Dark Forest: A Friendshp is Magic Fanfiction

A cloaked figure raced blindly through the darkness of the Everfree Forest. Her breathing labored as she began to lose strength. Another figure followed swiftly at her heels and maintained a steady tireless pace unlike her own. How long could she go on? The sensation to black out was becoming stronger by the second and eventually, she gave into it. Her hooves gave out from underneath as she collapsed into an untidy heap right on the forested pathway. But, luckily for her, she was somehow still conscious.

She weakly wiped the sweat from her brow and tried to regain herself, but she was having some great difficulty in the action. The shadowy figure that had been accompanying her, crept closer into a lone ray of moonlight and into full view. The creature was a Timberwolf of exceptional size, but despite its seeming ferocity at a first glance, a second glance would take notice of it's gentle and intelligent eyes.

Taking action to assist her, It carefully acted as a support for the girl to rise to her legs. "Thank you, Nightshade. I'm alright now," she said softly.

Nightshade gave a small grunt of satisfaction.

The girl was grateful to be back on her hooves, but the darkness would surely swallow her whole if she lingered much longer. She desperately scanned wildly through the dense flora and hoped to find some small glimmer of civilization. To her utter relief, she did manage to spot an extremely small speck of apparent lamp-light in the distance.

Just a bit farther! I must seek help!

With every last ounce of strength that she could muster within, the girl followed the light. She could almost taste her freedom as it came closer and closer.

It's getting so close, that I can almost touch it.

With one last good thrust of speed, she kicked her legs into full gear and shot out of the forest's mouth. She was finally free of that dreadful place, and she glanced around to find herself now residing on a pleasant little meadow. Her contained joy, while not outwardly obvious, was apparent through her shining golden eyes. But there was no time to rest just yet. She focused her attention back to the task at hand and confirmed that the light source she had followed was coming from what looked to be a rather tall tree-house scattered with many whimsical little windows, all of them oozing that same comforting light that had guided her to this place.

"Rumble."

She started at the sudden growl of thunder in the distance, which promptly summoned the expected lightning bolt overhead, followed thus by an intense downpour of rain to bring up the rear. The girl cursed under her breath and bolted for the tree-house. In her haste to escape the rain, she tossed her manners aside for the moment and crudely rapped at the door. A very confused and albeit, slightly disturbed lavender-colored unicorn answered it. She eyed the tired and bedraggled stranger with an odd dual sensation of discomfort and pity. However, she kept to her usual manner of greeting visitors. "May... I help you?"

The girl attempted to open her mouth to respond, but her vision suddenly went black.

She awoke to the familiar voice of the unicorn talking in a hushed tone to someone else, whose voice she didn't recognize.

"There's nothing to worry about Spike, now go back to sleep."

Who is Spike?

She didn't ponder too long on that thought, however. Her tiredness was currently more important than her curiosity right now, and she was grateful to be on such a warm and comfortable bed. She closed her eyes and listened around herself for a moment. She could hear the unicorn trotting close to her bedside at first; she supposed that this was just to check in on her. Then her hoof-steps got farther away, going all the way down the stairs until everything was quiet again. Satisfied, she relaxed and fell into a deep sleep once more.

The rain had finally stopped, and the sun was out shining the very next day. Its rays of warmth cascaded through the window panes of the tree-house and came to rest upon the girl's placid, concealed face. Her eyes slowly opened and she let out a soft yawn. She sat upright in her bed and scanned the area for a minute. Shelves of books upon books surrounded the entire room.

This must be a library. Best place to pass out- EVER!

She found it rather difficult to contain her excitement. She was grinning from ear to ear, and her eyes were glittering with hunger for those pages; and the knowledge that lied inside of them. Eventually, she just couldn't resist herself any longer. She hopped out of bed and quickly tip toed on over to the vast selection that covered each and every shelf. She hungrily eyed the various titles that were stamped onto the spines and she picked out the ones that seemed like they would be the most interesting. She selected about five to start with, and gingerly carried them back to her bed. Once she got herself situated inside the covers, she decided to start with a book whose title read:

"Spells and Potion Making for Experts."

It was a massive book, and she took in every page at a brisk pace.

By mid-morning she was already halfway through, when the unicorn returned to check in on her again. She was so invested in her reading, that she didn't even hear nor notice her presence in the room. "I'm glad you're feeling well," she said cheerfully. The girl jumped and almost dropped the book onto the floor. She fumbled around with it in her hooves for a bit until she regained her grip on it. The unicorn laughed at her antics.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you."

"It's quite alright," the visitor responded politely. The unicorn nodded her head and eyed her warmly.

"May I ask your name?" she inquired.

The girl removed the hood of her cloak, and long strands of dark green hair cascaded down over her eyes.

"Xenoelos," she uttered.

The unicorn seemed taken aback. "Oh, I thought you were a pony!" was all she could say. Xenoelos shook her head.

"Definitely not a pony," she said flatly, twitching her small black nose and fixing her long, dark-green mane back into a ponytail. "I'm a ram." She raised up a cloven hoof and brushed it across one of her large, elegantly curved horns. They were both black like obsidian, as were her hooves.

"See these? Definitely not a pony," she repeated. Even with that verification, the unicorn still seemed surprised by it all.

"Well, you're the first ram I have ever seen," she finally spoke. Xenoelos cast a mysterious look.

"We prefer peace and quiet, so we keep ourselves a secret."

"Then what in Equestria are you doing here in Ponyville?!"

Ponyville?

Then, she remembered her mission. "I came here seeking help," she said. Her tone was serious.

"What's the matter?" the unicorn asked. Though she already had a feeling that it wasn't just a simple problem. The gray ram cast her golden eyes to the wooden floor boards as she began to tell of her plight.

"My homeland has become shrouded in darkness. And while I was escaping with Nightshade, I was being chased by foreboding black clouds, looming overhead."

"I believe that those black clouds are causing the problem," the unicorn deduced. "But, the question is, who conjured them up?" Xenoelos nodded her head in agreement.

"Yes. They're definitely not natural," she said. "And I remember sensing a very powerful magical aura in the area as I fled."

The unicorn's ears perked up with interest. "Wait, are you saying that you can sense and use magic?"

The ram just sat there idle, and looked rather unimpressed at her astute discovery.

"Almost everyone in my village uses magic," she said, as matter of fact. "We are also the only known race to have ever completely tamed a Timberwolf."

Thoughts of Nightshade suddenly flashed through her mind. She hadn't seen him since last night, and she was beginning to get worried. "Where is Nightshade?" she questioned the unicorn wildly. The lavender pony just stood frozen for a moment. She was a little startled by her visitor's sudden outburst.

"Nightshade? Who in the hoof is Nightshade?!" she eventually managed to ask the seething ram.

"My Timberwolf!" she snapped.

"He's outside, I think."

Xenoelos got up and walked over to the small red circular window by the bed. To her utter relief, she saw Nightshade down below, whining a small greeting and gently swishing his thick pine needle tail in contentment. She smiled down at him and then proceeded to close the window. She suddenly felt so ashamed of herself for how she had spoken to her host a few moments ago, and profusely apologized for her completely unacceptable behavior. She feared that her host was angry with her, but to her surprise, the unicorn didn't seem angry with her at all. In fact, she was smiling at her again.

"Twilight Sparkle," she said warmly.

"Huh?"

"My name is Twilight Sparkle," her host repeated.

"Oh. Well, it suits you." was all Xenoelos could say. And the two of them politely exchanged hoofs. All was forgiven.

Twilight had errands to do and left the library for most of the day, leaving the whole place under Xenoelos' care. She was very grateful for some time alone, and used it to finish up on her reading.  But it was hard to read knowing in the back of your mind that your entire homeland was being engulfed in darkness. As she was just about to finish up the final book, her eyes suddenly became very heavy and she unexpectedly fell asleep.

Xenoelos was awakened from her nap by a din. Voices of many accents shook the entirety of the library. From within the vast sea of voices, the only one she could seem to make out was Twilight's. She sat up straight and stacked the books that lay askew on the covers into a neat an orderly pile. Then she waited for the inevitable. Sure enough moments later, a gaggle of colorful ponies burst into the room and gathered around her bed like a zoo exhibit, and began to assault her with many, many questions.

"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I just love making new friends! What's your name?" the pink pony screeched excitedly. Xenoelos wasn't so sure that she was going to like her too much.

"Pinkie Pie, please," the white unicorn chided. She blinked her lashes elegantly at Xenoelos. "Don't mind her darling, she just gets so excited about everything."

"Are you supposed to be like a goat or something?" the rainbow-maned one poked at her horns curiously, like a foal poking at a rock with a hoof.

"I'm a ram, actually," Xenoelos replied defensively.

"Never seen one round these here parts, where ya' from?" the orange pony asked.

Xenoelos was getting sick of all these questions by this point, so she simply said, "Far away from here."

"Not much of an answer," the orange pony muttered.

Another pony slowly walked over to the bed, her face was half hidden by a shroud of long light-pink hair.

"Um, I'm Fluttershy. I'm sorry if we are making you feel uncomfortable."

She spoke so softly that Xenoelos almost didn't quite hear what she had just said.

"It's fine, honestly," she replied, politely. She liked this pony's calm demeanor in opposition to the others hyperactivity. Xenoelos didn't care much for animated folks, but that was just personal preference. She didn't hate these ponies though. On the contrary, they all seemed friendly enough. As the ponies continued to gab, Twilight's imperative voice suddenly rang throughout the room, getting all of their attentions. Xenoelos looked relieved.

My Savior!

"Do you know why I asked you all to come?" she asked her friends. Who in response, just stood silent and shook their heads. Twilight walked over to Xenoelos' bedside.

"The reason is because she is in need of our help." She gestured a hoof to the gray ram.

"Her name is Xenoelos, and something terrible has happened to her home."

She looked at the ram enthusiastically. "Xenoelos, before we begin, let me introduce you to my friends." She went down the line, pointing her hoof at each one of them as they made their own introductions.

"You've already met me, silly!" the pink pony said. "I'm Pinkie Pie!"

The pale yellow pegasus was next.

"I'm Fluttershy. But um, you already knew that," she whispered. Now the next one.

"The name's Rainbow Dash!" the blue peagasus said proudly. She puffed out her chest, making an epic pose. Twilight pointed to the pony next to her.

"Rarity. It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance," said the white unicorn. And finally, Twilight pointed to the orange earth pony.

"Howdy, ah'm Applejack," she said. Her tone was incredibly good-natured. Xenoelos eyed them all warmly and dipped her head.

"It's nice to meet all of you," she said. Twilight nodded in approval, then spoke again.

"Now that everypony has been introduced, I suppose you would all like to know what's been going on now?"

Pinkie Pie bounced in place and raised her hoof.

"Oh, oh, is it story-time?" She glanced to Xenoelos. "Are you gonna tell us a story?" she asked the confused ram eagerly.

"I uh..." She didn't really know what to say, and soon the others joined in.

"Yeah, I wanna know what happened," Rainbow Dash said.

"Me too, um, if you don't mind that is?" Fluttershy inquired politely.

Xenoelos had no choice now.

"Very well," she said. "I will tell you everything."

To be continued...