The fog. (part one)

Exactly one week after Nightmare night, and three days since the five survivors returned home.

It was morning, it was the breaking of dawn.

Over the past week the locals of Ponyville were buzzing with nervous energy about this... "Hooman."

The creature made it's second appearance the day after Nightmare night to ask the townsponies not to tell anyone that he exists.  Luckily they listened, only talking about him among themselves in private.

In the library, a certain purple mare was up in her loft.

She had been preparing herself for the past half hour for meeting uh... Calcifer.

The thought of this being that held so much power, brought her back to the living, and...

Twilight was still unsure of what she should think about what Calcifer lastly did to her.

She silently examined her face in her dresser's mirror, mainly examining her eyes though, and the flesh around them.

In a way she was embarrassed of this new look, and it made it hard to go out in public out of the attention she, not so silently, received.

Fluttershy had been talking back and forth between Calcifer and the other five in the time past since Nightmare night.

He says he couldn't save the "yellow colt" (Lemons) because it was just his time to pass on.  Out of all his friends and family, Pinkie took his death the hardest...

A soft knocking at the door sounded; a soft knocking that could only belong to a timid yellow Pegasus who was the guide to Calcifer's waterfall.

Taking her gaze off of the mirror, she looked down her loft to the front door.

She COULD just not answer the door.  Not meet this..."thing."

Who knows what it's is more capable of!

The knocking stopped, waiting for the purple unicorn to open it.

Twilight thought back to Calcifer's invitation to meet him.  The "Human" said that she and the other four didn't have to come, and can just have his condolences...

A snore from Spike curled up on the foot of Twilight's bed broke the mare out of her second thoughts.  She turned to the small dragon mumbling in his sleep.  After dying infront of him, Spike barely left her side.  The shock of everything that had happened this past week had Spike in a morbid haze, and ended up with him seeking the comfort of Twilight's bed the past few nights.

Twilight stood silently looking at the baby dragon the SHE herself hatched.  If it wasn't for Calcifer, she'd never be able to see Spike again.

...

A few seconds past before there was a knocking on the window above her bed.

Twilight looked up to find a glisten of a gold wing and a cyan coated Pegasus bathed in early morning blue, looking down at her through the window.

"C'mon Twilight!  We don't have all morning!"  Rainbow exclaimed through the glass.

Most of her left wing was enveloped in golden feathers, and the doctors say that even the flesh under the feathers is a skin-like golden tissue as well.

Before Twilight knew it, her rainbow maned friend was gone, flown back to her front porch.

Calcifer said that he'd explain why the burn marks were like that if they'd come see him; to Twilight that was another reason to meet him.

Seeing that she had no choice as to weather she'd go now or not, Twilight took a deep breath in and out, and looked at her face in the mirror one more time.

Her once purple hued irises were now the color of bright gold, and the scars left from the burns that scraped across her eyes were the same color, but all in all her vision was the same.

The necklace Celestia gave her still hung around Twilight's neck.

It was a wonder how it was even still on her person.

Putting that wonder aside, Twilight quietly started down the stairs.

She opened the door to more ponies than were invited.

Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity, Apple Bloom, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, and lastly Big Macintosh carrying a saddle bag on his back.

"Where's Pinkie Pie?" The purple mare inquired.

"We couldn't find her." Applejack answered, "Ah don't think that she'd wanna go anyways."

A melancholy thought popped into her head, and she understood why the pink mare wasn't among them.

Lemon's death made Pinkie start to act a bit... un-Pinkieish...

"Well... I guess she had a choice to come in the first place..."

Rainbow butted in, "YEAH!  So can we go already?  I've been wanting to see this thing for awhile."

"YEAH! Lets go already!"  Scootaloo jumped next the the golden left-winged cyan mare, a large excited smile plagued across her face.

Twilight gave a somewhat happy grin, at least someponies were sure they wanted to go.

She stepped out of the tree-house, leaving Spike to his sleep,  "All right then..."

***

They stood all stood infront of the treeline of Everfree in Fluttershy's back yard.

All silent, all still.

The nine ponies stared into the barely see-able autumn morning forest before them.  Morning mist had shrouded the forest in a nearly invisible vial of thick white moisture; although the proximity around Fluttershy's home was completely clear of fog.

It was yet another weird thing that apparently occurs in Everfree's boundaries.

"We're going through that?" Rarity complained, the golden flesh on her chest glistening in the morning sun infront of the woods.

"Ah... guess." Applejack responded, "Unless Rainbow Dash could help us out."

All the ponies turned to Rainbow with wondering expressions.

"Sorry, clouds are one thing, but fog is alot different.  There's no structure with fog."

Disappointed looks shot to the ground.

"Twilight do you think you could move the fog away with your magic?"  Fluttershy asked the gold eyed mare.

Seeming a bit timid herself, Twilight said, "I could try."

The mare stepped infront of the group, and stared into the mist shrouded forest before her.

Closing her eyes in concentration, she tried to kinetically move a path out of the fog.

...nothing happened.

The purple aura had indeed engulfed in the concentrated areas to where Twilight fixated, but no matter how hard she tried the fog wouldn't bide by her command.

About a minute passed before she gave up.

The mare opened her eyes, and looked again into the fog.

"I don't think this is normal fog."

The group stayed silent, pondering what next to do.

"Um... excuse me."

Fluttershy interrupted the silence.

The group turned to the yellow Pegasus.

Fluttershy walked up besides Twilight, and faced the group.

"There's no discernible path to Calcifer's Waterfall."

"What?" The ponies said in response.

Belaying the confusion of the other eight, Fluttershy continued.

"It's true it may be harder to see where we're going, but no matter where you are in the forest all you need is a certain little song, and Calcifer will tell you where he is."

Confused glares shot at the Pegasus.

"How?"  Big Mac asked.

"Oh well, Calcifer has really good ears."

They all stared at her somewhat awkwardly.

"Erm... Whats the song?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"It's more or less a tune, Sweetie, It goes like this..."

Fluttershy cleared her throat, and sang a short melody that went up three times to a higher pitch, then dropped to a low note.

"Do, do do; DO!"

A few silent seconds past before a low mumbling coming from the forest in front of them sounded.

Their ears perked up.

It was the exact same tune that Fluttershy had played.

A sudden nauseous queasiness crept into the stomachs of the eight, although Fluttershy was smiling keenly into the fog.

Somepony was in there...

"Twilight, do you think that you could give off a light and co-guide us to the waterfall?  Just so it will be easier for us not to get lost."  The yellow mare asked her friend standing next to her.

Twilight gave her an unsure look, but meeting Calcifer seemed like a quest now.

For whatever reason though, Twilight felt like this was a quest she had to take.

She smiled at Fluttershy, "Of course."

Fluttershy smiled back, then turned to the rest of the group.

"Okay, It really important that we stick together, so why don't we form a single file line.  Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, you three stay behind me and Twilight.  Keep an eye on the girls who are gonna be behind you.  Big Mac you take the back so you can keep an eye on the girls as well.  Be sure to always have sight of Twilight's light, understand?"

The ponies stared at the pink maned Pegasus before them, all thinking the same thing.

"Who is this mare, and what did she do to Fluttershy?"

The strange glances caught Fluttershy kind of strangely, "Is... is something wrong?"

She turned to Twilight beside her, even she was gobsmacked a tad.

"Oh uh, nothing.  It's just that we've never heard you uh..."

"Heard me... what?" She asked timidly.

"You know, talk like you just did before."

"Oh my, um... is is that okay?"

Yep, she's still Fluttershy...

"Haha, it's okay."

"Oh, good.  Now is everypony ready?"

She turned to the rest of the group who nodded in contempt.

"All right then.  Twilight?"

Upon command, Twilight gave one last friendly smile to Fluttershy, and began to trot into the fog, her horn aglow with radiant purple light.

Her first step into the white vial, and there was a loud shouting.

"HEEEYYYY!"

The shout itself was somewhat confusing, it sounded waveringly, but also somewhat mad.

The glow from Twilight's horn seized, and everypony looked towards Fluttershy's cottage.

Low and behold, there was a straight haired pink mess of a Pinkie Pie running towards them, anger in her eyes.

"Pinkie?"  Twilight asked under her breath.

The pink mare stopped suddenly infront of the group of nine, her breaths heavy and panting, and her head aimed towards the ground.

Twilight quickly trotted to the pink mare.

"Pinkie, we're so glad you could make i-"

"HOW---Dare---YOU!!"

The panting accusation coming from Pinkie startled everypony, and they all stared at her in awe.

"Pi Pinkie, whats wrong?"

The pink earth pony gazed up and stared at Twilight.

Her hair moved out of the way of the golden scars running up and down her right shoulder.

Her face was unforgettable.  In all of her time spent knowing Pinkie, Twilight had never seen her like this.

Tear stains drenched her face, her expression was a pure mix of anger, sadness, depression, and out of all "Lost."

The sight of her made Twilight's heart break.

"Pinkie what's wrong?"  She asked again.

Her stare was stabbing, but Twilight didn't pull away.

"You're going to see him..."

Twilight backed away a bit, giving Pinkie some space to breath.

"We all are.  We looked for you but we couldn't fi-"

"HE COULD HAVE DONE IT! I KNOW HE COULD HAVE!"

Her out burst sent chills of dread lightning through her spine.

"Are you talking about Calcifer?"

"WHO ELSE WOULD I BE TALKING ABOUT?"

"Pinkie dear, there's really no need to shout.  Calcifer couldn't ha-"

"Oh yes he could have Rarity!"

The pink mare gave a swift turn to face the golden chested unicorn.

"Don't believe his lies, He saved all five of us, and It was obviously our time to go!  And when he says that he couldn't have saved Lemons, he LIED!  He could have saved him."

"Pi- Pinkie He couldn't have..."  Fluttershy threw a spear into the conversation.

"Calcifer was..."

"Was what Fluttershy, he WAS WHAT?"

Pinkie's dagger-like stare scared Fluttershy, and the yellow mare backed away a bit, hiding behind her long mane.

"He was---"  She mumbled the last part.

"What?"

Fluttershy swiped a look at Pinkie's face, and said nothing.

She stared back at the ground.

"You'd have to talk to him so he could explain..."  The mare said softly.

Pinkie's glare only got tighter in anger, it burned fear into Fluttershy as she slowly tried to walk away from her.

Her glare continued until, "Fine."

The tension somewhat eased up within the group, and things went awkwardly silent.

The cutie mark crusaders slowly peeked at Pinkie from behind Big Mac, still wondering what the hay just happened.

Rainbow, Applejack, Twilight, and Rarity's shocked faces stayed put on the pink Earth pony.

Fluttershy mumbled "Okay..."  under her breath.

With still some spite in her voice, pinkie added, "But I'm not gonna like it." in a sort of punctual manner.

Twilight was the first to shatter her shock, "Well, um... Shall we get going then? I suppose you can walk infront of Big Mac"

The three fillies behind Macintosh began waving to Twilight and Silently yelling "NO!!!! NO!!!" to the mare.

Pinkie was unable to see, due to her now looking at Twilight.

Seeing that that was a bad choice, she changed her sentence, "O or you could walk with Rainbow and Applejack, and Rarity could walk with the girls."

Pinkie hardly thought it through when she said she didn't care, and walked to the edge of the forest, waiting for the rest of the group with a distilled frown on her face.

Twilight gave Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity a short look, then a worried look to the fillies behind Mac, then stared back at the three again.

They all gave a nod "O.K."

...