Atom Lily

[HailthornX 47]

This is my first MLP fanfiction. Hope you like it! Feedback is always appreciated, negative or positive.

"Atom Lily"
By: Christopher Goss

It was a beautiful day in the Everfree Forest. The sunlight danced on the leaves, celebrating in the early morning dew that collected upon them. Finally, the leaf gave way to the weight of the collected dew and it raced off the edge of the leaf and downward through the air to finally land on the flank of a mare standing just below.

The mare giggled, and looked up at the tree. She placed a hoof on the rough brown trunk and closed her eyes. A soft green light illuminated both her body and the tree. She could see within the tree on a microscopic level and could see small issues plaguing the tree. But as the light illuminated the tree, she prompted damaged cells to regenerate or rejuvenate themselves.

"There you go, Mister Tree," she whispered, patting the trunk with her hoof.

In the distance, the young mare could hear the sound of a rushing waterfall. She was deep within the Everfree Forest, and quite far away from the hustle and bustle of Ponyville.

Excited, the young mare cantered off in the direction of the waterfall. She zigged and zagged through the thick flora that decorated the forest floor. Every once in awhile she would pass a small forest animal. Like a bird or a rabbit. She did not pester them in her haste to make it to the waterfall. Finally she passed through a particularly thick clump of bushes and slowly walked into a clearing. The roar of the water was heaviest here, and she could see that this was where the waterfall ended up. The water washed from a high cliff and down into a pool of water that then rushed away in a small babbling brook.

"Wow, it's beautiful."

And beautiful it was. Because a small rainbow formed over the rainbow. It was quite like magic. Slowly, she walked over to the edge of the small pool of water and looked within. She could see a distorted image of herself painted on the surface of the water. She was a soft shade of pink with a dash of violet mane amd bushy tail.

Her name was Lilium, an Earth Pony.

This was how she often spent her days- discovering all of the natural magic that made up the Everfree Forest. It was a special little haven for the adult mare who had spent most of her days alone.

Lilium lowered her snout to the water and began lapping up some of the water. It was then that the cry of pain lanced through her ears like lightning. Her head raised up swiftly, and she looked around in alarm. Her ears twitched, but the mare could not discern where the sound was coming from.

The voice pleaded, "help me....help me....please.....I don't...have much time....please, help me...."

Lilium cried, "where are you? I don't know where you are! How can I help you?"

The voice, fainter this time, pleaded, "help.....I'm....follow....the scent...."

Lilium groaned, but she raced off, her snout high in the air as she breathed in the familiar scents of the Everfree Forest. But mingling with the familiar scents was one that she hadn't smelled before.

Her frantic pace caused her to barrel through plants, and this caused her to recieve several scratches, but she ignored it for the time being. The scent was getting stronger and stronger. Finally, she slowed down, eyes widening as she saw what lay fifty paces ahead.

A large tree had fallen. The branches that the tree had once raised so high and proudly were splintered and broken, beaten and battered. The trunk of the tree was scorched black as if something fiery had crashed into it.

But the most unsettling part of the image was the small creature laying on the fallen tree. Lilium couldn't quite tell what it was. It was a soft shade of green and looked rather viny, as if its flesh were comprised of hundreds of vines. The creature had wickedly long fangs and protuberant scarlet eyes with jet black irises.  

As she got closer, she began to realize the creature wasn't sitting on the fallen tree, it was connected! The viny flesh seem to extend and flow naturally into the hulking trunk of the tree where it was scorched black.

She could hear the pitiful being breathing in painful raggged breaths as if it was laboring to even do that. In all her years of living in Equestria, Lilium had never seen anything quite like it. That being said, Lilium could tell that the creature was dying a slow, painful death.

As if afraid of what the creature might do, her hooves slowed her approach and she hesitated. The fangs caused her fear.

The creature blinked, it's chest rising and falling sharply.

"Do....do not fear me...." The creature raised a viny hand. The hand ended in weird wiggling extensions that she had never seen before. They sort of resembled the phalanges of an ape.

"What....what happened to you? And....why are you attached to this fallen tree?"

"I was-" The creature began to cough violently. A purple liquid oozed from the corner of its mouth. The coughing subsided. "Come closer....let me....show..." The creature couldn't finish the sentence as another sharp coughing fit cut it off.

Lilium took a deep breath and approached the creature. She stopped about a hoof or two away, and then hesitantly lowered her head. She felt the creature place a viny hand on her head.

She gasped as a sudden flood of images filled her mind. Lilium watched as the creature seemed to be born in some sort of plant. Lilium soon realized that the creature had been born within this very tree. She observed it growing bigger and bigger until dug through to get out of the large tree. But something had gone wrong. Before the creature emerged from the interior of the tree, something struck the tree. There was a flash. Then....nothing.

Lilium deduced that it must have been lightning that had caused the scorch mark and that it had also been that same bolt of lightning that had likely caused the tree to fall. There had of course been a storm the night before.

But the images hadn't stopped there. She saw the creature emerge fully from the fallen trunk and position itself as it was now. It had already gotten weak and and sickly. The lightning had obviously disrupted some part of the process of it escaping the tree, and thus explained why the creature had yet to fully wrench away from what connected it to the tree.

There the images died. Lilium found herself standing again in the Everfree Forest. The birds trilled and the bugs added a chorus to the medley.

"....I can help....I think," Lilium whispered. She placed a hoof upon the viny forehead of the creature and closed her eyes. She could see the composition of the creature on a celluar level. And it was then that she spotted that something on a cellular level was eating the creature from within. She supposed this happened because of the weakness of the creature.

A soft green light shrouded the mare, the creature, and the tree. Lilium systematically hunted and slaughtered the invasive cells and also regenerated the cells that had been lost by transforming the attacking invasive cells.

She could feel strength flowing back within the body of the creature. Lilium's breath soon became pants as she expended burned through her own energy to help the creature. Finally, when her work was done, Lilium collapsed onto her back.

The creature slowly sat up. Lilium saw that what connected the creature's back to the tree was a thick green chord that had been slightly severed.

It was then that it struck Lilium that this creature must have been composed of plant cells. That was the only way she could have helped the creature. It was a crazy thought.

"So, what is your name?" The plant creature asked her.

Lilium said, "my name is Lilium, but you can call me Lily."

The creature nodded, satisfied. It then reached behind it and grabbed the chord attached to its back. The chord immediately began wiggling and soon it seemed to simply pop off the back of the creature, not showing any sign it had ever been attached.

Where the chord had been attached to the creature was a small circular indent, but much like the rest of the creature, it was viny there. It also showed no other signs of having been attached to the chord.

Lilium, having collected her breath, got to her feet.

"Well...I should get going."

"Wait!" The creature slowly stood up on legs that were made of loose veins. But they worked together to form two solid legs for walking on. "My name is Exavania. Thank you for helping me. Are you....some sort of plant princess?"

Lilium laughed, "Of course not. I'm a simple filly living my life helping plants. Nothing more, nothing less."

Exavania seemed to ponder this.

"Very well, then. But I hope to meet you again one day. I feel there is something special about you. Your affinity with plants is far from normal for even an Earth Pony."

"Is it? I hadn't really thought about it." But it wasn't as if she often talked to other ponies. She mostly kept to herself as she explored the Everfree Forest. "Maybe I should go and...talk to somepony about it."

Exavania nodded, "I feel that would be a good idea. In the meantime, I shall go find the Forest Mother. Thank you once again for your help Lily."

"The Forest Mother?"

Exavania simply stated, "she is the reason for my existence. The existence of all forests. I could take you to meet her...."

Lilium thought about the offer, but she wasn't quite sure she wanted that much excitement.

"No, I do believe I'm going to go to Ponyville for now and try to meet other ponies. I think it's about time I began to mingle with more of my kind to see if there's anything I can learn about myself."

"Very well, Lily. I look forward to seeing you once again." Exavania bowed and began walking away.

Lily trotted off in the other direction. She was confident. It was time she stopped living alone. It was time to go to Ponyville!

-End