//------------------------------//
// Day 6 
// Story: The Winding Northward Road 
// by Rambling Writer 
//------------------------------//

I almost died today!  No, really.

Spent yesterday going through denser and denser foliage, like I had the day before (hence the lack of an entry yesterday).  Today, noticed a mountain pass and aimed for it.  Don’t know if air’s getting thinner, but definitely feeling slightly light-headed.  Might need to go sleep a bit earlier.

Reached pass just after noon.  Found some ruins not too far in; looked like an old guard post of some kind.  No walls spanning pass to prevent passage, not military.  Toll booth?  Way station?  Dunno.  Not in that bad of shape; most walls and roofs still standing.  Could’ve made nice shelter for night, but it was too early, and I wanted to keep going.

Dug around a bit.  Not much left, very overgrown.  No leftover tools or anything.  Not even furniture.  Picked clean or taken when outpost abandoned?  The latter, I think.

While I was picking through it, heard somepony outside.  I poked my head out and nearly got it taken off by a magic blast to the face.  There was a unicorn on the outside, and she looked furious.  Also dirty and disheveled, but mostly furious.  She kept going on about this was HER land, and no one else was allowed on it.  Every now and then, she’d try to hit me with magic again just to make me keep my head down.

When she took a breath, I yelled out that I didn’t know this was her land, I was just passing through, and if she’d like to stop trying to kill me, I’d be on my way in a heartbeat.  She tried to fry me one last time, then gave me sixty seconds.  She started counting down immediately, which wasn’t all that fair, but oh well.

I took the opportunity and continued down the pass.  She didn’t try to kill me again, but kept glaring daggers at me until I was out of sight (at about 12 seconds or so).  If she’s so protective of the place, why doesn’t she just stick up a sign?  “Dudes, don’t stay here.  My land.  Get your own and get out of here.  Srsly.”  I didn’t even see a metaphorical sign, like manticore skulls stuck on pikes across the road.

Are there manticores out here?  Great, I went and made myself scared.

On the other side of the pass, well and truly out of sight of Lareindo now.  Found worn-down path; largely heading down.  Don’t see another set of ruins yet; I thought there’d be another on this side of the pass.  Maybe I just haven’t reached them yet.

Big desert to the north; very spread out.  Looks sparser than the land around Lareindo.  But I can see a change in the land to the northeast; maybe there’s more vegetation there.  If I have trouble getting enough to eat, I’ll head that way.  And hope I’m actually right.

Some ponies just
Some ponies shouldn’t
Be with others much.
Be with others that much.  Who?
Very crazy mares.

Mountains towering
on either side, I feel like
a nut between teeth.

I need to work on my imagery.  Couldn’t come up with anything good for the last line of the second one.