Amulet

It was a clear autumn afternoon in the Everfree Forest. There was a light breeze that rustled the overgrown vegetation found within. From the outside looking in, it was easy to spot a small opening in which an old cabin stood. It was run down and noticeably overun by nature. Even so, the house had an alluring warmth to it. Faintly in the distance, the sound of a voice could be heard. The voice became exponentially louder and was soon recognizable as a scream of fear. In an instant, an object fell from the sky and crashed through the ceiling of the old cabin.

“OUCH!” yelled a voice from inside the house. A sign on the door reveals that the little broken cabin belongs to a pair of brothers, the elder being Dark Shadow and the younger, Flippsy.

“Are you KIDDING ME!” Yelled a grey earth pony with long black hair. “I just finished fixing the roof from your last incident! Is it so hard to land correctly? If that’s too hard, why not crash literally anywhere else?” The grey pony continued to scold and complain. Finally, the other pony, a pegasus, stood up looking dazed. His coat and hair were slightly lighter tints of grey and black compared to the other pony. After grounding his thoughts and inspecting his body for damage, he turned to the angry pony and replied,

“I’m sorry Shadow. I promise that this time it wasn’t my fault!”

They stood there for a moment.

“Wasn’t your fault? Wasn’t your fault! Flippsy, you were the one who crashed in through the ceiling. Please, tell me, how is this not your fault!” Shadow retorted.

“I was on my way back from picking up the order of apples we got from Ponyville when all of a sudden my wings felt really weird, almost like a little tingle, and so I decided to try and stretch them out but when I flapped them, they shot me up at a speed I didn’t even know was possible, so I started to panic and lost control and so I tried to balance myself but when I flapped my wings again it happened again and they did that all the way until I got here!”

Flippsy was noticeably shaken by the incident. This was clear to Shadow as he had come to learn that his brother often spoke with minimal pauses when anxious. Taking into consideration the fact that Flippsy was actually a pretty talented flyer, Shadow reluctantly gave his brother a chance.

“Shadow, you gotta believe me. I-I promise I didn’t do it on purpose. Please don’t be mad.” Flippsy stammered, covering himself with his wings.

“I’m not mad. A little annoyed, but not mad.” Shadow walked over to his brother and gave him an assuring nudge. “Can you at least show me what you’re talking about?”

Excited at the chance to redeem himself, the younger brother ran outside and positioned himself to fly. He raised his wings and despite slight hesitation, he flapped them.

Nothing happened.

He tried again, but still, nothing happened. Frustrated now, Flippsy began to flap his wings as fast as he could but for whatever reason, he couldn’t seem to get himself off the ground. This left them both confused.

“I - I can’t get off the ground”, Flippsy said, going into a panic.

“Shadow. My wings aren’t working. Why aren’t my wings working? I promise I’m not lying, I mean, you know I really like flying so I would never lie about this kind of thing, especially at a time like this where I'm tryin-”

“Flippsy, it’s alright! I know you wouldn’t lie about this. Maybe you just hurt your wings in the fall or wasted all your energy. It’s okay.” Shadow said walking over to his younger brother who was on the verge of tears.

He walked his brother back into the house. Flippsy went to his bed and began to examine and flap his wings. Shadow noticed his brother's worried expression and assured him.

"How about you take it easy? Just rest for the day." Flippsy looked up and nodded. Shadow made his way back to the entrance but suddenly came to a stop. "Wait. Did you even bring back the apples?" Shadow asked looking back at his younger brother who quickly turned away and feigned being asleep. "Of course not.”

Shadow grabbed his satchel and began to make his way through the forest. It was a peaceful walk. Through the maze of trees, the thin fog caught the rays of the setting sun and gave the area an orange glow. Despite its negative reputation, Shadow had come to love the forest. While it still contained it’s dangers, none of them would be made present without explicitly looking for them. As he ventured towards the edge of the forest, Shadow noted that for the past few months, the sun had begun to set earlier each day, though that thought was quickly replaced by concern of whether or not he'd make it back on time before nightfall.

As he trotted forward, he came across what seemed to be confetti. Although a little confused, Shadow didn't think much of it. After all, with Pinkie Pie traveling all across Equestria, it really wouldn't be much of a surprise if she had left some behind on her way.

By the time Shadow arrived, the sun was almost entirely set. Most of the shops at the market had already closed down except for a few. Luckily, the apple stand was barely being packed up. Shadow quickly trotted up to the yellow mare in charge of it.

"Hey, Apple Bloom!" Shadow called out.

The mare's ears perked up and she turned around. Apple Bloom, the youngest of the apple siblings, had been running the shop for quite some time now. Ever since Applejack began to travel, she and Big Mac had to take charge of the business. Despite the rocky transition, they seemed to have figured things out.

"Well, howdy! If it isn't my most annoying customer" she said while loading the bucket of apples into her cart.

"Annoying but loyal" Shadow joked. They both gave a small chuckle.

"What can I do for ya?" Apple Bloom asked, still loading apples.

"I came to pick up the order I had placed a few days back. That and I gotta ask you something." Shadow pulled out some bits from his satchel. "My brother was supposed to come pick these apples up but he said that something weird happened with his wings. Something about flying into the air?"

She stopped and stared at him.

"Ain’t that what wings are s’posed to do?" She said half-jokingly as she passed him the apples

"Well, yeah. It was different though. He said that he flew into the air faster than he had ever gone before. Considering the fact that he’s an acrobatic flyer, it must've been fast.”

The mare stopped and pondered the story for a bit.

“Now that you mention it, I think I did overhear somepony talking about it. I didn’t personally see it though. It must’ve been while I was out gettin’ lunch.” The mare closed her stand and locked it.

“Hmm. Well, thanks anyway! I should get going before it gets too dark.” Shadow said, turning away.

“Alrighty then! Be safe and tell Flippsy I said ‘hi’!” Applebloom yelled.

Shadow returned into the forest. At this point, the sun had completely set and the leaves from the forest blocked out most of the moonlight. This wasn’t an issue however as Shadow had memorized his way home. The walk was peaceful at first, but soon Shadow found himself trotting forward nervously. He had learned better than to go into the forest on his own during the night. The abundance of animals and monsters found within the Everfree forest meant that behind any tree or bush, danger could be lurking. It wasn’t the small animals he was worried about however, his attention was focused solely on watching for any sign of timberwolves.

The large wooden beasts are the most dangerous creatures found within the forest. Their tendency to travel in packs of three made it nearly impossible for a single pony to be able to escape them. Shadow knew this and quickly continued home.

After having traveled a notable distance, Shadow was finally able to see a glimpse of light coming from his house. Relieved, he lowered his pace and began to walk. Suddenly he heard some rustling in the leaves. He stopped and looked around, but saw nothing. He began walking again. A few moments later, he heard the rustling again. Now concerned that he was being followed, he carefully scouted the area. He now noticed irregular movement within one of the trees in front of him. He hesitated to act but decided it would be safer for him to do so. He stood in a defensive position and opened his mouth to speak, but before he could call out he was struck to the ground from behind. Shadow was dazed for a moment but was quick to respond.

“Hey, what gives!” Shadow exclaimed. The pony who ambushed him was stepping on his back not letting him get up.

“Who are you? What business do you have here?” the pony said.

“My name is Dark Shadow! I live here with my brother, now will you please get off of me!” Shadow yelled.

The pony took his hoof off Shadow's back.

“Hurry home and refrain from coming through this area. By orders of Princess Luna, the northern entrance to the Everfree forest is currently closed for investigation.” The pony spoke.

Shadow got up and looked at the pony, a grey stallion with red hair wearing armor for the Lunar Kingdoms royal guard. Something seemed off about him though. Shadow looked closely and noticed that the stallion had bat wings and fangs.

“A bat pony? You must be pretty important, huh?” Shadow said absentmindedly. Annoyed, the bat pony glared at Shadow.

“Hurry home, or else I will be obligated to use force”, the stallion said.

“Alright, alright. Sheesh. Let me just pick up my apples. If any of them are bruised, I'll make sure to report this to the defense office.” Shadow said mockingly.

The bat pony rolled his eyes and flew off. Shadow continued on his way home. Before long, he finally saw the glimmer of the lamp outside of their home, he walked up to the house but noticed confetti tracing up to the door. Confused, he entered and called out to his brother.

"Flippsy? What's with all this confetti?"

Nobody responded. Shadow assumed that Flippsy had fallen asleep like he had told him to. He emptied his satchel and began to put away the apples. As he did he heard what he thought to be the sound of hoofs pacing around the upstairs. Maybe Flippsy had woken up? Shadow continued organizing the apples when all of a sudden he heard multiple hooves pacing upstairs. Confused, he decided to head up the stairs to check on his brother but at the instant he placed his hoof on the first step, the pacing upstairs turned into a trot. Something wasn’t right. Shadow now ran up the stairs and swung open the door. From the window located directly across the door, he was able to spot a figure escaping. This wasn’t his concern though, immediately he turned to his brother’s bed only to find that it was empty.

Shadow stood there in shock as questions quickly filled his mind. Why did he hear so many hoofs from downstairs? Who was that figure in the window? Why hadn’t Flippsy called back? Where was Flippsy? What happened to Flippsy?

Shadow shook his head.

"Maybe his wings got better and he went out to fly" he said attempting to calm himself.

He went back downstairs and made his way outdoors to their yard. Shadow scanned the area for any sign of his brother but quickly realized that doing so would only fill his mind with more fear. Begrudgingly, he went back inside and tried not to worry.

It was out of the ordinary for Shadow to be so worried for Flippsy, but it was equally as strange for Flippsy to just leave unannounced. Time passed. It was nearing the middle of the night and Flippsy had yet to return. At this point Shadow was no longer able to remain calm, especially not with the thoughts that something had happened to his brother. He grabbed his satchel and went outside once again. This time he would go and look for his brother.