Yellow Flowers

The light of the candle was not enough to illuminate the hospital room to any real degree, but starring into the darkness, the pony could make out the outlines of her mother's body laying under the blanket in bed. Her mother had laid there for months, alive but unconscious, afflicted by an illness no one knew how to cure. The blue pony reclined in her chair and gazed into the flickering candle. Its constant movement calmed her mind. As she recited the spell, her horn began to glow. Slowly, the light of the candle became dimmer as the pony's vision faded to black. Her mind drifted off into the darkness of the abyss.

 

She found herself again in a desert. Orange sand dunes stretched around her as far as she could see. Strangely, the sky here was completely black, devoid of any celestial bodies—no sun, no moon, no stars, nothing—yet it was not dark. The orange sand beneath her hooves appeared illuminated as if it were daytime, defying all sense and logic. Finding her bearings in this strange world, the blue pony took a few careful steps on the shifting sand. Out of nowhere, the sky was lit up by a giant flash of lightning, tinting everything white for a short moment. But this had been no ordinary lightning, as it did not go from the sky to the ground but appeared to traverse horizontally. Seconds after the flash had passed, the blue pony could feel a slight tremor in the sand coming from far away. After considering her options for a moment, the pony spread her wings and lifted her slender body into the air, flying in the direction the lightning had come from. She flew very low to the ground, cautious, not wanting to get too close to where the mysterious lightning crossed the sky.

Many times more would the sky light up as she made her journey across the desert. Underneath her wings, she felt the wind pick up speed. Soon it grew into a formidable gust, requiring ever more strength from her to stay on course. The blue pony was not so easily deterred from her mission however. The gust grew stronger and started to whirl up the sand. It became harder and harder to see anything as the sand blocked out the sky and the ground. The blue pony was thrown about like a leaf by the strong winds. Unable to keep her eyes open and unsure where ground even was, all she could do was trust her instinct and keep herself in the air as best she could. Suddenly her right wing strafed against something hard, the sudden impact breaking a bone inside of it. Unable to move her wing anymore, the pony fell uncontrollably. Luckily, she fell only a few centimeters, as the thing she strafed against had been the ground. She lay on the ground, holding her wing and biting her lips to cope with the pain. As quickly as the storm came, it also dissipated into nothingness. Finally able to open her eyes again, the blue pony inspected her wing and cast a spell on it to numb the pain. She would not be able to fly again here, but she could still proceed on hoof. Looking around, she found herself at the edge of a forest made up of dried-up trees. A flash in the now clear again sky confirmed the direction she was already trotting towards.

As she walked deeper and deeper into the forest, she found herself in a maze of withering trees; none had any leaves left. The ground was made up of the same orange sand as the desert, if a little more coarse and compact. Feeling a bit lost, the pony looked upwards to check her heading against the next flash. Strange black buds hung from the tree branches, which she was sure hadn't been there before. Quickly, the black buds grew into black leaves so large that they covered up the sky completely. The faint light of a flash seeped through the dense foliage, but it was impossible to tell from which direction it had come.

Unsure in which direction to go, the pony found herself lost in the dead forest. Had the orange ground not still been glowing as if illuminated by a nonexistent sun, it would have been pitch black under the trees. Wandering about aimlessly for not even she knew how long, dread slowly creped up the little ponies legs. It spread up her spine, leaving nothing but emptiness in its wake. Just before it could reach up to envelope her horn, consuming her completely, the pony screamed a cry of defiance. She shook off the feeling and focused her mind, just like her mother had shown her to do in such situations. Biting her lip, she looked around for anything that might help her find the way forward. An idea came to her. Using her magic, she conjured a thin blade and cut through the nearest tree trunk. The dried tree offered little resistance and keeled over into the arms of another tree close by. Where it had been, there was now a hole in the canopy through which the sky was clearly visible. The blue pony jumped happily up and down before the pain in her wing reminded her of her mission. She continued to travel through the forest, cutting down a tree ever so often to confirm her direction. Soon she made it to an area of the forest where the tree line grew thinner and after a few more minutes of trotting, she reached the last tree at the edge of a huge grassland. Unlike the dead trees of the forest, this grass seemed alive and well. The dark green hills and slopes stretching towards the horizon reminded the pony of the desert, but unlike the desert, this place was alive and seemed almost inviting.

After a short break leaning on the last tree before the endless expanse of grass, the pony strutted forward with new confidence. Judging by the increasing density of the flashes in the sky, their origin couldn't be far away anymore. After the sand of the desert and the coarse soil of the forest, the soft grass felt soft and soothing under the pony's hoof, distracting her from the pain in her wing.

Soon the blue pony came across the first oddity in the unbroken green she had traversed so far. A lonely yellow flower grew on top of a hill. With a nod, the pony acknowledged the flower but paid it no more mind as she kept walking towards her goal. More and more yellow flowers grew along side and in her path. At first she tried to walk around them, not wanting to do them any harm, but soon their density grew to such an extent that it became impractical to do so. It was almost like she entered their lair—the hidden place amongst the endless grass all of these strange flowers congregate around. Suddenly a few of the flowers in front of her started glowing, forming a line stretching from one end of the horizon to the other, defiantly forbidding the pony from walking further into their domain. For a while the pony stood still, not daring to cross it for fear of what unforeseen consequences this decision might bring. She did not come this far only to turn around now however, so gathering all the courage she could muster, she raised her foreleg and crossed the line. The flowers that made up the line slowly stopped glowing, but nothing else seemed to happen. Relieved, the blue pony walked onward, following the flashes in the sky.

But after only a few steps, another line formed in front of her. This time it was a double line of glowing flowers. Strengthened by her previous decision, she crossed the double line as if it weren't even there. Like the previous line, these lines too faded away after she had crossed them. The pony moved on, slowly walking up a gently sloping hill. From atop the hill, she saw a shallow valley so packed with yellow flowers that no speck of dark green grass was visible between them. Scratching her chin, she stood and wondered what made this place so special to these strange flowers. Before she could descend into the valley however, a few of the flowers in the valley started to glow. Being tired of their games, the pony stomped her hoof defiantly. A pattern started to form in the valley. Glowing letters spelled out a name, her name, Luna. Then the pattern changed again, taking the shape of an arrow pointing at the blue pony, or rather in the direction she had come from. Finally, the flowers formed a heart, lingering a bit in this shape before the glow faded away again. Luna sat down on her haunches and stared into the valley. Minutes passed, but the flowers would not start glowing again.

For the first time, the blue pony thought about where she was going. She had always assumed it to be the right direction, but maybe it hadn't been. Could these flowers know something that she didn't? She sat there unsure of what to do for a while, staring down into the valley, hoping for another sign, but the flowers simply stared back. Suddenly, the brightest flash she had ever seen since her arrival in this strange world streaked across the sky, filling her with renewed resolve. Getting up and walking down the slope into the valley, the flowers started glowing again, but this time the pony kept her gaze up and towards the sky, not allowing the flowers and whatever signs they wanted to make to mess with her head again. She could feel the stems of the flowers snap underneath her hoof as she crossed their valley, but she no longer cared. Soon she had left the valley behind her, but it took her a while longer before she dared to relax her gaze. Once more, there was nothing around her but dark green grass.

Keeping up the pace, it was not too long till she spotted a giant tree looming over the horizon. Streaks of light crawled up the tree, gathering in its branches and leaves, before erupting into the familiar horizontal streak of lightning that had guided her here. Almost galloping now, the blue pony quickly reached the edge of a garden surrounding the giant tree. The garden was well maintained containing stone walk ways and all kinds of plants some of which Luna had never seen before. It reminded her of the garden her mother had maintained before she fell ill. But that one had been a lot smaller and less well cultivated. Everything here on the other hoof was perfect. Every plant, every stone, every leaf, and every piece of decoration seemed to just be in the right place. There was nothing here that did not seem to belong here, except for the small pony herself. Putting hoof on the flawless stones making up the walkway felt like stepping on a beautiful painting. Filled with awe, the blue pony tried to tread as lightly as she possibly could.

After a few minutes of careful walking, the pony reached the center of the garden and the base of the giant tree. Its stem was so big that the idea that it was made of solid wood seemed absolutely absurd. Underneath the tree sat a white alicorn, her eyes closed as if in trance. Strange veins of magenta light emanated from her horn, trailing down her body, and finally flowing into her tail. The tail was connected to a small socket on the huge tree stem. Suddenly, the streams of magenta light increased in intensity as a pulse of magic rushed through the twitching alicorn's body and into the tree. The tree branches lit up again and now Luna understood where the lightning in the sky had come from. Luna called out to her mother, but the strange modifications done to her mother's body made her keep her distance. The alicorn opened her eyes and looked at her daughter, whom she did not seem surprised to see at all. Standing up, she took a few careful and deliberate hoof steps towards Luna, coming as far as her tail still tethered to the tree allowed her to. Luna recognized the look of determination on her mother's face instantly, having seen it often when her mother prepared to cast an especially difficult spell. In the past, Luna had loved it when her mother used her powers to accomplish wonders she had never believed were possible. When her mother finally deemed her old enough to start teaching her the secrets of magic so she could accomplish some wonders of her own, she had been so very happy. This time however, that look of concentration and undivided focus on her mother's face scared her. There was still so much that the blue pony did not know, did not understand, did still have to learn. Even the spell Luna had used to enter her mother's dreams hadn't truly been hers. Her mother had created the initial draft of it. Luna had only found it while searching her mother's library for a hint towards the alicorn's condition. All Luna did was putting the finishing touches on it.

Suddenly, black tendrils began to sprout from the alicorn's back, wavering in the breeze. As the first tendril shot towards the blue pony, her mother's training took over. Magic circuits in her brain came to life, enhancing her reactions and concentrating her mind as Luna's body dodged the tendril by a hair's length. There was no time left to reorient herself to dodge the second tendril however. There was nothing Luna could do but stare as the second tendril raced towards her. Moments before it could grab her, a black leaf appeared between her and the tendril, shielding her from the inevitable impact. At the same time a sandstorm flared up, taking both her and her mother's vision. Instinctively, Luna dodges away from her position behind the leaf, mere moments before hearing a ripping sound and the impact of a tendril right where she had just been. Luckily, the alicorn did not seem to be able to determine her daughter's position through the storm, but neither could Luna. Raising her hoof to shield her eyes from the flying sand, Luna spotted a faint yellow glow shining through the storm. Creeping forward, she made out the shape of serval yellow flowers growing around the socket where the tail of her still blinded mother connected with the tree. Without thinking, she formed a magic blade and cut through the tail, severing the connection. A tremor went through the earth and the storm vanished as quickly as it had appeared. The blue pony flexed her muscles, ready to deflect the next attack, but her mother seemed no longer interested in her. Instead, the alicorn tried desperately to reattach herself to the tree. The sight of her mother, whom Luna had always childishly assumed to be invincible, desperately crawling towards the tree burned itself into the blue pony's memory. But it was already too late as from all directions a wall of darkness had encircled the horizon and was now rushing towards the tree. Before Luna could do anything the darkness had already swallowed the garden, her, her mother and finally the giant tree.

Luna felt herself floating freely in a black void. For a few more seconds the blue pony could see her mother crawling before she too faded away. Surrounded by nothingness and fully alone, Luna curled up and closed her eyes. Her mind was an ocean with thoughts and emotions racing through it, causing one huge wave after the other. After a while though, her mind calmed. The surface of her consciousness was becoming smooth, like a clear lake on a calm day. Inside, she was now as empty as the void she was floating through. Nothing to see, nothing to do, nothing to think about, nothing to feel... nothing.  

 

The muffled sound of a door closing somewhere far away and loud hoofsteps in the corridor forced themselves into Luna's fuzzy ears.

She opened her eyes and found herself back in the chair in the hospital room. A nearly burned down candle stood on the nightstand next to the bed of her mother. Quickly, she got up and checked on the alicorn, finding her body cold and lifeless. A quiet tear streaked down the lonely pony's cheek. Outside the window the sun was about to rise, already filling the room with the light of early dawn. Luna got up and walked towards the door. She couldn't stand to be in this room any longer. However, before leaving she turned around one last time and she blew out the candle.