"You sure this is the right way?" Kevin asked. "I've never been to Umberlight before."

"Me neither, but I'm pretty sure. We're still going in the direction Doc Zed told us to, right?" Flight yawned.

"Yeah, I guess." Kevin looked around them, but all he could see was the faint outline of the path in front of them and the looming shapes of thick oak trees on either side. Even Flight, who was walking less than half a metre away from him, was barely visible through the all-consuming darkness. "It just feels weird walking through the dark like this, not knowing exactly where we're going... guess I'm just nervous."

"Huh, really? You afraid of the dark? You didn't say anything about that last night... and we ran through the forest for hours."

Kevin sighed. "No, not the dark... and I'm not scared. I just don't like winging it like this, I guess. Doing stuff is a lot easier when I have more of a plan, even if that plan doesn't end up going how I want."

"That makes sense. I mean, I'm the one with wings here, and you just have that silly horn." Flight paused and Kevin was pretty sure she was winking, though he couldn't see her face even when he turned in her direction. "You know, even if you're not afraid of the dark, you could still light up your horn so we could see. Why'd you turn it off, anyway?"

"I told you—it's a lot of work to keep up the spell for so long. Makes me even more tired, so I'd rather not use it unless I really have to." Kevin peered left and through the darkness he could make out the petite head of Flight, nodding. They kept walking forward on the path for several minutes, their conversation at a lull. Kevin started to hum a few low notes.

"Hey, do you hear that?" Flight whispered. Kevin stopped humming and, noted that he could no longer hear Flight's hoofsteps on the path, stopped walking as well. He listened.

"Hear what?" he asked quietly.

"I think I hear something..."

"Like what?"

"I'm not exactly sure, but... maybe a fire? Whatever it is, it's crackling. So yeah, probably a fire."

Kevin raised an eyebrow, though as he did this he realised that Flight wouldn't be able to see it anyways. "Well, I guess we should just keep walking until we see something. Maybe we should go off the path?"

"That seems like a good idea. C'mon, follow me." Kevin watched as her shape in the darkness shifted away and he did the best he could to follow the filly who was quickly receding into the forest.

"Wait up!" Kevin hissed. "I can barely see you!"

"Oops, sorry," Flight said, and her voice grew louder as Kevin grew closer and he finally got close enough that he could make out her facial features. "Guess I got a little carried away. We've gotta keep moving, though."

The young ponies continued slowly but steadily through the bushes that covered the forest floor in a blanket, and they tried to not make too many rustling noises as they went along, with varying degrees of success. Less than five minutes later, though, it was apparent that Flight hadn't just been hearing things. Kevin could hear the crackling too and, what's more, the ponies abruptly stopped as they caught sight of a flickering orange spot of light somewhere ahead of them, on the same side off the path that they were. It wasn't quite clear how far away the fire was; distant enough that whoever was there couldn't hear or see them, but close enough that they could hear and see it.

"You seeing that?" Kevin whispered. He could feel a branch poking into his leg where he stood but he was too transfixed by this sudden apparition of light that he ignored it.

"No duh, or why else would I have stopped too?"

"That's kind of weird, though, isn't it? Aren't open fires still banned on the surface?"

"Yeah, if they're outside of towns like this... unless that's a town ahead. It can't be, though—there aren't any towns out here and that's not big enough to be one... it's definitely just one fire." Flight exhaled loudly. "Do you think we should see who it is?"

Kevin blinked. "That seems kind of... risky. We don't wanna get caught..."

"Anypony setting fires on the surface definitely isn't with the cops, though," Flight replied. "But I'm not saying we should just walk up there and introduce ourselves—we should just be quiet and see if we can get a look around."

"Ehhh, I guess," Kevin said. "Maybe we can even get directions if they're nice."

"Kevin, we're not lost." Flight was starting to walk forward, continuing their path through the bushes, and Kevin joined her. "We have a very good idea of the general direction Umberlight is in."

"Pfff, whatever," Kevin responded, smiling ever so slightly. There was no point in continuing that conversation, so he said nothing more; Flight seemed to agree, as she let the subject drop. The two young ponies trotted through the bushes and the darkness in silence, the only sounds being the distant crackling of the fire, their legs brushing against the leafy branches of the bushes below, and the occasional hoots of owls above.