoofsteps came from inside, and a moment later the golden pegasus appeared. She whinnied happily and walked over to the Palace Keeper, who patted her neck.

“Hey, Sapphire!” she said.

“Sapphire?” Bluebell repeated. “Is that her name?”

Goldie nodded. “Yes! She’s my CAPTCHA.”

“Oh, that makes sense!” Dusk said.

Sapphire walked over to Jubi and nuzzled their shoulder. Jubi stroked her soft nose, saying, “Hi girl! It’s nice to see you again.”

Goldie looked on, smiling. “Well, it seems she’s taken a liking to you.”

“Last time we were here, Jubilee and Sapphire flew!” Holly said, eyes wide. “It was-”

“Awesome!” Agent Winter interrupted.

“Terrifying,” Holly finished.

“Really?” Goldie asked. She gave Jubilee a long look.

“What?” Jubi asked.

“Nothing. It’s just that she hasn’t let anyone ride her in a while. Since… since Copper died.”

“Oh.” Jubi looked at Sapphire, who shook her mane. They smiled, feeling a certain fondness for the golden animal. “Cool.”

“So you’re the one who takes care of her?” Dusk asked. “We noticed last time that she had fresh food and water.”

“That’s right!” Goldie said. “I come down every morning to check in on her. I try to keep the place clean and nice.” She paused, looking at the opening where the door had fallen off its hinges. “Although I still can’t figure out what happened to the door.”

Winter grinned sheepishly. “Oh, yeah, that was me.”

“Where are the supplies?” Gracia asked. “In the barn?”

Goldie nodded. “I have an emergency stash out here, in preparation for this exact scenario.” She led the way inside, making a beeline for the back corner.

The CBers watched as she pried up a loose floorboard, cast it aside, and reached into the large space she had created. She pulled out four bags, handing them off to various CBers.

Dusk opened hers and peered inside. “It looks like there’s a tent, food, water bottles, rope, a compass… You were really prepared!”

While the others sorted through the bags, Bluebell made her way over to the hole in the floor. There seemed to be something else down there. She knelt and hesitantly reached her hands in, grabbing ahold of something hard and rectangular. As she lifted it, she found that it was fairly heavy. “There’s something else in here,” she remarked.

Gracia peered over her shoulder. “Is that a book?”

Indeed it was. After blowing a layer of dust off the cover, Bluebell could read the title: A Long, Well-worded, and Thoroughly Detailed History of This Castle.

“Hey!” she exclaimed. “This is the history book I was looking for! The one that was missing from the library.”

“But why would it be out here?” Holly asked. They all turned to look at Goldie.

“I hid the book out here before you all came,” the Palace Keeper said. “I didn’t want you learning too much about the palace if you decided to do some research.”

“Thanks for trusting us,” Win said dryly. “We appreciate it.”

“It was for your own good,” Goldie responded with a long-suffering sigh.

Standing, Bluebell placed the book inside the bag Gracia was holding. When questioned, she shrugged. “I figure it’ll be an interesting read.”

The CBers with bags slung them over their shoulders, and the group left the barn. Sapphire was there waiting for them, and she trotted promptly over to Jubilee.

Goldie looked up at the sky, shielding her eyes. “We should get going. By the time we get back to the pond, it’ll be near dark.”

Holly nodded quickly. She didn’t want to walk through the twisting woods at night, a sentiment shared by the others.

Jubilee threw their arms around Sapphire’s neck and gave her a quick hug. “Bye, Sapphire! Stay safe!” They let go and started to follow the others up the hill. They paused, however, when they heard hoofsteps behind them.

“No, you have to stay here,” they told Sapphire, who was following them.

The pegasus whinnied, and Jubilee thought she seemed to roll her eyes.

“It’s not safe back at the palace!” Jubi protested. “You could get hurt.”

Sapphire stomped a hoof into the ground, then continued forward.

“I’m not letting you come with us.” As they spoke, Jubi raised their eyebrows slightly. “I’m arguing with a pegasus, aren’t I?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t worry too much,” Goldie called back. “I argue with her all the time. And let me tell you, I almost never win.”

“So you think she should come with us?” Jubi asked incredulously.

“No, not at all,” Goldie said, “but I highly doubt you’ll be able to stop her.”

Sapphire shook her mane in agreement.

Jubi shook their head with a sigh “Alright, then. I guess you’re coming with.” Beneath their exasperation, they were secretly very, very pleased.

Hello! I'm so sorry the next part is so late, I've been busy and very unmotivated. I'll have it done and posted as soon as possible, Tuesday at latest. Thanks for your patience!

I have returned from the dead.

By the way, I love the story!  It's so good!

Part Thirty-Eight

~

It started raining around midnight, the steady pitter patter of drops falling onto the tent providing a comforting background to Gracia’s thoughts. She hadn’t been able to sleep- the day’s events kept replaying in her mind. There was a lot to mull over.

Of course, there was everything to do with what Goldie had told them. That had come as quite the shock. But at that moment, she was more concerned with how they were going to proceed. The Palace Keeper and the six CBers were pretty much stranded in the middle of the woods, cut off from the palace, the Chatterbox, and anyone who could help them. They had no idea what to do next, not a clue how to defeat their new enemy. They didn’t know if they were going to survive- didn’t know if they even could.

Gracia shifted a little, thinking, Who’s going to get us first, the murderer or Sylvia? And on that happy thought, she drifted off to sleep.

In what seemed like no time at all, Gracia was abruptly woken by someone yelling nearby. She shot to her feet, fumbling with the zipper on the tent. When she finally opened it, she stumbled outside, looking around wildly.

“Is everyone okay?” she called, at first seeing none of her friends.

“I dropped this rock on my foot!” Agent Winter was over by the edge of the clearing, hopping on one leg and clutching her foot. There was a large stone on the ground near her. Her face was beet red.

Gracia let out a slow breath, relieved that it was nothing more serious. “You scared me! Where’s everyone else?”

Winter gestured vaguely toward the surrounding woods. “Somewhere around here. We figured we’d start setting up camp, then have some breakfast. Dusk and I are getting some rocks to build a firepit, and I think everyone else is looking for dry firewood.”

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“Goldie said to let everyone sleep as long as possible. Bluebell’s still asleep too.”

At that moment, another tent unzipped and Bluebell stepped out, rubbing her eyes. She yawned. “Morning!”

Winter grinned. “Speak of the devil! Glad you’re finally up.”

“Where is everyone?”

As Win relayed the information to Bluebell, there was a rustling noise from the other side of the clearing. Gracia turned to see Jubilee and Sapphire, who had a bundle of kindling on her back.

“Hey Gracia!” Jubi greeted, pulling the bundle off the pegasus’s back.

“Hi! You managed to find dry firewood?” Gracia made her way over to a half-completed firepit, where Jubilee was setting down their load.

“I got the driest stuff I could.”

Gracia picked up one of the sticks and frowned. “This is damp.”

Jubi shrugged. “I said driest, not dry.”

A few minutes later, Goldie returned with Dusk and Holly. Dusk was carrying a stone in each arm, and the other two both had armfuls of logs.

“We’re back!” Goldie announced cheerfully, dumping her logs by the firepit. Holly did the same, and Dusk placed the rocks, completing the pit.

“We couldn’t really find anything dry,” Holly said, “but we figured we could try to start a fire anyway.”

“In the meantime,” said Goldie, “let’s eat breakfast!”

Breakfast consisted of granola bars, which was the only item of food in the emergency bags. Granted, there were a lot of granola bars, but the CBers saw a long and flavorless future stretched out before them. While they ate, a few different people attempted to get a fire going. None were successful.

“Oh well,” Dusk said, shrugging philosophically. “At least it’s not that cold.”

And so they sat around the nonexistent fire, chewing on slightly stale granola bars in morose silence.

This silence, after a while, was broken by Bluebell. “So, how did everyone sleep?”

There were varying answers, including Holly complaining that Jubilee, with whom she was sharing a tent, kept her up half the night snoring. Goldie seemed quite smug that she didn’t have to deal with that issue- she had a tent to herself. Of the remaining tents, one was shared by Gracia and Agent Winter. The other was shared by Dusk and Bluebell.

Gracia finished off her granola bar and sighed. “I didn’t sleep well. I was up most of the night thinking.” She shifted on the log that was acting as a makeshift seat. “We should discuss our plan moving forward.”

Bluebell nodded, but her reply was cut off by a low rumbling, one that grew gradually louder. They all braced themselves as the earthquake came, and it soon tapered off.

Goldie looked troubled. “She’s searching for us.”

“Do you think she’ll find us?” Holly asked.

“Eventually, but we have time.”

“Why? Isn’t the forest the most obvious place to look?” asked Jubi.

“The forest is pretty big,” Dusk reminded them.

“Well, yeah, but not that big. It’s not that hard to navigate.”

“Sylvia doesn’t know her way around the grounds,” Goldie said. She winced. “Might I remind you, she’s been locked in a tower for ten years.” Jubi conceded the point.

Holly looked around at the other CBers. “So what do we do now?”

“We have to take back the palace!” Win exclaimed, jumping to her feet.

“Yes, but the question is how?" Gracia said, turning to Goldie. “What exactly can Sylvia do, aside from cause earthquakes?”

“And how can she do that, by the way?” Dusk added.

Goldie shrugged. “I have no idea what she can do. And Dusk, I’m not sure, but I have a guess. I think since I’m the Palace Keeper, I have a special connection to the palace. By extension, since she’s my AE, she has some sort of connection as well. It’s a different connection, so she can do different things.”

Win rolled her eyes. “That’s a nice theory, but we need to know what she can actually do. We can’t just wait around and find out when she gets us.”

“So the question is,” Gracia said, “do we find her or wait for her to find us?”