//------------------------------//
// Chapter One 
// Story: PonyProse II - Winds of Change 
// by PonyProse 
//------------------------------//

She didn't care that the hills and cliffs twisted into impossible shapes as they arched overhead. She didn't even notice to be honest; she was too busy trying to read a signpost that had just erupted out of the ground off to her right. The long grass swished around her face as she made her way over to it. There were words, but only the first two weren't obscured by dirt.

"Water... born," Brightlight Bluesky read to herself. "Hmm. Water born? That makes no sense." The words seemed familiar though, and as she tried to remember where she'd heard them before, the dirt on the signpost started flaking off and falling into the grass. "Ah! Let's see now... water born of deep... deepest dread," she recited as she recalled more of the phrase, causing more of the dirt to fall.

"Yes, that's it: water born of deepest dread. Then comes..." She strained to remember the next line. As she succeeded, the line was revealed on the ever-cleaner signpost. "Oh, that's it! By a mighty power shed! I knew I knew it," she squealed. Her joy was short-lived however; most of the sign was still filthy and illegible. "Hmph!"

She sat herself down in the grass, facing the signpost. The surrounding mountains began to twist and writhe, slowly edging higher into the gathering clouds. The long grass gradually disappeared, the soil inexplicably replaced by a sea of water. When Sky opened her eyes again, she jumped at the sight of an ocean encircling her little patch of grass. The mountains had become islands, cut-off from each other. Worried, she turned back to the signpost and in desperation she tried to brush the dirt away with her hoof, but it was stuck fast. The words could only be revealed by her remembering them.

"Water born of deepest dread, by a mighty power shed... ah-ha! I know not why you're here with me, so let my eyes your secrets see." The mountains-turned-islands continued spiralling into the sky, which grew steadily darker as the clouds thickened. The grass island continued to shrink as the ocean crept closer. Sky scooted herself closer to the signpost. The dirt covering the next line started flapping loose.

"Er... I don't know why you fell to earth... cryptic darkness cloaks your... birth?" A thunderclap pealed from high above her head as the islands bent their towering peaks towards the grass patch. The loose dirt released its grip on the wood and the line was revealed. Seeing that she got it right didn't do much to cheer up Sky; she was nervously peering at the restless clouds and leaning mountains.

"Oh come on, think, think! What comes next?" Her grass island was now barely able to accommodate her and the sign. "Um... I wish to help.. no, aid! I wish to aid your... wait, that's not it at all." No more dirt fell. The mountain peaks crashed into each other directly above Sky's head, making her jump. From underneath they looked like the arms of a six-pointed star centred on the signpost. "To alleviate... yes!" She cheered as enough dirt crumbled away to expose those two correctly-remembered words. "To alleviate your mother's plight, I need the way... or is it path? Path! I need the path to her in sight!"

With a dreadful moan the mountain star began to crumble at its middle. Little pebbles began raining down around the grass patch. Sky looked up to see larger and larger rocks plummeting out of the blackened clouds.

"Wait, no, I remember it! Don't squash me, I know it, really I do!" She turned back to the signpost. Eight lines had been revealed, but enough dirt still clung to the bottom of the wood to hide two more. "So for her sake I ask of you..." One more line came into view. Massive boulders started splashing into the ocean, drenching the grass island. Sky brushed her sodden mane out of her eyes. "A shining light to... oh please Sky, come on, what does the shining light do?" She screamed as a boulder the size of her bedroom crashed into the water close enough to wash her off the island. The signpost stood alone on the surface of the ocean, which was whipped into a frenzy by the incessant cascade of rocks.

Sky found herself desperately treading water as she spluttered to clear her mouth. She needed to recall the last words of the verse. Then, as if by magic, there they were, burning brightly in her head.

"To guide me true!" She screwed her eyes shut as a rock big enough to crush a house slammed into her and the signpost.

She felt nothing. Gingerly her eyes eased open. Everything had gone back to how it had been when the signpost first appeared. The six mountains sat in a circle around her, twisting into the cloudless sky but not in a threatening way. The endless field of long grass was restored and the ocean was nowhere to be seen.

The signpost stood before her, clean of dirt and words. Sky slowly approached it as words began to form. She couldn't help but laugh as she finally realised where she knew the verse from. "I remember what this is now, this is the spell Princess Celestia just taught me!" As she spoke, the words became solid and Celestia's disembodied voice read out the verse in full.


Water born of deepest dread,
by a mighty power shed;
I know not why you're here with me,
so let my eyes your secrets see.
I don't know why you fell to earth;
cryptic darkness cloaks your birth.
To alleviate your mother's plight,
I need the path to her in sight.
So for her sake I ask of you:
a shining light to guide me true.


A gentle breeze rolled down off the mountains, nudging Sky's mane to the left of the signpost. She followed its lead and saw a wooden door standing all by itself in the grass. She giggled; it was her bedroom door. She trotted gently towards it, but stopped when it growled. It was a strange noise, like the wood was alive and angry about something. Hesitantly she edged closer, until it flung itself open with a crash and a booming voice bellowed her name. She yelped in surprise as she was abruptly dragged forwards, through the doorway and into the blackness beyond.