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Over The Fields And Through The Woods
Oct. 19th, 2016 11:48 pmMy friends arrived a bit earlier than planned at the Friendship Castle, all saddled up and champing at the bit. Spike and I were in a bit of a panic as we finished up our carrot dip, tripping over Starlight Glimmer in the kitchen as we pureed the alfalfa spouts into a gooey mess, added quite a bit of salt, and succeeded somehow in stirring in the stiff sesame paste until it went from goop to dip. Food preparation is magic! Into empty jam jars it went, on with the lids, packed into my trusty saddle bags with the carrot sticks, blanket, guide books, survival kit, tea, tea kettle, cups, writing material, sample jars and magnifying glass (check, check, check-ity check check and check on my check list). One pony and her Number One Assistant, all set to go!
We headed east, walking single file through the long grass still heavy with dew, and veered south at the river to the nearest bridge. On the other side we continued east and into dappled sunlight in the deciduous forest, a herd of six chatty ponies and one baby dragon. We chose a forest trail that headed north toward our destination, the east side of Saddle Lake.
The trail was narrow and green with ungrazed grasses and as we progressed, fewer and fewer of the trees had changed into their fall finery. Six ponies walking together changed that. Reds, yellows and orange rushed into the leaves as we passed. We brushed through the grasses and now golden, they burst into seed. They'd only been waiting for this moment to arrive. Pony magic let the changes be.
Though dips and meadows, we set our little winding trail ablaze, and cresting a hill we looked back to see the fiery spread of our hoofwork being communicated by the mycelium network and working its way up to the higher branches. A river of autumn brilliance in the verdant sea of summer's bounty. Fall is Princess Celestia's favorite time of year, and I can see why. It's the sunset of the time of plenty.
Ahead the blue waters of Saddle Lake shimmered in the sun and spurred us down the hill, through a final patch of forest and out to the lakeside prairie. We scouted about until we found our picnic hill from last time, a high, dry spot close enough to the lake to get a drink and with a good view of Canterlot, Foal Mountain and Rambling Rock Ridge.
Dash, Pinkie, Applejack and Spike galloped down to the water to splash in the shallows, kick up gouts of spray and generally get soaked. The rest of us watched from a safe distance as we spread out our picnic blankets and assembled the food items. Three wet ponies and a baby dragon climbed back up the hill to join us as we basked in sun before lunch.
After lunch we roasted marshmallows and Pinkie tried to write our names in the green meadow. That didn't work out so well as the golden hue spread so fast that soon there was no more green left. But where she had walked the wild asters bloomed, so there we were, our names inscribed in flowers for any passing bird to read.
Spike took a nap and I lounged in the sun, chatting with Rarity while watching Fluttershy collect a few big bouquets of asters, cattails and tall grasses to take home. Pinkie prospected for interesting rocks to send to her sister and Applejack had fun coaxing the trees into dazzling color. She found a few crabapples she liked and she collected some branches to graft on her trees back at the farm.
All too soon it was late afternoon and time to return home. We collected our things, I helped carry one of Fluttershy's bouquets (resisting the urge to nibble on it), and we plunged into the warm cathedral of fall stained foliage that our journey this morning had wrought upon the forest.
We headed east, walking single file through the long grass still heavy with dew, and veered south at the river to the nearest bridge. On the other side we continued east and into dappled sunlight in the deciduous forest, a herd of six chatty ponies and one baby dragon. We chose a forest trail that headed north toward our destination, the east side of Saddle Lake.
The trail was narrow and green with ungrazed grasses and as we progressed, fewer and fewer of the trees had changed into their fall finery. Six ponies walking together changed that. Reds, yellows and orange rushed into the leaves as we passed. We brushed through the grasses and now golden, they burst into seed. They'd only been waiting for this moment to arrive. Pony magic let the changes be.
Though dips and meadows, we set our little winding trail ablaze, and cresting a hill we looked back to see the fiery spread of our hoofwork being communicated by the mycelium network and working its way up to the higher branches. A river of autumn brilliance in the verdant sea of summer's bounty. Fall is Princess Celestia's favorite time of year, and I can see why. It's the sunset of the time of plenty.
Ahead the blue waters of Saddle Lake shimmered in the sun and spurred us down the hill, through a final patch of forest and out to the lakeside prairie. We scouted about until we found our picnic hill from last time, a high, dry spot close enough to the lake to get a drink and with a good view of Canterlot, Foal Mountain and Rambling Rock Ridge.
Dash, Pinkie, Applejack and Spike galloped down to the water to splash in the shallows, kick up gouts of spray and generally get soaked. The rest of us watched from a safe distance as we spread out our picnic blankets and assembled the food items. Three wet ponies and a baby dragon climbed back up the hill to join us as we basked in sun before lunch.
After lunch we roasted marshmallows and Pinkie tried to write our names in the green meadow. That didn't work out so well as the golden hue spread so fast that soon there was no more green left. But where she had walked the wild asters bloomed, so there we were, our names inscribed in flowers for any passing bird to read.
Spike took a nap and I lounged in the sun, chatting with Rarity while watching Fluttershy collect a few big bouquets of asters, cattails and tall grasses to take home. Pinkie prospected for interesting rocks to send to her sister and Applejack had fun coaxing the trees into dazzling color. She found a few crabapples she liked and she collected some branches to graft on her trees back at the farm.
All too soon it was late afternoon and time to return home. We collected our things, I helped carry one of Fluttershy's bouquets (resisting the urge to nibble on it), and we plunged into the warm cathedral of fall stained foliage that our journey this morning had wrought upon the forest.
