Unwinding the Moon-bow

by Izzie

The Forest

Izzy finally stopped her panic-led sprint, face met with the cold sting of lake water. Eyes shut, she'd tripped on a tree root and fallen in. This only further ignited the fear within herself, legs flailing to push herself to the surface. She'd let out a loud gasp into the darkness, forced into awareness by that sudden blast of cold.

She floated in a shallow end of the small lake, trying to look around. Hardly anything was visible, and she could barely even make out the sky from the nearly pitch-black forest. Things were made worse by the wind that picked up, blowing and rustling the leaves and bushes, making her feel unsettled. The cooing and chirping of the passive animals and insects were also not a help, her head swishing this way and that with clear, unbridled anxiety.

This was a scary place. She knew that predatory creatures lived here...what if they decided they were hungry tonight? Were they nearby? How far was she from home? Could she hide anywhere? Many questions pounded at her nervous mind as she slowly and surely lifted herself from the water, shaking off.

Now she was freezing. Checking in her small bag, she found no sources of heat, and only a half-dead flashlight. It wasn't too bright, and wouldn't last long...but what else could she do? She was alone, petrified, crying, and perhaps most fatally, bleeding. Not due to amount - she'd only lightly cut herself on the forehead from a tree collision - but she knew the scent would attract things that wanted a late-night dinner.

Her hooves shook as she trekked into the small ring of light from the flashlight, held in her mouth. Shadows darted about her, eyes going wide as one lunged at her. She staggered back, screaming at the top of her lungs, dropping the flashlight in fright. As she staggered, she'd trip, falling onto a hard rock. Izzy yelled from the pain, and unable to see the shadow, felt a sense of dread. With this pain, she could hardly move for the next couple of minutes, and that shadow was certainly close.

With a whimper, the unicorn began to cry once more, tears pouring down as she quickly devolved to broken sobs. Her life was about to end, she could feel it...whatever the shadow was must be a wolf, drawn by the blood. Maybe a bear, or even a snake...

She shivered as she felt something sharp poke at her skin, assuming it was this deadly creature she feared...until it chirped. It was a simple bird, landing on her leg since it was stood still. Her chest heaved less, and she began to calm down, wiping her tear-stained face in pure relief. It wasn't dangerous...not in the slightest.

Carefully she'd get up, letting the bird fly away. She wasn't bleeding too badly, but there was a good bit of her blood stained onto the surface of the rock. Izzy gagged at the strong scent, beginning to walk along in what she was hoping was the way back home.

After many minutes preparing herself, Sunny also began to set hoof into the forest. It was her fault this had happened to Izzy, and she wouldn't lose a friend. Not on her watch...and not as a cause of her own actions. That'd be...too much. She suspected Izzy would be capable of survival, at least till the sun rose, so she allowed herself to take care in her trot rather than speed.

Sunny did worry, as she quickly caught onto the bloody scent from the earlier, minor cut Izzy'd given herself in her panic-induced run. There was a chance of bad things hunting her down...which added more haste to her step.

Izzy gave another frightened scream, the sound of a tree branch cracking making her quiver, leg shooting up with pain once more. If anything, she thought, that was the worst. The gunshot segment of the haunted house had given her a deep, painful scar. One she may never get rid of. Especially so soon after the incident, she was extremely sensitive to those sorts of sounds.

Now she was going even more slowly, trying to not step on any branches. It was like a minefield, where stepping on the wrong spot would kill her - mentally. Like how bad she'd feel if Sunny were to hurt her-

Sunny. Izzy began to think again. Sunny and her had enjoyed so much together, even some hints at romance, but that felt like a thing of the past right now. She was traumatized and broken, and it was Sunny's creations that had done it. Clearly not the intention, but...she'd gone too far. The trust was crumpled between them. Maybe forever.

Getting lost in thought cost her another round of searing pain, as she tripped over a squirrel, letting out a growl as a small stick poked into her hoof, blood slipping out as pain began to overwhelm her once more.

The growl she herself made freaked her out, as she assumed it was from a wolf. She began to sob again, though running out of tears as her eyes dried out. She shivered harshly as she pulled the stick from her wound, feeling too weak and fear-dominated to even scream.

Once nothing attacked her, she stood, but was trembling horrible and still crying. She'd mutter, "...i want Bridlewood," before freezing up.

An eerie howl broke up the forest noises, sending new chills down her spine. The sounds sounded near...too near. Not directly nearby, but closing in. There were three howls, and so probably three wolves. Maybe she could outdo one, she did have a horn and decent agility, though limited by the throbbing wounds she bore. But three? She'd die way too fast. What was worse was the direction the howls emitted from was right in her desired path, meaning she'd need to take another way. A risky affair, but she saw no alternatives. She was too emotionally weak to think properly, so began running yet again with a scream.

Her potentially former friend's orange ears perked, the mare trembling as well from the sound. Not for herself, but for Izzy. She'd walked for a few minutes, losing hope as she got no signs, until she faintly heard it. Izzy's most recent scream. Changing course, she began to dart towards the source. Finally, a lead...

Izzy ended up in a small cave hidden by an overhang in a cliff. The darkness was worse in there and it was uncomfortably wet, but it was superior to her than being out in the open of the forest.

She hadn't noticed it till now, but her neck felt tight...and cold. Her face began to turn a nasty shade as breathing suddenly turned difficult. The darkness felt like it was trying to take her in. Scared for her life, she reached a hoof up...and felt something there. Cold and scaly...a snake. Izzy tried to scream once she realized but couldn't due to the lack of oxygen in her system.

She choked and coughed horribly as the snake suffocated her, hooves tugging uselessly at the tightly bound serpent. Her brain began to go haywire, the choking making her systems begin to shut down. Once again tears stemmed from her dry, hurting eyes. Was this her end?

The squeeze on her throat got tighter. In a last ditch effort, both of her front hooves gripped the snake tightly, trying to pull it off. She managed to budge it enough to let herself catch a couple of breaths, letting her think more clearly. She looked around, picking up a rock and smashing it to the creature's face. Not enough to kill it, but it seemed to work. The startled, wounded reptile let go of her, slithering away back into the darkness.

That was too much. She curled up into a ball, head in her legs as she gave dry sobs. The unicorn was just...done. Done with this forest. Done with this constant, plaguing fear. Done with...Sunny. Her grudge towards the pony grew, blaming her even more for her torment and unintentional torture.

She just wanted to drift off into sleep. Wake up at home, in her own bed in Bridlewood, and forget everything. Be friends with Sunny, have fun. But that seemed like an impossible ask right now.

A very harsh shiver shot up her spine when a howl sounded off that sounded extremely close. Way too much for her well being. She whimpered, continuing to sob as fear paralyzed her. She could practically feel the wolves' steps now, hunting down the lightly bleeding mare to feast.

Sunny would've dashed fast towards Izzy, but she was forced to a crawl. The wolves were indeed nearby, attracted by the blood trail. She wanted to be brave, and go help the mentally destroyed unicorn, but that trauma would only worsen if she saw her friend torn up by wolves. Sunny would need to bide her time.

Though dim, there was a bright side to the appearance of the wolves. They'd lead her to Izzy, but she'd need to get her friend out of wherever she was before the wolves met her. So, she stayed ahead, but not so much she could get lost. Thankfully, this seemed a straight line, and she could faintly hear sobs. Her ears flattened - she could tell how badly she'd harmed Izzy, permanently.

It only affirmed her decision. If it cost her own life to save the precious unicorn's...she'd give it. She owed Izzy this much, at least.

Her torch's light caught Izzy's eye, hooves trembling as she slowly uncurled herself, trying to get a better look. She screamed at the sound of wolves growling, but then noticed...her. Sunny. She was conflicted. On one hoof, help! It'd come! But then, she wasn't happy with Sunny...and liked her a lot less now. Nonetheless, she was now crying out of joy, limping over to Sunny. She'd forgotten the wolves...

Sunny grabbed her just as a wolf snapped down on her leg, trying to bite it clean off. It drew a lot of blood and damaged the internals pretty well before Sunny could toss the torch at it, making it whimper and let go. She groaned, placing Izzy on her back and breaking to a run.

"..." There was complete silence between the mares. Izzy was ecstatic help had come before sunrise - she was sure she'd have died, either from the wolves or losing her sanity. The friendship was damaged, but for now, she hugged Sunny tight, not letting go. She'd be safe, soon. If Sunny got here so fast, surely she could leave just as quickly? It'd only been an hour or few.

Izzy whimpered at the realization. It'd still taken what felt like eternity for Sunny to arrive. She'd run deeper than expected. The light was slowly increasing from the sky, but nary a thing could be seen by either. Izzy saw better due to having had little to no light the whole time, so she'd direct the earth mare away from trees before she'd smash into one.

The wolves seemed to be left behind, given up. This wasn't the end of Izzy's torture, though. She bled considerably, consciousness nearly fading. Sunny took her turn to panic, grabbing some bandages from her bag and beginning to tend to the unicorn. Izzy smiled weakly as she was patched up, yelping at sharp pain from an antiseptic spray.

Despite not forgiving Sunny fully, she'd mumble a "thank you," too nice to not do so at bare minimum. The tourniquets Sunny applied, though rushed and inexperienced, did their job at suppressing blood spillage. Izzy couldn't hate Sunny, but she was still...upset.

Realizing how upset she was, she whined and hugged Sunny softly. Being angry sucked for her, it made her feel...icky. Normally she'd shrug it away, but this wasn't going to go away. Not easily, maybe not ever. Despite Sunny just saving her life by stopping the blood pour, she'd done so much harm...their friendship would never be the same.

Sunny then broke into heavy sobs, mumbling soft, heartfelt apologies. "I....I'm so sorry, its my fault..."

"...yeah, it is, but..." Izzy gave a tiny smile. "...I don't hate you."

That gave Sunny some relief, but Izzy's tone made her realize the sentence was more of "well, I don't HATE you, but..." which indicated heavy relational damage.

Thankfully for the two mares it seemed the worst of their journey had passed by. The wolves had long given up, Izzy having kicked her bleeding legs around to throw the blood all over, muddying the trail. They didn't have forever, but plenty of time enough to return to Maretime Bay.