Coal Dust trekked slowly and cautiously threw the darkness of the forest, jumping in fright at the sound of every cracking twig and rustling leaf. Her parents had warned her since she was a little filly never to venture into the Everfree Forest. She was told all sorts of horrible monsters lived there. There were wereponies who howled from deep in the forest on full moon nights. There were dragons and manticores and hydras which waited for some poor, timid little filly to wander nearby. She knew what terrible beasts lived there, but she had entered the forest anyway. It was well worth the risk just to know that her parents wouldn’t follow. Anyway, if she was going to go on an adventure, where else could be a better place to start?
Eventually she entered a vast bog. She crossed it hesitantly, seeing monsters in every little muddy bubble, rising from the murky marsh. But she was determined to keep going. Nothing would shake her resolve. She would continue. She would find her adventure. She would change her fate forever.
On the other side of the marsh, in a mossy green clearing, there was a pool of crisp, fresh water. A cool, silver mist hovered over the water, sparkling as it was hit by stray rays of light penetrating the tree-line. The water in this pond was as clear and clean as the air she breathed, and it was something more beautiful than Coal Dust had ever seen, cooped up in her father’s shop all the time. She approached edge of the water and gazed down at her reflection. She was dirty, and her mane was askew. She looked horrible, and yet, something else was different about her. She stood there, staring down into her own eyes when she realized something. For the first time in her life, she was living for herself instead of for her parents. She was finally living. She reached her forehooves down into the water and splashed some on her face.
“From this day on, I am no longer Coal Dust, the blacksmith’s apprentice,” she thought. “I am,” she began looking around at the surrounding area, “Silver Mist,” she announced proudly. “And I will choose just what kind of pony I will be!” She felt a heavy weight fall off of her shoulders, and she embraced this new sense of freedom. She stood back up and trotted off into the forest, boldly, without fear.
Eventually, she arrived in what seemed like an older, more decrepit part of the forest. Many of the trees had clearly died long ago, and broken limbs littered the ground. However, this part of the woods was better lit, and the newly reborn Silver Mist felt oddly more comfortable here. She came upon a grassy knoll, where the trees were much more spread out. Round slabs of wood with blood-red targets painted upon them were nailed upon some of them. They were all cracked and splintered with decades of wear and tear. At the center of the knoll, there was a small, dilapidated ranch house, whose paint was chipped and the wood looked aged and rotting.
There was a tree stump right in front of the house. An old silver hatchet was lodged into this ancient wooden memory of life, and Silver Mist approached it hesitantly. She grabbed onto its handle with her teeth, pulling hard. She pulled with all her might until it finally came dislodged from the old stump, and she fell backward with this sudden lack of resistance. She got back up, holding the heavy tool in her mouth, when suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned and screamed at the horrifying sight she saw.