The diminutive blue pony awoke under a gleaming moon, and immediately noticed the throbbing in her body. She weakly tried standing, and fell to the floor, completely drained, pain washing over her. She lay in the dirt, desperately trying to figure out where she was. The moon was shining brightly as the little equine gazed at everything around her. The fear and pain slowly left her body as her eyes swept over the beautiful forest.
A small stream idled lazily near the trees, flicking around a large rock before dashing away into the night. The grass buzzed with the movement of insects, twirling their blades like dancers on a stage. The moon’s light reflected off of everything, refracting and twisting the shadows, casting a soft, blue light around the small clearing the pony lay in. Her eyes shone bright in the night, full of wonder and happiness. In the center of the clearing, there was a large rock, buried in the grass and tousled dirt, which seemed to glow and throw its light toward the sky as a gift to the moon. She thought that this must be that light on the horizon she had seen earlier. Before that….moment.
What happened to me? What did I do?
The little pony quivered, looking at her hooves. It was then that she noticed the treetops, shorn down almost to the trunks, branches hanging askew, the skin of the plants split wide in places. And every tree seemed to be leaning away from the clearing, as if they were trying to crawl away from the rock. She eyed the rock hesitantly, but her curiosity took control. She slowly got up and trotted toward the gleaming rock. She placed her hooves on it, and it seemed almost warm to the touch. It gave her a sense of stillness, of calm, of peace.
This forest, it made her feel comfortable, it made her feel as if she was welcome. Like she was...
Home.
The word echoed loudly in her mind, and she began to panic again, eyes fleeting about. She thought of her parents, the soft feeling of their manes. Images of her home flashed through her mind: The hearth, the fire, the snow. All of them gone in a single moment of desperation and cruelty. But…..as hard as she tried, she couldn’t remember her parents’ names! They eluded her, salmon in the river of her brain, whose claws were not swift enough.
Star Swift….Th-that’s my name….and…Mom……mom, why can’t I remember yours??
Hot tears dripped down the pony’s face, creating a small pool in the dimly lit grass. Her mother, her father, her sister, all gone. And she was alone, alone in a strange place. A strange place, but….beautiful, too. Despite her tears, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat safe, standing against the warm rock under the moonlight. The moon was the only thing about this place that reminded her of home. Looking back to where she had landed, she saw a large divot in the grass, dirt spilled everywhere, and noticed something quite peculiar.
The blades of grass around where she had lain were curled away, and some of them seemed to be stained a light blue. Attributing this to the nature of the peculiar forest, Star Swift quickly put it out of her mind.
She looked up at the moon, and a sudden surge of joy spread over her, and she launched into the air, flying close above the treetops. Marveling at the complexity of the forest, she dove down into the depths of the dark leaves, whizzing and whirling through the collection of tree trunks. She found the fleeing stream once more, and chased it all the way to the side of a mountain, where she turned and spun off once more into the fray of the forest.
After a few hours of exploring this new and wonderful place, Star Swift realized that she was very tired. The sky had begun to brighten, and tendrils of light crept down through the cracks in her green sky. She found a large, hollow tree that had fallen on its side, and crawled into the space, laying down and gazing at the blackness that was the roof of her new, albeit temporary, home. Thoughts of her home still continued to pester her, and she fell asleep tossing and turning in discomfort.
“Now, who can this little pony be? I have not seen her before I believe. She shivers and quivers and flies and soars, I should watch her closely if I wish to learn more.”
Hooves slowly walked away from the tree, as brass jingled mysteriously.
~~~
“What was that????” Rarity almost shrieked, her eyes wider than the moon.
“I don’t know, but it looks like some form of magic, but I’ve never seen it before.” Twilight immediately chimed in.
Rainbow Dash interrupted before anypony else could speak. “Well, I’m gonna go check it out. Anypony wanna come?”
“Uh…I don’t think that’s a good idea, Dash. It’s the Everfree Forest, who knows what it was, it could have been some strange magic, and so far, strange magic hasn’t turned out very good for us.” Twilight lightly grabbed ahold of Rainbow Dash’s wing before she could take off. “I think that we should investigate Everfree in the morning, and I’ll see if I can find any information about what we just saw.”
“I’m with ya, Twi.”
“Ooh, me too, and we could ask Zecora if she’s seen anything strange or creepy or weird or loud and blue!”
“Ugh, I hate going in there, I always get my mane frazzled.” Rarity seemed less than enthusiastic about cavorting about in the Everfree Forest.
“What about you, Fluttershy? ….Fluttershy…?”
The six ponies looked around to see Fluttershy cowering underneath the hay wagon, shivering and clutching Spike tightly. Pinkie Pie exploded into laughter and trotted over to them, releasing Spike from the vice grip of the terrified Fluttershy.
“Come on, Fluttershy, let’s go home, I can spend the night with you tonight!”
Pinkie grabbed Fluttershy’s hand before she could speak, and the two of them bounced off toward Ponyville, although it seemed Pinkie Pie was dragging Fluttershy, as Fluttershy had switched her grip to Pinkie’s hind leg, clutching it like a filly in a thunderstorm.
“Awh fine, we’ll go tomorrow, but I wanna get up early and find out what that was, so don’t dilly dally all day, Twilight.” Rainbow Dash zoomed off to her home, eager to explore the strange happenstance that still sparkled above the Everfree.
Twilight, Applejack, and Rarity made their way back toward Ponyville, excitedly discussing the events of Nightmare Night, and the peculiar shining light that had erupted over the forest.
“What d’ ya think it is, Twilight?” Applejack asked in puzzlement.
“Well, I don’t know. But it looked like a barrier spell failed. I haven’t really seen anything like it before, except when Rainbow Dash performs her Sonic Rainboom, but I don’t know of any magic similar to that.”
Twilight Sparkle seemed genuinely worried, as her knowledge of magic and spells had never come up short before. The three ponies walked in silence all the way back to Ponyville, their minds whirling as they tried to think of what could have cause the bizarre light. Every pony in Ponyville slept soundly that night, except for six.
~~~
“Sister! Your cutie mark!”
Luna looked down and saw her cutie mark glowing in the night, giving off an eerie light. Her mind was suddenly awash with memories she did not want to recall. She turned and stared out of her window, a small speck of light in the distance burning into her eyes.