Stratos took a long whiff of the night air, smiling at its vast aurora colours that made it all the much more attractive as the moonlight shone on his azure eyes, glowing oh-so-vibrantly. Though this was practically the only thing that appeared to be noticeable on his greyscale figure, white cloud-like mane, and a shade darker of a coat color.
He walked, keeping a glowing wisp of blue light to guide him through the pitch-black forest. He never liked the forests, it was always dangerous, too many surprises, too many things that wanted to bring his being the harm he really would not deserve.
But he had to get through, and that brought out a deep, rather humble sigh. He looked at his wisp he had made and gave it a gentle look.
“Are we almost there? I believe that last clearing was what made me want out of here and experience the open land all the much more.” He said, looking around almost fearfully.
The wisp slowed for a moment and seemed to give off a more subtle flow of its light, wavy and flowing, like strands of a fine mist of water. It flowed around him, giving off a brighter glow then back to its normal luminescence as though it were telling him just a bit farther. Stratos gave out a long, immature groan, like a foal asking their parents constantly if they were there yet. He wanted out of here.
The wisp glowed a brighter colour from its normal blue. Like the sky. It began to pick up speed, and Stratos followed with a smile, his trot turning into a canter. He huffed forth as that canter turned to a gallop, following that noticeable blue ball of light until it shot upwards into the flowing meadow of tall grass. He had a wide smile and laughed out with glee, his youth finally showing as he rolled about, it was so nice, so beautiful.
So not deadly. That forest was way too cramped, closing in on him, shame on those trees. He still constantly refused to believe he was claustrophobic. He wasn’t, he was a fearless unicorn. A unicorn that would one day be the coolest, most interesting pony alive in the cosmos of the small world he lived on.
He looked at his wisp, its sky like light glowing against the ground as though it were day. He squinted with a look of realization, and he stood up immediately, he finally found a name for the wonderful ball of high adequency. He looked at it, and called it over.
“Wisp, I have finally come up with a name for you.” He said enthusiastically.
The wisp just floated there. As though unimpressed.
He chuckled and glared at it. “Now now, its not like the others, give me a break, you’re the first magical being I’ve ever had, Its not like naming a pet….or is it-“
The wisp glowed an angry orange.
Stratos put up his hooves in defense, “Not a pet, not a pet, companion.”
It simmered back to a light blue, swaying left and right in a slight valley dip.
“I have put the much 8 seconds of thought into this, and have come up with the name-“ He paused for dramatic affect.
The wisp was unamused.
He sighed, ears falling back, “You are such a downer sometimes…” He stood up proudly, “I dub thee, ‘Skylight’”
Skylight seemed to stop for a moment, and sped around him in a spiral, happy with the name. He chuckled and began walking.
“Come along now, we have to get back home. I want to show you to everypony.”
He had his back turned as he walked and realized the glow of his wisp was missing, he turned around and called out, “Skylight…?” he looked up and watched as ice began to spread along the ground, snow falling from nothingness. The stars disappearing, the moon becoming ethereal. It was almost as though everything was turning into a nightmare.
Stratos didn't realize this, but he did realize he was scared, and began running from the shadows, his height beginning to grow with each step, panting and heaving as he slowly began to age. He watched as memories began to pass by. Whizzing past him, all his companions of his magic, his friends. Running by and calling out to him all muffled and unable to be made out. He looked ahead and tried to stop, skidding on his haunches as the end of his path began to show, though he was too late, and fell, falling. Unseen.
As he fell he felt the drag of something on his back and forgot of his wings. He flapped them, harder and harder. He could see his path coming back up, but a force began to suck him down. Deeper and deeper into an invisible abyss.
He let out a final scream until his azure eyes were no longer seen.
__________________________________________________________________
Stratos woke up with a jolt, panting heavily on his cloud. He looked at himself, his hooves, his wings, and even tapped his horn as though to check to see if he were all there. He sighed a heavy sigh. Another nightmare, always about his past, but they never seemed to happen during the day, only night. He pondered at this; this was probably why he was nocturnal.
He looked over the edge of his cloud, high in the sky, down upon Ponyville. A village that was soon going to see a massive catastrophe rather shortly that he had to fix and with this he stood up, and hopped off his little piece of luxury. He fell and fell before letting his wings flap out with the quickly coming up ground and glided a few meters about it before dropping and skidding with a slight canter to a trot. He looked about the empty streets of Ponyville, his still vibrant azure eyes piercing the darkness (Save the moonlight), and went to the outskirts, along the edges of the Everfree Forest.
He looked about, and actually sighed. He looked behind him to see a face that had been practically stalking him for the past several weeks.
“Oh for goodness sakes, would you please stop following me?” He said, rather annoyed.
She stepped out, later to be seen in full detail. Her evergreen eyes staring at him from the tall mare silhouette. She shook her head and was about to say something before shying away from the thought.
He gave her a slight frown, feeling bad, and decided to ignore her for the time being. He took a pose of proper footing and closed his eyes, the night slowly beginning to turn to dawn. His horn began to glow to a brilliant sky blue. It swirled about itself and slowly concentrated itself into a floating ball of light, the floated down to his chest height. He stood back and flinched in surprise to see that darn mare sitting right there, staring softly at him then at the ball of light, morphing itself into that of a practically ethereal version of a pony. It just stood there, looking at him, and the mare, waiting.
Stratos cleared his throat, “Hello there, can you hear me alright? Anything wrong?”
The pony shook its head and trotted in place.
He smiled, “Wonderful, I need your help, is that alright? We are going to do a job that is very important, and I need your help.”
The pony showed a sense of happiness through its glowing pure white eyes and hopped around him, he smiled at its enthusiastic attitude. Though it stopped and looked at the mare curiously, who looked back with wide eyes, leaning back at its personal space invasion.
“Can you talk…?” She asked, her voice mature, the light glowing off her rustic brown coat and horn, wavy charcoal mane.
It shook its head in a happy manner and Stratos looked at her with a smile, she took this quite well, he never really made sentient beings around her before save a few wisps. “I don’t very much know how to give them mouths yet… but they don’t seem to mind” he rubbed his chin, “We need to give it a name…”
The mare seemed to glow her enthusiasm at the sentence, “Awww~ like our baby!”
Stratos almost choked at the thought and coughed, shaking his head, “n-no no! Not anything like that at all…”
“I’ll call you Glowball.” She said, right after Stratos finished.
He stared at her, “Why Glowball…?”
“Because he was a glowing ball when he was born.” She huffed
He sighed and looked at his newest companion, who seemed to like the name, “You really like that name huh?”
Glowball nodded happily, but it seemed to be happy about pretty much everything.
Stratos sighed, “Okay…” He turned back to the mare, “Miss Dust, I need you to find a hotel or something, this next portion will take place without you.
Dust crossed her hooves and huffed again. “And how will I know that you won’t run out from me again?”
Stratos sighed again and let his head hang low, “I have already given up on loosing you…please…. Just go find a place to stay…”
She nuzzled up against him and smiled, trotting off, and waved back at him, “If I find that you ditched me again, I’ll hunt you down~!” She kissed a hoof and blew it at him, disappearing towards Ponyville.
She scared him. He traveled halfway across Equestria to lose her, even setting up decoys and losing her in caves. She still somehow found him. She was relentless, though… her company wasn’t really all that bad, she was nice, she wasn't TOO clingy, and she gave him actual space when he needed it, she was a sensible….companion he guessed, stalker seemed a bit rude even if she followed him everywhere.
He looked at Glowball and waved him to begin walking by his side, walking into the cramped confines of the forest, “Now, here’s what we need to do, and what you are going to do. Also, I’m changing your name. First, there’s going to be this huge explosion…” He trailed off as he went deeper into the forest with his newest companion.
Dust watched him go into the forest, it seems there was much more to him than she realized. She bet that even the Princesses of Equestria couldn’t do what he did, not even Twilight Sparkle. This was all the much more importance for her to get close to him.
She was about to enter the hotel in Ponyville before she heard a very loud crackling noise above her. She looked up to see a literal darkening crack form across the sky, massive portions breaking off and dissipating into the shiny gleaming shards of magic. Her eyes grew wider, looking around her as it began to snow. The hole ended with a massive, though soft-
*Bwooooooo- blshkwaa*
That.
Soon after that epic sound reverberating among the clouds and what was left of the sky over Ponyville, the hole began to close up, a bright blue outline until it meshed back together as though nothing ever happened. Dust just kept staring, even with a thin sheet of snow covering everything in the middle of July; she just kept looking at what use to be a hole in the sky