//------------------------------//
// The Things You Find 
// Story: The Everfree Guide's Daughter 
// by xXSheltieXx 
//------------------------------//

The day started normally enough for me. I got up and walked out of my home, a large boulder that I'd hollowed out; windows, doors, furniture, the works. It had a bed and bathroom, a kitchen and living room. It had a small dining room and a porch to walk on in the warm sun or cool night. But it had always missed something ever since I moved in. What was it? Hmm... Aha! The only thing it missed was company. I brushed my teeth, I combed my mane, I cleaned the candelabra atop my head with some polish and a rag, combed the fur that went over my hooves, and watered my tail's three green ivy leaves. I made sure the chain to my lantern was on tightly and ate breakfast; oats with fresh green grass. The grass wasn't as tasty as the oats, but they were both quite delicious in my opinon. 

For a Nitor Pony, I was quite... different. I didn't stick with the clan like most did, no, I went out and lived in the Everfree Borders. I knew the Everfree, not to mention Equestria, like the bottom of my hoof. Photographic memories and a love for guiding ponies drove me to live here and help others in the forest.

I sighed and trotted out into the Everfree Forest, my lantern on my tail jingling to the beat of my hooves on the dirt. Every day ever since I moved to he Everfree Forest, I went to my friend Zecora's for tea. She was a Zebra, and I adored the way she spoke in rhymes. I loved her attire and her knowledge and aspired to be like her in a way.

I was relatively in far enough when I heard a noise. It wasn't a frog gurgling. It wasn't a crow screaming its cacophony song. Trust me, I know what a crow sounds like. Black Quill was my pet crow ever since she'd hatched. It wasn't a Timber Wolf howling. What was it? I cautiously trotted towards the sound and stepped back, astonished.

How could some pony do something like this?! How could any pony do this?! These thoughts and more ran through my head as I walked toward the bundle. It cried as I woke it, but as I picked her up, her crying hushed. A small, blue-gray Unicorn filly was bundled in pink blankets.

"Why would some pony leave you out here?" I asked her, combing her teal mane.

She stopped crying and opened her eyes slowly, revealing two pink orbs that were cuter than anything I've ever seen. I carefully bundled her blankets around her and around my neck, so she hung by my chest like a sash. I galloped home, the thumping of my hooves calming her, making her crack a small smile. I closed my door behind me and laid the filly on my bed. I was shocked to see her crawl out of the blankets and flex her wings. Wings! She was an Alicorn! 

I was astonished. She looked at me with a smile and played with my chops as my mouth gaped open. She enjoyed the smacking sound they made as she opened and closed my jaw for me. She stopped after a while and closed it for me, sitting down and staring at me like I was supposed to do something. 

As she tilted her head, I heard a jingling noise from her neck. I found a dog tag on a chain around her neck. I pulled it off her neck and looked at it, narrowing my eyes to read the small print. Steam Snowflake. She had a beautiful name with a color scheme to match.

She smiled at me, her eyes twinkling. She looked no more than two years old at the least. Quill flew over and perched on my back, looking at Steam Snowflake sideways. Black Quill didn't usually take a liking to any pony besides me, so this next part came as a surprise.

She hopped onto the bed and put a large wing around her, cuddling the filly before flying back to her cage. I was more than astonished... I was... It was unbelievable! The filly looked up at me with a smile, and I couldn't help but smile back. She chuckled, and sat on her back hooves, reaching up to me.

I didn't know what to do, but my body decided to pick her up and cradle her like she was my own baby. It was odd, yet it felt... right in a sense. I snuggled her close to me and looked down at her, her pink orbs looking up at me. I wanted to keep her. Forever. I knew she had to have parents, but what parents would leave her in the Everfree Forest?! All alone?!

"What happened to you, I wonder." I said softly.

My ears perked when she spoke in a filly's grammar. "Mama."

I looked down at her and she smiled up at me, as if asking for a reward. I didn't know what to do. I thought for a moment and nodded. "Mama. Can you say Lenora Lantern Glow? Len-or-a Lan-turn G-low."

"Wenowa Wantern Gwow." She babbled, smiling as I nodded.

I thought for a moment. Would the guards take her away from me? I didn't know, but more importantly, I didn't care. I had some pony who depended on me. Finally, some pony relied on me to take care of them!

I laid her down in my bed and tucked her in, sitting by the bed and looking to my right, looking out the window. I planned on going to Zecora's house tomorrow. I glanced back at the small filly, watching her chest rise and fall slowly, signalling she was asleep. I looked back out the window.

Maybe tomorrow.