Wet, decaying leaves littered the ground of the early morning forest as I march north, my pony ears twitching occasionally as I listen to the birds’ chirping melodies.
“...mmmrrrfff...”
...Oh, and Reykan lies asleep on my pony back, and I am praying to Celestia that he’s not drooling. Fighting the urge to shiver, I march on, ignoring my grumbling stomach that keeps on reminding me that I need to eat, despite my mental protest that I still don’t want to eat...grass. Not right now, at least.
I slightly shake my head and focus my attention on the narrow, bushy and twisty path ahead. It's still a long way back to Twilight’s, but I'll get there, eventually.
Four dainty hooves march out of the tree lines. Squinting her emerald eyes from the rising sun’s rays, Sienna stops and looks around the quiet grassland, planning her way to avoid a certain spot on the vast land of tall grasses. Frowning, she decides to walk where her shadow is pointing.
Unbeknownst to her, above the ground and hidden under the shadows of leaves and branches, two pairs of golden eyes are watching her in silence. As the deer walk on, the shadowy figure seems to be just content on watching her, even as the distance between them grow.
Suddenly, Sienna stops walking, her ears turning. Blinking, she cast a look over her shoulder, her emerald eyes scanning the line of trees bordering the thick forest, but all she see is nothing but the ordinary. Her frown hardening, she whips her gaze back and marches on.
Two steps... Four steps... Six steps... Eight—
A quiet and distant squeak reaches her brown ears, making her stop and blink in wonder. And as soon as she heard it, the sound was gone. She turn her curious gaze north, trying to see what it was, but after a few seconds of nothing, she shakes her head and resumes her trot.
If I am to guess, the sun merely has less than an hour left before it reaches the zenith. I march out of the tree lines, munching on some grass as I stop and stare at the vast grasslands, each stalk swaying with the breeze, occasionally disturbed by a number of racing kangaroos. I let my gaze swim at the scene until I notice a ‘clearing’ far ahead, the twinkling sunlight reflected on the small watering hole acting like a beacon to guide me where to go.
I close my eyes and take a deep breath, letting the calming air to cool my lungs. Damn, it’s really astonishing that I manage to get not one but two items without any major problems, but hey, I’m not complaining. If Lady Luck keeps this up, I might be able to get the other two items and return home in no time!
With a blink, I toss my gaze back and stare at the saddlebags on my sides.
...And then I notice a black, furry lump lying on my back, it’s tongue sticking out of its open, sleeping maw.
“...mmm...”
...right, I almost forgot that Reykan’s still sleeping on my back.
“...white...fluffy...rabbit...zzz...”
I roll my eyes as he slightly noms my fur in his sleep.
Anyway, I don’t think the folks living in that clearing would welcome me with a sleeping panther on my back. As I march onward, breaking through the tall grasses, and hoping that there won’t be any snakes in my path, I think of ways to enter that pasture without any problems.
Mission is to get inside, trade with...what’s-his-name and shuffle onward to Twilight’s tree. Problem is I have a predator on my back. Current location...tall grasses.
...Well, you know what they say; simple problems have simple solutions.
I lean sideways until—
Thud!
—the black, furry lump falls off of my back.
“...mmmrrrfff—ow...” Lying on his back and after he sleepily blinks the stars out of his sapphire blue eyes, Reykan stares up at me. “...Jay?”
“Hm?”
He looks around and then stares back at me. “Did you just dropped me?”
“Nah. You slipped.”
“Oh.” He rolls on his stomach, stands up on his four paws, stretches and yawns. “My bad then.” He then sits down, licks a paw and wipes said paw on his head. “You should have seen how I scared that timberwolf away from you last night, Jay!” he says proudly, walking after me as I continue heading north. “I can’t believe I managed to scare it, but I did!” and he finishes it with a big, toothy grin.
I blink at him, my walk slowing somewhat. “...What?” He repeats what he just said, but I zone him out. I...thought I’m a light sleeper. Damn. All of this walking and thinking must have been giving a toll to my pony body if I wasn’t able to wake up to two predators wrestling against each other in the dark. But wait... “Why aren’t you wounded?” I doubt that Reykan managed to dodge every attack of that cat-twig.
“Huh?” he blinks at me. “Wounded? Me?” He blinks yet again. “Why would I be wounded?” he asks with a confused frown.
I blink in return. “...You said you scared a timberwolf, right?”
He nods his head.
“So...why aren’t you hurt?” I shake my head. “Don’t tell me you just stared at each other and it just left.”
“...” He slightly tilts his head to the side. “How’d you know? Were you awake when it happened?”
... ... ... “... ... ...whatever.” I stop and turn to fully face him, him stopping in front of me. “There’s a pasture up ahead.”
He nods his head. “I know. You and Sienna went there.”
“I need to go there again and get something for Twilight.” I point a hoof at him, his eyes blinking at it. “I want you to stay here,” I point on the ground in between us. “Stay out of sight. Can you do that?”
He shrugs. “I’ve done it before, so I can do it again.” His ears twitch. “I can hunt a few birds while you’re in there.”
I shake my head. “Whatever. Just stay out of sight, okay?” I didn’t wait for his reply. I turn and walk north, staring at the reflected twinkling light through the tall grasses.
It didn’t take long until I reach the pasture. Walking out of the tall grass, I blink and look around, expecting a horse or two to approach me.
Sure enough, a tall, brown horse nearby sees and approaches me. “Hi there,” he greets me with a small smile. He stops in a respectable distance and blinks. “Oh, I recognize you,” he says, his smile growing. “Yes. You’re that small pony who came here a few moons ago. But uh...” He blinks yet again. “...I think I remember that there was a deer with you?” He looks behind and around me.
I slightly shake my head. “Eh. She left.”
He looks back at me with a frown. “Oh... Well, sorry to hear that.”
I arch an eyebrow. I close my eyes, shake my head and shrug. “...Meh. Anyway, I’m looking for...uh...” Damn, I can’t remember that pony’s name—oh wait, I remember now. “Moon.” ...Can’t remember the last name though. “He’s a white pegasus.”
“Moon Gaze?” brown horse asks as another horse walks towards us. He shakes his head with a frown. “Yes, he’s...uh...around?”
I once again arch an eyebrow.
“Is that pony here looking for Moon?” says yellow horse, stopping beside his friend. He blinks at me. “Oh, I remember you.” He nods his head. “Weren’t you the pony who was talking to Moon Gaze before he flew off somewhere?”
I nod my head. “Yeah. We agreed to trade.”
The two horses frown at me. They both then look at each other, and then return their gazes back to me.
“Er... Right,” Yellow Horse says quietly, looking over his shoulder. “He should be...still sitting by the watering hole.”
“...Uh huh...” I want to question them further, but I’d rather not waste more time. After all, they already told me where the pegasus is anyway. After saying my thanks, I walk past them and head straight towards the watering hole. I see a bunch of blue flowers by the edge—those are probably the Poison Jokes—but there’s no white pegasus around it.
I shuffle to a stop beside the flowers, and this close to them, I notice a bunch of mushrooms lying beside them. Oh, and there’s a white rat staring at its reflection on the water. Yes, it’s a rat because I don’t think mice are that big.
I blink at the flowers. Hm... How am I gonna put these inside the bag, anyway? If only I can use magic, this wouldn’t be a prob—say, I think I remember seeing a unicorn around here. Now where is that—
SQUEAK!
I jump back and whip my gaze at where that squeak had come from. The white rat thing is standing on its hind legs, one front paw-thing pointing at me, its red eyes...glaring at me?
“You!” it...squeaks?
It...rat...wha? Rats...can speak?
“What did you do to me?!”
... ... ...
It scurries towards me, and I reflexively try to walk back while flailing my hooves to shoo it away. “Oof—!” Unfortunately, I lose my balance and fall on the grassy ground. And then the rat jumps on top of my muzzle, its red, glaring eyes glaring directly into my own eyes.
It then starts to squeak at me, squeaking angrily at me, each of its squeak carries anger, confusion and more anger. But I understand each squeak perfectly, and as the rat squeaks the seconds by, my brain suddenly comes up with a...weird theory.
“M...Moon Gaze?” I breathe out, blinking at the white rodent on my muzzle.
“No, I’m a perfectly ordinary rat, is what I am!” the white rat exclaims as it leans its white furry head closer, its long, white tail whipping madly behind it. “Yes! I’m Moon Gaze! And I want to know what you did to me!”