A crisp, autumn breeze swirled down the dusty roads of small town of Honey-Leaf, a town known for the productions of honey from the rapidly growing farm. Ponies were trotting into their homes, closing up shops and finishing up their daily routine. A developing sculptor known as Marble Dust, would have been making her way home by now if she wasn't being held up in the store she worked at by a lingering customer. She hated working in this little store that sold clocks, it was so boring from her perspective. All around her, clocks ticked and every hour that went by was noted with dinging sounds that echoed through her mind and ringed in her ears. It was just the something each day, nothing changed, but at least she would always know what time it was and how far she was from closing time.

Marble's hoof tapped irritably against the ebony desk in front of her, her pale lavender eyes glancing toward he customer who would look at each clock and mumble something under his breath before moving to observe the next. Her long, curled lashes partly hung over her eyes in a bored manner as she used her hoof to gently push some of the locks of her short, pale bluish gray hair toward the side. Each hair faded into a more lightened shade as it grew to the ends of the strands, the color nicely complimenting her silver, glossy coat. Her bored expression was growing to be more and more distant, he clouds in her eyes just grew to be more dull and swollen as she huffed quietly and glared nonchalantly at the smooth, wooden surface of the work desk.

As she looked up at the stallion in front of her, she felt relief wash over her as she looked down at the small clock he was levitating with his Unicorn magic, the blue aura sparkling and floating around the wooden clock. "That'll be about ten bits, sir," she said, her words leaving her mouth in a brisk, enthusiastic tone, happy that she'd finally be able to exit the old shop. She anxiously tapped her hooves against the tile floor, one hoof falling after another as she blocked out the grumpy mutters from the stallion, as they didn't concern her all that much. The silver coated mare watched as he placed the shiny bits in front of her, the currency having been stacked in three neat towers five coins tall. "Thank you, have a nice night!" She hummed and moved the bits into the register, her ears twitching at the wonderful sound of the little bell as the Unicorn opened the door and left.

Her expression showed her pleasure as she locked the store's front door, the sign on it telling all that it was closed. The corners of her lips stayed turned upward as she started to trot down the road, her route leading toward the forest know as the Esh Woodlands, though she didn't much care for the formal name in most situations. She lived out there on her own in a nice cabin where she could work on her art in peace. Luckily, it once belonged to her parents so she didn't have to worry about buying it or paying rent so she found that it was more than suitable for her. Normally she'd be getting close o home by now, but she was just getting started on her journey while the sun was already slipping into the horizon while at the moment she didn't put too much thought into it, after all the moon would keep the night lightened up, right?

Marble tilted her head up, her eyes temporarily closing as she felt the wind's fingers rush through her smooth hair, ruffling it with the breeze's gentle flow. When she opened her eyes, a soft sigh tingling along her lips, she loved the feeling of nature, the wind and the comfort the smells and sounds gave. that was another benefit of living in the forest, she was surrounded by nature all the time. Her thoughts clouded with the wonderful things of the fores as she entered the woodland, the oak leaves swaying and hanging over her head as the sky grew darker and the sun was replaced by the glowing white orb known as the moon. Her hoof steps thumping softly against the dirt path that lay before her that kept trailing into the woods, curving and turning in the way of a snake, and in the darkness she'd forgotten about the fork in the road, and continued going forward and off of the trail.

Thanks to her absent mind she continued moving for a bit, absently swaying out of the ways of trees and her attention was finally brought back by the stinging feeling of a thorn from a tangled brier patch against her leg. Gasping she quickly looked around and took a small step back, her ears going flat against her head. "Dammit... Mother always said to not get too lost into my mind... Wish I would have listened," she whispered and looked down at the briers, before walking around them and looking up. "Just stay calm, Marble... Stay calm... If you freak out you'll only make things worse," she said to herself, trying to remain mellowed out and chill but with each rustle in the bushes, flapping of wings or crackling of a twig her nerves built up and stood on end, those pale eyes of hers widening in fear.

She slowly stepped forward, but her movement stopped at the sound of footsteps. As she turned her head, her jaw dropped in horror at what she saw crouching down behind her. The dusty pelt was scruffy, the eyes orange and filled with fury. Each claw that dug into the soil was sharp, and frighteningly long. Slowly closing her mouth, she could feel her lungs rising and falling in a deeper and more swift movement as her breathing grew to be more rapid. She was afraid, lost and even worse she was alone, she'd have no way to get out of this if that cougar was able to attack her. The sound of the ear splitting yowl busted through the atmosphere, and with that she began running. Her hooves moved as quickly as she could, her eyes narrowing as she felt scratches along her coat and rough forest floor making her hooves ache and burn. She wasn't sure if the mountain lion was following but she didn't want to as she just blindly ran through, dodging trees and doing her best to avoid getting too close to the painful brambles.

Suddenly the ground beneath her was gone, her lips parting to let out a high pitched scream. It felt as if she was loosing her gut as the land basically vanished under her hooves and she couldn't stop herself from falling, along with pieces of grass, pebbles and dirt. Her whole world went blank as she felt the moist, soily ground come into hard contact with her side, her shoulder taking most of the blow as her head knocked against the ground and slowly her senses faded, her body shaking and lungs aching but soon that was lost to the numbing that washed over her body. Her last thoughts before she blacked out, were focused upon death... Was this it for her? Would she never wake up? Was this how she'd go out? All the fear and pain she felt before everything went out... would those really be what occupied the last moments of her shortly lived life?

Author's Note

I'm not too good at writing with ponies, but I wanted to give it a shot. First time for everything right? Feedback is appreciated and all.