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// Coming Ashore 
// Story: Beyond 
// by Jay David 
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The instant Flurry had called out what she'd seen, everycreature was on deck. Pumpkin, Pound, Spike and the young alicorn were all assembled together, staring out at what was, undeniably, land. There were smiles on all of them, even Pound, completely overturning the dour mood that had overtaken the ship in the time prior. They simply stood there, looking out together as the wind and the currents brought the Silver Oak closer and closer. The land ahead grew larger with every passing minute, and before long they had a good opportunity to get a real and proper look at it. There was a beach of course, but far from the gentle sands of the ones back home, this one was stony from one end to the other. But it soon became apparent that the biggest draw of the eye was not the stones, but the trees. There was a vast forest, stretching as far as the eye could see. But these were not the familiar, broad-leafed examples of Equestria, but tall and imposing conifers. Never before had any of them seen trees as big as those, giving a very clear sense of age to this new place. So dense was the forestry that little could be seen through it, save for more trees of course. After having been content with just looking at it all, Pumpkin soon shivered. "Is it me, or did it just get colder?"

A quick glance around the area showed that there was indeed a cool mist abound, and even Spike, fire-breather though he was, began rubbing his own arms. "Makes sense. Coasts at this time of morning. Hasn't had a chance to get warm yet."

Pound looked to him. "We should probably think about getting the ship moored."

Spike nodded to him, then stretched out his wings and flapped, flying over the rails and heading over to the edge of the forest. He landed next to one of the larger trees, giving it a quick pat before looking satisfied. "Yep, I'd say they're definitely strong enough."

With their own wings outstretched, both Flurry and Pound grabbed hold of some strong rope on the deck, which had already been tied to one of the rails of the vessel, before flying over to meet with their draconic friend. Together, all three tied the rope around the tree, securing the Silver Oak. But, for good measure, Pumpkin lowered the anchor to keep it in place in this impromptu harbour they'd made for themselves. "There. That oughta do it," she declared confidently. Then, in a move that resulted in her brother giving himself a facehoof, Pumpkin jumped off the edge of the boat. After landing in the water with a big splash, she soon remerged, laughing boisterously as she paddled over to the shoreline. She shook vigorously to dry herself before smiling widely to the rest of them. "Look at this! Swimming in new water!" Then, she took in a lungful of air. "Breathing in new air!" She jumped up and down in place. "Standing on new ground!" Rushing past the rest, she looked on in awe at the forest. "It's all so...so...so..."

"New?" Pound finished for her.

The young mare turned to her brother, giving a slight pout. "Come oooooooon, Pound! How can you not be more excited about this?!"

Pound stood beside her, offering her a smaller smile than what she was giving. "I am excited, Pumpkin. But we can't lose sight of other things. Our supply situation hasn't changed, so we'll need to think about that. And even then, we're in a wholly different part of the world. We're going in blind here, and we need to be ready for whatever we're going to encounter."

Spike sighed as he folded his arms. "Pound's right. Our first job needs to be to find fresh water." He looked left and right, along all of the coastline that they could see from here. "Sooner or later, we'll probably find the mouth of a river. Move further along it and we'll get to fresher water to replenish." Pumpkin seemed at least a little disappointed that she couldn't indulge in her giddiness right now, but accepted what was being said by way of a silent nod. After nodding back to her, Spike spoke up again. "Still, with all that said, I'll bet you're pretty pleased to have your dream be proved tr...Flurry?" His expression became one of concern as he looked to his niece, as did everycreature else. Her knees were wobbling, and her horn was flickering slightly with magic. She'd shut her eyes tightly and was breathing heavily, prompting Spike to rush over to her. "Flurry! What's wrong?! Are you alright?!"

After almost a full minute of being this way, the princess was now breathing in a calmer way, opening her eyes again and speaking, albeit in a manner that suggested some degree of tiredness. "Yeah, I'm...I'm fine."

Just to be on the safe side, Spike gently led her over to one of the larger rocks nearby, giving her a place to sit on. As Flurry recovered, Pumpkin walked over to her. "What the heck was that?"

Flurry shook her head. "I...I'm not sure." She glanced over her shoulder, to the forest. "Auntie Twilight always told me that we alicorns have...senses. A feeling for magic and the general aura of the world around us." She looked back to her friends. "It's part of the reason why we can see things sometimes, like my dreams of this place. But the aura here, it's...it feels...different. It's not like the feeling I get in Equestria."

Pound looked to her, then to the nearby trees. "We never considered it, but maybe magic in other parts of the world just work differently to what we're used to back home? Different rules?" A thought then came to him, and he looked over to his sister. "And you? You use magic too. Do you get any kind of bad feeling here?"

Pumpkin considered that. "Well...I did feel colder before the rest of you, but besides that...no, I guess not." She chuckled. "Figures you alicorns would have a leg up on us unicorns about that stuff."

Flurry smiled, yet still frowned. "Yeah, well, on days like these, I'd rather not." After taking a few more breaths, she seemed to recover, leading to her standing up again. Spike was close, ready in case anything happened, but Flurry raised her hoof to him in reassurance. "I'm fine, Spike. I just...needed to attune myself, I guess."

Spike looked to her, waiting a few moments to see if there was any kind of relapse. When he was certain there wouldn't be, he breathed a sigh of relief. With that matter settled, he looked up, to the sky, before stretching out his wings again. Up he went, climbing to greater and greater altitudes, before eventually stopping. He looked in all directions, save for the ocean they'd just come from, before descending once more. After having landed, he placed his claws upon his hips before addressing the group. "Okay, I think I spotted a river mouth some distance away. It'll be about an hour's walking to get there."

Flurry nodded. "And the forest?"

"Goes on and on and on," Spike answered. "I don't think I've ever seen one as expansive as this. Not even the Everfree."

Pumpkin broke out into a grimace. "Ugh, I don't even wanna think about this place being like the Everfree." She turned to her brother. "Remember all those scary stories Auntie Pinkie used to tell us about it on Nightmare Nights?"

Pound shivered slightly. "I couldn't sleep for a week after some of them."

Spike smiled to them. "Don't worry, I don't think we're gonna meet up with any Cockatrices or Manticores this far from our homeland."

"No," Flurry began. "But...we will meet something." All of them turned to her, seeing that she was apparently fixated on what was in front of her. When they followed her gaze, they saw that it was on one of the larger rocks, just on the edge where the beach met the forest. Their eyes widened, for they swiftly understood her behaviour. For there, upon the surface of the rock, was etchings of some description. Words. Writing. Not natural, they knew that much, and all four of them began to congregate around it and stare at the markings for a good long while. After that silence, Flurry looked to them all, speaking what they all knew had to be said. "There's somebody out here."

All of them were stunned by this revelation, all looking to each other silently, as if hoping somecreature would speak first. Thankfully, that role fell to Pumpkin, who soon developed a wide smile over the matter. "Well, this is good, right? Not only do we have a new land to explore, but we've got new people to meet! That's pretty exciting if you ask me!"

Pound shook his head slightly. "We need to tread carefully, Pumpkin. We might have just stumbled on something delicate here."

Pumpkin looked to her brother with slight annoyance. "Seriously? What's the downside this time?"

Pound looked to her and frowned. "Look, I'm as thrilled as you are that we're not alone out here. But step into the horseshoes of whoever's living here. As far as they're concerned, a bunch of complete strangers have just come out of nowhere and started walking around their homeland, completely uninvited." Then, he turned to Flurry. "If we meet anybody during this trip, the first thing we'll need to do is convince them that we're not a danger to them."

But Pumpkin merely rolled her eyes. "You really think things are gonna be as tense as that? Don't forget where we come from, bro. Back in Spike's day, people used to be at each others' throats all the time. Changelings, Dragons, Yaks, you name it. But then look at what happened. Friendship after friendship after friendship. If it can happen back there, it can happen here."

"I want to believe that, Pumpkin," Flurry assured her friend with a soft tone. "But there's still a lot we don't know. We'll have to play it by ear, and if we meet up with anyone out here, we can decide then how we're going to handle things."

Spike nodded. "Agreed. One thing at a time. For now, we have the more immediate concern of water."

Pound glanced over to the Silver Oak. "The ship should be safe enough to stay here for the time being without being watched, and frankly I don't like the idea of us splitting up right now."

His sister beamed to him, nudging him playfully in the side. "Alrighty then! Hiking trip to the river it is!"

Spike looked again to Flurry. "Are you gonna be okay for that?"

The princess smiled back to him. "I'll be fine Spike. I'll let you know if this place is getting to me again."

He watched her for a second or two, then quietly nodded, satisfied by her answer, at least for now. So, with the plan set, the quartet was off, making a good pace along the stony shore towards the river they'd spotted. But, unbeknownst to the four of them, within the darkness beneath the forest's canopy, two pairs of piercing eyes watched as they made their way. One looked with curiosity, the other with suspicion, and in the gloom of those trees, the former spoke first. "Brother...what are they?"

"I know not, save that they are not of our lands," the other replied.

"No creature has ever come from across the Great Waters before. I thought such a thing impossible," the first voice added.

"Clearly, it is not," the second replied firmly. "We will watch them. Stick to the shadows, make no sound, never let them out of our sight." 

"And then?"

A silence, then the second voice gave the answer. "That depends on them. If they heed the stone's warning, remain beyond our woods, we will leave them be, and hope that they will go back to where they came from."

"And if they don't?"

A silence, followed by a low growl "Then...they will be prey."