A warm bath did wonders for the body, but what cleansed the mind? Applejack pondered this question on her bed. She scratched at the fresh bandages wrapped over her healing bite wounds. The Apple family had gone to bed shortly after AJ bathed, but she refused to rest.
Sleep brought out nightmares.
The darkness was a predator that watched patiently. It hungered to consume Applejack’s memories. She sorted through her thoughts and found the bite marks that the darkness left behind. There was a pattern to the damage within her mind. Somehow, whenever she fell asleep, the darkness took another piece of her. AJ would then awaken with a lost sense of time, and her mind would be further broken.
There was no escape from the darkness. No way to fight it.
The only defense she had was to remain awake.
AJ opened her nightstand drawer and checked her clock. It was four minutes after ten. She slowly rose from her bed, picked up the Smarty Pants doll from the floor, and crept out of her room quietly. The house interior was pitch-dark, for the moon was concealed behind thick ominous storm clouds. However, AJ lived here long enough that she could find her way to any room without sight.
She recalled how she used to sneak down into the kitchen for a late night snack when she was a filly.
The darkness watched silently as Applejack snuck across the creaking floorboards. She walked to the guest room at the end of the hall with soft steps so as not to awaken her family. AJ wasn’t sure if either of her parents were light sleepers, but then again, she wasn’t sure which room they were sleeping in. She carefully opened the guest room door and slipped inside. Once the door was closed, she made her way toward the bed.
AJ’s eyes had adjusted enough in the dark to make out a figure on the bed. “Psst, Zecora,” she whispered as she poked the form with the doll. “I need you to get up.”
The body stirred. “Hmm? Applejack?” she asked. “Is that you sneaking up on my back?”
“Keep it down,” AJ said softly. She was glad Zecora was easy to awaken. “I’m sorry, but I need a huge favor from you, like right now.”
Zecora slowly sat up on the bed. “A favor at this hour?” she asked. “What strange request has you so dour?”
“I need you to accompany me to the barn,” AJ explained. “There’s somethin’ I have to find and it might be related to the invisible thing that attacked you earlier today. I know it sounds weird, but there was a voice that told me to do this. I have a hunch it knows what’s going on.”
Zecora remained silent for a long moment. She then uttered the only response AJ had ever heard from her that wasn’t in the form of a rhyme. “Okay,” Zecora whispered with curiosity.
Applejack fumbled around the nightstand drawer for matches. She found a book of them and picked one out with her teeth. The orange pony struck the match against the drawer and lit the candle that sat on the nightstand. The candle’s soft yellow glow illuminated the room.
“Follow me,” AJ urged her friend. “I’ll explain more outside.” She put Smarty Pants on her back and grabbed the candle’s base by the handle with her teeth. She slowly crept back out of the guest room.
The candle’s light created eerie shadows off the hallway picture frames as AJ led Zecora down the hallway. The orange pony tried not to think about the dark forms that danced around her and focused on the ground in front of her hooves.
The two friends slowly descended the creaky stairs to the living room. The only noises heard were the creaks of wooden floor beneath them and the grandfather clock in the corner.
Tick, tick, tick, tick…
Applejack opened the front door carefully to keep the squeaky hinges quiet. Once outside, they walked together over to the nearby barn. Once they were a good distance from the house, Zecora leaned to Applejack and whispered a question.
“What is this voice that came to light,” the zebra asked with a yawn, “That would have us out at this time of night?”
AJ put the candle down before she motioned to the doll she carried on her back. “Please don’t think me weird for sayin’, but I heard an itty-bitty voice before dinner, like, from this here doll,” she explained. “It said somethin’ akin to me runnin’ out of time to fix a mistake.”
Zecora gave the doll a hard look. “What mistake did it ask you to undo, before your time was completely through?”
“It didn’t say,” AJ answered, “But it told me to get a diary of my papa from the barn. I don’t reckon my papa ever did have a diary, but I think this voice knows what’s going on.” AJ took in a deep breath.
“Look, my parents died years ago. I know that you saw them right there in the house, and every pony says they’re just swell, but I remember differently. Yes, it’s crazy and I can’t explain why, but… I honestly believe that my mind is right about this.”
The zebra pondered AJ’s explanation for a moment. “I admit it’s a strange tale for me to conceive,” Zecora said, “But my instincts as well want to believe. Spirits are not ghosts, they are real folk. If this one is sincere, then this is no joke. I will help you on this quest, this I promise you. Together we’ll uncover which memory is true.”
AJ nodded with a smile. “Thanks, Zecora.” She picked up the candle and resumed her pace.
The two friends reached the barn and Applejack opened one of the large doors that led inside. She put the candle down and handed the doll off to Zecora. AJ picked up a small lantern that sat just inside the barn doorway. AJ opened it up and caught several fireflies that slowly hovered around the nearby bushes.
“Alright, four ought to be enough,” AJ said as she closed the lantern lid. The fireflies lit up brighter and gave of a light comparable to the candle.
“Watch my back from down here while I go up to the rafters. There are a few boxes of old keepsakes up there, so it’s a good place as any to start.”
Zecora nodded and stepped inside the barn to watch for trouble. Applejack climbed up the ladder with the lantern held between her teeth. It was still quite dark and AJ was not as familiar with the layout of the floor up here. She crept carefully along the narrow walkway to avoid falling from this height.
The shadows slowly moved along with the light from the fireflies. Applejack reached a stack of boxes and put the lantern down to rummage through the items within. She found some old farm tools, a few toys that were hers as a filly, and an old family photo album she didn’t recognize. AJ decided to look at the photos to satisfy her curiosity.
The pictures inside were not of the Apple family, but of the various livestock that lived on the farm. AJ flipped through the faded images within the book. There was a sepia photo of when Bramley first purchased the cows Daisy Jo and Mooriella, an event AJ vaguely remembered as a filly. Another old photo showed the birth of Piggington, the farm sow, during a county fair.
The next page had sketches of the Everfree Forest and notes written by both Bramley and Cara that described some kind of clock key.
Applejack had just stumbled upon something she never knew about her parents.
The description read that the key was made of silver and had a square-shaped bow at the end. AJ was unable to read the next part as the light from the fireflies faded. She looked over at the lantern and saw a thin sheet of frost that crept up the glass casing.
The fireflies froze to death.
The cold chill rose from the lantern and brushed up against AJ’s leg. She recoiled from the icy touch as frost poured out and slithered toward the orange pony like a sidewinder pursuing a mouse. AJ grabbed the album and fumbled her way through the dark. The cold presence followed her and nipped at her heels. The frost gained on Applejack as it froze each step in her gallop for the ladder. She tried to follow Zecora’s candle light, but it was not enough to see the floor’s layout.
AJ’s left fore-hoof failed to find the next floorboard and the orange pony tumbled downwards. She reached out into the shadows and caught an unseen hanging rope with her hooves, but in the sudden jolt that stopped her fall, the book fell out of her grasp. The album hit the hay-covered floor below with an unnaturally loud thud.
“Zecora! Grab the book!” AJ yelled out.
The zebra ran to the book and lifted it up. “I have the book near, let us escape from here!”
Applejack felt the air grow cold as the chill slithered down the rope towards her. She swung from the rope in the direction she hoped the ladder was. There a moment of free-fall as her hoofs cut through the empty darkness. She collided abruptly with the ladder and several rungs slapped her legs as she tumbled downward. AJ reached out to the ladder, but her grip was fleeting. She met the ground back-first and sharp pain jolted across her body. AJ staggered to her hooves and raced out the barn door with a painful limp.
The icy form leaped down and splattered on the ground like a wet snowball. AJ heard it slither behind her like a snake.
Applejack and Zecora threw their items to the ground outside. With a mighty shove they slammed the barn door closed. The frost hit the door with the force of a charging bull. The two friends braced for a second hit, but it never came. The cold presence had vanished as if it was never there. The air was empty of any ambient sound.
Zecora slowly stepped back from the barn door. “Oh mama roho," she whispered in her native tongue. "What a terrible chilling bite. That was a spirit filled with burning spite.”
“Sure was awfully cold for burnin’ spite,” Applejack replied weakly. “I reckon that was our strange invisible force though.” She stretched her sore back and grunted as the stabbing pain in her bite wounds flared up and then eased off to a dull ache. A few of the wounds had opened again and bled into the bandages. AJ sat down and caught her breath.
“Did you get the book?” she asked Zecora.
Zecora picked the book up off the ground and gave it to her friend. AJ wiped the dust off the cover and opened the album to the page of notations and sketches. There were quite a few pages like it, but many of the pages appeared to be about other places. This album was some kind of adventuring journal. AJ had to doubt if this book even belonged to her father. Ma and pa had never spoken of any of these stories.
However, what if they retired from adventuring before they had children? Was there more to her parents than she knew?
Tap, tap.
Zecora struck her hoof against the candle twice. Sparks jumped out of the candle’s wick and the flame lit up once more.
“Well there’s a hoofy spell to know,” AJ muttered as she scanned the pages. “Alright, this book is what that voice asked me to find. Unfortunately, I don’t know what it is I’m supposed to look for.”
“Find the key,” a small voice whispered.
Applejack nudged Zecora. “There, that’s the voice!” AJ said excitedly. “You heard it, right?”
The zebra nodded as she looked around for the source of the voice, but there was no one around except for her and Applejack. The two friends looked back down at the book. Fresh ink appeared on the page in the form of words as if written by some unseen quill.
AJ read the words aloud. “Find the key with the square bow and you shall unlock the door of time.”
“A door of time, unlocked by a key?” Zecora asked the book quietly, “What key unlocks time, could you please tell me?”
The magical ink disappeared from the page and then the book flipped itself over to the drawing of the small key AJ saw earlier. Zecora’s eyes grew wide.
“I found a key like this some time ago,” the zebra whispered to AJ. “It’s made of silver and has a square bow.”
Applejack looked up at Zecora with a surprised expression. “You found this key right here?”
“Yes, it was dropped on the forest floor,” the zebra responded, “And I took it home in case I found its door.”
“Well then there’s no time to waste,” AJ said eagerly as she got up. “Let’s get that key, lickity split!”
Zecora hesitated. “Shouldn’t we wait for the morning’s light?” she questioned. “The Everfree is most dangerous during the night.”
“No can do, sugar cube,” Applejack replied. “Like this voice said, I’m runnin’ out of time. I can feel my mind slippin’ every time I try and think. I don’t dare even sleep anymore or I might find myself in another day of the week.” She looked down at the page and had one more thought cross her mind.
“I got a good question for you,” she said to the book. “Just who are you anyway? You got a name?”
The book came to life and flipped the pages toward the end. Each page flew faster and faster than the last until finally the book’s back cover slammed shut. AJ and Zecora silently leaned closer to the album. The back cover slowly opened up again, and glued to the book’s last page was an old torn piece of parchment.
Zecora moved the candlelight closer for AJ to read it aloud.
“I regret building that infernal contraption! No mortal was meant to rend the anchor that roots him to the flow of time. To remove one’s self from the anchor will only drown the fool under the crashing waves of causality. The mind simply cannot survive in the flow, and I fear it is too late to save your Prince Horos.”
“I have burned all my notes on this matter, and at dawn I shall return to my tower and retrieve Spell Driver to undo my creation. Do not attempt to stop me.”
“Sincerely, Starswirl”
While the word ‘causality’ sounded like gibberish, the name in the signature sounded very familiar to Applejack. Where did she hear that name before? AJ dug deep into her scattered memories for the answer, but was met by pain and blank thoughts. She refused to give up and continued to ponder the name until Zecora shook her out of the trance.
“Didn’t Twilight dress as Starswirl on Nightmare Night?” the zebra asked. “Her dress was very detailed and quite a sight.”
“Of course!” AJ responded with clarity. “Starswirl the Bearded! Twilight dressed up as him two years ago. He was one of them powerful wizards Twilight admired.” Applejack just realized that if Starswirl was involved, then she dealt with magic that was very old and complex.
“We might need to get Twilight involved in this later, but first let’s rustle up that key.”
AJ and Zecora hobbled over to the farm’s tool shed. They were about to embark through the Everfree Forest late at night, noticeably injured, and with a possible unseen force that awaited them at Zecora’s home. It was a fool’s errand, but Applejack was stubborn enough to defy the odds.
She also had a few sharp tools in that shed that defied odds better than her stubbornness.
~ ~ ~
The lantern’s light struggled to illuminate the forest as it ran low on fuel. Applejack stopped by a fallen tree to set it down. She retrieved a small flask of oil from the saddlebag she wore and refilled her only light source. The small flame quickly perked up with renewed brightness.
Zecora watched the area for movement, but saw nothing around them. The trip through the Everfree was deathly quiet. Something malevolent in the woods had driven away the wildlife from this area. The zebra brushed a hoof against the pommel of the dagger Applejack gave her. The blade showed signs of rust, but it was still as sharp as the day it was forged.
“How close do you reckon we are to your place?” AJ asked as she put the oil flask away.
Zecora looked down the dark trail. “We should be very close to my front door,” she responded, “Past these bushes and another fifty steps more.”
“Then we best be on our way,” AJ said. She gave Zecora a grateful smile. “Thanks again for coming along with me. I really hope that this doesn’t all turn out to be a disappointment.”
“I saw the ice and I heard the voice,” the zebra responded, “So believing in you is my own clear choice.”
Applejack picked up the lantern and resumed walking. She had a visible limp in her stride, but it did not bother her much. She and Zecora pushed past a patch of thick bushes and crossed a short clearing to a large, hollow tree. It had carved windows and an oak door as if it were a cabin. It was Zecora’s home, but the place was overrun by thick green vines. There appeared to be no source for the vines. They wrapped around from all directions like a mysterious dark green web. AJ smelled a faint copper scent in the area, but couldn’t place it.
The two friends pulled apart the vines to free the door. The sap-covered entrance creaked loudly as Zecora pushed it open. AJ put down the lantern and looked inside with the zebra. The round interior room was also covered in vines. The plants choked the furniture and wrapped around handles and knobs throughout the home. Even the bed up on the overhang was covered in vines. Zecora led the way in as she lit a set of four white candles on a nearby table.
“I’ll fetch the key and you watch my back,” the zebra said. “Be on the lookout for a chilly attack.” She smirked at the slight joke in her statement, but AJ could only sigh.
They walked over to a large wooden chest at the foot of a bookshelf. Zecora brushed the vines aside and opened the old chest. As she rummaged through the pile of knick-knacks, AJ looked at the vials that sat on the bookshelf. The labels on the vials were in a strange language, possibly Zecora’s native tongue.
AJ rubbed her sore shoulder as she looked around for signs of movement.
Drip, drip, drip, drip…
Something wet dribbled on the floor to AJ’s right. She brought the lantern closer and saw a puddle that was slightly thicker and murkier than water. As the substance continued to drip, the consistency reminded AJ of wet snot. It wasn’t raining outside, which meant that something lurked above her.
She looked up at the ceiling.
Applejack really, really wished she hadn’t looked up.
A colossal leafy bulb on the ceiling opened its maw and exposed rows of sharp thorns around its gum-line. AJ couldn’t form words from the fear that struck her in the throat. She swung a hoof at Zecora and slapped the zebra’s flank hard.
“What is the matter?” Zecora asked with concern as she turned around. “Is it the cold chill…” Zecora’s words trailed off as she looked up at the immense plant creature on her ceiling.
“Ni nini hii, sijui hata?!” she yelled out in her native tongue.
The gargantuan creature snapped at them hungrily. Applejack kicked the creature’s lips and backed up with Zecora. Vines along the nearby wall crawled forth and wrapped around their legs. The zebra struggled to break free as the vines dragged her closer to the plant creature, but AJ tore herself out of their grasp with her raw strength. The destroyed vines bled a black ichor as they quivered on the floor.
The orange pony ripped into the vines that held Zecora. Freed from the plants, the two galloped for the front door. The vines around the doorway covered the exit like a giant spider’s web. The zebra pulled out the knife and swung at the vines. Ichor splattered about as Zecora cut her way out.
The gargantuan creature reached out to snatch Applejack, but the orange pony kicked out a thorny tooth. The plant slammed its bulbous body against AJ. She tumbled backwards into a wall. Her mind was a haze of pain and blurry eyesight from the impact.
Zecora turned around and stabbed the colossal plant in the jaw. It shoved the zebra into the bleeding web of vines. The plants wrapped around Zecora’s legs and prevented her from swinging the dagger. She yanked at the vines to rip herself free, but the plants held her tightly. The gargantuan creature snatched Zecora in its mouth. The sharp thorns pierced the zebra’s body like steel needles. She let out a harrowing scream of pain which snapped Applejack out of the haze.
The orange pony grabbed a hatchet out of her saddlebag and ran for the ladder that led up the overhang. Vines slithered along the ground at her, but she leapt over their leafy grasps. AJ climbed up the ladder to the top of the overhang. The vines around the bed came to life and seized Applejack by her hind legs. She picked up the hatchet in her hooves and chopped at the vines. The plants squealed in pain and retreated as a black ichor splattered all over the walls and the orange pony. AJ cut her way to the end of the overhang.
She jumped off the edge and thrust the hatchet against the neck of the colossal plant creature. The blade struck deep and ichor oozed out of the plant as AJ hung from the handle. The gargantuan plant opened its maw and let out a gurgling shriek.
Zecora’s fore-legs were now free. She grabbed the dagger tightly and shoved it into the roof of the plant’s mouth. The creature retched the zebra out of its mouth along with a glob of snot-like substance. Zecora crashed against the table with the lit candles. The table fell over, zebra and all, and the dagger clattered loudly on the wooden floor beside Zecora’s head. The candles rolled around as their flames clung desperately to remain lit.
The colossal plant shook itself violently to throw Applejack off its neck. AJ’s shoulders burned with fatigue as she held on to the bucking creature, but her grip weakened. She slipped off the handle and flew through the air across the room. AJ collided with a wooden chair that shattered upon her impact.
The gargantuan plant snapped at the orange pony, but AJ rolled just out of its reach. She stumbled towards the lantern by the entrance and picked it up with both fore-hooves.
“You want a piece of me?!” AJ yelled out.
The colossal plant opened its maw to strike again and Applejack smashed the lamp against its thorny teeth. The lantern’s casing shattered open and the oil spilled out over the flame. The plant creature’s mouth burst into a hot blaze and it shrieked loudly. The fire illuminated the house brightly with jagged shadows. Flames hungrily consumed the bulbous creature and burned away its leafy flesh. The colossal plant wilted away to a blackened husk before AJ’s eyes and died with a final gasp of breath.
The last vestiges of black ichor and ash dripped from its neck-like stem as the room grew dark. The only light remaining were the four candles Zecora had lit earlier.
AJ scrambled over to her friend. The zebra bled upon the floor in immense pain. Her legs were badly punctured and twitched uncontrollably. Applejack rolled Zecora onto her back and wiped some of the snot-like substance off her face. The orange pony waved a hoof over the zebra’s eyes for her attention.
“Zecora, please tell me you got some medicine around here to heal you,” AJ said anxiously.
The zebra strained to reply. “Uponyaji dawa,” she gasped with a nod to a nearby shelf.
AJ hobbled over to the collection of jars and bottles that sat on a bookcase. The containers were all labeled in Zecora’s fancy language. The orange pony focused hard to read the writing in the dark. She made out the words ‘pony ai dawa’ among the scribbles on a small clay bottle and grabbed it eagerly.
“Well, it’s got ‘AJ’ in there,” she remarked to herself. Applejack limped back quickly to the zebra and pulled the cork off the bottle. A putrid stench of raw egg hit her nostrils. She nearly threw up, but AJ held in her stomach’s contents.
Zecora grabbed a nearby candle with her shaking hooves and shoved it into her own mouth as AJ poured the milky-white liquid over the wounds. The medicine bubbled upon the zebra’s wounds like batter on a hot skillet. Zecora bit hard into the candle, her eyes covered in tears from the searing pain of the liquid.
The fizzling medicine worked fast and in a few seconds the wounds were covered in hard scabs.
Zecora spat out the candle as she wheezed for breath. “Thank… you…” she faintly whispered.
AJ put the bottle down and pressed the cork back in to stem the awful smell. She nodded back to her friend. “Yeah, likewise,” she whispered back. “You goin’ to be alright?”
“Yes, I will survive this night,” the zebra weakly replied. “Now find your key, and we can make things right.”
Applejack limped over to the chest Zecora had searched earlier before the attack. She rummaged through the trinkets within and found the small silver key. It was tiny and quite tarnished with age. AJ pondered over this seemingly insignificant object and how it would help them.
She walked back over to Zecora and showed the key.
“You reckon this is the thing?” AJ asked.
Zecora slowly succumbed to exhaustion. She nodded wearily as her eyelids slowly crept down. AJ rolled up a nearby rug and placed the zebra’s head on it for support.
“Get some rest,” AJ whispered. “I’ll get us home safely.”
Applejack placed the key inside her saddlebag and then rummaged through the house. Her idea was to build a sled and use it to drag Zecora back to the farmhouse. The lantern was destroyed, but Zecora had plenty of candles around the home to bundle together and use to light their way home.
“Now, I just need something to cut a couple poles with,” AJ pondered.
The hatchet up on the wilted stem fell and struck blade-down into a nearby wooden floorboard. Applejack jumped back in fright from the sharp tool.
“Don’t do that!” she hissed at the hatchet.
~ ~ ~
The darkness that surrounded the woods parted from the path of Applejack and the bright cluster of a dozen lit candles. She had glued the candles to a tin plate and then used string to wear the whole thing like a hat. She was content with her idea, although the occasional drip of hot wax upon her scalp reminded her that it was far from perfect.
Applejack slowly limped her way home through a trail in the Everfree. She dragged along a makeshift sled that carried Zecora and the healing medicine upon it. The shadows danced around the trees as the orange pony passed them, almost as if the dark figures celebrated AJ’s victory over the colossal plant creature. She was tired, cold, and in pain, but as long as she was awake, the darkness could not take her mind.
The woods remained eerily silent. There was not a single chirp, hoot, or croak in the air. The only noises were from the dragged sled and the rolling thunder in the distance. A storm was coming, and it sounded massive.
As AJ pulled the sled along by the rein in her mouth, she thought about what the ‘door of time’ was that the spirit mentioned earlier. The key for it was a physical object, so logically the door should also be physical. Otherwise AJ didn’t know how to interact with it. she wished that vocal spirit would speak to her again, but it had not contacted her after it revealed what the key looked like, and that worried AJ.
There was a rustle in the trees behind Applejack. She turned around and felt that something watched her, but there was nothing visible among the many branches above. The rustling moved again and AJ caught the glimpse of a shadow that fell to the ground with a soft thud. She spat out the reins and drew out the dagger.
AJ moved to stand over Zecora’s body protectively.
The fact that AJ hoped that it was just a timberwolf proved how dire the situation was in her mind. There were worse things in the Everfree, and she was in no condition to fight them.
The unseen shadow circled around as AJ tried to follow it. Her breath became visible as the very air she breathed grew cold. Zecora stirred awake from the chill, but was too groggy to see anything but blurry shapes.
“Applejack, are we in danger?” she asked. “I can sense the presence of that cold stranger.”
“Shh!” AJ interrupted. “It’s circling us.” The dagger quivered in her hooves as she strained her eyes to see something in the darkness.
A force collided with her from behind and shoved AJ to the ground. She dropped the dagger, but kept her head up so that she wouldn’t lose the candle lights too. Applejack scrambled to get up, but the unseen attacker struck her again in the ribs. Applejack fumbled around to remain standing and a third blow hit her in the hip. She was unable to fight against the invisible force. She reached for the dagger on the ground, but the weapon bolted away from her and landed in a bush.
AJ grabbed a fallen branch and scurried over to Zecora. The orange pony lit the stick with the candle flames and stubbornly tried to locate the invisible force again.
“This is making me all beer and skittles,” AJ grumbled as something rustled to her left. “How am I supposed to fight something I can’t see?”
“You must center your focus, and block those fears,” Zecora whispered to her. “Now close your eyes and use those ears.”
“Close my eyes?” AJ questioned the zebra. “How is that going to help?” The force struck her in the face and AJ staged backwards into a tree. Four of the candles went out as she collided with the hard wooden trunk. Applejack dropped the lit branch on the ground before her.
“If it’s invisible,” Zecora explained, “Then discard your sight. You have four other senses with which to fight!”
AJ took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She felt her heart pounding in her chest and her mouth tasted like dry sand. The burning smell of the branch in front of her filled the air, but AJ’s ears… her ears heard the fire go out in a sizzle as if something smothered it.
She snatched at the branch and pulled it out from under a small weight. Something fell backwards onto the ground. Applejack spun the heavy branch around like a bat and swung with all her might. The branch shattered against an unseen object, the wind cried out in pain, and a chunk of ground in the distance burst into the air from an impact.
AJ opened her eyes. The invisible force crawled away from the small crater it made on the ground. The orange pony dropped the remains of the branch and grabbed the reins of the sled. She pulled hard and hobbled down the trail back home as fast as her tired legs could carry her.