Wind whipping through my mane, the sensation of being glued to my seat by the extreme speeds, and fighting the urge to vomit because I knew that it would wind up across my own face. That was the next twenty minutes of my life as the Tartarus-spawned speed demons hitched the the front of the chariot blazed a path through open skies that tore apart clouds in the way and drenching their passengers in moisture. In sharp contrast to the motion-sick mess that I was, Dawn was having the time of her life. The sounds she was making were lost in the howling wind, but sitting there with both hooves in the air and a smile on her face I could assume that she was enjoying this madness.
I'd made the mistake of looking down at some point and been greeted with the sight of blurring greens, browns, and blues far below. I was an earth pony; my hooves belonged firmly pressed to the ground but I was getting to do an impression of a bird. More of a penguin really as I gripped the edge of the chariot with a hoof firmly and clamping my mouth shut against the air pressure.
The change in speed as they came in for a landing was so minimal that I didn't even know we were slowing down. From my perspective, they just slammed on the brakes at the last second and I wasn't ready. The wheels of the chariot let out a skidding sound as I was launched from my seat in a wide arc, screaming my lungs out as I came down, nose first, into a trash can. On the plus side, now I had somewhere to empty to contents of my stomach.
Relieved of the pressure in my gut and sense of vertigo, I pulled myself out of the garbage and had a look around. Our landing area appeared to be a small village of some kind, though the stonework of some of the buildings was already putting it a little higher on my list of architecture than other places I'd been. A small crowd had gathered to gawk at the guard drawn chariot and the ponies climbing out of it, or in my case, being thrown out of it. Dawn already had a number of admirer's among the foals running around the place by the time I figured myself out.
To her credit, Dawn certainly had a way with ponies. As I scrambled to collect my equipment from the chariot, she was regaling them with tales about Canterlot and even the adults were drawing a bit closer to hear her speak. I had to take a moment to listen in.
“...and in the tallest towers, the princesses raise the sun on moon every day,” she explained to the group of wide-eyed onlookers, “they say that if you concentrate hard enough, you can feel their presence from anywhere in Equestria. That way, they can let all of their little ponies know that they're watching over them, no matter how bad it may seem.”
“Miss Breeze,” inquired a small unicorn filly, “is it true that Princess Luna can grant wishes made on shooting stars?”
Dawn chuckled, “That depends on how good little colts and fillies have been for their parents.” she answered vaguely with a wink. Her statement caused a murmur among the foals around her and garnered her a series of thankful and respectful smiles from nearby parents. Like some unseen signal had been sent out, the foals turned and scattered back to their parents, calling out goodbyes to Dawn as she stood there, smiling and waving.
Looking at her in that moment, I felt something stir at the back of my head. Something in the way that she inclined her head and the tilt of her smile felt... familiar. Where had I seen it before? I shook my head, clearing my mind. Now wasn't the time for this.
Stepping up beside her, I gave her a gentle nudge with a hoof, “Hey, we should probably see if we can't pick up the trail before it gets dark.” Stirred from whatever thoughts were filling her mind, she nodded and we returned to the cart to retrieve our rations and other various supplies. We had already figured that we would be camping outdoors for a while while we swept through White Tail Woods.
If worse came to worse, the village we'd landed in possessed a general store for the ponies that passed through the area, so we could purchase supplies if it ended up taking longer than we expected. According to our maps and reports, there were only so many ways a series of captors and captives could transverse the woods. The forest was one of the few reserves kept for the tribes of deer clans and held the rights to detain anypony moving through their lands without proper authorization.
Agents had been sent to inquire with the tribes of White Tail, but none of them had seen anything yet. Add into it that there were a few places that the ancient, druidic ways of the deer held little sway and drew Timberwolves and other beasts like moths to a flame, the safe paths through were narrowed down quite a bit. We expected to find some manner of clue or direction along the trails on our map within a few days, but I'd learned not to expect things to go that simply.
We approached the edge of the forest and I had to take a moment to admire the way that the trees felt more... alive. The various tones of the canopy and underbrush seemed more vibrant here than in other places I'd been to, giving a bit of proof to the tales that deer magic had an affect on nature. The sound of birdsong filled our ears as we trudged into the comforting shade of the flora. If I was infatuated by it, Dawn was hypnotized with the way her head snapped around.
I mentally filed that bit of information away for a future date idea.
For now we had a job to do and this one hit a bit of a personal note for me. We made our way to the closest spot marked on our map as a possible route and looked around. Calling it a trail would have been generous by the way vegetation lined it densely. Aside from the natural signs of animals and shrubbery, we didn't find anything that screamed “ponies, this way!”
The second and third trails resulted in the same conclusion and travel time between the spots took up most of the day. Making out way to a nice clearing that we'd found earlier, I set about setting up the tents while Dawn excused herself to put a series of defensive charms around the area. To the infinite gratitude of my pride, the tents weren't too difficult to erect and Dawn returned a short time after the moon had taken its place in the sky.
Under the glow of a magelight lantern that Dawn had brought, we examined the map to figure out the best place to search tomorrow morning before retiring to our tents. After so long of enjoying the excessive comforts of castle living, there was something soothing about being in a sleeping bag on the firm ground. I was just to the point of dozing off when a soft sound brought my ears rotating toward the fabric between Dawn and myself. It almost sounded like... a whimper.
“Dawn,” I whispered just loud enough to be heard in the event that she was asleep, “you okay?” I waited for an answer for a few minutes before deciding that I'd been hearing things. I rolled over and closed my eyes again only for her voice to break out.
“No... I'm not,” she said weakly, “I'd... forgotten how much I hate the quiet. It reminds me of things I'd rather forget...” She sounded like she was on the verge of tears. I had to think of something quick! Oddly, the only thing that I could think of to do was what my mother had done for me whenever fear kept me from sleeping. Shifting to press myself against the wall of the tent closest to her, I started to gently hum before breaking into a lullaby from my foalhood.
Hush now, quiet now,
It's time to lay your sleepy head.
Hush now, quiet now,
it's time to go to bed...
It had been a long time since I'd ever tried to sing and I felt good that I could still carry a tune. Dawn felt the same way if the fact that I could feel her pressing against the wall of her tent toward me was any indication. I continued to let the lullabies fill the air, switching to others periodically, until I felt Dawn's form relax against my back.
Laying my own head down, I wondered if I should ask her about it sooner as opposed to later...
**
With the sun beginning its daily climb over our heads, Dawn and I cantered our way towards the next spot on our list. In quick succession, we'd managed to check two more spots after packing up the tents and snacking on some rations. Both had been just as disappointing as the ones from yesterday and we were now making our way into the denser parts of the woods, skirting the edge of deer territory now.
I'd considered trying to get Dawn to open up a bit to me, but I didn't want to bring down her mood right now. She looked refreshed, like she hadn't slept well in months and finally gotten around to resting for a good length of time. Each spring to her step made me think that she was looking to take off and fly at any moment. If it wasn't for the seriousness of our mission, I could almost think of this as some form of vacation for her.
We filled the travel time with various bits of small talk, mostly about the vibrancy of the underbrush around us. We also may have sampled a few of the local berries that Dawn recognized as edible. I was slowly discovering that the pegasus mare was a font of knowledge that she claimed was from a lot of reading. As much as I wasn't about to contest her, there was also some things to be read from her body language.
There was a confidence to her movement that didn't mirror the look of somepony who hadn't been in the field for as long as she claimed. It only took her a moment to identify the differences between berries and flowers that would go way over my head even if I'd read a picture book on the subject. I was considering the best phrasing to a probing question when I stopped, peering at the sky in front of us.
I gave out a startled noise as I recognized a plume of fire smoke. Pointing it out to Dawn, the two of us raced through the trees toward the cloud and broke the treeline into a large clearing. Scattered all around it were the signs of a camp: flattened grass, holes in the ground fitting the size and shape of a tent spike, and a crudely built fire pit still smoldering like the inhabitants of the site had moved on quickly.
Dawn and I shared a look. The deer tribe that called these woods home wasn't known for being sloppy like this. We'd found our first clue....