A Storm on the Horizon of the Arcane World

Chapters

Prologue: A Storm Rises
Chapter 1: The Outside World
Chapter 2: The Spirit of Adventure
Chapter 3: The Scorpion Awakes
Chapter 4: A World That Wants Her Dead
Chapter 5: Comfort

Prologue: A Storm Rises

.
It was a midsummer day and the sun burnt down from the sky. The mountain village its rays fell upon, despite being closer to the sun than other settlements in Equestria, felt slightly chill on this morning. Even though there wasn't a single cloud in the sky, the climate in this part of Equestria made the summers less warm than in the rest of the kingdom. It was nothing the unicorn citizens of the tiny village complained about, they had gotten used to it across many generations that were born in this village.

In one of the houses, located in the middle of the village, lived a filly called Fizzlepop Berrytwist and she was no exception. The night had been colder than the morning and yet, she was sleeping with her window widely opened. The brisk air of the night had made her sleep an exceptionally good one even, as any other pony in the village could have attested, but now the moment came for Fizzlepop to awake.

Feeling the last traces of a wonderful dream leaving her mind while slowly opening her eyes, Fizzlepop stirred in her bed, the covers rustling and the blanket getting partially pushed to the side by her movements. She yawned. Then, having fully opened her eyes, Fizzlepop rubbed the last sleep out of them. As she was done, the filly pushed the blanket off her body completely and dashed for the window.

She propped her head on her forehooves, slightly squishing her cheeks while leaning down on the windowsill. Fizzlepop let her eyes wander; over the houses her own was surrounded by, the paths, which were still empty, and the pine trees that formed a forest at the bottom of the mountain located just south of the village's border. Everything her eyes fell upon was clad in the thick, white mist of the early morning.

The forest she could see looked beautiful this morning, as it did on most, yet Fizzlepop had never been to it. She knew that behind the forest and behind the mountain, the wide world began, filled with towns and cities much bigger than the village she lived in, probably offering spectacular things far beyond her wildest imaginations and dreams. But, somehow, Fizzlepop had never felt any desire to leave her village and to go see those things. She had not even read books about this outside world, from the few the small library right around the corner of her house offered. Fizzlepop was content with her village and fully satisfied with the beauty it offered. She was a simple filly, one who could wait with seeing the outside world until she was an adult. Or, perhaps, even forever.

Fizzlepop closed her eyes and took in a deep breath of the morning air, sighing in delight as its cold chill filled up her lungs. She presented the village and the surrounding landscape with a last glance and a smile, then she retreated from the window and returned to her bed.

Lighting up her horn, she wrapped the pillow into a purple aura and smoothed its surface, until there was no sign of how her head had rested on it minutes ago anymore. Following up on this, she spread the blanket over her bed until half of the pillow was covered. Directing her aura to the corners of the blanket, she pulled at each one, until it was perfectly aligned with the rest of the bed. Fizzlepop stepped away from her bed and cast an observant glance over it. Finding everything to be well done, she let the magic around her horn vanish. “Um-hm!” Fizzlepop nodded, proudly, then she marshed out of her room.

Arrived in the corridor, she nonchalantly wrapped the door into her magic and closed it shut without turning around, then she cantered down the stairs, youthful energy spurring her to begin the day.
It didn't take her long to reach the small kitchen of her house. Seeing the table already being laid and the smell of the breakfast on it entering her nose, she did not waste time to sit down either. Eagerly, the hungry filly planted her flank on the chair and began to stuff the food into her mouth, from where it quickly found its way down her throat. Her mother was still at the kitchen unit, cleaning her hooves, but turned around after just a few moments. Sitting down at the table opposite of her, she presented her daughter with a warm smile.

“Good Morning, Fizzlepop,” her voice rang through the room and into Fizzlepop's ears like a sweet melody.

“Moarnim, mom!” Fizzlepop replied without stopping to eat. She opened her mouth and gave her a mother a smile, not caring about any etiquette. A few bits of chewed bread landed on her plate.

“Swallow before you talk,” her mother scolded, the melody of her voice being of a sharper nature now, but her smile remained.

“Sowwy,” Fizzlepop apologized immediately after, causing her mother to sigh and shake her head, then she reached for a glass of milk to her right and started to gulp it down. She was holding the glass with her magic and simultaneously wrapped another piece of food into her aura and levitated it up to her mouth. She had barely swallowed the milk as she put it between her teeth, bit off a chunk and started chewing again.

“Was your sleep alright, Fizzlepop?” her mother asked, now starting to eat herself.

“Um-hm!” Fizzlepop nodded. “It waf, but–” She halted her speech as she saw a strict frown building on her mother's face. Eyes growing slightly bigger, she swallowed before she continued to talk. “It was, but I don't have much time to talk, mom. Glitter Drops and Spring Rain probably already wait for me outside and–”

“FIZZLEPOP!”

She was once again interrupted, the loud shout from outside confirming her words. Startled, Fizzlepop leaned back in her chair too far and almost fell backwards together with it, an accident only prevented because her mother was wrapping the chair into her magic and put it back into its proper position. There was no way for Fizzlepop to be mistaken, this was Glitter Drops' shrill voice.

Suddenly in a hurry, Fizzlepop picked up the last pieces from her plate and let them hover into her mouth all at once, then she poured the remaining half of the milk after it, making a soaky mess of the bread in her mouth. Now unable to talk, she rushed at her mother's side and crushed her with a strong hug. She was met with an embrace in return, then her mother placed a kiss on her horn.

“I love you, my proud daughter,” she said as her lips were free again.

Fizzlepop squeezed her mother tighter, her mouth still busy with the wet mass inside of it, then she dashed to the door, pulled it open with her magic and smashed it shut, without looking behind. Her mother sighed a little, then focused on her plate and continued eating.

Outside, Glitter Drops and Spring Rain awaited Fizzlepop, eagerness and impatience in their faces. They stood at the end of the small path that led away from Fizzlepop's house. Glitter Drops was holding a yellow ball in her aura, waving around with it to greet her friend. At her side, Spring Rain sported an enthusiastic grin.

Seeing the faces of her two best friends, Fizzlepop raced down the path. Without lowering her speed, she ran up to Glitter Drops and glomped her. Unprepared for the impact, Glitter Drops was knocked down by the bundle of energy, losing the grip around the ball. It dropped from the air and landed on Spring Rain's head, where it bounced off. But before it could fall to the ground again, Spring Rain wrapped it into his blue aura, saving it. He scowled.

“Hey, Fizzlepop! Be more careful, this ball is brand-new!” he shouted at the filly.

Fizzlepop did not react. Now lying on top of the other filly, she rubbed her head against Glitter Drop's chest, smiling in content. It was a heart-melting sight and within seconds, the scowl vanished from Spring Rain's face and he joined in on the embrace by leaning down on Fizzlepop and hugging her from behind, all without loosening the grip around the yellow ball. Together, the three foals formed a slightly awkward, but still cute-looking, group hug. They remained like this for a few seconds, then parted.

Fizzlepop and Glitter Drops got up on their hooves proper. The green unicorn panted slightly. “You are going to crush me one day, Fizzlepop!”

Taking the words as compliment, Fizzlepop flashed Glitter Drops a proud grin. Then she stuck her tongue at her, cheekily.

As Glitter Drops had her breath back, Spring Rain passed the ball to her, the aura around it switching colors. Glitter Drops turned at Fizzlepop, now a proud grin forming on her own face. “What do you say about my new ball, Fizzlepop? It even matches the color of my magic!”

Only really recognizing the ball now, the dark purple filly with the crimson mane and tail gasped. “Wow, you really got a new one? After all this time?!”

“Yes!” Glitter Drops shouted in joy, rearing up. “Now I just need to make sure that Spring Rain doesn't bounce it against the spikes on one of the trees or drops it down the ravine again!”

“I didn't!” The blue colt shot her a glare and let a hoof come down on the ground. “You just lost control of your magic when you flung it at me, should have practiced more!”

Glitter Drops returned the glare and gasped, mouth open in shock. But before she could protest against the doubts about her magical prowess, Spring Rain leaped her.

“And you didn't tell me there's a ravine at the other end of that hill we were playing on last year! This was all your fault, Glitter Drops, stop blaming me for everything!” He huffed.

“W-What?!” Glitter Drops growled at him. “How dare you.....” She approached him and a moment later, shoved her face into the colt's. Both of them exposed their teeth now, gnarling at each other like wolves, their noses pressed flat by each other's faces. Feeling their anger rising they were about to get into another shouting match, as they suddenly felt forcefully separated.

Fizzlepop squeezed herself between the two, pushing them away from each other with her hooves. “STOP IT!” she yelled at the top of her lungs.

The expression in her friends' faces did not change. “But she says I destroyed her last two balls and that's not true!” Spring Rain protested against the intervention.

“But it is! You are responsible for this, Spring Rain!” Glitter Drops countered.

“No, I'm not! It was your fault! Every time!” the colt shot back.

Glitter Drops shook her head. “Your fault!” the filly insisted on being right.

“No, your fault!” Spring Rain refused to take the blame.

“YOUR. FAULT.” Glitter Drops felt she was at the end of her patience, her head turning red. Growling, she lifted a hoof menacingly, intended to slap the colt in the face.

Seeing how the situation escalated, Fizzlepop ignited her horn and wrapped her two friends in a magical grip. A stern frown on her face, she lifted them up into the air and held them tightly in a safe distance from each other. They struggled, but soon had to give up against the powerful grip of their friend.

“Now you two calm down!” Fizzlepop shouted up at them, a strictness, seemingly unfitting for a foal but perfectly familiar to the two other unicorns, permeating her voice. “Both of you!” Fizzlepop added as she noticed that Spring Rain had stopped exposing his teeth, but that Glitter Drops continued to growl at her friend. The sharp command let the other filly finally stop, too. She crossed her arms and looked to the side, defiantly.

As Fizzlepop was sure that Glitter Drops and Spring Rain acted peaceful now, she slowly let them down on the ground. But as none of them said a word to the other, she levitated them close to each other, their hooves scraping over the ground as she did so. “Now apologize, finally!” she shouted, getting slightly angry herself now. “I finally want to play, so stop fighting!”

Bedgrudgingly, the other two foals reached out a hoof, their eyes narrowed at their opponent. They bumped their hooves together and shook them hesitantly. But Fizzlepop still frowned.

“Now?” she asked.

Glitter Drops and Spring Rain rolled their eyes. “I'm sorry!” they pressed out between their teeth at the same time. Then they took down their hooves and looked expectantly at their mediator. “Are you happy now?” Glitter Drops snarled.

“Yes,” Fizzlepop answered. “For now, at least. Don't start fighting again.” She gave them another stern look, then she wrapped Glitter Drops' yellow ball, that had rolled off during their fight because Spring Rain hadn't been paying attention to it anymore, into her magic and zipped away with it.

“Hey, my ball!” Glitter Drops shouted, then started following. Behind her, Spring Rain sat himself into motion, too, and chased after them.

The three unicorn foals played for a while, standing in a remote corner of the village and flinging the ball from one to another using their magic. Here and there, they interrupted it with a round of tag, but quickly returned to their ballgame afterwards.

As the sun had risen higher, with still a few hours to go before noon, Glitter Drops started to complain. Having caught the ball with her magic after Spring Rain sent it into her direction, she kept it hovering over her head instead of passing it on and sat down on a rock at the wayside. “I'm bored,” she moaned, propping her head on her forehooves.

Fizzlepop and Spring Rain looked at each other. Cluelessly, they sat down in the grass left and right of their friend's heightened seat. For a few moments none of the foals said anything, then Glitter Drops spoke up.

“What now?” She yawned in demonstration of her boredom.

The solution got provided by Fizzlepop. She looked up at the yellow filly, a naughty grin on her lips. “I bet you wouldn't catch it anymore if I'm running while throwing it at you!” Not awaiting an answer by Glitter Drops, she wrapped the ball, that was still hovering over Glitter Drops' head, into her own magic and began to pull at it. First Glitter Drops was clutching her ball while giving an expression between concerned and angry, but then her yellow aura vanished and was replaced by purple. Giggling, Fizzlepop bolted away with the ball, Glitter Drops and Spring Rain chasing after her immediately.

Leading them through the village, Fizzlepop turned around occasionally. As her two friends had nearly caught up, she flung the ball at Glitter Drops and released it from her aura. Glitter Drops gasped at the speed the ball was approaching her with but before it could fly over her head, she jumped up and caught it. “So much for I can't catch it while running!” she said as she was on the ground again, huffing. Glitter Drops shot the ball back at Fizzlepop, who caught it with ease.

Glitter Drops was better prepared for the next shot. Not letting the ball out of her vision, she ignited her horn immediately when Fizzlepop began to throw it and caught it mid-air. A victorious laughter ringing out from her mouth she let it fly towards Spring Rain, who was now close behind her. The colt caught the ball and sent it back to Glitter Drops, who in turn passed it on to Fizzlepop again.

The back-and-forth between the three foals continued, until Glitter Drops suddenly tripped over a root and kissed the ground. The ball flew over her and got caught by Fizzlepop instead. Spring Rain slowed down just after passing Glitter Drops and, having noticed the mishap of his friend, turned around to her. Offering a hoof, he helped her back up, watched by Fizzlepop who was standing ahead.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

Taking her friend's hoof with a thankful smile, Glitter Drops rose up. She looked down at herself, owing Spring Rain an answer while she wiped the dirt of her coat. “I'm fine,” she said the moment she was finished. Her attention not focused on her coat anymore, Glitter Drops looked around, an expression of surprise growing on her face. “Wow, are we that far away from the village?”

Their friend's remark having caught their attention, Spring Rain and Fizzlepop looked up and took in their surroundings, too. In front of them, they were greeted by the first trees of the forest north of their home, behind them, was the dim forest light. All they could still see of their village were tiny houses in the distance at the end of the path they had, distracted by their cheerful game, come down on. It wasn't the first time the trio had ventured into the forest, but that they had lost attention of their surroundings like that was new to the foals. The initial surprise wore off soon, though, and their minds returned to their game.

“We've been here before, it's nothing special! We should play more and not just stand around!” Fizzlepop prompted them to continue their ballgame.

It returned the enthusiasm of her friends. Smiling, Spring Rain took the ball from Fizzlepop. A split-second later, they were enthralled by their game again, running on the path between the trees, just like before. None of them noticed how they went further and further into the forest and how the trees around them changed. It was when they saw a cave in the distance that they realized there were suddenly black trees with spikes, instead of the usual pine trees, around them. Yet, it wasn't enough for them to interrupt playing. Only when Fizzlepop, distracted by a sound coming from between the trees, accidentally shot the ball into the wrong direction it was that they finally stopped. Their eyes fixated on the ball, they watched it rolling into the cave that was now right ahead of them, just a few meters away.

Their hearts suddenly pounding faster, the three foals approached the cave with caution and fear. Now fully aware of their location, they cast glances over their backs, checking if anything dark was emerging behind them. As they stood right in front of the entrance, nopony moved. Glitter Drops and Spring Rain stared in fear at the boards the entrance was blocked with, something that was done both to keep what's in it inside, as well as to prevent ponies who were more curious than it served them from attempting to explore its depths. And not more than an attempt it would be, that was something all three foals knew, as the cave was home to the only monster that existed in the otherwise so peaceful forest: The Ursa Minor.

A gulp went down the throats of all three of them as their eyes rested on the picture that was showing the monstrosity as a warning sign. After seconds filled with the sounds of clattering teeth and shivering bodies, Glitter Drops and Spring Rain ducked their heads and crouched backwards, slowly. Seeking cover and protection, they cowered down behind Fizzlepop. Glitter Drops poked her friend from behind. “You go and get it,” she said. “You are the bravest of us!”

And it was true. The sight of the cave and the thought of what was in it and what might just wait right behind the planks, eager to bury its sharp claws into their small bodies, was making her uncomfortable as well. But unlike her two friends, Fizzlepop felt much less fear in her heart and it was rationality that dominated inside of her. She turned around.

“No.” Her face was grim. “I can't go inside, no one of us should. We can't fight an ursa minor, not even all three of us. We should return to the village and tell the adults what happened. They know when it is asleep and if it should wake up, they can defend themselves much better.”

The intelligent advice was not met with approval. Spring Rain just continued clattering with his teeth, not responding, but Glitter Drops flashed an angry glare at Fizzlepop.

“You lost it!” she hissed. “It's brand-new, I just got it yesterday and now you lost it already because you didn't focus enough on your levitation magic! Go and get it!” She poked Fizzlepop again, stronger and forceful this time.

The third unicorn dropped her ears. “But.....” She looked over at Spring Rain, feeling helpless. But she did not see what she hoped for in the face of the colt.

Spring Rain nodded, his face as stern as he could manage with all the fear he felt. “Glitter Drops is right. You messed this up, Fizzlepop. And you know how hard it is to deliver toys to the village. If her ball is gone now, she will have to wait months again to get another one.”

At these words, Glitter Drops lowered her ears as well. Some tears started to appear in her eyes, making them sparkle in the faint sunlight that shone through the thick canopy above them. She sniffed.

Spring Rain gave his friend a compassionate look, putting a hoof over her back, then looked at Fizzlepop again. “Go inside and bring it back before you ruin this. This is your mess, Fizzlepop, you need to clean it up.” His voice did nothing to hide how angry he was now and neither did the expression in his face.

Fizzlepop looked into the crying face of Glitter Drops and guilt came over her. She looked down and bit her lip, trying to ignore the feeling, but it took only mere seconds until all of her rationality had been dissolved by the guilt she felt. “Okay,” she said quietly, then looked back up at her sad friend. “I get it back for you, Glitter.” She reached out with a hoof and stroke it gently over the upper part of Glitter Drops' mane. “Don't worry!”

Having said that, she turned around and scrutinized the entrance of the cave. The planks were old and damaged, worn by many more years than Fizzlepop was a part of the world. A rotten smell wafted into her nose and she scrunched it. Two of the planks were nailed diagonally over a third one, which was even. The picture of the ursa minor was on top of the construct and there was no possibility of getting in at this spot. But below it, near the ground, a hole gaped, just big enough for a filly to slip through. This was her way inside, Fizzlepop concluded.

The young filly did a step closer to the cave. She lifted her head into the air and perked up her ears, listening in concentration. No sounds came from inside the cave. No claws scratching over the ground, no thundering steps of giant paws, no roars, no breaths. It was completely quiet behind the planks and although that was eerie, it meant there was no danger right now. It boosted Fizzlepop's confidence and she went closer by another step.

For a moment, she felt tempted to shout inside and ask if someone's there, but she pressed her hooves on her mouth in the last moment, only a very muffled “Hello?” escaping them. That there were no sounds inside the cave, it had to mean that the ursa minor was asleep. This was her chance and a careless shout would ruin it. But if she stayed quiet.....

The ball couldn't have rolled into the cave very far, Fizzlepop saw that it had already slowed down when it bounced past the planks. She got down on her belly and crawled carefully closer to the entrance. As inches separated her face from the hole, she peered inside. Fizzlepop squinted her eyes at the darkness trying to catch sight of the ball, even if it would just be a faint outline. She tried to accustom her eyes to the darkness but, with the brighter environment outside of the cave, it proved impossible. No matter how hard she squinted, there was nothing but black. Sighing, Fizzlepop got back up on her hooves.

There was only one way, she had to tap into the darkness and search around to find the ball. But it should be safe, she assured herself. The ursa minor was asleep, that was as much as she could tell from the outside, so all she had to do was sneaking in, grabbing the ball as quickly and as quietly as she could once she found it and then sneaking out again. Her body was shaking, but it was an easy enough task.

Gulping one last time while looking at the entrance, Fizzlepop braced herself, then got down again and crawled under the lowest plank. Inside the cave, she immediately found herself being engulfed by the darkness. Unable to see now, Fizzlepop ignited her horn and cast an illumination spell. It was only a weak one, to not wake up the sleeping beast, but it allowed her to see what was in front of her. Glitter Drops' ball was nowhere to be seen.

Fizzlepop stood still, concentrating on possible sounds around her once again. A bird squawked outside of the cave, making her heart almost skip a beat, but this was all she could hear. As no more sounds entered her ears for a few more seconds, Fizzlepop slowly set herself into motion.

The cave walls were close to her, it was narrow so near at the entrance, but would probably become wider deeper inside of it, she figured. Fizzlepop hoped to find the ball before she would come this far. Putting one hoof in front of the other cautiously, Fizzlepop snuck through the cave, the light coming from her horn only illuminating the path one step ahead of her. Suddenly, her head hit something hard and Fizzlepop could not suppress a squeal of pain. Hastily, she pressed both forehooves on her mouth in shock. Looking up, Fizzlepop could see what she had bumped into. The cave took a turn here and since her spell was so weak, she hadn't noticed early enough. Rubbing her aching head, some tears glistening in the corner of her eyes, the little unicorn looked to the right, trying to spot the ball. Once again, only darkness greeted her.

With a sigh, Fizzlepop let her horn glow brighter. It now shone ahead a fair bit, even though she still didn't dare to use it to the full extent. Slowly, Fizzlepop continued to creep into the new direction.

It was a few meters ahead that she finally spotted the object of her desire. Glowing like the sun, Glitter Drops' ball reflected the light of her horn, greeting her warmly. A smile flashing up on her face, Fizzlepop increased her pace and cantered to the ball. Quickly, she wrapped it into her purple aura and got ready to turn around and leave, as she suddenly heard a few pebbles roll across the cave floor in front of her. The ground began to erupt under heavy footsteps as something headed into her direction. Before Fizzlepop could react, she froze in fear at the sight of malicious-looking, yellow eyes that glowed at her from the darkness. Just a second later, the owner of the eyes revealed itself and Fizzlepop stared into the face of the ursa minor she had tried to avoid!

Rearing up in fear, Fizzlepop dropped the ball and it rolled away. But her shock over the appearance of the beast only lasted for a moment. Ready to put up a fight and to defend herself, Fizzlepop got down on all fours again and focused on one of the combat spells she knew. Teeth clenched, the young filly was ready to shoot the face of the creature with what little power she had but, before she could fire even just one ray from her horn, the ursa minor swung his claw at her. It came down right on her head and, affected by the massive impact, Fizzlepop got flung to the side and smashed against the wall of the cave. She could hear something crack and felt a sharp pain on her right eye. Feeling dizzy, her vision became milky and her mind blanked out.

Looking at her motionless body, with eyes that could even see in the total darkness that had returned now, the ursa minor let out a massive roar. Menacingly, he approached his prey, ready to finish what he had started. As he was towering over the tiny body that laid before him, the ursa minor lifted his paw one more time to strike a finishing blow. Only moments before he could hit Fizzlepop again, something green whizzed through the air and illuminated the cave once more. The ursa minor let out another thunderous roar as an arrow of light pierced through his paw and dissolved at a rock behind it.

“LEAVE YOUR CLAWS OFF MY DAUGHTER!” a deep voice, saturated with anger and desperation, sounded from the corner Fizzlepop had come from in such a carefree way minutes earlier.

The beast roared again, pain emerging from its paw and flooding through its leg. A stream of blood gushed from the hole in its limb and splashed down onto Fizzlepop's form before the rage and the pain made the ursa minor turn around, ready to enact revenge on its assaulter. But before it could do even just one step into the direction the spell had been fired from, more arrows got in the way of his path, piercing into his chest. The barrage of magical arrows continued, coming from a bulky stallion who fired them into the chest of his opponent, forcing the ursa minor to step back more and more.

Finally, the ferocious beast collapsed with a fading roar right next to Fizzlepop. A pool of blood spread out under its massive body, painting the cave floor a dark red. The ursa minor wheezed repeatedly, hate-filled eyes fixated on his murderer, then the rattling breaths became quieter and his eyes broke, still locked in their last expression.

With haste, the stallion slid a large axt he was hovering back into the sheath that was tied to his torso and went for the still unconscious filly. Swiftly, his hooves grabbed for her and picked her up, moments before the blood of the dead predator could reach her. Pressing Fizzlepop against his chest, the stallion was about to rush out of the cave already as his eyes fell on her head. He froze. Her horn was missing! Where it used to be was now nothing more than a jagged, uneven stump. Blood trickled out of it and ran down her forehead, where it met with the blood that came from the wound on her right eye. Short remnants of nerve fibers were hanging out of the hole in the middle of the stump, the thin, fleshy cords appearing lifeless in the light of his horn.

Fizzlepop's father gritted his teeth, horror building in his face as his mind began to process what had occured. Tears appearing in the corner of his eyes, he bit down on his lip and began to search the ground around the large puddle of blood frantically. As his efforts had delivered no results, he wrapped his daughter into his green aura and hovered her carefully on his back, then turned around.

While trotting back towards the corner to leave the cave, he kept his eyes focused on the rocky ground and attentively searched every inch of his path. Only as he was close to the corner, at the spot where Fizzlepop had been initially attacked, his eyes finally fell on the object of his desire. The tip of the tiny horn, which was just as jagged as the stump on Fizzlepop's head, glistened in the light from a tiny amount of blood that covered its edge. Allowing himself a small breath of relief, he snatched up the horn and carefully placed it between the hooves of his unconscious daughter. It was only then that he stampeded out of the cave in a fast gallop and past Glitter Drops and Spring Rain, leaving the worried questions of the two foals unanswered.....

“Hang in there, Fizzlepop,” the stallion whispered to his filly.

Hours later, the uncertainty had become a feeling in the chest of Fizzlepop's father like something was trying to rip his heart to pieces. A glance to the left confirmed the stallion that his wife felt the same way. It must have been four or five hours that passed since their daughter was rushed into the treatment room of the doctor's house and since his wife had arrived, alarmed by the news that spread out like wildfire in the tiny village, the stallion estimated.

A sob by his wife, another one of many, let the feelings of impatience and dread vanish once more, replacing them with a feeling of warm concern. He reached out with his left hoof and pulled his wife closer, who readily accepted the gesture and leaned in on his chest, where she started to cry without restraint. Fizzlepop's father looked up at the pendulum clock on the wall, starting to torment his mind with the question of how long it will still be until they would find out if their daughter survived and if she will recover from the attack.

Before he could bring this thought to its end, a door behind them got opened, which was a sound that brought cool salvation over his agitated mind, and the doctor trotted inside with slow steps. Beads of sweat trickled down his forehead and face and he breathed a sigh as he went past them, aiming for the chair behind his desk to sit down. He grabbed a piece of cloth from the desk with his magic and wiped over his forehead with it, then faced the anxious parents in front of him with a grim and dark expression.

Fizzlepop's father gulped. Suddenly, the air around him felt like it would suffocate him, instead of letting his lungs breathe. After just a few seconds that felt like eternity, the doctor finally started to talk.

“Fizzlepop,” he began, his voice weak and husky, “is still alive.”

Cold relief washed over Fizzlepop's parents instantly, causing her mother to sob again.

Patiently, the doctor waited until both of them had processed the information, then continued. “Her injuries were severe,” he announced them. “Her spine and her skull got fractured when the ursa smashed her against the cave wall and most bones in her spine shattered at the impact.” He breathed out strongly, then leaned back in his chair, creating a nerve-wrecking pause for the parents in front of him, whose faces showed horror over what they had just heard.

“Thankfully, as by a miracle, her spinal cord was not harmed by the impact. I succeeded in piercing together the broken and shattered bones with a number of different medical spells. Fizzlepop will have to stay in bed for the next few weeks and even once she can leave it, will have to go at everything slowly, but she will not suffer from any paralysis now or later in her life.”

In front of him, combined sighs of relief happened.

“I was also able to save her right eye,” he continued. “That the strength of the blow flung her to the side immediately saved her eye from worse damage. The eyelid got torn in half, but there is no retinal damage and Fizzlepop will still be able to see as well as she did before. The gap in her eyelid will close again and only a scar will remain. However, her horn.....” His voice faltered at these last words, then died before he could finish the sentence. His face took on an even grimmer expression, which got mirrored in the faces of Fizzlepop's parents as they started to figure what he was about to tell them.

The doctor eyed them silently for a few moments, trying to find the right words. “I..... I could not save it,” he said then, haltingly. “The nerve fibers inside the upper part of her horn are irreparably damaged, I fear. I have done my best to stitch them together and to reinstate the cerebral connection to her brain, but even after a few tests, there was still no spark leaving her horn.” He sighed deeply. “Fizzlepop's magic will never be the same again. I'm sorry.”

Fizzlepop's parents, who had listened quietly until now, too shocked to comment on what they heard, gasped. Their faces broke suddenly; a cold, expressionless look on them as the realization washed over their minds. A second later, Fizzlepop's mother erupted into a new wave of sobs, that got almost instantly muffled by the coat of her husband as she huddled into his chest. Gritting his teeth, Fizzlepop's father embraced her with both hooves, then he addressed the doctor with a question.

“How.....” He looked away for a moment, one of his hooves starting to tremble. “How much magic will Fizzlepop still be able to do?” His deep voice had almost become a quiet whisper.

The doctor closed his eyes. Slowly, he shook his head. “Not much, if anything. The lower parts of the nerve fibers are still able to transport the magical energy coming from her brain, but her ability to perform actual spells is in question. With some luck, she might still be able to do some light levitation, but you should not hope for more.”

Once more, it felt like the ground was disappearing to the two parents. Fizzlepop's mother continued to sob, while the face of her father slowly, but steady, turned into unrestrained anger. Gritting his teeth stronger than before, he lifted his right hoof and brought it down on the table, leaving a cracking sound that echoed through the room. After a second of silence, he removed his hoof from the desk and slowly got up, pulling his wife with him. “Let's get our daughter,” he said. His voice had become cold and devoid of emotions. Fizzlepop's mother left her chair, aided by her husband. Cradled close and weeping, she trotted alongside him as they followed the doctor through the door he had entered his office from a few minutes ago.

Fizzlepop was lying motionlessly on a bed at the backwall of the examination room. Her body was clean now, freed from the ursa minor's blood, and her breath was steady. But her sleeping face showed distress and anxiety, like her slumbering mind had overheard the conversation in the other room. Her horn was also free of blood now and the nerve strands that had been hanging out of it were cut off, as a check by her father confirmed to him. Her right eye was patched up with a thick piece of bandage.

Still gritting his teeth, disappointment and hurt in his face, the strong stallion lifted his daughter up with levitation and draped her over his back. Turning around, his glance fell on the doctor, whose eyes expressed compassion and a bit of concern. He placed a hoof on the shoulder of Fizzlepop's father, firmly, and stared at him intensely.

“Show Fizzlepop that you still love her. It's something she needs.”

After a few moments, he removed his hoof, but the piercing expression remained. The father huffed. Giving the doctor nothing but a glare, he dragged his wife along.

Outside, a crowd expected them. Shocked faces and the occasional murmurs when the eyes of the gathered unicorns fell on Fizzlepop's splintered horn confirmed to the parents that the news had spread through their tiny village. At the front of the crowd, Glitter Drops and Spring Rain looked over to them, their worried faces fixated on their injured friend. As Fizzlepop's parents had set themselves into motion again, the two foals cantered up to them, their little hooves pounding on the ground.

Glitter Drops found her speech first. “What's with Fizzlepop?!” she asked. Rearing up, she placed her forehooves on the stallion's back, left and right of Fizzlepop's head. Tears formed in her eyes as her friend did not respond. Behind her, Spring Rain watched the scene with a shocked face. Glitter Drops looked over to Fizzlepop's father, then to her mother, silently pleading for an answer.

“Fizzlepop is okay. S-She just needs some sleep,” the mare managed to answer.

“What about her horn?” Spring Rain chimed in. “Is Fizzlepop's magic okay?”

The question burned in the hearts of the parents and their faces darkened instantly. “Y-Yes. It is okay.” Fizzlepop's mother started to shake. “Her magic will be okay!” she added in a louder and more hysteric tone before moving on and hurrying through the crowd, not paying anymore mind to the two foals. Her husband followed closely.

When Fizzlepop awoke one morning, weeks of rest she had spent lying in her bed behind her, a feeling in her gut told her that her village was different now.

She sat up in her bed and let her eyes wander around her bedroom. Somehow, she felt, the air around her was chilly and she knew that it did not come from the open window this time. It was frightening. Her heart began to beat faster as she tried to figure out what it was. Minutes passed and yet, Fizzlepop did not come to a conclusion. The only things that happened were that she suddenly felt a pressure building in her head and that her stomach clenched. Her instincts told her that she was hungry and that it was time for a good breakfast. She couldn't help but suspect that there was something else, though, something bothersome that hadn't been in her home before and that affected her stomach by its presence alone.

Fizzlepop grimaced as she climbed out of her bed. When her hooves touched the floor, the clenching in her stomach became stronger. Then a loud growl came from it and it made Fizzlepop's heart jump. Startled, she approached the door and proceeded to open it. The knob turned only slowly in her hooves. The amount of time she needed to pull it open surprised her and she went outside and into the corridor with a sigh leaving her lips. Fizzlepop did not bother to close the door and made her way towards the stairs, with an ever-growing trepidation inside her chest. Slowly, she trudged down on them, step after step, until she found herself inside the kitchen.

Her mother was there, preparing breakfast as usual, but she did not turn around. “Morning, Fizzlepop,” she heard her say as she sat down at the table, but it did not sound like the voice Fizzlepop was familiar with. There was something new in her mother's voice, something that Fizzlepop still couldn't identify even though it bothered her for weeks now. It gave her an uncomfortable feeling. She just couldn't get used to it.

As breakfast was prepared, her mother put down a plate with baked goods and a mug with milk in front of her, silently. Fizzlepop, as she had always been used to, focused her magic and tried to levitate the mug, then the plate. Both attempts failed and a sudden pain rising in the stump that was once her horn made the little filly wince. As the pain extended to the scar above her right eye, she whimpered.

Her mother gave her a scowl. "Don't do this," she said, strict. "You know what the doctor said. Your magic is gone now." Then she turned around and went back to the kitchen table.

Fizzlepop ate her breakfast quietly, the words ringing back in her mind and coming down on it like small hammerblows. Her head was filled with questions, yet, something inside her prevented her from asking them. Something unpleasant. A feeling that, in a strange way, almost made Fizzlepop cry. As she was finished, Fizzlepop slipped down from her chair. “I go and see Glitter Drops and Spring Rain,” she whispered, just loud enough for her mother to hear it.

The mare twitched slightly, then turned around at her daughter. She opened her mouth, then closed it again almost in the same second. After she had stared at her daughter for a few moments, the mare nodded. “Alright. Go meet your friends.” Then she turned her back at Fizzlepop again.

There was once more something weird in her voice, something that let Fizzlepop shudder for a moment. She motioned towards the door, mechanically. “Bye,” she whispered, then she pulled the door open with both hooves and crept outside.

Fizzlepop trotted through the streets quietly. She let her head hang and eyed the ground, because she could feel that the neighbors looked at her. At first, she was looking back at them. But after just a few minutes of enduring all the piercing looks, the scowls, the hushed whispers and the pointed hooves by the proud unicorns, it had become too much. It all overwhelmed her and for the first time in her life, Fizzlepop felt real embarrassment. It was a strong feeling and it got only interrupted as she saw her two friends, who suddenly crossed her path in some distance. She turned left, then found herself looking into their smiling faces as they ran up to her.

“Fizzlepop!” Glitter Drops shouted joyfully, coming to a halt. She looked at her sheepishly, but also relieved. Her yellow ball rolled away from her, then stopped, an unambigious sign for it that the two foals had been busy playing their favourite game.

“You still have your ball?” Fizzlepop asked, disbelief ringing in her voice, and she raised her head. Finally, she felt something like familiarity on this morning.

“Um-hm!” Glitter Drops nodded, flashing a broad grin. “I heard that your dad killed the ursa minor, so I went inside and claimed it back!” She stroke a pose, one that was much more prideful than the simple task of trotting into an empty cave and carrying a ball out of it warranted. As she noticed the sad look on Fizzlepop's face, she gave her an uplifting smile. "I'm so happy you're finally back, Fizzlepop! Me and Spring Rain missed you the last few weeks!” She came a little closer and patted her back. “Now let's play!" she chimed then.

Spring Rain trotted at her side. “Yeah!” he supported the notion of the filly. “Your horn looks pretty bad, but we heard your magic still works!”

Hearing this, Fizzlepop winced. Realizing that her friends didn't know the bad news yet caused a cold shudder to run down her spine. She hesitated to answer.

“Fizzlepop?” Spring Rain asked after a few moments of silence. “You can do this, right?” Fizzlepop looked into the faces of her friends. They were filled with expectation and hope.

“I-I think I can!”

Against all better judgement, Fizzlepop readied herself. She bent down to the ball, forelegs spread apart, pointed the remains of her horn at it and focused. Unlike earlier at the breakfast table, her increased concentration had an effect this time. A small amount of magic manifested under the ball but, instead of lifting it up, it only produced a pile of smoke.

The two other foals twitched. “Don't burn my ball, Fizzlepop!” Glitter Drops squeaked, worried.

Fizzlepop focused even stronger and gave it another try. This time, white lightning emerged from the horn stump on her head. It was hitting the ball, heating it up and letting it glow red. A purple force field spread out around it, startling Glitter Drops and Spring Rain. Glitter Drops reared up, hooves flailing in panic, and Spring Rain turned his head away, wincing.

As the out-of-control magic had vanished, Glitter Drops hastily wrapped her ball into her aura and together, the two foals turned around and ran away. “She can't even do magic anymore, Fizzlepop is inept now!” they shouted in unison while looking back at her with scared expressions.

Following them with her eyes, feeling worse than before, Fizzlepop saw a yellow unicorn filly approaching them. “I can do magic!” the filly shouted. Without a trace of hesitation, Glitter Drops and Spring Rain passed the ball to the filly to continue their game, not turning back at Fizzlepop anymore. Their faces were smiling again already. As they slowly vanished from her sight, Fizzlepop felt something breaking in her. Then her chest became cold and she started to feel ill.

A lump forming in her throat, Fizzlepop choked and trembled. Very slowly, she detracted her eyes and continued down the path alone. There was a cold bitterness in her heart now, something she had never felt before. After just a few steps, though, Fizzlepop noticed that the feeling inside her changed. The bitterness turned into hot anger first, then it became cold again and her heart felt only numb anymore. The reaction of her friends flashed up in her mind again, then the looks the other village ponies had given her and, finally, the reaction of her parents and how strange her mother had acted this morning and for the past weeks. Suddenly, everything fell into place for Fizzlepop.

She increased her pace, now wearing an expression of grim determination. “If they don't want a filly without magic,” she thought, “then they won't get one!”

A plan was forming in her mind and Fizzlepop followed this plan with every single step. Faster than she had expected, she was on top of the hill to the south of the village. Fizzlepop stopped and turned around, taking one last look at the village she had just left.

“I don't need them either,” she spoke out loud now. Her voice was ripe with disgust. “From now on, I will live on my own.” She turned back at her chosen direction and, devoid of any sudden concerns, headed towards the mountain in the distance.

She was alone now. Alone and free to do whatever she wanted in the wide, wide world that lay before her now.....
.

Author's Note

And so, Fizzlepop's journey into the unknown begins..... So far, we all know these events from the movie, but now, Fizzlepop has entered the wide, outside world and will soon be confronted with its dangers.

Chapter 1: The Outside World

The first steps were the hardest. After she had left her village, a place she had come to feel hatred and resentment for, she reached the huge mountain that formed the southern border of her village. And doing these first steps, on the mountain that had always felt like a watch tower to her when she looked at it from her bedroom window, proved itself to be nigh impossible for Fizzlepop Berrytwist.

As she was setting hoof on the mountain, the swirling, hot anger inside her began to slowly transform into something else. A sudden homesickness so strong, that Fizzlepop felt like it would rip both her heart and her stomach apart. It was a feeling she didn't know. Fizzlepop never felt homesickness before, as the thought of leaving her village had never even occurred to her. In this moment, Fizzlepop hesitated, stumbled and eventually stopped. She turned around and looked down on her former home, which was barely visible from her high spot.

Thoughts manifested in her head, thoughts about returning and about finding ways to deal with everything that has happened. It was her home, after all. The place she loved. The only place she knew. She could still turn around and would probably be at home before sundown. Maybe she could talk to Glitter Drops and Spring Rain, demonstrating them that she got something in her even without magic, somehow.

But as the names of her first and only friends echoed through her mind, pain surfaced inside Fizzlepop and she turned back at the mountain and continued climbing it. It was then that the steps became easy and they remained an easy task until the mountain was behind her. Somehow, though, Fizzlepop knew that this newfound strength would come at a price sooner or later. That moment of payment came when she stumbled down the mountain in eastern direction and found herself inside a very dense and very dark forest.

Carried forward by the anger and the pain, Fizzlepop inspected her surroundings. The trees stood close to what little free space that, if Fizzlepop was generous, could be called a path. The canopy did not allow for much sunlight to find its way through and so, the ground Fizzlepop treated ever forward on was shrouded by an insidious darkness, that seemed to gleefully hide roots as thick as her legs. The bark of the trees blended with the darkness and together they formed one solid mass of black. Fizzlepop could only tell the trees apart from the rest of the forest as she was dangerously close to hitting her head. An attempt to cast the illumination spell she was well acquainted with failed, of course. And after tripping over many roots and passing by many of the dark shadow trees, a crippling weakness suddenly replaced the anger Fizzlepop felt in her heart. She sat down, amidst the darkness, and let the feeling spread over her entire body. A sob escaped her throat.

The black forest around her sealed it, there was no way back now, no return to the life she knew. She was far away from home, in the outside world that she feared so much. And yet, nothing could bring her to climb back up the mountain and to return to her village, as she feared this place even more now. Fizzlepop lifted her hooves and covered her eyes.

And now, she sat there, crying and wailing and all strength she had extinguished. Extinguished, or, blown out like wind blows out the flame of a candle. All hope and strength had left her since she stepped into the forest. Fear got added to her pain, as she realized that she never had been as weak as this before, and this combination of feelings immobilized the lost filly completely.

If Fizzlepop had thought about taking a watch with her, she would know that more than half an hour had passed since she sunk to the forest floor. The only thing that moved, other than the tears that came from her eyes and the shivers that went through her entire body, was the sun in the sky, as it descended menacingly towards the horizon. Time flies when you have lost all hope, this was the first thing that Fizzlepop learned after leaving her village, a lesson she shouldn't forget for the rest of her life.

What ended Fizzlepop's paralyzed state, after another couple minutes, was a long, blood-curdling howl, one that didn't seem to come from too far away. Fizzlepop instantly stopped her sobs and rose back onto her hooves in a quick reflex caused by a new kind of fear. Back in her village, she had been hearing the stories by merchants and travelling salesponies who tried selling their goods in this remote corner of Equestria, so she knew what the howling meant: Wolves. Furry animals, like dogs, but much bigger and much faster. With sharper teeth than dogs and longer claws.

“With teeth so sharp, that they can snap the neck of a filly like you in half before you even know what happened,” Fizzlepop repeated the gruesome description a merchant gave her some months ago, in a whispering and hushed tone. She started shuddering and the shudders finally got her moving.

The forest quickly became even darker now. The sun was still in the sky, but between the high trees and the thick canopy of branches equipped with countless needles, the night had gotten a headstart. And night was the time when wolves set out to hunt. Wolves were nocturnal, they slept only during the day, that was something Fizzlepop knew, from the same merchant who had scared her. She couldn't return home, but she had to find a safe place for the night. Fizzlepop quickened her steps.

It did not take a minute for Fizzlepop to realize that the now complete darkness made it impossible to search for a hiding spot. Before her breakdown, she could at least see the outlines of something if she was right in front of it, but now her eyes failed her completely. In her desperation and fear, motivated by more howling that seemed to come closer and closer, Fizzlepop tried to cast another illumination spell to aid her. The magic from the remains of her horn sizzed and sparks flew, but the desired outcome did not happen. All that she achieved was that the few miserable sparks hit a nearby bush and set it on fire. Fizzlepop gasped out loud in shock. Now she could see, but the flames meant danger and burning alive in a forest fire she herself had caused was in no way a better option than getting the flesh ripped off her bones by one of the wolves she could still hear.

Fizzlepop shook her head to remove the picture from her mind and began ripping off the burning branches. She threw them on the ground and stomped out the flames in a panicked frenzy. The darkness that engulfed her again once it was done felt like bliss to Fizzlepop now. Panting heavily, she sat down on the charred branches and lifted her forehooves to take a look at them. She could not see them, not even that close to her face, but the burning feeling was enough for her to figure that the flames had left some nasty wounds. Fizzlepop sniffed, but she quickly rubbed the newly emerging tears from her eyes and got back up again. Her survival instincts went into full effect now.

Ignoring the darkness, Fizzlepop groped her way forward. She was trotting on her hindlegs, figuring this would make it easier to move around in the narrow space between the trees and that, perhaps, it would make her appear more intimidating in case she did meet a wolf while stumbling through the pitch-black forest. Her heart started to beat faster while she fumbled with her hooves over trunks and thorny bushes, in the feeble hope to find a spot that the wolves of this forest could not reach. Deep inside, Fizzlepop knew there was no such spot. Wolves could smell her, this was another thing she remembered, and that would make it easy for them to pull her out of any hideout she chose, even if they could not see her inside of it.

New pictures rose in her mind. She saw herself, sitting in the middle of a thorn bush, her skin full of scratches from which thin trails of blood drew grisly patterns on her coat. She was shaking and her ears were pricked up. Then a monstrous, furred paw bigger than her head shot out between the thorns and buried its claws into her jaw. Her tiny body got yanked out from the bush and she stared into terrifying, yellow eyes and foaming jaws with long, sharp teeth that reminded her on razor blades. The jaws opened and the paw that held her in its grip shoved her head between the teeth of the beast. As it bit down with full force, Fizzlepop erupted into an earpiercing scream. She stumbled all of a sudden, as her left hoof stepped into nothing. The ground under her hooves felt sloped and before Fizzlepop could do anything against it, she had lost her balance. Hind hooves first, she found herself sliding down. Fizzlepop screamed and screamed, her mind sore from her all too vivid imagination, as well as the shock over her sudden fall. Beneath her, she could feel the soil skidding, then her fall came to an abrupt end.

Fizzlepop lay still on her back, listening to the sound of her rapid heartbeat. Her breath was going just as fast. The involuntary descent had only lasted a few seconds, but Fizzlepop felt like she had slid right into the center of Equus. As she stretched her forehooves to the sides, having calmed down somewhat, they soon hit solid walls of soil. Her hind hooves touched soil, as well. This was some kind of tunnel. She had fallen into a hole, the burrow of an animal, perhaps? To her relief, she could tell immediately that it was abandoned, as she was all alone in here.

As her heart was beating at a relaxed pace again, Fizzlepop turned around in the narrow hole, until she laid on her stomach, and looked up. Of course she couldn't see anything, so she had no idea how deep under the ground she was exactly. But Fizzlepop had no desire to climb back up. No, she would stay in this hole and sleep here, that's what she decided. There wasn't much space in the burrow, but this circumstance gave the place something cozy. It was also warmer down here, which put her worries of freezing while having to sleep outside to rest. And she would be safe from the wolves here, that was a given. Considering the circumstances, it was the best sleeping spot she could have hoped to find.

Having time to think about her situation again now, Fizzlepop erupted into new sobs. She covered her mouth with her forehooves, more instinctively than from actual worries a predator could hear her above the ground, and suppressed the sounds. Fizzlepop weeped and cried over her misery, her once perfect and now suddenly ruined life, until the tears had carried her over into a deep sleep.
.

As Fizzlepop opened her eyes again a while later, it was still dark above her. She had no idea for how long she had been sleeping, but she could tell that something woke her up. A sound from outside, maybe, or it was just the unfamiliar environment that made it hard for her to sleep for a longer duration. Never before in her life she had slept outside. Fizzlepop began shaking as the reality of the situation dawned on her once more. She was not sure if she could go to sleep again. Something inside her said that she should leave the hole and keep wandering, until she found a way out of the forest or a more comfortable place to sleep. “If somepony lives in this forest?” Fizzlepop thought to herself.

She was still pondering the question, as she suddenly could hear sounds from above. There was something scratching over the ground. Fizzlepop held her breath, frozen in fear, and listened silently. The scratching stopped all of a sudden, but then something stuck its head into the hole. Fizzlepop could not see the intruder, but she could hear it clearly. A deep growl found its way into her ears. It sounded like it was mere inches above her head. And she could smell it, much as the creature must have smelled her down here. A bitter, disgusting stench wafted down to her and Fizzlepop cupped her nose with both forehooves. She inched back a little, but there was no way to go. “If I stay quiet, then maybe it will go away,” Fizzlepop whispered to herself.

The wolf (it definitely was a wolf, Fizzlepop was sure of that) did not do her this favor. It looked up from the hole in the ground for a moment and emitted a howl that sent cold shivers down Fizzlepop's spine. “Go away!” she shouted up the hole.

The wolf did not listen to the request and stuck its snout back into the hole. Then, to Fizzlepop's horror, it started digging.

“No, no, no..... Please don't come down here,” Fizzlepop muttered in fear. “Please don't come down here.” She inched back again, her instincts telling her to flee, and her hindhooves found their way blocked by the bottom of the hole once more.

Scared out of her wits, Fizzlepop dug her forehooves into the soil and flung the dirty pieces at the predator. She even shot sparks from her horn stump, but nothing deterred the ferocious animal. Fizzlepop could now hear the same scratches that awoke her a few minutes ago. There was more than one wolf now. She could hear an entire pack roaming around right above her head. Fizzlepop gulped. They were digging her out and there was nothing she could do!

Fizzlepop squeezed her eyes shut, resigning to her fate. If she had to go now, at least she didn't have to see what the wild beasts would do to her. Unfortunately, her mind was not as merciful as her eyelids were. The pictures returned, showing her in dozens of horrific details what would happen once the wolves had reached her. The scenes in her head grew in intensity.

As Fizzlepop couldn't take them anymore, she changed her mind. Using all her concentration and mental strength, she focused on her magic. Under immense pain, she managed to gather enough magic to fire off a single blast at the digging wolf above her. It got hit by it right into the snout. A purple fire engulfed its head as it pulled out of the hole. The beast trashed its head around, whimpering, then it ran off into the distance. Startled and intimidated by the sudden burst of magic, the rest of the pack followed its example. Fizzlepop could hear them stampeding way, until there was only silence anymore.

Having gotten ahold of the situation in the last moment, Fizzlepop breathed out strongly. Her head was exploding. What was left of her horn was the center of the pain and it spread out over her entire skull from there. For a moment, Fizzlepop was convinced that the drilling pain all over her skull would not allow her to sleep again. But then her vision went black and she sunk down flat. Her own pleading that the wolves may not return was the last thing Fizzlepop perceived before she passed out from exhaustion.
.

Author's Note

And with that, Fizzlepop has spent her first day in the strange, outside world..... If you enjoyed this chapter, please consider supporting my writing on Patreon or tipping me a few bits on Ko-fi:

https://www.patreon.com/fluttercheer

https://www.ko-fi.com/fluttercheer

Chapter 2: The Spirit of Adventure

When Fizzlepop awoke again, there was nothing but pain. Pain in her head. Pain in her stomach. A dry and burning sensation of the worst kind in her mouth. Pain in her eyes and even pain in her hindlegs. And her horn stump was, unsurprisingly, in pain as well. Fizzlepop whimpered doing her first attempt at moving her body in the tiny resting place she had found last night. The headache was not as bad as it was right after she had fended off the wolf, sleep probably protected her from having to endure the worst of it. But combined with the pain in the rest of her body, it was enough to make Fizzlepop almost cry again.

“Owww.....” she wailed as she looked up. Her horn stump was throbbing and now that she moved her head, it sent out new waves of pain. The light that came from above didn't make it any easier. It wasn't very blinding, but the minimum amount of the sun's light that managed to reach down the hole was enough to pierce her sensitive eyeballs.

Fizzlepop coughed. Then wailed again. As slowly as she could, she began crawling up the hole. A part of her wanted to stay down there, in the hole that was probably the safest place in the forest, even if it meant to die inside of it. But Fizzlepop fought it back, what she perceived as a treacherous voice inside her mind. She grabbed onto the soil harder, pulling herself higher bit by bit. “I left my home, but I don't want to die here,” she thought, gritting her teeth.

After agonizing minutes, her efforts got rewarded. Despite the pain, she now stood in front of the hole's entrance. Fizzlepop looked around, gasping over the surprise the forest had in store for her. It was much brighter than on the day before. It was morning now and there were no shadows of the encroaching night in the forest yet.

Fizzlepop shuddered. Her stomach emitted a loud, intense grumbling. The hunger she felt seemed to increase the headache. It hadn't been as bad on the day before, fear and anger had distracted her from such basic needs as food and water. But now, after a night of sleep, she became uncomfortably aware of it that she won't be able to continue on for much longer in this condition. She needed to eat and she needed to drink. A cough left her throat, but Fizzlepop dragged her exhausted and aching body forward.

The forest felt completely different now. A few times, when Fizzlepop came past trees, she remembered how she had bumped her head into them on the evening before. Now she could trot past them without danger. It gave her a feeling of sudden, newfound freedom which in turn gave her new energy. She could fasten her hoofsteps as she moved through the thick fauna.

A couple times, she came past bushes with berries, deliciously-looking little fruits that she was not able to see yesterday. But she didn't dare to touch them, yet alone bite into and eat them. Fizzlepop's knowledge of what lied beyond her village was limited, but what she did know was that some berries in this part of Equestria were poisonous. They could cause diarrhea, which would make it necessary to drink a lot, and this was impossible right now. Unlike when she was still in the care of her parents, she had nothing she could drink.

The realization how bad it was that she didn't take at least a bottle of water with her before she left dawned upon Fizzlepop in a menacing, foreboding way. She shivered. A few steps further, she stopped for a moment and listened to her surroundings. The forest right next to her village had a little creek, maybe there was one in this forest too. But no sounds of water found their way into her ears. Fizzlepop dropped her head. The berries began to look even more delicious and her stomach grumbled again in response to the sight, but the fear of eating them and making her condition worse was still too big. Fizzlepop looked away and trudged onwards.

For a perceived eternity, she kept stumbling through the forest without finding anything. Black tree after black tree moved out of her vision and past her, berry bush after berry bush. As the feeling in her mouth became even drier, small flashes of light obscured her sight. They blocked out entire objects she could see around her, one time it was a tree, then a root on the ground. Little spots of white light, outlined in red, that covered up part of her surroundings no matter where she looked. Fizzlepop gulped and a cold feeling spread out in her chest. Was she becoming blind? Could a pony become blind by not drinking enough? Fizzlepop remembered how her parents had warned her of becoming too thirsty, but they never told her what consequences it could exactly have if she did.

Forced into submission by her fear and the now rapidly increasing intensity of her headache, Fizzlepop leaned against a tree. She closed her eyes and breathed in and out in a ragged fashion. Her legs began to wobble and Fizzlepop collapsed. Eyes still closed, she kept lying there and pressed her head against the bark of the tree where it hurt the most, attempting to stiffle the pain. The filly gave a howl. After a round of more fitful breathing, she erupted into whimpers.

Fizzlepop never knew whether she had fallen asleep in that moment or not. Her next memory was her dragging herself further, with a blurry vision and a racing heart. Something red dripped from her mouth and she could faintly see that her forehooves were stained with a red substance, as well. The question what this meant emerged, she clearly had lost time after collapsing at the tree, but her mind could not wrap itself around it. All she could think of was that she had to go on, that she couldn't allow herself to stop or rest. The survival instinct of her brain had taken over once again, much stronger than it did on the day before. It was like something else that was buried deep in Fizzlepop's mind controlled her body right now.

A while later, her vision had cleared up somewhat, Fizzlepop could see something in the distance. It was black and it lay stretched out on the forest floor. It had to be a part of a tree, something that remained of a tree that fell, Fizzlepop figured. Or, of a tree that had been lumbered.....

Fizzlepop's heart did a jump. If there was a lumberjack out here, then she was saved! She could ask for help and get something to eat and then, hopefully, out of this forest and back into a civilization! Fizzlepop dragged herself to the object her eyes had locked themselves on, her tempo only slightly increasing, but with the determination of a pony who didn't have much time anymore. Fizzlepop prepared herself to shout for help as she was getting closer to the fallen tree, she decreased her tempo and calmed her breath the best she could. There was no way of telling how far the lumberjack had gotten after cutting down this tree. It was important that her weakened body produced shouts that were loud enough for the other pony to hear. She was almost there. Fizzlepop felt her heartbeat increasing from excitement.

It wasn't a fallen tree. Fizzlepop came to a halt in front of the object, forcing her hooves to stop as dread, horror and fear swamped her mind all at once. In front of her, mere inches from her forehooves, lay the skeleton of a wolf. It was charred black. There wasn't a single fragment of fur or flesh left on the bones, but Fizzlepop knew what it was because of the massive, sharp teeth that grinned at her from the skull of the dead predator. The skull was a few shades darker than the rest of the body.

Fizzlepop stared into the lifeless, empty eye sockets, as her stomach convulsed and sent a signal to her throat. A split-second later, she had to bend forward and a warm, burning stream got forced into her mouth and spilled over the skeleton. As Fizzlepop opened her eyes to look at the mess she had made, she saw a thin, acidic liquid of a red color in the eye sockets of the skull. They looked like little basins now and in the middle, Fizzlepop could make out tiny, red berries. The sight of her own vomit caused another convulsion. After it, her stomach eased.

In haste, Fizzlepop turned around and fled from her gruesome find. She continued her way into a different direction. Her thirst from earlier returned, but a new force drove her now and so, she kept stumbling through the forest, further and further away from the corpse. Once more, Fizzlepop had lost her perception of time, passing by an endless number of trees. The spots of white light returned eventually, obscuring her vision again. Fizzlepop tried to ignore them. The vomiting had robbed her body off the little water it had, but there were no bushes with berries she could eat to change that now. Her only hope was to find an unexpected source of water, a tiny creek, a lake or a pond maybe. Driven by this hope, Fizzlepop slowly kept setting one hoof in front of the other, while the number of lights in front of her eyes increased and the first pain got built up on her skull.

Fizzlepop did not find a pond or a lake and neither a river. What she found instead was more light. Her vision became nearly completely obscured by it and soon, she knew, she would go down again, wailing in pain at the side of a tree and begging for it to go away, without anything to save her this time. She was near breaking down, as she noticed that something was odd about the light she saw. It came from between the trees and no matter how much Fizzlepop moved her head, the light remained at the same spots.

Feeling a little hope, the exhausted filly dragged herself to the source of the light. It became brighter and then, she stumbled out onto a wide, free space. Her hooves touched grass; soft, long blades of grass that wrapped her legs in an embrace that felt wonderful.

She stood on a clearing. The feeling of hope in her heart increased, as the thought emerged that this might mean that ponies were living here. She saw little cottages in her mind; a cozy, tiny forest village built on this clearing, with small gardens that grew vegetables, goats and chickens standing around and a few fillies her age playing catch between the houses, before they stopped and stared at her in curiosity. But the picture faded and then all she saw was tall grass as far as her eyes could reach. One lonely tree, a leaf tree, was standing in some distance, on the left side of the clearing and near the tree line of conifers. Bitter disappointment arose in Fizzlepop and a few tears leaked out of her eyes. Her body wasted more water, but she did not care. Then her tears dried nearly as quickly, as she noticed something at the edges of her vision.

Near the leaf tree, the clearing was lined with berry bushes. Following them with her eyes, Fizzlepop spotted many more. The entire clearing was surrounded by berry bushes, she realized soon, with only small gaps between, like the one she had stepped through when leaving the thick forest canopy.

Without thinking, Fizzlepop turned to the left and stampeded to the nearest bush. Her sight was too bad to determine whether these berries looked the same as the ones she must have eaten earlier or different, but the fear of dying from dehydration right then and there prevailed over the fear of poisoning herself. Fizzlepop ripped entire branches of berries from the bush and stuffed her mouth with them. Soon, her lips and the surrounding fur were soaked and red again, but Fizzlepop kept eating. She did not even wipe her mouth, letting the dripping berry juices sully her chest fur as well. Moving from bush to bush and emptying each one of the tiny life savers in the process, Fizzlepop ventured further and further into the clearing. It was near the lonely leaf tree, that her thirst had ceased completely and that her stomach felt like it would burst any moment. Fizzlepop burped involuntarily, a sign that it was time to stop.

Feeling heavy, Fizzlepop trudged to the leaf tree and let herself slump in front of it, the bark gracing her back as she sat down. She let out a sigh and smiled. For the first time since leaving her village, she felt content. The headache was gone, her vision worked again and she was neither hungry nor thirsty anymore. Maybe being out here wasn't as bad, a sudden thought hit her. It made more than sense to Fizzlepop. Sure, the wolves had scared her, she had to spend the last night in a dirty hole in the ground and she nearly died from thirst and probably starvation too. But had it not been exciting as well?

Fizzlepop looked up into the sky. The sun didn't stand very high anymore but, here on the clearing, she could feel its warm rays heating up her coat. Fizzlepop closed her eyes and groaned in comfort as she bathed in the sunlight. She recapped the events of the past two days in her head, from the moment she set hoof out of her village to this blissful moment of relaxation she enjoyed now.

Her heart started pumping blood faster as she thought back to the encounter with the wolves. She felt fear in this moment, wanted to scream for her parents. But now that she was safe and didn't feel exhausted anymore, the memory caused a different feeling to rush through her veins. It was invigorating. To her surprise, she realized that there was something she enjoyed about this encounter. Her heart was beating fast, but this time it felt good.

Her memory went further through the events. Then, on the next day, she had found the dead body of the wolf she had attacked with her magic. This was something she did. Fizzlepop breathed out, eyes opening wide and her heartbeat increasing even more. She was the one who had killed this wolf, all by herself! She didn't need the help of any adults for it. She had defended herself, successfully, and that's why she was still alive.

Fizzlepop grinned. A feeling rose in her heart. Pride. She was a strong filly, not fearless, but brave enough to face the dangers she encountered. Yeah, being out here wasn't so bad. She would have to sleep under the stars tonight, but thinking about this fact only got her more excited. She had never slept under the stars, but now she felt eager to do so. Another adventure.

The wolves were still in the forest, she knew. But Fizzlepop didn't feel an ounce of fear anymore. “They won't dare to disturb my sleep again!” she shouted into the forest. “If they smell me again, they will know that it's the smell of their conqueror and their demise! They will stay as far away from me as they can!” She looked up at her broken horn, that had become such an unexpected ally. “And if one of them is foolish enough to come anyway.....” She let the stump spark and fizzle. “..... then I will burn it like the first one!” She laughed at the thought, cheerfully.

Above her, the sun had sunken deeper and was now descending towards the horizon fast. It got darker around Fizzlepop. She sat there in serenity, looking up and watching the orange glow of the sky as the sun was setting. The first stars came out and Fizzlepop gasped in awe. “They look more beautiful out here,” she decided.

The sky darkened more and more, as Fizzlepop sat there and silently watched the transformation. She did not feel tired yet, the spirit of adventure that had come to life in her keeping her awake. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf was howling. Fizzlepop's broken horn sparked in response, lighting up the face of the smiling filly.

The stars had come out fully. Gazing down at her, the tiny white dots in the purple sky twinkled. Fizzlepop let her eyes glide over them, wandering from one star to the next. She traced back the constellations and soon, she could see forms and figures in them. Her hooves reached up and she moved them over the sky, drawing invisible lines whenever she discovered a new constellation. Fizzlepop had no knowledge about astronomy, but her imaginative mind let her see all sorts of things in the stars. She identified different animals; a fox, a wolf, pigs and geese, chickens and goats, a squirrel and even a fish. The animals came to life in front of her mind's eye, they were frolicking on the nightsky and started to play with each other in harmony, chasing each other for fun, smiling and giggling. Even the fox and the wolf participated in the game, there was no food chain among the stars. Fizzlepop watched their happy games, filled with nothing but pure satisfaction. The night was getting chillier, but she did not notice it.

On the upper edge of her vision, her eyes caught sight of a particular constellation. Once more, Fizzlepop's hooves pointed up and she began to connect the individual stars. It was a longish constellation, a row of stars in the middle that extented into a curved, tail-like line at the top, with the last star standing askew. At its bottom, a short line of stars protruded on each side of the constellation, like limbs, pointing behind at the tail of the creature. After two stars, the lines branched off into the opposite direction. At their ends, after four more stars, they split up into opposing directions and the last two stars formed a triangular structure that resembled claws.

“A scorpion,” Fizzlepop said, eyes glistening. “Your tail is filled with poison and your claws hold your prey in place until you vanquished it!” she spoke while remembering what another visitor of her village had told her about the exotic bugs from the south. The scorpion came to life and moved over the sky, joining the other animals.

“And you are just like me,” Fizzlepop continued. “Anypony attacks me and I'll sting them!” She grinned up at the scorpion.

“I just need a name for you.....” Fizzlepop pondered, but she didn't have to ponder for long. It was a rather obvious choice. “I call you Scorpio!” she said after less than a minute. “You and me, we will see the world and find a new place to live, Scorpio!”

These were Fizzlepop's last conscious thoughts in this night. As she watched the animals and her new, imaginary friend playing together, her eyelids became heavy. She fought the sleep and tried to keep her eyes open but, eventually, Fizzlepop had to give up and accept the embrace of sleep.

“Goodnight, Scorpio,” she mumbled as her eyes finally fell shut for good.

Chapter 3: The Scorpion Awakes

When the morning came, Fizzlepop was still alone. No wolves had visited her during the night, in a foolish belief they could get an easy meal of a sleeping filly. Whether it was out of respect and fear for slaughtering one of their comrades or if the wolves had just found a different meal last night, it was something Fizzlepop couldn't tell when she awoke in her resting place at the leaf tree. But it also didn't matter. She was a scorpion and scorpions who are disturbed in their sleep sting and kill.

Fizzlepop stretched her legs and groans of satisfaction, from a sleep that was more comfortable than she expected it to be at this place, growled in her throat. She opened her eyes and took in the sight in front of her; the berry bushes and their lush, green leaves, with the round berries sitting between them like little, red ornaments that a nature spirit left there to decorate the bushes. Some leftover morning dew was on the berries, sparkling in the sunlight.

Fizzlepop got up. Her body felt strangely light. She didn't feel any signs of the stresses and strains from the previous day. In fact, her muscles felt fresh and strong, like she had become reborn while sleeping at this tree. The only negative thing she could perceive was a stiff feeling in her nose and that it was slightly runny. It was a cold night, she realized. But now it was warm and the few drops coming from her nose were nothing compared to the pain of the previous day. Fizzlepop trotted to the bushes and ripped off some leaves. Using them as impromptu tissue, she held them at her nose and blew. A few birds took off from somewhere between the trees, startled by the loud sound her nose produced. She dropped the used tissues and approached a bush, one that she hadn't yet plundered on the evening before.

During her first berry feast, Fizzlepop had barely paid attention to how they looked. But now that she was less hungry and had a restful sleep, she noticed that their red color was not consistent. Sometimes the red was brighter and sometimes it was darker. She saw lines on the individual berries and, after looking at them for a while, she could make out intricate patterns that were formed by the differently-shaded red. The fruits looked like someone had used them as tiny canvases. The patterns were beautiful to behold and it was only her grumbling stomach prompting her to eat that let Fizzlepop stop admiring them and to eat them instead. Guilt pierced her heart as she imagined how her teeth bit down on them and destroyed the tiny artworks.

The sun stood higher in the sky as Fizzlepop was finished with eating. Each of the berries took up only a tiny space in her stomach and filling it completely required her to eat lots of them. Once more she was in a situation when a watch would have been helpful, to figure out how much time passed while she was stuffing herself with hundreds of the beautiful, little berries and to determine how long it still was until it would become night once again. But nothing of this felt important to Fizzlepop, only the sweet juices on her tongue mattered to her and she made sure to get as much of them as possible. And now, Fizzlepop was trotting across the clearing, past the leaf tree who had provided rest for her tired body, and towards the other end of it. Behind the tree line, she could see more dark and deep forest space.

The change of mood as she stepped inside between two trees was overpowering. Bright, comforting sunlight switched places with a dreary, foreboding darkness that made Fizzlepop's heart feel cold. She should have known this feeling already, but now that she wasn't distraught, in pain or hungry and dehydrated, Fizzlepop could fully feel the dreadful atmosphere of the forest for the first time. It gave her shivers, this forest that was so much darker and so much more menacing than the forest her village was surrounded by. But now she was a scorpion and whatever was lurking in the black depths of this forest, she knew she could take it on. Heart pulsating with bravery, Fizzlepop made her way through the gloomy environment.

Her trot was surprisingly uneventful, at first. The forest kept giving her shivers and the fact that the sun could not be seen from under the thick canopy did not make it easier for young Fizzlepop. At some point she could have sworn that a shadow was scurrying at the edges of her view, something black and scrawny detaching itself from a tree. But as Fizzlepop looked at it, there was nothing, of course. It was her imagination playing tricks on her, something she was not surprised about in the slightest in a place like this. But other than this eerie occurrence, the forest was quiet and peaceful. This didn't fit to all the darkness and the atmosphere of threat around her, but what did she know about the world? How nothing happened was a contrast to this environment, a contradiction even, but maybe the world was full of contradictions and she just didn't know it yet. Maybe all of this was normal.

Such were Fizzlepop's thoughts as she ventured through the vegetation. Nothing stirred anymore, except for herself. Eventually, the filly stopped as she spotted something on a tree next to her. On its bark, mushrooms grew. The brown, fleshy growth that inhabited the tree was cone-shaped, with a flat surface on top, but only half of the cone was visible. The other half was not to be seen anywhere, like it had been cut off or like it was inside the trunk. It was the weirdest sight Fizzlepop ever had.

For a good, long moment, she pondered eating these mushrooms, but Fizzlepop decided against it. She had nothing to roast them with and they would probably taste awful if she ate them raw like that. Besides, there was no way of telling if they were poisonous.

Resisting the potential food source, Fizzlepop turned around for her back, on which she had been carefully carrying a small stack of the delicious, ornamented, red berries the entire time. She reached for one of them with her mouth, as something flashing in front of her returned her attention back to the mushrooms. All of a sudden, they were glowing brightly, in a soft shade of blue. The beautiful, but unnatural, light of the mushrooms drove even the last tiny desire to eat them out of Fizzlepop's mind. A glow like that had to come from poison.

While she still pondered how it was possible that mushrooms could create such a light, Fizzlepop heard something snap and crack behind her. The sound pierced through her marrow and bone. Startled, she turned around. What she saw pervaded her body with fear.

In the distance, a small pony was trotting away from her, exactly in the opposite direction. But, much to her dismay, it wasn't a normal pony. The pony she saw was completely made of shadows, a black figure that she could barely distinct from the increasing darkness around her. The glowing mushrooms suddenly entered her thoughts and her mind connected the dots..... Nightfall was near! And now there was a phantom pony made of shadows being here in the forest with her, while she still had no clue about how to get out of it! A prickly feeling went down her spine as she watched the phantom pony, frozen at the spot from the fear she felt.

The pony trotted very lightly. It almost looked like it was prancing, it stepped on the ground with soft, sleek movements, yet it was merely trotting. Fizzlepop was like she could hear the faint chiming of bells. After a few more steps, the phantom pony suddenly turned around. It smiled, a smile from a face without features, a face with no eyes that was barely more than a black surface. Yet, despite that, the smile felt friendly. The bells became louder and now Fizzlepop was sure that they were connected to the apparition. It was a gentle sound, inviting and welcoming. The phantom pony moved its head up a few times, like it was beckoning her to follow.

All fear was falling off of Fizzlepop. Suddenly, she was at ease and a warm feeling spread out in her heart. Fizzlepop took a step forward. Then another. Feeling drawn to the phantom who beckoned her over, she set herself into motion. When she did, the phantom pony turned around and continued its way in the same fashion as before. The bells were chiming faintly again. Fizzlepop followed her otherworldly guide in a respectful distance, a feeling of reverence telling her that getting too close wouldn't be right.

The phantom pony did not turn around at her anymore, it just kept trotting to the rhythm of the bell chimes. Or were the bells chiming to the rhythm of its movements? Fizzlepop had no clue where this phantom wanted to lead her, but she felt no threat coming from it. The direction the being led her was different than the one she had been following, but with no orientation anyway, it did not matter.

As it grew even darker and Fizzlepop could not see her surroundings anymore, a faint, green glow began to surround her guide. It stopped again and beckoned her to come closer. A new surge of warmth arose in Fizzlepop's chest. She felt welcomed and this made the approach easy.

The phantom continued as her coat got lit up by its glow. The bells had a hypnotic fascination for Fizzlepop and she was following the phantom in a trance. It ended as the bells chimed louder. The glow had increased, this was the first thing that Fizzlepop noticed as she awoke. The little phantom stood right in front of her, looking into her face. It still showed the strange, formless smile. Fizzlepop blinked, not knowing how to react on the display of attention. But before she could start raking her brain for something to say, the shadowy pony turned its head away and began pointing it at the space between two trees in some meters distance. Fizzlepop stared at the trees and was greeted with pure darkness. A cold, stiff breeze made her shudder.

As she didn't move, the shadow pony pranced around her and gave her a nudge on the flank. Fizzlepop turned around to look at it, surprised that the pony could touch her. It pointed its head again, still wearing the featureless smile. The instructions were clear.

Fizzlepop looked at the two trees again. She set herself into motion. The bells returned and accompanied each step of hers. As Fizzlepop could take a look between the trees, the silvery shine of the moon let her see grass and flowers with closed blossoms. She looked up and could see the moon without any branches or foliage blocking the view. The forest ended here. Gasping, Fizzlepop looked at her helper, who had guided her out of the forest.

The black phantom leaped up and down, the play of the bells mimicking its movements. Then, as it arrived in mid-air another time, the phantom pony vanished. It faded out and only black dust surrounded by the familiar green glow remained for a few moments. Then the dust was gone, too, and the forest fell into complete darkness again. A smile on her lips, Fizzlepop stepped between the trees and out of the forest.

A breeze as chill as the one before brought her mane into disarray. Somewhere in front of her, Fizzlepop could hear swooshing sounds. It was cooler than in the forest. She followed the sounds through the grassland, guided by the moon's light this time. But in the chill air, something that had only been faintly knocking at the edges of her mind since she began following the mysterious phantom to the exit of the forest, returned. Pictures of her village flashed up in her mind. She tried to fight back the tears, but they did not follow her will and began to flow freely down her face. They made her cheeks sting in the cold wind. The sounds became louder as she trotted along, once more feeling lost in her misery. As their volume was reaching its peak, Fizzlepop could see what produced them.

In front of her, a wide and vast surface of water reflected the celestial body in the sky. A huge lake, spanning farther than Fizzlepop's eyes could see. Unbelievably larger than the mountain lake near her village and with sand instead of grass at its shore. Waves were licking away at it. But the most unusual sight, the most impressive thing Fizzlepop found here was not on the ground and neither was it the moon in the sky.

Amidst the stars and far away, a massive construction made entirely of clouds was floating above the lake. She could make out white, fluffy buildings. A cloud city in the sky. Fizzlepop's mouth went open wide. The sight made her sit down. The berries she carried on her back fell into the sand and she did not notice it. Her eyes belonged to the shiny city.

As Fizzlepop let them wander over the structure, she began to feel at ease. The pain fell off of her. Bright, colorful lights illuminated the clouds of the city. There was a blue structure in one corner of it; long, winding trails of something unknown, a small object whizzing around on it every few minutes. Fizzlepop could hear faint music from the city, carried by the wind into her ears. They welcomed the melody.

The music and the lights, they gave Fizzlepop a never before known feeling of home. Different than anything she knew from her village..... but what would she miss there, really? She was basically an outcast, shunned for the loss of what made her a unicorn, her own people only having scornful looks left for her anymore. But this place, this city in the sky, so full of life and fun, called for her. Maybe, Fizzlepop thought, this could become her new home.

The only problem was how far away this beautiful place was..... But the lost filly she was felt that she could find peace there. She only needed to watch the cloud city a few seconds longer, then it was decided. This would be her new home. Tonight, she would just watch and spend the night on this sandy ground. And tomorrow, she would follow the call.

Her cloud paradise in the sky was waiting.

Chapter 4: A World That Wants Her Dead

Fizzlepop's entire body was drenched in sweat and her tongue was hanging out as she dragged herself along the sandy beach on the next day. She had woken up with the sun, right in the moment when it began rising into the sky, and was on her way for several hours now. But the sun that was her companion ever since she stirred awake in the cool sand and had rubbed her eyes free from the remnants of sleep, now made it difficult for her to continue.

The temperature had increased significantly since she awoke. At first it was about as cool as it was in the forest, but now it was scorching-hot around her. Her thick coat, typical of mountain ponies like her and far thicker than the coat of travellers that had come to her village when she still called it her home, was a hindrance now. Fizzlepop couldn't tell whether she would feel that hot if her coat hairs were shorter and less dense, if it would be easier then, but while she wanted that to be the case so she would feel cooler and not suffer so much in this heat, it ultimately did not matter. The sun was there and had turned from a pleasant companion, into a malicious beast. A traitor. One she could not fight, even the scorpion could not fight the sun in the sky. But do scorpions want to fight the sun? After all, scorpions lived in the southern deserts, they were friends with the sun and a colder climate would only hurt them. Fizzlepop wished to be among them, the mind of a scorpion in the body of a scorpion.

To her right, the cloud town was still visible. Fizzlepop had a harder time making it out in the sky now, unlike during the night, as all its lights were out and without them, it was difficult to distinguish the town from the clouds around it. But if she looked long and hard enough, she could see it. Its sight was the only thing that gave her the strength she needed to continue.

Fizzlepop looked behind at her back. The berries were all dried up, crumpled miseries compared to the shiny, juicy fruits they had been before, and they were covered in sand grains now. She popped a few of them into her mouth regardless, her grumbling stomach and her dry mouth begging her to do so. Their taste was sweet, but awful at the same time, and it made Fizzlepop more thirsty than less. A rattle left her throat as she pushed forward through the sand. She trotted over a beach and there was water nearby, but it still was like she had to go through a desert. A desert..... Fizzlepop's lips curled up slightly.

The water had been useless for her needs. It tasted salty, for some reason, and she spat it out after the first, greedy gulps had went down her throat. She still felt the burning taste. Water wasn't supposed to taste like that. She remembered water as sweet and refreshing, but this was clearly different, it made her throat even drier. First the wolves, now this. The outside world had many unpleasant surprises, it began to dawn on Fizzlepop. But none of these surprises were as horrible and painful as what her village, her own home, had given her, and that made her go on. This world was her home now. No, the cloud town in the sky was. That's what she will make her new home, as soon as she would arrive there. It was the only thing that mattered now.

Like this, Fizzlepop's thoughts were circulating inside her head. They alternated between complaints about the hot weather and the strange, useless water, worries what would happen if she didn't get real water, and something to eat, soon and the hope and expectation of finding a better life in the sky. These thoughts were dominant compared to her surroundings and so, it happened completely unexpected for Fizzlepop, that she tripped and stumbled. She lost balance for a moment, but then caught herself and trotted more steady again. Fizzlepop was out of her trance now, but not enough to realize what caused her to trip. Suddenly, she noticed that her hooves felt wet. Fizzlepop looked down with her baggy, weary eyes and saw water flowing around them. Had she accidentally changed direction and stepped into the huge lake? A fish was swimming past and Fizzlepop turned her head slowly, following its way through the water. She realized what it was she had stepped into, as the fish swam towards the lake, where it turned around and went back into the other direction. This water was flowing into the lake.....

Staring at the connection between the two bodies of water, made it click in Fizzlepop's head. A river. This was a river. She knew what a river was. Instantly, Fizzlepop got down on her knees, bent over and stuck her hot head into the water. More fish who came by tickled her cheeks, but she didn't pay attention. Fizzlepop drank like she had never seen freshwater in her entire life. This tasted sweet. This water was like the water she knew from her previous life. And, what was the most important, it was cold. Not as cold as mountain water, but it softened her burning, pulsating throat. The water coated its walls and extinguished the fire that seemed to blaze away inside of it. Her stomach began to bulge and Fizzlepop only stopped as she felt a slight feeling of nausea rising. She pulled her head out the water, gasped for air and sank into the grass.

“Grass?” Fizzlepop became aware of the sudden change in ground structure, able to question her surroundings again, now that she wasn't thirsty anymore. To her right was the beach and the sand ended there and was replaced with grass. She turned over and planted her head in the soft blades. For a few minutes, Fizzlepop just enjoyed the feeling. She didn't think of her cloud destination anymore, nor of the weather or the fish she had seen or the weird lake with its icky water. The grass engulfed her body and her senses.

Fizzlepop cooed softly. This felt like a bed. Sleeping in the forest had been terribly uncomfortable compared to this, even at the tree on the clearing with the tasty, ornamented berries. She could take a nap here, Fizzlepop realized. But a part of her mind was against it.

Fizzlepop sat up again and scanned the sky above the lake with her eyes. The sunlight got reflected off something that was in the clouds and a piercing flash of white light entered her eyeballs. Fizzlepop shook her head, dazed, and colorful spots suddenly obstructed her vision. Fear rose in her and she thought back to the forest and how she had been stumbling around, thirsty and craving for water. These lights were different, they weren't white and she could still see through them, somewhat. But she concentrated on her head now and was only relieved as she couldn't detect any pain.

Fizzlepop rose onto her legs. No, she couldn't stay here. The pain in her head that she felt in the forest must have come from being thirsty, that was as much as she could figure now, what she learned. And she never wanted to feel that pain again. Fizzlepop turned towards the river and stuck her head inside once more. She drank until she couldn't fit more into her stomach. This time, she didn't cough and sputter as she stopped, but instead, Fizzlepop noticed something peculiar.

To her right was a black structure. It came from behind her and reached across the river and into more beautiful, soft-looking grassland. Then it just ended. Fizzlepop wiped her dripping mouth and went closer, the river on her left side and the structure right in front of her. When she reached the weird structure, she poked against it with her right hoof. It was very hard and it felt cold. Like metal. Fizzlepop knew what metal was, her old home had a blacksmith, but all she had ever seen there where grey buckets or shiny, silvery swords. This metal was completely black.

And not everything was metal, she noticed now. Splintered boards of wood were in the middle of the metallic framework. She looked to the right and there, the two long pieces of metal at the sides seemed to go on endlessly. The wooden boards connected them and as she looked closer, she could spot tiny, rusty metal screws sticking in the wood. This was new and Fizzlepop could not come up with an explanation what purpose this structure served. But observing it invoked another thought in her. If there were so many things she didn't know, then could she even survive here, in the outside world?

Fizzlepop sat down again. She was still a scorpion, but now she felt weak. She went over the new things she had seen since leaving her village, uttering them one by one. “Wolves. White light in my eyes. That strong headache.” Fizzlepop began to shiver. “Bones..... The beautiful berries. Scorpio. Glowing mushrooms. A ghost..... but a friendly one.” This time, she didn't shiver. “A lake with disgusting water. And a town in the clouds.”

Ten new things. A lot for three days, she realized. One of them was her goal. Of the other nine, only three had been helpful. The berries had kept her alive. Scorpio kept her brave. And the friendly ghost had shown her the way out of the forest. But the other things..... they had either tried to kill her, were terrifying or completely useless. Most things in this world, Fizzlepop had to admit, were dangerous. There wasn't much that was on her side. And the three useful things couldn't help her right now. The berries were dry and she couldn't get new ones, the friendly ghost was far away and Scorpio was invisible at the moment. It looked bad.

For the first time since leaving her village, Fizzlepop seriously thought that returning there would be for the best. Her common sense made itself noticeable. But at the same time, her memory of what happened did, as well. The two giants in her mind began to fight and Fizzlepop began to cry. She was a lost filly. Trapped between a world that wanted her dead and a home that had stopped loving her. There was no hope.

For a long time, Fizzlepop sat in the soft grass, crying and staring into the lands at the other side of the black, metallic structure. As her sobs became quieter and her body stopped trembling, she rose onto unsteady hooves. Fizzlepop drank more water from the river until she had enough once again, then she stepped onto the unknown structure in front of her. She turned to the right and followed it with her eyes. It was impossible to see the end. And somehow, that scared Fizzlepop. The structure that seemed to go on forever let an overwhelming, cold fear rise in her heart. Fizzlepop turned to the left, where she saw the sudden end of the structure and set herself into motion.

As she was above the river, a squishy feeling spread out in Fizzlepop's chest. She looked down and began to sway. The river under her, as gently as it was flowing, began to feel like a threat. It was shaking in front of her eyes now. The bridge she crossed (as nothing else was this part of the structure, Fizzlepop knew a tiny bridge that was made of wood above a creek near her old home, but why this bridge looked so strange remained a mystery to her) wasn't high, but for some reason, she felt very unpleasant just by merely looking down. Another new thing.

Fizzlepop looked back up again and pressed on. Now she knew that looking down wasn't a good idea. Careful and slow, she set a hoof in front of the other on the black metal, eyes fixated on the grass at the other side. It wasn't easy, but she pushed herself forward, longing for a stable ground under her hooves.

Once she had crossed the river, Fizzlepop let herself sink into the soft, tall grass. She breathed in and out in quick succession, from remaining nervousness, but also from relief that she made it. Until now, she would have never guessed that heights could scare her. She hadn't felt any of this when she climbed up the mountain south of her village. Then again, her entire mind had been filled with nothing but anger when she did..... And she couldn't recall that she had ever climbed up a tree.

Fizzlepop opened her eyes and rose up sharply. She flashed a glare out from between her lowered eyelids into the direction she had come from and, making the silent resolve to never set hoof into the lands beyond it ever again, she got up on her hooves and marshed further south. She would never look back again, all that counted was her new home in the sky. Fizzlepop looked over the giant lake, that was now to her right, and fixated her eyes on the cloud town. It didn't look any closer, but the direction was still the same. Looking back at the grass in front of her, Fizzlepop quickened her steps.

She had been trotting through the wide, endless grasslands for an hour, as her stomach started to hurt. Fizzlepop stopped and looked down on herself. She hadn't eaten anything for half a day, she estimated, ever since morning when she awoke in the sand in front of the lake. The berries she ate didn't fill her up by much, but they had been something. The heat had made them useless and it was hours ago that she dropped them off her back and left them behind.

Fizzlepop dragged herself further, driven by the hope to somehow find food. The cloud town was still out of reach and she hadn't seen a single house anywhere. But sooner or later she had to find one, right? She just needed to go on. Her legs started to hurt and she felt a slight headache, but her hope kept Fizzlepop going.

Another hour later, her body was nothing but pain. Her stomach convulsed in cramps she couldn't explain, a headache of a similar intensity as two days day before in the forest made her almost puke, she felt hot over her entire body and her legs felt like something that was pulsating in them would let them explode at any moment. Finally, Fizzlepop sank down into the grass. She was sitting on her flank; hindlegs stretched out, forelegs placed in her lap, head lowered, and panted heavily. Her tongue hung out and now she realized that she was thirsty again, too.

Fizzlepop closed her eyes and tried to come up with solutions for her miserable situation. She couldn't trot anymore, but if she just stayed here she would die, she was sure of that. As she had arrived at the question if going back over the bridge and trying the other direction would lead to a settlement of other ponies quicker, a deafening bang above her head made her open her eyes again and look up.

It had become darker around her. The sky was covered with thick clouds that were almost black. At the same time, a sharp wind picked up and tugged at her and Fizzlepop felt almost knocked over by it. The blades of grass next to her got flung around violently. Something wet dropped into Fizzlepop's face and only a few seconds later, a torrent of rainwater came down on her. Soon, Fizzlepop was drenched from her broken horn to her hooves. But she wasn't concerned and neither frightened. She once lived in a tiny village near a high mountain, she had witnessed thunderstorms that were much scarier than this one. In fact, Fizzlepop was happy over this change of weather. She laid back her head and opened her mouth wide. The large and fast-falling raindrops calmed her burning throat like the water of the river had done it a few hours earlier.

Fizzlepop gulped and swallowed until her thirst had ceased and her belly felt full again. Now there was at least water in it. The pain became bearable and so she rose back onto her hooves. Now she could continue for at least a little bit longer.

The wind gave her chills. It could have dried her coat, if it weren't for the rain that made sure she would stay wet. Fizzlepop shivered. Coming from a colder climate was somehow useless now. But she also had never spent a thunderstorm outside, nor such a heavy rainfall. Her mother always called her back into the warm house if one came..... Fizzlepop shook the thought away and trotted faster.

Above her, the clouds continued to roar and lightning danced over them. Despite her hopeless situation, Fizzlepop could not help but admire the spectacle. In a certain sense, it was beautiful; like a firework made by the clouds. More than a few times, she had watched similar thunderstorms from the window in her bedroom. Fizzlepop pushed the memory back and inhaled deeply. There was a smell in the air, a familiar one, yet it was slightly different here. “The smell of adventure,” a thought flashed through her mind. Once more, Fizzlepop felt more energy. She averted her gaze from the thunderstorm, focused on the ground again and continued to trot.

The blades of grass lashed against her legs, still controlled by the sharp wind. Her mane dripped with water and Fizzlepop realized that her nose felt stuffy all of a sudden. She would get a cold from all of this for sure. But everything else was okay. Even her head had stopped hurting again, for the time being.

Fizzlepop relished her condition and she was starting to imagine how she would arrive in a town populated by welcoming, generous ponies, something that could not be far from the truth anymore now, she was convinced. Then Fizzlepop stopped abruptly, just a few seconds after another explosion had went through the sky. There was a stinging pain on her back all of a sudden, not enough to make her wail, but enough to forcefully rip her out of her daydream. Confused and surprised, Fizzlepop turned her head. But before she could check what it was, everything became black before her eyes. Her legs wobbled and gave in. The wet grass tickled her stomach. Then Fizzlepop felt nothing anymore.

Chapter 5: Comfort

The first thing Fizzlepop's senses perceived since the world went black around her, was a rattling that came from beneath her. Everything was still black, she failed to open her eyes for some reason and a drowsy feeling wrapped her head in cotton, but she noticed that the grass under her lifted and lowered. It was dry again now, which could only mean that the rain was over for hours, Fizzlepop managed to conclude despite her sleepy mind. How many hours had passed?

Something has knocked her out, she could figure as much, but what that something was escaped any attempt by her to explain it. The movement of the grass she rested on happened in a steady pattern. It felt calming to Fizzlepop and she slipped back into a comfortable sleep.

Her awakening a couple hours later was less peaceful. Loud voices filled the air around her. Angry voices. Her body hurt. Her muscles felt sore and tense and there wasn't a single part of her body that wasn't in pain. It was the worst in her head. The loud voices rampaged through it like a stampeding herd of buffalos.

“Buffalos?” Fizzlepop whispered. She didn't know what buffalos were and why the clamor made her think of that word, but there was excruciating pain in her head. Fizzlepop wailed.

The loud voices stopped. Something got knocked over, then a door banged shut. It made the pain flare up stronger. But then there was silence. Fizzlepop waited until the throbbing pain had lessened somewhat, then she attempted to open her eyes.

Blinding, yellow light stabbed her eyeballs. Fizzlepop yelped, more pain flooding in, and closed her eyes again. She was lying in a bed now. Using another sense of hers, she felt strong, soft linen under her body. A fluffy pillow gave some comfort for her aching head and she was covered by a thick blanket. Her coat felt sticky, had she been sweating?

Fizzlepop indulged in the comfort of the bed she had woken up in and focused all her senses on how soft it was, to distract herself from the pain, as she suddenly heard quiet hoofsteps. They approached slowly, in a tempo that felt hesitant. Then a door opened, very close to her, and the hoofsteps proceeded. The door clicked shut behind the pony who had just entered the room. Fizzlepop heard a shivering sigh from the pony, then something got moved over the floor and she was able to discern the sound of sitting down. Another sigh. Then quiet crying, very faint sobs and sniffing. The other pony was not alright.

Fizzlepop listened to the crying, pretending to sleep, until a voice spoke and addressed her.

“You're awake,” the voice said. It sounded tender, but there was a hint of rawness in it.

Fizzlepop did not respond and kept her eyes and mouth shut. She imitated the steady breathing of sleep, suddenly feeling afraid of the unknown voice.

“Come on, I already heard you outside,” the voice continued. The pony got up and Fizzlepop heard the clopping of hooves again, until they stopped right next to her. “Come, open your eyes.”

“I won't open them,” Fizzlepop said, now realizing that faking sleep was of no use anymore. “The light hurts.”

Fizzlepop heard rustling right above her head. “There, I closed the curtains. Is that better now?”

Carefully, Fizzlepop opened her eyes. All she saw were blurry colors, but the blinding, yellow light was gone. She turned her head to the right, where the voice had come from. Her vision improved, she started to see shapes again and as her sight was finally fully restored, Fizzlepop found herself looking into the face of a greyish-golden mare with a striped, cyan mane. It was weaved into a braid and the top of it was covered by a tattered, brown hat with a wide brim. A few holes were in it.

“Howdy!” the mare greeted her. She was wearing a smile, which looked slightly forced, as there were still tears in her eyes. “I'm Calamity Mane. How's your name, filly?”

“Where am I?” Fizzlepop asked, ignoring the question. She didn't feel uncomfortable right now, least as long as she didn't move her head too much, but curiosity drove her thoughts.

“You're inside my house,” Calamity Mane explained. “And in my bed. Looks like I'll have to sleep on the floor for a few nights, but that's alright. The doctor said you got hit by lightning and that it was almost high noon, but don't worry, you are okay now.”

“High noon?” Fizzlepop stared at Calamity in confusion.

“Yep. It means you almost died. I found you unconscious while crossing through the plains between the Whitetail Woods and the Applewood Mountain Range, with a nasty burn wound from your back all the way down to your left hindleg.”

Fizzlepop looked down at the brown woolen blanket that covered her and sunk into thoughts. Her memories began to return. It had been raining. There was a thunderstorm. She was thirsty and the rain had helped with that. But she also had been hungry and realized that she would die if she wouldn't find other ponies soon. Then her back hurt all of a sudden and that's where her memories abruptly ended.

“Thunderstorms can do that?” Fizzlepop asked.

“Oh, yeah, they can!” Calamity Mane confirmed. “You were lucky that I found you. Has nopony ever told you that you shouldn't be out in an open field during a thunderstorm? What were you doing out there all alone anyway?”

Fizzlepop narrowed her eyes and stared at the blanket grimly. She gripped it harder with her forehooves.

Calamity Mane didn't seem to notice the tension. “I never saw a foal all by themselves in the wilderness like that. Your horn is gone, but that wasn't the lighting. If your head had been hit, I would have only found a corpse and the doc said that injury has healed long ago.”

Fizzlepop gripped the blanket harder and exposed her teeth, gnarling.

“Where are your parents?”

Fizzlepop's gnarling intensified. Her hindlegs tensed up and she bucked the hoofboard of Calamity's bed, loud enough that it made the mare twitch.

“S-Sore subject, huh? That's alright, we all have them. Maybe you are a misfit like me. I-I have to leave for a while, rest up more in the meantime. I'll be back in a few hours.” Calamity Mane turned around and left the room, all without saying another word.

Fizzlepop turned her head to the side, facing the wall, and closed her eyes. She wanted to forget.

It was hours later, Fizzlepop couldn't tell how many, that the door of the room opened again. Calamity Mane stepped inside with a large, white bag. She pushed it off her back and put it down in the corner next to a small, brown chair with a cushioned, red seat. Having disposed of the heavy ballast, she stepped at Fizzlepop's side.

“Hey, are you sleeping?”

Fizzlepop gave a grunt in response, the most basic of signs for being awake. She was still staring at the wall, had done it the entire time until Calamity's return. And she didn't show any intention to turn away from the wall now.

“Still angry, huh? Maybe that will cheer you up. I traded some mighty nice things in the town.” Calamity went to the large bag, untied the cord and opened it.

Fizzlepop couldn't see what it was that she conjured from the bag, she only felt something soft being placed on top of her after a few seconds.

“Here,” Calamity said. “The rest is food and medicine, but I got this for you in a really cheap barter. It's a tad old and a little ragged, but it's clean and mostly undamaged. I thought you could need a toy.”

Fizzlepop refused to look at first, but curiosity got the better of her, and she hesitantly took a peek from the corner of her eyes. She saw something green, something that was standing on top of her stomach, but not what it was exactly. Grunting, she moved her head a tiny bit to take a better look. The toy Calamity had gotten her came into proper view. It was a stuffed animal, a green alligator. It stood on its hindlegs and had its mouth wide open. White teeth were inside, one of which was missing. Its belly had a lighter shade of green and vertical, yellow stripes were on its back. The alligator looked at her from friendly, black eyes.

Now Fizzlepop turned her head around fully, in a careful manner, as she could still feel a slight, stinging pain at the backside of it. She stared at the stuffed alligator for a bit, then she reached for it with her hooves. Fizzlepop gripped the alligator and squeezed it a little. The fabric gave in without complications and her hooves felt fondled by the material. Carefully, Fizzlepop lifted the alligator a few inches off the blanket. Her eyes began to glisten with tears and she brought the alligator closer and pressed it against her chest, hugging it tightly. She had forgotten how comfort felt and now it all came flooding back at her.

Calamity smiled. “I hoped you'll like it.” She let Fizzlepop alone with her toy and reached back into the bag.

Fizzlepop heard Calamity rummaging around in it, trotting out of the room through the still open door and putting down something heavy in another room. “I hope you like canned food!” her voice rang into her ears. “Cause that's all you can get in those here parts of Equestria.”

Fizzlepop's snuggling with the alligator abruptly stopped and her eyes shot open. “Those here parts?” she thought. The filly threw her head at the door, instantly regretting the movement as a new surge of pain emerged, but she ignored it. “What town is this?!”

Calamity's head appeared in the door frame. “Huh? I thought I've told you already? Remember how we talked in my wagon before we arrived?”

Fizzlepop looked at Calamity cluelessly, lips puckered and pupils small. The notion sounded familiar, it seemed to her that something like this happened, and yet..... Then the memory returned. Pictures flashed by Fizzlepop's inner eye and she could hear herself and Calamity talking.

“W-What are they?” Fizzlepop had woken up all of a sudden. She was looking past Calamity, who pulled her wagon, and there were stampeding, brown creatures she had never seen before in her life running past the wagon. Two small, grey, curved horns were on their heads.

Calamity had turned around and looked at her. “Oh, hey, you're awake! Thank goodness! I thought of the worst already!”

“What are they?” Fizzlepop had repeated her question.

Calamity was looking ahead at the creatures, then back at Fizzlepop. “Those? Those are buffalos! We're close to Dodge Junction and have to cross through their territory on the way.”

“Buffalos.....” Fizzlepop had whispered. She faintly heard Calamity say something else, but couldn't understand the words anymore. Her next memory were the loud voices and waking up in this bed.

“Buffalos.....” Fizzlepop said, her face looking clear now and her mind feeling clear, as well. “Dodge Junction.....

“Yeah. So you remember, great! Your head must be alright then.” Calamity pulled her face out of the door frame and continued with whatever she was doing out of Fizzlepop's sight. Metallic sounds came from the other room.

“Dodge Junction,” Fizzlepop repeated. “Is that where I am?”

Another sound of a heavy object being put down found its way into Fizzlepop's ears, then the sound of something wet and slippery. “Yep!” Calamity answered. “I brought you here after I found you. I was on the way down south, Dodge Junction is my home, but I haven't been here for a while now. I brought you to the doc immediately when we arrived and he checked you through and patched you up.” There was a pause before she continued. “Now I have even more debts, but at least you're alright.”

“Debts?” Fizzlepop asked. It was a word she heard for the first time.

“Yep..... Nothing is free down here in the Wild South. Luckily, the doc and I go back a long way, but I have to pay him sooner or later.” The sound of stirring followed her words and Fizzlepop heard something cook, the first sound she recognized. The other room had to be a kitchen, she realized.

Folding her ears back, Fizzlepop gave the door a sad look. She turned at the alligator and focused her eyes on him. “Where is the cloud town?” she asked, quieter than before.

“Cloudsdale?” Calamity's voice came in response. “That's far away. And always on the move, it's difficult to tell where the town is right now.”

Cloudsdale. So that was the name of her cloud paradise. Fizzlepop smiled. “I need to go there,” she let Calamity know.

“To Cloudsdale?” The sound of the stirring stopped. “That's impossible. Only pegasi can be there.”

“Why?” Fizzlepop asked surprised. “Are other ponies not allowed there?”

“No, they are.” The sounds continued again. “If we could go there, I'm sure we would be welcome. But the entire town is made out of clouds and only pegasi can trot on clouds.”

Desperation spread out on Fizzlepop's face. She squeezed the alligator tighter. “But that's my home.....” she wailed.

“Your home?” Calamity's voice was full of disbelief.

Something was clinking in the kitchen, then Fizzlepop heard whatever food Calamity had been preparing being poured out of the pot.

“You can't be from Cloudsdale,” she said. “No unicorn or earth pony ever goes there.”

Of course she wasn't from there. But the news that she couldn't go to Cloudsdale stung in Fizzlepop's heart. She thought about telling Calamity everything that happened to her, but cast aside the thought almost instantly. It was too painful to talk about it and what's in the past is in the past. Instead, Fizzlepop decided to ask another question herself.

“What were the loud voices? I heard them when I woke up.”

It became completely silent in the kitchen. Calamity's answer came only hesitantly, after several seconds had passed. “It's nothing to worry about.....”

Fizzlepop heard hoofsteps and Calamity entered the bedroom. “I made soup for us,” she said, taut.

Fizzlepop noticed that Calamity's face was full of worry and in that moment, she knew that Calamity was lying. She kept quiet about it, though, not knowing what pointing out the lie would be good for.

Calamity took up position next to her, grabbed the spoon, picked up some soup and blew on it, then brought it close to Fizzlepop's mouth. “Tell me if it's still too hot,” she said, as taut as before.

Fizzlepop promised and that was the only conversation they had while she was eating. Calamity's demeanor made it increasingly apparent that something was wrong, but Fizzlepop still didn't ask.

As Fizzlepop was finished with eating and Calamity had brought the bowl back into the kitchen, she pulled the blanket closer to Fizzlepop's chin. “The doc said you should rest for at least a day. We'll see how you feel tomorrow and maybe I can show you the town then. But now you should sleep.”

Calamity didn't need to tell Fizzlepop twice. She was feeling tired after this meal and the ongoing pain in her head and the rest of her body signalled a dire need for rest. Fizzlepop hugged her alligator tightly, closed her eyes and quickly fell asleep, feeling satisfied and safe for the first time since she left her village.