The green energy mass at the end of the octo-spider’s limb grew steadily into a huge, wobbling ball, and Sunny’s pupils matched it in size.
“HITCH!”
Hitch looked back. The veins on his neck stood out and he wailed with fright through the shovel handle and other things in his mouth. Izzy craned her neck back as much as she could and called out to her friend.
“Rye Rye stop! You have to stop!”
A cold voice called from inside.
“No. They’ve done something to you. It will all be over soon – this won’t hurt too much, I promise Izzy.”
Hitch looked left than right. He saw a door ahead, veered, and smashed through it with a slash from his shovel. Sunny followed behind but an intense green glow and a loud hiss preceded an explosion that ruined the escape.
Every fibre of Sunny’s body vibrated with pain. She knew her eyes were wide open – but the blast’s neon green glow was such that there was simply nothing to see except that egregious shade of green. Her mouth opened, yet no scream could escape when the screeching explosion flooded the crumbling hallway. With the pain came steadily a feeling of falling.
When Sunny could see and hear again (but only just so), she wished she couldn’t. She was plummeting through the night sky, giant pieces of blown up castle stone falling alongside her, as well as dust, mortar, and Hitch Trailblazer with a motionless Izzy Moonbow clinging to his chest. Hitch’s things were wrapping around his lower neck, his shovel entangled in the leather belts and harness, flapping in the air. Sunny’s body felt weak, and despite the situation all she wanted to do was sleep.
She did not, however, allow slumber to overcome her senses.
“HITCH, IZZY, WAKE UP!”
Hitch and Izzy’s silently twirled downward not far from Sunny, who was falling in a different rotation so she rarely saw anypony’s head the right way up. She painstakingly brought her hooves to either side of her mouth and shouted again. Her throat felt raw as for the second time she produced the “voice magic”.
“WAKE UP RIGHT NOW!”
And so they did, each of them with a jolt. The shout pushed Hitch and Izzy flying back some distance. They began to shout in terror.
“WHAT DID YOU DO SUNNY?!” Hitch cried, Izzy hanging on with conscious tightness. Sunny watched Hitch search for his rope and other things when a screeching noise from up near the castle drew her gaze. She managed to look back up, and growled when she saw what it was.
The octo-spider had followed, and it was hurtling toward Hitch and Izzy much faster than anypony was falling.
“Almost there Izzy! Hang on!”
But the octo-spider’s reaching snake-like limbs did not get as close as the Drake desired. An object slammed into the body of the machine and began to cover the impact area with a growing mass of grey substance. It grew and grew – Sunny thought it must have been some kind of magical stone, or at least she silently hoped it was magical. The stone grew to such a size that its weight caused the octo-spider to fall much faster and at a lower trajectory, and when the limbs tried to extend to reach Izzy from farther away, the stone caused them to lock up.
“No! NO!!!”
Sunny did not cheer as the greater threat to everypony was the hard earth quickly approaching below. Hitch by then had grabbed his rope, formed a loop in it, and tossed it with a Rockhoof-like throw to Sunny – she did not hesitate to scramble forward, almost missing it, and wrap it around her. The three were seconds from becoming bright splats on the tree-dotted valley.
“WHAT’S THE BIG PLAN CASANOVA?”
“IT’S BONKERS – SUNNY, YOU REALLY GOTTA TRY NOT TO PUKE, OKAY?”
“THAT’S THE LEAST OF OUR CONCERNS, DONTCHA THINK?!”
Sunny gulped. She watched and felt Hitch grab his end of the rope and yank it. The effect was that Sunny was thrown, mid-air, toward a large tree, with Hitch and Izzy tied around the other end of the rope. Sunny thought he was throwing her into one of the tall evergreens – but the objective soon clear as she soared past the tree and felt her body turning. She tensed her body and her stomach.
The middle of the rope began wrapping around the trunk of the tree, snapping off branches as it did so. Meanwhile Sunny was trapped in a seemingly endless loop of spinning around and around the tree trunk. She dared not open her eyes and suffer even more dizziness. She heard her friends enjoy the same predicament.
Somehow, once the sickening whirlwind halted after the rope entangled itself in dozens of branches, and snapping off many more, the ponies came to a quiet stop. Sunny shook from her hooves to her mane, and when she risked opening a single eye, all she saw was grass colored a very dark blue from the filter of night. She felt her breath’s warmth bounce back at her. She could physically feel her adrenaline pumping through her veins.
“IM ALIVE IM ALIVE IM ALIVE IM ALIVE IM—”
It was a long time before Sunny stopped repeating the mantra, and it was an even longer time before she detached herself from the rope and flopped to the ground, still catching her breath. Sunny only allowed herself a fleeting second to rest, as she remembered that Hitch and Izzy – hopefully – were on the other side of the evergreen’s tall, thick trunk.
Snapped branches and needles covered the dark ground. Sunny’s ears registered the castle alarm high above, but her brain could not discern what the sound entailed. She galloped around the trunk and saw Hitch cutting himself and Izzy loose. Izzy clung to him, eyes wide and shaking profusely. Everypony gasped for air. Hitch’s shovel sliced the rope and both ponies came down with a thud. Luckily, Izzy landed on Hitch. The former sheriff’s head was spinning.
“We… gotta… go… not… safe… yet…”
Sunny was still disoriented. She nodded, but she wasn’t sure why. She lifted a hoof to walk closer to her friends, but all her pain returned at once from the blast and she instead stumbled forward. Her head sprang up like she was a wounded animal, and it was then that she noticed her friends had charred coats matted with neon green patches from the explosion. But Sunny paid little mind to anything as pain coursed through her like a thousand crabs had pinched her all over at the same time. She cried out, almost fell over entirely, but closed her eyes instead and took the pain. She wobbled but did not crumble, and shouted with gritted teeth.
“OKAY! LET’S… GO…”
She stood up straight and saw stars. Still, she forced her limbs forward.
“Wait…” Hitch held out a hoof. “I… have… something…”
He grabbed at his belt, the loose strip of faux leather still hanging around his neck. Hitch detached a small vial from a normally hidden part of the belt. He uncorked it with his mouth – steam and bubbles came out the top, and the liquid turned a glowing orange.
“This… will energize… us enough… for a few hours…”
He took a small sip and held it out to Sunny. Hitch’s body shook as the ichor slithered down his throat. Sunny winced in pain but managed to take a sip, leaving some for Izzy.
Everypony shivered, shook, and moved their limbs as the potion’s effect filled them with a temporary vigor – but only to restore them to their previous states, nothing more. Hitch looked from Izzy to Sunny and nodded.
“Right, so are we good to continue? We need to get out of here!”
Sunny and Izzy looked at Hitch’s mane. It stuck straight up, like a big tongue had licked it. The mares snickered.
“What – WHAT? Is something –”
Hitch felt his mane and groaned.
“Noooo my mane! That look takes a long time to get just the way I want it, you know!”
After a few giggles, Sunny became more serious.
“What about Curio? If he’s as good as you say he is, as soon as we leave the cover of this tree he’s going to be able to hit us with something that will freeze us or cover us in stones!”
Hitch flashed her a smile and chuckled.
“Oh, don’t worry about that Sunny. I know a few guys who have a secret passage we can use.”
Sunny and Izzy exchanged glances as Hitch snagged his shovel, flicked up his eyebrows at the others, and started to tap the ground around the tree. Sunny hugged Izzy tight.
“I’m really glad we’re all okay!”
“M-me too…”
Izzy sobbed.
“This is all my fault I’m so sorry I—”
Sunny pulled her friend away and cleared all the Unicorn’s doubt with her resolute stare.
“Izzy we are all here because we want to be! You have nothing to apologize for!”
Izzy’s bottom lip quivered. She nodded profusely while the tears slowly streaked down her cheeks. Sunny smiled so wide her cheeks covered her eyes and she rubbed Izzy’s mane. Hitch hit his shovel against the dirt in a particular spot and he made an “aha!” noise.
“Right here!”
He balanced the shovel in his hoofs and dug it into the ground. With a heave he brought up a massive scoop of dirt and threw it nearby. There was so much dirt that Sunny’s and Izzy’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. In the wake was left a hole. Hitch held out his hoof toward it.
“These tunnels are big enough for us to squeeze down and walk through – the ceilings are a bit low, but the tunnels themselves are at least wide. The grassland moles always want me to play down here. They won’t mind us using them!”
Sunny lit up even more, and even Izzy looked positive.
“Hitch you’re a genius! Underground, just like you said!”
Hitch shrugged and smiled.
“If the Unicorns find about the tunnels, we’re doomed. But I think we should be fine.” Hitch flinched. “Oh, right! It’s completely dark down there, and I don’t have a torch! Any ideas?”
Sunny sadly nodded. Izzy stepped back. The other two watched her hobble to the edge of where the evergreen’s remaining branches provided everypony with shelter. Beyond the evergreen, the moonlight was pouring out into the landscape – it was a full moon. Hitch hiss-cried after Izzy.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! CURIO WILL SEE YOU!”
Izzy looked back.
“Sorry, I have to risk it. I can get us some light.”
Izzy inhaled sharply before closing her eyes and poking her head out past the tree cover, bathing her head in the thick moonlight. Sunny jumped forward and laid her hoof on Izzy’s lower back.
“Izzy?”
“GUYS GET BACK HERE!”
Izzy retracted after a minute. Sunny’s eyes nearly popped out – her mouth became the biggest half-moon smile.
“YOUR HORN! IT’S MAGIC!”
Izzy smiled sheepishly. The little appendage on her head was glowing an off-white, almost yellow.
“Umm, this is really the only magic we have left, if you can even call it that. It’s something that only happens to my family. It won’t last very long though, since I didn’t have my horn out for very long.”
“Let’s go then!” Hitch was chewing at the ends of his hooves. “The soldiers’ll probably be out soo—”
“IZZY WHERE ARE YOU?!”
The Drake. Everypony exchanged glances, then hurried into the hole in the ground. Hitch went first, followed by Izzy, and then Sunny at the rear. Izzy had to squat somewhat once inside, whereas the other two ponies did not, though all three had to be mindful of jutting roots or rocks from the dirt ceiling. Hitch squeezed past the others, back to the hole.
“Need to cover this up,” he explained. He reached up with his shovel and scooped the dirt back inside. Eventually, he managed to cover it pretty good, considering he was doing so from inside the hole. “Okay, let’s go. And no loud talking from now on because we’re not that deep underground!”
Guided by the light from Izzy’s horn, the three made their way through the mole tunnels. There were many turns and different paths, although Hitch seemed to know which direction to take.
“North is where we want to head – the moles mark the different tunnels for direction, since they can’t see,” he explained quietly at once instance. He tapped a particular rock with a smooth end with his shovel. “This one means north.” Izzy “ooo’d” with interest while Sunny shot Hitch a sideways smile.
“Nice one Trailblazer – guess the name is worth something.”
“Thanks. I’m still waiting to see if Starscout is, too.”
The three ventured on. Sunny was surprised by how good her body felt, given the experience she had just been subjected to and the damage she had taken. Thanks to the bright light from Izzy’s horn, it was even more apparent they had all taken a beating from the octo-spider’s explosion. They looked like what Sunny pictured the Warlock King’s test subjects looked like after a particularly horrifying science experiment. She thought out loud.
“Those potions are really something else. How come I’ve never heard of potions before?”
Hitch looked back incredulously.
“You don’t read or pay attention to school things, Sunny! Of course you haven’t heard about potions!” Sunny covered her snicker as she looked at Hitch’s ruined mane smushed up against the ceiling. “Plus, Maretime Bay IS a podunk town – that’s one thing Bastion got right. I don’t think they ever get many potions. Those things are hard to make, even the simple ones.”
Izzy chimed in.
“I’ve heard of Earth Pony potions. Unicorns say they’re filled with pure evil – and Earth Ponies will pour them down your throat so they can make you say whatever they want, and if you don’t do what they say, they’ll give you a poison that turns your insides into jelly!”
Hitch scoffed.
“Old pony’s tale!”
Sunny remembered her own experience the day before with the apothecary and being forcefed.
“There miiiiight be more truth to those old pony tales than we think, Hitch.”
Eventually the three came across a big furry obstacle. It was brown and round. Hitch cleared his throat quietly.
“Hey! Big guy!”
The creature stumbled around, revealing its gentle face and cute little nose that stuck up like a little hairy carrot. Sunny stuck out her tongue with a “bleh!” face, but Izzy lit up.
“Aww what a cutie pie! This must be the grassland mole you talked about!”
Hitch scratched the mole’s nose and it cooed.
“It sure is.” He addressed the mole alone. “Listen, fella, it’s very important that we get as far north as we can as fast as we can! I’m not so familiar with this part of the system – mind showing us the way?”
The mole squeezed and nodded rapidly. Hitch smiled.
“Well alright, lead on!”
More twists and turns awaited the three. Later, Sunny called out to Hitch, barely able to contain her excitement.
“Hey Hitch! I was thinking that maybe – y’know, just maybe – that you have the magic of controlling animals! And like maybe - maybe there is some ancient Earth Pony power that’s only just awakening for the first time! It could have something to do with the sun flare ups and Professor Tyson going to the Forbidden Zone!”
Hitch stopped and turned around, concern creasing his brow.
“Wait what? Professor Tyson went THERE? What about the Rogue Unicorns!”
The mole hurried on, and Izzy rushed past the others to catch up.
“Umm guys, the mole isn’t stopping!”
Hitch and Sunny walked and talked. Sunny answered her friend, who was sneaking worried glances back at Sunny.
“Professor Tyson knows what he’s doing! He said he might discover something about where all the magic went! I’m beginning to think Earth Ponies have a power too! Wouldn’t that be cool?”
Hitch shook his head.
“It’s not a magic power, silly. Animals just think I’m awesome, that’s all. And these little fellas helped me out once when I was evading a pack of angry stallions – I sort of… flirted with their mares. It was an overreaction, clearly.” Sunny went deadpan as Hitch continued. “A-anyway, uhh, the moles let me escape through their tunnel. Every so often I’ll come help them dig through a big patch of clay or stone with my shovel. It’s a mutual partnership - no magic involved.”
Sunny was still unimpressed.
“Right. Just the magic of your charm, huh?”
Hitch chuckled.
“Exactly! Now you’re getting it!”
Sunny didn’t hear a comment from Izzy, so she glanced back and smile.
“Izzy? What do you think? Wouldn’t it be cool if we had magic too?”
Izzy forced a smile, but only for a minute before it became a sincere frown. Sunny frowned as well.
“Izzy?”
“It’s just… when you talk like that, about magic… it reminds me of back home. Sire’s Hollow.”
Sunny instantly thought of a cackling Warlock King and crashes of thunder in the background. A chill ran up her back. Izzy continued with a sigh.
“My big brother and I used to talk about magic when we were younger.”
Izzy’s head drooped. Sunny did not press the subject, remembering Izzy and her brother were a contentious issue. Sunny lit up suddenly.
“Hey! Chin up, little doll! We’ll solve the mystery. Once all the races work together, we can go everywhere in Equestria, and we’ll be able to figure out where it went! And everypony will have magic!”
Izzy looked up, Sunny’s enthusiasm having piqued her interest. Hitch rolled his eyes ahead; Sunny continued.
“Yeah Izzy! The Earth Ponies, Unicorns – of course – and the Pegasi! Pegasi, Izzy! Just imagine! I bet they have magic to make rainstorms, and tornados – and SNOW! Real snow!”
Hitch laughed once.
“Everyearthpony knows that Featherfreaks change the weather by tossing their young into huge vats in their giant weather factories. They make rainbows using the colors from the ponies they toss in their great big machine!”
Sunny was livid.
“I thought you were past this Hitch!”
He threw up a hoof.
“Hey! Unicorns, okay I can get behind. But Featherfreaks – come on Sunny, just because Unicorns might be okay, doesn’t mean that—”
“What do you mean might?”
“Sunny that’s not what I…”
Izzy lowered her head and shuffled past the others.
“Izzy!”
Sunny punched Hitch’s shoulder.
“Ow!”
“You can be a real jerk, you know?”
“T-bah-Sunny!”
Izzy stopped and shook her head.
“It’s not Hitch, Sunny. It’s because… I agree with him.”
Sunny’s mouth opened. Izzy lowered her head again.
“I can’t help it either! The Fea—the Pegasi are… scary.”
She sniffed.
“I’m sorry Sunny, I try to ignore those thoughts. I know it’s your dream to unite every pony.”
Izzy quickly caught up to the mole, and Hitch did the same, looking back at Sunny with his mouth in a neutral line. Sunny looked to the side for a moment, and when Izzy’s horn light got further away, she remembered where she was. She caught up to the others.
The three plus the mole turned off to a tunnel that one could miss very easily if they went too fast. That tunnel zigzagged, then began to go down deeper into the ground.
Eventually everypony came to a large, open area. Izzy’s horn was not bright enough to illuminate the whole area from one wall to the other, and the ceiling was much higher though still only about as high as a normal building on the surface. Various roots, like hairy tendrils, were at all places sticking out of the ceiling.
“We’re passing through their home,” Hitch explained. “They must really trust you two if they’re letting you through. Me, they know me.”
Sunny replied.
“That could be why they’re letting us pass.”
Izzy looked around. She spotted a wide-eyed, baby mole sucking on a little root pacifier. It brought her out of her slump.
“Awww!”
Elsewhere, a couple of baby moles were clamoring on their mother’s back as she and the other adult moles tried to get back to sleep. Izzy brought a hoof to her cheek.
“Aww that’s even cuter!”
Lastly, as the three neared what must have been the exit tunnel, Izzy stopped to watch a mother mole rock her baby back and forth, the baby softly mumbling. Izzy got onto her hind legs and squished her cheeks toward her mouth.
“Oh Sunny I’m going to die! Sorry but, can we just stay here forever?!”
Sunny smirked.
“No can do. Unless, that’s what you want to do. I’m not going to force you to follow me.”
Izzy whined as if torn with what to do, but reluctantly followed her friends up the exit tunnel. Sunny laughed.
“But I guess without you, we wouldn’t be able to find our way through here.”
She turned back to her friend, and they both smiled.
“Thanks Izzy. For being here.”
Izzy smiled even wider and giggled.
“Are you kidding me? This is AWESOME! I’ve never seen anything like those moles before! We don’t have such cute creatures in Unicornia. They’re all…” Her ears drooped. “Well let’s just say that THOSE old pony tales might have some truth to them…”
Sunny reassured her friend with a chin touch and they continued on their way. Izzy’s horn began to flicker.
“Uhhh how much longer is it Hitch? Sorry but I think the batteries are running out…”
Hitch shrugged.
“We get there when we get there. The tunnels only go so far, so we’ll have to leg it on the surface again at some point. The farther we can go this way the better though.” He turned back around and frowned. “I hope you ladies are prepared for the worst. It’s us against the entire Realm at this point.” He swallowed hard.
Sunny had a particular bounce in her step.
“Isn’t it exciting though? It’s our very own adventure! I thought you were the rough, outdoorsy type Hitch?”
He whinnied.
“I am. But I’m not the guy-on-the-run type. I’ll sacrifice the “make the mares go wild” bad boy image for my freedom any day.”
Izzy puffed out her chest.
“We’ll be fine everypony! We have Sunny Starscout, after all!”
She quickly covered her mouth as the words echoed down and up the tunnel – Hitch rushed over and added his own hoof to the mix, his chest heaving up and down.
“We are close to the surface. Qui-et.”
Izzy went red in the face.
“S-s-sorry, I got so excited!”
The mole did not stop for anypony, and so while the twosome whispered to eachother he and Sunny moved on. Sunny waved from ahead.
“Let’s go already before Izzy’s horn goes out!”
By luck alone the three reached the end of the northernmost tunnel, and the mole helped them excavate the ground to reach the outside world, just as Izzy’s light fizzled out and died. The last spark of its glow disappeared with a disappointing pop of air.
Hitch carefully raised his head up out of the hole, the mole waiting patiently on standby to fill in the hole once the ponies left.
“Okay you two, keep it quiet still.”
He cautiously scanned the full 360 degrees outside the hole, eyes squinted and focused. The moonlight was heavy on the Realm – when Izzy squeezed her way close enough, it caught her horn and it started to glow again.
“Ah!” Hitch said with a jump. “Can’t you turn that thing off? Now it’s just going to get us in trouble!”
Izzy frowned, slunk back, and it almost seemed like her horn drooped down as well. Sunny came to her rescue, and by then all three ponies were tightly packed in the opening to the surface the mole had made.
“Hitch! She can’t help it!”
“W-well I don’t know, maybe she has an off switch! I mean talk about sticking out like a sore hoof – luckily we’re not in view of the Castle anymore, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t already soldiers looking for us. The normal ones are no trouble, but they can tell the Knights where we are headed.” Hitch came back down and looked serious. “If we run into Curio or Bastion, or probably any of the other Knights, we’re done for. It’s that simple.”
Sunny shook her head.
“We just have to risk it. We need to put as much distance as we can between us and the Castle before that potion wears off! How long do you think we have?”
Hitch groaned and smeared his face with his hoof.
“Forgot about that little detail—uhhh, normally the potion lasts eight hours on me. We took about one third each so, maybe 2 and a half hours? I have no clue how long we were underground for.”
Izzy replied immediately.
“One hour, sixteen minutes.”
Sunny and Hitch looked at her, wide eyed. Izzy smiled nervously.
“T-The moon. I can tell, based on where it’s at, what the time is.”
Hitch slowly nodded and Sunny smiled.
“No use standing around here, then, ponies! Let’s go!”
She leapt out of the hole and was off. Hitch watched her leave, his jaw hanging. Izzy scrambled up and followed her friend. Hitch pulled at his mane.
“Guys! Ahhhh wait! Just – just a minute!”
Hitch clambered up. Before he bolted, he turned back to the mole, who was already busy covering the hole.
“Thanks friend! I’ll pay you back somehow!”
The mole nodded and Hitch broke off into a gallop. He caught up to Sunny and Izzy and slowed his pace to their brisk trot.
“You crazy?!”
“Oh, stop whispering, they will hear our hooves anyway. There’s nopony around - relax Casanova.”
Izzy giggled.
“Th-this is sort of exciting, isn’t it?”
Hitch gave up with a sigh and slowly smirked.
“Fine, fine. It’s your funeral.”
Sunny shot him a wide grin.
“Our funeral, friend!”
The moonlight cast a pale white glow on the scenery. Sunny, Hitch, and Izzy climbed a big, craggy hill and nearly slid down on its other side, which was a smooth plain of grass. Next was a dense collection of tall pines and evergreens, almost a miniature forest, with ground that was littered with tiny needles.
It was a part of the countryside Sunny had never seen before – it was not a fantasy land, like from old pony tales, but it was new and different. And she was with a Unicorn!
Sunny picked up speed, relished the wind in her mane, and hollered to the night air.
“LET’S GO EVERYPONY! TO TALE TALL! TO ADVENTURE!”
Hitch caught up, his face stern.
“Sunny, just – reign it in a bit, alright?”
Izzy pushed herself further and galloped alongside Sunny.
“To… freedom, and uhh… adventure - again!”
“That’s the spirit, girl!”
Sunny started making wolf noises, and Izzy followed suit with quieter ones. Hitch seriously reconsidered his life prospects. But eventually he grew tired of being worried and joined in on the insanity.
“Fine, fine!” he said between laughs. “Might as well make this interesting!”
All three were laughing before long. The run evolved into a slower trot once the three sets of lungs became enflamed (Izzy’s worst of all) but their spirits were high, and they giggled as they caught their breaths. Hitch led them into a narrowing path that seemed to head higher, gently sloping toward the mountain range that surrounded the valley they were departing.
“Through here, ya crazy mares.”
He beckoned with a hoof. Izzy stopped for a second to better take in air, and when she did, Sunny gave her a quick noogie. Sunny stuck the tip of her tongue out through her teeth and ran off after Hitch. Izzy fixed her mane back into place.
“Meanie hooves!” Izzy called after with a laugh. Hitch and Sunny waited for Izzy, who caught up after a few more pants. Hitch adjusted his own mane with the back of his hoof, trying to get it into its usual style without any luck.
“This is an old path trolls used to use to come down from the mountains and terrorize the valley.” Sunny and Izzy looked at eachother with worry. “But don’t worry! They don’t come this way now, on account of a rockslide a few months ago. They’re not as agile as ponies and can’t climb over it. We can, though.”
He shot the mares a gleaming, confident smile.
“That is, if you think you can handle it.”
Sunny returned the smile.
“I’ll be up and over it before you have a chance to say ‘Wowwy that Sunny is a piece of work’”
She took off laughing up the path, Izzy giggling after her. Hitch shook his head, brow furrowed.
“Hey, I don’t sound like that! You did a deep voice thing – my voice isn’t like that! It’s much more charming, a-and calming!”
The sound of pony hooves and constant talking / laughter reverberated off the rock as it closed in around the three, as they got deeper up and into the mountain pass. Moonlight could only sneak so far into such curves – a lot of the time, it was mostly dark, save for Izzy’s horn light.
“Best part is,” Hitch said at some point, “Soldiers don’t EVER use this path. At least, as far as I know, since everypony is afraid of the trolls. But I know better. They absolutely won’t come here.”
“T-trolls, huh?” Izzy said. “That name sounds… scary.”
Eventually the three switched to a slower canter, and not long after that, the canter became an even slower walk. Hitch slowed only because the mares did, and looked over at their slumped, lumbering bodies with worry.
Sunny suddenly realized her eyelids had become very heavy without her realizing, until she could barely stay awake. Her hooves, as well, became harder to move without causing pain around her shoulders.
“Uhh, Hitch?” She stopped and breathed out. Izzy collapsed, her tongue flopping out. Hitch kicked his hooves in place as if raring to go.
“What, what?”
Sunny fell back onto her rump.
“I think – I think we should rest until morning.” She looked around. “Is there a cave or something nearby?”
Hitch looked quickly from Izzy to Sunny and several times back and forth.
“Wha – maybe. I don’t know! You want to stop NOW?! We aren’t that far from the Castle, you know!”
Sunny was half asleep and leaning to one side. She caught herself before she fell over.
“Huh… yeah but, that potion is going to wear off. And then we’ll be out here like sitting gulls…”
Izzy moaned.
“So… sweeepy… hmmm…”
Hitch sighed and pressed a hoof to his forehead.
“Okay, okay. There are a few spots in the rock where you can squeeze in, kinda like a cave I guess. For now, let’s keep going until we fi—”
Both mares were already snoring, Sunny loud enough that Hitch feared they’d be heard all the way back at Maretime Bay. He looked around and, seeing nothing but a decent-sized rock, he jammed it in Sunny’s open mouth. She continued making gurgling sounds around the rock, but all was quiet again except Izzy’s much quieter, lighter snoring. Hitch wiped some sweat from his brow and scooped Izzy onto his back, then Sunny after.
He continued down the path until Izzy’s horn illuminated a crack in the wall. It was not huge, but when he got inside there was space to lay Sunny and Izzy down, take off their saddlebags, and lay them against the rock, and still enough left over so he could comfortably fold his hooves up and rest. He chuckled quietly.
“Mares — throw a little action their way and it tuckers them right out.”
A few seconds later, Hitch’s head flopped down and smacked the dirt, his own quiet snores adding to the other sleepy pony noises. Sunny’s hooves splayed out in all directions, and Hitch mumbled when Sunny hit him in the nose. She smiled in her sleep.
It was six hours until morning.