COLD AS ICE
The clouds were their largest this late afternoon, half the size of mountains that would otherwise dwarf them. Why or How Pegasi created such a mass of airborne water was a mystery.
These clusters of particles bunched together over a lush green forest as many of the H2O particles buried deep within themselves collected immensely thanks to the help of humidity in the air. These combined over and over to form large droplets of rainwater from these massive rain clouds, and soon became far too heavy for even a gigantic cloud to carry; these fell from their perilous height at speeds faster than that of a fleeing cheetah, down down down towards their colossal green target below. In seconds, one group by another, they touched the earth in a sweet kiss of coolness. Dry soil clearings swiftly turned into muddy ponds...Dehydrated plant life now on the verge of over-watering... terribly thirsty animals had more than necessary.
The land, however lush and green it was, had suffered dryness for many months on end and had been aching for the slightest taste of water during all that time. The once dry ferns, grass and bushes were now given more water than a plant could have hoped, and the trees high above them could feel relief from such cold temperatures starting to sift past their bark like a river current. The sudden cold the rains brought caused the forest to create a slight mist in the air like that of a thin fog. This didn't bother the animals so much at first, even the ones that were better suited for environments without Fog.
But the day passed and things developed in the sky, as more water poured down in a seemingly endless gush of raindrops; an infinite assault on the ground that proved to wearing it down a bit. The mist was partially gone now, but the muddy ponds had become young lakes whilst the lakes had grown in size. Smaller animals downhill moved uphill as an instinct, but even uphill large streams trickled over them or past them. The larger animals seemed to know that the forest wouldn't flood no matter how much it rained, and we're too stubborn to leave behind acquired territory anyways. They even remained as the first boom vibrated the forest and brightened the dark grey skies for just a second or two.
The loud crackle that followed the lightning didn't make her jump this time. After thirty minutes, she'd gotten used to the familiar sound of air being ripped through like wet paper or the ever present sound of defeaning rain gushing down on her body. Winds that shrieked their whistles into her folded back ears rushed through the giant forest she walked through, battling the noise of flooding rain in her eardrums. Such merciless rain had attacked her clothing for the past hour; the cape she loved since she was a younger and less petulant mare was now a soaked quilt tied to her neck. Every strand of her silver mane was flattened from the top of her head to the base of the back of her neck and somehow just got flatter. Her hooves constantly sank into muddy ground and the only thing keeping them from sinking even deeper was the tangled mess of limp grass sandwiched between them and the clay soil. However, the occasional flooded parts of the forest offered her only murky water that nearly came to her knees:no protection against it.
The way the forest was illuminated with each strike cast ghoulish shadows on the faces of otherwise harmless trees, making them bare nasty teeth at Trixie. Hands of bark and dying leaves creaked and stretched at her with malicious intent. Roots were twisted in the form of running feet, padding at it's prey like some kind of animal giving chase. Some of the trees in the distance, either to her left or southeast, had lightning marks on them as they lay dead on their sides. Other trees sometimes made loud enough crashing sounds, but were shrouded in too much darkness for her to even attempt to find.
The animal life of the forest was actually quite smart, since there was no sign of a single owl or squirrel to be found in this horrific storm (perhaps because it was too dark to see in the trees). The only beast to share in her misery seemed to be a stray garter snake that briefly slithered across her path to dive into the crook of a wet burrow. Everything else was just plant life...endless streams and fields of trees that surrounded the show mare no matter how far she went. Every turn, every gallop and every leap was met with a cylindrical wall of bark and leaves.
"Trixie should've at least carried an umbrella with her before doing this." The light blue unicorn snarled at herself in the third person, her snobbish accent ever present. Her head was held high so that her big blues might find something in the trees. "This night will certainly bring nothing but peril to her perfect hairstyle! And she just got it retouched before the show..."
The word 'show' swam around in her mind not long after she said that, bumping around in every part of her imagination to cook up the perfect flashback. It all started two hours earlier, at the finish of one of her shows:
"Hey Trixie! That was a great performance tonight!"
She paused only for a split two seconds at the sound of her best friend's voice, then went back to sifting through a few bushes. She carefully avoided certain patches of soil since it was drizzling just enough for mud to be created tonight. She continued to scan the edge of the forest and it's plethora of bushes in silence...until the familiar voice spoke up again.
"Uh, Hello? Did you hear me?"
Trixie didn't want to waste time better spent on searching for talking, so she murmured something along the lines of: "Yes, Trixie heard you. Thanks."
"...Are you mad at me?" The slightly hurt tone made her stop with an irritated sigh. "What did I do?"
"Don't jump to conclusions, Starlight." Trixie smirked while casting a glance over her shoulder; her purplish friend trotted to a halt beside the showmare with a relieved expression. "What could you do that would make Trixie the least bit peeved?"
Starlight shrugged, or at least it looked like she did from the corner of her vision."Let's hope we never find out...What are you doing anyways?"
"Looking for my hat." The blue unicorn parted the leaves of a giant bush, but with no reward for her efforts. She was about to try the next bush, but a thought made her look to her partner. "Say, you haven't seen it, have you?"
Starlight shook her head sympathetically. "No. Isn't it usually on your head?"
Trixie rolled her eyes at that. "An astute observation. And, it usually is..." The showmare walked up to a tree and gazed into it's darkened canopy. "Remember that trick I did on stage? The new one where I folded my hat up and blew on it?"
"...Oh yeah! That one! I liked it!" The compliment sparked a blush and a smile from Trixie, but it wasn't too big. "I found it really cool how you blew on the hat when you folded it up like paper and then it poofed away!"
"Yeah....that wasn't supposed to happen."
"...say what now?"
"You heard right. I have made yet another mistake!"Trixie levitated herself upwards into the canopy, thoroughly searching the tree branches and leaves for a sign of her beloved item. "One of a very small number of course. It must'vebeen the Finoliis Arcosis I added in the spell.
"FINOLIIS ARCOSIS?! Are you crazy?! That's a really chaotic element to put in a spell of any kind!"
"Yes, Yes. Don't go telling Discord..." Trixie levitated herself back down after finding no hat in the tree canopy, rubbing her forehead tiredly. "I saw a puff of Arcosis smoke from the corner of my vision, but I don't remember it being deeper into the forest. "
"Well, tommorow I can help you buy another hat?" Was the kind offer.
"What?! No! Trixie has had that hat with her since she was a little foal! She will not be leaving it in this mucky forest." Trixie defiantly began trotting into the forest. "Good night to you, best friend."
Starlight was suddenly in front of her in a flash of light. "You're not serious, are you? It's almost night! And it's raining!"
"Puh-leeze! This little sprinkle is nothing!"
"Well surely you've heard the rumors of little fillies going missing in these woods, right?!"
" One: Trixie is not a filly. Two: It was one filly, not multiple. Three: It's also rumored that the filly was playing a prank on everypony by going missing." The unicorn paused for all of two seconds to breath. "Four: This won't take long."
Starlight didn't look so convinced, but it didn't look like she was going to argue with her over it either. "At least let me come with you."
"Not a chance, pal. I already told you this won't take long. It can't be that far in." Trixie walked past her fellow magic user and went through a small Grove of trees. "I'll catch you later!"
Starlight sighed internally from behind her. "Yeah...see ya later."
The flashback was interrupted by a wet sloshing sound, the product of her forehoof landing in a deep patch of mud. While she grimaced and swiftly removed her dirty hoof, The mare edged a little closer to the tree nearest to her. The tree she found herself under wasn't nearly enough to keep the rain off of her, but it was better than what she'd do endured moments ago. With the distraction of blinding rain out of the way for now, Trixie was left to ponder what she should do with herself next: the storm was growing worse by the minute and flashes of lightning were being seen every thirty seconds. Wherever her hat was now, it could be torn or soaked beyond recognition and perhaps even stolen by somepony else. With a pitiful sigh, she looked up at the pitch black skies blurred by water and frowned.
Crackle!
That strike was very close to her position--almost too close for comfort. The forest world was entirely illuminated once again; bathed in white fluorescent light and making unseen things visible for a few milliseconds. Something flapped spastically during those milliseconds, from the corner of Trixie's vision and high up in a nearby tree. She had to wait for another flash of lightning because everything was dark by the time she tried to look the first time.
*Crackle!*
The soggy ground vibrated from the strike, but her eyes did not tear away from the shadowy spot at all. It was still difficult to tell what it was in the trees, even when the lightning gleamed to the benefit of her vision. The wild flapping from the wind currents and it's limp nature led her to believe it to be a cloth of some kind. A bright smile grew on her snout at the possibility of this object being her long lost hat, and her body eagerly sped out from underneath her leafy umbrella all the way to the tree. It's nearly bare limbs were helpful; she might not have noticed the object if a bunch of annoying tree leaves covered it. Any who, Trixie began to shimmy up the tree by wrapping her hooves around the trunk and lunging upwards to get higher ground. Halfway into doing this she stopped and blushed madly, thankful that no one was around to see her. "What am I doing?!"
Her familiar reddish aura surrounded her entire body and levitated it the rest of the way up to the branch. With one arm shielding her eyes from the blinding rain, she made out the distinct triangular shape of her hat flapping from atop a thin branch. A tiny branch had pinned it to keep it from flying off, but had also torn a small hole in the rim of the hat. Trixie grimaced at the tear as she carefully wrapped her hooves around the top of the hat and rescued it from the branch, otherwise unharmed by the elements. The showmare plopped it back on her head with a happy sigh, the thought of being soaked and surrounded by chaotic downpour a distant memory for a while. She had her beloved hat back, so what else mattered?
CRACKLE!
She didn't have time to register that lightning struck just five feet down the tree from where she was, at least not mentally. She instinctively shrieked but her voice was drowned out by the sound of air clapping together, knocking her backwards and out of the air like a fly. Trixie hadn't noticed it before but a nine-hoof tall cliff edge was just behind the tree she hovered before and soon got to experience bouncing off of it like a rag doll. She instinctively inhaled from the surge of pain that hit her shoulder, yet cold muddy water was the only thing to fill her mouth upon hitting a deep pond. She hacked about as desperately as her legs pumped to get her above the surface of the dark water, flailing her limbs furiously for her. First she retched up muddy water, then coughed profusely right after, and finished it all with moist wheezing. As for her body's status, fresh stabs of pain entered her right shoulder every time she tried to move it and that wasn't much help in terms of swimming. Luckily, after finding that the banks of the pond weren't far from her, she pulled her body onto the squishy soil to look more closely at her shoulder.
It definitely wasn't broken or dislocated, otherwise she would see some kind of hump there, right? Even if it wasn't in either condition, Trixie had a sickening feeling that she'd strained her shoulder and that it still needed medical attention. Which was fine by her: she had her hat back and there was no other reason to be out here in this storm longer anyways. All she needed to do was look around for the familiar spot she'd come from and then back-track through the other familiar spots. But the cliff edge was completely gone.
She knew that was impossible; that spots like that didn't just disappear at random, and yet there was nothing but another field of trees. Beyond the statues of wood stood endless darkness, shadows that concealed everything for the next mile and beyond. She tried levitating upwards to see where she was over the dense trees, but giant whips of lightning gleamed not far above or not far beside her. She settled back down on the ground, but her heartbeat did anything but settle. Trixie was undeniably lost in this giant forest, without only rain and howling winds to comfort her in such a time. The menacing shadow-faces of the trees grew more frightening now, as well as the loud crackle of thunder that shook the earth.
There's no way I'll be able to find my way out....Oh Starlight, why didn't I listen to you?! Trixie scolded herself mentally, despite knowing what little it would do for her right now. Can this night get any worse?!
Desperate, Trixie looked around for anywhere she could possibly go, any place her horn cast light upon. To her front, there didn't seem to be anything beyond the trees except even more plant life. Her right looked like an option to travel in, and she already knew a flooded pond was behind her....the final option would be her left. That general area didn't look so crowded compared to the right area, which was almost a wall of thick darkwood and uncertain shadows beyond it. There even appeared to be two fireflies in that direction, hovered next to each other by a short distance. The yellowish white glow calmed her down quite a bit and encouraged her to take a step toward it.
She didn't need or get to look at the wolves for long; her body instinctively worked three of her legs into a powerful run to her right. As her shape blurred past the rough bark and slapping ferns, she heard the sounds of multiple paws slapping on wet mud to catch up to her. The noise of ragged breathing and hungry snarls only fueled her speed, but the fact that she was using three legs instead of four decreased her ability to get far ahead of the pack. The occasional upturned tree root didn't help her out that much either, so she would make random zig zags and halfhearted leaps over rocks to lose them. But every sharp turn only brought the wolves closer and closer to her, enough to where some snapped at her heels some times. She tried bending a branch so that it would slap into the face of a wolf, but that only slowed the pack down by five feet or so. It was a number they could make up for soon, because she could feel herself getting tired.
No; she couldn't get tired now! Trixie didn't like the idea of 'eaten' being engraved on her tombstone for all who would attend her funeral. She didn't want to die at all, and yet she hardly had the strength to make her legs go any faster than the wolves. Even if she could, Trixie didn't see any place to stop and protect herself at. She knew nothing of defense spells, or anything that wouldn't take time to conjure up if she were to stop suddenly. She could levitate herself into the air again, but she was still afraid of being struck by lightning...
Crackle.
She almost stopped when the corner of her left eye caught sight of it: the looming mass in the distant clearing. It's shape was familiar and distinct like that of a ponymade structure of some kind, with an incredible height and rectangular outlining. Her heart fluttered in her chest when the forest was illuminated again, for it was a mansion she could see in the distance. She would've taken time to admire the old, partially rotted look of it under different circumstances, but for now Trixie put all of her strength and focus into getting towards the mansion. Despite the hot breath and snapping sounds at her heels, the mare pumped her three legs as hard as she could to close the distance between her and her save haven. Her leg muscles burned, her eyes blurred with tears and her lungs felt as if they would collapse at any second. Within a minute, Trixie reached the giant wooden steps leading onto the old porch and then the unlocked door behind it. She rushed inside and slammed the door immediately while scrabbling paws begged for entry. Her magic locked the door, keeping herself from having to fight to keep the door closed, and allowed her to take several steps back to collect herself.
The more she breathed, the more tired and unfocused she would become. Her ragged breaths gradually laced themselves with weakened whimpers and her hooves occasionally stumbled on the creaking floor. Her body constantly leaned or faltered more as a result of her dizzying vision, then darkening vision.
She blacked out before she ever hit the floor.
