Nothing.
No, not blackness, for it would've been something. There was nothing. No vision, no smell, no feelings, nothing.
Then, a sound.
A growl.
A wave of feeling, of thought, of consciousness. Slowly, nothingness receded away, revealing life.
Twilight Sparkle opened her eyes. She was lying down and could feel the moist, spongy ground beneath her body. The cold air around her had an unfamiliar smell, faintly similar to the pervasive, alien odour of the Everfree forest.
The growl!
She gasped, rolled around and pushed herself up with her hooves. Standing up felt like raising a heavy boulder with your back. She shuddered, mist twirling from her mouth and nostrils.
"Ohh, the prrreyy has awoken. How unforrrtunate."
She looked at her surroundings, trying to find the owner of the voice. Tall, reddish-brown and black trees stood around her, silent and faceless. Strange, smaller trees with branches covered with dark green prickles sat beneath their taller cousins. The ground was covered with a greyish green carpet of moss.
A stick snapped behind her. She turned around and saw a strange, yet vaguely familiar creature. It was a feline beast with yellowish fur and fluffy tufts on the tips of its alert ears. It walked around her with slow and deliberate steps, its green eyes focused on her. Vicious claws jutted out of its paws. The mouth opened, revealing a fearsome maw of a predator filled with sharp teeth.
"If you werrre an injured elk, you'd be dead alrrready... but you arrre strrrange. Purrrple. With wings and a horrrn. Neverrr beforrre have I seen such a crrreature. Can it speak?"
Twilight swallowed and realized how dry her throat was. But it was unimportant now. She mustered up her confidence and said "Yes, yes she can." Her voice was hoary and shaky.
The creature purred and continued pacing around her. Twilight had to keep turning, keep looking at its eyes, remain alert. It could leap at her at any moment, drowning her in an avalanche of fur, teeth and claws.
"Hmm. Then the crrreature can tell what she is."
"I am a uni- an alicorn. And I am not your prey."
It chuckled. "Oh, is that so? Such admirrrable courrrage."
"Can you tell me where I am?"
"This is the forrrest. Above is the sky. Therrre is nothing else in the worrrld."
Twilight raised an eyebrow. "Does this land... have a name?"
"Such a strrrange question. Why does a land need a name? This is the forrrest. It needs no name."
Twilight frowned. "Where's the nearest town?"
The beast chuckled. "The strrranger speaks strrrange words. How fitting. Oh, how my stomach grrrowls..."
"Sorry, but I will not satiate your hunger. Leave me alone. I have nothing else to ask."
"Oh, rrreally?" It chuckled again. "The 'alicorn' is tired and weak. I doubt she can fight back. Neitherrr can she flutter with her wings and fly away."
Twilight closed her eyes and focused. Her horn was set aflame, white sparks spewing out of bright purple flames. Her eyes opened, and they weren't friendly. "Maybe, but her horn can certainly fry your fur. So leave her alone."
The creature's eyes widened and its mouth flung open. It backed away from her. "Trrruly a strrrange crrreature. Frrry me with a glowing horn? How will she do that?"
Twilight winced as a bolt of pure magical energy leaped at the nearby tree, blowing apart its bark. "Like that. Now run away and find something else to eat."
The creature's hair stood on end as it stared at the scorched tree. It glanced at Twilight, turned around and ran away, disappearing into the living but motionless labyrinth of trees.
Twilight breathed a sigh of relief, wiped her forehead and collapsed on the ground. She closed her eyes and collected her thoughts. She was alone in the wilderness, in an unknown land with no sign of civilization. Just her luck.
She looked at the sky above. On the right side it was dark blue, but on her left it was light blue and orange. Was the sun setting or rising? She frowned and examined the darker part of the sky. The stars were unfamiliar. Where was Draco? Virgo? Cancer? She couldn't recognize any constellations. "Just how far away from home am I?" she mumbled.
Twilight stood up again and spread her wings, wanting to fly as high as she could and examine the strange world around her from above. She took off into the air, but soon ungracefully fell on the ground, accompanied by a thud. She panted heavily and winced in pain,
despite having landed on a soft cushion of moss, and regretted ignoring what the beast had said about her ability to fly. She lied there for a moment and waited for the pain to end.
A yellow and grey bird sat on one of the branches of a nearby tree, its head tilted as it stared at her. "That spell wasn't the best of my ideas," she mumbled to it. "But perhaps this is a fitting punishment for me." The bird chirped in response and flew away.
She did her best to stand up, but now the boulder on her back had grown even larger. With weary steps she began to wander, hoping to find something to eat. Her stomach growled, and she felt pity for the beast she had met, knowing now how hunger tormented it.