StrongCopper

Turning his head towards the pony whom had deemed fit to join his conversation with Spoiled, Strong Copper tilted his head as he listened to what she had to say. The idea of developing fences in key locations along the broader between the Everfree and Ponyville in order to mildly inconvenience most predators and thus discourage them from seeking to enter Ponyville proper had been one of his plans for the Mayorship... but the inclusion of chemical repellents in order to act as further incentive to stay away was an improvement upon his own designs. However, at this point in time, the issue was not his to deal with. Instead he offered the newly elected Mayor Rich some breathing room as he respectfully took a few steps to the side. "You've been mayor for less then three minutes and already the public is clamoring for your attention. I'll await news of an official appointment in the next few days. Take care, Mayor Rich."

Strong Copper's statement died away as both Zap and Apple Bloom made their presence known. "Oh good, they're alright then." At least, until Apple Bloom started talking anyway. A degree of concern did appear on Copper's face as he took a step towards the young mare with the intent of carrying her to a proper doctor, but then Doctor Jade stepped forward and... did something to her. Granted by her own admission reveled that Apple Bloom should still go see a medical professional for better long term care, Strong Copper still couldn't help but look at Jade with a degree of suspicion... despite what she claimed to have done. Even if it was true, that kind of skill and the ability to use it at speed like she had suggested a great deal of practice... which only furthered his doubts about her considering her magical control of (and knowledge of a supposedly extinct sub-species of) wyvern. That mare was hiding a lot behind her flirtatious smile and he didn't like what it was shaping up to one bit. That said, he didn't call her out then and there. Instead he calmly walked up to Apple Bloom and politely offered "Would you care to join me for a walk to the hospital? I appear to be a bit more breathless then I intended to be." He lied. In fact, to give the mare at least a mock show that he wasn't just offering to escort her to the hospital and preserve her pride, he reached up to cough into his hoof for her benefit.

Strong Copper While it was true that Strong Copper was mildly disappointed at having come so far before losing, considering he was a newcomer to Ponyville and had managed to make a fairly good showing regardless against someone who had stronger local roots he could at least walk away from this defeat with his head held high. Turning to his opponent for the office, he respectfully bowed his head. "Indeed. While I confess I never expected to actually win, I can't complain with how well my run went. At any rate, congratulations on your victory. I can only hope that your reign as Mayor of Ponyville is as popular and well remembered as Mayor Mare's own." He offered politely in return. After all, there wasn't any point in burning any bridges with the local government just because he hadn't won an election. Depending on how things went, he could easily be a front runner for the next election once he had a bit more in the way of roots in town anyway. "The only thing about the election I found curious was the fact that I know for a fact that several other ponies signed up, but they never spoke up or showed up to the debates. Wonder what made them change their minds so quickly."

So her name was Zecora. Somewhat different from the norm but then again she was a zebra. Holding her up to pony norms would have been completely unfair. Of course, her question about where to find more clues was a good one... and unfortunately there was really only one way to get that kind of information. "At this point, the only way to find out more is to follow its trial and see what we uncover." There were inherit risks in following the trial of any wild animal... one of which was that you found it (or worse... it found you!) . Still, there was nothing for it. Personally, he had been inclined towards inspecting the various claw markings on the trees in order to serve as a starting point to locate a trial; After all, if it had made those markings, it would have needed to physically be at the tree in question. Hearing Zecora's snort as she scrapped one of the claw marks on the ground, he briefly stopped his search for the freshest tree markings in order to have a look at what she found... and easily noticed the wood chips that matched the ones that had been found in the markings. The look on Copper's face at the sight was concern. "Okay... having some pieces come off while its digging its claws into a tree is one thing but... to lose stuff like this while its just walking? That cannot be a good sign..." With several possibly trails to follow due to their quarry having come through here a number of times, Strong Copper quickly finished checking on the tree markings... and found what appeared to be the freshest of the bunch. Finding claw marks in the ground underneath the tree marks was simple enough. Following them was somewhat more of a challenge, if only because with several older trails crisscrossing the area it would have been easy to lose track of the one that they were intending to follow. Having a starting point went a long way, but Copper had direct experience in this. If you knew what to look for, it wasn't hard. However, it could be time consuming and he wasn't in a rush to follow a false trail within the Everfree if he could help it. Having a trail he was confident in following, he gestured for Zecora to join him. While he kept his focus on keeping an eye on where they were going, he did politely ask "So if you don't mind me asking, what are you doing out here? To my understanding, the Everfree is largely a no go zone for those living nearby."

Strong Copper Strong Copper had needed to respectfully bow his head slightly to allow the pony who's job he was in the running to fill after she retired to slip a silver medal over his head. He had to admit, a small part of him was disappointed that he had come so close to claiming the gold and still fell short, but considering this was a first time thing and he hadn't honestly expected to do as well as he did in it, silver wasn't half bad. Even as he felt physically spent and was looking forward to having a shower or bath before laying down and having a nap, there was a small degree of pride in his stance as he kept his chin held high. Looking over at his fellow prize winners, at first he offered Pinkie a small smile and a very tired wave. He hadn't gone into this race expecting to really make friends, but she seemed nice enough... if somewhat energetic. It did help that she was kind of cute, but right now his mind was focused on other things. He offered the winner Tongue Twister a polite bow of his head and a friendly "You definitely earned it." before his gaze turned closer to where his mind was focusing. Berry Punch wasn't a bad looking mare by any means, but it was quite clear that over the course of the race that she had already earned herself quite the herd of admirers who would likely be spending some further time with her after the ceremony was over... and it was one of those admirers that was soon the focus of Strong Copper's gaze. Jade Breaker and her new 'pet' wyvern. It was kind of hard to miss the pair in the crowd at this stage. However, as he pondered what to do about that situation in the future, he politely turned to Mayor Mare and asked "Pardon me but... do you know whatever happened to that young colt that was running in the race? I believe his name was Zap. I kind of lost sight of him early on."

Strong Copper His personal anger at whoever had been in charge of scouting out the course and completely justified fears that the lack of some ponies in sight was a grim omen of sorts aside, Strong Copper had two things on his mind that he was going to have to focus on for the near future. The first was attempting to win the race itself; He had come this far and was in good condition, he was going to bucking try and get the gold on this one! The second and more important one was what tactics and spells to make use of once the wyvern neared the crowd at the finish line... and possibly for the mare herself. There was no way in tartarus that wyvern was tame. One had to have a pretty strong talent with animals to even attempt such a feat and even then, it would be a timely endeavor. Even then, actually having a strong enough relationship with a wyvern for it to willingly let somepony put a leash on it and lead it around would be the magnum opus of a lifetime of hard work... and likely would require starting from the wyvern hatching. What Strong Copper was witnessing was mind magic; The only way that somepony would be able to 'tame' an adult wyvern for any length of time in minutes would be to use magic to dominate its mind. The fact that the mare seemed to know that kind of magic at all was a major red flag in Copper's head, but there were other concerns. Most animals didn't think in a sapient manner... at least not in a way recognized by species who had sapience. They were instead largely driven by instinct and experience. While the mare might have believed herself currently in control of her new 'pet', in her arrogance she was forcing the wyvern to go against its instincts... and she was about to bring it into the middle of a crowd that its instinct and experience would likely be screaming at it 'food' or 'threat'. Sooner or later, the fight or flight drive would grow too strong for her to maintain control... and that's assuming her control didn't slip first. A confused wyvern would likely respond to the situation with anger and... well, things would get messy in a hurry if that happened. Of course, if she was able to maintain control throughout the situation... while upfront that would be a less terrible thing to happen, Copper couldn't help but shudder slightly mid gallop. Because if she could dominate a wyvern for a long period of time while actively forcing it to do things against its interests and instincts... she was a lot more powerful and dangerous then she appeared.

Strong Copper There was very little that would have made Strong Copper look behind him under the circumstances. The monstrous mixture of roar and hiss coming from behind was one of the few exceptions to that rule. Risking a glance over his shoulder more out of instinct then an actual thought out decision, the source of the noise was quickly discovered because one kind of had to be actively trying to pretend the bloody wyvern wasn't there to miss it! Granted, Copper had never had the pleasure of traveling out to the dragon lands and seeing one in the scales before. Back when he was a little colt, he had been obsessed with dragons because... well, dragons were awesome! (and even through time and experience had lessened the obsession, he would still happily fight someone over it). Granted, there hadn't been a lot of research material on dragons back in those days because it turned out that most pony researchers were cowards when it came to situations where they could possibly be hurt, but the stuff that had been there had recognized the relationship between dragon and wyvern and thus most credible sources tended to include both... if only to compare the two. Granted this subspecies of Wyvern was new to him and it seemed that one of the other racers had... 'tamed' it... including a leash and ribbon of all things. It didn't seem like it was about to go on a rampage and thus Copper could continue focusing on the race as he swung his head forward and kicked things into high gear because nothing got the heart pumping like having a very dangerous and questionably tamed creature moving at speed behind you while his mind focused on a very important thing that he needed to do after the race was over: Whomever had been in charge of mapping out and ensuring the route for the Running was safe was going to receive a savage beating. He was not a violent unicorn at heart, but missing a freaking wyvern of all things could have gotten ponies killed! For all he knew the young colt was dead because he hadn't seen him for a while! All he could hope for was that one of his parents had caught wind he was running and had swooped down to grab him earlier on before he got hurt.

"Hmm..." Strong Copper started, raising one of his front hooves to rub his chin in thought at the idea she was offering. While plenty of animals processed cunning that many ponies underestimated, few were forward thinking enough to commit to this grand a deception; Even more so if the creature in question was a pack animal that had been left behind and abandoned by the rest of the pack after afflicted with some illness. Canines were known to, when cornered and out of sorts due to injury or illness, bark aggressively in order to try and frighten away potential threats by maintaining the illusion that their bite was something to be feared. Actively making pack markings to try and give off the illusion of strength was effectively a more advanced form of barking... "If it is a timber wolf trying to give off the illusion of strength and numbers, despite being alone and in a compromised position... then we are dealing with a highly intelligent and cunning creature. But you're right... we don't have enough evidence to go off of here. To uncover this mystery, we'll need to follow it further." While he was fully committed to doing so, Copper had to pause as he looked at the zebra mare... and felt that one question needed to be asked while another point needed to be stressed "I don't mean to be rude, but what is your name? Because I can't ask you to come along with this. I'm sure you were busy doing your own thing before you decided to investigate a noise you heard and this could get dangerous." The look on his face was that of concern rather then judgement as he stressed "I would be remiss if I didn't say you could go back to your business. I would feel terrible if you got injured... even more so if you didn't think you had an active choice to be there."

Strong Copper The whole point of pacing oneself throughout the race had been to avoid tiring out. After all, if you needed to stop and catch your breath because your body was screeching at you, then you likely weren't going to be first over the finish line. Now that the end was within sight, Strong Copper lowered his head and abandoned all pretense of reservation as he took off at an outright gallop. Yes, the strain of the race was starting to make itself known, but seeing the end in sight was wonderful motivator... and unlike some who were less conservative with their energy, he had taken it easy at certain parts of the Run in order to be in top shape for this final push. He couldn't help but suspect those who had tried to gain an early advantage by going all out during that calm, peaceful section of the trail were almost certainly regretting the decision by now. Then again... this was a remarkably long race and he suspected he was going to be taking the next day off in order to recover.

Strong Copper Unlike some, Strong Copper managed to avoid being sapped by nature as he trotted along, admiring the rare display of beauty that wasn't trying to maim and kill somepony for a change. Granted tree sap could be dangerous under the right circumstances, but he had been able to spy and avoid them easy enough, surely those who were running behind him in the herd could easily do so as well? Or at the very least, benefit from having somepony there to help pull you out if you got really stuck. In another life, where he had been closer to the middle of the pack of runners, he would have offered Apple Bloom a bit of magical assistance in order to get unstuck. Unfortunately, as far as he was aware he was one of the few outright leading the group, if not actually in first place. Considering that turning and looking behind yourself while moving at speed was generally a bad idea that he avoided (because running face first into a tree was not a fun experience for anyone), so he didn't see the hardships, trials and unity of the pony spirit that were happening back there. Instead, he just focused on keeping going, his muscles starting to ache but not as bad as they could have been. Turns out pacing yourself a little bit at times can pay off in the long run. Who knew?

While the mare's statement did hold some weight, Strong Copper couldn't help but slowly shake his head. While he wasn't exactly ruling out the possibility that these markings were unrelated to his own affair, their presence so close to where he had been tracking his quarry could not be discounted. Unless what he had been following was some masterful mimic of some kind that pretended to be a timber wolf in its methods, attacks and evidence left behind, one had to observe the current situation as if the marks had been made by a timber wolf. With that in mind, a healthy timber wolf was made of living, oftentimes green wood and thus the presence of dead, dried wood made no sense... the key word in that sentence being 'healthy'. Copper had done his research on Timber Wolves since coming to Ponyville since the creatures were native to the Everfree, but he could admit that he was no expert. Since he hadn't been around the creatures enough to develop his own intel on them, he had been forced to fall back to the old standards of what little ponykind actually knew about them from what few animal experts had braved the Everfree and come back to write about it, local folklore and to a degree myths and legends. "An alternative line of thought because the sad truth is that despite my efforts there really that much known about timber wolves and some of the other animals local to the Everfree, but... could this be evidence of some kind of timber wolf sickness? Something that dries out and and leaves the wood that makes up their body dead? Maybe even a sign of old age as the wolf draws near the end of its natural lifespan." Focusing on Zecora, he politely offered "It seems like you've been able to gather a trove of field information on the various plants and animals of the forest. Does my idea have any weight to it?" Because honestly he wasn't sure if timber wolves had a natural lifespan. For all he knew, when a piece of their body got damaged, old and rotten they just tore it off and replaced it with a new piece of wood. If that was true, they could likely keep going until something inflicted enough harm all at once that they couldn't recover at all.

Strong Copper was not a carpenter by any stretch of the imagination. He would research certain examples of trees and plant life relevant to the local area he was operating in for the purposes of understanding how they factor into the lives of the various creatures he was interacting with, but that was generally about as far as his knowledge went. He also knew that some woods were hard words and others soft some of the uses you might use for one instead of the other on a given project that lingered in the back of his mind like a shadowy figure in a dark room. So when he looked at what Zecora was showing him, he honestly did try his best but it was clear from the get go that he wasn't quite getting what she was trying to say. Leaning in to have a closer look, he could see that the sap seemed to have reveled a different type of wood that wasn't native to the tree within the claw marks, but at first that didn't ring any bells as he started saying "Considering that timber wolves are made of wood, that seems..." before he slowly came to a stop as he noticed himself. It was kind of hard to tell for certain because of the sap but... "Wait... is that dry, dead wood?" Turning his head towards her to give her his attention, he waited for a second opinion to make sure he wasn't just seeing things.

And there was the rhyming again. Strong Copper would have admitted it if he was asked, but it took him a couple of times going over what the zebra mare had said to actually understand what she was saying. The presence of her book and the notes within it helped the process a lot in that regard as well. Honestly, he briefly felt like asking about why she was rhyming but decided against it, if only because it seemed like the kind of question that could come across as rude if you asked it off the bat. Relaxing a little as he now had caught up with what she was talking about, he decided to offer her the pieces of the puzzle that he had managed to collect to bring them both to the same page. "That's actually why I'm out here. A timber wolf has started prowling around the outskirts of Ponyville, attacking chicken coops and the like. Normally this would just be timber wolves being timber wolves but... all the evidence I found suggested it was an solitary individual rather then a pack. So I came out here to see if I could track it down and find out if it's sick, injured, elderly or rapid." Considering that she had clearly done her own research on the wildlife of the Everfree, Copper didn't feel he needed to explain his reasoning that drew him to those conclusions. Turning to look at the marking on the tree, he tilted his head slightly as he examined it. It seemed fresh and fairly standard for territory markings. Tilting his head slightly as he glanced back at the zebra mare, he couldn't help but ask "These look pretty standard. But something about them is concerning you as being abnormal. Why?"

Strong Copper Strong Copper had been expecting to have to blink his eyes and deal with them having to adjust to contact with the sun after dealing with the darkness of the underground forest... but running next to Pinkie had more or less ensured that wasn't a problem due to the fact that between the flashing lights and the disco ball that there wasn't enough darkness to adjust to in the first place. Leaving the underground behind and galloping into the Whitetail Woods proper, he couldn't help but slow down just a little as he took in the sight. "Wow... this place is really beautiful... and seems to be lacking things that can maim and kill somepony."

When the voice answered, Copper was able to deduce two things about it. The first was that the speaker was quiet clearly female. The second was that she seemed to always be speaking in rhyme which... was kind of weird. There were a small subset of talking creatures that could only speak in rhyme, but they tended to favor environments much different then the Everfree. His curiosity peaked, he started to look for a way through the wall of plant life in order to reach the rhyming mare and see her for himself. He didn't just try and force a way through the underbrush; Flora could be just as dangerous as fauna, especally when you considered that the Everfree was home to things that sort of played jump rope with the two categories. Finding a relatively thin section of the forest to make a break through, Copper's horn lit up as he carefully started to push the plants to the side in order to step through while making as little contact with the actual plants as possible. Stepping onto the other side of the wall, Strong Copper blinked at what he saw. Of all the things he expected to encounter today, the cultural beauty of a zebra mare was not one of them. Feeling himself blush just a little, he cleared his throat as he almost shyly greeted "H-Hello. Sorry, I really wasn't expecting to run into anyone else out here. I'm Sor--- Strong Copper. I'm Strong Copper. Nice to meet you." He caught himself, embarrassed that he had almost fumbled his own damn name when he first encountered this mare.

Strong Copper To say that Copper was slightly disappointed at not getting an answer would be an understatement. Regardless of wanting to or not, his mind was going to drive him to unravel the mystery that was Pinkie Pie. As the music changed and Pinkie challenged him to gallop, he did so in order to keep up with her. He had committed to this plan and he was gonna see it through! "Well... I'm pretty sure that herd that's been sticking together since the start is still doing so back there. I saw Tempest enter here but I don't know where she is now... I have no idea where Apple Bloom or that colt disappeared to..." He paused for a moment in concern. "You think his parents caught up with him?"

Remaining still as his head slowly turned from side to side in order to scan the environment for the source of the noise that had alerted him, Strong Copper didn't relax his guard so much as he relaxed his body enough to start slowly moving again after a few moments of nothing. Whatever had made that noise had either not noticed him, was now stalking him and waiting for a better moment to strike, or wasn't a threat to him at all... and considering he was currently prowling within the Everfree Forest, odds were slanted towards the former two. Assuming something wasn't dangerous when the terrain wasn't that well known was a fast way to becoming a warning to others about the dangers of a location. As he was slowly easing his way towards a nearby tree in order to have a direction covered in the event that there was now something paying very close attention to him, Copper's ear twitched as he heard another, somewhat light sound of... someone rhyming? Now, the ability to speak didn't automatically mean that the speaker wasn't inclined towards viewing a pony as an enjoyable meal, but it was a good start. Deciding to test his luck, he called out in a relatively steady voice just short of a true yell "Is someone there?" and being prepared to deal with the situation if the answer was a yes he didn't want.

Strong Copper Having taken a small break from the campaign trail of Ponyville's Mayorship to do his actual day job, Strong Copper had answered a call about some dead chickens. The job itself had been simple enough. The evidence pointed to a timber wolf having managed to break into the hen house and the results, while grisly, were completely natural; While little could be done about the chickens, a quick redesign of the hen house and the defenses of the backyard would go a long way to preventing a repeat of the night before. However, there was something about the situation that had worried him. The evidence all pointed to a single timber wolf. Timber wolves were pack animals by nature. While some ponies coined the term 'long wolf' to mean some kind of flank kicking hero who didn't need a team, in nature a long wolf was a creature that had been abandoned by its pack, either because it was sick or injured badly enough that they were left behind or they were so violent and ill tempered that their pack drove them off. While neither tended to survive on their own for long, Copper knew he had to enter the Everfree in pursuit to confirm which of the two it was. If an animal was sick or injured, he would feel terrible leaving out here to suffer if it could be helped, helping it by either bringing it to a vet to be treated or... bringing the suffering to an end if it was too far gone. If it turned out this timber wolf was just inherently violent, the rampage needed to be stopped before someone or somepony got hurt. A few chickens would be getting off lightly under the circumstances. So when he heard a noise coming from the nearby plant life, Strong Copper was on edge, his horn glowing as an old favorite of a spell came to mind. Despite what some ponies might have believed, timber wolves were not inherently weak to fire. While it was true that they could burn, the wood that made up the body of the average timber wolf tended to be living/green wood and was thus actually pretty hard to set fire too. Their desire to avoid fire was merely a trait shared by most animals that didn't benefit from resistance or immunity to extreme heat: This thing is bright and uncomfortable to be near, therefore I don't want to be near it. Therefore, having a spell that gave out a bright flash and gave a quick, uncomfortable but not painful wave of heat that would make most animals (and to be fair, most ponies) turn and run was generally pretty good to have on hoof.

Strong Copper Strong Copper had been expecting a number of things from this race. A fast moving pink body covered in bright flashing lights, what appeared to be a disco ball and loud party music was NOT one of those things. His eyes, which had been adjusting somewhat to the shadow and the darkness burned as the sudden light display ruined what night vision he had developed. His ears pressed themselves against his head as they tried to block out the loud noise of music that... honestly wasn't his style. He would give Pinkie some credit that he suspected she might not have considered herself; Most predators suited for hunting in a darkened environment like the underground forest they were traveling would find the bright flashing lights and loud music to be an assault on the senses that would confuse and likely repel them because senses heightened to deal with the dark and quiet would likely be overwhelmed, if not actually harmed by the onslaught. The only exceptions to be found would likely be found in those predators that were fully capable of sapient thought, who weren't as tightly bound to the animistic instinct to run away from the loud strange thing... and if one of those was present in this forest, the organizers of the Running of the Leaves were going to be in a great deal of trouble for gross negligence. Seeing an opportunity, he abandoned his former plan to get through the forest in order to embrace a new, possibly more effective one: Stick with Pinkie Pie! "Where were you keeping flashing lights and a disco ball? Actually... how are you powering those?!" He asked, honestly curious as anything.

Strong Copper The forest route was a bit more crowded by ponies then one would have thought. Your standard pony tended to avoid dark, scary places but... considering the collection of ponies that were running in the race, it really should be surprising that the bulk of them were made of sterner stuff. Still, Strong Copper made the decision to continue his trail blazing alone in the dark, not wishing for the company of the herd that had formed to combat the fear of the unknown dark. Copper was quietly glad that he had decided to take a somewhat slower but more consistant pace throughout the race so far, alongside that rather pleasant trot past the wildlife before rocks started falling from the sky. A part of him was curious where Pinkie, Apple Bloom and Zap (he remembered that was the name that had been shouted in relation to the colt) had disappeared to through, but looking back while his eyes had only just started to properly adjust to the dark would have been pointless.

Strong Copper Through the Dark Woods When the path split again, Strong Copper had found himself... near the front of the pack from the looks of it. It appeared that the gamble to run through the rain of rocks had somewhat paid off. With the same degree of bravery that he had crossed a bridge and risked broken bones in a rock slide, he didn't hesitate when it came from running into the darkness of the underground forest. Most ponies would have been frightened of going into a dark forest alone. For Strong Copper, it was just a way of life. Going into the dark corners of the world and occasionally finding the things that tended to lurk there that no one else wanted to. He wasn't going to let down his guard just because he had done stuff like this before; Complacency was likely to get you killed in this kind of life style after all. There were some tricks that he had picked up through for this situation. Some unicorns would have lit up their horns to provide more like but Strong Copper... didn't. Instead he slowed down a little as he followed the path and picked up a rather large looking leaf as he walked along. When dealing with areas of low lighting like this where there is a chance that something was lurking in the shadows, adjusting to the low light was actually safer when it came to avoiding being detected or discovery rather then trying to light the place up. Letting his eyes adjust to the low light, whenever he passed close to one of the sources that might mess his developing night vision up he would position the leaf to shield his eyes and keep them in the shade. Adjusting to the dark would take time of course, thus why he had slowed down in order to walk down the path; Easier to hear, easier to detect problems underhoof without them spilling over into a dangerous situation... and the more time he had for his eyes to adjust properly to the darkness. Sure this path seemed shorter then trying to hoof it up and down a steep hill, but it was still a forest. Who knew how long the trek here was going to be?

Strong Copper Strong Copper... couldn't help but smile just a little. In fact, if anyone looked closely, they might have seen him blush! Pinkie had a good laugh to her, but the fact that something he had said had made her laugh made him feel warm and fuzzy inside, despite what the race had been so far and the current situation. Glad that she was already as he dodged a rock via going around it rather then stopping as it rolled past, he couldn't help but glance at Gummy with that... same sense of deja vu as before. Shaking his head lightly, to try and shake the feeling, he decided to answer "Maybe we should talk more when we don't have to focus some strongly on not being hurt? I don't know about you but broken bones suck to have, even if medical magic is pretty effective at knitting them back together these days."

Strong Copper There was a time and place to have a conversation with someone you had just met for the first time... and during an avalanche of stone of all things didn't seem like one of those times at all. In fact, it seemed downright insane! And yet... here he was, about to have a conversation with the pink mare from earlier because as crazy as it might have sounded, ignoring her would have been rude and his mother hadn't raised him that way. "It's been having it's up and downs, but it seems a bit rocky at the moment." He answered, trying to retain a bit of wit despite the circumstances. As much as he wanted to be looking at the mare while talking to her, he felt that keeping an eye out for the path and falling rocks was likely a better use of his immediate attention. "Sorry, but I don't think we've properly met. I'm Strong Copper and-" He didn't bother with a 'look out', instead flat out shoulder checking the pink mare in order to knock the both of them aside in different directions because even as a rather fit and active unicorn, earth ponies were built to be physically stronger. The motive behind the body check quickly reveled itself as a rather jagged looking example of stone slammed point first into the ground, embedding itself into the ground exactly where the pink mare would have been if he hadn't moved to knock her out of its path. "-sorry for that. It's a pleasure to meet you. But is now really the time to chat?"

Strong Copper Running through the avalanche Leaving behind what he suspected might be one of the few places in the race that was clear of some breed of environmental hazard, Strong Copper entered the Ravine stage of the race with a surprising degree of confidence. His trot was nowhere near his full speed due to the fact that... well, it was a ravine of all things; He didn't exactly have wings and lacked the ability to levitate himself in mid air if he tripped and fell. The only one who he could confidently save if they accidentally tripped and fell in the wrong direction was the young Colt... and maybe Apple Bloom, but that would be stretching things to the breaking point. At first, he actually considered the possibility that the only hazard one had to be worried about was the narrow nature of the pathways. Then the rocks started to fall. Already he could tell that some were taking shelter where they could in order to weather the sudden onslaught of rocks. That... was completely fair and likely a wise decision. But rough Terran was something that came with his calling and he continued through it. He was not galloping full speed through; Basic survival in this kind of situation was to keep a very close eye on both the wall that the rocks were falling from, as well as overheard to make sure one didn't land on you... as well as glancing ahead to make sure you didn't trip on something or fall. Worse case situation, magic was a good fall back, even if it did mean he might be DQ'ed from the race for doing so. Better then being hit by a rock.

Strong Copper And the bouncing pink mare was too busy talking to... Strong Copper actually had to narrow his gaze a little bit and bit his inner cheek to make sure what he was actually seeing was real and not a sign that he had started to lose his mind, but she had a small, baby alligator with her. He couldn't quite put his hoof on it, but the small reptile seemed... familiar somehow. Like something one encountered in a dream one time and only had a vague recollection of long after the fact. Turning his head back towards the path, he actually found himself lost in thought trying to sort through his thoughts to place where he recalled a baby alligator from. If the Pink Mare didn't seem inclined to speak with him, he could afford not to force the issue.