The Great Expedition

Chapter 20

Once the sun started to rise, Stardust trotted off the worn path into the thick brush and forest. With Honeysuckle at her heels, Stardust kept going forward perpendicular to the path, taking in her surroundings around her. Stardust finally spotted the perfect spot to rest, a little lean to shelter made from fallen tree branches. Lots of brush was around the shelter and the mares were far enough away from the path that if Rob rode down this path looking for them, he would not be able to see them. There was lots of fresh grass around the shelter so if the mares got hungry they could eat. The shelter roof was covered with dead leaves and smaller branches. If the sun got too hot the mares could stand in the shelter to cool down. Stardust started to graze a few feet away from the shelter's opening while Honeysuckle started to canter between the nearby trees, weaving in and out again until running out of energy. Stardust stopped munching on grass to take a nice long roll on the forest floor. Around mid day both mares layed down for an afternoon nap. 

Two hours later Stardust woke up hungry. When she got up and saw that Honeysuckle was still sleeping, she decided to go exploring and to find grass that was not chewed down to the dirt. Soon the shelter was out of sight but Stardust was still trotting forward. A few hundred feet forward was another small clearing with tall green grass. Clearly this clearing had been over grown for awhile now and Stardust was the first animal to discover this place in a while. The clearing was surrounded with tall thick evergreen trees, there was not break in the trees to show a path that led into this wonderous place. It seemed the only way in was to go into the thick dense trees. Stardust bent her head to the ground and started to graze. The grass was so lush and green, there was also a hint of sweetness to the grass which meant it was at it's ripeness. Left to right. Left to right. Left to right, that was Stardust's pattern to eating grass. She was so caught up in the sweet sweet grass that she totally forgot about Honeysuckle. 

Stardust got through about 2 and a half rows from one end of the clearing to the other when she heard a loud whinny. Stardust had forgotten that Honeysuckle was still sleeping when she had left. Quickly Stardust galloped out of the clearing, weaving between trees, trying to get back to Honeysuckle as fast as possible. Once she was in the sights of Honeysuckle, Honeysuckle stopped crying out to Stardust and started to gallop towards the white mare. Stardust wanted to keep the abandoned clearing a secret for now from Honeysuckle. The thought of having a giant field all to herself, full of green grass made Stardust joyful. The two mares raced back to the shelter, shoulder to shoulder until the last 20 feet when Stardust dropped back to the rump of Honeysuckle, ultimately letting the younger mare win. Once Stardust reached the shelter, Honeysuckle kicked out in joy and excitement, clearly happy to have beaten the older mare.

The two mares hung around the shelter for a while, racing each other between the trees but never straying to far from the shelter.Soon the two mares set off towards the clearing. It took a couple of hours because Honeysuckle kept getting distracted and wandering off so Stardust kept having to follow her and direct her towards the clearing. Something bright purple came into the corner of Stardust's eye causing her to shy into a tree. There was a branch sticking out of the tree so when Stardust shied her side went right into the branch. When she went forward to try and escape the pain the branch scraped a long strip of hair from Stardust's barrel. The wound had started to bleed profusely dyeing th hair around the cut crimson red. Once they reached the clearing, Stardust walked around the clearing to get the lay of the land. On the other side of the clearing from where they came in, there was a small stream running through the clearing and into the forest. Honeysuckle had stopped in the middle of the clearing and began eating. Stardust walked over to the stream and layed down. The water was cool and felt very refreshing on her wound. The water also cooled her body temperture several degrees from being in the blazing hot sun all day. 

After ten minutes of laying in the cool water, Stardust got up and started to take a long drink. Her parched throat was thankful for the water. Stardust did not know if there would be water to drink later on when they continued there journey. After water was in her stomach, Stardust trotted towards the middle of the clearing where Honeysuckle was still munching on grass. Stardust went back to exploring, on another side of the clearing it was dotted with many different colours of wild flowers. On the third side, Stardust saw a pair of eyes in the forest. she stopped where she was frozen in fear, until she turned around galloped away, bucking as she went in case the animal decided to follow her. When she turned around and saw that the animal was not following her. After a few minutes of just standing there, Stardust got back her courage and trotted slowly towards the place where she saw those eyes. There was no need to worry the eyes were gone and few feet away from the tree line was a buck with huge antlers. As the buck heard the hoof steps of Stardust, he lifed his head and stared at her with his dark brown liquid eyes. Both animals stood as still as a statue, staring at the other one. Once the buck saw that Stardust was no threat he put his head down and went back to munching on grass. At this time the sun was starting to set, Stardust cantered back to Honeysuckle and stood by her while she was starting to doze off.

Author's note 

The photo at the top is Stardust in the forest.

QOTD: What are you favorite tv/book ships?

Mine would be Stris- Chris and Street (S.W.A.T), Charah- Charlie and Sarah (Hudson and Rex) and Jam- Jules and Sam (Flashpoint).