The sound of water was all around Twilight, and it was deafening in its power; so loud was the crash that even the sound of her own screams was drowned out completely. Every time she tried to move closer to either bank of the river, another pull of the current would carry her back to the middle.
She charged her horn for a quick teleport only for the current to slam her around, foiling any attempt at instantaneous magic. Gritting her teeth, Twilight grabbed herself in her magic and used a lightning fast telekinesis spell to lift herself out of the water, only for an errant rock to slam into her mid section and send her spinning, knocking her magic out. Even the so-called Instant spells took too long, and gaining even a single ounce of concentration while being buffeted by the current was beyond anypony’s ability. Even minor attempts at levitation were impossible.
But she couldn't give up. Her family needed her, her father needed her, her brother needed her and her mother…
A rock that protruded out of the tumultuous waters connected solidly with the unicorn’s side, sending her spinning in agony.
Her head dipped below the water and all sense of direction was lost as her vision was bathed in blue.
In those chaotic moments of blue, there was nothing. Her limbs refused her desperate calls to move. She could hear the distant sound of churning water, she could see nothing but blue, and if it wasn't for the intense pain that assaulted her body, she would have felt nothing.
Though she could not move, could not feel, and did not know even what direction was up, she fought on, fighting tooth and nail with a body that refused to answer her call.
A life of solitude and isolation had left her body weak, and what little muscles she had were left small and underdeveloped. Slowly they answered her call, and began to push her towards what she assumed was the surface. Her greatest strength, her magic, was useless now, yet still she fought on, the steady brightening of the moon’s light telling her she had chosen the correct direction. The memory of the last moments she shared with her mother fresh in her mind gave her enough strength to push to the surface.
Twilight Sparkle had never had anything to live for save for her books and her family, but she had never needed anything else. Now she had something more to live for, something deeper, something that would give her the power she needed to survive.
Vengeance.
White hot determination pulsed through her body, and with fire in her blood and hate in her heart, she surged out of the water, barely escaping the icy clutches of the rapids all around her.
With a lurch, the unicorn suddenly scrambled her hooves over the side of the river she had believed was there, only to realize she was no longer anywhere near the river. Her frantic hooves stopped grabbing at nothing and curiosity overwhelmed panic; wasn't she just in the river? But it was dry and… A thought occurred to her.
Where was she?
She was lying on her side, which explained why she every attempt to reach the imaginary riverbank were unsuccessful. Wherever she was, it wasn't somewhere comfortable. The ground closest to her was a verdant green, covered in moss and and leaves which had fallen from the trees she saw rise above her.
That was odd.
Twilight gently placed a hoof against the moss and pressed; the spongy green plant squished slightly under her hoof and made a squelching sound as liquid was forced out of it.
Very odd.
She craned her neck around as much as her strange position allowed and noted she was currently wedged under a fallen log. She slipped out of the impromptu bed with a little wiggling and slowly put her hooves under her.
Was that all a dream? She thought to herself, unaware of destiny’s cruel hand guiding her further into the twisted forest.
Though she initially wanted to take off at a sprint towards where she believed the river was, a lifetime of falling over her own hooves had taught her to not take things too quickly... Only to be surprised when the intense clumsiness that had plagued her for as long as she could remember was hardly there. Sure she was still a little awkward on her hooves, but it had only been moments after she had woken from… whatever strange dream or memory that had been.
Now with her hooves under her, she took stock of her surroundings, noticing the distinct lack of grand spires trimmed in gold or any real mark of civilization. All around her spread a verdant forest, dense with foliage, and relatively dark. She was clearly not in Canterlot anymore.
She cast her gaze upwards, flicking a wet, muddy clump of hair out from in front of her eyes. She sighed; that was going to be a mess to clean up later... but survival first, worries about her mane later. Trees the size of which would have rivaled some of the tallest spires of Canterlot surrounded and captivated her.
Her mouth dropped in stunned admiration; she remembered from Green Hoof’s General guide to plant biology that trees this tall were common in some of the forests near Canterlot.
Despite the fact that she knew the size of the trees before and had read apt comparisons, there was something about actually seeing them in real life that made her experience a sense of wonder and awe that a simple illustration could never accomplish.
She continued to gape at her surroundings as she took it all in. Trees of various heights were interspersed all around her, while a dense undergrowth made it impossible to see for more than a few meters.
That was strange, to say the least. Though Twilight had never been terribly interested in ecology, dendrology, or anything like that, she did know the fundamental basics that governed plant and forest life. Or, at least, governed plant life save for this forest.
The taller trees she saw above her should have dominated the ecosystem and rendered smaller trees all but extinct, or at least much more scarce than they were now. She scrunched up her muzzle at the thought, that wasn't universally true, but something about these trees and the places they grew on seemed off to her. The size of the smaller trees, the fact that they didn't seem specialized for low light beneath the canopy... it all added up to the conclusion that something was different about this place, something that put it apart from the forests Twilight had studied before. Even the shorter, thicker trees seemed nearly as abundant as the titanic trees that grew hundreds of feet above their cousins and grew great canopies that should have starved the smaller trees of light.
Twilight shook her head. Even the brief glance that she had taken told her that this was a chaotic place where wild magic roamed freely. Thinking too hard about it would only be a lesson in futility.
Forcing her eyes away from the bizarre foliage, Twilight took stock of the next thing on her list; herself.
She looked down at her forelegs, noting the slightly damp and thoroughly mud-encrusted fur that clung to her body. She frowned at that and tried to shake off the mud, only for her frown to deepen when the mud refused to be moved, indicating it was at least partially hardened around her fur. She could tear it off, but the fact that it might end up removing a patch of hair made her stop and rethink that.
She had never been obsessed by cleanliness by any stretch of the imagination, but spending almost all her time indoors meant her didn't have much experience to draw on in this situation. Huffing in annoyance, Twilight resigned herself to misery until such a time she could find another body of water and wash away the mud and dirt without potentially tearing out chunks of her fur.
However, she would make sure that the next body of water she found would be calm and unmoving, or rather, a bath. Yes, that sounded much better than chancing it in a river.
Moving on, she decided to stretch her long, lanky limbs one by one, testing for any damage or anything out of place. There was a stiffness in them that was obvious, but she felt no pain coming from her muddy limbs. That held true until she tested her back right leg and felt a strange pinching sensation from it.
Although not pain, it certainly was uncomfortable. Pinching wasn't even the best way to describe it, but it was the closest thing Twilight could think of.
She thanked her lucky stars that it didn't hurt, and judging from the minor amount of discomfort, it was probably not a big deal.
All those assumptions were thrown right out the window the moment she looked back at her leg, only to recoil in horror and disgust.
Twisted bone poked out of ragged flesh at two different points, indicating a compound fracture the likes of which she had never seen in her entire life. Her breathing suddenly grew ragged and panic threatened to overtake her once more as she looked on, unable to tear her eyes away. Twisted flesh that poked out at an odd angle a little lower indicated there was at least one more break closer to her hoof that she didn't even want to think about.
Her head spun away from the grisly sight. There was no way she could put weight on what was left of her leg. She felt no pain even after looking at it... and now that she thought about it, she did flail that same limb about earlier when she was under the log and hadn't even noticed.
She was in shock, there was no other explanation to things, it was simply not possible for such an injury to not come with an earth-shattering amount of pain. She mentally ran through the healing spells she knew, only to curse in frustration. Holy magic had never agreed with her, and it was hard for her to cast anything above a minor cantrip. As such, unless this counted as a minor cut or an upset stomach, she could do nothing about it.
The unicorn pushed herself forward, forcing herself to move. She knew that once shock set in there would only be so much time left, and since she was no doubt bleeding internally, she needed to find help, fast.
She stumbled through the undergrowth, trying to keep her weight off her right hind leg as best as she could, but the awkward three legged gait coupled with her improved-but-still-poor coordination and the seemingly endless supply of roots ready to trip her made any progress incredibly slow.
She landed flat on her stomach more than a few times after tripping over another unseen plant, or due to her own confused and stumbling hooves.
“Oof.” She wasn't sure if this was the fifth or sixth time her face had become intimately familiar with the ground, but it was becoming frustrating.
She lay there for a moment, hopelessness and anger temporarily robbing her of the panicked desire to run that had overcome her several minutes ago.
As she lay there she noticed something odd...
She was neither an expert nor had she ever even been in a forest before today, but she always imagined that it would have been louder within one. She knew the forest was home to a plethora of animals including a cornucopia of song birds, so why could she hear nothing other than a rustle of the leaves caught in the wind?
She shook her head and forced herself to a standing position once more, determined to take it slower this time. She clearly wasn't capable of moving fast in her current state.
With her pace slower, she no longer had to worry about falling on her face, allowing her to realize she hadn't even tested her magic since she woke up under the log.
Closing one eye and parting her hair with a hoof, she looked up at her horn, trying to see if there was any physical damage to the most prized part of her body. Thankfully it seemed fine, other than a clump of mud clinging to it, which she flicked off with a hoof swiftly. Next, she began to build a little power. Slowly, she started casting a simple light spell to better help her navigate through the dense foliage, knowing better than to start with a more complicated spell first, in case there was some unseen damage.
She felt the power build nicely and once there, she pushed it into her horn only for the spell to sputter out a moment after it had begun. The color of her magic made her panic and stop the spell; where her magic used to be a soft bubblegum color before, it was pitch black now. So deep was the color of her magic that she couldn't even see her horn when she was casting.
“No no no.” She ran. She had no idea why she ran, but she did. The logical part of her mind told her that color didn't matter, but that was quickly ignored as she blindly pounded forward through the bush.
...And made it only a few feet before her hoof found a rock and her face met the ground once more.
Panic the likes of which Twilight had never experienced suddenly gripped where her heart would be. Though in her panic, she was hardly aware of the fact that the organ beat no more and the usual pounding sound of her heart that accompanied panic was curiously absent. Her logical mind was slowly coming to a strange realization but with pure, unadulterated panic pounding through the unicorn’s head, the voice of logic was washed away for the moment. Every thought served only to increase her panic. Why was her magic black? Why did nothing hurt? Why hadn’t she noticed any blood before now? Where was she? What was happening?
Why her?
She curled up into a ball as tight as her lanky limbs allowed and lay there, paralyzed by fear, indecision, confusion, and all consuming panic.
Time slipped by for the unicorn as questions without end ran through her head. She felt the hold of madness close in around her.
That made her only dimly aware of the conversation happening a few feet over her head.
“Just wait a few more minutes to make sure she's dead first,” whispered a small, feminine voice.
Some great bird squawked angrily back at the voice.
“Yes, I know you are hungry Mrs Vulture but you might get hurt if she isn’t dead.”
Another angry squawk coupled with a few smaller, seemingly grumbled ones followed.
“Shhh it's okay. Look, she isn't moving anymore? Why don't you let me check if she's dead and then you can eat,” the voice said.
The bird didn't squawk again but clearly it was still no doubt angry as it ruffled its feathers loud enough for Twilight to hear.
Twilight’s ears flicked around as she heard something soft impact the ground a few feet away from her. The haze of madness and confusion lifted slowly as curiosity and hope took over.
Just in time to receive a poke to the spine from a fuzzy appendage. “Um excuse me, are you dead?” asked the polite voice.
“I’m afraid not.” Oh wow, her voice sounded like she had gargled rocks. She hadn't noticed how bad it was as she didn't like talking to herself, but this was bad. She had already sounded more masculine than most mares, and now she could easily pass for a stallion if anypony only heard her voice.
“Eep!” The voice was followed by the sound of soft, padded feet hopping away and then the rustle of a bush.
The unicorn extracted herself from her own legs and looked around, noticing first a large green and brown vulture staring down at her in what looked like anger.
Next she saw two small blue eyes peering out of a bush a few feet away. Twilight blinked and looked around. Clearly she had heard a pony’s voice, but all she saw was the vulture and whatever tiny thing was in the bush.
“Hello? You can come out now, I won't hurt you.” Speaking seemed to ease whatever problem her voice was having as it got a little better, but it was still way too deep for her liking and a bit too gravelly. She made a note for figuring that out, but first, she needed help. Where there was one pony there had to be more, and she reasoned that if there were a lot of ponies, a hospital had to be present.
She extended a mud-encrusted hoof towards the bush and smiled as best as she could.
White cute little whiskers poked out of the bush, followed by a pinkish little nose. Twilight nearly squealed with joy at the realization that it was an adorable little bunny. She had always wanted one but for some reason her usually lenient mother had never let her have a pet before.
“Daww aren't you just the cutest.” Twilight resisted the urge to mutter any more baby talk.
“Why thank you,” said the bunny in the same quiet, feminine and pony-like voice from before.
“Whu?” Twilight blinked twice. “A talking bunny? I think I might have knocked my head harder than I thought.”
The bunny smiled and hopped the rest of the way out of the bush before speaking again, “Well I'm not really a bunny, but that doesn't matter. Are you hurt?”
Twilight grimaced and started to stand, showing off her mangled back leg, which elicited a shocked gasp from the not-bunny.
“Oh my! What happened to you?”
The vulture squawked loudly.
“Oh hush you, go scavenging somewhere else. This one isn't dead yet.” The vulture squawked angrily a few more times and flew off in a huff. The not-actually-a-bunny that looked like a bunny watched the vulture go and smiled at the unicorn. “Sorry about that, she's just hungry.” The bunny leaned forward conspiratorially. “And a bit of meanie head sometimes. I can't really blame her, I'm not sure how you survived that.” The bunny pointed to her mangled leg and gulped, looking away from the gruesome sight.
“I don't really want to talk about it, but what I will say is that I took an unscheduled white water rafting trip, minus the raft.” Twilight rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly- Humour had never been her strong suit, but she did know it helped alleviate tension so she tried anyway.
“Oh goodness. We better get you to nurse Red Heart right away.” The bunny turned and began hopping away, leaving Twilight to stumble a few times before remembering to focus on not using one of her legs, while also not tripping on every root and rock that blocked her path.
“Wait, Ms Not-a-bunny. What is your name?”
“I’m Fluttershy,” she whispered, hopping along beside the unicorn.
“My name is—” Twilight stopped, teetering for a moment when her right forehoof connected with something hard and sent her sprawling yet again. Not for the first time in her life she cursed her clumsiness that had plagued her for as long as she could remember. “Augh, Twilight Sparkle.”
“Hehe, it's nice to meet you Augh Twilight Sparkle,” Fluttershy said in a tone suddenly a few octaves deeper it had been a moment before. Twilight tried to get her hooves under her in order to figure out the sudden change in voice and height.
Only for two large furry arms to reach down and wrap around the unicorn and pick her up, sending her into a panicked fit of kicking limbs and frantic writhing. “What, what’s going on?”
“Shhhh, it's just me. It looked like you were having some trouble walking so I thought mister bear would be able to help you. If that's alright with you of course.” Twilight stopped her flailing, partly because it wasn't helping much, and partly because despite the sudden change in voice it was undoubtedly the same one from before.
Twilight blinked, slowly turning her head and looking up at the large bear cradling her like a foal. She blinked again. “Fluttershy?”
Twilight had never seen a bear smile before now and was pretty sure they couldn't... until now anyway. The large furry face was split in a small but genuine smile, and Twilight had to admit it was a rather pleasant if strange experience when she realized they could, and rather well at that.
“I’m just borrowing mister bear until we get you to Ponyville. Or would you like to walk on your own? I hope it's not too warm for you. Mister bear can be a bit of a cuddler.” The bear’s smile grew slightly.
Twilight shook her head quickly. “No, that’s perfect, thank you.Just… warn me next time you do that.”
The bear smiled again and began walking deeper into the forest, its bulk making it easy to simply walk through most of the undergrowth that had slowed Twilight’s pace.
“Um, two questions, Miss Fluttershy.”
“Just Fluttershy, please, if you don't mind.”
“Oh, okay. Well, don't take this the wrong way but…” Twilight hesitated. “What are you?”
The bear giggled, which was a strange and rumbling sound that unnerved the unicorn. “I’m a wild soul. I can move from animal to animal and borrow them for awhile so long as I’m respectful.”
Twilight made a mental note of to ask more questions but one question burned brighter than the rest. “D-d-did you say Ponyville?”
“Mmmhmm.” the bear nodded. “It's a nice little place, not enough animals around in my opinion, but the beings there should be able to help you.”
Twilight gulped. She had deduced a few minutes ago that she was definitely in the dreaded Everfree Forest, but something about receiving concrete evidence that she was now trapped within the accursed place suddenly made it much more real. She had been lying to herself up until now, using thoughts like: I could be just on the edge, or maybe it's not the Everfree but a small forest near it. Now she could lie no longer, she was in the heart of the Everfree and a thousand miles away from civilization.
She was in the heart of ancient place of legend that had become infested with the Nightmare’s monsters. The land of the forgotten, the cursed and the evil, and this giant bear that could probably snap her like a twig was taking her to its very heart.
Twilight gulped.
Though she knew, academically, that her fears might be unfounded. And since the victors wrote the history books, that meant the intensely personal nature of the war meant Celestia would have a clear bias. None of that made her feel any better.
She had grown up hearing horror stories about the evil that dwelled within the forest nearly her entire life. Tales told of the great beasts that devoured ponies that dare wander too close to that cursed place. Of the many varieties of plants that spewed toxins, devoured ponies whole or were otherwise deadly to any foolish mortal that tread too close. However, the most frightening to Twilight had always been stories of the great murderous beasts, ranging from the normal wolf to the bizarre chimera, timberwolf, and even the great river serpents that the few brave pegasi that had flown high over the forest told stories about.
And that wasn't even the worst part.
The worst part had to be those creatures who were still sapient but had been corrupted by the Nightmare’s touch, like the lunar pegasi who were no longer even real ponies. Twilight had once read a book that had claimed that they couldn't even interbreed with other ponies anymore as they were so alien, that they had more qualities of a bat than of a pony and sported fangs used to drain the blood of their victims. Worst of all, the book had gone on to say that they couldn't even feel emotions like ponies could. They knew no fear, no happiness, no sadness... only the thrill of the hunt was enough to wake any kind of emotional response from the remorseless killers that had served in the Nightmare’s army.
Twilight shuddered as she imagined the drawing the book had contained. The illustration was of a small bat winged pegasus who stood barely taller than a foal, but the book had said it was full grown. It was snarling, huge fangs poking out of its upper jaw, each easily as long as her horn and twice as sharp. They glinted despite the blood that dripped from the pony’s fangs and maw. Its huge slitted pupils were black as the night and utterly emotionless. Its wings were open wide, displaying tiny claws at the tops of the wings much like a bat would have. Even their ears seemed to display their feral nature and reminded Twilight of a wolf’s more than a pony’s.
The bear cradling her seemed to take note and gave the unicorn a gentle squeeze, to which Twilight only panicked for a split second before realizing that the bear had not attempted to squeeze the life out of her.
Her frantic breathing slowly came under her control as she willed the panic away and forced her mind to not wander any deeper into the terrifying information of the denizens of these woods. She stopped herself firmly with a thought. They were probably all lies of Celestia. I bet they are a nice, if misunderstood group of ponies and definitely not the murderous, blood sucking monsters that the history books say they are.
Yes, that was a nice thought, one that Twilight chose to believe. For now.
Besides, she thought to herself, that monster Celestia had probably ordered all accounts of the ponies in the forest to be changed to make them crueler and far more intimidating than they actually were! She hoped, at least.
She looked in the direction the bear was carrying her, towards where she assumed the mysterious Ponyville was. All that lay before her was more chaotic forest and thick undergrowth, meaning she couldn't see for more than a few metres. She didn't see a path or notice a change, so they must still be awfully far out from the town, if the citizens of that nightmarish place even used paths.
A thought occurred to Twilight, one she clung to in an effort to make her stop thinking of any more disturbing information pertaining to her destination. She tilted her head and looked up through the canopy, noting the relatively little amount of light that crept through the leaves. It had to have been seven or eight o'clock in the evening at the earliest, she thought.
“What time is it?” The unicorn asked.
The bear looked up and seemed to think. “Probably around noon.”
But it’s so dark. Twilight blinked twice, panic already welling up inside her as a new thought occurred to her. I was attacked just before midnight and that little river ride shouldn't have taken more than an hour. Meaning I must have been out for ten hours at least. She realized to her mounting horror. Most ponies wouldn't have thought twice about losing so much time, but Twilight knew that forgetting that much or being out that long meant she most likely suffered at least a concussion, possibly even brain damage.
That panic seemed to dissipate somewhat when she realized it was just another terrible thing in an already long line of terrible things, which somehow made the news of possible brain damage the least unnerving thing that had happened in the last hour.
Fluttershy squeezed her tighter, apparently sensing the turmoil roiling within her new traveling companion.
Twilight sniffed and forced the urge to cry back down. It was all too much.
Fluttershy spoke suddenly, trying to distract the mare she carried from whatever was bothering her, “What brought you to the Everfree, Twilight? We don't see much of your kind around here.”
“I was attacked and thrown in a river, I guess. I woke up a little ways away from where you found me.” The unicorn clenched her teeth and looked in the direction she thought Canterlot was. “And as soon as my leg is healed I am going to go back there.”
Fluttershy gulped, the sudden steel in the unicorn’s eyes putting her on edge. Thankfully it dissipated after a few tense moments.
“How are you going to get back? Not even I know how to leave the forest.”
Twilight frowned, she hadn't thought that far. “I guess I will pick a direction and walk one way until I'm out, then I’ll follow the treeline until I find Canter River and go from there.”
The bear looked at her worriedly. “That could take years of wandering, the Everfree isn't like other forests, or so I was told. Without a guide, you could wander for a long time without finding a way out.”
“I’ll just use a compass then.”
“What’s a compass?” the bear asked inquisitively.
“It's a thing that tells you which direction is north and south; a little circle with numbers around the outside, and a red and blue pointer in the middle.”
“Ooooh.” The bear nodded. “Those things don't work here.”
Twilight’s muzzle scrunched up in confusion. “What do you mean by ‘they don't work’?”
“I found a pony a long time ago, who had wandered through the forest until she ran out of food and water. Though she was scared of me, I think she thought I was a delusion of hers.” The bear seemed to ponder for a moment before continuing, “The whole time I was trying to give her the berries I found she was talking to this spinny circle thing she had, saying that it wasn't being nice and somepony kept changing the poles on her while she slept. She had this weird looking hat and outfit, and claimed she was after some lost treasure.” The bear shook its big head.
“Odd, I will have to test that, I guess. If what you said was true then I don't know what I would do.” The unicorn seemed to deflate a little, her mood darkening at the news.
The bear’s eyes lit up after a moment of thought. “Rainbow Dash might know the way out of the forest! She’s flown all over while working with the night guard.” The bear flashed a tentative smile down at the unicorn before turning back to the path ahead.
Night guard, now that's something I have not heard of in a long time. Twilight mused. Though the information was scant, Twilight was pretty sure they mirrored Celestia’s secretive day guard.
Even though the royal guard functioned identically to the police, they didn't bother with petty criminals or local law enforcement, leaving those small duties to the rural and municipal guard who in turn didn't have to worry about dealing with dangerous murderers or rogue monster attacks. Above all that was the secretive day guard that worked as Celestia’s honor guard. Though Twilight had never seen more than a hoofful of them in magazines, papers, or otherwise, it was rumoured that their number was much, much higher than it appeared.
Would that make them a lot like this supposed night guard, only for the fallen princess? Twilight’s muzzle scrunched up as she thought. But she is gone, what purpose would the night guard have now?
Twilight tried not to think about it too much, choosing to stop worrying and distract herself asking a few of many burning questions on her mind instead.
“So what is this Rainbow Dash like?” Twilight asked.
The bear’s grin grew bigger and a wistful look crossed its face. “She's the most daring and awesome being I know! She's a lunar pegasus who lives in Ponyville, though she was born in Cliffsdale like me!”
Twilight couldn't help herself but to smile at that, the quiet and reserved being that had been carrying her around seemed to light up at the mere mention of the lunar pegasus. Twilight tried not to think about them either, lunar pegasi had horrible reputation, but Twilight chastised herself for being presumptuous, reminding herself that it was probably just more of Celestia's lies, like necromancy being real and whatever crazy cover up job she had done on Sunset.
The unicorn shook her head, not allowing herself to go down that particular train of thought. Anger and grief wouldn't help her now.
The bear was looking down at her with an odd look, making Twilight blush, or at least she felt like she blushed. “Sorry about that, Miss Fluttershy, I was just thinking. So tell me a little more about this Rainbow Dash pony.”
“Being.” Fluttershy corrected.
“What?”
“Not pony, being. Not everyone around you is going to be a pony anymore, and most folk around here don't like being called a pony. Too many bad memories.” The bear shivered slightly, but it passed quickly.
“Right, sorry.” Twilight grinned sheepishly, suddenly reminded just how easily she could get snapped in half if she offended the being carrying her.
“Anyway, Rainbow Dash likes to pretend she's a freelance soldier or mercenary but…” The bear looked left, then right, then leaned down conspiratorially. “She just does that because she thinks guard sounds lame.” The bear leaned back up to its full height and grinned.
Twilight smiled back, a sliver of hope worming its way into her heart. With a guide and her leg healed, she could get back and save her family. She still had a lot more to plan, like figuring out what to do once she got back to Canterlot... but she’d figure that out before long.
“So I don't suppose you'd mind if I asked you a few questions as well?” Fluttershy asked a little awkwardly, not quite sure of herself anymore.
Twilight shook her head. “Go ahead.”
“Umm, you said you were attacked, what happened?” The bear’s voice faded to a volume barely louder than a whisper.
Twilight’s mood instantly darkened, and she knew she couldn't reveal everything that had happened. “My family got attacked by a mad mare. I don't know what happened during the fight, but I was thrown into the river.”
“Oh my.” The bear gave Twilight a gentle squeeze and a concerned look. “Did anybeing else get hurt?”
“My mom got hurt.” The unicorn sniffed, trying to hold back tears. “She was trying to protect me, but—” Twilight clamped her mouth shut, she wasn't sure why she was saying all this but it felt… right. As if she was in the presence of a friend, even if they had only just met.
The bear tucked its arm closer and cradled Twilight like a child, pressing her head against the soft fur of its belly.
Twilight sniffled and willed the tears back, but it was too much. Fluttershy’s patient kindness for a pony she hardly knew broke down what little walls Twilight had thrown up to guard against the pain of the sudden loss of her mother.
But no matter how much she wanted to cry, she refused to. She stopped her thoughts dead in their tracks and turned them to the image of her mother’s killer. She wouldn't despair, she wouldn't cry yet, not until Sunset and her mistress were dead at her hooves.
Though her anger threatened to pour over, she snuffed it out. It had served its purpose and had dried her tears.
Besides, it was awfully hard to be mad or even sad while you were getting carried around like a baby by what felt like an oversized teddy bear.
Twilight smiled at that thought; after the most shocking cruelty she had ever experienced in her entire life, the one thing she thought she’d never experience again appeared as if summoned by destiny.
Kindness.
And in that moment of realization a strange thing happened. Far above her, beyond the harsh glare of the sun, a star twinkled. It was small, barely visible beside the five other bright stars that clustered all around it. Despite already drifting in a sea of brighter lights it sparkled regardless, reveling in the new feeling it experienced. A nearby star, smaller and softer than its fellows, twinkled a quiet yellow light in kind, resonating with its neighbor’s new found joy before falling silent once more.
For a moment, their light became visible. Small though it was, those who knew where and when to look witnessed the sudden sparkle with a mix of trepidation. The tiny purple and yellow sparks quickly winked out, lost amid the multitude of other lights in her sky.
Among the beings that saw the star twinkle, few understood the gravity of the star’s actions, either having forced themselves to forget due to fear and guilt, or having suffered a thousand years of misunderstood visions and now suffocated beneath dogma, or the quiet few who were simply ignorant to the importance of the stars’ sudden awakening.
Whether it was ignorance out of dogma, forced upon themselves out of desperation or being innocently oblivious, all would soon learn to fear the evening star’s rise.