Hours into her walk through the forest, Nova was getting very hungry. She was used to long days of work without much food, but not after being assaulted, cut, foalnapped, and then left alone in what could have been the largest forest in the world.
She stopped to graze but only found rotten leaves, insects that moved too fast for her to catch, and thorny bushes that guarded their berries from her grasp.
She felt her stomach cramp and nature making it’s afternoon call. She rolled her eyes and looked around. No pony was within eyesight and she had to go.
Taking a slight squat she let her waste go and kicked some detritus over it as she began trotting ahead. Finally she heard the quiet lapping of water and smiled in relief as she trotted quickly ahead to a thick river. Kneeling down she drank several mouthfuls of fresh water before exhaling a cold breath.
“Oh yeah, that’s the stuff,” she sighed as she looked at the water and it’s length to the next bank.
It’s depth had to have been too deep for her to walk across, and she never learned to swim. She was lacking a skill needed if she was to try.
She looked left and right, the topography was the same both ways; a river between a forest of trees; the pain of moving her neck and head was practically numb at this point.
“Left or right? Umm, Mom’s left hoofed so I’ll go left.”
She turned and began following the river along the bank, her hooves making light tracks as she plotted along.
“...what’s that?” She asked herself as she saw something in the water, drifting slowly toward her.
A small pile of something floated past her. Brown, green, and white bags held multicolored items within and a voice called out from further down, ahead of her.
“Help, my stuff! It’s floating away, please, anypony,” a stallion shouted as he approached the filly. They looked at each other then he passed her at a fast gallop sending mud across her mostly clean coat.
“Hey! That’s not very nice,” Nova shouted with a frown.
“Sorry,” he replied as he chased along side the bags.
“Earth ponies, I thought they could swim,” she looked at him as he galloped messily down the bank, shouting at his stuff.
She kept a neutral expression as she walked ahead, ears swiveling as she listened for danger, but mostly to the nature she was always kept away from at a distance.
Another half hour passed before she came to a road, and a wooden bridge spanning the river. A cart with a broken wheel lay at an angle and she smirked. “That’s how the stuff fell into the water…” She giggled as she trudged from the riverbank to the road and looked herself over.
Her heart ached at the sight of herself. A few hours earlier she was cleaner than she’d been since before she could remember. Now she was coated with mud, muck, and dirt. Plus whatever was left under her tail.
She kicked her legs to little avail and trotted ahead to the cart before she sat by it and looked down the river. “If anypony comes by I can ask for help and get healed and get food and… I,” she thought for a long few seconds, “I don’t know… Mom, I miss you,” she whimpered as she set her head on her forelegs and sighed.
“Hey,” a stallion nudged her. “Hey, filly, wake up.”
She groaned and turned her head away from the noise maker.
“C’mon, I gotta get my cart fixed and on the way. Move it or lose it,” he said in a cheerier tone than he’s started with. “C’mon filly, I can’t exactly shove you in the river, but I can carry you to the other side,” he said.
Nova gasped and flailed her legs as she was picked up in a blue magic field. “Gah! Lemme down! I’m up, I’m up!”
“Oh, now you wake up,” he chuckled in a soft voice. She turned to look at him as she was lowered to her four hooves. A green unicorn with blue eyes and a kind smile looked at her.
“Um, thanks for not throwing me in the water. I can’t swim,” she said as she rubbed her right foreleg over her left.
“Huh? Earth ponies are natural swimmers I thou… Oh my,” he said taking a step back.
She looked up at him meekly and forced a smile. “They couldn’t cut it off like the others, so they kept it small.”
He heaved into his hoof and fell to his haunches, eyes wide as he stared at her.
“I-I ran away, and now I’m here. C-can you help me get somewhere where I can be healed?”
He gulped and blinked at her several times in the awkward silence. “Y-you’re hurt more than… where are you hurt, filly?”
“My name’s Starlight Nova and I’m not a filly,” she frowned, “I’m a mar… young mare.”
“Uhm, hi, Starlight, I’m Tree. Now, can you tell me where you’re hurt?”
“I can show you!” She happily exclaimed and trotted to him. He stood and took another step back and yelped as his rear leg slipped from the bridge.
Nova gasped and lunged for him, grasping him from several feet away and holding him above the surface of the water before she dropped him with a soft splash.
“Wh-what’s happening to me?” She trembled as he swam to shore several dozen feet from the bridge and looked at her, stared at her the entire walk back.
He looked at Nova, who was sitting and looking at her hooves.
“Starlight-”
“Nova, Mom called me Nova.”
“...Nova, how’d you do that? Catch me like you did,” he asked as he stopped several more feet away, nearly at the edge of the bridge.
“I,” she sniffled and looked at him, eyes beginning to water, “I’m scared…” she whimpered and sobbed loudly.
Tree galloped up and took her into an embrace but let her go when she yelped loudly. She buried her face in his furry chest and cried.
He looked down at her and craned his head awkwardly to look at her mane. Inhaling sharply he looked at the poorly packed open wound in her scalp and looked at his cart in empty thoughts.
“Nova, I need to get you to my village. I have to fix my cart, but I’ll be quick and you can ride in it, alright?” He said softly as he leaned back and gently pushed her from his body so he could look at her.
Snot and tears covered the fur across her face and led a string back to his chest. He grumbled softly as she wiped her nose across her foreleg with a sniffle and blinked her eyes clearer.
She didn’t say anything but nodded curtly.
“I’m going to pick you up onto my back, okay?”
“Y-yeah.”
He picked her up in his magic and trotted to the cart. “Ya know, I really think a rail or something would be ideal for this bridge,” he chuckled to the silent filly. “So, I lost about fifty bits worth of cloth to the river. The bags weren’t waterproof and they sank. Maybe a fish will make themself a nice sweater,” he joked.
Nova was silent but a faint smile crossed her muzzle.
“Do you know the difference between a piano and a fish?”
She shook her head slightly.
“You can tune a piano, but you can’t tuna fish.”
Silence.
Nova burst into laughter and hugged his back tightly so she wouldn’t fall off.
“That’s more like it,” she grinned as he lifted his cart and removed the broken wheel, placed it in the cart, and took a spare from below the cart to replace it.
“That’s how we change a wheel,” he said as his horn lost its glow. “Uh, you okay, Nova?”
“...I’ve never seen magic before… not like that. That was awesome!” She screamed into his ear making him wince. “When my horn grows back can I do that? Can you show me how to move rocks and ponies and slop and trees?! Maybe a mountain!” She gasped. “Or the sun and moon like Celestina does?!”
He snorted. “Celestia is in charge of those, Nova. And one thing at a time. First to get you to my home town, then get you checked over.”
Excitedly Nova hopped from his back and trotted to the cart, prancing to the side and then to the back, hopping into the open cargo area. “Wow, this’ big. Like, it’s so hard and the tarp makes it so soft on the outside,” she cooed as she rubbed the tarp.
He blushed. “Uh, maybe you shouldn't describe things anymore. Let’s get home to Ponyville and see if we can’t find you a bite to eat.”
“Like Mom’s cricket slop?”
“...Maybe something better.”
Nova gasped as he hitched himself to the cart. “Mom’s grasshopper surprise?!”
He was silent as he trotted ahead and crossed the bridge and the filly kept her own attention.
“Oh, what kind of tree is that? Why’s your name Tree? Where’s Ponyville? Why was the river so big? It was deep and wet and warm on the outside but I didn’t get to go deeper than a few inches into the water. Did you know I’m purple?! I was like, ‘no way’, but then our neighbor was like ‘yeah, so way’...”
“You’re going to talk yourself to sleep… keep it up,” he chuckled as she kept rambling.