It was blinding coming out from under the shade of the trees, and the field ahead stretched off into the distance. The name Far Fields seemed too small. Endless Fields felt better, because it stretched from horizon to horizon in both directions; a sea of shining golden grass. All of which was much taller than Scotch. “Do you see the the twinkling?” Arthur said, pointing a hoof off into the distance. Her eyes followed it and found immediately what he pointed at. It was as if there was a star resting on the horizon. “That is The Heart. It's the beacon beacon atop Obsidian City,” he was scanning the sky now and then seemed to decide something as they walked into the field.
The road turned more into a path of scattered sparkling cobbled stone through the grass. “I...this place seems so unreal. I can't even describe it...”
“It's beautiful,” Cookie said, grinning. Scotch was almost envious of his height, he could probably see far better than she could hope to.
But that was nothing that she could help. “What can you see? Anypony, or anything out there?”
Cookie looked around a moment, a perplexed look coming to his face. “Uhm.” Again he looked around and then seemed to get an idea.
Scotch heard something behind her and suddenly found herself lifted into the air. “Eep!” She clung tightly, to what she found was Cookie's head. Her back hooves standing on his shoulders. She blinked, staring around. “So this is what it's like to be tall,” she said, as she scanned the area.
“Am I tall?” Cookie said and tried to look at Scotch, which nearly toppled her off.
She adjusted what little grip she could manage as to not fall. Once again the issue of hooves having such little grip potential. “Yes. You are,” she said, trying to stay steady. Her head was above Cookie's, so she was taller. It was an amazing view. But there was nothing around. Ahead, however, she noticed something. “Arthur. There's a split in the path up ahead.”
Arthur nodded in an oddly knowing way. “Yes yes. All roads lead to the Obsidian City. But we will be taking taking the right path. It leads through the valley and is a much safer safer route.”
“Safer?” Cookie asked slowly, his face scrunching slightly. “Is the other not safe?”
“It might be...it might might not be. If there are Red Guard, they will be on the left road road.” He seemed to know what he was talking about and Scotch wondered if it was from experience, or from rumor.
“I don't see any valley,” she murmured, straining her eyes to try and see anything, but it all seemed perfectly flat to her.
“Oh you can't see see it. The grass hides everything everything. Anyone who wanders into it it gets lost. But there are villages in there. Some that have been swallowed swallowed up and some just off the path...” Her eyes widened a bit and she looked around again, trying to see anything. “The Red Red Guard stick to the road...so so it is not the safest of of places...”
“How bad are the Red Guard?” Scotch was curious to what kind of ponies they were. He had said they were like her but bigger.
“Very bad if you're someone like me me. They would not hesitate to smash me, without my Glamor on on...” He looked back at them, just now noticing that she was atop Cookie and laughed. “You, I believe they would take take to the Empress, for judgment.” He shook his head, chuckling. “But but you both have horns like the the Wizard. Though you have wings as well, Cookie Cookie.”
“Do I?” Cookie looked back, again almost tossing Scotch off. “Oh yeah. I do. I have yet to try to fly though...”
There was a moment of silence. “But you said that you could fly?” Scotch said, her brow wrinkling.
“Well...I have wings. So I assume that I can fly,” he said, looking at Scotch. “Is that wrong?”
“I...well...” She had to think about this and as they did, they came to the fork in the road. There was a sign. Cookie walked to it and stared. Scotch stared as well. “Five times you walk by,” she read, “four times you do not see. You would run, if you were me.” She stared at it and then looked at Arthur. “What?”
“It's a warning and and instructions,” he said, as he tapped the sign and then pushed on it, turning it around. “There's there's more on the back.”
Scotch and Cookie watched as the sign turned around and on the other side it did indeed say something else. “We ask that you not tread on our flowers, we have worked on them for hours,” Cookie read, his brow wrinkling. “I don't understand...”
“Each one is a warning for for each path,” Arthur explained, before he started walking down the right path. Cookie followed him.
“But what do they mean?” Scotch said, it was starting to bother her. They sounded playful, but at the same time mildly ominous.
“The running one is for the left path. There's a point point where the path loops around and you have to go around five times before you can see where the path splits from the circle circle and continues on, he suggests you run if you're in a hurry hurry.” Obviously Arthur had been around a long time, and knew the area quite well.
“And I'm guessing that something bad happens if you step on the flowers?” Scotch said, trying to get comfortable on top of Cookie's back, but she would have to shift again when this position became uncomfortable later.
“Yes,” he said, nodding. “The flowers do not like like being stepped on. But it's easy to avoid doing so as long as you stay on the middle middle of the path.”
Suddenly Scotch noticed that the path began dipping downward, though the grass stayed the same height. They traveled further, the grass rising higher, and higher. “Valley Under,” Cookie read and Scotch nearly hit her head on the hanging sign. If Cookie had not stopped to read it, she probably would have.
“Yes. The Valley Under. It it is the name that was chosen,” Arthur said as he looked around, as if searching for something.
“Well it makes sense,” she said, ducking her head to avoid hitting it on the sign. “Quite a literal name, if I do say.”
“But you do say?” Cookie said, his brow furrowing. It seemed he was having another one of his odd moments.
“It was an expression of opinion,” she explained slowly, but she was not surprised that it was not something he was familiar with.
But it was Arthur who spoke next. “And what do you mean, literal name?”
She stared at the little porcelain pony. “Well, it is literally under the field. Another literal name would be Splitting Valley, as it splits the field. Or is it more of a scratch?”
“Never thought of it that way...” Arthur murmured and then shrugged. “It's quite large...”
“So it would classify more as a scar?” She felt as though she had a lot of energy now, more than she had in days. It was probably the fact she was no longer surrounded by trees. Though the odd grass wall was not much a better sight. But the flowers were pretty...
She stared, as did Cookie. It was a brilliant shade of red. It almost looked like it was dripping; as if painted and still wet. “Oh wow...pretty,” Cookie said and almost took a step towards it, but stopped, remembering what Arthur had said.
“I guess they're kinda kinda pretty. But they are not nice flowers,” Arthur said, giving the flowers a look.
It felt as though the flower was returning the glare wholeheartedly. The oddest way was how the flowers turned to follow them, watching them. “Sentient flowers...” she said, trying to analyze it from a distance. “Not much light down here, so it must get sustenance from other things...insects perhaps? Judging from the way it's tracking our movement...”
“It looks like it's dripping blood,” Cookie said, seemingly now no longer finding the flowers very pretty.
He was right, it did look like blood. “So perhaps it drinks blood...but the way it drips means that it has fed recently?”
“A Red Guard, probably...they all drip drip like that when they catch someone,” Arthur was walking quite fast and Cookie was doing his best to keep up. How could such a little thing outpace him? She would have to analyze his movements a bit more.
“Than they're probably all interconnected somehow,” Scotch went on. “Blood flowers... I wonder if there is a main bud that acts as the heart...I've read stories of things like this...but...” She hesitated as she looked at Arthur. “But they were foal stories...stuff for kids...things that I thought weren't real...but I think that they hold more weight here than a lot of the other things I've read.”
Cookie stared blankly ahead for a moment. “Every story comes from somewhere...but...sometimes they are unpleasant, so we convince ourselves they couldn't be true.”