Away and Afar

by PropsValroa

Chapter 31

Upon the raft's arrival to the Luneshine Forest Collapse had gotten off in following of them. Looking back to the raft she could see the fish on the ice bars, and was pleased that the bars had did their job. After all its better to have those fish be impaled on the rods than have chunks of your flesh missing.

When they were close enough to the forest Collapse would put her mask on and adjust it so it was more comfortable. Hopefully the masks would work, and there was only one way to find out. "Since we are wearing the masks, I think we could take the time to look around a bit in this mysterious place." Collapse suggested to Magloria and Jump Start.

"We could, but don't forget the main reason is to search for the other end of the forest, so while we can look around, don't go wandering." Magloria said as she equipped her own mask.

Jump Start had a little difficulty putting hers on, but managed all the same. "So which direction do we start?" she asked the others.

Magloria pointed along the side closest to where the river lead. "We follow that edge. Should eventually lead us to where we need to be."

Magloria began walking into the forest, with Jump Start just behind.

Collapse follows along and takes in the sights of the forest. These mushroom forests were beautiful, if she hadn't had a home to go back to she could easily see herself wanting to live in a forest with the other seaponies. "The forest is rather beautiful, ashame it has such effects on our minds." Collapse stated.

The forest looked the same as it did last time, with it's strange blue and yellow multi-layered mushrooms, the ferns that grew bulbs of light, and the large chunks of 'glass' that sat in water pools.

Only this time things didn't start to get distorted in ways that made them seem unusually pretty. It was almost boring to look at in comparison.

Though one thing remained. There was still a shallow level of mist that hung in the air, visible only when they looked further away. Parts of the distant smog seemed to move, even without the accompanying wind that would indicate such.

Jump Start spoke in reply to Collapse. "I dunno. It is beautiful, but it's more of an... eerie beauty, don't you think? Like you know something is somewhere, but the beauty keeps it hidden." she said.

The wind whipped by, and as it did, there was another sound. The wind made it hard to hear, but it sounded like a low, distorted call of some sort of bird. Not a songbird, more like a raven, seagull or pelican.

Collapse looks out into the strange mist and the surroundings. It was very eerie for sure, Jump Start was definitely right about that. "It is eerie to me. It is like there could be something predatory within this forest. You know, that makes sense. Lure someone in due to the effects of the mist so they don't leave, and then swoop in..." Collapse spoke in a fashion that droned off at the end of her word.

Upon hearing the sound in the distance Collapse looked to Magloria. "I would hope that my suspicions are proved wrong. There is something else here." Collapse said to her as they proceeded along. As they proceed along she keeps an eye out for any movement within the forest.

"Well, the sound came from the direction we're headed in, so if you see anything moving, let me know." Magloria said along the way.

The weird calls grew nearer, while the mist seemed to thicken as well. Something shifted in the while obstruction, just out of the corner of their eyes. Then something burst through. Two somethings, actually.

As some sort of defiance against logic, a pair of penguin-looking creatures were scrambling around fighting each other, each sporting a massive yellow beak. Their forms looked hollow and disheveled, sporting messy plumes of feathers and thin limbs. Not that it stopped them from fighting and angrily squawking at each other, messing each other up even more.

The strangest part about them however were their eyes. Instead of the usual black pupil, their eyes were entirely white, unmoving and cold, like they were staring into your soul.

"What the..." Jump Start whispered in shock.

Collapse's mouth dropped in visible shock upon what she was seeing. It was something she didn't expect to see that was for sure. To her these creatures were probably inhabitants of the forest, but why were they fighting? The most shocking part about them was their eyes and Collapse figured they had some supernatural ability that was dangerous. She didn't want to mess with these creatures if they didn't have to. She didn't know what to think of it.

"I...didn't expect to see those things...whatever they are..." Collapse whispered to Jump Start. "I wonder if they are sentient but...what are they fighting over?" Collapse pondered quietly, and looked to Magloria and added that it would be best for them to avoid the creatures as they proceeded forward.

Magloria looked around the place, while the penguin creatures continued to smack and snap and squawk at each other, uncaring of the pony group nearby. Then Magloria noticed something that defied what they had seen before.

She moved over towards it, picking up what looked like a shard of that glassy crystal. "This is nowhere near a pool of water, and it's loose. Could this be what they're fighting over?" she questioned.

Jump Start spoke up. "I've heard stories about penguin colonies. Some of them collect pebbles to attract mates. The more pebbles they have, the better they stand out."

A sickening snap rang out as one of the penguins managed to get the upper hand, ending the life of the other with a single snap of it's beak. No longer interested in it's former combatant, it looked around with it's beady white eyes for it's prize.

Magloria quickly made the move to drop the shard and back off. The penguin waddled over to it, finally noticing the group and giving them a loud squawk of warning.

Collapse stayed with the three of them as they backed off from the penguin, while being rather disgusted at what she had seen the penguin do to its combatant. She didn't want to stay near this area, that was for sure. Why were there like creatures down penguins here? That didn't even make sense, for it wasn't frozen down here at all.

"But that doesn't explain why penguins would be in an underground mushroom forest, and the last I knew we were nowhere near the Antarctic, right? Not that it matters, as they clearly are their own species." Collapse asked, seemingly sure in her word. Her heart was racing at the moment as she looked to Jump Start, instinctively making sure that she was okay.

"Well this is a strange place. We've seen many things that normally wouldn't be down here, like rockodiles." Jump Start said as she looked around. "This place is stranger than most."

Jump Start looked fine, if a bit shocked at the sight of birds murdering each other.

The penguin thing moved straight over to the shard and picked it up in it's massive beak, giving one last eerie look at the group then waddled off, leaving behind the dead penguin.

Or they thought it was dead. One of it's legs twitched.

Jump Start was now looking distinctly less fine than she was before, as she backed away from the feathery anomaly.

Collapse backed away along with Jump Start and didn't want to go closer to the twitching penguin. If it wasn't dead, it was likely in the process of dying. Nothing they could really do about it. Collapse was silent for a bit as she backed away as if too scared to really say anything, or not really seeing the point in saying something as they backed off.

Looking to Magloria she nodded, "L-lets just keep going." she whispered, shaking slightly.

Magloria looked to the penguin, then to the surrounding mist. "Alright. There's nothing else that we can do here anyway." she said, turning towards the direction they were heading and started moving again.

She got a few steps before an angry squawk was heard from the direction of the dead penguin. Magloria glanced over and narrowed her eyes.

"Well, I think it got better... and worse." she said.

The dead penguin was getting back up, this time with a notable gap in it's throat where the the other penguin struck it. It blinked, searching for it's attacker but finding nothing. It started to waddle off, leaving behind dozens of feathers and a surprising lack of blood as it walked.

"Ok, that was unnerving even for me. Glad to know we currently share this forest with undead, or just those that cannot die." Magloria huffed, clearly not thrilled at all.

Collapse looked on in pure shock and surprise as the penguin walked off. "What the hell? That is...not something I would expect. Sure penguins in a mushroom forest is weird to begin with...but penguins that can't die from natural means? Even stranger. Huh." she was perplexed. Once the penguin was gone she reached over with her magic to collect some of the feathers. At the very least those feathers would be proof of what they had seen, should they find an escape out of here.

"If they have no blood and are undead, than how did they come to be? I suppose that is just yet another mystery..." Collapse pondered.

On closer examination, the black and white feathers appeared to be old. Very old. Each one was ragged and uneven, like the birds didn't even know how to properly take care of them.

They were equally frail as well, simply applying a bit of force would make them snap and fall apart like twigs. By all accounts, they should've been discarded years ago.

"As much as I'd hate it, we might be seeing those 'mysteries' again soon, depending on where they are nested." Magloria said, snorting at the idea as she started leading them away from the scene.

Winds blew through the caves again as they walked, causing the mists to spiral through the air. They could almost see those strange mist things that they saw before, if they looked close enough.

What they did see however was one of those light bulbs. But judging from the large yellow eyes, the little grassy legs and the fact that it had wings which were being used to fly, it wasn't actually a light bulb.

Jump Start groaned. "It's times like this when I wish we were back in Equestria..." she said in a pathetic tone.

"These feathers don't make any sense. They are very old, but then if that is the case, than how are those penguins still around?" Collapse asked herself as she followed Magloria away. Looking to the strange mists, she was very glad that they had decided to construct the masks. If the mist towards the edge made them loopy, than the mist deeper inside would be far more dangerous.

Collapse would walk up to Jump Start and give her a gentle brush up against the side. "You and me both. Don't worry, we'll get through this together. Keep your eyes peeled." Collapse said in a warm friendly tone. Looking to the light bulb creature she would sigh. "It feels like we ended up in fantasy land, really. Usually that'd be thrilling, but this isn't." she stated.

Jump Start shook her head. "No, it's more like we've ended up in a distorted version of the other parts of the cave. Life is strange, or not even life at all. The plants and minerals are odd too..." she taps her hoof on the stalk of one of the larger mushrooms.

"Even the air wants to put us out of our minds. At least in a place like a volcano you know it wants to kill you. This place can't decide." she shuddered.

The light bulb bug thing flew off and out of sight.

Finally something started to go right for them, or ordinary at the very least. The mist looked like it was easing up, indicating that they were leaving the thick of the forest.

"Very distorted...definitely has to be because of strange magics or something. I just wonder where the wind is coming from..." Collapse said in agreement as they proceeded forward.

"I suppose we should have asked what else the seaponies had known about this forest but they likely didn't make it this far in...so we're really on our own here." Collapse added with a sigh as she shuddered. As they moved forward Collapse had stayed on alert and made sure to occasionally look behind her and look off to the sides for anything hostile or unusual that the others hadn't noticed.

"I thought it would've come from the entrance. But the way this place twists things around, I wouldn't be surprised if the wind came directly from here." Magloria told Collapse.

The mushrooms were thinning now, pretty soon they would be back in the regular caves, and hopefully there they could find the way forward.

But when Collapse looked back, she could see the figures of mist floating about, always keeping a certain distance away from them, as if the group wasn't moving at all.

But they knew they were moving, so the figures had to have been following them. They must not have been able to see them before due to the dense mist, but now that the mist had thinned, they were very visible.

"Me either. It definitely seems as though the mist is following us, you notice that?" Collapse asked Magloria and kept her eyes on the mist to make sure it wouldn't follow them out of the cave. Maybe it was just their movement that attracted it, hopefully it wasn't something else that was nefarious.

Upon proceeding forward into the caves she would turn forward and look ahead. Hopefully these caves weren't another dead end, and would indeed lead to an exit point or something that bypassed the blockade.

Magloria and Jump Start both looked behind themselves. Seeing the mist figures, Jump Start immediately turned back to facing forward, hoping that by ignoring them they wouldn't do anything. Magloria however would keep changing where she was looking, from behind to forward repeatedly.

"Well as long as they don't come any closer, they're probably fine. Though be wary if something else distracts us. They might take the opportunity to do something." she said.

When they had finally left the mushrooms, the mist figures had left them alone, not daring to move outside of their native biome. It was just darkness and rocks ahead now.

The search for anything took several hours of them wandering around and checking walls, the floor and even the ceiling. Eventually they found what looked to be a circular tunnel, leading horizontally through the rock. It was barely big enough for all 3 of them to fit side-by side and slightly smaller than they were, forcing them to duck down a bit to fit.

Collapse was most certainly pleased that the mist figures didn't follow them outside of the forest. She was most certainly glad that they were out of the Luneshine forest. She didn't have an issue with never returning.

By the time that they had moved hours forward Collapse had mostly been talking about the more casual things in life that weren't really all that important. Mostly talking about things back home, and the mundane things she would do in Dodge Junction. Mostly just to pass the boredom of walking through the caves.

Upon them finding the circular tunnel Collapse would duck down to fit through the tunnel. "Do you think this is an artificial tunnel?" she would ask Magloria and Jump Start, finding this tunnel to be rather out of place all things considered.

Jump Start inspected the rock forming the tunnel, even tapping on a few parts to check their hardness and smoothness.

"Hmm... seems natural to me. It is a little bit small, but there have been small caves before. Though..." she looked ahead, mentally nothing that the shape of the tunnel didn't seem to change much as they progressed.

"It could be artificial, but I don't know what would make something like *this.* It's a strange shape if it was for mining or transport. It's all round instead of flat." she said.

"It could be something else other than that. Like a secret tunnel or an entrance to something." Collapse suggested, feeling along the sides of the tunnel there. "It doesn't really make that much sense to me for something to be this small in a cave hmm, just a feeling." Collapse shrugged slightly as they proceed inwards to the tunnel. She was definitely hoping they would be able to avoid the blockade. To her best guess, they were hours away at least from that location.

It took less time than Collapse thought before they arrived at somewhere new.

The first indication that they had arrived was what appeared to be a large series of slanted wooden planks, nailed together. It only left a little bit of room for them to squeeze past, but it was enough for even Jump Start and her gear, if a bit close.

Magloria was the first one to check around the gap. She poked her head around the side, checking to make sure it was clear on the other side. A bit of searching later and she brought her head back.

"We seem to have come out at some sort of underside of a structure. There's a lot of supports for something wooden above us. Good news is that there's a way to get up on top ahead." she stated.

"Good, good. If there is actual wood than that means we are nearing the surface, or at least someone had access to the surface to make this...structure out of." Collapse pointed out as she followed them forward, finding herself very interested in what would be up top.

"I suggest we be more mindful of how loud we are just incase this is also guarded." Collapse said in a whisper to them, just in case there was anyone around that could pose a threat to them. It was better to just sneak out rather than have potential violent interactions.

"Sure." Magloria whispered and, deciding that the way forward was free from any noticeable danger, squeezed through the gap and into the space below the structure, with Jump Start closely behind.

They seemed to be in some sort of ditch, with the previously mentioned supports holding up a roof of wood. Over in a corner was a staircase that led upwards, likely put there for maintenance.

No sounds of nearby creatures could be heard, so they were free of being spotted, for now.

Collapse watched Magloria squeeze through and then Jump Start. She couldn't help but think about what it would be like to give them both a tight hug and to squeeze them gently with her hooves. Ponies almost looked kind of like floofy colorful marshmallows, now that she thought of it. She almost wanted to make an "Aww" at that but restrained herself from making any comments.

She'd follow them up the stairs after looking around a little bit to see if there was anything else of interest, if not she'd simply follow them up the stairs.

There wasn't really anything of interesting down there. Just rock flooring, rock walls, wooden supports and the structure above. Though some supports look like they could be displaced with a well placed buck. If she wanted, she could probably cause enough structural instability to bring the whole thing down.

Up the stairs they found that they came up at a much larger tunnel, this one big enough to transport an army if such a thing came here. The size matched what could've been on the other side of the blockade.

The wooden structure they were under was unmistakably a bridge, likely built there to ease traveling over what amounted to be quite a large pothole in the road.

Torches were dotted along the tunnel every so often, lighting both ways they could take. One way seemed to lead on a slight slope downwards, and another sloped upwards. No one was currently around.

"Well, we're in, and the only way we need to go is upwards." Magloria said.