//------------------------------// // Time Ticks On // Story: Exposed // by Sandvich Brony //------------------------------// =====|]Exposed[|===== =====|]Chapter 4: Solstice[|===== The remaining weeks before the Summer Sun Celebration passed by fairly quickly. It was during these days that I made frequent trips to the edge of the forest just to get a look at something happening in town. Every day brought something new to my eyes. One morning, I found the ponies doing a complete town cleaning on a massive scale. On another day, I saw multiple ponies attempting a complex form of a human pyramid. Meanwhile, more ponies continued to pour in through just about every kind of transport imaginable. From the boarding platform on the train, from the ground in massive carriages and walking parties, and even from the air in planes with a similar design to the original Wright Bros. planes. In all, I went through the same routine pretty much every morning. Every day, I would wake up, I would go to the forest edge, I would see all the ponies coming into town and participating in the festivities... Then I would feel two things. Anxiety, and a sense of longing. I'm not sure why, but I honestly felt left out. Then again, it's one of the biggest celebrations of the year. And here I was, sitting in the middle of the Everfree Forest completely alone with no one to celebrate with. I mean sure, I had Zecora, but I don't think she'd understand. Usually, when thoughts like this start coming into my head, I immediately start pushing them out and start thinking of reasons why I shouldn't. Ranging from completely rational fears to the most outlandish things imaginable, each and every situation ended with me in the same place: Trapped with no path to freedom. In any case, I continued watching the days go by, all the while making preparations myself. The amounts of monster sightings had been increasing recently. I had no idea why they were, but I had to keep myself protected regardless. I set numerous traps around my camp, ranging from hidden pitfalls, to large nets hidden in the branches. To put it bluntly, the sightings decreased after they were set. Other preparations I made involved food. The monster sightings also meant more predators in the area. I set more snares in an attempt to try and catch more meat. The plan worked. Partially. I caught more, but I also found some of my snares completely destroyed by a monster having dropped by for a free meal. I also used more of my free time for hunting and foraging, either tracking animals or gathering roots and berries. Either way, I gathered a massive food store. Meanwhile, I continued to count down the days, time ticking off the days between me and the solstice. |===|===|-|===|===| I woke up in the morning in a cold sweat. My anxiety had been building over the last few weeks, and wasn't showing any signs of leaving any time soon. It was also meant many nights with little or no sleep at all, resulting in me being completely wiped out despite having just woken up. Ignoring my body's urgings to curl back up and sleep some more, I planted my hands under my back and sat up. Once the dizzy feeling left my head, I removed myself from my bed and stood. Now at my full height, I walked towards a nearby tree and lightly knocked my head against it. Now more awake, I walked to my cave and grabbed a piece of bread for a quick breakfast. Once every last crumb was gone, I turned to the wall of my cave that had my dry storage for my calendar. I found it helped quite a bit sometimes when you could tell what the date was. The date read June 20th I let that sink in for a second. The eve of the Summer Sun Celebration, today... I bolted for my equipment, put it on in record time, and ran for the nearest tree. Once in the branches, I didn't wait to make a decision on which branch to jump to next. I simply found a path through the branches and gunned it. Eventually, the line would end, making me pause briefly before finding a new line to travel. Regardless of which paths there were, I tried to choose the one that led towards the forest edge. If your were wondering about why I was rushing like this, I needed visual confirmation on the date. If I was correct, there should be something happening today that would be all I needed. I just hoped I wasn't too late to see it. Eventually, I reached my destination. I first looked downwards at the town. Nothing of interest caught my eye except for extra ponies wandering the streets. Frowning in disappointment, I lifted my gaze to the horizon. Scanning the skies yielded nothing, sadly. I turned to head back into the forest, when something caught my eye. I turned back around to get a better look to find what I had been searching for. A glint of light from a golden chariot, flying in towards Ponyville. Seeing this, I knew that the calendar wasn't lying. For some unknown reason, the pony responsible for making sure everything was going as planned showed up early in the morning on the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Who decided this, I have no idea. In any case, I now had my confirmation. I didn't stay any longer. The amount of ponies coming into town had dropped considerably during the last week, as well as the general activity level. I returned to my camp with mixed feelings. On one hand, the biggest event of the year was about to happen, and then everyone would go home. On the other hand, I had an extremely risky move to make, and it had to happen tonight. I just hoped nothing went wrong, or else I would have a hard time escaping...