//------------------------------//
// Chapter 31; An Everfree Party? 
// Story: The Wander Through Lands Unknown 
// by Tomas Lutwig 
//------------------------------//

I stood in shock of the building before me. Climbing vines covered the aged cobblestone, stopping just beneath the thatch roof, much of which seemed to of fallen through the rafters that supported what remained of the roof. The wooden door had very little damage though it, like the stone surrounding it, was covered in the same climbing vines. 

“I never thought...” I started only to fall silent once again at the building. 

Princess Celestia had requested the guards set us down near the old building that was separated from the rest of the town, closer to the 'Welcome To Ponyville' sign which was a good half mile outside the edge of the buildings that marked the edge of town. 

“I had this barracks built similarly to every town and posted guards within, as with every town, though much to my and the Captain at the time, Captain Stone Shoe's surprise, the need for a guard posting in Ponyville served no real purpose beyond squandering the potential of whomever was sent here.” The Princess explained, “Originally, we left it here to serve as an outpost for couriers, but not long after we started training and using carrier birds.” 

“And so it has sat here untouched...” I finished for the alicorn, still looking over the building before shaking my head. “I can't say I've ever seen a building of any kind in this shape” 

Looking to Celestia she nodded understandably. “Seeing as how you said they tear down old buildings to make new ones, it makes sense” 

I nodded, turning back to the old barracks. Looking to my belt, I unsheathed my knife, thankful that Celestia had given it to me on the ride over along with my other things, and approached the door thinking to cut away the vines to allow entrance. A few quick cuts later, I pushed on the door only to find it stand firm, after another push I leaned the wooden pole against one of the walls and backed up before running forward shouldering it open. 

The impromptu seal that had been made by rain, dirt, and whatever else that had collected around the door broke allowing it to swing open with the force. Damp air came to my nostrils along with the smell of rot making a hand fly over my mouth to keep the smell out. 

Straw littered the old wood floor along with signs that animals had held residence in here, though the signs showed they had also left long ago. The nearly barren room lead into the main part of the barracks, holding remains of a number weapon and armor racks that looked ready to fall off the wall in the back. A small number of beds were lined up leading to the back wall, some of them showing the same signs of the previous animal residents, while others the simple wooden frame had collapsed, the hay filled mattress spilling out it's contents only for it to of rotted. 

Another room was adjacent to the main one, this one instead holding what looked to be a large desk once upon a time. What remained of it now was pile of rotten wood. A simple window was to one side of the office, broken open by age, animals, or possibly foals. 

Retreating out of the ruins of the barracks I relished the clean air. “If anything is going to live there, it's going to need some major renovations, Princess.” I said pointing a thumb back. 

Celestia nodded, a smile forming on her face. “I assumed it would require as such. Thusly I commissioned a small company to perform them. I presume you would not be against staying at the bonfire for a few nights while they're renovating?” 

I shook my head, looking towards the town, and past it to the forest. “No, actually that sounds rather nice.” I said before my eyes widened and I looked back at her. “Princess, by the way, if at all possible could you have the the contractors put in a forge in the back?” 

Celestia blinked for a moment before the smile returned to her face, understanding in her eyes. “Alright, but think of it as an early birthday present” 

“Yes!” I said pumping my fist in the air. “Always wanted my own forge!” 

A giggle sounded from the Princess before she shook her head. “As much as I'd like to stick around and watch your antics James, I must be going back to the castle, no doubt the nobles are having hissy fits without me there” she said turning back to the chariot. 

I turned back to the barracks that would soon serve as my home, and possibly home to other guards if the Princess saw fit to send them. Ideas popped into my head, trying to come up with how I would decorate, if at all, and how I would have things work. 'Well if I get my way and have a smithing shop out back then that could be where I spend most of my time, meditating wouldn't be hard seeing as how there's a number of... forests...' I thought trailing off, my eyes widening once again. 

Turning back I was relieved to find that my friend had yet to take off. “Celestia, hold on!” I said making her turn back giving me a questioning look. “Alright, well, I need to talk to you about something in private” 

Celestia's eyebrow raised higher at the sight of my nervous actions, looking away, teetering back and forth on my feet. “Alright...” She said stepping off the chariot again. 

I led her around to the side of the ruined barracks, the broken window being the only distinguishing feature on this side. Looking around the Princess, I checked to see if the guards, or anyone else for that matter, had followed us. “What is it you need to show me that's gotten you so worked up?” Celestia asked, worry working it's way into her features. 

I let out a sigh wondering how she would react, deciding on simply showing her, I closed my eyes and reached for the still strange feeling in my chest. After a moment, I reopened my eyes to see that the yellow glow surrounded my hands again before holding them up to her. 

Shock was written across the alicorn's face. “I thought you told me that your kind couldn't use magic” she finally said looking back to my face from the glowing appendages. 

I shook my head, lowering the hands and looking at them myself, “Normally we can't. I mean there's stories of magi and magic, but those were work of fiction, with elves, orcs, even dwarves.” I said looking back up at her. “One day I awoke, and the feeling that I got when my amulet absorbed magic from those bloatheads in the forest, or even your nephew started up and was getting stronger. I didn't know what was going on and after a few seconds I noticed my hands were glowing and I could...” I trailed off removing a glove and throwing it up into the air only for it to stay there as I willed it to. “I meant to ask you about this, but at the time you were spending so much time with your other duties that I never really got to see you to ask...” I trailed off again, retrieving my glove. 

The look on the Princess' face was contemplative, something told me she wasn't going to throw me back into my cell so soon after getting out, but I knew she was not pleased with the new information. “Give me the amulet” she said holding out a hoof expectantly. After a moment of hesitation, I pulled the necklace from it's place before handing it to her. The princess looked over the amulet for a moment her horn lighting up, eyeing the dull gem in the middle as she lifted it in her magic. “Try using magic again” she said finally looking up at me. 

Grasping for the feeling in my chest, my hands lit up once more. After looking between the two I shot her a curious look.

Celestia let out a knowing sigh. “I should have remembered that the gargoyles and centaurs weren't as proficient at weapon enchantments as the minotaur.” She said giving the amulet back to me. “The centaurs and gargoyles are the ones who ruled the kingdom far to the south, past even the badlands. They claimed to be proficient in all forms of magic, even more so that Equestria. Their claims stood true for hundreds of years, until their enchantments started to degrade allowing for things that beings had relied on for centuries started to fail causing widespread havoc.” she said, answering the confusion written on my face “This, it seems, has fallen prey to the very same magical degradation as many of their others before it, Allowing the magic of the traitorous centaur who had been sent to the mines, stripped of his magic, to find a new home in you.” 

I looked down at the amulet the jewel reflecting the light of the sun as it shown down from it's place in the sky. “How does this change things?” I finally asked, returning my eyes to the Princess, who looked tired. 

Celestia let out a sigh before shaking her head. “I do not believe it does substantially, neither my sister or I know enough of centaur magic to teach you how to use your new, gift.” She said, watching as the light around my hands slowly faded before going out. “All I know is that you cannot begin stealing magic to grow stronger. The moment you do, you will be returned to your cell, if not Tirek's place in Tartarus. Am I understood?” 

I nodded, face showing worry at the sudden change in tone from the princess, the near threatening tone causing a pit in my gut to form. 

Princess Celestia nodded in return. “I will do what I can to find you some kind of teacher, or at least some old tomes explaining something about their magic, but please be careful” she said, worry working it's way into her voice again. 

Looking between the amulet and my hands again I nodded, clenching a fist around the necklace. “Understood Celestia. You have nothing to worry about, on the off chance something does happen, you'll be the first to know” I said, trying to reassure the alicorn. 

My attempts, it seems, did little to help the worry written on her face as she nodded. “I'm glad to hear that, and thank you for bringing this to my attention, but I really must be returning now” she said starting to turn away. 

Before she could get far though, I lunged, wrapping my arms around her neck in an embrace that I ended after a light squeeze. “Thanks for giving me another chance by the way.” I said backing away allowing her to return to the chariot and waiting guards.

A smile fell across Celestia's face as she turned and started walking. “Just don't make me regret it” She said jokingly as I followed her. 

In front of the guards our goodbyes were formal and simple. She said the contractors should be here around seven am tomorrow, so that they can inspect the damage and give an estimate of how long it will take. I nodded saluting as the chariot rose into the sky, steadily growing further and further away.  

Turning to look back at the town, I debated with myself if I should walk through the town, but decided against it. 'Last time they saw me I was being dragged away in a cage, since the ponies here are quite known for panic, it may be a better idea to head around.' I thought grabbing wooden pole before starting the trek around the town. 



I wiped beads of sweat from my face glad for the small amount of shade that my hood provided. 'Geeze, what are the pegasi going for? A drought?' I wondered looking through the sky once again to find a distinct lack of clouds. 

The heat had caused me to quickly desert my helmet, opting to put it in my backpack, though due to the amount of things in it, the copper plumes stuck out of the top. 

Despite my complaints, I was still enjoying myself. If for no other reason than the fact that I was outside again for the first time since Celestia, Sundance, and I ran around Canterlot causing havoc in the name of fun. 

'Still makes me wonder why she decided to let me do that' I thought as I continued through the grass towards the slowly growing green mass that was the Everfree Forest. To my right I noticed another mass of trees, though this one had a large red barn, along with a number of other buildings poking above the treetops marking the home of the Apple Family. 

There was a temptation to start towards the orchard, but I shook my head. 'Unless the Princess informed the mane six about me getting out in a few days, it would just be a huge surprise' I thought. 'Then again, if Celestia didn't say anything then the repairs to the barracks will be a surprise only for the larger surprise of me popping up to say hello and that I'm moving in outside of town will only make the surprise worse and increase chances of getting attacked by one or more of those mares' 

I let out a sigh holding my face in my hands before shaking it. 'Oh this is going to be interesting' I thought, deciding to continue to the bonfire, hidden by the trees. 'Might be worth it to try and plan something out, though the question would be how in the name of God would you plan something to make those six, and the rest of the town believe that I'm not going to try and attack them or something?'

A sound similar to that of a gunshot echoed across the plains making me duck, almost instinctively, looking around I watched as a rainbow echoed out from above with a trail zooming across the sky before doing a number of loops. Echoes of cheers followed along with what sounded like a fair number of ponies screaming in excitement. 

I watched in shock and awe as the rainbow trail did a couple more loops before trailing down into the ground disappearing behind the houses long enough for me to wonder if the rainbow maned pegasus crashed only for it to shoot back up into the sky. Momentum started to die as the rainbow trail grew shorter and shorter until the trail stopped, showing a dot against the rest of the sky from my perspective. The dot flew back down towards the ground before disappearing behind the buildings once more. 

'Geeze,' I thought staring towards the town. 'For as much as she brags, she is pretty good a flying' Shaking my head with a chuckle at the thought of the pegasus, starting once again towards the green mass of trees. 'Almost makes me wonder if I'll be able to befriend even her. I never was a big fan of braggarts, but she's loyal and normally dependable' I thought before shrugging. 'Have to see where it goes, just like with the others' 

As I neared the forest a small cottage nearby a stream came into view. 'She's not going to make it easy if I want to make friends with them, though it's mainly just getting past the shyness that is her namesake.' I thought watching animals play around the home. Birds fluttering about, seeming to dance in the air, while a pair of ferrets played near the river, rolling around, batting at one another, even giving playful bites that did little more than a pinch would. 

Calmness seemed to radiate from the place bringing a smile to my face in kind before I put a hand to my chin. 'Well, if the animals and Fluttershy don't mind me, I could probably meditate there. Peaceful and the whole nine yards' 

After a moment I realized I had been standing there staring at the small cottage for a while, thoughts of living similarly vanishing as I saw the curtains of the cottage fall back into place making a small pit form in my gut. I turned back towards the Everfree Forest deciding to just head in, silently hoping that the group that would no doubt be knocking down my door soon would at least be civil enough to allow me an explanation. 

'If Celestia informed them of her plans already, which would be a pleasant surprise, hopefully allowing any awkwardness that would form from being attacked and captured by the six mares only for them to inform the solar Princess and find out that I'm living here now' I thought, letting out a sigh before shaking my head. 

Having reached the treeline, I reached into the pouch on my belt and slipped the ring of fog onto my finger. I watched in silence as the magic cloaked my body, before starting deeper into the forest. 



I sat before the bonfire, the place untouched by time or outside forces. Looking around, I saw the makeshift trap I had tried to rig up, having tripped on one of the rocks once again, the vines that had been used to hold said large stones were withered and brown, now, not even tied around the trunk of the tree. Instead the brown length of plant fiber hung from the trees, almost depressing among the other vibrant greenery that surrounded it. 

Having searched through my bag, and taken inventory again, I started trying to fit the spearhead to it's new body. Whittling away at the ends of the pole until, I was able to carve the threads allowing the head to screw on and off. 'Now I just need a drill or something else to keep them in place' I thought lifting up the spear, given life once again. The spiked butt had a great deal of trouble staying on, though that was due to the fact that it had been attached by screw and now it was simply being held on by friction.

Putting the nearly complete spear down next to my bag, I pulled out the two war axes I had convinced Celestia to let me keep in case anything did attack and my spear broke or was lost. Inspecting the edges, I silently wished I had the belt sander my father had, or at the least a whetstone. Looking around, I found a rock that fit in my hand comfortably before I started trying to sharpen the blade of one of the axes. 

'It's not as though I can make it any worse' I thought running the stone down the blade, hoping it would regain some of the edge that had been lost with age. After a few strokes, I switched to the other side, counting the number of strokes before moving back to the other side and giving it the same number. After a fem minutes, I held up the axe a smile coming to my face as some of the edge damage that had shown on the blade slowly going away. 

As I got back to sharpening my axe, the sound of hooves prompted me to look up and see a small party of approaching ponies. A sigh escaped me as I noticed the purple alicorn leading the group before putting the axe and sharpening stone down before standing up and brushing off my pants. 

“Ah, so here's the welcome party! I was wondering when you'd show up!” I said holding my hands out wide as the group entered the clearing. “Come in! Come in! We can get to games and there's snacks to go around!” 

The group responded with differing reactions ranging from confusion from their leader, an annoyed eye roll from the rainbow maned pegasus, the shy pegasus simply cowered as I started talking loudly, the white unicorn raised an eyebrow giving an 'are you serious' look. The orange mare gave me a tired look, while the pink party pony looked around excitedly.

“Oh! Like Pin the tail on the pony?” Pinkie asked with a wide smile. 

I shrugged as the others turned to look at her, “Only if you brought it, I only have a deck of cards” I said pointing with a thumb to my backpack. 

“Of course I brought it silly! I never leave home without pin the tail on the pony!” she said reaching into her mane before pulling out a rolled up sheet of paper and a tail that had a tack poking through one end. 

I raised a finger to say something, but shut my mouth instead opting to nod placing my face into the palm of my gloved hand. “Touche Pinkie, touche” I said before looking back at the other ponies. “While I would love to be surprised, I doubt you're all actually here for a party” 

Twilight lowered her hoof from her forehead before looking at me, “Fluttershy said she saw you walking into the Everfree, so we wanted to know what was going on” she said motioning towards the other mares. 

“Yea! Can't have you causing trouble like you were last time” Rainbow added making me give her a tired look that was replied with one threatening pain if I tried anything. 

I let out another sigh before sitting down, opting to continue to sharpen my axe. “My two years for desertion, humorously before I even received my post, is over and I was released back into the guard at the request of Celestia, and then posted at the guard barracks outside of town” I said, blowing off any stone that may of clung to the blade of the axe before looking down it for imperfections. “And unless your friends have a change of heart, you may as well put 'pin the tail on the pony' away Pinkie” 

“Okay!” was my reply from the pink mare. 

Looking back up I was met with curious glances from the majority of the mares, “That decrepit building outside of town?” Rarity asked to which I nodded. “Oh that's going to need some major renovations before it's even considered livable!” 

I nodded again, “Celestia was kind enough to hire a couple of contractors to fix it. Though it'll take a couple of days” I said, continuing to run the stone down the blade. 

“Do ya even know what yer doin' there?” I heard the voice of the farm pony which surprised me. I looked at the orange mare wide eyed for a moment before regaining some sense of composure. 

“To some degree, I'm mainly just trying to take off the worst of the edge damage so that it will actually deliver clean cuts instead of forcing me to hack my way through whatever it is trying to hurt me” I said wiping off the blade with a gloved hand. 

“Ah” Applejack nodded after a few moments of silence and staring at one another, I looked back down at the blade and continued running the stone down it. Silence ruled the small clearing, only the scraping of stone on steel was heard. 

“Well congrats on getting back into the guards, and making it through two years in jail” I heard Twilight say, nervousness evident in her voice. 

Looking back up from my task at her I shot her a smile, trying to make it look sincere. “Thanks Twilight, tell you what, it wasn't that bad! Besides a certain posh blue blooded unicorn trying to kill me at first, I actually managed to make a couple of friends” I said, the smile slowly becoming sincere on it's own, thinking of not only ripping Blueblood's horn off, but also of my friend. 

Shock showed on the alicorn's face, but right as she was about to open her mouth Rarity butted in. “Blueblood? What did you do to make that pompous cretin try and kill you?” she asked, an almost hopeful curiosity in her voice. 

I smiled at the mare for a moment before starting my explanation, “Well, I can't say I remember it perfectly, but after he just had to 'see the new prisoner' and continuously bugged me, I insulted him, then he started beating me with a pair of unicorns that seemed to be his lackeys” I said. 

“Ha! You got beat by Blueblood? Wow, how sad!” I heard the voice of Rainbow Dash before she started laughing. 

“Yea, pinned to the wall with magic as three unicorns wail away at you until you can't move really funny. You might want to save the laughter, the best part's coming up” I said after the pegasus' laughter started dying down. 

“After being a punching bag for a few minutes, they decided they had enough, though I didn't quite agree. Mocking him again, he decided to shoot some magic at me.” I continued before pulling out the amulet from under my shirt. “If you remember this, then you know that didn't really help his cause all that much, instead the magic healed me enough I could move again. With magic, and adrenaline, running through my veins...” I trailed off digging through the pouch on my belt for a second before pulling out the white spiraling horn. “I ripped his horn off” I said holding up the trophy between my index finger and thumb for them to see. 

Gasps sounded from the horned pair in the group, looks of horror written on their faces as Dash nodded. “Not bad” she said. 

I looked over the horn again before putting it in my belt pouch. “I haven't seen the pompous fool since, so I count myself lucky” I said looking back to the group. 

“Well no wonder you haven't seen him! A unicorn's horn takes years to grow back if you break one off! Not only that, but the unicorn in question can't use magic until the horn has regrown without immense pain and the magic they can access is almost impossible to control!” Twilight said, horror obvious in her voice. 

“Good” I said, once again retrieving my axe to continue sharpening it, only for check the edge before switching to the other one. “That means he won't be torturing any mares who believe him to act like a civilized gentleman, or how a prince should ask” 

The silence was only broken by the sound of stone against steel once more. After a few minutes of sharpening, I looked up at the mares to find shock written on more than one of their faces. 

“You... you know about that?” Rarity finally managed to ask. 

I let out a sigh looking between the six mares. “Your first, and heck even your second visit to the Grand Galloping Gala, was a mess, but it's nothing to worry about. The second time it wasn't your fault, that was Discord, who was jealous of Fluttershy hanging with someone else.” I said shrugging. “Honestly it's not that big a deal, I mean mistakes were made, but you learned from them.”  

The white unicorn shook her head, “That was a horrible night” she finally said holding a hoof to her head. Most of the girls nodded in agreement. 

“Till you all met up at... Doughnut Joe's? With Spike and just hung out together” I countered to which the mares giggled. 

“True, ya are right there. Poor Spike got left out durin' the whole thin' and he jus wanted ta spend time with us” Applejack said. 

I nodded, continuing to sharpen my axe, “So who were the friends you made?” Twilight's voice sounded making m look up again, this time with a raised eyebrow. “You said you met some friends while in jail, I was just curious of who they were” 

“Ah” I nodded, checking the axe blade again, glad to see that this one had less edge damage, hoping I would be able to get a hold of a real whetstone sometime soon. “Well in a humorous turn of events my first one was a new guard who ended up playing some poker with me since she was bored and I was the only one in the dungeon, we started talking and playing around more after that; cards, a few mind games, pictionary, stuff like that. Her name is Sundance” I said watching the purple princess nod. “My other friend was Celestia, which is why I've been calling her as such without her title. After the incident with her nephew, it turns out, I need some kind of outside help to recover from wounds. After Blueblood's little hissy fit, I was barely able to walk and since Celestia couldn't think of anything else to do, she brought me back here. It was actually quite surprising that none of you noticed, but that's beside the point, after a bit of talking we just kinda became friends.  She was busy a lot of times, so I usually only saw her when she came down to the dungeon every so often to check up on us, but we had fun” I finished. 

Twilight nodded, a smile on her face, “I'm glad to hear you were able to make a couple of f-”

A familiar amalgamation of random creatures popped into existence with a flash of light. “Wanderer!” He said excitement lacing his voice looking around at the ponies, his back turned to me. “Wait a second, where...” The draconequus spun his head around until he was looking at me. “Oh! There you are! Congratulations on finally getting out of sunbutt's jail!” Throwing his arms into the air, confetti poured out of both his lion paw and eagle claw, a wide smile on his face. 

I looked up at Discord with shock at the sudden appearance, looking down at the others to find them looking at him similarly, though Pinkie Pie was just smiling as wide as ever. “Thanks Discord,” was all I managed to say. 

When I blinked the draconequus was gone, a claw was felt on my shoulder as his face came into view. “Oh come now! It's not time for sharpening your weapons! Now it's time for a party! We have all our friends! It's time to celebrate!” he said still smiling wide. 

Looking back at the girls most of them were giving me looks of varying degrees of surprise or indifference. Pinkie Pie on the other hand was practically vibrating with excitement before rushing towards me holding my cheeks in her hooves making my lips pucker out. 

“It's time to party” she said quietly, crazy evident in her eyes making me simply nod with wide eyes as she dashed away only to reappear with her blue cannon. Giving the string a pull with her teeth, the cannon erupted spraying more confetti, streamers, and balloons around the clearing. I looked around shocked at the accuracy and lack of utter chaos in the decorations, half expecting them to of been half destroyed by the trees. Instead the streamers were draped between low hanging branches, and the balloons hung lazily in the air, trapped by the the canopy of trees only a few managing to escape through the hole in the . 

Looking around at the decorations, I glanced at Pinkie who gave me a knowing grin before pulling the 'pin the tail on the pony' game once more letting her eyebrows rise and fall rapidly. I looked at the other girls before shrugging, “I guess we're having a party now?” I said, not exactly sure how things got to this point. 

Discord and Pinkie Pie managed to pull off catering as well, the draconequus making a number of tables appear around the clearing some of which the pink party pony filled with cakes, pies, a bowl of punch, the others she put board games on, some of which looked familiar, others I couldn't recognize for the life of me. 

Getting up, I watched a few of Pinkie's friends follow her to start a game of 'pin the tail on the pony' Rainbow dash challenged Applejack to see who could eat the most cupcakes leaving me standing in front of the shy pegasus herself. 

I looked back at the games for a moment before sitting back down, opting to start putting my things away, leaving an axe and my shield outside the bag. 

“Um, welcome back” the sound of Fluttershy's voice made it's way to my ear, just barely audible over the sound of her friends playing. Looking back at her I raised an eyebrow in question, “Oh, um... I said weldome back” she repeated edging away from my glance. 

My eyes widened for a moment, unsure if I had heard her right before the meaning caught me. “Thank you Fluttershy” I said giving her a smile. 

The butter colored pegasus nodded returning her gaze to the ground as she tried hiding behind her hair. It wasn't long before my eyes fell to the forest floor as well, contemplating what I was going to do. 'I suppose I could sneak away, seeing as how I never was one much for parties.' I thought, knowing my initial reaction to the group had been laced with sarcasm, though perhaps not laced with enough. 

“What're you two sitting here for! There's a party! Go play some games and enjoy yourselves!” Pinkie Pie nearly shouted after appearing out of seemingly nowhere. 

“C'mon Fluttershy! We're playing crazy eights!” Discord sounded from one of the tables. Sitting across from the draconequus was a being that looked like the number eight, though the being's eyes were half closed, obviously bored out of his skull, or lack there of. 

I raised an eyebrow at the spirit of chaos, watching a moment before Fluttershy got up and walked over to her friend, sitting between the two beings. Turning back to a smiling Pinkie Pie I found that my mouth inexplicably had a cupcake in it. The sugar shocking my senses, but the flavor hit my tongue before I could spit it out. 

'Well damn!' I thought looking back at the smiling mare, swallowing the delicious confection. “Could use a little warning before you do that Pinkie” I said, licking the excess frosting from my lips before wiping off my face with a glove. 

A giggle sounded from the mare. “Oh but that takes all the fun out of the surprise cupcake!” she said before grabbing my arm. “Now c'mon! We can't let you just sit there the entire time like a stick in the mud!” 

I chuckled as the mare pulled me to my feet before leading me away from my things towards the group of tables and games.