Birds chirped happily in the early morning sun along with all the other woodland creatures that rose alongside the sun in Brightwood Village. Of course most ponies were still snuggled up in their beds, not only because of the early hour, but it being a Sunday as well. None would argue against anypony catching a few more z’s on such a day, but not Gold Star was not just anypony. The little pale orange filly pegasus known as Gold Star breathed a sigh of happiness as she looked out onto her village from the window in her room, thoughts of how to spend the day rushing through her head. Her wings fluttered in anticipation as she watched Celestia’s sun rise higher over the horizon. Today just felt perfect.
A quick glance over her shoulder brought her attention upon the calendar hung on her bedroom wall; already a couple of days were marked off to show the days past. Though Gold’s attention was more directed toward the upcoming ‘Monday’ where a note had been added under the day. ‘Race at School’ the note read, and every time the little filly pegasus looked at it, she couldn’t help but become even more excited. Even though she was a pegasus, she always found running more enjoyable and freeing. This isn’t to say she didn’t like to fly, or that she couldn’t at all. Her skills in takeoff and landings were great for her age, but she was just never as fast on her wings as her own four hooves. And the previous year where she had had the pleasure of participating in her very first school race, she had taken third place. The copious bronze medal she had won hung with pride over her bed marking her accomplishment.
‘But this year, I’m going to be first, and then I’ll get my cutie mark!’
Ever since last year, Gold had spent months training to improve her time on the school track, and after all that effort, it was finally going to pay off. With another excited ruffle of her wings, Gold Star trotted out of her room to begin her day.
At the stairwell, she leapt straight into the air, feeling she could take on the world as she let her wings glide her down to the bottom step in the single bound. The landing was as soft as she anticipated, proving her self-reflection on flying. Now on the ground floor, Gold made her way to the kitchen, the urge of hunger spurring her on. Just as she suspected, her parents were still not up. Of course it was still quite early so she couldn’t blame them and set to making her own breakfast of oats and juice. Gold was swift in her eating and finished her meal in minutes leaving her with more time to spare before her parents woke up. Though she was way too eager to just sit around and decided to prepare for the rest of the day.
She snatched up her saddlebags from the back of the table chair where she left it from the night before and grabbed a couple of bottles of water from the fridge to put inside. She then brought a piece of paper and pencil to write a note.
‘Already ate breakfast. Went to the school’s raceways for some training. –Gold’
She carefully placed the note next to her empty breakfast bowl where her parents would find it when they woke up and set out for her destination. The fall weather breeze blew through her coat, mane, and tail. Her trek through town on her way to the school brought her into encounters with a couple of the other early birds of Brightwood who greeted her with heartfelt smiles and salutations. At least she wasn’t the only pony up and about on such an exquisite morning, she thought to herself which made the whole world seem all that much enjoyable. The trot to the schoolyard was short, but Gold didn’t mind as she set her saddlebags down in the shade of the oak tree that grew next to the side of the building’s track. The quarter mile-long track looked stunning in the early morning sun and evermore inviting for Gold as she stretched out her limbs to begin her routine and brought herself up to the starting line on the one side of the track. She ran a countdown in her head to begin, the ol’ 3-2-1, and she was off. Had she run this track 100 more times she still would not get tired of it. It was a simple (track shape) that ran alongside the length of her school. She was only slightly disappointed that she was the only pony out there at the moment, but all that really meant was more track space for her. It was on her sixth lap that she decided to slow down her pace for a bit to cool down on her way back to the starting line. She realized that she hadn’t been keeping time at all since she started, but this didn’t matter to her, all she really cared about was just being there on the track in the first place.
Returning to her saddlebags under the tree for a short break, she plucked one of the water bottles out from her bag to have a sip. It wasn’t long before she was ready to get back on the track again and stood back up, but something else caught her attention before she took another step, namely, the voice of another pony calling her name.
“Gold!” Gold knew the pony that voice belonged to before she even looked and smiled as her friend, Nightnova, approached. Nightnova was a blue coated unicorn that Gold had known ever since they were just foals, and since then they had always hung out together as if like sisters.
Gold set her water bottle down after another sip to greet her friend, “Hi there, Nightnova. How did you know I was here?”
“I had a feeling you’d be here, plus, I stopped by your house earlier and your parents told me about the note.” Nightnova took a seat next to her friend as they enjoyed a moment of peace. “You know, the race is tomorrow. Shouldn’t you rest up?”
Gold smiled innocently, “Yeah, I just couldn’t resist, I’m so excited for tomorrow that I just had to come down here!...By the way, I couldn’t help but notice your, um, mane…”
Nightnova shied away in embarrassment, both her mane and tail resembling something out of foals’ picture book with its splash of dark blue with pink and purple spots dotting the mix. Being a unicorn, Nightnova always looked for new spells to learn, mostly ones that would earn her cutie mark, in order to become more powerful. One spell book she had come across had caught and held her attention for quite some time to a point where she would almost carry it everywhere. ‘Advanced Mane Styles and Colors – Unicorn Edition’, Nightnova had spent hours poring over the pages of this tome till she had finally felt confident enough to try some of the spells out. Though being only a novice in the art of magic left her efforts with, questionable results. The first time she had tried a spell from the book she was merely trying to shift the hue of her mane color to a lighter shade of red. The spell did not turn out as planned to say the least and she ended up with a head of messy techno multi-colored stripes that would made a rainbow look pale. After a couple more mishaps, she had gotten better and was able to change her mane and tail color so well that Gold had trouble remembering what she originally looked like. Of course, that didn’t mean Nightnova never made a mistake from time to time, and today was no exception.
Nightnova took on a hard appearance as she bereted herself under her breath, “I was trying for a full dark blue hue with highlights. The dumb spell was too complicated and now I can’t change it back.”
“Oh, well, you can’t at least get it fixed when we go back to school on Monday, right?”
“*sigh* Yeah, I just hope I can get it fixed before the race, I was going to be cheering you on.”
“Actually the school race starts early in the morning…but think of it this was, at least it’ll be easy for me to see you cheering up in the stands!” Gold tried her best to make light of the subject, but realized her mistake when she saw the downcast expression of her friend at the comment. “I’m sorry; I didn’t mean it that way. Listen, I don’t care what you look like, I’m just glad you’ll be there to help cheer me on.”
Nightnova smiled and returned to her happy demeanor afterwards. “Thanks, anyways, I shouldn’t be the one getting all flustered. How about you; aren’t you nervous about the race tomorrow?”
“To be honest, I am, but its fine. I just can’t wait to show everyone how fast I’ve become since last year!”
“I'm rooting for you. Oh yeah, I’ve actually been meaning to find you, Gold.”
This caught Gold’s attention as she now realized that Nightnova had been at her house, which could only mean that she had been searched for. “Oh?”
Nightnova put on a cheery smile as she shook with excitement. “Yeah, I’ve got something that I wanted to show you.”
“What is it?”
Nightnova answered Gold’s question with a mischievous smile. “You’ll see, it’s back at my house.”
Knowing her friend, Gold was sure that it was something that was going to be interesting, “Then what are we waiting for, let’s go.” Both the fillies got up and started their trek back to Nightnova’s house where mysteries were abound.
It wasn’t long before they had reached Nightnova’s house in the village. They both went inside and wiped their hooves before traversing across the living room. Nightnova examined the room and listened for any signs of her parents. “Mum, Dad; I’m home, and Gold is with me!” There was no reply after a short silence which gave Nightnova the confirmation she needed. “Alright, they must still be at the Pears’ farm. I haven’t shown them this yet and I don’t know if they would like it or not.”
This perked Gold’s interest as to what this mystery thing was. “Why, what is it?”
“You’ll see, it’s up in my room. Come on.” Nightnova led the way upstairs to where her bedroom awaited the two fillies. Gold decided to play along and just wait to see what this ‘thing’ was that Nightnova was being so secretive about. Nightnova was taking two steps up at a time, apparently too excited to wait and show her friend her secret. Gold on the other hand took her time and followed the bouncing filly with more care. By the time Gold had reached the top of the stairs, Nightnova was already in her room and sounded like she was rummaging through things. Gold reached her bedroom and pushed the door further open and was surprised at what she saw. The unicorn filly was beside her bed flinging things left and right out of a cardboard box as she mumbled to herself.
“No…no..I have to save that for later, and it should be…WHAT?!” Nightnova exclaimed so suddenly that Gold jumped into the air.
“What, what’s the matter?”
“It was perfectly fine when I checked it this morning,” Nightnova pouted as she levitated a small glass jar over for Gold to see. Inside was a solitary stone that Gold thought was just…well, an ordinary stone.
“A stone?” She finally asked the obvious question.
Nightnova whinnied, “It wasn’t a stone when I left this morning.”
Gold stood there confused, “It wasn’t?”
Nightnova rubbed the back of her neck in thought, “Well, it was a stone, but it looked totally different than this. At first I didn’t think it was a stone at all because it looked like a thunderstorm trapped inside a shell.”
“A thunderstorm inside a stone?” gold examined the stone a little more carefully, hoping to catch any glimpse of said thunderstorm that still remained.
“Yes, but now it just looks like some dumb rock.” Gold was a little too preoccupied to fully hear Nightnova as she inspect the rock. Beyond being just an ordinary stone, there were only a few cracks lining the surface to bring any interesting features to the object.
“I wish I could have seen this thunderstone,” Gold said as she let Nightnova levitate the jar back into the cardboard box with everything else.
“Heh heh, that’s a cool name for it. Hmm…I could maybe find another one, and then you could see what I was talking about,” Nightnova said.
Gold brought up another question that had been hanging on her mind ever since she heard what this stone was ‘supposed’ to be, “Nightnova, where did you find this thunderstone?”
“In the forest,” Nightnova replied casually, “It was just lying there in the grass just near the edge of the forest.”
“The forest?!” Gold gasped, “You know we’re not supposed to go into the forest, it’s dangerous! What were you doing in there?”
“I wanted to see the forest for myself. Everypony keeps saying there are supposed to be terrifying monsters loose in there, and well, I wanted to see for myself. But I didn’t go in to far, I got maybe ten feet in when I found this rock and decided to go back.”
“Well I’m glad you’re safe, Nightnova, but please promise me you won’t go into the forest again.” Gold pleaded to her friend with her best puppy dog eyes.
Nightnova could never resist against a plea from her best friend, especially when she implored her with her dreaded stare. She eventually gave in. “Ok, I promise I won’t go into the forest again. I just wish I knew what the stone was in the first place.”
“Maybe you can ask one of the teachers at school tomorrow,” Gold offered.
“Hey yeah, Miss Sunrise is sure to know what that stone was. In the meantime, what do you want to do?”
“…Have any board games?” Gold asked
“Of course I do,” Nightnova picked herself up and went over to her toy chest to retrieve a game, “Chutes ‘n’ Ladders?”
Gold knew the game well, “Sure!” And for the rest of the time till Nightnova’s parents came home, they played multiple rounds of their game along with a few others. Upon seeing one of Nightnova’s closest friends over, her parents immediately invited the young filly to stay for dinner. Unfortunately, Gold had to decline as she had to return home for her own family dinner that her parents had promised the day before. With a final farewell, Gold set off for her home where her parents would most likely be, eagerly awaiting her arrival.
Gold’s home, like many places in the small village, was only a short trot away from Nightnova’s house and took no longer than about ten minutes to reach under the swiftly setting sun. Time sure likes to fly when you’re having fun, Gold thought back to everything she had done that day, but only the visit to friend’s house even came close to the building anticipation and excitement that she felt about the upcoming race that she would participate in. Though that thought was momentarily pushed aside as soon as she trotted into her home and into the wafting aroma of a dinner in progress.
“Gold, is that you?” a sweet, compassionate voice called from the kitchen. Her mother, as Gold recognized the voice, was obiviously just putting on the finishing touches to the night’s meal if what Gold smelt was any indication.
“Yes Mum, it’s me.” Gold replied curtly
“Good timing kiddo,” another voice called out as a older looking stallion, her father, walked down from the upper level of the house, “Dinner is just about ready.”
“Ohh, what’s for dinner?”
Gold’s dad smiled, “Salad mix with almond bits and olive oil bread, your favorite.” Gold squeled happily as she rushed into the kitchen to take her spot at the table as to help herself to the first serving. Both her parents chuckled at their daughter as they too brought themselves to the table and set up the meal spread. They all said grace and set about to introduce their plates to a platter of food. Gold herself helped herself to an extra serving as she was passed the salad bowl and immediately dug in.
After a few minutes of silent consumption, Gold’s father set his fork down so as to strike up a nightly conversation, “So Gold, are you ready for the big race tomorrow?”
Gold held off on her answer so she could finish her bite. Her parents always taught her to have good manners and not talk with her mouth full, and after a quick swallow she gathered her reply. “Yes, I am, but I’m still a little nervous about if I lose.”
“Don’t worry dear,” her mother joined in, “We know you’ll do great. And even if you don’t win, you’ll know you did your very best and that’s what counts.”
“You’ll both be there tomorrow to cheer me on won’t you?”
“Of course we will. We wouldn’t miss that for the world.”
Gold smiled for her parents support and gave each of them her thanks before they went back to finish their meals. After dinner, Gold offered to help clean up so as to stay up with her parents a little longer, but they saw through this and reminded her of the fact that it was a school night and that she will need her rest for the big race in the morning. So with great reluctance, Gold eventually carried herself up to her room and climbed into bed as Luna’s waning mooning bobbed peacefully upward into the sky through her window. As Gold lie under her covers she pouted until she remembered that her parents had told her that she had needed to go to bed, but they never said that she actually needed to go to sleep. Besides, she told herself, she was way too hyped up to go to sleep right now, not with her big day coming up in the morn. Though Mr. Sandpony must have had other plans as Gold soon felt the weight on her eyelids become more and more impossible to bear until she finally succumbed to the world of dreams.
… “And you’re sure?”
“Yes, these things don’t usually end up just lying around the village. The forest is the only place that I know that they come from.”
“But would she even go into the forest? We all know it’s no place for a pony, let alone a young filly.”
“I’m afraid so, there’s no other place I can think of that she would go.”
Gold yawned blearily after being awoken by the hushed argument that was occurring just downstairs from her room. She had only caught the final part of it and couldn’t quite tell who it was that was talking, but the tones of the voices ranged eerily from panic to anger. Since she was already awake, she decided to find out what it was that ponies downstairs were taking about and listened intently.
“Are you absolutely sure that you’ve searched everywhere you could think of?”
“Yes, I already told you, Nightnova was nowhere in or around her favorite spots in the village and we came here in hopes that she came to see Gold.”
“And she isn’t here either…I guess that means she really must have gone into the forest then…Alright then, we’ll join in the search. In the meantime, you should go round up more ponies for the search party. Though first, I’m going to go check on Gold to make sure she is still asleep.”
Gold didn’t quite catch everything that had been said since as soon as she heard the name of her best friend and ‘the forest’, she knew Nightnova must have broken her promise in order to go find another thunderstone to show off for following day. Though her concentration returned when the clip-clop of hooves made their way up the stairs and straight for her room. Gold immediately lied back down under her cover and pretended to sleep just as her bedroom door creaked open to just a slit. Her eyes were tightly shut so she couldn’t tell who it was at her door, but they must have bought her act since they soon shut the door as quietly as they opened it to return downstairs.
“Okay, she still sleeps like an angel. We better get moving if we are to get the search underway.”
“Yes, we’ll head for the forest to search for Nightnova while you gather more ponies.”
“Right.”
Everypony that was downstairs must have left out the front door since no more sounds could be heard from the lower part of the house. She waited a few minutes regardless just to be sure nopony had stayed behind, and when no sound came, Gold sprang from her bed to full alertness to think about what she had heard.
‘Nightnova, please don’t tell me that you went into the forest,’ Gold thought to herself as she peered out her bedroom window toward the looming canopy of the forbidden forest, ‘they said ‘The forest is the only place that they come from’, but they can’t be talking about the stone, could they? It didn’t look that dangerous to me when Nightnova showed it off…but those scratches on it just didn’t look right.’ Gold didn’t quite know why the stones, if there were more, could be dangerous, but the fact remained that her closest friend must have broken her promise and went into the forest again to find another. Her resolve was set and she was determined to find her friend before any harm could come to her from whatever lurked within the foreboding woodland.
With a deep breath of reassurance, Gold opened her bedroom window and leapt out to glide to the shrubbery below. Safely on the ground she took to the thickest patch of shrubbery she could find and hid, hoping nopony had spotted a small filly sudden jump out of a two story window. She lay flat on her stomach and shimmied to the bushes’ edge to peek out into the world. Already the streets were lighting up with the buzz of divided up search teams that combed the village for a lost filly unicorn. This made Gold’s task much more difficult as she now had to avoid the other ponies around town as she made her way to the forest tree line. She only had a few close calls before she reached her destination and breathed a sigh of relief. That relief was short lived though as she turned to face the path ahead leading into the forest.
It might have been her imagination, but the entrance to the forest seemed to absorb every ounce of light that even dared to near it and dip the inner tree line into an oblivion of darkness. Gold tried to swallow, but a lump of fear caught her throat and made her think about what she was about to do. Though the momentary lapse helped her remember what she had come out here to do, find her friend who had traveled into the bowels of the forbidden forest. With her resolve redoubled, Gold focused herself on taking her first step into the deafening darkness and beyond. It was a slow process to bring the pegasus filly further into the forest as the wavering moonlight from above played tricks on her and cast frightening shadows all around her to make even the tree branches look like terrifying monsters. More than once, Gold had felt like she had literally jumped right out of her skin after carelessly snapping a dry twig underhoof, but she continued on in hopes of finding the lost unicorn filly.
“Nightnova!” Gold called out, but no answer came. She would travel a couple more yards in before calling out again and again. Though soon even a set of voices caught her attention from behind and immediately jumped off the main path into some tall grass. Soon enough a group of ponies, all of who she recognized as ponies from her village, two of which pulled a wagon behind them, came up the path that she had just came from.
The group stopped just before the cover that Gold had taken shelter in and looked around before one of the ponies spoke up. “Hmm, I was sure I heard something from over this way.”
“Are you sure?” Another pony replied, “This forest can give off a good echo. You might have just heard yourself.”
“…You may be right. Come on then, we need to keep going. That filly, Nightnova, has to be out here somewhere.” And just like that, the group of ponies left to follow the forest’s path further in as they called out Nightnova’s name. Meanwhile, Gold shuffled her way backwards away from the main path and in the opposite direction. If she were to continue searching, she would have to avoid the main path as to avoid being caught by the ponies that were sent out to find Nightnova as well.
Gold soon realized that she was travelling far deeper into the forest than anypony that she knew had gone before which put her on a near razor edge of tension. Ominous sounds and shadows danced around her like a play of fear and made her heart pound in escalating tension. The anxiety soon proved to be a formidable foe and pressed the young filly to give up; that is until she came across a break in the woodland and stumbled into a mountain side clearing. The change in atmosphere settled Gold’s nerves just enough for her to take in the new environment and consider this her final point of her search before returning home in hopes that the village had already found her friend. Gold gazed upward into the open sky where the tree canopy was finally interrupted and watched the night sky as the half-moon nestled itself among the soft, twinkling stars. The sheer beauty of a night like this put Gold at a bit more of an ease as she continued to survey her surroundings.
Aside from a few dead branches that had fallen near the edge of the tree line nothing seemed remotely out of place, that is, except for the mountainside that flexed inward into a cave opening. With one final option to explore before Gold decided to call it quits, she steadily made her way across the clear and to the entrance of the cave’s gapping maw. She all but ran as she heard the echoing growls of something less than a pony escape from the inner bowels of the cave. The only thing that kept her place were the distinct marks of hoofprints in the gravel, roughly the size of a small filly, near the mouth of the cave. The elation was short lived though as Gold realized that there was only one set of hoofprints to be found, and that those hoofprints did not lead out of the pitch-black cave as she had hoped. Again it seemed that many of her fears for her friend were becoming all too real and left Gold with only one choice; continue on in her search.
“NIGHTNOVA!” Gold yelled as loud as she could into the cave itself, listening to the resounding echoes bounce around the interior of the cavern. She continued to listen for minute, waiting for any response to come, but nopony seemed willing or able to do just so…or were they. Gold had nearly lost all hope in her final pursuit when she hear a small echo reverberate back to her that wasn’t her voice. IT didn’t sound like much, but at least it sounded like somepony had kicked over a few rocks and moaned or something to that effect. Gold felt a wave of relief wash over at this, even if her friend was injured, she at least knew that she was safe now.
“Nightnova, hang on just a minute! I’m coming to get you!”
Finally, after much hardship, the search was over. The only thing that remained was to go into the cave, recover her friend, and go home. Though Gold had to first get herself accustomed to the near pitch-black interior of the cavern as she went in. Everywhere she looked besides the cave entrance was near impossible to see. Only small flashes that reflected off the water sheened rocks from the moonlit entrance provided any form of lightsource within the cave, but nothing that could give Gold a good view of anything significant. The only indication that there was any depth to the cave at all was the rhythmic pitter-patter of water dripping down stalactites and splashing against the cavern ground. It took a few minutes for Gold to full adjust to the harsh change in light within the cavern, and soon found out that her previous assumptions about the cave’s size was a major understatement. The cave stretched further in and dipped steadily into a downward slope. Purpose filled hoofsteps carried Gold down the path and up to a crossroads of multiple paths that wove this way and that.
“NIGHTNOVA!” Gold called out once more, although she soon regretted such a thing as a couple loosely hanging stalactites broke and free and fell. The sheer force of the fall caused the natural structures to shatter on impact with ground. One in particular came within a mere meter of Gold and pelted her with debris from the impact. For the most part, she was unharmed, but thought it better to avoid shouting inside a cave full of spear-like objects that would fall upon her if given enough shock. Though her effort was not entirely wasted as she again heard the sound of possibly somepony try to call back out to her. Picking the path from which she thought she heard the reply come from, Gold travelled further in.
On and on the twisted cavern went to the point that Gold realized that there might not be any real end to the ludicrous cavern after all. Now she was scared, quite scared, every little noise and whisper on the stagnate air became amplified and distorted. Every which way Gold looked, there was nothing but the twisting tunnel ways leading into more darkness. Another fear arose in the petite filly, she had forgotten which tunnel she had come in from. Now lost and alone, her fear redoubled, cold trembling shakes took hold of her body as she hyperventilated.
“HELP! ANYPONY!” She cried out in desperation, but no reply came, not even from the voice she thought she had heard earlier. Her courage faltered further until there was nothing but primal fear left in her mind along with the single notion of getting herself out of there. Throwing all thought out the window, she galloped into the first tunnel she laid eyes on and prayed she would soon find her way out.
The vicious cycle of fear and anxiety whirled inside Gold as she dove deeper into the tunnels she hoped that would lead her to safety, but such a hope was worthless. The tunnels snaked on forever, or she thought she had just been going in circles. Either way, she did not want to end up trapped in a cave for the rest of her life. She began to cry; what if her parents never saw her again, her friends, her school teacher, everypony back in Brightwood? How would they cope with her disappearance alongside Nightnova’s? Two lost fillies for the price of one, all in all, it was too steep a price to pay.
Then, when every last shred of hope seemed to be lost, Gold faltered. Light. Light coming from the end of one of the tunnels. She couldn’t believe her tear streaked eyes, she had found the cave entrance! Her sobs of sadness quickly changed to tears of joy as she sprinted for the light that would lead her home. Maybe Nightnova had found her way out of the cave as well and was waiting for her as well. Alas, such thought perished as Gold rounded the final corner of the tunnel. The light she had presumed to be the moonlit night of the outside was actually something far more unexpected than she could have imagined.
“A thunderstorm inside a stone,” Gold whispered under her breath, beholding the prensence of what Nightnova had told her she had once had. At first she couldn’t believe it, the pale blue aura of light glowed and reflected softly over the shallow pool of water that it seemed to just hover over. It was beautiful, even the small arcs of electricity that danced along the surface of the stone was like a natural play. If it weren’t for the fact that the light had come from this stone not the outside, Gold would have been far more awestruck by what she found. Though she now had to back track through the tunnels again and hopefully find the cave entrance this time around. She turned on her hooves but suddenly gave pause. A quick glance over her shoulder revealed the stone to still be there, and so another thought struck her.
‘I could use this to help light the way, maybe even bring this stone back to show Nightnova once we get back to Brightwood,’ a small touch of sadness crossed her mind from the last thought, ‘…I just hope she’s alright.’ Of course her forethought soon reasserted itself and reminded her of the opportunity in front of her, and with a few short steps forward, she was at the water’s edge gazing upon the floating thunderstone once more. She thought it odd how such a thing could float like it did, but decide to chalk it up to being no ordinary stone. Her hoof touched the water, a decision that Gold soon realized that might have been a mistake. Just as the ripples of the water from her hoof reached the otherside of the shallow pool, the thunderstone began to glow brighter and the arcs of electricity on the surface danced faster. Gold stood transfixed upon the stone itself and watched as it took on a more volatile appearance. Though she did not stand there for too long as a blood curdling scream echoed all around her, as if the very cave itself was alive. She turned her gaze to the walls, hoping to find the source of the frightening sound, but something far more terrifying caught her attention.
Chunks of the cave walls rattled themselves free and zoomed past her toward the epicenter of the pool of water where the thunderstone continued to hum with violent life. At first, it seemed like the chunks of rock were just amassing into a sphere to encase the thunderstone, but Gold soon saw the pieces of stone shift and mold into a figure that imitated a pony shape. The rough figure floated a few more seconds before the echoing scream ceased and fell to the ground intact. It twitched, then began to flex its form up into a standing position over Gold. Now at its full height, it was clearly three times the size of the panicking filly, but what scared Gold the most was the fact that the creature had no eyes, nor ears, or a mouth; but it still had its head turned toward her as if it could see her as clear as day.
Gold once again stood paralyzed under the presence of something she had never seen before until the stone pony rear up and let out an echoing cry much like the one she hear just a minute ago. The cavern seemed to hum with the stone pony itself and soon more pieces of rock and stone shook loose from the walls to affix themselves to stone creature to form a pair of jagged wings. Gold finally realized that she had been standing motionless the entire time this was happening and flared out her wings to back peddle just as the stone pony’s front hooves came crashing down upon the spot she had just been standing. The little pegasus filly didn’t have to be told twice by her instincts on what to do and sprinted as fast as her hooves could carry her away from the creature made of stone.
Another echoing scream filled the cave as Gold ran while a set of thundering hooves behind her let her know that the stone pony was giving chase. She ran into the first tunnel she came across and skidded behind an outcropping of rocks that obscured her view of the pursuing creature. Gold held her breath and felt her heart beat at a million miles a second as she listened to the hoofsteps of the stone pony get closer. The hoofsteps slowed to a trotting pace as they neared her hiding spot. Gold only wished that it wouldn’t find her and simply pass her by. A moment of deafening silence claimed the air…*Crash* the stone pony leapt over gold’s cover and glared directly at her with its featureless face. Gold screamed, and ran past the stone pony’s legs just under its wing that nearly clipped her head.
The stone pony roared and began its pursuit again down the winding tunnels. The chase continued for what felt like forever as Gold ran as fast as she could from the hostile creature. A quick glance over her shoulder let her see that the stone pony was catching up to her, using its wings as extra propulsion, but also flaking bits of rock off the appendages that whizzed just past the little filly. Although this was the least of Gold’s problems as the momentary lapse in forward vision kept her from seeing the patch of moss that she came to trip and fall over into. It felt like all hope was lost again as she fell, so she curled herself up into a fetal ball to await her fate.
The stone pony roared, and then, a whooshing air passed over the small filly over the patch of moss. All was silent after a minute and Gold chanced a look onto the outside world. The stone pony, was gone! It had flown right over her and must have disappeared down one of the other tunnels as it was no long anywhere to be seen. Gold couldn’t believe it, the stone pony had left her alone, but why? She honestly didn’t want to find out the answer herself and decided that she might as well take the opportunity to find her way out the cavern while she could.
Gold took her time for a little bit while she tried to backtrack her way out of the twisted tunnel system. She soon realized that some tunnels led upward and remembered that most of the tunnels that she had used before had either been straight or led into a decline. All she had to do was pick the paths that went ‘up’ and she would find the cave entrance. One her way, she came to a particularly steep looking tunnel and suddenly remembered that she had been through the same path before in her panicked sprint from before. She was at least glad that she had wings or else trying to climb up the steep slope would have been impossible for her, but through a few well-placed leaps, Gold had made it to the top and onto a platform like ridge. The success was short lived however as a rumbling scream echoed from below her to reveal the stone pony at the bottom. It had found her again and prepared to leap up the tunnel to chase her once more. Gold thought fast and spotted a stalactite protruding from the ceiling just above the tunnel’s slope. A hasty, yet well-placed kick knocked the pointed piece of rock loose and hurtling down the slope. The stone pony had just got its front hooves off the ground as it came face to face with the rock spike. Gold watched in triumph as the stone pony’s head imploded under the impact and crumpled to the ground in a heap. The little pegasus filly sighed in relief as the threat that had chased her was now silenced…or so she thought.
An echoing scream filled the cavern walls and the body of the stone pony began to move once more. The pieces of stone that formed its head melded together to form its original shape, but with a petrifying new feature. The stalactite that Gold had used to stop the stone pony was now used to make a horn atop of the stone pony’s head. So in the end, the only thing she had managed to do was mostly likely make the thing even angrier. Another echoing scream filled the cavern as the stone pony leapt up to the platform ridge in a single bound. Gold screamed and ran, the stone pony close on her heels. The path ahead was riddled with obstacles that Gold had to navigate as she ran, but the stone pony, now with its new found horn, bashed through it all like a living battering ram pelting the scurrying filly with debris along the way.
“PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE OF EQUESTRIA, HELP ME! ANYPONY! HELP!” Gold screamed with desperate tears streaking down her face. Only the sound of crumbling rocks and the stone pony’s cries answered her plea as the monsterous creature squeezed the distance between it and its prey. Gold’s mind shuttered with dejected thoughts; this might as well be the end for her. All her hope, all her dreams and aspirations cut short by her mad pursuer. She thought of the race in the day to come, or perhaps that morning, she had lost all track of time, but it didn’t matter now if it had only been an hour or two or the entire night. She wasn’t going to make it, she would never see her friends, nor her family, or her home ever again…
“NO!” Gold shouted, she would not die here. She had too much to live for, she would not perish before she found out what her special talent was; What made ‘her’ unique. ‘I might not be the best flyer!’ Gold spread her wings letting the air fan them out to their full length. ‘But my wings are for more than just flying!’ Her mental resolve was punctuated by a powerful stroke of her wings that propelled her further than any single stride she could pull off on her own. It was exactly what she needed to pull herself away from the stone pony’s reach and work back the extra distance she had lost before.
The stone pony gave another high pitch screech and poured on more of its own power into the chase putting the two creature at an even pace with each other down the twisting tunnels. Though she was tired and wanted nothing more than to rest her aching limbs, Gold did not slow down and pushed into the first fork in the tunnel she came across that led upward. Then she saw it, a faint reflection of a blue off the cavern walls. There had to be only one explanation for its source, the entrance. She prayed with all her heart that she was not just seeing things or leading herself into another stone pony den, but a sharp right in her path and her heart nearly skipped a beat. The cave entrance, she had found it and its welcoming night air. She was going to make it, though bruised and battered, she had found her goal and let moment of joy fill her drained spirits. This was her final mistake…
The stone pony wasn’t about to let its unexpected visitor walk away just now. Its cry doubled in volume, making Gold fold her precious ears away from the sound. The stone pony flapped its crumpled wings in the same way the pale orange filly had did not too long ago and used its extra momentum to extend its pounce. Gold felt the earth under her shutter from the force of the stone pony’s bound behind her and trip over her hooves in a vain attempt to keep her balance. The world tumbled around her in a whirlwind of sky night and a dark tunnel with a vicious monster inside. Her fall ended in an abrupt halt while skidding through the cave entrance’s gravel. Fresh cuts and welts covered her body as the world continued to spin around the concussed filly. The stone pony screeched once more and snapped Gold back to her senses. She tried to get up, but found her body unresponsive from all the punishment she put herself through. All her efforts and now they might as well as been wasted. She looked up just in time to see the stone pony take its final leap that would close the distance between them. Her pupils shrunk to pinpoints at what she saw; a line had broke across the stone pony’s head to form a mouth filled with rows of razor sharp pseudo-teeth. The demonic expression upon the stone pony’s ‘face’ smeared into a grin and completed the fear inducing image of death-incarnate.
Gold only had time to put up her foreleg in defense before the stone pony was upon her. Its teeth sunk their way into her flesh and ushered a blood curtling scream of pain. It was like nothing Gold had ever experienced before, her entire limb felt like it was being shrouded in scorching hot coals. Her scream blotted out any other sound around her, filling the night air with terrible agony by itself. More pressure pressed down upon her foreleg as warm oozing liquid splashed across her already tear soaked face. A sickening crunch reverberated throughout her body and redoubled the dreadful pain in Gold’s body. A veil of darkness encroached on her mind and the world around her began to fade into obscurity. Her agony filled cries died down into a dull whimper, her throat become too sore to cast out any more screams of pain. Her limb fell limply to her side causing her to shutter with dampen aching. The stone pony had let go of her foreleg and settled to drag its victim back into the blackened void of the cavern.
Gold watched with fading senses as the clearing’s tree line grew further away, replaced with peripheral lining of rock and stone and smearing of red leading from her foreleg out to the mouth of the cave entrance. One last look up at the starry night put Gold’s heart at ease before fading into blackness.
“…Mum, Dad…Nightnova…I love you, and…I’m sorry…”
… … …
Light, it was first thing that Gold’s senses came to understand as the piercing beam of pure sunlight stung her eyes even as they were closed. That and the dull ache that she felt throughout her body stemming from whatever she had done the night before. Her memory was a bit fuzzy, every time she thought about how she ended up in such a state led her into a brick wall of hazy static. The prospect of having to get up right now did not exactly please her, but there was something that she knew she had to do.
…The race…
‘That’s right,’ she thought, having remembered the weeks of training she had put herself through that had led her up to this day. With much reluctance from her own body she opened her eyes to the world. Though her view came as a surprise for it wasn’t her room that she had awoken in. The walls were a dull whitish-blue with a few visible faded splotches that gave away its appearance of having to have been repainted. There wasn’t much else to the room beyond that, just her, her bed with plain white sheets, a circular nightstand to the left of her, and an oak head board behind her that doubled as a miniature shelf.
Her thoughts would have remained on the conundrum of how she had ended up in such a place, but they were interrupted by the creak of the door across the room slowly opening. To her surprise and relief, it was her mother at the doorway, though before she could even offer a word Gold noticed the terrible red, puffiness that gave away the fact that her mother had been crying, quite recently at that. Her immediate instincts was be at her mother’s side, aiding her with whatever comfort a daughter could give to a grief-stricken mother. Her efforts were cut short though as she found her balance offset and fell from her bed to the floor below. Her mother was already at her side, giving the young, pale-orange pegasus her support as she tried to push her hooves back under her. The attempt at this felt...wrong, somehow; it was then that Gold noticed a distinct lack of feeling her right foreleg. The awful reality and memories of the previous night hit her like a ton of bricks wrapped in concrete and dropped from a ten story building; her leg was no longer there.
It was no surprise that the young pegasus was overcome with panic and dread as she clung to her mother in a vain effort to shunt this revelation away. Her mother merely sat there, offering quiet soothing tones as Gold’s emotions waged war within her mind for dominance. It seemed that sorrow won out in the end above despair as Gold broke down and cried into her mother’s chest for what felt like an eternity. After a few more bouts Gold was able to bring herself to speak between her choked sobs.
“Mum, I’m-I’m sorry.”
“I know, and I forgive you.”
Another wave of silence passed over the two until Gold was able to bring herself to speak once again. “What happened to my foreleg, mum?”
“…They tried to heal it, but, they said that the nerves were too badly damaged to fix. Even with magic.”
Gold’s eye wandered to the stump of her missing limb, though only for a moment before the mere sight overwhelmed her. It all felt so surreal, like she was just dreaming and having a terrible nightmare.
“Mum, do you what happened after-”Gold couldn’t bring herself to finish, but her mother knew all too well what she meant.
“Me and some other ponies heard you scream. If we had come any later…” Her mother answered somberly.
Flashes of the previous night played out in Gold’s mind like a performance of terror, but it reminded her of the reason she had gone out in the first place, “And Nightnova?”
“She was in the forest as well, albeit not as deep in before somepony found her. Don’t worry, she is safe and sound.”
There was at least some glint of relief in hearing this, at least her friend had made it out unscathed. Her mind wandered back to the passive feeling of the missing limb on her body and felt another revelation dawn on her.
“Will I ever be able to run again?” Gold shuddered as she prepared herself for the most likely answer.
Her mother brought her in closer and gave her a hug before replying, “I’m sorry, Gold.” Another few minutes of silent comforting arose from the two before the room’s door opened again. This time to allow a pony in a amiable nurse outfit in.
She saw the two eye her with pleading looks and permitted them one final moment of peace before speaking up, “Excuse me, but Gold Star needs her rest. I’m sorry, I’m afraid I have to ask you to leave.”
Gold’s mother felt the slight tightening in Gold’s grip on her at these words, but looked down on her daughter with glistening eyes, “I’ll be back to see you again. Just try to get some rest, Gold.” She said before helping her up onto her bed and trotting back to the doorway where the nurse waited. Gold laid in her bed and watched as the door slowly closed behind her to leave her with nothing but her thoughts. She couldn’t help but look out through the window and see the town already wide awake and about on this day. This day, which she was supposed to be at her school’s big race with the rest of her friends. All that training she had put herself through, all that ambition and hard work, and for what; nothing. Her eyes were drawn back down to the stitches that lined her scarred body where her leg was no longer. She tried to look on the bright side of all this; Nightnova was safe, and she herself is a pegasus after all and had wings, but…her dreams and aspirations, to be one of the best runners in Equestria, now ruthlessly torn away from her. She didn’t want to think about it anymore and tried to ignore it to get some sleep.
The rest of her day was spent in futile struggles to find rest before the nurse pony from before returned to check in with her in the afternoon. Gold found the soft pink nurse pony a pleasant mare to be around as she worked. She asked Gold numerous questions about how she felt and in turn was asked by the filly how long she would be at the care center she was at now. The nurse pony explained that the doctors had used a variety of potions and spells not normally suited for younger ponies and needed to make sure there were no harmful aftereffects cause by this. Gold accepted this and even thanked the nurse pony mental as she expected to be bombarded with questions by others at her school once she was released, something she honestly didn’t feel ready to deal with quite yet.
Two days passed while Gold was in the care of the care center ponies and was visited numerous times by her family to see how she was doing. Soon enough, even her friend, Nightnova, who still had traces of polka dots her mane, came to visit her and offer her support. She had even brought a couple drawings and ‘Get Well Soon’ card that her class had put together for her. The sheer bliss that she felt from knowing that so many would support her like that gave Gold hope for something. Nightnova placed the stack of drawings and letter by Gold on the nightstand so they could talk.
“How do you feel?” Nightnova asked.
Gold though for a moment, reading her friend’s expression carefully and seeing the sadness and self-chastising in her eyes. “Better.” She answered simply, then trying to make light of her situation added on, “at least my mane still doesn’t have polka dots.” Nightnova smiled, but only slightly which was better than nothing. “Have they said anything at school?”
“They said you were in an accident in the forest, but not what kind.” Gold didn’t know how else to react and settled on a light sigh.
“Nightnova, I’m sorry. It wasn’t an accident.”
Nightnova interrupted Gold, “I know, my dad and some other ponies were the ones that found you and told me what really happened. It didn’t help that he recognized the stone once I showed him why I was out in the forest in the first place. Though I swore that I wouldn’t tell anypony afterwards so…” Nightnova cut herself off as she looked like she was trying to find anything else to talk about other than their current topic, “Say, I saw a few board games out in the lobby. Do you want to play a few to pass the time?”
Gold knew friend was probably blaming herself for her misfortune, but she had to show her that she wasn’t the only one to blame. “Yeah, sounds like fun.” Nightnova quickly trotted out to retrieve the games while Gold laid back her bed to think to herself for a few minutes. To think about what her life will be like from now on without her passion.
Admittedly, Gold was becoming very stir crazy from having to stay cooped up in a hospital bed for so long and was pining to get back on her hooves, for what that statement was worth. Though the doctors constantly counseled her on the importance of her stay, and to everypony’s relief, she hadn’t suffered any of the aftereffects from her treatment. Finally after a whole week in intensive care, Gold and her family were eager upon receiving word of her discharge from the care center. The news the welcoming and offered at least a hint of reprieve in the filly’s heart. One last checkup from the nurse, as she was told and she would be allowed to go home. So she waited for the afternoon when the nice nurse mare came for her review like she always had, though this time she had brought along a small, brown cardboard package. Gold looked on curiously as the nurse pony came in and set the box down beside the bed.
“What is that?” Gold asked innocently.
The nurse pony opened the package up and produced what looked like a short pole or carved rod, “It’s a armature, or ‘peg leg’.” She answered as she held it up to the light.
“’Peg leg’, like something to help me walk?”
“Yes, though it’s not exactly proper replacement.” The nurse pony helped Gold up off the bed and down to the floor, carefully allowing her to lean up against her for support. Next, she brought the faux leg closer and lined it up underneath Gold’s body. A harness with the same coloration of Gold’s coat was brought out along with the peg leg from the box and was carefully affixed around Gold’s torso to keep the appendage in place. The feel of hard wood on soft flesh was disconcerting at first and Gold’s first attempt to stay upright ended with her wobbling around as she steadied herself with her wings. The nurse helped her as she slowly adjusted to moving around on all fours again.
“How does it feel, the harness isn’t too tight is it?” The soft spoken care taker asked.
“No,” Gold shook her head, nearly losing her balance again, “It just feels, odd.”
“You’ll get used to it, I know you can.” The nurse offered her final words of encouragement before Gold’s parents entered the room.
Her dad saw her daughter and tried to carry on an empathetic smile, “Sorry we’re late.”
“Hi dad.”
“Hello Gold, how are feeling on the leg?”
Gold wobbled over to her parents, struggling to seem as in control as possible, “It’s a bit odd, but it helps.”
Her mother couldn’t help but look a little upset, but played up a more cheerful tone as she addressed the nurse, “Is she ready to go home?”
The nurse pony smile mildly and nodded, “Yes, but we just need you to sign a few papers before she leaves to finalize her discharge.”
The paperwork was quick, it had helped that the nurse mare had filled out most of it beforehand so most of it was just signatures that needed to be added. Gold and her father packed up her saddlebags with the various gifts and ‘get well soon’ cards that she had received and headed for the exit with her mother past the front desk. The nurse pony and even a few of the doctors walked the family to the door and waved goodbye. Finally being able to see the warm blue sky for herself, Gold felt the corners of her muzzle turn up slightly in a smile. It was a warm yet breezy day and the mere feeling of the wind passing gently through her mane added to the peaceful bliss of it all. She was finally returning home, not quite the same, but still happy in a sense and thankful for everypony that she knew that would be there to offer her support.
