'Run... I have to run!' Those were the only thoughts shooting through my head for hours. My lungs were near their breaking point, but I could not stop, could not escape.
I could still hear their voices, their hooves crushing on the ground behind me, chasing me like the death itself.
My head ached and my sight got more blurry with every minute passing, it would have only been a matter of time
until I collapsed... and once they got me... no, I couldn't think about that. I had to try, to concentrate as best as I could, focusing on survival and escaping this nightmare I was in. The darkness surrendered me, Luna’s sacred moon was gone and with it all the light that led my way a few minutes ago. Running blindly through this narrow passage of the dark forest slowly drove me insane, exhausted, hungry... my stamina ran low with every step. On top of all that was the cold wind and fog that tore on me, the trees that seemed to close in, getting closer together and building up into horrible faces, blocking my way... almost even talking to me with a soft whisper.
“Run... run... run...“ they said.

Then the inevitable happened and my legs finally gave up, making me fall down onto the muddy ground. The enormous speed I had and therefor the momentum, the sudden stop and the impact onto the cold hard ground, made the burning pain of a giant rock falling down onto me, stretch through my entire body. A loud sound of thick breaking branches was echoing through the small forest passage and paralyzed me for a few seconds. It took me a while to realize what happened, but it became clear once I tried to stand back up. My right leg started to hurt, to twitch. Like a numb brick it was laying on the ground and teased my body with a aching sting during every attempt of moving it.
'Was it broken?' I thought to myself. 'Great Celestia... what shall I do now?' I did not want to die, but even nature itself seemed to want me dead... but why?
"Huh...? A... a cabin!" Relieved I cracked a little smile in exhaustion, trying as hard as I could to stand up and to limp over to the cabin. It worked, if not without cost that is. Every step was like a sharp knife, curving inside of my bone. Tears of pain and fear were constantly rolling over my cheeks and I was starting to think about my mother who left me, the only one in my village who really loved me... at least, that’s what I thought.
"Why mommy... why?"

"ANGH!" I collapsed again and again and again. Blood and dirt started to become a muddy scab on my leg,
burning like wild fire, leading to more tears of desperation. With each and every move I could hear the bone itself crack a bit while slowly slipping further out of the wound, bit by bit. Finally after what felt like an eternity, I arrived at the old wooden door of the cabin. Grasping for air, I went through the heavy door and immediately began to search for something I could use to block it.

"There!" A big wooden beam was leaning against the window, perfect for blocking the door from the inside. Of course it was quite heavy, but what other choice did I have? Somehow I was able to drag it in front of the door and place it in a way that it would stop anything from coming in... at least I was hoping for that. I surely wasn't much, but It had to do... I was safe at least for the moment. The large room was dipped in darkness, but at least my leg stopped hurting after a little while... maybe it was already numb because of the pain, whether if that was good or bad was something I could not find out anyway. For the moment I was glad to be out of the cold forest, as long as I could escape from this village that was all I cared about and to be honest I was glad this infernal pain was gone...
"I... can do this mommy... I can do this." I gasped, slowly limping over to a small chair, trying my best not to let my hurt hind leg touch the ground. I sat down for a moment and pricked up my ears, trying to hear them... anything.
Seconds were drifting away as slow as hours, hours become days, days become weeks in my tired head.
"Everything... will be okay..." I took a deep breath and tried to relax. I escaped from the village, escaped the ones who wanted to hurt me. In the morning I would be able to sneak out of the forest for good I thought to myself. Nearby was another village, free from any forest surrounding them, free of pain and suffering... But was I able to even get this far?
I looked down my right leg and shook, the once white shin was now outside of the flesh, still bleeding and slightly burning around the edges. I knew I had to do something... but what? I knew nothing about medicine at all and mommy was not there so... I had to improvise a little. I tried to push the bone back inside with my hoof. Unimaginable pain ran through my leg, my body, my head. Big tears of pain were landing on the dirty floor, as the bone cracked further under my hoof as it slowly began to slide back inside. At this moment all I thought about was the picture of my mommy, holding me tightly in her arms... telling me I could make it.

After many attempts, the bone was finally at a point were it did not move any further, no matter what I tried. I bit my bottom lip to hold back the tears of the pain as my body started to shiver and grow colder. Finally I fell back down to the ground, staring at the tall empty ceiling.
"I... can't do this... anymore..." At the end of my strength... I started to pray to the princesses. Celestia and Luna, pray to any pony who could come and help me... a friend. But nothing happened. Who was I kidding, I was completely alone, I was barely able to walk and even if I would survive this forest and make it out I would still die of starvation or dehydration...
maybe blood loss or poisoning even. My head started to spin and my body was gently drifting away as my eyelids started to fall.

After what could not have been more than maybe a few minutes, I woke up again. Passed out from exhaustion and fear, I tried my best to get back up. For a quick moment I felt relieved, thinking it was really just a dream, but the second I moved my leg the burning pain made clear that it was all too real. I decided to look around the room, to maybe find some kind of weapon to defend myself, just in case they’ll find me, but even some water for my dry mouth or even an old apple would have been a blessing. Lucky me, there was not much inside of this room except for an empty bookshelf, an old table and a big empty fireplace with a rusty kettle nearby.
"Mngh... I-It's so c-cold..." I have never felt this weak in my entire life, maybe my body was slowly getting ready to die... but I could not let that happen... not now... not before I found my mommy! I wanted to live! I wanted to have friends... a family again! Anything...
“Hyaa!” But then reality came back crushing down on me. I would never see my friends and family ever again. A bunch of shadows rushed passed the window. First I assumed those were trees, butt no, I have noticed the piercing red that followed them. They found me!
"No... no, please... no!" I whimpered quietly.

I rolled under the table, trying to hold my breath and to continue my prayer, tried my best to remember the good days
when everything was alright. The sweet candies, the funny days playing in the sun with my friend T-
*CRACK* Suddenly the door flung open, the wooden beam that I used to block it simply crushed like wet paper. I covered my face and rolled up into a tiny ball as the heavy slit over the ground and into the corner. Dust and tiny pieces of wood were flying through the entire room, forming a big fog around the door and effectively taking my sight.
I made myself as tiny as I could and peaked through my hooves, but all I could see were their silhouettes through the dusty cloud... neighbors, former friends, they were all standing in front of the table, spreading through the room searching for their victim... for me. I tried to be as quiet as I can while watching them.
Then they began to talk, their deep scratchy voices echoing through the dark and trying to lure me out of hiding.

“Come out dear, we just want to help you. It wont hurt I'll promise!”

“We will free you, free every pony in this world.”

“Don’t be afraid kid, your mommy is already waiting for you.”

'Mommy? So she didn’t leave me after all...?' I asked myself silently.

“FOUND YOU!” My heart could not react as fast to even stop when all the sudden two hooves came out of nowhere, grabbing my legs from behind and pulling me out from underneath the table.
"AAAAAAAAH! NO! LET ME GO! PLEASE!" I screamed as loud as I was able to, but at this point it would not have helped anymore.

“It's okay little one, don’t be afraid. We know it's not your fault and we know you did nothing wrong... It's a curse my poor girl. But don’t worry sweetie, we will free you.” My throat began to dry up even more than it was, my heart began to hurt and pull itself together, my eyes tired and burning from the tears.
"Please... I am not cursed... please believe me! ITS JUST A CUTIE MARK!" Two of the ponies were closing in, holding me tightly and placing me onto the table. The other ponies were standing in a circle around me, one of them searching for something inside of her bag.

“Please... don’t.... I don’t want to die... I don’t...” I whimpered yet again, my lower lip shivering as more and more tears were falling down onto the dusty table.

“Turn her around and press her down!“ She pulled out a long sharp knife, reflecting the mad eyes of the ponies around me as they stare down onto my cutie mark. Her red piercing eyes glowing slightly in the dark, burning my soul from the inside. Not even the pony of death itself could have had such horrible eyes...

“NO! NO PLEASE! NOOOO!” They turned me around and began to press their hooves onto my back. I couldn't breath, my heart was crying out for help, my mind flipping and screaming.

“Don’t worry, it will only hurt for a little moment.” The mare with the knife whispered softly.

“NO! PLEASE!” I struggled as best as I could but I was weakened by pain and fear, crushed under the hooves of my attackers. Then it happened... My left flank began to burn and my breath stopped.
"AAAAAAAAAAAH!" I could feel the sharp knife wander through my flesh, cutting skin, muscles and fat as it mercilessly made its circle around my beloved cutie mark. The pain was impossible to describe, numbing my body and mind as my throat started to hurt from screaming. I heard the blood run down and fall onto the ground with each drop, my body starts to shake as I keep struggling to no avail...

Then finally... after several minutes of blind pain, it stopped.

“Here you go dear.” I heard the soft noise of a piece of meat landing on the ground right next to me. A big piece of my flank along with my cutie mark on it, bathing in a puddle of fresh blood and muscle fibers was resting on the dirt in front of my eyes. Tiny muscle strings and fur were floating away with my blood, scattering in the small lines between the stone. My mind was exhausted... I was crying yet I did not feel the tears anymore that ran down my cold cheeks. I stopped screaming... stopped struggling... stopped hoping.

“Only one more left to go.” So it started again, now with the other side of my flank. This time though... it did not hurt anymore. I could only hear myself talking inside my own head.
'... plea... se... don’t... don’t... ple...' I did not want to scream anymore... didn't want to talk... nor live... I accepted my fate and my body prepared itself to die. Then the next piece of flesh landed on the ground next to the other... my beautiful cutie mark... gone forever...

“That’s all my dear, it wasn’t so bad at all, right? You're a big Pony now so don’t cry~ So... now that your curse is gone, do you want to see your mommy again?” The crazy mare whispered softly.

"M... mommy...?" I tried to remember her face, her voice... I wanted to cuddle mommy, where was she?

“Hey little one, do you want to see your mommy?” She continued.

“... yes... please... mommy...” My body was completely numb, the only line I kept repeating in my head was 'mommy please take me into your arms, heal me... please, make it stop...'.

“As you wish... Glad, light the chimney.” Two of the ponies started to walk to the big fireplace, filling it with all sorts of dry branches and grass and lit it on fire. The warmth spread rather quickly through the room as the fire began to crack and dance, painting long shadows onto the wall. It was strange, in these shadows they all looked so normal, just like I remembered them. It felt so good... it felt like the love I was waiting for...

“Don’t worry little one, your journey and your fear will end now.” They pulled me towards the flames, to my mommy. She would take my pain away... she would hold me in her arms and tell me it was all just a dream... as she always did.

“May your soul find re-”

“NO!” Suddenly a familiar voice appeared from behind the crowd. Every pony began to look around, I was able to hear ponies screaming... what was going on?

“YOU DIRTY WITCH! I WILL KILL YOU, I WILL KILL YOU ALL!” I could still hear screams of pain and crushing wood. It sounded like a fight, but who would rescue me? The two ponies who grabbed me earlier disappeared, letting me fall onto the now warm ground in front of the flickering fire. Soon after... everything turned silent again with exception of the rustling fire.

“... I’m sorry... Ruby... honey...” That voice again... it sounded like...

“M-... mo.... mommy...?” Very slowly I turned my head to the side, using any last remaining bit of my strength. The dark ponies were laying motionless on the floor, their bodies covered in blood. In the corner of the room was another pony, leaning against the wall and covered in bite marks and several other wounds, her red blood gently reflecting in the light of the flames. She looked familiar... just like-

“YOU... you dirty... daughter of the devil! I swear... I will... BURN YOUR CURSED SOUL!" Screamed the mad pony who cut out my cutie marks, strongly bleeding and breathing, her narrow pupils piercing me with her rage. She limped over to me with her knife stuck deep inside of her chest, shining in the light of the fire.

"I hope... you will never... EVER find your mother again... I hope you WILL BURN IN TARTARUS!" With her last strength she picked me up and threw me into the dancing flames. I could feel everything. The fire... the warmth, how it ate away on my fur, I could smell my flesh burning from my bones, my eyes melting slowly... and with it the last bit of light, the last sight of my collapsed and dying murderer... and the pony who tried to save me.

But did not matter anymore... my journey was over and with it all my fears, my pain... both my nightmares... and my dreams.

“... I forgive you mommy... I forgive you...“