Twilight blinked, pausing for breath. Way to infodump, book. I hope it doesn't keep doing this... "Everypony get all that?"
"Now wait just one cotton-pickin' minute," Applejack sat up. "Ah been trying to figure this out for five whole minutes now, and ah still don't get what these 'hand' things are supposed to be, or how ponies are supposed to walk on two legs!"
"Maybe something like this?" Pinkie threw her body up to balance on her hind legs, lurching forward a couple of steps before landing flat on her face.
"It's just a story guys, it doesn't have to all make perfect sense. Now if I could get on with it..."
It was mid-afternoon the next day when the travellers reached Ponyville. Typically for the back end of summer, the heat was sweltering; dense forest gradually gave way to wide open plains, leaving the weary ponies without shelter as they approached the town. Unfortunately for them, their fatigue cost them valuable time. By the time Ponyville came into view, simple settlers weren't the only figures they could see wandering around. A pair of pegasus ponies decked out in Canterlot armour, who must have travelled through the night, were wandering between homes and businesses with a stack of posters, putting them up on walls and consulting passers by. Getting as close to the town as they could, they hid behind a hay bale about a hundred yards from the first cottage while they weighed up their options.
"I'm not sure if this is such a good idea, Bolt..."
"It's risky... but we need to eat." While Spectra surveyed the town, Dawn reached over her shoulder to pull out some of the hay. She thought they were sitting behind a bundle of food, only to find soil and bugs mixed into the chaff - this hay wasn't destined for dining. "What was that?" Bolt looked over to see what the noise was. The unicorn tossed away the handful of grass.
"Bleh... nothing, never mind."
"I think I'm fast enough to get in and out without anypony seeing me..." Spectra's stomach punctuated her contemplation with a rumble.
"But you're definitely not running at full speed right now."
"... right."
"I think, we should approach this more delicately." Dawn leaned her head forward, her horn flashing for a moment, and she began to fade from view.
"Dawn? Dawn!" Bolt panicked, reaching forward to grab the air where she was, grabbing instead a shoulder and forearm.
"Relax, I'm right here. This is a partial invisibility spell. Right now, I won't be able to keep it up for very long, but I should be able to grab something and get away before it runs out. You get up on a roof and keep an eye out in case anything gets hairy."
"Got it." Spectra checked that the coast was clear, before lunging in a flight-aided sprint to the nearest cottage. She proned against the wall and waited a moment. She repeated the process twice more, until she found a stone building overlooking the marketplace to perch on. In the mean time, Dawn walked steadily under the cover of her spell towards the town. She kept as best she could to the grass to mask the sound of her hoofsteps. Fortunately, most of the town was on a siesta at this time of day, so the marketplace was sleepy and secluded; in the case of one merchant, sleepy in the literal sense. An apple stall in the middle of the square was tended by a lone pony with their wide-brimmed hat pulled down and their head on the table, napping in the sun. After a moments' hesitation, Dawn crept from hiding, the midday sun casting a faint shadow under her position, like that of a thin cloud. She stood for a moment, making sure that nopony else was watching the stall from across the plaza. Gingerly, she began to take her pick of the apples. One by one, she picked them carefully from the basket, the invisibility spell encompassing them as she took them in her hand, and deposited them into her pocket. Come on, come on, hurry up, this is no time to be picky! Spectra thought, watching the apples float up and disappear at a leisurely pace.
Tense minutes passed. The pegasus chewed on the ledge she clung to, beads of cold sweat dripping from her maneline. One deep robe pocket full, Dawn began to pile fruit into the other. She paid painstaking attention to the way the remaining fruit sat in their barrels - she wanted to ensure they looked as much like before as possible. Unfortunately, she was paying so much attention to this detail that she missed another, which soon made itself apparent. From the next apple she picked slithered a wriggling, writhing worm. She felt something slide against her thumb, and jerked her hand back, dropping the apple. She stifled her shocked squeak. The apple split neatly in two along the wormhole when it hit the cobblestone. The merchant shook awake from the sound. Her hat slipped to the back of her head as she looked around in a mild panic, almost meerkat-like.
"Huh... what the hay?" Dawn backed up slowly. Hoping to avoid drawing further attention to herself. She felt a firm thunk against her side, and saw the ground rapidly disappearing beneath her. Bolt had grabbed her and was getting out of dodge with her before anyone else noticed. The apple merchant, not entirely sure what had just happened, just looked around, befuddled. She looked over the edge of the stall to find the split apple and the worm laying on the ground. "Consarned worms..."
Fortunately, nopony else had quick enough to spot more than just a multicoloured blur, and the pair landed safely behind the next building, Dawn's invisibility spell wearing off, revealing one pocket weighed down heavily with apples. With just a nod, they agreed they had to put some distance between themselves and the town. There was a wooded knoll fifty yards away, down an empty back street and across a small stream. Their target in sight, they took off in a sprint. Dawn skidded to a halt by a poster to examine it - it was one of the ones she had seen earlier. It wasn't long before Spectra grabbed her shoulder to pull her onward. The unicorn ripped the poster from the wall to read while she followed. A message from the High Sun Priestess at Canterlot, it read. WANTED, DEAD OR ALIVE, for the crimes MURDER MOST HEINOUS and HIGH TREASON: two young adult mares, one unicorn, lilac of coat and indigo of mane, and one pegasus, cyan of coat and of rainbow mane. Known as former solar Neophyte VENUS DAWN and former captain of the Cloudsdale city guard BOLT SPECTRA. The wanted are considered to be outside the protection of the law, and collaborators can expect to b- Her concentration was broken by a loud crunch - she looked up to find Bolt in mid-air, hoof outstretched in a flying kick. Her hoof had just connected with a guardspony's head; the colt was knocked out cold from the impact. He had just rounded a bend on to the back street.
"Come on, we haven't got time!" The pair raced from the end of the path, leaping across the stream in a single bound. They carried on into the forest, and kept running after they hit the tree line. They didn't stop to catch their breath until the town had disappeared behind the trunks of densely packed trees. They stumbled to a halt in a small clearing in the dense tree cover, relatively certain that they were not being pursued.
"Is this... the Everfree... Forest?" Dawn panted, clutching the crumpled remains of the poster.
"I think so... the edge of it anyway." Spectra held her hand under Dawn's pocket, just in time to catch a falling apple, and happily tucked in while the unicorn caught her breath. "I'm sure it goes on a lot further than this..." Once finished with the first apple, she casually flicked the core into the undergrowth. The rustling initiated further rustling, as if something in the bushes was disturbed. She knelt down and approached the bush, curious. Her curiosity was rewarded with a startled rabbit jumping out at her and carrying on past. She fell backwards in surprise. Dawn just giggled. However, the rabbit wasn't the only thing in the bush that was disturbed. The two ponies pricked their ears when they heard a soft hissing, and saw the swaying of shrubs and grass, from something slowly moving in front of them. Spectra edged back a little, as into the clearing slithered an eight foot long, thick as a thigh, black and brown snake, rearing its head up to get a look at the two interlopers.
"Why... did it have to be snakes?" Dawn trembled, starting to step backwards. Her retreat was blocked when a rabbit - the very same one that had jumped out and startled Bolt a moment ago - parked itself just behind her hoof, and she tumbled backwards. The blow to her back from the ground winded her. She looked up just in time to see a figure swoop down in front of them, silhouetted against the sun - two broad wings on an equine form, the trails of a long and flowing mane and tail, and a flowing robe to match. The silhouette landed with a thud on the ground in the middle of the clearing, its wings folding behind it. Without the intense light behind it, colours and details became apparent - the figure was feminine, her face shrouded underneath the fringe her pale pink mane, which extended to the ground. Once all of her entourage of pastel green cloth and cream yellow feathers had settled, she angled her head up, her nose pushing the fringe out of the way, revealing her saturated teal eyes. Her expression was stern - by no means wrathful, but quite serious. As she rose to her hooves, she propped herself up by a long, knobbly wooden staff. As she stood, the snake slithered up to her and coiled around the staff, and the rabbit hopped up to her, and awkwardly climbed her robes to perch on her shoulder while she stared down the trespassers in silence. "Wh... who are you?" Dawn shivered, trying to crawl backwards. Ouch, that was a nettle... No response, just a steely gaze. "I asked who are you!" Still nothing. "Speak!"
"Is it...? Could it be?" Bolt whispered.
"Be what?" Dawn leant over, rubbing her hand in the grass, replying in a similarly harsh whisper.
"Wingscale!"
"I... what?"
"Have you never heard? Pax Wingscale, the Beastmistress of the Everfree Forest?" A furrowed brow answered Spectra's question. "Right. Friends with books. There's a myth that a mare who lives in th-" Her tale was interrupted when the other pegasus thumped her staff against the ground. The snake hissed at the pair. "Yeah, what do you want?" Bolt snapped. Wingscale just crossed her arms and held her judging gaze.
"I.. don't think she's too happy about us being here." Dawn whispered, sitting up, continuing to rub grass on her stung hand. Spectra rose to her hooves and brushed herself off.
"Okay then! We'll just be on our weAAH!" Again, she was cut off, this time by a trio of starlings, swooping down from a nearby tree and flocking to her face. The birds knocked her off balance, and in her panic, she fell over again. Dawn couldn't help but chuckle as she stood, and even Wingscale cracked a wry smile. The unicorn thought for a moment, and decided to try a different tack. With a little bow, she addressed the stranger more courteously, if formally - such was her tutelage.
"Good day. I am Venus Dawn of Canterlot, and this..." she looked down at her companion, who was still shooing away birds while attempting to get up. "... is my, uh, friend, Bolt Spectra. I must apologise if we are trespassing, but we are currently fleeing persecution, and needed a place to hide." Wingscale's expression lightened a little, raising her nose to level. Dawn tried to smile, but couldn't help but wince. She still held one arm behind her back, her fingers kneading over her palm in an attempt to reduce the pain of the sting. The pegasus spotted this, and upon seeing the unicorn's expression, she looked toward the hidden arm, extending hers with an open hand. It took Dawn a moment or two to decipher the meaning of this gesture. Once she had, she reluctantly pulled hers in front of her. Pax sauntered gracefully up to her, and rather than shaking the hand as the unicorn expected her to, she went to inspect it, noting the minor pale blisters from the nettle sting. With just an aside glance, the bunny on her shoulder hopped off and darted into the bushes, returning quickly with a large leaf in its mouth, which it deposited at the pegasus' feet. She picked it up and placed it on Dawn's palm over the sting. "A leaf?" She tilted her head, closing her hand and rubbing it a little when it dawned on her. "A leaf! Dock leaves! Of course... thank you!" The pegasus smiled sweetly back at her, almost a hint of shyness in her expression. Without so much as a subtle wrist flick, she instructed the starlings to back off of Bolt.
"Okay, took care of the..." she stood up picking feathers (not her own) from her mane, trying in vain to claim brash triumph from her recovery. "... birds. What."
"Oh, I just decided to try a bit of finesse." Dawn chuckled, wearing the faintest of smug grins. "Seems she reacts better to friendly conversation than your... tactical genius."
"Yeah, yeah..."