Pike had discovered pretty quickly that this place could be just as boring as the home that she’d left behind.

Of course, part of that was her own fault. Following her brief encounter with the strange-colored colt, the filly had lingered in the meadow for days. She wasn’t certain whether the boy would return, but clung to the hope that where one colt had wandered, perhaps another might. Hopefully the next one she met would be more interested in playing - though summer had dried up the damp patches of mud born from spring’s rains, there was still so much fun to be had. Like the new game she’d come up with, much to the dismay of the meadow’s other visitors. All you had to do was scream as loud as you could and see how long it took everyone to run away in a panic!

Soon she’d have to find a different game to play, though, or a new place to play it. For some reason, there weren’t as many of her kind around anymore. Maybe they’d gotten bored of this place too, and gone off to explore? Actually, that sounded like a great idea! Pike abruptly rose from the patch of dusty earth in which she’d been rolling, her green eyes alight with excitement at the prospect of yet another adventure. In the stories that she’d always heard, when you went on a journey you made lots of friends and saw a lot of cool things. So far, she hadn’t made any new friends, so maybe she just hadn’t been to the right places yet. Without bothering to shake the layer of dirt from her coat, the young girl circled the perimeter of the meadow until a path that branched south called to her, and with a spirited flick of her heels, she was off.

Pike quickly discovered that the direction she’d chosen was perfect for a proper adventure. As the path twisted - running parallel to the Crossing’s coastline - it grew fainter and smaller, as if the trees were trying to take that small piece of their home back. Soon the chestnut-spotted filly was forced to snake her small body between grasping brambles and once even wriggled underneath an uprooted tree that had fallen across the path. With thoughts for nothing more than the next obstacle - and the multitude of possibilities that lay at the end of this mysterious path - Pike hardly seemed to notice the cluster of burrs tangled in her auburn mane and fragments of old dried-up leaves clinging to the spatters of muck that dotted her white coat.

In time the densely-packed plants thinned somewhat, and the young Arabian’s travels became easier. She could feel change in the earth beneath her hooves, too - it was becoming squishy, and small puddles of water formed in each place that she stepped. Delighted with this circumstance, Pike began to zig and zag about with lively, high-stepping strides, forming a complicated pattern of prints whose original intent was long forgotten by the time that the filly drew to a halt, her attention having been captured by something else entirely; a strange sound that was almost like the rumble of an empty tummy and the grunt of a buffalo mixed together. What on earth had made such a noise?

As if in response, a bullfrog landed in Pike’s path with a soft plop, causing the startled filly to scoot back a couple steps. After a moment of mutual staring, she determined that this wasn’t something scary, but possibly a new friend. Wriggling with excitement, she approached the weird-looking creature with her muzzle extended. Before she could touch him, however, he’d hopped a short distance away. Again Pike crept close, only for the frog to jump as soon as she was about to nudge him. Was he trying to entice her into a game of come-chase-me? The filly thought he was kind of ugly, but even an ugly friend was better than none.

Giggling, she followed him in a haphazard path to the edge of an algae-covered pond, where the frog finally managed to evade her by leaping into the water with a splash. “Oh dang it,” Pike half-shouted, even though her mom had told her that it wasn’t ladylike to say such things… as if she particularly cared about meeting the qualifications needed to be considered a lady. “Well I guess you win, then, Mr. Ugly Thing.” the chestnut-and-white filly grumbled. So much for making new friends - without anyone else to play with, what was she going to do next?