Oh Deer

Colt, was Ponyville eventful. Or was it ponies in general, and she just wasn't paying attention as well as she should have. No matter the reason, Sunset needed a break. So, she decided to go on a walk through nature. Not pony regulated nature, but pure, untouched nature, like she had back in the human world. And there was only one place she could do it: The Everfree Forest.

However, her friends had first objected. But, she reassured them, reminding them that if she ever got into any danger, she could teleport away. Besides, she could put up a fight. Just because her element was empathy didn't mean she couldn't be a badass. In fact, knowing how to be one while still being the element of empathy just made her that much more of a badass. And Zecora lived there, so if she ran into any unusual plants, she'd be fine. The poison jokes effects were interesting on her. Twilight had to deal without magic. Sunset had to deal with that on top of being in a body she hadn't been in for months, as well as not ready to show anypony else. She hid through the ordeal, and Twilight covered for her, but it was still a close call.

When she arrived at the Everfree Forest, she took a deep breath of fresh air. She scamned the weather above the forest. Even without pegasus help, it was a wonderful day for a walk. In fact, the unpredictability of it made it all the better. The fact that, despite the fact that it was not controlled, it was beautiful.

Sunset decided to go exploring, and decided to leave a magical trail for her to follow back. Sure, she could teleport, but where would be the fun in that? She could see things she missed on the way back. She trotted into the forest, a smile upon her face. The world seemed to be just right today. And though Equestria might take those words to be a challenge, it was rare, at least rarer than on Earth.

The amber unicorn took a direction she had never seen anypony take. Who knows what she might find? A magical plant that she could contain with her magic and show Twilight? Or perhaps another explorer, knowing that at least some ponies going in have made it out alive. And Sunset knew she was one of those few.

Sunset looked around at the flora and fauna, both beautiful, with some things even being akin to what she had seen on Earth. One day she might take a hike there, to compare and contrast. For Twilight's sake, of course. She wasn't remotely interested otherwise. At least, that's what she told herself.

In another universe, perhaps, this path would go unexplored. But, there are infinite universes, and such there would be infinite in which this path was never touched. However, this was the path Sunset chose, as if Fate herself had guided Sunset. And thus, it was Fate that made Sunset trip. No other reason than that. Well, other than that she was looking up and not down. But, she was sure Fate was involved.

So, she tumbled, all the way to a mouth of a cave. When she got up, she brushed herself off, and used a spell to check herself for injuries. Seeing that she was perfectly fine, she then turned to the cave, feeling a strange magic emanating from it. Something unlike anything she had ever felt. But, it was not dark. Dark magic had a tendency to cause ponies near it feel negative emotions. This was nothing like that. Instead, it was soothing. Closer to the magic of earth ponies than anything else, but seeming a bit more magical in a way, like there was more of an outlet for it or something.

She moved closer to the cave, her horn lit up to try to identify the magic. Still unable to find anything, she finally moved inside the cave. She worked her way down the cave, and ended up turning around to see if somehow she missed something.

"Hello?" she heard a voice call. "Is anydeer there?"

This brought a puzzled look to Sunset's face. Either some foals were playing out here, pretending to be deer, which was unlikely considering it was the Everfree Forest, or she had just somehow stumbled upon a sapient deer. Not that it would surprise her, she was a sapient pony, after all. But, unlike other species such as yaks, buffalo, and dragons, there were no documented appearances of deer.

"Hello," Sunset called back. "Where are you?"

"Over here," the voice called.

Sunset lit up her horn, and began walking towards the voice. "What's your name?" she asked, trying to get the voice to speak again, just so she could be sure.

"Souroupa Lamphie," she responded. "What's yours?"

"Sunset Shimmer. Is there something wrong?"

"Yeah, I think I broke my leg."

Sunset approached the voice, and her magic lit up the area, revealing a deer, with purple fur, and a pink mane. The purple was slightly darker than that of her sister's coat.

"You're not a deer," Souroupa said, worried.

"No, I'm not. I'm a pony. And I'm here to help," Sunset said, calmly.

"But mom said not to trust ponies."

"And what about your dad?"

"He actually is one of the ones that say we need to give ponies a chance," Souroupa replied.

"So, what about you?" Sunset asked.

"Me?"

"Yes, what do you think?"

"I... I'm not sure," the deer said, cautiously.

"Can I help you? You look like you need it," Sunset said.

Souroupa Lamphie thought about it for a minute. Finally, she decided. "Yes, could you take me home?"

"Sure, where is home?" Sunset said, now with a smile on her face.

"Down the cave. I was exploring the forest when I fell and broke my leg. I was able to get here, but I'm having trouble moving it now."

Sunset lit up her horn, before stopping. "Is it okay if I lift you with my magic? Just onto my back."

Souroupa nodded. Sunset then levitated her up and put the deer on her back. "Let's get you home."

The deer smiled at the pony. "Thanks."

"It's no problem," Sunset replied.

"Well, according to mom, nopony would do something like this, and help a deer."

"Well, your mom doesn't know us as well as she thinks. What's her name?"

"Anthismena Louloudia," the purple deer responded.

"That's a pretty name. And what's your dad's name?"

"Helio Thermio."

"Helio? Like the sun?" Sunset asked.

"Yeah, how did you know? I thought ponies didn't know the ancient words of the deer."

"I travel a lot. Some other culture also has something similar to helio to represent the sun," Sunset replied. It was true, the ancient Greeks thought Helios was the sun god.

"Wow, that's cool," Souroupa said, warming up to her new pony companion.

Sunset smirked. "Yes it is."

They quickly arrived at the gate to the land of the deer, or at least the home of the deer. "Hello? Anybody there?" Sunset asked.

She was immediately surrounded by deer guards, all pointing spears at her. One of them, Sunset presumed it was the captain, spoke up. "Release Princess Souroupa Lamphie at once, foul pony, or suffer the consequences."

Sunset gulped. "Oh deer..."

Author's Note

That's right, I'm back! Summer classes have finally started, meaning I have a constant source of wifi for my computer!

Also, I fully blame Novel-Idea for this. It's his fault deer are in this. He gave me the idea.

Hopefully I'll get to updating my other works soon.