//------------------------------// // Friend or Foe? // Story: Fluttershy's New World // by Soul Tuner //------------------------------// Somewhere, in a distant place from the world of Equestria, an unnatural storm took place. Dark blue clouds aggregated in a particular spot in the sky, along with the occasional bright purple lightning and its deafening thunder. Small droplets of water fell over the canopy of a forest. Soon, the rain intensified rapidly and small streams of muddy water ran through the dirt paths of the forest. Suddenly, a column of light descended from the center of the storm, into the surface of a lake in the middle of the forest, along with a humming noise. When it hit the water, a huge explosion englobed the dark dense forest into a sphere of dark blue light, along with scarce purple lightning bolts around its surface and a delayed loud boom echoed through the entire forest. The rain stopped falling on the ground, because the sonic boom was so strong that it projected the water upwards, back into the clouds. A few seconds later, the drops hit the ground all at the same time with a deafening sound. Back in the center of the explosion, the lake was empty, its water evaporated in thin air. And at its dried bottom, a dark blue portal appeared, emitting a humming sound. Suddenly, this sound became more intense and small objects fell off the portal, like rocks, fishes and algae. After a few minutes, the portal diminished its size, along with the intensity of the humming noise. When the portal was almost closed, it resized itself abruptly to half of its original size. Then, all of a sudden, the body of a miniature sized pony fell on the ground, inanimate. *** A few minutes before, in a place not far from the forest, an inhabitant of this world looked at the sky filled with dark blue clouds. “It looks like there’s a storm coming. However, something about these strange dark clouds tells me that this isn't a normal storm. The clouds seem to be forming only above the lake in the forbidden Furnus for-” a bright purple lightning struck somewhere in the forest, being followed by its thunder a few seconds later, “Ok, purple lightning it’s not definitely normal!” thought the inhabitant confused. Suddenly, he saw a column of light that descended through the clouds and fell inside the forest. Shortly after, it was followed by a big explosion of light that englobed the entire forest, which caused a sound shock wave that could be heard by its only spectator, a young hermit who lived in the borders of the forbidden Furnus forest. “That looked like a comet crossing the planet’s atmosphere, but this explosion of light doesn't look like anything I've seen before. And if it was a comet, the shock wave of its explosion would leave a big crater in the ground, leveling the forest to the ground… However, the forest it’s still intact!” he thought intrigued, “I must take a closer look at the source of this phenomenon at once. Strange weather followed by a falling star or a comet it’s a bad omen.” he grabbed his cloak, and walked in direction of the forest’s lake. *** Present time, at the center of the explosion of light. The body of the miniature sized pony started to move slowly. She regained her senses and some control of her body, which was really cold, wet and muddy. Her eyes opened gently, but she saw nothing. Everything was dark, but she could hear the sound of heavy drops of water that pounded the nearby ground and over her body. “It’s really dark around here, I can’t see a thing,” - the rain fell now heavier than before - “but I must find shelter before this rain gets worse.” and the little pony tried to get up. But she barely managed to move her legs, let alone raise her body up. The water from the rain began to form a big puddle around the little pony, which already covered her hooves. Shortly afterwards, she felt the water reaching her muzzle, “If the level of the water keeps rising like this, and I can’t even move my legs soon, I’ll drown in a matter of minutes!” she thought worried. As the seconds passed, the water level rose above her nostrils and she held her breath as long as she could. The oxygen deprivation started to make her mind feel dizzy, “I can’t barely move my legs or wings, but if I raise my head just a little and call for help, maybe someone could rescue me in time.” and with this thought, she tried to focus all her strength in raising her head, which she managed successfully, then inhaled deeply and screamed. “HELP!” But no sound came out of her mouth, as the paralyzing effects from the portal also affected her vocal cords. “Ok, I’m doomed!” she thought, then her head plunged again on the puddle of water, and this time she lost her consciousness. *** The young hermit arrived at the margin of the empty lake, and he wondered what kind of storm could empty a lake in just a few minutes. The rain stopped suddenly and he looked down at the bottom of the lake and saw something half submerged in a small puddle of water, fifteen meters from him. “I wonder what’s that over there, it looks like a small animal.” he said as he got closer to the inanimate body, and checked for any signal of life. “Doesn't look like is still alive but I can’t see anything with all this mud over it,” - he pulled the small motionless body out of the puddle and checked for a heartbeat or any breathing movements, after he cleaned its airways with some water from the puddle - “Good, it looks like the heart is still kicking but its breath is very weak. I have to take it to my hut and fast, before it’s too late!” he thought worried, as he enveloped the wet, dirty and frail animal in his cloak and hurried himself in direction of his home. *** The hermit arrived to his hut, laid the body of the small and weak animal over his bed, and then heated some water in a pot. “Now, first I have to clean all this dirt of your body, I can’t even see what kind of animal you are, although you look like a small dog or a baby pony. However, it looks like someone glued a pair of feathery wings on your torso. I wonder why someone would do that.” and he heard the sound of the water in the pot boiling, picked it up and poured the hot water in his bathtub. After that, he poured half a pot of cold water in the tub, stirred it a little and checked its temperature. “Ok, that’s warm enough. Now let’s get that body cleaned and see what the hell they did to you.” he picked up the animal from his bed, dived it in the tepid water and started to remove the dirt. He washed its body gently, as he changed the muddy water occasionally, “Hmm, your fur is so dirty that I can’t even be sure of its color. But I can’t find the seam where they glued or stitched these wings of yours.” Then an old memory struck his mind, “Wait a minute! If they are really attached to your body, that would mean… that… they’re REAL!” he said, baffled by the thought of what the very presence of that small animal could mean, and the consequences of it. “There’s only one way to be sure… the Mark!” and he rushed to check one of the animal’s flank. The fur was still dirty on that part and he washed it thoroughly. After he cleared it with water, he took a good look at the flank and said astonished, “So, it is true, all the tales and legends. The stories about the talking little ponies, the mighty Pegasi and powerful Unicorns… This one is clearly a Pegasus, and as far as I can tell, it’s a “she”, but… then there’s only one question remaining!” he said worried. “Is she an ally?” he thought, amazed by the beautiful and graceful feathery wings. "Or an enemy?” then he looked to her hooves, that looked solid like rock, and the tail which was flexible and hard like a whip. “Either way, I should prepare myself to question her tomorrow, if she survives the night, that is. I’ll finish cleaning her, and afterwards, restrain her somehow.” then he finished the Pegasus bath, dried her with a towel and put her inside an old bird cage. After he covered her with a soft blanket, the young hermit thought to himself, “Tomorrow I will know if I should free you, in case you’re friendly…” “Or kill you, if you’re a foe!” He took a whetstone and a hunting knife from a drawer, and started to sharpen its blade, while he looked occasionally to the little Pegasus who slept peacefully in the cage, with her beautiful long pink mane that fell slightly out of the suspended bird cage and her yellow coated flank that bore three little butterflies with pink wings, uncovered by the soft blanket.