My Name Is Sunflower
Chapter I
"Demon!" A brown and white pony shouted, sending the quivering filly backing up against the tree.
"She's no good, no good I tell ye'!" An elderly mare said, A stallion glaring down at the poor filly with an ever crushing disapproval.
"Sunflower, is it true you lapse into visions?" His rumbling voice quaked, the other ponies gathered around the filly glaring at her with the same imposing glare.
"Yes..." Her tiny voice squeaked out. Moving her long pink hair to cover her face, her purple eyes staring at his hooves rather than dare meet the large stallion's eyes.
"I told ye'!" the old mare yelled again, rocking up on her hind quarters for a second before suddenly remembering she was as old as dirt.
The stallion shook his head, his dark grey mane cropped short to keep it out of the way, which was quite a contrast to the others which all had long manes and tails. He was also quite large, even for a stallion, built like a tank he was clearly alpha. His shiny coffee brown coat showed he was in near perfect condition, or at least compared to some of the other ponies which were high strung and dirty.
Towards the back of the crowd there was a mare watching from the back, blinking at the filly more in recognition then anger or sadness. She moved to part away some of her soft pink mane to get a better look.
"Dreamer!" The stallion called, the mare stepping through the crowd. The filly flinched, for a second feeling a twinge of anger. A generalized anger, more at everypony around her, but also at herself. She didn't want to have these visions which more often than not scared her more than anyone else.
"Yes?" The mare responded, her eyes bored.
"Sunflower is your child, correct?" The stallion raised an eyebrow at her, surprised by her bored tone.
"Yes, she is." Dreamer looked at the filly, who, even though was angry before, almost seemed to plead to her. Her pleading eyes were glazed over however, the mare not caring enough to say anything for or against Sunflower
"Were you aware that she goes lapses into visions?" He said, turning his attention back to the filly. He knew full well that if he were kick out the twig hat she'd most likely die within a day, but really he didn't care so much. At least not enough to sacrifice the herd. Sunflower's circumstances had always been a bad sign, he didn't need anypony getting hurt.
"No." Yawned Dreamer, whom pulled him back into the present, tapping her foot. She avoided eye contact but not out of nervousness.
He shook his head and glanced back at the filly again, who was shaking as though she was a leaf.
"Then I suppose it's no surprise..." He said with a sigh. It was really quite typical of Dreamer.
"I'm tellin' ye'! If she sticks around we'll all pay for it!" The old pony shrieked. The stallion silently nodded in agreement, Sunflower's eyes growing wide as tried to back up into the tree again.
The stallion stepped closer to her, her knees almost buckling. She was mortified, feeling like there were butterflies in stomach. With one quick swipe he picked her up in his hoof, she squirmed but it was obvious she wasn't gonna get away.
"You can't do this! I didn't do anything." She cried, tears starting to cloud her eyes. The stallion said nothing, walking away from the edge of the forest where the herd presided. She screamed, kicking with all her might but it wasn't enough. Eventually after sometime he got annoyed and threw her down.
"If you return you won't survive. Do not come back, don't try and sneak in." He threatened, glaring down at her with a cruel unblinking stare. With that he turned and galloped away, leaving Sunflower all alone.
Luckily or unluckily enough Sunflower had been kicked out early morning, just after the sun was crawling into the sky. The tall grass around her was covered in dew but it'd all soon disappear now that the sun was coming up.
She took into view her surrounding; Well, first of all it seemed she was somewhere in the middle of a plains. There was somewhat tall grass (which she barely peaked over) and rolling hills. Far, far away she could see the forest where her old herd was probably grazing. She felt a twinge of anger, gritting her teeth before standing up. She winced a little bit, sure that she'd been bruised by the one whom had banished her. She sniffled and looked around again.
What was she gonna do? She was all alone, no one to protect her. She wasn't even close to being big, strong or fast enough to care for herself, so what should she do? Lie down and wait for something to eat her? But she couldn't just wait for that to happen. She wanted to live after all.
"Alright Sunflower you gotta find someway to insta-grow-up or find somepony to join up with." Sunflower reminded herself.
Sunflower soon got to work, trotting off away from where she came from, putting on her brave face.
Trotting through the grass wasn't hard, after all earth ponies were born to graze vast distances, using their impressive strength to defend themselves by either bucking away predators or running away, however Sunflower was still quite young and after an hour or so of trotting she lost pace and kept to a walk, the sun beating down harshly. With barely any shade the long summer days where very hot, but Sunflower distracted herself by humming.
Not long after two hours had passed she was exhausted. She'd been awoken by yelling that morning and for the past few hours had to walk and trot all by herself while the sun seemed quite content on blazing itself as hot and bright as possible just to not only sap her strength but also annoy her every time she wanted to see how long she'd been going at it for.
The plains were quite quiet, with merely the buzzing of insects, the pitter-patter of her own hooves and the breeze waving the vast area of grass. Speaking of grass, that was pretty much it. She could occasionally see some low growing flowers but even then they weren't exactly very vibrant mostly consisting of rusty reds and yellows. Besides that her surroundings were pretty much bare, but what was more worrisome is that because of her not so camouflaging pink and white she stood out like a sore hoof.
No! I can't start getting all nervous, walking. You'll find somepony eventually. Sunflower thought to herself, squeezing her eyes shut.
Sunflower shook her head and looked around, sniffing the air. The wind was moving away from her so sniffing didn't too much good, instead she had to put her nose to the ground and start sniffing so short grass, perhaps some other herd and mowed down the grass? She couldn't exactly tell until she found some old tracks, but they seemed a little big for ponies. She didn't exactly see or smell any other creatures bigger than a mouse so might as well follow the tracks?
Sunflower trotted down the beaten track, which over time became more and more patted down, the grass was basically just growing back. Whatever was there didn't just quickly eat and leave, it ate any and all vegetation along it's path.
"What the heck? Was this some sort of super herd?" Sunflower said aloud, just in case somepony heard her, but also because at this point there wasn't much of a point to staying quiet. There wasn't anything out there after all, or at least if there was it probably didn't care if she was mumbling to herself.
She continued forward, following the tracks however she began to feel that she'd need to start picking up the pace if she wanted to meet up with whatever was making this large eaten area. After more walking and trotting Sunflower began to feel discouraged. What if there wasn't anything there? Or what if whatever she found at the end wasn't a herd at all? She was just a filly after all, running blindly into what for all she knew could be a monster or a golem. Doubt began to weigh her down, her run turning to a trot which slowed
"There's still at least a slim chance..." Sunflower mumbled, picking up speed.
Taking that slim chance she went back to galloping, her long legs helpful for once. Normally they made her feel like she was walking with stilts strapped to her which also had the uncanny ability to make her feel quite clumsy almost ninety-five percent of the time. The other five percent of the time was when she had to travel fast for a long time, such as right then and there.
Sunflower ran for what felt like ages in the beating sun. She could only think of sitting under a nice shady tree as beads of sweat ran down her brow. She could imagine it so clearly, sitting under a nice patch of trees, the ground covered in moss, ferns and sometimes patches of grass. She could see various other ponies all grazing on the edge of the forest. The reason they did this was to avoid plains predators such as coyotes, wolves and gryphons, whom could swoop down on a pony too far from the safety of the trees. Besides that the forest's edge was quite pretty, tiny flowers would sometimes grow. She could imagine playing with the other fillies, like her friend Dust Kicker. She could imagine it so well, romping with her in the grass. It suddenly struck Sunflower that she hadn't been able to say goodbye. Sunflower's gallop turned into a jog then.
I can't turn around and run back... Grey would have the entire herd trample me. She thought, but she couldn't help but feel like she'd betrayed Dusty Kicker.
She sighed and came to a stop, looking around. There was no laughter or talking here, just the buzzing of insects and wind. There were no ponies out here to help her, even if she did find any they'd get freaked out just like her original herd. She hated it. Suddenly a dark shape zoomed over her and her fears were realized. She screamed and ran in wide figure eights, freaking out. If it was a gryphon she'd basically be an open target. Whatever was attacking her swooped down and she jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding the dark shape that ascended with great speed.
This is it. This is where I get eaten She thought, her stomach twisting in knots. She'd been running for so long that day she could only now start to feel he exhaustion. Her lungs burned and with every quick turn or dart her legs grew heavier.
Suddenly the dark shape landed in front of her and Sunflower skidded, turning away screaming.
"I'm not gonna hurt you!" The shape shouted, running to Sunflower. Sunflower turned, her wide purple eyes staring at the pony.
"Who... who are you?" Sunflower ordered, feeling a bit hostile. This pony scared her half to death!
"I'm Crescent!" The filly chirped. She wasn't quite as tall as Sunflower so she had to tilt her head up.
"Why were chasing me?" Sunflower asked.
"Oh well I saw you running in the open and I thought to myself "Oh that pony is in trouble" so I flew down and then you started freaking out." Crescent explained, flapping her bat wings. Sunflower had never even heard about such a thing, A pegasus with bat wings?
"How'd you know I was in trouble." Sunflower mumbled, holding her hoof.
"All the ponies I've seen live in herds, or in cities." Crescent chimed, looking directly into Sunflower's eyes with her slitted pupils.
"So you flew down and attacked me???" Sunflower growled.
"Actually I wasn't trying to attack you, you sorta just freaked out and ran in loops." Crescent said, tapping her chin with a very displeased Sunflower pressing her lips together.
"So why are you out here anyway? And what are you?" Sunflower asked, frowning a little bit.
"Oh well I was flying with my Dad, and I'm a Bat Pony." Crescent went on, beating her wings once.
Sunflower tilted her head, furrowing her eyebrows. What was a Bat Pony?
"A Bat Pony is like a pegasus except they have bat wings and have fluffy ears. Oh and fangs." Crescent barred her short fangs, Sunflower jumped back letting out a yelp.
"Oh don't worry I only eat fruit." Crescent chirped in response, laughing a little bit.
"Uh, where is your dad anyway." Sunflower grumbled, her cheeks rosing.
"Oh well..." Crescent frowned for a second, looking around.
"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD" Crescent suddenly yelled, Sunflower covering her ears.
Suddenly another bat pony descended from the sky. He was a bit odd looking compared to Crescent.
"I told you not to go flying off on your own missy!" He berated, narrowing his red eyes on Crescent who gave a sheepish smile. When her turned to Sunflower the little color left in his snowy white complexion drained.
"Also why are your terrorizing this young filly?" He continued, returning his gaze to Crescent.
"She was in trouble" Crescent said, lowering her gaze
"Was not!" Sunflower barked, crossing her hooves.
The stallion sighed and shook his head.
"Well if you're not in trouble then why are you all the way out here?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.
Sunflower's mind scrambled to come up with a good excuse. She couldn't tell them about the visions, especially if they might help her.
"I wanted to leave." Sunflower decided . She pushed her chest forward, holding her head a little higher, her mind going through the works to come up with a story.
Crescent's wings dropped and her mouth hung open.
"Wow! You must be really courageous to come out here all alone. or stupid." Crescent beamed, giggling as Sunflower gave her a flat face.
"Uh, anyway Sunflower I'm Nightingale." The older bat pony explained, holding out his hoof. Sunflower sensed something odd but shook hooves anyway.
"Daddy are we gonna take her back to the cave?" Crescent requested, tugging on her dad's wing.
"I don't see why we shouldn't." Nightingale said with a shrug.
Sunflower tilted her head, the edges of her mouth curling down a little bit. before she could react, Nightingale threw her onto his back, spreading his wings.
"Are you ready Crescent?" Nightingale called out, Crescent nodded and spread her wings.
Nightingale and Crescent ran forward before leaping into the air, Sunflower holding on tightly, her hooves wrapped around Nightingale's neck. As their ascended Sunflower squeezed her eyes shut.
Don't look down Don't look down Don't look down She thought to herself, biting her lips.
But Sunflower was curious, plus this would probably be the only time she'd ever fly before.
Sunflower slowly opened one eye, looking down. She could see everything; The vast hills of grass and the eaten path she'd walked upon. She could see the mountains towards the horizon and even some forests far, far away. It was the most wonderful feeling, she felt lighter then a feather, like all her pains and worries soaring away from her. In that moment Sunflower felt more free then ever before. The wind whipped past her face, her long mane carried behind her in it. Her attention turned to look at the clouds above, puffs of white in the sky they hung above her, Crescent and Nightingale.
"Is this what flying's like all the time?" Sunflower said dreamily, her purple eyes lighting up.
"Pretty much." Crescent said, flying closer to Sunflower, she turned her head to grin, barring her short fangs again. This time Sunflower wasn't freaked out, instead smiling widely.
One thing clawed at the edge of her head though, but at that moment she was having too much fun to really care.
After a few hours they'd arrived at the foot of a forest. There wasn't much on the floor however, the dense canopy blocked out too much light for anything other then perhaps the occasional fern. Nightingale and Crescent descended, Crescent nearly skidding into a tree. Sunflower climbed off, thanking Nightingale.
"So where do you guys live? A cave, the tree or?" Sunflower questioned, looked around.
"The cave is further back into the forest but it's a bit too dense to fly through. I hope you're okay with some more walking." Nightingale responded with, taking note that Sunflower's hoof were covered in dirt. perhaps it was an earth pony thing?
"There's lots of puddles in the cave; Don't go in them! they might look shallow but they can be super deep, or have a really strong current!" Crescent shrieked, waving her hooves in the air after shoving her face in Sunflower's.
"Uh, note taken..." Sunflower stammered, pulling her head back. Crescent nodded, pulling her head away.
With that, Nightingale, Crescent and Sunflower walked into the forest. Dappled light fell through the leaves, giving enough lighting for Sunflower to see where she was going, however that didn't stop her from tripping over roots and the occasional rock.
"Sunflower can you see where you're even goi- AH" Crescent taunted briefly before tripping over a rock herself.
"Better than you do." Sunflower said with a flat face.
"Aaaand we're here." Nightingale intervened, stopping.
In front of them the tree line dipped downwards, the forestry thinning into a ferned area that led to a gaping hole in the cliffside. The sudden clearing allowed Sunflower to see how cloudy it became, the fluffy clouds from before now blanketed the grey sky.
"We should probably get inside before it rains." Nightingale said, trotting towards the cave's mouth, Crescent and Sunflower following behind.
As they got closer to the mouth of the cave, Sunflower could see another bat pony fly out to greet them. She looked at Sunflower , but Sunflower couldn't read the mare's expression.
"Selene!" Nightingale called out, rushing forward. He smiled at her sweetly, his red eyes lighting up to see her.
"Good afternoon Nightingale, Crescent... guest..." Selene said, Her tone changing as she caught up to Sunflower.
"This is Sunflower!" Crescent chimed, throwing her hoof around Sunflower's neck to bring her into a hug.
"Nice to meet you miss." Sunflower mumbled.
"The pleasure is mine Sunflower." Selene acknowledged Sunflower again, then smiled at Nightingale.
before Crescent or Sunflower could say another word, Nightingale and Selene left the outside to go into the cave, leaving the fillies outside.
"Well, that was kinda rude." Sunflower muttered.
"Nightingale just likes Selene a lot, she can be nice but first she's gotta know you." Crescent mumbled through, lowering her head
"I'm guessing Selene does't know you very well...?" Sunflower asked,the rain drops starting to fall.
"I'm not her daughter so she doesn't really care, I guess." Crescent shrugged, the light going out in her eyes.
"Well, I guess me and you are just gonna have to tough through this together." Sunflower lightly punched Crescent's shoulder, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
"Alrighty then, follow me!' Crescent chirped, light flickering back as fast as it left her teal eyes.
Crescent took off into the cave, Sunflower clinging to Crescent's tail as they to further in. Crescent's description of the water sent her heart racing as she stumbled around in the dark with crescent as her eyes. She almost felt embarrassed clinging to a pony who had to tilt her head to look her in the eyes, but then again she was reminded of the demon cave rivers when a tiny drop of water fell right above her brow.
"EEP" She shrieked, tugging on Crescent's tail.
"Ech!" Crescent shouted and she was yanked to a quivering Sunflower.
"Don't worry, as long as you're with me you'll be fine." Crescent patted Sunflower's head.
Sunflower's face flattened again and she huffed out her nose, meanwhile Crescent's thin smile was wide across her face.
"Let's just go.." Sunflower grumbled.
Crescent continued forward, Sunflower keeping close, this time by Crescent's side. Crescent's wing went over Sunflower's back, Sunflower making sure not to stray far enough for it to fall off.
Eventually the cave started to slope downward, the air dampening and the ground becoming almost slippery. In the background there was the monotonous drip of water from stalactites to the cave floor, the water streaming between stalagmites and downwards. Besides the drips, there was also the flutter of wings so faint Sunflower was sure she might be hallucinating. At one point Sunflower thought she was hallucinating, hearing voices and grew worried.
Not the voices again... She thought, her heart rate picking up.
"Stop!" Crescent shouted into Sunflower's ear, Sunflower thrown back into reality.
"I'm hooOOome!' Crescent chirped.
The cave was now lit but bioluminescent mushrooms and other plants and she was almost blinded. She suddenly realized that if she'd been in the dark much longer she would have really hallucinated.
In front of them was a peculiar village, with each 'house' being an opening in the wall leading to probably some sort of room. Mushrooms and vine-like plants glowed greens and blues, lining the walls and ledges. In the center of the village was a fountain, stalagmites under the surface of the water. The water glowed strangely enough, it's warm orange light streamed out of the surface, dapling the ceiling with spots of light.
The village was huge, spires of rock held spiralling staircases dug into the rock leading upwards. With the homes in the walls of the cave, the rest of the area was open for ponies to leasure about. Most sat around talking, trading or playing but attention quickly turned to Crescent and the strange pony she'd brought in
"Crescent!" An aegean filly said, fluttering their bat wings
"Inky!" Crescent shouted with glee, running to hug her friend.
"Oh-Uh who's this?" Ink asked, looking over Crescent's shoulder.
"This is Sunflower! She's an earth pony!" Crescent replied, smiling again.
"Ooooh, i've never seen an earth pony." Inky explained, walking towards Sunflower. Inky's sky blue eyes fixed onto Sunflower.
"You have so much hair." Inky cited, picking up the taffy colored hair. The curls and locks fell between her hoof, which was odd compared to her own which was thin and wiry.
"I... guess?" Sunflower confirmed.
A few other fillies trotted over, their eyes luminescent of varying colors. A few adults glanced at the group for a moment then carried on with their day.
"I'll talk to you guys later, I gotta show Sunflower around." Crescent said, waving the other fillies goodbye as Sunflower joined her.
"Were those yours friends?" Sunflower asked, looking behind her shoulder as they started walking.
"Kinda. I know everypony here though." Crescent commented.
Crescent lead Sunflower towards one of the three spires and they ascended the stairs, each step wide enough so they could walk side by side. After waking up for a while they arrived at what appeared to be almost a temple. Stone Spires held up the roof meanwhile glowing water circled around the spires, a path leading to a raised stone piece. The raised piece held steps leading up to a throne.
Sitting atop the throne was a midnight black mare, whom had a curved horn and bat wings. Her mane was like wine, purplish red and straight. She had huge black wings and stunning magenta eyes that bore into Sunflower. She wore some sort of neck garment. It as like a necklace but pearly white, a moon insignia in the center. Two other bat ponies stood at either side of the throne, one holding a platter of fruits along with a goblet of wine, the other one had a spear, it's shaft metallic and it's point as pearly as the moon.
Crescent bowed, Sunflower lowering her head alongside her.
"Crescent, what brings you here?" The mare's silvery voice addressed the two.
"M'Lady, I've brought this pony here for shelter. I found her out in the plains." Crescent spoke, her normally bubbly composure becoming more firm.
"Oh? And what is this pony's name." The mare responded with, getting off the throne to get step closer to Sunflower and Crescent, her long legs carrying her gracefully forward, the thin veil in front of her face not obscuring her vision in the slightest.
"This is Sunflower." Crescent informed the mare.
"I see, how do you plan to take care of her then?" The mare continued with.
"She is going to roost with me, m'lady." Crescent responded, closing her eyes.
"I see, well then, Miss Sunflower, I am Eravu the matriarch of this colony." Eravu walked back to her throne, sitting atop the ebony seat.
The throne was a twisted thing; The armrests and seat the only flat surface, all else being jagged ebony with pearly white stone carved into it. And above her head was a large white circle, dotted with darker areas. A perfect replica of the moon.
Author's Note
Back with better grammar and spelling! Also hopefully less plotholes and inconsistency.
Also trying to better format it, hopefully everything won't be so bunched up
Walk
Chapter II
Sunflower was normally used to waking up at dawn, the sun rising and streams of light gently waking up all the ponies in the herd. But now she was in a cavern with no sun as her alarm clock. Crescent told her not to worry about it seeing as most bat ponies don't wake up until evening.
"What about you Crescent? Why do you wake up early?" Sunflower asked, sitting across from Crescent.
"Weeell..." Crescent sighed, looking away.
"I'm not 100% batpony. My dad was a bat pony, but there was someone else. So I'm kinda more of a fruit bat." Crescent confessed.
"Crescent it's okay, you don't need to tell me anything you don't want too." Sunflower returned.
"Alright... Sunflower, how come you left your herd? You're not that much older than I am and I don't dare go outside without telling anypony" Crescent asked, her ears perking up.
"I... uh. I wanted to see the world. I was bored of sitting on the edges of forests." Sunflower replied.
"Weird, that's what I want to do when I grew up!" Crescent replied cheerfully, grinning toothily.
Sunflower's eyes lit up, a smile tugging the corners of her mouth.
"Are we allowed to go outside?" Sunflower got up, walking towards Crescent.
"Well yea, I just gotta tell someone" Crescent answered with a huff, scrunching her nose.
"Then let's go find him!" Sunflower remarking, throwing her hoof around Crescent's neck.
"Sure, but first we gotta clean up." Crescent chimed, pulling away gently to tuck in her blanket.
"You guys take your cleanings seriously. Most of the time we roll around in grass or dirt."
"Caves are wet so ickies grow pretty fast if we don't stay clean."
"That's as good a reason as any." Sunflower said through her the blanket in my mouth, pulling and tucking the blanket into the corners of the bed.
Quietly, She and Crescent cleaned their room. Each bed was tucked into the wall, Crescent's being on top because she could fly. The bed part of the bed was fabric with wool inside it, tied with a string so every once in a great while the wool could be changed out.
In the corners of the room were small intents which held purple and blue glowing crystals. Sunflower's eyes had a hard time adjusting to the strange new colors, but over night she'd started getting her bearings.
"Alright, let's go." Crescent chirped, turning her head to Sunflower.
Crescent lead Sunflower out, walking through the main room and into the second carven as she'd named it.
"So how'd you guys find this place/ or did you dig it out? I mean there are two housing caverns, one main area and then you have the templey place." Sunflower questioned as Crescent lead her down the spiral staircase to the main area."
"Actually, the ancient night queen built this place." Crescent corrected
"Night queen?"Sunflower asked again, inquisitive
"Yeah, Night Queen. She was the moon goddess, until she uh, died." Crescent said, looking about
"If i'm gonna live with you I think it'd be helpful to know more." Sunflower stated, slowing to a stop at the end of the stairs.
"Yup! That's why we have learning days. Basically we go to the main floor and one of older bat ponies teach us about history, flying and other tribes. Sometimes we learn how to fight." Crescent said with a soft smile.
"That sounds kinda fun, it'd be nice to fight rather than run. Except flying, I guess i'll just sit n' watch you guys." Sunflower shrugged.
"There you are!" Nightingale remarked as he flew down. His white wings contrasted against the other bat ponies who were normally dark colors.
"Daddy!" Crescent beamed, hugging her father tightly. Her smile wide.
"Hiya sweetie, sorry I wasn't here last night. Me and Selene were out and about." Nightingale admitted.
"It's okay, I showed Sunflower all around, and she met the Fair Lady." Crescent said through her smile.
"That's good, so where were you two heading?" Nightingale asked, smiling back at his daughter
"Oh well I was gonna ask you if we could go out and get something to eat." Crescent asked, her tone dipping slightly.
"Sure, just be back befor-" Nightingale was interrupted by a certain bat pony.
"Nightingale~" A dark pink mare called out. Her reddish pink eyes glowed in the dark and pinned directly on Nightingale.
"Oh-Uh gotta go girls." He gave a brief kiss on the forehead to Crescent and flew off to meet up with Selene.
"Bye Daddy..." Crescent swallowed hard, turning to Sunflower she flashed a fake smile. Sunflower could tell, the light dimmed in Crescent's eyes.
After that, they walked in silence for a while. Crescent's eyes firmly on the ground, while Sunflower frowned every so softly. Her eyelids fell, feeling her heart weighing down.
"Crescent, do you wanna see if we can play with the other fillies?" Sunflower asked, trying to change the subject.
"Uh...sure. After breakfast." Crescent muttered, not changing her focus.
"Okay..." Sunflower sighed, following behind Crescent.
Quietly they continued forward, Sunflower getting close to Crescent as the glowing moss and mushroom dispersed and inky blackness filled the cave.
"Sorry, sometimes I feel a little sad and I shut down, but I'll try not to do that too much." Crescent said quietly, her tone lightening.
"It's fine Crescent, why would I get mad anyway?" Sunflower responded.
"Maybe not mad but, When I told some other ponies about it they said I shouldn't complain because other ponies have it worse." Crescent admitted, stopping.
"Just because somepony has it worse than you doesn't mean you can't still feel hurt." Sunflower pointed out, looking at where Crescent's voice was coming from.
"Bu-" Before Crescent continued Sunflower interrupted her.
"I mean, even if somepony was hurting you don't suddenly stop feeling hurt. If I kicked you in the jaw your jaw wouldn't stop being broken just because somepony fell off a cliff. Sure they're in more pain and deserve more attention but that does mean you just stop hurting." Sunflower rambled on, glancing at the floor.
"Are you speaking from experience or...?" Crescent asked slowly.
"That's just what my Mom told me." Sunflower responded quickly, dancing around the term Mom like it was a candle flame.
"Ooooh. Anyway let's go eat!" Crescent chimed, going through the dark cave again, Sunflower keeping right by her side.
Crescent kept kept a decent paced trot, Sunflower's long legs however made it easy to keep up. Crescent almost felt jealous for just a moment, but she remembered Sunflower couldn't see at all in the dark. How horrible! It wouldn't be fair if Sunflower, or any other earth pony, didn't have long, strong legs to match Bat Ponies, who not only could fly but also could see in the dark.
"It's only fair!" Crescent chirped to herself.
"Uh, yeah?" Sunflower agreed, though she wasn't quite sure what Crescent was talking about.
Crescent lead Sunflower back up the slowly sloped tunnel and into the damp area. Water dripped down from the cave ceiling somewhere above making the air heavy. Sunflower slowed down, the cave floor was almost slimy and Sunflower felt like she was walking on stilts.
Suddenly, Crescent was gone. Sunflower couldn't feel her wing anymore.
"Crescent?!" Sunflower cried, looked around frantically.
She took trotted forward in the dark. After yelling out for Crescent a few more times, her heart beat faster, breath hastening.
"Cresceeeent!" She called out again, a sinking feeling in her stomach.
She could've been walking in circle for all she knew. She took a few steps forward, and there was a sudden dip downwards. It was slippery and tried to push herself back up from the sudden dip, but instead she fell forward, the rock too slippery.
She went sliding down the rock,screaming all the way, falling onto her side. She scrapped at the rocks, trying to slow down or stop.
There was a sudden splash and she hit the water, thrown into water. Everything was murky and dark. The water's icy fingers grabbed at her skin and choked her breath as she went under. Her legs seemed to freeze up. She tried to push herself up but the current was far too much. The cave water stung her lips and her ears and choked her lungs.
Suddenly everything grew warm. Her mind felt fuzzy and light.
Well, this is a great way to go. Drowning on my way to breakfast. She thought to herself as the current pushed her farther down.
Something touched her back, the rocky surface of something. That's when ti struck her. She whirled onto her back. The current tried to push her down but at the bottom she was fine. She opened her eyes and could see something peering back at her. If she could've screamed she would have,
It's eyes were glassy and skin grossly slimy. It looked a bit like a pony but with wrinkly transparent slime around it's skin. It's lips were puffy and seemed almost like ragdoll, swaying back and forth. It stared at her blankly.
Oh god it's dead. It's a dead pony. She'd noticed as the thing was pretty much decomposing. It's wasn't floating on it's own, the current was keeping it under.
No time, I gotta find a way out Her attention turned upwards to the inky darkness.
She tried to swim up but was violently forced down. She looked walked along the bottom, barely able to see. Frigid water sapped her strength and she could feel her hooves grow numb. She eventually found a strange rock on the bottom. It was strange. It was layered differently. Rather then being grey this one was various oranges. Moving the stone aside and was pulled down again, into a tunnel. Water rushed forward, pushing her down the tube.
"ALL I WANTED WAS BREAKFAAAAAAAST" She yelled as she went whirling down the rocky tube.
Water pushed her faster and faster. She went upwards and downwards, water roaring as it threw her further down the shaft. She almost flipped onto her stomach as the shaft made a short curve downwards.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH" Sunflower screamed, getting spat out of the tub and into a pillar.
"Oof." She grunted, smacking into the stone pillar, water tumbling out of the hole with her.
"What in the name of..." The bat pony said, turning to see Sunflower slide down the pillar.
"Child, how did you...?" Eravu requested, flicking her ears.
"Crescent and I were going to eat breakfast but I can't see in the dark so I lost her and then I fell into a pool of water and then I almost drowned and there was a dead pony and then there was a weird rock so I pushed the rock and then I went down a tube, THERE WAS A LOOPTY-LOOP, and then I slammed into a stone pillar and now i'm here and I am very confused." Sunflower explained quickly, let out a long breath after her run-on sentence.
"Oh, well, we should see if there's some way to fix that.. perhaps in the future you should acquire a lamp of sorts if possible." One of the guards suggested, rushing over to help Sunflower to her hooves,
"You... can buy lanterns n stuff here?" Sunflower asked, befuddled.
"Perhaps, however you allow me to lead you to your friend. I believe you said you two were going to breakfast, correct?" The bat pony requested quietly.
Sunflower nodded and the bat pony handed the spear to another of it's kind, then approached her. Sunflower shook herself, trying to dry off. The bat pony simply shrugged with their eyes and allowed Sunflower to climb on.
With that they took off into the cave, flying towards the cave opening. Her carrier dipped and dived and spun around the cave like they'd done it a thousand times before. With a soft whoosh they landed softly at the mouth of the cave.
"Thank you." Sunflower mumbled softly. The shadowy bat pony nodded and flew back in without a word.
"Uh, why are you wet?" Crescent asked, popping out from behind Sunflower.
"GAH! I... fell into a river? Pond? I don't even know. What I do know is that we need to buy a lantern." Sunflower responded with, turning to look at Crescent.
"Oh, that might be a problem, but we can try. Right now let's go." Crescent said cheerfully, leading Sunflower into the dark forest.
Dappled light fell through the trees falling onto the rooted ground. The tall trees swayed lightly in the breeze. Birds sung their gentle morning calls within the swaying branches, meanwhile some twittered about on the forest floor.
"So where exactly do we find breakfast?" Sunflower asked, walking a little ways behind Crescent.
"There's this nice hillside ahead, it was pretty close to where we came in actually." Crescent explained.
The forest floor was pretty bare, besides the occasional patch of ferns, viburnum or myrtle. The fern's almost furry leaves culminated together, meanwhile the viburnum that grew was more separated. Their round leaves grabbed as much sunlight as possible, meanwhile the large patches of myrtle seemed content with the more shaded areas.
"Can we eat these?" Sunflower asked, looking at the patches of plants.
"Viburnum and myrtle are okay, but don't eat ferns." Crescent answered, pointing her hoof to the patches of myrtle.
"I guess I wouldn't really wanna eat that stuff anyway." Sunflower shrugged. Myrtle was a low growing plant and straining one's neck to eat wasn't her idea of a good breakfast.
Crescent lead her through the forests, towering pine trees stood above them, trunks thick with years. The ground was covered in their flat scaly needles. Sunflower could begin to see the trees clear into a hillside, the land elevating to her right.
Crescent lead her along , sunlight hitting the hillside as long wiry grass blades started to grow, the tall pine trees parting for deciduous trees, their leafy crowns in the sky.
"Whoa." Sunflower said, looking out onto a hilly plains.
The hillside in front of her spread out into a vast plains. This was greeny then the one she'd grown up with.
"The forests big grazing animals from getting too far in, so elk n stuff don't mow down everything." Crescent explained, answering Sunflower's silent question.
Sunflower's jaw fell, eyes wide by the sheer amount of greenery. Crescent smiled widely and turned to Sunflower.
"Alright, time to eat. I'll go find some fruit for myself, you just hang out up here." Crescent extended her wings and took off with a jog.
Sunflower closed her mouth and turned to the luscious grass all around her. It looked so untouched. Suddenly a thought popped into her head.
Maybe if I show the others... The thought came out of left field it seemed.
She shook her head. As if
She bent down to eat, the grass crunching between her teeth as she ate. She didn't have to focus on eating, in fact she liked to take breakfast time to think.
Please. Lead said that if I came back he'd kill me, or have the others do it. Showing them some fancy new eating spot wouldn't help anyone.
She thought and thought, feeling her chest closing. Her lungs seemed to seize up on her and everything became slowed. Her stomach twisted, gnarled and twisted like the branches of broken trees.
She pulled her head up to look around, flicking her ears. She turned in circles around herself.
I'm still on the hillside She thought quietly, blinking twice.
She breathed in, letting out a sigh. The panic in her heart eased and she bent down again. Calm returned; the gentle breeze soothing as always. The twittering of birds was quiet.
Suddenly there was a pungent odor. It smelled repulsive, like rotting wood and dead fish. Her ears flicked around, swivelling like radars. Her eyes dilated, becoming thin and small in spheres of purple. She'd frozen solid, her mane slowly drifting with the wind, the pink threads washing over one another.
Sunflower glanced around slowly, looking towards the forest. The rotting smell stung her nose and eyes, and fought hard not to blink. Everything slowed down again, and her vision became near perfect.
A large shadow moved between the dark trees, dappled light failing to show it's identity. It was low to the ground, with high shoulders and no tail. It was huge, of course, but small enough to fit through the trees and stay hidden.
She took a few steps backwards, the soft grass muffling her steps to silence. Sunflower kept contact at the beast as much as possible, but wit it moving amongst the dark forest it was near impossible, especially as be backed away.
Suddenly the thing reared it's head into the light. It's face was short and circular, with stubby ears and as she could tell beady eyes. Light hit directly onto it's face reveal itself.
Bear.
The creature brought up so many bad memories. She should have remembered the awful, rotting smell. The smell that carried with it Rainfoot and Clear Sky, or the beady blank stare that bore into Aspirus.
Her heart thundered in her chest and she took off over the hill, running as fast as she physically could across the hillside. She flew over it, hooves tumbling against the ground in heavy step.
She could hear it's husky growl growing nearer, gaining speed. She could smell it getting closer to; the rotting odor becoming stronger and more powerful.
I just can't seem to catch a break Sunflower thought as she galloped along. If she could slip back into the trees she may be safe, however it'd be difficult to turn without the bear being able to catch her.
She started to turn in a wide arc, going uphill. The soft grass became more rocky, with tufts of grass taking root this way and that in between the gravel.
Her lungs burned but she kept top speed, even as her legs seemed to weigh down. Like leads weights attached themselves to her hooves as she ran. She could hear the bear trailing behind, perhaps not even a yard or two behind her.
Suddenly she slowed, turned tight along a curve. The hill side dropped into a valley, nearly straight downwards, and she could hear the tiny pebbles underneath her fly off and down the side of the cliff. She turned her head, the bear chasing after her, growing ever closer. She turned, taking off again, running along the ridge of rocks. She skidded to a stop again, rocks flying out from beneath her feet. Another dead end.
Sunflower didn't have enough time to react, the bear stopped swiping at her. She ducked, it's hooks barely sailing over her head. She backed up, her hoof slipping on the edge. The bear landed, it's giant mass smashing into the ground. She jumped to the right of the bear, it snapping it's jaws as she slipped into a run. The bear growled
Her lungs burned, her throat felt cold and viscous and her legs felt like weights trying to pull her down. Her heart was racing in her ribcage, blood thundering in her ears.
She ran again, this time not along the ridge. She jumped between the rocks keeping herself as agile as the wind. However like unlike wind she was not unbound to the earth.
She turned her head, the bear starting to lose steam. It huffed, still running after her but starting to lose interest. However with her head turned she failed to see the large rock outcrop she was about to ram into at full speed.
She bounced off the hard surface, moaning in pain. She felt blood trickle down her nose, like warm metal slipping down her face and into her mouth. It tasted gross; coppery and metallic. She turned around and the bear was already upon her.
In her dazed state she didn't have time to dodge and the bear swept it's claws across her, sending her flying down the rocks. She rolled downhill, the slas across her collar stinging awfully in pain. The bear's laws cut through her like butter.
The tiny mass laid on it's side, the bear making it's way downhill. She struggled to rise up, her shoulder shooting pain upwards. She breathed heavily, backing down, her raspy breath quickening.
The bear seemed confused. She'd not only gotten up again but looked at them with defiance. Why didn't you die when I hit you???
"It takes more than one lousy swipe to take me out." She spat out like venom, or more likely the blood that had trickled down into her mouth.
Though her knees betrayed her. They shook as she stood, she wasn't sure if she could run fast enough or long enough to get away and now she probably just made it angry.
The bear ran again and she threw herself into another run, this time gaining speed downhill. She was basically tripping downhill, however, not exactly awake after not only slamming into the rock at full speed, but also getting knocked down the rocky hillside. This made her run in zig-zags, bouncing from rock to rock trying not to fall over but also run as fast as she could.
I am just not having a good week
She huffed then slipped down hill, tumbling over herself. The rocky surface underneath her turned to grass as she winced and yelled down hill, going "ow" the entire way down
She looked around and the bear was gone, no sight or smell of it. She couldn't even hear it's husky breath anymore. It'd given up, giving her time to lay on the grass wincing and aching.
She looked up to the sun, trying to find the time. It's warmth crept down onto her face as she sat in the shadow of a tree.
"It's only noon and i've already almost died twice today."
After lying there for a while she got back up, walking towards the forest. How the heck was she gonna find Crescent, or get back to the cave? She was partially annoyed seeing as she'd walked nearly all day yesterday and now she was walking again today. The thought made her hooves ache all over again. She thought she should perhaps retrace her steps, but she'd most likely alert the bear again.
She thought about which way she'd travelled across the mountain and started walking along the valley, between where the trees started to ascend. and made her way to where she could only guess she'd started. The grass underneath her hooves was soft enough, however she really just did not want to walk.
The alabaster filly then fell over, paralyzed. It struck like it always did, randomly. It was like something invisible grabbed her and thrown her onto the ground but she could never know when or why. It just happened. Now she'd much rather walk again.
Her heart beat rapidly in her chest, breathing hard and fast.
Oh gods not again
She wanted to scream, but her jaw was only slightly open from when she fell as no sound would come out. Her vision tunneled away, becoming foggy then dark until there was only dark.
Author's Note
I'm not sure if viburnum or myrtle is actually toxic to horses, I did some research but not much came up. If anyone can correct me i'll fix it.
Once again chapter lengths will vary depending on what I want to do per chapter, the reason being in The Truth lots of paragraphs became boring/ lifeless due to me not wanting to write them but having to get at least 4,000 words per chapter
