//------------------------------//
// CH13: A stroke of luck. 
// Story: The journey 
// by Dashed_Brony 
//------------------------------//

	Night rose, and so did the pegasus' eyes. They were heavy. He still wanted to sleep more, but at the same time, couldn't. His body fought against it, partly, and as he got up from the soft ground, putting a hoove to each eye, rubbing out whatever sleepyness they had left.

He hadn't even noticed it was night until he once again reopened them, all four hooves to the ground. He shuddered. Night was here, and he was awake. It was too late to try and go back to sleep now. He lowered his head to the ground, looking in every direction, trying to reassure himself that there was nothing there. Especially not the yellow eyes he so solely wanted to avoid.

*Blink, blink*

He no longer saw it. Was it permanently gone? Could he finally rest easy during night-time? Or was his mind just temporarily kind enough to let him feel relief?

But seconds passed. Second became minutes. Minutes as long as eternities. Nothing appeared. It was as drop-dead silent as it could be, aside from a few grasshoppers chitring in every random direction, without any specific location to track them, as the melodic theme came from all directions at once, being no stronger in one location than the other.

But they jumped back and forth in the grass, and he caught sight of one, which he decided to keep an close eye on, and try to approach.The night was surrounded withs tars that night. And that he hadn't found peace with the night in a long time, only made it that more beautiful and friendly. Luna's bright full moon only added to the beauty of the place.

They were too far up in the mountains to hear any howls, but it was a beautiful night none the less. One he wholeheartedly enjoyed, as the image had somehow managed to slip out of his head after a well-deserved rest. Perhaps it was the fact that he had become sleep-deprived that gave him such a clear visage of it? It was his only, and final conclusion. So he had to make sure  to sleep in order to avoid having seeing the yellow eyes which otherwise had decided to haunt him.

But how could he sleep? He had just woken up.

Then, a familiar scent filled his nostrils. Both welcoming, and hypnotizing. It was familiar, yet he had no name, nor memory of it. What about it was so familiar? He had to find out, and followed a small path, away from the little flat hill-top he had noticed Toby sleeping on, the very same he himself had woken up on.

He might have paid more attention to the path magically forming before his eyes if he wasn't so absorbed in the scent. It reminded him of a perfume, a mix of multiple flowers that made the perfect formula. Roses, tullips, daisies, dahlias and many more. It might have been too many to form anything but an incredibly strong scent, but done right, it was better than anything else.

It was wonderful, and he felt himself in a trance, practically obeying the command to follow wherever it lead. But why couldn't he remember the name, when it was as clear as day that he had smelled the perfume before? The questions faded, and his desire to find the source of the scent only grew stronger, replacing all other thoughts, until he was mindlessly following along the path that took shape right before his eves, disappearing behind him, leaving no trail for anypony to follow him. He had even ended up crossing the large gap Toby had stood and admired the day before, and gotten across safely at the other end, the gap between the mountains being sizable with a canyon.

He continued forth like the mindless slave he was until the scent was so strong he had to cover up his nose, not to pass out. There, right before him, laid a flowerfield of the purest and whitest flowers he had ever seen. They were brighter than the moon, and more white than the stars that lit up portions of the skies.

'Purista Follures' was their title, but they were more commonly reffered to as 'Moonflowers'. It was simple for them, but who would rather say 'Purista Follures' than Moonflowers?

He had to move his left front hoove from his nose to properly speak, and as he mentioned the name, he inhaled the strong scent they carried. Being as strong as it was, his eyes shut and he passed out right on the spot without any way of even trying to fight back. It was his own faulth, being so reckless, but the scent had left him so braindead that it would've been more shocking if he hadn't done what he did.

Time passed, and he woke up to a faint yell, distant as it was. His name was being called, and he shook his head in an response to how he had passed out, or rather, how he didn't remember why he was now waking up at daytime, such an uncommon thing for him to do.

He was thankful, but wondered just what had happened the night before. He felt brainwashed, and looking around for clues, all he saw, was an empty field of grass laying before him. "Moon... Flowers...?" He mumbled. "Nah... Those are just a myth"

There were too few who had seen them to have any direct proof. Even better was how neither of them had ever been sane enough for anyone to believe their words, so moonflowers remained a fairy tale mothers and fathers told their fillies and colts.

As he got up, something was itching his stomach, and removing it, he found himself holding a leaf that shun brighter than it should have, with the sun reflecting on it. He puzzled himself, but decided to bring it along. 

"Let's hope it brings some luck..." 

Putting it in his bag, in the middle of the survival book, to make sure it wasn't completely crushed the time he decided to pull it out, he again heard a worried yell in the distance, and flew off to meet up with the unicorn who was rather distressed, probably having been looking for hours.

The sun was mid-ways on the skies, he hadn't woken up at morning time, but at least he could now sleep at night and be awake at day. Whatever it was that had allowed him to sleep through the night, he didn't know, but he knew perfectly well that he was thankful for it.

His only clue was the white leaf pressed between papers in his bag. For now, he had other things to focus on than a white flower petal. No matter how beautiful or pure it was, it was only what it was, a leaf, and possibly a lucky charm.

After Toby had finished his worry-rant, the two decided it was time to set off once more.

He had stuff on his mind, and so did Toby. Neither spoke much that day, even as it went along, and night approached, much quicker than usual. Their focus wasn't on it, and it slid by unnoticed, and they only realised how late it had gotten when the path before them was nearly invisible, save for a faint glow from the moon.

They had to pause again, and this night, for the first time in over a week, they were both asleep.


- End -