Imagine a small colt who is a little bigger than most of his classmates, with a nice brown coat that looks like the mahogany equivalent of fur, with a messy green mane and tail. Blue eyes, white hooves, a slight nibble on the left ear from a fight with another pony. Nice teeth if I’d smiled enough to show them. That was me, back then.

 

My name is Malinter.

 

My mother died giving birth to me and my father could never be located, I learned that her death had occurred within minutes of her entering the hospital and that the doctors had barely enough time to save me, let alone ask who my father was.

 

In any case, I was not all that interested in whether my father was still alive as I was sent to the orphanage in Ponyville, they took care of me and put me though the school there with a few of the other orphans my own age, give or take a year. I was a rather quiet colt who enjoyed studying nature. I never joined in with the immature jokes my classmates played or showed any interest in which pony had a crush on another pony.

.

At the time, I wasn’t quite as normal as the other ponies, I had the usual quirks for sure but what made me stick out back then was my unhealthy obsession with the Everfree Forest.

 

Ever since I’d learned of its existence I had wanted to go in there and explore. It almost called to me. I’d greedily read each and every single book I could get my hooves on but my age (and height) restricted me from getting the books that could give me real answers. All I got where books of ghost stories and superstition that just fuelled my curiosity even more.

 

None of these texts ever said why we were forbidden to enter the forest other than something along the lines of ‘Celestia Says So’ and any grown up I asked was about as useless as the books.

 

And so it came to pass that I woke up one night, I’d barely been asleep more than an hour after reading a book called “Super Naturals” that detailed the medicinal uses for plants. I few of which I’d learned were only to be found in the Everfree. The plants had been hoofdrawn by previous explorers and I worked hard to memorize their names, what they looked like and which of them had effects or were edible so that I could search for them myself one day and try to make some of the recipes in the book.

 

The town was buzzing with activity, ponies were wondering about with kids wanting to see what was happening only to be forced back inside by their parents, I could see the orphanage matron stood outside the door like a guard dog. It would take Nightmare Moon herself to get that mare to move.

 

It wasn’t long before I overheard enough snips of conversation to piece together what was going on. Two ponies had taken it upon themselves to wander off into the Everfree Forest and they had not returned. Here and there, ponies were saying that they had probably been eaten by now. Others wanted to search while others wanted to call for the Royal Guard, resulting in nobody really doing anything but talk and here and there, argue. The town was always like this in a crisis especially during winter wrap up.

 

Tonight was my chance. The adults would be too busy making sure no other foals went missing. I grabbed the basic supplies I always kept a small stash of. Food, water and a light source. A while ago I’d discovered a loose board at the back of the orphanage just large enough for me to fit though. I would have to pass around ponyville and sneak though Sweet Apple Acres to reach the Everfree. Wasn’t the shortest way in but the fields would be empty save one or two of the Apples being up.

 

I came down the stairs making sure none of the other ponies saw me, I could probably have convinced one or two of the others to come with me but decided against it. There were stories of how the Everfree was never the same twice, how it constantly shifted and changed from one day to the next. During the night, the moon was said to make the forest cloak itself in a layer of mist as if to hide itself from its light, Such conditions would make it easy for a group to get split up and he didn’t need to add to the already lost. It also occurred to him the lost ponies might be hungry when he found them, he barely had enough food for three ponies and that’s if he himself ate lightly.

 

He reached the loose panel and lifted it up slowly to reduce the noise, he could feel the cool night air breeze in and pushed his saddlebags of supplies though first before squeezing out afterwards. It was a tight fit. He hadn’t used it in a while and realised he must have grown a lot since then but he was able to squeeze though and made sure the plank covered the hole again.

 

A clear night sky greeted him. The moon had yet to rise. He quickly put his saddlebags on and began is mission to get to the forest, he avoided the central plaza and took to moving from house to house. He could here the voice of Mayor Mare calling for calm, and a few other raised voices he could only assume where the parents of the lost colts.

 

He soon found himself at Sweet Apple Acres. Nowhere near the barns or anything. He didn’t want to risk being spotted and the Apples where known for keeping dogs as pets. The actual farm covered a lot of ground, the direction he was headed in was the fields where the Zap Apples grew. He was lucky they were out of season as the trees were famed for both there fruit and there maintenance, they required almost constant supervision while they were blooming. Right now however they were just regular trees. They didn’t even grow normal apples on them.

 

He moved forwards. The moon was rising now, its glow illuminating everything but with nopony around he was able to pass though the orchard much quicker without risk of hitting a tree as he went and soon found himself on the other side. The large barns looked smaller from here and ponyville smaller still. He turned to face his destination, The Everfree Forest, he looked up at the moon now visible in its full glory and right on cue the mist started forming, it was so amazing to see something he read about with his own eyes. I trotted to the very the edge of the Everfree. I’d never been this close to it before without an adult scolding me and taking me back, the mist that permeated the forest seemed to part for a moment, as if inviting me to enter it. That first hoof step I look felt so exciting, I savoured the next few steps, expecting at any moment for a grown up yell my name and call me back.

 

None called.

 

I walked into the forest, the mist swirled back into place like a curtain behind me. For a second I doubted myself. But I dismissed it. Two ponies were trapped in here, somepony needed to save them. And I was going to be that somepony.

 

Their was no denying the sense of danger I felt as I walked although the trees, it was a new experience for me. I was so used to houses. The creepy distorted trees giving a sense of foreboding that made my hooves feel heavier, maybe hesitant even. My hearing had became shaper to make up for the mist reducing my vision. But I could do more that just use my senses, I could sense my surroundings though the ground, his was my talent.

 

For a long time now. I learned I could sense things both beneath the soil and above it, it didn‘t matter whether they were in front of me or behind. I could even tell if they moved and in which direction. The Everfree was awash of signals. In Ponyville I would sense just ponies or the occasional bird or rabbit moving on the ground but here the whole place felt like it was moving and that was how I suddenly became aware of a presence, because unlike everything else it did not move. I couldn’t tell if it was a pony but I could almost feel it watching me.

 

I increased my pace a little. My throat felt a little dry as I swallowed. I was not afraid but I thought that I might be better off just doing what I came here to do and get back quickly came to mind but then the presence disappeared and my heart which had been beating faster began to calm. Just an animal or something I thought as I continued on.

 

Soon I began to notice broken branches here and there, disturbed soil and the occasional hoof print that was slightly smaller than my own. There were other hoof prints too but these were more numerous and fainter and from a bigger pony, though of a thought pony coming here on a daily basis surprised me, I knew of no such pony back in Ponyville but I didn’t have time to think about it as I noticed the smaller prints break off on a different direction so I turned off the path and headed though the bushes.

 

The sound of the rustling trees and wind had started picking up for some reason. As I looked along the tree line I began to see pairs of eyes emerging, glowing in the darkness before they blinked and faded. I focused on the ground whispering to myself not to be scared, telling myself I was just making sure I didn’t miss a print when I suddenly bumped into somepony and fell onto my back.

 

“Hey! Why don’t you watch where you going?!” I yelled rubbing my head before the thought sunk in of where I was. I looked up slowly.

 

Before me stood a figure in a hooded cloak clearly a pony but I couldn’t make out any detail save for her eyes which glowed from beneath the hood in an ominous yellow. I panicked.

 

“It’s the Olden Pony!” I cried and leapt behind a bush, though looking back now, what good that would have done for me is anyponys guess.

 

The cloaked figure didn’t move. She merely turned her head at me and waited as I slowly coaxed myself out of the bushes.

 

Isn’t she supposed to ask about a horseshoe or something?

 

I was pretty sure it was a she. The brown cloak she wore covered most of her body revealing only the fore hooves. Her skin was stripped in black and white. Definitely not the Olden Pony. I was about ask who she was but the words died in my mouth as I meet her glowing yellow eyes again, only this time I felt like they pierced into my soul, I was really glad I didn’t need to pee at this point. The stranger then spoke, in a mysteriously deep yet feminine voice. I could not understand what she was saying but it had this sing-song quality it. She pointed back the way I had came with a hoof.

 

She wanted me to leave. To go home.

 

“I can’t. There are two colts from town in here. I need to find them.”

 

She walked towards me and placed a hoof under my chin, turning my head from side to side. I used the chance to look at her forelegs in more detail, not really wanting to meet her eyes again, I noticed the many gold rings she wore and a small part of me suddenly wondered how she made so little noise wearing them.

 

She removed her hoof from my chin, as she did so I noticed a small glowing power on her hooves as she did so. She turned away, speaking more of the strange language I didn’t understand. I looked away as I tried to brush off the powder I thought she’d put on me.

 

“So can you h…” She was gone. No noise. She had vanished as quickly as she had came. I sighed, more with relief than any sense of disappointment. But as I did so noticed little flecks of the powder she used lingered in the air, some lay on the ground, like breadcrumbs they lead even further into the Everfree.

 

“Thank You!” I called out before covering my mouth as my thanks echoed though the forest in all directions.

 

So I started following the green flecks of light, they weaved though the trees, across the shallows of water. What kind of magic was this? For a brief moment a part of me wished I was a unicorn so I could learn magic like this. I shook the thought out of my head. I might as well wish I could fly while I was at it.

 

As I reached the end of the glowing trail, the hoof prints I had seen before were present. Before me lay a hole in the ground, a mild glow seemed to be emanating from it, along with the faint sound of a pony sobbing. I approached the edge of the hole and looked down. Surprised to find it wasn’t a shear drop like I was expecting but an entrance to a gently sloping pathway that lead into another cavern below.

 

I proceeded into the cave. The source of the light was revealed. A large pool of water lay before me, the light of the risen moon pouring though the hole giving the pool its mysterious glow, the air was filled with a resonating hum that come from the pool itself. I walked towards the waters edge and looked at my own reflection in the pool, gazing into the eyes of my reflected self.

 

The two ponies, both unicorns, one of whom was crying had slipped from my mind at this point, so fascinated I was by the water. It was a few moments before the one comforting his friend realised I was there.

 

“M-Mal?!” the unicorn asked, surprised to see me. The sound of somepony using a nickname always urked me for some reason.

 

“My name is Malinter!” I replied.

 

“W-Why are you here? A-Are the grown ups here too?” he asked looking hopeful.

 

I shook my head. “They were afraid to come in.”

 

“You came in by yourself?” he asked.

 

“Yep. I’m not afraid of this place.“ I replied, puffing out my chest with pride. “I think the grown-ups were lying about this place being dangerous.”

 

“They’re not.” The sobbing pony spoke for the first time. “There’s something out there, it was following us.”

 

“I know. I saw her.” I replied.

 

“Her?” they replied in unison, looks of confusion appearing on their faces.

 

“The pony in the cloaked hood?” I asked, realising they didn‘t know what I was talking about, which as confirmed when they spoke again.

 

“These weren’t ponies! They growled and snarled with glowing green eyes!” said the tall one impersonating some kind of bear-dog thing.

 

I remembered the glowing eyes he had seen in the bushes, but they didn’t make the noises these two spoke off. In fact, they would have killed me and picked my body clean within minutes if they had. They must have mistaken if for a cat or something more scared of them then they were of it.

 

“Did they actually chase you?” I asked.

 

“W-Well… No… but….” the short one replied. I facehoofed.

 

“You panicked. You panicked so much you ran further into the forest and then couldn’t get out?” I could practically imagine the whole thing in my head.

 

“Yes.” they replied in unison.

 

I sighed again. “Well… at least you had the sense to hide in here.” I said, trying to give them some credit to banish the embarrassment the two ponies were feeling.

 

I took off the saddlebags I’d been wearing and presented them both with the small bit of food I’d had brought which they greedily accepted without a thank you or at least one not audible of the sound of the them eating. Their glowing horns pulling the food from the bag to their mouths. I didn’t mind. It was harder for them to talk with their mouths full so I went to look at the pool again.

 

At first I poked the water with a hoof. It rippled to my touch.

 

Then I sniffed the water. It didn‘t smell any different from a regular pond.

 

I gently lapped the water with his tongue. Maybe I could refill a bottle?

 

It seemed to be nothing but a normal pool of water, but what was making that noise? I turned my head in thought as I glazed into my reflection. Which suddenly waved a hoof at me.

 

“Gaaah!!!” I fell on my back and started pushing way from the pool with my hooves.

 

“Mal!! What’s wrong?!” one of the ponies asked.

 

“T-The water. My reflection waved at me.” I replied, my heart was beating like crazy.

 

“So wave back.” replied the short one.

 

“W-What?!” The stupidity of the remark banished cleared the thoughts whirling around in my head.

 

“Wave ba--- no, forget it,” I said getting back up, I marched back to the pool edge, my reflection looking back at me again, I sighed and proceeded to wave at the image which behaved and acted like a reflection should,

 

“You guys done?” I asked, my fascination for the pool done with even tough I kept glancing at it. Expecting it to do something weird again.

 

They nodded in confirmation, wiping the crumbs from their mouths.

 

I packed up what was left and put the saddlebags on my back again, they felt a lot lighter now.

 

“Right. Then lets get out of here.” I said as we proceeded back up the slope, with the two unicorns behind me.

 

“Erm… Mal? Do you know the way back to town?” asked one of them.

 

To be honest? No, I didn’t. But I wasn’t going to tell them that. I hoped the mysterious powder trail still remained outside, with that I could at least get back on the path and work my way from there.

 

As we emerged from the hole I noticed small traces of powder remained in the air but the path itself was gone. It didn’t matter. I’d found the two numbskulls. Even if we they ended up walking in circles, with the food they had just eaten they weren’t going to starve and they could just as easily wait until either daylight arrived or the guards found them.

 

I didn’t like the second option. I wanted to prove he could do what they couldn’t and not be lectured like a foal. I was going to get them back to ponyville before nights end.

 

“This way.” I pointed with a hoof as I began to lead the way, I remembered most of path well enough, certain types of grass here. a few distinct trees there, the shallows of water I passed. Also the trace amounts of dust in the air that seemed to linger in the spots where I felt lost.

 

So far so good. He heard the two unicorns behind him talking amongst themselves. Or maybe to him. It might have been rude for me to block them out but I needed to focus on getting back. The glowing eyes I’d seen on the way in were coming back to me, only now my own imagination was giving them fangs and claws. Focus, Mal. He took a deep breath. Wait. Did I just call myself, Mal?

 

“You ok, Mal?” the tall one asked. I groaned, stopped and turned.

 

“I told you, my name is Malinter. Not Mal.” I replied, poking him with each syllable.

 

“What about Mally? Or Linty?” asked the other.

 

I rubbed a hoof down my face. Maybe waiting for the guards would have been better idea.

 

“Hey, wait up!” yelled the tall one as I continued on in a hurry before I developed an urge to hit one of them. They soon caught up and took to walking at either side of me.

 

“So…” asked the tall one, trying to spark up a conversation.

 

“What?” I asked taking the bait.

 

“You don’t have your cutie mark yet.” he said pointing to my flank that was obscured by my saddlebags.”

 

“Neither you either of you.” I replied I actually glancing at their flanks to see if that was actually correct. “What’s your point?” I added.

 

“Well… seeing as your our new BFF we thought you might want to join our little club.” replied the other.

 

I just rolled his eyes in response.

 

“And what is the purpose of this club exactly?” I asked.

 

“To get cutie marks! Of course!” the tall one said excitedly.

 

“Even though we all get one eventually anyway?”

 

“Well… yeah… that’s true…” said the small one sounding a little deflated.

 

“Look guys. Why don’t you ask some other pony. Macintosh doesn’t have his mark yet. Why don’t you ask him.” I suggested.

 

“We can’t ask Macintosh to join us!” gasped the tall one, he was almost sure he sensed reverence in his voice.

 

“Why not?” I asked, genuinely curious.

 

“Because he’s… big and, strong!” said the small one.

 

“And cool, all the mares have a crush on him.” added the tall one with a slight sigh.

 

“For Celestia’s sake, you two. Do you two even have any faith in yourselves at all?” I asked.

 

They actually had to stop and think to answer the question. Hopeless.

 

“I’m sure you’ll get your marks… eventually.” I said before they had a chance to speak.

 

“And get a mare friend??” asked the small one just adding that in to the conversation.

 

“Er… Yeah. Sure… Just… don’t invite me to the wedding or anything… Seriously.”

 

 

I stopped. Suddenly I realised I didn’t know where we were. None of these trees looked familiar and the dust was nowhere to be found. Great. Now I was lost.

 

“This isn’t the way I came. Lets go back little.”

 

I’d only just past between them when a black silhouette just shot by us. I’d only heard it, felt its passing like a breeze but the took of fear on the two unicorns told him what they saw wasn’t friendly.

 

I spun round, looking at the surrounding tree line for any signs of movement.

 

“They’ve found us!” said the tall one, shivering in fear, the small I swear was shaking more.

 

I tried not to feel the same fear, but it was hard not to. Whatever that was it was fast. And big, I tried to calm myself. I was good calm, I could think, I could feel… I could feel though the earth…

 

And I felt… two… six… t-ten…. Sweet Merciful Celestia…

 

Malinter’s eyes snapped open and he gulped, in the darkness a dozen pairs eyes appeared. Forget calm. Now was the time to panic.

 

“You two…” I spoke with my voice barely a whisper.

 

“We’re going to run but we have to stick together… got it?”

 

They nodded very quickly, still shivering in fear as the wolves emerged from the forest,

 

They looked like wolves yet instead of flesh and blood their bodies were made of bark and timber, their eyes glowed with magic. They were big, not that it meant anything when you’re a foal. The thought that he was about to die a blank flank entered my mind and suddenly the fear vanished.

 

Buck. That. I was not going to die a blank flank.

 

“Ok… on the count of three…. One…”

 

They ran.

 

“BFFs, my flank!” I cursed, as the wolves howled and attacked, me, I leapt back as the first crashed landed in the spot where I had just been and managed to wheel around in time to sprint from the next two.

 

I sprinted after the two traitors and soon caught up to them, the tall ones skinny legs and the short ones weight made them poor sprinters though the short one could move when he needed to.

 

“Can‘t you move any slower! Run!!” I yelled, trying to push the skinny one to get more speed.

 

“I can’t!” he wailed, as the wolves quickly caught up with us.

 

No time.

 

I skidded to a halt with my legs in a bucking position. Several of the wolves zipped past me but one ran to meet my hooves as I kicked out, it gave a yelp of pain before its combined speed and my kick caused it to explode in a shower of timber and twigs. Several of the splinters dug into my body. They stung a little but nothing I couldn’t handle. The other wolves that had gone on ahead suddenly stopped and turned. A sense of anger blazed in their eyes as they sensed the death of one of their own and seized the chance to surround one of the ponies.

 

The two unicorns stopped running.

 

“Mal!” they called out.

 

“Just Go! Run!” I yelled back, the wolves moving to obscure my view of the pair. the sound of their galloping hooves fading away.

 

I was on my own now. This is it. Time to die like a stallion! He was going to take one more wolf down with him and be a badass.

 

Blank Flank. Blank Flank.

 

Damn it!

 

“Come on, your hungry aren‘t ya…?” I hissed as the wolves positioned themselves to attack me from my blind spots, I heard a growl rise from behind me and turned, my saddlebag took my place in the wolves maw, it shook me like a rag doll, tearing it from my back and throwing me to the ground hard. I was defenceless and could already envision the teeth closing around my neck, choking out my life. The sound of my spine creaking… like a tree???

 

With a dull thump, three wolves where crushed under a large tree, I’d barely had time to see them die before another tree crushed a few more in of them. The other wolves looked around in confusion, they were suddenly down in numbers unable to attack what was killing them.

 

“Mal! This way!”

 

I made out the two unicorns waving from the bushes like idiots.

 

Malinter leapt over the felled tree to join them and together we ran.

 

“How the heck did you guys do that?” he asked.

 

“Magic.” they replied smugly.

 

Malinter just shook his head and smiled. But we weren’t out of the woods yet. More Wolves had come and bolstered in number they continued the pursuit,

 

As we ran, I began to feel pain in my flank and legs again. The shards of wood were beginning to hurt. I pushed the pain out. I could rest when I was dead… or when the wolves ate us. I was trying to think. Could we trap the wolves again? Doubtful. Before I’d been the bait in the ambush but the wolves were on to us. They’d probably ignore me completely now and go for the bigger threat of the unicorns.

 

The path ahead changed. This I recognised. He changed direction and they followed, At this speed. They’d be out the forest in minutes. They’d be safe!

 

“We’re nearly out!” I called.

 

No sooner had the words left my throat, a dozen trees suddenly collapsed on the path before us. We skidded to halt. The trees had been chewed at the trunks, the wolves responsible for the logging jumping on top of the felled trees and growled at us, its saliva dripping and smouldering the wood.

 

“Clever bucker…” I muttered, they’d sprung the same bloody trap on us in no time at all and now all three of their flanks were on the menu now.

 

“This is bad,” said the tall one.

 

“Eeyup…” replied the small one, mimicking the drawling voice of Macintosh.

 

“Really? At this time?” I looked at him, he merely shrugged as the pursuing wolves approached us, slowly, the loses they‘d sustaining making them more cautious.

 

The splinters in my body were seriously starting to hurt now, the acid I saw from the wolves jaw suddenly made me wonder if the wolves were poisonous. My legs buckled slightly.

 

“Mal! Are you going to faint?” asked the tall one.

 

“N-No, of course not.” I replied trying to get back up but the nausea was starting to kick in.

 

“Oh that’s good.” replied said.

 

I closed my eyes from the pain, stupid mistake, the wolves would pounce and kill me in an instant. But I couldn’t stop the pain that was growing and spreading, spreading though the earth….

 

“M-Mal?” he heard the short one call me.

 

Spreading and making me stronger. The splinters began to grow and coil though out my body, I could feel them strengthen my legs, feel them coil up under my skin, around my neck and spine but it was when they met at my forehead did I feel the greatest pain, I gasped in agony as from my temple grew a horn of coiled wood. It glowed with a sickly green light, I couldn’t open my eyes but I could feel it, hear it pulsing with power. Its magic illuminating my veins like roots.

 

I was in so much pain I could barely stay conscious. The wolves seemed confused. The magic was effecting them in someway. What the buck was happening? My eyes were closed yet I could see everything. The colours of the forest creating a picture in my mind. His senses were overflowing. Was this what magic felt like? The pain suddenly spiked and my horn discharged a blast of energy which made the wolf it hit explode and made me stagger backwards. The skin on my forehead was burning, I could small my hair singeing. The wolves backed off lightly but the growl from a bigger one seemed to prevent them from running.

 

Maybe if I could hit that one they’d run, problem is I had no idea how to do what I just did, and I really didn’t think I had another shot left in me even if I could, This hurt so much.

 

 

Suddenly the area was flooded with a green smoke which seemed to have a life of its own, it wrapped around the wolves, taking the forms of vipers, hissing at them. The wolves attacked but merely passed through the apparitions but the same was not true in kind. The vipers kissed. Where there fangs found purchase, there wooden bodies instantly began to rot. The wolves ran in fear after seeing the alpha explode like a burst fruit as one of the vipers coiled around and crushed it dead. Leaving only the 3 ponies in the clearing.

 

I was still in the throes of transformation, the pain was so great. The green smoke slowly wrapped around me and no sooner did I feel it touch my skin, I felt the energy and the pain being drawn out.

 

The roots regressed. The horn shrinking back into my skull. The release from the pain felt so great, I felt like I was floating. For a while I’m pretty sure it was carrying my weight. But as the last of the energy drained from me, smoke took last form, it raised my chin and turned my head from side to side.

 

I heard the voice in the language I could not understand once again.

 

I opened my eyes. Only the forest greeted me.

 

I was breathing heavily, My body didn’t want to move.

 

“W-What happened?” I asked.

 

“I don’t know, I thought it was you. That wolf just went boom when you shot it. And that green smoke was pretty awesome!” the short one replied

“

You think you could teach us that?” the tall one asked.

 

“Some another time….” I replied, not quite sure what to say at that moment. I staggered towards the blockade and collapsed against the fallen trees, sliding down onto my flank.

 

“Think you guys can manage without me for awhile?” I asked.

 

“You going to faint now?” asked the tall one.

 

“Yes. Yes I am…” and with that I blacked out.

 

 

When I came around, I found myself at the hospital. I learned it had been two days since our little trip to the Everfree Forest. The doctors were telling me how they had removed all of the visible wood shards from my body and but some, ones which for no reason they could understand, were too close to my heart and lungs to remove. Even with magic.

 

The Royal Guardponies the town had requested had finally arrived and found the three of us at the tree blockade and brought us back without incident, I was expecting someone, anyone to ask how three foals had survived a timber wolf pack but no one did. They seemed willing to believe we’d just been lucky and the pack was small. Not that I’d have expected them to believe us anyway and the two numbskulls seemed to enjoy attention they got from the other ponies in their class,

 

They even came to visit me. Mostly to thank me but also pester me into teaching them the smoke trick but they eventually believed me when I told them that wasn’t my doing, besides the fact didn’t even have a horn now. I was just a regular earth pony again.

 

I never did learn their real names. I’d taken to calling them Snips (he could channel magic though his teeth so he said) and Snails (because he was so slow). They seemed to like the names I gave them, only fair if since I was allowing them to call me Mal.

 

I just hope they don‘t give them to their kids or something.

 

I never did join that club of theirs…

 

Speaking of which, I had finally earned my cutie mark who I wasn’t as excited as I thought I would be. I still had no clue what my talent was, it didn‘t feel right having it without that knowledge. Snips had wanted to wait until I was out of the bandages before he pointed to the mark on my flank. A horseshoe, tangled in roots.

 

As I watched them leave, I lay back on the bed and glanced at the books I’d asked them to bring from the orphanage, I shuddered to think of the lecture I was going to get from Matron once I was discharged from the hospital.

 

I looked outside the window to the forest. I examined my body, islands of shaved fur revealed the dozens of small scars the splinters had made. What had happened to me in there. How had I cast Magic? If that’s what it even was. He’d never heard of a unicorn in pain from using magic. Then again there horns didn’t just rip out of their skulls either…I looked at my cutie mark once more.

 

Clearly the answer lay within the Everfree Forest. I needed to go back in there. She knew the answers, she sensed something in me when we first met. But if I going to face the Everfree Forest again, I needed to be stronger, much stronger. No more kids games.

 

I glanced at the books I’d had them bring me.

 

~Super Naturals~

~The Natural History of Equestria~

~Royal Canterlot Guard Program~

 

I climbed back onto the bed and began to read. I had a lot of work ahead of me.