Floral Breeze was a young Earth filly who's got her name due to her fur being as green as the grass and her mane was as yellow as the pedals of a sunflower. She was an orphan who only found happiness from planting flowers across Ponyville, hence why she became a gardener as evidence by her cutie mark that resembled three purple lilies. However, one Nightmare Night, her life has been changed in a way that is not what she expected.
That night, with the bright moon lighting the way, she ventures into the Everfree Forest like she usually does. She never was a big fan of large crowds, which is why she goes in there frequently experience the wonders of nature. This time however, she came there for another purpose, she normally isn't a fan of Nightmare Night as a whole, but there's one part of the holiday she personally enjoyed.
She visited the statue of Nightmare Moon and places some candy in front of it. She then starts planting flowers around the area due to the fertile soil and it's the only place she knows where she can have the peace and quiet that she desired from the various activities from the holidays.
She eventually got tired from all the planted she did throughout the day so she decided to lay down by the flower bed, which she made the year before, in order to regain her strength. She spent the moment watching the stars and the Moon in the sky, taking note of the silhouette on the Moon itself, as she remembers the legend of the Mare in the Moon. A few moments later, Floral closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Unfortunately has unexpectedly come around the area, when she woke up, she found herself in the fog and accidentally went deeper into the forest in order to find a way out only to find herself completely lost.
Naturally, she begins to panic. Normally, she knows her way around the forest to get to safety, but the fog has made it difficult for her to keep track of where she is. Hoping for the best, she decided to stand beside a tree she was barely able to see until the fog lifts in order to find out where she is and where she needs to go.
Then, she heard some rustling noises coming from the bushes behind her. Not willing to stay there and not wanting to know what was making the noise, she starts running to find another place to hide, quickly forgetting about the fog due to her ongoing fear of her current predicament. Unknown to the scared filly, the noise was from a creature that has a deadly stare and is actually chasing after her once it determined that she was its next victim.
Floral stops running after a few minutes, being so out of breath from running that she could barely move. Her heart racing due to her still in a state of panic, it was then when the creature found the perfect opportunity to strike since the fog would prevent it from being seen. It slithered in front of Floral and the proceeds to use its deadly stare.
At that moment, Floral sees a pair of glowing red eyes in front of her that's on a silhouette of a creature that appears to have a head of a chicken and the body of a small dragon. Recognizing that it's a cockatrice, she kept trying to look away, but she was helpless as the stare is almost hypnotizing to her.
Much to her horror, she felt her back legs becoming stiff and no longer being able to move a muscle despite her numerous attempts. She kept trying desperately to look away and run as the constant sounds popping and cracking kept ringing in her ears, but her back legs are already petrified and are too heavy causing limited mobility.
She felt like she was sinking into the deepest depths of an ocean as the pressure goes up to her chest. She felt her heart beating rapidly as her breathing is next to none until the beating completely stopped, being encased in hard, cold stone. Even after her attempts to call for help, no one can hear her, she is too deep in the forest, a region that many ponies wouldn't dare to travel.
Despite the failed attempts, Floral kept trying until her mouth gets stuck in a state of fear. She started twitching her ears until they twitch no more. The last portion of her old self was her eyes, constantly darting back and forth, searching desperately for anything that could get herself out of the predicament she got herself into. It was all for naught however, as her eyes can no longer move around as she has now completely transformed into a statue of cold stone, another unfortunate victim of the petrifying stare of the cockatrice.
The next morning, various ponies in Ponyville searched all around town for Floral Breeze, whom they haven't seen since her last gardening spree before the Nightmare Night party, but to no avail. They even search around her known path through the Everfree Forest, but they've found no trace of her and have given up their search after looking for her for four straight weeks.
During that time, Floral remains motionless, being entirely made of stone. Her sense of touch have now become numb, she could barely feel the light breeze that's blowing her way. Remarkably, she was still able to think, see, and hear despite that those senses were also numb. She can only see in front of her, but her sight is blurry due to the grey stone that's encased her, she can hear the forest around her, but it's muffled like listening through a thick stone wall.
During the day, she would listen to the birds singing and see whatever animal walks in front of her. During the night, she sees only darkness and only hears various crickets and occasional rustling noises from the bushes and trees. All the while, she still tries calling for help, not willing to give up, but since it's only from her head, she cannot be heard by anything.
Many years later
Enough time has passed to where the name Floral Breeze has been forgotten and all of Ponyville continues to how it normally is in its peaceful state. Deep within the Everfree Forest however, the stone statue that was once Floral Breeze still stands helpless, she has since accepted her fate and barely remembers that she was once a pony. She is now slightly tipped over in a forward direction and has partially sunken into the soft ground, she could feel her back and the top of her head being covered in moss as time continues to take its toll on the statue.
The days and nights have been roughly the same, she has nothing to fear now since she is now technically a part of the forest itself, even if she continues to sink into the ground little by little after each day. She also felt an odd sense of comfort due to the over grown plants around her and some vines that have wrapped themselves around her chest, back legs, and her muzzle. The vines has some bright yellow flowers grown on them, the very same color that once coated the mane of the poor helpless filly.
Over the years, she continued to slowly sink further and further, the numerous roots of the plants around her speeding up the process until the petrified Floral Breeze completely disappeared underground. All that remains for her is the crushing weight of the massive amount of dirt and mud that now lays on top of her. All was black and silent, but yet her thoughts still remains forever trapped in the unyielding prison of stone.
Author's Note
There's a lesson to be taught from these circumstances, when one enters the Everfree Forest, especially at night, be sure to stay on the path, remain calm, and be sure that someone knows where you are going or have someone tag along. For you see, the Everfree Forest is known to be unpredictable, even to those who think they know the way. Otherwise, who knows what one may encounter and whatever fate has in store.
I hope you all enjoyed my little story for Halloween.
