Teros

She felt her way through the inky blackness of the night, her magic weaving and wandering through vines and branches as it guided her forward.  The distinct crunching of twigs and dead leaves beneath her was a welcome percussion to the otherwise eerie silence that permeated the forest.  Undaunted, she pressed onward, her soft magical aura the only shimmer of lighting.

Princess Cadance shivered as a cold breeze cut its way through the trees, fluttering its way through her mane.  Flexing the feathery limbs, she took a glance upward at where a broad canopy of varying green hues had stretched above her the day before.  The thickness of the cover did well to keep out any light from the moon or stars.  She snickered to herself at the memory of an argument between her self and her aunt Luna about the effectiveness of lunar illumination, and how the pale body of the night just simply wasn't the equal of the sun in radiance.

The chuckling fell into a low sigh as Cadance telekinetically shifted the spreading leaves of a fern apart so that they wouldn't catch on her rosy pink saddle bag.  It took little effort, but the princess still felt a familiar burning at the base of her horn.  Wincing slightly, she lightly lifted the dark fronds back into place, leaving the nightly scene looking as if she had never been there at all.

As she pushed her way through a tiny gap between two particularly thick bushes, she felt the earthly carpet of decaying leaves and sticks give way to a soft blanket of grass.  The baby blue tendrils of Cadance's magic cast a warm glow over the place as the princess glanced around, marveling at the sudden silence.

It was much brighter.  Cadance turned her gaze to the skies, and let out a joyous gasp.  For the first time in days, she was greeted with the beautiful, tranquil view of the night sky.  The moon shone with a pale glow, shedding its cold light across what the princess saw was a wide valley.  The shimmering stars were painted expertly across the roof of the world, dancing and twinkling in a thick, dotted band of light that stretched across the horizon.

The illumination from the heavenly lights revealed a wondrous landscape.  From where Cadance stood on the edge of the forest, a sloping hill ran down into the depths of the valley.  The land was dotted with vegetation ranging from small clusters of blue-green bushes along the hillsides to high reaching conifers that stretched to the sky, as if their branches and needles yearned for nothing more than to escape into the lands beyond.  A winding river flowed through the valley, weaving its way between the grass-covered hills like a liquid serpent.

In several places along the basin, Cadence saw what she believed to be large chunks of marble piercing their way out of the ground.  The smooth stones were immaculate, their white surfaces unmarked by the lichens and mosses that pervaded every rock the princess had seen during her trek through the forest.  Their surfaces sparkled and shone like crystals beneath the stars, as if the sleek boulders were longingly imitating the glittering jewels of the night, with dreams of becoming one with the sky that passed above them.

Cadance sighed and lay down in the cool grass.  She stretched her limbs out, relishing in the cool blanket of dew that reflected the heavenly glow from above, as if each tiny bead of water were and earth-born star.

The wind blew over her prone form.  The gust wasn't chilling as it was before, and the princess turned into the wind, undoing the bands behind her head with magic and allowing her mane to fall from its ponytail, letting the hair ripple and dance in the passing breeze.

She closed her eyes and smiled, her pink and purple wings folding comfortably to her sides.  Cadance thought of the canvas bag on her back, and of the warm embrace of a patchwork blanket packed within.  Her mind quickly disregarded the thought, and the princess allowed herself to find slumber on the mattress of the earth, her cover being a blanket of her aunt Luna's stars.

As the veil of dreams began to take her, Cadance felt the cold embrace of a phantom hoof running through her mane.  She gasped, lurching upright, and spun around—only to find that there was nothing behind her but a thick bastion of trees and vines.  She let out a deep breath, her ears drooping.  Somewhere in the recesses of her mind, the princess wished she had turned to discover a white coat and a warm embrace.

Cadance made no sound as she resigned herself to the grass once more, curling herself inward for warmth.  She raised her head to telekinetically lift the saddle bag from her back and place it beneath her as a makeshift pillow.  Laying back down, the princess found herself resting her head on a carved, solid object.

A searing pain shot through her horn like a flaming arrow.  Cadance hissed, recoiling immediately, and felt along her horn with a bare, tender hoof.  It was hot to the touch, and when she brought her hoof back in front of her face, it looked almost as if it were stained with ink.

She briefly considered turning the bag over and resting her head on the other side, where she knew the soft folds of the blanket would offer her a better rest.  Cadance blinked, the cover of her eyelids flashing green for the briefest of moments.

Forcing her gaze away from the sky, the princess dutifully lay her head down on the crystalline contents of the saddle bag.  The burning in her horn returned, but this time she was prepared for it.  She lay down slowly, all the while clenching her teeth to hold back a groan from the fire spreading up her horn.

If somepony else had been there to see her, they would have seen Cadance's determination desolve into a melancholy whimper.  They may have also seen her hug the bag and its contents closer, squeezing her eyes shut.  There, above the lush valley and beneath the shining stars, Cadance fell into a fitful, dreamless sleep.