How Moonstruck Got Her Groove Back

Finite Sledgehammer

Disclaimer: Hasbro's toybox, I'm just playing in it.

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Chapter 9

Moonstruck poked her head out of her tent and blinked blearily at the thick fog that had formed overnight. She could barely see past the edge of the circle of boulders and shrubs that Joseph had advised camping in, and it was only about thirty feet across. Now that she thought of it, she couldn't see the dragon either. Last she saw he had been bedding down in a tangle of shrubs across the fire. Granted, he was well camouflaged, but she should be able to see him in his temporary nest. Wrinkling her nose, Moonstruck pulled her head back into her tent to eat a light breakfast and pack her things.

She emerged a short while later to collapse the tent and pack it away in her saddlebags. With that done, she ambled back across the clearing to poke her head out between two of the taller boulders, squinting into the gloom. "Joseph?" She called.

"Yeah?" Came a faint reply.

"Just wondering if you ditched me." Moonstruck said, heading towards the sound of his voice.

"Nah, just finishing up that goat."

Moonstruck paused. Right, he'd stashed the goat a short distance away downwind to eat for breakfast. She shuddered; traveling with a carnivore was going to take some getting used to. The dragon appeared a minute or so later, ambling casually out of the mist, licking a bit of blood off his talons.

"All set?" He asked, stopping a polite distance away.

"Yep. Dunno how far we'll get in this fog, though." Moonstruck scowled.

"It'll burn off soon enough." He started up the faint trail they'd used to reach the circle of boulders at a brisk pace. Moonstruck kept up easily, already feeling like they were making progress, despite the dreary weather.

"I'm gonna warn you right now," the dragon said as they continued to climb the hill, "it's gonna get confusing, and it's gonna seem like we're going in circles for a long time - and sometimes we really will be."

"Nothing new there." Moonstruck snorted.

"I'm sure you've noticed that the hills here are kind of a patchwork of different geographic regions, and times." Joseph grunted, then hopped over a rock. "Getting around out here is as much about when you need to be, as where."

Moonstruck perked her ears up a little. She'd had an inkling that different regions she wandered in to were somehow stuck in a particular season, but it hadn't occurred to her that they were actually existing at a different point in time. "So, there's parts of the range that can be only be accessed at certain times?"

"Yep."

"Wish I'd known that earlier." Moonstruck shook her head.

Joseph chuckled. "It'd take you years to figure out. I'm still surprised you managed to find the goats."

"Yeah, that took a while. I could see them, but I couldn't get to 'em. Finally woke up one morning and the herd had decided to bed down where I'd camped, I guess." She chuckled.

"That was lucky. Those goats know how to work the time distortion here so they're never when they appear to be."

"Was that how they were always the next hill over?"

"As near as I can tell."

"Wow."

They were silent for a while, moving steadily up the hill, past the place where Joseph had taken the goat, and over the crest of the hill where the wind was strong enough to break up the mist and let cheery sunlight reflect strongly off the still fogged in lowlands. It was a lovely view.

They trotted along the ridge for a little while, then descended to a low lying plateau, and back into the fog. They followed a small creek for several hours before breaking off onto a goat trail to climb a rocky butte that eventually led them to an area Moonstruck was most familiar with. It was a narrow, rock walled canyon, in the center of which was a tall basalt formation around which the goat trails wound. It was one of the places where you inevitably ended up where you started. It was too narrow to take off safely here, so there was no flying or climbing out of the canyon either. And yet, trails could clearly be seen on the higher parts of the canyon walls, and she'd seen an odd goat up there once or twice. She hadn't been able to figure out how they'd gotten up there, since there was no indication anywhere that they had wandered up the canyon wall as goats are wont to do. There were no goats today, it seemed.

They ended up walking in circles for quite some time. First clockwise, then counterclockwise. Occasionally Moonstruck would catch a glimpse of something overhead, but she could never get a good enough look at it to discern if it was a goat, or a bird, or some other creature watching them.

"So, uh, are you lost, or is this some sorta weird ritual?"

"Ritual. Sort of. This one's kinda like a combination lock." Joseph grunted, spinning abruptly, and marching past her, back the way they'd come. Moonstruck rolled her eyes, but fell into step behind him without comment. It was like a foal had made up the rules of this place.

They came around a bend in the trail to see a path leading up the canyon wall that Moonstruck hadn't noticed before. Here there were plenty of signs of the passing of goats; tracks in the dustier parts, nibbled on shrubbery, and droppings.

"Ah, here we are." Joseph said, padding lightly up the path, careful to avoid the droppings.

Soon they were climbing steadily past the basalt formation and around the main bend in the canyon; past the point where the distortion usually sent her back the way she came (without realizing it until she emerged back onto the hillside that she first entered), and along the rim of the canyon as it opened up into a wider, shallower valley that spilled into densely forested lowlands below a trio of towering rock formations.

"We can fly here." Joseph said, as they reached a wide spot in the trail before it wound back up to the highest part of the canyon wall overlooking the woods below. "But only for the rest of the day."

"Sweet!" Moonstruck laughed. She crouched, and leaped into the air after the dragon, fluttering behind him as he worked his long, broad wings in powerful strokes to reach a comfortable cruising altitude. Moonstruck felt like a chubby little bird next to a sleek and powerful raptor - her wings were so small in comparison. She felt even sillier once they were a good two thousand feet up, and the dragon settled into a swift glide, his wings easily supporting his weight without flapping.

She scowled as she looked back at her own small wings which she most certainly could not use to soar with. She knew that ponies were not really built to fly - pony flight was an inborn magical ability, and the wings were really more of a way to control their flight - even alicorns had wings that were technically too small to fly with. She just hadn't seen it revealed so plainly before. Joseph was clearly built to fly without the aid of magic; large wings, tail feathers that fanned out from the base of his long, reptilian tail, and another oval set off the tip of his tail that seemed more ornamental, but also added an additional degree of control and lift. She wondered how larger dragons even got off the ground - surely they had a similar magical flight ability to pegasus ponies, but they were often so huge that she really doubted that was all there was to it.

She let her mind wander to other subjects as they made their way past the forest, and over the rock formations, then followed the course of a large river for the rest of the day. Moonstruck noted that they seemed to be moving more west, than north, but didn't question it. If they were trying to connect broken pieces of landscape to reach a pass, there was no telling what strange directions they'd have to go in to get to where they wanted.

They made camp at sunset, then set off on hoof the next morning; descending east into a surprisingly young forest, then zigzagging their way up a conical peak before turning back to the west again to spend the day trotting along an especially windy and rocky ridge. Joseph informed her that to get anywhere they had to stay on the ridge overnight, which did not make for comfortable camping conditions, and foraging for breakfast was especially tedious, as only a few stubborn shrubs, moss and lichen grew nearby. Moonstruck had run out of the travel bread days before, so foraging was absolutely vital.

Luckily they were able to fly again the next morning, so the rest of the day passed relatively quickly, and their next campsite had plenty to eat growing in and around it.

"What's with the bowl?" Joseph asked as Moonstruck shuffled over to the fire levitating a bowl full of greens and a few berries she knew were edible.

"Pardon?"

"Why do you always gather up your food with magic, and put it in that bowl before you eat it?" He inclined his snout at the collapsible bowl. "Can't you just eat it where it grows like other animals?"

Moonstruck blinked a few times and stared at the bowl full of salad. She honestly hadn't thought of that. It wasn't like she couldn't, she just... well she was a civilized pony, and civilized ponies didn't eat their food off the floor, or directly off the plant.

"I... don't know?"

"How can you not know?" Joseph scratched the back of his head.

"I... just don't. It's not something ponies do."

"Weird."

"Your face is weird." Moonstruck shrugged and plopped down with her bowl of greens.

Joseph chuckled softly and fussed with the pine needles he'd gathered for bedding.

"So we gonna play that card game, or what?" Moonstruck asked around a mouthful of dandelion.

"Huh? Oh yeah, sure."

They scooted over so that the fire wasn't in their way. Moonstruck set her bowl down and pulled her cards out of her saddlebags, shuffling them thoroughly before dealing. Joseph was familiar with poker, but he'd never played much, it seemed. She was curious to see if she could read him as well as she could ponies, since his unconscious body language was entirely different than a ponies. After almost a dozen hands, she had a good idea of his various twitches, but nothing solid; he was a terrible player, so he let most of his frustration show.

"Sorry, poker isn't really my game." He chuckled as he scratched the back of his head and let his cards fall face up on the ground in front of him. He didn't have anything, and they were playing draw.

"So... what do you play?" Moonstruck asked, gathering the cards again for another quick shuffle.

"Well... my sibs and I used to play Go Fish a lot. Mom always played Rummy with us when it was too cold to hunt. Could never get the hang of that one, either." He scowled into the fire. "Why is this so important again?"

"I'm testing something. And Go Fish works." Go Fish certainly involved some bluffing and poker faces. She dealt the cards, then placed the deck between them, and lifted her hand to take a look at what she had. A whole lotta nothing, but that wasn't a big deal at the start of Go Fish.

"You can go first."

"Alrighty, got any three's?" Joseph said evenly.

Moonstruck calmly chucked her three of spades at him.

"Any six's?"

"Go fish."

He grunted and drew a card off the deck. "What are you testing?"

"Got any sevens?"

"Go fish."

She drew a card off the deck. "Just wondering if I can read you as well I can read ponies. You have an entirely different non-verbal language."

"Oh." He scowled down at his cards. "Got any jacks?"

"Go fish."

"And the point of being able to read me is...?"

"Got any nines?"

He chucked two cards at her. She caught them mid air and added them to her hand.

"Got any aces?"

She drew a card. It was a nine of clubs, which completed her collection of nines. She placed the cards face up on the ground in front of her.

"Honestly, I'm just curious. Being able to figure out what ponies are going to do is kinda vital for poker, and various other situations. It'd be interesting to see if I can read a dragon as well."

"I can see that." Joseph grunted. "Got any threes?"

"Keep fishing, dude."

He snorted a laugh and drew a card. "Well, I dunno what I can teach you as far as dragon body language is concerned."

"Quite a bit." Moonstruck said. "Got any fives?"

"Go fish."

She drew a card. "I already know you suck at poker, and your wing and tail twitches are dead giveaways for a lot of things."

"Should probably have to have you try to figure out what I'm thinking when I'm hunting," he muttered as he rearranged his cards a little. "got any queens?"

"Drat!" Moonstruck spat, handing him the three queens she'd collected. Joseph let out a triumphant chortle and placed the cards face up in front of him.

"And what about your pokerface, eh?" He grinned.

"This is go fish. Go fish is inherently violent." Moonstruck grumbled.

The dragon burst out laughing. "Ain't that the truth!"

Moonstruck abandoned her study after a short while, getting lost in the fun of playing a silly card game as the forest darkened around them, and the night creatures started their chorus. They wrapped up their game as full dark settled in. Moonstruck gathered up her cards and stared down at them for a while. It had felt like just another camping trip for a little while there; except Breezy, Patch and Windwake weren't here. Nor where there marshmallows, and a big jug of cider. She let out a weary sigh and stared up at the stars peeking through the trees overhead.

"You okay?"

She started, then looked over at the dragon, whom was already curled up in his nest of pine needles. She smiled faintly.

"I'm fine. Just... wishing I coulda brought my friends with me. G'night." She turned and stepped into her tent, zipping it up behind her without looking back.

"Night."

---

Another foggy morning greeted them. They broke camp slowly in hopes that the mist would dissipate, but it seemed especially stubborn today. After loafing around their little clearing for two hours, Joseph decided to go ahead and start walking.

"How do you find your way around out here?" Moonstruck asked as they picked their way through the dense fog and denser underbrush.

"I can sense the breaks."

"Huh?"

"You know how everything's fragmented out here, right? Broken up, mixed up?" Joseph said, turning his head to look over his back at her with one eye.

"Yeah?"

"I can sense where the edges of the fragments are."

"Seriously?" She furrowed her brow and pricked her ears forward. "So... you like... know how all of the pieces are supposed to fit together?"

"Some of 'em. Mostly I know where the edges are." He shrugged.

She blinked a few times, stared at the back of his head. "How in blazes can you sense all of that?"

"There's dragon magic mixed into the cracks, and it flows in one particular direction. Once I figured out which way it flows, I started using it as a compass."

Moonstruck let out a low whistle. She'd never tried to sense dragon magic - in fact, she hadn't known there was a difference. She'd always been taught that magic was magic, for the most part. She briefly wished that she was better at meditating and entering trances; it'd be interesting to see if she could tease out the different sorts of magic swirling around out here. Wait….

"So, if there's dragon magic mixed in, what else is there?"

"Mmm, some very powerful pony magic, and a lot of wild magic." Joseph shrugged. "The wild magic is -"

"The magic of the land itself. That one I know." Moonstruck nodded. "And it's not surprising, all things considered."

The dragon grunted and nodded.

Speaking of magic, it occurred to Moonstruck that she hadn't encountered many instances where a pegasus or a unicorn could not figure out a way around the various obstacles and oddities the foothills had to offer. While flying was limited, a pegasus could still scale sheer rock walls with wing-aided climbing, as she had done on numerous occasions, and a unicorn could use self levitation to the same ends - something she had not tried, but she had wings and therefore did not need to. Then again, she vaguely recalled someone mentioning that unicorns simply had an easier time navigating than pegasus and earth ponies; perhaps being a magic-user acted as some sort of key, or pass-code to access parts of the range a non-magic-user could not.

She scowled. Magic-user wasn't the right term; pegasus ponies had magic; flight, and weather manipulation were both magical abilities. They lacked spell magic, which unicorns have. Another question popped up in her mind as she realized this.

"Hey, Joseph?"

"Mmm?"

"Weird question - do you rely on your innate magical abilities, or can you cast spells?"

"Uh, innate, I guess. I've never cast a spell in my life, but one of my sisters is a wizard." He looked back at her again. "Why?"

"Just wondering. I was told that only a flying spellcaster could get around out here." She shrugged. "But I haven't encountered anything that a regular unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony couldn't tackle - especially if they worked together."

"Oh. Well, there is a sort of anti-pony field. That might have something to do with it."

Her head shot up. "What!?"

"Yeah it's..." he paused, tapping his chin with one claw, "I guess it would be a sort of befuddlement spell, I think. All I know is that none of you ponies seem to be able to get past a certain point on your own. Ya'll just kinda start going in weird directions once you hit it, which seems to indicate there's actually some kinda spell at work to confuse you."

"It's confusing enough as it is - and why didn't you mention that sooner!?"

"You didn't ask!" He said flatly.

She glared at him. "And how do you know it's an anti-pony field?"

"I don't, really." He scratched the back of his head. "I just know that I can come and go out here without encountering any trouble, but the odd ponies I've seen try to explore out here wander around for a few weeks then turn back. None of them have stuck around long enough to figure out where all the breaks are - and I'm pretty sure your kind can find them too."

She worked her jaw around a little, turning that idea over in her head. He had a point, and he probably hadn't been around for some of the longer expeditions she'd read about from before the expansion of the magical distortion. Teams of survivalists had stayed out here for months trying to find a way through, but none of them could find their way higher than the foothills. If there was some sort of befuddlement spell in place, it would explain why none of the unicorns had been able to sense the breaks - or even thought to look for the edges between pieces. Well, aside from the lowest level of the foothills, where Dr. Amber had warned her about the sudden landscape changes. She wished she had a time machine to go back and ask him if he'd ever thought to look for the freakin' edges and use them as a sort of landmark, or compass, as Joseph did.

"Alright, that makes sense. So, do you think I'm effected, or is it too soon to tell?" She inclined her head towards him.

"Well, you made it to the goat trails, so you were probably already further ahead than any pony that came before." He said, starting off again.

"So the goat trails are pretty far in?"

"Er... not really, but they act like a central hub, so once you figure 'em out, you can get to pretty much anywhere you want."

"Neat. What about now?

"Now we're only a few days out. Well... actually that kind of depends on how the next leg goes." He tilted his head to the side.

"Whaddya mean?"

"Time moves differently over a lake we must fly over. It... well you'll see when we get there."

Conversation dwindled off after that, and soon the fog lifted, allowing them to take off. It was a short flight heading in the general direction of the lower foothills, and over deep, dense, forest. It was warmer in this region, almost balmy. Joseph signaled that they should land well before sunset, and they set down in a particularly unremarkable stretch of woodland. They walked for a few more hours, wandering along a faint trail that took them in something of a figure eight pattern, which they had to repeat a few times, then double back on, then cross over onto another faint trail, then loop back to where they started from, then finally set off on a rather improbable track that appeared where a jumble of boulders had been previously. Moonstruck knew she'd never get used to such complex path finding.

They stopped near sunset at the ruins of a truly ancient city. It looked like it had been there well before the founding of Equestria. Joseph informed her that the ruins were very old as near as he could tell, and quite deserted, and in no way, shape or form haunted. He also informed her that they would spend the following day there as well, for the airspace above the lake was only accessible at night. At first, Moonstruck was intent on exploring the ruins, but as she crawled into her bedroll shortly after sunset, it dawned on her that for the first time in weeks she could sleep in.

Which is precisely what she did. In fact, she didn't emerge from her tent until after noon, and spent the bulk of the day lazing about their campsite; only wandering through the ruins as evening approached.

They were very strange ruins, she had to admit. Something this old seemed quite out of place here. For one thing, she couldn't recall anything like this on the old maps she had seen - most of the settlements in the region south of Roanamia had been small villages - nothing of this scope. It was possible that the mapmakers simply hadn't known it was here, although she wasn't sure how anypony could miss it. The place was huge, although none of the buildings were over two stories tall, and were masked by many tall trees. A thousand years ago the ancient trees would have been much smaller, and the not-so-ancient ones wouldn't have been here at all. Despite its' age, and the amount of vegetation that was crawling up walls, and into buildings, the stonework was in excellent shape. With some pruning, and a few plumbing upgrades the city could easily be used again.

Any murals that might have graced the walls, and offered some clues were long gone though. There wasn't much statuary either; a few heraldic griffon and dragon sculptures remained here and there, and one particularly large building was flanked by rearing alicorn stallions, but the rest was curiously devoid of figurative work. Even chambers well inside and well protected from the elements were devoid of paintings and frescoes, and ornamental do-dads that would give clue to who had built this place, and why. Although there were many fountains now dry, Moonstruck couldn't find a natural water source, nor any evidence of above ground aquifers (underground water pipes seemed unlikely in ruins this old), so perhaps the original residents had simply up and left when their water source dried up. She knew there was a lake nearby, since Joseph had said they'd be flying over it, but there was no telling where, or when it was actually from, or if it had anything to do with the abandoned city.

Although she regretted spending most of the day being as lazy as possible and squandering a chance to explore more of the city, she was glad to get moving after dinner, and the sun began to sink below the horizon.

They broke camp, and started off into the city at a brisk pace. The lake, Joseph had informed her, had a narrow window of existence - they had to be at just the right place at just the right time to reach it. He led her on a fairly straightforward course through the city, keeping to wide streets, and moving steadily upwards in what she felt was a more or less northwesterly direction.

"Okay, it's hard to explain what happens with the lake," Joseph said as they reached what strongly resembled a warehouse district, "just whatever you do, don't look up or down for very long and keep your eye on the shore straight ahead."

"Alright," Moonstruck scowled, wrinkling her nose. They rounded a corner and padded out onto a waterfront. Or what would have been a waterfront if the lake wasn't bone dry. Or appeared to be bone dry; Moonstruck could smell the water quite clearly even if the stone piers extended out into a deep, empty basin that stretched far into the distance. The dragon came to a stop in front of one dock, and gestured for her to stay behind a line of ornate tile work.

The sun was out of sight below the western horizon now, but there was still a deep purple glow over the western edge of the lake bed. The temperature dropped abruptly, and fog began to ooze out between the buildings behind them. Moonstruck shivered, and watched her breath frost in the suddenly chill air. To the east, a blue-white glow through the tall trees signaled the rising of the moon. As the moon crept into the sky, a ripple appeared on what would be the surface of the lake, moving outwards from the moons rays and rolling silently across the empty gulf. And then, with the feeling of wind off the sea, and the contented sigh of a forest as the first autumn storm brings rain to a parched land, the lake was there.

"Cool," Moonstruck breathed, as Joseph grinned and stepped out onto the pier ahead of her.

"Try to follow me as close as you can." He said as he walked the length of the dock.

Moonstruck nodded and fell into step a half a length directly behind him.

"Especially when we get to the other side, it gets a bit tricky there, and there's no telling where you might end up."

"Right."

Joseph trotted a few steps then lunged off the end of the dock, taking wing in one smooth, powerful motion. Moonstruck followed suit, cantering a few steps and springing off the dock with somewhat less grace, and more frantic flapping, but adequate results. The dragon skimmed the lake for a few minutes then slowly gained altitude, leading her up to about three hundred feet above the calm, black water, where he settled into a swift glide.

Moonstruck fluttered along after him, enjoying the cool wind through her mane and feathers, and the faint and improbable scent of the ocean. The stars wheeled overhead, reflected perfectly on inky, undisturbed surface of the lake. She could see why looking up or down for too long would be disorienting, it was hard to tell water from sky.

As they flew, she found her gaze drifting upwards anyway, entranced by the clear, crisp starlight that seemed to be slipping overhead faster than usual. Actually... she made it a point to stare at a single constellation for a while... actually the stars were moving much faster than they should. She blinked rapidly, and shook her head, absentmindedly looking down, only to jolt up a few feet in shock as the airspace in the reflection was teaming with all manner of creatures crisscrossing the lake in incredible numbers; geese, ducks, herons, ponies, dragons, griffons, hawks, crows, songbirds - even flying creatures that she couldn't even begin to identify! And behind them, above them, beyond them the sky spun, the stars blazed past, and the moon waxed and waned and... and.…

Moonstruck gagged, and squeezed her eyes shut for as long as she dared, fighting back the wave of nausea that was pounding against her stomach, and behind her eyes.

"Told you not to look up or down for too long!" Joseph chortled from up ahead.

"Yeah. Yeah, that was dumb." Moonstruck grunted, opening one eye a crack to make sure she hadn't drifted too far in any direction. She was a little further back than she had been before, and slightly high, but otherwise fine. She worked her way back into position, and bit her lip. She could still see the stars moving unnaturally fast, and it was not helping. After a little experimentation with switching between eyes, she settled on simply squinting so that she only really saw the tip of Josephs tail. It was a bit dangerous, but it'd have to do until the dizziness and nausea settled down.

Impossibly the eastern sky lightened in what she was sure had only been ten minutes, then the sun hove into view. It streaked across the sky over the course of a half an hour, sinking below the western horizon to give way to the moon, and stars. Three days passed in this fashion, leaving Moonstruck decidedly disoriented. The only anchor points she could cling to were the weight of her saddlebags, and the lightly bobbing tail of the dragon flying ahead of her. Thankfully, things came to an end as they reached the far shore of the lake. Joseph shouted to remind her to follow as closely as possible, then sped up to nearly a sprint.

The lake shore grew closer as the sun rose at an alarming rate, Joseph made a slight tail adjustment and gained altitude; Moonstruck labored to keep up, and watched him carefully, ready for any sudden change of course. He continued gaining altitude as they crossed over the border of the lake, leveled off for a hundred yards or so, then swept into a steep dive. Moonstruck gritted her teeth and followed, even though they were only a few hundred feet above the treetops.

Amazingly they did not crash into any trees, the forest seemed to stretch down and away in front of them, even though they appeared to be over a relatively flat area. Joseph flipped his right wing up, rotated onto his side, and slid around an unseen obstacle with wings outspread. Moonstruck did her best to imitate him, but discovered her less streamlined build wasn't well suited to such a maneuver and found herself flutter-galloping along the rock face that loomed suddenly in front of her.

The dragon rotated again, this time flipping upside down and sweeping into a shallow dive. Moonstruck pushed herself off the rock face and followed suit, finding herself inexplicably right side up and rising with the dragon into a cloudless blue sky. She shook her head, trying to find her equilibrium, then Joseph swept into a spiraling dive. She abandoned her quest for balance, and simply focused on keeping up, and not puking. Thankfully the spiral was short lived, and Joseph leveled off as an entirely new landscape rose into view; rounded cliffs that soared upwards, becoming taller, and more dramatic as they swept away into the distance. The dragon led her down to a clearing and landed lightly on a fallen log. Moonstruck was not so graceful, but managed to land without hurting herself.

"Whoo!" Joseph chortled, shaking out his mane. "That always gets my heart racing. One wrong move and SMACK, right into a rock formation!"

Moonstruck sprawled on the ground on her belly and squeezed her eyes shut. "Do I have to go back that way when I leave? Should I have been taking notes?"

"Ha ha, no. Leaving is easy from this side. I'll show you the trick to get out once we're on the other side. It isn't as difficult as that. More about timing, than anything."

"Oh good."

He let her lie in the sun for a few minutes (thankfully the sun seemed to have gone back to a normal speed), then roused her for the next leg of the journey, which would be on hoof for a while. They made their way along the base of the cliffs for half the day, which was rather relaxing after all of the dizzying flying, then scaled a rocky spire that jutted out into the forest from the cliffs. Moonstruck felt her jaw drop as they reached a saddle back in the rock, and stared into the river gorge beyond. It was massive; the river that ran through it was well over a mile wide and likely very deep, and bordered with deep forests of ancient trees. Far upstream, visible even in the hazy afternoon sunlight, were two titanic sculptures of rearing alicorns. Her mind raced back to the ancient map Celestia had shown her.

"This - this must be the Roan River! And that must be the Gate of the Twins!" She gasped.

"Is that what those are called? I just called 'em the big alicorn statues." Joseph chuckled.

"Yeah. I... I don't remember most of the story but they were from a much earlier age - something about a brother-sister duo who set about to bring balance and magic to the world, or something. It's basically an old mares tale - I never even knew these statues existed until Princess Celestia gave me a bunch of stuff to read on Roanamia. The Roanamians took the legends very seriously, and carved those two monuments in honor of the twins, and to mark the southernmost border of their lands."

Moonstruck swept her gaze across the gorge and tried to remember more of the old maps she'd seen, and various other bits of information she'd read, as well as what the mountains looked like from the observation deck of the Stirrup Springs museum. "This is the Roan River Gorge then... it used to run straight down the middle of these mountains, but I have no idea where it is now - it doesn't seem to be there from outside the foothills."

"Lets keep moving. Wanna get as far into the gorge as we can by nightfall, otherwise we might accidentally stray into another break." Joseph ruffled his wings. "We can fly from here."

"Right." Moonstruck shook her head, then crouched, waited a beat for Joseph to take off, then lunged into the air after him.

They spent the rest of the day flying swiftly upstream, keeping to the center of the river to avoid the ample bird-traffic along the banks. There was a much wider variety of birds here, Moonstruck noted; and more evidence of deer and other larger animals the odd times they flew over an island in the river. There also seemed to be more evidence of time passing here; every now and then she'd spot the remains of a pier on either side of the river; occasional vertical poles, or stone structures that indicated that something had once stretched out onto the river. Most of the wood was gone now. The village she'd encountered weeks ago had been stuck in a time loop of sorts, while the abandoned city Joseph had taken her to seemed to have been largely untouched by time. This place seemed downright normal.

They searched for a place to spend the night as the sun neared the western horizon, turning some of the taller peaks of the mountains dazzling shades of pink and gold. Moonstruck was more than happy to land near what was likely once part of a bridge that spanned the river in short sections; hopping from one small island to another. All that was left were the supports on dry land above the flood line. The bridge itself was long gone. It suited their purposes, however, in that it provided handy shelter and plenty of dry firewood in the form of deadfall that had ended up lodged next to the massive stone arches. Moonstruck was also happy to note that the foraging here was especially good. She was able to collect enough food for a proper feast, as well as a number of nuts and roots that would keep for a good long time. This allowed her to replenish her non-perishable foodstuffs for those stretches where foraging didn't turn up much. Joseph wandered off for a few hours to hunt while she set up camp.

"Too bad I don't have time to dry anything, or make some kinda flatbread. I think I remember how to make acorn flour." She mused as she finished setting up her tent. "Not that it's the right time of year for acorns."

She spun around and eyed the fire pit she'd dug, then launched a small spark from her horn into the dry kindling she'd collected earlier and arranged in the pit. The wood caught easily, and soon she had a crackling fire to warm the stone archway they'd chosen as a campsite. She stared into space for a few moments, going over her mental chore list. She'd already washed what needed washing; refilled her water bottles, collected and eaten dinner (as well as some aforementioned long keeping tubers and nuts), set up her tent, and started the fire. All that was left was to wait for the dragon to return so that she could retreat into her tent without worrying about leaving the fire unattended. Not that it could do much damage, it was very damp through here, the forest was almost impossibly green, and tramping around had left her lower legs wet and chilly.

Moonstruck yawned, then unzipped her tent and stepped inside. She spun around so that her head was facing the fire, then plopped down. Joseph was not usually gone for long; if he couldn't find anything to eat in a few hours, he tended to wander back and sleep instead. He'd told her once that he didn't want to stray too far in search of prey and possibly cross over into a sub-fragment that was in a slightly different time than the one she was in. The sub-fragments were often hard to detect, apparently, and while they weren't big problems, they could be big time wasters. Plus, she suspected, there just weren't that many animals out here, which meant the dragon likely had to go hungry quite a bit. He could, and did eat plants, but it wasn't his mainstay.

There weren't many animals in other parts of the foothills, she corrected herself, crossing her forelegs and letting her eyes slide half shut. The gorge was teeming with life. He'd probably have an easy time finding some poor creature to eat.

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A/N: Progresssssss!