Letters from Daisy Daedal

by DaisyDaedal

Rating: everyone
Tags: Slice of Life, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character, Mystery
Length: 10712

How the lives of some west coast ponies are affected after a certain Summer Sun Celebration

Daisy Daedal's life in San Franciscolt was peaceful but dull until one Summer Sun Celebration when the Sun didn't rise. It may have pushed her out of her comfort zone, but as Equestria changes around her she finds new inspiration in unexpected places. But who could believe what happens is real?

Published 2017-03-15 19:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2019-10-19 17:13:34 UTC

Chapter 1 Part 1

Daisy Daedal’s Dream Journal

When: Unknown, present day I guess
Where: The forest somewhere
Who: Myself and a rabbit
What Happened: I’m in a forest that doesn’t seem familiar. I feel hungry, and although I see some edible plants here and there, my body doesn’t see them as food. I’m just a witness with no control. I seem to smell the ground and catch the scent of something. I want that something and I follow the trail. The scent gets stronger- it smells like fur, clovers, dandelions, and something I didn’t know had a scent: caution. I race towards it, and my usual hoof clatter is strangely silent.
I slow down when I near the end of the tree line, look out to a meadow and I crouch down in the tall grass. The scent trail is strongest here. My eyes catch movement, and just as I realize that what I’m seeing is long brown ears twitching, my body leaps and pounces down on a poor, terrified rabbit. As my teeth begin to close down on the rabbit’s neck I wake up from the nightmare.

Describe each main aspect of your dream in three words:
The Forest- Unfamiliar, lush, secretive
My Body- Predatory, swift, hungry
My Mind- Spectator, horrified, helpless
The Scent- Director, mystery, tasty?!
The Meadow: New, unknown, abundance
The Rabbit- Innocent, afraid, death

Each aspect of the dream is part of you. Use the knowledge you’ve gathered to figure out what’s going on in your head:
It seems like I’m worried I don’t have control (my mind) over what’s happening in my life (the forest and meadow) and that I’m concerned that my ambition (my body + the scent) towards my career is taking my innocence (the rabbit) away.
But isn’t change what life’s about? On the other hoof, this could just as easily be about my fear of stallions when thinking about them in a romantic sense, which isn’t self-serving towards my desire to have a family someday. But I think the first analysis works better.
Okay, dream, I think I’ve got you figured out. Now can you stop repeating every night, PLEASE?

***
Letter To Self- Litha’s Moon

Dear Daisy,

You’re not crazy. I know, referring to yourself in third pony may seem counter-intuitive to that statement, but you wanted to be reminded that everything that happened yesterday was real, not a dream- even if you find yourself wishing it was. Let’s just go over everything from the beginning, so we don’t forget what happened, no matter how much time passes.

You woke up from that dream (see above) for the umpteenth time, but this time you didn't mind that it woke you up early. This morning, like many others, your black cat Shade was a little dark mass of fur beside you, waiting for the moment you would awaken- what he thought was the perfect time for his head to be scratched. But instead of staying to snuggle with him a while, you were jolted awake, remembering that today was special because it was the eve of the longest day of the year - the Summer Sun Celebration.
Ponies traditionally stay up all night to see the sunrise, and this year you had planned a party that doubled as a housewarming party. Three months it took to build our little cottage for one, and as close as we are with our parents, it was nice to move out and have space to ourselves - okay, and with Shade too.

Your mind went on task and you began to prepare for the holiday. Usually our desire to clean was about the same as our desire to run a mile- a healthy habit, but we’d rather fast forward and have it be done already. But the part of our mind we usually use to organize our art supplies and plan our artwork schedule for the week kicked in, directing us in making our home spotless.

Dusting? Check.
Sweeping? Check.
Mopping? Check.
Scrubbing? Check.

The chores flew by, and before you knew it, it was time to pick up the groceries for the party. You left the comfort of our home, and walked down the tree-covered hillside our home was built on.
Usually the trees are refreshing and comforting, but today the shadows they cast seemed foreboding.

By the time you came to the outskirts of San Franciscolt it was a bit of a relief. Then you heard a howl from no discernable direction hang in the air. Apparently your dream wasn't as lost to the waking world as you had thought. You had been a little wolf-like in your dream, so you thought that it was just your mind playing tricks on you. While you weren't wrong, I think I should finish the rest of the story first.
You would’ve ran home then if your pantries weren’t so empty- why do we always leave shopping to the last minute? At least our list made shopping more efficient:
Carrots
Black Beans
Cheddar Cheese
Pepper jack Cheese
Tortillas
Salsa
Chips
Crackers

You ran through the marketplace and bought everything on your list as fast as possible. You were tempted to ask some pony to walk you home in case there were wolves out there, but you didn’t really know anypony in town well. The idea talking to an unfamiliar pony was almost as scary as being chased by wolves- and the wolves could’ve been your imagination.

When you were done it was still bright out and the sun wouldn't set for a few hours, but you still felt a bit of unease while walking home. Most predators didn't like the high density of ponies in the neighborhood so they avoided it. But you couldn’t help feeling like you were about to be pounced on and eaten.

Finally home, you decided to take a moment to decompress. You certainly had time until the guests arrived. We've always loved throwing parties - it's so much more fun than attending one with a ton of ponies we don't know and making awkward conversations. Just a small circle of friends and our family were coming this time, and even our brothers promised to stop by. As the day before the longest day of the year, It was still bright out despite it being almost 8 o'clock. You hung up your saddlebag and fell back into our old routine of reading a bit on our window seat of our living room.

Just when you got comfortable, something scratched at the front door. It reminded you of our mother's dog, Pixie, when she wanted to get inside their house. The small pepper grey and black terrier had been trained to bark when she wanted to get inside to keep their door from being a splintered mess over time, but it was common that she’d scratch anyway. Pixie wasn’t really interested in wandering far from Mom, so it was unexpected that she’d try our door. But since our parents only lived up the hill from us, so it wasn't impossible that she slipped out from their backyard.
You put your book down, stomped to the entryway, and shouted:

“Pixie, speak!” through the door. There wasn't even a whimper in response.
You impatiently blew the door open with your magic, expecting a slightly sheepish looking terrier wagging her tail, happy at the sight of you, but nobody was there.

“Pixie?” You called, but the dog didn't appear from among your front garden headers. closing the door, you decided you'd better just get back to preparing for the party.
You'd pushed the dining room table against the wall and set up the food you prepared along the table (your favorite- carrot and bean tacos). It was buffet style so your guests could assemble their own plates. Devil's Food Cupcake promised to bring dessert so you left room for that dish, but you officially ran out of things to do before Raven Luster was due to come help decorate. She was supposed to be there shortly, so you spent your time gazing out of the window at the rapidly setting sun that tinted the sky with gold, rose red, and purple.

You remember being scared of the dark when we were little. Since you had conquered that fear, it seemed strange having that old feeling creep back in with the setting sun. You'd been sure there wasn't anything you couldn't blast into oblivion with your magic, but how could you protect yourself from something you couldn't see?

A green shape rose into the sky, and some of your anxiety melted away knowing your Pegasus friend was almost there. It's always easier to be brave in a group, after all. In anticipation of her arrival, you flew open the front door and stepped onto the stone pathway that ran through your front garden. Raven Luster glided over the yard’s morning glory covered gate and landed in front of you. A green mare with Periwinkle stripes in her mane and tail, Raven Luster was named after the shine in Raven feathers, as opposed to the bird’s notable black feathers.

“RL!” you said joyfully, hugging her in greeting like usual.

“It's good to see you Daisy,” she replied with a smile. “I brought the decorations you requested.”

“Excellent! Let's set them up now.” Together you went inside and Raven Luster brought out decorations you’d commissioned from her of red, yellow, orange, and gold for your Summer Sun Celebration. Between your magic and her wings, decorations went up fast. She had cut chains of paper cut to the resemble Suns which you hung off the ceiling. Golden beads strung on ribbon were rounded around the staircase banister. Knitted sun and sunflower table runners draped over every flat surface, and sunflowers (cut out so every petal was a different piece of warm-colored paper) were stuck to the walls.
Your favorite decorations were the paper lanterns she’d made - not just any paper lanterns, but pieces of semi-transparent paper that had been taped together in a mosaic type sphere that reflected the candle’s light inside through like a prism.

“My house looks beautiful thanks to you!” you squealed in delight, giving your friend another hug. There was a knock on the door, and you stood up to answer it, gesturing for RL to remain seated. Your magic’s aura enveloped to your front door knob and magically you opened it, revealing a lavender unicorn wearing a silver mask that was decorated with stars.

“Yay, NU’s here!” You shouted back to RL as you wrapped your fore hooves around the mare in the doorway.

“I'm being attacked,” she protested in response to your hug, the smile on her face showing her contrary feelings.

“What's that? You want more hugs?” you said, winking at RL and refusing to let your friend go.

“Okay, let go,” Naturally Unique replied.

“Nooooooooooooo!” you whined. NU’s yellow magic surrounded her horn and you felt yourself being pried away.

“RL, I need back up!” You cried.

“Nope,” the Pegasus replied, flipping through a magazine in the living room. You whined as NU’s aura successfully removed your clingy self from herself. You had tried to hug her again after she released you, but of course she blocked it with a shielding spell.

“Maybe I should go home,” Naturally Unique grumbled.

“Nooo! I’ll be good!” you pleaded. And then to change the subject, you asked: “Can I see the masks you brought?”

Wordlessly, she opened her saddlebag, and she floated pieces of metallic fabric shaped into sun, star, and moon masks into the a
ir. You used your magic to grab a silver crescent moon one that was designed to cover only one eye, and tied its back ribbon around the back of your head in a bow.

“Knock Knock!” a voice called from the door. A teal pegasus mare stood in the doorway, flanked by a red unicorn stallion. The sight of your parents usually brought a large smile to your face and you tried (and failed) to hide it as you trotted over to them.

“Who said you could come, you troublemakers?” you teased, pretending to be angry. They smiled back at you.

“We’ll go back home and cry ourselves to sleep, then,” your Mom, Sunny Heart, replied. You laughed together, and Mom went to greet your friends. Happy Home, your Dad, chuckled and made his way to the buffet.

Levitating a card deck out of one of your living room’s cabinets, you played a round of “Go Fish” with the ponies present. The rest of the guests were unpredictable as to when they’d come. You knew how our brothers got distracted while spending time with their friends, and were really poor time keepers. And our only other guest, Devil’s Food Cupcake, seemed like the busiest pony ever and would often come at least an hour late.
Sometimes lying about the meeting time could get her there on time, but as the plan was to stay up all night, you didn’t feel like rushing things was necessary. Everypony would spend plenty of time together, whenever they showed up.

And it was the dark blue pegasus stallion- our youngest brother- who showed up first.

“Hey Daize,” Midnight Show said, hugging you. You knew that there was going to be a lot of mares at this party, so to keep your brothers from feeling outnumbered you had told them bringing a few friends was okay. So it wasn’t surprising to see a couple of his friends behind him.

“You remember Bandito and Torrent, right?”

“Yeah, good to see you,” you greeted the colts with a wave and a smile. Okay, they’re young stallions, but it’s hard not to think of Midnight and his crew as the colts you grew up with, despite them only being three years younger. “Grab a mask and get settled in.”

Midnight Show grabbed a sun mask that covered the top half of his face, and his friends took masks, too, while joking around. Midnight has always been the friendliest pony in our family, and we’ve always admired how easily and fearlessly he made friends. In that way, our brother was much more mature than us elder siblings.
Soon the stallions joined Happy Home in enjoying the food, and as the hostess, you made rounds to see if anyone else needed anything before you left to search for our eldest brother, Mage Heart.

It's nice that our family is so close knit, isn't it? The house we grew up in (that our parents still live in) is on the top of the West Mint Hill. You had your house built halfway down that hill, and before that when our big brother Mage Heart moved out, he hollowed out part of the bottom to put his home under the hill.
To keep our homes connected, in our basement there's a door that leads to about three stories of stairs leading to Mage Heart’s home, a passageway that allows the family to visit without having to go outside our homes. (Similarly, there’s a set of stairs leading to the basement of our parent’s home, too.)
The wooden stairs to Mage Heart’s burrow were lit by Quartz Crystal veins that were found naturally in the hill. Mage charged them daily with different colored energy so that ponies who may go down the stairs could see. That day he had charged them with yellow energy to reflect the Sun Celebration.

Loud music floated up the stairs, and when you'd reached the door to his house, you doubted whether he would hear you knock. But not wanting to break the rules of etiquette, you tried knocking anyway. When there was no answer, you tried again. And then you tried shouting while knocking. Impatience broke your resolve and you went in through his door.

The entryway from inside the hill was one long hallway that led to the front door leading to the outside of the hill, with four round entryways to other rooms along it. It seemed simple enough, but the side rooms broke off into more side rooms, which became maze-like to those unfamiliar to Mage Heart’s home.
You weren't unwelcome in our older brother’s home. In fact, since you and Mom help him decorate when he first moved in, and you both would check on him occasionally to make sure he was eating properly, you knew your way around pretty well. As you searched for him, you tried his study, library, and living room first, but you somehow knew he'd be in his bedroom.

The dark grey -almost black- stallion was in bed, multiple books and empty mugs of coffee on his nightstand. The stereo in the corner blared loud classic rock -which didn't distract him from the book his nose was buried in: Star Swirls’ Spells for Celestial Bodies.

“Mage, can I turn it down?” You shouted, and the stallion nodded, folding the book in his lap.

“What's up, little sis?”

“You still planning on coming to my party?” You asked after you turned the music down. “We would really love for you to read our tarot cards.”

“Oh yeah, I was just waiting for Stellar Jay and Gecko Gill to show.”

“Okay. See you soon-ish then?”

“Yep.” You doubted it would be soon, but you hoped.
Back at home, the card game had shifted to Poker, and you were promptly dealt in. We bet silly things like corn chips and baby carrots, some losing all their “bits” simply by eating them. It was well after dark by the time Devil's Food Cupcake made an appearance. She was a brown Earth Pony Mare with a red and light brown mane. I always admired her edgy ear piercings and bracelets that seemed very token Devily, and she was not without them this time.

“I brought the dessert you asked for,” she said, flashing you a sheepish smile full of teeth.

“Yay! Desserts make everything better!” You replied, ignoring the fact that you gain weight easily. (Yes, future me, we didn't burn off those calories like we planned to. You have no self-control!) But moving on, you took Devily’s dessert into your kitchen while overhearing her swap greeting with the others. She had brought a beautiful upside down cake that Devil's Food Cupcake had cut from the pineapple rings to form one big sun on the top.

“Wow, when can we start eating that?” Midnight Show asked while hovering over your shoulder.

“After everypony's eaten dinner,” you replied, swatting at the airborne menace. He laughed, easily dodging.

“But because I'm special, you'll let me have a bite now?” He teased.

“Go away, you etty bitty teeny tiny little brother,” you said while pretending to be angry at our younger brother who is actually a head taller than us (darn him!) At some point he was successfully shooed out of the kitchen, and you stuck the cake in the icebox for now, removing another quart of sparkling cider for your guests. And after another hour later, Mage Heart came up with his friends, and you felt you could finally relax and enjoy yourself. You served up the carrot and bean tacos quickly. Soon after the cake was eaten with high praises going Devily’s way - she wasn't a professional baker for nothing.

It was tradition to stay up all night to greet the Sun, but Mom and Dad were past their all-nighter stage, so you lent them our bed with a promise to wake them for the sunrise. In the wee hours of the morning, the stallions moved to Mage’s house to drink some more, and we mares chatted softly in the living room while playing a whodunit board game. It was probably around 3 am when we really slowed down.

“Not tired,” NU muttered, leaning slightly on RL.

“Shall I make some more tea?” You asked. Weary nods gave you your answer, and you went alone to the kitchen. You thought you glimpsed something moving outside our kitchen window, but it was so fast that it could have been your eyes playing tricks.

Under the lantern light, you put more water into the kettle and started to boil it on the stove. The expression “a watched pot never boils” came to mind, but you felt hesitant to return to the living room with empty hooves. Awkwardly hovering around the stove, once again movement darted by a window. You wondered if it was your brothers’ plan to scare you- it wasn't unheard of for them to tease you like this. But even when Midnight and Mage tried to stay quiet, they were loud. There weren't chuckles or rustling sounds outside- in fact it was eerily quiet.

Levitating a cast iron frying pan from off its hook on the wall, you held it in the air in front of you and took slow steps towards back door. It was too dark to see out the window on the top half of the door, and part of you felt like something terrible was on the other side.

Then the teapot started whistling and made you jump, which made you lose your concentration on the spell, so the frying pan landed on the floor with a clang.

“What happened?” Voices from the living room queried.

“Just dropped a pan, everything's okay,” you replied as you hung the pan back up. You told yourself you didn't really need to investigate outside as you put together a tea tray for your guests. It would be much easier to see when the morning light came anyway.

Over many hours, our friends drifted off to sleep one by one: Naturally Unique on the rug, Raven Luster on the couch, and Devil's Food Cupcake on the loveseat. As the last one awake, you took it upon yourself to watch for the sunrise. I know that staying up all night is a rare thing for us to do, but you wanted to do to celebrate the holiday, even though your eyes were heavy. You had promised to wake everyone for the sunrise, but case in you fell asleep, you had brought your alarm clock down from your bedroom earlier. And so you sat in your cushioned window seat staring out into the darkness, gazing out your window above the trees at the horizon, looking for any hint of rosy colors.

As the morning hours grew later, the sky showed no sign of turning. When your alarm clock went off, you turned it off and looked puzzled at it because the sky was still midnight blue.

“Daisy?” Mom called softly from upstairs. You carefully stepped around our sleeping friends on tiptoe to the bottom of our staircase, meeting our mom's worried gaze on the top of them.

“You noticed too?” You asked in a loud whisper. “Is it a pegasus prank?

“Clouds can't get that dense,” Sunny Heart replied with a shake of her head.
Three large knocks sounded against the front door, causing the living room sleepers to stir.

“Miss Daedal, open up! This is the Sheriff!”
A brief flash of worry that you has done something wrong flashed through your mind - which is ridiculous considering how law abiding we are. Not wanting to get in possible more trouble, you obeyed.
The teal unicorn stallion known as ‘the Western Warlock’ flashed a lantern at the ponies gathered in the doorway.

“Gather everypony together. We're evacuating all the citizens to downtown for your safety,” Sheriff Warlock explained. “Your brothers and their friends are already there.”

“Can I get my dog first?”, Mom asked the stallion, worry evident on her face. The Sheriff gave an exasperated sigh, and levitated his top hat off his head. He tilted the inside of the hat towards you so we could see the inside- it was empty, of course. He then turned it inside out, stuck a hoof inside, and pulled out a medium-small salt and pepper colored terrier.

“Pixie!” mom gleefully yelled, hugging the dog who had a puzzled expression on its face. You could guess that he blindly teleported Pixie into his hat, which was impressive, but the fact that he was levitating his hat at the same time was inspired. Everypony stomped their hooves in appreciation.

“All right, all right. Any other nonsense to worry about? No? Then let's go,” the sheriff grumbled.

The path to town was pitch black, despite the Sheriff’s pocket watch saying it was close to 9 a.m. Everypony strolled in a single file line behind him, each holding the tail of the pony in front of them so as not to lose each other in the darkness outside the sheriff's lantern light. Pixie (tied to Mom with some spare yarn you had around) was the only being not worried, merrily enjoying the walk with all the pack together. She wasn't prone to barking a lot, so it came as a surprise when she stopped walking and started barking into the woods, intent on staying put and staring.

“Pixie, what do you see, Pup?” You heard Mom ask. One moment you were walking, and then suddenly you couldn't feel your legs anymore. You tumbled onto the dirt path. Everypony rushed over to check on you, but their voices were too loud, you couldn't focus on a single one. From your legs, the tingling feeling of your body being asleep rose until you felt nothing. A growly voice spoke,

“Now the fun starts.”
And then you weren’t conscious.

End part 1

Author's Note

I know, a shameless self-insert story, I'm sorry. :twilightblush:

The events in this story are related to Friendship is Magic Part 1 (Season 1) , and this series is mostly how the events in Ponyville are seen to my West Coast OCs. I hope you enjoy it! :pinkiehappy:

Chapter 1 part 2

Of course you woke up disoriented, since you felt hard ground below you instead of your bed. If making out the shapes of the trees and bushes around you counted as being able to see, than you could see. The only thing you knew for sure was the sky visible between the branches above was still black as midnight.

As your mind woke up you began to realize that none of the shapes around you were of your friends and family. You lit up your horn in a panic to make sure, hoping that you were wrong. But you weren’t- which is why when you heard the growly voice again, snickering, it was jarring. You scanned your surroundings again, hoping to catch the face of the voice, but you saw only the forest.

“Who’s there?” You asked, hoping to sound stern. The squeak at the end of your question made that impossible, though.

“You are,” the voice teased. You chose not to dignify that with a response. Instead, you crept cautiously along the ground, illuminating the area around you more methodically than before.

“Are you sure you have time to worry about something you can’t see?” the voice asked.

“Not being able to see you is exactly why I’m worrying,” you muttered. You wished you had some familiar ponies with you. When we’re with the ponies we love is when we’re at our bravest. But alone, the world seems a lot scarier. Had every other pony made it back to the square? Or had something else happened after you blacked out?

“Consider me a noisy breeze,” the voice chuckled.

I can point out in hindsight that the voice neither promised our safety nor explained it’s plans. But you were too concerned about the ponies we care about, and the safety being with them again would bring you.

“Let’s say I do want to find somepony. I don’t know where I am, or where to start looking for them.”

“I can help with that!” the voice said cheerfully. Before you could ask how, your nose figuratively exploded. Sure, you could smell the leaves and dirt around you before, but suddenly you could smell so many scents it was hard to breathe! Your rose scented shampoo from the morning before, owl pellets nearby, ants crawling on the ground- even individual rocks smelt different.

You could smell animals that had walked through the clearing you sat in, but somehow their scents were stale. But you could smell the scents getting fresher the further away they got from you. Of all of these, the freshest smelling trail was somehow familiar to you- pony fur, feathers, paper and glue. They all reminded you of Raven Luster! So nose to the ground, you jogged after her trail, hoping you were right.

You had never been so sure of where somepony had gone before. It was almost like magic had lit up glowing arrows that pointed the way to her. Despite the odd posture of having your head close to the ground while you ran, you didn’t stumble over stones and roots in the dark, either. Almost like seeing in the dark, you smelt objects that stuck up from the ground and simply adjusted your route to avoid them. As a result, you were galloping faster than you had in years. You sadly weren’t in the best shape then, so you were getting winded pretty fast.

You slowed down to catch your breath, and the earth suddenly disappeared from beneath you. You struggled to hold onto something, but neither your hooves or mouth could reach anything as darkness swallowed you. Dirt brushed against you as you fell, getting thicker and thicker until you realized you weren’t falling anymore.

You tried to call for help, but dirt was quick to rush in every time you opened your mouth. But high-pitched voices chatting happily in the distance gave you hope. You tried to spit out the dirt, wondering what young-sounding beings were doing in the woods at night when you realized you recognized them. The voices were of your fillyhood friends, as they had sounded before they’d grown up.

The three of them had been our best friends in primary school, but we had grown apart after we graduated and apprenticed under different ponies. They had all grown up and gotten jobs in their chosen careers- living well, as of the time I’m writing this. So you shouldn’t have had any reason to hear their voices as fillies.

Even if they were your mind playing tricks on you, you didn’t want to waste the chance they could be real and get help. You tried to spit out more dirt, and tried to make loud noises to get their attention. When that didn’t seem to get their attention, you finally thought of a better idea: the distress sparks spell every unicorn teaches their children. Periwinkle sparks flew from your horn like small fireworks, and soon after you heard the voices move closer.

“Yep, she’s playing dead again,” one of the fillies said.

“What a drama queen,” another filly replied.

It reminded you of back when you all were fillies playing pretend. You could be pretty bossy sometimes, and when it seemed like things weren’t going your way, you might pretend to die. From your angle below in the dirt and with no light to see, you couldn’t see any of their faces. But you could hear their hoofsteps begin to walk away from you.

‘This isn’t playing!’ you wanted to scream, but the dirt made that impossible. In fear you thrashed your body, trying to free yourself. Then you felt something long and dry begin to coil around your left back leg. The terror it caused quickly turned to lethargy- what was the point of fighting? You didn’t know where anypony was, and they probably didn’t even care.

As it wrapped around both of your back legs and began to move up your torso, you glanced down and saw that it was a vine of some sort. You closed your eyes and your body just relaxed as it began to pull you deeper underground.

You brushed against something soft, and you briefly opened your eyes to see. A furry green hoof had been the cause, the rest of its body presumably buried further in the dirt. It looked like Raven Luster’s hoof.

One of your front legs hadn’t been coiled up yet, so you somehow found the energy to brush the dirt away from around that hoof until its owner’s face was revealed. It was Raven Luster, and you could see her body was also coiled up in vines. It was hard to see movement in the dark, but when you held your breath for a moment you could hear her breathing.

Once again, here Raven Luster was saving you from being alone. Back when you had grown apart from our childhood friends, you were wondering if you belonged anywhere. Raven befriended you after joining you under Mom’s artist apprenticeship, and brought us into her circle of friends. But you knew that just because you weren’t alone in this precarious situation, it didn’t mean you could be content to die together.

You wanted Raven to live! And you knew she definitely would want you to live, too. So like a worm, you wriggled your body towards the pegasus- despite the lack of energy and vines still coiling around you. It seemed like days had past by the time your forehead touched the inch-thick vines covering her torso. You nudged your horn underneath the nearest vine, and began to rub it back and forth, hoping to use friction to break it.

RL’s eyes opened then-perhaps feeling the vibrations if what you were doing- and her hazel eyes met your own. She opened her mouth to speak, but too coughed on the dirt around you. But seeing her awake gave you hope, and your energy seemed to return.
Friction wasn’t working, so you adjusted your head and bit the vines, spitting out dirt between bites. RL wriggled closer, and began doing the same to the vines around you. One by one the vines broke, flinching away and uncoiling the more the pair of you bit them. When the last vines wriggled out of sight, you smiled at each other in relief.

Your happy expressions changed to worry as the ground around you shook. Dirt slid downwards as the ground rose beneath the pair of you, until you were above the earth and standing on what looked like a giant venus fly trap found only in nightmares. You leapt off of it while RL flew away, not wanting to end up in it’s toothy mouth.

It waved vines around, sightlessly feeling the area nearby it. When a vine came near you you darted away from it, but your hooves seemed to cause vibrations that caught it’s attention as more vines flew towards you. You tried to dodge, but one vine managed to grip a back hoof of yours. At the plant’s touch the overwhelming negativity you felt came back- it had been the cause of them.

It tried you pull you towards it, but RL flew down from the sky and stomped on the vine. As it recoiled, she seized your torso and sailed high into the endless darkness above.

“Thanks!” you said, your positivity returning.

“Thank you for saving ME earlier,” she replied between gasps for air. It looked like she was struggling to hold you up- you definitely needed to get more exercise. You skimmed the area around you, and spotted a clearing among the treetops.

“Head for over there!” you said, pointing at the location with a hoof. Wordlessly, Raven nodded and flew in that direction. It wasn’t long before the trees were shielding you from the nighttime air. You eyed the dark forest around you for any immediate threats while RL regained her breath. When her breathing didn’t sound as loud, you turned to talk to her, and found her staring cautiously at you.

“What?” you asked.

“Are you okay?” she asked back.

“Yeah? Are you not okay?”

“I’ll be fine. Do you know where the others are?”

“You’re the first I’ve seen. Hopefully they made it to the city. Any idea where we are?”

“It’s hard to see, but let me fly above the trees and I’ll see if I can make out any landmarks,” the Raven offered.

“Be careful,” you said. Of course Raven Luster was careful, but it made you feel better to say it aloud. The pegasus nodded, and after a couple of experimental wing flaps she was soaring in the sky. You cast another light spell to keep the creeping darkness at bay, and watched our friend’s silhouette glide across air currents above you. It was better than facing what may be in the forest around you.
After a minute, she flew down to just at the top of the canopy of trees and hovered.

“I SEE A YELLOW UNICORN AURA TO THE EAST! IT COULD BE NATURALLY UNIQUE!” she yelled down at you.

“IS IT MOVING?” you shouted back.

“NO, IT’S IN THE SAME PLACE, BUT IT SEEMS TO BE FADING!”

“WE SHOULD GO, NU COULD BE IN DANGER! CAN YOU LEAD ME?”

“YEAH, FOLLOW ME!”

RL flew just above the treetops, trying to stay in the light you beamed onto her without your having to say so. I bet you still have cuts and bruises from following her- RL didn’t have trees, rocks, and bushes to maneuver around in the darkness up there in the sky. But you didn’t want to follow into some plant monster’s hole again, so you tried to watch your step. At least RL didn’t get impatient with you if you ever got too far behind, and thoughtfully hovered in place while you caught up.

When fog began to impair your vision on top of everything else, you heard RL shout,

“I CAN’T SEE THE YELLOW AURA ANYMORE!”

“LET’S KEEP GOING IN THE DIRECTION IT WAS!” you replied stubbornly. If NU was in danger, her being out of magic made it even more treacherous. The fog grew thicker, and RL’s reply seemed faint. You could still somewhat see her above you, but it sounded like she was miles away.

Then the only thing you see was fog. The dark gray color grew lighter and lighter until it was like you were standing in the middle of a white canvas. I know we usually like it quiet at home, but you couldn’t even hear your hoofsteps there. You walked along the endless, silent path, hoping that something would change.

Ages of walking, and you realized you weren’t sure who you were looking for again, and wondered if it was even worth moving forward. With that thought you sat down, and you mind too went blank. You felt on the verge of remembering something, but white would quickly replace it.

You weren’t sure how long you had been prone on the ground- nor when you had actually lain down. But amongst the white a flickering yellow light caught your attention. You felt yourself stagger onto your legs, then shambled towards it, not sure why you wanted to, but feeling the need to.
Gazing unblinkingly at the light, you noticed it was moving towards you. It wasn’t long before you realized it was a tall unicorn that was giving off the light from its horn. Every movement it made mirrored your own. Even though its brown eyes were higher, and its fur was lavender rather than pink, you thought it was a reflection.

You reached out to touch it, and the surface stuck to your hoof. The more you pulled your hoof away, the more you felt yourself being pulled into the “mirror” until you touched horns with your reflection.

You blinked, and you were in your parent’s dining room. The room was decorated with all kinds of purple streamers and confetti. A purple tablecloth was spread across the dining room table, and lots of tea sets from your grandmother’s tea set collection was on top of that, along with platters of tea sandwiches, and one large purple cake in the center.

The familiar scene began to click in your mind as Raven Luster’s green face entered your eye line. She had crafted with paper and pipe cleaners a pair of white bunny ears that she wore on top of her head. With a smile, the pegasus stuck a top hat made of paper onto your head behind your horn.

“She’s coming!” RL whispered excitedly, and sure enough you heard hoof steps on the front porch. As she pulled you down into a crouch, you slipped into this memory like you’d been there the whole time. You remembered worrying about Naturally Unique liking this surprise un-birthday birthday party you had planned with RL. You had only recently befriended the lavender unicorn, so you didn’t know her likes and dislikes very well. You had found out that NU’s birthday had past before you even knew about it, so you collaborated with Raven Luster for a week with a theme you thought NU would like: Sweet Noble in Wonderland.

After she knocked, you turned the front door knob with your magic so as to stay hidden. The front door creaked open, revealing the uncertain mare in question.

“SURPRISE!” You and RL shouted in unison, throwing confetti at NU. “Happy Unbirthday!”

The mare’s shocked expression turned to jubilation as she hugged you both tightly.

“A party for me? Thank you!” She giggled.

“We got you presents, tea, and cake,” you shared. With eyes shimmering with tears, she smiled the biggest smile you’d ever seen her do before. Together, the three of you ate, drank tea, and chatted about all sorts of little silly things- at least until you heard RL calling you.

“What?” you asked your friend seated next to you.

“I didn’t say anything,” she replied with a shrug. But then you heard RL say your name again, and this time the pegasus’ mouth was closed.

“How are you doing that?” you asked in a half whisper.

“You must be hearing things. Want me to boil more water?” NU asked, reaching a hoof towards a teapot.

“No, I’m the hostess, I’ll boil it,” you insisted. You lifted the teapot with your periwinkle-colored magic and departed to the kitchen.

“What weirdos,” a growly voice in your head commented, which caused you to nearly drop the teapot in surprise. You looked around yourself, but no pony by your friends in the dining room were nearby. As you filled a kettle with water, the voice entered your head again.

“They are way too cheerful.”

While setting the kettle on the stove and turning the burner below it on high, you spoke to the voice under your breath:

“What are you talking about? My friends are always-” pain interrupted your train of thought as your correct memories stumbled in.

Naturally Unique had not been pleased to be surprised, nor had she liked being the focus of that party. She stayed and accepted her presents, of course, but she had been pouty about your surprise the entire time. Even now, she still gets sensitive about the word “party”.

The whistling kettle brought you back to the present, and you refilled the teapot as the two sets of memories fought in your head. Your body moved in autopilot back to the dining room, and as you poured yourself more tea from a teapot that had been sitting for longer, you tried to focus one way or the other.

“NU… are you really enjoying yourself?” you managed to ask. The unicorn looked at you, and seemed confused at her surroundings.

“DAISY DAEDAL!” Raven Luster screamed in desperation. You looked in her direction, and saw a bedraggled version of your friend leaning towards you from a tear in the wall. To her left, another Raven Luster sat, a docile smile on her face. She seemed unaware of anything but the tea party.

“GRAB MY HOOF!” the worried pegasus yelled urgently. You had never heard RL raise her voice before, yet someone the urgency made her seem more real- so you obeyed.

“Grab NU, too!” she insisted.

“But that isn’t the real NU, is it?” you argued.

“It is- she’s just under the monster’s spell!” You looked, and saw that instead of acting out like she was at a tea party like the RL clone, Naturally Unique seemed to be staring off into space.

The hole RL leaned out of shook. You decided not to waste time questioning her further, and you tried to grab the other unicorn with your magic, only to find you lacked the energy to do so. With one hoof firmly held by the straining pegasus, you leaned your torso and other hoof towards NU, and knocked over tea cups and sandwich trays in the process.

When your hoof finally latched around the lavender unicorn’s wrist, you yanked her towards you until you had your entire arm wrapped around her body. Then you pushed yourself off the ground, helping RL pull the two of you through the hole.

The three of you stumbled out, wet and sticky, but RL continued to pull you two forward. You caught movement behind you, and turned your head to see a giant maw with long teeth.The creature’s mouth had been forced open by a long tree branch, and it thrashed about to free itself. Between the eyes on the beast’s forehead was an appendage that dangled a yellow light not unsimilar to NU’s magic aura.

Even looking at the light seemed to bring you back to the white space you had been in not too long ago, so you instead looked at it’s long, clawed feet that seemed to drag the creature across the ground.

“Where am I? NU muttered, still slightly dazed.

“Let’s get out of here!” RL insisted. The snap of the tree branch holding the beast’s mouth open gave you all the encouragement you needed to run.

You weren’t sure how far the three of you ran, but the monster didn’t seem to follow you. You all took a moment to catch your breath when it seemed all was relatively safe, and NU cast a cleaning spell to clean the gunk off everypony.
Lost and feeling wary, you prayed that the princess would bring the sun back soon.

To be continued...

Author's Note

Fun fact: the name "Alice" means "noble" and sometimes "sweet", so I combined those two to make a pony name for Alice, rather than think of a pony pun. :raritywink:
I wanted to make this a two parter like The Return of Harmony, but it was taking too long to write. So part 3 will come in a couple of months, hopefully after I complete the next chapters for my other in-progress fics.

Chapter 1 part 3

You had no idea where to look for Mom or Devil’s Food Cupcake, but Raven Luster just wanted to go home, and reasoned that it would better to regroup with rescue tools, anyway. So once again she flew above the treetops, and once she spotted the lights from a nearby town, she slowly started to lead you and Naturally Unique towards them.

Perhaps it was because your attention was divided between looking up at her and not tripping over roots in the dark, but you missed running into a bank of smoke until you were in the middle of it. The smell of burning wood filled your nose, and made your eyes water. You shut your eyes to keep the smoke out. It didn't feel hot nearby, so you knew you weren't in immediate danger of being burnt, but it was logical to assume that wouldn’t last. You coughed and lowered yourself down to think a moment, calling out:

“RL! NU! Wait a moment!”

When you opened your eyes, your friends, the forest and smoke were gone. Instead you were in front of a small, familiar school building on a bright fall morning. You were disoriented and rightly so, until the school bell chimed. You remembered that bell sound, it chimed when there was a break at your old school as a filly.

You hid behind a bush when the school door flew open and tiny fillies and colts ran outside to play. The schoolyard had a Sandbox, slide, and swing set, plus a merry-go-round that filled up fast. But what caught your eye was a group of fillies lingering beside the building. They were all looking at a small pink fiilly with a purple and green mane who still didn’t have her Cutie Mark -you.

You blinked and you were inside the younger version of yourself, and all your memories of the future slipped away until you thought that you were in the present. Filly-you moved forward and spoke, repeating the same things you said way back on your very first day of school.

“I'll be the rose princess Breezie, and you can be her sisters-”

“-no,” One filly cut you off.

“I want to be the rose princess Breezie,” another argued.

“But I thought of the game!” You yelled.

“Well then, you can't play with us!” The first filly declared.

This was the first time some pony hadn't gone along with the game you made up. Now as a mare, we know we can't always expect ponies to behave the way we want- but at that age, that rejection combined with that lesson was traumatizing.

No pony would play with you afterwards in that recess, telling you, “Not you, Daisy.” When school got out you cried all the way home, running so you could be comforted by-

Your house was empty. No furniture to cry on, or plush toys to cuddle with. You went room to room, but it was the same all over. While not having anything in your home was distressing, there was something you wanted more than all that that wasn't there.

A growl rumbled through your head, and an image of a tiny coyote pup next to a larger one appeared like a nostalgic memory. It wasn't your memory - you're a unicorn, after all- but it did remind you who you were looking for- Mom.

Remembering her, all your memories came back. Back then, mom had cheered us up and became our Playmate when nopony else would. Cheesy as it was, Mom was our first friend. When you blinked again, you were back in the woods, and back to being a fully-grown Mare.

You could see Mom in front of you then, struggling to breathe in a coil of smoke that somehow suspended her in mid-air, holding her in place so she couldn’t fly away. You rushed forward to help, but stopped short when the smoke moved together into a long mass, forming a snake-like head with fire orange eyes.

“Another monster?” NU groaned as she stepped into sight besides you.

“If I fly over there, I might get caught like your Mom,” RL added, landing next to her.

“You don’t happen to know any fighting spells?” you asked NU.

“Nope.”

“Me neither. But maybe if we distract it, RL can get Mom to safety.”

“Any ideas how?”

“My Mom doesn’t have the time for us to think of one. I’m just gonna be as flashy as I can be!”

You raced towards the monster, casting a light spell around your horn, pushing at your energy to making it bigger and bigger- hopefully threatening looking.

“LET HER GO!” you yelled at it. The smoke snake hissed, holding mom closer, more defensively. You whinnied in frustration- you weren’t intimidating enough to make it flee, and if it decided to attack you weren’t sure you could even defend well enough to survive.

You focused on the aura, trying to avoid letting your worry about Mom break your concentration enough to disrupt the spell, when the elephant-sized Periwinkle Aura over your horn was joined by yellow as NU added her magic to yours.

“What if we made it look like something?” NU suggested.

“But what could we make our magic look like that would scare a snake made of smoke?”

The monster suddenly lengthened into the air, swaying back and forth like a Cobra about to strike. In that moment you were reminded of a story mom read you back as a filly about a creature that battled snakes.

“NU! Make it into a Mongoose!”

Quickly, the magic between you turned brown. A four-legged creature stretched over the both of you with a long torso, rounded ears, furry tail, and long snout. The giant Mongoose hiding your forms hissed as the snake, twitching its tail and whiskers, crouching to pounce. As you flung the energy at the snake, the mongoose leapt, white teeth flashing as it seemed to attack.

Like a gust of wind, the smoke was blown away as the snake fled. Mom fell from the sky, and was quickly caught by RL and lowered gently to the ground. You ran over to her to help as she coughed, and she eyed you worriedly.

“Are you alright?” she asked between coughs.

“Am I alright? You were the one almost suffocated by smoke!”

“But you were turned into a werewolf-like monster!” Mom explained.

“What!?”

“Yeah it was back when the sheriff was leading us to town. You shifted, growled at us and ran off into the woods. Pixie was very upset.”

“Why didn't you guys mention that before?” You gasped at your friends.

“You were in such a hurry to help everypony we thought it could wait”, NU said, and RL nodded in agreement. Exasperated, you wondered if it didn't have anything to do with that strange growly voice you heard earlier. That voice was quiet now, but you were very suspicious.

“So you all got separated while looking for me?”

“Not exact-” Mom started to say, but she stopped quickly to pull you downwards.

A crackle and a hiss reached your ears, heat and red light flashed above you. You turned your head to look for the source of danger, and saw a black mare with fire for its mane and tail. It was a Night Mare- another monster you'd only seen in books before- and it looked strangely familiar.
“Devily?” You asked the being. It raced toward you, and you didn't think it wanted a hug. “Devil's Food Cupcake?” you tried again as you dodged the mare’s charge. RL flew up into a tree, and NU you tried to hide behind another, but your mom stayed close by.

“Is it really her?” Mom asked you.

“She usually doesn't have fire for a mane and tail, but her eyes are Devily's”.

You met your Devily’s eyes- which beheld you with hostility- but somehow she didn't seem to recognize you. You had seen Devily mad before. The two of you both have tempers, and often bicker with each other. But as much as she would jokingly take her anger out on inanimate objects and play at making threats, you know she'd never lay a hoof on you- because her smile was always genuinely happy.

Which is what shocked you the most as the Night Mare in front of you kicked, bucked and stomped at you in a feral manner. To make the situation even worse, even if you blocked or dodged her blows, embers snapped off the mare, and smoked as they landed on the forest around you. Mom helped you stamp on as many embers as she could, but if the two of you couldn't find a better solution, a forest fire would start.

Devil's Food Cupcake stomped her hooves on the ground like a bull, and she charged forward- this time not towards you, but NU. In sheer panic, you leapt on to the Night Mare in order to stall her, and instantly felt the heat of the fire on her mane burn you like a hot pan. You winced in pain and when you opened your eyes, the world had changed again.

You found yourself in a familiar park at midday, staring at two teenage fillies on a bench cheerfully chatting about the newest mane-ga you'd been reading. Devil's Food Cupcake was wearing an oversized black hoodie, already looking like a petite mare. It seemed back then like she never had an awkward teenage phase. You, on the other hoof, had been plump and acne-ridden, with hair that would frizz out of control with a slight gust of wind, and a tee you wore to blend in rather than look good.

You felt the memory pull at you to join it, and tried to resist- but it wasn't long before existed inside your younger self like before.

“And then he has to dress up like a maid to sneak in the palace!” you said with a giggle.

“And then what happened? Devily asked, her broad smile and eye contact making you want to continue.

“His Dragon partner didn't recognize him!” You replied with a laugh. You were about to tell her more, but the town clock chimed once, reminding you of the time. You leapt up to your hooves.

“One already?” I got to hurry home or I'll miss my lesson!”

“But I want to know what happens next!”

“I'll lend you the books later. See ya!” You turned to leave, but Devil's Food Cupcake stood on your tail.

“You're going to tell me now!” she insisted.

“Get off!” You yelled, pushing her away.

“Fine. I bet that story is dumb anyway, she replied, shoving you back. Your temper flared, and you prodded her sharply with your hoof. She slapped you, and soon enough you were bucking and biting and hitting each other like wild animals.

But it suddenly stopped when you felt yourself being held from behind, separated from your opponent. You stared for a moment at the bedraggled earth pony that your hooves still felt like pounding, and saw that she too was being held back - by NU! NU hadn't been with you that day. In fact, you remembered that you and Devil's Food Cupcake hadn't really fought at all that day.

What had really happened back then was that you had not wanted to disappoint your friend who had seemed so excited by the story you were sharing. And so for the first time ever you ended up cutting class purely by enjoying a conversation. It later upset you that you had missed that class, but it's an experience you wouldn't give up.

Remembering the true events made the illusionary park fade, and brought you back to the present day. Both Naturally Unique and Raven Luster held onto the Night Mare, and judging by the hooves around your waist, it was your mother that had grabbed you. The fight had not been imagined though, as you felt cuts and sore all over your body. But what was unusual was that your head was growing hotter and hotter.

“Mom, is my head on fire?” You asked, sounding calmer than you really were. Mom sighed in relief, and let you go.

“Yes. You were behaving just like Devily is as a Night Mare.” You turned to look at Mom, and flinched at the sight of tiny burns, and flames on her that you couldn’t seem to extinguish with your hooves.

“How can we fix this? It looks like being a Night Mare might be contagious,” you asked worriedly. Your friends didn’t seem to have an answer, but the flames only seemed to grow as you waited. Devily’s struggles only seemed to infect NU and RL too, but you couldn't risk letting her go, possibly starting a forest fire and hurting more ponies.

Then a voice that hadn’t been in your mind a while spoke up:

“Let me help,” the growly voice said.

“No! You're going to turn me into some kind of werewolf, you argued.”

“Were-coyote is closer. And what other choice do you have?”

“I... Want full control of my body,” you insisted.

“75% to 25%,” the coyote voice argued.

“50/50,” you bargained.

“The effects won't last as long with two minds controlling the same body…”

“Take it or leave it.”

“Fine. Deal.”

You felt your fur lengthen, your hooves split into paws, and your tail thickened. Your snout lengthened, and your tongue brushed over sharpened pointy teeth. And the smells that weren’t as clear as a pony were back! Ash, blood, and burnt fur were among the strongest, but you could faintly smell something in the near distance that gave you an idea. But the coyote scoffed at your idea and made you move elsewhere.

It leapt forward, snapping at Devily with your teeth, but you drew away last second. Whinnying a battle cry, the Night Mare nearly bucked out of NU’s grip. The coyote snorted in frustration your head, then leapt forward and headbutted the Night Mare, miraculously knocking it out.

Throwing Devily over your shoulder, you barked at your friends:

“Follow me while you still have your senses!”

Not taking any time to wait, you burst through bushes and trees, only hearing the rest of the mares following after a moment's hesitation. Your path likely seemed random to them, but yours nose smelled exactly where you wanted to go.

Which is why when a lake appeared in front of you, you dove in without hesitation. NU, RL, and Mom hesitated at the Lake Bank, but as you rose out of water without a flame on your body, they joined you and Devily, the flames licking their body extinguished. Devil's Food Cupcake awoke, thankfully back to herself, sputtering water and looking like she wanted to murder somepony. Paddling in the lake, she gasped:

“What in in Tartarus is going on?” She scrambled out of the water, looking at her surroundings and the other soaked mare who joined her on the shore, and met eyes with you.

“Daisy’s a werewolf again?”

“A werecoyote,” you corrected. The coyote within you barked in laughter as you climbed out of the lake after them, proceeding to shake your body like most wet canines do. When the shaking stopped, you were a pony again. Although you didn't hear the voice, somehow you knew it wasn't gone for good.

The forest was still burning, so from above Mom and Raven searched for fires. They led you and Naturally Unique them that you put out with magically levitated water. Devil's Food Cupcake followed behind and stamped out any remaining embers. Oddly, no other monsters appeared that night, and before you knew it, it was light enough for everypony to make out your way home- the sun was back!

Now that I’ve written this all out, I’m going to do something I almost never do and go to bed at Noon. Remember, it wasn’t a dream.

Sincerely,

Daisy Daedal

PS- check out this morning's paper for more proof! I’ve included it below:

Dear Princess Luna,

Forgive me for bothering you, but I’ve sent you a copy of my journal in the hopes that you might help me and my neighbors. Since your return to Equestria, it seems the monster population has risen in the woods at night, and while I know that you are not the “Nightmare Moon” that threatened eternal night, I’ve heard that you can walk in dreams, and many of the monsters seem to attack minds to make ponies defenseless. I was hoping that you might possibly know some mind magic that something could make our nights in San Franciscolt safe again.

It is my dearest hope that the life of myself and my loved ones can return to normal as soon as possible. Please, Princess, save us!

Sincerely your loyal subject,

Daisy Daedal of San Franciscolt

Author's Note

This is the final part of chapter 1! Finally, YAY!
Originally, I was going to have this fic parallel the episodes in the show (like what was going on in San Franciscolt when events were happening in Ponyville), but I don't think I have the patience nor the time for that anymore. :twilightblush:

Instead, I'm just going to focus on the season openers and finales. And don't worry, this is going to be the only chapter in 2nd person.