Legends of Equestria: The Long Road Back

by JimmyHook19

On to Sacramento!

Our two heroes had, for some baffling reason, decided to rest in the Oxford Street municipal park overnight instead of finding somewhere to sleep. As they awoke the next morning, the sun streaming down from the sky and the air being cool and cloudless, Mistmane got to her feet and got out her letter from yesterday.

The letter was certainly from Flash Magnus. There was no doubt whatever about that. It had all his usual trademarks; sloppy mouth writing, incorrect paragraphing, some words that were spelt incorrectly, and some run on sentences. Mistmane resisted the urge to take out a quill and make corrections, and instead began to read the letter in its entirety, complete with the myriad errors in the text.

To whomever reads this,

I have no idea how Somnambula was able to get it to this Ash Land place, but you have to get us help. The Sphynx is back and she killed most of my unit and I am the only one left. The Sphinx (spelt wrong) is extremely dangerous and not to be trifled with.

"Why is he talking about desert in a letter like this?" Mistmane asked, before resuming reading the letter.

My current position is as follows. Grid coordinates are 33°20'58.8"N 115°43'47.3"W. Somnambula is here with me. Hurry. I have no idea how long we have

Then a completely new paragraph-

left. Please hurry. If you find this, you must stop Him and ensure he never finds the device.

Flash Magus

"The situation is extremely serious when he can't even spell his own name correctly," Mistmane mused.

"What's going on?" Starswirl asked, himself awakening from his slumber. "Did you read the letter?"

"I did," Mistmane sighed. "Apart from Flash's somewhat slapdash approach to spelling and sentence structure, it tells us where he is right now."

"Then, there is probably no time to waste," Starswirl replied, and the duo set off whilst the latter looked at the letter. "Ouch. How do you misspell 'especially' that badly?"

---

Upon having left the area and bidden the street goodbye, the duo headed out east. They turned left and right in alternating patterns for what seemed like several hours, before finally heading onto a road and turning left again, passing a very tall building with many hallmarks of Equestrian architecture. They had no time to stop though, and continued on when that road joined another, then took a slight left onto another road. They then turned right onto yet another road and began to head towards a range of ominous hills that, according to a local conversation, had been thick with black smoke recently. Perhaps a dragon used to live there? Anyways, the duo pressed on, passing up a very windy road that eventually looped over itself before turning left and merging onto a very big road. Then a new sign appeared ahead of them, telling them they were entering a new land.

"California," Starswirl said. "What a strange name. Then again, we did just leave the lands of Ore- gon and Wash Ington, so I suspect this is simply the convention in this part of the world."

They took an exit after a while, motorists only showing passing interest in the pair of unicorns (including one who pioneered the gravity defying mane), and headed down a quiet road, following a long river through what seemed like desert (and not dessert, yet another of Flash Magnus' Marvellous Typos). They then crossed another river (twice), and then proceeded through a town, a place that looked like a right dump based on the decaying signs and general veneer of neglect that hung over the place. Keen to leave as soon as they could, they took a right just outside the town and merged back into the big road. There were a lot of big roads in this part of the world, which was a drastic improvement over the roads in the snowy wastes further north. They took another exit, and soon after turned right and left before rolling onto another road, distinct in many regards to the previous road. They turned left and right again, before passing by two mountains, one snowcapped, the other less so. They crossed over a river, many, many times, to the point that Starswirl was certain that they were taking a wrong turn in at least one place. But alas it seemed as if Mistmane's sense of navigation was holding true that day, as after many crossings they finally found themselves going towards the other place. The pair crossed a creek, and then a river via a bridge, and then found themselves passing through a town called Reading. Starswirl thought it sounded like a lovely place, a town named after the act of reading. The duo then found themselves crossing the same river again, whilst a Pannier tank with a single coach steamed past, headed in the same direction (Middle of the Road jokes for the win). And then again. And once again, for the final time. They headed into a place that was very flat, through a town called Woodland (there were no trees, which made the name rather confusing), and then crossed that river once again, then once more for good measure. Then, at long last, they crossed a river that was entirely different, not least because of the fact it was in an entirely different place, but because the notice board said it had a completely different name. They then took an exit off this road that they had been following for a very, very long time (and their hooves were very, very sore), continued onto another street packed in amongst many many tall and oddly shaped buildings that were nonetheless pretty nice to look at, and then headed further onwards, taking a left hand turn into the waiting area of a large hotel complex that sat in the middle of several roads, a set of tall buildings housing many different things, and finally several shops, flyovers, and restaurants for people (or, in some cases from now on, ponies) to eat.

Author's Note:

From Oregon into the Golden State of California now! :D

Not much to say, but..... here's the overview of the segment covered in today's chapter:

Next chapter will be out on.... Wednesday March 24th, 2021.

Comments

[The Blue EM2]

They took an exit after a while, motorists only showing passing interest in the pair of unicorns (including one who pioneered the gravity defying mane), and headed down a quiet road, following a long river through what seemed like desert (and not dessert, yet another of Flash Magnus' Marvellous Typos). They then crossed another river (twice), and then proceeded through a town, a place that looked like a right dump based on the decaying signs and general veneer of neglect that hung over the place. Keen to leave as soon as they could, they took a right just outside the town and merged back into the big road. There were a lot of big roads in this part of the world, which was a drastic improvement over the roads in the snowy wastes further north. They took another exit, and soon after turned right and left before rolling onto another road, distinct in many regards to the previous road. They turned left and right again, before passing by two mountains, one snowcapped, the other less so. They crossed over a river, many, many times, to the point that Starswirl was certain that they were taking a wrong turn in at least one place. But alas it seemed as if Mistmane's sense of navigation was holding true that day, as after many crossings they finally found themselves going towards the other place. The pair crossed a creek, and then a river via a bridge, and then found themselves passing through a town called Reading. Starswirl thought it sounded like a lovely place, a town named after the act of reading. The duo then found themselves crossing the same river again, whilst a Pannier tank with a single coach steamed past, headed in the same direction (Middle of the Road jokes for the win). And then again. And once again, for the final time. They headed into a place that was very flat, through a town called Woodland (there were no trees, which made the name rather confusing), and then crossed that river once again, then once more for good measure. Then, at long last, they crossed a river that was entirely different, not least because of the fact it was in an entirely different place, but because the notice board said it had a completely different name. They then took an exit off this road that they had been following for a very, very long time (and their hooves were very, very sore), continued onto another street packed in amongst many many tall and oddly shaped buildings that were nonetheless pretty nice to look at, and then headed further onwards, taking a left hand turn into the waiting area of a large hotel complex that sat in the middle of several roads, a set of tall buildings housing many different things, and finally several shops, flyovers, and restaurants for people (or, in some cases from now on, ponies) to eat.

That is a massive paragraph.

[JimmyHook19]

10716534
Well spotted. ^^

[The Blue EM2]

10716556
Hey, no problems. We're all here to look out for one another, after all.