//------------------------------// // Day 2: Leaving Baltimare // Story: The Great Equestrian Journey // by Dashie04 //------------------------------// Day 2 ~~~~~~~~~ What is the racket going on right now? I feel like my ears are ringing... Anyways, Long Hike again, here with another day of my Journey Across Equestria. But first, I've got to get out of bed. I slam my hoof down on my alarm clock, aware that I probably can’t get 5 more minutes. I never understood the use of the Snooze Button on an alarm clock. 5 minutes is such a ridiculously infinitesimal amount of time, one cannot simply get a reasonable amount of sleep in 5 minutes. I am not exempt from this rule, and strangely, I’m rather feeling the call of the Snooze Button today. My entire head feels like it was bashed against a rock and shifted around again. I suppose that is what happened, but I mean LAMPPOST WHAT THE HECK! I had never had such a headache in my life. My back still hurt a little, but nothing compared to my head. I shift my hoof around for a little bit, and find my glasses. Putting them on, I grab my saddlebags to start heading out the door. Apparently, I was so tired that I slept with my watch on, which is very typical of me. Using this opportunity to check the time, I cleverly deduce, somewhat, that it is 7:00 AM, right on schedule. I start to head down the hotel steps to the lobby. I do have to say this, looking down, I have to admit, hotel carpet is ugly. It’s like that weird wallpaper your mom had in the 80’s that looked completely out of place compared to everything else. In hotels, the carpet at least blended in, but I’m not going to see any celebrities trotting on down this red carpet. I start prancing down the stairs, as fast as my head can allow, at least. I quickly head down and get some breakfast. I get a cup of coffee, which as all ponies know, is a necessity, and some haybacon. Haybacon is really good, it almost tastes odd in a way, like they used seasoning to make it taste like it came from a pig. Well, I’ve never heard ponies complain, so they must be doing something right. I finish my food, only for some entitled colt, red with green mane. Point at me and say,”Did your breakfast come with the Senior Discount?” I don’t respond, having to get going soon, but that does make me so mad! I’ll have you know that I am strictly 47 years old, I’m not old enough to get the Senior Discount! The greyscale’s natural! Colts these days. Anyways, I make my way to front lobby, and dear Celestia, the receptionist is looking at me odd again. ————————\ She was inquiring my journey again. I reassured her that this wasn’t a stupid idea, I chose my line so that I’d climb as few mountains as possible. Anyways, I’m outside the Mareiott, and looking onto the open plains. They are rather open, but I’d say that these have something to look at. I see farmers growing their grass and other vegetables off in the distance. I’m suddenly realizing that I probably shouldn’t of taken this trip in the summer. However, a geography professor can’t really get any other time off, so I might as well make use of it. Examining my surroundings, I notice that this land seems ripe for planting. Farms are everywhere, as such is the nature pf ponies. It’s a wonderful summer day, though very hot. I’m no meteorologist, but I’d like to say that the skies are clear today. This has the side effect of completely ruining my eyesight when I look up, as my glasses happen to be to correct nearsightedness. Ouch. Don’t look directly at the sun. Correcting my vision by blinking several times in succession, I reach down to adjust my hat, which isn’t on my head. I must've left it in the hotel room, and now I am forced to live with a lack of head protection. I guess my scatterbrained tendencies would have caught up with me. In my defense, I had a splitting headache, and that is a very bad defense. The headache shouldn’t have prevented me from just looking back and getting my hat. Oh well, it’s a little too late for that. Looking back at Baltimare, it’s slowly receding in the distance, even though I haven’t even walked a mile yet. This is going to be fun. But on the subject of headaches, I’m starting to feel a bit woozy... ~~~~~~\____ So, who knew vomiting was a side effect of getting a concussion? I didn’t! I probably should’ve paid more attention in Health class. Though honestly, I didn’t have the slightest care of getting a health degree, I paid attention in my Social Studies classes instead. Social Studies is interesting, and it’s always nice learning about early Equestrian figures like Trail Blazer and Nightmare Moon. Speaking of which, I wonder how Luna’s doing today. After the events of the Elements described in our books, she seems like a nice mare. The elements seem like they happened a long time ago, however, but maybe Luna’s still around. Maybe I should save up and go to Canterlot someday. Where was I? Oh yes, I’m noticing a farm steadily approaching in the distance, it’s farming wheat. I mean, what else would it be farming? We eat so much hay in Equestria that we could probably make an entire city of hay bales! Come to think of it, how long would that city actually last? Ponies would just keep eating the buildings. Also, where would you put it? There isn’t exactly a lot of staying power in hay bales? Questions for minds better than I, I suppose. The field is coming up, and I causally look ahead to see how long this description would last. There’s rows upon rows of wheat fields, with several ponies tending to them. Such as it is in a world without anything that could quickly plant and harvest seeds. That also seems like such an absurd idea! Like, how would you get the seeds? How would the be planted? How would you even make such a device? I hope to Celestia that nopony in a different place has tried doing that before. Strange, wheat isn’t generally grown in summer, must be some pegasi doing something strange. I take a cautious step into the wheat fields and am assaulted by things in my face. I can’t even see ten feet ahead of me! I’m going to also have to keep a keen eye for any farmers than I happen to be nearly on top of. I see why we use scythes to cut the crops before we get to them. If we used scythes when we’re in the crops, we’d just cut ourselves. By complete accident, hopefully. After losing a great portion of my breakfast, I am now surrounded by food. My stomach really wants to eat this food. I am forced to hold myself back so I don’t eat all the wheat in sight. Looking at the ground for as long as possible, I walk forward. Then, the question of what happens when I run into a farmer arises again. How would they react if I ran into them? I need not question any further, because I literally run into a pony. Yes, literally, I wouldn’t misuse a word so meaningful, it drives me insane when people do! Literally means,”exactly”, not “emphasis on something figurative”. Anyways, I hit my head on this farmer’s side. I swear, that concussion’s never going to clear up. However, this was nowhere near the scope of my last one. “Hello,” I say in my best professor voice. “Hello, to you, too. Could ya get your head up?” this farmer states, much to my surprise. “Wait, so you aren’t going to scold me for being in your fields?” I ask, quizzically. “Oh, Ah am, I just wanna look ya in the eyes while Ah do so,” he clarifies. “Good, because I was really wondering what happened,” I look up. This pony’s about twice the size of me, he’s just about the toughest cowboy with an Apple accent that I’ve seen. He has a black cowboy hat, but no hair that’s noticeable. An earth pony, he has a pitchfork cutie mark, and his coat color matches the sky. By the way, the sky is still incredibly blue, never seen a day like it. It’s beautiful, I knew I came onto this journey for a reason. I think I came on it because I really like nature, and expected some wonderful views, which I certainly have gotten already. Anyways, the pony turns around so that his side isn’t facing me so that I can look into his amber eyes, which is giving me irrational chills. He clearly doesn’t want anypony messing around. He also has a black goatee, which is strange with his bald head. He has this look about him that just seems unnaturally angry, and it doesn’t reassure me in the slightest. “So, now Ah’m gonna give ya some inquiry,” he says in his deep, apple accented voice. “Yes, I understand that.” I say in a small voice,”Could you hurry up so that I don’t feel so intimidated?” “As ya wish.” He replies, relaxing a little,”First question, who are ya, and what are ya doing here?” “I’m Long Hike, a geography professor from Baltimare, I’m trying to cross Equestria in a straight line.” He squints his eyes.”That is the strangest cover story Ah’ve heard, Ah request proof, if ya have any.” I hand him my journal, man has that thing come in handy more than once. I wonder would would happen if I did all my writing exclusively after the day. Who would buy it? I’d have to try that sometime. I also notice a little dirt on the journal, and it was making my right eye twitch unnecessarily. That farmer was surely taking his sweet time reading my journal. This was going to be a recurring theme, wasn’t it? He finishes, and then looks at me and back tp the journal a few times. “Ah see, but aren’t ya a might old ta be traveling like this?” My face starts heating up.”I’ll have you know that the greyscale is natural!” I respond. The pony laughs,”Ah’m sure it is. Ah’m Blue Sky by the way.” “Ok, Mr. Blue Sky, I’m just going to continue on my way,” I respond, referencing a song I don’t care too much about. It sucks that MLO is so catchy, they don’t resemble New Wave in the slightest, yet their songs are so catchy. I can get them stuck in my head for hours on end, and Mr. Blue Sky was going to follow suit. Blue Sky nods, and I start to walk through the wheat again. ~~~~~~ Long story short, I had to mentally torture myself to make it through all the food, then eat some grass after I finished the trek. I’d just finished eating the grass, and my head was starting to ring again. I walk on into an empty field where I can sit back and relax. I do so, and check my watch. I sure hope my watch didn’t run out of batteries, but I have some spare batteries in case of battery-related emergencies. My watch reads that it is noon, so I could keep on going. My plan was to take a rest near the train tracks that were about thirty miles away. I think, because I can’t exactly think straight when my mind is basically static. So I relax in the rolling green pastures for a while just watching the world turn, and then find out that I have wasted twenty minutes. Yeah, nature allured me again, I sigh, wondering how I’ll ever get through the mission in a timely manner. Continuing onward, I find a small patch of woodland just ahead, as I was clipping the edge of a forest. It isn’t the Everfree, thankfully, and I’d routed as to avoid such things. The trees were flourishing with leaves, having just grown leaves after Spring. As I entered, twigs start snapping under my hooves, and giving me a ringing in my ears, because concussions aren’t very nice. The forest seems to be a medium sort of wooded, and it’s a mixed forest, birch and oak trees filling it. The soil is very mulchy, and almost seems like it wants to go out of its way to make walking as inconvenient as possible. I’m not on any path, and I have to skirt around various trees and shrubbery, all while keeping as straight as possible. I’m nowhere as lumber as I used to be. I used to love climbing trees and interacting with nature, I stopped, and started looking at maps and terrain instead. I can’t climb trees anymore, however, and I don’t think my head is in any state to try. There are no animals lurking around, which I think is incredibly strange. I’m no biologist, but I think animals should live in mixed forests. Unless... My mind trembles at the thought, gives me a headache, and I quickly remember what I was worried about, that’s a first. I cannot say I’ve ever hit all parts of the scatterbrain spectrum. Anyways, what if there was some predator I wasn’t aware of and it’s stalking me right now? I put my hoof on my mane, looking for a hat, that’s when I remember that I forgot it. I put my hoof down awkwardly, and start to pick up the pace a little. This stretch of forest isn’t very long, and I should be able to reach the other side quickly. Making sure to avoid hitting any other trees, I burst out of the forest, glasses askew. I quickly correct them, tousle my mane a bit to get any spare leaves and such out, and continue on like nothing happened. Ahead of me, I see what can only be described as the flattest plain I’ve ever seen. There weren’t any farms, as the fact that there was a mountain awfully close made this an unsuitable place for most farming. I consult my map to make sure that I’m still on course, and confirm, in fact, that my blind stampede away from a predator who may not have existed did not offset my line. I also notice a family of bunnies daintily eating some flowers right outside the forest, which explains why there weren’t any animals there. Well, I nearly gave myself a heart attack for nothing, joy. The geography of Equestria is all out of whack, and I just couldn’t understand why. I wasn’t going to climb the two incredibly tall, random mountains, but I would rather walk past them. They were far away from me anyways. Walking through the rather uneventful field, I realize that I never ate. Even after vomiting, I never did a thing. Taking out my preserved dandelions, I look at them like they just insulted my mother. I hate preserved dandelions, I don’t think anyone else ate them either, as they were one of those items that’s just there in the grocery store, the items lining the aisles that nobody really ever buys. Unfortunately, I had to buy them for this journey, and they were going to be my main food source for my trip. Nibbling one to avoid the assault on my taste buds, I realized that I was so hungry that I didn’t care, and I ate the entire dandelion in record time. Wait, I never said what they tasted like, let me back up a bit. Anyways, preserved dandelions have this acidic taste. Sure, dandelions are fine, but they aren’t drenched in preservatives. Preserved dandelions taste like plastic. The taste is akin to eating a plastic bag. I hate it. I eat a couple more and realize that my stomach didn’t like the quantity of preserved dandelions I ate. — Long Hike from 5 hours into the future here, have I said that word enough? I think I’ve said it one too many times, I’d rather not even think about preserved dandelions, not that I can effectively anyways. Spoiler alert: the headaches didn’t go away. I would highly recommend against getting concussions. — Anyways, I start a steady trot towards the mountains looming in the distance, the time was 1:30 PM, and those mountains were about 10 miles away. Nothing is happening it is boring here. ~~~~~~~~ So, three hours later, I finally reach the base of the mountains and realize that I wasn't going to make my quota of distance today. Besides, checking my map, there was a train track ahead, and I’d rather sleep farther away from it than closer. But I could go on for a little longer, if only it wasn’t so mind-achingly boring here! ~~~~~~~~ Another hour passes, and I’m just another few miles farther. It is; however, 5:30 PM, and I want to start sleeping before I regret trotting any farther. I get out my camping equipment to stay the night at the base of this mountain, then I realize that I’ve never gone camping before. I facehoof at my idiocy, and try to simply get by. The tent has no instructions. This worries me. I have seen pictures of set up tents before, and I think I could grasp the concept. So, I take the posts connected to the tent and pound them into the ground with a little mallet I found. I make sure to do it as quietly as possible. I then take the strings of the tent and tie a serviceable knot around the posts, and I think this is how they go. Heading inside, I rest on the cold hard ground and try to write down what my scrambled mind can remember in this state. After I write all that, I attempt to go to sleep. If my concussion was this bad already, I dreaded how much worse it would get. ~~~~~~~~ Help everypony, I can’t fall asleep. I’m still going to attempt to, but it’s been an hour. Let’s hope tomorrow is better. -Long Hike