The mare and stallion from Spane called their single daughter Starfire.
She was a golden filly, with a white mane and tail, splotches of white on her body and a white star on her forehead. The stallion tied a pink ribbon in her mane, and she watched him with her large, innocent green eyes.
"She's beautiful," he muttered. The mare nuzzled him from her white bed, holding the filly in her forelegs.
"We have to leave soon with the expedition, though," the mare whispered. "We couldn't leave her behind, not this young."
"We'll bring her with us, then. We'll have a whole herd with us to protect her, and she'll be a month old by then. You know how fast fillies grow."
"Maybe I should stay behind," the mare sighed. "It'll be safer for the both of us."
The stallion rested a hoof on her shoulder. "You've waited your whole life to see these temples, remember? Now may be the only chance we have. I'm sure everything will be fine, even for little Starfire."
-----
And so it was that, exactly one month later, young Starfire watch from a tree's branches as a Manticore finished off her parents. Her mother had shoved her up there with a panicked flight, tucking her away in the branches, while her father distracted the huge animal. The two had fought it together, and has fallen as such.
The Manticore leaned over it's kill, looking around the clearing warily. It had no way of knowing the three ponies had fallen behind the rest of the herd while letting Starfire rest, and that the group likely wouldn't notice they were gone until nightfall. No, it seemed to by waiting for something else.
Starfire screamed as something rushed towards the Manticore's head. The large beast looked at her for a moment, a long painted spear sticking out from between it's eyes, before it let out a dim growl and toppled to the ground. The clearing was silent again.
Two tall creatures, similar to ponies, stepped into the open. Their gray shells were painted with various dyes, letting them blend into the forest's foliage. Their piercing blue eyes scanned the clearing for other ponies before beginning to move the Manticore's corpse aside, flicking their short gray tails in annoyance.
"Grillin chit weres. Visio marn?." One of them growled, glancing around.
The other one snorted. "Eh sile earch.."
Starfire, frozen with fear up in the branches, felt herself swooning. With a sigh as her eyes closed, she fell from the branches.
"Sare!" One of the creatures shouted. The other threw itself forward, skidding painfully on the rough forest floor. The falling filly bounced off of it's shell with a bit less impact than that of the ground.
"Chit were?" The one asked, getting to it's hooves.
"Ist, Sytax. fel hist.."
The one named Sytax shrugged, gently lifting the limp filly in his jaws. He pointed towards the other, less-living denizens of the clearing. "Gouc sict."
The creature not named Sytax whistled loudly, and a few moments later a second pair of creatures entered the clearing, looking at the corpses and the filly hanging from Sytax's mouth. "Vist," the other creature hissed. "gouc sict."
The two newcomers growled their distaste, but set to work on the bodies. The Manticore began preparation for cooking, and the two ponies were cleaned up and packed away for some later funeral.
And then the one named Sytax seemed to shimmer like a mirage and, with little Starfire still hanging from his jaws, he disappeared into the forest.
-----
Pale green light filtered through the canopy as Starfire came to. She looked around; she seemed to be lying on a suspended platform of vines and branches, an indefinite distance from the ground and with no method of travel in sight. She noticed, also, that there was a thick layer of white paste on her side and - when she rubbed her forehead - most of her face. Starfire looked around, young hooves aching slightly from her climb the day before.
Something moved near the side of the platform.
A creature, seemingly pony-like, seemed to emerge from the shadows, dappled patterns of green and black vanishing into a stark gray coat. It regarded her with bright blue eyes, as if assessing her injuries.
It's eyes narrowed, and it let out a series of strange clicks and chirps that sounded vaguely criticizing.
She shook her head, not understanding. Her parents hadn't talked like this, and although she hadn't learned much Equish, she knew that this creature didn't speak it.
It seemed just as confused as she was. After a moment of bewildered silence, it pressed a hole-speckled hoof to it's chest. "Sytax."
"Starfire." The filly replied, mimicking the action.
"Starfire." It chirped. Tilting it's head, it tried to use Equish; his accent was thick with an odd buzz that reminded her of the summer bugs at home. "You... come... pony?"
Knowing these words, she tried to come up with a response. "Mom, dad. Here?"
It chirped in confusion, a series of strangely syllabic noises.
"Pony," Starfire repeated, "yes. Where?"
Another creature came out of the leaves, looking between the two. It snapped something at the first one, sounding bothered, and proceeded to glare down at Starfire. It bit off a leaf from a nearby branch, placing it on the ground in front of Starfire.
"Een." It chirped, tapping on the leaf with it's hoof.
"Een," Starfire repeated, picking up the leaf in her forehooves.
"Were," it continued, pointing at her. "Pony."
"Were," she pressed her hoof to her chest, signifying she understood.
The creature pointed to the first, "Sytax," and to itself, "Messiah. Blendfalk."
"Starfire," she said, pointing at herself as well. "Were."
Messiah grinned.