Quiet hoofsteps echoed through the trees as the solitary figure slowly made her way along the faint trail made by the many animals travelling through the forest. This pony wore a dark hood hanging low over its face so that nothing could be seen through the shadows, but the hood caught on a low thorn, revealing a dark pink mane and downcast blue eyes. This young mare stopped for a moment, her hoof rising to fix her hood, but she hesitated and slowly lowered her hoof back to the ground, shaking her head slowly and mumbling incoherently to herself as she continued on.

The path ahead of her slowly opened up, and a slightly brighter light shone from ahead. The mare rose her head slightly, eyes searching the light. Her steps sped up, if only slightly, her gait awkward and almost stumbling from exhaustion and hunger.

Finally, she broke from the trees, sunlight washing over her, shining through her mane, almost giving it a new life. But it didn't puff back up as it so often used to be and as the mare relished in the sun's rays, she was hit by a wave of dizziness, clouding her vision. She swayed and sat down. She was too weak to go any farther, but she had to try. She had already made it this far, and Fluttershy's cottage lay just up the next hill. Less than a mile away. Much less in fact.

But her legs gave out on her and she couldn't stay upright. She fell forward, her chin striking the ground hard. Her eyes closed but she still felt the sun's warmth on her face, unobstructed by clouds today. It was beautiful. Rainbow Dash must have been working really hard today with the weather team after the storm yesterday. She was probably asleep in one of the apple trees in Sweet Apple Acres. She wanted to laugh. Applejack was probably trying to shoo her off, complaining about the pegasus's laziness.

Thinking of her friends, she wanted to smile. She wanted to rush off to them and just laugh and cry at the same time as she wrapped her forelegs around them. She hadn't seen them for so long. Had they thought of her? Had they looked for her? She wanted to think that of course they had. They were her bestest friends in the whole wide world. But were they still looking? Even after all this time? A pain started in her heart, now engulfing the pain she already felt everywhere else. Compared to this ache that she felt, had been feeling on and off for the past who knew how long, the aching in her legs, her hooves, and her tummy, were nothing at all.

She tried so hard, but all she could do was twitch her eyes behind her lids, the day's warmth now forgotten in the coming cold. Would they find her here? Fluttershy would probably be the one since she was in full view of the adorable cottage. It would be such a shock for all her friends. Had she been pronounced dead already? Had they held her a funeral? And now, what about the Elements of Harmony? Would they find a new bearer for the Element of Laughter or would all of the Elements be rendered obsolete, awaiting their new bearers to come along now that the old had failed?

Pinkie guessed that if that happened then Their plans would be accomplished, though not in the way they had thought. She thought back, her mind resting on her captors. She shivered within her mind, still able to feel the chill emanating from their bodies when they got too close. Their dark eyes that captured yours when you accidentally looked into them. And worst of all their almost nonexistent bodies like a ghosts almost, like they weren't really there. They had claimed to be something akin to spirits in a sense they had said, but they hadn't actually told her what they were.

For how long she had been with Them she didn't know. The days and nights had been an endless cycle. They had kept her with them during the day, talking to her of her life in Ponyville. She had gladly told Them at first, but as she spoke, They had drawn closer, probing her mind and watching her memories. They had taken them from her leaving nothing but coldness in their wake. She still remembered her time in Ponyville, but it wasn't the of the happy memories showing through her mind like before, now it was like watching an old movie that you had watched so many times before and were only now getting back to. Like you knew the plot, and you knew what was going to happen, you even had some lingering feelings from when you loved it, but you didn't feel the same about it and you didn't really remember the details of it at all. She had tried to resist, but when she refused to summon the memories herself, They had forced entry into her mind, leaving not only Their chill, but also icy tendrils of pain like icicles in the middle of winter driven deep into her heart. And while it still stayed warm, the icicle would start to melt, seeping into other memories as well.

Then at night, They would give her peace, but not in the way that she would have liked. Instead of letting her sleep, They would take her to a special cave with a completely open ceiling where the moon shone through. She would be made to stand in the center of the room, her face turned up to the moon. Her name was to be repeated all night into her ears by these things who needed no sleep. She would be made to repeat it as well, only being allowed to sleep in small periods before They would wake her again and she would have to repeat it again until she fell asleep. This made her confused. It also made her forget.

She had escaped in much the same way she had been captured. By accident. They had told her that They gad set out to capture one of the Elements, but she had been the one Element that They hadn't even considered capturing. Fluttershy and Rarity had been top of Their list. But plans had changed and both got away because of a small emergency from Photo Finish who had wanted both of them. The pink mare had just taken their place, and as They had put it sufficed.

She had sufficed for as long as They needed and then had been told she was to be killed. But everything was interrupted by the ground suddenly shaking. It was an earthquake! The cave had started to collapse around them and They had run. She had been left behind, still spasming in pain from their last session. They had probably thought that she was surely to be crushed to death. But somehow she had managed to escape the cave.

Ever since she had been lost. Completely isolated from all civilization in her unknown location. It had taken her days if not weeks to finally recognize a familiar piece of the Everfree and had tried to quickly head for Ponyville. They were going to kill her, so that meant they had everything they needed. So, what were they going to do now.

"Pinkie!"

She heard a voice faintly from near her. Pinkie. That was a nice color. Wait. Wasn't that her favorite color? Yes, it was, wasn't it.
She suddenly felt an intense pain shock her body as she was shaken. That voice was saying something. What was it. She couldn't quite tell. But it was such a soothing, quiet voice, even if it seemed kind of frantic. What was it worried about? Oh, now she was being carried somewhere. Why was she being moved?

She groaned inwardly. If only she could see. She struggled with all her might, finally managing to open one eye, if just a crack. She looked through her eyelashes to see the ground moving by incredibly fast. She hadn't even noticed. Now that she thought about it though, where had her hooves gone? She giggled to herself. Maybe they had just gotten so tired that they had decided to take a vacation. She wished they had brought her along.

Oh. The voice was yelling now. And the path beneath them had changed. It was much neater now. Oh, and there were buildings too. All she had to do was look up a bit. Mm, that one looked like a gingerbread house. But then she was moved to the ground again, and all she could see was the sky. It really was a pretty day. The clouds looked so puffy, and the sky looked so... um...so something.

But it was getting darker. Was it nighttime already? She wasn't sure, but now she couldn't tell. There was somepony in the way. Wait, was that pony crying. She hated it when ponies cried.

She wanted to cheer this mare up, but she was distracted. Not only were there more mares around her, one of which she recognized by her yellow coat as the one who had carried her, but there was also something else happening to the sky. There were streaks across it, but they weren't pretty rainbow streaks. These were really dark. And she felt a familiar chill creep into her body. Where had she felt that before?

She tried to remember, but her mind was getting cloudy again. A separate chill crept up her body. And it seemed that most of her body had decided to take her hoofsies up on their vacation offer. She felt so tired. Where was this vacation anyway. Maybe she should join it...Yeah...Why not...?

I really hope that you like this story!

I haven't been able to write anything at all in almost a year now I guess. It hasn't been writer's block. I've been able to come up with all sorts of ideas and have actually been able to write a few. It's just that I haven't like any of it. I've been in a slump. But I really like this story more then anything I've written in a long time.

I started writing this around 11:00 pm on a Saturday and it took me a few hours to write the whole thing. Again, I hope that you like it!

Also, the under the moon thing was kinda supposed to be vaguely similar to the term moon-blinking from Guardians of Ga'hoole where the owlettes had to walk around under the moonlight and chant their own names, only being allowed to sleep in short periods. This would cause them to be sort of hypnotized and forget their own names. I haven't read those books in years, but I hope in my half asleep state that I remember this correctly.

Anyway, thanks for reading! Please leave a review!

(Edit) OK so I fixed the spacing problem that this story had. Thank you for pointing that out to me Its Rainbow Dash. This is why I shouldn't type my stories on Notepad!