Author's Note: This has been a real long time coming, but after a staggering three and a half month hiatus, we have finally returned to the main storyline! It feels good to be back, don't you agree? I'm really sorry about making you all wait so long, but just know I appreciate every single one of you out there reading this. Now it's time to fill that piece of me that's been missing. It is time for life to go on. Now, as I can never say enough, on with the story.
So, yeah... competition is still going on. Big shocker, I know. So far only Vine, Fleur, Dark, and Twilight have made any progress in heading towards the location of the third clue, but Vine and Fleur are still in the forest and Twilight's searching for Dark after Vine tossed him Celestia knows where. Well, it's actually still somewhere in the forest, but you get my point.
Speaking of random, unspecified areas in the forest, the grey duo of Fern and Thunderlane are blindly trying to find their way around as well with, as expected, no luck.
The couple pushes past some large leaves as Fern sighs heavily in both exhaustion and frustration. "This sucks. I'm a city pony. I've spent my life in bars at Canterlot and Las Pegasus. Me and forests don't mix." she complains.
Thunderlane smirks a bit at his disgruntled marefriend. "Heh, this coming from the second toughest mare in Ponyville?" he jokes.
"Second toughest? Who's the first?" she asks, eyeing him strangely.
"Vinetion. But that chick kinda scares me with those powers of hers." he answers in a somewhat worried tone.
I can't say I blame him.
Fern leans up against a tree as she looks out at the seemingly endless forest. "And she knows this place like the back of her hoof. I live in this place for crying out loud and can't remember more than my route home." she hangs her head down before turning to Thunderlane. "How long have we been out here anyway?"
He puts a hoof to his chin for a moment in contemplation for looking at her nonchalantly. "About twenty minutes."
Fern groans loudly in exasperation. "Feels like it's been at least an hour."
Thunderlane, ignoring her cries, turns around and squints his eyes. "I think I can still see Ponyville from here."
Before the bartender can continue her whi-I mean... yeah, it's whining. But before she can continue, she hears something from a few yards away. "Hey, you hear that?"
"Hear what, babe?" Thunderlane asks as he comes by her and pokes his ear out. "Yeah, it sounds like hoofsteps."
Fern's frown does a full one-eighty as she's relieved to have found salvation. "Yes! Finally, someone to help us out of here! Let's go! Come on!"
The two frantically weave past bushes and tree limbs, or rather Fern weaves while Thunderlane tries to keep up, as they reach an isolated hut with the forest's resident witch doctor, Zecora, preparing a brew in a cauldron outside.
The zebra stops as she notices the two approach and skid to a stop in front of her. "Well, this quite a surprise, I must say… I was not expecting any company today."
Fern and Thunderlane blink at each other in confusion before looking at one another. "You understand any of that?" Fern whispers to Thunder, not wanting to offend Zecora.
"I think she's trying to say hi." he answers before looking at the zebra mare. "Hey there. Sorry to just drop in on you. I'm Thunderlane and this is Fern."
"It is nice to meet you, Fern and Thunderlane. My name is Zecora and potions are my game." she happily replies.
Fern and Thunder are once again confused by the odd speech pattern, though why that is is anyone's guess.
Fern shakes her head as she looks at her with an innocent face. "Look, we're trying to find the royal pony sister's castle. Do you know where that is?"
Zecora grins at them reassuringly. "Of course I do, my dear Fern. Allow me to tell you which way to turn. First you go forward, make a turn at the cliff, then head straight. In no time at all, you will reach the castle gate."
Fern facehoofs as she begins to get frustrated at not understanding her phrasing. "Can you try saying that a little more clearly?" she says, obviously irritated.
Zecora's expression falls into a more saddened state by her tone. "I am not sure why you are acting this way. Most ponies I meet can understand what I say."
Fern groans again as she looks towards her coltfriend. "Might as well get comfy, Thunder. This is gonna take a while."
Indeed it will. To save us all the boredom, allow me to cut us over to another team. And who better than the hothead and airhead?
Over near the edge of the forest, Graze and Ditzy wander aimlessly, Graze looking, unable to shake a feeling he has, and Ditzy obliviously trotting along beside him.
While stopping in his tracks, Graze decides to ask Ditzy about what's bugging him. "Ditzy, do you know where you're going? This place looks awfully familiar, even for a forest that all looks the same."
Ditzy too stops as she begins to look around. "Hmm, I can't tell. Sometimes trees look wide or thin, or they'll look all slanted. Everything looks like it's melting into each other." she answers in a confused tone.
Graze's eyes widen as he notices Ditzy's own eyes. "Have your eyes been crossed this whole time?" he asks in worry.
"Have they?" she says before shaking her head and blinking. She smiles as the world around her stops looking like an abstract art piece. "Huh, I guess they were. Guess I was too focused on getting there to notice."
Graze facehoofs hard for her epic fail. "Great, so we're lost then."
Ditzy's normally cheery expression quickly drops to a fretful one as she waves her hooves out. "No no no, I know where we're going!" she quickly turns her head and smiles as she sees an opening. "Follow me. I think we're there."
Graze apprehensively follows her as they go out to the clearing. But once Ditzy reaches it, she becomes crestfallen as she sees nothing more than Ghastly Gorge.
Graze catches up with her and is also disappointed by the view. Ghastly Gorge? Oh man, we're on the complete opposite side of the forest."
Ditzy drops her head low to the ground in guilt. "I'm sorry, Graze. This is all my fault."
Graze can feel a twinge in his heart at seeing his marefriend so saddened. He places a reassuring foreleg around her shoulders. "Hey, don't worry, Bright Eyes. It's all right."
She sniffles a bit. "But what about winning the prize?" she asks, unsure why he's so cheery.
He throws a hoof out. "Meh, screw the prize. The real prize is getting to spend time with you."
Ditzy smiles brightly at him and giggles. "Aw, that's so sweet. Even if it was really cheesy."
Graze shrugs it off as he turns his head to face Ponyville. "Hey, you wanna go back to town and get some muffins while we wait for the others?"
Ditzy gasps as her mouth goes wide in excitement. "Did you say muffins? Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!"
The ecstatic mailmare bites off the ropes tying their wings down as the two take off to the skies. While up in the air, one of the hired pegasus enforcers jumps back a bit in surprise from seeing them before glaring at them.
"Hey, you two! Flying is strictly against the rules! You're both disqualified!"
Ditzy and Graze both smile warmly at each other and laugh. "That's the idea!" Graze shouts at him before waving. "Good luck! You're gonna need it for the others!"
And with that, the couple flies back to town, leaving the pegasus in a stupor. In stares at the two for a moment before shaking his head as he writes their name off the list.
"Ponies in this town, I swear."
I know, right? They're crazy.
But seriously, Graze quitting like that? Did not see that coming at all. Ah well. Less competition. Woo!
But getting back to the action, our friendly neighborhood fitness freaks, Drax and Spitfire, are surprisingly having an easy trek. Why does Drax seem to get everything?
While having an eventful walk there up till now, Spitfire decides to break the silence. "So, how do you think the others are holding up?"
Drax chuckles a bit at the ideas in his head. "Knowing them, Vine's probably in the lead, Dark is busy trying to figure out how to cheat, Rarity's throwing a hissy fit about the dirt, and the others are either lost or on their way there."
Spits laughs a bit at the remark. "Yeah, that sounds about right. How much longer do you think till we're there?"
Drax puts a hoof to his chin as he started to think. "Well, I don't know. We've been walking for a good bit, but it's pretty deep in here, so it may take another-"
"Five seconds?" Spitfire says happily.
"Five seconds? What are you-" Drax says in confusion before realizing there's a hundred hoof tall castle right across from him. "Oh... I see."
"So, how do you figure we get across the gorge?"
"Umm... the bridge?" Drax answers, stating the obvious.
Spits goes near the ancient bridge, noticing cracks in the plants and loose threads hanging off of the ropes. "I don't know, Drax. This thing looks beat to hay. You sure it'll hold? Especially you."
He walks beside her and inspects it for himself. "Well, we don't have much other choice. Tell ya what, you go out in front and I'll stay back in case you fall."
"But what about you?" she asks, raising an eyebrow.
"Heh, you kidding? I'll be fine. Trust me."
She looks back between him and the bridge a few times before reluctantly agreeing to it. "Okay, if you're sure."
The speedster mare takes a small step onto the first step, making a creaking noise under her weight. She starts to carefully move forward with Drax behind her. The entire area is completely silent as the two make extra sure not to do anything to upset the decrepit mess of wood and rope.
Spitfire gets near the end, but before she can get off, Drax suddenly breaks a plank in front of him as he starts to fall through head first. "Woah!" he screams.
"Drax!" Spitfire says as she turns around and leaps out. She grabs him by the hindlegs and ties to pull him up, but he is far too heavy for her. "You okay, Drax?"
He looks down at the rapids blow him before looking up. "Yeah, just hanging around."
"This isn't the time for jokes, Drax!" she yells.
"Sorry, been spending too much time around Blue."
He has learned well.
Spitfire sighs in annoyance. "How could this get any worse?" Just as she says that, the ropes holding the bridge up begin to slowly snap as Spitfire looks up at them. "Buck me. Why did I say that?"
I don't know, you tell me.
The bridge collapses under their weight causing the two crash down into the roaring river surrounding the castle. The current is too strong for them as they try to fight it and they are swept away.
I'm sure they'll be fine. This whole thing will just be water under the bridge when this is over.
I'm terrible, I know. But this contest is certainly far from over, and things are only getting crazier from here on out.
Author's Note: And there we have the real return to LGO. I hope you all enjoyed it, I know I certainly did.. Tell me what you thought in the comments down below. See you guys on the next installment. I promise not to take another month to get it done.