After having walked for another five hours, dawn was quickly approaching as our three intrepid travelers made their way deeper into White Tail Woods. This was officially further into the woods than Rarity had ever been, and it was beginning to look just as ominous as the Everfree Forest. The trees weren't as dense, and at five in the morning, it was quite chill, as per the usual for mid-fall weather.
Rarity found herself falling asleep as they walked along. Of course, she had been awake for nearly 24 hours now. Having gotten up early the day before for her walk into the Everfree to practice her magical archery, she hadn't had a single moment to herself since she ran into Spark Storm.
Rarity's situation was not lost on Spark. He often found himself leaning into Rarity to prevent her from falling onto her side. He looked around at their surroundings; it was about time to look for a place to sleep, as he himself needed a rest.
The surrounding area was quite beautiful. The trees in the area were predominantly birch, resulting in colorful fall leaves contrasting with the trees' black and white trunks. While the trees had the majority of their leaves still, much of the ground was covered in multicolored patterns that crunched with each hoofstep.
While Spark was looking around, Rarity finally nodded off and fell with a quiet 'oof' sound escaping her lips. Having fallen to all four knees, she curled up where she lay and sighed quietly. "S-sorry, Spark, Orea. I need some rest..." Despite being so ready for sleep, Rarity glanced up at Spark through one partially lidded eye and pouted.
"It's all right. I need some rest, too." Spark glanced over at Orea, who had stopped when Rarity fell. She waited patiently, as she had an understanding that mortal ponies needed their rest. Spark stepped over Rarity, and easily lifted her up onto his back. She let out a ladylike squeak as she nestled down between his wings.
Rarity sighed and closed her eyes, shifting once or twice to get more comfortable against Spark's warm back. Within moments, she was fast asleep.
Spark trudged along to catch up with Orea, careful not to shake his carriage too much. After another hour of companionable silence, the two companions found a nice, large hollowed out tree to rest under. Orea gathered a bunch of leaves to make a bed, then laid down first and offered Spark her warmth. Spark carefully climbed down and settled in against Orea with Rarity still pressed to his back. Soon enough, all three travelers were warm and fast asleep.
Sometime around noon, Rarity opened her eyes to darkness. She gasped and pulled her head up, only to be blinded by sunlight. After letting her eyes adjust, she looked down and saw that she was pressed to Spark Storm's back. With a sigh of relief, she glanced around at her unfamiliar surroundings, having been asleep when the trio had arrived at this place.
Noting that she laid with Spark against Orea's side, Rarity inched herself, slowly but surely, free of the warmest spot she'd ever slept on and climbed carefully from the hollow that was her bed. She stretched luxuriously and shook out her mane and tail. It was sure to be a fright after her long sleep, but that was to be expected from roughing it in the woods, something she was sure she wouldn't be doing again anytime soon.
Now that she was awake, she had several things to take care of. First and most important was an urgent need to relieve herself. She crept away from the hollowed out tree a good ways. It was unladylike to have to do this out here, but there was no helping it. After having taken care of that and feeling much better, thank you, it was time to start thinking of food.
Hm, food...she thought as she looked around the woods. Acorns, leaves, some twigs...dirt. There certainly weren't any sweet shops or bistros in the area.
Rarity started to panic. Why hadn't she thought of food? Her stomach started to growl as she was reminded of the fact that she had walked all night, and even if she turned back to Ponyville now, it would take her all day just to get some decent food, and shelter, and most importantly, a bath.
Now in full blown panic, Rarity raced back into the tree hollow and shook Spark awake. "Spark, Spark, you wake up this instant!"
Spark Storm frowned and glared at Rarity as she stood over him with her forelegs pressing down on his ribs. "Wha? Rarity, what are you...what's wrong?"
Rarity, panicking slightly less now that she had Spark's attention, leaned in to emphasize the urgency of what she wanted to say. "Spark Storm, we are in the wilderness with no food, no shelter and no bath. We must do something about this, right now!"
Orea yawned as she noticed the noise. She lifted her head to look down at the panicked unicorn, a bemused expression on her face. Spark, meanwhile, looked at Rarity as if she'd lost her mind. "Well, yeah. Did you expect us to check into a hotel out in the middle of the woods?"
Rarity could feel her grip on her usually calm sense of self slipping. "Spark...this is serious. I need food, I need a bath, I need to fix my hair."
Sensing that Rarity was about to lose it, Spark nodded carefully and pressed a hoof to Rarity's shoulder, easing her back. "All right, then. Let's go get some food and find a place to wash up. Sound good?"
While still on edge and about to blow her top, Rarity felt that Spark was being honest. She let him up and backed out of the hollow. "Y-yes, let's." She cleared her throat daintily, a little self-conscious at freaking out in front of other ponies.
Spark crawled out of the hollow, followed by Orea, who leaned down and nuzzled Spark in morning greeting. Spark smiled and wrapped a foreleg around the nymph's head and hugged her to him, and whispered something in her ear.
"Hm. Of course, my Storm." Orea closed her eyes in concentration. After a moment, she lifted her head and looked a ways down into the forest, which was beginning to slant downwards. "This way," she said as she started walking in the direction she indicated.
"Spark? What did she do?" Rarity asked, watching as Spark followed Orea.
"She found water. Come on, the sooner we get to the source, the sooner we can get washed up."
Rarity followed the two for a while in anxious silence until they came to a clearing. It was one of the most beautiful places she had ever seen. Orea had found a pond that stretched into a creek, which continued down a ways and disappeared around the bend. At it's source was a small waterfall, just big enough for Orea to stand under without bumping her head. The surrounding rocks were large and round, and were covered with a most delightful green color.
"Oh, this is beautiful. Now, Spark, I'm sure you're fine with sharing with Orea, but as a lady I should ask that -" she trailed off as Spark had already hopped into the water before she could allude to privacy. She sighed as she watched him surface, his wings spreading over his head and a look of joy and relief on his face, his fur matted tightly against his body. Rarity felt a blush creeping up her face and had to look away when she noticed something odd about Spark's fur. It clung to him in odd, zig-zagging patterns all down his back.
"Spark, dear?" she called, and approached him from the bank. It was a good two feet down to reach the water from that point, so she laid down on the moss-covered flat stone. It was cool and fuzzy against her stomach. Spark glanced at her, then folded his wings behind him and tilted his head at her.
"What's up?"
Rarity's natural curiosity overcoming her lady-like sensibilities and staring straight at him while he was wet, she asked, "Ah, I...I was wondering about those symbols on your back. I hadn't noticed before, but either you have...well, lightning tattoos on your back, or I'm seeing things."
When Spark just looked at Rarity with confusion, Orea approached him and reached down, taking the tips of his wings in her mouth and lifting Spark, causing him to stand on his hind hooves and blush madly. "Orea, hey! Stop that!"
Orea released him, but lifted a leg under his wings to keep them from snapping closed over his back. "Storm, she is right...there are marks on your back."
Finally calming down, Spark lifted his wings of his own volition and gazed at his back as best he could. The marks were long and zig-zagged down his back and along his sides. Spark wondered why he'd never seen them before when it occurred to him that they were recent.
"Oh, this..." he said, and came back down to all fours so that his belly just touched the water. "I think that's from my trip to Neippon." Rarity's eyes widened in surprise, having been unaware that Spark had crossed the ocean to another land. "I was struck by lightning on the way. Several times." He lifted a hoof to his chin in thought. "I think...about fifteen times."
Rarity stared at her friend. Struck by lightning? That many times, and he still survived? She reached down absent-mindedly and trailed a hoof along his back. She could just barely feel the jagged lines on his skin that were usually hidden under a dry layer of fur.
Spark could feel a blush creeping up on him, starting from his wings. Feeling quite uncomfortable, he cleared his throat and subtly stepped away from Rarity and towards the water fall. Noticing her blunder, Rarity frowned and dropped down into the water to start scrubbing away the dirt that had started to mar her perfect white coat.
After a moment of silence between the two, Rarity looked around. As big as she was, how had Orea disappeared? "Spark? Where did Orea get to?"
Spark, who had been sitting under the waterfall since that embarrassing moment, looked around. Indeed, Orea had left the area in the silence of the moment. Spark frowned and hopped out of the water and shook himself as best as he could. He glanced back at Rarity, his face suddenly quite serious. "Rarity, get out of the water. Right now."
Perplexed and frightened by what the look on his face might mean, Rarity got out of the water and stood close behind Spark. "Spark, I don't like this, what's going on?"
"Just give me a moment to find out. Oh, and...don't freak out by what I'm about to do. Just relax." And with that, Spark closed his eyes and raised his wings over his head. His wet wings sparked for a moment, then the familiar web of energy shot around the area, passing over Rarity and causing her to shriek in brief panic.
"S'all right, Rarity, I promise it's fine." He said soothingly. He sighed quietly as he felt her presence. His eyes were closed, and although he knew she was standing behind him, he could feel her there. If he concentrated, he could feel hear heart beating a mile a minute. He wasn't concentrating on that at the moment, though. He wanted to find Orea. He focused on Orea, and after a moment...nothing.
The web, which had covered a large area of the creek, disappeared after a moment. Spark looked back at Rarity, still staring at him in awe at the new ability he'd demonstrated. He glanced up along the waterfall, an idea presenting itself. "You know...we might find something interesting if we had a better view. Care to climb with me?"
It took a moment for Rarity to come out of her daze to realize what he'd said. She looked up along the waterfall; there were no places to climb. It was a straight shot twenty feet up. There were no hoofholds, nothing. She gave him a gentle glare as she stepped away from him to get a better look. "And...how do you plan to get up there, Spark? Unless you have gained the ability to fly along with all the other amazing things you've learned to do..."
"Well...you'll just have to trust me on this, because I can get us both up there." Spark eased himself down and gestured for Rarity to climb up on his back. Rarity glared at him and sat down on her haunches, her nose held in the air.
"Honestly, Spark Storm, you can't suggest that you're going to just flit through the air whilst carrying me. It sounds most undignified."
"You didn't seem to think so when I carried you while you slept."
Rarity gaped at him, then looked away, feigning insult. "Well! I never!"
"We'll never get anywhere if you don't stop pouting and just come with me!" Spark said, his tone suggesting he was starting to get annoyed. Suddenly inspired, he grinned at her and flapped his wings once. "C'mon! Avanti!"
Rarity blinked at him curiously and took a step closer. "Since when did you pick up Istallian?"
Now we're getting somewhere, he thought. "If you come with me up to the top of the falls, I'll tell you."
"Ohhh..." Rarity glared at him, but she knew he had her pegged. Her curiosity was peaked, and she wouldn't rest now until he told her some stories. She stepped over to him and with a blush settled down on his back. It was one thing to let him carry her while she slept, it was another to sit on his back while she was wide awake.
"Geez Rarity, relax." Spark chuckled and spread his wings wide on either side of his passenger as he stood easily with the added weight. "You might want to hold on tight. It's gonna be a bit of a climb, but it's gonna be fast."
Rarity frowned and wrapped her hooves around Spark's neck. She didn't like the sound of going too fast, so she closed her eyes and buried her face in his mane. "Oh, just make it quick, Spark."
Rarity let out an adorable squeak as she felt him move. Celestia, he was moving fast. She could feel his stride was short and quick, then she let out a quiet shriek as she felt him jump. Leaves were suddenly brushing through her mane. And then...weightlessness. Rarity felt her heart jump into her throat, and she dared to look down, revealing that the two of them were indeed in the air, sailing horizontally to the edge of the top of the waterfall. She watched with fascination as they came in for a landing, which she barely felt.
Rarity looked around the area. It was much wider on top, and the land spread out, as did the source of the water, which turned out to be a small river. The land spread out into a large V shape, with Spark and Rarity standing at the tip where the two sides connected in the south middle portion of the V. The land ahead was lined with trees, and far, far up ahead, one could make out the unmistakable figure of a giant, grassy pony.
However, Rarity was more interested in what had just happened. Wearing a big smile, she reached up and tapped Spark on the head gently. "Spark Storm! Did you - was that flying? Oh, this is so exciting!"
Spark chuckled at Rarity's excitement, forgetting for the moment that she still hadn't dismounted. "I wish, Rarity. I still can't fly. But I can glide."
Rarity smiled and hugged Spark tightly before carefully stepping down onto her own hooves. "That's amazing, darling! I'm so happy that you've found a medium to enjoy your talents. Now, let's go see what Orea's up to."
Spark followed the unicorn until they reached their nymph friend, who had been building a campfire on the right bank. Rarity's stomach began to rumble; it had been quite a while since she'd had any food.
Orea turned to see her two friends, a bright smile lighting up her face. "Oh, I apologize for leaving you two. I have been feeding. And I have gathered food for you, my Storm." She turned her head toward the campfire, indicating about six large-sized fish impaled with long, sharp sticks sitting around a small fire that she had started. Rarity blanched as she watched Spark leap with excitement and start towards the fire.
"Sweet, lunch! Thank you, Orea." He stopped and glanced back at Rarity. He remembered the last time a pony caught him eating fish; it wasn't the best memory. Rarity was staring at him, partly in horror and partly with righteous indignation. "Uh...Rarity? Y-y'know, between an acorn and a fish..."
The unicorn glared daggers at Spark Storm. Oh, she was going to make him pay for this, someway, somehow.