//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Music in the Woods 
// Story: Equestrian Bacchanalia 
// by lenaia 
//------------------------------//

From her kitchen window, Fluttershy could just barely hear a melody echoing through the strange dark depths of the Everfree Forest. It was both strangely familiar, and simultaneously very foreign. It was upbeat, with a certain mesmerizing droning harmony that might have made her want to dance in other circumstances. As it was, the song came from the home of monsters, and the last truly wild place in Equestria. 

She looked out into the night, drew a deep breath, and resolved to ignore it as yet another harmless strange thing to come from the woods. After tucking the last of the animals in her home into bed for the night, she said goodnight to Angel Bunny, and went to bed herself.




Her dreams deposited her in the moonlight depths of the Everfree forest, where she could hear the melody from before clearly twisting and dancing through the trees. While there was light, she knew she had to follow the song to see its origin. Through a tangle of vines she pushed, their thorns snagging her fur and mane. She closed her eyes to protect them from the briar, and steadily made her way blindly towards the sounds.

With a suddenness that made her yelp, the briars and vines stopped, as did the earth itself. She found herself in free-fall for a moment before hitting the tilted earth below, and rolling. Head over hooves, she tumbled and tumbled, finally popping to a undignified stop sitting dazedly on her butt. 

She had found the source of the sound: a creature unlike any she had seen before, it had the legs of a proper pony, but whatever it was stood upright, supporting a fur-less pale torso. It had a plump round face, with a beard like a billy goat, and its front limbs ended in fingered hands like Spikes. In its hands, it was playing a musical instrument that looked like two flutes joined together in a 'V'. While it played, it danced on its hooves, prancing around so that its potbelly giggled with merriment.


The creature danced in the moonlight that shone down on the forest full of monsters, and Fluttershy could see that the two of them were alone on a small island amidst fragrant dark red waters. The breeze brought a strange bouquet of sweetness and earthy aromas along with some other component that made her nose tingle. Familiar but foreign, just like the music.

After making a circuit of the opposite side of the island, the dancing semi-pony turned and fixed his eyes on Fluttershy. She knew that he was coming towards her, but found herself more excited than scared and could not bring herself to cower. It bounced in time with the music, and skipped right then left in a winding zigzag that brought it ever closer to her. Finally, the course of the song ran out, and the last skip landed the creature squarely in front of her.

"I am Silenus," it said. "Come find me. It is time to enjoy tragedy once again."