An uncountable number of times, Twilight Sparkle had made the journey to Zecora’s hut through the Everfree Forest. She had done so under Celestia’s sun and Luna’s moon, through peaceful breezes and torrential storms. She knew the path as well as the twists, turns, and secret passageways in the Canterlot Library.

Rainbow Dash wasn’t a brilliant pony, but she was talented. One of those many talents was memorization. Whether it be tricks in the air or cloud formation strategies, she was the mare to ask. When it came to land markers and other unique designs upon the earth, she only needed a glance to see and recognize them. Even the complicated paths of the Everfree Forest were a thing she only needed to see once to keep in her mind forever.

But Applejack understood the earth better than the unicorn or pegasus. She could feel the roots in the ground, tell the difference between seemingly identical trees, and even predict how they would grow and flourish. Years on a farm filled with trees had given her already natural gift a boost most ponies would never be able to fathom. Taking Apple Bloom to and from Zecora’s hut had given her more than enough looks at the trees along the way.

That’s why when, their situation was finally announced, it was done so far after it was obvious.

“We’re lost.” The words came from Applejack’s mouth with disgust, spat out like a rotten apple. Her furrowed brow and twisted lips were reflected well on the face of Rainbow Dash.

“No kidding!” She yelled at no pony in particular. The pegasus dug her hoof into the dirt, “I can’t believe this,” Rainbow Dash muttered under her breath. “We’ve been to Zecora’s, like, a hundred times before, but the fog just happens to throw us off the one time it really matters we get to see her.”

“Realistically, it’s far more likely we were distracted by a combination of the fog’s density and the need to get to Zecora’s.” Twilight let out a slow sigh as she dragged her hooves over the path none of her friend’s remembered. “It’s harder to recognize landmarks through mist that prevents far sight.”

“Gives me no excuse,” Applejack muttered again, only passively participating in the conversation. “An apple should be able ta feel the earth. Sights got nothin’ ta do with it.”

“Maybe not, but you are worried for your sister.” Twilight lightly countered her friend, concerned for Applejack’s mindset. “It’s perfectly reasonable you would lose focus when you’re worrying about your family.”

“Maybe so, but it ain’t an excuse Ah feel any good bearin’,” Her hoof roughly kicked at a stone that was in their path. It sailed into the dense fog, clicking against trees none of them could see. “Ah don’t rightfully care where we are, Ah just wanna find out how ta get to Zecora’s.”

“Look, why don’t I just fly up and look for her hut?” Rainbow Dash asked her two friends. Her wings were already extended in anticipation of the ascent. “I just have to look for a bit of smoke, then trace the path back to you guys. It’d be a piece of cake.” Her trademark grin was as evident as her excitement. Applejack, however, shook her head, dismissing the pegasus’s claim.

“Yer willin’ ta gamble finding’ us again?” The earth pony questioned harshly. “Cause ya didn’t have much luck findin’ Zecora’s. How are ya expecting ta find me and Twi once ya start to flap your wing.” It was a jab, as evident as mist around them. Dash took it before she lashed out with one of her own.

“Hey, I can at least blame losing track of the path cause of the mist. As long as you guys stay here, there’s no way I’d lost track of you.”

“Right,” Applejack scoffed. “Cause we can trust ya ta remember were me and Twi are once ya take to the skies and fly like a maniac. Sorry RD, but you ain’t no earth pony. Ya can’t tell one tree from another.”

“Oh really?” Rainbow asked, her wings flared for the coming confrontation. She took heavy hoof steps towards the orange-coated pony. “Then what’s your excuse for losing track of the path? Got dirt in yer mind?” The earth pony snarled at her friend, taking the few strides necessary to butt heads with the pegasus.

“Ah admitted mah mistake, but ya can’t seem ta recognize a screw up even when it’s bittin ya in yer rear end!” Applejack’s physically stronger body pushed Rainbow Dash back with a surprising, almost worrying, amount of ease. “Sides, Ah’d rather have a little dirt in my head then open air.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?!”

“Ya got enough room in yer skull, figure it out!”

“Girls, calm down!”

Twilight yelled as she jumped in front of her bickering friends, her forehooves pushing the pair apart. However, compared to the flying athlete and hardened farm pony, she barely made them budge. So, with a small hum from her horn, the unicorn separated the two, a wall of her lavender aura pushing the squabbling ponies away from one another.

“We’re just stressed. We’re lost in the Everfree forest, but that doesn’t mean we’re in trouble. We just have to think of a plan. To-geth-er!” She alternated her gaze from the Stetson hat wearing pony to the wing-flared pegasus.

Their labored breathing continued for a few moments longer, breaking the otherwise eerie calm of the fog cloaked woods. Then, with a snort, Rainbow turned from the pair, her wings beating against her sides. Twilight hypothesized it was her way of cooling down-- physical activity to draw her mind from the verbal confrontation. Applejack just pushed the brim of her hat further over her eyes, clenching her jaw as she did so. Far more subtle than the pegasus’s actions, but no less serious.

“Look,” Twilight began, attempting to alleviate the thick tension between the competitive ponies. “None of us are happy with where we are. We all made a mistake with finding the path to Zecora’s, and we just happened to make these mistakes simultaneously. It’s an unfortunate coincidence.”

“I thought you hated those things, Twi.” It was hard to decide between momentary pleasure or brief annoyance when Dash’s comment earned a small chirp of laughter from Applejack. On one hoof, it was a way to work out the currently stressed relationship. On the other hoof, being laughed at was never an experience the unicorn would come to enjoy.

“Yes,” she admitted to the pegasus. “As much as I do, there really isn’t any other explanation for it. But that’s not what’s important right now. Right now, we have to figure out a reasonable method for finding Zecora’s and then leaving the woods. Hopefully without us having to split up.” She allowed a small smile to ghost over her lips, fitting for the dense fog they still were held in. “I’m sure if we take a little bit of time and formulate a plan, we can be out of here relatively-”

“Wait,” Applejack spoke up, stopping Twilight from her winded speech by holding one of her hooves upwards. The farm pony had her head twisted, one ear cocked upward out from under her hat. It was twitching fiercely. “Do ya’ll hear that?”

Twilight and Rainbow exchanged a look with one another, confusion written across both of their features. They heard crickets chirping, wind blowing through twisted limbs, and even the light chirping of birds above them. Basically, they heard nothing that would warrant confusion.

“What are you talking about?” Rainbow Dash asked aloud, turning to face Applejack. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Me either,” Twilight sounded off, looking to her friend. Said earth pony was wearing a face of minor distress, but churned far more in confusion. It did little but heighten the curiosity in the unicorn. There was no reason for her to be anything but curious-- not yet at least.

“Then neither of ya are listening,” Applejack threw the words out in a hiss, her focus clearly on a sense other than sight. Her ears continued to twist and flick, searching for the sound only she could hear. “It’s… Ah don’t know… haunting. Ya’ll have ta be deaf not ta hear it.”

Dash, ever the competitive pony, opened her mouth to argue with her rival. But before she could make a sound, she felt a hoof against her leg. She turned her to see pleading eyes looking up at her through a lavender coat.

“Rainbow,” Twilight began. “Applejack could be hearing something. She is more attuned to her senses then either of us. Maybe… maybe she’s hearing something only she can hear.” The pegasus mumbled something unintelligible. The unicorn wisely ignored the words. “Let me try something.” Removing her hoof from the cyan coat, the unicorn shut her eyes.

Rainbow recognized both the lavender aura and gentle hum that began to emanate from Twilight’s horn. It shined ethereally in the forest, reflecting off of the mist that surrounded them. Like a light to sailors at sea, it captivated the pegasus’s attention and, eventually, Applejack’s as well.

A chill went down Rainbow’s spine, ruffling her feathers as her wings twitched. She felt a cool grasp being held above her head. Specifically, it touched the sensitive ends of her ears. A shuddering breath was taken into her lungs.

“Relax Rainbow,” she heard Twilight tell her. Normally, that wouldn’t mean anything to her. The difference, however, was how Twilight sounded to her. Normally, she sounded confident, held up by a low tone of curiosity that showed her mind’s constant movement.

Now, now the unicorn sounded like she was speaking into her mind.

“I’ve amplified our hearing.” Twilight answered the unasked question. “Just relax Dash, I’m sure we’ll be able to hear… what…” Her voice drifted off into the unseen.

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak again, to ask her friend what was wrong. But before she could, something else began to echo through her mind. It wasn’t the chirping of birds, which now sounded like perfectly pitched bells in her mind. It wasn’t the slow whisper of the wind, which now drifted through her mind like a far off whirlwind.

What it sounded like was what it was...

Singing.

BEGIN

“What… is …” Dash asked in a half whisper, twisting on the ground as she tried to find the direction the voice was coming from. Try as she might, she was left with only a voice that chilled her to her bones. It took only a glance to see that Twilight had also heard the haunting hymn, her eyes wide and disbelieving.

“Ah ain’t got a single clue,” Applejack spoke, head now twisting with her ears. “But… but it’s given me the shivers somethin’ fierce.” From what Twilight could see, there was far more grumbling going than shaking in the fit earth pony’s form. Her own body, however, had goose bumps beneath the lavender layer of her coat, making her body shiver with every slow breath she took.

A pocket of silence found its place beneath the three mares, absorbed and mesmerized by the haunting tune and chilling voice. It flowed through them in ways Twilight could only describe as magic, Dash as flight, and Applejack as the perfect harvest. Conflicting emotions filled the trio, of need and aversion, of desire and repulsion, but more than anything else, yearning and evasion.

It was a voice that belonged to no pony any of them had ever met, carrying a reverence that seemed impossible to obtain. It drew the breath from Dash’s lungs and shook Twilight’s legs. What it did to Applejack, however, was far stronger. It didn’t make her ears bend or eyes widen.

The voice, instead, shook her soul.

Maybe it was because she had no wings or horn or maybe it was because she could hear the needs of her trees before ever inspecting. Maybe… maybe it was something else.

“I think… it’s coming from down there.” Rainbow Dash slowly raised a hoof, pointing down the misted trail they had already traversed. It looked far darker and far more terrifying than the first time they had walked down it.

“Ah… yeah Ah think yer right Dash.” Applejack nodded in agreement, though her throat still managed to swallow heavily on nothing but air. “Ya thinkin’ we should go look for it?” The pegasus shrugged before she answered.

“It’s either that or sitting here listening to it. It’s not like we can get more lost.” Crass as always, but no less true than anything Twilight would have said. Applejack nodded slowly in agreement, her forehooves beginning to rise. Dash joined by her side quickly, but slowed to match the earth pony’s pace.

Normally the pegasus would hate doing anything slower than necessary, or her maximum speed. But right now, lost in the mysterious and misted Everfree forest, following a voice they needed magic or training to hear, a slower pace was something she could deal with.

What she couldn’t deal with was being stopped by a rough pull of her tail.

Applejack gave grunt of discomfort, while Dash yelped in surprise, muzzle hitting the dirt soon after. The farm mare turned to see her orange tail being held taut by a very familiar lavender light in the air next to Rainbow’s. The pegasus stood up quickly, twisting around 180 degrees to face the unicorn she already knew was responsible.

“What gives Twilight?” She asked accusingly, furrowing her brows in a riled stare. “What’s so important tha… that…” Her voice slowly died off as she saw something truly concerning. That concerning thing included many details.

First, her friend was not looking at her, something that could have been easily remedied if her tail was not being used as a leash. Second, the mare’s ears were flat against her skull, bent back far enough to reach her mane. But the third detail was the easiest to see and, just as easily, the most concerning to the pegasus.

Twilight was shaking.

“Whoa there, ya’ll alright there?” Applejack asked with a concerned step towards her friend. Much like her prismatic accomplice, however, she was kept just out of hoof’s reach from the mare. “What’s wrong Twi?”

In a normal situation, their shared unicorn friend would have given a long explanation or detailed summary of what was worrying her. It would probably include what the unicorn would see as the most likely scenario for a future event given the circumstances. Instead, Applejack and Rainbow Dash were told a simple three-word sentence. If it were not for the spell still cast on their ears, the whisper would have been lost on them.

“I saw something.”

It was only then that Dash started to care where the unicorn was looking.

She followed Twilight’s gaze off the beaten path, looking into the dense foliage of the dark greens and twisted trees. For a moment all she could see between forest shrubs was the ever-present mist, thicker than usual now. Then her pink eyes caught a wisp of movement through the fog.

It was nothing more than flick-- a small puff of misted air that rose suddenly from the otherwise calm blanket. It wasn’t much, but it was something. And, with a spell on her ears and worry in her mind, something could be anything.

The pair stared ahead into the misted woods, off the beaten trail and into mist they could hardly see beyond. Applejack watched from behind them both. There was a collective gasp among the trio when another flick of mist rose from the fog.

“Did you see that?” Rainbow harshly whispered to Twilight. The unicorn nodded, shaking as she did so.

“I… I-I saw it the first time. A-and the second… now the th-third.” As another unnatural swirl in the fog reached their collective gaze, the farm pony spoke up.

“Better make that four,” Applejack muttered behind the pair, staring ahead with wide emerald eyes. “Ah don’t like this. We… yeah, we should get while the gettin’s good.”

“It… it can’t be big…” Twilight fruitlessly reasoned. “I-I mean… we’d see by now if it w-was a timberwolf or… Ursa Minor…”

Another displacement occurred in the mist, forcing the fog to rise swiftly. Applejack dug her hooves into the dirt, lowering her head as she did so. Rainbow Dash flared her wings, trying her best to ignore the song that chilled her to her bones. Twilight didn’t know what to do. A quick gasp was drawn from the unicorn as a bush off their beaten path began to rustle. Her lavender eyes stared at it, drawn and terrified by what she might see.

When the creature appeared, it did not disappoint.

“Whoa!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she backpedaled at the sight. She didn’t get far; her was tail still stuck in Twilight’s ethereal grasp. “What is that thing?! Twi!? Snap out of it!” The pegasus turned her muzzle to the unicorn, yelling in the hopes to break her intellectual friend from her self imposed reverie. It worked, if at a pace far too slow for the athlete.

“I… uh,” Her voice stuttered and spat, head shaking and hooves scratching at the dirt. “I-I don’t know. Maybe… I-It could be a tangentially related creature t-to the… um… to the windigo…” Twilight’s musings, usually at their peak in the face of something so new and unfamiliar, were left crushed and destroyed under the serenade of the ballad that continued to drift over and through the misted forest.

While Twilight was left a stuttering mess and Rainbow Dash a barely controlled ball of fear and fury, Applejack was left speechless and stunned. She didn’t move or make motion to run, she didn’t speak, and she hardly even breathed. Her green eyes instead followed the misted creature, watching it as it jumped and danced through the thick fog over their path.

She watched, stone still, as it came closer to them, heedless or careless of their motion and noise. It had no eyes that the farm pony could see, let alone a body to smell or hear their presence, but Applejack was sure it was coming towards them. No… them was too general. Even without an indicator, without anything the farm pony could follow, Applejack could tell one very important fact about the ethereal cat.

It wasn’t coming for the three of them. It was coming towards her.

Applejack, the farm pony who had wrestled herds, dealt with timberwolves small and large, and represented the most honest of traits in pony kind, was very sure of one thing.

She did not want the misted creature to come close to her.

“It’s… beautiful…”

The farm pony whipped her head towards the voice of her friend. Twilight was leaning close to the misted creature, her hooves creeping over the thick fog. Her eyes were wider than plates, staring unblinkingly. The magical aura around her horn had dissipated, her mind now completely focused on something else.

The creature came to a slow stop in front of Applejack. The earth pony’s emerald eyes stared at the creature made of fog, unsure of whether to buck it away from her, stay still as stone, or turn tail and run. One option was appealing, one was appalling, but all three seemed impossible to her.

“What’s it doing?” Rainbow asked carefully, leaning down towards the misted creature. Her ears leaned back against her head, careful and unsure of what exactly would happen. The mist of the creature continued to trail behind it, shrinking more the longer the ethereal being held still. Its unseen black eyes looked up towards the farm pony, empty holes staring at the mare. Applejack felt shivers running down her back, and she was rather sure the fog had nothing to do with it.

A gasp was sucked through her lips as the creature jumped.

It lifted off the fog silently, like it was air being directed without force. There was no hum of magic, whoosh of wind, or even thud against the earth. The misted creature jumped to Applejack’s height, hung in the air for a moment, then turned its ethereal tail on the trio.

It moved deftly through the air, gliding until it was at level with the fog once more. For a moment Applejack’s wide emerald eyes lost track of the creature, its form too similar to the rest of the mist that surrounded it. She caught track of it again once, noticing its black unseeing eyes looking at her. The cold shivers returned to the mare once more.

“I… I think it want us to… follow it.” The words were listed slowly by the pegasus, her body having taken to the air. Applejack couldn’t remember when Dash had started flapping her wings, but she must have been too distracted by the dancing fog creature to notice. Even now, her mind was focused on something else. Specifically, what Rainbow had said.

“Are ya out of yer mind?” The farm pony hissed at her friend, leaning low as if to hide from the creature staring at them. “Ya wanna follow that… thing even deeper into the woods?”

“Well, yeah.” Dash words were as blunt as the ends of her hooves. “I mean, it’s not like we’re going to come up with any brighter ideas standing here. Besides, we can just stop following it if things start to look sketchy.”

“Dash has a point.” Twilight agreed with her currently airborne friend. It earned the same wide-eyed gaze from Applejack. “We should follow it. We… we just have to keep one eye on where we are as we do.”

“Ah… Ah can’t believe ya two…” the farm pony spoke quietly, shaking her head in disbelief. Perhaps if she shook it hard enough, time would reverse and she could correct her mistake of letting Apple Bloom walk into the woods alone. “This don’t seem even a little off ta either of ya?”

“Of course something isn’t right,” Twilight countered easily. “But that doesn’t mean that that… thing is behind it.” Her head motioned towards the misted creature, sitting patiently over the mist as they quickly conversed. The ends of its ears rose and dissipated into the air, the fog beneath it rising up and into its form. For all things considered, it looked like it really was part of the thick fog.

“Yeah, I mean, when are we gonna have the chance to do this again?” Dash looked excited about following some alien creature into an enchanted forest that they barely understood. Applejack did not share her friend’s optimism.

“Look, Ah love ya two as much as any pony ever could, but you both are talkin’ dumb as dirt right now.” The farm pony altered her gaze from the unicorn to the pegasus. Both watched her in return, but remained silent as they did so. “We came here ta find mah sis, not follow some mysterious forest critter into them woods like a bunch of fillies with magic on the mind. No offense Twi.” The unicorn waved her hoof before she spoke.

“Applejack,” Twilight began carefully. “I understand your skepticism for this, but… what other choice do we have?” Her lavender eyes pleaded with her voice, widened with a wet gleam. “We’re lost either way. At least now we have something to follow.”

“Ah’d rather we risk losin’ ourselves a bit more than follow some fog cat.” The words were more of a mutter than an argument. Dash was quick to follow up on what she heard.

“Look, AJ, we aren’t saying this is common sense. It’s pretty blatantly not.” The farm pony had no reason to disagree. “But think about it, how many things in the Everfree actually hurt ponies? We got the Timberwolves and a few living constellations running around. Just about everything else is just… here.”

“That doesn’t mean we should just turn tail on where we have ta go and follow the first new thing that crosses our eyes.” Applejack’s resolve was crumbling. Twilight didn’t need a spell to see it happening.

“Applejack,” the unicorn spoke easily to her friend. “Even if it’s just for a little bit, trust Dash and me with this.” She urged her friend as she spoke, laying a hoof over the cow pony’s side. “If anything, anything starts to look… sketchy, we can stop following.”

The farm pony stared into her friend’s eyes, the same eyes that had read more books than she had worked seasons at the orchard, found the secret to the Elements of Harmony and seen through the guise of the Changelings. Twilight was a lot of things, but reckless she was not. Applejack’s hooves dug into the dirt as her resolve began to erode.

“Alright,” she spoke in a huff, avoiding the eyes of her friends as she spoke. “But,” she looked up quickly as she spoke. “As soon as Ah think things are goin’ south I’m turnin’ tail, got it?”

“Absolutely!” Twilight nodded vigorously in agreement, her smile splitting her large head.

“Course, and we’ll be right behind ya.” Rainbow gave a light jab to the farm pony’s side as she spoke, a unique sign of trust and agreement between the two. It brought a slow grin to Applejack’s muzzle.

Her green eyes looked back down the path, searching for the fogged creature that seemed to follow the song still drifting through the cow pony’s mind.

It was hanging in the air several hooves above the mist. The eyes now had nothing to do with the cold breeze Applejack felt crawl over her coat. Her friends, however, didn’t seem to share her skepticism or caution. Rainbow Dash’s blind willingness made sense, but Twilight’s quick acceptance was something even Applejack thought was odd.

Then again, if there was ever anything new and magical in the land of Equestria, Twilight would be the last pony to pass it up. If a flying creature made of mist coming from the Everfree forest didn’t qualify, Applejack wanted to know what did.

“Alright!” Dash spoke up for her friends, flapping her wings the few times necessary to begin her movement forward. “Let’s do this!” Twilight nodded beside her friend, joining in step next to the pegasus. Meekly, hesitantly, Applejack followed behind the two.

As soon as she took her first hoofstep forward, the creature turned from them again, flying down the forest path.

“There it goes!” The excitement was impossible to miss in the unicorn’s voice. Just as noticeable and blatant was the gallop she started to take. Rainbow Dash was just beside her, easily matching the mare’s pace with her wings. Applejack flanked them both, watching as the chase took place.

There were so many ways Twilight could describe the Everfree forest.

On one hoof, she could call it a mystical place where the last wonders of magic were kept. So many acres of it were unexplored, and even more undocumented. There could be troves of treasure lying beneath some unmarked rock, or expansive libraries of knowledge kept beneath the roots of trees.

On another hoof, the magical, astute unicorn would label the place a danger.

But right now, in the moment of a chase through a dense fog she could hardly see through, Twilight could only describe the Everfree as one thing.

Beautiful.

The fog seemed to curl around the trees, possessively holding them into the ground with an unseen force. The dark bark and gnarled branches of the trees twisted in a way the unicorn never paid attention to before. With the dense white fog, the finer details of the large foliage became only more evident to her eyes.

Nothing about it seemed hard or strained. Rather, everything seemed to flow together, like the mist they were walking through and the creature they were following. Despite the differences that were more than evident to her sight, nothing seemed out of place. The foliage of the woods should have mixed with the dense mist, the intangible figure they chased looking at home within the greens of the forest despite its empty sockets.

Even they-- a lavender unicorn, blue pegasus, and orange mare chasing a figure none of them had ever seen in a forest none of them had any claim to-- seemed perfectly reasonable. Everything just felt… connected.

“There it goes!” Dash called out as she pushed ahead, the mist beneath her churning as she flapped her wings. Each beat pushed down a section of the mist before commanding another part to rise. Like waves across still water, the pegasus rode on the fog.

The problem was, her prey was doing much the same. It jumped through and around the mist, diving into the deep white sea before emerging somewhere down the trail hooves further than where it had entered. The pegasus was having trouble following the creature, and listening to song that slowly lulled her mind did not help.

Every wave that she made above the foggy sea seemed to flow in an almost planned pace with the woods around them, a sight Dash only noticed when she turned her head to see the condition of her friends. The mist that she had moved swirled as it descended and dissipated as it rose. Plumes of smoke and whirlpools of fog made the trees around them seem like mountains.

It was hard to describe, especially for a pegasus so used to seeing things shrink the higher she flew, but as the mist around them moved with the beating of her wings, she felt smaller and smaller. No, that wasn’t quite right either. It wasn’t that she was getting smaller, more that she was beginning to realize how small she was.

Applejack, however, had the creature in her eyes and on her mind. She had listened to the trees in her orchard and the foliage that grew here. She had heard them call silently through the ground, asking for water, for food, for attention. She was more than used to the beauty in nature, having more than just a single hoof in creating it on a daily basis.

She was used to nature, but Applejack was not used to a creature with no real shape, sightless black eyes and a body of fog. Her instincts told her turn tail, but her mind told her to keep pace. Her hooves wanted to dig in the dirt hiding beneath the thick fog, but her eyes kept track of every tangled limb and canopy opening, marking the path they were taking. They may have been lost, but she would sooner eat her hat then let a critter get her even more lost, if that were possible.

Suddenly, faster than the farm pony could follow, the creature jumped left, twisting through a thin wall of leaves and out of sight. Dash reached the wall first, hovering in front of it with a rare form of trepidation. It was long enough for Twilight to reach her pegasus friend. Like Rainbow, the unicorn was cautious, refusing to jump through the foliage with needless haste. Instead, she raised a hoof against the hanging limbs, guiding them out of the way.

What she saw must have taken her breath away.

“Wow…” Twilight spoke, shock more than caution overtaking her voice. Her widened eyes stared ahead at something Applejack could not see, beyond the trees.

“I don’t believe it…” Dash spoke next to her friend, both of them staring at something Applejack couldn’t see.

“What?” The earth pony asked, taking the few strides forwards necessary to reach the unicorn’s side. “What do ya see… there… Twi…” The words fell and sputtered out of Applejack’s mouth, falling to the unseen forest floor beneath the dense fog.

Beyond the trees, around the leaves, and in the midst of the fog, sat Zecora’s hut.

The trio stared at it in shock, more than familiar with the sight but completely foreign to the means by which they had found it. No path they had ever taken led them to their friend’s home like this. No forest creatures or magical spells. Only well known tracks on treaded earth. Now… now they were looking at the carved and well-lit tree of their zebra friend.

And, sitting just before the door, was the empty eyed fog cat.

Its tail swished behind it, curling around its misted body in a mesmerizing manner. The tip tucked beneath the ends of its forepaws, the swaying mist flowing up into the creature’s body and then backs down its tail. It was a sight both beautiful and haunting, much like the tune that continued to sing through their minds.

“Ah don’t believe it…” Applejack spoke breathlessly, staring from the spectral creature to the carved hut and back again. So sure was she that she was being lead into a trap that the idea of finding the home of her zebra friend was far out of her mind. It was surprising, magical and unexpected, but not unwelcome. The chuckle that flowed past her lips was proof of that.

“What… should we do?” Dash asked her friends, leaning down to their level from her perch in the air. Silence was kept at bay only by the song that continued to haunt their mind and calm their souls.

“We… we go forward.” Twilight spoke, hardly easily. “I-I mean… maybe… maybe Zecora used a spell for that cat.”

“Y-Yeah!” Rainbow spoke up in agreement, wings beating as she did so. “That mare knows how to use the woods, so… so a foggy creature in the fog makes sense, right?” Applejack, however, didn’t respond.

The earth pony walked forward into the clearing.

No sooner did her hooves touch the barren soil outside of Zecora’s home than the creature of mist floated under the door, fitting through the thin slot with an ease none of the three thought existed. It froze the mare for a moment, but not permanently. Applejack began to move forward again, hearing the fallen leaves hidden beneath the fog she walked through crunch lightly beneath her hooves. The sound of rustling behind her was evidence enough that Twilight and Rainbow Dash were following, wasting barely a moment in doing so. There was another difference between now and the chase only moments prior.

Before they were running through the mist. Now they were stalking cautiously through the fog. Whether it was from caution or fear, Applejack couldn’t tell. All she knew was that her sister was supposed to be in that hut, and that the same misted cat they had chased had just dove into it. If Twilight was right about the cat’s good will, however, then there was nothing to worry about. If she was wrong… Applejack wasn’t sure.

It wasn’t long until she was standing in front of the carved tree’s door, the familiar scent of potions wafting through the cracks. A scuffle of hooves and beating of wings was enough to remind Applejack she wasn’t alone.

Raising her forehoof, she lightly knocked on the hardwood.

END

Complete silence followed.

The sudden end of the song earned a jolt from the three mares. Tentative looks of shock were shared between them, each silently confirming from one another’s expressions that the sudden loss of the haunting voice was not a sensation experienced alone. As each set of eyes from the ponies showed the same look of disbelief, the air only became more tense.

But before any of them could speak, the door to Zecora’s hut opened and a familiar face greeted them, face grinning proudly.

“My friends,” the zebra began, looking over the trio with a joyous expression. “So good to see you again. Please, do come in. It is where our conversation should begin.” She moved aside as she spoke, offering room for the ponies to squeeze through her doorway and into the carved and decorated hut.

“Thank you kindly Zecora,” Applejack spoke with a small nod of her head. “But ‘fore I get carried away with a good talk, have ya seen-” the orange mare didn’t have the time or breath to finish her thought.

“Applejack!” The voice of a youth cried. The farm pony only had time to move her head before a familiar weight crashed into her chest. Her muscled legs kept her balanced, and perpetual habits had her wrapping a hoof around the small bundle currently wrapping its own around her carriage.

“Apple Bloom.” The name was spoken with a small sigh of relief, the cow pony shaking her head and her Stetson hat. “You had me worried somethin’ fierce, ya know that?” The question was spoken as the mare rubbed her hoof over the filly’s back. “Ah’m glad yer alright.”

“Um, excuse me,” The timid voice of Twilight spoke up, warily interrupting the small reunion. Timidness was not a mark of her nature, but caution was. “I’d hate to interrupt, but there are some things I have to ask. We didn’t exactly have a clear path getting here.”

“For what reasons are you concerned?” Zecora kindly asked her unicorn friend. “Hopefully it is something I can help discern.”

“Well, there were a lot of things, actually.” Rainbow Dash flew to Zecora’s side as she spoke, carefully avoiding a hot pot boiling with a brew she didn’t care to question. “I mean, after we all got lost coming into the woods somehow, we started to hear a song that pretty much echoed through the entire forest. Then right when Applejack and I were about to follow it, Twilight over here sees some wispy fog ghost cat floating through the mist. So naturally we chase it through the forest like our lives depend on it. Then, lo and behold, it goes right ahead and slips underneath your door.” The pegasus’s hoof pointed at the zebra as she spoke.

Usually when Dash went off on her tangents, it ended with the pony she was accusing giving perplexed looks or angry rebuttals. It wasn’t anything new or wondrous about the cyan pegasus losing her cool in the midst of a long-winded explanation. What was new, or at least outside the norm, was the calm and nearly cheerful demeanor with which Zecora answered the winged pony.

“My dear Rainbow Dash,” the striped mare spoke as she took steps around her home. “There is no reason to be rash. A song I did hear and a creature I did see, but I assure once more, neither belonged to me.”

“Me ‘either.” Apple Bloom spoke with a touch of joy to her voice, her hooves releasing Applejack. The filly practically bounced across the floor with a smile only Applejack truly recognized. Being the only pony who lived with a sister half her age, the farm pony was familiar with the subtle differences in a filly’s smile. And she could tell from the slight rise in the filly’s left side of her right cheek corner, the minor twisting of her head, and open eyes something that neither Twilight or Rainbow Dash could.

Apple Bloom was hiding something.

“Wait, so… you saw the foggy cat?” Twilight questioned with her hoof towards the striped mare. It slowly swiveled over to the filly. “Both of you?” Both occupants of the carved hut smiled as they responded.

“Yup, we sure did!” Apple Bloom spoke. There was nothing but childish joy in her voice. It was beginning to make Applejack’s limbs shiver.

“Wait, I got a better question,” Dash overruled Twilight as she held up a hoof. Her other three touched down on the hut’s floor, her pink eyes staring at Zecora with an expression of curiosity, twisted eyes and a twisted neck.

“If that wasn’t you singing, and it wasn’t Apple Bloom… then who was it?” Then, a voice spoke. It was a high voice that didn’t belong the youthful earth pony or wise zebra. A voice that spoke while no mouth in the room moved.

“Me.”

It was instinct that made the three look to a darkened corner of the zebra’s home. Those same instincts were what made the jaws fall in collective shock. It was hard not to when parts of the tree began to glow, illuminating a creature none of them had seen before.

“My name is Aisling,” the creature spoke, her emerald eyes captivating the gazes of the three shell-shocked ponies. “I sang to find you. It wasn’t hard. You were in my forest.” Next Chapter: The Last of Her Kind Estimated time remaining: 5 Hours, 17 Minutes