Twilight Sparkle looked up at the tree in front of her. It was a very large tree, she noted, for she could not see an end to it in either direction. Actually, she corrected herself, the tree was floating. She thought that odd for a moment before banishing the feeling, there was nothing odd about floating - after all the planet floated in space, did it not?
“Hello?” she called out trying to find another pony nearby. She knew that at her age she shouldn't be separated from her parents for too long, and hoped that someone nearby would be willing to help.
A desolate silence responded and, as twilight craned her neck backwards to look around her, she could swear that she felt the cold prickle of many eyes upon her. Shivering she turned back towards the tree. Well, she rationalized, if no pony was here to tell her what to do then she might as well explore, she would probably never get a chance to see a tree this big again.
Stepping forward with all the determination her body could muster she approached the first branch that caught her attention - and promptly stopped as she realized that nothing was beneath her and yet she was walking. She stomped her foot once, then twice, and no sound came from it.
“Cool,” Twilight murmured before starting forward again.
As she grew closer she was able to better make out the scope of the limb. At its base the leaves were huge, the smallest ones easily the size of one of her limbs. The larger ones were often at least twice that size. As the branch tapered out though the leaves grew far smaller to the point where they were only slightly larger than the leaves she saw on a normal tree.
As she finally stepped onto the limb she noticed an odd golden colored peach nestled within a small cluster of leaves. As she approached to investigate the peach she found that it was actually golden, not just golden colored.
At this close she could smell the peach, and the scent it released was making her heady. A thought crossed her mind, could she eat it?
She mulled over that for a moment, there was no one here that could lay claim to it, and if it tasted even a tenth as good as it smelt it could be the best peach she ever ate. But what if it belonged to someone? Was she stealing? She didn’t want to become a criminal at her age.
In the end her greed overrode her common sense and she picked the peach, brought it to her lips and bit down.
The taste was heavenly, Twilight realized. She felt a burst of pleasure travel through her body, leaving her energized and refreshed in its wake. She knew then that she would never find anything like this peach again in her life - and even as she felt the juice dribble down her chin she bit down upon the peach again. The taste did not fade the second time, if anything it got better, and she ate the peach with a ravenous hunger. Before she knew it only the core was left. With a full belly, and feeling better than she had ever felt in her life, she turned to continue exploring before-
I awoke to the gentle light of morning upon my face, and the sound of birds singing nearby. I had been having a wonderful dream, I was young again and had wanted to explore some tree that I had found. It was nice to think of how I was when I was a foal, and didn’t have some of the responsibilities I had now.
“Spike!” I exclaimed, the birds I had heard earlier fleeing at the sound of my voice, “Could you put on the coffee for me?”
I awoke more fully when there was no reply, my eyes snapped open and the world around me came into focus.
“This isn’t the library.” I spoke, the first sight of the lush jungle cavern around me bringing me to a full wakefulness.
Scrambling to my hooves I took a closer look at the room around me. There were soft shafts of sunlight spearing down from a hole in a part of the caverns roof and a natural ramp had formed that led up to the edge of it. Much of the deeper part of the cavern was lit by a large amount of bio-luminescence; it appeared to be coming from several varieties of moss.
“Hello,” I called out, hoping for someone to hear my voice. When no reply came I called out again, “HELLO!”
This time something did happen. A few feet away from me a creature - one that I had mistaken as a patch of moss - popped out of the hole it had been partially contained in. It looked like a small bush had come to life and grown a pair of bright blue eyes. The moment it noticed me it turned and ran away, chattering in fear the whole time.
I stared after it. This cemented what had been a thought lingering in the back of my mind. I was no longer anywhere even remotely close to Ponyville. I had studied the wildlife within it to an extensive degree due to the dangerous nature of the Everfree forest, a part of which bordered the edge of our town. Every so often something would leave the forest and it was always good to be prepared.
Whatever the bush creature was, it was not a native species to the Everfree - actually nothing here was. I couldn’t recognize a single plant in this cave that I could see, and that made me worried.
As I walked up the ramp that led to the exit of the cave I was met with an odd sight. The plant life began to taper off as it reached the edge of the hole disappearing completely at several feet from the edge. As I climbed over the edge my mouth fell open at the sight that greeted me.
“Oh no,” I said, staring out into an empty wasteland
Author's Note
Hello, I would like to thank you for reading this story of mine and do hope that you enjoy it.
This is my first story so any comments are appreciated.
I am putting chapters out as I write them so don't expect a schedule.
Enjoy!
