Author's Note

ONLY 1817 words?!
It felt like an entire book!

7 Crossing the Border

6:48 am, White Tail Wood's river bank

The sun rose in the sky slowly, creating the cinematic effect of a blue like aura through the sky. The forest creatures came out of their holes and nests for their morning hunt and activities. The wind rustling the leaves of the trees and other plants was nature's melody together with the birds singing and the river's water flowing.

Such melody that woke up the two outcasts of Equestria from their sleep in the middle of nature... or at least one of them.
Pinkamena opened her eyes to see Mane in his ragged jeans and a light grey top tank, boiling a kettle of water in the coals, while pouring powder coffee inside. She slowly rose from her bedroll, rubbing her eyes followed by a yawn and a stretch.

"Good morning." Said Mane noticing her getting up.

"Go'mornin'" She yawned. "What time did you got up?"

"I barely could sleep." Mane grumbled. "Even outside the night is too damn hot."

"Jeez..." Pinkamena got up and walked to the river's edge. "You really don't go well with heat, do you?"

"What do you think? I already explained, I came from the north. I'm more used to the cold." Mane poured the instant coffee in the mugs. "Coffee is ready."

"Thanks." She answered after washing her face with the river's water. "Is there sugar?"

"Nope." He took a sip. "It wasn't in the list."

"It's your fault! I was reviewing the list with you for a reason." Pinkamena picked her mug and sat next to Mane.

"Hey, you're the one who eats sweets!" Mane complained. "How could you forget that, candy girl?"

"Urgh..." Pinka creaked her teeth. She took a sip and quickly spitted the coffee out. "ARGH! Coffee without sugar tastes like shit!" She complained.

"What, have you tasted actual shit to actually know?" Mane mocked with an evil laugh.

"THE FUCK WAS THAT?" Pinkamena raised a closed fist in Mane's direction, but only made him laugh more.

"I was just kidding! Relax. And you tell me that I'm too serious." Mane finished his coffee and checked the map. "Let's lift the camp and go. We can follow the river to the west, where it flows in the South Luna Ocean. We will find the railroad to Los Pegasus and then we only need to go north until we find the road again and a bifurcation to north and, our destination... west."

"If we keep a good pace, we might get in the Undiscovered West's border by the end of the evening." Said Pinkamena, taking a look too.

"And we could camp there." Mane folded the map with his magic and stored in his pockets. "Fill the bottles and wash the mugs and the kettle. I'll put the coals out and pack up the sleeping bags."

They walked and walked while enjoying the beauty of nature. They started to see in the distance the bridge giving passage to the train to Los Pegasus. It was almost midday by the time they got there, but nothing would beat a bag of chocolate muffins and a can of beer, a strange combination.

"Hmm. Tasty." Said Mane. "Where did you get these?"

"A light grey mare with blonde mare was selling them... in the middle of the night." Pinka made a funny expression. "I think she works in the post office too."

"Somepony saw you?! What were you thinking?!" Mane panicked in a funny way.

"Calm down... It's not like they know where we live. And as if the Royal Guard doesn't know where our base is." Pinkamena giggled. "Besides that, the poor girl is a bit... special."

"What do you mean?" Mane asked in suspicion.

"Her eyes are kind of funny. She barely pays any attention to her surroundings." Pinkamena sighed with a bit of pity. "She's clumsy but everypony in Ponyville likes her." She smiled.

"I trust your words, if you say so." Mane took another bite of the muffin. "If she suffers from her eyes, I think we could buy more from her. She needs a help, you see?"

"So kind, coming from a guy with evil powers." Pinkamena teased, taking another muffin to her mouth.

"Hey. It's not your past, origins or powers who define you. It's your personality. You define who you are." The stallion finished the muffin.

"Again with the philosophy?" She sighed. "You are boring sometimes..."

"I can be funny too." Mane smirked.

"Prove It." The pink mare looked at him with an expression of expectation.

"A naked mare robbed a bank... nopony could remember her face." Mane dropped.

"HAHA! That's also so perverted." She laughed.

"Are you impressed by that?" Mane looked at her with suspense. "A normal girl would have slapped me for such joke."

"AH! There's stuff you don't know about me, do you?" Pinkamena looked at him in the eyes with a naughty expression. "I can be a virgin... but I can be an animal in bed." She winked.

"Uhr... okay..." Mane blushed like he never did before.

"Which translates to, you pet my belly and bring me cookies while I lay in bed." She giggled.

"Y-you brat!" Mane stumbled on his words.

"HAHAHA! You should see your face!" She took a closer look. "Is that blood in your nostrils?"

"Wha-what?" The blushing stallion scrubbed his muzzle with a hand, leaving a drop of dark red blood on It. "DON'T PLAY WITH ME!" Mane's face took an evil expression while his eye's pupils got smaller. "I'M MANE SHAKER, THE LAST OF THE SOMBRAS! NEPHEW OF KING SOMBRA, THE CRYSTAL WARLORD AND DEVIL OF THE NORTH! HOW DARE YOU PLAY ME FOR A FOOL!" His tone became deeper like a voice in a cavern. "I AM DEATH INCARNATED! I SHALL BE YOUR BAN FROM YOUR LIFE!" His horn sparked red thunder like a ranging thunderstorm while his upper body started to emit the evil purple aura around himself.

"Says the "evil" stallion who wants to buy muffins to the mare with derpy eyes to help her..." Pinkamena sighed with a smirk.

"Fuck you..." Mane groaned, ceasing his intimidation failure. "Anyway, we are almost getting to the railroad bridge. We go north from there."

3:30 hours later, Undiscovered West's border

"We arrived sooner than I expected." Said Pinkamena in a tired voice.

"Looks like It." Mane looked at the sun, covering his eyes with a hand. "I think It's around four in the evening."

"I can see a sign there." Said Pinkamena pointing to the distance. "Let's check It."

They approached the sign made of grey rock with most of the carved letters worn out by time. The moss around It could tell the age of It, but It could be read on top of the sign before the warning written in old english.

"What kind of english is this?" Pinkamena looked at It confused.

"I'll translate for you." Mane payed more attention and processed the old grammar in his brain and voice.

1016

Do not cross the border!

This land has been seized to abandonment by Our Highnesses Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. It's restrictively prohibited to walk these lands of evil due to the past this area of Equestria has witnessed. Anypony caught crossing this border will be imprisoned and sentenced to one year in prison in the nearest Royal Guard post.

However, to those who dare venture in such forbidden lands, good luck and don't expect any rescue parties.

The duo felt paralyzed by the age of the warning and It's words. Nopony has settled hoof in that place for a millennium and they were about to be the first ones to break the law of the rulers of Equestria.
Either way, It has been what they have been doing for over five years in their lives even before they met each other.

Mane Shaker had entered the bounty hunter business when he was only sixteen starting with deliveries and search contracts, entering in the elimination of criminals at the age of eighteen. Pinkamena Diane Pie's insanity took her when she was fourteen, making her run away from home to Ponyville and start satiating her thirst for blood, to be saved by Mane himself five years later making her his ally.

Breaking the law was nothing new to them, but crossing the forbidden line not walked over one thousand years felt like an event regarding the warning.

"Screw the rules..." Said Mane in an imposing calm voice with an emotionless expression.

"You read my mind." Pinkamena smirked.

"Shall we cross at the same time?" Mane showed a little smile.

"Oh, no. It was your idea coming here. You do the honors." She made a gesture, giving him passage.

"I insist..." Mane looked seriously at her, but with a compassion of a friend. "We are on this together, aren't we?"

Pinkamena stood in silence looking at him in those green eyes. She slowly smiled and nodded. They walked closer to the line of dirt in the middle of the grass and aligned their hooves. Together, they rose their hooves, together they gave a step forward.

Together... they crossed the border to the forbidden land...

Two hours later walking the faded dirt road, they diverged from It and set camp some hundred meters way from a forest.
Mane lit up the bonfire while Pinkamena prepared their bedrolls, then reviewing together their supplies. There was still enough for a week, going against their expectations of how much time they took to get there.

At nightfall, they shared stories with laughs while chewing on some sandwiches of tomato, hay and cucumber, quenching the thirst with water and soda. And to celebrate the breaking of the millennial rule, a bottle of whiskey Mane sneaked in his backpack and he gladly shared with Pinkamena.

Later, they killed the fire to avoid unwanted attention and fell asleep. Mane normally and Pinkamena drunk off her butt.