The creature sniffed the early morning air. All around it, the woods were completely silent. Not even the birds dared rustle in the presence of the predator, as it moved among the trees. The scent of the purple one showed it was near, that much it knew. The creature knew the purple one had pulled some sort of trick on it before, one that had almost failed, as it knew its claws had raked it. If it was stealthy and was able to take it by surprise, it knew it could succeed in bringing it down. It faded into the shadows and changed its color to match its surroundings. Now, it just needed to come upon it while it was unaware, for in the brief fight it knew the foe was afraid.
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The wind steadily grew chillier as Twilight looked down upon the houses. She shivered as she tried to make up her mind what to do next. She couldn’t stay out here much longer if it got much colder, but what else was she supposed to do? The “humans” had been friendly towards her the last time she’d been here, if it was the same place, but Celestia only knew if they would be that way towards a talking equine. And one with wings and a horn to boot. She sat and thought. She couldn’t transform herself into a human, but maybe she could disguise her wings and horn? A simple illusion spell should do the trick, so she concentrated, grunting and closing her eyes as she poured her magic into the incantation.
After a few moments, she opened her eyes and looked at herself. It had worked! Her horn and wings were now obscured from her sight, so it should work on anypony that looked at her. Now disguised as best as she could, she made her way down to the houses. Maybe she could find some kind of shelter away from the wind. Her concern for her friends still plagued her, but she reasoned she couldn’t help them if she couldn’t help herself, so on she went. She could only hope for the best at this point.
The sun made its way over the horizon by the time she reached the town, bathing the houses in its early morning glow. She felt her spirits rise with the sun. She knew she’d find help.
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The alarm went off shrilly as Susan grunted and turned to slap it off, her hand landing on the nightstand. That’s right, she thought to herself, I moved it last night. Heaving herself to her feet, she walked grumpily to the desk where she’d set it and turned it off. She stretched and yawned. Now that she was fully out of bed, instead of going back to sleep when her alarm was right by her bed, she turned towards the bathroom and turned on the shower. It was going to take some getting used to getting up at this hour, but she had little choice. Her new job required her to be up this early, as much as she hated it. But she had an annoying habit of wanting to eat and live indoors, so she had little choice.
After the shower and brushing her teeth, she went downstairs to grab a quick bite to eat and then to her car. She yawned again as she went to her carport. Then she froze. There, huddled next to her car, was a purple horse. No, it wasn’t a horse, was it? From its size, she guessed it was a pony. The pony startled as she walked towards it, and got to its hooves.
“Hey, sweetie...what are you doing out here?” she cooed softly as she approached it. The pony shook its head and backed away from her, whinnying as it went.
“I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to know what you’re doing here,” she said softly, trying to win its confidence. The pony looked at her with an unusually intelligent expression but kept its distance. Susan held out her hand, but the pony shook its head and tried to back away more. Susan sighed and said, “Alright, I guess you’re not a fan of being touched. I can certainly understand that.” The pony cocked its head at her while she spoke, so much so Susan remarked, “Can you understand me?” The pony whickered at her, which made the human smile and say, “That’s about the answer I was expecting. Now, where did you come from? There are no farms for miles around here.” Then something clicked. The pony’s coat. She’d never heard of a pony being this color before, but then again, she was no expert. Maybe they’d developed a new breed of pony for whatever reason. In any case, she knew she was going to be late for work, so she took out her cellphone and called in.
I can’t understand a word this human is saying, Twilight thought to herself. This can’t be the same place I was in before. Just then her stomach rumbled, which the human took notice.
“Are you hungry? I think I might have some apples.” Making a “stay” motion with her hands, she added, “Now, you wait right there. I’ll be back with some food.”
Did...did I hear the word...’food?’ I understood that! Twilight could hardly contain her excitement. Maybe it was just taking a while to adjust to this place, and the language would come back to her. A million possibilities raced through her mind as to why this might be so. By the time she’d pondered a few, the human returned with some apples. Twilight’s ears pricked up and her nose flared at the scent. As the human held one out to her, she took a few careful steps forward and took it in her mouth, remembering just in time not to use her magic. The human smiled.
“I knew you’d like them! Now, what am I going to do with you?” Maybe she should call animal control, and see what they could do. Yes, that was probably best. She set the remaining fruits upon the ground in front of the pony and reached into her pocket for her phone.
Then several things happened at once.
There was a low growl, then something knocked her down from behind. As she fell, she saw a flash of light appear from the pony as it screamed and fought...some...thing. Susan froze and stared at the scene before her. All she could see was a dark shape that lifted her car in the enclosed place and heave it at the pony, who threw up some kind of shield to protect itself. The pony blasted it once more, which caused it to stagger. Then, before the dark shape could recover, the pony ran forward, quickly placed one of its hooves on her shoulder, then there was another flash of light.
The next thing Susan knew, she was in the forest. The pony was panting beside her, then looked at her with what seemed to be a pained expression. Susan got to her feet and backed away.
“What are you?”