Mare in the Forest

>The light of the sun shimmered in between the heavy green canopy of the trees above you as you made your way across the trail you had taken ever since you were a young lad.
>You had done this, every morning, and at dawn. Your mornings wouldn't be complete without your morning ride through the a enchanted forest that was basically your back yard.
>A castle, one of the finest and most extravagant in history stood tall and aloof beyond the tree line, cast in shadow; the sun not yet reaching it.
>Yes, you were a dashing young prince who's father ruled many kingdoms. From the east and to the west. The farthest reaches north to the lowest steeps of the south. It was all claimed under your family's name.
>Though this hardly mattered to you. You were only concerned with your morning rides and afternoon strolls. Below you, your trustful steed and life long companion, slowly swayed his head from side to side like a metronome measuring his steps.
>Apollo; his name had been. A white stocky, well groomed breyer horse. A gift from your mother when you were only ten years of age. You and he rode through this forest every day for the past eleven years and many a time set off exploring together.
>Making your way across a stream that ran along the forest floor southward, you stop. Apollo turning his head to the side to look at you. A sound unlike any other fell upon your ears and you sat motionless for a long while until it faded.
>Apollo, who's ears rotated in semicircles, also heard it and was just as still as you were. You lean down and whisper into his ear, trying to keep your voice low so that the angelic voice could not hear you. Wherever it may be.
"Apollo...did you hear that?"
>The horse blew air from his nose. Looking around curiously.
"What could it be? Who would be out at this time?"
>Apollo snorts, indicating that he hadn't the slightest idea.

>The voice returns. This time a lot more pronounced and distinct. You could make out it's direction and you turn to your left to see what seems to be a flicker of light.
>You pat Apollo on the side of his neck and he also turns and without your word he trots lightly in it's direction. He was just as eager to get to the bottom of this as you were.
>It was singing. You knew that now. A song not of words, but gentle melodic tones and tunes. And what a song it was. You fell in love once, when you were younger. But this would make you fall in love a thousand times over.
>You stop in the place where you saw the flicker of 'light' and look around. Apollo craning his neck around the tree to try and locate the source.
"Could it be some sort of nymph? A fairy? A spirit of the forest? What do you think Apollo?"
>You once again lean down beside his face and he again blows air through his nose.
"You're right. That's silly... But who could it be?"
>You round the tree and see the flash of light again. This time you saw traces of a very light blue and timid green. It waved back and forth like a sort of hair. Most curiously.
>Apollo carefully trots along, the waving object still in sight.
>The singing grew louder and more heavenly. It was almost enough to put you asleep. But not before you discovered what it was that could produce such sound.
>About the time you're halfway there, the mass of blue and green disappears once more behind the thicket. But the song was still present and unchanging. Whatever it was, it was just beyond those trees.
>This time, when you came to the spot you last saw it, you realize that you were near the small waterfall that came crashing down from the mountain and lead into a pond that flowed into the stream you passed earlier.
>Peeking out from behind a tree, you see something that nothing in the word could prepare you for.

>It was a mare. And not just any mare. One with a spindle of platinum atop her head and wings that seemed could span across the sky. She was as white as the driven snow, and taller than Apollo; and he was the tallest horse in the kingdom.
>Her mane was the sky itself. It seemed to blow carelessly and gleefully on a nonexistent wind along with her tail.
>And most of all, she sang. It was the thing that made your heart soar. And from what you could tell, Apollo's heart could maybe soar higher.
>She drank from the clear pond, more so kissing it with her dainty muzzle. You look on silently. You couldn't move if you wanted to, and you dare not speak. You were an observer to this outside beauty.
>She continued to sing. Her nose high in the air as if the heavens were her audience. It made you jealous of the sky.
>Birds flew in circles around her horn and she laughed and played with them. Speaking to them. A single blue jay landing on her raised foreleg and greeting her.
>"Why, hello little one. Are you having a wonderful day?" Her voice was pure song. In her breath were music notes, you were sure of it.
>The bird replies, fluttering its wings and telling her about the morning. What he saw high in the sky, the new songs it learned, and how it caught a worm earlier in the morning.

>She laughed. Another song in its own way.
>"Well, may you have many more worms and learn many more songs." She said, nodding her head to the bird that now flew into the air and with the others, flew away back into the forest.
>She watched them go, but not for too long. She returned to her reflection in the pond. Gazing at it and then slightly tilting her head to the side.
>Then, she continued to drink. Part of her main danced lightly atop the water. Playing with it and teasing it with its touch.
>Apollo and yourself still stood idle. Watching her. What exactly was she? You had never seen anything like her in your books. Or heard of anything like her, even from the stories your mother read to you as a child.
>She seemed made-up. An imaginative creature. Yet, she seemed so real. So versed in the ways of reality. How could this be? You wondered. Meanwhile Apollo had already begun to draw closer.
>You would have stopped him, but your pull on the reigns were too late and she noticed you. Her ears shot skyward and her eyes were trained on you.
>She stood perfectly still. Had you not seen her before, you wouldn't have noticed.
>You stared. And she stared back. Apollo stared. And she stared back. You had your own little staring contest with the creature that intrigued you so.
>It seemed like you had your own private eternity, where it was just the three of you. But she made a slight movement of the eye and was the first to blink. Breaking you both from the spell.
"Hello....?"
>It comes out more as a question. Like you weren't really sure she was there or not. You suddenly felt like you imagined her a moment ago, and that she wasn't really there. After all, there exists no manner of creature in this realm that mimic the tongue of man.
>"Hello?"
>Then she spoke. Wrecking the thought completely. Her hello also sounded like a question. Like -she- wasn't sure that -you- were real.
>You tilt your head to the left. She tilts hers to the right. Apollo looks at the both of you, bemused.

>You open your mouth to speak, and she does the same. You close, allowing her to speak first. But she does the same. You raise an eyebrow, and sure enough, she does the same.
"Are you mocking me?"
>"Are -you- mocking -me-?"
"No."
>"Good, I don't take kindly to it."
>She returns her head to the water, drinking away as if you were now apart of the landscape.
>Now you sat there on Apollo awkwardly. You watched her for a bit, and she didn't seem to mind. She didn't even glance up to see if you were still there.
"Are there other horses like you? Where you come from?" You ask.
>She doesn't look up. Instead she stops her pilfering.
>"There is only I in the whole world. For I am the last."
"Really..?"
>"No."
>She returned to drinking, but soon finds that she had had her full and walked out of the shallow pond to graze. You and Apollo followed her, but she didn't seem to notice.
"So there are more of you?"
>"No."
"But you said-"
>"There is only one 'me' in the world. Why would the world need more than one of me?"
"Then, are there others like you?"
>"Perhaps. What is it to you?"
>For such a beautiful creature, she sure was sassy. It annoyed you, but intrigued you even more.

"Well, I'm curious as all. Where exactly do you come from?"
>She sighed, annoyed that you're once again interrupting her with questions.
>"I am from here. Where are you from?"
"Here? How could that be so when this is my kingdom and I've traveled these woods my entire life?"
>She shrugs and returns to her grass. Apollo joins her, staring at her all the while.
>"How can you be from here if -I've- lived here longer than your family has ruled?"
"What?"
>"Why are you so set on bothering me? Doesn't a prince like yourself have somewhere to be?"
"Not at the moment, no."
>"Well most of us do."
"And where is it that you must be?"
>"Here."
"Here?"
>"The grass, I must trim the grass before it over grows."
>She takes another bite out of the green blades of grass, ignoring you. The idea amused you, a single horse grazing the entire forest. It was absurd. But in all your years of riding through, not once had you seen the forest look like any other. It always had that 'magical' air about it.
"That's nonsense. How can you, a single mare, trim this entire forest. For years no less."
>"I don't know. How can a single mortal boy annoy an eternal being so much?" The mare began to trot away, turning from you and whipping you with her tail. But you wont be dismissed so easily. Apollo was already following her and carrying you parallel to her
"What exactly are you? I've never heard of anything like you; a horse with a horn and wings."
>"You wouldn't have. No mortal man has ever seen us before." She looked around, searching for more overgrown grass. "And I am not a 'horse'. I'm something much more than your common pack-mules." She looks over to Apollo who feels hurt. "No offense to you, my good friend."
>Apollo brushed it off, letting it slide this one time. The white mare turned and trotted over to the grass growing at the base of a tree. "I am an Alicorn." She says as she nips at the grass.
"An alicorn? What on earth are those?"
>"They are what -I- am."
"And there are more?"
>"Yes."

"How many?"
>The mare stomped a hoof. Something you wouldn't think she to do. She stared at you now, her horn inches away from your face. She frowned and her nose scrunched up in annoyance. It was cute, in its own strange way.
>"Count the stars." She says with a snort and returns to her patch of grass.
>You and Apollo look up, only able to see the morning sky. You'd have to wait until night returned to do such a thing. And even then, there were too many to count.
"Are there really that many?"
>She hesitated for a moment. Not answering right away like she usually did.
>"There used to be." She continued eating, almost done with the small patch.
>You considered her answer. Taking in a slight sense of grief in her tone.
"What is your name?"
>"To know an alicorn's name is to know the secrets and inner workings of the universe itself."
"Really?"
>"No. A name is just a name."
>You sigh and follower her as she took off to find more grass to trim.
"Well? What is it then?"
>"What is yours?" She immediately countered.
"Prince Anonymous VIII. And this-" You pat the side of Apollo's neck. "Is Apollo. Finest stallion in all the land."
>"Apollo? That is a wonderful name. Hello Apollo." She nods at the horse, who gives a whinny of delight. You roll your eyes as he nods his head side to side.
>"I can't say I care for your name though. What sort of name is Anonymous? How do you sign documents? How do you introduce yourself? It's a silly name."
>Apollo laughs, as much as a horse could anyway.
"Well, what's your name then?" You ask.
>She stops in her tracks and you and Apollo stop a foot ahead of her. She stands tall, her hoof on her chest and her mane blowing in the breeze.
>"I, am Princess Celestia of Equestria. Mother of the Sun~!"
>You sit there dumbfounded. You had planned to come up with a witty retort, but found no wit to do so. It was a hell of a good name.

"Princess? You're a princess? Where is your crown? Your symbol of your right to rule?"
>You question her and she looked annoyed. "Well where is -yours-?" She pointed a hoof to your head. You had been wearing a woodsman hat. You never wore your crown outside of the castle unless you needed to.
>"Besides, I bet your crown is frail, rusted, silly and too pointy."
>This infuriated you. What did she mean by silly and pointy? Every crown was pointy!
"Every crown is pointy. Only the most powerful of kings wear the most pointed crowns." You retort.
>"Oh please. I raise the sun each morning and my crown isn't pointy at all. It's -rounded- and -curved-."
>You say nothing, too angry to respond. You don't even question the bit about the sun. Whatever that meant.
>Celestia walked on ahead of you and you and Apollo followed.
"Where is this 'Equestria' even? How come I have no knowledge of the place if it's so powerful?"
>"It is here. This is Equestria."
"What? That's impossible."
>"Just because you can't see it doesn't make it false." Celestia continues onward. Not waiting for you to catch up.
>Looking up at the sky you can see the sun now making its way to high noon. You didn't plan to be out this long. But here you were, talking to an incredibly snobby horse. From far off in the distance you could hear the tone of the great clock in the castle. It was nearly time for your royal duties.
>"Well, seems like you must be going." She stops, looking in the direction of the castle.
"Yes, I was supposed to return moments ago."
>"Don't let me stop you. Go on, back to your shabby little hut you call a castle."
"Shabby little- Now listen here, I have half a mind to-"
>"Yes, you do have half a mind." She and Apollo break out in wondrous laughter. You feel your face burn with blood and the grip in your hands tighten around the reigns .
"I sure do hope all alicorns aren't as rude as you."
>You turn to leave. Apollo slow to move, still staring at Celestia.
>"And I sure do hope all humans are as fun as you were. Perhaps I should reveal myself more often."

>Celestia mused to herself and began to trot away. You would have called back to her, but you were as late as it is. Instead she calls back.
>"Farewell Anonymous. Come visit me again sometime~!"
>You and Apollo turn back. To your surprise, she was gone. Nothing but falling leaves that had been disturbed as if a flying horse had flown by.
>You smile. Even if the creature had the most splendid voice. Most lovely mane and white coat. She still had a rotten personality. But maybe you will come back. You now knew where to find her.
>And you're sure Apollo wouldn't mind coming back either. With one last look at the falling leaves you turn to leave. Making way to the castle.