From dark to light.

A surprisingly-normal day in Ponyville was coming to a end, the sun was setting creating a beautiful red-orange glow in the sky. Most of the ponies were now in their homes, foals were tuck in. But one mare, her job didn't end till late, and only now was she flying home. This mare was Derpy Hooves, her job was a mail-mare for both Ponyville and Cantorlot. Due to having to post letters to two different places, her scheduled gets conflicted a lot and so she tends to not finish work till very late.

She flew over the dark and supposedly dangerous Everfree Forest. The sight of the forest gave the poor mare the shudders and she hoped to get away from the dark forest before long. She sighed, one eye carefully watching where she was going, the other wondering off into space or maybe she was keeping her wonky eye on her mail-carrying bag, to make sure she didn't lose it or maybe she was watching for a dangerous creature escaping the dark forest.

But then something caught that wonky eye's attention. A small flash of color. She stopped, and looked around for a while as if trying to figure out where the color came from. Nothing appear that was similar to the flash of color, she couldn't see anything in fact. She was about to give up on looking when she looked down and saw something at the edge of the Everfree Forest. Not quite inside the forest, but just on the very sideline of the trees.

She flew down to see get a better look. What she saw wasn't what she had been expecting. Two figures were curled up together, obviously unconscious. She was scared at first and instantly checked the small figures over, noting that they were small fillies. She checked if they were breathing or if they had injuries. Thankfully, they were breathing but injuries coated the fillies' bodies. Not just cuts and bruises, but big, open wounds and scars. Bleed was weeping from many of the open cuts and wounds that scattered the fillies' bodies and was thus dyeing the coats to a deep red.

She couldn't even see the fillies' original coat or mane color. But at that point in time, Derpy really didn't care. She instantly grabbed the small fillies, and managed to somehow rest both of them on her back. They were very light and skinny so it was easy to slip both of them on her back without worry. She raised her wings and began flying, not to fast in case of the fillies falling off her back but not too slow either in fear of the fillies dying or something on the way.

She eventually arrived at a small cottage, on the outer edge of Ponyville. She pushed open the door, noticing that it was already opened. As the door creaked, a squeal of delight was heard. Derpy sighed, as a small gray-periwinkle unicorn filly, Dinky Doo ran up, with a big smile on filly's bright face. ''Mommy, welcome home....'' Her voice then stopped, upon seeing the injured fillies. ''W-who are they, Mommy...? Why are they injured?''

''I don't know, Muffin...I found them on the edge of the Everfree. Can you tell Sparkler to cook dinner for us while I patch up these fillies?''

Dinky nodded, running away from her mother and into the living room. Derpy sighed and walked upstairs, and into her bedroom. She gently laid the fillies on the bed. She found some bandages and instantly wrapped them around the fillies wounds. She sighed, and pulled the thick blanket over them, looking down at them worriedly. 'I wonder what they were doing near the forest...why would two fillies so young be near a forest so dangerous?'

She gently wiped a bit of sweat off one of the foals' heads. She frowned for a little while. She didn't even notice the door creaking opened by a teenage pony, by the name of Sparkler. Sparkler looked at her mother and the fillies for a little while before walking over to Derpy and gently place her hoof of the mare's back. ''Mom, dinner is ready. Dad and Dinky are already eating. Or do you want me to place your share in the fridge of later?''

''Please do, Sparkler. I want to be with the fillies when they wake up.'' Derpy replied, glancing a sad face at her adoptive daughter.

''Alright....do you know either of their names?''

''No, I just found them next to the Everfree like this. I don't know them, or where they came from....''

Sparkler nodded, silently and sadly before walking out of the room and downstairs. Derpy smiled a little as she watched her oldest daughter leave, before that smile turned upside-down when she look at the fillies. ''..I hope you wake up soon, I need to know what happened to you too....''

She gently got into the bed with the small fillies, being really cautious as to not hurt them. She gently hugged the smaller of the pair, who she believed was the younger one. The other one leaned in for attention, wrapping her hooves around the younger filly before groaning a little and opening her green eyes.

Derpy watched, slowly letting go of the smaller filly as she watched the older one painfully wake up. The filly winced over and over, before finally managing to keep her eyes open long enough to see Derpy and the younger filly next to her. She looked frightened, with the eyes of a deer in danger. Unable to move however. ''W-who....a-are...y-you?!''

Derpy sighed, figuring that she would get a reaction like this before calmly stating. ''My name is Derpy Hooves, I don't mean any harm to you or the other filly. I found you unconscious by the Everfree Forest, injured so I brought you back to my home to patch you and 'your sister?' up, I wanted to make sure you were okay.''

The filly stared at her, harshly as if trying to find plot holes in what Derpy had said. She eventually shook her head painfully, wincing a little as she did so and mumbled, quietly and weakly. ''...M-my...name is....Rosella Dream.......The sleeping filly is....my younger twin sister...who's name is Stella Dream.......We'll get out of your life...as soon as Stella wakes....''

''No, your not well enough to leave. Do you really believe I would send two injured fillies out into a world they probably don't know about? I wouldn't, so no, and you are going to stay here with me and my family until you are fit enough and judging by your injuries, that could take a little while.''

Rosella stared hard at her, before gently stroking her sister's mane. She managed to get onto her hooves as a pair of wings fluffed up in a flair of white, indicating that the filly may have a white coat under all the blood that dyed it. ''..You promised that you won't...hurt us? You won't send us away...or...do illegal stuff to us?...''

''Of course not.'' said Derpy, with a small smile as she opened her eyes.

Rosella stared at the wonky eyes for a moment, before glancing at her sister. ''...I understand.....''

''I suggest you get some more sleep, you will need it if you want your wounds to heal. I'll introduce you and your sister to my family in the morning and also give you two a bath, I think you need it.''

Rosella laid down, with a faint blush on her face as she noted the blood that caked her body. She gently nodded, whispering. ''Alright, and I thank you...for saving me and my...sister..'' She then closed her eyes, and slowly went back into her sleeping state, gently hugging her sister with a small, painful smile on her face.

Derpy smiled down at the two foals before it changed into a frown again. 'I hope they'll be okay...and I don't even know if Stella agrees with this yet...just because Rose does...doesn't mean her sister will...' She sighed, quietly before slipping out of the room and downstairs, and mentally prepared herself to sleep on the couches with Doctor that night.