It wasn’t but a while ago, I had gone out for an adventure. Nothing along the lines of treasure, or fame, but an adventure merely to see and experience all I could. It was a nice summer actually, so good weather for months.
 
I had come across many things I hadn’t seen before as I walked across the country. The airy heights of Las Pegasus and the lower city, the Strip. Followed the White Tail woods amidst the massive trees, north and west towards Ponyville. The skyscrapers that turn even pegasus heads upside down with sheer size in Manehattan.
 
And now I’m seeing this absolutely horrible black forest. The charred branches of thick dead oaks stretched gnarled sharp fingers to the sky, clouding Luna’s moon. The ground was alive with shadows, dancing as the mist passed over the barren tree tops. The underbrush was thick, squeezing in on the road at points with it’s thorny vines. Seeing down a single locked lane made the foliage walls appear to leap inward at points, wanting to grab you.
 
Unseen noises skittered to either side, things running away, or perhaps towards me. Leaves rustled with clear intent that some beast had moved it, it’s nature unknown, but dead sure the foggy mass had piercing eyes, claws that glistened and and a low rumbling growl from a muzzle of teeth.
 
It moved fast, and I moved faster. The thorns cut at my cloak, taking with it bits of fur or strings of cloth. Hooves and heart, pounding faster, thumping out in a paired drone, hammering every ounce of speed they could muster. It was still faster.
 
Ragged gasps from the duo worked in unison, in and out in heavy rasps, merging closer and closer until there was only one. The road moved faster and faster under my hooves, but it remained silent. My ears were listening only to my heart and the leaves off to my side, the creature darting through the bramble like water in a sieve, effortlessly. Then there was the light…
 
It had been a change of pace, the light began guiding me after that. Everything seemed to move slower, the world running silently around me as the light became the only constant, my last fix to this world. It seemed to always be there, like it was something my entire life was leading up to, then end. Or rather a new beginning. It was a light, that meant ponies, and they would surely find me before it was like I never existed!
 
After what felt like an eternity, the light became clear as I made it to it’s source. It was a high stone wall, meant to keep out the beasts. It surrounded a well lit compound, arcane barriers at the entrance, ponies in, monsters out. I lept in through the gap, landing on softer earth. A moment’s reprieve.
 
I leapt to my hooves and quickly darted behind the lantern’s holder, a rather odd looking unicorn statue. It was, however, more than a decent barrier. The lantern on the crook was acrane, a faint blue scrawling on the bottom, a catalyst for a spell. Any mundane enchanted candle would resonate with the case surrounding it, letting only those who mean peace may walk in it’s light.
 
I listened to the creature’s shrill as it approached the faintest bit of light cast from the lantern. I didn’t turn around, rather waited in the safety of the light’s spell. It shrieked a few more times, scampering about the bushes, looking for a way to press in, yet it was met with pain as it tired to move in.
 
Soon the sound of foliage being shaken stopped, lending the air a moment of uneasy silence. Thrashing of shaken leaves echoed out, the sound growing quieter, the creature moving away. I let out a long winded sigh.
 
“That could have been alot worse.”
 
I frowned at my shredded cloak, but quickly shrugged it off. A paltry sum for escaping death. The bright colored house and warm ‘welcome’ sign on the gaily painted door raised my spirits.
 
I shook in relief,
 
“You thought I was going to be a statue!” I said to myself, giggling aloud. “I guess this one turned out alright.”
 
…