The sound of thunder momentarily disrupted the maddening monotony of rainfall against the cobblestone road. I looked up from beneath my cloak and glanced around. The streets were empty at this hour, and the only signs of life within the darkness were the tiny flames housed within several streetlamps scattered throughout the town. The closest of these, just several yards away from where I was sitting on the ground with my back against the wall, cast a circular yellow aura that seemed to radiate a power that would repel any evil that challenged its boundary.
A sudden burst of icy wind rushed through the town, cutting through my cloak and chilling me to the bone. I pulled my forelegs tighter against my chest in a vain attempt to generate warmth, quietly shivering as I fell to my side. However, my clothes and hair were soaked through, so any notion of heat was quickly lost in the night air. I recoiled deeper into my cloak, hoping to use my breath to warm my body. Another gust of wind hurried by, and the flicker of my streetlamp left with it.
I was all alone in the freezing darkness. I had no clue where I was, nor any recollection of how I had gotten there. I had only just awoken in the pouring rain several moments earlier, though each of those moments seemed to last an eternity. But with my awakening came an unsettling absence of information. As I thought about it, the realization that I did not have a single memory was beginning to set in, bringing along the cold ache of fear deep within the pit of my stomach. These emotions were only amplified with every passing second of amnesia, and I found myself frantically searching throughout my own mind for those seemingly nonexistent memories.
Then, I felt it.
Within the new-found darkness that accompanied the last gust of wind, I could sense a presence. However subtle, the feeling of eyes regarding me from beyond the shadows was unmistakable. An entirely new feeling of coldness swept over me, making the freezing air seem no more than inconsequential. The presence began to move closer, and I instinctively rose to a standing position. Also on instinct, I could feel my wings beginning to spread out in an attempt to intimidate the presence.
The night's shadows began to bend and twist, dancing on the wooden walls of nearby buildings and seemingly mocking the glow of the remaining lampposts. Slowly, and almost imperceptibly, I could see a single tendril of darkness winding its way toward me from across the road. I involuntarily took a step back, raising one hoof in the air as the shadow attempted to touch it. Apparently insulted, the shadow retreated a few feet, then began to rise from the ground, taking on a three-dimensional form that brought to mind the body of a snake. It started at me for a moment, floating noiselessly in the air before me, then lunged in my direction.
I rolled to the right, batting it out of the way with my left hoof. As it made contact, I was overcome by feelings of sadness and regret, nearly dropping to my knees under the weight of negative emotion. I knew, though, that stopping now would be a fatal error. Instead, I turned tail and ran toward a remaining streetlamp, hoping that I could take refuge within the light.
The ground beneath my hooves shook and a deep rumble droned through the town. As I sprinted for the circular glow, I could see tidal waves of black smoke rising up from the ground on either side of me, crashing in on the area where I had just been. The storm seemed to take the side of the darkness, now pouring down rain harder than ever. Lightning cut through the sky directly above, illuminating the entire town for no more than a fraction of a second. As I had previously discerned, the streets were thoroughly deserted. There would be no calling for help.
An explosion of thunder destroyed my hopes of reaching the light as the glass housing of the lamp shattered into thousands of pieces and the light vanished as it was bombarded with wind and rain. I quietly cursed, turning on one hoof and darting to the left to discover that the only other remaining lamp had suffered a similar fate. My only option would be to keep running until I found help, or until the sun came up. Though, for all I knew, neither occurrence would necessarily guarantee refuge from the darkness.
Hanging wide open immediately before me was the gate that led beyond the town wall, the wilds apparently not threatening enough to warrant shutting it at night. Shadows from the sides began to converge by the gate, blocking my path. I could only conclude that they didn't want me passing beyond the threshold that marked the edge of town. This was the only hint I had gotten that my enemy had any sort of weakness, and it gave me strength. I put everything I had into the last stretch before me, ducking through a tiny gap in the black smoke just before it could close off the road entirely. I chanced a look back, hoping that the darkness would give up its pursuit. However, several figures came bursting through the fog after me.
My leg muscles burned as I galloped down the road, begging for rest. I would not be able to keep this up for much longer, so my only hope was to lose them in the forest to the left. I leaped over the fence and into the bushes, dodging low-hanging branches and jumping over any obstacle big enough to pose a threat. I could hear the shadow-ponies brushing against the leaves behind me, but I had already gained a considerable lead, and I hoped that I would soon lose them for good. I would soon learn from experience not to hope for things.
I jumped over another bush, emerging out onto an enormous overhanging rock that would be beautiful in any situation wherein it was something more than a giant dead-end. I looked over the edge and into the endless black abyss. It looked as though the gray ambient light of the night had attempted to fully illuminate the valley below, only to realize its attempts were useless, giving way to complete darkness about halfway down.
I turned to see two of the shadow-ponies emerge from the bushes, followed by a cloaked figure. While I could sense malicious intent from the darkness, the figure in the middle seemed somehow different. He bore an air of familiarity about him, and he had a concerned expression on his face. It was impossible that he was associated with the shadows. In fact, judging by the way he reacted as they slowly walked toward me, I could go as far as to assume that he couldn't even see them.
I took a step back, nearly slipping from the rock with one of my hind hooves. There was nowhere to run. The low rumbling that had been following the darkness slowly rose to a high-pitched whine, drowning out anything else. The concerned pony seemed to shout something, but I could not hear his voice.
Then, it appeared.
The shadow-ponies stopped as a flicker of light appeared in the air before me. Without their reaction, I would have thought I had imagined it. But however faint, it formed into the recognizable shape of a stallion. Warmth radiated from this glowing figure, and I felt at ease for the first time since before I could remember. I felt as though I had been saved. I stared into the area where the stallion's eyes would have been, and he only stood motionless, returning my gaze.
Suddenly, he turned toward the three other ponies and did the last thing I could have possibly expected. I felt the pain of his hind hooves against my chest as he bucked me over the edge of the rock, and I was airborne.
I flailed wildly in a frantic attempt to remove my cloak, which was thoroughly tangled in my wings at this point. Air and water rushed past me, but it all soon became an incomprehensible blur as I sank deeper and deeper into the darkness. The shadow's whine had been replaced by wind screaming in my ears as I fell. My short existence would soon end as suddenly as it had begun. I closed my eyes and waited to impact the solid ground.
The world around me suddenly became quiet, the rushing wind replaced by a deep splash and the sound of bubbles rising to the surface. Realizing that I was still alive, I attempted to pull myself to the surface of the water. However, I could feel that it was useless as I continued to sink further and further into the depths. Soon, my breath escaped me and I began to panic, until finally I opened my mouth and attempted to inhale.
Just before I could take a fatal amount of liquid into my lungs, the world around me seemed to shatter like a glass window, and I found myself blinded by white light and falling once again. I gasped for air while shielding my eyes with my forelegs. Even as I fell, I could not hear the wind in my ears, nor could I feel it rushing past. I opened my eyes, squinting in the light, and immediately saw the sun before me. I was floating in a brilliant blue sky with no conceivable limit in any direction.
I carefully pulled away my cloak and watched as it floated in the air beside me, spreading my wings and shaking the water from my feathers. Though they would be unhelpful at this point, I felt I should stretch them in case they became useful again in the near future, which wasn't entirely unlikely.
The silence was uncomfortable, considering that I had known nothing but noise for as long as I could remember. The warmth of the sun felt alien to me, as though I had never been warm in my life. The feeling of peace brought with it a sense of unrest that refused to allow me to relax. I could not accept this world, no matter how perfect it was. The world seemed to understand this, and acted accordingly. The last thing I saw before being plunged back into darkness was the mark on my flank: a cloud with sun rays bursting outward in all directions.