As far back as I can remember I've been surrounded by the trees in the Everfree Forest. I never knew anything about the world beyond those three trunks and I never really thought that there was anything else that existed outside of the forest. In the protection of Everfree I had everything I could possibly need. Perhaps that is why I never saw the reason to try to leave.
I lived alone for fifteen years before I ever met another pony. No pony else had ever come through the forest before - not that I had ever seen. I suppose I must have had parents at one point in time like every pony else, but I have no memory of ever meeting them. Being on my own had never really bothered me. I never went insane, I did not create an imaginary friend, and I did not feel the need to try and seek out some pony to spend time with. I enjoyed the silence and never wished for anything different.
As much as I loved it back in the Everfree Forest I cannot pretend that life had been perfect there for me. Predators roamed the forest with me and many of them would have loved to take a bite out of my flank. There were also lots of deadly plants mixed in with the edible vegetation as well. One wrong move and I could have gone belly up after just a mouthful of berries. It took careful research to learn what was okay to eat and what was not.
I learned a lot of things during those fifteen years of isolation. I learned how to fight for my life, I learned how to make a shelter during the rainy seasons, I learned how to just sit and wait. I also learned many things that other ponies do not seem able to lean, such as how to accept that some things are just out of your control.
Just like I had no control over the turn my life would take during my last day in Everfree Forest.
The day had started out a lot like any other day for me. I woke up early in the morning, spending some time to just lie there and watch the sun creep up in the sky. Sky watching was one of my favorite activities to do since it always helped to keep me calm and was a good way to pass the time. After a while I had gotten up and went in search of something to eat.
For the last few weeks I had made a comfortable home in a small clearing in the forest. There were many berry bushes around for me to munch on when I had first arrived and so far no other creatures had tried to give me trouble in the clearing. However, I had just about cleaned off the berry bushes and I never liked to stay in one place for too long; doing so made you an easier target. So instead of filling my belly with the last of what the clearing had to offer me, I set out to find a new area.
As I trotted along, my ears began to twitch as a strange new sound reached me. I stopped for a moment to listen closer, my eyes widening. I remember just how shocked I had been to hear the voice of another pony, hardly able to believe my ears. In fact, I almost thought that I had finally started to go crazy.
Carefully I walked through the trees to follow the voices. After a while I was able to hear what they were saying, although I could not see them yet.
"Come, on Big Mac!" a female voice sighed. She had a bit of a twang to her voice that played nicely with my ears. "We gotta be goin' faster than this! I need to get these roots and I need 'em fast so we can get out of this cursed place!"
"Alright." This speaker sounded male. His voice held a twang to it just like the female's but it was deep and slow.
I managed to get close enough so that I could hear the two of them walking along the forest floor, rustling the brush around them noisily. I frowned, wondering why on earth the two of them would be making so much racket. Did they not know that the more noise they made the more likely they were to draw a predator?
As soon as the thought crossed my mind, a low growling could be heard. A timberwolf. I gritted my teeth together and poked my head out to see a lone timberwolf creeping out from between the trees. It's green eyes glowed faintly and were fixed squarely on the two ponies walking around. My stomach churned. Timberwolves were not easy to deal with. Sure, they were easy to injure, but they could reassemble themselves and often hunted in packs.
The two ponies froze as they saw the timberwolf. They both seemed shocked, not saying a word. But it was too late. This wolf had set its sights on them and being silent now was not going to help them.
My head spun as I tried to think of a way to help them. Now, I'm no hero and I've never claimed otherwise. But these were the first ponies I had ever met in my life, and I was not about to watch them get eaten.
I noticed that so far no other wolves had appeared to join the first. This struck me as odd, since they normally hunted together. Then I saw that this timberwolf was very thin and looked pretty weak. It was sick, I realized. This timberwolf was sick and had been abandoned by it's pack.
This knowledge changed everything; if I had not picked up on it in time, I never would have acted the way I did.
Without any thought, I dashed out from my hiding place and ran head first towards the timber wolf. The clopping of my hooves got it's attention and it turned it's glowing eyes on to me. It got out a pitiful growl before I rammed my shoulder into it's side, hitting the creature with all my strength. As the wolf flew back, it reached out towards me with one of it's claws, managing to scrape it across my chest and cut me deep. That was all that the creature could do before it flew back and slammed into a tree trunk, bursting into a cloud of smoke.
My cut burned white hot on my chest, but I ignored it as I turned to face the two new ponies. They seemed frozen in fear, confused by what had just happened. I jerked my head towards them and shout out the first word I had ever spoken before.
"Run!"