Chapter I: Their Usual Route
Chapter I: Their Usual Route
You stumble a bit, as your hoof gets caught on a root you hadn’t noticed. You don’t fall down from your stumble, but it offers up a discouraging sense of dread. You shrug off your doubts, though, as you finally spot the edge of the forest you had been making your way through. The massive forest through which you had been traveling had offered up more challenges than you had expected, but with the time you’d spent in the deserts of Carifa there was little that could sneak up on you.
The forest ended abruptly, offering up little warning that its edge was approaching. The trees simply stopped, and lush rolling hills covered in verdant fields of grass took over. A short distance away from the edge of the forest you spotted more trees, and you initially regarded it as being more of the forest, but when you looked closer you realized that it was actually an orchard, since the trees were arranged into neat and orderly rows.
You approached the orchard slowly, wary against an attack from a predator from the forest. As you grew closer to the trees you noticed a wooden fence had the trees separated from you, but you didn’t much care about that. You were hungry, almost desperately so, and so you didn’t pay attention to the fence, or the signs posted on it. With a small flick of your magic you pulled several apples down from the tree, allowing you to collect them with ease.
You quickly climb back over the fence, and you put some distance between you and the orchard, hoping that the distance from both would serve as a level of protection against any wandering creatures. Oddly enough, you’d learned through trial and error that most predators wouldn’t really roam that far from established hunting grounds, choosing to stay inside their domain. This far from the forest you doubted that any beast would stumble upon you, so you felt secure in your choice of resting spot.
You toss your saddlebags off your back, and then you pull from their confines a blanket, a journal, a pocket watch, and a small golden locket. You spread out the blanket quickly before you take the time to place yourself atop it. The watch was the first item to get your attention, and you carefully wound up the spring inside that kept it going. The watch had belonged to your father for years, and his father before him. It was of the highest level of craftsmanship, and you made sure to keep it safe, and you always wound it up before you went to bed each night, and again every morning.
With the watch taken care of for the night, you turned to the journal that you had been keeping with you since you had left home all those years ago. While it wasn’t the same journal, you’d continued keeping track of your exploits in memory of your parents’ wishes. As you opened it up you made sure not to look at the first few entries, knowing that recapping those events would just make sleep harder to come by. After flipping through the pages you finally reached the first blank page, and you quickly wrote down the date, before you wrote down the most notable achievement of the day, that being that you finally made it through the forest.
You closed the journal with a sigh, and then you looked to the final item you had pulled from your bag. The small locket was the only thing you had gotten from your mother before… Well, before she died. You manipulated the tiny latch with your magic, and then the locket opened up to reveal the only picture you had to remember your parents. They were standing on either side of you, and behind you was the massive bell tower of London. You had been reluctant to take the picture, considering how you thought it would look, but now you were glad that you had it. You closed the locket slowly, not wanting to risk damaging it.
After you put the locket back into your bag you grabbed one of the apples you had picked earlier, and you took a bit into it. The flavor and texture were phenomenal, and you quickly devoured the whole thing, making sure not to waste any of it. Within seconds you started on the second apple, and it was soon joined by a third apple. You gazed longingly at the fourth, and final apple you had, but you decided against eating it, knowing that it might be some time before you had anything else to eat. With a sigh, you put the apple into your saddlebag, and then you proceed to curl up on the blanket.
It only takes a few minutes for sleep to claim you, and soon enough your dreams took their usual route, forcing you to endure the trials of your journey over and over again.
The sun’s bright light stole your sleep from you, and you cracked open an eye as the light made you feel nearly as warm as you would’ve felt with a blanket atop you. As you made your way to your hooves you felt some of your joints pop as they moved for the first time in hours. When you were finally standing you started doing some stretches, rewarding yourself with more pops as your joints limbered up. You took a few minutes to appreciate the beauty of the land in the daylight, and it took your breath away.
Despite having seen some of the most impressive vistas offered by the world you still found this landscape to be as magnificent as any other. Far off in the distance, nestled on the side of the mountain was the city of Canterlot. You’d spent quite a bit of time there throughout your life, and it brought back memories of your early life. As you allowed your gaze to roam, you found the one place you’d been trying to get to for the past two years. It was a quaint little town, filled with ponies who never knew just how good they had it.
Ponyville had been your home for half a decade before you’d been rudely plucked from the life you knew by your parents, whose wanderlust had grown so strong that they thought of nothing but exploring the world. You had gone along grudgingly at first, but as time passed you grew to enjoy the lifestyle that you had started living. But now you were headed home once again, the life of the explorer having lost all appeal with the death of your parents. You quickly packed up the blanket you had been resting on, and then you made your way to the fence you had climbed yesterday to get the apples.
The fence would, hopefully, lead you to a road that you could use to enter the town. As you walked along the fence you admired the bountiful trees that formed orderly rows beside the fence. As you continued your walk you suddenly heard a voice calling out, but you couldn’t quite make out the words. You stopped walking as you looked around, and soon enough you spotted what you suspected was the source of the voice. An orange mare was running towards you, a Stetson hat sitting atop her head. As she grew closer you could see an angry look upon her face. When she got up to you she glared at you for a moment before she finally spoke.
“Who’re you? I haven’t seen you here before, and the wards around the farm picked up a thief last night. That wouldn’t happen to be you, would it?” Her voice had a colorful accent to it, and you found it quite pleasing to listen to. Were it not for the fact that she was accusing you of being the thief you’d enjoy her voice quite a bit more. You simply bowed your head at the mare before you spoke.
“Yes, that was me who took some of your apples. I only did it because I’d just come from the forest, and I hadn’t had anything to eat for a few days. The Everfree doesn’t quite offer a wealth of food to anypony crossing it.” The mare’s eyes widened at your explanation.
“Why’d you come out of the forest, and why haven’t you eaten in days?” Her voice had an edge of concern that had completely replaced the hostility that was present just moments ago.
“Well, I started crossing it several days ago, more than a week, I believe. And just last night I finally managed to get out, and your trees were the first thing I saw that had something remotely edible on them. Given my hunger I like to think that it was an understandable thing to do.”
“Trust me, partner, I understand. Consider those apples a gift. Now, would you mind explaining just why you were crossing the forest?”
You just shake your head before you sigh. “Not really, no.” The mare raised an eyebrow, and you decided to elaborate. “It’s not that I can’t explain why, it’s just that I don’t want to get into it right now. I’ve got a home to, hopefully, get back to. After I’ve gotten some rest I’ll let you know. Until then, you’ll just have to trust me.”
The mare hesitated for a moment, before she nodded in response. You smiled at her, and then you turned to look back towards the town. “It’s been two years since I started my trip. ‘Bout damn time I got back home.”
