The Great Expedition

Chapter 22

Honeysuckle woke up cold. Throughout the night, Honeysuckle kept trying to sleep by Stardust and everytime Cobalt would push her away. Around 1 am Honeysuckle quit trying to sleep near Stardust and went to the other end of the clearing to sleep. When Honeysuckle woke up, Stardust was eating grass and Cobalt was standing right next to her looking around the clearing. Honeysuckle trotted up to the two horses and Stardust looked up. Stardust walked right over to Honeysuckle and started to nuzzle her. Honeysuckle gladly nuzzled her back. Honeysuckle bent down to eat her breakfeast but the moment she got one mouthful, Cobalt suggested that the get moving on. Stardust agreed and the two of them started to trot out of the clearing. Honeysuckle quickly grabbed another mouthfull of grass before she started to canter to catch up with her group. Since the path was a single file path the group formed a line with Stardust leading the group, Cobalt at Stardust's heels and Honeysuckle far away at the back. If Honeysuckle got within 5 feet of Cobalt's heels he would either stop, turn around and bear his teeth or he would kick out not caring if he hit Honeysuckle.

Since Honeysuckle had not had breakfeast she was starving. While they were trotting, Honeysuckle would keep stopping to get mouthfuls of grass and everytime she did that Cobalt would stop, turn around and give her a dissaproving look. A look that said I can not belive I'm travalling with this fat pony who has no stamina. Once they stopped for the first time at a river, Honeysuckle took a long drink but the took the rest of the break to fill up on grass. Cobalt took a tiny drink and spent the rest of the time staring at Stardust and looking out for predators. Stardust took a drink of water and then went under the big pine tree to get some shade and cool down. When the break was over, Cobalt calmly trotted across the roaring river to the other side. Stardust had more trouble. When Cobalt whinnied for her to cross, Stardust put one foot in the water then quickly pulled it out. Honeysuckle nudged her, she trotted up to the water stopped and reared. Stardust then tried to find the skinnyest part of the river to try and jump across. A bit of the river was a smaller further down stream. On the other side Cobalt was whinnying and pacing back and forth. When Stardust moved further down stream, Cobalt followed but from the other side of the river. Stardust turned around and trotted down the path they had come from and turned back to face the river. She galloped to the river bed where there was no water and rocked back on her haunches. She spread her body out as she sailed across the river. Once safely on the other side, Cobalt trotted up to her and started to nuzzle her. Cobalt then started to trot up the path but stopped when he realized that Stardust was not following him. Stardust waited on the other side of the river for Honeysuckle to cross. Honeysuckle backed up and then cantered throught the river to the other side. 

Once all three horses were on the other side, the group continued up the path that was now starting to slowly incline uphill. This time Cobalt was in the lead with Stardust behind him and Honeysuckle taking up the rear. Honeysuckle was getting tired going uphill for a long time. Her muscules ached. Honeysuckle did not have great stamina because Kristie was still training her to not fight her rider and not bolt everytime someone squeezed her sides. Stardust could tell that Honeysuckle was tiring so she purposely walked of the steep incline of the mountain and into the forest. Honeysuckle followed Stardust off the trail, once off the trail Honeysuckle layed down to rest her tired legs. Cobalt came galloping into the forest and slid to a stop once he reached Stardust. He gave a dissaproving look at Honeysuckle and went over to nuzzle Stardust. Stardust fed up with all o the affection, bared her teeth and sank her teeth hard into the neck of Cobalt. Cobalt looked shocked that the mare he was doting on had just bit him and hard too.

The horses rested for a long time. After fully rested the group hit the trail again. The trail was super steep and had lots of loose rocks. If a horse stepped on a loose rock they might go down the side of the mountain a few feet. Stardust slid down the mountain the most, once they had reached a small flat space to eat and rest, Stardust's knees were ripped apart and bleeding. There were strips of skin just hanging from her knees. Honeysuckle's own hooves were cracked and hurting due to the rough terrain. All three horse were drenched in sweat from the hard climb upwards and were dehydrated severly. Stardust found a small puddle and they took turns taking tiny sips from the puddle until there was no more water left in that puddle. They then went back to climbing upwards. Stardust hoped that it was worth the trouble she was going through to see Kristie again. Cobalt was mad that Stardust had bit him and that she was paying more attention to Honeysuckle then him. Finally a mare he liked and she liked her friend more then him even though he was travalling over this rough terrain for her. Honeysuckle was happy that Stardust was paying more attention to her then Cobalt. If only he would go away forever them life would be perfect thought Honeysuckle. When they stopped to choose where to sleep, Stardust sided with Honeysuckle to sleep in the forest. Cobalt was very grumpy now but still followed them into the forest. When Cobalt tried to sleep next to Stardust and push Honeysuckle away, Stardust bit him in the rump and kicked him in the barrel until he was away from them and the one sleeping alone.

Author's note:

The photo at the top is Honeysuckle in the forest.

QOTD: Are you a morning person or a night owl?

I'm kind of both. If I have to get up early I will but I will be very grumpy for about an hour until I get used to being awake. Or for some reason on the weekend my body is like ''ok no more sleeping past 8:19. I do like though staying up late.