The long way around (Revised)

by RisuUmbra

Chapter 4

???’s POV

I landed a few talons away from the entrance of the town of Greenleaf exhausted from the none stop flight away from … from… whatever happened to the sky and i’m in dire need of some water and a place to sleep. After falling to the dirt road from my extreme level tiredness I looked up at the town to ask one of its residence to direct me to the nearest tavern or inn but to my astonishment and befuddlement all of what I could see of the town was empty of its residence like everyone decided to not leave their homes today.

“What happened to everyone?”

I voiced my thoughts hoping somehow it will be answered but to no avail my confusion overrode my exhaustion and I stood back up and started to wander into the small town noting my surrounding as I passed them. The town of Greenleaf was founded at the entrance of the forest thats infront of my home, there is nothing particularly special about the forest other than the fruit and herbs that can be found in it also the animals that made it their home making the only threat it bares the occasional wolf, bear, or hawk. The forest opens up to a large hilly grassland that has a path leading to another town that is connected to the train system to enter Equestria through what they call the Macintosh Hills and through a large ravin before it. The town itself is very green due to the large amount of grass and the sparse number of trees from the forest with a tan pathway leading through the middle of it and cutting off to the left and right. There aren’t many building from what I could see maybe ten give or take a few, It was fully evening by now and the sun was setting casting an orange glow on the sky usually around the time you would see town folk heading home from their jobs and schools but it was completely silent except for the sound of my steps.

I had just reached the center of the town when I saw that one of the larger buildings had a large sign on it that said Gold Flower Inn at the very end of the pathway to the left and looked to be open for business, filled with relief and anticipation for a good night’s rest I started on my way to the Inn and on passing I registered that there was a tavern to my right and two buildings down from it which furthered my anticipation, then the front doors of the Inn opened and out stepped or should I say clopped four ponies one earth pony, one pegasus, and two unicorns talking and laughing loudly and breaking the dead silence that reigned before their arrival onto the scene until they saw me and stopped in their tracks their action making me do so as well in front of the tavern which I could hear was full of patrons of all sorts. The group in front of me looked at each other at talked amongst each other and glanced at me from time to time leaving me time to look at each of them thoroughly starting with the earth pony, He looked to be middle aged and had a dirt brown coat with eyes of the same hue as his mane was a bit wild but short leaving its color a very dark brown borderline black and he had a small goatee growing on his chin, he was wearing a brown leather vest with no decorations aside from a few buckles that were used to tighten the vest itself and metal and leather bracers on all of his legs stopping just above the hoof. The whole group was similarly clothed with the exceptions where the pegasus had holes for his wings and lacked the bracers on his legs most likely because they weighed him down when in flight. The pegasus was gray in coat coloration with his eyes being a lighter grey and his windswept mane the same shade with a line of white going through it. The last two unicorns seemed to be twins with them both having the same shade of dark lavender with one being a stallion and the other a mare with the same hair and eye color of auburn with a mischievous glint in their eyes that would give anyone chills and they were both wearing saddlebags that seemed to be full of something.

My description of the group ended when when they stopped talking to one another and turned to the mare of the group and nodded which does not bode well for me and lit up her horn and opened up her left bag the was out of my sight, I slowly started edging my way towards the tavern entrance when I heard it.

The soft sound of metal against fabric and turned back over to the mare and watch her unsheath two daggers slowly trying to catch me off guard but griffin hearing is much better than the other races so once I caught sight of the weapon I ran back and to my right into the tavern and closing the door behind me I stopped to calm my heart be realized it was quiet in the recently loud tavern so I turned to see various race staring arme ranging from pony to griffin to diamond dog to dragons, feeling embarrassed for interrupting their time I quietly apologized and walked over and took a seat at an empty table in the back near a door and silently hoped and prayed to every God out there that they wouldn’t follow me

*CREAK* WELL SCREW YOU TOO WORLD

The tavern once again fell silent as the occupants looked to the new arrivals only to see the pony group glaring at them and averting their eyes moments later too afraid to do anything and returning to their original conversations only much at a much more hushed volume. The pony group quickly spotted me even with me trying to blend in with the crowd and the earth pony grinned and directed his associates over to the bar which was being tended by a blue dragon wearing a black vest and shining a empty glass. Every once in a while one of the group would glance over to make sure I was still there while wearing mocking grins on their muzzles. Them being there and constantly watching me made it so I couldn’t escape and no one would help me if these thugs tried to kill me later, right when I started to lose hope the front entrance opened up again but this time reveil something that confused me and gave me a shred of hope back. Standing in the entryway was a tall bipedal creature with dark brown SKIN not fur unlike the diamond dogs wearing a black jacket and pants? But what interested me the most was strapped to its back was a very curious looking sword but a sword nonetheless meaning he might be an adventurer that could help me with my current situation and by how the aforementioned problem group sneered at the being means he might have to deal with them sooner or later so it might be for the best if we teamed up so I waited for when he sat down in the booth in the back right corner of the tavern and slowly stood up so not to set off the bandits and walked over to the booth till I stood almost over its shoulder and I could hear it mumble

“That was much farther than it looked”.

Comments

[AcidReflex]

Why are ratings disabled? This story is great so far and i wanna share my support!