Section 4 - Whitetail Wood

[Bramble Rose]

Bramble Rose stumbled down the path till his head cleared ... though it was still dark. Why was it dark? Oh, light above, was he blind?! He gave his head a shake, and the mushroom caps fell off. Oh! That was all right, then... he got his bearings, saw a few ponies running down the trail, and took off after them. Oh, good, he was still in the race!

Why did he feel so heavy, though? He turned his head to the side, and gave a smile, nodding to Mayday and Ginger Mint as he started to fall back into his pace. Light, but his legs and his head both hurt. "Good day," he said companionably, though his voice rasped a bit out of him. He blinked and cleared his throat. "Ah, good day. Nice day for a run!"

He was completely unaware, as he ran, that he still was covered in mud and leaves, and that giant mushroom growths were stuck to either side of his head, and one perched atop his horn.

[flutterscotch]

With a resounding thud, Apple Bloom landed face first into the side of an errant Pine, one of the few conifers in the Whitetail Wood proper.

[Chonico]

Number 34, Klondike, with his two pieces of paper adorning his flank as they were securely duct taped right beneath his two bold spots from an earlier incident, had finally galloped his way more or less to where he had been before, the middle of the herd. He had managed to achieve a sort of balance between focusing on the beautiful scenery and focusing on the coarse ahead. Admittedly he had had a few close calls such as a tumble and a trip there, but nothing had been enough to damper his spirits and his determination.

He had come to the race hoping to rid himself of his absentmindedness and to help him focus on things other than his work. The realization that he was indeed keeping with the spirit of the event, while remaining somewhat focused on it, had been enough to refuel his spirits whenever anything went screwy. To Klondike, it seemed that little by little, his plan was working. Nothing could cause him to falter. Nothing that is, with the exception of one slightly small thing...

"Faith and begorrah!"

Klondike slowed down to look at a pony who had suddenly stopped on the path.

"H.. How? how did ye gie loch 'at!? Whit ur ye daein' in th' path; yoo’re gonnae gie rin ower!!"

“What the hay did that pony just say?” He wondered to himself as he walked towards him, avoiding the ponies that were running by.

"Climb up oan me before somethin' happens tae ye!"

Klondike finally saw what was the cause of this particular pony’s decision to stop.

“SWEET CELESTIA THE SMALL MISS APPLEJACK HALLUCINATION IS BACK!!”

He looked at the gray pelt and curly haired earth pony, an expression of disbelief plastered on his face.

“You CAN see it too!?” He looked back and forth between the tiny Applejack and Carrot Fields, a sudden but slow expression of understanding overtaking his expression.

“But, if you can… and I can… then… but how!?... The tree! I must have a concussion and now I'm seeing more that one hallucination! A small one and a fully grown up one!... No wait, that's just silly but... ” He lowered his head to take a closer look at the tiny pony, trying his hardest not to breathe too heavily on her.

“Wait…Wait a minute... A customer of mine from when I first opened my shop, a Miss Zacora, said something about a band of ponies that broke into her house and made a mess. She said one of them was tiny but that they apologized for their behavior and she helped them in turn.”

He looked at Applejack and then back at the earth pony with the strange accent, as if trying to ask for clarification to what he had just said.

“She said they were affected by something called, um, what was it?... Poison Stooge?... Poison Mook?... Larry Curly Moe?... Poison Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk?...”

It looked like he could go on for a while if somepony didn’t say something.

[Ginger Mint]

hi hi

"Dangerous? You don't have to tell me twice!"

Ginger Mint quickly increased her speed until she was galloping again, briefly chuckling at the strangeness of it all. Fast, slow, fast slow, and then fast again, all the shifting gears made it hard to find a good rhythm, but there didn't seem to be any other option. She had to keep pace if she wanted to get some answers.

"My name is Mayday Sunnyside, what is yours?"

It took a little bit of effort to match speeds, but eventually Ginger Mint was able to pull up alongside Mayday.

"Pleased to meet you Miss Sunnyside, I'm Ginger Mint! I sure am lucky I ran into you, who knows what might have happened if you hadn't warned me about that creature."

She was starting to breathe heavily now that she was really moving again, and her words came in-between each huff or puff of air.

"Perhaps this dangerous creature is the thing that's been sabotaging everypony! I must admit I'm a bit surprised. Surprised that there are monsters this close. This close to Canterlot. Unless they've wandered out of the Everfree..."

Ginger Mint was just finishing her sentence when Bramble Rose labored his way up alongside the pair.

"Ah, good day. Nice day for a run!"

Ginger Mint's eyes went wide, her face turned an even paler shade. Her voice caught in her throat, squeaking out the last word. "...Forest?!"

She wanted to run, but she was already running. She wanted to run faster, but she knew her limits. Any faster and she'd risk tripping and falling. She wanted to scream, but she found she could barely make a sound.

What do I do, whatdoIdo!?

It wasn't until she'd run out of ideas, run out of implausible escape plans and tricks that wouldn't work, that the dam burst and she started talking in a rapid pace that caused her breathing to become erratic.

"Pleasedon'teatme! Please Mr. Evertree I wouldn't taste very good anyway even with barbecue sauce I'm much too gamey and you might choke on something and really I could bake you some nice cookies instead and then you wouldn't have to worry about being hungry or any angry guard ponies coming to lock you up cause its really not nice to eat ponies and there's laws against it and cookies are really much better tasting and everypony tells me my snickerdoodles are really the best anyway and pleeease! Don't eat me!

Light headed, thats what you get when you hyperventilate, and Ginger Mint was rapidly getting there. The monster had been smiling when she first saw it, possibly excited about catching up to its next victim, but now she wasn't sure what kind of expression it was making. Did her message get through? It was her only hope!

[Hippo]

Slightly frightened, Applejack dodged and used her agility to watch out for the scuffs from enormous hoofs. As luck would have it, a generous pony sttop and discovered her wee self and gave concern for her situation. As Applejack climbed onto Carrot's hoof, Applejack recognized who he was. She pulled the paper out from under hat. "Car-rot Fi-elds. That's you raut?" The orange quadruped flustered her nonsense to the ponies around her that would listen. "Quick! I haven't got time to explain. I need to get back to normal before I lose the race!" Applejack bounced around inches high to illustrate her urgency.

Emerging from the woods onto the edge of the trail was a brown pony named Granola Gracie. Having just come from her shack, she was wanting to see if the race had passed through this area of the woods yet. She brought with her Precious, her pet venus flytrap. The moment she saw Carrot, Mojo, and Appletini, she was stunned. "WOW! COOL! A little cowpony doll!" Granola grabbed Appletini with her teeth and slowly picked her up.

"Hay!" Applejack scrambled her legs and wiggled out of her mouth, dropping back to the heavy-beaten ground. "I ain't no doll!"

"Woah! And it talks and has moving parts too! Wait a second! Are you... a real pony!? Oh, my! How in Equestria did you get so small!?"

Applejack gave a flustered snort. The curiousity of Granola and the concern of Carrot, Mojo, and Klondike was testing the patience of the little filly. "Ugh! I haven't got time to explain. Zecora's Hut in all the way on the otherside of Ponyville in the Everfree Forest! And unless you got some magical potion that reverses the effects of poison joke..."

"Poison joke! Why didn't you say so in the first place! I have tons of herbal tonic that reverses the poison joke symptoms." As Granola informed, she couldn't help but giggle and bust out a few hard laughs as she stood and stared at the small stentson-wearing pony.

"Alright! Alright! You had you're fun! Now get me some and I'll repay you with a free bushel of apples from my farm."

Granola nodded quickly with enthusiasm. "It'll be no problem at all, and the cure is almost instant!" Granola set Precious down next to Appletini and gave him orders. "Precious, would you keep an eye on the tiny pony for me while I got fetch some tonic?" Precious snorted and huffed a doggy-like nod. Granola looked up. "Hay! Carrot! I haven't seen you since the marketplace last month! Still growing those car- Hay!" Granola interrupted herself and spoke loudly to Carrot, getting uncomfortably close to the scottish colt. "You should come with me to get the tonic. While we're there, I can show you a wild carrot specimen I found. Care to come?"

Applejack was impatient, but she had no choice but to wait for the ponies that were to help her size up. As she waited, she noticed Precious next to her. The venus flytrap was licking him own lips. "What'er you lookin' at?" Applejack challenged.

((OOC:Willing to bleed this subplot into the next section, if necessary))

[Boss_Hoss1]

(ooc: just got home a bit ago and I see a few timely replies that must be made before Buxy posts...)

Trembling, Shanna lands behind Ginger Mint and Mayday as they stared at the monstrous looking Bramble Rose "Y-you can see it too? What is it?!"

She looked at Mayday as she kept trying to encourage the light colored unicorn with the mint geen mane to run. "I..I think that is a great idea..." She shivered as two of the big eyes suddenly fell off, revealing pony like eyes beneath. "EEEK! What are you?!"

She looked to see if 'Breakah' had stopped with her... someone big around would be handy if it was dangerous.

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Meanwhile, beside the racecourse...

Hoss stood in shock for a moment as Mojo momentarily mistook him for his sister, and his voice... "Oh Celestia and Luna!"

He.. she looked back at the now more lightly lined body and longer pony tail, still stuck all over with crushed blue flowers with a strange sweet-sharp smell.

She ulped as Mojo called it Poison Joke and advised him to find Zecora or the Professor before dashing off.

Hoss eeped and looked back at the spider as it finally threw the wrapped-up jetpack off and started scuttling at... um, 'her'...

"You would be coming at me when I cant' show you I'm a champion cloud bucker to your face, ugly!"

His..-her first instinct was to fly directly away, but that would lead it to the racers, galloping past just feet away.

"Think Hoss THINK!"

Suddenly inspired, Hoss flew right above it, and stamped between it's 8 eyes with hi-her good back hoof in passing.

The spider hissed and spun around to chase this flying pest as it dodged around the trees, keeping just ahead of it until the spider fell into a gully over a hundred yards away from the trail.

Hoss whewed and flapped straight up out of the opening in the tree canopy the gully made. "That should keep you busy until the stragglers are past..."

Hoss zipped back to retreive the jet pack, Struggling to lift off with it now that its starting off from the ground. "OOOF at least no one will recognize me like this, they'll think I'm Shanna... I hope!"

He..she groaned as the pack was carried in the blanket along the side of the trail, her bandaged leg showing brightly among the falling leaves. * I've got to find Miss LaMare, Jubilee, or the Professor... And Zecora too... *

Hoss gasped as she saw the first two on the ground ahead, forced by the pressure of the galloping herd to run or be trampled.

Hoss' wings flapped harder to try and catch up alongside the trail. He..she blushed at having to draw any attention to his -her un-macho predicament, but saw no other way out of it. She yelled loudly to be heard over the thundering hooves. "Louise! Jubilee! Over here! Help! Do you know where the Professor is or does anypony know where Zecora lives!?"

Anyone looking will see a young mare very much like Shanna but with a longer ponytail in a blue metal ring, and bits of Poison Joke still falling off. An intact Poison Joke bloom is stuck in her mane by one ear as if placed on purpose.

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Snails visibly drooped at Misty's admission, then bumped his nose against her "I'm sorry if I made ya sad, You do stuff that would make Trixie green..."

He crossed his eyes and stuck out his tongue in thought for about minute..."Oh Hay! Maybe if ya talk ta Twilight sometime.. Think she could help? She told us foals what happened when she had her entrance exam test, an' it sounds like what ya did today. Well, last year she done saved Ponyvile from a big scary Ursa, so she had ta have learned how ta beat her magic going crazy, eh?"

Madam Bistro nodded to Starflower. "I have some minced garlic with me. Some of my customers want garlic on their toast or bagles."

She dashed away, then came back with the tightly sealed jar, loosening the lid for Starflower "Thats some strong stuff there..."

[Parodius]

Blinking his eyes again, Swift Breeze turned his head to the voice coming up beside him. "Hay! Can you still see? There's a turn coming up!" shouted the voice. Swift squinted at the dark red and yellowish blob. "Lean against me! I'll guide you through!" The blob nudged against his side. Swift's tenseness could probably be felt in that nudge.

Swift nodded and turned his head forward again. "I can see, but not well... All is a blur. Thank you, friend." Another shake of his head. "I should be fine in a little while, but we should be cautious. There is danger ahead, and not just from the race course..."

Swift kept beside the kind... what he assumed was a pony. He stayed close enough that he occasionally tapped them with his side, so that he would know which direction to go if he felt the tapping either stop or get more forceful. "A fortunate thing you happenned upon me. I would not relish having to run by myself in such a state as this, let alone potentially stumble across one that may wish harm upon fellow racers." His face turns serious once again. "Hopefully, I shall not be much of a burden, and not for very long. Somepony should try to do something about the scoundrel somewhere ahead."

A frown crosses his face. "I am loathe to admit it, but I may have to stop a moment to better clear my eyes at a decent spot. At least until the blurs become slightly more defined."

[Chonico]

Number 34, Klondike, was still trying to guess what the plant was called. By this point he had let out a whole stream of different combinations of possible names for the plant but none seem to stir his memory. He had become so caught up in the activity that he had slowly become lost in his thoughts. A slight draw back from his improvement over the race, but given current events it was an acceptable one.

“Poison Joke?... No, I’m pretty sure that’s not it either. Maybe it was Poison Stooge, that seems more probable than-“

Klondike’s right ear suddenly began to twitch as it caught the sound of more ponies running by on their way to finish the race. It twitched a few times before it finally pulled him out of his head.

“I wonder why no ponyelse is stopping unless… of course, these are hallucinations!”

He turned around to look at the two ponies, the earth pony with the gray coat and the tiny one with the Stetson.

“Yup, definitely hallucinations. Tricky hallucinations, trying to make me think I lost my marbles…" He paused as he lifted a hoof to look at it, a sudden thought coming to mind and vanishing just as quick. "Thumbs... Well, best get back to the race.”

Finally making up his mind and choosing to follow his original gut instinct that the impact against the tree had scrambled his thoughts more than usual, he began to trot away from the weird scene and slowly his gait turned into a gallop.

“Bye bye hallucinations! Don’t stay out too late!” He called out as he pulled further ahead of them.

“Now, I can’t help think I’ve been way too lazy this time around and oh hey look, the leaves are still falling and NO focus Klondike! Keep a steady head. You’re on a mission! A mission to knock down as many leaves as possible AND win this race.”

Klondike had added a new goal to today’s activities. He wanted to win now. He wanted to prove to himself that he could remain focused on what went around him no matter how many trees he ran into. He was ready and willing to pour all his energy into the event.

Increasing the speed of his galloping gait, Klondike’s hooves thundered across the path as made sure to add a little bit of extra force to each hoof fall. If he had his way, every tree would be made bare as he finally crossed the finished line.

Klondike made his way to the next leg of the race.

[SunsetSombra]

Big Mac was making fairly good time - the race proceeding just as planned as his pace picked up to generally above-average levels...although he still wasn't going as all out as there was currently no reason to let loose. For all intents and purposes, this was just him letting off a little steam before making it to the last leg, where he WOULD just cut loose and do whatever it took to get ahead...

Something was bugging him about that earlier 'oddity' that he'd encountered - his mane was most certainly light again now that he'd shaken off whatever had been clinging to it, but for whatever reason he was getting the feeling that perhaps that was a bad idea - originally he'd thought maybe a hornet or something had gotten tangled up, but it hadn't been buzzing or attempted to sting him - which made him all the more curious as to what the hay was going on!

However, his contemplation was disturbed when he saw something yellow an' red hitting a nearby tree with a very undignified manner...causing the apple-red pony to take a moment to investigate what was going on. His face, upon discovering that this particular object was in fact apple bloom, was best described as a mix of confusion and amusement tinged concern. " What in tarnation? Apple Bloom?! " He says, clearly not aware that she'd intended on racing. " What are Ya'all doin' here?! "

he knew he couldn't afford to stop for the pony, racewise, but she was his sister...he had to make sure she was okay before doing anything else!

[Otsdarva]

Douglas kept himself along side the Pegasus, waiting for an answer on his offer when soon enough, the Pegasus spoke. "I can see, but not well... All is a blur. Thank you, friend." Douglas was about to respond to his reply when the Pegasus spoke up again after a shake of his head. "I should be fine in a little while, but we should be cautious. There is danger ahead, and not just from the race course..."

"Well, If you're so sure about that then alright!" Douglas said, staying right beside the Pegasus as they began through the long winding right turn. "And Yes, I noticed it too. I believe it was the Griffin kicking up the sand, It almost caught me as well but I was trailing behind. Anyhow, we should reach a long straight after this turn! You can rest there!" Douglas did his best to stay right along side the Pegasus, keeping his taps as light as needed to corrected his path. It was going to be a little longer until the Pegasus could stop to clean his eyes though. Slowly they took into the long right-hoofed turn. The Pegasus putting his weight on Douglas with the odd tap. "Alright, good! Last part of the turn and we're clear!" Slowly leading into the next turn, Douglas braced himself for the Pegasus' weight as they pulled through the wide turn.

"Phew...We're through, the trees clear away in a few steps! I'm going to nudge you to the side, alright?!" Douglas said, gently moving against the Pegasus as they started down the long straight-a-way. "I hope you don't find it rude of me to set you off here, I've dawdled long enough back at the farm."

[MyLittlePonyTales]

ShadowMist was slowly but surely climbing up the ranks. Maybe she'd get a decent spot after all, despite her late-start blunder. She tried not to take her time, but the trees in the Whitetail Wood we're just so beautiful this time of year. The leaves were full of vibrant colors, and the ones that had fallen days before crackled underfoot. Most of the leaves had already been blown down by the majority of the pack ahead, but there were still some stray leaves clinging desperately to the tree branches.

The sounds and smells were also amazing. There was, of course, the smell of dirt and earth. The twitter of birds and the flutter of wings filled her ears as she passed random trees, the birds leaving their now exposed nests. The Running of the Leaves was not only important to ponies, but to other animals as well. Birds knew it was time to fly south, squirrels knew it was time to prepare their hibernation nests and dig up any spare acorns they had left about. It was very peaceful.

There was also the smell of sap and the scurry of small feet. Mice, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks... all of them preparing for their winter hibernation. Ponies didn't exactly hibernate during winter, but they didn't exactly work, either. It was a time when everypony tended to relax, and leave work until Spring. Ponies left them homes less often, having already stocked up on food for the winter. Farmers couldn't do any farming in Winter anyhow, so they had little work to do except to prepare for the next growing season.

But, ShadowMist was getting ahead of herself. It was still Fall, the time of harvesting. It was one of the busier times of the year, right before everypony took a break. But, this was a race—and there was no breaking yet.

[Manestream]

Doc Hoof MD : I completed my post with only seconds to spare but my internet dropped for a minute. I am assuming that it too much to ask if it could be included in the locked post? =/

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Sent Today, 12:02 AM

Rain Leaf was more familiar with this section of the track. He frequently explored the woods looking for fresh plant samples to bring to his employers. He was worried about the safety of the other runners. Some distracted runners have already run into the trees. The falling leaves didn't do anything to help with the visibility. Rain Leaf kept looking on trying to watch his step. The uneven ground in this part of the track could cause somepony to injure themselves if they aren't alert. Rain Leaf kept on running.

"Whoa!" said Rain Leaf with a surprised tone. He took a step but there wasn't any ground to land on. He was moving too quickly to stop himself from falling towards to rough dirt. He instinctively spread his wings hoping to spiral his way out of the fall. His body twisted and he landed on his back. He left out a sharp groan of agony as he slid over a rock. The dust settled as he slid to a stop. A leaf swept over his face while other lodged themselves in his wings and mane. He opened his eyes and saw the sunlight shining through the branches. He quickly snapped out of his confusion when he say another runner gallop by him. 'Thanks jerk' He thought to himself. He rolled over and made and attempt to get back up. His wings were on fire. Runners kept on passing him. He took one step and brought his hoof back up as pain shot through his back. 'This isn't good at all. How am I going to finish this like this.' He tried to take a couple steps forwards and collapsed. He laid there for a few moments before something caught his eye. It was a small weed growing near a stump. " Ah Ha! Just what I need" he exclaimed with excitement.

Accepted.