//------------------------------// // The Sound Of Freedom: Song For The Warrior // Story: Mind/Body/Light/Sound... // by SUPERCHARGER2001 //------------------------------// Twilight Sparkle traversed through the thick terrain inside the forest, with big vines peeking out in the open of the ground, old ruins degrading as the year washes by, and the moss feeding off of its remains. Huge trees hang high in the air with a beautiful green to even out the moody colors down below, the trail she was walking on was overfilling with nature at its finest and it was hard to distinguish the two. Birds sounded off and the younglings that waited for their parents returned taunted and squawked at Twilight Sparkle into the night. The wind began to screech and halt the process every so often with its off-beat nature. It was going to be a cold night and she had to find somewhere quick. The trail looked like it was never going to end, every few minutes it looked like a bright light would shine out in a distance and as soon as she ran to it and turned the corner, it would be pitch-black and unlike what she had previously perceived. Whenever she looked off in the far corner of her eye, she swore she could see some pony following and waiting to pounce her and when she turned around it would be a still silent forest. Twilight Sparkle couldn’t help with the smelly coat around her body, it had patches of brown and dark spots from the mud and grass. Her hooves haven’t fared better either, big sticky mud she had to slosh through the entire night and into the next. Her purple fur needed a warm bath, she would have done whatever to retreat back into Ponyville to swipe a five minute shower but couldn’t risk the obvious. The trees clung closely together and arched over her in one straight line throughout the entire trail, they resembled something you would see in a city like gargoyles staring at you. Twilight Sparkle mind was set however, she was going to find somewhere new to lay low for a little while. That is if Princess Celestia doesn’t issue a nationwide missing ponies report. It was a useless ploy to conjure up publicity but nevertheless, it was an evident outcome. Twilight had to stop every few minutes to catch her breath and focus her vision just so she can trudge through the thick black forest. She wasn’t in the Everfree Forest she believed, but each stop only showed that she was clearly hallucinating. A whole day and a half without sleep, no food, water and completely exhausted from walking all day and night. She was suffering from a classic dose of hallucination. Maybe insomnia even, but all Twilight knew was that there was a constant light that beamed right into her face before flying up in the sky and dancing with the clouds before flying back down into the furthest corner of the forest and rinsed and repeat. It scared the poor mare and she tried not thinking about it, but there wasn’t anything else that comes to mind besides burning parts of Ponyville and destroying her friends’ lives. The birds cackled even louder, they’ve even begun to laugh and speak with Twilight Sparkle and this only enhanced the experience that would ultimately haunt her for the rest of the night. They asked her why she created the problems that she made, to which her only reply was cursing back at them. They refuted the claim before continuing the long struggle of her journey across the forest. The noises grew louder and the sound of drums started beating away at her head, this infuriated her and only caused her more grief than she needed. Twilight sought sleep, but she couldn’t sleep with this nonsense so she started running, just running to whatever direction so long as it was straight. She smacked her hooves on the thick grass and kept her head forward, the night was pure black at this point. The trees were so tightly knit together that it covered most of the sky and whatever that wasn’t covered was already dark. She used her horn to light up the way but the energy she had to make for it was too much for her beaten up body that to it would only cause her downfall. The noises had gone out but restarted every few minutes, it was like she was going in circles throughout the tortured event. The drumming stayed consistent but only matched the power of a loud cannon when the birds started laughing again. She even stopped sweating because she was so dehydrated, Twilight tried to keep a leveled head but the noises never stop. They never want to stop, her heart rate grew faster and she begun to experience a minor anxiety attack. Twilight had to stop soon before she fainted, she was panting heavily but continued onwards with her quest. Twilight Sparkle stopped dead in her tracks and slightly twitched before craning her head around her body. When she did, she was mortified to say the least, the noises grew closer because it was following her, literally following her the entire time. The trees looked a lot bigger than before and the birds were closer than ever. The noises howled and joked like demons of Tartarus, and the bellowed laughter of the birds screamed attention but she resisted and screamed before blasting off back into speed mode. She stomped and smashed whatever was in her path, she didn’t even know if she was still tagging along with the trail but it didn’t matter, whatever that was out there wanted her dead. She honestly believed that whatever was following her had a mindset to kill her. Twilight scraped her knee on a bundle of thorn twigs and that only furthered her hallucination before trying to shoot magic out of her horn to stop the noises. Every instinct of her body told her to book it out of there and she thought it was going better than before, but all hopes and dreams of escaping this dreaded noise ended when she heard the loudest booming sound of her life. The indescribable noise petrified and shook her body to the core, when the noise sounded off once more. She stopped and her heart pounded faster and faster the entire way. The moment sounded like one great big monotonous drone that only heightened of what was to come. Twilight Sparkle turned her head and what bestowed her was the drums itself, big loud thundering sounds crashed its way at her. She was shocked that this might be it. She might die right here, right now, and no pony would ever know. She relaxed and for the first time she felt that she was ready, that maybe this was it. Maybe this was her way of bidding a final fitting farewell. The loud drumming sounds showed her prophecy and it declared that she was going to die, not yesterday, not tomorrow, but today. Twilight asked one question and that was all she needed before it replied back. “Is it my time? Am I going to die…” she asked in the quietest voice ever. The drums stopped, two beating eyes opened up and she stepped back but kept her position firm. It looked around for a moment and got suited with the accompanied dark below. The drums were high in the air, and it didn’t have two but several eyes layered throughout in one big circle all staring at Twilight Sparkle. The drums gave off a very faint growl before it made the biggest noise she has ever heard. The loudest sounds of her life rang four times, and the cycle repeated in her head. She blinked and it was gone. The drums were gone, the noise was gone and the cackling birds all left in its wake. But it still never left her head she thought, she knew it would be back and whether it was going to come sooner or later. She didn’t want to be in this forest anymore, not ever again… Twilight continued on walking back, not sure where she heading anymore but it still felt straight in her mind. She still saw the light occasionally playing with her and it would sometimes come right for her before stopping and fluttering off to the sky. Her prophecy had waited, and it would wait until it was ready she thought. Twilight didn’t know how much further until that day arose, but until then. She was going to find civilization and try to start a new with or without the noise…