Princess Luna was having a bad day. She had gotten into a argument with her dear old sister Celestia over some political dispute and how they should handle it in the kingdom. So she had to let off some steam. She went to the only place that could help her calm down. The everfree forest. She knew that she was being irresponsible for a princess, a ruler of the kingdom, but right now she was just pissed. She wanted to be alone. And hardly anyone ever came to the everfree. It was far too dangerous. Witch meant that it was a better place to be alone, especially when it was so close to Canterlot and ponyville.

She landed gracefully and began her walk in the dark woods, underneath the canopy, with the tree roots trying to trip her and drag her down, under the watchful eyes of creatures that no one dared to name. She came apoun a clearing in the forest-well, as clear as a clearing can get in the everfree- and sat down on a large rock in a sliver of sun. Then she noticed the blood.

It was smeared across the rocks. As if someone had fallen from a great height and then fell on the rocks and slid down. Luna jumped up, immediately on her guard. She jumped down from the rocks and crept around it, following the blood around the large pile of mossy boulders. As she did this, she wondered what could have happened. Did a inquisitive pegasus crash? Was there a battle and the loser was just left there to rot? Had a timberwolf come along and decided to maul a innocent traveler, unfamiliar with the region? As Luna kept thinking of scenarios and what she could do in counter to them, she hardly noticed as she tripped over a body.

She jumped and looked down. There was a mangled body of a pony, if you could call it that. It was alive, although its bony chest hardly moved, as if each breath was painful. It probably was. Its body was one of a pony, but its horns were rams and red as blood. It had bat wings, obviously wrenched from their sockets, with holes seemingly stabbed through them. It had a barbed tail, and it twitched weakly. Its eyes were a purple, and dull and unfocused. They flitted to Luna, and filled with fear before dropping back down again to the muddy forest floor. Its body was covered in open wounds and scars, and around its front hooves were bloody manacles that cut into its flesh.

Luna shuddered, and cautiously stepped forward to see its reaction. It inched backward and whimpered. Luna sighed. Something terrible had happened to this thing. She lowered her horn down to its head, now rippling with her dark blue magic, and told it to sleep. The thing complied almost immediately, and fell into a dreamless sleep, where no nightmares would haunt it. She looked around the clearing for anything to help with the gashes and wrenched wings. There was nothing to help the gashes, but she reckoned that she could put the wings back into their place.

She gathered up some sticks, and a few vines, and with her magic, quickly shoved both wings at once back into their proper places. The thing groaned in pain. She folded the wings gently and made sure they weren't broken, and then tied the wings to its body. She didn't want it to escape until she could ask it questions. As it wiggled, trying to get out of the restraints, until luna eased it back into a comfortable sleep that she would not wake from unless she wanted it to. And this thing, whatever it was, clearly needed rest, as evidenced by its eye bags.

She decided to get a look at its cutie mark, if it had one, to see what sort of thing this thing did. What talents and parts of it made it unique. What she saw horrified her.

There was no cutie mark. It had been gouged out of its flesh, with only a few splashes of color remaining. The wound was deep, and quite recent. It around it was many scars, as if this was not the first time that the cutie mark had been attempted to removed. There were claw marks, bite marks, jagged scars, and burns. It was as if someone was desperately trying to get rid of it, and only just succeeded. Princess Luna looked at what was left. There was only a few colors: blue, red, and green. Se wondered what the cutie mark was, and what had happened to it. Removing a cutie mark was a a terrible crime. It was to remove one persons personality, to remove what made them them. This was a serious crime, and Princess Luna of Equestria vowed to find whoever did this. But first, she needed help.

Help from a certain princess of magic.

Author's Note

ok, i wrote this once, and i forgot to save, so heres the rewrite. this is my first story here, and i would love some constructive critisisim. thanks!