A Terrible Memory

"I'm bored." Midnight mentioned out loud to herself, sitting on the couch in her living room. Nothing was going on that day, her shop was all caught up on orders, her garden had already been tended to for the day and she had done her laundry and shopping. There was nothing at all for her to do. She let out a sigh as she flopped backwards onto the couch, shutting her eyes and starting the wait for the end of the day. A peculiar thought hit her; she was lucky. Lucky she had her own shop, lucky she made enough income to take care of herself, lucky to even be alive. Opening her eyes again she stared up at the ceiling and focused on the slats there, starting to think about how she could put some shelves up there to hold a few mushrooms and she shut her eyes for only a moment. Midnight suddenly found herself in the forest of her home town, small again and with her family. Her brother and sister trotting next to mom and dad while she stayed just a bit behind them. Her parents talked to Rosehip and Grass Patch as they strolled, making jokes and pointing out interesting things seen on the trail. "Mom, why doesn't Lucy get to walk with us?" "Well Rose, Lucy is a bit... different than you and I and needs to be treated and a special sort of way, so she has to stay behind us." "Oh... Well.. why can't we talk with Lucy?" "Well... She's different, like I said. It's how you treat somepony like her.. If you see bright hair or odd colored eyes, you treat them like this." "That seems.. mean." "It's just how it is, darling." Rose pouted a bit and glanced back at her sister, Lucy, Midnight, and gave a soft frown to her before looking at Grass Patch and switching over to talk with him, their mom seemed to be bumming her out. What the siblings didn't know was this was the last time they were going to see Lucy. Lucy had gotten distracted by a flower, wolfs bane she recalled it to be named, and smiled. "Hey Rose, check out this flower!" It was silent. "..Rose?" She looked up and everyone was gone. Everything was quiet. "Mom? Dad? Bro?" She looked around, her head on a swivel along with her ears, listening for anything that could help her find them. "Sis? Come on, this isn't funny! Come out!" Her voice echoed through the forest a short ways, the crickets buzzing and owls hooting. Nothing. No pony noises, no quiet giggles of a game being played, no shushing, nothing. Here, panic would start to set in, that uncomfortable tightness that squeezes your chest when you don't know what to do. She tried to flap her wings to fly up to look around, but the most she could manage was a small lift off the ground before falling back down. Her wings weren't strong enough yet to hold her weight. "MOM?! DAD?! ANYONE?! HELLO!!!!!" She spun in circles, her breathing becoming shallow and quick, her head looking any direction. She tried to find the path she was just on to look for them but in her panic she couldn't find it, and she started moving, a quick trot through the forest, calling out for help to anyone that might be nearby. Snaking through the forest, she kept calling out for ponies that weren't coming, for ponies that knew she was there, for ponies she didn't know had left her behind. She snaked her way forward, turning every which way and that, but she wasn't watching where she was going and she fell over a log, tumbling down a hill and coming to a halt in front of a small cave. She let out a yelp when she was starting to get up, her wing bent at an odd angle. She looked at it and started to tremble, her voice shaking as she let out a whimper. She then heard the growl in the cave. Her ears perked up and she looked into the cave, a pair of green eyes staring back out at her, getting closer slowly as she backed up from the cave, still stiff from the fall she just had. Emerging into the moonlight in front of her was a timberwolf, also wounded, a front paw bloodied through some means. She stared at the beast and the beast stared back at her for what seemed like an eternity before it licked it lips and bared it's teeth, growling again. Lucy, terrified, stayed in place for a moment, but as the wolf took a step toward her, she found her legs moving under her, starting to haul her away from the wolf. And the wolf gave chase. Running through the forest, she kept her eyes in front of her as she leaped over logs this time, avoiding branches as well as rocks, her wing giving her a constant sharp pain as she ran as fast as she could, the wolf keeping pace with her, unable to catch her thanks to the injury on its paw. She didn't even want to know how close it was now, just keeping her eyes forward as she ran. She didn't know how long she had been running, all she knew was her lungs were on fire and her muscles burned. She looked back and saw she had gained ground on the wolf, feeling good she was outrunning it when she took another step and there wasn't ground under her. She tumbled down another hill, bouncing off the ground as she rolled into a flower patch in a clearing in the forest, hitting her head against a log, an explosion of color filling her vision for a long moment. Dazed, she would try to stand up only to stumble back over into the flowers once more and from her spot in the flowers, she could see the wolf step closer and closer before stopping at the edge of the flower patch. She was shaking badly as she stared at the creature, thinking it cruel to make her wallow in this fear for so long. The wolf let out a sharp and frustrated growl before it limped off, not even trying to get to her now. Confused, but relieved, she sat up after a moment and looked at the flowers she was sitting in. Wolfs bane. Apparently it wasn't just a name. She let out a sigh of relief and leaned back against the log for a moment, her head pounding. She couldn't wait to tell her sister about this. Her sister... Mom? Dad? Brother? Panic started to set in again. She didn't know where they were, and now she didn't even know where she was. She stood up and started to look around, shaking and jumping when she heard a door open up behind her. She had been so distracted by the wolf and her situation, she didn't even notice the cabin behind her. A pony stuck his head out and looked at the filly. "..What are you doing out here little one?" The stallion would ask in a kind voice, before he noticed her mane and eyes. "Ah.. I see.." He didn't clarify anything to her, just stepped out into the forest and over to her. She stood still, shaking, unsure, afraid, silent. She'd been told to not talk to strangers, and this was a stranger who lived in the woods.. But he was her best chance right now. "..C-can you help me get home?" "...I can't." He'd answer after a long moment. "You've been... abandoned. Your parents.. didn't want you.." "...What do you mean? I can't go home? Abandoned? Why would my parents abandon me? Why would my brother and sister ABANDON me? What did I do?" She started shaking, her emotions starting to spill over as she asked question after question, choking up and tearing up as she eventually started to cry. The stallion just quietly walked over to her and rubbed her back with a hoof, careful of her bent wing. "Well... Let's get you inside, little one. That wing needs to be taken care of and you can't be out in the forest as you are.. I can't take you home.. but you can stay here.." Still crying, the stallion gently guided her into his cabin through her tears, shutting the door behind them. Midnight opened her eyes and stared at the familiar ceiling above her, although it was a bit blurry. She lifted up a hoof and rubbed her eyes, sniffling slightly as she cleared away the tears she didn't remember forming on her face. Yeah, she was lucky to be alive.