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Rain had fallen not but a day ago and a young filly was itching to escape her home. She had sat glumly as raindrops slid down the panes of glass that blocked the fresh air from entering. This day though, the weather ponies had thinned the clouds to let the sun shine on high and the last drops of rain dripped from eve and hanging. Her hooves were quick to dash from her perch at the window to the door.

"I'm going outside!" The black filly called over her shoulder as she pulled the door open and to the outside.

She didn't hear the returning voice telling her not to wander too far and to not get too dirty. Nope, she heard not a word of it as the first puddle she came to she was in it. Laughter rolled from her tongue as she kicked at the puddle before dashing off trailing water behind her.

Leaving Ponyville to the fields that surrounded and bordered the Everfree Forest, the filly rolled in the rain draped grass getting a few blades tangled in her mane. It was only when she saw something, someone standing out against the lush green. Tilting her head, the filly fluttered her small wings before folding them again.

"Hello? Someone laying over there?" She called to the white patch in the grass.

No reply came from the spot. Frowning, she moved slowly closer, picking out legs and wings. It was another pony, maybe a little bigger then she was, but a pony all the same. She stopped close to the fallen pony and nudged him a little with a hoof.

"Hey, you ok?"

The filly frowned as the colt jumped up after she touched him and stumbled away only to collapse again. An ear flicking to the side, she didn't quite know what to say to his words. "Ill? You don't look the best yourself.." She said looking down at him.

The filly sighed as the colt seemed to have passed out completely. His white coat marred at the front hooves by strange gray staining. Walking around him one way, taking in the black and white wings. She stopped again watching the colt.

"You are a strange pony. Come on, you're coming home with me." Just she didn't know how she was going to get him there. It wasn't like she was a unicorn and could float him home.

This was going to be a pain, rolling the colt a bit she wiggled her slightly smaller frame beneath him. With a grunt she raised back up to all four hooves and started walking. Her small wings fanned out at her sides to help with balance and to aid in keeping the colt where he laid.

"You are heavy, even as thin as you look." She said continuing the long walk home. The thought crossed her mind that made her grin ever so slightly. "Mom is going to have a fit."

"And where do you think you are going?" The filly asked as she stood in the door with a basin of water and a cloth. "You shouldn't be out of bed. My mama says that you should stay in bed for a few days." There was concern in her voice, more so in her eyes.

Starling moved over to a small table in her room and placed the basin down before walking over towards the strange white and black colt. He had been a pain to drag back into town, when she reached her home, her mother had come to help move him into her room. It was really the only place she thought to put him. Starling walked over to the colt, looking at his face some. He was very pale, even for being white.

"Is everything alright? You look like someone's after you." This made her frown, who would be after a colt?

What the heck was this colt spouting now? He couldn't leave! He could barely stand on his own, let alone walk. Shaking her head, still a little wide eyed at the colt as he made it quite plain that he needed to leave. "You can barely stand." Starling mentioned as she soon came rushing forward to help keep the colt on his own hooves.

"Come on lets get you back into bed..." She paused a moment as he started talking again. "Danger? What sort of danger? And what do you mean 'it'?" There were many questions she wanted to ask the colt, but he wasn't looking too good. "Also my name's Starling, will you tell me yours?"

With gentle nudging, Starling turned the colt around to get him back to the bed. She wasn't going to let him go anywhere until he was... Well... Sane. Or at least when he didn't look like he was on death's door. "Come on, back into bed, I will bring you some oat broth. It should help, You are quite thin, thinner then even some of my class mates." With the colt back under the covers, his eyes were barely open, Starling turned to head back out of the room. Though she did stop at the door and look back over her shoulder. "And don't leave the bed this time, I might tie you to it the next time." With that she left to get something for the colt to eat.. Who ever he was..

Starling hadn't moved away from the wall close to the door to her room. She stood there listening to the strange colt, the one who had called himself Dark Raven. Frowning to herself she moved away from her spot and towards the stair and to the kitchen. Some reason that name had sounded kinda familiar, but it was just an old foal's tale. The guardian of the darkest parts of the world. Places no pony could enter without his permission or there were consequences. Shaking her head she headed to get the colt something to eat.

"He can't be the same pony, that was ages ago if it really happened. This one is a colt." She said still frowning, thinking of going to find the book the story was in. "it's all just coincidence. He probably just thought of that name cause he doesn't want to tell me his own."

Starling looked around for her mom to ask her, but it seemed the older pony had left on an errand or something. That was normal, there was always someone who needed her, being a midwife and all that. Some mares called on her to help with births and such. "I can always ask her later.

Spooning some of the broth her mom had heated up into a bowl, Starling set to the task of taking it up to the colt. It wasn't an easy task as she broth slopped against the sides of the bowl. She knew she had filled it too much as drops hit the floor. She would clean it up later... Before her mom got back, that was for sure.

"Hey, Dark Raven, I got you your broth..." She stopped at the door of her room and just stood there. Her bed was vacant, the window open, well she had left it that way. Stepping inside she checked the corners of her room to see if he were there. "Dark Raven?" She called again, setting the bowl down.

Dashing over to the window she put her hooves against the sill and looked outside. Just past her window was the roof to the porch below. It was there that she saw him, his black and white wings stretched out at his sides. In a way he looked like he was getting ready to jump. Gasping, Starling scrambled to pull herself out of window and out onto the roof.

"Are you crazy?! What are you doing out here?" She stopped just behind him, his head turning slightly to look at her, but he just stands there, wings outstretched.

That look on his face, one of utter stone. It was almost like he was looking straight through her. It sent chills down her spine, for a moment she thought he had grown much larger, his wings were three times their normal size and something poked out his bangs. Shaking her head she looked back at the colt. What had see seen? A trick of the light? Her story time hero?

She suddenly found herself unable to move, it had come down to staring match. Who was going to be the first to blink?

A shout, a blur and she felt like she were flying backwards. Almost like she had stepped into poison joke and couldn't fly forwards anymore. Soon Starling found herself laying on her own bedroom floor, her lower window askew in it's track. What had just happened? She was just standing there staring at a colt, one she had dragged home from the fields outside of town. This colt who called himself Dark Raven.

Shaking her head, she looked around from where she lay, she was on her back, but not entirely on the hard flooring of her room. Something was beneath her, scrambling from where she laid, she looked down at the colt, at Dark Raven. He laid unconscious on her floor. His wings laid folded against his side, folded away from harm, even though black and white feathers drifted through the air.

"What happened? What was that?" She went over to her damaged window and glanced out at the roof. Some tiles were out of place, but it looked solid like she could step out onto it again. "Who are you, really?" She turned back to Dark Raven, not sure if she was feeling more of, fear or curious. Both seemed high on her list, for different reasons...

Pulling a blanket and pillow from her bed, she placed the pillow under his head and a blanket over him. She didn't know if she could lift him herself off the floor. But she was going to get that book she had thought of earlier. She wanted to know if he was the same one, the same Dark Raven from the Forbidden Garden story.

"There's more to you then it looks, ain't there." she muttered heading to the next room for the story book, she had reading to do..

It was just after dawn when Starling finally roused from her sleep. Had the night passed already? She felt like she had just gone to sleep... On the floor.. Glancing around she sat up with a start pushing her blankets towards the bottom of... Her bed? Blinking a couple of times to make sure that she wasn't still sleeping she looked around. Hadn't she been on the floor before?

"How'd I get here? Wasn't Dark Raven..." She paused as the sound of something shifting on her floor made her stop.

Ears flicking slightly she leaned over to peer over the edge towards the floor. Laying there was a white coated colt, Dark Raven. So he hadn't left after all, but why was he on the floor instead of her? Tilting her head to one side she looked back out the window. CRAP! She as going to be late!

"Shoot shoot shoot. I over slept!" Starling threw herself from the bed and raced across the room to grab her bags. The weekend had flown past, yesterday especially. With the discovery of the colt and everything else that had happened.

Stopping a moment she looked back to see him watching her through half lidded eyes. Seems that she had awoken him as well. Frowning slightly in thought she went back to Dark Raven to tug at him. "Come on, We're going to be late for school." She said as he just stared at her oddly. "You do... Go to school right?" Now she wasn't too sure, there was a lot she didn't know about him...