Moments were hours as my head ached with every step. I wish I knew healing magic beyond a hangover and poison cure, some sort of headache reliever would be appreciated right around now.
There appeared to be some trouble finding the correct path. Some confusion on the part of Dash about where the path was. We stopped and Applejack sets me down for a moment while they confer about which way to go. I heard a suggestion to split up, but it was quickly shot down, that would get us all killed. Rarity said something about being able to tell the correct path if you concentrated on where you wanted to go. Perhaps some sort of magic was protecting the castle, but I couldn't smell it. It must be subtle, Twilight didn't even notice.
The others were baffled and I was still in too much pain to try anything so taxing to my head. Eventually, Rarity was leading the way, twisting between trees on a winding route. Dash tried to scout ahead, losing sight of us for a moment. That was a mistake. We heard her yell for use, unsure of where we were.
"We're here!" Applejack shouted, "Just follow mah voice!"
"I can't," Came the shout from our left, "Your voice is everywhere!"
"Damn this spell." Twilight's teeth were gritted, "I can't even get a hold of it, it's like trying to hold onto an oiled fish." I don't think Twilight has ever handled a fish that was uncooked, but hey, sayings are just sayings,
"Dash," Rarity called, never taking her eyes from the path, "I need you to focus, focus only on my voice, hear only me, listen to my voice dash, and follow it."
"I, I can't, it's coming from everywhere, I can't find you." Dash's voice was starting to take on panic.
Rarity held up a hand for us to stop and stay quiet, "Dash?"
"Yes?" Dash's voice was small.
"I need you to sing for me."
"How's that gonna help." Now her voice was incredulous.
"Just trust me will you, sing for me so I can find you."
"O, OK." Dash began to hum a few bars, though I couldn't hear it that well. Then she started the words, something about moving faster than the speed of sound. Rarity moved off toward the voice. Eye's downcast and straining to hear. As Dash entered the second chorus it stopped and we heard a delighted yell and a thump. Dash probably tackled Rarity. Then we heard rarity yell something about dirt and I was sure that's exactly what happened.
"Ok girls," Rarity yelled back to us, "I need you to do the same thing."
Before anyone could more than start a reply Pinkie shouted "Ooh, me, me, me, I want to do it, pick meeee!" Applejack looked over at her.
"Sure thing, give us a good one." And with that, Pinkie began belting out a bawdy tavern tune about a wench and a gentleman and their various adventure. It was one I knew, having sung it at Joe's more than once. My head was still a bit sore, but I raised my voice with hers and Applejack soon followed. I think Fleuretta hummed along but Twilight didn't know the song and stayed silent. After a moment they emerged from the trees, both walking.
"Dash, did you crash your bike again?" Applejack asked.
"Nah, It's up there," Pointing upwards to where the bike appeared to be floating above the treeline.
"We should get moving, I don't want to lose my concentration." Rarity was showing the strain of focusing on the path for so long, it looked painful. We walked for minutes, then a half hour, then a full hour passed with no sign of the palace.
We kept quiet, hoping against hope that Rarity could lead us out of this forest.
"Woah." Dash's voice was filled with awe and we followed her eyes. Thousands of tiny lights floated out of the trees and onto our path. The tiny fairy lights floated about us and heralded the approach of something even more wondrous. Tall creatures with legs a thin a poles and taller than our heads stepped gracefully from the tree's. The body of the beasts seemed to be made of bark and moss, with fairy lights sticking to it's antlered head. Their eyes glowed a light green and they stepped daintily between us.
The creatures evoked a childlike wonder in the group, ooh's and aah's were whispered and Fleuretta went so far as to touch one of the beast's legs, squeaking and pulling back. "It's warm." She said in wonder. It appeared as if they were walking across the path as a great herd. We walked down the path for several minutes and they were still moving between and around us, but now the path's edges were beginning to be covered in gemstones. My mouth began to water at the though of eating them. I think I even saw a fire ruby. We were smart enough to stay away from them though, and the path lead us out of the trees and onto a small grassy area where a rift had bisected the path again. Fortunately this one had a bridge, though it had long since fallen into ruin. This day was not getting any better.