2 Rise of Darkness

Poetic Cake awoke to the painful feeling of a bush underneath him. He got up, and looked around at the plethora of trees that surrounded him. A lot of trees, yes. But nopony was in sight. This worried him.

"Hello?! Hello!!!" Poetic Cake exclaimed, but realizing that nopony could hear him, his voice grew brittle, and he could barely finish. "...Oh no... hello?"

He began to walk for a little bit, but he ended up going in circles. He began to sing a little tune that he liked to sing whenever he was scared, and it helped him feel a little bit better. Now he could focus on finding his friends.

*     *     *

Elsewhere in the Everfree Forest, WildRoze brushing off the dirt from the crash landing, and gathering her saddlebag. It was obvious that she was the only pony there. She tried doing the four toned whistle that Black Cristal had done earlier, but it ended up sounding like she was just blowing air. With no response, she began to go along the apparent pathway that lead deeper into the forest. As she passed some of the trees, they began to sway. The atmopshere around her began to feel hot, and she felt like she was going to pass out. Just then, a ray of light shone through the trees, and brought her attention to an interesting looking tree with a door and two windows.

A home? WildRoze thought to herself.

As she approached the hut, she heard rustling in the bushes. Now completely scared, she snuck through the door, and shut it quietly behind her.

*     *     *

"Poe?! Poe!!!!" Black Cristal yelled at the top of her lungs.

She hadn't seen Poetic Cake or that new mare, WildRoze, since the fall. She'd been walking around for ages, until she decided to try yelling out. But, it was no use. She felt a sudden chill move through her vains and knew that she was not alone. She figured that it was nothing more than a little bunny. Yes. That's it. A little baby bunny with a cutest little nose, and fluffy fur.

CRACK

Something was behind her. The only options she had now were, turning around, or running. If her curiosity outweighed her pessimism. With her heart rapidly pounding, she would turned very slowly, and face this... thing.

BLACFINTHPTHHFISMEE

That noise did NOT come from a cute little baby bunny, and Black Cristal knew it. Her fear overtook the curiosity, and without looking to see what this creature was, she ran. Flying with this many branches could be dangerous, so she just ran as fast as she could.

*     *     *

Poetic Cake had been wandering around for quite a while now, trying to find his friends. But no such luck! Suddenly, from a distance, he heard a familiar voice shout out,

"Poe?! Poe!!!!"

He knew that voice to belong to Black Cristal. This gave him enough energy to go fourth, towards the sound! As he was sure we was where the sound came from, he tripped over his stupid, stubby legs, and fell down a hill, breaking a huge branch on his way down.

CRACK

His tongue stung, and he realized that he'd bitten it while he was falling. A chilled breeze swept over him, reminding him of the first night of winter. He saw Black Cristal ahead of him, standing very still. Like she was scared, or something.

" Blacky it's me!!" He attempted to say, but it came out not sounding like his own voice, with his tongue bitten, he guessed it must have sounded something like, 'BLACFINTHPTHHFISMEE'.

This seemed to have scared Black Cristal, as she ran away, faster, and faster. Confused, he ran after her, hoping she'd stop and see that it's just him.

*     *     *

WildRoze was grateful when the rustling in the bushes had stopped, as whatever was making the rustling had moved on to another victim in the far distance. This was just the story she told herself, so she could focus on finding Poetic Cake and Black Cristal, and not on the monster she pictured was making those sounds. She was feeling very hot again, only this time, the heat was more intense, as if she were standing inside the sun.

THUMP

A book dropped in front of her, frightening her a bit. The book had some inscriptions written on the cover. She recognized these as the ancient language of earth ponies who studied magic. About a month ago she found an old box in the attic with lots of dusty old books just like this one. She had been reading them day and night. They told her how to do "Witchcraft" magic that unicorn couldn't do and was primarily performed by Earthponies. In the back of her mind she secretly hoped she could be one of those witchponies one day. This book was odd though, these writings on the cover were with a dark subtext. She opened to the first page. Nothing. She flipped through the pages, but there was nothing on any of them. But, then she felt it. A very cold breeze. She could see her breath. She felt something inside her tick, and a dark cloud filled the room. The cloud knocked her back against a wall, and burst out of the hut. WildRoze passed out.