My tongue tingled pleasantly as I sipped from the small, white porcelain cup that held a warm and deliciously honey-blueberry flavored tea. The smell of a forest was present at my nostrils. The warm, sweet golden glow of dusk tinted everything in the homely cottage with it's light touch. I could hear the tiny creatures scampering around, through, and in Fluttershy's house. I closed my eyes and took a moment to appreciate the calm serenity. As I opened them again, I saw that the butter-yellow pegasus was staring intently out of the window to her left while she was curled up on her couch. Her ears were perked and at attention. I set my cup down on the small wooden, decorative table between us and released it from my grip of magic. Not wanting to disturb her, I kept silent. Yet I was quite curious as to what had captured her attention so raptly.Within moments, without turning towards me, she spoke in her soft, whispering voice"Twilight, did you hear that?".

"No, what was it?" I asked. I expected her to answer with "Oh, it was nothing" or some other way of brushing off what was scratching at her hidden, inner thoughts. She tended to do that often, hide her thoughts and troubles even from those of us closest to her. Albeit that it was her nature to be shy and reserved, however I wished that she would become more sociable and communicable with others. I suppose that is part of why I have been spending more one-on-one time with the mare at her home as of recent.

"I swear that I just heard a high pitched cry. " gently communicated the flowing pink-maned pony before me. I listened, but ultimately failed at discerning any semblance of the noise that Fluttershy had described to me. All I heard was the occasional pitter-patter of tiny animal paws on the floor, and the chirping of birds outside. All was quite normal and unexceptional to me at the moment.

"Well it was probably nothing too extraordinary, otherwise wouldn't your animals let you know?" I asked her.

"Yes, I guess you're right... Oh! But what if some poor, little creature is out there hurt and scared? I just have to go and see, Twilight" responded my yellow feathered friend as she pleaded at me through her sparkling emerald eyes.

I smiled and said "Okay Fluttershy, we will go walk around and make sure that no animal is hurt or in need of our assistance". She smiled in relief as I got up from my chair that had seated me, and began to walk towards the front door of her cottage. It opened, being surrounded by the magenta glow of magic at my command. Once we were outside, I paused to listen for whatever noise that Fluttershy could have heard. I thought it was nothing at first, but then I barely heard something that lead me to think differently. It was extremely faint, but I was quite sure that I had not imagined it. She quietly stepped up beside me, her mane slightly flowing in the soft breeze. Her eyes closed again and her ears were up, focused, listening. There, I saw her ear twitch in response to some sort of stimuli. And as the wind picked up slightly, I heard it again. It almost sounded like a squeal. An idea had just occurred to me and I voiced it to my friend.

"Fluttershy, I could cast a spell that would detect sound waves and alert us to the origin of them. It would be a bit like if you were blind and had to find another pegasus in the sky by flying towards the current produced by her flapping. Sound is just a similar disturbance caused by a vibration that sets in motion a domino...".

"Thank you Twilight." Fluttershy interrupted, somehow politely. "But I am afraid that if you take too long explaining it to me, then by the time we find the poor creature, it might be too late" She said as she cast her soft smile at me. I nodded, then closed my eyes and began to concentrate on the spell. Manipulating magic was easy to learn, but impossible to master. There are always new spells and new ways to manipulate it. The electrical signals that coursed through my brain's synapses were energy that carries information. When directed, the energy around, and within me receives that information and interprets it into my thoughts' directions, thus my will is enacted upon the world. The tingling sensation that soon followed was evidence of my magic beginning to work. Once the spell took effect, I began to feel intense and disorienting vibrations at my horn from a multitude of directions and locations. It was a madness that made it impossible for me to locate any one source of sound. However they all seemed to come from somewhere above me.

"Fluttershy! Tell the birds to stop making noise!" I gritted my teeth in heightened discomfort as I said this. And soon the storm of perdition passed as she followed my stressed command. Now I could gather my thoughts in an organized fashion due to the lack of intensity that bombarded me.I took a deep breath and filled my lungs with oxygen, attempting to clear my head and gather my thoughts. Then I exhaled as I stood up on all fours and began to attempt to decipher my sensations. I felt a keen sensation that came from the right of me. It was like a small, thin stream of water was colliding into my horn.

"Okay, I think it's this way. Let's go" I stated with unsure trepidation. I saw the tree-line arrive and disappear behind us as I followed the tiny, tingling sensations I felt on my horn. There were a fair number of game trails within the overgrown forest for us to follow. The air became heavy, thick, and dark as it was customary for the everfree forest's atmosphere. Fluttershy kept close to me, for the presence of comfort and security I'm sure. And I was on edge as well. The everfree forest was always a place to be wary of no matter who went in. I froze as a stream of ice ran down my spine when I detected the next sonic disturbance with my spell and ears.

"That's the sound of a baby foal" I thought. I looked over to Fluttershy, whose delicate features bore the expression of shocked horror. Apparently she had heard the same noise and reached a similar conclusion as I had. I rushed forward through the brush and foliage, and used my magic to create a concave field of energy ahead of me that bashed and destroyed the vegetation in my wake. The sound spell and my ears let me know that I was very soon close to the foal's location. So I let the force field dissipate as I went further ahead into the darkening woods. When I was close enough to see it clearly, all I thought was... "What?"

Author's Notes:

Anyways, please let me know any errors that you happen to see. As well as advice on how I can be a better writer. And if you didn't like it then please, please, oh please, let me know why. Thank you so much you are all pretty awesome and so is this fandom.

P.S. Most of the credit goes to Brodash for coming up with the idea. That guy is great!

Okay, so due to some feedback, I changed a number of things in this chapter. Let me know of any other changes that I can make to better the story.

Believe it or not, this is the album I listened to while writing this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3ZRI6mM3sU