Later that night, Sunny came to another conclusion about Izzy.
She was remarkably resourceful.
As they travelled, Sunny had found herself flagging more and more, and she realised why. She hadn’t eaten a thing that day except for a sparse breakfast. She’d had no lunch, no supper, no smoothies or snacks.
Fortunately she didn’t have to tell Izzy they ought to stop for the day. Her stomach did all the talking for her, and left Sunny’s face redder than a strawberry.
Izzy brought them both to a stop at a rise, and even clambered partway up a tree with Sunny’s help. She’d glanced around like a dog having heard a distant sound, then pointed in a seemingly random direction that there was a stream deeper in the forest. It was off the path, but Sunny felt like she could trust Izzy there.
Not only was Izzy right about the stream, but she also found a small rise alongside it that was nice and dry. Moss grew over the face closest to the stream, and trees towered over them from every side but one, effectively supporting the earth of their little campsite and giving them some cover from the wind.
With a lot of Izzy’s help, Sunny set up a fire, and when it turned out all Sunny had for food in her bag was an expired cereal bar the two went out to forage.
It had been years since Sunny had actually seen edible fruit growing from trees or berries from bushes. Most of the berries she collected that night didn’t look particularly appetising, but Izzy warned her the better looking ones were usually pretty unpleasant on the stomach. When Sunny chanced across an apple tree she recalled a time when she was a filly and she had the pleasure of visiting a nearby orchard. While she got to try the fresh fruit back then, remembering the sweet crunch and juices dribbling down her chin, Izzy gave a another warning for the apples Sunny found there.
After an hour or so, occasionally returning to check on the fire and to pile up the food they’d found, Sunny and Izzy settled down to rest and to eat.
They talked over their meagre meal. Some of the differences of their worlds came to light; it turned out Izzy knew how to forage because that was just expected of almost anypony where she came from. She knew how to make and break camp for much the same reason, though her sense of direction was apparently pretty unique to her. According to Izzy, she just remembered odd, specific details that helped things stand out to her.
As the last vestiges of the sun’s light vanished, leaving them bathed in the cool blue of the moon, Izzy turned in for the night, leaving Sunny to watch over her.
Sunny was sure she hadn’t intended that to be the case. The unicorn was bizarrely comfortable in the forest, but the wind between the branches and the distant calls of nocturnal animals kept disturbing Sunny. Every time she lay her head down and shut her eyes, something else jolted her upright and sent her head and ears swivelling.
One could only try and force themselves to sleep before becoming frustrated, so Sunny gave up and stared at Izzy. Faint embers glowed inside the fire between them, and it still radiated warmth. With just the tiny sparks and what little moonlight leaked through the canopy above, Izzy was barely more than a silhouette.
She was a pretty darn cute silhouette, Sunny had to admit.
Her face was serene, her usually soft features even softer still with her muscles fully relaxed, not even held in a smile or any number of other playful expressions.
An urge to curl herself up between Izzy and the fire crept into Sunny’s mind. She sighed and rubbed an eye with her fetlock before shaking the thought away. The idea was silly. They barely knew each other, and Sunny wasn’t sure it would be any better than sleeping separated.
Knowing she wasn’t going to get much sleep, Sunny decided to get some exercise instead. Movement would help wake her up a bit, and maybe make her too tired to even care about being scared. She knew it wasn’t the best idea to leave the camp but the creek bubbling and dribbling only a few feet away gave Sunny a decent landmark to follow for a short walk. She’d follow it along for a few minutes, then turn back before too long.
Sunny set off, keeping her pace slow and careful while she concentrated looking down at the ground. The earth immediately beside the water was damp and clingy, made of not just soil but older, rotting plant life and bark from some of the trees. It was soft and comfortable, and she’d grown wonderfully familiar with it over the course of the day.
It made her think of Izzy, and Sunny smiled to herself. She had been trying to discern what the scent that wafted off the unicorn was, and that was it. She wondered if it was some unique kind of unicorn shampoo or if Izzy was just used to sleeping on the forest floor most nights.
It didn’t matter. Sunny liked the smell.
The stream itself was crystal clear, bumbling over dirt and past more moss-ridden rocks and rises. She had thought about possibly damming it somewhere or using her bag as a makeshift net to catch some fish, but Sunny silently decided against it when she hadn’t seen so much as a minnow swimming in the water. Perhaps it was too shallow, and she imagined the only things living in it might be a few bugs and the occasional toad.
Every now and then a bush or a tree brought Sunny away from the stream, but she easily found her way back. That was until the third bush ridden mound, as when she passed it, Sunny found the stream had all of a sudden ended.
Humming to herself, Sunny decided that was as good a time as any to turn back. For the fun of it she decided to return on the other side of the stream. It ran slow and was narrow enough she could easily hop back over without any danger to herself.
Yet as Sunny circled the mound, the stream showed no sign of itself. Even with the dim light Sunny was sure she should be able to make out the ditch the stream cut through the forest floor, and the babbling ought to be obvious given the dead silence of night around her.
Planing her ears backward, Sunny swallowed down her fear. She was lost. She was sleepy and wandered away from the camp and was most definitely lost.
Sunny turned tail and followed the mound back the other way, yet it felt like it just kept going and going and going. Once she’d passed the same knotted tree the third time in a row, Sunny was sure she had got herself turned around somewhere.
Sunny drew in a deep breath that fought against an invisible band across her chest. Shutting her eyes, she planted her rump on the ground and began to think. She had to figure out what the best course of action would be.
She could just wait there, but she’d be somewhere cold and quite possibly not safe, and without the only companion she’d brought out here.
She could try and find her way back to the path, but the sun had set hours ago. She wasn’t exactly sure where the moon was in the sky but judging from ghostly blue rays of light it was almost directly above her and useless as a guide.
As Sunny’s mind fished for a third option to save herself, she caught the sound of rustling leaves off to her right.
Her eyes opened and her head turned in one snapping motion to the sound, all with a whimper of worry.
Then all the anxiety in Sunny’s chest flowed out of her when she made out a vaguely familiar silhouette, complete with a flowing mane and a single long horn.
“Izzy?” Sunny asked the shadow, and the shadow giggled in response.
“Oh gosh I am so lucky you found me,” Sunny said, the words tumbling out with a laugh. “I got turned around and—”
The shadow darted off, and anxiety flooded Sunny’s lungs again. “Hey, wait!” she called out and bolted after it.
The soft earth and slippery stones lead to Sunny’s hooves sliding, and she didn’t get up to speed as quickly as she would like. Fortunately the giggling shadow was having similar issues as its hooves slid this way and that when it manoeuvred around a bundle of roots or a gnarled looking bush.
“Izzy, slow down!” Sunny yelled.
The shadow turned its head but didn’t heed Sunny’s words. Instead, to Sunny’s surprise, something sprouted from the figure’s back. With two quick beats of the new limbs the figure took off upward.
With her head turned skyward, Sunny didn’t see the thick tangle of bushes and roots ahead of her. One second she saw the canopy and the shadow soaring above her, then the next she was in shadow with leaves and twigs and stones all poking painfully at her sides and chest.
The lurching feeling of the world falling from beneath Sunny filled her gut as she continued to tumble through the foliage. Her own shrieks and yelps echoed off the trees, while Sunny shut her eyes tight.
It felt like a minute to Sunny, but it was likely only a few seconds until she came to a sudden stop. She was sore, but nothing screamed in pain at her like she expected a broken bone might. Nevertheless she remained prone on the ground and groaned while she opened her eyes up again.
A bright light hurt her eyes, and she snapped them shut again.
Even with her eyes shut, the light bled through them. It was consistent and unchanging, and unlike the faint rays of the moon it was comfortably hot.
With a confused noise, Sunny opened her eyes again, taking care to open them slowly and let them adjust.
As her her eyelids peeled they revealed a wonderflly familiar sight. She saw the smooth, brick road of the seaside boulevard back home, and the red brick archway above it. To her left were the homes and businesses she had grown up around, proudly drinking in the heat of the summer sun.
That couldn’t be right, Sunny knew. She must be injured, and what she saw was just a hallucination. There was no way she could be home, or for the sun to be up.
With a few quick pats over her scalp and neck, Sunny confirmed she had no head wounds. There was no blood, on wet or cold feelings or the bump of a scrape or a cut.
As she pondered over her situation, a shadow loomed over Sunny. She glanced up at its owner, and Izzy beamed down at her.
“Hi new friend!” declared Izzy, triumphantly.
Puzzlement filled Sunny’s head, pulling her lips into a thin smile. She’d already done this yesterday. She recalled the excitement overriding her fear as she leapt to her feet at the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity of meeting a unicorn.
Right that moment, Sunny was as far as she could be from excited.
“Your face is kinda cute looking shaped like that,” Izzy said, then set her jaw and furrowed her brow to a crease above her nose, presumably copying Sunny’s expression. A second later Izzy snorted and smiled again.
Blinking, Sunny rose to her hooves. She leaned in, sniffed, and Izzy’s fresh earth smell filled her nose. Another blink, and Sunny slowly walked around Izzy who, to Sunny’s further surprise and delight, kept perfectly still.
“What’chu doing?” Izzy asked, tilting her head back and letting her curly blue locks bunch up over her shoulders.
“I’m uh…” Sunny fell silent, and considered her next words. It wasn’t a long thought. She could either admit she was confused or enjoy the moment.
She decided on the latter.
“I’m just enjoying the view” Sunny said, firing off a grin back at Izzy. The unicorn giggled, bringing a hoof in front of her face as she shifted to look over her, tracking Sunny along.
“I haven’t met a lot of unicorns. Any, in fact.” Sunny came to a stop in front of Izzy. “But I’d say you’re the prettiest of them.”
Another giggle bubbled out of Izzy’s throat. “Wow, where did all this come from.”
“I dunno,” Sunny admitted. “Just feels right, like I should have said that earlier.”
Izzy leaned in, letting her eyelids droop down, and Sunny mirrored her. They stared at one another for a few minutes, then Sunny flared her nostrils and breathed out. An intense urge, a feeling she hadn’t anticipated overwhelmed her. It pulled her eyes down to Izzy’s lips, thinned in her grin but still so gorgeous. That urge pushed Sunny forward. Something similar must have nudged Izzy too, and the pair close the gap between them, right until they—
A snapping twig jerked Sunny’s head up, and the forest came into view.
Peach sunlight drifted through the trees and illuminated the foliage around them. The stream quietly babbled away, and Izzy let out a sleepy murmur from her place on the other side of the dead campfire
“Ah.” The noise escaped Sunny’s mouth before she could stop it, though aside from a little in Izzy’s ears it seemed Sunny hadn’t disturbed her.
The vivid image of the dream lingered in Sunny’s mind as she lay back down. She kept her eyes on Izzy, and the urge from the night remained ever present in her chest, flooding into her limbs and warming her cheeks.
Lowering her voice to a mumble, Sunny spoke again, entirely to herself. “I’m going to need to do something about that.”