Twist was horrified by the sight before her. The trees of the Everfree Forest stood before her, pointing wooden spears toward the night sky. She gulped loudly and began to sweat, even though the temperature was cold enough for her to see her labored breaths. She heard noises coming from the depths of the forest and began to shake.
Maybe this isn’t such a good idea... She began to reason with herself.
She was just a filly after all. She needed to get home for school in the morning! Yeah! The other’s wouldn’t think she chickened out if she justified herself properly. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon would just drop it! Twist turned around and decided to just return to her nice, warm bed. She knew deep down that the two prissy fillies wouldn’t believe her. She was just a scaredy cat like they had said.
Twist sighed and turned once more, back toward the ominous forest and attempted to scan for anything that might be lurking behind the trees.
“Ok, ok. I can do this.” She said trying to reassure herself. The small filly straightened her legs and stood up tall. “I am a brave filly!”
Twist maintained her “brave” (yet awkward) posture as she entered the dark woods to an uncertain fate. All she had to do now was…
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“Stay the night in the Everfree Forest!” Silver Spoon said to Twist, almost yelling now.
“Yeah!” Diamond Tiara agreed. “Do that and then we’ll totally let you hang out with us.”
Twist could hear the mockery in their voices but tried not to pay attention to it. This was a chance for her to finally hang out with the cool ponies after all. She slammed a hoof on the hardwood floor of the school and said: “I’ll do it!”
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon looked at each other and began to snicker now. “Just keep an eye out for the Headless Horse.”
“That’s just an old Mare’s tale!” Twist replied, sure of herself and her display of bravery. Her sister had told her about the story. It was all just a story told to scale young colts and fillies to keep them from wandering off into the woods. Right?
Silver Spoon got close to Twist now and said in a deeper voice, “A Mare’s tale? No, not at all. They say that the Headless Horse is stuck in the forest looking for wherever he lost his head.” She gestured dramatically to Twist who backed up shaking.
“He lost it a hundred years ago, his horn being the only thing that survived the accident. They say it floats above his vacant body, permanently glowing in searching for another head.” Twist was visibly frightened now.
Diamond Tiara walked up close, staring deeply into her eyes. “You know what? Your head just might fit!”
Twist gave out a yelp in fear to which the two prissy fillies laughed aloud to. They turned and left the school, leaving Twist alone and scared. Kind of like how she was at the moment in the forest. The only difference was that things were now much, much worse.
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Twist’s red mane was covered in prickly thorns and sharp leaves from the Pine trees she was maneuvering herself through. She had to find a nice clearing to stay in if she was to spend the night. Out of the corner of her eye she though she saw movement in the distance. She stopped dead in her tracks and began to breathe quickly.
An eerie blue glow slowly appeared from behind the trees in the distance in front of the scared filly who couldn’t do anything but stare in fright. She tried to run but it felt as if her hooves were stuck to the ground.
“It isn’t real…” she began to say to herself, desperately believing that she was right. “It isn’t real, it isn’t real! IT CAN'TBE REAL!” she said, screaming now. Twist watched as the blue glow got closer to her, getting brighter and brighter as it did.
She tried harder and finally got her legs to move. She dashed away from the clearing and hid behind a tree, breathing rapidly with sweat dripping down her face. She was safe… for now at least. She waited a few minutes and after seeing nothing, decided to leave the forest. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon were not worth the trouble.
CRACK!
Twist stopped. The branch she had just trotted on had made a noise that seemed too loud. There was no way that sound had come from her. She looked around her and saw nothing but the darkness pervading through the foreboding trees. She heard nothing, not even the wind. She began to walk again, this time a bit more cautiously.
CRACK!
This time she knew the sound didn’t come from her. Twist stopped again as the fear sent her spine tingling. From her a right, the blue glow had appeared yet again. Twist screamed in terror and tried to run, only to see she was blocked off against a large group of trees. She was cornered.
As the blue glow got brighter, Twist felt as breathing became more difficult for her. She tried desperately to gasp for air; all while cowering at was surely her end. The light grew more intense as it came closer.
Twist struggled for oxygen, seeing the dark world before grow even blacker. The only thing she could see was that strange blue glow above her.