The sun burned proudly in the sky as Twilight wandered down the small hoof path that led to her campsite. The trees swayed gently in the afternoon breeze, butterflies swarmed atop blooming flowers, and rabbits danced in the underbrush.

Twilight was anxious. Soon it would be dusk and she was still quite a ways from home. She really did not want to spend a night on the path. She had been forced to do so before and it had been miserable. The grip her magic had on her spear tightened as a pair of memories fluttered to the front of her mind. She quickly forced them down.

Twilight scanned the brush at the edges of the path for any sign of movement; any note the forest might send in response to her presence. Twilight marched onward in this state of paranoia until her eyes caught site of something bright and orange embedded in the ground.

A few paces off the path sat a bright, orange, juicy carrot. To a normal pony, the site was nothing extraordinary. A carrot? So what, but to Twilight, the sight was akin to staring at a vault of golden bits. It appeared none of the woodland creatures had messed with it, it was practically a perfect carrot.

Twilight anxiously bit her lower lip as she eyed the fresh vegetable. It wasn't that far off the path. If she dropped her spear for a second she could run over, yank it out of the ground with her magic, and return to the path before anything noticed her presence. But was it worth the risk?

Of course, it was. Food was food. She'd be kicking herself in a day or two when she ran out of food and remembered leaving the beautiful carrot to fend for itself on the edge of the path. Steeling her nerves Twilight set her spear down and unbuckled her backpack letting it drop to the ground with an audible thump.

She took in a few deep breaths as her eyes focused solely on the carrot, then she bolted forward. Her horn glowed brightly as she reached out with her magic and yanked the carrot out of the ground along with some of its roots. Having successfully freed the carrot from its dirt prison, Twilight spun on her hooves and galloped back to the path kicking up a cloud of dirt in the process.

Once her front hooves made contact with the path, she spun around again, dropped the carrot onto the path, and positioned her spear in front of her with her magic. Twilight narrowed her eyes and glared intently at the trees, daring them to throw something at her. To make any sudden movements.

A tense few seconds passed before Twilight let out a sigh of relief and lowered her spear. The world had shown mercy this time. Twilight buckled her backpack to her back as her ears swiveled about her head listening intently. There was always a chance something would leap out and surprise her the moment she turned away.

The forest offered Twilight no reply. She cast a weary glance down the path and at the edges of the pathway as she stuffed the carrot into her backpack before. The thought occurred to her that perhaps she was being overly paranoid, but she quickly brushed it off.

Being overly paranoid was impossible in this world and thinking otherwise would more than likely get her killed. After being extra-sure nothing was going to surprise attack her, Twilight resumed her journey down the path toward home.

Eventually, the path sloped upward leading to the top of a shallow hill with a dead Burchnut tree. Lush green grass spread out before her revealing the comforting site of home sweet home. A campfire sat a few paces in front of her. A small pony-like statue with two wooden gears hanging off it hummed quietly next to the campfire.

To her right, a small collection of drying racks held the previous day's catches. Beyond them was a small clump of semi-ripe berry bushes. Twilight remembered when the area was coated with lush trees and foliage. The once foresty biome now closely resembled an open plains.

Twilight approached her campfire and leaned her spear against the mechanical pony she had dubbed the Science Machine. With a small burst of magic, she wiggled her backpack off and dropped it near the edge of the firepit.

With a grunt of effort, she freed her makeshift bed roll from the web of rope pinning it to her backpack. A small smile graced Twilight's lips. As she spread out the bed roll, a pang of sadness attached itself to her heart. She paused and glanced around at her camp. The soft humming of her makeshift machinery, the sad stack of muddy firewood near her campfire, and the leathery meat hanging limply on her drying racks.

Ironically the scene reminded her of Rarity. She could practically hear the fashionista throwing a temper tantrum at the state of her environment. The way she'd critique the cleanliness of Twilight herself, how she'd dramatically collapse onto her red couch at the state of the campfire. The horrified shriek she'd let out when she inspected the sewing work of her sleeping bag. Twilight missed those simpler days.

If it wasn't for Rarity she wouldn't even have a sleeping bag in the first place. If Twilight hadn't taken a few sewing lessons with the prim mare of fashion she would be sleeping on the ground these days. Twilight shook her head. Reminiscing on the past wouldn't change her current predicament.

She finished sprawling out her sleeping bag and tossed two boards of wood atop the fire. The color of the sky shifted from bright blue to an eerie purplish red as the sun began to dip below the horizon. It was dusk. She didn't have much time before night.

Fortunately for Twilight, she had enough food to last roughly two days and she didn't have to sacrifice a warm dinner due to a lack of firewood. Tonight she was going to treat herself.

Twilight trotted over to her small row of drying racks and examined some pieces she knew were almost ready.

After some inspection, she plucked a piece off the rack with her magic and moved it over to the campfire. she had fabricated a makeshift pot hanger out of some thick twigs and leftover firewood. it wasn't the sturdiest device, but all it had to hold was some dried meat.

She stabbed the longer, thicker twig through the dried piece of meat and adjusted the fleshy piece until it was roughly in the middle of the stick. She then laid this across the other sticks to hang it above her fire. Next, she levitated her spear over from the science machine and pulled a carrot she had picked that morning out of her backpack.

It was admittedly a bit dirty and covered in roots, but Twilight didn't care. She wasn't going to pass this opportunity to eat a fresh carrot with meat. Using her spear, Twilight chopped the carrot into slices and dropped them into her crockpot.

Twilight then returned to her backpack and rummaged through a few of the pockets in search of a piece of flint, a rock, and some grass. After acquiring said material, she moved over to the campfire and stuffed the small tuft of grass under the two boards she'd placed there earlier. Finally, she struck the flint against the rock to create a spark.

Soon she had a roaring fire going and enough heat to cook a decent meal. Something she had noticed over her time in this strange world was a peculiar property of fire. No matter how light or hard she struck a rock with flint. The resulting spark ignited whatever was closest to it without fail. she had never had an issue starting a fire due to lack of friction. If the circumstances were different she would love to dissect why that was the case.

After finding a few more ingredients, dinner was served. Twilight laid atop her bed and stared at the sky as the tip of the sun sank below the horizon. The quiet crackling of the fire, the soft humming of the science machine, and her chewing provided the unicorn with a small level of comfort.

As she bit into a particularly tough chunk of meat, she recalled a time when the thought of eating meat repulsed her. At one point even the thought of doing so would've made her throw up. In Equestria at least, such action was practically a crime. But after living in her new environment, she had been forced to choose between her ethics or starvation. Thus she had committed the taboo.

She paused mid-chew as a thought occurred to her. No one was here to judge her. It wasn't like Princess Celestia would descend from the sky and scold her for committing such a heinous act. Fluttershy wouldn't knock on her door with a horrified looked on her face after hearing such news.

Why had she cared so much about the social standards of her previous home?

"Home." She repeated allowed jumping slightly at the sound of her own voice. She didn't hear that often anymore.

Twilight had no way of knowing how long she had been in the strange pop-up world. In all her time spent in this new unforgiving world, she had yet to find another living creature she could communicate with using words.

She scooped another few carrot slices into her mouth enjoying the taste briefly.

She had tossed out the notion of returning home quite a while ago. There was no evidence of dimensional magic, no people to ask for guidance, not much of anything if she was being honest with herself. What did she even gain by going home? Did anyone miss her? Were they even worried about her?

The soft chirping of crickets interrupted the unicorn's internal conflict. It was probably a good time for her to turn in for the night. Twilight scarfed down what little remained of her food, put an extra log on top of the fire, and crawled into her sleeping bag.

Despite how long she'd been here, Night time always made her skin crawl. She felt like something was out there, watching her—waiting for her to make a mistake. It was a feeling akin to claustrophobia. By all accounts, she should be able to wander into the darkness without a torch or the glow of her horn and be fine. She had done exactly that in Equestria hundreds of times, but here she couldn't. The one time she had attempted to do so, was the most horrifying night of her life. It sent a quiver of fear through her body just thinking about it.

It had been a while since the glow of dusk faded and the night had started proper. Unlike the bright starry skies of Equestria, it was pitch black. Twilight couldn't see anything beyond the light of her campfire and as usual, Twilight couldn't sleep. She tossed and turned trying to get comfortable before giving up and choosing to stare at the fire instead.

There was something calming about watching fire. The way the flames danced in the shadows without a care in the world. No darkness waiting for the opportunity to dive in and consume them, nothing to do but burn bright and bold before fading from this world.

Sometimes she wished she could be a flame in her campfire. A simple existence out of her control.

She hated feeling like this. Like somepony was stalking her and she couldn't do anything about it. She pressed the top of her sleeping bag against her chest with a hoof. It was at times like this she desperately wished she had Ms. Smarty Pants with her.

It sounded rather foalish when she thought about it any deeper than surface level, but she didn't care at the moment. She would kill to have something, anything to comfort her. A trinket from home, a motherly voice, anything. Perhaps she could try to make a new plushie for herself. It wasn't like she didn't know how to.

The purple unicorn sighed. having no one to talk with meant she was stuck with her internal thoughts as a conversation partner. A partner that was growing more sporadic and disorganized by the day. She was certain her internal dialogue hadn't always been like this. Memories of calendars and meticulous planning were buried deep in the back of her mind. She supposed at some point it had stopped mattering.

After watching the fire a while longer, Twilight's eyes finally began to drift shut. She could figure out the details tomorrow.

Author's Note

An idea that's been floating around in my head for a while now and I finally got the motivation to write it down.