While there was still daylight, work had to be done. Tarnish went through the general area where Maud was working and did a survey of plants, trying to see if there were any magical ones in the immediate vicinity. This was time consuming and took a lot of effort, as he wasn’t familiar with everything yet, and had to check in his books which plants were which. He catalogued the trees, the undergrowth, the shrubberies, and even the types of grasses growing along the sides of the river. Most of them were quite mundane.

Meanwhile, Maud had a camera rigged to a neck mount and she was taking photographs of the many dead bodies. She had markers showing the distance of different corpses from the mouth of the cave, the distance to the river, and she was trying to get an idea of the approximate reach of the bizarre and no doubt supernatural phenomenon. Mysterious as she thought it might be, there was science behind it. The dead bodies occurred no more than about twelve metres or so from the cave mouth, and about the same distance from the river, with the range growing narrower as one went up the river away from the cave, forming something of a triangle, with almost twelve metres near the mouth and just a metre or two at maximum distance away from the cave.

It wasn’t rocks, but it had something to do with the rocks, so Maud had a keen interest.

The only magical plants of note that Tarnish found were sneezeberries, which depended upon a heavy layer of mucus to help keep pesky bugs away, and vomiting violets, which Tarnish kept a healthy distance from.

As with almost any other budding botanist, Tarnish found the sneezeberries fascinating, as they triggered an excessive mucus response followed by sneezing. It was as if nature had hijacked the natural allergic response, a snotty, runny nose to protect one from whatever invading allergen was the culprit, and then used it to her advantage. Not much was willing to eat snotty sneezeberries, which allowed the berries to mature to the point where they had seeds, at which time the sneezing effect went away and many creatures found them delicious. Birds in particular loved them and carried the seeds with them as they flew, defecating them out in some random place as they flew to wherever it was they were going.

“Tarnish?”

“Yeah, Maud?”

“I have an idea.”

“What’s that, Maud?”

“I think I know how the rocks in the river all have such wild variations.”

“The fog?”

“Yeah.”

“That sort of makes sense. I guess. I wouldn’t know.”

After that, the conversation died off. Tarnish returned to his work and Maud continued with her slow, methodical approach to gathering data, testing any rocks she found in close proximity to the corpses of the small animals that had died in the fog. After a morning of spooky fog, it was the perfect way to unwind and relax for these two ponies.

It seemed that Cranberry had ransacked some of their supplies. Tarnish smiled, he didn’t mind the tins of milk and butter being used. The fresh treats were both welcome and wonderful. He sat under the awning, enjoying the shade, and was getting ready to have a late afternoon tea break.

He glanced over at Maud and saw that she was surrounded by data. Several notebooks were scattered around her and she had a simple map of the area in front of the cave spread out beside her and pinned down with rocks to keep it from blowing away in the wind. On the map, she had marked the approximate locations of points of interest with red dots for corpses and blue dots for hot rocks.

“You know, I am undecided what to do about that blue orb.”

Both Tarnish and Maud looked up at the sound of the voice. Tarnish looked angry and Maud had no identifiable expression on her face whatsoever. Both of them knew that voice a little too well.

“I am curious about its purpose, which is to be expected, but I am concerned about its very existence. I’ve tried touching it with my mind… it has astral connections and it projects time vortices. Just trying to connect with it has given me ideas… shown me new avenues of magic. New directions… it holds such power… and I’m not sure you are worthy of it, Mister Teapot. You don’t even begin to understand the power of the item you possess. You remain so very ignorant.”

Saying nothing, Tarnish began to rummage through his pack.

“Time manipulation… such a complicated subject. Tell me, Mister Teapot, are you even capable of understanding the words ‘temporal projection?’ You could, you know, it isn’t too late. I’m still willing to take you in… I’m willing to make you better… I can fix you. And once I fix you, I could make you my student… I could turn all of that rage, all of that anger, into meaningful motivation.”

An almost fanatical zeal could be heard in the stranger’s voice.

“I spoke to your guest… she wasn’t receptive to my ideas. Such a pity. I let her go, for now.”

Sitting very still, Tarnish had a small pony shaped doll held between his front hooves. He closed his eyes and fell into a state of concentration. He breathed upon the doll he held between his hooves, slow, steady, regular breathing, almost as if he was inflating a balloon.

“I’ve been peering into the future and the past again,” the voice said, coming from everywhere and nowhere all at once. “The orb… it gave me clarity of vision… it is the past, the present, and the future. You will be the cause of so much destruction, Mister Teapot. The orb is very frustrating though… there is something that lies beyond some blue curtain, but I know that you know what it is… something beyond the blue mists. Tell me, what secrets is it holding?”

Still breathing into the doll, Tarnish did not respond. Maud’s head kept turning around, trying to discover the source of the voice, but it was a task that was impossible. It didn’t stop Maud from trying however.

“I am willing to forgive you for your failures and for resisting me, but you have to work with me… otherwise, I might have to resort to more drastic measures… I’ll just let you think about what those might be. I know what is best for you.”

With a look of composed calm upon his face, Tarnish fetched a sample jar but kept it far away from him. He removed the stopper and pulled out a small, shiny green leaf with frilly, hairy looking edges that were covered in a light dusting of greenish yellow powder.

Holding the doll a safe distance from him, he touched the leaf to the doll, causing some of the powder to spill from the frilly edges. He then put the leaf back into the sample jar and replaced the stopper. A smile spread over his muzzle.

“Hey… what the… gah… my nose is running!”

Tarnish’s smile became a broad grin.

“AAAAAAAAAACHOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Looking satisfied, he began to prepare his tea to his liking as the sounds of sniffling could be heard all around him. He lifted up a scone filled with dried cranberries and took a bite while Maud shook her head.

“You’re a bad pony,” she deadpanned.

“So much snot,” the voice whimpered. More sneezing could be heard, rapid fire sneezing, followed by pained whimpers. “I have to go… ACHICHICHIT!” Another series of sneezes could be heard. “We shall speak again, Tarnished Teapot!”

There was glorious silence, save for the sounds of nature. Tarnish sat, munching a scone, savouring the sounds of birds chirping and the wind in the trees. It was glorious, so glorious. He put the doll down in a safe place and contemplated what else he might do with it while he still had a connection. He tried not to think about the concentrated tincture of poison joke essential oil in his pack. That would be going a little too far.

“Care for a scone? They’re not very sweet… they’re mostly sour.”

Maud turned her head. “Don’t mind if I do. I’ll take a cup of tea, too.”

Dull grey clouds loomed in the southeast, in the direction of the Hayseed Swamps. Tarnish kept a wary eye on them as he tidied up the camp. Sitting in the cool shade, Maud was working on a list of things to do tomorrow, with investigating the impact crater sitting on the number one spot. The air was growing humid and the birds had stopped chirping. The morning had been chilly and foggy, then the day had become hot and a little muggy, and now, it seemed as though it was threatening to rain. Having lived in Ponyville, which had scheduled weather, Tarnish was gaining an appreciation for feral storms. Life in the wilds was a very different sort of life and those in the city took controlled weather for granted.

Out here, nothing could be taken for granted, not without consequences. Drastic consequences. The sun would burn you if you gave it a chance, scramble your brains and leave you stupid, the fog might kill you, and the weather could change at a moment’s notice. Tarnish was thankful for The Egg, it was safe, secure, and snug against the weather.

Even a ridiculous hat was helpful. Tarnish had come to appreciate and value his pith helmet. It protected him from the sun and the rain, kept him cool in the heat, and from the looks of things, Maud had seen the light as well. Ridiculous hats were great for adventurers.

Adjusting his ridiculous hat, Tarnish looked over at the tiny doll that represented his nemesis. He had severed the connection, but he had not destroyed the doll. It could be reconnected at any time. If she was to come around again, he would give her a bit more gentle discouragement until she got the message. If the situation escalated, well, he felt as though he was ready to resort to more drastic measures. He resolved to do no real harm though, he was better than her.

Tarnish did not know how to feel about having a nemesis. He supposed that it was a unicorn thing. He had never really been immersed into unicorn culture. He was the outsider. He thought about Cranberry and her comments about being a proper unicorn. He had never had a master, he had never been an apprentice, he had never taken part in the cultural norms of his tribe. He had just sort of muddled though, having never been welcomed or accepted.

He thought about the orb and Maledico, the centaur. He was little more than a ghost, a spectre, a leftover projection of somepony long dead. Tarnish realised that he had a master if he wanted one. Maledico had been good to ponies, he had raised them, acted as their parent, he had been kind, he had been a teacher. Tarnish began to understand that there was an opportunity here. The stranger wanted to take whatever secrets the orb had to offer, but Tarnish began to understand that those secrets could be his if he decided to ask for them. He looked at his bags and thought about the ball of roots that was within.

Tarnished Teapot might never make for a decent wizard, but might make for a terrific druid.

Tarnish was as close to a meditative state as he had ever been. He was calm, he was focused, and he could feel the strange magic flowing through him. The blue orb sat nearby, untouched, but ready if he needed it, and he instead focused upon the ball of roots, holding it up in front of his face, inches away from his snoot.

The troubles of the day eased from his mind and he found peace. He thought of his family, he thought of Maud, he thought of his mother, he thought of his friends. He even thought of Trixie. Thinking of these ponies gave him focus, it gave him determination and drive. The connection to the strange magic grew stronger.

A green shoot grew from the root ball and began to writhe as it grew towards the sun. The ball quivered, began to glow, and then, just as Tarnished opened up his eyes, more tender green shoots began to grow from it. It was a living thing that grew without soil.

Other than the green shoots, nothing else happened, but Tarnish was not the least bit disappointed. On the contrary, he smiled, satisfied that he had done as much as he did. He was making progress and soon, he would find a way to release the timber wolf trapped in the root ball.

“Hang on, Grrrr, I’ll figure out how to let you out soon enough, I promise…”

Author's Notes:

Foal steps...