//------------------------------// // Chapter 10 // Story: Journey to Equestria // by Aldrigold //------------------------------// The grass of the plains crunched underhoof. The forest stretched ahead of Dusk, a dark copse of green against the purple evening sky. He reviewed the elder’s story from the night before in his mind, which he knew had been told for their benefit. The forest is a place of confusion. Trees grow with abandon, and creatures of all kinds roam. But these are not creatures like you or I, who can speak, nor are they peaceful like birds and squirrels. There are beasts made of wood, or lions with the tails of scorpions. It is even said that there are dragons, but dragons will not bother you if you leave them be or offer them gems. Dusk had never seen a dragon, but the thought of meeting one made him wish he had kept some of the gems from their time with the dogs. “So, this is it?” Chief Grass Song asked. “You’re going in there?” Dusk nodded. “We’re following the star. That’s where it leads.” Their guide shone above them, the first star of evening. It had led them here for weeks as they traveled with the buffalo and walked through the waving grass in endless miles. He hadn’t heard the screeches of gryphons since their last encounter, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there, hiding above the clouds. He hadn’t flown once since coming onto the plains. “Hmm,” the Chief rumbled. “You can always return if you don’t find what you’re looking for. The journey together was brief, but we learned much from you.” Dusk couldn’t imagine what the buffalo could have learned from three fleeing ponies, but he nodded anyway. “And we you.” That much, at least, was true. “The ponies from the elder’s story…they came from there, right?” Greenie trotted closer to the long evening shadows of the trees, Dusthoof next to her. “Maybe we’re close.” “Maybe.” Amber tossed her mane. “But I doubt any ponies live in there. It doesn’t feel like a place a pony could grow anything, even from here.” Dusk sighed. He wished he knew more. The further they got from the gryphon’s compound, the less he was sure of, and he didn’t like it. “Do you know how far the forest extends?” he asked. Chief Grass Song shook his head. “We’ve never entered.” “Can I go too?” Dusthoof burst out, and Green’s eyes widened. “It’ll be an adventure!” “No,” Dusk and Grass Song said at the same time. They exchanged glances. “It’s dangerous,” Dusk added. “But Green is going,” Dusthoof said with an energetic bound. Dusk fell silent. She had a point. It would be just as dangerous for Green as for Dusthoof, fire magic or not. “That’s because we’re trying to find our way to Equestria,” Amber said with a knowing nod. “You have a home here.” Her voice was gentle. “But us? We have to find our home.” Green stepped forward, away from Dusthoof. The small buffalo’s eyes were sad despite the way she romped in circles, and she stopped, bowing her head. “I’m sorry, Dusthoof,” the unicorn said. “I’ll visit you again. After we find Equestria.” Dusk appreciated the small unicorn's quiet maturity. Since traveling with the buffalo, she had come a long way from the silent, shaking filly that had fled with them into the mountains. “We all will,” Amber added. “But what if you don’t find it?” Dusthoof said quietly. A shiver went down Dusk’s spine. “We will,” he said, his voice full of strength he didn’t feel in the face of the dark forest. “We will find it. We’ve come this far. It can’t be much further.” He only hoped that was true. *** At least they had cover from the sky again, Dusk thought as the trees closed in shadows over their heads “Alright,” he said. “We have to be careful again. Travelling by night, resting during the day. With luck, it will be just like the forest behind the mountains.” Amber shook her mane, stepping more lightly than usual. “The ground here feels…wrong, Dusk,” she said. Anxiety buzzed down to his hooves. “Wrong how?” “It’s grass and mulch and life…but I couldn’t grow here. It’s beyond my control. It’s…strange.” Light bloomed in the evening dimness, a small wisp of fire floating to the front of their group. Dusk frowned. “Put that out, Green. At night, it will be a dead giveaway.” “Oh.” The light winked out, plunging them into darkness. Dusk waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim light of the quickly rising moon. He hated to not use Green’s talent. The small unicorn had grown more and more skilled with it, able to light the buffalo’s fires with ease and send wreathes of flame dancing in the night sky, which had delighted Dusthoof. But here, in an unfamiliar forest where the gryphons might still be tracking them, it was just too much of a risk. “Alright,” he said when the faint shapes of the trees and vines around them began to coalesce. “Let’s go. Amber, take the lead. Green, go ahead of me.” “I miss the buffalo,” Green said. Dusk just nodded. Traveling with the herd had been wonderful. It had been safe. Now, the familiar weight of fear and survival was back on his shoulders. They began to trot, easing back into the mile-eating gait that had gotten them through the plains. The moon traveled overhead as they journeyed, peaking in the center of the sky. “Stop!” Amber hissed, her hoof slamming the ground. Dusk froze. “We…we have to go another way.” Frustration edged her voice. “There’s something really wrong here.” “What is it?” “Look.” Dusk and Green trotted beside the earth pony, and Dusk’s heart began to pound. An enormous footprint that Chief Grass Song could have curled up and gone to sleep in depressed the mulch and loam. Sharp puncture wounds in the earth told Dusk whatever had made this had long, sharp claws. Dried wood lay scattered around the edges and in the center. “Dusk, maybe we should go back,” Green said. “We could…we could go around the forest.” “I think I’d rather fight gryphons than whatever made that,” Amber said. Dusk peered at the sky. Through a gap in the trees, the star twinkled almost directly above their heads. It looked brighter now, somehow. They must be close. “We keep going,” Dusk said. “The wood around that footprint looks old and brittle. Whatever made this is probably long gone.” Amber trotted closer and stepped on one of the twigs. It snapped in two. “If you’re sure,” she said. “Do you think we’re close, Dusk?” Green said. “I hope so.” Dusk pushed his fears out of his mind, looking to the sky again. Flying would an easy way to tell how far the forest extended. Between the ever-shrinking risk of gryphons and the very real risk of an unfamiliar forest, he no longer felt the need to stay grounded. He spread his wings. “I’m going to see how close we are.” “Be careful!” Amber said. Dusk nodded, leaping from the ground and flapping hard. Muscles weak from disuse protested immediately, and he winced as he strained to gain height among the trees. In moments Green and Amber shrank beneath him, and Dusk squinted to see through the dark forest. Maybe he could even find a clear path before breaching the tree line. Something glowed green in the distance. Two somethings, that began to move like a connected pair of Green’s will o’ wisps. “Dusk!” Amber shouted. “Get down now!” Dusk folded his wings into a V and plummeted while he calculated the trajectory in his head. He didn’t know what that thing was, but it had been moving fast. “Run!” he shouted when he landed. “This way!” “No—” A rumbling growl, like rolling of the diamond dog’s carts, drowned out the rest of whatever Amber said. A trio of somethings that walked on four legs, with fangs and claws, crept near them, blocking the path through which Dusk had wanted to escape. The dim light outlined their slender forms, and a foul stench hit Dusk’s nose when they opened their jaws, revealing a silhouette of jagged teeth. Wood creaked as they stalked nearer. Dusk’s heart leapt, and he spread his wings wide. If he grabbed Green and put everything he had into it, he might be able to get over their heads and away. But he couldn’t take Amber. And no matter her strength, she couldn’t fight these things. Each one was twice as big as she was. The earth pony stomped the ground. “Get back!” she shouted. “Green!” Dusk shouted. “Use your fire!” Green screwed her eyes shut. Then heat exploded in a burst among the creatures, singing Dusk’s fur and making his eyes water, as Green’s horn glowed white hot. Red embers scorched the grass, burning in patches. One of the creatures, its body in pieces, scrabbled at the ground, chips and twigs falling from its shattered form as it struggled in vain to rise. Its jaws snapped at the air. “They’re made of wood!” Amber said, shock in her voice. Just like the elder’s story. Fear knifed through Dusk’s chest. “Alright Green,” Dusk said. “Give us all the fire you can.” Something huge rustled the trees behind them. “Then we run!” Even as he said it, another creature burst from the trees. No, Dusk thought as he launched himself into a gallop. It was the trees. Twigs and branches and brush flowed into the thing’s body, even the smashed and burning remains of the other creatures. A sickening stench flowed from the thing’s jaws, and its eyes glowed a pale green. The eyeshine of a predator meant to hunt in the dark. Dusk cursed, his stomach tight with fear. In this foreign forest, traveling at night had been a mistake. They should have rested with the buffalo and left in the morning. Mere hours into the forest, and they were going to die. They couldn’t outrun something that big. Green turned ahead of him, facing the creature. Dusk turned too, leaves skirling under his hooves. Amber slammed her hooves on the ground, but shook her head when she met Dusk’s eyes. They couldn’t find shelter. There was no lucky tunnel under the forest here. Green closed her eyes. She was the only chance they had. “C’mon, Green,” Dusk said. “Burn it!” Once again, fire bloomed from her horn. It rushed out all at once, a sheet of flame rather than a fireball, and the dried leaves they had run over seconds before went up like a thousand torches. The creature shrieked, the sound of a tree branch cracking into a thousand pieces. It’s jaw fell like dry brush onto the ground, the stench of its breath mixing with the burning of the forest. One leg burned completely, and the creature staggered, toppling off balance. But it still moved. Green panted and swayed where she stood, the fire fading as fast as it had come. “Dusk,” Amber said, eyes wide. “You need to find us a way out of here.” “And leave you?” He turned, watching as the creature shuddered. Leaves and branches were already flowing from the trees once again, rebuilding the leg and jaw that Green had incinerated. “We’ll run. Straight north. But you need to find us shelter, and do it before that thing gets back together. Fly!” She was right. He hated to do it, but she was right. He leapt, putting the star to his nose, and sped off into the sky. A small flame followed him, and it gave him strength to go faster. Green. Alright. He could be a beacon, at the very least. And maybe, if he could get high enough, he could see Equestria. They were so close, they had to be. They couldn’t give up now. Below, the small forms of Amber and Green began to run through the trees, disappearing and reappearing underneath the branches. The glow of the creature’s eyes slowly grew brighter, but it wasn’t moving yet. Dusk winged ahead of them, the small fireball following his movements. He scanned the ground, squinting through the dark. The ground continued on, nothing but earth and loam. For miles. In the far, far distance, something shimmered, probably water. His stomach sank. There was nowhere they could go to be safe. And below him, Green was beginning to slow. The small flame that followed him winked out. He wheeled around, wing muscles screaming. He swooped low, calling out as he passed by Amber. “Keep going! I’ll distract it!” “No!” Amber shouted, but he ignored her. It was what Grandfather would have done. What he had done. And Dusk didn’t have a choice. The creature was moving again, the two bright lights of its eyes bobbing through the forest. Gaining speed. Wind whistling in his ears, Dusk blew past, just over the creature’s head. Long jaws snapped, and his wings ached when he pulled up hard to avoid the jagged wooden fangs. He couldn’t do that again. If he died so quickly, his friends would go next. Hoping the creature wouldn’t just absorb it, he kicked a branch off of a tree, the small projectile bouncing off the thing’s snout. It stopped running. The green gaze focused on him. Dusk flew as fast as he could, the star behind him. The stench of the creature washed over his face, coming in hot puffs. Success! Now he had to stay alive. He flew low, low enough to be a target, but that meant dodging every branch and tree in his way. Weaving as he never had before, every muscle in his wings and chest screamed in pain as he performed aerial dodges at speeds he didn’t think pegasi were really capable of. Leaves that were gray in the dark slapped his face and small branches drew stinging trails down his sides. And it was still barely enough to stay ahead of the snapping jaws. The creature’s stride was just too long. Sweat dripping down his coat was whisked away by the wind, cooling his body and making his wings cramp faster. His heart beat in his head, forcing him to squint. Every nerve fiber in his body focused on keeping up the pattern, dodging trees, staying ahead of the monster behind him. He hadn’t flown in too long. He had avoided the gryphons by staying on the ground, but the resulting inexperience in the air would kill him right now just as well as they could. His right wing locked, muscles cramping so tight they twisted. He fell, spiraling in midair and flapping as hard as he could with the other. A patch of grass and brush exploded into a plume of scattered leaves and dust when he hit the ground in a ball, twigs snapping underneath his body when he rolled to a stop. He didn’t know if the burst of pain was from the fall or from exerting himself to try and survive, but it didn’t matter. The creature stepped forward, the stench dizzying. He braced himself. Then the sky opened, light and heat raining down like it had when Green’s mother had tried to save her husband. For a moment, the forest was bathed in a green glow as the lightning scorched the creature to ashes in front of his eyes. Dusk could barely move. He tried to get to his feet, to look up or around or anywhere but at the pile of ash that had marked where the creature stood. A chill wind blew, bringing the scent of scorched grass. He almost fell again at the booming voice. “WHAT ART THOU DOING?” Dusk winced, folding his ears against his head. His heart leapt and raced in circles. The creature was gone. That voice wasn’t Rikarr. But in this forest, it could be anything. Out of the darkness, something landed heavily on the grass in front of him. An armored hoof was placed by his nose. Dark wings, like his but larger, were spread. A flowing mane partially obscured the night sky. A horn jutted from her forehead. His heart slowed. A pony. This was a pony. The image on the banner he had seen flashed through his mind. A pony with a horn and wings. “Art thou hurt?” the pony asked. The first pony he had seen, other than Amber and Green, in weeks. No, months. “Why dost thou not speak?” “Are you…are you from Equestria?” he managed. Her eyes widened. “You know not your Princess?” Dusk got to his feet, legs shaking, relief and happiness chasing each other in circles. Energy filled him, helping him stand and stretch his legs and fold his battered wings. He grinned at this new pony, this Princess. “Princess,” he said, dropping into a bow like had so often to Rikarr. But this was different. He was no slave, not here. “We’ve come a long way to find you.”