I was thankful that I managed to get out of that frozen tundra, and didn't stray too far from the tracks, but after that I had a different problem. When I got out of there, it was like the weather had bipolar disorder. It was freezing cold one second and scorching hot the next. I was too exhausted to understand the impossibility of what happened, so I just went with it.

I took off my jacket and kept on walking, basically dragging it along with me. I kept walking, and walking, and walking... and walking. I probably walked for hours, but I didn't notice it. Time flew by me in my tired state, and I had lost sense of time at that point.

Eventually, after walking for god knows how long, I found a floating castle. I stared at it for a while, but I eventually marked it down as an illusion, or a hallucination. Floating castles. What, are the clouds solid?. I ignored it and continued to follow the tracks, which didn't last long. Somewhere along the way, I had lost the track, and had ended up in some strange forest.

It was quite threatening to be in a forest with such thick foliage that the sun couldn't shine through. I was scared, but that didn't slow me down, for it made me start walking faster. After three days of sleeplessness, hunger and thirst, I finally got to rest. There was no warning, no signal, nothing; I just passed out where I stood.


A few hours after I had fallen into that blissful sleep, I felt something claw at my back. I immediately assumed it was a bear, or some hostile animal, and laid motionless. I wanted it to think I was dead so it would leave me be. But to my own fear, I felt its large paws continue to claw at my back. I felt the animal put more pressure on me, almost till the point where it almost got unbearable. But just as I was about to scream, I heard 'something' else.

I had been in the police department, and as such I knew the sound of a canine, but that . . . 'thing' was so foreign to me. After hearing it yelp, I felt the weight on my back disappear, then heard the mystery animal run back through the forests thicket.

I waited around for ten minutes to see if that animal would come back, but when it didn't, I got back on my feet and ran for my life. It's hard running in the pitch blackness of night, where the forest's thick canopy and its dark presence made it truly terrifying for me to move.

But with my options limited as they were, I had no choice but to run. I managed to move between the thick stumps of those trees, but it didn't make it any better for me. I ran for a couple of minutes before I finally slumped onto my knees and rested.

I had no idea if that beast had followed me or not, but it gave me a sense of security to be away from it for a while. I waited a few minutes, and I calmed myself as best as I could, then proceeded to slowly walk through the dark forest.

I shuffled through the thick grass of the forest, scared that something would pop out at me. That was until I came to the parting of trees which led to the beautiful sight of the moon shining down on a flowing river. I waddled over to the river, fell on my knees, and indulged myself into its sweet properties.

I refilled those bottles of water that I had, as the river had undoubtedly cleaned the water. After gulping down copious amounts of water, I pushed myself off the river bank and rested against its damp ground. My wet hair had clung to the brow of my head as I laid on the cold ground, letting the night air run smoothly over my skin.

While I rested I started to look back on my journey, and started to think about everything that happened. The more I looked back, the more and more I started to question reality. My trusty revolver shouldn't have been with me, the truck didn't leave any tracks, and the weather had been turned on its head. All these things made me start questioning my own sanity.

Above all that, it was the night sky that made me certain that I was seeing things. I could just tell by looking at its purple hue, its magnificent collection of stars, and the size and brightness of the moon that it was a cosmic impossibility. My mind pulsated with curiosity as to what my eyes were telling it. I thought that my eyes were deceiving me, as they had when I was in the cold desert, but nothing can cause a hallucination like that.

I knew what I saw, but my brain refused to accept it. I decided that if I were to think about it any further my brain would probably collapse from mental exhaustion, so I went back to simply enjoying the night air caress my bare skin. The cooling feel of it soothed me into the blissfulness of sleep.


I felt the rays of the sun poke at my skin which ultimately woke up. Ever so slowly I got up off the ground, stretching and yawning as the bones in my body cracked back into place. My body was in pure bliss, my mind was clear, and I felt like I could die happy on that spot. I haven't slept that well in months, everything just felt so peaceful and serene in that moment of nothingness.

And, like everything else in my life, it was taken away from me. I heard the sound of someone a horse clopping it's hooves on dirt. Almost out of pure instinct, I ran towards the sound of it. Horses didn't usually hang around thick forests, and the only time they would was if someone had forced them into said forest, as far as I knew that horse probably had a human companion.

I had ran towards its sound, even with the blisters that were forming on my feet, I didn't stop until I had tumbled out of the forests bushes. With a yelp and a gallop I knew that I had scared the horse off, along with its companion. I begrudgingly stood up and stared at the direction they had ran to.

They left deep marks in the dirt that they had ran upon. I knew I had to follow the steps they left; I just hoped that they ran into a safer area. With that mindset, I started to follow the hoofprints it had left. While walking, I realized that I had forgotten my winter jacket. I thought about going back there and getting it, but I then realised that I would probably loose myself in the thickness of the forest if I went back. I hesitantly kept following the tracks to where that horse were going, but I had no idea what I was getting into.


Eventually after following their tracks, I saw the trees canopy split open and felt the suns gaze shine down upon my dirt ridden body. It was almost calming, in a way. I took myself away from the sun's rays, and looked around the open field that I had walked into.

Its green grass was tamed and was blown with the cool wind. I knew I was in domesticated land when I saw the grass, and I was right. About a mile or two away from where I was, I could see a bustling village with enough horses and buildings to be considered civilization.

To me it was the most beautiful thing that I had seen in months; I was so delighted to see it. But I couldn't even get a step in before I heard a sudden yell.

"There it is!" Its voice was childlike and was so high pitched that I swear my eardrums almost bursted.

I swiveled around and caught a glimpse of a small pink colored horse with a tiara on its head printed on its hindquarters. Next to her I could see another small horse, about her size, colored in silver, wearing glasses, and had a silver spoon printed on its flank.

But as baffled as I was by their existence, what happened next truly made me want to rethink my life.

"Wait up girls! We shouldn't be this close to the Everfree, who knows-" A horse taller than the other two had come up behind them. Her purple fur, dark purple hair, her flank mark of a star, and the horn on her head had left me speechless. It was like my mind was in a trance, unable to escape the prison that was built around it. But that didn't stop her from getting in front of the smaller horses and telling them to get help.

My brain lurched; it was unable to accept what I just saw. A small little horse had just spoken English as if it was its first language. I snapped out of whatever spell my mind had put on itself and decided that the most reasonable option was to run back into the forest. And I did. She yelled at me and told me to stop running, but I obviously ignored her and kept running further into the forest.

As soon as I was certain that I had lost her, I had fallen on my knees and started to hyperventilate. My mind kept telling me what I saw was impossible, but my eyes told me a different story. I wasn't sure what to think. This was all insane, and maybe I had truly lost my sanity.