> Seeing Red
>  by joekillston
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It was a beautiful day in Equestria... it always seems to start out that way doesn't it? As it turns out, most of Equestria was having a pretty good day, it happens often enough when you have teams that schedule the weather, but not all of Equestria is so nice

The Everfree Forest, a brilliant expanse of green spanning nearly half a continent, and the birthplace of Equestria itself; many ponies nowadays regard it with fear, and rightly so. Back in the reign of Discord the forest acted as a sinkhole for chaos magic, absorbing more concentrated magic than any other location on the planet. The forest was transformed into a twisted mockery of it's former self. No longer a haven of peace and tranquility, it became a hunting ground for various predators more dangerous than any except possibly the dragons. Various species have come and gone, but one thing that has never changed; there was always something moving—always making noise— which made the present silence all the more disturbing. While there were occasional lulls in hunting, there was always the silent din of movement through the leaves and grass, whether by wind or animal; now, it was like a switch had been flipped and the entire forest had just shut off.

If one were attuned to the arcane energies, able to feel the flow of magic as if feeling the currents in a stream, they would know that a dangerous flux of energy, many times larger than would be considered safe or even sane, was gathering at a point several miles inward. Dark clouds began to form far above the canopy, the only thing differentiating them from the normal wild storms that affect the area, to an outside observer at least, is the multicolored lightning flashing off at infrequent intervals, an obvious sign of the level of magical over-saturation.

Then, just as quickly as they appeared, the clouds vanished, leaving the area to resume it's normal activities. The whole thing was over in a matter of minutes, leaving anyone watching the event to wonder what the point of it all was; however, if you looked closely, high up in the sky, you would notice an object begin to fall. This object was actually a pony, a colt in both size and appearance, but what set this pony apart from the majority of ponies in Equestria was that this one had both wings and a horn. Despite having wings, he made no attempt to halt his fall. This is because, in addition to whatever else the storm had done, it also knocked him unconscious. Then... I woke up.





"Something is wrong," And something most definitely was wrong. First off, I was in pain. Not the kind of pain you get with an injury, but a dull ache that made me feel like I'd overworked every muscle in my body. My memory of the past few hours was fuzzy, and there was the sound of the wind reaching my ears from the speed I was going... "wait, what?" It was then that I actually realized where I was, or a close approximation at least. Needless to say, I was a bit freaked out.

"OH BUCK!"

Luckily my panic attack broke long enough for me to remember something rather important. "wait a minute, I have wings!" After that revelation, the aforementioned limbs sprung to life, working harder than they ever had in my life in an effort to stay my fall. I was tired and my wings felt like they were on fire, but my efforts paid off; since I didn't immediately die upon breaking through the first layer of branches.

After waking up for the second time in what I thought of as a couple of minutes, presumably knocked out by the impact, I just laid there in my shallow, self-made crater, not able to find the strength to move. My mind was reeling as one would expect after what just happened. "What... what just happened? Where am I? This looks a lot like the Everfr-""The Everfree Forest! I'm home!" I exclaimed in joyous surprise, bolting upright instantly, before immediately collapsing as a sharp pain raced through my front left leg, instantly aware of the numerous injuries afflicting my body.

"I'm back in Equestria," I mused aloud, not fully able to comprehend the fact, "but... but how did I get here?"

This was a really good question, one that I didn't have the answer to right away. When I was younger, maybe 5­–6 years ago, my family and I were transported away to what we awoke to find was a different land altogether. My parents, and later sister, were separated from me by a magical... 'rift' is as good a word as any. While we didn't know what it was, we did know that it was the same thing that brought us there, which means that it hopefully brought them back home. With my memory in its current state, I could only guess that was what was responsible for my arrival in Equestria.

"Equestria," The thought brought a smile to my face. "This is it; I'm finally home," I sat there enjoying that simple notion for a while; I was then interrupted by a thought that wiped that smile as quickly as it had come and made my blood run cold. "and I'm in the most dangerous place on the planet, injured, and with no idea where to go." Instantly I was aware of my surroundings. Every rustling leaf or faint crackling of branches in the wind sounded like some predator waiting to snack on some helpless animal, a description which now fit me rather well. "yeah, I should probably get out of here."

With that, I got up, careful not to agitate any of my injuries, and began to limp off in a random direction, unaware that I was heading on a straight course for Ponyville.





Off in the town of Ponyville, most of the citizens were unaware of what had just transpired, most in this case meaning all but one. While most unicorns can sense magic to a certain degree, a gift possessed by some pegasi as well, if you were looking for somepony that could sense something that far away, even if that something was very large, most of the townspeople would send you to one particular mare.

"Spike! Where is that book on 'Equestrian Magical Field Theory'?"

Twilight Sparkle was flipping out. Not enough to initiate a town-wide lock-down—this had happened several times in the past—but enough for ponies to give the library a wide berth; just in case things started exploding.

"Here it is!" Called a voice from upstairs, revealing it to be the voice of Spike as he descended carrying a reference book nearly twice his size, before it was carried off to join a growing pile of its siblings on twilight's desk.

Twilight had of course noticed the event when it began to gather energy, causing a faint but noticeable pull in the direction of the Everfree; the only reason that she paid it any attention was that when it released all of it's energy, it's job having been done, it sent out shock-waves of arcane energy that sent proverbial sparks through her horn, immediately alerting her to the scale of the occurance. The scholar had never heard of something like this happening before; and so, twilight decided to do what she does best; research.

"Twilight," Spike said, breaking the univorn from her trance-like state, "why are you making such a big deal about this? you said what you felt came from the Everfree; stuff happens in that place all the time that can't be explained. For all we know this is perfectly natural."

"That's just it Spike," Twilight started, slipping into a tone that let you know you were about to get lectured, "that wasn't natural. The amount of energy that it would require for something like that to be felt all the way out here would have to be astronomical!" Spike sagged in defeat, knowing that there was no stopping the mare when she got like this. "By the way, did you send that letter to the princess like I asked?"

"Yeah, but I didn't really see the point though."

"This is big, and if it is as big as I think it is the princess needed to be informed as soon as possible.





Princess Celestia, being much more proficient at the arcane arts than Twilight, was not just able to sense the disturbance, but was able to recognize it too. Immediately upon sensing what had happened she sent for her secretary, a mare by the name of Sunny Skies, to come to her chambers. What she felt had happened only a few times before, but she was fairly confident about what she thought happened.

There was a knock at the door followed by the gruff voice of the guard on duty. "Ma'am, Miss Skies is here to see you."

Celestia unconsciously straightened herself up before replying. "Enter."

The door opened to admit a mare, a pink pegasus with an orange mane, who looked rather at ease despite where she was. After bowing respectfully she spoke. "You wished to see me, Princess?"

"Yes Sunny, I need you to take and deliver a note for me."

Taking a scroll and quill from a nearby table Sunny got ready to write, "Certainly Princess, what do you need it to say?"

Smiling slightly, Celestia replied, "It's just a simple note to Princess Cadence, and all it needs to say is I am fairly certain that her brother has finally returned to us."