It was instantaneous, yet for her, the moment seemed to go on for hours.
A massive pillar of both golden and lavender magic erupted from the battlefield, such a display of power nearly eradicating everything in its wake...
And yet the moment it died down, two separate beams of light shot out of the pillar and traveled through the air at unimaginable speeds, one landing in the mountains, and the other crashing into the forest....
In the forest several animals fled and scurried away from the crater as a bright purple light shined from the center, the light itself slowly losing its glow as a figure within it slowly crawled out... and what emerged from the light was something rather... surprising.... it was a Unicorn mare, one that seemed to be a young adult. She had a violet coat, her mane, despite being greatly disheveled, was made up of fuchsia and pink bouncy curls. And lastly, her cutie mark was a silver sword being thrust through a golden crescent.
"W-what…? Where... where am I...?" She whispered as she slowly picked herself up, looking around in confusion and fear as she took in her surroundings. She took a step out of the crater she had made upon impact, paying it no mind as she briefly struggled to keep her balance, lost to the wild and confused as to where she was supposed to be…
...or even who she was...
Sadly, her struggles were in vain as she fell to her knees, the pain from the impact taking a lot from her. What little magic she had felt weak, to the point where she tried levitating a nearby stick towards her but it seemingly refused to move to her.
She felt her muscles burn as she leaned against a tree, even her attempt to stand back up was met with complete failure, as if her entire body had been through the most torturous experience imaginable, and now had just shut down on her.
As she began to black out, her only thoughts were what she could have gone through to get like this... not noticing the sound of approaching footsteps as she finally fell unconscious...
The Unicorn groaned as she slowly woke up, blinking as she started taking in her surroundings; from what she could tell, she was in somepony's house. She tried to pick herself up but found that her body was still too tired to respond.
"Don't move too much, my humble guest,
for your body still needs time to rest."
".....please tell me you don't rhyme continuously...." The Unicorn groaned as she looked around. "It's just.... I have had a very dissatisfactory experience with rhymes.... at least... I-I think so anyways."
The figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing herself to be not a pony, but a Zebra, covered in white and grey stripes. Her mane was in the style of a mohawk and she wore what appeared to be a dark-pale top that wrapped under her arms, a woven skirt, brown wristbands, sandals, a dark-green cloak, and a necklace with four white and red feathers and a green oval-shaped gem in the center. "A bad experience with rhymes, you say?" She asked as she sat beside the bed, mixing some herbs together in a bowl of purple liquid. "Those who botch the art of rhyme simply bring dismay."
"And like that, my brain begins hurting again," The Unicorn said as she attempted using her telekinesis to try and reach something resembling water or anything. "Please tell me there's something I can drink."
The Zebra simply rolled her eyes as she gently pushed her back down onto her back. "You must try not to exert yourself, least you delay your return to full health." She said reassuringly as she held the bowl of now liquefied herbs to her mouth, urging her to drink.
"Uh, do you by any chance have water instead?" The Unicorn asked with a gulp. Her eyes had already started watering from the smell of it and her stomach had begun churning.
"This potion’s taste surpasses its smell," She stated, not remotely bothered by the Unicorn's stubbornness. "It will restore your stamina quicker than any spell."
"....if you say so." The Unicorn sighed as she took the remedy and began drinking it. Surprisingly, it was actually pretty good. Sure, the smell was awful but, hey, she was starting to feel better.
"You're very lucky I found you so soon," the Zebra explained as her guest drank down the last of the potion. "Any beast in this forest would have sealed your doom." She finished as she placed the empty bowl on a nearby table next to a bigger bowl filled with glowing green liquid, after which she took a wet cloth out of said bowl and moved to rub some of the liquid onto her forehead and around her horn. "I can tell that your memories are in a bind, this mixture should help you clear your mind."
However, the moment she placed the cloth on the Unicorn’s head, however, something unexpected occurred.
The Unicorn’s horn began to crackle and spark violently as many bolts of energy started erupting from it, striking several parts of the room, scorching the walls and knocking over various bottles and vials, all the while the Unicorn's eyes were glowing pure white and she laid perfectly still.
Despite her best efforts to get out of range, one of the bolts of energy struck the Zebra in the chest, sending her flying across the room and into a wall, knocking her out.
The Unicorn's mind was flooded with vivid memories, specifically visions...
A thunderstorm with a rainbow lightning bolt that grew violent...
...a trio of butterflies flying through the storm only to be pinned by a vicious bat...
...some apples apparently going rotten...
..some balloons being deflated by an unseen force...
...diamonds slowly cracking and showing weakness...
...and finally... a star... glowing brightly.... and then dimming...
The Unicorn gasped as the vision abruptly ended, her eyes stopped glowing and the bolts erupting from her horn dissipated. "Those... those images.... w-why did they feel so familiar...?" She whispered on shock, her breathing briefly becoming ragged and heavy before she calmed herself down... and saw exactly how much destruction her magic outburst had caused... as well as the unconscious Zebra with a nasty gash across her chest in the corner.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!" she shouted in terror and guilt, quickly running to her side. The Zebra was still breathing but she looked like she wasn't going to get back up for quite a bit. "Ooooh no. Oh lord, oh jeez, oooooh craaaap," the Unicorn panicked as she looked around for something to help her…
*COUGH, COUGH*
She was startled upon hearing the Zebra gasp in pain as her eyes flew open. Relieved that she was at the very least conscious, the Unicorn carefully picked her up bridal-style and carried her over to the bed. However, when she laid her down on her back, the weakened Zebra shakily raised her hand and pointed to one of the shelves behind the Unicorn, specifically to one of the few bottles that hadn't been knocked over during her magic burst. The Unicorn quickly grabbed the bottle and carefully poured its contents into a cup and held it close to the Zebra's mouth, allowing her to drink it down at her leisure.
Much to the Unicorn's shock, the Zebra's chest wound was surrounded by a green glow as it slowly started to heal. While she was revealed to know she would survive, she felt a little repulsed to see the blackened skin sorta.... flake off.
The gash across her chest finally closed up, leaving nothing but a small scar. The Zebra gasped as she picked herself up, coughing as she ran towards the sink, poured herself a glass of water, and started washing out her mouth.
"I presume that that concoction tastes... unsavory?" The Unicorn asked her friend. The Zebra just nodded as she continued to rinse her mouth out. "It did kind of look like-”
The Zebra held up a finger in a "just a moment" motion as she continued to gargle the water before spitting it down the drain. "I'll admit it does taste like trash, but it heals all wounds in a flash." Shr replied sitting down to catch her breath while carefully tracing her fingers over the scar.
"Sorry about that," the Unicorn said with a weak chuckle. "I just.... I guess that I don't know my own power..... you sure you're going to be okay now?"
"The wound you gave me wasn't my first, and trust me, I've recovered from much worse." The Zebra chuckled mildly as she approached the Unicorn. "For losing control, I won't give you blame... but introductions are in order; tell me, what is your name?"
".... I, um..... heheh.... I don't know my name," The Unicorn chuckled with a blush. "That's actually really embarrassing on my part. Attack you and all but I can't even tell you my name.... wow, that's just lame."
The Zebra placed a hand on her shoulder. "Trust me, you have nothing to be ashamed about; you were injured before I found you, of that, there's no doubt."
She smiled in understanding as she sat the Unicorn down. "While this memory loss is not expected, your recent magic burst might be connected."
"I was starting to think the same thing," The Unicorn said as she stretched a little bit. "Like.... the moment I saw those visions... it still felt.... incomplete. Like a piece of me was still missing.... I dunno what it is... but I get the feeling it's important."
In the frozen mountains to the north, a monstrous yeti-baboon-like creature snarled as it made its way out of its cave and slowly approached a massive crater that was practically the size of a house. Small wisps of energy seemed to flow through the air around it as crackles of energy sparked around the center, which was obscured by a bright lavender light...
As the creature got closer, it sniffed the air and realized that there was something alive at the bottom of the crater. It quickly climbed down towards it, trying to deduce whether or not it was another predator... or its prey.
The second it got close enough, however, a hand reached out from the light and grabbed it by the neck. Before it got a chance to fight back, a nasty shock of lavender electricity shot through its body, causing it to howl and scream in agony as its energy was slowly ripped out of its body…
"Must..... hunt......... STAR."
