Around the bend and back again
On bound to Vanhoover, two Colts pull along a covered wagon, filled to the brim with barrels of Fillydelphia's finest Orange Cider. The Sun, still somewhat high in the sky beats down upon Equestria with it's Summer heat. It'd had been a long Winter, so it only meant that it would be followed by a just as long Summer. It only being a quarter of the way through by now. There weren't a lot of Ponies who objected against it, after being in the cold for so long. But, that couldn't be said for everypony.
"If this heat doesn't let up I swear it'll be the end of me," Heatwave lets out, pulling his part of the wagon. Heatwave is a Unicorn with a mane like maple and a coat like a desert's sand. He's lived in Fillydelphia all his life, unknowing of the World outside the city.
"Kind of ironic if you do, 'Heatwave! Dies from heat stroke!" Blue Sparks says like an old style Manehatten papercolt, laughing from his own cleverness. Blue Sparks is a blue pegasus with a charcoal mane. Originally from Cloudsdale, he moved recently to Fillydelphia for work and ended up snagging a job with a Cider factory.
Heatwave gives Blue Sparks a nasty look, but quickly transitions it to a friendly smile and starts to laugh himself. Though they don't know each other to well, since Heatwave offered to help pull Blue Sparks' wagon with him, it's obvious the two had a quick connection. Which is essential for their long journey ahead of them. It's almost a blessing they don't bump heads on anything in particular.
Some time passes before anything else is said, the two focusing on their speed and foot placements, that and having almost nothing to talk about. With the Sun slowly setting, some clouds move into play, and begin to shower the roads with an unexpected heavy down pour.
"Heatwave!" Blue Sparks raising his voice due to the loudness of the rain.
"What?!" Heatwave yelling back at him.
"I can see the outline of the Woods ahead, the ones North of the Foal Mountain!"
Heatwave having no idea what he was talking about, but not wanting to discuss the issue nods in understanding. "Let's get to the Woods and rest there for the night!" Again, Heatwave nods in agreement. The two fasten their pace, almost to a run, their hooves & cart's wheels kicking up mud from the road; luckily the barrels in the back were tied down. The rain had really come from no where, and it didn't seem like it'd be letting up anytime soon.
As the two arrive at the edge of the Woods they come to a slow, not wanting to lose control and hit a tree. Pulling under some trees and brush the two take off their straps from the wagon and stretch out. Heatwave using his magic to wring out his mane and tail settles down on a dry spot of grass. Blue Sparks, still dripping wet checks the integrity of the wagon, there's no knowing how they'd get all those barrels to Vanhoover if the wagon got wrecked.
"It's always something," Blue Sparks exclaiming while he shakes off the remaining water on him like a wet dog after a bath. "Hey, it's just rain, nothing too bad," Heatwave holds up his hoof not to get drenched from Blue Sparks' homemade rainstorm..
"Yeah I know but doesn't mean I can't complain about it," Blue Sparks huffs. "Now, help me pitch the tent, I'm tired and we need to get a good amount of sleep if we mean to pass Neighagra Falls before sundown tomorrow." Heatwave gets up and walks to the back of the wagon, picking up a bag that had been placed snugly into an open spot. It wasn't a big tent, just big enough for the both of them to sleep with at least some personal space.
Inside the tent you could still hear the heavy down pour outside, especially with it hitting the treetops, creating a deafening roar. The bottom of tent, bubbling up from the water gathering beneath it made it close to impossible to get comfortable. But after an hour or so, with the sun finally gone, and the rain letting up, both Colts had found themselves fast asleep.
* - - * - - *
With a loud boom, Heatwave jumps from his sleep. Sitting up, he collects himself and watches the tent light up again followed by a smaller rumble than before, "It's just lightening ..." Heatwave gathers himself before looking over at Blue Sparks to find him laying on his back with his mouth wide open, snoring. He can only imagine how dry his mouth is. Feeling his own mouth is pretty dry itself he unzips the tent and steps out. Being curled up for so long he stretches out his legs; first his front legs, and then his hind legs, trying his best not to get too muddy. With a yawn he looks over at the wagon, or, where it was before they fell asleep. All that remains were the imprints of the wagon's wheels in the wet mud.
Standing in his same spot from stretching Heatwave takes a bit for it to settle all in. "It's gone ... the wagon ... it's. Blue Sparks!" He runs up to the tent, "Blue Sparks wake up! Wake up! The wagon is gone!" He gives the tent a shake. Blue Sparks tumbles out of the tent, half asleep rubbing his eyes, "What?!" Questioning why he'd been woken up so abruptly. "The wagon!" Heatwave directs Blue Sparks line of sight to the empty spot next the their tent, with the imprint of wheels in the mud. Just as Heatwave did, Blue Sparks standing still tries to process it all; it's was almost beyond belief. "Get the tent packed up. Now."
Heatwave understanding the rush and why he would be the fastest to take down the tent begins to take it apart; piece by piece, trying to get all the mud off before folding it up and putting it back in its bag. He ties the bag around his stomach and walks back up to Blue Sparks.
"Where do you think it went?" Heatwave says. "It's not about where it went. That's not the problem," Blue Sparks scoffs, pointing out the wagon's tracks that go further into the Woods. "We know where it went. But the real question is 'who took it?" He looks at Heatwave with a livid look in his eyes.
"Well, who do you think took it? I mean, there's not a lot of ponies in these parts." Heatwave says as he kicks a rock from the path into the woods.
"Exactly. So I got my suspicions."
"Who could you possibly think would be out here besides us?" Heatwave chuckles. "It's pretty lifeless to me," using his magic to move a branch on the path.
"Well, I can't exactly be sure, but when I was a little foal, my Father use to tell me stories about the Hollow Shade woods. About mysterious ponies, who have never seen the world outside these trees. Almost like they sealed themselves off from the rest of the World. He'd say some couldn't even speak a proper language. Acting almost like wild animals. Not the brightest beings."
"Bright enough to pull a fully loaded wagon right out from under our noses!" Heatwave laughs.
"Yeah, I guess that's true," he chuckles, "still, mysterious ponies or just somepony who was feeling lucky, I'm gonna wring their neck for stealing my wagon," giving Heatwave a smirk.
Walking along the muddy tracks of the wagon, Blue Sparks analyzes the surrounding brush. Trees, Trees, bushes, the occasional big rock, and sometimes a big root in the path. Nothing really to tell this from that, with the exception of an oddly placed rock of obsidian with a crescent hole in the middle.
"Wonder why that's here, kinda out of place huh?" Heatwave looking over at Blue Sparks.
"Yeah , weird," he says as he raises a brow.
The lightening was still rumbling, booming, lighting up some patches of brush that didn't have treetops to cover them. Heatwave, using his magic to create light looked around the darker areas they couldn't already see. Nothing about this was fun, if anything it was just another thing to set them behind on their journey. If Blue Sparks arrived at his Cousin's in Vanhoover a week late of the get-together he would never let him live it down. But, to Blue Sparks, that was the least of their worries right now.
Twisting and turning, the path continued, as if it would never end, the tracks doing the same. Time passes, but yet it doesn't, the Moon hadn't moved since they awoke. It held steady where it was from behind the clouds, giving an ominous feeling to both. "This seems fruitless, we've been following these tracks for the past 30 minutes, we can't still be in the woods." Heatwave losing his patience at this mind boggling nonsense; but Blue Sparks couldn't disagree. They should have already been out of the woods by now. "We'll follow this path until the end of time if that's what it ta-" Blue Sparks stops in his tracks.
"What is it?" Heatwave stops next to him, looking confused. He doesn't say anything, only lifting his hoof at something. But what? Heatwave turns and sees exactly what Blue Sparks wanted him to see. The obsidian rock. The same exact one. The one with the crescent hole. "If that's ... then further up."
They fasten their pace to a trot, coming around a bend and to a halt. Blue Sparks falls onto his rear in disbelief. In front of them laid the entrance to the Woods, the same one they had come into to sleep.
"I don't believe it. How are we back here again?" Heatwave out of breath looking down at Blue Sparks in the mud. He looks up at Heatwave just in time to notice a hooded figure coming up from behind him. "Watch out!" Blue Sparks yells throwing his hoof up; Heatwave frantically wisp's around only to be chocked on a cloud of dust blown into his face. Coughing, he falls to the muddy ground. Blue Sparks looking at the hooded figure with dismay. In panic he turns around to run, just as he's caught with a blow of dust.
Coughing with a sudden dizziness Blue Sparks falls to his side, watching the hooded figures walk closer, as everything fades to black.
