This Dark Forest

A chilling breeze flowed through the trees as I pulled tighter on my jacket to block the cold. The dark clouds threatened rain, and I was worried that I would not have enough time to get back to shelter. Increasing my pace I continued forward through the trees, stepping over rocks and stumps, all the while trying to stay as silent as possible in case there was anything nearby.

I just finished up a lucky day of hunting, two squirrels and a chipmunk lay limp across my back as proof. It had been the first time that I had used my bow, and I felt fairly good about myself. The sound of thunder coming off from the distance quickly broke my pride.

Rain began lightly falling through the trees, soft tapping noises came from the leaves above my head. As time went on the rain began seeping through the leaves, and fell more heavily on them, causing me to shield my head from the loose droplets of water. I gave a yelp as lightning struck a tree next to me, incinerating it completely and showering me with sticks.

The rain broke through the leaves, showering me with an uncomfortably large amount of water. My clothes and hair became soaked with the rainwater, adding unwanted weight and thoroughly drenching my hunt. Throwing the ruined meat to the ground I took a moment and grieved for my hunger, quickly recovering I looked for somewhere safe to sleep.

My original shelter was out of the picture, thoughts of the incinerated tree still lingered in my mind. As long as rain pelted the ground, and lightning struck, a tree was not a safe place to be. As if to prove my point another large tree exploded in a cloud of dust and debris.

I caught sight of a small cave in the distance, large and dry enough for me to wait out the storm. I continued on in its direction, twitching slightly every time thunder roared in the distance.

The ground had turned to complete mud, I slipped and fell several times, each instance accompanied by a swear as I picked myself up and wiped off the grime.

The thunder began going off far more than before, making me jump with each loud crack. I took long strides along the muddy terrain in an effort to keep my balance.

Suddenly, a lightening bolt struck a tree next to me and sent me flying through the air. I landed face first, and with a groan, I stood slowly, rubbing my face and limping deeper into the dark passageway and away from the storm.

A small light shone at the back of the cave, beckoning me closer like a moth to a flame. I continued forward, limping with every step and holding onto one of my arms to reduce some pain. The cave opened up into a massive room, lit by an unknown source. Near the back of the cave lay a large mound of bones, currently being used as a bed for one particularly large, sleeping dragon.

My first instinct was to turn back and run, but the exhaustion and pain from being in the storm had taken its toll. I walked forwards to a dark corner of the cave, using the thunder and rain to cover the noise from my movement, and carefully positioned myself so I was out of sight from the dragon.

"Hello?" a young voice called out, "Hello? What is that?"

Peering from my hiding spot I noticed an animal walking into the cave. Most of its body was covered with dark purple scales, but its chest had a green that clashed with it. The young dragon began snacking on the gems, laughing and talking to itself the entire time. I watched for several minutes, waiting for the inevitable, until it finally came.

The larger dragon stood up behind him, growling and grunting something until it began outright attacking it. I kept my distance throughout the fight, not wanting to get caught up in it. The young dragon dodged as many attacks as it could before finally getting trapped in a corner.

A "Hoo" echoed out from the cave's entrance, follower by an owl. The owl dived at the elder dragon, distracting it long enough for the younger dragon to escape before leaving itself. The larger dragon followed the two out of the cave, roaring and shooting bursts of flame in their direction.

The rain had stopped and I walked slowly out of the cave before heading off in the direction of my home, shaking my head and trying to make sense of the whole situation.

My leg burned as if it was on fire, pain shot through my entire body, waking me up in a more extreme fashion that I was accompanied to. Even in the forest, with the mud, the rain, and with nothing to eat, I had woken up completely ignorant to everything. In a place where almost everything was new, this had been a first.

I opened my mouth to yell, but held it shut after noticing a sleeping purple pony next to me. I took the pain and lay back down, mumbling every curse I knew under my breath so as not to wake her. I looked around the room, searching for something to distract from the pain.

I lay on a small bed in the middle of a large open room filled with all types and colours of birdhouses, cages, and different packages of food. No animals were in the cages, or at least none I could see, but several birds fluttered from house to house, chirping a light tune. Some furniture lay facing awkwardly away from me. Couches, tables, chairs, all probably moved in order to make space for the bed.

A twinge of pain brought my attention back to myself, and I quickly removed the blanket to check on the injury. One of my pant legs had been torn off, a blood stained bandage wrapped professionally over the wound. I took a moment to wonder how a pony could have gotten it on so well, and to try and avoid the pain, but unfortunately I had no luck.

I groaned and lay back on the bed, trying to ignore the pain in my leg once again. I looked to the ceiling and began to think of anything that could possibly be distracting enough.

***

Fluttershy woke to the sound of birds chirping softly in her ear, the sun shining brightly through her window. Pulling herself from bed she walked calmly to the bathroom, running a warm shower and carefully cleaning her mane. After her regular morning routine the pegasus trotted downstairs to check up on her most recent patient.

Sprawled out in the middle of the bed on her living room the animal sat with it's legs crossed, hands in small "O" shapes, and eyes closed.

"Umm... What are you doing?" Fluttershy asked, peeking her head cautiously around the doorway.

"Trying to meditate..." the animal responded, "To get rid of the pain."

"Oh... Okay." Fluttershy walked closer to the bed. "Is it working?"

"No..." The animal replied, collapsing onto the bed and mumbling words into the mattress Fluttershy couldn't understand.

"Well I could give you some cream, but um... it was designed for ponies and I don't think it will work for you."

"That's fine..." The animal looked up at Fluttershy, confused. "Then what did you give me last night?"

"Oh, um... that?" Fluttershy backed away slightly. "Well I, um... when Twilight brought you here I tried using a few different creams, but they just seemed to make things worse. I had to use all of the special medicine my friend Zecora gave me before it got any better."

"So that's all you did?"

"Um, pretty much." Fluttershy looked away nervously.

"Alright then..." The animal winced as it dragged its leg from the blankets, revealing blood-soaked sheets. The lower half of the leg had turned a deep purple from lack of blood flow. Much of the blood had been stopped, or caught, by the now dark red cloth on the animals leg. "Do you by any chance have more bandages..."

"Oh... Oh my..." Fluttershy gasped before running out of the room for a fresh bandage.

She started going through cupboards and drawers looking for a bandage, throwing aside bottles, pans, and creams of different kinds.

"Where are the bandages?" Fluttershy said to herself while searching, but stopped at the sound of her front door opening.

"Hey, Fluttershy! Are you home?" Rainbow Dash called out, "Oh so you're back for more, huh?"

Rainbow Dash? Fluttershy thought, Oh no...

***

I had barely enough time get out of the way as Rainbow Dash charged at me, flying just past my left ear and leaving it ringing. Missing her original target she quickly somersaulted and turned around on her hooves before making a second attempt. Lunging at me while I was getting up she pinned my body to the ground with surprising strength.

"Gah!" I cried out, her back leg was planted directly on my uncovered wound.

"What'd you do to Twilight?" She demanded, "And where's Fluttershy?!"

I gritted my teeth and winced as her hoof dug further, and further into my leg. I quickly wrenched one arm free and grabbed at her back leg before pulling it off from mine. The sudden loss of ground flipped her onto her back and gave me enough time to pull away.

After gathering herself from the ground, Rainbow Dash dove out at me again, this time I was ready. I put my hands up to block the attack, and inches before she struck I kicked my leg out to knock her back, but a purple glow stopped her, and my leg, in mid-air.

"Hey, what gives?" Rainbow Dash asked, acting as if someone interrupted her in the middle of a television show instead a fight, "Twilight?!"

Twilight sat up from her position on the couch and looked between the two of us before shaking her head. Her horn lit up and I felt the glow around my leg become warmer. I felt the pain in my leg numb as the glow became brighter, a white cloth materialized in the air and wrapped around my leg tightly.

"I think I need to explain." Twilight said as she released both Rainbow Dash and I from her magic.