DISCLAIMER
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is property of Hasbro, Inc.
A figure, shrouded in darkness crept slowly amongst the discarded foliage littering the forest floor, it’s glowing red eyes evilly traced Its target; two ponies walking along the dirt path separating the forest. It keenly observed them from the dusky canopy for a few more minutes, never losing sight of them. How succulent they look... No... it could not be having these thoughts. It needs them alive- for now. The creature knew where they were headed, and the creature was feeling the urge to hunt. It slunk away into the cold undergrowth in search of prey. Soon, it would have its prize... Soon...
Some time later, the wind was blowing softly through the trees, the few leaves that were left were rustling playfully on the ground. In the forest- all was quiet: except for two dark shapes moving quietly up the winding dirt path. As the shapes moved closer, it became apparent that they were ponies.
One- a Pegasus painted with a vibrant turquoise tinted coat flecked with crimson patches. His wings flapped gracefully at his sides. Odd looking horns protruded from his head and through his emerald mane. Accompanying him was an earth pony; his coat a deep purple colour, a simple green cloak adorning his back. The cloak had pockets filled with various items of an alchemical nature, many kinds of herbs and containers; further supplies of this kind were also in the saddlebags at his side. The wind messed his light brown mane as he walked; the trees were swaying more and more as the wind picked up.
“We had better hurry,” The earth pony thought to himself. “It’s getting dark and it feels like a storm’s coming”
As if in responding to his thoughts, his Pegasus friend spoke up. “How much further is this place Umbra? I’m getting tired.”
“Not much further, Tyedye” Responded the earth pony, as he pulled the map out of his saddle bags to check the distance to their destination. Holding down the map with one hoof, he could see that they were only a few miles away from it; the town of Ponyville was their destination.
“Why don’t you fly up and check?” Umbra suggested.
“Nah, I’m too tired.” Replied the Pegasus dismissively.
“Wow, a Pegasus tired of flying! I never thought I’d see the day!” Umbra replied sarcastically. This earned him a flat look and a light punch on the shoulder from the Pegasus.
“Ow. That one hurt a little” Umbra said, his voice once again oozing with sarcasm.
“Now if you’re quite done, we should probably hurry before it gets dark.” Umbra finished. In response, Tyedye nodded, landing with a heavy thud.
Deciding to pick up their pace, they continued down the road. The wind gradually increased and the sun slowly disappeared behind the horizon as they walked.
As they reached the top of what seemed to be the hundredth hill they had encountered, a beautiful sight came into their view. Before them there stretched at least 50 acres of beautiful looking farm land. Hundreds of apple trees were arranged in lines across the fields; off in the distance Umbra could see two ponies, doing farm work. One was bucking the trees to harvest the apples, while the other took the buckets of harvested apples away in a large wooden cart.
They continued on past the farm, and eventually the small town came into view. As they walked from the outskirts towards the town square, buildings and ponies became more frequent. Umbra gazed into the various shop windows as he walked past, noting where the shops where he could gather supplies if needed.
Not quite sure where the library was, Umbra decided to ask for directions. “We should split up, Tye.” Umbra suggested. “It’ll go faster if we are both asking. Just don’t get lost.”
In response, Tye nodded and flew off. Umbra wandered around for a while, looking for somepony to ask. Approaching a pink earth pony mare, he decided she would be a good place to start. “Excuse me, can you-” Halfway through the sentence she interrupted him, gasping loudly and bolting from the scene, leaving only a pony shaped smoke cloud. Not sure what had just happened, or how a pony could leave a cloud shaped like it’s self, he continued looking for somepony to ask.
Eventually he approached two mares, once again hoping to get directions. “Hello. My name is Umbra Nightshade. Could one of you lovely mares please direct me to the library?”
He smiled nervously and waited for a response. The two mares exchanged glances and then one of them spoke up.
“Sure, if you head down Stirrup Street, you can’t miss it. It’s inside a huge tree.” She said, offering a bright smile. Umbra thanked the two mares, and walked off to look for Tyedye.
He soon found him, surrounded by a group of Pegasi up in the air. One of them, a butter yellow mare with pink mane, was chatting shyly to him. She was talking so quietly that Umbra could only make out the odd snippet of speech.
.” …And are those real horns? I’ve never seen a Pegasus with horns before…” She said, avoiding eye contact with him.
Tyedye grinned and nodded, clearly enjoying being admired so. Before he lost him to his fantasies completely, Umbra decided to make himself known. “Tyedye, get down here now!” Tyedye looked around for the source of the noise, and landed once he spotted Umbra on the ground. “Any luck with the directions?” Umbra questioned, raising an eyebrow.
“Nope. He said simply. “Well…Derpy tried to help me, but she just ended up confusing us both.”
“Well, luckily I happen to have been more… serious in my efforts, and I know where we’re going. Follow me.” Umbra said, walking off in the direction of Stirrup Street.
Before following his friend, Tyedye turned and waved a hoof at the two mares he had been talking to.
“Bye girls!” He shouted, before being interrupted by a rather disgruntled looking Umbra and dragged away by the mane.
After another few minutes walking, they reached their destination; the library was indeed carved out of a tree. The tree seemed to still be alive despite being hollowed out to house the books and the librarian. Umbra guessed at some kind of magical preservation… “possibly implemented by one of the princesses themselves, given the status of its current resident…” Umbra had become so lost in thought he had walked face first into the trunk of the great tree. Tyedye snickered and covered his face with a hoof. Now he was closer to the tree, Umbra could see more of the detail of it; it must have had at least three floors, guessing from the windows placed up the length of the trunk. There was also a balcony on the top floor. “An unusual addition to a tree.” Umbra thought.
“Then again, so is living in one” He said, thinking aloud.
“What?” Asked Tyedye, confused.
“Err… nothing. Ignore that last statement.”
Not wanting to waste anymore valuable time, Umbra gathered his courage and knocked. He was terrible at meeting strangers.
He raised his hoof and knocked loudly.