Don't Starve Miss Sparkle

        The Bluejay took to the skies, startled as the mysterious blue mass it had chosen to perch on had begun to shift. Had the bird stayed it would have heard this mysterious creature mumble something along the lines of ‘When I get my hooves on you Twi…’. Rainbow Dash’s mutterings came to an abrupt halt as her vision stopped swimming, and her mind cleared. She laid motionless, staring at her surroundings, trying and failing to take them in while maintaining her cool.

Failing evident when she screamed at the top of her lungs, causing another flock of birds to take flight from the surrounding pine forest. Springing to her hooves she spun around wildly confirming that she was indeed standing in the clearing of a forest and not in the library basement with her friends. “Twilight!” Rainbow shouted at her lonely surroundings, “What did you do!”

A loud rustling snapped Rainbow out of her moment of anger forcing her to spin around, looking for the source of the noise. The forest looked still enough, could it have been her imagination? “Okay Rainbow,” she addressed herself loudly to give the illusion she wasn’t alone, “keep it together, just gotta get your bearings and find the others.”

Craning her neck to the heavens she saw a few stray clouds drifting lazily overhead, she could get a good view from one of them… and she wouldn’t have to worry about anything sneaking up behind her. She cast one last suspicious glance into the tree line where she heard the noise before spreading her wings and taking to the sky.

Oh that felt good. Rainbow hadn’t realised just how stiff her wings had been until she kicked off, it was like she hadn’t flown in days. Nearing the cloud, she slowed her ascent, hovering slightly above the puffy haze before allowing herself to drop onto it.

If there was a moment she should have been screaming, it was now, as she plummeted to the ground, but instead she simply stared slack jawed and wide eyed at the fast approaching ground, the gears in her mind refusing to click as to what just happened. It was until her innards were about to become fertilizer in the forest clearing that she snapped back to reality and pulled up at the very last second, losing control quickly and hurtling across the ground.

Perhaps it was the knowledge that things could so easily have turned out worse, that she didn’t feel the pain in her limbs. The cumulative shock of everything that had occurred must be numbing her to the sensation. So while she lay there incapacitated, she allowed her mind to wonder to the problem at hoof, namely her apparent inability to interact with clouds. True Clouds were made of water vapour and weren’t solid anyway, but it was common knowledge that Pegasus magic allowed them cluster the water particles closer together so they could be treated as solid for the purposes of managing the weather.

So what had changed?

Again that rustling noise. Rainbow tried to turn her head in the direction of the noise, but her neck wouldn’t respond. The noise was definitely not her imagination this time, and it was getting closer by the sounds of it. She groaned inwardly as her wings twitched feebly beneath her, what would her fan club think of her if they could see her now?

Pinkie Pie removed her hooves from her ears, satisfied Fluttershy was done screaming now that she was curled up behind Pinkie in a quivering ball. “Come on Fluttershy,” Pinkie said in her usual upbeat tone, “there’s nothing to be afraid of, look.”

Pulling her tail free of Fluttershy’s iron grip she bounced forward to imposing tree in front of the pair. “We’ve been through this before remember,” she tried reminding Fluttershy, gesturing at the tree, making a point of what looked like a gaping mouth and shut eyes. “Just giggle at the ghosties, would it help if I sang the song again?”

“Ugh, no I still remember it,” Fluttershy said, the fear in her voice temporarily giving way to exasperation which Pinkie failed to pick up on.

“All you have to do is…” Pinkie began looking back at the tree, “ha, ha, ha!”

The pair stood still following Pinkie’s declaration, Pinkie waiting with a self-assured smirk and Fluttershy peeking from behind her mane to see if the source of her fear was gone. It wasn’t long before they began to realise something was wrong, Pinkie’s smile faded as she approached the tree giving it a few experimental laughs in different pitches. Fluttershy meanwhile had returned to trembling in fear, and was now backing away from the tree.

Had she not been ‘backing’ up and instead looking at where she was going, she would have seen the tree root jutting out of the ground beneath her, and she wouldn’t have tripped on said tree root, falling in a heap on the forest floor. As she fell she let out a little scream, but it was quickly blocked out as she fell face first into a plant of some kind.

“Fluttershy!” Pinkie exclaimed, abandoning her attempt at exorcising the tree with laughter to care for her fallen friend. Grabbing her by the shoulders she heaved Fluttershy off the ground and onto her hooves where she began coughing and spluttering. Quickly examining her she found Fluttershy muzzle, already caked in dried blood, was now covered in murky coloured leaves, but otherwise she was no worse for wear.

As she brushed the leaves, or more accurately petals, off Fluttershy’s face she looked down at what she had fallen into. It was difficult to make out considering how crumpled it was now, but it resembled some kind of thistle like flower. “it’s okay Fluttershy, I think the plant will be fine.”

“Pinkie!” Fluttershy yelled in an indignant, yet muffled tone, “I think Twilight already broke something, I’m now in a lot of pain.”

Pinkie backed up slightly, she had only made a joke to cheer Fluttershy up, but since Fluttershy hardly ever lost her temper it was obvious she’d crossed a line. “I’m super sorry Fluttershy,” she said, her hair deflating slightly and her voice losing its bubbliness. “I was only trying to cheer you up.”

Fluttershy’s eyes softened at the sight of her upset friend, she regretted snapping and she made a mental note to make it up to Pinkie later, but right now she needed treated. “It’s okay Pinkie, I’m sorry for yelling. But could you maybe fetch me something for this?”

Pinkie immediately perked up at the prospect of helping. Leading Fluttershy by the hoof, she walked her away from the creepy tree and sat her down on an old stump before addressing her with a salute. “You stay here ma’am, Doctor Pinkie is on the case.” And with that she sped off into the thicket leaving Fluttershy alone wondering if she even knew what to look for.

Fluttershy rubbed her eyes as if trying to clear them. It could be her imagination, but it looked like the forest around her had become rather blurry, trees stretching and warping slightly, and was that whispering she heard?

Grass is quite prickly, not like Ponyville grass at all; even the Everfree has softer grass than this. Pine trees aren’t exactly common around the middle of Equestria either, judging by that ah’d say I must be quite far north.

Applejack stopped walking, her train of thought stopping with her. She had been wandering through this forest ever since she had awoken, and still even as the sun passed overhead and began its steady descent, there was no indication of it coming to an end. “Well shoot,” she exclaimed, lowering to her haunches, “Twi’s really gonna have a lot to answer for this time… ah hope she’s alright, and the others.”

Her monologue was cut off by a loud groaning noise, accompanied by a bubbling feeling in her stomach. Walking had kept her mind off her impending hunger, but now that she had stopped it was quickly catching up with her. Casting her gaze around she noticed a single solitary berry bush amidst the pine forest. “Well it ain’t apples, but it’s better than nothin’.”

Standing up once more, her joints popping slightly as she did; she began walking forward examining the bush. The berries looked quite ripe, and certainly in no shortage. Reaching the bush she licked her lips slightly before leaning in, intent on plucking a particularly juicy berry off the branch with her teeth.

“Gobble Gobble!”

“Agh!” Applejack yelled, jumping back in surprise as something jumped out from behind the berry bush. “What in Tarnation?” she demanded staring up from where she sat at the bizarre creature now standing between her and the bush. At a first guess she would have said it was a chicken of some kind, a very large chicken admittedly, almost her own size. The bird cocked its head, blinking back at her curiously before turning its back on Applejack and sizing up the berry bush.

“Well that’s a might bit strange… Hey!” Applejack exclaimed as the creature began pecking through the bush, munching up the berries faster than Applejack could blink. “Get outta here ya varmint!” Applejack yelled, rushing the bird and startling it out of eating any more berries.

“Gobble Gobble!” it exclaimed indignantly, bouncing into the forest, its wings flapping in a panic.

“Well that sure was…” Applejack trailed off as hers eyes fell back onto the bush, which was now, impossibly, picked clean. Not daring to believe her bad luck she searched desperately for any one berry that might have survived the assault. When it became apparent that she would have no luck she slumped to the ground with a groan.

As she lay there her stomach let out another grumble. She needed to find something to eat soon, and it hadn’t escaped her notice that the sun was sinking fast.

“Oh heavens!” Rarity declared turning her head away from the steaming pile in front of her, “I can’t believe any civilised creature would just leave such a thing lying here for anypony to step in!”

Side stepping the pile of… excrement, Rarity continued on her way, glad to have the stench behind her. She had been managing surprising well since she had awoken, considering she was stranded in the middle of nowhere. She had begun to feel the pinch of the cold and found herself craving one of the cloaks she had worked tirelessly to create for the last couple of weeks.

But she was able to shrug off the feeling, especially having just spotted something encouraging moments before she nearly trod in a turd. The small cluster of wooden houses had become visible just as she left the forest and entered what appeared to be a meadow of sorts, littered with flowers and the occasional beehive.

While she was worried for her missing friends, her mood was greatly heightened at the prospect of civilisation. However as she drew nearer to the houses she began to notice something odd about them. They were awfully small, or more accurately, thin as they were at least twice her own height. They resembled outhouses more than actual homes, but Rarity couldn’t fathom why any creature would need so many outhouses, especially when it was apparently socially acceptable to use the path as a toilet.

Undeterred she continued on her way until she was standing directly in front of the door. It couldn’t hurt to see if anypony was home, and so with that in mind she reached out with a hoof and rapped gently on the wooden door. Then she waited, until the silence continued to stretch to unbearable levels. Finally she became tired of waiting and tried calling out. “Excuse me, is there anybody home? I’m in need of some assistance.”

Again, only silence. Rarity harrumphed before stepping around the tiny house and looking over the rest. It seemed pointless to have all these houses here if nopony lived in them, but then where were they? Rarity was about ready to give up and continue on her way when a movement by one of the houses caught her eye.

Upon seeing the creature, her mind immediately jumped to the pigs she sometimes saw when visiting Applejack. However this specimen appeared to be standing on its hind legs, much like some skilled ponies Rarity had seen. And unlike Applejack’s pigs, this one appeared far more hulking, with patches of mangy hair over its shoulders and face. And to tops off the image, it was wearing some kind of skirt woven from grass.

Rarity wouldn’t claim to be an expert on pigs having had very little interaction with any, but from what she had seen they shouldn’t like this, and were most certainly not intelligent and thus would not be wearing clothes, no matter how savage said garments might be.

Rarity mentally slapped herself after making these assessments. “Shame on you Rarity,” she whispered harshly to herself, “saying such things based on little or no knowledge and experience is positively discriminatory.” Looking back up at the pig creature she saw it was munching on something cupped in its hands. “I’m sure it’s a perfectly intelligent creature, and I ought to give it a chance to prove it.”

With her mind made up she took a breath before strutting lightly over to the pig creature, hoping her perfect manoeuvres would let it know she was a pony of class. As she came near the pig seemed to hear her and it looked up, its jaw hanging slack, its beady eyes showing no emotion.

“Good day to you fine gentle… uh, pig,” Rarity began, pronunciating her words with finesse. “I was wondering if perhaps you could…”

“THAT MY SPACE!” The pig squealed, hobbling away from Rarity still yelling hoarsely, “STAY AWAY!”

“Huh,” Rarity said, staring blankly at the now empty space in front of her, “maybe perfectly intelligent is a bit of an overstatement.”