That Tracks: That Tracks

“Do you have any thoughts on why we’re tracking mundane animals?” Brave Storm asked, flicking her tail to shoo away a rather hungry horsefly as she pushed through the overgrowth. “We’re not part of the Search and Rescue Brigade.”

“I think if we’re acquainted with what’s normal, we know when something’s off. Besides, it’s a little hard to practice tracking on Wild Magic creatures when they’re not super common and can be influenced in different ways.” Pas D’arm’s answered, ducking as a branch that Brave Storm shoved aside whipped back into place. “But we should be far out enough for us to find plenty of normal creature tracks. So uh- have at thee.”

The two equines found themselves near a large lake. In the shallow waters, Brave Storm could see rocks lining the floor and fish lazily swimming about. Across the lake, she saw the white feathers of a crane taking high and slow steps in the shaded waters. The earth pony took a moment to take a deep breath of the fresh air and admire the scenery. 

She looked over her shoulder to Paz for guidance, and when he didn’t, Brave Storm mosied around the lakeside. In the mud, the earth pony found exactly what she was hoping to find- a trail of paw prints. She inspected them on her own first, finding the crispest ones. The animal who had left them had a smaller metacarpal pad and four large toes crowned with a singular spike.

“Found something!” Brave Storm called. Pas had found a rock that had been out in the sun for hours and was pressing his neck against it, enjoying soaking in its warmth. Brave Storm watched as he took an extra moment of rock bathing before he trotted his way over.

“Whacha find? Oh, prints. Good, I was good at these.” he said, giving not only the paws but the whole trail his own pass. “Let’s start simple. What animal do you think it was?”

“It has these little marks above the toes. I’m gonna guess a cat of some sort. A bobcat maybe?” Brave Storm deduces.

“A very common misconception.” Pas gently laughed. “But what’s special about cat claws?”

“They can… retract?” Brave Storm reasoned out.

“Right, and they’re meant to be sharp. They’re weapons for a cat, not tools. So they won’t walk with their claws out.”

“So what would have left these?” Brave Storm presses, furrowing her brow. Pas didn’t say anything. She was on her own again.

“A dog?” she guesses again after a moment of pondering.

“Of some sort. Those come from its nails. Canines can’t retract their nails and they use them to dig, so they’re blunt but sturdy.”

“Do I have to guess what type of dog it is?”

“It’s a coyote if we want to be specific, but I think canine is good enough to start.” Pas nods approvingly to encourage Brave Storm’s reasoning. “What do you think it was doing?”

“Getting water?” Brave Storm felt like this was obvious.

“Look closer. See how it reached the lake, but then it gets chaotic? What story would that tell you?”

“Maybe it walked up to the lake but then a crocodile scared it and it ran away?”

“Sure, but then where’s the crocodile’s prints?”

“Uhm…” Brave Storm squinted at the end of the tracks. She didn’t see anything that looked particularly reptile-like. But instead, she notices some large three-pronged tracks. “Oh, it was a bird. Maybe a crane bothered it?”

“I would think so. There’s a crane over there, so we have hard evidence they’re in the area.” Pas used his whole head to gesture across the lake. “I think we found all that we’re going to find with these tracks. Go ahead and find something else.”

Brave Storm knew better than to think Paz would be more than a guide for her thoughts and immediately broke away from the muddy coyote tracks. A quarter lap around the lake and the zebra found the lake’s source of water, a steady river cascading over rocks. 

Almost forgetting about the reason she was out here in the first place, she started to scale the rocks upriver. Sure, there was a far safer method of walking alongside the river, but this was more fun. Besides, the rocks broke up the river into several steady streams. 

The stench of fish hit her nose and she barely heard the sound of rustling bushes over the running water. She whipped her head in that direction and barely caught the bushes settling back into place. Brave Storm looked down the river and spotted the grey coat of Pas D’arms using his magic to skip stones across the lake. 

Knowing that he was at least somewhat nearby, Brave Storm crept towards the bush. Before she even left the path of the river, she found a dead fish laying across the rocks, half-eaten.

“I found fish!” Brave Storm yelled down the river.

“Me, too!” Pas yelled back.

“Dead fish!”

“...Gross!”

“I think it was being eaten!” Brave Storm clarified.

“Okay…!?” Pas’ head was tilted as he squinted up at Brave Storm, wondering what she was getting back. He threw his head back once it clicked, “Oh! Coming!”

Pas took the less dangerous route and climbed alongside the river, only skipping across rocks to get to Brave when he was sharing elevation with her. 

“The river sprayed too much water across the rocks for any paw prints to be usable. We’ll have to use other reasoning skills to figure out what did this.”

“Maybe it’s a bear? Bears catch fish that are jumping up the rivers, right?”

“Usually it’s salmon during spawning season. And there’s a waterfall of sorts involved. Also, those are some very delicate bites for a bear.”

“A cub?”

“Brave, if you honestly think there’s a cub nearby, we need to bail,” Pas said in such a manner that made Brave confident that Pas thought there were no bears involved.

Brave thought it over. It couldn’t have been a bear apparently. She ruled out the crane, too. It preferred hunting in the water and when it would catch a fish, the crane would swallow it whole. 

“Maybe a cat of some kind? They’re good at fishing.” She suggested.

“With what I can see, I agree with that.” Pas nods. “We should let the animal get back to its catch. Find one more thing and we’ll call it for today.”

Brave decided to wander into the forest instead of searching out in the open. Most animals didn’t like not having cover, so she’d have more luck among the trees. Pas didn’t get to mosey off to do his own thing before a strong stench hit Brave Storm. She followed her nose and the sound of buzzing flies to a pile of scat on the floor.

“Found poop!” she shouted over her shoulder. Pas gave her a look with his lips drawn in anticipatory disgust before he dragged his hooves to join her.

“Okay, what left it?” Pas asked.

“Well, it’s round. I had a rabbit once who left turds like that.” Brave Storm mused, Pas gave her face and she continued before he could say what she was already thinking. “But they’re far bigger. And the pile is the size of like three bunnies. I’m thinking of another herbivore though. A deer?”

“Why was it the poop you identified the fastest?” Pas was clearly just expressing disbelief rather than expecting an actual answer. “All right, let’s head back. Keep an eye out for anything else as we travel if you want.”

“Oh, look- owl pellets!” Brave Storm pointed her hoof to the base of a nearby tree. “Want to bring one home and see what it ate?”

“Ew, no. Let’s just get back to the barracks. Brave, no, don’t- okay, I guess you have an owl pellet now. Gross.”