*1*
My day would probably play out one of the two regular days. Either I'll go out to the public, meet other people, and try not to let people figure out who I am, and I'm Star Bringer, one of the four leaders of the rebellion. Or I'll just go and fix another meeting, create a plan for attack, or do something to help with the rebellion. Yawning, I sit up, and look out the window in my room. It's a nice day. Sunny, but not so it hurts the eyes, and ponies are walking around, speaking with each other. Even in Ponyville, a day like this doesn't happen too often. Rubbing my eyes, I get out of bed and as I begin walking to leave the room, I look at myself in the mirror. I'm a black skinned pony, only my black skin is the same tint as it would be during a night with stars. My Cutie Mark is what seems to be a blue flame, as with my magic spells, they are a bit too... Hot. And firey.
I'm a unicorn stallion. Tall and lean, my mane is a grey color, covering the top of my head, with a stubble on my chin. My eyes are light blue, and look pretty tired. I weakly smile at myself, and I walk outside my room door. Walking into the kitchen, I take a few apples, put them in my saddlebags, and then put my saddlebags on. Going back to my room, I grab some bits and clean myself up. I go to leave my house, when I open the door and bump into another pony. She is bringing mail, just her job. As we both regain balance, I notice she is a cream-colored pegasus, her mane a brown color. I weakly smile, and say in a sturdy but soft voice "Sorry, didn't see you." She smiles, and says "It's ok. Here's your mail." She fishes through her saddlebags filled with mail, and pulls a letter out.
She hands it to me, and I say "Thanks." She quickly flies off, and I look down at the letter. I ripped the envelope open, and look at what's writen.
Hello, Star Bringer.
How've you been? It's been a long time since I saw you. I was just wanting to send you a letter, just so you know I'm back in town. It's been boring in Canterlot, too many kiss-ups and perfects, not enough nice ponies. Anyways, I hope I'll see you soon!
From, your pal, Dasher.
I smiled after reading the letter, and I put it in my saddlebags. I continue walking, through the streets of Ponyville, as I look around. Why is it so... What's the word? Meh, I'll probably think of it later. I walk into the markets, and look at the ponies selling items. Carrots, oats, apples, quills... So much good things to buy. I look around a bit, and I decide to first go to the kind, quill selling pony. I wait in line, and as I get to the front, I smile at the stallion and say "Hello! Could I have four quills?" He smiles back, and says "That'd be two bits." Handing him the bits, he hands me the quills and I place them in my saddlebags, as I go off and eventually, after buying lots of things, I only have three bits left. I look in my saddlebags, and seeing I ate all the apples, my stomach grumbles and I look around, finding an apple cart.
Walking up to the cart, I look at the selling pony. It's Apple Bloom. Weird. The last time I remember seeing her, she was just a young filly. Now she's a tall mare. I smile, but she just looks a bit irritated, although trying to hide it. "May I have three apples?" She takes four out a barrel, rather slow, and puts them on the counter for me to take. She doesn't say a word. I put three bits on the counter, then I say "What's wrong?" She just shakes her head. "Granny Smith just passed away, Big Mac is married now, and Applejack is off on some work for Twilight, and my two friends have coltfriends. Ah have nopony to talk to!" I nod, and change my expression in a interested face. Honestly, I never wanted to be rude to ponies, especially the Apple family. "If your friends have coltfriends, why not try to find one too?" She facehoofs, and she says "Ah can't believe Ah didn't think about that. Thanks, mister... Star, right?" "Yes, it's Star Bringer. I think I'll see you later, Apple Bloom." I leave the cart, and smile.
It feels nice helping other ponies. In my train of thought, I hear a very faint scream of pain. Quickly, I galloped off to where I heard the scream. The Everfree Forest. Stopping right outside the forest, my mind is assualted with multiple questions. What if I can't find the screaming stallion? What if it's one of the creatures imitating a sound? What if- My thoughts are scattered, as the sound of screams pierce through my mind. It wasn't too far away now. Galloping off into the forest, the scream repeats, only weaker. Much, MUCH weaker. My heart skips a few beats, and as I gallop wildly, I find the stallion. He is under a pile of rock, with his head being the only thing sticking out. I quickly try to pick up lots of rocks, but they are all so HEAVY.
I begin pulling the rocks off one by one, eventually freeing the trapped stallion. He is a messy-looking pony. Very, VERY messy. His skin is a light grey, and his mane is tinted red. His eyes are emerald colored, and he is tall, heavily muscled, with a pair of pegasus wings. He looks rather unfed, but that's not as interesting as this: He doesn't have a cutie mark. Wow, serious blank flank. The stallion very slowly begins to stand, and some zebra pokes her head out the foliage. Zecora. She says "I wonder what happened to you, but I hope you recover real soon." The stallion sighs, and I help him stay standing with my magic. He nods, and we slowly walk back to Ponyville, but one thing sticks in my mind. What happened to you? Who ARE you?
As the rocks are slowly lifted off me, I rejoice inside myself. Slowly, I begin to stand, and I look at the other stallion. He saved me... I have him to thank. The unicorn grabbed me with magic, and I felt it covering me. He helps me keep balance, and I begin to walk forward. Painfully, I try to move my wings, but they don't move, only twitch in pain. I sigh, then me and the unicorn begin to walk somewhere, I'll just assume somewhere safe. I'm not sure, but I think I hear the zebra's hoofsteps behind me. I blink, and let myself win this victory. I just found more ponies, and not just myself. This... is good.
*2*
I became nervous. Very, very nervous. This unicorn has been leading me for what felt like forever, and somepony is following us, although the unicorn doesn't notice, or at least doesn't care. And that's what struck me, and I stood still. What if these ponies are working together to attack me? What if they believe my abrupt ending is a good idea? The unicorn turns out, his face looking puzzled. That's when I realized another thing, that was hidden by my previous pain. His spell is making me sweat... It feels like the starting of a weak fire, slowly beginning to catch fire, to burn me. The idea of me tied to a stick, which is cast over a fire scares me. I can practically feel the fire lick me, like someone new at cooking over fires, being so bad they set me on fire.
When I realize the fire is fake, and I'm just imagining things, I continue walking. The unicorn shakes his head lightly, and quickly ends up in front of me. Sunlight... Lots of it. Not just the weak illumination without heat, but actual sunlight coming through some trees, and the pony pushes some bushes away, and gestures for me to follow. I quickly gallop, although still weak, and I end up covered in sunlight. I grin largely, and I laugh happily. I haven't enjoyed sunlight in so long! What else has being in the Everfree forest been taken away? Soon, my strange amounts of glee subside, and I sigh. "I've never been this warm, or have seen sunlight like this in so long. This is beautiful." The unicorn, with a not-so-hidden curiosity tone is in his voice. "I'm Star Bringer, but... What do you mean?" I turned to him, and my glee quickly vanishes. A tone of sadness creeps up.
"The majority of my life, I was stuck in that horrible place. You have any idea how many times I got attacked, or stuck, or hungry and thirsty? I can't even remember. Oh, and I'm... uh... Actually, I don't know."
"What? How do you not know your own name?" His curiosity is replaced with frustration. I guess it's understandable.
"How? Don't ask me. I'm pretty sure I hit my head enough times to forget."
Star smiles at that, but only a tiny bit. "Alright. But follow me, your badly hurt, if you haven't noticed. Somehow your hooves or legs didn't get hurt, which I don't understand." He walks, expecting me to follow, and as he moves, I see a zebra's head stick of the forest. Her face shows a puzzled expression, but she ducks back into the Everfree forest. I follow the unicorn, and as we end up coming near to town, most ponies gasp and look confused. Four ponies, unicorns, dash forward and grab me with magic. "Hey, quit it! Let me go!" I try shaking myself, but I'm simply too weak, and in too strong a magic grip. They gallop, bringing me with them, and my head turns and I see the ponies all around.
The unicorns bring me to the hospital, but I'm too tired. In a race of what gets me first, whether pain or the want to sleep, pain wins. I black out.
I stand, looking at Shadow Mist as he is brought to the hospital. Despite not really knowing him, I feel like we are already friends. I sigh, and as I turn around, I manage to hold most of my scream, and let out only a weak one. "God, Dasher, be more sneaky and scary, will you?" Dasher, a pegasus pony with grass-green skin and a black mane that goes down to her body, brown eyes, her cutie mark a silhouette of a pony galloping. Dasher grins, and laughs a little, and once she finishes, he says "You should've seen your face. But anyways, what happened to that pony?"
"He claims he was stuck in the Everfree forest most of his life. And, not to mention, he was stuck under a heap of rock."
"Well that doesn't seem to make sense. How did he get there?"
"How the hay do you expect me to know? What's weird about this, is how was he in the Everfree forest most his life?"
That's when Dasher realized something, although with her years of keeping her secret, and knowing when and how to hide her true feelings, Star couldn't tell she realized something. "I don't really know. But it does seem weird." A silence looms between the two, and they seem to try and find words. Piercing the silence, Star says "I got to go. I'll catch you later?" "Hopefully." Dasher said with a bored voice. Star hesitates, but quickly he leaves, heading home.
I watch as Star gallops away, the idea throbbing my head. It took all my willpower not to blurt out what I was going to say. I mean, I can't believe that the strange pegasus came from the village of Mytro! But it began piecing together. He, if he really is Shadow Mist, has the same eye color, same mane color, same skin, and a similar face style as when he was just a young filly. But that didn't make sense. Could it? Shadow Mist should be dead, nopony has seen him in years! And how is he still sane? Or, why didn't a creature kill him first? God, it's been such a long time since she'd seen Shadow Mist. My inner emotion defenses couldn't hold this happiness feeling. A grin quickly spread on my face, and I jumped. I quickly fly up into the air, flying in circles, shouting 'Wooohooo!' Ah, Shadow. I can't believe I saw you again.
I eventually run out of happiness fuel, and I glide back down to the ground, happy. I need to see him, once more, just to see if it were true. I gallop quickly into the hospital, and ask for the room number, which I'm given. I force myself to calmly trot to the room, and eventually find the door. I push open the door, and I see Shadow Mist, unconsious. Of course, I can't keep a feeling of sadness from emerging within me. It seems like he isn't alive. I slowly trot over to Shadow Mist, and I stand next to him. He's breathing, so he isn't dead. I don't see anything bad, until I notice his wings. Oh my god! What happened to you?! His wings are bent in a painful way, and they don't so good. Not to mention how dirty he looks, from being in the Everfree forest. I silently look at him, when I sigh, and stroke his head. This feels weird, doing this.
Eventually, I stop, and a doctor steps inside. He looks at me, and says "Excuse me, but you need to leave right now." I nod, and say "I needed to go anyways." My voice in a some-what sad tone. I slowly walk out the door, and walk out of the hospital. I fly home, and quickly enter, where I promptly run to my room, and jump into bed. I'm tired, and worried for my friend. But I can worry later. It's time for sleep now...
*3*
As the days had pass, they were merely a blur for Shadow Mist. Actually, they weren't a blur, they were NOTHING. He wasn't awake for those days: A spell check on Shadow showed he was under the effects of a spell, although not seen before. The doctors were too scared that waking him would activate the spell, but as the days wore on, there was no money to fund finding a way to break the spell, so they woke him. Fortunately for them, he wasn't dead or majorly injured! Unfortunately for Shadow, he had difficulty walking. But the thing is, he doesn't seem to be with the doctors anymore...
I slowly woke up, trying to open my eyes, but find them stuck shut. Raising a hoof to my eyes, I brush my eyes frequently, what seems to be tiny little rocks keeping my eyes shut. They unattach with a sickly sound, and fall. Brushing enough off my eyes, I open them, and I can see. Well, some. It seems harder for me to see, but quickly my eyes quickly adjust to not seeing since a few days, and I can see well. I wasn't in a... you could say, welcoming place, that was sure. I, despite not knowing where I am, I knew something was wrong. Shaking myself slightly, I find my fore legs are slow to react, and sitting up, a unicorn stands next to my bed. He glares down out me, using his magic to pick me up, and place me onto the ground. He lets go and I shake, but then sigh. "I'm ok, no need t- Hey, stop! Let me go!"
The unicorn begins dragging me out the room, and I wince, the hard, cracked, stone floor scraping most of my body on the cold floor. "Hey, cut it out already!" He stops, and lets the rest of my body hit the ground, letting go. He turns around, and heavily, he kicks me in the chest, as a pained groan slips out my lips. He grips me with magic, and he smacks me into a wall. My eyesight goes blurry, and I'm sure I can feel the coppery, wet feeling of blood escape from me, and slowly fall. My thoughts are confirmed, when I hear the sound of a liquid hitting the ground in frequent drips. The unicorn continues dragging me, and he eventually throws me into a room, where he looks at me with a blank expression. I never could tell how he looked, I never paid attention when my vision was good, and now my vision is mainly black, and the rest extremely blurry.
The room door closes shut, and another unicorn comes out of a different door. Casting a spell on me, he steps up to me and touches me with his hoof, and looks focused. Almost too focused... That's when I realize he isn't consious, and he, in the blink of an eye, snaps out of it. I look at him, and he grunts disapproval at me. He sighs, and quickly goes back to the door from where he came, and he leaves the room. A sound of a lock clicking and the glow of magic on the door allows me to know I'm not leaving anytime soon. I sigh, and quickly, a hole in the wall opens, shooting something at me. It moves too fast, and I can't notice it, and my vision fades even worse than it already is. I fall unconsious, yet again.
I paced around my room, my thoughts filled with worry. Why isn't Shadow at the hospital anymore? Why am I not allowed to know where he is? I knew his situation was a little bit bad, but I don't think it was that bad! I yell in frustation, and quickly I bolt out my room, and out my house. I speedily fly to the library- I wasn't named Dasher for nothing- and I opened the door. Nopony else was in the library, and I then bolted around, looking for a conspiracy book. Sure, yeah, I believed in conspiracies. Most of them had solid evidence, and they did seem real. I recall seeing a book before, where hospital patients with bad conditions were taken by royals, to experiment on, and eventually I find the book with conspiracies. Opening it, I flip through the pages, eventually finding the right page. I begin reading, and the idea horrors me.
Often, ponies are taken from the hospital, whether they are plagued by a strange disease, have a weird magic spell, or seem to have not as much wounds as they should have. Most of these ponies are never seen again. Raging Storm's mother has spoken with us. 'Once my little filly was affected by that spell the unicorn casted, he just fell, it wasn't even a spell anypony knew! He was taken to the hospital, and I made trips daily. But one day, I never saw him there again. They said he died, but they never showed me his body, nor did they say how. I couldn't believed what happened.'
There was more on those pages, but I didn't want to read anymore. I didn't want to be scared, I wanted to find Shadow. I quickly put the book back in the location it originally was, as I bolted out the door, flying. I didn't know where to go. I flew towards the park, tapping on the trees with my hooves, thinking I might be able to find a tree which is strangely hollowed, and find Shadow.
I slowly woke in this prison, and I waited. A plan was forming in my mind. I could take the keys from the unicorn. He kept the keys on him, and left the door unlocked when he went inside. He doesn't expect me to run, or just doesn't expect me to be smart and find a way out. Eventually, the same unicorn came, and he casted a blinding spell on me. It really just blurred my vision, nothing much. He slowly walked up to me, and touched me with his hoof. Then his horn glew, and he seemed to enter his trance-like state once again. I slowly grabbed the keys on jacket's side, and then, preparing myself with as little movement as possible, I jump up, pushing the other pony, and run for the door. He falls, a few seconds still in the trance, and he snaps out of it too late. I already left the room, slamming it, and the door locks. I sigh, feeling dizzy after that sudden use of my body. I look around, and slowly my eyesight turns to normal. I eventually begin my trip, my will to escape overpowering my fear. Walking down the long corridor, I try to assure myself.
I find the path splits left and right, and I look both directions. Right of me, ponies are sleeping. They look healthy and are wearing lab coats, so going th at way would be a bad idea. To the left, a room filled with vials of colored liquid is there. Quickly, I take the left path. I find myself walking around pots filled with an assortment of things, vials labeled with code numbers, possibly so in case of this place being found, they wouldn't know what they did, or what they were called. I was amazed, and I grabbed a vial, looking at it. Strange, rainbow colored. I place it back down, and eventually, to my horror, there was no other way to leave this room. I whispered to myself "Well I guess I should've taken the right path, because the left one isn't the RIGHT way." I smiled, feeling happy at that pn, it distracting me.
I walk back to the hallway crossing, and end right outside the room with sleeping ponies. I keep myself calm, and as quietly as I can, I walk through the crowd of beds, eventually ending up right in front of the exit. That's when I heard somepony move. Quickly, I spun around and flew at the mare, who just sat up. I put my hoof to her mouth, and her eyes widen with fear. I move my head closer to her ear, and whisper "Don't wake anybody up, and don't move. Just pretend to go back to sleep until I'm gone." She shakingly nods yes, and then slowly goes to lie down. I fly back to the other part of the room, with two doors. This is going to be the tough part. Unless the door hinges were oiled, the sound of the squeaking would- I'm about to finish my thoughts, when the sound of yelling jolts me into action. The yelling comes from the mare, and she says "Someone is escaping!" Nearly half the other ponies sit up, and I grab the doors and open them.
"Run me RUN!" I say to myself, flying through the tunnels, as I realize my previous wounds just started bleeding again. Turning left, an earth pony grabs me, and throws me down. I fall with a crack, and I realize that was the ground, not me. "Argh!" Slips from my lips from pain, and the earth pony pounces, trying to get on top of me. I manage to roll, and I stand, ramming myself into the pony who crashes with the wall, and slouches over, barely holding in a scream. I charge forward, running, my wings too injured to fly. I begin climbing up a set of stairs, and once I get to the top, and pony tries kicking me down. I manage to dodge his kicking hoof, and I instead grab it with my teeth, and pull. He falls down the stairs, and I let go of him. He falls down the stairs, and he manages to knock over some ponies who followed after me. Continuing the stairs, I found a little doorway: Only the door was metal, and needs to be opened somewhere else. "Noo! Not here!" I yell, aware of the ponies who are almost onto me. Hearing somepony ask if anybody's there, I yell "Help me! Do something to take this thing down!"
Sighing, I sit in the park. Finally, Ah can relax in the park. Tired of selling them apples, and tired of trying to find a coltfriend. Apple Bloom thinks to herself, when she hear a faint hit against metal, and a scream, although highly muffled. I look around, and walk to the tree with the weird sounds. "Hello? Anybody home?" Hearing the reply, I hesitately stand, but then ram into the tree. Wood cracks slightly, but not enough. I keep ramming into the tree, when eventually I can see the thin piece of metal blocking us. I sigh, and I wonder what I can do. I tap my hoof, thinking, when the metal seperates, and I see a pegasus stallion with no cutie mark, and blood on his back. Seeing me, he shouts "Thank you!" And bolts out the tree. Looking past him, I see three ponies with lab coats, and they hesitate. One scowls, and runs back down the stairs. The others follow. Looking back at the stallion, he quickly pulls me into a hug, which I blush from, slightly dazed. For a few moments, I don't do anything, but then I slowly hug back. He then lets go, and moves back. He blushes, and says "S-Sorry. I wasn't thinking. I was too happy to leave."
"It's ok. Ah'm not mad or anythin'."
He sighs with relief. "Good... Hey, thanks for helping me, miss..."
"Apple Bloom. Ah'm Apple Bloom. And no problem helping, but I'm just wonderin', where you there in the first place?"
He mumbles something to himself, and he then tells me the story about what happened. My eyes widened, and one he finishes the story, he then tells me "A-Alright... I think I'll leave now..." Looking at him, something at my chest tugs at me, like there is something important I don't know. "Ah never seen you before, and if I haven't, Ah'm sure your new here, without a house. Would you like to stay at my house?" His face lits up with red, and he then shakes his head "N-no, you don't need to do that, I'm fine, I assure you!" His voice is rather nervous. I raise one of my eyebrows. It's like he doesn't know how to talk with ponies! Or is he nervous because... Without knowing what I'm doing, I say "I'll take that as a yes!" I grab his hoof, and begin dragging him off. "Ah'm sure Ah can clean you up at my home, just follow me!"
Just follow me? Like I could even move away from you. You have iron grip! I sighed, as she drags me to her home. At first, we pass through the streets, and thankfully she takes the alleys so ponies don't see me, and we eventually leave the town, and to this place with trees... Growing some weird, red things from the trees. What are those things, anyways? Eventually, I snap back to attention, and find Apple Bloom looking at me, still dragging me along. But then I realize, she isn't leading me anymore. Or holding my hoof. I look up at the house, and smile. Something about this place felt good. Apple Bloom says "And this is where Ah live. Your gonna stay here, atleast until you can get your own place." She had a smile, and I looked at her. Our eyes locked for a second, but she then looks to the house, and breaths. She walks inside, and I just follow her.
Looking in the house, taking in the new sight, I kept alert. At least, until the last of my energy rush ended. Now I'm about as awake as a bear during winter. I let out a loud yawn, and I look at Apple Bloom, who looks at me and says "You might wanna wash yourself. You know." Right. After some time, I finish taking a shower, and I bandaged myself. I sighed, and looked around. Now I was even more tired. Apple Bloom, coming out of somewhere, says "You can sleep on th-" But before she finishes, I let out a little scream, and I then sigh. Apple Bloom giggles, and I whine. "Hey, that's not funny!" Which only makes her giggle more. And giggling is contagious!
I giggled also, and when we both finish, she says "You can sleep on the couch." I nod, and quickly I go over to the couch. As I walk, I eventually go limp and pretend I fell asleep already, my body bouncing slightly as it lands on the couch, me giving a real-sounding snore, although fake. Apple Bloom giggles, and then leaves. I get ready to sleep, when something is spread on me. I open my eyes slightly, and I see Apple Bloom leave, and the blanket on me. Whispering to myself, I say "Thank you."
I give up. I can't find him! I looked nearly everywhere! The park, the alleys, the buildings, and I couldn't find him! Tired, I walk home, and I open the door to my house once I get there. I close the door behind me, and climb into bed, the last of my strength used. I think slowly to myself. What if Shadow is never found? Thinking that over and over, slowly I drift to sleep, sad.
