The Nightmare in the Forest
Darkness. Darkness all around. The young filly could hear nothing. She could only feel a chill on her skin, through to her bones.
Suddenly, a dim light began to glow. The filly could see herself: her yellow coat, her wings, her pink mane and tail. But still, she could not see anything else. And the cold started to make her shiver.
A faint sound came from behind. She could just barely hear the sound of a weeping child. It seemed familiar, somehow. But she didn’t know when she had heard it before.
The filly turned towards the faint sound and walked off in that direction. The light began to fade, leaving her in darkness once again, as she slowly crept along, careful not to trip on her hooves.The crying became slightly louder. and the space around her became darker.
The filly wondered who could be crying, or why. She didn’t know what was to come, but she had a terrible feeling about it. The temperature kept dropping. She felt her body getting colder, and time was getting slower.
She came across a twig. She looked along the ground, still pushing forward. More twigs. Fallen branches. Exposed roots. She was entering a forest. She recognized the forest’s twisted, gaping pathways. This was the Everfree Forest.
Still curious to find out the source of the crying, the filly pushed on into the thick and pointed brambles of the Everfree. The crying got louder still, the filly got colder as well. Her teeth were beginning to chatter a bit. When the filly looked back, the pathway in had disappeared. She was trapped.
The filly was scared, but decided to be brave and continue on. The creatures in the woods started to look at her, with glowing eyes. Thousands of creatures, waiting by the pathway, following her every step of the way. Watching her. Waiting.
The filly continued onwards, tears dripping down her cheeks. The crying was definitely audible now. The cool had subsided, but the animals of the forest were still watching the young mare, trodding down the dark, winding paths of the forest, desperately seeking out the poor crying child.
The path became narrower, with sharp vines growing inward on both sides. The fill took extra care to make her way past the vines without hurting herself. However, as she got closer to the source of the crying, she found it more and more difficult to stay clear of the hazards on either side of her. Between the distempered forest creatures and the harmful plant life, the filly was beginning to fear for her life.
“Ouch-!”
The filly stopped for a second. She had accidentally clipped her leg on one of the vines. A thin red line appeared on the surface of her skin, slowly dripping downward to her back hoof. The creatures’ eyes began to glow with a reddish tint. They could smell the blood. They knew she was hurt. They continued to follow her, waiting for her to trip up again.
The little filly reached the end of the pathway, and was now in a clearing. She saw a little filly, with her head held low and facing towards a tree on the other end. A filly with… wings, and a yellow coat, and a pink mane… no, wait, it couldn’t be…
The filly approached the other filly, who continued to hang her head and cry. As she approached the weeping child, her eyes began to see something different. The crying filly was no longer a pleasant shade of yellow and pink. Her skin was now white as a sheet of snow, and her mane an awfully dreary shade of dark gray. Her hair started to tangle and lengthen and uncurl.
“It’s not fair…” cried the white filly. The yellow filly attempted to approach the white filly. A strong, cold wind blew the yellow filly’s way, slowing her down
“Little filly?” Asked the yellow filly “What’s the matter?”
“I don’t want to be here. I want to go home,” answered the white filly, still feeling forlorn.
“Is there something I can do?”
“I can’t find the way out.”
The yellow filly looked around. The opening in the clearing she seemed to have come through was gone. There was no way out. “I wish I could do help you, but I don’t see an exit anywhere.” Growling sounds came from around the darkened clearing. Thousands of forest animals, eyes alight with crimson fire, surrounded the two fillies.
“They’re coming. They can smell you. We need to leave…”
“We can’t! There’s no path!”
“There has to be a way out. There has to be!”
“There isn’t!” Can’t you see that?”
The white filly tilted her head up. “I can’t.” She turned her head to the pink filly, revealing two huge, black sockets where her eyes should have been. “I need your help…”
The yellow filly backed away, horrified by the red blood dripping down the white filly’s cheeks. “I can’t help you… I’m sorry…”
The clearing got darker. The creatures got closer, baring their teeth and shining their red eyes in the faces of the two fillies. “Please,” said the white filly, “help me...” A pair of paws lashed out from the pitch black and dragged off the yellow filly, who screamed and prayed for her safety, and the safety of her friend. The last thing the yellow filly saw was the eyeless filly, reaching out her hoof, pleading to her: “Please… help me…”
Fluttershy awoke with a start. It was another bad dream. It had been several weeks since she had started living on her own, and she was still having trouble sleeping. She didn’t know why she was having these dreams, but somehow the little white filly seemed familiar to her. Sometimes, she couldn’t tell what was real and what was not.
“Help…”
A sound outside made Fluttershy swing her head towards the window. For a brief moment, she thought she saw a young filly, with a white coat and dark gray mane. But, as soon as she had noticed it, it disappeared. Fluttershy was tired and decided it would be best not to investigate further, but she wondered what could be happening. After stopping her train of thought, Fluttershy attempted to go back to sleep, praying to Celestia that she wouldn’t have another Nightmare.