//------------------------------//
// Chapter 2 
// Story: Betrothed and Betrayed 
// by Nightwings81 
//------------------------------//

	It was a full day and night’s ride from the Ponyville station to the train junction where they would set out north. In that time, Twilight Sparkle filled her friends in on more of the facts she had learned about Saddellia and showed them some of the treaty documents the princess and her advisors had written up.
“It’s all very simple really. If you look here, you can see that Celestia is not asking for any special favors, or even to declare that Equestria is superior to Saddellia—she just wants the Saddellians to stay on their own land and to leave her subjects alone. She’s asking for a truce agreement between the two countries and has even offered to open up trade routes through the mountains.”
“Trade? You mean pumpkins, right, Twi?” Lounging on one of the plush, red seats in the private car they shared, Applejack pulled a face and stuck out her tongue. Sitting across from her, Rainbow Dash laughed.
“What’s with you and this sudden hatred of pumpkins, AJ?”
The earth pony lifted her nose in the air. “Ah’m just a firm believer that only one kinda fruit belongs in a pie, thank you very much.”
“Okay, but isn’t a pumpkin a vegetable?” The pegasus lowered her ears as Applejack glared in her direction. “Well, I’m just saying…”
“Whatever…fruit, vegetable, it makes no matter. Ah just wish this wasn’t all so last minute or Ah coulda arranged to bring them some nice, young apple saplin’s as a gesture of good will an’ all. Nothin’ breaks the ice quicker’n a gift if you ask me.” She opened her saddlebags and rooted around until she found a slightly wrinkled gala. “Ah s’pose Ah could give a couple of these for the seeds…too bad they’re from last year’s crop—they’re lookin’ a little sad by now.”
A bright pink, curly haired head suddenly appeared above the farm pony, hanging upside down from the luggage rack. Pinkie Pie snatched the apple off Applejack’s hoof with a single bite and chewed loudly.
“Hmm! Still tastes good!”
“How in tarnation did you get up there?” Applejack asked incredulously. She looked askance of her other friends. “Did anypony see her get up there?”
The others shook their heads, bewildered, and Pinkie Pie giggled, dropping back into her seat and wiping flecks of apple from her chin. “Silly, I climbed up. Anypony want to play tic tac toe?”
The summer sun was late in setting as Princess Celestia let the day linger into a gentle dusk, but the excited ponies could not relax despite Twilight’s caution that they had a lot of hard travel ahead of them. To pass the time while the train rumbled down the tracks, they obliged Pinkie Pie with games of tic tac toe, hangmare, and I Spy, then shared a motley meal from their packed supplies before settling down to discuss what they might see on their journey. 
“I’ll bet we see another dragon when we’re in the mountains,” Pinkie Pie said, swishing her bushy tail back and forth. “Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“No!” Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash exclaimed in unison. They exchanged surprised glances and burst into laughter.
“Well, if the Saddlebacks are anything like the dragon mountain, I’ll be glad I remembered to bring some hiking boots,” Rarity said. “Climbing over that avalanche was simply dreadful—I chipped my hoof and it took two weeks and three pedicures before it looked right again.” She suddenly gave a delicate yawn. “Oh! Excuse me, girls…it must be getting late.”
In the strange way of yawns, the first one turned out to be contagious and soon each pony was yawning and blinking sleepily.
“W-wow!” Twilight said when the wave ended with her. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say we just rode through a sleeping spell.
“Ah’d say it was just a reminder that we all should be getting a comfortable night’s sleep while we still can, Sugarcube.” Applejack scooted lower onto her seat and rested her chin on her hooves. She yawned again and blinked rapidly.
“I am feeling just the teensiest bit tired now,” Fluttershy said quietly. “It must have been that last game of hangmare.”
“Or the full belly.” Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and rolled over onto her back with her legs sticking up in the air. “If I eat one more thing I think I’ll burst.”
Smiling and suppressing a wild giggle, Pinkie Pie crept up behind the blue pegasus with a fully inflated balloon in her hooves. Bending down close to her friend’s ear, she popped it with a loud bang. Rainbow Dash shouted and tumbled off her seat, clutching worriedly at her full belly.
“What was that? What happened? I didn’t mean it literally!”
Her friends began to laugh and Pinkie Pie danced forward to waggle the burst balloon before Rainbow’s startled face.
“Gotcha, Dashie!” she sang, her blue eyes bright and shining.
Rainbow Dash’s eyes crossed as she focused on the balloon and realized it had been a joke. As an ardent prankster herself, she immediately saw the funny side and started to chuckle.
“Good one, Pinkie Pie…yeah, you got me!” She suddenly swung her legs sideways, knocking Pinkie off her hooves, and started tickling her.
“You do know that it is almost scientifically impossible to spontaneously combust, don’t you, Dash?” Twilight asked in her I-Live-In-A-Library tone.
Rainbow Dash paused, holding the giggling Pinkie down with one hoof, and looked up at the lavender unicorn. A mischievous glint sparking in her eyes, she bent down to whisper to Pinkie. The earth pony laughed and rolled to her feet.
“Oki doki loki! One…two…”
“Three!” The pink and blue ponies leapt at Twilight, who only had time for one startled squeak before they knocked her to the floor in a flurry of legs, wings, and furious tickling.
“Pony pile!” Applejack whooped and jumped into the fray.
“Girls! No…hahaha…stop! Hehehe, please…don’t tickle…ahahaha!” The unicorn tried desperately to wriggle away, but was quickly reduced to curling up in a giggling, shaking ball on the floor.
Watching the scene, Rarity rolled her eyes. “Honestly…given the gravity of our situation, don’t you think we should—”
“Aw, c’mon, Sugarcube!” Applejack reared up to catch Rarity by her curly tail and yanked her off the seat. She let out a distinctly unladylike squawk as she landed on Rainbow Dash, flattening the pegasus to the floor with a loud Oomph!
“Oh! You think you can get me with a sneak attack, huh?” Rainbow planted her hooves and arched her back, flinging Rarity straight into Pinkie Pie. The white unicorn gasped, then began to helplessly snicker as she was tickled.
“No! Stop…Pinkie, I…hehe…this is so, haha, undignified! I insist that you let me, hehehe, go at once!”
With the attention now on Rarity, Twilight Sparkle was able to roll over and sit up, chuckling and wiping away tickle tears.
“Twilight! Twilight, haha, be a dear and, hahaha, help me!”
The same mischievous shine came to Twilight’s eyes and she grinned.
“Oh, I’ll help you alright!”
Rarity gaped in horror. “Twilight, don’t you d-ahahahah!”
“Oh dear, oh dear.” Fluttershy backed up against the wall, desperately trying to press herself into the plush backing of her seat.
“C’mon, Fluttershy! Don’t be such a scaredy-pony!”
Fluttershy trembled and bit her lip nervously, then her gentle, turquoise eyes firmed and she threw herself off the seat with a wild yell. Her wings snapped open as she flew straight at a surprised Rainbow Dash. The blue pony gasped and squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself to be bowled over…but the blow never came.
Hesitantly, Rainbow Dash opened one eye to see Fluttershy hovering right before her. The yellow pegasus smiled sweetly and gently tickled her friend under the chin.
“Tickle, tickle,” she whispered.
The scuffle ended in laughter and the six young mares returned to their seats to settle down for the night.
“I wish we could’ve gotten a sleeper car like that time we went to Appleoosa,” Rainbow Dash observed, folding her legs beneath her and resting her chin on her armrest.
“Me too.” Twilight Sparkle was trying to arrange her saddlebags so they could be used as a pillow. “But this was all that they had.”
“Never mind, Sugarcube. This’ll probably be the last comfortable sleep we have for awhile.” Applejack leaned back against her armrest and tipped her hat forward until it covered her eyes. “After tonight it’s gonna be us and blankets on the ground.”
“Oh, what a horrible thought,” Rarity said gloomily. She had arranged a little pillow behind her head and settled a pink silk mask over her eyes. She was just starting to cuddle down onto her pillow when she gasped slightly and lifted the mask to look over her shoulder. Pinkie Pie had dropped her head onto the unicorn’s flank and was already snoring slightly.
“How did she do that?” Twilight asked, nonplussed. 
“Nopony’s ever been able to figure it out.” Rainbow Dash yawned again and let her eyes drift closed.
Rarity opened her saddlebag with her horn and removed a small, pink blanket to match her pillow. She draped it over Pinkie. 
“Sleep tight, everyone,” she murmured.
“Yes, goodnight, everypony,” Fluttershy whispered. 
“Goodnight,” Twilight responded. 
The three waited a moment, but the only answering sounds from their friends were quiet snores and gentle breathing. Twilight extinguished the lights with her horn and closed her eyes as the train rumbled along through the darkness.
**
“Alright, everypony. If we’re gonna do this, we’re gonna do this right. These here forests and mountains are no joke—we need to plan a route and follow it so we don’t get lost.”
The train had left them at the Tailehassee junction, which was little more than a café where the train ponies could catch a hearty meal before starting on their next run. The mares were now crowded around one of the small tables, eating daisy salads and rearranging their packs with the wrapped sandwiches they had purchased for dinner. Twilight Sparkle and Applejack were once again studying the map the unicorn had found.
“It looks like we’ll be going through a couple of little villages before we reach the mountains…that should be interesting,” Rarity observed. “Small hamlets are always so quaint.”
“And a good place to restock our supplies before we have to rely strictly on forage,” Applejack added. She pointed to a tiny dot on the map. “If we keep to this north-western course we should come to this one first. Shirevale.”
“Sounds good to me.” Twilight magically rolled the map and tucked it into her luggage. “Are we ready?”
“Not yet!” Pinkie Pie planted her hooves on the table and rapidly sucked the last of her chocolate milkshake through the straw. Turning to Fluttershy, she asked, “Are you gonna finish that?”
The pegasus had barely shaken her head when Pinkie grabbed her glass and downed the contents in a single gulp.
“It’s so good!” she said, licking her lips. “We should come here more often!”
“Oh sure—a fifteen hour train ride just for a milkshake.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, but pushed the remains of her ice cream soda across the table before Pinkie could ask her for it.
“Ooh! Thanks, Dashie!” The pink pony began rapidly slurping.
“Okay, now can we go?” Twilight asked.
“We’re all ready, Twi. Let’s skedaddle before Pinkie puts herself into sugar shock.”
Pinkie Pie had her nose stuck in the glass, furiously licking all the ice cream from the bottom. She protested when Rainbow Dash and Applejack lifted her bodily from the table, but could only manage muffled whimpers since the glass had suctioned itself onto her snout.
“You are so random!” Rainbow Dash grabbed the glass with her hooves and pulled. Pinkie planted all four feet and leaned backwards, but still slid across the waxed floor until Rarity and Fluttershy caught her tail and hindquarters to hold her in place. The glass came free with a loud pop, throwing the rainbow-maned pony into the café counter hard enough to set a stack of plates shaking. Her eyes widened as one toppled and fell, but Rainbow Dash stuck out her hind leg, catching it nimbly on her hoof before it could shatter.
“What do you think you’re doing?” The plump café owner put down the plate he had been wiping and leaned over the counter to glare at her disapprovingly.
“Hehe, uh, sorry about that.” Rainbow scrambled to her hooves and handed over the plate and glass. “Here you go. Everything was delicious!” Still giggling, she hurriedly trotted outside into the summer heat to join her friends.
“Oh my, this sun really isn’t good for my complexion.” Rarity pulled a broad brimmed hat from her bags and settled it over her purple mane and horn. She followed this with a pair of sunglasses, then smeared a dollop of sunscreen on her nose. “I do hope I don’t freckle.”
“And just what is so bad about freckles?” Applejack wanted to know. “Ah think they give a pony character.”
“According to my map, we should head this way.” Twilight was already moving down a dusty dirt path away from the café. The land ahead of them was a rough and grassy expanse of plain, but they could see the faint, bluish-green haze of forest in the distance. “If we hurry, we might make the forest just after midday—the shade will definitely be welcome by then.”
“Then let’s get going! C’mon, I’ll race you!” Rainbow Dash reared and pawed the air with her hooves, then galloped down the path.
“Whoo hoo! You’re on, partner! Ah call no wings!” Applejack raced after the blue pony, her blonde mane and tail flying behind her with a cloud of dust.
“We can do it, girls! Let’s show them what we’re made of!” Twilight said, pawing the ground before darting forward.
“Whee!” Pinkie Pie followed, hopping along the trail.
“Oh no, Pinkie…you forgot your bag!” Fluttershy grabbed the balloon printed saddlebags in her teeth and cantered after Pinkie Pie.
“Yes, lovely…now we’ll get all dusty and sweaty and…” Rarity suddenly realized that she had been left alone. With a startled squeak, she hurried to follow her friends.
**
As predicted, they reached the trees just after midday. Though they had not been able to keep up the galloping race for long in the heat, they had fallen into a leisurely, but ground-eating trot and the miles had melted away. 
“You did not, AJ! I won!”
“That crash back at the café must have rattled your brains, Rainbow. Anypony could see that Ah beat you by a mile.”
“A mile? No way! You must have been confused by all that dust I left in my wake!”
“They’re going to go on like this for hours, aren’t they?” Twilight shook her head as Rainbow Dash flipped upside down over Applejack’s head so they could glare eye to eye. The two had been arguing over the winner for the last thirty minutes.
“If not days,” Rarity told her.
Twilight glanced at her fellow unicorn and winked slyly. “Well, I sure hope it doesn’t turn into another running of the leaves.”
Applejack and Rainbow Dash immediately flinched and exchanged guilty looks, remembering the past competition that had actually caused them both to lose the race.
“Fine. We’ll call it a tie.” Rainbow Dash spun right side up and landing beside Applejack, who thrust out a hoof to shake.
“Agreed.”
“Phew!” Twilight broke into a smile, relieved, but it was short lived when they all paused at the treeline of the forest and peered into the gloom between the huge, closely spaced trees. 
“Oh, um, okay…we’re here…maybe I should check the map just one more time before we go.” She hurriedly opened the rolled parchment and peered at it again.
“Are you kidding me?” Rainbow Dash dragged a hoof down her face. “Don’t you have that thing memorized by now?”
Twilight turned to her, lavender eyes showing an inkling of doubt. “No…well, yes…but it’s a really big forest and I just want to make sure that we don’t get lost. A little extra preparation can go a long w—”	
“But you want us to follow this path right here, right?” Rainbow traced the pale line along the map with her hoof, tilted her head thoughtfully, then leapt into the air. She came to a hovering stop about thirty feet up and shaded her eyes with a leg. “Yeah…there it is! It’s pretty overgrown, and the path tends to drift to the right, but we should be able to stay on it with no problem.”
Twilight Sparkle let out another sigh of relief, suddenly embarrassed that she had been so worried. With two pegasi along, they would always be able to get a bird’s eye view, as it were, of their surroundings. Getting lost might actually take some effort on their part.
“That’s a great idea, Rainbow!” she said when the pegasus touched down again.
Rainbow raised a hoof and looked from side to side confusedly. “What?”
“You will be our official aerial navigator and make sure we aren’t straying off the trail. With you keeping us true, there’s no way we can get lost.”
“Oh! Okay, sure…I can do that!” She went airborne again, her wings flapping almost lazily as she hovered over her friends. “Wouldn’t want you falling off a cliff or anything.” She grinned cheekily at Twilight, who pursed her lips.
“I only did that once…well, almost twice,” she amended, when Rainbow and Applejack both raised their eyebrows. “And I was a little distracted at the time if you can remember.”
A sudden, thunderous crash from the forest made them all jump. Fluttershy yelped and raced around Pinkie Pie, ducking down and cowering behind the pink pony.
“What was that?” she asked, shaking from mane to hoof. “Is it a…a monster?”
“I…I think it was just a falling tree branch,” Twilight said, staring into the forest. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stepped up beside her, tense and alert, their eyes wide.
“Oh no…it’s a monster. I know it. It’s probably an ursa or a wyvern or…something really big and mean and scary that likes to eat ponies.” Fluttershy whimpered and hid her eyes behind her hooves.
Applejack nudged Rainbow Dash with her shoulder and tipped her head towards the forest. Silently, the pegasus nodded and flew up again, winging between the trees. Her friends waited, hardly daring to breathe, but she returned a moment later with a tree branch in her mouth. Landing beside Fluttershy, she gently tickled the timid pony with the leaves.
“Or it could be a falling tree branch, just like Twilight said.”
Fluttershy opened her eyes to look at the branch. She continued to tremble.
“That’s an awfully small branch to make such an awfully loud and scary crash,” she pointed out.
Rainbow Dash let the branch fall. “I only took a small piece. The whole thing was way too heavy to move.” She pointed to the forest. “It’s right in there if you want to check it out.”
Fluttershy’s turquoise eyes went to the forest and she let out a terrified little meep.
“Don’t be scared, Fluttershy,” Pinkie said brightly, patting the pegasus on the head. “It was just a tree branch. And even if it wasn’t, you have your Auntie Pinkie Pie here to protect you.” 	
“Yes, well…I don’t know…it’s just…do we really have to go into that big, dark, cold, scary forest?” 
“I wouldn’t exactly call it cold, Fluttershy, dear.” Rarity removed her hat and wiped her sweat-dampened hair from her forehead. “It must be more than a hundred degrees out here…and probably won’t be any cooler in there.”
“Actually, it’s more like ninety-three degrees right now,” Rainbow Dash said. She licked a hoof and held it up in the air. Tilting her head slightly, she continued, “I’d say ninety-two point five…give or take a quarter degree.”
Twilight Sparkle’s mouth dropped open in shock and Applejack laughed. She chucked the unicorn under the chin, closing her mouth with an audible click.
“Weather pony,” she said. “Ah know…it’s uncanny, ain’t it?”
“Says the pony who perfectly predicted the red delicious projection for the last three years,” Rainbow said smugly. She stepped up to Fluttershy’s other side, motioning to Pinkie. They both bent down, pressing against the yellow pegasus, and stood again with her sandwiched between them. Fluttershy squeaked, but slowly lowered her hooves to the ground and remained standing when the two stepped away. Rainbow gave her a shove from behind with her head as Pinkie started bouncing forward again.
“Really? Three years in a row?” Twilight asked as they all stepped into the shady gloom of the forest. “I never knew that.”
“What can Ah say? Ah have a gift when it comes t’ apples. It’s kinda like Pinkie Sense in a way.” She lowered her voice to a whisper. “But Ah still think that weather pony stuff Dash does is just downright freaky sometimes.”
“Heard that!” Rainbow announced. “And let me remind you that my freaky weather pony stuff has come in pretty handy on that farm of yours.”
“Ah never said it didn’t, Sugarcube—freaky can still be handy. Though freaky or not, right now Ah wish you could whip us up a cloud with some rain to cool us down a smidge. Even an itty bitty breeze would be welcome.”
Rainbow looked up through the trees at the small patch of blue sky overhead. “I can try for a cloud, but I’ll have to fly pretty far to collect enough moisture to make it worth it.”
“Better not, Rainbow,” Twilight told her. “I think we should all stick together.”
“Oh yes, please stay here, Rainbow Dash. Who knows what sorts of things you could run into up there,” Fluttershy murmured. “You could get chased by a roc or a sphinx...”
“Or a swarm of nasty, biting midgy mites!” Pinkie exclaimed.
Rainbow looked confused. “Midgy mites? No, never mind. The cloud would be too small anyway.” She hopped nimbly into the air, preferring to fly, but still keeping pace with her earthbound friends. The downdraft of her wings created the requested breeze, but still brought little relief from the heat. 
By the time the sun started to dip towards the western horizon, they had delved deep into the forest and were surrounded on all sides by enormous trees. The heavy, leaf-laden boughs even crisscrossed overhead, hemming them in and blocking any lingering light. After the falling branch from before, the ponies found this unsettling.
“It’s getting so dark and gloomy,” Pinkie said mournfully after tripping over an exposed tree root. She looked ready to cry as she rubbed a scraped fetlock.
Rainbow Dash soared skyward and zigzagged through the branches until she broke into open sky. Landing on one reaching bough, she scanned the forest before her.
“Pony feathers!”
Jumping from the branch, she swooped back down and pulled up to hover before Twilight Sparkle.
“It looks like we’re going off course…but it’s almost as dark up as it is down here and I could hardly see the trail anymore.”
“Sounds like we’d call it quits and set up camp before we get ourselves lost,” Applejack advised. “I can hardly see mah hoof in front of mah face and if we go trippin’ round in the dark one of us is gonna get hurt.”
“One of us already got hurt,” Pinkie said, sounding petulant. She returned to her usual cheeriness an instant later when Fluttershy gently nuzzled her cheek.
“I guess you’re right,” Twilight agreed. “Let’s see if we can find a good place to settle down for the night.” She started walking carefully to the side of the path, squinting at the placement of her hooves.
Applejack raised an eyebrow as she watched the magical pony mince through the growing darkness. “Uh, Twi, what in the hay are you doin’?”
“Watching my step so I won’t trip like Pinkie did. There’re roots all over the ground.”
Catching on, Rainbow Dash snickered. “Sure, you could go tiptoeing around like that…or you could just use your horn!”
“My ho—oh!” The unicorn ducked her head and giggled in embarrassment. “Yes, right.” Squeezing her eyes shut, she concentrated her power into her horn, which flickered, then blazed with a bright white glow.
“Sorry everypony,” she said, raising her head again to cast the light across the ground. “I guess I should have thought of this sooner.”
A second later, Rarity’s horn also lit up and the white unicorn smiled at her friend. “Don’t beat yourself up, Twilight…we’ve just been so focused on moving forward, it never occurred to either of us.”
With the help of the twin lights, they left the path and found a suitable small clearing just large enough to serve as a simple camp. They spread out blankets and built a small fire, then hungrily set upon the dinners they had brought with them.
Rainbow Dash had only finished half of her clover and alfalfa sprout sandwich when Applejack beckoned her from a tree a few yards away.
“What’s up?” she asked, fluttering over.
Applejack kept her voice lowered, leaning close to the pegasus. “Rainbow, Ah know we’re all tired and all, but Ah think it would be a good idea for us to keep watch shifts t’night. Ah don’t know if you noticed, but when Twilight lit up her horn, there were eyes shining in the dark, watchin’ us.”
Rainbow Dash swallowed hard and glanced over her shoulder. No, she hadn’t noticed that. Now she peered into the inky gloom beyond the orange glow of their firelight. She didn’t see anything, but that didn’t mean something wasn’t out there, waiting for them all to fall asleep.
“Good idea,” she murmured back. “Do you want me to go first?”
“What are you two whispering about over here?” Twilight had crept up on the pair quietly and her sudden voice made them jump with fright.
“Don’t do that, Twilight!” Applejack exclaimed in a whisper.
“Yeah, you nearly scared the feathers off me—are you taking lessons from Pinkie Pie now?”
Twilight laughed ruefully. “Sorry. I was just wondering what you’re both looking so conspiratorial for.”
Applejack glanced towards the fire, saw that Rarity and Fluttershy were busy helping Pinkie Pie with her scraped leg, and put a hoof around Twilight’s neck to draw her closer.
“Rainbow and Ah were just discussin’ who should take the first watch—you know, to keep an eye out while everypony sleeps.”
Twilight looked concerned.  “You really think that’s necessary?” The serious looks on their faces were answer enough. She nodded. “Okay. But don’t you think we should all take shifts? That way they’ll be shorter and—”
Rainbow Dash closed her eyes wearily and held up a hoof to silence the lavender pony. Whispering, she said, “That’s probably not such a good idea. Don’t get me wrong—I’m not trying to be mean or anything—but if Fluttershy took a watch she’d be screaming and panicking every time she heard a cricket…and Pinkie Pie would probably see a moth and follow it into the woods and then we’d never see her again…”
“Not to mention the fact that Rarity just ain’t herself if she don’t get her eight hours of beauty sleep. I’ve seen it, and let me tell you, it ain’t pretty.”
Twilight started to protest, but realized they were both right—and Rarity, Pinkie, and Fluttershy were all exhausted from the long day and didn’t have the stamina to stay awake much longer.
“Alright…but please, let me help out and take a watch so you two can get more rest.”
She braced herself for an argument and maybe even some gentle ribbing, but was surprised by Rainbow and Applejack immediately agreeing. They gave her the first watch, Applejack the second, with Rainbow taking the dawn hours.
Twilight made herself comfortable by the fire while her friends snuggled into their blankets. After the long gallop and following trot, no one had much energy to joke or talk. Knowing they would be waking up in just a few hours, Rainbow Dash and Applejack went immediately to sleep. Pinkie Pie and Rarity lasted slightly longer, but both soon drifted off, Rarity wearing her eye mask and snoring.
Twilight had taken a book from her bags to read when Fluttershy edged up beside her and sat down. The yellow pegasus was trembling again and looking around with wide eyes.
“Hey Fluttershy. Aren’t you going to get some sleep?”
“Yes, I mean, I guess so…it’s just so hard to sleep with all this dark, scary forest all around us. Who knows what kinds of mean, scary, hungry creatures are sitting out there right now, just waiting for us to go to sleep.”
Something rustled in the bushes to their left and Fluttershy let out a squeal and scrambled backwards over Twilight, who grunted in pain. Rainbow Dash and Rarity both sleepily protested the noise.
“It’s coming!” Fluttershy squeaked, hiding her eyes. “There’s something out there and it’s going to eat us!”
A second later, a tiny fieldmouse appeared under the bush, whiskers twitching as it nervously watched them with bright, oildrop eyes.
“Oh yeah…that’s a vicious beast, alright,” Twilight said dryly.
Fluttershy braced herself and peeked, then leapt back over Twilight. “Oh, the poor furry little thing! It must be so scared out here all by itself.” Her trembling gone, she approached the mouse. “I’ll bet it saw our fire and wanted to meet us.”
“Or it was running from an owl.”
Fluttershy ignored her and bent down to smile at the little rodent. “Come on, little critter. It’s alright. I’ll bet you’re hungry, aren’t you…but it’s scary trying to find something to eat in these big, dark woods.”
The little mouse scrubbed its face with its paws for a moment, then nodded at the pony.
“That’s okay. It’s easy to be scared when you’re so very small. Even I’m scared out here. Would you like to stay in our camp tonight and keep me company? I have some dinner left over and I’m more than happy to share it with you.”
The mouse squeaked delightedly and ran out from under the bush, darting up the pony’s leg and nesting contentedly in her long, pink mane. Fluttershy stood again and trotted back to her blanket.
“Goodnight, Twilight. Don’t stay up too late.” Lying down on her blanket, she broke leftover sandwich into tiny pieces and fed them to the ravenous mouse. “There you are, little mousie…now don’t eat too fast or you’ll get a tummy ache.” She yawned delicately and rested her head on her foreleg, lovingly watching the mouse finish its meal. By the time he cleaned the last of the crumbs from his whiskers and curled up in her mane, the pegasus was fast asleep.
Twilight had watched the entire scene in silence, amazed by the change that had overcome the young mare once she’d found something smaller to care for. The unicorn wished she’d thought to bring parchment so she could write a letter for Princess Celestia. Even if she couldn’t have sent it, the familiar act would have been comforting, and she was sure the princess would have read it with interest once they returned to Ponyville.
She yawned widely and shook her head to drive away the weariness. Letting a gentle glow light up her horn, she turned her attention back to her book, determined to stay alert until it was time to wake Applejack.