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// 51 - Approaching the Forest 
// Story: Ponyfinder: Roots of Stone 
// by David Silver 
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Days flowed into one another. While it wasn't a completely clear journey, it was nothing they couldn't handle as an increasingly well-managed team. Tabitha largely stayed out of the way, except the one time several gnolls sprang up during her watch. Her spellcasting almost-yelp roused the others, who found her holding them captivated with swirling colors that she weaved with frantically waving fingers. She could do little but keep them subdued, but it was more than enough to let the others clear the trouble away.

Several days later, Fast unfurled a rough map and tapped at it with a plated hoof. "We should arrive tomorrow. You can just barely see it over the horizon, though it's getting dark now. We'll be pushing the horses a bit, but we won't be riding them at all on our way through. There shouldn't be any trails or paths for us to hope to ride them through, but we'll want them on the other side when we break through."

Paul nodded at the map. "So, what should we be expecting?"

Tree shook her head with a little smile. "It wouldn't be called 'impenetrable', man, if people knew."

"Exactly so." Fast rolled up the map and tucked it away in her saddlebag. "I hate to be so vague, but we must literally be prepared for anything. Whatever we encounter was at least frightening enough for all the humans to decide to give up from this side, and ponies from the other end. There's very little report of anyone from either side making the journey."

Tabitha rolled a hand. "Alright, so you decided to go this way why?"

Maud fielded the question, looking at Tabitha directly. "Fast Shadow wants to get there faster. This is the fastest way."

"If we don't die." Paul rolled his shoulders.

"Possibly."

Fast waved if off. "Get some sleep. Tree, shroud us, and let's be fresh for the morning."

And so they settled down for the night, getting some sleep.

Paul found himself in a forest infinitely large, filled with thorns that dripped with the blood of others foolish enough to attempt to violate such a violent place. He could hear growls from unseen beasts and the sound of metal against metal as if countless bandits had somehow sorrounded him and were drawing blades.

"It is not your time yet." A silvery light penetrated from above, spreading to create enough space for a vast figure of the night itself to descend. Curiously, a pony, no, a horse. She was too large to qualify as a pony, though her eyes shone with divine power and intelligence. "You have become quite entangled with my people. Do you begrudge my intrusion? Your fate is not inherently tied to my will."

Was the pony goddess asking permission to be there? The idea confused Paul a moment before he nodded. "Um, sure." He felt stupid a moment. "I mean, welcome. What's up?"

She glanced up at the full moon that hung above her before returning her piercing gaze to Paul. "Son of man, companion of my children, do you understand what you have become involved in? This is your last chance. If you choose to leave, none can fault you in this."

"No!" Paul threw his hands aside. "I gave my word, and they're my friends beside. I'll see them to the end of this, together."

She smiled gently. "A fine soul. Then go forward, but do it with open eyes. You must face the past, from a time before pony or human, angry and wise. Then you must face a hurt people who will begrudge your every attempt to help. Your road from here will be long, dangerous, and largely ungrateful, but if you succeed..."

"I will."

She stepped forward and raised a hoof. "Do you have one you would call lord?"

Lord? "He died."

"Nay." She frowned faintly. "Higher than that station. Who do you whisper to, in your darkest hour?"

"My friend, Flint."

Her hoof fell, seemingly stunned. "Do you not believe in divinity? Nay, I would not be here if that were the case."

"Oh!" He smiled sheepishly. "You meant if I had a favorite god or somethin'? I never really learned much about them."

"I can see..." She looked him over a moment. "Would you accept a pony?"

"I wouldn't know what to do with it," he said truthfully.

"I see this." She raised that hoof back up. "If you accept me and none other, I will try to help. Companion of ponies, you will need every advantage you can gain. Speak of me to your companions, at least one of them will know of me. Curse me afterwards if you would cast me away, and I will respect that. Do you accept until then?"

Powerful and alien, her words rang with truth and sincerity. He felt he could trust her at least this far. As gods went, she seemed kind and straightforward, just the way he liked gods, insofar as he knew gods at all."Alright. Will I remember this? Is this a dream?"

"You'll remember enough." She stamped his head, there was a cool warmth where she touched, and he fell to darkness.

Across the camp site, the others slept peacefully, minus any nervousness they had for the danger they would be facing. They awoke as the sun broke the horizon. Tree rolled up and started clearing away the traces of the fire without being asked, preparing for their journey.

"Paul?" Tabitha shook him lightly. "Paul, what's that?"

Her question brought the others over to see where a curious mark was etched on his forehead. "What? What is it?" He couldn't see it, but they all could, the crescent moon shape that now graced his face.

Fast pawed at the ground. "I'm no religious person, in the end, but even I would be blind to ignore this. Were you visited by the moon princess?"

Tree tilted her head "Luna?"

"Nay? Perhaps that is another name for her? She is the Moon Princess, she who guards our sleep, keeps beasts where they belong away from us, and watches over ponykind from the dark." She leveled her gaze on the confused-looking Paul. "Why would she visit you, a human?"

Paul struggled to remember the night before. "Look, ah was just sleepin', kinda rough before she showed up." He put a hand behind his head. "Big pony, size of a horse? likes silver?"

"Yes yes, that describes her well enough." Fast tilted her head. "What did she say?"

"I can barely remember!" He got to his feet. "Being mobbed on wakin' up isn't helpin' anythin' a bit. Damn." He turned away from their curious faces.

Tabitha circled around him. "Well try. By the gods, literally, you were visited! You don't think that's important?" She leaned in. "Was she pretty?"

Paul snorted at her. "She was a damn horse. She was pretty like a really impressive horse."

Tabitha subtly inclined her head towards the others. "I'd watch my words if I were you," she whispered cautiously. "So she was pretty, right?"

Anger flashed over his features before he got what she was saying. "Oh, uh yeah, she was right pretty. Anyway, she said I could run if I wanted, but I don't plan t'do that."

Tree smiled gently. "Far out. Touched by the cosmic. I saw one before." She raised a hoof. "Hoofbump for a fellow gazer of the divine?"

Paul hesitated a moment before he formed a fist and met her hoof lightly. "Alright, but which one'd you see? I don't see any funny marks on your face."

She tilted her head. "No? She taught me the song of the trees here. They're different from the trees at home." She tapped at the earth gently. "She has walked with us every step, working through me. It's truly radical." A firm nod and she sat down. "She's always been here."

Fast went pale towards the end of her snout. "I thought you were a druid."

"Aren't I? I never heard the word until we arrived here."

Fast shook her head. "Do you worship the Sun Queen, or nature?"

It was Tree's turn to look slightly puzzled. "Both? My song is that of the trees, of the growing, the death and rebirth, nature itself, but nature has no real feelings, man. The Sun Queen is nice, and showed me the first step, so I'm thankful to her as a righteous lady of the day. My power doesn't come from her, not, you know, directly? But she wanted me to find this. I'm doing her work, get it?"

Paul put a hand on his chest. "Alright, so how's that work fer me? Am I supposed ta be doin' what this here 'Moon Princess' wants? I don't even know what that would be."

Fast let out a slow breath. "I'm no priest, but I'll give you the lay view. She is a kind goddess, and watches over us in the dark and in the wild, when we are at our most vulnerable."

Paul tossed his head towards the forest in the far distance. "Like we're about to be in both."

"Precisely." Fast nodded as she looked him over. "She believes in keeping monsters away from ponies, not by hunting them, just keeping each to their proper place. If one attacks ponies, then they should be attacked in kind, of course, but they don't really send groups out hunting for them." She tapped her chin, looking thoughtful. "She is a dream goddess, as you may have noticed. That's how she works."

Paul moved for his horse. "Alright, well, she likes us, and that's good, but we gotta get movin'. We're not goin' to get there any faster just talkin' about gods." He pulled himself up and patted the neck of his loyal steed. "It doesn't look too stupid does it?"

Maud looked up at him before moving for her own horse. "It's already fading."

Tabitha hopped up behind Fast as they mounted up. "Guess it was just there to make sure you knew it was real."

Tree nodded as she took her place. "Well, now we all know it. We have two gods behind us, keeping an eye on us."

Fast smiled as she lowered her visor. "Good, maybe we'll have a chance at this then. Onwards."

As they rode, the forest grew larger and larger, overtaking the entire horizon in an uneven line that stretched from the north to the south. It started with trees, somehow gnarled and twisted despite growing alone, as if they already felt the pressure of the oppressively thick looking forest ahead. The further they went, the tighter it became, and their twisted ways became less jarring as trees wrestled with one another, vying for a chance for the sun above. The forest itself was dark, entirely dark. It would be as dark as night, darker even, with no chance of stars poking through the canopy so dense that it defied all expectations.

"Far out..."