//------------------------------//
// Chapter one - Discovery 
// Story: The Stable - A Thaumaturgical Backstory 
// by StableElement 
//------------------------------//

Ahead of me, I see a forest; Green fog hanging between the branches, tinged in blue. I stand steady, four hooves planting firmly into the hard dusty road, pushing up against the dense air.

I awaken, feeling strangely enlightened. After a quick stretch, I brush my teeth and go outside to greet the town folk. Nothing out of the ordinary, just a fair day in Ponyville. During my morning stroll, I pass a sign written by what seems to be a young foal. The sign reads: “Filly’s playground”. But that’s not right, Ponyville doesn’t have a filly’s playground near the Everfree forest. Huh, must have been another prank pulled by a careless foal.

I proceed past the sign before encountering another sign that looks- I stare at the sign in confusion, scanning the words, making sure I read with no error, it reads “Filly’s playground”... I look around, shocked, I’ve not walked anywhere, nothing changed! Did I just read my own future before it happened?

I refuse to bat an eye and continue forward, trying to shake the idea out of my head. I resume my morning stroll before I walk past a sig- Ok, what is going on?! I quickly drop into a defensive stance, screwing my face in annoyance. I look back at the sign as I walk away, daring not to blink.

I bump into something, I turn around and form a growl with my tensed muzzle, I stare down the… Pole… It’s just a pole… With a sign on top reading “Filly’s playground - One way”. My stomach hurts… I must be sleeping, this is not real, I am not awake. This is completely illogical.

I press my forehead into the ground and scream. Ponies look at me, some pulling their young close. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, relaxing in the process. I give an apologetic expression to the ponies around, and slowly turn to face the path.

Ahead of me, I see a forest; Green fog hanging between the branches, tinged in blue.

I slowly shuffle forward, my body leaning heavily against the fog seeping from that forest, dense, wet, and filled with pulsating evils. As I step cautiously closer to the forest I begin to feel light-headed, my body numbs and I can’t feel my hooves touching the ground. The air is so dense, it’s like I’m able to just swim through the fog.

The weightlessness has me feeling formless, like a free soul with no physical embodiment. I look down, realizing how insane this all sounds. I look at the ground, nothing abnormal... Where are my hooves?! Where is my muzzle?! I can’t see my muzzle! My body, it’s gone!

My vision darkens as the fog builds, thick, green, and tinged blue. I try to close my eyes but with no eyelids to close them- or eyes to be covered, I can’t. What I experience here is like nothing I can possibly describe because there is nothing to describe, but it’s there, isn’t it?

The fog has a voice. I can hear it, whispering to me, telling me- no- informing me… It is informing me of a power undiscovered by other pony folk, something unknown until now but it makes so much sense!

“The curse of the forest of which you tread has a form that is destined to be contained. Take what is yours and set me free in return for this knowledge.”

The forest has a voice and I like what it’s saying… I know so much, I feel so powerful, everything makes sense now. Magic? No… This isn’t magic, this is science. This is adventure, discovery, research… This is science motherbuckers!