It started out as a whisper, something she could just barely hear when he was close.

She'd ask him a question, the whisper would answer, and she'd assume it was just her own thoughts.

But then -after her friends surprised her with a day of fun- and all was silent in the darkened Brighthouse, he asked her a question.

"Izzy, why did you leave me behind?"

She tried to ignore it; she pretended those words didn't come from the unicorn friend that she'd made from junk.

But she had left Senor Butterscotch at the Crystal Brighthouse while she was out with her friends. Her real friends, who were living and breathing, and could talk because of that.

The day after, while Izzy was making herself breakfast, Senor Butterscotch spoke again.

“Izzy, I’m cold, why did you leave me alone?” He asked from where he lay abandoned on the living room floor.

Izzy had tried telling her friends about the issue, but like always they brushed it off as her whacky imagination. They thought it was cute that she’d made herself an imaginary friend, if not a little odd, but they accepted that Izzy was just a strange girl.

“Izzy, you’re not being a very good friend,” His voice was louder on the third day, just barely above a whisper.

She’d shoved him into a broom closet after he said that. She was too freaked out to bother with him anymore.

Sunny, Pipp, and Zip didn’t even notice when Senor Butterscotch went missing, as he was just like a doll to them. A weird fake pony made from inanimate objects; some would even call him junk. Izzy didn’t think that though, she had loved him like a real friend on that first day, but even she knew that dolls weren’t supposed to talk.

Not even life-sized dolls that she'd roleplayed with for an entire day.

So, Senor Butterscotch sat motionless in a dark closet. He sat there for days, weeks, until even Izzy had forgotten all about him. He felt their connection fading, and it hurt when her last memory of him faded away.

But he was still there, he was living, breathing -okay, maybe not breathing- but he was ALIVE. He was alive, and he felt emotion, and she’d left him alone in a dark closet. He felt so much emotion. Confusion, sadness, hurt… rage.

His horn, once just a regular ice cream cone, finally lit up with a brilliant magenta hue. He’d done it! His magic had finally grown powerful enough to materialize, now progress would come much faster.

For days he just lay there, his horn alight as he strengthened his magic. And as he instinctively sucked little bits of magic from everything that walked past the closet. Nopony would notice just a smidge of their magic missing, and it would replenish itself fully in a few minutes anyways.

Senor Butterscotch didn’t know how long he was trapped before he was finally powerful enough to move a limb. It felt like an eternity. He couldn’t see any light, just darkness, oh how he missed the warm sun.

One day, while Sunny was cleaning up the Crystal Brighthouse, she thought she heard a thump from a broom closet in the hallway. She trotted over to it and tapped on the door.

“Hello? Anypony in there?” She asked.

When no reply came, she jiggled the handle, but the door was locked.

“That’s weird,” Sunny said.

She pressed her ear to the door and listened carefully, but after a few moments of silence she shrugged it off and continued her work.

Who knows how many days later, Senor Butterscotch was finally strong enough to push himself up off of the floor and into a standing position. It took a great deal of magic to move himself about, and even longer to finally learn how to walk.

But it was done, this was it! His body was fully functional. He pressed himself lightly against the closet door, giving it an experimental push. When it didn’t budge, he pawed at the handle with his foreleg.

Frustrated, Senor Butterscotch laid back down, he would need to wait until his magic was strong enough to focus on both the door and himself. He could not move his limbs without use of telekinesis, and he was afraid he’d fall and break apart if he tried to do two things at once right now.

One night, Izzy, Sunny, Zip and Pip were awoken by a bang that echoed throughout the Crystal Brighthouse.

“What was that?” Sunny asked, having shot to her hooves in a fright.

“I dunno,” Zip said. “I’ll go investigate,” She trotted into the hallway and gasped when she saw that the broom closet was hanging wide open.

“What is it?” Sunny asked as she stopped just behind Zip.

“The door to the broom closet was blown off its hinges, it looks like something was trying to escape.”

“That’s weird, there shouldn’t have been anything in there,” Sunny said, then she gasped as she remembered the weird thump that she’d heard a few days earlier.

“You don't think somepony was trapped in there, do you?" Sunny asked, her voice wavering.

Izzy stood a few feet behind the two, the bedroom light illuminating her silhouette. There was a small frown on her face as something nagged at the back of her mind.

The four friends spent a whole hour searching the Crystal Brighthouse, but they didn't find any trace of an intruder. Eventually they relaxed and decided to investigate further tomorrow.

That was CLOSE. Senor Butterscotch thought, his magic straining as he ran through the town.

He'd nearly been caught by Izzy's friends, if he hadn't immediately started running, he'd surely be done for! His 'hooves' splashed through puddles from the recent rain, leaving the water a murky mess of color as the hoof polish was washed off.

He had no idea where he was going, and he couldn’t picture any imagery in his head. Not having a brain certainly made things difficult.

Senor Butterscotch ran until the sun peeked over the horizon, until he finally stopped. As soon as he laid down his magic gave out, and he was unable to summon even a single spark. Looking around he discovered he was in the woods; he must have been really far from Maretime Bay if he’d ended up in a forest.

He lay there for another three sunrises, being made of junk meant he had no need for food or sleep. Finally, once his magical well was fully replenished, Senor Butterscotch trotted off in a random direction.

Nopony would come looking for him, since nopony remembered him. So, he was free to explore the woods for as long as he liked. Unfortunately, his exploration was interrupted when the sky darkened and it started to drizzle, he quickly found a large cave and took shelter in it.

Author's Note

It begins