//------------------------------// // Chapter IV- Awakening // Story: Foxfire's Tail II: A Fleeting Dreamscape // by Dragonborne Fox //------------------------------// Foxfire thought she had died. A horrid pain hit her head. It hit her over and over. What happened to my horn? It hurts... She murmured sparsely. Then...she began free-falling towards Ponyville. Wait....wasn't this when she fled from Dark Reflections and miscalculated her landing? She got up wearily. The pain wracking her entire body got worse. She didn't care. She got up and shambled like a zombie towards the door. It was dark, so her eyes had to adjust. She bumped into things....another bed, a vase, and perhaps a painting of some event. She tried to use magic to open the door. Her vision suddenly went red as pain shot through her horn. Her vision returned. Great, she'd have to do manual labor. It didn't really matter much for alicorns, but Foxfire was a bit of....the lazy type. Unless you think of the past days when Tsuna dominated her, so to speak. She lifted a hoof and nearly fell. Quickly finding and turning the doorknob, she opened the damn thing and shambled into the outermost hallway. She shambled to the balcony and gazed at the crescent moon, and then the moonlit town south of Canterlot. She could make out a small fire at the square. It wasn't her own, that was for sure. She could do all colors of fire, yes, but that would require her horn, which contained the needed magic. The drone poked her, causing her to look at him. He then turned white....with Gryphon fore-talons... She turned back to the moon shedding tears. Just looking at the shape--let alone the very memory--of Whiterock Bloodstream made her cry. She couldn't do anything to save him, or the others. She was forced to let them perish. And the blood on her hooves amounted to self-hatred. Why had she done all those things she damn well knew were wrong? An epiphany happened that night. The world, regardless of how old it was, had seen more than she. It too was stained with blood long before ponykind took over. It had so many secrets buried in its ancient soil. Some never meant to be known. Tartarus being a good example. The world had secrets that were waiting to be discovered, long-lost relics for which dated back to the period where alicorns walked the earth and ruled. Until Discord almost killed them all off--save for two Princesses. "What art thou doing out of bed?" Asked a regal mare's voice as a tall and familiar white form stood next to Foxfire. The blood-colored alicorn didn't answer, for she had none to give. But Celestia....seemed very sad. "Luna won't be coming back....for she has been killed by another alicorn. She sent me a final letter detailing this....Dark Reflections...." Celestia sighed before falling onto her stomach and clutching her head with her hooves crying. At that moment Foxfire screamed a cry of agony so loud the Gryphon Kingdom could hear her.