Wander for long enough, and it will find you, for the forest hungers just as every living thing does.
There are many different tales told by many different tongues. Each carries a measure of the truth, muddied though it becomes in the telling. Many are kind enough, speaking of the healer who came for four months to tend the ill, asking only a small fee, or of the mysterious adventurer who could locate anything or anyone with a few words. Some talk of a fae being, a benign entity of a magical fo...
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Another turn, another wall of thorns. Another path that leads nowhere. By now, Mirror has grown to expect it. She turns back the way she came without so much as a sigh to show her discontent.
The warm summer air is bordering on stifling, now, with the thick sweater that hangs almost to the forest floor on her thin frame. Mirror is drowsy, and separately, she is tired. Tired of seeking a way out of her own home. Drowsy from the lull of crickets, little light, and warmth. The thought of laying ...
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I never thought myself a writer. In truth, I never thought myself expressive at all. In being alone I forgot, perhaps, what it was to have someone to whom a fleeting moment may be explained, to be understood. Pen and paper make poor substitute for the beloved, but they are all that is left to me here, and so I shall write.
Not a week may go by without that awful thought. It plagues me day and night, an abyss that I should jump into by ever entertaining, and somehow a siren’s call that I long ...
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Mirror rose before the sun.
She had not slept, not really, and every part of her ached… but going back to bed would be futile. Her reality felt so surreal that a dream would have been a reprieve, had the universe deigned to allow her one. Weary in every sense of the word, she made the trek to her mirror, where she picked up a makeup brush and looked into the mirror.
Her eyes flicked over each feature with increasing confusion. The features refused to resolve into a face - there was one eye, a...
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At first, Mirror hardly noticed the frequency of Faith’s trips into town. She herself was rather indisposed, and so it only made sense that Faith would go instead for food and other necessities. When she did notice it, well - it was easier to pretend she hadn’t. If she had failed to notice these trips, she had no cause to wonder at the reason behind them, and no cause to look over her shoulder in fear of what Faith might be planning.
Her mind seemed unable to lay the issue at rest. Despite her ...
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Crystalline water. Grass so green it looked almost fake. Sunlight streaming in through the trees and playing through it all.
The clearing had not changed since Faith had left it, that fateful day, and she went still staring around at where she had lived for twelve years. Mirror stepped past her. She fit perfectly into the magical place. Her mane was tied back in braids, but it still glittered and shone in the light - like glass, Faith thought.
It was one of those moments that made her heart t...
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“Now, my precious little flower, you must stay here and stay quiet. Do you understand? This is very important. I love you more than anything in the world.”
“I love you too, mum,” Hebe whispered, confused and frightened, but always obedient. The door shut. She sat huddled in her parents’ closet on the floor, in the dark. Muffled voices came from downstairs. Two were harsh and stern, two defensive, and then came a fifth voice that had a distinctly pompous air to it. She heard her name. Pressing ...
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It was just late enough that Mirror had returned from the woods, but not quite late enough to end the day and go to bed. The clock kept ticking every so often, infuriatingly slow, to signify the marching of time, and that made for the only sound in the cottage.
When it had begun to grow colder, the crackling of a fire joined it, and bathed the lower floor in a rosy glow.
Light rain fell outside.
...
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East of the Wandering Woods and North of the Jackalope Slopes lies a small town, named for a brook which runs to one side and provides the water this town needs to survive. Buttercup Brook and Buttercup Grove are perhaps the most fairytale-esque part of Equestria, secluded from every major city and kingdom, and even with their very own witch.
She is not a wicked witch. Her alignment is parallel to good, yet rather unlawful. At this moment, she is the closest the town has to a doctor, and she st...
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Blood is thicker than water.
The full quote reads, “the blood of the coven is thicker than the water of the womb” and is rather misrepresented. In this case, however, the shortened version is the more apt choice.
This is the case of Winter Rose, better known as Blind Faith, whose loyalty is swayed in the passing of a strong breeze. She longs to be better than she is, yet falls short of every opportunity that might make it so. At this moment in time, her fickle nature has lead her to a high sec...
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There was no way to know for certain how long it had been since the pegasus had been apprehended.
Locked in a horribly cramped room with no window and with bright lights on at all hours, Faith's only measurement of time came every few days when she was held down by several guards and the IV that slowly fed her just enough liquid to survive on was replaced. She was exhausted, yet unable to sleep for more than moments at a time, for fear of losing the precious time she needed to plan an escape.
...
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Greenery on all sides soon gave way to the familiar clearing which housed the cottage Mirror called home, and she made her way to the door, face set with determination and head held high. The illusion of confidence provided her with just enough real confidence that when she pushed open that door and stepped inside, she really was ready to confront Faith. She had practiced in her mind exactly what she would say.
But Faith was not there. A quick glance confirmed that. No lights were on in any roo...
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It was evening, and a beautiful one at that.
Gold cascaded down from the heavens above to find a lone pegasus bent over her desk in a little cottage in the Wandering Woods. She gripped a letter open tightly in her teeth by its dark leather handle.
Naturally, this pegasus was Blind Faith herself.
...
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Light filtered through the trees to dust gold on the grass and the dirt, and on each thing that lived beneath that canopy, so that the Wandering Woods looked nearly as magical as they were.
Among the light and the trees stood a lone unicorn. She glittered like glass, from her pale blue mane to the soft pink coat of her fur, and seemed as delicate, too - her long limbs were thin, and they trembled and creaked when she moved. The only part of her immune to the shimmering light was her beach glas...
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It was early morning when Mirror crept back into the cottage, but Faith was still awake. She sat at the table. Mirror plastered a bright smile on her face and lifted her head as if she hadn't been trying to sneak in. "Hello."
"Welcome home, my dear. You were out so late. Is everything alright?"
"I was caught in the storm. I do apologize, I wanted to come home to you, but I could not make it in those winds."
...
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Faith tapped four spots on the desk, watched a slot roll open, and put the parchment she'd been writing on inside. It slid smoothly back into place with a click at the same time as she stood up. Her wings clicked, too, when she stretched them out, and she noticed that it was dark outside the window, which struck her as odd. It struck her as odd because Mirror wasn't home yet.
For twelve years, Mirror had been devoted entirely to Faith. She had come to their clearing each day, had read to her, h...
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Somehow, the entire world had flipped inside out over the course of a single afternoon. It had even found time to shatter at the same time.
Mirror could feel her head nodding. She was beyond tired, and could not have said how long she had been walking, nor even where she was going. Her lungs ached so fiercely that she longed to stop breathing, and perhaps that would have made more sense - but then, Mirror was not a mare to give in so easily.
This was the same witch who had spent anywhere fro...
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Each second passed so slowly. She could not think, because that hurt as badly as anything else. Every breath stung like bitter cold in her lungs. There was nothing, nothing but pain in every part of her. Needles across her skin and daggers in her eyes, hammers and bowling balls in her head. Her ears ached inside and out. Her skin felt pulled tight across rows of molars jutting out from her muscles.
Every so often, she would stop breathing, just stop so that she could have that moment of peace....
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Queen Jonquil had never been a particularly affectionate mother. By the time White Rose was old enough to fight, she was in training to be a soldier, princess though she was. She had never known another life, and so was glad to serve her kingdom. In short order, Rose had risen through the ranks, and at last for all her efforts her mother noticed her - in fact, she was appointed the general of Jonquil's personal guard, made of those elite few who would have laid down their life for her, but would...
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Cast your mind back several years, for this is where our story begins. It has been only months since her love was locked away in stone, and Mirror is restless, even as she walks the path she has marked out on a map. This path would lead her to an ingredient she believed may be essential to healing the wounds that had brought her to cast the stone sleep spell upon Blind Faith.
Walking felt so slow. Each step seemed so much shorter than she would have liked, and she longed to run, as she had at ...
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None would have dared notice the disappearance of the occasional castle staff member, for the fear of meeting a similar fate, and certainly they didn't ask why they'd been promoted to a role that had been filled for years.
This meant that the maids, the cooks, even the guards, all kept to themselves. It made for a very lonely castle, and was lonelier still for Blind Faith. She'd once been the general of the queen's personal guard. When she lost her vision to an injury in combat, she was given...
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When at last the day of the festival dawned, Hebe rose with the sun, too excited to be tired. She did not have much to prepare, but she found that a white linen gown had been laid out for her, and so she put it on and brushed her curls free of knots, humming a bubbly tune all the while. Then she looked in the mirror hanging on her wall and smiled at herself. At last - at last, she was to see those she loved again. Her heart raced at the thought.
Two brusque knocks came at the door, as always ...
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Prince Aster's obsession grew only greater as each day passed. He took no food or rest, and would not see anyone. The kingdom trembled on the verge of falling.
And then a rumor whispered from the shadows crept into the castle and into the royal court, where it found the prince.
All at once his demeanor changed, he spoke with his subjects in the streets and even threw open feasts, as if all his love for Jonquil had turned to his subjects. None could complain, for he personally made certain ...
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Long ago, before the formation of a unifying government, pony folk lived in small kingdoms scattered across the land. These kingdoms were overseen by those who possessed strong magical artifacts, particularly protective ones. Power of the artifact translated exactly to power for the owner and thusly to control of those with lesser magics. As one could rightly assume this lead not infrequently to tyrannical rulers who isolated those under their command, lest they be swayed to the side of a compet...
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