Soggalong Swamp Flowers Despite the Darkness [ENDED]

[Pony_Sage]

Soggalong Swamp was a foreboding place. In the dark depths trees grew crooked and out of control and moss hung haphazardly from their limbs. The darkness here was frightening, it seemed almost alive. As though if somepony were to spend too much time in it, the darkness would absorb them, infect them, leave a chunk of darkness within them. It was in this maze of twisted trees and darkness that something rustled. Was it the darkness? Had it finally broken free of its ethereal bindings? Had it decided to take form and leave that place, looking for someplace else? Another place to hide, another place to grow, to infest.

A bush violently rustled, a dark brown pony came trotting out. He was the colour of dirt, or was he just covered in it, perhaps a mixture of both. He shook his mane, a black tangled mess covered in hitchhikers. He was walking backwards, his head held low. He mumbled something under his breath, not that any pony could understand or even care what he was talking about. He wove his way though trees and bushes, all the while trotting backwards and mumbling. He stopped an looked around with a disappointed look on his sleep deprived countenance. He grumbled and continued walking, he seemed to know where he was going. He abruptly plopped his flank down and shrugged off his saddle bags. He rummaged through them and triumphantly pulled out a small leather-bound tome and a pencil. He turned to an empty page in the book with the pencil in his mouth. He looked to the side, addressing a small pale blue flower, no larger than an acorn.

"The DARKNESS can not change you. You are constant. The LIGHT makes you. You store the LIGHT inside of you. Beacon of hope in the bleakness of the DARK." he said in an almost a nurturing tone to the flower.

He began to sketch the flower. Even though he was by no means an artist, he seemed to capture something about the flower that most ponies would miss. As he worked he hummed a strange tune, there was something familiar about it. As though it was a long lost lullaby that had some how been corrupted by the darkness of some unseen void. He sat like that sketching and humming to the flower for hours on end occasionally mumbling to the flower.

[flutterscotch]

Chotchkie wandered through the swamp. The tiny deer picked her way on delicate hooves among the reeds and lady's slippers, testing the ground with each step to make sure she wouldn't sink. "I dunno", she said to herself, mostly just to hear SOMETHING besides the squelching of her own hooves and the muted cries of birds that could probably eat her, "MAYBE my real parents are from an area like this, but EW. This place is GUH-ross". Her mind kept wandering back to the well-manicured, sun-dappled woods where she grew up, and the ponies who took care of her. She hoped that she would not find her roots in this place.

She sighed and reached back to pull off yet ANOTHER bunch of the little shiny black seeds of what is called Spanish Needle (in our world) clinging to her coat. She complained to the reeds, "This is about the millionth time some stupid thing stuck to my fur", and trudged on. The ground seemed to get more solid as she trudged on.

She stopped. There was a muddy, moldy haystack looking mess of a pony sketching nearby. He didn't look much like he'd have snacks for her, though. She stepped into his line of side to try to gain his attention.

[Pony_Sage]

River looked up from his sketch as hoof-steps stopped next to him. He looked at the deer-thing that had snuck up on him. His eyes darted between his sketch with the flower next to it and the deer-thing. He was growing increasingly tense. He finally locked his eyes on the deer-thing's and turned to face her. He had placed himself in between the visitor and his flower friend. He was shivering in fear. Visions of darkness taking the form of this visitor and coming to finally do him in flashed though his head. If the visitor was indeed the darkness he thought that she was, in his mind he could vanquish the darkness my staring at it. It may not have made sense to anypony except River but in his mind it made perfect sense. He stared intently at the visitor but she was not vanishing or running away.

"YOU, the DARKNESS has it held you? Has the DARKNESS engulfed you? The LIHGT can purge the DARKNESS. THEY live in the DARKNESS! THEY can change things!! Running from DARKNESS, away in fear, are you a pony or a deer? Did THEY change you? Were you one and then another? If THEY did change you, can be helped. The LIGHT needs to be inside of you." River spits out at a breakneck pace.

He forgot his fear for a moment and reached a hoof out to try to touch the visitor. He was trying making sure that she was actually there. As his hoof pressed against the soft fur of her pelt on the front of her shoulder he immediately withdrew it and shrunk back from her slightly awaiting her retaliation.

[flutterscotch]

The tiny Peryton stared back, not even blinking during the mud-colored pony's rant. She was a little shocked to discover that, despite the rest of him being barely distinguishable from the muck and mire around him, he had striking purple eyes. "How odd", she mused.

At the sudden hoof on her pelt, Chotchkie squealed shrilly at the top of her lungs "SQUEAK!" , and broke into peals of giggles. This pony was WEIRD. But she'd seen weirder. At least this pony didn't seem to have a cottage filled with gross link frilly cutesy ursas like her neighbor back in the village near the woods. Chotchkie shuddered at the thought of all that pink. All that lace and ruffles. All those stupid dresses that Peony had stuffed her into. He seemed to be into mud and flowers, and not brushing his mane or teeth. That was cool with her!

"I am a deer, a stupid pery-whatsits they tell me...a...Peryton", she responded to about the only part of his rant that made any sort of sense to her, "But I SHOULD be a pony. I'd rather be a pony.". She pouted a little. "But it's the middle of the day. I dunno what darkness you're talking about"

She gave River another thorough staredown, and noticed that he had a sketchbook, and the flower that he seemed to be hiding from her. "Whatcha doin'?", she asked, and then made for the flower. "Yum, that looks tasty, what is it?"

[Pony_Sage]

River shuddered at the sequel and subsequent piercing giggles. He heard what she was saying but did not comprehend. She had not heard of the darkness? How is that possible? The visitor had looked around him and spotted his plant friend. She apparently wanted to eat it. As she drew closer River did his best to growl, which came out more like a rough cough, and he snapped his teeth at the visitor. He was trying to deter her from eating his friend. He didn't want to be mean, nor did he like it, but that plant was an important hoof-hold in the battle against the darkness. At least in his mind it was. River did eat plants, though he would only eat their fruits or leaves and only from the ones that he grew in his 'basement'.

"Flowers, the LIGHT makes the flowers. Flowers store the LIGHT inside. NO EAT! Eat fruit, has stores of LIGHT but made to be eaten." River offered the visitor trying to lessen his snapping at her.

He slowly dipped his head into his saddle bags and rummaged about. He came up with a strange looking fruit. The outside was covered in lumps and was a sickly pale yellow colour. He placed it on the ground in between them and nudged it towards her as an offering. He took another one out of his saddle bags and ate it himself, the inside was a strange black colour and full of seeds. A sticky and sweet smell wafted towards the visitor as River munched on his fruit.

[flutterscotch]

Chotchkie jumped back at the snapping of the pony's teeth, a little scared. When he proffered her the fruit, she first sniffed it. it was about half her size, and resembled a hedgeapple. "A Monkeyball? You're givin' me a stupid MONKEYBALL, instead of that tasty looking flower? You know blue is my favorite flavor, mister DARKNESS?" , she chirped.

She sniffed the fruit again. It looked like a hedgeapple, it was as big as a hedgeapple. But this one smelled differently. A little like banana custard. A little like pineapple. And could it be, A little like COCONUT? Chotchkie prodded the fruit with her nose a bit more before breaking open the rind with her hoof and plunging her little face into it. Who was this strange pony, and where did he get a fruit that tasted like pina colada?

When she came back up her face was still covered in a dark brown, almost black muck. At least it smelled delicious. She tried to wipe it off with her hoof, but just ended up getting completely covered. She began to roll around in the matted down dry grass to get rid of the fruit residue. When she was done, and halfway clean again, she flopped upside down next to the odd pony. "I won't try to eat your flower anymore. Promise." She walked over to give the flower a kiss. "See the flower n' me. We're buddies now. I'm gonna name it Jackson. And unless you tell me your name, I'm gonna call you Swampyface. I'm Chotchkie"

[Pony_Sage]

River was confused but intrigued by the deer-beast that insisted upon talking to him. He watched her roll about in the grass trying to clean herself off from the fruit that he had given her. He chuckled and rolled over onto his back himself. He blew raspberries at the deer-beast and smiled. As she spoke about the flower River became nervous for a moment. He was happy when she said that she was not going to eat it, he even chuckled as she kissed the diminutive blue flower. He scrunched his nose up as she named the flower.

"Jackson, no not Jackson. Names have power, but flowers are the LIGHT. Flowers have names that can be spoken." He began as he intently watched Chotchkie. "Plantae, Magnoliophyta, Magnoliopsida, Solanales, Polemoniaceae, Allophyllum, Allophyllum gilioides." He proudly stated, seeming to think that Chotchkie knew what he was talking about.

"The DARKNESS, THEY live in the DARKNESS, THEY can change things. Names give THEM power to change things." He shook his head at Chotchkie's inquisition into his name.

River rolled over onto his belly and pushed his sketch book over towards Chotchkie. He had never shown his sketches to another soul, not out of shyness but out of isolation. He has lived in his own little world since the end of his adolescence and nopony nor deer-beast for that matter has ever ventured into it. He was showing Chotchkie his sketchbook so that she could see his friends. He had sketched numerous flowers in that tiny leather bound tome, most of which he found out in the wilderness and a few that he made himself. He smiled a crooked smile at Chotchkie.

[flutterscotch]

Chotchkie hunkered closer to the sketchbook to get a closer look. It was quite a lovely rendering.

"I dunno, if you say so with your magic words, I guess we don't have to call him Jackson if you don't wanna. We can just call him a gillyflower, 'cus that other word is way too long for me to rememmer, and that was the only part of that that made any sense to me." She looked to the sketch, looked to the flower, then back to the sketch, twisting and turning her head this way and that. She wasn't an art critic, but decided it was quite nice if she did say so herself. Satisfied she bent to sniff the paper to see if it smelled like anything, and dragged a smudge of the brown fruit that remained in her nose across it.

Frantically, she tried to wipe it off with her hooves that were not only also covered in fruit gunk, but mud as well. His picture was ruined.

She looked up at the brown pony genuinely apologetically. "Gee, I'm sorry Mister Swampyface!"

[Pony_Sage]

River was amazed that the deer-beast knew the name of the flower that he was talking about. His eyes widened as Chotchkie smeared fruit juice and mud all over his sketch. It was utterly obliterated, just a brown/black smudge on the crème colour of the page. He waved his hooves at her and blew puffs of air at her face trying to shoo her away from the sketch book. He looked down at the page with a sombre expression. He tore the page out of the tome and chewed it a little before spitting it out into the bog. He stuck his tongue out at Chotchkie as he walked over to his saddle bags and rummaged for some tools. He was not particularly upset with her, he always had his back up plan. He found his small spade and a tiny pot for the flower and began the delicate process of digging up the flower and potting it. This went on for about ten minutes before he was satisfied with the results and tucked his tools away again.

River smiled at the flower in its tiny pot and then back at Chotchkie. He knew exactly where he needed to put the flower so that it would thrive in his basement. He cinched up his saddle bags and wiggled into them.

"House, keep the DARKNESS, and the LIGHT. Flowers in the basement. Come come follow follow do not sit here and wallow." River said in an almost sing song tone.

He picked up the tiny pot in his mouth and began to slowly walk backwards in the direction of his house. His 'house' if one would call it that was another thing that nopony had ever seen. It was an – interesting – place to say the least.

[flutterscotch]

"Ew, Mister Swampyface you need to brush your TEETH" she lamented as she blew in her face to make her move away. "Or at least some mint!"

As he stuck out his tongue at her, an action she performed far too often herself, Chotchkie was relieved that the insane pony wasn't going to chew HER up and spit her into the bog. She watched as he carefully removed the small flower, painstakingly avoiding any root damage, and put it in a small, hand-formed pot, all the while beaming at the adorable little blue flower. "He might not be good at talking like a normal pony", she thought, "but he sure does love flowers. I wonder if they love him too."

Love.

The diminutive Peryton thought wistfully of her home, and of the ponies that she loved, and loved her back. The only reason she was in this Celestia-forsaken place was because they loved her enough to do what was best for her. It was hard for both the ponies, and the deer creature, but it had to be done.

She followed River into the dilapidated mess of old planks and rotten wood that she presumed was his house. A breeze as dank and earthy as the pony's breath assaulted her when she stepped across the threshold.

[Pony_Sage]

River's house was an old hunting lodge that had been abandoned long ago. Before crossing the threshold of his doorway he knocked on the frame with each hoof. Then he reared up on his hind hooves and walked through the door. This was a ritual that he preformed upon entering or exiting any doorway that still had a door attached. He shuffled through his house and placed the flower on the floor before shrugging off his saddle bags in the corner.

His house was a sight to behold. The main attraction was the grass that was growing on the ceiling. Other eccentricities included there being absolutely no light fixtures in the entire house, they instead were replaced by candle powered lanterns that were filtered to show with red light. There were sketches and pictures plastered all over the walls, most of which were connected to other pictures via thread while others were connected via long chains of shiny paper clips. The floor boards creaked if any weight other than dust was applied to them. There were yardsticks nailed to the floor and walls in what looked like an attempt to make sure that the rooms stayed the same size.

Ignoring the plant for a moment River fished out the leather bound tome and made his way to the kitchen where a whole new set of strange things could be seen. The foremost being his kitchen table, which was flipped over and nailed to the floor and had boat oars laying across it. He opened up the refrigerator, inside of which there were other leather bound tomes, some large and others small, but all of them containing either plant information or his insane ramblings. There seemed to be no kitchen supplied anywhere to be seen, most likely because he stored them inside of his oven. Nor where there any chairs around the abode. His cupboards' doors had all been ripped from their hinges and flower pots stacked in a haphazard manner occupied the shelves. River reached up and grabbed one of these. He eyed it for size and opted for a different one. He trotted back towards Chotchkie and stuck the flower pot on her head like a helmet. He smiled and knocked on it with a hoof.

River then began to hum his strange yet familiar tune again as he picked up the small blue flower in its pot and walked off into the darkness that permeated his home. He came upon a large oak door that was bolted shut with a massive crossbeam. He hefted the cross beam and unbolted the door before preforming his ritual and trotting down into the inky abyss of his basement.

His basement was more of a cavern than a conventional cellar. Red lights were set into alcoves along the walls which lit up the entire room with a soft red glow. The red glow fell upon what was akin to a jungle. There were plants in pots everywhere and their foliage almost filled the room to the brim. River knew his way around this place like the back of his hoof. With his new acquisition in his mouth he trotted backwards into the dense green abyss.

The plants that were stored down here were either some of his friends that he found out in the wild, or of his own creation. River was always trying to mix plants together and come up with something new. No two plants were alike. Some were tall and broad leaved while others were stout and thin leaved. There were conifers and there were Deciduous trees. There were dwarf species and there were behemoths. The only sign of anything other than plants down in that cavern were the lights and a small dilapidated desk that sat in the corner. Upon which there was a moderate sized leather bound tome and some botany equipment.

[flutterscotch]

Once inside, Chotchkie saw the luscious grass growing on the ceiling in the flickering crimson light, and jumped up a few times to grab a mouthful, before one of the rotted planks gave way and swallowed her hind hoof.

Shaking her flank to dislodge her hoof, she glanced at the web of drawings and other assorted irrational items nailed all over the room. "Gee, Mister Swampyface, you worried someone's gonna steal your crap? You shouldn't be."

She trotted over to the plants to get a closer look. She recognized some of the plants from what Trillium had tried to teach her, but some of them just seemed ODD.

[Pony_Sage]

River listened as Chotchkie spoke to him, her voice was quickly absorbed by the plants that obscured him from sight. He pondered about her asking him if someone was out to take his belongings, maybe she did know about . . . THEM! He placed the tiny blue flower on a small pedestal deep within the jungle, making sure that it was in the perfect location. He smiled at it and then quietly walked back towards Chotchkie. He managed to sneak around her and pop out from the jungle to address her.

"Y-YOU know about . . . THEM?!?!" He asked rather astounded by the revelation.

River stared into Chotchkies small plum eyes. He was trying to discern whether or not she knew what he was talking about. Personal space was never one of River's concerns, he stood only inches from her face with a look of deep contemplation. He decided to test her,

"Where do . . . THEY live?" he asked and awaited her response.

[flutterscotch]

"Of COURSE, dummy, I know where they live. I grew up there. It's near the Whitetail Woods, that sun-dappled wonderfulness of wonderfun*." she said impatiently, "And for one thing, it's not THEM or THEY, it's Trillium and her friends, and they're just the bestest...Oh there's Primrose an' Bleedin' Heart, an' Hosta, an' MayApple, an' Ginseng, an'..."she continued prattling on, counting off everyone she could remember with her hooves for quite some time. "Oh, and River Birch, but I don't like his stupid face 'cause Trillium loves him more then me.", She added with a pout.

"But I don't think they want any of your old mildewy junk, pal. So you don't gotta worry." She added, patting him on the muzzle that was mere inches from her little snout.

Chotchkie was never one to be too concerned with the feelings of other creatures if it didn't benefit her, but it suddenly occurred to her that she had seen no sign of any other sentient creature around.

"What about you? Ain't you got any friends? Do ya just talk to the flowers all day?", She asked, eyes wide. 'I mean, you're a weirdo, for sure, but you seem OK, and you do have these neat lights. Ain't you got anypony, mister? Anypony to pal around with at all? Any mom or dad?"

*((Proper syntax is not her strong suit, this is not a typo))

[Pony_Sage]

River plopped down on his flank in front of her. He turned his head to the side and scrunched up his nose looking disappointed. It occurred to him that Chotchkie had no idea what he was talking about when he mentioned the DARKNESS or THEM. He debated whether to expound upon it with her. She seemed to be at least half interested in what he would blather on about. He picked up on the last part of what she was saying, about friends and family. He did have a mother and a father but he had no idea where they were, he had no contact with them after he left. It didn't help that his parents tended to move around more often than not. He felt a little pang of sadness at his lack of ponyfriends, or even sentient friends for that matter. All he had were his plants but he was pretty much okay with that. They were good listeners and never said mean things about him behind his back. At least he was pretty sure they didn't. You can never be to sure about those pitcher plants. . .

He looked back over his shoulder into his private jungle. The sad look on his muzzle quickly melted away to reveal a crooked smile.

"No friends, only plants, plants are friends. Plants can hold the LIGHT, and protect from the DARKNESS! Plants don't say mean things. Mah and Dah, I don't know where went. I left, came here, protect others from THEM in the DARKNESS."

River trotted over to the table with the tome on it. He flipped to a page and made a note of where he had put the tiny blue flower. He looked back at Chotchkie.

"What want to do?" He asked in a surprisingly cogent manner.

[flutterscotch]

Chotchkie found Mad River's smile slightly terrifying and thought he was going to try to bite her again, but once he started talking she realized he was just trying to smile, but seemed to have forgotten how. She was starting to understand this strange pony a little more.

Her eyes got big. "They...they were mean to you?" she asked as River was cataloging his plant. Growing up in one of the nicest and most tolerant villages in Equestria, Chotchkie could not think of anything worse than somepony being MEAN to another. She sat there on her haunches looking sad on his behalf while he finished his entry. Then, suddenly, and for once, he asked her a question that actually made sense. "What want to do?"

It hadn't occurred to Chotchkie that she wanted to do anything. She knew she was supposed to be looking for other Perytons, if any were in the area, but River seemed so lonely that she said the first thing that came to her mind.

"I want you to show me your bestest plant friend."

[Pony_Sage]

River beamed as Chotchkie asked him to show her his "Bestest plant friend." He trotted about in a circle before blowing raspberries at her. He took a playful stance as he looked at Chotchkie. He then took off into his own private jungle. The cavern that he called a basement was rather large. River twisted and turned through his plants. He carefully dodged conifers and darted around cacti. Hopefully Chotchkie could keep up with him. She was most likely more maneuverable and lighter on her hooves than River was, but he had the home field advantage. River knew exactly where he was heading. He had been there many, many times before and knew the way well.

Even though River was well . . . insane . . . this didn't stop him from being a fun loving pony! This was the most fun he had shared with anypony, well anydeer, in a very VERY long time. He cackled madly as he galloped through his plants. The cackle echoed off of the stone walls of the cavern, producing a myriad of eerie phantasms that sounded as though they were darting through the plants as well. Come to think of it most of the things that River did were eerie. He didn't mean to be, it was just his nature.

He slid to a stop in front of a moderate sized display. There was a single light purple flower encased with in the glass enclosure. It stood alone on a wasteland of dry, barren and cracked rocks. It seemed to be growing in defiance of its surroundings. Its face turned to the sky, shouting at the heavens, egging them on to throw more hardship its way. Its roots deeply entrenched into the rocks, ready for what ever was to be thrown at it. The green stalk was spindly with coarse translucent hairs running its length. There was an abundance of thin leaves at the base but few of those rose up with the stalk. The face of the flower was open and brandished a yellow center that seemed disproportionate to the stalk thickness. The entire flower was on a slight lean, like an old pony walking with a cane would look The crookedness of the plant seemed to mirror River's smile. Bright red light streamed into the enclosure, it looked like an alien landscape. As though this plant had been transported here to Equestria from some far off, distant, planet on the other side of the cosmos. Ripped from it's original resting place along with part of the planet and dropped here just for River to admire and coo to.

River put his hoof gently against the glass with a crooked smile. He gently whispered to the plant as though he had known it for a very long time, as though they had some secret language all to themselves. Words and meanings blended together into an indecipherable lullaby sung by a madpony. A small tear came to the corner of River's eye. Was it a tear of happiness, joyfulness that he was showing his "plant friend" to a new sentient friend? Was it a tear of sadness, lamenting at a life spent in the DARKNESS working with his only friends the plants? It was so hard to tell while looking at River.

He pulled out a small mister and opened the case. He gently misted the rebellious flower. The tiny droplets of water soaked into the cracked alien soil almost immediately. The flower seemed to perk up a little with this new attention and drink, as though they gave it a new strength. River reached in with his mouth and plucked off a dead leaf of the plant. He was so caring and gentle to this plant, he could have easily been mistaken for a mother tending to her child. He placed the dead leaf next to the enclosure and then proceed to seal it back up. There was a small tarnished nameplate below the flower that grew despite the darkness of the surrounding area.

River looked down at the name plate and sniffled a little. He wiped his nose and eyes on his foreleg before taking a rag and wiping the name plate. The inscription could be seen much more easily now. The red light played tricks with the shining bronze. Sprites darted across the walls nearby, caught up in their own little dances and forays. The plate was held on with four bronze rivets and the border boasted rather eloquent etchings and filigree. Inside that wistful borded, engraved with great care by somepony with a tremendous amount of skill, the words

"Erigeron maniopotamicus - - Mad-River Fleabane"ÂÂ

could be seen.

This flower shared two unique traits, one of which being that it looked almost identical to River's cutie mark. The second being that it shared both of the names that it owned with the earth pony that took such diligent care of it.

River puffed his chest out and held his head high and in a loud almost insolent whisper said the name,

"Erigeron maniopotamicus . . ."

There was no echo to his voice this time, it just trailed off into oblivion.

The DARKNESS seemed to quake at the mere mention of the name. Like a long lost tongue that unlocks the truth of everything the name was ancient and the power that it held was antediluvian and forceful. The room looked a bit brighter and not as spooky. All the fear and unknown that was held within that ever permeating darkness seemed to sublimate into the twisting nether, back from whence it came. At least this is how River saw things. Whether or not it was the true nature of things he could not tell. The truth of things had long since been lost to his delusion. Or was it a delusion?

In any case, to him, at least, this name held power, it was the key to all things. Something that could be used as both a shield and sword against the frightful shadows that dwelt in the world. At least when pertaining to the plant that contumaciously stood before him. When it was applied to the pony that was being reflected in the crystal glass of the terrarium it held no power what so ever. It was nothing more than a tool to be used against him by THEM who inhabited the DARKNESS, again that is what he thought.

River turned away from his reflection in the glass and looked for his companion Chotchkie. She was sure to be close at hoof. His bedraggled purple eyes searched the reaches of his private forest. She had asked to see his "Bestest plant friend," after all and he wanted to show it to her.

[flutterscotch]

Chotchkie raced behind River, trying to keep pace. Branches of small shrubs, tendrils of vines, smacked her in the face in the crazy pony's wake. Every now and then a spine of a cactus would lodge itself into her nose and front legs. As he halted to a stop in front of what she could see was almost a makeshift shrine, she almost ran into his flanks, but narrowly avoided colliding with him and ramming the cactus needles further into the delicate flesh of her snout. The tiny peryton shook her head to try to dislodge them, but had to pry them off her face with her hooves. She looked around this new and strange area. None of the ponies back home had strange rooms like this in their houses, even Old Mare Skunkcabbage, the mean old widow at the edge of the forest, who everypony suspected was a witch.

Crimson light filled the room and cast strange and sinister flickering shadows throughout the cavern, up , up, up into the minor cracks and small dripping stalactites giving the impression that they were inside the belly of a huge quivering beast. Chotchkie shuddered a bit in the cool damn air, peering around "Swampyface" to get a better look at his pet flower, not quite wanting to get in . She could vaguely tell that the flower was purple. Huddled so close and eye-to...well...eye to his flank, she noticed a striking similarity between the bedraggled plant encased in glass and his cutie mark. The one on his flank seemed a little healthier than this specimen, though.

The strange pony was proud, so proud of this little sprout, not even worth eating, and almost seemed to be a little less whimsical in the brain pan* he had been when she first met him by the sheer virtue of being around it.

'Erigeron maniopotamicus . . .'

"Eary geron Many hippopotomus". she repeated the magic word, and the candles seemed to brighten and steady their light. Maybe it was just that Mad-River had stopped pacing and creating eddies in the still air of the cavern. But maybe there was something to this "Darkness" of his.

She continued to look at the flower. The sad little flower. "It needs a friend," she remarked, before darting out of the room, dodging the plants now that her eyes had adjusted to the light. She was gone a few minutes, and returned just as quickly, muttering and squeaking "Ow! OW! Ow! OW!" through clenched teeth as she made her way to the flower. She butted the glass enclosure with her head, and stuck her tongue under it. A bee crawled to the tip of her tongue, and shook the saliva off before shooting the little deer a nasty look. It lighted on the sunny eye, collecting pollen and hopefully depositing pollen from other plants of its kind, if any existed. Bees were important to the welfare of flowers, Chotchkie knew, because her surrogate mother raised them to help make sure her own plants stayed healthy and happy.

"Needs friends." she looked at River again. "It's sick here all by itself"

* in there intentionally. You know why.

[Pony_Sage]

River twitched his ears as the little deer said something about friends and then bolted off. He sighed slightly, this had happened before. Most other ponies would eventually run out of the room when they spent time with him. He was used to it and went back to tending his plants. But something different happened this time. The tiny deer beast came back! River pranced a little as she squeaked and muttered. Finally somedeer who wasn't going to run away when he showed them his plants!

His eyes grew wide as saucers when Chotchkie pushed up the glass of the enclosure. River began to scramble at the tiny deer for fear of her eating his flower. Something surprised him though. On the tip of her tongue a tiny bee could be seen shaking and then alighting on the flower. River silently walked up to the enclosure and watched with awe as the bee pollinated the flower that had sat for years in that enclosure. Normally River would have pollinated the flower with its self by hoof but this was a unique solution to an ever present problem of his. He gave a crooked smile at the little bee and wedged the top of the glass enclosure open just enough for the bee to get out when she was done working on the flower.

River looked back over at Chotchkie as she spoke about friends again the flower being sick by its self. He turned his head to the opposite side and looked deep into her eyes. One could see the cogs and gears turning in his frazzled head, pondering some statement of great importance. His eyes narrowed as he stared at the deer beast before him. He inched closer to her, without hesitation or indication he brought up a hoof and poked her in the shoulder. He felt the fuzz of her pelt against his hoof and the warmth of her body. His concerned look instantly faded and a look of sheer joy took its place upon his face. He pranced around in circles clicking his teeth together and whinnying. It seemed as though he was questioning if the little deer that stood before him was actually real, just a figment of his imagination, or something more sinister sent by THEM to torment him. She was real, no doubt remained in his mind and he was terribly pleased with this revelation.

He stopped prancing for a moment and made a motion with his hooves that seemed to convey the notion of staying put. River then darted off into the lush foliage of the jungle yet again. Laughter could be heard echoing off of the limestone walls of the cavern. The laughter abated and silence engulfed the tiny deer and the plants surrounding her. Without a sound River came skidding to a halt next to her from her rear oblique. River knew many circuitous routes through his private jungle. He had a small clay pot, about 5 inches in diameter in his mouth. He placed it gently on the ground and nudged it towards Chotchkie.

The pot was full to the brim with a pack of small blueish purplish plants. Their flowers clung tightly to a canter green stalk. The bottom blossoms were much larger than the top blossoms, this created a tapering effect to each of the flower's general shape. There were a good bunch of these stalks all filled with the blossoms. River smiled proudly at the pot and its contents. He then cast his gaze up to Chotchkie. He tried his best to put into words what the flowers were for.

“Muscari botryoides, Blue good colour. Store the LIGHT, keep DARKNESS at bey. You keep, take, friend? No friends in the DARKNESS, no friends in the LIGHT. THEY don't like friends. Safe friends. Plants friends. Deer thing friend?â€Â

He smiled a crooked smile again hoping that his message got across to the little deer beast. He was having a wonderful time with her. The night was growing ever closer and hoped that she would be able to come back some time.

[flutterscotch]

Chotchkie giggled and pranced around when River brought back the pot of plants. "Grapies" she cried joyously, rolling over on her back and laughing at the silly-looking plant. She'd seen it a few times when Trillium dragged her to the Canterlot gardens for what she referred to as "culture", and the cheerful indigo always struck her funnybone. Maybe it was the look of horror on Trillium's face when the little peryton attempted to eat one in the garden, thinking it was candy. One mouthful of the plant, though, and she never made that mistake again.

Or maybe it was because Chotchkie had discovered her friendly green foster mom's secret identity as best-selling romance novelist Hyacinth Hills, and the mere sight of any plants from that family brought out the silliness in her. Either way, Mad River Fleabane could not have picked a more appropriately funny plant, and now she had another fun memory to add to it.

"Is the plant for me, Mr. Swampyface? Honest?", she asked, after trying to make sense of what he was trying to say. She sniffed the plant, looked back up at the brown pony and smiled. "I'll name him Nightlight (you know, so the darkness can't get 'im) Grapey Swampyface, and plant him in Trillium's garden. An everytime I see him, I'll think of my weird ponyfriend way down here in the swamp. An' I'll put a sign up with his name on it, and that way if you are ever in Solstice Heights, you'll know where he is and you can see him anytime. And you'll know where to find me sometimes when I am not wandering all over Equestria looking for Pery-whatzitses!"

For the first time in the young peryton's life she got serious for a second. "And I'll come visit you in my travels once innawhile, so you're not always lonely here in this mucky swamp. To make sure the darkness doesn't get you. And next time I'll bring a flashlight! Her small frame heaved with a sigh. If she was going to make it to Appleoosa by lunchtime, she would have to cover quite a bit of ground through the marsh before the night set in too firmly.

She picked up the clay pot to go, and then impulsively set it down again, reared on her hind legs in front of River, grabbed his muzzle and nuzzled the area between his eyes with her tiny nose for all she had in her, hoping the pony didn't react poorly and bite her. "An' I'll tell any pony or perywhatzits I see 'tween here and home all about you, Mr. Swampyface, and your neat-o collection of plants, and tell them to bring you more plant friends so you always have more and more till you can't count them!!" She grinned again, scooped the pot back up, and yelled "BYE!" through a mouthful of clay and dirt, high-tailing it in the direction of Appleoosa.