The heavy thud of hooves rippled across the small clearing, followed by the sweep of large wings giving one last powerful beat before they nestled neatly against the pegasus' dark pelt. Too long it had been since her hooves had touched familiar soil, too long she had laid her oddly coloured eyes on what she called home.

      When she had left, she had no purpose than to just explore and to be free to as the wind was, the tender age of three, just a filly foal chasing the whirling winds as far north and south without a care in the world.

       Now she was eight and back with a purpose.
 
      All she had to do now to get her first hoof through the door, was navigate through the sprawling thickets of trees that went on for miles. Trees were a nightmare that answered to no one, her mane catching on every other low hanging branch and earning a bitter sounding snap from the large mare in response —spending more time detangling the cascade of black and orange waves than actually making headway. This would be much easier if I could find the space to fly, she thought to herself, casting a gaze up to the darkened thatch of green and brown obscuring the light; creating a canopy that any seasoned flyer would have trouble navigating, or maybe it was just her, she was far too used to open spaces. How Unicorns could be so comfortable in this was beyond her.

      Nephele was loathe to admit she was utterly lost, and grounded — what a great way to begin her long campaign to greatness, recognition and hopefully ascension.

      Crunching wood beneath her iron hard hooves, she finally pulled her mane free of the latest oak to snare her tangle prone locks, giving the trunk a rather childish kick as she turned and broke into a light trot in what she assumed was the right direction. "What a horrible place," she muttered to herself, jumping a fallen tree and winding around a particularly large rock, "I'll be glad to see the back end of it." If I manage to find the end of it first.

      Nephele found herself slowing when she found herself closing in on a clearing, the oaks still refusing to relinquish enough space for her to simply fly, but at least she had space to breath and maybe come up with a plan; she didn't want to become that mare who got lost and ran around in circles through the threshold. Whipping her tail in an irritated fashion, mindful to make sure it didn't end up getting tangled on a nearby bush, she turned her attention back to the numerous small pockets of pathways she could take.

      "Which one?" She mused to herself out loud while she turned in a semi-circle, her frustration beginning to thread through her voice — Nephele had never been one blessed with patience, especially when it came to something that appeared to be simple. "This is why I prefer the sky, less hassle..."

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Notes;; first post!