it's nice having other ponies around to eat lunch with
there's nothing wrong with my surrogate herd from outside the everglow but eating is optional for them – bell and relic and spark are forged so food was never a necessity and zer' has some kind of psychic ability such that he doesn't need to eat anymore – so i feel a bit self-conscious when medya and i take time out for food
but there's some ineffable satisfaction in relaxing with others over a meal
well it started out relaxed
in the post office was a flyer posted by someone asking for help with monsters on their farm
bell and kaba and spark and relic went to inquire – then contacted us halfway through lunch to say that something nasty had been eating the farmer's sheep
once medya and zer' and i caught up with them we followed a spotty trail of sheep blood and thorns covered in ... undead ichor
at first it was terrifyingly quiet in the forest – the animals had all left which is never a good sign
a short way in we began to hear a soft and very low thrum that grew louder as we walked
something about it made us nervous so it's no surprise that the animals had cleared out
we found the source of the trouble in the form of a clearing with several stumps and a very sickly-looking tree – an undead tree! – in the center
the magic felt familiar like what pony druids use to grow and heal trees but turned inside out and made wrong
and it smelled like the package for hellebore
when we neared it a bunch of animated twigs rose from the ground and began to attack us
and then some vines climbed out of the ground much faster than vines should grow
one of them slithered up into my leg and that's a sensation i hope not to experience again anytime soon
tingling and numb and wet and scratchy with a disturbing sense of pressure
thanks to zer' for cutting that to set me free because i could barely concentrate with that wriggling thing pinning me in place
destroying the diseased mess took a lot of fire much of which came from bell – she's really taken to fire breath!
(did i mention when she set that up for herself? it's very much a dragon affectation and it's very very her)
once we were done and the tree was nothing but ash we looked where it had been and found a lot of bones from sheep ... and otherwise
it turns out that people had been disappearing for some time so it's a very good thing we were able to stop it!
i've been tempted to do as the others suggest and destroy the package that was meant for hellebore
given the stink it's possible that it's infected with the same thing that got to the tree and i don't want to give it another chance to spread
but in case it does spread it would be good for her to know what to watch out for and anyhow we can destroy it there as well as anywhere
. . .
an undead tree! who would do that and why?