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// Chapter 0: Beginnings 
// Story: Friendships are Supernatural 
// by darkuri 
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The moon was barely visible through the dense forest canopy, just enough light managed to break through to allow the traveller to see the path in front of him. The white stallion grunted as he re-adjusted his bags, taking care so as not to jostle the contents too much. As the stallion trotted down the moonlit path, his mind turned to the warnings he had received about this particular forest, usually involving a pony that was "never heard from again". At the time he had scoffed at the stories and chided the villagers for their tales, after all he had been traveling for many years and each village had its own tall stories to tell and usually they came about as either an embellishment of a mundane event or bored villagers looking for some form of entertainment. Now however, as he looked at the gnarled trees barely illuminated in the light and the eerie silence, he began to wonder if all those stories he had been told were true.

A sound.

The stallion quickly turned around. Seeing nothing there, he slowly turned back swinging his head from side to side checking the tree line for movement. He froze when he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye. Turning his head slowly, he looked in the direction of where the stray thought had come from. Seeing nothing there he breathed a sigh of relief, catching himself he let out a hollow laugh, he prided himself on being logical and brave, yet, here he was jumping at every little sound and errant thought he had. He was better than this. Bursting with a new found resolve the stallion continued on his way, a resolve that crumbled rather quickly after he turned the corner. 

Another sound. 

He froze, not wanting to move, his eyes searching for the origin. This time he definitely saw something. Off in the trees there was a faint light, looking closer he thought it looked a lot like a torchlight. 

There must be others, he reasoned, after all why else would there be a path if nopony else had walked this way before. He visibly relaxed, chiding himself for falling for the villager's tricks.

"Hello there!" He shouted, hoping that the bearer of the light would hear him. It was then he noticed that the light was emanating from deep within the trees and that it seemed rather faint. 

"Hello? Are you lost?" He shouted, this time really hoping that they could hear him. He waited for a bit, listening for a response. When he didn't get a response back he began to think that maybe whoever it was couldn't hear him. Just as he was about to continue on the light started bouncing from side-to-side as if somepony was waving it in the air to catch his attention. He furrowed his brow, wondering why they didn't respond when he called them. Figuring that they must either be too weak or possibly injured, he pushed those questions out of his mind and set off into the trees and towards the light.

After a while the stallion was getting tired and a bit annoyed. At first when he had come within a few meters of the light and it had suddenly darted off deeper into the forest, he thought it was odd, but maybe it was a shy pony. As he continued to follow the light he had begun to think that maybe playing 'the good pony' and going to help somepony may not have been the best idea. Whoever they were, they seemed adamant that he follow them. Even more frustrating was that he couldn't turn back now, he had lost sight of the path a while ago and the forest was becoming more and more dense as he progressed allowing for less and less light. Soon, he realised, the only light he would be able to see would be that of the torch of the pony in front of him. Every so often the torch would seemingly fade, only to be replaced by another one further down. This, the stallion attributed it to, was because the pony had let the torch die and had to re-ignite it. 

The ground had gone from firm to covered in roots, and now had progressed to boggy. The stallion swore as he tripped on a root hidden by the darkness and landed face-first into boggy water. He glared up at the light that seemed to have stopped a fair distance away.

"What do you want?" He yelled angrily at the light getting up, "Why are you doing this? Who are you?" The light just sat there, bobbing to and fro, saying nothing. The stallion got back to his feet, knowing that he had to continue following the light; the path had long ago disappeared and the light was the only light source there was. His only hope was that daylight wasn't too far away and that then there would be enough light to see by and he could get out of this cursed swamp, injured pony or not. Swearing again, this time at his luck and the damned light, he took another step towards the light. Odd, he thought as his leg sunk further into the boggy water, the bog seems to be getting deeper. Puzzled by this he took another step, this time he sank to his torso. Realising what was happening he tried to back out of the water, as he took a step backwards his right rear leg slipped on some mud forcing his bottom to hit the ground rather hard. Wincing in pain, he tried to straighten his posture out of reflex, proving difficult to do with his current position his bottom slid further into the water to allow him to straighten. He felt his bags start to gain weight as they absorbed the water and began to drag him down. 

"No, no, no, no!" He tried to undo the strap that held the bags to his body. Sure they were his livelihood, after all what good is a merchant with no wares, but at the moment he figured, what good was a dead merchant? As he struggled with his bags he failed to notice the water getting higher as he slowly slid into the bog. It wasn't until the water had reached his chest, covering his attempt to untie himself, when he realized what was happening. Digging his hooves into the mud proved pointless, abandoning his attempt to free himself from his baggage he struggled to stop himself from slipping further and further into the watery prison. By now he was shouting, calling for help as he struggled to keep his head above the water. He continued screaming as the water filled his lungs and his bags drag him down to the waters below. Eventually all that was left were a few bubbles rising towards the surface.

"Such a pity, he almost made it too." A white mare sighed emerging out of nothing as she looked at the spot where the traveler had drowned. The mare appeared to be walking on water as she made her way to where the bog had claimed its latest victim shaking her head. She looked with sadness at the spectacle, tears welling in her grey coloured eyes. Suddenly there was movement beneath the surface of the water, hope welled up inside her, maybe he had survived! Quickly she called the wisp to illuminate the bog. Slowly the figure rose, the mare held her breath. There! In the light! The mare released her breath, once again disappointed and saddened. The object that had floated to the surface was nothing more than a doll. She scooped it out of the water, looking at how it was lovingly crafted, possibly for the dead stallion's daughter or niece.

"Faint. Faint, come here." A gray filly emerged from the shadows and joined her mother on the surface of the bog. The white mare passed the filly called Faint the doll in her hooves. Faint appraised the doll, it looked a lot like a horse except it had two button eyes placed directly on the muzzle, hair that had been made out of wool and, perhaps the most intriguing part, pants with polka-dots on them. Faint looked up at her mother. Her mother forced a smile, "It's yours now." Faint could barely contain her excitement, she rarely ever got presents and this one was the best so far, she jumped around on the surface of the water, barely causing a ripple. Despite her daughter's elation, the white mare continued to grieve. Faint walked over to where her mother was looking,

"Thank you mister!" She only received single bubble as a reply. Faint looked expectantly at her mother. Sniffing and wiping her eyes she looked down at her daughter, "What are you going to call her?" Faint thought for a moment, "Jack," She said finally, "Jack Lantern" 

"That's not a filly's name." "Of course not, Jack is a colt." Faint said rolling her eyes at her mother's silliness. Her mother laughed at that, "Come on, let’s go home." She waved her hoof and the wisp vanished. Turning around, she walked towards the centre of the bog where a small hut materialized.

"Goodbye mister," Faint said to the bog, "Mum really wanted to meet you and...I guess I did too." Quickly she turned around and ran into the hut, her green and blue hair blowing behind her like a flame. The door closed behind her and the house vanished. A small bubble rose to the surface of the bog and popped; the forest was back to normal.