You follow your guide through a steamy portion of the rainforest.
Before you would have sworn that it couldn't possibly get any hotter, now you're
wishing that such a thing were so. The very ground is steaming,but it's not until
you put your foot in a small hotspring that you realize the reason. Blinking down
you note with surprise that the pool is nearly a perfect circle.
However your surprise at the shape of the pool is nothing compared to
the shock you receive next. A trumpeting noise comes from the area around your ankles
as something small presses down on your foot. With a blink you look down to find
a small blood red equine with a golden mane and tail tipped in black rearing repeatedly
to come down on your toes. You blink again, glancing at Guide for advice on how to
deal with this. He just smirks at you, apparently you're on you're own. You cough
to clear your throat, "Excuse me?" Is the first thing out of your mouth,
it'd been the only thing you'd been able to come up with.
"What ayre you tyrying to do!?" Comes a voice. It takes you
a moment to realize that it's not coming from the tiny equine trying (but not succeeding
all that well) to beat your foot into a pulp. You look up once again to see a peach
colored equine of the same type perched on the rocks on the other side of the small
hot spring. She has a decidedly challenging air about her. The voice sounded feminine
so you assume that it's a female.
She tosses her pale gold mane and speaks again, repeating her earlier demand, "
I asked you a question, Hume! What do you think you'yre doing?! Ayre you tyrying
to pollute our hotspyrings with those awful shoes of youyr's? Remove them at once!"
You mumble an apology, rather amazed that a creature no larger then your hand dares
to give you orders. You could stomp them all out of existance without too much effort.
Not that you would, of course.You're not sure if she meant that you should
remove your shoes from your feet, or if she meant that you're to get out of her hotspring.
To be safe you back off a few steps. The little equine that had been rearing on your
foot snorts once and then moves to stand protectively beside the mare.
"Much betteyr." Says the peach colored mare. "I am Mane of the Dawning's
Gold, and this is my son, Shard of Sun-Red Light. We are both Samanayrs from the Song of Rainbow Hotsprings.
This is our home, we've named it the Dawn Hotsprings... Afteyr myself of couyrse.."
She preens slightly, obviously pleased with this. "I was the first Samanayr
to come to live in this place so it's only propeyr." She glances at you, as
if daring you to comment on this. You remain silent.
"Howeveyr, we'yre not the only Samanayrs that live heyre.." With that she
lets loose a long earsplitting trill. Nothing her size should be able to make a noise
that loud, you think with a wince. By the time you cover your ears only the echo
of the trill remains, bouncing off the trees to eventually be swallowed by the woods.
Samanayrs start coming out of the woodwork, or rather out of the low bushes surrounding
the small pool.
Two Samanayrs appear at nearly the exact same time. Both have the same sort of of
gold mane that fades to pink near the edges. That, however, is the only similarity.
The mare coming out of the bushes near your feet is pale yellow in color with pink
hooves. The other mare, which is standing off on the other side of the pool, is a
light shade of mint green. The strangest feature of this mare are the green dragon
wings that sprout from her shoulders.
In your amazement you nearly miss the last mare that appears by the pool. She's lavender
in color with ice blue markings that stretch like webbing across her body and her
mane is the exact same color.
Mane of Dawning Gold does the introductions, naming each Samanayr in turn. The mare
with the gold and pink coloring is Acclimation of the Dawning Skies. The green mare
is Shining of the Rainforest Sunlight, daughter of Acclimation. The shy, blue and
lavender mare is Threading of Glacier Streams. As soon as she's named Glacier nods
politely in your direction and then ducks back into the underbrush.
"Glacieyr is shy.." Explains Mane of Dawning's Gold.
"I couldn't help noticing that Shining of the Rainforest Sunlight has wings..
Are they a mutation?" You ask politely. It seemed the creatures of the realm
loved to talk about themselves. Hopefully this would be a safe topic of conversation.
The stallion, Shard, shakes his head. "No, heyr fatheyr was a Lamanayr, so she's
a mix. Lamanayrs have wings, she inheyrited them from heyr fatheyr. Just like she
inheyrited heyr lovely yrose and gold mane from heyr motheyr." You realize that
this is the first time Shard's spoken.
Shining of the Rainforest Sunlight slips into the hotsprings, splashing about quietly.
You notice that she keeps a somewhat nervous eye on you as she does. Evidently she
doesn't trust you. It looks like she's been made shy by becoming the topic of conversation.
"I too, have Lamanayr blood in me." Comments a confident female
voice. Another Samanayr has crept up to the pool without you noticing. Scanning the
bushes around the pool you realize that it's not one Samanayr that's snuck up on
you, it's two. Absently you realize that you shouldn't be surprised they've snuck
up on you, they're so small it's no wonder they can move silently.
The mare that spoke is rainbow colored with a light blue mane. She's
confidently standing on the edge of the hotsprings, studying you thoughtfully. With
her is a white stallion with a mane of blue and green. He has a rather strange hairdo,
long pieces of red mane hang behind his ears, reaching nearly to his hooves. He's
hanging back a bit, obviously he's not as brazen as the female.
Seeing that you're looking at her, the rainbow mare introduces herself. "I am
yRainbow of the Wateyrfall Scattered, and this is Mystic of the Gyrowing Dawn."
WaterfallScattered~Rainbow tilts her head at you, as if expecting you to comment
on this. When you simply nod politely she continues, "You met my motheyr eayrlieyr.
Glacieyr..." She trails off again, once more waiting for a comment from you.
She gets what she desires as you blink. "You don't look much like your mother.."
You can't resist commenting.
The mare shakes her head, smirking slightly. Evidently she loved being asked. "No,
I take moyre afteyr my yrainbow coloyred fatheyr."
Acclimation of the Dawning Skies eyes you for a long moment, then snorts. Apparently
neither your size nor your appearance impresses her. She joins her daughter in the
pool, completely ignoring your presence. The pale stallion, GrowingDawn~Mystic has
sort of faded into the background. WaterfallScattered~Rainbow remains perched proudly
on the edge of the pool, posing.
Mane of Dawning Gold and Shard of Sun-Red Light remain silent, standing on the rocks
near the pool. After a moment you realize that they're all waiting for you to leave
so they can get back to what they'd been doing before you came.
With a blush you say a quick farewell and leave the small hotspring, Guide at your
side.
Continue...