Disclaimer: Between the two of us...we don't have the imagination that Tolkien had. The characters are his and we're just playing with them.
Merry woke up groggily one morning to hear someone hammering at his door. He went to open the door and as soon as he did he was hit by a flurry of movement by one Peregrin Took.
"It's mushroom season! Come on, get dressed! You haven't even started on your breakfasts yet. Really Merry, how could you not remember? We're going mushroom picking," babbled Pippin. The slightly dazed Merry stepped back and allowed Pippin to come into his disheveled hobbit hole. The truth was that he'd just been too lazy to clean the place. A grin slowly crept up onto Merry's face as he recalled his 'mushroom missions' with the ever energetic Pippin.
"Are you even paying attention? Merry? Come on! Let's go!" Merry was snapped back into reality as a hand was waved hurriedly in front of his sleepy face, and he quickly made his way over to the dresser. He quickly pulled on his breeches, put on a shirt and headed to the kitchen to get some "sustenance" for what he knew was bound to be an interesting day.
On his way to the kitchen he grabbed an enormous mushroom basket. He decided it was Pip's turn to carry it.
"Alright then Pip, I'm ready...and you're holding on to this today," said Merry handing Pippin the basket. As soon as Pippin had a hold of it, Merry let it go and Pippin fell down with the basket.
"That is heavy! I'm not carrying that!" complained Pippin."Well then, no mushrooms for us," and Merry made as if he was heading back to bed. Pippin stopped him.
"Alright, alright, I guess I need the workout. Let's go before Sam hits the (insert mushroom place here). If he gets there first there won't be any left for the rest of Hobbiton."
It was a beautiful day in Hobbiton. Though it was still early in the morn, both Merry and Pippin could hear chattering from the small 'town'. Neither of them would've expected less from the townsfolk, seeing as everyone was setting up for the farmers market competitions. Each year, farmers from around the Shire would come into Hobbiton, to see who had the best produce. Hobbits would place bets on which world renowned farmer had the biggest pumpkins, tomatoes, potatoes, and best of all, mushrooms.
"Looks like we're just in time Pip! Maggot isn't here yet" Merry said as the two sauntered down into the town area. Although not the most 'dignified' thing to do, Merry and Pippin had made a habit of seeing whose crops produced the largest veggies, so that they could sneak off into that farmer's field and take the goods. Every year though, it seemed that the infamous Farmer Maggot ALWAYS had the best veggies, and he'd caught on a lot faster than the other hobbits about Merry and Pippin's stealing habits. Maggot's dogs now knew their scents by heart and would start barking and chasing as soon as they were in smelling distance. But, like all mischievous hobbits, Merry and Pippin always liked a challenge.
"Come on then, we're off to Maggot's farm. I swear he must have some sort of deal with the elves...his crops are magnificent year after year. If we're in luck Maggot is driving his cart up the Road as we speak, and he'll be taking his dogs with him. He can't go anywhere without them these days. They're too attached to him. The farm will be unguarded and he'll only be taking the big stuff to the competition that still leaves loads for us," said Merry quite hurriedly.
They set off down the side lanes and empty gullies to avoid being seen by the bustling hobbits. As they were turning a corner they heard a loud whinny of a horse. If possible, the horse sounded...almost lonely. Looking around they saw a large black horse, and if they weren't mistaken it was one of those Nazgul horses. Pippin froze in his tracks as the horses whinny echoed down the lane. It was a bone chilling sound that could freeze almost anyone in their tracks, and apparently, Pippin was no exception.
"M…M…M…Merry, p...perhaps we should f...find another road... I j...just don't think that..." his words fell on deaf ears, as Merry crept cautiously towards the black abandoned creature.
"Now...don't be frightened, I'm not going to hurt you," cooed Merry to the horse, "Oh your a pretty one aren't you? That is when you're not all armored up and holding up a big scary ring wraith."
He was now stroking the horse gently and whispering to it to calm it down.
"You must be lonely. I'm sorry for killing the Witch king, I didn't think about the consequences for the horses and those big black ugly birds."
At the mention of those "big black ugly birds" the horse reared up and snorted loudly. Apparently he didn't much fancy his master leaving him for a bird.
'It would seem that I've dawned upon a touchy subject..." Merry thought. After starring at the horse for what seemed like decades, an idea finally popped into his head.
"This horse would make getting to Maggot's field a lot faster... I wonder if I could..." Merry cleared his throat and looked into the horse's blood red eyes.
There'll be more soon enough
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