"Even a rediscovery is a new discovery of its own. – Unknown.

Chapter Seven

The foals made their way cautiously through the night enshrouded woods. What little moonlight that filtered through the forest canopy was obscured by the light fog that ghosted through the trees. A small breeze made its way through the branches, rustling leaves and bending branches. The three tensed up at any sound that reached their ears. Images of horrors, both real and made up, crossed their minds as they expected to be pounced at any moment. The light of their crystals settled most of their fears, the soft glow illuminated the darkness and gave them confidence to continue on.

"The woods are a lot different at night," Tourmaline whispered as she hovered above the other two. Her sharper eyes made her the better look out for trouble. "They're spooky but… not. I don't know."

Wanderer nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I've never been in them at dark. Mom would never let me."

"Likely with good reason," Tormod said in a hushed tone. "I know I sound like a coward, but I can only think of the stories I've heard. We know the timberwolves are real, but what about the other things?"

"Maybe the tree spider is out there, keeping them away," Wanderer offered, privately hoping it was true.

Tourmaline smiled. "That would be so cool, especially if we could show him to everypony else that he is real."

Their mood lightened at the discussion, and they moved on for a while longer before resting. After a quick snack and drink, the three considered where to look next.

"So now where?" Tourmaline asked as she brushed parts of the forest loam out of her coat.

Wanderer looked around the woods for a moment pensively. "What way is back to town?"

"That way." Tormod motioned. He held a compass in his hoof, a gift he had received from his birthday.

Wanderer nodded and looked around again in deep thought. His mind rationally told him to head towards the road and search there, but his gut was telling him to head further into the woods.

We'll go that way." He pointed in a direction away from the road.

"Why that way?"

Wanderer shrugged. "I got a feeling."

Tormod looked at him skeptically. "You have a feeling?"

The earth pony nodded easily. "Yep."

"Are you sure that isn't the burritos you had for supper?" Tourmaline smirked playfully.

"Fun-ny," he said dryly. "Come on, you guys." He stood and started walking in the direction he indicated.

"Hold on," Tormod said. "Wanderer, can I borrow your knife again?"

Wanderer passed over the small knife, and the unicorn quickly carved a symbol into the bark of a tree. After checking his compass, he finished carving. It was a circle with a line drawn in it, pointing northwest.

Wanderer looked to the mark for a curious moment. "Why do you keep doing that?"

"To let any who are following us know which way we've gone. After last time, I figured we needed something like this."

"That's smart." Wanderer nodded in approval.

The unicorn grinned. "I know."

"Doesn't happen often, does it, brother?" Tourmaline smiled impishly. His brother only glared at her, and Wanderer couldn't help but laugh.

"Let's go, you guys," he said.

As they continued to hike through the woods at Wanderer's direction, the colt could feel his smile growing. He enjoyed this, the exploring and discovering of new things. It reminded him so much of his heroine Daring Do. She was an adventurer and explorer who saw amazing things on an almost daily basis. If she were here, he didn't doubt she'd have found the bandits and gave them a good thrashing before she'd return the stolen look, and became the town's hero in the process.

This dream had pushed him further on, he wanted to be a famous adventurer just like her. This walking in the woods at night made him feel… amazing. Seeing new things he had never seen before made him feel alive.

He was pulled from his musing at a sound that had him looking to his left intently. "Stop," he hissed quietly, his eyes searching the woods for the source of the sound.

The other two were on alert instantly. "What?" Tourmaline asked intently.

He closed his eyes, listening to the woods around them. "I thought I—" His head turned again as he heard it. "Over there, I heard somepony cough."

"Cough?" Tormod turned his head, trying to hear it himself.

"Hold on." Tourmaline flapped her wings and flew above them. She gasped quickly and landed by them. "I thought I saw a light."

Wanderer's grin was instantaneous. "Come on."

The three crept closer towards the source of the light, keeping low to the ground as to not make any noise. The three approached a ledge quietly, the flickering light of a fire on the trees around them. They could hear the muted sounds of coughing, snoring, and gruff laughter. They put away their crystals and peered over the ledge.

Below, they could see a camp of about twenty rough looking ponies. They appeared dirty and unwashed, wearing weathered clothing of forested colors. Most of them were asleep, while a few others were sharing a round of cider. The group looked like they had been partying all night with many empty casks of cider strewn about.

As the three watched, their eyes were drawn to a large, brown-coated, black-maned, earth pony stallion who seemed to tower over his fellows. A large battle axe lay over his back, and the three could clearly see his crossed battle axe cutie mark. He and a few fellows were drinking over a card game before one called the larger one a cheat. The large earth pony laughed before shoving over his accuser. The rest of the thugs laughed as the pony stumbled and spilled his cider all over him, muttering curses all the while.

The foals ducked behind the ledge quickly.

"That's them," Tormod whispered. "The big pony must be the 'Reaver' you told us about."

Tourmaline glanced over the ledge once, then quickly ducked back to cover. "So we found them, now what?"

They both looked at Wanderer, but saw the colt was not paying them any attention. In fact, he had a goofy grin on his face. He inwardly celebrating the fact that they had found the bandits. He and his friends had found an elusive band of thugs that even the Equestrian Guards couldn't find. This discovery gave him a new confidence in his abilities. Even with a bad sense of direction, he could find anything if he believed in himself. It was a truly wonderful feeling.

There was a brief flash of light that originated from his body, or rather from his backside. The siblings gave a startled intake of breath, but when Wanderer tried to see it was, it was too dark to see anything.

"Tormod, a light please," he said quietly with barely contained excitement.

The unicorn complied, and lit a soft red glow from his horn. The light illuminated their hiding place to where they could see Wanderer's long, sought-after cutie mark—a blue spy glass.

"My cutie mph—" He almost shouted before two different hooves were shoved in his mouth.

"Quiet," Tormod hissed intently as he let his light fade.

Tourmaline peeked over the ledge quickly and ducked back down. "They didn't move. They haven't seen us." She turned a wide, happy smile to her friend. "You did it, Wanderer, way to go."

The colt smiled like a fool, wishing he could bask in the moment, but not with a band of roughians nearby.

Tormod patted him on the shoulder encouragingly before looking at the camp again. "Alright, we found them. Should we head back and get the guards?"

Wanderer looked over the encampment and shook his head. "Nah, we should try to find the stolen money while they're all asleep. We bring back the stolen loot and you both could earn your cutie marks too." He could not keep the joy out of his tone. He scanned the camp carefully. "Now where would they keep it?"

They watched the camp a while longer, and grew more confident as the rest of the band sought their tents. Reaver remained at the table, but his head was bobbing in a silent snooze.

"Over there," Tourmaline whispered. She pointed to a partially concealed cave, the faint glow of a torch giving its secret away.

Wanderer nodded firmly. "Alright, lets sneak in there, get the loot, and get out before they know we're here."

Tourmaline smiled eagerly. "They'll never know we were ever here."

Tormod nodded after a hesitant moment.

"Let's go."

They made their way down the ledge as quietly as they could. Just as Wanderer was to pass between two trees, he was yanked back by the tail.

"Tourmaline, wha—" he started before he found her hoof over his mouth again.

"Look." She pointed. About knee height, was a thin, pale line. Wanderer had not seen it. If she hadn't stopped him, he would have blindly stumbled over it. They followed the line to a nearby tree where a small crystal was suspended by a similar line.

"An illumination crystal. If that went off, it would have lit up the whole area," Tormod said, looking around for similar traps.

Wanderer smiled to her. "Good eyes, Tourmaline."

She smiled in turn. "Thanks. We shouldn't stop though. I'll keep looking for more."

They carefully stepped over the line, and made their way towards the cave stealthily. They hid behind barrels and crates that were stacked along the way, before slipping into the cave unseen.

-0-

Once inside the cave, the three saw that it was illuminated by a number of torches that hung on the tunnel walls. After making sure they was not seen, Tourmaline lead the way deeper in, keeping watch for more trip wires. They had only gone a short distance before they came to a branching intersection of four tunnels. They looked for any signs to see what tunnel when were, but found nothing.

"Now what?" Tormod asked.

Wanderer looked between the tunnels thoughtfully. "We can't search each tunnel, we don't have the time for that, and splitting up is never a good idea."

Tourmaline peer at each tunnel carefully, but didn't offer any suggestions.

"I guess we take that one." Wanderer pointed to a tunnel to his left.

"Wait," Tourmaline said softly.

The two turned to see her staring intently at the right most tunnel. "What do you see?" Wanderer asked, looking down the passage as well.

She didn't respond straight away, only narrowing her eyes at something. She walked forwards and knelt to examine the ground. She dug around for a bit before she lifted up a single gold coin. The coin looked like it had been dropped and trampled into the soft dirt of the cavern. She had only seen it due to the edge of the coin that stuck above the dirt glinted off the fire light of a nearby torch.

"Nice find," her brother said. "How did you see that?"

She shrugged. "I just did. If there is a coin here, maybe the rest is ahead?"

Wanderer smiled wide. "Let's go. The loot has to be ahead."

As they followed the tunnel, Tourmaline couldn't help but feel proud of herself. Finding the coin had been a stroke of luck, as had spotting the trip wire earlier. She was proud of the fact she had spotted them were her brother and friend had not. Just like the day she had found the freshwater pearl, she felt good that she was able to do so. The pearl had helped her family pay most of their bills off and her father couldn't have been prouder of her. While she was a confident filly—cocky at times—she like the feeling it gave her.

They followed the passage until it ended at a door. Wanderer tried to turn the handle, but it move.

"Locked," he muttered, and turned back to them. "How do we get in?"

"Find the key?" Tormod suggested, his tone dry.

"Maybe I can kick it in." Wanderer brought his hind legs up to give the door a solid kick.

"Wait!" Tourmaline hissed. Wanderer stopped himself mid-kick and fell on his belly. "If you kick it in, it could wake the bandits up."

Wanderer picked himself up while grumbling, dusting himself off. "How then?"

She looked at the door a moment before turning back to him. "Give me your knife."

He passed over the tool and she looked at the keyhole a moment, before sticking the knife edge into it.

"Do you have any idea how to pick a lock?" Tormod asked.

"No."

"Yet, you're going to try?"

"Yes."

He face-hoofed and Wanderer snickered at him.

After fiddling with the lock, she stood straighter, the door remaining locked. "No good. We'll have to find the—" She looked at the torch bracket near the door. She flew up and grabbed a small iron key that was almost cleverly hidden. "—key." She presented her find to them.

This time, both colts face-hooved.

They opened the door and slipped inside, Tourmaline put the key back in its place before closing the door behind her. The three looked around the room with wide, amazed eyes. Inside was the bandit's treasure hoard. There were bags of bits everywhere, each of them bearing the symbol of the Equestiran Treasury. A large, heavy, wooden chest sat open, yet empty, nearby. There were casks of cider and crates of foodstuffs sorted out in stacks along the wall.

Wanderer shook in restrained joy. "Ha! We found it. I can't believe we did it."

Tormod smirked proudly. "Nice job, Tourmaline. How did you know where to look?"

She shrugged, not really able to explain it. "I just…I don't know. I just did."

"Followed your gut, right?" Wanderer asked her with a knowing smile.

"First the pearl, the coin, the key, and now the lost money, you're like a treasure seeker," her brother half joked.

"Hey, that sounds special to me," Wanderer could not help but laugh.

The pegasus smiled along with him. She felt elated. Finding the lost money would no doubt help the town out of financial trouble, and she knew the grown-ups would be happy about that. It felt great that she was going to be helpful, she felt a surge of pride that it was because of her it was found. The mix of feelings she felt, it was almost indescribeable.

Another brief flash of light lit up the cave and both colts gasped in surprise. In the torchlight, she turned to look at her flank. It was now adorned by a trio of overlapping gold coins, her cutie mark had finally arrived.

"My cutie mph—" she almost shouted before the two colts slapped their hooves over her mouth. Silenced as she was, she pulled both colts into a fierce hug, tears of joy running down her face. The two returned the hug, Wanderer happy that he and his best friend found their cutie marks together, and Tormod she proud tears for his baby sister.

"Alright, guys," she said, breaking up the moment. "Let's get the money and get out of here." She wiped the tears from her face and looked proudly at her new cutie mark.

"Right," they said together and looked to the many sacks of heavy coins.

"How?" Wanderer asked.

Tourmaline looked at him in shock. "It was your idea. Didn't you figure it out first?"

"I…ah…didn't think that far ahead."

After a stunned moment, he got whapped upside the head.

He rubbed at his head. "I deserved that."

"We need to figure it out, we can't stay here," Tormod said, nervously watching the door.

"Maybe we could take what we can carry, and point the way back for the guards?" Tourmaline suggested.

Wanderer shook his head. "We can't carry it all, and the bandits will have taken the rest before the guards could get here."

"Then how?"

Wanderer's eyes settled on the open chest. "Tormod, could you lift that?"

The unicorn looked to the chest skeptically. "I might, but I won't be able to carry it for long."

"How about making it light enough for me to carry on my back? With your help, I should be able to carry it and we'll be able to take all the money with us."

"Well, whatever we do, we—" Tourmaline stopped as they heard the approaching sounds of heavy hoof steps.

Their blood froze in fear. "Hide!" Wanderer hissed, and he and Tourmaline hid behind the large chest, while Tormod hid behind the large casks of cider.

Just as they hid, the handle of the door turned and in strode the large earth pony, Reaver. His bloodshot eyes swept the room before he smiled greedily at the bags of money.

"The lad did good. A good haul it was. We can be livin' off these spoils fer a year or more," he said to himself. "Though the boss should get his share'o the loot first, I'm thinkin'."

The gruff pony began stuffing the bags of money into the chest, chuckling greedily to himself. The foals dared not to make a sound as he shuffled through the room. Wanderer shared a quick, frightened look with Tourmaline. She looked back to him, her expression easily matching his.

"'Ello, what's this?" they heard Reaver say. They tensed up even further, expecting to have been found out. "What's a pocket knife doin' in here?"

Wanderer turned pale, his knife! He must have dropped it in his scramble to hide. He mentally slapped himself for doing something to stupid.

With a grunt, the older pony looked around the room closely. The two foals could hear him approach the chest, their eyes wide in panic.

A shout echoed from the hallway. "Boss!"

The two foals breathed a sigh of relief as Reaver moved away from the chest at the shout. "What's the bloody problem, lad?"

"It's the Equestrian Guard! They found us!"

"What?!" Reaver roared.

"They tripped one of the light markers, but they were already on us before we could do anything. The lads are fighting them off, but there's too many of them, boss! What do we do?"

"Gather the lads and show'em a fight to remember. They ain't takin' our hard-earned loot without a fight!"

"What about you, boss?"

"I'll be makin' sure they don't get it. Go, lad!"

The other pony ran out of the room, and they heard the door slam close behind him.

"Ye best be commin' out now, ye buggers! I know yer in here!" Reaver shouted. "Come out and fight like'a stallion, ye cowards!"

The foals dared not move, not even breath.

Tourmaline and Wanderer fell back with terrified screams as the heavy chest lurched at them. The heavy blade of an axe protruded partially out of the ruined wood.

"I told ye I'd—" Reaver's rage-filled face turned to shock as he looked at the cowering foals. "Foals?! Bloody foals brought the guards on us? Tried ta steal me treasure did ye? Come 'ere!" He reached for them.

On pure instinct, Wanderer lunged at the taller earth pony, head butting him full in the face. Reaver stumbled back with a roar of pain and rage.

"Run!" Wanderer shouted to his friends.

Reaver roared and back-hoofed Wanderer aside as he caught Tourmaline out of the air. She struggled and kicked futilely under his crushing grip.

"Get your hooves off my sister!" Tormod blasted the brute in the side with a bolt of magic. The magical attack caused the earth pony to stumbled, releasing his hold on Tourmaline. She wasted no time in kicking him as he let her go.

Growling like some feral animal, he lunged at her again. He missed and received another kick for his efforts. Wanderer rushed back in, sore from being slapped, but seeing his friends in danger he didn't even think as he ran to protect them. He kicked the larger stallion in the ribs just as Tormod hit him with another attack.

"That's enough!" Reaver roared and slapped Wanderer aside again, as well as swatting Tourmaline out of the air. The brute turned his attention on the unicorn, with a angered shout, he charged at him.

Tormod shot at him again, but the larger pony dodged and leapt at him. Tormod stepped aside and delievered a kick of his own. He might as well had been kicking stone for all the good it did.

Before Tormod could react, Reaver grabbed him painfully by the horn and threw him at the crates of food. The unicorn groaned as he crashed through them, squirming painfully.

"Tormod!" Tourmaline shrieked and flew at the offending stallion. As he tried to grab or hit at her, she would dodge and kick back at him. Being more athletic than her brother, her kicks were a bit more powerful, but that only seemed to make the brute angrier.

Wanderer picked himself up again in time to see Reaver catch her by the tail. He flung her at the casks of cider, causing the casks to tip over and spill their contents over the groaning pegasus.

"No!" Wanderer yelled and ran at the stallion. Just as he got close, the brute grabbed him and slammed him to the floor.

"Don't know who ye runts are, but yer going ta learn ye shouldn't mess with others. 'Specially me!" Reaver roared at the supine colt.

Wanderer flinched, but kicked upwards. Reaver grunted in pain and slapped him aside. Grunting with pain, Wanderer stubbornly stood back up, glaring at the stallion.

"Got some fight left in ye, boy?" Reaver scowled at him.

"You hurt my friends. I won't let you get away with it!" Wanderer ran back at him and ducked under Reaver's swing. He pivoted and bucked out with all his strength, kicking the stallion square in the chest.

Reaver stumbled back, holding his chest painfully. Seething with rage, he grabbed the stunned colt and threw him. Wanderer skidded and landed against the ruined chest. He lay there trying to hold back tears of pain. As he tried to stand again, a heavy hoof pinned him to the ground.

"Ye put up'a good fight, lad. I'll give ye that." Reaver ripped his axe from the chest, splinters of wood flying everywhere. "I don't waste my edge on foals, but for ye, I'm makin' an exception."

Wanderer squeaked in fright, tears running down his face, but couldn't move under the heavy press of the hoof. Reaver lifted his axe high, and Wanderer could only look on in fear as the weapon's edge gleamed in the torch light.

A cerulean beam took the thug square in the side, blasting him against the wall. The axe went flying from Reaver's grip and spun until it landed inches from Wanderer's snout.

"Get away from my son!" Wanderer looked at the door and saw him mother standing in the door frame. Her eyes blazed with a furry unmatched by anything he had ever seen, they were paled only by the fury of the magic that surrounded her horn.

"Mom!" he cried out to her.

The unicorn mare blasted the thug again as he tried to stand, and again, and every time he tried to stand. When he finally did make it to his hooves, he looked up to see the face of a very angry pegasus stallion glare back at him only inches away.

"What're ye goin' ta—" he managed before a fierce blow to the face put him down for the count.

"That was for laying hoof on my foals."

"Dad!" the siblings yelled in joy, limping their way to him.

"Tourmaline, Tormod, thank Celestia you're safe." He went to them and scooped them up in a careful, but relieved hug.

Wanderer's mom was behind him, holding him tightly. Her entire frame shaking as she held him tightly.

"I'm sorry, mom." His voice cracked as he cried. "I just wanted—"

"I know, Wanderer, I know." She finally looked at him, her face soaked from crying. She looked at his face critically. "He hit you good, didn't he?" She glared hatefully at the unconscious form of Reaver.

"I can handle it, mom," Wanderer said, trying to put on a bold façade. In truth, he was hurting a lot and wanted nothing more than to hold on to her.

"Dad, did you see it?" They heard Tourmaline say with excitement.

"See what?" he asked.

"My cutie mark!" She hopped back and proudly showed off her adorned flank.

Her dad's smile was instantaneous. "Tourmaline, I'm so proud." He hugged her tightly, his son joining in on the hug. "I'm happy for you, and I'm glad you found it, but I really wished you would have found a safer way of doing it."

Tormod stepped back and looked to the ground in shame. "We, just wanted to help, dad."

His father ruffled his mane affectionately. "I know, son. Just… the gray hairs are growing faster with the worry you put me through."

Wanderer looked at his mother, his fear taking a back seat to his excitement. "Mom, I got my cutie mark too!" He turned to show off his spyglass cutie mark for all of its glory.

Her smile was just as fast in appearing. "You did! I knew you would." She hugged him again. "You know you are grounded, right?" she asked in an eerily calm tone.

"I know," he said just as nonchalant.

"For the rest of your life."

"Sounds fair."

She chuckled and stood as the guards finally caught up to them.