Twilight’s head hurt… Bleary, she got back on her hooves, the sun was steadily moving across the sky it was surprisingly yellow compared to Celestia’s sun… Songbirds were chirping in the air, it was early in the morning, and it took Twilight a few moments to remember why she was here, and what she was supposed to do. Then it clicked, and she leapt to focus, giving a bit of a yelp, and looking around frantically, “W-Where are you! You’re somewhere here, I know it!” She shouted… But there was no reply, just the sound of birds and rodents and other forest-dwelling creatures.

She was in a clearing, there was a sparse forest all around, tall puffy trees extending high into the sky, like green candy on a stick, Twilight gave a sigh, of both relief and disappointment, “I guess Celestia’s ‘evil spirit’ is somewhere else…” The mare took another look around, “But, where should I look first… Spike, any suggestions…” She muttered, then paused, “Spike?” Then another moment later, a clopping sound rang through the woods as Twilight face-hoofed.

After a few seconds of waiting, Twilight finally decided that waiting around was getting her nowhere, so she grabbed a stick in a telekinetic glow, and started off east, it was the only way she could think to go, and an easy way to remember if she ever needed to get back here. Her trip was short-lived, as only a few minutes out of the clearing, a small plop-plop-plop noise came from the bushes, and the mare paused.

“Hello?” She asked. More squishing and plopping sounds, like wet gelatin, came from the woods… “Hmm, noth-” She began, when a large ovoid of thick green gel came leaping from the thicket, soaring a full four meters into the air, and squishing to the ground right next to the mare, who gave a startled yelp. Twilight frantically backed away, tripping over a tree’s root, and falling flat on her back, the slime-creature leapt upward and came falling down, right on Twi’s underbelly. It was heavy, and she gave another yelp, this one from the sudden shock of having something land on her, knocking the wind out of her chest… And it stung, each second the creature clung to her the stinging worsened, and Twilight kicked forward with her front hooves, dislodging the sludge from her underside… A quick glance revealed what Twilight feared, the creature was corrosive, her underside now had a perfect circle of slightly-patchy fur with ruddy burned skin beneath.

The slime leapt at her again, but Twilight spun over, giving a hiss of pain as twigs brushed against her belly, adding abrasions to her chemical-burns, and with fury behind her magic, Twilight picked up the slime and flung it with all her might backward into a tree, where part of it went splat… Little chunks of green goo splattered the tree, but what remained of the slime thing wiggled and started to make little hops back in her direction…

That was the least of Twilight’s concerns as another living goo blob came plopping toward the sounds, this one blue, and a little bigger. Twilight let loose with magic, a field of telekinesis made thin and sharp, but not much power behind it, the slime seemed to absorb the cutting strike, even as the spell made marks on the ground and sliced the grass.

Twilight backed away, avoiding another pounce from the green slime, but the blue one smacked into her side, but she kicked it away before it started burning her.

Twilight gave the green slime a hard buck, and it splattered against the ground, it didn’t seem to move anymore, so she turned toward the blue slime, who was jiggling and preparing to lunge again it seemed… Then a whistle flew through the air, and with a streak, and a loud splat, an arrow, long and sharp, impaled the slime, who seemed to deflate and fall away into smaller blobs, all ceased to move. “What…” Twilight began.

“Y-You can talk?” Came a voice, male but light, and Twilight turned, expecting a younger stallion… What she saw instead was a tall, bipedal creature, lightish tan skin, and a messy mop of brownish-blonde hair atop his head… That was the only hair on his body it seemed, the rest was covered in some kind of dress, a brown tunic of some kind with blueish pants and black boots. A bow in one hand.

“Y-Yeah,” Twilight muttered, being careful what she said to this creature, “What are you… Exactly?”

“I could ask you the same thing… Hmm...” He muttered, pulling out a book from a satchel, after a few seconds of flipping through it, he said, “I’d guess you’re a unicorn, but there hasn’t been a single unicorn seen in the entire world, not since… Well… Not since He was banished… But that was thousands of years ago.”

“Well, I am a unicorn, my name is Twilight,” Twilight said, a little miffed, “But you didn’t answer my question, what are you…”

“M-Me… Well, I don’t really have a name, I’m just a wanderer… As for what, I’m a human.”

“Hmm, well, you need a name, I can’t just call you ‘wanderer’... What about… Ooh, Brownbook!”

“Brownbook?” He asked, perplexed.

“Yeah, you have a brown mane, and you love flipping through that book, Brownbook, nice scholarly name…”

“I guess… So, Twilight, what are you doing out here?”

“I-” She paused, “I don’t really know, I suppose I should be looking for a place to rest, a place with more… Humans… Is there a town near by?”

“Sadly not I’m afraid, most towns don’t last long, last village I visited was torn down last blood moon, most don’t survive those nights… Less so outside of shelter… There aren’t many humans left I’m afraid…”

Concern grew in Twilight’s chest, and she stood up a bit straighter, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing really, just the same as ever… I suppose you can come with me if you want, there’s a cave, not too far, it’s where I hide during the night, you don’t want to be outside when the sun sets…”

Twilight nodded, “I suppose that’s fair, which way is it?” She asked, meanwhile, this human, Brownbook, was ducking down, filling small glass jars with the remains of the slime-creatures.

“Just south of here, follow me…”

“Alright, you’re my guide… I guess…”

“Just, when we get back, I have some questions for you…”

“And I you…”

Author's Note

Sorry if my writing isn't the best.