//------------------------------//
// Guardians 
// Story: What You Need to Get Home 
// by RenaissanceBrony 
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	Time might have passed. It might not have. The stallion had no way to tell. It could have been a second. It could have been years. It could have been no time at all. All he knew was that he once again felt the rain upon his face.

        Sensation returned to his body and the world returned with it. He recognized the familiar feeling of the wind tearing at his mane and he recognized that he was lying on his back with his hind legs submerged in the lazy current of a river. Soon he became aware of a voice emerging above the sound of rain pouring onto a body of water.

        “Heyo! Up an’ at ‘em! We’ve got a schedule to keep here. You ready to go yet?” the voice spoke hurriedly.

        The stallion forced his eyes open. As he expected he found himself gazing towards the sky. He was immediately met by the sight of a pegasus hovering above him. The pegasus appeared younger than the stallion. He was neither fully grown nor a colt. He appeared to be a strikingly handsome embodiment of young adulthood. His face was a mask of distracted impatience as he prodded the stallion with a metal staff. The stallion was startled to discover that the staff was entwined by two snakes coiling around it hissing at each other. In his surprise he rolled to the side to put some distance between himself and the rod.

        “Oh good, you’re up,” the pegasus continued with a hint of relief. “That was a pretty nasty fall there. How’re you doing? Can you walk?”

        The stallion looked down at his own body in disbelief. He was somehow completely unharmed. In a state of numb shock he stood up entirely without difficulty. Nothing hurt and everything was working fine. He’d actually never felt better. Completely at a loss he looked at the pegasus with a questioning stare. The pegasus, however, did not seem interested in any explanations.

        “Okay, great, you’re fit as a fiddle,” he observed. “So, I’ve got somewhere I need to be,” explained the pegasus, gesturing off into the distance with his staff, “and I’m on a pretty tight schedule. All you need to know is that you want to go,” he paused and fluttered over to float beside the stallion, then pointed across the river into the fog, “that way. Just keep heading that direction and you’ll know when to stop. You’re going to want to keep this with you.” He flicked a bit towards the stallion and it embedded itself in the soft riverside dirt. “Good luck,” he said with finality, then zoomed off into the fog. An instant later he returned, materializing through the mist. “Oh, one more thing: If I were you I wouldn’t worry about your pie delivery. Nopony needs them where you’re going. Alright, see ya. Well, actually, no. I probably won’t, but, you know… bye.” In a flurry of feathers the pegasus was gone.

        The stallion stood motionless for a moment, processing everything that had just happened. With a start he realized that his pie cart was no longer attached to him. He swept his gaze frantically in every direction, but he found no sign of its whereabouts. It must have come off when he landed and then floated away. He had no idea how far away it could have gone by now. He craned his neck to look downstream but saw nothing useful.

        Even though he’d somehow miraculously survived the fall, it was all for nothing. The whole reason he’d gone this far away from home was to deliver the pies, and they were lost. He hung his head in defeat only to give himself a second, even greater shock. The collar he had kept around his neck for years was gone! He had never gone for more than an hour without wearing it ever since he was a young colt and he felt naked without it. A sudden feeling of dread overtook him as the realization sunk in. He was alone in the wilderness with no purpose, no idea where he was, and no idea how to get home. The only thing for him to go by was the directions of a fast-talking stranger.

        As the rain continued to plummet from the sky the stallion sighed and decided to take the only course of action presented to him. He picked up the coin from the ground and waded forwards into the river, heading in the direction the pegasus had shown him. His legs sloshed in the ever-deepening water as he left the shore behind him.

Before long he lost sight of the riverbank as fog swirled in behind him. He pressed forward into the deeper parts of the river until he could no longer touch the bottom with his hooves. From that point on he swam, unsure of how far he had left to go. The river was impressively wide as he continued for several minutes without any sign that he was closer to the other side. Fortunately the stallion’s endurance was more impressive. He could swim for hours without rest.

Eventually the stallion noticed that the rainfall began to decline and the wind seemed to blow itself down to a gentle breeze. The fog grew thinner as he went and eventually it cleared out entirely. Everything was much quieter and much more peaceful. He hadn’t realized it before but the incessant chaos had been filling his mind making it difficult for him to think. With the newfound peace he was able to focus on his thoughts.

His first thought was to observe his surroundings. With the fog gone he could once again get a clear view of the sky, but what he saw didn’t make his situation any clearer. The sky appeared as it did during the new moon. There was nothing but stars filling the dark void that was the night sky, only now the darkness itself seemed to be glowing. There was no visible source of light, no moon, no sun, only stars, yet the entire sky glowed as if it were somewhere in between the black of night time and the bright blue of daytime. It seemed to him that the sky was locked in a perpetual state of twilight. It shone upon his surroundings and he could see a large, flat expanse of the gentle river. Behind him lay the oppressive wall of the fog bank and far ahead of him he saw a strip of green which he recognized to be trees at the rivers edge. What confused him even further was that he couldn’t see the wall along which he had been travelling. The map had shown him that it was supposed to continue for many more miles, which was much farther than he had swam. He must have been carried farther downstream than he thought to be so far away from the incredibly tall landmark.

Next his thoughts dwelled upon the identity of the pegasus that had directed him. What did the pegasus want him to do? Why was he following the directions of a complete stranger? Then the idea struck him that the pegasus had saved his life. He could think of now explanation as to how he had survived the fall. Even if he had landed in a river, he would have died when he hit the surface. The pegasus must have caught him after he passed out and carried him to shore. But how did the pegasus know he was even there, and what was the stranger doing so far into untamed territory? The questions swirled around in his head and suddenly a memory came back to him. He was just a young colt and it was only a few days after his first sister had been born. His pa had been away and his ma was very busy caring for the newborn. She’d asked him to go to town and buy some groceries. A thrill of joy came back to him as he remembered how excited he’d been when his ma told him he was old enough to go to town without granny’s help. But he’d been worried too. He’d asked his ma what to do if he got lost without anyone to help him and his ma told him that if he ever couldn’t find his way home a magical guardian would appear to guide him back to her. At the time he’d been satisfied and had almost hoped he’d lose his way so he’d get to see the guardian but he made it to town and back without a problem. In the years after his parents died he’d grown and stopped believing in his ma’s fairy tales. He’d dismissed the idea that there was a guardian watching over him especially since that guardian wouldn’t have watched idly while his parents died before him. In light of these new circumstances, however, the stallion was no longer so sure. Was it possible that the stranger was guiding him home? There was no way to tell, so he dropped the thought.

He resigned himself to follow the course pointed out to him and allowed his mind to go blank while he swam. In what seemed like no time at all his hooves touched down on the rocky bottom of the river and he was able to walk the last couple hundred feet out of the water. The shore, he discovered once he reached it, was the edge of an evergreen forest. Pine needles matted the ground creating a spongy green and brown carpet which silenced his hoofsteps completely. The trees grew thickly together, thrusting their branches together and forming a dense canopy which let in no more light than the stallion’s wooden ceiling back at his farm. He hesitated before the threshold, observing that the twilight faded off and died leaving a foreboding darkness only a few yards into the forest. Glancing side to side, he noted that the forest and the river stretched as far as he could see in both directions, leaving him with no alternative but to enter. He thought to check the map if he could figure out where he was now that he had a few more details on his position, but he disappointedly realized he had no clue where the map was. He’d lost that in the fall as well. It was just now occurring to him that he had lost everything except the coin the pegasus had given him.

With no other choice, the stallion bravely struck forward into the unwelcoming forest. He was almost immediately engulfed by the black and sooner than he would have thought possible any signs of light behind him disappeared. The woods were eerily silent. They should have been filled with birds chirping and fluttering from tree to tree, and maybe some squirrels scuttling about searching for nuts. This forest, however, seemed to be as devoid of life as it was of light.

Without the use of his eyes, the stallion found it difficult to navigate through the forest. After his first head-on collision with a tree he began walking more slowly, waving his left front hoof in front of him feeling for obstacles. His solution helped avoid the pain from collisions, but when he did find a tree it was no less startling. Each time his hoof struck unseen bark the noise rang out seemingly as loud as a gunshot when compared to the utter silence around him. Each time he jumped back in surprise as the haunting atmosphere of the forest was putting his nerves on edge.

He continued on this way for quite some time. Once again it was hard to tell how long with no hint of the sun or moon by which to measure. With his nerves perpetually strung as tight as a lyre’s string, he pressed on. All of the sudden he felt his blood run cold and he froze as his ears shot straight up. In between his breaths he heard a deep rumbling behind him. With dread he turned his head around to look. A couple hundred feet back, it was hard to tell exactly how far, he saw three pairs of glowing red eyes looking directly at him and swaying in unison as if they were walking towards him.

Without a second thought the stallion took off at a full sprint. All he knew was that he needed to get out of the forest and away from whatever it was that was following him. He ran blindly, with only his luck to guide him. If his mind had not been absorbed by sheer terror, he might have been surprised by how far he managed to travel without any collisions. His luck did not last forever, though, and he eventually felt a sudden pain in his side as he glanced off of a tree. The blow was strong enough to throw him off his hooves. He tumbled through the soft bed of pine needles, ignoring the prickling sensation it caused on his skin. In an instant he was standing one more, the adrenaline rushing through his veins like it never had before. He sacrificed a moment to look back only to double his fear when he saw that the eyes had closed half of the distance between them.

He once again turned to run, this time barely making it up to speed before he ran straight into a tree. Lights exploded in his head and his body crumpled to the forest floor. He was completely disoriented, unsure of even which way was up or which way was down. He tried to stand but only succeeded in flailing his limbs around helplessly. The deep rumbling, he noticed, was slowly growing in volume and coming in long, slow pulses, almost like somepony breathing. To his dismay, as the noise grew even louder he recognized it as a dog’s growling, only much deeper and much slower than any dog he’d ever seen in Equestria. Through his confusion he was able to identify the direction that the noise was coming from and turn his head to look. He was shocked to see that the eyes were nearly upon him.

They couldn’t have been more than ten feet away and they looked even more menacing up close. He was able to distinguish the pupils, ringed by irises of flaming red that glowed with an unnatural hatred, and all six were locked directly upon him. With the help of a renewed surge of adrenaline the stallion was able to orient himself and roll over onto his hooves. He tried to stand once but he stumbled and fell. He tried a second time and succeeded, but it was too late. The eyes were upon him and the growling he could hear mere inches from his ears. Paralyzed by fear he stood rooted to the spot, readying himself for what may come as he locked his gaze upon the center set of eyes. One last growl dragged out and died as the center eyes drifted ever closer to the stallion’s face. The growling was replaced by a sniffing noise and he felt several tiny gusts of wind blow through his mane. Unable to hold eye contact any longer, the stallion turned his head away from the eyes, grimacing from the thought of what came next. But with a sudden glimmer of hope he noticed a vague light glowing in the distance. He was just barely able to make out the outlines of several pine trees against the dark grey background.

Realizing that his escape was in sight, the stallion’s will was renewed and in a split second he was galloping as fast as ever before towards the light. He payed no attention to the sound of a humongous set of jaws snapping shut behind him and focused the entirety of his strength and willpower into running. The light grew brighter before him and he could soon easily distinguish the trees. Weaving between them, heart pounding, chest heaving, he drew nearer to the edge of the forest. In a moment of immeasurable relief he passed beyond the last tree and found himself plummeting into water. He’d done it. He had made it through the forest.

His relief was short-lived, however, for as soon as he hit the water an uncomfortable tingling sensation afflicted his skin wherever the water touched it. The discomfort began spreading, soaking deeper into his skin and reaching his bones. The stallion began warily wading back to shore, checking to make sure there was no sign of the eyes following him. After a second the tingling evolved into a horrible pain as if every nerve in his body was being shredded and torn to pieces. He screamed aloud from the pain and shock and managed to throw his body ashore before collapsing to the ground in a writhing heap.

The pain did not abate when he left the water and so he continued to scream, all of his senses lost to the overwhelming torment. He could control neither his thoughts nor his actions and was completely helpless. For hours his torture continued, nearly breaking his mind and body before the last drop of water dried from his coat. At long last the pain faded and the stallion was able once more to think. The only noticeable damage that had been done to him was the soreness of his vocal chords. Other than that it appeared as if the pain had done him no real harm.

He took a moment to gather himself and take in his new surroundings. Just like at the previous river the forest and the water met in a line which stretched on indefinitely. Here the sky was a light blue, just like it would be on a cloudless day, only there was no sun. This river was much narrower than the other and he could easily see the other side as it was less than a quarter-mile across. In stark contrast to the forest behind him, a barren desert waited for him over the water. He didn’t like the looks of it, but he knew his destination had to lie across the wasteland. But before he could worry about that he needed to get across the river.

He knew he stood no chance of swimming across for the pain would overwhelm him and he would surely drown. He began to consider building a raft out of trees from the forest, though he was loathe to get any closer to it, but then a dark silhouette floating on the river drew his attention. At appeared to be slowly drifting closer to him and when it was a third of the way across he recognized it as a hooded pony floating on a boat. It was surrounded by a black haze which the stallion recognized to be unicorn magic as the boat drew even closer.

He awaited the pony patiently, hoping that the stranger would be kind enough to help him cross the river. After a minute or two the boat gently slid aground directly in front of the stallion. It was a simple wooden ferry, designed to carry only two passengers, which was perfect for the stallion’s needs. The pony on board was a pure white unicorn with eyes so wide they might not have even had lids. Before the stallion had a chance to ask for help the white pony spoke in a voice so old and decrepit the stallion couldn’t even tell if the pony was a mare or a stallion.

“I require payment,” croaked the white pony, stretching out one of the black sleeves of its cloak from which a pure white hoof protruded. The stallion was dismayed to realize he had no money to pay with, but before he could show his empty hooves to the white pony he was shocked to find the coin the pegasus had given to him stuck directly in the center of his right hoof, exactly how he’d picked it up in the first place. He struggled to remove it, trying to scrape it away with his other hoof but it would not budge. No matter how much effort he put into it he could not remove the coin. Discouraged, he held out the stuck coin to the white pony who simply reached out and took it. With no difficulty at all the white pony removed the coin and tucked it away inside its cloak.

The white pony stepped away towards the far end of the boat and silently gestured for the stallion to climb aboard. He did so, being careful to avoid getting so much as the tip of a hoof in the water lest he once again go through that painful ordeal. He climbed aboard successfully and as soon as he had the boat once again glowed with unicorn magic. He noticed at the same time that the white pony’s horn was glowing with the same exact shade of black. Soon he was gently rocking back and forth as the boat swayed its way across the threatening water. It was only a matter of minutes before they reached the other side during which neither pony made any attempts at conversation. The stallion quickly hopped off when they ran ashore, eager to get far away from the water. As soon as his hooves met the solid ground, he turned to thank the white pony, but both the pony and the boat had vanished.

With that unsettling occurrence he turned to face the desert. He could still see nothing beyond and the temperature had risen to a point where sweat began to trickle down the stallion’s neck. He knew that his trek would not be pleasant, but the extraordinary and increasingly unusual events that had brought him this far aroused in him a suspicion that something very significant was going on. He had no idea what awaited him at his destination but he knew it had to be important, possibly more important than anything he’d done his entire life.